The Amazing Digital Circus

I feel like there's a transition of Jax's behavior in this episode. While in the pilot he was mostly a funny asshole, here while he still has some funny moments, there's definitely a lot more of his not-funny asshole moments here.

Gooseworx actually made a comment about this all the way back in July.

So yeah, the Jax fans who were wanting him to only be "funny asshole" are going to be contorting in on themselves with him in full tilt sociopath territory. They want him funny Jax (and I can see why), but are getting a far more... vile purple-haired bunny guy instead. A guy who's rubbing people the wrong way, who's killing the mood, actually disturbing viewers, really souring people on him... and I personally think that's the point. And that's enhanced the second episode for me. He's that dysfunctional Chaotic Evil dickhead always trying to take the wrong choices, pissing off the likes of Pomni, Ragatha and Gangle, drawing ire from the viewer, and it got me hooked.

Digital Circus viewers when the funny asshole turns out to be genuinely an asshole at heart:

"What the -BOING-?!"

Everyone loves the bad boy character until they tell you about a special surprise, lead you to a dark alley, then steal your liver.

All that happened for me is that Jax went from being a funny asshole to being a funny borderline sociopath.

Edited by MightyMatilda on May 5th 2024 at 2:03:27 PM

Same here. Jax still provided most of the laughs with how unhinged he was.

I third this notion. Unhinged sociopath Jax was a whole new direction I could never have dreamt of, but one I am here for, because it's compelling material, whether I'm laughing at him (which is often the case), or genuinely disgusted by him, because in the case of the latter, with how the other characters respond to him, that's the deliberate aim there, and it shows me this show isn't afraid to make their characters genuinely despised if it means making a more enriching story.

Given how easily he abandoned both Ragatha and Pomni to the rampaging, abstracted Kaufmo, I'm not so sure there even was a switch from Jerkass!Jax to Sociopath!Jax, or at least much of one.

I mean he did use an opportunity after abandoning them to escape to safety with Kinger and Gangle when he didn’t have to help them avoid not dying either.

But I definitely think if the threats directly in front of him he would abandon them.

Man, Pomni, Ragatha, Jax, Gangle and Kinger's candy-themed designs in the Episode 2 sticker pack look really cool. I actually wish they appeared in the actual episode somehow, probably as "alternate skins" that they'd get either upon being sent to the Candy Canyon Kingdom, or as a reward for completing the adventure. Aside from Gangle and Zooble, the players may not be able to physically change their avatars in any way, but I don't think digital customization features would be too out of place for the setting.

Edited by Inky100 on May 6th 2024 at 9:53:33 PM

...You know, that does get me thinking. How are the characters' avatars decided? Did they make them before getting teleported into the game and just don't remember it along with everything else? Does the game design for them and if so what criteria does it base the avatars on?

There's a theory that the players can only be based on one thing at a time (a clown/jester, ragdoll, Funny Animal, theatre piece, chess piece and mix-match critters like Zooble), and that's why Pomni carried a jester form, because there's was need for another one after Kaufmo abstracted.

Edited by Shoobedobah on May 6th 2024 at 5:49:35 AM

The Trope page for TADC specifically mentions that.

why is that on the trope page? If its a theory, it makes more sense on the YMMV or WMG pages.

It is on WMG.

So according to this post, the cast does remember parts of their lifes, but their names are not one of them. Look, that sounds great and all, but can we please see this in the actual show instead of being revealed on a Twitter post that not everyone's going to see?

At the very least, it explains how Jax was able to make a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory reference.

And how everyone still remembers basic things like how to speak and read, that they all used to be human and lived in the real world before entering the Circus, etc., rather than essentially being reset to infancy the moment their minds were sent to the Circus.

That all suggests to me that there's a spoilery reason their names and only their names are evidently forgotten.

Yeah, that info was already apparent in the show itself; the post is just a reminder.

The full text of the linked thread:

And in the replies, in response to one user commenting, "What a weirdly specific thing to forget tbh…", Gooseworx replied with just a "😏"

I'm honestly surprised there wasn't an update to the theme song that replaced Kaufmo with Pomni.

So people definitely have their thoughts on how Jax acted in the last episode.

And on what Caine did.

But I think we can all agree that they made all candy look absolutely delicious and that Fudge did nothing wrong.

Ohoho no, The Fudge makes it quite clear that pertaining to some of the other things he does on the side, it's so bad that it'd make Jax sick.

So who do you think became reviled more after this episode: Jax or Caine?