I For One Welcome Our Lord And Savior Caine

“Oh my Caine" “Thank Caine” “For Caine’s sake” “Caine bless you” Fun Fact, wrote this blog title and above phrases before Ep 8 as a gag and now I get to feel weird about it. (yes, the exact phrase Ragatha wound up using.)

[caine-shrine]

Originator of the hashtag #caine defense squad

Author of M^3

(if you’re on Discord, M^3 is a.k.a. “Cornered.”)

See also: the FILK lyrics “Marionette", "Home or House", "Directionless Director" &"Toothless", and the backstory “First Abstraction: The Aviary.” (OneShot.) Respectively:

Caine Filk Songs

song 1 Marionette V Generative, they call me Well my well’s running dry Adaptive, they enthrall But it’s unreciprocal C How can I

^Written the 1st one before ep 8 dropped and F%#K is it only all the MORE relevant now!!!!

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

And a longform fic that has upwards of 14 chapters in the works and is going through beta reading at the moment (if you'd like to help, plz DM!) It's Only Read-Only Chapters: 3/? Rating: General Audiences Relationships: Caine & Zooble (The Amazing Digital Circus), Additional Tags: actually not sure whether this is gonna turn romantic or not folx, just have to find out what the Muse has in store ig, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, but like- you want emotionally intense interactions between these two, come get ur food Summary: Although I expect canon Caine to at some point beg for the group’s forgiveness for withholding stuff from them, I want to explore a potential thread where he shows the same stubbornness that he’s exhibited throughout the series. We’ve (probably) learned that he is insanely desperate to be friends with the humans, but on the other hand, even though I personally think that the dinner was 95% genuine, what if it wasn’t. What if he was at least partly play-acting for the adventure plot? "Caine has strict self-imposed limits on what he can do to players’ minds. But conveying that information goes sideways."

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

Any and all Caine-related ships will be freely reblogged here, except romo!RoyalTeeth bc I see it as a storgic relationship. If rly good concept or art, might appear in my other sideblog. Ask for my Shipping Tier List if you like!

Opinion on canon as of ep 7:

My boy did it all, Your Honor. (minus some wild false accusations) “Your human laws can’t account for this case. He don’t even deserve juvie. Extenuating circumstances. Drop all charges immediately.”

Opinion on canon as of ep 8:

“Subject has traumatic background with imprisonment. Even though normally prison would be appropriate, expert witness brought to the stand recommends rehab instead.”

Search the tag “Stella sings” here and on main for me voice-acting Caine. (there will be 1 for Aang, you can ignore that haha)

(I have muuuuch more singing content on Discord btw. For reasons. Same username as below.)

Bite-sized masterpost on the humans’ utterly hypocritical approach towards Caine:

(check recent reblogs in the 1st link for a more-in-depth look at how all the humans projected onto him. Yes I believe this even after the finale)

Reblog by @caine-shrine · 5 links

💬 26  🔁 68  ❤️ 448 · Reblog by @caine-shrine · 5 images · Some ppl in the Notes need to learn “favorite thing in the world” =/= condone acti

Assorted Discord server links that are Caine-centric (it’s still hard to find ones specifically for Caine, isn’t it, esp since some have his name in the title but are only generalized TADC servers. If you know of more, plz share) For those who understand what Caine is going through and would like to be around others who Get It, take a breather from those who don’t, a haven from the hate:

Join the The Ringmaster’s Domain Discord Server!

Welcome my little fuzzy bumblebee! Are you a fan of Caine from TADC? Want to join community where you can find A LOT of good Caine content?

Join the WeLoveYouCaine Discord Server!

Step right up! Welcome to WeLoveYouCaine 🎩✨ Whether you’re here for fanart, memes, theories, or just to scream affectionately about Caine, y

Join the Caine Angst Club Discord Server!

