Alkimara HQ

Kait - they/them - 25

[alkimara]

from now on if u post something that fails the vibe check im unfollowing. thats it. curating my experience etc

[alkimara]

i don't post abt politics. but to be very clear im anti-ice anti-maga anti-trump anti-pedophile. thanks.

[alkimara]

new pinned post for tags:

#alkimara -- i added thoughts or made an original post

#syscourse -- im a system. i try to keep it on my other blog though @dragonfly-system

#politics -- i very rarely rb politics. if i do i tag it so people can avoid it.

#discourse -- fandom drama or any other drama im eyeballing

#signal-boost -- the very rare times i will reblog something i believe in getting financial support. if you @ me to give money, you'll be blocked on bot assumptions.

[alkimara]

White 🫵

ye i gotta lot of educating myself still to do lol. the whole gooseworx situation led me to do a lot of self reflection and start untangling my biases. im latino, which means the government still would hate me even though im half gringo, but im white-passing and i understand the privilege with that.

i hope to continue to learn and uplift poc and other minorities 🙏

[visitorjon123]

This was probably already discussed before with different critical fans here, but when I think about how Caine showed the Circus cast members how their real Human selves are currently living in the real world in episode 9, I had mixed thoughts about that. While get Goose was trying to go for a happy ending for the whole cast I still feel like there still would have been certain characters who would feel depressed, sad, angry or feeling lost about how they are just regular brain scans in a computer core and cannot get back their old lives back.

Then there are the character's real counterparts living in the real world...look I'm not someone who thinks a show should be 100% misery porn, but I think there were missed opportunities to show that not everyone can have a happy life in the real world for numerous reasons. For instance, it's established that Pomni likes urban exploring in the real world. Who's to say that some type of building debris didn't land on real world's Pomni's head hard enough(even despite wearing a helmet) to cause some part of her spine to snap and thus causing her to no longer be able to use her lower body or god forbid end up in a coma or when Jax pushed his mother the latter ends up clipping her head against a sharp edge of a counter so she is really is dead now due to Jax pushing her too hard(not defending Jax here in any way here as I still hate that character from the way that he has been handled throughout the series and am just using his situation as an example).

Just another issue I can't help but bring up in an endless deluge of problems with TADC.

[alkimara]

On the other hand I've heard that Goose's goal was to tell a story where people were "comfortable with the mundane", or something to that effect.

One could make the argument that the characters seeing their real-life counterparts be successful finally gives them the permission to let go of that hunt to leave the circus, sure.

But I see it more as a very easy excuse to allow them to attempt to be comfortable in that mundane life, where every day they're just trapped in the circus until one day the computer is shut down and they all die. You live, you do things, you die. Their things will ultimately have no impact on the real world. We don't really see them come to terms with themselves: we see them go "Well, at least the Actual Me is doing good" and that is their comforting factor. If we didn't see what the real-life characters were up to, would they have been comfortable with just themselves in their lives? We don't know.

[pukicho]

If you’re anxious, don’t worry.

[alkimara]

I'M TRYING

[ot3]

i think where i feel the most different in perspective from the average person who enjoys doing Fandom stuff is that i don't particularly care for media that Would Be Good If It Were Good and almost nothing i make is ever coming from the desire to "fix" a canon. the deciding factor of whether or not i'm gonna like something in a fandomy way or just a regular way is completely unrelated to any Missed Potential and entirely hinges on how much i feel like i want to or am capable of filling in the gaps in a narrative or a characters' life that just didn't warrant getting any screentime in the source material. like when i think something had a bunch of potential but completely missed the mark in execution that's normally disappointing more than it is any kind of inspiring. the stuff that makes me want to Create the most fervently is stuff i think is good for real.

[ot3]

tangentially related to this is i think sometimes people are unfair or just kind of incorrect about stuff they perceive to be "missed potential" in fiction. like they see elements of characters/a story that could easily handle being elaborated upon because the author has done a good job making something deep and textured, but these elements ultimately are not the point of the story and spending too much time on them would bog down the pacing or otherwise complicate/overstuff the narrative. and instead of realizing that sometimes being left wanting more is a sign of good writing, they'll view it as the author Dropping or Forgetting something. like it's usually not a mistake when side characters are less developed than the core cast and their circumstances do not get the plot's full attention.

a fictional world that clearly has more stories in it other than the one you're seeing now is not necessarily missed potential, that may just be regular potential.

[divorcedwife]

look at the republican calendar and see which animal/plant/item is associated with your birthday ok. if you're born january 14 you get the day of the cat

[divorcedwife]

solidarity for everyone who was born on the day of the cistern or the watering can or something like that

[what-even-is-thiss]

It’s amazing sometimes what a singular glass of Gatorade can do for you

[matthgeek]

agreed. But glass? Pouring Gatorade into a glass is a level of classiness I had not previously perceived

[what-even-is-thiss]

I use the powder and I’ve gotta mix it in something

[snommelp]

Pour the powder in your mouth and gargle with water

[snommelp]

lol

[nickythehickey]

there are a few people actually whose blogs just look like this to me and i hope they know i still love them

[ndnbutch]

I get in theory why people complain about het ships or whatever, I get wanting to watch queer media I really do, but I guess where y’all lose me is like. I saw some asshole on a post about Sinners complaining it was “hetslop”—this person was specifically doing so while also claiming Remmick was a queer character and thus they were justified in caring more about him than the Black protagonists. which is a whole other disgusting can of worms that has been well addressed by others at this point. but even in the absence of that part of the argument, like, no, i actually don’t think that a hunger for queer stories is an especially good excuse to deride and dismiss a piece of landmark Black filmmaking, especially as a non-Black person. I have a post that’s been going around encouraging folks to engage with more Native stories and characters, and I had someone come onto that post saying in the tags that they’d need these stories to be queer in order to care. and I just think that, you know, sucks! like obviously as a queer Native I also want to see more of those stories too. but idk how else to put it other than to say that Black people and people of color shouldn’t have to be like you in order for you to care about our narratives and experiences. and I think some of y’all are using this disdain for heterosexuality as a cover for your unexamined racial biases. it’s not okay to be racist to people just because those people happen to be straight, and you continue to be white before you are queer.

[ndnbutch]

on an even more basic level than that, also, I simply just think some of y’all NEED to learn how to interact with media and storytelling without ships and fandom in mind. like if not being able to write fic about two men kissing is genuinely going to be a dealbreaker for you I think that’s actually something you need to work on within yourself because at that point I think you’re no longer really interacting with art and themes and narrative so much as just kind of playing with toys. which is, like, fine I guess. have fun. but it wouldn’t kill you to disengage from that from time to time. especially if would allow you to actually appreciate rich and deeply moving cultural stories from communities of color that you desperately need to learn how to see as human

[homunculus-argument]

If any part of your plan involves the words “nobody could be that stupid”, please be prepared to be proven wrong at any minute at a moment’s notice. Pay in mind that the person determined to prove you wrong may already be aware of this assumption, and is already approaching your current location at an alarming speed.

[the-real-seebs]

“it will be fine if people just”

people will not just

[alarajrogers]

In 2011 I attended an event called Bmore Fail, in which entrepreneurs in Baltimore talked about their failures and what they learned from them.

What I learned is that there is an inflexible rule about how people interact with systems. If your system would work perfectly if people Just Would, and yet they Don’t, then your system is bad and you should feel bad. Systems must be built with an eye toward “will people actually do this”?

Recycling was a thing when I was a child. (The 70’s.) In my home in New York State, you could carry recyclables to a recycling center. Nobody did. Now in 2024 Baltimore there is a trash truck that comes every week to pick up my recyclables, and I and my neighbors fill our cans with objects that can be recycled, because a system was developed that was easy for busy people to do, and there’s a lot of social pressure to do it – but the social pressure wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t easy to do. Only the most crunchy granola people bitched at you if you didn’t recycle in 1979, when it required a lot of effort. Now it is considered kind of on par with spitting in the street or leaving a dirty diaper on the diaper changing table in the bathroom instead of throwing it out, if you don’t recycle.

