Bobby May Be Running the Entire Experiment
Bobby May Be Running the Entire Experiment
My biggest theory is that Bobby is still alive and is ultimately in charge.
Buddy may simply be the entity carrying out Bobby's instructions.
Bobby could be:
The head executive.
The person controlling Buddy.
An eldritch entity.
A government-controlled entity.
The person running the government.
Or even the person secretly controlling the government operation itself.
There are already fan theories that Bobby could still be alive because the movie never definitively shows what happened to him. Some interpretations even suggest Bobby may exist elsewhere in the television world. (JustWatch)
The government could be using Buddy and the pocket dimension to indoctrinate children.
Or Bobby could have taken control of the government operation himself.
My Theory About Diamond City, Bobby, Buddy, Ben, Freddy, and the Pocket Dimension
Something I theorize is that Diamond City actually did exist, but it was somehow hidden or altered. I also theorize that Bobby is not dead and may still be alive.
The film does establish that Diamond City is part of the strange television world, that Buddy can alter memories/reality around abducted people, and that other escaped characters exist beyond Buddy's immediate set. (FilmiFeed)
Bobby May Still Be Alive
I think Bobby is alive because of the way he is presented. I theorize that Bobby is actually the main showrunner and is positioned at the center of everything. He has a star, but I do not think the star simply means that he is "the star of the show."
I think the star symbolizes something more important: Bobby may be the head of the Roost.
The star could be metaphorical rather than literal. In other words, I do not think it necessarily means that Bobby is the star performer. I think it could symbolize his authority.
My theory is that Bobby is actually in charge of Buddy and is the person keeping Buddy maintained.
There are also things that happen outside of Buddy's apparent control. For example, the show will suddenly change its tune or its beat, even when it does not appear to be scripted to do so, specifically to fit what the children are doing.
That does not seem like something Buddy is controlling.
I have not seen the movie myself, but I have heard people discussing it. Because of that, I theorize that some of these events could actually be Bobby's doing.
I think Bobby may essentially be the head executive over the entire operation. He could be above the bureaucratic machinery, while humans may also be involved in running everything.
Diamond City May Actually Be Real
The train says that he wants to take them to Diamond City. More importantly, he says that he once delivered cargo from Diamond City.
That is extremely important to my theory.
The movie does establish Diamond City as part of the strange world outside Buddy's immediate set, although the children discover that it is not the safe, magnificent city they imagined. They encounter other characters there who escaped from another broadcast. (FilmiFeed)
However, I still wonder whether there is more to Diamond City than what we are shown.
Technically, the world seems to "reset" in some way. However, I do not think it is necessarily a traditional time loop.
Instead, I think they may be resetting the children's placements rather than resetting time itself.
The children are put back into their places.
This could also have a symbolic meaning.
Notice how Buddy essentially resets everything after killing the children. That could be an allegory for a narcissistic or abusive person constantly trying to "put people in their place" after abusing them.
In other words:
He may not be resetting time. He may be resetting the children's positions and circumstances to put them back where he thinks they belong.
The movie itself does establish that Buddy's episodes can restart and that the children's environment can return to an apparently normal state, so I think there is room for this interpretation. (The Direct)
The Pocket Dimension
I theorize that Buddy, or possibly Bobby through Buddy, controls the universe surrounding that area.
The pocket dimension could exist specifically to force the children to believe that there is no way out.
Diamond City could therefore be real, but the children could be prevented from reaching the version they believe will save them.
The crystal tower could be a reflection, but that explanation does not completely make sense to me.
It is possible for something to reflect off the crystal and make Diamond City appear that way, but the train specifically mentions delivering cargo from Diamond City.
That makes me wonder whether Diamond City actually exists somewhere beyond the area that Buddy controls.
The movie reveals that Diamond City is not the paradise the children expect. It is essentially another artificial-looking part of the larger television world. However, that does not necessarily disprove my larger theory that the train's statement refers to an actual place or that Diamond City has a deeper history. (FilmiFeed)
They say Diamond City can only be entered if you have the imagination or belief necessary to make it real. That could explain why Buddy does what he does.
Maybe Buddy does not want the children to enter Diamond City, so he forces them to look at a smaller representation of it instead to kill their belief in Diamond City.
The Smaller Diamond City
Diamond City's appearance does not make sense to me.
When the children see it from far away, it appears enormous. Yet when they actually approach it, it seems much smaller.
I wonder if the original Diamond City was somehow moved, hidden, or replaced with a smaller replica as When the children run toward Diamond City, they discover that what they are seeing is simply lights, cardboard, and painted scenery designed to look like the real Diamond City.
The movie does ultimately reveal that Diamond City is not the magnificent destination the children imagined. Instead, it is another constructed location within the larger television world. (FilmiFeed)
However, I think the visual difference could still have symbolic meaning.
It could represent Hollywood.
From far away, Hollywood can look enormous, glamorous, and almost magical. Once you actually enter it, it may not be anything like what you imagined.
A tie to Hollywood would be when Buddy says "He loved dancing so much that he went to Diamond City to pursue it!" Like how real people may move towns just to gain success.
But there is still a problem with that theory:
The train specifically remembers delivering cargo from Diamond City.
That could either be a scripted event, or it could describe something that actually happened.
I still wonder whether Diamond City had a real history before the children arrived.
The cargo the train carried could have been actual objects, creatures, or artificial beings with faces and eyes created by Benny and Diamond City could be where the facility is. This reminds me of The Cult of Hamlin from Amanda the Adventurer.
I Don't Think Time Is Actually Resetting
If time were truly being reset, then the children who were killed should presumably still be alive after the reset.
But that does not appear to happen.
Instead, we see things such as Josh's book in the trash, covered in blood.
That makes me wonder whether time is actually continuing normally.
The children's memories may be being reset rather than time itself.
My theory is:
Something bad happens.
The children are taken.
Their memories are erased or altered.
They are placed back into their roles.
They are made to believe everything is normal.
Time continues moving forward.
This would also fit with the film's established idea that Buddy's actions can alter people's memories and even change physical spaces. (JustWatch)
The Apparent Time Skips
I think many of the confusing transitions are intentional.
When Buddy kidnaps Grace, for example, I do not necessarily think he instantly rewrites reality so that Grace never existed.
Instead, I think we may be seeing a time skip.
After Grace is kidnapped, the house has fallen into disrepair and the layout has changed.
That could simply mean that time passed.
Grace may have been taken, subjected to the same brainwashing and procedures as everyone else, and eventually placed into her assigned role.
This would also explain why she is already wearing her nurse uniform and why she behaves as though she has been placed into a predetermined role and had been in this role for a long time.
The movie does establish that Grace loses her memories after entering Buddy's world and becomes part of the show, which makes the idea of forced conditioning particularly interesting. (CareQuest)
Reality Warping Rather Than Time Warping
Another possibility is that Buddy can warp reality but cannot actually manipulate time.
That would explain some of the strange inconsistencies.
Instead of:
"Time was completely reset."
It could be:
"Reality was altered around the people while time continued moving forward."
This could explain why Grace's memories and experiences are so strange.
Perhaps when the children are taken, the people involved manipulate the memories of their families.
For example, it might not be a timeline where Freddy's parents never met.
It could be a future in which:
Freddy disappeared.
Her parents were taken somewhere.
Their memories were erased.
They were made to believe their child never existed.
They were returned home.
Time continued normally.
That could explain why the family appears to have changed without requiring an actual time reset.
The movie does show that Grace's family has been affected by the disappearance of her daughter, while Grace herself retains an awareness that something is missing. (Decider)
The House Changing After Grace Disappears
Some people have theorized that the room changes because reality is rewriting itself to erase Grace.
I have a different theory.
I think it could simply be a time skip.
After Grace disappears, time continues.
The house becomes different.
People grow older.
The family changes.
The movie skips over everything that happened between those moments.
So what looks like reality rewriting itself could actually be:
A jump forward in time after Grace has already been taken, brainwashed, and processed by the system.
The movie does establish that physical reality can change when Buddy takes someone, so I do not think the reality-rewriting interpretation is impossible. I simply think a time-skip interpretation could explain some of the same scenes without requiring time itself to reset. (JustWatch)
A Government Facility Theory
I also wonder whether this is actually connected to some kind of government facility.
