TADC Theories

Basically just a compilation of my own and other people's TADC theories to help soothe the hyperfixation.

[jell-o101]

"We want more complicated female characters!"

Ya'll couldn't even handle HER.

[felya-reblogs]

reblog of shame because you people need to learn there's a difference between "complicated", "nuanced", "morally grey" and "abusive pos". and i'm not saying you can't write or enjoy abusive characters - i have some favourite villains/antiheroes of my own - but that's the thing - jax is never treated like the villain she is in the narrative

[tadctheories]

I hate how much less I understand these characters and their stories by the end of the final compared to the beginning and I have only gained more questions 💀

Same, now I'm confused about the lore and the characters.

If you were in it for the lore, you're unsatisfied.

If you were in it for the characters, it's a mixed bag. I'm specifically annoyed that Jax got so much screentime and still feels unresolved.

[tadctheories]

Random, but the newest merch ad reminded me of a thought I had. Pomni says “no plans currently” of abstraction, but someday she’s going to want to. Someday everybody’s going to want to, right? Because even if you find meaning in stagnant life, life was never meant to be permanent. You’re going to be ready to go at some point. Sorry if I’m getting too existential.

YES! That was one of my many issues with the finale. Abstraction, as far as we know, is incurable and not preventable. Abstraction seems to be a choice, meaning everyone is one depressive episode from it.

I believe Pomni is the next to abstract since she was willing to abstract with Jax and she was still very depressed even after Caine came back and gave everyone infinite power.

Caine was terrified of losing the humans to abstraction during episode 8 and that issue never got solved in episode 9. The humans can still "leave" him.

I know I sound like a loon but that ad gave me "Bad ending" vibes.

and coincidentally

THIS was the merch they were advertising IN THE VIDEO.

[tadctheories]

Am I the only person who’s never going to see Jax as irredeemable? Cause I’m sorry. The show just straight up convince me that. Especially since it doesn’t even let him come back unlike Caine despite all the crap he’s done which was debatably worse with ep7 implying that he causes abstractions not including the exit stuff with Kaufmo. Jax and Caine could’ve honestly just switched roles with Caine being the irredeemable one since he doesn’t ever cooperate with the group the way Jax has in ep7 and 8. Or maybe they’re both equally bad and I just think Jax wasn’t properly set up to be irredeemable while I feel Caine was. That’s just me though.

I'm not a fan of how Caine died and was reborn and was able to re-integrate into the circus, while Jax died, was reborn, and then died again.

I feel like the storyline of Caine causing abstractions was dropped in episode 9? Jax abstracted without Caine's presence. I guess you could say that the damage to Jax was already done by Caine, but the series frames Jax's abstraction as his own fault...so IDK.

The big contrast with Caine and Jax is that Jax bullies and abuses the people around him because he lacks power. Caine does the same thing because he has near-infinite power. Jax may do bad things, but none of those things compare to the level of pure hell Caine has put everyone through.

In a world where death doesn't exist and the closest thing to it still doesn't completely kill your consciousness, I think everyone deserves redemption. Even Jax. Even Caine.

I still don't understand the decision to make Caine join the cast again but Jax stayed abstracted.

If one death is reversible and one isn't, it's sending mixed messages.

[tadctheories]

tbf i thought it was made pretty clear that jax's issues stem deeper than just her transness.

her upbringing, her impulses, her mental health.

I think Goose's intention while writing Jax's character was to convey how putting trans people in a position where they feel like they can't transition literally kills them.

Unfortunately, with the prevalence of anti-trans rhetoric and really dangerous stereotypes being peddled by politicians, people writing trans media have to be really careful about how they portray that trans character.

Jax embodies a lot of horrible trans tropes and perpetuates the idea that trans women are dangerous. While those of us aren't transphobic can clearly see that there's more to any trans character (not just Jax) than their transness, I think Goose's writing does more harm than good because of how insensitively Jax was written.

I reiterate: it's fine that Jax is a bad trans person. It's not fine how easy it is to connect Jax's downright abusive behaviors to being trans.

