Atheist Forum

So there's a new trailer and the theorizing is back. Due to the very clear reference to the Truman Show, lots of people are saying that the Digital Circus is a show (I mean, it is...but in-universe)



My summary of the above video: the fake adventure in episode 7 might've been an attempt by Caine to try to communicate to the humans that he's sentient and has value by having Abel repeatedly stating Cain's limitations - he also references Gummigoo when he shows the physics engine glitch where objects are sandwiched together only to build up momentum and explode outwards second later. Gummigoo is a sentient NPC who Pomni befriended - treated like a human being - and Caine craves that treatment. Through Abel, Caine also repeatedly asks Pomni to "do the right thing" which is strange if he's talking about the choosing whether or not to go to Shrimp Town but makes perfect sense if he's talking about choosing between staying with Caine or abandoning him (also explains why Caine delegated the blue button to Bubble, since Caine understandably didn't want to dwell on the possibility of being rejected). Caine needs validation from the humans, and he thinks Pomni is his way in, since she's the one building bridges between all of them. /summary over

Caine also says he was "cut off" from the "macroverse", so C&A might've closed whatever connection existed between the real world (the headset) and the digital circus.

So it looks like there's going to be some sort of ending where the gang doesn't leave but learns to enjoy their digital existence anyway. They'd almost certainly have to solve the abstraction problem, then.

Apparently, the next episode of TADC was originally part of the last one, but they split the story into two separate episodes to give the story more room to breathe. Very interested to see where this goes. Now that Caine has been rejected, will he go full AM on them? Or will he learn to communicate with the humans, so that both parties can work out something that will make them happy?

I thought he'd snap and go homicidal or at least accidentally severely damage the world and the gang would have to deal with that crisis and find some sort of way to either heal or escape the circus. But nope, Caine toys with them for a whole episode, instead.

So it looks like he won't go full AM on them. If anything, he's the opposite. He loves humans but can't truly connect with them or even entertain them properly and whatever damage he causes may actually be accidental.

It does seem like they'll work something out eventually where everyone is happy. But...there's that scene in episode 2 were Pomni dreamed she was falling and then caught and lifted up.



There were only 4 hands that grabbed her - Ragatha, Kinger, Gangle, and Zooble. Not Jax. Not Caine. And apparently, it'll be a bit of a sad ending, so at least one of these two are still on the chopping block.

But hey, that's just a theory, a FILM theory, and...cut!

Apparently, it was confirmed that Pomni saved Jax from abstracting last episode, which is how I interpreted it too. He's got one foot out the door already, but I suspect if anyone actually abstracts, it won't be him. His near-death experience would be a red herring. Someone else might abstract, but they'll use what they learned from Kinger and lure them into the dark. There, maybe they'll guide that person back, and it'll turn out that abstraction isn't necessarily permanent.

Yeah, typically you don't almost kill a character you intend to kill.

But everyone but Jax has their mental issues more or less in a healthy state now. Kinger's pep talks with Ragatha keep her stable, Gangle and Zooble keep each other stable, Kinger's surprisingly resilient, and Pomni started out rough but was more or less okay at the end of episode 3. So that doesn't leave many options as far as abstraction goes.

I thought for sure that one of the main cast would abstract by now and we'd learn a lot more about it in the process, maybe even how to reverse it, but nothing yet.

I've heard a theory - a variant of the Belief theory - that the system that runs the Digital Circus monitors the minds of the players and attempts to provide for them what they want, but these wishes have to be pretty modest and understandable to the system. So Kinger wanting an extra heart for Ragatha is doable. As is Pomni wanting to do a trickshot. But obsessing over something the system can't provide causes it to glitch out and can cause abstraction over time. Like Kaufmo desperately wanting a way out and Jax wanting his friends back. (Pomni's search for the exit in episode 1 wasn't quite intense enough to cause abstraction - just dump her in the void for a while until she calmed down again)

Just saw it.



This is legitimately the most terrifying thing I've seen from Glitch since the Callback Ping scene in Murder Drones. Some parents are gonna learn the hard way that this is NOT a kid's show.

Also, that upbeat jazz tune end credits is a hell of an emotional whiplash! In this episode, it's like a train that's on fire jumping the track and careening into an orphanage and dogpark while Walking on Sunshine is playing.

Watching Invincible now. The "Proud Warrior Race" thing is lowkey hilarious to me because underneath all that pride/arrogance and martial prowess is a deeply unwell society and imho they rarely get that deeper look they absolutely deserve. Thus my meme:



Lotsa Darwin Awards are handed out in a Social Darwinist society.

Well, I gave it a few days. Now I'm just looking through fanart that has aged incredibly well: