SCP-190 / Discussion

This is the discussion related to the wiki page SCP-190.

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Drewbear 02 Sep 2015 22:47

My rewrite. Original by Raaxis, contents under collapsible

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Item #: SCP-190

Object Class: Euclid

Forenote: For definition within this file only, an "adult" is defined as a human being of thirteen years or older. Conversely, a "child" is defined as a human being younger than thirteen.

Special Containment Procedures: Despite the seemingly innocuous nature of SCP-190, extreme measures must be taken to ensure it is not opened by a child. Due to SCP-190's apparent immobility (see Appendix #190-A for more information), a containment facility has been erected around its location in ██████ ████████, disguised as a small corporate office building. SCP-190 is located in the center of this construct, under permanent security vigilance.

Should SCP-190 ever be opened by a child under thirteen years of age, security protocol SCP-190-P/1 dictates that the child be immediately neutralized, either through the use of deadly force or (preferably) a sedative. If the child retrieves any object from within SCP-190 that makes neutralization improbable or impossible, protocol SCP-190-P/2 orders the remote detonation of the facility via four explosive charges attached to the building's foundations.

Description: SCP-190 is a small, ornately carved wooden box, of dimensions 50 centimeters wide by 70 centimeters long by 35 centimeters deep (50 cm x 70 cm x 35 cm). The carvings on the top and sides of the box depict a parade of exotic animals, including lions, elephants, tigers, and panthers. There is nothing special about the engraved animal figures, save for the level of detail achieved. Each beast appears remarkably realistic, and several personnel assigned to surveillance duty have claimed to see them move [Note: see Appendix #190-B for Dr. █████████'s personal notes on these phenomena].
When opened by an adult, SCP-190 contains:

• Fourteen (14) marbles of assorted size and color (SCP-190-1 through SCP-190-14)
• Two (2) sticks of lightly used blackboard chalk (SCP-190-15 and SCP-190-16)
• One (1) deck of playing cards (SCP-190-17)

None of these items appear abnormal, and testing has revealed that they are, in fact, commonplace.

SCP-190's unique behavior only manifests when it is opened by a child; upon opening SCP-190, the child appears to be granted any toy he or she wishes. These "toys" may range from manifestations of invisible companions to a simple rubber ball, but the potential for danger is quite apparent (see TR#190.1.04). SCP-190 is extremely dangerous, not because of its lethality, but rather its potential for chaos.

Timeline:

01.23.1915 - Dr. █████████ investigates reports of unusual activity in ██████ ████████.
01.25.1915 - Dr. █████████ discovers SCP-190; Extraction Squad Theta dispatched to recover SCP-190.
01.29.1915 - After several days of unsuccessful attempts to extradite SCP-190, 05-level Administrator clearance is given to construct containment facility.
01.31.1915 - Construction of CF-190 begins.
02.14.1915 - Dr. █████████ begins examination of SCP-190 and discovers SCP-190-1 through SCP-190-17 (see Appendix 190-B for Dr. █████████'s personal examination notation).
03.01.1915 - CF-190 assumes "Fully Operational" status. Extensive testing of SCP-190 initiated.
03.04.1915 - First child subject (henceforth, SCP-190-CAS01) opens SCP-190, creating SCP-190-18.
03.05.1915 - SCP-190-CAS02 exposed to SCP-190 resulting in [DATA EXPUNGED].
03.08.1915 - SCP-190-CAS03 opens SCP-190; personnel casualties include [DATA EXPUNGED] SCP-190-CAS03 eliminated.
03.09.1915 - Administrator 057-GAMMA (codename: Wrath) suspends testing with child subjects.
09.17.19██ - 057-GAMMA orders testing to be resumed.
09.18.19██ - [DATA EXPUNGED] nineteen (19) casualties.
09.18.19██ - 057-GAMMA permanently terminates testing.

Test Reports — Personal Notations of Dr. █████████

TR#190.1.01 [03.04.1915] — "My son ██████ has expressed an interest in opening SCP-190, and I, having previously classified it as "Safe", was granted permission to allow him to do so (under experimental settings, of course). To my great astonishment, when he reached within "The Toybox" as I have come to name it, he produced a small red rubber ball—SCP-190-18. He giggled in delight and set off to play with his new "toy". Further analysis detected massive quantities of anomalous ion radiation, suggesting supernatural properties. Further investigation to come."
TR#190.1.02 [03.05.1915] — "My daughter, ███, upon seeing ██████'s new toy, demanded to look inside SCP-190. Reluctantly, I agreed. [DATA EXPUNGED] kill my own daughter!"
TR#190.1.03 [03.06.1915] — "…begged 057-GAMMA to suspend testing on child subjects after ███'s horrendous [DATA EXPUNGED]… but to no avail! Alas, I am to test on a new subject, ████████, and observe and record the results… [ILLEGIBLE] …same way as ███; we were forced to dispatch ████████ after his "toy" tore through fifteen armed personnel before it was finally eradicated. I have sent in a formal resignation to 057-GAMMA, also requesting the termination of the SCP-190 Experimental Testing Project."
TR#190.1.04 [09.17.19██] — "Received a letter of reinstatement today from 057-GAMMA, ordering the testing of five new subjects. At once. This is madness! Who knows what whimsical fancy or creature that demon toybox could spawn?! I have sent ██████ away with his father, and I can only pray that I survive this maniacal experiment.

