unforum

[Gentleman Caller]

[ravanjedi]

Oh, Caller.

That is the only response.

The blog has also now acquired a few more characters and... it's all kind of awesome.

[Das Omega]

I know they were going for creepy, but I couldn't stop laughing.

[Gentleman Caller]

Maybe it's just me, but I thought the eye-flash was damn creepy.

Even that considered, I'm not 100% sure this is supposed to be the equivalent of, say, TribeTwelve's bamillion "OMGZ TENTERCALZ?!!?!" videos. To me, it implies that Goslanen is more of a show-off, like he wants people to fear him, almost craves it, you know?

[Mitternacht]

You liked it enough to embed it, lol...maybe you are his

It's a bit short for my taste, but then again, this venture doesn't adhere simply to the paradigm for a slender blog or vlog. I like the fact that they're obviously more of a blog, but they want to try and incorporate elements of a classic vlog in order to switch it up.

On that note, do you think he's directly talking to Mara in the video? His last comment talked about "pure, unchaotic bliss weaponized." How would she factor into that? And I agree with Caller on the show-off point. He's definitely becoming more brazen.

[Gentleman Caller]

Okay, so a new post/video went up. Somebody else is in the sight(at first glance).



Does the name Zahl or Anzhal mean anything to you guys(and gals)? I haven't had anytime to look into it, so if anyone else has found something the help would be appreciated, lol.

I'm not 100% sure what's going on right now. This is the first time I've ever seen a kid in a slender story in any role other than "prey", so it could be a new twist, or he could be somebody that goslanen has scared into working for him. [/youtube]

[Mitternacht]

I don't know, man. He doesn't look at all scared. If anything, Gos is scared of him, at least to his face.

Anzahl is German for number, but he doesn't seem to like it very much. He called himself Saul in the post, but Zaul (or just shortened to Zahl) in the video. Zahl seems more likely, as its meaning can be the same as the noun Anzahl, or it can be a verb, meaning to account for or settle a debt/score. A very interesting difference...to me, that would explain why he wants to be called Zahl instead of Anzahl. Settling a score just seems so much more badass, even for some kid. >.>

I've also been wondering where they're going to put Slenderman into this series. I'm beginning to wonder if he's something that's meant to punish failure, based off the text hints they've been dropping. In "Faeries," he talked about a girl (Mara?) being "shamefaced," and so she "hid it away." Gos just put a message on youtube a day ago with "I am in no danger of losing face, here...so back off" in it. This face language seems to me to imply Slendy's existence, even though he hasn't shown up on camera.

Connected with that is the fact that the videos are now outright stating that whatever Gos and Zahl are, they are not entirely human. Gos seems to be capable of levitating the camera and "dashing" very quickly, while Zahl is seen silencing Jackson. He also does something to the camera at the end, perhaps? I was kindof waiting for him to say "beam me up, Slendy!" He just looked up, the screen went white, and the vid ended.

If they are slenderous minions, he might endow these abilities, but then why would they be fighting?

[qaqa]

I'm sorry. I've read it and watched it and this is just silly.

Every "real person" talks like something out of Metal Gear Solid, all AMPED THE FUCK UP FOR THE FINAL CONFRONTATION WITH MY EVIL CO-WORKER AND BTW MY BEAUTIFUL MUTE PIXIE DREAM GIRLFRIEND IS THE KEY TO EVERYTHING AND ALSO WE ARE TOTALLY INTIMIDATING IN THESE VIDEOS.

W...WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON THE BLOG WITH ME, HEAD ANIME VILLAIN? N-NO ONE CAN KNOW I AM ONLY THE SUB-BOSS!! W...WHY AM I STUTTERING IN TEXT POSTS?

It's fun and they work hard, but still. It's all purple prose and Comic Book Guys. And when the kid entered I fell apart. This is just...no.

[Gentleman Caller]

Um, I think you may have missed the point, mate.

Goslanen has always come off as a little bit ridiculous and unhinged to me. I'm not sure he's supposed to be terrifying us in these videos. I mean, don't get me wrong, he desperately wants to terrify you, but I'm doubting this is him in top scary form.

As for the little kid, I don't know, I kind of dig it. Nobody has ever really worked on the whole "Slender-man" children angle of the mythos, so I'm interested to see where they go with that.

I'd also say it's a bit of a sweeping statement to say everyone is acting like that, when really only Goslanen is. Granted he's a central character, but still, it's no more ridiculous than say Totheark, or Damsel, or really most of the side characters. I also don't think the faerie thing is literal, as in like fairy tale fairies, it's symbolic of something. A slang term, almost.

[Mitternacht]

You're correct - it's a bit unreal to assume that things aren't what they appear and are larger than life, especially in the "real world" where people randomly end up places and are stalked by a ten-foot faceless creature.

>.>

In all seriousness, it is a try-hard, but I think that's really only because it has to be. The camera's not high-quality, and neither are any of the effects. Especially this last video has a comic book-esque feel to it with "supernatural" effects and acting. If they had the tools to make tentacles, they might have. Or perhaps they wanted to see if anyone was interested in reading something that departs (honestly, it does so almost completely) from tried and true methods?

Having come in after they started videos, I can see how they might have been better off without video. The writing is very prosaic and (probably a little too) passionate, and they expect that people will enjoy it even if it transitions to video, which is not always the case. I also think they've meandered a bit from the original premise, but I also see that as a natural consequence of ARG'ing. You're supposed to tell your story around your audience, and they have.

[Mitternacht]

http://eyespie.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/i-care/

New post up. It's a summary which Gos is narrating about the plan he's been working from up to now. Zahl is obviously threatening him, but he's countering with a tell-all of sorts, as well as threats of his own.

He seems to suggest that he might actually turn into Slenderman, also hinting in the following sentence that there are more than simply one Slenderman?

The other thing that caught my eye was the explanation of faeries. It fits very well with the kindof artsy twitpic he posted, labeling the little lights "all," "your," and "children." I liked the picture so much that I made it my background, but I'm happy he put it together with the story like that.

http://twitpic.com/397h70

It's a departure from what they've been doing lately, but I enjoyed it. Things seemed a bit too muddled to me, so I'm glad they inserted a recap within story context.

[ravanjedi]

That is definitely a departure from their normal run, but... I actually really enjoyed how that was written. It fits in with the videos, matches up and was a lot of fun.

These guys continue to surprise me, I love it.

[Gentleman Caller]

Looks like they're driving back towards more story-driven gameplay, rather than vice-versa. To be honest, that makes me happy, blogs that do it the other way around confuse me...

[Gentleman Caller]

After a week long Hiatus, we've finally got an update! http://eyespie.wordpress.com/2010/12/09/coming-clean/

Summary for those too lazy to read: It's all been a hoax. The last couple months have all been a ruse trying to draw Slender Man out of hiding so they could study him, but it's done nothing. Frank is pretty much announcing that we'll be going back to business as usual, and that he's sorry for misleading us.

I'm not really sure what to make of this. It really could mean one of two things, as far as I can see it:

1. The creators are done and the game/story is over,
2. The characters have all been captured/slondor'd ala Jonsclub.

I'll be disappointed if it's the first, but I also kind of don't like the second. Maybe there are other options I'm just not bright enough to see

[qaqa]

It seems to me like a tacit admission that that whole track they were going down was just embarrassing.

I do have to say that while I found that all to be pretty silly, the 180 is a bit more sad. But hey, they want to reinvent their game, fine.