Yippers

So honestly, I started writing out my theories but it became an incomprehensible mess so this is the attempted re-write.

First theory is to do with red and blue. Obviously, Caine is most likely red, as red is his main colour and he blew red bubbles out of his pipe, while his blue and green eyes can be based on the data he received. Blue is a bit harder. When Caine glitches one eye glitches blue and the other red, but it isn’t always consistent between episodes which is which. Bubble potentially could be blue, but due to their transparent nature their colour wavers between blueish and purple. It has been blatantly obvious that Bubble isn’t entirely under Caine’s control between his swearing, eating Caine’s cake (“You parasite”), and insulting Caine. Bubble was also the one that chose what happened if the blue button was pushed, which we only have their word that it would take the team to Shrimp World. When NPCs are deleted (see Abel and Gummy Goo) they go blue before deletion, and the area that inactive NPCs are kept in is a blue matrix style gridded area. From this it can be easily theorised that Blue is being used to run the NPCs, while due to the world glitching when Caine had an episode during their therapy in episode means that Caine runs the world maps. So how much control does blue potentially have over the NPCs. If we run with the theory that it is Blue that is interfering with things then it makes Abel’s insistence to Pomni that she make “the right choice” feel more like an instruction then a repeated NPC line, as the right button was the blue one. By choosing red things stayed as they are, but if they had pressed blue, would the control have been swapped to the other AI? So end result of this theory is that Bubble is potentially being used as an avatar for Blue, and that Blue runs the NPCs while Caine runs the world, and that Blue potentially tried to use Abel to get Pomni to give them back their control.

The next theory is to do with our lovely players.

Ragatha is obviously rather cut and dry. She has been very open about herself, but some of what she has gone through and shown can help give clues for the others. We know she had a bad relationship with her mother, and this was increased by the torture given by Caine where she assaulted by a larger shadow of herself which could be her mother. Using a larger version of herself to represent her mother make sense as Caine would not likely have any idea as to how her mother looks. Her accusations to Cain in ep 8 also were that he “Never comforts them”, which may have been a reflection of issues she had with her family, and she looks enraptured with the Gloink Queen who shows great care for her children. We have also now seen her coming into the game, and she was trying to get a headset off and talking to other people. This strongly suggests she was conscious when she came into the game, and not alone. If this was the same for the others we are yet to be shown.

Gangle has grown so much, with the fact they have not used their comedy face since they had so much fun during the gun fight that the smile continued to their tragedy face. This could be a sign that they are accepting themselves more and learning not to put on a fake persona to try and appease others. Their accusation to Caine was that they weren’t let to do things their own way, which could match with them dropping out of art school to work in a fast food industry, as it could relate to the art teachers being too restrictive, or family members degrading what they wanted to do and pressuring them to earn an income instead. The big red truck that appeared in episode 8 during their torture and at the end of episode 4. It is also unclear if the truck was red as this was the colour of the truck Gangle may have had an incident with, or if it represents Caine.

Zooble is the second most recent addition to the game. They are also the most colourful character visually, while most of the other characters have white bases and the rest of their colours being of blues, purples, pinks, and reds. In all but episode 8 one of Zooble’s head accessories were either blue (6 out of 8 episodes) or red or pink (pink unicorn horn during the therapy session, and had a red ball during episode 7). Zooble has mentioned having various jobs for periods of time, and is constantly trying to find parts that make them feel right, and their torture was drowning in their parts while trying to reach a reflection of themselves. This could be interpreted as in their previous life they were constantly trying different things to “Make their mark” but were actually unsure with what they wanted to do or who they were. Their complaint to Caine was that they are like a child and have fragile ego, we know that they constantly butted head with both Caine and Jax who have the biggest egos in the show, and they have shown that they are use to having to look after people who have gotten themselves wasted (ep 4), and probably saw that a lot as a bar tender (ep 5). Honestly Zooble is a hard one to work out around this, I think they are just who they are.

