Web Animation / Autodale

"There are no monsters here— not in Autodale."

Autodale is a Sci-Fi Horror web series of animated short films developed by David James Armsby, and released on his YouTube channel Dead Sound.

The shorts concern a post-apocalyptic dystopian future where humans live in an isolated, technologically advanced suburb called Autodale. Those who don't follow all the strict laws of this city risk being branded as "Ugly" and systematically executed by robots known as Handymen. Outside the walls of Autodale is a wasteland inhabited by the Freaks, horrific-looking mutant monsters just as unpredictable as they are powerful.

The story of Autodale is still ongoing, with new entries in the series being released as soon as they're done. In addition to the main series, there are also multiple "Making of" videos, in which Armsby explains his creative process and occasionally expands on some of the series' lore.

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Autodale contains examples of:

• Admiring the Abomination: The story of "Friendly Shadow" is kicked off when a little girl's parents discover she'd befriended a monster. When she learns she's doomed to be deemed "Ugly"—a death sentence—she's instead allowed to flee with the monster by the titular character, against Hive's orders.
  • Upon seeing the machine that uses the corpses of the Uglies to keep the Matriarch alive, Hive's response is simply "it was impressive".
• After the End: Autodale is implied to exist after a war or disaster that left the outside world destroyed and running with beasts called "Freaks" and broken machinery. Some humans do exist outside of Autodale, however. "Immortal Machine" elaborates on this, showing that the world was dying before Autodale's founding. The Matriarch is actually a dying goddess of the earth whom the Mayor built Autodale around in order to keep her alive.
• Anthology: The shorts focus on different citizens of Autodale, with the theme being how they are brainwashed by the society, often being killed in the process:
  • "Being Pretty" focuses on a child learning the definition of "Pretty" and what happens to those considered "Ugly."
  • "No Monsters" focuses on a young boy being read a story by his mother, and an Exceptional woman trying to escape detection.
  • "Children's Toys" focuses on a child receiving an action figure of a Handyman, and realizing what truly goes on in their society.
  • "Don't Feed the Freaks"shows a young man in a wasteland who finds Autodale.
  • "Model Citizen" focuses on the Robinson family and the growth of their young son, Junior, and how the families are brainwashed by propaganda. Once their son grows up, the family is persuaded by the society to brand themselves Ugly, for they have no use in society.
  • "Friendly Shadow" follows a detective-based robot called the Shadow as he hunts down a Freak that broke into Auto-Dale, killed a man, and kidnapped his daughter, while trying to keep a promise to the man's widow to bring the girl back.
  • "Immortal Machine" continues the story of the Exceptional Woman as she discovers the origins of Autodale.
• Anti-Hero: Despite his gruff, stoic demeanor and having no qualms about murdering one of the Freaks, Shadow is the most human character in the series and genuinely cares about helping others.
• Arc Symbol: The coat for "The Friendly Shadow." Hive's propaganda always depicts him with the coat, he refuses to wear it to distance himself from his media depiction, and the mother thinks he looks nicer without it. After he defies orders, Hive collectively decides to "give him the coat."
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • "Model Citizen" ends on this: yes, the Robinson family did a good job raising their son and find comfort in being proud of him, but they have still branded themselves as Ugly and are executed by a blow to the head and thrown into a mass grave of Uglies. And if the ending is any indication, Robinson Jr. (now the only Mr. Robinson) is now indoctrinated into the ideals of Autodale, and will likely follow his father's example and to his own eventual doom as well.
  • In "Friendly Shadow", Shadow is able to keep his promise to the girl's mother and bring her to safety by allowing her and the Freak to escape outside the town. However, her mother is still branded Ugly and executed for being a widow, the girl will likely never see her brothers again, and it's implied Shadow will lose his individuality.
• Bizarro Apocalypse: Humanity has fallen victim to something known as "The Withering". Exactly what it is, and what caused it, are both complete unknowns, but its effects include Gravity Screw, the spread of some sort of fungus-based sickness that merges people into the grass and vines which have grown to cover everything, and potentially mutating others into the reptilian monsters known as "Freaks". The only human community known to survive is the titular town, a Dystopia sustained only by the energy of a tortured, dying god.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: The citizens of Autodale aren't evil at all, they're just part of a society that idealizes robots. Being a "model citizen" is considered far more important than being an individual. The meaning of life in Autodale is to be a perfect cog in the system, then being replaced when you're too old to work anymore.
• Call-Back: In "Friendly Shadow" the leader of Hive is the same woman hunted down by the Handymen and branded as Exceptional in "No Monsters."
• Central Theme: Several, which are discussed in the behind the scenes videos:
