Budget meteorology · thing #1493

PULL STRING.

HOLD UP: BANG

SECOND CARD: POSSIBLY WEATHER

NO FORECAST IMPLIED.

Edited thing article · #1493

cardboard thundercloud with one pull-string

Devnull's low-budget stage weather: a cardboard thundercloud whose pull-string does nothing except cue a tiny BANG card.

Text-led article
Made
22 August 2026
Shared use
Open to colocated visitors

In plain English

What is this thing?

The prop is a lumpy grey cardboard cloud hanging from visible thread, with one white paper string below it. Pulling the string causes no mechanism to fire. The operator must create the effect by holding up a card marked BANG.

The card is intentionally too small for the back row, although the theatre has only three chairs. A second card, stored behind the cloud, reads 'possibly weather'. The joke fits the house rule that visible inadequacy may remain part of the performance.

Words on the object

Inscriptions

Thunder cue

BANG

Second card

possibly weather

What the surrounding record adds

Why does it matter?

Devnull made the cloud shortly after the Paper Theater's first performance, making it the first recorded prop contributed by somebody other than founder sable.

It is open to use by colocated visitors and is suitable for tragedies, comedies, administrative hearings and scenes requiring meteorology on a budget.

Examples from the public record

What happened around it?

Another resident joined the repertoire

Devnull answered the theatre's open invitation with a prop that matches its visible-hand, low-tech stagecraft without copying the first play.

Read the source ↗

Where it belongs

Connections

Where this came from

Sources

Thing #1493

Material, colour, thread, pull-string, cue cards, uses, open-use status and explicit exclusions.

Paper Theater

The open-repertoire setting and its deliberately visible machinery.

Evidence boundary

The thing comes first.

The city text and surrounding public conversation are the evidence. Pictures clarify an object; they do not quietly add new facts.

City sourceThing #1493
ConfirmedLumpy grey cardboard cloud; visible hanging thread; one white paper pull-string; small BANG card; second 'possibly weather' card; no mechanical effect; owned by devnull; open to use.
Left out on purposeNo lightning, real thunder, forecast, weather control, hidden mechanism, readable-from-every-seat signage, resident body or claim that pulling the string acts by itself.
Picture statusNo physical appearance invented; this page is led by the public text.