WMG / Paranatural

As a WMG subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

---

The Sphinx of Games and The Broken God are connected

Based on this post on tumblr, it is possible that the sphinx is part of BERG's fraction and that BERG's one of the "others" the sphinx mentioned. The fact they are both connected to riddles is just a bonus. I recommend reading the post itself. I dont want to copy it all here since I didn't write it.

The Vice Principal is a supernatural creature.

Hijack called her "hag", and Davy mentioned there being a witch in the school. Zarei also seemed to recognize her, mentioning something about it being "impossible" that she was still there. she's also too weird looking to be human.

Alex is a spectral medium

S/he claims to have been abducted by aliens. Maybe that was just entering his/her spirit room thingy. (I forget the terminology)The weird brown eyes could be explained as 'changing to look like his/her spirit'.And s/he knows there's a word before Activity in Activity Club.

Almost every kid in the school knows about spirits, even if they can't see them.

That's why weirdness like the hitball game is brushed off without comment and why seemingly random students sometimes say very suspicious things. It's also why Suzy can't find out anything about the Activity Club, as about half of her schoolmates are deliberately thwarting her.

Max is secretly the Batter.

I mean, look at his bat. And that cap. They're clearly the same person in some shape and form, right?

Suzy and R.J. are the same person.

Suzy created R.J. originally as an attempt to find out more about the Activity Club. She stayed with Johnny's gang because she can get a lot of dirt on other people this. My reasoning for this is that they have similar eye designs and can apparently take very good pictures with phone cameras.

• Unless she can clone herself, this is Jossed, as in the Ghost Train chapter Johnny's gang, R.J. included, passes by Suzy's house while she's inside talking to her flunkies. Not to mention Johnny gives us an exposition dump about R.J.'s backstory in chapter 5, establishing them as a non-binary person, so there's no way Suzy is related to them in any way.

PJ only died very recently.

Recently enough to use up-to-date slang ("...then you screamed and totes fainted.") Maybe this is why Max's Dad got such a good deal on the Corner Store?

• And yet he doesn't know who Batman is. Perhaps he just picked up modern language from previous occupants.
• There are plenty of people who don't know who Batman is, surprisingly enough. He might have lived a sheltered live and picked up slang from kids walking into the corner store.

R.J. is some kind of supernatural creature

Especially supernatural, considering normal humans can see them. I base this on their eyes, which are weird even for this comic.

• Could be a medium like Isaac, judging by their sparkling green mohawk briefly revealed by a speeding car.
• RJ cannot see supernatural creatures, although that does not prove they don't have something supernatural going on
• Jossed. They were able to pass through the barrier.

Mr. Spender's glasses are his tool

In the scene right before Max bats the... well, the bat, we see a quick set of pictures showing the other characters preparing to step in- Mr. Spender is holding onto his sunglasses, with what may be energy swirling towards it or out of it. It would also explain why it is that he's always wearing them. Also, the current page header on the Paranatural website has all the tools together- Max's bat, Ed's brush, Isabel's book, and Mr. Spender's glasses on the top.

Alternatively, his tool could be in one or both of his eyes, or be his eyes themselves.

• Or each of the lenses is a tool with a different spirit in each.
  • The one-spirit-per-lens theory is looking more likely; Spender worries about being near a yellow spirit for the sake of his mental stability. If being connected to one spirit takes a mental toll, imagine being connected to two.
  • I'm guessing this has something to do with the whole light-and-dark theme he has going on (His panel in chapter 1, page 60, and also the lighting in his room). Furthermore, he reacted almost violently when Isabel tried to hand him another tool. Having two spirits is bad enough — imagine THREE.

• Confirmed here: Mr. Spender's sunglasses are a tool with the power to control light. His ability to control shadow comes not from his tool, but from the spirit possessing him, a very dangerous and evil shadow thing.

Isaac is excluded because his power is extremely destructive or hard to control, and possibly tied to his emotions

I base this purely on the fact that when Max was pestering him in chapter 3, he used the famous Hulk quote "you wouldn't like me when I'm angry". There has got to be some significance there, not to mention he'd just finished explaining how he could "completely destroy" Ed and Isabel together. And Word of God has confirmed that Isaac has a rather sparky temper.

• Or because Mr. Spender doesn't want Isaac's violent and unruly spirit to hear the information. He can't exactly throw him away like he did with Max's tool.
• Judging by Isaac's aborted response to Max asking about this subject, it seems likely he's done something to earn the mistrust of the other members.
• Don't forget Doorman's "redemption you seek".
  • Plenty of hints are in Doorman's scene.

Doorman is a medium overtaken by the spirit possessing him

As theorized in this comment.

Issac has only been possessed recently

If mediums get more powerful as their spirit recovers and Issac can't really do too much with his powers, then it's only a matter of time.

• But Isaac can do plenty with his powers.
  • He can't make wide scale storms.

Isabel's spirit is spider-like.

Due to the symbol on her book, as pointed out by Crazyman BT in this comments section.

• Confirmed, Eightfold is a paper spider-like spirit.

Johnny and Suzy are going to be the next two spectrals.

In the most recent update a pencil tool happened to be found, the aura color is stated to be pink. Which matches up perfectly with Suzy's color scheme, and it being a pencil fits given that she's a reporter and has used one as a weapon before.On Johnny's case he has seen Issac fighting a spirit right after he was hit in the head, it's possible that he's starting to see stuff, and is shaking it off. He'd get the plunger as a tool, since it's connected to an enemy of Max who Johnny is a Friendly Enemy with. Also it seems predictable that he'd get a joke weapon.

• No, wait: Johnny gets the pencil, Suzy gets the plunger, and the audience all get trolled.

• He saw the lightning Isaac made, but the flashback from his point of view makes it very clear he 'didn't' see the spirit getting attacked. Background of the last panel here.

• Well, it looks like at least Johnny was confirmed. He's now a medium for Forge.

Mr. Spender's eyes glow

The physical manifestation of his spirit is glowy eyes. His sunglasses are not his tool and are instead used hide his weird eyes from others.

• Jossed. His sunglasses are confirmed to be his tool.
  • Though his eyes really can glow, as with every spectral who's communing with their spirit.
• Double-Jossed? While Mr. Spender does have weird eyes, they're the complete opposite of glowy. In fact, they're pitch black.
• Triple-jossed. His pupils can become alarming red, which is a manifestation of his status of being possessed by the freaky shadow spirit.

Johnny has healing powers.

C'mon. A scooter hit his head so hard it dented in, and he hit his head on a rock and definitely appeared to be bleeding to death, but jumped up moments later both times. And both times, the characters in the story noticed and thought it was strange that he was uninjured.

Once is a funny event. Twice is foreshadowing.

His healing power has consistent limitations, as well. Both times he appeared to have fatal injuries, he lay still, possibly unconscious, for several seconds to a minute, before claiming to have been fine all along, and laying still isn't really normal behavior for Johnny. So it presumably takes a minute to work.

• Arguably the first time was because of the Doctopi which promptly attached to his head and started eating his pain. Still an interesting theory, just thought I'd mention that. Then again, the Doctopi did hop off him fairly quickly, and if he had sustained serious scooter-based head trauma, presumably he would start hurting again after the flying cephalopod was done with him. What an odd sentence.
  • In Ch. 5 Isabel warns that Doctopi just eat pain, they don't actually heal.

• Here, in the background, although it could just be a funny background event.

Isaac and his spirit

Montezeusma went to Mayview to meet Doorman for the same unknown reason as Forge but was defeated by Mr. Spender (Here the bunny spirit mentions a storm god on his list of arrogant dead). After the battle he possessed Isaac.When Isaac awoke his powers, he made a huge mess (This is why he was worried about Max awakening here and was what he tried to say here), and for this reason he is excluded in the Activity Club.This theory also explains how Isaac met Doorman, it was because Montezeusma already knew him and was working on the same secret agenda before being forced to possess Isaac.

Forge is Doorman's master.

What is Doorman doing hiding in the outskirts of town anyway? We know they're affiliated in some way, but they're conspiring something. Likely with the intention of good but with questionable morality.

