#NPC theory

[futurebird]

The "Dead Internet Theory" is Bad Actually.

You have heard of "dead internet theory" but you probably haven't looked at the theory as originally posted. It's often summed up as "the internet is just a bunch of bots talking to each other" ... and it's tempting to nod along: it's fun to say that "things were better in my day" and YES many sites have too many bots. But, the original "theory" is the product of deeply sad, cynical and isolated minds.

The idea that "most interactions online are bots" and therefore the internet is just imaginary pointless cycles of the same nonsense designed to generate "interaction" for the purpose of advertising has its roots in another "Bad Actually" theory: the notion that life is a simulation and everyone (but you!) are NPCs.

I recently tried to read some of the original thread from wizchan and 4chan that are credited with starting "dead internet theory" and they are...

deeply questionable.

Some of the points raised are:

* Content is Recycled * News is Recycled * People online vanish without reason * The internet makes people "sexually perverted" * People are in bubbles

Now all of these has a ... touch of truth, except for possibly #4 which seems more like a personal problem to me. (and it might be the reason for point #3) But, even if you leave those in, these are also nothing new. It's where the theory goes that is so extreme.

Thinking that people you interacted with for years online are bots is deeply unstable thinking. Bots can do reactions, but bots can't do relationships.

But when you read up on the people who are into this idea they think that they are *really* being Trueman Show'd by bots and that nearly everyone online is a part of a psyop to get them to take COVID shots, live in a pod and eat bugs.

This stuff isn't coming from a good place or a healthy place and I somehow didn't know that. I thought it was just a general "golly there are too many ads and bots and that sucks."

(and I do think it sucks, that's why I keep trying to tell everyone about mastodon and the fediverse... )

You want a real conspiracy?

Here is mine: Why do theories as sophomoric as "dead internet theory" and "NPC theory" or "simulation theory" or "Roko's basilisk" get *any* oxygen at all in media?

These are half-baked shower-thoughts at best.

But they are also concepts that teach helplessness and self-isolation.

Who does that benefit? If you were the kind of person who feared the internet as a tool for grass roots organizing "dead internet theory" would make all would be activists dead in the water.

[deliciouscollectorcrusadestuff]

This is late and the community would laugh if they hear any related talk about it but I'm just I'm going to be clear and out of the way, I had always hated the NPC jax theory.

It like was popularized by one of the voice actors in the second episode and the target was immediately latched to jax because people hate him and can't stand cocky character or couldn't comprehend on what he's done wasn't what they headcanon for over 3 months.

For someone who had watched old media like those Looney tunes, south Park in the old days and such, they were so surprised that jax treated the circus what it was, a digital world. Like how a Minecraft player would treat their own world.

The reasoning on how they come to these theories aren't even great I'm not going to lie.

"Jax acts like a rival NPC from Pokemon"

"Jax is mean"

Jax is this and that, blah blah blah. All of the reasoning they came up with was completely stupid. You kind find more reasoning in the third episode where Jax refused to hold his breath and let us imagine what would happen. Some people used this as part of their theories that Jax doesn't do this cause he's an NPC.

Huh?! A lot of 4 wall breaking character do this, how does this prove anything of what your saying?

If Jax was an NPC as they stated then we wouldn't have this emotion right here,

If Jax was an old NPC that they stated and not the largest attempt like gummygoo then him expressing these 4 frame emotions would be out of the count.

Remember Caine said that how the NPC act is his latest attempt. Seeing how Jax existted before gangle, zooble and even pomni he wouldn't be able to do all that.

Seeing how reused the circus is with its prompts and NPC itself

The digital circus acts like Minecraft, reusing limited mobs that are scripted for their own event.

People are going to have their own reactions to how they are treating it in a digital setting.

It's like they forgot that people aren't one dimensional and have their own nuances.

You know what I hate, despite the community learning that character can be more than one dimensional, they seemingly forgot about it the next day. Now they've seen that Jax isn't what they invision for over 4 months they flip it and ignore not only the reason why. It's like they haven't learned anything.

