#desolation poll

[bracketsoffear]

Double Bed (Scottish Office) (1996) A surreal nightmarish vision of family photos being consumed by smoke and fire, the people in the frames disappearing one by one to the sound of children's screams and cries. A man awakes from the nightmare, looks at the photo by his bed and clutches it tight. We see that although it is a double bed, there is no one there with him.

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005 From the Youtube video's description: "A single, uninterrupted shot of a solemn-looking man with pale, dead features on his face stands amongst the charred remains of his family home, all while the fond wishes of goodnight from his young daughter echos ominously as the camera pans out – causing him to break down in tears as he comes to the sudden heart-wrenching realisation of how much more he's really lost to the fire. Such a simple concept had effortlessly captured the grim reality that a house fire might not kill you, but it could just as likely kill the loved ones that you hold dearest: an outcome that is arguably worse than death itself. For these reasons, this PIF quickly became one of the most iconic and infamous fire safety PIFs from Fire Kills – and to this day, one that's still certainly enough to send cold shivers down your spine."

This one is very short and we don't see any of the actual fire, yes, but both the plot and its tagline ("A fire doesn't have to kill you to end your life") very much fit into the loss side of the Desolation.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Final

Double Bed (Scottish Office) (1996)

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005

Voting ended onJun 11

[bracketsoffear]

Daredevil Vs Vapora (Marvel) (1993) Daredevil vs. Vapora is a one shot comic about the dangers of using gasoline as a cleaning agent, represented by a demonic entity made out of gasoline vapor.

After an apartment is burned down due to an accident involving a tenant removing tile grout using gasoline (and a little girl is badly burned and nearly killed in the process) Matt Murdock takes the case to defend the landlord (who is being accused of arson), when investigating the burned out apartment Murdock becomes aware of a strange gaseous entity that only he can apparently sense, whom he dubs "Vapora." There are several more incidents of Vapora showing up at the sites of people being careless while using gasoline to clean things and causing fires, and when it tries to hurt another child, Daredevil smothers the creature with a fire extinguisher. The comic ends bittersweetly; the Landlord is cleared of charges, the little girl from the beginning will pull through (But the recovery will be long and hard) and Vapora has been seemingly defeated…. but there's always a chance she will return.

So the big thing of course is Vapora herself. They never really explain what she is or where she comes from except that she's "cut from the patterns of humanity." Which doesn't make much sense in the context of Marvel comics. But through the lens of the Magnus Archives, its pretty clear Vapora is a Monster spawned by the Desolation. Also She's depicted as being basically mindless, communicating through rambling run on sentences of words that vaguely run together, which also kind of fits the nature of the dread powers.

Linkara of Atop the fourth wall gave this one a read many years ago, he was mainly dumbstruck by the idea of so many people just using Gasoline as a cleaning agent (Which yeah it can be used for that, but using Gasoline for that purpose has really fallen out of favor and I don't think it was still being done in the 90's) and the overall goofiness of the concept. But again, I imagine the little girl from the end would at one point probably recount this encounter to the Magnus Institute.

Stadium Fire (Consumer And Safety Institute) (1999) …I don't want to just copy and paste the Desolation film propaganda for this one, so I'll just say this: What makes this one stand out to me is that it uses real footage from the Bradford City fire, which claimed the lives of 56 people and injured at least 265.

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005 From the Youtube video's description: "A single, uninterrupted shot of a solemn-looking man with pale, dead features on his face stands amongst the charred remains of his family home, all while the fond wishes of goodnight from his young daughter echos ominously as the camera pans out – causing him to break down in tears as he comes to the sudden heart-wrenching realisation of how much more he's really lost to the fire. Such a simple concept had effortlessly captured the grim reality that a house fire might not kill you, but it could just as likely kill the loved ones that you hold dearest: an outcome that is arguably worse than death itself. For these reasons, this PIF quickly became one of the most iconic and infamous fire safety PIFs from Fire Kills – and to this day, one that's still certainly enough to send cold shivers down your spine."

This one is very short and we don't see any of the actual fire, yes, but both the plot and its tagline ("A fire doesn't have to kill you to end your life") very much fit into the loss side of the Desolation.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Semifinals Bout 2

Daredevil Vs Vapora (Marvel) (1993)

Stadium Fire (Consumer And Safety Institute) (1999)

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005

Voting ended onJun 10

[bracketsoffear]

Silent Night (Fire Kills) (2011) A radio ad one: While a rendition of the titular Christmas song plays in the background, we hear the voice of a woman frantically calling 999 to report a fire in her home. A siren plays as firefighters are heard noting the smoke billowing out of the front door of the home and that there are four people trapped inside. A paramedic is also heard taking in one of the victims for severe smoke inhalation and possible brain damage. The ad ends with the woman screaming that her children are still inside the burning home (her daughter can even be heard weakly crying for her "Mama"). A horrific roar suddenly drowns her out, suggesting that the house collapsed and subsequently killed her children.

Double Bed (Scottish Office) (1996) A surreal nightmarish vision of family photos being consumed by smoke and fire, the people in the frames disappearing one by one to the sound of children's screams and cries. A man awakes from the nightmare, looks at the photo by his bed and clutches it tight. We see that although it is a double bed, there is no one there with him.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Semifinals Bout 1

Silent Night (Fire Kills) (2011)

Double Bed (Scottish Office) (1996)

Voting ended onJun 10

[bracketsoffear]

"Moth" or "Matches" (COI) (1995) The PIF opens up with a zooming in shot of a candle on a wooden table, surrounded by moths. A narrator then says, "All children are fascinated by fire."

Some children can be heard whispering the nursery rhyme, "Ladybird Ladybird", in the background as a moth flies past the screen and towards the candle, "Fly away home. Your house is on fire and your children are gone. And the flame gets bigger and bigger…",

The moth is now right next to the candle and flies around it as the children's whispering becomes harder to understand. The moth then flies directly into the flame, setting itself on fire. A child screaming can be heard as this happens. The moth falls to the floor, dead. The narrator then says, "Do you know where every match is in your house? They probably do.",

As the moth bounces off the ground, it fades away into a burned match.

Text then appears on screen that reads: "WHERE ARE THEY?"

The Fire Brigade logo then can be seen at the bottom middle of the screen. The same child whispering from before then whispers, "I know where the matches are in my house."

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005 From the Youtube video's description: "A single, uninterrupted shot of a solemn-looking man with pale, dead features on his face stands amongst the charred remains of his family home, all while the fond wishes of goodnight from his young daughter echos ominously as the camera pans out – causing him to break down in tears as he comes to the sudden heart-wrenching realisation of how much more he's really lost to the fire. Such a simple concept had effortlessly captured the grim reality that a house fire might not kill you, but it could just as likely kill the loved ones that you hold dearest: an outcome that is arguably worse than death itself. For these reasons, this PIF quickly became one of the most iconic and infamous fire safety PIFs from Fire Kills – and to this day, one that's still certainly enough to send cold shivers down your spine."

This one is very short and we don't see any of the actual fire, yes, but both the plot and its tagline ("A fire doesn't have to kill you to end your life") very much fit into the loss side of the Desolation.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Round 2 Bout 4

"Moth" or "Matches" (COI) (1995)

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005

Voting ended onJun 9

[bracketsoffear]

Daredevil Vs Vapora (Marvel) (1993) Daredevil vs. Vapora is a one shot comic about the dangers of using gasoline as a cleaning agent, represented by a demonic entity made out of gasoline vapor.

After an apartment is burned down due to an accident involving a tenant removing tile grout using gasoline (and a little girl is badly burned and nearly killed in the process) Matt Murdock takes the case to defend the landlord (who is being accused of arson), when investigating the burned out apartment Murdock becomes aware of a strange gaseous entity that only he can apparently sense, whom he dubs "Vapora." There are several more incidents of Vapora showing up at the sites of people being careless while using gasoline to clean things and causing fires, and when it tries to hurt another child, Daredevil smothers the creature with a fire extinguisher. The comic ends bittersweetly; the Landlord is cleared of charges, the little girl from the beginning will pull through (But the recovery will be long and hard) and Vapora has been seemingly defeated…. but there's always a chance she will return.

So the big thing of course is Vapora herself. They never really explain what she is or where she comes from except that she's "cut from the patterns of humanity." Which doesn't make much sense in the context of Marvel comics. But through the lens of the Magnus Archives, its pretty clear Vapora is a Monster spawned by the Desolation. Also She's depicted as being basically mindless, communicating through rambling run on sentences of words that vaguely run together, which also kind of fits the nature of the dread powers.

Linkara of Atop the fourth wall gave this one a read many years ago, he was mainly dumbstruck by the idea of so many people just using Gasoline as a cleaning agent (Which yeah it can be used for that, but using Gasoline for that purpose has really fallen out of favor and I don't think it was still being done in the 90's) and the overall goofiness of the concept. But again, I imagine the little girl from the end would at one point probably recount this encounter to the Magnus Institute.

