Introductions, part V: Don't Say We Never Warned You.

[Faust]

I try not to oblige the weird tribalism on the internet, but for shorthand's sake, I am A Goon™. e: and I mostly read about politics

I'm registered over at SA but can't say I post all that often, I did a bit when I was in college.

Welcome to our corner of the internet.

[LMNO]

Hi there, new guy!


Don't listen to anything Roger says.  I am the nicest person on the Internet.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hello, Discordian internet people,

It's been a long time since I joined a forum (I've pretty much settled on a single forum for years now), so this is weird.

It's been about ten years since my now best friend introduced me to Discordianism in college. Over the years, it's something that I've come back to again and again with increasing frequency and intensity. After coming across this site several times over the past week, the existence of memebase, reading BIP and BIPCW here, and especially after seeing that BIPCW was written by folks on this forum, I decided to join. I'm glad to see there's still new Discordian stuff being generated.

Hail Eris!
TIBS Loafer

Hi new person! Do you have any hobbies? What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hi there, new guy!


Don't listen to anything Roger says.  I am the nicest person on the Internet.

You will note that this is not exactly a ringing endorsement.

[LMNO]

Put a sock in it, one-eye.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Put a sock in it, one-eye.

See what I mean?

In any case, I am beginning to look like Ray Sawyer.   

[LMNO]

Well, you certainly are a Medicine Show at this point.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well, you certainly are a Medicine Show at this point.

Hell yeah.  I get full eating my pills.  MY pills.  You can't have any.

[Red]

Ya know, I just jumped in ranting and forgot to say Hi.

Hi! Just call me Red. I first ran into Discordianism back in the 90's. I thought it was hilarious and very refreshing. I snuck my first hot dog on a Friday two days later. The Principals sort of burned itself into my brain and I just went back to wandering around until TVTropes led me back here. I was like "Oh, yeah! This!" and jumped back in.

I love horror and have a massive collection of Pyramid head artwork. My current folder has 177 files with 3 sub folders in it. My avatar is one of my favorites with a personal backstory.

I had a dream when I was a kid that I ran away from home because I was tired of my dad never letting me go outside the house. At first I was running because I didn't want dad to see me, then it started getting foggy and I heard a heavy scraping sound that scared me to death, so soon I was fleeing for my life. I practically threw myself through a wrought-iron gate and suddenly found myself on a normal city street in front of a park. Life in the real world was hard, but I survived on my own and grew up. One day after work I decided to go for a walk in a park I had never visited before. As I walked on it started getting foggy, but I didn't think anything of it. Then I heard the scraping sound and froze. A massive figure wearing a pyramid helmet, stained men's shirt and leather smock and dragging a giant knife (blade up) slowly came into view. I knew I was screwed as he could kill me where I stood, yet was also frozen in awe of how majestic he was. He stopped and looked at me, then bent down and touched my cheek with a single large finger. Suddenly he grabbed me and carried me off on his shoulders. He protected me through the fog from all the strange creatures that attacked us up until I passed out. I awoke back in the same bed I had as a child listening as the front door closed and locked.

Well, that's the abridged version, anyway. I told the long version of this story on 4chan and didn't think much of it. A few months later, someone posted some art "based on a dream someone had posted awhile ago". Even scarier, the child looks just like I did when I was a kid and the colors perfectly match the ones I always pick for online personas when I make an avatar. It was too perfect!

Extra fun and spooky part? I had this dream back around 1993. By the way, when Masahiro Ito was designing monsters for Silent Hill, Pyramid Head came to him in a dream as well. My life is full of weirdness like this. 

Okie dokie, that's enough for the second. Hello random internet people!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hi there, new guy!

[Ben Shapiro]

Hi Red! This is bear....have fun, and play nice, or little Bink's will get you.

How are you doing today?

[Faust]

Hi Red, welcome to the forum. I like silent hill, and the imagery for both the mysticism and psychological portrayals of them but I've always found the fascination with Pyramid head a little odd.

This is based entirely on my playing silent hill two but I found these themes very prevalent around Pyramid head, I'm often surprised that people see him in a more positive light.

He is a metaphorical creation that stands for a plethora of really negative things, rape of a loved one (explicitly called out as not random strangers), sexual violence, unintended oppression of a lover, blunt single-minded sexual frenzy and at once the opposite: castration, impotence, unfulfilled maddening sexual desire.

In silent hill 2 he is presented as the parts of James Sunderland hates the most about himself, his guilt surrounding his wife's death. His feelings of being sexually neglected as a husband and ultimately his revelling in her demise.

It's not a character I would associate with protection, even if you take him at face value: a man in an executioners hood and a butchers robe.

None the less, I love Masahiro Ito's art. My favorite two are:


This is pretty recent. I'm not sure if it is from a game or not.

and from Silent hill 2:

I think this had the title The Remains Of Judgement in the game but it mightn't be the paintings actual name.

