#''Ballman (baseball)''...

[missadmyre]

Batter is the "Comic" Manifestation Theory

The OFF fandom have theorized about how Batter embodies/is a manifestation of either Hugo's father or the comic villain, "Ballman". But I can't help but think,

"Shouldn't that mean that the Batter represents the literal comic that Hugo's father gave to him?"

Think of a Venn diagram, on opposite sides are "The Father" and the "Ballman" with the Batter in the middle of the conjoined rings. Both theorized manifestation have starking differences;

The Father, although neglective, still gave a bit of time for Hugo to play with him and gave the child the comic before fucking off, which made Hugo hate him tremendously.

The Ballman is the comic villain, kidnapping the Boxer's girlfriend and proceeds to send the game town into an apocalypse, successfully not letting the Boxer save his girlfriend as the hero gets overwhelmed by the dozen minions the Ballman has, possibly making Hugo hate him (as a child would).

Batter got the traits of both of them; he is a baseball player like the Ballman and is stoic (probable traits of neglective behavior) just like his father. The only true trait that the Batter has that the both of the theorized manifestations have too is that Hugo hates them.

So if Hugo hates him, why does he have a mission to purify the world he had created? Why make the mission seem good when Hugo can literally just make him the literal villain and not disguise it as some sort of holy mission?

Well, why not add the Boxer into the mix. Said character is hailed as a hero in comics, just like how the Batter is also hailed as a savior in OFF. I mean, if he were made to be the villain, why would the Judge still help him when he was just starting?

So by sense, the Batter is the manifestation of the comic itself. He has the heroic/villainous traits of both the Ballman and the Boxer, and he has some of the behavioral traits Hugo's father has.

Okay then, if that were the case, then why let the Batter ruin his world?

Is it possible that Hugo had hoped the Batter would be able to make his world a better place just like how he hoped that his father would come back?

Only for the Batter to have a skewed vision of "purity" as he purged the zones just like Hugo having a skewed vision of his father due to the hate that was built up from his abandonment?

Is that why the Batter has Hugo's eyes? Because he sees his Father within the Ballman but still had faith that things would turn out okay just like how the Boxer had faith in being able to save his girlfriend and Hugo having his father come back to him?

...

Man, shower thoughts are really intense here...

[syensy-art]

ballman clone but real and an elsen made her

[Start ID: A digital drawing of a robot with a black baseball uniform outfit on and the same robot without it. He has red eyes, white limbs, grey hair, and on the left, wears a black helmet, a black outfit, black shoes, white socks, and has a circle with a star in it on his shirt and helmet. On the right is the same robot without their outfit, showing their limbs, a bolted together chest, a see-through stomach, and transparent legs. /end ID]

[the-ballville-archive]

Introduction

Have you been trying to find contents of a niche franchise starring a starred short boxing superhero and a stereotypical baseball supervillain with a helmet? An “infamous” comic book that took place within a known Indie RPGMaker game? If you see this, then you have come to the right place where franchise for Panic in Ballville content is displayed and preserved.

Heavily inspired by an old Panic in Ballville centered blog, @ballville-is-peaceful-today, where it once reblogged several posts of PiB content since 2014 before it went inactive for years. Due to a small rise of fans interested with PiB and wanted to search for more content, the creation of this account is made. This account serves a purpose to archive and preserve any Panic in Ballville creations on Tumblr; both old and recent work, ranging from a number of fan arts to hidden treasures of literature.

Additionally, this introduction post is also serves as a tag directory post, in case some audience would get lost while trying their hardest to find certain content within this archive.

Tag Directory is under the cut

Tags:

All of the posts will be tagged depending on the type of content being shared (E.g. #Image, #Writing, #Quotes, #Interesting Information, etc)

Main characters will be tagged as their own separately (#Ballman, #Boxxer, #Daisy, #Ballgnome)

Characters from OFF (that are not within the PiB franchise) will be tagged by the title of the game itself (#OFF)

PiB characters that are from fangames will be tagged as #SpinOFFs and followed by their names separately (E.g. #Magenta Ninja, #81, #Ghost Clone, #Clone 131, etc)

Characters outside of the OFF franchise will be tagged as #Miscellaneous instead

Announcement from the person who runs this blog will be tagged as #Notice board

Note: Changes will be made in the future once this account started to grow

[kn1ghtc0r3]

what are your ocs opinions of your favorite off characters? do they like any games you like? :3

Confetti doesn't care about ballman, they only know about his existence bc of SB being into panic in ballville, they haven't read it either and have no interest in reading it any time soon.

SB likes ballman, it's one of his favorite characters in the series, he tends to read the comics and after reading them, he tends to go back just to look at pictures of him.

Ace knows that there's a comic but doesn't know any of the characters, he just refers to everyone as baseball players

Deadman doesn't care about comics.

[raspergine]

today we had to play baseball in my college for PE

had to be the fucking ballman

[pickedpiper]

The holy trinity:

[museofvoid-art]

OFFtober day 11 -  Ballman meeting The Batter

Play ball!

[syensy]

Ballman!

[the-barn-void]

It's him, the other baseball man of OFF!

[dreamwithintheheart]

OFFtober Day 26: Panic in Ballville

This is honestly the first time I have attempted The Boxer and Ballman. This segment in the game where you read a comic and then it transitions to playing a game within a game was really trippy. And the fact that the Baseball character was explicitly made to villain in the story, was so unnerving.

[everysongineverykey]

Nah the room has ‘chapters’ that go in reverse order

Also… you made it through zone 3 but drew the line at ballman?

sjsjsjsdjsjd okay i worded that weird. i stopped at ballman was because that was the one lighthearted break i was given in between the Horrors and it gave my brain a chance to finally be like "what the fuck am i doing. it's eleven thirty at night. i have school tomorrow. this is going to destroy me if i go any further" and stop. when you find yourself playing through a colorful kids comic about a baseball-themed superhero your mind kind of gets a chance to stop and think

[tzalmavet]

My theory is that Batter is (like with everyone in the OFF world) a sort of tulpa based on a mix of Boxxer (has a lot of his dialogue and appearance traits), Ballman (baseball), and maybe the negative emotions Hugo had for his father? If you want I can go into more detail but it's an idea for you. -reminiscentia-off.

Wow, that sounds almost exactly like the ideas I’ve had about him.  Feel free to go into detail, it’d be neat to hear your take.

I also wonder if it has anything to do with Hugo’s status as “guardian of meat,” that he was able to make the Batter and the Queen manifested in reality instead of mere collections of thoughts and feelings.

[comedy--pink]

81: [snickering] h-hey, hey, boss- 

ballman, who's fucking around with mechanics: what do you want this time, 81? can't you see i am busy? 

81: s-say peanuts... [more snickering] say peanuts... but without the T-! 

ballman: it's simple as that, 81. it's peanus. 

ballman: 

81: 

81: [guffawing like crazy]

ballman: yOU SON OF A-! OKAY, THAT'S IT. [gets out baseball bat] 

81: WAIT, NO, BOSS, I WAS ONLY KIDDI-

[tanblaque]

What's your theory about what's going on in off?

Warning: Lengthywriting ahead with spoilers.

(I actually wrote a whole articleto answer this, anon! It nearly reached six pages on Word, but I had to cut itdown. And I think I took advantage of this Ask to make an analysis. Do forgiveme. I love this game so much.)

Let’s establish, OFF takes placein a world that is very unnatural and dystopia-like, specters plague the land,occupants breathe smoke, water is made out of liquid plastic and solid plasticmakes out other objects, and  meat is theonly thing edible. Nameless inhabitants with the same dress code live theirlife in fear of the ghosts, and under the tyranny of the Zones’ ruthless and corruptedGuardians, withstanding a never-ending life of work.

You, the Player, control theBatter, an emotionless holy man who seeks to purify the world.

In general: OFF is about a fatherridding all hopes, dreams and affection for his terminally ill son. We play ashis persona, but we are in the view of his child.

It protects the books, but it can’t read them. Maybe we’re all protecting something, but we just don’t know what… or maybe we’re ruining it. - Elsen, Zone 2

Hugo

Hugo is sick. It is hinted in theevents of the Room when he mentions being told by his papa, and his sound clipbeing a cough. He had to take pills, and he wasn’t allowed to go outside. He lookslike a baby, but he probably didn’t grow up well, he also has no trace of hairon his head or eyebrow.

Each time you enter the Room, thesurroundings change. First, a smiley face made out of chairs is present; next afrown with tears, a bunch of computers with floors that hurts, people going toand fro, but you can’t touch them. And then the room itself turned into aprison cell. This is a manifestation of Hugo’s feelings towards his dwellingplace, dark, isolated, frightening, and lonely.

Sundays were probably special tohim in a way, considering most of the calendars noted “Sunday” and the Batterkeeps some Days with himself too as well.

There are six personalities

This game delves into psychology andmany symbolisms, which involves the characters themselves. If you would notice,most characters in the game are male except the Queen and Sucre. This supportsthe idea that all the male characters are manifestations of the father’sdifferent personalities.(I’m referencing the inspirations of this game being, SilentHill 2, where every character faces manifestations of their fears, an ill Mary;Brazil, with Jill and Sam; The Wizard of Oz; Killer7 etc.)

