Blog

CW: This post is intended for a mature (18+) audience. This post will be discussing a variety of triggering content related to the Lacey’s Flash Game digital horror series. Any CW warning provided in the series applies here too. A lot of the discussion in this post will be around things like death, sexism and misogyny, homophobia and transphobia. While I enjoy the Lacey’s series, I also know these videos contain a lot of triggering content that may not jive with all viewers.

Also, spoiler warnings for episode 4 of the Lacey’s series (the disturbing rabbithole of laceygames.com) and any episode up until this point. I will not really be giving plot summaries. You are somewhat expected to be familiar with the series and its content/characters to fully understand this post. If you need a quick link to the video you can find it here, but if you aren't familiar with the series you do need to watch all the previous episodes to follow along.

And with that out of the way, I am excited to talk about some of my thoughts about the latest Lacey episode. I was just about to start high school when I read BEN Drowned for the first time, which opened the doors for a lot of video game based creepypastas. My love for creepypastas led to a love for analog horror which has led me to a new love for digital horror. Growing up I spent a lot of my computer time playing girly flash games with my friends. My one friend would always make me play Star Doll with her. I didn’t care for the celebrity part, but I loved doing the dress up games lol. And of course all the time playing Barbie and My Scene games. Of course there were plenty of smaller websites we stumbled upon. Ones that I couldn't tell you the names of if my life depended on it.

Lacey’s managed to hit that vibe and it hits it really well. We start off with a banger from Lacey and the Jammers. Lacey introduces the members of the band and lets us know the gang is here to stay (mmm hmm…. Bet). This little ad is so good and does feel like something I would have seen from that time. Lacey’s sells itself very well in imitating its influence.

Oh, also, I super appreciate that more horror series are including subtitles now. I haven’t been watching analog horror as much lately, but The Walten Files 4 also included subtitles! I have some auditory processing issues, and we all know horror series can have some dog water audio quality/mixing, so the subtitles are really appreciated. I hope this stays a thing.

The first time I watched through this I didn’t catch the bit that Charlie kept changing shirts. I was so focused yet somehow missed that entirely lol. I feel like there is something that Grace is hiding. During Pet Shop, I wasn’t sure what to think of her, but I didn’t think she had any bad intentions at that time. To me, it sounded like her and Rocio just grew apart, and that Grace had completely lost contact with her. I tried not to get too hung up on her saying that she didn’t know if Rocio was even alive or not anymore. I have had friends both irl and online that I have completely lost contact with and have found myself at times wondering if they are still around or not. However, with this latest episode, I am starting to think Grace may not be totally honest about what she knows.

I don’t quite have a reason to believe that Grace is an antagonist in this series yet. If anything, I think she is possibly more of a “guilty by association” type character instead of being the person directly causing harm. The way Grace speaks of Rocio makes it sound to me like they were never actually friends in the first place. However, it is alo possible that Grace wants to act like they were never close in the first place to cover up for something.

If Lacey’s was real and I was a child again, my fav character absolutely would have been Jay. I was a tomboy growing up and after watching this episode, I have a lot of uh feelings about it apparently. If you had a hard time reading the “concerned parent” emails, here is a reddit post transcribing them for ya here. The emails sent by parents call Jay a dyke, queer, boy girl thing. But I want to put emphasis on Jay’s quote ”I’d only be caught dead wearing makeup”. That part hits especially hard now :’)

Based on my time spent online, I think tomboy has varying levels of “acceptance” depending on your community. I grew up in a small, Lutheran school. Being athletic was good, but being an unfeminine tomboy with “boy interests” was bad. Up until a certain age, having the same interests the boys in my class did was cool, but at some point it stopped being cool. I had short hair and wore baggy shirts from the boy’s section. Random girls at the park didn’t want to play with me because they thought I was a boy. I never really caught onto the feminine thing. I don’t think of myself as superior or above femininity or anything silly like that. I just…. Never picked it up. I blame the autism and transness. Anytime I did intentionally be feminine, it does feel like a whole performance. It feels like a costume, for better or for worse. Being feminine because it would be fun to dress up in a silly little outfit for an event? Good! Being feminine because I need to “behave” at this random funeral that I am being forced to attend for a family member I have only met once, but I still need to “look nice in front of the family”? No good!

We don’t have any really decent pictures of Rocio, but I do find it pretty interesting that Rocio doesn’t look very “feminine” herself? No makeup, baggy clothes, barely styled hair.

Seeing Jay be punished (read: killed) for the exact thing she was criticized for just makes it even more brutal. If only she would have put away the skateboard and worked at the pet shop or makeup parlor, this wouldn’t have happened. If only she would have repressed who she was, put on some makeup and a fake smile, this wouldn’t have happened. But instead Jay loses her life in a brutal skateboarding accident.

Just in case you don’t have super fast clicking skillz to pause the video at just the right moment here is another reddit thread with the text/images that flash on the screen throughout the vid. They do have some important tidbits to getting the full message here.

Now I didn't quite catch on the first time that the makeup parlor was actually a mortuary. (The one secret image makes it a bit more obvious) Now imagine the way you found out your friend just died because she comes rolling in needing you to do her makeup for her funeral. I think Lacey is fair for having a complete breakdown here. Lacey’s comments towards Jay seen in the video are already heavy, but one of the hidden images makes it hit even harder. ”Vanity doesn’t die! You are not excused from vanity yet! You still can’t be looking bad now! You can never escape society’s expectations for women to be feminine, even in death. Lacey’s sorrow expresses itself as denial and jealousy.

Again; If Jay had been more feminine, this wouldn’t have happened. If Jay was a good girl like Lacey, this wouldn’t have happened. Lacey copes by viewing Jay’s death as avoidable. This happened to Jay beause she didn’t behave. But also, it also looks like deep inside, Lacey doesn’t want to be this hyper feminine girly girl either. Jay got to skate through life without being forced to be feminine, but Lacey didn’t get that leisure.

This episode was another great addition to the Lacey’s series and makes me excited for what we get to see next. Since this episode was more focused on Jay, I wonder if we will get an episode focusing on Maisie soon.