Meta has debuted its Quest 2 Tremendous Bowl advert forward of the large sport, and it’s arduous to get a grasp on how precisely it’s supposed to advertise the metaverse (through Wall Avenue Journal). It evokes an odd mixture of nostalgia — and the slight worry — related to a childhood spent round unsettling animatronics, all whereas concurrently giving off 5 Nights at Freddy’s and Black Mirror vibes.
The business opens in a Chuck E. Cheese-esque setting — so cleverly known as Questy’s — with a fuzzy animatronic canine, a pink six-armed creature, and two penguins performing Easy Thoughts’s “Don’t You (Overlook About Me)” on stage on the arcade. Quickly after, a shifting crew drags the lifeless our bodies of the animatronic band out of the constructing as the placement shuts down for good.
The canine (which falls immediately on the road between cute and creepy) winds up staring out the window at a pawn store, sans the remainder of its animatronic crew, and takes on completely different roles because it’s handed round amongst house owners. After a quick look as a mini-golf course ornament, it’s seen getting flung out of the again of a pickup truck, after which laying helplessly inside a trash compactor — till it’s miraculously pulled out simply because the machine begins closing in on its head.
The identical girl who pulled the canine out of the trash compactor places the animatronic on show at an area heart, fixing it in a stationary pose pointing in direction of the cafeteria. A younger man attempting out the middle’s VR exhibit takes off his Quest 2 headset and by some means will get the thought to strap it on the animatronic canine.
Effectively, right here’s the place it will get Black Mirror-y — the canine will get transported into Meta’s digital actuality, the place he meets up together with his previous band members and is ready to carry out as soon as once more, a theme you would possibly bear in mind from the “San Junipero” episode, which contains a digital world the place the aged and consciousnesses of lifeless individuals thrive.
Within the second-to-last scene, “Don’t You (Overlook About Me)” resumes taking part in, and the advert reveals all 4 mates — every at new areas — fortunately dancing with Quest 2 headsets on, because the phrases “Outdated mates. New enjoyable,” pop up on the display. It ends with the animatronic canine, nonetheless outfitted with Quest 2, howling within the now-closed area heart.
Am I speculated to really feel completely satisfied on the finish of that business? The fact that the animatronic canine is prone to get his headset ripped off as quickly because the area heart opens has left me feeling empty inside — or possibly I’m simply studying an excessive amount of into it. This can be the fact that Meta needs to rebuild, however, if something, it’s that miserable realization this advert attracts consideration to much more.