#outdesign analyzes things

[adobe-outdesign]

A little while ago an anon asked me if I thought there was any meaning to Yellow Guy insisting Hovris is the man (despite the show always referring to the dog as Hovris), and I figured it was just a joke about Wallace and Gromit.

However, thinking about it:

Hovris is mistreated in a lot of the episodes (tied to the table in at least two episodes, refused water when it’s hot out, etc.)

Grolton is taller than Hovris and has blue hair, is balding, and has suspenders that look like overalls, making him pretty similar to Roy. Hovris also sports a similar outfit

And then take into consideration Bird saying “I’m the dad, he’s the pet-” to Yellow in the family episode, and this scene:

And it becomes obvious why Yellow thinks Hovris is the man.

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #dhmis series #dont hug me im scared #yellow guy #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #apologies if anyone else has already pointed this out #also this part should be obvious but the show parallels the episodes #his mother dies in the death episode his brother fails to show in the family episode and 5 lampshades the resets #greatest hits

[adobe-outdesign]

One of the strangest things that I haven’t heard anyone talk about is that the coffin teacher can apparently just leave? his body??

But if you need anything urgent, just press the button. Okay, I’ll leave you to it. Bye.

And remember, the buzzer is only for when you really need it- okay, you don’t need to press it when I’m here.

Which I guess implies that the whole sequence with the heart at the beginning was more of a summoning than anything? Which makes sense considering it’s A) a homage to Hellraiser (1987), and B) he has a list of dead people and generally acts like he wasn’t made two minutes ago.

Also I might be overthinking things, but he might’ve actually been around a long time. The style of shoe he wears (with the buckles on top) are from the 1700s–1800s, and he doesn’t seem know what a TV is:

“Woah, you’ve got one of those! I’ve been thinking about getting something like that.” “What, a television?” “Yeah! [laughs] Don’t tell anyone.” “...What?”

And may or may not know what a cassette recorder is (”Where did you get that? What is this?”—though he might be talking about the song rather than the recorder itself).

I’m not sure what conclusion I’m trying to reach with this ramble except for the implication that Duck killed some kind of potentially 200 year-old demonic entity by Being Too Annoying makes the entire episode like 10x funnier

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #dhmis series #dont hug me im scared #dhmis coffin #coffin #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #I'm assuming the paperwork is filed with lesley?? #also pointless detail: during the big day song the duck head lyric ball becomes a skull whenever it hits the word 'day'

[adobe-outdesign]

look I'm not saying that Briar is being possessed/controlled by Terapagos in order to spread its tera crystals all over the earth. but Briar is totally being possessed/controlled by Terapagos in order to spread its tera crystals all over the earth

#pokemon #pkmn #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #terapagos #briar #pokemon spoilers #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #disclaimer I could be way off base here #but the image with terapagos on top of a terastalized earth and then briar's whole thing. gives me bad vibes

[adobe-outdesign]

DHMIS Easter Eggs and Background Details

A huge list of a bunch of background details, foreshadowing, and Easter Eggs I noticed on my second watch-through. Note that I’m only including things that are fairly obscure, rather than “obvious” items others have already pointed out (so I’m not including the symbol sightings, for example). Feel free to add on with anything I missed.

Episode 1

In the theme song, Red Guy is “you”, which makes sense as he’s usually the audience surrogate character

Among the briefcase’s papers is a sticky note with 1906 on it

Right as the briefcase leaves, the last line is “you can be the ones who dig a hole for a funeral” as foreshadowing to the next episode

Everyone’s name tag in the factory has their name except for Yellow’s, which just says “employee”

When Bird is talking to Red in the office, he says that they’ve only been there for “9 minutes”. This is at the 14 minute mark and they got to Peterson’s at 5 minutes in, so they have indeed been there 9 minutes

According to the Carehound poster, Peterson’s is closed Mon–Sat and is open for exactly 4 minutes at 10 PM on Sun

Red Guy framed and hung the fax the fax machine gave him on the wall

Before the song starts the briefcase is rushing off to his job, but when the song ends he tells Brendon it’s time for his bath (as in, they’re going home). Meaning that teaching/torturing the puppets was the job he was rushing off to

Episode 2

The orange with eyes that was in the very first DHMIS short is in the BG when Red checks his ID card

The gel teacher appears as an inanimate object while Duck’s in the bathroom during the Big Day song

The tissue box says “sad squares” on it

Yellow’s red overalls from the ending of the DHMIS 6 short appear on his bed

The make your new friend box claims the new friend is not, in fact, toilet trained

The cassette that Duck plays is the same song from the end credits

Stain mentions “some people think we’re in a simulation” during their song, which references both the end of the OG series and episode 6 of this show

The shovel at the end of this episode cameos at the end of the original DHMIS 6 short as a teacher

There are a bunch of maggots by real!Bird’s feet at the end before they start the song

Episode 3

The Chuddle Dollops are “warm lasagna flavor”

Lillie and Todney switch their shirts from brown to black and white stripes while at their house for some reason

The picture Todney holds up appears to show Yellow holding a very Dead Duck by the leg

When Todney and Lillie are measuring their heights, the names on the wall are “grandma”, “Todney” and “Lily” (spelled with a Y)

When they measure Yellow’s height, they also measure his feet. They’re getting his measurements so they know what size to make the outfit they stick him in later

Duck has the toasted bread slice child from earlier on the table when Red drops in

Episode 4

That triangle thing from the original series shows up on the bookshelf early on

The apple teacher from the last episode also shows up on the shelf, surprisingly not eaten

The pamphlets Warren holds up for the restaurant-style meal include one for Grolton’s Chiken

The trio’s digital style avatars from DHMIS 4 show up in the BG when they go online as well as the “nothing” sign from 2 and the clown painting from 1

There’s a phone in every ep so far, probably as a reference to the role phones played in the OG series. A phone ringing is what leads Red into the office in 1, Red says you have to schedule to use the phone in 2, Lily and Todney cut the landline in 3, and there’s a phone in Yellow’s brain that Warren uses to order food

The search results on Colin include “long faced individuals in YOUR area - looking to chat!” and “long faced man VS horse - the ultimate long face showdown!”

Episode 5

The recipe note on the fridge says “rat shin”, “pie”, and “egg soup”

The photo in the kitchen background changes to a different photo each ep

Bird’s clipboard includes “one Jason” at the bottom

Bird individually counting tiles instead of counting it as one floor is valid considering the floor extends infinitely during the blackout in 6

If I’m not mistaken Red walking into another room is the first time that’s ever happened in either the show or the shorts. Usually it just cuts to them already in a different room

There’s another phone on the wall in the living room

The train teacher’s eyebrows fall off in bike form and remain gone while in car form

Mullhoven’s name is on a signpost (and the teacher) during a song transition, and the poster under it says that this is a “neighborhood watch area” with a picture of a woman (maybe meant to be Lelsey? though it doesn’t look much like her)

Roy’s face is on a pirate flag

1906 reference on the second bus, which reads “terminal 196″ in all of the destination windows

The car has a worm button in it

Bird says “we’ve already seen a dead horse”, even though they haven’t

Mini-Tony on the dashboard

Time Child’s digital clock reads 19:06

Mulhoven is spelled differently every time it shows up

Some of the Mulhoven signs include “Nice Hair”, “Nice Road”, and “It’s shoes”

Another sign says “Quiz Night Fun: Every Morning (It’s fun!)”

People have pointed out the Roy cameo in the neighbors shot, but Duck is also a few windows down

One character is dressed like Lily (blonde girl with striped shirt and a red letter), though the letter appears to be “I” instead of “L”

Episode 6

The bill is from Roy-Electric and it’s for 19.06 pounds

Electracey’s last two numbers on her neck are 96

Final phone is the fake phone with a real phone in it. Duck also has a phone during the blackout

Drawing with the dead Duck from Episode 5 of the OG series pops up in the BG during the shredder scene

Crossword includes “Roy”, “gravel” (a nod to DHMIS 3), and “aspic” (DHMIS 5)

When Electracey is malfunctioning the sunlight outside flickers with the indoor lights, hinting at the dollhouse thing

One of the chalkboard drawings says “aspic” and another says “Roy”

Clayhill is also on the chalkboard but scribbled out

The electric clock in the house reads “20:06″ (as in June 20th)

The urn that Red smashes has Duck’s face on it, meaning it’s once again another dead Duck

Sketchbook is lying dead beside the other teachers in front of the fridge

The fridge from the opening also shows up, with the same character pictures (and Duck with a powerdrill, the one used for Stain in episode 2)

There’s a decapitated Duck with a TV where the head should be, which lines up with Yellow breaking the doll in the next scene

