Fourth wall breaks

[MirceaKitsune]

When I'm bored on Youtube, I have fun watching people discuss weird facts about games or cartoons... like hidden easter eggs, strange glitches, fourth wall breaking, etc. The last thing in that list is something I realized might be interesting to see in vore, and a good thing to make a list about. So here's the fourth wall breaking thread!

For those not familiar with the term: It basically refers to characters in a story (be it a game, film, or even a simple comic) being aware that they're part of a different world from the viewer, and most importantly of the viewer itself. In most cases where I've seen this used, a character looks at the "camera" from which we're seeing the image, and which is normally invisible and non-existent from their perspective... hinting about someone from beyond who created or is watching them, while other characters don't understand what they're talking about and take them for crazy. As a fan of creepypastas that mess with your head, I certainly find this a fun new trend!

It's probably not difficult to imagine how such can be used in the vore world, either for added creativity or to make it all more personal. A pred gobbling up someone, then noticing the camera and telling the viewer "you're next"... maybe even trying to break through and come after us? That and other ideas are something I can see working out

[Artemis]

I'm generally not a fan. Undertale is probably the only instance where anyone has ever broken the fourth wall and it hasn't just... annoyed me. I can't say I'd find it very personal, myself.

[MirceaKitsune]

I'm generally not a fan. Undertale is probably the only instance where anyone has ever broken the fourth wall and it hasn't just... annoyed me. I can't say I'd find it very personal, myself.

For me it does depend whether it's done tastefully and rationally, without trying too hard. Undertale was certainly the case, but so can be many other things.

[Minome7894]

Well you watch as many cartoons as I have and you may have seen just about every kind of fourth wall break short of predicting the future.
And if I could say anything about it, my favorite kind of fourth wall break is the kind that doesn't shatter the integrity of the fictional universe, but strengthen it. The story doesn't end at the border of the screen, but the screen itself becomes part of the story.

First idea I can come up with with vore breaking the fourth wall is the prey looking at the viewer while they're being swallowed and yelling "Hey! Don't just sit there fapping, Help Me!"

[iwillnomu]

I'm generally not a fan. Undertale is probably the only instance where anyone has ever broken the fourth wall and it hasn't just... annoyed me. I can't say I'd find it very personal, myself.

For me it does depend whether it's done tastefully and rationally, without trying too hard. Undertale was certainly the case, but so can be many other things.

Yeah, I think the beginning of Space Dandy also felt okay with the fourth wall breaking. Undertale is probably one of the only instances I can think of with fourth wall breaking other than that, though, that felt pretty natural.

[Humbug]

Not to turn this into an Undertale thread, but I think the reason the fourth-wall breaking in that game works is because it's not actually breaking the fourth wall. Nothing the characters say directly addresses you, the player. It's all directed to your character, who is an analogue of you. Everything they say, though obviously about the game itself, is in-universe. It's a subtle degree of separation. Never overt.

Anyway, this is more what I was thinking when I read the topic name: http://aryion.com/g4/view/296598
Looking at the audience is pretty standard fare in vore stuff, so I wasn't even sure it was worth discussion, especially since it's usually not actually breaking the fourth wall; it's more like pulling you into the world. Immersion into the fictional world, rather than the character coming to the real world.
Maybe I'm just splitting hairs, but I think breaking the fourth wall is the transference of the character to reality, not the other way around.

[iwillnomu]

Anyway, this is more what I was thinking when I read the topic name: http://aryion.com/g4/view/296598

That's brilliant. She literally ate herself and even had a bulging stomach from it.

[Humbug]

Anyway, this is more what I was thinking when I read the topic name: http://aryion.com/g4/view/296598

That's brilliant. She literally ate herself and even had a bulging stomach from it.

All credit goes to the commissioner. It was his idea. XD

[MirceaKitsune]

Not to turn this into an Undertale thread, but I think the reason the fourth-wall breaking in that game works is because it's not actually breaking the fourth wall. Nothing the characters say directly addresses you, the player. It's all directed to your character, who is an analogue of you. Everything they say, though obviously about the game itself, is in-universe. It's a subtle degree of separation. Never overt.

