But... somebody wanted another teaser, to tide him/her/it/they/uh through the last painful month until the release. I give you... GERTY GOAT'S FAMILY FARM. A sweet and heartwarming slice of life scene for Penny, with no excitement.
I needed a certain kind of restaurant for kids, and I asked my most prolific fan artist for ideas. Welcome to an entire scene based off of this picture:
[Gets less than a chapter in] ...
ReplyDelete"I love Gerty Goat, standing up on stage in an apron next to her animatronic friends,
performing song after song,"
.... NO - NO NO NO NO! BAD ROBERTS!
BAAAAD ROBERTS! You are not making a Fazbear joke and I will NOT be going to that pizza shop and I will not not EVER be a security guard there!
DAAAAAMN YOU ROBERTS!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Not having played either of those games, I thought it was a reference to Chuck-E-Cheese. But then again those types of places are everywhere in the US
DeleteCultural. I've never even seen a chucky cheese. Aussie don't go much into those things but the description of the animatronics and stuff. Too much of a coincidence.
DeleteThe FNAF games are based in two chains of restaurants that are really just the same thing with a different regional brand. I only remember Chuck-E-Cheese offhand, which is ironic since I grew up in the other's territory. While not super popular, they are cultural icons instantly recognizable to Americans.
DeleteShowbiz? We are solidly in Chuck-e territory but we did have a Showbiz try to make it in East Texas... it didn't. That building has been a LOT of things in the last 30 years or so. Apparently they merged and are based in Irving TX now...
DeleteWe had a Showbiz Pizza here in Indiana decades ago, then after being in business for about 10 years they apparently got bought out by Chucky... and all the animatronics got changed into different animals, but otherwise stayed exactly the same. My younger sister was still young enough to find the change disconcerting.
DeleteAnd yes, the pizza was bland and the 'arcade' mediocre, no matter who was running it. It was still always a great party. Kids ;)
I know the point of the scene is the heartwarming tone, father-daughter bonding, Penny's growing up, and maybe a reminder that Brian Akk still buys Penny's clockwork theme, but I love the fact that the technical point he makes in the bonding dialogue is actually valid and relevant. I think it helps sell the idea that he's perceptive and intelligent despite being unaware of Penny's secret life.
ReplyDeleteI think it's shows more of how the pair are alike. The wonder of exploring a new and different machine. And bonding over share interest and talent.
DeleteThen you have the subtle concern over the Cursed Penny, she didn't realize she actually had it.
Also a reminder that she is still just a young girl.
The cursed penny added a bit of an ominous touch, I thought. I'm still curious about why Penny felt a pain in her belly and heard a distant shriek in her own voice when Lucyfar destroyed one of those in the first book.
DeleteMy guess is that it was feedback. Think of it as similar to what happens to an active microphone when it's destroyed.
DeleteWhen Penny claimed the Jade Statue and removed it from the guardian's protection she became it's "owner" magically linking her to it. This would be why she is the only one immune to the effects. Also why her power is able to use them so well. It would result in a similar link as you would find in traditional fantasy magic stories when someone adds their own blood to a magical creation.
So the pennies could be considered to metaphysically be a part of her. So when it was destroyed what ever part of Penny was linked to it snapped back causing the pain, and that same part cried out when it's vessel was destroyed.
It could have also been slippage, from whatever magic Lucy used, transferring into Penny. And the cry was actually her, but she was disoriented from the shock and heard it as a separate voice.
What we hear when we speak is different then what others hear. Lots of people can't identify their own voices when played back. So for her to instantly recognize it as her own she would need to her her internal voice.
I said my opinion in the spaghetti thread earlier. I still think the pennies aren't actually "Not effecting her". I think whatever force is in the statue transfers some of it's will into the pennies, and is simply working with her until it finds a way to trick penny into helping it escape.
DeleteI mean what basically is the effect of the pennies?
It makes people overconfident, prone to mistakes and easier to manipulate....
I think I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. All through these books you encounter descriptions or incidents where a little flag saying "ominous foreshadowing" pops up, waves around for a second, and then disappears. Or it might say "whimsical interlude" or "red herring" instead; you just can't tell.
DeleteNot gonna lie: A whole lot of shoes start dropping in book four.
DeleteNo lie.. We had a litteral red herring last book, which may actually be the anti-trope of the red herring;
DeleteSo everything goes wrong in book four and we spend all of book five trying to put things back together? If so I dig it.
DeleteIf book four is the artifact story, and book five is the "end of the world" story, then I'm guessing not everything that goes wrong does so in book four, although I'm betting #4 addresses the question of whether the shape-changing cursed statue associated with an eldrich horror from beyond space and time is really as helpful and harmless as it seems.
DeleteBook five is not the 'end of the world' story. This whole series is really just one big book broken into five chapters. Book five is the climax of the story that has built up until then, which will be quite enough for one book!
DeleteFor a second there when i saw the picture I thought the scene would involve a 1/2 cow 1/2 person restaurant owner.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw the picture on his twitter I thought it was the character from Undertale
DeleteWe already have a half-goat half person in the Red whatever clinic....
DeleteRichard Roberts likes goats.
At about the same time I was introduced to how silly goats are, another author at Curiosity Quills put evil goats in a book, and all the author at our publisher started cracking jokes about it. Goat Simulator came out within a week or two of that. Now goats are a Curiosity Quills tradition, and I fully intend to slip goats into every book I can think of a place for them.
DeleteI've noticed a lot more writers adding small inside jokes. I like the Easter Eggs.
DeleteI guess we will be seeing a squad of Bad Penny's Gerty Goat monster robots in the future. I wonder if there are any other fans of Gerty Goat in her class. They might not take kindly to their beloved Gerty Goat being made to do "evil".
ReplyDeleteGerty Goat reminds me of Goatmom AKA Torial.
ReplyDeleteI've noticed you like indie games, Have you played Fortune's Tavern? It's rough getting it to work, but it's actually an interesting game... Though not what one would expect.
Sorry it's been so long since I posted here, I got a new job and have been learning the ropes!