The idea is not that the movie explicitly confirms this. It is part of my theory.
I wonder whether the government could have created, funded, or otherwise known about Buddy's television world.
That leads to an even darker possibility:
Buddy's television show could be functioning as a propaganda or indoctrination program.
Perhaps the government created or uses Buddy's pocket dimension as a way of teaching children things that their parents would not normally allow them to learn.
Bobby could potentially be at the center of the entire operation as it's leader.
I say this because An even darker possibility is that Bobby somehow took control of the real-world operation and is using Buddy to spread his ideology.
The children watching the television show may not even be the primary concern.
The people running the operation could care less about the individual children watching.
They may care about:
Money.
Control.
Propaganda.
Maintaining the system.
Keeping children inside their assigned roles.
Again, this is my interpretation rather than something the movie definitively establishes.
Bobby as an Eldritch Entity
Another possibility I have considered is that Bobby is some kind of Lovecraftian or eldritch entity.
There is a presence behind everything that is not human.
One of the women, a psychic, enters one of the rooms and notices that there is a strange presence there.
That could potentially be Buddy being in two places at once, or it could be Bobby.
There is also a scene where we see Buddy appear in the place of the father.
That makes me wonder whether Buddy can exist in multiple places and forms simultaneously.
Perhaps Bobby is an eldritch entity controlling everything from behind the scenes.
Buddy Replacing the Father
I also theorize that the father may not actually be the father.
He may actually be Buddy disguised as the father.
This would explain some of Buddy's strange behavior toward Grace such as groping and licking her.
It could also explain why Grace's house looks so strange and abandoned.
Maybe there was a time skip.
The father disappeared.
The older and younger boys remained behind.
Those children may have grown older while Grace was gone.
Or if Buddy and Ben are the same person, Buddy could have been left to manage everything himself in the normal realm while simultaneously maintaining his disguise as the father.
If Buddy can change his form and exist in multiple places, then perhaps he is simultaneously:
Buddy inside the fictional world.
The father, Ben, in the real world.
That would explain some of the glitches.
Buddy May Be the Father and Freddy May Be His Biological Daughter
Another possibility is that Freddy could actually be Buddy's biological daughter.
This would fit into the themes surrounding child abuse.
There is a strange switch between Buddy sitting at the table and the father being there.
I think this could be a visual hint that Buddy and the father are actually the same person.
That makes me wonder whether the father was never really a normal father at all.
It's also possible that Maybe Buddy was controlling Ben.
The fact that Freddy receives different treatment from the other children is also interesting. She survives when other children do not, which could potentially indicate a special relationship between her and Buddy. While buddy tries to kill the others, he doesn't kill Freddy and merely takes Freddy to the Nurse.
Buddy's Reality May Be Glitching
The father, Ben, if he is Buddy in human form, has two sons who remain in the real world, while his daughter is inside the other dimension.
If Buddy is actually the father, Ben, then perhaps his reality is beginning to break down.
Buddy may be struggling to maintain both identities.
His powers could be glitching because he is trying to exist in two places simultaneously.
He is trying to maintain:
The real-world identity
and
the fictional/pocket-dimension identity.
That could be putting a strain on his abilities.
This is kind of like when Abusers try to hide their true nature, they try to maintain both identities as a loving father and as an abusive person trying to gain control over their household or how a Hollywood exec is trying to hide the abusive nature of how he treats his employees from his family and possibly event he abuse of one of his children or spouse from the rest of the family.
This interpretation is especially interesting because the movie leaves the exact mechanics of Buddy's reality manipulation unexplained. (JustWatch)
A Video Supporting the Theory
I found this video while looking into whether other people have had similar theories:
YouTube Short discussing the theory
The video discusses the possibility that there was a powerful presence in Ben's room.
It also pointed out that Freddy and Grace appear to be treated differently from everyone else.
That is interesting because Freddy is never killed as the other children are.
Grace, Freddy, and Buddy's Strange Behavior
Buddy treats Freddy and Grace differently from the other children.
Grace does die, but Freddy is left alive.
That makes me wonder whether Freddy has some kind of special relationship with Buddy.
