u/fantasychica37

Should I give my Batter plushie birthday cake or will he try to purify me due to the sugar content?

The OFF switch only appears in a purified Room after you kill Hugo… his existence was holding back the switch’s existence but it existed before? His death created the switch?

Also track 69, “Aries – Cob”, is by Toby Fox, composer of track 69 “Need a hand?” from Deltarune! (“Cob“ is vulgar slang as well I think)

Yes I’m talking about true ending of OFF, in which we collect five grand items, trade them for the Aries Card, and are treated to a goofy post-credits scene in which the Space Apes, as of the more accurate translation (previously it was “foreseen” which is also correct, but presumably Mortis chose English words more accurate to his meaning) proclaim that the events of the world’s destruction went ”exactly according to plan”. The Space Apes planned the destruction of the world just so they could get their robot factory, and that’s bad enough, but I’m actually less interested in what they did to the world than what they did to the Batter.

Assuming the world of OFF is real and literal (apologies to those who favor the idea that it isn’t), let’s think about the Batter. He is created and the very first thing he experiences is knowing that he has to purify the world. We don’t know exactly what he knows and how he knows it, but I think taking the true ending as canon we can assume that the Space Apes played a role in telling him something. He instantly devotes his whole self to his sacred mission, not blinking at danger, at letting a foreign entity use him as their puppet, or even at erasing himself by turning off the switch – because he knows nothing else and he believes that what he is doing is right! Most people can only aspire to that level of dedication to doing the right thing.

Of course, what he’s doing isn’t the right thing at all. In fact, the Batter at least partially thinks he’s doing the right thing because the Space Apes made up a whole false version of reality and morality to manipulate the Batter into doing things to “do the right thing” that serve their own selfish ends…

or in other words, every cult leader and demagogue ever! Many people in positions of power, really, and also abusers who make up whatever system of logic and morality will result in their victims complying and not telling on them (adults can do this especially effectively with children, who don’t really know how the world works yet).

(Please DO NOT MENTION real controversial topics in the comments. Debating social issues on the internet is never productive in changing the minds of your opponents and only causes anger and hurt feelings and death threats!)

While Hugo’s plea for help is probably responsible as well, as is the Batter’s own decision-making process, the Space Apes took advantage of the Batter at his most vulnerable and got him (and you!) to destroy the whole world and himself convinced to the last that he was doing the right thing, and to me that is one of the greatest cruelties exhibited by characters in OFF.

Unfortunately, the story of OFF is long over, but the story of reality is not: why do you believe what you believe? Where did you learn what is true and what is not, and are there ways in which that source of information could be wrong, whether accidentally or on purpose? Is doing what you think is right likely to cause good or bad things to happen or both? Are you being asked to make sacrifices for others or for the greater good while no one is willing to make sacrifices for your wellbeing?

Come ride the rollercoaster with me again for no other reason than it makes you happy, Batter; come ride the pedalo with me again and let’s enjoy the world around us and think about how we might really save it! What do you say? Are you with me?

EDIT: Yes, I am aware that the creators of OFF almost certainly did not intend this; that doesn’t mean that we can’t draw these conclusions anyway, especially with a game deliberately open to interpretation, and it certainly doesn’t mean that we can’t use a story to think about the real world in a way its author didn’t intend!

I want to write a theory post but want to be absolutely sure I’m right about this first

So many quizzes on the website are designed such that you can only have a chance of beating them with that!!!