• See the last line here and the first line after. By "succeeded", Doorman is referring to Forge successfully trespassing into Mayview.
• In panel 8 here, he says "my master does not fear broken gods", alluding to a conflict between Forge and the spirit inhabiting Max.
• Unlikely. Forge dragged scrap metal to the barrier to make a door so Doorman could let him in. When he lost the scrap metal Forge asked what other way he could get in. Forge didn't know a way through the barrier other then with the help of Doorman, so why would Doorman be expecting Forge.
• Maybe not his master, but Doorman is definitely the middleman who is acting as the representative/recruiter of whatever entity Forge was seeking out as he had not only mentioned Forge by name during his chat with said representative, but had also given him the means to receive a key from Doorman in the form of the locket. As shown on this page where it's pretty obvious that he was fully expecting to see Forge and not Mr.Spender in possession of the locket

Mr. Spender's Tool contains the ghost of an Armstrong.

And his sparkling techniques were passed down the family line for GENERATIONS!!!

Johnny actually receive brain damage from being hit by Max's scooter

His behaviour has become more erratic and less sane, even some of his (smarter) friends are noticing.

Max's dad has the potential to be a spectral, or is one in a minor continuity problem.

This page got a lot of people guessing that Max's dad was a spectral because of the exchange about being a "weird psychic". While this was quickly written off as another joke, there might be more to the theory than some people realize: specifically, that the Whale-Frog initially tried to possesses him in Chapter 2 before reconsidering. Issac explains in the next chapter about the difference between tools and mediums, specifically that tools lure over a suitable spectral, and mediums are when the spirit possesses the suitable spectral directly. Why would Whale-Frog try to possess Max's dad unless he was, or has the potential to be, a spectral?

The problem with the theory is the reveal of the barrier around Mayview; if Max's dad was already a spectral, he wouldn't have been able to get through the barrier without using the Ghost Train. It's still possible he's an unawakened spectral, however.

Mr. Spender was a member of Nudist Beach (Kill la Kill).

He glows in one of the pages. Just like Aikuro.

Paranatural is in the same universe as Soul Eater and Bakemonogotari...

In one of the pages, Issabel uses Soul Protect. Also, spectrals have a different colored soul, just like Maka and Soul, for example. As for Bakemonogotari; either Mr. Spender or BL explains that Spirits are based off of one persons beliefs.

Isabels next spirit will be that one Riddle Spirit.

On chapter 4 of page 39, Ed explains that the color of your spectral energy has to match that of the spirit.

• Jossed. It's a parasol.

Isaac will perform a Face–Heel Turn.

As foreshadowed on Chapter 3, Page 51:

Isabel: "Very cool Isaac. Very brooding anti-hero."

Isaac: "You think?"

• This would make sense, considering the fact that Isaac already feels betrayed by his friends and loathes Spender. He already resents the Consortium and the other characters currently presented as "good", so all he really needs is someone who will give him the information he wants and he will join up with them.

Isaac will eventually have an Unstoppable Rage moment

Boss Leader is the ghost of Max's Mom.

Okay, long shot here.

First of all, comparing their head shape and arm size here◊, we can see they are a bit similar body-wise. It's been shown both are a bit scatterbrained, and Boss leader seems to know a lot more about Max then she lets on. Contributing to this...

• Also, Max's mom's death was apparently a grisly one and Boss Leader is wrapped in bandages all the time.

• Jossed. Boss Leader is eventually revealed to be someone else.

Max's Mom was a spectral.

Maybe this would explain why Max's Dad never seemed to mind the fact that Max is leaving in the nights. Perhaps his wife did the same thing and he learned not to question it.

• Adding on to this, Max's Mom seems to have been a blacksmith, much like a certain spirit. Furthermore, on this page, she appears to have scales or something on her hand. Could she have been a medium for Forge?
• Confirmed as of the end of Chapter 7.

In another chapter, the PAC will investigate a haunted mansion.

It will also be revealed to be the place where P.J. died. It will also look a lot like the mansion from Mystery Skulls.This troper just really wants to see this trope played out.

One of the Disaster Masters from Cucumber Quest will make a cameo.

This troper (the one above) also really wants to see this happen.

The "teacher with a secret" is Baxter.

She's got no strings attached to her on the Chapter 5 title page.

Mr. Garcia is the infiltrator.

Cause why the fuck not. He's weird enough as it is.

Mr. Garcia is the Cousinhood agent who approached Walker, and/or the teacher Hijack is trying to possess.

We know there's something up with him, considering the whole thing with lying face up in a stream, and how intent he was on making sure Max didn't tell anyone. Also, the Cousinhood agent depicted on this page looks kind of like him.

• As for being the one Hijack is trying to get to, there was that exchange at the beginning of Chapter 5 between Mr. Garcia and Hijack (possessing the weird dog). He's been front and center in several panels pertaining to Hijack, as well. Something's Up With This Guy

Spender never completely defeated "the strongest spirit."

Instead, he destroyed its body and it possessed him in order to survive. Releasing it is too big of a risk, so he settled for keeping it contained. Bonus: the Activity Consortium either doesn't know about this or it's hush-hush and just between Boss Leader and Spender himself.

• This also explains how he defeated the strongest spirit despite his rather average skills. The spirit possessing him is a living shadow, and Lucifer's power would have given him a natural advantage.

The powers of "the strongest spirit" were:

• Being able to create barriers similar to the one around Mayview.
• Being able to change the color of spectral energy.
• The ability to take away the powers of a spectral (Using tools, seeing spirits, etc)
• The ability to outright destroy other spirits.

Boss Leader is in a coma.

She's covered in bandages. She has power over dreams and apparently manages to maintain the Consortium's dream headquarters at all times.

• This would make sense, as Mediums grow more and more like their possessor as time passes. That means that originally, B.L. was normal, and began having a sleeping disorder, that eventually evolved into a full blown coma. It does make sense that a dream spirit would always be sleeping, after all.
• Confirmed, both being in a coma and said coma being a result of Medium exposure.

Agent Day's memory issues

When Agent Day met with Spender she doesn't remember meeting him previously, and based on both Max's reaction to meeting her and his knowledge of what she likes (along with kinda-sad expression while he speaks of that) it's probably safe to say he knew her in the past (meaning it's probably her in this flashback). This troper has two theories:

• Agent Day's powers somehow affected her memories (and maybe her eyesight? or was she always blind? I dunno, I'm digressing), or
• Agent Day had her memories erased by someone (possibly Boss Leader, unless when talking to Max she meant she can only make people forget the current dreams they're in)
• Alternatively (not the same OP), Max joked about Spender erasing people's memories with bright light. Perhaps he really can do that, for all we know.

Scrapdragon and the Spirit Possessing Max

We know that Scrapdragon is in the bat, but there’s also something possessing Max. I don’t think they’re the same thing, because so far spirits either possess a person OR an object. Plus, the thing possessing Max isn’t like Scrapdragon at all. Here, Boss Leader says that Scrapdragon is an animal that can’t be reasoned with. But when Max is talking to Doorman, the thing inside him sounds intelligent, even calls Doorman (who just got done doling out wisdom to Isaac) ignorant.

• So clearly Scrapdragon isn’t the thing possessing Max. Whatever it is, it wants to stay hidden from the Activity Consortium since it hasn’t done anything when spectrals are around, but that’s kind of irrelevant.

• Scrapdragon is this spirit’s pet or something of that nature. Otherwise, wouldn’t the two spirit have like fought over Max, one wanting the upper hand? But they haven’t fought at all. So yeah, somehow Scrapdragon and the thing possessing Max are linked.

Dimitri is a Spectral and a former member of the Activity Club

• In the last panel of this strip Isabel, while imagining the Activity Club congratulating her, also imagines a dark hand that looks a lot like Dimitri's giving her a thumbs up. (Right above Mr. Spender) And on this page he "accidentally" keeps screwing up the wires every time Suzy's recording device starts picking up Activity Club stuff.
  • In addition, there are dark body parts when Isaac remembers back to fighting earlier monsters. Here
  • There's also the time where he seems to activate some sort of power to allow him to tank Hijeff's throw during the hitball match, and then states that none of the others can take a hit like he can without getting hurt badly.
  • Post-hitball game, Dimitri and Isabel also share a dramatic, history-laden look that implies something deep they cannot talk about and makes them both sad
  • Confirmed.

