Hatchetfield: Difference between revisions

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Nothing should happen in Hatchetfield. All it has is the Starlight Theater, a Beanie's Coffee with singing baristas, and a mall with the hottest toys in town. For some reason, however, Hatchetfield attracts several supernatural creatures, and apocalypses. Whether it's a [[Hive Mind]] turning people into singing zombies, or a persuasive [[Eldritch Abomination]] posing as a plush toy, you can bet that the world will end thanks to what starts in this town. Expect your favorite characters to die. A lot. But that's okay, because a new timeline or continuity starts in each show! And maybe, one day, the characters will find their happy ending or save the multiverse. Both would be ideal, to save everyone regardless of the timeline.

The franchise has several works: stage musicals ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'', ''Black Friday'', and the musical web series ''Nightmare Time''. ''Nerdy Prudes Must Die'' is a work-in-progress, meant to close out the stage musical trilogy. Thanks to the [[COVID-19 pandemic|pandemic]], however, it is ~~TBD~~ ~~when~~ ''Nerdy Prudes'' ~~will~~ come out ~~depending~~ on ~~theaters~~ ~~reopening~~.

The franchise has several works: stage musicals ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'', ''Black Friday'', and the musical web series ''Nightmare Time''. ''Nerdy Prudes Must Die'' is a work-in-progress, meant to close out the stage musical trilogy. Thanks to the [[COVID-19 pandemic|pandemic]], however, it took two years for a trailer of ''Nerdy Prudes'' to come out, promising a 2023 release date. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h15QZwFK68Y See the trailer here].

* [[Adaptational Jerkass]]: In the ''Nightmare Time'' segments, Grace Chastity seems meaner than she is when mentioned in ''Black Friday'' and ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musical''. It just seems that Grace is a little overbearing and a "nerdy prude" according to other characters. In "Perky's Buds", she leads protests against Emma and Ziggy for their business while in "Abstinence Camp", she regularly tattles on Stephanie for her sarcasm.

* [[Adult Fear]]:

** Bill, no matter the timeline, is shown to be in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife over his teenage daughter Alice. Seventeen-year-old Alice, college-bound in a year, seeks a career in the arts and resents that Bill keeps trying to be a goofy [[Bumbling Dad]] when she needs someone to support her wholeheartedly. She also hates that Bill is right that her girlfriend Deb is not good enough for her, as Deb is a stoner who encourages Alice to play hooky and {{spoiler|gets her killed by the Hive}}. Fortunately in "Watcher World," {{spoiler|Blinky's brainwashing, once it breaks, makes them realize they were both being unreasonable towards each other. Alice follows her dad on Instagram, and Bill promises to give her space, and his blessing for her to pursue theater after learning she won a ~~schoalrship~~}}.

** Bill, no matter the timeline, is shown to be in a bitter custody battle with his ex-wife over his teenage daughter Alice. Seventeen-year-old Alice, college-bound in a year, seeks a career in the arts and resents that Bill keeps trying to be a goofy [[Bumbling Dad]] when she needs someone to support her wholeheartedly. She also hates that Bill is right that her girlfriend Deb is not good enough for her, as Deb is a stoner who encourages Alice to play hooky and {{spoiler|gets her killed by the Hive}}. Fortunately in "Watcher World," {{spoiler|Blinky's brainwashing, once it breaks, makes them realize they were both being unreasonable towards each other. Alice follows her dad on Instagram, and Bill promises to give her space, and his blessing for her to pursue theater after learning she won a scholarship}}.

** Charlotte Sweetly's in a loveless marriage with her husband Sam, who is a [[Dirty Cop]] that she knows is cheating on her. Sam refuses to comply with couples counseling and rarely comes home. She's cheating on him in turn, because Ted is the only source of comfort that she can find, and ''Black Friday'' hints that Ted really does have feelings for her but is too insecure to admit them. {{spoiler|They end the musical holding hands with Hot Chocolate Boy, as the town survivors huddle and wait for midnight to pass; Ted mentioned in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'' that he'd want to spend his last moments on Earth "fucking someone else's wife"}}.

** ''Black Friday'' would run on this trope if not for the supernatural threat. A mall riot breaks out on the titular day, because every adult in line at the toy store wants the Tickle-Me-Wiggly.

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** "Yellow Jacket": Lex uses {{spoiler|the detonator to blow up Otho, saving her sister. Ethan then pulls a gun on Charles, to let them all go. Back at the apartment, however, Ethan is guilty about letting Hannah risk her life for money and apologizes to Lex. Lex says they all need to get some sleep, telling Ethan she loves him. The next morning, the sisters have left the apartment, with a [[Dear John]] letter for Ethan. Lex says that she's not mad at Ethan, but she doesn't want to endanger him; Charles will come after the girls for their powers. She tells Ethan to live for them and be young, while she and Hannah investigate what they are, and what Webby has told them}}.

* [[Black Widow]]: It's revealed in "Daddy" that {{spoiler|Sheila Young is this, regularly marrying men to emotionally abuse them and kill them when they refuse to play along with his daddy fantasies}}.

* [[Bolivian Army Ending]]: How ''Black Friday'' ends; the survivors of the mall riot gather after hearing that World War III has started, and Russia will likely send a nuclear missile in retaliation for {{spoiler|President Goodman accidentally launching one to Moscow when he aimed for Wiggly}}. They wait for midnight to strike before planning to bunker with Professor Hidgens. Hannah, however, has some hope; she sees a vision and sings that "Tomorrow will come, tomorrow won't come, tomorrow will come today." She asks what will happen if tomorrow does come, and what then? Tom asserts that if they make it past midnight on Black Friday, they can survive anything. All the survivors sing and hug, even [[Jerkass]] Ted and Charlotte. They count down the seconds to midnight, and see something in the sky. But there is hope, if not in this world then in the multiverse that General McNamara mentioned.

* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: In "Yellow Jacket," the reason why Lex doesn't believe that Webby is real is that Webby was her imaginary friend as a kid. She assumes that Hannah as a kid saw Lex talking to Webby, and picked up the habit. {{spoiler|When Hannah pushes Webby out of her mind, Webby goes to Lex, and helps reactivate her powers to save Hannah and stop the apocalypse}}.

* [[Chekhov's Gag]]: Grace Chastity has the unfortunate label of being a "nerdy prude" in every continuity. {{spoiler|She uses this fact to rescue Steph and Pete from Lumberaxe and succeeds in taming him, since she is a prude. Lumberaxe makes her the new counselor of Abstinence Camp, and she takes to it happily}}.

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** Likewise, Ethan cannot believe that he has to serve as Hannah's conscience in "Yellow Jacket" when they get roped into doing superpower fights for money, after she gets into an accident in shop class. He tries to keep Hannah out of the worst of it, while drumming up the courage to tell Lex. Hannah pushes forward because she is happy to have friends, and to be able to give her sister a good home. As Ethan puts it, he's the irresponsible one, and not a person with good judgment.

* [[Only Sane Woman]]:

** Emma in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'' thinks that she is this, with how she kvetches about the new "Singing for a Tip" mandate. In reality, she's actually a {{Jerkass}} venting about her wasted life and sister's death on an unfair working situation. While she gets better as the singing apocalypse starts to happen, it's not enough to save her.

** In ''Black Friday'', while Lex steals a Tickle-Me-Wiggly from her boss's shop, she resists the thrall of Wiggly when the toy talks to her. Her intention is to sell the doll online so she and Ethan have enough money to take Hannah with them to California and start a new life. Throughout the whole show, she registers the danger of the situation when the store riot starts, doing her best to get out of dodge while her boss stupidly tries to demand all the fighting customers leave. {{spoiler|It ends up being Lex's determination to save Hannah and her empathy for Tom that breaks the brainwashing on him, so at least she and her sister survive the riots}}. "Yellow Jacket" takes this further when, {{spoiler|as soon as Webby alerts her to what Hannah has been doing, Lex immediately activates her childhood powers, rescues Hannah, and escorts her out of there}}.

** In "Honey Queen", the poor pageant volunteer is the only person not drawn into the vicious competition that Zoey and Linda start. She just reminds Zoey to not be late for rehearsal and tells them every contestant needs a talent.

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* [[Out-of-Genre Experience]]: "The Hatchetfield Ape-Man" compared to most of the urban horror of "Nightmare Time" plays out like a love letter to Gothic literature. You have a British heiress investigating a beast with a [[Mad Scientist]] manipulating her, and an aura of mystery about the woods around the manor.

* [[Papa Wolf]]:

** Bill will defend his daughter Alice a face monsters to save her. {{spoiler|He fails in ''The Guy Who Didn't ~~LIke~~ Musicals'; because Alice is long-dead before he can rescue her, but succeeds in "Watcher's World" when he resists Blinky's brainwashing at the right time."}}

** Bill will defend his daughter Alice a face monsters to save her. {{spoiler|He fails in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals''; because Alice is long-dead before he can rescue her, but succeeds in "Watcher's World" when he resists Blinky's brainwashing at the right time."}}

** Gerald in "Honey Queen" {{spoiler|dies while successfully rescuing his son from Sam Sweetly after the latter kidnaps River. He gets shot three times, and that doesn't slow him down until Sam is dead}}.

*[[Pet the Dog]]: At the end of "Honey Queen," Linda leaves a heartfelt voicemail on her husband's phone, saying she loves him and thanks to him for believing in her.

* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Emma hates her ~~boss~~ Zoey in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'', saying that she and the manager are self-absorbed divas that only care about their acting careers. "Honey Queen" reveals that Zoey is an uber-competitive actress who uses emotional blackmail and entitlement to get what she wants.

* [[Properly Paranoid]]: Emma hates her manager Zoey in ''The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals'', saying that she and the manager are self-absorbed divas that only care about their acting careers. "Honey Queen" reveals that Zoey is an uber-competitive actress who uses emotional blackmail and entitlement to get what she wants.

* [[Redemption Equals Death]]: This happens during a few ''Nightmare Time'' episodes:

** In "The Hatchetfield Ape-Man," {{spoiler|a disguised Ted ends up taking a bullet for Lucy when Professor Hidgens pulls a gun on her, and chooses to die without ever revealing the ruse or the scam}}.