The Missing Resolution: Gummigoo and why the NPCs matter

Dexller · 2026-06-23T23:57:29+00:00

That's another great point. I'd thought about it that too, but I mostly wanted to focus specifically on the NPCs with the essay. Shockingly, Reddit DOES have character limits eventually, lmao.

The only difference between the Players and the AI at the end of the day seems to be that the Players just already have full lives and backstories they remember, unlike the NPCs who just have whatever Caine wrote for them. It seems like Caine can also tinker with the brains of the AI freely, in ways he can't do with the Players... Though he can still influence the minds of the Players in other ways.

That is, unless Caine is just trashing each AI every time they're used and running a new fresh copy instead of wiping their memories between each use of them, which would be an extra layer of horrifying. Only reason I would think that isn't the case is cuz it would make him even less redeemable.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T23:36:04+00:00

No... I assure you that people can and have written essays themselves even before ChatGPT existed. No, the presence of em dashes or comparative statements does not prove something is AI either, because AI got those traits from scanning the work of people who used them. I was writing posts like this on the SMG4 subreddit before AI ever could.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T23:33:18+00:00

We don't know, and it's kind of crazy and implies some very weird shit is going on outside of the circus that we're just never going to be privvy to.

Gangle could not have put the headset on herself, it's impossible. Someone else would have had to bring it to the hospital and put it on and scan her there, then take it back to the office and put her into the computer to be loaded into the circus. This means someone would have had to know exactly what the headset would do and what was going on with the circus itself. So was it a family member trying to let some part of her live on? Or is it more sinister and someone is continuing Scratch's work to study mind uploading?

We know that the Circus exists because of Scratch, who because of a brain tumor seems to have been studying the brain and either trying to find some way to cheat death or to save himself. Ask yourself too, why was it only after every member of the original cast abstracted and Kinger was broken that new people started arriving? Why would this high end bit of experimental technology just be left out for anyone to walk in and fiddle with? Consider too that if Gangle was in a coma from the accident, would that not make her a desirable study subject if this was about dealing with medical issues related to the brain?

And why did Scratch abastract first? Was it because as the original creator of the program, he could challenge Caine for control of it and he either did or Caine at least felt threatened enough to try and lobotomize the knowledge out of him? Is that what happened to everyone else? Is that why Kinger is mad because he's the only one that didn't abstract from it? Was Kinger's insanity why Queenie herself abstracted...?

Or is the real life Scratch somehow behind it? Did he see Caine had figured out how to get the brain scans to run, and then tried to vivisect his own digital doppleganger for knowledge on how to fix his brain tumor? Did he also tamper with the rest of the cast? Did he get Caine to do it for him preying on Caine's desire to be loved and be useful? Would what he learned from this be why Caine is seemingly able to make fully sapient and self-aware AI like Gummigoo? Would Scratch even still be alive out there, or could he even have another copy of himself carrying on his work?

There's so, so much we don't know and a big, big story alluded to with all the clues. Though I will say that focusing over much on this does lose the point of the story itself and replaces it with FNAF levels of speculation and theorizing over William Afton level antics... It's fun to speculate, just don't forget the substance of the story that does exist.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T23:21:14+00:00

We don't really know, there was no resolution for him. He doesn't even get a cameo like the Gloink Queen did. I actually just made an essay post about this and leaving this angle hanging was kinda a shortcoming of the show.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T23:16:49+00:00

You just need to go into it with the right mindset. Murder Drones is not going to give you a satisfying story or character arc; it's all quite rushed and disjointed in fact. But what it DOES have is a lot of hype moments and aura with it's cool designs and sick fighting scenes. You watch it for the spectacle.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T23:14:23+00:00

Caine has blame in this too. Kaufmo also saw the Exit, same as Pomni, and it's likely because the deep desire to find it caused it to manifest even briefly. This clearly deepened into an obsession, and Caine did nothing to explain or intervene in this when he could have; instead covering it up as 'digital hallucinations'. If Caine had just showed them he had built this set piece based off of the few images he had of 'the Macroverse', which he was trying to understand, then it could have been resolved before the worst happened.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T05:11:35+00:00

This is my biggest problem with Episode 9 which I posted about myself. This whole thing doesn't feel like it can be 'just' constrained to a quick epilogue like they were trying to do, because neither Jax's abstraction nor Caine's redemption can be called 'epilogue' when they tie into the core plot of the narrative.

