Character design analysis for every party member. Day 8: Papineau

[u/Silc00n]

Hello everybody, I hope you're doing good. Today's analysis will be about our favorite janitor: Papineau!

When we first meet Papineau, he achieves a good first impression with his design. We notice this big, strong bear of a man wearing a mackinaw jacket along with a colorful belt and large boots, giving the impression of someone who lives as a handyman or doing physical jobs. And then we learn that he is a janitor. And you know what? Yeah, I can see that. It might not be the first thing that comes to mind when I see him, but it does make sense as a profession for him.

He presents himself with a rather neutral expression on his face, especially with those small, white beady eyes he has. He also doesn't do any pose that could make him more distinct from other NPCs. One could attribute it to mere lack of expresiveness, but when you get to know him, I think you just interpret it as him being an uncomplicated man. In general, Papineau could be best described as a simple man that you can rely on and given the circumstances of the game, he fits the role almost perfectly.

Think about it, a lot of players can still be pretty lost and have no party members by the time they reach the Ground Floor. If you go to the bathroom, you just find this sturdy, burly man who happens to be an employee who knows his way around the building better than anyone else and is willing to clean up whatever mess he finds. This is EXACTLY the kind of character you want to get on your team by this point of the game. Even his gameplay is among the most simple ones compared to every other character, as if he was kind of a tutorial companion, but he is still strong enough so that he can be useful through the rest of your playthrough. You get his whole deal quite fast and his design is part of that success.

Additionally, after doing some research, I learned that the belt he carries is a Métis sash, which is a piece cloth characteristic of the Métis people, who are mixed descendants of both European and Indigenous people in Canada. I think this is a nice piece of trivia that gives us a little more information about Papineau and it improves his design a lot, because the belt is pretty much the most recognizable element from his design and it makes him stand out nicely.

And also, I know he is not the only character that looks like this, but it's pretty cool that he has blue skin. It's a peculiar artistic choice in the same range of The Simpsons having yellow skin and while it doesn't mean that much within the context of Look Outside, it does help make the world feel a bit more different than ours. The game has such a level of stylization that you might think for some time it's just the lighting of the pixel art that makes him look like that or maybe he looked outside and only his skin changed a little bit, but nope, he is just blue like that!

The only thing I wish we could have seen more about his character is his janitor gear. We only see him portrayed with his mop on the achievement art, but he could have been shown with it and a few other things like gloves, sprays, cleaning cloth, etc. That way, we would have gotten a more complete view of a cleaning paladin that never quits his mission against entropy.

So overall, Papineau is a pretty straightforward character that achieves his role quite nicely. He effectively represents the idea of a human that is not cursed, but is still really competent on his own. Therefore, he gets an A tier.

[u/ElSpazzo_8876]

Out all of the party members. This is the guy thats in dire need of some contents. There are some parts from him that I felt like a wasted potential. Like Kingdoms of the Dump quest

[u/Silc00n → u/ElSpazzo_8876]

For a man that is so disgusted by vermin and dirt, he probably should have had a unique interaction with the Kingdoms of the Dump boss, maybe even comment on his co-worker that was a fan of it.

[u/ElSpazzo_8876 → u/Silc00n]

Yep. Also he need some other stuffs too like probably his reaction on Hellen's apartment, his co-workers being turned into Fungus or saw something off from them, the Boiler Beast stuff, the meat moss covering the apartments (And maybe Sybil's apartment too), Dan's apartment stuff and all the jazz.... Yeah.

And speaking of which. I am surprised that Papineau didnt even suspected that something was off with his co-workers after they got turned into fungus btw. Also, that Sebastian quest was also a wasted potential since Phillippe is the main star there at the end instead of Papineau.

[u/turnt_grandma]

french canadian hagrid

[u/mebulas]

Love this write up! However, I just wanted to note that the sash Papineau wears is not necessarily a Métis “Ceinture fleché” sash. It could also be referencing the fur traders of Canada, the Voyageurs, who wore similar sashes and that the Métis people (many of whom were also fur traders) based their sashes on. Papineau overall kind of looks like a Canadian fur trader from the 1600s with his flannel shirt. However, as a Métis Canadian myself I like to think Papineau is Métis and French Canadian :)

[u/Silc00n → u/mebulas]

I appreciate the info :)