Caine sketch I did just now, hopefully I won't hate it when I see it again tomorrow. I think that's the main reason why I'm struggling so much to finish any of my drawings lately, I'm so scared of sketching something then rendering it right after and realizing the sketch actually sucked and I lost time coloring and shading it 😹😹😹😹and then wanting to kms. If I end up hating it I think I'll just delete it or maybe not I just want to become less anxious about posting my drawings 😿
Sorry for the delay, this is short and late but I just need to take this out before I keep remaking the ending...
Like this is the fourth draft of what I wanted to do, I'm mildly happy with how this turned out, hope I didn't make all of you wait for too long... Glup.
[see below the cut for the binary code, if you'd like to translate it!]
I love the bit in the end of Ep 9 where Zooble fixes Caine a drink and he acts surprised/touched that they're offering it to him, so I drew: this comic of extended bar adventures. I’m riffing off the headcanon that Caine would get back to being a little more Goofy/insecure when he's no longer in full apologetic mode. I like the episode 9 moment a lot because it feels like a cute ending coda for both of their character arcs: Zooble learning to be at peace with their body, and also to embrace the idea that they can find meaning through building community for a few people who need it even if they can't change the world; Caine learning to sincerely care about the humans and their ideas, even as he's still early on the path to internalizing that he is also a person. The ep 9 moment is also a cute ending to the running Thing throughout the show where Caine's been desperate to be accepted by the humans, and his belief that Zooble in particular resists him for not being "mature" enough. I Just Think Their Friendship is Cute. {Check below the cut for the binary code + some extended thoughts.]
For some other bonus extended thoughts: I think Caine had two main things he needed to learn. The first was "you need to make an effort to understand/care about other people," and the second was "you are also a person, who exists outside of your programming and function." I think Ep 9 Caine has figured out how to empathize with others, but is still early on the path to recognizing his own personhood and his own capacity to love/be loved [see his scene with the moon, and her advice that "all good things take time."] He's still treating himself as a tool for the humans to use-- but will slowly learn to see himself as a person as he spends more time genuinely befriending kind & empathetic people. I like that Ep 9 Zooble is both more at peace playing with their digital body, and also at peace with the idea that their life can be meaningful through the impact they have on a few lost & lonely people [even if they can never do anything that "changes the entire world."] Their IRL counterpart running an alternative clearly queer bar feels like a piece they were missing; they're someone who may not be changing the entire world, but is changing the world for the people who get to find the community they build. I also have a lot of thoughts on Caine & Zooble's dynamic throughout the show: Mainly that the circus has trapped Caine in a state of forced eternal infantilization, and he's resented Zooble because they've made him confront his own immaturity. I think that Zooble's bar in the real world really highlights how Zooble manages to do what Caine wishes he could-- build a place that people want to be a part of, serve people in a way that actually makes them happy, and become a sort of "pillar" in a community.
I do hope that someone (most likely Kinger) took Caine aside later and let him know the deletion was accidental, and that they never even considered the option of killing him, just either subduing him, likely to try and talk to him and work out why he was attacking them, or temporarily putting him to sleep and seeing if it was something in his code making him lash out.
I can see him potentially being pretty nervous around Kinger and having trouble interacting with him at first. I just would think it's nice if Kinger got the opportunity to tell him he'd never have done it on purpose because Caine is (one of) his greatest achievements as a programmer.
I like to headcanon Kinger willingly gave Caine access to his mind so he could verify this for himself, and also show Caine that he was trying to avoid deleting him against the entity in the code.
Do Creative Artificial Intelligence Networking Entities Dream of Abstracting Sheep?
GUYS this is gonna sound crazy but the recent merch ad showing Caine having a nightmare made me think of the book "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?" which IN TURN made me think of Blade Runner AND THEN I had to draw Caine expressing his desire to be remembered like Roy Batty 🤷♀️
soo uhhh yeahhh convoluted origin of this animatic aside... i also just wanted to try "animating" caine and pomni again since I like torturing myself LOL. Idk it was kinda rushed and also looks jank but im happy with it
My ramblings about blade runner tadc parallels under the cut:
I recently became obsessed with Blade Runner 2049 and watched the original Blade Runner film to get a comparison and really Roy's monologue in the og film is the only thought provoking part of the movie LOL (generalizing)
The thought of Caine explaining to Pomni the value of his memories/life in his final moments before being deleted--expressing this fear of being forgotten (PARALLELING POMNI'S FEAR OF BEING FORGOTTEN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE SHOW)--is so precious to meeeee!! I WISH there was a callback in the show to Pomni's conversation with Gummigoo in regards to Caine and his own personhood (worry not my dear followers because this WILL happen in AbstractedCaineAU TRUST!!!) .
I haven't read the book yet that the blade runner universe was based on, but just going off the themes of the film, I think the idea that replicants are essentially indistinguishable from humans makes this speech from Caine to Pomni really interesting. AND thinking about how in blade runner Deckard (aka Pomni) is hypothesized to be a replicant as well, it's just a COOL parallel to draw between her and Caine that they might not be as different as the show paints them to be.
Wish I could formulate more coherent thoughts on this but ahhh my brain sleepy sorry, but do you see the vision or am I crazy x)
TLDR: I like imagining alternate realities where Caine actually does express his own personhood openly to the cast AND that his personhood isn't any less than theirs LOL
Hi! I was wondering if there was any sort of meaning behind the shape sequence Caine uses to get to the brain scans folder / door? Or if it was just a sequence of shapes that looked neat lol
It was meant to represent what it's like for him to decide a path he isn't meant to follow. Like a visual for his creative problem solving.