Trivia / THE MONUMENT MYTHOS

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: "ALCATRAZAPOCALYPSE" has Doctor Disturbing list a few of his favorite paintings, one of which being Road to Happiness by James Dean. Said painting is a real oil painting created by Dean in real life, and features a minimalist landscape of tall spikes that look suspiciously similar to Special Trees. According to Alex Casanas, the resemblance was just a happy coincidence as he wasn't initially aware of the painting while coming up with Special Trees, and it was mentioned in the series as just a nod of serendipity, not a direct effort to tie into any of the historical fiction.
• Acting for Two: Many voice actors play multiple characters at once.
  • Most notably, Lev voices President James Dean, President Rockefeller, an Apollo 12 operator, Richard Nixon and the Last Son of Alcatraz.
  • Eliana Gallagher voices Virginia and Maya Arnoldson, as well as Alice and Molly Avenue.
• Ascended Fan Nickname: Initially, "Nixonverse" was just a fanon term for our universe to distinguish it from the Monument Mythos' "Deanverse" – since, in canon, Dean was elected in 1968 instead of Nixon. Later, the "Nixonverse" label became official and was used to describe the new setting. However, it quickly became clear that this universe was very different from our reality, and called "the Nixonverse" for a very different reason. The corresponding term "Deanverse" would similarly become official via its use in THE TRINITY DESK PROJECT.
• Author's Saving Throw:
  • "DEANDISASTER" features universal and compulsory cochlear implants in response to the ADA's mass siren attack, effectively curing deafness as a disability, and is portrayed as an unambiguously good thing by the episode. This ended up receiving pushback from several viewers, as cochlear implant surgery is highly controversial (with some parts of the deaf and hard of hearing community viewing them as being ableist erasure of deaf culture). In response, the video's description was updated a few months after premiere to retroactively add in further context: the implants began as completely optional out of respect for deaf culture, but intense social pressure and harassment from the general public made most of those already hearing-impaired to seek treatment anyway.
  • When THE TRINITY DESK PROJECT was first (re-)released, the prior teaser and build-up made it seem that it was meant to be the Grand Finale of the entire series. Given that the episode was primarily concerned with Canon Welding the earlier series into the Mythos and did very little to answer the ongoing questions of the season or series (the only major questions addressed being the fates of the Modern Day versions of Maya and Leonard), a lot of fans cried foul. In response, Alex- who normally avoids publicly discussing a currently-airing season except to provide teasers, share fanart, or provide schedule updates- took to the Community tab to clarify that THE TRINITY DESK PROJECT was always meant to be Part 1 of the Grand Finale, with a second part featuring entirely new footage confirmed for release less than two weeks later, putting a rest to most of the complaints.
• Colbert Bump: YouTuber Wendigoon did a lengthy video about the series, giving it more attention. It was also boosted by many "Wendigoon Out of Context" meme videos that predominantly featured clips from his Monument Mythos video due to the series just being that weird.
• Creator Backlash: The Nixonverse has been delisted several times since its ending, and for several months seemed doomed to remain unlisted and only accessible through the playlists tab. Alex stated that he has many feelings about the series, but that "pride is not one of them"; however, after seeing that fans overwhelmingly enjoyed the series, he eventually warmed to them and made them public again. He also released a recut of the entire series called The Absolute Nixonverse, which both reorders episodes and adds in new clips to give the series some much needed context.
• Creator Breakdown: In essence, The House in the Ocean became this. The sporadic updates and the eventual deletion of the videos later were revealed by Alex Casanas of being this due to his grief of his father's death being personified in the videos.
  • His short-lived AMERICAN ANATOMY series was halted following a brief break for mental health, with two entries being reinstated into The Trinity Desk Project, and one video from The Trinity Desk Project along with the other two from AMERICAN ANATOMY being privated "for the foreseeable future." They have since been deleted, due to Alex being dissatisfied with how they turned out. However, a re-edited version (with certain scenes removed and a new framing device bringing it into line with the Mythos's continuity) was ultimately reuploaded as part of Modern Day.
  • The whole Nixonverse was apparently created during what Alex describes as "an extremely manic time with many mental breakdowns" according to a community post.
• Cut Song: A somber, more celestial-sounding remix of Soul Coaxing was created for AIRFORCEONEFALLENANGEL and is included on the soundtrack for Season 2, but was never used in the final video; it would later be used in the Season 3 episode ANGELASHES.
• Follow the Leader: While Analog Horror had already been popularized by projects like ＬＯＣＡＬ５８ and Gemini Home Entertainment, the specific stylizations of The Monument Mythos- such as the extensive use of Alternate History, Black Comedy, and the inclusion of Windows Movie Maker-inspired Stylistic Suck segments (as seen in "CANYONCROWN" and "THE HOUSE IN THE OCEAN")- have been widely imitated by fans who went on to create their own series. The latter in particular has inspired an entire subgenre (or sub-subgenre?) nicknamed "shitpost horror", with Alex himself contributing to one such series, "Executive Shutdown", shortly before the premier of Season 3.
• In Memoriam: FALLENFATHER is dedicated to Alex Casanas' real life father, who passed away shortly before it was made.
• Meaningful Release Date:
  • ALCATRAZAPOCALYPSE was released on February 22, 2022 (i.e., 2/22/22), which not only is an alliterative date, but is also when The End of the World as We Know It in-universe happens. It also happens to be the exact day George Washington was born, 290 years ago.
  • THE MURDER OF MICKEY MOUSE was released on January 1, 2024, to commemorate the entry of Steamboat Willie into the public domain.
  • FOOTAGE OF FINAL TRUMP RALLY was released on January 6, 2024, the three-year anniverssary of the storming of the United States Capitol Building that was instigated by Trump.
  • The series' Grand Finale, CORNERWORLD, was uploaded on Feburary 22, 2024; This gives it similar significance to the above-mentioned ALCATRAZAPOCALYPSE.
  • A Monument Mythos, a strange sort of epilogue to the series that includes a cameo by Oppenheimer and is stated to have been made by the Croatoan, was released on February 29th of 2024, a day which only exists in one out of four years, tying into THE TRINITY DESK PROJECT'S themes about invisibility and uncertainty. The final shot after the credits even highlights its significance as an "invisible day".
• Missing Episode:
  • PYRAMIDPLASMA, which existed in two separate versions and was deleted from the channel a number of times. The first version was initially removed due to referencing Nazi Germany, and subsequent removals were motivated by dissatisfaction with the final product, in particular the use of real University of Florida students who were killed in World War I, which Alex later decided was in bad taste. A completely remade second version (now using original names for the soldiers among other differences) was made, but this too was removed out of dissatisfaction with the result. Eventually, Alex declared the entire thing non-canon and integrated some of its plot elements into ROCKEFELLERREVELATION.
    • Related to the first version of PYRAMIDPLASMA is "Restored Footage", which only showed the footage of Operation Pyramid Plasma itself, while omitting the music and text.
  • The original version of STARRYSPHINX, which mostly consisted of black and white shots of the Sphinx and a starry sky, before the Starry Sphinx itself forms. The episode was later removed and completely remade and expanded upon, and this second version is the current iteration of the episode that can be viewed. The formation and appearance of the Starry Sphinx is retained, albeit with a green tint; the thumbnail also preserves a frame from the first version.
  • While (initially) not part of The Monument Mythos themselves, the videos of The House in the Ocean were first removed due to Alex getting messages from "a member of the Air Force" and took them down out of fear of repercussions, but eventually reuploaded them with edits after giving days to think about it and figuring it was simply a troll trying to get to him. See Creator Breakdown for it.
  • All of The House in the Ocean videos were removed when that series ended, making all of its episodes missing. However, all the episodes were later combined into a single video and published as a part of the Nixonverse.
  • The second video in the CORNERFOLKLORE series, CORNERBABY, was later privated and declared non-canon by Alex.
• Promoted Fanboy: Several creators who made fan works of the series have ended up becoming official contributors, including Dari0us, Daniel Wilson, and Ember Alberson.
• Reality Subtext: One of the locations the Air Force One Angel visits is the Statue of Liberty, and a photograph of Air Force One flying over the monument◊ is shown; in reality, this image caused quite a stir in real life, and served as the basis of a scandal in 2009 after the jet flew low over New York unannounced to take part in a photo op, terrifying thousands of New Yorkers who feared an attack on the city in the style of September 11th, 2001.
• Recycled Soundtrack: "Copia", a track originally created for and used in the now-deleted first version of PYRAMIDPLASMA, was reused in the Season 3 episode AFTERANGEL.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Alex initially wanted to establish a relationship between the Thunderbirds from North American mythology and the Horned Serpent, but later abandoned this.
  • An original episode known only as MAIZEMAN was planned to be made, but the death of Alex's father ended up changing a lot of his original plans for the Mythos and the episode itself was scrapped.
  • After the creation of JESUS IN VIETNAM, Alex was planning to create an episode simply titled Bethlanam that showed the reactions of people around the world to such an event.

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