[Red]

Hi there, new guy!

Hi established guy. 

Hi Red! This is bear....have fun, and play nice, or little Bink's will get you.

How are you doing today?

I'll try, though I can get ranty sometimes. So far I seem to be in good company for that, though!

Me? I've been better and seen worse. Of course, that's usually the way things go around here. If it weren't for the everyday Orange Juice it would be awesome, but the awesome would be harder to spot without the not so much mixed in.

How are things going in your world?

Hi Red, welcome to the forum. I like silent hill, and the imagery for both the mysticism and psychological portrayals of them but I've always found the fascination with Pyramid head a little odd.

It's not a character I would associate with protection, even if you take him at face value: a man in an executioners hood and a butchers robe.

None the less, I love Masahiro Ito's art. My favorite two are:

I think this had the title The Remains Of Judgement in the game but it mightn't be the paintings actual name.

I already can explain the fascination for most players: he's one of the few clearly masculine and sexualized non-human characters in the game that isn't overtly monstrous in appearance. Behaviors can be another story, but appearances are what I'm talking about here. Rule 34 takes it's course from there and leads to a giant fan base. The nurses get a similar (if smaller) fanbase for similar reasons.

Some people who just like the design and think it's cool. There's plenty of those and they're easily spotted by the lack of porn in their collection. There also are people who like the horrible monstrous things he does in game and the symbolism. These are less common but they're out there.

And then there's me and Masahiro Ito. Both of us think it's a darn cool design and both of us first saw the design in a dream. Of course, I haven't heard anything about what Ito's dream was like so I can't say if he took a benign thing and tossed it in a horror game turning it into a monster on the way or if he's always been a monster.

My dream actually went on in chapters for years, actually. Stage 1 was the abridged version posted earlier. It gets darker. Here's more abridged for you:

Stage 2 was obsession. My dad tried to get me interested in a regular guy (even though he had him dress in a silly pyramid Head costume at first meeting) but, in the end, the real deal showed up and secretly took over much to my delight. Everyone lived even if the guy got knocked out and never even knew a real Pyamid Head had shown up.

Stage 3 was education. My Pyramid head started bringing injured and dying creatures to my doorstep. I was confused by this until I realized he was testing me while showing me the creatures of his world. Eventually one of the creatures actually came of their own volition and started explaining things to me. If I kept it up there was a good chance I'd lose my humanity and become one of them. I had been warned this in stage 1 in the only time I'd ever heard my Pyramid Head talk, so the confirmation was interesting.

Stage 4 was adaptation. I had a good idea of how the world ran and started exploring outside the house, much to my dad's worry. I observed the creatures in the wild and noticed that, indeed, many of them seemed as if they were once human even if only vestiges remained. The first time I had gone out I was attacked, but now some of them were fearing me. I had no idea why. All I knew was I was happy to hold my own at last.

Stage 5 was alteration. The change had crept over me so slowly I didn't even notice it. My first warning was when I started seeing red-eyed grey-skinned Valtiel-like humanoids appearing out of nowhere, clinging to things. My Pyramid Head had never shown me one of these so it was very jarring. By the time I could hear them talking I learned it was too late: I had become a strange hybrid larger than a normal grey one but smaller than a Pyramid Head. I found myself drawn towards wearing an iron mask, but had to force myself not to wear it for long as it always started fusing itself to my face. I seldom came home anymore and when I did I usually found dad mourning me.

In short, I wouldn't call Pyramid Head a protector per se. Like with James, he might just be a reflection of my mind, only where James was addled with guilt, frustration and shame I needed to learn who I am, grow to understand life in all it's brutality, and find where I belong in the world even if not everyone will approve. Being an executioner is appropriate in this case as he's helping me "kill" my old self so I can rebuild into something else. I saw an alternate Stage 5 in one dream in which I stayed human and ended up miserable and lonely, so this might be the case! Either way, having "my own personal monster" is fun, especially as I'm in the camp that thinks his design is awesome.


Anyway, back to art! Yeah, Masahiro Ito's art is lovely. Apparently the one you couldn't Identify came from "White Hunter" which is came with a Japanese sound track. Luckily you can read it here. I think the painting might actually be called "The Remains of Judgement" or "The Hanged Man". I'm not sure which is correct as I've seen both.

I think the really heavy Christian symbolism added since Silent Hill 3 is interesting. The whole "cult" angle being slowly fleshed out is surprisingly complex. I just wish the second film handled it better. Sure, if you have read a ton of Silent Hill lore you'll get it, but everyone else was lost. I also hated the shoe-horned romance and that they changed Vincent's age.

[monad]

Hello. I'm monad, apparently.
The theosophical sort, not the functional programming sort. Not that I know much about that, either.
Some of you may recognise me from the IRC.
It has been a while since I've had a persistent identity so it may take some time for me to tune in.

