Petscop, Childhood, and Trauma

[@SaganHawkes]

I will try to keep a list of addendums in this comment. These can also be found on my Twitter. Petscop Addendum 1: I apparently missed an epilogue sequence at the end of the Soundtrack video. While I don’t think it changed much in my interpretation, it reinforces some stuff I mentioned: “Found Family” themes and Paul being adopted by the Leskowitzes. (related: i almost cried watching the epilogue video, it wasn't even that emotional but i'm sleep deprived and im just happy paul and belle (tiara????) are happy 🤓) Petscop Addendum 2: I think the AI characters were being made by Rainer to try to get information out of them. Petscop 17 is an AI being “made”, learning how to act, being given its history and who it is, and hoping it will actually answer where the real life Care was. Petscop Addendum 3: There are some issues with the way I covered the "Paul is trans" theory, and I feel like it came across that I dismissed that interpretation. I want to make it clear that I think it is a fully valid interpretation of the story. Also, to anyone who has a problem with the idea of a trans character in media: fuck you. This channel is not a place for transphobes. Never has been, never will be. Petscop Addendum 4: There are numerous references to a "Tarnacop Machine", which were so puzzling to me and the rest of the community that I didn't include them. I had no idea what to even make of it. It turns out that "Tarnacop" is a reference to an ARG that ran on a forum (porplemontage) that Tony used to frequent. According to a comment on this post (www.reddit.com/r/Petscop/comments/li5m4i/tarnacop_is_a_reference_to_an_old_arg_about_a/), by u/countertherapist, at some point a Q&A was held that explained the Tarnacop reference as just an inside joke. Petscop Addendum 5: I feel like I should add some clarification here about the "Paul was *forced* to present as a girl by Marvin" theory. I understand that this is a real thing that happens. My point was not to discredit this, I was trying to point out that this concept *in media* is much of the time used to discredit the trans experience, or fearmonger about parents of trans kids being "abusive" by letting them express their identity. This is an incredibly nuanced topic that I did not have the time nor knowledge to feel equipped to deal with fully. Again, I would have changed a few things about this video in retrospect, and either not including this or spending more time on it is one of them.

[@TheRealRustyIsHere]

Love your stuff, man! Keep up the hard work, and also take breaks if you need to.

[@brownout100]

The whole community is still missing a lot of what's happening and examinations seem to have fallen into hopelessness re: the specifics. For example: if you watch with the official subtitles on (which were added last) you'll find that numerous later scenes that Paul narrates take place in a car. sound effects like *car door closes* occur. Remember that Belle asks him as much. What does it mean? No fucking clue. But nobody talks about this. I think the community has missed large pieces in their analysis.

[@brownout100]

*yay. just got to that part and you mention it and acknowledge it's confusing. Dogs and the car accident and the "gift". Something is missing in those references. And the counsellor. Something is missing in our understanding there too.

[@brownout100]

It's important to note that Rainer didn't make 1 game. The timeline is best understood by paying attention to the "Generation Number", meaning the build version. He first made a birthday gift game for Mike. We see that rudimentary start where you look for eggs. I think they may have played it at Mike's school, or further updated and developed it in his classroom (hence the room in the school where the pieces are brought, and especially Anna's note in 24. Belle may have been playing ever since then - she's one of the testers).. He later made versions to fuck with/learn from Marvin and then again later (or prior, its been while since i watched) a final version (Gen.) for his family. The demos are all from throughout this long process of years.

[@Jeff4theRaid]

It is a cool one, in its complexity and must've taken you a while...

[@melodytheatre2887]

The fact that there’s a track in the game’s soundtrack called “Bathroom tomb” also heavily implies that Rainer did commit suicide and die in the bathroom

[@Waluiginumberone]

Oof that’s a gut punch of a title

[@dontsubfortheloveofgod]

yeesh

[@caringheart34]

Or that may be an interpretation, as the game features several non-literal phrases such as "imagine the door being open, instead of being closed". This could be another set of it.

[@sol_sticee7654]

​@caringheart34 maybe! But 'Bathroom Tomb' doesn't seem to have any other significance to any other part of the story. I also don't know how that title could be non literal??? Is the bathroom a metaphor for smth??????

[@Interstellar411]

@@sol_sticee7654 "Check your bathroom" -Rainer (the theme Bathroom Tomb literally means Daniel aka Rainer committed not alive in the bathroom and I assume Daniels death is a part of the Petscop lore).

[@nadeezn]

“but whatever is in it severely freaks paul out” paul: “what the fuck 😐”

[@paulagodebrito]

my exact thoughts 🤣

[@sagittariusrat4959]

I mean, it's not a scream or anything, but the stutter at the "Wh" and his tone of voice make it clear that he's freaking out

[@ourslashgarbotm6309]

I mean tbf, that's like the biggest reaction we've ever got out of him lol

[@megarat1777]

real asf paul. I really like paul hes a great protagonist for the Story, like a great person to follow trying to figure it all out

[@giant-enemy-spider]

@@sagittariusrat4959 exactly, people can signal that they’re freaked out without screaming upon seeing what it is that upset them

[@zacharykeller6631]

To me, the appeal of Petscop was how perfectly it played the "guy who found the haunted video game" creepypasta. Everything posted at first felt so genuine and realistic. I distinctly remember one part where Paul just stops talking for a bit while exploring a new area, and starts to apologize for the dead air. Stuff like that just made it feel so believable, like it really was just a guy who found a video game and was reacting in the moment, not reading from a script. That combined with the bone-chilling uncanniness of the gameplay made it a surreal experience. Where it kinda lost me was the more family drama/supernatural elements in the game. It's fun to hear the theories but it kinda took away from the believable nature of Paul and the scenario. All the videos where Paul doesn't even talk were some of the worst ones, imo, even if they had major story elements. It's why my personal favorite head cannon was that the story ended at Petscop 10, where Paul is disturbed by something he sees in the game, enough to censor it in his videos, and decides that it was too much and to end it there. Obviously the story would be unfinished but it would play much more into the realistic nature, where not everything has a neat explanation.

[@WobblesandBean]

That's where it lost me too, especially because Tony had made "the website" and had it hosted ready to go for fans to discover, but took it down because it explained too much and canonized things that he decided were better off making absolutely no sense. It's like he went out of his way to infuriate us with a plotless, unsolvable mystery, and that really rubs me the wrong way. But at the same time, this is just who Tony is. After playing his previous games and reading the bizarre, deeply unsettling novella "Tapers" that he wrote as a teenager, I can safely say that he is one of the oddest people I've ever seen. He definitely has a flair for the macabre, and doesn't like when things make sense. He'd rather write a story that evokes a specific, complex, indescribable emotion, than provide a cohesive narrative. Not only that, he seems to be convinced that the two are mutually exclusive, even anathema to one another. Now, most of us would agree that you can still write a cohesive narrative with a conclusion that wraps everything up cleanly, and still elicit those feelings. But Tony doesn't see it that way. He felt that the unpleasant, uncanny sensations he wanted to convey, could only be accomplished by making this thing completely ambiguous to the point of being unapproachable. Kind of like how a photon cannot exist in a quantum state unless being observed, he believes giving Petscop a decipherable plot would somehow render the viewer incapable of experiencing those sensations. I've only ever seen minds like Tony's exist within the skulls of schizophrenic individuals. I don't think Tony's schizophrenic, though. I think he's just a very, very odd and intriguing person with a truly unique flavor of creativity that most of us can't even hope to understand.

[@berry2254]

I heavily disagree. The episodes where Paul stopped talking were some of the creepiest imo, Paul acted as an anchor of familiarity and someone that you could relate to,. Sure Paul’s comments may not be 100% accurate and a bit vague, it gave you something. The episodes where he stops talking is basically the point where you have to “fend for yourself” if that makes any sense. I really love that personally.

[@WusterWasti]

@@WobblesandBean Honestly the best summary for my thoughts of petscop. Its so cryptic and often leads to more loose ends that it doesnt feel satisfying to watch nor to think about it. What makes it great is the art and atmosphere.

[@Mike14264]

I may be wrong, but I don't think there's supernatural stuff going on... but then again, there may be. Let's just say his blood family is kinda effed up.

[@Mike14264]

@@WobblesandBean yeah, he is one odd fella... Too bad he really did took down the website, that would've been cool to see. Maybe he could've released it some time later, sort of a behind the scenes thing. But yeah, his mind doesn't really work that way.

[@hunter_hydra]

Pyro: Doesn't upload Petscop 2 Sagan: Fine, I'll do it myself

[@EternoUno]

taking a page outta the thanos book

[@notreal3156]

@@SherbertClown make another one, then :troll:

[@Nazareth69420]

The comment I was looking for

[@blipblop1112]

Still doesn't feels like petscop 2 for me, imo.

[@biomechanicalcyber-jesus7573]

We don't really need Pyro on this topic anymore, he got other jobs to do...

[@scootie_scoot]

to me, the “bumping into walls” or “what’s over there” motifs with care and Paul seemed more like dissociation, like how one will not feel totally “there” when coping with trauma

[@kylieschuttloffel1261]

dissociative disorders are common in people who have experienced trauma. dissociative identity disorder specifically is usually caused by heavy trauma as a child. like being locked in a school basement for months being physically, emotionally, and probably sexually abused and told repeatedly youre someone else by your very sick father. I suggest that either Paul is an alter of Care, or Care is an alter of Paul.

[@toasterbunnie295]

childhood trauma can also induce impaired coordination

[@loorthedarkelf8353]

General neglect, particularly an emotionally neglectful parent who is more interested in the compliance of the child than any sort of growing or supportive relationship, can result in discoordination. Humans continue development well past birth, and the development between Just Born and Adolecence is calibration of sensory systems. This is part of why kids generally love to be flipped over, lifted up, or tossed at soft surfaces. It's also why kids have diffuculty holding still; they are wired to MOVE as their balance centers calibrate to other sensory data to figure out what keeping one's balance feels like so deviations from the baseline sets off recovery reflexes, and which recoveries match best with which unbalanced states. Holding still means no calibration, no baseline, more of the brain going ????? And guessing at what requires immediate reaction and what does not. I know neglect IS abuse, but most people picture Active Choices when they hear abuse-- just as often abuse is ignoring someone until they stop trying to speak. Thus I saw fit to address neglect directly, and emphasize how Demanding Compliance is ultimately a way to differ recognizing a child as a Developing Person With Specific, non negotiable needs.

[@Izzzyzzz]

Absolutely brilliant work!!! I can tell this is a video I'm gonna come back to watch multiple times!

[@kazeiscool]

Same

[@squaresquids]

Love your videos! Glad to see you on this video as well :)

[@deliriantpsychosis]

omg hi izzy

[@setsers1]

IZZY!😊😆

[@psychicgh05t]

:PP

[@kappapride6332]

The car thing is so funny though. When Petscop 13 came out the subreddit wouldn't stop talking about the car door shutting sounds saying Paul was trapped in a car. It was turned into a whole car theory which some people supported while others denied saying it could have been any other door. When Petscop 22 came out and Paul said "Why would I be playing Petscop in a car" it was the funniest shit ever. It almost seemed as if Tony was lurking in the subreddit and making fun of the theory. The best part comes when Tony added subtitles to every Petscop video. In Petscop 13 the subtitles directly mentioned a car door thus fully confirming the theory that Paul was, in fact, trapped in a car this whole time. Also there is some more evidence of Rainer offing himself in the bathroom like with the name of one of the OST we've never heard before being "bathroom tomb" and the picture that relates to the bathroom in the house. Speaking of Tony's twitter account it's actually filled with absolute bangers like "Luigi's Mario" or "hot dog bung" or "The gand crayonyon"

[@Munchtreats]

Crayonon sounds French

[@randompromises1038]

Giant crayonyon fucking killed me 💀

[@ThePenisMan]

@@Munchtreatscrayon is actually from a French word, directly translates to pencil

[@Oli-Chan]

Less trapped in a car and more just so happens to be playing the game in a car at the moment

[@zanskarish]

Ok, i understand the car theory, tho why would he be affraid when Marvin found out where he is via the classroom full of "false Paul's room" ? cant wrap my head around this.

[@vacantvisionary]

The description of the Care Egg Pet is a clipped string from Amber's description, all the way back in episode 1. The full text box is, "What's the safest place you can put her in? You should start thinking about that." Afterwards, Paul puts the egg in probably the safest place in the game - inside a locked locker whose combination only he and Tiara know. ... Don't ask me what all that *means*, of course. Just, that's the connection being made here.

[@catfish64115]

2 years late, but it could refer to a sort of obsessive and possessive relationship with Care, locking her away and hiding her from the world instead of keeping her with a parental figure- The safest place in a child’s eyes (in most cases)-which would’ve been Paul, I assume.

[@bloodsucker5485]

likely not what the creator meant but I thought of coin locker babies :(

[@heyitzmae]

to me that kind of implies a sense of home, especially since lina’s letter is also there and the epilogue implies that lina, belle and paul are their own little family unit

[@georgechollak6180]

​@@catfish64115 I was thinking it was a way to get care NLM to become care A and break the loop. And maybe that is what rebirth is. I do think your idea is valid but I'm just sharing mine.

[@fleshbagwasp]

One very small and kinda unimportant thing I noticed is that the glitchy Care in Petscop 2 is most likely her reflection or how she believes she looks due to Marvin's bs with the vase, as her form's blurry and warped and she's gained a reddish tint. Again, not really anything that relates much to the bulk of the video, but I thought it was interesting once I made the possible connection.

[@bluejayjitsu4429]

Oo I like this :) never thought of that

[@teekay851]

Thats amazing

[@gregfrin8702]

@fleshbagwasp Really smart detail you picked up!

[@toolatetothestory]

I thought Care was just an in game character made for Paul to remember his past, but do so slowly, make him piece it together himself. It would be too obvious and he would realise too fast, retraumatise himself maybe, if it was just straight up him. Coping with fiction is quite common. So is repression. I think it would make sense. That this game was made as some sort of therapy.

[@vaniatrinta7764]

Same, I don't know exactly why but of all the theories this seems to be the most reasonable for me at least

[@mcchickensandy]

i always thought it was ranier(?) trying to explain a story to the family but this makes a lot of sense. the connects between paul and care never made sense to me but this explains it a lot.

[@eye_con]

I think the "Repressed traumaholding brainbuddy" trope is far too overused at this point, and it would ruin the webseries for me.

[@JammyJam5588]

I mean Care is DEFINITELY Paul in some way, he wouldnt have had those reactions to the censored objects (Given what they're revealed to be in 20), if they weren't sparking something in his brain. Whether he literally used to be Care before the trauma made him forget, or if she just represents shit he went through and the family is pretending she exists to get Paul to realize stuff. That's the only part I really see as up for interpretation on the Care>Paul Connection.

[@queenbench3114]

I think you got so close to an actual interpritation, i think its about abusive family members gaslighting you, where reality and their story clearly doesn't match represented by the logic of the game itself making little sense. another example of the familial abuse narative is the fact "I walked into a door" is a famous excuse for cuts and bruises caused by physical abuse.

[@testerwulf3357]

This is a good one!

[@sunnyquinn3888]

Or "I tripped on the stairs". "My cat scratched me". "I burned myself on my curling iron".

[@DreamyWorld19]

I too got gaslighting vibes from this. Being a victim of narcissistic abuse myself during my childhood, reality often felt bent and contradicting. Till this day, I still wonder if certain things have really happened or if I made it up. I like to think Petscop is more about childhood abuse and the trauma that it leaves rather than a supernatural game which bends between realities.

[@k-bot187]

And also the whole game Monitoring Paul, the family watching, waiting for mistakes, which would make the line "for 17 years", the family watching for some ones entire life. Judging and all that.

[@dangiant8015]

No

[@ghosty8193]

One thing I really appreciate about Petscop is NO JUMPSCARES. I don't like jumpscares- they set of my anxiety and loud, sudden noises are a trigger for me. Petscop perfectly encapsulates how terrifying a game can be when you perfect atmosphere. A jumpscare would let me know that I'm not alone and that's not scary. Being alone in this cosmic horror altered state makes my chest feel heavy and I love it. edit: i came to rewatch the video and saw the replies to my comment! I'm glad I'm not alone in my opinions of jumpscares. to those mocking me in the replies, i have anxiety and ptsd. both diagnosed. maybe it was my use of the word 'triggered' that set you assholes off, but jumpscares (and loud sudden noises) cause me to relive the event. it's not a case of 'everyone has anxiety these days >:((((((' I was literally impacted by a terrorist attack.

[@alexanderadams9058]

The thing that scares me most isn't a quick and cheap scare, it's feeling like you're not alone when it seems like you are, as well as the feeling that something that you know is just a little off. I'm not saying Petscop does that, but the atmosphere makes me super unnerved and I've honestly looked back to check if anyone was there while watching.

[@NoArtisticLimitation]

I avoid most horror things specifically because of jumpscares. Don’t get me wrong, they have their place, but, like the first comment mentioned, they set off my anxiety in a way that isn’t fun anymore...

[@hannahbrown5465]

Hard agree, it can still be so spooky without jump scares! They are cheap

[@spinozilla2421]

@@hannahbrown5465 more liked overused, jumpscare can be great if you used properly and rarely but sadly people misuse it as a go too

[@koalaisthename7756]

I think most games should use jump scares, i know some people dont like them, but they sometimes create a random sudden shift in emotion and throw you off rhythm. But Petscop is that special exception

[@ghosty8193]

This video series is one of the most terrifying things I've ever witnessed. Marvin kidnapping Care is very similar to an event with my father (he tried to kidnap me and take me to Singapore) and the themes of abuse and trauma are very accurate (in my own experience)

[@katarina4818]

Hey I'm sorry I know I'm just a stranger on the internet but I just wanted to say I'm sorry that you had to go through that and I hope you're doing good now. Cheers

[@wormrights883]

That sounds terrifying, I hope you’re doing ok today

[@palapeura375]

I'm sorry you had an unsafe childhood, and I hope you are safe and cared for in the present.

[@glossygorl5737]

gosh that’s so scary :( i hope you’re okay now

[@boojersey13]

My dad also tried to kidnap me?? He has brain damage and is unstable down to a verbal level even. Everything about him was enough to make me vomit

[@GippyHappy]

It makes me sad how people have sort of given up on trying to solve petscop. So thanks for this video, it gives me a bit more closure.

[@Vitor-tr8lb]

Thats a cute dog

[@GippyHappy]

@@Vitor-tr8lb thanks his name is buddy and he’s very fat

[@GippyHappy]

@ShinyMoltres Will do

[@thespiritualfishlad4153]

hi buddy

[@GippyHappy]

@@thespiritualfishlad4153 hi

[@tintedpalette653]

So I decided to read up on the Candace rebirthing incident you mentioned here. I found the transcript of the rebirthing session and I went light-headed by how enraged it made me. I don't have it in me to try and find the actual video recording of her death. Her death was beyond neglect, it was murder.

[@absurdum-the-artist]

Looked it up, this is so tragic, Candace is struggling so much for the whole time and no one at all listens to her, even her adoptive mother, as she suffocates to multiple grown adults calling her a quitter when she’s literally just a child. I can’t even think why anyone thought this pseudo therapy could work and was a good thing to go through

[@maremsamy4850]

Yeah it angerd me so much

[@donny5843]

unrelated but filmtheory's first video on petscop drew on this event and even they way mattpatt talked about it made me unable to sleep for weeks

[@thevoiidspeaks]

16 years of prison and 10 years of probation isn't NEARLY enough to pay for what those sick, disgusting bastards did. i genuinely hope they burn in hell.

[@josephmatthews7698]

They genuinely believed they were helping her. I think it's a lesson in realizing we shouldn't act so assuredly and remain open minded. It's the equivalent of your child being sick and having a doctor tell you to give them Tylenol. Then come to find out Tylenol causes autism.

[@SmumplytheF2P]

Paul's voice is the one thing that gives you comfort in all of this. When he disappeared, it became more tense to watch.

[@ExTess]

So, here's what I've always thought it was: The triangle-head characters stuck in the living room moving erratically? Those aren't AI learning how to recreate someone's actions. *_They're recordings._* Think about it. The game obviously has some kind of recording feature when it comes to the movement of the player characters. The "demo" feature defaults to the most recently recorded version of the last game played. That's how Paul was able to solve the one puzzle with the room with the locked door, pretending to move in front of the door according to his knowledge of the room in order to solve the puzzle. In fact, I think *_every_* character in the game that's not the player character is a recording. The game saves each movement and interaction from one run of the game and applies it to other areas later, like ghosts in the machine. That's why the first time we see Marvin is when he runs into a wall where a door should be and then runs away and disappears, presumably into a loading trigger that Marvin came across during that recording. The screwy part is when the recordings respond to Paul/the player character as if the person they were recorded from, which means that there must be some kind of meeting point where the recordings converge real-time, which I would guess could be blamed on the dimensional weirdness between Care and Paul. Or maybe I'm just another screwball who has no idea what he's talking about...

[@brownout100]

This is the generally accepted theory. I know Sagan theorizes about AI, but.. it's a re-writeable homebrew PS1 game. You can keep lengthy demo recordings on PS1 memory cards - not AI generators.

[@justas423]

@@brownout100 i mean, he also made the dimensional convergence theory.

[@ExTess]

@@brownout100 oh good! I'm not in too deep with the Petscop theorist community, but I've had the thought in my head ever since I saw the video for the first time. When I saw his theories on what it was here, I started to worry that my own theory was started to feel a little too far fetched...

[@paultapping9510]

this is how I saw it also. I think it's someone (marvin, possibly), trying to solve a puzzle like the invisible door puzzle paul solved.

[@fuzzace6044]

Literally during that scene Paul talks about how this is attempt 22 or something. Clearly showing pauls attempts lol. I really liked this video but that one part i felt was way off lol.

[@terezi3558]

i love how attachment disorders and birth therapy were referenced in this game and brought to light. i barely see it covered in media and as someone who suffers from it, it really means a lot

[@itsameArmio]

Which disorder exactly do you have? I have RAD

[@terezi3558]

@@itsameArmio I have RAD as well :)

[@itsameArmio]

@@terezi3558 oh cool! You're the 3rd person I've met who also has RAD!

[@friendformationbot]

is a kidnapped girl being kept in a school basement for several days and feeling as if she can never be loved again afterwards not an extremely obvious allusion to sexual assault??

[@testerwulf3357]

That was my first thought.. 😅

[@teencrisis4750]

That’s what I thought was going on. Especially with the bedroom “ caught” scene.. and everything else

[@gregfrin8702]

It could be, and I think there's room to interpret it as such. It isn't exclusive to the idea that Marvin tried to rebirth her either, as Marvin is a sick man - maybe that could further explain his obsession with Lisa and the windmill.

[@Vrychez]

@@gregfrin8702along with "you are In the bathtub thinking about her "

[@Odinford]

it does seem like that but i dont want to see a father sexually abusing his underage daughter. Its just too creepy and disgusting if you accually think about it like that

[@mysticete248]

its pronounced like "missed a seat" LOL (thank you for the shoutout)

[@firstablastab5975]

Something to note is that in the soundtrack video the final shot is of the Paul character, the Belle/Tiara character, and the girl from the windmill (presumaby Lina) sitting on a bench. I’m not sure what it means but something to note is that all three of them have been seen with the surname Leskowitz.

[@Lylybeebee]

Well in that scene Belle finally asks Paul if he remembers being born, with her saying that she remembers “boss” smuggling away Paul and her sitting their excited for a new friend, Paul corrects her calling her family. “Boss” is spelt Ll-eeh-n-uh or Lina. Lina took Paul and probably Belle away from their abusive family and adopted them and cared for them

[@hengkaibin2310]

Wait what doesn't Lina alrdy dead long ago or she just went missing?

[@fizzx6317]

@@hengkaibin2310 There are a few hints at her not actually dying. The "They didn't see her" on her tombstone could mean she was hit by a car and the driver didn't see her, or it could mean that after the windmill incident, Marvin and Ann just couldn't find her.

[@mb-qi1qq]

i’ve never watched petscop (tho i certainly will now) but the idea of paul leaving trauma stuck with me a lot. for those of us with PTSD we can’t let go until we’ve had therapy, medication, etc etc. and it’s like yeah, paul went through some very very fucked up shit but he can’t stay in that fucking cycle anymore. he needs to go. and i admire that. also it’s 10 pm and i’m tired after work and school so this may not make sense

[@mb-qi1qq]

did not expect that many likes holy

[@testerwulf3357]

PTSD and trauma aren't things you just let go and don't effects you anymore..it'll always be apart of you and effect you even in little ways such as how you see the world experience emotions and personal choices. Trauma is like a deep cut, over time it'll heal up but it'll leave a scar as a permanent reminder what happened..a permanent defect/injury that'll never fully go away; with treatment that cut may heal faster and leave less of a mark but it'll always impact you, and if the cut is too deep it may not heal on it's own without treatment instead getting infected and getting worse making living hard.

[@MusicDecomposer]

29:22 Haha, I make MIDI re-creations on my channel, and that has happened to me a few times too. I take it as a compliment. It's like my MIDIs are so accurate to the originals, that KZbin's automated system can't tell the difference.

[@ghosty8193]

Haha true. TBF my own original songs have been claimed because of the same chord progressions (I-V-vi-IV). One time I used a serum preset that I got from an actual music producer pack and it got claimed by that producer's company. Both issues got fixed, but damn

[@GippyHappy]

Subtle advertisement?

[@terrabosskiller1988]

It means you are simply too good for YT.

[@isthatawormwildbowreferenc4562]

@@ghosty8193 WAIT UR HERe,,,, I LOVE UR MUSIC

[@ghosty8193]

@@isthatawormwildbowreferenc4562 i can't tel if you're being sarcastic lmao but thank you

[@AnvilPro100]

Petscop is fun mystery for the most part, but two moments really hit me. When Paul is probably assaulted by Marvin and, after just nothing happening for like minutes, he just asks the girl for help, and she can just apologize. And then the final moment of the series in Sountrack, the two of them being a family and deciding to keep investigating, but doing it together. It got to me dude

[@kylieschuttloffel1261]

i really do think its simpler than that. dissociative disorders are common in people who have experienced trauma. dissociative identity disorder specifically is usually caused by heavy trauma as a child. like being locked in a school basement for months being physically, emotionally, and probably sexually abused and told repeatedly youre someone else by your very sick father. I suggest that either Paul is an alter of Care, or Care is an alter of Paul.

[@Idontlikeanyonehere]

One of the scariest parts for me is the windmill disappearing. It may not be the creepiest thing, but the ominous drone and the sudden disappearance gives me a sinking feeling of dread

[@lifelonging]

re rainer committing s*i. there is a track on the petscop soundtrack called bathroom tomb that doesnt appear in the actual series. seems like solid support tbh

[@Erinkyan]

I actually love that you spent time on the themes and didn't try to just ram it all into "solving" the story. Theorising is heaps of fun but I feel like sometimes folks can get too bogged down in details that don't matter at the expense of examining the themes and messages of a work. Also as a trans subscriber it was really nice to hear you discuss that side of things in a kind way - subscribing to youtubers always has a "oh god I hope they don't secretly hate me for existing" element and it's always such a relief when you turn out to be cool about it :)

[@mentallyunstable1926]

as an lgbt person i really relate to that subscribing thing. it’s why i usually only subscribe to people who’ve made their stances clear or are left leaning. it’s kind of nice to see other people talk about that experience

[@yuhyuh1471]

Same Im gay and it’s a bit annoying to like a creator, support them ect and have it turn out they’re homiphobic

[@Aster_Risk]

I'm not trans, so my experience is not quite as difficult as yours. But I wanted to comment, because I can relate to this feeling. I've found myself being relieved when any KZbinr I watch (particularly those who are male presenting) turns out to be progressive and not hateful toward women or anyone who isn't a cis, straight white man. It's devastating when someone whose work you enjoy despises you and people you love.

[@thevoiceinyourhead7215]

Thanks for putting it into words, Not that it was done for any of us, but that’s a common feeling my folks also face allot of the time It’s nice to have some things like that put into comprehensible words

[@yuhyuh1471]

@@Yayofangamer16 ok transphobe 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍⚧️ 🏳️‍⚧️

[@kardborrenk2704]

Oh geez. As someone who went through child trauma i don’t think who I once was as a kid is the same person as me. She’s a different person a little girl and now I’m a man, I’ve forgotten nearly everything that happened to me when I was a child. And it’s jarring hearing people explain what happened to me. It’s a moment of oh fuck I know this, like Paul reacted. DAMNNNN

[@thebestfontever]

i was thinking that as well, as a trans man with a severely traumatic childhood...

[@plexyglass429]

It makes the most sense, having no supernatural elements to it whatsoever makes the story feel more grounded and human

[@MK_0841]

same here

[@nucwaff2727]

The whole "paul is care" thing is likely just using care as a substitute for paul, rather than them literally being the same person. Its a way of presenting the story to paul without paul immedietly knowing

[@NoArtisticLimitation]

Interesting note: many adopted children will change their names... just a thought about care/Paul and Belle/tiara.

