In "Damsel," why does Jeff suddenly hand the camera off to Evan, the one out of the three who actually knows at least self-defense, while they're somewhere they're not supposed to be and will be physically restrained if caught? Maybe Jeff and Vince are starting to realize that Evan's going a little crazy for real and not just being his usual, quirky self, and they're afraid a confrontation would make him go full blown Ax-Crazy and stab someone.
Don't forget how Jeff tackles the security guard. Obviously Evan isn't the only one who can deal with a violent situation.
Also, Jeff is no doubt feeling guilty about getting Steph committed in the first place; he has a personal reason for being "hands on" during the operation.
In that same episode, Evan complains that he's "not a good cameraman". As we later find out, neither is HABIT — to the point that he resurrects some of his former victims as undead abominations, so that they can hold and operate the camera for him!
How the hell are the guys not more alarmed when all kinds of weird cuts and Alien Geometries are showing up in their videos? "Cops Checked, No Body" reveals that they somehow can't see any of those clips.
This has been hinted at in two of their Twitter responses early on. Jeff asks why they keep getting questions about a video titled "- - -". Some time after, he apparently checks Youtube and is unable to see the video, even asking if people are trolling them.
The crew doesn't seem to be slipping into complete and utter insanity quite yet. Sure, there's Evan, but other than that, any signs of madness are sure coming slowly. They claim it's because they have each other to hang onto. Is this why Damsel seemed calmer and more at ease when she was hanging out with Jessa?
Everyman Hybrid? They were probably planning on crossing over a bunch of creepypastas from the start.
Alex's many issues. You don't have to watch the videos to notice a strange correlation. Aside from his brother, which of the Hybrid crew does he tend to hang out with the most...?
The Rake is in the shed? Hoheoehoheheoha
When Evan regains control of himself he specifically mentions that he could feel his child's bones in his mouth. That might seem almost comical since the human mouth, throat and digestive system really can't handle actually consuming something the size of a baby whole and with its bones but a video or two later we find out that Evan somehow regenerated all the damage that was done to him by the Rake and suddenly it becomes clear just how he could actually consume a baby.
Actually, it was never exactly hinted that Evan was forced to eat the baby whole. More likely, a slow, cutting process was involved, which would probably be even more of a torture session for Evan. It's also pretty clear that he later finds the baby's remains, which wouldn't be there if he really had eaten her whole.
It's actually most likely (and most heavily implied) that Evan simply took bites off his baby until it died.
The actual line is "I remember feeling her bones against my teeth." So it's more likely that he just ate the baby the same way one would eat a rack of ribs, picking the bones clean with his teeth.
The Youtube comments are left alone, unlike in Marble Hornets, who disabled them after one too many horror-ruining comments. Why? Presumably the characters in Everyman HYBRID can never find the time to actually disable the comments thanks to the nature of what's going on.
Once updates started slowing and things got more drawn-out, this probably no longer applies. However, the guys have frequently discussed how much they're grateful for their fanbase and how it kept them sane at least back before people started dying. The comments section is something the characters treasure.
In "A Summoning", Vinnie wakes up in HABIT's lair to the sound of Monster Magnet's "Baby Götterdämmerung". The song isn't just in keeping with HABIT's taste in music: its name literally means "little Ragnarok"; a mythical war between gods and other creatures, resulting in the submersion of the world by water. Now, think back to what the Everyman play said will happen at the end of the "cycle"...
Some of the lyrics are rather appropriate too, such as "I read a book today/It made me think of a life I led..." Earlier in the series, Jeff reads House of Leaves, which helps tip him off to the existence of the Candleverse, and possibly the iteration cycle.
"I see a name or two and the ghosts just start to roam/I had 'em locked away/It seems they've cut their own parole." In "Finding Fairmount"), Vincent literally bumps into the specter of Jeff, who begs him to help him and Alex (and yells that he could have saved them). In the following episode, he bumps into the Princeton iterations of Jeff and Evan.
"You've lived a dozen lives since then", referencing the iteration cycle.
"I learned how to lie well, and somebody blew up" may be a bit of Foreshadowing for the penultimate episode's reveal that Vinny has been a massively Unreliable Narrator who deliberately got Alex killed by Slender Man and omitted the footage that implicated him. It might also be a reference to Evan exploding with anger at Vincent when he learns the truth.
There's also the line "I guess I'll never get off the boat." What did HABIT say to the Rabbits (including, at the time, the HYBRID boys)? "YOU ARE ALL IN THE SAME. SINKING. VESSEL."
The song itself is also about a Shell-Shocked Veteran. Vincent isn't a soldier, but trauma-induced PTSD is something he knows only too well by that point.
HABIT says "new year, new me" in "Traditions", yet the crew didn't upload anything the entirety of the following year. The series, and thus the iteration, ended on New Year's Day two years later. In addition, HABIT's grand plan seems to have been to separate himself from Evan, because he's gotten sick of always having to take him as his host iteration after iteration and wants to possess someone else for a change; he literally wants a "new me".
On the topic of the above, HABIT's apparent fondness for Haunter (owning several shirts depicting the Pokémon as well as a hat in its likeness, and using it as a Personal Seal of sorts on a letter to Noah Maxwell), while an amusing visual gag on its own (of course he would like a purple ghost), takes on new meaning after learning his true motivations in "Half-acre of ash". HABIT expresses a desire to evolve and change like he has watched humanity do over the course of history, and is frustrated that he cannot do the same. Even the EMH boys have changed across iterations, but he hasn't. He's stuck going through the motions every time, possessing the same guy every time (who, by the way, has grown into such a powerful host over the countless iterations that he sucks all the fun out of HABIT's favourite pastime of murdering everything in sight by making it too easy), and he just wants to do something different for once, like possess a new host. Haunter evolves into Gengar by trading it to someone else, i.e. giving it a new host. It can't evolve naturally like most other Pokémon can. HABIT probably identifies and empathizes very strongly with it (as much as a sadistic bastard like him is capable of empathy).
The creators of the series have stated that HABIT's actions (right down to his sometimes odd choices in clothing) are consistently motivated by what he finds fun and amusing at the moment. In light of the knowledge that HABIT is just as trapped by the iteration cycles as the boys are (in a sense), this makes a lot more sense: he isn't just a Psychopathic Manchild, he's also incredibly bored! If wearing a goofy Hawaiian print shirt, trolling people on social media, or causing a bloody societal uprising brings him momentary amusement, why wouldn't he do it?
Why was the grave of Vincent's pet cat, Mittens, found disturbed (and presumably empty)? Later episodes reveal that HABIT apparently has the ability to resurrect the dead — namely, the Rabbits who died in his tournament — in some capacity. He was probably practicing on something a little smaller and simpler than a human (yet still challenging, as it had been dead for some time) and chose Mittens because it had an emotional connection to Vincent.
Box #7 and the final batch of Princeton recordings were only revealed after the deaths of the entire EMH crew and the conclusion of that iteration. (In fact, a news article included in Box #7 implies that HABIT attacked a postal truck and stole the package to prevent Vincent from receiving it.) Why go to such great lengths? The tapes in Box #7 reveal that Patrick Andersen had called Princeton!Vinnie, and warned him not to take his own life or "build some sort of fucking weapon" in his desperation to escape the monsters. HABIT had a very good reason to want to prevent Vinnie from hearing that!
Moreover, during the Princeton Iteration, Vincent had befriended Roger: a Princeton student who was the chief editor of a campus 'zine about unsolved mysteries; Roger became aware of the Mining Town Four case, and started working on a cover story about it, with zero regard for the consequences (his poking into the case drew the attention of Slender Man) or how it might effect Vincent, Linnie, or the Doc and Maryann (who were likely still grieving the loss of their children). In essence, Roger was behaving like Vincent during the EMH iteration. If Vincent had heard the recordings before or during the final act of EMH, he might have had a Heel Realization; another risk HABIT wasn't willing to take.
Princeton!Vinnie: Roger will just take any goddamn story that comes across his fucking desk. And if this is what that thing wants, why are we giving it to him? I shouldn’t even need to say it! I shouldn’t even need to tell Roger not to touch the story.
Indeed, Roger himself might have had such a realization: a footnote in the article's proofs states that "the personal experiences and stories [of] close friends" had caused him to pause and "reconsider the nature of this 'zine". If Roger was, in fact, Roger Paladino (the police detective from HABIT's blog posts), then his experience might have made him want to actively help others rather, than just gawk at tragedies.
The blood that pours out of the bag in 'Joke's Over' looks too watery to be blood, and when Evan attacks Slender Man with the baseball bat he winds up with Blood from the Mouth. Now think back: some of the first few stories about Slender Man suggested that he could melt his victims into mist.
The characters are aware of The Slender Man Mythos. In fact, the first few appearances of the Slender Man are actually a joke, which is what probably drew Slendy's attention to them. Think about this. In their world, Slender Man was fictional, at least, for a time. It ties in with the concept that Slender Man exists because we know about him. Think about what this implies about The Slender Man Mythos in our world.
In "Public Service Announcement," when they fess up to putting in a fake Slendy, they mention that of the appearances in the first videos, "not all of them are ours." Bearing in mind the above "can't see the weird videos" issue, which ones aren't?
Similar to this, when this troper started this series he was a little disappointed in the lack of subtlety of some of the Slendy appearances, like when they're pushing the car. Come on, Slendy was barely obstructed by the trees, they would have easily seen him if they had looked around. But then came Public Service Announcement, and this troper realized: all the crappy, amateur appearances were the team's Slenderman, and the convincing, subtle ones were the real Slenderman. Series redeemed.
In "Alex," Evan is wearing a BioShock T-shirt. Evan and the rest of the cast are apparently avid gamers if the other videos are anything to go by, and he's worn game-related T-shirts before, so it doesn't seem like much. The Rake, however, bears a resemblance to the Spider Slicers of Rapture, and Alex's room is utterly trashed like Rapture after the riots. The shirt is a nice visual touch even if it wasn't intentional.
Given the reveal in "Le premier cours", this might have been another parallel.
In one of the papers by Dr. Corenthal it says that HABIT likes to kill rabbits. HABIT calls the people who entered the tournament rabbits. Considering what's already happened to Ryan this may not end well.
The guys lose contact with Jessa shortly before the events depicted in "Joke's Over". Think about it.
In "Alex", Vinny, Evan, and Alex find Vinny's phone in Alex's closet. Vinny probably knew about the connections between the properties long before he let on.
HABIT recently released some directions for his Seventh Trial, explaining that the trial's time limit is indefinite and will continue as long as there are at least two rabbits left. That's right, There Can Only Be One! In other words, the final trial is to be the last rabbit breathing, meaning he's calling on them to kill each other.
Jossed. Not much happened to the remaining Rabbits; it turns out HABIT just wanted them to stick around, stay alive, (i.e. avoid doing anything stupid) and pay attention.
As some viewers noted, Jeff was captured at the end of March, 2012; when HABIT met with Green Feathers (one of the last remaining Rabbits in HABIT's Trials) on May 11th, his black tee shirt and jacket — the same tee shirt and jacket he wears during the torture scenes in "Colon D" — were splattered with blood. "Next", the video that confirmed Jeff's death, didn't go up until Christmas. Depending on how generous HABIT was feeling, Jeff could have been imprisoned and tortured anywhere from two to almost nine months. Yeah.
In light of the reveal that Vincent was actually the Voyeur, and that the only things he truly cared about were getting answers and recording everything that happened, many of his actions throughout the series take on more sinister undertones.
Here's a fun game to play while you're watching the series: take note of how many times the gang could have stopped filming and posting videos, and wanted to stop, but didn't do so because Vinny insisted that they keep going.
It's worse than that. In "Dead end with a pulse", Jeff asks Vinny if he's been keeping up with the group's e-mails; Vinny replies that he and Evan have been answering almost "every single one". We later learn that in fact, there had been two weeks of radio silence from Evan at the time; Vinny knew (or at least suspected) that something was terribly wrong, and sent Jeff to his house, alone, in spite of it.
Given that Jeff was ultimately trying to stop them from continuing to film and investigate, it's possible Vinny wasn't sending Jeff to Evan's in spite of it...
And the last thing Vinny does before Jeff leaves is to coax him to take their old camera and film what happens at Evan's house.
"I want to see the look on his face."
In the final episode, Vincent instructs Corenthal's helper, one of the Rabbits, to leave the video camera under a tree in the Candleverse before they depart. It's a touching gesture: Vincent is trying to free the audience, whom he deliberately drew into the cycle, by preventing them from following the boys in their next incarnations. That's all well and good, until you realize that someone must have edited and uploaded the video. And it clearly wasn't Corenthal or the boys.
During one of the post-series Q&A livestreams, the creators of the series stated that only Evan was ever truly possessed by HABIT. However, there were several times when other characters seemingly acted under HABIT's control, like the boys attacking the deer or Vinnie writing on Evan's back. Think about that for a second: HABIT doesn't need to possess someone to influence their actions.
Verging on Fridge Sadness: in another livestream, the cast stated that theoretically, Corenthal might be able to defeat one of the monsters plaguing the crew. However, doing so would require a massive sacrifice on his part — most likely the permanent loss of one of his children. Now think back to what Patrick Andersen said about Vinnie and Corenthal being the most likely candidates for finding a way to break the iteration cycle.
When you break into a mental institution to break out a patient, the first part of your plan should be grabbing a camera to film yourself breaking the law. Admittedly, even with an ARG where the aim is to simulate reality, it'd be pretty dumb for a major plot event to happen off-screen.
This happened with lonelygirl15 as well, where Bree and Daniel had a fight and recorded it. When Daniel pointed out that they were recording a private moment for the public, I believe Bree said something about how "they" deserved to know.