The symbols on the book are as follows: Red’s eyes, decapitated Duck and Yellow heads (Yellow’s showing him with wires instead of blood), Roy coin from Ep 1 with a worm, battery with a worm, shovel, Tony, and Yellow’s severed hand from Ep 1

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #dhmis series #dont hug me im scared #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #I think most of this is meaningless background nonsense but it is fun to spot #long post #greatest hits

[adobe-outdesign]

you’ve heard of “Yellow Guy is Lesley’s son” and “the series is the afterlife described by the Lamp” now get ready for my totally serious theory, which is that Duck is:

Not a Duck

Not A Bird Either

Evidence:

No one in DHMIS can properly ID a bird (”a little baby pigeon”, “Warren the Eagle”, “oh. it’s a rat”, etc etc.)

We’ve never seen another sapient bird puppet in the series to compare him with; closest thing we see are the photos in the car in ep. 5 that he himself put up

Don’t know what his parents look like, and he doesn’t seem to know them if the family episode is anything to go by

Can’t fly and has fingers, complete with fingernails, instead of wings

Eats chicken despite that being a kind of bird

Has been shown having human teeth at least three times (during the rotting scene in DHMIS 2 as well as the spoon reflection and disembowelment in DHMIS 5)

Has rabies despite the fact that birds can’t get rabies

If concept art is to be believed he also can’t swim despite supposedly being a duck

Describes himself as a “crow-like thing”, meaning that he’s not necessarily a bird, just bird-like

Conclusion: Duck’s not a bird, and is instead a creature(TM) that happens to look like a bird and doesn’t know better because literally no one in DHMIS knows What A Bird Is. thanks for coming to my TED talk

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #dhmis series #dont hug me im scared #duck guy #bird guy #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #disclaimer: this is Mostly A Joke don't take it too seriously #though it is a pet headcanon of mine just because its funny and seems like something DHMIS would do #bigger boy duck is closer to a bird but it's also a swan and half a robot so make of that what you will #tw: gore #greatest hits

[adobe-outdesign]

Some Observations About the Passage of Time in DHMIS (2022)

As a reminder, all of the original DHMIS shorts take place over the course of a single day (June 19th). DHMIS 1 is breakfast, DHMIS 2 is relaxing to watch TV, DHMIS 3 is lunch, DHMIS 4 is computer time, DHMIS 5 is supper, and DHMIS 6 is bedtime. When the day is complete at the end of DHMIS 6, the calendar flips forward a day to June 20th and everything restarts.

However, in the new series, each individual TV episode takes place over the course of a day, instead of all of them happening during a single day like the original shorts did—and despite the clear passage of time, the calendar remains on June 20th at all times. Every single episode actually provides a way to track the amount of time that has passed, making me think this was intentional on Becky and Joe’s part.

Episode 1 is tricky because of the 40-year time distortion in Peterson’s, but at the beginning of Episode 1, Yellow explicitly states that it’s morning, and the briefcase teacher is rushing off to work after eating breakfast. However, at the end of the episode, the briefcase is going home, and the window outside clearly shows the sun setting.

In episode 2, the coffin teacher tells Duck that “[they’ve] only been here for a half a day” when he’s carving tally marks into him. By the time Yellow is digging up Duck, it’s nighttime out (and it’s the next morning by the time they get back to the house if the windows are any indication).

Episode 3 starts during the day, but Lily and Todney’s family are eating supper by the climax of the episode. The window outside also clearly shows the sun setting when we cut back to the house.

Episode 4 is really obvious: it’s computer day. There’s even a shot of the sun setting and rising outside the window right before Colin leaves to hammer in the fact that one day has passed.

Episode 5 starts during the day, but it’s night outside after the trio arrive at the dump.

Episode 6, however, is a bit different. When Electracey is on top of the fridge and the power surges, the sunlight outside the window surges with it, hinting at the fake nature of the world. This means that it also goes out completely (becomes nighttime) when the electricity does. When the power comes back on, it’s daylight again (presumably morning) at the end of the episode.

Which brings us back to the cyclical nature of the original series. There are multiple hints and instances of foreshadowing—such as Duck’s newspaper, Yellow referencing episode 6 in earlier episodes, etc.—that indicate the TV show likely loops in the same way.

