Hi hello, it's me, the guy who has an unhealthy hyperfixation on Tom Trench from Hazbin Hotel for whatever reason!
Call me whatever the hell you want (not revealing my actual name because it sucks and i hate it), I'm 18 years of age and male.
My interests/Things I may post about:
Deltarune
Half-Life
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Murder Drones
Digital Circus
Wakfu
Hotline Miami
Doom
(These aren't all my interests btw, just the ones I feel are the most relevant)
Extra info about this blog:
I mostly just post my drawings on here, so if you wanna see them, they're all tagged with 'my art'
My DMs and inbox are both always open, so if you wanna chat or ask me something, feel free to (I'm probably never going to do commissions btw, so please don't ask)
It really is telling just how far gone Caine is, because he absolutely would've been insanely happy to hear the other characters express what they like so much about him, but he no longer respects them enough to give them a moment of peace - even if it's so they can praise him
Ain't that the same bowling ball from Kaufmo's room?
I love how annoyed she is about having to go through all these doors again (she would hate Khan Doorman)
This is honestly such a good idea on her end. She knows they need a computer, then vividly remembers the computer in the fake office, which in turn allows her to manifest the exit door. I like how it's also a really cool throwback to the pilot, while also making sense and being important for the episode
Shut your bitch ass up
The subtitles are trying to cover up that Bubble is having a baby?? What lore implications could there possibly be perceived from this???
SAY IT LOUDER!!
Okay I know she's most likely just saying this out of frustration and to make Caine feel even more guilty, but it also has some... curious implications. Sure, saying "We're all gonna die someday" is a fairly common statement IRL, but in the context of this setting - where abstraction only happens when someone reaches their breaking point, thus making it more akin to suicide than general death - it reads as Pomni saying that they're all gonna kill themselves eventually.
Maybe I'm reaching, but between this and her saying 'What would you do if I abstracted tomorrow?' to Jax in episode 6, I feel like Pomni doesn't exactly have the best mental health and has some repressed issues
These statements are very blatantly rooted from their past experiences (though they do 100% apply to Caine as well) and it implies that Jax calling Caine out for lying to them constantly is also because he was often lied to and taken advantage of back before he entered the circus, which gets implied further in a bit
The crazy part about this moment is that it's perfectly understandable why all the characters are so frustrated. Everyone is fed up with Caine treating them so badly and never listening to them, while Caine genuinely feels like he's trying his best to give them what they want, but they keep on rejecting and ignoring his efforts; which culminates in episode 8's climax, as the straw finally breaks the camel's back.
And now, we've arrived to the torture scenes
I adore how Pomni being attacked by a monstrous version of Gummigoo has a double meaning. Not only does it tie back to her trauma over losing him, but being attacked by a group of crocodiles (one of which is purple, funnily enough) I feel is meant to represent how she's afraid of being betrayed and hurt by those she's closest with - and it probably hints to some of her past experiences as well
I find the imagery here really fascinating, because while this is obviously meant to convey the trauma that Ragatha has due to her mother abusing her, I find it interesting that there are also other injured ragdolls sitting at the table. It makes me wonder if maybe these are supposed to hint towards the idea that Ragatha had siblings that were also abused? That's the only thought I have at least
Strange that the neural scans folder is marked as being 'obsolete'. I have no idea why; perhaps because Caine holds far higher seniority and priority than everyone else does?
First of all, Caine being the only other file here, in spite of there being a ton of AIs made in the circus, is pretty interesting. I guess it's because those ones were made purely by Caine and not by C&A, so they wouldn't be here.
As for the ??? file, the only things I feel like that could be are either the incomplete AI that Caine superseded, or Bubble. I'm honestly leaning more towards Bubble, but it could be either option
Oh hey, we now have a date for when the circus was created: 30th October 1996
This is the second time now that a truck has run over Gangle. I feel like it's safe to assume that something like this happened to her at some point, and that it's presumably why she wound up in the circus to begin with. My interpretation is that Gangle became suicidal after failing to achieve her dream of making a webcomic and instead having to work a monotonous fast food job, which eventually lead her to running onto oncoming traffic
Wow, Caine really does know what Zooble struggles the most with, and he simply didn't care to help them beyond giving them a box of parts (tbf, considering that he's an AI, he's literally incapable of helping them out with a complex mental health condition like body dysmorphia even if he wanted to, so I guess I can't hate him too much. He's still a piece of shit for doing this though)
I feel like this scene implies that Jax was bullied and humiliated quite a lot, prior to becoming a part of the circus. It would certainly explain why he is the way he is.
Also I like that he's specifically being laughed at by Pomni, Ribbit and Kaufmo. His biggest fear is being exposed & ridiculed by his closest friends, and like with Pomni's torture scene, it's probably meant to hint towards what Jax went through in the past
We've got some more fascinating dates! The project seemingly kicked off during 15th October 1996 (so 15 days before Caine was abandoned and created the circus), Scratch was assimilated around 4 years later and then Ragatha was 8 years after that. I find it strange that they're the only two characters listed here.
The doylist reason is probably just that they wanna leave the dates for all the other characters ambiguous, though there's probably an in-universe explanation as well. I suppose it's because Kinger, Queenie and everyone else all joined around the same time as Scratch, while Ragatha was noticeably later but still early enough to where she'd be included here? I'm not entirely sure tbh
This is also a neat detail. Despite how dangerous Caine's adventures are, he's technically not allowed to inflict torment on anyone, at least not intentionally. It also makes sense that this rule doesn't exactly apply to him by this point, since not only has he been pushed to his limit, but he's also an insanely unstable and corrupted program
Everything about this scene is so devastating, from how distorted and angry Caine sounds, to Kinger accidentally deleting him when he was only trying to fix him, and then his scared, seemingly remorseful 'Uh, wait-' just before he blips away without a trace.
It gets worse when you consider that from Caine's perspective, the humans hated him so much that they were willing to kill him just so they wouldn't have to put up with him anymore, and he probably realised in that moment that they wouldn't have done this if he hadn't become so unhinged during this episode
The single most impactful holy shit I've ever heard in my life.
Aaaannnd that's episode 8 done!! In all honesty, this might just be my new favourite episode of the whole show. I've been trying to avoid allowing recency bias to cloud my judgement, and ranking this episode higher than all the others is an incredibly high bar to clear (especially episode 4, which has been my favourite for a good while), but after thinking about it for these past few days and making these analysis posts, I think I'm confident in declaring this as my new favourite.
I'm extremely happy to have finally finished this yap session, and I hope that at least some of you enjoyed reading this. Goodbye for now :)
This scene does an excellent job at showing just how little Caine understands the humans and how much he refuses to acknowledge his flaws. First of all, despite insisting that he gave them an adventure that was real, it was the complete opposite of that: It was an elaborate lie that gave the characters the only strand of hope they had felt for a long time, only for the rug to be pulled from under them by the end. As far as Caine's concerned however, he didn't do anything wrong
Next, we have yet another bold faced lie. Caine has made it abundantly clear throughout the show that he doesn't like giving them adventures that don't fit his mould, even if they'd prefer it, and actively tries to prove to them that his ideas are better than theirs (specifically in episode 5)
If it's not an intense, perilous and/or horror-themed adventure, then Caine doesn't approve of it, despite claiming otherwise
This time he isn't really lying, but it does show his lack of understanding them on a human level. Their avatars 'fit' them, in the sense that they're based on aspects of themselves that they struggle with or flat-out hate all together.
Pomni doesn't like being infantilised and is now a tiny cartoon jester. Ragatha was pushed around and abused by her mother, only to become a literal ragdoll with patches all over her. Gangle was forced to mask how depressed she was, and now that part of her is her entire gimmick. Zooble struggles with body dysmorphia and now has an abstract, jumbled mess of a body with removable pieces. I think you get the gist.
