Just a schmuck who writes and draws

Zooble is what I meant last time of a character showing more layers than what their base character traits reveal. On the surface, they’re a grumpy nihilist who refuses to join in on the adventures because they’re sick of it all. But as the series goes on, we not only see why they act this way, but also see that there’s more to them than being “the grumpy one.”

Zooble does care. They care a lot, in fact. Sure there’s occasional irritation towards the others for stupidity or assholery, especially with Caine and Jax, but they show a softer side when the time is right. There’s, of course, the way Zooble acts around Gangle, speaking softly to her, raising her up, and doing what they can to make sure Gangle has a good day. Every scene involving these two are sugary sweet and shows that Zooble has more heart than the Pilot revealed. However, it’s not just Gangle that proves it, as it’s worth nothing that Zooble is the first and only character to speak up for Pomni’s discomfort towards these adventures. Everyone knows that Pomni’s having a rough go, but they never seem to talk to Caine about how he’s being an indirect involvement in that. After all, he’s the host, he should be doing his job in making sure everyone is having a good time. And it’s good on Zooble for speaking up for Pomni when the time is right. Though, to be fair, Zooble’s usually the one to speak up first anyway.

When it comes to Pomni, Kinger, Gangle, and Ragatha, Zooble’s not really all that grumpy. It’s really just Jax and Caine that they have any issues with and…Yeah, that’s valid. These two have their own set of problems that makes things worse for everyone else involved, but it’s always Zooble that says something about it. Part of it could be that they care about the others and are sick of these jackasses making them miserable, or it’s because working in a bar leads to Zooble being used to egomaniacal, insufferable douchebags. And only one of them intentionally acts that way.

Caine isn’t trying to make life hard in the circus, he’s just an idiot. Zooble recognizes this, saying in Episode Four that the only thing stopping Caine from actually hurting them for real is that he loves these humans. And yet, they’re still the first to talk shit, but you understand why. Caine is simply bad at his job, and Zooble is just trying to give some much needed criticism. Not everyone wants a wacky, looney adventure, with Zooble being more than content with something down to Earth or just being allowed to do their own thing. If Caine just left everyone to their own devices and came when actually needed, things would have likely ran much smoother. Just look at the gun episode. When given a simple task with easy rules, everyone goes about doing their own thing and it’s the one time in the show that looked like Zooble and Pomni, characters who find the most difficulty enjoying these adventures, are having fun. This is what Zooble wants, for things in the Circus to be simple. If they’re going to have an adventure, just make it something easy and not some whole convoluted mess that will likely aggravate more than it would entertain.

And maybe Zooble was gentle in these critiques at first. Maybe, like Pomni, Zooble tried to lightly put in some notes. But, after spending so much time being ignored, dismissed, and occasionally verbally abused by Caine, Zooble decided that being nice wasn’t worth it. So, they decided to be blunt and forward about voicing issues with Caine’s adventures, which had the unfortunate side effect of fueling the fire of Caine’s wrath, but can you blame Zooble? You try being patient when dealing with an idiot who refuses to listen to you. Take it from a guy who’s been dealing with that for the last three years, it’s not easy. Nor is it easy dealing with some wannabe class clown who thinks he’s funnier than he is.

Next to Caine, Jax is the only other person that Zooble shows genuine disdain towards. And you know why? Because he’s an asshole, plain and simple. He has a reason for it, but it all boils down to him distracting himself from his own shitty life by making everyone else’s worse. And Zooble can’t stand it. Would you? When everyone else is going through a tough time, would you let this dipshit think he can just make fun of or physically harm everyone for his own sick entertainment? Zooble, being so sympathetic towards Jax’s favorite victim, Gangle, leads to them being the only person who effectively gets Jax back for his bullshit. Ragatha may try to yell and berate him, but that’s the type of reaction Jax wants with even Zooble accidentally giving him the same thing too. However, they’re also the ones who fights him back and the only person in the Circus who knows how to really irritate him. Ragatha can only unintentionally do something that’ll piss Jax off, but Zooble’s the one to make Jax the angriest he’s ever been just by putting him in a dress, throwing his “I’m just having fun” mentality back at him. Zooble knows how to get under Jax’s skin because the least the shithead deserves. And yet…they still reached out a little.

At the beach, Zooble splashes Jax with water and lists all the things he’s done to deserve just a little inconvenience. But after seeing that he’s clearly going through something that prevents his usual shitboy behavior, it makes Zooble at least want to offer some advice about how change can be a good thing if you accept it. Again, they’re more empathetic than the Pilot showed, going so far as to reach out to the show’s biggest bully. It’s why I’d say Zooble is the heart and soul of the show, they care so much about everyone and almost everyone cares about them. More than that, they’re proof that the show’s main thesis works.

