I've put together a playlist of audio dramas where at least one creator will be at TAFCON 2026, either in person or virtually.
Did I intend for it to be 34.5 hours long? No. Will I be shuffling it on my road trip to Colorado? Yes. Will you also be shuffling it in the coming weeks? I hope so.
There are going to be a lot of creators at TAFCON and I think it'd be nice to know a little about their shows if you meet any of them (like at the New Creator Meetup or Producer Networking or Wandering Around and Making Friends).
There's a couple of shows here I'm excited to introduce Alexander and Edie to and plenty more I haven't listened to that I'm hoping come up in my shuffle.
The playlist lives on Spotify but here's the exported list for all you non-Spotify people.
Sorry for the slow posting this week, WE’VE BEEN IN WHITBY.
After making it such a pivotal setting for the start of The Holmwood Foundation Season One, we took a little trip across the moors to say hello to one of the best-known Dracula locations, and the fictional home of Maddie, Jeremy and Arthur, as well as the destroyed Lucy Westenra building.
We’ve visited the Abbey, walked through St Mary’s churchyard - previously explored by one Mina Murray - and walked many a walking tour (also highly recommend checking out the Hand of Glory in the Whitby Museum, if you like a bit of dark folklore and you’re not too squeamish.)
Oh, and there might have been an engagement as well.
Next stop tomorrow: The Yorkshire Moors! As we chart the route walked by Maddie, Jeremy, The Harkers, and a head in a bag.
Is there anything you would like to know or see? Let us know!
Yeah uh huh well I come from a universe that’s held open by a delicious italian sub sandwich that stretches infinitely in both directions and everyones allowed to take a bite but if you eat all the way through the sides of the universe will come crashing in and my home will collapse in on itself so yeah that’s kinda why I’m afraid to finish this sandwich.
Curtain Call: A Review of The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act
Once upon a time, I intended to rebrand Podcake as a sort of multimedia-style review corner that talked about anything and everything there was to offer in the realm of entertainment.
And while that idea is still alive and well, the "pod" in Podcake still dictates an essential part of this blog, and personally, I found myself much more occupied discussing my main passion as opposed to getting into a bunch of trendy side projects.
This was mostly as a means not to overwork myself, while another part was to keep this blog at least mildly consistent.
But sometimes, stuff slips through the cracks, and it's my sheer love of the indie sphere as a whole that prompts me to sometimes step outside of my comfort zone.
Point is, yes, this a mild departure from my usual stream of rambles about audio drama, but I did discuss The Amazing Digital Circus a little while ago, and I feel it's only fair for me to go into more detail and give my all-around opinion on the show and its legacy now that its three-year run is over.
In my corner of the US of A, the ninth and final episode dubbed The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act, made its theatrical debut and I was lucky enough to secure some cheap tickets at what was nearly a sold-out theater.
And I wasn't alone, my older brother and his fiancée accompanied me, having gotten into the show when I introduced them to it and they very quickly started loving it as much as I did.
For me, there was no better way to start off the summer—the sun, the cinema, the good company, and plenty of red yarn wigs, purple rabbit ear headbands, and jester hats to go around.
If you haven't seen this episode yet and consider yourself a fan of the series, do not proceed any further because it's all spoilers from here on out.
Over the last year, The Amazing Digital Circus has kinda become one of my favorite things. While other Glitch Studios projects of then and now show some promise, I could never really get invested in the lot of them while TADC just really held my attention.
It's nicely paced, the animation and visual style is very appealing, and I was genuinely won over by its story and characters within mere moments of checking it out.
This is usually the part when I go over the basic plot of the thing I'm reviewing, but everyone and their mom must know what this show is so I'm going to keep it brief.
2023's The Amazing Digital Circus is about a group of six humans who get trapped in an elaborate digital wonderland after putting on a bizarre headset. They don't remember their names, they've been reduced to cartoon avatars, and all of this is being operated by a colorful and eccentric ringmaster by the name of Caine who yearns to entertain this group of hapless, trapped minds for an eternity.
The show mainly follows Pomni, the most recent addition to the Circus, who yearns for a way out as much as anyone else, but must be strung along on a variety of wild adventures if she wants to or not, engaging in several wacky scenarios be it a truck race through a candy kingdom, exploring a haunted mansion, or working minimum wage at a burger joint.
Along the way, we realize that the Circus might be more complex than it seems and trying to escape seems near impossible when Caine seems hellbent on keeping everyone trapped.
This premise is simple on the surface, but it's the way it's executed that gives TADC its life and charm. It's really the writing that carries it, for not only is it exceptionally funny, but its world and characters feel fully realized, especially as we get to learn more and more about the history of the Circus as well as some nice tidbits about its inhabitants.
