Thoughts Are Baking

"DIGITAL KISSES"

my silly self-indulgent ragapom first kiss comic... all together in one post!

This mini project was special to me for a lot of reasons- I learned a lot throughout the process and poured my heart into it... but I'm bad with words, so I tried to summarize as best as I could in a small thank you note under the cut-

Come get your Episode 9 Ragapom Rambles

Oh look at that. My heart in two pieces.

Ok but it’s kinda funny to read this as a slight meta joke over how a lot of fans were speculating that she would be one of the humans next to abstract. Even if you weren’t a Ragatha fan (hell I think Ragatha fans were the ones who were betting on it the most).

Survivors guilt is a son of a bitch.

So I know a lot of people raised an eyebrow here because based on what has been shown in the series, Pomni wasn’t exactly shown being “friendly” with Ragatha until like the end of episode 3 at the earliest. By episode 4 they were at least a lot more comfortable being around each other, and as we know after episode 6 that’s when they started to actually do more than get along, they started to really work together and rely on each other’s opinions.

Many have argued that Gummigoo was her actual first real friend, and if we had to exclude him because of “real person” semantics, Kinger would probably be next thanks to their little talk in episode 3 and her constant reliance on his wisdom.

But here’s where I’m gonna be grasping at some lovely little bendy straws for your reading pleasure.

See, my interpretation of Ragatha and Pomni’s whole deal throughout the show is Pomni slowly but surely coming to the realization that she hasn’t actually been very appreciative of Ragatha’s attempts at friendship and that she very much relies on her kindness. It’s so so subtle that I wouldn’t exactly blame the average viewer to pick up on it, but Pomni does actually hold Ragatha in high regard even before the end of episode 6, she’s just really shit at showing it. And this makes Ragatha’s insecurities worse because unless Pomni outright tells her that she’s her friend, Ragatha is not gonna believe it because she’s convinced that everything she does is wrong.

They are a perfect recipe of miscommunication and that’s why the offscreen talk was something necessary for them to actually start being on the same wavelength, to the point where all they practically need to do afterwards is just look at each to get what the other is trying to tell them.

Yeah, Pomni starts the series being kind of put off by Ragatha’s overzealous attempts at making her feel better, but I think her talk with Gummigoo is what helped her realize that we all kinda need someone to care enough about trying to make a bad situation feel less bad.

I mean the whole point of her interaction with Gummigoo is that she is with someone who is experiencing existential dread in a manner not that different from where she was the day before. And Gummigoo wasn’t exactly being an easy customer to cheer up (which probably felt a little familiar to her). In fact, it wasn’t until Pomni offered friendship in a new world that he started to change his tune. I’m sure everyone remembers how bad we felt for Ragatha after Pomni tells Gummigoo that she’s could “use a friend” after she basically gave the one person in the Circus who was actively trying to be that for her the cold shoulder all day. But then we get this moment when they all get reunited.

Instead of Pomni getting annoyed at Ragatha’s attention, she looks…thoughtful, almost touched. She could’ve just said “I made a friend”, but she specifies “new” because it’s in this moment that she accepts she’s already had a friend in Ragatha. She was, after all, the very first person who was kind to her, informative, and helpful. Pomni initially wasn’t receptive to it all in the most positive way because it’s a little hard to be in a good mood when your life went to shit so quickly. But with all that angst gone, she starts to see Ragatha in quite literally a warmer light.

Pomni had to be in Ragatha’s shoes for a minute with Gummigoo, and it helped her understand what Ragatha what has been trying to do for her since she first arrived.

And even after Gummigoo was deleted by Caine, she understands through watching them all mourn Kaufmo, that she never had to deal with all of this alone.

Her talk with Kinger was what helped her realize that even though she has the reassurance that she at least has someone who’s doing her best makes her feel cared for, she must also do her best to extend that effort. Which is why when they once again reunite at the end of the episode, Pomni goes to finally verbalize her appreciation to Ragatha.

One other tidbit I’d like to mention. Even when it looks like she has a second chance to rekindle her friendship with Gummigoo when he comes back for another adventure, the episode makes a point to show Pomni looking back at Ragatha before making the decision to let Gummigoo go.

While the background music shifts into “Someone Real” from the ost.

Some time later

Specifically one more "normal" episode between episodes 6 and 7 before everything went off the rails with the fake "escape the Circus" plot. This hypothetical episode should've focused on three things:

Pomni and Ragatha growing closer as actual friends.

More moments between Gangle and Zooble, showing the later growing more comfortable with their body.

Highlight Jax's growing isolation from the rest of the Players. Either he tries to start shit and Ragatha and/or Zooble are allowed to shut him down without being treated as in the wrong by the narrative, or the group as a whole just stonewalls his attempts.

While this wouldn't magically fix every issue with the show, I feel like an extra episode with those three components would've gone a long way towards alleviating some of the most common complaints I see about the writing. In the case of the first two points, we could actually see things getting better between Pomni and Ragatha and Zooble come to terms (or at least start to) with their body dysphoria, as opposed to everything happening offscreen.

As for Jax, the most common complaint I see brought up is that Jax never faces real consequences for his actions nor is anyone besides Pomni allowed to meaningfully call him out. By having an episode where the others shun him and/or others besides Pomni calling him out, it would demonstrate real consequences for Jax's behavior in the form of the others being allowed to say; "No, we're not gonna tolerate your shit anymore." Then follow that up in episode 7 with Zooble trying to reach out to Jax and later everyone including him when they attempt escaping the Circus, as a way of saying that they won't put up with his crap anymore but Jax is still one of them. Show meaningful consequences for his behavior, then extend an olive branch to incentivize him to actually change.

(Also this hypothetical episode could have given us some more character interactions we haven't seen much of, like Zooble with Pomni, Ragatha and Kinger. Besides showing us more character dynamics that we didn't see much off, this would also highlight Jax's isolation from everyone.)

The Truman Show

That's what the real world looks like again... right.

Kinger loves all his kids equally

Lately, I've found myself reflecting on the way Ragatha is treated by the show with a fair bit of concern. TADC is no stranger to physical comedy and will often have characters be physically harmed for the sake of a joke but what makes Ragatha stand out is how little the other characters seem to notice or care when she's been hurt. I'm not kidding when I say there is not a single instance of a character standing up for Ragatha against Jax's bullying the way Zooble does for Gangle or Ragatha herself does for Pomni. Hell, Pomni herself has no problem palling around with the guy who shot her supposed friend right in the face and joining on the abuse herself. And all of these instances combined with the fact that we only have one episode left to resolve everything left me wondering if the show really considered these multiple instances of physical abuse as abuse or as one big joke. The characters never seemed to care, so maybe we weren't either, at least that's what I was afraid of...

...and then I remembered something. Something which has given me hope that yes, the show does know what it's doing with regards to Ragatha.