Visual Novel / Psycholonials

Only crazy people write manifestos.

Psycholonials is a visual novel created by Andrew Hussie. The first chapter was released on February 4th, 2021, with the remaining of 9 chapters released gradually in the following months by DLC.

The story follows Z., an aspiring Instagram influencer living on Nantucket Island during the COVID-19 Pandemic, who is trying to grow her brand through a combination of absurdist shitposting and flirty content. After a mystic vision involving ghosts, a giant shadowy humanoid in space, and her dead father, Z. is inspired to rededicate herself to The Jubilite Manifesto, a tome she wrote that is somehow connected to her online cancellation one year prior. When Z. decides to break quarantine and leave the house to visit her friend Abby, her dedication to her manifesto changes things for her forever.

Warning: May contain unmarked spoilers for Part 1.

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Psycholonials contains the following tropes:

• 420, Blaze It: The story starts on 4/20/2020, a date Z has marked on her calendar with with "blaze it", and she notes that the date is funny. In addition, the final part was released on 4/20/2021.
• Abdicate the Throne: Under Abby's advice, Z gives up the title of Supreme Honkifex at the start of Part 9, giving it and all of the relevant social media accounts to Mizzlebip.
• The Alcoholic: Z drinks very heavily to cope with her depression and to keep herself occupied. She wakes up at 3 PM hung over and then immediately starts drinking.
• Alternate History: The story is set in 2020 and features a number of real events, including the COVID-19 Pandemic and summer 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, but it diverges from real life by having the Jubilites be heavily involved in these events, eventually taking a sharp turn from reality by having the Jubilities take over Nantucket island, among other things.
• Alien Invasion: Of a sort. Chapter 6 reveals that Riotus is a member of an ancient, extinct alien clown race, who is using Z. and her manifesto to spread his society's values on Earth in a sort of cultural invasion, though they can't physically reach earth.
• All There in the Manual: The Psycholonials website has a complete guide to all major characters and all the clowns, listing the names and gender identities of every known Jubilite.
• Ambiguous Gender Identity: Z identifies as "clown gender", which is described as being whimsically detached from the gender binary. Privately, Z proposes "whim/whims" as pronouns, but keeps them quiet because she fears they would make her look insincere. Publicly, she uses she/they pronouns, and it's stated that all pronouns apply to clown gendered persons.
• Bad Bedroom, Bad Life: Z.'s bedroom consists of a mattress on the floor, and her studio apartment is almost entirely unfurnished save for a kitchen table and the aforementioned mattress. This is a reflection of her depression and general state of emotional depravity and distress.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Even though Z chooses not to become the Successor and she and Abby live happily together, abandoning the Jubilite organization, the cosmic forces of the Jubilite ideology triumph in the end. Z is replaced by an endless parade of Grand Honkifexes who are much worse than her, and the ending shows the Jublitite culture spreading from civilization to civilization throughout the universe with Successors from many alien species ascending.
• Beware the Quiet Ones: Mizzlebip may be quiet, but she's a mean helicopter pilot. She was probably also responsible for the mutiny that killed most of Ring 3 in Chapter 8.
• Big Fancy House: Abby lives in an enormous mansion by the beach with a number of cars in the garage, a wine cellar full of thousand+ dollar wines, and a bedroom larger than Z.'s entire apartment.
• Brainless Beauty: While Abby isn't exactly The Ditz and is very savvy when it comes to self-promotion, she's not as good at plotting and planning as the characters around her, and often acts as The Watson to Z., but is noted for her beauty. In a speech intended to flatter her, Joculine struggles to find talents to praise about her other than her beauty and ability to get social media followers.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: A character directly addresses the player a few times:
  • In episode 9, Z. directly addresses the player as "you" and clarifies that she's not referring to Zhen, but to the player, who is the one making the choice of Sword or Crown.
  • The story's epilogue is formatted as a Message in a Bottle directly addressed to the player, where Z. directly addresses the player's presumed interest in Save Scumming and explains how she deleted all the save files as part of claiming her independence.
• Boom, Headshot!: Z. stylishly shoots a number of people in the head in Chapter 8, including a guy who has her grabbed by the neck.
• Bust-Contrast Duo: Flat-chested Z. is emotionally unstable, bellicose, and disruptive, while the bustier Abby is cheerful, level-headed and motherly.
