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#game analysis
sareisnot · 2 months
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Lord Gwyn: The Perfect Anticlimax
"Dark Souls is a hard game"
To anyone who's even a little bit familiar with the franchise, this is an obnoxiously obvious statement. The game has held the title of THE "hard game" for so long, that not only has the statement "X is the Dark Souls of Y" become a cliche, but so has every subsequent mocking subversion of that comparison. To even acknowledge its obviousness, as I did, is territory so well-worn, that I'm at risk of falling through, into the hackneyed void. But it's still worth mentioning. It's a well-earned reputation. Not only is Dark Souls, on a purely technical level, difficult to beat, but its entire identity is based around its difficulty, if the name of the "Prepare to Die" edition is any indication. Its world is a punishing one, seeking to beat the player character down at every single opportunity, until they can't stand to move another step forward, lest they get thwacked by a swinging axe, skewered by a demon, swept off a cliff, or obliterated by a dragon with teeth where its torso should be. It's a game that crushes you down, intending to make very clear just how easy your character can die, and, importantly, just how unimportant your death will be. To these bosses, these titans, these near-gods, you are nothing but an annoyance. Many of these fights feel like climactic struggles against an ancient, near-unbeatable foe, who existed long before you were born, and has a pretty solid chance of existing after you've expired. When you enter the arena of Ornstein and Smough, the music swells, and the two knights flex the skills that they're going to use to kill you over and over again. Many of the game's bosses, try to tap into that sense of scale, of importance, of grandiosity, each of their respective battles feeling like they could easily be the final one.
Then, after a long struggle, you make it to the end.
The game's final boss is Gwyn, a towering figure who's been hinted at throughout the game, through dialogue and item descriptions. Even if you didn't pay much attention to the little pieces of lore that the game hands you, you're able to put together that he's a pretty important guy: the mighty Lord of Cinder. The buildup to his fight hints at an even larger presence than the other bosses. You travel beneath Firelink Shrine, your home base for most of the game, where you find a massive expanse of land, cold and dark, a mysterious coliseum-like structure looming in the distance, which is impossibly large, even so far away. As you get closer, ghosts of old knights appear to attack you. They are easily dispatched, but still a shock. The structure towers over you, emphasizing just how much space is needed to house this mythologically strong figure, and the power that he holds. You enter, and find…….a hollowed old man. He's slightly taller than you, dressed in robes, and wielding a flaming greatsword, but he's nowhere near the scale of other bosses. However, he rushes at you all the same. When you begin the duel, it feels different from the others. There is no dramatic, sweeping music. All you get is a somber piano, like something that would play during a funeral, rather than a climactic duel. It feels like Gwyn's theme is actively pitying him. Granted, it's appropriate for the fight. All Gwyn can do is swing is flaming blade, which you can avoid with ease. There's been some easier bosses, but at least they didn't feel like they WANTED to die. Besides, this isn't the fragile Moonlight Butterfly, or the starting Asylum Demon, this is the final boss! He should be challenging you! Putting all the skills you've learned to the test! He's a fucking King! Why isn't he stronger? Fighting Gwyn after you've fought everyone else feels like walking into the home of an old, dilapidated hoarder, and kicking him while he's down. If you've been practicing your parrying, its like doing the same, except with cleats. He just seems………tired. As pathetically destitute as you were at the start. He might as well just keel over when you walk in the door. You beat him, naturally, and then the game just kinda….ends. If you got the ending I did, you just exit the area, look at all the nice snake friends you just made, and then roll credits. For all the work you've put into getting here, and all the struggles you've had to overcome, it feels like a severe anticlimax, like the game is playing a prank on you.
But if you know anything about the setting of Dark Souls, you'd know that there's really no other way this could end.
"The world of Dark Souls is dying"
This is a phrase that, while not as oft repeated as the above, is also pretty common knowledge at this point. Lodran, the game's setting, is a desolate place, long past its glory years. Once a powerful kingdom, teeming with life and magic, it is now in ruin, every citizen either dead, hollowed, or left to survive amongst the numerous deadly creatures that now roam the land. Everyone who's still around at the start of the game is either destined for misery, or already there (Unless you're Andre. He seems to be doing pretty well, all things considered). Somewhere around the time Lordran has reached the end of its life cycle, is when the player character enters the story, albeit with a rather unenviable role. Your job is to essentially be the world's janitor, cleaning out the world's former main characters, most of whom are insane, and all of whom are well past their useful days (or, if you have the DLC, you get to see Artorias right as he passes this point). Unfortunately, most of them would like to keep being alive, so they're going to make that difficult for you, by turning you into red mist until you stop trying to kill them. Even the grandiose presentation some of them have can't entirely hide the fact that this is a rather sad state of affairs for everyone, especially for those who haven't really done anything wrong (I nearly cried at having to kill Sif, and I will never fight Priscilla). Fortunately, some of these bastards contributed to the world's current bleakness, so killing them provides at least a twinge of catharsis, albeit one that will certainly be gone by the time you move onto the next bastard. The goal of this whole clean-up process, is to prepare the world to either continue with the age of fire with you as the catalyst, hopefully without those brutes who were clogging the power vacuums, or plunge the world into a new age of darkness, now that it has been cleansed of its polluting influences.
The only mean to either of these ends, is to kill Gwyn, the Lord of Cinder, former ruler of Lordran, and one of the primary reasons that this world is such a goddamn mess. To sum up his actions without getting too deep into the lore's intricacies; Gwyn knew that his kingdom was destined to fall, due to the world's oncoming transition from the age of fire into the age of shadow. This transition was represented by the dwindling light of the first flame, the lifeblood of the kingdom. After utterly failing to rekindle it, Gwyn entered a final gambit to prolong the life of his empire, linking himself with the first flame, but burning himself, and many of his knights, away in the process. This left him as a hollow, doomed to languish in his kiln, until another unfortunate soul took his place, linking the flame to further prolong the changeover. In doing this, Gwyn went against the natural laws of his world, which didn't react well to having its transitionary cycle interrupted. The world fell into a sharp decline, becoming a desolate, unhappy place, festering with demons and monsters (many of whom were the result of the last time someone tried to rekindle the first flame), making life hell for anyone unlucky enough to still be around afterwards. Gwyn wanted to prolong the inevitable, prevent the death of his kingdom, and continue its prosperity, so he sacrificed everything. His realm has persisted, but in a state of undeath, having stuck around long past its natural expiration date, just like him. Gwyn's story can be properly summarized as what happens when someone is psychotically obsessed with preserving their power, even when that preservation only serves to make the world a substantially worse place. Gwyn, in his hollow state, is a symbol of Lordran's persistent deterioration.
None of this information is directly handed to the player. Some bits are alluded to through snippets of dialogue and item descriptions, and the opening cutscene depicts one of the major inciting events of the narrative, but for the most part, it's a sprawling, multi-phased story, that is dolled out non-linearly, and piecemeal.
Now, with that context, let's cast a new lens on that fight…
After delving underneath Firelink Shrine for the final time, you come upon a desolate landscape, the Kiln of the First Flame looming in the distance. It's clearly well past its glory days, looking decrepit and sad. It is home of the world's lifeblood, but in name only. Now, it holds the last remnant of an age long past. As you approach, the spirits of old knights come to attack you, but they aren't much of a challenge, being just shadows of their former selves. They're victims, really; their loyalty has bound them to a sorry task, but they're in the way, and they weren't really living much of a life anyway. When you get closer to the kiln, it feels impossibly large, but also cold, and surprisingly dark, for something that's supposed to house an eternal flame. When you can see more details, it becomes clear just how long it's been falling into ruin. It feels abandoned, but you know its not. After all, you're here to end the life of its only resident. You enter, and find…. Lord Gwyn, a king who destroyed himself and cast the world into ruin, just to hold on to a formerly prosperous time. Lord Gwyn, whose refusal to let the fire die is the reason why you had to struggle through this entire journey. Lord Gwyn, whose death will mark the end of a era, no matter what you do afterwards. He charges at you, barely even conscious anymore, having been locked in this tomb for unknowable amounts of time. But he can't really fight you, at least not well. His strength isn't nearly what it used to be, now that he's a hollow, tired and worn-down, just like you were at the start. He's a pitiable figure, and the music knows. That sorrowful piano fades in, almost like something that would play at a funeral. But this isn't a funeral. This is a mercy killing. Spiritually, Gwyn died a long time ago. You're just putting his body to rest. When he's finally dispatched, it feels like an anticlimax. But of course it is. Gwyn is the embodiment of the world you've spent so much time exploring. Lordran has been denied a proper climax for so long, because he extended the story long past where it should have ended. He's been waiting to be killed for ages now. It feels only right that Gwyn be an easy, anticlimactic boss, because how could such a destitute figure be anything else?
"Dark Souls is a hard game for a reason"
The above statement is a simplified summation of why Dark Souls is one of my favorite games that I’ve ever played. It's set in a dying, hostile world, that's been brought to ruin by the violation of its natural laws. Thus, the game is insistent on making the player struggle at every turn, to make them feel just as downtrodden as the world they explore. Lord Gwyn is a example of just how thoroughly holding onto power can corrupt someone, leaving them as a husk, the scraps of their former glory existing only the in the memory of the people who are still forced to cope with the consequences of their selfish actions. Thus, his boss fight is an intentionally easy anticlimax, to emphasize just how far he's fallen, to the point that he can't even put up a good point. It's the themes of his character, perfectly melding with the gameplay. It's a perfect encapsulation of the game's best quality, how the experience of playing the game, reflects the themes and tone of its story. The reasons why the fight with Gwyn is the perfect anticlimax, and why Dark Souls is a near-perfect game, are one and the same.
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fae-that-rambles · 10 days
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OMORI AND STORYTELLING THROUGH CHARACTER DESIGN
I’ve been thinking about this for a while and I think it’s a very fun detail to over analyze.
SPOILERS AHEAD‼️‼️‼️
HEADSPACE
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Upon first meeting the headspace gang Omori and Basil stand out very sharply. Omori with his lack of color, and Basil with the unique color of his hair and eyes. The two are clear foils; Omori is silent and keeps himself as far from focus as possible- While Basil is the group glue and focus before and after his disappearance.
Through the character designs and personalities, we are primed to connect and focus on Basil rather than Omori. Basil is pastel colored, a pacifist and a lover. Omori’s vacant eyes and silent knife-wielding nature are less inviting. Very often with RPG horrors, silent protagonists are overlooked in favor of supporting cast. Omori actively uses this as an aspect of its story. We’re supposed to focus on Basil- Sunny is supposed to focus on Basil
THE HORROR
This all lends to our first bait and switch- and our first of Basil’s complex role in the narrative.
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Basil is our first glimpse into the horror themes of Omori- and this actively betrays the players trust. Again- Basil was our lovable safe character- We are primed to trust him. Then everything goes wrong (Sounds familiar).
The red eyes are obviously unsettling- again, betraying our trust by subverting the innocence of Basil’s appearance.
Furthering this! With Basil’s disappearance arrives Stranger
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A shadowed figure resembling Basil leaving bloody footprints- Basil’s design has been completely subverted into something known and comforting- to a Stranger.
Omori and Stranger are an inverse of Omori and Basil’s design foils. Omori is white with black accents and eyes. Stranger is a full black silhouette with glowing white eyes. And they are of course just as much personality foils. Omori is danger and escapism under an innocent mask. Stranger is a frightening and cryptic individual who only aims to help Sunny. The bloody footprints are foreboding and unsettling- But they’re guides helping Sunny.
Adding on to this, Stranger and Omori’s design’s aren’t foils in the way of being opposites- they’re foils in the way of being compliments. They’re reflections of black and white- two sides of the same coin.
REAL WORLD BASIL
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The introduction of real world Basil once again subverts previous expectations- I think for both the audience and Sunny. Setup as foils- opposites throughout the entirety of headspace, the Real World Basil and Sunny could not be more similar design wise. Their outfits are near identical; and their pale frail physiques are the same- even down to the height.
Despite everything set up in Headspace- Basil is by far the character most similar to us in Faraway town. As much as Sunny tries to deny it in his mind- he and Basil were heavily shaped by their shared history. They’re not opposites. Both have become reclusive in the days since Mari’s death, they both lost connections with the group, and both are riddled with guilt, fear, and self loathing. Sunny tries so hard to sever his connections to Basil in his mind, they’re in the exact same position.
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Through the final fight with Basil, all of Sunny and Basil’s parallels are put to light. Both in the same clothes, living with the same crippling fear of what they both went to together. Both of their Somethings heightening their fear and crippling any rationality. Basil’s weapon- garden shears are an easy parallel to Omori’s knife.
Their only major design difference is their eyes and hair. Sunny’s eyes still their empty black (or sharp red when stressed out) and Basil’s an eerie glowing blue. Even if they’ve developed in the same circumstances, the two have reacted very differently because of their personalities. Sunny avoidant and stoic, Basil desperate and erratic. Once again, the two are complimentary foils. No matter what form Basil takes, he and Sunny are tied together as reflections of one another, and the shared experiences that molded them.
BONUS- HIKKIKOMORI
In the Hikkikomori route you fight Stranger instead of Real life Basil. The Hikkikomori route illustrates a complete refusal from Sunny to acknowledge the truth of the incident, and this means erasing Basil as a person. Destroying every one of these parallels I’ve discussed.
Basil and Stranger lose their depth. Basil is resigned to the picnic basket with Mari and kept out of the way. He’s lost his right to focus and autonomy, rather staying a shallow memory vague enough to protect Sunny’s repression.
Stranger is treated as an enemy. He is solely Omori’s opponent and will be eliminated as such. All of Basil’s complexity wiped away with his death. Leaving that cardboard cutout- Headspace Basil.
Furthermore, the fight with Stranger (obviously) has direct parallels to the final fight with Basil. Basil and Sunny wear their identical clothes and fight as two parallels. Stranger and Omori are black and white enemies, as Omori refuses to acknowledge Basil’s connection and similarities to Sunny. He refuses the complexity Stranger represents.
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mickeys-malarkey · 1 year
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Pt. 3/3: My BATDR Timeline & Plot Twist Theories!
First, I think both BATIM and BATDR take place sometime between 1978 and 1991. I already suspected BATDR was happening in the ‘80s based on the fact that card readers – which have featured in many of the environment screenshots we've seen – were invented in 1979...
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…and Audrey's clothes and hairstyle look very 1980s.
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Then they released the images of Audrey's office, where her chair and desk lamps also look very 1980s, and the wallpaper and flooring looks pretty 1970s…
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…and @inkdemonapologist pointed out that the type of bankruptcy we see documents for in Joey's apartment didn't exist until 1978…
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…and I remembered that Joey's apartment also had a newspaper whose headline took place in the future— Princess Diana's 30th birthday which, as TetraBitGaming on YouTube pointed out, would be in 1991 since Princess Diana was born in 1961. She should be two years old if BATIM were really taking place in 1963!
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Maybe, at the time, they didn't mean for these two to be clues, since they seem to have rolled the date backwards a bit from the newspaper one; but at this point it feels pretty clear when BATDR takes place, to me. And I'm even more certain than I already was, after finding out that this image from the JDS website…
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…is titled “museum” (good work yoinking it, @halfusek /gen 👍🏻), that we know the ink dimension's new home: Nathan Arch Sr.'s private Joey Drew Studios museum that he mentioned he was curating in TIOL (meaning it's existed since around 1972).
“Over the years, I have collected every single piece of the studio memorabilia I could find to restore it to its former glory, to create, in a sense, a private museum that gleamed with the true vision of Joey Drew…” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 2
Also, besides the fact the museum image has clearly aged, here's some more evidence that at least a few years have probably passed since Bendy was purchased: it generally takes a fair bit more time (years!!) to make movies/documentaries, as Archgate Pictures seems to have made about Joey, than it does to make shorts.
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As for BATIM, I think that time has been moving as normal outside of the loop, we were just seeing a repeat of that significant day in 1963; Henry and Joey have been trapped in the ink dimension for somewhere between twenty and thirty years, and the bankruptcy paperwork and Princess Diana newspaper were pieces of the real world leaking into the memory. This explains how there seems to be evidence of Audrey in BATIM and how BATDR is still supposedly neither sequel nor prequel to BATIM despite all the evidence that it takes place long after 1963! They're happening at the same time!! I wonder if Audrey is the daughter of the little girl we hear at the end of BATIM? So, Henry's (great-)granddaughter or Joey's (great-)great-niece?
Now, onto my big theory: the plot twist.
If they handle it right, it would be really, really cool if “break the cycle” really doesn't just mean “end the time loop” but also “break the cycle of abuse/trauma” and a lot of the huge cast of not-so-innocent characters wind up with the potential to get redemption arcs. I have an idea of exactly how they might be planning on even providing the opportunity for Joey.
Victor McKnight commented this on his Artistic Hallowing music video and pinned it:
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Those last two sentences. “Make sure you're watching every second! You don't want to miss any vital information. 😉” Does that not sound to anyone else like he's got insider information? Now, I want y'all to watch these music videos that either Victor himself or his brother Noah were suspiciously involved in all of (and one of which is supposedly a BATDS song but for some reason involves Audrey) and tell me if you notice any patterns.
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This one seems to be a duet between Sammy and the Ink Demon, both singing to Audrey. Sammy mostly sings in the default sepiatone, asking us things like “Can you see me? Can you feel me?” (that feels so… sad… and desperate…) and telling us things like “make sense of the consequence we witnessed on that day” (Excuse me, you're telling me that there was a consequence for something on a specific, significant day that we witnessed?? 👀) The demon, on the other hand, mostly sings when the grayscale effect is on, and seems to just be playing a stereotypical villain roll until you notice “be forced to believe what I see” (why would we even give a crap about what you're seeing /srs? How the actual heck would we see what you're seeing /gen? You don't even have eyeballs, bro /j) and “be damned in this evil received” (how do you receive evil that damns you? Maybe by being abused and becoming an abuser in response?).
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Two apparently-separate characters singing with the same voice but very different tones and outlooks on the situation, still both singing to Audrey, in this one. One mostly sings in the default sepiatone, again, at first seeming more hopeful, helpful, and friendly until you start noticing ominous comments like “you've made mistakes, accept the change. You will be punished too” (*incoherent noises* 🚨🚨) and “welcome to my dream . . . you still think you are safe in my dream.” The other mostly sings when the grayscale effect is on, again, and seems much more aggressive and seductive until you start noticing comments like “take up your weapons, just leave my friends be” (why is this stereotypically evil-seeming character both telling us to take up weapons, not just letting us have them, and asking us to leave his friends alone with them?).
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More hints that the demon who will rise and presumably is most important to the story is linked to grayscale, in this one.
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And, in this one, Sammy's asking if the grayscale-linked demon is the one who will set him free (as he claims to be in the first two videos).
Across all four of these first videos, there seems to be an overall “things change when we switch from the default sepiatone to grayscale” and “grayscale is dangerous and seems hopeless but it's important and linked to truth and freedom” theme…
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…You're telling me that Sammy and his followers' past (BATIM?) selves were worshipping an imposter demon…? And the truth will be revealed in BATDR…?
Hum, hum, hum… fascinating. I'd noticed the sepiatone vs. grayscale split and imposter vs. true savior thing long before I read the books; for the longest time, I thought it meant we would be dealing with a Henry-Bendy and a Joey-Bendy, as I've been seeing people theorizing. But then I read TIOL, and discovered what I think is evidence that this info is indeed canon and was not left on the cutting room floor while BATDR was in development limbo.
Nathan makes a very strange note on Joey's story about the Sparkle Unicorn speakeasy…
“…I remember this night well. Though I remember it being at the Bee Room, gold and black, not silver as the main design aesthetic. Doesn't really make much of a difference though, I suppose.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 44 (emphasis added)
Nathan remembers that night in sepiatone, Joey remembers it in grayscale.
Now, I've seen all kinds of theories all over about how Wilson actually “banished/killed the ink demon…” “Wilson took advantage of some sort of blip in Bendy's existence that happened when Joey died,” “Wilson got rid of him by purifying him and turning him into Dapper Bendy,” “Wilson got rid of him by fusing him with either Henry or Joey,” “Wilson got rid of him by trapping him in Henry's loop,” “he didn't, Wilson's just another liar manipulating everyone,” etc…
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What if we're looking at this from the wrong angle? What if the point is that, whatever happened, neither of the BATDR Bendys is the original soulless monster we see in BATIM and the books? What if, whether they share a body or are separate, there are two human souls involved here? What if one of those souls is the “new evil” in the ink dimension, not Wilson, who may have been meddling in ink dimension affairs since 1963?
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Going back to the time frame I propose BATDR is happening in… Joey was born in 1901, which means that if Nathan was 18 or 19 when Joey was just turning 16, then he was born in 1899 or 1898. So, in 1978, Nathan would've been 79 or 80, and in 1991 he would've been 92 or 93. Especially considering the clues that point towards Nathan having been a smoker, it wouldn't surprise me if he's straight-up already dead in BATDR. Mayhaps for 211 days? During Loop 414…? Could this be why the BATIM loop is different, with Henry apparently not remembering anything that previous versions of himself could? The now-previous owner of their prison has died of old age and/or lung cancer? And could that be why the JDS museum has fallen into bankruptcy? Has Nathan Jr. taken over and isn't as ruthless a businessman as his father?
Itsjustjord on YouTube pointed this out in his trailer reaction, which when he said it set my Clue Radar off so that I went to the trailer again to get a closer look. And… well… *clears throat*
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…Do y'all see this weird effect over Dapper Bendy? Compared to every other character we see in the trailer as well as the environment around him, does it not look as if we're seeing him, specifically, through some sort of cartoony filter? Maybe it'll only be in circumstances like this (far away in weird lighting) that the edges of the illusion will fray in-game, based on the other teaser image we have of him, but it definitely looks off to me.
Especially with what I now suspect Allison and Susie's situations were in relation to Nathan, I think that the ink creatures’ perfection vs. imperfection has nothing to do with how pure/good vs. impure/evil their hearts are as we've been lead to believe/is the conventional surface-level reading, but instead how intact vs. broken their hearts are. I think that the more horrific the ink being's appearance, the more the soul inside was abused while it was alive. Allison isn't a perfect Alice because she's a better person, it's because she obeyed Nathan and wasn't made to suffer as severely as Susie, who Nathan chose to be his next Isabel. So, why is one new Bendy (apparently created after Joey lost everything, I suspect even being made to watch his Shoulder Angel's murder before being murdered himself) so much scarier than the original (created before Joey lost everything) and the other so goshdarn perfect, proportions and all?
Maybe the banning of everything related to Sammy's demon cult and Henry under Wilson's rule has to do with his decades-old mission to keep the Creators from joining forces, as well as everyone including himself feeling like they're finally free from The Great Puppet Master?
I love Dapper Bendy's design as much as everyone else!! He's positively adorable, and it would also be a nice outcome if the baby boy is exactly what he seems and just a precious lil friend to love forever; but I theorize that Dapper Bendy is the perfectly sane, untraumatized, and truly evil one, that (assuming we actually get choices in BATDR, unlike in BATIM) his route, no matter how things seem in the moment, is the wrong one, that he's Nathan. And I think Freaky Teeth Bendy (that's been my nickname for him since we first saw him and I'm sticking to it lolol) is the damaged as heck but able to be saved one, that his route is the correct one, that he's Joey. I also think that we won't get to see either demon for what they really are – won't be able to get the True, Broken Cycle, “Joey's Redeemed & Nathan Faces Justice” Ending – unless we somehow unlock Grayscale Mode like we could in BATIM and gain the ability to see Joey's truth. Until then, we'll be seeing the demons the way Nathan wants us to see them. Through Nathan's tainted, gaslighting, sepiatone filter.
If I'm right, the fact that they did choose these color palettes is so perfectly poetic~! Sepiatone is what happens when black-and-white images have been chemically altered for preservation purposes; Nathan's altered our perception of himself, Joey, and all the events surrounding them, and his version of events is much more resilient. Meanwhile, Joey's would be more pure and unaltered but easily destroyed— including by himself, with his Illusion of Living coping mechanism… The only thing that could make it more perfect is if not only do we get to see Henry in BATDR, but when we do he's an angelic toon… *Vibrates with excitement*
Please, please, please, JDS, let me be right about where you're going with this!! Cause this would genuinely be so freaking cool…!! 🙏🏻 I hope that we eventually get to “rejoice with our founders,” as Artistic Hallowing says, when they're reunited.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk, rofl. Congratulations on making it through the ramblings of a hyped AuDHD fangirl (though, I guess we already knew you were capable, if you've read TIOL. I could do a whole nother rant on evidence that Joey's basically confirmed canonically ADHD(+?), my freaking gosh). 😝
Read the Rest of the Original Analysis/Theory: Part One • Part Two • Unexpected Part Four
BATDR Analysis/Post-Playthrough Theory Revision: Part One • Part Two • Part Three • Part Four
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thecollectivefixation · 2 months
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POPPY PLAYTIME chapter 3: Deep Sleep
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WHATS UP GUYS It’s Queen here! I know it’s been awhile but I could NOT sit still after watching a gameplay of the new POPPY PLAYTIME chapter. Let’s just say I have got a lot to talk about and some possible theories 😼
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Alright so, chapter 2 ended with us (the protagonist) and Poppy, who we thought betrayed us, crashing the train near Playcare. Chapter 3 begins with the aftermath of the crash or perhaps just a little after it, since the cutscene starts of with us being held by catnap and then being thrown into a trash compactor which is slowly closing in on us.
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[Catnap throwing us down]
Now as the chapter further progresses, we run into plenty, PLENTY of different monsters that us as the protagonist must defeat in order to progress to the next part. However, as we know from chapters 1 and 2, there is always a tape that will help us with little clues and hints of the story along the way.
Also i can’t help but talk about the DETAILS in this game like how we can see catnap constantly stalking us around the map?
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[Catnap stalking us]
Oh my lord I got the shivers when i first saw him in the corner of my eye. The fact that he appears for a like a millisecond each time, NUH UH.
ALSO WHO THE HECK IS OLLIE LIKE THAT KID SOUND SUSPICIOUS AS. But oh well at least he’s helping us get through the game……….. right? 😄☝️
Alright continuing on, we had little hints and snippets of the backstory and lore in the other chapters, however we never really got the explanation of what truly happened to playtime co. And all our fellow employees along with it. I still cannot believe that the protagonist is the last surviving employee I mean what about that letter in the first chapter?
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[Letter from Poppy Playtime chapter 1]
(Also another theory that It may have been a lure by the prototype.) and the fact that the only reason the protagonist survived was because they didn’t go to work ‘that’ day…. GUYS😭💪
The story starts to thicken as we learn about the smiling critters which include the oh-so terrifying creature, Catnap.
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One of the tapes in this chapter tell us how Catnap’s real name is Theo, short for Theodore. Theo was actually a child at the Playtime co. ‘orphanage’ who was further named as ‘experiment #1188’ otherwise known as Catnap. We also come to learn that Theo/Catnap worships the Prototype (aka experiment 1006) and sees him as his god, his saviour. Which can be understood since Theo had a near-death experience and apparently the prototype saved him. (This was before he was turned into Catnap.)
So obviously, as the protagonist we end up defeating Catnap at the end of chapter 3, and remember how the prototype appeared to drag away the remains of Mummy long legs’ body? Well here we go again guys. After we electrocuted Catnap and he was set aflame, the prototype appeared as a sort of ‘saviour’ for Catnap.
There are many theories on this scene, about whether the Prototype was offering help, or whether he was actually planning to kill Catnap all along. But with the way Catnap was kneeling and almost sort of worshipping the prototype, it was like he was accepting death.
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[Catnap kneeling before the Prototype]
We all know already that Catnap worships the prototype, as heard from the tapes and seen in one of the scenes. Including from the trailer.
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[Scene from the trailer]
So this should be obvious. Catnap wanted to be made as part of the prototype, and in his final moments he still worshipped him as best he could. The prototype, after possibly collecting Huggy wuggys body, then dragging away Mummy long legs body, and now finally, Catnaps body, is perhaps using all these creatures to form himself an indestructible body, which us as the protagonist, will have to be prepared to face one day.
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[The prototype dragging Mummy's body away in chapter 2]
Guys the prototype is so freaky LIKE IMAGINE SEEING A METAL SPIKY HAND SLOWLY CRAWL UP TO YOU IN REAL LIFE BYEEEEE
As an employee, we knew the experiments were taking hold. We came back 10 years after the downfall of Playtime co. Because perhaps we felt guilty? Or was it all just for the truth of what went on ‘that’ day? All these poor children were being experimented on to become live mascot creatures, and now we are after the truth of what happened and we have finally understood one important part of what truly happened.
This is when ‘The hour of Joy’ comes in.
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[The hour of Joy tape]
In the end of chapter 3, Poppy feels the need to finally tell us the truth and she shows us a tape which we are inclined to watch. The tape reveals the experiments (the creatures) rampaging inside the Playtime co. Facility and killing all the employees that are present.
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[Playtime co. Employees dead, sprawled around the floor]
The tape includes: Huggy Wuggy, Mummy long legs, the little smiling critter creatures, numerous Miss Delights, Kissy Missy, Boxy boo and Catnap.
The tape can be watched here.
With this tape, we learn that the experiments started a rebellion against the employees on the day ‘The Hour of Joy’ occured which was August 8th, 1995 (keep in mind that the game occurs 10 years later, now in 2005.) The rebellion was led by the Prototype, and he used the toys to lead the rebellion, making sure every employee, no matter if guilty or innocent, was to be murdered in cold blood.
Now the reveal of this tape and especially the backstory of what happened to all the employees is INSANE. My bones were quaking from how well the plot was put together and how the story turned out even more darker than we had thought. It’s crazy how all these children placed in the orphanage were used as guinea pigs for a sick experiment. There’s another theory that Poppy used to be Elliot Ludwigs (the founder and overseer of playtime co.) daughter. And the experiments started with her since she apparently passed away and Elliot wanted his daughter back so he had her be experimented on and she become the doll, Poppy.
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[Poppy, the doll]
Also a theory that is circling around is that us, the protagonist, who used to work at Playtime co., was actually an important executive who had a big role in the experiments that were going on. Which is CRAZYYYY like the story is slowly getting revealed to us bit by bit as we progress through each chapter.
Anyway the game, the LORE is crazy y’all. WHAT’S MORE IS THE ENDING OF THIS CHAPTER… HELLO??? THE CLIFFHANGER. Honestly thought that Poppy was gonna betray us again BUT NUH UH. WHAT HAPPENED TO KISSY MISSY??? WHY DID IT SOUND LIKE HUGGY WUGGY WAS THERE AND oh my lord looks like we’ll have to find out, IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!!!
— Queen.
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halfmaskshadow · 3 months
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“It’s all Hylia’s fault, why doesn’t she talk to Zelda??? She only talks to Link thats bad” STFU STFU STFU
SHE LITERALLY DOESNT HAVE THE POWER OF A GODDESS ANYMORE????
She loses most/all of her power when reincarnating for the first time. She probably CAN’T talk to Zelda, much less awaken her power. The most she can do in botw/totk is 1. give Link health/stamina, which is something previous Links can do separately of her, and 2. give small quests and provide tips, which is little more than speaking. She can’t even give him rewards without an outside source of energy, she’s so weak.
Link DIES and is reanimated. Idk about you, but to me that sounds like something that would bring you closer to a (dead-ish) goddess. Hell, Zelda can talk to him through his mind! Maybe Hylia’s just riding that train since Zelda is (at least tangentially) her reincarnation. Hylia just doesn’t have the power or the physical form to talk to anyone other than Link.
Maybe the Hylia you speak to is just the ghost of sksw Zelda. Maybe she has no more power than your typical ghost. Maybe you should STOP FUCKING BLAMING HER for not having any power after nearly DYING trying to defend the world from a threat even bigger than Calamity Ganon. She played her role, she did her best, and now she should be at rest. The only reason she talks to Link is because she cared about sksw Link and wants to help his reincarnations the best she can. She never wanted this to happen, but she can’t break the curse of a dying god. The only thing she can do is defend her people with what little power she has left in her brittle, crumbling form.
Hylia’s statues are small and hunched over because at her heart, she is small and old and weak. She lived the life as a mortal and was never meant to return to divinity. Now she sits in her gilded cage and watches as people she can’t help plead with her, and she cries as the mortals she cares for die and bleed in a war that isn’t for them. She offers what little she has left, and fuels the champion with her frail spirit. And you laugh at her. You yell at her for not giving enough and you go and speak poisoned words to your friends about how she isn’t trying. She weeps and gives all that she has, but it’s never enough for you, is it? Take your cowardly ways elsewhere. We want you not.
(Also, “Hylia swoops in and saves the day and Link doesn’t have to lift a finger” doesn’t exactly make for a compelling game, does it? You forget that the story is in service of the game, not the other way around. We’re trying to give Link reasons to run around and chop at grass. Hylia is a story device to get Link health and stamina. It’s not that deep)
(I recognize that saying “it’s not that deep” after typing a whole essay is a bit hypocritical, but I never claimed to be the paragon of morality)
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moosieart · 3 months
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(MAJOR SPOILERS FOR GOTHAM KNIGHTS GAME, specifically the Labyrinth)
An analysis of the Labyrinth and the BatFam
(In other words this post is really long)
So, I was doing some research on the Labyrinth for my fic (Silent Hearts and Silent Knights) and I found something very interesting regarding each BatFam members experience from Gotham Knights.
I'm using Rubi's video compilation of characters as my reference, I played as Tim in my play through and it's exactly like this video's Tim so I'm going on the assumption that there are no other possible outcomes.
Here's my keynotes for those who don't want to watch the video.
(I would like to say that due to the fact it is a game, some things aren't concrete. Rubi just goes back and forth in certain areas to trigger stuff whereas I just went under things to continue on.)
Things that happen regardless of the character (I call this the Beginning Sequence):
Character wakes up and starts walking, making various little comments. (Anything notable will be put under said character)
Character runs into spikes on wall, dies and wakes up (If you duck under the spikes the character will not experience this)
(Female voice) “Inside of Gotham’s walls…”
(Male voice) ”Rule you one and all…”
Character enters the "Flame Room", a small puzzle requiring you find the right path out.
(Voice of the Court) “Give up, it would be.. So much easier”
Character immediately hits a dead end and turns around only to find a different path then before.
Character enters the "Rotating Spike Room", which is pretty self explanatory: three large spinning columns with an assortment of blades that the Character must find a way around.
Bruce's voice expresses disappointment in the Character. (I can't remember if at this point if it's same thing said for each Character, but the point is the same)
Character stumbles, clutching head as they approach the first room (This is something every character does entering a "Major Room" moving forward)
Now, this is where things get interesting because the order and experience is different.
Somethings I want to quickly point out that are the same for every character in this section, which is certain rooms I like to call predetermined sets (all have two passages, left and right, but from my understanding they lead to the same thing):
Table Room: room is a half circle table with three dead court members wearing suits, candles and scrolls on the table, it's covered with spiderwebs and blood appears to be on the floor, and two statues behind them. A moth is floating around one of the candles. Laughter starts when character enters the room
Phonograph Room: room has two green armchairs with a table in between them and a floor lamp behind the left chair, a red circular rug with the Court logo in gold is under all this. On the small side table is a phonograph that plays old distorted instrumental music. The music echoes and distorts even more as you walk away (I wasn't paying to close attention but I think the song is different for each character, or at least a different part of the same song is played.)
Computer Room: room is bathed in red light. Its a rather large computer/monitor set up, reminiscent to the set up in the Belfry and the tech hums, images of Court members with a red filter. A dead Alfred sits in a chair near the set up. After examining the body it disappears in a puff of smoke and ash.
Here is each character's experience:
Jason:
Jason need’s a moment once he stands up before letting go of the marble slab (they all wake up on), also mentions it smells but never can identify what it is.
After the beginning sequence he enters the Table Room.
After leaving the Table Room he had a weird vision of himself dropping from the void ceiling floating towards himself in the air choking, then floats back and then up into the void ceiling.
Enters the Phonograph Room, after leaving the room Bruce's voice says something rather mean to him (I can't remember anything Bruce said to each of them, but it wasn't nice. Ya know, the whole point of this place)
Enters the Computer Room. After leaving the room he has a vision of himself “teleporting” around, pointing his hand at his head, maybe a gun?  Disappears into smoke and ash when walked through.
Enters a room bathed in green, sees a Lazarus pit, sees himself in normal clothes rise out of it with a crowbar which he raises above his head and starts attacking Batman. Court Members actively encourage him to kill stating they are the same, Real Jason says they're not. Vision characters disappear but the pit stays.
Barbra:
After the beginning sequence enters the Phonograph Room.
After leaving the room sees herself (maybe wearing a court mask) randomly teleporting towards herself, tilting head creepily before disappearing.
Enters Computer Room.
After leaving the room Bruce's voice says mean things.
Next she enters a room where Bruce’s grave is open, bats fly out of it and his voice calls out that he needs Batgirl for help.
After exciting this room she see's Batman's body get dragged around a corner, but we never see who does it.
Bruce's voice says some more mean things.
She stumbles into Gordon’s old office, Gordon complains about Batgirl. There’s a recording of Gordon’s death on the table, Babs feels guilty for not being there.
Dick:
After the beginning sequence he enters the Phonograph Room.
After leaving this room he see’s himself just fall out of the void, like his parents. His vision body is very dead and disappears when walked through/by.
Immediately after there’s the broken Bat signal, GCPD officers crying out that the city is falling and wonder where Batman is.
He then enters the Table Room.
After leaving the room he see’s a vision of himself being creepy/ kinda teleporting around, like Babs.
Stumbles into the next room, see’s his dead parents at the circus. Interestingly when they disappear they leave behind Court masks (maybe this refers to Dick’s own hidden ties to the Court)
Tim:
Tim is the only one straight up fall after waking up and trying to stand up, he is also the only one to explicitly state that is smells like death.
After the beginning sequence he enters the Table Room.
First vision is also of him creepily teleporting around, but unlike Dick and Babs, his version walks past him then dissolves. D and B’s versions forced them to walk through their visions. T's forced itself through him.
He then Enters the Computer Room.
After leaving the room he has the same Bat-signal vision as Dick.
Vision of himself kinda twitching and glitching on the floor before becoming limp and disappearing.
Enters the next room where the Robin suit is an a locker covered in cobwebs and "Wanted: looking for new Robin" posters. Bruce's voice is stating that he wants a Robin that's anyone other then Tim.
(I think I forgot it in a couple places, but every character experiences Bruce saying mean things)
And lastly every Character after their last vision sees Bruce stumble around a corner and disappear before starting the leaving the labyrinth sequence, which is the same for all of them.
So, here's my interpretations for all this. Specifically with how the Court plays on each of their fears:
Babs: When she became too injured to be Batgirl and became Oracle. They play on her fears about how she couldn't be there, even though it's not her fault. Mainly focusing on her dad.
Dick: Falling, literally. Failing both his parents and Bruce.
Tim: His fears about what Bruce thinks of him, about his place as Robin and his place in the family.
Jason: Here's where it's really interesting, Jason is the only one to have only one extra "room/vision" aside from the base ones they all experience. The Court tries once to hurt him with the Pit, and Jason firmly says that he's not that anymore. The court no longer tries after that. The others try to fight anything said, but rather weakly and they half believe it. Not Jason, he firmly says no. It's like after his death his fears aren't something the Court can understand or replicate.
I think it's also interesting how Tim differs from the others in some of the basic interactions, which I've already stated.
Anyways, it's rather late the time I'm writing this, but I thought it was really interesting. The developers could have stuck with the same base with only minor changes for each character, but they went pretty far out. It's one of the things that makes me love this game.
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amnesiasauce · 1 year
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Having thoughts about the Afton family and childhood abuse so now you have to suffer through this with me.
Obvious blanket content warning before we get into this.
Source material revolves around themes of child abuse, serial murder, and generational trauma.
no hate but william afton simps are so funny. like i get fiction is fiction and esp with fnaf you can interpret characters however you want. Hes not a real person and you can sexualise the fuck put of him if you so desire, i wont stop you.
But speaking as someone that actively hates his character and has given him a positively disgusting design, seeing folks thirsting for him is very entertaining because in my mind hes just this completely vile to the bone creature with greasy hair and a mouth too big for his face and eye bags that look like bruises and a body that is so thin that you can nearly see his ribs through his shirt.
My characterisation of him is an intensely turbulent and unpredictable man, but the scariest part is that he's equally as intelligent. He's extremely manipulative and just downright scary, and everyone knows it. He reflects the worst and most everyday evils of humanity, especially with that part of him originating from a place of compassion, but his intentions and morality shifted further from that vision with every bad thing he endured. He deformed (and eventually killed) himself with his obsessions and maladaptive coping strategies and broke his remaining family (and any others he came across) when he didnt get the answers he wanted.
and the worst part?
DEATH
DOESN'T
WANT
HIM.
Afton is actually a TERRIFYING character when you think about it. Imagine you're Mike, imagine you spend your entire life trying to get over your childhood abuse and righting wrongs and coping with survivor's guilt as best you can. After his death, it's difficult. It's complicated. It always is when you have a bad relationship with a parent, and suddenly theyre gone. But life goes on right? So you get on with it. New restaurant, new fake name, new paycheck, new poor dead kid stuffed in a plastic bear you have to wrangle the pseudo-consciousness out of so they can finally have some peace.
and then the corpse of your abuser
follows you
everywhere.
Mike already knew that his traumatic childhood would stay with him for the rest of his life. That's the kind of shit you never really grow out of. He got his head around that. But when after 30 years, the mouth of Hell coughs, gags, and finally vomits up the rotting, spring-pierced body of his father, oh boy...
And when you think about what the crying child went through, mother of god it gets so much worse
because why do you think he was so afraid of the fazbear characters?
We assume that the plushies are his out of choice, because look at the relationship he had to the fredbear plush. To me, that reads as a child projecting a healthy father figure on to a character he already associated with his current father figure as a way to process that unpredictability. He took the kind side of William that he rarely saw and internalised it, creating a character he could trust.
From the way we see the crying child being treated by his family, it's not unreasonable to assume that the plushies and the show are there from his older brother, Mike, tormenting him. This also wouldnt be unusual behaviour from an abused teenager. Acting out is pretty much the only way for them to vent their emotions, and its actually something child and adolescent psychologists and social workers look for in cases where they suspect domestic abuse might be occuring. But look at the way the plushies are organised in the kid's room.
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They're all in a pile in the corner of the room, far away from his bed, except Fredbear. He allows the kind father figure close, to a space of vulnerability, but is clearly terrified of the other characters, so much so that even the plushies turn into monsters in his nightmares.
And that is a symptom of
Childhood PTSD
It was never in any doubt that Afton was a fucking shitty father. But a child's developing brain cannot cope with that level of trauma, especially when there's no percievable parent or sibling figure that offers a break from the abuse. So what does he do?
He internalises
and he displaces
and his subconscious mind processes the trauma through nightmares.
Afton's unpredictable and chaotic attitudes wouldve been very similar to love bombing, if not the textbook definition. Some days, he's a benevolent caregiver, others, he's straight up awful to be around. Some days he's reclusive and cold, manic and obsessive, incredibly aggressive, manipulative and controlling, the list goes on. I might argue that in the crying child's brain, each of the characters of Bonnie, Foxy, Chica, Freddy, and Fredbear symbolise a different damaging aspect of William's, and perhaps Michael's, behaviour. The animatronic characters have distinct personalities in other fnaf games, so why not?
Chica is very fixated on food, so much so that it can be used as a motivator to get her to do things in some games. Shes a bit of a manic pixie dream girl. To me she reads as a bit obsessive, and pretty intense. Similar to afton's work ethic? Perhaps.
Bonnie reads to me as quite an ominous figure. He's arguably the most active from what ive seen in the first game, so he needs tracking. He needs maintainance. If youre not walking on eggshells, youre being wheeled into a morgue. He's very good at perpetuating tension and a constant high level of anxiety. Similar to afton's mood swings? I think so
Foxy is very aggressive, requiring constant pacifying through giving him attention. He controls the player's resources and actions by presenting an immediate threat. Similar to Michael's bullying? Yessir
But Freddy is absent— until you do something wrong. He stands, and he watches, and he waits for you to slip up. That's just how parents are sometimes.
So of course the kid's gonna be scared of the characters his abusive dad created, and likely put before his own kids when he started to obsess over his work. Of course the kid's gonna hallucinate nightmarish versions of the creatures the week or so before his death. Of course, William is at the centre of all of his family's trauma, all of his family's deaths, even his own. All of that loss and fear and ruin stems from the actions of one man.
And that, my friends, is the terrible power in parenthood.
So yeah. Girlie to you that may be a tumblr sexyman and that is okay. But to me that is 8 semi-immortal purple pixels with an abusive history that would give freud an anyeurism.
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strunmah-mah · 14 days
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So I saw this interesting post discussing the bashing of otome heroines, and the person i saw it from had some tags comparing the OBSCURA and Touchstarved mc's and the different fan response to them. Which go me thinking, but reposing to it there felt like it would have derailed that post, some I'm putting my thoughts here instead.
Basically the tags were an observation that OBSCURA's mc gets treated as their own character (Vesper) whose popularity is comparable to that of all the different love interests. Meanwhile Touchstarved's fandom doesn't seem to rally around one singular MC with everyone having own OC instead. This despite the fact that their both gender neutral blank slates you never even really see.
I'd noticed that too and got thinking of why that is, so here's my theory.
Name. Notice that I referred to OBSCURA's mc as Vesper, but didn't give a name to Touchstarved's mc? When asking what your name is OBSCURA auto suggests a name. There's a not insignificant number of people that when given an auto suggested name won't go to the effort of changing it. (ex My first time playing a Legend of Zelda game it didn't even occur to me to change Link's name despite it definitely being an option.) And despite still being a reader insert just the act of giving them name makes Vesper feel like a more defined then Touchstarved unnamed MC does.
Origins. Vesper is Vesper. Who they were before the start of OBSCURA doesn't really matter, no matter what you might hc they were like before the start of the story, they still enter the mountain with the skill set no matter what. Touchstarved's mc is deliberately fluid. They have three different possible backgrounds and which one you pick does effect the mc's skill set. Make your own oc is literally built into the game.
Presentation of information. Touchstarved is very upfront about their mc's motivations. You are cursed. It's very isolating and has caused you to hurt others unintentionally. You are looking for a cure. What your curse is is never really a question. That's a very different experience from playing OBSCURA. The games hook is "people don't go under the mountain unless they have a good reason, unfortunately you have a great reason" it does not say the reason, it's a great hook. So you play the game, you go under the mountain and you find out what you're looking for is . . . blue moon ichor. You have no context for what that is, it's not initially explained, but it makes people pity you. It's not until you meet one of the LI's that it's revealed you want the ichor. You only only learn about Vesper's motivations as they chose to reveal that information to others. It's an interesting story telling choice. For me, it was more engaging to have Vesper being just as much of a mystery as everything else, than Touchstarved approach of giving that information upfront, but it comes at a cost. The MC's are both supposed to be self inserts, but hiding that information puts distance you and Vesper again making them feel more like their own character than a self insert.
Choice. Atleast as far the demos go Vesper's choices matter more. Your choices change who you meet, if you get a partner to help you face the future, or if you fail to achieve your goal chapter one. The Touchstarved mc makes choices too, it gives you slightly different dialog and you then you move on with your day. The TS MC is a vehicle to meet that game's LI's, your choices change what side of them you get to see. In Obscura your choices affect Vesper first and fore most, which again gives Vesper a stronger sense of character.
Just to be clear, I don't want this to sound like me dunking on RedSpringStudios and say they can't make good characters. Boy can they! All five of their love interests are full of character and intrigue. It's like I said in point two, the "build your own oc" approach seems very purposeful. It's a fan response they've encouraged, even releasing bio templates that match the official bios of all the LI's. This is what they wanted.
What amuses me is that RottenRaccons did not seem to realize what they had done. They seem very surprised but pleased by how much fans are latching onto Vesper as their own character.
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shpeederman · 4 months
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Armored Core 6 and the art of the tutorial
For anyone not aware Armored Core 6 is From Software’s newest release and a return to one of their oldest IPs, now spanning 16 games. The game itself is an action combat mecha game centered on building and piloting an Armored Core (AC) (10-meter-tall robot) to complete missions, but I wish to talk about the one mission where you cannot do that: the tutorial. 
The main tutorial section takes up the first half of the level and does all the basic things of introducing the movement and controls using the level design and popups to try to ensure that the player gets the intended lessons. The sandbox section takes up the next half of the level, it gives three waypoints which can be approached from any order to let the player get further get used to the movement of your AC. Finally, The Great Filter, the first boss you fight and one that quickly became infamous within the player base as a major roadblock for new arrivals. The enemy is quite simple: an incredibly large helicopter with twin gatling guns and explosive ordinance of varying degrees of destructiveness, only significant weakness being a blind spot underneath the craft which can be used to wail on it mostly undisturbed until it moves. 
It may sound simple on paper but here is the catch: first, you have to figure this all out for yourself (or search up a guide), second is that you are a “fast as fuck boi”, with 3 in this case distinct weapons that can all be in theory be used near simultaneously which proved to be overwhelming for some. 
But personally, I wish to praise Fromsoft for their continued confidence in challenging the player, which at least to me seems to be less common nowadays. 
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waterdeepthroat · 8 months
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just want to piggyback off of @brekkie-e’s post about halsin and how he could parallel real world body image issues, and how honestly amazing that would be for video games.
if you think about companion quests for other rpgs, like pillars of eternity or dragon age, they usually have to do with these larger-than-life, fantasy problems that don’t reflect real world problems terribly well (or in the case of dragon age, when they try to reflect those problems, they end up creating more inconsistencies and can often downplay the severity of these problems). think of arueshalae in pathfinder: wrath of the righteous- her arc is incredibly well-done, but isn’t the easiest to relate to as a player, because of the scale of her moral dilemma and what it could mean on a literal cosmic level. we everyday humans don’t have to face issues like ascending from being literal demons and redeeming ourselves for murder. but larian, through halsin, has the chance to do something incredible and smaller-scale. they have the chance to write an arc that is relatable, while still strong in terms of emotional buildup, and grounds the larger-than-life story in a very human place.
let’s talk about halsin and body image.
the first thing to note about halsin is that he does not exist in a vacuum. his in-game appearance is reflective of our current western male body standards, even if in-game he doesn’t reflect the standard of his own culture. that is to say that, as an elf in the forgotten realms setting, his sheer beefiness wouldn’t be looked on fondly by other elves. but to us, as players, his body is something we admire. immediately there is a disconnect between what he (and other in-universe characters) may think about his appearance and what we, as real-world humans, may think about his character design. that’s the setup for an incredibly powerful story, methinks.
the second thing to note about halsin is that he already exists on the outside of his in-game society. iirc he’s a wood elf (which stat-wise are great choices for druids), but he does not exist within wood-elven society (as the grove itself is shown to be multiracial). i think it’s also quite telling that the form he chooses for his wildshape is that of a bear, and typically in shapeshifter media the form one takes is symbolic for some aspect of the shapeshifting character (for example, morrigan in dragon age taking on the form of a spider in the official da:o trailer, which could be reflective of her venomous wit or the fact that, like many spiders, she is initially seen as unlikable or even unlovable). halsin, choosing a bear form, could simply be a matter of optimisation- or, what i hope is the case (considering how much emphasis larian has put on the narrative and character agency), could be a matter of story and gameplay integration. in short, halsin might take on the form of a bear in order to hide his potential insecurity (as in, he takes the form associated with his default physical being in order to assert that he is not, in fact, insecure of his “bear-like” features), or it could be as straightforward as he finds comfort in a form similar to his born, elven one- while he may have been mocked for his appearance by society, he has turned it into a weapon, something useful, something strong.
or, y’know, it could just not be that deep.
(i truly, truly hope it is that deep.)
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lightgriffinsect · 11 months
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a little thing i noticed about amanda's character and wanna talk about
Spoilers for Amanda the Adventurer under the cut:
One thing I've noticed - and is probably very easy to notice - about Amanda as a character, as least from what we see as Riley watching the tapes, is that she's very confrontational. She's very quick to take matters into her own hands.
One way we see her do this is by wresting control of the playable parts of the show, like where you have to type in an answer and decide to troll her because come on, we all wanted to do that to Dora the Explorer when we were kids. And like where you intentionally pick the wrong option 3 times and she either gets rid of the wrong options entirely (see how she gets rid of the fridge and sink in In The Kitchen, forcing you to pick the pantry) or replaces them with something you can't pick (she replaces the fruits in Everything Rots with organs and only brings the fruits back after you resort to clicking on the rotten sandwich.)
Another way is how in the second viewing of In The Neighborhood* when all the buildings are replaced with meat shops, forcing you, Amanda, and Wooly to enter one. She demands you to help her pick out a special treat, which being obviously impossible, causes her to get more and more angry. She snarls "Let me out of here" and somehow manages to break all of you out of that shop, where we then find that all the other shops have been restored and then burnt to the ground.