[tadctheories]

Hi there!! I wanted to ask about Jax's identity. I've been getting mixed messages from the fandom recently. I think I have a pretty good idea of how some of the community is taking it but was wondering if you had any new thoughts or opinions.

honestly, and this is just what i think, I didn't ever see jax as transfem before it was confirmed. not that i'm transphobic or anything, but... I feel like it would have been better to confirm it in the show. for some reason, it's making me feel like his character is a bit shallower now, partly because i saw a thing on a different platform saying 'Jax was being so rude 'cuz he was scared to come out to everyone!!' uhhh... no.

not saying that this transfem thing for jax is bad or anything, it's Goose's character, so she calls the shots. I just found it a bit sudden, especially after we'd just had the show end and not everyone was happy. i feel like conveying more about his identity in episode 9 might have been better, but again, it's Goose's show.

sorry about the rants!! I mainly wanted to ask how you felt about it, and if there was anything you thought could have been different in regards to Jax's identity in the last episode.

I defended Goose and her choices with Jax's character until episode 9.

Episode 9 reframes Jax's actions as him being scared and traumatized around his gender identity, so he lashes out at everyone around him.

I cannot believe that Goose, as a trans woman, didn't think about the optics of a transfemme character that physically abuses the women around her because of she's afraid of coming out.

Jax isolated and subsequently pushed Ribbit to abstraction because Ribbit clocked her as trans after Jax told the story about her mom.

Jax has been violent towards every woman in the series but we've never seen him be violent towards men. Sure, he wasn't always nice to Kaufmo, Caine, and Kinger, but his behavior isn't at all comparable to how he treated Ribbit, Gangle, Pomni, Gangle, and Ragatha. Not to mention that he shot Ragatha multiple times in episode 6.

His backstory with his mom boils down to "My mom verbally abused me for coming out as trans so I pushed her so hard, I didn't know if she died." I don't care about his mom's wellbeing since she abused her kid so severely, but the fact that this adds to the narrative of "Jax assaults women because she's a closeted transfemme."...oof.

OP, I also don't mind that Jax is trans, but I wish that Goose had another, especially one with some sensitivity training, to audit her writing of a trans character.

As a trans person, I did pick up on Jax being trans before episode 9, and I didn't care too much. I liked that people struggling with gender identity could all relate to Jax to some extent without his transness being explicitly stated. After episode 9, I felt so uneasy with the idea that Jax would be a better person if she came out.

Before anyone comes at me for transphobia, I am fine with a trans character being a bad person. I am not fine with a trans character being a bad person BECAUSE she's trans. I really wish Jax's poor behavior and trauma was at least somewhat separate from her trans identity.

I do have some posts under the "trans Jax" tag for some other criticisms. I also don't like that Goose confirmed Jax as a transfemme on twitter, but explicitly said that she wrote his transness as ambiguous in the show.

[tadctheories]

This is random and can probably never be substantiated, but I wonder if Jax's mom used "here we go, here we go!" in arguments with him since we see Jax use it with both Ribbit and Pomni.

I love that headcanon! Gonna adopt that into my own viewpoint.

[marscaldera]

Saw this on a T-Shirt on Hot Topic and wanted to create my own version!! Loved TADC! Jax is my favorite. #tadc

[crymsn]

looking back jax saying "ladies first" before pushing gangle out of the way to go first was pretty funny foreshadowing

[tadctheories]

If The Amazing Digital Circus had a better, happier ending, Jax will be reformed and saved from abstraction. He will also apologize and reconcile with his friends who support him, and he would finally come to his senses. His personality will also be different from before, but more empathetic and honest.

I wish! There were so many better ways to handle Jax's abstraction. I severely dislike how Jax's mental health and subsequent death were handled.

I know not everyone can be saved, but he was clearly behaving much better post episode 6, including integrating with the cast and helping them out against Caine. Redemption wasn't that far of a stretch. Even if his abstraction was inevitable, the lack of lead-up to it was underwhelming.

And frankly, I don't care if his ending was realistic. If a plotline isn't satisfying from a narrative perspective, the author failed.

[tadctheories]

Do you think Pomni and Ragatha's scene after Jax's abstraction felt forced?

I wasn't too troubled by the finale but that was one thing that stuck out to me. I never thought of Ragatha and Pomni as especially close and then it just felt like *bOoM* the Jesterdoll shippers were getting fed Lol!

Any thoughts?

Yes I do. Pomni and Ragatha are friends, but "One of the best things that ever happened to me?" We never got any indication that they were anything but casual friends.

I'm fine with the ship/friendship/whatever, but it really needed more buildup. It seems like after episode 6, their friendship was built up offscreen.

In general, Ragatha needed way more screentime past episode 6.

[tadctheories]

Do you consider Kinger old? He's 48, but he's somehow agile. I guess because It's a cartoon character and It can't be realistic. And maybe because It's a copy of his real life mine.

I'm so confused about the timeline.

Are these the ages currently or the ages they entered the circus? I'm guessing it's the former. Kinger entered the circus in 1999, so he'd be in his late 20's/early 30's if we assume his human self aged but his circus self didn't.

But with that logic, we would also have to assume that Jax was a teen when he entered the circus, which doesn't feel right...

Also Anon, 48 isn't old lol. It's totally feasible that a 48 year old could run a marathon.

[tadctheories]

Soooo...

It's implied that the blue AI is the more talented between itself and Caine, but also the more aggressive one, yes? And this hyper-aggressive and more talented AI was just let out into the void without any thoughts? The same AI that was part of Caine and helped create the entire circus?

I feel like that's a disaster waiting to happen.

[tadctheories]

I think you kinda missed the point

Uhhh what are you talking about?

[tadctheories]

Sorry if it bothers you that I'm venting here, but... Ugh. I hate all the hate and controversy that's coming up in the fandom. I understand that TADC is not perfect, there are many mistakes and things that could have been done differently. But some people simply don't understand that it's just a cartoon and create controversy and drama on social media. I'm fed up. Now they hate Gooseworx, the VAs (due to the controversies that existed for a while) , etc. I don't know bro, I miss those times when everything was calm and we could enjoy the series in a better way. Not everything is bad, I know that, but sometimes I miss that time. And some people make too much of a drama out of these things, and it just exhausts me..

I think it's perfectly fine to be upset with Glitch and the VAs but it doesn't feel genuine with a lot of people. It feels like young people are on social media parroting real, valid criticisms of everyone orbiting TADC.

You don't have to support or defend Glitch, but at least stay consistent with your morals. I see people calling out Glitch/Goose/the VAs and still choosing to associate with other VERY problematic media.

People are allowed to denounce media when people surrounding that media do messed up things, but dang, stop pretending that you care.

People like that drown out the real and valid criticism coming from marginalized communities that are hurt by the TADC casts' actions.

[tadctheories]

It's been confirmed that Jax is trans. What do you think about that?

Not a fan. Jax isn't just "a bad person," she conveys A LOT of extremely harmful transfem stereotypes, especially misogyny and targeting women with her abuse.

I respect that she's canonically trans and will still acknowledge that, but upon rewatch, oof.

[tadctheories]

So, I'm not the one who sent in the panic attack ask, but after rewatching the finale I wanted to add my two cents.

I can understand why it feels off/weird for some, but as someone who relates a lot to Jax (i.e. in putting up fronts, never letting anyone in, and refusing to believe someone can love me) when someone somehow breaks through all of that, you open up to them, and they love you anyway, it is one of the most terrifying things in the world. I've had panic attacks over that. I've had more suicidal thoughts after instances like that because of how vulnerable it makes you feel.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding what you guys were saying about that, but I don't think it's unrealistic that it happened. And I don't think it really caused Jax's abstraction since he was already abstracted and it's vague if there's even a possibility that they can come back from it.

I don't have much to add here, but thanks for putting forward your experience. I know a lot of people can relate to Jax more than they'd like.