#gen loss thoughts

[wizardpigeon]

on austinshow (?) in generation loss

(austin viewers pls forgive me if thats not the name he actually uses bc i do not watch him so idk im using the one they introduced him with and assuming its good)

i know a lot of people interpreted austins whole thing with the wife and kids as him being forced to lie by showfall but honestly the whole time my perspective

was that he was actively lying To The Viewers because he knew he'd have a better chance if he appealed to a wider audience/didnt reveal that he was gay,

like, i know he was introduced as

Austin Show | gay

but they cant see that, and the puzzler immediately calls him out for lying, and throughout the episode repeatedly asks him the names of his children and how many he has, which austin fucks up multiple times, so i assumed that he was intentionally trying to mislead the audience to protect himself, and showfall had the everyone prompt him as much as possible (and maybe got him to mention them more himself) in order to point out that something wasn't right about what he was telling us

now, i also want to point out, (and this is from another theory ive seen tying back to the mind control) that austin doesn't have anything on his head, and one theory i saw is that everyone else, barring sneeg until the hat, had something on their head in that episode,

ranboo with their mask

niki, vinny, and sneeg with hats

charlie and ethan with their glasses

rats with masks,

and jerma/puzzler with the prosthetics although that ones a bit more meta since based on charlies commentary it actually looked a lot more real/seamless in person than on camera

but austin isnt wearing anything, and hes arguably the most freaked out, like sure niki is sobbing but she switches the second shes in the spotlight she switches to being collected and upbeat, the only other person we see as visibly disturbed as austin is sneeg during the hat sequence,

throughout the entire carousel scene austin is looking around, visibly nervous, and like others have pointed out, he kept staring at frank, who since the reveal of the filter thing, everyones been pretty agreed on is probably like, a full on rotting corpse that they were just carting around,

so i think that while showfall had some influence on austin, his actions more than anything, they didnt have full control over his words, and they were definitely letting him see at least some of what was going on,

whether they were allowing him to lie and behave so nervously is anyones guess, it certainly makes the program more interesting, but the way he talks so desperately about his many wives and children reads to me as something a queer person would probably do if placed in some kind of saw esque game show where we had to appeal to the largest majority of viewers to survive

i like the way people have taken it as showfall stripping him of his identity, but to me, i read it as them outing him, which, also in my mind works closer with the theme of what fans/fan culture will do to "celebrities" (see kit connor with heartstopper however many years ago that was), and the fact that showfall outed him without care that his situation was dangerous just drives this further home for me

[moonfruito]

i've said this since the first stream and i've known this since he began talking about genloss and i will keep saying it. genloss is an exploration of the feelings of being a content creator and being constantly under the eye of the public, being scrutinised and torn apart and controlled by a constantly spectating audience. what does it mean for a person to have their life broadcast, to be examined by strangers, and to have it all happen suddenly and explosively with no chance for you to have prepared for it? there is a line drawn between the person you were before and after people noticed you. there is not as much of a line drawn between who you are in front of thousands and who you truly are. can your actions, when you are under the pressure of the public and a company paying your bills, be separated from who you are? somewhere in the tangle of your reality and the wires, cold glass screens and warm flesh and blood, there is the person that you are and that you have been, have always. it's just hard to identify it through the tv static.

[generationlosscorkboard]

Gen Lossers!

I come with GREAT news!

Local Gen Losser ItsMaybeMadi on Twitter who (together with the genloss decoding server) solved the cypher and decoded the text!

Cipher:

(Just a couple notes for clarity: 'O' is actually just '--'. a line, and not and not like ō. Also the '|' is a space, so between words.)

Text:

Its not a one to one translation, but fortunately the letters remain within the word they belong to.

For example, "So I Did" in the original is "os I Idd"

But Congrats Madi and the Genloss Decoders!

And good job everyone who worked on it themselves, wether you managed to get the decoded message, just the cypher, or just plain did your best to try!

[orbmanson7]

Masterpost of GenLoss BTS/Vlogs

For anyone wanting all the behind-the-scenes information and footage from the cast of Generation Loss: The Social Experiments, here is a full list!

Ranboo's "Generation Loss - Talking All About It" stream vod

-Ranboo, first stream after the show ended, explained some of the inspiration for the production, played some recordings of Charlie's towel performance, and showed some concept art and design photos of some of the props.

Vinny's "My Generation Loss Experience + Abandoned Mall Exploration" stream vod

-Vinny Vinesauce explained his part on the second episode of the show, showed footage he took from inside the mall while exploring the sets and abandoned areas, and showed behind-the-scenes footage of how the stunts for his death scene were made.

Niki's "Nihachu Reacts to Generation Loss" stream vod (clips channel only one available)

-Niki reacted to the first two episodes of the production, showed how she did her makeup to make it look like her character was crying, explained some behind-the-scenes stories, and talked about some of the audience's theories that she really liked.

Criken's "Behind The Scenes Stories from Generation Loss!" stream vod

-Criken (who played Hetch/Squiggles) explained his work on the production, reacted to the show, and showed some videos from behind the scenes and pre-recorded segments, including video proof of Ranboo's towel-throwing saga.

Sneegsnag's "Sneegsnag Reacts to Generation Loss Chapter 1" stream vod

-Sneegsnag watched and reacted through the first episode, explained a lot of behind-the-scenes plans for the first day's production, explained some interesting notes about his character, and showed the music inspiration he sent to Nathan Hanover when Nathan was making Sneegsnag's character music for the show.

Ranboo's "Generation Loss Behind the Scenes - Going Thru My Favorite Bits" stream vod

-Ranboo, second stream after the show ended, showed some unused cutscene videos (extra door scene, cooking contest commentary), showed some additional camera angles of shots in the show and some pre-show footage from practice runs of the first day's production.

Charlie's "Behind the Scenes: Generation Loss Episode 1" stream vod

-Charlie watched and reacted through the first episode, showed off some props he kept from the production, explained the differences between rehearsals and the actual show, and described some additional options the chat didn't choose during the live show.

Niki's "Gen Loss Finale" stream vod (starting at 3:25:10)

-Niki reacted to the final episode and described her initial reaction to the pre-recorded segments near the end of the episode.

Sneegsnag's "Sneegsnag Reacts to GeneLoss Part 2 w/ Ranboo and Slimecicle" stream vod

-Sneegsnag and Charlie watched the second episode together, both shared behind-the-scenes info and how many ideas were thought up only a day or two before the live production; Ranboo later joined the discord call to argue their case regarding the towel-throwing saga.

Charlie's "Behind the Scenes: Generation Loss Episode 2" stream vod

-Sneegsnag and Charlie's joint-react stream to the second episode, but from Charlie's stream, in case you want to watch that, too!

Sneegsnag's "Sneegsnag Reacts to GenLoss Part 3" stream vod

-Sneegsnag watched and reacted to the final episode, explained what he was doing behind the scenes during certain parts, and talked some more about his character.

Sneegsnag's "Generation Loss - Behind the Scenes (Vlog)" vlog

-Sneegsnag's footage of him, Charlie, and Ranboo exploring the sets before the live show, footage from the filming of Vinny's death scene, footage of Ranboo testing the box mechanism, footage from the second day's rehearsals with Austin, Ethan, Jerma, Niki, Charlie, Valkyrae, and Sykkuno, and footage from directly after the live show ended and folks were celebrating.

VidCon's "Generation Loss: How It Happened" Panel recording

-The panel recording from VidCon Anaheim 2023, featuring Ranboo, Jake (executive producer/plays the CEO of Showfall), Criken, Niki, and Sneegsnag; they showed some photos of the original ideas for the production and some set design process photos; Niki explained how she could see the chat reacting to her death scene from a monitor that was in that closet; showed some photos from the promotional work for the production (missing posters, merch photos, Times Square billboard); showed some of the video they made to send to the Emmys for nomination consideration; showed photos of them filming the pre-recorded door segments; showed photos of wardrobes and masks for different characters; showed pre-recorded footage of some scenes from the final episode; and played a teaser for the "next chapter" called Generation Zero: The Story of Lostfield.

