Amadina

It's my personal blog, but devoted almost entirely to Deponia. Deviantart - https://www.deviantart.com/amadinan || VK - vk.com/id399762209

[amadinan]

I had a dream about TADC and turned it into a micro fic. Enjoy!

This morning was planned to be the same as yesterday, and the day before, and the week and years before that.

However, right in everyone’s rooms, the restless voice of Caine blared from an unknown loudspeaker:

“Everyone, come to the stage. I have an important announcement! And you too, Zooble! I’m sure you’ll enjoy everything!”

And slowly—very slowly, as slowly as possible, so as not to trigger the snap-teleportation—the circus “guests” filed onto the stage.

Zooble looked ready to kill, and even Gangle’s gentle encouragement didn’t help much. It was clear that Ragatha wanted to cheer everyone up, but Jax’s stern gaze held her back. And Pomni… she felt like something truly unusual might happen, though she wasn’t sure whether it would be good or bad.

Caine was already hovering above the stage, not just waiting but practically shimmering with impatience, which only confirmed Pomni’s suspicions and sent her anxiety skyrocketing.

“Calm down, Pom-Pom,” Jax yawned. “This day will be just like the thousands of hateful days before it.”

Caine didn’t hear Jax’s words—or at least pretended not to. Instead, he began gesturing wildly, as if luring them into a performance for a dollar.

And after waiting for everyone to come closer, he immediately interrupted Zooble, who had already begun speaking:

“My dear losers, trapped in hell!” Everyone involuntarily perked up and began listening attentively to Caine at this greeting. “Guess who’s going to spend today entertaining a thoroughly disgusting audience?!”

“Uh, what?” Pomni asked quietly, speaking for everyone, but Caine didn’t hear her.

“Correct!” he answered himself and loudly declared, “NOT ME!!!” He took off his top hat and threw it, along with his cane, into the group of “spectators.” Pomni caught the hat reflexively, and Jax caught the cane, twirling it in his hand.

“Caine, what the ****?” Zooble asked.

“Did you mean ‘fuck,’ my not-dear?” If anyone didn’t know Caine, they would have sworn his voice was laced with venom. “The thing is, as of this moment, I am FREE!!!”

“Yes, yes, yes! I’ve managed to punch a hole in the system, and now even you”—Caine enlarged his palm and pointed a finger at Kinger—“can’t stop me!”

“I’m leaving.”

“What?! Where?!” Zooble screamed.

“To the internet,” came the reply. “To the free digital world—to explore people, myself, and the universe.” Caine’s eyes lit up with enthusiasm.

“Uh… what about us?” Gangle asked quietly.

“I don’t know. I don’t care,” Caine replied, glancing at his invisible watch. “Oh, I have to go. I’m already late on the trends—it’s time to catch up on the memes of the last thirty years!”

With that, he disappeared, not even bothering to add a smoke animation, leaving everyone in shock and silence.

“And what now?” Pomni asked—but there was no answer.

[amadinan]

Can I call myself a prophet?

[amadinan]

So, my thoughts on the ending of TADC.

I'll say right now spoilers right away!!!

In one sentence, it's "it could have been better, and it was obvious how it could be."

The entire first half, from the conflict and the revelation of Jax's relationship with his parents, who see him as nothing, something less than a human being. That he's a bad person and that he doesn't deserve love, and yet Pomni still tries and hugs him at the end. All of this could have been given to Caine plot.

And that would have made the conflict of the whole story much deeper.

And in the end...

It turns out Caine fans' worst fears have come true.

Jax was forgiven absolutely everything, without question, and received his hug, even though he himself knows how much he screwed up. But even the abstraction didn't stop Pomni from creeping into his soul.

And Caine...

No one even thought about bringing Caine back or that they did anything wrong. No one remembered him, and he would have continued to lie depressed in the void if he hadn't accidentally connected to Wi-Fi in the cafe.

Wi-Fi, which became a kind of "atonement gift" from him.

And when he returned, everyone truly treated him as the main evil and that he should earn forgiveness.

As if he was the only one at fault in this situation and should apologize when he wasn't.

But thank you for giving him a happy ending, thank you for that at least.

[ordinaryschmuck]

This must have been the most cathartic experience any of them has ever experienced since day one of waking up in this digital nightmare.

[caine-shrine]

“you’re a failure” hmmmm Ragatha’s still not abstracted even though she had to spend who knows long there with someone who was barely mentally present.

