#then it's just youtube giving me the whole fnaf lore

[vitamimesea]

Michael Afton (personal hc design)

I hc him to be around 19-20 in SL, and He has William's piercing silver eyes, which intimidates a lot of people. He's also an avid fan of the game Midnight Motorist, and wears an official MM jacket.

After the scooping incident, his skin turned purple from the remnant inside him, and his eyes are now hollow, with only white dots in where his eyeballs used to be. Despite that, he mysteriously can still see like a normal person.

[strawbuddy-luv]

Tim Drake would love video games sm tho, and I do not see that represented enough.

He'd be a total nerd about it to. He'd rant and rant and rant about all the games he's played and all the cheats and the secret cut scenes and the hidden lore. He'd be a game theorist for sure, probably has a YouTube account dedicated to it since he's such a little detective. He knows the true lore of FNaF.

He'd definitely speed run minecraft, rp to probably. First person shooter? How about first hand experience. FNaF fanatic oh my God he'd LOVE that game so fucking much. Absolutely a Sonic kid, like you cannot convince me otherwise. Mario less so but you knows hes probably played every single game anyways. Pokemon? Every single one memorized down to their exact coloration. Stardew valley? Do i even have to ask. Animal crossing? Perfected his village, villagers and all. Zelda? I cannot prove it but he has a lino Cosplay somewhere and he's worn it for under cover missions. He'd slay in DTI, have like 5 different mansions in Bloxburg, defiantly played Royal High until the capitalism became to close to the real world, probably has hundreds of avatars to. An expert at games like fnf has played half the mods to ever be made for that game. He's been playing fortnite since it's release. He'd have one of the top scores ever in subway surfers. He'd download those "complete your restaurant" type games and finish them in two weeks and it'd only take that long because the game forces him to wait sometimes. Candy crush is his bitch 100%. He'd download mobile games and finish them in a day and then keep redoing them till he's perfected his method. He has played and replayed countless driving based games, can learn almost any new one in 6 minutes. Going back to the speed run thing I think he'd just enjoy speed running games in general, and gridning. He'd love minecraft so much omg-. Last of us? Played. Iron Lung? Played. Cuphead? Played. Detroit Become Human? Played. Kindergarten? Played. Sallyface? Played. Splatoon? Played. He'd love small games to I just am not that into video games to know any to list- :').

I mean think about it. Going off the "Tim's parents are never home" version of him, he'd have so much time to just sit around and play video games. He has the money to buy them and the time to spend getting ungodly good at them. He'd have amazing equipment, and it'd give him some sort of community even if he doesn't really interact with it personally. Like if he's not out stalking Batman or at school, he's playing a video game. Even after he starts working for Batman, he'd overwork himself to the bone and he'd STILL find a way to go pro gamer in-between. Probably for like 0.5 seconds whenever he's got to stand up to get himself another energy drink.

Like please, video game nerd Tim Drake on my knees begging you add this to your stories and headcanons. Have him introduce other batfam members to video games. HAVE HIM INTRODCUE BRUCE TO CANDY CRUSH AND MAKE THEM GET INTO A COMPETITION ON WHO CAN GET TO A HIGHER LEVEL FASTER. He shows Damian animal crossing. He gives Jason a gaming console and like 50 different shooter games and one copy of stardew valley as a joke and did not expect Jason to get so into it. Him Cass and Steph would love those Roblox horror games. He'd force the whole family to start having game nights and they'd have a world on Minecraft that has the most insane lore you've ever heard. Like please give me more video game nerd Tim and tell me your headcanons on what games he'd like and what he'd introduce different batfam members to in the comment I am begging you.

[cattynamie]

How they admitted their feelings for you!~

Characters! : Idia Shroud, Leona Kingscholar.

Author's note : This is the first time for me writing all these characters! (And in general ⊙⁠﹏⁠⊙) So please bear with me in case I make some mischaracterizations (is that how you write that? Probably not) accidentally, any notes or positive criticism will be very well welcomed <3

Warnings : Just SFW, everyone is allowed to read freely!! Also the reader is a third-year with no pronouns (as far as I'm aware) one mention of grim But!! The reader can or can not be Yuu! The choice is up to you (⁠◠⁠‿⁠・⁠)⁠—⁠☆

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Idia shroud.

"A-A WHAT!?"

You didn't even speak to him in person; what you did was worse. (For him)

You've been wanting to know Idia Shroud better as soon as you found out (Ortho might or might not have gave you a hint on how his older brother feels about you, *cough cough*) that THE Idia shroud was...."kind of" into you.

¿Did you knew? No. ¿Did Idia gave you certain signals to make you realize? Yes.

But... The thing is, Idia's signals are very.... Ermmm... Inefficient.

Of course, you've got to give it to him that he makes an effort to "talk" to you. (He's doing it once a week through his tablet.)

And the one time your phone broke (courtesy of Grim who wanted to look for good tuna brands online.) Idia personally made sure to fix AND put new features into it. (bro's acting as if he didn't use this as a chance to register his number into your phone.)

And suddenly, you're getting messages from this unknown number??? Oh, they're- okay.qq they're asking you if you have an certain RPG game? (Idia knows that you already do, he checked himself) Which is might creepy, if I may say...

Oh, but soon enough, you found out that it's Idia! So it's okay. Just don't ask him how he got your number.

And since you already knew he liked you and you may or may not have a slight liking for him too, you decided to spend some "quality time" (you're both staying up late to play together) with Idia.

So the following weeks after classes, you both have been playing this one game together from the start, leveling up at the same time and finding about the story together. (Idia has already finished the game at least two times but created a whole new account just to be at your level ;))

And he's so..... Different? Sometimes you wonder if he's being impersonated... But to your doubts, he gets confident enough (with a LOT of hyping himself up and from his brother) to ask you if you want to phone call while you play. (Bro just starts dumping the whole FNAF lore to you as you both play)

You two have spent HOURS playing together on a daily basis, and as Idia becomes more and more comfortable talking to you, (to the point where he talks and THEN thinks) He accidentally admits that he likes you. How??? Well, you just had to get on his nerves.

There was this one part of the game that, no matter what, you simply couldn't get through. Which made Idia ANXIOUS because he wanted to get to the exciting part quickly, (just to see how you would react to it) but he still waited for you like he lovesick loser he is.

In your defense, you tried EVERYTHING. Watching YouTube gameplays, following the game's instructions, following IDIA'S instructions... You just... Couldn't do it.

And you got into Idia's NERVES. You could practically see how his character was fuming with anticipation too.

"Ugh... How did I manage to like a normie like you...." (Was the last sentence you heard from him before he disappeared for DAYS)

"You... You what?"

Idia has NEVER logged off so fast in his LIFE.

Bro practically ghosted you after that 💀💀.

No matter how many messages you sent on a daily basis, or how you tried to approach his floating tablet, or EVEN when you tried to go to his room, he had guards everywhere to make sure that you didn't get closer. (They politely scorted you out everytime you tried to sneak in <3) He would always get away from you to avoid any kind of confrontation.

So you just did what you had to do.

Knowing Idia had cameras EVERYWHERE on NRC, you had to memorize the spots so he couldn't see you while trying to reach his tablet. Not to mention you also memorized the days he "does" attend to classes and when he does not.

You decided that THIS was the day where you finally confront Idia about it.

So, after a lot of planning and before hand practice, (Extra laps on Vargas's class.)

You skipped a whole potionlongy class (Wich Crewel was, in fact, NOT happy about) Just to make your plan work. And as Idia was rushing out of his classroom in his tablet, you practically TACKLE IT with the strength you didn't know you hand in you and run to an empty corner before all of the other students get out of their classes.

You force the camera of the tablet to look right into your face and practically, make a DEMAND at the stunned Idia at the other side of the screen.

"Go out on a date with me!"

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Leona Kingscholar

In denial.

He tries to keep convincing himself that he does NOT like you.

How could he? You're so annoying all the time, so loud and obnoxious, you're a troublemaker. Caos literally follows you everywhere. He can't even sleep when you're around. (Because he's too focused on you to sleep, wink wink)

Also you're so... Understanding? You're one of the few people that have managed see right through him, he'll give you that.

And you've never judged him. That surprised him, of course. Not after everything he's done or how was he an asshole to you and everyone else? You're just too hard to read. Maybe you're just trying to get something out of him.

That is until... You- You want ***him*** to teach you how to play chess??? (Yeah. That's all it takes.) Most students just want to challenge him, (which they inevitably lose) And you want him to teach you? That's a new one.

But he says no. Because he's too lazy to teach you from zero. But you asking makes all his doubts about you instantly banish. So it's a win nonetheless.

But he starts to come around more often. Just when you're around, of course. For example, he starts to go into classes more... (Just in the one's where he KNOWS you're in) He actually goes to the cafeteria himself to buy HIMSELF lunch... (And also to watch you eye a dessert that you seem to like just to buy it for you later and say that you shouldn't think so much about it.)

And he also starts to show off??? At least in P.E, he makes sure to stand out ANY. CHANCE. HE. GETS. (Bro does NOT need to be doing all that.)

Soon enough, hell admit to himself that MAYBE. He likes you. But this 🤏 much. (He says) Yeah, you're kind of pretty and all... Yeah- you may be nice to be around...

Knowing Leona, (I'm not really sure please don't come after me) He doesn't like to beat around the bush all the time... So... he is going to go and see if your feelings reciprocate.

So you're casually walking to the cafeteria and- Ruggie comes up to you??? Saying that Leona needs to see you right now.

You obviously start to PANIC. You're trying to remember all of the times you interacted with Leona, did you say something mean? Did you step on his tail accidentally without realizing it? Did you-

Before you know it, you're already inside of the botanical garden and with the last gulp of bravery that you have, you start to make your way to Leona usually sleeps.

To your surprise. Leona is wide awake and sitting underneath the tree he's always sleeping underneath, clearly waiting for you.

He's also... Holding a bag? (Unknowingly to you, that's the same dessert you've been eyeing earlier but couldn't get because of your struggle with money) So you approach him and right before you can say anything-

"You're late." He says with a groan of exhaustation as i looks up at you.

"If I knew you were going to be this tardy I wouldn't have liked you as much as I do so now."

...

That came out of the blue.

That's the LAST thing you expected. But you're certainly not complaining.

"You... like me?"

He groans with small disbelief at your obliviousness and his tail swishes on the ground.

"Until you can finally tell.... Did I really have to spell it out for you Herbivo-, y/n?"

-

UOOUO okay that's it!!!!!!! This is the first time EVER I'm writing. So if any misspellings, mischaracterizations (i still don't know if that's the word...) Let me know! THANKS FOR ANYONE WHO READS THIS I LOVE YOU XOXO BYEEEE

[sardonic-the-writer]

weird question maybe but do you have any video essay recs?

absolutely. here are some of my favorites i can remember off the top of my head. links and summaries provided for you

gorillaz - the complete backstory (phases 1-7) — self titled productions (youtube)

it's a wonderful hour and seventeen long video that goes over nearly every piece of important lore in gorillaz history, and ive watched it about four times. if you like gorillaz, or even just want to learn more, i highly recommend this. the narration is funny, the editing even more so, and it definitely gives me a boost of creative inspiration everytime i watch it

i'm what the culture feeling (the full story of kendrick lamar vs drake) — f.d signifier (youtube)

at just under three and a half hours, this essay is great for anyone who's been into hip-hop for decades on end, or just got into it this month. it's more than just commenting on funny haha rap beef, and actually gets in to deeper meanings and the entire hip hop industry as a whole in regards to the situation. a wonderful video that i put on for background noise and ended up giving my full attention to ten minutes in. his whole channel is great as well, and I'm currently in the process of watching his video essay on dave chappelle

the failure of victorious — quenton reviews (youtube)

quenton reviews is one of my favorite video essays channels simply because of how fun and interesting he makes his videos, especially those about rewatching television shows, all without making it feel like you're just watching some guy do a five hour summary of some show. highly recommend both this video and his channel itself

a deep dive on william aftons characterization (from a veteran fnaf fan) — @miiilowo (youtube and tumblr)

i might be biased because my mutual made this, but they do an amazing job of articulating their thoughts into a concise thirty six minute video all about the rabbit man, while prodding into the themes and motifs behind everything

[hasanasofficeatfreddys]

Hey guys!

As it turns out, I’m not dead! I know, crazy, right? As you probably figured I’ve been fandom hopping, but FNAF continues to hold a special place in my heart, reason why I was SO excited to hear about the movie when it was first announced!

Well, I just came back from watching it! And somehow it felt right to share my thoughts with y’all before anyone else. HAPPY HALLOWEEN BTW!!

Alright, let’s see… I wish I actually had more to say than I actually do tho, lmao :’) I’ll start off by saying that it was a real trip down memory lane. The nostalgia was STROOOONG. I loved the little Easter eggs and the cameos from YouTubers, though I really wish Markiplier would’ve been able to be in it :’) (fingers crossed he’ll be in the sequel! 🤞🏻🤞🏻). I think the story was adapted really well, but at the same time… I feel like I don’t have room to give a stronger opinion in that regard because I lost track of FNAF since Pizzería Simulator (until Security Breach), so I’m missing a BIG CHUNK of lore. What I actually remember vividly are the events from games 1 - Sister Location (I don’t even remember Pizzeria Simulator that much either, and I didn’t finish watching Security Breach), so… :’) I actually don’t know a lot about William Afton and… his relatives. But the story was cool. The whole movie was rly cool. It didn’t disappoint, but at the same time it didn’t blow my mind somehow. What DID blow my mind were the animatronics, specially knowing those were ACTUAL REAL animatronics, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THEM 😍😍 Oh, but you know what did disappoint me? ….No Phone Guy. I know, his speech was sort of split between Mathew Lillard explaining the gig to Mike and Video Tape Lady, but I WANTED, I NEEDED, to hear Scott Cawthon’s voice saying the speech. At least in recording, idk. I ask for too much I guess 🤣 Oh and finally, THE CREDITS SONG!!! AAAAAAHHHH IM SO HAPOY FOR HIM!!! I’m so proud of him too I’ve known him since MLP so it was so cool.

Anyway I’ll stop rambling I’m tired. What did YOU guys think about the movie? Did you like it? Lemme know please!!

Thank you for reading 🫶🏻

[shortcakelils]

Have you seen the FNAF movie? If so, thoughts?

YES YES YES I WATCHED IT TODAY

spoilers ahead ‼

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okay first of all the opening song is a banger, legit got me so excited for it in the first few minutes. the actors are great the story is great but there are a few things I don't understand

First, I don't get why they made such a big deal about Abby's legal guardian and the papers for child custody if they were just gonna sideline that idea and kill the aunt off later on?? like you could remove those scenes and it wouldn't really change anything. idk it just had me questioning throughout the movie but moving on

I expected it to be accurate to the FNAF game lore but I'm not really disappointed either, the movie had some good ideas that worked kinda well.

ALSO I LOVE HOW THE ANIMATRONICS MOVE IT'S ALMOST LIKE THEY'RE ACTUALLY ALIVE they give me so much serotonin when they're not murdering people

the spring lock scene was so underwhelming, I feel like they could've done a lot more to give it more of an impact like getting the actor to scream a bit or having the cupcake rip more of the suit off so we can see how horrible being springlocked would be

LASTLY THEY PLAYED THE FNAF 1 SONG !! I PREVIOUSLY ALREADY KNEW THEY WERE GONNA PLAY IT BC A FRIEND TOLD ME BUT IT HAD ME ROLLING AROUNF AND KICKING MY FEET I SANG THE WHOLE THING

omg omg omg and the cameos of big youtubers who've helped the game grow, MATPAT, I ALMOST DIDN'T REALISE IT WAS HIM BUT THEN I RECOGNISED THE VOICE AND THEN HE SAID THE FAMOUS THAT'S JUST A THEORY

AND AND AND CORYXKENSHIN DUDEEEE I LOVE CORY I WATCHED HIM REACT TO THE TRAILER AND GOT SO EXCITED, EVEN WATCHING THE MOVIE I LIKE IDUKGHKDHKFH AND DURING THE CREDITS THAT WAS FUNNY ASL

anyways that's enough from me lmao

tldr; some parts are okay but overall I loved the movie a lot

[blazehedgehog]

How DID FNAF get so popular in 2014? (God, that was 9 years ago.) Was it just a right place, right time thing?

A bit, yeah.

I think it's pretty clear from the popularity of Halloween that kids like to be scared (and to scare each other). There was a whole market that a lot of studios either forgot about or never tapped into.

Because, like, when you think about "horror for kids," you think about, like... Grabbed by the Ghoulies, or Luigi's Mansion, or even that one Haunted Mansion game Disney put out.

Games that are absolutely more silly than scary.

But we were in the era of the "creepypasta," which was undoubtedly dominated by kids between the ages of 13 and 18 writing about how their Sega Genesis was oozing blood or they had summoned Jeff the Killer by calling his number at 3am or whatever.

And this was after years of top Youtube Let's Players cutting their teeth on games like Amnesia and Cry of Fear. Kids were now intimately familiar with actual horror. They were hungry for sterner stuff than the typical idea of what kids could tolerate. Googly-eyed skeletons and technicolor sheet ghosts weren't cutting it anymore.

Five Nights at Freddy's was laser focused at this demographic: characters and a premise even adults find scary (uncanny animatronics turned killers) married with extremely simple gameplay that's all about building up to what is effectively somebody going "Boo!"

I currently live with my brother and his family, and he has twin sons. They're six years old. When it's time for bed, they give hugs to everyone. And when it comes time for my hug, every night for the last year, they try to sneak into my bedroom so they can jump out and shout "Boo!"

And when they do manage to surprise me (either because I play along or because they genuinely come in so quiet and secretly that I do not notice), it is one of the greatest things for them. They'll go bouncing out of my room and one will proclaim to the other "I GOT UNCLE RYAN!"