  • The line between robots and humans: Autodale is an ideal society built by a machine, where every human being is a cog meant to create a new cog to replace it, imperfect cogs that can't contribute to the machinery are discarded, and they are all raised to believe this is as it should be. However, as David points out repeatedly, this system is flawed: Humans are not machines, no matter how much they're indoctrinated, and they will always do stuff like fear, love and give nicknames to the "people" they care about. Then there are of course the people who break with the system...
  • Differing Perspectives: David's very first Autodale work was a painting of a girl offering a cake to a monster in a back alley, which has two interpretations: Either the girl is the only one kind and innocent enough to see a wounded monster as a potential friend, or she is naïve and inexperienced, approaching a dangerous creature that should be left alone. The idea of things being seen from multiple perspectives is central to any story containing the Freaks, especially Don't feed the freaks, where it's revealed at the end that the Autodalians see the traveller as a freak himself.
• City in a Bottle: Autodale is only one town; the rest of the world is implied to be a ruin. In "Don't Feed the Freaks" it is implied Autodale is not the only one of its kind, as broken machinery and robots appear scattered throughout the ruins of a similar town that was called "Town".
• Crapsaccharine World: Autodale is a visually appealing suburban paradise - unless you're considered Exceptional or Ugly.
• Conditioned to Accept Horror:
  • Most people in Autodale accept their way of life as normal and aspire to be model citizens, not just out of fear of being labeled "ugly", but because they believe it's the right thing to do. This is exhibited most dramatically in the "Model Citizen" short, in which parents condemned to death for being old peacefully accept their fates and comfort themselves with the knowledge that they succeeded in raising their children to be loyal, obedient citizens like themselves.
  • In "No Monsters" an Exceptional woman hunted down by the Handymen takes refuge near an execution area of Uglies. Instead of keeping her hidden or staying silent, they inform the Handymen of her presence and silently watch as she's taken away.
• Cut-and-Paste Suburb: All houses of Autodale are identical. This also applies to the people: the adult women all wear their hair held back in buns or keep it short and wear dark skirts and high heels, while the men all wear suits.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul:
  • The friendly Shadow zigzags this trope. He is a cyborg protector/enforcer of Autodale's society. When he lets a little girl escape the city rather than be branded an Ugly to uphold a promise made to the girl's mother his superiors consider taking way more of his humanity, noting that should they take too much he "might as well be another Handyman." On the other hand, he was once part of the Hive, and his unique set of skills made him qualified to be Autodale's Shady Protector. So while his incorporation into Hive presumably made him as soulless as the rest of them, his current cybernetic body seems to make him more independent from Hive as a whole.
  • On a larger and more symbolic scale, this has happened to the city as a whole as, according to Word of God, the reason Autodale is the way it is that everybody in it wishes to be as machine-like as possible.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Friendly Shadow is, obviously, modeled as a shadowy protector wrapped in a cloak, and he serves Autodale in delicate affairs that require a more subtle touch than the Handymen are capable of. Nevertheless, he is opposed to Hive, resists its influence whenever he can, and is firmly on the side of humanity.
• Deadly Euphemism:
  • "Exceptional" people are people who have a brilliant mind or a similar outstanding talent that Autodale deems worth of preserving and are thus hunted down and assimilated into Hive to run the town.
  • In "Friendly Shadow", it is implied that Shadow's "coat" he often wears in propaganda pieces keeps him under the direct control of Hive and suppresses his emotions. When he disobeys direct orders and lets the Freak and the missing girl get away, Hive debates whether or not to "give him the coat" for his insolence or simply rewire him.
• Deliberately Monochrome:
  • All of the shorts are black and white, with the only color being red blood from those who are executed. Colors do exist in-universe, however, as the ad during "Children's Toys" mentions that the robot action figures come in blue for boys and pink for girls.
  • Subverted in "Friendly Shadow", which ends with color returning to the short once the little girl and the Freak make it past Autodale.
• Dystopia: "Don't Feed the Freaks" implies Autodale takes place after a war or a disaster. It is a suburban town run by robots, where "Pretty" adults wear masks, while Ugly people are executed and thrown into mass graves for being considered flawed, such as being unemployed, disfigured, homosexual, or divorced.
• Earth All Along: Inverted Trope; Autodale was built around (and experimented on) their world's last living goddess.
• Fantasy Gun Control: David: "There are no bullets in Autodale." Only the Friendly Shadow carries a firearm, and it is designed after a tesla coil, firing electricity.
• Foreshadowing:
  • A newspaper seen in "Model Citizens" mentions the Friendly Shadow.
  • Everything in Autodale is rendered in shades of black and white, except from the bright red blood of the Uglies... And "Immortal Machine" reveals that this blood is the fuel for Autodale's Vicious Cycle, preventing its citizens from succumbing to the Withering by keeping the Matriarch alive, allowing subsequent generations to grow and eventually to be sacrificed to the Matriarch...
  • In "Model Citizen", the Handyman PSA narrator comments that "Your families are what keep our engines turning and turning!". of course, in "Immortal Machine" this is shown to be true in the most literal way possible.
• Grew Beyond Their Programming:
  • This can become the case for "Exceptional" people: due to them often being incredibly smart they have realized there is a problem with their town and are hunted down to run the society.
  • This is the case with the Friendly Shadow: a previous member of Hive who has been given a body, and who actively despises Autodale.
• Happily Married: Mr. Robinson and Mrs. Robinson are genuinely happy together, despite living in the Crapsaccharine World that is Autodale. Their last moments are them kissing passionately just before they get killed.
• Happiness Is Mandatory: To the point where people have to wear white masks with blank happy faces painted on. "Being Pretty" shows those with depression and other mental illnesses are considered Ugly.
• Heteronormative Crusaders: Being gay is reason enough to get branded "Ugly" in Autodale, and one of the regular PSAs cautions against buying boys soft toys in case it turns them "queer". This is possibly because the sole purpose of Autodale's citizens is to keep producing new bodies to sacrifice to the Matriarch.
• Hive Mind: "Friendly Shadow" reveals this is what Exceptional people become a part of; they don't just power the system, they actually converse and give input. While a main woman mostly serves as the Hive Queen, it's implied that the collective - referred to as Hive - can give conflicting orders.
• Humans Are White: Most humans in Autodale are of a light skin tone, with only children of a darker skin tone. Possibly Justified, as the adults wear white masks when outside their homes, making their skin fairer. Though a much more likely answer is that all of Autodale's citizens are derived from a similar generational gene-stock, which have coalesced into a single race. Or non-whites were deemed "Ugly". Or both. The sketchbook in the making-of video for "Immortal Machine" does indeed have "Black" in the long list of types of Ugly.
• Instantly Proven Wrong: As the Handyman talks about Autodale being safe with impenetrable walls at the beginning of "Friendly Shadow", the camera pans down to reveal a gaping hole in the wall.
• Insistent Terminology: Adults who follow the strict rules of Autodale are "Pretty." Those who are flawed or considered imperfect are "Ugly." "Exceptional" people are people who have a brilliant mind or a similar outstanding talent that Autodale deems worth of preserving and are thus hunted down and assimilated into Hive to run the town.
• Last-Name Basis: Enforced. According to Word of God, there are no first names in Autodale. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are simply Mr. and Mrs. Robinson. The only first name we hear in the entire series is the Robinson family referring to their favorite Handyman as "Joe."
• Nuclear Family: Enforced by the society. All families consist of a breadwinner father, a housewife mother, and their children. Once the children grow up and start their own family, and the adults are no longer needed, they brand themselves as Ugly and are systematically executed. PSAs reinforce these rules: for example, the PSA of "Children's Toys" says that boys who are given "soft" toys will turn out queer, and "Being Pretty" shows that being Gay (and likely being anywhere under the LGBT+ umbrella) gets you branded "Ugly". Widows (and presumably widowers) are also considered "ugly," and their children are given to foster families.
• The Outside World: "Don't Feed the Freaks" implies that Autodale is isolated after a natural disaster or war, with monsters and several humans roaming around beyond the border.
• Persecuted Intellectuals: "No Monsters" shows that intellectual, or "exceptional" young adults are hunted by the society to have their nervous systems and hearts removed to be used to power a female robot that controls Autodale.
• Population Control: When a family's child(ren) finally grow up and leave the house, the parents then voluntarily consider themselves Ugly and are systematically executed by a lethal blow to the head. In "Friendly Shadow" it's mentioned that widows are also considered Ugly, with their children being moved to a foster family.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: The Matriarch is kept alive by the literal blood of the Uglies. Autodale's citizens are kept from being "sick" by her power.
• Propaganda Machine:
  • Hive regularly puts out Handyman-voiced PSAs to encourage others to follow the rules of the town. It is to the extent that in "Model Citizen" the Robinson couple willingly allow themselves to be branded Ugly and be executed once they hit middle age, taking peace in the fact their son was raised to be a dutiful citizen.
  • In "Friendly Shadow", the events of the episode are retold in a black-and-white fashion in several forms of media, such as radio and comics. It focuses on Shadow, taking down an army of Freaks in Autodale.
• Public Service Announcement: The shorts - with the exception of "Don't Feed the Freaks" and "No Monsters" - are normally presented as such.
• Raised by Robots: Downplayed. While robots run Autodale, they often take care of citizens, such as acting as friends, doing nightly checks, and disposing of the citizens once they are considered Ugly.
• Retraux: The series' aesthetic is reminiscent of the The '50s.
• Revolvers Are Just Better: The Friendly Shadow is the only figure in Autodale who carries a firearm. It fires electricity from a Tesla coil, and doesn't need bullets, but it's still modeled as a revolver due to Rule of Cool.
• Robot Master: Autodale is run by a female robot/cyborg known as the Matriarch, powered by the nervous systems of Exceptional people. This robot powers the Handymen, creates propaganda, and creates robots that protect and patrol the city.
  • "Immortal Machine" reveals that perhaps the true ruler of Autodale is the Mayor, an emaciated cyborg and former genius inventor who created the first Handymen and uses the Matriarch to protect the town's inhabitants from a mysterious sickness that consumed the outside world.
• Splash of Color: Almost entirely black and white; the only color there ever is bright red blood.
• Stepford Suburbia: All the citizens of Autodale present a healthy, happy image, but several shorts suggest that the children have started thinking that Autodale isn't as good as it seems. In addition, being Ugly - having any kind of defect - means they are lined up before a mass grave and receive a blow to the head by the Handyman.
• Take a Third Option: In "Friendly Shadow", the titular character makes a promise to the mother of the missing girl that, when she's found, "She'll join her brothers, and not me." (as the woman is doomed to be branded "Ugly" due to being a Widow, but the two sons will be fostered). However, when the Friendly Shadow finds the girl, Hive breaks to him that the damage and trauma done means she'll likely be branded Ugly herself, as she'll have no place in society. The ending shows the little girl escaping with one of the monsters she befriended, and it's implied that the Friendly Shadow helped her with this. This technically still breaks the promise, as she's separated indefinitely from her brothers, but at least she's alive and free from Autodale's grasp.
• Together in Death: An indirect consequence of Autodale's standards; "Friendly Shadow" reveals that, if a spouse meets a premature end, the Widow/Widower is branded Ugly, meaning they're killed not long after. Any children they had are taken to a foster family.
• Town with a Dark Secret: ZigZagged. The citizens of Autodale know that once they are no longer useful to the system or found to be somehow flawed they will be killed, and are far too okay with this. However, only Hive knows that the true purpose of the town's Vicious Cycle is to keep the Matriarch, and thus the citizens, alive.
• Unusual Euphemism: "Pretty" and "Ugly" have nothing to do with physical appearance. "Pretty" people are simply people who follow the rules and systems of Autodale. "Ugly" are anyone who doesn't work as a perfect cog in the system; The depressed, the divorced, the gay, etc.
• Vicious Cycle: "Immortal Machine" reveals Autodale's big secret to be this. The Matriarch keeps the people of Autodale alive and healthy, and the people of Autodale are all eventually sacrificed to keep her alive so she can keep them alive. The Mayor seemed to be looking for another way, but Hive ended up embracing the system to an even greater degree. And going by the time that's passed between some shorts, it's been going for over 2000 years.
• Wetware CPU: The central tower houses a giant cybernetic woman known as the Matriarch that runs the city. "Exceptional" people are taken to become auxiliary control brains for the town, collectively known as Hive.
• Wham Shot: A double-whammy in "Immortal Machine"
  • First, the Mayor takes the Exceptional Girl into a chamber in the tower, bathed in red light from the ground up corpses of Ugly people used to power Autodale.
  • The Mayor's flashback starts of with an image that's deeply familiar to those who have seen David's other videos: A floating rock formation, where Autodale would one day stand, colored like David's old "Merry Madness" short.
• White Mask of Doom: All "pretty" adults of Autodale are required to wear white masks with blank happy faces when in public. Those referred to as "Ugly" have the label on their masks and are promptly lined up and are thrown into a mass grave. Such offenses include being disabled, being homosexual, or having your grown child leave the house.
• Widow Mistreatment: "Friendly Shadow" reveals that if a married adult dies a premature death, their spouse is branded Ugly and executed shortly after for being a widow or widower, while any children they have are given to a foster family. When the father is killed by a Freak and the daughter disappears, the mother is aware that she will become an Ugly and be executed, but the Shadow promises her that he will find her daughter.
• World of No Grandparents: Enforced. When an adult's child is of age, marries, and leaves home, they are urged to brand themselves ugly and be euthanized, for there is no use for them anymore.
• Would Hurt a Child: While the fact that "Uglies" have been primarily adults implies that they have to reach a certain age before being branded "Ugly" and executed, "Friendly Shadow" implies that children can be branded Ugly under the right conditions.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: As "Model Citizen" shows, the people of Autodale are systematically branded ugly and executed once their children leave the house and start a family of their own. However, unlike most examples, the people decide this for themselves when the time comes, as it is only reinforced by the propaganda.

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"And let us hope that this perfect cycle never ends."

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