So if you keep in mind that episode 6 ended during the early morning, the episodes loop, and that the trio tend to forget what happened during previous episodes, the dialogue at the beginning of Episode 1 makes a lot  more sense:

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #red guy #yellow guy #duck guy #bird guy #dhmis series #dont hug me im scared #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #tl;dr: each episode is a day but the calendar stays the same and episode 1 takes place directly after episode 6 due the loop thing #long post #greatest hits

[adobe-outdesign]

Togepi’s Secret

This is the very first Togepi card ever released, from the Neo Genesis set. It has Poison Barb as an attack. That’s a bit weird, right?

This one is the second ever Togepi card, released as a Wizards Black Star Promo... except over in Japan, this card was released before the Neo Genesis one, in 1999. If you don’t notice anything odd about this one, check the Pokedex description:

Still only a hatchling, it uses poison to chase off its enemies when threatened.

This Pokedex entry mentions poison again, and it’s not actually used anywhere in the games.

The reason this is relevant is that beta/unused Pokedex entries have been known to end up on early Pokemon Cards before. This makes it very likely that this card’s description was once Togepi’s beta Pokedex entry, which hadn’t yet been updated at the time of this card’s release in 1999.

Finally, there’s this card from Southern Islands. The scan makes this almost unreadable, but the description on this one reads:

This Pokémon is still immature. When threatened, it releases poison from its head and tries to drive its enemies away.

This was the third Togepi card ever released. After this point, the descriptions start lining up with the Pokedex entries we actually got.

Basically, the implication of all this is that Togepi was originally designed to be a poison-type. Those seemingly random spikes on its head were meant to be its way of distributing poison.

Note that its category, the “Spike Ball Pokemon”, probably references this beta, as something like the “Egg Pokemon” would be more fitting with the final version. Likewise, its Japanese name references spikes as well. To quote Bulbapedia:

Togepi and Togepy may be a combination of 刺 toge (spike) and ピヨピヨ piyopiyo (onomatopoeia for a bird chirping).

Also worth noting is the Spaceworld demo. While Togepi is a normal-type in the 1997 build, The Cutting Room Floor notes this:

Dex placement indicates a late addition. Is quite larger than its final counterpart. Has no evolution.

It being a late addition is likely due to it having been revised from the earlier poison-type version, which may have had a different design. The fact that it was larger and didn’t evolve meant that either it was intended as a single-stager originally, or it had a poison-type evo that had already been scrapped by the time this demo was created.

TL;DR: Togepi was likely a poison-type at one point in Gen 2’s development.

#pokemon #pkmn #togepi #pokemon gold and silver #beta pokemon #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #if anyone knows of any other cards with strange descriptions let me know

[adobe-outdesign]

I’ve heard a lot of people point out Roy, Lily and Todney, and Duck in the background of the Mullhoven segments, but one thing I haven’t seen anyone point out is the store to the left of the vacuum shop here. Based on the text being centered and how the letters line up, it seems like it reads:

                  TIME'S UP                           FUNERAL DIRECTORS            

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #dhmis series #dont hug me im scared #.gif #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #or I'm completely wrong and it says something else entirely #also vacuum is misspelled here in true DHMIS fashion

[adobe-outdesign]

DHMIS: Thoughts on Lesley's Motivations

I don’t know if I can call this a theory per say, but I noticed that Lesley seems to be... slightly more fond of the trio than Roy was. She’s still clearly unhinged, as emphasized by her outbursts, but she does show affection towards Yellow Guy.

“It’s nice to meet you. You’re one of my favorites,” booping Yellow Guy’s nose, “You are just too funny,” etc etc. Her also putting the trio back in their house at the end of 5 could be malicious (keeping them trapped) or helpful (they had no food or shelter at the dump).

On top of that, in the original series, the teachers rarely come to harm. But in this series:

Briefcase: Doesn’t die at the end, but is the only teacher from this series to show up dead at the end of 6 to compensate

Coffin: Tormented by Bird and killed by Yellow Guy

Lillie and Todney: Killed by Roy (they also killed the actual apple teacher)

Warren: Killed by Bird

Train: Keels over and dies on his own

Electrical Box: Temporarily put out of commission by Bird

In fact, a lot of the shenanigans in this series are caused by the trio rather than the teachers. (They’re the ones who decided to get jobs, Bird’s the one who decided he was dead, Bird and Red insult Yellow which results in him going catatonic, Red drives away in Train’s corpse, and Bird takes the batteries from the Electric Box. Lillie and Todney are the only ones with malicious intentions, and keep in mind they’re not the actual teachers, as emphasized by them being human; the actual teacher was the apple they ate at the beginning. They also keep Yellow alive while drop kicking Bird and Red back to their house).