The Batter is dressed in abaseball uniform, manifesting how Hugo viewed his father as an enemy like the antagonist,Ballman, in his comic book. He is a Puppet, representing the Decision, beingstripped off of all emotions and empathy so that he can fulfill his goal topurify. What does purifying mean? To hide. And what are the specters? The truth.The truth that Hugo is dying. This is to achieve peace. Most parents wish tohelp their child continue living life as comfortable as possible despite their incurableillness. Talking to a kid about death is the most difficult thing to do.Valerie and the Judge are the father’s subconscious mind, the Judge being thewise conscience, and Valerie being judgment.

However, the father realized thatthe truth was undeniable. The specters were too many and the only way for themto come to an end was to finally turn the switch off, which belongs to the lifesupport of his vegetable/comatose son.

Dedan is a tall, foul mouthed, andill-tempered man. He is the guardian of Zone 1 which supports all the otherZones with its production of the elements that is vital for their world tocontinue living. He works endlessly to supply the needs and is loyal to theQueen. Dedan represents the father as the provider, who works hard to support hisfamily, and protect them. He has regards for time as hinted in the Room:Chapter 4 and his competencies. Overworking probably took the best of him. Andthus the Batter finishes him.

Japhet is a firebird thatmanifests the father’s other role who gives the pleasures and a future to his family.At some point, Hugo and his mother became engrossed with all the troubles thatthey forgot about what the father gave them, ‘peace’, 'security’,'entertainment’, that being the abandoned Mall, Library, and Amusement Park. Inthe Room: Chapter 4, he was a small humble bird, but then grew into one ofthose god-looking mythological creatures full of pride. His taking over Valerieis a symbol of being held by back his judgment, only to tear it to shreds and toallow his arrogance to get the best of him, lashing out at his people to hurtthem. He knew of what he became and is guilty of it. Thus following afterDedan’s downfall.

But that was me! It was I who made it all like that for you! Are you all so blinded by your pathetic fear of living? - Japhet

Enoch represents the father’shard attempts to feed his family sugar-coated lies, telling them thateverything will be okay, denying the truth of Hugo’s illness, even to the pointof chasing the Batter down and breaking through pipes just to stop him fromtelling the truth.

Zacharie manifests the father’spassive attitude. Careless, and being preoccupied with messing you around, he’sa deceiver. A man who wears a mask and has a heart stuck to his shirt. Sugar isanother representation of Hugo’s mother. And she’s nothing but boss hidden deepin Zone 0, obsessing over the lies. The two are manifestations of the fatherand mother’s relationship. Despite having killed Sugar, Zacharie just simplyremarks, “It’s better that way.”

The Queen

The Queen represents the mother. Beautiful,loving, powerful, and the light of Hugo’s world. She’s the Batter’s parallel,having add-ons of her own, and being much grander as compared to his simpledesign. The battle against her is an important one, as we get hints on whathappened. If you would notice, it seemed similar to a couple fighting, referencedby their dialogue, and the soundtracks played during the chapter, “Woman ofyour Dreams” and “The Meaning of His Tears”. Each word she said hurt him. Notonly was she berating him, she was also fighting to keep the lies but lost.

The Batter’s confrontation with Hugo

Each blow of his bat symbolizedthe father finally telling Hugo of his situation, however, still giving him theassurance that “There will be no more darkness”.

Unfortunately, all these eventshave already happened, and Hugo was just having flashbacks of his life. And we,the Player, spectated. We were only allowed to actually intervene when we weregiven a choice, to side with the Batter, or the Judge.

The final clash with the Judge represents thefather and his conscience. This very moment was beyond Hugo’s reach, and is nolonger a memory, but was actually taking place in the present. The father hadto make a final decision, and you were in his shoes. Pull the switch and thefather ends Hugo’s life, as well as his. Choose either way and it’s nothing butregrets, and a life of loneliness.

OFF did a good job in usingsymbolism in its narrative. It actually nearly covered most topics. Examples arebureaucracy, environmental problems, sickness, family, and imagination butstill not resulting in clichés. It’s bizarre, comedic, yet dark. Simple butstill complex. This game never ceases to fascinate me, truly the best horrorRPG.

But remember, it’s just a theory!Nothing is right or wrong, it’s all up to you. Thanks for reading.

I noticed thiswas pointed out already in @krazehcakes’ post, but I thought the exact same waybefore even reading theories online. Screenshots are property of Panzer’s textwalkthrough.

[kn1ghtc0r3]

I love ballman from OFF so much i wish baseball was real

[unorthodox-swing]

The strange baseball man tips his helmet towards Maeron "I am Ballman, the inventor."

"Ballman, like, that's your actual name?"