[Faust]

Hi Red, welcome to the forum. I like silent hill, and the imagery for both the mysticism and psychological portrayals of them but I've always found the fascination with Pyramid head a little odd.

It's not a character I would associate with protection, even if you take him at face value: a man in an executioners hood and a butchers robe.

None the less, I love Masahiro Ito's art. My favorite two are:

I think this had the title The Remains Of Judgement in the game but it mightn't be the paintings actual name.

I already can explain the fascination for most players: he's one of the few clearly masculine and sexualized non-human characters in the game that isn't overtly monstrous in appearance. Behaviors can be another story, but appearances are what I'm talking about here. Rule 34 takes it's course from there and leads to a giant fan base. The nurses get a similar (if smaller) fanbase for similar reasons.

Some people who just like the design and think it's cool. There's plenty of those and they're easily spotted by the lack of porn in their collection. There also are people who like the horrible monstrous things he does in game and the symbolism. These are less common but they're out there.

And then there's me and Masahiro Ito. Both of us think it's a darn cool design and both of us first saw the design in a dream. Of course, I haven't heard anything about what Ito's dream was like so I can't say if he took a benign thing and tossed it in a horror game turning it into a monster on the way or if he's always been a monster.

My dream actually went on in chapters for years, actually. Stage 1 was the abridged version posted earlier. It gets darker. Here's more abridged for you:

Stage 2 was obsession. My dad tried to get me interested in a regular guy (even though he had him dress in a silly pyramid Head costume at first meeting) but, in the end, the real deal showed up and secretly took over much to my delight. Everyone lived even if the guy got knocked out and never even knew a real Pyamid Head had shown up.

Stage 3 was education. My Pyramid head started bringing injured and dying creatures to my doorstep. I was confused by this until I realized he was testing me while showing me the creatures of his world. Eventually one of the creatures actually came of their own volition and started explaining things to me. If I kept it up there was a good chance I'd lose my humanity and become one of them. I had been warned this in stage 1 in the only time I'd ever heard my Pyramid Head talk, so the confirmation was interesting.

Stage 4 was adaptation. I had a good idea of how the world ran and started exploring outside the house, much to my dad's worry. I observed the creatures in the wild and noticed that, indeed, many of them seemed as if they were once human even if only vestiges remained. The first time I had gone out I was attacked, but now some of them were fearing me. I had no idea why. All I knew was I was happy to hold my own at last.

Stage 5 was alteration. The change had crept over me so slowly I didn't even notice it. My first warning was when I started seeing red-eyed grey-skinned Valtiel-like humanoids appearing out of nowhere, clinging to things. My Pyramid Head had never shown me one of these so it was very jarring. By the time I could hear them talking I learned it was too late: I had become a strange hybrid larger than a normal grey one but smaller than a Pyramid Head. I found myself drawn towards wearing an iron mask, but had to force myself not to wear it for long as it always started fusing itself to my face. I seldom came home anymore and when I did I usually found dad mourning me.

In short, I wouldn't call Pyramid Head a protector per se. Like with James, he might just be a reflection of my mind, only where James was addled with guilt, frustration and shame I needed to learn who I am, grow to understand life in all it's brutality, and find where I belong in the world even if not everyone will approve. Being an executioner is appropriate in this case as he's helping me "kill" my old self so I can rebuild into something else. I saw an alternate Stage 5 in one dream in which I stayed human and ended up miserable and lonely, so this might be the case! Either way, having "my own personal monster" is fun, especially as I'm in the camp that thinks his design is awesome.

This is a whole lot of crazy, so I'm going to say: Cool, life's all about finding out what works for you.

Anyway, back to art! Yeah, Masahiro Ito's art is lovely. Apparently the one you couldn't Identify came from "White Hunter" which is came with a Japanese sound track. Luckily you can read it here. I think the painting might actually be called "The Remains of Judgement" or "The Hanged Man". I'm not sure which is correct as I've seen both.

I think the really heavy Christian symbolism added since Silent Hill 3 is interesting. The whole "cult" angle being slowly fleshed out is surprisingly complex. I just wish the second film handled it better. Sure, if you have read a ton of Silent Hill lore you'll get it, but everyone else was lost. I also hated the shoe-horned romance and that they changed Vincent's age.

I've actually been going through his art for the last hour. He's got some really beautiful stuff. I'm not finding anything on his inspiration for pyramid head coming from a dream, as far as I can recall it was an iterative design that didn't have a pyramid at the start, just a malformed featureless head.

One cool thing I found out was that a lot of his inspirations came from an artist called Francis Bacon who does these very isolated harrowing picture, and his art style really evoked the tortured frailty of the "monsters". He does a lot with images of people in geometric cages and railings. I always assumed it was throwback to the film Jacobs ladder but I guess there was more to it than that.
What's even more awesome is that Bacon is Irish and there's a gallery of his work in Dublin, which I am going to go see at the next possible juncture.

This is literally me right now: