Fun Fact: Gooseworx confirmed herself that Caine isnt Evil or has bad intentions, he really wants them to just have fun and not let them go crazy by giving them stuff to do, its just the way he does it is a bit weird to say the least since hes an AI and doesnt really get the human psychology really well
I find it funny and weirdly scary that the show is based on "I have no mouth and I must scream" but instead, Caine is fun-loving wacky little guy instead of a living embodiment of hate
... Likely due to how the only thing worse then malice is indifference. The whole thing is a game to it, and there's no sense of consequence or attachment to anything it does, which is giving off some massive cosmic horror vibe. >):^/
That could b true, for what I suspect Caine programmed to be an attentive host, he’s pretty careless & not exactly being there for the humans. He just dumps them in situations like playing games leaving them on their own to figure out & with our suspicions high on him lying, he already lied to Zooble. Lied about the in-house adventure being something Zooble doesn’t necessarily have to join if they don’t want to, but he purposely puts up a game with critters that steals s#%+ from under their feet (literally the underground gloinks queen), and what ends up happening: those critters highwaymanned Zooble’s parts as they’re carried away screaming. It’s played for laughs but this is cruel neglect to let something dangerous like that happened to a human 😡
@@docavar5698 eh, i don't think he did that on purpose. he probably didnt expect them to carry away zooble like that. he seems more like he's just kinda trying his best but often overlooks things and struggles to understand humans and their desires. him trying to make an "exit" since they all wanted one so badly but failing to think of what to put on the other side is almost kind of sweet in a.... weird way. like a robot trying to cheer up someone sad. which is basically what it is.
@@penntopaper9305 yeah but it’s been YEARS and Caine should truly know what the humans wanted this whole time and if he knew remotely anything he’s still guilty for hiding and lying at their faces.
When Kinger asks Zooble if she played a game show inside the Gloink Queen, he's actually referencing Gooseworx's (the creator of the show) previous animations. Almost all of which have a character play a gameshow inside another character's stomach
This show is like the exact opposite of _Murder Drones._ It's bright, cheery, and comedic on the outside, but full of darkness, heartbreak, and existential dread on the inside. And I'm going to love it just as much.
"This is a really expressive face in general" Hoo boy, you have NO IDEA how complex these rigs are, Jax's in particular relies 80% on tricking the camera Theyre all animated and rigged in a completely different way i have no idea how the animators endured this because this wasnt a case of "One team works on one character" Its the 3D equivalent of how The Amazing world of gumball has so many contrasting styles it def ended up looking great in the end tho!
My impression with Jax is that he's really affected by the situation, but he jokes around, acts like a jerk and like he doesn't care about anything or anyone in order to hide the fact that he's actually not feeling okay. And when he talked about fixing the Gloinks situation after they hit him, his pupils shrank and his smile was gone, which made me feel like he was more honest with his feelings just in that scene. Maybe that the big pupils and the big smile, in addition to his personality as I explained earlier, are a facade to hide the fact that he's not okay.
Yeah, my immediate impression of Jax was that his method of coping is to just pretend the problem’s not even there. As soon as he sees the now-abstracted Kaufmo, he acts like he just came in there to grab something before dipping out; and he straight up ignores Zooble when they ask why Pomni’s not with him.
Everyone is handling the trauma of being here in different ways, all of which are oftentimes classified by psychology. Ragatha is overly optimistic, drowning her negativity in a sea of good vibes. Kinger is disassociating; the world is slowly loosing meaning to him, which means he's actually probably least likely to Abstract - if Abstraction is tantamount to emotional surrender - but far more likely to just become entirely unhinged. Gangle is trying to mask their emotions, but this is very literal for her, resulting in the mask oftentimes breaking, leaving her depressed. Zooble seems to have simply accepted their lot in life, and while they are surly and distant, they are actually fairly well adjusted to what's happening around and to them. And Jax is likely being cruel as a means to inflict suffering onto others to lessen his own suffering. Schadenfreude is one hell of a coping mechanism. Kaufmo even had his own method, which was laughter, albeit at his own (apparently very bad) humor.
It's interesting that Pomni's name might actually have russian origins, because "Помни" (Which is literally pronounced like "Pomni") means "Remember". And I don't believe it's just a coincidence that the most self-aware character in this show, who desperately wants to return to the real world and can't even remember her name, is named with such a specific word by accident. It must be intentional.
@@vast9467 I know, but none of them are bothered by it by the time she shows up. She's the only one of the current gang who actively WANTS to know her name and to get out, while the rest gave up a long time ago
Honestly, my personal theory is that Caine is trying to recreate the real world for the characters, and just doesn't want them to end up getting lost in the void by exploring his unfinished work
Perhaps Caine is using C&A's (Cain and Able) Company Assets as a basis for his own creations. Maybe 'The Exit' was supposed to be like a hedge maze game (Stanley Parable style) but based off of 'real' stuff since that's what he thought the humans would like.
Better than my theory that he was trying to make a way out but couldn't figure out how because he can make almost anything in the digital world but to make an exit would take someone in the real world to make their end
The show was made by Gooseworx, a creator that mainly dabbles in crazy, confusing, kinda trippy creations, such as the video called Little Runmo. Also this show has real subtitles (and not that awful generated stuff), so using the subtitles would be quite beneficial
As someone who has watched a lot of Gooseworx over the years, this show is phenomenal. You can really tell the character designs come from her trippy almost abstract cute horror style but now in 3D which is really cool. Kinger is my favourite, Kinger is a classic.
I think Jax's "suspicious" traits are less an implication of him knowing more than he lets on and moreso just a big act he puts up as a coping mechanism to deal with the existential dread... (the parts where he stops smiling might be moments where the real him shines through). Every "human" here seems to do it to some extend, i think they have to put up these acts and play up parts of themselves to not loose sight of who they are, wich would lead to them ending like Kaufmo. So Jax who probably had a meanstreak and a joky side to him, plays up these parts and turns into this loony toons esque jackass... Ragatha who was probably somewhat caring and easily worried plays up a sort of big sister role, etc etc. Though Kinger might be an exception, he might be so old and so out of it that he might have a sort of digital demencia, i mean he constantly forgets where he is and whst he is doing and starts rambling on about random seemingly unrelated, though that too could be an act, playing up his own crazyness and randomness to remind himself of the scatterbrained person he is.
Almost all of the main cast have some form of lying to themselves and others to help them cope with current situations. Jax says stuff like "She'll be fine", and "I've never seen him this happy before", and so on, when he worries/knows about it being the opposite. We sew how Gangle reacts to the news when learning about Kaufmo abstracting, and Zooble being eaten, so Jax could be lying entirely for Gangle's sake. Ragatha said "It's okay" when Pomni apologized for running away after her hand glitched, but then later she told Caine that she's 'in so much pain', and is also very visibly upset about what happened after Caine fixes her, and Pomni feeling bad, communicating to us that Ragatha is upset at Pomni. Ragatha didn't want Pomni to breakdown if she knew that Ragatha was in extreme pain, so she lied and said she was fine in the moment. Pomni uses the 'it's all a dream!' excuse to lie to herself about her situation, and when confronted with the truth that there is no real exit, we see her breaking down. Caine, although he doesn't seem to fully understand the human psyche, does seem to lie to help the others from a entering a breakdown. He doesn't tell them about the exit, because he knows how they'll react upon trying to use it and not getting out. We see how Pomni acts after facing the truth that if there is an exit, it's not a real one. Kinger could be playing an act, being the 'crazy guy' of the group, always asking about what's happening and stuff, not sure what to make of that yet. And Zooble.. well, we just don't see enough of Zooble to even know her character, really, apart from her massive angst vibes.
The crossed-out King image on the door was a Black King. Kinger is a White King. A few seconds later, you see them pass by Kinger's actual room, and his picture isn't crossed out. This means that there was another person before whose body was that of a Black King chess piece who probably suffered the same transformation as Kaufmo the clown.
@@ma.2089 the floor they are on also looks very chess like, making me think originally this World was more Chess based thats why they say Kinger has been here for so long, cause he has been here sicne the very beginning, it would also explain, why the Queen Piece has the very same design as him cause it was very rudementary at the time AND even more theory, Kinger is a high level A.I like Cain he has the same eye design unlike all other Humans who have very cartoony eyes
I'm assuming the digital circus wasn't always a circus, because pomni is a jester which is fitting for a circus, same goes to the clown guy that abstracted. also because of the fact that the previous, older characters just don't seem fitting to a circus, especially the doll woman and zoogle, who looks like a toy that could be disassembled.
The director has described Kain before as being oblivious rather than malicious. But he was also stated to be inspired by AM so no idea how long that may be the case.
@@funkysunky7840 Except AM wouldn't have given them food, rooms, or really any sort of comfort or basic needs. Yeah, the similarities between the two are there, but Caine is a lot nicer and approachable than AM ever was.
21:10 that's actually a completely different character, you'll notice kingers actual door shows up a few seconds later. The red X on it, plus several other missing characters with the red X, Implies that these are characters who have abstracted, like Kaufmo.
Also, another detail on that particular character, aside from the diferent colors, is that it's a queen chess piece, while kinger is a king chess piece
@@diegogonzalez9877 Honestly, I think that The queen piece abstracted and i think thats why Kinger went insane, It was most likely his wife or just he's related to them.
@@user-Noahschuk the floor they are on also looks very chess like, making me think originally this World was more Chess based thats why they say Kinger has been here for so long, cause he has been here sicne the very beginning, it would also explain, why the Queen Piece has the very same design as him cause it was very rudementary at the time AND even more theory, Kinger is a high level A.I like Cain he has the same eye design unlike all other Humans who have very cartoony eyes
So...the way jax acts makes me feel like he actually cares about the others in his own way. He didnt want to freak the 2 who are the most unstable out and acted really nervous when the abstraction started to show up near them
Actually no, he only helps out of necessity not because he actually cares. The creator herself said that everyone hates Jax, but put up with him because they’re stuck with him
It's interesting that people when placed into a situation where they lack control for an extended period of time, they develop coping mechanisms that give them the illusion of control. The main stars of the show seem to display similar coping mechanisms: Pomni: Since she's new to the circus her coping is the same as anyone's would be denial.There isn't much depth to it since she hasn't been trapped for more than a day. But coping is still coping. Jax: He seeks control through others, he takes charge of situations, has the keys to everyone else's rooms and finds joy in the suffering of others. While he may act confident, as soon as something is out of his control he immediately retreats to a position where he feels in control again. Zooble: She's the opposite of Jax, she seeks control in agency. By doing what she wants, when she wants it and not because somebody else said so. She responds to outside instigation negatively, though it is clear she likes the company. Her design also reflects this very well. Gangle: She is similar to Zooble in that she wants agency but she is more interested in emotional control. She relies on a physical and metaphorical mask to be able to be in control of what she feels. In the episode, since her "comedy" mask broke she could only feel "drama" because she quite literally couldn't put her happy mask back on. Kinger: He's in control. Or at least he lives in a world where he's in control. Well he thinks he's in a world where he's in control but that world is not the one he actually exists in. He created a fantasy world with fantasy logic which he lives by and is in control of. Escapism if you will. Ragatha: She's an oddball since she's not seeking control, she avoids it. Instead she's an absolute optimist, believeing things out of her control will always work out for the better. Even in the hopeless case of Kaufmo she believed Caine could fix everything.