Getting of topic and speaking of mis characterization

I've seen it in fanfics where they make Jax act like a bully but it would be so out of character and have him react in how's his been treated so out of character that's it's not even Jax anymore and they asked the question on would Jax be sad if something extremely bad would have happened in with the digital gang like abstraction...

I'm going to hold your hand as I say this. Did you fully watch the second episode of Jax feeling bad because one of the members abstracted for a moment before leaving? If he hated the funeral then he would have ruined it himself but he didn't, we saw 4 to 5 seconds of frame of him feeling bad before represing said emotions and leaving.

The Jax that you invision In your head is a poorely comprehended version of what Jax would do. Jax would not do that. The version you have is a twisted version that you water down an single aspect of Jax and mis characterized either to support your shipping dynamics or because you let the community who was previous known to get a character personality wrong in a large massive take support in your decision of fully comprehending the character.

I've been ranting about Jax because I seen people in X still mis characterized him to this day to support their shipping discount. I get that Jax himself is meant to be hated and such but seriously? Him causing one of the gangs abstraction on purpose?

I'm going to try and hold myself accountable and say that I also mischaterize Jax but not for the same reason mainly, that would be something for another talk.

Did we forget that abstraction is caused by having a mental breakdown of thinking of the real world? It was stated by ragatha herself and seeing how she's the second oldest to be in the circus. I think it says a lot.

The community took the character and headcanon them so much that they are different then what they actually are in the first place.

I admit that the community do make good ideas and aus and such but we shouldn't use them and guide why the main canon character are like this. Each if them have their own episode showing us why. The purpose if the show is to show us why they are like this, showing us that not every thing is black and white like how people imagine it.

Now that being said, watch me forget all about this and not hold myself to this standard. 🧍

This was just my Ted talk

[sam-doodle]

So I’ve seen the theory going around that Jax is an NPC, which, at first glance makes so much sense! His pin not having his room in it, his lack of care towards the other characters, his fourth wall breaks. But after some thinking I don’t think he’s an NPC, but I do think someone else is. Who that person is you ask? Gangle.

She’s one of the most interesting characters in the cast by far, and that’s not just because of her personality or design, but instead the little element of a challenge that she has. Her masks. We’re left to assume that her happy mask regenerates every day (her having it at the beginning of both ep1 and ep2) it sets up a nice challenge for her everyday. But literally no one else in the cast has something like this. The only character who’s close to having something like this is Zooble, and all of their different parts but I personally don’t think that makes much sense.But it would make sense if Gangle had this challenge as a NPC.

Another reason is that she never brings up or talks about finding an exit. Pomni does (almost every second in ep1), Ragatha does (while talking to Pomni in the hallway), Jax does (after Pomni says she thinks she saw an exit door), Kinger does (while talking about Kaufmo) and Zooble does (after literally choking Jax). But I never see Gangle even bring up the exit (please correct me if I’m wrong).

Now onto Jax being an NPC, I think most of it can just be chalked up to being a jerk and breaking the fourth wall. Now I don’t really now how he can break the fourth wall, but it could just be a completely normal, quirky character trait goose and glitch gave him. And because he can break the fourth wall, he’s also hiding his room in the pin display image. (I know this isn’t really good proof, but I don’t really know how else to explain it lol)

Another reason I think Gangle is an NPC also ties in with Jax. In ep2 while Gangle is driving Jax calls her (driver, & submissive and agreeable) now this could also be chalked up as just a joke, but those are also thinks that you would call an NPC, their main traits and their job. How would Jax know this? Well, I did say he can break the fourth wall.

[serendipitous-posts]

Do I think Jax is an NPC? No. Do I think it's a super cool and interesting thought baby? F%&k yeah.

[minsu-the-cowardly-human]

I think Holden Caulfield would believe in the NPC theory(the theory that states everybody else in the world but you is a NPC) only because it would make it 100x easier to not care about people, consciously at least, cuz he does care a shittt ton.

[yoylefeet]

so we all know the npc jax theory but

what if he didnt know

aftermath

(i might make this into a comic if this gets enough attention)

edit its finally here

[almadash]

she knows

(continuation to the NPC Jax comic)

[notjaxbutwhocares]

I've noticed that is kind of strange in TADC. So if you've watched the Pilot of TADC you might have remembered that around the 16 minute mark when Pomni is looking for Caine she looks in a room and finds a wooden mannequin (and then he has a very intense reaction to the situation). @gooseworx said on Twitter that his name is "Dr Football"

Then I was watching episodes 3 and 4 and looked at the background and saw Dr Football spying on the cast....

...he's not the easiest to spot but you can definitely see him if you look in the circles. Some could joke that he is looking to revenge on Pomni but I'm not sure about that. I'm wondering

Who is he?

Why is he spying on the cast?

Why is he allowed but not Gummigo?

What do you guys think is happening? Let me know your theorys!

(Edit: You guys did not disappoint with the theorys <3)

[omgmegacruel]

What if this card is from Kotaro’s perspective?

Cause aki4’s other main focus is the reunion of kotaro, so what if this card is showcasing akito guiding kotaro into the light?

[szhreii]

A very very wild crack theory: Maybe they're Muu's parents?

Alright, so I saw this tweet long time ago, and I was wondering what could possibly happen between Muu and Kazui in T3, like it's gotta be intentional right??

Not to mention in Kazui's bday art his watch is now gold and there's bee in it🐝

How did I come up with that theory? Well it's just that the bartender is always associated with gold, example, his wedding ring, his pins and the ornaments (?) at the bar, so I think it has something to do with him

Although I don't really want it to be taken seriously because it's a crack theory.. I think there's still possibilities

In both novelgram prisoners have connections/know each other, so i think it's not too far fetched to theorize about this and it'd be cool if MILGRAM do the same

Muu doesn't seem to know much about her dad. When answering questions about him, she always says "I think" she's unsure about it. Also guys Muu literally said her dad has multiple jobs. In Kazui's first birthday TL, he said that his friend doesn't live close to him and he rarely meets them. It's possible he doesn't know what his friend's daughter looks like.

Uhh starting with, Muu and bar lady have the same eyelashes

But wait their hair color are different though?? I have explanations for this, naturally blonde hair usually darkens as you age. This is why blonde hair is much more common in babies than adults. There's also another factor, which is hormonal changes especially during puberty (which means Muu is quite lucky lol), pregnancy etc. can affect melanin production. Your hair can even go blonde to brown because of this. Also I know that MILGRAM itself is very animek but like we see Mikoto's hair dyes fade during T2, besides Muu is the only prisoner with colored eyelashes instead of black eyelashes like other prisoners (like in their sprites y'know) and in Crying B, Es said that Muu must've stands out a lot (Idk Es there's literally a guy who has blue hair)

BTW you guys ever wondered about the wedding topper on Kazui's bday art?? Like why is the bride blonde? Well I think it might be the bar lady because I color picked and compared them and it's just few shades darker, which fits with this theory

Based on Muu's guess about her dad's age, it can be said that her parents married at a pretty young age considering in 2000s the average age of first time marriage for Japanese guy was 28/29

Next up, do you know that the cocktail she's having is called Manhattan? Which is known as the queen of cocktails dunno if this is just JP thingy or not. Meanwhile Muu T2 VD is called Queen B, crazy coincidence (sad fact about Manhattan though, in JP, cocktail language for Manhattan is "Heartrending love" or "Love that brings you pain")

"Import foreign furniture from overseas" chair in Half maybe? I'll elaborate the chair in half has Fleur de lis. Though I wouldn't count it as a proof due to the image quality

But welll Kazui's mask has Fleur de lis and Muu has it on her bday (obviously)

And Muu said that her dad might be a landlord, that reminds me, Kazui and Hinako live in an apartment right?

