Teeny Toys Exploration: The Haunting Lost MMO Tale 

Teeny Toys Exploration Playlist: ru-vid.com/group/PLUtMdfebeaodbf2RG5E0aH0AyejB2Ts4g&si=XoZK9u6upQ9KaBcx

My own interpretation is that Diego was in a childhood cancer ward. The art room, mom hanging out by the bed, leaving while everyone “claps” you out after you’re done…losing friends who didn’t make it, it all seems very reminiscent of having to do prolonged treatment. Especially the fact that chemo side effects are sickness, no energy, and insomnia. Love this arg, even though it made me super sad :’)

This broke me. I stayed at a children's hospital when I was very young. I remember going to the lobby every chance I got to watch the big colorful clock strike the hour because a train would come out. I went to visit/donate when I was an adult. The clock was still there but the train didn't run anymore. I cried. This made me feel the very same way. It seems kinda silly now, but also not silly at all. More like a cruel injustice. The passing of time is always cruel. Sometimes, it brings great things, but it's still heartless.

"A writer does not write to tell a reader his pain. A writer writes to let a reader know he understands THEIR pain." Has me genuinely crying, wtf. As someone who's been writing for over 11 years, that really resonates with me.

what I like about this series is that the horror isn't really the main point, it's simply just used sometimes to further the story it isn't a haunted game that wants to kill da player or spook him! it's a story of growing up, of lost nostalgia, of guilt and tragedy in a way, it's almost sweet to see the broken robot say "It's not your fault"

Man, seeing Diego walk through this dead game and getting more and more distract at realising that not only it is nothing like he remembers anymore - but that he doesn't actually remember that much if anything of it from how it used to be in the first place (save for, for lack of a better term, the happy vibes from the past) is _painfully_ relatable.

This hits me hard as a longtime player of a decade old MMO. I've met so many people that I spent many hours with, and the way they can just blip in and out of your life is kind of staggering. Some just never log in again. Some lose interest, grow old and make families, get too busy. I've seen dozens come and go. I've lost friends in that game to death or sickness or any number of reasons. And I might go years not remembering when suddenly something pops into my head and brings them to my memory. I always wonder how they are. I miss them all, even if I don't remember all their names, I remember how I felt in the time I did spend with them.

My therapist ought to have an alert on her phone when Nightmind drops a new unfiction project so she'll know beforehand exactly what half-forgotten, totally unresolved trauma I'll be showing up with during our next appointment.

You know, I just realized you haven't tackled The INTERLOPER Investigation. It's easily up there with my all time favorite unfiction series.

Wow. I don't think I've ever seen one of these touch on childhood _medical_ trauma before. Lots of types of childhood trauma get covered by various horror media, including unfiction, but I've never seen one do medical trauma. It really does feel like the sort of thing someone only writes about from experience. This is just a thought that occurred to me partway through, but I wonder if the slow decline in users was due to other children in the ward dying. :( Like maybe they were running a local server for the kids in the hospital, and the dropoff in game activity was... yeah. This made me sad honk if you still play Neopets

I think the scene where the new bot's arm gets cut off is much more important than initially thought. Perhaps he lost his arm somehow, be it to an illness like cancer, an accident, or something else. The "robotic parts" mentioned in the lion's story could be a prosthetic of sorts to replace that arm. I feel like which arm got cut off could also be significant, as if he was initially right handed and had to lose his arm for whatever reason, he'd need to train up his left. And what better way than fun mini games on a computer? It'd help him practice hand-eye coordination by teaching him how to use his left arm to type or use the mouse, and would still be seen as something fun to a small child.

36:17 Hearing Diego on the verge of tears at how he was supposed to remember the game fondly and with happy memories honest to fuck broke my heart. To the point I had to hold back tears myself. I have EXTREMELY fond memories of Club Penguin and Miiverse, memories which TO THIS DAY I hold dear (Lizzy if you are reading this by ANY chance, Nich misses ya). I cannot even begin to IMAGINE how it'd feel for these memories to just be... forgotten. I know it MIGHT sound silly for some, but I honestly felt as if these childhood experiences were more than just games. They were a big part of growing up. I remember playing Classic Roblox on my ma's laptop, and looking at it nowadays (I still play every once in a while), I find myself with the same feelings as Diego. it's just... not what it used to be. Things used to be different. Simplier. Less monetized. More fun. It was easier to just hop in some silly paper MLP roleplay and have a fuckton of fun exploring the World of Equestria, or hop on Zombie Tower with friends and gun down hordes and hordes of undead... But now when you check those games out, they're... abandoned. You join a server, there's nobody there to play with you. Sure, I don't have feelings AS STRONG as Diego here when I remember Roblox, but I have them when I remember Miiverse mainly.

As a past Toontown fanatic, I can see how much inspiration this project took from it, from the tutorial to the minigames to the book in the bottom right corner. It's cool to see the mechanics from my favorite childhood game twisted like this.

I was in the hospital for a long time as a kid due to an autoimmune condition and god as soon as you got a quarter of the way thru this I felt like I was going to barf and then teared up because I recognized it right away. One of the things you never really leave behind even if you go into remission is the memories, the survivors guilt, and the fear it's going to come back. This captures that so damned well. It's weird that there's a layered pain there that people with this very specific childhood trauma are able to recognize even in subtext, but it's definitely there. Unfair things happen to people who don't deserve it every single day, including children who haven't even had the chance to truly live yet. And even if you survive, it changes yoh forever. I still have an intense fear bordering on phobia of anyone touching my wrists bc that and the top of my hand were where they stuck all my IVs and they strapped my wrists to little cardboard boards so I couldn't move them around too much. No amount of therapy makes you forget that trauma. And that's not even getting in to watching things happen to others around you and realizing they are way worse off. Ugggh. Sorry to trauma dump. Thank you for reviewing this and putting it on my radar. Idk if I can stomach watching any of the other videos but I feel like now. I have to. Shared trauma can be cathartic in its own way as long as we are supportive of each other. Because it helps us know we are not alone.

Yeah I felt this one. Reminded me of my childhood when my sister was sick and in the hospital all the time. All of my friends at the time were her fellow patients. Unfortunately, one by one they would succumb to their illnesses. The end of this made me remember those times that my mom would inform me one of my friends had passed away much in the same way his friends just stopped playing the MMO. So yeah he understood my pain.

As a child that was hospitalised in a hospice at the time, and to everyone’s surprise outlived my ordeal. This hit me in a way I don’t think any other unfiction story has. I just had a very well needed cry, what a wonderful and heartfelt story. It means so much to me that you covered it and I discovered it’s existence. I’m eager to see the rest of the story 💛

We've bonded with a lot of plucky everymen in these unfiction horror stories over the years - Diego is the first one I earnestly wanted to give a hug to. Those moments in the later episodes when he finally breaks down and has a good cry felt honestly genuine.

Finally, the Chibi Robo series we deserve.

I'm 11 minutes in and one thing that's striking me is that there's a lot of UI elements that are incredibly similar to toon town! The mini game clock and book menu feel like very similar to the ones found there. I don't know if it's intentional but it definitely adds to the kids MMO vibe

This is such a distinct series in so many ways. The main themes are clearly childhood trauma and nostalgia, but presented in a way that can be almost universally understood. There’s no real “horror”, just discomfort and dread. Diego is an incredibly well played character who comes off as both the audience and the narrator. I had some stays in the hospital as a child, nothing long-term but enough to make some parts of this painfully relatable. This is genuinely one of the best internet horror/unfiction series I’ve ever seen.

As somebody who had a relative go through hospice care a few years back, the developer “goodbye message” felt kind of familiar. Teeny Toys was just as much of a loved one to these people as a real person. IDK if it’s a basic reading or if it’s even intentional but I just thought it was interesting

Something of note - the first time the alarm sounds, it's not diego that moves the cursor to open up the backpack. It is a much larger cursor with a very mechanical movement, almost as if either someone else, or the game itself, is trying to help him. You can even see him first close out of the book menu as if he's confused, though he doesn't comment on it. I found that very interesting.

