Opponents clockwise from top: Joe Mama Squidward, The Tortured One, MeatCanyon SpongeBob, Red Mist Squidward, Bootleg SpongeBob, Served Plankton and Canon Squidward (Not included in the image: Robot Chicken Mr. Krabs, Dehydrated SpongeBob, Coconut Fred, or the buttload of planned characters)
Mistful Crimson Morning is a Friday Night Funkin' mod based on the Squidward's Suicide creepypasta and various other SpongeBob SquarePants horror media.After a humiliating concert performance, Squidward trudges back to his home, only to encounter some odd land mammals right outside his door. You can piece together the rest.
The mod was initially cancelled due to leaks and internal drama, with an unfinished build released so the team's work wouldn't go to waste. However, after overwhelmingly positive reception to the mod and further discussion among the team, it was picked back up to polish it and add in unfinished content. Said patch, dubbed the "Hotfix update", was released on July 15, 2022. A new "V2" update was planned but ultimately, the mod would be cancelled again in October 2022 due to more internal drama. On December 28, 2022, the official Twitter account announced the mod was uncancelled again due to wide demand, under a new team.
The mod can be downloaded here. A build containing some of the content was finished for the V2 update prior to it's cancellation can be downloaded here.
Songs
Main Week
- Humiliation (Red Mist Squidward)
- Mist (Red Mist Squidward)
- Doomsday (Red Mist Squidward)
Freeplay
- Sanguilacrimae (Canon Squidward)
- Tortured (The Tortured One vs Titan Squidward)
- Served (Served Plankton)
- Satisfaction (MeatCanyon SpongeBob)
- Dead Hope (Faceless SpongeBob and Patrick)
- Dumped (Bootleg SpongeBob)
- Cannibalism (Robot Chicken Mr. Krabs vs SpongeBob)
- Dehydration (Dehydrated SpongeBob)
- Joe Mama (Joe Mama Squidward vs Mean Boyfriend)
- Plagerize (Coconut Fred)
Unfinished V2 Build
- Bold or Brash (Teuthida/Starvedward vs Mr. Krabs)note
- Served Remake (Served Plankton)
- Satisfaction Remake (MeatCanyon SpongeBob)
- Propaganda (Ronald Reagen vs SpongeBob)
Tropes
- Achievements in Ignorance: According to
Word of God, Boyfriend doesn't need a helmet underwater like Girlfriend because he's so stupid he doesn't know he needs to breathe. - Adapted Out:
- Thankfully, the dead children mentioned at the end of Squidward's Suicide are nowhere to be seen in the main week.
- Much like other fan-made minus mods, "Joe Mama" only allows you to play as only one variant of Minus Boyfriend, with the other two being completely absent. Unlike said other mods, you play as Mean here rather than Blue.
- Adaptational Distillation: In keeping with other Creepypasta-themed mods, MCM omits some of Squidward's Suicide's more contentious elements; for example, while "Doomsday" is set late into the Creepypasta's story, the gratuitously violent and disturbing gore images mentioned in the original aren't implemented for rather obvious reasons.
- Adaptational Intelligence: As Boyfriend isn't wearing a helmet because he doesn't know he needs to breathe, Girlfriend wearing a full airsuit implies she's at least smart enough to know she needs air, when she's just as dumb as Boyfriend in canon.
- Ambiguously Evil: Meatcanyon Spongebob, RandomLand Squidward, and Dehyrated Spongebob's motives for facing BF are the most unclear.
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: "Tortured" and "Cannibalism" don't involve Boyfriend or Girlfriend, instead having you play as Titan Squidward and Robot Chicken Spongebob respectively. Additionally, with the Hotfix update, "Joe Mama" switches Boyfriend out for Mean Boyfriend from the Minus mod.
- Art Shift:
- "Tortured" is drawn in the style of a black-and-white pencil sketch, similar to The Bikini Bottom Horror.
- "Satisfaction" is rendered in the hyper detailed and grotesque style of MeatCanyon, complete with a MeatCanyon-styled Boyfriend.
- "Cannibalism" is in 3D claymation rather than 2D to emulate the animation style of Robot Chicken.
- "Dehydration" also uses 3D models, but instead to match the graphics of the GameCube game Spongebob's dehydrated self is from.
- The Blank: True to their name, Faceless Spongebob and Patrick are faceless versions of their canon selves.
- The Cameo: Lord X appears in two of the game's loading screens, both of which reference his friendship with Squidward.
