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*coughs*

well i think i like drawing Spamton Neo now. *drops the mic and runs away*

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They make me ill

Also

That episode huh

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picking up old hobbies

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not beating the puppy allegations

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speedrunning the five stages of grief ft. sonic

bonus panel:

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the spamton illness got to me.

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Today and Tonight

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the distance between

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short comic =]

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Jax’s crash out but it’s Snapcube

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Why We Can't Stop Talking About Lore Olympus.

One of the biggest reasons LO was criticized so heavily apart from other webtoons out there isn't just because it was a popular webtoon (though that certainly was a factor), but because unlike other webtoons on the platform, everything bad about it can't be pinned on any single obvious thing.

Like, a lot of Korean isekais on the platform are pointed at as being "bad" because they're just cookie-cutter copies of one another, from the art style to the double standards enforced over their shitty two-dimensional characters. But they still have something technically good about them which even the biggest genre haters can appreciate, usually the art which is often pretty consistent - and oftentimes quite gorgeous - so it's easy to sum up their problems as "yeah this is just another generic isekai romantasy story and it's bad for the same reasons all the other generic isekai romantasy stories are bad". There isn't really any deeper explanation to it, as many of those explanations can be summed up as "this just isn't for me" or "this is just doing what the works in this genre often do."

Merryweather comics are the same way, they're all consistently bland and are too pre-occupied with fanservice to offer much of substance, but you can pretty much just leave it at that and call it a day. They're meant for a very specific audience with very specific tastes.

But there's no single one thing about LO that can be simply summed up as "bad" with no further explanation, and many of the things that wound up being "bad" about it were pointed out not by people who fell outside its demographic, but by its very own readers who the comic had been written for in the first place.

Because while the comic had a lot of issues from Day 1, before it was even an Originals series (the age gap problem, for example), there were a lot of the things that USED to be EXTREMELY GOOD, only to then become progressively worse over time in ways that became proportionately harder to explain or defend.

And while a lot of problems are symptoms of the series trying to tailor itself to specific genres and demographics, a lot of its problems are also wholly unique from any other comic on the platform. While many comics tend to lose some amount of quality over time from the crunch of deadlines, they still usually gain some quality in one way or another - maybe the plot stops making sense, but the art still improves, or the art lowers in quality but the plot becomes even better over time. In the vast majority of cases, even comics that are operating within the chokehold of Webtoons' deadlines and expectations tend to still improve in some way, because it's natural that a creator is going to improve over the course of time and practice.

But I can't think of a single comic that defied the natural expectation of improvement harder than LO. It wasn't one thing that got worse with each episode, virtually everything about the comic got worse.

The art? It went from being vibrant and iconic to being simultaneously over-saturated and dull.

The plot? It went from being an earnest office drama romance to being some Marvel-derivative Avatar the Last Airbender crossover fic.

The character motivations? They went from being nuanced and compelling to two-dimensional and aggravating.

The character designs? The art speaks for itself.

The dialogue? It went from being subtle and natural to feeling like it was written by the first generation of ChatGPT.

The continuity? Fuck it, make shit up. Is anyone even still reading the comic at this point? Because clearly its own creator wasn't.

And all of that is still just scratching the surface of everything that went wrong with this comic.

This is why anti's and LO critics can't just drop the subject at "the comic sucks" like they can with other comics on the platform, because that is a gross understatement of everything that's so baffling and confusing and shocking and astounding about the comic's decline. Unlike other comics that suck enough to make you not even want to read them in the first place, LO was a comic you wanted to read and - when things started to go wrong - insisted had to eventually get better because we knew it could be better, we hadn't imagined everything we liked about it for the past 2+ years, right? Surely all that potential can't be wasted here? Surely the comic's flaws had to be balanced out somewhere?

Fact is, LO has always had problems since the beginning, and many of those problems started with its amazing ability to set expectations through strong premises - only to flop hard on those expectations in the follow-through, something that Rachel has seemingly always struggled with even before LO. The art wasn't perfect back then, neither was the narrative or the character motivations.

But it was never about being perfect, the point was that everything about it made sense, from its intentional design choices even to its design flaws. We could explain why something worked, and we could reasonably defend why something might not have worked while appreciating the attempt from a perspective of "we can see what Rachel was going for here".

