The Petscop Investigation - Part 6

[@NightmareMasterclass]

If you like my videos, maybe think about supporting me on a monthly basis at Patreon: www.patreon.com/NightmareMasterclass

[@mochiizmoo]

👏- foot note

[@happiny4847]

I love that clap sound

[@VibeFGC]

I love your name

[@Pleasestoptalkingthanks]

👏👁👄👁

[@YourFoxFriendYT]

At least it isn’t Justin Y

[@shysterling2819]

how are you doing that with your mouth

[@dietcuke]

I just want to thank you for never, ever using jumpscares to get your points across or to make these videos even scarier than they need to be. Petscop is spooky enough, and some folks who like to analyze it via video like to make it even spookier by creating their own jumpscares, and it makes it not fun for me. So, thank you, truly, for just getting to the point and not being a huge jerk. I got a heart condition, man. I don't like unexpected jumpscares.

[@HxH2011DRA]

Oh damn that sucks I hate jumpscares XD glad I only watch David's videos on it the series

[@Bomx17]

I mean, who do you think he is, MATPAT? ;)

[@pippipierce1267]

Jumpscares are just a cheap tactic to make weak theories stronger.

[@LuckiBelly]

Boo!

[@lighthoused.]

It's okay, you can just say Game Theory :P

[@yasashiiyuuyake]

I'm surprised you didn't mention how the "COME HERE" written under "Do you remember being born?" looks like it was written with the texture editor, as well as the messages from the pink tool.

[@10willdude]

Based on the previous allusions to how the game seems to record people's actions, and the process of rebirth or at least editing of people in the game in regard to facial features, and Paul's familial connections. I feel like the room monitored in petscop 16 must be Paul's. He is now trapped, I think I agree with Matpats theory that petscop is detaching people from reality, possibly using the piano and the piece of music referenced in an earlier petscop. The embodiment of Marvin in the game is trying to pull paul in, with the assistance of the propioters forcing paul to continue playing. Basically paul is screwed at this point. That's the best I can do in regards to the overall narrative right now. Thoughts?

[@10willdude]

Didn't mean to post that as a reply*

[@Zernium]

Yeah, I thought it was odd that he skipped over this to. It seems obvious that whoever was writing the pink tool messages was using the texture editor.

[@theberrby6836]

Maybe "rebirth" is a new player in the game, and/or their real equivalence going through a most notably stage in their life, one that impacts the narrative.

[@Nothingtoseehere191]

Just a note about 36:07: We do have confirmation that Paul's birthday is November 12. In Petscop 11 Paul mentions that he and Care are "exactly the same age". The word "exactly" implies that it is more specific than them simply being the same number of years old, meaning that they were born on the exact same day.

[@loganmurphy1738]

They are the same person? Or maybe twins?

[@Nothingtoseehere191]

@@loganmurphy1738 Yeah I think the same person theory is definitely plausible. The room with the sensor in Petscop 7 is pretty much confirmed to be Paul's room, as he mentions "finding his room" in Petscop 11. The face pattern he put in to get his room was Care with eyebrows, meaning the two also have the exact same facial features. However it is strange that they'd be two different rooms and it's hard to believe that Paul wouldn't remember being Care so I'm not 100% sold on it.

[@briankoontz1]

Isn't Paul what Care NLM turned into, following her trauma? Isn't Paul the New version of Care? Care went from Care A to Care B to Care NLM, and then could have become the Quitter, named as such out of the parent's fear that Care would "quit" the process of transformation, and then finally transformed into Paul. If this is true, then Paul's experience in the game is trying to understand what happened to him, and the game is programmed to reflect Paul's earlier experiences. Care, Paul, Marvin, and the Quitter all have the same body, only with different heads, indicating that they could all be the same person, at different stages of transformation.

[@blankfield3819]

my take is that we have marvin looking around for people who fit certain criteria, because he's looking for the reincarnation of his friend. he's excited to find a kid he can adopt that doesn't have eyebrows - maybe his friend never had them? - but there's other stuff, too. presumably, his friend had an affinity for music (piano specifically) which is why we get lines like 'i don't even know why she's here' in reference to pen, whi is deaf. it stand to reason that marvin might look at someone sharing a birthday with his friend as a sign.

[@peterwissman1379]

Maybe the idea of “rebirth” is really true in the case with Paul and Care. Same look, same date of birth, this could be what this evidence is alluding too

[@Thesurge747]

My interpretation of Care running into the door was that she was experiencing the exact same thing that Paul used to enter the bedroom. Care's experiencing two different realities at once, but only perceiving one of them. So if we think about Care's body only reacting to the reality that she perceives, what's happening in the other reality must look pretty horrific. "No, Care, this is Mommy. This is your Mommy. Sweetie, I'm right here in front of you. There's no one else here. What are you looking at? What's over there? ...Care, can't you hear me? Can't you see me waving? Snap out of it. Care! Where are you going?"

[@knic__8799]

My thoughts exactly. Like she played the game too much and tried it in real life. That part of the game is based on care’s behavior

[@erod492]

Perhaps the rebirthing technique mentioned in previous videos?

[@CGoody564]

@@erod492 that has nothing to do with anything op said

[@erod492]

@@CGoody564 just a suggestion as a source to the dialogue mentioned in original post in the thread.

[@CGoody564]

@@erod492 op means original poster. 99.9% sure they are not directly related.