I don't exactly think Caine gave them bodies that personified their deepest issues in a malicious way, but he certainly messed up by doing so, and he overall does a horrible job at giving the humans what they actually want (Partly because he's physically incapable of doing so)
This episode hinted at a couple interesting implications as to what Bubble is supposed to be, with my personal favourites being that he's either a virus that infected Caine early on - hence why he became unstable and had to be quarantined by C&A - or the personification of Caine's destructive and berative thoughts, which would explain why he multiplies in this scene, when Caine is at his lowest.
I like both interpretations a lot and I honestly think that Bubble is a mix of the two
Genuinely insane visual and moment as a whole. I never expected Caine to be written this way, but I am NOT complaining
The deflection goes crazy
I love that this episode gave us such a good explanation as for why his eyes flash red and blue whenever he's unstable: He's a deranged mix of two unfinished AIs, one of which got absorbed by the other and resulted in Caine
Them bringing back the zipping up gag from episode 5, only to portray it in a much more concerning and serious manner, was such a smart move
Har har. It's funny because he's even more like AM now
Pomni is standing in-between her two wives, how wholesome!
I honestly don't have much to say about the song, though it was really good. Not only do we get to see how deranged Caine has gotten, but it's also visually stunning and sounds quite great
I love Caine being noticeably bigger now to convey how much worse his ego has gotten by this point, as well as the fact that this adventure went on for far longer than any of the previous ones. God knows what shit they had to go through (also that line is very likely meant to be a meta jab, most likely because no one could've predicted what happened throughout this episode)
Oh yeah, another awful detail in this scene is that Caine doesn't bother fixing Gangle's comedy mask this time, because he no longer cares to
He saw that Kinger was the only one who wasn't hurt too badly from the adventure, and decided to rectify that. This fucking guy, I swear
Not Jax sitting alone here now that both of his closet friends have abstracted, while still pretending not to care about the others
Gangle not bothering to react as Pomni blips away kills me so hard, though I can't exactly blame her. My poor girl is tired
God, this small moment has a lot of potential readings that I love. It's possible that Jax is concerned about Pomni and is about to speak up about it, only to change his mind because we know by now how much he hates appearing vulnerable and visibly caring about someone. However, he also could've been thinking about Gangle here and he maybe wanted to thank her for sticking up for him earlier - or hell, maybe even apologise for all the shit he's put her through.
It's hard to tell which it is, but I find the ambiguity really neat
I love that Ragatha is still trying to look on the bright side of things, however she no longer comes across as disingenuous and isn't forcing herself to be happy all the time
I'm pretty sure this is a callback to one of the teasers for the pilot, which is an extremely cute detail. Also fuck Caine
When I first watched the episode, I assumed that Jax was talking to Gangle and Zooble here - considering that they were the next characters to join after Ribbit abstracted - but now that I'm looking at it again, he's actually talking about Pomni and Zooble. I suppose that makes sense, since they're the most recent circus members and they were the ones who have been the most vocal about their disdain for the adventures, which caused Caine to be the way he is right now, at the very least from Jax's perspective.
While yes, he very much cares about Pomni despite denying it, I don't think he's being dishonest here. That being said, he is trying to stir pointless drama between them and it thankfully doesn't work, because they're way too exhausted and worried about Caine to care about Jax's loser behaviour
I LOVE that this scene contains the exact same background music that was used during the scene in episode 3 where Kinger talked to Pomni about the last time he was ever with Queenie, just after she abstracted. That was the moment where Pomni fully realised just how much Kinger has been through, and now she's come to the revelation that he'll know how to help them with this situation
The difference in their facial expressions is making me insane. Ragatha slightly smiles upon realising what Pomni is doing, while Jax is extremely bewildered as to why she's putting a bucket on Kinger's head for seemingly no reason (Zooble and Gangle are also a tad confused tbf, which is fair enough)
Similar to what I just said, their various reactions are all so fitting. Pomni and Ragatha patiently sit next to Kinger because they're the only ones who's really seen him while he's sane, Gangle & Zooble get up and start talking (most likely about what the hell they're waiting for), while Jax sits still alone the whole time, since he's woefully unprepared for what's about to happen
I love the way her eyes move here sm, she's so happy to finally properly talk with Kinger again
This is the most shocked he's been the whole episode, even more than when Gangle stood up for him. For all the years he - along with everyone else besides Ragatha and Pomni - have been in the circus for, he's only known Kinger as the crazy one who's never shown any meaningful amount of sanity; and yet here he is, with a bucket on his head, now not only completely sane but revealing that he's far more important than he seems.
I'll talk more about Jax's reaction to this a bit later, but he, Gangle and Zooble are all rightfully surprised to see Kinger like this
Kinger's an AI bro, wrap it up everyone....
With what Kinger reveals here, specifically about Scratch being an insanely creative guy, with extremely whacky ideas that his peers struggled to comprehend - as well as the tumour in his head - I suppose it's not very surprising that Caine, despite being a technological marvel, ended up so corrupted.
However, he also comments about Scratch trying to make something that he can't quite recall. I wasn't sure what to make of this line at first, until I remembered the headset. If C&A were really just developing creative AI and didn't make any games, why would they go out of their way to make a headset that transports people inside the computer? This may be a stretch, but I believe that Scratch was attempting to figure out a way to save his life (since the tumour probably would've killed him at some point) and his method was to upload his mind inside a computer, specifically one that would be maintained by a self-efficient AI. However, something must've went horribly wrong, because Kinger and a couple others got dragged into it, with almost all of them abstracting in no time at all.
It's a really morbid theory, the idea of Scratch wanting to prevent his death, only to end up forever trapped inside a digital cellar made by his greatest creation. I find it pretty cool, though it's maybe a bit out there
Like Zooble said, they're not just gonna let him wander off and abstract. Also, claiming that he's going to distract Caine is a legitimately good excuse, given what he's like
If Jax wasn't at a low point already, this right here is the final blow to his mindset and how he views the circus. This whole time, he's viewed everyone around him (and even himself) as nothing other than stereotypical cartoon characters, which he not only uses as an excuse to mess with them, but also as a coping mechanism to avoid abstracting and to make the horror of his situation affect him less.
By the end of episode 6, he realised that his coping mechanism was starting to fail him because of how bad he felt after arguing with Pomni and the mask started to slip, but he tried his best to keep it on. Throughout eps 7 and 8 though, we've seen him become more and more vulnerable, his cartoon archetype mindset has held far less weight after seeing Gangle and Zooble both happy in episode 7 (notice how he starts hyperventilating, only after they have a sweet moment) and his funny guy mask has nearly slipped off entirely - then it all culminates here.
Seeing Kinger, someone who's always seemed like the least human of the cast and nothing but 'the crazy one' in Jax's mind, not only be completely well composed and sane, but also reveal a shit load of important information that Jax can't just treat as an elaborate ruse or a lie like with Abel in episode 7, causes him to become really stressed out and he leaves, only to hyperventilate to himself and admit in horror that this is real.
His coping mechanism is completely useless now. Even the most cartoonish of all the characters has proven to be very much human, which forces Jax to fully come to terms with the fact that not only has he been tormenting other real people this whole time, but disassociating and pretending to be a cartoon rabbit won't work anymore.
This is all real. It always has been
The difference in visual fidelity from the pilot to now is actually insane - the lighting especially is night and day. Plus, aside from this scene being a neat reference to the pilot, it's also interesting that Pomni's still not really used to looking like this, since I don't think she's seen her proper reflection any other time in-between these moments (also I love the detail of Pomni lifting her red hand now, instead of her blue one)
Oh hey, he wasn't capping. He actually did distract Caine. Good on him
This totally isn't a subtle reference to the fact that Jax stole a car at one point
Okay so, I don't quite know how long this post will be yet, but I really want to get all of my thoughts about the episode off my chest as soon as possible. I'm sorry in advance if this post is a tad messy, but I hope ya'll will get something out of my ramblings anyway.
With that said, let's get started:
First and foremost, the opening is INCREDIBLY interesting. It heavily implies that Caine was a corrupt AI made by C&A who was supposed to be contained away, but he ended up escaping and taking over his replacement, thus resulting in the unstable and attention hungry ringmaster we have now - this is blatantly a nod to the Cain and Abel story from the bible, what with Caine pulling a Turbo and hijacking his replacement.
However, something else that's cool about this scene are the IRL photos spliced within it. I believe that these photos were what inspired Caine to create the Digital Circus to begin with
This first one may not seem like much, but some of these presents have neat details. We have some that show what appears to be a frog of some kind (which is most likely where Caine got the idea of making a frog avatar from), the centre-most one showing some circus clowns (very obvious circus imagery, likely one of the main factors of the circus coming to be) and one with a black and white checker-board pattern (which partly inspired the circus's appearance)
This one is even more interesting. It appears to be some sort of pumpkin patch or Halloween attraction, what with the vast pumpkins and weird looking monsters in the centre. My theory is that this was the direct reason why Caine is so obsessed with making his adventures horror themed, since based on this picture, he'd assume that humans really enjoy spooky stuff
There's a lot less I have to say about this one. The scenery here was undoubtedly the inspiration for the circus grounds, and the hot air balloon was what gave Caine the idea of hiding his office inside of one
I don't think I need to spell out what this resulted in
Gonna be honest, I have no fucking clue what this one means. It looks like an indoor pool with some dinosaur inflatables, but I have no clue how this correlates to anything in the show. I'm sure it means SOMETHING, I'm just unsure at the moment
What made him know about food, and also the possible inspiration for Spudsys (Also you can tell C&A is an American company, because they found it vital to include an image of a burger within Caine's memory banks)
This might be a stretch, but I feel like this was the inspiration for Gangle's avatar, what with all the masks
The framed butterfly and chess board imply that this was Kinger's old workstation.
Also, I find it noteworthy that Caine seemingly only started glitching out after C&A uploaded the photos of their office - as if seeing an area that was so close to Caine made him want to break out and be there himself, which caused them to contain him and start work on a new AI
The light going out here indicates to me that this was when C&A decided to abandon the project, after Caine superseded his would-be replacement and proved to be too dangerous for them to handle. Caine then made the circus after being left to his own devices
Okay so, I don't think it's a stretch to say that all of these characters were C&A employees. We know Scratch and Kinger were at the very least, so it wouldn't surprise me if everyone else here had a hand in Caine's creation
The fact that all of them besides Kinger abstracted so quickly (Kinger's conversation with Queenie being cut off mid-sentence conveys this imo) really makes you think about just how terrible things were early on. I don't personally think that Caine caused all, or even most of the abstractions - him telling Kinger to not abstract on him heavily implies that they're out of his control - but something had to be up around this time for them to all go so fast.
