SCP-3835 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-3835.

hey ghostchibi did you write another goddamn animal scp

ghostchibi 28 Jun 2017 00:02

Yeah I sure did.

I'm sure a great deal of you have heard of Hachiko, right, the dog with a statue right outside of Shibuya station, the one who waited until his death for his owner to come back from work after his owner died away from home? I'm sure a great deal of you don't know that in 2015, Tokyo University commissioned a statue of Hachiko and his owner Professor Ueno reuniting, though.

I saw it during my trip to Japan in May. And instead of being happy about the whole image of reunion, somehow my brain went "the statue of Hachiko outside of the station must be sad, it's been sitting there waiting for almost a century after all." And then from that idea came this SCP. It's also a bit of a flip of the story about Hachiko; instead of waiting out of faith that his owner would return, Hachiko realizes that his owner can't come home, so out of love he hops on the train that his owner took to work every day to go meet his owner again.

EDIT: Added a photo (CC compliant since I took the photo myself).

Last edited on 13 Nov 2017 21:57 by ghostchibi Show more

Re: hey ghostchibi did you write another goddamn animal scp

Antisomething 30 Mar 2018 07:55

Yep, and I have seen the movie before. The SCP article resonated closely with the plot of the original story as well.

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Faber Castell is my favourite pencil brand

MrWrong 28 Jun 2017 00:15

Frankly, the anomaly is simplistic. However, the context is the real meat here and that leaves the base anomaly as a dressing.

TL333s 28 Jun 2017 12:10

I wasn't too impressed at first, then the addenda start evolving the anomaly and it turns into a good example of how you can't take these things at face value. :) Nicely done!

DarkStuff 30 Jun 2017 04:26

SCP-3835 is not the only existing statue of Hachiko, but these other statues have failed to show any sign of anomaly as well. Survey of the area around SCP-3835's original location and the area around the statue at the university (a consistent end point of SCP-3835's travels) has revealed nothing. The anomaly isn't inherent to the physical object or location, it seems. There's only one SCP-3835, and for whatever reason it's choosing to manifest through the statue at this specific location. -Dr. Mitchell

This passage tells me nothing I couldn't infer, and feels patronizing. Like a narrator in a kid's TV show saying exactly what is being shown. Makes me feel like the reader is being treated as if they're stupid.

As long as we keep replacing them, SCP-3835-1 and -2 will keep hopping into the replacements. Logically, never installing replacements would be the most effective containment. While permanently removing Professor Ueno's statue isn't much of a problem, permanently removing Hachiko's statue is impossible. Hachiko is a national icon; civilian attention on the removal would be constant and endless. Whatever the new containment procedures entail, it has to involve some sort of replacement for SCP-3835-1. We don't have the resources to amnesticize all of Japan, and then some. -Dr. Mitchell

Same with this one. These two notes are totally useless, interrupt flow, and make me feel talked down to.

Otherwise, I like it. Sorry if that criticism is harsh, but I've seen that in other places to. You just don't need it. It feels so intrusive that I am novoting on this premise, if they're removed I'd upvote. I understand if I'm the only person who feels this way, but notes like this annoy me to no end.

Alright, alright, a more in depth critique… I have a soft spot for dogs, and this hits that soft spot. I think it would be just as cute but just a little bit sad if the owner's statue didn't move, but that would ruin the whole progression so I understand its existence. I think the very last addendum is useless as well. We can tell new containment procedures have been put into place, we just read them. They even say "revised" and have the previous containment procedures under them.

It is subtle, but I always love a lower budget Foundation. Sometimes people paint the Foundation as "operating above a budget", as I put it. Meaning they don't need money to get what they want because they are so huge and powerful. Many of their materials come from other dimensions and such, but I do like this guy saying "we don't have the materials to amnesticize all of Japan and then some". Yes, I realize this is a note that I want you to remove, and I stand by that, but I like it. Good job.

Anyways, that's it. Very cute, like it lots, it is good doggo, but it gets a novote until I don't feel patronized.

ghostchibi 01 Jul 2017 11:27

The first passage is there to clear up the possibility of the anomaly being caused by the environment; it's a distinct possibility and I figured Foundation researchers would test for and record that kind of thing too. The Foundation would be nothing but thorough.

The second one I feel like can't be removed because it provides necessary context; the story behind Hachiko and specifically the kind of effect he had on Japan on a societal level is easily lost on someone who isn't familiar with it. I got several comments during draft review about it not being clear the reason why "don't replace the statues" wasn't a viable solution, because the people who read it weren't all entirely familiar with Hachiko. Removal would be an obvious solution to anyone who didn't know how important the statue itself is, and given that the Foundation is international (at least in this version I'm writing) I feel like it should be as clear as possible about why XYZ thing can't be done when it otherwise seems completely doable. It's also meant to convey a sense that the researcher doesn't want to erase it from people's minds, even if it is somehow possible; Dr. Mitchell claims that it's impossible, even though there is a possibility (just one that requires a shit ton of resources), and gets insistent that it has to be replaced. It's a bit of history in their country that they don't want gone. I suppose that might not have come across as much and been too subtle.

martianmax 30 Jun 2017 17:50

This is pretty cute and has a nice flow to it, I like it a lot. Personally don't see anything wrong with the passages DarkStuff noted, I don't think there's any real reason to make the reader deduce how the anomaly works and explaining keeps the reader engaged instead of stopping to figure the mechanism. Also, I didn't know the story of Hachiko beforehand (by name, anyway), so the second note was helpful.

ohFear 03 Jul 2017 16:41

Cute and heartwarming. I love it. I didn't understand the context at first but could infer from the article that Hachikō is basically Seymour from Futurama.

+1.

Oh, damn

EVelcrowe 28 Jul 2017 08:51

This is the second time tonight that an SCP made me want to cry a little bit.

DrAnnoyingDog 14 Sep 2017 23:05

Hachiko is bestest doggo.

+1

new picture

ghostchibi 17 Oct 2017 21:11

I added a photo, which is CC compliant since I took the photo myself. It's of the real-life statue of Hachiko and Ueno.

Re: new picture

Cassidy inkWell 20 Oct 2017 23:28

The picture you took only adds to the sweetness that was already present in the SCP. Sometimes the text became a little taxing to read but the whole thing is really cute overall, so it's worth it.