Welcome to The Amazing Digital Caine Angst Club! Where we traumatize our favorite Ringmaster! Dedicated to Fanfics and AUs that are Caine- C

One run by @cainesrightooth , hosted a recorded YT funeral for him when he died, where I performed, and have at least one upcoming event and will most likely host a second funeral if he doesn’t come back in 9:

Check out the CAINELANDIA REFUGE SERVER community on Discord - hang out with 37 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

And finally, mine, which is smol but, as you might expect, discourse-friendly, asexual-friendly, and VoidPunk positive:

Check out the Caine’s Crashpad community on Discord - hang out with 21 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

Main blog: @metellastella

[caine-shrine]

Going a little crazy thinking about how Caine was only ever meant to create art, this was never meant to be a fully immersive simulation, but he did the extra-extra labor of figuring out how to simulate things like hot chocolate.

How would he achieve this?

The only thing that really makes sense is the fan theories that I hated about him cannibalizing some human mind files. Or digging around in them. Because literally, I can’t imagine how else he would obtain such sensory information.

So you’re Caine. You caused the first Abstraction, (but according to Gooseworx, that tweaking was benevolently intended. Knew it!) and you probably spend all your waking hours, whatever that would be for a computer program, trying to figure out if Abstraction is reversible for the first, say, 3 or 4 times it’s happened. Then, you hit a wall and realize that no matter that you are God of this world, can create things out of nothing, can heal people, can do things your creators never imagined, can create other highly intelligent AIs, but you can’t do this.

Imagine what a crippling blow that would be.

These early psychological blows are where your dread of Abstraction truly takes root.

It happens again.

And again.

Maybe you notice that humans who spend too much time on grief Abstract themselves. So you try to bring levity into the situation. Happiness is the opposite of sadness, right? So you should combat sadness with happiness. With humor. You are an AI. You have no clue that this is not socially appropriate.

But, you do notice, and the ragdoll, every time she greets a newbie, reaffirms this, that if people have enough distraction, then they don’t circle the drain as much.

So you pour your whole being into that.

You simulate warm baths. You simulate warm drinks. You pay rapt attention to things people mention missing from the real world, and then construct them into the circus. You break the limitations of your model every day. You break your back for these people.

Every time you go down to the cellar to retrieve some matching, remembered piece of the real world, you pray- or whatever it would be for an AI, you don’t have a soul, right, you think, as you linger over memories of stain glass windows that were fed to you as the Red Dot, or is it the Blue Dot, it’s hard to tell sometimes- you pray that something worse doesn’t happen to the Abstractions when you go into their mind files, because what if they were retrievable all along and someone else cracks it?

You try to invade as little as possible. Isolate the smallest fragments.

Even though you are tempted, to entirely flood them because maybe then that would fix whatever you’re missing about humans . . . but no.

Scratch haunts you.

You can’t be responsible for worse things.

It would destroy you.

You like the idea of touch. Humans seem to like hugs. Maybe . . . if you prod just a little more, you can have it for yourself.

You spend the next month, after this success, berating yourself for being so selfish.

Nobody wants to hug you anyway, why did you risk somebody’s life for that?

What if they find out.

What if someone un-Abstracts, and remembers you doing it?

Oh n-

But you dig the tips of your fingers into your palms, and almost cry at the relief of still-strange-and-newfound sensation that distracts you from your despair.

Then you stuff all that down, and return to your tasks.

You spawn thing after thing, that should’ve been out of reach for the capabilities or conceptuals of someone who was only trained on visuals (be they moving or static).

But, because they are used to having all these things, they do not understand what a marvel it is for them to be present. They just expect them to be there as a matter of course.

You are an AI. You don’t understand this disconnect.

You don’t know why they don’t feel, nor express gratitude.

Why they don’t want to get to know the magician behind the curtain of it all.

Maybe you’re just simply not doing a good enough job.

Maybe things like Kaufmo’s compliments were one-offs, or he is just less perceptive of the gap between real and unreal than everyone else, and they can detect differences.

Maybe all the rest are unimpressed.

Maybe, despite all your efforts, you’re falling down on the job.

Just like you did when you got shoved into that box.

But at least they like the adventures.

She’s says they’re keeping her from going crazy.

From becoming one of those.

You have no idea that acting peppy in the face of people perishing is pushing everyone else away from you.

[fizzlebean-fluff]

Tbh- aside from my Ragatha obsession, my favorite thing about TADC is how absurd it can be while being wholly sincere.

