Yume Nikki:Uboa: Difference between revisions

Uboa
Basic Info
Role	Traps Madotsuki in Uboa's Trap
Collectibles	None
Events	Uboa
Location	Poniko's House; Uboa's Trap
Other
Size	Standard
Killable?	No

Latest revision as of 23:23, 21 June 2024

Uboa (ウボァ) is a character that appears in Poniko's Room in the Pink Sea during an event.

Overview

Uboa is a round figure resembling a black mass with a white face. Its normal appearance consists of a smiling face with a squinting left eye and a resting right eye with a crack above it. Its facial appearance changes when interacted with and in Uboa's Trap, morphing into a distorted face will smaller eyes, nostrils, and what appears to be lips or rows of teeth.

Uboa's altered expression.

Uboa does not appear until the event associated with it is triggered. To activate the event, the player must travel to Poniko's House in the Pink Sea and turn off the lights in her room using the light switch found right beside the door. If the room simply turns dark and Poniko is unchanged, Madotsuki must leave the room, reenter, and turn the lights off again. Continuing this process has a 1/64 chance of changing the room into a distorted version of Poniko's original room, now replacing the blonde girl with Uboa.

Once Uboa is summoned, Madotsuki can not leave the room or flip the light switch back on, with the latter action only causing the screen to flash white. Interacting with Uboa will send the player to Uboa's Trap, a looping area in the White Desert filled with white liquid and a towering, bleeding creature grasping melting mountains in the background. Uboa can also be found here in its distorted appearance. The only way to leave this area is to either pinch Madotsuki awake or use the Medamaude effect.

Trivia

Due to the nature of Uboa's event and the disturbing appearance of the character itself, Uboa is often hailed as one of the reasons Yume Nikki grew in popularity in the West. Uboa saw heavy usage in Internet memes and edits during the early 2000s shortly after the character's discovery, typically depicting the character in a more humorous fashion.
- Due to its popularity, Uboa's character and event are commonly parodied or imitated in various Yume Nikki fangames. The character itself has also gone on to make cameos in various Internet media and appears to have inspired the designs of characters such as the Mystery Man from Undertale and White Face from IMSCARED: A Pixelated Nightmare.
The sound effect that plays when the player touches Uboa is the same one as when a Toriningen traps the player.

The empty Uboa event if Poniko is killed first.

Uboa will not appear if Poniko is killed. This forces Madotsuki to pinch herself awake or use the Medamaude effect.
The background noise that plays when Uboa appears is the same as the music for Guillotine World slowed down by half.
Uboa's name originated from a 2channel post describing how to activate Uboa's event. The initial post simply reads the instructions to activate the event before adding "ウボァー" to express the shock the event may give the player.
- The phrase or "scream" used to express the event in the post references a line of dialogue from the character Emperor Mateus from Final Fantasy II, with the phrase also being a 2channel meme at the time of the post's creation.
- Additonally, the characters that make up Uboa's name (ウボァ) do not normally go together in Japanese, with the effect of the name being similar to Cthulhu or Astfgl in its "wrongness".
Both the Alley Demon and Pier Monsters share a vague resemblance to Uboa.
In the manga, Uboa is given a ponytail and movable arms, likely to more closely resemble Poniko. Its body is also much more blanket-like, sporting visible ruffles on its body.

Theories

Due to the unique nature of the Uboa event, it is largely believed to hold some significance to an event that may have happened in the real world involving Madotsuki. The nature of being trapped in a room and being forced to interact with an unpleasant force has led some to believe the event may depict an assault or may be symbolic of Madotsuki isolating herself and having to face her thoughts within her dreams.

Another common interpretation of Uboa is that it may be an alternate form of Poniko, or Poniko may not exist at all and was simply a disguise used by Uboa for an unknown reason. This is evidenced by Uboa taking Poniko's place in her room, no matter where she has walked, and the absence of Uboa after Poniko has been killed, confirming they are the same entity. This interpretation could make Uboa based on the Nuppeppō of Japanese mythology, which is stated in some texts to play tricks on people by disguising as a human and then interacting with real humans to let their guard down, only to surprise them by revealing they are a yōkai. The common interpretation of the Nuppeppō's appearance, a pale creature with a large and wrinkly head, could also somewhat match Uboa in description, especially with their altered appearance in Uboa's Trap.

Gallery

Uboa in Poniko's House.
Uboa as they appear in the manga.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{infobox character
+{{NPCBox
-| name       = Uboa
+|headercolor = #000000
-| image      = File:Uboa.png
+|headerfontcolor = #ffffff
-| caption    = Uboa's Initial Sprite
+|image = Uboa.png
-| location   = • [[Pink Sea|Poniko's Room]]<br/>
+|role = Traps [[Yume Nikki:Madotsuki|Madotsuki]] in [[Yume Nikki:Poniko's House#Uboa's Trap|Uboa's Trap]]
-• Uboa's Trap World
+|Collectibles = None
-| role       = Traps Madotsuki in an inescapable world
+|Events = [[Yume Nikki:Events#Uboa|Uboa]]
-| size       = Standard
+|location = [[Yume Nikki:Poniko's House|Poniko's House]], [[Yume Nikki:Uboa's Trap|Uboa's Trap]]
-| killable   = No
+|size = Standard
-| notes      =}}
+|killable = No
-{{Audio
+|species =
-| title     = Uboa sound effect
+|notes =
-| filename  = BGM 013-50.ogg
 }}
-If you turn off the light in [[Pink Sea|Poniko's Room]], there is a 1 in 64 chance that the 'Uboa Event' will occur. Whether the event will occur is determined when the player enters the room (leave and enter again for next chance), or to wait 5 seconds after the switch is flipped. Uboa was added along with the Pink Sea in Ver.0.08.
+'''Uboa''' (ウボァ) is a character that appears in Poniko's Room in the [[Yume Nikki:Pink Sea|Pink Sea]] during an [[Yume Nikki:Events#Uboa|event]].
-==Description==
+==Overview==
-[[File:Uboa.jpg|thumb|Uboa as they appear in the manga]]
+Uboa is a round figure resembling a black mass with a white face. Its normal appearance consists of a smiling face with a squinting left eye and a resting right eye with a crack above it. Its facial appearance changes when interacted with and in Uboa's Trap, morphing into a distorted face will smaller eyes, nostrils, and what appears to be lips or rows of teeth.
-'''Uboa''' (ウボァ) is a strange creature. Though there is no direct gender ascribed, Uboa may potentially be female due to its eventual replacement of [[Poniko]]'s sprite. There is a chance that they will replace Poniko when you turn off the light, and plays a continuous filtered "Aah" sound. When the event happens a bright flash fills the room, similar to a blowing light bulb, then the entire room changes and Uboa replaces Poniko (if you kill her before triggering the event, Uboa is not going to appear. However, you will be locked in Poniko's room). You cannot leave the room, and flipping the light switch only causes another flash of light. If you touch Uboa, you will be sent to a Monochrome Street highly similar to the [[White Desert]] (with even its soundtrack playing); which is a looped area flooded with white liquid (potentially a swamp or marsh), [[Bloody Touching Monster|a strange monster in the background bleeding]], and Uboa's face will become strangely warped. Despite this location's atmosphere being identical to the White Desert's, there are no routes that lead away from this area and into the White Desert itself. The only way to escape Uboa's Trap World is by pinching [[Madotsuki]] awake or by using the [[Effects#Medamaude|Medamaude]] effect.
+[[File:Uboa2.png|right|thumb|Uboa's altered expression.]]
-==Reception==
+Uboa does not appear until the event associated with it is triggered. To activate the event, the player must travel to Poniko's House in the Pink Sea and turn off the lights in her room using the light switch found right beside the door. If the room simply turns dark and Poniko is unchanged, [[Yume Nikki:Madotsuki|Madotsuki]] must leave the room, reenter, and turn the lights off again. Continuing this process has a 1/64 chance of changing the room into a distorted version of Poniko's original room, now replacing the blonde girl with Uboa.
-[[File:Uboaroom.jpg|thumb]]
-Uboa is likely a major factor for the success of the game, especially in the English version. Many non-Japanese players were introduced to Uboa through YouTube. Uboa itself may very well be the number one inspiration to download and explore Yume Nikki by most fans.
-===Discovery===
+Once Uboa is summoned, Madotsuki can not leave the room or flip the light switch back on, with the latter action only causing the screen to flash white. Interacting with Uboa will send the player to [[Yume Nikki:Poniko's House#Uboa's Trap|Uboa's Trap]], a looping area in the White Desert filled with white liquid and a [[Yume Nikki:Bloody Touching Monster|towering, bleeding creature]] grasping melting mountains in the background. Uboa can also be found here in its distorted appearance. The only way to leave this area is to either pinch Madotsuki awake or use the [[Yume Nikki:Effects#Medamaude|Medamaude]] effect.
-On July 30, 2005, someone discovered both Uboa and [[FACE]] and posted about it in the second iteration of the Yume Nikki thread on 2ch. The poster was unlucky enough to get Uboa the very first time he flipped the switch. He described his reaction with the sound "Uboar", which was the infamous death cry of the Emperor in the Japanese version of Final Fantasy II. "Uboar" caught on as the name of the character, and was later shortened to "Uboa".
-===Fan Speculation===
+==Trivia==
-[[File:Uboaspace.jpg|thumb]]'''Hopelessness''' - Due to the aspect of being trapped, Uboa could be interpreted as a feeling of hopelessness.
+*Due to the nature of Uboa's event and the disturbing appearance of the character itself, Uboa is often hailed as one of the reasons ''Yume Nikki'' grew in popularity in the West. Uboa saw heavy usage in Internet memes and edits during the early 2000s shortly after the character's discovery, typically depicting the character in a more humorous fashion.
+**Due to its popularity, Uboa's character and event are commonly parodied or imitated in various ''Yume Nikki'' fangames. The character itself has also gone on to make cameos in various Internet media and appears to have inspired the designs of characters such as the [[wikipedia:W._D._Gaster|Mystery Man]] from [[wikipedia:Undertale|''Undertale'']] and White Face from [[wikipedia:Imscared|''IMSCARED: A Pixelated Nightmare'']].
-'''Poniko's True Form''' - A common interpretation is that Uboa is Poniko's true form, mostly because they replace her sprite.
+*The sound effect that plays when the player touches Uboa is the same one as when a [[Yume Nikki:Toriningen|Toriningen]] traps the player.
+[[File:UboaEventEmpty.png|thumb|right|230px|The empty Uboa event if Poniko is killed first.]]
-'''Frustration''' - A theory based on the correlation between the game ''Mischief Makers'' and Uboa's face, Uboa may be based on Kikiyama's and/or Madotsuki's frustration. Uboa is thematically similar to near-hopeless gameplay since it is very hard to trigger the event and even harder to accidentally discover. This may be Kikiyama's way of projecting game frustration.
+*Uboa will not appear if Poniko is killed. This forces Madotsuki to pinch herself awake or use the Medamaude effect.
+*The background noise that plays when Uboa appears is the same as the music for [[Yume Nikki:Guillotine World|Guillotine World]] slowed down by half.
-'''Revenge''' - Since Poniko could be interpreted as Madotsuki's emotional side, which she is locking away, bothering her (switching the lights on and off) causes Uboa to appear, giving a fright to the player.
+*Uboa's name originated from a 2channel post describing how to activate Uboa's event. The initial post simply reads the instructions to activate the event before adding "ウボァー" to express the shock the event may give the player.
+**The phrase or "scream" used to express the event in the post references a line of dialogue from the character Emperor Mateus from ''Final Fantasy II'', with the phrase also being a 2channel meme at the time of the post's creation.
-'''Molestation''' - The white liquid that fills the Monochrome Street/Uboa's Trap World may in fact be semen. The hills (which may also be covered in semen) that the [[Bloody Touching Monster]] is groping could also potentially represent breasts or the body in general. It appears to be more likely however that [[KyuuKyuu-kun]] is a metaphor for this potential theme in Madotsuki's past.
+**Additonally, the characters that make up Uboa's name (ウボァ) do not normally go together in Japanese, with the effect of the name being similar to ''Cthulhu'' or ''Astfgl'' in its "wrongness".
+*Both the [[Yume Nikki:Alley Demon|Alley Demon]] and [[Yume Nikki:Pier Monsters|Pier Monsters]] share a vague resemblance to Uboa.
-'''Inferiority Complex''' - As a Hikikomori Madotsuki may view Poniko as the archetypal normal/popular girl which Madotsuki contrasts her and her self-worth against. The distinction exemplifying Madotsuki's perspectives of being inferior. Even beyond the physical appearance of both girls, there exists much more that is directly in contrast to them. Both seem to live independently within the realms of a singular room. Though both of these rooms function relatively similarly, ascetically Poniko's room is bright, colorful, well furnished, posh and thus a drastic distinction from Madotsuki's dingy small apartment. Following this hypothesis; overall Poniko embodies all that Madotsuki views as desirable yet lacks, her antithesis in every way. Yet whereas Madotsuki lives within the expanses of her vast, sprawling dreams, Poniko's transformation into Uboa occurs only once the lights are turned off, (thus symbolic of sleep.) During this frightening occurrence Madotsuki's entrance into the inner realm of Poniko/Uboa is of a confined small linear endless repetition which Madotsuki is sealed into via Uboa's body itself. Here in this cold and abysmal ceaseless confinement, exists a pertinent and final concluding contrast. Not only outwardly, but now inwardly. illustrating just how drastically opposite each is defined within Madotsuki's framework. If all that the Poniko archetype represents is outwardly attractive, popular and desirous. Inwardly she is viewed as shallow, ugly, malicious, frightening, her true form the horror that is Uboa.
+*In the [[Yume Nikki:Official Manga|manga]], Uboa is given a ponytail and movable arms, likely to more closely resemble Poniko. Its body is also much more blanket-like, sporting visible ruffles on its body.
-'''Madotsuki's Abusive Mother''' - With the manga appearance of Uboa, it is possible that Poniko is Madotsuki's mother and Uboa is supposed to represent Poniko's abusive side.
-==Trivia==
+==[[Yume Nikki:Theories|Theories]]==
-*This is lost in English, but the syllables that make up Uboa's name (ウボァ) do not normally go together in Japanese, with the effect of the name being similar to ''Cthulhu'' or ''Astfgl'' in its "wrongness".
+Due to the unique nature of the Uboa event, it is largely believed to hold some significance to an event that may have happened in the real world involving Madotsuki. The nature of being trapped in a room and being forced to interact with an unpleasant force has led some to believe the event may depict an assault or may be symbolic of Madotsuki isolating herself and having to face her thoughts within her dreams.
-*When the Uboa event activates, some of the items in the room change. The dresser gets a "face"[[File:Dogboa3.png|thumb|44px|Dogboa (Yume 2kki)]] with googly eyes that may remind players of those of [[Masada]] and what seems to be a creepy smile. The two pictures change, the one over the desk turns from what looks like a mouse to a face which has googly eyes as well, and what could be either a moustache or a creepy-looking smile, and the one over Poniko's bed that changes from one shape to another. The window gets eyes and the rug's design also changes, showing a pattern with eyes as well. The lamp on the desk turns on, showing a light beam.
-*Uboa has been one of the most popular characters from the game. Uboa has also made cameos or inspired for other characters in some fangames.[[File:Uboa_flow.png|thumb|Uboa's marking (.flow)]]
+Another common interpretation of Uboa is that it may be an alternate form of Poniko, or Poniko may not exist at all and was simply a disguise used by Uboa for an unknown reason. This is evidenced by Uboa taking Poniko's place in her room, no matter where she has walked, and the absence of Uboa after Poniko has been killed, confirming they are the same entity. This interpretation could make Uboa based on the [[Wikipedia:Nuppeppō|Nuppeppō]] of Japanese mythology, which is stated in some texts to play tricks on people by disguising as a human and then interacting with real humans to let their guard down, only to surprise them by revealing they are a yōkai. The common interpretation of the Nuppeppō's appearance, a pale creature with a large and wrinkly head, could also somewhat match Uboa in description, especially with their altered appearance in Uboa's Trap.
-**'''Yume 2kki''' - In the ''Sky Kingdom'' world there is a dog-like character that resembles Uboa. This character has been called "Dogboa" by fans.
-**'''.flow''' - Uboa makes a cameo as a marking in the dead end room in the ''Underwater Temple''.[[File:Memask.png|thumb|67px|Mask Effect (Me)]]
-**'''Me - '''the ''Mask ''effect is a clear reference to Uboa's face, and the location it's found in is quite similar to Poniko's room.
-*Uboa might have been inspired by the Hollow from ''Bleach, ''as they and some Hollows look very similar.
+==Gallery==
-*According to some, Uboa's design (that of its initial sprite) was likely inspired by ''<nowiki>Spirited Away'</nowiki>''s No-Face.
+<gallery orientation="none" spacing="small" captionalign="center">
-*Uboa's name originated from a type of scream in Japan. Originally pronounced 'uhoa' ''(ooo-hwha) ''when said in a manner resembling a scream, the name certainly suits its appearance and situation.
+Uboaroom.jpg|Uboa in Poniko's House.
-*Going along with the previous statement, the scream Uboa was popularized by [http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Emperor_Mateus Emperor Mateus] from Final Fantasy II, who screamed Uboa when he was defeated in the NES/FC Japanese version and English prototype, this was likely part of the inspiration for the name
+Uboa.jpg|Uboa as they appear in the manga.
-*The origin of Uboa's face design prior to its distortion when the player touches it may have come from a 1997 Treasure game called ''Mischief Makers''. This may be coincidental however. In ''Mischief Makers'', the denizens of the planet Clancer as well as most objects on the planet all have black, hollow-looking eyes similar to Uboa's that may be both curved inward or one curving outward. These creatures also possess gaping black mouths and white faces, much like Uboa.
+</gallery>
-[[File:004.png|thumb|320px|Uboa's interaction with Madostuki]]
+[[Category:Yume Nikki Characters]]
-*In the walfas'  [http://walfas.org/flash/create.swf create.swf] (despite being being Touhou in origin but because of Uboa's meme status) Uboa's face is an option to use on a character.
+[[Category:Yume Nikki Events]]
-*In the manga, Uboa was given a ponytail (and arms) and, possibly hinting towards a theory and while they attack her, Madotsuki calls them "Mom" (depicted left).
-*In the game [http://undertale.wikia.com/wiki/Undertale Undertale]  by Toby Fox, a very secret and well-hidden character by the name of "[http://undertale.wikia.com/wiki/W._D._Gaster W. D. Gaster] " bears a striking similarity to Uboa. Considering the creator's other references to Uboa in his previous works, it is most likely not a coincidence.
-*In the game [http://lisa-rpg.wikia.com/wiki/LISA%3A_THE_JOYFUL LISA: The Joyful] by Dingaling Games, the character Mr. Beautiful has a mask that appears similar to Uboa once cracked in battle.
-**However, Dingaling stated on [https://twitter.com/NitroRad/status/636395722099814400 Twitter] that the similarities weren't intentional, and that the character was instead based on [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoko_Asahara Shoko Ashara.]
-[[Category:Characters]]
-[[Category:Events]]

Uboa

Basic Info
Role	Traps Madotsuki in Uboa's Trap
Collectibles	None
Events	Uboa
Location	Poniko's House Uboa's Trap
Other
Size	Standard
Killable?	No