Metaplot

The metaplot is the name commonly given to a serialized narrative told through brief live-action segments in The D-Pad's YouTube videos, primarily the intros and outros to LPs, and sometimes Seriesly episodes. The metaplot is mainly associated with The Mega Let's Play, but has occasionally featured in The Legendary Let's Play, The Dreamy Let's Play, and The Super Sonic Let's Play as well. The story is written by Rick and performed by him and the other members of the channel, playing fictionalized versions of themselves. Key recurring concepts and themes are time travel, alternate realities, evil counterparts of members of the channel, the Mega Man games developed by Minakuchi Engineering, and the repeated phrase "a storm is coming".

Structure

As the metaplot is primarily constructed as a series of intros and outros to various LPs, almost every scene in it leads either into or out of a game being played. The reasoning for this varies depending on the game - some are played simply to continue the Franchise Play, as in real life, others because the characters believe it will help them accomplish some goal in the story, and still more because they are being forced to by an antagonist. This latter group consists almost exclusively of the worst or most obscure games in their respective franchises.

The canon of the metaplot exists separately from the content of the LPs themselves; during the actual gameplay footage, the hosts give regular, unscripted commentary and do not attempt to remain in character as their metaplot counterparts. For example, in the metaplot's canon Evil Ben forces John to play Mega Man X6 while Rick is trapped in an alternate dimension. However, in the LP itself the game is primarily played by Rick, with other members of the channel also present.

The metaplot can be broadly divided into two distinct parts. The first part began in September 2015, with the first Mega Man NT Warrior episode of Seriesly (although some small hints toward the story had appeared in videos before that), and concluded in March 2017, with the Mega Man X6 finale. This was followed by a long period in which metaplot content was generally kept to a minimum. The second part, which is currently ongoing, began in December 2018, with the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate intro.

Plot summary

Prelude (January 2015 – September 2015)

The D-Pad began adding live-action intros and outros to their Franchise Plays with the beginning of The Mega Let's Play in January 2015. These early scenes generally existed only to give background information about the game being played, and featured no overarching story, instead favoring one-off gags with no real continuity to speak of. For example, at one point Dustin drops dead upon learning of the existence of a second Mega Man game for DOS, but appears alive and well a few months later, with no explanation given for his return.

However, a few recurring concepts that would prove key to the metaplot originated in this period. Firstly, The D-Pad played the five Mega Man games for the Game Boy. These games were all developed by Minakuchi Engineering and were notorious for their high difficulty, with the exception of the second game, which was instead developed by BIOX and was trivially easy. The D-Pad had terrible experiences with these games, and thereafter became visibly angry or distressed at any mention of Minakuchi or their games. Secondly, the phrase "a storm is coming" began to appear frequently, uttered by multiple characters in different contexts or appearing as text in several videos.

Part one (September 2015 – March 2017)

While playing games one day, Rick is interrupted by someone ringing the doorbell. He opens the front door to reveal a visibly annoyed Ben, who says "fuck Minakuchi" and hands Rick two boxes. At that moment, the regular Ben appears behind Rick inside the house, causing the Ben at the door to hide from his counterpart and run to the other side of the road. Once the regular Ben has left the doorway, the Ben outside says that he doesn't know what to do. A confused Rick shuts the door on him. Inside, Rick, John and Ben investigate the two boxes. One comes with a note attached that reads "watch more TV first". Although they have just finished watching the first season of the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon, they decide to follow this advice and watch the first season of Mega Man NT Warrior. After doing so, they open the boxes. One contains Mega Man Battle Network WS, and the other contains a game labelled Rockman Mega World, which Rick quickly identifies as Mega Man: The Wily Wars. Upon looking further into the game's development, they discover to their horror that it was made by Minakuchi Engineering.