And that’s not getting to the end of 6, where the briefcase and a bunch of teachers from 1 show up dead. Roy is also there:

There’s also a TV playing footage of the puppets. The whole plot of the original series was that it took place within a TV that Roy controlled.

Another thing is that when former teachers do show up, they’re weirdly friendly towards the trio:

Colin is a prime example of this. Not only does he outright state he loves the trio, he actually presents some factually correct info about eagles (keeping in mind that 90% of what he says in the original series is pure nonsense). He also goes ballistic in the OG series when touched, but the trio touch his keyboard and mouse throughout this episode without him minding.

Other teachers that are more placid include the Lamp (sober, non-malicious) and Tony (just chilling on the wall).

Keep in mind that Lesley controls everything. This means that she presumably killed the teachers and Roy for their treatment of the trio, made the teachers in her universe nicer, and make sure they get killed off if harm comes to the trio. This may make this series a sequel to DHMIS, though it’s possible it’s a complete AU instead.

In fact, part of me wonders if, from a meta standpoint, Lesley is supposed to represent the fanbase in a sense, seeing as she’s happy to meet Yellow and says he’s her favorite, characterizes the teachers as nicer than they are, and seems to be on the trio’s side to some extent. She also doesn’t answer the question of if she actually made everything or not (instead just saying it’s a “good question” and laughing). Could be completely wrong about that though, especially because we don’t know much about her or her motivations.

Final note: the song she sings at the end might reference her taking over from Roy, if this is a potential sequel (”Batteries can be replaced, but some things stay the same / no matter how we twist and turn, we’re still dancing in chains”). Even though someone else is in control, the end result in the same: the puppets getting tortured.

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #dont hug me im scared #dhmis series #lesley #dhmis spoilers #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #this should go without saying but this is pure speculation and this interpretation could be completely wrong

[adobe-outdesign]

Small Pokemon SV Theory

There's another book in addition to the Scarlet/Violet book(s).

Both of the above entries keep talking about a "paradise" described within the books that Sada/Turo is trying to recreate. This is also reflected in the name "Paradise Protection Protocol". Except neither of the books we have describe anything even remotely like paradise, and mostly have Heath going "A PARADOX POKEMON LITERALLY JUST KILLED ONE OF MY MEN I HATE IT DOWN HERE".

Also, this one's more of a minor point as they could've named it themselves, but Sada/Turo know the name of the third legendary (six letters, blocked out in their notes). Its name wasn't stated anywhere in the book(s) we have.

If there is another book, it's likely based off of the third legendary, predating either of the books we have. The symbols in the area predate the expedition and there were pre-existing legends of treasure in the crater, point towards humans(?) having already been down there before:

#pokemon #pkmn #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon sv #professor sada #professor turo #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #thanks for coming to my TED talk

[adobe-outdesign]

I just noticed a pattern in DHMIS: Duck suffers the most physical pain, Yellow Guy the most psychological and Red Guy the most emotional. Maybe it's just me, but it's a thing I noticed while watching the TV series.

I noticed that years ago and made a gifset about it. I think Red is psychological though and Yellow emotional, as Yellow's the one who has the suffer the loss of his friends in 6 and thinking his friends don't like him in 4. Red, meanwhile, is the one who's acutely aware of their situation but powerless to stop it.

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis series #red guy #yellow guy #bird guy #analysis #outdesign analyzes things

[adobe-outdesign]

Ranking + Mini-reviews of All the DHMIS TV Episodes

Two important things to note before we start:

DHMIS is an amazing series, and as such there are no episodes that I’d say are bad, or even mediocre. This isn’t an S to F-tier ranking, this is an S to B-tier ranking.

Because all episodes are great in their own right, everyone’s going to have their own opinions on which ones are the best. These are just my personal picks.

With that said, going from worst to best:

Episode 3: Family

Starting us off is Family. While I still like this episode a lot, I do have to put it at the bottom of the list for a few reasons.

First, most of the episode is spent in Lily and Todney’s house, which means there’s not as many of the beautiful sets that the rest of the series provides. This episode also didn’t have many stylistic shifts—the only one being a brief moment of Deep Dream AI rendering. Most people may not mind this, but as someone who’s always loved the artistic elements of DHMIS, this was a bit underwhelming.