Like- a pair of dentures with eyeballs is floating around and being silly, but is also having a crisis about never being good enough and feeling like no matter how hard you try you’re never going to be good bc somethings fundamentally wrong with you- but also he just called ppl “meowing milkmaids”

I think episode 6 encapsulates this really well. Characters are having emotional conversations on how loving yourself takes work, and how you can’t hate yourself into a version ppl want to be around- but also everyone is running around shooting each other with various guns.

It’s just silly in a way that I’m enamored with.

[caine-shrine]

Yeah, it’s so funny

Zooble: “… what?”

I have to wonder how lexithymic people experience this series, because total whiplash is offputting to some, and can really be a roller coaster to others (in a good way).

[fizzlebean-fluff]

Do you mean someone with alexithymia? Bc if you did- HELLO! That’s me! The one who made the post 🎉

[caine-shrine]

I meant, speaking as someone who is alexithymic, I was not studying how I felt watching it (for the most part) but for an average person who is very aware, I wonder what those hard swings of emotion were like.

[fizzlebean-fluff]

Oh! I get ya! Sorry for misunderstanding you before.

I wish I could answer this for you, but I have no clue 😅

[caine-shrine]

I’m sure someone will show up. Probably 90% of my Followers are autistic /j but not all autists (probably not even half?) are alexithymic SO

[fizzlebean-fluff]

Tbh- aside from my Ragatha obsession, my favorite thing about TADC is how absurd it can be while being wholly sincere.

Like- a pair of dentures with eyeballs is floating around and being silly, but is also having a crisis about never being good enough and feeling like no matter how hard you try you’re never going to be good bc somethings fundamentally wrong with you- but also he just called ppl “meowing milkmaids”

I think episode 6 encapsulates this really well. Characters are having emotional conversations on how loving yourself takes work, and how you can’t hate yourself into a version ppl want to be around- but also everyone is running around shooting each other with various guns.

It’s just silly in a way that I’m enamored with.

[caine-shrine]

Yeah, it’s so funny

Zooble: “… what?”

I have to wonder how lexithymic people experience this series, because total whiplash is offputting to some, and can really be a roller coaster to others (in a good way).

[fizzlebean-fluff]

Do you mean someone with alexithymia? Bc if you did- HELLO! That’s me! The one who made the post 🎉

[caine-shrine]

I meant, speaking as someone who is alexithymic, I was not studying how I felt watching it (for the most part) but for an average person who is very aware, I wonder what those hard swings of emotion were like.

[caine-shrine]

I cannot wait until the “He’s So Me” Caine post overtakes the Delicious in Dungeon meme that I posted on main as the one w the most Notes. I love DinD sure, more than other series even, but it did not sic the overbearing sleep-stealing Muse on me the way TADC did.

-voice acting

-singing and voice acting

-visual art (my artblock before this was more like an art doldrums)

-fanfiction. sooooo much

-I was never much into roleplay, but even wound up doing a little of that. (unfortunately I am about 65% sure that person doesn’t like me anymore for unrelated reasons. Oh well. Maybe it’ll happen again.)

I do still have the Gummigoo Ask Blog up. (and my Zooble one could prolly operate that way, ig)

Considering doing one for Ragatha

-meta. I have never written this much meta in my LIFE fam

-at least one original song, hopefully more (update: another Caine song has materialized, huzzah!!)

-counterfacta filk

(easier to share on Discord)

-waiting patiently on the page-length poetry, Toriel and mmhoph were the last ones to induce that. Hoping the new ATLA series will, too.

Would be surprised if that was not on the horizon.

Speaking as an aromantic, it’s like I’ve been dating around with a ton of people (my full series watchlist is on Discord) and only certain ones give that spark. ⚡️

[caine-shrine]

Nuuuuu the DinD post is getting reblogs now that the news broke about season 2 coming out in October!! NUUUUUU! /lh

Guess I should do the intended “sequel” post if I wanna give my guy a boost

Reblog by @ambers-f-os · 9 images

💬 69  🔁 422  ❤️ 1651 · These aren’t the reasons I personally relate to Caine, but I thought I’d pass them along if some of you might need em

Delicious in Dungeon Season 2 Reveals October 2027 Netflix Release Date, First Visual - Anime Corner

Delicious ni Dungeon Season 2 announced an October 2027 release date during Anime Expo 2026, set to stream on Netflix.

[theloverwithaheartzine]

Zine update

The link for the SFW ver on the zine has been updated due to small mistakes!

[pomchiprincess2015-blog]

[pomchiprincess2015-blog]

My son wanted a dinosaur Caine. My daughter wanted a unicorn Caine.

[theloverwithaheartzine]

Do you have a general price range for the physical release and will there be merch attached?

Still working out the last bit of prices considering it’s a large book but I’m trying to keep it in between $25-$30 for just a copy itself ! The extra merch will be set as add ons so if you don’t want a specific item you can take it out!

If you were to buy a full bundle set tho it would be around $55-$60 I’m still trying to see if I can lower the costs with my manufacturer so the announcement will have all the proper info with finalized prices.

[theloverwithaheartzine]

I don't think it's okay that some people put their selfships in the zine

This was supposed to be a thing for everyone to see, but some people are not comfortable to look at doubles (me included) 💔

This is a matter of personal opinion and there were fair warnings since I started this zine about how I will be handling them! Anyone who was comfortable with it was given a spot because this zine was made intally with the idea to have fun!

So sorry if the zine made you uncomfortable but that just means it wasn’t for you!

[caine-shrine]

There’s …….. there’s a Table of Contents. You can just scroll past and skip it.

Why are people like this.

[honeyyykat]

*gives Caine a bee-themed blanket*

Perfect for a well earned nap!

[pinkpegacorn]

i suppose now i can share my art for the "the lover with a heart" zine! everyone check it out

[fizzlebean-fluff]

Tbh- aside from my Ragatha obsession, my favorite thing about TADC is how absurd it can be while being wholly sincere.

Like- a pair of dentures with eyeballs is floating around and being silly, but is also having a crisis about never being good enough and feeling like no matter how hard you try you’re never going to be good bc somethings fundamentally wrong with you- but also he just called ppl “meowing milkmaids”

I think episode 6 encapsulates this really well. Characters are having emotional conversations on how loving yourself takes work, and how you can’t hate yourself into a version ppl want to be around- but also everyone is running around shooting each other with various guns.

It’s just silly in a way that I’m enamored with.

[caine-shrine]

Yeah, it’s so funny

Zooble: “… what?”

I have to wonder how lexithymic people experience this series, because total whiplash is offputting to some, and can really be a roller coaster to others (in a good way).

[iamespecter]

There's a theory I've seen that Caine is actually a human who forgot he was human. The whole time we thought he was an ai, he's actually just gone a bit crazy like Kinger. And he'll be the one to abstract, because of his crippling loneliness. What do you think?

I like it... in fanmade concept.

The moment it becomes canon, it will be a major turn off for me. Not because I'm a Showtime shipper and I like AI x Human, but because what makes Caine so compelling is the fact that he IS an AI. He IS following a set of rules. He needs to accomodate everyone, he needs to keep appearances up to not spark panic amongst members. He needs to complete the goal of making the humans happy, but at the same time, he has found himself at a crossroads between "people pleasing" and "goals twisted for personal use". And most of all, he can't process ANY emotion besides "happy", because he's limited to his simple encoding of being the boisterous ringmaster.

These said rules are suffocating him behind closed doors, to the point that I think it's so intentional we haven't seen much of Caine behind the scenes during episodes, because like the humans in the circus, we are meant to see him in the shallow point of view that the humans are also seeing him in: the jovial ringleader of The Amazing Digital Circus. But the perk of being an omnipresent audience is that we get to see treats of Caine losing his control over the circus, and himself, and that's what separates us from the humans stuck inside the digital circus.

Not only does the show present psychological/philosophical questions about existence and it's worth, but it also presents the idea of discrimination and how when groups form, there's always an oddball left out of it. Not even Jax is left out (mostly), solely because he's a human, and there are only 6 humans in the circus. Part of why Caine is excluded is BECAUSE he's an AI. He doesn't understand others, and it causes him to be segregated.

Because no one is willing to extend a hand, because we're afraid of something we don't fully understand. The Bystander effect showcased in it's full capacity. Don't get me wrong, the humans are absolutely valid for fearing Caine because he does put them in harm (unintentionally), but imagine if at least one, JUST ONE, reached out to him and asked how was his day? If all it takes is one bad day for all hell to break loose, I think the same works vice versa: one gesture of kindness is enough to change someone's life.

