michelin tire guy

sorry for the spam! i don't know how to use tumblr, using reblogs to save posts i like until i learn how to... save them properly 💀

[blogfamousturtlecollector]

What was that jerk even talking about? Neither Ribbit nor Kaumfo were unpleasant before abstract.

[tadc-has-weird-writing]

I really liked tadc's first 5 episodes. I thought they were incredible. The characters were incredible, good designs good motivations, ect

Ragatha especially hit home for me. I also had an emotionally abusive mother who I was never good enough for. I also had a "fawn" trauma response. I felt so seen by a piece of media allowing someone's mother to be the villian in their story, and the unhealthy way they cope with it being front and center. Being "too nice" and overlooking your discomfort to please others is a bad thing, and it felt special that a piece of media began to tackle that

But then. Episode 6 happened.

First and foremost, all of the characters and storylines I liked got completely fucking sidelined. Never again is Ragatha's trauma response brought up. Pomni's grief over Gummigoo, the first real friend she made in the circus. Zooble's dysmorphia. And no, I don't count the "nightmare" sequence in episode 8. That was using it for cool visuals, not actually tackling it.

Why does all of this get sidelined? Fucking Jax.

From the very beginning, I've hated Jax. It felt like the writers were grabbing me by the shoulders shaking me back and forth "HES NOT WHAT HE SEEMS! HES A DICK BUT HE HAS REASONS!" I hate characters where it's a little too clear the writers want some sort of redemption for them

And that's all episode 6 is. I get that it's the Jax episode, but every other B plot was so much more interesting. I loved Kinger and Ragatha remembering their friendship. I love how cute Gangle and Zooble are. But nope! We care more about the cringy "bad boy"! All of the interesting parts end way too quickly so we can get back to the stupid purple rabbit!

And it doesn't even get better. Every episode going forwards, Jax is the main character. Pomni feels sidelined in her own show, forced to be "Jax's friend". I liked how they were setting up her character. She found her footing so quickly, and she had a little found family in the circus. She loved them as much as they loved her. Even if her first friend was gone, killed right in front of her... she still had them

But after episode 6, all of that was ripped away. And then 2/3s of the final episode's runtime is dedicated to Jax backstory. Could this not be shortened? Exposition in some side project? I get that Jax is a main character, but he's an incredibly unlikable one, and also WASN'T ALWAYS A MAIN CHARACTER!

Tldr, The main issue is that once Jax becomes a main character, every other plot line and character gets shoved to the side to make room for him. It's irritating, and it's why if I ever go back to rewatch the show, I'm probably gonna skip the last 4 episodes

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

If I were to describe Jax as a character, he would be the “have your cake and eat it too” character.

Goose wanted an irredeemable character, a sympathetic character, a redeemable character, and self-insert all at once. Jax was at his best when he was just an asshole who had more going on. He functioned best as an antagonistic supporting character that could change. But beyond episode 6 but especially in episode 9, all of what made him a functional character dies.

He’s irredeemable because he’s a bigoted asshole who harms other people and led to two suicides and the potential death of his mother. So, he deserves to die!

But he’s also sympathetic because of his dysfunctional family and issues with toxic masculinity, as well as the remorse he feels for doing what he did, but we can never have him change or be held accountable for it!

But he can change as his human counterpart Leeroy ended up getting his shit together, found a stable job, and potential friends!

And judging by his behavior and Goose’s many comments/parallels, he’s also a self-insert who midway becomes the main character.

Did Goose think having a suicidal character dying would have woven better into the themes of finding meaning in life and growing is better than having Jax develop while ALSO having the group call him out? It’s like she thought Jax dying was his punishment, so she didn’t actually have his victims get closure or call him out.

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

I was looking back at Jax talking about his family and at first, I thought, “Oh. Jax had two neglectful parents”. But looking back, it feels strange how the show focuses more on how awful his mom (who was potentially killed) rather than the fact his dad was a neglectful deadbeat.

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

i hope i don’t offend anyone by saying this, but using she/her pronouns for jax as for right now leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

the show leaves the character as he’s always been presented as. his real world self still goes by he/him and uses a traditionally masculine name. there is zero indication otherwise.

if your friend was exploring gender, and told you about the possibility of transness, you would wait until further notice to use the preferred pronouns, wouldn’t you? she doesn’t always equal woman and he doesn’t always equal man.

obviously, jax isn’t real, but how we treat fictional characters is informed by how we treat their real world counterparts. and it seems insensitive to insist on someone’s pronouns—someone who is still reckoning with their self identity.

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

Love the lore build up. Especially Scratch. Easy scapegoat for Kinger. No, i had no agenda in making Caine, it's all Scratch. We uploaded our brains here because Scratch.

Even the dialogue make it look like Kinger is using Scratch as a scapegoat

Zooble: Wait, you made Caine?

Kinger: PARTIALLY yes

and immediately starts taking about Scratch, like no body asked ???

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

Remember in the episode "They all get guns", Jax made a big deal about having to spend time with characters who where near abstraction and how unpleasant it was in his cringey monologue? And then episode 9 came and went found out that purple rabbit didn't even spend time with his friends when they were near abstraction.

That mf isolated them instead, from him and everyone else.

"They're not pleasant at all!"

/And Jax was literally the one who drove them to suicide. :/

[tadc-has-weird-writing]

Does anyone know why and how Jax had that bucket of keys? Also, was there any character significance to it?

Probably not.

[tadc-has-weird-writing]

When Caine leaves the blue A.I. behind in the void, he says that he's no longer as powerful as he once was without it.

But they don't explain what powers he's lost.

He can still fly/float, he can still conjure, he can still open portals and create worlds, and presumably he can still make NPCs to fill said worlds with.

What did he lose? What changed?

I honestly don't even know.

[tadc-has-weird-writing]

“Jax doesn't have a single scene like that. He's just an asshole to the end.”

AMEN oh my god it’s so stupid. his sympathetic moments are: Ribbit conversation (murders her), and the inside the brain sequence where he’s like “wehh why do you care about me?”

the latter being after we find out he’s yk a violent creepy murdering misogynist. no pomni i don’t want you to talk to this freak i don’t want you to save him leave him in there

“I was under the impression he was going to be a jerk not a violent misogynist”

exactly

dude was my favorite character when he was written as a nihilistic edgelord bully who had some depth by being insecure/damaged by the loss of his friends and unwilling to make real connections again. if his insecurity was being closeted, which i suspected a smidge around the baseball episode… that’d be a sweet thing for him to overcome. wouldn’t that be a nice character arc? after trial and error and confrontation, the bully grudgingly apologizes to the others and wears his dead friend’s bow as a sign of love for her and him(her)self. even if not a fully happy uncloseted ending like that just let us see it on his nightstand or something come the fuck on.

at least let leeroy have a fucking skirt in the irl social media thing. or a bow, or programming socks ANYTHING

instead he “dies” a piece of shit 10x worse than what he was even an episode prior.

not just a POS, a monster. Sexual predator. Killed his friends. And he’s played up as trans jesus and awww widdew baby’d by the narrative all the while

It’s gross to say but the vibes he gave off towards the end were something like “I would’ve SA’d all the non-men in the circus if we had genitalia”. Turning him into a creep instead of a dirtbag was just such a bad idea

this show was not cut out to deal with topics as heavy and complex as the suicide of an abuser, let alone what they went for

Hit the nail right on the head. I never really liked Jax from the very beginning.

[tadc-has-weird-writing]

If i had to suggest something for a TADC rewrite, I'd make one of the characters eventually snap and say to Caine that they want an adventure without Jax. Look, you weirdo pair of dentures, you made a solo adventure for Kinger one day and the other day we just enjoyed a tea party when Jax was all tied up plus you allowed Zooble to not participate for how many days? You can do that. Can we have another tea party or something when Jax has a solo adventure. Yes please thank you.

