Or, contrarywise, it could be Dark Visionary firing a blast of negative emotions at the child's psyche (and everyone involved) to bring her down faster.
I think that in "Flesh to Iron" the scholar is actually daring Dark Visionary (inhabiting the woken dreamer) to rummage around inside his head and try to find something to scare him with. She feeds off fear and pain, but the scholar has dealt with his demons, and doesn't break easily.
Lets talk more Art examples for a second:
I think the Ape has something to do with actually getting the Dreamer to awaken, hence his lack of presence on the flip side. The green glow of the shard and ape, along with the darkness thats surrounding her on the boarders as she sleeps has all been absorbed into the girl for the flip side of the card.
Lightning Reflexes vs Violent Nightmares
For what its worth, the Ape seems to first be seen in the issue Freedom Five Anual #4. Pretty early on, considering I think I have seen those anuals go as high as the mid-teens (12-15 range). Both LReflex and Treacherous Ape reference that issue in flavor text.
Could DV be blasting the shard as a way to empower it? To move her conciousness from an unhealthy host (Vanessa) to a younger and healthier body (Dreamer)? Idk. I feel we are still missing something.
And honestly, I am still not sure at all what I'm looking at with Lightning Reflexes.
Because I love how this discussion is going, here's the cute lil' guy you're all talking about:
No, not the floating psychic girl. Her fuzzy friend. Here's his first appearance in the card game:
Hopefully that will help you see what's going on. Here's his specific card:
I can tell you that the thing he's holding is not a wooden stake. Also, because this image was referenced, I'll post it, too:
Ok. Enough images for now. At least now you all have the reference material in front of you.
Carry on!
Christopher you are the man, thanks. The larger image of LReflexes is sure helpful (Though my brain still can't seem to look at it right. Hopefully other eyes will chime in here).
And of course its not a wooden stake! But if it is what I think it is...
Quick question, I guess there is no way you would tell us where young Vanessa got that gem incrusted stuffed animal? Might have to be a question for the letters page.
So the ape is holding a crystal, probably the same one as on the stuffed ape. And I think the crystal is a variant of the philosopher's stone.
ETA: What if the ape is the scholar? They have similar heads if you shaved his mustache and took out his ponytail, and that would explain why the ape is called treacherous
Maybe the Treacherous Ape is the Scholar's nemesis.
I think that the crystal is Dark visionary's telekinetic/telepathic cocoon.
1. its the same color as Dark Visionary's powers.
2. Its the same shape as Vanessa's Telekinetic cocoon. while embedded in the ape doll, it is surrounded by the same kind of telepathic bubbles that appear when Visionary uses her powers.
3. Cocoons are a huge part of the visionary's story (and the dreamer's, and Dark visionary). She is in "project cocoon", visionary gets taken over while in her cocoon... its all about emergence and change.
The adept mentioned (in grotesque arachnoid) that her dreams were "tainted by another world". Dark visionary comes from another world (or version thereof), where she made much different choices.
Is the Ape opening a rift with the shard in Lightning Reflexes that is unleashing that energy blast?
The differences between Lightning Reflexes and Violent Nightmares is just not jiving for me either. Not sure how to reconcile the color differences, though I imagine DV's incap side plays some role.
I keep looking at the picture expecting something to just click for me. Understanding that picture is going to open other doors.
Continuing that train of thought...
I think that Dark visionary is limited by her choice of host. Or at least shaped by it. In this case, she bound herself to the ape doll. So her travels in the Dreamer's mind (and out as a projection) is limited by that choice. My guess is that DV is out and about sowing discord (as a projection), while the core of her stays close to the dreamer and worms its way into her psyche.
Once she can assert control, the dreamer wakes and the doll is discarded. However, because the dreamer is still a powerful psychic, DV can only maintain control as long as the dreamer remains scared and unsure. this is why all of the projections are so (intentionally) scary- they are meant to intimidate and prevent the dreamer from confronting the actual issues and possibilities that they represent. horrible future visions that she has seen (Like Iron Legacy), and traumatic events that she has been through (Like Project Cocoon and (possibly) the Toymaster).
Salvation comes in the form of the heroes confronting the projections and defeating them physically, showing the dreamer that they can be overcome. It also comes in the form of the scholar, who reaches out to her directly (on flesh to iron) and shows her that horrors can be endured.
So, any significance with the Ape being at a circus/carnival?
Maybe its not a rift, or a shield.
Could it be the outline of a cape? Is it projecting something besides an energy beam? This is gonna drive me up a wall I swear
Look at Tachyons right arm. There is no green glow on the right side of her arm (or left side looking at the picture). This tells me the beam is coming from well behind her and to her left. I had originally thought it was flying over her head and she ducked (good reflexes), but dont think that energy blast is anywhere near her.
New thought on Lightning Reflexes:
The Ape is shooting the beam at Tachyon, its not being shot at the Ape. The shard is creating a triangle shaped rift (pointing down) from which the beam is coming from. The circus tent is being blown backwards because of the forward force of the beam.
If thats not it I'll eat my hat.
I have a theory that the ape is a gift from the head of project Cocoon. A "congratulations on the birth of your daughter" gift, sent anonymously.
The Visionary got her out of the program before she was born, but I'll wager that a psychic appearning from the future, with the same last name as the girl's parents, determined to get the as-yet-unborn child ouut of the project... that might raise a few "keep tabs on this" flags in whatever organization ran project cocoon.
