Bobby as the One Behind the System
It’s possible that they all know there is a television show that can kidnap children. They know that the Buddy show takes children, but they still have to let their kids watch it because they live in a cult-like environment. One thing that doesn’t make sense to me is this: if it is a show that you supposedly can’t find any information about, why is Buddy clearly a well-established television series that children are watching?
This makes me think that the real-world area is probably a cult compound. It could function somewhat like North Korea, where there are segmented television channels, controlled media, and specific propaganda created for a particular population.
It’s possible that the people live in a literal town that is controlled by a cult. The Buddy show could potentially be owned by Bobby, the mayor of the town, the governor if the entire state is involved, or even a president or king if this extends to an entire country. Essentially, the show could have been created as a way to indoctrinate the population and abduct children for further indoctrination.
This would be similar in concept to Poppy Playtime and Amanda the Adventurer, except that you can’t find the Buddy show on the internet. My theory is that this is because people within the cult or controlled community are discouraged from speaking out about the show or sharing its disturbing aspects. They may be prevented from warning people outside the country or cult about what is happening.
It’s also possible that reality itself is being edited to remove any trace of people mentioning the show. That could explain why Grace has such difficulty researching it.
Another possibility is that Grace has access to a different version of the internet. Different countries can restrict what their citizens are allowed to access online, so perhaps this community has a limited internet and a fixed number of television channels that people are permitted to watch.
The people in this area know about Buddy. They know about the show. But I think the cult or commune may actually be aware of what Buddy does and may even be religious or cult-like themselves.
If these people weren't aware of Buddy kidnapping children, why would Grace immediately assume that Buddy had kidnapped her daughter? It is possible that this is a lost memory, meaning she witnessed something involving Buddy and was later forced to forget it.
That raises another question: Did Buddy actually erase her memory?
If Buddy was the one who forced her to forget, rather than Bobby being the head of the show, as I theorized earlier, then why doesn't Buddy simply do that to everyone?
One possibility is that Buddy cannot erase memories directly. Maybe people have to be manually placed into the helmets and suits in those rooms in order to have their memories altered. That could explain why he cannot simply make every witness forget.
The same limitation could explain why the objects and mascots are treated differently. They don't have the same biological or neurological makeup as humans, so whatever process is used to control human memories may not work on them. Buddy therefore needs other methods to keep them quiet.
Bobby as the One Behind the System
My theory is that Bobby, as the head of everything, may actually be the one controlling the larger system.
He could be the one editing the television show, resetting the environment, manipulating reality, and making people forget. Buddy may have some powers of his own, including the ability to reset parts of the show, but Bobby could be responsible for the larger-scale manipulation.
Notice how Buddy doesn't seem to simply make everyone forget whenever something goes wrong. If the resets worked that way, wouldn't the other characters instinctively forget everything as well, perhaps even Buddy himself?
Instead, Buddy often resorts to killing witnesses, removing them, or otherwise silencing them.
That makes me wonder if Buddy doesn't actually have the ability to erase memories.
Perhaps Bobby is the one who possesses that ability.
If that's true, it would make it even more important for Freddy to escape.
It's also possible that Bobby isn't particularly fond of Buddy. Buddy may know that Bobby isn't going to clean up every consequence of his actions, meaning Buddy has to deal with his own problems. If he kills someone, Bobby may simply move on and let Buddy handle the aftermath.
In that sense, Bobby could function as the damage-control system for the entire cult and propaganda machine. If Buddy kills a child off-camera, Bobby might not care about the individual child. His priority could simply be maintaining the system and keeping the propaganda running.
Do the Objects Know What Buddy Is?
I also think some of the objects may know exactly what Buddy is.
For example, the backpack's behavior is interesting. The way he talks about Buddy can make him sound oblivious, but it also gives me the impression that he knows exactly what Buddy is doing.
It almost feels like he is saying:
"I know exactly what he's doing. I want you to understand what you're dealing with so you know to be afraid of him."
However, there is another possibility. Maybe the objects are being somewhat meta and are intentionally pushing the story forward.
Perhaps the backpack genuinely wanted Grace to understand what was happening because he thought, "I need to help you figure out what's going on so I can get you out of here."
But if that was his goal, there is an obvious problem: why bring her into the situation at all?
If he simply let her walk away, she might never have known what was happening.
It's also possible that he wanted Grace to help the woman in some way. But Grace was still just a human child in that environment, while Buddy was incredibly strong.
If he needed help, I could understand him asking one of the other mascots or objects. But asking a relatively helpless child to confront Buddy doesn't make much sense unless the backpack either didn't fully understand the danger or believed Grace was somehow necessary to what was happening.
That is what makes me wonder whether the objects themselves are trapped in the same system and are simply trying to survive while figuring out how much they can actually do against Buddy.
