#gangle theory

[radar-chaos]

Is no one going to talk about how the new plastic mask for Gangle is like a mask that neurodivergents use to make it through the day with other people? Gangle is visibly frustrated just trying to be “normal,” and in the end she still feels like she messed up, and I…

I get that. On such a personal level.

Not only that, but the mask is plastic. Plastic (the mask) is often considered cheap and unauthentic, whereas glass is considered more high quality (her real personality). No matter what she does, she feels like she’s failed. Her genuine emotions are so sensitive and easily hurt, but her mask is obviously and visibly a fake persona, and in her case, a completely out-of-character one.

It makes you wonder just how she was treated growing up.

[almadash]

What if…?

[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

[silly-monkey020]

OK. I was re-watching the tadc episode 4 because why not?

And I noticed Jax expression changed when zooble made the Joke about Jax not talking or whatever.

And it's not the first time, because in episode 2? He looked sad/upset about kofmo funeral but quietly got "mad" or annoyed. (Probably at himself for carrying)

In episode 4, he was able to show he was scared because he knew no one was watching him. I think idk

Uhhhhhh..... I'm not sure what I'm trying to say or prove....I just wanted to talk about this because I have no one to talk about my interests/hyperfixation 🥲🔪

[gobbogoo]

For me, the fact that the Amazing Digital Circus opted to give Kinger and "Queener" matching avatars implies A LOT, especially if we follow the belief that the avatars act as psychological reflections. Here's my own take:

Studies have found that long-married couples will effectively share a single mind between them. Their brains outsource specific mental and emotional tasks to one another, such as memory, communication, or certain types of problem-solving. This causes the death of a long-married spouse to effectively rob the living partner of half their mental faculties. And due to how our brains decrease in neuroplasticity as we grow older, a long-married mind isn't really capable of re-learning its lost functions.

Kinger's current mental state very much resembles someone trying to function without their other half. There's memory problems, multiple occasions where he has to rely on Gangle or Zooble to point something obvious out to him, and a clear emotional instability.

[snow-calypso]

New TADC Theory: Caine's Losing Control

Warning: Contains spoilers for The Amazing Digital Circus episodes 3 and 4.

Just watched episode 4 of The Amazing Digital Circus, and going in, I honestly expected this episode to end with Gangle's abstraction, to the point that I was honestly surprised that it didn't. It honestly seemed like the whole episode was building up to this, what with her going in with hopes of finally enjoying an adventure, then gradually being whittled down both by the stressful job and the other characters demeaning her. The fact that she only seemed to get actual satisfaction from tormenting Jax like he did to her only seemed to solidify this fact. After the isekai fakeout, I was legitimately scared that she would receive the punishment she suggested for Jax, and that would be what pushed her over the edge.

But it wasn't. Caine gave her the same grade as everyone else (except Kinger) and let her go.

Then he starts glitching out.

It wasn't until I was talking to a friend about this that I had the realization.

Gangle isn't going to abstract.

Caine is.

We've seen already in his therapy session with Zooble just how fragile his mental state can be. He begins to question his existence and the environment around the circus immediately starts to glitch out. This happens just from him having to reckon with the fact that he might not be that good at making adventures.

And what happens at the beginning of this episode?

They reject the first adventure he brings up.

As soon as Gangle leaves the room, he begins to glitch unprompted. This has only ever happened to him before during his therapy session with Zooble when he began to question his purpose.

Something is eating away at his mental state, and none of the characters know.

Granted, it isn't yet clear whether or not NPCs can abstract. But what we do know about abstraction is that it happens when someone in the Digital Circus completely loses their sense of self. Personally, I'd say that Caine is close enough to sentient for this to be a legitimate risk, and his entire identity is centered around making adventures for the characters. Adventures that they hate and are gradually starting to push back against.

What truly solidified this for me was the fact that every single other character has something keeping themselves from abstracting.

Everyone else has each other.

This has already been shown with both Pomni and Gangle. After Gummigoo's death, Ragatha stepped in to comfort Pomi and invite her to Kaufmo's funeral. After Pomni was possessed, Kinger helped calm her down and offered a solution. When Gangle was cracking under the pressure of being a manager and thought nobody liked her, Pomni offered to close so she could leave, and Zooble reassured her that they'd still be there for her.

Caine has nobody.

None of the characters in the Digital Circus even like Caine enough to check in on him like they do with each other. Given how much they've gotten used to his zaniness, they might not even know something's wrong with him until he starts growing extra eyes.

I predict that at the end of the series, Caine will fully abstract, turning the Circus into a glitching hellscape, and the characters will be faced with a choice: Leave and condemn the AI to self-destruction, or find some way to calm down their tormentor.

But hey, that's just a theory!

Do you guys have any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them!

[justaladyiguess]

Jax 001 Theory AKA An almost definitely wrong TADC theory

I thought it was weird that they gave specific attention to Jax seeing the license plate. Like, there's a whole shot dedicated it. And it doesn't serve much of a purpose. I guess it lets us know that this is Jax's car? But it's in the episode. A full shot dedicated to seeing him notice it. A full shot dedicated to the plate itself.

And there's a shot afterwards of him reacting to it. Not even a particularly comedic shot. It feels more in line with his reaction to Kaufmo's funeral in episode 2.

True, it could be him reacting to the awful adventure he just had, but we just had a scene where his smile turned into a scowl. And, you know, pretty much the rest of the episode. Or it could be him reacting to the absurdity of the license plate, but considering the day to day adventures Caine creates, this seems a bit tame to get any reaction from him.

So that gets me wondering, does the license plate have any significance? The number at the top right could be some sort of reference. But it's the 001 that intrigued me. It's typically a number given to the first of something. Maybe even the first person to come to the circus?

Instantly the idea sounded ridiculous (because it is, this theory is almost definitely wrong). I mean, Jax himself said that Kinger had been here the longest. But take a look back at what he actually said.

"Supposedly been here the longest"

At first glance, this seems to mean that Jax can't be sure who's been here the longest. Which makes sense when you consider Kinger's memory issues and all the circus members who have abstracted. And, let's be real, this is probably what the line means. But if you'll let me be delusional for a second, there's another way to read this line.

What if Jax means that everyone assumes Kinger had been there the longest? But he knows it's not true because he's been there the longest?

For most characters, it wouldn't make sense for them to be purposefully vague with their wording. But this is Jax. It's completely in character for him to keep things from the other circus members for no reason. In the first episode alone he kept his supply of keys and Kaufmo's abstraction a secret. Jax will lie about pretty much everything, and he's pretty good at it too.

Further delusions can also be found in episode one. When Pomni tries take her headset off, Jax says this.

Could it be that Jax knows the circus members all tried to take off their headsets because he was there when they did it? Again, probably not. This is the weakest piece of evidence I have, but I figured I'd include it anyway.

And that would explain a fair bit of his behavior. Jax seems more comfortable in the circus than any of them. He has access to keys. He's only momentarily surprised by Kaufmo abstracting. He's incredibly jaded. He seems bored with the adventures, deliberately causing chaos to get them off track (his hijinks on the syrup truck, sucking up the ghost in the mansion, and trying to dunk Ragatha in the oil). It almost reads like a gamer who's played the game a thousand times and is trying anything to make it interesting.

Again, I'm fully aware that this probably isn't the case. I'd say there's a 0.01% chance that this will be confirmed in any capacity whatsoever. It will almost definitely be disproved. But until then, I thought this would be a fun idea. Maybe it'd be a good fic.

But hey, that's just a theory...

A DIGITAL CIRCUS THEORY!

and cut.

[that-artistic-record]

I Said It Once and I'll Say It Again,, Every Person In The Circus Represents A Form Of Coping With Trauma!!

Kinger and Gangle Have Had Episodes Focusing On Their Form Of Coping!!

Kinger - Repression

Gangle - Masking

Pomni - Fight Or Flight

Ragatha - People Pleasing

Jax - Aggression

Zooble - Disassociation

[melody-starlight]

Oh my god.... OH MY GOD!!!!

Gangle... GANGLE MY BELOVED!!!

I wanted to hug her so badly 🥺😭🩷❤️❤️❤️❤️♥️♥️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

I mean... Look at her sad face...

I can't believe the devs made her look so relatable to us... I believe that back then then when she was a human, she most likely went to art school cause she wanted to become an artist who makes comics and stuff and pursue her dreams in the want she wants to!

But.. OF COURSE!! since the DAMN society never encourages artists to make a living of their career, Gangle had no choice but to end up working in a fast food restaurant.. (mostly likely McDonald's) and accepts her harsh reality as "you need to remember that they're completely unrealistic and you need to stop trying" (gosh... This line freaking hurts me...)

And Gangle, tried to be optimistic, but with the way the characters have treated Gangle at the restaurant (EVEN RAGATHA WAS UNHINGED LIKE BRUH) I am assuming that the co-workers were also bullying/not taking her seriously irl which made her feel hopeless and believing that no matter how hard she tried... She would always be.... A failure........