TwitchCon's "Ranboo Generation Loss Panel TwitchCon Paris 2023" panel recording (clips channel only one available)

-The panel recording of TwitchCon Paris 2023, featuring Ranboo, Jake, Criken, Niki, Austin, and Sneegsnag; they showed some similar photos and footage as the VidCon panel, as well as some different shots, including some footage of them testing out the carousel for episode two and additional photos of the masks and wardrobe designs. They then answered some questions from the audience about their experiences and favorite parts of the show.

Sneegsnag's "Reacting to the GenLoss Founders Cut" stream vod

-Sneegsnag watched and reacted to the founders cut version of the show, adding some additional commentary about his character and behind the scenes information.

Prior to the Show:

"Last Stream Before Big Generation Loss Time!" stream vod

-Ranboo livestreamed while staying at the mall, explained some of the rehearsals they did for the ending scenes of the show and how excited they are for everyone to see it.

Here's the full playlist on Youtube, as well, for your convenience!

[not-poignant]

I was thinking back to the post I made about ebooks being so much more accessible for so many people compared to paperbacks/hardbacks and the other thing I wanted to add is the vast, vast majority of the time, the author gets so much more profit comparatively for an ebook than a paperback/hardback.

That's not a problem for huge huge huge authors either way, but for small-time authors, or authors with small publishing houses, the difference in profits can sometimes be $2.00 or $3.00 per ebook sold vs. $0.50c or $1.00 per paperback. Really. You pay more, but the author gets a lot less.

In the case of indie authors like myself, ebooks give the highest returns always.

This isn't necessarily something most readers think about, but I have had readers assume that because the book format cost them more, that automatically means more goes to the author. In fact it's often the opposite. There are very few exceptions (university texts come to mind). But in the case of your run-of-the-mill indie fiction, if you genuinely want the most profit to go to the author, get the ebook.

[the-blaze-empress]

so genloss is all about breaking the 4th wall right? right. when ranboo wakes up he realises that there is no 4th wall. every time the stream ‘glitches’ we’re seeing through to whats actually happening, we’re seeing beyond the 4th wall and potentially so are the characters (im looking at u sneeg). the mask is what keeps the 4th wall in place for ranboo, but thats not where it ends. the breaking of the 4th wall doesnt just stop with the characters.

what im loving about genloss is the psychological horror and how well and uniquely its handled. its fairly clear at this point that ranboo is not in control of their actions, but has been able to break free/has tried to break free at multiple points. showfall media is the one in control, not ranboo.

but thats not where it ends. genloss is a live show for a reason, and that reason is chat. without chat, genloss would not be able to be what it is. throughout the stream there’s things to do; buttons to press, decisions to make, pipes to rearrange. they exist for a reason.

the first episode was relatively tame compared to what we’ve seen since. options were things like ‘where should i look’ and ‘what wacky device should i use against the guy made of slime’ (i could probably write a whole other post about the connotations of blood and slime but that is For Later). those choices dont seem in spirit with something advertised as psychological horror. the entire first episode was kinda... tame honestly.

theres a reason for that. think back to the inauguration video chain. the first question was harmless, cats or dogs? it got you used to the mechanics of the ‘game’, made you familiar with the concept of ‘pressing buttons’. the first episode serves the same purpose; desensitise chat to pressing buttons, so when the decisions switch from ‘where should i look’ to ‘who do i leave to die’ all they really see is a button, without any real consequences. it’s just a button, we should press it.

showfall media isnt just manipulating the characters, its manipulating us.

what i found really interesting is jerma also being able to manipulate the controls, as such, when he solved the pipe puzzle. it established that chat arent the only ones able to use these controls, and i fear what it’s going to bring. i think that showfall is going to start rigging things in their favour, but we won’t be able to tell. one person alone cannot tell what thousands of others voted in this scenario, so there isnt a way to tell that the vote was rigged from the start. and it gives showfall such an easy way out. chat voted, thats what they wanted. we are going to be tricked into ‘wanting’ what showfall wants, ‘doing’ what they want us to do, even if we’re not the ones with the masks that connect to our fucking brains.

there was never any 4th wall. we’re just as deep into this as ranboo is

[ranboard]

Saying this reminded me of you and sending this to gl!ran

[everydaythings7807]

off topic: why is his waist so snatched

[kezcore]

i hate to break it to you, millennials, but gen z does, in fact, know what dvds and cds are. we grew up with them. we grew up with a lot of stuff y'all obsess over, actually. not my fault all the tech companies collectively decided to get rid of dvd players

[syxvesper]

GL! RANBOO HEADCANON

Cool, so we all know how his mask is like- the way they implant the memories into him right? It’s also made up of wires and stuff, most likely directly connecting to the brain.

They basically can effect his consciousness, and how he perceives stuff (aka the slime turning into blood for a split second)

So the head canon I have is that GL! Ranboo has tics, since a lot of the time tics are cause by a neurological thing. And with all the wires, those could affect him in many ways.

Yes, the foundation and stuff would probably be careful to like- make sure it all works, but don’t forget, for a good while of it, he slowly gained his own memories and consciousness and stuff, only when he was about to be killed, as Ranboo said before, were memories being implanted back in.

But, the people behind all this shit probably aren’t the greatest as well, and could’ve had that accidental side effect. Mostly it would be things like small jolts making him move, though words could be affected, not as much as moving stuff though.

Anyways little headcanon haha

[melien]

Bonus Kyle!

He was my favourite sim in 2016🥺 I think about him from time to time.

[bleubell-cheesecake]

Showfall Media had to kill off sneeg because he became too aware, too clever, too close to escaping. They had to do it off screen because us, as the audience, wouldve been angry. He's a fan favourite and they know it but he had to die.

We weren't meant to see his corpse in the background. Ranboos escapade was planned, but sneegs little escape attempt definitely was not

[generationlosscorkboard]

OKAY????????????? I'm going insane WHAT IS THIS-

[orbmanson7]

Everyone did absolutely amazing in this episode!! This team should be so proud!

[untimelyambition]

the whole diamond heist scene with the lasers in gl2 is genuinely the funniest thing i have ever seen in my entire life. vinny so reassuringly saying “throw me” and ranboo and sneeg not even arguing with him just flat out agreeing to lob him across the room. the different shots of them swinging him back and forth to get momentum. the fucking puppet flying through the air. sneeg and ranboo staring off into the distance to watch him soar, the instant cut to them holding each other screaming. vinny hitting the fucking roof???? the elation. the anvil falling sound effect. the looney tunes stare as it falls from the sky. vinny’s final words. the fucking anvil crushing his head in (and the shock that came watching it live and not being able to pause or rewind and see the cut). ranboo making the world’s worst pun. sneeg’s indignant “i’m not throwing you!’. everyone moving on as if it didn’t happen. truly the funniest scene in all written history. i will never recover.

[the-blaze-empress]

episode three of genloss was fucking phenomenal but theres one thing that makes me kinda sad

how much of this stems from ranboos own experience? obviously not the killing and maiming part, but the underlying themes. being held to unreasonable extremes and standards, having other people dictate what you do and dont do, being nothing but a character, not being able to stop until other people decide you can, not being able to stop unless you never want to start again? being told other peoples decisons were your own, fearing punishment for that?

the subtle commentary (and not so subtle commentary) is incredible, and its clear theres was so much fucking love and effort put into the entirety of gen 1, dont get me wrong. im so glad ranboos been able to break the 4th wall. also fuck hetch i knew something was up as soon as he showed up