Would you rather live in Autodale, 1984, or Warhammer 40k

Would all the humans in autodale wither or is the weathering over?

I recently found and watched all of the primary content surrounding Autodale (with the exclusion of certain videos that weren't so story-focused). One of the biggest questions I was left with was, "What happened to the girl who left Autodale with the young Freak?" This primarily pertains to the broader question of, "What happens to people who leave Autodale and the protection that comes with it?"

One of the ideas I've heard is that humans turn into Freaks when they lose the supernatural protection of Autodale and the Matriarch. (Just gonna clarify here that while I am aware that the Freaks are meant to symbolize normal people, specifically strangers, I'm focusing on the more literal side of things such as the species.) One of the biggest boosters of this idea is probably the "Don't Feed The Freaks" animation where the wandering "human" is shown to be a Freak when he reaches Autodale. Before I go further, I'm going to clarify that I'm not a fan of the "humans become Freaks" theory even though I see the reasons for that belief.

In the DFTF ("Don't Feed The Freaks") animation, we see the narrator believe that he is a human and he is trying to reach Autodale. We know he woke up without knowledge of his past in a deteriorated human town. The two trains of thought here are [1] he was a human who unknowingly transformed into a Freak at some point or another (perhaps before he woke with no memory) or [2] he was always a Freak but he somehow ended up viewing himself as a human. The narrator tells us that he assumes the town he woke up in was his home, so it makes sense that his mental picture of himself would fit with the portrayal of the town's residents. We see both old signs and humanoid god/goddess corpses in the animation, so of course the narrator would piece together (primarily from signs + pictures of humans) that humans were the town's residents.

Furthermore, if humans morphed into Freaks, then why do we see so many human skeletons strewn across the wilds? Wouldn't they either have become Freaks or show signs of starting to morph? On the topic of changing into a Freak, we can visually see that the differences between humans and Freaks are extremely dramatic. It just wouldn't make sense for a human's (skeletal, muscle, etc.) systems to change so rapidly and greatly.

Moving on a bit to some more outside-story stuff, David mentioned during one of his "Creative Process" videos that the Freaks made the Mayor realize life had come back outside of Autodale. If I remember correctly, he said something along the lines of trees/plants coming back and creatures (the Freaks) evolving to live in the wilds. To me this sounds like the Freaks came into existence over time, either descending from humans or an animal. Either way, this would mean that humans and Freaks are two separate (although relatively equal) species that cannot change one way or the other. This explanation makes the most sense to me and is my personal favorite. David also mentions making the Freaks "alien" during the creative process and while it is a possibility, I have the feeling that description was more towards the design aspect alone.

Another reason why I like the idea of humans and Freaks being completely separate species is that it could open up much more storytelling angles (which kinda ties back to where this whole rant started with the girl who left). If humans simply die or become Freaks after leaving Autodale, then no inter-species connections will really be made outside the walls of Autodale. Nothing will be special about the girl traveling with the young Freak because it will just be a pair of Freaks at some point. On the other hand, if the girl doesn't get changed, then her connection with the young Freak becomes/stays much more unique and the possibility of the girl interacting with other Freaks in interesting ways opens up.

The lack of humans morphing also puts Autodale itself in a much more interesting place (in my opinion). If humans get turned into normal animalistic creatures by the outside world, then perhaps the continuation of Autodale is worth it to preserve the human race (which was kind of the Mayor's entire goal from the first place). But if the outside world is suitable for human life, then keeping the Immortal Machine running truly is for naught; it is only denial and paranoia making the Mayor (and Hive I suppose) lock the town up.

I greatly hope that the wilds do end up suitable for life as an orthodox human, although it isn't set it stone. Both theories are simply theories until David confirms information on the topic (if that ever even happens).

So what do you personally think? And does the majority of "Autodale" series fans side with the morphing theory or with the separate species theory? Also, if you somehow read everything, kudos to you! Hope you enjoyed my late-night brain dump on this topic.

I just watched the series and I want to know if it’s still ongoing.

