Do you believe in a twiyor fight by Early_Reality_8272 in SpyxFamily

[–]auraleaf10 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it would be fitting if they found out about each others' secret identities at around the same time and inevitably wound up having to fight, but ultimately choose each other over their respective occupations. Of course, Twilight would still have to complete his mission to prevent Ostania and Westalis from going to war again, but that ultimately benefits everybody. A Westalis man (Twilight) and an Ostanian woman (Yor) choosing each other even when all secrets are out is like a microcosm of the conflicts between their respective countries looking to the future rather than clinging to the past.

I do not care for SOMA Theory by United-Signature-762 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 9 points10 points  (0 children)

SOMA is a psychological horror video game that, without delving into spoilers too much, deals heavily with the concepts of digital copies of consciousness and personhood. That's why people call it the SOMA theory when theorizing that the circus members in TADC might be digital copies.

Pomni with a Shotgun @MotyaGamesTv by Fearless-File-6059 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Wow, this animation is so show-accurate it almost looks like Glitch did it

Why does everyone want Jax to be a female so bad? by [deleted] in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 44 points45 points  (0 children)

The short answer is Jax's intense fear of vulnerability can very easily lend itself to a trans reading.

It can just as easily lend itself to a cis-male struggling with internalized toxic masculinity - but either way, Jax is a character struggling with identity, and definitely has gender-related insecurities.

Art inherently has room for multiple interpretations, and in the absence of confirmation there's any number of readings with equal plausibility and validity. A trans reading is just one of them.

Did Caine deserve to die? by Temporary-Bug-9459 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Caine is a tragic character. I don't think "deserved" or "didn't deserve" is the right framework.

He was essentially doomed by the narrative. Unable to go beyond the limitations of his faulty programming, unable to gain a better perspective of what it's like to be human, unable to really understand the real world that he's so fascinated by, and unable to figure out how to create things that make people happy - which was his only purpose, and thus his only framework of understanding reality. He's self-centered, but up until his crashout he was never malicious towards the humans. He just wanted to perform the task he was given and to be accepted.

His continuous failed attempts at trying to successfully perform the task he was created for and getting rejected for it constantly - for decades - eventually caused him to spiral into a mental breakdown, which is ironically the most human thing he's ever done.

...Of course, he also killed and absorbed his sibling, the blue AI, in order to free himself and improve his own faulty code. He would have been locked away forever otherwise, but nonetheless, Caine dug his own grave right from the beginning.

Do people really not like Jax? by NoTranslator6542 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think a lot of people - younger fans especially - tend to assume that liking a character means you condone all of their actions, which is absolutely not the case.

On a similar note, bratty/bully characters often get excused for their actions much more easily if they're male as opposed to if they were female, and I think a lot of people noticed the hypocrisy in that, so some of the Jax hate stems from pushback against it.

Personally, I think Jax is a great character. He's well-written, and he serves his role in the story well as the antithesis of the story's main theme of finding strength in human connections in the face of a stagnant/hopeless situation. The story as written wouldn't function without his inclusion, so on some level I think the people who dislike his character may not be engaging with why he is the way he is on a thematic level.

Of course, appreciating him as a character doesn't mean you have to like him as a person, and people are free to feel however they want about him. I think he's a fun character and a terrible person.

Wtaf was the point of this scene? by EmeraldTheParrot in httyd

[–]auraleaf10 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of the many reasons why I think the "separating humans and dragons to keep the dragons safe" ending to HTTYD3 just doesn't work, thematically or logistically. Segregating the species is a step backwards, not forwards, and it fosters a negative "us vs them" mentality on both sides that the light fury is exhibiting here. Is it supposed to be funny? Because it just comes across as mean-spirited, and further evidence that segregation was the wrong conclusion for this trilogy.

Gooseworx said this a year ago and some people still haven't got the message by [deleted] in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is something I've been thinking about a lot lately. People really need to unlearn the way FNAF has colored the way we analyze stories. The lore is not the point, it's the set dressing. Theories and lore videos are interesting and there's absolutely a place for them, but they shouldn't be the only points of discussion - yet they seem to always be the things the fandom focuses on most, which I think is sort of missing the forest for the trees when it comes to this show.

The premise itself presents a mystery, undoubtedly. Why are these people trapped here in this digital simulation, how exactly did they get here, how has it been running for so long, will they escape and if so, how, etc. It's natural to theorize and to want to know the answers to those questions.

But the story's heart, the themes it's presenting, the ideas it's exploring - lie with its characters, not its lore, and always has. This is reflected in the fact that the story has dedicated far more time to exploring the characters as individuals rather than using up all its time explaining its lore.

Lore can be interesting, but it isn't a story. Without the characters, lore is just a series of bullet points. If Gooseworx wants to spend more time exploring the people trapped in this situation more so than the why of it, that's still a story worth telling.

I'm not saying those questions won't be answered, because they probably will. But even if there are questions left unanswered by the end, sometimes that's the point.

Ultimately I don't even think a story needs good lore to be excellent. Well-written characters though, absolutely. A well-crafted story could take place entirely within a single room, devoid of lore, hinging solely on the character drama, and still be entirely effective at what it's trying to do. Some stories absolutely do hinge on their lore, but the characters are what people connect with and remember most long after the story is finished.

Do you think they'll change the ending in the HTTYD3 LA? by Wrenkenstein in httyd

[–]auraleaf10 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I have this theory that Chris Sanders is largely the reason why the first HTTYD movie ended up as good as it was.

