 Good evening. A while ago, I ran a poll on my community tab, asking my viewers what ARG they wanted me to cover next. I know, I know. The Gunslinger Pro follow-up was the rightful winner. 71% is a big victory, and I can tell there's a huge interest in seeing me check out the new material from him, especially after I revisited Badwater. But looking through the comments, I found myself agreeing with some viewers that there's simply not enough content from Gunslinger to warrant a follow-up just yet. I don't want to disappoint my viewers with a boring, short video with hardly any new developments. However, I'll make this promise. Once Gunslinger uploads his next video, I will do a follow-up video revisiting that channel. For now, though, I've decided to settle for the second most popular choice. The only other ARG to break into double digits with a whopping 16% — Plastic Apple 2011. So just as I've done in the past, I'm going to be looking at this channel and its content, analyzing each of its videos, and then doing my best to figure out the narrative it's portraying. Let's begin. Starting with the channel itself, the profile picture is Ellis from the game Left 4 Dead 2, flashing a smirk on the map GM construct. The channel banner also shows Ellis on construct, this time wielding a Fizz gun and accompanied by fellow survivor coach. As for the channel bio, Plastic Apple gives the most lengthy and descriptive one we've seen yet. Hello! I'm a rookie Gmod video maker that tends to make content on Left 4 Dead 2. I love Rubber Fruit and his content, and my favorite character to play as is Ellis from the game Left 4 Dead 2. I intend to make my videos as funny as possible. After all, who doesn't want a funny Gmod video every now and then? I will make more content in the future, so stay tuned. Plastic Apple cites Rubber Fruit, a classic Gmod YouTuber, as an inspiration. This is interesting given the parallel we see in their names, but ultimately, it seems like Plastic Apple is simply letting us know we should expect some goofy Gmod fun from his videos. There's nothing particularly foreboding about this introduction. In fact, I'd say it's actually a lot more welcoming than we're used to. So let's go ahead and take a look at the first upload, titled, The Annoying Redneck. Here we get to see our first machinima from Plastic Apple, starring Ellis and Nick on the Counter-Strike Source Map CS Office. The classic trope of Ellis' annoying Nick makes for the main content of the short, before Nick gets tired of Ellis' shenanigans and tries to shoot him. Nick fires a shot at Ellis, which Ellis successfully dodges. The bullet then ricochets all through the office Looney Tunes style, wrapping around to hit Nick himself in the back of the head. As the video comes to an end, Ellis becomes rigid and we see a Kleiner player model come into view. The video cuts to black as we hear the sound of something being summoned from the spawn menu. This video establishes three characters, Nick, Ellis, and the player, who we can assume is the operator of the Plastic Apple 2011 channel. Apart from the strange bit at the end though, there's not much to take from this video, so let's check out the next one. Here we follow the perspective of a player, presumably the same as the Kleiner player model we saw in the last video. And just like in the last video, we're back on CS Office. The player hears weird noises coming from the other end of the map and goes to investigate. He spots someone running, then turns the corner to see Nick pointing a Desert Eagle at him. Unfortunately for Nick, he's out of ammo, and he becomes the victim of the player grabbing him and slathering him around the map as he screams. Interestingly, this time the ragdolls seem to be following a stop-motion animation style, rather than typical smooth fluid movement we're used to. This upload brings up several questions about the nature of Nick's attack, as well as what happened to him after the video cut. But we don't really have enough information to make a guess yet. So let's move on to the next upload, titled Chicken Hour. In this video, we see Coach at the KFC spot on the roleplay map Evo City. Nick falls from the sky, as you do, then enters the building and sits down. We begin seeing split second frames of Nick's body on the floor of office, as his face shifts from angry to shocked. Coach then snaps into a static pose as the player shows up again. The video ends as he walks back out of frame. Interestingly, the video description reads, I'm not sure why Nick is in this video. He wasn't planned to be in it, but I decided to let him stay. If you think that's ominous, check out the next upload titled Moonstruck. This peculiar video shows Nick in a dark room, illuminated only by a light swinging from a creaky rope. Just like the last upload, this video was occasionally interspersed by split second frames. These frames include, Alice and the player looking at Nick's bloody body after the impact of the bullet wound, the player picking up Nick's body and putting it on the couch, the player and Alice leaving Nick's body on the couch and walking away, and two frames of Nick sitting on the couch looking upset. I think this video represents Nick being demented as a result of being shot in the back of the head. But before I get into my greater theory about the story, let's get through the final upload, after hours. That's what I'm talking about. Back in the KFC in Ivo City, Alice meets up with Coach, and they greet each other with goofy screaming. Then, Alice reveals to Coach that he has a tool gun. The camera zooms out while they talk, and we catch a glimpse of Nick, still covered in blood, staring intently in the distance. So, what does it all mean? Well first, to discuss the obvious, this channel is pretty clearly riffing on the same sentient ragdoll's premise as the last two I've covered. We see characters moving on their own and even interacting with the player. I do want to note, though, that since the ragdolls move in a stop-motion style, it's hard to discern what's a genuine interaction between them and what's a player-made scene. Nick's split second frame seem to be flashbacks or hallucinations, likely as a result of him shooting himself in the back of the head. If his account is to be trusted, then after Nick was incapacitated, the player moved his body onto the couch and left with Alice. It seems Nick now has a vendetta against Alice and Plastic Apple for seemingly leaving his body behind. When the player returns to office, possibly trying to check on Nick, Nick tries to ambush and shoot him. In response, the player grabs Nick and drags him around. Since Nick appears in videos after this, though, we know he wasn't killed. I'd wager the player did this simply to disarm him. Given the channel description, we know that Plastic Apple is a big fan of Alice, and it seems pretty clear that in comparison to Nick, the living Alice ragdoll is getting preferential treatment. We learn in after hours that Plastic Apple gives Alice a tool gun, and if the channel banner is anything to go by, a fizz gun as well. This seems to infuriate Nick further, as seen at the end of the after hours video. We can only imagine what he plans to do. Indeed, it seems the player knows that the ragdolls are alive, but that he's making some kind of effort to treat them with dignity. The ragdolls do still seem scared of the player, though, as they appear to freeze up in his presence, almost like the toys from Toy Story. Regardless, it seems Nick accidentally shot himself in the head and is now hunting or at least plotting against the player in Alice for the perceived crime of abandoning him. As for what happens from here, your guess is as good as mine. So, what do I like about this ARG? I think the use of Left 4 Dead characters in place of Team Fortress 2 ones is great. Back in the day, silly Left 4 Dead GMOD videos were almost, if not just as popular, as the silly TF2 GMOD videos, so this definitely feels like a natural development. And since Left 4 Dead is a good degree less popular than TF2 nowadays, it's arguably more nostalgic. I also think the videos do a great job of emulating authentic early 2010s machinima. The watermark in the corner is reminiscent of classic machinima creators like Ethiomod, and the animation is, of course, convincing as well. I'd say the video Who's Cooking Tonight seems to be a definite inspiration. And finally, addressing the ARG storyline itself, I think the fact that the player isn't necessarily the antagonist is an interesting flip on an otherwise very stale trope. I'm interested to see where this ARG goes, but if any other ARG creators are listening, I think it might be about time to hang up the whole living ragdolls thing. Maybe do living props or something, I don't know. Yay, I'm playing with the watermelon. Look, look at the watermelon. Uh... Who was that? What? Did it? AHHHH! Thanks for watching. Have a good day.