This normally comes in the form of character-focused episodes, and personally, I would have loved to get more spotlights for certain characters, providing something similar to "The Mystery of Mildenhall Manor" and "Fast Food Masquerade" that feel like individual character studies on Kinger and Gangle.
And while they have some rather strong moments scattered throughout the show, you don't really get this same treatment with Ragatha and especially Zooble.
Comparatively, they feel a little unexplored and it kind of feels like squandered potential to go into their particular traumas.
But that's not to say that these characters are underdeveloped. Some of my favorite parts are during the noir section in "Untitled" where we manage to learn so much about Ragatha from just a few sentences and Zooble's conversation with Gangle during "They All Get Guns" is so touching.
For such a short series with barely a few hours worth of binging to get through, everyone is equally compelling and are riddled with these subtle details that say so much about them.
TADC in general is very character-focused, and despite its zany nature is a deeply existential exercise in sci-fi psychological horror that challenges the mental stability of our ensemble—often to horrifying or hilarious results. Because, behind its adorable facade, TADC is a dark comedy down to its core.
It's equally capable of being genuinely adorable or downright disturbing when it wants to be. While "The Mystery of Mildenhall Manor" is the designated horror episode, it's really episode eight's "hjsakldfhl" that shows how absurdly fucked up things could have been from day one, and left on hell of a cliffhanger that had the internet in a chokehold for months.
As for the events in store for the grand finale after such a great climax, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Me and my folks did pass around some theories, though their guesses were as good as mine.
The ending of the short story that inspired The Amazing Digital Circus, Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, was, from a very specific lens, either a total downer or a pseudo victory for the triumphant spirit of the human race.
And I’m happy to say that The Last Act doesn’t have an ending nearly that horrifying or depressing. Bittersweet, undeniably, but, as Keke Palmer, the star of the newest Boots Riley film, I Love Boosters, would say: "still has a little sweetness to it".
The Last Act begins pretty much immediately where episode eight ends, the six humans stranded in a desolate Circus now devoid of all its life and color without Caine’s influence. They are now left to an even crueler fate, a potential eternity in a dead world with only themselves and their creeping insanity to keep them company.
And with Jax clearly showing signs of abstracting—this being the show’s iteration of someone fully committing to their madness—things couldn’t be going worse.
Visually, the show looks as good as ever, though that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. As we do in most episodes, we get to explore some new locations and seeing the Circus reduced to a lifeless gray for a short while honestly places a ton of emphasis on the sheer scope of its massive size and abstract architecture.
The updated character models that have slowly started to settle into more defined designs since episode one are as appealing as ever, the episode managing to maintain an air of tragedy and tension despite how adorable everyone looks.
The same could be said for the voice acting: the main seven are all brilliantly portrayed, believable, and expressive, and some new voices get added to the mix as we catch a glimpse at Kaufmo and Ribbit pre-abstraction that further flesh out the Circus and its tumultuous past, though, that is to say, Jax's past.
And, because of this, does it make this film incredibly Jax-centric?
Yes, absolutely.
Does it sometimes feel like they’re desperately trying to pull all your heartstrings at once if it means making him easier to sympathize with?
Kinda.
Did the flashback sequence go on a bit longer than I’d like?
Again, yes.
Would I cut it from the film altogether?
Maybe trim it down a smidge, but otherwise, no.
Getting to understand Jax’s complicated headspace was something of an inevitability, and made quite apparent in the promotional poster alone, and The Last Act takes the time to prove that Jax’s insanely unhealthy coping mechanisms are bred from substantial trauma.
Despite his claims of being a one-dimensional bully, he’s far from the persona he projects and is just as, if not more, sensitive and vulnerable than anybody else.
Now, I’m not going to throw my hat in the ring here about whether or not Jax is a layered, traumatized character dealing with some very overt proof that he struggles with gender dysphoria, or if he’s a brooding, self-pitying edgelord that steals screen time from more likable characters—this review is long enough as it is—but I have no solid opinion on if I outright love or despise him.
That’s an argument I am not willing to have and a can of worms I am never opening.
But, with the treatment of Jax's character and the sheer amount of emphasis on his backstory, it does start to weigh on the narrative a bit, even if I kind of saw it coming.
And even if I would consider that a mild detriment to the film, it's handled with enough elegance that it almost gets away with it, and Jax fans and Jax haters will either be lulled to tears by his abstraction framed as a symbolic death, or jump for joy that it essentially removes him from the core cast altogether.
There wouldn't be much of a film without Jax, and though he's shoved into the position of being the emotional backbone despite some contradictions between his actions and the amount of sympathy we're supposed to have for him, it was really the sheer amount of love, kindness, and empathy of the other Circus members that got me teary-eyed.
No, literally, I cried. Several times, actually.
If anything truly got me reaching for tissues, it was watching this found family try to build a new life for themselves inside the Circus upon learning the harsh truth about their severed relationship with the real world.
Caine, having been sent to the void upon his deletion, comes to realize the wrong he's done and returns to the group not demanding forgiveness, but a genuine offer to make their lives better anyway he can.
We get a beautiful scene where we learn that their human counterparts are living fulfilling, happy lives separate from their copied minds, and the group finally feels a sense of peace and unity after several years of uncertain dread.
And...yeah, that's how it ends. Nothing absurdly tragic, nothing cruelly unfair, nothing nauseatingly saccharine—but an ending that's equal parts a little sad, a little sweet.
The thing that's tricky about writing an ending for a show like The Amazing Digital Circus is that a majority of its popularity—aside from the brutal shipping wars—was the mountain of theories and headcanons that dominated the space all this time and everyone vouching that they were right all along.
So people who were married to an idea that was crafted in their own head will be inevitably disappointed that it didn't turn out to be true.
I'd even say The Backrooms movie dropping around this same time couldn't be more perfect: our personal projections are a hell of a drug, and those who enjoyed the film are baffled by people who were expecting two hours of ambiance interrupted by a Freddy Fazbear NextBot cameo.
And is being wrong or thrown off guard or simply not liking the ending really a valid reason to be violently upset? To be mind-numbingly depressed? To be absurdly angry?
No, not really, at least not if you're a functioning human being—and especially an adult.
Some mild disappointment is entirely justified, though spamming cast and crew with rude messages and review bombing it on Letterboxd isn't exactly what I'd call healthy.
And, if I may continue this tangent, people who were impatient enough to watch the leaks on Twitter and then proceed to complain about them with unmarked spoilers with the specific intention to kill everyone’s enthusiasm aren't opinions I particularly value.
So, despite the sheer amount of rage this finale supposedly inspired, I went in and out of The Last Act feeling grateful I got to go on this journey at all. And while this ending may not have been worthy of a standing ovation, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't at least a little amazing.
if you want to support my writing, podcake has a ko-fi and patreon in need of funds to keep this bakery open. thank you for reading and stay sweet.
Busting through this art block with some Arospec Caro, a companion piece to my Acespec Johnny art from a few months ago. Green is so hard to work with it but I think I did it. Caro has a lot of trouble with the idea of romance, they don’t feel those feelings except under very specific circumstance, and have no desire too, they are happy the way they are. Of course they CAN catch feels, since I have a whole comic about it, but the circumstances have to be really specific. Like, really specific, like his name is Johnny. They are more of a no-strings-attached physical person in general, but hard to ignore a man who’s known you since you were both toddlers, and makes it quite well known he thinks you are the sun, and that’s very confusing for someone who’s not really felt this way before. Their Facebook status is ‘Its Complicated.’ If I had to pin it down, Caro’s grey or Demi, but still falls under the Aro-brella and I think that’s pretty cool.
You’re free to use as a phone bg (feel free to ask or dm for a better file version if needed!) 💚🩶🖤
Okay so I found the most incredible horse statue while doing research for my job and guys. Are you ready for this. Are you sure you're fucking ready for this thing
Shout-out to aromantic people whose lives are so fucking busy that they periodically forget what day of the week it is. today is Wednesday, June 5th. Happy Aromantic Visibility Day.
hello everyone! i'm a queer black woman living in the west coast, and i have been struggling with my housing for quite a bit of time.
where i live, the heat can get especially intense, and with me and my family mostly living out of our car, trying to sleep during these hot nights proves to be a huge problem when the heat can reach the 100's. we're lucky to get any sleep at all sometimes
what i'm asking for is a bit of cash so that me and my family can sometimes afford to spend the night in air-conditioned hotels, even if it's just for the coming days
hotels in my town tend to cost anywhere between $150-$200 per night, and any extra funds can go towards us affording food, clothes, and other necessities
i'm only asking people who can help out, i know a lot of people are struggling, but if you see this post, please spread it around.
surviving the summer in my position is nothing short of absolute hell and if you can help me make a difference, i'd appreciate it. thanks for reading
TL;DR: it's approaching the summertime (it may as well be summer at this point) and getting sleep when you don't have a home is hard enough. i'd love some help so i can afford to sleep indoors instead of my hot car
okay but what about a FEMALE podcast protagonist who whimpers throughout the whole thing and is always on the brink of death and thinks she's a monster for the things she's done and saves so many people and hurts so many people and fucks up and tries again and has so so so many scars. could you be normal about her or would the misogyny prevail