The more I learned about her, the more I loved her deeply more than anything else and I want to hug her tightly and give her multiple kisses in her cheeks

[digestive]

1/2

Jax knows what's going on and he's being the most douchey peacekeeper about it.

Anytime the tension rises, Jax comes in with a quip or remark to chill everyone out.

When Gangle asks about Kaufmo:

When Zooble asks where Pomni is:

And when Pomni first brings up the exit he acts like a dick to distract everyone

When the group decide they want to check on Kaufmo and find Zooble he assigns the best people based on how stable they are.

It might be possible that he didn't know Kaufmo had abstracted at this point, but the fact he paired up Kinger and Gangle on the less stressful objective shows he knows it's a possibility since no one has seen Kaufmo and that those two wouldn't be able to handle it if they saw him the way he turned out and could abstract themselves.

[vashonian]

Thing from the Streamily signing a couple of days ago with @justtheclippy and @vixenvtuber.

Today's adventure is run an advance-fee fraud network!

Gangle's tries to soften Caine's cue cards, it seems. The three wacky numbers come from the Streamily prints, but it works well too with credit cards.

Also, from the stream a few days before that, I found that knock-knock joke book that Alex Rochon mentions that horrible Darth Vader joke in. It's from Nutty Knock Knocks from 1987, and I distinctly remember it in the school library because it was so lackluster, if that's the nice way to put it.

Most of the other jokes aren't much better. If Google Books is accurate, this is the only instance of this joke ever being put to print. Can't imagine why.

[ph1l5eyelash]

i think there was something weird about Gangle’s mask in episode 4 and people are not talking about it enough.

im just kinda throwing out ideas here, I have no concrete theory, just things I noticed and thought were interesting.

AND IF YOU HAVE OTHER THEORIES REGARDING ANY OF THIS, TELL ME PLEASE IM SO CURIOUS

OKAY SO, first of all, I think we can all agree Gangle was acting weird in this episode— like, uncharacteristically weird. that could’ve easily (and obviously at least partially) been the fact that she was literally at her breaking point, on the verge of abstraction, but between the creepy vision Ragatha saw and the weird analog horror training video, I feel like it has to be more than that.

Talking about the vision Ragatha saw… what the fuck was that guys and why is nobody talking about it????? gooseworx did say “i just thought it would be funni.” when asked about it, but she has also said she often misleads us with her answers to the point that its “borderline gaslighting”. this is clearly an example of that, something so incredibly ominous and seemingly unrelated to the rest of the episode would not just be thrown in for no reason… it has to mean something. not to mention the creepy face when she turned around looks weirdly— intentionally— similar to Pomni’s face while she was possessed in episode 3.

I have a theory that whatever was possessing Pomni had something to do with Gangle’s mask in episode 4.

Speaking of this part of episode 3, I don’t think Pomni’s possession was apart of the adventure, or at least, not how it was intended to go. Whatever was possessing Pomni was hurting her in a way we have not seen in other adventures— this was not unintentional trauma like her and Gummigoo glitching beneath the map in episode 2, that was obviously not supposed to happen. This was intentional. As Jax said, Caine would not do something malicious to the humans, it’s not in his nature (which he said in a “i know that for a fact” sorta way, which is a whole other conversation). Not to mention, he said this DIRECTLY after Ragatha’s vision of Gangle looking eerily similar to whatever was possessing Pomni. So what was that?

And not only did it hurt Pomni— “how’s your wife, Kinger”??? are you kidding??? and this was not said nicely, it was clearly mocking him. how could mocking someone’s dead (or abstracted i guess) wife be any LESS intentionally malicious????

also, Caine is forgetful. This is shown by him forgetting they have a suggestion box, and more interestingly, through Zooble’s therapy session showing that Caine forgets their trauma. With such a large emphasis on Caine forgetting Zooble’s trauma, it would not be completely unreasonable to assume that he forgets the others’ trauma as well. Kinger’s wife abstracting, for example.

So with this moment being outright malicious towards both Kinger and Pomni, and with Caine’s forgetfulness being focused on in the same episode, I feel strongly that this was not Caine’s doing. Or at the very least, “how’s your wife, Kinger” was NOT Caine’s doing.

That raises the question, if Caine didnt do this, what did? And how does it know about Kinger’s wife abstracting— how would an NPC in an adventure know anything about the characters outside of the adventure?