Muu's hobby is taking care of tropical fish, meanwhile Kazui's childhood friend hobby is fishing coincidence or coincidence (don't remember the TL so I use his interro instead)

Oh yea back to the wedding topper, I feel like the tailcoat tuxedo resembles a fish tail because large gaps(?) like that is pretty uncommon for a tailcoat tuxedo so I think it's on purpose idk. The bride wears a pearl necklace anyway what I'm saying is that all are related to sea

In Muu's T2 sprite we see her wearing gold shell earrings, which is again related to sea

And like Muu's mom is from Nice, France, that place is famous for its ocean and beach. Heck even Muu said it herself. This is MILGRAM guys even the place they chose have a reason for it, for example Muu lives in Minato, it has a high cost of living and do you guys know more than 10% of Minato’s total population is foreigners? Like they can chose something generic like Paris but they chose Nice specifically

Lastly, I've seen ppl mention about the missing ring in Half but guys Bartender usually take off their wedding ring so it wouldn't get lost/damaged when bartending

I think that's all thank you for listening to my yapping session🙏🙏 Also about the location I don't really think it's really a problem because adult don’t necessarily live close to each other… especially since Kazui use birthday to have an excuse to contact them yk

[skekilla]

hh

npc

so anyway developments in the au plot hehe

when the gang all try to leave the uncanny world pomni made, the key she programmed in to get them out doesn't work. they kinda glitch and no-clip as a result, all scattered throughout the bottom of the map---amidst all the assets! now remember this world was originally created by caine a really long time ago and pomni just reused it as a base? well the original setting and plot had to do with anthropomorphic animals. a certain rabbit character had been sculpted and programmed, but scrapped and forgotten by him as he made the world. but that npc still existed ! and so, forgotten and having nothing to do in the world, he had snuck into the circus when the adventure was done oooo

he was hiding there for a long time before he witnessed kinger appear in the circus. that gave him an idea: he'd fake being a human coming in and just hope for the best. so he did, and caine, having forgotten all about him, just kinda accepted it and called him jax! and jax has been hiding this ever since :) until everyone, underneath the map, stumbled right across his model :))))

everyone is very disturbed and things will not go well, but for now, everyone's agreeing to go back to the circus and pretend nothing happened hahaha

[toastedclownery]

Interesting

[askdemotivatedmod]

I just wanna confirm, does anyone remember when the first time the word "NPC" was brought up in TADC?

... ok, just double-checking. Carry on.

[aracariwren]

Party members and traveling companions!

going back to the inn for some grub

[wackywatchdotcom]

what intrigues me abt caines dynamic w the rest of the cast is the way that none of them seem to understand why he is the way he is. like not in the comedic sense but how they dont seem to have a clear concept of his motivations or anything of that sort

we havent seen toooo much of it. but we have seen how pomni, zooble, jax, ragatha, and gangle view him and its so fascinating

pomni is like. she doesnt understand what hes doing but seems to view his actions as malicious in some way. i dont think she sees him as a 'mean' person but with how she says she thinks he wants her to suffer its very illuminating of how she sees him as someone who wants all of them to hurt. i dont think she knows why he would, but its the only conclusion shes got. it also speaks to her distrusting nature that upon being hurt by him her first thought is that its an intentional decision to harm her, and unfortunately for caine she hasnt actually been given much of a reason to think he feels otherwise. i dont know how she thinks caine feels about them but its clear to me how she views his goals and hobbies for lack of a better term

zooble doesnt trust him. they find him to be annoying but more significant is that they KNOW he likes them all. it adds an interesting tone to how they see him, that they specifically say that whats 'holding caine back' is that he 'likes [them]', which on one hand is them interpretting caines actions as being done from a place of liking the players, and that his actions are coming from a place of NOT hurting them, because he likes them (its interesting to note that they have participated in less adventures, so its unclear how much they know abt caines adventures firsthand). but on the other hand is implying that they think caines holding himself back at all. that there IS a desire or a capability to be cruel that theyre wary of. theyve also seen caine at his most vulnerable (in the show itself at least) and their comment, 'whose therapy session is this again?' implies theyre at least aware that this is caine having his own problems, though i dont think theyre comfortable safety-wise with how these problems affect them and the others. them asking caine 'why did you think i would like that?' speaks to the idea that they do think hes genuinely trying to appeal to the players, but they seem to find his lack of understanding of the players frustrating and unsafe for all of them

