Rather Vocalized Illusion



Rather Vocalized Illusion is the flagship show of Val'Kyr Studios and it's director, Jerry Peet.

Rather Vocalized Illusion (often abbreviated as "RVI" in video titles) is a web based lecture series on Western society done primarily through Youtube. Early episodes were done in Zero Punctuation style animation, with later episodes presented as an in-person lecture.

You can see the show here.

"Bhaal:*Dials phone* "Ethan... I figured out why men like My Little Pony!" *Pause* "Faust is freakin' gorgeous, that's why! It was so obvious!"
 * Actually Pretty Funny: Bhaalspawn takes a serious attitude through most videos, but often slips a gag or visual pun into his narration that gets much attention in the comments section. YMMV on whether the jokes are actually funny or just groan-inducing.
 * Angrish: Bhaal has moments where he stutters out of sheer shock.
 * Arch Enemy:
 * Disney and Hasbro.
 * Americans also seem to strike a particular nerve.
 * Bhaal has also dedicated videos to his immense hatred of Japanophiles.
 * Bronies were an enemy for a short time. This conflict has since been resolved.
 * Ascended Fanboy:
 * Ethan Anderson (AKA The Psychosocialist) was a big fan of the show, then Peet asked him to collaborate on a few videos. The two now work on the channel together.
 * Brittany Johnson became a recurring character in the Ask Bhaalspawn Webcomic.
 * Asexuality: Bhaal has no reproductive instinct, and no sex drive whatsoever.
 * The sole exception is the fan-turned-best friend, Brittany.
 * Badass Boast:
 * Subverted in a side video, where Bhaal attempts to taunt Bronies. See Tempting Fate below.
 * The Psychosocialist challenged Tommy Wiseau to come after him, proclaiming "I'm Canadian Motherf*cker."
 * Ban on Politics:
 * Peet refuses to cover subjects about US Politics (with the exceptions of historical events).
 * This standing was put to the test in late 2011 when many viewers asked him to do a video about the Stop Online Piracy Act. peet caved to a certain extend and announced an episode about Piracy itself.
 * Berserk Button:
 * Never mention love to The Psychosocialist.
 * While not flying into a rage, Bhaal nuked himself upon learning of the Baldur's Gate Pony Mod.
 * Bloody Hilarious: Early episodes often featured the drawn Bhaal character brutalizing other sprites with absurd weapons with often gory outcomes.
 * Character Tics: Try to find a recent video where Bhaal isn't brushing his hair back.
 * Converted Fanboy: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
 * Crossover: Doomsday Ascending shares continuity with Peet's other rather large fanfic, Tale Of The Valkyrie.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: The Psychosocialist goes around wearing a Hannibal Lecter mask, Proudly listens to heavy metal artists such as Disturbed, Korn and Ozzy Osbourne, Wears all black (with few exceptions) and in videos is shown to be a cynical, dark individual.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Very much so for both Bhaal and Psycho.
 * Devil's Advocate: Bhaal sees no reason to become part of the recent gamer crusade against Electronic Arts (though this might possibly be due to EA owning BioWare).
 * Bhaal actually plays Devil's Advocate numerous times throughout the show.
 * Epic Instrumental Opener: Season 1 episodes always opened with a big orchestral score in the title sequence.
 * Fan Boy:
 * Bhaal (and Peet in real life) is this to BioWare.
 * This also holds true to anything Tara Strong is in. Whether he likes it or not!
 * Handicapped Badass: Peet cannot see out of one of his eyes, is partially deaf in one ear, and has nerve damage in one leg. He was granted this title by several commenters.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Many of Peet's responses to negative comments turn out this way.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: Bhaal frequently speaks with an unseen and silent assistant that seems to stand just offscreen in newer videos. Oftentimes asking for help in remembering lines.
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: It does not take very many episodes to gather that Bhaal has a severe distaste for humanity in general.
 * Insane Troll Logic:
 * Bhaal once tried to compare Bronies to Homosexuals in terms of persecution.
 * He later retracted this statement saying that it was beyond insane.
 * Jump Scare: Several episodes have had screamers or startling images inserted in them. Many are designed to be comical rather than scary, others use Rule 34 as the imagery.
 * Killed Mid-Sentence:
 * One episode had Bhaal knocked out while talking so the Psychosocialist could hijack the show (a second time).
 * Bhaal was cut off in a rant about plot holes in his second episode on Brony Culture by the editing software.
 * No Fourth Wall: Bhaal is always talking directly to the audience, never to other characters outside of gags.
 * Noodle Incident: Bhaal (and Peet in real life) quickly changes the subject when anyone asks about the "Bhaal/Psycho Slash Fic."
 * Oh Crap: The Psychosocialist's reaction right before Bhaal beats him for hijacking his show.
 * Only Sane Man: Bhaal's presentation style and highly critical view of society takes this approach.
 * Out-of-Character Moment
 * When divulging the things that made him have a better opinion of Friendship is Magic, one of them was that someone showed him a picture of the show's creator. He only uttered one word after this: "Wow". Considering that Peet has a history of being uninterested in appearances of people he has never met, this is very out of character for him.
 * This moment was parodied in a preview of an upcoming RVI. Peet makes a point of saying there is no "hot poster girl" for television production, and the same image of Faust jumps onscreen. Peet's reaction seems to be one of discovery.


 * PC vs. Console: Bhaal is an exclusive PC Gamer, stating there is no current generation console exclusive game in existence that has made him want to purchase a console.
 * Rule 34: During a series of videos on Bronies, Bhaal often inserted Rule 34 images into his videos as a method of revenge.
 * Running Gag:
 * TACTICAL NUKE! INCOMING!
 * Bhaal seems to have a habit of forgetting names of characters, settings, and even whole websites, often asking for help from an unknown and silent person offscreen.
 * Shout-Out:
 * Two sprites drawn by Peet resemble a Gardevoir and Fluttershy.
 * In his review of My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, Bhaal opened with the same opening line found in The Nostalgia Critic's review of the Care Bears movie.
 * In his review of Cardcaptors, Bhaal closed the review with "I'm a cheap knockoff, I remember it so you won't flame me."
 * His early videos were done in Zero Punctuation style.
 * Peet's Screen name.
 * Slash Fic:
 * A fanfic exists on the Internet featuring a Bhaalspawn/Psychosocialist pairing.
 * Peet has apparently seen it, but never speaks of it.
 * Squee: Bhaal did this several times in a row in his Brony Culture episode.
 * Stalker with a Crush: LylSweetsFairy.
 * Stroke the Beard: The Psychosocialist does this a LOT.
 * Sturgeon's Law: Bhaal applies this to Anime, Bronies, 4Chan, Americans and Modern Music as validation for hating them.
 * Sweet Dreams Fuel: In his review of Cupcakes and Sweet Apple Massacre, in the midst of all the creepy and disturbing imagery used for the visual aids, Peet inserts a picture of Fluttershy waking up with the caption You guys are probably horrified and uncomfortable right now, so here's something cute.
 * Tempting Fate: Bhaal taunts Bronies after recieving an e-mail warning from them, only to immediately have an Atomic Rainnuke dropped on his head.
 * The Wiki Rule: There is a Wiki for this show here.
 * Vaporware:
 * Peet talks about having designed a video game, but the general public seems to have no knowledge about it.
 * Has an article on the show's Wiki here.
 * White Knighting: Bhaal does this in the Ask Bhaalspawn blog, where mistreatment of the character of Brittany is met with his fury... unbridled fury.
 * He also White Knighted the entire company of BioWare in one episode of the web series.
 * You Cannot Kill an Idea: The entire focus of the show.