-> This shows that she obviously has some control over the affairs of the in-show universe. She can control what you choose and even what you type in the blanks. And she's very quick to use it if she believes you're messing with her.
-> It also shows that she may not understand the extent of her own powers. She believes it was you, Riley, the viewer, who corrupted the shops in In The Neighborhood. But as far as we know, the MC has no control over anything that's happening.
It's thus possible that Amanda could have somehow accidentally triggered that change in the episode and not realized it. And given how prone she is to frustration and helplessness, she may believe that it was you/Riley who caused it and subsequently take her rage out on you.
Or it could be Wooly. No one seems to really know his exact role in this game, myself included. It's possible that he may have abilities of his own that give him limited control over the show as well, if to a lesser extent than Amanda does. However, this does beg the question of why he would corrupt the game like that. I think Wooly as a character is very interesting, and honestly he probably deserves his own post theorizing about him, so I'll go no deeper into this for now.
Anyway, I really just made this post to highlight how in a fight or flight situation, Amanda is most likely to pick 'fight'. And I wanted to talk about how that might tie in with Rebecca as Amanda.
It's hinted at that Rebecca was, probably because of Hameln's influence, accidentally OR intentionally trapped inside the show, and specifically inside Amanda. She may even be a spirit trapped and forced to pilot a husk of a character herself, as it doesn't seem to me at least that Amanda the character has a will of her own. As far as I can tell, the scenes of her anger all seem to be Rebecca.
This makes me wonder. Was Amanda herself only ever meant to be a happy-go-lucky Dora-esque character? Did the confrontational attitude only stem from Rebecca once she was trapped inside the show?
I think that's possible. We know from Coffee Break, where Sadie interviews Sam Colton, that Rebecca was a source of joy and kindness in her life. Despite her troubled past from before Sam adopted her, she was known to be loving and optimistic, and I think Sam would have wanted Amanda to emulate those same qualities, back when Rebecca was playing her in the live-action version. Before Hameln purchased the show and turned it into an animated series.
So I believe that Rebecca only adopted the harsh, sarcastic, cruel demeanor that slips through in the show after she was trapped with no way out. By extension, Amanda, who is almost certainly her vessel, is the one we see acting on these qualities. Rebecca is devastated at the loss of her father, and possibly bitter towards Hameln if she ever realized what they may have been trying to get her to do. (Summon demons, as seen in the tape of Rebecca recording lines with Sam and the Director.) While I do doubt this, since she's like 10 with very little potential knowledge of demonology, it's possible that after being trapped in the show for so long, she has become cynical and quick to anger, rushing the plot along when you troll Amanda one too many times.
This also might explain why Amanda doesn't fully understand her own capabilities. She takes matters into her own hands and forces you to pick the right option for relatively petty things that she understands how to control. Aside from that, she doesn't seem able to stop the corruption of the stores in the second viewing of In The Neighborhood*. She comes to the conclusion that it must be Riley, you, doing this and gets angry with you for not playing the game right.
So if Amanda really is Rebecca, that would make a lot of sense as to why things get changed or corrupted to the surprise of us, Wooly, and her. Sometimes she exercises her control with full understanding of what she's doing, and other times she doesn't even realize it's happening because of her. And she becomes angry and, intentionally or not, confronts us and takes away our power to influence the show through our answers.
Orrrrr maybe I'm just being really nitpicky about this lmao.
In conclusion, MatPat has pretty much finished the game and he's already working on a theory, so I'm excited to see what he has to say about all this!
Thanks for reading my long post! I really like this game and I had fun coming up with a theory for it!
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*I actually don't remember if this was the exact name of the tape ^^ please bear with me here
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car crashes and windmills, or why supernaturality is just an excuse for the events of Petscop
CONTENT WARNING: DISCUSSIONS OF DEATH, CAR ACCIDENTS, KIDNAPPING AND CHILD ABUSE
READING-THIS WARNING: THROUGHOUT THIS, THERE IS AN ASSUMPTION YOU HAVE SOME IDEA OF RELEVANT PETSCOP THEORIES. IF ANYTHING DOESN'T MAKE SENSE, YOU'LL PROBABLY FIND A WRITE-UP OF THE THEORY ON REDDIT. ALSO, I'M BAD AND MAY MINSINTERPRET OR NOT FULLY UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING.
READING-THIS WARNING 2: THIS IS VERY RAMBLY. LIKE, SUPER RAMBLY. SORRY.
Alright. Petscop. That's a dead kid.
I've spent about two days running down a rabbithole with this series, trying to ignore the sheer horror of it all. It's fascinating in the way it captures this despite being so metaphorical - it reminds me of Yume Nikki and Chapter 12 of Dreamscape, which as we already know, I love and understand very well.
Anyway, I've been reading nonstop theories about this game for some time, trying my best to make sense of it all. And after a few sleepless nights, I think I'm ready to get into analytical about Petscop.
What better way to get rid of that sinking feeling of horror than to write about it?
I don't believe in the supernatural - I probably never will - but instead I believe in the power of coincidence. It's very probable that strange things happen sometimes, but they can all be explained, and we have a tendency to see patterns in the chaos. Things are often more simple than they seem.
Obviously, because Petscop and the world surrounding it are fictitious, the potential that something irrational or out-of-this-world occurred is much higher. However, I want to demonstrate that the idea that it is all reality is far more horrifying than pretending it's all a few ghosts and time travel.
The series clearly draws on the idea that Paul knows (some of) the people mentioned within the game, and is even implied to be a part of the family himself.
If it's not ghosts and time travel... then what's the point of Petscop?
evaluating some petscop theories that imply reality
Paul alludes several times to the game being haunted, or at least it trying to trick him into thinking it's haunted, but he seems unconvinced. He also alludes to the possibility of AI within the game, which is likely too complicated for the game being developed in ~1995-6.
What is a more likely theory surrounding both of these is that a singular game can be accessed from multiple consoles by multiple players, which also explains the prevalence of DEMO recordings and the interactions between Marvin/Belle/the Pink TOOL and Paul. The Pink TOOL is not literally the ghost of Mike trying to communicate with Paul, but rather Belle (considering the handwriting's similarities to Draw Mode) communicating with Paul.
Paul could potentially be Care, but is suffering amnesia as a result of trauma inflicted on him, where the goal of the game (from Rainer's perspective) is to help Paul uncover the truth of his past. There's plenty of debate surrounding the "trans theory" that I'm not really interested in getting into, but the game definitely links Paul and Care, particularly in the "Care-with-Mike's-Eyebrows" room, as well as events in the house aligning with events Paul states he has experienced, and their exact same birthday. I don't know if I agree with the twin theory, but that itself is more plausible than other proposed supernatural theories linking the two.
Both Belle and Care are implied to have been kidnapped (by Marvin?) and forced to undergo some sort of rebirthing therapy (potentially involving the Needles Piano) inside an abandoned elementary school. The rebirthing is implied to be Marvin's attempt to bring back the late Lina, It's possible that the DEMO recordings of Belle are taken during her kidnapping, as the game has reportedly been left on for ~17 years.
Much of the confusion surrounding Lina's death is related to the windmill - how did it and Lina simply disappear, and why is she "unable to be seen"? However, the game makes regular references to car accidents, and Lina's grave says "They didn't see her", which suggests that perhaps she was hit by a car, unseen by the driver, and buried in an unmarked grave (possibly by Marvin, since he knows where it is). Alternatively, the idea that Lina died stuck in a machine within the windmill still alludes to reality.
The game itself is very deliberate, and after Mike dies in 1995, it seems as though Rainer continued it to expose Marvin ("I started it in 1996, for Marvin"). If we consider the possibility that multiple players can access the game from differing perspectives, and the game can track their movements, then Rainer had different purposes for each player. It's suggested that the game reflects real world places, so taking that into account, we can try to determine the purpose of these.
During the segment where Marvin is given a speed boost, it seems as though Rainer wants to know the location of Lina's grave, and perhaps expose Marvin for his kidnapping and child abuse. He also provides deliberate messages to Belle during her demo sections, seemingly trying to break her out of the Newmaker Plane. Paul's journey also seems to surround exposing what Marvin has done, or at least trying to highlight what is in the School and what happened to Care (who may be Paul himself). These goals may correspond with the 'cycles' that were noted in the Comprehensive Progress Document.
The game is also implied to be an elaborate suicide note - the Pet description for Care A ends with, "Fuck you all, and fuck me as well. Merry Christmas. Check your bathroom now.", which is signed by Rainer. This, along with some events in the House, suggest this game might be an exploration of Rainer's guilt over working with Marvin on the rebirthing process.
Time is particularly prevalent during the game - the colours of the calendars representing different years, for example - but it is still distinguished, which is to note. This suggests that time travel isn't necessarily occurring.
reality as a pathway to trauma procession
Allusions to reality in texts can act as a path for characters to begin trauma procession, which may be the intentions of deliberately connecting Paul and Care within Petscop. The idea of things being realistic is infinitely more horrifying that unrealism, because unrealism forces a disconnection between the viewer and the events unfolding.
This is actually the reason why I really dislike the idea that Basil was dream-sharing with Sunny, or Spirit Mari is literally Mari's spirit trying to communicate with Sunny - it's because it misses the presentation of forgiveness, abandonment and regret in the text. Stranger is a representation of guilt over leaving Basil behind, and Spirit Mari is a representation of Sunny's hidden desire for forgiveness.
Taking things as the supernatural in this type of game tends to make you overlook the purpose of their existence. For example, blankly taking the Pink TOOL's words as Mike from the grave misses the discovery that they are Belle's previous attempts to connect with the outside world.
It's easy to miss the finer details this way, which is why I've always disliked these theories. There's more to it, keep digging!
special thanks to the giant document on the Petscop reddit that details everything.
i'll admit it, this was just a big excuse for me to write about what i think petscop is about... jhshjsjhshjs.
song i listened to while writing this: YY by 23.exe.
i'm such a pussy that i need to blast upbeat vocaloid music when thinking about Petscop. isn't it so weird that i absolutely adore psychological horror but i'm a massive wimp who can barely sit through it?
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local-pr1nter · 6 months
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Mikan Tsumikis Execution: Bye Bye Ouchies!
TW!!! Gorey subject matter, syringes, needles, blood, surgery, and other hospital/medical related themes, and implied past trauma of a character
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Mikan is one of my favorite characters in Danganronpa and has so much potential as a character besides fan-service or a punching bag for other characters.
Her trial and execution did her dirty, and that's not news to anyone here. It stands as one of the most unpopular trials in the franchise, and I have to agree. While I don't wanna get into the writing of the whole trial itself, I'd like to talk about her execution.
As an execution, it's lackluster, strange, and overall just disappointing (which is cruel to say, but Danganronpa is known for its executions) Some aspects of the execution make sense, such as her fear of large objects and her past trauma, but they didn't do anything creative with those concepts (Plus I'm still iffy on them including her trauma at all - it just seems to play into the over sexualization of her character, making many people believe her execution to be one last piece of fan-service before she's out of the game.) They threw a giant arm in there, then launched her into space with it. It just seemed lazy.
If you compare that to the two previous executions, it gets worse.
Teruteru was prepared and cooked alive in a volcano. It wasn't randomly thrown in there just for the sake of it - it made sense for the setting and played into his talent, then the creators turned a famous gag (tar + feathers = chicken) and implemented it into the execution (I presume it's buttermilk + flour + hot oil = fried chicken). It's all connected, it's unique, and it makes sense.
Peko willingly let herself die to the robot warriors thinking she accidentally hurt/killed Fuyuhiko. Once again, it played into her talent and made sense with her character. She was a "puppet", made to protect her young master by any means necessary. That own mentality is essentially what made her hurt/kill him in the end, filling her with despair and guilt before the very end. As a plus! It was the first execution in Danganronpa to show another student involved - Fuyuhiko had the balls to try and save her - to stop her. That made it one of the most devastating executions throughout the franchise, becoming beloved by many fans.
With Mikan...she's in a hospital bed, then thrown into an arm, and launched into space as the said arm is injected with some sort of drug. Fear of large objects? Check. Talent? Check. Played into her character? Not at all. It only came off as one last bit of fan service before she bit the dust, becoming an unforgettable execution when compared to the others in the entire series. But not for the best reasons.
Here's where I throw my ideas out there. First, addressing Mikans character.
She's a nurse and passionate about it. Likes knowing that other people's lives depend on her.
Had to learn to help herself, as no one else would.
Weird obsession with blood/gore/horror/needles/syringes/injections
Timid, paranoid, self-deprecating, meek, and fragile.
Experienced mental and physical abuse from a very young age. Bullied and used by others throughout her life.
Has an obsessive personality.
A klutz.
We could incorporate a variety of these points, but it will be easier if I simply explain my idea for Mikans execution.
Mikan appears in one of the hospital rooms on a cot, apparently waiting for something. The door opens, revealing Monokuma with a large syringe.
Mikan runs past Monokuma in fear, running out of the room and into the hospital. Other Monokumas are working in the hospital, who all eventually join in the chase for Mikan instead of helping her.
It looks like Mikan is about to escape when the door she goes through (the sign above is a poorly made exit sign merely taped on, which would later drop to reveal it as the OR) leads to an operating room. The doors would shut behind her, trapping her. I'm thinking it's one of the operating rooms that has seats so people can observe as the surgery goes on, so the seats would be filled with multiple Monokumas to observe the execution.
