Dear Insane Children,
I hope everyone had a fantastic Halloween! It was really amazing to see so many spectacular Alice costumes on display, shared from around the world. If you got dressed up as Alice this year, be sure to share your efforts and tag me – on Instagram I am @americanmcgee – and on Facebook you can send them to the Alice 3 Page where Fontlord may even decide to re-post them!
The Shadow and The Child
Last night I had a bit of a brainfart regarding the narrative presentation of the Alice: Asylum story. Woke up this morning and send this note off to RJ for consideration…
You mentioned Alice narrating (recalling) the events of her time in the Asylum from a time / place after Madness Returns. So, we’re hearing (and seeing) adult Alice go through recollections of her childhood adventures in Wonderland just after the fire…
What if…
Adult Alice is seeking to find her inner child and reconnect with her?
It could be wrapped in the context of adult Alice seeking to find where the White Rabbit (in his early, innocent, cute form) was left. Rabbit serves as an analog for Alice’s inner child.
So…
We have child Alice on an adventure to integrate with her Shadow Self (and this results in abandoning “childish things” including the child toy form of the White Rabbit). That integration allows young Alice to transform into an adult and it prepares her for the battle we see unfold in AMA and AMR.
We have adult Alice reaching back into her memories and reliving these events while also seeking to claim something critical she lost during the transformation phase. Now that she’s defeated Bumby and established her adult self, she wants to reclaim certain elements of her lost Child Self (innocence, wonder, curiosity, kindness, humor – some critical capacity children have).
She’s completing the start and finish of her story along the same path but split between two perspectives.
As the player we’re essentially the eyes through which adult Alice relives the adventure. Perhaps we could do something by way of player “being” adult Alice in the final moments of the game… with child Alice turning to face camera and seeking some meaningful interaction from Alice/Player which completes the journey and makes our audience connect with the experience in a unique way.
Maybe a bit of a brain twister – but then that’s what we’re here for 😉
Dunno if we’re actually going that direction but I think there are a couple of interesting themes in here worth exploring.
What do you think? Comments below!
Just in time to go along with this brain twisting we receive the final version of Omri’s latest poster which he’s titled “Off With Her Head” and of this he says:
I saw the stream and people asked why she looks like the final red queen- That was the idea, in my mind Shadow Alice and the red queen are the same character.
Hope that clears that up!
The Lulu Patch
That’s our favorite Lulu modeling her very own embroidered patch.
The 2nd set of Embroidered Patches is DONE and even available for sale over on Mysterious. But don’t buy it there! You can get it here on Patreon if you’re at $10 (and above) once we hit our (adjusted) goal of 2800 Patrons. AND you can get the Lulu Patch via Patreon – it is NOT included if you purchase over on Mysterious.
So, tell your friends, families, and pets with PayPal accounts – become a Patron! They can lurk around at $1 a month – and then when we hit our goal (maybe next month?) this awesome new patch set will unlock and everyone can enjoy a Lulu Patch!
Woof!
From Shanghai with Lulu,
-American (and more Lulu)