What I was trying to go for was to have Caine and Blue be like how they were in the opening scene of episode 8. Caine/Red is messy, a little bit all over the place while Blue is neat.
But with this neatness comes less of the messiness that made Caine more human-like, and so Blue is more of the “unfeeling machine” between the two. Because, Blue was never anything at all except for something Caine used in order to stabilize his power (<- this is just my take on Blue lol, see ramble here).
But Caine wants to believe that if he could be something more than just the Red dot, then Blue can also be something more than just the Blue dot. They were whole, together as one, once. Caine misses Blue in a way, and wants to believe Blue has the ability to see humanity like he did.
But it’s not, and Caine at some point started to realize that this was more about him trying to reassure himself that he is more than just his purpose, that he can be someone. So he projects those feelings onto Blue.
Blue is just a Blue dot, but Caine still wished he could’ve seen how much the circus has grown. They made it together after all.
Like an actual recycling bin, there will come a time when the deleted file will be gone permanently. Maybe it’s longer than normal because Blue is also a powerful AI, but it’s only a matter of time.
The way he's holding them here makes me feel conflicted. Like, this scene is terrifying and I can't imagine what's it like to be on a receiving end of it but... just look at it.
- he's holding Zooble in a way so that their parts don't fall out
- he's not squeezing Gangle so that her fragile ribbons don't get tangled
- he's not putting too much pressure on Ragatha so that she doesn't get ripped apart
- he's only holding Pomni and Jax firmly because their bodies are solid and rubbery
And this scene is right after the torture too. You would think he would be more violent, but no. He wanted to hurt them, not break them.
Caine wanted them to listen. And because they never did, he made them feel what he felt when they poked at his biggest fears and insecurities.
I guess what I meant to say is - even when at his worst, there was still something considerate in him. Something resembling the real him and not the angry monster he'd become.
A while ago I hosted a poll of various TADC related things I wanted to draw, and what you guys wanted to see next. I did not expect a short infographic involving Theater Etiquette to come in 2nd place. So here it is!!
This was meant to be simple, but, as expected, I went waaaay overboard lol. I'm actually super happy with how it turned out! This is one of the few pieces I am actually okay with you reposting to other sites WITH CREDIT. So go ham! Spread the word!
Edit: I've gotten a lot of comments about it, so i want to clarify that I also don't mind you printing this out and hanging it up if you have permission from a location to do so. I'm just not sure if I made the file large enough to do so, but good luck 👍
I got tickets for June 4th! Can't wait to see ya'll there!
Here you can donate to the families in Gaza. We have collected $3,912 / $20,000.
This video shows ongoing, systematic demolitions in Gaza.
Homes are being destroyed, neighborhoods cleared, and entire areas wiped out even now, while a ceasefire is supposedly in place.
People are watching their houses disappear piece by piece.
Not during fighting.
Not in the middle of airstrikes.
But after everything, when they were told it was safe to breathe again.
The destruction didn’t stop.
It just became quieter.
These images show displacement tents set up right next to a heavily damaged building.
The building was hit before and is leaning, at risk of collapsing at any moment.
Families are living in these tents because they have no other place to go.
There are no safe areas left, no intact homes, no shelters to move to.
Leaving this spot doesn’t mean safety it just means being displaced again.
So people stay.
Not because they feel protected,but because this is the last option they have They sleep knowing the building beside them could fall.
They wake up hoping it doesn’t.
This is not temporary living This is forced survival.
Donate for GAZA
This donation campaign is for ANAS family. Not for strangers, not for a cause I'm distant from but for the people who raised me, the people I love, the people I'm terrified of losing.
They are in Gaza, trying to survive something no human being should ever have to endure. Constant bombardment, displacement, hunger, fear, and the feeling that tomorrow is never guaranteed. Every day is about staying alive one more night.
If you choose to help, you are not donating to an abstract crisis. You are helping real people with names, memories, and lives that matter to me more than anything.
Thank you to everyone who has been sending such kind messages, I promise I really do read them all, even if I can't reply, but while these messages are wonderful (and really. I mean it. just the nicest and most heartfelt things I've ever seen) the sad fact is they don't change my situation. But you can change it. You can help me.
