I mean, I think we can all agree that the Paul in Nightmare Time 2 is Paul 23 or another clone.
Like, aside from the “Paul is dead” Easter egg of course, The Paul in Nightmare Time 2 is, very specifically, not only willingly tipping Zoey to sing for him, but goes to watch the Queen Bee competition at the Honey Festival, which does include singing. Lots of it.
Now, tell me, would Paul Mathew, a man whose entire character is about being generic random white guy who hates musicals, willingly go watch a singing competition? On his free time?
You can’t even say he was Babysitting Alice for Bill, girl was with her girlfriend during it, and he can’t be babysitting Tim either, since in this reality he’s not married to Emma, who’s in Jail as the honey queen festival happens.
So, that’s not Paul, and Paul not being here is a pretty big sign that this reality is fucked, since Paul is pretty much the Mine Canary of Hatchetfield when it comes to lords in black.
(Like, putting aside how much he hates Musicals hence him being instantly horrified by Pokotho’s influence, Paul in Black Friday is the first character who is wary of the Wiggog Y'wrath dolls (SPECIFICALLY because they use songs in order to advertise them too), and in WatcherWorld, which is an establishment run by Bliklotep, and uses plenty of musical numbers, he warns Bill about not going there since “someone died on the roller coaster.”)
Basically, if something sings, then it’s evil for Paul, and the fact he didn’t recoil at neither the Queen Bee pageant, which is used to find Nibblenephim a sweet morsel, nor the Killer Track for that matter, tells us enough about the fact that that is not Paul.
Ok so I am also firmly in the “that’s not Paul” camp, tho I do think supporting the Honey Queen Pagaent could theoretically be something he’d watch due to it being a very “pro-Hatchetfield” event, and like, dude does love his Hatchetfield.
Paul it literally the ‘everyman’ which is why he’s the voice of noticing when things aren’t right. He’s us. So for him to not make those comments. To not notice that things are wrong. You’re 100% correct - that’s not Paul, Captain!
Paul is definitely the metaphorical Mine Canary of Hatchetfield, he can sense if something bad is going to happen. But also, MINE canary. As in a mining colony of Paul clones! What if that’s why CCRP are specifically cloning Paul? Because they noticed that he was attuned to these sort of things and they could find out more about whatever they’re doing on the moon from the clones’ feelings/reactions to things?
