The Library Phantasmagoria

Why is it always SCP?

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By Ariel

There's a specific sub-genre of fiction that seems to always be described or compared to the SCP Foundation. Generally anything involving a cast of mysterious/magical/supernatural objects being collected by an official organization falls under this category.

Admittedly, the inspiration for the post came after reading the first few paragraphs of qntm's Control review (and I plan to finish reading it after publishing this). Just know I'm speaking in reference to that.

Anyway, the most common thing I see things compared to is the SCP Foundation. It kinda makes sense, seeing as SCP is one of the largest open collaborations out there. I can't tell you how many horror games I've seen use the SCP-087 staircase. Yet I'm confused as to why that is the only thing I ever see it compared to.

Back when I was in middle school, my dad would record episodes of Warehouse 13 on the DVR for us to watch while having dinner. A lot of my memory of the show has faded by this point, but I still remember the core premise of an agency that would collect supernatural objects that were always tied to a famous individual. I also remember really liking Claudia, but that's beside the fact of the matter. Perhaps it is simply due to the primacy effect, but that's always been my go-to far more than Warehouse 13.

My first thought was that W13 must have been late to the party; SCP must have had enough time to build a name for itself. Apparently not! Wikipedia says that SCP launched only a little over a year before W13. On top of that, neither were the first in the genre. From 2004 to 2008, a trilogy of movies titled The Librarian had the same idea (and it makes me wonder how much Warehouse 13 was inspired by them). I'm going to stop here before I spiral into how the origins of "battle royale" can be traced.

I think the primary reason I only see SCP comparisons is that I mostly read things related to video games, not movies or television, and only SCP had any video games made from it.