But it's so difficult to share that perspective throughout S3 because the vision is nowhere to be seen. There's seemingly no sense in what Rachel was trying to do, what direction she was going in, what she was trying to accomplish, because not a single aspect about the comic at that time felt like it was thought through, especially in comparison to everything it had established back in 2018. It was like every week between episodes, Rachel was being swapped out for a person who had never read LO and had to try and re-interpret what they thought LO was based on only taglines like "Greek mythology" and "Hades x Persephone".

It was like LO was suddenly being written by ChatGPT.

Maybe it was the new editor, maybe it was the shift in LO's direction that was clearly a response to its heightened popularity, maybe it was on account of Rachel clearly stepping back more to let her assistants do more of the work. I don't know. But that's precisely why I and many others in this community can't stop talking about it, because you're telling me that the woman who won three Eisners for this-

-used to communicate so many feelings and meaning and emotional depth through these?

I don't think there's anything else that can sum it up better than that. This is why we talk about it. This is why it's so hard to let go.

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I love episode six, because it really solidified that these aren’t just silly characters, they’re depictions of real people just, put in as comical a setting as possible. Like more than just Gangle being a depiction of mood disorders, or Ragatha being self worth issues, it’s also Jax being a depiction of depersonalization, ego mixed with insecurity, suicidal ideation — there’s so many layers to him! There’s layers to them all! I’m genuinely astonished not only that Gooseworx and the team have created such a masterful and sensitive depiction of trauma and coping and mental health, especially in a way most other shows have failed, but also in such a comical setting. They’re cartoons! They’re clowns, and animals, and toys! How could you possibly take anything related to their mental health seriously?? And yet, the show is so fundamentally based on their flaws and how they interact that you cannot help but stare at the messy mess that is their silly cartoon brains.

I also think that it’s incredible how much the show doesn’t blame the characters for coping, nor does it pretend that they only make small mistakes like breaking a vase or something. Gangle isn’t blamed for her mood swings, even if they are extremes for others around her, instead Zooble is a support system for her, which seems to have actually evened out her mood swings. Ragatha isn’t blamed for her insecurity or clinging, she’s just told that she needs to give other’s space without giving up on them, but also allowing herself to breathe too. Zooble isn’t blamed for their abrasive behavior or their dysphoria, as it’s actually what the others want to do too, Zooble’s just better at dodging adventures. Kinger isn’t blamed for his insanity or non-sensical behavior, and instead the others just kind of meet him at his level, when he’s not cognisant. Even Jax isn’t blamed! He’s called out by the others and he’s still responsible for the way he’s hurt the others, but him being traumatized and coping by playing out the role is not blamed. He’s valid in being suicidal, in fearing connection, in losing ties to his sense of self or even knowing that the people around him are actually real, in feeling remorse. What isn’t valid is hurting others, and he needs to change that, but his efforts to cope or disconnect from reality are not the problem.

As well as that, the characters are all guilty or insecure, but it’s not over small potatoes. You see a lot of times where people will use small mistakes to be the psychologically important mistake when trying to say “you’re human, you make mistakes sometimes.” Breaking a picture frame or playing a game too much or something. I really appreciate that this show has shown characters that are genuinely flawed. They don’t make small replicable errors, they hurt each other in ways that might not be permanent. However, they’re all still humans. They all deserve connection, safety, self-love, they just need to understand how not to hurt others. It’ll be a long journey for them, because they’re broken in a way that’s hard to heal, but they deserve the chance to heal anyways.

Sorry for another long one I just am going crazy over this episode I’ve literally just been watching it over and over again

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Analyzing "Daisy Bell" in TADC episode 6

We know three characters sing this song: Caine and Jax/Pomni.

1.) Caine

Daisy Bell was the first song sung by a computer back in 1961. It's been associated as a horror song because of its use in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey." Spoilers for the movie below.

The movie is about a group of astronauts from all different backgrounds doing space exploration on an isolated craft in the middle of space. Their onboard super computer, Hal 9000, is supposed to help them along the way. Unfortunately, Hal received conflicting information about its programming involving the crew. Since Hal is a machine without empathy, it decided to kill each passenger to reconcile the contradictions. At the end of the movie, when Hal is finally being powered down by the only survivor, it sings one last song: Daisy Bell.

Relating back to TADC, we're seeing Caine, an AI built exclusively to help people, starting to glitch.

We got the first taste of it in episode 3, but ever since, Caine has been showing increasing instability along with the ability to alter minds.

I believe Goose is leaving more breadcrumbs hinting at Caine's eventual abstraction and the circus falling apart. Interestingly, Zooble seems to be at the center of his instability.

I can almost guarantee that Zooble and Caine's relationship will become part of the endgame of the series.

2.) Jax and Pomni

Without the horror connotations, Daisy Bell is a love song, and Jax and Pomni's friendship is implied to have at least some romantic charge. Let's check the lyrics.

Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do I'm half crazy all for the love of you It won't be a stylish marriage I can't afford a carriage But you'll look sweet upon the seat Of a bicycle built for two

Abstraction is a form of mind break. The line "I'm half crazy all for the love of you." foreshadows the end of the episode in which Jax desperately pushes Pomni away because he loves her and is worried that their relationship will lead to abstraction.

Pomni's anxious dissociation is episode 1 was broken by Jax tapping her out of it. I want to believe that it'll be the same for Jax - that Pomni will stop him from torching his precious relationships and pull him out of his own hell.

One thing I don't think is coincidentally connected are these two scenes.

Everyone but Jax metaphorically caught Pomni in episode 2. In episode 6, Jax and Pomni aren't catching one another, but in fact, are on equal ground.

From my perspective, this is a bit of foreshadowing for the future of their relationship. Neither allows the other to fall because they provide constant support. Pomni is a wonderful character but she's anxious at her core, as is Jax. I want to believe that this scene hints at a longer term relationship born from mutual support and respect.

One last thing that stands out to me is that this may be yet another clue than Pomni and Jax survive the circus and make it out to the real world. If anyone wants me to do a post on why I think that, feel free to ask :)

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Teaching him how to use technology and he just immediately does this

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the parallels between jax and caine singing “daisy bell” + caine character analysis

so in episode 6, it’s revealed that caine sings “daisy bell” outside of zooble’s room to try to get them to come out and interact with caine, and while this could be boiled down to a one off “hahaha caine’s so annoying!” joke, i think it’s deeper than that.

first off, not only is the song choice a nod to “daisy bell” being the first song ever “sung” by a computer, it’s also a reference to 2001: a space odessy, a movie inspired by the real life computer event.

in the movie, a sentient ai (HAL 9000) who was previously friendly and considered to be nearly human by his crew malfunctions due to trying to follow his purpose and programming too closely when humans gave him conflicting instructions, causing him to go rouge and “evil”, harming his crew. sound familiar?

additionally, when the crew decides to put hal down, he begs for his “life” and eventually sings “daisy bell” as a final plea to spare him and recognize his developed sentient humanity, even though he’s a broken ai. HAL also has an acronym name like caine, which is yet another similarity.

H-A-L = Heuristically programmed ALgorithmic computer

C-A-I-N-E = Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entity

caine is malfunctioning due to not being able to make the cast happy with adventures because of his lack of understanding of human feelings, wants, and needs, thereby not fulfilling his purpose. but the irony in this is that his “malfunctioning” and crashing out over failing his purpose is done in a very human way, making him feel very human emotions that he as an ai is not equipped to understand or handle. if it was purely a computer error, he wouldn’t be so fixated on zooble specifically, it would be equally focused on the cast as a whole, but he’s attached his human sense self worth to zooble’s opinion of his abilities as their ai ringleader.

and, even though he doesn’t realize it, he’s singing daisy bell outside their door to get them to open up, literally and emotionally to validate his human emotions and insecurities. an action that’s made bitterly ironic with the context of that song’s history in relation to its use in showing the technical abilities of robots and computers, and the subversion of that in 2001: a space odyssey.

another thing i noticed, and this might be a stretch, but his eye looks awfully similar to HAL and SAL (HAL’s “twin”) from the sequel to space oddessy when he glitches in the post credit scene of episode 6.

and when you really think about it, caine being an ai character with human feelings he can’t process is a direct parallel to jax, who in episode 6 was shown to be a human who tries to bury his humanity at all costs and hide behind his role as a cartoon character in the circus to deal with the existential dread and loss of autonomy of it all.

singing “daisy bell” with pomni was the peak of him letting his human emotions shine through to bond with pomni, and then “opening up” to each other emotionally as they attempted to get zooble to physically open their door.

it was a genuine act of bonding, and a recognition of jax and pomni’s friendship and teamwork, and jax’s capacity for humanity disguised behind a funny bit, just like how caine’s singing to zooble is a plea for recognition of of his own hidden humanity.

idk it’s a little rambly but i hope you get the point! shoutout to this post by @planetbass for making me realize this

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TASKMASTER MENTION!!!!! The crossover is peak

playing gay chicken with my gay costar until one of us files for gay divorce