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From Portal 2 ARG Wiki - Valve ARG Network
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Contents |
Sandy
Accounts
Notes
SANDY MIGHT live in The Wonderful End of the World (TWEOTW). Her boss lives in Peeler City, and she lives in the same city as her boss. Peeler City, aka PC, is mentioned in TWEOTW. Her boss' brother is also kidnapped by the potato gang. SANDY is most likely the girl with the red hair. She mentions being friends with the GIANT WALKING POTATO, which you control in TWEOTW. The red haired girl says encouraging friends to the potato like GOOD JOB! which friends usually do. In her latest blog entry, however, she claims to not have red hair.
- In Sandy's blogspot she mentions Emily Dickinson, and in the photos on Hubert Uberson's Twitter account are a bunch of messages written by her, one reading "I am a bad poet!!!!!"
In an earlier blog post a name "Allen Funt" is mentioned (specifically "By the ghost of Allen Funt"), perhaps it is of some significance?
- He hosted Candid Camera - Sandy's hoping this is all just a prank and it can be over.
- Sandy's last tweet on Hubert's Twitter doesn't sound like it was written by her.
(s) Everything is fine. Just a misunderstanding. We're laughing it off. My pepper spray was defective, or, something. Nothing is wrong here.
Just after confirming that Hubert wasn't the real Hubert. Could something have happened to her?
- In the most recent blogs and Twitter posts, it is revealed that Sandy is still fine, but is one of the last people to have not been (stolen? taken over?) by the (potatoes? phenomena?) that have been going around Peeler City.
Hubert Uberson
Accounts
Hubert's Twitter account
Hubert's Twitpic account (Backup of the images]
Hubert's Youtube account
Transcription of most text from the above links
See Also: Twitter
Notes
- Hubert is 79 years old, according to his YouTube profile.
- Hubert is Sandy's boss.
- Hubert Uberson contains the word tuber.
- Hubert's apartment was found full of unlabeled vodka bottles. Possibly potato vodka?(Traditionally, in Russia at least, vodka is indeed made of potatos)
- Hubert's Twitter "About me" contains a typo: "I collect old records. Vinyl sounds better if your ears are smart. How scome this profile can be 20 chr longer than a tweet?" Possibly to make an anagram. Has anyone run his about me through an anagram solver? (see image here: [1]
No in-browser anagram solver I can find will work on one that long. If someone has an actual program, they could try it there. Although, I have a feeling this is just one of his typos. --Neglen932
- A note on Hubert's desk says "BDay present for Sis" - any info on his sister, or when her birthday is?
- The latest tweets on his account made by Sandy indicate that the potatoes have done something to him, as he is described as "just staring out the window, not even breathing, like a puppet without strings".
YouTube Videos
- They did it again and this time I got the evidence
- The chord progression of the song sounds like Em G C D Em ... G C D G ... Em G Em G Em G
- I'm hearing C G Em G C at the end before it cuts off.
It is the same song as the one played in the secret (colored boxes) level in The Wonderful End of the World. (the level that you need to ace in order to unlock the Aperture login screen)
The rhythm seems intentionally jarring and may mean something. Assuming the song is in G major or e minor, here's what we've got:
| Chord | Value in G major | Value in e minor | Duration in quarter notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Em | 6 | 1 | 8 |
| G | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| C | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| D | 5 | 7 | 2 |
| Em | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| G | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| C | 4 | 6 | 2 |
| D | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| G | 1 | 3 | 6 |
| C | 4 | 6 | 1 |
| G | 5 | 7 | 1 |
| Em | 6 | 1 | 1 |
| G | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| C | 4 | 6 | 1 |
Twitter codes
Hubert's Twitter posts on Apr 6 included 3 tweets that combine into:
63ly109hy101e104naj116an32ol121in114ink114a97u109kan32ak117u111int121am32an116a39jan110et111 taj100ot32ku121ts104ena119an32ek44kai104m99pi117en109vi32r111an115oma32i109set101v104a116ati 32vat101ett107aol105isi108s32aan117ut111hy121v32aat102a73ip32aha46a115s114u101p98erl109at117 i110iv32i116ast115e117tta106ve32rr101att114un97av32ai101np115m101u104j84
Pulling out just the numbers (63 109 101 and so on), converting to ASCII gives "These are just numbers. If you like them so much, why don't you marry them?" in reverse. This is a joke known to have been used by both GLaDOS and Cave Johnson.
The letters alone appear to be Finnish:
lyhyenajanolininkaukanakuintamanajanettajotkutsenaanekkaimpienviranomaisetvaativatettaolisisaa nuthyvaataipahaasuperlatiiviastettaverrattunavainpmuj
- Tried looking at the letters backwards, the first few characters are "jumpinavan", so I thought it might go somewhere, but it didn't.
- Actually, the last word being jump backward gave me the idea of putting the sentence backward and it actually gave me a way nicer sentence
jump vain verrattuna astetta superlatiivi pahaa tai hyvää saanut olisi että vaativat viranomaiset äänekkäimpien sen jotkut että ajan tämän kuin kaukana in olin ajan lyhyen
Which translates to:
jump compared to only a superlative degree of evil or good that would have required some of its noisiest authorities that this time as I was far away in a short time
- The Finnish text is "Lyhyen ajan olin (in) kaukana kuin tämän ajan että jotkut sen äänekkäimpien viranomaiset vaativat että olisi saanut hyvää tai pahaa superlatiivi astetta verrattuna vain (pmuj)"
- This translates to "For a short time i was far away as this time that some of its loudest officials demanded that was gotten good or bad superlative degree compared to only "
- Words "in" and "pmuj" aren't Finnish, so those are excluded from the translation. Also the word "far away" could also be just "far", they both fit
- Two things of note, possibly coincidences, when reading forward are the word "hyena" near the start, and "enviranomaisetvaativate", almost a blend of "environment", "set", and "activate".
- The letters could be a cipher. Perhaps there is a keycode somewhere?
- Excluding "pmuj", this is a direct quote from "A Tale of Two Cities" By Charles Dickens: "--in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."
Profile picture
Uberson's profile picture on Twitter and Twitpic shows a van. This picture has been edited as a Tineye search shows: The original photo, maybe a stock photo, shows a van by the company Uhaul. The biggest version can be found here.
- Remeber the "Jump in a van" phrase? --Volcano 09:08, 7 April 2011 (CDT)
- It doesn't read "Jump in a van" backwards, it reads "Jump nia van" --Catorsomething 10:22, 8 April 2011 (CDT)
Hubert's Paper Flower
Hubert uploaded a picture of a flower, made of paper strips, containing what appears to be delimitated morse code. The current discussion page for this puzzle can be found at Hubert's Paper Flower.
Rube T Uberson
Accounts
See also: Twitter
Notes
- Rube is Hubert's brother.
- The name Rube T Uberson also includes the word tuber.
- According to Sandy's blog he was kidnapped by the "hobo yam" on April 1st and his tweets are all from before then.
- His tweet "Oil you above eyes. So, be bossy! A hobo yam?" appears to be another cipher message.
- A big fan of vodka. Vodka is, of course, a potato-derived drink.
- After stopping his tweets on march 31st, Rube started tweeting again early 2:06 AM April 8th with messages coming from both Rube and Hubert at the same time.
Steve
Accounts
Steve's Youtube account
Steve's Photobucket account
- Note: the comment that links to the picture in Photobucket is:
"Okay so I think I did this right. http://i1117.Photobucket.com/albums/k587/LLLLongJumper/whatisthis.png is this egg picture. They draw it next to a bunch of V's but maybe they're trying to draw an anarchy symbol and they're just stupid. Anyone know what this thing is? I see it like six times on my morning commute, which isn't that long."
The full text of the accompanying Photobucket description is:
"Whatever it is, here is it is. It is? Always next to the letter V, except the letter's not always drawn the same like this is."
The drawing appears strangely similar to the potatoes that Hubert drew in his YouTube video, the only difference being that it is tied up.
YouTube profile pic
Steve says "See Pic" in his profile, so I looked closely at the black line on the left side of the pic. It's not entirely 0x000000 black (although most of it is).
Starting at the first non-0x000000 pixel and moving down, the RGB color values are:
000002 000004 000004 000002 000002 000002 000002 000002 000000 000000 0c0c0c 030303 000000 020200 000000 060604
Note: This is 16 pixels.
Notes
Steve is Sandy's friend who she says is "an uplifted raccoon with full human intelligence, and a job, and a wife and kids, who lives in a Boston that's floating about two miles above where Boston used to be." (Reference to AaAaAA!!! being set in the sky. All of his videos are in AaAaAA!!!) Appears to be in the image for the Dejobaan Fan Club page [2] [3] (well prior to start of ARG, see [4])
His YouTube videos are only accessible by combining TinyURL with phrases from the stevesays phrases, such as http://tinyurl.com/stevesaysocelot
YouTube Videos
Many of these have codes leading to more videos within them in the ProcyProxy(animal) format.
| Title | Date | URL | Description | Tags | Leads to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jumping off that Tower with the Bars | 03/22 | Link | I just want to make sure my screen capture thingie works right. Sometimes I stop for a drink in the real tower this is modeled on. I weigh 15 kg so I'm a real cheap drunk. I don't know why I'm sharing that with you. | AaAaAA!!!; Steve; thingie; thingummy; thingarooni; thinguzzle; synonyms; for; thing | ― |
| This was harder than I expected. | 03/25 | Link | I probably need a better keyboard. My hands are too small for this one! | Aaaaa; Steve; star; at; least; didn't; die; this; time | ― |
| Well I never! | 03/26 | Link | This is one thing this game got wrong. Nobody slams into buildings on purpose. You're breaking what little sense of verisimilitude you have here, guys! This is one of the many flaws I can help you eliminate if you bring me in. Anyway I did pretty good. Even figured out the trick with the landing pad. Pretty sneaky, jerks. | Aaaaa; Steve; stars; read; them; and; weep | ― |
| A little better. | 03/25 | Link | This doesn't simulate jumping as well as it thinks. I'm going to leave them some feedback. I know this stuff! Everybody knows this stuff! My kits saw me playing and they laughed at me. I should let them try but their hands are even smaller than mine. Need to get smaller keyboard. | Aaaaa; Steve; star; who; made; this; stupid; game | ― |
| OK starting to get the hang of it. | 03/25 | Link | The trick is to hold the mouse loose, not hard. But this is still not like real jumping. And also since when does... you know what? It doesn't matter. | Aaaaa; Steve; stars; ehhhh | ― |
| Stuck that one. | 03/25 | Link | Not bad. Took a few more tries I didn't record. OK, more than a few. But it's not my fault. People kept interrupting. Not sure they know how serious this is. I'm kind of doing research. I think I can fix all the inaccuracies in this game for them and then they can give me some teeth. Or dollars, I'll take dollars too. | Aaaaa; Steve; stars; not; too; shabby | ― |
| One star? That's a crock. | 03/26 | Link | Okay, so I hit one building on the way down, but I thought I was doing okay other than that. What's the deal? | AaAaAA!!!; Steve; Welcome; To; Boston | ProcyProxyKestrel ProcyProxyApe |
| They ARE messing with me. | 03/26 | Link | I heard back from those Dejobaan guys. They said I should look beneath the landing pad on this one level. I did and there was something but I'd already seen it in a couple of other levels, and I died. Very funny. Now I don't know if I want to help them after all. It's a matter of principle. | Aaaaa; Steve; Flying; Cars | ProcyProxyAardvark |
| Is this supposed to entice me somehow? | 03/26 | Link | Tried out one of the tutorials. In the video they show before you get to play it, there aren't any big floating advertisements. And now there are some. And they seem to be targeted at me, unless it's some other Procyon they're after. But those pictures... they're both horrible. Maybe if I were human, one or both of them would look good. I don't know. You people are weird. | AaAaAA!!!; Steve; Land; Without; Dying | ProcyProxyCricket ProcyProxyMuskrat |
| A Quickie. | 03/26 | Link | Most disgusting targeted ads yet. You'd run away if you saw some of the things I eat, but that thing? Not if I could wash it in the cleanest stream in the world. | isopods; are; scary | ProcyProxyIsopod |
| Oh I get it, but I don't get why I'm supposed to get it. | 03/26 | Link | So to talk about one animal you show another animal who's associated with the name of the first animal by dint of the use of another word that's relevant to the second animal. Clever. Did you punks go to school for that? Are you just messing with me now? | Aaaaa; Steve; Hide; Seek | ProcyProxySloth |
