• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

For ARG enthusiasts/conspiracy believers - "BadSelfEater"

Status
Not open for further replies.
I saw this on Twitter earlier, did a search and couldn't find a thread.

There's this sort of odd ARG/conspiracy nut thing happening right now where people are finding dollar bills with art/patterns/political iconography/initials/phrases/corporate symbols on them, all over the USA.

VdMHQdml.jpg


mrgcR5zl.jpg


They're kind of creepy on their own but some people put the info together to find a website that reveals a countdown clock and we know how much the internet loves a countdown clock.

http://badselfeater.com/

There's also a facebook page purported to be run by the person behind it all where they make posts like

"This is not an ARG, trendy little puzzle, social experiment, or viral marketing scheme.
When the timer ticks down, you will see what is happening."

and posts videos with white noise.

Make of it what you will (my money is on a bored art student).

This was the original reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy...rk_lots_of_fun_stuff/?st=islg6bdb&sh=5f7afd77 and there's a community here: https://www.reddit.com/r/badselfeater/

It's 3am here and this is kind of interesting me/creeping me out more than it should probably but thought some people might like it. If this is a cover for some right wing bullshit I don't know about then I apologise.
 

Media

Member
Always interested in this medium.

Some are thinking this might be viral marketing for American Horror Story season 6.
 
Always interested in this medium.

Some are thinking this might be viral marketing for American Horror Story season 6.

I saw that, it's quite a good theory.

The timer runs out 3 hours before the premiere.

You would think they'd have made sure it had more exposure than this though. There's a pretty low volume of people commenting on the reddit page.

The art on the bills is extremely well done, especially when you look at the high-res images. It's all pretty interesting.
 

Media

Member
I saw that, it's quite a good theory.

The timer runs out 3 hours before the premiere.

You would think they'd have made sure it had more exposure than this though. There's a pretty low volume of people commenting on the reddit page.

The art on the bills is extremely well done, especially when you look at the high-res images. It's all pretty interesting.

I can't find a thread on unforum talking about this, which is weird. Maybe they don't think it's an ARG? I don't want to be the one to start a thread there lol.

The timer running out that close and it being a bit creepy also makes me think this might be related, but in my experience the big corporate ARGs tend to have their branding on them somewhere...they don't really obey TiNaG.

Has anyone looked at whois data on the website?
 
I can't find a thread on unforum talking about this, which is weird. Maybe they don't think it's an ARG? I don't want to be the one to start a thread there lol.

The timer running out that close and it being a bit creepy also makes me think this might be related, but in my experience the big corporate ARGs tend to have their branding on them somewhere...they don't really obey TiNaG.

Has anyone looked at whois data on the website?

Yeah it's all protected and proxied. Registered in March 2016.

http://m.imgur.com/gallery/gHhx2Fv

More here.
 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
Those bills are literally screaming "what can we cram in here so we can seem smart?"

Oppenheimer quoting literature quote, Rupert Murdoch signature (I think), lots of corporate logos, goats, countries like China (and Brasil for some reason), and other stuff.

I don't think there's much of an ARG here as much as there is "hey, go to this webpage and wait for the timer to finish its count down".
 

Media

Member
Those bills are literally screaming "what can we cram in here so we can seem smart?"

Oppenheimer quoting literature quote, Rupert Murdoch signature (I think), lots of corporate logos, goats, countries like China (and Brasil for some reason), and other stuff.

I don't think there's much of an ARG here as much as there is "hey, go to this webpage and wait for the timer to finish its count down".

There's so much detail in them it makes me think it's more professional than troll, but we'll see. Of course I want it to be an ARG cause I love ARGs lol.

The art is really well done too.

Are they actual bills that have been defaced or just mock ups?
 
This is getting creepier so here's an update on everything since the last post in the thread:

There was this post on Facebook

gsKcSZy.png


The only other update on September 8th was the following post. The poster is attached to a red door, with "THE END IS ALWAYS NEAR" with Beelzebub below it. While many have attempted to locate this door, the location is still unknown.


The morning of September 9th, the following picture was posted. It depicts a sign on a light pole, with an unknown building in the background. Within hours, the exact location was found, the William J. Clinton Presidential Library and Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas, and two people were at the location, confirming the spot, and posting more pictures of the location with the sign still affixed to the pole.



Another sign was found shortly after, approximately a quarter mile west of the Clinton Library.


Later that night, Mr Teeth made another post. In less than an hour, cross referencing a flyer in the window, the location was discovered to be Board Game Island in Galveston Texas. Correspondence with the employees and the owner indicated that they flyer had been there weeks prior, and had been taken down by the owner. The only thing he could remember was that it depicted a dragon that had swallowed it's own tail. While a few people drove down and checked the area out, there was nothing of note.


On September 10th the following image was posted early in the morning, and shows a combination of the Wikileaks logo, the broken key from the "Treasury Seal" on the front of the bill, the Eagle from the Bill, a Play on the UN logo across the bottom, with many small corporations scattered about. the background ledger was determined to be the following Cotton Ledger .


Later in the night Mr Teeth posted another poster picture, this time in front of Trump Tower in New York City, affixed to the Abercrombie & Fitch building across the street. We know the picture was taken that day, due to the artwork on the Gucci building and referencing various social media posts. An anon from /pol/ retrieved it, which revealed the IRS logo on the rosary beads.



On the morning of September 11th, the web page was updated. The site is now colored Blood Red, with the song Vide Cor Meum playing in the background.

