I think a lot of people haven't actually read Flatland so you may not realize A. What Bill's eye mutation means and B. What precisely Bill did to destroy his homeworld.
Bill's home isn't completely the same as Edwin Abbott's Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (notably, women and men can be both polygons #feminism) but we can assume most of the mechanics are the same. The basic premise is that the world is 2D. Everyone perceives the world in a 1D way, along the plane. There's a part of Journal 3 that describes this pretty well.
Bill can see up to the stars because his eye is on the flat surface instead of on the side like everyone else, like this:
(He's also slightly 3D, as we can see in the show.)
But there's one more important Flatland detail. The denizens of Flatland (and therefore likely Euclydia) do still have organs "inside" their bodies. Since there is no depth, they're just on the inner radius of their bodies. The 2007 Ehlinger movie adaptation shows that:
If Bill wanted to "give his world a new perspective" and "show everyone what they were missing," he wanted to get everyone to look upward.
Meaning he probably tilted the entire world.
Meaning everyone not only slid off of the plane, but all of their organs spilled out and everyone died.
...Hence "so much blood."
(The only issue with this is that it doesn't account for the number of times Euclydia is referred to have been burned ("saw his own dimension burn / misses home and can't return", he only has ashes leftover), but I'm sure the act of turning an entire dimension upwards expends a lot of energy.)
The product of my labors! I've been working on this on and off since the spring and I'm so proud of it. I designed and handcrafted this Mystery Shack themed cuckoo clock from scratch. I bought the innards of a clock, then designed a Shack around it. It's primarily laser cut, but is covered in hand-stained and cut dowels. A few other things are 3D printed, made from various boxes, moss, scrap wood, acrylic, and even from a stick I found outside.
The best part about this clock?
YOU could own it!
This baby is going up for auction by me and the rest of the @mystery-twin-mystery-bags team on September 26th. All proceeds going to Palestinian refugees via the Sameer Project. Keep watching our socials for more information! I'll also be sure to post about it again when it happens.
If you're curious to find out more about my process, production details under the readmore!
THE IDEA!
I'm an engineer by trade, but I don't get a ton of time to make things nowadays (i'm finishing my PhD right now, which is largely in simulation). I jumped at the chance to make some handmade items for MTMB, all of which I could gush about too but will just show off here:
(I believe some of the Cipher Wheel wooden pins will be available in the leftovers sale!)
Hana floated the idea of doing an auction fairly early on in the process, and I knew I wanted to make something big for it. When I think about Gravity Falls, I think of the shack before anything else. If I wanted a functional display of the Shack, what would it be? I thought for a while and eventually settled on a clock.
This was my first sketch, with ideas for specific details. Some of these stayed the whole time, some of them got discarded. The biggest difference between the concept and the final version was Soos. I originally wanted to change the kit to make Soos saying "soos-koo" and to make him come out the front door. Unfortunately, I both could not figure out how to hack in a custom sound and the clock kit was set up to only work with the birdie coming out the top. In hindsight, I should have realized this, since the pendulum needs to go down and the birdie would be in the way.
I knew from the start the proportions of the Shack would need to be squished so it wouldn't stick out from the wall too much, which lead to a few odd looking things later on.
2. THE PLAN!
First thing I did was get a TON of reference images for the Mystery Shack to finalize which details I would or would not do. The Shack is really inconsistent between episodes, so some details (like if the gift shop sign says GIFT or GIFT SHOP) I had to just make a decision on. I also had to simplify a few things, which I'll explain later when I go into the parts in detail. I pretty quickly changed my mind on making glass windows and stuck that on "stretch goal" which I ended up not doing because of both time and shipping concerns. I also decided not to prioritize anything on the opposite (Wendy's secret hangout spot and another entrance) and back side (since it would be against the wall) of the Shack.
Next, I made a budget/parts list based on the rough sketch of what I would need. Even if I didn't have the size of everything finalized, this helped me space out shopping, know what I needed to order ahead of time, and know what I still needed at every stage. In my case, I also applied for a grant from my school's makerspace to help pay for it, which was fantastic and I appreciate them so much.
The only item I had trouble with procuring was the shingles for the roof. I got them online, but then the shop I got them from shut down between my first order and when I realized I needed more. I knew I could laser cut my own, but I didn't have a perfect match for the stain color and I really didn't want to have a fifth partially used bottle of stain that might be the wrong color. I ended up making do with what I had and I think it still looks good.
Last, I made my CAD model to make the patterns for laser cutting and to make sure everything would fit. I am SURE there is a much better way to do this then what I do, but I:
Make a 3D model of the final shape of the object
Use the shell tool to make it hollow
Cut off each face one by one
Add in the jigsaw to attach things and any other details
Make a new assembly to make sure everything fits
Convert the outline of the jigsaw design to vectors to open in Illustrator for the laser cutter.
The final CAD looks like this:
Pretty close to what I ended up building! The shape of the Shack is not consistent at all in terms of how much or which sides are sloped. The slightly more consistent way is for the right side to be sloped, so that's what I went with, but, man, it changes so much.
3. THE BUILD!
I laser cut all of the pieces and made sure they all fit. I've you've been wondering this whole time what laser cutting is, it's a technique where a laser precisely cuts the material you're working with. You most frequently see this done with wood, acrylic, and paper. If you're interested, check if your local library or school has a public one! They're really cool!
Anyway, I stained the shell, even though I knew it would be covered in dowels in case anything showed through. Staining the dowels was a bit of a pain, because I had to sand down the surfaces first so the stain would stick to them, but it wasn't too bad.
Then I started cutting down dowels. I figured that it would ultimately be harder to pre-measure out exactly the lengths I needed, since I'd have to also keep track of which length went where. Instead, I cut a bunch to roughly the right size and started gluing them to the surface. The plan was to use a Dremel afterwards to cut anything hanging off to size. (A Dremel is a handheld tool that is used for small-scale cutting and sanding jobs)
Here you can see some progress on various parts of the project. That piece of aluminum I salvaged from a scrap bin to make the gift shop overhang. I was having fun layering shingles on the roof. Here you can see a minor oopsies: on the CAD, I remembered to put a hole where there Mystery Shack roof is broken on the actual roof part, but I ended up putting the shingles on the wrong side, so the final product is missing that detail :(
The Mystery Shack sign took SO many coats of paint.
This was where I made my biggest mistake of the project: I decided to glue the front and sides of the structure together first and put the dowels on after.
Why I did this, I have no idea. Literally in no way did that make sense except to feel more like I was making progress. It made SO much worse. If I did it in pieces, I could have cut off all the dowels at once with a bandsaw! The Dremel was SO much slower than I thought. (Oh, also, that hand saw in the picture? It sucks. Don't buy it.)
Here it is, post sand down of the dowels. It turned out quite nice, despite all the problems. You can see a lot of the electronics here, too. Hi, birdie!
However, now we come to the second problem of gluing things together early: I didn't glue the whole thing together all at once. Nothing, and I mean nothing, ever fits together perfectly. Little imperfections of glue and misalignments propagated and the back I designed did not fit. My solution ended up cutting the back in pieces and re-gluing it together. What a pain. Could have been completely avoided.
4. THE DETAILS!
Someone once told me that the key to making something look good is to remember all the little details. And man, that was super true for this project. Let's go through a little tour.
I would often joke to my roommates while working on this that the Mystery Shack was a great thing to mimic, because if anything looked a little sloppy and messed up, it was completely in character for the show. I don't think my "MYSTERY" looks perfect, but that's fine! Stan did it! The little lamps on top of the sign vary a lot between shots, both in size and in shape. I designed and 3D printed these as an okay compromise. One of the biggest losses by shrinking the Shack to fit on a wall better was I (and my friend who helped, ty <3) didn't get to put as much Aesthetic Moss as I was hoping. Ah, well...
This little ENTER sign I swear is the least consistent thing in the show. Sometimes it says ENTER with a little arrow, sometimes it says ENTERS, sometimes it's light text on a darker background, sometimes it's darker text on a light background... I ended up picking this one from the last episode as my model. I made the weather vane out of three toothpicks that I stained.
(By the way, I did make a 3D print for the pipe, but I honestly think the Shack looks better without it. I'll include it with the package so the person who wins can pick if they want it or not)
The gift shop was 100% modeled on this screenshot. In wide shots, the sign usually says GIFT (s1) or GIFTS (s2), but when zoomed in, it usually says GIFT SHOP. I was extremely pleased at how well I captured the sign itself. Had to play a lot with different mirroring tools in Illustrator I haven't used before.
The piece of aluminum I bent myself from a piece of scrap. The little yellow signs are made out of a Wheat Thins box. The soda machine and the ice box are both 3D prints. Because I squished the shack, though, I didn't have enough space for everything that's supposed to go here. I did make a version where I fit the pressed penny machine, but it looked way too silly and I decided the Pitt Cola machine was more iconic. Goodbye, pressed penny machine :(
By the way, the door is an open hole because the speaker for the clock is in there and the sound needs to come out.
(this screenshot also shows how inconsistent the shape of the Mystery Shack is. Look at how crooked the left side is. What)
Those little letters. My god. That was the MOST frustrating part of this project by far. They were way too small, so they kept falling through the bed of the laser cutter. Once I finally had all of them, sticking them in place was a nightmare. SO tiny. I got absolutely covered in superglue trying to get it to work. Here, you can see the only part of the outside of the shack that really doesn't make any sense: the Bill A overlaps the outside of the door in a way that's physically impossible. I just put it on top.
The outline of the door is a stick I found outside, cut to size, and stained to be the right color. The door was a leftover piece from an old project. The MR MYSTERY stand is far too big to be realistic, but I decided being able to read it at a distance was more important. The next tour sign is also a Wheat Thins box. Very useful box, surprisingly.
The Dipper and Mabel pendulum was actually born out of necessity! I somehow lost the pendulum that came with the kit! Instead of buying a new one, I realized I could super easily make something cuter. I just cut two pieces of acrylic and glued a print out of Dipper and Mabel on the inside. I spent one Pathfinder session painstakingly cutting them out with scissors...
And that's my design diary. Let me know if you have any questions or want to chat. I love making things and love talking about making things even more.
And, most importantly: YOU CAN BUY THIS! BUY IT! TAKE MY BABY FROM ME!!!! DO IT!!!
my friend tried to warn me that i was not ready for the cold open to the mbmbam live show they uploaded today. i did not heed his warning.
he was right. i was not ready.
(transcript under readmore)
Audio clip from My Brother, My Brother and Me 759: Face 2 Face: Mommy’s Special Sweets For Good Business Boys.
Clint McElroy: March. No. February!
February 1980. I'm a young broadcaster living in Florida. I move with my young bride back to West Virginia to take up a News Director's job at WKEE Radio. We are owned by Capital Broadcasting, which has its headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina.
So I come here in February of 1980 for training. I bring my young bride because I don't want to go anywhere without her. And we begin the whole process. I am here one day, and the third worst snowstorm in the history of Raleigh... And I gotta tell you something! 1980! You guys were NOT prepared for a snowstorm.
So we were snowed in! We had to stay an extra three days in Raleigh. And couldn't go anywhere because the streets weren't clear! So we spent a nice, romantic time, just me and my wonderful wife Leslie, watching TV, getting takeout food while the snow blew around...
And nine months later.
To the day.
Justin Tyler McElroy was born.
And they have never heard this story before. Is it true? Well, all I can say is: the McElroy brothers are not experts.
I know not everyone has read the various OTGW comics or watched the pilot, so here are all the cameos in this shot in the stop motion Aardman short! (Which you should watch immediately if you haven't already)
The Hero Frog/Jason Funderberker's father from the "ongoing" Over the Garden Wall comic.
The lead soldier from the original Over the Garden Wall Special comic.
John Crops and the unnamed cabbage gal from Tome of the Unknown, the original pilot.
The Woodsman's late wife, first appearing in issue 4 of the 2015 Over the Garden Wall 1-4 comic series and later having some recurring appearances in the Anna (the Woodsman's daughter) stories in the "ongoing" Over the Garden Wall comic series.
Pooree the elephant from issue 5 of the "ongoing" Over the Garden Wall comic series, from the story "Pooree the elephant" in the Ms. Langtree series.
The cat from issue 17 of the "ongoing" Over the Garden Wall comic series, from the story "The Cat and the Fiddle."
One of the sisters from issue 1 of the 2015 Over the Garden Wall 1-4 comic series.
The giant from issue 9 of the "ongoing" Over the Garden Wall series that Greg had to put to sleep because he was stomping too much.
Game is confirmed to take place between AITSF and AINI. More surprisingly, Uchikoshi actually isn't the writer for this game! Kind of makes sense since this seems to be a spin off rather than a full game? Who knows.
I completely forgot I didn't post this! This is my @code-swap gift for @semie78 ! I made a rotating tower music box! I'm very proud of how it turned out. I bought a wind up music box online. Then, I designed a base with 3D printed bearings (roughly inspired by these, but fairly modified) that screws into the music box wind up. When the music box rotates, it spins the entire tower. I also made sure that the base unscrews from the top so you can replace any parts as needed. A keen eye may notice that it screws in backwards. Uh... oopsies!
The music box itself plays A World Without Danger (video should have sound, might be kind of quiet)....... kind of. I used this amazing tool and modified this midi to 3D print a new tube for the box. Unfortunately, there are only so many notes on a music box, and I had to sacrifice it being in tune for it working... alas... Many lessons learned, haha.
Was a ton of fun! I love designing and making things. Happy to chat more about the mechanical design with anyone who is interested. Some pictures of the CAD and design thoughts under the cut.
I ended up chopping off most of the threads from this. I went waaay overboard and the friction got too much that it couldn't screw in all the way. I also made a mistake that I'm showing here -- the bottom opening thread needs to be accessible by the top inserting thread. Cutting it solved this, but if I were to make it again, I'd fix that.
The original design of this also had little Lyoko Warriors that would move around the outside, but I ended up deciding to simplify it. Maybe someday...
This part isn't very interesting. The music box itself is screwed into those holes, and the threads screw into the top.
Here's the cool part: the base! There is a circle of bearings on the inside that 3D print as one part (even if they're a pain to get the supports out of, oh my god). The center of the "wheel" is where you screw in the crank for the music box. I tried 3D printing the threads, but my printer couldn't get it that fine, which wasn't surprising, so I did it by hand.
This is the music box tube, as generated by the code up there. A PLA 3D print won't last forever (as you can see I have a few extras in there for semie). A more permanent solution would be to make the tube with indents or holes instead of out outcroppings and then put little metal pins in there. Another option would be to resin print it, but, alas, I didn't have access to a resin printer.
This music box didn't have an E!! I was able to but the theme into a key/octave such that the repeating notes could be on two different spots that played the same note, but no E!!! Augh!!! I tried so hard to make it still sound right... definitely sounds better on my computer than on the box. That might have been my fault: the first step to using the tool is to identify all the notes on the music box. My fiancee and I tried our best, but we definitely could have gotten a few wrong. Still, I'm pleased the song was distinguishable at all.
woe.begone is truly the gift that keeps giving because every single episode makes mike "im just going to observe" walters even more of a fool for ever thinking that