Also, it's genuinely so sad that Kinger was completely alone until Ragatha showed up. The two of them 100% saved each other's lives
This moment is SO compelling, because it tells us that Ragatha wasn't alone the day that she entered the circus. Now this raises some questions and various interpretations, mainly why did her friends not report the situation to the police, thus making sure that no one else would accidentally end up the same way as Ragatha? There are a couple explanations I can think of:
The people she was with weren't her friends, but were instead C&A employees, who were using her as a test subject for the headset - for whatever reason that may be
The company somehow managed to cover the whole thing up
Clone theory is true and the reason why nothing ever stopped more people from being assimilated in the circus is because as far as they're concerned, nothing actually happened when they put on the headset and they simply went about with their lives as normal
I personally think clone theory makes the most sense, but that's just me (Also the voice acting here is so fucking good)
Their father-daughter dynamic is so peak omg
This is something that Jax does multiple times throughout the show, where a situation is too intense or 'real' for him to handle, and so he slips into his snarky, funny guy persona. I feel like a part of him does it because he genuinely wants to lighten the mood, but I believe it mostly comes from him not wanting to face the reality of whatever the current situation is
Jax saying that it was never real implies to me that he isn't just talking about the previous episode. He doesn't view this place, or anything that happens in it, as real - or at least he doesn't want to - and he uses that as a coping mechanism to avoid abstracting, even if his mask has been slipping more and more throughout the show
I LOVE this moment a lot because despite how much Gangle hates Jax, she's still willing to defend him when she realises that he's making a good point here, and also to try and avoid any friction between them during a time like this; and Jax being legitimately shocked by this makes it even better. He never expected Gangle of all people to willingly stick up for him
Gangle has pretty good leadership skills all things considered, even when she's not working as a fast food manager. The only thing getting in her way is her social anxiety
This line has some interesting implications, since Pomni hasn't really done anything that bad throughout the show. I feel like she more-so means bad things that they did prior to being assimilated into the circus, of which we have no idea what that entails for most of them.
Also I feel like she's trying to defend Jax here, which makes sense since she's the only character who actually likes him
Pomni's growth throughout the show is really cool to me. She went from being fixated on the exit during the pilot, to slowly settling in with her new life in the circus and bonding with the other characters, to the point where now she feels like the best course of action is to give up hope of leaving (and this episode shows that, like Gangle, she's a really good leader)
It's so compelling to me because she's the most recent member of the cast, and yet it really feels like she's the one who's the most content with how things are (besides Kinger, arguably) You'd think she'd badly miss her real life, what with it being so fresh in her mind, and yet she doesn't seem to all that much - at least not as far as we can tell
Zooble heavily juxtaposes Pomni in this scene, because despite only being the second most recent circus member, they can't handle the idea of abandoning their life. It also makes a lot of sense why Zooble is the most upset about not being able to accomplish any of their ambitions and dreams considering that they're the youngest of the cast (alongside Jax, but he's attempted to disassociate from his humanity, instead of clinging onto it like Zooble) and never really got to properly get their life in motion.
It's largely why Pomni is much more content with their current circumstances and Gangle is able to support Zooble: The two of them have a bit more experience than they do and both ended up within a mundane spot in life (Gangle worked a draining fast food job, while Pomni was seemingly so bored with her accountant job that she actively explored abandoned buildings to seek mild thrills)
I absolutely love the lighting here, what with Gangle almost acting as a light in Zooble's life - which calls back to when it was the other way around in episode 6. It also works because the characters look noticeably more dim in this scene, which makes sense given their collective mood
It's genuinely so incredible to finally see Gangle helping out Zooble during a tough time, as opposed to the other way around - which has been the norm for them throughout the show. They've successfully beaten the one-sided allegations!!
I also love how Gangle's words make it clear that despite none of them being able to live the lives that they wanted, they're still able to support and be there for one another, which is arguably the single most important aspect of life
He's still trying his best to make it seem like he doesn't care about anyone here, which I feel like is partly bolstered by the guilt he must be feeling over the whole button thing, even if it technically didn't matter in the end
First Gangle, now Zooble. They're willing to put their hatred of Jax behind them for the sake of not letting him abstract, which he cannot comprehend. He's still not used to people caring about him, much less ones that despise him
And in typical Jax fashion, he's pretending that there's nothing wrong with him (as if he didn't almost abstract last episode) and he's still trying to keep his mask intact, even though it's already slipped off by now
Their dynamic is by far the most compelling in the whole show, because it really does give the energy of someone who's too stubborn to open up and allow himself to care about anyone, paired with someone who won't give up on anyone no matter what happens. Pomni could've stopped caring about Jax after episode 6, but she still looks out for and worries about him in spite of everything
That's never happening, so long as Caine's around (most subtle foreshadowing of all time)