Anyway, this is more what I was thinking when I read the topic name: http://aryion.com/g4/view/296598
Looking at the audience is pretty standard fare in vore stuff, so I wasn't even sure it was worth discussion, especially since it's usually not actually breaking the fourth wall; it's more like pulling you into the world. Immersion into the fictional world, rather than the character coming to the real world.
Maybe I'm just splitting hairs, but I think breaking the fourth wall is the transference of the character to reality, not the other way around.

Right... thinking back on when I played Undertale, that described it more accurately. That's an even more original idea: Not addressing the player directly, but having a playable character that's partly a link to the player.

I don't personally get the impression that most vore art breaks the fourth wall, or immerses you into its world in a special way. Like most art on any theme or subject, it just presents what is going on. What I think comes the closest is POV vore, where the viewpoint if from the eyes of an actual character... even then it's not fourth wall related, though it adds a bit more immersion.

The comic you linked was fun, and quite a creative example of doing something like this

[Thagrahn]

Breaking the fourth wall can be accomplished a few ways, and each way can be done well or poorly.

The plot line plan hammer: the characters comment on inconsistent elements in the world. When done well, the artist has a chance to figure out why something got changed.

Calling out the Artist: the character knows they are a drawing, and complain to the artist about their looks, what they are forced to wear, or on the lack of depth to them or their world.

Taunting the reader: this is when the character talks to the cameras knowing that some is or will be watching what they are doing.

The invisible friend: often abused, this is where The viewer/reader take the place of some invisible force that only a few characters are aware of.

Any done well, can draw you deeper into the world.

Done poorly, and it's a punch in the face back to real life.

[MirceaKitsune]

I'd like to give this another bump, after another thread reminded me about it today. This is pretty lacking in vore, and I can totally think of a lot of ways to do it right... both in drawn art and stories, but especially in interactives! Still no artists willing to tackle the subject?

[Sideromelane]

I like 4th wall breaks in chatrooms. My personal favourite, in an OOC, playful way, is usually along the lines of (ROUGH example):

*Sideromelane turns her head to gaze at an empty patch of sky. She frowns, and moves, suddenly walking towards you, her eye coming up to gaze at you, through the screen in front of you, and you are suddenly aware of your breathing, your heart trembling in your chest and you carefully manage your lungs as you realize that as of now, that baleful dragon eye peering at you is resolving back into mere text on a screen and cannot possibly hurt you.
Your heart rate returns to normal and you breathe out in relief.
She can't really affect you in the real world after all...*

[MirceaKitsune]

I like 4th wall breaks in chatrooms. My personal favourite, in an OOC, playful way, is usually along the lines of (ROUGH example):

*Sideromelane turns her head to gaze at an empty patch of sky. She frowns, and moves, suddenly walking towards you, her eye coming up to gaze at you, through the screen in front of you, and you are suddenly aware of your breathing, your heart trembling in your chest and you carefully manage your lungs as you realize that as of now, that baleful dragon eye peering at you is resolving back into mere text on a screen and cannot possibly hurt you.
Your heart rate returns to normal and you breathe out in relief.
She can't really affect you in the real world after all...*

I can see a relation in that. Even if by 4th wall breaking in vore, I usually think of a character not actively played by a real person, making remarks about the watcher and things like crossing into our world to eat them

[Skittles209]

So something like the Steam game OneShot? Don't have anything to add besides that.

[MirceaKitsune]

So something like the Steam game OneShot? Don't have anything to add besides that.

Watched a let's play of that recently; It's actually a good example, even if obviously in a very different form.

[MirceaKitsune]

It only later occurred to me that one of my own renders is sort of a subject for this thread. The sign makes it more clear if it's not obvious at first

[MirceaKitsune]

At long last, I seem to have found the first perfect example of exactly the sort of thing I was suggesting in this thread. This is precisely what I would love to see vorish characters doing more of Click for full view.

[bigmacrmuk]

This is all interesting stuff.

But...taking it one step further, has anyone come across some decent quality fourth-wall work where the pred actually reaches out "beyond the screen" as it were and devours the reader/viewer? For obvious reasons that's pretty tough to do well, but I've got some ideas on that score if there's no good existing work already.

[RuffledFerret]

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16675766/
Nice FA fourth wall break from VoreLord~

[MirceaKitsune]

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/16675766/
Nice FA fourth wall break from VoreLord~

Ahh yes, I remember this now! I remember I loved that when I first saw it