unforum

[JustJim]

What exactly are these differences that make The Operator so distinct from The Slender Man? I've never heard any differences cited that make him any more unique than any other depiction of The Slender Man. Every creator puts their own twist on the character, anyway. That doesn't exactly make them entirely different characters.

He doesn't go after children? enttry 37 begs to differ.
He doesn't have tentacles? As mentioned, neither does MLA's Slender Man.
He's developing certain resemblances to facial features? So is TT's Slender Man.
He causes audio and video distortion? Because of MH, nearly every Slender Man vlog does this now. Unique for the time, but now it's a standard of the genre.
Personality/behavioral differences? Now you're just forcing it.

If Troy and Joseph really wanted to make a different character, they would have made a different character. But they didn't. They made a tall, faceless, suit-wearing Eldritch horror and then suddenly decided to call him something different for the sake of separating their series from the myriad of other vlogs. I honestly think they didn't decide to call their character The Operator until the first season was over or nearly over, as if their outstanding quality wasn't enough to mark them as different. What's the point in calling The Slender Man The Operator when they're essentially the same character, and he's never referred to by name anyway. It's a silly argument.

A rose by any other name, after all...

[Masky]

[12th]

Okay let's back down a bit. Obviously MH, being basically the flagship of the Mythos vlogs, is going to spawn a lot of imitators or will at the very least influence other vlogs and blogs and such.

Troseph's intent here was to say "This is OUR version of Slender Man, which we are calling the Operator". Why? Because they didn't want to argue these very problems. Why does SM have tentacles in TT but not in MH? 'Cause this isn't TT, and their Slender Man doesn't do that.

Basically it is supposed to control metagame knowledge. They want the Operator to be distinct so they don't have to rely upon intercontinuity between all the vlogs in order to maintain verisimilitude in the story. "Oh that Slender Man is all WRONG, he wouldn't do that normally!" STFU: this is not Slender Man, it's the Operator. Ops can do that (or not do that) as necessary.
----------------
Meanwhile, on topic:

Here's what we have seen the Operator NOT do:
1. Pop out some Slendicles. (TT)
2. Behave consistently with the Core Theory Blogs.
3. Cause direct surface stigmata or wounds (such as Amy in TJ&A)
4. Have confirmed radiation field that can be measured (EMH)
5. Physically attack or even make physical tactile contact with a human being
6. Leave physical evidence of presence after encounter
7. Animal mutilations

[AngryDeepground]

What about the dead animals in front of brians house.

[Randoman96]

[Zebez]

[AngryDeepground]

[Yuki]

[Spritey]

I will never stop calling him Slenderman.

[Kitchenyou10sull]

[AngryDeepground]

Something thats been on my mind lately.

The VictorSurge era Slenderman was for more tree like then all his versions. He did have tendrils but they where often used to help him walk at least thats what the original thread told us.

Even in TribeTwelve his tendrils do not give him a tree like look.

The Operator is one of the first things to scrap the tree look and give it a humanoid look.

[Vzombie]

That was meant as a joke...

Edit: Super Ninja'd

[AngryDeepground]

[tijde]

As I see it, arguing about whether The Operator is Slenderman is like arguing about whether Dracula is Vampire. The key is in the article: 'a' vs. 'the'. The Operator is a slenderman. He's not a different kind of monster; he's a specific character within a larger monster mythos. I agree with 12th; giving him a name emphasizes that he's just one interpretation. A very influential one, no doubt; one that reshaped what's commonly known about slendermen, like Dracula did for vampires. Just compare the SA thread and one-off creepy photos to the uF Slender Man Mythos series. But still, The Operator is just one interpretation of many. 

I do think making the distinction is important, if only for one reason: establishing The Operator as a specific character in a specific, isolated universe. An important distinction to make, since crossovers got common pretty quickly. The Operator is the slenderman for the MH world, and only the MH world.

Incidental side note: Have any other stories (outside of gamejacks) tried to establish that MH is real in their universe? I don't really pay attention unless the acknowledgement is mutual, and Troseph has made it clear that in MH's case, it won't be.   

On the original topic: 
- The Operator isn't closely connected to fog
- The Operator doesn't use tree-like camo
- Other series include more history, like the SA stories did. TT has Karl, for instance.
- The Rosswood/execution origin angle seems specific to The Operator, though we don't know the rest of the story yet.

[So to stop me, I shot mys]