Rebuilding a 13 Year Old Meme Invention

Offset your carbon footprint with me on Wren! We'll plant 10 extra trees for the first 100 people who sign up! www.wren.co/start/allenpan
Thank you for the gift @Estefannie ! I'll never call you again.
God I hope the package makes it in time @KidsInventStuff
Original story by @Cybershell13
Camera'd by @williamosman and @AudreyEmber
#YTmakersSecretSanta
• YT Makers Secret Santa...
The Secretest of Santas:
@theHacksmith
@colinfurze
@tested
@ThisOldTony
@BeckyStern
@LOOKMUMNOCOMPUTER
@jamesbruton
@xylafoxlin
@thea_ulrich
Help me make stuff:
/ sufficientlyadvanced
Follow me into the parking lot at night:
/ anytechnology
/ sufficientlyadvanced
/ sufficientlyadvanced

[@allenpan]

Join me on Wren and start offsetting your carbon footprint today! We'll plant 10 extra trees for the first 100 people who sign up! www.wren.co/start/allenpan

[@Milesshore_]

aight

[@JaSon-wc4pn]

I'm so carbon neutral. I have to burn car tyres just to stay on par with my peers

[@lunchbox2959]

I like the sentiment, but people's carbon footprints are tiny compared to companies and industry as a whole. Wasn't the idea of a "carbon footprint" coined by the oil industry to shift the blame from themselves onto everyone else?

[@boring_ugly_dude3924]

Am I the only one who thought he was talking about Wren from Corridor Crew?

[@bonezwithaz1402]

69 comments on the comment rn pog

[@williamosman]

Universal studios about to bust through your door and take their soda back

[@Robin_Is]

Ok.

[@Milesshore_]

fr

[@CaldwellLowell]

I'm really glad we get our fill of Big Willy in this video, we miss you

[@jakeweatherley8270]

Thanks for the input William osman

[@TheRealAlpha2]

...And the Harry Potter wand, frankly I'm surprised they even let him in anymore.

[@Rafael-2105]

"we millennials don't actually own things. We rent our houses, we lease our cars, we borrow our education from the man. And now! They're coming for our soda refills!" Rawest lines ever said.

[@thc_freebaser]

I heard someone say "capitalism makes you rent out your life" and I can't stop thinking about it

[@MasterlKenobi]

As a wise man once said, they will own nothing and be happy.

[@tyaty]

I pay everything upfront personally.

[@OldDanTucker]

@@thc_freebaser capitalism doesnt make you rent out your life, horrible people do.

[@thc_freebaser]

@@OldDanTucker capitalists, you mean

[@tsunderecat413]

never thought i'd cross "anti-consumer soda fountains" off my dystopian nightmare list

[@boejudden9011]

We’re in for a pretty mid dystopia. Like I’m pretty sure I’ll still have to go in to work by the time robots are killing people in the streets.

[@masontowey]

i have bingo

[@acewmd.]

@@boejudden9011well I mean, they’re only killing homeless people and the occasional political dissenter. How can you blame them for cleaning up the neighborhood and stopping the spread of radical and politically harmful ideas.

[@gabrielv.4358]

So true

[@clayton4349]

Might as well cross out “anti-capitalism” or those stupid “consoom” meme (both of which are quite blatantly communistic/socialistic) off my dystopian nightmare list.

[@Artcat932]

That training video about refill cooldowns is literally the sort of dystopian stuff that a Disney supervillain would broadcast upon their take over.

[@kanebutler5345]

and now it's the sort of stuff actual Disney would broadcast cause they're adding it to there park

[@Gravity_studioss]

You were caught consuming 0.5 liters of soda This violates the soda consumption law by surpassing the limit of 0.3 liters of soda The penalty is redeployment to a labor camp in the north Your viewers will be interrogated about their involvement The safety of your soda stealing tool is unknown GLORY TO DISNEY

[@boejudden9011]

When you look up how many trade unionists have been killed on behalf of Coca Cola in Indonesia and Colombia, it’ll be a lot less G-rated.

[@monkeydad47]

I wanted to throttle that man

[@hamburgerhamburgerv2]

As president I’ll ban refill cooldowns and limits

[@523duncanjones]

its actually wild how far they go to avoid giving you the soda you paid for

[@pellept0327]

You paid for a cup of soda, and they are making sure you get that one cup, you didn't pay for all the soda in that machine

[@EverythingZen01]

@@pellept0327 ok universal spy

[@pellept0327]

@@EverythingZen01 how'd you know

[@coriux]

@@pellept0327 It costs 9 bucks for 24 cans in a grocery store. If I'm paying almost enough for 48 cans of soda you better bet I want more than 1 measly cup

[@pellept0327]

@@coriux Then go buy 24 cans of soda instead of an extremely over prized cup of soda

[@AgiHammerthief]

electronic limitations on refills is sooo petty. Some twentyish years ago a friend of mine asked the waiter how they could do the whole „free refill“ and she said „well this table of 5 just paid the syrup for a whole week“.

[@katteisace4563]

i did some looking into restaurants finanances for a business our family was going to buy and it turned out the soda was nearly pure profit

[@DaBlaccGhost]

@@katteisace4563 if I'm not mistaken that's the whole point of soda and alcohol in stores, profit

[@grahamnelson1239]

@@DaBlaccGhost to be fair that’s the point of anything being sold.. soda is incredibly profitable though. mcdonald’s makes a fraction of their profit from food sales and the large majority is soda.

[@younghero25]

@@katteisace4563 yeah it costs about 2 cents per litre in syrup, not accounting for shipping costs. The water is free

[@stuffz1757]

As someone who works at a Arby's, it takes a lot to empty a box of syrup, only like an a few ml go into a large soda, and I've worked at restaurants long enough to confidentially say that a CO2 refill only happens at most twice a year. Ultimately, Soda is fucking cheaper than cheap.

[@Darthdoodoo]

You got to go to the next level and get a kid and a stroller with a huge reservoir underneath

[@def3ndr887]

The next gen soda stealer technology

[@BankruptMonkey]

This is perfect for like if you spent $10,000 on a dining hall meal plan at college but they only let you into the dining hall during daylight hours when college students are often asleep or studying

[@archangel4670]

Oddly specific

[@JustAnotherJames3]

​@@archangel4670 Not really. my college is like that. I'm an engineering student... Hmmmmmm... (Welp, next year. Finals end Wednesday.)

[@sinisterthoughts2896]

​@@archangel4670it's a real issue.

[@bransonallen2925]

Damn my campus had this problem. They would literally close the dining hall at 7 PM even though we had classes and labs that lasted all the way until 9.

[@usefulpineapple4538]

UMaine moment. Except literally everything in the dinings halls there make you sick.

[@ionian525]

I kept making "Hang on my soda machine needs a software update" joke at some jobs but learning that you can limit how much soda is dispensed per time period per cup per day is insane. There is more tech going into these soda machines than Nintendo puts into a fucking Amiibo. Truly an odd time to be alive.

[@jlco]

That's... actually probably the same technology in the cups as what's used in an amiibo. I imagine it's NFC, as anything else would cost more than it could ever possibly save.

[@SkylarsTerribleMemes]

@@jlco as far as i know they're basically just rfid stickers on the bottom of the cups, the machine looks up the tag number or whatever in some database

[@Tobunari]

amiibo were never technical marvels dude. Even in Smash they just stored certain values and it would be applied to a CPU fighter that made it behave differently.

[@Aidan-zc8wx]

@@SkylarsTerribleMemes idk what that is but I was assuming its similar to the small thin devises they put in library books in many modern libraries

[@japzone]

The cups are just disposable Amiibos.

[@Beef__]

“It’s not about the soda, it’s about sending a message” -Epitaph Philip, a visionary

[@AiluridaeAureus]

Damn it, I was just about to comment that!

[@thevideosinc]

Dark night had just came out that year

[@FwSmokey]

Frack you did if first

[@AmazeAngeloGames]

🤣😂

[@darkvoid4017]

that hits harder than my uncle and that should say a lot 😢

[@anuh4308]

Came from hbmomberguy mention, stayed for this overenginered masterpiece

[@wanwan2180]

came to this video after it got a shoutout from hbomberguy and it's such a nice palate cleanser to see creative and original youtubers come together to do a secret Santa after watching that video about plagiarism. The tarot reader you got id do cool as well!

[@qwertyTRiG]

I watch the entire Makers Secret Santa playlist every year, and have discovered a bunch of cool people from it. It's always fun and wholesome.

[@vladimirgluten7251]

Those soda machines are literally the definition of “make a problem, sell the solution”

[@SRBAnimate]

@Cekia Selmi ♋️ no u, bot

[@memedude8303]

am i allowed to use a hammer to break the problem to make my own solutions?

[@You-dh7mu]

@@memedude8303 omg why’d you ask, *of course you can*

[@boiltheman2802]

@Cekia Selmi ♋️ what the hell does butter mean lol

[@SysFan808]

now, the dislike button subscription! -allows you to see the dislike count on videos -no extra features start now for 10,000$ per second!

[@JoelCreates]

I was considering making this after seeing that same video lol, I was going to vacuum the air out of the top of the reservoir to create suction. Nice to see it brought to life again

[@RepeatedFailure]

The second I saw the og video, I wanted to put peristaltic pumps in it

[@ffoska]

Make an NFC tag that changes codes, and skip the 9min waiting. Though generating tag numbers with correct values might be impossible... for $4 drinks, I'm damn sure they paid the programmers well

[@nodustollens9183]

i wonder if you tried to suck the liquid out of the tap, if the measure device is actually measuring the time to fill, or the actual volume. you could get more liquid out in the same time

[@un7ucky]

@@ffoska Make a REader that steals codes from people you walk past. whats the odds they needed a fill when you get the timer going

[@ElJitomateElectrico]

You should instead find a way to refill infinitely, hacking the chip that the machine detects , I guess It is rfid

[@HarukiYamamoto]

Bottling plants also carbonate the fluid right before it goes into the bottles. Did an internship at a bottling plant several years ago and I've never thought too much into it until today.

[@elusive_reverie]

I was watching this while I had COVID, and was put to be "studying" at home since my mom made me. I was watching this, and when she asked what I was watching I told her it was about engineering. Thank you. It worked.