Another Monokuma would already be on the operating floor, dressed in scrubs. The Monokumas that were previously chasing her would bust through the doors and force Mikan towards the OR table. That's when it's revealed they intend to do a heart transplant to "save" another Monokuma. Mikan would be forced onto the table and restrained, and then the "operation" would begin.
I can imagine this would warrant a shift in style change, merely showing the silhouettes or shadows of Mikan and the surgeon to imply what's happening. Absurd shadows and body movements would imply the surgeon has not applied any anesthesia and is merely torturing Mikan, presumably cutting and maiming her. The style would shift back to normal to reveal a cartoonish heart being picked up by the surgeon, already previously wounded to match with Mikans bandages.
Then one of two things can happen here- the surgeon can make a big show of tripping and dropping the heart, rendering it useless now that it's been contaminated, then disposes of it. Or the surgeon can place the heart in the wounded Monokuma and stitch it back up, only for it to flatline, rendering it dead.
Both would make Mikans death meaningless (I think it would be pretty fucked up if she was still alive and able to witness either of the previously mentioned outcomes, then shortly flatlining afterwards) and instill that last bit of despair before the execution ends.
Mikan would flatline as well, and then, after another shadow style change that shows the surgeon covering her body, we see her covered up by a cloth. The execution would end with her blood soaking through the cloth. Fade to black, and it goes back to the game.
I can imagine this is probably an extremely gorey and horrific execution, even for DR standards, but I think it would make sense and make for a final goodbye before Mikans out of the game for good.
Plus, it aligns with some of the previous ideas I mentioned earlier, such as her obsession with blood, gore and needles. While she's the one usually in control of a medical setting, it would be flipped for the execution, forcing her to be the patient, unable to help or save herself due to the Monokumas forcing her through it. She's not in control of any of it, forced to endure it all before she finally bleeds out from her injuries. And the twist of the knife would be making her death meaningless- either from her heart being discarded, or the injured Monokuma dying regardless of the new heart.
Overall, I think this execution would be a better fit for Mikan. It incorporates her talent, relates back to her past, and ultimately full of despair.
The execution would be called: Emergency Operation!
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mickeys-malarkey · 1 year
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I can't hold my Bendy theories in anymore!!
I've only got a few people to infodump to about Bendy IRL, I'm just so excited after watching the BATDR trailer and reading all the new theories that I can barely sleep or get any work done, and now that we have an official release date they can't chicken out if my theories are correct rofl. So, here I go!
Fair Warning: There's no way to avoid it, this is gonna have so many spoilers for all the current Bendy games and books (well, except BINR. But there's also not really a story in that one) that I'm just gonna have to assume that if you're still reading past this point, you've either already played/read the entire series (obviously minus BATDR) or you don't care about spoilers!
Pt. 1/3: Expanding (Mostly) On My TIOL Thoughts
As I said in my thought summaries here and on Twitter, I hate Nathan Arch. Dude literally sets off every single alarm bell I have, I don't understand why nobody else seems freaked the heck out by him… *shudders* I'm convinced that he's the answer to theMeatly's question.
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To start off, I'd like to point out that… Nathan says his notes exist to “provide context for the contemporary reader,” which sounds like he's just gonna be stating general historical facts every reader would've known when the book was originally published but might not know when it was republished and are necessary to understanding what Joey's saying. But that's not what the notes are like at all? They actually consist of very personal information that readers at the time of original publication couldn't possibly have known and definitely aren't necessary to understanding what Joey's saying; and the vast majority seem to specifically be either 1: flip-flopping between singing Joey's praises and making remarks he really shouldn't be making if he were actually trying to dispel the negative rumors around the man as he claims, or 2: confirming or denying descriptions of himself?? 🚨
It feels like he's trying to manipulate us into seeing Joey as a genius and saint whose inventions we should accept with open arms whilst simultaneously positioning the guy as a scapegoat to take all blame in case we don't, and into seeing Nathan himself as an intelligent and kind man who definitely respected and admired Joey and, of course, would never, ever mistreat him, preemptively discrediting any rumors about him being an abusive friend that might crop up. Even when Joey makes comments that in no way cast him in a bad light— Joey be like “oh Nathan loved creative people and even though he would never understand us wanted to be us” and Nathan be like “actually no I like myself fine, and also no I dislike creatives in general, they're boring and too self-indulgent. It's specifically Joey that I admired, and therefore I admired his creativity specifically by extension. Isn't it just like Joey not to see the compliment—?” Um, no?? No, Nathan, that sounds absolutely nothing like Joey; he's literally been enraptured by every statement or action that could possibly be construed as complimenting him in this book. Did you just indirectly end your relationships with every other creative you've ever met so that nobody would believe anyone who claims that you looked down upon Joey? 🚨🚨
Let me get into some of the more unique notes from Nathan.
“The first time I read this [Elves and the Shoemaker] story it meant a great deal to me. Joey, as he said in his introduction, was never one to talk about his past. He never spoke about his parents. I certainly never met them. I don't even remember how I learned his father made shoes. So to get a glimpse back at this part of his life, for an old friend, it was very special. I remember telling Joey all this after I read the manuscript back in ‘41. He just smiled.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 23
With the way this note happens right before Joey practically spells out that he trusts nobody and denies everyone even the most innocuous information out of self-preservation in the very next story, it does not feel like Nathan's sharing a heartwarming moment between friends. It feels like he's bragging about his position and accomplishments in their predator-and-prey relationship; like he's proud of himself for slowly breaking Joey down and eventually getting him to divulge info he'd been denying him. If your parents lived nearby and were perfectly lovely people, why do you think that you would neither talk about them with nor introduce them to someone who was supposedly one of your closest friends? I'll get into why I think he finally gave the info up in a bit.
In the Lottie story, if Nathan had only said that he wasn't sure the letter exchange had actually happened, I would've been like “yeah sure, we all know Joey's a liar. 🤷🏻‍♀️” But no, he specifically eases us from confirmation of Eckhart and Donaldson's existences even though he claims to have only briefly met them, to claiming Joey was such a good storyteller he could make you think you personally met someone who never existed even if he'd literally just told you that they were imaginary, to casting doubt on the very existence of a girl he was described as having been known by name to outside of the letter exchange.
“I met Joey the following year at the lab and only briefly had the chance to meet [Private Donaldson and Private Eckhart]. They were every bit the characters Joey describes them to be.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 27
“When I first read this I forgot, despite Joey saying as much, that this was fiction, and spent far too much time racking my brain over who this James [who Joey says he told Lottie he met when he came by the lab to say hi to me] was. Joey is so good with his storytelling that even when he tells you it's not real, you can forget a moment later.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 37 (emphasis added)
“I have gone through every piece of correspondence Joey ever saved as part of my work preserving his memory and documenting his life, and I must confess I was looking forward to reading Lottie's letters in person, having been moved to tears reading this part of the manuscript thirty years ago. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find them. It is possible they were lost to time, and I do deep down hope that to be true. However, even if this story is revealed to be one of Joey's excellent fictions, I think it doesn't really matter. Joey would, of course, call it another example of his illusion. I think the message in the story is meaningful regardless whether it really happened or not. And regardless if Lottie actually herself existed or not, she is a fine embodiment of the brave women who served our country in war.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 41 (emphasis added)
I absolutely do not think this is a reality check, I think Nathan's trying to erase Lottie's existence – even gaslighting anyone who knew her in real life into thinking they'd imagined her – to throw us off the “Joey's Illusion of Living ‘philosophy’ is literally just the coping mechanism of an extremely traumatized man” scent; I wonder if Lottie actually fell victim to suicide shortly after writing to Joey that she was spiraling into a deep, dark depression, and Joey made up everything that happened after that specific letter in order to cope with the loss – pretend that “my dear friend isn't dead despite being sent somewhere there was no actual fighting where I thought she'd be safe; I saved her life and she's living a Happily Ever After overseas, married to a handsome young British soldier” – rather than just the goodbye letter to wrap her story up in a neat bow… Maybe Nathan even helped him pretend she was still alive in order to endear himself to this literal kid who was destroyed with grief?
Speaking of which, does nobody find the circumstances under which Nathan and Joey met… concerning? Nathan says “we knew each other since we were teenagers,” which sounds fine until you realize they met because Joey lied about his age and joined the army while still a minor, where he was bullied and pressured into things like underage drinking by grown-@$$ legal adults, multiple of which were also of higher rank. And not only was Nathan one of those grown-@$$ legal adults of higher rank and definitely bullying him just like the others (“I swear I definitely didn't join the other guys in giving him that Real Man™ complex of his like he says—” yeah, sure, Nathan, I totally believe you /s. 🙄), but clearly his horrifying apparent hobby that I'll explain next was already established at the time, seeing as Joey saw the photo of Ivan Newsome dying in agony with his own eyeballs when Nathan introduced him to Walter Richmond… 😬🚩
I'm convinced that Walter, Arthur, and Isabel were three of Nathan's previous victims, and they mirror the relationships he has with Joey, Allison, and Susie.
Walter looking at Nathan “as if asking permission to speak” before engaging Joey in conversation (Nathan nudges us towards believing they had no prior relationship by stating that he was flattered by Joey's observation that he had a way of introducing anyone so that it felt like they were his guest even if he'd just met them… but technically neither confirms nor denies anything 👀) has creepily similar vibes to how Joey “just smiled” in response to Nathan's gushing over the info on his parents; I feel like Joey gave up the info because he had to jump through hoops in order for Nathan to give him permission to publish his book— to be able to get the thing out the door without tripping any of Nathan's “Joey's disobeying and must be punished” alarms. Also, notice how Walter mysteriously had “a lot of people who knew him, but nobody who wanted to claim the title of ‘Walter's friend…’” and how the only people Joey's apparently still in contact with in BATIM are A: one of Nathan's (confirmed) employees, B: a janitor who didn't even realize Joey would remember him so definitely doesn't have enough of a relationship with Joey for Nathan to consider him a threat, and C: a shady veterinarian (wouldn't be surprised if he works for Nathan, as well). It's a classic abuser's tactic to isolate and villainize their victim so that they have no choice but to rely on the abuser; I'll get into more reasons I think that was happening in a bit.
I find it suspicious how Arthur not only personally delivers Ivan's effects to his sister Isabel, just tells her what happened which you'd expect someone with such fresh and debilitatingly severe PTSD to be very reluctant to do, and sticks around to befriend her, but also attends her art show showcasing Walter's war photos— it feels like someone was forcing Arthur to do all of this behind-the-scenes, and maybe the firecracker scene wasn't just about Isabel punishing the rich people for their morbid fascinations, but also Nathan punishing Arthur for being difficult about the situation behind-the-scenes. Meanwhile, Joey just happens to hire this random voice actress to replace Susie who we know just happens to be working for Nathan by the time BATIM happens, the memo that she had been hired specifically marked “don't deliver to Susie” just happens to make it into Susie's possession (seeing as she paraphrases it to Henry), Allison seems to know full well that Joey can't fire her when he tries to in DCTL, and then, by TLO, something has apparently happened to where Tom's been rehired which neither he nor Joey had any choice in and he doesn't wanna talk to anyone about (I doubt it was just all the deaths in DCTL, especially considering Joey went from his furious “I never want to see you again” attitude to begging Tom to come back. We've only heard him beg once before, which I'll get into later), and Tom and Allison have bizarrely switched opinions on the situation and machine (Allison changing from “your invention is amazing, Tom! Why are you stuck on the bad parts of the situation?” in DCTL to “I don't understand why you accepted this job back” in TLO, and Tom changing from “horrible things happened because of my machine, I wish I'd never been ensnared by this place” in DCTL to “why doesn't Ally understand? You don't just abandon a miracle” in TLO)—? It seems to me like Allison was never truly Joey's employee, she was Nathan's employee the whole time (which puts Joey's refusal to attend her and Tom's wedding in a whole new light), and Joey wasn't the only one punished for his failures and attempts to override the steel tycoon's authority.
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To reiterate, since I saw some people being confused about the massive change: even with the memory loss issue, Allison's opinion in BATDR is just a natural progression from when the something happened between DCTL and TLO. 😛😬
Anyways, I get the distinct impression that creating situations like these to turn people into murder puppets without anyone being the wiser he was even involved is a hobby of Nathan's.
“…I am glad that he wrote [the murder mystery story] down this one time. It helps me to remember Joey at his most charming and sharp. Later years he became too fixated on things he might have gotten wrong, there was too much guilt and worry, too much fear. It didn't feel like the same man at the end, that's for sure.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion of Living, pg. 98
You can't tell me that doesn't sound like he gets off on seeing how absolutely ruthless he can make his victims whilst still having them believe they're in the right and he's bitter as heck that one of his favorite pet projects came to his senses and was haunted by his conscience later in life— he literally just admitted he preferred a Joey who admired a murderer and thought that allowing people to die and getting murdered himself must've been worth it for Walter because now he has the immortality of being in a fascinating story instead of having lived in mediocrity over a Joey who felt guilt.
On that note, I absolutely do not believe Nathan's note on Henry's story was him trying to get the truth out about Henry being a despicable person. This is actually the chapter that first clued me in on Nathan's creepiness when I did my ADHD “skim the whole book except reading all the way through anything that looks especially interesting before properly reading” thing I do.
“Joey has always been a professional person, far more so in many ways than me. That is why this section of the book is so forgiving of the man who abandoned the studio he helped create. Joey can't help but see the good in people. That being said, as a good friend of Joey's, I know that Henry's departure was a great upheaval for him and a great personal betrayal. Joey never truly forgave Henry, and I don't think he should have felt obligated to. The fact that Joey is so gracious in this part of the book is a reflection of his incredible generosity in allowing Henry Stein to be stainless in the eyes of history. I think, had he lived longer, Joey might have in later years called it his greatest illusion.” ~ Nathan Arch, The Illusion Of Living, pg. 155
At first I found his saltiness funny, but then I read Joey's actual descriptions and… he's very clearly trying and failing to put down an amazing person, not build up a horrible one. I wondered why Nathan would be claiming the opposite and I realized— it sounds like he's admitting to being Dead Sea Level salty that Joey got terminally ill specifically because he's certain that, if he hadn't, he would've eventually been able to fully convince Joey that Henry was the villain rather than himself and therefore Joey wouldn't have reached out to the animator towards the end of his life in BATIM. Which leads me to my next observation:
I think Joey's play, “The Angel and The Devil,” was about Henry and Nathan.
I don't care that the Shoulder Angel is played by Abby and the Shoulder Devil is played by Joey, lol; that doesn't matter when you look at the actual content. I want you to read this excerpt:
Angel: [Empathy] is a wonderful talent that also leads [humans] down dark paths. Devil: Thank goodness for dark paths, they lead all great artists to their greatest creations. Angel: Empathy is your provenance then? Devil: We share it— for you it leads men to reach out and help, build hospitals, begin charities… Angel: For you it allows men to achieve their greatness through manipulation and fear. Devil: Is it not wonderful?
Going back to the murder mystery story, Walter and Isabel's thought processes perfectly match what the Shoulder Devil in Joey's play is described as using empathy to inspire humanity to do:
Walter was inspired to let Ivan die so that his photo – his art – would have a more compelling story that tugs at the heartstrings.
Isabel was inspired to kill Walter for the crime of letting Ivan die, masterfully manipulating her confession so that it technically wasn't a confession, instilling fear of herself in everyone present with the fact that if she did do it then she was untouchable legally thanks to her money, and finally, she was fully convinced that she would also be untouchable socially— even be better off, because people would see her as a hero for delivering justice to a monster like Walter.
Going back to BATIM, Joey literally says this to our faces:
“The truth is, you were always so good at pushing, Henry… Pushing me to do the right thing. You should've pushed a little harder.” ~ Joey Drew, Bendy and the Ink Machine, ch. 5
Does that not sound like Henry was good at using empathy to inspire kindness/etc. the way the Shoulder Angel is described as doing (Joey's actually very right that empathy is a morally neutral phenomenon that can be used for good or evil! *Spoken with hyper-empathetic autistic/low-to-no-empathy autistic solidarity*)?
The Angel and Devil also say that whichever of them the man they were assigned to doesn't choose will have to leave. This tells me that the ending of Joey's play – where it's implied the man the angel and devil were assigned to chose the angel – was read rather than acted out (with the excuse that they for some reason couldn't pick a random person to play him out of the crowd like they did for the Hatcheck Girl) in order to symbolize how Joey wanted to choose his true friend and make the toxic one leave, but he had that choice taken away from him when Henry was driven away despite his best efforts. In other words, I think both his version of the friend breakup story and Henry's version have elements of truth and deception to them.
Anybody notice that it seems like Wally and Tom seemed to have been being pitted against and told lies about each other as well as having their work sabotaged by an unknown third party?
“So here's my beef with this whole Gent thing. I went to school, yeah that's right— me! Star Student at Brickmore High. I know my potatoes! So where's this ‘Mr. Connor’ fella get off telling me what to do? These college boys. They can tell ya what's wrong but if you try to fix it on ‘em. They're outta here!” ~ Wally Franks, Boris and the Dark Survival
“Not all of us are well connected, son. Not all of us have chances. Especially to get a job as an engineer when I ain't had no proper education and training.” ~ Thomas Connor, Dreams Come to Life, pg. 252
“If there's one loose bolt around here we're gonna have a whole mess of trouble. And wouldn't you know it, that Wally guy is one loose bolt! He keeps the floors clean he says, he didn't sign on for no science project. All I know is someone needs to keep these pipes maintained. And he can't be a slacker.” ~ Thomas Connor, Boris and the Dark Survival
Wally thinks he's being looked down upon for not having gone to college like Tom (who didn't go to college) and his efforts to help out are not just unappreciated but met with unreasonable emotional response. Meanwhile, Tom thinks Wally's being selfish and lazy and leaving all the work to be done by him. Sound familiar?
“…Henry left for his own reasons, and the correspondence between us became less and less. To be honest, it almost felt like a weight off when he left. He had grown more sensitive as the studio became more successful and giving him pep talks had become exhausting for me. All the good qualities he brought, the hard work and diligence, were being undermined by a restless need for something different. Something that wasn't Bendy. I'll never understand that drive. Bendy was and is perfection.” ~ Joey Drew, The Illusion of Living, pg. 176-177
“Only two weeks into this project and already it's gotten interesting. Joey is a man of ideas… And only ideas. When I agreed to start this whole thing with him I thought there would be a little more give and take. Instead I give, and he takes. I haven't seen Linda for days now. Still, someone has to make this happen. When in doubt, just keep drawing Henry. On the plus side, I've got a new character I think people are gonna love.” ~ Henry Stein, Bendy and the Ink Machine, ch. 3
Joey thinks that Henry was being unreasonably emotional and looking down upon Bendy as not good enough (when he obviously loved the character/cartoons), and that his efforts to help were unappreciated. Meanwhile, Henry thinks Joey was being a selfish, lazy leech and leaving all the work to be done by him.
Is it really a stretch at all to wonder if Henry and Joey were similarly being pitted against and told lies about each other as well as having their work sabotaged by an unknown third party? Maybe the exact same third party?
This makes me very suspicious about who was really behind the worrying newspaper in Joey's apartment; something tells me that Joey's Shoulder Devil successfully pushed his Shoulder Angel off that right shoulder. Twice. I can see Nathan thinking “fine, if you won't give up on this stupid animator, I'll use this opportunity to remove him from the picture permanently and poetically…”
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Is Joey's being so touched by the memory of Isabel “angelically” helping Arthur during his war flashbacks an “I wish my Shoulder Angel would come save me?” And is his horror at the descriptions of Shell Shock (PTSD) as basically a time loop foreshadowing that he ends up trapped in a real time loop, himself, by Nathan's sadistic design? I think it's likely, especially after reading @dreamfisher-nux's posts speculating on Wilson's identity. If he's the Gent worker who stole Shaun's tool belt in BATDS and “somebody” who stole Tom's invention in Allison's BATIM Chapter 5 letter, and that invention was the seeing tool, so Wilson's the one that's been tampering with Henry's invisible messages, and he potentially murdered Henry and Joey when Henry returned at Joey's request… How much of this and how much more might he have been doing under Nathan's influence? Is he another one of Nathan's Murder Puppets? 👀
I think all the Henry stuff also explains why Joey claims that Sammy, Jack, and Norman were hired after Mr. Animator left despite the evidence in BATIM and DCTL that Sammy and Norman knew him personally. The only two versions of events he's being allowed to hear are “Henry leaving is your fault and your feelings about the situation are unreasonable” and “Henry was an awful person, you should be glad he's gone.” Nathan would never allow him to hear “it's Nathan's fault and your feelings about the situation are valid,” so he's gotta choose between believing two very painful other options; why wouldn't he try to discredit the most painful one?
While we're adding to the list of people who Nathan seems to have made disappear Mafia Boss-style, it sure seems awfully convenient that the two main Crack-Up Comics artists’ names “appear to have been lost to time” after they wrote a comic where Bendy (Joey) was literally sweating over how Boswell (Nathan) was the richest cat in the world and could crush him like a bug if he didn't perform his job to satisfaction…
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…Sounds to me like Nathan did something to shut these two people up so that word of the true nature of his and Joey's relationship wouldn't get out.
Also, interesting how the disappearances of not only a reporter-in-training and the sister of two well-known entertainers but also the only son of the richest, most influential and most dangerous man in Atlantic City didn't get Mr. Joey “Bankrupt From Impulsive Spending Who Apparently Doesn't Even Have The Power To Fire His Own Employees (and ‘Employees’) Nor The Respect Of Enough People To Not Be Giggled At And Whispered About During His Own Speech At His Own Party” Drew and all of his employees arrested or worse… In fact, from the new teaser and archive images that came out, we now know the studio survived for almost two years afterwards before filing bankruptcy and closing forever…
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…at which point Joey was mysteriously missing for a while. This is pretty much pure speculation, but I wonder if it could be that Joey's need for a wheelchair stems from an injury sustained in this time? Mr. Mafia Boss decided he needed his kneecaps busted or something?? At any rate, it sounds to me like Joey had someone richer, more influential, and more dangerous than Mr. Chambers “on his side…” until he failed too many times, and needed to be punished more severely? 👀
“Again I shook my head. Didn't [Constance] understand that this was not how it worked? She hadn't lived in my world. Any company that could afford such a machine, that could hide it, that had such dark huge secrets, they had to be protected by something huge as well.” ~ Bill Chambers, Bendy: The Lost Ones, pg. 191
Then, ink machine things continued at Gent… until the year Allison and Tom got married.
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Sounds to me like Gent might've been condemned in order to punish Allison and Tom either for the very fact that they got married (making them more-difficult-to-control puppets) or because they failed to get Joey to come to their wedding where Nathan could access him in-person again…
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This archive entry sounds as if Joey had to go into hiding, perhaps to escape Nathan and/or people like Bill's dad who were waiting for Nathan to rescind his protection? Also, as an animation history nerd, it sounds to me like the Bendy cartoons were picked up by other studios besides Archgate in attempt to reboot them after JDS kicked the bucket (as has happened to countless cartoons whose original studios kicked the bucket in real life, e.g., the Fleischer cartoons, the Hanna-Barbera cartoons, the Veggie Tales cartoons, etc.), and it wouldn't surprise me if these ��minor attempts to rekindle the magic” were Joey's feeble attempts at keeping what was left of Bendy out of Nathan's claws. Remember, Nathan didn't say in Crack-Up Comics that he “inherited” the Bendy IP from Joey's estate, he said he bought it, as further confirmed in the final archive entry.
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This means Joey did not leave Bendy to Nathan in his will. In fact, it sounds like he either didn't have a will at all or it was destroyed when he died… Anyone notice that Joey's secret BATDS recording, where he asks Nathan for money, is the only time we've heard him sound audibly nervous?
Strange how, in DCTL, Joey calls Bertrum “Bertrum” when introducing him to the most uncomfortable person at his party, who respects him as his boss; it's not until the people who hold financial power over him start whispering and giggling that he introduces him as “Bertie,” as if he wasn't specifically trying to slight Bertrum as the man in question assumed, but instead was trying to assert to all the hungry cats in the room that he was also a cat, rather than a tasty lil mouse for them to devour… Nathan is worse than them? He's able to break Joey's facade of confidence that this crowd of investors could only make him reinforce? What's worse, the investors he tries to persuade like he does everyone else, convince that they should give him money because everything's great… but Nathan, who's supposedly his friend, he begs for money, saying that the one-and-only reason he's asking this is because the situation is dire (implying he has no choice). That's… worrisome.
Funny how, across DCTL, TIOL, and TLO, Joey consistently pulls or feels the urge to pull his cruel pranks on people anytime a new person seems to be hiding things from him or trying to take advantage of him. Buddy after being caught stealing art supplies? Bill after being caught lying about not having knowledge of the ink machine? Sammy when he suspected his deadpan-&-monotone-ness was an act and that he didn't respect him? Almost seems like the pranks are actually the survival mechanism of someone who's had a whole lotta really bad experiences with betrayal, having things hidden from him, getting taken advantage of, etc. rather than just the product of a twisted sense of humor, hm…?
“…inside I was feeling a little angry now. I don't do well when people are disloyal, and this was something I'd expected to be kept between me and Abby. Then I stopped and controlled myself (I have excellent control over my emotions) and realized I had never actually told her there was anything secret about this. I'd have to be more careful in the future. Believe you me, I have been since. A contract is a fine thing to have between colleagues, even finer at times between friends.” ~ Joey Drew, The Illusion of Living, pg. 170-171
“[Sammy] leaned back on both elbows on the stone wall. Beneath him Fifth Avenue roared and certain death would come to anyone who toppled over the edge down onto it. The man definitely had confidence in that wall. I had a sudden urge to give him a shove. Not push him over, but just to see his reaction. This might sound strange, but I needed to see a human moment from him, I needed to see the man he was hiding from me. That's the trouble when you're interested in recreating the illusion of the world. You want to see the truth of it as much as possible.” ~ Joey Drew, The Illusion of Living, pg. 188-189 (emphasis added)
Also, it's weird that, when talking about reuniting with Nathan at the Sparkling Unicorn, Joey claims not to have known Nathan very well in the army but to always have liked his personality… after having claimed to be close enough friends with him that he helped him write fake letters from a fictional character to Lottie, just a few pages earlier. Either Joey's not nearly as good a liar as he's supposed to be… or this discrepancy was created on purpose in an attempt to tell us that Joey only liked Nathan's personality back when they were in the army because he didn't actually know him as well as he thought he did. 👀
This all together…
…really makes one wonder if Joey's little intro to TIOL wasn't him humble-bragging, but genuinely explaining that the reason he took so long to write it was because A: he's been being gaslit to heck and back for decades and genuinely doesn't know what reality is as a result, and B: refusing to write this book was one of the few ways he was able to assert real control over his own life for a very long time…
“Looking back is awkward. Looking back, you can trip yourself up. I've never been a fan of it. Which is why I never had a desire to tell my story. No matter how many book deals were offered, no matter how many dinners were thrown for me. I am a man who makes up my own mind. You can't buy me. No one buys Joey Drew.” ~ Joey Drew, The Illusion of Living, pg. 3
Speaking of the intro, interesting how, as much as Joey tries to claim that his surprise at Simmons remembering his “philosophy” is because Simmons isn't the brightest bulb in the factory, he still gets noticeably hung up on the fact that his words had stuck with someone; it's almost as if the vast majority of people he knew either openly viewed him as a talentless idiot or genuinely were trying to manipulate him as he was so seemingly paranoid about, and he was beyond desperate for any scrap of genuine praise anyone would give him, no…? *Stares at basically every audio log, literally every Nathan note, and every scene where Joey reacted unsubtly ecstatically to compliments and/or irate at any hint someone was looking down on him*
Anyone notice how, throughout his whole memoir, Joey sings the praises of anyone he clearly wants to be like and drags anyone who resembles what he's actually like through the mud? “Omigosh, Sammy is just so talented and powerful and automatically respected and praised by everyone! He's so awesome! 🤩” “Yuck, Detective Sinclair wears a persona to hide how useless and powerless he is and is just so desperate for validation! I hate him! 😤 Btw, this stuff is not what my philosophy is about, I'm actually changing reality here (whatever makes you feel better, Joey /hj).” I guess this leads me into the next section…
Continued in Part Two: Expanding (Mostly) On My DCTL & TLO Thoughts
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thecollectivefixation · 2 months
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POPPY PLAYTIME chapter 3 analysis… PART 2
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ALRIGHT IT'S QUEEN AGAIN. I know, I know... IM STILL NOT DONE WITH POPPY PLAYTIME. But guys... I hadn't covered everything in the last post and obviously there are still many questions left unanswered. I'm going to see where these questions go and what answers I might be able to come up with. But hey, enjoy the ride! 😘💪
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So first off, I didn't talk about the reversed audio that appeared during the hallway sequence after going into 'home sweet home.’ 😤😤😩THE ONLY REASON i didn't, was because I didn't hear it previously in the gameplay I was watching. However, I was just searching around other peoples gameplays and I heard this audio and so I decided to find out what it actually says.
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[hallway sequence during ‘Home Sweet Home’]
The audio reveals: “I find your presence intrusive. After all this time you return, you come in here and you kill and murder, you pillage and destroy! Your presence was demanded 10 years ago and you didn't show up! 8/8/1995, you were supposed to be here. Why weren't you here? You missed the event, you missed the meeting, you missed the party! You have no right to be here. 8/8/1995."
So this confirms that ‘the hour of joy' did happen on the 8/8/1995 and that the game is placed 10 years after. Also what may confirm that we, as the protagonist came back because of guilt, is the writing on the floor. While walking through the halls as the reversed audio plays, what can be seen on the floor is the words: 'Guilt Haunts You’ These words also appear on other places such as walls.
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[GUILT HAUNTS YOU]
Before this sequence we walked into red gas that seemingly makes us either hallucinate or fall into a gas-induced sleep. But either way Catnap can somehow control the people who inhale this gas, and perhaps the hallucinations they have from it. This can be proved by Catnap speaking through the radios and appearing for split seconds to stalk the protagonist.
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[Walking into the gas-filled room]
Furthermore, it's interesting how the reversed audio was so accusatory. This further expands on the theory that the protagonist is an important figure in Playtime co. The experiments, or seemingly just Catnap wanted us there, 'demanded our presence' to be there.
Also you may be wondering who was speaking on the reversed audio. I believe Catnap was the one speaking, this is the most likely answer since during one of the tapes Catnap said a line and the voice he had was the same exact voice that was in the reversed audio. There are other theories but l'm sure it was Catnap speaking since he could have also been the one telling us "Don't move. Don't move an inch” and “Get up” during the end of the sequence as he was watching/stalking us the whole time.
Now, another question that we may be thinking about is, what happened to all the children in the Play-care orphanage during 'The Hour of Joy'? Now we know that many of the kids were used as test subjects for the experiments in order to find the secret to immortality or resurrect people who had passed away- Elliot Ludwigs child, for example. But there wasn't just a couple children living in the orphanage, there had to be lots more that hadn't been used for experiments yet.
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[past children running through halls]
We know from Miss Delights conversation with Catnap the he locked the children away somewhere so Miss Delight couldn't get to them, and all the employees died. But Catnap said the children were safe, so what happened to them? The answer to this is that... We don't know yet! There are many, many theories out there and some say that perhaps they all got eaten, had already been turned into toys or are probably still alive out there, somewhere...
We have to assume that if they were still alive, the children didn't leave the factory because i mean, it should be obvious to the outside world if dozens of orphans came out from the ground and suddenly rejoined society. 😭 We know that there was a food shortage years after the events of ‘The Hour of Joy’ so it's hard to fully assume the children could have survived ten years in the factory, but really, who knows?
Obviously they didn't intend to kill the children, since Catnap wouldn't have locked the children away from Miss Delight. There's also another theory that says the prototype was using the poppy flowers to continue the experiments with the remaining kids, to turn itself human again. BUT! We won't be finding out until possibly the next chapter.
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[Playcare underground orphanage]
About Miss Delight and the lore surrounding her, I don't really know a lot other than her conversation with Catnap from the tape and that she is one of the worst of the monster murders that occurred during ‘The Hour of Joy’. However I have read around that she was once a kind and sweet teacher, but when ‘The Hour of Joy' happened, her and her sisters were locked in a room by Catnap.
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[miss delight]
Notes found in the game during the school section reveal that Miss Delight slowly succumbed to madness and went insane. She formed a makeshift weapon and called it Barb, even considering it as a living person later on (which is crazy 🙀). According to the notes scattered around in the school, being locked in the school for so long after ‘The Hour of Joy’ and being singled out by the other teachers to die first caused Miss Delight to go as far as cannibalising the rest of the teachers/her sisters, stemming from her desperation to survive.
Her desperation would soon develop into a twisted, sick obsession for bloodshed. Had Catnap not hidden the children from Miss Delight, she would have killed them all as well. 😔☝️
I know there are so many more secrets and questions needed to be answered but that's all I have for today. Poppy Playtime chapter 3 has shined new light on so many new possibilities and now that so much has been revealed, I'm sure that we will be able to come to a conclusion soon. Thanks all for listening, see you — IN THE NEXT CHAPTER!!!!!
— Queen.
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batrogers · 2 months
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Twilight Princess: the Resistance
In the game Twilight Princess, there is a group that meets in Telma’s bar, one that clearly knows each other very well and has for a long time. The bar they meet in has a connection to the castle, the group has clear and obvious disdain for the Hylian soldiers, and most notably of all, is willing and able to break into castle grounds with fairly elaborate weapons in order to aid Link in the end-game.
This is standard video game fare, but I want to go into a few other details about the storytelling that have always leaned me towards the group having a much more active past in which the resistance they had to the Twilight threat is a footnote on a much greater accomplishment: that of regicide.
[Note: I am discounting all comics canon in this analysis, as I do not have easy access to it, nor familiarity. This is based off in-game dialogue and visuals only, with some reference to Ocarina of Time.]
Also this is stupidly long and I'm about to post something even longer, so I guess uh, get yourself a drink. (1400 words)
The first necessary detail for that is this: Princess Zelda is the only member of her family we ever see. When Zant invades the throne room, Zelda is standing at the thrones alone, surrounded by guards, dressed in her formal regalia and wielding a sword. Nobody ever speaks of her parents, or questions her right to speak for the people of Hyrule. By every signal present, she is sole ruler and has been for long enough nobody questions it.
She is also very young: this isn’t usual either unless there has been recent, violent conflict or plague, and there’s no real evidence of there being a large war with an outside party or expensive civil unrest. Therefore, if something did kill her parents, it was likely targeted against them alone, or she had extraordinarily bad luck.
The second massive detail is the behaviour of the Resistance group in general. Notably, most group members are much older than Link or Zelda. Rusl has young kids, but he looks much older – more like 40-50 than 20-30. Telma and Auru are in that age range too. While Shad looks young, he talks old, so he could simply be a well-preserved 40 rather than merely a scholarly 20. Ashei definitely appears to be closer to Link’s age, but she speaks openly of her father as though he was involved before her, so perhaps she is here in his stead.
Notably, while there has clearly been time passing while the Twilight overlay the population and people were capable of moving around and doing things, there’s no real sense of it being a long time. Queen Rutela sent her son away, and he became suddenly and violently ill but none of the Zora are worried in a way that implies an absence of more than a few days. Impaz was secluded in the town but not long enough she reacted afraid for her life from lack of food or water. Others, again, are worried for lost family but not convinced of their deaths – a sentiment that, especially about children, would escalate quite quickly even in pre-modern times.
If that’s the case, how long has the Resistance had to set things in motion? If it was a new thing, in the face of the Twilight, the people involved would not be reacting so smoothly. But if it’s simply reconnecting with old allies, then that re-connection would be rapid. Rusl left Ordon village to look for the children: he appears to have gone straight to the Resistance rather than deviate from his path to follow likely leads. Why would he prioritize that? Only if he knew that was his best chance to chase multiple leads at once.
Only if he knew and expected them to be there, reachable quickly from Telma’s bar.
The Resistance does appear to have extremely rapid communication, especially for this time period. The group is already not only reintegrated but aware of current events and actively investigating them per expertise. They act as though they’ve never actually disbanded, in fact. Telma instantly tries to recruit Link upon his arrival, almost as if she was expecting him...
Almost as if Rusl might’ve told her to expect the boy’s arrival in Castletown in the recent future, possibly before this all began...? He was planning to send Link to the Castle in his stead after all.
I have another post about taxation that will likely be posted after this, but its stated that Rusl “made” the sword that’s going to be presented to the Royal Family from Ordon, the Village. This is not what a village would normally send in taxes, but it might be something they might send specially if the castle wants an extra gesture of good will from the village, possibly from a specific villager.
Possibly from someone they suspected was involved in recent activity they wanted to keep an eye on. A man who can make swords and armour (he’s the only one with a solid, defensive helmet we see, after all) is quite valuable in arming a small group of vigilantes, after all.
There is mention of “prolonged wars” that destroyed the guardians of the royal family to which Impaz belonged. That does not sound like a history of a royal family that has historically been kind or well-liked. We never get any specific sense of what caused these conflicts, but some things can just become entrenched power struggles over time. The Resistance are all incredibly disparaging towards the guards, who are useless within the city but around the castle are quite persistent and very solid. (Especially if you include that they are even proof against speedrun strats...)
In addition, Zelda’s royal garb skews incredibly militant. She is obviously trained in sword-fighting, or she’d have never grabbed a weapon when the throne room was invaded; the walls may be open but that offers as much opportunity for her to flee as it does defence, especially at the height at which this room is placed in the castle. While we do see two large cannons in use, and one hand-held cannon among the resistance after the fact, she is still so very high that’s not a real threat.
(Would this absolutely require magic to make the castle stable? Yes. Is that plausible in this context? Also yes.)
Lorewise, the previous game (Ocarina of Time) also has intense implications of prolonged conflicts: a civil war ten years before the story begins, evidence of torture by the Sheikah at the King's command, another war that ended in Ganondorf’s imprisonment by sages. Sages, who were clearly deeply distressed by everything going on, which implies the war had gone horribly for Hyrule and they were acting out of desperation. The Ocarina of Time script is an isolated language that never repeats which has its own implications of invasion and attempts to wipe out the history before it... (Changing a script on people has the “benefit” of forcibly making the literate population suddenly illiterate towards documentation you don’t want them to have access to, after all.)
If the people had become used to distrusting their rulers, and their rulers became used to suppressing dissent with violence, the cycle can continue for quite some time with periods of ebb and flow. And if the people have become used to the idea that you have to simply kill the King before things will change... Well, you’d have reason to keep a very close eye on them in the future, now wouldn’t you? You'd have reason to keep a group prepared to address matters quickly and finally when required.
In brief, there are a great many things that push me towards reading the Resistance as something that formed not in response to Zant, but in response to the government under which they lived.
Twilight Princess is a very settled era in the Zelda timeline. There are wide fields that clearly see a great deal of travel, elaborate and well-maintained bridges, multiple small villages in close proximity to each other that have walls but not elaborately defended ones. This world is not currently in serious distress. The Twilight War appears to be the worst thing to happen to the villages in some time.
It is not, however, particularly disruptive to the city. The people there are defensive, and strange, and alive in wonderful and interesting ways. We have a cursed rich man, a questionably ethical preacher, guards of both the poorly behaved and well-behaved variety, in which the well-behaved are strongly concentrated on the castle... As if the royal family expects to need strictly monitored guards at the castle.
As if there was perhaps something recent that caused it.
As if this isn't the first time the Resistance has broken into castle grounds in the recent past.
Perhaps Rusl had reasons to want someone who wasn’t him to present the sword to the young Queen, after all.
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