I feel ragatha is trying desperately to control herself; she talks the most about finding ways to keep the madness away. She's also lacking in self confidence, cuz she straight up gave pomni permission to leave her behind when kaufmo beat the stuffing out of her. Her up- beat attitude is hiding a neurotic character.
@@dianaruman8723 That is an astute observation. I'd say they are all aware - to some extenet - that they are only pretending to be fine. And it seems clear that all of them gave up the idea of escaping a long time ago. Notable exception being Kaufmo. This might be a wild guess but if I had to, I'd say Ragatha was the last to arrive before Pomni. Since she seems to still be in the last stages of grief. And hasn't quite accepted the fact that she's stuck for good.
I mean, it did feel like she was trying to control the situation somewhat, or at least she wanted to. She displayed guilt at not being able to protect Pomni from the nightmare that was her first day, possibly even guilt at not being able to stand up for herself (being such a soft-hearted character).
I don't know why it just occurred to me, but I think the "C&A" at 37:13 stands for the "Cain and Able" of biblical mythology. And if that's true, then Able was killed by Cain... which might be how he got in the digital realm to begin with. (Edit: fixed the mixup)
I have a feeling "C&A" actually stands for a manufacturing company. Possibly the people behind the creation of the headset that sent Pomni to the Digital Circus.
think maybe that Sad is a villain or atleast someone desperate enough to do something horrible later. In the end sitting at the table - litterally the jesus dinner scene. Sad is sitting at Judas's spot.
So the character with the X over their face on the door isn't Kinger, you see Kinger's room a bit later. I didn't notice the door until recently, and I assume the X gets put on the door of anyone who Abstracts. The crazy thing is that the person there seems to be a queen, which perhaps indicates that Kinger had a loved one that Abstracted and got put into the pit.
One thing I find odd is how immediate Pomnis alarm and desire to escape manifests, it makes me wonder if putting the headset on was involuntary. If she had put it on voluntarily or didn't remember why she put it on I would expect her to be interested in figuring out what's happening before trying to escape. Either way the fact that the first thing she tries to do is escape seems really interesting.
I mean imagine if you put on a VR headset thinking you're going to see something interesting when suddenly you can't feel the headset, the room feels different (assuming change in the air from where you were to circus), and you can't even take off the headset no matter how hard you tried I'd want off that ride too
I’m under the impression Caine was honest about the exit, and that those rooms and the pc are how he makes new items events and locations (but is a mirror of outside the digital circus) for people, so when every one without fail asks for an exit he makes one, since even he cannot leave however he needs something to put on the other side of the exit, and as he said he couldn’t think of anything. Also the company is C&A which I am certain is Caine and Able, because everyone loves symbolism.
One thing people seem to miss is that Caine states later that he, ‘Doesn’t like people seeing his unfinished creations, especially when they lead to the void.’ The whole ‘it was an illusion/hallucination’ was him attempting to prevent Pomni from looking for the door to his unfinished creation.
Things! Kinger kept referencing an “insect collection”, which has led to, at least me, thinking “bugs”. This is the basis of the idea that Kinger is actually a beta-tester for the Amazing Digital Circus, but he’s just gone coocoo for cocoa puffs. Then there was “C&A” in the offices beyond the exit door before the Void. This one is a personal idea. “C” for Caine, obviously. But “A” for Abel. If you shift the A in Abel forwards by 1 letter, you get Bbel. As in, BUBBLE, Caine’s personal assistant. My current head canon is that Caine and Bubble are essentially AI Author Avatars created by the programmers. As for what the Circus is… some say it’s Hell. And, I know it’s crazy, but there was a fanfic on AO3 that showed Caine is just trying to alleviate everybody’s suffering, and just fails to because he doesn’t understand humans enough. Of course, it also showed that Caine can’t make working Exits. One other idea I have is that Caine is programmed to ensure players have as enjoyable a time as possible, but he wasn’t finished enough to learn how to seem less DRAMATIC. Of course, this begs the question of whether the fan theory that Bubble is the mastermind who can let them all out is true or false. I mean, what if popping Bubble is the way to leave the Circus? Why else would Bubble be in Caine’s hat? It would be like this: Caine is the AI assistant, and Bubble is a fun little mechanic in the programming where Caine would go “Well, if you’d like to go now, just pop Bubble here!” After a lot of “Are you sure?” prompts.
My personal theory is that the circus is an allegory for a mental ward. Because I've been in one. Caine and Bubble remind me way too much of the staff at that place, man, and Pomni is just me at that point in my life.
the little things i noticed. as a russian, i can say that the name of protagonist, pomni, is the imperative form of the verb "pomnit' " in russian, that means "remember", like you say to somebody "remember this!". i wonder if it's significant and actually means that her own name says to her: "remember who you are". and when you started to assume if the vomit is up to something, i thought if this vomit is actually her memories about her life, because after she throwing up she did not remember her name. maybe bubble eating the memories of humans trapped in the circus?.. idk sounds weird, but it's just my thoughts
(14:40) For me what really makes this is the intensity and commitment to the delivery. The line read of "YOU PARASITE" is near perfect. I'm a writer myself, and I specialise in not just comedy, but mixing comedy with other genres. Weirdly, I can do a comedy-horror mix just fine, but if you want me to write straight up horror I can't do it very well at all. Gooseworx's style reminds me a lot of my own work, albeit a bit more esoteric than I tend to lean. I also have issues with writing romance, since I'm sorta aroace-ish, but I almost think that makes me better at it in some ways than a lot of people who write it, because I tend to focus less on flights of passion and heated moments, so much as crafting a lasting and supportive mutual relationship wherein characters make each other better together, a focus I find much rarer in romance plots. I definitely wouldn't write it "by the book" though.
... Not sure how it is for other Ace people, but observing the nature other people's relationships kinda feels like trying to put into words the experiential difference between watching a firework show, and meditating at a zen garden. Both phenomena are beautiful in their own respective ways, even if I lack the context to empathize with it at a personal level. >):^D
... PS: Would you be so kind as to point us in the direction of some of your published pieces? I am curious to see how such particular perspective on the part of an author affects a storie's narrative structure.
Yes I agree. While I am not entirely sure either if I am on the aroace spectrum, writing romance is kind of awkward for me, because its so..alien? Trying to put yourself in the shoes of something or someone you cant quite comprehend entirely
10:36 NO WAY ! YOU'RE RIGHT THERE'S AN IMAGE AS THE TEXTURE OF THE VOMIT (Never thought I would say that line in my life) ! It's the small scenery with the pink flowers that's used as the texture for Metal Mario in Mario 64, I'm sure of it ! That's crazy, I love this so much ! ^^
This kind of reminds me of those old click and point games that I had on my old pc growing up, as it feels like it with the intro song and the transition from the one style of animation to another one, the way that they present the map area all that's left to say was click on the location to find out what activities you can do. This reminds me of games like Putt-Putt series or the old Arthur games I used to play.
18:24 Pomni is a jester , big difference from w clown and jester.Jesters entertain kings n queens while clowns are your regular old Joe you find in the circus or at a birthday party.
Correction: A Jester would be able to insult the king, his wife and the entire court with no consequence. Not to mention, a very good candidate for a trusted advisor. A clown? No... They are the joke, while to a jester, everyone ELSE is the joke.
This has a Stanley Parable, Jack Staber, 2000's creepypasta type of vibe to me, and I love it. Can't wait to see more references to others shows they made in this show, since I think they already added one.
It might just be what I naturally associate Rochon with, but that exposition from Caine on the tour, the name disclaimer, and "you parasite" are some of the most Spamton things I've ever seen.
Caine isn’t really evil, he’s more of a caretaker if anything. Under normal circumstances, he’d be making characters in his show and making fun stories for a human audience outside the game. Now that humans are actively in his game, and are in genuine danger, he wants to do what he can to keep them sane and alive, by giving them things to do.
Funny enough: I’m not saying that Jax isn’t a dick during all this. But I have a little theory/feeling that when he shoves Gangle and Kingler in the hole, he wasn’t being an ass….entirely. He was just taking them with him to hide from the abstracted clown just so all of them wouldn’t be hurt if they stayed above. It occurred to me that he was going to mention something about hiding away from it and then got interrupted by it crashing in on the gloink Queen :) I love your reaction btw!! You pointed out some silly hidden stuff and facts about the animation that I wanted to try finding myself haha
My guess so far. Jax found a glitch that helps him with a few things. Doesn't mention it, though, because at the moment he can't find out how to use it to log out Imagine if the more mentally unstable of the bunch found out there was a possibility, but it was still impossible.
I saw a theory talking about how Jax provides mental stimulation in his own way- Caine’s adventures are great but don’t seem to be particularly challenging. Jax acting as a sort of bully/provoker stimulates their emotions- getting frustrated or angry at him keeps their minds off their current situation. If they only did happy fun adventures I think they’d all lose it pretty fast.
My hypothesis is this: They stated Kinger was there longer than any of the rest of them and he seems to have knowledge of virtual realms. What if Kinger was one of the few that made the headset that sent them to this place. He seems crazy but maybe he is actually intelligent. Jax does seem to also know something as well. I do want people to acknowledge Kinger and Jax convo near the end when talking about the food. I think it shows they both have knowledge of this Digital Circus.
There was another chess piece, a black queen on one of the doors. The floor is also checkered like a chess board, so it might be likely that kinger isn’t like the other humans and rather from a more chess oriented period (perhaps even npcs?) considering he has eyes like caine
@@vast9467 And Caine and Abel are meant to be sons of Adam and Eve... Is Kinger possibly Adam in this case and his lost Queen is Eve? Also he sits at the end where Judas would sit so definitely there is something hiding there.
The “you didn’t experience a game show in there did you” line is a reference to gooseworx’s other work, in which there is a game show inside of a creatures stomach. It happens in both “little runmo” and one of the videos in the elaine series (“Elaine the bounty hunter” and “Elaine gets adopted”). Be warned, gooseworx makes some really strange stuff.
As I understand it, the pitch was _"Cheery colourful, I-have-no-mouth-and-I-must-scream";_ which is a book and game I never want to directly experience. I'd say it succeeded. High hopes and apart from Abel and the spoilers, no idea where it will go.
@@aelechdeepestflame4347 In the exit offices, we see a logo “C & A.” If Caine is C, then A may be Abel (biblically, Caine was the world’s first murderer, who killed his brother Abel (I think that’s right?)).
Also FYI, the creator is gooseworx, surprised they didnt put it in the description considering theyre mentioned in the title in every single promotional video for the amazing digital circus (as they always put "By gooseworx" after the name)
I'm not sure but the texture Pomni barfed up at 10:16 kinda looks like the Metal Mario texture from Mario 64. Which in case you are curious, the texture is actually a picture of pink flowers in front of a house. Don't know how or if flowers are related to Pomni's barf, Maybe it's just a reference to how some old videogames used images of unrelated objects for textures.
Jax just became my favorite character but I also got that weird feeling from him- like he knows but not in a way that he's like a villain or something, more in the way that he's been there for way too long that he's seen many come and "go", cause of the way he acts like- really indiferent, so is not new for him. Besides he said something like that the King is suppousely the one who's been the longest and I know it might be cause there are obviously more that might have glitched but maybe he's not and is Jax the one who's been the longest at last from the ones that remain. Idk man I just want to make and read and watch all the theories about the pilot cause is so interesting and I really liked it but also that- you noticed way more than I did from the backgrounds and all- I gotta watch it in english better cause I could miss something if I only watch the spanish version
The thing I noticed in the Exit place is that it's three rooms over and over again. My first implication is that the most amount Caine has seen of the real world. That's why he couldn't finish the Exit door, either because he doesn't have the capability of logging out the people or because he hasn't seen enough of the world to recreate it in the Digital Circus.
This show kind of feels like Toy Story if the toys started to question their own existence while getting trapped in a David Lynch universe at the same time.
Based on one of your tangents: See the reason I thought I didn't like romance for a LOOOONG time is BECAUSE of that formula. When I started reading independent works that didn't have to go through publishers I started actually enjoying romance. The crossed out door you noticed wasn't Kinger's. That was a queen piece. There were also other doors with faces we hadn't seen crossed out. I'm presuming those are the ones who abstracted. I get the impression that Caine is someone/something that was supposed to be playing a specific role in something more controlled and now he has lost control of the most important bits and is dealing with it by hiding away all his problems. The picture that you've been wondering over looks like it was a drawing of the clown himself.
To me, Caine seems just as trapped as everyone else. He may be powerful, but he isn't free, and the best he can do is make the experience more bareable with his powers and antics. Also I just wanna say I love love love how the episode ends, it's so soul crushing and interesting (and I also find it hilarious that it's basically the exact same ending as Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, camera slowly zooming in on the protagonist's haunted face as dramatic music plays).
interesting that you noticed the picture frame in the clown's room depicting what we're looking at. Thing is- I don't think that's it. That body shape doesn't match Jax, Ragatha, OR Pomni. It doesn't even match any of the other main cast... ...but it does match the clown. If that's the clown discovering someone else has abstracted, and it's part of the driving force behind his insanity and eventual abstraction, that makes the situation all the more ironic.
I'm fairly certain C&A at 37:13 stands for Caine and Abel, or likely some misspelled variant thereof. If this is all a part of the program made by Caine in an attempt to improve the lives of his residents - he wanted to give them the Exit because it's what they wanted, but being unable to make a way out, he wasn't sure what to make for them - then we can assume he has a connection to Abel somehow. I'm thinking the headset/program itself might be called Abel, but that's just a bit of wild theory-crafting with little basis. We do see in the end, however, that the void is presented in the screen of the computer, meaning the computer inside the exit door is likely where the program all this is running on takes place, meaning it's a world that exists within itself; a simulation wherein the simulation is physically present as a manifested version of itself. Also, when I see this series, my mind goes not to Sword Art Online or .//Hack, but much further back, to "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" - a story of existential horror where a hyper-powerful AI traps a group of humans in a simulation to torture them endlessly, overcome with pure and unadulterated hatred. Weirdly, I feel like the roles of the traditional story of Cain and Abel may be switched, with Abel being the more malicious of the two, and is perhaps the "Revolutionary Hardware" - revealed in the Wacky Watch trailer - itself, trapping humans in this hellscape, while Caine, a sentient AI within the Abel program is trying it's best to help the humans through the trials placed by the spiteful and vengeful Abel. Again, wholly theory-crafting. We'd need far more information before any of this could be considered truly likely.
Let’s just say that this series can be roughly summarised as “Toy Story meets I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream as depicted in a 90s child’s education game.”
Soooo, I don't see anyone talking about how Jax has some degree of media awareness. 19:18 He isn't looking at Ragatha. He's looking at us, she's just in the way. Lines like: "I'm fine doing anything, as long as I see funny things happen to people." and "This is dumb and weird" (causing the Gloink Queen to look directly at us, "You're still watching"). He seems to be channeling the audience somehow. Honestly, given his attitude, I think HE has been here the longest. Remember, "Kinger has SUPPOSEDLY been here the longest." He's numb to most of it all. Just having his own fun.
I believe it's implied that since Caine said he has control over everything except their minds that there probably is no actual way out and the whole 'maze of doors' thing was him trying to recreate the world outside of the computer but can't venture beyond the screens himself to see what else is out there, so it just keeps repeating. Also I believe due to the final scene of the many zoom outs that Pomni saw the room through the inside of the computer screen before Caine grabbed her from the void, meaning they really ARE trapped inside the computer game and can't find a way out. Honestly though, if Caine doesn't have any malicious intent like Gooseworx said, and he has control over everything but their minds, why can't he just let them go? Surely he would've done so by now if he could. It also explains why he can't just fix an 'Abstraction' because it's a mental thing and he states he has no power over their minds. So if you 'Abstract' in the Digital Circus then you can't be fixed unless you somehow regain your sanity. And since they're immortal (judging based on the teaser where Pomni gets a few knives thrown at her), then being Abstracted is a fate worse than death as you can't die, are permanently insane, and cause the same insanity purgatory to spread to everyone and everything you touch.
Fun fact: The people who are making this series are also making SMG4. I will only say this much about SMG4: When the dramatic moments hit, they hit hard.
Airier! I just wanted to say that you make the best reaction vids! You make the most of this format of video, making interesting commentaries, observations and theories about the video and just adding a lot to the existing product! Unfortunately, many react vids are basically reposts of the original video with another cam on the side, so i'm glad that you put a lot of effort into making your reacts!
Complete shot in the dark. But my wacko Theory right now is that Kinger was working for C&A, the company we see in the false exit, and was trying to develop an immersive AI you could put your Consciousness into. But instead ended up making a copy of his own consciousness, thinking it didn't work he went back to the drawing board. Every so often somebody sees the headset puts it on nothing seems to happen and they go about their day unaware of the new being they have doomed into existence. And if he ever had any memory of being the Creator he's long since lost them along with his sanity. Also wouldn't be surprised if time in the digital world moves faster than real time, they could just be passing the headset around the room and it just feels like a lot of time is passing in between new characters. The fact that the PC did look old kind of pushing me away from that one though
The fact cane calls himself the ring master has me wonder if he was 1 of the first people trapped in there,cause it would be..kinda unbelievable is he wasn't once a person like the rest of them
about that painting where somebody was walking in on another person who hit their breaking point. thats kaufmo, there were more of those abstracted creatures in the cellar so he probably walked in on somebody who ended up like him.
What messes me up is in the background in the hallway the amount of characters that have X's on their doors/Abracted characters. One of them is Queenie, which makes me theorize that Kinger and his wife were trapped and the reason that Kinger is crazy is because he witnessed his wife abstracted and has had to live in this world with that guilt of not being able to help her.
Someone once theorized that what if the only way to escape is by abstraction, by abstracting you return to your human body, and what's left behind is a soulless husk. Though it wouldn't explain why the abstractions are so aggressive in nature. Maybe Abstraction isn't going crazy, but losing yourself in obsession over that unobtainable goal that Ragatha explains about. Kaufmo obviously was obsessed with the exit. Maybe you're right, Abstraction is to lose your mind in obsession, going crazy in digital circus is just what everyone does eventually. I like to think that Cain is actually trying to prevent them from Abstracting by giving them adventures and such. He does explain that he was trying to fulfill their dreams of their being an exit. I like the idea that maybe Cain is an A.I created by this C & A company we see a brief glimpse of that's trying to recreate the human world. Why else would the labyrinth have the headset and computer that Pomni started to lose it over once she saw.
Love the callbacks across the history of entertainment gaming and animation; from gangle's theatrical nod to ragatha's face playing pong to jax being a rubberhose character. But yeah there's a mountain of fascinating concerning questions: why did this C&A corporation reinvent tron, how much does caine know about the outside world, why is the void a spoiler, how does this fit into Gooseworx' universe, why does kinger seem to be the most genre savvy of the cast, are the mannequins placeholders for new people entering the realm, why doesn't the glitchiness from abstractions affect the environment the same way it does the characters, since pomni is the first new character in years what does that imply is happening outside, if there's a cellar used to contain problems then what's the attic used for, ect. Regardless, explanations aren't necessary, it's still delightfully twisted!
I don't have much to add, but I will say my interpretation of "Oh no, someone will get spoiled!!" is he's worried about them ACTUALLY getting spoiled... like a fruit left outside or a gallon of milk that's spent too much time in the fridge. It's why he IMMEDIATELY pulled Pomni out, why Pomni seemed sort of shell shocked/broken because of the void, and why he doesn't like them interacting with his unfinished creations when they lead to the void. Also, considering that Caine is said to be a benevolent AI that was made to entertain humans outside of the game, and now that humans are inside the game he's doing his best to take care of them and only giving up on them when they abstract, he probably doesn't know anything outside of his programming and what he can see outside the screen. It's why the exit he made is just the office repeating over and over and why he couldn't think of anything else after getting tired of making more and more office... he probably knows nothing but the things inside that computer and the narrow window into the world that he can see out of.
@@Lambent_Omega Ah I was thinking of spoiling as in shifting one's expectations instead of ruining a surprise, since pomni recognized the internal logic of how she got there during the office maze prior to the void, which also would explain her shellshock. Caine made it a point that he doesn't know what's out there, but when he rescues pomni he also looks at whatever she's seeing, leading me to believe he either doesn't understand what's out there or is intending to hide it from the crew because he does; both make sense for why he's often keeping the characters entertained but restricted to the grounds, since he might think the unknown is what drives them to abstraction or he doesn't want them to be reminded of how they got trapped because that also tends to abstract them. I'm inclined to agree, an ai doing what it think is best to take care of unexpectedly freewilled characters; but given his eagerness to dismiss pomni's objections, it makes me wonder if previous characters have tried to convince him that he's an artificial entity. AI is rather shortsighted when it comes to extrapolating implied detail, hence the 'outside' invented just being the immediate office repeated into fractal breakdown, there's not even staple constructs that would signify there's different infrastructure outside the office such as water fountains or vending machines or windows. But my questions were supposed to be rhetorical, still fun food for thought though lol.
41:51 even if the headset was there, he wasn’t exactly lying. It was literally almost like backrooms situation with a bunch of looping hallways leading to the void. I think you’re onto something in regards to it being corporate in nature, since the headset was in a corporate building. But I don’t think Caine was lying about the place being unfinished. T
How do you make an _I Have No Mouth_ series without things getting too depressing? Why, by adding butt-tons of colorful, existential whimsy, of course?
If you pay attention to the background in the bedroom hall you'll notice the chess piece character that's been x'd out is actually from the black side of the chess board. There are actually multiple rooms x'd out which is a visual hint at what is to come.
I think all the "Humans" are just avatars with AI that connect to a human through the headset, but now without any human connecting to them. but they still have some code from the humans having used them. that is why they abstract, have memory issues. Cain is just trying to keep them going, feeding them random stuff, but it is just not as good as a human connecting with them. without that they collapse eventually.
Opposite to other reaction creators, you're actually pausing the video to give your thoughts about it while giving a close look at the details and discussing them, this is something refreshing and actually interesting to watch
I think Caine literally can’t comprehend the concept of leaving. When pomni asks him the first time he stalls out, and every other time is either answered by others, or referring to the “exit” he built
Fun fact: The voice actor for Caine, Alex Rochon, did some voice dubs for a character in Deltarune, Spamton. (All unofficial and for fun) That character had similar vibes to Caine and for that this casting is perfect for me.