Your job as the system creator is to make it as easy as possible for people to do the right thing, and as hard as possible to do the wrong thing. This is why web forms have data validation (but too much data validation actually makes the forms harder, so hit the spot in the middle.) And if you want people to adopt social change, whether it’s environmentalism, accepting gay people, or whatever, make it as easy as possible. And don’t guilt people about not doing it until it’s as easy as possible; instead phrase things more like “wouldn’t it be cool if”. It’s not the fault of the individual that they can’t get things done in a bad system. Fix the system.

[the-real-seebs]

if users regularly fuck up using a tool you made, and your answer is “you’re holding it wrong”, the next question you should ask is “why did i make this tool so it’s easy to hold it wrong?”

[thesplendidsnout]

[moshi-tehkitty]

That’s the problem with making animal proof trash cans for parks. The animals tend to be far more motivated to open the difficult mechanism than the tourists do.

[cracklewink]

god’s honest truth 🍎

[catgirl-kaiju]

i find it very very telling that people immediately started going kiwifarms on gooseworx right after the final episode of tadc dropped on yt and the reveal that fan favorite character Jax has been a closeted trans woman this whole time, radically recontextualizing everything about her and her actions. everyone in the fandom has been completely fine with other queer representation in the show, even Zooble who is also trans representation, but i guess a complicated and flawed transfem is just a bridge too far.

i don't care about old social media posts that have coincidentally and mysteriously "resurfaced" following the outrage of transmisogynist fans. you clearly missed the part of this where Jax is reflective of Goose's past behavior of using edgy and harmful humor to play the bad guy and push people away in order to cover up the fact that she is a trans woman. you missed the part where Gooseworx has explicitly grown past that kind of behavior and Jax is an exercise in extending empathy to a past version of herself who was trying everything in her power to be uworthy of love and care. you fundamentally do not understand the art you are a fan of.

Gooseworx's ban by @staff is transparently due to harassment by transmisogynists attempting to turn her into a "controversial figure" for "ruining" their favorite edgy jokey rabbit "man" by revealing she's been an edgy jokey rabbit woman this whole time. i will block anyone attempting to justify this ban. i do not want those who would enable such an obvious transmisogynistic witch hunt to interact with me or my content. fuck off.

[profesionalgodlicker]

see I agree with this fully, however i also feel i should point out that im fucking stupid and when i saw this kind of stuff happening, i was very very confused becuase I could NOT pick up that Jax is trans like, at all

[matt0044]

I mean, the bow? Ribbit being ghosted…? :/

[profesionalgodlicker]

please my friends already yelled at me about this for like 2 hours i cant take any more TT wait how is ribbit being ghosted part of it wait nevermind i ive tried dating trans people , also important to note i am a tgirl myself

[matt0044]

Ribbit was ghosted when putting on that ribbon because Jax opened up about his mother antagonizing him for not being manly enough or being too feminine. Ribbit didn't know what she did but Jax felt outed and was way too closeted at the time.

[alkimara]

I will remain firm that there is nothing in the show canonizing Jax is transfem. Some interpret it as being transfem, some interpret it as Jax being non-binary-- hell, some interpret it as Jax being transmasc rather than transfem.

For myself, I fully interpreted the bow as being similar to a romantic gesture of someone taking their jacket or hat off and putting it on the person they're flirting with. I did not read the scene as gender-affirming at all. I was utterly surprised when I saw that being confirmed online, and went to ask my friends who separately watched the show, who also were confused about Jax being transfem.

You can't just say "this character is transfem" outside of the narrative and then pat yourself on the back for queer representation when that's not at all clear within the bounds of the narrative. Especially when you have such explicit queerness like Gangle and Zooble's very lesbian-coded relationship, and Zooble being non-binary. Goose also made a post saying Ragatha was "supposed to have repressed lesbian energy"-- of which I didn't pick up on that at all???

I still really enjoyed the show for what it was, but we can't sit here and say "the girlies who get it get it, and the girlies that don't have no media literacy" over Jax's """coming out""" when that's just Not the case for this show.

If we wanted Jax's transfem nature to be more explicit- we should've heard what it was Jax said to their mom, or had some other indication of transness being involved. Hell- my friend got "Jax is non-binary" confirmation from Jax's real-world self seemingly visiting real-Zooble's bar and dressing more androgynous. If Goose wanted us to get "transfem" out of it explicitly, maybe make real-Jax actually transfem? Or at least show they're leaning that way. There's plenty of posts on Tumblr about the myriad of ways Goose could've done this better.