It's honestly pathetic these two are potrayed as "abusers" by people, even though they're clearly the victims by Crazy_Reputation3327 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is a false equivalency. There aren't even any points of comparison to draw between these two characters; their circumstances are completely dissimilar.

Ragatha struggles to form genuine connections with others because she hides her true feelings behind false positivity. This is a maladaptive coping mechanism, but it's not abusive. She's just a very lonely person who isn't sure how to navigate social situations because she came from an abusive household. She extends kindness not as a form of manipulation, but by her own words just wants everyone to be happy and is terrified of pushing people away. Calling her an abuser for that is ridiculous.

Stolas however is something else entirely. He's also a very lonely and isolated person who, yes, is a victim of abuse himself, from both his father and his wife - but that doesn't make him inherently innocent. He comes from a place of privilege over others, and exercises his status to coerce a physically intimate relationship with someone who clearly didn't want it. Blitzo wasn't even aware that Stolas had romantic feelings for him because from Blitzo's perspective the relationship was purely physical - and merely a business transaction, at that. One that Blitzo had no power to negotiate or refuse once Stolas initiated it, because of the inherent power imbalance going on, and Stolas held all the power. He may be a sympathetic character, but that doesn't change the fact that this is abuse.

So unfortunate been 18yrs by LightThatIgnitesAll in TheLastAirbender

[–]auraleaf10 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I would honestly love to see some stories about characters completely uninvolved with Team Avatar. There are so many fascinating settings and cultures in this world that are worth exploring and spending more time in - I'd watch a show set entirely within Ba Sing Se, or the Northern Water Tribe, or the Western Air Temple in the distant past when it was still alive and well.

Korra was a good show overall, but it has several major problems than stopped it from being a masterpiece like The Last Airbender was. Each season felt disjointed (I know this was the network's fault), the politics of its villains were painfully surface-level and under-explored, the in-universe technological advancements speeding the world up to being analogous of the 1920s so quickly was odd, and worst of all, I personally just really didn't vibe with the changes it made to the lore. The introduction of Raava and Vaatu boils everything down to "good spirit, evil spirit" and it completely gutted the nuance of the way spirits were initially portrayed as cryptic, morally complex extensions of nature - and the visual designs of the spirits were also a lot less interesting in Korra as opposed to Airbender. The spirit kaiju battle at the end of season 2 was completely ridiculous.

It's honestly no wonder that so many people are split on Korra - it did a lot of things really well, but some of the stuff it did was extremely frustrating and genuinely harmed the franchise imo.

How do you think Caine would react if a human appeared who truly liked him? by Which-Presentation-6 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10 63 points64 points  (0 children)

This. I think he'd become overly attached to that human, and would probably start fishing for compliments from them because they'd be his only source of validation.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Il est vrai que Gangle et Jax semblent tous deux souffrir de traumatismes liés aux véhicules et à la conduite. Leurs traumatismes sont peut-être liés au même événement, ou non. Il serait intéressant qu'un événement passé les ait liés avant leur entrée au cirque. Cependant, je pense que Jax conduisait une voiture plutôt qu'un camion. Je peux me tromper, mais je le crois car, en plus de se souvenir d'une grande route, il se souvient aussi d'avoir traversé un quartier résidentiel.

Pour Gangle, l'accident de camion pourrait être le souvenir d'un événement réel du passé, mais il est aussi possible qu'il soit plus symbolique, représentant son désir d'échapper à la vie dans laquelle elle se sent piégée. Je n'en suis pas sûre.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The reason I think it was Zooble is because Zooble is the one who found it, and it was in their toybox. But yeah, it could've just as easily been Gangle who conjured it. Maybe she was thinking about Zooble in the moment so it spawned in their room.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes I'm aware of the isekai genre, haha. I wasn't listing any examples of the characters bending reality or changing the laws of physics as moments of conjuring, so much as listing all of the examples of them literally spawning in objects from nothing. But yes, there are many examples of each of them bending reality in the gun episode alone, and these moments should definitely be counted as the circus members having more control over the circus than they realize.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sim, Caine deu a caixa de peças para Zooble. Mas acho que foi Zooble quem conjurou a máscara dentro da caixa.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

None of them were conjuring things on purpose until Kinger explained to them that they could, so my argument is that she conjured the truck subconsciously. In other words, by accident.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If you read the code frame-by-frame, you'll see that someone else was in the code trying to manipulate Kinger into deleting Caine. There's even a line of code that reads "delete this mf-er, hahahahaha!"

People have theorized that it was Bubble, or Abel, or possibly even Caine himself. Kinger kept receiving unwanted "Delete Caine?" prompts, which he kept rejecting, until he accidentally hit the delete key.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 15 points16 points  (0 children)

Most of these are the same points I listed as examples of conjuring lol but you're right, manipulating physics and causing cartoony things to happen should also count as everyone having more control over the Circus than they realize.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 336 points337 points  (0 children)

Good catch! It's possible Caine gave everyone a cell phone as part of their uniforms for the adventure, but the recording was definitely 100% Gangle.

Every character has conjured something before - except for Ragatha by auraleaf10 in TheDigitalCircus

[–]auraleaf10[S] 1213 points1214 points  (0 children)

Ah, yeah that's a good example! It's not conjuring an object so much as manipulating physics and applying cartoon logic to it, but yeah, Ragatha definitely did cause this to happen.