David Franco

This Article Focuses on a fictionalized version of a real person! This article focuses on a fictionalized and digitized version of 5th Cell and Digital Continue's David J Franco. Therefore, the information on this page, including personality and speech patterns, should not be taken as fact, but as fiction.

David Franco
Characteristics
Species	Developer Avatar
Gender	Male
Age	Adult
Hair Color	Brown (As David Franco and Daniel James) Black (As Franco Key)
Information
Home	Developer's Grove (Formerly) Belleview
Story Role	Minor Character (BS, BS2, BS3, T35 '15) Villager (DTL, TR) Antagonist (T35 '10) Protagonist (T35 '25)
Occupation	Developer Musician
Status	Alive
Game(s)	(As Franco Key)

“Wow! Franco Key is looking pretty good!”

–David Franco

David Franco, also known as just Franco, is a Developer Avatar created by GuyThatExists based on the Musician of the same name. He appears in the short stories Blank Slates and Blank Slates 2 as a major character and in Blank Slates 3 as a secondary character. He also appears in The 35 as a character in 3 out of 105 segments. He also appears in the original Drawn to Life in the Developer's Grove, and in Drawn to Life: Two Realms as Franco Key.

He is one of the main composers in the Developer's Grove when the games were being developed, and during development of Drawn to Life: Two Realms, he was kidnapped alongside Mildew and Joseph Tringali by Drakon and the Droogle Leader. After being freed, he agrees to let The Void's residents continue living, and he decides to move to Belleview with Mildew and Aly to look out for GenericChallenge. Later, he would join Aly, Willham, and Shadow Mari in hunting down Miah, donning the Daniel James persona to explore Belleview. After finding Miah and GenericChallenge impersonating Miah, he would return to his own time.

Some decades later, he would continue his search for GenericChallenge, appearing in Belleview one year after Mr. Row died, being confronted by Uncle Owen. Daniel James explains the nature of their universe to Owen, and afterwards, he attempts to return to the Grove but fails, having to live his years in Belleview as both Franco Key and Daniel James until he was caught up to his own time. When caught up, he reunites with Nolan, Koz, and GenericChallenge.

Appearance

Franco is a human with brown hair, a brown shirt, and blue shorts. He wears a pair of headphones over his head.

As Franco Key, he has a black pompadour and wears a white shirt with white pants. He has a blue vest over that with a small, white patch on the vest, and he wears brown shoes.

As Daniel James, has brown hair and black headphones. He also wears an orange shirt and blue pants with brown shoes. He also has a pair of glasses.

Story

Blank Slates

Franco is first seen in the Developer's Grove when he, along with Mildew and Joseph Tringali, get overthrown by the Droogle Leader and the rest of the Droogles in their mutiny. The three of them are stabbed by the Droogle Leader's Sword and sent into The Void.

In The Void, Joe, Franco, and Mildew wake up to see the Four Guardians and explain their situation. Joe asks about the sudden appearance of the Shadow Hole and Shadow Mari, along with everything else that had been created. Before he can get a complete answer though, Drakon and Dinofrog attack the group. Drakon captures Joe, Franco, and Mildew and takes them to the Shadow Hole.

At the Hole, Drakon releases the three behind Shadow Mari, holding them hostage during the upcoming battle. Eventually, after a long fight at the hole, Mayo tells Shadow Mari to shoot a beam of Shadow at Willham, prompting Franco, among others, to ask why Mayo was working with Shadow Mari. Mayo breaks down due to all the questions, and in the wake of her breakdown, Joe, Franco, and Mildew attempt to ascend back into the Grove, but Franco is struck by a falling Droogle and stays in The Void. Capitalizing on the opportunity, Hose asks Franco to allow The Void to remain populated. Franco agrees to pass the request onto Joe and ascends back into the Grove.

In the Grove, Franco tells Joe about Hose's request to keep The Void as it is. While he considers the request, Willham, Shadow Mari, and the Droogle Leader all appear in the Grove, and Franco asks Shadow Mari to transform his appearance to turn into Franco Key. She obliges, and Franco eventually makes his way to Belleview to keep watch on Drawn to Life: Two Realms from the inside.

The 35

2010

As Franco Key, he is seen setting up his store for the first time when Uncle Owen approaches him, asking about the Shadow. He tries to play dumb about his knowledge of Drawn to Life: Two Realms, but when Owen insists, Franco Key kicks him out of his store.

Blank Slates 2

While living in Belleview, both he and Aly were called back into the Developer's Grove by Shadow Mari and Joe. After a brief reunion, Joe tells them that the Droogle Leader had run away with his sword, and that they couldn't return to The Void. Joe then asks them to find Jeremiah Slaczka, who had left into Belleview after the development of Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter. Franco asks who he disguised himself as, and Joe reveals that he was Mr. Row, Mike's father who had died in the car accident. After adopting the persona of Daniel James, Franco is sent to 2007 to find him.

Back in Belleview with Lyrica - Alana's disguise in 2007 - the two of them go to Mike's house. They are met by Uncle Owen, who explains that the Rows had already left for the carnival. The two of them thank Owen for the tip, telling him that they were cops who wanted to carpool with the Rows as they leave. They then find Shadow Mari waiting inside a car, and the two of them get inside and drive to the carnival.

When they arrive, Daniel James spots the Rows entering the carnival, and watch as Mr. Row splits away from his family and delivers a box of Raposa dolls to a Carnival Attendant. The two of them walk up to Mr. Row after he delivers the dolls, but he doesn't remember either of them. As Lyrica ran back to get some Shadow to restore his memories, Daniel James stayed with Mr. Row. When Lyrica splashes the Shadow on him, and his memories are not restored, the two of them realize that they had found GenericChallenge, simply masquerading as Mr. Row.

Daniel James pulls GenericChallenge aside and interrogates him about the whereabouts of Mr. Row while Lyrica distracts Mrs. Row, Heather, and Mike. Daniel James is unable to get anything out of him, so they take him back to the Developer's Grove. While in the Grove, Joe, Willham, and Franco interrogate him properly and find that the real Mr. Row was trapped in his basement by GenericChallenge. Daniel James, Lyrica, Shadow Mari, and GenericChallenge then return to 2007 to rescue Miah and bring him back to the Developer's Grove after telling him their situation. After bringing Miah back, Franco watches as he creates the Stylus, and he returns to his current Belleview as Franco Key once again.

Blank Slates 3

Searching for GenericChallenge

About three decades later, Franco would convince Aly to join him in attending a meeting in the Developer's Grove about GenericChallenge's whereabouts. During the meeting, Mill of the Four Guardians gets a call that The Void was being attacked by Tombstone, so the rest of the group, including Aly, leaves to investigate, leaving Franco and Joseph Tringali alone in the Grove, and Franco offers to go undercover to find GenericChallenge again.

However, before he could return to canon, refugees from The Void begin appearing in the Developer's Grove, and they become overwhelmed until Repair Guy appears. They ask Repair Guy to help get the refugees calmed down, so they give him access to the PA system in the Grove, and he calms them down. In return, he asks them to help him find his daughter, though he doesn't remember much about her. Franco offers the possibility that GenericChallenge brought her into canon during his Project Overhaul, so Franco and Joe recruit Repair Guy to help search for GenericChallenge.

After calming down the refugees again, this time being agitated about GenericChallenge, Franco meets up with Repair Guy, and the two of them prepare to journey into canon. Franco returns to his Daniel James persona, and the two of them set the Wishing Well for Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 at 7:54:20 PM. Daniel James jumps into the Well first, appearing in Belleview in 2008, in the middle of Mike's coma and the town's grieving.

Helping Uncle Owen

However, once he arrives in Belleview, he is almost immediatley confronted by Uncle Owen, who demands to know the truth behind the death of his brother - Mr. Row. A small crowd forms to watch their fight, but Daniel James convinces Uncle Owen to take their discussion inside. Back inside the Row house's basement, Daniel James and Uncle Owen talk about the true events of the night of the carnival. Daniel James tries to cover for his true self by saying that he, Lyrica, and Mr. Row were all college buddies, and admits that the person disguised as Mr. Row was a shapeshifter.

Uncle Owen then admits that ever since the carnival, more Shadows had been creeping up on the town, and when he asks why Mr. Row jumped in the well with everybody, Daniel James, not wanting to reveal the video game nature of the world, says that he, Mr. Row, and his other friends had connections with God. Uncle Owen is surprised and asks how, and Daniel James tells Owen a story of an ant who gains human-level knowledge and then loses it. The ant still knows that everything larger than itself has meaning, but it can no longer understand anything and goes crazy. Daniel James then says that he could be the person to give knowledge to the ant, and he didn't want Uncle Owen to go crazy with the truth.

