The Amazing Digital Circus

I just want to know who Pomni is. If she somehow recognizes that computer in that fake office behind the fake exit door and the whole game is implied to exist in that computer, I'm thinking that she might somehow work for the company that made the Circus.

My guess right now is that the cast are a mix of programmers who worked on the Digital Circus or playtesters. Kinger and Pomni - at the least - come off like they have a lot of knowledge of video games and computers; Kinger had his bit in the first episode where he explained how the food in the digital world worked, Pomni in episode two is clearly familiar with video game terminology and things like going out of bounds or exploiting collision glitches.

Pomni is clearly different from the others, because she can consistently glitch out everything and break the fourth wall in a way off limits to even Caine. Either she's a programmer who has dev mode privileges, or she is someone who was forced in outside the normal framework that breaks the game with her mere presence. Both are equally likely.

Edited by IniuriaTalis on May 4th 2024 at 7:35:38 AM

Random Crack Pomni is an AI, her showing up conveniently after Kaufmo abstracted being a deliberate misdirect to make everyone think she was another human meant to replace him, when her creator, someone who works for C'N'A, made her specifically to find out what was going on in there, her reaction to the desk while running through the doors being her subconsciously remembering she was created at that desk, and so as to not alert Caine, she was made into a Sleeper Agent unaware of her own nature, with her personality based on her programmer.

This is more than likely absolute nonsense I just typed out, but I figured may as well type it out while it's still fresh in my mind before I have a brain fart.

Edited by RebelFalcon on May 4th 2024 at 11:07:31 AM

In Meta Runner Tari was an AI. So for TADC to copy that wouldn't be the most original twist.

Edited by Keybreak on May 4th 2024 at 8:40:57 AM

x2 Caine wouldn’t be a hinderance nor is killing/beating him likely to create a way out. As the first episode makes clear Caine WANTS to help them and give them what they want, but he can only work from within the confines of the Circus and the void. He can’t do anything beyond that, and his failed attempt to help them he keeps to himself rather than admit he has no idea what to do beyond add more and more hallways to The Exit. Which is why they’re all likely stuck. Similarily this is why they put up with a lot of what he does. They’re stuck on there and Caine is trying to keep them mentally stimulated. It’s just that it’s never gone well cause he still doesn’t get people.

Which is further reinforced that he more than likely mistook a human and an NPC in the past and he’s clearly traumatized by whatever happened and he’s clearly hiding his own issues under 500 layers of optimism.

Edited by OmegaRadiance on May 4th 2024 at 9:05:31 AM

I will say that I enjoyed Jax less in this episode, I don't mind him being mean but his complaints and antagonizing the team didn't even feel like the fun kind of mean. He was an ass in the pilot but his smug aura made it funnier.

On lighter note, merchandise is really exploding and I regret I cant justify spending money on it. The plushies are quite delightful, Kinger is in a fetal pose, Gangle has swappable masks, you can rearrange Zooble's parts around (maybe they'll later release expansion packs with later episode body parts), it's really quite fun. And don't miss the description for the Jax figurine on his box. "That %$!# Rabbit: We actually didn't want to make one of these for Jax because we know what his reputation on the Internet is like... but we kept getting pictures of our family in the mail, so here you go." I bet now designers are trying to figure out how much they can possibly charge for a Bubble plushie since it's going to be just a fluff ball with a mouth and 2 dots...

x3 Never saw that, so didn't know that happened.

Dude I can already tell Gummigoo's gonna be an Ensemble Dark Horse, like it's so obvious

You mean he's not already?

I feel like Gooseworx saw the potential of Jax getting the Draco in Leather Pants / Tumblr Sexyman treatment after the first episode, so she made sure to have the second episode really go hard on showing that he isn't some kind of Lovable Rogue or Fetishized Abuser but is a legit just despicable asshole.

Edited by immortaleditor on May 5th 2024 at 8:01:59 AM

He practically is one already.

Edited by Angry_Clown on May 5th 2024 at 12:02:14 PM

It's almost daring people. "Yes he's still funny, yes he's still voiced by Michael Kovach, but let's see if you still like him when we show you what his arsehollery is like in practice".

That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, characters like that are fun, as long as the narrative never shills Jax or pretends he isn't an areshole. He should, at least occasionally, get his comeuppance.

Edited by king15 on May 5th 2024 at 3:10:38 PM

Still gotta be careful. Don't want to end up making someone like, say, Trevor from Grand Theft Auto. Who his horrible in almost every conceivable way, but is so over the top about it, and is juuuust sympathetic enough in the storyline that people love the Comedic Sociopathy anyway.

A vision I just had:

Everyone at the funeral: Grabbing Pomni’s hand. Jax about to jab her with a stick like Frank Reynolds: Oh, no you don’t!

Jax gives me the vibes of your typical late 90's/early 2000's Heroic Comedic Sociopath, except he's clearly making everyone else's life miserable instead of being a mildly funny nuisance (who only hurts minor/offscreen characters or solves more problems than he creates).

That is to say, Richard the Warlock or Belkar Bitterleaf eviscerating random guard #32536? Hilarious.

Jax bullying Ribbon? WTF, dude!?

Edited by Bisected8 on May 5th 2024 at 4:33:08 PM

I'm reminded of a quote by John Cleese about how his character in Fawlty Towers is well-liked by the audience because he makes them laugh since it's a comedy, even though if they knew someone like that in real life they'd fucking hate him. Jax almost seems like an exploration and deliberate subversion of that. Initially seeming like your typical goofy comedy protagonist who is a jerk but it's okay because he's funny, only for the series to instead show his horrid behavior as realistically cruel and hurtful rather than amusing.

I liked that Pomni did got to interact with someone other than Ragatha in this episode. I love her calling Jax an asshole and screaming at him, since, relatively to the pilot, here she is kinda casual and more normal with the group (compared to the pilot where she spended basically the whole time ignoring almost anyone else other than Ragatha), making me more interested in how her interactions and relationship with each member of the group would look.

I feel like the reason why I like Jax's jerkassery is solely because of Michael Kovach's performance. If it had been any other actor voicing him, his antics would come across as insufferable to me, but because Michael does such a great job at making Jax sound smarmy and enjoying every second of his maliciousness, it makes me Love to Hate him rather than outright hate him. Like, that one line at the end. "Oh, heeey! Maybe I didn't leave the gate unlocked for nothing after all!" The sheer joy in his voice had me laughing hard, because the delivery was so perfect.

He had much the same effect with Angel Dust (something Blake Roman could thankfully continue), and given Jax is basically Angel Dust minus the sympathy, it's good they cast someone like Kovach who can make jerkasses so likeable.

(x10) If she did, she apparently foresaw Jax's reception long before the pilot came out. According to this tweet, the first four episode scripts were fully written and set in stone by the time the pilot was released.

Edited by immblueversion on May 5th 2024 at 2:08:55 AM

Perhaps, however, Gooseworx knew in advance that fans would find Jax to be a real rollercoaster of a sociopath to follow along, and reveled in watching our reactions to come.

Funny story, I actually just edited my previous comment once I realized that in hindsight...

Gooseworx is definitely someone who's been on the net long enough to predict stuff like that. Apparently that's also why she got out ahead of the bullet when someone brought up Rule 34 and was like "yes, the characters are all adults and more importantly fictional, I know what shippers and artists are gonna do and I don't care, let them be and don't do stupid anti shit".

There's a reason the promo video for episode 2 had this segment, after all: