Among the Followers: Jonclubs113

Alright alright. I've avoided posting Jonclubs on here for a couple of reasons, firstly, the creator had a rather famous flamewar with the guys of EverymanHybrid: which, I'm sure doesn't need repeating but in the most basic sense Jonclubs did a less-than-wowed review of EMH (the kind which I specialize in), the EMH guys were not please and got rude (which, they seem apt to do, as seen on their channel comments; they tend to get defensive rather than try and listen to what fans are saying) but then they apologized. Jonclubs would have no part of the apology and an epic flamewar burst forth, destroying Jonclubs forever.

Such a shame.

Secondly, I watched Jonclubs about a year ago (or so) got about halfway through and then wanted to kill myself. I wasn't particularly eager to watch it again. But, what the heck. Lets do it.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERS

Ooooh, Jonclubs, Jonclubs.

First you come on youtube with your poor acting, weird Slenderhauntings and a must-prove-I'm-gay lisp. Then you try to build popularity by creating an epic gay-rights, free-speech, EMH-vs-Jonclubs, Unfiction-vs-Slendernation flamathon. Well, it did make you famous, too bad it also shut down your vlog.

Jonclubs starts with awkward, slightly douchey Jon asking for help from the internet regarding strange noises and a stupid practical joke. Apparently people have been leaving, hold onto your shit boys and girls, circles! (dun dun duuuuun) around his dorm. Not even operator symbols, but circular objects, like cowboy hats and masking tape roles, on his floor; which he someone manages to trip over and bash his head into walls. How one trips over well-spaced roles of masking tape beats the hell out of me, but lets not quibble over details. He leaves the prankster a firm warning that whoever is doing this will not be invited to Gabriels party and won't they be sad.

Shit, if I'd known all I had to do to not go to Gabriel's party was leave circles on this asshat's floor, I'd have done it years ago.

Anyway, he hears strange noises on the tape and finds a weird shadow being cast on the wall. The noises worry him (they say, "come save her" and "It's ok" backwards) but the shadows were caused by a tree outside. Really guys. A treeeeeeeeee.

At least he had the decency to not make the demonic noise sound like the exorcist at 140 decibles.

The downside is the voice sounds like Yoda with Emphysema. Of course any subtlety or good planning goes out the window over the course of the next few videos. He wears the same shirt and sits in the same place for multiple videos, leading me to believe he filmed them all at the same time, or is just disgusting. When he first glimpses Slendy in the trees at a friends house, it's as if he saw it with his ear. His head is completely turned away from the window when he reacts to seeing it. Futhermore during the whole first Slendy appearance, only three of the four people at the 'party' are present. I wonder whhyyyyy...

Things start living in his shed, (as one fan points out "I know a good tool for cleaning up your messy backyard. The Rake), Slendy keeps tenticuddling him, and he starts finding ordinary pictures with "Creepy red letters on them!"

Moreover, evidence mounts that this whole ordeal is effecting Jon in a not so good way, after he starts essentially hacking his own posts. He admits he's starting to lose time, and memories, and is shortly encountered by what I can only pray to God isn't supposed to be Slender Man. Then he goes to his friend Gabriell's house and vanishes. His theatrically challenged friend starts to upload the footage from Jon's visit and subsequent vanishing. 


Shortly thereafter, the series itself vanished. 

It was a tree guys...

Yup. Just a tree.

A short...white face...alien tree...

Characters: 
Jon: Lispy, pissy little twat who starts bitching the moment the camera turns on and doesn't stop well after it's over. Furthermore, he breaks my cardinal rule of what irritates me. He films for no reason, he posts video that he sees no reason to post simple to scare fans, and he stops during intense moments to give long diatribes about his take on whats going on. Whats more, he's about as emotional and believable as a Taxidermied squirrel carved out of wood. The few times he acts emotionally, are when he's overacting, like the multiple times he sees Slender Man with his left ear, or gets startled by his alarm before it even goes off. 

Gabe: Boring, poorly acted, hipster nerd. Antagonizes Jon about whether or not the Slenderman is real, resulting in more pissy complaining from Jon, and then proceeds to panic when Slendy shows up at his house. Also as wooden an actor as a carving of a dead squirrel. 

Other guys at the party: and who really gives a flying fart about these guys anyway?

Various other Youtube accounts: who are clearly plants to move the plot along. If you're going to have plants, and for christsakes don't have plants, at least attempt to make them slightly believable, instead of Professor Justin Thyme and his use account ProfessorJustinThymeKnowsEverythingNeededToMoveThisStoryAlong and his amazingly accurete insight regarding what's going on, despite the fact that it's obviously a guy, living in his parent's basement with a crazy case of pre-installed-Windows-movie-maker. 



My Rating: F


REALLY? You couldn't actually take the time to freaking find a black pen to draw your oh-so-creepy operator symbol? You just used the first friggin pen you found? For God's sake man! Since when does Slendy use blue pens??? 
REALLY??? You couldn't take the time to learn your damn lines? For Christ's sake we can see them reflected in your goddamn glasses. Not that we needed to see them, we could all tell that you were sitting there reading like a first grade illiterate troll. 
REALLY...you couldn't find a better Slenderman? I realize that it's tough but a prominently breasted girl with an alien mask and no stilts don't do Mr. Tall justice. Furthermore, you follow this appearance with the most weird-ass Slender reponse video, with bad special effects, Threatening messages written out on diapers, and dancing Slenderheads. 
REAAAALLLLYYY: You didn't even have the balls to be a decent human on the internet, then you went and shut everything down because you were having a pout-fest in your bedroom because not everybody liked you. I'm not saying that the EMH guys weren't dicks in response, irregardless, you were also a dick. Furthermore, you tried to promote your series with bad youtube proxies, and flamewars. What did you expect? Love and adoration for your shoddy slender effects? The only time you scared me was when you went from a whisper to a 100 decibel Slender-scream and I could scare people on the street that way with a bullhorn and my butt. 


I have no respect for this series. Sorry to all those who do. 


No, actually I'm not sorry. I've watched this series twice now and it has not improved with rewatching. I'm tired of people praising Slender series because some guy with a camera decides to post a video of him looking nervously out the window for 5 minutes.


I DEMAND QUALITY. I DEMAND PEOPLE WITH BRAINS ON THE INTERNET! I DEMAND
*brain aneurysm*.

Zodiac Killer

Slenderman has a long and complex history. Some people think he was present in Germany in WWII, and that's where he started; others believe he is a Tulpa, and has come because we believe in him. Yet, if we look through our historical record, there is both no mention of a Slender Man, prior to the SomethingAwful forum that dreamed him up, yet there are so many mentions of things that may, very possibly, be him. 

The further I get into this Slenderman thing, the more I see him everywhere I look. No, not physically, though, if he exists I'm sure it'll only be a matter of time. No, rather, I see him in the books I read, or the places I go. "This mythical monster sounds like Slenderman", or "This place looks like He belongs there".  It doesn't help that I have a fascination with the historically morbid. Humankind can be a dark and evil thing, when it really wants to be, and Slenderman, in all his evil, menacing vagueness, fits right in there.

Part of what drove me to create this blog, more that just an outlet for my overblown opinions, is the places that I began to see Him, long before I really knew what He was. In the historical oddities, mysterious and the darker proclivities of human nature.

In all degrees of deeper meaning, Slenderman represents that sort of urge or instinct. Vague, faceless, dark, authoritarian in both his height and accoutrement.  He doesn't attack, or act out. He just stands there and judges. Silently. Impassively . Inhumanly. He's everything we're really afraid of. Slow, but inescapable. He's a twisted version of what we are, physically and abstractly.

Robert Graysmith's infamous representation of the Zodiac killer, taken from Bryan Hartnell's eyewitness testimony of the Lake Berryessa killing.

 It was 1969. Nixon was just entering the White House, The Beatles give their last performance on the roof of the Apple Records, Led Zeppelin makes their first album, The first moon landing is taking place, the first known case of AIDS is documented, California is beset by the murders of the Sharon Tate and her household by the Manson family.

Bryan Hartnell and Cecelia Shepherd are approach by a man wearing an executioner's hood bearing a circle and cross hairs mark on his chest. They are on the shores of Lake Berryessa, in the Bay Area of San Fransisco. He ties them up, explaining that he needs their money. Hartnell offers him his wallet, in hopes that he and Cecelia Shepherd will be left alone. The robber seems nervous, and Bryan Hartnell is confident that the situation will be defused. The man will eventually stab them repeatedly, before leaving, without taking a dime from either. Bryan survives, but Cecelia eventually succumbs to her injures and dies in the hospital.

This is not the first time this man has attacked. In fact, we know he had killed two times prior, likely more. He will eventually become immortalized as the Zodiac Killer.

The Zodiac Killer became famous for terrorizing the outskirts of San Fransisco from 1968 to 1979. Part of the reason for his infamy lies not only in his rather mundane style of killing, but rather his tireless self-promotion in the form of letters, codes, and bizarre clues. In fact, he seemed to feed off of the fame that his demand of the press had brought him. He perpetually sent codes, letters and cards to the police and, most notably, the local newspapers.

It's actually a fascinating case, filled with mystery and intrigue and extreme examples of the kind of narcissistic, obsessive behavior that results in a truly psychotic individual. More so, for the fact that the case was never solved.

So why are we including the zodiac killer here? Interesting note. Has anyone ever read about the Zodiac with the idea of Slenderman lodged firmly in their brains? I assure you, there are an odd number of similarities. Lets discuss.

- Fact: The Zodiac killer has never been identified.
- Fact: He most commonly killed young couples on dates.
- Fact: Often these dates were held in secluded outer regions of the San Fransisco Area. The three murders most attributed to him (excluding that of Paul Stine) were committed in park-like, wooded regions.

Lake Herman Road, the approximate location of the first known Zodiac Murder. Victims: David Arther Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen.

The parking lot of Blue Rock Springs Park, location of the second known Zodiac Murder. Victims: Darlene Elizabeth Ferrin and Michael Mageau Renault (survived).

Lake Berryessa, location of the third known Zodiac Murder. Victims: Bryan Calvin Hartnell (survived) and Cecelia Ann Shepard.

Only Paul Stine, a young cab driver was killed in the city. Most of the other suspected killings took place in wooded areas, late at night.

Fact: The Zodiac also tended to attack places heavily related to water. Lake Berryessa, Lake Herman Road, Blue Rock Springs Park, Paul Stine was killed on Washington street, which is a stretch, but he was also found near a fire hydrant. Now, this can either be a detraction or a supporting clue, depending on what Slendy-explination you believe in. Many Slendy theories invoke a relation to light and water. Either he likes them or is deterred by them, take your pick.

Fact: The zodiac killer often hid his face. His executioner's hood being his primary method of covering. He did not always hid his face, and was often seen, but his face covering antics are often seen among Proxies and the like.

Fact: Although his face was frequently seen, no one could ever identify him, even the woman who had reportedly been given a three hour hell-ride in the man's car.

Detraction: Potential detraction from a Slender theory is that Kathleen Johns, who was given a three hour car ride by, many believe, the Zodiac, was spared by the present of her infant child who likely unnerved the man. However, it didn't prevent her from having to escape the car when the man slowed. However, this doesn't detract altogether from a proxy theory. Or even fully Slendy, has it been shown that he attacks infants? Only children.

Fact: And this is the clincher for me. The letters.

