Mystery Skulls Animated - Hellbent is a Flash animated music video created by Mystery Ben featuring the track Hellbent by Mystery Skulls and Snowblood.[2] The video was released on YouTube and is a sequel to "Ghost" and "Freaking Out".
As of February 4, 2017, the crew started officially working on the video. A gif of The Mystery Skulls Van's stereo with the glitching name of the song and a magenta electrical shock-like lining can be seen on Mystery Ben's blog.[3]
During the three Mystery Skulls panels at Shuto Con 2017, Mystery Ben showed a preview of the animation that was roughly two minutes long. This was confirmed to be the introduction and features the song Every Note by Mystery Skulls.
Plot[]
Arthur finishes working on the Mystery Skulls Van and gets back in the driver's seat, while Vivi sleeps in the back. Arthur sees Mystery looking worriedly at the petal from Shiromori's flower and nervously reaches over to pet him. He then starts the van and drives off into the night, unaware that more of Shiromori's flower petals are following the van.
Sometime later, ghostly energy similar to that seen at the beginning of Ghost crackles from the van's radio, causing the van to short out again. Arthur briefly sees an image of Lewis in the rear-view mirror and turns to see Lewis's truck drawing closer. Panicking, he tries unsuccessfully to restart the van. He hits the dashboard with his prosthetic arm in frustration, but the ghost energy shorts his arm out as well. As Lewis reaches the van, Arthur manages to restart it and speed off. Vivi wakes up and looks groggily out the back window, but is knocked unconscious by a metal baseball bat. The van speeds through a tunnel, but the truck manages to pass through as well by turning into a ball of spectral fire.
Meanwhile, Shiromori's petals land on the road, and Shiromori herself pops up in time to see the two vehicles speeding away. She burrows ahead of them and pops up in front of the van, which hits her. As she clings to the front of the van, she breaks through the windshield and stabs at Mystery with her scissors. Behind them, Lewis uses spectral fire to blow out one of the van's tires. As the van begins to swerve, Shiromori flies off and lands on the road behind it. Lewis runs her over as he passes.
The van flies off the road and crashes besides the repair shop owned by Arthur's uncle Lance, who is jolted awake inside. Upon looking out and seeing Lewis's truck, he grabs a shotgun off the wall and cocks it. As Lewis exits the truck and Shiromori pops out of the ground, their backstories are revealed in flashes. In Lewis's story, Arthur sulkily watches his and Vivi's relationship from a distance and (Lewis presumes) pushes him to his death out of jealousy. Shiromori's flashbacks show Mystery in his kitsune form dripping his blood on a white flower, which apparently grows into a white forest. Later, a female warrior in blue meets Mystery in the forest and engages him in combat.
Lewis reaches Arthur in the van, who has been knocked unconscious from the crash, while Mystery tries to drag the slowly awakening Vivi to safety as Shiromori draws nearer. Shiromori lunges at Mystery with her scissors, but Vivi stops her by hitting her head with the metal bat. Shiromori suddenly looks at Vivi and sees a resemblance between her and the female warrior who fought Mystery. Growing enraged, she conjures a pair of shears and lunges at Vivi. Vivi holds her back with the bat; but Shiromori soon gains the upper hand, knocking the bat from Vivi's hands. Mystery, worried about Vivi, starts to change into his kitsune form.
Meanwhile, Arthur awakens just as Lewis tosses him in the back of his truck. Arthur falls through blackness and lands in a ghostly recreation of the cavern where Lewis died. Arthur runs toward the split path they found before, but the Dead Beats block the lower path, forcing Arthur to run along the upper path. He reaches the ledge and stops just short of falling off, but Lewis comes up behind him and dangles him over the ledge. Arthur's prosthetic arm, crackling with ghost energy, starts working again and grabs at Lewis's arm. Lewis's face turns into that of his living self, and Arthur mouths his name just before Lewis drops him. A final comic-style freeze frame shows Arthur falling toward certain doom; Lewis (his heart locket broken again) watching him with an expression of regret; Shiromori preparing to stab Vivi, who lies prone; and Mystery in his kitsune form. The video ends with a gunshot being fired through the Mystery Skulls logo.
Features[]
Characters[]
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Trivia[]
Arthur's father?
- Unobstructed versions of the background vectors by Helios and Artsy have been made available for download on Imgur in commemoration of Hellbent's million view milestone. [4]
- When the radio starts to glitch out, the alternating colors all correspond with a character: yellow (Arthur), blue (Vivi), purple/pink (Lewis), red (Mystery), and green (???).
- When it cuts to Kingsmen Mechanics, a picture of what appears to be Arthur with his father can be seen hanging on the wall behind lance.
- There is a bug that was created and titled Arthur bug by helios that is hidden somewhere in the opening(0:08).
- Vivi's icy powers started to manifest from the moment Shiromori attacks her. Although weak, it was a sign that these abilities would soon awaken.
Gallery
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References[]
| Animated Music Video List | |
|---|---|
| Videos | Ghost (Animated) • Freaking Out (Animated) • Hellbent (Animated) • The Future (Animated) |