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Theories topic for the week of June 25 - July 1, 2013:

How did Brick Road/Dungeon Man come across the items and vehicles in his collection?


Theory of the Week:

Dungeon-making is not an easy task. It's exhausting, time-consuming, and largely thankless. One of the perks of being a really good dungeon designer, though, is the all-expenses-paid vacations that you get while designing a dungeon in some exotic locale. Naturally, as one of the premier dungeon designers in the world, Brick Road travelled far and wide and got paid a lot of money for it.

One day, Carpainter called up Brick Road with a somewhat nonstandard request: he wanted Brick Road to design him a dungeon made of humans, an impenetrable maze of cultists to stop any and all bat-wielding children that might for some reason come to defeat him. Brick Road thought that this was a bit of a strange request, but he knew that Carpainter saved money from the Happy-Happyists' "donation" fund, so he thought this would be a very lucrative job opportunity. Brick Road started to think about the logistics of designing a dungeon out of people, and wondered what it would take to turn someone completely INTO a dungeon.

Brick Road arrived in Twoson, and was about to head out to the Peaceful Rest Valley, when he decided to stop by the Chaos Theatre and see what act was playing. It was a great show -- one of the Runaway Five's best, in fact -- and Brick Road was instantly enamoured.

Upon arriving in Happy Happy Village, Brick Road immediately set to work designing Carpainter's "human dungeon." But he couldn't stop thinking about the Runaway Five and their jivin' tunes. In fact, he was in such a hurry to get back to Twoson to hear them play again that he made a crucial mistake in the design of the maze, leaving it wide open to intruders.

On the way back through Peaceful Rest Valley, he found that someone had broken the bridge, making him walk the long way around. He wished he had a faster way to get around, and as soon as he arrived back in Twoson, he made a beeline for the bike shop. He was surprised, but delighted, to find that the guy just gave him a free bike, and he rode it around through the valley...until a Whirling Robo knocked him into the water, getting soaked and rusting the bike beyond repair. He kept the bike around for memory's sake, though, and also because he didn't want to have to return it in shame to the bike shop that had so nicely lent it to him for free.

After changing his clothes at the hotel, he headed back to the theatre to see the Runaway Five again, but, much to his dismay, a kid had somehow managed to pay off their debt, so the band had left town. A man in the theatre mentioned to him that he thought they might be playing in Fourside, so naturally Brick Road set off there next.

Now, Brick Road might have been a recent Runaway Five convert, but he was still a dungeon maker, gosh dang it. On his way to Fourside, he didn't have much trouble with the tunnels into and out of Threed because of the racket made by his dungeon supplies moving around in the back of his truck (plus, the ghosts were still recovering from the noisy band bus). On his way through the desert, he encountered some giant moles who were looking for someone to build them a maze. Never one to turn down a challenge, and also a bit afraid of what might happen if he declined their offer, Brick Road built them an underground maze that was, again, supposedly impenetrable. He still couldn't stop thinking about the music, though, and he built this maze even more sloppily than the first.

Upon arrival in Fourside, he made a beeline for the Topolla Theatre, knowing that the band likely wouldn't be there for long. When he got there, he heard they were having a special raffle to celebrate the success of the song Yellow Submarine from their album Lover Rev -- the prize was a real yellow submarine! He used the money that the moles had paid him with to buy all of the tickets in the raffle, and to the surprise of no one but himself, he won! On the way out of the theatre, glowing with pride, his dungeon-maker-senses started flaring up again. He noticed some crazy taxis chasing pedestrians along the streets. He thought that they would make perfect additions as enemies in his dungeon, and he managed to catch one.

He decided to use his new submarine to get back to his native Winters. However, the Mad Taxi kept ramming against the wall of the room it was stored in, and it sprung a leak, rusting out the taxi's engine and preventing it from ever running again. Brick Road didn't mind that very much, but he did mind the damage to his submarine. When he arrived in Winters, he decided to visit Dr. Andonuts to get his submarine fixed. Andonuts couldn't completely fix the submarine, but he at least managed to repair the damage to its wall. He then revealed that he was a big fan of Brick Road's work, and suggested that he build a dungeon in Winters. Unfortunately, Andonuts was a bit strapped for cash at the time, but he compensated Brick Road by giving him one of his newest inventions -- a little something he called the "Instant Revitalizing Machine."

So Brick Road built a dungeon in Winters. By now, of course, he had learned of the failures of some of his past dungeons, and he was particularly hurt by the failure of his "human dungeon," although the miners hadn't yet discovered the moles' dungeon. When Jeff made it through his Winters dungeon, he felt even less confident and wondered aloud to Jeff if maybe it was too easy.

Brick Road, feeling rather down about the failure of his human dungeon, decided to talk to Dr. Andonuts about his idea from oh-so-long ago: turning someone completely into a dungeon. The project was code-named "Project Dungeon Man," and made excellent progress. Brick Road knew this would be his ultimate dungeon project, so he decided to situate himself in the furthest locale that he knew of -- the desert of Scaraba. He also knew that he would be abandoning his old life entirely, so he decided to bring a few especially significant things from his past to remind him of the old days -- the bicycle, the taxi, the Instant Revitalizing Machine, and the submarine.

-- broomweed


His name is Brickroad:

My name is Brickroad. A simple, yet quality name, no? My goal - no, my dream - is to create the ultimate dungeon. But, what is a dungeon, truly? Is it a labyrinth, a tower, a pyramid maze, an underground base, or a cave? No. A dungeon is none of these things. The world is my dungeon. I am Dungeon Man. Let me ask you: are you sure of my dungeon-making focus? What I am striving for? No, I have already given my answer. I create dungeons to create the ultimate dungeon, and thus, I create the world.

The world's dungeon is full of bricks. You cannot ask, "What should I build this next dungeon out of?" No, the answer is in front of you all the time. Build from the world, and the world will continue to build.

As I walk down this busy street, passing by many people, I see the building blocks they use for their life. All of these are taken for granted, and so I haven taken them. What is thievery? "One man's trash is another man's treasure." That is what my mother always said. But no, that is false. One man's treasure, one man's trash, they are all the same thing: a building block for the world's dungeon. You cannot steal what you do not own for yourself. Do you claim to own the world?

My good man, those ropes are the world's, and thus they are mine. That submarine you have? That very comfortable looking park bench? Mine. If one man's trash is another man's treasure, the world that people trash is my treasure. The dungeon of the world will be a monument, not to the human race. Not a monument to me. A monument to dungeons. And so I will take these things you claim to be yours. Not out of greed, not out of ignorance, and not to build a monument - no! I will build a dungeon. I will build the world.

My name is Brickroad.

-- BB Gang Zombie


Becoming the Man:

Do you remember Brick Road, also known as Dungeon Man? He was seemingly obsessed with building dungeons. We don’t know much about him, but we can still assume things about him…

He is first encountered by the player in Winters while controlling Jeff. If Winters is assumed to be his home then why isn't he found there again? Well that may be because the dungeon he made there was a failure. As good as he is at making dungeons, he didn't take into account that someone might come with a pencil eraser and erase the giant iron pencil statue. Upon realizing that once the statue was gone, people had no need to go into his dungeon again; he never wanted to see his failure again.

He decided that in order to make up for his mistake; he had to complete his lifelong project, Dungeon Man. He decided that this was going to be his final dungeon, as he was getting on in his years and that it was time to retire. Perhaps this is why he was so willing to sacrifice his body to become Dungeon Man. He decided that he had already lived a full life building dungeons all over the world, and that in order for his life to be complete, he must achieve his life-long ambition of becoming Dungeon Man.

Ness and his friends only encounter two of his dungeons, but perhaps some of the other dungeons Ness and co. traveled through where also made by Brick Road. All eight sanctuary locations are in huge dungeons. Perhaps in his life time, Brick Road built all these dungeons as well. It is unknown how old Brick Road is, so perhaps his dungeon style changed as well. His current style of placing signs all over the place may have been something he recently started to do.

Dungeon Man was his lifelong ambition, so naturally he had been building Dungeon Man for his whole dungeon building career. With the help of Dr. Andonuts, Brick Road was able to make Dungeon Man travel. This way Brick Road didn't need a home, Dungeon Man WAS his home. He kept all his prized possessions inside Dungeon Man such as his submarine or his Bicycle. He may have even picked up a few monsters from time to time in his dungeons and decided to start a zoo. Making dungeons may have been a paying job for Brick Road, and since Brick Road was good at making Dungeons, the demand for his work was high so therefore he was paid a lot. Using his money, he was able to hire a whole hospital to execute their occupations inside Dungeon Man.

After Dungeon Man was finally completed, all Brick Road had to do was to get his friend, Dr. Andonuts to merge Brick Road with Dungeon man. This was all he needed to be content with life so he was prepared to sacrifice everything. Now, even though he is stuck in between some palm trees, he is still content since Brick Road has achieved his dream of becoming Dungeon Man, and he can spend an eternity with his prized possessions.

But that leaves one last question? Why did Brick Road lend Ness and his friends a submarine? Well that is because Ness reminded Brick Road of himself, a young adventurer exploring the whole world. How could he say, “No” to someone like Ness?

-- The Lonechallenger


A man and his dream:

Ah yes, Brick Road soon-to-be Dungeon Man. Brick Road was a relatively simple man who dreamed of making great dungeons, to the point of becoming one, while Dungeon Man is Brick Road's realization of his dream and is the result of Dr. Andonauts Chimera making prowess (a prowess he may soon regret possessing).

On the now realized Dungeon Man's quest to become the best dungeon known to man, he scoured Eagleland, searching for objects to showcase and enhance his dungeon, coming across helpful benches and cheeky "unintentional" homages to popular culture he could add to his personal collection. Whether the objects came from Dr. Andonauts, the locals, or were just lying around, Dungeon Man added them to his ever-growing collection, his apparent pride and joy, which he will stick with until he reaches his end at his "eternal resting place."

-- Lena Bena


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