At one point in Overthrone the Alternate lays out his plans to Joseph, who is asleep and not really aware of what's happening. Was Joseph really a heavy sleeper (and thus did not hear the whole thing)? Or was he at least aware of what was going on? Given that one of the later videos has the announcement that more or less says that it's dangerous to look directly at the Alternate's face, it's possible that Joseph himself knew this and was pretending to be asleep in order to not trigger the Alternate's attack.
Viewers' first time reactions to Mark's death in Volume 1 tend to veer towards either Mark dying in an attempt to kill Cesar's Alternate or Mark killing himself. On the one hand, Mark is shown to at least have some faith in the PSA from "The THINK Principle", likely attempting to neutralize Cesar's Alternate because of it. On the other hand, "Exhibition" shows that Mark was already borderline suicidal before the events of Volume 1, no thanks to the Intruder's prolonged harassment of him. The bullets around Mark's body in Volume 333 imply that Mark shot Cesar's Alternate multiple times before killing himself.
Was Adam actually inflicted with Metaphysical Awareness Disorder in Volume 2? As pointed out by Film Theory in their episode covering the video, the M.A.D. PSA specifically mentions that people are inflicted with it when they "learn information that is not desired to be known", and hidden subtitles in Volume 2 mention that "It is not difficult to avoid; however, the patient must actively seek it out". As Adam fancies himself a knowledge-based Thrill Seeker, his curiosity may have actually aided him in unknowingly avoiding M.A.D. altogether, as the end of the video shows him holding a relatively normal conversation with the Intruder with his sanity still intact, despite being subjected to a flawed impostor's Black Speech earlier in the video.
333 Extension also reveals that Adam had been prone to lashing out in a similar manner long before the events of Volume 2, so his behavior was not out of the ordinary at all.
When Jonah says he doesn't even think alternates exist in Volume 2, was he genuinely doubting their existence, or was he only saying that to subtly discourage Adam from continuing to look for alternates?
In Volume 333, after Thatcher's promotion Ruth tells him that "[he doesn't] have to work on this bullshit case [on Mark Heathcliff's death] anymore." Was she just concerned about Thatcher overworking himself and encouraging him to take a break? Or did she really think the case on Mark's death is "bullshit" and not worth investigating?
The Intruder's reaction to being interrupted by Sarah at the end of Volume 4. Did he become enraged simply because he was interrupted while talking to Adam? Or was it because he realized that a Heathcliff of all living people was constantly interacting and trying to reason with "his sweet boy"?
Adam's dismissive reaction to the idea Jonah died is rife with this. Is he being genuine when he says Jonah wasn't his friend and that he never cared about him, is he lying to himself out of grief? Was he saying it out of hurt because Jonah actually left at the end of Vol. 2, since the end of Vol. 2 had him trying to call Jonah back after their fight? Or is it a result of Real Life Writes the Plot, in that Adam was initially written to consider Jonah a legitimate friend, but was changed following Jonah's actor, Gabriel Linan, being dismissed from the project, in turn causing Adam's feelings about Jonah to be rewritten?
Sarah's telling Eve that Adam is fine in mandela catalyst. Is she genuinely convinced Adam is fine? Is she in denial and would rather just not think about him after the events of Volume 4? Did the Intruder get to her and it's not actually Sarah that was messaging Eve?
Aluminum Christmas Trees: The community post showing Noah’s Ark in the build up to Exhibition is a woodcut by Francois de Belleforest, made in the 16th century. Notably, and why it falls under this trope, while the second ark is generally assumed to be a reference to the Alternates, it was actually a part of the original woodcut, which is likely why it was chosen for the post.
Base-Breaking Character: Satan himself. He is either an extremely terrifying and badass villain who fits the story, or a boring and unintentionally funny villain who lost all his good moments during Volume 4 where he increased into Laughably Evil territory, taking away any sort of intimidation or horror.
N's importance in the series is a lot less than what most people believe it is. N only appears in "The T.H.I.N.K. Principle" as an example of a Type 3 Alternate, but most think he is also the Alternate that harassed Mark and lead him to suicide in Volume 1. In reality, the only beings that were harassing him in his house were the Intruder and Cesar's Alternate.
Speaking of the Intruder, even fans of the series believe him to be an Alternate. This is false, as the police ruled out the possibility of the Intruder being an Alternate in "Intruder Alert". This mixup does have some backing though, as the Intruder has been messing with the tapes and is generally adjacent to Alternates, as well as being implied to be Satan in a modern incarnation. Word of Godbacks the separation up, but the Intruder is still generally listed alongside Alternates.
Complete Monster: The Alternate of Archangel Gabriel—revealed to be Satan himself—is the progenitor of his kind and the mastermind behind the events of the story. Proclaiming himself to be the "one true savior", Satan manipulates biblical figures and overthrows Jesus Christ, fooling humanity into worshipping him instead of God. In modern day, his Alternates are responsible for the deaths of countless people with their modus operandi of Kill and Replace. Satan is also the one to blame for the rise in Metaphysical Awareness Disorder (MAD), a fatal mental affliction with a staggeringly high suicide rate.
Cry for the Devil: There's no denying that Adam was a massive jerkass to everyone around him, even those who genuinely cared about him like Jonah. Everyone can agree though that seeing Adam's state in mandela catalyst is not only nightmarish, but heartbreaking. At the end of the day, he was ultimately just a teenager desperately trying to find out what happened to his Missing Mom, pushing away everyone who got in his way or questioned his methods. Yet now he's left a shell of his former self, desperately wanting to die but unable to, as he can only scream out in agony upon seeing Thatcher while begging him to kill him before he starts Laughing Mad.
The Hooded Intruder due to his unique appearance and... well, meme status. So popular was he among the fandom that a plushie version of him was made available to buy for a limited time on Makeship and it sold like hotcakes, with about 4,313 plushies being sold.
The real Cesar Torres could count as one, as he has yet to actually make an appearance in the series save for a few photos, yet is just as popular as the other major human characters despite this. Even Alex Kister himself has acknowledged Cesar's popularity, saying "everyone's obsessed with him".
The short-haired cartoon version of Gabriel, despite only appearing for a few seconds in Overthrone, still gets a decent amount of fan art.
Mervin Marshall, an in-joke character among members of Alex Kister's Patreon-only discord server who looks exactly like Saul Goodman, became very popular among the wider fandom to the point that he was made canon through the 333 Extension.
It's often theorized that Adam Murray is the baby that was kidnapped in "Intruder Alert", in part due to the Intruder telling him "you don't remember me" as if he expected him to recognize him, with the woman that Adam and Jonah looked for being theorized to be the baby's mother that hanged herself. This theory is confirmed—or at the very least heavily implied—in Vol. 333 where the names of the stolen baby's parents are revealed to be Lynn and Jude Murray.
After Vol. 4's Tomato in the Mirror reveal that Adam Murray may be an alternate, Wendigoon's livestream posits the theory that the "Preacher" alternate is Adam's true form. The Preacher only appears in association with Adam and they both wear a black hood. This has spawned multiple fanarts and headcanons. However, Interlude claims the Preacher is an "over-assimilated" alternate of a nun.
Fan works that have Mark and Cesar interacting with Adam and Jonah are quite common.
A popular AU idea involves a good (or at least nicer) Intruder adopting or otherwise being a father figure towards young Mark and Adam, and sometimes Sarah, Cesar and Jonah as well.
In fan art that depict the hooded Intruder and the TV Intruder as separate characters, the latter is usually drawn wearing a suit, sometimes with a TV head displaying his face.
Many interpret the hooded Intruder as having noticeable stubble/a small beard due to the graininess of the original image giving him spots around the bottom of his face.
Though the latter two have yet to interact with each other in canon, fans often portray Thatcher, Ruth and Dave as a trio of friends.
Also with Gemini Home Entertainment, another Analog Horror of several different video tapes that features a malicious invading force that disguises themselves as humans.
Funny Moments: Despite the series showing us a scenario where Earth being subjected to a demonic invasion, humor isn't lacking at all.
Although subtle, in Metaphysical Awareness Disorder, a PSA that was produced in the 80's and by an USA division, among the philosophical beliefs listed to avoid being susceptible to Alternates, the face of Karl Marx is seen. Even under invasion of a demonic threat, 80's United States seems to prioritize their war against Communism above all.
At the end of Exhibition, an order to destroy every single CRT television and mirror is issued to the citizens of Mandela County, surrounding counties, and presumably the rest of the United States. In the video, it takes a while for it to reveal that monetary compensation won't be granted.
Growing the Beard: While the series was never poorly received, later episodes have garnered much praise for their improved atmosphere, more nuanced writing, strong use of mixed media and less reliance on established genre tropes. Which episode marked this improvement however is a subject of debate.
He's Just Hiding: Due to the lack of concrete evidence to suggest he actually died, a common belief amidst fans was that Jonah Marshall survived at the end of Vol. 2, and was in hiding, citing how a similar case occurred with Thatcher Davis at the end of Vol. 333, and that Jonah lacked the means to commit suicide if he was afflicted with M.A.D. These beliefs all but died after his actor, Gabriel Linan, was cut from the project following Hostility on the Set, with Alex Kister confirming Jonah died at the end of Vol. 2. A subset of fans do believe however that Alex is lying, and that Jonah is still alive but will be recast.
"You should kill yourself... NOW!" Explanation Actually a meme originating from infamous reaction YouTuber LowTierGod, due to its popularity coinciding with Mandela Catalogue's, the rant has been connected to the series due to its relevant subject matter, leading to image◊ edits◊ and even parodies of the series itself.
The image of the hooded intruder was already spread beforehand as a creepypasta on places like /tg/ and 2ch as "The Albanian", but he received more common recognition as the hooded intruder in late 2021 thanks to him being featured in "The Mandela Catalogue Vol. 1"
"fighting my intruder at 3AM"/"gtfo my house bitch".Explanation An image drawn by ian zhang which became incredibly memetic because of how both badass and hilarious the image is, depicting someone (presumably either ian zhang themselves or a blank slate for the person seeing the image to project themselves unto) coming down stairs to confront the Hooded Intruder with both fists up (despite the image looking like they were taking a picture of the intruder with their phone before they were about to fight), even more hilariously is that said Intruder also has his fists raised, clearly ready to get into fisticuffs as much as his opponent. The image became very famous because of both the hilarity and sheer badass-ery of the situation. The fact that it's an image is ripe for either redraws, edits or more popularly just taking the image and adding music onto it. Which are usually either just fight music or a reversal of "Why do I hear boss music?", wherein the Intruder is the one being subjected to this. Some even cross this over with the above meme.
It's commonly joked that identical twins or the like will have to face quite a bit of awkwardness and fear in the world of Mandela Catalogue. Due to the fact that alternates can take the appearance of someone you know or even yourself. Which causes obvious problems for people whom already look alike.
Crossing over with Jerma985, due to how weird alternate faces can distort into unnaturally wide grinning faces has lead to people making crossover jokes involving the "when the imposter is sus" meme face.
Nightmare Fuel: Take your pick. The horrific imagery, the eerie VHS tape aesthetic, the very concept of Alternates...now has its own page!
Nightmare Retardant: Sometimes the horror aspects don't exactly work for everybody.
One of the "scary faces" in Vol 1 is clearly an edited picture of Barack Obama. Even without that context, some people couldn't take the exaggerated grin all that seriously.
The scene in Overthrone where the Alternate, who is more than likely Satan himself, is behind Joseph's window whispering his ominous ultimatum to the man and demanding that Joseph wakes up is either incredibly creepy or incredibly goofy depending who you ask. The former because there’s an abomination delivering its terrible truths, and the latter because Joseph will not wake up from his sleep despite Satan trying his damnedest by basically shouting "WAKE UP JOSEPH. WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP"... ad nauseam into his ear.
The image of Gabriel with the wide eyes and grin almost looks like he has a receding hairline, due to his forehead being stretched upwards along with his eyes.
Anyone you know could be taken over by an Alternate. Anyone. Then there's the possibility that an Alternate is trying to take over you.
Overthrone makes it even worse, in that not even angels appear to be safe. Whatever's behind the Alternates, they're more powerful than the direct servants of God.
The being in "Intruder Alert". Not only can it seemingly come from the TV and take children but whatever they are they can invisibly move corpses and if the police reports are to be believed they are distinctly not Alternates.
The scene from Vol 2, where Adam is standing in a dark hallway and Jonah is repeating "Oh my god! Behind you!" on the radio. Not only does it perfectly embody this, but it gets to whole new levels of horror when the viewer realizes that Jonah is not repeating himself, but that the same audio clip is, meaning there's certainly someone with Adam in the hallway.
Play-Along Meme: Prior to the release of Volume 333, various of Alex Kister's mutuals tweeted about a character named Mervin Marshall, a hoax character based on SaulGoodman, who was said to be both the Distraught Mother's Husband and Jonah Marshall's father. Due to the rise in popularity of Breaking Bad memes and the upcoming premiere of Better Call Saul's Season 6, Mervin quickly became popular among the fandom and spread like wildfire, even fooling some fans and gaining the approval of Alex Kister himself. Mervin himself eventually became canonical to the series in the 333 Extension.
Signature Scene: The ghoulish tall-eyed, grinning face that the alternate Gabriel takes on in "Overthrone."
Tear Jerker: Expected in a series with nearly-identical impostors taking the place of your loved ones and exploiting your emotional weaknesses to coerce you into committing suicide.
The fact that Mark died simply because he wanted to help his best friend out in a time of need, even going as far as not listening to what the PSAs about the Alternates suggested.
After this, he didn't even suffer a quick death. He was locked down inside his room for DAYS. Days knowing that his best friend was killed, that his family doesn't even know that he's in that situation, and that nobody is coming to help him. Just imagine the sheer stress that caused to him.
The "distraught at the sight of her missing infant" scene has been subject to countless memes, sure. But you can't deny the fact that over 3,000 mothers across 4 counties were potentially driven to suicide after being deceived to leave their children to die in the only place they thought they were safe is horrifying to think about.
Throughout Volume 2 one could assume that Jonah is trying to save his own ass rather than his friend's, but as the video passes you realize that he is as, if not more, worried about what happens to his friend as what happens to himself. He practically begs him to come back and get to safety at one point.
Jonah: "idk what youre so busy doing in there. just come out to the car and lets go get a pizza and then back home. please."
After begging to him fails, he calls him through his radio, only to completely break down to him. Adam, however, is shown to be extremely aggressive to him for whatever reason and ultimately tells him to fuck off. By the end of the episode, both of them show at least some remorse of their choices, by Adam calling his name when he meets The Intruder, and The Intruder tormenting Jonah with the fact he left his friend behind.
In Vol. 4, we can see that Adam straight up didn't care for Jonah at all. Not only does Adam admit that he never considered Jonah as his friend while Jonah considered him his best friend, but he also looks completely unaffected and shameless after being a major factor in his apparent death. He's even reluctant at putting the time and effort to announce to his follower base that Jonah had passed, referring to it as "more dramatic than it needs to be". Regardless if he's lying to himself or not, Adam's behavior to Jonah is even more terrible considering that the Intruder was tormenting him over leaving Adam behind, implying that Jonah killed himself out of guilt.
The ironically named "every day gets brighter" video, the follow-up entry to Vol.333. The entire video is Lt. Thatcher Davis talking to himself onto a tape recording, as a way of releasing his bottled up stress and emotions in the fallout of the events of the Volume. In it, made even more powerful thanks to Thorne Baker's superb voice acting, Thatcher has clearly crossed the Despair Event Horizon. As he openly weeps over how everything he's loved and cared about has been taken from him, but he can't show it because everyone's hope is built around him holding it together. He then confesses that no one in the police department has any idea what to do anymore, that he has no idea what to do anymore. How everyone is blaming them for not being able to find the missing people the Alternates spirited away, but obviously they have no clue where they even went, speaking about how they don't realize that "(The police are) in the same fucking boat as they are". And he ends it by talking about how his encounter with the Alternate at the end of the Volume has broken him.
Thatcher: "I feel...different. Seeing a perfect copy of you just...walk away...back out into the world...? No one's answering...no one's telling me what's going on. I'm gonna kill this thing if it's the last fucking thing I do. I'm alive...but part of me doesn't wanna be."
While Thatcher survives his encounter with an Alternate, the same cannot be said for Ruth, his partner. As we see in Volume 4, he does not take it well.
And in Volume 4, we get a snippet of the aforementioned Alternate encounter, where it wears his own face right in front of him and calls reinforcements off, then decides to taunt him over his feelings of uselessness, and tastelessly compares him to the late Mark Heathcliff.
Alternate: Afraid of your own reflection, Lieutenant? Dead or alive, you're no use to these people. A man without a purpose, in a world that doesn't need him. A scared boy with a gun...sound familiar?
While it's undoubtedly Nightmare Fuel as well, Adam's screams at the end of mandela catalyst are this as well. He just sounds so utterly distraught and scared at what he's become, and it's a sobering reminder that, sleeper Alternate or not, he's ultimately just a person who got caught up in something unimaginably horrible.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: The first volume of the series resides within the definition of "Analog Horror". But later volumes, like Volume 2 and Volume 333, introduce voice acting and clips that can't be explained through Found Footage. Eventually, Volume 4 introduces fully-fledged live-action clips, though still retaining elements of analog. This Art Evolution was caused by the series' larger budget, but to some, this stylistic change removed what made Volume 1 scary in the first place. Along with other criticisms like Narm-like voice acting and Vol. 4's controversial live action sequences, in which the artistic choice of having the obvious Chroma Key backgrounds could come off as Special Effect Failure rather than Uncanny Valley.
Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: While it hasn't hurt the series yet, the Alternate universe is overly bleak. Through all videos, humans get screwed over many, many times due to sheer Paranoia Fuel reigning all over and the Alternates being Invincible Villains who always find a way to manipulate others into doing their bidding. It raises the question of when the Alternates will emerge victorious rather than if.
Viewer Name Confusion: Some fans mistakenly switch around Thatcher Davis' name as Davis Thatcher.
WTH, Costuming Department?: Thatcher Davis, who is supposed to be a Police Lieutenant of a small, rural Midwestern town, has a bleached "emo" hairstyle and a nose piercing ring, which makes him look more like a typical 2000s young hooligan than a Policeman.
Though to be fair, by the time we see him like this in Vol.4, he has been off duty and in hiding for an extended period of time, and suffering intense depression. Pictures we see of him in uniform, he looks much more presentable.
before continuing.