Idc if it would lead to Jax abstracting, we saw how things are without him, plus he somehow made Ribbit and Kaufmo abstract, and yet there was always someone around him and for him. Caine, his supposed narrative foil, was isolated in various aspects at various times and still managed to learn something, let Jax shine in complete isolation now (but actually let the others enjoy an adventure or two without him)

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

The only reason Jax isn’t considered a transmisogynistic caricature despite hitting so many of the beats (most of her misery is her own fault, she lusts after and abuses even supportive women out of envy, she kills herself without even properly transitioning, her IRL self finds happiness as a cis man after abandoning his delusions, hey we have a maid dress joke to fetishize her, the show conveniently leaves it ambiguous enough for most viewers to ignore despite everything else being spelled out loud) is because the writer is a trans woman herself who is clearly giving Jax special treatment as her self-insert.

But unfortunately when we’ve established that cis female creators can be so misogynistic, after a while we’re gonna have to accept that TADC wasn’t even good rep for its time. I’m already seeing transfems point it out.

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

the biggest thing I miss about this show is the episode 1-2 early 90's computer aesthetic

I miss when it was a wacky, surreal world that BARELY made any sense and was just about this.. jester gal trying to find her way in a WACKY NEW WORLD!!!

I don't even care about what happens later on, I miss when it felt like an actual game and not just "yeeep, this is a world alr."

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

I wish the characters were allowed to be messy. So tired of the therapy slop and trusted adult thing. I would gladly watch a 30 minute episode of them just yelling and fighting each other with confessionals and everything

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

I can't stop thinking about that early ask for Goose where she said that we don't want to know what Caine does in his spare time. Like, why, Goose. If you planned the show from the start you should know already that we'll see only how he has a dinner with Bubble, has a dinner with Jax and has AM crashout. Just write something random, not that it's relevant to the show anymore. What exactly we don't want to know about him, Goose.

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

One of the reasons I hate Episode 8 so much besides the cringe AM Caine moment that makes absolutely no sense is that it makes the cast feel like actual cartoon characters when the show has spent all this time trying to convince us they’re not.

I know I’m supposed to be thinking, “OMG this is so awful literally I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream,” but why am I supposed to care?

You all played a game where you were shooting each other and had fun with it.

You all show almost no reaction to physical pain 99% of the time.

People getting hurt is constantly used as a joke RAGATHA the most

But now that the villain does it I’m suddenly supposed to care? YAWN

What I am trying to say it can’t be only awful when the bad guy does it needs to be awful all of the time

At least the idea of Caine bringing the abstracted characters back as NPCs would have made more sense, because it leans into the psychological horror more. Yk the psychological horror we were promised

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[tadc-has-weird-writing]

if glitch hadn't completely stripped away all of pomni's personality after episode 5 so they could make her entire character revolve around jax and trying to help them, her reaction to being a brain scan would've been way stronger and it probably would've made the episode way more interesting. like, if i was pomni and i found out i was just a brain scan i'd be losing my fucking mind. this whole time she believed there was a real life waiting for her outside the circus, and that's one of the only reasons she never completely gave up on trying to escape. then she finds out she's not even the original person? that she's basically a digital copy of someone who's out there living their life normally? at that point every attempt to escape suddenly feels meaningless. what exactly are you trying to get back to when the life you remember was never actually yours? there is no body waiting for you, no old life to reclaim, no version of yourself to return to. this premise could've been so interesting if they actually went into it. but nooo guys you don't get it 🥺🥺 the point of the show is finding meaning in a stagnant life 🥺🥺🥺pomni doesn't care about leaving anymore because all that matters is that they're all in this together 🥺🥺🥺🥺 even though she doesn't even have a meaningful connection with any of these characters (besides jax) (highly debatable) (doesn't even matter in the end because he dies off screen anyways)

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