Employee 61 and the Figurine
Pandora's Cubicle is a Web Animation series by the channel "To Binge
". The series focuses on Employee 61, whose job is to properly examine the unusual things shipped to the storage company she works for.
A playlist for the series can be found here, though it does not include the few-seconds-long "Youtube Clips / Tik Tok" episodes, which can be found elsewhere on their channels. Due to the short length of most episodes (usually 2-3 minutes), spoilers are currently unmarked.
Tropes:
- Ace Pilot: "Aviator Goggles" has Employee 61 forced to ride backseat to one, who smokes a cigar while flying, successfully jumps onto and stands on the wings mid-flight, and successfully flew to the Bermuda Triangle via biplane with the explicit purpose of getting some water from it to splash in the face of disbelievers.
- Alliance of Alternates: "To Do List" reveals that all of Pandora's employees physically resemble her and Employee 61, but are set up in different businesses/universes, such as "Pandora's Tomes and Tinctures" where the mage Employee 3114 works and "Pandora's Diner" where the waitress Employee 5618 works. Later, "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle" confirms that every single numbered employee is an alternate Pandora.
- Another Man's Terror: Touching the titular bat in "Baseball Bat" causes both Employee 61 and the Figurine to relive the last moments of an athlete who missed a game-winning swing and died from "being a failure".
- Anti-Climax: "Umbrella" has Employee 61 accidentally anger a sun deity by staying in the umbrella's shade inside a house (an act she depicts, in hieroglyphs, as tantamount to Flipping the Bird at her, and which 61 theorizes may extend to any other "double-shade" as she notices a palm tree shading her) with said deity deciding to approach her with a Battle Aura and fire in her hand...before accidentally tripping on a rock and falling flat on her face right in front of 61. She's so embarrassed afterwards, she just sends 61 back... before flash-frying a laughing ibis guard. The other one got the same treatment when laughing at something on his phone just after she reminisced on the incident.
- Art Evolution: The ferrywoman of the dead from "Gold Coin" reappears in "Necklace" and has a more sleek face and ditches the angular features in her chin.
- Ascended Extra:
- The Figurine, from the titular episode, has appeared in multiple episodes since its debut as an assistant to Employee 61. In "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle", she even becomes an official employee with her own work uniform.
- Shodan from "Headphones" (and cameos in every episode since then), the veterinarian from "Shadow Cat", the Ace Pilot from "Aviator Goggles", and the sun goddess from "Umbrella" each star in their own mini-episodes.
- Bag of Holding: Part of 61's new work uniform in "New Uniforms" is a pouch with infinite space, meant for the Figurine to stay in during their more dangerous adventures.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- The Goddess of Destruction in "Rock" is actually a Goddess of Naps, and goes back to sleep immediately upon being woken up.
- The scary alien in "Power Armor" is actually just a child that needs help getting home from school.
- The people breaking down the barred door and trying to get to the Princess of Alfheim in "Shield" are actually the princess' relatives trying to get her to attend six-year-old Prince Braeyden's birthday party.
- Battle Aura: When the sun goddess in "Umbrella" gets fed up with Employee 61, she approaches 61 with an aura that glows like the sun itself.
- Benevolent Monsters: Nearly every paranormal creature that Employee 61 interacts with, such as the swamp monster from one of the reels in "Film Reel", and the small tentacle monster in "Lunchbox", tuns out to be quite friendly and willing to help Employee 61 with whatever problem she's currently having.
- The Bermuda Triangle: "Aviator Goggles" has Employee 61 suddenly transported onto a biplane being piloted into it by an Ace Pilot, with an inexplicable billboard in the water advertising it as the "World's Largest Interdimensional Theme Park: So much fun you'll never want to leave!" Unfortunately, it's closed for maintenance and a worker teleports Employee 61 and the pilot back to their homes before they can enter.
- Big Brother Is Watching: "To Do List" reveals that the large green panel at the back of Employee 61's office is actually one-way glass connected to a private room that Pan uses to watch her, as well as watch and warp to all of the other Employees across time and space.
- Bland-Name Product:
- The takeout food bag that Employee 61 is eating from in "Gold Coin" is labeled "Uburr Eats", a play on the real delivery service "Uber Eats".
- Doubling as a pun, the pain relief medication that the Figurine takes in her debut episode is called "Toylenol", based on the medicine brand "Tylenol".