Even six year olds like the "Boo!" It's universal. The ultimate, most primal form of prank.

And despite trading in dark themes (dead children and a conspiracy to hide their deaths), there's no blood in FNAF. The violence is, at most, implied. And since the lore was deliberately obfuscated, its darker themes are gated by how deep you're willing to dive. Younger kids who might not be keen enough to figure out the easter eggs and hidden story elements are spared, whereas older kids can devour theory crafting videos until their eyes cross.

I don't necessarily think Scott Cawthon did everything deliberately. He's on the record saying FNAF was kind of a last ditch effort for him to be successful at game development, after all his other (Christian/Educational) projects were non-starters. I think certain parts of FNAF were probably more a happy accident. But he did land in the right place, at the right time, with the right game for what an audience of 13-18 year olds was most likely to connect with at the time.

And in the bigger picture, it was like the popularity of characters like The Crypt Keeper, Jason Vorhees and Freddy Kreuger finally came home to roost. Those were characters of the late 80's and early 90's that found surprising popularity with kids of the era. Growing up I was both amused and terrified of the myriad of Freddy Kreuger merchandise, and they straight up made a Tales from the Crypt saturday morning cartoon. From something that aired on HBO at 10pm and routinely had nudity and quite a bit of gore.

Even if their parents never liked it, kids have been getting scared by adult horror for decades.

Now, with FNAF, it was literally Good Christian Fun™ with enough of an edge to it that kids didn't feel like they were being talked down to.

[rose4pup]

Fun facts about me

I'm a m!n0r but anyone can interact just don't be weird

I'm new to tumblr (I came from tiktok 4n4 community its very different on here.)

My whole family is 0bese SOOO

I'm a f00d addict despite trying so overwhelming hard to res

I first image is what I dress and look like vs what I want to look like is second image.

I want to be a game developer for horror games

I love Fnaf, Anime, Creepyspasta,Little pet shops, Welcome home, drawing even though i suck, despite wanting to make horror games i am easily scared.

My whole life i have been 0bese except for when I was 8 and had to move to a different Country City??? I was very close to d!abetic and had to be put on a vegan diet with my sister. we got very th!n and I still thought i was f@t even then. then when we moved out with our dad because he thought they weren't taking care of us when he figured out the conditions. we gained a ton of weight, both me and my sister. i forgot to mention since like 3rd grade I refused to eat lunch, then in 5th grade (184 lbs) i started p*rging and skipping bre@kfast and lunch then b!ng!ng at home. I stopped doing that during summer and gained back so much weight.in 6th grade I would redo the not e@ting,b!nging, and p()rging cycle all over again. during that summer I gained to 194. I then starting locking in, first time I got a calorie counter and steps tracker. but i Iwas more wannarex!c, I'm pretty sure I'm a 4n0rex!c or at least junk0rex!c but whatever. then I moved with my dad again and bought a scale and got more in control. I lost to 175 lbs. and then I had to move with my mom because of financial issues. so, I moved back to my birthplace. then I gained back so much, like I mentioned majority of my family is obese or at least overweight so with all the unhealthy eating, lack of a scale, no self-control, constant fast food and my granny's cooking I got to a disgusting 225. Now I'm trying to lose back all that shit and keep failing. as of writing this i have only had liquids except for my f@t@ss eating four mini reeses from my uncle.

I was really slow in k-2 grade then in 3-7 i got a random boost of intelligence but i wasn't really smart just have good memory and I'm always reading cause I've been a gacha kid since 2018. (if your reading this I promise this isn't my best grammar)

I like danganronpa but i am broke so i watch kubz scouts and biju mike play it. I'm watching the playthroughs in the wrong order no spoilers please. I love fnaf, butI enjoyed the movie despite hating the lore changes.

I liked wonyoungism and in the beginning of 7th grade i had a huge kpop phase but thats gone now.

In 5th grade I thought a was bisexual andIi was a feminist, 6th grade I was a man h@ter and a lesbian despite me being obsessed with male gay romance but whatever. now I'm realizing I was straight and in denial(plus i started hearing stories about crimes commited by men on women and how common it is but now i'm realizing anyone can be evil so i no longer hate me i hate everyone. true EQUALITY) I only had two crushes on girls, and they were just my close friends and I had misread feelings, i was jealous of my best friend(5-now) thinness, beauty, curly hair, fashion, and personality i literally wanted to be her and i was obsessed but i misread it as a crush. then my other friend who treated me like shit despite me being her first real friend. in the past i wanted her validation but now I don't and that makes her mad. Idk but her treating me unfairly and always mocking me for my weight despite being overweight herself manifested in me craving her validation and believing it was a crush.

I've been a gacha tuber for 4 out of the 5 years i've been a youtuber and I only have 1,500 subs i feel like i should give up but i genuinely like my story telling but i never make the videos because i hate nearly everything i make so i never try anymore.

I like minecraft,roblox,gacha,pinterest,wattpad,AO3, and idk what else to add currently.

when i say i'm an anime fan i mean i know a few popular ones, jjk,beaststars,demonslayer,black butler,made in a abyss,danganronpa, ajin demi human,tokyo ghoul,hunter x hunter, Komi can't communicate, blue exorcist, attack on titan,chainsaw man,my hero,helluva a boss if that counts.

I like melanie martinez,aesteria,6 rarely human,ketseki,mitski,ayesha erotica,lumi athena,odetari,rebyzx,thats a few most songs i listen to i only like that one song by the artist and not the rest.

I litterally have no life and sit in bed all day with dreams and hopes but never getting up to do them but the funny part is i can get up to eat like bro thats the one thing i don't want to do but for some reason i was end up eating while thinking i'm never g0nna e@t again, promising to fast tomorrow just to b!nge.

I know its cringe and common but my favorite animals are wolves, A+ for loyalty an family team work. I also love cheatahs.

I love animal facts and documentaries.

I didn't grow up in jamaica,i'm only half jamaican.

Since I was only skinny for 2 years i ate the fact, I have barely any pictures plus the fact in most pictures I do have I realized its very unlikely I will have a thigh gap as skinny me looked skeletal up top like literally dead but for some reason my thighs were still muscly. but ! have grown alot since then.

I love lavender,rose pink and black.

If you want to know (sukuna 1,gojo 2,toji 3, choso 4,I know none of yall like mahito but he 5, geto/kenjaku 6. smk.)

Bye now and I hope i'm not sharing to much.

block don't report ig

[papirouge]

Lol the stories about the child sacrifice and abortion parallels plus the boy wanting and mutilating himself to be an animatronic as a trans allegory are pretty based and at least the last one seems quite likely to be based on that if the original creator was the one who came up with the idea. how in hell did people even find out he was a registered republican voter? how do you even register yourself as a voter for a particular party?? in my country, things don't work like that so I'm lost. your vote is completely confidencial so it shouldn't be possible for anyone to know such info unless someone close to him decided to spill the beans.

I think i've heard before something about the creator of fnaf being cancelled but for some reason I had the idea it was for being christian, perhaps i'm confusing him with another game creator...

like i said i only play minecraft and pokeymon, but notch, the creator of minecraft, has also had his heated gamer moments too. he said trans women aren't women, he said people who didnt believe in a straight pride parade deserved to be shot, said feminism was a social disease and called a feminist a cunt, said there was nothing wrong about white pride (then later kinda recanted by saying something like "I didnt know there were only some groups allowed to feel proud of who they are"), and something else about not giving in to mentall illness in reference to transgenderism, though later kinda apologized saying he didnt understand trans identities very well. obviously, references to his name got erased in many products and even the game itself, only visible once after you beat the ender dragon, and microsoft banned him from their events ever since.

pokemon creators havent had these type of controversies which i attribute to having a better pr team and not growing up alongside social media and decide it's a great idea to post any thought that passes through their head. theyve had some though, like with jynx believed to be a racial stereotype (supposedly though she's based on ganguro fashion and the "fat lady" of an opera) so her skin was changed from black to purple. interestingly, ludicolo is a very obvious mexican stereotype yet nobody cares lol.

i do think its kinda funny when these authors get cancelled but they stil keep them/their product around to milk it to death.

and I might or might not watch the video. ive watched some youtube essays before but never that long, so we'll see...

I mean only mentally ill people like me would be dedicated to watch a 9 hours lore video essay, so I don't blame you anon lol

I am too very confused about the registred political alignement thing but I gues that's yet another dystopian US lunacy. In my country this stuff doesn't exist neither. I heard some celebrities/influencer get flack for being Republican (Jaclyn Hill comes to mind) but I have no idea how people/haters manage to get this information. I guess they are available on public record or stuff like that.

Since FNAF has a VERY dedicated fandom, I am not surprised some fans went as far as to sleuth this info out.

