Bethany, Goomba, Venturian and Kyodai.
Greetings, fellow adventurers!
Intro to every video since 2012.
Venturian Tale is a Let's Play Channel starring the Frye siblings: Venturian (Jordan), Homeless Goomba (Isaac), Immortal Kyodai (Cierra) and Bethany Frye. Together they play a number of games, usually showing off interesting or unusual Mods for the game, and almost always getting sidetracked with their own hijinks.
Of particular note is that the siblings often slip into different character personas for fun, creating a recurring cast of characters and a (very) vague story and continuity.
They primarily play Garry's Mod, but dabble in many others, including Let's Plays of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas, Minecraft, Roblox, Dark Souls 2, Portal, and Super Mario 64. They also occasionally do their own scripted stories, including the original series Qeios.
On June 29, 2021, the channel went onto an indefinite hiatus after a video from Bethany was released explaining why she and Cierra had disappeared from the videos.
Tropes:
- Adaptational Heroism: Almost any villain from some other series will become this, especially the creepypasta high school videos, though the Rake and Jeff are still creepy, and the potentially murderous Slender Man is almost completely different from the original and even dates Sally Acachalla.
- Then again they ARE in high school, he may become our favorite Humanoid Abomination in the future.
- Action Girl: Kyodai and Bethany and the majority of their characters.
- Anyone Can Die: And they frequently do. They don't always stay dead, though.
- Audience Participation: The "fellow adventurers" are the ones who decides who wins or loses their various deathmatches.
- Recently, they have started taking comments from viewers from viewers and using them in their videos.
- Author Appeal: The channel has a LOT of Five Nights at Freddy's videos. To the point that they made their own fan game, Five Nights at VenturianTale
. - Ascended Extra: If they make up a new character they will either be so much fun for them and the audience that they continue being characters or they completely forget about them (though in the second case, many times The Bus Came Back).A notable ascended extra is Josh, a girl from another dimension who was accidentally sent to the main dimension and became accidentally a main character.
- Ax-Crazy: Jimmy Casket, Venturian's character in the GMod Murder videos.
- Papa Acachalla can slip into this at times, though it's mostly when something annoys him. (He did kill Officer Maloney for no reason in the pool party video though)
- Spencer, who you think is just a normal nerd, is revealed to be this after his origin video. Since he forced the members of a cult devoted to him to fight to the death and killed them over and over.
- Back from the Dead: A Running Gag, usually after dying and respawning.Don't you just love being back from the dead?
- Bad "Bad Acting": This entire video is intentionally based on this trope. The whole thing is one big hodgepodge of this trope, Corpsing, and, to a lesser extent, Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud. This is the intro:Johnny Ghost (Venturian): Yes, please! I'm yearning for nom-noms!
- Basement-Dweller: Spencer, subverted as they won't let him out. This may have had an adverse effect on his sanity.
- Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: Ronald McDonald was a spy in Russia with Abraham Lincoln and George Washington seeking out a mystical sword.
- Big Eater: Sally and Maddie. Sally constantly asks for waffles, while Maddie mentioned eating five buckets of popcorn in her first appearance. Papa Acachalla, to a lesser extent, as this is played down in later videos.
- In the Waffle Gun video, Sally finally gets some waffles and constantly eats them throughout the videos entirety.
- When acting as Mario and Luigi, Venturian and Homeless decide that they're completely obsessed with eating pasta, and proceed to go on a rampage across town, claiming that everything is pasta and eating it.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Prince Fang and Toilet Toucher served this role, with Jimmy Casket making it a Big Bad Ensemble. However as they rarely appear anymore Jimmy has taken the role of Big Bad. And even then, he doesn't appear all that often...
- Big Bad Ensemble: Prince Fang and Toilet Toucher's Big Bad Duumvirate and Jimmy Casket, though this has changed due to the former two's rare appearances and now Jimmy is the Big Bad.
- Toilet Toucher has returned, meaning a big bad ensemble between him and Jimmy is now possible.
- And now there is Tootsie, a Hidden Agenda Villain who has impersonated Gertrude twice and then Sally and Ghost. But whether or not he will become a Big Bad is yet to be seen.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Prince Fang could be seen as this, he was rarely a true threat (despite what people thought of him) and eventually had to join up with Toilet Toucher to become a true threat.
- The same could be said for Maxwell Acachalla, though he was a not so harmless villain he was not that much of a threat in the end, and now rarely appears. Toilet Toucher WOULD count as this, but he actually was a threat in the end.
- The Bus Came Back: Most of the time when they stop using characters they can be expected to come back. So far Both Toilet Toucher and Jimmy Casket have returned, as has Officer Maloney, Light Zeron and Darth Calculus.
- Butt-Monkey: Episode 11 of An Oblivion Tale: Brother Martin, despite being the emperor's son, can't go 5 seconds without getting attacked by Sari.
- Characterization Marches On: Originally, in her first appearance (GMod Movie Theater POPCORN Map!), Maddie Friend and Billy were actually friends. Later videos would have her gradually turn into a Stalker with a Crush a few minutes in, until finally, the mere implication that Maddie was in the vicinity will send Billy running for cover. However, this is not always the case in more recent videos.
- Sally was obsessed with waffles in her first few appearances, not understanding the concept of more important things. Since she was clarified to be part of the Acachalla family, the waffles have been toned back.
- Toilet Toucher was an actual threat at first, and qualified as a Big Bad. But has returned a few times since then as more of a nuisance, this may be reversed soon however.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Spencer is one of the best examples, but the same could be said for any number of characters. Aimee could be considered a candidate.
- Cloudcuckoolander: All of them could class as this. Venturian dips in and out of it.
- Crowbar Combatant: Bethany tends to partake in this as much as Gordon Freeman would.
- Destructive Savior: In their Minecraft videos, Venturian makes it their mission to save the Squidarians (Villagers) from the constant zombie attacks. He and Immortal proceed to break steal all their crops, destroy their furniture, cause Creepers to blow up their houses, and even
seal the mayor up in the town's well so he can get some privacy. - Epic Fail: Very often in their games. Not that it's any less funny than when they succeed.
- Evil Laugh: Jimmy Casket, so very much...
- Evil Counterpart: Darth Calculus created an evil counterpart to P.I.E known as D.I.E.
- There is an evil version of the Acachalla family called the Villainchalla family
- Expy: Darth Calculus is more or less just Emperor Palpatine if he looked like GMan with a red suit.
- Fanboy/Fangirl: All four of them love Doctor Who.
- Especially evident with Venturian, who has incorporated the TARDIS mods into both A Skyrim Tale and A Fallout Tale. In the case of the former, Vahl is explicitly stated to be a Time Lord.
- Fantastic Racism: Spencer is angry at three stores in one town being run by animatronics, and refuses to go into the store while they are in there.
- Funny Background Event: Often at the start of videos, Venturian (or whoever else is hosting) will take a moment to give the audience an update or explain what they're doing. The others won't be polite enough to wait for him to finish and will often end up being as distracting as possible.
- Future Me Scares Me: Toilet Toucher is Billy from the future, meaning Billy becomes an evil ghost-like being in the future. Though there was a Billy who acted normally and was from a future where everyone became data it's possible this is only temporary or an alternate timeline
- Fun with Acronyms: Done three times with ghost hunting organizations: Paranormal Investigators Extraordinaire= P.I.E, Paranormal Investigators Gourmet= P.I.G, while Darth Calculus has DEADLY Investigators Extraordinaire, aka D.I.E
- Good Is Not Nice: Arguably Papa Acachalla.
- Hell Is That Noise: The Toilet Toucher's laugh and screams.
- Hey, That's My Line!: Happens during a school episode when Maddie Friend introduces herself.Maddie: Greetings, everyone-Lights Zeron: Hey, that's my line!
- Hidden Depths: Homeless Goomba enters contests to solve Rubiks Cubes, and has made a few fairly polished games, such as a Five Nights at Freddy's fan game based on the channel.
- Venturian also writes surprisingly good music on SoundCloud. Here's a link.
- Venturian also writes surprisingly good music on SoundCloud. Here's a link.
- Hidden Agenda Villain: Tootsie, the identity thief who has impersonated Gertrude Ghost and Sally.
- Humanoid Abomination: The Toilet Toucher, a ghostly being who likes touching toilets. He can travel through toilets and according to Ghost, is the highest ranking form of ghost. He's also the only being to inspire genuine fear in Jimmy.
- Sally is sometimes depicted as this.
- Insane Troll Logic: Most of Johnny Ghost's theories.
- Insistent Terminology: In the Minecraft Tale videos, skeletons are, without hesitation, dubbed 'Skeleton Katniss'. Villagers are Squidarians, and most of the animals are dubbed names such as 'Tree Pigs' or 'Mountain Cows.'
- Headcrabs are referred to as Turkeys.
- The titles of the "Put the Cash Money in the Bag!" videos.
- Insufferable Genius: Spencer, or "The Mighty Spence!" who embodies the complaining, nerdy fan.
- Interspecies Romance: A Skyrim Tale has Vahl, a Dark Elf Dragonborn, in a relationship with Farkas, a Nord.
