#ricky the sock puppet

[ericaportfolio]

Hey! My Friendly Neighborhood Fans!

If you want a sequel to the game, what do you want to see next? I'll start!

Gordon and the Neighborhood versus the villains from the in-universe The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth movies after they fell for a trap they thought was a movie deal!

[daydreaming-ace]

i'm a bit worried for ricky, since i think he might get the sexyman treatment

only a bit worried, though, not too much

[missyzero]

Doodling up some Rickys!

[dragonduckyquack]

I’ve just realized that I didn’t even post about my MFN (my friendly neighborhood) oc. How dare I be so cruel to my child. More info and sketches under the cut!

I’ve had an absolute obsession with this game ever since well the beginning. So Trinket was created. I’m imagining Trinket would be a ‘helping’ puppet like Ricky the sock puppet, in fact you would meet the two of them at the start of the game.

Trinket being some sort of “guide” puppet when the Player/Gordon gets lost or is having trouble finding the next place to go. (Fun fact! Trinket cannot speak.)

…It also being a sneaky little thing that likes crawling around in the vents. Might accidentally spook you once or twice.

Trinket also will help the Player/Gordon dealing with Ricky. …or at least try to.

(Gordon now being the father of two puppets)

[yours-the-author]

Spoilers for My Friendly Neighborhood? And Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Maybe? IDK I'm just putting my thoughts down.

I watched Super Horror Bro's let's play of MFN and I really liked it! Gordon is great, Ricky is great, everyone is great... but a lot of people seem to be over looking the whole "living puppets" thing? (or maybe I just haven't been looking hard enough.) And that got me thinking... what if the world logic of MFN is like that of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Like, the two have some similarities already (tough, down on his luck guy with a gun deals with the shenanigans of TV mascots while dark things happen around him), but let's put it like this:

In the world of Roger Rabbit, cartoon characters (toons) are alive. This isn't really explained in the movie, as far as I remember, but it's just a fact. The toons are real, they have jobs, they have a place to live, but they're also sort of considered "second class citizens" in a way; they don't really get a lot of variety in what jobs they can thrive in (they work in entertainment, usually), and they don't always get treated very well (Eddie Valiant, the protagonist, often responds to cartoon shenanigans by saying "toons" in a clearly derogatory way; and cartoon tools like singing swords and sentient shoes [which I think are safe to assume they're alive and sentient? less so than other toons, but you get it] are kept in boxes, seemingly for long periods of time). Toons also have their "Toon Town", their own separate place to live that, for much of the movie, is in danger due to the owner of Toon Town (a human) dying and potentially letting Toon Town get destroyed for the sake of a highway, and thus destroying the only known place where toons can safely live.

So, to summarize: 1. Toons are alive, an accepted fact by society. 2. Toons are citizens, and are expected to work to earn their keep. 3. Toons are citizens, and there is slight prejudice against them ("slight" may be putting it lightly).

Now, let's look at MFN:

Gordon J. O'Brien is a human, who is tasked with shutting off the antenna of the studio that used to produce and televise the children's show My Friendly Neighborhood. We see in a cutscene prior to gameplay that most television shows are hosted/acted by human players, except for MFN, which is primarily led by puppet actors. Nothing wrong there; it's a children's show, and as a lot of children shows go, puppets and other cartoonish set pieces are used to entertain. Most adult shows are filled with live people, and at the hour that the TV is shown, adult programming is more likely to be on than children's programming.

But consider what happens when Gordon enters the studio lot, namely when he first meets Ricky the sock puppet. Gordon is surprised by Ricky's appearance, but he doesn't really address it. In fact, he treats Ricky like he might be the owner/face of the establishment. We could argue that Gordon is just rolling with it: it's his last job of the day, he's on probation for a bad attitude and could get fired for failing to do his job or keeping up that bad attitude, so he's just playing along with whoever the crazy human behind the sock puppet is. All well and good, except when things start getting darker.