jax i think is pretty vague since most of his lines to caine are brief, and the most telling line he has abt caine is the only one we have. but he seems neutral on caine as a whole. caine is just a guy who makes things for them. he tries to entertain them and thats all jax really seems to be concerned with- whether his 'its not in his nature' line is reflective of him genuinely Believing that is smth i see debated often but i think no matter what, it conveys that jax Generally sees caine as someone who isnt malicious. hes not trying to hurt them, and whether or not he thinks caine is capable of hurting them is whats more vague. either way, jax doesnt seem to like or dislike caine

ragatha has very mimimal interactions with caine and not many lines about him, but i think her line in the pilot, 'thats just one of caines little adventures. theyre just something fun to do to, yknow, prevent us from going insane,' is extremely telling of how she sees caine. of all of them, she seems to have the most positive view of caine, since she interprets his actions as an active attempt to stave off abstraction in the players. whether or not she thinks caine is acting from a place of wanting to stop disruptions or if he wants to ensure the players arent doing as unwell as they could IS up for debate though. the way she talks about him in the pilot in general reads like she has some level of trust in him, but it seems like a surface level trust in him at the worst- she knows hes not malicious and knows he wants to help. she knows he can help her when shes jumbled. but its not clear if she Likes him. she seems to enjoy the adventures though (which, ill keep it brief so i dont derail this, but it honestly reads like a deliberate parallel writing-wise that the two of them both seem fond of distractions as an acceptable solution to a bad situation- if her assessment of Why he makes the adventures is anything to go by)

gangle is harder to read on this front, as she has way less lines about him, though she does have multiple notable interactions with him in ep 4, in the way of her seeming genuinely enthusiastic about his adventure (it doesnt seem completely directed at him, but she seems genuinely a bit happy about his praise of her leadership skills). when she calls him it doesnt convey TOO much i dont think but the way she talks to him and requests he make a punishment could imply she doesnt think hed normally make one, but also that hes not opposed to it, which is confusing in what it means about how she sees him but it feels important. her interaction with him at the end of the episode also doesnt convey much in this way (i feel like caine is not the main focus of most of that scene- which works for the scene and is good writing wise bc the scenes important for gangles writing of her own problems, but in terms of breaking down this idea it means im not sure this scene conveys much about how she sees him)

and then. i didnt mention kinger at the beginning specifically bc i dont think we have... almost any indicators of how he sees caine. he tells caine abt kaufmo in ep 1, suggests caine could find pomni in ep 2, doesnt address the thing pomni says abt caine in ep 3, and even his suggestion in ep 4 to sit out the adventure doesnt convey almost anything. the only throughline is that kinger sees caine as someone who can help them if they ask, but it doesnt convey any thoughts on what he thinks caines motivations are or his thoughts on caines actions. which frankly reads like a deliberate choice when kinger should be the one with the most history with caine

this post is long but i just am bery intrigued by this. i thinka ll the character dynamics are so deeply fascinating but with caine being the closest the show has to an antagonist (which of course is a loaded statement but i mean it in the writing sense and not in the 'antagonist is evil' way) it means that the way the characters see him holds a lot of weight. it conveys a lot abt them all with how they interpret the person that has (at least on the surface) the most control over the situation

[another-goblin]

Dr. Ratio in Amphoreus at home:

I'm not sure exactly, but I think this guy is Nikador's Reason he discarded before going crazy, so it makes sense for him to talk about "eradicating foolishness" and "teaching lessons." But where did the last part come from? Why is it so similar to Ratio's "It is only in moments of solitude and despair, when help is absent, that fools grasp how to pick themselves up"?

Even if Dr. Ratio turns out to be from Amphoreus, I doubt he would have anything to do with Nikador.

And uplifting ordinary humans through strife is not exactly what I expected from Nikador. Although it makes sense for pre-madness Nikador, I guess?

Upd. Btw Gnaeus is a Latin name so Ratio wouldn't be out of place there either. Not all names there are Greek.