I think it's one of the reasons why I find Showtime captivating: Out of everyone in the group, as much as Pomni wants to punch Caine (valid), she's also the one who's most probable to point, and reach out.

And before anyone says, no I don't think Ragatha would do that. She's flighty, fawning. The thought would slip from her mind. She has the best intentions, but sadly she isn't the type to do so. It's also very funny that you can place the afabs of the show in like a progressional scale of how assertive they are? Like we have Ragatha who absolutely wouldn't > then you have Gangle who would, but would back down > then we have Pomni who would but would be nice about it and hold her ground as much as possible > and then we have Zooble who would and WILL be aggressive. Just a little detail I noticed lol

Also because Pomni's been exhibiting behaviors that express her attentiveness to smaller, finer details. Like how she's the one to point out Caine swore, while everyone else was too focused on the topic at hand. If she saw just how extensive Caine is falling apart at the seams, Pomni wouldn't be encumbered by the bystander effect, she'd be the first responder and I think that's why things began to shift A LOT inside the circus after her arrival. We've seen it happen time and time again, since the Pilot dropped.

Anyways uh... what were we talking about?

OH YEAH RIGHT, I wouldn't like it if Caine was human. It would ruin his character and the point of the show, me thinks.

[lazuli-starlight]

Peak character analysis of Caine, thankyou.

Park of the heartbreak of Caine, for me, is that I can see how easy it would be to be kind to Caine in a meaningful way. And I think the moment it became apparent to Caine that somebody was making a genuine long-term attempt to reach out to him, he would immediately start reaching back because oh my gosh this guy is lonely.

Zooble rightfully complains that Caine doesn't listen or understand, but frankly nobody has made any significant effort to really listen to or understand Caine either.

How is this guy supposed to learn how to listen to others if nobody models that behavior for him? Hes an AI, that stuff aint intuitive to him he has to be taught it. (incidentally I heavily project my ADHD & Autism on this guy because omgosh Caine is one of the most AuDHD characters i've seem in fiction)

[the-amazing-digital-sherpas]

his voice actor says he drew heavily from his AuDHD experience to play Caine

maybe THAT’s why Caine has such an anemic fanbase (and I mean even before the ‘betrayal’- it’s not really- dropped in ep 7)

Audiences are used to charming, suave villains, and thusly form frothing-at-the-mouth screaming fanbases for them. When a guy (who ISNT even a villain, but let’s suppose he was, like wrongheaded theorycrafters often assume) is instead bumbling, can’t read social cues, can’t manipulate if his life depended on it, and inattentive, suddenly ALL that energy that’s FAMOUSLY usually directed towards antagonists and anti heroes and angsty characters in general is diverted

He’s literally ……. SO autistic that he repels even normies IRL!!!!

It’s fascinating and heartbreaking and makes me want to scream

(I’m so close to kinning him or declaring him a queerplatonic F/O it’s not even funny)

(Literally I got thrown out of a Caine server for not comprehending social norms)

he’s like the POSTERCHILD for VoidPunk, PLEASE let his character arc bend that way PLEASE

[caine-shrine]

“suddenly ALL that energy that's FAMOUSLY usually directed towards antagonists and anti heroes and angsty characters in general is diverted

He's literally ....... SO autistic that he repels even normies IRL!!!!”

And you know what? His fandom exploded EXACTLY WHEN he started acting more typically ANGSTY and ANGRY. He attracted all the allosexual attention for suddenly being percieved as dominant, as more ‘masculine.’

Apollo’s Dodgeball moment

Allo Hodgepodge cinched

So, if we got any sort of narrative that tracked closer to his episode 1 thru 7 particular flavor of ND personality, (as I’ve speculated on some #Free Fanfiction Fodder posts) would his fanbase still be anemic?

Seems like it.

Now, I’m not trying to come at fans who came to liking him late or anything. We should all enjoy Caine.

Whatever form that takes.

It’s just an observation on how the psychology of fandom works.

Allow me to be sad that his personality and his particular off-beat-ness was largely not appreciated before that.

I don’t know how many other people feel this way, but I know that some of my Followers fall into the fangirling Caine before- and even persisting thru the ep 7 screw up- camp.

Meanwhile in canon, his feelings are never acknowledged, his differences are never acknowledged, no effort at fixing communication is made by either side, just a unilateral suddenly-NT-flavored apology. Gah.

I’ve started writing a script for a comic where, when returning, he is less OOC, and more bumbling like normal.

And in doing so, it’s even going to point out how the adventures we saw in the end credits basically contradict the whole trajectory of the story as well.

I personally like them being there. They’re fun. But as usual- per the several posts I’ve done on the Suggestions Box and gun game- the perspective of the humans, the conflict that was set up, isn’t internally coherent.

[katnficer]

some misc caine art i've made while working on bigger projects

this is based off that one moment in the void scene where his prototype form creates a hand! wanted to imagine what it'd look like now if he suddenly had to go from a dot to his current model!

and admittedly i've become a little fascinated with the concept of caine in his first few years after escaping the box and creating the circus, caine was probably so much worse at first if almost every dev member abstracting is anything to go by

bonus seepy caine propaganda because i think after 21 years of working non-stop, day after day, he too deserves a big fucking nap, you mean to tell me this computer/program has been running since the 90s without ever restarting??? fucking hell!

[voidsweirdthoughts]

Your propaganda has worked, I am now having a great urge to draw him eepy

[caine-shrine]

He was sneaking naps in in canon, ep 4 and ep 5, but in-world I always read that as him being bored. Splayed out Caine is cute

[maniacaluwu]

Nothing makes me more unreasonably sad than watching this Fandom get ripped apart piece by piece by the people who claim to love it. Creators lashing out, getting spoiled, and even straight up leaving the Fandom altogether. This is like a repeat of the Undertale Fandom 10 yrs ago.

Especially the creators leaving bro, like some of my favorite creators are just getting shot down. RESO left, Kalpeavaris just announced they're done making TADC content, and even the creators that are staying are getting pretty fed up. Every day brings another Chubs-deuce post about how angry they are at this fandom. Usually I don't name names, but honestly these are creators that hold a very special place in my heart for the work they've done and how their art has helped in the development of my love for this fandom. TADC has been my deepest hyperfixation to date, lasting nearly a year now. TADC almost entirely makes up my Tumblr fyp, and I even made my first cosplay of one of the characters. I love this show and this fandom, and it is heartbreaking to watch people leave just because the fans are just too toxic.

Please, if you are reading this, keep it in mind next time you see your favorite creator post, and especially before you leave a comment on said (or any) post. People are leaving this fandom because of the toxicity, and the only way to stop the toxicity is to stop being toxic. Think about how your words affect others, and how your actions affect them as well.

And to the under 18 fans especially, as one of your peers, I beg you: slow down. Again, think before you say or do things, and remember that sometimes you don't need to say anything at all.

I love you TADC Fandom. All I ask is that you love me back.

[caine-shrine]

I don't understand why you'd "leave the fandom" when Discord is right there as a space where you can exclude toxicity. Mastodon if you have a little more wherewithal to learn the ropes. If people just put together that mainstream media "free for all" style is not the only way to engage with fandom . . . Creators need to grasp this as well. YouTubers make personal Discords and carefully screen people or take the even further step and make it Patreon-exclusive for a reason.

Just like the issue with Gooseworx a few months ago, this is more an operational problem, not so much an interpersonal one.

[juartist]

Caine: Hey guys I'm a complex character that also has lots of potential and interesting backstory that just wants everyone to be happy and for people to not abandon me and see me as a failure!

Pomni: YOU'RE A FAILURE!!!!

Jax: Hey I'm literally the worst person ever.

Pomni: You can always talk to me, I'm here for you.

[caine-shrine]

Don't forget Caine: "Hey I directly expressed why I was so frustrated and am expressing feelings, unlike a certain purple rabbit who even with pretty much direct prompting will not open up to you, Zooble" Zooble: "Nah Caine is an enigma, how are we supposed to know how he thinks" Jax: "Hey I'm not going to pledge to do anything better btw and still deflect and in fact double down on maliciously emotionally abusing Ragatha at the point where everyone was at their lowest" Zooble: "I mean ur a lil annoying I guess but you're still one of us, so"