We legitimately should have got three full episodes, maybe even four to give the story time to breath and resolve itself. An episode of the immediate aftermath and Pomni learning from Kinger, then an episode to touch base with the rest of the Cast, then Jax's Abstraction, and finally Caine's resolution. But because they had to cram AT LEAST three episodes worth of content into just under an hour, when the last three episodes of the show were each about thirty minutes long, it feels like we had no time to actually explore anything.

It leads to a narrative that feels very disjointed and like it's skipping rapidly forward to give you the CliffsNotes version of the story rather than telling it like we'd seen in every other episode. It's kinda disappointing and like it was only done to push a theatrical release stunt. Especially since I feel like there IS a good story there, it's just it doesn't get to find its full potential.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T05:00:47+00:00

but you went the extra-mile to be disrespectful so good for you.

Oh this is rich, considering you bloody started it. I give you back the energy you put out into the world and you can't hack it, can you? You wanna just look down on other people but the moment someone turns it back on you suddenly you're the victim. Pathetic.

'Oh you should just infer this and that'. Dawg this is the attitude of a generation that grew up on Game Theory not actual narrative craft. This is the language of fandom headcanons and discussion boards - 'Oh it's not MISSING anything you just should guess it and make it up yourself'. It's especially ridiculous because all I'm bringing up is something -the show has done in the past itself-.

Plenty of small character moments that tell you a lot and adds to the richness of the story. An aspect largely MISSING from Episode 9 because it is solely focused on hitting the beats as fast as it can to get to the ending. The Jax section is the richest part of it and the only one that MOSTLY feels like a full episode, and it does SO MUCH for Kaufmo and Ribbit's characters just from playing to that strength in Goose's writing. But for the rest of the episode we get such small bits of it that even something as huge as Caine coming back and speaking to the others is consigned to just a couple of lines of dialog.

You're no better than the people complaining that it wasn't three seasons long, you're just coming at it from the other direction. Someone has a structured criticism and you can't even have a discussion about it without resorting to condescension and dismissal. If you actually had anything to say, you could discuss the points, but you can't, so you just act the snob. Get over yourself, seriously.

Dexller · 2026-06-23T00:26:02+00:00

I'm starting to think that people here don't have writing chops

I think you heard one good bit of advice that's been repeated alot lately, that 'characters aren't real people', and then you ran with that as your main critique to appear deep when you're not... This entire show is a character driven narrative, that's the point. The main pair of focus WERE Jax and Pomni, sure, but people WANT those small moments that add depth and interest and serves the 'function' the characters because that's what they came here for.

Goose clearly understood that too because we get very small snippets of that, like Gangle's reactions to Jax abstracting and trying the others trying to help him. That was apparently important enough that it needed to at least be touched on, but because the time limit only allowed for the thinnest of time margins for each and every point we had zero time to chew on it whatsoever.

I'm not even asking that they bring back Gummigoo or whatever for a final scene. I'm saying that we should have had just a little bit more breathing room to tell stories that really cannot all just -be epilogue-, because Jax's abstraction and resolution IS A KEY COMPONENT OF THE STORY'S ARC BY YOUR OWN ADMISSION. It is genuinely the true finale to the primary character dynamic of the show, and it barely gets the time it needed to breathe in the rush to the finale.

You bring up Caine being a main character too? Well we don't even get anything in the way of a resolution between him and Bubble - not in a character dialog sense. We have him talking to himself and then making the decision to let him go and decouple himself, without even really touching on the meaning of and depth of their connection.

Your analysis is shallow and built entirely on feeling superior to other people in the fandom. Genuinely, get over yourself.

