Things you might want to know before BATDR releases (in terms of lore)

I've had a lot of conversations in different corners of the fandom about the Bendy books, Boris and the Dark Survival, and now the BATDR trailer, and I think I've got a pretty solid grip on what those pieces of media tried to do to set the stage for this next story. So today I'm gonna go through the pieces and put together a guide with all the details I think you'll want to know for BATDR. We'll see how this holds up on November 15th.

Warning, spoilers for BATIM, Boris and the Dark Survival (BATDS), The Employee Handbook, Dreams Come to Life (DCTL), The Illusion of Living (TIOL), The Lost Ones (TLO), and Crack Up Comics ahead.

Our story begins at the end of Bendy and the Ink Machine. Henry makes it to the machine, he plays a tape that says "The End" after a brutal fight with the inky beast and a monologue from Joey about how he can fix everything. When the boss fight ends and the screen erupts in light, we see Henry enter Joey Drew's apartment. A calendar on the kitchen wall indicates that the year is 1963, the month is August (the calendar date actually changes randomly per playthrough to show it's any day in August except the 31st, you cannot get the 31st to load).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgWN7R4-wPw&t=298s

The bulletin boards are where I want to draw your attention. I'm going to focus on Allison's letter, because it gives us this nugget: she's working for Arch Gate. This was the first time we'd ever heard of Arch Gate, and it didn't have much meaning then, but now it does.

We get a few more disconnected pieces in Boris and the Dark Survival. BATDS is a game where you play as Boris (or a Lost One or Sammy) walking through the studio to collect a set list of supplies for the safehouse. There are other collectibles hiding in lockers, Boris corpses' chests, etc, that give us a number of things to think on. The Milla Legna tapes give us an interesting story that I believe might be tied to Susie Campbell's backstory, but nothing is confirmed. What I'm going to focus on are Wally and Sammy's details. By collecting hidden pieces of pipes, we can assemble a mini game that has a high score set by Wally Franks. If we manage to beat his score, we can an audio log from Joey where he sounds extremely nervous. He begs his friend Nathan to help him out with financial trouble. This was the first time we heard of Nathan, but it won't be the last. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2savP-5Y4BY

Additionally, once we've unlocked Sammy (by finding his candles and mask to summon him), we can play as him, and he has two unique abilities. One is that he can teleport through cracks in the walls (which is necessary given he's the only character who can't run), the other is that he can play instruments in the hallway. There's a code for the instruments above where you place his mask (fun Easter egg, it's the same code that originally got us his secret lines in the pre-update version of Chapter 3), and if you play instruments throughout the level, you'll get an audio log from the Unknown Voice to tease Dark Revival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7UG4H4XVng

The Unknown Voice has also appeared on the JDS YouTube page with this mysterious audio log.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFpgqSnE7zQ&list=PL5adzFCvE4-8cJXkyv9eqp0pOLQPmEamN

If this voice sounds familiar, it's because we've heard him in both of the BATDR trailers, and now we have a face for him. Many suspected this was Sammy, the Ink Demon, or Nathan before this point, but it looks like this fellow might be named Wilson (assuming the guy on the posters and this dude are meant to be the same, I would not be surprised if there's something impostor-y happening). His voice actor is still being kept a secret at this time.

Turning to the books, there's not a lot for me to note from DCTL at this time. This book takes place in summer of 1946 and follows protagonist Buddy Lewek as he becomes a gofer for the studio and ultimately ends up falling into Joey's schemes. The big things we get in this one do more to further our understanding of BATIM, such as telling us why Henry left the studio ala Norman (to spend more time with his wife, Linda). We learn that Sammy got addicted to drinking ink and starting sacrificing people once enough of it was in his system, hearing voices, we get Norman's death off-screen along with most of the art department (save for Abby, we'll talk about Abby in a bit), we find out Joey purchased a theater to expand the JDS building, and we learn part of what the machine is for. Joey wants to bring his characters to life, in part to have meet-able mascots at Bendyland, the upcoming project he pitches to investors (and the scene where he refers to Bertrum as Bertie and pisses him off, we actually get to see it happening in real time!). We also get a cryptic mention from Allison at the party to not forget what happened to Susie when talking to Buddy, to which he responds "who's Susie?" This is important, we know Buddy has never met Susie within this year and that Allison is the voice of Alice Angel by this point.

We know thanks to the Crack Up Comics’ introduction that by 1972, Joey Drew is believed to be dead, and Nathan Arch, head of Arch Gate Studios (a location we see mentioned a few times in the background of the BATDR trailer) has purchased the rights and assets for Bendy. Nathan is a steel and oil tycoon, never having shown a real interest in cartoons before, so why would he do this? Thanks to the JDS website’s press archives, he tells us it’s to keep Joey’s legacy alive, but is that the full truth?

https://www.joeydrewstudios.com/archive

We assume he wants it for the ink machine, it’s an invaluable piece of technology. But we also see several things in the trailer and on the JDS website that point to media preservation. A museum dedicated to Bendy’s history, a banner advertising “Joey Drew The Man and The Demon,” which sounds like a documentary. Even the animation cell we see Audrey working on is taken from the cartoon Cheap Seats, the first time we as fans got to see Alice speak in a cartoon. TIOL and the Crack Up Comics are framed as being projects that archive Joey’s legacy with the way that they’re released, and while Nathan tells us that he hasn’t messed with The Illusion of Living (which was originally released as Joey’s memoir in 1942 in-universe, right as Bendyland was being conceptualized and Joey got into contact with Bertrum), we don’t know how truthful it is. His anecdotes and annotations within Joey’s memoir do leave you wondering just how good of friends they really were. It begs a lot of questions, what is Arch Gate up to? I get the sense the motivation is a little bit of wanting the machine for a greater purpose and another piece achieving Joey’s dream where he could not, bringing cartoons to life. But we can’t be sure. There’s a lot we have questions on for BATDR, but I suspect it’ll be an exciting ride going into it. The one question I have is will we see Abby Lambert.

For those who don’t know, Abby is a very important character to the books. She’s a friend of Joey’s in the late 20s, an artist who’s not super traditional (she wears a lot of men’s suits and I believe was described as having short hair?), and she’s responsible for connecting Joey and Henry. Upon going to an art show where Henry’s work was on display with Abby, Joey started getting ideas about producing cartoons. Then he tried to come up with main character’s concept, and Abby tried to draw it but missed the mark. So she invited Henry over to help, which Joey was a little miffed about since he didn’t want a lot of people to know yet, but with a little back and forth and critique, Bendy was born (and apparently he’s named after a dead photographer from the detective story in this memoir, but that’s a rabbit hole I’m not ready to go down). After that, Joey and Henry start JDS together, and after Henry’s left, Abby is finally available to come on and works as the head of the art department (according to Joey). He talks to highly of her in TIOL, but when we see her in DCTL, she’s exhausted, frustrated, and he’s kind of dismissive of her when Buddy’s caught stealing from the department. Abby is important to the history of some of our central characters, and while I don’t think we should need the books to understand BATDR, I do hope she makes an appearance with some context. Bendy exists because of three people, it feels like she should be there. That’s all I have for now for details you might have missed from the books and spinoffs that I suspect will be relevant to this game. Here’s wishing you all a fun time with BATDR tomorrow (2 AM EST on Steam to be exact), beware the ink demon!

Happy Holidays @poke-is-a-dork this is the present for the @mlsecretsanta!

cause i'm so proud, baby, i'm so proud of you

This is likely the hardest I've laughed in rain world yet. Basically, you can glitch a spear into a quantum state using a dead bat body, allowing stabbed enemies to follow you through tunnels. So I tried bringing a leviathan to Moon. And the game really, really didn't like that

hey there!! i'm a newcomer here but i have fallen head over heels for your tragic gay dogmen, they've infected me with brainrot, i've been blorbo-inprinted on and reveling in it! i just wanted to let you know how much i've been enjoying scrolling through your blog recently and thank you for being so willing to share oc's that obviously mean a great deal to you with strangers over the internet, it's been greatly appreciated. (i also was wondering if your society6 store is still up and running?)

Why, thank you so much! It means a lot to me to hear my tragic gay dogmen are so cherished! ;_;

That fic from Akutagawa's pov that remarked how although Dazai had left a bomb under Chuuya's car, at least that showed he had thought about him before going, while he never cared enough to spare a thought for Akutagawa.

looking at my surgery scars absolutely and irrevocably obsessed with them like my body did that!! and it would do it again and again!! and scars are so cool and amazing and such an impressive feat of biology and recovery and survival

can I say that I like Frida and David's teenage designs way more than their S1-2 ones or is it still too soon

FINALLY finish one of the two big art projects i've had to work on this month!! its all w all the way down

DEMONI SCREAM!!!!!

Dashing through the snow

Hey. The Times They Are A Changin’ by @bandtrees and @tigsbitties amiright (muffled face down on the floor)

more (some unsettling things) beneath the cut :3

(Image 3 is my favorite sequence from an animation for TTTAAAC I’ve been working on, so here it is just in case I never finish </3, image 4 is me thinking about Mob’s house. If. That makes sense.)

OH MAN. OH MAN OH MAN. this fic has altered my brain chemistry in a way that has doctors baffled and leaves tragedy in its wake!!!!!!!!! Absolutely a masterpiece I’ve reread it 3 times now and every time I notice a new detail, there’s just SO MUCH CARE put into it. I think I could write an essay about every page of this fic LMAO it honestly blows me away, huge kudos to everyone who was a part of the project!!!!

Especially the multimedia aspects, they were so much fun to find and in some cases decode (Scared the SHIT outta myself with Breathe I think it’s one of my favorites). the youtube videos were so cool as well

Realizing a third of the way in that things will never get better was such a gut wrenching experience, and by the time I realized just how deep the hole Mob dug himself into was it was absolutely too late for anything to happen (the end of act 1 was horrific in the most amazing way. So many things stuck with me: the state Reigen was left in compared to how he was, Ritsu’s “surgery”, Dimple losing his best friend, Shou’s report to the police, Minori’s conversation (if you can call it that) with Mob?? Bone. Chilling.

One of the parts that has been sitting in my gut is Reigen’s fall, where he starts to ramble through fragments of old times. I genuinely thought he was calling out to Mob until just as the same time Mob did I recognized the words and it hit me like a HAMMER. I don’t know how to put it into words but Reigen rambling on like a broken record tore me apart, and then it gets WORSE. I only realized on my second read that the intro of the fic. (Correct me if I’m wrong) IS REIGENS PERSPECTIVE OF MOB SEVERING HIS TENDONS???? Holy fuck. Holy FUCK. The vague semblance of consciousness written there is so deeply unsettling I’m absolutely OBSESSED with it. ESPECIALLY THE FACT THAT EVEN IN THAT STATE HE STILL WANTS MOB TO BE HAPPY (the cheer ^^ mob bit) and idk if I’m interpreting right (this is gonna be so embarrassing if I’m not) but him recognizing the filthy jacket as well. Taking me OUT. AND. AND THE FACT REIGEN NEVER SPEAKS AGAIN AFTER THAT?????? (I could be wrong oops)

The mental states of every character in the fic are written so chillingly well. I can understand how Mob spirals, the anger and grief Tome feels, Shou's spite and anger, Teruki's conflict, Dimple's loss of his best friend, Serizawa's waning optimism, I can't name every character in this fic but they are ALL characterized so well. There's no needless conflict that make them OOC, there's a reason behind every little tragedy building upon themselves and creating a giant disaster that deeply affects the entire cast. Not to mention how its not just the loss of Reigen and Ritsu, but the loss of Mob too. If they were to have died on impact, its unsettling to think that things may have turned out better than this.

There’s a lot of things I wanna say that would basically be restating the fic (dimple losing his best friend, teru shaving, and the irony of ritsu’s powers being taken away by mob) so instead of writing 20 more paragraphs I’ll ask some questions I’ve been mulling over (ofc yall don’t have to answer if it’s revealing too much or smth)

Does Mob actually end up getting investigated or arrested? The formatting of the social media posts and texts makes them seem as if they're evidence and so does the ongoing "interview?" with Shou throughout the fic

In the party, is Reigen saying he doesn't like citrus a reference to the lemon sour :eyes:

I'm probably missing something but im curious about the metaphor around Reigen and a stray cat (hair clinging to Mob's clothes, comparing him to a stray cat finding a place to die, comparing him to a cat outside Serizawa's door)

If I'm not wrong and the "glitchy" sections at the beginning and end of the fic are Reigen and Ritsu's povs respectively, is their mind constantly like that or is it just in the specific circumstances where they have a small burst of consciousness?

last (thats a lie im definitely drawing more fanart in the future) but not least, some notes from when I was re-reading

Back to the grind tomorrow and lemme tell you what, while I do really enjoy tumblr I sure did like not having to be Online all the time during our break.. And I've been thinking that the amount I'm Online and Available will probably be much lower this year compared to the past. So if I'm not responding to asks as fast or posting as much or w/e, that's why! Thanks for understanding 🙏

Here's my gift for @/chromsexual over on Twitter/x for Nagamas!! (Edit! They're on Tumblr as well, @not-a-mimic !!)

The prompt I went with was for Chrom, Lissa or Emmeryn (any combo) - Sibling bonding, either post Awakening (Emmeryn lives) or pre/during Awakening. I felt really inspired by this one!!!! (And took it upon myself to draw all three haha 😅)

It's up in the air what time this may take place in. But I really wanted to capture each of their roles and personalities. How Emmeryn is the embodiment of peace and is more of a figurehead, and how she's devoted to her loved ones -- how Chrom keeps the peace by defending and protecting it, with a strong stance -- and how Lissa is just a fledgling, finding her footing as a princess and a defender of peace!

Sorry for any technical errors! I also hope it's okay that I did something a bit unconventional. I had a vision, and I wanted to pursue it! I hope you like it, chromsexual!!!!! ☺️🎉🎉🎉

More pics!

Each part, before getting assembled!

A better look if you wanna zoom in!