#tadc 4 theory

[sillypotatoess]

We all know Jax acted like he knows someone watches them.

We can tell he does this usually via Zooble's reaction. HE DID THIS AGAIN!

He asked if someone can see this. Did he imply someone in Digital Sircus or someone from outside? Maybe he knows someone tests them. Can they be in a test version of a game? Is Jack know that and act accordingly about getting tested? He can be only people knows the truth(except Caine) Maybe he implead someone from sircus. Maybe he just doesn't want someone sees he is weak.

[cheatsykoopa98]

yeah, gummigoo 100% remembers pomni and wasn't allowed to say it, just look at his face

[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!

[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

[dawneetay]

*hmm*

*hmmm*

HMMMM

guys I’m sure it isn’t referencing a science fiction movie. Why would a series about vr ever reference science fiction. Guys

[faeyuh]

so. yeah.

Jax's Coping Mechanism (being the first n all)

If he was the first to enter the Digital Circus, then how has he survived this long? Without abstracting, I mean.

Probably the same way he's surviving currently. BEING AN ASSHOLE. Focusing on the misery of others instead of his own. Not giving a fuck basically- or, giving way too much of a fuck, so he distracts himself.

So, does this make him a bad person? If he's prioritizing his safety (not getting abstracted) at the risk of others?

Probably. A bit selfish, too.

But, to him, this is the only thing that will keep him going.

He's breaking, though. Just a lot slower than the others. He won't be able to keep this act up forever. And I think he knows this. Personally, I'm excited to see if and when he breaks.

Anywho, this post isn't really justifying what he does. Like I said, he's an asshole. But he's also being an asshole because that's what's comfortable for him- even if it hurts sometimes. It's what keeps him sane, and only him, so that's all that matters, right?

I'd like to see if he ever truly feels bad for what he does, maybe in a future episode. I'd love to see him go too far. Maybe bring someone else in the circus close to abstraction? I think that would gnaw at him for a while, if how he acts doesn't do that to him already.

How complex. He has the capacity to be good, but he's not focused on that right now. So he doesn't care if he's a bad person. As long as he's able to keep living.

Or maybe I'm just reading a bit too much into his character. Just thought this was interesting. If he was the first, that must mean he has the strongest coping mechanism out of everyone else- if he has survived this long. But this, unfortunately, does mean becoming the worst version of yourself in the process. If you want to survive in the circus, Jax's strategy is to sacrifice other's sanities in order to save your own.

Maybe he was a good person before he joined, and became a bad person to survive. Or maybe he was always this way.

Either way, his character is really intriguing to me! Can't wait to see the horrors he goes through next!

[ghostdiva]

Jax's Character Gimmick

This is a theiry my brain has cultivated since watching the 4th episode, since it is a theory, don't take anything I'm saying as fact. it's purely speculation for now.

also apologies in advance, but this will be a wall of text, that is to say, a long post.

So, Each character in the Digital circus seems to have a gimmick of some kind. Ragatha gets hurt by the environment often, Gangle's got her breaking comedy mask, Zooble has their ever-changing parts, Pomni seems to have an existential crisis every episode, and Kinger has his fluctuating lucidity. But what about Jax?

well, in episodes 3 and 4, Jax either didn't get a lot of screen time, or didn't take many opportunities to cause mischief. Hell, in episode 3, Jax vacuumed up ghostly only because that's what he thought he was supposed to do for the adventure. after that Jax didn't get to do much on account of being tied up.

In episode 4, as far as mischief goes he just throws Ragatha in the deep fryer. but before that happens, I think we see the first glimpse of Jax's gimmick. it happens in the first minute of the episode, where Ragatha was helping Gangle learn to throw a baseball. Jax honestly seemed to just want to play a game in the moment, yet when Gangle threw the ball, and he hit it, the ball hit her right in the face. Jax might not have looked apologetic in the moment, but he did seem confused. and when Ragatha went to scold him about it (assuming he did it on purpose), he says "I actually didn't mean to do that".

This is interesting to me because in every other episode, Jax has done something to cause mischief. and said mischief usually involved someone getting hurt, thrown around, or having something of theirs broken.

Here's the thing, I think that Jax deliberately causes this mischief on purpose, because his character gimmick is causing harm to others. maybe when he first arrived in the digital world, he had tried to be nice, maybe even helpful, but those efforts would backfire in a wacky way, ultimately resulting in something or someone getting hurt. in other words, he'd accidentally do something that harmed someone or something important to someone.