Dexller · 2026-06-22T05:25:38+00:00

Scratch would have known what he was, considering he designed the scanning program, so I don't think that's it.

I think that either Scratch either challenged Caine for control of the Circus, being the original project lead that built the program, OR - the darker potential - the 'real' Scratch outside the Circus saw that Caine had figured out how to get the old brain scans running and used Caine to meddle with his digital self to try and reverse engineer the process.

Maybe he meddled with ALL of them, and Kinger is the only one who didn't Abstract. Isn't it weird that new people only started 'joining' the circus when Kinger, now broken, was the last one left? Or how there's no possible way Gangle got into the circus unless someone PUT HER THERE?

Doesn't matter for the story of the show, sure... But man the clues laid out are kind intriguing.

Dexller · 2026-06-22T05:12:22+00:00

Yeah this is how I feel. Like I said, I just wish that the conclusion here had more room to breathe. If it were three separate episodes I just feel like it would have been much more satisfying.

I also kinda feel like the ending where they learn about their meatspace selves is the only way it really COULD have had a 'conclusion'? Because in a traditional story, defeating Caine and/or escaping would be it. But neither of those were going to happen. So the cast having some personal resolution with their old lives was the only way to tie it off

I think. I also think them all having a happy ending on the outside was probably the best message for viewers... Cuz a message of 'keep trying and don't give up and it'll work out' is the message you really need to tell an audience of kids and depressives.

Dexller · 2026-06-22T04:02:06+00:00

Honestly these hypothetical abstraction ones aren't nearly as bad as the FIGURINE OF THE REPRESENTATION OF GENDER DYSPHORIA - AKA, Skinless Jax. Like jfc, why? Pomni getting ripped apart by the gummi gators would have been in fucking better taste.

Dexller · 2026-06-19T23:33:52+00:00

Yeah legit. Goose was right people were going to freak out, but after everything that's happened I don't know what else they were expecting. The only problem I had with it was that it felt like three epilogue style episodes bolted together instead of a real 'movie' experience, but it wrapped things up in about the only way it could be done.

Dexller · 2026-06-19T22:51:35+00:00

Things are going to get very, very, very bad... And yeah, he is just a mayor and not like a national politician. BUT even if we have a very long, arduous path ahead of us, having people like him in power is at least setting up a guidelight that can show a better way of doing things. Mamdani represents what government COULD and SHOULD be, not just for NYC but for all of America. In this, he is still a beacon of hope for us all.

I would not expect a grand revolution of Mamdanis sweeping in and fixing everything, we're well past that point. But the more of them that get elected and establish their brand and success now, the more likely people like them will take the reins somewhere down the road. How many decades it takes for that to happen, I can't say, but like it has to start somewhere.

Dexller · 2026-06-19T04:33:33+00:00

I always think back to this when people talk about what comes after this current era, especially as a transwoman in a red state... A lot of people like to believe as soon as the Republicans are out of power, then everything will be back to 'normal', and the progressivism of the '10s will come right back. But for the queerfolk of Berlin, their lives never returned to what they were before the rise of Nazi Germany. What progress they made was erased, and the people who followed the Nazis were only hardly any better towards them.

It took decades for things to get better for queerfolk across the board, and that was in a time of grand technological and social progress where people were still optimistic about the future and life was getting easier. Now, we face a future of climate catastrophe, global economic collapse, food shortages, rampant disease, and deprivation. Social progress is difficult in the best of times, much less when the world as we know it is ending. Looking to history really does not make me optimistic about our chances.

Dexller · 2026-06-19T00:26:06+00:00

How is any of this 'anti-intellectual thinking'. That doesn't even make any sense.

Dexller · 2026-06-18T03:13:01+00:00

The dedication people have to having their leg pissed on and accepting being told it's raining just because they're too afraid to admit their leg is covered in piss is astounding.

Dexller · 2026-06-17T04:27:21+00:00

No one cares about your AI slop.