Stadium Fire (Consumer And Safety Institute) (1999) …I don't want to just copy and paste the Desolation film propaganda for this one, so I'll just say this: What makes this one stand out to me is that it uses real footage from the Bradford City fire, which claimed the lives of 56 people and injured at least 265.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Round 2 Bout 3

Daredevil Vs Vapora (Marvel) (1993)

Stadium Fire (Consumer And Safety Institute) (1999)

Voting ended onJun 9

[bracketsoffear]

Ready or Not, Here I Come (South Australian Country Fire Service) (2025) Overall one of the creepiest PSAs I’ve watched. The main message leading up to bushfire season in Australia is get a plan ready or else you will be screwed. This PSA shows the consequences of not being prepared. And by giving the bushfire a voice, it feels extra ominous when the family is forced to shelter in place.

Double Bed (Scottish Office) (1996) A surreal nightmarish vision of family photos being consumed by smoke and fire, the people in the frames disappearing one by one to the sound of children's screams and cries. A man awakes from the nightmare, looks at the photo by his bed and clutches it tight. We see that although it is a double bed, there is no one there with him.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Round 2 Bout 2

Ready or Not, Here I Come (South Australian Country Fire Service) (2025)

Double Bed (Scottish Office) (1996)

Voting ended onJun 9

[bracketsoffear]

Excuses Kill - Memorial Hearse (COI) (2002) It depicts shots of funeral services and tombstones, featuring quotes from people who made excuses for not having a smoke alarm, all set to a very sad rendition of "Down by the River to Pray". The ad ends with a close-up of a tombstone featuring a quote from a woman who said "My husband should've done it", then a quote from her husband who said "My landlord should've done it"… and a shot of the name of their 3-month-old baby.

Silent Night (Fire Kills) (2011) A radio ad one: While a rendition of the titular Christmas song plays in the background, we hear the voice of a woman frantically calling 999 to report a fire in her home. A siren plays as firefighters are heard noting the smoke billowing out of the front door of the home and that there are four people trapped inside. A paramedic is also heard taking in one of the victims for severe smoke inhalation and possible brain damage. The ad ends with the woman screaming that her children are still inside the burning home (her daughter can even be heard weakly crying for her "Mama"). A horrific roar suddenly drowns her out, suggesting that the house collapsed and subsequently killed her children.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Round 2 Bout 1

Excuses Kill - Memorial Hearse (COI) (2002)

Silent Night (Fire Kills) (2011)

Voting ended onJun 9

[bracketsoffear]

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005 From the Youtube video's description: "A single, uninterrupted shot of a solemn-looking man with pale, dead features on his face stands amongst the charred remains of his family home, all while the fond wishes of goodnight from his young daughter echos ominously as the camera pans out – causing him to break down in tears as he comes to the sudden heart-wrenching realisation of how much more he's really lost to the fire. Such a simple concept had effortlessly captured the grim reality that a house fire might not kill you, but it could just as likely kill the loved ones that you hold dearest: an outcome that is arguably worse than death itself. For these reasons, this PIF quickly became one of the most iconic and infamous fire safety PIFs from Fire Kills – and to this day, one that's still certainly enough to send cold shivers down your spine."

This one is very short and we don't see any of the actual fire, yes, but both the plot and its tagline ("A fire doesn't have to kill you to end your life") very much fit into the loss side of the Desolation.

The Speed of Fire (NZFS) (2002) We see a mother sitting on a armchair holding a cigarette and a little girl on the floor in the living room with the TV on in the background with a timer on the right top corner of the screen. A narrator comes in explaining what you could do in the next few minutes. The girl then she gets up from the floor, we then see the mum getting up from the armchair and puts her cigarette out, but she has put her astray on the arm on the chair so when she gets up from the chair the astray falls and goes on the chair. Just as the still lit cigarette falls on the armchair, the narrator then tells the viewer to keep watching as the timer of the right top corner goes off.

A black screen appears and when it comes back on, we see that the timer has already counted up to 32 seconds. The still lit cigarette is burning the chair and producing smoke, text comes up on the bottom around when the timer goes to 35 seconds saying, “a smoke alarm would have sounded about now.”

The black screen suddenly appears again and when it takes us back to the living room we see that the chair has caught on fire and the timer now has counted up to 1 minute and 10 seconds, another black screen shows up and when we go back we now see that smoke from the fire has covered half of the living room and the timer has counted up to 2 minutes and 8 seconds, in the background we hear the mum and the daughter shouting in terror probably coming back and witnessing the fire.

Another black screen appears and when we go back we see that the whole living room is covered in smoke and the smoke going outside while the timer has now counted up to 2 minutes and 40 seconds. We hear both the mother and daughter screaming in terror. At around the 2 minutes and 43 seconds, the narrator comes back saying that you should never underestimate the speed of fire and tells us to get out if there’s a fire and call the fire service. It then fades back to another black screen that now has The New Zealand Fire Service’s logo.

Desolation-Aligned PIFs, Round 1 Bout 8

Dead Man (Fire Kills) 2005

The Speed of Fire (NZFS) (2002)

Voting ended onJun 8