[@alexsnightmare]

I don't know why, but Petscop really freaks me out. I think it's the fact that there are no jumpscares but you're still on the edge of your seat the entire time as you see Paul discover things around the game. The atmosphere is top notch, and that's what freaks me out about it.

[@turtl3lunch]

I think one of my favorite paul = care theory is paul developed DID after marvin kidnapped him. DID usually forms in early childhood due to severe trauma and identity issues, similar to how marvin attempted to "rebirth" his friend through care, hence why Paul and Care are so similar/share similar mannerisms !

[@sodaboi2154]

This actually makes a lot more sense then the trans theory, since Paul having DID being a result of trauma, and Paul and Care being similar seems more plausible by implication (at lest that is my opinion)

[@L16htW4rr10r]

That's actually my theory too.

[@yukiandkanamekuran]

Yeah I honestly feel very close to that. I too, am a system. And I feel like a lot of the children, told in the story, relates to that somehow. Like Michael and Rainer feel inherently connected to Paul, like they're different versions of himself. Also ??? It's said Aunt Jill? But Jill is supposed to be Care's mom. So thats very confusing. Also a big generational trauma plotline intertwined in that.

[@siqxyre8473]

This is my exact theory, im very glad to know im not the only one who thinks it

[@painslut]

@@yukiandkanamekuran Oooh I see ! I only thought about Paul and Care being the only alters there but that's interesting too But it's a bit incoherent since Paul mentioned seeing Rainer ? Maybe it's an innerworld thing or a "seeing my alters as imaginary friends first" thing, which, to my knowledge, do happen

[@RATLANTIS]

The only comment I really have is that there's an obvious implication of sexual assault that you didn't even name; a man kidnaps a young girl and abuses her so that he can make someone else be reborn through her. The song and everything else are sort of surrounding the fact that there is a VERY literal interpretation of "rebirth through someone". Other than that, I think the timeline theory makes the most sense, but is still not quite perfect. Doesn't explain why Paul never felt any of the mirrored effects Care did, for instance.

[@keegs3432]

Could be that if Paul mirrored Care, it's hidden in some of the details that weren't included in the Petscop videos. Petscop as a game focused more on Care, Marvin's, and Rainer's personal experiences, since Rainer was in the midst of that with Paul existing on this soap bubble on the outside (at least at first). Also while Paul survives, Care seems to be essentially dead, in my opinion. Perhaps that may be why he doesn't seem to experience any current mirroring? Maybe he's in the dominant time line?

[@kat8559]

"You're in the bathtub thinking about her" "I have a guess at which child you'll pick next" "Nobody will love them, not ever again" :(

[@data6022]

yeah I assume he's just not comfortable bringing it up, or the creator has outright denied it at some point.

[@alexbenavidez4500]

I thought I was the only one who picked up on those implications There's nothing truly explicit shown, there's just a number of things that feel very "off" and icky The use of the Tool, the rebirthing of a childhood friend, perhaps a crush? And the kidnapping of a child to groom into replacing Thinking about her in the bath, being placed about plucking her eyebrows and changing her appearance, stealing her away from her literal bed after bypassing something meant to protect her To try and physically and mentally rebirth a young girl into being what he, Marvin a grown man, wanted to be to satisfy his desire for a woman from his past feels so wrong. Especially once it traumatized her and had allusions to foster systems and child care homes, an industry that deals greatly in child victims of SA

[@eipheres]

theres also a repeated motif of flowers and petals being plucked, which is often used as a symbol that a girl is no longer a virgin- she's been "deflowered." a lot of parents and churches that are obsessed with their daughters remaining virginal until marriage will use the metaphor by passing a flower around until everyone has handled it, to show how by being touched by others it has become wilted and undesirable (which is a disgusting mindset btw 🤮), which ties into care feeling dirty and disgusting and like no one could ever love her again. some pretty dark shit, all things considered.

[@nummers9037]

I can't believe Pyro actually made Petscop 2

[@aldrika3222]

W h a t ! ?

[@TheRealRustyIsHere]

Link please?

[@Spore_Money]

LMAOO

[@nummers9037]

@@TheRealRustyIsHere kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2q9pGR8o76AeKM&lc=UgyQVLM30uYryyxXd2J4AaABAg.9SHl-AEuWwJ9SHx2_37EMt

[@latte5402]

So sad that Pyrocynical would shamelessly steal this 4 years earlier.

[@NootKaboot]

Not sure if anyone has really theorized on this but an idea I've thought about with the Care and Paul being the same person in a different sort of way being a result of dissociative identity disorder. DID develops usually as of result of extreme childhood trauma usually from abuse as a way to protect themselves from the trauma, maybe this is what happened to Care after Marvin did what he did causing a personality split where Paul became the alter to deal with the trauma. It could explain why he only has vague memories of things of Care at best but no memories of the traumatic events she faced, but when shown the censored items associated with Care and her trauma he has a viseral reaction. And a possible explanation why the family seems to think Paul is special and must play the game to unlock it's secrets, since he is Care at least partially believing he'd know more and it fueled Marvin's idea in a twisted way that the rebirth was possible because Care was "reborn" as Paul. If that makes sense, I don't know how it would line up with all the lore and info in the game if you really went through it.

[@yukiandkanamekuran]

YEAH!! And with systems, it's quite often that different alters will have different genders. So I feel like it's inherently layered. Trauma and trans identities. Like alters that are a different gender will often form like "im not allowed to be blank, I must be blank" to protect from trauma. That Care no longer felt like a girl because of abuse. And trans people may relate that they never felt like the gender they were assigned as. So it's definitely both, and imperfect, because that's how life is. It's not going to be perfect, but a varied experience.

[@epicderp6167]

This is honestly such a cool idea!! I would love to play a game as a newer alter who has limited memoirs and has to explore the world around them to help and learn and heal from past traumas. If done right of course. I can see it being done wrong and doing more harm than good. The world could use some more positive DID representation.

[@bunny-bear3224]

I will say, this could explain why his reactions to things seem kind of muted. When he sees censored things he doesnt scream, cry, freak out, like someone who actually went through/saw firsthand whatever the censored thing shows. He just says "what the fuck" or "oh fuck" in a shocked voice, which implies hes seeing it for the first time and it disturbs him but doesnt set him off because he doesnt remember it, but some part of him does (he may switch alters while editing bc of the stress and care gets triggered and censors things). Its likr how sophie from TWF doesnt freak out when she sees the gore and her parents, because her memories are muted by something (in her case, the pills she takes for her ptsd which paul may be taking too) so she is jsut kind of confused. If paul was care but did not have did/osdd, he would remember and react more strongly which could mean he has that disconnect

[@bunny-bear3224]

Actually?? So like, different alters are formed to help deal with the trauma right? Maybe the game itself is representative of that? It has many characters doing compeltely different things, solving things and dealing with the trauama (Sorry for mispellings, im dyslexic and my auto correct isn't working)

[@ohwoah4324]

i hate twitter

[@Kalina47]

I love how everyone’s just making a bunch of Pyrocynical Petscop 2 jokes.

[@terminal-vl3rj]

there is actually some good evidence for the trans theory (i am trans btw) 1. the object in the 'care with mikes eyebrows' room. we know from the caskets scene that this object is a red vase showing cares distorted reflection. (look closeley at the censored object- you can see a small part of the vase poking out.) paul recognizes this, but the only people in the series who would have seen this in real life are care, marvin, and possibly rainer. 2. color symbolism. paul is represented with red and care as yellow. the egg care becomes is red and yellow. there is an object in the window outside red tools room- when the windmill is active it moves- it is a red piece and yellow piece and they constantly seperate and recombine 3. the series makes a deliberate point to show that rainer commits a form of deadnaming against tiara. 'i am tiara not bell' vs 'im calling you belle because thats who you are'. rainer even makes her speaking sound effect a bell 4. if you translate the message paul lingers on but never sends in petscop 23, though it is not complete it seems to say 'dad'. we know marvin is cares dad 5. we see the guardian being called to the 'girl' wall repeatedly while in the school, which causes the guardian to assume an annoyed face that we learn in episode 18 is one of its previous designs. when the player finally enters the counselors office on the other side of the girl wall, they note that the player didnt respond to her calling and asks to confirm the players name- the name text is in red, pauls color 6. almost everything about the birthday scene ' why are you hiding your face... oh. .... that face, those eyes, thats still you' 7. care becomes and egg. egg is common slang among trans people, referring to one before realizing they are trans 8. paul defeats marvin by playing in red notes (his own color) rather than the pink notes marvin wants him to play (pink either being linas color, or a color representing the dead as it is found in gravestone text) 9. in the epilogue, tiara states 'boss is there, waiting for her son'. if you translate the inputs, every time boss is said, what is actually being typed is 'lina' under this reading, petscop is a story about rainer committing figurative graverobbing (and possibly literal graverobbing as well) he refuses to accept that peoples identities change, seeing them as entirely separate people. this is why rainer uses the A B NLM system, seeing people as separate entities after they experience life changing effects. the same is why he sees the dog hit by the car as forever changed. the graverobbing is symbolic for Rainer constantly trying to either bring back or mourn these previous iterations of people . if you follow the idea that the pets are symbolic for the characters (which is reinforced by color symbolism and gift plane areas corresponding to newmaker plane areas, then wavey, the cloud pet, would be rainer' waveys text reads 'according to him, he is never the same person for more than a few seconds' rainer represents the ideological excuses for transphobia - the idea that identity is unchanging and if it does change then that isnt the same person from before the change marvin, who is implied to have been in cahoots with rainer at some point (how else would rainer have known about the vase casket?) represents the reactionary elements of transphobia- he wants care back as he sees her as a replacement for his lost childhood friend (as rainer tells us in episode 17, marvin spent weeks waiting for lina to come back, so i doubt that he killed her or anything) rainer at some point died, either literally or in his weird standards of changing identities/personalities being the same as death. 'check your bathroom now', pillar of dirt in randice/wavey room corresponding to the house bathroom, 'bathroom tomb' track showing the pillar of dirt, rainer telling tiara that hes 'gone' in the messages he left behind for her) leaving marvin behind to continue the cycle of pain rainer created. by putting care b in the machine instead of care nlm and playing his own song, paul escapes the cycle of a b nlm that the game had been stuck in, and then puts the egg in the locker where marvin can never get it, same as tiara seeming did with her egg so that rainer would have to stop trying to rebirth her. the 'you should start thinking about that' text the egg gives is the same text as what the pet ambers description says 'whats the safest place you can put her? you should start thinking about that.' - a hint on how to protect the egg from marvin. amber seemingly wears the hat the counselor has in the image outside her room.

[@terminal-vl3rj]

rainer not dying literally also explains how petscops development after his 'death' as for the windmill incident- heres my theory petscop has a motif of recordings and the idea that they can never exist without bias (constant censoring, unreliable narrators), and that they can 'bring back the dead' (this idea was mentioned in one version of the channels description. the house is 'a frozen house, captured three times exactly as it was'. when paul goes to cares room, the note says 'when you find her room the passage to her right will lead to her (her being lina) she will emerge, limping from the darkness, and i will shoot her in the head' later, paul finds the periscope thing above tools room that serves as a camera for the 'watching the windmill' scene. though it works as a camera, above ground it looks like a very basic drawing of a gun. you can shoot someone in the face with both a gun and a camera. paul mentions someone has been changing the cameras height, which we learn in episode 20 is marvin, as he can spin and raise/lower the camera. this also explains how he spins the camera around in petscop 6. after he tampers with it and the windmill disappears it becomes bright red- the gun / camera has been fired marvin, lina, and linas sister anna went to a windmill in 1977. marvin and lina stood in front of it, and anna took a picture. something happened later on that trip, not a windmill or a girl disappearing but something more mundane. if i had to guess id say marvin and lina got in a fight. marvin keeps the photo anna took. he sits on a bench with a slice of cake and puts up 'birthday girl' signs, trying to get his friend to come back. the photo is symbolic of marvin refusing to move on- a moment forever frozen in time. in the second photo, lina is gone because she and marvin arent friends anymore and the windmill is gone as a windmill is something always in motion- ever changing. mikes 9th birthday party. mike gets a special present- probably the dog mentioned in toneths description. in her letter, anna mentions lina: 'also thank your other Auntie for making all this possible. if you see her i mean, not everyone can'. as mentioned in the last comment, every time someone types lina in petscops chat system, it gets changed to 'boss'. lina is the boss of garalina- the companies name a combo of lina and garage (where the game was made, as shown in petscop 14 and that scene at the ending of 23 (that room shown is the garage with the door open and the car gone) so lina is still alive marvin never gets over this. he obsesses over it for years. rainer convinces him that care is lina reincarnated, as we see in the petscop 9 note. at this point marvin has lost custody of care probably due to declining mental health (or possibly due to hitting mike with a car, but thats pure speculation). rainer conspired with him to help kindnap care (thus why rainer goes in the closet and stays in there long before marvin shows up in 11 and only leaves it when marvin is leaving- he knew he was coming). they took her to the school, and the sequence of events described in the casket items takes place. rainer pretends to help the others find care, but he is slowly turning against marvin due to how marin is treating care. eventually care escapes the school and returns home. in petscop 9, paul finds linas gift room. a single slice has been taken from the cake and is on the bench on the other side of the window along with a pinwheel. this is the bench marvin sat on waiting for lina to come back (' he sat on a bench with a peice of birthday cake, waiting for her to come home') the whole room is black and white like an old photo, the only color in the room being the gifts and the pinwheel in the epilouge scene, as paul and tiara walk to lina, we see the window in front of her, and the grey floor of the gift room on the other side of it. you can also see the table with the cake. the pinwheel sits next to lina who is holding the slice of cake. marvin couldn't see lina because he was obsessed with finding an old version of her- the version he knew when they were kids in the seventies. lina cant be seen from the birthday room, which is grey like an old photo- that frozen memory marvin wanted to return to. but she can be seen from the present, the newmaker plane bathed in the light of day- outside the cycle.

[@ez-ru3do]

@@terminal-vl3rj this is all so interesting tysm for sharing!!!!!!

[@monkeman5895]

Wow, this makes it even more trash

[@miniespeon158]

What a stunning theory, no wonder it got a heart

[@trex7925]

This is a really swag theory and I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I really do like the aspect of Paul trying to move on from a terrible past and all of it being brought up through this game, and instead of it consuming him he and his friend movie on. Gonna have to watch through the video a couple more times to understand it better but yeah

[@cr0wyy]

It’s been a while since I’ve seen any Petscop content, love this series though!

[@K.Marie119]

I dunno, I'm sort of a fan of the mental health angle. I grew up two stepsisters who were adopted at ages 5 and 7. (Mike was 7 when he died.) Adopted children often have several severe mental health issues. In fact, twice as many develop at least one, if not multiple, mental illnesses. Some providers have described it as "Adopted Child Syndrome" but the phrase is highly controversial. Common disorders include, are not limited to: Major Depressive Disorder, PTSD, Reactive Attachment Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Conduct Disorder, Generalized Anxiety/Panic Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder and so on. They are also at higher risk of developing issues with substance abuse or behavioral addictions like sex and gambling. Just a few notable points: 1.) What is the deal with calling them "The Family?" Kids that live with their biological relatives generally use second person, inclusive language (we, our, mine) when talking about their family. 2.) They struggle with feeling like they don't belong. 3.) Many come from abusive situations, including sexual assault. (My stepsisters came from a home riddled with drugs, drug users, and multiple forms of neglect and abuse. ) It's possible Marvin lost his parental rights because he abused his kids. perhaps he was so abusive Mike had to be rushed to the ICU. Doctors, nurses, CNAs, etc are all mandated reporters. Red flags like multiple healed fractures, blunt force trauma (without an obvious explanation,) deceleration injuries (especially the kind seen in Shaken Baby syndrome) all have to be reported. 4.) Marvin, furious at losing his rights schemes to take Care back. We went through a period of time where we had to do things like have our phone number unlisted, emergency orders of protection, police surveillance, etc when my stepsisters' biological mother and father were released from prison. The girls even had a name change and new birth certificates.) 5.) To a child who doesn't understand, a large group home (that has kids constantly leaving and new kids coming in) may feel a lot like a "child library. 6.) The girls and I had regular visits with our respective school guidance counselors. 7.) The calendar could represent the mother's visitation rights (as pointed out many times) but it's a CPS visitation situation, not a divorce, as she works to have her full rights restored separate from Marvin. 8.) Okay, this gets kind of personal, but I have struggled with blackouts and PNES episodes as part of my own PTSD. I have my own history of prolonged childhood sexual abuse. The worst of these episodes have end with me wandering and only coming out when I run into furniture or a door frame. That's all I have for now. But there's plenty more where that came from.

[@cet1r1z1ne]

Thank you for sharing all of this. Your perspective gives me a lot to think about!

[@3kojimbles895]

kinda fucked up to have a sexual assault based trauma state be called PNES

[@marseillejoh]

@@3kojimbles895 wait what PNES means??

[@3kojimbles895]

@@marseillejoh psychogenic nonepileptic seizures

[@MokohiChan]

Hey! This is very tangentially related, but I've never met someone else with PNES. I've had them for a number of years due to CPTSD myself and it's...always pretty complicated to explain

[@ziongamer6905]

Petscop is a classic. Honestly I’m excited to relive this series through your vid.

[@elianwyn]

I agree with a lot of your summary but I think there's a much simpler, darker and more meaningful interpretation of the "dimensions" that plays strongly into the themes of childhood trauma, memory loss. This also kind of ties in the "Paul is trans" theory. Whatever Marvin did to Care as a child traumatized her so much that she was "never the same." After intensive therapy by herself or an outside source, she was in a sense reborn as Paul, unwilling to confront the memories to the point where he doesn't even recall anything of his life back as Care. That's why the cycle keeps repeating; it's not that the game know the future, it's that this all been done by Paul before, but his method of coping has made him unintentionally repeat the exact actions during different stages of his trauma, to the extent that the game can literally predict exactly what he's going to do. Because of his traumatic childhood, Paul (who was possibly originally Mike?) has been forced to play this screwed up fake game again and again for 17 years, being forcefully "reborn" over and over through a process that he could only emotionally cope with by blanking out the repeated cycle of trauma that his family was repeatedly forcing him through. Rainer's gift to decades-long tortured innocent cousin was to edit in a method in the game to record and replay these events in a way that makes him confront these blocked out memories and finally break the 17-year long cycle of trauma that Marvin and his family have put this adopted child through over and over again.

[@damien678]

this interpretation thoooo 🔥🔥🔥

[@jan8265]

Im not into the Petscope lore, but maybe someone can debunk my theory. I thought the exact same, just that the trauma went so far to create a dissociative identity disorder. Paul and Care are still the same, but multiple personalitys of the same individual. So maybe Care is the only personality aware of the abuse an contributing to a therapy. The game could be a tool from the psychotherapist to help Paul find his trauma and integrate the personalitys in the long run. Sorry for the bad language, this is a bit complicated for a non native speaker ^^

[@militarydeviltube5014]

YOOOO this interpretation was really good!!!!!!

[@scootie_scoot]

Exactly what I was thinking!!!! I was thinking of the game and the dimensions as a metaphor for Paul coping with his childhood trauma

[@testerwulf3357]

The game trying to remind Mike (Pall) of who he was and what happened would make sense! But as he represses the trauma it just freaks him out before he blocks it again (and his family desperate to get their boy back keeps forcing him to play it over and over but it doesn't help except make him dislike them).

[@binnieb20]

I really loved that video, the "Merging Dimensions" Interpretation does sound interesting. I am wondering though, the soundtrack says "It was recorded on a TARNACOP Machine", we see a PC in Petscop called Tarnacop and I remember reading somewhere that "Tarnacop was a robotic probe" that was to "Warn people of a disaster occuring in 2022". And perhaps this disaster was the merge. After all, there is this kind of computer called a "Quantum Computer", which can be superimposed between two states or something like that, what if the Tarnacop Machine was also a Quantum Computer?

[@justas423]

The Quantum Computer connection makes sense with The Dimensional Merge.

[@leeeroyjenkins555]

Wait, you said 2022? 😶😶😶😶😶

[@memesarekeem]

I think it's very important to realize that Petscop isn't simply just a story told through a medium of video games. Petscop BEING a video game is integral to the plot, as well as the fact it is being played through for us. While that may seem quite obvious I think it's nonetheless an important distinction. The SHADOWMONSTERMAN isn't just a state of being, it's an actual glitch in the game which allows access into areas previously unavailable due to circumstance. The Shadow Monster Man directly leads to a revelation about the windmill, as well as a few other things. The original note telling us about the Shadow monster man is extremely juvenile, (presumably written by a child,) and while it also pays tribute to the usual "DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME!!" trope in ".EXE" tributes, here it seems almost as a subversion of it, the note implores us to discover more about what the Shadow Monster Man may be, how it relates to walking through a wall in a staircase, should we be afraid of it? It's clear that the child writing the original Shadow Monster Man note is meant to be related to children on a school play ground, spreading rumors of "L IS FOR REAL 2407" or how Mew can be found under the truck in Pokemon red. This child doesn't know what a glitch is (or at least not how to define it) and thus calls the visual glitch a Shadow Monster Man. However it's interesting to note that the Shadow Monster Man can only be found in the Newmaker plain, an area below the gift plain. As far as I know, the Giftplain was the original or at least planned Petscop for Micheal, as well as a few other children. The Newmaker plain is intended for Marvin and or Paul. Why would another child seemingly have access for the New Maker plain? I think Petscop is a lot deeper than can be simply explained with a dimensional rift, the note telling us about the Shadow Monster Man for example. I doubt Rainer wrote the first part, we see his hand writing in the part below it, seemingly intended for Marvin. I think it's important that we keep this in mind, I believe the Shadow Monster Man note somewhat disproves the theory of a dimensional rift, or at least weakens it. The descriptions of the videos are also quite important. About halfway through the series, they begin to state that "Videos can bring people back from the dead." In a physical sense, this is untrue. In a metaphorical sense, you can see back into time (time is another somewhat important theme in Petsocp as well) and "revive" them, even if just for a short period of time. With this in mind, there is a camera in Petscop as well. The video camera recording the windmill. This video recording then displays our first sighting of Marvin as he asks where his house is, the school, etc. I don't think there is a dimensional rift in Petscop, but I do believe there is somewhat a warped sense of time instead. The first time we EVER see Marvin is through a camera, which we are told can bring people "from the dead." I am not about to tell you that Paul is dead as we are watching his videos, that theory never made sense to me. Instead, I think we're watching Paul in a time loop of sorts. One thing I was incredibly surprised by in this video is that it completely glossed over the Soundtrack's epilogue, in which Paul and Belle have a conversation. At the end of this we see Paul go "Lets investigate together" (among other expository details, Belle states a boss is coming soon and is going to sit in the bench. Belle also says that Paul REMEMBERS being reborn, and that he was smuggled away.) I think this epilogue actually the beginning of the series, with the credits being the true ending. Quick side track from all of this. I think Paul playing "Paul's melody" when he was supposed to be rebirthed is actually proof that Care rebirthed into Paul, not vice versa. Instead of becoming the person Marvin wanted her to, Care became her own entity, yet separate from "Care." That is why Paul's or Care's family states Care's full name in order to try and convince Paul he is Care, why Care/Paul is taken out of school by the counselor. Care either literally or figuratively became Paul, So, with all of that out the way, here's my theory. I think Paul/Care wrote the Shadow Monster Man note for himself, after discovering the glitch to begin with. This is my only explanation as to why the note was there to begin with and why it was so simple when compared to the way Rainer speaks. Care/Paul was the only person who would've had access to the Newmaker plain outside of Marvin, Belle and Rainer. After this, the rest of the story happens, and once again as Paul watches Care becoming Paul (very good wording I know) Marvin leaves and Paul exits the Newmaker plain, only for the loop to reset. Yes, that was a very brief description, and since this is likely getting far too long and convoluted for you guys (and myself) I'm going to explain why a time loop makes sense in the context of Petscop. 1: It explains the descriptions and why videos can supposedly "bring people from the dead." Care is dead, but care LIVES through the Petscop videos as Paul. 2: It explain the Shadow Monster Man note, an integral part of the story because without it Paul would've had to stumble across the glitch by chance. 3: It explains the red triangle characters people believed to be AI machines. They're iterations of Paul and all the movements he's made each time he's played through the game. (I think it's important to note now that I don't believe petscop the game is affected by time, it's instead a conduit for the time anomaly.) Feel free to tear this theory to shreds, I think I lost focus half way and now I feel like a reptillian conspiracy theorist.

[@tropezando]

I might not understand all the deep lore to this series, but I think the csa themes in this are pretty unambiguous. All that language about kidnapping, excitement, teaching, using tools, rebirthing - all I hear is grooming and abuse. No wonder Care thought "NLM" :(

[@notgray88]

The destruction of the flower is often used as a symbol of losing virginity as well, hence the daisy.

[@leightonpetty4817]

Being “a part of” the Petscop fanbase and theory community as the series came out was just an amazing experience. I’ll never forget Christmas of 2017-after a 6 month hiatus, we didn’t just get a new 30-minute part to break down… we got YO THE HOUSE PAUL FOUND THE HOUSE IT’S THE HOUSE YOOOOOOOOO It was just one of those great things, and I’ll always have a love for the series because of it

[@justas423]

I feel like the final song being Paul's Melody means that Care(?) has become Paul rather than being forced into being Care. Although that sort of connects to the "Paul being forced to present female for rebirthing." Theory. I still feel like that theory has some more water than The Dimensional Rift but that really doesn't explain the "Dodging invisible obstacles" and "Walking through a door" parts. Maybe it's related to that line about Care going Blind for a bit after she left?

[@casanovafunkenstein5090]

Hysterical blindness is a thing that can happen after a traumatic event, so it's not beyond reason that that could be the implication

[@bunny-bear3224]

@@casanovafunkenstein5090 yeah plus, if she was forced into a basement for 5 months, the sunlight when she escaped may have damaged her eyes

[@ravenfrancis1476]

I really don't want that to be the canon explanation for Paul and Care because of the deeply transphobic origins of that trope in media,

[@jaxsonbaird6903]

"Whatever it is it severely freaks paul out" Paul: *chill almost unbothered sounding voice* "what the fuck" Lmao

[@El_chara]

Paul seem to have 0 emotions, so yeah we can say he freaked out lol

[@mattgroening8872]

I mean it’s just a video game

[@jaxsonbaird6903]

@@mattgroening8872 yeah but it was just funny nothing against anyone :>

[@mattgroening8872]

@@jaxsonbaird6903 ik

[@Maddinhpws]

@@El_chara Which is also something that can happen to people who were severely abused as children. They close off and stop showing emotion.

[@aimeekatz]

me: desperately trying to pay attention to the story and keep track of the names my brain jamming out in the background: uh oh! bye bye!

[@angelinawilson3032]

“Whatever it is, it severely scares Paul.” “…What the fuck”

[@crustysconsoles6240]

I think it’s very interesting that it specifically the second notion of Stravinsky’s septet, because the whole piece is meant to show the change that in his music (first half is old style third is new and second is the change) I’m 100% sure that it’s the song Marvin plays during rebirthing.

[@dfailsthemost]

Petscop is a great example of a series that doesn't give you any real answers but does give the impression that there actually is a story.

[@pg3384]

I came up with an interesting game concept after watching the petscop videos. You play through a game. Early access for years, suddenly released, and seems to have been abandoned forever ago, and just released to solidify that it was abandoned. Except it wasn’t. The game was a passion project, and the dev (kinda crazy ngl) kept working on stuff, and scrapping it, trying more stuff, etc. This scrapped material would somehow make its way into the main game upon release. If you played through the game normally, it’d seem like a 15-20 minute long, mostly boring game. But if you dug deeper, like finding a “bug” to glitch yourself into a secret room, you can start finding this “scrapped” material and play through an extremely unsettling game.

[@AmandaSay]

There is a game(?), I think is more of a interactive narration called The Beginner's Guide that has a similar theme to that, the narrator shows us a compilation of unfineshed games made by his friend and talks about obsession and social validation. It's a really cool experience and there's also a lot of playthroughs on KZbin, in case you are interested (and haven't seen it already)!

[@brownout100]

So, after watching Petscop you came up with the idea for *basically* Petscop. Good job?

[@pg3384]

@@brownout100 Not necessarily. Petscop seems to been have built with a purpose in mind, intending for you to find the glitchy area to tell a story. My idea was that the entire glitchy-area was never meant to be found or played, just a relic of a failed game.

[@carmencorona8477]

love this idea!!