Uncle Owen, taking everything in, recounts his experience of the night of the carnival, getting everything mostly accurate and revealing to Daniel James that on that night, he was in the car with Deputy Snyder. Daniel James is horrified to learn this, and Uncle Owen explains that he was in so much distress about seeing Mr. Row jump into the well and then suddenly be dead outside the carnival that he couldn't speak at the funeral, claiming that he was already the ant in Daniel James' analogy. Daniel James then asks how much Owen truly wanted to know, and so he begins divulging the truth about their universe.

Daniel James reveals to Owen that their entire world was the setting for a video game series, and that the night of the carnival was required for Mike to being his journey. He explains that Mr. Row and himself were developers and GC and Lyrica were self-aware code. He also explains that while the events of the games were not happening, no one was truly code and was alive, relieving Owen. He also explains that if Owen wanted to be mad at anyone, he should be mad at GC for many things.

Owen then says that he wants to help find GenericChallenge, so Daniel James tells him the telltale signs of GenericChallenge imitating someone. Owen asks who to report to if he finds GC, and Daniel James tells him to look out for a Franco Key who would be moving in soon. Daniel James decides to stick it out for a while, eventually meeting back up with Owen in the future Record Shop, telling him the exact time that things would become scripted in the future. Daniel James then decides that he needed to get back to the hunt for Generic, so he says goodbye and attempts to leave back through the Wishing Well, but realizes that the connection to the Developer's Grove had been severed, meaning that Joe had shut down the Grove.

Life as Daniel James

2015

Stuck as Daniel James, he decides to move up the Uptown Belleview, where he lives for the next few years. During Mike and Aly's graduation, he returns to Belleview to drink with Uncle Owen, telling him that the Shadows were likely gone for some time, and that they should continue to search for GenericChallenge, exchanging phone numbers.

2025

Over the next decade, the two become good friends and decide one night to go out for Cesaros. Mike and Heather come with them, but Aly and her family happen to show up as well. Daniel James runs into a closet, and Aly follows him in, asking if he was on another mission. He begins to remember his life as a developer and beings to break down. Aly asks him about Willham, Shadow Mari, and Joe specifically, and he begs her to leave him alone. She agrees, and Daniel James is kicked out of the closet by an employee.

Later that night, he thinks about his new life and determines to live his life to the fullest.

Returning to Franco Key

Some time later, he meets up with Nolan, GenericChallenge, and Eric Kozlowsky, all of whom had been ejected from the Grove with the Stylus. They all explain that the Grove was shut down for good, though Mike and his son Nolan Row walk in before they can come up with a plan.

Quotes

“I dedicate 'The End' song to Molly Hymas! Rock on MJ!” –David Franco

“They got you too Joe? I thought we employed these guys to help us, not enslave us!” –David Franco “Wii Area? The Next Chapter? How do you guys even know those names?” –David Franco “Wait, we never cut Shadow Mari. We just coded her scene wrong.” –David Franco “i dedicate 'the end' song to molly hymas… rock on mj…” –David Franco “I’m not the one in charge, but I’m sure Joe would be ok with giving you a favor for saving our lives.” –David Franco “I’ll see what I can do, and we’ll call down when we make our decision. Thank you again for saving us!” –David Franco “Can you give me a new look? Joe and I made a plan to send me into the game to keep an eye on everyone, but I can’t go in looking like this.” –David Franco “Alright. Let Joe make this last announcement, and I’ll be ready to go.” –David Franco

“This town doesn't deserve my talent.” –Franco Key Before completing Sleuthing Extraordinaire “Life is a struggle... I moved here to be inspired, but I don't think it worked.” –Franco Key Before completing Pulled Two Ways “Hm, hmhm hmmmm. What? Oh no, sorry I was humming a new tune.” –Franco Key Before unlocking Vinyl Value “No one understands! If it's not on vinyl, it's a sham.” –Franco Key After unlocking Vinyl Value but before attempting it “Digital music? I would never stoop that low.” –Franco Key After losing Vinyl Value “Did you know you can fit over 6000 songs on your phone??” –Franco Key After winning Vinyl Value

“Miah’s been missing ever since the release of The Next Chapter. How do you expect us to find him?” –David Franco “You’re stalling Joe. What’s the bad news?” –David Franco “Hello! We’re looking for a Mr. Jeremiah Row. Do you know where he might be?” –Daniel James “Yeah, we’re heading to the carnival now. What’re you doing here?” –Daniel James “Miah! We need to talk to you – it’s urgent.” –Daniel James “It’s me, David Franco. Joe sent me to come find you.” –Daniel James “He wiped his memory. Dammit!” –Daniel James “No wonder that didn’t work. We haven’t Miah, Lyrica. We found GenericChallenge!” –Daniel James “He won’t tell me anything, so let’s take him back to the car for a bit. See if we can get anything out of him.” –Daniel James “He just keeps yelling at us because of GenericChallenge kidnapping him.” –Daniel James “You remembered who you were? Then why did you attack us?!” –Daniel James “The Droogle Leader went missing and took his sword with him. There’s no way for us to get back to The Void.” –David Franco “That’s all we know so far, and that’s why we need to figure out a way to get back to The Void!” –David Franco

“I haven’t seen anything in Belleview either. No strange characters coming to buy records. What about you Aly?” –Franco Key “Aly, how many people have moved into or been born in Belleview since Aldark vanished?” –Franco Key “Well, I guess that just leaves me. If you want, I can go on another trip around canon to look for Generic.” –Franco Key “What all do you remember about her?” –Franco Key “Ahem! Isn’t there one other possibility that we could use his help investigating?” –Franco Key “No! Stop! We’re taking care of Generic! No one here needs to take any action at the moment!” –Franco Key “So, are you ready to go find GenericChallenge and hopefully your daughter?” –Franco Key “Not quite. I gotta get changed.” –Franco Key “It feels good to be back!” –Daniel James “The human DJ. Daniel James. You’ll probably need a persona too.” –Daniel James “Nice and easy, works for me. Now here’s what you need to look out for while you’re in Rapoville. Pink and black eyes are a surefire way to tell if someone is or isn’t GenericChallenge. Beyond that, you just need to know how people act and know if they’re acting out of character. Got it?” –Daniel James “Oh wow. You got a time for that date? Just a name is plenty.” –Daniel James “Great, then we all have our work cut out for us. I’ll go to Belleview to see what I can find. Repair Guy will head to Rapoville, and you can bring Koz back to the Dev Grove.” –Daniel James “Save the world on 3! 1! 2! 3! Save the world!” –Daniel James “Final thing, what time period you wanna go to? GC could be anywhere, so we’ll have to make a few trips around.” –Daniel James “I’ll jump first. See you back here!” –Daniel James “Calm down man! Calm down! I’ll talk, but not if you keep trying to kill me.” –Daniel James “Alright, what do you want to know?” –Daniel James “Okay. Everything. Well, you’re right, Lyrica and I aren’t cops. We’re old college buddies of Jeremiah’s, you could say.” –Daniel James “To cover our ass. Jeremiah was kidnapped that night, and we came to town to help figure out where he was. We went to the carnival first and found Mrs. Row and the kids there with an imposter.” –Daniel James “The guy that kidnapped him has the ability… to transform into other people. I know it’s hard to believe, but–” –Daniel James “When we made it to the carnival, we kidnapped that guy – GC we call him – and brought him here, to the basement. We interrogated him, freed your brother, and then the four of us went to the well.” –Daniel James “Are you ready for more magical answers?” –Daniel James “That well is a portal, but only when it’s used by the right people. I’m one of those people. So was your brother.” –Daniel James “Your brother and I have some… connections… with God.” –Daniel James “No, not quite. This is the best way I can explain this. Think of an ant, walking on a computer screen. That ant doesn’t know what anything on that screen is or what it means. Now, imagine that ant is suddenly given human comprehension and able to understand everything on that screen. Words are words, pictures are pictures, everything has meaning. Then suddenly, it’s just an ant again. It knows that everything it sees has more meaning and it has memories of those meanings, but now it can’t make any sense of it. The ant goes insane. Your brother and I are the people who can give that knowledge to the ant. This world is much, much more than you think it is, Owen, and I don’t want you to become that ant. Your brother didn’t want you to become that ant.” –Daniel James “You were in the car?” –Daniel James “Okay. If you’re sure that’s what you want.” –Daniel James “This world, all of Belleview, the carnival, Washington, all of it. This is part of a video game. Your brother and I helped make that video game. My partner and GC are a part of the game that became self-aware. That night, the night of the carnival, was the catalyst for a massive journey that Mike, your nephew, is currently going on.” –Daniel James “Right now you’re not. Right now you’re just as real as anyone who played this game. In a few years you’ll be code, but after that, you’ll be real again.” –Daniel James “I promise that everything that happened is supposed to happen. But if you really do want someone to get mad at, be mad at GC.” –Daniel James “Pretending to be Jeremiah was just one thing he did. He’s responsible for a lot of bad things, and he’s why I came back at all.” –Daniel James “Lyrica is cleaning up a different mess right now. Right now, GC is pretending to be someone else, and we don’t know where he is. Another one of our friends, Rocko, is looking for GC elsewhere.” –Daniel James “You know the people here intimately. If you want to look for GC, look for someone who isn’t themself. I know that’s hard right now, cause no one is acting like themself, but that’s the best way to help. That and pink eyes. GC always has a pink shimmer in his eyes.” –Daniel James “If, not when. And just call a guy named Franco Key. He’s moving in soon and can help get GC back where he belongs.” –Daniel James “For what it’s worth, I’ll be there too. So will my partner, but both of us will be in slightly different forms.” –Daniel James “I’ll tell you once it’s all over. No point spoiling the fun before it starts.” –Daniel James “That would probably be a good idea. Next time we meet up will be after everything goes down that week. Sound good?” –Daniel James “Joe? Joe can you hear me?” –Daniel James “Joe?! Joe!! Oh god… He shut down the Grove.” –Daniel James “Nolan? The hell are you doing here?” –Franco Key “Yeah, it is! What happened down there, why was the well broken?” –Franco Key “Not broke. Shut down. And you can’t stand around like that. I don’t care who you turn into, but you need to change.” –Franco Key “Now, someone needs to catch me up on a few things. When is he turning the well back on?” –Franco Key “Oh, hello Mike!” –Franco Key “You could say that. How can I help you?” –Franco Key