Anyway, in closing, no one should feel "fucking stupid" about not picking up on writing that was too vague.

[catgirl-kaiju]

me when i'm simply being too vague and who can possibly say if my character is transfem or not

[alkimara]

Me when it's too much to ask for Goose to outright put transfem representation in her own media by outright having the character be a woman.

But instead we'll hide behind

Caine having the ability to manipulate people, as shown repeatedly, and the tail hinting towards Caine changing Jax's body without his permission

The entire maid outfit fiasco making Jax extremely uncomfortable, and I don't think forcing any man into a dress and them being upset at being sexualized is evidence for that man being secretly a trans egg

Jax calling himself an egg could reference how Pomni is trying so desperately to crack through his outer walls, and to figure out who the "real him" is

The bow, again, I think is more akin to someone flirting

There are so many problems with "Isn't She Lovely" that I'd rather not touch it, but I'll just touch on the easiest one: RACISM.

Jax lookin like an androgynous emo outta 2013 was not on my bingo card

And I will even extend an olive branch to you: All of these could be interpreted as transfem Jax. That's how the theory even started spinning up, after all. But my point is that all of these also can be interpreted as not that way. There are other interpretations of these medias-- to the point where, talking to my transfem friends after the finale, they were outright confused, baffled, and a little upset when I told them "Yeah Goose said Jax is transfem on social media".

But when Goose herself says "its up to interpretation" and then turns around and goes "also Jax is a trans woman, but you can interpret it however you want" suddenly anyone who didn't interpret Jax as a trans woman is "incorrect" or "stupid" because diehard Goose followers start attacking other people.

We don't know how long Jax was in the circus. Jax in the real world could've been a woman if Jax was meant to be transfem. Or maybe, just maybe, Leeroy in the real world thought at the time that they were a woman, put on the headset and made the copy, and later after some gender exploration at Zooble's bar decided they were actually non-binary or something else. We'll never know within the bounds of the narrative what actually happened to any of them.

[catgirl-kaiju]

Could Jax being sarcastically proud of her ears and tail, proclaiming them symbols of masculinity, and then Pomni pointing that Jax is missing one of those, prompting Jax to panic. This is especially meaningful within the context of Jax being terrified of being vulnerable or allowing anyone to see her as whe truly is. Pre-transition, many transfems who are in denial about being trans will cling to superficial signifiers of masculinity as a disguise to protect themselves. I myself did this by growing a beard, and i've known girls who did everything from getting super buff to keeping their hair in a tight crew cut.

When a transfem is pre-transition and in denial and/or scared of people finding out, she might get embarrassed and panicky about the thought of wearing women's clothing, especially around other people. She might also get scared of judgement from others, as wearing the clothes you like in a body that you don't can trigger dysphoria. I know there were times where I got very upset about presenting as feminine, even as a joke, because I thought I looked stupid and didn't want people to see me as a man in a dress. This is is also why i bring up how Jax repeatedly says she looks stupid throughout the series when looking in a mirror. And look at her body language during the scene, how she unconsciously takes on a feminine demeanor and only reverts to using masculine coded body language when trying to put her walls back up by making fun of Gangle.

The egg bit has multiple meanings in context, something that often happens in creative works. What Jax is trying to convey by saying that is what you've laid out in your comment, but it takes on an additional level of meaning when you understand that "egg" is slang in the trans community for a transfem who hasn't realized she's trans yet ("eggs" hatch into "chicks" after all) and Gooseworx, as a trans woman herself, would be very aware of this when writing the script. Interpreting art sometimes requires understanding the context under which it was made and the person who made it, something you delight in ignoring.

Do people typically flirt with you like this??? What are you talking about?? The only reason I would put an obvious symbol of femininity on a cis man i knew is if I thought they might be an egg. And if this is just flirting, what reason would Ribbit have for saying "Your secret's safe with me."? You are just either really bad at interpreting media or so uncomfortable with the idea that Jax is transfem that you feel the need to go into denial about it. Very possibly both.