That minecraft guy sounds like a legit asshole though and he deserved to be canceled idc I HATE when people make foul out of themselves for the whole world to see, and then act shook when people don't want to have anything to do with them anymore. I hope he didn't have the audacity to whine about "Mh fReeDoM oF sPeeCh" because dude was apparently saying it was ok to kill people for having disagreeing opinions🙃

On the opposite, Scott Cawthon is SUPER lowkey & private and never explicitely said anything rude or insulting. People just started hating him for being Republican and allegedly Christian (which I think nobody found actual evidence of)

And animatronic aren't allegory of trans people, it was only the B-7 story of a boy butchering himself as one. The whole FNAF story is Scott Cawthon creation. He just co-writes the book with a female author, but only him creates the lore. Animatronics are regular robot who are possessed by the spirit of dead children.

I didn't know they changed Jynx color 'o' I never thought anything about this design - I felt like she didn't even have skin, but but more like a void lmao (like these spectre type pokemon)

I roll my eyes at article defending this design à la "oooh but Sugiomori didn't want to offend anyone uwu" ok but Pokémon is now a game with an INTERNATIONAL audience. If Nintendo wants to keep making bucks out of their game, they have to adapt themselves to foreign audience. This sort of "purity complex" when it comes from japanese cultural assets coming into the West is insufferable. No culture is immune to criticism.

Ganguro started around 1996 which is the year when the first Pokémon game came out...so I highly doubt Sugimori would be already aware of this trend during the game development. Japan already had a weird thing with dark/black skin, so Jynx simply might be yet another design celebrating this brand of "quirkiness".

[yanderelovlies]

✨Galaxy Anon ✨ here!

Glad to be back!

Don’t you give me those eyes!

Oh definitely I understand that. I actually get anxious if someone meant something in a blunt tone or in a judging tone sometimes in text since I get scared if I anger them pfft. Makes sense no worries, you don’t want to public to know. No problem.

Glad to hear, update me on it then! Trust me when you really get into it will hold your heart in the feels.

Oh what kinda merch? Ooh yes I don’t really enjoy a lot of the games since I don’t think I’m a game person except visual novel games like sunny day Jack but I do love hearing the lore and watching some gameplays ( though while markplier is cool I like Watching Jacksepticle gameplays more since I feel I vibe with it more and he has this energy that makes me listen. I am really picky about YouTubers no joke they can have a great arguments but if they way they present it maybe is by AI voice or don’t have a great tone to the video I usually can only hear a minute and do something else. I have a low attention span.) Makes sense since a lot of the games mechanics don’t interest me and not to mention sometimes the story doesn’t make sense at times on how it ties all together. I only am in the fnaf lore of the Afton, security breach lore ( that fans make better than the actual game mind you) and fanfics especially time travel ones with found family. It’s my weakness dear lord especially with security breach Gregory in the mix. I mean I also have seen some art of it and my god I’m just like “ more….MORE!” If you ever want to see some of that fun and wholesome stuff or time travel shit just tell me and I link you to some blogs and I promise they don’t disappoint. I mean I can now see why you don’t want to get that there now.

Oh no no I get it. That sounds like a cruel and horrible fate not to mention then you become a mindless husk of your former self and can even hurt your non affected loved ones and will never know it and the only way to stop you is someone or even yourself ( before you fully turned for the latter) is to die by being killed. Like hell no anyone who wants it to happen please go to another dimension where that is happening I like living.

Hooray ( and I never thought of it that way!) and can’t wait to hear your thoughts. There some more as well especially one song that has yandere vibes so if you ever want to hear it tell me.

Ooh I have to check out that music then to understand the fics!

Pfft like yes I’m fine I just like sad music since it inspires I’m not depressed! Oh definitely I’m like hearing one and I have a whole soap opera happening in my head and thinking “ Man even I want to know how this ends! Ooh ideas for my oc’s!” Ooh that sounds interesting.

Yes I believe that is the case. It’s still frustrating though since you have to throw away your dignity just to appease someone and it’s shameful when your actually in the right. Yeah unfortunately they would lose money and they rather fire the worker for actually doing there job than kick out the customer because god forbid the customer is wrong, I hate the saying the customer is always right. Like no there not. And when the manager doesn’t even tell them even? It makes me look bad, like I’m the villain. Like I’m doing my job manager tell them I’m right instead of acting like a coward and just doing whatever the person wants.

Maybe one day I will get a new job though I know I will always have problems in every job so gotta stay positive and hope for the best. I mean at least most people in my job are nice.

I know, I was thinking “ What the hell man?! So you have no problem with gays but you draw the line with trans people? What?!” I least he isn’t in your life anymore I’m glad you had the courage to cut him off and it just disappointed me how the person he was talking to also agreed. Like please review yourself.

Also I saw the new work and yes it’s happening! Like Joseph my man really you do that even though I did nothing to you? Dude why didn’t you just tell reader “ Hey these people want me to fake date you as a prank but are offering a lot of money I need. Can you go along and we can split it?” Like as reader I still would feel hurt but at least he didn’t lie to me and also he sharing money? I can get behind that. Loopholes bitch. But to the Anon who said who wanted to slap Joseph yes Anon you know what’s up! I really want more angst now lol.

Always excited to see you Galaxy!!! 💕

👀👀👀👀👀👀👀

If it makes me nervous, too, cause I don't like upsetting people. Also, thank you for understanding 😊💕

I will!

I have figures of each, a hawks funko normal sized and one on my Keychain, two dabi shirts and one Hawks, dabi chopsticks, backpack with charms, a dabi plush, and a hand made hawks doll my sisters friend for me. That's only part collection, tho 👀. I collect whatever I can from my favorite fandoms or what I'm hyperfixating on, which is lowkey a problem since my home is small now....you know what that reminds me of? Me with the dark souls series. I have NEVER played one of them because i can't seem to get then hang of them, but I love the aesthetic. So, i binged any lore video I could find on YouTube, and I still do time from time. (I can play bloodborne and elden ring fine, tho. I'm not the best, but I have fun) If you wanna hear good angst, listen to that. As for the YouTube part get that I'm very picky about mine too. Though I do think it funny that how I see Jack and Mark is flipped from your view. Also, fun fact the Soulsbornering fadom is the only one I don't read fanfics on. As for those fanfic I might hit you up later when I'm up to date on the lore!

Preach! I don't want that shit!

I'm always down for new songs, so send me as many as you would like!

Let me know what you think! 💕

OMG, ME TOO! I DO THAT SHIT WHEN IM ZONING OUT AND PLAYING GAMES. It's my favorite pass time, ngl.

I hate that shit, I'm lucky my job only pretended to play the role if they knew you were in the right. They told the customer they would handle us, then pull us aside and go "look I know that was shit, but we had to do something, so sit down and wait."

That's very admirable of you, Galaxy, and I understand what you mean.

I think that's fucking disgusting that they agree at that stupid shit, and honestly I am too growing up I didn't know any better and thought the stupid bullshit he was normal. Now that im older, I'm disgusted by him. There were far more bigger reasons why i cut him off, but the more i talk with my mom and look back, im glad i did. I've thought about changing my last name to my mother's maiden name, but I decided against it.

Lol, I won't lie. I can't tell if people like the fic or not. I don't even know where this came from. Honestly, I felt stumped on a request, so I was gonna take a break, but instead opened a file and just went at it. If you want more angst, I can deliver 👀

[soft-spooks]

who is your fav f/o? i want to give you a doodle!!!!

OHHHH HI HI HELLO. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO DRAW ME ANYTHING I PROMISE <3 although i will in fact be using this ask to gush so prepare yourself.

SO. THIS IS KIND OF A LOADED QUESTION FOR ME i have had a less than stellar experience with both fandom and self shipping so im still very very very shy and afraid 2 talk about my f/os too much so please be niceys thank u <3 putting this under a cut just in case it gets really long LMAO

so. i have multiple f/os that i consider my mains, but my longest term one is actually antisepticeye !!!! i cannot help it i was so deep in youtuber fandom in 2016 and my brain latched onto him like a baby duckling and now he lives here forever . however i do not associate myself with that fandom at all anymore so he has basically become like an oc to me LMAO. i had a reallt specific fanon version of him that i used to draw all the time and a backstory that i had basically written out entirely and then when my bad fandom stuff happened i decided "nvm you guys cant have him anymore hes mine now" i have been shipping with him sinceeee i believe late 2016/early 2017 ?? yea!!! hes my fucked up little guy forever i love him so much. hardcore comfort character do not mind the fact that he is covered in blood ans has probably murdered people. hes silly <3 my tag for him on this blog is the knife emoji (🔪) and i dont really have an s/i i just ship him with. Myself.

HOWEVER I AM SELF AWARE and i understand that youtuber characters are on a lot of peoples dnis and theyre not everyone's cup of tea exactly. so i will give you options here :] my OTHER mains are !!!! sun and moon from fnaf (☀️ and 🌙 respectively) who i started shipping with early last year !

AND SPEAKING OF SELF AWARE some of my other beloveds are gordon and benrey from hlvrai (☢️ and 🎮) WHO I HAVE CREATED A SELF INSERT FOR AND THEY ARE ONE OF MY FAVORITE OCS EVER. oh my god. their name is mickey and i have managed to fit them so very seamlessly into hlvrai's story im so proud of how well they fit into canon and ive given them the chef kiss perfect amount of angst and silliness !!! a lot of my lore for them was on my old blog which got deleted in late 2021 and i havent been on a huge hlvrai kick since then so they dont have a whole lot of content on the current iteration of mac softspooks dot com but their tag is "🧟 mickey" i believe. (ill add all the character tags to this ask in case u wanna look at them :])

OH YEAH ALSO. BECAUSE IVE BEEN SHIPPING WITH ANTI FOR SO LONG i have naturally made. so many aus for him. i have like 20 different aus for my ship w him (as i said. basically an oc. mine now) my favorite of which is called hunting haunting which is a buzzfeed unsolved inspired au where we hunt ghosts together but with a dramatic twist ofc because im weak for human/monster love stories. so u will see me talk about hunting haunting a lot here thats what it is hehe

[crypticandchaotic]

why I think youtube markiplier is the entity of the markiplier mansion or is at least connected to it

Please read kind of important:

I thought I'd mention this first i only because I was a fan of markiplier when security breach stuff came out because I was interested in fnaf lore and don't play that many video games. I do really enjoy and love all of the videos i have watched so far and Inspace spoilers i guess???? more like markiplier lore spoilers. kind of all over the place idk just thought id let you know k bye let me know what you think also lots of spelling mistakes sorrry

The other day I was thinking about the entity of the house and what it wants and why it wants it. You know because yes there are characters and they sort of fill their roles as said characters. But what about the entity he is someone we don't really see that often he gets forgotten about after all he did cause a lot of damage to these characters. And I think that Markiplier the YouTuber has been the entity all along. And here is why. Markiplier in all of these universes that he is showing us is the one who is giving us these choices and is making us choose the choices because well it is a choose your own adventure the only time markiplier has not given us a choice is in who killed markiplier where markiplier is not the YouTuber but the actor with a lavish mansion and the ex-husband of Celene. 

So there are three markipliers

Markiplier the youtuber 

Markiplier the Actor

And Markiplier the entity 

In a weird way and universes of paradoxes it makes sense. Markiplier the entity through markiplier the youtuber is telling us these stories. He is making us choose. He never shows us the entire truth and if you think about it he is playing a game with us. 

Reality bending antagonists in all stories have one very common trop and that trope is to see people as characters in their little story or in their little game take Bill Cypher, or the collector in the owl house. They all have that quality of playing with the hero like it's some sort of game because nothing is real to the antagonist. The entity is the reason why actor Mark and Warfstache went crazy. The entity is the reason why everyone who ever entered the Markiplier mansion had gone crazy and or was cursed. In WKM Abe the detective says that Actor mark has been shot and stabbed and has done all sorts of horrible things to him and i have seen some theories online that say that actor mark tried to kill himself after celene left. If he was trying to kill himself while he was in the house in the presence of the entity . the entity would never let such a beloved character die. That's why he helps actor Mark execute his plan for revenge. 

Also we the viewer are also a self insert character in this little story. I always wondered why the characters were obsessed with the viewer/ Y/N other than the youtube standpoint but if you think of this universe as a real universe the death of the viewer was made by a choice. And a wrong choice. By handing over the control of the body darkiplier was created. 

Mark always says that darkiplier exists because we the viewer created darkiplier and that is true we liked the character so he made more content with the character. But we as y/n also created darkiplier by allowing him to take over our body leaving our soul looking in a mirror or trapped in the mirror at the mansion.  

And sure Mark wants to tell us a story through in space that not all choices matter and its only a handful that really matter. But at the same time, there is a reason why everyone on the invincible was cursed and that's because the entity had a hold on us the viewer. If we the viewers are also in the DA from WKM not only is the entity teaching us a lesson through these choose your own but it's also mocking us. For not seeing what's been there the whole time. For making a stupid choices and allowing darkiplier to take over. For allowing more egos to form. If everything and everything is about the choices we make in our life then it is either using the DA to teach us a lesson about said choices or is just creating its own stories and universes seeing it as nothing more than a game nothing more than a joke. And at the end of the day solving it is meaningless but learning the lessons from the lore is crucial. 

[tlbodine]

The Horror Genius of Five Nights At Freddy’s

I’ve been playing FNAF: Help Wanted VR on my Oculus Quest lately (a birthday present to myself -- I know I’m late to that party!) and it’s reignited in me my old love of this series. I know Scott Cawthon’s politics aren’t great, but I don’t think there’s any malice in his heart beyond usual Christian conservative nonsense -- and I think he stepped down as graciously and magnanimously as possible when confronted about it. Time will judge Scott Cawthon’s politics, and that’s not what I’m here to talk about. I want to talk about what makes these games so damn special, from a horror, design, and marketing perspective. I think there’s really SO MUCH to be learned from studying these games and the wider influence they’ve had as intellectual property. 

What Is FNAF? 

In case you’ve somehow been living under a rock for the last seven years, Five Nights At Freddy’s (hereafter, FNAF) is a horror franchise spanning 17 games (10 main games + some spinoffs and troll games, we’ll get to that), 27 books, a movie deal, and a couple live-action attractions. 

But before it exploded into that kind of tremendous IP, it started out as a single indie pont-and-click game created entirely by one dude, Scott Cawthon. Cawthon had developed other games in the past without much fame or success, including some Christian children’s entertainment. He was working as a cashier at Dollar General and making games in his spare time -- and most of those games got panned. 

So he tried making something different. 

After being criticized that the characters in one of his children’s games looked like soulless, creepy animatronics, Cawthon had his lightbulb moment and created a horror game centered on....creepy animatronics! 

The rest, as they say, is history. 

The Genius of FNAF’s Horror Elements

In the first FNAF game, you play as a night security guard at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, a sort of ersatz Chuck-E-Cheese establishment. The animatronics are on free-roaming mode at night, but you don’t want to let them find you in your security room so you have to watch them move through the building on security camera monitors. If they get too close, you can slam your security room doors closed. But be careful, because this restaurant operates on a shoestring budget, and the power will go off if you keep the doors closed too long or flicker the lights too often. And once the lights go out, you’re helpless against the animatronics in the dark. 

Guiding you through your gameplay is a fellow employee, Phone Guy, who calls you each night with some helpful advice. Phone Guy is voiced by Cawthon himself, and listening to his tapes gives you some hints of the game’s underlying story as well as telling you how to play. A few newspaper clippings and other bits of scrap material help to fill in more details of the story. 

Over the next set of games, the story would be further developed, with each new game introducing new mechanics and variations on the theme -- in one, you don a mask to slip past the notice of animatronics; in another, you have to play sound cues to lure an animatronic away from you. By the fourth game, the setup was changed completely, now featuring a child with a flashlight hiding from the monsters outside his door -- nightmarish versions of the beloved child-friendly mascots. The mechanics change just enough between variations to keep things fresh while maintaining a consistent brand. 

There are so many things these games do well from a storytelling and horror perspective: 

Jump Scares: It’s easy to shrug these games off for relying heavily on jump scares, and they absolutely do have a lot of them. But they’re used strategically. In most games, the jump scares are a punishment (a controlled shock, if you will) -- if you play the game perfectly, you’ll never be jump-scared. This is an important design choice that a lot of other horror games don’t follow. 

Atmospheric Dread: These games absolutely deliver horror and tension through every element of design -- some more than others, admittedly. But a combination of sound cues, the overall texture and aesthetic of the world, the “things move when you’re not looking at them” mechanic, all of it works together to create a feeling of unease and paranoia. 

Paranoia: As in most survival horror games, you’re at a disadvantage. You can’t move or defend yourself, really -- all you can do is watch. And so watch you do. Except it’s a false sense of security, because flicking lights and checking cameras uses up precious resources, putting you at greater risk. So you have to balance your compulsive need to check, double-check, and make sure...with methodical resource conservation. The best way to survive these games is to remain calm and focused. It’s a brilliant design choice. 

Visceral Horror: The monster design of the animatronics is absolutely delightful, and there’s a whole range of them to choose from. The sheer size and weight of the creatures, the way they move and position themselves, their grunginess, the deadness of their eyes, the quantity and prominence of their teeth. They are simultaneously adorable and horrifying. 

Implicit Horror: One of the greatest strengths to FNAF as a franchise is that it never wears its story on its sleeve. Instead of outright telling you what’s going on, the story is delivered in bits and pieces that you have to put together yourself -- creating a puzzle for an engaged player to think about and theorize over and consider long after the game is done. But more than that, the nature of the horror itself is such that it becomes increasingly upsetting the more you think on it. The implications of what’s going on in the game world -- that there are decaying bodies tucked away inside mascots that continue to perform for children, that a man dressed in a costume is luring kids away into a private room to kill them, and so forth -- are the epitome of fridge horror. 

The FNAF lore does admittedly start to become fairly ridiculous and convoluted as the franchise wears on. But even ret-conned material manages to be pretty interesting in its own right (and there is nothing in the world keeping you from playing the first four games, or even the first six, and pretending none of the rest exist). 

Another thing I really appreciate about the FNAF franchise is that it’s quite funny, in a way that complements and underscores the horror rather than detracting from it. It’s something a lot of other properties utterly fail to do. 