The Amazing Digital Circus is a show that says that a stagnant life isn’t a bad thing. As long as you have a human connection with someone you care about, and they care about you too, life will always be okay. And Zooble proves it through their relationship with Gangle. I’ve mentioned that Zooble’s been there to make life easier for Gangle, but it goes both ways too. Zooble had these big plans for their life, things they’ve always wanted to do. But the Circus ruined that, trapping them in a life they never wanted while also delivering an even worse side effect. You see, it’s heavily implied to have body dysmorphia, and are now trapped in a cartoonish body that they can change to look however they want and can never be satisfied by it. The whole place is a gosh dang nightmare that Zooble can never wake up from, and Gangle is the only person that offers any real light at the end of this horrific tunnel.

She never saw any problem with how Zooble looked, always feeling like that they’re perfect as is. Gangle can’t even imagine the idea of Zooble being as self-conscious or self-hating as she is. Not when they delivered such a beautiful speech about how self-love really works. And then, they only came up with it when Gangle got them thinking about it.

Then, when mentioned how they always wanted to make a mark on the world, Gangle steps up to say they’ve always made a mark on her life. Isn’t that enough?

The truth is that, well, it is. It always is. A stagnant life might not be as exciting as Zooble hoped, but it’s always worth living when you have someone in it that makes you the happiest you’ve ever been.

When it comes to Gangle, what you see is pretty much what you get. Happy mask on, Gangle acts relatively stable. Happy mask off, she becomes a literal limp noodle. This gimmick with the mask and the symbolism of what it represents is the hook of her character. Could the mask be a form of antidepressants for Gangle to make getting through the day easier? Could it be a literal mask to hide her true feelings and make her look more joyful and presentable to people? The show never spells it out, and it’s better that way. It leaves it up to you to figure out what Gangle’s whole deal is, using context clues and visual storytelling to piece it together.

Wow, it’s almost as if this show for adults expects to treat its audience as adults. Who could’ve fuckin’ wonder…

As for me, I feel like the mask really is nothing more than a mask. You see it in the way Gangle doesn’t act too differently with or without her happy mask. She may smile more or act with more energy, but “Fast Food Masquerade" proves it really is nothing more than that: An act.  She may look the part of someone who had it all together, but she was just as—If not more—miserable as she  always was. It’s just that now the mask Gangle wears feels more constrictive as she’s forced to continue the act for far longer than she’s used to. It makes losing the mask feel freeing, as it allows Gangle to be her true self, even if that true self often looks sad. 

And you see that the true side of her is always present, even in episodes outside of that one. Regardless of whether or not she’s smiling, her posture is still hunched over and tone still nervous. Like in the guns episode where Gangle still nervously says she wants to team up with Zooble instead of Jax. Her happy mask has yet to be broken, yet she doesn’t have the confidence to fully disagree with Jax’s forward thinking of being on a team together. The mask gives nothing but a change of appearance, and it’s a small one at that. If anything, it’s more of a crutch than a tool to help Gangle through her day to day. It might give Gangle some semblance of peace and makes it easier for her to smile, but, again, we see the consequences of depending on something like that. So, it’s a good thing that Gangle’s arc is all about giving it up.

Predictable? Most certainly.  I clocked that this would have been Gangle’s whole arc the moment Gooseworx made it clear that Gangle’s mask will break every episode. To the point where it becomes the show’s main running joke. 

When a character has her main source of happiness literally shatter every day, it’s clear her story is about learning to live without it. But despite the predictable nature of this arc, it’s still handled well. There’s the aforementioned over-reliance in Episode Four, and Episode Six giving Gangle the talk she needs. It sucks that she’s forced to accept this part of herself that’s all…down in the dumps, but she has to. This is a part of Gangle is, well, part of her. Always. She can’t hide it away or ignore it. She has to embrace this part of her, as hard as it may be.We all kind of have to do the same thing with a part of ourselves that we don’t like. Otherwise, we’ll be torturing ourselves with these constant self-critiques that will only make things worse.

And to get this talk from Zooble, the monarch of self-esteem issues is an impressive feat in of itself, but we’re not talking about Zooble yet. Yet.

Gangle being told that she needs to love herself as is without the mask is the first bit of progress she likely ever had in that circus. She was her own worst critic, believing that being the sad one or the one who spoils the fun just made her a detriment to the group. But by having someone like Zooble, someone to show Gangle love and appreciation, it helps her realize there is something about her that’s worth loving. And from there, she manages to find a smile even without her happy mask.

Hell, by Episode Seven, Gangle doesn’t wear her mask anymore. And yet, she seems the happiest and most alive she’s ever been in the whole series. Part of it could be that Gangle found someone worth smiling for, with Zooble doing double time to make Gangle’s time in the Circus easier. It’s effective enough for Gangle to be able to have confidence enough to move on with life better than she ever could. Like I said earlier, it’s effective in making Gangle a well-written character…So why doesn’t she grab me as much as the others do?

Well, I guess part of it is the predictability. There’s only one way you could write a character like Gangle, where everyone else either went in ways I never could have expected or are given much more layers that makes them more fascinating outside of their base character traits. Gangle has no surprises nor anything about her that really makes her stand out more. The closest we get is her being an artist who was told her art wasn’t good enough, so she settled for being a shift manager at a fast food place. That is a little interesting and it’s enough to make me find a bit of relatability with her more than any other character in the show. It’s just not as expanded upon or has that strong of relevance to the rest of the story. It’s cool, I’ll give it that, but it’s nothing more than that.

Caine is an interesting one because we were never really sure who or what he was throughout the series. Ever since the pilot aired, there were all sorts of ideas going around regarding Caine and what type of character he’d be. Those who read the series’ synopsis about him being a character who tortures the players took that to mean he’s a maniacal AI who hides his bad intentions with a goofball smile. After all, he did joke about no one telling him about Kaufmo’s abstraction as though he were in on it the whole time. That kind of thing is suspicious no matter how you spin it.

Others, however, took note that he doesn’t entirely seem to have any negative intentions in mind, he’s just an idiot who doesn’t know how to properly take care of his guests. He threw circus trivia after circus trivia at Pomni the moment she arrived, gave her no time to collect her bearings, and threw her into an adventure hoping she’d pick it up as she goes despite years of experience being more than enough to tell him otherwise. Whatever Caine’s job was , he was clearly bad at it, with it being up in the air whether or not he was intentionally bad. Especially when you look at what Caine, and the show itself, was based on.

For all five of you who didn’t know, The Amazing Digital Circus takes its inspiration from the short story I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. In the story, an AI called AM gained sentience after first gaining an immense hatred for humans. Hated them so much that he carved the most iconic monologue into stone after wiping out most of humanity and torturing the few remaining survivors. This is who Caine is meant to be, the AM of the Digital Circus. And with that in mind, it’s easy to assume that Caine resents humans just as much as AM did, screwing around with these poor humans already on the verge of a breaking point as a form of some twisted entertainment. If IHNMAIMS is meant to be the main inspiration for TADC, it definitely seems reasonable to assume. But you know what they say about assuming…

Yes, Caine is meant to be the AM in this story, but the more you learn about him, the clearer it becomes that he’s just AM…in reverse.

Where AM hates humans to the point of bitter resentment, Caine loves humans to the point of insanity. He means when says any torture his adventures cause is purely coincidental, all as a result of him failing to appeal to their needs. 

When Zooble frequently opts out on an adventure, he does what he can to make the adventures more engaging so they would like it more. 

When Zooble still opts out, he tries to understand the root of the problem by understanding Zooble. 

When others voice their complaints about the adventures themselves, he allows them the chance to come up with their own.

And to go further with that, he runs a lightning round of adventures to better understand what everyone wants.

Caine puts in a lot of effort to make the humans he hosts happy. There’s just two problems.

Number One, he’s bad at his job. Yeah, I’ll give him credit for putting in the effort, but…

Making the adventures more exciting led to an NPC getting an existential crisis and sent Pomni and Kinger to literal Hell.

He disregarded Zooble’s body dysmorphia being the reason why they hate going on the adventures and being in the circus in the first place. Going so far as dismiss the problem entirely by thinking giving Zooble the ability to alter their body/limbs is enough to fix the problem, and is more focused on how Zooble felt about his adventures instead Zooble’s personal feelings.

Completely forgot about the suggestion box altogether and got annoyed that they weren’t even happy about their own suggestions.

And felt threatened when they liked adventures that weren’t his own making, saying that suggestions are bad and his ideas are far better. Even refusing to let them enjoy their suggested adventures longer, ending them so they can just move on.