[@adambrownbird4347]

Hey, as a victim of child abuse, I really want to thank you for the sensitivity and care in which you presented this material. This weird series of vids (the petscop ones) drove me in but you really helped me to understand why they disturbed me so much. Thanks for putting in the tremendous effort to produce a vid to explain it for me in a way I never would have grasped on my own

[@michaelmooney4024]

I'd like to point out that while "running into a door" can be an obfuscation of abuse, I think it's important to keep in mind that Paul was walking into the door as though it wasn't there, expecting to have a demo to continue his actions. The fact that this text appears right after he walked through the door, not before and not a little bit later. Therefore, I must speculate that Paul is acting, in a sense, as the demo while Care is trapped on the other side of the door like Paul was earlier. Combined with Care speaking Paul's side of the conversation from last year in a fugue state seems to indicate that Care and Paul have some sort of connection, yet this seems to say they are also separate in that both events are themselves connected yet distinct.

[@spiny7560]

It could be that they are twins since they have the same birthday.

[@GoblinWar]

Yo David, your intro song is so integral to my link with petscop I definitely forgot it wasn't actually in the game

[@piss7610]

I always imagine the fortnite dance to it and idk why

[@kestler5447]

@@piss7610 Don't you know the name of the song? or did he make it himself?

[@CecilyRenns]

the description has a link to his soundcloud - the song is called "gift"

[@mrgreen497]

same lol

[@engineerskalinera]

To me it sounds like someone shooting a rifle, alternating between single shots and automatic bursts to a sick background beat

[@robertcornhole5197]

Go back and listen to the tune Paul idly sings while messing with the framed disks in Petscop 14. It sounds uncannily like the melody "demo Pall" tries to play for Marvin at the end of Petscop 11! Either the game is starting to implant itself in Paul's head, or that melody is something he already knows from somewhere in his past, and was put in the game for that reason. That or someone like the "proprietors" is playing the tune to him when he's not playing.

[@sludgegulley]

Robert Cornhole it could be from Stravinsky’s septet. I’d have to relisten to it in order to confirm though

[@spuknoggin5273]

Rival Seren not sure but that would be interesting. Why does Stravinsky keep finding his way into my life....

[@kople5563]

Nightmare Masterclass is already on petscop six meanwhile pyro fans are still waiting for petscop 2 smfh

[@nukiradio]

That's what you get for getting your news from a leafy RIP off

[@acario100]

So guys, we did it. We made it to petscop part 6

[@TheFallenDemon]

@@nukiradio don't call him a leafy rip off, man's one of the most wholesome KZbinr and has kept makin' his content better and better. His video on petscop is one of the best petscop video on this platform

[@RatedRMCB]

Protagnis YT This might be the most ignorant statement ever

[@nukiradio]

I see you pyros were all offended, but rest assured, it was a joke

[@morganj426]

also no idea if this is relevant, but given the child psych stuff, ALL of the phone numbers at Yale (known for its psych department) are in the 203 area code

[@xuploads]

um... that's because it's in southern Connecticut. every phone number in southern Connecticut starts with 203.

[@spiny7560]

You know Yale is a hospital too right

[@CGoody564]

@@xuploads that's the point... it's a possible clue...

[@tahseenkhan3629]

A few notes: The first windmill in the us was created in Connecticut. I think connecticut might be the epicenter of where the story events supposedly take place. The burn in monitor had a peculiar insistence that under no circumstances should the game be turned off, yet emitted a noise as if to alert others nearby that the person playing the game has not been playing for such a long period of time as to raise concern about their wellbeing and to call the number if so. People in the petscop community have made the connection that perhaps the number called can be harkened back to the first time we entered the newmaker plane when you entered the room and the phone rang saying "Care has left the room." As if to say that someone called the number to report that Care left the room.This may suggest the ghost room has some significant meaning we dont have the ability to decipher yet. Like others have said, the writing tool is almost certainly what the entity controlling pink tool used to write messages

[@notmocka]

@@nicholasgeere5125 its literally the first link if you Google it

[@jacklander9584]

It might just be me, but I'm reading a sort of underlying sense of optimism or at least hope buried beneath all the obvious darkness in Petscop. The pervasive sense of duplicity in Even Care is pretty obvious, with the way Paul has to trick or trap pets in order to catch them. There's an overwhelming sense of the pets as commodities, which connects to some criticisms of adoption agencies and parallels with the story of Candice Newmaker. But there's also a sentiment the signs give us that these are creatures who really do need help and are just lost or confused or scared and there's a real opportunity to make things better for them. The system isn't perfect and there are some elements to it that feel deceptive or wrong, but it's still something that really can make things better for some of them. Similarly, Care NLM's description talks about how "You had to lie to catch her, but it doesn't have to stay a lie." (the lie in this case being setting the flower to -1 and therefore back to 'They love me') and that the Newmaker can turn Care NLM back into Care A and close the loop. At the birthday party we're told "It's still you." and "No matter how long you've been gone. No matter how much you've wandered. You aren't lost." The message here is clear. Despite trauma, despite confusion and uncertainty things really can get better. Disagreeing with the end of this video, I think there really is hope for a brighter future if we let there be. To make this comment even more gratuitously long, I think 'if we let there be' is an important consideration. Another sense I've gotten from Petscop is this recurring notion of characters chasing after something they can't obtain to their own detriment. Marvin wants Tiara and (according to some theories) may have done some awful things in his quest to recreate or rebirth her. In Care A's description we're told that "My brother hid because he knew we were looking for Michael A." Mike Hammond rejects himself because he's changed and he's no longer the person he thinks he should be or he thinks people want (which, speculatively, may have contributed to his death at such a young age). However, in Even Care we're reminded of a sentiment echoed in Care NLM's description I mentioned. "You don't have to love them right away." The sign is telling us that things aren't going to be perfect, that things might be messy and difficult... but it's also saying that that's okay. In that sense, by chasing after some IDEAL solution to a problem or perfect fix, we risk rejecting what's right in front of us and making things worse. The expression "perfect is the enemy of good" seems appropriate here. In essence it reminds us that sometimes we can be our own worst enemies when it comes to coping with adversity and suffering. This is reaching a bit but I almost can draw a parallel here to the way Paul plays Petscop: He seems increasingly less excited about the game and increasingly more haggard while the game itself feels more sinister with each episode and yet he seems inexorably drawn to pushing forward and trying to solve it, even when it seems to be taking a toll on him, even when the game's own puzzles grow so convoluted and time consuming that they seem to be actively trying to force him to stop. Granted that goes out the window with the 'Paul is being forced to play the game' theory, but it fits under the assumption that this is all his own doing.