| Potatoes? What's up with that? | 03/26 | Link | These aren't in the real Boston. Sure, they can grow potatoes that big, but I bet they taste like crap at that size. It's like this huge pumpkin I dug into once for a hilarious picture. It stank inside. Stank like a dead pumpkin. My neighbor's dog then tried to eat me, because he couldn't smell that I was a friendly anymore. I had to hit him with a canister of pepper spray I carry at all times for just such an emergency. Actually it's good for lots of other emergencies too. Just don't use it in a high wind. Seriously, don't. It's a lot worse than smelling like a spoiled pumpkin. | Aaaaa; Steve; Blatant; potatoes | ProcyProxyKitty |
| These targeted ads are bogus. | 03/26 | Link | Okay, so this level isn't some beta-test leftover. They based this thing on a bunch of towers I glide past on my morning commute. Except the ads are different, which is fair enough. Some real ones and some fake ones the Dejobaan guys think are "funny." Ha ha ha. And... I saw at least one that clearly has a reference to my name on it. And then at the bottom everything was all torn up and there was other crap there. The whole thing's pretty fishy, and not in a good way. | Aaaaa; Steve; Zeroth; Level | ProcyProxySwift |
| Got so distracted I never made it to the bottom. | 03/26 | Link | What the hell are they... some of my best friends... okay, that's an exaggeration. But I know some and they're good people. Maybe some of them look down on the more terrestrial uplifts. And it's legal to eat the ones who aren't people. But it's creepy and it's wrong and I don't think they should put it in a video game, even as a joke. I have half a mind to stop playing for good. Maybe once I beat a few more levels. I don't want to fly off the handle. | Aaaaa; Steve; Wordsworth; Cloud; Sick | ProcyProxyDolphin |
| I don't even know what this is. | 03/26 | Link | It says it uploaded at a time that I was uploading other videos. I never saw it before in my life. It was originally called "potato eye" so I guess it has something to do with the potatoes? Duh. | Potato; Eye; What; the | ― |
| So I can't get into my ATM. | 04/13 | Link | Steve can't get his money out of the ATM. Includes two numbers: 88375466 and 883375466, and is bookended by quotes to Melville and Shakespeare about duality. References the dual grammatical number in Greek at the start. | not; rabies; but; might; as; well; be; you; better; have; TRANQS; ready; when; come; for | ― |
Full text of the "so I can't get into my ATM" video: (deleted text struck through)
that the Greek grammarians invented their dual number
88375466
883375466
help
info
attendant
Her Hey is anyone there what is this crap
This isn't funny you keegfdegr keegf= JERK
I hope someone at least e reads this later when you're laugningdgfthuiosefrhui at your (cuts off at the side of the screen)
some of us have hg groceries to get. Come on, I just need forty bucks.
Please?
You unwashed crudpile, if I ever get my hands on you I'lll
Come on, please let me in
All right fine I'll jsut go to the bank but it's all the way dowtown you heartless
cut
yet a union in partition
Text billboards
The following texts are seen on billboards in "Oh I get it, but I don't get why I'm supposed to get it.", "Potatoes? What's up with that?", "These targeted ads are bogus." and "One star? That's a crock.", in this order.
When |When |When |You you |you |you |are wait |want to |want |now this |taste |a flavor |aware hi- |flirt- |sensation.|of her. ber- |ation | |Who is na- | | |she? tion | | |
Letter grid billboards
In these videos, there are also billboards with letters on them. These can be seen here:
Overlapping these grids give a phrase: "Lo-fi wave tossed! It is a sad hoop game."
Notes
- Here is an isolated guitar riff from the "I don't even know what this is." video: It's distorted but is recognizable.
YouTube Mail Replies
Steve has begun answering the messages he receives from YouTube users. Someone please put all of the replies here- I do not have the time to move them all in from the News section.
Harold E Larsson Pr
HELPr is a character on Frictional's forum. Apparently a Razer "test subject" that escaped. Full Story.