Feel free to roast me on my Jax theories as while I am queer, I am also cis so I don’t have personal experience with some of this. I have seen people theorising that Jax is a trans woman, but in the closet. My theory is actually that there are a transman. This is based on in ep 8 Caine stating that "I make a them a body that perfectly matches their mind files.". To me this suggests their gender in the game should match their actual gender. Jax also takes dislike to being called a milkmaid in ep 3, and has a panic attack over the forced feminisation in ep 5, and stating that the feature they believe they have are a sign of masculinity (said missing feature then is conjured by the next ep). During their panic attack in ep 7 they also have flashbacks of when it seems they were running away from a suburban area, which could either be running away or forced out of home which might point to them having decided to be out and others having a negative reaction to it. Their torture also had their supposed friend figures mocking them and stripping them of how they like to present themselves. I believe Jax was also the most recent one to arrive before Zooble, as Kinger refers to Zooble and Jax as the youngest. This possibly conflicts slightly with Ribbit being their friend while Jax says they always go on team missions with Gangle. Also on the situation of Ribbit and Kaufmo, from both Jax’s reactions to the doors, and the fact that in that  dream the Kaufmo icon was more isolated while the Jax icon was cuddled up next to Ribbit, (and the photo of the three of them shows that they were there at the same time) I believe Ribbit and Kaufmo were already in the game and friends, and Jax was more friends with Ribbit, but Kaufmo was already part of the friend group. This also raises the question in regards to Ragatha saying she failed Jax. Was Ragatha trying to make friends with Jax after Ribbit abstracted, or when he first joined, and she failed by not keeping him away from the Ribbit and Kaufmo friend group, and she felt she was failing Pomni as Jax represented the Kaufman last of that group and she seemed to be coming friends with Jax. If the latter it suggests that Ribbit and Kaufmo might have been what led to Jax believing even further that the circus wasn’t real, and that his actions were fine. Jax’s belief in the world being fake started to shake in episode 7 and was shattered in ep 8, but ep 2 showed how strongly he believed it was all in his head, when his threat to Ragatha when they were with the fudge monster was that he would start thinking her hair looked like liquorice, which could be because if it was all fake and he thought it then so would other characters. I’m also not sure how Jax’s issue with Caine always lying works in, but that might be his self-hatred or possibly people in the past lying about friendship to him. He did seem far too placid on the idea of Pomni betraying him.

I don’t think Pomni is a real human. As previously stated, Kinger calls Jax and Zooble the youngest, but there is more then that. Caine in episode 2 gives a foreshadowing like statement about what could go wrong if they forget who is human and who are NPCs. Pomni shows no attempt to remove a headset (but this could be that they were not conscious when they were put in). Their colour scheme is a pure blue and red even with yellow accents (which were the one data colour put into blue that we do not know the origin of). They were the first to suggest they abandon leaving, and had a panic when the choice to actually leave comes along. Their first name can be made to decipher to Ouutt, which might have been a programming for them to try and get others out. Their backstory seems the most basic and less emotional even sharing their hobby with Zooble, with their torture (which they got to by being struck by electricity) being pulled apart by the NPC they connected with before any human pulling on their limbs the same way the monkeys did during the song. Pomni also seemed to empathise more with Gummi Goo than Out the other humans. Pomni’s dream at the start of ep 2 included seeing geometric shapes coming out of a point of origin in the middle of the screen, similar to when the red and blue ai were creating data in the start of Ep8. Pomni’s argument against Caine of never listening was one that Zooble had stressed to him multiple times, and seemed less tied in which her character. Her answer to Caine asking if she knew who he, “Yeah, you are a failure”, also matches to the fact that he was replaced as an AI, and that it was one of the insults used by Bubble earlier in the episode. Whether Pomni was a bit of code created out of background processes trying to make something to help the humans talk through issues (which Pomni has had a rather few heart to hearts) so they abstract less, or coded in by someone or the other AI is not certain.