Towards the end of their LP, Rick and John encounter a bug in the "Wily Tower" section of Mega Man: The Wily Wars, which causes them to accidentally play through the titular tower before playing the three regular levels that are meant to unlock it. Upon realizing this, Rick calls Ben into the room and, revealing he has turned a wearable toy Mega Buster into a time machine, uses it to shoot Ben, sending him a week into the past to warn Rick and John of the error. The device works, and Ben successfully notifies the past versions of Rick and John of the bug, ensuring that they play the game in the intended order. However, he is immediately forced to hide in bed to avoid meeting the past version of himself, who has just entered the house. With no way to return to the future, Ben stays in bed for a whole week, finally re-emerging a few seconds after Rick initially sent him back in time. Rick is in the process of packing Battle Network WS and The Wily Wars into boxes, and hands them to Ben. Before Ben can react, Rck shoots him with the Buster, sending him back in time once again.

This time, Ben is sent back a month, appearing outside The D-Pad's house. He knocks on the door and angrily hands the boxes to Rick, but is forced to hide from his past self once more. After Rick shuts him out, he wanders the streets alone, and sleeps outside for the entire month. Upon returning to the date he was originally sent back in time, he finally returns to The D-Pad to find, Rick, John and C/J together. He asks if they're playing Mega Man, and they react with confusion; they don't play Mega Man on the channel, and are about to begin the new The Legend of Zelda game, Tri Force Heroes. Ben realizes with horror that his time travelling has created an alternate dimension.

The alternate dimension is a kind of purgatory, where The D-Pad never stopped playing Zelda games, The Mega Let's Play doesn't exist, and bizarrely, nobody has feet. Upon completing Tri Force Heroes, Rick and John suddenly remember Mega Man and collapse back into their original timeline, vanishing. However, Ben is left behind, and resolves to find his own way back to his world. Ben notices another version of Rick passed out in a chair. This Rick is amnesiac, frequently slips in and out of consciousness, and seems to vaguely remember both shooting Ben and being shot by him. Ben also finds an oversized TV remote, which Rick claims is a "time travel TV thing" he created, allowing the user to talk to people in the future through a television. Rick passes out again, and Ben uses the remote and a VHS tape to send a message to Rick and John in the main timeline. The original timeline's Rick and John eventually find the VHS tape hidden behind a copy of Mega Man 7 and are able to communicate with Ben. However, as a result of being collapsed into their original timeline, they have forgotten the time travel incident entirely. After the three watch another season of the Mega Man cartoon, Ben demands Rick and John help him return to the original timeline.

Once Ben is done communicating with the original Rick and John, the amnesiac Rick wakes up again, as Ben changes his clothes, borrowing Rick's coat. Rick enthusiastically suggests the two of them play a game together. Ben agrees, and pulls out a game at random. It turns out to be SolarStriker, which Rick claims is one of his favorite Game Boy games from his youth. Ben finds the game to be extremely difficult, and afterwards is confused as to why they even played it in the first place. Rick, still dazed, begins rambling about the development of the game, causing Ben to realize that it was actually the first game developed by Minakuchi Engineering. This discovery enrages him, and at that moment the SolarStriker cartridge seemingly possesses him. The newly-created Evil Ben puts the cartridge in his pocket, dons a red headband, opens a portal, and walks through it, leaving Rick behind.

Evil Ben emerges from the portal in the original dimension, on New Year's Eve 2015. The original dimension's Rick and John are confused by his appearance and change in personality, especially when he reveals that he has brought them Mega Man X3, the final game developed by Minakuchi Engineering. After completing the game, and while Ben is not present, Rick takes the cartridge to another room and shoots it with the Mega Buster, seemingly destroying it. Scrolling text on the screen, in a parody of X3's ending sequence, reveals that Rick's destiny is to save mankind by destroying Ben Mooney's "internet personality". Rick returns to the recording room afterwards, but doesn't tell John what happened.

Over the next few months, The D-Pad continue to play through various Mega Man games. However, Rick grows increasingly disturbed by Ben's strange behavior, as well as what he perceives as threatening messages in the games themselves, and repeated mentions of the phrase "a storm is coming". Ultimately, he hastily packs some possessions and flees town, leaving John to continue the LPs without him. However, Rick returns a few weeks later, having resolved to stop running away and face Ben. Theorizing that a sufficiently bad game will lure Ben out, he and John play Mega Man & Bass. They succeed; upon completing the game, Evil Ben appears, and Rick states that he's determined to get the real Ben back. However, Evil Ben reveals that he has stolen the Mega Buster and learned how it works. Before either Rick or John can react, Evil Ben shoots Rick, causing him to vanish, leaving only his glasses behind.

