#jimmy and the pulsating mass buck

[cantheywinthehungergames]

Buck from Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass Age: Around 17 Strengths: Does a lot of weightlifting, loves punching nerds Restrictions: No gear or abilities from Jimmy's dreamworld

Tribute Name: Buck

Age: ~17

Restrictions: No abilities from the dream world and can only use tools and weapons supplied in the Hunger Games arena

If you would like to see a character aged 12-18 enter the Hunger Games, submit them through my asks. If you would like to see a character aged 19+ act as a mentor, submit them through this Google Form. Four of the 19+ characters submitted will be posted every Saturday.

[kadzhi]

JIMBYPIRE

Happy Halloween! 🎃

[grim-echoes]

under kinder circumstances there would have been no regrets

[pyjamaart]

one of my favorite edgelords 😈

Let's talk about one of my favorite games of all time, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass.

I had originally started working on a different piece of art for this game, but that one is still a work in progress, since I have to get my shit together and draw multiple pieces of furniture for it. That's why I decided to draw something easier first. And I say easier, even though I spent like two weeks on this. Man, I really don't have that much time to draw anymore since I started working at my new job... Sometimes I really miss my old job, where I could finish all my work in an hour and then read Transformers fanfictions for the rest of the day. Sigh...........

I tried out a bunch of new stuff with Buck here, like finally learning that there actually is an Overlay function in Gimp and then promptly using it for the fancy effect on the line art, the pattern on his wings and the background. This image also made me realize I can only draw giant Mega Man boots. That's why his shoes look like that, lol.

Now let's finally talk about this game. If you don't know anything about Jimmy, it's a Mother inspired game about a little boy fighting horrors in his dream world together with his family and some other wacky characters like the coolest man you have ever seen, an anime waifu and a bear. The game starts off like a typical RPG where his mom sends Jimmy and his brother, Buck (pictured here in this image, I'll explain why he looks like that in a minute), to fetch some honey for a cake she wants to bake. And to get that honey, the two brothers visit the beehive that's located south of their house. On the way there, they have to fight various goofy looking monsters in turn based battles. Jimmy unlocks the power of empathy and imagination at the start of the game and can turn into some of the monsters he defeats in battle, by putting himself in their shoes. Examples include a smelly green blob that was living in his brothers dirty clothes, a sunflower that was getting freaky with some of the bees, a very fast bird, and a bear.

When they finally make it to the beehive, the queen explains that a group of thugs is bothering them and promises to give Jimmy some of their honey if he takes care of the ruffians for her. The so called "petty thugs" are located in a canyon right next door, so Jimmy and Buck go and beat them up. After various shenanigans, including a "goon exam" and Buck breaking some bartenders spine after he refused to serve Jimmy some milk, they have a battle with Punch Tanaka, the worlds raddest guy and also the leader of the thugs.

I think this is a good time to mention that this game is freaking hard. Punch was the first fight in the game where I lost a couple of times, since it really takes you a while to learn all the games battle mechanics. I didn't truly understand the power of Startle/Alert until I was halfway through the game. That's on me though. I'm stupid. Still, later boss fights can get insanely difficult if you don't know what you're doing. (Looking at you, Lingering Eyes....) After kicking the thug leaders ass on the first try, the whole gang flees the canyon, but not before Punch warns Jimmy that he doesn't know what he's up against. He's not talking about himself or his gang, but his employer. And we soon find out who that employer is...

Back in Giant Garden, Jimmy and Buck make their way over to the beehive again, only to be confronted by a trail of green liquid that leads from the throne to a door in the back of the room. The atmosphere suddenly turns very eerie, with the whole hive being shrouded in darkness, the background music being replaced by a frightening track that sounds like someone held a microphone right inside a dying swarm of insects, rightfully titled "Cacophany of Bees" and the enemies you fight on your way deeper into the hive being horrifically mutated, suffering, cannibalistic versions of the bees you fought beforehand. This is the first time in the game you come into contact with a so-called "nightmare dungeon", if you ignored the secret one you can unlock in the canyon.

These nightmare dungeons all represent one of Jimmys fears, because, as you can probably recall, we're playing through the dreams of a ten year old boy. Maybe he was stung by a bee in the past and that's why he developed a fear of them? (Doesn't help that his brother loves to terrorize the poor things...) The other nightmare dungeon themes only get worse than bees: spiders, heights, drowning, haunted houses, math, eternal sleep ...and bears.

Coming back to the beehive, after trekking through a plethora of gore and dead cartoon insects, Jimmy and Buck get confronted by the now heavily mutated queen of the bees, who has some of the most chilling dialogue in the entire game.

"Jimmy... Jimmy, where did you go?

I can't see well, Jimmy.

I can't hear well, Jimmy.

I can taste blood, Jimmy.

It's dark and I'm alone. It's dark and I'm alone. It's dark and I'm alone. It's dark and I'm alone. It's dark and I'm alone."

In the end it turns out that the title-giving pulsating mass is behind all the terrible things happening to Jimmy's dream world, like employing the petty thugs to terrorize him, corrupting the poor bees, the nightmare dungeons, etc etc. And after Jimmy and Buck finally get back to their house, they arrive just in time to see their whole family getting kidnapped by a space ship. Even the two brothers get beamed up into the ship. All part of the pulsating mass's master plan...

Now I won't go into detail and tell you the whole story of the game (even though I really want to), but you can expect the game to get even darker later on. Normally, I don't enjoy playing really dark and gritty games, but thankfully, since this game was inspired by the Mother games, it still retains some of the funny and heartwarming moments that the series is known for. And I like that a lot. If the heartwarming moments balance out the horrors, then I can deal with the horrors. (TVTropes has this very fitting trope called "Too bleak, stopped caring", which Jimmy masterfully avoids with its charming, yet flawed characters and ridiculous moments that genuinely make you laugh, like the whole game shifting into an entirely different genre for one specific area.)

I'll try my best not to get into too heavy spoilers (that's reserved for the other piece I'm drawing), but I think I still need to explain what happened to poor Buck here. Just like the queen bee, he's been taken over and corrupted by the pulsating mass, after saving Jimmy from a murderous bear. (As you can tell, there are a lot of bears in Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass. Or is it always the same bear? Better play the game and find out!) After the dreaded bear boss fight happens and Buck gets dragged down into a hole, Jimmy and their mother Helga jump in after him, but you don't see him again until way later in the game, where he suddenly sports this massive pair of veiny wings, his slightly deformed skin and muscles have turned into a deep shade of purple and his eyes glow in a menacing red. There's also no talking to him, since his normal grumpy personality has been turned up to eleven and he's completely blinded by rage, actively attacking and sabotaging his family members in their quest to stop the pulsating mass.

He gets better though. Don't worry.

What I find really interesting about this character is that he genuinely loves his little brother and wants him to get stronger and more independent, but the way he tries to accomplish this is just really really... bad. In a late-game dungeon centered around Buck you find out that he's actually responsible for all the horrifying abominations and gore making their way into Jimmys head. How, you ask? By showing him a bunch of thrillers and splatter movies that were definitely not meant to be seen by a ten year old boy. Just to "toughen him up". Another dungeon centered around him, titled "The Abyss" (which is just a memory zone and not a nightmare zone, despite the scary title) implies that Jimmy is actually a little scared of his big brother. As I've said, all of Jimmys family members are deeply flawed people. (Don't even get me started on his uncle. Oh BOY. More on that in my next essay.) But I think it's nice. I think it makes the characters much more human. Much more relatable. Because despite all the horrible things his brother put him through and despite how scared he is of him, Jimmy still loves him a lot. And over the course of the game you get to understand that despite how imperfect and dysfunctional Jimmys family is, they're all there for him in the end to help him fight against the pulsating mass.

Man, I have so many feelings about this game. That's why it's one of my favorites of all time.

But before I'm done yapping, one more thing about Buck: The fact that he's an older brother, was presumed dead after going missing and reappears later in the game completely changed with a big pair of wings reminds me a lot of Claus from Mother 3. And since he's one of my favorite video game characters ever, Buck gets a lot of points in that regard alone. But enough with the Mother comparisons, other reviewers (Am I a reviewer now?) have already done that in massive amounts.

I think I'm gonna stop here for now and continue my essay when I post the other piece of Jimmy fanart I'm working on. Until then (and until I get my shit together and draw some cabinets and chairs), see you next time.

Jenny out.

[the-witchs-cafe]

[spacemiddenzz]

since i havent posted any art at all lately, have a buck sketch that i did. unfortunately im not sure if/when itll be finished because my boss has me rawdogging 10 hour shifts plus im attempting to get over a hip injury

[pk-freezer-burnt]

DON’T TOUCH MY STUFF

[aquacure]

*sees a big ol fella who's got trouble expressing himself n is seemingly tough and stoic effortlessly but is really caring and lonely and trying really hard underneath it all* OH SHIT

[devilcroc]

yo jimmy and the pulsating mass is LIT

[lightphieric]

I have once again inserted Zero Escape characters into one of my favorite obscure indie games! Here’s the ZTD crew as most of the party members in my favorite RPG, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass:

Diana and Sigma as parents Helga and Andrew

Eric as meathead brother Buck

Carlos as the super-cool Punch Tanaka

Junpei as Uncle Lars (that’s a Hawaiian shirt around his shoulders) and Akane as magical girl Hitomi

Missing are, of course, Sean as Jimmy, and Mira as Jonathan Bear - drawing Sean as a robot or child still feels a little out of reach for me, and I neither know how to nor possess the desire to yassify a teddy bear.

[jimmyandthepulsatingmass]

Jimmy’s 2nd Anniversary!

Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass was released two years ago today.  It’s kind of crazy to think that there’s still a community of people that are playing Jimmy and talking about it.  When I made Jimmy, I thought it would find and connect with a very niche audience, and I think that it has, but what I didn’t expect was for there to be sustained interest for this long.  I thought I’d basically make all the sales in the first few months and then I would hermit myself away as I worked on the next game. Turns out, Jimmy’s still going strong.  To celebrate, Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass is discounted on Steam right now, so if you’ve been wanting to try it or trying to convince a friend to try it, now’s a good time!  Here’s the Steam page. I’ve also been talking with some people on the Jimmy Discord recently about a hard mode patch.  This isn’t an official patch--this is strictly a fan-made thing--but I’m considering livestreaming a playthrough of the first few hours of it and answering fan questions as I play.  I don’t have a specific date for this yet, but once the patch is finished, I’ll post about it; I just figured this would be a fun way to answer some fan questions and showcase a cool thing that’s come out of the Jimmy fan community--which I am so, so thankful for! The last thing I wanted to touch on is what the hell I’ve been working on.  I’ve discussed this publicly before, but it’s worth mentioning here that I am working on another game.  I’ve been dodgy about a lot of specifics of the game because I would like to have a Steam page set up before I start showing off any gameplay footage or screenshots.  That said, I will be posting music from it (and have in the past!), so look forward to hearing a few new tasty tracks here and there before the official announcement. Speaking of Secret Mystery Game, it’s taking a while to get in a playable state because I’m moving away from RPG Maker.  Since I’m using a different engine, I’m relying on others to develop the bulk of the essential systems.  In the meantime, I’ve already got most of the design figured out (other than level design), I’ve written the dialogue for the main scenarios (about 800 pages, double spaced), and I’ve gotten 63 songs done so far, which is the bulk of the soundtrack.  I still have another 20 or so songs left to go, at which point I’ll switch my focus to level design.  It’s a slow process, but if I get this stuff out of the way early on, once I do stuff like hire artists, I’ll be able to work with them directly and get the most bang for my buck, which will likely be stretched thin.  That said, I’m heavily considering a crowdfunding campaign, so look forward to that pretty soon after the game is officially announced, which should be sometime next year. Other than that, I don’t want to say too much about Secret Mystery Game, but here are a few hints about what to expect: -It’s going to be a full-length RPG. -It’s larger in scope than Jimmy. -There are four main protagonists that each have their own storylines. -The world is heavily inspired by the Lennus series. -The gameplay is heavily inspired by Chrono Trigger. That’s all I’m saying for now!  I’ll post a new track for it here in a bit, but I’m really looking forward to sharing more about Secret Mystery Game.  Like I said, it’s likely going to be next year before I release any major announcements about it, but stay tuned for that--it’s going to be great!

[smis-five-creedmoor]

So I just played me some Jimmy's Bizarre Adventure and the Pulsating Mass, and i feel like there's symbolism to be found in the Imagination Mechanic.

Spoilers for JatPM (the whole game) below the cut:

ok here goes

Revolting Blob Form: Considering the fight against himself later on in Central Stamen, you can see he has...self image problems. Also the name "Revolting Blob" speaks for itself as not quite flattering. Could also be representative of self-image issues, as it's possible he can only imagine himself...as a blob. The beefed up DEF and MDF stats may also indicate this negative self-image as a form of Defense Mechanism.

Low-Level Goon Form: On top of his low self-image issues (the title of "Low Level Goon" isn't exactly flattering), it may be representative of the one time he stole Jonathon Bear from the shelves (that "Grift" attack feels rather harsh in hindsight). Why Jimmy would take on the form of this game's equivalent of a gangbanger begins to also make sense considering his fear of abandonment (the fight against the Blob itself involves Jimmy being told all the things he fears from his own kin), and how a lot of young children join street gangs in a similar desire to be part of a community of sorts.

Happy Little Sunflower Form: Now this is where things sort of begin to bode better for his self-image issues, yet begin to take a darker turn. For those who don't already know: Jimmy has cancer. The Empathy Message tells about how a small sunflower is plucked from its roots and put in some mason jar, too far from a proper window to grow. Over time, the sunflower begins to wilt, until it is eventually consumed by the pet guinea pig. Perhaps a metaphor of Jimmy slowly dying a painful death, only to then be consumed by cancer. This is probably the most heavily symbolism-filled theory, so make of that what you will.

Red Billed Squawker Form: On one occasion, Jimmy desires to just be able to leap out of bed and start screaming out joy to his family while in the hospital. That's what the Red Billed Squawker is known for. I couldn't think of anything with the fact that this bird has a record player for a torso. Yeah this one was a tricky one. Sorry.

Grumble Bear Form: The Grumble Bear is, if I had to guess, his desire to rest peacefully (Rest in Peace, if you will). Probably just wishes to sleep a deep sleep. Jimmy is tired of the hospital. I would have tried to connect a dot between Grumble Bear and Jonathon Bear but I got nothing.

Rotting Jack-o-Lantern Form: Nothing much on the surface, but his Empathy Message talks about how he tried to speak with people but can't because most humans cannot see ghosts. He also plays some pranks on strangers, pointing to the simple but poignant fact that Jimmy is still a child (boys will be boys, that type of deal). Then there's the fact that later on in the message he's seen his mother mournfully looking at a portrait of Jimmy (perhaps a future vision of some time after Jimmy died), which makes him sad, as he's unable to laugh with his family.

50s Style Vampire Form: In this form's Empathy Message, he once again shows his disdain for himself ("He doesn't care anymore. His heart is unbeating, cold, black"). The Vampire Form may have also been influenced by the many horror films he and Buck watched. A Vampire film is not entirely out of the realm of possibility for something the two would have watched. Later the message informs that he misses the Sun, much like how because he's confined to a hospital, he can't get the sun he needs.

Punch Tanaka Form: At first, he appears as a recurring antagonist. But MAN he's utterly stylish while doing so. Over time, Punch comes to respect Jimmy for the little hero he is. His goons respect him, his Lieutenants respect him, and with very good reason. Jimmy may at least in part look up to him. So much so that he's able to develop an Empathy Message to be like him. To Jimmy, he's the embodiment of an utter CHAD. A nigh unshakable wall of coolness (this Form has fairly high DEF and MDF stats, and has the Intimidating Stare ability), and even has the ability Confidence (speaks for itself). Punch Tanaka, to Jimmy, is the Cooler Jimmy he wishes to become.

Phoenix Form: The reason I wanted to make this analysis page in the first place. Legends say a Phoenix, after death, is reduced to ashes, but is re-vitalized from the ashes into a brand new Phoenix. Very clearly a desire (much like with the Red Billed Squawker) to leap out of bed to live life, albeit much more pronounced. Ironically, this may also be symbolic of death, as the entire Volcano area where you attain this form feels more like a Funeral Pyre more than a volcano. This one also has the attack "Sacrifice", which knocks Jimmy out, but fully revitalizes his other party members, as he does not want people to suffer the way he does. The Phoenix's abilities of healing make heavy use of not just life, but also death and rebirth, as this form works really good as a Healer (even more so than the Sunflower, or Helga) while also still able to hold his own (Buck ultimately wants Jimmy to be strong). This right here is Jimmy's desires made manifest as someone who feels at he's at the end of his life.

In conclusion: JatPM is a good game with a lot to chew on.

E

[kadzhi]

"I don't think you'll last very long, Mr. Tanaka." ----

closeup:

[grim-echoes]

1997

[undertaleofficial]

i know most of my dashboard has probably never even heard of this game but i did some concept art for jimmy and the pulsating mass characters as isaac characters featuring: jimmy as isaac, punch tanaka and jimmy as the forgotten (just imagine punch has a tire iron or baseball bat or something equally cool-guy instead of the bone lol), and mass buck as azazel

[smithy-will-eat-your-babies]

Made some custom designs!

Here's Bowyer, Mack, and Yaridovich from Super Mario RPG, Buck and Jimmy from Jimmy and the Pulsating Mass, and Laetitia from Lobotomy Corporation!

I'll def make more in the future!

Note: sonce tumblr only lets you post 10 pics laetitia's in the reblog!