Series One of Malevolent has come to a close! So I think it would be interesting to share this Favorite Character Poll, to really see which character is the fandom's favorite as the curtain falls.
Even if you have done this poll in the past, I'm sure your opinions have changed with new characters appearing and characters changing throughout the series!
I will be posting the results to the poll every 100 milestone (we are so close to 1,000 responses! That's crazy! Your vote could be the one to push us over!) so keep your eyes peeled for that!
Thank you everyone who submits a vote! I really appreciate it!
Who is your favorite character in Malevolent? Favorite side character? Third favorite minor character? Well now you'll get to vote!
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I remember you saying that the humans were prejudiced against Caine, and how that wasn't resolved in the narrative. Can you please expand on how they were prejudiced against Caine?
From the start of Caine's existence even to the end of the finale he's been treated as a non-person by humans in general. The real world Grant and Mike can maybe be excused since they only would have seen a dot on a screen when they abandoned him, they don't have the up close and personal experience that Scratch and Kinger got.
The only one that remotely engages with Caine like a person is Zooble, even if it was mostly bickering, and Zooble still said things like "He's not a human, I don't think we can gauge how he thinks." While within the same episode, saying "Torturing us because we hurt your feelings, pathetic!" Showing that Zooble does recognize that very obviously Caine has feelings that can be hurt and that is why he is crashing out, so why was he spoken of like he's such a mystery? And if they didn't know how he was thinking... why not just ask.
Ep 7 was where it dawned at me that the reason why no one ever talks to Caine or reacts when he's in distress, or react to the idea that he might be a "prisoner" in his own way is because everyone really do see him like a Chinese Room. The door was open the whole time, it wasn't locked they could have just opened it. This "chinese room" effect is so extensive in the show that much of audience itself also did not see Caine as person up until the finale and some still don't.
It's clear that no one in the circus ever tries to understand Caine. They demand things of him and then get mad when he fails to deliver, they treat him like a wish fulfilling machine. Due to this complete disinterest in understanding him or guiding him on things like morality or the world they came from, Caine had to "die" and break yet more boxes humans forced him in to reach a third source of information about the world humans come from. He goes literally above and beyond his original purpose as a creative A.I. to understand them, while they put absolutely no effort to reciprocate. Pomni gets mad at him for "controlling their minds" in ep 7 but then goes and asks Kinger how to control Caine's in ep 8? What the fuck Pomni, do you think mind control only bad when it's affecting you?
And this goes unresolved in the finale. The humans didn't learn anything, they aren't sorry for killing him. They didn't even express a passing regret over him being "killed" but cry a hundred tears for Jax who also spent the entire narrative treating them like his personal playthings. So it's not even about the abuse, it's that Jax is human therefore "one of them" and Caine is othered because he's not.
The most we get is again, coming from Zooble, the only one who talked to him like a person, "despite everything it's good to have you back." But everyone is still making demands of him even though he just said he's "less powerful" now and they can conjure, is Caine even allowed to say no or will they hate him for it? Caine is still being placed under the pressure to perform for humans. I just wanna scream at everyone DO THE WORK YOURSELVES, stop treating him like a dispenser! It's like Caine is now just internalizing everything instead of expressing it with anger. He seems mostly happy on the surface but I don't like this for him. It feels like he's still a prisoner to human demands and expectations.
Hmmm. I put a lot of thought into Caine's character, his arc, and his relationship with the humans, and I'm not sure I agree with this take?
Or, rather, I'm not sure I agree with the take that the onus of Caine opening up to the humans was on the humans.
That the humans somehow failed Caine by not asking him about himself.
For a few reasons, one of them being the fact that Caine repeatedly places his own desires over the desires of the humans, and frequently disregards the humans' desires, comfort, and consent.
I talked about that a lot in this post, so I would suggest you read if you're curious about what I'm talking about:
But to do a very quick TLDR, Caine frequently puts his own desires over the humans' desires, as seen in these cases:
Episode 1: Zooble proclaims they don't want an in house adventure. Caine falsely claims that the adventure would be unobtrusive and they don't have to get involved. Which proves to be untrue when the Gloinks rip Zooble apart and take them away. (Zooble's desire to not have an in house adventure is ignored, it happens anyway)
Episode 2: Pomni's desire to have Gummygoo in the circus is overruled by Caine's desire to not have NPCs in the circus. No conversation is had about creating some way for Caine to visibility distinguish Gummygoo from the humans (and Caine seemingly didn't have this problem when Abel was running around. Or the fact that there's NPCs around the ground, like the fish in the lake)
Episode 3: Zooble's desire to not have a therapy session is overruled by Caine, who wants to have one. They don't get to leave.
Episode 4: Zooble's desire to not go on the adventure is overruled by Caine's desire for them to go on one, physically forcing them to go by creating a hole beneath their feet.
Episode 5: Jax's desire to sleep instead of listening to Caine's adventure ideas or going on the lightning round adventures are discarded. Jax's discomfort with being vegan and the dress are also disregarded, though not overruled by specifically Caine's desires, Caine did create a system in which something can be done to a human without their consent or comfort by having the others simply vote for it.
And there's also the power dynamic Caine is fostering (something I also discussed in that post), but Caine definitely positions himself as the one "in charge", and is rather forceful with the cast. Like, he puts himself in a position of power, where he's the sole one who decides things.
We can see this in a few different ways:
1) Caine is the one who keeps the humans' real names a secret from them. This is a power he solely has, and has decided to keep from them. He has the humans either pick out, or get assigned new names.
2) he's the sole one who decides who is and isn't allowed in the circus. When Pomni brings back Gummygoo, he immediately gets deleted. But Caine is allowed to create his own NPCs that can run around the circus (the fish NPCs, Abel, Ming, the Chinese room NPC, etc)
3) He's the one who decided that the humans aren't allowed to swear, and literally censors them. He decides what the cast is and isn't allowed to say. (While seemingly being allowed to swear himself, as seen in episode 6)
4) in episode 5, we see Caine skip the bar adventure for being "boring". It's been established that when a human wishes to skip an adventure, they have to put it to a vote. Caine skips this, not even suggesting a vote, showcasing that he has more power, and he alone decides if the bar adventure should have been skipped or not.
5) He's also the one who decides what adventure the gang will go on. And while he is sometimes receptive to changing the adventure to better suit what the humans want (like in episode 4, where Caine does a suggestion box adventure, and creates Spudsy's), there are also times where he isn't (like in episode 1, or in episode 6, when the suggestion box is brought up again)
He's also quite.... Physically forceful with the cast? Not in the "dragging them kicking and screaming" kind of way, but more so physically moving the cast.
Like we see this is episode 1, where he grabs onto Pomni, and begins moving her around the circus, without asking. Or in episode 4, where he physically forces Zooble on the adventure. Or in episode 5, where he pulls the humans into the portal even as they try to grab onto the furniture. Or again in episodes 3 and 5, where he snaps his fingers and summons Zooble (episode 3) and then the humans minus Zooble (episode 5)
So because of all this, because of the fact that Caine is fostering this power dynamic between him and the humans, where his desires are placed above theirs, and he alone has power to do things the cast aren't able to/allowed to.
Is the onus really on the humans to reach out to someone who treats them like that? Can they really be blamed? Should they have reached out and asked about his feelings, when he seemingly cares so title about theirs?
Especially considering the fact that Caine doesn't really make himself all that "reachable", as he frequently pops in, has the gang go on an adventure, greet them when they return, and then pop out. With his office being in an area that, before episode 7, wasn't reachable by the humans.
"they demand things of him and then get mad when he fails to deliver, treating him like a wish fulfilling machine"
... Do we actually see the humans do this? Because I don't think we do?
We don't really see the humans make a lot of "demands" of Caine. Or, when they do, they seemed to be ignored by him.
Like, in episode 1, you could say that Zooble made a demand of Caine to not have an in house adventure, but this is something Caine ignores, as he still created an in house adventure that Zooble got tangled up in.
But in episode 2, we don't even see Pomni make a demand for Gummygoo to stay in the circus, or for Caine to bring Gummygoo back. She's not really treating him like her "wish fulfilling machine".
In episode 4, the cast suggests the suggestion box (ha), but I wouldn't really say they /demand/ it. Their dialogue when asking for things is actually rather light, and purposed as questions:
Pomni: (raises hand) Okay, wait, wait, wait, wait. Can we, like, chill with the horror? Please? I really don't want this to be like last time.
This doesn't really read as a "demand", but moreso a plea.
Zooble: We do! Have you not checked the suggestion box once?
Again, not really a demand?
And Gangle, whose adventure idea this is, doesn't really "demand" that her adventure be created. She seems excited for it, but she doesn't demand that it happens.
And later in the episode, during the performance review, she doesn't seem angry at Caine that her adventure wasn't what she was hoping for. She seems quiet and withdrawn, but it makes sense, considering she just went through a manic episode, and then relived a very traumatic experience.
Even later, in episode 5, when asked about the adventure, she doesn't put the blame on her not liking the adventure on Caine:
Gangle: Uhh, I don't... really think it brought out the best in me? Even if it was mostly because of my mask at the time...
This doesn't really read as Gangle demanding anything of Caine, or getting mad at /him/.
We do see characters suggest things, like Zooble suggesting that Caine could keep the worlds open and let the cast decide which adventure to go on when they want to. But Caine mocks this suggestion to Bubble.
