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springbloggy · 4 months

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Ice-e Chuck E. Cheese theory

Of course, my first theory of the new year is my most unhinged. Strap in, folks; this one is a doozy.

Many people tend to make the mistake that ICE-E's is a parody of the popular indie game series Five Nights at Freddy's. In all fairness, FNAF has possibly expanded the scope of cultural relevance beyond its inspiration. So tying ICE-E to the FNAF series isn't too out there or negative.

However, it is not a parody of FNAF; ICE-E's is a parody of Chuck E. Cheese's. Now most people do acknowledge this, but only leave it at that. However, after some time, I started to realize the ties to the real-life franchise could possibly go so much deeper than that. Under the cut is the most wild ride of real-world ties, in-universe clues, and other thoughts of ICE-E's, its bizarre characters, and how it could all tie together in the plot.

As a refresher for both, starting with ICE-E's. ICE-E's is a popular pizza chain brand within the Deltarune universe. It is described as being a hellscape for its workers. Bizarrely, the pizza chef in the restaurant is a buff version of its mascot, named "the warrior.".

The mascot is also depicted in a pain chart, which is showcased in Undertale's Word Search.

With specific FUN Values, a snowman character labeled "nightmare" will appear in this word search.

In chapter 1, Noelle reminisces on a memory where Kris told her that ICE-E "eats kids." There's also a story from the Spamton Sweepstakes on how Noelle saw the ICE-E pizza box wink at her, causing her sister to burn the box and Kris to help bury the remains at the cemetery.

So what does any of this creepypasta stuff have to do with a real-life children's pizza chain?

Well, first, let's describe what Chuck E. Cheese's is for those unaware of it. Chuck E. Cheese's is a franchise dedicated to selling pizza, having an arcade space for kids, and entertainment. For years, entertainment came in the form of an animatronic band. Over the years, however, this animatronic band went down to just one animatronic in certain restaurants, and now, in recent times, it has been replaced outright by a dance party with a performer in a Chuck E. mascot.

Even before FNAF, the animatronics were known as being slightly disturbing, mostly due to using cheaper materials than the ones that can be found at theme parks and a lack of maintenance. If properly maintained or given higher-quality animatronic parts, the animatronics are actually rather charming, but that's the exception and not the norm.

Naturally, children tend to spread rumors about the restaurant, which is why FNAF became so initially popular, as FNAF reflected a common bonded experience many children had (at least in America) since 1977.

OK, so you might be thinking, surely the tie to the brand and its rumors is it for ICE-E's, right? Oh boy. I wish that was it.

See, you ever wonder why it's called Chuck E. Cheese's? Well, a huge part of the reason why is because of "saying cheese." If you've taken a photo, you may be aware of the tactic of saying cheese to get a person to smile. This is because the word itself makes the mouth form in a smile-like state. Thus, saying Chuck E. Cheese would also make the mouth smile, which would tie it into happy memories of visiting the place. However, since most connotations of the chain are negative, saying Chuck E. Cheese causes a forced smile in a place that doesn't bring happiness to that person.

A forced smile, even when you are in pain.

But there's another connotation with Chuck E. that interested me.

The Purple Guy.

This guy first appears outside of ICE-E's, and Pizzapants makes an odd remark about how he may not even work there. Later on, he can be found in a suit with a briefcase in the town hall.

Lots of people believe he's a reference to FNAF's purple guy, a character often used to represent the killer of the children that would go on to possess the game's murderous animatronics. However, I have my own connections that I think make more sense within Deltarune. To differentiate from FNAF, I will just call this character ICE-P (the p being short for purple) in the below theory.

Meet Mr. Munch.

Mr. Munch is an animatronic character featured in the Chuck E. Cheese band. He is a purple, fuzzy monster with a yellow belly.

I believe that ICE-P is the in-universe equivalent of the Mr. Munch animatronic. Like Mr. Munch, ICE-P is a purple monster with a different-colored belly. ICE-P's "skin" seems to be made of fabric, with an orange patch right on his leg, which would match up with him being a former animatronic at this restaurant.

So how did he get here, and why doesn't anyone recognize him from the restaurant if he is a former animatronic? Well, like real-life Chuck E. Cheeses, I believe all the ICE-E animatronics were tossed away due to cost and potentially scaring children. I think the ICE-E animatronic purge could have happened long before Chuck E. started doing it, maybe even during the formative years of the ICE-E brand, which could explain why Kris' Hometown ICE-E's doesn't have any room for an animatronic stage. It was constructed after the decision to eliminate them was already in place.

During this toss of animatronics, ICE-P managed to somehow escape total destruction, which is against the rules of Chuck E. Cheese's code, and this game shows the creepypasta rumor hypothetical of the consequences of breaking said rule.

ICE-P would gain life in the dark world, becoming yet another discarded item, bitter against the lightners. There, he would be given a special item: a shadow crystal.

If this theory is correct, ICE-P would fit right in with the superbosses, not only is he a discarded object, but being an animatronic would fit within the reoccurring motif of lack of control. Animatronics are programmed to repeat the same movements, songs, and pieces of dialogue for years. Maybe that's why every time Kris encounters ICE-P he repeats the same phrase, "Ice me up!" A cheesy catchphrase given to a forgotten mascot.

Anyway, unlike the other Darkners that were given shadow crystals, ICE-P managed to find a way back into the light world with a physical form. Maybe through the fact that he is an animatronic figure rather than an abstract idea or a toy. This leads to ICE-E's becoming a light world anomaly due to the interference of a darkner in, near, or associated with a place where he shouldn't be.

There, in the light world, ICE-P begins to get ready, putting his shadow crystal in a suitcase in order to present it to the Mayor, allowing the first step in a total dark world takeover.

So far, you may be thinking, "Well, this is well and good, Springy, but why Mr. Munch and not the character of Chuck E. Cheese himself? Wouldn't this theory work just as well with him? Yes, it would; however, I think making the distinctness of ICE-P being inspired by Mr. Munch makes his hypothetical backstory much more impactful.

Think about it, Mr. Munch is a side character who, if not entered in a Chuck E. Cheese location, most people wouldn't know about. He isn't prominently featured in advertising and wasn't included at all in Chuck E. Cheese's most iconic ad campaign.

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Not to mention that the chances of even encountering Mr. Munch in a restaurant has become way lower, not only with the creation of "Studio C.", a version of the restaurants with only one animatronic, but also with the modern dance parties. Even if children entered a restaurant with Mr. Munch, they were mostly going to forget him or mistake him for a pre-existing mascot (Grimace anyone?)

So put yourself in this hypothetical version of ICE-P's shoes. Not only is he a haphazardly thrown away animatronic, forced to be programmed to "sing" pre-recorded songs for who knows how long, but he also had to play second fiddle to a much more popular and well remembered main character: ICE-E. The fact his face looks nearly identical to ICE-E's probably doesn't help matters, and could be an indicator he was built incredibly cheaply. All this can accumulate to the bitterness needed for ICE-P, which ultimately motivates his revenge scheme.

Heck, maybe Toby calling ICE-P "purple guy" really is meant to draw in the FNAF comparisons. After all, in the FNAF series, what is Purple Guy's favorite costume to lure children with? The answer is Springbonnie: a forgotten side character from the in-universe Freddy's past.

Heck, ICE-P being a side character could also fit in with what we have seen about Kris' home life, where Asriel has all the trophies and recognition but Kris doesn't.

Of course, there's an alternative theory I'd like to propose if this is still too far out there.

Mascot Theory

ICE-P could easily be designed after the most infamously hated mascot costume of all time.

Barney the Dinosaur. Not only does ICE-P have Barney's same color scheme, but he also has the same fabric "skin" and, uh, thickness.

For those unaware, Barney was a preschool show about a toy purple dinosaur that comes to life via the imagination of the children around him.

This fits really nice and snugly already with the imagination theme of the dark worlds and could provide an answer to how ICE-P managed to find himself in the light world. Through the power of children imagining/believing that ICE-E was a real cryptid.

The real world perception of Barney also fits the themes of the dark worlds as well. Despite its popularity, the majority of people hated Barney. Parents hated the show because it talked down to kids, and kids hated the show because they felt Barney was babyish. Many kids from the eras when Barney aired had their own violent parody of the show's theme song, "I love you".

Here's the version I remember being spread around at my school:

I hate you, you hate me Let's go kill Barney With an AK-47 and a couple of bombs Won't you help me kill them all?

Now what does Barney have to do with Chuck E. Cheese's? Well, if you've ever seen a parody of Chuck E.'s on TV, what is the mascot doing?

Usually there's either an employee who is apathetic about the job or the performer is being pummeled by children. Of course, this probably isn't too likely in real life, but the trope is widespread enough to be in the public consciousness.

So ICE-P could have been an old mascot costume thrown away after taking many beatings from children who disliked him and replaced by a more on-model version of ICE-E or a redesign of the character meant to make it cooler for kids.

But there's another factor that makes the mascot theory extra convincing. ICE-E as shown in the pain chart, has a static smile on his face that can't be removed even when he is in great amount of pain. While this could also work under animatronic theory, it is more fitting to have the old, worn-out mascot suit's defining feature and one of the motives be that he can't change his expression.

So under this theory, ICE-P will have a couple of things going for the superboss lack of control motif. First, he can't control his own expression. Second, by virtue of being a costumed character, he couldn't control his own movements. And third, if ICE-P truly comes to life through the imaginations of terrified children, it's possible he still can't control his own actions even after he stopped being a suit.

Which could mean...

ICE-E Eats Kids

Remember when I mentioned the story of how Kris told Noelle that ICE-E eats kids?

Well, what if Kris really did see ICE-E (aka ICE-P) eat a kid? Just not in the way you'd think.

There's no real elegant way to phrase my line of thought, so here's a recreation of what may have happened below.

The Catchphrase

When Kris types in what appears on the word search, Susie remarks this.

This is strange and scary for a children's mascot, even for ICE-E standards, it is a bit odd.

Well, if animatronic or mascot ICE-P theories are correct, that's because giasfclfubrehber isn't ICE-E's true catchphrase, his true catchphrase is the much more cheesy "Ice me up!"

So what is happening here? Well, what Susie describes seems to be a seizure or some other spasm caused by ICE-E trying to say some sort of forbidden word...

...maybe even the forbidden name...

…of the person who made him this way.

ICE-E and Snowgrave

Let's go back to this snowman.

Now, given the text "nightmare", the massive influence of ICE-E's in Deltarune, and the fact he's a snowman, I think this has more to do with Snowgrave than the snowy setting of Snowdin where the word search can be found.

But how does ICE-E's fit in Snowgrave? Well, I have a theory about that as well.

In 2020, there was a viral rumor spreading around that Chuck E. Cheese's recycled pizza off of customers' tables to use at future parties. The truth was a lot more mundane. Chuck E. Cheese's pre-cuts slices, puts them in the freezer, and then cooks them later.

This is important because it establishes a common technique found at restaurants: using a freezer, which could mean that one of the areas in ICE-E's is also a freezer.

Assuming an ICE-E's dark world, part of the joke in neutral routes is that ICE-E's has an absurdly large freezer space, a bit too much for what is needed and impossible to actually fit in the small area. Kinda like Dr. Who's Tardis (or at least that's how I understand it, judging by countless tvtropes WMGs).

But in Snowgrave, this area becomes much more sinister, as the large freezer space becomes the perfect place to make Noelle's Snowgrave spell much more powerful and potent due to the cold.

Plus, it could tie into a popular saying: "A cold day in Hell". ICE-E's is described as a hellscape to work in, and the freezer is cold. So luring Noelle to the freezer, in a place that's already hellish, would be a literal cold day in Hell. Maybe, like Spamton in the Snowgrave route, ICE-E's freezer is another location that Noelle isn't supposed to visit in the normal route.

This would also make ICE-P one of the most important superbosses in the game since his location would be tied to Noelle's increasing power. Heck, I might even make the case that he could easily be the final superboss, due to his reocurring appearance in all the chapters so far.

Sinister Foreshadowing in Pizza Dough?

This is the most stretchy part of this theory, but given everything else about this theory, putting this connection is fine enough.

In ICE-E's there's a lump of pizza dough on the counter with sauce just pouring out of it.

To me, this dough kinda resembles a slumped over body with blood pouring out of it. I know it's dark, but I am pretty sure this has been an observation someone else has made at least once.

Perhaps, this dough is actually foreshadowing to a future character's death or crippling injury. If I had to guess, it would probably take place in the dark world and might even be assigned to a major character.

If I had to guess who...well, there's only one character that has shown to be canonically dead in the Undertale universe so far, and that's Rudy.

Of course, dough could represent anyone in the game that can bleed, which extends to Darkner characters. So there's really no way to know for sure.

How ICE-E fits in the escapism trend

So far, every chapter has tied into themes of escapism. Chapter 1 is escapism with toys; Chapter 2 is escapism with technology; and Chapter 3 is shaping up to be escapism with television.

If ICE-E's really is a parallel to Chuck E. Cheese's there are a variety of things it could represent. I personally believe the most fitting is escapism with children's media, a trend with ever-increasing popularity. Returning to old childhood memories with an adult lens. However, the poor "hellish" working conditions and kids getting nightmares from the character rather than joy could showcase the darker side of children's media and how it affects its viewers and workers.

Alternatively, ICE-E could be focused on escapism via food—cooking food, eating food, whatever. An unhealthy habit if done excessively. ICE-E/P "Eating kids" would be the symbolic representation of unhealthy eating.

There's also the arcade and slides aspect of Chuck E. Cheese's, which could represent either escapism through video games or escapism through cheap thrills. This is the weakest tie, but it wouldn't be too surprising to see either.

TLDR; ICE-E's is based on old Chuck E. Cheese rumors. The "purple guy" is either a bitter, thrown away side character animatronic or a bitter old mascot costume that somehow managed to exit the dark world. Purple Guy is a superboss trying to get the mayor's attention in order to let the dark world take over. Giasfclfubrehber isn't ICE-E's cathphrase, but rather him trying and failing to say a forbidden name. ICE-E's freezer is an important place where Noelle's Snowgrave spell will become more powerful. The pizza dough pouring out sauce on the counter might foreshadow a future character death or injury.

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