Halloween card sent to San Fransisco Newsman Paul Avery

Who else besides me can think of people who taunt their hunters with bizarre codes and creepy misspelled messages? Anyone? Anyone at all?

Fact: Uh. How about that symbol guys? How about the fact that he would mark the sites of his killings with it?



I'm not saying the guy is Slendy, or even a proxy. I'm just saying...well...it's interesting. Isn't it?

If you have anything to add to this discussion, please! Add them in the comments or message them to me. I'll add them in the body here. I'm sure there are many other similarities and detraction-s. I'm just too tired to think of them at the moment.

Entry #41

New MarbleHornets posted last night! There's some pretty interesting stuff going on here, lets analyze.




Alright so I've watched this video an odd...ten or so times and this is what I've found.

First off, the video doesn't seem to really take us anywhere plotwise. I mean, 90% of the video is spent wandering around the frakking woods. If I wanted to see pretty trees, I'd get off my butt and go for a walk. I mean, come on, I'm on the internet for a reason.

Just kidding. Well, mostly. But we have been seeing an awful lot of wondering around the woods lately. I don't know if it's because they're trying to build up tension or they just don't friggin know what to do with themselves anymore. Actually, to be perfectly, frankily honest, most of this season has seemed like it's walking in circles. I understand that they kinda wrote themselves into a corner by having Alex show up again (although looking for him was getting pretty damn old) and finishing up with the Alex tapes. Still, there was a far amount to room for creative leeway. I think by forcing themselves to go back to the old "It's a tape! What could be on it?!?!?!" routine has damped the possibilities, though I salute the fact that the tapes are from Jay's point of view, rather than Alex's, as it adds a whole new flavour to the thing.

I'm not saying I'm not liking MarbleHornets, I was there with the rest of the internet psychotically refreshing the MH twitter feed every  3 seconds for news of a new update for the last week and a half. However, I'm just not getting quite the same mystery from this series as I think it used to bring.

Granted, it's about time to be wrapping some mysteries up. The revealing of Masky and the reappearance of Alex were well-timed and justified, and in a way, created some drama and intrigue. However, it's a matter of balancing the puzzle, solving it, but not solving it so far as to complete the series, without falling into the same pit that ate Lost; where we're so wrapped up in confusion and polar bears that even the creators re-watch Season 1 and go "Ooooooh yeeeeeaaaaah!...What was THAT shit about?"

but I digress.

The point is, this season has had a lot of hits and a few misses. I really liked the last episode, and I was clinging onto my butt in anticipation of what the next video would bring. I think was with a lot of people when the video ended with a big "Wha-huh?" from me.

The beginning was the most dull. For the first three minutes of film the video picks up, as though nothing happened, and trots through the woods looking at all the pretty trees and flowers for a while. Much like the last video. In fact, I was cursing the existance of "Filler" episodes for most of the episode before something finally happened.

However, whereas in the last episode, most of us were panicking as Jay wandered into the trees and looked around; this episode just left me bored. Entry 40 had me expecting Slender Man around every corner. Jay toddles through the trees for ten minutes and I spend the whole time gasping for air, and then the final payoff as Slendy makes his long awaited appearance. This episode left me yawning. We've just seen this schtick. Unconciously, we all knew that they weren't gonna pull the same thing twice. Slendy wasn't gonna show up and scare us all unconcious, and frankily I'd be pretty cyncial if he did; two episodes in a row.

No, this episode actually could have been interesting if we hadn't just seen most of it an episode prior.

Maybe if Slendy had approached the cameraman without him showing fear, or we knew, before the very end, that the cameraman wasn't Jay, or at least, Jay as we know him; it could've picked up. But it didn't. Furthermore, the big reveal at the end of Masky2, or "Sinclair" as he has come to be known, didn't elicit a fear response like Slendy, but rather a big "WTF" from just about everyone.

Again, perhaps if this episode hadn't been a watered down version of the episode just previous, we all would've cared a little more.

