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[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Lex: Hank I’m afraid you’ve gone mad with power.

Hank: Of course I have! Have you tried going mad without power? It’s boring! No one listens to you.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

RIP Kaufmo. He seemed like he could probably get you some really good weed.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

I, like most, was expecting Ribbit and Kaufmo to be a toxic asshole friend group. That they were incredibly kind and supportive people was a surprise. But what really recontextualizes things is that she’s very similar to Pomni.

She’s sarcastic, friendly, sensitive, witty, gentle, introspective, supportive… You get the sense that like Pomni became, she was the bedrock of the players. It also adds a lot more context to Pomni’s relationships with Jax and Ragatha.

Originally, Ragatha thinking Jax is trying to “corrupt” Pomni seems like her both understandably misjudging him and also projecting her own insecurities. But it s a legitimate fear; she watched Jax bully Ribbit to suicide, bit by bit.

And Jax becomes both more tragic and loathsome. The players were all incredibly supportive of him from the beginning, and went out of their way to make him feel safe. But he was too scared to deal with his emotions and be vulnerable. Once Ribbit was gone, he decided it was better to go in for a penny, in for a pound then have to deal with his guilt.

[vibrantjunglecat]

I don't know if anyone has considered Fox Ragatha before, but I think it should be considered. Ragatha definitely has canine traits to me. They're loyal, and you can rely on them to be there when you need help. Many canines are perceived as helpful and strong. Foxes, however, are also widely portrayed as tricksters or manipulators. Multiple members of the circus see Ragatha as fake or disingenuous, with it even getting to a point that even Ragatha herself starts to see her attempts at friendliness as "tricks."

Despite this, foxes are also often portrayed as being good companions and loyal friends when given the chance to be. Though thanks to their reputation, it makes it hard for them to see themselves as anything other than what is expected of them.

"If the world's only going to see a fox as shifty and untrustworthy, then there's no point in trying to be anything else"

Foxes are also noted for their intelligence. Ragatha can be very perceptive, such as when she noticed that Pomni was uncomfortable with physical contact and adapted her behavior in response.

(She proceeds to always ask for Pomni's consent before initiating any physical contact from this point onward)

Ragatha can also usually tell when a member of the circus is upset (though she may not know exactly how to help them).

(Red Foxes' redish-orange coats also easily match Ragatha's hair color)

In short; I think that Ragatha is very fox-coded

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Caine and Jax are such perfect mirrors of each other, as the show’s main antagonists. Both of them are terrified of being abandoned and self-sabotage constantly, but their biggest flaws are the opposite. Jax runs away from connection and love, while Caine sprints thoughtlessly towards it.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Rewatching all of TADC in preparation for the finale, something I noticed is that the characters are wrong about one thing. Caine does listen. He never actually grasps what they want or why, but he does try to compromise.

Pomni points out that she, Zooble, and everyone else prefer “chill, normal adventures”. But Caine tries to give that to them. In Episode 3, he creates a pacifist route in addition to the one with the horrifying demons and whatnot. The first appeals to Ragatha and Gangle, who have a blast, and the second fits (what Caine thinks are) Jax and Zooble’s tastes. In Episode 4, Caine takes the request for a slice-of-life adventure about working in the fast food industry, and makes it as mundane as possible. In Episode 6, Caine comes up with a sports adventure after seeing how much everyone liked the softball suggestion box adventure - and gets shot down.

All of these fit the requests that have been made, but none of them work. Caine does try to provide comfort. There’s Caine’s Cafe, there’s the dinners, there’s the digital lake. All places he made for the humans to relax and unwind. They don’t care, and if they do, they never tell him. (Which, not their fault. Caine’s not easy to talk to and gauging how much of the Circus is part of Caine is pretty mindboggling.)

It doesn’t help that no one really gives Caine detailed feedback. Zooble only really tells him that his adventures are terrible and the negative effect they’re having, not why, just that it’s bad. Not that Zooble isn’t right to do so; Caine needed the dose of cold water and he’s a very overwhelming person. He doesn’t leave them much breathing room. Pomni similarly tells him what she doesn’t like, not what she does. And nobody else engages with him unless they have to. (Again, understandable.)

Caine doesn’t take rejection well. His entire life and the formative trauma that drives him is inexplicable rejection. He did what he thought his programmers wanted him to do, and was sealed off alone in the dark. He never understood why and still doesn’t.

Perhaps if someone had just explained the problem, things would have turned out better.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Ragatha is such a good depiction of the fawning trauma response. Her first response whenever she’s feeling scared or hurt is to be as nice as possible to the offender. When the abstracted Kaufmo mauls her, Ragatha desperately apologizes to him with such speed it’s clearly second-hand. And the day after, Ragatha tells Pomni that leaving her to die is water under the bridge even though it’s obviously not because she wants Pomni to like her.

But it’s not just a defense mechanism. Ragatha wants the other players to be happy because they’re her friends and she wants them to like her. She’s terrified of being hated so she puts her all into treating them like how she wanted to be treated. She comes off too strong because she had to reverse engineer being kind. And she’s also incredibly sensitive to rejection.

It clearly just hurts her a lot. A good example is episode 6; Pomni admitting she didn’t like the softball adventure clearly guts Ragatha enough that she decides not to partner with her. Ragatha knows it’s irrational but it was still hurtful to her, and her attempt to do a last minute save comes on too strong once again.

Ragatha does all the things you’re supposed to do to show you care, and all she gets for it is rejection for no reason she can tell. She’s constantly afraid slipping up will make people hate her. She puts immense pressure on herself because of that fear of her friends turning on her.

It’s so painfully relatable and accurate. Not being able to read the room, doing all the things right and the exact way people tell you to, and then they hate you for it. That’s the way it feels.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

The animation of Jax’s body language and Michael Kovach’s performance in Episode 6 are really something else. Up to that point, Jax makes the audience as uncomfortable as he does the other characters, but he’s still funny. You think of him as Jax thinks of himself; the funny jerk you see in animated comedies, akin to Bender, Daffy Duck, and many more.

When he starts letting his mask off, both of those things make it clear that no, he’s genuinely mentally ill. Kovach’s sing-song vocal patterns and his bouncy animation just makes Jax incredibly eerie and uncomfortable to watch.

[sarahmackattack]

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

[quendergeer]

girl you erected a mysterious black monolith that contained all the knowledge your culture had ever collected were you hoping he'd develop rudimentary tool use

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

This is what leaving the monolith on Earth was like for the aliens in 2001.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Rewatching episode 5, this line from Jax struck me. It says a lot about his character.

"Do you think Gangle’s actually capable of being happy?"

He’s not asking Pomni rhetorically. He’s not trying to rub salt in yet another wound he inflicted on Gangle. His tone is genuinely curious and concerned.

He’s quite sure the answer is no, but he’s asking Pomni anyway. Because he does care. It doesn’t justify his abuse and it doesn’t mean that he isn’t an asshole. But he does care.

“Does she think hanging out with Zooble is going to magically fix it?"

And here we see why he’s acting. Jax is empathizing with how Gangle masks her sadness and inner turmoil, how she tries to patch it up with quick fixes. She just does it a little more literally.

But Jax is also projecting himself onto her. He’s a self absorbed guy. He knows from experience you can’t patch over all those scars with band aids but he won’t admit that to himself, because that would mean putting his own mask down.

It also shows his pessimistic view of attachment. In his eyes, it’s a way to get burned. It’s another flimsy band aid. This isn’t something that Jax can consciously articulate, he’s not a self aware guy, but that’s damn sure what he believes.

He thinks Zooble is just another way to break Gangle’s stupid mask. But he’s also jealous because deep down he needs and wants to be loved and to give love.

So that’s why he’s letting his guard down by asking Pomni, who’s the only one he trusts to actually give him a straight and honest answer.

This also shows his sometimes keen if pessimistic view of the others. He knows everyone else is too avoidant to actually give him an actual opinion, but he also views them as potential threats because - again - he’s not self aware enough to articulate this. Instead he thinks of them (especially Ragatha) as untrustworthy, and it would mean admitting that they’re real people. And then his web of dissociation and abuse rationalization would collapse under its own weight and flimsy logic.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Rewatching the series, I’m coming to appreciate Pomni’s arc more.

Frankly, Pomni starts off the series as a selfish coward. Understandably so, it’s not a situation anyone would comport themselves well in. But nevertheless, throughout episode 1 and the first half of episode 2, Pomni is her own first priority.

When the abstracted Kaufmo attacks, she abandons Ragatha to run for her life. She then abandons finding Caine to help Ragatha in favor of getting to the exit. It’s not like it’s not an understandable situation in the heat of the moment. But it’s still pretty shitty, and Pomni leaves someone who did nothing but help her to die.

In Episode 2, Pomni views everyone in the circus as a potential enemy. During her dream sequence at the beginning, it’s telling that Ragatha is presented as equally as malicious as Jax and Caine. Pomni doesn’t really care about her; she’s just another threat and Pomni is purely in self-preservation mode. It’s when Gummigoo has his existential, despairing meltdown that we get the first sign of her compassion. Pomni comforts him and goes out of her way to save him.

We see for the first time her deep empathy; once she sees someone as a person in suffering, she’ll go out of her way to help them. She saves Gummigoo out of selflessness - but she also doesn’t think she’s risking anything. Seeing Kaufmo’s funeral solidifies for her that the other players are people too, and they do care about her. Just as she carries on Gummigoo’s memory, they’ll carry on hers.

Come episode 3, when she’s stuck with Kinger, she’s clearly terrified and irritated with him. But she’s remarkably patient and gentle with him. She levels with him like a normal person, and not with the pity or annoyance of everyone else. After Kinger’s advice ("the worst thing you can do in this world is make someone feel like they’re nothing."), Pomni realizes she’s taken Ragatha for granted and marks the first step in their friendship by apologizing.

The following episodes have her recognize everyone’s foibles and virtues, even Jax’s. She sees their masks slip and that just makes them more human to her. And while her anxiety never goes away, the fact she cares about everyone emboldens her. Rather than be drawn into her own insular world like everyone else over her stay, never reaching out, Pomni grows outward. She becomes more confident and comfortable in her own skin and willing to face adversity. It’s hard to see the Pomni of episode 1 put herself at risk to help everyone else the way she does in ep. 7 and 8.

[nicholasmoorethetwittermigrant]

Congrats fandom, you took one of the greatest pieces of media to ever come out of the internet and made the creator regret having anything to do with it by being shitty entitled bitch babies.

And you’ll all be even shittier, more entitled bitch babies when the ending isn’t exactly what you wanted, or didn’t focus on your preferred characters, or give you enough shipping fuel, or answer your theories, or whatever, you parasitic single-minded shitheads.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

If you propagate the leaks, or harass Gooseworx, or do both, then you are bad and you should feel bad. Seriously you suck.

[pandabunnycallmeeither]

Okay jumping ahead a bit cause I’m thinking about Abel from the last one, but yes.

So we know now that Caine was in control of Abel, yes? Abel and Caine, huh? I feel Caine did this on purpose. As though it was Caine vs. Abel like in the Bible, but also like Caine vs. the blue ai.

Caine feels that his creators choose the blue AI over him, but maybe he wanted to completely recreate that even with the “newer” people. Abel acted like a stand in for the blue ai, and if they choose to stay, they would be finally choosing him over Abel/the blue AI.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Caine hates himself. Of course he’d define himself by his greatest failure, his proof that he’s worthless.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

One of the most quietly telling things about Jax and his relationship to the others (especially Gangle) is in episode 6, and I haven’t seen anyone talk about it.

When Gangle refuses to be on his team, she’s cringing with fear when she’s alone with Zooble. She’s convinced that Jax will be mad at her. He’s going to make her pay for it, make her hurt. Zooble has to reassure her that she’s not just his plaything.

Meanwhile, alone with Pomni, Jax… doesn’t care. He’s unaffected beyond mild annoyance. He’s still more than happy to throw out taunts, but he cares more about moving on to the next fun thing: figuring out Pomni’s deal. When Pomni calls him out on his treatment of Gangle, Jax insists she likes it.

It says a lot about his character and it’s a microcosm of how he treats other people. Jax thinks he’s part of the gang. He thinks everything he does is a bit that everyone’s going along with. It doesn’t register to him that he’s actually hurting them because he’s not doing permanent physical damage. That he could do emotional damage never occurs to him - or rather, when it occurs to him, he finds ways to rationalize it away. Jax does like hurting people, but he can’t enjoy it unless he can plausibly convince himself that it was funny and therefore harmless.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Pomni is the greatest representation of Generalized Anxiety Disorder I’ve ever seen.

She’s constantly on edge and uncomfortable even when she isn’t actively under stress. When she is, she panics and makes bad decisions. When she has a serious conversation, her sentences are always uncertain and halting. Early on in the series, it means she avoids things like apologizing to Ragatha for abandoning her because she’s frankly scared shitless about it.

But it also doesn’t define her entirely. She likes to take control of her life by seeking out thrills on her own terms. She enjoys dark humor. When someone’s being an asshole to her, Pomni doesn’t withdraw. The anxiety just fuels her anger, such as in episode 2 ("ARE YOU TRYING TO FUCKING KILL ME?")

Even when she’s more confident later in the series, it still flares up. In Episode 7, the situation and her last chat with Abel causes her to panic and make the group devolve into infighting. But it also, again, define her and she’s still portrayed as being incredibly tough and steely when she has to be once she realizes she has people in her corner.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

Something I love about Gangle is how much fire she has. She is shy and sensitive and vulnerable and meek, yes, but a lot of the time people forget she’s pretty tough and not spineless.

She’s usually too anxious and halting to express it, but as Episode 3 shows, she has a witheringly dry wit and a dark sense of humor ("It’s called a manic episode and you’re getting three more seasons!”) She gets angry when people (especially Jax and Caine) try to pigeon hole her even if she buries it a lot of the time. And then there’s the Tommy gun.

Anyway Gangle is cool.

[tyrantosaurus-wrecks]

It’s really disappointing that Episode 7 ends with Jax pushing the button to keep them all trapped, you think all the tension is going to blow up and…

In Episode 8 they immediately forgive him. They rush Jax’s arc so he goes unnaturally far on his redemption arc without having to work for it, and rush Caine’s arc to make him descend uncharacteristically fast into villainy to force it.

Jax feeling guilty about it and starting to work on himself isn’t out of character, but he doesn’t have to face any consequences. Throughout the last three episodes, you see Zooble, Gangle, and Ragatha pushing back against him. They’re getting fed up and it feels like it’s going to explode. Jax is going to have his face shoved in what he’s done get the kick in the ass he needs to change. He’s going to have to take accountability and work to patch things up, get pushed out of his comfort zone! A great payoff to all that build up!

And he doesn’t. It’s all kosher. His change isn’t jarring like Caine’s, but the forgiveness of things that are unforgivable is. It’s all kosher and he doesn’t have to work for it, while Caine abruptly goes 180 degrees so that will happen.

Again, it’s a disappointing missed opportunity. The show is great at conflict building, but doesn’t stick the landing on conflict resolution a larger percentage of the time than I’d like.