Appendices
#190-A: On the intractability of SCP-190
"SCP-190 appears to be immovable by any human being over the age of 13. Our most intense efforts could not budge what a mere child could pick up. However, given the risk associated with SCP-190, it is ill-advised to have a young child relocate it. As such, I formally request a containment facility to be built on-location in ██████ ████████ to further facilitate investigation of SCP-190." — Dr. █████████

#190-B: On the apparent movement of SCP-190's carvings
"Today I observed a strange phenomenon. I was glancing back and forth between SCP-190 and some reference documents, trying to determine of what origin it was, when a faint trace of movement caught my eye. The engraved animals on the front of SCP-190 appeared to be moving, but only in my peripheral vision! Upon further investigation, I discovered that the animals did, indeed, change physical position within the two-dimensional confines of SCP-190. While fascinating, this phenomenon seemed to have no relevance to SCP-190's true purpose, other than as a mere parlor trick, to entertain babes and fools."

Comments from prior SCP are uploaded as image files.

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Giving bearhugs to the unsuspecting since 1872.

Last edited on 02 Sep 2015 22:48 by Drewbear Show more

minmin 02 Sep 2015 22:55

No vote, until I read the Addendum and realised who HF was. Oh boy.

sirpudding 02 Sep 2015 23:35

What addendum?

Decibelles 02 Sep 2015 23:43

Presumably, minmin means the section after the test log, although it's not actually labeled as an addendum.

sirpudding 03 Sep 2015 01:13

Okay, I was hunting for a hidden link. :(

DomeAcolyte 03 Sep 2015 14:21

I read the section, I still don't see what minmin means. Who's HF?

OZ Ouroboros 03 Sep 2015 17:47

HF would be Herman Fuller, from the Group of Interest Herman Fuller's Circus of the Disquieting.

bbaztek 02 Sep 2015 23:26

Just toys that are more dangerous than they appear. Eh. Looks like there's some context to this I'm missing, though.

sirpudding 02 Sep 2015 23:35

So basically the effect is more subtle and Herman Fuller is connected now?

TwistedGears 02 Sep 2015 23:48

So it's a thing that brainwashes kids into becoming non-anomalous performers when they grow up to be non-anomalous adults through adult-harming objects, coming from an anomalous circus that employs anomalous adults. Nothing about it really gels.

Between that and the compulsion, the bland "let's hurt people" logs, and the tired trope of "range expands if you don't interact with it" I can't really say I'm a fan of this.

DomeAcolyte 03 Sep 2015 14:19

"Child lost the game and throw cards" switched tense there. Otherwise, I liked it.

Kalinin 03 Sep 2015 17:30

While this is an improvement over the original, which was awful, I don't think a fresh coat of paint and attaching Herman Fuller to the article really do much for the original concept.

I get that rewrites of stuff like this are intended these days to try to hew as close as possible to the spirit of the original article¹, but there's nothing but cliches at the heart of this article. If these cliches were employed in the service of something, that might be okay, but they're just there for the sake of existing. Overpowered thing what kills you. And it makes you interact with it because we can up the body count that way.

The Herman Fuller connection doesn't feel right, either². I had never really understood the primary purpose of the Circus of the Disquieting to be "hurting people." And yet that's what this is, just a means of hurting people in a kind-of ironic way. It feels more at home as something The Joker would leave around in a Batman comic than it does on the mainlist, Series I or no.

To quote a great man in regards to the original concept, sometimes dead is better.

Footnotes

1. It's debateable as to why we want to preserve the spirit of bad articles as opposed to opening a slot for something with the primary quality of being good, but that's a separate discussion

2. Standard disclaimer that this doesn't mean I want to see more GoI references of any sort goes here.

Petrograd 05 Sep 2015 01:35

My major problems have largely been stated by others. Finding out that it always produces things that cause children to injure adults, well, that's just boring. I actually found the compulsion effect more interesting, although 1) that might have just been in contrast to the rest of the content and 2) such a huge statistical margin is overkill. Takes it from a potential slight nudge into a big consciousness-altering shove.

For more technical issues, I don't understand why you included the section on cards and chalk, given that you do not even remotely use them for the rest of the article. It confuses the description having extra items and special rules for them before the items that actually have any effect, and smacks strongly of "it's there because it was in the original."

-1

MrWrong 23 Sep 2015 16:35

I'm not really feeling it for the Herman Fuller association here. Sure the children who play with 190 stand a higher chance of being potential performers (recruitment tool maybe?), but it's weird to scout potential performers in this manner. If it is related to Herman Fuller, I'm not seeing how it meaningfully links up with the GoI.

sirpudding 23 Sep 2015 16:40

The initials HF with the circus theme. I guess it supposed to be branded merchandise or something.

Argenti Aertheri 16 Jan 2016 23:49

Huh, seems I'm an oddball for liking this one? But then, my primary hobby is trapeze so… *shrugs*

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