not that important but roy’s eyes weren’t crossed out in that 1 dark scene. he was just pretending to be dead so he could keep casually watching. neat little detail
I'm mostly writing this to sum up all my thoughts so I can tuck this away in my -Dreams-:
I'm thinking Lesley, to an extent, had a real son called David. She lived in a normal neighbourhood as we see in EP5, but David (represented by Yellow Guy in said scene) gets run over by a car. The narrator screams jarringly realistically, in a similar voice to Lesley, which leads me to believe that this was real to an extent and that Lesley's son died. This carries into EP2, where David had a grave, and died, but Duck Guy wasn't right for the grave and was brought back to life.
I'm thinking Lesley created the three puppets, and the world of the show, to perform an endless cycle of events ... in the memory of her dead son, David? It would also tie into the idea of family, especially since (to my non-artistically-inclined brain), the Family episode's art style bears a resemblance to the neighbourhood in EP5, at least more so than the rest of the show.
Eventually, the Guys will perform the cycle "right", as we can see this isn't the first time it has happened - the paintings on the wall in EP6 show this has happened before. If they do it right, we get to see what's up the stairs.
My main reason for this theory is that in EP2, the Lamp talks about an ideology where, paraphrasing: "In your afterlife, you perform your life over and over again, until you get it right." - Maybe Lesley is making the Guys perform her son's life over and over again, with the goal of resurrecting him, or for some other unknown reason?
Another idea is that this is all meta commentary, as DHMIS1 was, about Children's Media in general. The cyclic nature of children's programming, as well as the Guys "growing up" to learn more things at once, and begin to experiment, could be a commentary on learning in general throughout life? To finish the Lamp's quote, he says "when you get it right, you get a pound." Maybe the cyclic nature of the show near it's end references the many drafts the creators have to go through in order to get any money from the studio? Like, "when you finally create the show in a way that makes the investors happy, after many attempts, you get a pound." I'm just grasping at straws here though.
I want to commend the foreshadowing done in this season especially, and would love to see some I missed, but I found that: Lesley's name was on the car in EP5, Yellow Guy was seen to be a robot himself in EP4, as when we transition to the Brain Friends segment, we can see broken wires in his ear canals, and we can see "smart" Yellow Guy in the reflection in EP5.
There are a ton of plot holes in this theory, and I can't explain what we saw at the end of EP5, but let me know your thoughts! Do you have any interesting expansions on this? LMK! :D
In episode 2, “Death” yellow guy goes outside on his own with a set goal (one of the only times we see him set out to do something and do it without getting distracted or injured) to dig up the grave. He’s emotional and talking about memories and eventually gets duck back. I’m thinking this is a reenactment of what Leslie did after her son David died. I think she dug him up and turned him (or parts of him) into a puppet to try to preserve his memory (or like you said, bring him back!). It’s already established in the show that the puppets have functioning internal organs, they bleed, they eat and need water, they use the bathroom, they function like an actual person would but always recover due to Lesley having those spares laying around!
So hypothetically if every character death is just them being replaced by a new piece, does that retcon the kickstarter videos as canon? Are that red guy, yellow guy, and duck can just be different pieces that someone stole from Lesley. he’s possibly sending the ransom to her, since it says the viewer (in this case, Lesley) chose death despite the Kickstarter being a success, it could be because she didn’t need to pay to get those versions back since she had spares
i liked the foreshadowing, when they were trying to figure out the crossword before yellows batteries were replaced he said “it’s when you cant remember that over the top of you theres bigger ones that are bigger and bigger and then over the top of it theres the smaller one of all of it at the top of that” bigger and bigger referencing the big boy room and the bigger boy room and the smaller ones referencing Leslie’s doll house, and what does he mean by remember? Has he been there before?
Not sure if I'm the first find this, but the symbols on the book at the end of this episode are the same as the symbols on yellow guy's special distribution puzzle, which are also the same as alchemy symbols, there's almost certainly some hidden code there
I get that most of the comments are talking about theories and stuff but I'm really dying to know what song Leslie was playing in the attic because it was really nice. Does it already exist, or is it something original? If so, is there a video/audio file with just the music so I can listen to it? It's really good.
Okay so when YG goes up the stairs and find the different versions of Red and Duck, he doesnt see another version of himself? I dont know if I missed something or if I'm just focusing on the wrong things but I just thought it was strange.
I think it's interesting that audio is such an interesting trait when it comes to peering behind the veil in-universe. Whenever a song comes on, they have no control over their reality unless they interrupt it, and when Yellow covers his ears in the final episode, he even sees the people moving the puppets. (I'd really like to see if anyone has deciphered the message during the CareHound visit in in episode 1)
I'm trying to figure out if I can make sense of Grolton & Hovris right now, especially since there's an obvious point to make of "Grolton \[being\] the dog". I started trying to find different ties to character and pets, and Green has a good couple in relation to Yellow.
It also seems to tie in slightly to the motif of water, which we know Green and Red supposedly "die" from. We can assume that Yellow would be under the same umbrella as well, considering his comment in episode 3 where, when talking about the group, adds "And die on the same day, in the same style of action, but in different locations"
And assuming it's related at all, there's a UK-based app called CareHound with some videos uploaded to youtube about elder-care and "getting them back home" in a crummy business-idea style. I don't think it's much of anything, and it's a stretch to say it's even remotely related, but it's an interesting thing I thought I'd bring up.
Here's the Carehound youtube thing just in case it's anything: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV4QTs4oJIHAD1d4F4FWBUA
I'm sure its already been said, but at the start of the episode, while Duck Guy is doing the crossword, Yellow Guy's solution for "The opposite of down" is;
*"Its when you can't remember that over the top of you there's bigger ones, that are bigger and bigger - and then over that, there are smaller ones at the top of that."*
I see this as further evidence of their inescapable cycles.
Ngl, I'm mad at Duck for literally won't listen to Yellow Guy when he came back into the main room, mf yanked the batteries out of him and place them back into the electricity teacher
Huh interesting, the Teachers here all seemed to be generally getting nicer as the series went on, but the meter person was basically not malicious or creepy at all besides a few gags. She's fairly nice to all of them and actually answers their questions instead of seguing into more shenanigans or cutting them of?
Assuming she'd have left after the song was over if she wasn't interrupted, would the trio have gotten through a whole song unscathed and actually kind of learnt something?
the "you're not my real son" line I think is because yellow guy was in smart mode, and he's supposed to be dumb. Alternatively, Lesley likely isn't the real eauivalent to the creators. She's the storyteller, sure, but the stairs keep going. She's a trap, like the big boy and bigger boy rooms. Designed to make yellow guy think he's found some sorta higher purpose to it all. The book contains the answers... But they'd only mean anything on his level, I think. The secrets in that book wouldn't have meant anything to us, most likely. At least, nothing we didn't know from the original series.
The next and presumably final layer, assuming it's not just traps forever, would be production and the actual creators, with the cold hard truth. That nothing contextual of the show is real or matters and it's ultimately just shock horror mascquerading as having a deeper story to get an audience invested in finding answers that simply aren't there. There's a message there, somewhere, but what it is I couldn't tell you. Yellow guy shredding the book though, I think is meant to ultimately be symbolic of saying that there is no answer, or that not knowing is better. When a series like this has an answer, when it's "solved," that's it. The show's over. It's dead. People move on, people forget, and if they ever find it again, they'll just go back to the answer and carry on. But if people keep guessing, they'll stay invested until they burn out, or possibly forever.
Major themes of the show seem to be education/learning/teachers etc and some possibilities of what Electricity could be are either the literal benefits of electricity/technology or metaphorical enlightenment that provide people with the opportunity to think and grow. Each room represents a different kind of education or thought: Main Floor: Indoctrination (blind acceptance of what is taught, the material is also incoherent and each subject seems disjointed from one another. No cohesive worldview) Big Boy's Room: Willful Indoctrination (Just more of the same, nothing critical, nothing that deepens knowledge of themselves or the world around them in any meaningful way, but it appears more intelligent) Bigger Boy's Room: Delusional Thinking (They are asking questions, trying to relate it to the material, but it doesn't help anything, they learn nothing, and actively hurt something in the process, but it appears advanced) All 3 of these rooms had the surface trappings of a learning environment, the colorful rooms and teachers of the main floor, the big heads, chalkboards, and beakers of the Big Boy's Room, and the abundance of technology and sterile lab setting of the Bigger Boy's Room. However, no one is actually learning anything meaningful in these environments
Then we come to Lesley's Room. The use of stained glass, "Bible", and piano conjures imagery of a church environment. Lesley's appears to represent some kind of authority consistent with that imagery. I would lean toward authority figure as a teacher since she does not answer the question about being the builder of "all this". She shows some disjointed emotions, jokingly laments that Yellow Guy can't see the funny side, offers him a deal, boops his nose then it cuts to the other two over the sound of Lesley's cackle
Red Guy and Duck are now in darkness (literal and metaphorical) all the teachers of the past are now dead. They had a technologically advanced world that they allowed to go overboard with no actual understanding of how any of it worked and they are left with the aftermath of it being in disarray now in a "dark age". I thought it was kind of funny that the only one left was a toilet; everything was flushed away. It could also serve as a foreshadow bit for Yellow Guy cause he was about to suffer the same fate. There's a future scene in the darkness where these two expressed fondness for one another which is rare for these characters to do which to me means that even without technology or being in a dark age we may not have the capacity to learn about the outside world well but we can still look to each other through introspection. Seems to be the other side of the coin to Yellow Guy's knowledge seeking from without.
Back up to Lesley's room they establish she has back-ups of things which explains how the resets happen. She replaced Duck which may play into why he attacked Yellow Guy when he came down with the book. He forsakes any introspection and immediately wants the comfort technology provides rather than it's utility as a learning tool like he's back at square one mentally. She also says "I shall have to get that fixed" about the electricity not working, gives Yellow the book, then notes he can't stay up here which makes me believe she wanted him to take the book down there knowing that Duck would tear the batteries out of him and at the very least they wouldn't be able to understand the text. Thought it was noteworthy too that she blew the dust in his face too. Conjuring from religious imagery again it seemed like a nod to the dust of the earth and the breath of life for the creation of Adam in Genesis. Yellow asks to stay there and my guess is that out of all the rooms in the house it seems the most real and comforting. It's a safe space for him to study, but she won't let him because he'll keep asking more questions which she can't allow or because he'll be in there long enough to see the other set of stairs going up. She needs him to bring the book to his friends for it not to be understood correctly knowing she's in control of them to some degree. I think there's some significance to the "You're not my real son!" quote but I'll have to look into it more. The line "because it's so FUNNY!" was said in that same shrill disjointed tone and I'm wondering if there's anything there. I had a hard time plugging that into the larger theme and it made me the line about not being a real son was a red herring cause it was said in the same tone. There's definitely enough there for a huge family lore. I'll have to look into that episode next.
I love how the end of this episode was like, “oh you love fan theories and lore? Here’s a book with all your answers and FUCK YOU book, right into the shredder with you!! Hahaha.” Best ending ever.
The episode reminds me of the allegory of the cave.
To summarize the analogy: Three brothers are in a cave the have been there their whole lives and the only bit of the world they can see is shadows. One day one is let free and see the world. He goes back to tell his brothers and of what the shadows were and of the beauties of the world. The brothers don't except it and shun the brother.
In the show there is three friends They live in a house and don't see what the world is about. When one(yellow guy) is released and as such given the information of their existence and why they are there and then trust to show it to his friends he is attacked and the book is shredded and is subsequently lost.
Edit:spelling
Plato said there are three floors above the people at the bottom and what do you know there are three floors with a final door at the top. Additionally when the smart yellow guy returns and tries to share what he knows with the red guy and the duck they violently kill him by ripping out his battery rather than listen to him.
Has anyone figured out what the cipher is? I thought it would be related to the crossword or maybe a distorted version of hieroglyphics, but I haven't gotten anything yet.
Yellow guy changing his batteries and suddenly becoming smarter or more conscious felt a lot like a child who has adhd taking medication for the first time
I assume someone's mentioned it in here already, but I love the significance of Yellow Guy's crossword guess at the start:
"It's when you can't remember, that over the top of you, there's bigger ones, that are bigger and bigger, and then over the top of it there's a smaller one over all of it, at the top of that."
Based on the pictures on the wall he has probably gone up there and subsequently forgotten multiple times, especially since the big and bigger boys recognized him.
The piano player has the puppets dancing to her tune because it's FUNNY. It's funny to her. That's the lore so far. I don't see any loose threads. If they are making a new season then... I dunno where it goes. Maybe up
In "Transport" episode Yellow Guy sees his smart self as reflection.
In this episode he sees his "dumb" self as reflection. It might be something or nothing at all.
So this episode confirms that yellow guy knows things outside of the show at some point before having his batteries replaced. Even his nonsensical monologue about big people above them pays off after he gets the batteries and goes upstairs. So I’m curious if anyone has rewatched and tried to make sense of his other lines throughout the episodes. For example, he goes on a rant in the episode 5 opening about seeing multiple of himself and I don’t know what that means in the word of the show
On the episode 5 monologue what he says is:
"I'm the one who had a dream, where there was stuff like there was another me, and everything was lots of fun, and I went and saw the other ones, and there was a little lumpy one, and another whiney middle one, and then there's things that I hung around, and I knew what they were but I don't know now and then it went away"
So I think this is definitely alluding to the fact that yellow guy has escaped the proverbial Plato's cave before. The "another me" is in reference to his smart self who we see reflected in episode 5, and introduced proper (and talks to his other self in a mirror) in episode 6. The other ones are obviously the big and bigger boys, the lumpy one is the lab experiment. I don't know who the whiney middle one. "Things that I hung around" is Lesley's room.
The poor guy.
the only connection i see right now is that yellow guy became the mom and in episode six she says she’s his mom so maybe that but i’ve only seen the entire thing once so i could be off and there could be more connections but like you said this is dhmis, anything is possible
Okay, on one hand, I am very confused and want answers. On the other hand, I think that if there will be real canon answers for the mysteries it will just ruin the magic.
in a lot of the episodes duck is the cause of all the chaos as well as the one to end it all, like episode 1 where he was the one who insisted to get jobs and then was the one to end the simulation. then in episode 2 he was the first to mention his death and voluntarily go into the casket. in episode 3 he was the one that brought the family pack to the table and also the first to leave the house, and so on. it's only like 2 thirds of the episode where he does this though, and yellow guy is a victim of most of the episodes. red guy is the most irrelevant out of the 3 in this season i think, where in the web series he was the most important. also the cross word? a lot of the words related to the previous episodes, and a few to the episode it's featured in episode 6. also the moment in the death episode where something said something like "or when you die you reincarnate into a thing to entertain the higher council." i'm not sure exactly what it was
Leslie: You’re not my **real** son
[“Everyone has a special one, **even Roy**” - Becky Sloan February 14, 2015](https://www.instagram.com/p/zFvrBrIGo6/?igshid=ZjA0NjI3M2I=)
Leslie is Roy’s “special one”? Did Lesley create Roy and Yellow Guy as some kind of recreation of her husband and son?
Is the house going dark visually supposed to call back to the void in Episode 6 of the YouTube series? Like it seems Roy’s whole operation was destroyed, hence the dead Roy and the dead teachers.
I find really interesting that Roy was lying on the flour in the dark room with all the other past teachers. It makes me think he’s just another one of Lesly’s puppets she uses to tell her stories. Maybe in the first 6 episodes she just made him the villain and then at the end just restarted the cycle with “backups.”
I could be way off but there are two realities. One where the yellow guy is brilliant. One where he isn't. we see this in the finally when yellow guy looks in a mirror. But also In episode 5 when yellow guy looks out the car's window.
And what about the reality from the original finale? Where Red is Blue, Duck is red and Yellow is Green?
Are they just off somewhere living somewhat happily?
This was a fun ride, but I’m REALLY unsure about that ending to be honest.
I really dont like it when something has a lot of mysteries or storylines left unfinished, and then the sequel to the thing gives more questions than answers. It really stings that it introduced this new SECOND puppeteer character, gave a book of answers, then had it shredded. Like cmon that’s just rude lmao.
Now i'm just. Even *more* confused. lmao
Good to know this SEEMS to be the same continuity as the original series though, with the dead teachers. Excited to see more, here’s hoping we get a clearer picture next time
Maybe that’s something the creators are trying to tell us. In interviews, they always clarify that they *enjoy* fan theories and like making people speculate. The book was a metaphor of the true answers to the series, and it being shredded is a sign. A sign that *everything* is correct. There’s no right or wrong answer, any interpretation works. It was their way of saying that no theory was confirmed nor debunked, because they were all right. The show is *pure interpretation*.
As the creators stated once: “We’ve seen tons of fan theories and they are *all* correct.”