The Genius of Scott Cawthon’s Marketing 

OK, so FNAF utilizes a multi-prong attack for creating horror and implements it well -- big deal. Why did it explode into a massive IP sensation when other indie horror games that are just as well-made barely made a blip on the radar? 

Well! That’s where the real genius comes in. This game was built and marketed in a way to maximize its franchisability. 

First, the story utilizes instantly identifiable, simple but effective character designs, and then generates more and more instantly identifiable unique characters with each iteration. Having a wealth of characters and clever, unique designs basically paves the way for merchandise and fan-works. (That they’re anthropomorphic animal designs also probably helped -- because that taps into the furry fandom as well without completely alienating non-furries). 

Speaking of fan-work, Scott Cawthon has always been very supportive of fandom, only taking action when people would try to profit off knock-off games and that sort of thing -- basically bad-faith copies. But as far as I know he’s always been super chill with fan-created content, even going so far as to engage directly with the fandom. Which brings me to....

These games were practically designed for streaming, and he took care to deliver them into the hands of influential streamers. Because the games are heavy on jump-scares and scale in difficulty (even including extra-challenging modes after the core game is beaten) they are extremely fun to watch people play. They’re short enough to be easily finished over the duration of a long stream, and they’re episodic -- lending themselves perfectly to a YouTube Lets Play format. One Night = One Video, and now the streamer has weeks of content from your game (but viewers can jump in at any time without really missing much). 

The games are kid-friendly but also genuinely frightening. Because the most disturbing parts of the game’s lore are hinted at rather than made explicit, younger players can easily engage with the game on a more basic surface level, and others can go as deep into the lore as they feel comfortable. There is no blood and gore and violence or even any explicitly stated death in the main game; all of the murder and death is portrayed obliquely by way of 8-bit mini games and tangential references. Making this game terrifying but accessible to youngsters, and then marketing it directly to younger viewers through popular streamers (and later, merchandising deals) is genius -- because it creates a very broad potential audience, and kids tend to spend 100% of their money (birthdays, allowances, etc.) and are most likely to tell their friends about this super scary game, etc. etc.

By creating a puzzle box of lore, and then interacting directly with the fandom -- dropping hints, trolling, essentially creating an ARG of his own lore through his website, in-game easter eggs, and tie-in materials -- Cawthon created a mystery for fandom to solve. And fans LOVE endlessly speculating over convoluted theories. 

Cawthon released these games FAST. He dropped FNAF 2 within months of the first game’s release, and kept up a pace of 1-2 games a year ever since. This steady output ensured the games never dropped out of public consciousness -- and introducing new puzzle pieces for the lore-hungry fans to pore over helped keep the discussion going. 

I think MatPat and The Game Theorists owe a tremendous amount of their own huge success to this game. I think Markiplier does, too, and other big streamers and YouTubers. It’s been fascinating watching the symbiotic relationship between these games and the people who make content about these games. Obviously that’s true for a lot of fandom -- but FNAF feels so special because it really did start so small. It’s a true rags-to-riches sleeper hit and luck absolutely played a role in its growth, but skill is a big part too. 

Take-Aways For Creatives 

I want to be very clear here: I do not think that every piece of media needs to be “IP,” franchisable, an extended universe, or a multimedia sensation. I think there is plenty to be said for creating art of all types, and sometimes that means a standalone story with a small audience. 

But if you do want a chance at real break-out, run-away success and forging a media empire of your own, I think there are some take-aways to be learned from the success of FNAF: 

Persistence. Scott Cawthon studied animation and game-design in the 1990s and released his first game in 2002. He released a bunch of stuff afterward. None of it stuck. It took 12 years to hit on the winning formula, and then another several years of incredibly hard work to push out more titles and stoke the fires before it really became a sensation. Wherever you’re at on your creative journey, don’t give up. You never know when your next thing will be The Thing that breaks you out. 

If you want to sell a lot of something, you have to make it widely appealing to a bunch of people. This means keeping your concept simple to understand (”security guard wards off creepy killer animatronics at a pizza parlor”) and appealing to as wide a segment of the market as you can (ie, a horror story that appeals to both kids and adults). The more hyper-specific your audience, the harder it’s gonna be to find them and the fewer copies of your thing you’ll be selling. 

Know your shit and put your best work out there. I think there’s an impulse to feel like “well, nobody reads this anyway, so why does it matter if it’s no good” (I certainly have fallen into that on multiple occasions) but that’s the wrong way to think about it. You never know when and where your break will come. Put your best work out there and keep on polishing your craft with better and better stuff because eventually one of those things you chuck out there is going to be The Thing. 

Figure out where your target audience hangs out, and who influences them, and then get your thing in the hands of those influencers. Streaming and YouTube were the secret to FNAF’s success. Maybe yours will be BookTube, or Instagram, or a secret cabal of free librarians. I don’t know. But you should try your best to figure out who would like the thing that you’re making, and then figure out how to reach those people, and put all of your energy into that instead of shotgun-blasting your marketing all willy nilly. 

You don’t have to put the whole story on the page. Audiences love puzzles. Fans love mysteries. You can actually leave a lot more unanswered than you think. There’s some value in keeping secrets and leaving things for others to fill in. Remember -- your art is only partly yours. The sandbox belongs to others to play in, too, and you have to let them do that. 

If in doubt, appealing to furries never hurts. 

Do I take all of this advice myself? Not by a long shot. But it’s definitely a lot to think about. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go beat The Curse of Dreadbear. 

[melissatreglia]

Did You Miss Me?: Darkiplier in 2018

For the most part, 2018 was a quiet year. In contrast with 2017, where we were gratified to see Dark's monochromatic visage throughout the year, 2018 carried playful hints and teasing of the elusive entity's presence but no confirmation. There were thumbnails and quick flashes that indicated He was continuing to pull strings, ensuring that His presence was felt but His face never really seen.

Throughout 2017, He'd show up during what us mere mortals consider major holidays or important events. Valentine's Day. Easter. Even Cinco de Mayo got a nod. And of course, the infamous Friday the 13th late in the year.

But 2018? He apparently decided to stay home in the void during our days of revelry, with the possible (though not confirmed) exception of the decidedly strange Fall in Love with Markiplier video for Valentine's Day. And for the TWO Friday the 13ths in 2018? He was a no-show. In 2017, He'd returned to shake things up in our safe little lives... and in 2018, He left us wanting more, like the skilled manipulative seducer He is.

Getting Over It, Part 8 included a thumbnail with Mark's dour expression and a suspiciously familiar colour scheme. The thumbnail for WATCH OUT!! had Mark reaching for us in a state of panic (which belied the contents of the video itself). 

Try Not to Smile Challenge #3, while the smile-free serial killer laugh is creepy, it's not a Darkiplier moment. Though, him joking near the end of the video that people who didn’t smile at some point during the video are "soulless demons" does seem to be a Darkiplier reference of some kind (or maybe a Devilplier reference, since the Cuphead song was released just two months later)?

In Madison, when his game character watches a television that glitches and fades to static, Mark fearfully squeaks, "Darkiplier, is that You?!" While in the description for End My Suffering, just ten days later, Mark wailed, "What malevolent being did I piss off to be cursed like this!"

Brother Wake Up promised "I’ll try to help in whatever way I can but you have to wake up!" Which, while it fit perfectly with the title of the game, the description also fit pretty damn well into the channel lore too. And Umfend's description was likewise ominous: "You shouldn't have forgotten about me... I'll make you remember..."

Meanwhile, the title for the video of Welcome The The Game 2.0 doubles as a callback to an earlier Darkiplier moment: "Don't Play This Game". Horns of Fear did it one better, with the thumbnail featuring many eyes staring out at the viewer (again with an all-too-familiar colour scheme), while the title warned us "DON'T LOOK AWAY..."

In the Warframe playthrough late in the year, Mark's camera briefly freezes. But in 3 Scary Games #9, his camera freezes repeatedly before glitching back to normal, and he implies that "there's something else" messing with the camera. In 5 Nostalgic Games, when Mark gives the definition of ubiquitous and bares his teeth while saying "We're learning today!", the video suddenly glitches. 

The thumbnail for Markiplier has fled the country had Mark lunging at the camera, his face completely darkened by shadow. And the thumbnail for 3.75 Scary Games blatantly toyed with the fandom with text shouting "DARKIPLIER?"

And the fanbaiting didn't stop there. More thumbnails that hinted at Dark included a hand bathed in blue light reaching out to the viewer for the fittingly titled The Devil Haunts Me, and a cartoon of Mark cowering away from Dark's furious glare for You're Perfect.  

Markiplier's Tour: The Movie featured the improv teacher stating that Markiplier wasn't at the shows. "I don't know who that guy was, but it wasn't him." Even the Markiplier Animated short I've Got Boobs?! features a brief scene of a shadowy Darkiplier rising from a well and whispering something unintelligible.

For the most part however, the teasing came directly from out of Mark’s mouth.

