I'm rather proud of myself today. I wanted to make something to promote the blog here, that would connect to Slenderaudiences, but wasn't old news.
Decoding videos seemed like the best route, except that every important video to decode has already been munched to death by rapid fans.
So I found something less infamous.
This RoivasSevil character posted all over several of the blogs that I read and watched, but no one was decoding it, so I figured I'd take a real crack at it. I almost gave up, until he posted a second video and I finally cracked it.
I'm actually rather self-impressed at the moment, so I'm dedicating this post to that video. (Thusly, it's a rather short post).
I'll be back in a couple days with something slightly less self-promotional. In the meantime, check it out!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Friday, May 6, 2011
Group-think: Tulpa's, The Philip Experiment and Slendy
I read an interesting article the other day by a man named Lon, on the Social Paranormal Network; a blog/forum of obvious topical interest. Essentially Lon, or Denmaster as his screen-name asserts (which is attached to the picture of an questionably older gentleman and raises this bloggers eyebrows into her hairline); discusses the potential for the Slenderman mythos to become real.
Although the author may be slightly on the creepy-old-bastard side of the coin, his point is a deeply intriguing one. He brings to mind the Tulpa of Buddhist lore. The same kind of monster that has been so notably connected to the Mothman Prophesies, Ghost encounters, UFO sightings and many other well documented paranormal instances. I mean, things that people actually saw. Not just trolls on the internet trying to scare twelve-year-olds shitless for giggles. I mean...real towns of people.
A Tulpa, also known as a Thoughtform, is a Buddhist concept regarding the ability to essentially wish something into existance. If enough people, with enough will power, believe in the something hard enough, that something will begin to physically take form. And they don't just create the body of the thing, but an entire, sentient life form capable of original thought, behavior and action. The only thing that requires that they exist is an intense and fortified belief in them to exist.
The Mothman Prophesies:
Why am I pulling an EverymanHybrid and dragging down our Slenderfun with other unrelated cyptids? No worries gang, I'll keep it short.
Mothman is being discussed here becuase of rumblings that Mothman is a Tulpa, brought to existance by the overactive imaginings of someone with way too much weed in their system (Lets be honest with ourselves, it was 1968).
So, 1968, Point Pleasent, West Virginia. Roger and Linda Scarberry along with Steve and Mary Mallete and young Lonnie Button, are driving through a wildlife research beside the site of an old abandoned WWII TNT factory seven miles outside of Point Pleasent.
Ok, wait. Pause, hold up, rewind. Point Pleasent? Abandoned War Factories? Deep in the woods??? AT NIGHT??? What the...No wonder they summoned a Tulpa. What in God's name were they doing?!?!?
They see two red lights, apparently coming from the seemingly abandoned factory. So, like any good horror-movie victim, they hop out of the Mystery Machine to investigate. Jinkies! And find that the two red lights aren't lights at all but the glowing eyes of a creature, seven feet tall and winged, settled into the underbrush. They piled back in the car and fled towards Point Pleasent, going about a hundred miles an hour and being chased the whole way. From then a legend was born, a legend that has resulted, if legends are to be believed; in numerous sightings, terror, fear, and death. According to many, Mothman was either warning the townspeople, or sabatoging the local bridge, Silver bridge, one of his favorite hang-outs, just prior to it's collapse, taking 46 people with it. It has not been seen since.
So why are was talking about this? Mothman, if parapsychologist John Keel is to be believed, is a Tulpa. Created by the belief or imagines of the town of Point Pleasent, or perhaps even the government, created years where it still lived in the factory shell that once held it.
Is it true? We'll never know. But if it is, it could be one of the most famous Tulpa's witnessed and accepted into historical lore. Well, for now.
The Philip Experiment:
It's the 1970's. You're Canadian. You're also a Parapsychologist, but mostly you're Canadian, and therefore have really nothing better to do with your time. What do you do?
Well, if we're following the example of doctor A.R.G. Owen (which is an ironic name considering), we're going to tell ghost stories. Moreover, we're going to tell ghost stories and then we're going to make them real.
Dr. A.R.G. Owen was a renown expert in Poltergiests (that's ghosts for the uninitiated among you) who, along with a collaberation of other parapsychologists came up with one of the more intriguing experiments studying Group Think. Instead of testing peer pressure or social conciousness, he decided to test the power of collective imagination and will. He decided to see if they could literally create a psychic, paranormal phenominon.
They started with a story, a background to focus on as they attempted to breath life into their ghostly Tulpa. They named him Philip Aylesford; a aristocratic englishman from the 1600's, catholic, married to an ice-queen wife, and in love with a gypsy mistress. However, when Philip's wife discovered his mistress, she accussed the woman of Witchcraft and Philip, lacking any balls whatsoever, allowed her to be burned at the stake. Eventually grief and guilt got the better of him and he took a nose dive from the battlements of Diddington.
Now the group, consisting of eight non-psychic individuals; A Former Chairwoman of MENSA, an industrial designer, a bookkeeper, a housewife, an accountant and a student of sociology; as well as a psychologist who acted as an observer; attempted to call forth the being that they had so carefully created. Recreating a classic seance, surrounding themselves with artifacts from Philip's "life", they focused. After several weeks of effort, Philip appeared. Although he did not materialize as a visual object (Perhaps due to the groups inability to all focus in on a single image) he did communicate through raps on the table; answer questions regarding his life and times; as well as interact with objects around the room, such as moving the table, even causing it to follow people around the room.
So what is "Philip"? A seperate entity that just agreed to the story? Or something truly created through a collective will and belief in it's existance?
Slenderman
Is Slenderman real? Did we or can he become real? The more we study him, the more we define or establish his background and reality, the more power we give him as a tulpa. One A.R.G. brought something forth from the other side; can another?
For the original article see Here
For studies on the Philip Experiment see Here
Although the author may be slightly on the creepy-old-bastard side of the coin, his point is a deeply intriguing one. He brings to mind the Tulpa of Buddhist lore. The same kind of monster that has been so notably connected to the Mothman Prophesies, Ghost encounters, UFO sightings and many other well documented paranormal instances. I mean, things that people actually saw. Not just trolls on the internet trying to scare twelve-year-olds shitless for giggles. I mean...real towns of people.
A Tulpa, also known as a Thoughtform, is a Buddhist concept regarding the ability to essentially wish something into existance. If enough people, with enough will power, believe in the something hard enough, that something will begin to physically take form. And they don't just create the body of the thing, but an entire, sentient life form capable of original thought, behavior and action. The only thing that requires that they exist is an intense and fortified belief in them to exist.
"Areas of intense Fortean phenomena are called window areas. Many of them were places of former religious importance that have now waned or fallen from use. Could the worship or occult use of an area over hundreds of years create a sort of artificial life form? Something that fed on the worship. When the worship is taken away the "thing" still needs to feed. It now feeds by creating fear with paranormal manifestations. Another idea is that they are a massive, collective, sub-conscious, thought form. The thought form or tulpa is said to be a 3-D semi solid image created by the power of the mind. Buddhist llamas in Tibet are said to be able to summon up tulpas during intense meditation. Western explorer Dame Alexandra [David-Néel] was said to have created a tulpa of a monk whilst studying in Tibet. Polish medium Franek Kluski (Teofil Modrzejewski) was said to have summoned up huge cats, birds, and even ape-men during séances. Perhaps, considering the types of beast he called up, he was creating tulpas. If individuals can create tulpas imagine what the collective, gestalt mind of humanity as a species could do. Perhaps dragons are a giant worldwide thought form emanating from our innermost fears" - Richard Freeman; In Search of British Dragons
 |
| "Thoughtform of the Music of Charles Gounod" |
 |
| Supposed "Mothman" Picture |
 |
| Artist Rendering of the Eye-witness accounts. |
Mothman is being discussed here becuase of rumblings that Mothman is a Tulpa, brought to existance by the overactive imaginings of someone with way too much weed in their system (Lets be honest with ourselves, it was 1968).
So, 1968, Point Pleasent, West Virginia. Roger and Linda Scarberry along with Steve and Mary Mallete and young Lonnie Button, are driving through a wildlife research beside the site of an old abandoned WWII TNT factory seven miles outside of Point Pleasent.
Ok, wait. Pause, hold up, rewind. Point Pleasent? Abandoned War Factories? Deep in the woods??? AT NIGHT??? What the...No wonder they summoned a Tulpa. What in God's name were they doing?!?!?
They see two red lights, apparently coming from the seemingly abandoned factory. So, like any good horror-movie victim, they hop out of the Mystery Machine to investigate. Jinkies! And find that the two red lights aren't lights at all but the glowing eyes of a creature, seven feet tall and winged, settled into the underbrush. They piled back in the car and fled towards Point Pleasent, going about a hundred miles an hour and being chased the whole way. From then a legend was born, a legend that has resulted, if legends are to be believed; in numerous sightings, terror, fear, and death. According to many, Mothman was either warning the townspeople, or sabatoging the local bridge, Silver bridge, one of his favorite hang-outs, just prior to it's collapse, taking 46 people with it. It has not been seen since.
So why are was talking about this? Mothman, if parapsychologist John Keel is to be believed, is a Tulpa. Created by the belief or imagines of the town of Point Pleasent, or perhaps even the government, created years where it still lived in the factory shell that once held it.
Is it true? We'll never know. But if it is, it could be one of the most famous Tulpa's witnessed and accepted into historical lore. Well, for now.
The Philip Experiment:
It's the 1970's. You're Canadian. You're also a Parapsychologist, but mostly you're Canadian, and therefore have really nothing better to do with your time. What do you do?
Well, if we're following the example of doctor A.R.G. Owen (which is an ironic name considering), we're going to tell ghost stories. Moreover, we're going to tell ghost stories and then we're going to make them real.
Dr. A.R.G. Owen was a renown expert in Poltergiests (that's ghosts for the uninitiated among you) who, along with a collaberation of other parapsychologists came up with one of the more intriguing experiments studying Group Think. Instead of testing peer pressure or social conciousness, he decided to test the power of collective imagination and will. He decided to see if they could literally create a psychic, paranormal phenominon.
They started with a story, a background to focus on as they attempted to breath life into their ghostly Tulpa. They named him Philip Aylesford; a aristocratic englishman from the 1600's, catholic, married to an ice-queen wife, and in love with a gypsy mistress. However, when Philip's wife discovered his mistress, she accussed the woman of Witchcraft and Philip, lacking any balls whatsoever, allowed her to be burned at the stake. Eventually grief and guilt got the better of him and he took a nose dive from the battlements of Diddington.
Now the group, consisting of eight non-psychic individuals; A Former Chairwoman of MENSA, an industrial designer, a bookkeeper, a housewife, an accountant and a student of sociology; as well as a psychologist who acted as an observer; attempted to call forth the being that they had so carefully created. Recreating a classic seance, surrounding themselves with artifacts from Philip's "life", they focused. After several weeks of effort, Philip appeared. Although he did not materialize as a visual object (Perhaps due to the groups inability to all focus in on a single image) he did communicate through raps on the table; answer questions regarding his life and times; as well as interact with objects around the room, such as moving the table, even causing it to follow people around the room.
 |
| Studying the veracity of the Philip Experiment and reported manifestations of his behavior. I.E. Checking out the table |
Slenderman
Is Slenderman real? Did we or can he become real? The more we study him, the more we define or establish his background and reality, the more power we give him as a tulpa. One A.R.G. brought something forth from the other side; can another?
For the original article see Here
For studies on the Philip Experiment see Here
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
MarbleHornets: Entry 40
Sorry about the lack of post-age around here lately. No no, Slenderman hasn't eaten my soul. College has.
Just as bad.
Anywho. There's a new MarbleHornets video up and it's veeeerrrra eeeeenteeerresssting.
Unlike the last post, which I neglected to mention: Entry 39, which was simultaneously dull and slightly obvious. After 2 minutes of watching Jay sit around, and then fall asleep inside his car we finally see a vague figure and Jay enlightens us with his particular brand of wisdom.
But I, despite my blackened and cynical soul, actually rather liked Entry 40.
As has been established in the last few videos Alex is a flake. A flake who clearly never answers his cell phone; highlighted by Jay pulling the needy girlfriend routine and calling his number at least twice a video.
Alex and Jay had agreed to meet at a park surrounded by woods (Lordy, do these guys never learn?) at a certian time. Jay, being the trusting wall-eyed-pike he is, shows up despite Alex's recent incommunicado status. After waiting for what is presumably a whole five minutes, Jay decides to kill time exploring the forest around him.
Yes. That's right.
I'm not sure how I'd react to being repeatedly and violently bitch-slapped by Slenderman and all his little cronies over the course of two years, but I don't think I'd react by diving into the first woods I saw on a whim.
Irregardless. We must remember that Jay is a film student and thusly not the brightest flash bulb in the world. Besides, those trees have some primo stock-footage potential. So. Jay. Alone. In the woods.
For a while he just pokes around, crosses a steam, and finds an admittedly cool clearing where a large tree has grown out of what must be an absolutely ancient brick fireplace. He explores this area for a while. If his breathing can be judged, he starts getting a little nervious, perhaps realizing that he's alone in the friggin woods and it's getting dark. He sits down and gives Alex another call, alerting him to his alone-in-the-woods status and naively hoping that Alex is in the parking lot wondering where Jay went.
Jay returns to the fireplace, leaning in with his camera and examining it closer. After which, a certian familiar figure shows up in the background. After some struggle Jay drops the camera and goes fleeing into the woods like a scared rabbit. (The fleeting moment of which made this blogger snort what's left of her Lucky Charms)
Also, now Slendy has a camera! (maybe that's all he ever wanted). So now we at least know where the tall guy got his video-editting skills in TribeTwelve.
So lets BREAK THIS DOWN shall we?
Perhaps the reason that I liked this video so much is that it gives some real credible evidence of what I've been saying all along.
It all comes back to Alex. Alex hasn't been answering his phone and he hasn't been seen since Jay and his little excursion into the woods; during which Alex was acting strangely calm, detached and, well, strange.
Now, Alex has summoned Jay into the woods, the same woods where, conviently enough, Slenderman is lurking. Jay is alone, in an abandoned area, and stupid enough to get curious about the local wild-life. Furthermore, Slenderman didn't show up until after we see Jay alerting Alex of his whereabouts.
Seems awfully convenient, doesn't it? *strokes goatee*
Alex is hallowed. He has to be. Furthermore, I don't think this is the first time he's been a Slender-puppet either. I think Alex was starting to become hallowed before Jay even started looking for him. I think we watched Alex go from a Blind, to a Fighter, to a Runner, to a Sleeper, all over the course of the initial Alex-Survelliance videos. Then he went missing. Isn't possible that he didn't just escape over those three years? Maybe he didn't turn full Hallowed, but I don't know of anyone who can just escape Slender clutches by moving away.
My theory is that Alex was Totheark. Whether or not he was aware of it, I think Alex has been Totheark for a long time. Totheark is frequently in possession of video/audio/and knowledge that only Alex could presumably have.
Also, after keeping up a rigorous video-then-response schedual from Entry 9 all the way to Entry 24; suddenly Totheark goes missing ten videos: A length of time that amounts to just a little under a year.
Anyone else remember what Alex was doing during that time?
Moreover. I Masky/Tim is a good guy, whose been a little slender-screwed. And Totheark is bad. Everything Totheark tells him to do ends badly for Jay, doesn't it? If not for Totheark, Jay probably wouldn't have gotten this far. He would've dropped the issue ages ago and would have never gotten as entrenched in Slenderman as he is now. But everytime Jay throws in the gauntlet, who shows up to dangle just one more carrot under his nose? Totheark.
What do I mean by Masky being good though? I think Masky and Totheark have been at odds for a long time. Sure, masky is intimidating, but he's clearly more than a little messed up anyway.
- Entry 18 Jay returns to Brian's house, encouraged to do so by Totheark. Jay starts getting very sick, and he finds a Slenderdoll. That's when Masky first shows up. True, Masky attacks Jay, and I know there's been a lot of speculation on this point already, but, isn't it possible that the third party that was know was present thanks to Totheark's response video; was right being Jay? Or Jay was in danger?
- How about Entry 35? Masky is right next to Jay, surprising him. However Masky totally bypasses Jay and goes after Alex with a knife. After which Alex attempts to break the guy's head open with a ton of concrete. (good thing his aim is rather off)
Morever, Totheark and Masky's competing messages.
Perhaps I'm barking up the wrong tree, but it seems to be that one of them is saying "Stay hidden" and the other says "Keep Filming". Didn't Alex himself discover the ill effects of staying on film?
Just a thought.
Just as bad.
Anywho. There's a new MarbleHornets video up and it's veeeerrrra eeeeenteeerresssting.
Unlike the last post, which I neglected to mention: Entry 39, which was simultaneously dull and slightly obvious. After 2 minutes of watching Jay sit around, and then fall asleep inside his car we finally see a vague figure and Jay enlightens us with his particular brand of wisdom.
"The Footage was too blurry to see who was outside my car."
 |
| I wonder who it was? durpa durpa. |
As has been established in the last few videos Alex is a flake. A flake who clearly never answers his cell phone; highlighted by Jay pulling the needy girlfriend routine and calling his number at least twice a video.
Alex and Jay had agreed to meet at a park surrounded by woods (Lordy, do these guys never learn?) at a certian time. Jay, being the trusting wall-eyed-pike he is, shows up despite Alex's recent incommunicado status. After waiting for what is presumably a whole five minutes, Jay decides to kill time exploring the forest around him.
Yes. That's right.
I'm not sure how I'd react to being repeatedly and violently bitch-slapped by Slenderman and all his little cronies over the course of two years, but I don't think I'd react by diving into the first woods I saw on a whim.
Irregardless. We must remember that Jay is a film student and thusly not the brightest flash bulb in the world. Besides, those trees have some primo stock-footage potential. So. Jay. Alone. In the woods.
For a while he just pokes around, crosses a steam, and finds an admittedly cool clearing where a large tree has grown out of what must be an absolutely ancient brick fireplace. He explores this area for a while. If his breathing can be judged, he starts getting a little nervious, perhaps realizing that he's alone in the friggin woods and it's getting dark. He sits down and gives Alex another call, alerting him to his alone-in-the-woods status and naively hoping that Alex is in the parking lot wondering where Jay went.
Jay returns to the fireplace, leaning in with his camera and examining it closer. After which, a certian familiar figure shows up in the background. After some struggle Jay drops the camera and goes fleeing into the woods like a scared rabbit. (The fleeting moment of which made this blogger snort what's left of her Lucky Charms)
Also, now Slendy has a camera! (maybe that's all he ever wanted). So now we at least know where the tall guy got his video-editting skills in TribeTwelve.
So lets BREAK THIS DOWN shall we?
Perhaps the reason that I liked this video so much is that it gives some real credible evidence of what I've been saying all along.
It all comes back to Alex. Alex hasn't been answering his phone and he hasn't been seen since Jay and his little excursion into the woods; during which Alex was acting strangely calm, detached and, well, strange.
Now, Alex has summoned Jay into the woods, the same woods where, conviently enough, Slenderman is lurking. Jay is alone, in an abandoned area, and stupid enough to get curious about the local wild-life. Furthermore, Slenderman didn't show up until after we see Jay alerting Alex of his whereabouts.
