#I would like to shout out MatPat's Editor for basically being a Squiggles reference in this video

[generationlosscorkboard]

So! Matpat has finally rejoined us!

Welcome back to the theorist crew, Matty. We've been busy in your absence.

Now the council will decide whether your theories are truly what we've been waiting for. ('The council' being, well, uh, just me, I guess.)

(At the time of writing this, Ranboo has not reacted to this video. If at any point he does, I will follow up on this post.)

If you have not already seen it, here's the link to his video:

Anyways.

(long post you know the drill)

The first section the video is Matt just recapping his past theory, about the two factions which he has now labelled as being Showfall and Generation Loss. These two factions have been fighting over who gets to say what in the media we're shown, with the Gen Loss crew overwriting Showfall's content with cutaways, red writing (origin of my Red Writing tag), and other such edits.

Note: I can understand Matpat's reasoning for calling that group Showfall. I wouldn't, I'd probably associate these guys with who I've been calling GIC's, but for the sake of clarity and consistency, I will be using Matpat's naming conventions. If I need to make a distinction between Matpat's names and Showfall the company or Generation Loss the show, the latter two will be highlighted in red and/or otherwise clarified.

Matpat states that he's done exactly what we've been tasked to do, and found The Founder. I will admit that I was very interested and dubious in this, given we have barely touched on that here. The most we have is that the Video taper showcased at the end could potentially be our guy, but that hasn't been set in stone as The Theory.

Matpat goes back to discussing the videos, specifically going back to T_2: The Inauguration, which he clarifies is about inaugurating us, the viewer, into the Generation Loss group.

Here's a link to a previous post about this particular video by @ozzybutweirdthistime

OP of that post had interpreted it as a way for picking out the cast members for Showfall, whereas Matt has taken it as being a sort of recruitment for Generation Loss. I find this difference of opinion so entertaining, because in that case, both parties what you willing to kill another human being for the cause. Sounds about right! As for which one I think is true, well.... I kinda side more with Mat Pat on this one. The video, for one, is a Gen Zero video and Showfall (the company, not the GIC's) isn't part of this generation according to Ranboo (last I checked).

Still, it could apply to either group, and I really like that ambiguity.

The next thing Matpat discusses is The Social Experiments, giving a quick recap on what it was, that Hetch was supposedly helping him only to turn out to be Showfall, that we killed Ranboo live, (live). Only he thinks Ranboo didn't die, and that Ranboo is actually The Founder.

His reasoning and evidence for this is the following:

Ranboo, whilst trusting Hetch, didn't take Hetch's advice to do as the audience says, rather picking the wrong code so the alarm would be activated and the show could continue how Showfall planned it.

Ranboo purposely doesn't take the first exit sign post button push, rather he heads for Hetch door.

We were asked to kill the Founder, and who did we vote to kill in the end? RANBOO!

Ranboo purposely picked the wrong exit in the Closet, leading to Ethan's death.

Ranboo knows that Sneeg has been there for Six years, and accidentally slips this when they free him.

The Puzzler is scared of Ranboo and was scared that he killed Ranboo too early, which wasn't what was meant to happen, and he apologized for that. Also, the line "Well that's for you to know and me to find out".

Ranboo wants the audience to kill him, in a mix of " hey look at me I'm so christ-like!" and dying for your sins/getting us to do what we need to do to survive.

The Cutaways require Ranboo to be alive post-production in order for them to happen.

Ranboo is reorganising the footage for release as the founder's cut, making it sadder (MANIPULATION), and to change and add certain details to make it better (REWRITING THE TRUTH/CANON). also Ranboo may quietly delete the original VODs so they no longer can speak their truth (GASLIGHTING)

Now. Here's why I disagree with Matpat on this.

The reason Ranboo didn't take Hetch's advice was not because they wanted the show to go on and knew that "theorists" would hinder that by choosing the correct option. Rather, he didn't want to take advice from a faceless audience who have been the one's controlling his life for a long as he remembers. He isn't even aware that the audience is actively trying to save him the best they can, he just thinks they want him for entertainment. Hence, he makes the decision for himself with a 75% chance of failure and ends up setting off the alarm.

As for why Ranboo ignored the first exit sign, my own mask theory gives the reason for this: Ranboo was almost always being controlled or at the very least, having their perception altered so that the story would go as it was supposed to.

We've killed and/or seen the deaths of seven people over the course of this series (some even twice, or three times over!), and sure, Ranboo's death was a very big focal point, I don't think that meant they were the FOUNDER. if he was, I'm pretty sure that would of meant Gen Loss was over, done, we did the thing we were supposed to do and now can go on with our lives. But no, the show goes on. Ranboo was just the focal point of this particular story. (it's been mentioned by Hetch that this cast selection normally happens off-camera, but because of the novelty of this version, their gets to be live)

Ranboo picking the wrong door. Simple, he was being mind controlled then, which we know because of the lights and also the NPC voice going on then. I find it really interesting that Matt hasn't once mentioned the mind control aspects of the show, in any form it came up as. During those moments, yes they were continuing the story in a story way, but not because they were the one in control.

The Sneeg thing- I'm like 90% sure this was just Ranboo improv-ing, plus he said it in a questioning tone and followed it up with "I don't- I don't know..?" Idk, it sounds just a little to me that he doesn't know.

Now for the Puzzler. Dude's just incompetent at being a Saw guy, man. He did actually kill Ranboo in that moment, according to Ranboo (source: Going through my favourite bits!), so the "nearly killed his boss" is a bit of a iffy thing (even if the filter doesn't let him realise that he did actually kill Ranboo). he's just genuinely sorry about it as is. (again, he's just a goofy guy, who is heavily filtered like everyone else). Although I will admit that the "that's for you to know" line is definitely something. Personally, I'd like to think it was Showfall speaking through the Puzzler to the audience, without the puzzler realising the deeper meanings.

The reasoning for Ranboo dying. Matpat calls it as Ranboo making himself out to be Jesus like (and while, yeah CC Ranboo is basically doing that cause hell yeah), I think of it as Showfall showing off how in control they are, mimicking religious imagery (almost mockingly) and their apparent control over life and death. How God-like they are. So, we have similar ideas around this particular one, only we just differ on the one sending the message.

Matpat then compare's The Social Experiments to those of Stanley Milgram (who, coincidentally, A friend told me about the day this video was uploaded). And I agree! There are definitely a lot of similarities. The subjects are forced into a situation by an authority figure (the experimenter) of deciding the fate of another subject, to the point of inflicting pain that could cause death (only for the pain to be fake, and the whole situation fabricated).

Matpat and I agree, that Ranboo's death was faked. Well, sorta. But for veryyyy different reasons. Matt says it's because he's the Founder and needs to stay alive, while I say it's because Showfall like to reuse everything, so why waste a perfectly good body? (Clarification: Ranboo the person is dead. But their body is reused, either like Frank or as one of the Employees.)

With the cutaways? I think they were filmed before. Ranboo is completely under their control, so it's easy enough to make pre-prepared cutaways and then make their actors do certain things that make the cutaway make sense/relate to the show. especially with how meticulously planned this particular show is. Especially since this show is completely Live apart from the obviously cinematic stuff, but again, pre-recorded (either in-universe or because of IRL health and safety laws requiring that actors don't actually get smashed by anvils).

His whole founder's Cut idea is certainly something. However, the main reason for the founder's cut is to remove a lot of the livestream-y stuff, add in some of the things that got missed out the first time around because it just got skipped over in the live performance, and just tweaking a few things here and there so that we get the experience of Gen Loss we were always supposed to get. (yeah yeah it's rewriting the current Canon but not in THAT WAY). I actually have a couple of friends waiting on the founder's cut release purely because I suggested they do due to just how long and sometimes a little stuck in places the og is (as much as the first episode was great, they were in the kitchen for a LONG time, hell even the YouTube VOD skips out the Create a Creature bit). Also i would like to see Ranboo even TRY gaslighting us. Have you SEEN the amount of edits, scene packs, small detail discussions (my own Masterpost of small details for one.)

Final Notes

Now I don't know why Matpat didn't mention the whole mind control aspect, or why he wasn't apparently aware of certain details that Ranboo himself has confirmed, but honestly, even I'm not caught up on everything going on. I've got a private playlist on YouTube called "gen loss to watch" and wow I have not watched half of those. I also have the benefit of being focused on Gen loss, and not managing four channels each with a wide range of things to cover. That and the fact I'm constantly in the loop with all of you, and seeing what you all think.

AHFG anyways. No theory is a bad theory, and it was really nice to hear Matpat's thoughts on this, no matter how differing. Don't spread hate to him, and don't interpret this post as me hating on him. We're all just trying to solve this thing, and by god are we going to do it.

But hey. It's just a theory. A GAM- wait.