Anonymous: How many machines did Joey make? There is the small one in Chapter one, the large one in chapter five, the one in the stairs, the one thats missing, and maybe if it exists the one in concept art in the archives. Thats 5 or 4 ink machines. Now i'm not sure if there is more or less, but why so many?

We’ve seen exactly 4 ink machines in the game.

The first one was the prototype, which Joey stole some time before Buddy started working at the studio.

It’s hard to tell whether the ink demon came from this one, or the next, all we know is that it’s the smallest of the four. I guess Joey took it to produce ink for his own personal use and consumption, or perhaps because he had reasons to fear GENT wanted to take the machine for themselves.

Then we have the second one, created as a replacement, that we see above the staircase in Chapter 3

It doesn’t seem much larger than the original. I suspect it’s the one working during events of DCTL novel, because it’s moved from the studio to the theatre stage in the course of the plot, so it can’t be the giant one, or the one inside the shaft. It also has no wheels, presumably to make it harder to steal. Buddy describes it as having a “makeshift” look, so it was only intended for a temporary use, while Thomas was working on a much bigger ink machine, the one intended to be in the shaft.

The third ink machine is the one inside the shaft

The interesting thing about this ink machine is that, unlike the previous two, this one was created not only by Thomas, but also by Wally. Thomas even alludes to their partnership in his line in the book:

“I helped invent it” not “I invented it”. Also notice that Wally’s design has a “V.02″ in the corner, so he based it on Thomas’ design, but he’s made some changes to it. Judging by the design, Wally’s input was confined to outer parts of the machine.

And finally, we have the giant ink machine at the bottom of the studio.

It had to have been the last ink machine created. We know this thanks to three details:

It was specifically designed to support Wally’s machine Dot claims she’s searched through the entire studio, and she couldn’t find an ink machine there, so the smaller model Buddy saw in the Theatre was the only one existing at the time. The walls are made of ink, which means that another ink machine must have been used to produce ink for creating this one. (We know the walls are made of ink, because they leave an ink stain instead of debris in the place where a hole is made after Bendy slaps Henry through the wall)

The interesting thing about this ink machine is the fact that it was specifically designed to keep the ink creatures from escaping. The area is flooded with ink by design - a huge waste of resources, unless the person who designed it knew that ink creatures can’t walk across a flooded area without melting. In other words, whoever created it was a monster, fully aware that they are designing a prison.

And it had to be an engineer working for GENT. Notice that “GENT” plaque above the entrance?

If that surprises you, seeing as Thomas was fired, the Handbook sheds some light on it:

GENT was contractually obliged to provide an engineer to Joey for 10 years from the ink machine’s creation in 1943. With Thomas gone in 1946, they had to send someone else to replace him for the remaining 7 years of service. That person then went on to design the final ink machine.

And we know that something went very wrong with that ink machine.

Something escaped from it and wreaked havoc across the studio, which proved to be the final nail in its coffin.

If the creature that escaped is the Unknown, could the person, who designed this machine be the BATDR protagonist? Perhaps she isn’t as innocent as she appears? Or maybe the Unknown was the creator, and she is just some unfortunate soul tricked by Joey like so many others? We’ll have to wait and see!