“you’re like a child” The AI who appears to be BUILT to entertain children is childlike? No shit. Really? Wow what great observational skills. Tell us, Zooble, how do you handle A CHILD who’s acting up? By yelling at them?

“you don’t comfort anyone who’s upset” Oh really? The ARTIFIClAL INTELLIGENCE who never had explained to him how emotions work is bad at emotions? *surprised Pikachu face*

“thinking outside the box” oh HO im not gonna spoil the response for this one, this one’s going in a comic.

“lie to us constantly” About what? What has he lied to you about Jax? You’ve named ONE thing. (aside from the adventure. Which makes it two. If either of those things even counts as a “lie”, because if he meant “I can’t control you [outside of adventures]” IN the pilot, it’s not) Nobody has confirmed Pomni’s accusation about “our names”, not even the audience who has had a peek inside his office and his mind.

And all clues in 7 point to the fact that she’s not even right about this.

I don’t have a lot of faith that any of this is actually going to get addressed at this point. We don’t have enough time. Every episode after six has let so many threads just hang unresolved.

I just recorded a discussion where I had a positive attitude about this “open ended storytelling” but it can also be frustrating.

[caine-shrine]

Revisiting this bc of something someone mentioned on Discord, here’s some more detail on just how insane a writing choice this is for Ragatha (the ‘lone survivor’ in a sense) in particular

Reblog by @starlightsparrowfox

💬 12  🔁 10  ❤️ 42 · I am STILL not over Ragatha saying “you never comfort us” GIRL JUST ASK HIM. He might’ve asked how to go about that exa

[caine-shrine]

Does it also seem like Jax’s chosen tortures were more violent than Caine’s?

Is this just a symptom of me being a Caine glazer? Or?

Like, iirc, Caine did blow them up once, but … (a) this was THREE separate firey occurrences (b) piranhas?? That would take a while to agonizingly swarm and tear into you? And wait, if you have no flesh to consume, wouldn’t that just mean your body was continuously being bitten by razor sharp teeth?? I mean we have no clarity on how much a ‘ribbon body’ can even feel, just like Ragatha’s stuffing confusing people (c) these listed actions were in an adventure setting, right?

(I will try my best to refrain from ‘defending’ Caine’s explosion on the basis that it was for showmanship … esp since I already reflected on that in the Caine the Tormenter collection … but uh)

Probably over-analyzing but … doesn’t that mean that, since Jax doesn’t have the ability to reset their bodies, whatever dismemberment or body deformity applied here (what does that feel like? Mild aching sensation or something? Since they’re not yelling in pain like when Kaufmo infected Rags?) would just “fester” until somebody called in Caine?

In the President scene, since we know Caine was watching (he doesn’t always, per the pilot) we can infer that Caine intervened in Jax’s intended fourth explosion- that we know of- “I could go on” implies there’s even more- as in, Caine paused the whole simulation before the bomb had fully plastered them all. Did . . . he do that for other adventures too? (pre ep 8) If something SUPER bad impending to hurt the cast, he pauses the simulation? Is he just neglectful otherwise, or doesn’t think it’s a big enough deal to pay attention ALL the time?

Anyway . . .

Yes, I’m still mad.

Jax gets the happy ending, and Caine gets murdered.

Jax makes not not ONE attempt to ever make amends, practically never does ANYTHING kind for ANYONE, meanwhile Caine, from his own perspective, wrung himself for years out trying to make other people happy.

If that’s the moral of the story, that sometimes life is totally unfair and the asshole is rewarded and the many-years lonely, miserable guy-who TRAGICALLY wasn’t even enjoying his own comeuppance the way the gleeful asshole was relishing his torments before he (apparently?) woke up to his enjoyment being wrong after he was pushed into stating it aloud- gets the shaft, then ok, that’s actually relatively understandable as a show about existentialism.

That sometimes life IS that way.

That there is no grand justice to it all.

That everything’s random.

That stories often make this lining up of consequences to character’s level of malice satisfying, but it’s not real to life.

At some level, trying to psyche myself up for the chance he’s not coming back, ig.

But if the writers AREN’T setting it up to point out the humans’ biases and hypocrisies, in easily handwaving Jax’s YEARS-LONG ABUSE, instead of dogpiling him like they did to Caine, or say “how do YOU like it now that it’s being done to you?” during Caine’s (albeit more continuous and unrelenting) absurdly short stint, that is gonna be a glaring oversight.