[@tylern6420]

r/technicallythetruth moment

[@WarfareRidge]

I love this story, Soda Stealing is something a lot of us can relate with, and it proves to be one of the most influential and inspirational tales of modern history.

[@frostbite1699]

Oh woah, small world huh

[@benn.official_]

Well... we stopped drinking tea as often, so this is nostalgic lol

[@thesysop4998]

bruh what is this bot trap

[@Cybershell13]

Haha, neat. Glad to see someone keeping the dream alive.

[@bobsmitj9306]

Saw the thumbnail and imedietly thought of your video only for you to get a shout out a minute in. Glad to see the tale of Operation Soda Steal continue to spread

[@sirareus]

I hoped to see someone talking about Cybershell in the comments. Was glad to see the myth himself.

[@N25_CT13]

he

[@Yoyoitsyoji]

The fucking loremaster himself

[@butnah]

The myth the man the legend himself

[@zohan90210]

"do you even drink soda?" its not about the soda, its about sending a message - this guy

[@Mriya6]

Hbomb brought me here. Thanks for giving credit to the inventor!

[@LeoZhao01]

Honestly, the line about renting cups actually pisses me off at how accurate it is

[@SivaExperiment]

Yeah and guess what Toyota wants you to pay for your keyfob with a subscription service you don’t own it

[@williamhuang8309]

big corporations trying to extort money off us

[@guidedexplosiveprojectileg9943]

@@williamhuang8309 make this illegal

[@ihavekalashnikovyoudomath9275]

It's not just companies. It's us being too complacent and allowing it to happen. If we keep buying souvenir cups, it'll keep happening

[@jlco]

@@SivaExperiment Imagine having to hotwire a car that the bank says is yours. I'll do what I want with my dang car; it shouldn't be connected to the internet to begin with.

[@stilllife8]

Allen putting together the soda stealer at the park looks like he's in the corner building a bomb. Super sketch.

[@emlynmatheson4589]

Especially with the whole monologue :)

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

It's just as powerful as a bomb. It's going to take down the whole system!

[@666Drazil]

I was half-expecting this video to end with him revealing he had been kicked out and/or handed over to the cops cause they thought he was doing just that

[@TryingIGuess]

Reminds me of Michael reeves in the target with his screaming roomba

[@BigPurp9]

I was about to say like I know it’s a funny video but it’s not the smartest move to purposely act sketchy in a public place these days🤣

[@euclodies1719]

8:06 “this is actually a video,” “video”

[@WinterMadness]

We truly live in a dystopia. Even the refills are controlled by the corporate overlords.

[@letmeshowumypkmn]

They put cooldowns on goddamn soda fountains. If this is the future they're making for us then Epitaph did nothing wrong. In fact he's practically a modern day hero now. The original soda rebel with a cause

[@user-el4np5xt8c]

He didn't even steal it. Next best thing is going around with a mini-emp at the right frequency to burn out their cup readers. It should be technically possible because the reader is sensitive to it and you can get pretty close.

[@GhostGlitch.]

@@user-el4np5xt8c the original guy sure did. Just because you buy a fountain drink doesn't mean you can fill up a seperate container.

[@user-el4np5xt8c]

@@GhostGlitch. they limited the amount in time. If they wanted they could make it only fixed volume. You don't get more than they allow. If you are taking what's allowed, how is this stealing? It's measured in volume/time.

[@GhostGlitch.]

@@user-el4np5xt8c I said "the original guy." Im talking about epitaph, the first guy from 2008 who did it on an old school fountain that did not limit him.

[@Jurok999]

@@GhostGlitch. any soft drink dispensers that allow the customer to fill the cup is free refills, otherwise they are behind the counter. Assuming the cup used is the same brand you are technically not doing anything wrong. goes to show you're not paying for the cup or the soda, you're actually paying for access to the soda machine during your visit.

[@E3kHatena]

The messed up part with these things is that the syrup in a large soda costs like 12 cents. The $5 soda is like 98% profit, and that's not getting into the $17 cup.

[@stevenbobbybills]

Oh, hey there, wasn't expecting to see you in this comments section.

[@cloverpurplepikmin6877]

Your fucking cool man. Thanks for subbing to garbage time.

[@johnnessuno6515]

The qas the most surprising thing when I got my first fast food job, a thing of syrup like 5 gal, was 60$ its the system you pay for, allegedly

[@scmroman]

I used to be a manager at a Five Guys and our store didn't have the freestyle machines like Universal. It used big bags of syrup that hooked up in the back, but when I did inventory and put in orders for the truck a large bag of Coke (our most popular drink, that lasted roughly a week) was only $17. A large drink was $2.99, it cost about $225 a week for soda syrup, and they made double that a day in drink sales.

[@SOSOLRAK]

Fucking rich greedy humans

[@GeorgeCowsert]

We are obliged as free citizens to dismantle any establishment that tries to tear down the market. It costs about $50 for 240k ounces worth of soda, meaning just one 12oz cup for $2 pays for a whole 25th of the syrup's cost. 24 cups later, and the syrup has paid for itself. If a company is so insecure that they have to set up anti-theft measurements against soda, then it is not only justified but a duty to steal as much as possible.

[@skweekersstudios5161]

It's really nice to see soda steal recreated and see it's still alive. I've always been interested in what the internet was like back around the 2000s and cybershells video really gave me a nice real taste of how the old 2000s internet used to be. Seeing as I didn't experience it that way because I grew up as a 2010s kid.

[@btarg1]

I had no idea about "smart cups", we are lucky enough to not have them in many places in the UK. Screw them, Soda Steal to the rescue!

[@jacobarcher1097]

True but we don't have unlimited refills in most of the UK

[@VVane01]

same here but its probably bc im in a 3rd world country

[@JRNimmo]

I feel like perhaps it requires a more modern solution like something that can produce counterfeit RFID codes to trick the machines

[@IcyDUD3]

We need to riot

[@dona2985]

Tea refill.

[@uBreeze]

“So isn’t the problem that the drinks cost 4 or 5 dollars?” “Ye-“

[@moneer7139]

"It costs roughly $0.30 to manufacture one 20oz bottle of soda."

[@NoTraceOfSense]

@@moneer7139 Profits, son.

[@njoshua3265]

@@moneer7139 And even less from a fountain

[@gavinthecrafter]

@@moneer7139 Yes, to manufacture it. You also gotta include: - Transportation costs - Labor costs - Equipment & maintenance costs - Electricity costs - Rent costs And a billion other things. Still pretty marked up though

[@speedy01247]

@@gavinthecrafter some things need to be regulated, obviously soda matters a lot less then other things, but it shows how disgusting Capitalism can be, saving pennies on a product that is already marked up several hundred (if not thousand) percent.

[@ShroomedMisterCraft]

Take em for everything Alan. Every sugary drop.

[@hugh.g.rection5906]

finna get dem drops on yo

[@robmckennie4203]

It's a nice change of pace to hear chelsea yelling at allen for making a mess instead of will

[@georgesmith2905]

Sometimes I feel so bad for caretaker, having to deal with William and his friends sometimes malfunctioning projects. I have to keep reminding myself that she's there by choice. Lol

[@LordDragox412]

Is it really a choice if you know that if you leave, the house is getting blown up, irradiated or flooded by one of their inventions and they'll probably get hurt or even die >:P

[@nickmuffin1722]

@@LordDragox412 yeahh she's actually the caretaker

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Sometimes I envy Caretaker for the same reason.

[@heliumnetworking5103]

Cash money

[@nickmuffin1722]

@@heliumnetworking5103 what the fuck?

[@BlueMSX.]

Renting soda cups, never thought I'd see the day where we'd have this level of insanity.

[@AsmodeusMictian]

Just wait, MSFT is buying Blizzard.

[@BlueMSX.]

@@AsmodeusMictian dear god

[@AsmodeusMictian]

@@BlueMSX. Now, now, it's not like we have other examples of something like this that went utterly and totally off the rails into insanity-land, right? ;-)

[@BlueMSX.]

​@@AsmodeusMictian I can think of a few, who here still remembers when AOL Time Warner was a thing?

[@Alb410]

Remember the Juicero?

[@evolestt]

6:58 Yea-*ear destroying music*

[@Maxime_K-G]

I remember when they introduced coins to the ice cream machines at IKEA. That really marked the end of an era. 😢

[@BCJacobe]

I worked at a theme park that participates in the souvenir cup “purchase.” These machines are not smart at all. Half of the cups fail to activate, so we put stickers on the bottom that are good for the day. And when people complain the park employees get shit, not the Coke company. It’s probably more illegal, but if you can figure out how those stickers work I’d consider that a win against Coke for making us put stickers on every goddamn cup they ship us

[@damientonkin]

Coke invented Fanta so that they could keep making money from fascists in WW2. I think we know where their morality is at.

[@Fujimokou985]

@@damientonkin What

[@tsrenis]

@@Fujimokou985 Fanta was invented by the Nazis

[@Fujimokou985]

Fanta isn't invent by ww2 german dudes blahblahblah snopes article youtube keeps undoing my comments I'm going nuts

[@Fujimokou985]

I hate youtube comment system so much......

[@sandvich3943]

6:05 Imagine just being a family walking around that portion of the park and you just see some guy looking like the Unabomber creating some kind of invention which supposedly looks like some kind of huge pipe bomb

[@stoner.typebeat3594]

I'd be terrified

[@realmario979]

I'd be amazed

[@Centrslinteliheneagencie]

I’d be aroused

[@jdinsomniac7504]

i’d be intimidated

[@amadeus4175]

I'd be impressed

[@Jawmsie]

What you really need is a peristaltic pump that has an unprecedentedly high throughput. Solves the carbonation problem while being way less efficient and practical than a gravity feed, while also being extremely funny.

[@martin0499]

These machines are so goddamn loud that I'd be embarrased even if I wanted to refill my cup legitimately

[@zachstyles4378]

The fact that Universal was prepared for a potential soda heist by measuring volume is extremely impressive. Well played The Man.

[@wilklablacquit]

Its common sense, nothing genius. Allen Pan has changed so much he makes brain degrading stuff now, very stupid.

[@franki1990]

I mean, this thing has been going on since 2008 so is not impressive at all, just extremely greedy and, again, a waste of effort and technology.