Seems awfully convenient, doesn't it? *strokes goatee*
Alex is hallowed. He has to be. Furthermore, I don't think this is the first time he's been a Slender-puppet either. I think Alex was starting to become hallowed before Jay even started looking for him. I think we watched Alex go from a Blind, to a Fighter, to a Runner, to a Sleeper, all over the course of the initial Alex-Survelliance videos. Then he went missing. Isn't possible that he didn't just escape over those three years? Maybe he didn't turn full Hallowed, but I don't know of anyone who can just escape Slender clutches by moving away.
My theory is that Alex was Totheark. Whether or not he was aware of it, I think Alex has been Totheark for a long time. Totheark is frequently in possession of video/audio/and knowledge that only Alex could presumably have.
Also, after keeping up a rigorous video-then-response schedual from Entry 9 all the way to Entry 24; suddenly Totheark goes missing ten videos: A length of time that amounts to just a little under a year.
Anyone else remember what Alex was doing during that time?
Moreover. I Masky/Tim is a good guy, whose been a little slender-screwed. And Totheark is bad. Everything Totheark tells him to do ends badly for Jay, doesn't it? If not for Totheark, Jay probably wouldn't have gotten this far. He would've dropped the issue ages ago and would have never gotten as entrenched in Slenderman as he is now. But everytime Jay throws in the gauntlet, who shows up to dangle just one more carrot under his nose? Totheark.
What do I mean by Masky being good though? I think Masky and Totheark have been at odds for a long time. Sure, masky is intimidating, but he's clearly more than a little messed up anyway.
- Entry 18 Jay returns to Brian's house, encouraged to do so by Totheark. Jay starts getting very sick, and he finds a Slenderdoll. That's when Masky first shows up. True, Masky attacks Jay, and I know there's been a lot of speculation on this point already, but, isn't it possible that the third party that was know was present thanks to Totheark's response video; was right being Jay? Or Jay was in danger?
- How about Entry 35? Masky is right next to Jay, surprising him. However Masky totally bypasses Jay and goes after Alex with a knife. After which Alex attempts to break the guy's head open with a ton of concrete. (good thing his aim is rather off)
Morever, Totheark and Masky's competing messages.
 |
| Totheark's message from the Messages video: Smile for the Camera |
 |
| Masky's present from Entry 23: A mask. |
Just a thought.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Blogs: Among the Followers
Alrighty, back to the Blogs, shall we?
Obviously EverymanHybrid wasn't the only blog to crop up in the Slendermania that's permeated those internet saavy among us. There are many, many, many Slenderblogs, but one of the 'big four' that's cropped up in recent years, is TribeTwelve.
I'm not sure why it's listed as one of the major Slenderblogs, as it doesn't see to have nearly as many followers as the others, nor is it as, well...frankly...good. But it is, so we're talking about it. Deal.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERSSo none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Screw you: TribeTwelve. The most you bring to the table is tentacles and the assertion that Slendy is damn good with a video editor, and God Almighty nobody frigging cares.
Well, I don't care. At least.
The basic premise of TribeTwelve is that our dim-lightbulb protagonist Noah Maxwell is a sad sad panda after his painfully socially-inept cousin Milo Asher offs himself for no apparent reason. Ah, fooey.
As it so happens though! The two cousins, being extraordinarily close, despite living so far away from eachother, made a video of the last time that Milo came for a visit! Wow! Lucky cheese! Noah decides to upload the videos to the internet in honor of his cousin, despite his aunt's request for him not to, and his cousin's clear desire to not be filmed in the footage that he uploads. But lets not quibble over familial niceities. This way he can finally delete that pesky data off his hard drive. Weee! More space for Plants vs. Zombies!
However, Noah forgot how strangely his cousin was acting in all this old footage. Namely, the fact that his cousin takes off like a frightened, gawky, unathletic rabbit with a wedgie at the slightest whim. Hmm, how bizarre...
Of course what Noah fails to see, is the constant presence of a tall-slendery man that seems to make it's appearance where-ever the boys seem to go. Once all the footage is uploaded, Noah is contacted by estranged German relatives and nightly spooks alike. In his increasing paranoia he starts carrying a knife and a camera at all times; perpetually filming himself at bizarre angles and knifing poor innocent shrubs for no good reason at all.
Wow Noah, good job. You know that strange box you get with the leaf in it? It means that shrub is back, and it's back for revenge.
Needless to say, things go steadily downhill, just as they always do. Noah starts to see Slendy, not only in the old footage, but in his home as well. Noah himself starts losing it as strange messages, video responses, and creepy (undecipherable to the viewer) phone calls start cropping up in the middle of the night. The whole thing breaks down even further as Noah, staying the home of a friend of a friend of his cousins (or something equally confusing), ends up attacking the poor girl with a knife and escaping off into the night. The last we saw him, Noah was riding straight into the Mangrove-y lair of SM himself, interupting the poor guy's tentaclly dance party with his insane screaming.
But not before posting this absolutely chilling tweet:
Characters:
Noah Maxwell: The dunderheaded protagonist, who is perpetually walking straight into danger; swearing up a blue streak; and tweeting about it all at the same time. His one saving grace is his supposed 'Good Looks' that endless streams of overly concerned tween girls are endless harping about. To be honest, I don't see it, but hey, 173 tweeniboppers can't be wrong! ...can they?
Milo Asher: The unfortunant victim of an deeply unfortunant haircut and girly physique; Milo Asher was kind of a bizarre guy. Make that Late...guy. It's was Milo's unfortunant suicide that prompted Noah to start looking into their time together in the first place. Of course, nothing good results. Milo, clearly having been stalked by Slenderman for sometime prior to events of TribeTwelve, was clearly 'in the know' regarding slendersymbols and the big man himself; frequently taking off at the slightest hint of haunting. He also had a history of psychological problems, that may or may not have come into play regarding his subsiquent estrangement and suicide.
Sarah (?): Having some unclear relation to Milo, Noah camps out at her and her father's house for the holidays. The visit was cut short when Noah draws a knife in the middle of the night; finds himself covered in blood and then books it out of the house. Sarah's current condition is unknown.
Grandpa Karl: A relative of Noah's and a long-time survivor of Slenderman, Grandpa Karl is by far my favorite character. Not only is he one of the few characters with an interesting story to tell, but he also knows when to tell Noah to stuff it. (He even does it in German!)
The Observer: TribeTwelve's Totheark. He's the prettiest part of the whole series. Point's to Slenderman for imbuing his Hallowed minions with some pretty ligit video-editting skills. The Observer even has their own symbol to rival that of the Operator's. It resembles a cyclops eye, or, as one particularly honest twitter followerer pointed out "A single menacing boob...what could it mean?!?!"
I, for one, can't overlook the frankily obvious foreshadowing that the observer is really (*Le Gasp!*) Milo. If it's not, it's because the creators finally stepped and realized how blantently obvious they were making the whole damn thing.
Slenderman: Particularly tentaclly in this series, it's as if the creators looked at the other slenderblogs out there and decided what they could bring to the table was extra appendages. Slenderman, rather than twenty dollars or small-time b-movie fame, seems to really just want to be left alone in this series, but those meddling kids keep interupting his slender-raves.
My Rating: D
And that's being pretty darn generous. If my clearly flippant and sarcastic review wasn't a hard enough crack over the head, let me say outright: this series is meh at best. The concepts are half thought out, the episodes are rambling and pointless, and half the time are taken shot-for-shot from other, more popular series. The acting is the worst element. The unemotional, and blatently dispassionant delivery of anything other than curse words breaks my suspension of disbelief into tiny fragmented pieces.
Look. The only reason I give this series anything more than a big fat F, is because of the occasionally surprisingly adequate moments that give me a glimmer of hope that maybe, someday, this show will have some actual potential. The Totheark of the series, while perhaps over-stated and a little too artsy, is, at the very least, somewhat interesting to watch. While they do frequently take ideas that were already carried out by other blogs, they have seemed to try and step away from this habit at least somewhat. And you do have to admit, if the whole goal of this series was to get a Slenderman that was tentaclly, they succeeded admirably.
I can't bash the guys for trying, I just wish they'd try a little harder.
Hey somebody likes it.
"No-AH!!! YEAH DUDE UR LIKEW THE BESTEST"
Obviously EverymanHybrid wasn't the only blog to crop up in the Slendermania that's permeated those internet saavy among us. There are many, many, many Slenderblogs, but one of the 'big four' that's cropped up in recent years, is TribeTwelve.
I'm not sure why it's listed as one of the major Slenderblogs, as it doesn't see to have nearly as many followers as the others, nor is it as, well...frankly...good. But it is, so we're talking about it. Deal.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERSSo none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Screw you: TribeTwelve. The most you bring to the table is tentacles and the assertion that Slendy is damn good with a video editor, and God Almighty nobody frigging cares.
Well, I don't care. At least.
The basic premise of TribeTwelve is that our dim-lightbulb protagonist Noah Maxwell is a sad sad panda after his painfully socially-inept cousin Milo Asher offs himself for no apparent reason. Ah, fooey.
As it so happens though! The two cousins, being extraordinarily close, despite living so far away from eachother, made a video of the last time that Milo came for a visit! Wow! Lucky cheese! Noah decides to upload the videos to the internet in honor of his cousin, despite his aunt's request for him not to, and his cousin's clear desire to not be filmed in the footage that he uploads. But lets not quibble over familial niceities. This way he can finally delete that pesky data off his hard drive. Weee! More space for Plants vs. Zombies!
However, Noah forgot how strangely his cousin was acting in all this old footage. Namely, the fact that his cousin takes off like a frightened, gawky, unathletic rabbit with a wedgie at the slightest whim. Hmm, how bizarre...
