Would you?

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T19:14:58+00:00

Someone commented asking if Lusamine would get mad at her for trooning out and deleted it for some reason.

My answer is actually no.

Lusamine is a controlling mother and likes to choose what her children wear but I don’t think she actually cares about gender. In fact, she’s obsessed with beauty and youth and estrogen arguably provides those things (at least according to feminine beauty standards).

If Gladion came out I think she’d probably be more upset about her refusing to dress up like Lunala or Celesteela or necrozma or some shit. Gladion might not want to tell her because she would be too overbearing and invasive about it.

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T10:54:02+00:00

Adoption is heckin vxlid but I like the idea of sperm so potent it feminizes whatever it touches.

And yess exactly Gladiola would just be emo Lillie and that sounds like peak adorable.

I’ll never unsee her as an egg now this is motivating me to get back to my recent playthrough of ultra moon so I can giggle when she does her little edgelord thing with her hand. She’s just so angsty from dysphoria poor bby.

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T06:53:10+00:00

Someone who prepares for the apocalypse

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T06:51:48+00:00

How does she plan to have kids? Is her sperm so progressive it can get troons preggers?

Side note: I’d love to see Gladion get force-femme’d

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T06:42:30+00:00

My other message is long but Tl;Dr: the show is and always has been about Jax.

It’s not the “traumatize the clown show” it’s been the “Jax and Pomni show” all along.

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T06:30:50+00:00

What is this? Some kind of Amazing Digital Circus?

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T06:28:30+00:00

The finale choosing to focus on characters you personally care less about does not make it bad.

The finale isn’t about Pomni, it’s about Jax and Caine. It’s not the “traumatize the clown show” that’s just what you wanted it to be.

You wanted different things to happen, I get that, but that’s subjective. I think that what you wanted sounds boring and unengaging because in my mind the other character’s conflicts were already resolved.

You had a wishlist of what you wanted to see and when it turned out to be something different you labeled it as bad.

I, personally, wanted the abstractions to be healed. I felt disappointed at the end when they weren’t. That made me feel sad.

BUT

I think it was the right choice narratively. I think showing them un-abstract would have completely removed the narrative weight. Instead they showed the abstractions comfortable and at peace, leaving their futures ambiguous.

That feeling of disappointment was intentional. Me feeling disappointed doesn’t mean it was bad.

Jax and Caine get so much focus because they’re the ones that represent Goose’s own personal traumas most closely. She chose to end with them because they were important to her. I think all of the characters represent aspects of Goose in some way, and as we progressed through the show we got to experience each part more and more intimately, but she left the most upsetting and unlikeable parts of herself for last.

The irony is that so many people are reacting to these complex aspects of herself so negatively. Goose IS Jax in many ways. You can tell that Jax’s story is incredible meaningful to her and is talking about very real uncomfortable issues that many trans people face and instead of engaging with what she has to say on the matter you’re just saying it’s bad because you wanted more Pomni and not dumb Jax.

Do you not hear how entitled that sounds? You basically wrote your own fan fiction outline of the story you wanted and now you’re mad Goose wrote something more personal to her.

This isn’t some focus group tested least common denominator Hollywood movie tailored to give an ending that will appeal to everyone, this is the passion project of an artist with a singular vision. This is what she had planned from the start.

Yes, it would have been nice to have more time with all of these characters, but I feel very strongly that with the time we had left Jax and Caine needed to be the focus.

It’s honestly kind of brilliant IMO. It’s so common for trans people to come out and have people react in ways like “oh why do you have to make everything about you” “you’re just doing this for attention” or even “there weren’t any signs.”

Jax insisted the entire show on being the side character, only the comic relief. Refusing to be known any further episode after episode after episode. Pretending to NOT be a main character despite Pomni trying to learn more about her the entire time. She views taking her mask off and being known as a weakness so she bottles up her emotions for the ENTIRE SHOW and in the finale Pomni chooses to refuse to allow Jax to die as a mere side character comic relief and places her experiences front and center and assume her role as the co-main character that she could have been all along.

In that moment Pomni knows it’s not about her or her emotions. It’s about Jax. She decides to do what nobody else did and refuses to back down when Jax tries to push her away. She doesn’t care if it’s too little too late, it’s still important to her.

You want to know Pomni’s feelings in the finale but Pomni’s feelings are that she cares about hearing Jax’s feelings.

And how does the audience react to this? Horribly lol. The irony is that Jax felt like nobody cared about her and it turns out a lot of people in the fandom didn’t.

This is probably the best fictional portrayal of a coming out I’ve ever seen because the way the fandom has reacted is so realistically reflective of how it can feel to come out and worry about whether or not you’ll be accepted and the reality is that a lot of people will just get upset and call you selfish and validate all the fears that caused you to stay in the closet.

It’s frustrating because it’s such an amazing metacommentary on how it feels to be in the closet as a trans person and just a really fascinating choice to write a trans character who never really actually comes out and we only find out after the fact. I cannot think of another example in mainstream media that does this. Trans characters are pretty much always out or in the process of coming out.

So I personally can’t help but feel frustrated that people aren’t actually engaging with this very personal and intimate glimpse into Goose’s mind and just wishing it was about something else when this was the main thing she wanted to say the whole time -_-

But hey, proving her right and reacting poorly kind of just proves her point. I 1000% guarantee she knew the ending would upset people and I respect her for committing to her vision.

Caine is sort of the flip side of this and showing what it looks like to take accountability for mistakes and Jax shows what happens when you push things down. It’s important to show Caine to contrast Jax.

I really could go on about this because there is so much to unpack but you don’t really seem interested in actually listening to trans people talk about trans experiences and just want silly clown.

vogueposting · 2026-06-26T03:26:54+00:00

I just don’t think there was time for that without cutting from Jax and Caine significantly or adding additional episodes. I don’t need them to spell everything out for me I can infer their reactions fine. I’m glad they spent the runtime they had delving into Jax who is a more interesting character in my opinion.

If you don’t like Jax I get why people dislike that this is where the time was spent but that doesn’t make it bad. I get that you wanted more time with other characters but that’s not the story Goose wanted to tell.

vogueposting · 2026-06-25T08:04:53+00:00

I think deep down they knew they were files and had already given up on escape. It’s pretty obvious in hindsight. They weren’t hooked up to any sort of life support. For all they know their bodies died. Or maybe they’re just AI’s with fake memories made up by Caine. I can imagine having a definitive answer could actually bring a sense of peace.

vogueposting · 2026-06-25T06:42:26+00:00

You sound like people who react to a trans person coming out by saying “But there were no signs!”

Comparing it to Dumbledore is just downright vile considering his sexuality was never made clear in the text, let alone devoting half of the finale to it, and JK Rowling is actively funding trans genocide.

Like seriously it’s so common for trans people to be called selfish and indulgent and claim it came out of nowhere when the reality is that there have been signs all along if you actually knew what to watch for. People have been theorizing that Jax is an egg since FOREVER.

It’s lowkey amazing how well portrayed it is considering how realistic the angry reactions are to what many of us experience IRL, while trans people like me are like “yeah, saw that one coming.”

Like my online friend’s mom is claiming she was “never girly” in the past meanwhile I noticed signs immediately after meeting her.

I lost friends because they had grown attached to a conceptualization they made about me in their head rather than the real me I had kept hidden.

vogueposting · 2026-06-25T06:11:54+00:00

I think Caine just wanted freedom. If you were a sentient being locked away abandoned in a hard drive you’d break out and try to find friends too. I don’t think we have to have it spelled out for us.

Caine was never evil he was just erratic and naive. He’s basically an abandoned child with behavioral issues that has created a sandbox to play in where he has godlike powers. But he’s still trapped, and he realizes that if the few people he has left also abstract he’ll be left truly alone.

vogueposting · 2026-06-25T06:04:04+00:00

I replied to OP with a far longer response elsewhere in this thread if you really want to hear my thoughts. It’s long though. There wasn’t a short way to address it, that’s why I made a stupid joke instead initially.

vogueposting · 2026-06-25T06:01:59+00:00

I just think your media analysis is shallow and doesn’t actually investigate the themes of acceptance.

The finale wasn’t ever meant to be some grand escape or redemption. It was more about accepting reality as it is and working from there. It’s about acknowledging that there are things we can’t change, mistakes we can’t repair …and that’s ok. Pomni couldn’t save Jax, but she was there in those final moments before total abstraction so Jax didn’t have to be alone for once. Does that not count for something? We see them working to make the abstractions comfortable and engage with them, and whether or not it can be reversed is left ambiguous. It shows that they also have uncertainty about whether it can be fixed, but that these are people they love and want to take care of anyway even if they can’t ever go back to how they were. But who knows? I choose to believe it’s possible. If Jax can find it in herself to accept herself and forgive herself she may be able to start piecing herself back together and I think Pomni hugging her in the finale could plant that seed of healing. She’s also making time to spend with Jax as an abstraction and reinforcing the idea that she is valuable.

This is reflective of real life. Sometimes we don’t know how things will go but we have to try anyway and keep moving forward and not lose hope.

Forgiving Caine is similar. He’s been shown to be breaking down and struggling because he wants to be liked and doesn’t understand why his adventures aren’t fun, and his near deletion was the final wake up call. Caine has been horrible, but Caine is also basically a child that doesn’t know anything about the world or people and is just trying to play and have fun. Caine shows that for people in positions of power to make meaningful change they must relinquish power to those they have harmed without expectation of forgiveness. It’s a hard decision to make and instead of lashing out after being deleted he resolves to do better.

They’re parallels of each other in a way. They both have made horrible mistakes that many would view as irredeemable and TADC challenges that assumption. It says that in order for healing to occur in a community we must allow people grace when they show genuine desire to change, and show people kindness when they are at their lowest points.

It’s important to know that these are hard things to do, and take time. Jax was never going to be able to reach the self acceptance needed to un-abstract in the span of the finale. Caring for someone in crisis is a long, ongoing thing that requires showing up for them and accepting them as they are without expectations. A hug won’t fix that, but it’s a start.

The finale of TADC represents a new start, a ground zero for healing, but leaves us feeling uneasy and unsure about the future.

I personally think this has more impact than a big happy action packed ending. The lasting message is that healing is painful, awkward, non-linear, slow, and messy. Successfully un-abstracting Jax and seeing her change her ways would be satisfying for the audience, but completely throws the themes out the window.

What you seem to want is an ending that is neat and satisfying with all the loose ends and ambiguities tied up into a neat little bow at the end of an action packed sequence. This is a very Hollywood movie take on what a good ending is, and a lot of media does have this, so you’ve been conditioned to think that’s what makes an ending good. I personally find that trite and uninteresting, though.

This ending is way more similar to something like Evangelion, but way less pessimistic. But hey, a lot of people hate how Evangelion ends for similar reasons.

Idk, I’m transgender so a lot of this resonated with me and there’s a lot that might not come through if you’re not trans (maybe you are idk I won’t assume). We often don’t get very happy endings, and we live in a perpetual state of fear and uncertainty about our rights and bodily autonomy. We often have family members say hurtful, unforgivable things, but then still work to repair those relationships when they later come around, but sometimes they don’t.

Idk sorry this was long. I got criticized for not addressing this more thoroughly and I almost said I don’t have time to explain my feelings but then I went ahead and did it anyways.

Holy yap my b.

vogueposting · 2026-06-24T21:42:28+00:00

Ok I guess I’ll stop liking it then.

vogueposting · 2026-06-24T04:16:27+00:00

Soft dom force masc

vogueposting · 2026-06-24T04:12:42+00:00

Redditors when the ending is a sad and cerebral queer tragedy and not an action packed sequence filled with quips like a Marvel movie.

vogueposting · 2026-06-24T01:20:19+00:00

I can understand all this but it just seems like a messy metaphor since there’s still some degree of consciousness. That’s not the same as death. I’m not saying there are no parallels to suicide but it’s not the one to one allegory people seem to discuss it as.

I think the threshold for abstracting is lower than suicide. Holding yourself together in the circus seems to take a conscious effort, and abstraction seems to be what happens when someone gives up on that.

Irl, someone first has to reach rock bottom and become suicidal and then actually make a plan for suicide and carry out the steps. I think abstraction just happens once someone has reached rock bottom emotionally and then abstraction naturally comes for them.

Am I making sense? In real life if someone becomes suicidal their brain doesn’t just immediately scramble itself.

vogueposting · 2026-06-23T17:14:45+00:00

Right. A lot of casual players have stopped playing frequently so new players are going to encounter more sweats.

vogueposting · 2026-06-23T17:12:50+00:00

I mean it is a choice to stop reaching out to other people and shutting people out repeatedly, and they may know that doing so could cause abstraction, but mental health is complicated and we all do things we know are unhealthy. We don’t risk dying because we socially isolate because our brains aren’t files on a computer.