[@prodfife]

you should be paid for this analysis

[@combustbanx]

I agree, I think petscop has a message that despite the difficulty of it healing from trauma is possible

[@axllow3914]

I agree with you completely, as disturbed and curious as I was while consuming Petscop, my overall feelings after seeing it all could be described as some sort of... bittersweetness mixed with uncertainty. A feeling that while bad things will always happen, some people will always find happiness in spite of that, that there's always a shred of hope mixed in with all the dread.

[@LordEvilmancer]

I was gonna leave a smart ass comment on the pre premiere notifications about how the video was gonna be about Neo Liberalism and I didn't except you to open with it.

[@cryptia]

Dude, you're definitively the best channel to talk about Petscop. An hour long video that seems to be only 15 minutes long, thank you so much for your content

[@thelagradionetwork1301]

Goddamn, we've been creating Petscop podcasts in radio drama form since you're last Petscop vid hoping to catch up. You just blew us out of the water with this action. Kudos. Amazing content, NM.

[@thelagradionetwork1301]

@@keliz247 THANKS! :) You can always check out our podcast network as there's a slew of other content that we don't have on the youtube page: soundcloud.com/thelagradionetwork We're also on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and most other podcast providers. Just search for The LAG Radio Network. ;) Thanks again.

[@sylvadim1227]

33:25 While abuse is a pretty big theme in Petscop, the “Running into the door” could also reference Paul’s actions of walking into the door of the bedroom while playing, then entering the room while in the demo sequence. Just thought it was interesting.

[@trancandy1]

i believe it references both. in a literal sense, it does reference that. but slightly between the lines, it references the excuse that either a victim, perpetrator, or enabler will use to explain a mark or bruise that was inflicted through abuse.

[@donniejefferson9554]

Pretty convenient this came out an hour ago. Just found the channel today and watched the whole analysis series. I guess one more won't hurt

[@HxH2011DRA]

That's the spirit

[@mommyslilstinker]

kids these days..........back in my day we had to wait years for new petscop videos & months for new masterclass analysis vids...

[@HxH2011DRA]

@@mommyslilstinker I do too

[@frogerzard6606]

I love when that happens

[@HxH2011DRA]

Watching this in the dark is a bad idea

[@nukiradio]

It's safe as long as you done have a ps2

[@HxH2011DRA]

@@nukiradio I DOOOOOOOOOO

[@Dashizzleface]

The best idea

[@JohnVance]

I turn on all the lights in my house when I watch these.

[@HxH2011DRA]

@@JohnVance smart man

[@mothramaster1837]

One thing I noticed with Petscop 14 that you failed to mention, is that when Paul walks through the bedroom door during the Birthday section, there's an audible "Thud" sound as the Screen shakes (as if the door was closed and we rammed into it), meaning Care's presumed movements during this capture (hitting the door, looking for the Disks/Discovery pages) are perfectly synced with *Paul's inputs*.

[@lv5woodelf]

Dude please do a comment response. You make this stuff super easy to understand and really put together all the peices, and hearing your opinions and insights on our observations would be awesome

[@insolencestar]

i love the use of the 'Pall' spelling, and the sharing of knowledge between 'Bell' (or 'Tiara') and the player - about the texture mapping glitch - as a way to indicate time spent, experience had, and knowledge gained by these entities: either through the sheer amount of time spent inside Petscop, or these characters' respective status being programmed into it.

[@eggnog2946]

Something I realized some time ago: Remember back in Petscop 1 where there was a picture of Toneth and Randice and their names were in red and green respectively? Green represents Marvin, right? So what does red represents? I believe that the red coloration might be Rainer; the fact that Rainer seems to have created the game would mean he would know just about everything since he's divulging a lot of info on Marvin and other 'real-life' interactions. The photo explicitly says they're friends, so of course Rainer would have some dirt on Marvin. Also, the red tool could be an embodiment of Rainer as well since it seems to be a well of knowledge, and when it turns pink, we assume it could be Michael, Rainer's little brother. Toneth's description also includes a quote from Michael, which is something Rainer would probably the only one to know. Also also, the red numbers at the beginning of the game - if Rainer created the game, he would know the total amount of pets and all.