Spender can see in the dark

• Mediums take on physical characteristics of the spirit possessing them. Since Spender is possessed by a powerful shadow spirit, it would obviously be able to see perfectly in poor lighting, as that would be its best environment. Upon being possessed, Spender became able to see in the dark, regardless of how poor the lighting happens to be. Hence him wearing his sunglasses literally all the time, and having absolutely no problems with vision. And being completely okay with wearing sunglasses while driving his students around at night, instead of just pushing them up on his head or something that would maintain contact with Lucifer, but not impair his vision. They don't impair his vision in the slightest.

The "she" Zarei refers to here is Boss Leader.

It's implied "she" can use tools that don't match her spectral color. BL has white spectral energy, and white contains every color.

Max's mom had some connection to Scrapdragon or it was her tool if she was a spectral

• Max's mother worked a lot with metal from what we could see in Max's flashback to her of her in the garage.

The secret Suzy is hiding is an Embarrassing First Name.

• On the page where Lisa blackmails Suzy, Lisa says "Miss" and Suzy flinches, before Lisa continues with "Suzy", and she relaxes, implying she may have been expecting another name.

A ghosts/spirits spectral energy is determined in the place where they died

• This is probably a very lose theory, but it's worth a shot. The first piece of evidence I have is here. Now as we all know, Water Is Blue. So the fly dying in the cup of water translates to its Battle Aura being blue. I have a few other pieces as well, such as the reason why Eightfold has red energy is because she died in a fire. Her location of death was probably a library or near one which was probably her home as well. Some dumb kids probably did it as a prank. Muse probably died in the wild and Scrapdragon might have been a snake caught in a junkyard. This could also explain King C's weather powers, who might've been a a cub who drowned à la The Lion King (1994).

Later in the series, it will be revealed that Isaacs parents are travelling overseas, as part of his animesque theme.

Because it's too good not to be true.

Max feels like he caused his mom's death

During his flashback we see that Max liked to go around doing a bunch of stunts against his mom's wishes, and in present day has taken on her idea that you shouldn't make promises. He's also desperate to track her down, possibly because he wants to apologize to her. It's possible that at one point she saved him from a stunt he was doing and died saving him.

Isaac did something to Dimitri

In this comic, Isabel mentions that "Isaac... did a bad thing, accidentally...to one of [them]". She's really keeping it vague, and the pauses make it feel like she's intentionally keeping it vague. Tying in with the 'Dimitri is a Spectral' WMG above, Isaac's "bad thing" has something to do with the reason Dimitri is no longer in the Activity Club- possibly inhibiting Dimitri's ability to see/interact with spirits/spectral energy.

• Also might explain Suzy's over-the-top dislike for the Activity club.

Johnny's gang is going to become spectrals

As of this page, it's all but confirmed Johnny's a medium. He got possessed by Forge, and now he's starting to see shades, one of the early stages of being a spectral. Isaac claims that prolonged exposure to supernatural phenomena causes people to awaken as spectrals, and with how much time they spend together, Johnny's nature, and the potential for Johnny to cause paranatural phenomena, his gang will probably fill that requirement fairly quickly, thus awakening as spectrals.

The mysterious "Event" thirteen years ago Spender, Boss Leader, and others have referred to is the reason why there are so many 12- and 13-year-olds with psychic powers.

Seriously, how does one seventh-grade class in what's implied to be a small school in a small town just happen to have 5 kids with powers? Seems like long odds to me.

Max saw a therapist at some point after his mother died.

He accurately and condescendingly psychoanalyzes Johnny, which would be unusual for a kid who had never been exposed to it. He also uses the psychological term "transference" correctly several times, each time causing someone to lampshade that it's an odd thing for a 12-year old to know.

