User blog:BeholderofStuff/Pure Evil Proposal: Pinocchio (Unstrung)


 * Original: https://villains.fandom.com/f/p/3179493162221867387

Hey everyone. This is a character that's been buzzing in my head for a while now. Unlike most effortposts, I'm probably leaning towards "No" on this one. But again, he's been bothering me for a while now so I figured I'd post him and see what you think.

The Work
"Pinocchio Unstrung" is a haunted attraction at Knotts Berry Farm's Halloween overlay "Knotts Scary Farm", loosely based on The Adventures of Pinocchio by the late Carlo Collodi.

The Vllain
The villain is the main protagonist and titular character Pinocchio, who has been reimagined from an innocent child to a vengeful killer.

Who is Pinocchio?
What has he done? Pinocchio's story begins like it does in the book: Gepetto wishes for him to be a real boy, and the Blue Fairy comes and grants the wish. Pinocchio is naive, but is overall friendly. The Blue Fairy tells him that if he wants to be a real boy, he must prove himself brave, kind, and unselfish. The story then proceeds like in the book: Pinocchio encounters Stromboli and escapes his evil puppet shows, travels to Pleasure Island and escapes the devious coachman Barker, and eventually saves his Gepetto from Monstro the Angler Fish (Monstro is a massive, man-eating angler fish in this version). However, he performs these actions with more violence and toughness, proving himself brave, but not kind or unselfish. When he returns home, the Blue Fairy sees the darkness left in his heart and refuses to turn him into a real boy.

Pinocchio is shocked and angered by this, and secludes himself in Gepetto's cottage. He is angered by the fact that he will receive no reward for his good deeds, and sits and ponders and obsesses over it for the next twenty years.

During that time, Pinocchio obsessed so hard and for so long that he finally broke down and snapped, and began formulating revenge on the Blue Fairy for denying him and everyone else he met on his adventures for "causing it". Pinocchio starts by attacking his father Gepetto with a knife and killing him, proceeding to cut off his face. Pinocchio then escaped into the town and became a serial killer, attacking people in their homes, killing them, and cutting off their faces. He sews the faces he collects into a mask, which he proceeds to wear. Pinocchio continues his killing spree until the town is completely empty.

When the Blue Fairy comes to intervene, Pinocchio hacks off her wings with a knife and steals her wand. He proceeds to lock the now powerless fairy in his home, where he tortures her for years. Pinocchio mutilates, then reassembles the corpses of his victims into marionettes, then uses magic to force them back to life to serve him. He kills Stromboli, and proceeds to gut him and decorate the old theater with his entrails.

Pinocchio then goes and kills Barker, taking over Pleasure Island and forcing any humans (especially children) that come by into the park so its magic can turn them into donkey slaves that he uses as slave labor or simply beats and tortures.

When guests arrive to the attraction, Pinocchio attempts to chain them up and force them to become puppets, but is distracted by the Blue Fairy trying to escape. Guests escape into the town, where they get to witness firsthand the results of Pinocchio's mad killings, as they are attacked throughout the town by killer corpse marionettes. They also get to witness the even darker Pleasure Island, with children turned into donkeys kept in cages.

Pinocchio returns and gives chase, chasing the guests to the ocean where Monstro is waiting to swallow them whole. There, they find that Pinocchio has grown tired of torturing the Blue Fairy and has thrown her to Monstro. She is still alive in the fish's stomach, pleading for help as she is slowly digested. The guests manage to escape Monstro by climbing back out its mouth, where Pinocchio waits to attack again. Guests escape this next attack and come across Jimminy Cricket, who cannot help them. As the guests prepare to escape the town, Pinocchio shows off his greatest creation: a massive, living duplicate of himself made of human bones, skin, and cloth. It wields a hammer and attacks the guests, finally defeating them.

Mitigating factors/Freudian excuses
Pinocchio's backstory can be interpreted as a tragic one, as he was a hero who did good deeds, but for a selfish reason. His later villainous actions possibly overshadow that, but perhaps not entirely. Also, in a pre-show exclusive to certain guests, Pinocchio seemingly lets guests go into the town, though he tires to kill them several times later both with his minions and himself.

Heinous Standard
Since the attraction is a loose adaption/follow-up to the book, Barker a.k.a. the Coachman is vile enough in his deeds at Pleasure Island. There also exist the villains of Stromboli and Monstro, but Stromboli bears little threat, and Monstro is an amoral, ravenous animal.

Final Verdict?
Unsure. I think his backstory and former desire to do good are pretty big mitigating factors, but his later actions could overshadow them. Leaning towards "no", but like I said, has been buzzing in my head for a while and I would like some other thoughts.