[@BoujieeeBee]

I spent the last two days binge watching your videos at work and I just want to say that I love the hard work and great research you put into all of your videos. Not just research on the subject of the video, but also your in-depth analysis and lectures. Just as Petscop is one of the best and most interesting forms of this type of art, you are one of the best and most interesting channels covering not only this, but many other videos and ideas. Love it.

[@skylarbulllyon9535]

I always felt Marvin spelling Paul as ‘Pall’ was evidence of the game learning. Most games would just put in the players name, but Marvin is able to work around this.

[@suey-suitu]

I absolutely think it’s a way for the game to show Paul/the player that it isn’t just using information you input, but is able to create its own information.

[@julianhaze]

Nightmare masterclasses, light of my life, fire in my loins. I'm so excited for this.

[@AnEphemeralCollation]

A fun time as always - and once again, thanks for the nod. You said a few things I haven't myself considered and didn't touch upon a few things that I found readily apparent. Will write more in greater detail at a more convenient time, but thanks for doing all that you do, David.

[@elijahsly]

If Paul knows that the demo sequences sometimes occur far, far apart from one another whilst also conjecturing that some of them are merely sequenced, I think it's logical to suggest that this means he leaves the Playstation on for gratuitous amounts of time waiting for them to happen. It would give the story world of Petscop a canonical reason as to why there's a long and seemingly random amount of time between new uploaded footage.

[@Pleasestoptalkingthanks]

Jesus, the reverb on those Petscop SFX made me think it was happening in my house.

[@slayer7160]

Dude watching this makes me so paranoid it's not funny.

[@musictolistento1356]

That premiere was a disaster, but we made it boys!

[@Emma88178]

And girls!

[@riririnmaru5672]

@@Emma88178 and nonbinary people!!!

[@nolanmorse761]

@@riririnmaru5672 don’t forget about people who wanna be trees!!!

[@riririnmaru5672]

@@nolanmorse761 i dont get it :(

[@fooball4589]

12:26 Notice how Paul refers to a “Family KZbin channel”

[@saltiestbun]

I was waiting for him to notice that! I can’t wait til I get to the next video to see if he noticed :D

[@Bobbies1]

He's related to the daddy-o5 guy lol

[@sploopst6868]

I just realised something regarding the texturemap drawing thing: the Tool is seen to relay messages via seemingly handdrawn text, including words (like "Newmaker") which wouldn't be in the dictionary table. Would it be safe to assume that 1. whoever is talking through the Tool (if any) is drawing their replies, and 2. Paul may be able to communicate with the game via drawing, as the Tool can? Just a thought, great video as always, look forward to these whenever I see them in my feed. Keep it up dude!

[@dommiesgrl]

Woooaaahhh I like that, it makes so much sense.

[@EbeeThe1st]

That also explains why the replies aren't instant. He always has to wait a few seconds for a new answer to float down. Probably because they need a moment to write it out! I'll have to go back and check it longer replies also took longer to appear.

[@SuperLabelPerson]

I always figured that the answers the "red tool" gives have been pre-programmed by Rainer based on its input, like an interactive version of the text boxes. It's just another game mechanic. The "pink tool", by contrast, is someone, probably Belle/Tiara, actually writing out messages using the "nifty" code to write messages in the texture map.

[@spiny7560]

That would explain why there’s a difference in “fonts” between the pink tool and red tool.

[@StalinBrosef]

Great video as always, but this one is definitely your best yet. I really liked your analysis at the end. I also wanted to add that the part where "care" ran into a door, not only does it have that connotation of abuse, but it also ties into what Paul was doing earlier, running into the door, and on top of that, with Paul's avatar being unable to open doors.

[@kelycat]

Wait... This house was *captured 3 times* We have 3 Cares. Care A Care B Care NLM (Nobody Loves Me) That house probably has an relation with Care.

[@tazandalsoalastname]

I woke up this morning, decided to finish this giant blanket I'm knitting, and opened youtube to find something to keep me occupied while I knit. BEST. DAY. EVER. I am really excited to hear your theories on the petscop website that was displayed in one episode, the times that Paul has displayed secret knowlege of the game, like the puzzles he solved by just walking around in certain directions, especially the time when he imagined he was in another room, and especially the latest episode. Thanks for making these, I love your channel!

[@fossdarya]

hey this video was SUPER GOOD, and i'm sorry about all the weird issues you had uploading it!! after watching this video last night, this idea hit me, but i'm only just now putting it into words; in the conclusion of the video where you talk about nostalgia and how a lot of media fetishizes the past, i thought about how this connects to child abuse as well. for people who were abused as children at a point in their life where they can remember a time BEFORE the abuse, before the trauma, i think its very easy to idolize the past, the past before the abuse. in instances of child sexual abuse, one can often feel like they've been "tainted" or "corrupted" and long for the days when they were "pure" (much like how older generations view American society; "things were so much simpler back then"). it's easy to latch onto these thoughts and feel like there's no point in looking forward to the future because you'll never be the same as you were "back then", when in reality trauma cannot change who /you/ are, in essence. sorry if this is a bit confusing or vague, i just wanted to get this out! thanks for the awesome videos as always ❤️❤️❤️

[@soakthemilkman]

What if Care is not actually her name? Kinda like Pall and Tiara. What if her name is like, Claire. Im not sure if it helps at all, but it's what I got.

[@Robocopnik]

Or "Kara" or something like that.

