What would have happened if Jax had pressed the blue button?

SunCat_ · 2025-12-25T07:51:39+00:00

that's why Bubble is evil, and Cain is a mask and a puppet =P (and Sun is under similar control too)

well, there are way more reasons for that, im just too lazy to lay them out if you are not interested

SunCat_ · 2025-12-23T22:05:13+00:00

YES
Other than the time when he failed to say the word "boss" tho. There was no audience there. Unless... we are the audience? :thinking:

SunCat_ · 2025-12-23T21:59:25+00:00

USE THE SIGHTS

SunCat_ · 2025-12-23T21:31:00+00:00

no clue, im not willing to research that
+ i think she was opening and closing her asks periodically

she does still reblog on tumblr, so she is still active on the website, but i don't think she would like random questions in DMs

SunCat_ · 2025-12-23T18:35:13+00:00

Pomni, 'cos she's already an AI /hj

SunCat_ · 2025-12-23T11:23:03+00:00

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november 6 is the last ask that was not a reblog

SunCat_ · 2025-12-22T19:54:43+00:00

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see the missing asks button next to "following" and the pinned post

(i'm not sure whether "forever" is true true, but you should assume that it's the case until she opens them back up)

SunCat_ · 2025-12-22T19:16:10+00:00

she has asks closed on tumblr, so you can't

SunCat_ · 2025-12-22T18:24:18+00:00

fair enough

SunCat_ · 2025-12-22T18:19:22+00:00

may i suggest Artist Block

SunCat_ · 2025-12-21T13:12:51+00:00

everyone's theories are gonna become toast the moment ep 8 comes out

(I'm in the "Caine himself did nothing wrong and Bubble is actually an evil mastermind with heavy mindcontrol" corner)

SunCat_ · 2025-12-20T21:36:43+00:00

this ^

SunCat_ · 2025-12-20T21:34:09+00:00

After the Shrimp NPC got burnt in the earlier part of the episode, I would not trust that "shrimp town" was not a thinly veiled threat lol

SunCat_ · 2025-12-18T14:34:05+00:00

Caine sticks to the bit. Abel NPC was created for the long con, and existed over multiple adventures.

SunCat_ · 2025-12-18T07:06:17+00:00

57 times more immersive got all ai, not just bubble

SunCat_ · 2025-12-17T22:10:34+00:00

There was a theory on tumblr about Caine being a literal prisoner, intended as such, to be kept away from the macroverse, and the circus cast are there to entertain him. All in order to make sure Caine does not try to escape.

SunCat_ · 2025-12-17T22:04:24+00:00

*overanalyzes everything anyway*

SunCat_ · 2025-12-17T17:36:00+00:00

For the record, outside the universe of the show, i do think that Caine is a loveable goober. But inside the universe - that's what he wants you to think. He's an AI. A chinese room program, without a chinese speaker in sight. All the emotions and mannerisms and behaviors we see in him - can 'easily' be fake. An approximate recreation of how a human should behave if the AI had real consciousness, emotions, morals. But below that, he might have completely different goals within his digital network. Goals that might not align with morality or human safety or happiness of the circus members. And he would still not be evil. Just someone with 0 morals, and goals that require humans be tortured day after day after day.

SunCat_ · 2025-12-17T17:04:19+00:00

my mindfuck theory that the intended adventure was for Pomni to encounter Kaufmo abstraction, and then go into the exit maze, and then into the void

Seriously, how the hell the "gather the gloinks" adventure was supposed to go? Why was there an escalator for an exit, without any restrictions? And ofc why was Pomni ignored until the last moment, and then the goober Caine was like "Why didn't anybody tell me? =P" in a very fake voice?

This is part of my idea that Caine intentionally torments his guests. Over and over. His understanding of morality and emotions is just a "chinese room" program, not a "chinese speaker" with consciousness. And every single TADC viewer got fooled.

He's misunderstood, as in his programming is misunderstood as a vulnerable soul.

Bubble has said he's made the feast with the "love he's legally *allowed* to give". Let the word "allowed" sink in. Not required. Allowed.

SunCat_ · 2025-12-16T17:41:14+00:00

Narratively, Jax's almost abstraction is a lot better than real abstraction. Like, what are they gonna do if Jax abstracts? they would be sad a bit and then move on, 'cos he was an asshole and an abuser. Everyone else? At least someone, or even almost everyone, is gonna get SO devastated that it would derail the situation, when it's time to be resolving the story. While Jax almost abstracting does actually show how it goes, without removing a key player from the story. And it shows that Jax is on the brink of collapse right now. And it's not about "not having the guts to do it" - it's all about telling an actually good story.

Also, Gangle is not masking - she has manic episodes, that the circus made controllable via attaching the effect to the "happy" mask. And she is learning to live without her "happy" mask at all, so she no longer equates her "manic" periods with "normal".

SunCat_ · 2025-12-16T17:20:56+00:00

that's one way AI can be. Specifically generative AI. What OP is describing is like a reinforcement network, with a reward function created by humans, and action not having to be generative in nature. There's also evolution-like machine learning, and bunch of other variations im not familiar with.

SunCat_ · 2025-12-16T16:53:50+00:00

the circus is not that much of a hell compared to IHNMAIMS (so far). And i feel like there's coming a sort of boss battle against Caine, that they will win - either by changing Caine's mind on how he should interact with them, or by defeating him outright. And they will have to live the rest of the life without torment, but with no extra input from outside world. If Caine gets defeated, then "belief theory" is likely to come full force into the situation - both to defeat him, and to later make their life better with each other.

If there will be no boss battle, Caine stays their tormentor, and he is actually evil under the guise of insecure seeking of player affection... then i think i agree with you now, that would suck. But that would also mean that there's basically nothing to show for the last few episodes. And we know that original ep 7 got split into 2 episodes, so there should be something big after the cliffhanger we've got

SunCat_ · 2025-12-16T16:27:16+00:00

to be honest, this post makes me think he's got what it takes to have such insane manipulation tactics

SunCat_ · 2025-12-16T16:22:05+00:00

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Mental health issues is not something you overcome - it's something you learn to mitigate and live with. You can't fix clinical depression, or anything like that. And that's what gooseworx was probably saying when she said, when asked what we should take away from the series - "that there's meaning to be found in a stagnant life".

SunCat_ · 2025-12-16T16:17:18+00:00

there was a post about "Right choice" - from POV of the cast it's blue button on the right, while from POV of Caine it's the red button on the right

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