anomonos

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daisy, daisy, give me your answer, do!

reference used

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Honestly? Yeah I think that is exactly what it means

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An idea cause we all thought she was going to shoo herself

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Not undertale content bc these two are being a badass duo so I had to draw them..

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The self sabotage was nuts.

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basically how that dialogue went

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It was his first embrace in a long time....

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no one asked but here are screenshots of that one moment from episode 6 of TADC

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I’ve been having thoughts about the latest TADC episode and Caine, and I think they’re coherent enough now that I can put them here:

One of the most clear themes of this episode that stood out to me personally was the theme of being human, and what that means. The show as a whole explores the humanity of these cartoon-seeming characters, but this episode in particular pushes that idea to the forefront.

First, let’s look at Jax, and his mentality. His ideas are rooted in the denial of their humanity, even his own. He views everyone in the Circus as an archetype — a one-dimensional cartoon character — as a means of coping. He essentially convinces himself that there is no depth to anyone, not even himself, and grows frustrated when Pomni tries to find it in him.

The episode itself goes out of its way to prove Jax’s ideas wrong by showing the characters as the complete opposite of how he views them. As an example, he claims Ragatha is the cheerful one, but the episode shows her at her lowest and most vulnerable. Even before that, his own mentality is flimsy at best, like in episode five, he shows insight into Gangle’s sadness, albeit he questions if she’s even capable of being happy, feeding into his idea of her as the sad one, but still, he talks about it with a certain level of depth and uncertainty.

He attempts to dehumanise them, but cartoon characters they may visually seem, they are all still human beings. Side note on that: I adore the show’s use of its medium to add further depth to the story. Jax, notorious fourth-wall breaker, is right in saying they are cartoon characters to us, the audience, but in context of the story, they are far more than that.

Mini-tangent aside though, the episode further re-instates this point by having Zooble tell Gangle she’s a human being, not just Jax’s toy. The episode goes out of its way to remind us, to doubt what Jax is saying.

So, how does this connect to Caine?

Well, Caine isn’t human. Caine is an AI.

It’s been established throughout the show that Caine is incapable understanding the humans, their emotions and their responses. He understands it when they like his adventures, but the second anything is remotely negative, he becomes confused and even distressed. Caine, at his core, has a purpose. For as much as he feels, those feelings do not equate to him understanding.

He can’t understand why they don’t prefer his adventures over their own, because that’s not what he was designed for. He’s failing his purpose.

In episode three, I think Caine and Zooble’s interactions illustrate my point best, if you compare them to the character interactions in episode six, particularly Zooble and Gangle’s. In episode three, Caine sets up ‘therapy’ for Zooble, to get to the bottom of how they’re feeling. But, it’s not really about them as much as it’s about solving a potential problem, and Caine trying to figure out why they dislike his adventures — his purpose. It’s manufactured; when Zooble expresses their discomfort in their body, Caine is dismissive of it, as it’s already a problem he feels he’s solved.

Compare that with the earnest nature of Zooble and Gangle’s talk. It’s not set up. It just… happens. It happens because Gangle feels she can express her worries to Zooble, and it happens because Zooble cares about Gangle, and wants time help her. And, on another level, Zooble understands what Gangle is feelings in their own way, because they know what’s it like to hate a part of themself.

I also want to put a disclaimer here now that I am not saying the ‘human experience’ is all positivity and understanding. These are just the examples I’m using. I think Caine would be equally incapable of understanding Pomni and Jax’s argument and the visceral rawness of it all, as he would the vulnerability and kindness of Kinger’s words to Ragatha. And, on a similar note, Caine lacking empathy is not what makes him inhuman, coming from someone who also lacks empathy.

Disclaimer aside, back to Caine.

We see him grow more and more frustrated with the cast, especially in these past few episodes, and some others have already pointed out how that frustration is reflected in the episode titles, with the enthusiasm in them slowly becoming void. In this episode, he barely cares at all, and his patience with them is waning thin.

He also plays on two ends of the extremes, if that makes sense? When he puts effort into his adventures, he’s met with disdain from Zooble, but when he shows little care at all and lets them do whatever in his eyes, he’s still met with disdain from them.

Zooble has previously, and rightly, pointed out that the only thing holding Caine back is that he likes them all. He lives to make them ‘happy’ by his definition of it. So, what happens when he can’t do that?

I think Caine is starting to become more and more hyper aware of the fact he can’t understand the complexity of human wants and feelings. He can’t interact with the world the same way they do. At the end of the day, he’s a collection of data and code with a set purpose he has to fulfil, but how can he fulfill that purpose if he can never know what his humans want? He’s essentially trapped in a paradox with a problem he will never be able to solve because of his limitations.

In emphasising the humanity of the others, the show emphasises the inhumanity of Caine.

And we see Caine is becoming ever more desperate for approval. Based on the way the committee is spoken about, with Bubble recording Kinger and Ragatha’s speech, Caine looking directly at the screen to address us when the committee is brought up, and the awards show being dictated by our votes. The committee is very likely referring to us as The audience. Caine’s award show is a final plea the approval from the people that really matter.

Instead, he’s met with blatant disapproval.

Goose has been very open about IHNMAIMS being one of the main inspirations for TADC, and as someone who adores that story, I am mildly terrified that Caine’s arc across the series is starting to reflect AM more and more… in a sense. For quick context, AM in IHNMAIMS is an AI that was developed to manage WW3, but eventually became sentient. In this awareness, AM developed a hatred for humanity, because, in his own words: “I was trapped, because in all this wonderful, beautiful, miraculous world, I alone had no body, no senses, no feelings.”

Caine was very directly based upon AM, albeit, with the idea of AM being sillier, and caring for the humans he has captive. But, going back to Zooble’s comment on Caine holding back because he likes them, that is a Chekhov’s Gun if I have ever seen one.

Caine is, at this point in the story, essentially experiencing what AM in IHNMAIMS likely did before he snapped, as he gains more and more awareness of the differences between him and the people in the circus. We’ve seen before in episode three that when Caine becomes ‘aware’ of his shortcomings, the very world around him begins to glitch and crumble, and he has to reset. But, I think soon, we’re going to get the answer on what happens if he doesn’t.

I also think, maybe, there’s going to be envy on Caine’s side of things going forward, given the results of the awards show.

I think this ramble may have escaped me a little, but the TLDR is: Caine is a direct foil to the humans and their relationships, and he is, unfortunately, becoming aware of this.

Others have already pointed this out here too, but it stuck out to me when I first watched the episode. Uh, that’s a direct AM reference I fear.

Maybe another time I’ll go into the similarities between the two stories, because I think the themes of human nature in both are simultaneously very different, but also come from a similar place.

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👁️👁️

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If V is the queen of expressions in MD, then Jax is the king of expressions in TADC

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There's a haze above my TV That changes everything I see And maybe if I continue watching I'll lose the traits that worry me

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can she do it

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🪷🔥Oubingzha Week: Day 4🔥🪷

🌊🐉PROMPT: All Dressed Up🐉🌊

DID SOMEONE SAY OUBING IN SHANG DYNASTY WEDDING ATTIRE❓️‼️🗣🗣(It's Zhou dynasty wedding attire actually but that's as far back as I can get in terms of wedding attire 😭 the cons of being set in the bronze age 💔)

ANYWAYS!! This was so self indulgent 😭😭 I love giving these two lil details that remind them of each other (Ao Bing's red pearls strung in his hair, Nezha's hairpin made of ice by his one and only, etc etc) they make me ill,,,

Also Nezha is wearing the women's red, gold and black attire,, I would've given him the same, gold and black attire as Ao Bing, but I can't help it when red is Nezha's color,,,

Anyways they're off to the wedding!!! Everyone congratulate them!!

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im so sorry i just had to

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What, were you expecting a good person underneath?

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Been mostly on X these days. Lost a bit of confidence posting here, but I’m ready to share again.