In 3 Scary Games #5, Mark jokes that a ghost (clad in the classic white sheet and glitching somewhat) is Darkiplier. 3 Scary Games #13, the first (jokey) game called "Death Trips" features RGB text and Mark narrating in an echoing voice. In Midnight Shift, a game where Mark is memorably being chased by mannequins, he jokes that an RGB poster on a wall is "expricitly [sic] Darkiplier". In SCP Containment Breach #57, Mark jokes when he sees the intro screen of a pretty lady in 3D with an open third eye, "Look at this Darkiplier ass thing... it's like Celine, straight out of [Who Killed Markiplier?]". 

In 3 FNAF Fan Games, he even chortles that the game has “Darkiplier letters.” In Devil Daggers, he scoffs, “A high-pitched ringing in the darkness. That’s always good.”

[Image captured by me, on June 3, 2018.] 

Just before midsummer, I received a pleasant surprise. In Imscared: Steam Edition, Mark says "I gotta go get back into the Shadow Realm, the Upside Down." Which, personally, made me very happy at the time. Since I first became active on Tumblr in July 2017, I've been referring to Dark's void dimension as the Shadow Realm, while Mark has referred to it in the past as the Upside Down, making the link fairly clear in this statement. (Somehow, whether by happy accident or serendipity, my terminology and its proper context made its way to Mark. As a fan, I can't describe how pleased that made me, to know he might have actually seen something I’ve made.)

(But enough about me. I’m just an obsessive Darkiplier fangirl. So let’s get back to cataloging all the hinty goodness!)

By this point, you’re probably wondering, “Okay, so all those hints are decent. But where the hell is Dark in all of this?!” But that’s the point, my friends: He was there the whole time. In brief flashes of imagery, in hints and innuendo. Unseen, but his presence clearly felt as our expectations were played with by our channel host.

We expected a wild ride at the beginning, when Mark made two brief livestreams on January 5th, wandering through the theatre he was slated to play for the You’re Welcome Tour. 

The first of the two, “What’s Going In?!”, he showed us the back area of the Paramount Theatre, using only improvised narration and acting to build an atmosphere of dread. He claimed the theatre was haunted, and that he could smell “the scent of death”, ultimately vowing to protect those who would be visiting the theatre to see him that night. He also declares the EXIT a trap, before being pursued by an unseen entity.

The drama continued with “...” (a title that is impossible to find using Youtube’s search options), that begins with an eerie quiet. Tyler eventually finds Mark’s dropped phone. He asks the viewers where Mark is, before going on a search. He’s eventually attacked from behind and the stream cuts off, leaving those who weren’t at the show that night to wonder how the matter resolved.

In Simulacra, there's a brief flash of Mark in his Big Mood outfit with text saying "WAKE UP". When the simulacra changes the colour of the cellphone's display and begins to speak in a calm, creepy voice, Mark reflexively responds, "Darkiplier?" and sounding unnerved at the mention of "behind your black mirrors", then being stunned as the screen appears to crack.

At the end of Simulacra, he gives an uncharacteristically downbeat speech, declaring that "We're all just digital copies of ourselves, idealized in a digital form. And maybe that's the way that life is just supposed to be. Maybe we should all just roll over and accept it, because there's nothing that we can do to change our fates, after all. And who's to say that it's not better for us just to wear the masks that are our digital personas, and live our lives as those? Maybe that is for the best."

The How To Make Slime video goes from harmlessly silly and takes a twist for the stabby. Mark declares "In order to appease the Dark Gods..." then he instructs the viewer to slice their palm and "whisper the words of power." The words in question? "They shall rise. They shall consume. All will be lost when they rise from the darkness of the ocean. Madness opens up to everything." When the making of the slime is concluded, he adds that "We all get to enjoy three years of peace before the Dark Gods consume us all."

I have no idea what that means, but I’m pretty sure it may involve Cthulhu chomping on my kidneys. (Then again, Darkiplier is a Lovecraftian monstrosity Himself. So, if it’s Him who’s one of the Dark Gods? He can have a kidney from me if He’s really that hungry. Kidneys are a redundant system anyway, so you really only need one.)

April Fool’s Day brought us the gag gift of The Official Markiplier Rock, with a suspiciously deep voice informing us that the rock is available in white. Additionally, the video warned to alert the SCP Foundation if the rock appears to start talking! (What? My rock has been talking to me since I got it, and there’s nothing wrong with me!)

Baldi’s Basics: Secret Ending featured an explanation about attaining the secret ending, with Mark’s otherwise normal voice echoing slightly with subtle white noise effects. (Hmmm...)

In December, for the charity livestream and archived in a video called Santa Spills The Tea, a Santa Claus that sounded suspiciously like Wilford Warfstache declared that Dark, the master manipulator and Big Bad of Mark’s channel, was a “sweetheart! He shouts a lot, but he’s just a big ol’ pussy. He can’t even possibly… he didn’t hurt anybody! He didn’t kill one person! If there’s anybody who’s on my naughty li— uh, on my list of people who’ve been bad, he’s the only one not on it.” (And mind you, in 2017′s Markiplier TV, Wilford sang a little ditty about how he killed Santa Claus and the kids wouldn’t be getting any presents that year. And Dark still convinced us to shoot someone in A Date With Markiplier, while apparently feigning regret. But heck, use your own judgement.)

Mark also dropped one heck of a hint of things to come in, of all places, Markiplier Tries Korean Beauty Products. There, the descriptive intro to the following year’s DAMIEN animated feature can be heard at one point. “Snow blankets the field, a pristine meadow of untouched white. No animals call. No birds cry. Only the steady rustling of wind through dead trees accented by the impact of his axe. A crack-like thunder rings out as the ancient pine finally succumbs to his murderous assault. The old giant crashes into the ground. Dami-”

Wilford Motherloving Warfstache was, of course, focused on the mustachioed entity. But there were elements to the short film that felt like Darkiplier was watching along with us. Particularly the VHS-style glitch at the end of the film.

Of course, there were only three videos that year that potentially contained Darkiplier himself.

One candidate is Fall in Love with Markiplier. Yes, the name on the title is Mark’s... but is it really him? The entirety of the film is a fourteen minute staring contest with Mark, as he lovingly (and somehow also creepily) gazes at the viewer in different settings -- by the ocean, at a dog park, and in a bubble bath. The only spoken words are in the intro, over the strains of the music from A Date with Markiplier: “It’s scientifically proven that you can fall in love with someone simply by maintaining eye-contact for an extended period of time. So now, you can fall in love with Markiplier all over again in these three locations. Happy Valentine’s Day.”

The second candidate is World’s 5th Quietest Let’s Play, released just 5 days prior to the Let’s Have a Romantic Staring Contest video. Unlike the previously mentioned video, there’s more going on this time around. The game to be played quietly this time around is Bennett Foddy’s infamous rage-inducing creation “Getting Over It”. 

He threatens the developer with the words, “You will see the inside of your entrails, when I drag them out of your abdomen and show them to you.” (Ah, how romantic.) He goes even further than that, saying soon after, “This is a representation of My sins... You will be purged in the fires of absolution, along with all of your ilk. I will burn the heretics that you are harbouring inside of your soul... I will destroy you.” (Now there’s the smite-happy Hellgod we all love!)

But He doesn’t stop there, snarling under His breath, “You will burn in the fires of My own hell! And I will choose your pain to last eternity!” However, He is ultimately defeated by the game, departing our company with  “Alas, I leave you now, to slumber amongst the ancients.” (Aww, poor guy needs a hug. And I know just who’s ready to snuggle with Him...)

But the last of the video to potentially contain Darkiplier is... the four-hour long play through of Hearts & Heroes. Is it canon Dark? No, probably not. It’s a fan game, though the words of dialogue are acted out by Mark himself. But rather than simply recounting key phrases for you, here’s the Boss Battle between Mark’s team and Dark, edited by the lovely icedpinkpeebles (Mark’s goofy character names and all!):

So, what does all of this ultimately mean? Why did Darkiplier fade into the background in 2018? And, most importantly, what is He up to now?

The truth is I don’t know any more than you do. I can only guess.

But I can tell you this: We don’t know Darkiplier as well as we all think we do. Many of us (including me) fully expected Dark to raise hell following the events of the jokey Darkiplier vs Antisepticeye video in 2017 (because He did mention how He hates being mocked!). And while we did get more Dark at the end of that year, it was in the form of an origin story.

Whatever Dark’s planning, we’re not going to see it coming. Because He’s playing a long game. And when you’re immortal like He is, you have all the time in the world to get what you want. Be it for love or revenge, Darkiplier remains a force to be reckoned with.

But here we are, in the eye of the storm. Only time will tell before the final wrath of the hurricane makes landfall.

[catalystic-dragons]

Hey! I’m just curious on what you think, but how would you score the FNAF games? They can be scored on designs, gameplay, whatever you want!

Okay so preface - I can’t play horror games, they set off my anxiety real bad. I can, however, watch other people play horror games, and while I try to keep myself away from the jumpscares and such, I at least try to watch them XD

When it comes to fnaf, I’m a lorekeeper. I watch game theory and piece together clues as and when I can from the gameplay I’ve watched. I read the extra material, as much as people moan about the fnaf books, and I’m genuinely interested in the story element over everything.