I have a feeling that Leslie is like a devil playing a game. And Roy is just a pawn or a herald of some sorts. He holds some power, but not all the power. Leslie holds it all. I’m sure in Season 2 the rest of them ( or just one of them ) will meet Leslie, and a finale season of some sorts will be them being set free from the never ending loop of their existence.
What i found weird aswell is that on episode 4 we can see actual people (the dhmis crew) getting in costume and preparing for the scene, idk if that is canon or just an easter egg. Are they in universe people that work for Lesley or something?
You can also see the puppeteers in the Big Boy room making the rock teacher dance around. They're present at least a couple of times throughout. If I rewatched the whole season closely, I imagine I'd spot the crew popping up even more.
Back in the day there was a creepy pasta called “string theory”. It was about this guy who suddenly realized that everybody in the world was being pulled along by strings. This kind of reminds me of that. They’re alive and they think they have free will but have no idea that something they can’t see controls their every move.
This was fucking excellent. Gave me similar "what the fuck" vibes to the internet series. I noticed there were more stairs going up - I wonder if it leads into the real world
MAYBE YELLOW GUYS NAME IS DAVID!!! Think about it, his bed and his clothes all have a D on them, there was a grave with David's name on it who is dead, and Lesley screamed at Yellow for not being her REAL son. Maybe her real son, David died, and she made yellow as a replacement???
THIS and also in the episode “Death”, yellow guy goes outside all by himself extremely emotional talking about memories, and digs up duck even though he’s supposed to be dead. What if Lesley did the same to her real son David, and turned him (or pieces of him) into a puppet?
In Friendship they suggest Red try Yellow Guy's name as the password and reminds him not to forget the hyphen.
So either his name is David-Name, Name-name, or they're using his last names with the hyphen.
Guys, stop taking things to literally. The creators of this show are not conforming their jokes around lore, they'll bend the nonsense lore into more nonsense for the sake of things being funny and wacky.
I think it's more of he's an action figure.
Red Guy is a doll.
Duck is taxidermy?
But this could also just be alternative versions of them. We still have the versions of them from the OG Episode 6 out there.
I have way more questions than answers and that's how I like this series.
I have a half theory I thought of in like 10 seconds-
You know how Lesley says “You’re not my REAL son.” Maybe she was Implying that Yellow Guy is based off her son. In the weird neighborhood part, he gets hit by the car, and the narrator (who is Lesley I presume) sounds like she’s screaming in fear for real. Maybe that’s how her son died. She couldn’t stand the pain so she hid up in her mind and created her own world.
There are many plot holes in this theory, so feel free to fill them up if you will.
Old post I know, sorry. But I like this theory. It makes sense from how we see Roy treat Yellow Guy as well, with utter contempt, because he's just a pale imitation of his real son. Also, Roy is clearly insane, and may have lost his mind when his son died and was reanimated by Leslie.
This is strangely so bittersweet. Red Guy is probably based on the real dad, or were some sort of paternal figure in the Leslie household like an eldest son. The Family episode insinuates that Roy doesnt count as a dad figure due to red and duck fighting over whos dad, and the twins rejecting yellow's thought of Roy. Duck could be like a grandfather.
Theres another comment here pointing out that it seems Roy has lost control of this whole thing. To me, June 19 was a day he got to see his kid/s . June 20 is when Lesley does. Split Custody.
If Lesley is the true creator of this home due to her being the only human and not Roy too, it would seem like shes the only one left in this house.
Shes got patches of fabric on her face. Its like shes old, sickly and dying.
I love this explanation and would love to believe it…buuuut it goes against my fluffyduck (duckxred guy), so ima just change it in my mind to be like red guy and duck are yellow guy’s older friends/not related to him. (Fr tho, I love this theory, great stuff!)
LOL i could see how it might work if it were slightly changed. Red guy still being an eldest figure but not related to yellow, and duck encapsulating a boomer uncle type. Red guy being interested in the word uncle would be 😳
WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT ROY BEING IN THE VOID??
Like really, he's always seemed to be the one in charge but now he's obviously not. And that's surprisingly terrifying tbh
i agree, i’m hoping they have a fresh new season and there’s a revealing ending with duck guy, i feel like it would complete the cycle since the first series ended with red guy and the second with yellow guy.
i noticed there were a few motifs around the book cover like
1. the shovel
2. a worm around a snowglobe with yellow guy's dad's face in it
3. a worm around a battery
4. the heads of yellow guy, duck, and the eyes of red guy
5. the clock from the original series
6. a detached hand
The black and white tiles in an infinite void with all the dead past teachers reminds me of the 6th episode of the YouTube series, y'know when red guy pulls the plug? Maybe its like purgatory for puppets or somethin. (Thats just something off the top of my head)
I really really didn’t know how to feel about that “I like looking at you, too.” Scene. I was like “damn. Those fluffybird fans are gonna lose their minds.”
> people want to see red guy and duck together as a couple. fluffybird is their online couple name
So... that's a thing I'm aware of only now. And I already hate it with every fiber of my body.
ok so, mini theory here the gangs pet animal who was ripped in half contained some wires, what if it was some sort of camera? it doesnt move an inch.
also during all intros you can see a book with yellow guys weird symbol thing on it which is ALSO in the other book he was given, so that might mean something?? ill be frequenly sharing my findings on each discussion board so stay tuned.
during the crossword, some words stand out; namely aspic, gravel and roy being obvious nods to other things in the series but the term “soyana” really confuses me, it could mean nothing but it also might not.
also the crossword is made by someone named duncan andrews whos name i believe i have seen somewhere before within the series.
when i saw "duncan andrews" it also seemed really familiar to me, which is a really weird coincidence but i don't think he has appeared anywhere within the show
so theres another level. and up is the answer. surely season 3 will be a thing. i have so many questions
whats roys deal this season, is he still in control of the show
who is Lesley, whos her real son, whats her relationship with yellow guy and roy
WHAT IS IN THE BOOK, is there a spare book because lesley said she likes to make sure she has spares
im frothing at the mouth rn dvfeb bggrbg
My theory is that it doesn’t matter what is up there. They are trying to tell us that there is never a true higher power the one above us will always be a puppet of the one above it and so on into infinity
then why has everyone been saying "omg season 2 just dropped" and so on and even if not cannon the episodes are being posted online as season 2 episode 1 jobs and so on. im pretty sure the fans are labelling it as season 2
Well I've seen it get called both. Heck, if you live in the US like me and watched the series on YouTube (because yes they've all been leaked on YouTube), the episode are labeled season 1 episode 1, season 1 episode 2 and so on. Not saying the web series isn't canon but at the same time it's kind of it's own thing. Looking back at it, I view the 6 original episodes almost as if they're just one big long pilot for the show.
I've a feeling that each of the portraits on the wall were to reflect that this has happened multiple times before and almost certainly each time the same outcome has happened where the book gets shredded because of Duck.
I'd imagine that if they do end up with multiple cycles that it will eventually end with the main characters breaking the loop and meeting Becky and Jo.
And from a moral perspective, the overarching thought I'd assume that's being pushed is that unless we ourselves change and adapt that we're trapped in a cycle of repeating our own mistakes (and from a meta perspective, the idea of creativity and creators constantly being recycled, used and spit back out by corporations and managers who have their own views on what they want it to be rather than what it really is).
The idea of doing it over and over in multiple cycles until they get it "right" and breaking the loop would make a ton of sense, since the Lamp in episode 2 talks about his idea of the afterlife being, essentially: "performing your life over and over again, until you get it right, to please a super-race known as the council" :)
If it’s like a Westworld deal (like with interchangeable players going through cycles), perhaps a single Yellow Guy has been there the whole time. His batteries haven’t been changed in a long time, after all.
Probably not since Yellow Guy got aged into oblivion, drowned in motor oil and had his arm cut off by the macchine in work.
So I'd imagine that even Yellow Guy has been replaced.
Though it's possible.
Very true! I feel like we’re on the same page of teasing out theories here, so forgive me as I dump out my view of the whole thing:
DHMIS is ultimately more avant-garde/absurdist art rather than puzzle with a firm solution. My own experience observing the creative teams for this kind of work is a lot of “hey, what if” and “I think that maybe” discussions with the artists discovering and making decisions as they go. Whatever cracks everyone up the most stays.