Rick is sent back in time and to the alternate dimension, where he witnesses Ben's possession by the SolarStriker cartridge and transformation into Evil Ben. However, as a result of being shot, he doesn't remember these events, or even The Mega Let's Play. He instead plays Mighty No. 9, the new game developed by Keiji Inafune's company, Comcept, and a spiritual successor to Mega Man. Upon completing the game, he reflects on the schism that caused Inafune to leave Capcom in the first place. An offhand reference to the "imperfect storm" of Mega Man X6, the unauthorized release of which drove a wedge between Inafune and Capcom, causes him to suddenly regain his memories of Ben and Mega Man. He also notices that C/J is in the room with him, and has no feet, leading him to realize he is stuck in the same place Ben was. Like Ben, he resolves to return to his own world, deciding to start with the same VHS tape and TV remote that Ben used.

Meanwhile, in the original dimension, John is left to run The D-Pad on his own. He continues The Mega Let's Play, The Dreamy Let's Play, and The Super Sonic Let's Play, and at once point even auditions RetroTrigger as a potential replacement for Rick, but chooses not to give him the job. While this is happening, he is periodically visited by Evil Ben, who brings him various bad Mega Man and Sonic games and forces him to play them. On Christmas Day 2016, Rick is finally able to make contact with John through the TV, using the remote. He explains to John that the remote uses the same technology as the Mega Buster, and that games are the key to travelling between the two worlds. If he finds a game that holds meaning in both worlds he can return, but this has proved difficult as there are no Mega Man games in the alternate dimension. Rick also warns John not to play Mega Man X6 under any circumstances; if he does, Evil Ben will win. The two watch another season of NT Warrior in an attempt to replicate the events that led to Ben travelling between the worlds, but they are interrupted by Ben himself. Ben steals the remote from Rick, swapping it with Knuckles' Chaotix and removing his ability to contact John.

Still stranded in the alternate dimension, Rick continues to search through the games located there to find one that could help him escape. Ultimately, he realizes that the developers of the obscure Sonic spin-off Tails' Skypatrol, JSH, had changed their name, and that they used to be called BIOX: the developers of Mega Man II for the Game Boy. Rick realizes he has finally found his way home, and begins construction on a machine to help him accomplish this. John, meanwhile, continues to play Mega Man games picked out for him by Evil Ben, until one day Ben appears and tells him that it's finally time to head for "the eye of the storm" - Mega Man X6. John states that he was warned against playing the game, but Ben insists. John is enraged at how terrible the game is, and demands that Evil Ben finally explain where he came from. Ben agrees, saying that he will tell John everything on the condition that he first play two obscure Taiwanese Mega Man games: Mega Man Gold Empire, and Mega Man Strategy. John finally refuses outright, saying he will not play any more of Ben's games, and demands to know where Rick is.

In the alternate dimension, Rick finally finishes building his machine while C/J, who is confused by the whole situation, watches. The device turns out to resemble a Mega Man helmet and an NES Light Gun. Rick uses the helmet to open a portal in the TV. He promises to return for C/J later, hands him a Master Sword to defend himself with, and jumps into the portal. He comes flying out of the TV in the original universe, interrupting John and Ben's conversation, knocking over the table and landing on the couch. Rick picks up his glasses from the floor and prepares to face Ben, who pulls out the Buster, determined this time to get rid of Rick for good. He shoots the Light Gun out of Rick's hand, leaving him defenseless. John uses a Hylian Shield to block Ben's next attack, and C/J suddenly appears from the portal and uses the sword to cut Evil Ben in half, seemingly defeating him. Ben is returned to his normal self, and the SolarStriker cartridge drops to the floor, but the group quickly realize that all they have succeeded in is separating Evil Ben from regular Ben. Evil Ben declares that he is the storm and that he will be back when they least expect it, then vanishes in a cloud of black smoke.

Interlude (March 2017 – December 2018)

Things return to normal at The D-Pad following Evil Ben's defeat. Rick, John, and regular Ben continue their various LP projects along with the rest of the team. However, Evil Ben is still at large, and makes it clear that he intends to continue tormenting them when he briefly returns to make them play Sonic Jam for the Tiger Game.com. After this he continues to observe the channel remotely, expressing surprise when they finally complete Mega Man Battle Network 4, and stating that he'll have to become more creative in the future.

