Merci

— Merci, *Extinction Party*

**Merci** is a minor character that appears in *Extinction Party*. She inhabits the Maze, and is familiar with the dangers surrounding it.

## Appearance

Merci is a mime-like being mostly resembling a human. She wears a black and white striped shirt with long dark gray sleeves, dark gray pants, black boots, and a black beret. She also dons a mask with three red dots and a smiling face with a red mouth, which can either resemble a smile or lips. Over her hands are two white hand puppets with wedge-shaped eyes, which can shift to an angry expression, and diamond-shaped mouths, which are shown on one occasion to grow triangle-shaped teeth when angry. She also carries a long dark red pole over her shoulders.

In a piece of *Dream BBQ* Fangamer merchandise, she is seen with an alternate outfit that largely resembles an outfit originating from a piece of fanart made by her voice actor, ChobiLuck. Unlike her regular outfit, she wears a black jeogori with red go-reum (the lining) and smaller shoes. Alongside this, her arms and legs (or presumably an undersuit) sport black and white stripes.

## Personality

Merci has quite the aggressive personality. She seems to frequently swear in Korean and was shown stomping her feet when she seemed frustrated. However, there also may be an endearing side to her, as she sounded pleasantly surprised when she met Ena again in the Maze. Her aggressive tone while giving Ena advice to run away might be her way of showing worry for Ena.

## Trivia

* Like Robert, the translation of Merci's dialogue from *Extinction Party* differs from what is shown on-screen. Rather than giving the way to reach Moony, she pleads Ena to leave the Maze immediately and to not accept gifts from anyone, even going as far as to call her a stuffy fuck for not understanding. When her dialogue is properly translated, she says the following:
	+ "Wait, Ena? Where are you going?"
	+ "You're not supposed to be here!"
	+ "Get out of here before I kick your ass!"
	+ "What? You stuffy fuck!"
	+ "Just run away! And don't accept anything from people around here."
* **The original Korean dialogue** for *Extinction Party* was made by ChobiLuck:
	+ "잠깐! 에나{Ena}?! 지금 어디 가는 거야?!"
	+ "너는 이 곳 사람이 아니잖아!! 네 엉덩이 차버리기 전에 여기서 떠나!"
	+ "으... 이 답답한 새끼야!"
	+ "그냥 도망가, 그리고 여기있는 모든 사람들한테 아무것도 받지마!"
		- The original dialogue was created by Joel G. and was given to ChobiLuck to translate into Korean. Due to her voice getting distorted through a voice editor, the Korean dialogue also became hard to understand.
* Merci speaks Korean despite her name originating from a French word (*merci* means "thank you" in French).
* Merci is one of the unlockable avatars on Joelgc.com.
* Other than Robert and Mariya, who already speak Japanese in the original episodes, Merci is the only character whose lines are not dubbed over in the RASH A1M Japanese dubs.
	+ This also makes them the only character in the RASH A1M dubs to not speak Japanese. This was possibly done to keep the contrasting dialogue and subtitles.

### Cultural references and inspirations

* Merci's mask has a similar appearance to the Bune mask of the Hahoetal, a traditional Korean mask used in the Hahoe byeolsingut talnori ceremony.
* Merci's appearance also resembles mimes that appear in the game *Runescape*, which is also the source of most of the series's sound effects and subtitle font.
	+ Her hands talking for her could also be a reference to how mimes use their hands to communicate.
* The pole Merci carries may be a reference to the Japanese stage play *Bō Shibari* (*Tied to a Pole*), in which two servants are tied to poles in a similar fashion to how Merci holds it.

## Gallery

Twitch stream sketch of a Merci sticker, showing her drunk. Notably, a bit of her face underneath her mask can be seen.Final sticker product of the aforementioned Twitch stream art. Paired with Primal Moony.Merci avatar skin from Joelgc.com.Merci on one of the Fangamer sticker sheets, which features her in a new outfit.
## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://twitter.com/ChobiLuck/status/1408857162013609990