#ii analysis

It's always been interesting to consider what the different contestants subconsciously mean to Mephone4 as a person and what aspects of himself they were originally created as representations of, but none of them moreso to me than Fan.

Mephone, at the time of conceptualizing Fan, was in exactly his position. A huge reality TV enthusiast who wanted to be appreciated through it.

Fan was quite literally Mephone4 making a variant of HIMSELF for his own show.

Think about the amount of hate Pencil (BFDI) gets for being morally ambiguous. Or the hate and mischaracterization given to Taco and Cabby. He’s in a similar boat, having done some not-so-great things I will get to later. Paper also gets hate for being in the first relationship within II, only because of a few fanservice moments.

I don’t believe the Paper hate is justified. He’s more than just “gay and racist”, he’s more than an inconsistently written character, and he’s more than OJ’s boyfriend.

Paper tends to get hate for being “mischaracterized”, despite never going too far from his character in season one. Paper has always been paranoid. He’s always been afraid of others, and he’s always been the first to panic at the thought of danger. Paper was the one to fret about going back to Idiotic Island in s1 ep16, Paper was the one to fear Taco in s2 ep17, and most recently, the one to point out Poppy in s4 ep2. He’s nervous, and he always has been.

Paper’s actions in s4 towards Poppy and MeTag are not unexpected for him. OF COURSE Paper would feel nervous and uncomfortable around two people connected to Steve Cobs, who indirectly killed OJ and threatened the lives of everyone on the island. Does he take it too far, especially in ep4? Yes. But are his fears unfounded? Absolutely not.

Think about it from this perspective. If you and everyone you know and love were to nearly die because of someone, would you feel comfortable being around people who were connected to them? Forced to work, cooperate, while pretending you’re not threatened by their presence? Even without his paranoia, Paper still has every right to be uncomfortable by MeTag, and to some extent, Poppy.

Paper did take it a bit too far in ep4, but his motives weren’t out of malice. To his knowledge, MeTag and Poppy are a threat to the sanctity of the island, and he doesn’t know how to handle this level of stress in a healthy way. That’s why OJ talking to Paper at the end of the episode was so important. Paper shows he does want to make things right with Poppy, and realizes antagonizing them isn’t a productive way to cope with his feelings.

I’ve also seen points about how Paper shouldn’t have antagonized Poppy in the first place, as they didn’t do anything wrong. While yes, Paper’s line of thinking is flawed, he’s not a bad person because of it. Hell, he’s not a bad person even for harassing Poppy.

Paper is extremely paranoid. As someone who struggles with severe paranoia, it’s incredibly difficult to see rational and reason while stuck in a spiral. I do believe Paper is trying his best to grow past his anxiety surrounding Cobs, and OJ certainly helps him out with it. It’s concerning to me, seeing a large part of the II community openly admitting they have no patience for people with severe anxiety.

Paper’s story, of hurting others out of the fear of being hurt himself, is one many people who struggle with paranoia, severe anxiety, and other mental issues can relate to. OJ’s reaction—pointing out the issues in Paper’s rationale and not responding with aggression—is how people with these mental issues should be treated with. Not as villains who antagonize and hurt others, but as people deserving of respect. I could go on about how this ties into mental health being seen as an issue only when it doesn’t fit what society sees as a neurodivergent person, but that’s outside the scope of this discussion.

Paper tends to get a lot of hate for being in a relationship with OJ. People see a couple doing couple things, and suddenly a part of the community believes the writers have made Paper into “OJ’s boyfriend”.

Honestly, going in from the start, I was worried about Paper being turned into a tool for fanservice. However, after ep3, my worries on that end were alleviated. While yes, payjay will still live on and have fanservice moments, Paper is still his own independent character. His relationship with OJ is just a piece of a very complex character.

I’ve seen a number of posts on “payjay made Paper into OJ’s ‘bottom’”, and that’s just not the case. There’s been, what, five tiny scenes with Paper and OJ being together? Paper has so much more than just OJ, considering how much of the screen time he’s taken up recently. Paper has always been his own character, and payjay will never change that.

But why make this post now? Because I am afraid of what’s gonna go down when Evil Paper/Looseleaf comes out in the remaster.

Looseleaf is another facet of Paper’s character, and she hasn’t been explored in fifteen years. And, with how many references to Looseleaf there are in the II finale, along with Lightbulb mentioning her, it’s likely Looseleaf could return in s4.

No matter what AE does, Looseleaf will cause some drama when remaster ep10 comes out. If they keep her the same? Stigmatizing towards people with CDDs. Make her not an alter? Erasing CDD representation. Honestly, Looseleaf in her entirety is the biggest issue the remaster has to tackle, and no matter what, her mere existence will be controversial. I’d really like to talk about everything wrong with Looseleaf, but again, out of scope.

Why did I even bring up Looseleaf? Well, if AE wants to make her less stigmatizing and offensive, one way to do it would be to bring her back in s4. Then, give her some character development of her own, so she doesn’t fall into the “evil alter” trope.

My fear is, if this happens, Paper will get even more hate. One arc is pretty uncommon for most II characters, but two? For a character which nearly won his season? I can taste people calling out “Paper has so much favoritism from AE” in advance. Paper already has a massive spotlight, so giving another arc to him and Looseleaf is another way for people to hate him.

And if AE decides to not put Looseleaf in s4? Then we’re stuck with a stigmatizing part of a polarizing character, with no hope of fixing the issue completely.

When Adam said Paper was the most mischaracterized character in the cast, I can’t help but agree. It’s hard, so hard, to find a good representation of Paper anywhere online. Either people hate him or love him, and I rarely see people in between. Paper, along with Looseleaf, is a fantastic character, and I really can’t wait to see him in the remaster and s4.

To rejoin, you have to help teams complete challenges, and if the team you choose to help wins the challenge, you get a point. Eventually, you can get enough points to rejoin the game. Initially this sounds innocuous, but the way Jack is treated in this episode actually reveals a few flaws in this system.

Firstly, for you to get a point, the team you assist needs to win, but generally, the people in the game don’t need to win to stay in the game, they only need to not come in last. They therefore have power over you in this way; if they happen not to like you, they can intentionally avoid coming in 1st place to block you from gaining points to rejoin the game, without incurring any penalties themselves. For characters like Jack, Poppy, and MeTag, who the characters already see as inherently untrustworthy, this makes rejoining the game much more difficult and mentally taxing than it should be.

All images will be from the wiki!

We all know Cammy's thing in season 4 has been their worship of MePhone (coined MePhoneism or MePhonism or smth as I've heard it lovingly decreed lol)

But I wanted to get a better grasp on what Cammy actually believes. The way he exhibits his devotion has obvious parallels in the show to Christianity (the power of MePhone compels him...), but the context of II's lore is just so different from the real world.

So I’m going to use this post to examine what I perceive his beliefs to be. Disclaimer: I will be considering the parallels between his beliefs and how religions in general are structured IRL in some senses, but not all. It is definitely not going to be focused on any relations to specific real religions because my arguments are very II-context unique

I will be splitting the text into sections as follows:

Narrowing it down (Giving some context for what is not a part of Cammy's beliefs)

Principles and Approaches (The morals/code of conduct facet of religious beliefs)

MePhone-specific beliefs (The lore facet of religion)

The implications (My thoughts on why the messaging of Cammy's beliefs could be harmful to the objects and MePhone)

(Episode citations and quotes may be incorrect since they’re from memory so bear with me)

(Also when I say “the objects” I mean the people generated by MePhone idk how else to describe them)

(Minor spoilers for IV6 just in this next paragraph: I cut out what I think is a pretty compelling point to avoid spoilers so I might reblog to add it once the episode releases! If you've watched it, maybe you know what I'm talking about?)

1. Narrowing it down

To start cutting down and make it easier to sort things out, I want to explore what Cammy's beliefs are not

I could imagine one direction Cammy's character could have gone is believing MePhone is like. the architect of their existences, denying that they were accidental. And that could be interesting, but it's not what I interpret as the case

I want to claim that Cammy IS aware that their creations and any events not directly in the show are not intentional. I think this is an interesting point of tension. It takes power/control away from MePhone, and would seemingly run the risk of shattering Cammy's illusion of MePhone as a godly being. However, I think it's just the fact of the matter, and in section 3 I'll go more into the foundation of Cammy's beliefs that makes it so this doesn't break their perception.