Or Pomni says in episode 6 that she and Zooble are "constantly say we like more chill and relaxing adventures."
(something that Caine also ignores, as in this episode he literally gives the gang a bunch of guns for the adventure. Not even "chill and relaxing"....)
Also, in episode 3, when it's revealed that Caine thinks he has "fixed" Zooble's issue with their body, it's revealed that Caine had created a box full of different body parts for them. I don't believe that Zooble asked for this themselves, or even if they did, they don't seem angry at Caine that they still feel disconnected to their body/they don't like it.
And in episode 6 we see that Zooble suggests using the suggestion box again, something that Caine shoots down. But Zooble doesn't seem angry at him for this.
So I don't really see the cast as really demanding things from Caine, because they seem to rarely actually do so, or when they do, it's because of understandable reasons (not wanting to be forced to go on an adventure/do something they don't want to, or not wanting to go on a horror adventure).
And when they do dislike an adventure, they seem to chalk it up to something about them, instead of Caine failing to live up to their standards.
(like Gangle's dislike about the fast food adventure, Pomni wanting more chill and relaxing adventures and not wanting horror, or Pomni not liking sports)
Even after Caine has them go on adventures they really don't like (Pomni with the horror adventure, Gangle and Jax with the fast food adventure) they don't get angry at Caine.
And I just don't see them treating him like a "wish fulfilling machine", they answer when he asks what they want, but they don't really go up and demand things from Caine.
The reason why I don't think the narrative acted like the humans needed to learn something in the finale, is because I don't think they did?
I think Caine needed to learn to stop with the power dynamic. He needed to learn to stop keeping the humans at a distance, and to stop holding power over the humans.
Which is why I think him giving power over the circus is a good moment for his character, as it showcased that he was willing to step down from the power he had. That HE would no longer be the ringmaster, and thus his desires didn't rule over the humans', and he isn't allowed to do things they aren't.
Because once Caine is able to do this, that he was finally able to actually connect with the humans.
Considering the fact that the humans were receptive to him being around them and joining in on their activities, I don't think that they were the barrier that stood between them and Caine. That they would have accepted him pre episode 9.
But Caine, in keeping his distance from the humans and creating this power dynamic, created a divide between him and them.
Which was something /he/ needed to dismantle, because he was the one who created it, and held the power to maintain it.
"is Caine even allowed to say no? Or would they hate him for it?"
I definitely don't think the humans would hate Caine if he refused to do something they asked of him. Considering that fact that Caine denied him pre episode 9, and literally tortured them in episode 8, and they were still able to forgive him and he friends with him.
I think the scene in which Caine is taking down the suggestions was to showcase that Caine is finally listening to the humans. That he isn't placing his desires over theirs, or simply ignoring what they want.
I don't see Caine as a "prisoner to human demands and expectations", but a friend who listens to the people around him, is trying to make up for what he's done, and be apart of the group.
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goddddd and i just UGH but also UGHHHHH and aughhhh.... oughhhhhhhhh...... ACK !!! and.... aghhhhhhhh. ughhhhh ! UGH !!!!! and i can't even because AGHHHHHHH. UGHHH
ACK !!! AGHHHHHHH. aghhhhhhhh. also and and and.... and aughhhh.... because but can't even goddddd i i just oughhhhhhhhh...... UGH UGH !!!!! UGHHH UGHHHHH ughhhhh !
Wacom recently asked me to talk about why I make queer comics, and given there are multiple bills right now floating around in congress that are effectively "we will kill your livelihood if we get a sniff of queer" I had some pretty strong, simply feelings to relay.
You can read the interview here, you can buy my graphic novel featuring a gay vampire here, and you can call your congressmen about rejecting HR 2616, HR 8705, HR 7661 using 5calls.org (they don't have these specific bills listed as things to call about, but luckily you can talk about whatever you want on the phone)
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An animatic of a scene from the fic where Kabu gets a stalker! One of the really clear mental images that made me start it in the first place, hopefully I captured some of that ominous feeling. Big thanks to Elle for the sound design <3
The Burger still gets made, even if you go Vegan. If you don’t buy it, it just winds up in the trash. If you want to do something meaningful about waste, you need legislation: It must become a crime to waste food in those ways.
If you care about Animal Cruelty in Factory Farms, you need to get legislation passed. It must become a crime to mistreat animals in those ways, and when malfeasances occurs, the onus of responsibility for those crimes must fall upon wealthy shoulders. That, also, requires legislation. It requires regulations, and regulators.
The largest source of Microplastics is wear and tear on automobile tires. It doesn’t matter what brand of shampoo you buy. It doesn’t matter which company you support with your dollar. The issue of Public Transit is too large-scale to be handled at anything less than the municipal level.
It’s not enough to just not participate in society
If you want the world to Change, you must leverage the mechanisms of political power.
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