Along with being arguably the funniest show on TV (when it’s actually on TV, that is — seriously, hurry up with season 3, please), Rick and Morty is also a surprisingly intelligent series, with episodes that cover a broad range of convoluted sci-fi themes from the multiverse through to parallel dimensions. Now a brand new theory regarding our own universe’s relation to one of its episodes has struck a chord with viewers, and it’s making us feel deeply uncomfortable as a result.
Earlier this week, a screenshot of a Facebook post from user Jimmy White made it to the front page of the Rick and Morty subreddit. The post reads: “What if fidget spinners are just a version of gooble box and we are just powering some scientists battery.” The post quickly became popular on the Rick and Morty Reddit forum, with the poster writing: “He might be on to something…”
In the season two episode ‘The Ricks Must Be Crazy,’ Rick reveals to Morty that the battery he powers his spaceship with runs on electricity generated by a miniature universe (or Microverse) that lives inside it. The inhabitants of this Microverse generate the electricity by repeatedly stepping on a Gooble Box, though they do so in the belief that they’re powering their own society, unaware that their sole purpose is to keep Rick’s ship running.
Also: 5 Best Fidget Toys to Help You Concentrate And Be More Productive
As the episode progresses, it is revealed that a scientist living inside the Microverse has created his own miniature universe, handing out his own form of Gooble Boxes to its inhabitants and getting them to power his own universe. As a result, the battery to Rick’s spaceship is no longer receiving its power and has stopped functioning, with his Gooble Boxes having been rendered obsolete as a result of the Microverse scientist’s own miniature universe. Eventually Rick informs the scientist that he exists inside a Microverse, sparking an existential crisis that ultimately results in Rick’s battery once again being charged after the Microverse scientist resigns in the knowledge that his society must keep treading on their Gooble Boxes, in order to ensure that Rick doesn’t destroy the battery in which their universe exists.
The battery which contains the Microverse. (Image Credit: Cartoon Network)
Which brings us to fidget spinners. The above tongue-in-cheek theory suggests that the absurdly popular fidget toys are our own universe’s version of the Gooble Box, and that by spinning them we’re unwittingly powering the battery of a scientist who created the Microverse we’re living in. If this sounds ridiculous, that’s probably because it is, though the theory isn’t without some substance.
Take the Council of Ricks logo, for instance. Introduced in the episode ‘Close Rick-counters of the Rick Kind,’ the Trans-Dimensional Council of Ricks are Ricks from other dimensions who have joined forces in order to protect themselves from their enemies across reality, with them operating from out of the Citadel of Ricks. The Council’s logo is the letter R atop a three-pronged design, each tipped with a circle.
The Council of Ricks logo. Notice anything familiar? (Image Credit: Cartoon Network)
This is very similar to the shape of a fidget spinner, which hasn’t gone unnoticed by the show’s viewers. There’s even a fidget spinner you can buy in the shape of the logo:
(Image Credit: Store Envy)
So is the logo’s similarity to a fidget spinner a mere coincidence? Oh, almost definitely. However, it’s far more interesting if you believe that the Gooble Boxes power the Ricks’ most important tools, and that the Council of Ricks’ logo has been created in order to pay homage to the inventions that allow them to go on their grand, inter-dimensional adventures. At the very least, this helps explain why everyone’s so into fidget spinners all of a sudden.