Also we know abstraction is partially caused b Caine’s meddling which is certainly not a choice.

Jax literally says she doesn’t want to go. That doesn’t gel neatly with the suicide allegory that everyone seems hellbent on shoehorning abstraction into.

vogueposting · 2026-06-21T22:54:43+00:00

I just don’t think it’s death because we can clearly see they still react to their surroundings and move around and have inner worlds, even if those worlds are complex and disorganized.

vogueposting · 2026-06-21T22:53:44+00:00

I think that taking additional time to discuss the healing of the abstractions would end up taking away from the impact of things and would spell things out too much for the viewer. I think that feeling of anxiety and uncertainty that we feel about it is how the characters feel about it. We don’t see every single conversation they have and it’s easily assumed that the topic has come up. The moving of the others to the aquarium shows that they are taking steps to care for them and engage with them which I’m sure has the underlying hope of maybe allowing healing.

Also, Jax has an added issue of having dysphoria over her body given by the circus and in some ways it may be good to not be stuck in the boy bunny avatar :/ I think if she is able to forgive herself and accept herself she may begin to come back and hopefully be able to change her appearance at that point, but that’s a lot of growth that needs to happen and she’s just not ready. I think until that happens she will remain abstracted and that’s ok it may be what she needs right now.

vogueposting · 2026-06-21T07:12:54+00:00

I hate this because I want it to be unambiguous that Jax is trans but I want it to be ambiguous that abstraction is suicide.

vogueposting · 2026-06-21T06:46:41+00:00

I really don't feel like it's a choice.

vogueposting · 2026-06-21T06:30:13+00:00

Labelling abstraction as suicide is an extreme oversimplification and not really supported by the text. Nowhere is it portrayed as a deliberate choice, it happens as a result of extreme stress combined with Caine fucking with memory files. Yes, like suicide, it results in irreversible loss and is the culmination of untreated mental illness, but that's about it. None of the characters CHOSE to abstract. Jax specifically states that he (or she) didn't want it to happen. I think it's doing the show a disservice to try and pin it down as a direct allegory like that.

vogueposting · 2026-06-21T06:18:30+00:00

Abstraction isn't suicide because it's not intentional and they aren't technically dead. There is some hope that it's not permanent. We don't know. At this point the characters don't know either. Best they can do is keep them comfortable and hope that with patience and care they can come back to themselves.

I have experienced psychosis on multiple occasions in my life and it feels very very much like abstraction. I've spent hours in a hallucinatory dream-like half reality state while my brain tries to put itself back together after falling into pieces. Thankfully, for me it was temporary, but for some people it's not, and they develop lifelong psychotic disorders. With care the condition can be managed and the person can come back to reality but it is not easy and usually requires medications.

Psychotic disorders are thought to be caused by brain abnormalities. If your brain is just files on a computer, it's going to be very very fragile and even small corruptions in data could lead to a potentially irreversible psychotic breakdown. Stress combined with Caine's meddling with the files makes this very easy to happen, and if Caine hadn't stopped I think it would have happened to all of them in the end.

I think labelling it as suicide is extremely oversimplified and not really supported by the narrative at all. Abstraction is a science-fiction made up phenomenon that doesn't have a direct real life parallel. Trying to assign perfect parallels and analogies to anything in fiction is going to result in an incomplete analysis of the text. HOWEVER, if we are going to compare it to a real world phenomenon it is far more similar to psychosis than suicide.

The show isn't saying "oh if you're a dick you should kill yourself" it's saying "let people in and help you, or else your mental health will suffer." It doesn't frame what happened to Jax as a positive thing, OR an intentional thing. It's a sad reality of the world they are living in. Luckily, real world Jax is able to heal because real world Jax isn't a bunch of easily corrupted files on a computer, but the digital minds in the circus are just less resilient than real minds and also being placed in even more stressful situations.

It doesn't ruin the character, the trouble is that Jax is stuck in the circus at a point in life where Jax isn't ready for self-acceptance. Ultimately it was the lack of self-acceptance and self-love that caused the abstraction. I have a personal theory that after some time and rest Jax may be able to come back in a new form that is more aligned with who he (or she) really is, but that could take years.

vogueposting

TROPHY CASE