[@Nexalian_Gamer]

Yea wait till some dude figures out how to hack the RFID thing under the cup to get free soda or outright hacks the entire soda machine

[@Mike__B]

Less about the soda heist and more about families buying one soda and sharing it with everyone in their group and then refilling over and over again. I mean the number of times I've done that at Costco with my wife, and that soda only costs 59 cents not $5 per

[@GameyRaccoon]

​@@Nexalian_Gamerthat would be awesome. Fuck the man.

[@JETZcorp]

I never thought I'd be "that guy", but I'm really starting to miss the days when everything was simple and mechanical. Super automated soda machines, cars that drive like rolling refrigerators, every company slapping an iPad on everything and calling it progress, everything financed or on a subscription, nothing owned... man. I wasn't expecting an existential crisis from Operation Soda Steal. I'm only 30 and I feel like an old people. Maybe I need another vintage motorcycle? A 6th one should be enough...

[@spootymaniacs]

late stage capitalism at its finest (it needs to be fucking ended)

[@qwertyTRiG]

Have you seen the Technology Connections video about the antique toaster that's better than yours? The Sunbeam Radiant Control. No one would ever build something like that today.

[@JETZcorp]

@@qwertyTRiG I have! It's very technically sweet, although I personally have little use for a toaster. I love that guy's channel.

[@qwertyTRiG]

@@JETZcorp "Technically sweet" is a good description. I must rewatch his jukebox videos, which describe the intricacies of what would nowadays be a simple microcontroller.

[@spootymaniacs]

@@qwertyTRiG as well as the Sharp Carousel microwave from the 90s that had so much more intelligence and character than any of those other ipad microwave doohickeys we have today

[@3isr3g3n]

This has a Luty-esque vibe somehow. Back then it was simple fun to steal Baja Blast- now it's an act of rebellion against a technological distopia.

[@matthew-ph6xo]

I just discovered your channel. Your videos are so funny and interesting 😂 I love your sense of humor and how in all the videos you’re hanging out with all the other engineering and science youtubers.

[@culgi]

I got so nervous watching Allen assemble the device in the park. He was lookin sneaky af and I thought security was gonna think he had a bomb or something

[@cagethelonewolf]

yeah like all that would be happen is he'd be asked to leave and maybe barred (banned) but the confration of wtf are you doing? is so scary

[@xenosauridae]

I imagine he has a social media manager who clears this stuff with the park? Like you wouldn't even be able to get through security with that get up otherwise.

[@cagethelonewolf]

@@xenosauridae he got it ON THE FUKIN RIDE

[@Sphyxx]

$10 for 4 liters of soda? That's more expensive than you'd pay at the store 😂

[@Ag3nt27]

It's not about the soda, it's about sending a message

[@Sphyxx]

@@Ag3nt27 well yeah, it's more that than saving money.

[@carso1500]

It's actually because part of the price of the place gets payed up by the money that you spend inside of it, that is why the entrance fee is usually really low because they recover the expense from other sources which is why usually everything inside is soo expensive compared to buying it in a local store or a Walmart You know stuff like paying their employes, electricity bills, mantainance of the games, etc, all of the money to pay for that comes from all the stuff that you buy inside the park

[@thesysop4998]

In reality he ended up paying over 400$ for it all due to all of the other expenses

[@Gorbgorbenson]

@@carso1500 stop coping for universal studios lmao

[@EGarrett01]

3:20 That natural Joker laugh.

[@nickymae96]

Aweee caretaker!!! It’s good to see you taking care of all the nerdy science guys.

[@AbsolXGuardian]

I was picturing some employee looking at the logs and seeing a refill with a 4lt volume and going "what in the gddamn" but it seems like a coke a cocola programmer thought ahead of you. And considering how old Operation Soda Steal is, it's entirely possible that the person who added this feature was inspired by the original video. You were defeated before you'd even thought of this video

[@allenpan]

The man always wins 😢

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

There's always the really tricky antagonist in movies like this.

[@Skorpeonismyrealname]

Yeah, back when I worked for Amazon, we had a custom Freestyle machine in our breakroom. We could only use 10oz cups, and it would only allot that predetermined amount every two hours. So basically, we could pay $1.25 for 10oz of soda, only on our breaks.

[@XIIchiron78]

@@Skorpeonismyrealname wouldn't want to cause an unscheduled bathroom break by dispensing too much fluid after all

[@Muddytony20]

They still get to see a single cup account get 8Liters worth of refills in a single day tho

[@charles3840]

That training dude literally looked like a supervillain.

[@Artcat932]

Agreed,

[@Vaihly]

True

[@Lumberjack_king]

He is one

[@WiseSageBum]

Banal corporate evil

[@thegloobster]

GOd I never thought that one Sonic KZbinr from the early 2010s would become so big, and not only, have so much influence! Cybershell is officially a bit of a legend. Awesome. Absolutely fucking epic video bro, rock and roll!

[@zakadams762]

This was way more serious than I was ready for, I believe now

[@MichaelSuperbacker]

Allen you make me so proud!

[@andrassbb]

no michael, you make ME so proud

[@cliptonic69]

Sir Michael 🙏🏻

[@MichaelSuperbacker]

@Rosie It’s the best thing in the whole wide world!