Now that’s been said, onwards! To the game scores!

Fnaf1: 4/5Reasoning: Fnaf1 started it all. Not only did it pave the way for a whole new style of horror game, it sparked so much intrigue in people. It had just the right amount of story to hook us, but not enough to answer all our questions. There are still things in it that don’t make sense! We don’t have an answer to what the bloody hell happened during that final phonecall, we don’t have definitive answers to what happened to Phoneguy (I mean he was stuffed, but does that mean his remnant attached to the suit he was stuffed in? Lots of people thought he was Golden Freddy, which makes a lot of sense, but 5 kids were killed at the restaurant, not four.) The sheer volume of information the first game carried sparked so much debate on forums, it’s definitely up there are one of my favourites.

Fnaf2: 5/5Reasoning: My actual favourite fnaf game. Absolute madness. The death mini games taught us so much about the series, introduced the importance of the puppet and her hand in reviving the children, the continued allusion to the killer still being active - The Reveal of Purple Guy, William Afton before his name was revealed to us. This game was so jam-packed with lore, it was great! The mini games gave us more answers, and more questions - which was always the key to this franchise as a whole.

Fnaf3: 3/5Now this is entirely based on lore rating, and this game had those mini games that lead to the happiest day and the releasing of the children’s spirits. Very important, yes, but I feel the rest of it was… Lacking. We knew that William was haunting Springtrap, but we still had no information on remnant and why he was still out for blood. The happiest day was the best part of the game, for me, and seeing those masks without the lights on in the end was a powerful moment personally. I loved the lore because I wanted answers for the children; I wanted to know if they’d get peace in the end, and they did, which was the most important thing. This game had lots of key lore because more games built on it, but by itself? It wasn’t amazing.

Fnaf4: 2.5/5Now, I don’t want to resent fnaf 4, but I almost do. It did give us a lot of information, about the crying child and timelines and such, but at the same time, lots of people tried to use it to convince themselves William deserved better. That he was spurred onto his experiments with remnant because his son was part of a tragic accident and he wanted to save him. If you know anything about my stance on William Springfuck Afton, you know I am not a fan of him being given any sympathy because he built the animatronics to kill already. William was a serial killer, and his youngest son knew. So, while this game has a lot of lore (and also tried to pass us off with the dream/coma theory, nice try Scott but absolutely not), it is not standout on it’s own AGAIN, because it requires further games to explain itself. The beauty of fnaf1 & 2 was that the story itself made sense without further games, but would benefit from further games. Without the inclusion of Sister Location and fnaf6, the lore we see in fnaf3 & 4 is not complete.

Sister Location: 4/5Now we’re introduced to Micheal Afton, and finally, the pieces start to fall into place. Mike Exotic Butters Afton, who accidentally got his brother killed, lost his sister (and mother, because she’s nowhere to be found in these games) before that and finally his father to the springlock suits in fnaf2, is beginning to uncover his father’s horrible past. It is revealed in this game that the Sister Location bunker is located underneath the fnaf4 house - the Afton family’s home - and that William had been spying on his family when working down there. It is also revealed that Baby killed William’s daughter, too, via more 8-bit mini games that are a staple of the series by this game. After the tragic end where Mikey gets tricked by the being ‘enard’ (all the funtime animatronics combined) and scooped, then used as a skin suit for them to walk around in, we are shown that they abandon ship yet Micheal lives. This is the canon ending. Micheal is alive! Despite having no internal organs. We do not discover until fnaf6 that this is the power of remnant, what William was messing around with in that underground bunker - but this game gives us just enough lore to piece together who the kid in the house is, who Micheal is (”Father, it’s me, Micheal. I’m going to come find you” and suddenly springfuck) and gives us plenty of space to expand. I mean, there were still debates on whether William was the purple guy or his son was - but one was actually just a shadowy figure (can’t use black for shadows in an 8bit game) and the other was an actual lovely rotten purple (poor ol’ casual bongos Mikey).Fnaf6: 5/5Reasoning: This game gave us so much lore, it’s genuinely amazing. Finally, we see Henry - or rather, hear him - and he tells us exactly how it is. The lore is intensive, it covers the creation of Mangle of all things, it covers the Afton family finally being put to rest - yes, all of them, including beloved Micheal who I have developed such a soft spot for, and his springfuck father, who finally goes to hell for REAL this time - and we’re given the tragic identity of the puppet, which explains so much about the whole series. This game finally tells us about Remnant, about the purpose of the funtime animatronics and William’s obsessive desire to experiment with children’s souls and binding them to animatronics. It gives us a good ending, finally, to the mess of fnaf - it kills off the big bad guy, it puts the rest to peace and finally, it gives us an insight into a little bit of the possible future of fnaf. The mysteries aren’t entirely solved. The minigames leave us with some clues as to where the series may head next, which is exactly what I’d expect from the supposed ‘final’ fnaf game, and honestly everything was tied up so neatly and in a package that was fun and also terrifying, it was just? Excellent. Good on you, Scott. Also, we may be getting an ultimate golden freddy mode on it, which I just want to watch youtubers suffer with because there’s nothing better then having someone else suffer for your entertainment - especially when it comes to fnaf.

So this was my personal take - I missed out on a hefty amount of details, as well as Fnaf world, mostly because Scott doesn’t want to include fnaf world with the rest of the fnaf games. He felt it was sloppy and rushed and hated how it retconned the lore heavily and all of that. On that note though, I enjoyed fnaf world because I love rpgs and god damn I want a family of chicas that do nothing but kick ass so help me god.

[readeatfightlove13]

What did we missed?

I have seen a lot of theories revolving the Who Killed Markiplier hunt that seems to be going on. I believe we can't know for sure who DID kill Mark since there could be several possibilities Mark thought of doing this while making and hyping us up to this particular set of videos. So we must first theorize what Mark's intentions were IRL. This post is just my personal opinion and it should not be taken personal in any way. The info displayed hasn't been upgraded nor coroborated by Mark or Anyone else, so if it seems inconsistent let me know and I will upgrade it as soon as Mark gives us more info. With that being said lets jump right in:

1) Its just a joke, bro!

(Pros)

First and foremost the possibility of this being not been taken seriously (to a certain level) by Mark himself. Now hear me out, it has been confirmed in the past how Mark takes several parts of the fandom and molds them into jokes as we have seen in "Darkiplier vs Anticepticeye" and "Markiplier TV". Now I'm not saying he doesn't CARE, I'm saying that its probably going to end on a more funny note than a serious one. What would this convey? The possibility of us being the murderer or someone that hasn't been introduced yet. Or even Mark's fake death.

Possibility: 5.7 out of 10

(Cons)

I mean sure, Mark is known to be a little bit of a jokester. However, recently he seemed to be talking about this "big project" in a very fond manner, plus he took it a step forward with all the posts on every social media platform not to mention he even changed his youtube account profile picture. It seems to be more serious than usual for me. This would convey that the murderer has a motivation far more interesting and deeper than what we think.

2) Alter-Ego Origins.

Mark could be showing us the actual birth of his characters. It sounds rather possible in a certain way. Damien (not sure if this is right) looks and acts in a similar fashion as Darkiplier, same goes to the Coronell and its similarities with Wilford Warfstache. We even see Jim from "Markiplier TV" in the tumblr video next to the first one. Also in the scene when The Chef asks(dares) us to see through the eyes of the doll we discover it is actually a security camera system. This is clearly a reference to FNAF 4 (the doll that sees) and SL ( when we discover the doll it's actually a hidden camera) which as we all know are prequels to the original FNAF.

Possibility: 6 out of 10

(Cons)

As much as I would love the idea it seems a little far-fetched. We only see the 'representations' of Warfstache and Dark as well as Jim himself, but no one else. As we all know this must develop under the same AU as A Date with Markiplier but we don't know if it develops with Markiplier TV as well, whom by the way is not dead in those scenarios in case it is the prequel. In this one the whole point is to find who killed Mark, unless in a future episode we see Mark faking his own death. Besides, Tyler isn't a buttler in ADwM(he is a waiter & Elvis Preasley?) and the Chef seems to be Mark's employee in this one whereas he didn't heed Marks orders in the Date with Markiplier. And don't even get me started with the lore and some of its implications. Let's move on.

3) Its all a prank set up to you.

Pros

This could be like the 'meta ending' in DwM. This would mean that none of this is real and we all got pranked in some way or another. There really isn't that much evidence to support this one, however it is very posible. Not only has it been made in the past but it also would explain alot such as the sudden change in scenery and the overdramatic reaction on the detective's behalf.

Possibility: 3 out of 10

Cons

I mean I guess it makes sense but it stills feel a little cheap tactic compared to the amount of hype around the whole mistery. Plus it seems unlikely due to the facts previously stated in #1.

Well hope you guys enjoyed my little input of the whole hunt. If you liked it please let me know if I should make a second part or a vlog surrounding my thoughts and ideas of who actually killed Markiplier. Love you and see you around. Until. Next. Time.