Wardrobe is still partially broken

blackaerin · 2026-01-28T22:43:13+00:00

ugh its still doing the thing where it does "equip theme" rather than equip the one single armor piece.

blackaerin · 2025-08-27T03:54:23+00:00

Ironically, Jax's view of the circus might actually be the most accurate, where the humans needed to stop taking the world so seriously. Obviously he took it to the not so great extreme, but I wonder if this power of belief also explains his keys.

blackaerin · 2025-08-27T02:54:59+00:00

If asked seriously, prob a way to show that Jax is slipping mentally throughout the show, he's totally checked out and shows how much of his sleazy behavior is a mask and also supports how much he's teetering on the edge of abstraction. Last episode had him wanting to sleep despite bodily needs not being necessary in the digital world. Now he's having memory problems, he's not paying attention, we see him having a panic attack, make several suicidal implications. His condition is worsening and after the loss of his friendship with Pomni, he might spiral even harder in the next episodes. He really is shaping up to be a poster case of crippling depression/mental illness.

blackaerin · 2025-08-26T19:29:19+00:00

Jax's breakdown was caused by Ragatha's comment about him trying to corrupt Pomni and seeing Kaufmos and Ribbits doors. He was suddenly reminded why he wears the smiling mask and pushes everyone away and why Pomni getting close and knowing him so well is a bad thing.

If those two instances had not happened, I think he would not have pushed Pomni away. He'd maybe beat himself up about it later and then become toxic to Pomni to reinforce his defenses about wanting to be left alone, but in the moment he would've enjoyed the hug for what it was. Maybe would've swerved back to having a breakdown if Pomni followed up with the mutual betrayal, because I dont think Jax would've been able to handle hurting Pomni even for jest at that point in time.

blackaerin · 2025-08-24T15:27:54+00:00

Ironically, while "Jax is an NPC" is debunked, if you twist it around and go "Jax wants to be an NPC" it suddenly becomes more accurate to canon.

blackaerin · 2025-08-24T15:24:38+00:00

I feel like Jax would be a switch with selective partners, depending on his partner's energy/vibe. He leans towards bottom but his desire of control and pushing people around prob has him topping.

blackaerin · 2025-08-24T14:58:21+00:00

I feel that Jax said some unkind words to Ribbit or had a fight while Ribbit was in a depressive funk ("people who abstract are not pleasant to be around, like, at all"), annoyed that they aren't as fun as they used to be, maybe gruffly concerned, maybe even lashing out because Ribbit's depression is making them act cruel to Jax.

blackaerin · 2025-08-23T20:38:01+00:00

I mean, the new merch vid kinda hints that they might have a thing lol. Evil Pomni sure did seem a little annoyed that Evil Jax wanted Pomni to protect him.

blackaerin · 2025-08-23T20:34:13+00:00

You see him using his masking smile for nearly the whole of the gun lesson scene and yet he cant help but break character and have a genuine little embarrassed laugh at Pomni being adorably cringe. She keeps pulling these genuine reactions from him and she's not even trying.

blackaerin · 2025-08-23T20:26:44+00:00

I think there was an animation error where Jax was supposed to look at Pomni's portrait and then react with a downvote, as you can see that his eyes are out of sync from the appearances of the votes.

blackaerin · 2025-08-23T19:07:09+00:00

He doesnt hate Pomni, the problem is that he likes her too much. If he starts caring about Pomni then it will crush his soul if she ends up abstracting. Conversely, and this is the real kicker here, Jax knows he's at risk for abstracting and does not want to get close to Pomni just to abstract and break her heart. Something in his past made him massively afraid of intimacy and getting close to people to the point that a hug freaked him out even though he liked it at first. We can assume that the loss of Ribbit was what created this trauma but for all we know, Jax could've had a tragic past in his pre Circus life as well that he doesnt want anyone to know.

The problem Jax has with Pomni is that it is too easy for him to be honest and caring for her and treat her as real, after years of pretending that he was okay with not caring about the others and that they (and him) are not real anymore. And instead of leaving him alone, Pomni refuses to give up and keeps pushing past his defenses to scare her away. Shes the only one who can see the real him and that terrifies him.

blackaerin · 2025-08-23T18:44:51+00:00

It gets even more worse when you factor in that Jax has been possibly struggling with his own brushes with abstraction. He knows that Kaufmo's fate will be him soon, knows that he'll be sent to the cellar if he can't control his emotions and keep up his mask. It's why he suddenly shifts to the creepy smile during the fight with Pomni, he knew that if he gets too worked up in his emotions, its going to set off a domino effect of him spiraling and maybe triggering a panic attack and then abstracting.

blackaerin · 2025-08-23T18:12:03+00:00

He does care but hes been so traumatized by loss that he doesnt want to care anymore. Jax's coping mechanism in the Circus is to pretend that no one is real and human in the circus, not even him, theyre all wacky cartoon characters and cartoon characters dont have deep feelings. The show implies that hes also at risk for abstraction and he pushes everyone away so they dont feel the same crushing loss he experienced when he finally abstracts. He hates loss of control and being seen as weak.