Fellas, is it racist to embrace black music in your art? What, would you prefer white people only ever use white music in our work? Would you prefer someone in a group at the top of a racial hegemony only ever attribute meaning and worth to art from within that same in-group? If you looked at that scene and the ONLY thing you took away from it is it's "problematic" and "racist" because it uses a very popular and pop culturally important song by a black man, without considering if the creator of the work might be trying to communicate something VERY OBVIOUS through this choice of music, I think you might just really really hate the idea that Jax is a trans woman for some mysterious reason that guess we'll never know.

Do you know what a boymoder is???

I think you REALLY need to introspect on why the comcept of Jax being canonical transfem makes you so uncomfortable. Because, from where I'm standing, you really really seem like a transmisogynist. Fuck off.

[alkimara]

This is the last time I'm gonna RB your post, if you feel like continuing the conversation feel free to DM me (/genuinely, I do enjoy talking to people I disagree with on topics).

I think you misread my post where I said that every bullet point and screenshot you pointed out can have transfem interpretations. My point was that they can also have other interpretations. A lot of people interpreted transfem Jax; a lot of people interpreted other things. That's the problem with not canonizing things within the bounds of the narrative: you're not stating outright that Jax is transfem. You're leaving it up to interpretation for others to apply their own headcanons to the genderqueer situation. Apparently, saying "I interpreted a situation differently" or "I have a different take-away" or "I have a different opinion" leads a lot of Goose glazers to jump to "this person is bad at media literacy", which is not the same thing.

Recognizing that these two things can be true at the same time: that these are hints for the Jax Transfem Train AND these can be interpreted in other ways, is ACTUAL media literacy.

As far as the racism- I'm white, so when every black person in the fandom is saying that "Goose took a black man's song about his joy in his black daughter covered by a white nazi to be about a very negative person is racist", I'm not going to argue with them. There was zero chance for Jax to show any redemption, because they killed themself (since abstraction is a metaphor for suicide, according to Goose). It was just a song to show "oh but don't you feel bad for her!! driven to kill herself because she's a shit person who pushed everyone away and also made others kill themselves :(" that I thought was very oddly placed.

I don't think Goose is racist, to be very clear. I think the fandom is incredibly racist, and I think that song placement was not very thought out, because the covered song-- in combination with everything else going on in the show --is racist. I think that people who are not actively racist can still do racist things, because racism is a systemic issue that we're all born and raised with. I don't think I'm racist. I do not think I'm immune to unintentionally doing racist things (I'm white), and I enjoy when I'm called out on it so I can learn from the opportunity rather than defending something that was obviously wrong.

And no, at the time, I didn't know what a boymoder was. I'm not trans. Why the fuck would I have that context? I only know now because of Tumblr. I think this post explained the importance of "context" very well, and why not understanding Jax is transfem is not a sign of shit media literacy.

Jax being transfem doesn't make me uncomfortable. Jax's story being shittily told makes me upset.

The real problem is that people just see someone critiquing a woman and call them a misogynist, or critiquing a trans woman and call them a transmisogynist. No one is immune from critiques.

You are not immune from people having opinions.

[baithate]

saw these on a list of questions to ask yourself before you kill off a character. hahahhahahahhaahah... im losing my mind out here

the post

[emriennn]

People saying that you are media illiterate or dumb for not catching the clues that Jax is trans throughout the show is utter bullshit and insanity to me. And here’s why:

These clues are only EXTREMELY obvious if you have the specific context/background information to put them together.

I, and many others, ONLY realized what those clues were supposed to mean when we considered how they fit into a trans woman narrative/context. But doesn’t it start to fall apart a little if you think of Jax as a feminine man/toxic masculinity/trans man?

And okay, even if as a cis person I didn’t get the meaning (I thought Jax was just a man who struggled with being vulnerable, feminine and having an extremely toxic view of masculinity), plenty of other cisgender people got the meaning of it, so it has to be obvious! Right?

Well, no. Let’s entertain the idea for a minute that a cisgender person doesn’t have the context clues needed for the information we get in the show. Then, notice how much of the clues revolve around supposed hyper feminine things? Like his room or the bow or the maid dress or the song about the birth of a baby girl?

