*INTERNAL SCREECH*

King of the rats Welcome to my brainrot

[demilypyro]

Digital circus' biggest problem is that it was written to be a niche show aimed at weird analytical queers with actual media literacy and it accidentally blew tf up and hit the mainstream and a bunch of people who have never had a second thought about anything got into it

[mothfulhansel]

some magma doodles from earlier

[m4nsch]

i LOOVVEE making lists like this it was such a pleasure

closeups under the cut! ⬇️

[weregonnaneedabiggerboat]

"Jax intentionally doomed the cast!" "Jax was being mind controlled by Caine!" — Both of you are wrong. Here's what I think.

No editing no peer review we die like Gummigoo

Episode 7 was certainly one of the most wild episodes we've seen so far. Lots of twists, lots of ups and downs and a huge lore drop that was thrown right out of the window in the last 5 minutes of the episode.

One of the things that's been capturing the fandom's attention is Jax's "betrayal" that happens when he pushes the red button that presumably would doom the cast to stay in the circus forever.

Honestly, that scene was extremely well done, simply because of how ambiguous everything seems to be, and how it left many people confused on who to be mad at. Jax, or Caine?

The truth is, there's more nuance to this sequence of events than meets the eye. More than some of the fandom is willing to give the show credit for.

We should keep in mind that TADC is not a show about good guys and bad guys.

There's no hero that's chasing the villain, there's no protagonist that's going to come out victorious and there's no antagonist that's going to be blasted into oblivion and defeated for good.

TADC is a show about 6 deeply mentally ill, traumatized people who cope with being trapped in a horrible situation in vastly different ways. Jax copes by choosing to continue the cycle of abuse, despite being a victim himself, he chooses to also be an abuser in order to regain control of his surroundings, after losing everything when he first woke up here.

But, I want to start this off by reviewing what exactly happened in the scene where he presses the button, because that is what we're talking about after all.

The cast enter the room, silently, and are met with a giant blue screen and 2 big buttons; Red and blue. The screen describes to them exactly what each button does. The red button will keep you trapped forever. The blue button will set you free.

Pomni approaches first, then hesitates. Abel's words weren't sitting right with her. She pushes Kinger to choose instead, hoping it's dark enough for him to be able to come to his senses and make a wiser decision.

Jax sits in the background, observing, at first wanting no part in what's going on.

However, as Pomni and the others begin to cast their disagreements, Jax's anxiety suddenly starts to get worse. He starts hyperventilating, his eyes go blurry, he can't seem to calm down no matter how much he breathes.

Pictures flash in his mind, memories of the real world. Are they his memories? Who knows. But they are undoubtedly images of the real world outside the circus. The world Caine seems to have a strange obsession for.

His breathing gets louder, the flashes get worse, the pressure is on. Jax is having trouble grounding himself to reality, and in a moment of disoriented madness, he shoves Zooble out of the way, dashing for the two large buttons before him.

Pomni stands in front of the red button.

And he doesn't shove her out of the way.

Why?

Nevertheless, Jax slams an arm on a button. We don't even know if he knows it was the red one.

Silence.

Ragatha asks Jax what he just did, shellshocked by the absurdity of it all.

Jax looks down at the button, confused, coming to his senses. His panic attack only slows down after he finally chooses a button. And he doesn't say anything, not a single confirmation that he was confident about his choice.

When Ragatha prompts him, Jax doesn't know how to answer. Why? Why doesn't know how to answer? He made that decision, didn't he? Shouldn't he be able to justify it?

Should he?

This is where the lines get blurry. Many people are certain that it's one or the other.

Either Jax was mind controlled.

Or Jax did this out of his own free will.

I disagree with both. I don't think it's that simple.

There's nothing in Jax's general philosophy hinting that he wants to stay in the circus. In fact, we're usually lead to believe the opposite.

In episode 6, Jax tells Pomni that he knows she hates it here, everyone does. In episode 5, Jax also tells Pomni that he doesn't understand how Ragatha can pretend everything is okay in a situation like this.

He also tells Pomni, in episode 6, that the silver lining is that "you can pretty much do whatever you want." But does it make sense that this one philosophy is enough for Jax to justify wanting to stay in Hell? Especially when he doesn't even fully take advantage of this most of the time?

Jax wasn't mind controlled by Caine. But he was influenced.

The decision to press the red button wasn't one he made while fully himself, and given the fact that Jax never believed any of this was real anyway, it's unlikely he was even aware of the gravity of the situation. Or believed in it like the rest of the cast did.

When Pomni starts to doubt her decision, and Zooble pressures her to push the blue button, THAT'S when Jax's panic attack starts happening.

We already know that Caine is impatient and needs validation to function, that he starts glitching out and getting upset at the slightest hint of criticism.

It's very possible that Caine started getting impatient and decided to pressure Jax into pushing the button by provoking him into a panic attack, flashing strange pictures of the "macroverse" in his mind and possibly even amplifying his emotions way higher than they were supposed to be.

And so Jax, in an effort to stop the pain, lunges forward and slams his arm down on the red button.

In "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream", Ted describes how he believes that he is AM's favorite because he's messed with him the least, and enjoys toying with his mind the most.

Caine chose Jax out of all the characters to organize this weird date with him, and to give him the validation he's been looking for.

There's also other hints dropped in the show that Jax is Caine's favorite.

Caine decides to give Jax the gun first. Caine chooses 2 of Jax's suggestions over the others. Caine never punishes Jax for any of the stuff he puts the cast through. Jax is also the only character Caine addresses directly in episode 1 as he's introducing Pomni to the circus; "Gadzooks you're right, Jax! We should have a brand new adventure for our new member Pomni!"

And have we forgotten that we already have proof Caine can beam images into the humans minds when he literally did this in episode 6 with Jax?

After being prompted by Ragatha, Jax doesn't look confident, or angry, or calm. He looks confused. Almost traumatized.

Jax's agency wasn't fully removed when he was pushing that button. But it's not like he had an active choice either as he was being coerced into doing it by Caine. Similarly to how in episode 2, Jax coerces Gangle into slamming the truck against the other by threatening to leak her weird secret.

"This is your life, this is the real world, you have no one to go back to, you have no one waiting for you. I am the only one that loves you. I love you. Stay with me. I love you. Do it. Press the red button. Stay with me forever. There's nothing left for you out there."

Ted never loses his agency to AM. His personality is never directly altered, his body was never changed like the others. He isn't made crazy like Kinger, his emotions never dependant on his masks like Gangle, his body isn't fragile like Zooble's, and he's not made into a peacekeeper like Ragatha.

He is authentically a cynical, paranoid, and broken young man. And yet, AM still has a fair amount of control over the choices he's allowed to make.

Sorry, Caine.

[mint-fixates]

HEY SO Y'ALL KNOW HOW ALASTOR PULLS AT/RIPS OUT HIS HAIR WHEN HE'S EXTREMELY STRESSED OR UPSET RIGHT

SO UH

GUESS WHAT HE DOES WHILE REJECTING VOX'S OFFER TO BE PARTNERS???????

[captaincat3110]

!!SEASON TWO OF HAZBIN HOTEL SPOILERS!!

The way we cant see Alastor's eyes in most of these frames. The way they usually reflect his mood yet MOST of the time we can't see them, in contrast to how we saw his eyes when he was gazing fondly at Vox. Please, please, tell me that Alastor had at least one good reason for reacting like this. (That does not mean I don't want him to apologize or be humbled. He'd deserve it, and he is still a top tier asshole, but I NEED RADIOSTATIC RECONCILIATION)

[the-irreverend]

Does anyone else just absolutely love the cute little laugh that Alastor makes when he sees Vox imitating him?

It's little moments like this that make Radiostatic top-tier doomed yaoi!

[zany-deer]

Ik what Al says to Vox was hurtful and… harsh, but (beside Al having trust issues because people are using him like Rosie and Mimzy) what if Alastor is protecting Vox from something or someone because of his deal. Like imagine Alastor is distracted by Vox and not doing his “job”, and that Rosie threatens Al if he doesn’t do his part, she’ll hurt Vox or worse. It’s a big stretch, but just what if… 👀👀👀

And I believe that Al does care about Vox because he seems comfortable around Vox and he enjoys his company. Plus, he has that genuine smile and he laughs a little when Vox did an impression of him. So in my theory, I think (I could be wrong) that he’s protecting Vox and he (still maybe) does care about him… idk 🤷‍♀️

I’m just putting my 2 cents here

[crowcage]

HAZBIN HOTEL SPOILERS‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

⚠️⚠️⚠️

⚠️⚠️⚠️

sorry hi it’s me again you cannot POSSIBLY CONVINCE ME ALASTOR DIDNT GENUINELY LIKE HIS COMPANY?? not romantically sure BUT HE LIKED HIM I SWEAR HE LIKED HIM IM NOT CRAZYY

also maybe it’s just me but I feel like Alastor is trying SO hard to push Vox away constantly like its forced or something he’s so clearly obviously trying to hit a nerve (and it definitely worked)

I mean even now, in the present he makes constant jabs at Vox, making sure he keeps on ‘hating’ him (because we all know if Alastor stopped verbally assaulting this man he’d start getting even more gushy than he already is/hj)

[sticking my neck out and blaming Rosie for their doomed yaoi] I’m going insane I can’t accept that Alastor would talk to Vox like that because he WANTED to look how soft his expression was in these scenes

[importantcatpics]

[ratkingsewers]

HNNDSHSDGJHSND MY FAVORITE OCS RN (They are a romantic tragedy rn)

[kuroashims]

And the adventure begins... ⚓

[honey-lemon3]

I’m highkey noticing a really bad pattern…

Caine does not like seeing happy couples fr

[smallpwbbles]

Fanart for @humanityinahandbag and @samthefrank sonic movie fic How to catch a falling star on A03, I love this moment specifically just cause I love it when characters who had previously been consumed by rage and grief no longer know what to do with themselves when the rage leaves

[loveletterworm]

More little sprites because someone asked me nicely to make these guys. I'd actually wanted to make Berdly before anyway, but was having trouble at the time...I think he came out really well here though. And I mostly managed to stay within 3 colors this time...except for Swatch... (deltarune itself uses over 3 colors for the board sprites all the time but I've been trying to be sparing about it.)

Actual size (very small again):

Also this:

[blueskittlesart]

dessknight dessriel truthers rise up. they're perfect for each other

[missisinformation]

Lightning never strikes the same place twice. But we’re the same, aren’t we? And yet we met anyway. There’s a frequency only we share. We don’t fear the shock. So tell me, hypothetically, what if i breathed electricity into you? What if you were drained, empty and the only spark left was mine? Would it revive you or ruin us?