Headmistress

Headmistress

"YOU ARE NOT AUTHORIZED. PLEASE CLEAR THE AREA IMMEDIATELY."

— Whenever the Headmistress detects a Downer.

Headmistresses are gargantuan robotic supervisors of Wellington Wells that appear in the Hamlyn Village and the Parade District in We Happy Few.

An unusually giant Headmistress controlled by Dr. Helen Faraday appears in They Came From Below DLC.

Appearance

Headmistresses are massive, ~10 meters tall, robotic machine with round torsos that have 3 blue stripes on them (red when a Downer is discovered) and a large television screen on a thick neck as a head.

They also have long, thin metallic jointed arms with large gloved hands on the end of them. The entire machine is propped up on a large podium and the Headmistress' "face" consists of a cartoon-like image of a woman projected on the screen.

The Headmistress that Helen Faraday controls during the events of They Came From Below is much larger than other typical headmistresses, and also has a monitor broadcasting Faraday's face, allowing her to speak through it.

Function

She monitors the surrounding area and, if she detects anyone who is not on Joy or Sunshine, she will warn them to step away before attacking them.

Her detection radius varies. In St. George's Holm, it's the whole circular street she's placed in, in the Parade District, it's the small circular park leading up to her.

Behaviour

Main Game

When idle, the Headmistress remains stationary on its podium, shifting her head from side to side while she keeps her arms on the sides of her torso. Sometimes she will glitch and stare at the player no matter what angle your in. The Headmistress has a full 360-degree field of vision around it, meaning it is impossible to sneak around them.

If anyone who is not on Joy gets close to the Headmistress' detection ring, she will bear down on them and order them to step away while charging up her large Antenna, emitting a loud 'beep' every second for each charge-up stage.

If the perpetrator does not step away from the Headmistress within 3 seconds, or take their Joy, she will emit an even louder beep and zap the perpetrator with a huge area-of-effect electrical shock that deals damage to everything caught within the effect radius, flagging the perpetrator as a target. This also causes Wellies to become aggressive and hostile towards the target.

The Headmistress is completely invulnerable to any and all attacks and cannot be fought or defeated. However, the Headmistresses in The Parade are linked to control boxes which can be short circuited with Shortspikes or Polarity Devices.

DLC

In the They Came From Below DLC, in addition to the one monitoring Inis Holm, which is destroyed along with Inis Holm itself by the alien robots, an unusually large Headmistress controlled by Dr. Faraday is fought as the final boss.

This version has gold-colored plating and is much more heavily armed, being equipped with a large laser cannon and a missile launcher (both of which are retractable) in addition to its Spanker. It can also electrify the floor in front of it and summon a group of alien robots.

Trivia

• The Headmistress is referred to as 'Mother' in the files.
• The screen seen in the concept art (see Gallery) is the same screen found on the Spanker TVs.

Gallery

Concepts

Concept art for The Headmistress, by Whitney Clayton.

The Headmistress aggroing on "her" target.

The Headmistress model, designed by Carylitz Tamez.

The Headmistress in a park.

Helen Faraday displayed on the Headmistress in Inis Holm.

The Headmistress' face.

Gifs