[@Preinstallable]

@@MichaelSuperbacker holy shit he finally got it

[@furiousfurry]

It's the umbrella legend

[@OlaftheGreat]

I'm so relieved to see that William is still around, I was worried about him from his last video. He needs to know that we still love him, internet trolls be damned

[@5Amigos32]

Hes still actively doing the safety third podcast

[@DedicatedCaffeineUser]

Imagine you reluctantly reactivated your souvenir cup cause you wanted to get your kids a drink, but then every soda machine you go to is timed out so you can’t even fill it

[@Tullece]

lmao this is the funniest video, so glad somebody tried to recreate that legendary operation from 2008. Funniest thing is that because of that 10 minute limit you pretty much still had the amount they wanted you to have anyway but you put it into bottles. 😂

[@Sarin-Q]

I will never get tired of the fact that This Old Tony is a pair of disembodied hands in everyone's portrayals of him.

[@drumboarder1]

Wait what I didn't see a reference to him?

[@thomashowlett8295]

@@drumboarder1 10:34 On the right side 😀

[@drumboarder1]

@@thomashowlett8295 oh! Cheers!

[@sbilldmilk]

and Allen said all the channels were "handsome" lol

[@supermomandj]

Holy crap. I thought the RF tag thing was bad but the fact that it actually measures the volume is so dystopian.

[@JaredConnell]

The measuring part would be the easiest to implement, just limit the amount of time it will dispense per cup and you can roughly equate that to an amount of soda. If they go through the trouble of making an rfid cup reader of course they would have it limit per cup refill.

[@speedy01247]

@@JaredConnell nice standing up to dystopian measures, you're the sort of person who will be like, yeah chipping the homeless and quarantining them to certain districts is a completely reasonable thing to do, so long as they don't sleep where I can see them I consider the problem fixed.

[@Ragedaonenlonely]

@@speedy01247 He didn't say he agreed with it. Wtf is wrong with you.

[@kek1247]

@@speedy01247 he didnt agree to anything

[@gh0stbn356]

@@speedy01247 bro this is a video about soda what are even saying???

[@duskworker8469]

i respect that you tried to execute his concept image

[@owenwilliams3285]

I love the script. This is priceless

[@breadfan1071]

this reminds me of when the airlines saved millions by removing one item from a salad, you would have thought it was the discovery of the century.

[@CONTXGIOUS]

what that item was?

[@breadfan1071]

@@CONTXGIOUS I think it was an olive, also an airline used to give you a bag of maybe ten peanuts and they quit that around the same time.

[@hugh.g.rection5906]

finna get dat salad on yo

[@cupcakefroster8457]

I did the same thing with my best friend before I had to leave for college. We didn't think 4L of soda wouldn't be enough. So, we used a 5 GALLON bucket in my gym bag. That was best 47 mins in a taco bell I've ever had. We had an issue about halfway through filling the bucket with the system being mostly gravity. This caused the cup to drain slower into the bucket. On top of that one of the workers went on break and tried grabbing a drink. We needed to act fast, so we acted like we were drinking out of the cup after standing there for so long and the worker somehow didn't notice.

[@friesen1520]

As a fast food worker, there’s a 99% chance that person knew something was fishy, but there’s no way they wanted to do anything about it

[@braydenyonts3758]

Did we happen to meet in a Braum's ice cream parlor that night and I took a picture of you?

[@DarkLink1996.]

You think a fast food worker is paid enough to care about corporate profits?

[@user-en7dx1qp3k]

probably did notice, just didn't care

[@theakiwar9118]

Are you one of the OGs who did that in 2008

[@GeoffPlays]

Yoooo I love Cybershells vids, I was wondering if this was because of his video on it. Hell yeah dude

[@qie2iqee]

This is legendary.

[@ZekromAndYugiAndDrago123]

Remember kids! It's always morally correct to steal from a corporation!

[@speedy01247]

The corporation is stealing from you, penny pinching measures on one of the most profitable items to sell. Like seriously the cost per cup of soda can be measured in pennies, yet they sell the cup for several dollars and make sure to limit your intake while also making it cost money to reuse the same cup.

[@Perseagatuna]

Why?

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

@@speedy01247 and let's not forget that if a corporation dodges their taxes, the IRS or its equivalent looks the other way, but if they see you doing it they'll chase you to the ends of the earth. They literally buy yachts with the money they save by not paying taxes, while you get told to pay twice as much to make up for their bullshit.

[@andrewcastellanos5455]

It’s cuz of corporation’s that I’ll become a corporate thief just plan a heist to steal 500$ worth of the thing that’s most expensive to produce

[@Perseagatuna]

If it wasn't for corporations you wouldn't have posted that comment in the first place, you wouldn't have even seen the video, you wouldn't have half the things you probably have

[@chaoticcordi9891]

As another meme once said, "Modern problems require modern solutions."

[@joshuaspector8182]

This may be the greatest channel on KZbin 😂

[@juanlloveras5780]

EpitaphILIP was like: "It's not about the soda. It's about sending a message"

[@SuperTurtle0]

It’s about the METS BABY

[@awesomehazimex7410]

love the Mets alright baby let's go get a home run baby

[@KidsInventStuff]

We feel your anger! Thanks for the bottomless cup 😄 How cool is the tarot card reader! -Ruth & Shawn

[@FantomMC2]

The automatic tarot card reader is awesome, congratulations man! Nothing wrong with using them

[@streetjustice4287]

I like how all the other creators have gag gifts but you got something legitimately nice lol

[@casperrabbit7254]

A soda machine which only works with specific cups and is programmed to dispense a set amount each time is the most depressingly capitalist thing I've heard of since the Juicero fiasco 😔

[@maxhydekyle2425]

That's actually insane that they count the volume you dispense and then make you wait ten minutes for a refill after you've paid at least $10 for the stupid drink in the first place! Screw Universal, dude. Six Flags doesn't do that shit. Drinks at Fiesta Texas are about $7 and you get unlimited refills whenever. Plus the rides are much better.

[@randyesyelnat4957]

Only thing good about Fiesta Texas

[@ianmcnally373]

Ha! True, but "28 dollars" for a "season pass" cup? Like what is that? No! Universal is -10/10, but six flags is maybe 0/10

[@googa9965]

@@ianmcnally373 at least you don’t spend 10$ to reactivate your cup every time you come back

[@ThatWolfWithShades]

@@googa9965 You're talking like you're forced to buy the fucking souvenir cups. lol

[@ezra55595]

Kings island/cedar point also don’t do this that I’m aware of… YET. And yeah, rides are better. Theming isn’t as immersive but rides objectively are more thrilling and there’s more of them.

[@01010010r]

Looks like a good time Thanks for dredging up old memories Ahh internet nostalgia

[@ryanreedgibson]

Dude, you're drinking coffee in the bathroom tub! You are my new hero!

[@LoakaMossi111]

That invisibly refilling cup is actually pretty cool. I could see it being useful as a prop in a stage play or low-budget movie, or something like that. It would definitely be the coolest thing to children. I had no idea that Universal was going to such lengths to price gouge soda. It's *soda*! It's practically cheaper than clean water! The only theme park to get soda prices right is Holiday World because they don't charge for soda *at all*; you pay your admission, you get free soda (and water, for that matter) throughout the park.

[@leoneyamada5408]

try america's got talent.... yea one of the performances was just a dude filling a cup with different drinks like that

[@spritespite6785]

if you pay that much for admission you shouldn't have to pay for the soda

[@djduncan956]

My mouth fell open when Allen said, "It's super easy, barely an inconvenience". If you know, you know.

[@overduee]

same xD

[@findthebox8623]

RYAN GEORGE. do you think they know eachother?

[@casda5226]

Oh really wow wow wow wow wow wow

[@landonmcdermott2231]

I dont get it

[@casda5226]

@@landonmcdermott2231 find Ryan George KZbin channel

[@turtle9788]

Thank you for this I tried to get water at universal and the machine wouldn't let me so thanks for avenging me

[@santana8022]

I like that you mentioned Cybershell, great video

[@johnbeauvais3159]

So now I wonder if there’s some RFID master override signal that you’ll could build a device to scan through frequencies until a match happens and then just take as much as you like.

[@ironbacon]

I really hope so

[@notgray88]

As soon as someone invents this im am totally building my own circuit. Not because I can't afford soda, but just to stick it to the man

[@damientonkin]

Yeah, if that happens then RFID is just dead as a technology.

[@TheGreatDargon]

TLDR it already exists and can probably be done by anyone with enough time. I don’t know if anybody has cracked this specifically on KZbin or another platform but there are open source technologies that can read the data from an rfid source and copy that data to blank one I would image that you could also modify that data to skip the “rent a cup” issue.

[@johnbeauvais3159]

@@TheGreatDargon Yeah Deviant Ollam talks about how to get rfid values and how to write them to other things.

[@Morgannin]

I love the observation at 8:10 that you're not even stealing anything and you're staying within the rules, but you persist in the effort to "steal" the soda.

[@koiyujo1543]

I laughed so hard during this it was so funny and I was happy to know this was done and I didn't know before until I saw this video and I'm glad you got out the message

[@jessicaregina1956]

Soda companies: retrofitting a "measured pour" function, u can press as many times as u like, it's not dispensing more 🤣

[@Jojoban69]

I honestly had no idea that the new Coke machines could recognize cups and that the machines at Universal Studios can only refill the refillable cup. Back in June, I went on a surprise trip Universal Studios Hollywood with my mom to celebrate my high school graduation. I bought both of us a Krusty Burger from The Simpsons area and a large drink in the standard disposal cups. I was able to somehow get a bunch of refills in that cup for the day without having to buy a refillable cup. Either I was just lucky or something else was up.

[@ThatWolfWithShades]

Hi, former employee here, the paper cups have these stupid RFID stickers on the bottom of them and they're good for the whole day just like the souvenir cups when you activate them for the day. Realistically, if you peel that sticker off and stick it on your own water bottle (Which a lot of the workers there actually do) you're set for the day. And for the record, the machines will always dispense precisely 20oz, so a Contigo bottle with the clip style cap that lets you hang it off of your belt loop/backpack works perfect.

[@frocoshake2107]

@@ThatWolfWithShades This is some s-tier info

[@Mint_soda.]