- Breaking the Fourth Wall:
- The tiny tentacle creature in "Lunchbox" initially hides from Employee 61 after escaping the titular item by using the video's black borders.
- "Video Camera" has the titular device affect the video itself, with Employee 61 noticing the displays as she adjusts zoom, brightness, aspect ratio, and various other settings.
- Call-Back: The female demon lawyer from "Sword" ends up saving a life in "Crown" when Employee 61 calls her for assistance in determining the legality of sacrificing a soul being judged.
- Cassandra Truth: In the mini-episode "My trip to the Bermuda Triangle", the Ace Pilot from "Aviator Goggles" takes another trip to The Bermuda Triangle and is able to take photographic evidence of the theme park contained within. She's immediately put in a straightjacket and locked in a padded cell.
- Clingy Costume: "Slime in a Jar" has the titular slime completely wrap around Employee 61 as a full-body suit, though it willingly separates from her at the end in order to get some sleep.
- Companion Cube: In "Tiny Creature", the Mobile-Suit Human that was winning against the Pandora Storage Retrieval Services immediately freezes up with a scared look when it sees Employee 61 holding a squeaky Little Green Men toy that flew out of its pocket. After Retrieval Services use the opportunity to pull the Tiny Creature out of the robot body and contain it, it's shown hugging the squeaky toy.
- Content Warnings: "Poster" adds the line "Please enjoy liquor responsibly!" to its opening title card, as the titular poster opens a portal to an old-fashioned bar counter in a forest whose bartender serves whatever drinks your soul craves the most, and Employee 61 drinks so much that she falls asleep on her barstool and the bartender carries her back to her office.
- Continuity Nod:
- Employee 61 tends to keep items from previous episodes in her office, such as the Lumbar Pillow that remains on her chair and various other objects that are placed in or on the drawers in the back of her office.
- "Inbox" has Pan, upon reading a message about an octopus, imagine it fighting the squid creature from "Lunchbox".
- While bonding with the bartender in "Poster", Employee 61 is shown talking about the tiny creature from "Tiny Creature" and its Mobile-Suit Human form.
- The "Lumbar Pillow" girl is shown to still be conscious in mini-episode "Adhesive Acrobat" when she, Employee 61, and the Figurine decide to use the pillow for safety when testing some double-sided tape.
- The veterinarian from "Shadow Cat" appears in "Polaroid Camera" in an advertisement for a pet therapy business.
- A Day in the Limelight: "Inbox" and "To Do List" focus on Employee 61's boss, Pan, rather than Employee 61 herself as in most episodes.
- Demonic Possession: The "Shadow Cat" from the titular episode ends up jumping into the mind of the veterinarian checking on it, causing her to start acting like a cat. She seems back to normal in her future appearances, albeit with some lasting side-effects.
- Dimensional Cutter: In "Sword", Employee 61 accidentally cleaves a rift into a demonic realm using the titular item, leading to a demon construction crew having to repair the damage and a female demon lawyer issuing her a fine.
- Disproportionate Retribution: According to a newspaper in "Baseball Bat", priests stated that the superstar athlete who missed a game-winning swing and immediately died of shame will be barred from Heaven because of it.
- Don't Wake the Sleeper: "Rock" has the titular rock transport Employee 61 to a sleeping giant woman next to a sign stating "That Who Must Not Be Awoken: Goddess of Destruction". Naturally, the headphones connected to her mobile phone get snagged and disconnect, causing a song to be played at full blast through the built-in speaker and wake the Goddess up...just long enough to yawn and then fall back asleep. It then turns out the sign was defaced, and she was actually just a Goddess of Naps.
- Extranormal Institute: The series is set in "Pan's Storage", where viewers submit paranormal items that are then examined by Employee 61 before being stored away.
- The Ferryman: A ferrywoman of the dead appears in "Gold Coin" to collect the item in exchange for transporting Employee 61's soul to the afterlife. 61 decides to instead just share their Uburr Eats order, which tastes so good that they order a second course before Employee 61 is returned to life.
- Forced Transformation:
- "Lumbar Pillow" has the titular pillow, who was a seamstress cursed by a witch.
- "Sunglasses" has Employee 61 be transported to a beach full of preppy jocks after putting the titular item on, but before she can properly relax, they get attacked by other cliques with weapons that forcibly convert another person's outfit to their own style, eventually resulting in Employee 61 being sent back to her office in a sweater and round glasses.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: "Tiny Creature", instead of starting with Employee 61 receiving a knock at her door and a new item, has her using a hook to scratch herself before accidentally getting it caught on a trespasser and getting to be rescued by Pandora Storage Retrieval Services (as said trespasser is actually the Tiny Creature that needs retrieving).
