unforum

[The Kempest]

[DaLadybugMan]

Welllllll....

Ironically, I'm against most uses of proxies (ironically because I'm currently working on a blog written by a proxy about proxies). They have their uses, yes, but they're usually used as just redshirts and minions to give the protagonist victories, which is...well, not that scary. Also, people will occasionally fight small armies of them. This is the part that confuses me. There are whole armies of them? Really? The fucking Slender Man needs an army? No. No he doesn't. He really doesn't. Giving him armies and making other people do his dirty work just makes him seem less powerful.

They also make him less scary. Because after all, why are we scared of the Slender Man? Because he's inhuman, we don't understand his motivation, and we don't know whether or not he'll lash out at the protagonist or just look at him curiously from afar. Humans, though, we can understand. They've usually got some motivation, or else they're just brainwashed shells. The whole "brainwashed shells" thing could be used pretty effectively if it weren't for the fact that there are definitely some people who use them as redshirts for their protagonist to indiscriminately slaughter. Way to go, hero.

But there are ways to do proxies well, and it's not making them more like Slendy. It's the opposite. Make them more human. Make them identifiable. Make the reader think "holy shit, it would be terrifying to have that happen to you." Remember Logan, way back from Just Another Fool? Make them like him: driven crazy to the point where they don't even know who they are or what they're doing. Don't make them just empty puppets, make them people desperately fighting against what they're doing, knowing that they're being forced to do these things against their will but unable to stop it.

As for the ones that aren't crazy and brainwashed, at least give them motivation. Working for Slendy to protect themselves...or someone else. Crazy, misguided cultists like the ones in Dreams in Darkness. People who are already legitimately insane slasher villains and are working for him so that they can cause some damage themselves.

Basically, if you're going to use them, don't use them as mooks or as a stand-in for Slendy. Use them sparingly and/or effectively, and always make the audience afraid that (due to willing suspension of disbelief) yes, this could happen to them as well.

Also, can I get a link to Dark Dream Chronicle? That sounded interesting.

[qaqa]

The "proxies" (ugh) I hate are where it either:

a) just seems half-assed and forced, like "every series has one so I have to." And while theirs is not forced I also still think DH's is a bit goofy, though I really enjoy their series.

or

b) the quasi-"Joker" uber-cliche ones who are these wisecracking quipsters with deep inner lives and characterization that go on and on and on and on as an excuse for the writer to indulge their feeble idea of a "wild side." HABIT in EMH I don't have a problem with because he's suspected of being an extreme aspect of one of the existing main characters in some way, and because he's relatively rare to speak and does not have a deep characterization; he's more of an enigma. But other "proxies" who become the stahs of the story, gabbing on and on - I just don't find that scary or funny or anything. It becomes a bad genre TV show. If I wanted to watch Buffy (which I loved), I'd go find the DVDs. I came to be scared.

[ferninja]

My theory, and bear with me here because I know it doesn't follow many of the slendy traits that so many fans have come to adore.

He is the personification of fear itself. The very fact that his face is blank leaves much to the imagination. The face is blank, like a slate. Sort of an <insert> sign. He doesn't have to have a face because he is a nameless (his name is a description of a type of person for god's sake) fear.

Therefor it is in with following this mythos of the nameless faceless fear that cannot be defined that his behavior may be deduced. So it can be for one of many reasons. Two of them being:

1) He doesn't act on his own simply because it inspires more mystery in him, thus more fear.

2) He simply prefers to have others do his dirty work.

3) He is a passive observer and he /cannot/ interfere with the physical world, only some intangible influence over the minds of others.

Proxies, in my theory, are used to influence the physical world, whereas the slender man cannot. He drives them more into fear and madness, reducing their will and ability to resist him until he takes over their minds, or through some form of undefinable influence, convinces them to serve him willingly. Maybe the reason he stalks people for so long is that that's just how long it takes to madden someone enough to make them serve a nameless evil.

Either way, it is my opinion that he exists outside of our influence and reason. Its my opinion that his only weakness would be to not fear him at all.

[agreatdivorce]

I remember that one early precursor to Slenderman was the Dionaea House which also used proxies.

With the Dionaea House, it's easier to see why proxies would be involved. Sure, the house itself may be a terror of unimaginable power and villany that digests you alive... but it's also a house. It has trouble getting at you if you refuse to swing by and visit it. So, obviously, proxies would help offer an immediate threat, something that keeps the reader on the edge even if the narrator isn't actually in danger of the main villain (the house).

While Slenderman is more mobile, proxies for him do the same thing. Since we can't have Slendy on screen in every episode or entry (which would make him boring) he suffers a narrative-based immobility much like the Dionaea House's physical immobility. Proxies provide him a "long reach" scare tactic that keeps the reader with a sense of threat without sacrificing Slendy's "show up at the right moment" gimmick.

[Bovinian_King]

I might be a bit late to this topic, and my newness might put some people off. There's always that theory that Slender Man feeds on/enjoys despair. Similarly, in the anime Gurren Lagann, the Anti-Spiral fights the protagonists on their own level, in order to show them ultimate despair. He can drop from his Godlike manner to theirs and still win handily.

I think it's the same with ol' Slendy. He induces as much fear from his victims by showing them that he doesn't even have to be physically present to drive them further into despair. He can just do it with humans, but he might enjoy it more be being present.

[Neoplayer2]

[zbeeblebrox]

Proxies exist because nobody has the skill or cash to build a Slender-suit they can chase people while wearing.

Too out-of-game? :p

Seriously though - at least from a video series perspective (I don't read the blogs) - if a creator had the technical know-how to build a more mobile slenderman suit or puppet, they'd have very little incentive to include so-called "proxies" at all. Why blogs supposedly bother with them is beyond me. Because of the easy human drama? Because they don't feel like being scary? Who knows.

[Not!Doctor]

[zbeeblebrox]

Hey, I can totally see that working for an ARG like DDC (although I can't follow that thing for the life of me. I'm actually really bad at real ARGs), but for stories, they're mostly used as a crutch for people who can't figure out how to make Slenderman do anything. Yeah, they can be scary. Hell they can be downright terrifying on rare occasions. But that doesn't make them necessary.

[Cougar Draven]

[BrochachoNacho]

[Neoplayer2]

[zbeeblebrox]

Alright I'll have to take you guys up on that

[Cougar Draven]