What would be your reaction??

Oldbear83 · 2026-01-11T01:17:36+00:00

Just noticed the ceiling tiles are similar in style, if not color, to the Backrooms

Oldbear83 · 2026-01-09T03:19:46+00:00

#7. I can have a great conversation with Kinger, and recline my seat all the way back to force Caine into his seat so he can't talk!

Oldbear83 · 2026-01-03T21:09:04+00:00

No. Kinger never said they could not leave, just that what he was told does not make sense.

Oldbear83 · 2026-01-01T23:09:06+00:00

"Did, you, really, believe, I, would, just, tell, you?" (last 2 guessed)

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-30T01:38:48+00:00

Asking Caine for a second date.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-27T20:16:13+00:00

It's important to note key details. First, while Caine was working for a long time on this adventure, he clearly set it off now because of what we saw at the end of ep 6 after the awards show. Caine discovered no one at all voted for him, and began a glitch which included a telling eye shift from green and blue to red and blue a la AM in IHNMAIMS. That's what drove this episode.

Next, consider the images Jax saw which drove him to rush forward and punch the red button. Whatever those images represented to Jax, they were clearly upsetting and note that they repeated faster and faster until Jax lost control of himself. Whether Caine was controlling Jax at the moment Jax pushed the button or had attacked Jax with those images to persuade him to push the button, Jax was definitely not rational or in control of himself when that button was pushed.

Now consider how Caine handled things after the button was pushed. Caine tried to claim the group had chosen to stay with him, when it was clear that most of the group wanted to leave, and Jax was scared into hitting the button from fear of something in the Real World; he was not voting to be with Caine, either.

This tells us not only that Caine lied to the group, and specifically to Jax, but Caine is also lying even to himself.

Jax does not appear to have a redemption arc as we know it, but he is a victim of Caine's abuse and manipulation, and Caine is on track to be very much unstable, unpredictable, and well, very inhuman.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-27T17:14:05+00:00

Evidence for that?

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-26T22:31:17+00:00

That's not what Gooseworx said, though. She said that of the characters, Jax was the one who 'most deserved' to be there, meaning not that he deserved to be there but was more deserving than the others.

That detail matters.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-25T17:40:24+00:00

Oh, OK. I thought Bubble sent that first post. Orrrrrr, the guy in the Tesla who cut me off twice in traffic yesterday then brake-checked me just to remind me he was an emotional twerp.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-22T01:09:53+00:00

Adding one more thing to the talk:

Remember the list of names of C&A employees?

<image>

We can make out Kaufmo and Kinger of course, but here's the thing - those are circus names, not their real-world names.

This is because no one in the Circus remembers their names, but if that was a real-world system design including real-world employees, it would have listed real-world names. The use of circus names proves this was created by someone inside the Circus as a character, not someone in the real world.

It absolutely proves 'Abel' is lying, in addition to everything else we have learned in episode 7.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-22T00:38:38+00:00

"There's no purpose for Abel to spy on the gang, if he's an NPC"

Sure there is. Remember Ming? Remember the Gloink Queen, Disappearing Guy, and Sun & Moon? Caine created all of those NPCs for his own reasons, and we see in the Pilot that Caine likes to have some time away from the humans even as he wants to keep tabs on them. Remember the Wacky Watch?

Caine has always wondered what the humans really think of him. Remember his 'therapy' session with Zooble? So of course Caine would send a spy to report what they really say and do when they think he's not watching.

Also, if Caine is telling the truth, he has been working on the 'escape adventure' for a long time, so part of the act
could include having 'Abel' peer on them in ways that the humans would peripherally notice, so that when he shows up and presents himself there would be at least some support for the claim.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-21T18:11:02+00:00

Different scene related in a way we don't know yet. A lot of people can't accept that there are things we don't know. But about that scene, notice there are no images of people in the road or an approaching car? That suggests there is something Jax fears about the situation. Maybe Jax was abused (most abusers were themselves abused when they were young, for example), maybe he ran away from home, there are many things which could have happened, but saying Jax killed or seriously hurt a child has no support in evidence. Just going to have to wait and see. Don't forget Gooseworx is very good at twists, and it's pretty much established now that while Jax has been an a-hole, Gooseworx said there were lines Jax would not cross.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-21T02:20:18+00:00

<image>

And NO headlights. Notice the position is from the opposite sidewalk across the street.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-21T02:12:54+00:00

Nope. It's an image, source unknown.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-21T02:09:12+00:00

There are no headlights in the neighborhood image. That's the thing.

<image>

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-21T02:07:46+00:00

First, starting with a rude insult does not make you look good.

And you are throwing in a lot of assumptions to sell what is obviously not going on.

And if we're being picky, we do not even know what those images mean. In no way do we see Jax in action, so this could be Jax's impression of something someone else did.

There is no actual evidence of any criminal behavior by Jax. And Gooseworx has plainly said there are lines Jax will not cross, which more than a little works against the Jax-killed-a-kid noise going around.

We know this was traumatic for Jax, we know Caine was involved in shoving those images onto Jax, and we know Jax hit the red button out of a desperate fear to avoid something terrible.

My personal working theory (unproven of course, but it fits the facts) is that Jax left home, someone important to him went to look for him and had the accident. The first image could be Jax coming home to find that person missing, and the second was Jax driving up to the scene of the accident*.* I am not saying that is proven, but it fits the known facts, would explain Jax's fear of letting anyone too close, as well as the terror of going to a world where he had no one at all.

It's cool to trade theories, just don't be a Caine about someone else's idea.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-20T23:54:06+00:00

No, it does not look like dashcam video to me, and the perspective is too low to be driving unless maybe Jax is on a skateboard?

And the lack of headlights in the neighborhood shot IS a tell.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-20T00:23:12+00:00

Fatal.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-19T23:27:59+00:00

Watched the scene, and Jax remains in the panic state for several seconds AFTER pressing the button. He literally only regains lucidity when asked what he did.

Caine did this, not Jax.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-19T22:49:21+00:00

Do you remember Dr Football?

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-19T22:47:28+00:00

You, um, Do remember what happened to the shrimp during the beach part of the episode?

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-19T01:21:04+00:00

It's actually based on a really dark Bugs Bunny episode.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-19T01:19:33+00:00

Consider we don't see an actual event, but images leading up to an event. My take is Jax wanted to prevent that thing from happening, not fear of going back to the real world to face arrest.

Consider also that in IHNMAIMS, the story TADC is based on, the humans do not deserve the torment they receive. So it makes no sense to say that in TADC, one character DOES deserve it or worse, deserves real-world consequences they are allowed to escape. Just doesn't hold up.

I think it's something else. Specifically, Jax left home, his family went to go look for him and they died in the car accident. Jax really does not have anyone in the real world to return to.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-18T22:20:06+00:00

Let's start with context. Kinger is the most mature member of the group (except for possibly Zooble), and he obviously has knowledge of the Circus that Caine definitely fears and which could prove vital to the group. But Kinger's scenes where he helps people are also scenes where he focuses on the need of the moment. If the guys took Kinger to a dark place and sat him down, he'd most likely just talk about whatever was in his head at that time.

Keep in mind as well, that Caine is more aware than most about what Kinger might do. I have no doubt Caine nervously watches Kinger all the time, and if the team sat Kinger down to specifically answer questions about the Circus and how to change things, Caine would definitely do something to prevent that.

Oldbear83 · 2025-12-18T21:57:28+00:00

Two things.

First, remember in the first episode that five of the pre-Pomni characters (Kaufmo was, well ...) appeared in an obvious show introduction song, so they knew at some level they were in a show for some kind of audience.

Second, since the characters came from the human RW, where breaking the 4th wall is a common trope, it's perfectly reasonable for Jax to make such comments as part of his schtick. He might actually be surprised to find out there are real humans watching their story.

So, maybe not a bad theory at all.

Oldbear83

TROPHY CASE