And what better way to keep tabs on her, than to give her lovely plush ape that she'll sleep next to every night, and take everywhere she goes? Given the level of tech that they have access to (in that they are actively endeavoring to create super-soldiers), adding a few hard-to-find widgets on a stuffed toy seems like it would be easy.
come to think of it, why not make it obvious? Its not like "Tummy Crystal" is going to set off any particular alarms. Especially not with new parents.
And ESPECIALLY if you have the crystal emit low-level waves of psychic energy, encouraging the baby to sleep (and trust the ape).
The Ape appears as early as Freedom Five Annual #4 judging by flavor texts.
Visionarys first apperance? Freedom Five Annual #16
Chrono's first appearance is Freedom Five Annual #10 and is seen in the Nightmare World series.
In other words, the Dreamers projections have been croping up in the comics for a long time, well before we even meet Visionary, and long before Dark Visionary ever takes over Vanessa. The strange thing is, Visionary must have been around during that time even though she never appeared in the comic, since she made the time jump before the Dreamer was born to get her parents out of Project Cocoon.
The timeline for these comics is strange indeed. Does Nightmare World happen before Visionary's apperance? Trying to imagine seeing the Dreamer in the comics before ever meeting Visionary seems weird, so I'm guessing Nightmare World happens after FFA#16.
Visionary has that precognitive vision of our heros being enslaved by Voss, and I'm guessing that is the major plot point of the WotC expansion. Once we get back to the Thorathian homeworld (presumably) we also see images of the Dreamer awake and kinda fighting Skyscrapper. But that Dreamer no longer has the Green Energy glow that we have come to asssociate with the awakened Dreamer and with Dark Visionary (same can be said of Fixed Point which I'm guessing depicts when she first wakes up from her coma in the hospital). But this would seem to indicate that Nightmare World takes place before the WotC story.
But when does DV take over Vanessa? Her fight with Gloom where DV takes over has to take place after FFA#16, and considering Glooms first apperance was FFA#6, this fight might actually take place around the Skinwalker arc (since that was a much later Gloomweaver story).
If we are gonna run with the idea that somehow DV is whats corrupting the Dreamers thoughts (as evidenced by Argents flavor text in her deck), then the conclusion of Nightmare World should end with the Dreamer being "saved" somehow (just like the card game). That most likely entails purging DV from this reality as to not allow the Dreamer to be corrupted further. This is could be whats depicted on DV's incap side. In that sense, Nightmare World would have to happen after the apperance of DV.
The dreamer's bio indicates that the Visionary got the parents out before the Dreamer was even born, so my guess is that before the Visionary ever did anything with the F5, she was busily arranging the departure of her parents from project cocoon.
similarly, Dark visionary's bio mentions that Vanessa was feeling the effects of the time jump after about a year- that seems like enough time to get teh unborn Dreamer out of project Cocoon, and then move onto other things.
We know that the dreamer didn't fall into a coma until year 6 (or thereabouts), with the projections moving into the real world at that point (again, from the bio).
I'm thinking that DV happened fairly early in terms of the overall plot- maybe 3 or 4 years in. After dawn/voss, but before the dreamer's coma.
As for the projections:
Theres a possibility that The Dreamer's projections started showing up in the heroes dreams in advance of the dreamer's coma. This could explain how things like the ape appeared to Tachyon in advance of the events of Nightmare world.
I think the coma has to come first before projections start showing up. This means the Dreamer has been in a coma for a long time through the comics (since the Ape appears in FFA#4) even if we didn't see her or knew of her yet.
Gloomweaver didn't even show up until FFA#6, so that puts DV happening well after her coma since Visionary has to show up in the comics first, then fights Gloomweaver, then turns into DV.
I don't think Nightmare World starts with her going into the coma. I think the heros have been battling these things intermitently through the years and at some point Argent Adept figures it out these are dreams. I don't think they would have known about them being dreams though without knowing about the young girl, and I am betting they wouldn't find out about young Vanessa without older Vanessa's help. And if Nightmare World ends with the "saving" of the Dreamer (thats a large presumption but I think a fair one), DV would have to be around for that. If not, that may mean DV isn't the one tainting the dreams, which is too good of a theory not to run with at this point given all the art clues.
Foote and Braithwhite, you two should star in your own sitcom or do a youtube show done in the style of History Channel program conspiracy theories but with SOTM. I would totally watch that.
Given the number of questions we've both submitted to the letters page, I expect that we'll have new conspiracy materials soon enough...
You know, I'm kind of getting an Evil Con Carne vibe from it. Like, the CRYSTAL is in charge; the ape is just a host. I rather like the idea that Dark Visionary (or some other form thereof; maybe even the Dreamer's own psychic hitch-hiker) is in the crystal, and is the one firing the energy beam, and is also controlling the ape (so as to carry it around.) The projection is the Dreamer's interpretation of her ape friend as her protector, but the crystal (which perhaps originated from the toy) has since betrayed her, hence the name "Treacherous Ape."
I'm just going to link to this post for my thoughts on the ape and the crystal. It's not as indepth as others have posted here but it is an alternative theory. posted months back I might add!
https://greaterthangames.com/forum/topic/ape-ing-around-3723