I don’t have an answer to that question, but I have a looser theory that could possibly be related??? this one might be a little far fetched, but hear me out:

During Gangle’s weird (WEIRD) analog horror training video, Jax asks “when did you make this?” Sure, this could be meant to be a funny line that doesn’t mean anything… but he has a good point. When DID she make that? And why does it get so meta and scary? Malicious… one could say— I mean, Jax was terrified.

In the video, she was clearly projecting her failed dream of being a manga inspired comic artist, but if whatever was possessing Pomni knew about Kinger’s trauma, and with the theory that it has something to do with Gangle’s mask, I don’t think its impossible that it could know about Gangle’s trauma as well.

Assuming that whatever was possessing Pomni is actually intentionally connected to Gangle or her new mask, maybe that’s what made the video, not actually Gangle.

That would answer Jax’s question of when she made it— she didn’t.

That would explain Ragatha’s weird vision.

While the video doesn’t have any direct ties to the possession or the face, it definitely has pretty significant indication that she’s not herself— whether thats literally or figuratively. and idk man it was creepy and weird. as I said, im not set on this theory at all, i dont have any concrete idea what was going on here, but i know it has to be something.

this scene and Pomni’s possession were the only moments in the show that felt like the characters were being intentionally harmed— the only instances where they were intentionally made to feel real fear. The characters know that they will not actually be hurt during the adventures, they know that Caine wouldn’t put them in that situation. Sure, Pomni got jumpscared and her eyes popped out, they were panicked when trying to escape the angel head, they were panicked during the whole truck-chase scene in episode 2, but they knew it was all just apart of the adventure and they were gonna be fine in the end.

This fear was different. This was real fear— and they were intentionally made to feel that way. These instances were the only time the characters were genuinely afraid that they were in real danger (aside from the abstraction and backrooms-void situations in episode 1, but obviously those were not intentional).

I think whatever this is is trying to intentionally harm the members of the circus.

side note:

Zooble just found a mask that specifically looks like its for Gangle in their box of parts? why??? obviously it was for Gangle, so why was it in Zooble’s box of extra parts? did Caine put it in there? I guess that would make sense cuz Caine gave them the parts, but again, why give them a mask obviously for Gangle?

Which could mean nothing…? But it is weird that Zooble just randomly happened to stumble across a comedy mask… or maybe i’m just looking too deep into that.

Im gonna definitely post more about whats going on with jax in this episode (“nobody is seeing this, right”, “caine wouldnt do anything malicious its not in his nature”) because that feels important, but thats a theory for another day. this episode had so so much good information and my theory brain is absolutely spinning.

anyways yeah, i dont know. I feel pretty strongly that Ragatha’s vision and Pomni’s possesion are connected and that whatever that face is is important, but again, these are just ideas and the second theory is kinda just spitballing. i dont know if any of this makes sense. either way, all the theories make my brain happy and gooseworx’s storytelling is so amazing to me, whether any of this is right or if im completely missing the mark, its so interesting and i cannot wait to find out what the fuck is actually going on in this show. gooseworx, you talented storytelling genuis you, mwah!

if you have any theories on any of this, please share!! i would love to hear your ideas.

[almadash]

she knows

(continuation to the NPC Jax comic)

[drama-glob]

Well, considering Ragatha just said this:

it's no wonder Gangle tells Pomni that, although I wouldn't be surprised if Gangle has been feeling like this for a while now since from what we've seen in the previous three episodes, Ragatha does more often than not put a sunny disposition on and suppress negative thoughts she may have like with Pomni after she left her glitching out on the floor, which is something she has a right to feel angry and upset about; she only really seems to gets angry with Jax, but that's fair/understandable giving everything he does to everyone. :/

I remember Gooseworx saying that episode 5 was supposed to focus on Ragatha and since she commented about people liking the "Dark/Evil Ragatha" depictions that's been going around, so maybe this will have a doppelganger of her that manifests from all her pent-up frustrations or she'll just wind up having her own breakdown and air out all her grievances against the others. Should be interesting to see nonetheless. ;)

[guwix]

Jax crosses his arms only when he is not happy with something.

I didn't just decide to bring up this topic, or there is a moment where his expression is like he's thinking about something. I don't know how to rephrase my thought. When the Queen "mentioned Caine as a God."

To me, his emotions do not express discontent or boredom, but rather... sadness, adversity?

I'm putting forward my theory that Jax is related to C&A, so I suggest that Jax has a connection with Caine. I have heard theories, and I myself assume that Caine is a human being (perhaps the very memories of this have been erased). If he is a "God" for this world, then he must be the administrator of the world. I don't think humans have allowed AI to run amok.

[spirit-of-a-kiger]

Does this confirm my theory that she's bipolar?