[@aphidamas1]

But it says Care in the normal text boxes and menus.

[@ciaratalbot738]

I'm wondering if Tiara is Ciara. But I'm a little biased I guess.

[@isocheeso]

Confirmed to be ”Carrie” in petscop 17

[@jan_sipiki]

its carrie

[@prof.pick1es283]

34:00 i personally don't think the "running into a door bit" itself relates to child abuse in this case. it would fit with the games tone but it happens as paul enters the bedroom that he previously has to pretend is closed. that along with the dialog soon after that interaction of care "not seeing her mother" and walking in random directions makes me feel like she is in some form of different state as if she did walk through that door just like paul does. though I dont exactly have any idea what that could mean or why.

[@xyceliumthe]

Gotta say you and Night Mind have made Petscop a real blast to continue following and discover new things within the series, it's pretty amazing how much work you go into analyzing every little thing. I do want to bring up an interesting detail, when they mention that the house was 'frozen' and was "captured three times, exactly as it was", I feel like that it alludes to how we need to capture Care 3 times as well. We capture each version of her exactly how she was feeling at the time. It feels like there might be a bigger connection to this 'rules of three' theme.

[@badger_croww]

Love this series so much. Always seem to rewatch it late and night and it always succeeds in freaking me out. The tone and cadence of your voice is relaxing and combined with the disturbing and creepy gameplay, makes a really amazingly balanced video. Thank you for putting so much effort into your content.

[@mattparsons946]

Possible portmanteau for Petscop “Pet” with “abscond”. In this game, pets = kids. Therefore Petscop = kidnap ...? Just a thought. I’m sure that someone else has already said this, but in case they haven’t... cheers

[@engineerskalinera]

I always thought it was a combination of "pet" and "scoop". I mean, you do scoop up pets... and people

[@oulafursson]

You are like a breath of fresh air, David. Thanks for your work!

[@VxVidoy]

Been looking forward to this for a long time, glad to see it's finally here! I think Petscop 16 at least made it clear that censored content might be censored to avoid revealing personal information stored in the game. I think it's probable the tool gave Paul a physical location when he asked "Where is the Windmill?", hence why he contacted some long lost family members in the very next episode. Maybe he met them there, or some clues were at the location. Also, it appears to me like the series is divided into acts, around every time the channel description changes. Anyway, hoping you can make a video about your political theories sometimes, they're very interesting and truly tells the tale of our current real life horror story

[@SanPistone]

It's awesome the fact that, after the release of new videos (to 21), a lot of your theorys and analysis go true... I saw your videos abot Petscope case, in two days... Congrats for your professional approach and thank you for those videos.

[@Lemondrop120]

I love how well put together these videos are and how comprehensive they all are. But aside from that, I caught that "availab-ble", you ain't slick.

[@cloudabc123]

i'm really glad you make these videos brother. Keep up the good work.

[@Welsed]

I feel as a viewer, I stand on the precipice of a simultaneous narrative happening within the work. One that stands as a metaphor and one that is to be taken literally. The uneasiness that emerges from the conflict between these two narrative experiences produces fear as a byproduct, and makes the work compelling at first glance, and down right frightening at its core. What narrative is the metaphor looking to illustrate? What narrative is the medium (youtube) and the use of a SIMILAR medium (video games) as that mediums vehicle to deliver this metaphor, trying to illustrate? The complexity of this work is inspiring to say the least. It's a masterpiece of modern art that taps directly into our fear centers thru such subtlety that one cannot help but fall back on their area of expertise to explain something that at its essence is so multi layered, it takes a community to fully examine.

[@purplecatjake]

Your videos were the first ones that got me into Petscop, a friend suggested it to me but I didn't watch it until after I watched your reviews from a youtube suggestion. Now I've watched the entire thing and watched a large number of theory videos, even considered putting my own thoughts out there somewhere on the net. Certain parts of your past reviews have made me think about how Paul plays the game. Particularly how you mention he tries to use scientific methods, while ignoring the possible consequences of his actions. I'd like to add to those observations that this works not only on a 'science approach vs haunted game' level but we must also consider the level of this that is a let's play. Different people play video games in different ways, and this would effect let's players, as this series sets its formula after. Paul in the series seems to be the kind of player that prefers game play over story, and this is very important. Sure he checks signs, and even pet descriptions, but that doesn't mean that he values this part of the game highly. In fact, a lot of his behavior in the game seems to imply he's more concerned with beating a puzzle than learning the lore or the characters. He skips over text, sometimes even skipping through text we would probably assume he's never seen before. He'll run through an area and only stop at points that seem interact-able. The times he does seem to make note of 'story' parts of the game is when he's using it to try to solve the puzzles or understand game play instead of what the story itself is trying to say as a whole. This trait is not inherently bad, as game play focused players like speed runners or other challenge focused gamers are just as valid as those who inspect the lore of games with complicated stories. It is a trait that changes how someone perceives a situation like a game that may or may not be haunted like petscop. It allows Paul to play very far into strange parts of a game before questioning if something is wrong with the game. It's why Paul can see messages that almost clearly seem written out by people, like when tool relays the message about Marvin's abuse, but filters it through the idea of just trying to figure out what parts of the 'story' and 'dialogue' are important to getting further in the game and what parts can be ignored. His game play style is perfect for a game that gives him ample warnings that it is dangerous, haunted, and should not be played to still trap him. There's also a matter of collectibles, both in pieces and also in pets. Firstly, there is a mention of 48 pets at the beginning, and while we might not see that many pets get collected total as this game may be 'unfinished' in that regard it still seems important. The number is a large number more than we've seen so far, or seen spots for in the menu. Secondly, there is the case of 1000 pieces being stated as needed for a machine. This seems to be a gate point for the game, a trope in games with collectibles to get a certain number of objects to proceed to a certain point of the story, or to get to a certain level. I feel like this will end up having to happen for the series to officially come to an end, though I"m not sure how close to the end of petscop this will occur. In any case Paul hasn't even collected half that many so it feels like there is a lot more for him to find and explore, which makes me wonder if the one and only clearly stated benchmark for collectible progress in the game is so far off how long the series will end up being. There's a few other loose thoughts, or ideas of where the series might explore next. Like will Paul explore the path Marvin tried to show him using the DEMO door open/closed methods? Are those discs in the bedroom representative of how many physical copies of petscop there are and if so who else has them? How are Tiara and Marvin interacting to Paul in his game? For what reason did Tiara teach Paul about editing the textures?

