Offbrand

I know I didnt get very far into this idea in this post about this idea but this is a very sweet ask so I wanted to say something VT related too! I'm already so so late on responding so I've kinda rushed it, I'll probs try and explore this more later. However!! I am okay and I've been well thanks for asking! :D I got in a car crash tho, but I was found not at fault and I'm entirely uninjured so that wasn't too bad. I've been struggling with college writing assignments and I usually don't have time with the communal ipad so I don't draw much (although I could just go back to drawing on my phone). I'm also sorry for being so absent, I don't check any of my socials unless I'm following a series or I have something to post and I just keep not finishing my drafts :( I hope you've been doing alright as well! I think all of your work is amazing! :D

The basis of all venturiantale characters is parody.

The Acachallas are parodies of impoverished, southern, nuclear families. Spencer is a parody of nerds, Johnny Ghost is a parody of losers, Toast is british and rich. Extreme absurdist parody is the core of all of their characters.

And all these parodies are thrown into a vacuum together, where their interactions create story and lore and their own tropes within this vacuum, that can then be even further parodied by new characters. Making another layer of seperation from reality and from the original thing being parodied in the first place.

And something I think people overlook when analysing vt characters (whether they're taking it seriously or just having fun) is that you have to consider the basis of their parody to truly understand them.

If we look at Jimmy Casket we can see that he's obviously a parody of creepypasta. And part of his bit is that his backstory is changing all the time, it's never clear why he is because it doesn't matter. He kills because it's funny, he's creepy because he's a creepypasta, his name is Casket because of course it is. It's especially why he has all those dumb catch phrases. He was never even originally attached to Johnny Ghost, not until the siblings decided to toss him in with the rest of the parodies and possessing Ghost was just the first way they found to stick him in the room (it's also ironic to make the guy named Casket possess some dude named Ghost, I mean cmon thats hilarious). All of these characters follow the most extreme version of what they parody, and even though some of these living parodies can fulfill a more "sane-man" role when interacting with each other. We can't forget that the main reason everything is so batshit crazy all the time is because the entirety of VT, is throwing a bunch of extreme parodies into a room and just seeing what happens.

IM SORRY FOR THE LATE REPLY THANK YOU FOR THE ASK

It's in the video "HAUNTED BY BATMAN! - Gmod Batman Mod" at the point 14:00 to 14:17

Also heres the link I hope you have a wonderful day you are amazing

NOTE: I wrote and posted this rant years ago on the amino so a lot of it is now outdated as the fandom has changed over time. I still thought it would be fun to repost over here tho, hope you enjoy!

I've seen many an x reader fanfic but I've yet to find one where Ghost drives the reader (or anyone at this point really) into a paranoid fervor via horrifically chronic stalking (something he would do and has done canonically) this is a crime against Johnny Ghost fanfic enjoyers (me). Also there needs to be more fics where Toast is mean, don't uwu-ify this man, he is a criminal (if you happen to know of any fics like this pls for the love of God tell me I'm losing my mind).

Honestly I just wish more fics made the PIE teams personalities less ooc? Like, if Johnny Ghost (or Toast for that matter but there really aren't any x reader fics for him which is hilarious especially cuz in canon he's the popular one fandom-wise) were to ever get in a relationship with anyone (oc, self insert or otherwise) you can't tell me it would be anywhere near healthy. Those people are batshit insane and they will do crazy things.

I mean for one Ghost (& Toast) are confirmed stalkers (although Toast really only stalks Ghost but if he ever cared abt someone else just as much I imagine it'd be a similar situation). He also gets super jealous (of Toast mostly) real easily and he's like, super passive aggressive abt it everytime (I distinctly remember him "accidentally" killing someone that was taking up Toasts attention) and on that note neither are really that communicative abt their feelings (at least in a healthy way that is) which is something thats required for a good relationship.

ALSO Ghost straight up makes Johnny Toast clones (or attempts to) because he can't bear to be without him (even if it's not really him). Like imagine how horrifying it would be to find out that mans is stealing your DNA (which like how did he even get that???) and using it to make near mindless clones of you for God knows what (Toast is fine with it bcuz he's bbg but I think we both know MC isn't).

Ghost isn't a good person, even when he's not being actively possessed by Jimmy Casket (I really don't like when fics always blame Ghost's moodiness on Casket alone like cmon man he's allowed to have agency let him be an asshole). I also personally don't like the whole "changed by love" trope although I wouldn't be as upset by it if it was used in a more slow burn kind of way (like they're nicer because they like you not because they're suddenly a better person kinda like how Ghost already is with Toast vs how he is with Spooker).

Anyways Ghost is socially awkward, let him flounder horribly, it's funny (it'd also be hilarious if in the hypothetical stalker fic he accidentally reveals himself as the big bad to whoever the mc is by like off handedly asking abt something he shouldn't know abt yet and then freaking out lol).

I wish more people loved CTD :( cmon people love CTD pls :(( It deserves to exist outside of josh guys pls i swear-

Omg it's Officer Maloney, guys look it's him, it's the funny bird man. Oh no he's in a dark hallway guys oh nooo-

I saw what @pie-resurgence said about there not being a lot of Officer Maloney fanart and I just want them to know that I thought about that like 3 months ago and then tried to make a character sheet for Officer Maloney so I could draw him more cuz he's really such a cool character and then I rage quit cuz I couldn't get the hands right and honestly that should not be stopping me from posting more Officer Maloney fanart. So here's the attempted character sheet/analysis:

I love it its yellow my favorite color is yellow it's a sentient item I love sentient item it's dating Josh and that's wonderful and I love drawing sentient yellow items that are dating Josh it's got a little Johnny signature on the bottom of it's foot like woody and Andy and yes I could've had it signed toast instead of Johnny but I think the generalness of Johnny in a world full of johnnys is much funnier and also it adds to the fact it wasn't important enough to toast to be properly labeled as his despite being his creation and we love angst I love angst I love sentient item vs creator angst thank you crash test dummy if you can hear me save me crash test dummy save me

Fun doodle