- Papa Acachalla and Gertrude.Gertrude is a Gingerian from the planet Gingeria and Papa Acachalla is of a species called the Acachallans (although he is also stated on some occasions to be a Time Lord so who really knows)
- Knight of Cerebus: Jimmy Casket, he's a serial killer who's A PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR'S SPLIT PERSONALITY (and is stated to be paranormal HIMSELF) and speaks in an odd sing-song voice and wants to kill everyone and everything! He rarely has humorous moments, when he does, they go away FAST.
- And THEN we have Cardboard Friend, he acts childlike, but he also has the darkest episodes to date. In his first appearance he was the creation of a boy whose parents were dead (and since he is implied to be Johnny Ghost later, there may be a darker reason why. If that weren't enough, then we have Cardboard Friend chasing Gregory around, later Gregory sends him to space, and then is said to be a 30 year old man (though later this is both inaccurate and not inaccurate), that episode at least had mostly humorous parts, but when he reappears, the humor was not the main part of the video, since Cardboard Friend acts even creepier and we get more disturbing revelations about Johnny. his next appearance is thankfully humorous, but we also get the revelation he's a malformed (and possibly omnipotent) clone of his best friend Johnny Toast that was sent into the past accidentally. since Cardboard Friend is considered to be the being who is responsible for causing Jimmy Casket to exist, but in a way this means Not only did Ghost make himself insane unintentionally, Toast technically is DIRECTLY responsible.
- And THEN we have Cardboard Friend, he acts childlike, but he also has the darkest episodes to date. In his first appearance he was the creation of a boy whose parents were dead (and since he is implied to be Johnny Ghost later, there may be a darker reason why. If that weren't enough, then we have Cardboard Friend chasing Gregory around, later Gregory sends him to space, and then is said to be a 30 year old man (though later this is both inaccurate and not inaccurate), that episode at least had mostly humorous parts, but when he reappears, the humor was not the main part of the video, since Cardboard Friend acts even creepier and we get more disturbing revelations about Johnny. his next appearance is thankfully humorous, but we also get the revelation he's a malformed (and possibly omnipotent) clone of his best friend Johnny Toast that was sent into the past accidentally. since Cardboard Friend is
- Lampshade Hanging:
- One video has Venturian as the second player with Goomba recording. After introducing everyone, Goomba comments that "it felt weird."
- In the Spider-Man SWEP video, after a stunt goes wrong, Venturian says "That will probably be the bit before the video, 'cause there was a lot of screaming."
- A recurring one in 'random' videos is "What just happened?" or "This has got to be the weirdest video we've ever done."
- Venturian breaks out of the Papa Acachalla character in a Trouble In Terrorist Town video to point out that the Acachalla family tree is ridiculously complex.
Venturian: I challenge you to draw the Acachalla family tree. It's probably just like a scribble. - Laughing Mad: When Johnny Ghost transforms into Jimmy Casket.
- Left Hanging: Any plot threads left unresolved during an episode is likely to stay that way, since they don't plan anything out.
- Long Bus Trip: Many times, when a character gets Put on a Bus you can expect for them to return, but sometimes certain characters may take longer than others, such as Toilet Toucher or Jimmy Casket.
- Make My Monster Grow: Sometimes when playing with a character or a model, the siblings will use a Gmod prop to enlarge it for kicks.
- Man of a Thousand Voices: Venturian, who voices Papa Acachalla and Spencer, among others.
- Mind Screw: Happens often, especially if the Toilet Toucher is involved.
- Multiple-Choice Past: If a video tells us something new about the Acachalla family, expect it to completely contradict what you thought.
- On a smaller scale, Jimmy's been shown as a individual psychopath and as a psychotic personality that Ghost suppresses who emerges under stress.
- This has been seemingly retconned as a complete psychotic personality, though it's still suggested he's actually a paranormal being inside Johnny.
- It has been mentioned that at least 3 different people have been stated to be Johnny Ghost's canonical father and his and Toast's ages keep being retconned, ranging from being in their mid twenties to late thirties.
- Negative Continuity: Played with regularly, although sometimes they will have callbacks to previous episodes, or if during a Story Arc, they will feature a Previously on… monologue.
- There are also some things considered part of the main "canon" that are usually referenced in videos.
- Never Learned to Read: Johnny Ghost, apparently, though it never affects anything.
- '90s Hair: Johnny Ghost, a self-confessed "nineties mullet"-sporting aficionado.
- Non-Indicative Name: In an early episode of A Minecraft Tale, Venturian finds a cave full of water.Venturian: Oh, it's the Underwater Lake of Life!Immortal: Oooh, let's go in!Venturian: No, don't go in, it kills you.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Arguably Maxwell Acachalla, although he's played humorously like most other characters, he has tried to kill Papa Acachalla twice and managed to stop the Acachalla family from robbing a bank by stealing the money himself first, and the second time he tried to kill Papa Acachalla? He was a baby.