There is also the possibility that Freddy is Buddy's daughter.
The names themselves are interesting.
Buddy
and
Freddy
both end in:
-ddy
Freddy also contains an E in the center, which could potentially connect her name to Ben as his name also has an E in the center.
And Freddy contains an R, which could potentially connect her name to Grace as both Freddy and Grace's R's in their names come directly after the First Letter of the name.
So the name could theoretically be a combination of pieces of:
Grace + Ben + Buddy
That might be intentional.
If Buddy is actually Ben, then perhaps Freddy's name is subtly hinting at that connection.
The Father and Buddy Switching Places
At one point, Buddy appears to take the father's place.
Ben initially wears an orange shirt in another version of that scene where Buddy glitches into Ben's place, and when the scene is replayed, Buddy appears to occupy his position.
That could be a subtle visual hint that Ben and Buddy are the same person.
It could also explain why Buddy's behavior toward Grace seems so strange.
As a result, Buddy May Have Been Married to Grace
There is another theory I have seen: Buddy may actually be looking for a wife.
If that is true, Grace could potentially be connected to Buddy as a wife or intended wife.
That would explain why he treats her differently.
However, I do not think that theory completely explains everything.
If Buddy simply wanted Grace as his wife, why would he not simply replace Ben and enter the real world?
Why specifically isolate Grace?
That makes the Buddy-is-Ben theory more interesting to me.
The Scene Where Buddy Grabs Grace
There is also the scene where Buddy interacts with Grace in an extremely disturbing and inappropriate way via groping and licking Grace.
I want to be clear that I am describing this as part of the theory, not saying that the movie explicitly confirms it.
If Buddy were actually Ben, or if Buddy were some kind of abusive entity that had been living as Ben after replacing Ben, his behavior could represent an abuser's attempt to use another person for emotional control.
The disturbing physical behavior could therefore be symbolic of sexual abuse, coercion, and emotional regulation through sexual behavior.
There are real cases in which abusers have used sexual assault as a way to assert dominance or control.
That makes the scene potentially fit the broader abuse themes of the story.
I also wonder whether Buddy's behavior could represent someone who is attempting to regulate his emotions through sex, while simultaneously having no understanding of appropriate boundaries as the scene in which this happens and Buddy's appearance are completely out of left field and it is not the right time for that.
If Buddy is an eldritch entity pretending to be human who either replaced Ben or is Ben as Ben is his human form and just married Grace, that could make the metaphor even more disturbing: he may have learned human relationships without actually understanding human morality or emotional boundaries.
Buddy as an Abusive Parent
Another theory someone else had is that Buddy is a metaphorical representation of an abusive or anxiously attached parent.
Ben tells his child:
"We had a deal."
Buddy similarly tells Josh what he is supposed to do.
That parallel is interesting.
If Buddy and Ben are the same person, it could mean that the movie is deliberately showing the same controlling behavior through two different forms.
The real-world father, Ben, and the television-world Buddy could therefore represent the same type of controlling personality.
Ben May Work for the Government
Another possibility is that Ben works for the government.
What makes me suspicious is that he seems unusually quick to dismiss the situation as crazy.
He also admits that he actually saw what was happening on the television.
That immediately raised my suspicion.
Why would he admit that he saw it?
Maybe he already knows more than he is letting on.
Perhaps Ben is involved with the facility.
Perhaps he is Benny.
Perhaps these names are connected because they are different representations of the same person.
Ben Turning Off the Television
When the television is turned off, it could potentially be because Ben knows something about what happens when it remains on.
Maybe he is trying to protect his wife.
But then another question arises:
Why does he not immediately help her?
She is literally calling for help while being pulled into the television, yet he initially does not even look up from his phone. When he does, he looks evil like he planned this.
That seems extremely strange.
If your wife were literally being pulled into a television and screaming for help, you would expect an immediate reaction.
This makes me wonder whether he already knows what is happening, is buddy and is upset with Grace for looking too deeply.
Child-Star and Entertainment Industry Symbolism
Ben's involvement could also symbolize abusive child-star parents and exploitative entertainment systems.
A parent might allow a company to cross boundaries because the child's success provides money and status for the family.
In that interpretation, the parent becomes complicit in the exploitation.
That would fit with the broader themes of:
Children being controlled.
Children being assigned roles.
Adults exploiting children.
Entertainment being used as control.
Parents becoming complicit.
Children being treated as replaceable.
The movie itself clearly uses children's television as the setting for its horror, and critics have also interpreted it as a satire of the unsettling aspects of children's entertainment. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Buddy Could Be the Father in Disguise
I keep coming back to this possibility.
The father may not actually be the father.
He may be Buddy disguised as him.
This could explain:
Buddy's strange behavior toward Grace.
The father's controlling personality.
The similarities between Buddy and the father.
The reality glitches.
Buddy appearing where the father should be.
The strange changes in the house.
Freddy Could Be Buddy's Daughter
If Freddy is actually Buddy's biological daughter, that could explain why Buddy treats her differently.
It would also explain why she is not killed like the other children.
A violent person can still show favoritism toward their own child while harming everyone else.
There are real-world examples of violent offenders who protected or favored their own children while harming other people's children.
So Buddy potentially sparing Freddy could be significant.
Buddy May Be Trying to Emotionally Regulate Himself
If Buddy is actually Ben, another disturbing possibility is that some of his behavior is an attempt at emotional regulation.
He may not understand human emotional boundaries because he is actually an eldritch entity pretending to be human.
If he has lived as Ben, married Grace, and had children, he may have learned human behaviors without actually understanding them.
That could explain why his behavior becomes extremely inappropriate and disturbing when he is emotionally overwhelmed.
The story could be using this to symbolize how an abusive person can rationalize harmful behavior as something they need in order to control their own emotions.
The Eldritch-Human Theory
If Ben really is Buddy, then perhaps Grace unknowingly married an eldritch entity disguised as a human being.
That entity learned how to behave like a husband and father.
It had children.
It created a human identity.
But underneath the identity was still something fundamentally inhuman.
It could also explain why he seems to understand certain human behaviors while completely misunderstanding or not caring about the boundaries surrounding them.
The Children May Not Be Random
I also wonder whether some of the children are not actually ordinary children taken randomly from the public.
Maybe some of them are created by the show itself.
For example, the replacement for Wade looks extremely similar to Wade, except with a much larger and bushier afro.
That makes me wonder whether the replacements are intentionally designed to resemble the original children.
Perhaps the government, Bobby, or whoever is behind the operation has designated families that they take children from.
Instead of randomly selecting children, they could have predetermined families.
That would allow them to keep the operation secret.
One person theorized in the contract that if the employee had a family, their child and family would be up for grabs.
The Children Could Be Replaced with their kin or lookalikes
This would explain why some of the replacement children look similar to the children who disappeared.
Maybe the system does not want completely different children.
It wants children who can fit the same roles.
That would make the children essentially replaceable parts of the system.
The idea also fits with the movie's established premise that children can disappear while the show continues functioning as though everything is normal. (Decider)
Possible Cult or Indoctrination Symbolism
Another possibility is that this represents a cult and the real world area as well as the cartoon world is a cult which would explain why the psychic was called and not a therapist or why Grace assumed Freddy was kidnapped through the show.
The children are taken, given specific roles, taught specific behaviors, and prevented from leaving.
The pocket dimension and real world where Grace lived could therefore function like a closed cult environment.
The parents may not understand what is happening.
She may sense that something is wrong but does not understand what she is dealing with.
That could explain why the mother seeks out a psychic when strange things begin happening.
She is already in a spiritualist cult, so she goes to someone in the cult to help her.
The candles in one of the scenes appear to match the designs of Buddy, Bobby and Benny, with one crystal looking like Diamond City.
The Well and the Doors
Another thing that stands out to me is the way the characters travel through the well and then through a door, eventually arriving somewhere that resembles a school.
That makes me wonder whether the pocket dimension can be accessed through specific doors or portals.
If that is true, the pocket dimension may have been deliberately constructed by someone.
This could support my government theory because it would suggest that there are actual humans or organizations behind the construction and maintenance of this strange environment.