[@thespiritualfishlad4153]

Paul runs into a door by pretending it was open. Care runs into a door, thinking it was open. Hmmm

[@neelrahae3392]

your work is so intricate and i'm (especially) happy to see you bring in discussions of real life policies and general socioeconomic issues and how they play into the oppression of children

[@JohnVance]

Okay this just became my favorite channel on KZbin.

[@reversedragon3]

theory: the game is somewhat literally a shoddy therapy which is supposed to cure children of trauma by making them discover traumatic memories through the game, sketching in scenes like Paul's door and the christmas room this is one of the few ways the imagery of the tool, needle piano, and piano with a controller make much sense. at least at one point the game was the tool and it was insistently forced on Care in a manner similar to ABA under the reasoning it was "helpful". this may have resulted in for some reason the only part of Care remaining later on being the digital recordings of suffering itself. this implies it was technically not as bad as rebirthing because you would not expect it would kill the children directly, but perhaps Care ran away from the school to get away from this strange therapy, and at best, walked into her new home very distraught, if the birthday sequence were literally true and not solely digital

[@mcbadrobotvoice8155]

Sleep or this Sleep....or....this God damn it gonna make some popcorn

[@ThePokemonChampionRe]

I think it's interesting how Paul literally has to run into a door in order to get the demo version of himself into the room in order to access the scene where they comment that Care has run into a door again. Another thing to note is how Paul's avatar doesn't have hands but paints over the censored thing over the wall, possibly representing how Paul is covering for the proprietors and has no way to depend himself from them

[@wackracc00n44]

This is my favorite theory series on petscop, thanks for the hard work dude I really enjoy these vids.

[@julianhaze]

During the screensaver section of the video, you mentioned that the circle with the arrow at the top right of the screen looked like a compass. I think it could more closely be compared to a refrigerator or oven thermometer, one that hangs from the rack and isn't meant to be taken in and out. First and foremost: the gradient from red to white going from left to right, to me, can most obviously be related to temperature. Secondly, the fact that the arrow only seems to be able to rotate 180° as is divided on the x axis by a thick black line would more commonly be seen on those types of thermometers than compasses. I have no idea what this could mean, but I just thought I'd give my two cents in case it helps you in any way.

[@EbeeThe1st]

I agree. Also, temperature readings are a common tool in ghost monitoring equipment, and since the screen is referring to a "ghost room" it could be that it uses thermo readings to track the position of the person in the room. The fact they are referred to as a ghost though is nerving.

[@TeeterreteeT]

I thought of it more as a clock, like a day night cycle, considering the console beeps during that 2 minute clip and that the controller hadn’t been touched in a while then it makes sense that it was trying to wake whoever was on the bed up to get back to the game.

[@ciaratalbot738]

@@TeeterreteeT I was thinking the same, it looks very similar to the day-night indicator in the Atelier games.

[@FruitRooster]

I’ve been waiting for this day. Bless u David

[@ZarathustraCalico]

Thank you for your hard work

[@johnnystruman]

Over two years later and the “similar puzzle for marvin” still nags me on a daily basis. God this is so good.

[@andrewboggess4869]

Excellent video and kudos for presenting a really original thematic interpretation in your 'government having failed those living in the margins' analysis.

[@SuperLabelPerson]

Hi David! Love your stuff. Just wanted to comment on what I've read about the gamepad language on the subreddit. I agree that the game is using a dictionary type table that doesn't recognize proper nouns, but other users have determined that the language is not alphabetic, but phonetic. Therefore, Marvin isn't misspelling Paul's name, per se. He is typing the phonetic sounds in his name, /p/, /o/, and /l/, and the system is matching that to the dictionary word "pall". It's the same case with Belle, which matches to "bell", and Tiara, which is a real word. I think that the creator purposely chose these names for these characters so that their names would show up in the phonetic system, but Marvin's wouldn't. Interestingly, homophones don't seem to be an issue: players can use words like "I" ("eye"), "not" ("knot"), etc. with no issue. This may not be relevant to the story, but it's interesting to consider how the phonetic language handles this. Maybe it provides options to choose based on the input, or just uses the most commonly used homophone? Also, someone matched up Paul's input to the "Not in Table" output and confirmed that he is indeed saying "Marvin" there.