I've seen this covered before by some other folks, glad to hear your narration on this series. It harkens to a nostalgia that I unfortunately don't have the experience with.

I grew up very ill and I immediately got the illness theme. A lot of us who grew up sick couldn’t have a normal childhood so we either did things alone or attached to online games. I sure did. I miss a lot of the things and the hospital visits and stays. There’s a bittersweet feeling when your favorite memories are followed by needles and tubes. Since he had a whole room and was in a ward he definitely was in intensive care. I’m thinking heart problems.

as someone who grew up disabled, grew up SLOWLY and PAINFULLY losing my ability to do things I once could as a kid, losing the ability to do things other kids could, down to the point I could barely even FUNCTION at times. I can relate to a good bit of this, that loss of childhood, that PAIN as everything just... keeps spiraling down and NO ONE can help you. Especially depending when you grew up... Nothing could be done for my ailments, even now as an adult that I KNOW what is 'wrong' with me... but that doesn't make those of us who survived feel any less hurt or molded by it... seeing people who left because they didn't 'make it' or they couldn't 'handle' your life and health??? it hurts... it's like walking through a 'dead mmo'.

This video made me want to rejoin Animal Jam, since I played it a ton as a kid. Teeny Toys nailed the desolate and sadly empty feeling when visiting places that used to be populated like crazy back in the old days. Areas in AJ like Serapia Forest, one of the most populated areas for roleplaying, was completely empty. It was sad to look at. I also sympathize with how he doesn’t remember what it was like and how it felt to play this game, since I also struggle with remembering my childhood. TLDR; This video nailed the sad, empty yet nostalgic theme and if you used to play Animal Jam, give it another shot, just for old times sake.

The sound effect for that slot machine made me very anxious all by itself. I don't know what's up with that sound lol The sound design on this is phenonimally upsetting, well done.

Seeing the "we are still standing" screenshots got to me. Unlocked a memory. Used to play an old online virtual pet game called GoPets. The interesting part was you could send them to other player's desktops, or sometimes they'd wander on their own. Neat concept. People would share screenshots of big parties of pets on their desktops. This was especially true the days before it was shutting down. People had the biggest gatherings they possibly could, desktops packed with pets and items. One last hurrah before it was all gone forever.

what i like about this series is how the game is like an amalgamation of various online childhood games i can see some little big planet, club penguin and other stuff. kind of like a dream that mashes up memories together

The concept of playing an old game you've played years ago, telling yourself it's only the nostalgia high But the reason your playing isn't for the feeling of nostalgia, it's to remember maybe even recreate/replicate, memories of better days, an escape from cruel reality

I stumbled into this series in another overview video, and it immediately spoke to me, so I'm so happy to hear your thoughts on it and get an update. As a leukemia survivor, who got it when she was just 5 years old, this series really, evokes strong and relatable emotions in me. Lying in bed, wanting to be like other kids, feeling so sick and out of it, and especially the memory problems, my whole life I've dealt with the fact my chemo radiation butchered my memory and makes it so much harder to remember things at times. So seeing it in this story? How, scary, and upsetting it is to think you remember, but to see clear evidence that you don't? That hits hard.

I love the additions of the screenshots, because it speaks such volumes about the “past” of this game’s world, and raises such unsettling questions. For instance, the blurb stating “dreams sometimes don’t come true” had the “especially in this god forsaken place” part added some time later. And that last couple of pages shows the bots in solidarity, that “we’re still standing.” But almost immediately afterwards, one of the bots falls over, says an incomplete “please help” and disappears. Whatever happened wasn’t some bad eggs causing trouble, or offline tragedy, or technical issues, or players simply becoming disinterested. Players were LITERALLY disappearing from the game. Which raises the question, what happened to them, and why didn’t they all just log off before it was completely shut down. Why was SleepyQueen still playing a game she thought was a god forsaken place that people were disappearing from? That others suddenly saw as “work” rather than “play”?

The scissors handle also looks alot like the turn key in the back of his robots the machine in the bathroom looked like an iron lung with a heart monitor as well

I love Teeny Toys SO MUCH, im so glad you made this video. it needs much more attention its amazing

The goodbye letter in the Webkinz font gutted me, Webkinz was *my* childhood and last time I logged in for nostalgia it had changed so much and the magic was all gone 😢

16:56 It is relevant to note that Diego did not go to his inventory on his own, his cursor is taken over by something that makes it move extremely smoothly, and goes over to the item that'll help him before he regains control, and decides to use the item

Listening to that bit where he's talking about how he remembered the game, it was honestly a little hard to listen to, maybe it's because of my own memories regarding old games and the people I met during that time, but christ the man put some emotion into his voice that I've only heard a few people even try to do and succeeded at as well.

Alot of people go to cancer with this. But I think it's more likely Diego has a chronic illness. So many chronic pain coditions come with conditions like M.E. When the very act of leaving the house cann leave you exhuasted and tired people start fading out of your life. When you try to remember a time before you got sick all the memories are soiled, you can't remember a time before the pain. Even those memories are tinged with pain. When Diego has to cute his toys arm off, it very much felt like the self destructive things we do, pushing ourselves too hard because we want to have fun or get something done. We pay for it in the end though, It might be later that day or even days later. I know so many disabled people who took solace in online communities. In games you can still do fun things without feeling too drained.

I definitely think the story is about some sort of traumatic childhood injury or illness that Diego went through, that still affects him now. Perhaps something to do with his heart, like needing a pacemaker for an irregular heartbeat? The posters in the red/blue room show a heart, among other organs. The fact that the consumable items can both raise or _lower_ a number also makes me think pacemaker, the number representing a normal heartbeat. If your heartbeat was irregular, you'd need medicine or machinery to keep it in check. Being afraid of the pastel blue color also makes sense if you consider he must've spent a long time in a hospital - a place where lots of things are pastel blue (tools, wallpaper, hospital gowns, gloves, bags, etc). Losing your memories of the time due to the trauma of it all also makes sense. The story carries a lot of the same themes as stories about the loss of childhood innocence, which is what having to get a dangerous procedure done to you as a child, would definitely do to you.

loved a webseries with a technical element, knowing each of those screenshots required modelling and designing a 3d environment that would never be explored, genuinely great stuff.

This is such a pleasant surprise for you to cover. I remember watching Sagen cover it and thought it was genius and man I related to it so much being a MMO kid ( and still a mmo adult lol!) So glad it’s getting this recognition, it deserves it.

poor diego :( also im very glad you decided to make a video on this. its one of my favorite series ever, mainly because "MMO mysteriously gets turned back on after years of inactivity" is such a stellar idea that im upset i didnt think of it first. along with the amazing execution and voice acting it makes for a great series that im super excited to see more of!!!!

This character is brave as hell crying on stream and not editing it out. I would never be able do that.

This story definitely has the feeling of fond memories but great loss. Definitely meant to represent children in the children medical ward. I'm guessing Diego made a lot of friends during that time, and a lot of those friends... sadly might not have made it. I think this is meant to me a metaphor of survivor's guilt in this kind of situation, of the friends he made in a hard time, of his recovery, of him slowly losing his friends, and him trying to come to terms with his loss- the loss of his friends and old times- but also understand that he wasn't at fault for what happened to his friends and shouldn't feel guilty for recovering. I imagine it must be very difficult for kids who have to do a prolonged stay at a hospital that end up making friends there with other sick kids... and then recovering while their friends might not.

Our favorite cryptid cat is truly right about Teeny Toys: it really is an experience that us as the viewers can connect with on such a personal wavelength. In a way, it’s reminiscent of the loss of innocence and the feelings that came with it - one could compare it to a certain global pandemic wherewithal the sense of liminality, the loss, the isolation and loneliness that the human masses went through. We try to put that past in the rear-view, but its shadow still looms in the back of our minds. And once we finally come back to face it, it hits full force, making it clear just how much one tried to forget about it by putting on some rose-tinted glasses. Personally, it makes me think of all the long forgotten times of trying to play Jumpstart as a kid, or the more recent Roblox, or Homestuck fan-sessions. You start to go through life and realize just how much you left behind, and are afraid to go back to it in case you spoil the happy memories. And yet, it’s not our faults in the slightest. I know I made a comment already, but this is my after-video comment (I was just so excited it was being talked about lol)

watching diego re-open the birthday screenshot while near tears was heartbreaking. the way his happy memories were used against him seems...crueler, somehow, compared to the tricks these games usually pull. like it reached in specifically to wound his inner child

You've just been pumping out these videos this fall Nick, it's incredible! We all need something dark and sinister to make it through these cold holiday nights and you're here to provide.

I wonder if this is childhood Diabetes related. Honey or sweets adjusting the number at the top of the screen makes me think of blood sugar. The way his PoV gets all messed up when the number gets low. The way the healing item slowly brought the number back up and eventually exceeded the original amount of 100, reminds me of blood sugar levels in a diabetic. The battery recharger being synthetic reminds me of insulin, possibly resembling a syringe. Also it made the number "disappear" after taking it but he had to immediately take the sweets again. Loosing a limb is also a common side effect of bad diabetes. It attacks the body and nerves. My grandmother has struggled with diabetes her entire life and all of this reminds me of the things she has had to deal with over the years

My interpretation is that Diego was dying and to save him his parents saved him by turning him into a kamen rider

when he started his breakdown in the split room about not being able to remember, oh man, i was done for; i remember feeling this when i played Jumpstart after so many years, it was empty and the same goes for Wizard 101 too. They are all so empty with only a few dedicated or very new young players, its sad.

I think it's possible Diego has an actual connection to the game. Everything changes when he remembers things, and it has literal archives of what happens in his life.

as somebody who was in and out of doctors and hospitals as a kid; i genuinely couldn't finish teeny toys. it made me too emotional to continue. until i saw your video on it i was too scared to do it alone because of the memories it brought back. man...

ok no. no no no this hits too hard. no no no no no. i have a strong stomach to anything else but this genuinley made me want to throw up. like i actually feel sick. i was in and out of a children’s ward for probably 90% of my childhood, sometimes staying for months at a time locked up in braces with dozens of tubes and IVs. i’d always feel sick and tired and weak, low blood sugar and aching bones (literally aching bones because at least one of them would either break or shatter probably every month becuase of a genetic defect) were so common that i’d rarely get any sleep. i felt like a lab rat. every day was an endless cycle of testing and scans and needles and tubes being put in and taken out. i’ve been told i wouldn’t live to the next 10 year mark, to the next 5 year mark, the next year, the next month. the next day. i’ve been in the room when my parents have been told to expect me to pass away that night in my sleep. i’ve never really met anyone that understood the feeling of spending most of your childhood confined to the walls of a hospital, nor a peice of art that truly conveys the frequent horrors and rare joys of it. the feeling of horror and dread watching your friends deteriorate faster than you and writhe and scream in pain while doctors torment them with the same instruments they torment you with, the heart-wrenching pit in your stomach and nauseous feeling when you watch a code blue happen in the bed next to you, the indescribable feeling of watching their parents stand over their body in the bed. i have seen people die. children. the first time i saw it happen, i was 12. the boy had just come out of surgery and was doing fine. out of nowhere, he stopped breathing. they couldn’t save him. his mom was watching the whole thing. his name was tyler, i think. tyler. that’s the name she was screaming. he couldn’t have been over 10. i might not be able to make it through this video because of the subject matter, but dear god, i will try. video games really helped get me through everything. they had a WII at my ward, which was current at the time, and all the kids would gather up and play skylanders or WII sports. they don’t have it anymore, but they have less kids coming in since the research program i was part of shut down. revisiting the hospital and the ward i called home for so long is hard. the murals on the wall of winnie the pooh and forests full of trees and birds are faded, the TVs i used to watch endless hours of cartoon network on barely ever work anymore, and most of my friends have passed away with time, the genetic defect we shared has a very high fatality rate, and testing so many new medicines and treatments on kids that young… their bodies can only take so much. seeing so many people that relate to that situation in this comment section is absolutely SURREAL. i don’t know who made this game, but i want to thank them. i want to thank them so much.

Well hot damn, another video only a few days after the last one, we're EATING this month boys! The robot designs remind me of Gir from Invader Zim, I haven't watched the show myself but I'm definitely familiar with that rambunctious little dude. All though I have to nitpick and say that they should've made the resolution smaller to really make it seem like an old browser game, but it's such a small detail so.. who cares?

It feels weird seeing a Nightmind when I've already seen the project it's about beforehand. I usually have to actually take the break Nick offers to see the series before I watch his video. Guess it shows I'm hanging around the right circles on the internet. XD

I love game-themed unfiction! I’ve seen this covered before, but it was a while back. Thanks for covering it! 💜

As Nick mentions, the creator of this series does such an incredible job with Diego. It's absolutely shattering to bare witness to him trying to come to terms with everything, he feels so genuine and real with his responses and his cracking voice and crying. The detail in Teeny Toys itself is so well done on top, it's wonderfully made.

Ah yes, A NightMind episode to work to. Excellent.

49:40 an important element missing from the translation is that "the inhabitants of the village had important roles/duties".

This was an amazing discovery livestream. I've missed a couple, working on stuff for Christmas. S. H. Is still pretending he believes in the Big Guy, so I'm trying to find out what he's wanting, and lots of cooking to do. Happy holidays, Team Livestream, and you, too, shape-shifting demon cat.

I watched you go through this on Twitch, and I remember feeling so bad for Diego throughout it. You can hear the pain in his voice as he's confronted with those old memories, and it still hits watching it again. Really hope more people look into this project, it deserves all the attention in my opinion.

Man, the medical ward scene struck a personnal cord with me because I experienced such a life earlier this year, so I identified myself with all the white notes.

Just found this channel today, I'm very picky about the channels that cover this kinda content either because of the way they speak, their terrible fan theories or their poor presentation of the subject matter. I quickly came to appreciate your style and presentation. Thank you and I am happy to be a new subscriber.

i love this series sm. the feeling of nostalgia slowly being taken over by terrifying realization. the pain of remembering.

Something about sentimental unfiction just hits so hard.

Throughout this entire dive. All I could do was compare it to what's happening to manyland. A once vibrant and flourishing game now facing extinction. I can't help but wonder if this was inspired by it or another game facing a similar fate

Man first angel hare and now this. I remember when i was younger how stuff like this used to make me scared out of my mind, kept me up at nignt. Now it seems unfiction horror makes me melancholic more than anything. Maybe its just a reflection of where im at in life, how anything my own mind decides to hurl my way is a thousand times scarier than anything someone can show in a youtube video. I find this kind of stuff very comforting, it feels like it's helping me work through my trauma.

Teeny Toys was a good surprise; Sagan Hawkes had revealed it for me and you can tell just by the viewcount at what episode that happened. But that same viewcount is also telling another, bittersweet story: ep' 2-6 are barren compared to 1 and 7-9. Other series like Diminish or Rapid Eyes don't present the same pattern -- Rapid Eyes for example got boosted all throughout to the tune of 25-30k. It really feels like people just watched yours and Sagan's summaries, looked at the first episode then skipped straight to the 7th. And I can't tell why that is because to me, it's doing things right.

All the little stories about the lion and the clown remind me of all the picture books i recieved after my little brother was diagnosed with leukemia, but generally a lot sadder and less specific towards cancer treatments and all the feelings about them.

A Night Mind video releasing on my birthday is awesome and an amazing cosmic bday present

I don't think this fits within the themes as well within the presented story, but based on my own knowledge and experiences, my theory is that Diego has diabetes. I'm mostly basing this of the number counter and the items used to manage that, as having diabetes is a number management game. And with the honey items it would make sense that it would raise, while the robotic parts could be something akin to insulin. Also considering the effects of the items and the low number it tracks. When it comes to raising your blood sugar you don't just instantly eat something and feel better, it takes time for it to go back up. And having a low blood sugar can make you very shaky and unable to function. It feels like being drunk in a way. The main other thing that would support this theory would be the theme of being robotized, which would make sense for the kind of feelings a child would get being hooked up to a insulin pump and/or a constant glucose monitor. Becoming dependent on these external devices and means in order to live. Though I don't know how the extended hospital stay would factor into this theory, and the themes don't and imagery of other organs doesn't align well either.. but regardless it's still fun to find aspects I can relate to through my own disability ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Ooh, I heard about this a while back. Glad to be getting an update on the anomaly.

This is one of the very few "i found this game" stories that I actually like

I just turned 60 a few weeks ago. I really get the bittersweetness of this. Here Be Dragons.

Having realized a few months ago that a childhood mmo was shut down(Forsaken World), and that one I failed to play but considered trying again for a friend is also gone(Tera Online), those feelings of heartache are indeed familiar. Even if I'm one of those weirdos that didn't usually interact with others and preferred doing my own thing. Probably why I never got addicted to em or play them all that much. Never did like the idea of raiding, felt like an opening for toxicity and worse to someone who doesn't like being a burden to others. I know I'm not a great gamer to begin with, mmos showcase that extensively. So yeah never felt good enough to interact with other players lest I get dragged into a guild I'd struggle to commit to. Or get lambasted for not being very good at games. Despite this hang up, I still managed to make my own fun on my own nonetheless. And at least Guild Wars 2 is still around, and I have a friend that plays it regularly who's offered to hang out in game once I get a new computer finally. Last one was a crappy lenovo that finally went capoots on me. Rip.

As someone who has a lot of issues around nostalgia, and lost childhood - lost innocence - this project hit me hard. Remembering old times, both in reality and in online games, is painful, because of how much of it I’ve lost, and how much of it I lost too early, both through choice and through circumstance. And that’s the feeling that this project evokes in me - the loss of childhood and the fear, pain, and sadness that inevitably comes with it.

I think the PetsCop inspiration/influence is obvious. It even has still frames in the transitions. But different type of game, and seems to be a totally different narrative direction. Definitely intriguing so far.

Am I the only one who at around 14:00 with mentions of mechanical stuff, lions, and sick children, go "oh boy i love The Veldt"?

I'm sure it's intentional to replicate the feeling of monotony or the sounds of medical equipment but WOW is the sound design absolutely grating. Fantastic and emotional series but now I have a headache.

Rewwatched this today and it hit me in full. I relate to this ARG on a personal level. I couldn't finish the last two minutes of this because I started crying. It's hard to move on from something that was your whole world for a time, in my case it was G+ during my recovery from surgeries as a child. For the record, It does feel like you're leaving behind friends when you leave, even if you weren't close. I still think back to that kid on the other side of the wall I slept at. Though I'm not sure how much of that time I imagined or if he even existed and wasn't just a figment of my mind. I hope he's not in pain anymore or feeling the need to bang his head on walls.

I think it's important to note: during the sequence where the alarm is sounding and the backpack is opened up and the restore item used, *none of that was Diego.* He doesn't comment on it or even address it, but if you watch the mouse cursor, its movements go from organic and circular (Diego's control) to all straight lines. It opens the menu once, and Diego fights it off, making circles with the mouse. It then takes control a second time, opening the menu again, going to the backpack, and directing Diego's attention to the megarestore. The mouse then jumps as Diego gets control back, and uses the item.