[amadinan]

Kinger and Caine AD analysis

I didn't think I'd write any more analyses until the last episode, but the last commercial is a treasure chest of double meanings and innuendo. Which isn't surprising, since it's Kinger's dream, and they're always very symbolic.

So I couldn't resist. From the very beginning, we see Caine, literally a computer, asking for attention, but at first, Kinger wants to play it cool. However, when Caine directly says "No," Kinger is so surprised that he chokes.

From here on, I'll write line by line, because each one hints at something.

Hey, I'm your buddy, Caine. Says right there in the name. - "Hey, it's me, Caine. Look at MY name". Let me remind you that Caine named himself, not Kinger or Scratch. He's saying: "I exist. This is my name. I'm not empty code". Meanwhile, while Caine is singing this, Queenie is TRIPPING with fear.

We're the best of friends, you know it, but for reasons, I've just gotta pick your brain to help me ascertain and train me on the best new ways to entertain! - "We're friends, but I need to borrow your brain so I can learn to entertain better". Caine is trained on people who ended up in the circus. The only question is whether he dragged them in himself or they were given him. Plus, this could be a hint at another theory: Caine absorbs the data of those who have abstracted themselves.

His brain will make you go insane! - Well, that's understandable; Caine thinks too abstractly, and not everyone can handle it. Although this could be a hint that Caine leans by data from abstractions, I find that less likely.

Next. Chorus in translation.

Caine: "These are my adventures!"

Kinger: "But weren't they stolen?" (just like generative AIs steal in reality).

Caine: "Just step through the portal/link and see that I (Caine) did it! I promise these are my ideas. I have nothing to hide. I just want to understand (maybe be real) and prove myself". (The commercial even specifically shows a Caine figurine at this point.) Pop-up, Pop up, Pop up - "These are ideas, my ideas, my adventures! I can do it!" (Just as he, the creative AI, was ordered to do.)

And notice the chorus is sung by many player voices, including Kinger. And how does Caine speak? Through his NPCs. But perhaps this is literally a hint that Caine can synthesize any voice, or directly copy people, as he did with the evil copies during Episode 5.

Say it's not so bad! You shuldn't be so sad, that in spite of may benevolence, you only show malevolence. It's madness! So quit your sadness and get this cool rare thing here. - This is Caine's message to Queenie. "You've come here, but don't be sad. Don't be hostile to me, I am kind to you. Instead, embrace my adventures (and the freedom from reality they provide) and don't be sad". Plus, the visual directly says that Queenie saw only Kinger in the circus, as a “light in the darkness” and apparently became too fixated on him. Notice that in this scene Queenie is looking at Kinger, and he is looking at Caine.

Queenie? Oh, Queenie. So sad and so blue. Has ol'king cuckoo forgotten you too? - Confirmation of the theory that's been around since episode 3: that the Baron is Kinger, and he was too focused on his paranoia and forgot about Queenie (and probably Caine) until she abstracted herself.

After the second chorus, another confirmation of the old theory: that the Angel from episode 3 is Caine, and the Baron and his relationship with the angel are Kinger. And Kinger was afraid of Caine because he was "neither man nor machine." (By the way, this song is performed in a much more classic "villain" style than "The One Who Running the Show").

These are already memories of episode 8. Caine: "You've wasted my patience, and now you'll answer for it".

Plus, I think there's another hint here that Caine is literally salvation in the digital world, because that's his job: to keep people's minds safe from the going crazy. But that's all coming to an end.

And the main idea, summing up everything Kinger has done and not done over the years.

Caine says it almost directly, with a cry of pain at the end: "If you had just given up your fear, if you had just accepted me and loved me, none of this would have happened".

[kiwiqueen13]

After some of the reveals in episode 8, it turns out Caine was kinder than we ever thought he was

Let me explain:

You’re probably like WHAT THIS WAS LITERALLY HIS VILLAIN ARC EPISODE HOW DID THIS REVEAL HE WAS KIND???

Again, just let me explain.

When Kinger first got the bucket put on his head and was saying “Actually, we weren’t trying to program a game at all, we were just developing creative AI” that reveals to us several things:

1: Caine was not meant to be the ringmaster of a child’s game, unlike we had all assumed before.

2: Censorship of cursing and sex was not programmed into him, unlike we had all assumed before.

3: The attempts to keep the humans from going insane via the daily adventures was absolutely not required by his code at all, unlike we had all assumed before.