• But Thou Must!: A couple times the player has the option to select an action for Z. Attempting to select either option causes a mysterious narrative voice, presumably Z.'s Ephemeral Muse, to take over and reminds you that You Can't Fight Fate and that Z. has no power over her actions.
• Can't Act Perverted Toward a Love Interest: Sort of. Z. refuses to sleep with Abby because she associates sex with hurting and controlling people, and she actually cares about Abby.
• Capitalism Is Bad: Heavily played with. Capitalism is the ultimate antagonist of the story, and Z's driving motivation with the Jubilities is to destroy capitalism and the injustices of American society. But it's ambiguous how sympathetic the narrative is to Z and her ideals. It's not clear that the chaotic, violent society the Jubilities build at the end of the story is any better than what came before, and the characters cause a lot of carnage and behave hypocritically^note  by criticizing rich people for ill-gotten gains while also accumulating vast amounts of wealth which they use mainly for gaining more power, and ultimately using this wealth to escape any punishment along the way. Yet the narrative also seems sympathetic to Z's anti-capitalism at other times, pointing blame on the economy and society for her father's death through overwork, Z's fractured relationship with her parents, and perhaps even her unhappiness and mental instability.
• Chandler's Law: A couple of chapters have basically nothing happen plot-wise until an armed police officer shows up, causing a cascade of plot:
  • Most of Part 1 has very little happen other than dialog, and has a slow pace and creepy atmosphere. But once an armed police officer shows up on the scene, there's a rapid burst of action that leaves the police officer dead, several cars destroyed, and Z. on the run.
  • Most of part 5 has Z. on her own, ruminating to herself, until the end, when a SWAT team shows up in an attempt to kill her, leading to a shootout that ends with dozens of people dead and catalyzes the next stage of Z.'s revolutionary movement.
• Chekhov's Skill: At the beginning of Chapter 8, Z. mentions that Mizzlebip is a skilled helicopter pilot. At the end of the chapter, she uses those skills to mow down Z.'s attackers and save her.
• Cliffhanger: The game was released serially, and every single chapter except the last ends in an exciting moment of peril:
  • Chapter 1 ends with Z. having committed several crimes and on the run from the law.
  • Chapter 2 has Z. seemingly resolve the issues from the end of Chapter 1, but ends with the cops showing up where she's been staying, seemingly about to capture her.
  • Chapter 3 ends with Z. discovering that the police have named her as a personal of interest in the cop-killing case.
  • Chapter 4 ends with Percy showing up and immediately getting arrested, undoubtedly because Z. implicated him in the murder, and Z. busting him out of custody by killing two cops in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses and going on the run with him in tow.
  • Chapter 5 ends with Z. and her army of Jubilites taking over Nantucket, having made all civilians evacuate and leaving approximately 40 cops shot dead. But in the shoot-out, Percy was also killed, and Z. was shot in the leg, passing out, but not before orchestrating a false chemical attack on the island by having her followers fake sickness in the streets.
  • Chapter 6 ends with Z. realizing that Joculine, her third-in-command, is candice_shmandice, her top anti who tried to cancel her before the story began.
  • Chapter 7 ends with Z. accidentally (in theory) texting her list of enemies to Ring 3 in her sleep much to their confusion, and her phone and hands bloodied by a Psychic Nosebleed, furiously texting a lot of skull emojis, ordering their execution.
  • Chapter 8 ends with Z. declaring war with the United States government, but after walking away from the field where she made that declaration, noticing stealth bombers in the sky above her, and she breaks down and wonders what she has just done.
• Clownification: Downplayed. The main character Z. is inspired by a mystic vision to write a clown-themed "Jubilite Manifesto", which goes viral on social media. Z. subsequently adopts a clown persona and becomes the leader of the Jubilites, a cult of Monster Clowns prone to mischief and violence. Jubilite ideology is eventually revealed to be an alien Mind Virus spread throughout the universe by an ancient lineage of species-transcending clown spirits (represented by Z.'s "Ephemeral Muse", Riotus) in a sort of cultural invasion, colonizing entire planets with their society's values. It's a downplayed example because it's not initially clear that Jubilite ideology is supernatural in origin, rather than merely a memetic social movement.
• The Con: Pranxis, Z.'s scheme to steal billions of dollars from Abby's parents. The scheme involves a host of both real and fake associates convincing them to invest in a bitcoin scheme that will then be hacked by Z.
• Cop Killer: Though it's told from a different perspective than usual. Z.'s murder of first one and then several police officers is treated as a huge deal by the press and by the police, who organize a massive manhunt to find her. And then Chapter 5's big shootout came, with Z. and her followers having killed approximately 40 more cops.
• Couch Gag: A subtle, thematically important one: each chapter opens with a sword or knife slowly descending toward a similarly-shaped constellation - and every couple of episodes, the opening music plays longer and the blade is thus seen dropping further.
• Creator Cameo: Andrew Hussie's clownsona "D Clussie" appears in Chapter 6.
• Creator Thumbprint: Has all the trademark Andrew Hussie elements: clowns, hip hop, horses, and old video game references.
• Dark and Troubled Past: A year ago, Z. was cancelled for an unknown heinous act, and her father died around the same time. The circumstances behind this are unclear but are portrayed as vaguely ominous.
• Dead Guy Junior: At the end of the story, Zhen and Abby name their horse Percy, after the character who dies midway through the story. Zhen notes that since they can't adopt children together, Percy is the closest thing they have to a child.
• Death by Cameo: A case with a recurring cameo. D-Clussie, Andrew Hussie's clownsona, is one of the fatalities in the Chapter 8 shootout, trying in vain to save a horse.
• Diving Save: In Chapter 8, as bombs go off at Abby's mansion, Mizzlebip tackles Z to protect her leader, though Z quickly shrugs her off in annoyance.
• Dream Sequence: When Z. falls asleep at the kitchen table, her soul leaves her body and walks around, and she interacts with the ghost of her father and a cosmic being named Riotus who together urge her to finish her work on the Jubilite Manifesto.
• Drunk Driver: Z. tries to drive to Abby's house while still tipsy, and ends up swerving around, falling asleep, and crashing her car. This leads her into a violent confrontation with a police officer.
• Empty Fridge, Empty Life: Z.'s fridge is almost entirely empty, fitting her status as a deeply depressed, emotionally unstable e-girl.
• Enemies List: Z maintains a list of antis who have opposed her online in the past. In Chapter 7, she has them all executed.
• Expository Pronoun: In Chapter 9, during one of Zhen's dream sequences, the narrator (Z.'s Successor aspect) repeatedly uses "you" ambiguously, to the confusion of Zhen. The narrator then discusses the trope, noting the importance of pronouns to nonbinary people and describes "you" as a "clown car" able to fit untold numbers of people, before clarifying that "you" refers not to Zhen but to the untold number of players out there, whose decision it is to make.
• Expy: Z. shares many similarities with Vriska from Homestuck. Both are bad girls with long black hair and a give no fucks attitude. Both do terrible things including killing a number of people, but both also receive sympathetic portrayals that include a Freudian Excuse related to the death of a parental figure they had mixed feelings about. Their main relationships are with similar characters: a submissive male minion/love interest (Percy/Tavros) who they push around and ultimately cause the death of, a sensible, motherly Lipstick Lesbian with an unrequited crush on them who tries her best to take care of them (Abby/Kanaya), and a perky childhood frenemy who tries to bring them to justice despite ambivalent feelings toward them ( Joculine/Terezi). And both amass an army of followers to fight against an enemy (capitalism/Lord English) with the odds against them. Given that Hussie claimed Vriska was his favorite character, it's unsurprising he made her character archetype the protagonist of his next work.
• First-Name Basis: The narrator, Z.'s ephemeral muse and a cosmic being, refers to her by her given name Zhen, unlike everyone else, signifying their knowledge of Z.'s secrets and interior life. In Chapter 9, this name distinction is used to delineate Zhen, the human being, and Z., the cosmic clown spirit Successor.
• Flashy Protagonists, Bland Extras: Everyone except for Z, Abby, Joculine, Mizzlebip, D-Clussie and Riotus is drawn in a more low-res style, with the exceptions of certain Jubilites who don't get lines, and Percy, the moment he was shot.
• Flipping the Table: In chapter 8, after Abby laughs at her plans, Z throws a tantrum and is so enraged she topples a coffee table in their meeting room.
• Frameup: In chapter 2, Z. casts suspicion on her local reply guy who she messaged earlier in the night by telling the police he's a jealous ex-boyfriend who might have stolen her car, in hopes the police would think he also killed the cop.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Z. On April 13th, 2020, she was just a normal woman living in squalor with just under 1000 followers on Instagram. By summer, she's a clownish dictator with the second-highest follower account on all Instagram, beaten only by Instagram itself, and has taken control of Nantucket and Russia, has caused an untold number of fatalities from unnamed cops to people as important as Jeff Bezos, and has declared war with the United States government.
• GIS Syndrome: Used extensively. All of the backgrounds are real photos, heavily pixilated and filtered. One scene even features a satellite street map as a backdrop. Only the characters are actually drawn.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While Z is the Villain Protagonist, the larger force behind the Jubilities and many of Z's more extreme actions is Riotus and the ancient lineage of species-transcending clown spirits he represents, who seem to be a primal force of chaos in the universe driving the Monster Clown-ification of countless alien races. They don't directly interact in the story but urge her on.
• Gun Struggle: After the police officer shoots her copy of the Jubilite Manifesto, Z leaps at him and attempts to wrestle the gun away from him. She succeeds, and proceeds to shoot him to death.
• Gun Twirling: Z. does a lot of this in Chapter 7 before shooting Joculine dead. She does even more of it in the big shootout in Chapter 8.
• Hourglass Plot: At the start of the story, Abby is a successful social media influencer and Z. is a lazy mess of a person. By Chapter 8, guess what's happened?
• Ho Yay: In-universe, Abby is absolutely convinced that Jimin and Jungkook of BTS are secretly in love, and has written a number of fanfics and a whole manifesto on the subject.
• If It's You, It's Okay:
  • Bisexual Abby jokes that she is lesbian who is attracted to exactly seven men — the members of BTS.
  • Possibly in the ending as well. Z seems mostly interested in men throughout the story, and while Z insists otherwise Abby think's she's mostly straight. But Z and Abby end up together.
• Important Haircut:
  • After the Jubilites take over Nantucket, Z cuts her hair short, signifying her new role as a military leader.
  • In Chapter 9, Z lets her hair grow out and Abby lets her hair return to its natural blonde, signifying their abandonment of their previous roles as military leader and influencer.
• Incompatible Orientation: Abby is bisexual and tried to kiss Z., who is straight. Subverted at the end, as Abby and Z end up together.
• Just Like Robin Hood: Played With. Z. presents her plan to steal billions of dollars from Abby's extremely wealthy parents as a political statement against the evils of capitalism, but while her targets aren't particularly sympathetic, neither is Z. and it's not clear that any of the money will be used to help people.
• Karma Houdini: Ultimately, Zhen doesn't receive much comeuppance for everything she's done aside from some emotional pain and psychic damage. Shortly after declaring war with America, she makes Mizzlebip the new Supreme Honkifex and flies away with Abby to Fiji, where she lives a happy life with Abby (and a quiet life too, the Jubilite movement has completely ignored Fiji).
• Last Breath Bullet: In Chapter 5, during the police shootout, Percy gets shot in the chest and apparently dies. But just as the final police officer is about to kill Z., Percy uses his last strength to shoot and kill the officer before immediately dying.
• Last-Second Ending Choice: Completely and utterly subverted when Z. tells her successor aspect - and the players - to stop telling her what to think.
• Left the Background Music On: In Chapter 8, when Z tells Abby to turn the music down so they can discuss strategy, she hits pause on her phone and the music stops.
• Light Feminine Dark Feminine: Z., a surly e-girl with dark hair and a purple and black color scheme, is the dark feminine, while her best and only real life friend Abby, with her more cheerful disposition, brightly lit house, and light blue color scheme, is the light feminine.
• Lipstick Lesbian: Abby is bisexual but prefers women. She identifies strongly as female and has a large wardrobe and complex makeup routine that she streams to her followers.
• Lovecraft Country: Takes place in New England, in a town that is nearly abandoned due to the pandemic. The story has an overall dark and creepy feel, and involves the meddling of supernatural forces.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: In Chapter 9, Abby and Z. discuss whether Riotus and Z.'s visions were real or imaginary, though the ending probably comes down on the side of real.
• Meadow Run: At the end of Chapter 9, Zhen and Abby run through a meadow with their horse as part of a montage of them happily in love together.
• Meaningful Rename: In Chapter 9, Z. starts going by her given name, Zhen. This symbolizes her embracing her Chinese heritage (she started going by Z because people couldn't pronounce Zhen) and reconciling with her immigrant parents, as well as her casting away her clownsona and identity as the leader of the Jubilities.
• Mic Drop: In Chapter 8, Z gives a speech at a rally where she declares war on America. After this rousting speech, she ends on a dramatic note by dropping the mic and leaving.
• Mind Virus: The title refers to the way in which Jubilite ideology colonizes the mind, turning people into Monster Clowns prone to mischief and violence. It's spread rapidly ("virally") through social media, and the work draws parallels between the uncontrollable spread of COVID-19 and the spread of the Jubilite Manifesto throughout the world. It's eventually revealed that the Jubilite ideology is an ancient, alien cultural virus that's transmitted from civilization to civilization throughout the universe after it colonizes an entire planet, and the ending animation that depicts it spreading beyond Earth resembles a network diagram depicting disease spread.
• The Mole:
  • Joculine turns out to be one of Z.'s antis, who has steadily risen in the organization in an attempt to undermine her. This prompts Z. to kill her after she suggests killing Abby's parents.
  • In Episode 8, the Nantucket compound is attacked by a group of insiders within the Jubilities. Mizzlebip finds evidence that at least one was a CIA plant.
  • In Episode 9, Z. posits that Mizzlebip herself was a mole trying to undermine the organization for her own purposes.
• Monster Clown: Z and her followers. She's taken on a clown persona as a part of her clown-heavy manifesto, and has partaken in criminal activity, such as stealing billions of dollars from Abby's parents in an elaborate phishing scam, as well as multiple counts of cop murder, effectively taking over Nantucket with her army of other Monster Clowns, and introducing clown-based riots to the political unrest that was already happening in late-spring 2020 America.
• Montage Out: Chapter 9 ends with a montage (also a Falling-in-Love Montage) of Z and Abby spending time together, frolicking with their horse, getting married, etc. as they live happily together on Fiji.
• Morality Pet: Zig-zagged with Abby. Throughout the story, she often justifies Z's violent actions, responding as a caring friend who tries to persuade her that she should focus on her own well-being and not feel guilty or worried about what she's done. But as the story progresses, she starts expressing concern with some of her more extreme actions. In Chapter 7-8 she withdraws from the Jubilities after Z kills Joculine, leading indirectly to Abby's parents' death and nearly talks Z out of executing her antis list, and later convinces Z to leave the Jubilites altogether at the end of the story. This contrasts with Riotus, who encourages Z at every turn.
• More Dakka: The battle in Episode 8 is filled with endless streams of bullets from all directions, depicted as lines, and Z dual-wields automatic rifles firing constantly.
• Mystical Plague: Z. believes that the spirit of her dead mother, who died of COVID-19, transmitted the disease to her, possibly out of spite.
• Mythology Gag: There are a few references to Homestuck, mostly referencing Z being a former fan of it.
  • There's a heavily pixelated but still recognizable picture of Karkat on her wall.
  • April 13th, the day Homestuck was launched on and initially set in, is marked on Z's calendar with a drawing of Homestuck's house logo.
    A week ago was a day relevant to a childhood interest, so you facetiously drew a little doodle to commemorate.
  • One of Z's antis on Instagram is "Softboi._.Makara", referencing the most foremost Monster Clown of the webcomic, Gamzee.
  • When Abby mentions that Z used to cosplay, Z says she doesn't have nearly enough grey makeup to recapture what she did, referencing the Homestuck fandom's proficiency for cosplaying the trolls, which requires a lot of grey makeup due to them having grey skin.
  • As of the beginning of Chapter 4, Z's Instagram account has 413 posts, referencing how the number 413 pops up frequently in Homestuck. In addition, she has 6.12 million followers, referencing the other most common Arc Number of 612.
  • The penultimate chapter was launched on April 13th 2021, 12 years to the day after Homestuck launched.
  • In the epilogue, Z says that the shape of Nantucket Island reminds her of a character who decapitated her plush dragons — namely, Terezi.
  • A non-Homestuck example, Professor Chucklefuck the third Supreme Honkifex after Mizzlebip's assassination is a dead ringer for Sugarshoe from Whistles, another one of Hussie's works.
• NEET: Z. is a 23 year old college dropout and unemployed due to COVID-19. She spends all her time in her unkempt apartment, posting on the internet and getting drunk, and is almost completely directionless except for thinking about how to grow her brand.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Zig-zagged. In Chapter 5, Z. is still able to move around and take down several heavily armed police officers despite being shot in the leg, but in Chapter 6 she collapses immediately afterward and takes several weeks to recover from her injuries, and by the end of the chapter she's still not walking right.
• Perky Female Minion: Joculine, whose multi-colored hair and clown getup invokes Harley Quinn, quickly rises to Z.'s 3rd-in-command, where she impresses Z. with her organization and competence, though her extreme enthusiasm and ass-kissing irritates Z. While she turns out to be one of Z.'s antis trying to undermine her, Z. later reflects that her actions came from a weird sort of obsessive love.
• Poster-Gallery Bedroom: Discussed, as Z comments that a person's posters on her wall ought to reflect who they are a person, as people these days are only a collection of interests and media they like. The only decoration her entire house is a collection of things that were once important to her: an Insane Clown Posse poster representing her Juggalo past, a Post Malone poster representing her perfect man, and a picture of Karkat, representing another past obsession. Together these represent her obsession with clowns and weird cantankerous goblins.
• Post-Victory Collapse: At the end of chapter 5/beginning of chapter 6, after successfully killing all the cops while her allies take over Nantucket, Z. succumbs to her leg wound and COVID injuries, and spends the whole first half of chapter 6 unconscious.
• Professional Butt-Kisser: Z thinks Joculine is one of these, as a front for something sinister under the surface.
• The Purge: Chapter 7 has Z unconsciously sending her blacklist of haters to Ring 3 and ordering them to be assassinated en masse.
• Really Gets Around: Abby is implied to have a messy and highly active sex life, even during COVID lockdown.
• Regional Riff: Z. has a dream where she meets with her cosmic mentor that takes place in a mountaintop temple in an Asian-inspired landscape full of limestone pinnacles and a road resembling the Great Wall of China. Throughout the scene, the background music makes heavy use of Asian-sounding flutes and zithers, making the scene feel like Z. is visiting her Hermit Guru in a Wutai setting.
• Retraux: The art and intro screens are extremely pixellated, reminiscent of a 90's adventure game. The retro feel contrasts with the extremely topical subject matter of the game, which focuses heavily on the social impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Instagram influencers.
• Sad Clown: Mizzlebip's gender is listed on the Psycholonials website as the pleading face emoji. In addition, most of her dialogue consists of the pleading face emoji.
• Save Scumming: Discussed in the epilogue. and Defied. After you finish chapter 9, all the save files are deleted. Z points out that she is a gamer, too and has plenty of experience saving a game right before the big choice. She deleted all the save files to prevent players from trying out different Sword/Crown options, and in the end all routes lead the same way, because the choice was hers, not the player's.
• Sextra Credit: It's mentioned that Abby graduated from Harvard by sleeping with all her professors.
• Sexy Discretion Shot: Chapter 4 ends with Z. straddling Percy and getting on top of him. The view pans away to an outside shot, presumably they have sex, and then the chapter ends.
• Social Media Is Bad: A major theme. Abby and Z., social media influencers, are shallow, petty, amoral narcissists, and Z.'s social media accounts fuel her depression and insecurity. Z. even says at one point that she thinks the internet is evil.
• Spit Take: When Z. jokingly implies that Abby's entire relationship with her has been a long con to get lesbian kisses, the wine Abby was drinking comes out her nose in amusement/shock.
• Statuesque Stunner: Abby is an Instagram influencer with millions of followers and Z has described her height as "stupid giant".
• Sword of Damocles: Used metaphorically in the Sword route, and hinted at in the loading screen between each chapter with the sword that slowly falls lower and lower. In episode 9, Z. explains that if Zhen chooses the sword, she will be free of responsibility as the Surpreme Honkifex, but she will be forever haunted by the threat of some sort of punishment or specter of her past life.
• Sudden Video-Game Moment: The game is normally non-interactive and has no in-universe video game elements, but a few times a Life Meter/Mana Meter shows up on screen to display Z.'s emotions: a "Psychic Damage" meter representing her distress and a "spoons" meter representing her mental capacity.
• Sugar-and-Ice Personality: With both her followers and her friend Abby, Z. alternates between being sweet and solicitous and being a foul-mouthed, hostile Jerkass.
• Take a Third Option: An interesting example. Throughout the game, fake "choices" are presented to the reader, but the reader is never allowed to actually pick anything, due to Z not being considered a "true successor" yet. By the end of the game, when Zhen has finally achieved that status, the reader is presented with a choice they can actually interact with: a heavy crown, representing going back and becoming Supreme Honkifex once more at the cost of all the suffering it brings, or Damocles' sword, representing leaving it behind, but living her life in guilt and worry over her actions as Supreme Honkifex and whether they'll come back to bite her. Regardless of what the reader actually picks, Zhen resists both, choosing her own path — leaving it all behind and letting go of it all, taking her time in happiness instead of wasting it in fear. The story presents this as closer to the sword than the crown, but fades the sword out to symbolize its loss of power over her.
• Taking the Bullet: During the big shoot-out in Chapter 8, D-Clussie takes some bullets intended for Abby's horse, David Hasslehoof. Despite his best efforts, the horse gets shot anyway.
• That Man Is Dead: At the end of Chapter 4, Z. tells Percy that "Percy" is dead and he must now become his Jubilite alter ego, Purse, after both of them are implicated in serious crimes.
• Title Drop: Kind of. In chapter 6, it is revealed that all civilized planets in the universe are too far apart to ever colonialize one another - which is why Riotus did so to Earth psychically via Z. and the Jubilite Manifesto. Psychic colonialism.
• Time Skip: Nearly all chapters start with one.
• Trapped in a Sinking Car: At the end of Chapter 1, Z. drives a car off a pier and is trapped inside for a moment, but easily escapes it while underwater.
• Two Aliases, One Character: Joculine is the clownsona of candace_shmandace, one of Z's antis who ruined her reputation before the story began.
• Unlimited Wardrobe: Z. and Abby are portrayed wearing different outfits in pretty much every scene, fitting with their Instagram model status.
• The Vamp: Z. says she associates sex with manipulating people. She essentially seduces Percy into being complicit in her bitcoin scam, which also involves the two of them seducing Abby's mom to get her money.
• Villain Protagonist: Z. Stealing billions of dollars in an elaborate phishing scheme? Check. Multiple counts of murder? Check. Assembling an army of militant clowns? Check. Taking over the world? Uncheck, but she did take over Nantucket, and her minions have taken over Russia without her direct oversight.
• Video Games and Fate: The game repeatedly presents the player with options, only to lock the suggestion boxes as the narrator, a supernatural entity, insists that you don't have a choice, as Z. (the protagonist) has no control over her actions, as she hasn't earned it yet, leading to an almost entirely linear storyline that constantly toys with questions of responsibility and agency. In Chapter 9, the player is finally presented with a choice, but no matter what you pick, Zhen resists it — if you insist on the Crown path, she shouts "don't tell me what to do", and if you insist on the Sword path, she shouts "don't tell me how to feel". The epilogue reveals that all possible choices lead to Zhen refusing to go back to being Supreme Honkifex while also refusing to hold onto past regrets and worries born of the events of the game, as the choice was Zhen's to make, not yours.
• The Voiceless: Mizzlebip speaks only in emojis.
• The Watson: Many scenes provide exposition on what the Jubilites have been up to by having Abby ask Z what her plans are and what she's been doing.
• We ARE Struggling Together: As the game progresses, the Jublilites, a revolutionary anarchistic anti-capitalist group, split into countless competing, infighting factions. In Chapter 8, factional infighting between Jubilite camps leaves dozens dead, including most of the higher-ups, and this only gets worse at the end of the game after Z abdicates, in which there is an endless cycle of new leaders taking over and then getting immediately killed and replaced by someone else.
• Word, Schmord!: One of Z.'s antis is named candace_schmandace.
• Yaoi Fangirl:
  • Z. has a highly explicit piece of gay fanart as her phone's unlock screen, and used to be very involved in the gay Metal Gear Solid shipping community.
  • Abby is very involved in a fandom subculture involving gay Real-Person Fic shipping for BTS, and has written an entire manifesto on the subject.
• You Don't Want to Catch This: In chapter 5, the Nantucket Jubilites pretend en-masse to be asphyxiating in order to cause everyone else to panic and flee the island and support Z.'s narrative that the government is attacking her with a nerve agent.
• You Wake Up in a Room: The story begins with Z. waking up in her bed, hung over and generally confused.

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