Michael Hammond

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Michael Hammond is a character referenced multiple times in the series. He was a 6 or 7 years old boy when he died in 1995.

Little information is given about Michael himself, and his actual relation with the Leskowitz - Mark families is unclear as of now.

Petscop 2

Michael Hammond (Mike) is first referred to in Petscop 2 at 4:40, when the player interacts with a grey tombstone in the Newmaker Plane with a face marked upon it. The tombstone reads:

Michael Hammond

1988-1995

Mike was a gift.

The name “Michael Hammond” is written in a light pink hue. The time period specified suggests that Mike was either 6 or 7 years old at his time of death.

Petscop 3

Mike is then referred to again in Petscop 3 at 6:34 when Paul inputs the face from the tombstone on the painting easel in the Child Library.

A message appears, stating:

Mike is not inside right now. He is dead.

You may visit his room.

Interestingly, the name “Mike” in this message is not written in a pink hue; however, this is consistent with the earlier use of the nickname “Mike”.

After a few minutes, the player enters Michael's Room.

His room contains an inert small red TOOL and tweezers on his table.

Petscop 6

Mike is later referenced in Petscop 6, when Paul reads the description of Toneth:

‘Funny stupid blob monster’ says Mike. That’s what it is.

Color

Mike seems to be associated with the color pink (#c391ac).

Theories

Very little is known about Mike other than his room, as well as the possible connection to his pink color. The message on his tombstone might be a reference to the Gift Plane.

Mike’s headstone appears to be shaped like a gift box. Combined with the fact that this is his tombstone, and that its inscription reads, “He was a gift,” Mike may now reside in the Gift Plane as a pet/ghost (provided we’ve not already captured him, of course).

It’s interesting to note that the face that appears on this tombstone seems to change at multiple times. Here are the different iterations at the corresponding time of appearance:

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4:38. This version has eyebrows but no nose, as can be seen in this enhanced version.

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Enhanced version.

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15 frames in 4:39, and the eyebrows then disappear as the player stands in front of the tomb, obscuring part of the face. This is odd because the player is standing quite close, meaning it would be important for the game to be rendering the face fully so the player can take this information to the canvas in the Child Library: Before.

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After.

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At exactly 5:00 the eyebrows and nose appear together as the player walks into the shed next to the tomb. NOTE: this part seems to be just rendering since the player has moved away from the tomb stone.

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This all occurs in Petscop 2. In Petscop 3, however, the face appears consistently as shown below as the player walks around it. 6:25.

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6:22

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6:26 However, between 6:29 and 6:31, the eyebrows disappear again:

Image00.png

6:29

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Last frame of 6:31 before cutting to black.

NOTE: the player stands at a consistent Depth (Y) here but changes his horizontal value (X) without moving the camera, so it’s possible this is another rendering error- but for information as valuable as the presence of eyebrows (a factor that can change the room outcome in the Child Library), it wouldn’t make sense from a game design standpoint to have this important information change so randomly. It’s possible that the eyebrows need to be removed from the painting to get an important outcome for our progression; the theme of eyebrows being removed is prominent with Care, alongside what appears to be a pair of tweezers that appear on the table in Michael's Room.

We know from his tombstone Mike is a child of only 6 or 7 years old. The most widely accepted theory is that Mike is (or was) the younger brother of Rainer, the developer of Petscop. This might explain why Mike’s tombstone is in the game, as a memorial to his brother that was lost during development. This might explain the sudden dark turn the game takes after the secret code is entered. It could also explain why the original game was never finished.