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Explaining the Pukei-Handler
5 years ago
General
The portrayal of The Handler from Monster Hunter World as a Pukei-Pukei comes across as being quite an obscure, esoteric meme. Reception has been mixed in its native 4chan, be it bringing ire over furries/scalies with no surprise, or compliments believing it to be an earnest improvement over the original. But more notably to many, it has also been confusing: why is there a correlation with The Handler and Pukei-Pukei before even Deviljho, and how does it also have several pieces of fanart backing it? What is the lore? Why are you writing a wall of text about something this minor? People have given all kinds of explanations, but now that the dust has settled, what with the 'meme' essentially predating MHW's console release date and thus being well over two years old as of this writing, I figure that I might as well jot down an explanation on this shit.
The origin
With the death of the 4chan archive named fireden.net, the original post that indirectly 'started' this is seemingly lost to the internet. But, its contents - a shitty greentext where The Handler gets raped by a Pukei-Pukei, lives on within copypasta form and will continue to do so with this Pastebin link. It was originally posted on an /mhg/ thread within /vg/ on September the 25th, 2017.
https://pastebin.com/xjw8hTpw
As per standard 4chan fare, this got reposted for a while within /mhg/. Later on, I think in late December, renders of Pukei-Pukei wearing The Handler's goggles would appear and be reposted too, often accompanied with varying gameplay advice told within The Handler's own character. Perhaps the joke here was that the The Handler and Pukei-Pukei were both considered ugly, but obviously the joke implied they were one and the same. Being a fag into transformation (or just TF), I talked to a friend of mine (of whom I won't namedrop) also into it about and it turns out that he did the edit in the first place. Next month he would admit to this as being an intentional subversion of the aforementioned copypasta, he doesn't hold too much against the actual Handler.
The commission
This is definitely what pushed the joke out for longer than intended. Just shy of two weeks later in early January, I thought about getting a commission of a 'Pukei Handler' for the intent of wrapping up the joke with a lewd end. Being my first delve into the world of commissions, some research was done and Sepiruth was considered, but after talking to another friend, Selez (credited as the other commissioner), we ultimately decided to split the cost together and go with
Nexivian: he was a perfect fit for a number of reasons. After we figured out a gameplan, I sent Nex an inquiry and after he gave us the go ahead, we filled him in on the details - he was quite impressed with us knowing what we wanted exactly!
It was important that the goggles stayed on.
Within early February, the Pukei Handler commission was finished. There are many variants we ordered, but the most important picture from the final thing here was the standalone face of our new 'Handler'. Not only did we get fetish fuel, but also something very cute and adorable (unlike the actual Handler) that anyone can post on any blue board just fine. Just look at her!
https://e621.net/posts/1460466
The outcome
Naturally, this has lead to other people reposting Nexivian's Pukei Handler portrait within /v/, /vg/, and /trash/ within her character, or just posting any picture or screenshot of Pukei-Pukei. Sometimes the odd comment suggesting this is an upgrade over the Handler we got in the final game. Personally I haven't had too much involvement with the stuff ever since and mostly been watching her crop up in MH threads from time to time, but let's overview the results:
-Both /mhg/ and /scaly/ are effectively responsible for this. This a fact neither party (or Leddit) can change.
-Nexivian's commission queue would end up skyrocketing in size within the year.
-A few artists have done their own take here and there, which is pretty cool. One that passed by /mhg/ even did a fun comic based off yet another subversion (where the Handler and a Pukei-Pukei inadvertedly traded places and nobody suspects it).
-There have been many interpretations of the Handler as different monsters ever since, like a MH equivalent of April O'Neil. Some think Deviljho best suits The Handler and her appetite, but now you know why they lost out.
-There's also been one pretty great image of MH4's Guildmarm transforming into a Pukei-Pukei. Inspired or not, interestingly the artist has likely intended to be and successfully kept anonymous. Well done anon!
-I haven't really had any further part in Pukei-posting apart from buying another Nexivian commission much later in late 2019 to go with Iceborne, with the Serious Handler as a Coral Pukei-Pukei. Unlike the original I don't have anything against her, but another guy already bought first blood of this combo so whatever. Amusingly nobody has actually uploaded the 'worksafe' variant onto e621 or even the two portraits, lazy gits.
-Suggestions of a theoretical Pukei Handler mod has gone on ever since, as cosmetic mods are possible on MHW's PC port. To this date it has yet to happen, a model could be commissioned but I assume this would be quite expensive compared to what I usually buy (so far I've only spent $100 US tops on an art commission). Then there's the work of trying to implement the model into the game.
-XX/GU sucks but so does World
-some actually waifu the OG Handler lmao
-I've traced Nexivian's Handler image with Symbol Art for Phantasy Star Online 2, which took some time (it's making pictures out of raw shapes + tons of layers) but I thought it turned out alright. Let me know if this SAR file works for you (put it into the 'import' folder under your PSO2 setting folder in Documents). Even in the wrong game, you still can't get away from her.
https://mega.nz/file/yYhFjYxT#R2gQu.....mW-tAMikFJvTxE
-Remember to eat before you hunt!
