YMMV / The Blackout Club

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • In general, all the Daimons are this due to their vague motives.
    • Is THEE-I-DARE truly trustworthy? TID plays the trope of a fragmented kind god. He asks permissions from his hosts if he could possess them and even seems to genuinely care about the lives of the kids. However, is this all just a wolf in sheep's clothing scenario where TID is hiding a much more malicious motive?
    • Similarly to THEE-I-DARE, some people believe that despite being the main antagonist in the game, SPEAK-AS-ONE is not as bad as the other gods make him out to be and that the other gods must be lying or making up things about him. Some genuinely believe that he's really the good guy in all this.
    • DIE-FOR-YOU has been a subject to this. While he says that people who follow him must simply honor the concept of self-sacrifice, other people believe that DFY merely wants his followers to die for him.
    • There were also speculations that Voices are pretending to be in conflict in order to groom the kids into proper hosts.
• Broken Base: One of the rare times that this trope isn't necessarily a bad thing. Due to the nature of the game, players often segregate themselves into cult-like groups to follow their favorite Voices, which the game encourages. Though some people often take this trope too much to heart, deliberately keeping objectively important information from those outside their 'cults' and sabotaging others.
  • There has always been a fandom rivalry between SAO and the other voices, especially TID, due to SAO being designated as the Big Bad and the other voices being marginally more kinder to the kids than he is.
  • The unknown hunter god has struck a cord to DFU followers, following her demise at his hands, with many of them (and the general playerbase) striking out at other players for 'failing' to save her.
  • There is an underlying information-creep in the fanbase. Due to the majority of the lore being distributed by the occasional god interaction or dream, learning about story progression relies heavily on players sharing information with each other and figuring out the lore together. However, there is a handful of players who for one reason another (some because of above spoken points or sometimes just entitlement), refuse to share information with each other. This leaves the community splintered with some knowing more, but many knowing very little.
• Dancing Bear: The main gimmick of the game is how the devs will mess with your game live. The main gameplay, while serviceable and solid, isn’t exactly revolutionary. That being said, the idea of the devs specifically changing the game just to mess with you is horrifying and works really well with a plot of parents becoming entangled in cults, leading to conspiracy theories rising in the kids.
• The Woobie: There's quite a lot of Woobies in the game.
  • Collectively, all members of the The Blackout Club is this. They're young 14-15 year old kids, forced to fight for their survival as higher entities descend on their small town. Their guardians and caretakers have all turned against them, forcing some of them to want to run away from home. When they're captured, they're tortured for information and sometimes even end up dead. It's hard not to feel sorry for all these kids.
  • The Stalker, though is more of a Jerkass Woobie. They have the same situation as the club kids, though are perfectly willing to throw them under the bus for their family's safety. However, they suffer from being under influence of the song and can't sleep, their will is no longer really their own.
  • Poor DANCE-FOR-US. She was considered one of the most kindest voices, being the most benevolent to the young kids in the club and telling them to overcome their fear by dancing and singing. She seemed to be the embodiment of fun and creativity. Compared to the other voices who arguably have grey moralities, DFU was one of a lighter tone. Unfortunately, she was caught and eaten by the hunter god. All of her powers and followers have been funneled into hunter god. You would be hard pressed to say she deserved that kind of ending.