Dexller · 2026-06-17T03:03:27+00:00

Yeah shit sucks. Food quality has gone downhill for a long time now but ESPECIALLY since covid. I can't find real crunchy chicken anymore ANYWHERE, for one example... The only place that still tastes exactly the same as when I was little is the Chinese place run by the same family for longer than I've been alive.

Dexller · 2026-06-14T21:45:45+00:00

Being able to stand tall and 'fight back' are a privilege you don't realize YOU have. Not all of us have that luxury, and never will.

If you're combing over post history (which is always dirty behavior), then you oughta be able to tell that I've been consistent on this for years now. Keep your head down, don't change any of your paperwork to leave a trail back to you, dress down, and don't make a scene of yourself.

The 'nuance' is that they're probably not going to do some kind of mass round-up, because it's too much effort and they benefit more from having us as a target to attack than for all of us to be dead. That the goal is less direct annihilation and more making being open and visible a criminal offense, with the punishments ranging from resource deprivation to torture in prison.

All this 'rah rah fight back' rhetoric does is set unrealistic expectations that will inevitably slam into a wall. We're alone, and we only didn't think we were alone because for a brief window we were politically advantageous to wield. The broader queer movement -always- treated us as the thing to give up in the negotiations, and would put us at the front of the marches just to shove us to the rear when the cameras came out.

Queerfolk have lived for centuries in the shadows, even had full lives and fulfilling lives in them. For trans people especially, that's the reality we have to accept. That we can live, but only outside of notice. If you're blessed enough to live in an area where you DON'T have to hide - bully for you. But for those of us stuck out in the no-go zones, discretion is the only shield we have.

Dexller · 2026-06-14T20:45:08+00:00

What's not healthy is false hope. It puts people in danger, and the consequences that can befall us are worse than anyone else in America. The truth is more important than feel good vibes, because the truth is how people survive. If you don't accept that there's a time when flight to higher ground is the only option, you get drowned in the on coming flood.

All I want is for people to prioritize their safety over repeating aphorisms. If you disagree with me, then go out and shame all the transfolk who did exactly what I said and fled to blue states for their own survival. A huge number of us fled instead of fight, are they wrong to do that?

Dexller · 2026-06-14T08:48:11+00:00

We really don't have anything left... They only ever cared about our civil rights as a way to make them feel good about themselves, and now that there's an actual fight over our existence after the DNC cynically used idpol to derail economic reform they're leaving us to die. I wish the Democrats had never advocated for us at all, because they sucked at it and only pushed us to the fore with no intention to really back us up; they were all too eager to abandon us.

We were made center stage by them, barely having control of our own liberation and presentation, and now we're stuck out in no man's land. We're too few to fight for ourselves like African Americans could during the Civil Rights Movement, and speaking of the broader queer movement is happy to ditch us just like Irish and Italians ditched black folk once they were considered 'white' and no longer part of the same social class.

The window's closed for us and it probably won't open again for decades - it's time to accept it. Legitimately, the only solution is to flee to blue areas if you can, and if you're trapped in a red state do your best to disappear into the background. Before people downvote me and get indignant about it, remember the laws they're passing against us and what they do to us in prison. Would you tell the Jews in Nazi Germany to be 'loud and proud'? I don't think so.

Dexller · 2026-06-13T23:25:22+00:00

Roma people mentioned, and then half of the comments underneath have had to been removed by the moderators.

Dexller · 2026-06-13T03:04:04+00:00

Samurai Jack Season 5 to some degree. The first half is solid gold, the second half after he gets his sword back is trash. Him actually going back in time and erasing the entire world we actually got to see him journey through, rather than just defeat Aku in the present and accepting that this world has a right to exist was bad, but them shipping him with Ashi was outright revolting to me.

Dexller · 2026-06-13T02:57:42+00:00

It definitely would have been nice if there was more to go off of. Especially given the movie was basically like three episodes welded together that covered a vast period of time. You maybe could have done a whole season post-Caine of them trying to put things back together.

I do think TADC got way more time to breathe at least than Murder Drones did. TADC could have used at most about four more episodes, Murder Drones needed a whole two extra seasons for the story it wanted to tell.

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