Of course what Noah fails to see, is the constant presence of a tall-slendery man that seems to make it's appearance where-ever the boys seem to go. Once all the footage is uploaded, Noah is contacted by estranged German relatives and nightly spooks alike. In his increasing paranoia he starts carrying a knife and a camera at all times; perpetually filming himself at bizarre angles and knifing poor innocent shrubs for no good reason at all.
Wow Noah, good job. You know that strange box you get with the leaf in it? It means that shrub is back, and it's back for revenge.
Needless to say, things go steadily downhill, just as they always do. Noah starts to see Slendy, not only in the old footage, but in his home as well. Noah himself starts losing it as strange messages, video responses, and creepy (undecipherable to the viewer) phone calls start cropping up in the middle of the night. The whole thing breaks down even further as Noah, staying the home of a friend of a friend of his cousins (or something equally confusing), ends up attacking the poor girl with a knife and escaping off into the night. The last we saw him, Noah was riding straight into the Mangrove-y lair of SM himself, interupting the poor guy's tentaclly dance party with his insane screaming.
But not before posting this absolutely chilling tweet:
"observerheisherehelpmehelpmehellllllllllbndjmvb,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, "I dunno about you buuut...if Slenderman was chomping on my head, the last thing I would do (I mean, I'm just guessing here...) would be to be on my friggin' iPhone tweeting about it.
Characters:
Noah Maxwell: The dunderheaded protagonist, who is perpetually walking straight into danger; swearing up a blue streak; and tweeting about it all at the same time. His one saving grace is his supposed 'Good Looks' that endless streams of overly concerned tween girls are endless harping about. To be honest, I don't see it, but hey, 173 tweeniboppers can't be wrong! ...can they?
Milo Asher: The unfortunant victim of an deeply unfortunant haircut and girly physique; Milo Asher was kind of a bizarre guy. Make that Late...guy. It's was Milo's unfortunant suicide that prompted Noah to start looking into their time together in the first place. Of course, nothing good results. Milo, clearly having been stalked by Slenderman for sometime prior to events of TribeTwelve, was clearly 'in the know' regarding slendersymbols and the big man himself; frequently taking off at the slightest hint of haunting. He also had a history of psychological problems, that may or may not have come into play regarding his subsiquent estrangement and suicide.
Sarah (?): Having some unclear relation to Milo, Noah camps out at her and her father's house for the holidays. The visit was cut short when Noah draws a knife in the middle of the night; finds himself covered in blood and then books it out of the house. Sarah's current condition is unknown.
Grandpa Karl: A relative of Noah's and a long-time survivor of Slenderman, Grandpa Karl is by far my favorite character. Not only is he one of the few characters with an interesting story to tell, but he also knows when to tell Noah to stuff it. (He even does it in German!)
The Observer: TribeTwelve's Totheark. He's the prettiest part of the whole series. Point's to Slenderman for imbuing his Hallowed minions with some pretty ligit video-editting skills. The Observer even has their own symbol to rival that of the Operator's. It resembles a cyclops eye, or, as one particularly honest twitter followerer pointed out "A single menacing boob...what could it mean?!?!"
I, for one, can't overlook the frankily obvious foreshadowing that the observer is really (*Le Gasp!*) Milo. If it's not, it's because the creators finally stepped and realized how blantently obvious they were making the whole damn thing.
Slenderman: Particularly tentaclly in this series, it's as if the creators looked at the other slenderblogs out there and decided what they could bring to the table was extra appendages. Slenderman, rather than twenty dollars or small-time b-movie fame, seems to really just want to be left alone in this series, but those meddling kids keep interupting his slender-raves.
My Rating: D
And that's being pretty darn generous. If my clearly flippant and sarcastic review wasn't a hard enough crack over the head, let me say outright: this series is meh at best. The concepts are half thought out, the episodes are rambling and pointless, and half the time are taken shot-for-shot from other, more popular series. The acting is the worst element. The unemotional, and blatently dispassionant delivery of anything other than curse words breaks my suspension of disbelief into tiny fragmented pieces.
Look. The only reason I give this series anything more than a big fat F, is because of the occasionally surprisingly adequate moments that give me a glimmer of hope that maybe, someday, this show will have some actual potential. The Totheark of the series, while perhaps over-stated and a little too artsy, is, at the very least, somewhat interesting to watch. While they do frequently take ideas that were already carried out by other blogs, they have seemed to try and step away from this habit at least somewhat. And you do have to admit, if the whole goal of this series was to get a Slenderman that was tentaclly, they succeeded admirably.
I can't bash the guys for trying, I just wish they'd try a little harder.
Hey somebody likes it.
"No-AH!!! YEAH DUDE UR LIKEW THE BESTEST"
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Slendcabulary: (Take notes children, there will be a test)
Well Boys and Beans; I figured we'd take a break from our blog-studies for a little while and hop on over to analyzing the mechanics of the the slender-world. Since there are SO many different blogs to cover and I'm, very frankily, getting bored of describing them, we'll take a short breather.
That's not to say that I'm finished analyzing them, but as I realize that these analysis posts tend to become rather verbose, a break every so often certianly couldn't hurt.
Today I thought we'd cover the specifical vocabulary that tends to come up in these sorts of things, so that I can proceed in describing the blogs without having to stop and explain myself every other word and become even more verbose and convoluted then I already am.
SLENDER TERMS:
First off there are a few things that come up every so often that should be apparent, as to their meaning, but perhaps aren't.
These include:
Warp Points or Warping: Seriously guys. If I have to explain this than it's probably time to stop trying to scare yourself to pieces while sucking down four-loko with a crazy straw under the covers so your mummy doesn't see. Warping: a term made famous by Star Trek and 18th century Naval proceedures; applies to the Slendy-aura that allows Slenderman, and those around him, to transport from place to place. It almost always affect normal humans when they are already going through devices of travel (I.e. doors, tunnels, sometimes in cars), but Slendy seems capable of doing it whenever he isn't on film. (Oddly enough humans seem able to, and often do, capture these unfortunant displacements of space and time on camera with no problem at all).
The Tulpa Effect: As I posted last time. "The Slender Man.He exists because you thought of him.Now try and not think of him." He exists because we imagined him. Victor Surge didn't just create a meme, but he breathed life into a real monster. Our collective psyche and panic, and paranoia, and all those nights that each of us fans have spent nerviously flicking on the lights and glancing towards the windows both terrified and excited to see him? We brought him to life. Likewise, everything we decide about him, and every commonly accepted Slendertheory is therefore true because we accept it to be so.
For more terms, or information check out Slenderbloggins over at wordpress. They've got a nice little compendium of things. Sort of an advanced version of what I'm working on here. Cheers.
That's not to say that I'm finished analyzing them, but as I realize that these analysis posts tend to become rather verbose, a break every so often certianly couldn't hurt.
Today I thought we'd cover the specifical vocabulary that tends to come up in these sorts of things, so that I can proceed in describing the blogs without having to stop and explain myself every other word and become even more verbose and convoluted then I already am.
SLENDER TERMS:
First off there are a few things that come up every so often that should be apparent, as to their meaning, but perhaps aren't.
These include:
Warp Points or Warping: Seriously guys. If I have to explain this than it's probably time to stop trying to scare yourself to pieces while sucking down four-loko with a crazy straw under the covers so your mummy doesn't see. Warping: a term made famous by Star Trek and 18th century Naval proceedures; applies to the Slendy-aura that allows Slenderman, and those around him, to transport from place to place. It almost always affect normal humans when they are already going through devices of travel (I.e. doors, tunnels, sometimes in cars), but Slendy seems capable of doing it whenever he isn't on film. (Oddly enough humans seem able to, and often do, capture these unfortunant displacements of space and time on camera with no problem at all).
SlenderWalking: Similar to Warping, this term applies specifically to Slenderman's ability to appear and disappear from place to place while seemingly always moving at a very constant (very slow pace). There are various schools of thought as to how this works, from "He can only appear next to people that believe and fear him" to a whole mathematical theory dealing with quantum physics and Schrodinger's Cat (He's everywhere, and nowhere!)
Operator Symbol: That.
Seems to come from Marble Hornets (well, really, most things do), but there's no real consensus as to what it means or does. Sometimes it seems to originate from Slendy, as though he drew it himself, or it marks his presence. Some people seem to think it represents his warp points, or perhaps where he's turned people (Something very aztec-sacrifical alter about it, that). Yet others seem to think that it repels him. Nobody seems to have live long enough to find out. To me it seems to say only one thing: "No Face".
The Tulpa Effect: As I posted last time. "The Slender Man.He exists because you thought of him.Now try and not think of him." He exists because we imagined him. Victor Surge didn't just create a meme, but he breathed life into a real monster. Our collective psyche and panic, and paranoia, and all those nights that each of us fans have spent nerviously flicking on the lights and glancing towards the windows both terrified and excited to see him? We brought him to life. Likewise, everything we decide about him, and every commonly accepted Slendertheory is therefore true because we accept it to be so.
I don't know about you but I'm changing all my theories that he's a giant fluffy bunny who just wants a cuddle and see where that takes us.
Now: The people
There are looooooots of terms and theories and ideas about what effect slenderman has on people and what exactly we call them, but I'm going to cover the most popular basics.
The Good Guys
Blinds: Or, as I call them, the innocents. Those that have no idea what the Slenderman is and therefore have had no encounters with him. You, for example, are not one of them.
Fighters: Those that don't allow themselves to be passively stalked by Slendy. Rather, they fight back, they try and do something about it. Whether that means going after his minions, or going after the big man himself. Evan from EverymanHybrid, with his trusty baseball bat and meatcleaver, would be an example, albiet, not a very smart one.
Runners: Those that fight Slendy by avoiding him. Those that try, or, on odd occasions, learned to avoid him all together. Jay from Marble Hornets often displays this trait, frequently changing locations to survive him.
The Others
The Hallowed: Also, Hollowed. These refer to people who have been psychologically "carved out" by Slenderman. They've lost their personalities, There drive and most of their soul. To those that knew them, they seem empty or 'not all there'. They're motives may not be immediately apparent, but eventually they will turn on those that love them. They also seem to have a fanatical love of Slenderman, to a self-damaging level. Think...the evil minions from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. They've also lost such a large part of themselves that they often speak in code.
Totheark: Obviously coined by Marble Hornets, most blogs, written or video, have some character that leaves messages that both threaten, and drive the main character. Whether these characters are good, or evil; Threatening or nice; doesn't matter. They're always there.
Sleepers: Those that are under control of the Slenderman, but not conciously aware of it. Whether this means that they are doing things that seem good, but are actually bad, or if they do things literally in there sleep. They can be good guys, but, unfortunantly, things never seem to end well for them.
That's the basic idea anyway. Let me know if there is something blaringly obvious that I missed, it's quite possible. I've had a horrible time sleeping lately (*hands on hips* Slenderman, is that you? *Stock Laughter*). So it's likely I've missed something in my dilerium. It's always quite possible that my dyslexia has cropped up more than usual here. Feel free to bash my spelling in the comments. Douche.
For more terms, or information check out Slenderbloggins over at wordpress. They've got a nice little compendium of things. Sort of an advanced version of what I'm working on here. Cheers.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Blogs: Among the Followers
After Marble Hornets was released, there was a flood of people who started slenderblogging in response. Why is this? Maybe they liked what they saw and took it as a creative challenge. Maybe Slenderman latched onto their brains with his tenticles and this was the only way for them to explore what he was, and what he meant to them. Maybe knowing is the most dangerous part and MarbleHornets started the beginning of something awful.
...
(Haha, Something Awful...get it?)
Moving on.
Point is. There are many theories, theories that I tend to subscribe to that say that slenderman is summoned by though thought. In fact, on of the original comments on the Something Awful Forums:
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
So none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Hello: EverymanHybrid
EverymanHybrid kicked up in March 2010 (a little less than a year after MarbleHornets, for those of you keeping track)
(for those of you keeping track: Why so anal anyway?)
The basic premise kicked off as it being a couple college guys who are putting together an info-blog of diet and exercise tips. Granted, the level of helpfullness as an actual excercise and diet blog is minimal. While they have a couple of good suggestions, it's more like watching college guys trying to remember what they learned in high-school gym class.
"Uh...Eat healthy and...exercise!"
Granted, they seem to be having fun and nobody really minds. It's also a good establishing point for that characters (or so it seems...)
That is until someone comes along looking for tips on how to be a truely "slender man". *yuk yuk*
Although, most fans may grimace at the overt slenderhaunting at the beginning of this blog FEAR NOT! Not everything is as it seems to be. Slenderman may lurk overtly around and get his giggles turning off fuse boxes in the middle of a shoot, it's all part of the show. Until things start getting bizarre.
The boys fess up. That Slenderman that they've been so careful not to notice before? He was a plant. They wanted to make an exercise show with a little bit of flavour. Too bad not all those Slendermen in the background were part of the show! Whoopsidaisy!
You know. Maybe Slenderman was just lonely, saw that other Slenderman costume and was looking for friend. Ever consider that?
Things go steeply and swiftly downhill. To a, frankly, totally confusing level. First Slenderman starts showing up, then someone starts posting creepy videos that none of the crew can see to the account, people start going missing, Evan (one of the main cast) starts going just a liittttlle bit south of normal and a whole plethora of monsters start to join in on the fun.
To date, (Again, massive spoilers), it would seem that the principal characters were all children with some unclarified mental or emotional problems that were adopted by a one, Dr. Corenthal who, through some, again, unclarified method was able to correct the children's problem for the most part. Until they day that they all vanished, appearing hundreds of miles away in the middle of a blizzard. They cite a strange man who took them somewhere in an instant. Hmm, who could that be?
It would seem that the four man protagonists, Evan, Vinnie, Steph and and Jeff as the four Corenthal children, though with apparently no recollection, or at least never any mention of this fact. In the most recent video, they were actually dragged into a memory of corenthal apologizing to them for everything he had failed to protect them from. Oh yeah, Slendy was there.
Sidenote: Compound to this whole plot is another plot involving Jeff and his younger brother Alex fighting off another infamous creepy-pasta monster known as the Rake, a feral, half-man, half-beast creature that hides in closets and attacks children as they sleep. For a while this seems to overtake the whole plot, but it seems to be getting back to Slenderman, and he doesn't like to be ignored.
There is also an enigmatic side-plot called SevenTrialsofHabit, also plaguing the boys. The Seven Trails are set up as some kind of tournament although their purpose and true intent are yet to be revealed. It's a very interesting interactive game, with the sinister "HABIT" order those within the tourniment to complete such tasks as "Bury the thing you most love" or "Lose a friend". Whether or not there is a connection to Slenderman, or it's importance within the series is, to date, entirely unclear.
Characters: (because, frankly, as the fans have often complained, there are a LOT of them, and they get confusing)
Vince: Creator and Co-host of EverymanHybrid, he's the peacemaker within the group. He drives the cast when they very clearly are spooked and wish to stop with his firm belief that everything can be explained. Exceedingly calming, mellow and skeptical; he's the last to admit that something bizarre is going on. However this also makes him the most reasonable when everyone around him seems to be suffering the worst of Slenderman (or Rake) based paranoia. Vinnie himself seems to be unaffiliated with the Rake, for the most part, but is often around when Slenderman shows up and has, therefore, had several encounters with the guy.
The Vincent described by Dr. Corenthal (whether this is the same Vincent or some re-encarnation/possession thereof) is a happy boy who loves puzzles and games, but was adopted after suffering at the hands of a child molestor. The child molestor was mysteriously killed by a figure that Vincent described as 'the man'.
Evan: Co-host and 'Nutritional Expert' Evan is the most...off kilter of the cast. Which is probably the reason that he seems to drive the plot the most. Evan is notable for his bizarre and outgoing personality, sense of humour, and his apparent obsession with knives. He's also the most clearly involved and affected by Slenderman. From the very start he was clearly disturbed by the idea of something bizarre happening. He frequently, and increasingly, goes into distant states of daydreaming (or so we assume). He dreams of horrifying and bloody Slenderman episodes, (which are later referanced and even encountered in real life). As the haunting continues he takes to talking to himself, making bizarre ranting videos and increasingly bizarre behavior.
On the other hand, while he might be the most affected by Slendy, he's also the least scared of the guy. Or so it would seem. Rather than running from our favorite businessman, like any normal human, he tends to charge dead on. Once dissapearing into the woods in pursuit; later attacking Slendy with a bat (it didn't end well) and frequently making very intense threats on the lives of certian faceless denizens of the creepy-pasta world; resulting in one his most famous lines:
Jeff: The camera man and sad panda of the cast. He's a somewhat stiff, and yet somewhat emotionally overwrought guy with a complicated role within the series. His parents died several years ago and he and his brother now live together where they are constantly and frequently attacked by monsters and internet villians galore. Jeff is dating a girl named Jessa who goes missing; after which he mysteriously leaves to go 'searching for something'. He returns a few episodes later without having found her and seems to give up the search. However he does uncover the Dr. Corenthal connection that seems to be leading them to the origin of the cast's Slenderhistory. He also is forced to realize that his brother is being haunted as well, although by a different monster known as "The Rake".
In his search for Jessa, he brings in her friend Damsel as a possible suspect in the dissapearance and eventually gets her committed. After a period of time, he changes his mind and helps rescue her.
Jeff is constantly haunted by something, although it never seems to attack him too directly. It seems to focus on those around him.
The Jeffery of the Corenthal letters was witnessed to his father killing his mother and sister and then himself. Before he died, his father told him that "The man made me do it."
Jessa: Sad Panda Jeff's girlfriend. Also the best friend of Damsel. She's somewhat unremarkable as of yet, only appearing in a couple of videos. However much of Jeff's plot revolves around finding her after she disappears. She and Jeff were very close and most of his motivation throughout the series involves finding out what happened, rather than searching for SM, dividing him from the rest of the cast. Jessa was a simple, sweethearted girl. It's assumed that she is now dead, following a haunting message on Damsel's cellphone implying that she was killed by Slenderman.
Damsel/Steph/Stephanie: Damsel was first introduced to the series through a seperate blog in which she discussed the plot of EMH. It's not clear how she became involved with the series, if she was in it from the beginning or not, but it was quickly alluded to in the series itself and she became a regular character. It's implied that she's been haunted since she was just a child and that her house was burned down by Slendy, with her parents still inside. She was engaged in a twitter fight with Jeff regarding Jessa's disappearance, which ended in her getting committed (not for the first time). Eventually Jeff, Vince, and Evan help rescue her although several 'hidden videos' (which are invisible to the cast) have implied that she might be more involved than we realize in Jessa's apparent death. Stephanie also has a counterpart with the children discussed in the Corenthal letters but there is little known about her. It also seems interesting that the three boys have remained friends but Steph was seemingly unaware of the boys (and visa versa) until Jessa put them in contact.
Dr. Corenthal: A psychiatrist at the Fairmont Children's Home, Corenthal was put in contact with four children named Vincent, Stephanie, Jeffery, and Evan; who all suffered from various childhood traumas. After working with the four of them, and recognizing their obvious closeness, he and his wife adopt them. However they all begin suffering from what would seem to be Slenderman hauntings and they are all seemingly hallowed by Slenderman and taken away from the Doctor (speculation). Jeff tries to find the Doctor but is told by his wife that he is dead. Although it is insinuated that he might actually be alive somewhere.
In the newest video, Dr. Corenthal was seen muttering apologies to the four children after they were dragged into a communal flashback.