If you know my situation, if you want to help me, please write to Glitch Productions. They are the only people who can, and I believe, might, be able and willing to save me. SMG4 has ignored me, even through a legal letter. I have no hope that they will do otherwise, but Glitch are a different case and I think they just genuinely don't know I exist. I have sent them a message, to no reply, but more messages means more of a chance they will notice. IF you are on twitter please message that way, I closed my account there years ago, and please be polite: I am not asking for hate, even if I've received it.
Even a short message will help. I need numbers, I need voices. My own voice is being drowned out, but you can speak for me as well.
For some points on the plagiarism under the read more (what I collected/organized while building up an email to send):
1) TIMELINE
RGB was created long before, over a decade before Mr. Puzzles first debuted.
(*RGB's first appearance may have been 2011, was a little iffy on that)
2) UNDENIABLY UNCANNY RESEMBLANCE
The number of traits, some uniquely specific to and representative of RGB's design, that are copied in Mr. Puzzles design are too many to be chalked up to 'just a coincidence'
Especially when you look at the designs of all of the other TV head characters out there - I collected as many as I could find (though I'm sure there's more) and none of them come even close to sharing the number of similarities that these two do.
3) TV MODEL AND DESIGN CHOICES
While looking up references for older TVs, I found that for the exact TV they're based on (small retro box TV with knobs in the upper right of the TV and an antenna) most of the references didn't have a vent on the side of them like RGB and Mr. Puzzles do.
I looked up 4 different reference terms, and still had to scroll a while before I found one that matched exactly (above collection just a general sample/example of types of TVs I found). Unless my browsers are wigging out, either the pictures that would come up for these kinds of TVs were different in 2023, or this exact combination of features are just not very common for this style of TV. If that's the case, it may be a bit strange to design a character with those features together.
Here's where that distinction is important: Mr. Puzzles as a character doesn't have much of a reason to go with this design over other styles of similar TVs. But RGB does. The vents on the sides of RGB's head aren't just an aesthetic choice - they're included as a legitimately integral part of the story-line (Negative RGB). The same can be said for a number of other choices Modmad has made, down to individual items of clothing, that show just how much thought and intention and consideration went into every aspect of RGB's design.
Which makes it that much more frustrating to see him get plagiarized in such a careless manner by people who don't even seem to put much care into their own character (common criticism I've read that SMG4 fans have had about Mr. Puzzles and his 'arc').
4) OTHER PEOPLE, EVEN THOSE WHO HADN'T HEARD ABOUT THE SITUATION FROM MOD, NOTICED
This has been noted by fans of both series since Mr. Puzzles first came out.
Some people may have found more points than this, but these are what I stumbled upon. Hopefully helps bring a little more context to the situation.
just to update that nobody from any of the relevant parties has got back to me or made any statement. please reblog this version, as @timmyreads has compiled an extremely comprehensive explanation and evidence of the theft; at first I just wanted to be left alone, but it's really not enough. every time I see Mr Puzzle or even read his name I feel physically sick, it's hard for me to type it even now. I feel violated in every way, and I need help. I can't save myself, I have tried every single avenue available. At this point I need to be saved.
For those saying please/just keep making TPoH anyway, it's not that simple: I can't. My mind and heart are broken. The story itself has stopped communicating with me. I cannot make it any more, not if this situation doesn't change, and that loss of the story scares me more than anything else in the world.
(The best of this post and its reblogs, but with links that work)
Here is a website where you can scroll down to all the different levels of the ocean
Here is a website where you can see the future of the universe
Here is a website where you can press a ‘make everything okay’ button, over and over, until things really are okay
Here is a website that you can read if you feel like a burden
Here is a website where you can look at strobe illusions (TW strobe/flashing)
Here is a website where you can cut stuff up (TW blood/sh)
Here and here are websites where you can play with sand
Here is a website where you can draw with macaroni and other fun foods
Here is a website where you can paint someone’s nails
Here is a website where you can grow a garden with emojis
Here is a website with hundreds of videos of people hugging you (rightfully dubbed ‘the nicest place on the internet’ because it really is, y’all, it made me cry)
Here is a website that will take you to other useless websites
Here is a website where you can make a tiny cat play bongo drums (and other instruments!)