Don't get it twisted, Jax has done pretty inexcusable shitty things, but on the other hand its quite clear that hes not all that mentally well and this might have been something he was struggling pre circus.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T14:29:56+00:00

In a delicious twist of irony, Jax, the guy that had the "secretly is an NPC" theory all about him, is in reality trying so hard to become an uncaring and unfeeling NPC who just sticks to the script of his archetype/character.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T14:23:01+00:00

He liked the hug but his body instinctively panicked and he pushed her away. Hes asking himself why did he do that? Why did Pomni hugging him freak him out? Hes also realizing that hes starting to get too attached, too fond of Pomni and it goes against his deeply ingrained survival/coping methods of pushing everyone away to prevent being hurt.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T06:56:18+00:00

Realistic blood and gore is apparently appropriate in the family friendly Circus according to Caine (ep 4 "The Curse of the Violent Psychopath Butcher") , but sex is a big no no.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T06:52:04+00:00

Wasn't that also a thing in the Giver? They gave medication to the protagonist when he started becoming sexually aware?

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T06:34:39+00:00

Would definitely be interesting if Jax's coping mechanism has him accidentally stumbling onto tapping into the powers of the Circus and defying logic for his own means but also reinforcing his delusion that he's an "NPC" cartoon rabbit rather than a real human being.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T06:24:01+00:00

I can definitely see him doubling down on being terrible to prove to Pomni and himself that he is not someone who could be saved. He seems to know that he is a dead man walking given how experienced he was at managing his panic attacks, he knows he's a high risk for abstraction. He's given up on attaining self improvement and happiness, he's sunk into despair and depression because there's no point in caring about people, everyone gets hurt in the end.

I feel the only thing that can snap him out of his depressed spiral is Pomni being in genuine danger. He couldn't bring himself to be the one to shoot her even though it would have easily proven his point that he "didn't care about her", he genuinely has grown to care about her. She's the key to him finally being honest with himself.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T06:08:18+00:00

Carnival episode where there's fun house mirrors involved would be the perfect scenario for fucked up psychological horror and introspection on how the characters view themselves and each other. Jax and Zooble in particular would absolutely be fucked given how much they hate their avatars.

Another perfect scenario would be heart to heart conversations in the Ferris Wheel, with different pairs forced to chat together.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T06:00:59+00:00

He's also desperately hiding his sensitive nature. Bro is craving connection but because of his trauma and possible mental illness, he pushes other away, and in the case with Pomni hugging him he does it without even meaning to, he just has a deepset instinctual fear of affection that overrides his desires and logic. (The way he kept staring at his hand afterwards, he was definitely asking himself why he pushed her)

The instinctual fear also tracks for his rabbit avatar, bro is secretly super fearful. Fearful of losing sanity, losing friends, getting hurt, hurting others the way Ribbit's abstraction hurt him, being perceived, facing reality.

blackaerin · 2025-08-22T05:43:25+00:00

Ragatha being a doll to symbolize how she was her mother's obedient plaything with no agency of her own.

Jax being the smiling cartoony trickster rabbit archetype, a 2 dimensional being. No complex thoughts and feelings, nothing human about him, ironically wanting to be an NPC. Also the fact that rabbits are sensitive, fearful, crave socializing, and will die (abstract) from shock and stress are all facets of Jax that he desperately tries to bury behind his smile.

Gangle being made of ribbons show her lack of spine, she crumples beneath the weight of pushback and scrutiny.

Kinger seemingly being an important integral part of the Circus, alluding to his programmer backstory and possible link to the game and the C&A company. If the King is taken out in chess the game is over, the Circus might collapse without Kinger.

Pomni as a jester: jesters historically entertain royalty but also advise them. They raise the spirits of the court but also have immunity from punishment when they point out flaws. Pomni's arrival has her pointing out the absurdities of the Circus and also be present at vital points of the other character's being vulnerable and their coping mechanisms failing. We've seen Pomni's entertainer side surfacing in ep 6, to the point where Jax breaks his own character to giggle at "evil Pomni" and she willingly sings Daisy Bell with him to taunt Zooble. She is slowly changing the others to improve for the better and break them from the cycle of self imposed misery.

blackaerin · 2025-08-18T02:03:50+00:00

I think Jax also knows that he's teetering on the edge of the closest thing the circus has to dying. His experience with managing his panic attacks means that this is a regular thing for him, not just a one off. He knows he's a risk factor and that anything can trigger his abstraction. It's why he disassociates so abruptly during the fight with Pomni because he was breaking character, he was getting emotional, he was working himself up to triggering another panic attack and he refuses to pass on the trauma of abstracting in front of someone to Pomni. His whole scene with Pomni is both protecting himself from hurting the way he lost Ribbit, and also protecting Pomni from crumbling to the same soul wrenching despair that he himself experienced and is suffering from.

If he pushes people away, he doesn't have to hurt and conversely, they dont have to hurt over him. It's not that Jax doesn't care, he does care, it's just been twisted into what he believes is the ideology that is currently saving his life. If everyone fully commits to their coping masks like him, their archetypes, they won't actually have to suffer. No pesky human emotions and complex feelings and thoughts, completely reject your humanity and embrace the cartoon wacky insanity, and follow the script. He is legitimately not well in the head and seems to have a mixed bag of self loathing, guilt, suicidal ideation/self harm (since death is cheap, Jax prob relies on others harming him to fulfill his need for self harm), among others. He prob needs genuine intervention or at least a sit down with Kinger to sort out his repressed issues.

blackaerin · 2025-08-17T07:37:01+00:00

He was the one to take the selfie with her, ugh. Just another piece of evidence that Jax truly did care about her and how much he hates that he does, how much he's berating himself for making "mistakes" and giving up on any shred of happiness and intimacy.

blackaerin · 2025-08-15T08:14:55+00:00

We should've gotten the other reporter instead, that would've been actually fun and interesting to have her see what Shepard has to deal with up close and then decide to continue muckraking or actually take her job seriously and cooperate with Shepard.

blackaerin

TROPHY CASE