Greetings, Mortals

In kid thee not ersatz by @clownsaint is THE BEST indie pilot I’ve seen. Both in execution and Concept. The vibes? Immaculate.

I will warn you though, TW for blood, gore, language, and disturbing imagery

Anyhow, you NEED to check it out for yourself.

MY THEORY HAS SPOILERS! BE WARNED!

(Also, i am not a professional, this is just my speculation after one or two watches)

okie dokie, so our Mc, Mophead, doesn’t remember anything about himself. And he’s just trying to figure out who he was while being thrown into war trenches time and time again.

The big thing i want to focus on in the end is that mophead used to be some guy, Eriche, who was Munroe’s (Best character btw) best friend from what we know.

If we take a look at the little picture Munroe set up, we see that Eriche and mophead have significant physical differences. From Eriche’s facial disfigurement to the difference in height. We can confidently say that this was not the same guy as before.

but what we should be asking is HOW and WHY he’s like this.

And why i believe Munroe definitely has something to do with this.

We know that physical changes are bound to happen during revival. This is evident with carrie’s comment on how Mophead looks like he’s “never died once”

however, these physical changes are, for what we know, GRADUAL. We can see this when we get a look at Mophead after a certain amount of time in the military. He definitely looks different, but not drastically so. And with this we can conclude that there’s no way his physique Couillard have changed so drastically after only one revival. (Also, they sustain injures that presumably were their causes of death. Mophead’ s condition looks too perfect if you know what i mean”

we also know that memory loss may be a side effect. The contract to volunteer explicitly states this. The nurse even states all the different possible ways memory loss may occur.

But this man doesn’t know ANYTHING. He’s forgotten everything about himself. He’s been completely factory reset.

so, does Mophead really not remember his life as Eriche?

Or was he never Eriche to begin with.

”wait, slow down. What does Munroe have to do with this?”

well, if you look Munroe, you’ll see that he definitely knows something that he doesn’t want Mophead to.

Notice how he dodges the question when Mophead asks anything about who he is. Notice how he gets increasingly uncomfortable when Mophead continues to prod. just what did he do?

“You’re not my Eriche”

“I watched you die”

My theory is that Eriche killed himself. he found a way to break the cycle of immortality and freed himself. However, we know that life in the trenches isn’t amazing. Honestly, having a companion might be the only thing that can keep someone sane.

But with Eriche gone, Munroe would be alone.

What if, in a selfish act, Munroe sent Eriche to be chopped up and revived. Even if he knew that Eriche wouldn’t want it?

So why do we have mophead right now?

Well, we don’t know much about the revival process, but to be able to kill yourself for good when revival is as normal as eating and drinking, must be something freeing to the soul or mind, and it definitely isn’t as simple as just dying like you would on the battlefield.

Most importantly, Munroe doesn’t know what would happen either. But he had to try.

Let’s note what the title means

this implies that Mophead is a replacement. He wasn’t Eriche to begin with. If it really was Eriche, then it wouldn’t make sense for him to be a subsitute. Since it would be the real deal, albeit with memory loss.

a replacement specifically for Munroe.

Mophead is Munroe’s ersatz Eriche.

I'm afraid they'll become engineers and sign off on bridge designs that collapse - and people will die.

I'm afraid they'll become medical professionals who don't know what they're doing - and people will die.

My colleagues and I got you a gift: Anilany karsticola, a new species of miniaturised frog from Madagascar! Published Open Access today in the journal Salamandra.