#tmagp misc

Because I've seen plenty of people going "This statement/case prominently features weird people, must be the Stranger!" It is not that simple, my friends!

The Stranger specializes in people who aren't just odd, they approach the Uncanny Valley from either side. Either they are almost but manifestly not quite human, or are clearly not human but are human-shaped enough to produce that same human-but-wrong reaction. Mannequins, dolls, automata, people like Breekon and Hope who actively seem fake and feel wrong when you touch them. They definitely exist, and although not human, they are still people, with distinct personalities. (Please note that just having a clown theme does not guarantee that one belongs to the Stranger! I would be inclined to say that Mr. Bonzo is too inhuman to qualify for this one, besides the fact that we've already seen him to have aspects of the Slaughter and the Buried, depending on whose experience you're looking at.)

The Lonely frequently features unpeople. They may look entirely human, or they may just be cloaked figures with Greek drama masks, but their distinguishing feature is that they are not anyone. They have no inner life or personality, and if you break their surface they may turn out to be physically empty. They sometimes speak pseudo-linguistic babble, particularly if there's a crowd of them; individuals may speak intelligibly, but tend to repeat sentences robotically.

The Spiral features people who seem human, at least at first (they may or may not stay this way), but who mess with your sense of reality in some way. We all know the Distortion, but we've also seen Father Burroughs' encounters with Father Singh and the altar server, both of whom looked human but acted wrong and led him through unreal scenarios. In MAGP 7, "Give and Take", the volunteers individually seemed normal enough, perhaps a bit oddball, but they multiplied exponentially and made things increasingly surreal and there was no proof they were ever there...