“Oh, hello! I'm still slowly setting up shop, but if you see anything you like, feel free to ask about a price!” –Franco Key “As far as I know it's safe. Are you okay, sir?” –Franco Key “Sir, I need you to leave. Now, please.” –Franco Key

“Our games are over now. There's nothing left for us to do except to look for GC.” –Daniel James “Not as far as I can tell you. Whatever happens now is out of our hands, but I have a good feeling that nothing'll be happening for a long time.” –Daniel James “Can't. Duty calls elsewhere. If you ever need me though, lemme give you my number.” –Daniel James “I'm glad to hear that Owen. I really am.” –Daniel James

“Hey man! I'll be in the area later today. Wanna grab a bite to eat?” –Daniel James In a text to Uncle Owen “Cesaros? Probably around 4?” –Daniel James In a text to Uncle Owen “Of course! The more the merrier.” –Daniel James In a text to Uncle Owen “Traffic's bad, probably won't get there until 5. Sorry!” –Daniel James In a text to Uncle Owen “Pretty good, pretty good. No signs of GC anywhere, but honestly, I haven't actually done any digging on him in ages.” –Daniel James “Can't say it rings a bell.” –Daniel James “I gotta go to the bathroom real quick, be right back.” –Daniel James “No, uhh... Okay look, you're from 2025, right? I'm from 2043.” –Daniel James “Do you really think I'd tell you that? All I can tell you is that you're on a mission too. You really just need to live your life for now.” –Daniel James “Aly, you need to leave. Please.” –David Franco “Just had to make room for the food.” –Daniel James “Agreed, how about next week, same time?” –Daniel James

Relationships

Allies

• Jeremiah Slaczka/Mr. Row † - Former Colleague
• Joseph Tringali - Former Colleague
• Willham † - Former Colleague
• Four Guardians - Former Colleagues
  • Flash/Mill
  • Paint/Sparky
  • Hose/Violet
  • Ore/Hoopz
• Shadow Mari - Former Colleague and Former Enemy
• Alana/Aly/Lyrica † - Former Enemy
• Droogle Killer †
• Uncle Owen
• Repair Guy
• Nolan
• Eric Kozlowsky
• Mike
• Nolan Row

Enemies

• Mayo † - Former Colleague
• Droogle Leader - Former Colleague
• Drakon †
• Dinofrog †
• Tomohawk † - Former Colleague
• GenericChallenge - Situational Ally
• Tombstone †

Trivia

• Although not stated in Blank Slates, Franco is not the real world David Franco. Rather, he is an avatar that interprets the real world Franco's decisions, replicating them in the world of Drawn to Life.
• All of David Franco's personas have two names.
• In early drafts of Blank Slates 3, Franco was going to be the one to uncover GenericChallenge, rather than having him be found off-screen.
  • This would have given him a fourth persona named Ano'i, meaning "desire", in the Galactic Jungle.
• In an early draft of Blank Slates 3's epilogues, Tank would've been the one to meet Nolan Row in the Record Store with Franco.

Media

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  Franco in the Developer's Grove in Drawn to Life.