I Feel Fantastic is a classic piece of Youtube horror being uploaded to the account creepyblog in April 2009 which at the time of writing has reached 28 million views. A two and half minute long video of a mannequin in a feminine wig monotonous singing is sure to appear strange in any context. But every aspect of the video is creepy. The video is set in a truly drab room best described as Garry’s Mod-like. The lyrics of the synth song are without a doubt deliberately freaky repetitions of ‘I Feel Fantastic’ ‘Run run run’ ‘please leave’. But the original uploader creepyblog posted an appropriately creepy description, which explains the story of Pygmalion who in Ovid’s metamorphosis was the first Men’s Rights activist who found that the Stacey’s only liked Cypriot Chads and decided to make his own statue waifu. The description after explaining the classic tale states.
‘Perhaps what we are viewing is the work of a modern Pygmalion. To him, her toneless voice, the paleness of her skin and the comparative vibrancy of her lips may indeed be the very embodiment of a perfect woman…
Consider the mind-scape of the creator. In whose mind does this appear beautiful? In whose mind is this pure, near worshipful? Are we missing out on his perspective?
Who are we to be afraid or to judge them? He may well love her fully, perhaps more fully than any of us could ever hope to be loved. In the mind of her creator, she is a near goddess; the perfect representation, not just of femininity, but the peak of human potential. A perfectly satisfactory being.
How does that kind of unconditional love feel?
Well, how does she feel?
Fantastic.’
Due to this being the only context given to the video there was obviously very little for the viewers to go off. As a result, it’s not exactly a surprise that theories about I Feel Fantastic appeared. But these theories were not exactly grounded in reality. The most popular theory was that the video and the android were made by a serial killer. The murderer didn’t like the screams of his victims so he made the android say ‘I Feel Fantastic’ which makes sense as psycho sadists famously hate other people’s pain. Tara’s fresh drip is the victims’ clothing and this explains the costume change. The slow zoom in the garden is where the serial killer buried his victims. Now when looking at any explanation for why this makes sense the answer is? Nothing. This interpretation was just spawned from the fact that the video is creepy and that the creepiest option is always a serial murderer. Now, this interpretation is already approaching creepypasta territory but is at least remotely grounded in reality the second interpretation is pure creepypasta. Tara the Android was not only the work of a serial murderer but also Tara somehow gained sentience and eventually killed its creator.
Whilst the idea that Tara the Android killed its creator and escaped sounds schizophrenic it does have some basis storyline-wise in another account halloweenandroid. In September 2009 this account uploaded a video called ‘piercing the android’ which stars a far more weathered Tara. In another completely innocent video, the android gets her face stabbed with a nail by the hands of someone offscreen. Tara then proceeds to bite one of his fingers which turns into a Halloween prop and falls off.
Now the name of the android’s creator would be found by those who went onto androidworld.com. On the site is a listing from 2004 about Tara the Android which was created by John Bergeron. Basically nothing is known about Bergeron aside from the fact that he created Tara and was selling DVDs of music videos starring her through androidworld to get wider attention to his skills. Interestingly this urban legend did not end with the discovery of the android’s creator John Bergeron, instead, he simply became part of the urban legend. Now innocent sex doll creator Bergeron was a known serial killer who somehow was not on the news was also was killed by his doll. Clearly, Bergeron’s anonymity outside of this listing aided the myths surrounding I Feel Fantastic. Fact-checking tends to not interact well with urban legends and as nothing exists about the creator he could be a hobbyist sex robot maker full-time serial murderer.
I think it is clear that Bergeron created the halloweenandroid page. The videos were not available off androidworld and the condition of Tara herself shows they were likely filmed later than the music videos. Now there is the question of why the halloweenandroid page began to upload in 2009 after I Feel Fantastic was uploaded. The first is that Bergeron made the creepyblog page and in a move similar to current popular horror ARGs put the videos on halloweenandroid to add to the mystery. The second is that creepyblog was created by someone else who owned a copy of the video and Bergeron attempted to take the success onto his own channel. In my opinion, either case shows that Bergeron was deliberate in the original music videos’ horror vibe.
In 2018 the whole DVD would be bought. The entire collection of videos is now uploaded to the YouTube channel Yitz. The collection continues the general vibe of I Feel Fantastic with the same threatening lyrics, terrible feng shui and Marvel Studios level special effects. These videos explain the spooky camera cut to the garden. To me, Bergeron is simply approximating what a competently shot music video would do as there are 2 other shots of outside areas including just branches. As branches aren’t associated with hiding bodies it’s clear that outside the shot in I Feel Fantastic isn’t meant to be some secret murder spot.
Interestingly the new development in the I Feel Fantastic world are comments defending Bergeron by arguing that he did not intend for the music videos to be strange or creepy. I consider this to also be quite silly. Now to be fair this does have some precedent in the world of horror YouTube videos. An example is Obey the Walrus an edited video of disabled drag queen Goddess Bunny dancing was edited to appear creepy. Goddess Bunny did not intend for her dancing to be in any way unsettling and the Obey the Walrus video made it seem creepy by its nonsensical nature telling the viewer to well Obey the Walrus. Unlike Obey the Walrus whilst the creepyblog video may not have been Bergeron himself the footage’s intention was not hijacked like Goddess Bunny’s was. I do not think that Bergeron would be unaware of the clear unsettling nature of his android music videos. Firstly, the lyrics are without a doubt on purpose unnerving. The second reason is the uncanny valley concerning androids. The uncanny valley is when as something starts to appear more human it becomes well uncanny. If an idiot like me considers this common knowledge clearly someone willing to spend $2000 on making a droid would be very aware of this. Thirdly, the halloweenandroid uploads show Bergeron was willing to display his creation in a frightening light. If he did not intend for his original music videos to be creepy I believe that he likely wouldn’t have leaned into it by inserting nails into his doll’s face. He would’ve uploaded videos trying to paint Tara as normal and not a weird living doll that eats people.
While the questions surrounding I Feel Fantastic’s it is still a Youtube classic. It is a catchy horrendously made banger of a song. Tara the Android will continue to creep kids out for years and how does that feel? Fantastic.
Ale Wats Up 