This Blog’s Gonna Be A Mess For Some Time

TADC fictives of @thepluralmaster | Not RP | starting to be very critical of TADC since the finale, proceed with caution

[aberrant-circus]

Some of us wanted our own space so… here. This sideblog is for those of us in @thepluralmaster who are from The Amazing Digital Circus

Members (ones who are willing to show themselves for now):

Jax (he/him): likely the most active member out of everyone here. Can be grouchy, so be warned. Really hates canon Jax.

Penny (she/her): Doesn’t like her source name, so it was changed to something similar

Unicus / Uni (they/neopronouns): I guess I’m adding myself here then. I likely don’t show up much but it’s still good to mention who I am. I’m a Zooble fictive, but I’d rather people don’t call me that. Name is taken from the Idolmaster unit #UNICUS.

Notes (updated post-finale):

If you don’t like seeing criticism of the show (and especially Jax) we recommend staying away from this account for your sake and ours.

If you’re still here, expect us (especially me, Jax) to be very negative towards the show and the fandom. Especially Jax stans. I warned you. Any defense of canon Jax we spot will get you blocked on sight.

Sourcemates, always assume we don’t know you personally, maybe unless our system has talked to you a lot before. Keep interactions respectful. Don’t go overboard. If you won’t say something to a stranger, don’t say it to us. I (Jax) wouldn’t be afraid to call you out if you’re going too far. Well, unless someone more polite got to you first. Don’t make us regret making this sideblog.

We refer to canon Jax with he/she pronouns. Goose herself says that either is fine, you have no excuses.

Tags:

🎪.txt - original posts

🎪.jax - Jax’s tag

🎪.penny - Penny’s tag

🎪.uni - Uni’s tag

[mad-not-disappointed]

a lot of justification i see from people whenever i critique a queer show/character is "well, this show/character made me and a lot of other people feel seen!"

and you know what? if you had that experience, good for you. i'm not here to tell you that you can't feel happy about queer representation or see yourself in a particular character.

if you relate to Jax as a trans person, that's great. if you saw Catra and Adora, and felt seen as a lesbian or otherwise queer person, that's wonderful.

but that doesn't mean said shows or characters are perfect and can never be criticized. it is an unfortunate truth that we still don't have enough queer representation, so even crumbs of it feels like a big deal to people who have never seen their identities represented in media.

Steven Universe was the first queer show i watched and such, it has a special place in my heart. it taught me a lot of valuable lessons, and helped me feel more secure in my gender and sexuality.

but that doesn't mean i'm blind to its flaws. there were a lot of things it could have done better and i'm still mad at the way it ruined a lot of character's arcs. there's a reason why i haven't rewatched it ever since the first time, and it's because i know some of the writing decisions are gonna make me angry and upset.

it's not that hard. you can like a show and still admit it has flaws. you can identify with a character and still recognize that they're badly written. at some point, you have to learn to separate yourself from fiction.

[mad-not-disappointed]

adding to this, y'all know that a lot of queer people, POC, disabled people and other minorities related to Harry Potter, right? queer people were especially the backbone of the fandom.

does that mean J.K R*wling or her racist fantasy series shouldn't be criticized? are we queerphobic or racist for saying that Harry Potter had a lot of problematic elements? no.

it's funny how a lot of queer people have deviated away from Harry Potter after all the controversy, but continue to support stuff like TADC and HH/HB, even though those are also written by racist misogynistic white people. just because they're queer doesn't mean they're better.

[mad-not-disappointed]

people comparing Jax's story to I Saw The TV Glow is so funny because one of these did the trans allegory waaay better, and it's not TADC.

for one, Isabel is actually referred to using she/her pronouns in the movie. there are scenes of her fully transitioned in another world, while still touching upon the tragedy of not transitioning, of living an unhappy and unfulfilled life as a closeted trans woman.

but more importantly, Isabel is not a fucking abuser. she's just a regular person, a good friend and a deeply unhappy individual who is too afraid to transition and join her friend in the real world.

fans say that Jax repressing herself and running away from her problems is her biggest problem and a cautionary tale, while conveniently ignoring or downplaying all of her abusive behavior.

Isabel had a very similar storyline about repressing her own identity and being scared to transition, except the movie didn't fuel transphobic propaganda by making her a violent predatory abuser who gets away with not even a slap on the wrist.

I Saw The TV Glow also actually delves into the horror aspect a lot more. it's not the jumpscare or gore kind of horror, it's more slow and insidious. i really liked the liminal space aesthetic of it all, as well as the whimsigoth vibes of The Pink Opaque. it actually sticks to its theme unlike TADC, which initially seemed like it was going down a horror path but then completely switched genres.

fans say that "you want the show to spell everything out for you!" but I Saw The TV Glow didn't have to spell anything out for its audience, and i still got the message. it's not so much that we don't believe that Jax is trans, it's just shitty representation.

[nungusposts]

Honestly I'm starting to realize that my issue with TADC is less of the show itself but rather the fandom acting like it's some modern masterpiece by the ranks of Shakespeare and Homer and you need an IQ of over 300 to understand it when in my humble opinion it's a very OK 6/10 show.Not all fans are like this but there are enough fans that will tell you to kill yourself for having the slightest issues with show for me to start having a problem with it.

[aberrant-circus]

With a fandom like that, no wonder jax felt so miserable. The defenders are much less tolerable than the haters istg

[aberrant-circus]

Maybe I should just forget about my issues and think about her instead

[aberrant-circus]

Yes I know canon jax is transfem. Only caught it in the final episode though. Would prefer a better way of handling that but what do I know

However, transfem jax has been ruined in my eyes because of the militant fans who will fuck people up if you dare not follow the herd. My not-fem gender doesn’t help matters if people ever find out who I am

Ok another thing. Nothing against anyone going with any reading of canon me. But if you’re going to insult people for not catching the transfem stuff sooner (or ever), I’m gonna ask you if you can respect people whose experiences are different from you. Be it someone being “slow” because of neurodivergence, or people who only discovered pro-queer materials later in their life because they live in a very queerphobic country and queer media’s all banned, or anything like that. Assuming they’re supportive, they most likely need more time to understand, please just give them that. Or are you willing to make other trans people feel they’re not trans enough because their experience doesn’t match the norm in a given space?

I stay the hell away from fans who sees canon me as “poor little meow meow who can do no wrong” and prefer ones who agree canon me is a jackass without sugarcoating it

Also with the pronoun thing, canon doesn’t support she/her so you can’t blame people for using he/him on canon me ESPECIALLY when the she/her confirmation is on social media

[mad-not-disappointed]

"people only started hating Jax after she was revealed to be transfem!" not even close but you know something i've noticed? how people kept bringing up excuses to justify Jax's actions before and after her gender reveal.

before the finale, fans were using Ribbit as an excuse. "Jax lost his best friend, that's why he's such an asshole!" but then it was revealed that he was actually the one who caused her death and suddenly y'all switch to "she's transfem so she can do whatever the fuck she wants!"

[xxchipxx]

Ragatha: *breathes*

TADC fandom: OMG SHE’S CONTROLLING SHE’S SO MANIPULATIVE I DON’T TRUST HER SHE’S SO FAKE JAX HAS TRAUMA POOR JAX RAGATHA IS JUST A RICH WHITE WOMAN SHE HAS NO PROBLEMS

[aberrant-circus]

At this point maybe evil jax exists here as my paranoid facet idk

[kcuf-ad]

Jax fans will do anything, but have sympathy for Ragatha.

[garlicnoodle1]

Oh. Hell. No. Anyone notice how much they downplay Gangle and Ragatha as characters too? Gangle is deemed as “someone who annoys you while they’re unmasking” rather than an abused aspiring artist struggling with a manic episode in a time where she wants to unmask and find her own happiness, while feeling and being treated as a nuisance in the process. She’s on a power trip in a familiar environment and is trying so hard to reclaim power over herself, something she has lost due to her own depression and dehumanization from Jax. Ragatha is deemed as simply “a rich white woman” instead of an abuse survivor who was abused by her mother who feels socially isolated and is masking her own negative feelings for the sake of others. She is someone who fawns as a trauma response. Similar to Gangle, she often feels like a punching bag and believes no one loves her, repressing both her childhood trauma, self-loathing, and grief over her dead/lost friends. Alongside this, she is also being abused by Jax too, someone who was an EX-FRIEND of hers. Her race and social class has nothing to fucking do with her character. She never exemplifies classist or racist tendencies at all. They’re twisting a kind and empathetic abuse survivor into, “Oh she’s white and rich. She has no problems, so it’s a difficult test to empathize with her hehe”.

