Hello, /r/horrorreviewed. Long time, no see.

Original post.

As always, I highly recommend reading the original post. This post has been heavily edited-down to fit with the rules of this subreddit.

an article by the Crow.
(with an assist from the world of Pokémon.)

SPOILER LEVELS at MODERATE NEGLIGIBLE

Titled The NEW QUEEN Of YOUTUBE — Channel Trailer, the first video on the channel (the one sent to us) features a “young”, “popular”, and “talented” woman named Sophie, who is a “friend”, a “daughter”, and a “sister”. She’s got “crazy things”: “private jets”, “fast cars”, and “beautiful friends”; and yet, she needs to ask a question: is she being “real”? Is she being… herself?

All these definitions — all these adjectives — are delivered via narration by Sophie herself, who speaks about herself in the first person (after all, this is her vlog). And her narration is delivered against a backdrop of flash. Flash: Sophie; living a millionaire lifestyle, a lifestyle salted-and-peppered with Lamborghinis, Bombardier Global 6500s, and other luxury possessions (or hires). There are some extra lines thrown in — vague, pointless ruminations which become somewhat of a mainstay on the channel’s early videos — and the affair ends with a teaser for the “debut vlog” entry. It drips with glamour which could grain the teeth, it drips with glitter which could bruise the skin. If this was a curry, I’d be tipping it into a plate to rid my dinner of the grease — for fear it might stain my innards.

Upon watching this first video, some of you may be asking: why did I ever sit through this? To be honest, I didn’t; then again: the inisistence — so I continued. Video two (THE GUIDE to being YOUNG, RICH & POWERFUL) is much the same, with an excessive intro segment which even the number 1 can’t rid us of. It’s meant as a guide, yet only serves to drive home the fact that our dear new queen Sophie is a vapid, materialistic, ponced-up waste of space and time. She has a (supposedly) well-versed personal trainer who she continually interrupts, and thereafter ignores in favour of looking better while exercising her training; she has contributed to the security sector of private aviation by ensuring that her father’s private jet has strong seat belts; she tells us that she is smart and is a seasoned business woman; all of these things exist, and tell us that she is exactly what I described her to be.

There are other details. Her family consists of: a mysterious millionaire father, a “fit” mother whos “on fire”, and an equally-unseen sister. We hear a little about her videographer, Ben, but there’s little else to know about Sophie. And that’s by design. Everything has to be about Sophie — the individual.

Video three (YRP COLLECTION – AVAILABLE NOW) is a promo for Sophie’s “fashion brand” — a clothing line which has now been unfortunately been sold out. For those interested, here is a link to her store, and her Instagram (which she would very much love for you to follow), where her bio reads:

……..sophie
……..l i f e s t y l e
……..📍ldn
……..businesswoman model vlogger
……..✉️[email protected]
……..🔺shopiamsophie.com

All very “millenial” of her.

It’s in video four (RICH GIRL lives on £10 FOR A DAY (failed)) that this vapid, pointless waste of space begins to show glimpses of what else is going on in her “life”. The video is more of the too-rich-for-her-own-good lifestyle and vacuousness that we’ve come to expect from Sophie; but just before she jets off to Europe to get away from the “hectic england life” she leads for the evening, glitches begin to appear in her videos. Nothing extreme, but a distinct calling card, nonetheless.

Of course, it is all a parody. And so far, it’s technically sound. It’s annoying enough to rile even someone as cynical and dismissive as me. It’s moneyed enough to ensure future quality. And the acting — as strange as it is to say this — is good. But so far, it’s just that: a parody. It’s in video five (responding to leon lush…), in which she heads out for a night at a “super cheap” and “super normal” place that the ARG aspect of i am sophie begins to show its hand. The night out is more of the same, but the glitches continue, and this time turn into brief scenes from a horror movie.

And that is where I’m going to leave the overview of the series out. I won’t be covering videos six to eight, but I shall list out the names nonetheless so that those of you curious about this “case” realise how quickly this series is moving along. It has been just a little over a month since the channel began posting, and already, the names have gone into full ARG territory.

The names are:

• called my #1 super CRAZY fan!!
• 11271518920813.mp4
• reliarT lennahC – EBUTUOY fO NEEUQ WEN ehT

One thing I will point out before I stop this partial synopsis, however, is that this series has something special to it when it comes to ARGs of its genre. 2H32 and Daisy Brown are ARGs/webseries’ with quite the colourful cast of characters, and some of these characters have been known to upset people because of how disturbing their appearances are. Despite these scary predecessors, it’s been a while since we saw anything as horrifyingly menacing as the figure which appears in video seven of i am sophie. Of course, this is due to the production power of the ARG — which boasts a budget considerably superior to its peers — but also due to good direction. Harkening back to the likes of more famous ARG villains of yesteryear, every appearance of the “key grip” (thank you, chris_hype37) is handled with some panache.

As vapid as it might have been at the start, i am sophie has revealed itself to be quite a well-put-together production. Foreshadowing has occured and Chekov has hidden some weapons around the place. Characters have been both introduced and teased. A whole clothing line has sold out in less than a few hours and fake websites have been explored. There is much work to be done, starting with the ever-important “What the heck is even going on?”

Where the series is headed from here is anyone’s guess, but you can rest assured that the CRDoI is on the case. There is much to unpack, much to dive into, and no telling when i am sophie will post again. While i am sophie will not be the sole focus of the CDRoI’s investigative — or retrospective — efforts, the ARG will be the sole focus of our new content category up until it decides to take a rest (as these experiences often do).

For now, however, we wait.
We hope you enjoyed this first foray into the world of ARGs with us, and we hope to see you again soon.

— Crow out.