[@drkmessiah_2625]

I've binged every petscop video by you before i even looked at the sub count, and damn man i thought you woulda had like 500k minimum. You're gonna be big one day! :D

[@PyrrhosHans]

those 0.2 seconds of Pete & Pete nearly brought me to tears. This new kind of weaponized corporate nostalgia is nuthing to fucc with

[@MrWIZ9000]

was watching this in the dark (as one does when watching Petscop content) and was so relieved he didn't play that spooky ass siren sound effect in part 16

[@zac9176]

When you are so early that KZbin says no, and throws you the spinny circle of death.

[@draektears2794]

Zachery Calahan you are a big poo poo

[@AidRe]

@@draektears2794 yes

[@am-180]

david you absolute madman you continue to be a brilliant youtuber and webseries man. no one comes close to the quality of these petscop videos

[@simontheewok]

Love this channel, love this series! Petscop is so... different. I can't get enough.

[@galetempus1979]

Good analysis video series so far. Don't agree with everything, but it sure has helped me understand what is going on. Keep up the good work.

[@FireFoxBancroft]

When this popped up in my notifications I paused the other video I was watching to watch this one.

[@zac9176]

RIP mobile users

[@1sourceps]

Well worth the wait David. There's a ton here to study. Thank you for the hard work

[@Squatta]

I was waiting for this video and was able to finally sit and watch it. Thank you for making these, you explain things better than I can explain them in my head. Btw, Petscop 16 had to be the most unsettling video out of all of them to me for some reason? It was just so unnerving and the warning screen was so off-putting. Whether it was Paul who left the game running or not, its so unsettling to think someone has left the game running for a very long time and the game urges anyone to find it to leave it on. They even mention the authorities which is also concerning. Like, they anticipate the possibility of police interference.

[@leftcoastkid24]

great series! came here right after seeing the Night Mind video and have been following along ever since!

[@WarTex]

"Do you feel un-even, Care?"

[@valexodamium]

I'm not convinced by what you said at 59:05 that Petscop "uses that sense of comfort one might feel at the sight and sound of an old ps1 game from their childhood in order to lure the viewer into a false sense of security so that later on when things get weird and, well, unsettling the effect is all the more powerful." I think that the specific way that Petscop is unsettling works precisely because it evokes ways that we found ourselves unsettled as children playing old ps1 games. Like you said in an earlier video, children are some of the most marginalized people in the world. But we have all been children. The idea that our childhoods were idyllic innocent places is consequently necessarily false. And similarly, in a microcosm here, not all of our time in front of a PS1 was comforting. I'm sure you can remember if you try how seriously you probably once took games, and from that feeling you might be able to extrapolate how much more seriously games could threaten you back then. If not, try to think about how upset children can get if bad things happen to them in video games. I'm sure you've seen it, IRL or online. These are distressful things we have all experienced - they are (probably) not serious traumas as such, but they are lesser things in our common experience which can be brought to the fore in order to evoke something unsettling. Given the themes of child psychology and abuse that you've convincingly brought out of Petscop, I think we can read in this a critique of the idea that dwelling on the past can only be used to evoke a nostalgic yearning for a safer idealized childhood. Few us actually had one of those, and if we try even just a little, we can be made to remember all the awful things that happened to us earlier, which are just as much common experiences for us to make media from. (Maybe you address this later, I'm not yet through all the investigation videos...)

[@alicestewert8552]

I know it's been a minute since this video has been posted but rewatching it now, I found something very interesting. At 24:44, you can see Paul's file entry as 'Strange Situation'. 'Strange Situation' is a psychological test given to children to determine whether or not they are emotionally connected to their caregivers or not. It involves young child being placed in a room they don't recognize and the main caregivers leaves and comes back several times to see what the child's reaction is. Some children are very secure and are open to exploring the room, other children are ina full blown panic, and other ones are neutral and don't seem to care that their caregiver is gone. Given the underlying theme of Petscop and the mistreatment of children, it made me wonder if it's called 'Strange Situation' in his file because Paul is the one constantly leaving and coming back to the children of Petscop? Just my thoughts.

[@rubyalysha]

He mentioned it instantly after, did you pause the video of seeing the name?

[@offbeathat5219]

​@@rubyalyshasounds like they were desperate for the dopamine fix of a youtube comment

[@InredibleMrH]

As always, love hearing your thoughts. Great work.

[@mattparsons946]

Super happy to see this came out, sir. Cheers!!

[@eternalnamaste6772]

The intro does good things to my brain

[@_Verbose_]

Is it possible that the “secure” and “insecure” children of the Strange Situation procedure correspond to “A” and “NLM”?

[@Kevin-fu5qw]

Well there are 3 attachments styles which corresponds to the 3 states that children in petscop can be in so it is very possible

[@Kevin-fu5qw]

Specifically they are called, Insecure resistant, insecure avoidant and secure attachment

[@tomkrawec]

As far as I know (I teach the Strange Situation as a controlled observation for measuring attachment type between infant and caregiver), they're called A for Avoidant, B for Secure, and C for Resistant.

[@Ciaran360180]

Great video, Pyro. Petscop 2 was everything I hoped it'd be

[@Thor-Orion]

Your music slaps. I’ve got dance moves to it after binging this series.

[@L0V3V4MP1R3]

At the "Running into a door" bit, while at first it struck me as a remark about Paul literally running into a door ingame to access the bedroom in the same episode, this also makes me wonder if it could be hinting at a Demo sequence of the house in this birthday-state but with the difference being that the door to the bedroom is closed. While it seems mundane at first, it would make sense for that to happen instead of the text box appearing *_after_* Paul has gone through the door, which was open.

