Origami Around
ellievsbear
Product Placement
Sweet Seals For You, Always
pixel skylines
@theartofmadeline
we're not kids anymore.
AnasAbdin
Not today Justin
occasionally subtle
sheepfilms
will byers stan first human second
Monterey Bay Aquarium
One Nice Bug Per Day
shark vs the universe
d e v o n
roma★
hello vonnie
almost home
todays bird
seen from Italy
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Germany
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Portugal
seen from Malaysia
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from India
seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
@serpentinesomebody
Welcome to my blog!
Here are some of my interests:
FNAF Security Breach
Arcane (the TV show)
Encanto
Squid Game
Infinity Train
The Owl House
The Good Place
Sanders Sides
Hades (the video game)
The Bad Batch
Good Omens
Detroit: Become Human
The Mitchells Vs The Machines
The Dragon Prince
Blood Of Zeus
She-Ra
ATLA/LOK
TADC
Thank you for reading and have a lovely day!
Thinking about the inherent tragedy of being a prototype. You can never be good enough because you weren’t ever meant to be good enough. You were always intended as an experiment to be thrown away so that a better version of you can take your place.
AU where Caine comes back, but everyone is terrified of him after his outburst and it makes him feel utterly miserable. Unfortunately for him, his message of ‘who’s running the show’ really did get through to them.
I have an analysis coming up that I’m kinda proud of but unfortunately it potentially falls apart completely if I miss even one tiny moment from the show so. hm.
I love the concept of Caine being obsessed with humans not in a romantic or even platonic way, but an obsession of utter admiration and fascination for these complex beings that are so incomprehensibly different from him. Not in a way that dehumanizes them as interesting objects or toys but also not in a way that deifies them as his gods. The closest comparison I can think of would be the wonder a human might feel upon seeing an otherworldly cosmic or eldritch being.
do you think Zooble had to explain what being nonbinary is to an artificial intelligence program and a 40+ year old cishet man or was everyone on that dev team in the 90s woke ahead of their time
Same Anon: Perhaps “unfair” wasn’t the right word, but I got the impression that Caine internalized that he was at fault for his imprisonment given his insistence that he’d “fixed” himself in episode 8 when talking to Bubble. The way he drops abstractions into the cellar also seems like part of that to me, as it feels like it’s no coincidence that the cellar is very reminiscent of his box.
Though that doesn’t necessarily mean he didn’t hold conflicting feelings about it, as Abel alludes to Caine and Kinger having unresolved baggage. Or that Caine started off viewing his punishment as fair but then his feelings grew more conflicted over the course of the show.
That makes a lot of sense! Also, I’ve never seen anyone compare his box to the cellar, that’s actually extremely interesting to think about
Zooble: Can I give you some constructive criticism?
Caine, already crying and shaking like a kicked puppy: Of course, what is it?
Adding to your point about how Caine’s receptive to Gangle because her experience is one that overlaps with his own, I also find it interesting how that same understanding sorta backfires on him by the end of the episode. Because I get the impression that while he didn’t like when punishment was inflicted on him, he doesn’t seem to view how he was treated as being unfair or wrong. Which I think when it comes to his “evaluation” with Gangle, he flips the cause and effect: he interprets Gangle as being sad because she performed sub-optimally during the adventure, and not that underlying issues were affecting her ability to enjoy herself. So of course he thinks the way to solve this is to give her a passing score instead of asking her if she needs to talk about anything. Though depending on how you interpret Caine glitching when saying “I’m such a good boss” it seems like he at least recognizes that this didn’t solve the problem.
That’s a REALLY interesting addition!!! Gave me much to think about, thank you
I’m still not sure how I personally think Caine feels about his punishment. To me, he does seem to hold some anger/resentment, but that could also be him projecting his own feelings of inadequacy and turning that self-hatred towards his developers, so I feel like I’m 50/50 on whether or not he views their actions towards him as fair or cruel. That said, I do like the idea of him not viewing how he was treated as unfair or wrong. It opens up room for a lot of interesting interpretations of his character.
I 100% agree with him viewing Gangle’s sadness as due to her performance, since he’s relating things back to his own experiences. The glitching definitely seems like he realizes he didn’t solve the issue, and I think that frustrates and confuses him, so he sort of goes into denial. It once again links back to him not understanding the ‘why’ of things.
I think learning about D&D and playing as both a DM and a party member could fix Caine actually and I’m only joking a little bit
maybe this is a little silly of me to say, but am I the only one who’s kind of surprised by Caine’s emotional intelligence in this scene?
Caine does not take suggestions or criticism well. Usually he doesn’t even take them at all. But he does here. Gangle gives him a suggestion and he enthusiastically accepts. He tells her it’s a great idea. He even recognizes it as something that his adventures have been missing.
Now, I’ve seen a few people say that it’s malicious of him to specifically accept this suggestion when it’s the only one the humans have given him that features punishment. But here’s the thing: he never actually implements the punishment. No one even fails their employee evaluation. Caine understands that the motivation specifically is what matters, and that a punishment would not make the adventure more enjoyable. He infers that the illusion of danger/consequences is enough.
This is noteworthy because what Caine struggles with the most is the why of things. He knows Zooble doesn’t like their body, but he doesn’t understand why. He knows stakes and suspense can be engaging, but he doesn’t understand why. He knows the humans aren’t happy, but he doesn’t understand why. He knows the what, but he struggles incredibly hard to grasp the why.
But here, he does. I think the reason he understands what Gangle actually wants and what would make the adventure more enjoyable is because punishment is one concept that he can grasp. It is one he has experienced and can relate to. He has not experienced a longing for a home he can’t return to, or body dysmorphia, or having his mental state rely on a prop. But punishment? He is intimately familiar with.
Caine is very much capable of empathy, it’s just that he has a limited range of experiences that overlap with the humans in the first place. But this happens to be one of them, so he can. He can think: “I’ve been punished before for not performing properly. I didn’t like that, so the humans probably don’t either, which means there’s something else Gangle must want aside from punishment itself that I can provide. Maybe the suspense from anticipating potential consequences is enough? Oh, motivation! That’s it!”
The other reason I think he’s receptive is simply because a human is seeking him out. This just doesn’t happen. He has reached out to humans, but they don’t reach out to him, at least not in a genuine manner. But Gangle calls him to have an honest conversation.
And that’s the other part: how she talks to him. She does not criticize him or the adventure, she does not insult him, she does not demand anything of him. She essentially says “I was wondering if you could do this thing”. She gives him the opportunity to give his feedback on her suggestion, and gives him some creative control (what the ‘punishment’ could be and how to go about it). A suggestion, not a demand, given without any snark or insults, that still gives him the opportunity for him to provide his own input and have some control.
That is the reason Caine is receptive of her suggestion. It’s about how she presents it. I don’t think Gangle even thought that hard about her phrasing, but it goes to show how sensitive Caine is.
I’m not saying the humans should have to walk on eggshells in order to give Caine any criticism, nor am I saying he’s a saint for managing to empathize with and understand a human one time. What I am saying is that this instance provides interesting insight into Caine’s character and proves that he does have the potential to have healthy communication with the humans.
I know this isn’t anything groundbreaking, but I just think it’s fun to analyze Caine’s character like this.
rewatching this scene and idk which scenario is funnier, Gangle for some reason feeling comfortable enough with Caine to give him that contact name or Caine setting his contact to that himself
more analysis posts about Caine TADC coming up soon. my apologies to anyone who followed me for literally anything else
Caine fans, who is your LEAST favorite character?
Pomni
Kinger
Zooble
Ragatha
Jax
Gangle
every art/headcanon/fic/etc post about Caine here since episode 8 has been:
*putting him through the horrors*
*putting him through the horrors*
*putting him through the horrors*
“wow he’s so silly :p”
*putting him through the horrors*
*putting him through the horrors*
*putting him through the horrors*
*putting him through the horrors*
TADC is just seven uniquely mentally ill people looking at each other and going “wow this place really is making everyone lose their minds. Thank god I’m the normal one.”