I like a theory that i read today. It said everyone there is/was a worker for C&A, a Game Company that was making one of the first MMOs but this one focused for everyone and not only adolescents and adults, that's why is so colorful and has that censorship for swears. And this is where everything gets crazy, Jax has an Admin level account, that's why he has keys for others rooms and maybe for other places and probably he's one of the most sane persons there. Pairing Gangle and Kinger to make them out of their comfort zone to keep them more sane, specially breaking the "Comedy mask" from Gangle to making her confront the reality instead of hiding herself behind that mask and Kinger bc he "seems" to know something (maybe he's another Dev but he went a bit crazy for staying there too long and probably bc in the rooms scene you can see another chess piece, a queen specifically and that probably added more pressure on him, making him crazy but not crazy enough to get Abstracted), going to see if Koufmo was ok, protecting (again) Gangle and Kinger from the abstracted clown throwing them into the Gloink hole. He probably know a lot but it's been a long time so he also doesnt want to get too involved with the people, so he keep a safe distant to care about them but also to don't get too attached to them cuz he has already lost a lot of friends, that's why he bully them in a safe way (also to keep him sane)
I would like to point out that during Pomni's little freakout immediately after seeing the headset the lights flicker around her. We haven't seen this level of effect on the environment from any other character besides Caine. This suggest she may have some kind of influence over her surroundings.
fun fact, the reference to a game show that kinger brought up was a direct reference to Little Runmo, where theres a scene where runmo gets eaten and has to win a game show to leave
I was literally only waiting for your reaction, nobody else got my view before! You are actually one of the best reactors, get jokes, check out details etc. 👍
Not sure how many haven't noticed it but Jax looks at the camera(us) when he says "she thinks this is still a dream" so he's got awareness of the 4th wall
Interesting that Kaine makes adventures for the Circus Gang, doesn’t allow swearing, and doesn’t want anyone to find out about an exit. Obviously the whole thing is a show for the entertainment of humans, but why trap actual humans and why not treat it like a normal job, why not give them the solace that they can be repaired or just take a break now and again? Many questions…🤔
Based on the creator's tweets explaining Kaine isn't evil just an AI that doesn't understand humans I believe he genuinely isn't holding them against their wills, they wind up in his world and he just tries to keep them alive and sane by the only means he knows.
They are trapped inside "OFFLINE" PC!!! So, there is no one to watch and enjoy "THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS", buid in AI "Cane" perfectly aware that there is no spectators, observers plus humans that got trapped inside The Amazing Digital Circus arent employees able to work and then leave, take break or so. They are here not buy their Free will and they CAN'T leave. Pomni get inside TADC years after first humans got trapped there and we know it was quite a-lot of them by how much abstacted are in the cellar and how many rooms that have crossed out Faces on them, plus what Jack have said. They been trapped there for years so obviously AI would have time to access the situation. Only question now, before first season is... how and Why people got trapped inside The Amazing Digital Circus, who created it and Why it was abandoned but able to trap people to day Pomni got trapped (maybe we meet New trapped characters besides Pomni? 🤔 If not, that means time flow diffirently inside Digital world, but how exactly diffirent is a question, so far i think exit do exist but it is hidden in the VOID (maybe void isn't what we think it is, even Cain have no idea but he definitely able to swiftly find and retreve "LOST" In the VOID, that CAN'T be a coincidence
As Caine said “your minds are the only thing I don’t have control over.” The problem with the digital circus is it takes away your body and name, but keeps your name. That alone creates dismorphia in the extreme, which Caine likely tries to combat with giving a new name of the persons desire(within his forced limits) and giving activities and routine to keep the people of the circus distracted and (mostly sane), but Caine does not have a good grasp of people. His own understanding and control of the circus is imperfect. Despite claiming to have hundreds of all seeing eyes, he is completely unaware of certain things in the circus and certainly more on the void, only having some limited ability to tell if someone ended up in the void.
I would love to see you listen to the Magnus Archives. It is a mystery, horror anthilogy podcast. It's some of ,if not the best, horror I've ever experienced.
Yes, I definitely crave reactions to the series, though it's unlikely to see episodic reactions since it's an audio only medium. Still, it's something I've been wanting for a *long* time. I want to see someone experience TMA the way I did.
" From fatigue and laughter The unfortunate people were exhausted, Guards in armor were lying around And everyone laughed terribly. No longer a king Everyone has gone crazy Months and years flew by In the merry kingdom of the dwarf jester! Ho-ho everything is upside down ho-ho everything is shaking, Laughter from all sides Laughter in the merry kingdom of the jester " (song by the group King and jester, 90s, punk rock, there is a rhyme, but it’s in Russian)
Dude you did an incredible job analyzing this, holy shit! You pointed out so many things I didn't notice and made tons of good notes to keep in mind. I've just been going through reactions for fun (mostly to see Kinger more) but this was a really nice surprise! Well done!!
When they were walking in the hallway I think is saw 2 rooms with Chess characters pic one darker with the red cross and one lighter with a no cross also one is the king chess piece and the other is a queen, also there are a couple more rooms with crosses but i didn’t have a chance to properly look at them.
At first when you saw the door with the X and you thought Kinger had lost it, it was actually a Queen! You see not too much later that Kinger's door is normal, if not the cross on top of the king piece, you can see with the colors the difference. Sides to that, great reaction! I like how you point out a lot of things that I did not know or paid attention to! 💖
It is going to be interesting to see how this story goes, given this is is based upon one of the darkest stories in Literature, I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream. While Caine isn't AM in any way, you can never be sure how closely these two bastards will be in the coming episodes.
So when ragatha is talking in the hallway you can see rooms for characters who don't appear for example a king bronze chess piece similar to kinger,a lime puppet and more
I just had a small realization, this is most likely just an art style decision on goosework's part, but the "abstracted" characters, have almost the exact same eyes, and eye animations as The Elders Of Lost Eyes from another small gooseworks series Elain The Bounty Hunter. again, probably just a nod, or just a particular art decision, but it's really hard to look at them side to side, and not notice the similarities.
Finally, after rewatching this like 10 times, I just realized what the "You didn't experience a game show in there" line refers to. The old Runmo animation by Gooseworx! Dang what a nice reference.
think its more. "ah what a weird headset. *puts on* weird nothing happened. oh well" mean while a digital copy of that persons brain now injected into the system. or its a remnant of someone having used the headset. an AI without any input from a human. they collaps into abstraction if they are not kept going, which is what Cain is trying to do, and poorly at that.
i think the reason why jax is being a dick and a (not giving a shit person) is probably because he wants to make sure he won't go insane and become abstracted. So i think he forces himself with a edgy personality, we also don't know yet how long he has been in the digital circus, while they said that kinger has been the longest, but i think jax was one of the first ones and now has just kept living like this to remain his sanity, this is just my theory tho
The creator hasn’t confirmed how long he’s been there. But she did confirm that Jax is youngest human there. He’s 22 years old and said they’ve been there for years. There’s a chance he’s been there since he was a teenager. Could also explain some of the edginess and pranks 🤷🏼♀️
Actually, that wasn't Kinger's door with the X on it. You can see his door right after that. That door had a Queen chess piece, whose official name is Queenie. It's generally believed that she and Kinger were a pair until one day she abstracted, which could have contributed to Kinger's current mental state.
I have a theory about the tape cross on the door when they were looking for kofmo In chess their is a king and queen But when i zoom to look closer on the top of the picture of "king" 's room The head of the character is the top of a queen, exactly a black queen While King's top looks like their is a + simboy
Fun Fact: Gooseworx confirmed herself that Caine isnt Evil or has bad intentions, he really wants them to just have fun and not let them go crazy by giving them stuff to do, its just the way he does it is a bit weird to say the least since hes an AI and doesnt really get the human psychology really well
so, he bill Cypher but without the evil part, he's just chaotic
I kinda figured off the bat that he wasn't evil. For this exact reason
He reminds of me Spamton so much 😭
@@TakeASlice-MusicI thought I was the only one that got reminded of Spamton when I originally saw Caine's character-
She also confirmed Pomni is 25
I find it funny and weirdly scary that the show is based on "I have no mouth and I must scream" but instead, Caine is fun-loving wacky little guy instead of a living embodiment of hate
... Likely due to how the only thing worse then malice is indifference. The whole thing is a game to it, and there's no sense of consequence or attachment to anything it does, which is giving off some massive cosmic horror vibe. >):^/
That could b true, for what I suspect Caine programmed to be an attentive host, he’s pretty careless & not exactly being there for the humans. He just dumps them in situations like playing games leaving them on their own to figure out & with our suspicions high on him lying, he already lied to Zooble. Lied about the in-house adventure being something Zooble doesn’t necessarily have to join if they don’t want to, but he purposely puts up a game with critters that steals s#%+ from under their feet (literally the underground gloinks queen), and what ends up happening: those critters highwaymanned Zooble’s parts as they’re carried away screaming.
It’s played for laughs but this is cruel neglect to let something dangerous like that happened to a human 😡
@@docavar5698 eh, i don't think he did that on purpose. he probably didnt expect them to carry away zooble like that. he seems more like he's just kinda trying his best but often overlooks things and struggles to understand humans and their desires. him trying to make an "exit" since they all wanted one so badly but failing to think of what to put on the other side is almost kind of sweet in a.... weird way. like a robot trying to cheer up someone sad. which is basically what it is.
@@penntopaper9305 yeah but it’s been YEARS and Caine should truly know what the humans wanted this whole time and if he knew remotely anything he’s still guilty for hiding and lying at their faces.
@@docavar5698It is true IF he can self-improve.
When Kinger asks Zooble if she played a game show inside the Gloink Queen, he's actually referencing Gooseworx's (the creator of the show) previous animations. Almost all of which have a character play a gameshow inside another character's stomach
As far as I know, that only happened in Lil Runmo and Elaine the Bounty Hunter.
Exactly
Almost all of them
@@syweb2Twice is a lot for that to happen (insert doofenshmirtz quote)
@@deibellator1449 best fetish
@@thomascook5212 You aren’t counting the 3 or 4 whole other videos in The Pink City. It's not even in half of them.
This show is like the exact opposite of _Murder Drones._ It's bright, cheery, and comedic on the outside, but full of darkness, heartbreak, and existential dread on the inside. And I'm going to love it just as much.
Agreed
I think you made the exact comment under original video
@@kacperkonieczny7333This is true and they have done it under multiple videos, probably to prove their point
@@kacperkonieczny7333exactly what i was thinking
@@Ticklebot_23_69they made it under another video and someone realized that so they said “yeah but it’s fine if it’s my own comment”
"This is a really expressive face in general"
Hoo boy, you have NO IDEA how complex these rigs are, Jax's in particular relies 80% on tricking the camera
Theyre all animated and rigged in a completely different way i have no idea how the animators endured this because this wasnt a case of "One team works on one character"
Its the 3D equivalent of how The Amazing world of gumball has so many contrasting styles
it def ended up looking great in the end tho!
Hopefully they figure something sustainable for the actual series. Where did you find the info about the rigs?
My impression with Jax is that he's really affected by the situation, but he jokes around, acts like a jerk and like he doesn't care about anything or anyone in order to hide the fact that he's actually not feeling okay.
And when he talked about fixing the Gloinks situation after they hit him, his pupils shrank and his smile was gone, which made me feel like he was more honest with his feelings just in that scene.
Maybe that the big pupils and the big smile, in addition to his personality as I explained earlier, are a facade to hide the fact that he's not okay.
Yeah, my immediate impression of Jax was that his method of coping is to just pretend the problem’s not even there. As soon as he sees the now-abstracted Kaufmo, he acts like he just came in there to grab something before dipping out; and he straight up ignores Zooble when they ask why Pomni’s not with him.