Shortly after the song ends, this video plays on the website.

Small movements can be detected when editing the image, which appear to be people moving left to right, carrying objects.

giphy.gif


giphy.gif


In addition, many more images were found via the website.


Additionally, the following photo was added to Facebook.


There was also this. Mr Teeth posted an update saying he was distributing notes in "Pullman's town" (a neighbourhood in Chicago historically associated with workers' rights. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pullman_Strike), people from /pol went along and found a mannequin with blood on its hands and a bag full of the bills.


Two days to go...
 

Arkeband

Banned
I'm getting Mr. Robot vibes, which coincidentally the first part of the last episode airs on the 14th, which could coincide with the plot starting "phase 2".

edit: Mr. Robot has really ramped up the real-world connections lately too, the last episode made specific reference to Trump.
 

daveo42

Banned
I assume this will be a big bag of nothing in the end. Someone's art project or some half-baked political rant about consumption.
 

Media

Member
I am no longer of the opinion this a cooperate campaign, and the images are too political and inflammatory for any corporation to okay using.

The Trump and Clinton references along with the overlying 'what needs to be done' message with creepy shit like 'I am become death' makes me thing the secret service will like be looking into this soon. Just because of appearance and never being too careful.

Thanks for the massive update you rock.
 
The most comprehensive following of this project is on ar15.com

In fact, much of the symbolism and things have been found there and deciphered first.

Of course it is a right leaning forum for the ar15 platform, so most of GAF's heads would explode and ignite on fire if they went there.

But it is the thread to follow if you are interested in this thing.
 
The most comprehensive following of this project is on ar15.com

In fact, much of the symbolism and things have been found there and deciphered first.

Of course it is a right leaning forum for the ar15 platform, so most of GAF's heads would explode and ignite on fire if they went there.

But it is the thread to follow if you are interested in this thing.

Correct, this is where I am following it and where the info for the update came from despite being a left leaning, gun hating dude in Scotland! I found the link to the thread on Reddit.

I find this shit fascinating despite being very cynical about it.
 
There are two Mr Teeth postings on Facebook I missed in the update, posted 14 hours ago and 5 hours ago.

Both were images, one is a photo of one of the bills at the Oklamhoma City bombing memorial fence.

The other is a graphic and some words accompanied by the phrase "It's always 9-11".

As far as I know these are the latest developments.


 
D

Deleted member 80556

Unconfirmed Member
There's so much detail in them it makes me think it's more professional than troll, but we'll see. Of course I want it to be an ARG cause I love ARGs lol.


Yeah, I think I'm inclining more towards art proyect, but the latest update is pretty good.
 
Sure, I get being paranoid, but what's preppers fascination with gold? If all goes to shit gold won't really be useful.

Unlike paper money, who's value is entirely determined by the well being of a fragile government, gold has """"""""""intrinsic value"""""""""" because it's shiny.
 

soultron

Banned
Man, The Purge 4 Election Day is going to be awesome if this guerilla marketing campaign has anything to do with it.
 

Boem

Member
I'm getting Mr. Robot vibes, which coincidentally the first part of the last episode airs on the 14th, which could coincide with the plot starting "phase 2".

edit: Mr. Robot has really ramped up the real-world connections lately too, the last episode made specific reference to Trump.

Yeah that was what I was thinking too. Seems very Mr Robot, and fits with a lot of other stuff they've been doing.
 

captive

Joe Six-Pack: posting for the common man
Unlike paper money, who's value is entirely determined by the well being of a fragile government, gold has """"""""""intrinsic value"""""""""" because it's shiny.
actually it has value because its rare, and has malleable properties like being able to conduct electricity, be spread very thin etc.

anyway this is creepy.
 
in death the deceivers body of the consecrated corpses burn under the regalia of oath
as ministers and minstrels cry heaven abound save us save us save us in quiet
whispers in backroom corners helel ban shachar only darkness reaches
this pit born forth from the hellfire bad self eater badselfeater
 

soultron

Banned
When the timer ticks down it will be a link to "it's fucking nothing" GIF as a YouTube video while a vapourwave rendition of Never Gonna Give You Up drones on for 10 hours.
 
When the timer ticks down it will be a link to "it's fucking nothing" GIF as a YouTube video while a vapourwave rendition of Never Gonna Give You Up drones on for 10 hours.

I would enjoy that, because I'd be thinking about the guy who put an extra gun in his truck and left work early.
 
These things are always interesting, but they hardly ever amount to something notable.

Remember that one from about two years back with the video of the plague mask person? Did anything even ever come of that?
 

jstripes

Banned
The imagery in those bills is the definition of try-hard.

If you wanna be subversive, I dunno, maybe step away from the clichés employed by every rebellious first year college student? Or at least do a better job disguising them?
 

213372bu

Banned
Despite this looking and reading like some conspiracy nut reveal, the art on some of this is really great.

Really dig how they incorporate the art with the design of the dollar bill, though the message is pulling it back a bit.

Would totally buy an artbook filled with stylized art like this:
 
Despite this looking and reading like some conspiracy nut reveal, the art on some of this is really great.

Really dig how they incorporate the art with the design of the dollar bill, though the message is pulling it back a bit.

Would totally buy an artbook filled with stylized art like this:

Yeah, just glancing through this, the design in top-notch. Nazi eagle perched on a UN globe? Doggone it, it just looks kind of awesome.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom