H.E.L.P.
gunslingerpro2009
is a Garry's Mod-themed psychological horror Machinima series, taking place in the late 2000's and early 2010's. The videos on their surface appear to be little more than the typical videos one might expect to be produced by a Garry's Mod channel, such as short Surreal Humor Team Fortress 2 videos and tutorials, but it quickly becomes clear that something even more bizarre, yet much more horrific is happening in almost plain view.
See also BadwaterVideos2009, a separate series with a similar premise.
"Tropes are Book! READ (FREE) THEM!"
- Ambiguously Evil: It's unclear if The Player is simply a confused teenager who doesn't understand the scope of the Mercs' intelligence or is deliberately and sadistically tormenting them. Although the Player's hostile reaction to the Heavy trying to socialize and compliment the player in "garry's mod ultimate sled tutorial" implies the latter might be likely.
- Author Avatar: gunslingerpro seems to personify themselves as the Engineer, though it's implied that the Engineer is also sentient like the rest and may not be happy with this arrangement.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: gunslingerpro is possibly a case of this, at least from the perspective of the Mercs. Horribly mutilating and slaughtering sentient beings seems horrible, but if the person doing so believes that they're simply characters in a video game acting up, they wouldn't see it as nearly as horrific.
- Body Horror: The price for disobeying gunslingerpro's wishes. The sniper has his head ripped off and attached to a book, with the rest of his body being mangled into a sentry that's used to kill other people (or shoot at their corpses), while the spy is mangled into a bizarre zombie-watermelon thing that can barely crawl on the ground.
- Cosmic Horror Story: A very strange variation. Imagine that you are forcibly used as acting props by a strange entity and that whenever you disobey their command or need to be used for their amusement in videos, you are horribly mutilated, deformed and killed and then brought back. This is the fate of the Mercs in this series.
- Deconstruction:
- Of the typical Garry's Mod horror series, and Video Game-based horror stories in general. While the game and its characters are demonstrated to have intelligence, they don't have any ill intent or intend to really frighten anyone, while the protagonist has much more power then them and is forcing them - whether this is intentional or not is still unclear - to adhere to their whims. It is essentially a complete reversal of most creepypastas or the aforementioned Video Game-based horror. The fictional videogame characters with sentience are the victims, while the players are the god-like horrifying entities that force terrifying fates unto them.
- It's also a deconstruction of Surreal Humor TF2 videos, particularly the gags involving messing with the models by bending them into funny shapes or combining them with other objects by showing how horrifying and painful that would be to a living creature.
- Disproportionate Retribution: For the crime of trying to run away and interrupting one video, the Spy is turned into a horrific shambling monster and locked in a cage. This happens later to the Heavy as well, who simply compliments the player, but is killed for revealing his sentience.
- Don't Make Me Destroy You: The ragdolls are faced with it by The Player, who can easily kill and disfigure them all on a whim if they don't cooperate. The Soldier, Spy, and Heavy meet this fate.
- The Dreaded: Every merc is terrified of the Player, and anytime they feel his presence they start to either panic or subtly show they're flat-out terrified.
- Driving Question:
- Is The Player doing this to be deliberately sadistic, or do they simply not understand what's going on?
- Also: Why have the characters in the game developed sentience?
- Enfante Terrible: It's unlikely that The Player of the videos is older than their teens, considering the audience of this game and the general quality of the videos.
- Heroic Sacrifice: At the end of "garry's mod wire mouse turret tutorial", a female rebel jumps on the Player's tank with a barrel of explosives to destroy it, killing both herself and them in the process. This is notably the first time we see the game characters actively fighting back against the Player.
- Obliviously Evil: An interpretation of The Player is that they're a confused teenager who doesn't understand why the game is acting up in this fashion and they aren't aware that the mercs have sentience and can feel the pain of their bizarre mutilations.
- Public Secret Message: Right at the start of "garry's mod ragdoll walker tutorial", we see The Player make Soldier run around, while he says the following voicelines, in order:"Hoo-ah!"
"Each and everyone of you will be sent home to your mama in a box!"
"Last one alive, lock the door!"
"Pain is weakness leaving the body." - Sadist: If The Player understands the intelligence of the mercs, they are this, as they enjoy horribly mutilating characters, whether it be for disobeying their command or simply to create mediocre videos.
- Shout-Out:
- It's clear that The Player is modelling their content after videos made around the same time period by other Garry's Mod youtubers/animators.
- "spy is sandvich" is actually a semi-remake of "Sandvich is Spy", down to most of the same movement and positioning, but replaces the punchline with the Spy pounding on the screen, begging for help, to emphasize the sentience of the game characters.
- In the same vein, their "sniper is sentry" video is also based on another old GMOD video, although it's a bigger departure as it takes place in a different location and that the Sniper in the original video was definitely not as mangled as the one in gunslingerpro's video. And the fact that the Spy is nowhere to be found.
- "engineer land" is a reference to a Six Flags commercial that became a source of parodies on YouTube, popular during the late 2000s.
- The Sociopath: Possibly. The Player lacks any concern for these clearly sentient video game characters, deliberately tormenting them and forcing them to murder each other. However, he might also not realize or understand their sentience.
- Stylistic Suck: The videos on the channel are modelled after Garry's Mod videos from 2008-2012, and therefore have the hallmarks of Windows Movie Maker editing, use of stock music, and low resolution videos with bizarre videos or tutorials.
- Surreal Humor: Invoked, at least from The Player, in the Garry's Mod videos they produce, which are derivative of videos produced by someone like RubberFruit. You won't find them funny after you figure out what's behind them, though.
- The Un-Smile: The Heavy in "garry's mod ultimate sled tutorial" can be smiling in a freeze-frame, but he doesn't look happy at all. Considering he's being forced to do this and has his neck snapped for the crime of revealing his sentience by complimenting the The Player, it's understandable.
- Wham Shot:
- In "spy is sandvich", the Spy appears in front of the Heavy, moving much more realistically, and starts to pound the screen, seeming to be trying to escape something, only to be captured by his attacker, The Player.
- At the end of "garry's mod wire mouse turret tutorial", the female rebel sacrificing herself to destroy the Player's tank, killing them in the process, marking the first time the game characters fight back against them on-screen (and succeeding at it as well).
- Villain Protagonist: If it's not clear by now, The Player isn't who they seem like. They have been tormenting sentient video game characters in Garry's Mod, forcing them to adhere to their whims of video creation, and horrifically torturing and mutilating those that go against them, or just to make videos. It's not clear at this moment if this is deliberate or if they're simply unaware of what's happening.
- You Will Be Spared: Since the Engineer appears to be The Player's favorite class and represents them, he's fortunate enough to be spared from most of the torment the other ragdolls face.