Hopefully I’m not misremembering in saying that we know MePhone didn’t have much conscious influence in creating the contestants. Yes, he wrote and generated them, but iirc (please fact check me) he was not aware he actually made them real, and we are informed of this as an audience. 

I’m not sure to what extent the contestants as a whole are aware that their creations were not intentional (plainly just forgot if this is specified so pls fact check me again). Based on the content of the show, though, I think this information is technically available to them, or they have at least the capacity to figure it out.

For Cammy at least, they say they realized they were “but a manifestation of [MePhone’s] self-hatred” in IV2. The diction of “manifestation” here is tricky to parse, since it connotes intentionality in some contexts and a complete lack thereof in others. I feel like the use of “but” preceding it minimizes the act that follows, though, and that that effect makes more sense for the latter meaning. So that is my interpretation. Therefore, my guess is that Cammy understands that the objects’ creations were not active choices. More evidence from the show may contradict this one day but we’ll see!

I still have thoughts on what Cammy's values/beliefs actually are (essentially what the principles of MePhon(e)ism would be), so even if this section is wrong ig it doesn't really matter. I wanted to bring it up though because it's interesting to me that the other interpretation genuinely could be true, and, as I mentioned, it isolates the true foundations of Cammy's beliefs.

2. Principles and approaches: Gratitude and Justice and Dichotomous thinking

In this section, I'll discuss what I've identified as the principles and cognitive style valued by Cammy.

Cammy states in IV2 that they have “sworn to atone for [their] sinful ways and restore [MePhone’s] good name.” They choose the word “justice” to represent themself for the challenge. They also praise MePhone, with the reasoning that he “blessed [the objects] with life.” Jack offends them when he speaks poorly of the "artistry" that is MePhone's plane.

Furthermore, when he runs out of the mansion in IV5, he states his goal to be "spreading the truth of MePhone," ie. encouraging others to accept MePhone.

So, Cammy is grateful to MePhone for his and all of their existences, and believes MePhone deserves to be praised for it, vehemently opposing negative talk about MePhone. This appears to be a main guiding principle in this belief system: the concept of people—MePhone in this case—getting what they deserve, especially pertaining to special treatment from others (eg. Cammy does not act—or more feasibly, wish he could act—to make MePhone happy, he acts to make MePhone revered and accepted by others)

(Side note: I’m honestly surprised there aren’t more objects who use the train of thought of gratitude to reconcile their complex emotions about MePhone. This is not a flaw of the characters ofc I just wonder if any of the characters share this perspective but without the zealotry?)

Additionally, although they themself have had opinions about MePhone from both sides of the spectrum at separate times, they never permit themself or others to have opinions lying anywhere in the middle. Either he's so terrible they have to kill him for "justice" (III18) or they and everyone must sing his praises (or at least never insult him)

Therefore, Cammy's scenes demonstrate that, under his belief system, gratitude and the pursuit of justice are essential as people all must get what they deserve, this must be taken to extremes, and perception is an important part of how people get what they deserve.

3. MePhone-specific beliefs

In my interpretation, Cammy glorifies MePhone and lets his beliefs take over his life because he believes MePhone’s decisions (conscious or not) in creating them still control their existences. And if this interpretation is correct in any semblance of a sense, Cammy’s beliefs may be quite damaging to themself and others in the end.

Cammy continuously ascribes the way their lives have shaped out in II IV to MePhone. Some examples, not comprehensive

Those who failed the regeneration game, like Bell, weren't “worthy.” Worth implies a standard; loss is not just misfortune but an active failure to adhere to something created. Therefore, MePhone—even indirectly—determines which objects make it (and join the society) (IV2)

Calling the blue-ray, developed from the shimmer energy, "MePhone's purifying blue essence," despite it being a gift directly from the Shimmers (IV4)

Taking credit for waking/healing Fan, but specifically attributing it to the power of MePhone (IV5)

Whether he perceives these acts as unintentional (my belief) or intentional, he clearly views MePhone as a higher power compared to the objects generated by him.

The issue arises with the fact that MePhone isn’t a being of great influence on them anymore. During the game (II1, II2, III), maybe, but in IV? MePhone is a normal person, just like the rest of them. Not just because he lost his generation powers, but because he has no more insight and control on the objects’ actions and lives than the other objects do. He affects them (yes they have baggage), but anyone can be the reason for another’s turmoil in the same way. There’s nothing miraculous about it. 

4. The implications

Cammy certainly has beyond his fair share of moments indicating a diregard for others (like saying to Teddy that people like Bell weren't worthy), but those are more an issue of self-conduct. Even outside of how he treats others on an individual level, his beliefs have a questionable foundation at their core. Cammy’s views on MePhone simultaneously strip agency from the objects AND identity/personhood from MePhone.

As has been shown time and time again, the objects are more than MePhone's intentions while conceiving of them. It wouldn't be fair of Cammy to reduce their accomplishments and pains to MePhone's design when they've been put through as much as they have and are provably not, nor would it be healthy to demand them to forgive MePhone and just be grateful for their creations.

Furthermore, attributing every event in the objects' lives to MePhone when he's ultimately a regular person is unnecessary pressure and even blame cast upon someone who never asked for it. Even in the edge case that he would enjoy Cammy's doings, he was never afforded a chance to clarify that for himself.

I'd like to conclude by saying that I love Cammy as a character (as evidenced by the fact that I wrote this 1k+ word paper on them lol) and simply find it interesting to rotate them in my mind like a microwave <3 I empathize a lot with Cammy's detachment from fact in many instances and how they make connections between MePhone and the events and actions in II IV because that is what their mind has taken as truth. Personally the balance of the reassurance they get from their beliefs with the unhealthy mindset and how others distance themselves because of it all is very compelling and meaningful to me.

I'm excited (and nervous) for the direction Adamation will take him in!

But the shield Mephone 4 creates in ii14 has the EXACT design as the emoji

The only detail that it is blue ->🛡️

It’s the same for the gememory gems being just emojis found on phones -> 💠

II REMASTERED 13 SPOILERS UNDER CUT

also i do not have DID!

The main reason Nickloon had so much drama/toxicity isn't really because of their prior history, as they were able to get over much of that pretty quick into season 3 (except for the whole alliance thing with Suitcase)

Instead, it's (probably) also due to these factors.

Nickel can't/doesn't listen to others.

• Most of the time it's not an intentional thing(usually), but Nickel tends to assume his teammates/allies can't think for themselves, so he does it for them (which honestly does kinda makes a bit of sense, given how everyone was a complete moron in s1, and even some in early s2)

• But he also ignores them when they try to prove they CAN think for themself (like Suitcase, it took him till around s3 i think to realise that it was his, and not Balloon's fault, that she voted for him.)

Balloon struggles to have his voice heard (both literally and metaphorically).

• He tends to stay quiet, but even when he tries to speak up, if hes interrupted he tends to just go back to silence, not speaking up until he's way past his limit and does something impulsive.

• He also tends to get treated like he cant do anything on his own (which is something he hates, but is never listened to when he to voices this)

Both of them are genuinely horrible at communicating💔

Without these factors, Nickloon would possibly be one of the healthiest ships for both characters

Extra note:

Also, it's honestly funny how after they reconcile for the final time, in s3ep16 he goes in the complete opposition direction with the whole "Balloon can think for himself and make his own choices!!" thing

Their prior history in s2 (for reference, also i just wanted to ramble):

• Nickel wasn't really cruel to Balloon till s2ep10, he mainly avoided him before that point.

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He only started getting aggressive towards him due to the fact Balloon and Suitcase were getting close, and could mess up their game (this is due to Balloon's bad reputation around alliances from s1).

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It's a move that makes sense from Nickel's point of view, he thinks he's protecting his alliance, but in reality, he was genuinely hurting Suitcase and Balloon.

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Balloon's side makes sense aswell, he just wanted to hang out with his friend, and help his team, but her alliance always pushed him away/antagonised him, it must've felt incredibly isolating.

Okay i dont have anything else to add except this image