I think at first he felt bad about it, accidentally causing harm to others. but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to go a day without hurting someone. and the harder he tried to avoid it, the more others would get hurt. So Jax, seeing the pattern, decided to embrace it. He started deliberately causing mischief, and found that if it wasn't an accident on his part, then he would have a level of control over how much pain he causes. like if he feels he has to cause chaos, at least he can control it to a degree.

over time, I think Jax started to find humor in others misfortune. and it sorta turned into a coping mechanism for the gimmick of constantly having to cause someone else misfortune.

[thatguywhodoesstuff]

A Ragatha Theory

I just watched the new episode and, while I’m probably looking too much into this, I feel that I have come up with a reasonable assumption regarding Ragatha’s life prior to the Circus:

Before the Circus, Ragatha came from an affluent/high society family and her upbringing played a major role in shaping the way she copes with being trapped in the Circus (toxic positivity and general people pleasing).

Spoilers Under The Cut:

Starting out we have this line. I’ll admit, I initially thought this was just drunk talk for the sake of comedy, but not long after this scene, she says:

And this:

Now, it’s not much, but taking all of these together paints the picture that Ragatha has some manner of background involving wealth that would involve her needing to be prepared to conduct herself in formal settings and events.

Then of course comes the next point, that being Ragatha’s toxic positivity and people pleasing more than likely stemmed from a strict upbringing or background that expected a lot from her to the point of flat out abuse, as hinted at by these screenshots:

I understand that these two images could simply be in reference to everything she has endured during her time in the Circus, but I can’t shake the feeling that it runs deeper than that and the stream of consciousness she spouted in this scene was all tied to her background.

Meanwhile, these two images speak for themselves:

Overall, I’m probably grasping at straws, but I think this whole sequence of events should be kept in mind going forward in the show.

[winterpeta1s]

(not a shipping post, just theory)

This episode exposed not only Gangle's masquerade but also Jax's and Ragatha's fake personas and how much they care about what others think of them. I assume there was a bit of focus on Jax and Ragatha because they're the ones left to deep dive in after Gangle.

Zooble and Kinger already had their focus episode so that's why their flaws didn't get exposed this episode, they have already gone through it.

And Pomni is the therapist of the group so she's free for now. Also i believe episode 2 was Pomni's episode, she learned from Gummigoo more than the other way around.

Now, we know that Ragatha is next and then Jax , and in this episode we're shown a brief part of what will come next.

Ragatha's episode might also have a slight focus on Jax and his own suffering since it will be the preview for his episode

[sammysammer]

Okay, I feel like I may be wrong about this. But since the gloink queen was there, what if gummigoo or one of the other gators was also one of the customers???

LOOK AT THIS FIRST SCENE AFTER JAX SAW THE GLOINK QUEEN

AND THEN LOOK AT THIS AFTER SOME TIME AKDVDVSJ

[wtpyrofreak]

The "best thing to happen to Kinger's lower half" is not foreshadowing, but a hint to his past in the circus. Hear me out.

So we all remember "Kinger's Special Place" and how those Checkmates socks (Plus Kinger "wearing" one of them) caused a lot of fans to worry over the fate of our beloved chess piece?

Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I feel like we're viewing all this from the completely wrong angle. This isn't telling us what WILL happen to Kinger...

It's telling us what ALREADY happened to Kinger and WHY he's the way he is now.

Gangle's supposed "Near-abstraction" moment in EP 4 made me think back to Kinger's core memory with his abstracted wife. He couldn't recall the exact string of events that lead up to it, but that moment in the fort where she calmed down enough for him to caress her was forever ingrained into his mind.

Maybe it's because said moment was what saved him from immediately following Queenie into abstraction--

"Erm, eckshualeeeee, when Gangle snapped back from abstracting, she didn't go insane like Kinger. Theory debunked along with your Stupid sauce scandal idea."

Well, yeah. Because she was just starting to abstract before Pomni offered to switch shifts with her. Meanwhile, I think Kinger was already deep into abstracting before ending up in the pillow fort with Queenie.

This silly image of Keychain!Kinger wearing the Queenie sock? It represents HOW CLOSE he was to completely breaking. He still managed to snap back, the absolute chad, but having been so near the brink of no return, the mental damage was already done and couldn't be reversed (much like how you can't come back from fully abstracting).

That's why Kinger's mind is so scrambled/fragmented present day.

Upon this recontextualization, so many things start adding up (at least for me).

Both his and Abstracted!Queenie's behavior follow the same patterns. Erratic and unpredictable in the light. Lucid and calm in the dark. This can most likely be applied to anyone else who abstracted too.

He can't recall the events between after Queenie abstracting and before he ended up in the pillow fort because he was probably HARDCORE dissociating.

He was more paranoid and unstable than usual after the Gloinks took apart his fortress because they robbed him of his ANCHOR.

And of course, all this can further explain how Kinger has managed to last in the circus longer than anyone else. DOI\I'T FORGET. YOU'RE HERE FOREVER.

...Orrrrr maybe I'm just on extreme hopium + copium over my favorite character and the checkmates socks are just comfy socks and nothing more. I AM the same person who concocted the crack-ass "Spudsy's Signature Special Sauce Scandal" theory, after all. XP

We'll just have to wait and se

(EP 4 Gangle gifs ripped by @fleshgerm)

[spacebugarts]

Just finished the new TADC episode and had an interesting thought; when the show first came out we were all thinking one of the main characters might abstract, but what if it isn't one of the humans? It seems like they're remembering bits and pieces from their real lives, like Gangle being a shift manager with dreams of becoming an artist and Ragatha missing her horses and full-on quoting Raggedy Ann & Andy in the new episode, while Caine has seemingly been getting more unstable as he realizes his adventures aren't fun for the others. If a main PC abstracts Caine can judt throw them in the basement, but if he abstracts, how will the others be able to stop him from wreaking havoc, and how would his corruption effect the world he created? I think that'd be pretty neat, and im super excited to see what happens next!

[alicealmost]

Tadc episode 4 spoilers

@livi-in-digital-circus

I am starting to believe your bunnydoll exes theory is true...

This episode was heavy of "bitter exes" vibes

We get the 1st of it with the beginning scene, where Jax calls Ragatha "Raggy"...

And then we have her saying "why are you always like that?" In the middle of the argument he says "yes I am always the villain" which Ragatha replies "no~ you are always the victim"

At the fast food, Ragatha tells Jax she hates him, but complete with "I don't want you to hate me... weird, right?" Like, if she said "I hate you" all alone, I'd might even stop shipping bunnydoll, but with that other half, it highly suggests me something happened to make her hate him, but still she doesn't want to be hated by him.

That one scene here doesn't have anything to to do with it but I cracked up

And, in the very ending, when Jax goes to the car, we can see the car's plate

And my thoughts are this implies Jax is someone who is always his 1st priority, who onky thinks about himself. Which highly remind us episode 3 and Ragatha agreeing with "man's silly priorities" statement.

And Jax reaction when he goes inside the car

And I don't think it was because the adventure itself...

I still keep my hopes up. They are very close yet very distant, I do think you are right, Livi

[thecaptainamore]

OOOOKAYYYY yapping for upcoming TADC episode predictions/things I think would be neat💥💥

SO we know that this next episode is focused on Gangle, something to do with trying to figure out why her comedy mask always breaks and/or preventing it from breaking for once. We also know that this episode will be in the fast food place! (Spudsy’s yayyy)

Now this art came from a collab with Tower Records Cafe in Japan (so it’s official as far as what people are saying?)

Notice how Gangle looks more like a manager while everyone else is in matching employee uniforms. My theory is that Gangle will have to undergo the absolute joys of managing customer service (eye twitches in former Disney cast member) while the gang tries to keep her from breaking her mask. I think it would be neat if instead of some external force, it’s Gangle’s own stress that cracks the mask, eventually breaking it down completely. Then we get all her deep stuff woooo

OK THEN THE NEXT TWO EPISODES-

We’ve got this neat screenshot of a baseball stadium from the season teaser (which could be just a gag but I’d imagine it’s a hint for episode 5). We know that ep 5 will focus on Ragatha, then ep 6 on Jax. People have claimed that Goose said Jax will get what’s comin to him for being a jerk (I haven’t seen this but hey what do I know), and I think it would be neat if we saw that peak in these two episodes. Maybe in ep 5 the gang will compete in a baseball game, with Jax pushing Ragatha to her breaking point & she abstracts. Then the next episode he has to face the guilt of his actions & we can learn what his deal really is🤷🏼‍♀️ also I would just LOVE a baseball themed episode as a baseball girlie myself

ANYWHO ramble over, carry on

[galactic-knightmare]

okay okay okay, so I know my whole thing is abstractions and stuff (and putting Caine through suffering, but details) but...

I know those are teapots, but at first glance...

I thought they were paintings of an abstraction.

like, bright, vibrant colors on black, not to mention how heavy this episode was? like its giving me fic fuel but also I have suspicions.

[zebracorn-chan]

This is my favorite frame ever of all Digital Circus so far.🎪

It took me more than it should to realize this new Gangle mask is from Zooble's spare parts box; I hope it won't be a one-episode thing.🎭