- Offscreen Teleportation: The Toilet Toucher.
- Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Venturian notes in one video that he gave Papa Acachalla three different voices while recording the video. He also often accidentally slips into a faintly British accent when roleplaying the American Johnny Ghost. (This is likely because Ghost often appears in videos alongside his British assistant, Johnny Toast.)
- Only Sane Man: Venturiantale, and most characters he plays. This is also reflected in the Movie Theater videos, where he's the only one that doesn't have an Old Shame Home movie.
- Paranormal Investigation: Occult Detectives Johnny Ghost and Johnny Toast are a play in this trope. Subverted in the prequels as Ghost is too young to get a licence.
- Punny Name: Johnny Ghost and Johnny Toast.
- Put on a Bus: Seeing as they have near unlimited characters, this is inevitable. Three examples that have yet to return are Prince Fang, Maxwell Acachalla and Aimee.
- Put on a Bus to Hell: Papa Acachalla and Johnny Ghost both became trapped in alternate dimensions for several weeks. In both cases, The Bus Came Back.
- Random Events Plot: This is the inevitable result of any video where they try to play out a story, usually ending with a plot twist that makes no sense, one or more characters dying, or a massive explosion.
- A Rare Sentence: "This portal gun was made by A Ritz Cracker."
- Retcon: Videos in the Garry's Mod series rarely have any kind of continuity between them, and more often than not contradict each other.
- Johnny Ghost's first appearance wherein he died was later retconned to be his father's death.
- Speaking of Ghost's father, who that person is has been retconned so many times that no one is even sure anymore.
- Several characters's ages seem to be retconned every time they are mentioned.
- Ret-Gone: Johnny Roast and Johnny Boast, the other two members of PIE. Also arguably Ghost's sister.
- Although Boast came back having been resurrected and turned into a dragon by Prince Fang.
- Running Gag:
- In the early gmod videos, one of the other siblings would try and kill Jordan in the middle of the outro.
- Venturian will often end a particularly random video with "What just happened?".
- "Back from the Dead, I'm back from the dead, don't you just love being back from the dead?"
- Goomba being accused by Venturian of being a Troll.
- Venturian attaching a chair and lots of thrusters to random props, telling one of his siblings to sit in the chair, and launching them flying around the map.
- Certain shades of yellow are declared Puke Yellah by Vent.
- Screams Like a Little Girl: Venturian, when scared or caught off-guard.
- Scully Syndrome: Johnny Ghost.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Stardust Sprinkleshine, the violent unicorn who takes over anyone who touches the "floating gun of the Aztecs"
- Sealed Inside a Person-Shaped Can: Jimmy Casket was implied to be this or just a regular Split Personality, but the Dipper ragdoll video seemingly confirms this since its stated everyone has an "other" in the video.
- Self-Deprecation: If Venturian encounters a character resembling his normal avatar while playing Papa Acachalla, he will often say "Hey, it's Venturian! That guy sucks!"
- They also usually say that there videos are "insanity" or "randomness", Isaac even says that they do "stupidity" at one point
- In the movie theater mod they watch their own videos (From both this channel and their old childhood videos) and insult themselves while watching it.
- Story Arc: An on and off one involving Johnny Ghost and Jimmy Casket. Could be considered a Long Runner.
- Stalker with a Crush: Maddie will go to any length to get Billy to sign her shirt.
- Super Zeroes: Batman bursts into tears at the first mention of his parents, Superman bores everybody to death with his endless talks about Krypton, Green Lantern doesn't know the difference between dogs and plants, and nobody can remember The Flash's real name.
- Tempting Fate The first round of this video has Jordan (due to something in a previous video) be a tiny murderer. Because of this, he claims that his sibling will never be able to hit him. The very first shot fired hits him.
- They Killed Kenny Again: Used so often it's practically their trademark.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Sally's is waffles, Maddie's is popcorn, Cywren's is Nuka-Cola, Toast's is whiskey.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: In his first appearance, Darth Calculus was actually only evil because the Jedi stole his lunch and wasn't much of an antagonist, later he is much more evil and malicious, one such example is that in the Bonnie's Sister video he mentions capturing animatronics for an animatronic prison of slavery.
- Vague Age: Characters like Billy and Sally talk very simply and seem very child-like and naive. But then their character models are adults, and there will be sometimes be jokes about the characters being Manchild Basement Dwellers.
- Valley Girl: Britney the Cheerleader and Chica from FNAF.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Asylum Weaver doesn't like spotted horses.
- Villain Protagonist: Venturian will occasionally play Darth Calculus, and also Jimmy Casket. Neither are very good at all.