Gordon sees a puppet (Norman) bashing its head against the wall, seemingly of its own free will, and he offers little more than a "what the...?" Even when the puppets begin attacking him, he just carries on. Maybe he's just super dedicated to finishing his job and leaving so he can go home. But there comes a point, I'd like to think, when dealing with potentially deadly possessed puppets where a normal person thinks, "is this minimum wage job really worth my life?" and usually, the answer is probably "no, consequences be damned, I'm leaving while I'm alive."

So that begs the question: what sort of person carries on with his job when it's possible there are murder puppets after his life? Most people have said that Gordon is just "so done" with everything in his life that he doesn't particularly care, which makes sense; he seems to be a war veteran with little to enjoy in his life. But there's "being done", and there's "a strange but relatively normal day". So: what if puppets being sentient is just... a thing? A rule that the world doesn't necessarily question? Puppets trying to hug people to death is definitely unusual, but that's the only strange thing.

That leads to another supporting question: who owns the studio where MFN used to be broadcast? The buildings, for the most part, are all well maintained with working electricity and general power. It's a little under kept, but the maintenance is there. And yet, there are no people around. At all. All of the offices are empty, all of the sewer areas are empty, it's just puppets all the way down. But why? The show isn't being made any more, so why are all these buildings empty? Shouldn't they be filled with new businesses, new people, new lives? Or at the very least, if no one owns them/uses them, then shouldn't they be knocked down and the land used for some other company? A newspaper mentions a company that bought up a lot of land and buildings for their own consumerist purposes, often kicking tenants out of their homes to do so, so clearly it's not unheard of to knock down/take over buildings that have no obvious purpose.

But the puppets still live there. The puppets do their own thing, wallowing in their accidental trauma, but otherwise not going out and attacking people. They stick to their buildings, and don't bother anyone. So is the MFN studio the "Toon Town" for these puppets? Do they technically "own" the lot? I recall a different note mentioning that the tools and materials of MFN were the "property" of a different company after MFN was taken off air, but the puppets are still in the building, wandering around. Why, unless they have some right to the land?

It could also offer an explanation of why Gordon is tasked with turning off the antenna instead of any other company: the puppets refuse to turn off the antenna and stop broadcasting their show over the network, so they have to send someone in to do it themselves. Not just anyone, though: a down on his luck old war vet with a bad attitude who doesn't seem to have any real importance to the city. If he does get killed, fine, send someone else to do it. If he succeeds, great! In fact, everyone seems so happy to see him successfully disable the antenna that he gets promoted to manager in the "bad ending", despite being on probation. Why is he rewarded so much for doing his job, unless it was really important that the show was shut off? Maybe it's a weird political statement? Or a symbol of human dominance over the "puppet class"? Whatever the case, it's definitely weird that Gordon is so well rewarded for shutting down the show.

Alternatively, in the "normal" and "true" endings, Gordon decides to help get the show back on the air, legally. In the normal ending, he specifically makes a note of how he has to keep his head down, not telling anyone what he's doing and eventually not coming back to the studio because he thinks he's done his part and can move on. In the true ending, he's found out and fired, despite disconnecting the antenna as his job required him. Why would he be fired for doing his job? Unless the wire disconnect was meant to have some bigger meaning? Are the puppets considered "second class", or "other"? Is their show getting back on air and gaining a following some sort of problem for the company Gordon works for? Some people like the show, and some people hate it, but it does gain a following.

A recurring theme in this game is "darkness/meanness vs light/goodness", with modern "adult" television being dark and mean and more "appropriate" in the post war world, and the old "children" television being a bright reminder to be good and friendly, which doesn't correlate with the world that the post war city has become. Maybe the puppets are a living reminder of the "good" in the world that adults are shielding themselves from? I don't know, I'm kind of rambling at this point.

Speaking of the war- isn't it weird how they just refer to it as "the war"? Based on the context and the dates, it's fairly agreed by the community that the war represents the Vietnam War, a controversial event that televised the dark realities of war to everyone with a television, which was mostly everyone. If it's supposed to be the Vietnam War, why not just call it that? Unless it's not the Vietnam War, not technically, in this universe? Since the puppets are living beings (even if they aren't exposed to television and the horrors of war until after the show stops), maybe there are other historical differences in this universe, too? Different lands, boundaries, people, etc?

And when the puppets- no longer supervised due to a world going dark from the atrocities of war- watch television to find what they're missing that other TV shows have, they get traumatized by what they see, and inadvertently incorporate it into what they know. They're impressionable, like children- or a sheltered class of people. They all get a little intense- insane ramblings and hugging people to death- but some of them go so far as to physically change themselves (remove their eyes, give themselves human teeth, turn into monsters) as a screwed attempt to gain the love and attention that the "darkness" offers. Unless someone takes some time to talk to the puppets, to let them know that there can still be good and light in the world, then the puppets will all remain on that lot, by themselves, without an outlet, and will possibly be destroyed when the now pointless studio lot is without purpose. That's what Gordon's for: someone who has also been troubled by the darkness of the world, but can take the time and empathy to be a little bit friendly.

Sorry for the long post; it's possible there's more stuff I forgot to talk about, or some information I got wrong, but feel free to add your thoughts to this! I need to go to bed, I have work in the morning.

[iekeejkeek]

The janitor can be hot to yk

[just-mebs]

Y'all ready to see me not be normal about My Friendly Neighborhood

[pbreblogs]

I BE LOOKING Also

WEHHHEWJKHDKJBDCKBWKHDVCIHWVEHCKHWDVCK

poor Gordon has already seen the internet TT-TT, he shall never recover

... Gordon is a dilf I'M NOT SORRY

Gordon: …I’m using the typewriter.

[fireflysummers]

My brain has been unfriendly, so I decided to draw some friendly friends: Wally Darling from @partycoffin's upcoming ARG Welcome Home and Ricky from the recently released indie game My Friendly Neighborhood.

I finished watching a let's play for MFN, and it was a solid game. No "installments by chapter," self-contained story without sequel bait, felt like a survival horror game without any significant horror, no real jumpscares.

And while I love mascot horror for the most part, I've didn't realize I was getting tired of how... mean spirited it is? And also how I'm tired of mean spirited. MFN felt very tributary, and as a true tribute, it didn't try to twist things designed for love and for children into something darker. (I would have rioted if they'd made a Dark Mister Rogers plot twist, really.) Despite the more distinctly horror themes of Welcome Home, there's very much a feeling of love that transcends "What if Elmo was Evil."

Anyways.

Commissions are Open

Image ID: Wally Darling (a muppet-type character with yellow skin, a red ascot, a blue blazer, and a blue pompadour) from the upcoming ARG "Welcome Home" sits leaning on a white wooden fence, with his lower half obscured. To his side is a birdhouse that looks like Wally's House, and from its door emerges the gray-and-red sock puppet Ricky, from the indie game My Friendly Neighborhood. They are enjoying sharing a conversation, although the speech bubbles surrounding them are blank, leaving it to the audience's imagination what they're talking about.

[bmn-fandoms]

Ya know, skrew it.

Human(-ish) Ricky

I design this sock puppet the way I want becuase he is a sock puppet. Enjoy

[weevmo]

for some reason I think you'd really like My Friendly Neighbourhood a lot!

I do!! Ricky was on my mind a lot for my sock puppet fellas -

[ericaportfolio]

Raise the curtain! Bring up the lights! The Neighborhood is coming to town!

I was hoping to get this done yesterday, but since I was mainly focused on playing the game. So the final picture was delayed. I wanted a better complete version than an incomplete drawing at the end. Now we need a sequel with the Neighborhood and Gordon versus the game's version of the villains from The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth! Sign me up when that happens!

[orbitalsilly]

made this because i saw the second image while looking at ricky the sock puppet images on here :3

[jewelkitten67]

I drew this a little over a month ago. It’s AU of mine of the “My Friendly Neighborhood” game.

Headcannons:

• Olivia is the main character instead of Gordon in the “My Friendly Neighborhood” world

•Olivia’s personality: Abrasive, Blunt, Kind, Levelheaded, Empathetic, and Sarcastic

•Olivia’s age: 25

•Olivia inherited Wally from her great uncle that created him and puppeteer Wally from

Playfellow studios. After the show that Wally was from (“Welcome Home”) ended her uncle kept him and gave Wally to Olivia after his passing as a memorabilia of his talents. He also told him about Wally being given the capability of coming to life from a mysterious ritual.

•The creator of the AU would compare Olivia and Wally’s dynamic to The Mandalorian and Grogu’s relationship.

•Olivia had someone to custom made Wally a backpack for him to ride in as she enjoyed taking him with her.

•Olivia thinks Wally is the ONLY sane puppet companion she accompanies with compared to the unhinged puppets she comes across on the “My Friendly Neighborhood” set and studio, she also looks at him as her therapy puppet that helps her get through this studio full of other really crazy puppets.

•Ricky the sock puppet would probably make jokes of Wally being Olivia’s boyfriend and she immediately respond with a “NO he’s not my boyfriend!” And Wally would bluntly respond with a “Will I am a boy…and I am her friend!”

•If there was carnival themed games, Olivia would let Wally take the lead since she knows he’s skilled with carnival games

• In her studio apartment she has a vibrant bedroom for Wally that looks like his from his show.

•Olivia still helps Wally to try and fall asleep more often at night. She still questions why he doesn’t know how

•When she notices him having the capability to only eat with his eyes she was caught off-guard but later feels tickled by it since he’s the only one she knows that has this unusual ability

•During when she was doing her job at the “My Friendly Neighborhood” set, she would stop and sit down to take breaks while sitting Wally with her as he gives her more encouragement and company.

Mechanic!Olivia Knight (c) me

Wally Darling (c) Clown

[fluffyzoey]

Other Hobbies the choir members would have?

AH TY!

Ocean: Horse girl Ocean will always be a thing in my heart. She rides horses + cares for a horse that is not hers but owned by one of her neighbours. His name is Remi. (That was my horse’s name when I used to ride a long time ago!) She also plays a bit of piano, though she’s not very good, and plays Softball in the spring.

Noel: He journals a lot, and practices calligraphy and pressing flowers! He has a whole shelf of old leather bound journals just filled with pressed flowers, calligraphy, little doodles, and love notes! He also knows how to ice skate and does that in the winter, he and Constance like to go together.

Mischa: Besides his YouTube gig I imagine he does some sports, specifically hockey and lacrosse. He tries out for the football team every year but never makes it on. He also secretly enjoys dance, but he would never admit that to anyone.

Ricky: My man Ricky is chronically online. He writes fanfiction and has his own blog and ARG all centered around Zolar and the Space Age Bachelor Man! He’s not very active, it’s kind of hard for him to be active, but he’s great at basketball, and can pretty much make a hoop from anywhere on the court if he’s balanced/focused enough!

Penny: Sweet, dear child. She collects skulls and bones, dries them out, and keeps them on a shelf. Some of her less creepy hobbies include hiking, roller blading, and swimming. She’s a fantastic diver!

Constance: As mentioned before, she and Noel go ice skating together like once a week every winter, then they make hot cocoa afterward. She loves to bake and she’s very good at it! She also sews and is very crafty. She’s made the choir’s Halloween costumes every year for a long time! She and her little brother like to make sock puppets and put on shows together as well.

[therewasatale]

put up with worse

On Ao3.

Summary: Gordon showed kindness to these puppets, it's time for them to do the same.

Based on prompt.

"How are you feeling?" Ricky slowly slid out from the pipe, it was one of a bluish one, that led to the park.

It was a quiet night, the full moon was hiding behind the buildings and skyscrapers, and the stars were barely visible from all the lights around them. The gentle silence was only disturbed by the soft snoring of the dogs, around the bench Gordon was sitting on.

He shrugged, his eyes fixated on the wound that ran down to the bottom of his palm starting just below his little finger.

He had a long day in the job and made a mistake when fixing a broken glass door in one of those hotels. His mind wandered off and he cut his hand on a shard. It haven’t needed any stitches, but it was deep enough, and painful, every time he moved it. All he could done is to patch it up with some gauze and finish the job as quickly as possible.

Of course, he couldn't tell anyone that he made that mistake because he was exhausted from his other, secret-job. The deadlines of the contracts, archiving the old episodes, possible new scripts coming in, all waited for him to do, to read or just to approve. And then send them to the right channels, the right people. Responsibility after responsibility piling on without much help.

He knew he wanted to help these puppets, but he also knew that he was by far the most mature out of all of them, and even has never had to deal with people who were out to make a bigger cut of money from the episodes. People with annoyingly insincere smiles, wearing fancy suits and using five-dollar words to try to finagle more money out of a deal.

"I've put up with worse," he mumbled slowly closing and opening his hand, wincing from the pain. Maybe he should have gone to the hospital, just to make sure, or at least to get some painkillers.

The sock-puppet watched him with his unsymmetrical eyes somehow able to see him clearer than most the humans. "Hey, just because you can cope doesn't mean you should have to." He turned his head, clearly looking at Gordon's hand. "Let me get you something for the pain." He slid back and vanished, leaving Gordon on the bench, sitting alone in the park.

The human only glanced after the puppet. Ricky was one of the oddest friends he has ever had, and yet he felt very grateful for it. With his witty personality and sarcastic comebacks, Gordon never had a boring night.

He closed his eyes and leaned against the back of the bench. With each breath, his thoughts calmed down, and he let the exhaustion flood his body. Rarely he left himself to have some rest, but for some reason he always felt like he could fall asleep everywhere when he was around these puppets.

Next to his leg, Scraps, Flooper and Mahoney snored, their body sometimes trembled in their dreams.

He didn't know how many minutes went by, but by the next time he opened his eyes, he was able to see the moon shining its silvery rays around in the park. And he also felt a slow rumble getting closer.

The dogs' ears winced and they lifted their heads at the same time.

"It's all right," said Gordon, "evening Goblette."

The giant puppet slowly nodded.

"Here we are," Ricky raised his head triumphantly from her shoulder. "We got you something. Right, Goblette?"

She sheepishly reached out and opened her enormous hand.

"Oh...Thanks." Gordon took the bottle of the painkiller from her. "Where did you find it?" He asked as he popped it open. It still had at least 8 pills inside.

"In the maintenance room at the hotel, Goblette remembered it, she wanted to give it to you herself. And it's not even expired, yet." Ricky let out a fake-cough.

"Yeah, thanks, Ricky, and Goblette." He swallowed two pills. "I really needed that, actually."

She slowly nodded, and once again reached out.

Gordon felt his instinct kicking in, the fight or flight reflex told him to do either of it, but he didn't move. His logical side knew he wasn't in danger, no matter what happened before, and how frightening Goblette could be.

The giant hand slowly lowered and patted his head, as gently as she was able to.

"Mh, thank you, Goblette," Gordon mumbled. "I'll be fine now, I'm sure of it. You helped a lot."

The puppet gave him a wholehearted and wide smile.

"I knew you can help out our grumpy saviour, Goblette," Ricky nodded, his eyes wobbling around and then fixed on the human.

Gordon rolled his eyes, and scratched the dogs' heads as they got closer to him. Their tails swiped the floor with enthusiasm.

"Do you two want to stay a bit? The moon is really pretty, and these three can be hard to handle alone when they all want head pats." Gordon glanced at the dog-puppets with smile, the smile remained when he saw from the corner of his eyes that Goblette sat down next to the bench.

"You two play with them, but I'd rather stay up here. They can be too playful, when they want to play fetch. I would rather not get turned into a chew toy."

"You could have been an excellent one though," Gordon answered with a half-grin, as he scratched Flopper's ears.

"Very funny, Gordy. I know you'd miss me." Ricky shook his head, but still there was a hiding smile in his voice.

Both of them fell silent as they watch Goblette carefully reaching out and petting Scraps' head. The dog-puppet sniffed her head and wagged his tail happily.

Gordon remembered the responsibilities, the contract, and the dead-lines that were still waiting for him. Despite all that, he knew that all of the headache, and the exhaustion was worth it for them, and for moments like this.