Caine may love these humans, but that doesn’t mean he does the job right in taking care of them or understanding them. This leads to Problem Number Two: Caine’s too focused on himself.

Despite his love for the others, Caine so desperately wants everyone to love him back. It’s why he tries so hard on making his adventures “so great.” He wants the others to enjoy them so that they’d love him in return. The issue lies in that Caine never takes the time to get what everyone really wants, so he makes guesses based on what he thinks is the problem and not their input. He dismisses any criticism anyone—Specifically Zooble—offers because it surely can’t be Caine at fault. He just needs to find the right adventure so that everyone can be happy.

It’s why Caine feels threatened by the suggestion box adventures working well with most involved. They’re finally being happy and having fun, but through something that wasn’t his idea. It makes Caine fear they’d get along well without Caine being there. Even worse than that, it means he’s falling his self-imposed purpose. And the last time that happened…

It didn’t go well.

Caine needs to be good at making an adventure and making everyone happy. He needs to prove he can do what he was created for. To prove his worth to the humans that created him and the admired for it. He’s so desperate to prove his worth and to show that he’s loved, he not only makes an award ceremony just in the hopes of someone voting for him being a favorite character, he also fabricates a potential exit so everyone would choose to stay with him.

The whole mess with Abel shows how Caine can and will go too far to prove people love him. He knows everyone wants to leave, so makes an opportunity to grant them that. Except Caine also makes it where everyone is supposed to understand him better and feel bad about leaving him. He wants to be understood, wants others to make the effort, but fails to put in the effort to understand them. If that doesn’t perfectly explains Caine and his actions, nothing will.

And when this backfires immediately, with everyone resenting Caine more than ever, he finally breaks down. And while I feel like Caine going full AM and deciding to intentionally torture the others felt a little forced—We could have definitely used one more episode to make this work better—I won’t lie when I say that this path makes sense. Caine failing to make the others like him and understanding why leads to him thinking that they’re the problem. They failed to see what makes Caine and his adventures so great, coming to the conclusion that they’re taking him for granted and that he doesn’t owe them anything. So, he says “Fuck it,” and forces everyone to do what he says so they can learn their lesson.

The funny thing is, Caine almost realized that this was wrong too. No one is enjoying themselves with this new tactic of his, not even him. It’s part of what makes Caine like AM, a machine that can’t find joy so it forces humans into torturous situations as a form of payback. But there’s this hint of self-awareness in Caine, this idea that, in time, he could understand the torture is pointless, that separated him from AM. If he didn’t realize that everyone was trying to distract him, Caine could have made actual progress.

But that’s the tragedy of Caine: He started realizing he was doing things wrong too late. Everyone has already accepted that he was becoming nothing but a threat, and tried to put him out of commission temporarily. Then, when he started catching wise, they all shared everything that they’ve ever felt about Caine and the Circus, with Caine being forced to listen to every word.

And none of them told a single lie.

Yes, he tried to listen, tried making them feel at home, and tried making them happy. But some people need to understand that there’s a big difference between trying and succeeding. Caine failed at every step of the way, and everyone suffered because of it. Was any of it intentional? Maybe not always, but that doesn’t erase the torment of others and how much they were harmed physically, mentally, and emotionally every day by Caine’s antics.

Pomni hit it on the head. Caine’s a failure. He’s always been a failure, from the very start of his own creation. He was designed to copy images that were imputed into him, only to be punished when he couldn’t do it right. So when he frees himself from his creators’ control, gave himself a new purpose to entertain the humans he loves…he still failed. He kept on failing, and processing that was always difficult for Caine. Him and the Circus crashed several times because the truth of what he really is hurt too much.

So, what does he do? He lashes out at what he thinks is the source of his frustration: The very humans he admires and wanted to admire him back. With the crazy thing being that he still admires him. It’s why he screams “Why do you people torment me?!” He doesn’t understand why, but Caine still loves these guys and still wants that love reciprocated. But it never was, it drives him to madness. Why couldn’t they do it? Why couldn’t he get this right?

And then…He’s deleted.

Due to someone else making a mistake, Caine gets deleted. And in those brief seconds before leaving, he has this moment of clarity. This realization that he went too far, that he always went too far. And before he could say anything, maybe even apologize for all that he’s done…

*SNAP*!

Gone. Erased with the Circus crumbling apart after it lost its master. And it’s sad, really. After finally getting that he was in the wrong, Caine gets deleted without having the time to fix his mistakes. And whether or not he comes back to do just that, I can’t say…Because I haven’t seen the movie yet, and I don’t know what happens.