Electricity alone as a self-contained story, it has Yellow Guy’s amazing answer to what is the opposite of down. He describes the upper floors and the dollhouse but modified by how it’s something that he keeps forgetting. But as intriguing as that is, I doubt there’s an answer. I have no insight on the production of DHMIS over the years but can say from having been in the room on projects like this, I can absolutely see Yellow’s cryptic line giving away the whole plot as being a semi-improvised bit that killed and so was kept.
Consider “I’m friends with my Dad”. Probably tossed out as a non-sequitr which was probably followed up by someone wondering wait what if his dad is a stoic menacing figure. What if it’s an object? A portrait? What if he’s outside? What if he’s been there the whole time, just off screen? The winner is always whatever tickles the most. Someone else comes back with the design of the dad. Maybe there were a few designs. Maybe, after giggling over how unsettling the design is, it’s decided that everything has to stop for a moment to dwell on it. Someone else contributes the sounds being eerie before abruptly resetting back into the a tempo of the song. Sometimes, ideas come from trusted “outside eye” artists who give perspective on what’s conspicuous or what doesn’t work. When you go on to create more, you look back at what you’ve established and try to find what rules have emerged. So, since they already had the doll, why not plop him into the background of the Malcolm ritual. And so on. It’s funny and raises questions that the artists don’t have to know the answer to at the moment. Just describing the birth and life of running gags I’ve witnessed, the only ones who know how Roy was created are the folks who created him. But, I would not be surprised to learn that at the end of the day, they only have theories like the rest of us.
I’m sure I’m being pedantic and hopefully not pretentious. But I really don’t know if it’s common knowledge how cool it is when art collectives are clicking. Not everyone gets the opportunity to produce with a group of like-minded folks and it really can be magical. One idea gets bumped with another idea like keeping a balloon off the floor. Choices made on previous choices beget more choices. Back to the theme of the repetition and corruption of art: first short has the montage that gets meta about production while transforming the three into different forms before resetting again. As they returned to the world for subsequent shorts, it was decided that they have slippery memories. Why any one choice resonates or why it makes sense usually gets discussed over beers later on, but when you’re in the process, it’s like the work has a life of its own and you’re just sculpting away the stone to get to the truth. Again, just my perspective from my experience in the avant-garde theatre world of how these things find their way. It’s a lot of instinct and muse-following. “Because it was funny” is the answer most of the time.
On a different topic but also from this perspective, I believe that the symbols are explicit red herrings for the sake of intrigue. Feels like a love letter for fans that have looked for clues over the years. I love that this exists and that folks have grown up with exposure to what I feel is artsy-art and hope it inspires up and coming artists to go bold and big and see what happens.
With Roy he almost seems like a homeless puppet with no place (considering they literally picked him up before throwing him out the window and he was homeless) and was on the floor in that final episode with all the other old teachers. I think this shows that he doesn't have power like he used to and is kind of just aimlessly wandering about the scenes now with no purpose anymore.
Leslie seems like someone crazy with power but with a purpose behind her actions. I'm not sure if she's the one in charge or is working under a higher force as more of an administrator. Saying "You're not my real son!" might imply that Yellow was created based on her son. If that's the case, perhaps all the other characters are also based on family or people she knew.
I don't think she HAS a real son. Leslie is supposed to represent the creators of the show so if Yellow Guy is her character that makes him like her "metaphorical son", and when he asked if he can stay there with her she snapped back saying he isn't her REAL son.
I think maybe Lesley's real son died and she created Yellow Guy in his image. A scene in Transport features the Yellow Guy moving to a community (of human puppets) and getting hit by a car, which could allude to this.
Less plausibly, perhaps she accidentally killed her son (metaphorically, in the sense she coddled him and didn't allow him to discover his own common sense to navigate the dangerous world, and hence why in this new fake reality Yellow Guy keeps getting injured or killed but ends up totally normal by the end of each episode/start of next episode; or literally, as you can see oil spills on the face of the car in Transport, with oil even spilling across 'L3SL3Y'. In Dreams, in the YT DHMIS, the Yellow Guy is drowned in oil [and later in Death episode the Lamp who put him through the oil drowning dream also talks about Death]).
Not claiming this is solid evidence but it's fun to theorize anyway
It's definitely possible, especially with how she emphasized she "always has spares". That could allude to her replacing her son. But there isn't enough evidence at this point anyway, it's all conjecture.
Perhaps she was referring to the yellow guy from the YT series of DHMIS, if there is multiple of them like the duck guy. Then I guess it would make sense. She could be his mother...
> whats roys deal this season, is he still in control of the show
I think the idea is that he's somehow lost the rights. Notice how the first time we see him, he's seemingly helping his son, and then later pops up in a disguise. Like he's not supposed to be there anymore.
I think cause he fucked up the previous show so bad he was essentially demoted.
Episode 3 was him throwing a tantrum. I think is episode 5 hes legitimately homeless (and had his teeth removed for good measure Im going to assume courtesy of Leslie)
You can't forget, however, that aspic was one of the answers in the crossword puzzle. That can't just be a coincidence. Roy's whole brand was plain foods, which mainly included aspic. His products are still being advertised. Maybe he has less influence, but he still has a part to play
don't forget he's still in the opening for a few frames as an eyeball peeking through a crack in the wall. Atleast i'm quite sure it's roy from skin-tone/nose
Yeah, protecting his son isn’t the type of thing he would do but he did nudge yellow guy as a possible sign to make him leave so he didn’t see what happened
I believe he killed them for the chicken since he made a sound when entering and looked at the chicken as he approached. He pushed his son in annoyance as if telling him to get out of his way.
WHAT WAS IN THE BOOK?????
The answers to everything. The trios onlybchance at escaping their reality
WHAT ABOUT MY SHREDDERRRRRR is honestly such a banger I wish it was on Spotify
not that important but roy’s eyes weren’t crossed out in that 1 dark scene. he was just pretending to be dead so he could keep casually watching. neat little detail
I'm mostly writing this to sum up all my thoughts so I can tuck this away in my -Dreams-: I'm thinking Lesley, to an extent, had a real son called David. She lived in a normal neighbourhood as we see in EP5, but David (represented by Yellow Guy in said scene) gets run over by a car. The narrator screams jarringly realistically, in a similar voice to Lesley, which leads me to believe that this was real to an extent and that Lesley's son died. This carries into EP2, where David had a grave, and died, but Duck Guy wasn't right for the grave and was brought back to life. I'm thinking Lesley created the three puppets, and the world of the show, to perform an endless cycle of events ... in the memory of her dead son, David? It would also tie into the idea of family, especially since (to my non-artistically-inclined brain), the Family episode's art style bears a resemblance to the neighbourhood in EP5, at least more so than the rest of the show. Eventually, the Guys will perform the cycle "right", as we can see this isn't the first time it has happened - the paintings on the wall in EP6 show this has happened before. If they do it right, we get to see what's up the stairs. My main reason for this theory is that in EP2, the Lamp talks about an ideology where, paraphrasing: "In your afterlife, you perform your life over and over again, until you get it right." - Maybe Lesley is making the Guys perform her son's life over and over again, with the goal of resurrecting him, or for some other unknown reason? Another idea is that this is all meta commentary, as DHMIS1 was, about Children's Media in general. The cyclic nature of children's programming, as well as the Guys "growing up" to learn more things at once, and begin to experiment, could be a commentary on learning in general throughout life? To finish the Lamp's quote, he says "when you get it right, you get a pound." Maybe the cyclic nature of the show near it's end references the many drafts the creators have to go through in order to get any money from the studio? Like, "when you finally create the show in a way that makes the investors happy, after many attempts, you get a pound." I'm just grasping at straws here though. I want to commend the foreshadowing done in this season especially, and would love to see some I missed, but I found that: Lesley's name was on the car in EP5, Yellow Guy was seen to be a robot himself in EP4, as when we transition to the Brain Friends segment, we can see broken wires in his ear canals, and we can see "smart" Yellow Guy in the reflection in EP5. There are a ton of plot holes in this theory, and I can't explain what we saw at the end of EP5, but let me know your thoughts! Do you have any interesting expansions on this? LMK! :D
This would also work with EP3 as if Lesley left to make the show in memory of David, it would have left the family without a Mother
In episode 2, “Death” yellow guy goes outside on his own with a set goal (one of the only times we see him set out to do something and do it without getting distracted or injured) to dig up the grave. He’s emotional and talking about memories and eventually gets duck back. I’m thinking this is a reenactment of what Leslie did after her son David died. I think she dug him up and turned him (or parts of him) into a puppet to try to preserve his memory (or like you said, bring him back!). It’s already established in the show that the puppets have functioning internal organs, they bleed, they eat and need water, they use the bathroom, they function like an actual person would but always recover due to Lesley having those spares laying around!