Jessie: The neice of Dr. Corenthal and friend of Jessa and Damsel. (Ok, seriously guys, Jessa AND Jessie? This got me so lost the first time I watched). She was also once the girlfriend of Evan. She's taken away from the series before she really gets a chance to latch on, and most fans forgot about her, like they did with the many other minor characters of the series. Jessie has some connection with the Rake as well, when her grandmother is killed by it partway through the series. She recently returned and led the boys to a storage compartment that resulted in both a Slendy encounter and memories of the doctor.
Alex: Jeff's little brother who sets up a youtube account that has both an outsider perspective on the events of EMH but also his own encounters with the Rake. (which I'm not really going to discuss here because, very frankly, I don't care. The rake not only fails to scare me but is also very out of place in this series). It should be noted that he seems to know little to nothing about his brother's encounters with Slenderman.
Slenderman: Intially added as a prank by the guys, the real slendermen gets curious and starts poking around the set of EMH. Can you blame him? Perhaps he was lonely. The crew are convinced at first that someone else is pranking them, but one by one they are all convinced that he is indeed real after several harrowing encounters. Slenderman seems capable of teleportation of both himself and others, which is unhindered by the presence of cameras. Being in his presence seems to result in a sort of Slendy-ebola virus, with bleeding from the nose, ears and throat with bruised or sunken in eyes following. Slenderman seems to have a connection to each of his victim's childhoods. He's also got some degree of invisibility as many times he has been very clearly present in the videos but (like the hidden videos) the crew fail to see him.
My Rating: B-
Well. I'm actually being somewhat generous, but I'm also trying to average the quality of the series. Thing is, EverymanHybrid is actually pretty compelling, and they have some incredably interesting ideas. On the otherhand, they're desire to be interesting and twisty, and different from MarbleHornets results in a bit of a failure to launch in many cases. They spend so much time setting up Slenderman as a viable monster, only to replace him (almost entirely) for a time with The Rake. They have a tendancy to assume that we know what or who they are talking about when they create tragic situations for characters that we have only seen onscreen briefly once or twice. This is compounded by the sheer NUMBER of side characters (most of whom I didn't even mention) that they throw at us.
They also encounter slendy in very bizarre ways. Slenderman in this series is far less terrifying to me than he is in MarbleHornets because they always either fail to see him, or they go charging at him full blast (which is admittedly entertaining). Either way the never seem to react fearfully to him, or at least not in ways that affect the viewers. In MarbleHornets, we only get glimpses of SM and then the protagonist is out of there. In EMH, we are allowed far too much time to just stare at Slenderman, without ever seeing the characters react.
Beyond that, there sheer use of media, crossing over a variety of sites and plots makes the series incredably complex and difficult to follow.
On the other hand, they also seem to respond to what the viewers say. They have been recently more focused on our favorite faceless friend and they seem to be getting their act together. It's a series worth watching, and it brings in many different facets of the story, and interesting things to try and work out within the series, but, man oh man, if your going to watch it, do it off of the Wiki rather than trying to piece it all together by yourself.
...
(Haha, Something Awful...get it?)
Moving on.
Point is. There are many theories, theories that I tend to subscribe to that say that slenderman is summoned by though thought. In fact, on of the original comments on the Something Awful Forums:
"The Slender Man.Did anyone ever consider the implication of starting these blogs? Anyone at all? Have I totally screwed myself here?
He exists because you thought of him.
Now try and not think of him." - I
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
So none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Hello: EverymanHybrid
EverymanHybrid kicked up in March 2010 (a little less than a year after MarbleHornets, for those of you keeping track)
(for those of you keeping track: Why so anal anyway?)
The basic premise kicked off as it being a couple college guys who are putting together an info-blog of diet and exercise tips. Granted, the level of helpfullness as an actual excercise and diet blog is minimal. While they have a couple of good suggestions, it's more like watching college guys trying to remember what they learned in high-school gym class.
"Uh...Eat healthy and...exercise!"
Granted, they seem to be having fun and nobody really minds. It's also a good establishing point for that characters (or so it seems...)
That is until someone comes along looking for tips on how to be a truely "slender man". *yuk yuk*
Although, most fans may grimace at the overt slenderhaunting at the beginning of this blog FEAR NOT! Not everything is as it seems to be. Slenderman may lurk overtly around and get his giggles turning off fuse boxes in the middle of a shoot, it's all part of the show. Until things start getting bizarre.
The boys fess up. That Slenderman that they've been so careful not to notice before? He was a plant. They wanted to make an exercise show with a little bit of flavour. Too bad not all those Slendermen in the background were part of the show! Whoopsidaisy!
You know. Maybe Slenderman was just lonely, saw that other Slenderman costume and was looking for friend. Ever consider that?
Things go steeply and swiftly downhill. To a, frankly, totally confusing level. First Slenderman starts showing up, then someone starts posting creepy videos that none of the crew can see to the account, people start going missing, Evan (one of the main cast) starts going just a liittttlle bit south of normal and a whole plethora of monsters start to join in on the fun.
To date, (Again, massive spoilers), it would seem that the principal characters were all children with some unclarified mental or emotional problems that were adopted by a one, Dr. Corenthal who, through some, again, unclarified method was able to correct the children's problem for the most part. Until they day that they all vanished, appearing hundreds of miles away in the middle of a blizzard. They cite a strange man who took them somewhere in an instant. Hmm, who could that be?
It would seem that the four man protagonists, Evan, Vinnie, Steph and and Jeff as the four Corenthal children, though with apparently no recollection, or at least never any mention of this fact. In the most recent video, they were actually dragged into a memory of corenthal apologizing to them for everything he had failed to protect them from. Oh yeah, Slendy was there.
Sidenote: Compound to this whole plot is another plot involving Jeff and his younger brother Alex fighting off another infamous creepy-pasta monster known as the Rake, a feral, half-man, half-beast creature that hides in closets and attacks children as they sleep. For a while this seems to overtake the whole plot, but it seems to be getting back to Slenderman, and he doesn't like to be ignored.
There is also an enigmatic side-plot called SevenTrialsofHabit, also plaguing the boys. The Seven Trails are set up as some kind of tournament although their purpose and true intent are yet to be revealed. It's a very interesting interactive game, with the sinister "HABIT" order those within the tourniment to complete such tasks as "Bury the thing you most love" or "Lose a friend". Whether or not there is a connection to Slenderman, or it's importance within the series is, to date, entirely unclear.
Characters: (because, frankly, as the fans have often complained, there are a LOT of them, and they get confusing)
Vince: Creator and Co-host of EverymanHybrid, he's the peacemaker within the group. He drives the cast when they very clearly are spooked and wish to stop with his firm belief that everything can be explained. Exceedingly calming, mellow and skeptical; he's the last to admit that something bizarre is going on. However this also makes him the most reasonable when everyone around him seems to be suffering the worst of Slenderman (or Rake) based paranoia. Vinnie himself seems to be unaffiliated with the Rake, for the most part, but is often around when Slenderman shows up and has, therefore, had several encounters with the guy.
The Vincent described by Dr. Corenthal (whether this is the same Vincent or some re-encarnation/possession thereof) is a happy boy who loves puzzles and games, but was adopted after suffering at the hands of a child molestor. The child molestor was mysteriously killed by a figure that Vincent described as 'the man'.
Evan: Co-host and 'Nutritional Expert' Evan is the most...off kilter of the cast. Which is probably the reason that he seems to drive the plot the most. Evan is notable for his bizarre and outgoing personality, sense of humour, and his apparent obsession with knives. He's also the most clearly involved and affected by Slenderman. From the very start he was clearly disturbed by the idea of something bizarre happening. He frequently, and increasingly, goes into distant states of daydreaming (or so we assume). He dreams of horrifying and bloody Slenderman episodes, (which are later referanced and even encountered in real life). As the haunting continues he takes to talking to himself, making bizarre ranting videos and increasingly bizarre behavior.
On the other hand, while he might be the most affected by Slendy, he's also the least scared of the guy. Or so it would seem. Rather than running from our favorite businessman, like any normal human, he tends to charge dead on. Once dissapearing into the woods in pursuit; later attacking Slendy with a bat (it didn't end well) and frequently making very intense threats on the lives of certian faceless denizens of the creepy-pasta world; resulting in one his most famous lines:
"I wanna kill it."The Evan from Dr. Corenthal's letters was an orphan known as Habit (by his late mother). He was distant, moody and violent. At the Fairmont Children's Home, he was involved with the murder of a nurse and bunches of pet rabbits kept at the home. He was then allowed only a camera to document his feelings, so that he would have no sharp writing impliments; (ironic, as our Evan is frequently cited as having little/no ability with technology of any kind).
Jeff: The camera man and sad panda of the cast. He's a somewhat stiff, and yet somewhat emotionally overwrought guy with a complicated role within the series. His parents died several years ago and he and his brother now live together where they are constantly and frequently attacked by monsters and internet villians galore. Jeff is dating a girl named Jessa who goes missing; after which he mysteriously leaves to go 'searching for something'. He returns a few episodes later without having found her and seems to give up the search. However he does uncover the Dr. Corenthal connection that seems to be leading them to the origin of the cast's Slenderhistory. He also is forced to realize that his brother is being haunted as well, although by a different monster known as "The Rake".
In his search for Jessa, he brings in her friend Damsel as a possible suspect in the dissapearance and eventually gets her committed. After a period of time, he changes his mind and helps rescue her.
Jeff is constantly haunted by something, although it never seems to attack him too directly. It seems to focus on those around him.
The Jeffery of the Corenthal letters was witnessed to his father killing his mother and sister and then himself. Before he died, his father told him that "The man made me do it."
Jessa: Sad Panda Jeff's girlfriend. Also the best friend of Damsel. She's somewhat unremarkable as of yet, only appearing in a couple of videos. However much of Jeff's plot revolves around finding her after she disappears. She and Jeff were very close and most of his motivation throughout the series involves finding out what happened, rather than searching for SM, dividing him from the rest of the cast. Jessa was a simple, sweethearted girl. It's assumed that she is now dead, following a haunting message on Damsel's cellphone implying that she was killed by Slenderman.
Damsel/Steph/Stephanie: Damsel was first introduced to the series through a seperate blog in which she discussed the plot of EMH. It's not clear how she became involved with the series, if she was in it from the beginning or not, but it was quickly alluded to in the series itself and she became a regular character. It's implied that she's been haunted since she was just a child and that her house was burned down by Slendy, with her parents still inside. She was engaged in a twitter fight with Jeff regarding Jessa's disappearance, which ended in her getting committed (not for the first time). Eventually Jeff, Vince, and Evan help rescue her although several 'hidden videos' (which are invisible to the cast) have implied that she might be more involved than we realize in Jessa's apparent death. Stephanie also has a counterpart with the children discussed in the Corenthal letters but there is little known about her. It also seems interesting that the three boys have remained friends but Steph was seemingly unaware of the boys (and visa versa) until Jessa put them in contact.
Dr. Corenthal: A psychiatrist at the Fairmont Children's Home, Corenthal was put in contact with four children named Vincent, Stephanie, Jeffery, and Evan; who all suffered from various childhood traumas. After working with the four of them, and recognizing their obvious closeness, he and his wife adopt them. However they all begin suffering from what would seem to be Slenderman hauntings and they are all seemingly hallowed by Slenderman and taken away from the Doctor (speculation). Jeff tries to find the Doctor but is told by his wife that he is dead. Although it is insinuated that he might actually be alive somewhere.
In the newest video, Dr. Corenthal was seen muttering apologies to the four children after they were dragged into a communal flashback.
Jessie: The neice of Dr. Corenthal and friend of Jessa and Damsel. (Ok, seriously guys, Jessa AND Jessie? This got me so lost the first time I watched). She was also once the girlfriend of Evan. She's taken away from the series before she really gets a chance to latch on, and most fans forgot about her, like they did with the many other minor characters of the series. Jessie has some connection with the Rake as well, when her grandmother is killed by it partway through the series. She recently returned and led the boys to a storage compartment that resulted in both a Slendy encounter and memories of the doctor.
Alex: Jeff's little brother who sets up a youtube account that has both an outsider perspective on the events of EMH but also his own encounters with the Rake. (which I'm not really going to discuss here because, very frankly, I don't care. The rake not only fails to scare me but is also very out of place in this series). It should be noted that he seems to know little to nothing about his brother's encounters with Slenderman.
Slenderman: Intially added as a prank by the guys, the real slendermen gets curious and starts poking around the set of EMH. Can you blame him? Perhaps he was lonely. The crew are convinced at first that someone else is pranking them, but one by one they are all convinced that he is indeed real after several harrowing encounters. Slenderman seems capable of teleportation of both himself and others, which is unhindered by the presence of cameras. Being in his presence seems to result in a sort of Slendy-ebola virus, with bleeding from the nose, ears and throat with bruised or sunken in eyes following. Slenderman seems to have a connection to each of his victim's childhoods. He's also got some degree of invisibility as many times he has been very clearly present in the videos but (like the hidden videos) the crew fail to see him.
My Rating: B-
Well. I'm actually being somewhat generous, but I'm also trying to average the quality of the series. Thing is, EverymanHybrid is actually pretty compelling, and they have some incredably interesting ideas. On the otherhand, they're desire to be interesting and twisty, and different from MarbleHornets results in a bit of a failure to launch in many cases. They spend so much time setting up Slenderman as a viable monster, only to replace him (almost entirely) for a time with The Rake. They have a tendancy to assume that we know what or who they are talking about when they create tragic situations for characters that we have only seen onscreen briefly once or twice. This is compounded by the sheer NUMBER of side characters (most of whom I didn't even mention) that they throw at us.
They also encounter slendy in very bizarre ways. Slenderman in this series is far less terrifying to me than he is in MarbleHornets because they always either fail to see him, or they go charging at him full blast (which is admittedly entertaining). Either way the never seem to react fearfully to him, or at least not in ways that affect the viewers. In MarbleHornets, we only get glimpses of SM and then the protagonist is out of there. In EMH, we are allowed far too much time to just stare at Slenderman, without ever seeing the characters react.
Beyond that, there sheer use of media, crossing over a variety of sites and plots makes the series incredably complex and difficult to follow.
On the other hand, they also seem to respond to what the viewers say. They have been recently more focused on our favorite faceless friend and they seem to be getting their act together. It's a series worth watching, and it brings in many different facets of the story, and interesting things to try and work out within the series, but, man oh man, if your going to watch it, do it off of the Wiki rather than trying to piece it all together by yourself.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
The Birth of the Blogs: Marble Hornets
So its only right that this "study" I'm doing be kicked off with the most pertinant element of the slendymythos.
(P.s., have I said how much I love prefacing everything slenderman related with the word "slendy"?)
When the slenderman stories really started getting really big, the first thing that started happening were the hundreds and hundreds of fanworks based off Slenderman. From the first mention of the fellow on the Something Awful, to the multitudes of offshoot stories involving some college age guy looking for someone who has gone missing and left behind a seemingly 'innoculous' HEAP of film.
Seriously. That's every single one of them. But they do contribute a lot to our understanding of what Slenderman is sooo, lets take gander.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
So none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Lets talk MarbleHornets
MH is probably the birthplace of the true Slendymeme as it is today. Starting only a short while after Slenderman started getting big on the forums, Marble Hornets was the first to take the idea of Slenderman and run with it. Every Slenderblog thats followed usually has influences from (if not a total frakking copy of) MH.
The basic plot is this:
Jay, our lovably pug-faced, unreliable narrator; is friends with the enigmatic Alex Kralie. Both are film students. Alex is entrenched in working on his classically self-impressed, hoity-toity film student film "MarbleHornets" when somebody decides its time to make a break for hollywood and starts interupting the shoots. Of course, Jay, at the time, is blissfully unaware. All he knows is that his friend seems to be going a little off his rocker. Alex begins to behave strangely, then begins to obsessively film himself, eventually giving up his film altogether in favour of isolation and self-documentation. Eventually Jay confronts him about this strange behavior. He discovers that Alex has heaps of tapes lying around, which he plans to burn. Jay eventually talks him out of burning them and takes them home with him, planning to watch them. Which he promptly forgets to do.
Years pass.
Alex transferred schools shortly after giving away the tapes and Jay hasn't seen him for about three years. For some unknown reason, suddenly the tapes, which have been stored in Jay's closet collecting dust, pique his interest, and he creates a youtube account to document his findings.
(Point of note: There are some theories that what piqued his interest was actually finding the Something Awful Forum that started Slenderman. I don't know why this would grab his attention despite ironically not knowing that the monster he was looking at was the one that he would shortly discover himself, irregardless, it's nicely full circle.)
Because the tapes are somewhat old and unmarked, Jay has no way of knowing what order they go in and begins watching them at random. What he discovers is more than a little disturbing. Alex was being hunted by something.
Jay watches (out of order) Alex's seeming first encounter with long-tall-and-faceless, and Alex's downspiral of first trying to discover what Slenderman is, to being completely overtaken by paranoia and fear. Jay becomes increasingly concerned about what happened to his friend. Even more so when another YouTuber begins leaving cryptic and threatening video responses to Jay's account.
Of course, the inevitable happens, and Jay begins seeing Slenderman himself. In fact, the more Jay tries to find out about what happened, the worse things seem to get. From Slendy-sickness, to a masked man lurking in his room while he sleeps. Hell, Slendy even burns down the poor sucker's apartment building just to be nearer to him.
Oh yes.
The major players:
Jay: Poor sad-sack who gets wrapped up in hell just because he tried to be a good friend. Usually behind the camera, and usually quiet, we typically see the world through his eyes, and let me tell you, it's not always awesomesauce. If he's not getting slendystalked, he's waking up in the woods somewhere after portal-ing through a house for hours in pursuit of that masked man. Everything bad that happened to Alex, (coughing, stalking, paranoia, self-filming) all begins to happen to Jay.
Who said ignorence wasn't bliss???
Alex: Quiet, sometimes brooding film student # 2. Alex was a pretty normal film student, nice guy, kinda quiet. Then someone had to come along and start giving him a mindscrew. From the moment Slendy started getting involved Alex went from normal guy, to insane whackjob seen furiously scribbling pictures of slenderman all over the walls and yelling angrily at anyone who got in his way. Then he vanished.
Years later, after much desperate searching for his friend Jay recieved a video of Alex, seemingly happy and well adjusted. That is until his stupid girlfriend found the damn camera, and everything started all over again.
We've since met up with Alex again. He just appears and everyone seems to act like nothing is wrong. Granted, at the time, they're a little more occupied with an armed masky. Also, according to the newest video, Alex seems to know more about SM than he's letting on.
Totheark: Strange, enigma of a S.O.B. who turns-coat so many times it's impossible to tell whose side he's on, albiet, I find his videos distinctly menacing and they rarely seem to bring about any good. Usually utalizing distorted footage and audio, sometimes from Alex's videos that were missing scenes and sound. Sometimes video of Jay taking video (shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit). His responses always leave the viewer with a cryptic puzzle and the tingly sensation that this dude is up to no good. On the other hand, he tends to be the one to drive the story along, coaxing Jay back into the fray.
Then again, one has to wonder, would Jay have still been looking for Alex of Totheark wasn't the one driving him on towards Slendy?
There's a looooot of theories as to who the hell Totheark is. Pretty much everyone from Jay himself to that girl we saw that one time in that one video is suspect. As for me? My money is that it's Alex, and he's not such a good guy anymore.