- Given Name Reveal: The "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle" video reveals that the Auxium lady is named Shodan. The episode also gives clear confirmation that Employee 61 is named Pandora, and is one of many.
- Haunted Technology:
- "VHS Tape" centers around a murderous ghost girl being released from the titular tape, only to take an interest in Employee 61's video games and willingly be resealed into her favorite one.
- "Polaroid Camera" centers around a woman that manifests in pictures taken with the titular item. Then Figurine gets the idea to photograph the pictures...
- Hive Mind: The noise-cancelling feature of the Auxium Audio "Headphones" in the titular episode transport the user's consciousness into Lady Auxium's hive mind, erasing their consciousness in the process.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All of the main episodes are titled after the object that's central to the episode's plot.
- Imagine Spot: "Inbox" consists entirely of Pan imagining what would happen if Employee 61 was given various items, rather than actually giving them to her.
- Improbably Female Cast: There are some men, but the vast, vast majority of recurring characters are female.
- Jack of All Trades: "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle" has Pandora #1 state that Employee 61 is her favourite because, while everyone else she employs specializes in something specific like paintings or viruses, 61 is able and willing to handle anything and everything sent to her.
- Judgement of the Dead: "Crown" has Employee 61 being on the judging side of one, as when she puts it on her head she's suddenly warped into a council of Japanese spirits judging whether or not a wounded samurai should be sacrificed. She tries to abstain from voting, and manages to call the demon businesswoman from "Sword" to go over the paperwork and save the man's life by establishing legal grounds.
- Letting the Air out of the Band: In "Umbrella", the music intensifies as the sun goddess gets angrier at Employee 61 and decides to confront her. The music immediately goes back to calming when the goddess then trips and falls on her face.
- Living Toys: The "Figurine" from the titular episode, who wasn't supposed to reveal her true nature but felt too sore and chilly from having to stay in the same pose in the same bunny outfit all day long.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: There is rarely voiced speech in this series. Not counting the incoherent chanting from one or two of the submitted items, the only exceptions are in "Dumbbell", in which Employee 61 is told by a statue of the feat of strength she must complete in order to return home after the titular dumbbell warps her away; in "Headphones", which is a Parody Commercial with the Auxium Audio representative giving her sales pitch; in "Pop-Up Book", where a narrator recites the book's story as Employee 61 and the Figurine read through it; in "New Uniforms" when Pan calls her employees to tell them new work uniforms have arrived; and in "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle", where Pan introduces new viewers to the series' premise and central characters.
- Minimalist Cast: Aside from one-shot characters, the recurring cast is just four people: Employee 61 (aka. Pandora #61), Pandora (#1), Figurine, and Shodan the Auxium lady.
- Mobile-Suit Human: The large intruder that accidentally kidnaps Employee 61 in "Tiny Creature" turns out to be the tiny creature itself piloting a man-sized robot.
- Near-Death Clairvoyance: "Gold Coin" has Employee 61 bite on the titular item to check its authenticity, and suddenly has her spirit warped to The Ferryman with a portal to her unconscious body nearby.
- Overly Long Gag: "Text Message", uploaded on April Fools' Day 2022, is an hour-long video of Employee 61 lying in bed with the Figurine and watching a movie on her phone (at an angle that the audience can't see it) after Pandora texts her to say that the office will be closed for repairs that day.
- Parody Commercial: "Headphones" appears to be sponsored by a headphones manufacturer called Auxium Audio, but midway through the sales pitch it's revealed to be the tool of a Hive Mind and the announcer is talking directly to Employee 61.
- Plague Doctor: Mini-episode "Plush-letting" has a toy Plush Plague Doctor try to treat the Figurine's headache with bloodletting, but all its toy saw can do is make a squeaky noise as it rubs against her head.
- Playboy Bunny: The "Figurine" from the titular episode has a black leotard, collar, and bunny ears as her default outfit. However, the collar's too tight and the rest leaves her feeling chilly, so Employee 61 lets her order a hoodie and sweatpants from a doll clothing website to replace them, which she wears alongside the bunny ears in all future appearances.
- Powered Armor: "Power Armor", being Exactly What It Says on the Tin, has Employee 61 put on a suit of power armor that's summoned by an orange safety vest, and then be forced by its inner programming to fly through space and track down a scary alien...to escort it back home from elementary school.
- Recurring Character: Despite being more of a semi-anthology, there are plenty of characters that recur across several episodes. The most prominent are the Figurine, who's become a bit of a Deuteragonist and 61's partner, and Shodan, who continuously stalks 61 in an attempt at getting her to try the headset.
- Screamer Prank: In "Pop-Up Book", the titular book, titled "May's Game", is about a gaming addict whose favorite game is "a basic dexterity test" that Employee 61 immediately recognizes as one of these. However, the Figurine decides to continue reading all the way to the pop-up scare, at which point the Figurine panics and throws the chocolate she was eating into the screamer's mouth, causing it to start choking.
- Sequel Episode:
- "Inbox" starts with Pan dropping off a pair of sunglasses at Employee 61's door before checking her own email inbox. The following episode, "Sunglasses", is about Employee 61 checking the item out.
- "Text Message" starts with Pan sending the titular message to let Employee 61 know that her office is being repaired. The following episode, "To Do List", starts with Pan repairing the office before completing the other tasks on her list.
- "New Uniforms" have Employee 61 and the Figurine receive a package containing new work uniforms and a video of their boss explaining that it's time to improve their image. "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle" takes place immediately after, with the girls wearing the new uniforms as they introduces people to their video series.
- Shout-Out:
- "Inbox" has Pan looking through a few item submission requests and imagining how they would effect Employee 61, including the mask from The Mask, the Stand Arrow from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and the Bombinomicon from Team Fortress 2.
- The description for "Headphones" states "Use code: "SH0-D4N" for 20% off your purchase!", referencing SHODAN from System Shock. "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle" reveals that the lady trying to sell the headphones is named Shodan as well.
- The mini-episode "Ew" has Employee 61 receive a box containing a pepper that has the Handsome Squidward face from SpongeBob SquarePants, which she quickly closes. Main episode "Baseball Bat" also uses a "Boo, you stink!" sound clip from the same series when the batter strikes out.
- The pop-up book, May's Game, sets up May's prank with the actual second and third level of the infamous Scary Maze Game Screamer Prank.
- Spin-Off: Employee 61 originated from an Overwatch parody cartoon, "Play of the Game", in which she was the person deciding which combatant was the best in the match, before being transferred to Pan's Storage in "Play of the Game 2".
- Stalker without a Crush: Shodan appears in several episodes following 61 through her daily lives and trying to convince her to try the Auxium headset. In one episode she mentions that she knows everything about her daily routine and personal life.
- Subverted Kids' Show: "Tamagachi" has Employee 61 and the Figurine receive one of the titular toys with a character named "Obscenachi", and are quickly disgusted upon learning that it has to be "fed" with alcohol and "played with" using a naughty magazine.
- Suddenly Speaking: "New Uniforms" and its follow-up "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle" have Pandora #1 speak, when she had been silent in all of her previous appearances.
- They Called Me Mad!: The Ace Pilot from "Aviator Goggles" has a written checklist that explicitly states how she was going to get water from The Bermuda Triangle to splash in the faces of disbelievers before laughing at them.
- Unexpectedly Dark Episode: "Bath Bomb" has the titular object create an entire city of suds with over four million sentient people, and then cut to their perspectives as they all die to the equivalent of a nuclear explosion as the bath bomb goes off, with none of it being played for laughs and both Employee 61 and the Figurine left downcast.
- Unfinished Business: In "Baseball Bat", to rectify the batter being barred from Heaven due to missing a critical swing, Employee 61 and the Figurine decide to hit a home run in his honor. It takes many, many tries, but Employee 61 eventually lands a hit so sublime that it busts open the gates of Heaven and allows the batter's spirit to finally ascend.
- Unmoving Plaid: The alcoholic "Self-Destructing Robot" in mini-episode "I can stop whenever I want..." wears a hat and jacket with an unmoving floral pattern.
- You Are Number 6: Employee 61 is rarely addressed by name, with notes meant for her simply addressed to "61". "To Do List" shows that her boss also addresses her other employees by numbers instead of names as she visits their offices for their own item inspection duties. "Welcome to Pandora's Cubicle" clarifies that every single employee and the boss are alternate versions of each other all named Pandora, so the numbers are helpful in telling them apart.