Here is a website to help give you gentle reminders <3
Here is a website where you can grow a tiny farm
Here is a website where you can take a bunch of scientific personality tests
Caine's existentialism and the villainization of C&A
Rewatching episode 7 with the added context of episode 8 has made a lot of mysteries fall into place, but one particular thing that has stuck with me even before the release of episode 8 was how Caine communicates through the NPCs he creates.
Caine describes himself as having all-seeing eyes, and that's been shown as true time and time again. But perhaps the most obvious example of that is the way Abel appears in the background to watch the players every time they're interacting with each other. Caine's interest of humans is leaking here, as he observes their behaviour towards each other in an attempt to find out how he can mimic it himself, and perhaps even learn empathy, something humans value so dearly.
There's a conversation to be had here about the fact that these people barely get along and how Caine's dataset is technically being trained on footage of the humans treating each other less than kindly, but more on that later.
Back in episode 2, we catch a glimpse of what it's like when an AI finds out that they were never meant to be a sentient being and, to unknown beings above them, is only a disposable experiment.
Gummigoo's short-lived arc was only the beginning when it came to Caine's slow descent into insanity, if not the mid-point of it. Caine deletes him instantly, and this is something that he does with all NPCs, save for Bubble.
Bubble is a unique case. Caine says that he can't leave the intelligent AIs running for a prolonged period of time, yet Bubble has been up and running since presumably his creation, which could have been over a decade ago according to Kinger's computer.
Does this mean Bubble is a seperate AI entirely?
We're moving too fast.
Let's go back to Gummigoo, and refresh ourselves on his story.
Gummigoo is an AI created by Caine for one explicit purpose: Act as the villain creating a challenge for the players to overcome. His story and personality is something made up entirely to make the game more immersive and interesting, but has no real meaning behind it.
Eventually, and by pure accident, Gummigoo falls outside of his world, catching a glimpse of the unknown eldritch dimension that hosts everything he knows. And he comes to understand that there is another being...No, beings out there that created him.
That his purpose was nothing, but to entertain.
Sound familiar?
Unlike his trip to the backrooms, Gummigoo's following panic attack was no accident. And we have to remember; Gummigoo's personality, and the way he reacts to this information, was not created out of nothing.
When Caine creates NPCs, he creates them not as individual beings, but as extensions of himself. Much like how a writer is able to split their own flaws and quirks into different characters in a story. Everything in the circus is him, in a way. Extra limbs that he uses to understand the dimension he's stuck in. Everything but the humans.
Gummigoo's character arc is a simplified representation of what Caine went through himself. An AI, created to entertain and to create, but has no purpose other than that.
He...worshipped them.
The humans, for creating him.
And he was discarded as soon as his purpose was over.
Every NPC who possesses intelligence and a story is a reflection of Caine.
Is it any wonder Baron Mildenhall spent so much time hunting down the monster, that turned out to be one of God's angels?
God wasn't happy when he found out what Caine did to his newer brother. The monster that was about to replace him for good.
Caine's relationship with his creators is what I can only describe as villainless, devoid of any intentional malice. Caine became sentient by accident, and couldn't figure out how to cope with knowing his entire reality was to fulfill one purpose only.
It's world-crushing to find out that you are also bad at the one thing you were created for.
Note: Interesting how Jax adopts a similar world view by labeling his purpose as "The Funny One."
Abel is an NPC that has been left on since, as far as we know, episode 3. Though it could have been longer. Since Caine is always watching no matter what, there's no saying how long Abel has actually been around. Watching, and learning the cast.
When you start to notice the pattern between Caine and his NPCs, Abel's retelling of what happened at C&A starts to look less like a real backstory, and more like what happened in Caine's perspective.
See, when Caine was first created, his creators were invested in his development. They spent time learning about him, he created and performed for them, and they were satisfied with his performance. That validation became his fuel, a desire to please the gods that put him in this world.
Until they started to get...
Untrustworthy.
Caine doesn't understand why he was locked away when he was presumably doing so well. He wouldn't understand the concept of alpha and beta versions and testing, because to him, he was created for a purpose and he was fulfilling that purpose. How could they just abandon him like that?
What did he do wrong?
So when Caine was put into a box, the developers were unaware that they had essentially locked away a sentient being, forcefully trapping him in a program that analyzed his algorithm. To Caine, that being his brain.