Masky/Tim: Once one of the cast of MarbleHornets, Tim seems to have gotten up to some real hijinks in the past couple years. Tim, for starters, was actually one of the first to show symptoms of Slendysickness (raising some eyebrows on this side of the computer moniter, let-me-tell-you). Then, years later when Jay tried to question him about Alex, his answers were dodgy and unhelpful to say the least.
Then he started getting in on the haunting act himself.
Although we didn't know it at the time (well, everyone who didn't recognize his signature bomber jacket and epic-sideburns) Tim was that creepy masked man that lurked in the shadows of Jay's research. He first appeared in Brian's house (a dark, creepy, abandoned place that Jay hoped would give him some clues to Alex's whereabouts), calmly sitting in the shadows, before tackling Jay, and then promptly having a seizure. Then he showed up on Jay's security footage. Then he he followed Jay to the motel after his aparment burned down.
Masky was only recently 'unmasked', and revealed to be Tim. After visiting a burned out building a second time, and then finding Alex (rather unceremoniously if you ask me) Masky popped out, bypassed Jay and then stabbed Alex with a knife. Afterwhich Alex got revenge by umasking Tim, and then crushing his leg with a rock. Don't worry, he got better.
Brian; The lead actor from MarbleHornets, he seems to have dissapeared off of the face of the map. He and Alex were good friends, and was the one that introduced Alex and Tim. Sounds like he and Tim were something of best-friends before Slenderman horned in. He hasn't been seen since. However, it was his house that Jay searched multiple times. From the bloody sink and bullet casings, to the portals through time and space, things weren't looking so good.
Jessica: Jay's next door neighbor in the Motel. At first she seems happy and carefree, but things slowly decline as she delves into paranoia. Mentioning that she's been haunted by something since she was a child, and mentioning several oddities in the motel, Jay almost teems up with her. However, masky intervines, and she hasn't been seen since.
The Operator: Known affectionately as Slenderman. Able to teleport from place to place, except perhaps when on film, Slenderman seems to really really want to be on fim. He's not usually seen moving, which adds to his mysterious and creepy air, but he's almost always somewhere, lurking. His presence is noted by the effects on the characters, as well as visual tears, and loud audio distortions that trumpet his presence or influence. So sometimes you hear him, without ever seeing him at all. What's worse? You know that the protagonists don't even know he's there.
My rating: A
MarbleHornets is where it all began. It practically defines Slenderblog. On the otherhand, it's not perfect. But few trailblazers are. It builds the background for us to explore just what slenderman is.
(P.s., have I said how much I love prefacing everything slenderman related with the word "slendy"?)
When the slenderman stories really started getting really big, the first thing that started happening were the hundreds and hundreds of fanworks based off Slenderman. From the first mention of the fellow on the Something Awful, to the multitudes of offshoot stories involving some college age guy looking for someone who has gone missing and left behind a seemingly 'innoculous' HEAP of film.
Seriously. That's every single one of them. But they do contribute a lot to our understanding of what Slenderman is sooo, lets take gander.
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS
So none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Lets talk MarbleHornets
MH is probably the birthplace of the true Slendymeme as it is today. Starting only a short while after Slenderman started getting big on the forums, Marble Hornets was the first to take the idea of Slenderman and run with it. Every Slenderblog thats followed usually has influences from (if not a total frakking copy of) MH.
The basic plot is this:
Jay, our lovably pug-faced, unreliable narrator; is friends with the enigmatic Alex Kralie. Both are film students. Alex is entrenched in working on his classically self-impressed, hoity-toity film student film "MarbleHornets" when somebody decides its time to make a break for hollywood and starts interupting the shoots. Of course, Jay, at the time, is blissfully unaware. All he knows is that his friend seems to be going a little off his rocker. Alex begins to behave strangely, then begins to obsessively film himself, eventually giving up his film altogether in favour of isolation and self-documentation. Eventually Jay confronts him about this strange behavior. He discovers that Alex has heaps of tapes lying around, which he plans to burn. Jay eventually talks him out of burning them and takes them home with him, planning to watch them. Which he promptly forgets to do.
Years pass.
Alex transferred schools shortly after giving away the tapes and Jay hasn't seen him for about three years. For some unknown reason, suddenly the tapes, which have been stored in Jay's closet collecting dust, pique his interest, and he creates a youtube account to document his findings.
(Point of note: There are some theories that what piqued his interest was actually finding the Something Awful Forum that started Slenderman. I don't know why this would grab his attention despite ironically not knowing that the monster he was looking at was the one that he would shortly discover himself, irregardless, it's nicely full circle.)
Because the tapes are somewhat old and unmarked, Jay has no way of knowing what order they go in and begins watching them at random. What he discovers is more than a little disturbing. Alex was being hunted by something.
Jay watches (out of order) Alex's seeming first encounter with long-tall-and-faceless, and Alex's downspiral of first trying to discover what Slenderman is, to being completely overtaken by paranoia and fear. Jay becomes increasingly concerned about what happened to his friend. Even more so when another YouTuber begins leaving cryptic and threatening video responses to Jay's account.
Of course, the inevitable happens, and Jay begins seeing Slenderman himself. In fact, the more Jay tries to find out about what happened, the worse things seem to get. From Slendy-sickness, to a masked man lurking in his room while he sleeps. Hell, Slendy even burns down the poor sucker's apartment building just to be nearer to him.
Oh yes.
The major players:
Jay: Poor sad-sack who gets wrapped up in hell just because he tried to be a good friend. Usually behind the camera, and usually quiet, we typically see the world through his eyes, and let me tell you, it's not always awesomesauce. If he's not getting slendystalked, he's waking up in the woods somewhere after portal-ing through a house for hours in pursuit of that masked man. Everything bad that happened to Alex, (coughing, stalking, paranoia, self-filming) all begins to happen to Jay.
Who said ignorence wasn't bliss???
Alex: Quiet, sometimes brooding film student # 2. Alex was a pretty normal film student, nice guy, kinda quiet. Then someone had to come along and start giving him a mindscrew. From the moment Slendy started getting involved Alex went from normal guy, to insane whackjob seen furiously scribbling pictures of slenderman all over the walls and yelling angrily at anyone who got in his way. Then he vanished.
Years later, after much desperate searching for his friend Jay recieved a video of Alex, seemingly happy and well adjusted. That is until his stupid girlfriend found the damn camera, and everything started all over again.
We've since met up with Alex again. He just appears and everyone seems to act like nothing is wrong. Granted, at the time, they're a little more occupied with an armed masky. Also, according to the newest video, Alex seems to know more about SM than he's letting on.
Totheark: Strange, enigma of a S.O.B. who turns-coat so many times it's impossible to tell whose side he's on, albiet, I find his videos distinctly menacing and they rarely seem to bring about any good. Usually utalizing distorted footage and audio, sometimes from Alex's videos that were missing scenes and sound. Sometimes video of Jay taking video (shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit). His responses always leave the viewer with a cryptic puzzle and the tingly sensation that this dude is up to no good. On the other hand, he tends to be the one to drive the story along, coaxing Jay back into the fray.
Then again, one has to wonder, would Jay have still been looking for Alex of Totheark wasn't the one driving him on towards Slendy?
There's a looooot of theories as to who the hell Totheark is. Pretty much everyone from Jay himself to that girl we saw that one time in that one video is suspect. As for me? My money is that it's Alex, and he's not such a good guy anymore.
Masky/Tim: Once one of the cast of MarbleHornets, Tim seems to have gotten up to some real hijinks in the past couple years. Tim, for starters, was actually one of the first to show symptoms of Slendysickness (raising some eyebrows on this side of the computer moniter, let-me-tell-you). Then, years later when Jay tried to question him about Alex, his answers were dodgy and unhelpful to say the least.
Then he started getting in on the haunting act himself.
Although we didn't know it at the time (well, everyone who didn't recognize his signature bomber jacket and epic-sideburns) Tim was that creepy masked man that lurked in the shadows of Jay's research. He first appeared in Brian's house (a dark, creepy, abandoned place that Jay hoped would give him some clues to Alex's whereabouts), calmly sitting in the shadows, before tackling Jay, and then promptly having a seizure. Then he showed up on Jay's security footage. Then he he followed Jay to the motel after his aparment burned down.
Masky was only recently 'unmasked', and revealed to be Tim. After visiting a burned out building a second time, and then finding Alex (rather unceremoniously if you ask me) Masky popped out, bypassed Jay and then stabbed Alex with a knife. Afterwhich Alex got revenge by umasking Tim, and then crushing his leg with a rock. Don't worry, he got better.
Brian; The lead actor from MarbleHornets, he seems to have dissapeared off of the face of the map. He and Alex were good friends, and was the one that introduced Alex and Tim. Sounds like he and Tim were something of best-friends before Slenderman horned in. He hasn't been seen since. However, it was his house that Jay searched multiple times. From the bloody sink and bullet casings, to the portals through time and space, things weren't looking so good.
Jessica: Jay's next door neighbor in the Motel. At first she seems happy and carefree, but things slowly decline as she delves into paranoia. Mentioning that she's been haunted by something since she was a child, and mentioning several oddities in the motel, Jay almost teems up with her. However, masky intervines, and she hasn't been seen since.
The Operator: Known affectionately as Slenderman. Able to teleport from place to place, except perhaps when on film, Slenderman seems to really really want to be on fim. He's not usually seen moving, which adds to his mysterious and creepy air, but he's almost always somewhere, lurking. His presence is noted by the effects on the characters, as well as visual tears, and loud audio distortions that trumpet his presence or influence. So sometimes you hear him, without ever seeing him at all. What's worse? You know that the protagonists don't even know he's there.
My rating: A
MarbleHornets is where it all began. It practically defines Slenderblog. On the otherhand, it's not perfect. But few trailblazers are. It builds the background for us to explore just what slenderman is.
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