@@ThatWolfWithShades more people need to see this comment, the info might be useful next time we do operation soda steal

[@georgecampbell9190]

Remember everyone, stealing from corporations is ALWAYS morally correct :)

[@goldenhorse4823]

As one wise gaming chanell said: You can't steal from big companies it is called reclamation

[@Kumorini]

Average poor person mentality

[@just_a_turtle_chad]

@@Kumorini Average capitalist bootlicker

[@VagabondPink]

Eeeh, the small stores are selling big companies items, yet they also have to pay for said company items, you could be causing the person who owns the store profit loss than the actual company...

[@georgecampbell9190]

@@VagabondPink Moronic comment. Why would I steal from a small Store? The whole point of my comment is that you only do it to large corporate monopolies. Disney, Walmart, Amazon, etc. If you didn't understand my comment then maybe you should work on your reading comprehension.

[@jasperbyrd5180]

“It’s actually a video” is the best thing I have ever heard.

[@adventurewithcraig9802]

I been waiting for this! This the reason I'm a nomad!

[@Roflmao0001]

That's actually incredibly depressing that capitalism is at the point where soda machines not only record the data for every cup of soda poured, but also give you a 10min countdown between refills. What the actual heck

[@max-gi1vw]

I was thinking the same. It just made me so pissed.

[@DANCERcow]

The soda cost money and taking soda without paying is theft! Company, establishment, store etc etc lose money when soda is taken without being paid for! This is a simple theft prevention measure and for reimbursement of any lost excess soda! You lot sound like Communists!

[@pellept0327]

Oh no! They are making sure that there is enough soda for everyone!!!

[@Fenrigalo]

@@pellept0327 that's called capitalism you numbnutz They couldn't care less for you to have a cup of sugarwater too, all they care for is profit

[@morderus0033]

Literally 1984

[@Archgeek0]

... that RFID cup and volume-counting dispenser horrify me deeply. I remember when the trick was simple social engineering (and a rack on the inside of your trunk door holding a cup for every major chain). You'd just grab the cup you needed at the establishment, walk in with confidence like you were just eating their food outside, get your refill, and not a single underpaid highschool kid or exhausted manager would bat an eye. Going out of their way to prevent losses below the 10% level (you'd not _believe_ how truly little a large soda actually costs -- I think it's mostly the cup) is completely absurd and probably won't pay for the dev time for 40 years or more.

[@leoneyamada5408]

bro imagine having a cup of every fast food chain and then also using this invention to just be able to steal a whole bag of soda from anywhere at anytime for free. it sounds like something nick would do from zootopia....

[@zackohii]

i love this its like mark rober. - the engineering part. Witch i love

[@XYGamingRemedyG]

Just seen a video on this and the guy was like "I looked everywhere for the video and it just doesn't exist" and you have it in the first few seconds 😂😅🤷‍♀️

[@fenstermakerwj]

A suggestion would be to use Whats called a “camelbak” backpack or at least the ‘bladder’ of one. It’s what bicyclist use for their water and stuff. Some hold a LOT of liquid like 12L. But this is still awesome.

[@cocomelonhamburger5128]

theres still the provlem of gravity

[@boobgoogler]

@@cocomelonhamburger5128 a peristaltic pump with a needle to pierce the cup and suck it in

[@frocoshake2107]

The bags can rupture from carbonation. Tried doing it in college with beer, and it didn't work out too well.

[@VioletRM]

​@@frocoshake2107an expert in the field

[@Banana-senpai]

My favourite thing of all you KZbin engineers is always Ms Osman's face: A complex mixture of shock, disgust shame, awe, and every other human emotion possible

[@rodrigocoockiemonster4460]

"Do you even drink soda?" "I've been avoiding it lately" Ah yes

[@superadrik09]

Actually, the first time I heard of the baja blast soda, steal through CYBER SHELL too. I was always a big fan of his. And now that you made a recreationish video made me happy.

[@Acidlib]

3:39 the sheer look of confusion on Caretaker’s face after she ask’s if Allen even drinks soda and he responds with “ive been trying to avoid it recently… it’s got a lot of sugar” is just perfect **chef’s kiss**

[@skullkid2272]

I actually work at Universal Orlando and I been trying to figure out how to hack the RFID tags but have been procrastinating it 😆 for a second you got me scared that you did my project. Lol love your content

[@hilabon6829]

All they are is a serial number, to bypass it you'd just have to clone an active one; you can likely buy blank versions of the stickers they use online, them imprint them with a smartphone app, assuming your phone has the right RFID reader in it, most samsung devices do. I've used a cheap samsung phone to make bootleg amiibos with blank RFID stickers to get around the ridiculous scapers. In theory, you'd just need to scan an active cup, then imprint the clone onto a blank sticker, and you're golden. Assuming the legit owner doesn't constantly try and refill every 10 mins. If you got unlucky, the legitimate owner might be confused about a lockout, and complain, setting into motion an investigation. But more than likely? They'll tell the guy to get bent, you don't implement a tight-wad system like this if you care about customer happiness.

[@Rep_H3x]

Super easy, barely an inconvenience. My man!

[@ManLikeMelly]

Loved seeing Operation: Soda Steal get planned out