[@misvin]

@@AmandaSaythank you so much for the recommendation, just watched a whole play through and that has to be one of my favorite experiences ever. the bit in the tower had me BAWLING, can’t believe I’ve never heard of this before

[@firstablastab5975]

Something to note is “good grief and alas” is where the daisy head maisie allusions come on bc that’s a line from that book.

[@EvanBear]

I too am a victim of generational and childhood trauma and working on closing my own loop. That's why I relate more with petscop than I ever will with something like the Walten Files.

[@FTZPLTC]

I have this awful feeling that there might actually be an Answer to Petscop. Something about that last video with the long list of names and the birthday card has this air of someone handing you the final piece to a puzzle, like if we'd put all the pieces together there would be this precise hole that requires that one piece to fill it... but we didn't, so it's just kind of confusing. I like to imagine with these things that there is an actual under-the-bonnet answer, even if it's impossible to obtain, because so much of the series is quite precise and carefully constructed. So I appreciate you saying that this probably isn't all metaphor, and that it probably is a somewhat grounded story about a weird thing that happened, rather than a very weird story about something mundane. Theory-wise... I couldn't really manage anything. I liked the idea proposed by someone - possibly Game Theory, possibly not - that the game was intended as some kind of modelling program, to get a sense of how Marvin would think so that some secret about his actions could be gleaned from that. But it probably doesn't stand up to scrutiny.

[@hx0ad5]

i love that you brought up the effectiveness of the lack of jumpscares, especially because this series makes incredible use of what i generally call "slow-motion jumpscares". the one that always sticks out in my mind is lina's gravestone rising out of the ground - it's not anywhere near fast enough (or immediately shocking enough) to count as a jumpscare, but it elicits a weirdly similar feeling for me.

[@virginiad.1911]

God this brings back memories…I remember when we were all trying to count “bye-byes” on the discord, and writing out all of the keysmash video titles. I was literally there when we found out that video synced to the sign, it was fucking wild. Omg.

[@Taikina]

an interpretation i had from the "is there still a room?" line is that playing the game imprints the psyche/behavioural pattern/soul/whatever of the family member into the memory card, and they wouldn't realize they are the digital imprint until they tried to stop playing or put the controller down, because even though they'd lack a body and a surrounding room at that point, they'd still have a vague feeling of sitting in front of a game left from when they were still a person playing the game

[@doctorofallrats]

47:45 "WTF is the Dimensional Merge?" It's when all of the OCs in the world come into the real world and Chris Chan can reunite with Sonichu, duh!

[@SonyShock]

There it is! Was looking for this comment. Cursed choice of words, ain't it?

[@notgray88]

Why did you have to remind me

[@theKingofDragons420]

Same thing dude and it freaking me out because it all connected to this game the dimensional merge Paul and care being connected and turns out trans and some other connection however non of it connects to Chris Chan life like how he was watch by his parents and also leaving the computer for good that all I can hear

[@ThePsychoAnon]

I need some boyfriend free girls who like petscop need to draw comics with😢

[@pedrofromrio645]

Care being a metaphor for the perception of Paul by the Family (Marvin specifically) makes the most sense. Care is the child that Marvin wanted. Everything about Care is a projection by Marvin. Marvin was plucking her eyebrows, gaslighting his wife into thinking that Care is simply “not growing eye brows.” The image of the vase clearly represents Marvins dissatisfaction with Pauls looks. The “tool” is used to beat Paul (Care) into playing the music the way Marvin wants. He’s trying to make him perfect to a standard that is unobtainable. No one can play the music correctly because Marvin is nostalgic about a past that never existed.

[@nosodiumsalt]

So THIS is the dimensional merge chris chan was talking about

[@ohwell6422]

Where's Bundychu though?

[@danker7680]

@@ohwell6422 he'll be here soon enough

[@moogleydoot]

i have a love hate relationship with petscop. I don't mind stories being left open ended, but in this case it really frustrates me. no matter how much i read or watch about this series i still feel like i don't get it, which is why i personally like the theory that paul is transgender. it's much more simple and still has holes but the other theories are just too detailed and riddled with loose ends for me to be satisfied with. I gotta say it was a missed opportunity imo. I get a feeling the creator was so attached to the mystery aspect that they never gave us straightforward answers and instead kept it vague.

[@daveholland6293]

@Natalie sad

[@sarinabina5487]

@Natalie same!!

[@brianbuttface]

@@Yayofangamer16 What in the goddamn does that have to do with the theory?

[@franksinstein]

@@Yayofangamer16 you have undertale on your youtube banner, i hope you know that every single character is trans in that game

[@enidanni3919]

@@Yayofangamer16 cringe….

[@leahkatchur3395]

I'm so thrilled about this upload and I'm only a little over halfway through. I remember when petscop was on its first legs and I would desperately try to find theory videos on them that would clear things up but to no avail. Eventually, I stopped keeping up with the channel's uploads but I really wish I did. Super grateful for this video :) Another banger vid Sagan!

[@dontwaketheneighborsgaming6327]

Nightmare Masterclass: makes one reference to how horrible the class divide is and it's impact on the foster care system has been undoubtedly horrendous. Sagan: "he focuses a lot on the societal connections"

[@TheSecondVersion]

10:49 - "Good grief and alas" is also a line from Daisy-Head Mayzie

[@OhNoBohNo]

Something from a 2024 perspective: The feelings I got watching trans interpretations hit me similar to watching ‘I Saw the TV Glow’. The sense of horror from our identities being buried. The themes of rebirth. In ‘I Saw the TV Glow’, Isabelle seems to be ‘killed’ so she can become Owen. The only way they can go back is to bury themselves again. To take that chance. In Petscop, Marvin attempts to rebirth ‘Care’ into Lisa. In defiance, he rebirths as something else than what Marvin wanted. As Paul. There’s still time. No one gets to decide your identity for you.

[@AnEphemeralCollation]

Great work! I think one of the points of Petscop 18 (if not the main point) was to canonically retcon Guardian as the name of the active player sprite from Newmaker. Given how the creator is on the record about regretting evoking her for the series, this makes sense.

[@Snippyyy]

just a small theory here, but what if the "here i come" when paul tells marvin where he is, is a mirror for care getting kidnapped? now that marvin knows where paul/care is, he goes to them, and kidnaps them, explaining the help message and the whole school sequence, just food for thought

[@p1xelat3d]

Petscop will forever be burned to my mind it is just iconic to me now. I love petscop to bits and my man tony made a literal masterpiece. I love stories that use the sense of ambiguity to get you hooked. I love not understanding things and slowly pieceing what's happening with the information given to me. The thing is the story of petscop is a double pack. You have the intended by the creator story or concept of what is happening and it also has that interperate it the way you want to story because the story doesn't give you info and never confirms anything. AND I LOVE THAT. IT IS THE MOST UNIQUE WAY OF STORYTELLING I HAVE EVER SEEN. Petscop is an experience and it will forever stay as my favorite web seires.

[@skittstuff]

I listened to this video with one earbud at work the other day. It's so good I'm coming back to watch it for real now. Love your videos so bad dude, keep up the good work!!

[@akirapink]

32:04 closest thing petscop gets to a jumpscare i think, one of my favorite moments

[@iampinball3669]

I think Paul’s narration in the first episode isn’t EXPLICITLY toward Belle specifically. The birth of petscop as a series started from a Reddit post by Paul claiming to have said game. I believe he might’ve been referring to the people watching at firsy

[@DragonaxFilms]

20:54 "Check your bathroom" Good advice, there could be a duende in there 👽

[@emmanuel5181]

Gotta activate that anti-alien alarm first tho

[@aurel8872]

Honestly with Nexpo video this remains the only video on Petscop I respect - maybe together with Nightmare Masterclass. Props to not covering the Cadance story in detail and not playing the whole thing, esp since it was revealed that while it was part of inspiration its integration is now more of regret.

[@movedlonely_space_egg1169]

i'm nonbinary and, while it's ofc not intentional, i have always seen the "character is male but is forced to be female" trope as very trans, but through the lens of someone assigned female at birth. they know they're a man, but are forced to present as a woman due to transphobia. all that to say, part of my perspective on the "paul is a trans man" theory ties into the "martin is forcing paul to be a woman" theory. when paul was assigned female at birth, martin believed that this meant the rebirthing worked, but when paul came out as trans martin wanted him to remain a woman like lina was, leading to the rebirthing process that turned paul into care nlm.

[@painslut]

@@Yayofangamer16 Honey, get a life. Trying to spout bullshit under trans people's comments is just going to make you seem ridiculous.

[@bigboodyjoe8914]

@@Yayofangamer16 go touch grass redditor

[@achillesisanerd1661]

@@Yayofangamer16 babe go touch grass

[@ChezTube]

@@Yayofangamer16 touch grass

[@crudkip4326]

not sure if paul is trans though because he has a voice thats very much a male voice (yes i know women can have deep voices but even then they still sound like well, women)

[@Mephil]

The windmill could be a reference to don Quixote, the windmill being Marvin’s adversary or in this case his goal of reviving Lina. He went there (to his goal) but failed. So Lina and the windmill (the goal) disappeared. He became a shadow monster man (someone who is evil torturing kids) in pursuit of the goal. But nobody ever saw her (Lina) because she never emerged from any of the children who he attempted to rebirth. Further evidence that the windmill isn’t a place but an event is that Paul only gets an answer when he asked WHEN was the windmill not WHERE.

[@SinisterPixel]

I prefer the more grounded theory that Paul and Belle were both left with childhood trauma after Marvin attempted to rebirth both of them. This led to them having psychosis as children, hallucinations, and eventually repressed/misremembered childhood memories as adults and PTSD (which is why Paul recognised the conversation. He was having a PTSD enduced episode on his birthday the previous year and thought the conversation he was recalling was one in the present day). They're estranged from their families because of this trauma. Paul remained in his hometown though, while Belle decided to leave. This would explain why Belle isn't particularly excited to come home when Paul addresses her directly in the early episodes. I do buy into the idea that Marvin made Paul present as a girl called Carrie (or Care) as a child. He had hoped for a daughter because he desperately wanted to rebirth his friend, so pushed this on Paul. Shortly after the first Petscop video went viral, the family took notice and doxxed Paul to get his location. And that's when the channel got taken over by the family.

