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Detention for you!
~ Principal of the Thing catchphrase

The Principal of the Thing is the secondary antagonist of the Baldi's Basics franchise.

Hence his name, he is the principal of the Schoolhouse and the Super Schoolhouse, who will watch over the halls and check around the school most of the time and ensure that students obey the school rules. When he sees the Protagonist breaking the rules, he will chase him down and send him to detention.

Like Head teacher Baldi, he is voiced by game creator Micah "Mystman12" McGonigal, who also voices the original cast; Gotta Sweep, Null, It's a Bully and Playtime.

Appearance[]

Principal of the Thing is a dithered realistic photo of a lanky adult man with his right hand pointing upwards. His eyebrows are raised, and his mouth is open as if he is shouting. He wears a dark gray sweater-shirt with lighter stripes, pale blue jeans, and white socks (brownish-red due to dithering) without shoes. His legs are slightly glitched/erased, along with part of his left arm.

According to Mystman12, Principal of the Thing is, in fact, wearing a yellow bow tie, but it is hard to see because Mystman12 used very few colors to dither the Principal's image. The Principal's skin color is very similar to the color of his bow tie. It is located on his neck and can more clearly be seen in his merchandise items. The bow tie is quite hard to see, but it can be distinguished as it is only one flat color while the skin has more noticeable texture.

Personality[]

Principal of the Thing has a very calm personality, speaking in a monotone voice and never once raises it without expressing any other emotions. Like a hall monitor, he is in charge of the Schoolhouse and Super Schoolhouse and will put students in detention upon getting caught breaking any of the school rules "in the halls", even if they are in any location except for the playground and his office.

He is known to be very strict as he sends the Protagonist to detention without warning for a small infraction such as running in the halls, albeit for laughable small detention times ranging from 15 seconds to a little over a minute. However, he seems to have a sense of humor despite how strict he is, as he made a joke about served justice being tasty on his own office poster, said surprises were against the rules for no other reason than comedy, and even made a joke about breaking the 4th wall when the player went through a very literal one.

Biography[]

Classic[]

Principal of the Thing is the principal of Here School (specifically in the original Schoolhouse). He will appear in his office after the player takes the second notebook of the second classroom, he will whistle and watch the halls for anyone who has breaks the rules, especially the Protagonist. If Principal of the Thing sees the Protagonist breaking the rules for a specific amount of time, he will chase him at a speed that is faster than him running speed until he catches him. He will not whistle while chasing him, so it is hard to know where he is coming from.

Once the Principal has caught up to the Protagonist, he will give him detention for a certain amount of time. After the Protagonist gets sent to detention, he will be teleported at the center of the Principal's office and Principal of the Thing will be teleported one tile in front of where they are looking at. Then, he will stand still for 3 seconds, and he will exit his office. During detention, the player is unable to open any door to the Principal's office for 15 seconds for the first time, and the timer will be increased by 5 seconds each time they are caught. Any detention after 60 seconds will last for 99 seconds.

There is one item, namely the Principal's Keys, that can be used to escape detention. However, the longer the detention time is, the riskier this is to do because if the Principal catches the player escaping detention, they will get sent back to his office with a longer waiting time.

Being put into detention attracts Baldi to the center of the Principal's office and reset his sound queue. This will cause him to go toward the Principal's office even if other noises played before detention. However, there are a few ways to prevent from Baldi from being attracted to this location:

  • A sound with a noise rating higher than 95 (such as the Alarm Clock) that plays after the player gets detention.
  • The player uses the WD-NoSquee to the Principal's office, so Baldi will not hear that the Protagonist is being held. However, he can enter this location while wandering around.
  • The player uses Baldi's Least Favorite Tape to the cassette player or the Quarter to the payphone. This will override Baldi's hearing and make him forget that the player is in detention and make him run away from the noise.

As such, getting a 45-second (or longer) detention is an almost guaranteed game over without these items or a distraction, as it will take too long for the timer to hit 0 seconds before Baldi enters the Principal's office and catches the player.

Birthday Bash[]

In Birthday Bash, Principal of the Thing has the same appearance and mechanisms from the original game, except that he also wears a party hat to celebrate the original game's first anniversary. When appearing with the original cast for a surprise when the Protagonist reaches the last exit in the cafeteria, he will say "No surprises in the halls." for comical purposes.

Plus[]

In Plus, the mechanics of Principal of the Thing are the same as in its predecessor. There are a few additions to Principal of the Thing:

  • Principal of the Thing will knock on the door of the faculty room
  • While the Faculty Nametag is in use, the Principal will not scold the player, but he will still chase and send them to detention if they breaks the rules before using the Faculty Nametag.
  • Using the Principal Whistle, Principal of the Thing will come to the player at high speed while saying, "Don't worry, I'm coming!".
  • During one of the random events, Principal of the Thing will give a random gift on each specific floor (except on the 3rd floor).
  • After school closes, Principal of the Thing will turn off the lights in each classroom after he leaves. If Principal of the Thing sees the player, he will scold them for being in school after school hours.

Classic Remastered[]

In Classic Remastered, Principal of the Thing's mechanism is same as in Plus, but with Hard Mode Fun Setting, the detention timer increment is increased to 15 seconds and his chasing mechanism becomes similar to previous games. With Lights Out Fun Setting, he is the only NPC who has light, and it is visible even from a long distance.

Other Games[]

Field Trip Demo[]

In Field Trip demo: Camping, Principal of the Thing plays a very minor role and is one of the four characters who appeared and returned from the original game. He can only be found past a few dark walls in a hallway, where he will say "No breaking the fourth wall in the halls!". However, Principal of the Thing will not send the player to detention and will simply stand there idly. There is no Principal's office in the school's map for Field Trip demo, as it has only two small hallways and an outdoor area.

Trivia[]

  • His name is a play on words of the phrase: "It's the principle of the thing." A principle is a fundamental rule, law, or tenet.
  • Principal of the Thing's whistle is inspired by a scene in the Cartoon Network animation series The Amazing World of Gumball. In the episode "The Banana", a character known as Banana Joe is seen whistling a similar tune.
  • In the trailer of one of Baldi's Basics fan games, Yukon's Basics, there is a voice line of Principal saying, "No making a Baldi's Basics fangame in the halls!" made by Mystman12.
  • In one of the pictures from MAGFest 2020 by Mystman12, he made a pose and facial expression that looked like Principal of the Thing.
  • While it is clear that the Principal of the Thing does not own his own school, he still works at both of Baldi's Schoolhouses, making him the official principal of both schools, despite Baldi being the head teacher and founder/owner of both schools. It is possible that Baldi and the Principal of the Thing worked together to build both Schoolhouses.
    • It is unknown why the Principal of the Thing made the school rules so different from other schools, for example: no running in the hall.
    • Despite being the official principal of both schools, the Principal apparently does not show any leadership qualities. As shown in the Birthday Bash, after the Protagonist heads to the final exit in the cafeteria and surprisingly he just stands there after he and the residents of the school are surprised that only Baldi can do something like leadership, because he is the head teacher and the boss of all his staff.
  • As of version 0.3.3 of Plus, most of his voice lines have been re-recorded. The only sounds and voice lines that are not re-recorded are his whistling sound, "No being in school after-hours in the halls!", and "Don't worry, I'm coming!" quotes. There is also a new voice line, "Don't make me do this again!", when he scolds the player after mentioning the detention time.
  • In Birthday Bash and Party Style of Classic Remastered, Principal of the Thing's party hat is 3D model, although his sprite is based on a real-life person.

Navigation[]

           Logo BaldisBasics NoPlus Black Neutrals

Canon
Schoolhouse/Super Schoolhouse
Teachers
Principal of the Thing
Students
Playtime | It's a Bully | 1st Prize | Beans
Others
Gotta Sweep | Cloudy Copter | Chalkles | The Test
Corrupted
Null | Baldloons (Red Baldloon)
Easter egg
PlaceFace | 0th Prize | BadSum | Bladder | Crazy Baby |

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