- Joined
- Feb 16, 2024
Oh boy do I have a video for you on one of the greatest examples of this shit : Glass Onion by our favorite subverter Ream Johnson
The Amazing Digital Circus - Western Isekai that probably will become Hazbin Hotel killer
- Thread starter ChuckSneeder
- Start date
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2025
If you ask me it would have arguably sucked even harder if Abel was played completely straight. Introducing a totally new character this late into the story who hasn't even been hinted at before (if I recall correctly) to exposition dump and literally hand over the keys to the exit would have been super fucking gay even for a show like this. Obviously they couldn't have possibly escaped in episode 7 of 9 but still, to have so much just drop into their laps all at once would have been far too convenient.
But yeah, unless they give him more episodes to work with I don't know how Troonworx plans to close this out in a satisfying way.
But yeah, unless they give him more episodes to work with I don't know how Troonworx plans to close this out in a satisfying way.
I put TGD into my watch later list months ago and only got around to watching it yesterday. I can honestly say I'm way more excited to see what direction this show goes in than holding out for whatever's gonna happen next in TADC. The worst thing I have to say about it is the breakneck pacing is very jarring (as you alluded to), especially in the second half, but that's probably just a casualty of it being a pilot trying to fit in as much as it possibly can at once. Also there are some scenes where you can tell they cut corners visually, but overall the aesthetic is amazing and the characters are fun. Mel is such a fucking gremlin.
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2022
Zooble, Gangle, and Ragatha appear to all have avatars that are reflective of their personalities/traits/flaws. Combined with the cuts to Jax seemingly driving from the suburbs into the woods at night, I wonder if Jax’s avatar is a rabbit because he was running from something in his real life? It would explain why Caine reminding him of that led to a panic induced desire to stay in the circus.
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2024
I just want people to not bark up the wrong tree when criticizing the show, which is a character-driven one, there has been plenty of good character moments so far (Pomni and Gummy's cute little budding friendship in Episode 2, The spotlight on Gangle for ep 4, the heavy drama between Jax and Pomni in ep 6, and Jax's arc of spiraling out), but for the most part, it could have been much better executed, Ragatha had this issue it had been building up not feeling like she really is connecting with the others that got solved pretty quickly in 6, the out of nowhere relationship change between Gangle and Zooble, Kinger feeling less like a character and more of a plot device at this point, and we still don't even know why is Jax is the way he is when his still unexplored past is clearly a big part of it.
For a show that claims to be character and emotionally focused, it feels like its taking second priority over filler comedy segments sometimes.
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- Joined
- Oct 6, 2020
I wonder how much Caine's character evolved with the rise of AI art.
Glitch fucking despises AI, so it's possible they either told Goose or Goose himself decided to make the AI character a straight-up villain as some sort of weak commentary.
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2024
TGD is fine but it feels like another DEEP LORE show tries to put as much worldbuilding detail as they physically could to the point of overloading the audience with the sheer amount of information it delivers, its the exact same problem Murder Drones did in practically forcing the audience to manually slow down and analyze the episode frame by frame or find an outside source explaining what is actually going on.
invisibult plus+
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2024
Facts.
Punishing your audience for paying attention and listening to you is dogshit.
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
This episode is the worst thing that happened to this show. After watching it, i wasn't angry or sad, but i did frown in disappointment. I know everyone already said enough about nothing happening and lying with lore bait but i'm going
I'm going to be autistic so level with me but Goose isn't just a bad writer, s/he is a a hack.
1-This twist was retarded because it's episode 7/9 and no one sane believed it they would escape
I cannot comprehend how a redditor can write paragraphs about goose manipulating them so geniously unless they are retarded.
The only sane people who thought they would escape were people who still thought this show was about the exit, and they had a fair point since this is what the show sold itself about. This is not smart or subversive.
Actually, the REAL subversion would be if they escaped and the show didn't end. The cast would be in real life and we find out it's a lot more complicated than it looked so it's not over yet. It would require very good writing to pull off tho.
2-This entire setup, execution and climax hinges on lying to the AUDIENCE and not the characters
People are not processing how this twist only exists for the sake of it and only works because we expect it and nothing else. This is not a "twist", this is a lie and goose is a fraud.
I've played multiple games with "twists" that are lying to the player for most of it. One of them literally reveals there was an extra person in this group of people interacting with everyone but he was always offscreen so you didn't know.
Remember the exit door? They showed it in the teaser saying "it's time". They show it on twitter.