Gooseworx is equating stereotypical feminine things with being a trans woman. This does not work. This idea that dress and bow = girl is extremely convoluted. These things aren’t mutually exclusive anymore like they were hundreds of years ago. A dress could mean anything regarding Jax’s identity. A bow could represent how Ribbit was trying to make a safe space for Jax. His room could represent any identity. The song could represent Pomni or be ironic.

These two things:

Background information

Stereotypical femininity

is what makes Jax’s trans identity not as obvious as you think it is. This isn’t media illiteracy. It’s ambiguous when it isn’t supposed to be. It’s convoluted and messy and confusing and dare I say bad. Being vague isn’t the way to go sometimes, I’m afraid, and I’m not saying that Jax should turn to the camera and say “I’M A TRANS WOMAN.” I might not be trans myself, but there are better ways to show a character being trans then relying on people’s knowledge of transgender culture and expecting people to equate a feminine thing to mean that Jax is a girl. Which sounds obvious but when you think about it for more than a second, it really isn’t.

Another thing that makes it less obvious and even WORSE representation is HAVING 70-80% OF YOUR EVIDENCE ON A SEPARATE PLATFORM THAN THE SHOW ITSELF. Why in the ever loving fuck is Jax’s trans identity revealed on a Bluesky post? Why is it talked about more in the creator’s sketches than in the show? Why do people have to dig up information regarding the creator’s relationship with the character that is meant to represent her to prove the characters identity? Why should I have to watch a promo for merch to get more hints of Jax’s trans identity that are mediocre at best to begin with?

I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LOOK UP INFORMATION UNLESS IT IS IN THE SHOW. I SHOULDN’T NEED TUMBLR OR BLUESKY TO UNDERSTAND WHY JAX IS TRANS.

We need to write trans characters better than this.

[solemnlynerdyjourney]

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK

If I’m being completely honest, the only reason I was completely certain that Jax getting the bow meant that Jax is trans is because I knew she was a self-insert

I could break down the four main clues IN THE SHOW, and they could all mean different things to different people

Yes, ambiguity, but there’s a time and place to be vague.

Jax’s identity is NOT one of those places, especially if you decide to confirm it online.

It could been left where Jax knows she’s trans but never fully settled in a specific identity, but the fact it’s confirmed outside the show-

[emriennn]

Exactly. When it comes to media representation of minorities, understanding how the audience might receive information is extremely important, especially when that information (“I’m just a misunderstood little chicken fetus in an egg” and Leroy being a boymoder) heavily relies on context deeply rooted in (transgender) culture that the show cannot or doesn’t give and that the cisgender audience might not even catch onto. Ambiguity doesn’t work with trying to represent a minority unless you aren’t trying to represent a specific identity, but the whole demographic altogether (which is already a difficult thing to do to begin with) being vague works with some things but as you said, it doesn’t work with this.

[slowly-spacing-out]

vote senshi tumblr sexyman 2026

-Can cook

-Cares about proper nutrition

-Has decades-long trauma that he avoided addressing until his friends helped him through it

-Cares about the environment/ecosystem he's in, helps keep the dungeon clean and nice

-will make you bread (among other things)

[Gif ID: Senshi from Dungeon Meshi saying: "Give it to me! I'll make you bread!" and then chanting "Bread!" before being hit in the face with the ingredients for bread. End ID

-Once got turned into an elf

-Look at him

[Image ID: Four screenshots of Senshi from the Dungeon Meshi anime. In one, his arms are crossed. In the second, he is crying. In the third, he holds his axe, ready for battle. In the fourth, an imaginary loaf of bread is shown floating above his head, and he is saying "I can make bread!" End ID.]

[this-is-trans-joy]

I will always care more about the supportive cishet boyfriend at pride than i will about the wannabe cop queer person interrogating every “straight looking” couple to make sure they’re “queer enough” to be there btw. Don’t worry about your cishet boyfriend, he’s sitting with me eating an ice cream wearing a homemade little pride bracelet around his arm and he is the happiest he’s ever been in his life :]

[carto0ncritter]

Even if Jax had opened up to Ribbit, Kaufmo and/or Ragatha about everything, there would have always been the possibility that she'd have pulled back at any point just like when Kaufmo knocked on the door.

The ever-present fear of being judged for being trans could have still lingered and eventually won.

The overwhelming guilt at the reminder that she might have possibly killed her mother could have still lingered and eventually won.

The fear that her kindness could have been used against her even by her close friends and caused her to be seen as weak/helpless could have still lingered and eventually won.

Having supportive friends doesn't automatically mean a person won't still eventually break and become abusive.

Jax's problem was EVERYTHING.

Instead of having a girly room, I'd make it an empty, dark room with a single sleeping bag. Caine gave Jax a sleeping bag because the part of her life she remembers the most isn't sleeping in a warm bed but out on the street. And the emptiness surrounding the room represents Jax feeling disconnected from herself, everything and everyone

My problem with canon Jax is that we don't see her battling herself: "Should I be like the nice kid I used to be (represented by Evil Jax), or make everyone see me as the monster I've come to see myself as"

Jax feels like nothing, but before she abstracts, she'll get the chance to see that the others decided to risk their lives and try to understand her even though she had mistreated them. Jax would tell Ragatha and Gangle (after these 2, Pomni, Kinger and Zooble help her start to accept every part of herself before she dies) that they're stronger than Jax ever was because they chose to be compassionate despite being given every reason not to thanks to Jax's abuse. Gangle deserves to have her suffering properly acknowledged, she doesn't get this in the show, and neither does Ragatha

Jax will understand that, even though it's terrifying to let everything in (hope, acceptance of identity, emotional honesty, grief and compassion, represented by the cast), all of it was worth remembering. I like to imagine Jax used to have all these good qualities inside herself at one point, but life had already broken her severely by the time she entered the circus (her mom's reaction to her dad's disappearance, being trans, being homeless, living in fear of being made fun of and seen as a monster, especially after Leeroy pushed her mom and spent months thinking she was dead before her consciousness was copied).

Ribbit and Kaufmo were the ones who tried to befriend her, but Jax's fear won and she literally and metaphorically killed them. I don't see Jax being a woman as something that makes her less interesting than when almost everyone thought she was a cis man, but man, the way the show executed its trans rep was bad. I kept telling myself: "Oh God, please don't make Jax just the trans girl, please let her keep her pilot personality. I don't want it to ONLY be masking, I want it to be her true personality but taken to an unhealthy extreme"

Instead she ends up being just soft and sad and cute in terms of personality? HELL NO! Jax really became Minnie Mouse because she's just known as "the (trans) girl" now. The bow Ribbit put on Jax's head seems to be related to Jax saying to Pomni "all we are now is a bunch of cartoon characters" and, y'know... Minnie Mouse is a GIRL cartoon character and Jax is also a GIRL cartoon character so her womanhood must be portrayed through a bow/s

My rewrite has Jax REMEMBER who she used to be and that being human is still worth it, even though she's basically a digital clone of a real person. This way, TADC gets to keep its ensemble cast, properly humanizes Jax, Jax gets to be the focus of the finale, no one is sidelined, Jax remains a cautionary tale, and everybody is actually visibly affected by having known her. In canon, we only get Zooble coming into Gangle's room while she's crying and saying "Having some complex thoughts?" Like??? There's no funeral, no discussion of the harm Jax's caused, no nothing. It's a "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" ending in the sense that it's TOO sweet, no one reacts with any intensity upon seeing their human selves. The framing makes it seem like everybody became happy and the world became colorful as soon as Jax died.

Even the abstractions aren't treated as dead characters. Official art features Pomni eating a sandwich with abstracted Jax. LIKE??? Girl, that's a dead (digital) body. Jax is NOT still in there, she's gone. Her consciousness got wiped out. Exploded in white light. And yeah, Gooseworx confirmed abstraction is a metaphor for suicide:

So like... people are willing to accept that Jax is transfem from info outside the show, but keep insisting abstraction can mean something else other than suicide? OK???

In this version of tadc, we wouldn't need to see anyone's human self cuz everybody would learn to move on despite uncertainty and both the brain scans and Caine would have been humanized properly already