YMMV / Ib

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The fans love this.
  • A lot of fans like portraying Ib as a Deadpan Snarker. There is also the interpretation that she has an ambiguous disorder of some sort due to her not really expressing much for a child, not understanding certain words (although it might be due to her young age), and not saying much in general.
  • Mary probably gets the most of it.
    • Is she a genuinely evil Humanoid Abomination devoid of any sympathy, or is she simply so broken that she's not quite in control of herself? Considering that Mary is a painting come to life rather than a human being and has had little interaction with the outside world (in her room you can find books on making friends), it's possible to see Mary as being more Obliviously Evil, as she doesn't fully understand social interactions or how things work in the real world.
    • There's evidence to suggest that Mary was planning to get rid of Garry from the start. The "Flowers of Jealousy" painting forces the group to split up in under a minute from the time she is introduced, and a single room later, she's picked up a palette knife, and a mannequin has blocked the room's exit, and given she can make them move if she wants to, she may even have caused it to block the exit herself.
    • On the "Together, Forever" ending, did Mary eat the candy/confiscate the lighter from Ib because she was hungry/was concerned about Ib's safety, or did she take them on purpose so Ib wouldn't remember Garry and start asking questions?
    • In regards to the rose trade on the bad ending paths, was Mary genuinely planning to pluck the petals off of Ib's rose (thus killing her), or did she expect that Garry would step in to protect Ib, and simply bluffed about Ib's rose to trick him into handing over his instead? Supporting the latter is Mary seems to genuinely like Ib to the point where she becomes Ib's sister on the Together, Forever ending, and she has a smug gleeful attitude after Garry hands over his rose, as if she was anticipating it.
  • Garry. A lot of fans like to portray him with an attraction to Ib, while others insist that his care to Ib is all Big Brother Instinct. The fandom also frequently exaggerates his scaredy-cat tendencies to much higher levels than they were in the game, or alternatively forgets about them completely.
  • A good chunk of the fanbase seems to theorize that Guertena was evil rather than simply insane.
  • Even the dolls get this a bit. Some think they are just plain evil, while others see their actions as being protective to Mary, or to each other. Or maybe they really were just wanting to play with Garry and didn't think he would somehow be hurt by their little game.
• Creepy Cute:
  • Mary's not the only one who thinks the dolls are cute. They look not very different from muppets, despite they're out to kill.
  • Ib herself counts. Despite she's definitely not evil unlike Mary, her demonic-looking red eyes are pretty off-putting...or not.
• Cult Classic: While not a household name, amongst indie horror fans and particularly fans of Explorer Horror, Ib has a significant following. It's widely praised for its design, story, characters and atmosphere, has received over a million downloads as of 2014, and even had some official merchandise for sale in Japan. Ib is often credited with popularizing pixel art-style horror games and showcasing what RPG Maker was capable of beyond standard RPGs.
• Draco in Leather Pants: Many fans are willing to overlook Mary's rather questionable actions because she's so adorable. Of course, it does help that she has rather pitiable motives.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The ant that you meet right in the beginning.
• Fan Nickname: A common nickname for Garry in the Japanese fandom is "ikemen onee", which translates roughly to "hot stud big sis — or "sexy flamer".
• Ho Yay: Some of Mary's behavior towards Ib can come off as this, such as suggesting the two of them hold hands (in the remake, where you can press a key to hear dialogue) or suggesting they play dolls with her as the mom and Ib as the dad (dialogue during her mental breakdown).
• It Was His Sled:
  • Mary is actually a drawing out to kill. It's a major in-game plot twist, but today it has became common knowledge.
  • The new bad endings which occur after Garry fails the Doll Room were treated as major spoilers when they were first released. Now everyone knows they exist.
• Jerkass Woobie: Mary. All she wants is to live in the real world and be friends with Ib, but unless you got "Together, Forever," her hopes and dreams are always dashed. In "A Painting's Demise", she also becomes close to Ib, only to have Ib sink into despair on her, in which case she tries to escape on her own and dies to the Gallery's powers. That said, she's still a murderous painting out for the kill, and assuming you did everything in the game correctly she will make the threat real. She's also very unsettling, especially after Garry blows off her cover unintentionally and in the "Welcome to the World of Guertena" ending. If she deserves sympathy is depending on the player's view, but she's ultimately just a lonely painting who wants to be a real little girl but hasn't been given the love and care that she needs.
• Love to Hate: Those who hate Mary tend to fall in this category— they respect her character development and motivations, while finding her actions despicable.
• Moral Event Horizon: Mary ripping apart Garry's rose in some ending routes. While she always tries to kill the characters in every route, one could argue that in some scenarios she's desperate and scared more than malicious. In this scenario however, Mary forces Garry to give her his rose in exchange for Ib's, then proceeds to slowly kill him by plucking the petals one by one. It comes off as needlessly sadistic and underlines that while Mary has sympathetic traits, she's also a sinister and downright cruel character.
• No Yay: The Ib/Garry ship can come off as this considering the fact Ib is a child and Garry is most likely an adult.
• Player Punch:
  • The death of Garry. Though this doesn't have to happen, there is a good chance it will your first play-through.
  • Even though she's such a minor character, the murder of the painting who helped Ib by telling her the truth is a really upsetting moment that shows just how bad things can get in the gallery.
  • The endings "Welcome To the World of Guertena" and "A Painting's Demise". Garry becomes incurably insane. When Ib realizes there's nothing she can do to help him, she sinks into despair and never comes out of it. "A Painting's Demise" takes it even further: Mary gives up on Ib and Garry and presses forward alone. After successfully making it to the real world... she learns the hard way that she wasn't meant to leave the painted world, and she dies alone.
• Shipping: A large portion of the fandom partakes in this.
  • OTP: The most popular ships are Ib/Mary and Ib/Garry.
  • OT3: Mary/Ib/Garry shipping also exists.
• Signature Scene: The Doll Room, where Garry must cut open the stomachs of the Creepy Dolls to find the exit key before a giant doll climbs out of its portrait to attack him. It's widely regarded as one of the most nerve-wracking moments in the game, not to mention failing to escape can put you on a path to some of the worst endings.
• The Woobie: Pick a character and give them a hug; they might need it.
  • Ib. Gets lost in an art gallery and separated from her parents, finds herself surrounded by dangerous artworks trying to kill her, makes two friends only to lose at least one of them if not both of them to death and/or insanity, is so bothered by the gallery that she constantly hallucinates, and if she gets out at all, it's possible for her to forget everything that happened in there, including the friendship she found in there.
  • Garry. Gets lost in an art gallery, finds himself surrounded by dangerous artworks trying to kill him, makes two friends only to have to make some really harsh decisions concerning one of them after she goes knife-crazy, runs into trouble with dolls that trap him and try to drive him insane, and it's possible for them to break him completely, he might end up having to trade his rose for Ib's to save her life, which will end up killing him, and if he doesn't get either driven completely insane or killed and is able to escape the gallery with Ib after all, he might forget all about the gallery, including the friendship he found in there.
  • The little bird in the Bonus Dungeon. Feels so good to save it from those Jerkass stick men.
• Woolseyism: vgperson states on her blog that the original title of "Prelude to Wine" was actually... "Grapes." She changed it when she translated the game partly because a nine-year old should know what grapes are and partly because it just seemed too obvious a title. "Prelude to Wine" still fits since it sounds more "arty", wine is made from grapes so Garry talking about grapes doesn't seem off despite the title change, and now it makes sense that there's a word Ib doesn't know.

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