Secondly, I found this episode to be a bit messy structurally. For example, Bird gets kicked out first, so he has a long sequence talking about how he doesn’t want to be in a family... that goes absolutely nowhere. Likewise, Red’s arc felt like it had a lot of build-up but little payoff, while Yellow has the least motivation yet the biggest payoff (this may be because early concept art shows Red being the last one standing; Yellow was a good swap thematically, but it feels like they needed to swap the two’s motivations as well).

And finally, while the “found family is more important than biological family” moral is always lovely to hear, it is mostly outright stated; I feel like the best episodes simply allow the viewer to infer the moral for themselves (if they have one). Furthermore, the episode doesn’t offer much commentary on families beyond this basic idea.

With that said, this episode has a lot of great moments in it, including the entire climax with Roy and the funniest moment in the entire show at the end. But comparing it to all the other episodes, this is the one I personally got the least out of.

Episode 4: Friendship

While enjoyable, this episode has some issues in the message department. The whole “your friends don’t hate you, it’s just the worm in your brain talking” thing is great moral, and speaks to everything from depression to intrusive thoughts.

However, the execution is a bit botched. Red and Bird’s jackassery has been cranked up to 10 in this episode, to the point where they feel slightly OOC (such as swearing at Yellow, which is the only time they’ve done so). Thus, when Yellow assumes his friends hate him, it’s less of a “worm in your brain” kind of thing and more of a... logical assumption. The whole thing’s a bit confused and many will walk away with a slightly sour taste in their mouths despite the hilarious ending scene. Other episodes do a much better job of establishing the trio’s love-hate relationship.

The analogy also falls apart because Yellow makes this assumption on his own; Warren has little to do with anything, and Yellow becomes upset long before he enters his brain. It would’ve made more sense if Warren went into his brain to retrieve the password, only to realize that Yellow’s brain is great for ego-stroking. Thus, he convinces Yellow that Red and Duck hate him so he can stay there or something like that.

Another thing is that while most of the TV episodes feel like their own thing, this episode felt like a less effective version of DHMIS 3 (Love) from the original shorts. Both involve Red and Duck upsetting Yellow, who runs away (either psychically or metaphorically) and encounters an insect who teaches him about some interpersonal relationship before his friends show up and apologize and there’s a plot twist that makes you question the reality of the situation. But in 3, the situation that upsets Yellow is far more minor, the apology is more heartfelt, the moral is stronger and much more nuanced, etc.

However, this episode does have a lot of enjoyable gems in and of itself. Warren perfectly captures being a bad friend and is the worst thing Ever, Colin’s appearance was fun as were the brain friends sequences, and I liked the moral they were going for as well as the slightly surreal moment at the “the worm in your brain has a worm in its brain” part (to the point that I kind of wish they leaned into that more for the ending instead of the chainsaw fight). It’s a good time; it’s just up against stiff competition.

Episode 2: Death

This episode was great overall, and it has a lot of good stuff going for it. I love the commentary on how grief and loss is handled by society and the problems it can cause, the coffin’s probably my favorite teacher out of the bunch, and the comedy was fast-paced and effective.

So why isn’t it ranked higher? It’s mostly because the horror/comedy balance feels off. In most episodes, you get a good blend of both; but in this episode, you mostly get comedy and nothing else. There are one or two eerie moments—I liked the scene with Yellow and Red saying it was just them now “until the other guy comes back” with a close-up on Duck’s empty chair, as well as the scene with the mourners—but they don’t hit as hard as they could.

I think the big problem are the scenes with Duck in the coffin. Red and Yellow’s A-plot is where the commentary is, and where the hardest-hitting moments of this episode come in. However, while doing nothing after you die could be existentially terrifying, ala the ending to the original DHMIS 2, it ends up just being funny shenanigans here. And I like funny shenanigans; but I feel like the humor kind of distracts from the deeper, subtle moments of the A-plot, which shouldn’t be the case.

For example, I feel like Yellow digging up Duck would be a lot more impactful if the coffin left earlier, and Duck was starting to rot more. This would add more a lot more tension to the climax, as there’d be something at stake on Duck’s side rather than solely Yellow’s. Likewise, seeing Yellow try to drag around a rotting corpse and convince himself its still alive would’ve been really haunting.

also I have to subtract a point for the piss scene

Like I said at the beginning though, this is still a super fun episode with a lot going for it. It’s just that 20% too much comedy that prevents it from ranking even higher.

Episode 1: Jobs

Episode 1 is the very first episode to kick off the new show, and I’d say that it was a good pick—it’s the one that’s arguably the closest to the original series in terms of plot (a teacher shows up, sings a song that (technically) lasts the entire episode, and the trio ends up traumatized). 

On top of being similar to the shorts, it also happens to just be a strong episode in general. The humor is great as always, and there are a fair amount of horror elements in there.

My favorite part of the episode is definitely the commentary on capitalism. Being promised a bunch of good jobs before being saddled with a terrible one, the HR people that are more concerned with making people useful to the company than helping them, the way the laziest people get the highest positions, the “blink and 40 years have passed” thing, the meager pay at the end (which is later referenced in episode 2)... it’s all really great stuff, and is delivered subtly in a way that really sticks with you.

My only real complaint is that the bathroom scene was mostly pointless (side note: has anyone else noticed that Yellow address the audience in the first two episodes and then never again?), and the beginning is a bit slow. Outside from that, it’s pretty perfect.

Episode 6: Electricity

DHMIS 6 was my second favorite out of the original shorts, so it shouldn’t be surprising that the last episode gets the same spot here. This episode is pretty amazing—not only do we get introduced to Lesley, but there’s an overwhelming sense of dread throughout the episode that leads to some truly terrifying scenes. As an added bonus, we get some wonderful character development for Yellow that hits especially hard if you happen to be neurodivergent.

The only reason I rank this as the second best episode instead of the first is that it doesn’t feel like as satisfying of a conclusion as DHMIS 6. Lelsey’s reveal doesn’t hit as hard as Roy’s because we don’t know who she is or what her motivations are, and we only get a vague idea of what’s going on by the end of the episode. One could argue this is the point—they do shred the book, after all—but it makes it feel much less satisfying as a conclusion.

And this is more of a minor thing, but it’s also strange that after Red’s mental breakdown in the last episode, he’s right back to normal in this one. It’s possible this was intentionally reflecting the “reset” nature of the universe in this series, but it really undermines the horror of 5 a bit and feels like a missed opportunity for character development. If they wanted to go the reset route, I feel like it could’ve been driven home harder than it was, as it feels more like a continuity error as-is.

With that said however, this is still an incredibly strong episode with some of the series most poignant and haunting moments. It’s only slightly beaten out by...

Episode 5: Transport

While the entire series is a masterpiece, this episode in particular Is A Masterpiece. There is scientifically nothing wrong with it. Everything here just works.

First, I love the plot direction. Instead of the teacher showing up and sticking around like we’re used to, they instead just keel over and die immediately, and the trio hijack their corpse to kickstart the plot. It’s refreshing, and adds a sense of unpredictability to the plot.

And on top of that, despite being one of the only times that events take place primarily outdoors, Transport has the greatest sense of dread and claustrophobia out of all the episodes. Watching Red slowly reach his breaking point and become more and more frantic until it ends with the reveal that there is nothing out there is haunting, especially with the little Lesley tease at the end.

It also throws some additional bits of horror in there—Yellow Guy’s dream abruptly ending with him getting hit by a car hits particularly strong, being viscerally realistic. However, it also has some incredibly funny moments (read: the entire sequence with Time Child). The trio’s chemistry is strong in this one, the puppetry with the car is great as are the two stylistic shifts, and the songs are good. You can’t go wrong with any of this series, but if I have to pick a favorite, this one’s the clear winner.

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis #dhmis series #dont hug me im scared #red guy #yellow guy #duck guy #bird guy #lesley #outdesign posts things #outdesign analyzes things #disclaimer this may potentially change in the future as it's a close call due to how high quality everything is

[adobe-outdesign]

What do you think of the theory that Yellow Guy is somehow dead and that Lesley is his mother in a sense. There's the sequence narrated by her where he gets run over as she screams. The coffin initially assumes he's the one who died and prepared the David tombstone. One of the family photos seems to show her and a young boy. Then of course, her "You're not my real son" line. He's a replacement, not real, she's aware and possibly torments him due to this. Not to the same extent as Roy however.

It's possible, though I'm not sure how much I believe it. The big thing is that the David tombstone that everyone focuses on is an obscure behind-the-scenes joke (David is what they called Duck behind the scenes of the OG series). Her doing the narration in 5 also might just be them reusing her because she's around rather than them intending it to be Lesley (like how Baker Terry voices multiple characters).

Also, I could be wrong on this obvs, but I feel like the "you're not my real son" thing was hinting that she's in control, but didn't make everything. When Yellow asks her if she did, she just says it's a good question and laughs. And if she did make everything, Yellow could be considered her son by extension. We know the puppets exist out in the real world (the entire plot of the first series is that Roy bought their ransom after they were kidnapped and put them in the TV/fabricated world), so Lesley making him as a dead son replacement doesn't add up or explain the other puppets (though she could potentially view him as a replacement).

#don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis series #yellow guy #lesley #outdesign analyzes things #dhmis spoilers

[adobe-outdesign]

OK but the Legends Wisp Hunt raises some questions. How many of the 108 spirits inside Spiritomb are actually human and how ethical is it to actually keep ghost types that were once human like Phantump, Yamask, Gengar etc?

It's been canonically established that Pokemon only appear in front of humans when they want to be caught, and on top of that, they can leave their Pokeballs whenever they please. In other words, any formerly human Pokemon you catch want to hang out with you and be friends, or otherwise they'd just leave.

Vessa is a good example of this; you can't see the wisps without the keystone, so she could've just not given it to you and continued having her mischief. Instead, she has you collect the wisps and reveals herself because she wants to repent for the misdeeds that got her imprisoned in the keystone in the first place.

As for the spirits question, I'd imagine it depends on the Spiritomb. It's worth noting that while Vessa is one wisp, she seems to have a hivemind thing going on (not only does she know the location of the other wisps, but she also points out that you've spent lots of time with her by collecting all the wisps, which wouldn't be applicable if she only spoke for herself), so it's unclear if she's a human spirit, or if Spiritomb just took that form to talk to you (especially because the Spiritomb's gender is female).

#pokemon #pokemon legends arceus #spiritomb #outdesign analyzes things

[adobe-outdesign]

Do you believe the theory that Venonat was once intended to be Butterfree's pre-evo and that Venomoth was once intended to be the last stage of the Caterpie line?

It's one of the more reasonable theories about Gen 1 designs out there, as we do actually know some lines were switched or combined together (such as Blastoise being tacked onto the otherwise unrelated Squirtle line).

That said though, I do feel like people tend to downplay the similarities between Venonat and Venomoth a bit. They are both purple, they both have fangs, the spikes on Venomoth's head resemble Venonat's antennae, and they both have zig-zag fluff lines. Butterfree, meanwhile, only has the color, compound eyes, antennae (albeit a different color) and nose as a similarity.

It's also worth nothing that Caterpie resembles a swallowtail caterpillar, which makes it evolving into a butterfly make sense, while Venonat isn't really a caterpillar but is fluffy like moth caterpillars tend to be. I guess you could argue that's why GameFreak switched them in the first place, but it's just as likely they were designed to be together from the start.

I also think that people tend to overlook the fact that a lot of Gen 1 'mons look similar or have similar features—just count how many 'mons have the Sugimori-style triangle eyes, horns, or cat ears. So it's definitely not impossible that they just happen to have similar faces.

Overall, I'd probably lean towards no, but it is perfectly plausible and it wouldn't surprise me if it was true either.

(Side note: it's worth noting that based on internal data and sprites, Venonat was made first and was intended to not evolve originally, probably in Period 2. The Butterfree line and Venomoth came later, during Period 4. This may or may not mean anything.)

#you probably didn't want an entire mini essay on this but too bad #pokemon #venonat #venomoth #outdesign analyzes things

[adobe-outdesign]

Something I find interesting about the Big/Bigger Boys' Rooms is that the Big Boys actively enjoy the lessons when the originals just sort if went along with them. IDK if those lessons also tortured the puppets but the fact they're actually wanting to learn them suggests they don't come to harm at least every time. Then, the Bigger Boys are the ones torturing someone else, and are actively teaching themselves things rather than being taught. Just something I thought was interesting.

something something the teachers spew out absolute nonsense and the trio believe them because they're not that educated, but the more educated you become the more you become aware of misinformation at the risk of becoming the one spreading false info something something

#I like that interpretation actually might just go with that #don't hug me i'm scared #dhmis series #dhmis spoilers #outdesign analyzes things