On the upswing, there are a few positive conundrums raised here.

Who is holding the camera?
Well, there was some discussion about this on the forums. Supposidly, Jay could've come back for his camera, as we never actually see Sinclair holding it. If you don't pay attention, it seems as though someone gets in Jay's car, and then Sinclair walks by.
However: if you pay attention, the car door opens, the camera is set down on the drivers seat, and we can then hear the car door open and shut once more, albiet quietly as the camera is now further away. Also, the camera shakes slightly as the movement of the individual leaving the car upsets it's balance.
so who has the camera: Sinclair; which, admittedly, adds a bit of interest to the fact that we know that we're briefly looking through the eyes of this masked enigma.

Why doesn't Jay lock his car?
He's a friggin idiot.

Sinclair never unlocks the door, or remote unlocks it, which leads us to believe that it was truly unlocked. Either Jay is feeling far safer than he should under the recent circumstances, or it's pretty amazing continuity error.

Who is Sinclair?

You know...I know a guy who looks like this.

Sinclair. Briefly spotted leaving the scene of the most recent slendy haunting. So what was he doing? Bringing back the camera so that Jay didn't have to go looking for it? Is it ToTheArk? Alex? Jay Himself?
Well, one thing's for sure, they're not risking us figuring it out in two videos based on the coat and epic sideburns anymore. After pouring through the entries, I can definitively say that I've never seen this particular sweatshirt before. They even turned it inside out, just to make sure nobody caught on.

Here's what I think though.
For starters. We've seen before that there are multiple masks of the Masky/Tim styling. This is not one of those masks. For all those people out there who believe that there are a society of masky's who run or serve slendy, we know that he is not on of them, on style alone.

Second. He's a bad guy. I know a lot of people are theorizing that he's a nice guy who just wanted Jay to have his camera, so let's break this down. As I've stated before, Cameras, in this universe, are a bad thing. What drew Slendy to Alex? His girlfriend turning on the camera. When did Slendy start seeking Jay for real? When Jay started filming himself. And as I stated before in my MH theories, I believe ToTheArk is a proxy, and what does TTA perpetually remid Jay to do? Stay on Camera!
Moreover, what the hell is this guy doing in a place that was being haunted by Slendy only fifteen minutes ago? Why is he breaking into Jay's car and how, out of the number of cars that we see in the parking lot, does he know which on belongs to Jay? and the clincher, distortion starts when he's on camera! Since when is that a good thing???

Where is Alex?

Parking lot in Entry #41, and Alex's car from Entry #36

It's hard to see in the screencap folks, but bear with me. In the background there, right next to Jay's car, with the same seemingly slanted back window and rag top, is, could it be? Alex's car?
Now, it's debatable, but I can only discuss what I think. I think Alex is there, logically parked next to Jay. Is he waiting for Jay? or is he sinclairing around? or is it just absentminded filmmaking? Who knows???

I theorize, judging from stance, height and other relatively meaningless hunches, that Sinclair is ToTheArk and ToTheArk is Alex. But that's just me.

However, he does walk in the opposet direction Alex's car (however, if so, shouldn't Alex have seen him?). And he does film in a similar style to Jay. (Also, he has Jay's eyes. Could they be related???)

What the hell is that in the trees?

The yard needed some Raking.

Slendersong - ORIGINAL

Have I mentioned that occasionally love humanity? Not often but, on those special, rare occasions. There are more meaningful implications of this, but on a lighter, more on topic note, this cheered me up immensely the other day when I was in my usual grumbly haze. I opened it expecting it to be a shitty bucktoothed teenage girl who thinks she's the next Hannah Montana. I was pleasantly surprised to find a slightly bucktoothed teenager with a good singing voice and pretty entertaining song. I'm actually hoping to get an MP3 of it at some point.

Three cheers for quality creativity!

Lyrics:

Alex Kralie was a friend of mine,
Skipped town, but left his tapes behind.
Told me to burn them, but I watched them instead,
I think that Alex is messing with my head.

'Cause everywhere I look I see this strange man.
He's tall and thin, he's got a suit and a faceless head.
I think I'm starting to see what drove Alex insane,
Because, oh, the Slenderman is messing with my brain.

The video responses give me my clues,
But where exactly is this ark we're going to?
Some kid in a mask is watching me sleep,
And I'm thinking maybe I'm in a little too deep...

Cause everywhere I look I see this strange man.
He's tall and thin, he's got a suit and faceless head.
I think I'm starting to see what drove Alex insane,
Because, oh, the Slenderman is messing with my brain.

The more you know, the more of you he can find.
You can run and run, but there's nowhere to hide.

Updates! MLanderson0 and EMH

Ok, so I've been neglectful of discussing the newest posts in our favorite series and the implication therein, so Here yah go. Maybe in the future I'll be a better person about posting those here.

EverymanHybrid

So EMH posted their newest video quite a while ago, but I ignored talking about because there were, very frankly, more interesting things in the world to discuss. The video: "One Step Forward, Two Steps Back" was an adventure in simultaneous good judgement and bad choices.

Alright, so we kick off the video with the guys discussing a recent finding and it's connection to a regional library which they plan to visit (in a bought of awkward discussion which suggests to me that they were trying to either remember lines or fly by the seat of their pants and were failing); when they're party is crashed by Jeff's little brother Alex. Alex is invited to come, but is prevented from coming by his stark raving insanity and tinny-electro-mom whose boom-box recreation forbids him from going out late.

Fans bemoan poor Alex's mental state and Jeff's having to deal with a psychotic little brother. I mostly bemoan the lack of acting ability on the part of the brothers. I give the creators props; it's an interesting idea but the lackluster, awkward, floaty acting performance forces me to purse my lips and blow a hearty raspberry.

After a long (but admittedly plot driving) trip to the library to discover that all roads lead to bodies; the boys return home, depressed.
Chin up boys! Things can only go uphill from here, no?

No. By the time it gets dark things are worse than before. Sparky, Alex's beloved dog, is prowling the backyard. Alex goes out to investigate the strange noises, followed by Evan and Jeff. Sparky has disappeared into the shed and now something seems to be making growling noises from within. Who could it be???

The Rake attacks Evan and the camera cuts out. When we return Evan is grinning over the bathtub, cleaning up the bloody mess that used to be his arm, and Alex is on the floor, weeping over the collar of his once-beloved dog (well, he would be weeping if he could express that much emotion).

My thoughts: Meh. I was underwhelmed by this episode. Not to mention immensely disappointed that they have brought back the rake.
Storywise, I understand that it's difficult to wrote a story surrounding a monster that doesn't really physically attack people. That's why MarbleHornets has Masky and that's why EverymanHybrid has the Rake; to add a little physical violence to the mix. Irregardless, whereas Masky completes the Slenderman Story, the Rake only seems to confuse it.

On the upside, I applauded the decision not to show the Rake. After his first appearance in "Cops Checked, No Body", where it became apparent that the Rake was just a guy on all fours wearing the Morphsuit left over from Slender Man; I think they picked up enough flack to know not to do that again. He's a lot more intimidating when he's just a snarl.

There was some character and plot growth here. The fact that people related to the Corenthal Kids have been dying off, (including Corenthal himself), both funnels the story in a specific direction and adds a bit of "What are we going to do now?" tension. I just pray that the series creators know where this story is going. And as much as I dislike Sad Panda Jeff and his Sadder Panda brother, I do have to admit that the insights into their family troubles in this episode add a bit to their interest-quotient. It also gets rid of damn sparky.

As I stated elsewhere, I mostly liked this episode for the mental image Evan gives us of the Rake using Sparky as a sock puppet. "Hey guys! Lets play fetch! Arf arf! Of course I'm your dog *eheh-eheh* <_<"

Although I thought that Evan took a bit of a hit in my book. Evan is my favorite character in this series for both his believable insanity and the fact that he's flippin' hilarious. But he hasn't really been growing much as a character for the last few videos. I'm waiting for him to do something. When I saw him on screen but he still really wasn't a present character (Although we did learn that that boy has mad pain tolerance; shouldn't those kinds of wounds really result in severe blood-loss???).


MLAnderson0

This was a pretty simple video, but it held a lot of weight, plot-wise.
Mostly it's just Michael telling off his brother and his brother's roommate for being dicks. But there's a crazy quality to what he's saying, and a definite undertone of menace that really draws me in here.

What I like about Michael is that they've made it wonderfully clear that he lies to us, as viewers. We never really know who to trust at this point. Every character has an agenda that we, as viewers, get jerked around between. It actually adds a lot of depth to the series.

This episode, given it's tone, and clear menace, along with this series version of Slender-Distortion (A unique orangy tinge and saturation to the set) tells me that Michael is more Slender affected that people realize. The big question now is, is he a proxy or isn't he?

I've heard a lot of talk about whether he's a proxy, and that this will break the series for a lot of proxy-weary viewers. Well, the boy's been stalked by Slender Man for a long time, and given the events of "Sleepwalking", where he took a knife into his brother's room while sleeping; I'd say, yeah, he's probably somewhat under Slendy's control. Is he a full proxy or just a Sleeper? I don't know. I actually think it'd be interesting to see a vlog presented by a proxy. I know that in the blogs, proxies have been used to death, but when you think about it, the vlogs haven't touched much on anyone but the Runners.

I'm curious.

Funny Story...

So I'm a college student and I'm in a mid-level business calculus class that's dull as Fuck. Or rather, Tribestwelve and I more or less nap through the class every single day. Sometimes I doodle.

Since I've been digging myself so deep into the Slendermythos lately its been about the only thing on my mind. Actually it's kind of annoying. I found myself walking out of the library the other day with a stack of books that were so painfully uninteresting but might generate some posts for this very blog. Yep, it's gotten that far.

So I'm sitting in math class and I start making slendersketchs, just very absentmindedly, humming rather happily...

Then I noticed that this guy who sits next to me is watching me sketch very intently, with a look of mixed curiosity and a tinge of horror, as if he recognizes what I'm doing...

For the next four class periods I kept drawing the Slender Man, as happily as possible, as if I were drawing puppies and rainbows.

Finally he comes up to me after class.
"Hey." He says shyly, perhaps even nerviously. "I like your Slender Man drawings..."
I blinked at him a couple times, and with the most innocence I could muster...
"Slenderwhat?"

Vlogs: ML Anderson0

So I discovered a new one today, thanks to my recent membership on Slendernation forums; which is a totally awesome slendercommunity that is not only large enough to provide interesting discussion but also just a fun group of people. They also don't suffer asshats well, which tickles me about purple.

Anyway, they are open to discussing just about anything slender-related; and beyond. If you like sharing theories or whatnot I fully advise you to go seek them out. Just make sure you bring good grammer and a healthy sense of humour.

Moving on.

HERE THERE BE SPOILERSSo none of that "you ruined the ending!!!" whining, ok douchecanoes?
Ahhhh...ML Anderson0
God Bless you.

Okokok. So it's not the most epic piece of filmary I've seen in my life. Is it going to terrify you the way MarbleHornets did? HA! No. Is it worth watching? A thousand times, yes.

ML Anderson0, or the Anderson Journals have really only just begun. Micheal Anderson; a young guy with numerous monsters in his closet (I mean that metaphorically, this is not EverymanHybrid) after spending most of his life in a mental hospital. The journals begin after he is released, so that his doctor can keep track of him; despite the fact that the doctor has done nothing to intervene in the following events.

Micheal has family problems. A long unresolved conflict with his parents regarding why they put him in the hospital to begin with (and thusly abandoned him); and the always present stigma of spending some 18 years in a mental institution. Problem is, its possible that Micheal isn't even crazy. Or is he?

He feels he's being followed. He starts seeing tall men in business suits whereever he goes. But his brother can't see them, and assumes he's still crazy. But every fan on the internet, at least those that know what Slender Man is, can.

After an intense sequence of dissapearances and reappearances, Micheals brother Shaun, and his roommate Eric begin seeing things they never wanted to see in the first place. Micheal claims that Shaun was always able to see him, but just didn't want to, citing the time when they were kids, being hunted by Mr. Tall; and told their parents, only for Shaun to lie and say he never saw him. Landing Micheal in the crazy ward.

Characters:

Micheal: Harried youth who has been seeing the Slenderman every since he was a very small boy despite the fact that no one else sees, or is willing to admit that he sees, Him. Immediately after leaving the hospital this time, Micheal starts having encounters again, dragging his brother and his brother's roommate into the heart of "Running".

Shaun: Micheal's gunshy, self-involved brother. Despite having been the only family member to keep in communication with Shaun during his stay at the hospital, Shaun immediately tries to cut all ties once the Slender Man starts reappearing into his life. Although theirs evidence that he's been slenderstalked since he was a child as well, his unwillingness to admit he sees or knows our Friendly Neighborhood Monster, seems to have kept him safe over the years; albiet kind of a douchebag to his brother; at one point accusing Micheal of infecting him with his crazy.

Eric: Shaun's roommate and best friend. He's no fan of Micheal though, often accusing him of duping his fans into believing his crazy lies, and, at one point, kidnapping Shaun. Never willing to trust Micheal further than he can throw him, Eric seems to grudgingly put up with him for the sake of Shaun and later, because he starts seeing the tall man himself. Considering the fact that Slendy has been communicating to Eric, I think we can safely assume that nothing good will happen to this boy ever again.

My Rating: B

This show is a solid good start for what could evolve into a great slenderseries; something which really hasn't been seen since MarbleHornets. For one thing, these boys are actors instead of film buffs. I've never seen a slenderseries with actors and My God its refreshing. Granted, sometimes their acting is a little stiff or forced, but often, particularly when monologuing, it's brilliantly impactful. Especially Micheal, who is a veritable Tour de Force at behaving oppressed yet potentially crazy all at the same time.

Granted, as actors, the other elements of the show, which is often the highlight of other slenderseries, is lacking. Their Slendy is short and a little saggy; and in desperate need of a new costume or at least better angles to cheat his weaknesses. They don't always utalize him well either, although it's cute, having him lean curiously over a fence, while obviously balancing on a stool doesn't really make me terrified. Albiet, the acting makes up for it in full.

Also, in a nice break from marblehornets (and perhaps taking away some of the fear but in a nice way) this series is a lot more character based. Because they are actors, they aren't afraid to focus on the people rather than the scenery or the monsters. This series becomes more about the interactions between those being hunted, rather than the hunting itself.

I think given a little time, and perhaps a tad bit of re-design, this series could really take off. It's still in the beginning stages, but I'm thoroughly hopeful for it's future.

RoivasSevil

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!

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.

"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"

The Mothman Prophesies:

Supposed "Mothman" Picture

Artist Rendering of the Eye-witness accounts.

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.

Studying the veracity of the Philip Experiment and reported manifestations of his behavior.
I.E. Checking out the table

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

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.

"The Footage was too blurry to see who was outside my car."



I wonder who it was? durpa durpa.

 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.

Totheark's message from the Messages video: Smile for the Camera

Masky's present from Entry 23: A mask.

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.

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:

"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"

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).

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.

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:

"The Slender Man.

He exists because you thought of him.

Now try and not think of him."  - I

Did anyone ever consider the implication of starting these blogs? Anyone at all? Have I totally screwed myself here?

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.