Everyone is handling the trauma of being here in different ways, all of which are oftentimes classified by psychology. Ragatha is overly optimistic, drowning her negativity in a sea of good vibes. Kinger is disassociating; the world is slowly loosing meaning to him, which means he's actually probably least likely to Abstract - if Abstraction is tantamount to emotional surrender - but far more likely to just become entirely unhinged. Gangle is trying to mask their emotions, but this is very literal for her, resulting in the mask oftentimes breaking, leaving her depressed. Zooble seems to have simply accepted their lot in life, and while they are surly and distant, they are actually fairly well adjusted to what's happening around and to them. And Jax is likely being cruel as a means to inflict suffering onto others to lessen his own suffering. Schadenfreude is one hell of a coping mechanism. Kaufmo even had his own method, which was laughter, albeit at his own (apparently very bad) humor.
@@Cure_Hana Yeah that's also what I think.
@@inkblooded1058 Oh I see, that's very interesting.
i would prefer it if he is just a sociapath, the whole hides behind jokes gimmick is getting so run and dry
It's interesting that Pomni's name might actually have russian origins, because "Помни" (Which is literally pronounced like "Pomni") means "Remember".
And I don't believe it's just a coincidence that the most self-aware character in this show, who desperately wants to return to the real world and can't even remember her name, is named with such a specific word by accident.
It must be intentional.
i mean...the King piece is named Kinger, the names defintily aret just by random
Damn I really missed that, cool detail.
None of them can remember their name
@@vast9467 I know, but none of them are bothered by it by the time she shows up.
She's the only one of the current gang who actively WANTS to know her name and to get out, while the rest gave up a long time ago
I literally speak russian, how the hell did I just notice this-
Honestly, my personal theory is that Caine is trying to recreate the real world for the characters, and just doesn't want them to end up getting lost in the void by exploring his unfinished work
have the thought that maybe the exit itself became a separate ai to caine, and is trying to accomplish some unknown element.
@@taddad2641ooh that would be interesting
Perhaps Caine is using C&A's (Cain and Able) Company Assets as a basis for his own creations. Maybe 'The Exit' was supposed to be like a hedge maze game (Stanley Parable style) but based off of 'real' stuff since that's what he thought the humans would like.
@@IronDino oooo, that's a great one!! Love that theory!!
Better than my theory that he was trying to make a way out but couldn't figure out how because he can make almost anything in the digital world but to make an exit would take someone in the real world to make their end
The show was made by Gooseworx, a creator that mainly dabbles in crazy, confusing, kinda trippy creations, such as the video called Little Runmo.
Also this show has real subtitles (and not that awful generated stuff), so using the subtitles would be quite beneficial
As someone who recently watch little runmo and for the first time i was intrigue by the artstyle
I would recommend not using the subtitle for this video because they are like delayed a good 5 seconds and it's more confusing than helping
Sadly the subs got out of sync abotu halfway in, it just made it harder to watch at that point
yeah ...hint hint
@@RiconortI think they fixed that
As someone who has watched a lot of Gooseworx over the years, this show is phenomenal. You can really tell the character designs come from her trippy almost abstract cute horror style but now in 3D which is really cool. Kinger is my favourite, Kinger is a classic.
Also, thé running thing of getting eaten And playing a gameshow
And Kinger being both mentally, and physically unstable.
Kinger supremacy
Kinger is absolutely great, we love the insane middle aged people
Him asking Zooble if there was a game show in the belly of the gloink Queen was a great reference too.
Kinger for life
"Is it going to be happy, sad, scary, or WTF-inducing?"
Yes
All of the above and more
A. Happy
B. Sad
C. Scary
D. WTF-inducing
E. All of the Above
@@cartoonmaster2401*E*
@@cartoonmaster2401 Once again. E.
I think Jax's "suspicious" traits are less an implication of him knowing more than he lets on and moreso just a big act he puts up as a coping mechanism to deal with the existential dread... (the parts where he stops smiling might be moments where the real him shines through).
Every "human" here seems to do it to some extend, i think they have to put up these acts and play up parts of themselves to not loose sight of who they are, wich would lead to them ending like Kaufmo.
So Jax who probably had a meanstreak and a joky side to him, plays up these parts and turns into this loony toons esque jackass... Ragatha who was probably somewhat caring and easily worried plays up a sort of big sister role, etc etc.
Though Kinger might be an exception, he might be so old and so out of it that he might have a sort of digital demencia, i mean he constantly forgets where he is and whst he is doing and starts rambling on about random seemingly unrelated, though that too could be an act, playing up his own crazyness and randomness to remind himself of the scatterbrained person he is.
kinger might also be acting like he's insane instead of actually being insane, like those 1 second delays when he gets startled by gangle
Almost all of the main cast have some form of lying to themselves and others to help them cope with current situations.
Jax says stuff like "She'll be fine", and "I've never seen him this happy before", and so on, when he worries/knows about it being the opposite. We sew how Gangle reacts to the news when learning about Kaufmo abstracting, and Zooble being eaten, so Jax could be lying entirely for Gangle's sake.
Ragatha said "It's okay" when Pomni apologized for running away after her hand glitched, but then later she told Caine that she's 'in so much pain', and is also very visibly upset about what happened after Caine fixes her, and Pomni feeling bad, communicating to us that Ragatha is upset at Pomni. Ragatha didn't want Pomni to breakdown if she knew that Ragatha was in extreme pain, so she lied and said she was fine in the moment.
Pomni uses the 'it's all a dream!' excuse to lie to herself about her situation, and when confronted with the truth that there is no real exit, we see her breaking down.
Caine, although he doesn't seem to fully understand the human psyche, does seem to lie to help the others from a entering a breakdown. He doesn't tell them about the exit, because he knows how they'll react upon trying to use it and not getting out. We see how Pomni acts after facing the truth that if there is an exit, it's not a real one.
Kinger could be playing an act, being the 'crazy guy' of the group, always asking about what's happening and stuff, not sure what to make of that yet.
And Zooble.. well, we just don't see enough of Zooble to even know her character, really, apart from her massive angst vibes.
The crossed-out King image on the door was a Black King. Kinger is a White King. A few seconds later, you see them pass by Kinger's actual room, and his picture isn't crossed out.
This means that there was another person before whose body was that of a Black King chess piece who probably suffered the same transformation as Kaufmo the clown.
I’m pretty sure it’s a Black Queen
@@gameboysp100 Either way, it's not Kinger.
Considering he’s been there the longest, he likely has some really crazy and sad lore to explore
@@ma.2089 the floor they are on also looks very chess like, making me think originally this World was more Chess based thats why they say Kinger has been here for so long, cause he has been here sicne the very beginning, it would also explain, why the Queen Piece has the very same design as him cause it was very rudementary at the time AND even more theory, Kinger is a high level A.I like Cain he has the same eye design unlike all other Humans who have very cartoony eyes
I'm assuming the digital circus wasn't always a circus, because pomni is a jester which is fitting for a circus, same goes to the clown guy that abstracted. also because of the fact that the previous, older characters just don't seem fitting to a circus, especially the doll woman and zoogle, who looks like a toy that could be disassembled.
The director has described Kain before as being oblivious rather than malicious. But he was also stated to be inspired by AM so no idea how long that may be the case.
Hes AM if he was more oblivious instead of outright malicious according to Gooseworx.
@@funkysunky7840 Except AM wouldn't have given them food, rooms, or really any sort of comfort or basic needs. Yeah, the similarities between the two are there, but Caine is a lot nicer and approachable than AM ever was.
Who's AM?
@@AceBountyHunterRex Allied Mastercomputer from "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream"
@@Pheonix1328 ah thank you
21:10 that's actually a completely different character, you'll notice kingers actual door shows up a few seconds later. The red X on it, plus several other missing characters with the red X, Implies that these are characters who have abstracted, like Kaufmo.
Also, another detail on that particular character, aside from the diferent colors, is that it's a queen chess piece, while kinger is a king chess piece
it is the black king.
king might have killed him :D
It's a queen piece too, inverse in colour to Kinger's... well, king. Makes you wonder if they were related.
@@diegogonzalez9877 Honestly, I think that The queen piece abstracted and i think thats why Kinger went insane, It was most likely his wife or just he's related to them.
@@user-Noahschuk the floor they are on also looks very chess like, making me think originally this World was more Chess based thats why they say Kinger has been here for so long, cause he has been here sicne the very beginning, it would also explain, why the Queen Piece has the very same design as him cause it was very rudementary at the time AND even more theory, Kinger is a high level A.I like Cain he has the same eye design unlike all other Humans who have very cartoony eyes
So...the way jax acts makes me feel like he actually cares about the others in his own way. He didnt want to freak the 2 who are the most unstable out and acted really nervous when the abstraction started to show up near them
Yeah i believe so too! Some moments when he's chill and still being mean to others he still cares about them (even though he tries not to show it)
He would definitely rather that they be mad than Abstracted, even if it means mad at him.
He even looked upset about his friend being abstracted when he was catching his breath, just to immediately make a joke to change the subject.
Actually no, he only helps out of necessity not because he actually cares. The creator herself said that everyone hates Jax, but put up with him because they’re stuck with him
@@66DoodleGal that doesn't mean Jax doesn't has his own secret feelings
It's interesting that people when placed into a situation where they lack control for an extended period of time, they develop coping mechanisms that give them the illusion of control.
The main stars of the show seem to display similar coping mechanisms:
Pomni: Since she's new to the circus her coping is the same as anyone's would be denial.There isn't much depth to it since she hasn't been trapped for more than a day. But coping is still coping.
Jax: He seeks control through others, he takes charge of situations, has the keys to everyone else's rooms and finds joy in the suffering of others. While he may act confident, as soon as something is out of his control he immediately retreats to a position where he feels in control again.
Zooble: She's the opposite of Jax, she seeks control in agency. By doing what she wants, when she wants it and not because somebody else said so. She responds to outside instigation negatively, though it is clear she likes the company. Her design also reflects this very well.
Gangle: She is similar to Zooble in that she wants agency but she is more interested in emotional control. She relies on a physical and metaphorical mask to be able to be in control of what she feels. In the episode, since her "comedy" mask broke she could only feel "drama" because she quite literally couldn't put her happy mask back on.
Kinger: He's in control. Or at least he lives in a world where he's in control. Well he thinks he's in a world where he's in control but that world is not the one he actually exists in. He created a fantasy world with fantasy logic which he lives by and is in control of. Escapism if you will.
Ragatha: She's an oddball since she's not seeking control, she avoids it. Instead she's an absolute optimist, believeing things out of her control will always work out for the better. Even in the hopeless case of Kaufmo she believed Caine could fix everything.
Great comment gotta say
Great analysis!
I feel ragatha is trying desperately to control herself; she talks the most about finding ways to keep the madness away. She's also lacking in self confidence, cuz she straight up gave pomni permission to leave her behind when kaufmo beat the stuffing out of her. Her up- beat attitude is hiding a neurotic character.
@@dianaruman8723 That is an astute observation.
I'd say they are all aware - to some extenet - that they are only pretending to be fine.
And it seems clear that all of them gave up the idea of escaping a long time ago. Notable exception being Kaufmo.
This might be a wild guess but if I had to, I'd say Ragatha was the last to arrive before Pomni.
Since she seems to still be in the last stages of grief. And hasn't quite accepted the fact that she's stuck for good.
I mean, it did feel like she was trying to control the situation somewhat, or at least she wanted to. She displayed guilt at not being able to protect Pomni from the nightmare that was her first day, possibly even guilt at not being able to stand up for herself (being such a soft-hearted character).
I don't know why it just occurred to me, but I think the "C&A" at 37:13 stands for the "Cain and Able" of biblical mythology. And if that's true, then Able was killed by Cain... which might be how he got in the digital realm to begin with.
(Edit: fixed the mixup)
I have a feeling "C&A" actually stands for a manufacturing company. Possibly the people behind the creation of the headset that sent Pomni to the Digital Circus.
Wrong way around. Cain killed abel
think maybe that Sad is a villain or atleast someone desperate enough to do something horrible later.
In the end sitting at the table - litterally the jesus dinner scene.
Sad is sitting at Judas's spot.
@@silentnight6810
It would be kinda funny if it went the other way tho.
Cain killed Able out of jealousy.
So the character with the X over their face on the door isn't Kinger, you see Kinger's room a bit later. I didn't notice the door until recently, and I assume the X gets put on the door of anyone who Abstracts. The crazy thing is that the person there seems to be a queen, which perhaps indicates that Kinger had a loved one that Abstracted and got put into the pit.
"I miss my wife, Pomni. I miss her a lot. I'll be back."
@@funkysunky7840 "...AAH! When did you get here, pomni?"
Apparently goose verified that her name is queenie
One thing I find odd is how immediate Pomnis alarm and desire to escape manifests, it makes me wonder if putting the headset on was involuntary. If she had put it on voluntarily or didn't remember why she put it on I would expect her to be interested in figuring out what's happening before trying to escape. Either way the fact that the first thing she tries to do is escape seems really interesting.
I mean imagine if you put on a VR headset thinking you're going to see something interesting when suddenly you can't feel the headset, the room feels different (assuming change in the air from where you were to circus), and you can't even take off the headset no matter how hard you tried
I'd want off that ride too
Yeah I mostly agree with op. I think I'd be too deep in denial before freaking out tbh But it's just a matter of different coping mechanisms ig
I’m under the impression Caine was honest about the exit, and that those rooms and the pc are how he makes new items events and locations (but is a mirror of outside the digital circus) for people, so when every one without fail asks for an exit he makes one, since even he cannot leave however he needs something to put on the other side of the exit, and as he said he couldn’t think of anything.
Also the company is C&A which I am certain is Caine and Able, because everyone loves symbolism.
One thing people seem to miss is that Caine states later that he, ‘Doesn’t like people seeing his unfinished creations, especially when they lead to the void.’ The whole ‘it was an illusion/hallucination’ was him attempting to prevent Pomni from looking for the door to his unfinished creation.
My guess is Caine and associates. Unless they make Abel a bad guy. Or that's Jax's real name. Would explain why he has items he shouldn't
Things!
Kinger kept referencing an “insect collection”, which has led to, at least me, thinking “bugs”. This is the basis of the idea that Kinger is actually a beta-tester for the Amazing Digital Circus, but he’s just gone coocoo for cocoa puffs.
Then there was “C&A” in the offices beyond the exit door before the Void. This one is a personal idea. “C” for Caine, obviously. But “A” for Abel. If you shift the A in Abel forwards by 1 letter, you get Bbel. As in, BUBBLE, Caine’s personal assistant.
My current head canon is that Caine and Bubble are essentially AI Author Avatars created by the programmers.
As for what the Circus is… some say it’s Hell.
And, I know it’s crazy, but there was a fanfic on AO3 that showed Caine is just trying to alleviate everybody’s suffering, and just fails to because he doesn’t understand humans enough. Of course, it also showed that Caine can’t make working Exits.
One other idea I have is that Caine is programmed to ensure players have as enjoyable a time as possible, but he wasn’t finished enough to learn how to seem less DRAMATIC.
Of course, this begs the question of whether the fan theory that Bubble is the mastermind who can let them all out is true or false. I mean, what if popping Bubble is the way to leave the Circus? Why else would Bubble be in Caine’s hat?
It would be like this: Caine is the AI assistant, and Bubble is a fun little mechanic in the programming where Caine would go “Well, if you’d like to go now, just pop Bubble here!” After a lot of “Are you sure?” prompts.
My personal theory is that the circus is an allegory for a mental ward. Because I've been in one. Caine and Bubble remind me way too much of the staff at that place, man, and Pomni is just me at that point in my life.
the little things i noticed.
as a russian, i can say that the name of protagonist, pomni, is the imperative form of the verb "pomnit' " in russian, that means "remember", like you say to somebody "remember this!". i wonder if it's significant and actually means that her own name says to her: "remember who you are".
and when you started to assume if the vomit is up to something, i thought if this vomit is actually her memories about her life, because after she throwing up she did not remember her name. maybe bubble eating the memories of humans trapped in the circus?.. idk sounds weird, but it's just my thoughts
(14:40) For me what really makes this is the intensity and commitment to the delivery. The line read of "YOU PARASITE" is near perfect.
I'm a writer myself, and I specialise in not just comedy, but mixing comedy with other genres. Weirdly, I can do a comedy-horror mix just fine, but if you want me to write straight up horror I can't do it very well at all. Gooseworx's style reminds me a lot of my own work, albeit a bit more esoteric than I tend to lean. I also have issues with writing romance, since I'm sorta aroace-ish, but I almost think that makes me better at it in some ways than a lot of people who write it, because I tend to focus less on flights of passion and heated moments, so much as crafting a lasting and supportive mutual relationship wherein characters make each other better together, a focus I find much rarer in romance plots. I definitely wouldn't write it "by the book" though.
... Not sure how it is for other Ace people, but observing the nature other people's relationships kinda feels like trying to put into words the experiential difference between watching a firework show, and meditating at a zen garden. Both phenomena are beautiful in their own respective ways, even if I lack the context to empathize with it at a personal level. >):^D
... PS: Would you be so kind as to point us in the direction of some of your published pieces? I am curious to see how such particular perspective on the part of an author affects a storie's narrative structure.
Yes I agree. While I am not entirely sure either if I am on the aroace spectrum, writing romance is kind of awkward for me, because its so..alien? Trying to put yourself in the shoes of something or someone you cant quite comprehend entirely
10:36 NO WAY ! YOU'RE RIGHT THERE'S AN IMAGE AS THE TEXTURE OF THE VOMIT (Never thought I would say that line in my life) ! It's the small scenery with the pink flowers that's used as the texture for Metal Mario in Mario 64, I'm sure of it ! That's crazy, I love this so much ! ^^
The right side of the vomit looks like abstracted kaufmo, you can kinda see the eyes.
@@DandyDoondin Nah I don't see it. I really believe it's just the Mario 64 Metal Mario texture.
Lol, imagine barfing liquid metal... Pomni's barf reflecting out the Mario 64 envmap texture is a stroke of genius.
This is why I love watching you, you *actually* react and decipher whats going on!
😊
This kind of reminds me of those old click and point games that I had on my old pc growing up, as it feels like it with the intro song and the transition from the one style of animation to another one, the way that they present the map area all that's left to say was click on the location to find out what activities you can do. This reminds me of games like Putt-Putt series or the old Arthur games I used to play.
gooseworx did say that the show was inspired by kid pix a program that elementary school use in the 90 and early 2000
@@Style_224 So yeah, that explains why it's familiar as I did play a lot of those games growing up in the early 2000s.
Putt Putt, I still have the old disc, same with Pajama Sam, Freddy Fish, The Land Before Time and stuff
18:24 Pomni is a jester , big difference from w clown and jester.Jesters entertain kings n queens while clowns are your regular old Joe you find in the circus or at a birthday party.
Correction: A Jester would be able to insult the king, his wife and the entire court with no consequence.
Not to mention, a very good candidate for a trusted advisor.
A clown? No... They are the joke, while to a jester, everyone ELSE is the joke.
@@Srakch Yeah true clowns make fun of themselves jesters make fun of you.Pomni does clearly seem to be. Jester tho with the stereotypical jester hat
This has a Stanley Parable, Jack Staber, 2000's creepypasta type of vibe to me, and I love it. Can't wait to see more references to others shows they made in this show, since I think they already added one.
It also reminds me of Poppee the Performer and a bit of Pibby and backrooms.
And little nightmares 2 for the slow door
It might just be what I naturally associate Rochon with, but that exposition from Caine on the tour, the name disclaimer, and "you parasite" are some of the most Spamton things I've ever seen.
Fun Fact: Gooseworx SPECIFICALLY selected Alex Rochon as the VA because she liked his Spamton dubs.
Caine isn’t really evil, he’s more of a caretaker if anything. Under normal circumstances, he’d be making characters in his show and making fun stories for a human audience outside the game.
Now that humans are actively in his game, and are in genuine danger, he wants to do what he can to keep them sane and alive, by giving them things to do.
Funny enough: I’m not saying that Jax isn’t a dick during all this. But I have a little theory/feeling that when he shoves Gangle and Kingler in the hole, he wasn’t being an ass….entirely. He was just taking them with him to hide from the abstracted clown just so all of them wouldn’t be hurt if they stayed above.
It occurred to me that he was going to mention something about hiding away from it and then got interrupted by it crashing in on the gloink Queen :)
I love your reaction btw!! You pointed out some silly hidden stuff and facts about the animation that I wanted to try finding myself haha
My guess so far. Jax found a glitch that helps him with a few things. Doesn't mention it, though, because at the moment he can't find out how to use it to log out
Imagine if the more mentally unstable of the bunch found out there was a possibility, but it was still impossible.
I saw a theory talking about how Jax provides mental stimulation in his own way- Caine’s adventures are great but don’t seem to be particularly challenging. Jax acting as a sort of bully/provoker stimulates their emotions- getting frustrated or angry at him keeps their minds off their current situation. If they only did happy fun adventures I think they’d all lose it pretty fast.
So... how's that theory/feeling now that you've seen the next episode?
My hypothesis is this: They stated Kinger was there longer than any of the rest of them and he seems to have knowledge of virtual realms. What if Kinger was one of the few that made the headset that sent them to this place. He seems crazy but maybe he is actually intelligent. Jax does seem to also know something as well. I do want people to acknowledge Kinger and Jax convo near the end when talking about the food. I think it shows they both have knowledge of this Digital Circus.
There was another chess piece, a black queen on one of the doors. The floor is also checkered like a chess board, so it might be likely that kinger isn’t like the other humans and rather from a more chess oriented period (perhaps even npcs?) considering he has eyes like caine
@@vast9467 And Caine and Abel are meant to be sons of Adam and Eve... Is Kinger possibly Adam in this case and his lost Queen is Eve?
Also he sits at the end where Judas would sit so definitely there is something hiding there.
Well they do live here so I imagine theyde figure it out
The “you didn’t experience a game show in there did you” line is a reference to gooseworx’s other work, in which there is a game show inside of a creatures stomach.
It happens in both “little runmo” and one of the videos in the elaine series (“Elaine the bounty hunter” and “Elaine gets adopted”).
Be warned, gooseworx makes some really strange stuff.
As I understand it, the pitch was _"Cheery colourful, I-have-no-mouth-and-I-must-scream";_ which is a book and game I never want to directly experience.
I'd say it succeeded.
High hopes and apart from Abel and the spoilers, no idea where it will go.
Abel?
@@aelechdeepestflame4347 In the exit offices, we see a logo “C & A.” If Caine is C, then A may be Abel (biblically, Caine was the world’s first murderer, who killed his brother Abel (I think that’s right?)).
@@nelsonv1953You got the Biblical aspect correct! Can't wait to see where TADC takes us from here! 😁
Also FYI, the creator is gooseworx, surprised they didnt put it in the description considering theyre mentioned in the title in every single promotional video for the amazing digital circus (as they always put "By gooseworx" after the name)
They put it, but Airier didn't see it because it was after a block of text. It was the 3rd line "Created by..."
they did put it in the description, he just missed it somehow "Created by Gooseworx & Glitch"
I was waiting for your reaction specifically, your reactions are just the most comforting hehe. Thank you!
Fun fact: The purple bunny character (Jax) is voiced by the person who voiced angel dust in hazbin hotel and N in murder drones
And Rocky in Lackadaisy 😁
I'm not sure but the texture Pomni barfed up at 10:16 kinda looks like the Metal Mario texture from Mario 64. Which in case you are curious, the texture is actually a picture of pink flowers in front of a house. Don't know how or if flowers are related to Pomni's barf, Maybe it's just a reference to how some old videogames used images of unrelated objects for textures.
The bubbles remind me of Chainchomp and I love it
Jax just became my favorite character but I also got that weird feeling from him- like he knows but not in a way that he's like a villain or something, more in the way that he's been there for way too long that he's seen many come and "go", cause of the way he acts like- really indiferent, so is not new for him. Besides he said something like that the King is suppousely the one who's been the longest and I know it might be cause there are obviously more that might have glitched but maybe he's not and is Jax the one who's been the longest at last from the ones that remain. Idk man I just want to make and read and watch all the theories about the pilot cause is so interesting and I really liked it but also that- you noticed way more than I did from the backgrounds and all- I gotta watch it in english better cause I could miss something if I only watch the spanish version
The thing I noticed in the Exit place is that it's three rooms over and over again. My first implication is that the most amount Caine has seen of the real world. That's why he couldn't finish the Exit door, either because he doesn't have the capability of logging out the people or because he hasn't seen enough of the world to recreate it in the Digital Circus.
This show kind of feels like Toy Story if the toys started to question their own existence while getting trapped in a David Lynch universe at the same time.
7:31 - Her appearance is a direct reference to the sign in the form of a mask of comedy and tragedy with a ribbon around it
Based on one of your tangents: See the reason I thought I didn't like romance for a LOOOONG time is BECAUSE of that formula. When I started reading independent works that didn't have to go through publishers I started actually enjoying romance.
The crossed out door you noticed wasn't Kinger's. That was a queen piece. There were also other doors with faces we hadn't seen crossed out. I'm presuming those are the ones who abstracted.
I get the impression that Caine is someone/something that was supposed to be playing a specific role in something more controlled and now he has lost control of the most important bits and is dealing with it by hiding away all his problems.
The picture that you've been wondering over looks like it was a drawing of the clown himself.
To me, Caine seems just as trapped as everyone else. He may be powerful, but he isn't free, and the best he can do is make the experience more bareable with his powers and antics.
Also I just wanna say I love love love how the episode ends, it's so soul crushing and interesting (and I also find it hilarious that it's basically the exact same ending as Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, camera slowly zooming in on the protagonist's haunted face as dramatic music plays).
interesting that you noticed the picture frame in the clown's room depicting what we're looking at. Thing is- I don't think that's it. That body shape doesn't match Jax, Ragatha, OR Pomni. It doesn't even match any of the other main cast...
...but it does match the clown.
If that's the clown discovering someone else has abstracted, and it's part of the driving force behind his insanity and eventual abstraction, that makes the situation all the more ironic.
I still think the swearing bit with pomni was funny with her test the boundaries of what she can say to vent her frustration
I'm fairly certain C&A at 37:13 stands for Caine and Abel, or likely some misspelled variant thereof. If this is all a part of the program made by Caine in an attempt to improve the lives of his residents - he wanted to give them the Exit because it's what they wanted, but being unable to make a way out, he wasn't sure what to make for them - then we can assume he has a connection to Abel somehow. I'm thinking the headset/program itself might be called Abel, but that's just a bit of wild theory-crafting with little basis.
We do see in the end, however, that the void is presented in the screen of the computer, meaning the computer inside the exit door is likely where the program all this is running on takes place, meaning it's a world that exists within itself; a simulation wherein the simulation is physically present as a manifested version of itself.
Also, when I see this series, my mind goes not to Sword Art Online or .//Hack, but much further back, to "I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream" - a story of existential horror where a hyper-powerful AI traps a group of humans in a simulation to torture them endlessly, overcome with pure and unadulterated hatred. Weirdly, I feel like the roles of the traditional story of Cain and Abel may be switched, with Abel being the more malicious of the two, and is perhaps the "Revolutionary Hardware" - revealed in the Wacky Watch trailer - itself, trapping humans in this hellscape, while Caine, a sentient AI within the Abel program is trying it's best to help the humans through the trials placed by the spiteful and vengeful Abel.
Again, wholly theory-crafting. We'd need far more information before any of this could be considered truly likely.
I'm more suprised nobody has mentioned the fact that we never see Cain remove the glitch from Pomni's hand.
Let’s just say that this series can be roughly summarised as “Toy Story meets I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream as depicted in a 90s child’s education game.”
Soooo, I don't see anyone talking about how Jax has some degree of media awareness. 19:18 He isn't looking at Ragatha. He's looking at us, she's just in the way. Lines like: "I'm fine doing anything, as long as I see funny things happen to people." and "This is dumb and weird" (causing the Gloink Queen to look directly at us, "You're still watching"). He seems to be channeling the audience somehow. Honestly, given his attitude, I think HE has been here the longest. Remember, "Kinger has SUPPOSEDLY been here the longest." He's numb to most of it all. Just having his own fun.
It's just a meta joke
I believe it's implied that since Caine said he has control over everything except their minds that there probably is no actual way out and the whole 'maze of doors' thing was him trying to recreate the world outside of the computer but can't venture beyond the screens himself to see what else is out there, so it just keeps repeating.
Also I believe due to the final scene of the many zoom outs that Pomni saw the room through the inside of the computer screen before Caine grabbed her from the void, meaning they really ARE trapped inside the computer game and can't find a way out. Honestly though, if Caine doesn't have any malicious intent like Gooseworx said, and he has control over everything but their minds, why can't he just let them go?
Surely he would've done so by now if he could. It also explains why he can't just fix an 'Abstraction' because it's a mental thing and he states he has no power over their minds. So if you 'Abstract' in the Digital Circus then you can't be fixed unless you somehow regain your sanity. And since they're immortal (judging based on the teaser where Pomni gets a few knives thrown at her), then being Abstracted is a fate worse than death as you can't die, are permanently insane, and cause the same insanity purgatory to spread to everyone and everything you touch.
Reminder: Cain said he couldnt mess with their memories, so why did pomni see what seemed like the computer she used with the headset to end up there
Fun fact: The people who are making this series are also making SMG4. I will only say this much about SMG4: When the dramatic moments hit, they hit hard.
Airier! I just wanted to say that you make the best reaction vids! You make the most of this format of video, making interesting commentaries, observations and theories about the video and just adding a lot to the existing product! Unfortunately, many react vids are basically reposts of the original video with another cam on the side, so i'm glad that you put a lot of effort into making your reacts!
Complete shot in the dark. But my wacko Theory right now is that Kinger was working for C&A, the company we see in the false exit, and was trying to develop an immersive AI you could put your Consciousness into. But instead ended up making a copy of his own consciousness, thinking it didn't work he went back to the drawing board. Every so often somebody sees the headset puts it on nothing seems to happen and they go about their day unaware of the new being they have doomed into existence. And if he ever had any memory of being the Creator he's long since lost them along with his sanity. Also wouldn't be surprised if time in the digital world moves faster than real time, they could just be passing the headset around the room and it just feels like a lot of time is passing in between new characters. The fact that the PC did look old kind of pushing me away from that one though
The fact cane calls himself the ring master has me wonder if he was 1 of the first people trapped in there,cause it would be..kinda unbelievable is he wasn't once a person like the rest of them
He seems more like an AI.
@@ma.2089 eh who knows
@@demondynasty2535show creator already confirm he is ai
@@runajain5773 well I didn't know that so thanks for the confirmation
He's an AI
about that painting where somebody was walking in on another person who hit their breaking point.
thats kaufmo, there were more of those abstracted creatures in the cellar so he probably walked in on somebody who ended up like him.
What messes me up is in the background in the hallway the amount of characters that have X's on their doors/Abracted characters. One of them is Queenie, which makes me theorize that Kinger and his wife were trapped and the reason that Kinger is crazy is because he witnessed his wife abstracted and has had to live in this world with that guilt of not being able to help her.
That sound about right. Although, if you're right, it means going crazy and Abstraction are not the same. 🤔
Someone once theorized that what if the only way to escape is by abstraction, by abstracting you return to your human body, and what's left behind is a soulless husk. Though it wouldn't explain why the abstractions are so aggressive in nature. Maybe Abstraction isn't going crazy, but losing yourself in obsession over that unobtainable goal that Ragatha explains about. Kaufmo obviously was obsessed with the exit. Maybe you're right, Abstraction is to lose your mind in obsession, going crazy in digital circus is just what everyone does eventually. I like to think that Cain is actually trying to prevent them from Abstracting by giving them adventures and such. He does explain that he was trying to fulfill their dreams of their being an exit. I like the idea that maybe Cain is an A.I created by this C & A company we see a brief glimpse of that's trying to recreate the human world. Why else would the labyrinth have the headset and computer that Pomni started to lose it over once she saw.
Love the callbacks across the history of entertainment gaming and animation; from gangle's theatrical nod to ragatha's face playing pong to jax being a rubberhose character.
But yeah there's a mountain of fascinating concerning questions: why did this C&A corporation reinvent tron, how much does caine know about the outside world, why is the void a spoiler, how does this fit into Gooseworx' universe, why does kinger seem to be the most genre savvy of the cast, are the mannequins placeholders for new people entering the realm, why doesn't the glitchiness from abstractions affect the environment the same way it does the characters, since pomni is the first new character in years what does that imply is happening outside, if there's a cellar used to contain problems then what's the attic used for, ect.
Regardless, explanations aren't necessary, it's still delightfully twisted!
I don't have much to add, but I will say my interpretation of "Oh no, someone will get spoiled!!" is he's worried about them ACTUALLY getting spoiled... like a fruit left outside or a gallon of milk that's spent too much time in the fridge. It's why he IMMEDIATELY pulled Pomni out, why Pomni seemed sort of shell shocked/broken because of the void, and why he doesn't like them interacting with his unfinished creations when they lead to the void.
Also, considering that Caine is said to be a benevolent AI that was made to entertain humans outside of the game, and now that humans are inside the game he's doing his best to take care of them and only giving up on them when they abstract, he probably doesn't know anything outside of his programming and what he can see outside the screen. It's why the exit he made is just the office repeating over and over and why he couldn't think of anything else after getting tired of making more and more office... he probably knows nothing but the things inside that computer and the narrow window into the world that he can see out of.