- Camera Perspective Switch:
- "Sanguilacrimae", "Dumped", and "Dehydrated", as well as sections of "Doomsday" and "Satisfaction" take place from a first-person perspective.
- "Dead Hope" begins in the game's usual perspective, then switches to a front view half-way through the song when Faceless SpongeBob and Patrick begin chasing Boyfriend.
- Camera Screw: In "Dead Hope", the level itself heavily bops up and down during the song, and even spins around in time with a whistle in the instrumental.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Disgustingly, Boyfriend's balls, which are visible through his pants in "Satisfaction", change color to match the notes he sings.
- Deliberately Monochrome: "Tortured" has the appearance of the pencil-drawn webcomic it's based on, and as such doesn't have any color beyond shades of gray.
- Denser and Wackier: "Cannibalism", "Joe Mama", and "Plagerize" aren't nearly as dark as the rest of the mod, as they're based on a comedy sketch, a meme, and a wacky cartoon respectively.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Like in the original creepypasta, Red Mist Squidward shoots himself at the end of "Doomsday".
- Served Plankton also lets himself get run over by the bus in "Served".
- Doomed by Canon: Unlike most other creepypasta related mods that change with BF and GF's interference, Squidward and Served Plankton still kill themselves like in their respective creepypastas.
- Funny Background Event: During "Cannibalism", Squidward is in the background enjoying a plate of calamari. Later in the song, SpongeBob tells him he's actually eating cooked squid, causing him to throw up.
- Gimmick Level:
- "Mist" sees the player needing to press the space bar to avoid Squidward's gunshots throughout the song.
- "Dead Hope" has a lot of Interface Screw and Camera Screw in the form of the arrows and even the level itself moving during the song, along with a mid-song scene switch.
- Interface Screw:
- You cannot see Canon Squidward's arrows in "Sanguilacrimae".
- "Dead Hope" forces the arrows into middlescroll for most of the song, and the arrows themselves hover up and down.
- Literal Metaphor: In "Doomsday", the background starts breaking apart at as the song continues, and once we return to Squidward at his recital, the stage is in ruins, a visual indicator for Squidward's world falling apart.
- Meaningful Name: "Sanquilacrimae" is a fancy way to say Tears of Blood, fitting for a form of Suicide Squidward.
- Mood Whiplash:
- In "Doomsday", Squidward lets out a loud Skyward Scream, clearly at the end of his rope. During this, Boyfriend lets out an "ooh-yeah, haha!" and him and Girlfriend pose.
- "Served", an otherwise serious and somber song, begins with "Steel Sting", a goofy sound effect that plays in SpongeBob whenever something mildly disappointing happens.
- Musical Nod:
- Many of the mod's songs have a leitmotif of "Grass Skirt Chase", the song used most often for perilous chase sequences in the show.
- Canon Squidward sings a section of "Sweet Victory" from the episode "Band Geeks" in "Sanguilacrimae".
- Right before Bootleg SpongeBob first shows his angry face in "Dumped", he and Boyfriend sing a section of "Stadium Rave", the song the jellyfish dance to in "Jellyfish Jam".
- In BF's final turn before the outro section of "Satisfaction", he sings the tune of the opening line of "Ocean Man", the end credits song of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
- The instrumental of "Dumped" occasionally references "Bibulus", the "Megalovania" analog for the SpongeSwap AU.
- "Cannibalism" has SpongeBob sing "Stadium Rave" halfway through the song, and he later sings the melody to "Best Day Ever" from the episode of the same name towards the end.
- Mythology Gag:
- All of Joe Mama Squidward's poses are references to previous SpongeBob episodes, such as his up pose being his laughing face after seeing SpongeBob go through his mean April Fools prank from "Fools In April", and his down pose being his dancing from "Culture Shock". Joe Mama Squidward himself is based on a popular meme that features the original Squidward's Suicide image telling the viewer not to ask who Joe is.
- Red Mist Squidward's Beard of Sorrow in "Humiliation" is a reference to "Are You Happy Now?", an infamous episode that many refer to as a kid-friendly version of Squidward's Suicide.
- The Squidward in "Sanquilacrimae" is based off the creepy Squidward head that appeared in the original airing of "SpongeBob in RandomLand", itself based off Squidward's Suicide.
- Served Plankton's up pose, with him raising his hands to the sky while shouting, is a recreation of this piece of stock art◊.
- The song name "Dumped" is taken from the episode of the same name; said episode is the one the creepypasta says the bootlegged tape was of.