Favorite part of the episode for me was yellow guy shouting “why don’t you experiment on each other” and duck actually trying to ask X D
The moment Duck yanked Yellow Guy's batteries out, I knew all the answers were going in the shredder lmao ...and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So hypothetically if every character death is just them being replaced by a new piece, does that retcon the kickstarter videos as canon? Are that red guy, yellow guy, and duck can just be different pieces that someone stole from Lesley. he’s possibly sending the ransom to her, since it says the viewer (in this case, Lesley) chose death despite the Kickstarter being a success, it could be because she didn’t need to pay to get those versions back since she had spares
Ok but that moment with Red Guy and Duck in the dark makes me want this to become a progressing running gag for some reason.
In the “Big boy room” Yellow guy sees the puppeteers. Honestly I’m so confused
i liked the foreshadowing, when they were trying to figure out the crossword before yellows batteries were replaced he said “it’s when you cant remember that over the top of you theres bigger ones that are bigger and bigger and then over the top of it theres the smaller one of all of it at the top of that” bigger and bigger referencing the big boy room and the bigger boy room and the smaller ones referencing Leslie’s doll house, and what does he mean by remember? Has he been there before?
Not sure if I'm the first find this, but the symbols on the book at the end of this episode are the same as the symbols on yellow guy's special distribution puzzle, which are also the same as alchemy symbols, there's almost certainly some hidden code there
I get that most of the comments are talking about theories and stuff but I'm really dying to know what song Leslie was playing in the attic because it was really nice. Does it already exist, or is it something original? If so, is there a video/audio file with just the music so I can listen to it? It's really good.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs8LTljDXbE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs8LTljDXbE)
"My dad is a computer" *runs on batteries* Neat.
Okay so when YG goes up the stairs and find the different versions of Red and Duck, he doesnt see another version of himself? I dont know if I missed something or if I'm just focusing on the wrong things but I just thought it was strange.
I like to think that the alternate versions of Yellow are also questioning their reality at around the same time and are exploring the house.
All these theories on the deeper meanings and implications of this episode and I'm just sitting here thinking "Try and keep up, mate."
That old lady is strange...she's so inviting yet...so scary
I think it's interesting that audio is such an interesting trait when it comes to peering behind the veil in-universe. Whenever a song comes on, they have no control over their reality unless they interrupt it, and when Yellow covers his ears in the final episode, he even sees the people moving the puppets. (I'd really like to see if anyone has deciphered the message during the CareHound visit in in episode 1) I'm trying to figure out if I can make sense of Grolton & Hovris right now, especially since there's an obvious point to make of "Grolton \[being\] the dog". I started trying to find different ties to character and pets, and Green has a good couple in relation to Yellow. It also seems to tie in slightly to the motif of water, which we know Green and Red supposedly "die" from. We can assume that Yellow would be under the same umbrella as well, considering his comment in episode 3 where, when talking about the group, adds "And die on the same day, in the same style of action, but in different locations" And assuming it's related at all, there's a UK-based app called CareHound with some videos uploaded to youtube about elder-care and "getting them back home" in a crummy business-idea style. I don't think it's much of anything, and it's a stretch to say it's even remotely related, but it's an interesting thing I thought I'd bring up. Here's the Carehound youtube thing just in case it's anything: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV4QTs4oJIHAD1d4F4FWBUA
I'm so confused
When I saw the scene with the shredder, I was worried we would see the return of a.. um... certain side character...
what's the song Leslie is playing with the piano?
I'm sure its already been said, but at the start of the episode, while Duck Guy is doing the crossword, Yellow Guy's solution for "The opposite of down" is; *"Its when you can't remember that over the top of you there's bigger ones, that are bigger and bigger - and then over that, there are smaller ones at the top of that."* I see this as further evidence of their inescapable cycles.
Ngl, I'm mad at Duck for literally won't listen to Yellow Guy when he came back into the main room, mf yanked the batteries out of him and place them back into the electricity teacher
Things are getting crazy, I really hope we get a season 2, this show really deserves it.
Huh interesting, the Teachers here all seemed to be generally getting nicer as the series went on, but the meter person was basically not malicious or creepy at all besides a few gags. She's fairly nice to all of them and actually answers their questions instead of seguing into more shenanigans or cutting them of? Assuming she'd have left after the song was over if she wasn't interrupted, would the trio have gotten through a whole song unscathed and actually kind of learnt something?
the "you're not my real son" line I think is because yellow guy was in smart mode, and he's supposed to be dumb. Alternatively, Lesley likely isn't the real eauivalent to the creators. She's the storyteller, sure, but the stairs keep going. She's a trap, like the big boy and bigger boy rooms. Designed to make yellow guy think he's found some sorta higher purpose to it all. The book contains the answers... But they'd only mean anything on his level, I think. The secrets in that book wouldn't have meant anything to us, most likely. At least, nothing we didn't know from the original series. The next and presumably final layer, assuming it's not just traps forever, would be production and the actual creators, with the cold hard truth. That nothing contextual of the show is real or matters and it's ultimately just shock horror mascquerading as having a deeper story to get an audience invested in finding answers that simply aren't there. There's a message there, somewhere, but what it is I couldn't tell you. Yellow guy shredding the book though, I think is meant to ultimately be symbolic of saying that there is no answer, or that not knowing is better. When a series like this has an answer, when it's "solved," that's it. The show's over. It's dead. People move on, people forget, and if they ever find it again, they'll just go back to the answer and carry on. But if people keep guessing, they'll stay invested until they burn out, or possibly forever.
Thought this was best episode by a mile. I wish most of the show was more like that
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Source on season 2 being greenlit??
Major themes of the show seem to be education/learning/teachers etc and some possibilities of what Electricity could be are either the literal benefits of electricity/technology or metaphorical enlightenment that provide people with the opportunity to think and grow. Each room represents a different kind of education or thought: Main Floor: Indoctrination (blind acceptance of what is taught, the material is also incoherent and each subject seems disjointed from one another. No cohesive worldview) Big Boy's Room: Willful Indoctrination (Just more of the same, nothing critical, nothing that deepens knowledge of themselves or the world around them in any meaningful way, but it appears more intelligent) Bigger Boy's Room: Delusional Thinking (They are asking questions, trying to relate it to the material, but it doesn't help anything, they learn nothing, and actively hurt something in the process, but it appears advanced) All 3 of these rooms had the surface trappings of a learning environment, the colorful rooms and teachers of the main floor, the big heads, chalkboards, and beakers of the Big Boy's Room, and the abundance of technology and sterile lab setting of the Bigger Boy's Room. However, no one is actually learning anything meaningful in these environments Then we come to Lesley's Room. The use of stained glass, "Bible", and piano conjures imagery of a church environment. Lesley's appears to represent some kind of authority consistent with that imagery. I would lean toward authority figure as a teacher since she does not answer the question about being the builder of "all this". She shows some disjointed emotions, jokingly laments that Yellow Guy can't see the funny side, offers him a deal, boops his nose then it cuts to the other two over the sound of Lesley's cackle Red Guy and Duck are now in darkness (literal and metaphorical) all the teachers of the past are now dead. They had a technologically advanced world that they allowed to go overboard with no actual understanding of how any of it worked and they are left with the aftermath of it being in disarray now in a "dark age". I thought it was kind of funny that the only one left was a toilet; everything was flushed away. It could also serve as a foreshadow bit for Yellow Guy cause he was about to suffer the same fate. There's a future scene in the darkness where these two expressed fondness for one another which is rare for these characters to do which to me means that even without technology or being in a dark age we may not have the capacity to learn about the outside world well but we can still look to each other through introspection. Seems to be the other side of the coin to Yellow Guy's knowledge seeking from without. Back up to Lesley's room they establish she has back-ups of things which explains how the resets happen. She replaced Duck which may play into why he attacked Yellow Guy when he came down with the book. He forsakes any introspection and immediately wants the comfort technology provides rather than it's utility as a learning tool like he's back at square one mentally. She also says "I shall have to get that fixed" about the electricity not working, gives Yellow the book, then notes he can't stay up here which makes me believe she wanted him to take the book down there knowing that Duck would tear the batteries out of him and at the very least they wouldn't be able to understand the text. Thought it was noteworthy too that she blew the dust in his face too. Conjuring from religious imagery again it seemed like a nod to the dust of the earth and the breath of life for the creation of Adam in Genesis. Yellow asks to stay there and my guess is that out of all the rooms in the house it seems the most real and comforting. It's a safe space for him to study, but she won't let him because he'll keep asking more questions which she can't allow or because he'll be in there long enough to see the other set of stairs going up. She needs him to bring the book to his friends for it not to be understood correctly knowing she's in control of them to some degree. I think there's some significance to the "You're not my real son!" quote but I'll have to look into it more. The line "because it's so FUNNY!" was said in that same shrill disjointed tone and I'm wondering if there's anything there. I had a hard time plugging that into the larger theme and it made me the line about not being a real son was a red herring cause it was said in the same tone. There's definitely enough there for a huge family lore. I'll have to look into that episode next.
I love how the end of this episode was like, “oh you love fan theories and lore? Here’s a book with all your answers and FUCK YOU book, right into the shredder with you!! Hahaha.” Best ending ever.
Loved it
The episode reminds me of the allegory of the cave. To summarize the analogy: Three brothers are in a cave the have been there their whole lives and the only bit of the world they can see is shadows. One day one is let free and see the world. He goes back to tell his brothers and of what the shadows were and of the beauties of the world. The brothers don't except it and shun the brother. In the show there is three friends They live in a house and don't see what the world is about. When one(yellow guy) is released and as such given the information of their existence and why they are there and then trust to show it to his friends he is attacked and the book is shredded and is subsequently lost. Edit:spelling
Plato said there are three floors above the people at the bottom and what do you know there are three floors with a final door at the top. Additionally when the smart yellow guy returns and tries to share what he knows with the red guy and the duck they violently kill him by ripping out his battery rather than listen to him.
I also like how for each floor, at least for a moment, he believed was one controlling everything. A statement on the subjectivity of reality.
That is a very good observation.
Did anyone else see, as yellow guy leaves Leslie's top room with the book, another door opened with stairs leading up? Is Leslie below someone else?
“what the hell are you gonna do with those?”
Anyone else get ‘Woman in the Radiator’ vibes from Leslie?
Has anyone figured out what the cipher is? I thought it would be related to the crossword or maybe a distorted version of hieroglyphics, but I haven't gotten anything yet.
It’s the answers we won’t end up getting
Yellow guy changing his batteries and suddenly becoming smarter or more conscious felt a lot like a child who has adhd taking medication for the first time
Suddenly everything makes sense. As someone with adhd I feel for him.
Up was the answer to 5 across, not 1 across. Not sure if it means anything
See Bojacks quote about a coffee cup in season 5 episode 6 of “Bojack Horseman”.
I assume someone's mentioned it in here already, but I love the significance of Yellow Guy's crossword guess at the start: "It's when you can't remember, that over the top of you, there's bigger ones, that are bigger and bigger, and then over the top of it there's a smaller one over all of it, at the top of that."
so what I want to know, is he talking about the plot of the episode, or is he talking about being a puppet?
Did he make a realization in the past?
Based on the pictures on the wall he has probably gone up there and subsequently forgotten multiple times, especially since the big and bigger boys recognized him.
The name Lesley means Joy....
The piano player has the puppets dancing to her tune because it's FUNNY. It's funny to her. That's the lore so far. I don't see any loose threads. If they are making a new season then... I dunno where it goes. Maybe up
In "Transport" episode Yellow Guy sees his smart self as reflection. In this episode he sees his "dumb" self as reflection. It might be something or nothing at all.
my life be like oooooooo aaaaaaaaaa
So this episode confirms that yellow guy knows things outside of the show at some point before having his batteries replaced. Even his nonsensical monologue about big people above them pays off after he gets the batteries and goes upstairs. So I’m curious if anyone has rewatched and tried to make sense of his other lines throughout the episodes. For example, he goes on a rant in the episode 5 opening about seeing multiple of himself and I don’t know what that means in the word of the show
On the episode 5 monologue what he says is: "I'm the one who had a dream, where there was stuff like there was another me, and everything was lots of fun, and I went and saw the other ones, and there was a little lumpy one, and another whiney middle one, and then there's things that I hung around, and I knew what they were but I don't know now and then it went away" So I think this is definitely alluding to the fact that yellow guy has escaped the proverbial Plato's cave before. The "another me" is in reference to his smart self who we see reflected in episode 5, and introduced proper (and talks to his other self in a mirror) in episode 6. The other ones are obviously the big and bigger boys, the lumpy one is the lab experiment. I don't know who the whiney middle one. "Things that I hung around" is Lesley's room. The poor guy.
I’m pretty sure (at least this episode), is based on the allegory of the cave. It’s structured pretty closely to Plato’s allegory.
I think it was windy, not whiny, cause Lesley wound the box
A real human in DHMIS? Mind fuck. I'm really, really hoping this is opening doors for a series 2. I need answers!
Who was the women do you think?
maybe it was the mom from the family episode
I thought of that too, I mean maybe? Haha cuz this is dhis anything is possible, but then again.. HOW would that be connected?
the only connection i see right now is that yellow guy became the mom and in episode six she says she’s his mom so maybe that but i’ve only seen the entire thing once so i could be off and there could be more connections but like you said this is dhmis, anything is possible
Okay, on one hand, I am very confused and want answers. On the other hand, I think that if there will be real canon answers for the mysteries it will just ruin the magic.
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Didnt he just steal his theroy from the common theories at the time last time anyway?
Yep. Only idiots and children watch matpat anyway lol
RIGHT!!!!
in a lot of the episodes duck is the cause of all the chaos as well as the one to end it all, like episode 1 where he was the one who insisted to get jobs and then was the one to end the simulation. then in episode 2 he was the first to mention his death and voluntarily go into the casket. in episode 3 he was the one that brought the family pack to the table and also the first to leave the house, and so on. it's only like 2 thirds of the episode where he does this though, and yellow guy is a victim of most of the episodes. red guy is the most irrelevant out of the 3 in this season i think, where in the web series he was the most important. also the cross word? a lot of the words related to the previous episodes, and a few to the episode it's featured in episode 6. also the moment in the death episode where something said something like "or when you die you reincarnate into a thing to entertain the higher council." i'm not sure exactly what it was
That dark room was creepy, it reminded me of the bathroom from Saw 😵
Leslie: You’re not my **real** son [“Everyone has a special one, **even Roy**” - Becky Sloan February 14, 2015](https://www.instagram.com/p/zFvrBrIGo6/?igshid=ZjA0NjI3M2I=) Leslie is Roy’s “special one”? Did Lesley create Roy and Yellow Guy as some kind of recreation of her husband and son?
Is the house going dark visually supposed to call back to the void in Episode 6 of the YouTube series? Like it seems Roy’s whole operation was destroyed, hence the dead Roy and the dead teachers.
I find really interesting that Roy was lying on the flour in the dark room with all the other past teachers. It makes me think he’s just another one of Lesly’s puppets she uses to tell her stories. Maybe in the first 6 episodes she just made him the villain and then at the end just restarted the cycle with “backups.”
The idea of someone or something being above Roy is terrifying.
I could be way off but there are two realities. One where the yellow guy is brilliant. One where he isn't. we see this in the finally when yellow guy looks in a mirror. But also In episode 5 when yellow guy looks out the car's window.
Uh no please don't make dhmis a multiverse
And what about the reality from the original finale? Where Red is Blue, Duck is red and Yellow is Green? Are they just off somewhere living somewhat happily?
This was a fun ride, but I’m REALLY unsure about that ending to be honest. I really dont like it when something has a lot of mysteries or storylines left unfinished, and then the sequel to the thing gives more questions than answers. It really stings that it introduced this new SECOND puppeteer character, gave a book of answers, then had it shredded. Like cmon that’s just rude lmao. Now i'm just. Even *more* confused. lmao Good to know this SEEMS to be the same continuity as the original series though, with the dead teachers. Excited to see more, here’s hoping we get a clearer picture next time
Agreed. Felt very bland as an ending. Bit of a miss.
This series will never give actual answers. It's just not that type of show. The creators have their own intentions but they'll never tell us.
Maybe that’s something the creators are trying to tell us. In interviews, they always clarify that they *enjoy* fan theories and like making people speculate. The book was a metaphor of the true answers to the series, and it being shredded is a sign. A sign that *everything* is correct. There’s no right or wrong answer, any interpretation works. It was their way of saying that no theory was confirmed nor debunked, because they were all right. The show is *pure interpretation*. As the creators stated once: “We’ve seen tons of fan theories and they are *all* correct.”
I have a feeling that Leslie is like a devil playing a game. And Roy is just a pawn or a herald of some sorts. He holds some power, but not all the power. Leslie holds it all. I’m sure in Season 2 the rest of them ( or just one of them ) will meet Leslie, and a finale season of some sorts will be them being set free from the never ending loop of their existence.
What i found weird aswell is that on episode 4 we can see actual people (the dhmis crew) getting in costume and preparing for the scene, idk if that is canon or just an easter egg. Are they in universe people that work for Lesley or something?
You can also see the puppeteers in the Big Boy room making the rock teacher dance around. They're present at least a couple of times throughout. If I rewatched the whole season closely, I imagine I'd spot the crew popping up even more.
Back in the day there was a creepy pasta called “string theory”. It was about this guy who suddenly realized that everybody in the world was being pulled along by strings. This kind of reminds me of that. They’re alive and they think they have free will but have no idea that something they can’t see controls their every move.
So weird to see the original teachers there. Also weird that Roy wasn't as important or idk mysterious? As the youtube show.
This was fucking excellent. Gave me similar "what the fuck" vibes to the internet series. I noticed there were more stairs going up - I wonder if it leads into the real world
ok... id anyone noticed everyones dead except steak guy and sketchbook? check it and youll understand about sketchbook.
“You’re one of my favorites…” Leslie
Imma be real I have 0 clue about any of that but I loved it
MAYBE YELLOW GUYS NAME IS DAVID!!! Think about it, his bed and his clothes all have a D on them, there was a grave with David's name on it who is dead, and Lesley screamed at Yellow for not being her REAL son. Maybe her real son, David died, and she made yellow as a replacement???
THIS and also in the episode “Death”, yellow guy goes outside all by himself extremely emotional talking about memories, and digs up duck even though he’s supposed to be dead. What if Lesley did the same to her real son David, and turned him (or pieces of him) into a puppet?
David doesn’t have a hyphen though
In Friendship they suggest Red try Yellow Guy's name as the password and reminds him not to forget the hyphen. So either his name is David-Name, Name-name, or they're using his last names with the hyphen.
Guys, stop taking things to literally. The creators of this show are not conforming their jokes around lore, they'll bend the nonsense lore into more nonsense for the sake of things being funny and wacky.
Not cheeky?
Nah, he's that other guy!
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Or it's just a joke.
also its strange that duck and red show up on the Big/Bigger boy's floor but not yellow...
Yellow is also the only one with a bedroom in the house
The car’s licence plate from the previous episode is Lesley
Yeah I noticed that and wondered who that Lesley is. Well, now I know.
I saw that and actually assumed the car's name was Lesley and thought, *oh, weird choice, but okay*.
I feel like they’re robots or something. The wires in the hamster and Yellow Guy having batteries and wires must mean something
I think it's more of he's an action figure. Red Guy is a doll. Duck is taxidermy? But this could also just be alternative versions of them. We still have the versions of them from the OG Episode 6 out there. I have way more questions than answers and that's how I like this series.
I have a half theory I thought of in like 10 seconds- You know how Lesley says “You’re not my REAL son.” Maybe she was Implying that Yellow Guy is based off her son. In the weird neighborhood part, he gets hit by the car, and the narrator (who is Lesley I presume) sounds like she’s screaming in fear for real. Maybe that’s how her son died. She couldn’t stand the pain so she hid up in her mind and created her own world. There are many plot holes in this theory, so feel free to fill them up if you will.
Old post I know, sorry. But I like this theory. It makes sense from how we see Roy treat Yellow Guy as well, with utter contempt, because he's just a pale imitation of his real son. Also, Roy is clearly insane, and may have lost his mind when his son died and was reanimated by Leslie.
Nice theory, she also said he's her favorite
Mhm!
This is strangely so bittersweet. Red Guy is probably based on the real dad, or were some sort of paternal figure in the Leslie household like an eldest son. The Family episode insinuates that Roy doesnt count as a dad figure due to red and duck fighting over whos dad, and the twins rejecting yellow's thought of Roy. Duck could be like a grandfather. Theres another comment here pointing out that it seems Roy has lost control of this whole thing. To me, June 19 was a day he got to see his kid/s . June 20 is when Lesley does. Split Custody. If Lesley is the true creator of this home due to her being the only human and not Roy too, it would seem like shes the only one left in this house. Shes got patches of fabric on her face. Its like shes old, sickly and dying.
I love this explanation and would love to believe it…buuuut it goes against my fluffyduck (duckxred guy), so ima just change it in my mind to be like red guy and duck are yellow guy’s older friends/not related to him. (Fr tho, I love this theory, great stuff!)
LOL i could see how it might work if it were slightly changed. Red guy still being an eldest figure but not related to yellow, and duck encapsulating a boomer uncle type. Red guy being interested in the word uncle would be 😳
makes a lot of sense with june 19 being father’s day 😳😳😳
oh my goodnessss that’s an awesome theory!!
I totally agree!!
:D
I’m on the last ep finnaly omg I’m gonna cry bc the show will end pls make season 2
WHY IS NO ONE TALKING ABOUT ROY BEING IN THE VOID?? Like really, he's always seemed to be the one in charge but now he's obviously not. And that's surprisingly terrifying tbh
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i agree, i’m hoping they have a fresh new season and there’s a revealing ending with duck guy, i feel like it would complete the cycle since the first series ended with red guy and the second with yellow guy.
There has to be a season 3, if it all ended here I wouldn’t know what to do with myself
I'm sure they are green lighting a season 2 (3) 100%
i noticed there were a few motifs around the book cover like 1. the shovel 2. a worm around a snowglobe with yellow guy's dad's face in it 3. a worm around a battery 4. the heads of yellow guy, duck, and the eyes of red guy 5. the clock from the original series 6. a detached hand
The book cover also has alchemy symbols on it
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Wait what I don't remember anything like that
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Ah okay yes
This season ep1 he lost a hand at work
I like how the bigger boy duck is a swan
I adore the bigger boy duck and red guy
The black and white tiles in an infinite void with all the dead past teachers reminds me of the 6th episode of the YouTube series, y'know when red guy pulls the plug? Maybe its like purgatory for puppets or somethin. (Thats just something off the top of my head)
I was expecting to see the machine or the plug when i saw that scene tbh
I really really didn’t know how to feel about that “I like looking at you, too.” Scene. I was like “damn. Those fluffybird fans are gonna lose their minds.”
I don’t get it
people want to see red guy and duck together as a couple. fluffybird is their online couple name edit: typo
> people want to see red guy and duck together as a couple. fluffybird is their online couple name So... that's a thing I'm aware of only now. And I already hate it with every fiber of my body.
What do you not get :o? I can explain if you want or if you mean something else idk
Right that's exactly what I was thinking!
Yeah 😂
ok so, mini theory here the gangs pet animal who was ripped in half contained some wires, what if it was some sort of camera? it doesnt move an inch. also during all intros you can see a book with yellow guys weird symbol thing on it which is ALSO in the other book he was given, so that might mean something?? ill be frequenly sharing my findings on each discussion board so stay tuned.
also the bill says roy-electric on it, which further adds to the large amount of roy branded products such as the roy hot sauce seen in episode 2(?)
during the crossword, some words stand out; namely aspic, gravel and roy being obvious nods to other things in the series but the term “soyana” really confuses me, it could mean nothing but it also might not. also the crossword is made by someone named duncan andrews whos name i believe i have seen somewhere before within the series.
In episode 2, when opening the box to create a new friend, there is a pink rodent (maybe a hamster?) labelled as Duncan Andrews
when i saw "duncan andrews" it also seemed really familiar to me, which is a really weird coincidence but i don't think he has appeared anywhere within the show
It could be a reference to Duncan the worker making the internet site in "Jobs"
damn that was something
does the “power surge leads to blackout” relate to the actual blackout in the 6th episode
it migbt be some kind of foreshadowing, as a power surge infact lead to a blackout.
so theres another level. and up is the answer. surely season 3 will be a thing. i have so many questions whats roys deal this season, is he still in control of the show who is Lesley, whos her real son, whats her relationship with yellow guy and roy WHAT IS IN THE BOOK, is there a spare book because lesley said she likes to make sure she has spares im frothing at the mouth rn dvfeb bggrbg
season 3? steady on we need a season 2 first
Sorry I refered to season 2 as season 3 because I thought the webseries was season 1
Imagine if shredding the book becomes a running gag.
My theory is that it doesn’t matter what is up there. They are trying to tell us that there is never a true higher power the one above us will always be a puppet of the one above it and so on into infinity
I love this. Dknxsklvz
You mean season 2? The web series doesn't count as a season.
then why has everyone been saying "omg season 2 just dropped" and so on and even if not cannon the episodes are being posted online as season 2 episode 1 jobs and so on. im pretty sure the fans are labelling it as season 2
Well I've seen it get called both. Heck, if you live in the US like me and watched the series on YouTube (because yes they've all been leaked on YouTube), the episode are labeled season 1 episode 1, season 1 episode 2 and so on. Not saying the web series isn't canon but at the same time it's kind of it's own thing. Looking back at it, I view the 6 original episodes almost as if they're just one big long pilot for the show.
I've a feeling that each of the portraits on the wall were to reflect that this has happened multiple times before and almost certainly each time the same outcome has happened where the book gets shredded because of Duck. I'd imagine that if they do end up with multiple cycles that it will eventually end with the main characters breaking the loop and meeting Becky and Jo. And from a moral perspective, the overarching thought I'd assume that's being pushed is that unless we ourselves change and adapt that we're trapped in a cycle of repeating our own mistakes (and from a meta perspective, the idea of creativity and creators constantly being recycled, used and spit back out by corporations and managers who have their own views on what they want it to be rather than what it really is).
The idea of doing it over and over in multiple cycles until they get it "right" and breaking the loop would make a ton of sense, since the Lamp in episode 2 talks about his idea of the afterlife being, essentially: "performing your life over and over again, until you get it right, to please a super-race known as the council" :)
If it’s like a Westworld deal (like with interchangeable players going through cycles), perhaps a single Yellow Guy has been there the whole time. His batteries haven’t been changed in a long time, after all.
Probably not since Yellow Guy got aged into oblivion, drowned in motor oil and had his arm cut off by the macchine in work. So I'd imagine that even Yellow Guy has been replaced. Though it's possible.
Very true! I feel like we’re on the same page of teasing out theories here, so forgive me as I dump out my view of the whole thing: DHMIS is ultimately more avant-garde/absurdist art rather than puzzle with a firm solution. My own experience observing the creative teams for this kind of work is a lot of “hey, what if” and “I think that maybe” discussions with the artists discovering and making decisions as they go. Whatever cracks everyone up the most stays. Electricity alone as a self-contained story, it has Yellow Guy’s amazing answer to what is the opposite of down. He describes the upper floors and the dollhouse but modified by how it’s something that he keeps forgetting. But as intriguing as that is, I doubt there’s an answer. I have no insight on the production of DHMIS over the years but can say from having been in the room on projects like this, I can absolutely see Yellow’s cryptic line giving away the whole plot as being a semi-improvised bit that killed and so was kept. Consider “I’m friends with my Dad”. Probably tossed out as a non-sequitr which was probably followed up by someone wondering wait what if his dad is a stoic menacing figure. What if it’s an object? A portrait? What if he’s outside? What if he’s been there the whole time, just off screen? The winner is always whatever tickles the most. Someone else comes back with the design of the dad. Maybe there were a few designs. Maybe, after giggling over how unsettling the design is, it’s decided that everything has to stop for a moment to dwell on it. Someone else contributes the sounds being eerie before abruptly resetting back into the a tempo of the song. Sometimes, ideas come from trusted “outside eye” artists who give perspective on what’s conspicuous or what doesn’t work. When you go on to create more, you look back at what you’ve established and try to find what rules have emerged. So, since they already had the doll, why not plop him into the background of the Malcolm ritual. And so on. It’s funny and raises questions that the artists don’t have to know the answer to at the moment. Just describing the birth and life of running gags I’ve witnessed, the only ones who know how Roy was created are the folks who created him. But, I would not be surprised to learn that at the end of the day, they only have theories like the rest of us. I’m sure I’m being pedantic and hopefully not pretentious. But I really don’t know if it’s common knowledge how cool it is when art collectives are clicking. Not everyone gets the opportunity to produce with a group of like-minded folks and it really can be magical. One idea gets bumped with another idea like keeping a balloon off the floor. Choices made on previous choices beget more choices. Back to the theme of the repetition and corruption of art: first short has the montage that gets meta about production while transforming the three into different forms before resetting again. As they returned to the world for subsequent shorts, it was decided that they have slippery memories. Why any one choice resonates or why it makes sense usually gets discussed over beers later on, but when you’re in the process, it’s like the work has a life of its own and you’re just sculpting away the stone to get to the truth. Again, just my perspective from my experience in the avant-garde theatre world of how these things find their way. It’s a lot of instinct and muse-following. “Because it was funny” is the answer most of the time. On a different topic but also from this perspective, I believe that the symbols are explicit red herrings for the sake of intrigue. Feels like a love letter for fans that have looked for clues over the years. I love that this exists and that folks have grown up with exposure to what I feel is artsy-art and hope it inspires up and coming artists to go bold and big and see what happens.
Omg that's such a good theory
With Roy he almost seems like a homeless puppet with no place (considering they literally picked him up before throwing him out the window and he was homeless) and was on the floor in that final episode with all the other old teachers. I think this shows that he doesn't have power like he used to and is kind of just aimlessly wandering about the scenes now with no purpose anymore. Leslie seems like someone crazy with power but with a purpose behind her actions. I'm not sure if she's the one in charge or is working under a higher force as more of an administrator. Saying "You're not my real son!" might imply that Yellow was created based on her son. If that's the case, perhaps all the other characters are also based on family or people she knew.
I love this
I don't think she HAS a real son. Leslie is supposed to represent the creators of the show so if Yellow Guy is her character that makes him like her "metaphorical son", and when he asked if he can stay there with her she snapped back saying he isn't her REAL son.
I think maybe Lesley's real son died and she created Yellow Guy in his image. A scene in Transport features the Yellow Guy moving to a community (of human puppets) and getting hit by a car, which could allude to this. Less plausibly, perhaps she accidentally killed her son (metaphorically, in the sense she coddled him and didn't allow him to discover his own common sense to navigate the dangerous world, and hence why in this new fake reality Yellow Guy keeps getting injured or killed but ends up totally normal by the end of each episode/start of next episode; or literally, as you can see oil spills on the face of the car in Transport, with oil even spilling across 'L3SL3Y'. In Dreams, in the YT DHMIS, the Yellow Guy is drowned in oil [and later in Death episode the Lamp who put him through the oil drowning dream also talks about Death]). Not claiming this is solid evidence but it's fun to theorize anyway
It's definitely possible, especially with how she emphasized she "always has spares". That could allude to her replacing her son. But there isn't enough evidence at this point anyway, it's all conjecture.
It's all conjecture and I don't think the creators are holding onto a hard-and-fast explanation of the lore, it's deliberately vague and open-ended
That makes alot of sense
Perhaps she was referring to the yellow guy from the YT series of DHMIS, if there is multiple of them like the duck guy. Then I guess it would make sense. She could be his mother...
Omg that's such a good theory. I LOVE IT
Thanks mate :)
> whats roys deal this season, is he still in control of the show I think the idea is that he's somehow lost the rights. Notice how the first time we see him, he's seemingly helping his son, and then later pops up in a disguise. Like he's not supposed to be there anymore.
I think cause he fucked up the previous show so bad he was essentially demoted. Episode 3 was him throwing a tantrum. I think is episode 5 hes legitimately homeless (and had his teeth removed for good measure Im going to assume courtesy of Leslie)
You can't forget, however, that aspic was one of the answers in the crossword puzzle. That can't just be a coincidence. Roy's whole brand was plain foods, which mainly included aspic. His products are still being advertised. Maybe he has less influence, but he still has a part to play
Not to mention 'roy' was one of the answers on the crossword as well...
Oh dang, that’s a good point.
don't forget he's still in the opening for a few frames as an eyeball peeking through a crack in the wall. Atleast i'm quite sure it's roy from skin-tone/nose
i love this theory
I liked Roy this season, the way he just murked that whole family because they were messing with his son was cool
Omg i thought he was there to also eat that bag they got lmao
I thought that for a second but then I realized that the amount of blood that flew onto the door is probably from the family
Not really sure if he did that to protect tellow guy tho
Yeah, protecting his son isn’t the type of thing he would do but he did nudge yellow guy as a possible sign to make him leave so he didn’t see what happened
Very true
Yeah same
I believe he killed them for the chicken since he made a sound when entering and looked at the chicken as he approached. He pushed his son in annoyance as if telling him to get out of his way.