On New Year's Day 2018, Evil Ben appears again with Sonic Shuffle, as well as Mega Man Gold Empire, one of the Taiwanese games he attempted to make John play just before his defeat. Upon completing it, Rick and John find themselves mysteriously transported to an almost entirely empty room in an unfamiliar house. They ultimately turn this into a new recording studio. Evil Ben returns once more on St. Patrick's Day, but is temporarily neutralized by a trap created by regular Ben. He eventually manages to break out, but realizes he needs more time to come up with a plan, and retreats.

Part two (December 2018 – present)

As Rick and Ben prepare to play the newly-released Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Evil Ben returns yet again, intending to force them to fully complete Super Smash Bros. Brawl first. However, he is suddenly hit by a mysterious beam of light and vanishes. Suspicious of the timing of this, Rick is quickly also hit by the light, along with Sarah and new member Geoff. The light also takes every other member of The D-Pad living elsewhere: Ian, C/J and Felice, Lindsay, Dustin, and even John in his new home in California. Ben, the only member of the channel to survive, is left alone.

The light deposits Rick back in the alternate dimension on New Year's Eve 2018, where he notices he has lost his beard once again. He meets the alternate versions of Ben, who loves Super Smash Bros. Brawl, John, who never moved to California, and C/J, who has been using the portal between the two worlds to raid the original D-Pad's fridge. Rick's own counterpart hides in a closet, and edits videos naked while muttering about voices in the walls. Rick also receives a phone call from the original John, who has similarly been transported to the alternate world, but is stuck in California, where the keys to his house don't work. C/J allows Rick to use the portal to return to his own world, where he finds that everyone else is missing.

Rick has no idea how to bring back the other members of the channel, with his only contacts for the next year being three different versions of Ben: Evil Ben, who communicates with him through his Nokia N-Gage phone, the alternate dimension's Ben, who claims to be using a VPN that sponsors the channel in that world to talk to Rick through the TV, and regular Ben, the only member not to be transported anywhere by the light. On New Year's Eve 2019, Rick and the regular Ben receive another call from John, who attempts to explain a confusing predicament. Before he can do so, they are interrupted by an evil version of Geoff, who is visually indistinguishable from the regular Geoff. He claims to be new to this, and while enthusiastic in his attempts to torture the group, he is ultimately ineffective, and retreats while stammering about his "boss" and the future plans they have in store. John abruptly hangs up soon after Evil Geoff leaves. Meanwhile, the real Geoff is revealed to be stranded outside in an unknown location.

Some time later, Rick resolves to finally figure out a way to bring back the rest of the channel. Knowing that the disappearance of the other members was connected somehow to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, he attempts to play the game on several occasions, only for it to abruptly turn into a different crossover fighting game each time. These game swaps are implied to have been orchestrated by Evil Geoff, who leaves a note with the first one. After a while of this, Rick returns to playing regular Mega Man games, but on New Year's Eve 2020, he snaps out of it and returns to his attempts to bring everyone else back. Meanwhile, the rest of the channel, revealed to all have been warped to random locations by the light, simultaneously notice a strange image floating in front of them. Geoff, who has seemingly been stuck wandering in a forest for months, is also distracted by the image, causing him to not notice Evil Ben lurking behind him.

Future events

At an unspecified point in the future, the Mega Man X3 cartridge that Rick shot reappears. Rick, equipped with the Mega Buster and helmet, is prepared for its arrival, and states that "it's time we finally finish this".

Playlists

The following playlists compile videos related to the metaplot:

• Ben Mooney and the Chronicles of Minakuchi, an official playlist made early in the run of the metaplot. It contains everything until the intro of Mega Man X3, but has not been updated since then.
• The D-Pad: The Metaplot, a fanmade playlist of metaplot videos. This playlist contains only videos with live-action scenes important to understanding the overall story.
• The D-Pad: The Metaplot+, an expanded version of the previous playlist. This more thorough playlist contains all videos with live-action scenes that have even minor references to the metaplot.