The movie does suggest a larger network of spaces beyond Buddy's immediate show, including other characters who escaped from different broadcasts. (FilmiFeed)
The Television May Be the Only Way Buddy Can Affect the Real World
Another possibility is that Buddy cannot freely enter the real world.
Maybe he can only influence it when the television is turned on.
That would explain why Ben might immediately turn off the television.
Perhaps he knows that leaving it on gives Buddy access to their world.
The film does establish that the television provides a connection between the real world and Buddy's world, including Grace's abduction. (JustWatch)
The Sex-Trafficking Allegory
I also think there may be symbolism involving child trafficking.
One disturbing aspect is how Buddy can lure children calmly instead of violently grabbing them.
That resembles a known tactic in which predators attempt to make children willingly follow them.
Instead of immediately using force, they might say things such as:
"Hey, kid, come here."
"Can you help me?"
"Help me find my dog."
"Can you help me find your mommy?"
The reason this can be effective is that a child who willingly follows someone may be easier to control than a child who immediately fights or runs away.
I think the story could be using Buddy's calm behavior toward children as a disturbing metaphor for that.
The Children Who Willingly Come to the Show
This also makes me wonder whether some of the children who willingly come to Buddy are actually created by the show itself.
Perhaps not every child originated from the real world.
Some could have been manufactured specifically to fill roles.
That would explain why certain children look suspiciously similar to one another.
It would also make the replacement children seem less like random replacements and more like deliberately selected components of the system.
Benny
There is also a unicorn named Benny.
I wondered whether Benny could actually be connected to Ben.
That would create another possible connection between:
Ben → Benny → Buddy
and potentially explain why the names and identities seem to overlap.
I would treat this as one of the more speculative parts of the theory, because the movie does not establish that Ben and Benny are the same person. It speaks against it and there is zero evidence for it.
My Overall Theory
Putting everything together, my current theory is:
Bobby is alive.
He may be the real authority behind the entire operation.
Buddy may be an entity controlled by Bobby, or Buddy and Bobby may be co-heading the cult.
The pocket dimension may have been deliberately constructed to contain children and prevent them from escaping.
Diamond City may actually be real, but the children may be shown a fake, reduced, or misleading version of it to make them believe they cannot reach the real destination.
The apparent "resets" may not actually be time loops.
Instead, time could continue normally while memories, identities, roles, and reality around the children are manipulated to look and act as though time had been reset when it clearly has not been.
The children may repeatedly be placed back into predetermined roles.
The house changing could therefore represent time skips rather than timeline resets, although the film also leaves open the possibility that Buddy is actively rewriting physical reality. (JustWatch)
Grace may have been kidnapped and subjected to the same brainwashing and conditioning as the other children.
The father may actually be Buddy disguised as Ben, or Ben may be involved with the organization that controls Buddy.
Freddy may potentially be Buddy's biological daughter, which could explain why she receives different treatment.
Bobby may be the real mastermind, possibly an eldritch entity, a government-controlled entity, or someone who has taken control of the entire operation.
And the entire story may ultimately be an allegory about:
Child abuse.
Child exploitation.
Child trafficking.
Propaganda.
Cult indoctrination.
Abusive parents.
The entertainment industry.
Government experimentation.
Children being treated as replaceable.
Memory manipulation.
Reality manipulation.
Powerful people controlling victims by making them believe they have no way out.
I have not seen the movie myself, so these are theories based on the scenes and interpretations I have heard about, rather than claims about what the movie definitively confirms.
Second YouTube Short you referenced
The Part of the Theory I Find Most Interesting
The biggest connection to me is still:
Ben → Buddy → Freddy → Bobby → the pocket dimension → Diamond City.
If those connections are intentional, then the apparent glitches and "resets" may actually be clues that we are seeing different layers of the same reality rather than completely different timelines.
The movie's confirmed reality manipulation, memory alteration, multiple television worlds, and unexplained larger infrastructure make that possibility especially interesting, even though the movie does not currently confirm the specific Ben/Buddy/Bobby connection. (FilmiFeed)
And that is ultimately why I think the Bobby-is-still-alive theory is so important. If Bobby is alive and operating somewhere behind everything, then Buddy may not actually be the highest authority in this world at all. He may only be the face of something much larger.