The lines that stick out to me is “not all dreams come true”, “it’s not your fault”, and “I miss him” There seems to be some kind of guilt that he’s holding onto. I don’t think it’s connected to the other kids cause he specifies a specific “him” rather than “them” Also, towards the end of the pitch black corridor, there is a figure that looks like a child’s drawing scribbled out. I think that’s the “him” that’s being referred to. Also, the message for the game closing leads me to believe that there was one big event that caused the closure rather than just a gradual decline.

A thing I adore about Teeny Toys is how it wears its heritage (Toontown Online) on its sleeve in subtle ways that you'd pick up if you ever played Toontown Online back in the day or have played one of the modern day revival projects. Just from the camera angle, the tank controls, the menu being a book in the bottom right of the screen, and even having to make your name out of a selection of pre-determined words, it's all very Toontown. Even smaller details, like how the player profiles are laid out, the chat bubbles above the players, and the presence of a second green chat button next to the blue one in the old screenshots, it's all very much paralleled to Teeny Toys' real life counterpart. Hell, a racing minigame where the top players of the week are posted up as portraits on a wall until the following week? That's literally Goofy Speedway! I *adore* how faithful Teeny Toys is to the game it is very obviously based off of, it really helps spark that feeling of childhood yearning and nostalgia that mixes so delightfully with the horror and dread of the series' later entries.

The emount of effort that put into this project is amazing! The pacing, the story, the visuals, is all brimming with effort. The visuals are very 2000's like, and the story is very depressing yet so intriguing

You’re dropping like crazy lately, and I think that’s pretty epic

The eyes on the walls reminds me of Petscop, and the soundscape is very similar too. The walk cycle sounds and everything, and the visuals are perfect for the nostalgic kids game vibes. This person did an AMAZING job crafting this story

i'm loving this trend in online horror projects where the horror isn't some supernatural boogin or whatever, but something realistic and the traumacore elements are just a lovely cherry atop the sundae

Loving the Chibi-Robo vibes of the design! If you look closely, I think one of the heads during the creation screen is GIR from Invader Zim!

Teeny toys exploration JUST updated with video number 10, i'm about to watch it!

I fell asleep watching this as suggested. Then that low health alarm woke me up in the middle of the night. It sounded exacrly like my old alarm clock did.

59:00 As someone who uses poetry for an outlet, I can't agree. Sometimes a writer writes about their pain, because there's nowhere else to put it.

my belief that horror is the most human genre (or at the least the genre that most consistently explores the reality of the human condition) continues here. this series is not as scary at some others, but that's something I'm thankful for, because its still haunting and relatable, its almost more creative for lacking any gratuitous violence or "spoooky monster!!!" i mean i enjoy that in other series too, and it might still happen here, but this is so much more interesting, an Ode to all those friends we will never see again

Thank you for your work, Nick! Love your videos.

So glad to see you cover this! I've seen it covered before but I'm always excited to see you cover things.

I remember Playstation Home, it was a huge part of my child hood and an amazing mmo. Teared up when they shut down.. I feel like even getting back, it would be so empty and eerie. Realized that with this

Oh shit. This was uploaded on my birthday. Thanks Nick.

I'm going to be honest, I had to put this video on hold after it released when I got to the hospital scene, but I'm glad I finished it today. It's a great video, but it was genuinely depressing to me considering the health issues I've watched my brother go through with pulmonary hypertension. I'm very thankful he's still with us today, but as a kids it's a traumatic experience finding out that your sibling could die within a decade. I could never imagine how my brother felt when he was diagnosed as a kid.

Oh man the channel got a 40 minute video just 3 days ago and its a damn trip adding to the story, mostly making it more clear than what we had before. I’m excited to see how you interpreted it especially since this probably prompted the most recent upload!

I'm glad this is getting recognition, sagan hawkes did a video on it but It seems it got overshadowed by the other material in the video. In my opinion it hits the mark for me much better, as it has way more effort than the seemingly copy and paste efforts of a new common place "arg", this is what a definitive arg should be.

Ive been talking to some friends I met in a niche mmo ten years ago and how we all feel lost and unwelcome in other games because we got used to a specific world and way things were done. The sense of loss here was palpable and knowable.