It wasn't there. The only people who saw this are the viewers and not the characters.
This isn't "unreliable narrator", this is false advertising. The door was an engagement trap that goose forgot for 2/3 of the show and brought back cause it needs more trauma and will end in 2 episode.
(insert tweet of hello neighbor devs asking matpat to make a video)
Why was Caine looking at the pictures if no one was around? Why was he putting an act that only the real life audience could see? Because it was all game theory fodder.
I'd like to point out that Goose can't even make set up the "twist" in a semi belivable way or else "Abel" would have made contact earlier and set up clues to pomni and the others but he didn't. He was basically a shitty mystery box in the background that exists for you to make "Is jax an NPC?" theories for over a year.
3-This show DID NOT put enough emotional investment into escaping to warrant this fucking twist
Digital Circus is not about the door nor about escaping. It hasn't mattered for more than half of it's runtime. Episode 8 will feature more trauma dumps and everyone will cry when yesterday none of them cared about escaping.
They didn't even put much effort into this escape to warrant a feeling of frustration. Instead goose wastes basically half the episode giving fake lore exposition.
4-Cain developing a plan like this and brainwashing means literally everything can be a lie thus mean nothing
One thing i firmly believed was that "Cain never lies but his wording can be tricky" and i admit, goose sucessfully tricked me and now i believe in nothing.
Cain can lie. He can control you. He can manipulate your adventure completely. He is watching you even when he isn't watching you. He can fake glitch. What makes anything that happened in this show "real" and not simply part of of his plan?
Was the exit in the pilot ever real? Or was it a prank for pomni since he the offices were all fake? Is king actually sane in the dark or is it a trait that Caine gave to him for the sake of adventure? It would excuse how "contrived" it is right? What if Caine planned them to figure out he lies? Is Jax really crying or is Caine controlling him to cry? Are their backstories even real?
I cannot conveive a way where Goose can salvage this in two episodes. The only path i can see this going is if Goose reveals that nothing mattering was the point because "The Digital Circus (TM)" is not real and was only ever a work of fiction inuniverse and no one ever escape. It simply rotates new people forever and the moral of the story is that "the real treasure is the traumas we dumped along the way".
I'm going to be autistic so level with me but Goose isn't just a bad writer, s/he is a a hack.
1-This twist was retarded because it's episode 7/9 and no one sane believed it they would escape
I cannot comprehend how a redditor can write paragraphs about goose manipulating them so geniously unless they are retarded.
The only sane people who thought they would escape were people who still thought this show was about the exit, and they had a fair point since this is what the show sold itself about. This is not smart or subversive.
Actually, the REAL subversion would be if they escaped and the show didn't end. The cast would be in real life and we find out it's a lot more complicated than it looked so it's not over yet. It would require very good writing to pull off tho.
2-This entire setup, execution and climax hinges on lying to the AUDIENCE and not the characters
People are not processing how this twist only exists for the sake of it and only works because we expect it and nothing else. This is not a "twist", this is a lie and goose is a fraud.
I've played multiple games with "twists" that are lying to the player for most of it. One of them literally reveals there was an extra person in this group of people interacting with everyone but he was always offscreen so you didn't know.
Remember the exit door? They showed it in the teaser saying "it's time". They show it on twitter.
It wasn't there. The only people who saw this are the viewers and not the characters.
This isn't "unreliable narrator", this is false advertising. The door was an engagement trap that goose forgot for 2/3 of the show and brought back cause it needs more trauma and will end in 2 episode.
(insert tweet of hello neighbor devs asking matpat to make a video)Why was Caine looking at the pictures if no one was around? Why was he putting an act that only the real life audience could see? Because it was all game theory fodder.
I'd like to point out that Goose can't even make set up the "twist" in a semi belivable way or else "Abel" would have made contact earlier and set up clues to pomni and the others but he didn't. He was basically a shitty mystery box in the background that exists for you to make "Is jax an NPC?" theories for over a year.
3-This show DID NOT put enough emotional investment into escaping to warrant this fucking twist
Digital Circus is not about the door nor about escaping. It hasn't mattered for more than half of it's runtime. Episode 8 will feature more trauma dumps and everyone will cry when yesterday none of them cared about escaping.
They didn't even put much effort into this escape to warrant a feeling of frustration. Instead goose wastes basically half the episode giving fake lore exposition.
4-Cain developing a plan like this and brainwashing means literally everything can be a lie thus mean nothing
One thing i firmly believed was that "Cain never lies but his wording can be tricky" and i admit, goose sucessfully tricked me and now i believe in nothing.
Cain can lie. He can control you. He can manipulate your adventure completely. He is watching you even when he isn't watching you. He can fake glitch. What makes anything that happened in this show "real" and not simply part of of his plan?
Was the exit in the pilot ever real? Or was it a prank for pomni since he the offices were all fake? Is king actually sane in the dark or is it a trait that Caine gave to him for the sake of adventure? It would excuse how "contrived" it is right? What if Caine planned them to figure out he lies? Is Jax really crying or is Caine controlling him to cry? Are their backstories even real?
I cannot conveive a way where Goose can salvage this in two episodes. The only path i can see this going is if Goose reveals that nothing mattering was the point because "The Digital Circus (TM)" is not real and was only ever a work of fiction inuniverse and no one ever escape. It simply rotates new people forever and the moral of the story is that "the real treasure is the traumas we dumped along the way".
- Joined
- Jan 9, 2024
Being a troonslop enjoyer is a tough life. Honestly, if Jax actually fucked everyone over for real that would have been a bigger twist, and if the show is a drama, that would create a lot of drama.
Reading the thread, I agree with most of the sentiment, I'm enjoying the show but yeah, it'd would be REAL nice if we got real character development or plot progression at least once every thirty minutes.
Reading the thread, I agree with most of the sentiment, I'm enjoying the show but yeah, it'd would be REAL nice if we got real character development or plot progression at least once every thirty minutes.
- Joined
- Mar 16, 2025
In my opinion, a good twist has to do something other than surprise the audience: provide rewatch value.(insert tweet of hello neighbor devs asking matpat to make a video)
Why was Caine looking at the pictures if no one was around? Why was he putting an act that only the real life audience could see? Because it was all game theory fodder.
I'd like to point out that Goose can't even make set up the "twist" in a semi belivable way or else "Abel" would have made contact earlier and set up clues to pomni and the others but he didn't. He was basically a shitty mystery box in the background that exists for you to make "Is jax an NPC?" theories for over a year.
Think about some of the most famous plot twists in history, like Rosebud being Kane's childhood sled, Marion being murdered in the shower, Darth Vader being Luke Skywalker's father, Malcolm being dead the entire time, etc. Even if you know what's coming through already watching or through pop cultural osmosis, it can be interesting to check for evidence alluding to the twist before it happens. You know, scenes like Kane playing with his sled or Vader showing interest in Luke early on.
We got nothing like that here. The show tried to do it, but in-universe, these bits made no sense and ended up meaning nothing other than a cheap trick.
LucasSomething
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2016
Sorry for double but i just found out this channel named StanleyMOV has made lore videos on digital circus since for years and he uploaded a reaction to episode 7 and after Cain explains nothing mattered the grown man starts to literally cry in silence and shake his head left and right in denial.
"THIS SUCKS ASS MAN! THIS SUCKS SO MUCH ASS!"
"BUT THE LORE IS FUCKING FAKE? CAIN AND ABEL? I made a whole video on the lore of the guns and them having Cain and Abel on the guns, we had the factory, so all of that is fake? All of the theories, all of the ideas, all of the backstories, all the lore, all the rooms, all the offices, the exit door, none of it is real? It was just torturing us?!"
"What if the whole purpose of the circus is to torture humans, to see if we basically "abstract", crash out in real life. Because all it does every single FUCKING day, it goes in circles again and again, you do random adventures that have no purpose in the end and the only fringe and connection there is the friends (we made along the way)- *holds face like he's starting to cry again*"
OH LORD GOOSE HAS COMPLETELY BROKEN THIS MAN
"THIS SUCKS ASS MAN! THIS SUCKS SO MUCH ASS!"
"BUT THE LORE IS FUCKING FAKE? CAIN AND ABEL? I made a whole video on the lore of the guns and them having Cain and Abel on the guns, we had the factory, so all of that is fake? All of the theories, all of the ideas, all of the backstories, all the lore, all the rooms, all the offices, the exit door, none of it is real? It was just torturing us?!"
"What if the whole purpose of the circus is to torture humans, to see if we basically "abstract", crash out in real life. Because all it does every single FUCKING day, it goes in circles again and again, you do random adventures that have no purpose in the end and the only fringe and connection there is the friends (we made along the way)- *holds face like he's starting to cry again*"
OH LORD GOOSE HAS COMPLETELY BROKEN THIS MAN
Nobusuke Kishi
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2023
I honestly thought Able was going to be the pay off to Caine saying in an earlier episode (ep. 2 I think) that he has to keep track of the NPCs and make sure they don't get into the main hub world so he won't get confused. I thought maybe Caine accidentally kept an NPC in the hub while sending a human to some alt-world who later crawled back to the hub world. That was the main way I was buying into the episode before the reveal.
Based Goose. Suffah Lore channels, the only cannon we have is what Goose decided the second before they hit upload, bish.OH LORD GOOSE HAS COMPLETELY BROKEN THIS MAN
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- Joined
- Oct 6, 2020
The only series I've seen that had the balls to pull off an extended "Live-action voice actors" joke was Chowder (unless you count the gag dub of Milk-chan)
- Joined
- Jun 10, 2024
That's what gets me the most, because really, what's stopping from Caine to just thanos snap everyone's memories of ep 7 then?
Caine always felt interesting in the first episodes, but I think Ultraman said it best:
Does it even matter to watch this show at this point? There's even a big chance that all of these trauma dumps you hear throughout the series aren't even real in-universe (because Caine's mindcontrol tomfoolery), so like, what else can we get from it? The comedy that sometimes gets shafted for muh fake tearjerking and non-binary yuri scenes? At least Murder Drones gives you some cool battle robots fighting each other and some genuinely good horror elements even when the plot is being nonsensical at best.
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Justwandering02
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2022
The only good thing with this episode 'twist' is it bring tears to lore theory youtuber.Sorry for double but i just found out this channel named StanleyMOV has made lore videos on digital circus since for years and he uploaded a reaction to episode 7 and after Cain explains nothing mattered the grown man starts to literally cry in silence and shake his head left and right in denial.
"THIS SUCKS ASS MAN! THIS SUCKS SO MUCH ASS!"
"BUT THE LORE IS FUCKING FAKE? CAIN AND ABEL? I made a whole video on the lore of the guns and them having Cain and Abel on the guns, we had the factory, so all of that is fake? All of the theories, all of the ideas, all of the backstories, all the lore, all the rooms, all the offices, the exit door, none of it is real? It was just torturing us?!"
"What if the whole purpose of the circus is to torture humans, to see if we basically "abstract", crash out in real life. Because all it does every single FUCKING day, it goes in circles again and again, you do random adventures that have no purpose in the end and the only fringe and connection there is the friends (we made along the way)- *holds face like he's starting to cry again*"
OH LORD GOOSE HAS COMPLETELY BROKEN THIS MAN
At this point I wonder if gooswork is not downright malicious, planting some delicious mystery seed in each episode to attract all the lore theorist and when the time is right she give them the biggest middle finger to them...
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2024
What are the chances of TADC making a reference to The Lawnmower Man (1992)? Their plots could very easily overlap.
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2025
Isn't that just Lost?
- Joined
- Sep 17, 2020
There are tons of differences between even ep 1 and 2. Ragatha and Zooble are actually worse than Jax in this regard. Its like they never had a concrete idea of where to take these characters and now we kinda have proof with how dogshit they've been handled.
tbf i dont think they get to choose their rooms or decorations. Punishing the toxic masculinity character by putting him in a girly room sounds like something a tranny would write.
Its the direction. I've heard her speak elsewhere and she has a fine voice. Same with Gangle and Ragatha. They both have phenomenal voices, but something about this show forces them to use stilted awkward voices for their characters.
As for ep7, eh, I wasn't expecting much and thats what I got. Its the first episode that you can really tell they have multiple people animating different scenes. Character models and positions are very inconsistent between shots. The worst part is all the nodding. A lot of this episode is characters nodding or squinting their eyes instead of just fucking talking like normal people.
As for plot, it might cope but if you just think of it as a "Caine and the AIs infiltrate the human group for a day" episode it gets easier to muddle through. Abel is clearly acting as an extension of Caine. He keeps referencing the fact Caine can't leave in a sad light, his hatred and aversion of kinger seemed genuine, and his speech about "being there from the beginning and watching your every moment here" could've been something Caine would say himself.
I think the only thing I'm looking forward to next two episodes is that the whole interpersonal catfighting seems to be over. Caine is the villain, humans are all pissed at him instead of each other. Jax is of course the mvp, Pomni needs to be a more active character and not just a bobble head yesma'am, the rest are boring planks of wood that can die in a fire for all I care.
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2023
