#The question is does everybody here love my yapping. Do you love and appreciate my yapsterness.

[moon--melon]

[OLD] Iplier Theory - What Do They Want?

(@markiplier, it would mean the world to me for you to see and read this theory. You inspire me every day, and if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t have the patience to sit down for half an hour to write this delicately crafted theory about your crazily creative characters. It breaks my heart knowing that you’re rarely on tumblr. So much of your community is on this platform! There’s so many cool theories that you miss! And as humble as I can say it, I would love for you to look over mine. I put a lot of hard work into this. I’ve re-watched “Markiplier TV” WAY too many times just trying to piece this whole thing together; I feel like Matpat for cryin’ out loud. Thank you regardless, Mark!)

[This entire thing is based around the ending segment of Markiplier TV. If you haven’t seen that, none of this will make sense]

As seen in the video titled “Markiplier TV”, we know that the “ipliers” are clearly planning, or at least figuring out, something. Surely, it has to have something to do with Mark. But…what do each and every individual iplier want?

None of them have the same desires. Sure, some of them are similar to one another, but they’re all very different characters. It honestly surprises me that they are shown trying to work together. Yes, I said trying, because in “Markiplier TV”, they aren’t doing a good job at negotiating.

We do know for a fact that Wilford Warfstache and Darkiplier are heads (leaders/bosses) of the group, Mark himself has stated this as fact on his own tumblr page, but we don’t quite know their overall goal.

My theory is that they have grouped together to help each other achieve their own goals through one big plan, which certainly may be sinister, since Dark is one of the leaders and his intentions are anything but good.

This is CLEARLY shown in “Markiplier TV” when Wilford says this:

“Look, this is an opportunity that can’t be missed! It’s for everybody–”.

The entire “Markiplier TV” video is Wilford’s attempt at helping the other ipliers achieve their goals. But of course, since this video was entirely directed by the moronic Warfstache, his plan failed miserably. The only ipliers that showed up in Wilford’s creation was Wilford himself and Doctoriplier (or Dr. Iplier).

Dark is quick to dismiss Warfstache’s plan and say this to him:

“Look, Wilford. I appreciate what you’ve done for us, but, how is this going to help us take back control?…”.

Now here’s where I start to move on with my theory. You have to really pay attention to what these characters are saying! Dark is obviously using the ipliers to get what only HE wants. He manipulates the rest of the crew by saying elusive phrases such as “us”.

Darkiplier is a very manipulative character, Mark himself has also proven this as fact in one of his livestreams. He talks a lot about the character of Dark in this video provided by LadyElvan on YouTube.

I personally think Dark is using the rest of the ipliers to ultimately get what he wants, which is presumably: power over the one and only Markiplier. Being the sly and seductive “person” that he is, Dark is going to do everything he can to achieve the iplier’s dreams….and then betray them for his own personal gain. (This is completely theoretical; we’re just going to have to wait and see for the next video where these characters are featured, and this obvious story is continued).

More evidence of this whole theory comes to light when Google (Blue) says this:

“I feel like it deviated from our primary objective. If we’re to get back on track, we need to reassign our goals and unify into a singular strategy”.

So there’s no questioning it. This group of Markiplier clones are in fact working together to achieve something. Google phrases it in a way where it seems that they’re all shooting for their own, individual, “primary objectives”, or simply: goals. Google suggests that all the ipliers forget about their dreams and try to reach for one particular objective. Being a robot, he doesn’t have any desires or hopes, he just wants to get things done, that’s why he says that this whole TV idea deviated from what they were trying to accomplish. So, for Google, I think he just wants to follow and achieve one large goal, whatever that goal may be, or he just wants to continue the objective that he was programmed with: answer as many questions as fast and as efficient as possible, and of course…destroy all mankind.

After Google’s two cents, Ed Edgar follows by yapping out tons of nonsense about “good deals” and other promotional TV things. So quite frankly, his goal in all of this is just to become a successful TV salesman and get some cold hard cash.

Next, Bim Trimmer complains about how in the game show segment of the “Markiplier TV” plan, he wasn’t the host! This makes me believe that all he wants to do is make money and continue to host game shows. Maybe “Hire My Ass” ended or got canceled in some way (maybe after the authorities found out that they were grinding up contestants into sandwiches for other contestants to consume during screen time).

After that, Silver Shepard basically hand feeds us what he wants to do with his life. He said that he has quit fighting crime as a superhero, only to become an actor, assumingly for an entertainment superhero TV show. But of course, “Markiplier TV” didn’t at all include him or his ideas.

Then, Dr. Iplier says that he admittedly enjoyed Wilford’s plan, since it featured him in it quite a bit. I theorize that Dr. Iplier just wants to be known as a professional doctor. Does he actually want to help cure and tend to others? Of course not. None of these characters are actually selfless. He just wants to be known as a great doctor.

Now the Host…is a little more complicated. Mark has confirmed that he used to be “the Author”, but after discovering that he had no “control” in his life, and he was just a host to the world, he changed his status name from “the Author”, to: “the Host”. I presume that the Host just wants to go back to writing interactive stories, …where admittedly, he kidnaps innocent people to reenact his cruel form of writing. The Host wants to feel like he’s in control again.

After Ed Edgar blabs on about selling his son for business, the King of the Squirrels comes barging in to simply state: “I uh…I’m the king of the squirrels”. Admittedly, I have no idea what he would even want from all of this; he seems to be doing fine for himself. Maybe he wasn’t even invited to this meeting and just barged in to declare his status.

Now finally, it’s time to discuss what Wilford wants from all of this.

Wilford is, I dare say, one of the most honest and normal people out of this whole group. Sure he’s plenty selfish, but I know for a fact that all he wants is to become a genuine, non-murderous, host/interviewer/journalist. Wil doesn’t want to be infamously known, he just wants to be famously known. This poor imbecile wants to forget his blood-soaked past and focus on becoming a successful journalist, the thing that he started off as when he interviewed Slenderman all those years ago.

Now…we have all the ipliers covered, …but…as I typed this theory, I…noticed a certain pattern.

Mark has gotten in the way of all of these characters..

He has stripped the Host of his proud, former, status: the Author.

He has excluded Bim, Silver, Ed, and Dr. Iplier from YouTube all together. (Even The King of Squirrels)

And he hasn’t kept his promise with Darkiplier.

Dark himself has talked about them taking back control MANY times in the “Markiplier TV” video. He even said:

“..we are the heart and soul of this channel after all”.

Now with Wilford, It seems that he is just following along with Darkiplier’s plan. I truly do think that Dark is tricking Wil by promising him an actual opportunity in journalism. In joining Dark, I think Wilford has made a deal with the devil.

But hey…that’s JUST A THEORY….

ahem. Excuse me, not sure where that came from. Anyways, thank you so much for reading. If you happen to be Mark, an extra thank you goes to you! You actually took the time out of your crazy, busy life to read my dumb theory. That really means a lot to me :)

Again, thank you. I’m honestly very excited to see what Mark has in store for us with these loveable characters.

[nellie-elizabeth]

Elementary: Fidelity (5x16)

Sometimes when I write these reviews, I feel as if I'm not eloquent enough to explain myself. I don't have the vocabulary or experience of someone who studied film and television in school. I'm just a girl who watches a lot of television and likes to write about it. I don't mean to get all speculative at the beginning of this random review of Elementary, but I think I'm going to have a hard time getting at my feelings on this episode, so... fair warning.

Cons:

This episode did not capitalize on the potential from last week's cliffhanger. Sherlock spends only the first two minutes under arrest, and then is back with Kitty and Joan to solve the case. The buildup of tensions between Kitty and Joan from last week are largely unaddressed, and Kitty and Sherlock's relationship is instead focused on. The conspiracy leading to the deaths of all these people is not quite as interesting or as intense as I think we're supposed to think it is. I wanted this second part of the story to be a real stand-out episode, and instead it was just middling in terms of the plot.

The thing that really sticks out as a problem for me is that Joan is largely sidelined for the emotional beats of this episode. She's there to encourage Sherlock and Kitty to talk through their problems, but at no point do we get to learn what she thinks of all of this. Does she have any regrets about never becoming a mother? Is she still satisfied in her job, or what? Does seeing Kitty make her think about her own efforts to help Shinwell? We just have no idea. I wish with all my heart that Joan's emotions were given more time on this show. She's such a fascinating and subtle character. There's more there, and we're missing it.

Pros:

Before I get into my more serious contemplation of the character development and such, I want to say that this was a particularly quotable episode of Elementary. Whoever wrote the script didn't necessarily have the tightest story in the world, but the dialogue was crackling and hilarious, and the line delivery was spot on. In particular, Lucy Liu got to say a lot of really funny stuff. She plays a CD full-blast in the brownstone to hide from potential bugs, and tells Kitty that Sherlock made the annoying dog-yapping mix himself: "Can you believe this is volume three of six?" Later, she sees the nanny and baby Archie playing with some sort of metal contraption they found in a box, and informs the nanny: "there's like a 50/50 chance that's a Victorian sex toy." Joan also has the line: "I have like 500 questions but I'll start with the big one." This doesn't sound like it would be funny, but it just is.

As I mentioned, the actual conspiracy plot was just your sort of standard fare, even though it tried to be a lot more than that. That being said, I didn't dislike it at all. I particularly liked the twist where a paranoid schizophrenic prosecutor had accidentally revealed a true conspiracy during a breakdown. That's why everybody had to be killed by shady government agents - they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and heard something they were never meant to hear. Later, one of said shady government agents just releases all the secrets to the public, because it turns out he wants to spark a war with Iran. Both of these twists were well-executed and furthered the story in interesting ways. I never take enough time in these reviews to talk about the procedural elements, but they were quite good here.

Kitty and Sherlock get the bulk of the emotional weight here, and it works wonders, even if I do wish Joan could have been included more. Kitty and Sherlock talk about how Kitty isn't going to be a detective anymore, and at first Kitty thinks that Sherlock is pissed about it. Later, when she confronts him, he says he's not angry that she's chosen to step back from her work because of her child. Rather, he's upset because when Kitty left two years before, she never contacted Sherlock. She ended their friendship, and he, a man who has a hard time making friends, was upset by this unceremonious dumping. The fact that Kitty found happiness, the one thing Sherlock always wanted for her, and didn't bother to share it with Sherlock, was very upsetting to him.

I'm emotional about the whole thing, actually. Sherlock does have a hard time forming emotional attachments, and even though he doesn't seem like the kind of person who would be insecure about something like that, he really is. He loves Kitty, he wants what's best for her, and for her to vanish the way she did was really hurtful for him. Kitty fixes it in the best way possible - she asks Sherlock and Joan to be godparents.

I really want to praise Johnny Lee Miller's performance in this scene. Sherlock is not a man who appreciates or requires ritual. He's not religious, and the idea of attending a baptism in a church is not something that probably appeals to him. But he's honored, and utterly floored, to be asked to be godfather. He knows it's an honor, and he even asks Kitty if he's supposed to do anything, like recite a prayer. He's not sure how it all works, but he's determined not to mess it up. This last scene was such a wonderful, cheesy, heartwarming culmination for Kitty's character. I love her a lot, and I really do hope that if this show squeezes out a sixth season, she'll get to be a part of it. But if not, I'd be happy with this as a final appearance for her character.

That's all I've got to say. I thought this review was going to be shorter than it ended up being... I always do seem to ramble on. In short, the plot was fine, or whatever, and there were some things I wish we could have gotten more of. But what we did get was pretty great.

8/10