PlasticApple2011
is a Garry's Mod horror Machinima series with Alternate Reality Game elements that takes place in the early 2010’s, the videos at first seem like your typical Left 4 Dead 2 machinimas, complete with jokes about Ellis and Nick’s rivalry and Coach’s Big Eater tendencies. However under the cover of a G-Mod Machinima channel...is something else entirely.
Contrast BadwaterVideos2009 and gunslingerpro2009, which have more psychological horror elements and where the Machinimas focus more on Team Fortress 2 characters.
Damn Tropes!
- April Fools' Day: The video "At Last" (currently privated) came out on the day of 2022, featuring a link to a Google Doc that leads to another separate video where the player just unceremoniously shoots Nick in the head with a .357 Magnum (while he has a giant head, goofy music plays in the background and Ellis poses like a Robert Downey Jr. meme).
- Batter Up!: Nick attacks Ellis with a baseball bat in The Annoying Redneck: Absolute Shenanigans, knocking him out instantly.
- Benevolent Boss: Surprisingly, the player is one! He treats the ragdolls like a director would treat his actors and is shown to be nice to Coach and Ellis in particular, who he calls "charming". The ragdolls in turn reciprocate the feelings and willingly participate in his videomaking, with the exception of Nick.
- Big Bad: Nick.
- Big Eater: Coach, as always. Both of his appearances have him sitting inside a restaurant serving Fried Chicken.
- Big "NO!": Nick lets one out when he realizes that his gun is out of ammo, and continues it as he gets smashed onto the wall by the player.
- It turns out that this was because the player was not the intended target. Afterwards, however...
- Deconstruction: Compared to the tropes often seen in G-Mod horror series made after gunslingerpro2009, where the player is antagonizing sentient ragdolls, this one features them having a positive relationship and working together to create videos, until one of the living ragdolls decides to turn on the player. Funnily enough, this ends up making this series closer to the true classic ones like Classic GM Videos (where the player is tormented by an unknown entity).
- Hero Killer: Nick shoots Rochelle in The Annoying Redneck: Absolute Shenanigans, possibly killing her. He also executes Louis in Everybody Hurts, and possibly kills Bill.
- Hostile Show Takeover: By the time of Garry's Mod for Absolute Beginners! - EP1: Posing, Nick has taken full control of the channel, and the ragdolls have turned against the player. As Nick himself says later, the player has lost control over the game.
- It Can Think: The character ragdolls are revealed as early as the first episode to have some kind of sentience. The player is aware of this, and unlike other G-Mod horror series, treats them with at least some dignity.
- Jump Scare: Happens a few times.
- At the end of The Annoying Redneck: Absolute Shenanigans, Nick comes out of nowhere and knocks out Ellis with a baseball bat.
- As the player is making his tutorial during Garry's Mod for Absolute Beginners! - EP1: Posing, he is suddenly struck with a frying pan by Dr. Breen, knocking him out.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to other G-Mod-themed horror series, the machinimas have more humorous elements in them and it’s only until the end where things get a little eerie. The fact that the ragdolls are also willingly participating in the videos also helps. Though this quickly gets subverted once Nick starts putting his plan into motion.
- Mooks: Nick is shown to use Half-Life 2 NPCs such as Combine soldiers against both the player and other ragdolls.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: PlasticApple's fate of getting knocked unconscious and his show taken over is very undeserved.
- Painting the Medium:
- After the QA video was released, the channel banner was changed to Coach and Ellis nervously looking behind them while many shadowy figures are in the background. Given Nick's talk of revolution in Left Behind, this is very concerning.
- The profile photo was also changed from Ellis smiling to Ellis nervously looking to the side.
- As in Garry's Mod for Absolute Beginners! - EP1: Posing, the profile photo and channel banner have been changed into Nick smiling at the viewer while Ellis has gone missing.
- Nice Guy: PlasticApple himself. He's shown to be friendly with the ragdolls, letting them move normally after a machinima is not being filmed. And if the QA is any indication, him treating them fairly is why the ragdolls agree to be in his videos.
- Reconstruction: The concept of the ragdolls being intelligent and aware of the player and how they're playing with them for amusement is treated less as a Cosmic Horror Story and more like the ragdolls essentially being actors, with the player being a director, as PlasticApple lets the ragdolls do what they want when he's not making a machinima, and his fair treatment towards them is why they even agree to be in said machinima in the first place.
- Sanity Slippage: After being smashed onto the wall by the player, Nick's sanity horrifically declined.
He went MAD.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Unusually for a G-Mod horror series, Coach is the closest thing the series has to a Plucky Comic Relief. He's also nowhere to be seen after Everybody Hurts.
- Surreal Humor: Invoked, as Plastic was also inspired by Rubberfruit. It is revealed to be invoked by the ragdolls as well, since they have the exaggerated G-Mod animations whenever a machinima is being filmed and have smooth animations whenever a machinima is not being filmed.