[@mysticthemanakete]

Twenty past two in the afternoon in the UK and that intro tune ONCE MORE got me BOPPING

[@monniet9552]

THEY JUST CHANGED THEIR ABOUT PAGE: "Some select "Petscop" recordings. In a way, recordings have the power to raise the dead. They're kind of scary. Currently hunting for hidden content."

[@helvarstark4282]

Freaky as fuck

[@GaleneIanthe]

Great and insightful video as always, man! I am just a bit disappointed that tarnacop and its possible connection with the tool and/or the windmill wasn't touched on, though at this point I guess we don't really know how relevant it might become to the narrative. I imagine it will turn up in the future, as petscop doesn't seem to just throw things like that in without it coming up again. And it is so difficult not to treat the series as a puzzle when it constantly throws us bits of information that we can just start to connect together but never really get the whole picture. Someone on the subreddit compared our point of view as the audience with that of a child in an abusive and unstable household, knowing that these things are happening but missing too much to understand why. We can't help but try to find the answers.

[@KylaTea]

I was scrolling by happenstance! What luck I was waiting for this!

[@LUSCIOUSDUNCAN]

i just said "OH MAN WHAT! WHAT!" out loud when i saw this in my recommended

[@tazandalsoalastname]

Really loved the video, as always. Regarding your final points, I wanted to recommend watching the Geraldo Rivera Expose of Willowbrook State School from the 70s (which you can find on KZbin), and also checking out the book 'Skallagrig' by William Horwood, although it might be difficult to get hold of a copy as I believe it is out of print. Both deal with the failure of institutions to protect the vulnerable in their care, and are presented in an incredibly visceral way Also regarding your last point, where you speak about Paul having to navigate puzzles in increasingly (to us the audience) bizarre ways, such as the time he walked around in a specific pattern to find the way to Marvin's house, or the time that he pretended he was in another room, I wanted to offer up my own interpretation: As an abused child, you learn behaviors and coping mechanisms that are extremely specific, and work well while you have to survive that exact situation. But as you enter the adult world and get away from those circumstances, you find that those coping mechanisms are, ultimately, maladaptive. People are puzzled by your behavior or reactions to certain things, even though to you it seems perfectly ordinary. There are things I do to this day, well into my 30s, that I know stem from those same toxic patterns. And even though I have this knowledge, I still end up repeating them sometimes. I think playing this game has caused Paul to become enmeshed in the rules of the game more than the rules of real life, and that the two have become blurred. I think that he no longer wants to play but is now being coerced into it by the Proprietors. My personal opinion on the last episode is that it shows alternately a recording of Paul's screen, and also an overheard view of his room, where even though the alarm is blazing he ignores it and remains on the bed for as long as he can stand it before eventually giving in and sitting down in front of the game. Patterns of maladaptive behavior and thinking can run very deep in a person, and sometimes logic cannot stop it. Sometimes an alarm starts blaring in the back of your head and you find yourself having a panic attack at the grocery store for seemingly no reason. I think what we are seeing us someone who is being pulled unwillingly back into their past, and forced to confront that it may not have been what they thought it was.

[@cloud1877]

I don't mean to sound like a pestering fan, but could you continue the investigation on Petscop with the new videos that came out over Easter? I discovered your channel due to my fascination with Petscop and I have to say that I enjoy your content on the unknown a lot. I hope to see your perspective on the new videos and other series such as Channel 58 which I think you would like as well.

[@zac9176]

42:17 It's been said that they use mnemonics to conversate. This is why some spelling are irregular, as they don't fit a mnemonic set.

[@lauraconnor9014]

Thank you for being the first person in my life who has ever correctly used the term "utilized"

[@tactical_slime4608]

the part where half the bedroom was censored and paul said "fuck" sent the most haunting chills and goosebumps

[@kelycat]

What is that part

[@apostleofazathoth7696]

"A world in which we no longer make excuses for the terror" You cheeky pinko

[@theminakins815]

"Glitches that are integral to the game can't technically be called glitches" Goat simulator: am I a joke to you?

[@IHatePuns]

At 40:14, on the "not in table" message- I think there's a thematic connection between character's names not being recognized by the game's book of words and the book of baby/pet names in that both point to some kind of rejection of the realness of a persons identity.

[@nukiradio]

I love your background music, always gets me

[@EbeeThe1st]

I was able to watch this on my TV with my new chrome cast - so great!

[@alexorsomethin]

“Those eyes that nose that’s still you” missing out eyebrows, which Care has been previously said to be missing, as well as the fact that the house having a Care image at the front (perhaps implying it’s her bday) maybe suggests that Paul’s avatar is assuming the form of Care for the birthday sequence. As the house is said to be frozen, it could be that the avatar is simply going through the motions of one of Care’s previous experiences, which could tie nicely into the demo sequence stuff, and the concept of replaying and reviewing. Additionally, we could infer that Care “running into a door” could be 3 things. Inferring abuse, calling back to Paul literally running into the door in the bedroom sequence, and in hand with this, Paul’s inability to open doors.

[@theblankking1966]

NM: "Does anyone find it weird Marvin spells Paul's name as Pall, which is linked to death? I know it's cause of a spelling restriction, but I can't help but feel like it's hinting at something..." *This guy is a fricken fortune teller*