Well, I think that's about everything for something so minor. I don't claim any credit for actually starting this, but I suppose some responsibility can be held for commissioning the art responsible.
The origin
With the death of the 4chan archive named fireden.net, the original post that indirectly 'started' this is seemingly lost to the internet. But, its contents - a shitty greentext where The Handler gets raped by a Pukei-Pukei, lives on within copypasta form and will continue to do so with this Pastebin link. It was originally posted on an /mhg/ thread within /vg/ on September the 25th, 2017.
https://pastebin.com/xjw8hTpw
As per standard 4chan fare, this got reposted for a while within /mhg/. Later on, I think in late December, renders of Pukei-Pukei wearing The Handler's goggles would appear and be reposted too, often accompanied with varying gameplay advice told within The Handler's own character. Perhaps the joke here was that the The Handler and Pukei-Pukei were both considered ugly, but obviously the joke implied they were one and the same. Being a fag into transformation (or just TF), I talked to a friend of mine (of whom I won't namedrop) also into it about and it turns out that he did the edit in the first place. Next month he would admit to this as being an intentional subversion of the aforementioned copypasta, he doesn't hold too much against the actual Handler.
The commission
This is definitely what pushed the joke out for longer than intended. Just shy of two weeks later in early January, I thought about getting a commission of a 'Pukei Handler' for the intent of wrapping up the joke with a lewd end. Being my first delve into the world of commissions, some research was done and Sepiruth was considered, but after talking to another friend, Selez (credited as the other commissioner), we ultimately decided to split the cost together and go with
Nexivian: he was a perfect fit for a number of reasons. After we figured out a gameplan, I sent Nex an inquiry and after he gave us the go ahead, we filled him in on the details - he was quite impressed with us knowing what we wanted exactly!It was important that the goggles stayed on.
Within early February, the Pukei Handler commission was finished. There are many variants we ordered, but the most important picture from the final thing here was the standalone face of our new 'Handler'. Not only did we get fetish fuel, but also something very cute and adorable (unlike the actual Handler) that anyone can post on any blue board just fine. Just look at her!
https://e621.net/posts/1460466
The outcome
Naturally, this has lead to other people reposting Nexivian's Pukei Handler portrait within /v/, /vg/, and /trash/ within her character, or just posting any picture or screenshot of Pukei-Pukei. Sometimes the odd comment suggesting this is an upgrade over the Handler we got in the final game. Personally I haven't had too much involvement with the stuff ever since and mostly been watching her crop up in MH threads from time to time, but let's overview the results:
-Both /mhg/ and /scaly/ are effectively responsible for this. This a fact neither party (or Leddit) can change.
-Nexivian's commission queue would end up skyrocketing in size within the year.
-A few artists have done their own take here and there, which is pretty cool. One that passed by /mhg/ even did a fun comic based off yet another subversion (where the Handler and a Pukei-Pukei inadvertedly traded places and nobody suspects it).
-There have been many interpretations of the Handler as different monsters ever since, like a MH equivalent of April O'Neil. Some think Deviljho best suits The Handler and her appetite, but now you know why they lost out.
-There's also been one pretty great image of MH4's Guildmarm transforming into a Pukei-Pukei. Inspired or not, interestingly the artist has likely intended to be and successfully kept anonymous. Well done anon!
-I haven't really had any further part in Pukei-posting apart from buying another Nexivian commission much later in late 2019 to go with Iceborne, with the Serious Handler as a Coral Pukei-Pukei. Unlike the original I don't have anything against her, but another guy already bought first blood of this combo so whatever. Amusingly nobody has actually uploaded the 'worksafe' variant onto e621 or even the two portraits, lazy gits.
-Suggestions of a theoretical Pukei Handler mod has gone on ever since, as cosmetic mods are possible on MHW's PC port. To this date it has yet to happen, a model could be commissioned but I assume this would be quite expensive compared to what I usually buy (so far I've only spent $100 US tops on an art commission). Then there's the work of trying to implement the model into the game.
-XX/GU sucks but so does World
-some actually waifu the OG Handler lmao
-I've traced Nexivian's Handler image with Symbol Art for Phantasy Star Online 2, which took some time (it's making pictures out of raw shapes + tons of layers) but I thought it turned out alright. Let me know if this SAR file works for you (put it into the 'import' folder under your PSO2 setting folder in Documents). Even in the wrong game, you still can't get away from her.
https://mega.nz/file/yYhFjYxT#R2gQu.....mW-tAMikFJvTxE
-Remember to eat before you hunt!
Well, I think that's about everything for something so minor. I don't claim any credit for actually starting this, but I suppose some responsibility can be held for commissioning the art responsible.
ZealotDKD on itch.io
~drakosacerdos
unintentional indeed :>
Koni69
~koni69
huh