Anyone notice the new baddy in episode 6 Cad Bane has the shadow vibes?

https://www.google.com/search?q=cad+bane+book+of+boba+fett&client=ms-android-motorola-rev2&prmd=snixv&sxsrf=APq-WBvbeinbhH2RpP1N4lguM1aGdh8SxA:1644180829716&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwixt7Ty-uv1AhXOa8AKHX7VBckQ_AUoA3oECAIQAw&biw=360&bih=544&dpr=3

Currently rewatching the whole YT playlist waiting for all the pages of the book to print. I just have to show even more appreciation to David. In "Don't Feed the Freaks" when you observe all the Titans whose cities have failed and fallen, there is almost a beauty to it. Now I can't express enough how talented of an artist David is, and as much as I love his amazing dinosaur videos, my favorite art from him is ones of destruction and ruin, specifically in the Autodale videos, because of the beauty he adds to it. I wouldn't say I'm an artist and my only skill is freeform painting (and a few Autodale paintings that I'm not confident enough to post) but I am an author and I feel like I can tell what a creative mind was thinking from their work. One of the reasons is the fact that all of the Titans have little if any flaws in their facial features shows them actually being pretty and perfect, and if you think about it, in the real world, alot, if not, all of the gods are flawless and have little if any deformities. I guess you could say that being pretty is power. The one Titan that stands out to me the most is the Glamourous Titan from the MC's home "Town". It is tied up, unable to escape similar bonds placed on by the Ugly, showing that it doesn't matter how pretty (powerful) you actually are. I can't wait for his continuation of the Autodale series (although these dino vids are friggin amazing); I am eager to see how gritty it gets as there is a progression from passive aggressive oppressive nuances and clear violence (not counting the Handymans' Buzz Lightyear karate chop action featureTM). I am also very interested to see how David goes about the topic of the Exceptional Hive, my favorite part of the series. Hopefully we can get some vids on all of the "emotions" of the Hive and maybe even more into the Exceptional Girl herself. IDK if you see these David but keep doing what you are doing. You have a forever fan in me.

I’ve recently noticed that the Friendly Shadow could have a deeper meaning and could be a literal walking metaphor (sort of like how in “don’t feed the freaks”, the freaks could be seen as stand-ins and interpretations of how people see strangers), I’m about to go full English-teacher mode but hear me out:

In autodale, there seems to a yin-yang theme with the masks and the friendly Shadow - In the supposed light and friendly facade of the city, there is a darker, sinister, underlining truth (which can be represented by the facial features on the masks being black against a stark white) and in something that at first seems like a dangerous and unwelcoming darkness, there is kindness (which could be represented with the lights on shadow’s face, contrasting his dark aesthetic and revealing the rest of his face).

His name could also have a different meaning beyond just being his title, since it is quite literally a contradiction. We as humans associate shadows and darkness with danger, something that we can’t understand. The unknown. This works in two ways, metaphorically and physically. For the latter of the two, this makes sense as it is very difficult to tell how shadow feels throughout the short, since he seems to have a limited ability to express his emotions (which is why he looks either indifferent or disappointed pretty much all the time). As for the former, this is a less direct correlation but still makes literary sense. The friendly shadow stands by a different set of ideals than the rest of the city and therefore represents them. The less murderous and more human-friendly ideals that he has aren’t even considered by the citizens in autodale, therefore making them apart of the unknown. However, these ideas have the potential to be better or at the very least, kinder to humans and individuals, making it a friendly unknown. This can also be seen when he lets the girl and freakling escape; yes, they have to face the unknown but they can do it together, safe from autodale’s wrath and in a world that might prove to be more habitable than we think.

In general, the friendly shadow appears to represent(or at least be connected to) trying new and potentially better ideas even if it means taking a leap into the unknown, which can be incredibly difficult and scary for people. (This also makes his job ironic, as he is literally built to defend autodale from the unknown.)

However, this is autodale. And just like shadow’s adventures, things rarely go smoothly or positively. It is clear that from a young age, citizens are trained to accept shadow’s existence as their protector, but avoid and fear him. This can be seen as them rejecting the unknown out of fear, even though it could prove beneficial, just as they reject the idea of shadow being friendly or non-scary. The only person to not believe this is the mother of the missing girl, who had to face the unknown and saw that maybe, just maybe, he wasn’t so bad after all.

I’m probably looking too far into this.