And yeah, Jax is just boiled down to a transfem edgelord who feels unworthy of love rather than discussing the darker and abusive traits of the character too…is definitely not an intentional choice.

With the way they talk about Gangle and Ragatha (who are also Jax’s biggest targets/victims btw), THEY failed the empathy test.

[leafs-a-hater]

See this is why I don't fw "transfem Jax truthers" despite believing (and. Knowing) she's transfem myself. Why you gotta bully people for doing their thing

Especially because a lot of the theories of transmasculine Jax came out (ha!) BEFORE the confirmation (heavy quotations there) that she was a trans woman. Like,,,,, I'd get it if it was a proper CANONICALLY STATED WITHIN THE TEXT ITSELF trans woman that was being HC-ed as transmasculine, that's pretty shitty to do imo, but like.... It was Never Stated Within The Text Itself that she is transfem. Hell. Circus Jax never even Came Out in really any material way? And no, the bow scene doesn't count. Like come on. Nobody fucking guessed Lee was boymoding until Goose herself confirmed it. Outside Of The Text Itself. Like. Come on. Let's use our brains here.

And like I'm not saying that a trans character has to go "I'm trans" for them to be Canonically Trans. I'm saying it has to be more than a character putting a bow on the Trans Character and them blushing. I'm sorry but most people (who are not trans/disconnected from the 'typical' trans experience) won't get that? It's TOO SUBTLE.

This is just me rambling to say "You can't blame people for headcanoning something you disagree with when the text hasn't given them a Proper Reason to not headcanon it!!" Transmasculine people related to Jax. That's why they headcanoned it. Personally I've always thought of her as a piece of unrelatable 2-dimensional shit but to each their own as they say.

At the end of the day: What happened to fandom being civil? Ship and let ship. Headcanon and let headcanon.

[litwicking-it]

has anyone talked about the amazing digital queerbait yet?

goose wrote a show queerbaiting us with a trans character who isnt allowed to be trans or go by she/her outside of twitter and is constantly marketed with the maid dress that makes her uncomfortable and dysphoric. and people are defending this rep with their lives

writing ragatha with "lesbian intent" (this comes from a tumblr post which iykyk so bear with me) ? when does she get to be lesbian in the show, when is that shown or even implied?

zooble being said to use any pronouns while only being addressed by they/them same with she/they ribbit only being she/her

zooble and jax are BOTH walking stereotypes!!

i dont want my trans/queer rep to be half baked like this im sorry man

[mama-mozzarella-deactivated2024]

Introducing yourself to people is so embarrassing. Like hey this is my stupid fucking name, I enjoy exactly 3 things, and am clearly anxious. please don't immediately hate me

[aetherarchsystemworks]

Jax: breathes Jax fans: OH MY GOD YUMMY AIR OM NOM NOM Jax: Eats a baby Jax fans: That baby deserved it Anyone else: Hey Jax just ate a baby that doesn't seem goo-(Gets crucified by Jax fans) Jax: I'm gonna eat more babies Jax fans: EAT OURS!

[garlicnoodle1]

Those TADC fans when someone goes “You guys can’t handle complex female characters!” but it’s another woman who isn’t Jax so they don’t gaf

[kcuf-ad]

And then say some shit like "They could handle complex characters until they realized that he was a her."

I have seen more defense of Jax NOW than ever before. What are you talking about.

[bunnymelk]

i really hope someday someone else can do the "tumblr sexyman is actually a trans girl" bait and switch in the future, and do it in a better show. because the idea on its own, divorced from jax and gooseworx, is fucking genius.