[@r_r9894]

as someone who is trans, the theory really doesn't bother me, but then again everyone is different! when you mentioned paul and care being the same people i was like 'trans?' i didn't really expect you to go into that but you did, and you gave it a lot of thoughtful insight. i've seen a lot of lgbtq+ interpretations of media be turned down without a thought so thank you for being so caring and actually listening to trans voices as well. it's hard on youtube to find someone with that much carefulness for such a topic which is unfortunate. i can see why someone wouldn't want trans stories being told in loads of metaphors and that's understandable but for me that's how being trans is like, lots of overthinking, just lots of thinking in general, confusing, it's like one big puzzle. it's almost comforting to see a story in a new lense, that the character is someone like you, that experiences the same struggles one thing i'd like to add on as well is i kind of followed on some sa themes in the dialogue and story, most glaringly obvious bit being the bathtub dialogue and the 'you got excited' bit. also the 'nobody loves me" thing could be a result from that, feeling nobody will love you or feeling disgusted with yourself after an event like that. with petscop's themes of abuse this feels pretty important

[@RabbiHerschel]

Why tf do you feel the need to shoehorn your disgusting autogynephilia fetish into everything?

[@goofygoofygoofy]

this comment is my thoughts exactly.

[@nonsensicalhumanoid]

I was originally sorta interested in this but now knowing it's just a "trans rights" plotline I'm not really interested. I have nothing against trans people whatsoever but I just don't like when it's shoehorned in or focused on too much

[@RabbiHerschel]

@@nonsensicalhumanoid because it's a sexual fetish and they are obsessed with forcing everyone to acknowledge said fetish.

[@AzureRoxe]

Out of the many much more logical conclusions like DID, the fact that so many of you went into "pAuL mUsT bE tRaNs!!!" is honestly disturbing.

[@pikachuiguana]

Greatly appreciate this as it you tell the whole story. My experiences of Petscop were videos from Game Theory and Night Mind so it’s cool there’s a video like this

[@olserknam]

The explanation for Petscop is so bizarre. If Paul is from the other timeline, one where there were no deaths or attempts at rebirthing going on, why is his family from that timeline making him play the game? How does he have access to the game in the first place if Rainer and everything else is in the other world? Are the timelines merged into one somehow? The more I think about it, the more it seems that there weren't supposed to be any merging timelines there, and it's all convoluted metaphors for some down-to-earth real life stuff.

[@rolph5967]

The fabled Petscop 2…

[@PluresNecat]

We're still waiting, pyro....

[@radioactiveraptor1011]

The idea that there's "two converging alternate realities," is interesting. It sort of made me think about Kurt Vonnegut's novel, "Slaughterhouse Five," which is about Billy Pilgrim essentially living his life in a non-linear time-structure after a specific, inciting event. Maybe something similar is happening here- though not exactly 1 to 1 with what is happening in that book. I do feel like everything did happen in the same universe, but perhaps Paul is transporting back into different portions of his life through a non-linear time structure, causing him to say and do things as Care with the current knowledge he has now- influencing the past, and simultaneously the future. It's an entertaining idea- especially since that sort of paranormal concept sort of adds the eeriness to the story... but maybe the converging realities are not literal- rather metaphorical; it could easily also be about perspective: People can recount and see things very differently from one another- maybe someone misremembers a door being somewhere that actually never was there- perhaps it was a door from another room.. In a way, that sort of is similar to a computer making a miscalculation. The family interprets what happened in different ways- they can never reach a consensus. Rainer, however, wants answers- definite ones. He tries to overlap multiple perspectives at once, tie the dots together to see it try to make sense, he gets close, but never to the point that he knows entirely what happened- much like us, we are left with many questions, and we can only really speculate. How much does memory influence our past, present, and future? I definitely think there is something within the game, also trying to remember from the things it records. It even records things from the present, interpreting it into the game and merging it with what it already knows. it's not a spirit- it's a strange, growing organism, and perhaps, it sort is an extension of Rainer. After all, he made the game, but it's not *actually* Rainer, if that makes sense. He's "alive," but he's also "dead," simultaneously.

[@ravennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]

always a joy to see good quality content from you sagan

[@PatchworkRose567]

I love things like Petscop bc the atmosphere makes the entire thing unnerving and creepy. Getting that sixth sense feeling that something isn’t right but being unable to fully figure out why you feel that way keeps the tension and anxiety consistent. The quiet jump scares of seeing a shadow out of the corner of your eye or hearing footsteps next to you is my favorite kind of scares.

[@CalamitasCalliope]

The Paul is trans theory always holds a special place in my heart being a trans woman myself, especially since that scene with the councilor felt so familiar to me. Like you said, it is a valid observation of the story but not the only one. I love this story so much

[@daveholland6293]

You have autogynephilia, you are a man

[@collywobbles9672]

@@daveholland6293 literally no onecares about you :/

[@collywobbles9672]

@@Yayofangamer16 sure :/

[@dylan4142]

im trans too! i don't think it's the intention, but i do like to think of it from the angle of a trans allegory bc it makes me reflect on my own experiences in another light. sorry you got a transphobic reply. it's always nice to see another trans person in the replies of non-trans related videos!!

[@CalamitasCalliope]

@@dylan4142 oh wow, I didn't even get notified of the transphobic reply. I guess it was KZbin looking out for me 😅 I just reported the fucker and moved on

[@Anophis]

I love args that put so much effort in to visualize the story.

[@miggs6791]

Thank you for doing a cover on this topic. Not many people really knew what pettscop really was and just seeing your theory and how you explain the series is great

[@newpaperyes]

I'm glad you added chapters so I could skip the question section. No hard feelings, just had other things to do. Great video!

[@dangarbagecanman]

Yes, I would like a scoop of pet, thanks for asking.

[@slushie_shrew]

I think what I enjoy the most about petscop is its very distinct atmosphere. Unlike other series which focus alot on jumpscares and genuine horror imagery. petscop has a very suspended atmosphere that's eerie but doesn't verge on horror

[@kcfriday5801]

I originally watched it on nightmare masterclass ( watched it live with him also) and when he did his last video, I was disappointed that he only did a philosophical one. I really enjoyed your theory and it definitely gave me a new perspective. Matpat hasn't finished his version yet.

[@arabidllama]

The discussion at 37:09 was handled fantastically, kudos!

[@silvermoon822]

More than a note to himself, I wonder if the “? You should start thinking about that” is maybe a hint that the new Care egg is somebody completely new with Paul’s song. So now it’s up to them to come up with a new name now that it’s no longer Care, Tiara, etc. I love this series so much! So much room for interpretation and theories

[@APaleDot]

The description itself is a direct reference to Amber's description which reads: Amber is a young ball. She’s afraid to leave home. If her home is good, this is not a problem. She is very heavy, and that makes her life a little harder, as well as yours. What’s the safest place you can put her in? You should start thinking about that. So, in my opinion, this text is telling Paul to think about the safest place he could put the egg. But that's just a theory.

[@plexyglass429]

I think care being paul does line up with the child abuse and him referencing that they look the same in the photo, i dont really know how he would even get a photo if its a different timeline. Having a story that ISNT supernatural but instead focuses on heavy themes based in our reality is really interesting

[@alexbenavidez4500]

So other guys have already said this in the comments already, but I can't overstate the sheer relief you get as a trans individual when you know the topic of trans identities is going to be brought up by a content creator, and they turn out to be perfectly respectable about it Especially when it's a pretty nuanced take as well that directly cites trans opinions on the matter Hate that dread when you know it's coming and now you have to find out what kind of response people will have. Far too often the best you can hope for is the: "I'm not transphobic or anything, like you do you, I just don't know why it has to be shoved into everything. This has nothing to do with being trans so dont even bring it up, its completely ridiculous" That attitude towards the Paul/Care theory has been frustratingly common across Petscop discussions. So sick of people being so strongly averse to even entertain the idea as if the topic is something wrong or inappropriate Demanding justification for those themes to be present is just another method of alienation reminding trans people we can't just casually exist and create a discomfort to be in the presence of others

[@yukiandkanamekuran]

Yeah I mean, I feel like a lot of the interpretations are very layered. Like the trans theory is one of the ones that is meant to be interpreted along with others. But it's not entirely perfect, but layered, just like the game is.

[@poingupoingu]

Haha I remember the dread of seeing how my favorite let's players would handle the trans characters in dragon age inquisition. And the relief when he they were respectful. I think most of all I appreciate the creator doing what he can to make his comment section/community a trans friendly space. I always appreciate it when a creator is very clear on where they stand. I imagine he's having to hide quite a few transphobic comments

[@yukiandkanamekuran]

@@Yayofangamer16 wow you never met a real person, have you? Get a life.

[@alexbenavidez4500]

@@Yayofangamer16 Yeah no. Just no. You're either being deliberately edgy and obtuse or you're legitimately that ignorant, either way this comment is just sad and pathetic.

[@dylan4142]

right!! so nice to see trans people brought up without having our rights attacked or even in any neutral way

[@EggyEggtoast]

Oh shit dude I was searching for some petscop content last night and resigned myself to just watching old videos. Cheers for the hour long!

[@sailorrobyn1790]

the way your channel is involving to have its own unique style is super cool! thanks for providing great content for me to get through the workday.

[@duckie4655]

I remember watching Matt Pat’s series on this when it first came out, had nightmares for about a week. There was just something so disturbing about it, I never finished it but im ready to revisit it.