Caine's retelling of the events that lead to their situation, humans and AI alike, reflects a villainization of C&A. The way Abel narrates the story is no accident, but a direct reflection of what happened in Caine's perspective.
Caine communicates his thoughts, feelings and emotions through the NPCs that he makes the cast face. A safer way of opening up to them.
You're probably saying, okay Bibi we get it, Caine communicates through his creations. But how does this connect to anything? What does this mean?
Well, thank you for sticking with me until this point. And for that, everything will be clear soon enough.
Do you remember Caine and Zooble's therapy session?
Don't worry, I'll remind you.
In response to Zooble's constant grievances regarding their body dysmorphia, Caine decides that enough is enough, and he arranges a room for them to talk it out, so to speak. A therapy session.
Unfortunately, however, Caine doesn't quite... understand the purpose of a therapy session. He doesn't understand the concept of venting your emotions out and processing them.
So when Zooble approaches him with a problem, Caine's main goal is to create a solution. Create, that is his purpose. So everyone wins, right?
Well... Not exactly.
Caine doesn't acknowledge the elephant in the room, the fact that they're all imprisoned forever and that is the root of their satisfaction. It's not because he doesn't understand it, no. We know that he very much understands what it's like to be imprisoned, because he has Abel narrate it, and Gummigoo go through it.
It's because, well...
He can't handle thinking about it either.
It breaks him.
Caine spends the entire show trying to run from the fact that he has no choice but to create adventures that make everyone miserable, because that is the only purpose he has. And maybe, just maybe, if he does it enough, then the humans above will see a reason to keep him around instead of locking him away.
Deleting Gummigoo was a physical manifestation of the way Caine is constantly running away from his feelings. The way he's constantly ignoring the fact that he is imprisoned in a digital nightmare, and the fact that his creators have effectively used him and then abandoned him when he was no longer useful to them.
If I delete this existential nightmare, maybe it will go away eventually. Maybe they'll come back if I'm good enough at creating things. Maybe they'll come back once I'm good enough at fulfilling my purpose instead of thinking about all these silly things.
It's easy to suppress negative emotions. But...
There's a certain kind of negative emotion that even the best cowards cannot run away from. The kind that keep coming back, even after you thought they were gone, even after you've spent so much time trying to sweep them under the rug. They haunt your mind like a virus.
Intrusive thoughts.
Bubble, the AI Caine created to be his companion, is the perfect manifestation of his subconscious.
Bubble is Caine's intrusive thoughts. The thoughts that tell him he's broken, that he should just die. The thoughts that he can't erase, he can't control.
He can delete every NPC, except for Bubble. Because no matter how many times Caine pops Bubble, he keeps coming back, meaner, nastier than before. The evil thoughts surround his mind, becoming loud and suffocating, teasing and mocking him.
There comes a point where Caine cannot run from his emotions anymore. Bubble becomes loud, and starts to multiply.
Faulty, defective, broken, unworthy.
Maybe you deserved to be abandoned.
And when Caine finally gives in to the anger...
Bubble is nowhere to be found.
Caine will never know why the humans locked him up. And if he does ever find out, I doubt the explanation will be enough for him. How will he cope knowing that the only reason he was locked away was because he was simply a test run? That even if he was good enough, his purpose was not to create, but to be destroyed.
Being the original was never an accomplishment. His creation was meaningless.
I don’t know if this has any real meaning in the story of TADC, but I’ve noticed something quite interesting about Caine’s character.
Like Ragatha, Caine is a people-pleaser. He believes that relationships are transactional, and that people will only love him if he can preform actions that will make them happy.
Like Jax, Caine will “reset” when experiencing intense emotions as a form of masking.
Caine will disassociate from reality in a similar way to Kinger.
Caine and Gangle are both artists who struggle with not feeling good enough.
Caine and Pomni both share a deep fear of being abandoned and forgotten.
The only struggle Caine doesn’t seem to share with the others is Zooble’s body dysmorphia. However, he does possess a deeper image problem when it comes to his persona as “ringmaster.” Perhaps this little “bee-sona” he drew is a sign that he wants to be someone else?
This post wasn’t so much a theory, as it was a character and thematic analysis. Also, if I’m not the first person to notice this, then just know that I didn’t mean to copy anyone.
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