I’m going to talk about Kinger more later and just go over some small things here that we know to refer to then. Kinger was in the game from the start, remembers things better in the dark, worked on the system, was married to Queenie. Abel did not fully trust Kinger, this was not the reason he did not want him included. That was most likely due to Kinger would know that there should be no extra members, or possibly know Abel was. The dislike came from the muttered “When he uses it responsibly.” This suggests a grudge, as it had no bearing on that game and the character should not have a reason for such a grudge.

Let’s talk about the Horror Episode, and start a little bit of potential foreshadowing. Starting with the doors they get offered, the red door is the safe trip, while the right door is the dangerous one. This may or may not also be related to the Caine button being on the left, and the danger button being on the right. If some theories of them being dead is true, then if they had chosen the right button, they could be facing a scary option where they might be dragged to hell if released. Knowing what we know bow the story from the man in the tapes hits differently, especially with Kinger’s line of “This is some inconvenient lore placement.” He wants to kill a monster that threatens his friends, even after killing it he knew it would return, he took its head as a prize and do not let the head out of your sight, they accidentally killed their wife in an attempt to protect becoming the monster themselves, and swear to kill the beast who took everything from them, the beast is actually an angel and they tricked them into killing so they can steal their body. My mind Ping ponged so many different ways with these tapes. The first few tapes feel like they are Caine referring to Blue as the creature, who they believe is a threat to the people in their care before becoming the monster themselves as they have been shown to forget things, in this case Bubble could be the head. It is also possible it refers to Kinger with the loss of the life. My concern is with the tricking of stealing the person’s body. This tape is separate to the others, having started on its own after the others finished. It could be Blue. It could be Scratch, it could be Kinger.

The thought that Kinger could betray them is very flimsy and I hope is not true as it would be heartbreaking, but could still be written well. The possibility of betrayal being foreshadowed comes from Pomni’s line to Jax at the end of the gunfight, and the dinner table at the end of ep 1, which is displayed in the same one-sided layout as the Last Supper. Judas was on the middle left in the painting which has the side of Ragatha on the far left, then Kinger and lastly Jax. Given they don’t have enough people to properly pad out the table and no centre person this more puts Kinger in the Judas location. When trying to recode Cain, $ (who I believe might be Scratch) said “When did you make that.” Whether this was referring to a bit of code in use, or possibly Pomni is not certain.

Scratch we know abstracted first, they were working on something, had a tumour, but also had an abstract way of thinking. Given their name they were most likely the dog person seen in the flash back trying to talk to Caine. What if what he was working on was a way to get around his tumour. Digitising one’s brain would be a good way to do this, though given the restrictions of the technology they would likely not want to stay there. Their own body was possibly considered a death trap, so why not steal someone else’s like the man in the tape wanted to. Given he already had abstract thinking he possibly could control his abstraction, or make it up to escape Caine’s notice who might have been trying to protect everyone from this plan. Given Caine has forgotten about the suggestion box it is possibly given limited processing he forgot the reason he was trying to keep people in to protect them from Scratch’s plan. This would put Caine as the angel that Kinger shot which made it possible for their bodies to be stolen. The spirit did know of Queenie and used it to taunt Kinger. It is also possible that Able was Scratch, given the dislike and Able saying that Caine did not create him and he has suffered as much as everyone else. This also could just be Blue referring to them being created by the C&A workers and having suffered due to being consumed.

TLDR of the Theories - Pomni is not a human and is an AI - Cain runs the world, the Blue AI runs the NPCs - Scratch is still around, was the one on the computer talking to Kinger, might have been Able - Someone might be wanting to steal people's bodies and an AI is trying to protect them but is doing it badly. - Or the blue AI is trying to regain control and could be worse as we don't know what their yellow data was - Some more character theories

Some other bits of potential foreshadowing and colour and C&A connections I found.

Pomni telling Gangle that they would stay behind to close up, could foreshadow Pomni not being able to leave and will stay behind to fully ensure the program closes down.

Caine has concerns with leaving other AIs running for too long

In the gun trust demonstration the A & B labels for the characters are blue and red, which could represent the fact the two AI might have an uneasy if one sided alliance, as the red A decided how much danger is in the test, while blue decides who to try to shoot.