- In "Dumped", the song's background includes the famous Bold and Brash from "Artist Unknown". It even has Squidward's Beard of Sorrow!
- The latter half of "Satisfaction" takes place from a first-person perspective as the camera focuses on Spongebob lying back against/melted to the grill with a vacant smile on his face, near-perfectly recreating the final shot of MeatCanyon's Secret Formula.
- Nightmare Face: Plentiful throughout the mod, but easily the most notable ones are Served Plankton's unnervingly realistic, wrinkled face and Dehydrated Spongebob's ghastly expression.
- Noticing the Fourth Wall: Near the end "Doomsday", Red Mist Squidward notices the player and lets out a Skyward Scream while pointing his shotgun at the screen. Boyfriend and Girlfriend notice the fourth wall as well, and both cheerfully wave at the player while this happens.
- Orphaned Setup: At the end of "Cannibalism", Spongebob says the line, "I'm just glad nothing disgusting ever happens to a sponge...". In the original Robot Chicken short, this was followed by a Cutaway Gag of a sponge being used to clean an obese man, but the song (
thankfully) leaves this out. - Promoted to Playable: Titan Squidward serves as the playable character in "Tortured".
- Recurring Riff: Multiple songs in the mod, such as "Humiliation", "Mist", "Dead Hope", and "Cannibalism", have the characters sing a section from "Grass Skirt Chase", a piece of SpongeBob stock music that plays when things are going awry. A variant of the tune is also present in "Tortured"'s instrumental outro.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Squidward's eyes become bright red in "Mist" to signify him losing it, although they do become more black when singing.
- Sensory Abuse: Joe Mama Squidward lets out a microphone-piercing scream when Mean Boyfriend leads him into a What's a Henway? trick.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: Squidward carries around a shotgun in "Mist" and "Doomsday", and shoots at BF in "Mist". "Doomsday" has him use the gun on himself at the end.
- Skyward Scream:
- Near the end of "Doomsday", Squidward lets one out after experiencing a flashback to his on-stage humiliation. Boyfriend then follows up with a cool pose.
- Halfway through "Served", just before and after being run over by the bus, Served Plankton let's out the exact same screams he lets out in this scene in the episode, Plankton's Army.
- Spongebob has a long one in the middle of "Dehydrated", using an elongated section of his previous "I NEED IT!" to achieve the effect.
- Suddenly Voiced:
- Mean Boyfriend and Joe Mama Squidward have an actual conversation at the beginning of "Joe Mama".
- "Cannibalism" has bits of speech spread through the song.
- In the middle of "Satisfaction", Meatcanyon Spongebob asks "Was that good for you?", a line from his source material.
- Near the beginning of "Dehydrated", SpongeBob shouts "I NEEEEEDDD IT!", a line taken from "Tea at the Treedome".
- Shout-Out:
- Next to the TV in "Dumped" is a Nintendo Entertainment System.
- "Joe Mama" is a remix of "Pixel Galaxy" by Snail's House.
- One of the various pictures in the background of "Joe Mama" is a screenshot from Vs SpongeBob Parodies, specifically Skid and Pump's cameo in the D-Sides remix for "Stomach Flu".
- Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: The remake of "Satisfaction" from the unfinished V2 build has the player start with full health. The player cannot regain health by hitting notes, and the song is very fast. Instead, the player regains health by hitting the chunks of sponge that occasionally appear in the charting.
- Too Dumb to Live: In "Served", Boyfriend stands on the road while singing with Served Plankton, who is explicitly waiting for the bus to run him over. Boyfriend gets run over right along side him, and the song continues in the afterlife.
- Inverted during the main week, where (per Word of God) Boyfriend, unlike Girlfriend, isn't wearing any breathing equipment because he's too stupid to realize that he shouldn't be able to breathe underwater. In other words, he's Too Dumb to Die.
- Inverted during the main week, where (per
- Troubled Backstory Flashback: A small portion of "Doomsday" takes place in a flashback to Squidward appearing onstage to play his clarinet, the aftermath of which was the catalyst for his suicide.
- Uncanny Valley: Per the original pasta, Served Plankton has a eerily photorealistic face plastered onto his small cartoony body, creating a dissonance that makes him unnerving to look at. In addition, the face actually emotes in his poses, furthering the effect.
- What's a Henway?: Joe Mama Squidward is based on a variation of the joke where one person asks another who Joe is, only to reply with "Joe Mama".