@@Lambent_Omega Ah I was thinking of spoiling as in shifting one's expectations instead of ruining a surprise, since pomni recognized the internal logic of how she got there during the office maze prior to the void, which also would explain her shellshock. Caine made it a point that he doesn't know what's out there, but when he rescues pomni he also looks at whatever she's seeing, leading me to believe he either doesn't understand what's out there or is intending to hide it from the crew because he does; both make sense for why he's often keeping the characters entertained but restricted to the grounds, since he might think the unknown is what drives them to abstraction or he doesn't want them to be reminded of how they got trapped because that also tends to abstract them.
I'm inclined to agree, an ai doing what it think is best to take care of unexpectedly freewilled characters; but given his eagerness to dismiss pomni's objections, it makes me wonder if previous characters have tried to convince him that he's an artificial entity. AI is rather shortsighted when it comes to extrapolating implied detail, hence the 'outside' invented just being the immediate office repeated into fractal breakdown, there's not even staple constructs that would signify there's different infrastructure outside the office such as water fountains or vending machines or windows. But my questions were supposed to be rhetorical, still fun food for thought though lol.
41:51 even if the headset was there, he wasn’t exactly lying. It was literally almost like backrooms situation with a bunch of looping hallways leading to the void. I think you’re onto something in regards to it being corporate in nature, since the headset was in a corporate building. But I don’t think Caine was lying about the place being unfinished. T
We are in for a hell of a ride.
How do you make an _I Have No Mouth_ series without things getting too depressing? Why, by adding butt-tons of colorful, existential whimsy, of course?
Airier is the only guy I know who'll pause a video to analyze vomit, This is why I subbed.
That painting was probably Kaufmo finding the last person who abstracted.
Interesting detail. Her name "POMNI" sounds like russian word "ПОМНИ", which translates as "remember'
If you pay attention to the background in the bedroom hall you'll notice the chess piece character that's been x'd out is actually from the black side of the chess board. There are actually multiple rooms x'd out which is a visual hint at what is to come.
I think all the "Humans" are just avatars with AI that connect to a human through the headset, but now without any human connecting to them. but they still have some code from the humans having used them. that is why they abstract, have memory issues. Cain is just trying to keep them going, feeding them random stuff, but it is just not as good as a human connecting with them. without that they collapse eventually.
I feel this show is going to have a ton of clippable moments and I am here for it.
Opposite to other reaction creators, you're actually pausing the video to give your thoughts about it while giving a close look at the details and discussing them, this is something refreshing and actually interesting to watch
I think Caine literally can’t comprehend the concept of leaving. When pomni asks him the first time he stalls out, and every other time is either answered by others, or referring to the “exit” he built
Fun fact: The voice actor for Caine, Alex Rochon, did some voice dubs for a character in Deltarune, Spamton. (All unofficial and for fun) That character had similar vibes to Caine and for that this casting is perfect for me.
I like a theory that i read today.
It said everyone there is/was a worker for C&A, a Game Company that was making one of the first MMOs but this one focused for everyone and not only adolescents and adults, that's why is so colorful and has that censorship for swears.
And this is where everything gets crazy, Jax has an Admin level account, that's why he has keys for others rooms and maybe for other places and probably he's one of the most sane persons there.
Pairing Gangle and Kinger to make them out of their comfort zone to keep them more sane, specially breaking the "Comedy mask" from Gangle to making her confront the reality instead of hiding herself behind that mask and Kinger bc he "seems" to know something (maybe he's another Dev but he went a bit crazy for staying there too long and probably bc in the rooms scene you can see another chess piece, a queen specifically and that probably added more pressure on him, making him crazy but not crazy enough to get Abstracted), going to see if Koufmo was ok, protecting (again) Gangle and Kinger from the abstracted clown throwing them into the Gloink hole.
He probably know a lot but it's been a long time so he also doesnt want to get too involved with the people, so he keep a safe distant to care about them but also to don't get too attached to them cuz he has already lost a lot of friends, that's why he bully them in a safe way (also to keep him sane)
It would be cool if whatever’s keeping them there is actually good in some way instead of secretly evil
1:09 the realization, "its gonna be really fked up show" could not be more accurate XD
I would like to point out that during Pomni's little freakout immediately after seeing the headset the lights flicker around her. We haven't seen this level of effect on the environment from any other character besides Caine. This suggest she may have some kind of influence over her surroundings.
fun fact, the reference to a game show that kinger brought up was a direct reference to Little Runmo, where theres a scene where runmo gets eaten and has to win a game show to leave
I was literally only waiting for your reaction, nobody else got my view before! You are actually one of the best reactors, get jokes, check out details etc. 👍
Not sure how many haven't noticed it but Jax looks at the camera(us) when he says "she thinks this is still a dream" so he's got awareness of the 4th wall
Interesting that Kaine makes adventures for the Circus Gang, doesn’t allow swearing, and doesn’t want anyone to find out about an exit. Obviously the whole thing is a show for the entertainment of humans, but why trap actual humans and why not treat it like a normal job, why not give them the solace that they can be repaired or just take a break now and again? Many questions…🤔
Based on the creator's tweets explaining Kaine isn't evil just an AI that doesn't understand humans I believe he genuinely isn't holding them against their wills, they wind up in his world and he just tries to keep them alive and sane by the only means he knows.
They are trapped inside "OFFLINE" PC!!! So, there is no one to watch and enjoy "THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS", buid in AI "Cane" perfectly aware that there is no spectators, observers plus humans that got trapped inside The Amazing Digital Circus arent employees able to work and then leave, take break or so. They are here not buy their Free will and they CAN'T leave. Pomni get inside TADC years after first humans got trapped there and we know it was quite a-lot of them by how much abstacted are in the cellar and how many rooms that have crossed out Faces on them, plus what Jack have said. They been trapped there for years so obviously AI would have time to access the situation. Only question now, before first season is... how and Why people got trapped inside The Amazing Digital Circus, who created it and Why it was abandoned but able to trap people to day Pomni got trapped (maybe we meet New trapped characters besides Pomni? 🤔 If not, that means time flow diffirently inside Digital world, but how exactly diffirent is a question, so far i think exit do exist but it is hidden in the VOID (maybe void isn't what we think it is, even Cain have no idea but he definitely able to swiftly find and retreve "LOST" In the VOID, that CAN'T be a coincidence
As Caine said “your minds are the only thing I don’t have control over.” The problem with the digital circus is it takes away your body and name, but keeps your name. That alone creates dismorphia in the extreme, which Caine likely tries to combat with giving a new name of the persons desire(within his forced limits) and giving activities and routine to keep the people of the circus distracted and (mostly sane), but Caine does not have a good grasp of people. His own understanding and control of the circus is imperfect. Despite claiming to have hundreds of all seeing eyes, he is completely unaware of certain things in the circus and certainly more on the void, only having some limited ability to tell if someone ended up in the void.
Jax and N (from Murder Drones) are both voiced by the same person
I would love to see you listen to the Magnus Archives. It is a mystery, horror anthilogy podcast. It's some of ,if not the best, horror I've ever experienced.
Yes, I definitely crave reactions to the series, though it's unlikely to see episodic reactions since it's an audio only medium. Still, it's something I've been wanting for a *long* time. I want to see someone experience TMA the way I did.
"
From fatigue and laughter
The unfortunate people were exhausted,
Guards in armor were lying around
And everyone laughed terribly.
No longer a king
Everyone has gone crazy
Months and years flew by
In the merry kingdom of the dwarf jester!
Ho-ho everything is upside down
ho-ho everything is shaking,
Laughter from all sides
Laughter in the merry kingdom of the jester "
(song by the group King and jester, 90s, punk rock, there is a rhyme, but it’s in Russian)
13:55 I watched this part in 0.25 speed and he basically just said that the name could not violate the community guidelines.
Dude you did an incredible job analyzing this, holy shit! You pointed out so many things I didn't notice and made tons of good notes to keep in mind. I've just been going through reactions for fun (mostly to see Kinger more) but this was a really nice surprise! Well done!!
the premiere on that glitch episode bugged out on this one and it wierdly fit it a bit _T O O_ well lol
Tbh 100k people where watching it and spamming in the live chat made it worst
Ah yes, my favorite reactor - indepth look, lore inspection and more
6th sense of pausing at exactly wrong time and forgetful.
/no offense. Content still enjoyable
mean, cant really expect someone to go full lore extract on the first watch for a video, fair point though@@kacperkonieczny7333
When they were walking in the hallway I think is saw 2 rooms with Chess characters pic one darker with the red cross and one lighter with a no cross also one is the king chess piece and the other is a queen, also there are a couple more rooms with crosses but i didn’t have a chance to properly look at them.
King killed the dark king. calling it now.
At first when you saw the door with the X and you thought Kinger had lost it, it was actually a Queen! You see not too much later that Kinger's door is normal, if not the cross on top of the king piece, you can see with the colors the difference.
Sides to that, great reaction! I like how you point out a lot of things that I did not know or paid attention to! 💖
It is going to be interesting to see how this story goes, given this is is based upon one of the darkest stories in Literature, I Have No Mouth, And I Must Scream. While Caine isn't AM in any way, you can never be sure how closely these two bastards will be in the coming episodes.
So when ragatha is talking in the hallway you can see rooms for characters who don't appear for example a king bronze chess piece similar to kinger,a lime puppet and more
I just had a small realization, this is most likely just an art style decision on goosework's part, but the "abstracted" characters, have almost the exact same eyes, and eye animations as The Elders Of Lost Eyes from another small gooseworks series Elain The Bounty Hunter.
again, probably just a nod, or just a particular art decision, but it's really hard to look at them side to side, and not notice the similarities.
Finally, after rewatching this like 10 times, I just realized what the "You didn't experience a game show in there" line refers to. The old Runmo animation by Gooseworx!
Dang what a nice reference.
This series could be best described as a surreal dark comedy 🎭! With a few splices of horror here and there!
I have a feeling liminal-type horror would be more prevalent here
"ah what a weird headset i wonder what its playi-"
computer:welcome to the backrooms
think its more.
"ah what a weird headset. *puts on* weird nothing happened. oh well"
mean while a digital copy of that persons brain now injected into the system.
or its a remnant of someone having used the headset. an AI without any input from a human. they collaps into abstraction if they are not kept going, which is what Cain is trying to do, and poorly at that.
i think the reason why jax is being a dick and a (not giving a shit person) is probably because he wants to make sure he won't go insane and become abstracted. So i think he forces himself with a edgy personality, we also don't know yet how long he has been in the digital circus, while they said that kinger has been the longest, but i think jax was one of the first ones and now has just kept living like this to remain his sanity, this is just my theory tho
The creator hasn’t confirmed how long he’s been there. But she did confirm that Jax is youngest human there. He’s 22 years old and said they’ve been there for years. There’s a chance he’s been there since he was a teenager. Could also explain some of the edginess and pranks 🤷🏼♀️
that i didn't know, so thanks for the clarification, but ur right, age can also affect on most peoples personality@@jaccat4336
Actually, that wasn't Kinger's door with the X on it. You can see his door right after that. That door had a Queen chess piece, whose official name is Queenie. It's generally believed that she and Kinger were a pair until one day she abstracted, which could have contributed to Kinger's current mental state.
I have a theory about the tape cross on the door when they were looking for kofmo
In chess their is a king and queen
But when i zoom to look closer on the top of the picture of "king" 's room
The head of the character is the top of a queen, exactly a black queen
While King's top looks like their is a + simboy
"you don't do this"
just a normal day for gooseworx to be completely honest LOL