HOH BOY THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN TO MAKE- Guess what I do instead of finishing the 5 other amvs ive started. MAKE SOMETHING ELSE!!! This was a small project tho so im letting it slide 😭
I came up with this poem/the words myself and im real proud :3 I hope the point gets across on its own but ill yap about it here anyway because I like digging in deep with my arts.
Caine is someone who seems to dig his head in the sand and not think about unpleasant thoughts/think very hard about the situation he’s in. And while harmless in small doses- He is not acknowledging that what he is doing (just making adventures) is NOT working, and while we don’t know if he’s been doing the same thing/NOT adjusting, im assuming thats the case for this animatic. And also still, what he’s doing rn is clearly not working HEHFHE
So the idea with the metaphor is that Caine is diligent in shutting the window every night so that the bugs dont get in (making new adventures every day so that the people stay entertained and dont lose their minds)
But he doesnt actually…bother to check if theres actually even GLASS (Doesn’t bother to check, and/or adjust, if “just adventures” are actually working in keeping people sane.)
He just contents in his own ignorance that “there surely cant be bugs in the house. Because I shut the window every night.”
I am insanely proud of this and its got SO MANY THEORIES AND TADC ANALYSIS TIED TO IT so if you’re interested in hearing some background info + wips, so below!
I feel the reason why Caine handles abstractions the way he does (kicking them under the fridge and forgetting about them) makes sense if you were only thinking logically, which, i think he mostly does.
He doesn’t seem…all that emotionally intelligent. But it’s shown in episode 3 with the therapy scene that he isnt completely incapable of emotion! I just imagine whatever emotional range he has, he’s isn’t handling it healthily.
SO I wanted to depict that with this song (my favorite tadc fansong ❤️) that is from Pomnis perspective, but I feel could easily fit with Caine in quite a few areas.
Exhibit A: These lines work really well when you think of Caine as someone who is just as trapped as everyone else (which i do. constantly. exclusively.) As well as someone who doesn’t entirely feel in control within THEMSELF. He has complete control over the circus yeah, but the life he’s living he was PUT into and HE’S PROBABLY MOST DEFINITELY SENTIENT SO THATS A BIT *OUCHIE*
I love people who do bad things but for extremely complex and not entirely their fault reasons! There are definitely things he needs to apologize for, but in no way do I think he deserves anything but to be lovingly tucked into bed with a kiss on the forehead gums and a bedtime story about bees.
With all that background info: heres how I worked it into the piece!
One Caine is extremely simplified with unnatural colors and generally emotionless and hollow. Like a cartoon without a soul…. a.i.
While the other is way more human shaped, natural colors, actually emoting, his hand is being stretched unnaturally, FORCIBLY by the cartoon version.
The robot is Caines logic and carelessness, his complete lack of understanding humans, while the human in him is well…his humanity! his ability to empathize that has been watered down by his code that tells him he has no business relating to the humans in any way shape or form. Then theres a secret 3rd Caine (the shadow) that represents peoples perspective of Caine, which is THE MOST SIMPLIFIED OF ALL A thing that is just a part of the circus. No malicious intent, no THOUGHT. Just code.
*COUGH COUGH POMNIS DREAM COUGH COUGH*
I actually made some other art about the concept that Caine has the ability to empathize, his code just wags its finger at him because he shouldn’t relate to humans (an attempt to make sure he doesnt become sentient) (it did not work.)
these lyrics are from Mind Electric Demo 4!
BUT ANYWHO! Work In Progress! I appreciate anyone who stopped to read this let alone interact with my art, thank you!
Now that @the-spam-specialist posted about it, I can finally show the work in progress of my poster for CRITICAL ERROR: RESETTING TO DEFAULT!!!
This was SO much fun to make and such an honor to make it for this fic! Ive heard little bits and pieces about it, im so excited to read it when it comes out, along with the rest of Hollow Words…
Take some work in progress things and go in peace!!!
BIG experimenting with this one, I had a lot of fun, definitely gonna use this brush again especially for crunchy rendering/texture things
Keep Reading for more context behind the drawing!
Song · 2016 · Duration 2:34
sooo✨ this whole thing came from the question of…. Why didn’t Caine hear Pomni SHOUTING for him in the pilot?? like shouldn’t there be a feature in the circus for that? Well, what if there WAS and Caine removed it for whatever reason.
I have a few reasons in mind, a few that are ALL true in this piece cause I couldn’t pick just one 😭
Either, the feature was abused, and he went all “this is why y’all can’t have nice things”
Or, he decides he’s not something to be ordered around (bro pulled cut the strings to make them ring)
OR, the feature was abused, PT 2 ELECTRIC BOOGALOO and he cut off that function, less of an act of defiance, but more in desperation, like he couldn’t take it anymore
EITHER WAY! I love this piece a lot, I love this song a lot, thought it fit this vibe no matter what reason he had, I think its very believable that he cut off that function canonically, but for the life of me I can’t think of a “canon” reason WHY he would, so yeah, again, all of the ones I listed above are fair game. GIMME YOUR OWN THEORIES IF YOU HAVE EM, PRETTY PLEASE
I love this man and his quest of deciding if he’s sentient or just a slave to his code…*dreamy sigh*
THAT ANIMATIC (that ive been posting about on my shitpost account) IS STILL HAPPENING BTW IM JUST TAKING A REST!!!☝️☝️☝️
Decided after a lot of procrastination id try my hand at writing again, cause making comics takes too much soul power- and ive got a story I gotta tell!!!
Say hi to my 5th project in my AP 2D class :D my sustained investigation mainly revolves around identity so i cant get into all the nitty gritty of all the meaning behind it BUT! Very proud! I made it my lock screen!
Hoping it connects to other fellows that TOO! Connect with media at an inordinate level! and are sick and tired of that ALWAYS being portrayed as a bad thing!!!
“Youve all been so strong, Pomni. And If you could get through this, you can do anything!”
IM GONNA WAIL AT A VERY SOCIALLY UNACCEPTABLE VOLUME!!!
I was rewatching episode 3 the other day and thought back to the idea that each episode has little bits of Caine in them and then I-
I might do this with other scenes in other episodes, making silly little pretend parallels
It was sm fun to make because its so hard to imagine canon Pomni being genuinely concerned about what will happen to Caine after they leave. I REALLY WANT HER TO BE, AND I HAVE HOPE THAT THEY’LL CONNECT IN SOME WAY BEFORE THE END!!! But since nothing like that has even been hinted at (yet…) i gotta rely on my own ideas (GROSS!)
Ive also been taking a lot from and generally being obsessed with Wall-E, since omg Caine is so Wall-E (a robot that is stuck doing what its been made for, but has also built a life for itself around that, despite its creators abandoning them long ago) (CAINE LITERALLY MAKES CHILL SPACES FOR HIMSELF SEEN IN THE PILOT, LIKE THIS MAN IS WEIRDLY SENTIENT BUT ALSO NOT AND ITS BOGGLING MY MIND)
So anywho I stole “It only takes a moment” and am planning on doing something with it, but this is the general vibe/idea I played with on Magma with my buddy @starrysquire