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i think for me, one of the weirdest and yet most common tenna interpretations is that he doesn't appreciate the work his employees do, and/or treats them as expendable
and like, i generally get where the idea comes from. he lashes out; he yells at them; he tightens the contracts to keep them around; battat says that he treats the people working with him like "expendable trash"; etc etc.
like! i get it! it seems that way! but then i ask this: have you ever been in theatre before.
(under the cut in case this gets long)
and i dont even mean professional grade stuff. i was in middle and high school levels of theatre for several years in my childhood, and even then, there's a LOT of shit to do and keep track of! it's not easy!
you have to get the lighting cues down to an exact tee and make sure they're even the right colors or that they're pointed properly, you have to wheel out props and setpieces as fast as possible so the audience doesn't get bored, you have to be as quiet as possible at the same time because it's a small room and everyone might hear you otherwise - anything going wrong could risk sending everything down like dominoes, because we were a bunch of flighty amateur kids who didn't improvise well.
like, my director/teacher was a hardass on us, but even at the time i didn't blame him a lot (even if it scared me at the time, but that's more because i had cptsd and couldn't handle being yelled at without thinking i was gonna be killed) because i Knew how hard it was to keep everything together, how much effort it took us to perfect the cues and the process (which you might not have time for on a shorter deadline!), and how much responsibility he felt for it all
so then like. consider being that same director - only, if your show goes poorly, if your crew doesn't pull their weight and your actors forget their lines and can't improvise well enough to keep things immersive, YOU'LL be blamed for it by your higher-ups. and if they blame you for it one too many times? they'll throw you away.
like. i can maybe forgive tenna for being a hardass control freak who needs everything to go perfectly. i wouldn't want to risk it either.
ok, but then he still holds the contracts over the crew's heads. he brings them out to keep everyone from slacking off, from abandoning their duties (abandoning HIM) to join the lightners' side (or because they're too scared in a violent route)
like, that's shitty right. undoubtedly so- i'm not denying that at all. however:
HE LETS THEM LEAVE ANYWAYS
we know he didn't HAVE to! we've seen him trap people in prize balls! (albeit he never WANTED to, but we know when he's desperate and scared enough for his own life, he Can)! he's a 15 ft tall reality warper who can teleport and change scenes, for god's sake - if he wanted to force them to stay or was the kind of person that would do so, he COULD have
and what's most of note to me, afterwards...
he does their jobs For them after they quit. literally stretching himself thin to fill all the roles that they once took the responsibility for.
and you could spin this perhaps as a karmic thing: he's the lazy boss who's never worked a day in his life, struggling and stressing after getting a taste of his underlings' workloads.
the only problem is, that implies not only that he doesn't work hard enough on his own as is. both as above, where he does all their jobs For them after they quit- which can i say he really didn't have to, we could've eaaasily had a boss where he holds his employees hostage and forces them to keep going, and you have to save them all - sort of like queen's first fight with berdly under control
but also! he doesn't even DENY how helpful they are!
he KNOWS he needs their help! he knows the show relies on them! maybe he doesn't do a great job at showing it, but he DOESN'T think their efforts are in vain. he needs their help and he's not afraid to literally fall to his knees and beg about it!
think about what i said above with the long-winded personal anecdote: production and performance relies Heavily on the crew ‐ the actors, the tech, AND the director/host. tenna knows this! the Only time he denies their efforts is in a desperate attempt to not fall into despair about being abandoned.
(^ he is trembling very hard while saying this)
he even talks fondly of them! he introduces the shadowguys in board 1 as actors! he lets them beat him up for the suziezilla game! he's Friends with the weather duo! he has an entire mini-boss for shuttah and talks fondly of it the entire time!
for as much effort as he goes through to be on their level and keep them around, for as much as he tries to make things fun for everybody, for as long as he goes before finally snapping... does he Really treat them as expendable?
with everything from above, i don't think so. i'm sure he wasn't always the best at showing it, and i'm sure he was quite a hardass more than a few times, i'm sure he wasn't always easy to work with and work for.
but i don't really think you get super pumped and cheer about getting rehired for a job that treats you like garbage on the regular.
(this also doesnt mention battat being an unreliable narrator who's clearly obsessed with tenna and with being mike, who specifically gets mad in that scene because He isn't the preferred mike. he's jealous and petty and has thrown his coworkers under the bus before for his own benefit; he's not going up for bat.)
i ran out of image limit to talk abt this originally but with the battat point: i also see This one come up a lot
and i think people interpreted it as like. tenna has a raging fit against literally anybody that gets near him 24/7 unless mike is there, or even that "taking it out" is meant to be physical
at least for me, though, the way these specific lines are structured moreso implies it was the fake mikes specifically that tenna would lash out at. and, with that information, it makes a bit more sense how he'd get there?
tenna has lingering guilt and bad feelings surrounding mike due to the contract stuff -> tenna wants to see mike -> tenna goes to mike's room, only to find random strangers loitering around doing who knows what -> strangers who are in his friend's room have no idea where said friend is -> tenna loses control of his already fraying mental state and recent abandonment, and lashes out at them in response
like. we've Seen tenna at his worst responding to his employees fucking off: he yells at them, immediately goes back on the firing because he feels bad, and then pulls out the contracts as leverage when they continue to refuse him.
^ on that particular note: if tenna really were constantly yelling at and taking things out on everyone around him, you'd think they'd be a little more hesitant to refuse direct orders from him, beat him up for a minigame, etc. that's why im more inclined to believe battat in that regard
in general i tend to take him with a grain of salt, and. i think you can imagine why
And it's done!!! took a little longer than I was hoping but it's finally finished! I really hope you enjoyed it and that it at least brings you a smile while reading!
Thank you all for reading and thank you all for your kind comments on the first part! 😊
It's official, we're ending the hiatus! We've had a lot of internal discussion about development, and we're excited to share about it!
"EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST" FORM NOW OPEN!
You heard that right-- if you're interested in contributing to MHSO, whether that be game development or community moderation, you now have the opportunity to submit an Expression of Interest! All information about it is on the Google Form, which is now linked on the first page of our Carrd website.
Note that this is for expressions of interest, not for open applications. If we happen to need more people on the team, we will consult the submissions on this form!
INTERNAL TEAM CHANGES
Our technical director, Orifiel, has moved on from MHSO to tend to his personal life. We wish him luck on his game development journey!
Salem, our previous creative director, will now be the sole lead on the entirety of the game.
We are also making some internal shifts on our team and changing certain roles. We're really excited about this, so keep an eye out for future announcements!
ART DEPARTMENT UPDATE
Our character artists are finishing up renders, and we have started exploring color palettes for backgrounds of the game!
Here are a couple finished Tenna sprites from one of our lovely artists, Cheru!! Please go check out her LinkTree to support her on social media, Twitch, and more!
We have a lot of things we're excited for coming up! Stay tuned!
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vaporwave
kianamaiart
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andulkaphoto
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romaincrisis