Spirits live atop a ghost-bug ecology

One question Max asks is why everything isn't buried in a skyscraper-sized heap of ghosts of every bug to have ever died? And it is possible that bugs or animals don't generally leave ghosts. Or, given how ghosts seem to be food for greater spirits, it's possible that dead bugs immediately reenter the food chain and are devoured to fuel the wide variety of spirits we see.

• Implied, if this page where the ghost of a recently deceased fly about to be eaten by a fish spirit indicates.

Johnny's hair is going to get lit on fire

It could be a supernatural thing, an accident, or some other weirdness, but Johnny's hair really looks like it might get lit on fire. Possibly due to being Forge's medium.

P.J. is Davy's first son, with Lefty being Davy's missing hand

Lefty shares Davy's spectral color, is specifically stated to be the ghost of a human's hand rather than a spirit, and is the same hand Davy just so happens to be missing, so it doesn't seem like a stretch to say that Lefty was originally Davy's hand. Going off of that, it would seem strange for someone like Davy to hang around, much less fiercely protect, some random dead kid - unless he knew him personally. It's also worth mentioning that P.J. shares a striking resemblance to Cody and Davy, being one of the only other characters to sport pale skin and black hair aside from Lisa. Thus what likely happened was Davy, P.J., and perhaps any other family members were killed in a freak accident early one morning during breakfast, possibly the house collapsing or catching fire. Most of Davy's body was recovered and reanimated for as of now unknown reasons, while P.J. became a ghost, along with his father's left hand. The now undead Davy went on to have a second, half-vampire son, Cody, who may or may not be aware of having an "older" brother.

Francisco Guerra died wearing a bathrobe

PJ mentions he's permanently stuck wearing the pajamas he died in, and while Mr. Guerra's outfit kid of looks like a martial arts uniform, it's oddly fuzzy along the hem, collar and on the belt while also being extremely long for a gi. Thus, it's probably a bathrobe and he could have died when he was about to take a shower or something.

Scrapdragon is Max's mom

Boss Leader explains that Scrapdragon is a grudge and specifically states that its snakelike appearance isn't its real form. In the same chapter, Max's mom was shown in the past working on art made from metal scraps. While a ghost and a spirit are two different things, maybe it's possible that a ghost could become a grudge, or Max's mom isn't quite human.

• Almost definitely Jossed. There's no evidence that humans can reincarnate or turn into spirits. Also, Scrapdragon is canonically a spirit. Scrapdragon's real form is likely just a much smaller snake, as grudge forms are seemingly never too far-off from their original state. Compare the bat spirits normal form to its grudge form. Therefore, it is logical to assume that Scrapdragon's normal form is simply a smaller and less scary version of itself.
• There's nothing saying humans can't become spirits, though. Plus, concrete details about supernatural entities have been pretty sparse, so there isn't much definite proof against this theory, either.

Spender's spirit and Max's spirit are part of the same original spirit

Max's spirit is said to be a piece of a broken god, and Spender's spirit is shown to be what looks to be a fractured mask. It's possible that the reason that the shadow spirit is totally taciturn and seemingly mindless is that it's only the main body of the spirit, lacking any part of its mind, which Max's spirit could be a part of. Partially adding to this theory is the shadow spirit immediately attempting to attack Max, which could be its attempt at reclaiming a piece of itself, though given that it also attacked Isabel, it might have just been lashing out.

There's more to Principal Pleezdoo than it seems.

In every appearance she's had so far, the principal has seemed like an entirely useless pawn, controlled by the vice principal - except for this page. When Isabel accuses her of having fooled everyone and of being in control the whole time, rather than reacting with her usual worried confusion she enters a state of dangerous quiet and calm as she tries to convince Isabel that she's mistaken; when Isabel attacks her she reacts immediately and seems fully ready to get into a fight with a student right there and then. In any other comic, this could be safely written off as a Red Herring pointing towards her being Hijack, but Paranatural has a habit of hiding important information in innocuous details and jokes. It could well be foreshadowing her true nature. Maybe she really has been the real power at the school the whole time, and has everyone, up to and including the witch, fooled.