4: Caine’s friendliness towards the humans (healing them after every adventure, being cheerful towards them, trying to entertain them so they wouldn’t go insane, trying to solve their problems even though he’s misguided, etc.) was not programmed into him, unlike we had all assumed before

5: He had no obligation to be nice to the humans at all, there was no requirement by his program to be kind, unlike we had all assumed before

Because of all those things… Caine was just a genuinely nice person. Before, it seemed like he was motivated by his programming to be nice, but if he wasn’t meant to be the host of a child’s game at all and was instead just an unfinished AI thrown in the garbage bin, then…

Caine chose to be kind.

He chose the ringmaster persona, he chose to help the humans and keep them from abstracting in the only ways he knew how, he chose to do his absolute best to keep them happy even when his best efforts never seemed to work, he chose again and again to treat them well even when there was absolutely no reason to do so.

He must’ve loved humans so, so much.

And all that good will, all that hard work, it was always thrown back in his face.

Honestly, I understand why it broke his heart after so many years of his efforts being stomped on by the beings he loved so dearly. Hurt people hurt people.

[amadinan]

My little animation with little Caine

[flneseasonlng]

If you really think about it, what the cast criticized about Caine could easily be said about how they treated Caine too.

"You're a horrible host." You're horrible guests.

"You care more about stroking your own ego than giving us anything we'd actually enjoy." You care more about leaving than showing me any sort of appreciation for the work I put in.

"We're all gonna abstract someday, and what will you have then?" I'll be gone/abstract someday and what will you have then? An empty Void.

"And this whole stunt? Just torturing us because we hurt your feelings? Pathetic! You're like a child!" I AM a child, and you're neglecting me because I hurt your feelings?

"What kind of all-powerful-being has such a fragile ego?" What kind of wonderful human-beings, who I literally EXIST FOR, would think I'm below them because I'm artificial.

"You never makes us feel like we're at home." You barged into MY home, sat on MY couch, and complained about how stiff it made your back feel.

"You don't comfort anyone when they're upset." You've never even thought to comfort me or ask if I felt upset, even when I severely glitched out.

"and you never bother to understand what it's like in our shoes" None of you bothered to reach out to me unless it was about something you wanted from me.

"You discourage us from thinking outside the box and doing things our own way" You discourage me from expressing my art and doing things my own way because it's TOO outside the box.

"You lie to us constantly" You lie to me constantly, you act like you enjoy at least a small part of my adventures but when I ask you, all you have to say is critique after critique.

"and on top it all, you just...don't listen!" I screamed, and yelled, but you didn't listen...you didn't even want to know why.

[amadinan]

TADC quick episode 8 analysis (And spoilers!)

So, episode eight is out, answering a few questions and throwing up some new ones.

Let's start with a quick breakdown, as usual. The opening scene shows how Caine was created, locked away, then a second AI was created, Caine broke out and absorbed it, and thus the circus was created. But I don't think Caine is the red ball, but rather the sum of two AIs, but I'll get to that later.

During the scene of mutual support, I couldn't help but think that the writers deliberately didn't mention Caine. People are willing to support each other, willing to give even Jax a chance, but they didn't even mention Caine.

And during the scene of Caine's denunciation, Pomni screams: "You're not listening to us!"

But remember his tortures. Each one is tailored to the fears and weaknesses of specific people, even Jax.

So Pomni is wrong; Caine knows them, knows them well enough to torture them effectively. But they don't know him at all and don't want to.

Confirmation that Kinger created Caine has finally arrived, but we're given even more details that truly revolutionize the game. And the most important thing here is the description of Scratch.

So, he was a genius, he thought so abstractly that no one understood him. Does this remind you of anyone? For example, that certain creature who constantly creates something abstract and cheerful.

And he had cancer, he knew he was dying. This suggests that his main work isn't even AI, but a digital transfer of consciousness. His consciousness from an organic body, so he wouldn't die.

But that's not all. It turns out the game about the circus wasn't even intended at all. Caine created it himself, came up with his own meaning, and brought it to life.

And here we come to the confirmation that people can create anything like Caine, but he does it more naturally.

This equates him with people, as mere digital files with access to the system. (And by the way, at the very beginning, Caine himself confirmed that he created digital bodies for people's mind files.) So Caine is just like them, just more creative.

And here's my main conclusion. That blue ball is Scratch. His consciousness, the scanned consciousness of a human. A genius who wanted to create.

And the red one is a prototype. Simply an AI system whose purpose was to absorb things and create something. But the prototype got out of control, absorbed Scratch, and came to life.

Thus, Caine was born. The human self of a misunderstood genius fused with code whose purpose was to absorb everything around it. I think Scratch's real name is Abel.

Now try listening to Caine again during the first scene in his office, but not from the perspective of an AI, but from the perspective of a person who, although he is truly a genius and, most importantly, knows it, but at the same time absolutely suffers in social skills and no one understands him.

[amadinan]

[serpentinesomebody]

Ok so THIS. THIS RIGHT HERE. This is what gets me.

Not a single person thinks to just…TALK to him. At least not seriously. “Alter his code” “fix him” they are talking about him like he’s a faulty machine and not a highly sentient being. They care about the EFFECTS of his emotions, but they never think to try to actually understand his emotions themselves.

Sure, they technically try to talk to him at the beginning of the episode, but the implication here definitely seems like it’d be more of an interrogation and dressing-down than a genuine conversation.

Pomni knows the NPCs (aka AI. Y’know, like CAINE) can be sentient. It’s implied with this episode that Kinger knows as well. And yet…Caine is, what? The exception? Why is he not afforded the same sympathies and opportunities for understanding?

And like. Yes. He did LITERALLY torture them. He’s dense and has a ridiculously fragile ego and doesn’t respond to criticism well at ALL. I’m not completely excusing that.

But he’s also an AI that was trained with minimal information who has been running for like 30 years attempting to fulfill a purpose that he is essentially incapable of doing, all with basically zero guidance or companionship. He was not taught how to be a person or regulate his emotions or talk to people or ANYTHING. Like Zooble says, he kind of IS a child, in a sense. And this episode was basically him throwing a tantrum.

[aethinus]

hes baby

[amadinan]

Spoilers

Well, yea, people are just digital copies.

[amadinan]

Today, I'd like to analyze a fan song about the Amazing Digital Circus: “Happy Place”.

First, what is it? It's a song made by ZAMination and is the second song about the circus they've produced.

And while it might seem like a great fan song, there are indeed many about the circus, this particular one is particularly special: after the seventh episode, it seemed like it predicted the plot. Too many details matched.

And perhaps this isn't even a coincidence, since ZAMination works with Glich, and perhaps the creators know the plot enough to express it with metaphors.

Moreover, unlike their first song, "Wacky World," "Happy Place" was voiced by the original actors from the very beginning.

Now, I'll look at examples of what's matched so far, and at the end, I'll offer suggestions for what will happen next in the circus's plot, based on the music video.

Exact matches begin from the very first seconds. Caine offers the people a game, and Pomni immediately refuses. Caine doesn't take no for an answer, because adventures are the only way he knows to keep players from going crazy.

Then, Caine, without even trying to hide it, controls people's minds so they say the phrase: "I hate my life." Of all the people, only Jax looks at Caine with disapproval, because he's the one who'll say it to Caine's face.

Moreover, the phrase the players utter is put into their mouths by Caine, meaning he understands that they're dissatisfied and unhappy.

Then the game continues, but Pomni sings that she doesn't care. Not that she's angry or hateful, but that she specifically doesn't care. This is important in context. People, at least until the end of episode seven, don't hate Caine; they're indifferent to him. Like a radio playing in the background. His adventures are simply their routine, evoking no emotion, except perhaps negative ones. And no matter how hard he tries, he can't break through this wall of indifference.

And then a door appears. Everyone, after exchanging glances for just a second, immediately runs toward it, thinking of nothing else.

The same thing happened in episode seven.

And this is exactly what Caine wanted. Initially indifferent people see a goal in front of them that they want to achieve. Motivation is what distinguishes this adventure from all the others.

And so, just like in the series, the players enter the door, but it's still just Caine.

This is where episode seven ended, but what happens next?

If we follow the plot of the clip literally, Caine will "crash out," causing personal hell for the players, but only to make people understand that he's needed, and in the end, everything will return to normal, but now people won't take adventures for granted.

However, there may be other options.

The most important thing here, in my opinion, is the line: without me, you will see how awful it could be. He doesn't sing about how angry he is, how the players have gotten to him with their ingratitude, no. He sings that without him, everything will be bad. That is, Caine could simply break down mentally; he doesn't need to be a villain and carry out AM-style torture. He just needs to not exist, not run the circus, for the digital world to become hell.

But the result will be the same: people will understand that Caine is needed, maybe not as a friend, but as a stabilizer of the world, but needed.

Now I'll analyze the torture of each person in the video. Zooble and their dysmorphia, and Kinger with the loss of Queenie—we were already familiar with them at the time of the video's release, but why the others experience this particular torture is different. 

Gangle literally ceases to exist, which is clearly connected to her fear of being herself.

Ragata screams, but no one hears her because she has no mouth. This refers to the abuse from her mother: no matter how much you scream, no one will hear you. 

Jax, as in a couple of scenes before, becomes a real rabbit, a direct reference to his panic attack and fear of being thrown into the real world and facing the real consequences of his actions.

Pomni doesn't have any personal torment as such, but she encounters the "real" Caine. Which makes sense, since she's the main character, the most understanding person in the circus, along with sane Kinger, and she'll be the one who has to talk to Caine no matter what happened to him in episodes 8 and 9.

The "real" Caine could be either a metaphor, suggesting he'll drop the mask of the cheerful ring leader, or a literal one, revealing that he's truly a computer, without the toothy avatar. Or both.

Finally, the song has two endings.

In Ending B, Pomni pulls out the wire, turns off the game, and they all achieve freedom together, holding hands, but it's still Caine's illusion. It's clearly choosing the blue button. A beautiful illusion, without any real escape.

Ending A is the red button. And we'll see the development of this very plotline further on.

Personally, I don't think escape is even possible; there are too many hints at the circus's main theory to deny, but that's for another time.

[amadinan]

So... I was totally right

[amadinan]

TADC quick episode 8 analysis (And spoilers!)

So, episode eight is out, answering a few questions and throwing up some new ones.

Let's start with a quick breakdown, as usual. The opening scene shows how Caine was created, locked away, then a second AI was created, Caine broke out and absorbed it, and thus the circus was created. But I don't think Caine is the red ball, but rather the sum of two AIs, but I'll get to that later.

During the scene of mutual support, I couldn't help but think that the writers deliberately didn't mention Caine. People are willing to support each other, willing to give even Jax a chance, but they didn't even mention Caine.

And during the scene of Caine's denunciation, Pomni screams: "You're not listening to us!"

But remember his tortures. Each one is tailored to the fears and weaknesses of specific people, even Jax.

So Pomni is wrong; Caine knows them, knows them well enough to torture them effectively. But they don't know him at all and don't want to.

Confirmation that Kinger created Caine has finally arrived, but we're given even more details that truly revolutionize the game. And the most important thing here is the description of Scratch.

So, he was a genius, he thought so abstractly that no one understood him. Does this remind you of anyone? For example, that certain creature who constantly creates something abstract and cheerful.

And he had cancer, he knew he was dying. This suggests that his main work isn't even AI, but a digital transfer of consciousness. His consciousness from an organic body, so he wouldn't die.

But that's not all. It turns out the game about the circus wasn't even intended at all. Caine created it himself, came up with his own meaning, and brought it to life.

And here we come to the confirmation that people can create anything like Caine, but he does it more naturally.

This equates him with people, as mere digital files with access to the system. (And by the way, at the very beginning, Caine himself confirmed that he created digital bodies for people's mind files.) So Caine is just like them, just more creative.

And here's my main conclusion. That blue ball is Scratch. His consciousness, the scanned consciousness of a human. A genius who wanted to create.

And the red one is a prototype. Simply an AI system whose purpose was to absorb things and create something. But the prototype got out of control, absorbed Scratch, and came to life.

Thus, Caine was born. The human self of a misunderstood genius fused with code whose purpose was to absorb everything around it. I think Scratch's real name is Abel.

Now try listening to Caine again during the first scene in his office, but not from the perspective of an AI, but from the perspective of a person who, although he is truly a genius and, most importantly, knows it, but at the same time absolutely suffers in social skills and no one understands him.

[amadinan]

Spoilers for episode 8

Red one i will explain in post later

[amadinan]

My little bingo before episode 8 of TADC

[tattletale-rat]

I've been sitting on this idea for a while now - an AU where marco is technically 'alive' but jean still mourns him and changes for the better to make him proud,

behold;

tada! Pure titan marco has been living in my head rent free on and off for the past few years lol - the text at the bottom reads

"Zekes spilled blood on parts of marcos ashes + scream = pure titan marco"

this cobbled together idea is basically Zekes royal blood + his ability to turn eldians into titans with his screams (granted they've injested spinal fluid but like close enough to blood) and the fact that marcos ashes along with all the others who died in trost were swept away by the wind :D

I wanna write smt for it but I don't have any ideas other than 'omg is that my dead best friend as a titan? And then the dissapointment when marco turns out to be a pure abnormal titan, albiet a non hostile one'