Untitled Violet

Over the last year, The Amazing Digital Circus has kinda become one of my favorite things. While other Glitch Studios projects of then and now show some promise, I could never really get invested in the lot of them while TADC just really held my attention.

It's nicely paced, the animation and visual style is very appealing, and I was genuinely won over by its story and characters within mere moments of checking it out.

This is usually the part when I go over the basic plot of the thing I'm reviewing, but everyone and their mom must know what this show is so I'm going to keep it brief.

2023's The Amazing Digital Circus is about a group of six humans who get trapped in an elaborate digital wonderland after putting on a bizarre headset. They don't remember their names, they've been reduced to cartoon avatars, and all of this is being operated by a colorful and eccentric ringmaster by the name of Caine who yearns to entertain this group of hapless, trapped minds for an eternity.

The show mainly follows Pomni, the most recent addition to the Circus, who yearns for a way out as much as anyone else, but must be strung along on a variety of wild adventures if she wants to or not, engaging in several wacky scenarios be it a truck race through a candy kingdom, exploring a haunted mansion, or working minimum wage at a burger joint.

Along the way, we realize that the Circus might be more complex than it seems and trying to escape seems near impossible when Caine seems hellbent on keeping everyone trapped.

This premise is simple on the surface, but it's the way it's executed that gives TADC its life and charm. It's really the writing that carries it, for not only is it exceptionally funny, but its world and characters feel fully realized, especially as we get to learn more and more about the history of the Circus as well as some nice tidbits about its inhabitants.

This normally comes in the form of character-focused episodes, and personally, I would have loved to get more spotlights for certain characters, providing something similar to "The Mystery of Mildenhall Manor" and "Fast Food Masquerade" that feel like individual character studies on Kinger and Gangle.

And while they have some rather strong moments scattered throughout the show, you don't really get this same treatment with Ragatha and especially Zooble.

Comparatively, they feel a little unexplored and it kind of feels like squandered potential to go into their particular traumas.

But that's not to say that these characters are underdeveloped. Some of my favorite parts are during the noir section in "Untitled" where we manage to learn so much about Ragatha from just a few sentences and Zooble's conversation with Gangle during "They All Get Guns" is so touching.

For such a short series with barely a few hours worth of binging to get through, everyone is equally compelling and are riddled with these subtle details that say so much about them.

TADC in general is very character-focused, and despite its zany nature is a deeply existential exercise in sci-fi psychological horror that challenges the mental stability of our ensemble—often to horrifying or hilarious results. Because, behind its adorable facade, TADC is a dark comedy down to its core.

It's equally capable of being genuinely adorable or downright disturbing when it wants to be. While "The Mystery of Mildenhall Manor" is the designated horror episode, it's really episode eight's "hjsakldfhl" that shows how absurdly fucked up things could have been from day one, and left on hell of a cliffhanger that had the internet in a chokehold for months.

As for the events in store for the grand finale after such a great climax, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Me and my folks did pass around some theories, though their guesses were as good as mine.

The ending of the short story that inspired The Amazing Digital Circus, Harlan Ellison’s I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, was, from a very specific lens, either a total downer or a pseudo victory for the triumphant spirit of the human race.

And I’m happy to say that The Last Act doesn’t have an ending nearly that horrifying or depressing. Bittersweet, undeniably, but, as Keke Palmer, the star of the newest Boots Riley film, I Love Boosters, would say: "still has a little sweetness to it".

The Last Act begins pretty much immediately where episode eight ends, the six humans stranded in a desolate Circus now devoid of all its life and color without Caine’s influence. They are now left to an even crueler fate, a potential eternity in a dead world with only themselves and their creeping insanity to keep them company.

And with Jax clearly showing signs of abstracting—this being the show’s iteration of someone fully committing to their madness—things couldn’t be going worse.

Visually, the show looks as good as ever, though that shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. As we do in most episodes, we get to explore some new locations and seeing the Circus reduced to a lifeless gray for a short while honestly places a ton of emphasis on the sheer scope of its massive size and abstract architecture.

The updated character models that have slowly started to settle into more defined designs since episode one are as appealing as ever, the episode managing to maintain an air of tragedy and tension despite how adorable everyone looks.

The same could be said for the voice acting: the main seven are all brilliantly portrayed, believable, and expressive, and some new voices get added to the mix as we catch a glimpse at Kaufmo and Ribbit pre-abstraction that further flesh out the Circus and its tumultuous past, though, that is to say, Jax's past.

And, because of this, does it make this film incredibly Jax-centric?

Yes, absolutely.

Does it sometimes feel like they’re desperately trying to pull all your heartstrings at once if it means making him easier to sympathize with?

Kinda.

Did the flashback sequence go on a bit longer than I’d like?

Again, yes.

Would I cut it from the film altogether?

Maybe trim it down a smidge, but otherwise, no.

Getting to understand Jax’s complicated headspace was something of an inevitability, and made quite apparent in the promotional poster alone, and The Last Act takes the time to prove that Jax’s insanely unhealthy coping mechanisms are bred from substantial trauma.

Despite his claims of being a one-dimensional bully, he’s far from the persona he projects and is just as, if not more, sensitive and vulnerable than anybody else.

Now, I’m not going to throw my hat in the ring here about whether or not Jax is a layered, traumatized character dealing with some very overt proof that he struggles with gender dysphoria, or if he’s a brooding, self-pitying edgelord that steals screen time from more likable characters—this review is long enough as it is—but I have no solid opinion on if I outright love or despise him.

That’s an argument I am not willing to have and a can of worms I am never opening.

But, with the treatment of Jax's character and the sheer amount of emphasis on his backstory, it does start to weigh on the narrative a bit, even if I kind of saw it coming.

And even if I would consider that a mild detriment to the film, it's handled with enough elegance that it almost gets away with it, and Jax fans and Jax haters will either be lulled to tears by his abstraction framed as a symbolic death, or jump for joy that it essentially removes him from the core cast altogether.

There wouldn't be much of a film without Jax, and though he's shoved into the position of being the emotional backbone despite some contradictions between his actions and the amount of sympathy we're supposed to have for him, it was really the sheer amount of love, kindness, and empathy of the other Circus members that got me teary-eyed.

No, literally, I cried. Several times, actually.

If anything truly got me reaching for tissues, it was watching this found family try to build a new life for themselves inside the Circus upon learning the harsh truth about their severed relationship with the real world.

Caine, having been sent to the void upon his deletion, comes to realize the wrong he's done and returns to the group not demanding forgiveness, but a genuine offer to make their lives better anyway he can.

We get a beautiful scene where we learn that their human counterparts are living fulfilling, happy lives separate from their copied minds, and the group finally feels a sense of peace and unity after several years of uncertain dread.

And...yeah, that's how it ends. Nothing absurdly tragic, nothing cruelly unfair, nothing nauseatingly saccharine—but an ending that's equal parts a little sad, a little sweet.

The thing that's tricky about writing an ending for a show like The Amazing Digital Circus is that a majority of its popularity—aside from the brutal shipping wars—was the mountain of theories and headcanons that dominated the space all this time and everyone vouching that they were right all along.

So people who were married to an idea that was crafted in their own head will be inevitably disappointed that it didn't turn out to be true.

I'd even say The Backrooms movie dropping around this same time couldn't be more perfect: our personal projections are a hell of a drug, and those who enjoyed the film are baffled by people who were expecting two hours of ambiance interrupted by a Freddy Fazbear NextBot cameo.

And is being wrong or thrown off guard or simply not liking the ending really a valid reason to be violently upset? To be mind-numbingly depressed? To be absurdly angry?

No, not really, at least not if you're a functioning human being—and especially an adult.

Some mild disappointment is entirely justified, though spamming cast and crew with rude messages and review bombing it on Letterboxd isn't exactly what I'd call healthy.

And, if I may continue this tangent, people who were impatient enough to watch the leaks on Twitter and then proceed to complain about them with unmarked spoilers with the specific intention to kill everyone’s enthusiasm aren't opinions I particularly value.

So, despite the sheer amount of rage this finale supposedly inspired, I went in and out of The Last Act feeling grateful I got to go on this journey at all. And while this ending may not have been worthy of a standing ovation, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't at least a little amazing.

9:30 MST - The State of Audio Fiction - Anne Baird, Tal Minear, & Wil Williams

10:30 MST - Audio Fiction You Can Play With - Gabriel Urbina

11:30 MST - Nuance and Niche in Voice Acting - Emma Sherr-Ziarko, Asante Mango, Josh Rubino, & Giancarlo Herrera

12:30 MST - Marketing Smarketing - Ned Donavan, Roshan Singh, & Wil Williams

1:30 MST - Where Actual Play and Scripted Fiction Meet - Tatiana Gefter, Giancarlo Herrera, Destiny Howell, & Jeff Stormer

2:30 MST - Adapting Audio Drama - C.S.W., Roshan Singh, Ned Donovan, & Hannah Wright

3:30 MST - Solo-Producing an Audio Drama - ItMe!!, William A. Wellman, Lisette Alvarez, & Wil Williams

4:30 MST - Community in Audio Fiction - Jeff Van Dreason, Finch Smallsies, Tatiana Gefter, & Tal Minear

5:30 MST - Crowdfunding Crash Course - Brad Colbroock & Tal Minear

6:30 MST - How to Make Art When the World is Burning - Lauren Shippen

The State of Audio Fiction Where is the world of audio fiction today? From networks to funding to our current favorites to trends in content, your three TAFCON founders sit down to reflect on audio fiction today – and how we got to where we are now. Let's kick off our first TAFCON by talking all about this medium we're joined here to celebrate and learn more about!

Audio Fiction You Can Play With In a kaleidoscopic journey through his twelve years in audio fiction, Gabriel Urbina (Wolf 359, The Harbingers, Audible’s Gasolina and Hit Singles, and more) guides us through his evolving perception of what makes satisfying audio fiction and what proves so endlessly fascinating about this medium. Using examples from his own work as well as work that has inspired him, Gabriel tries to nail down what is at the core of a great audio fiction moment.

Nuance and Niche in Voice Acting Voice acting is one of the most important aspects of any audio drama – but it’s also one of the least discussed in terms of art, craft, and community! Learn from this panel of seasoned audio drama voice actors about what they do what they do. How does voice acting differ across medium, genre, and style? How do voice actors make the choices they make, and how does that add to the art of script in front of them? What is the role of voice actors in the audio drama community? How do we lobby to give them all an EGOT right now? Let's dig into the why and the how of voice acting.

Marketing Smarketing Across all different art forms, marketing is seen as a dreaded chore. In podcasting, though, it can be a lot more like making friends and hanging out than buying a billboard. In this panel, we'll talk about what effective marketing for a podcast looks like in 2026 at every level of production: from indie all the way to big budget IP work. Great marketing can happen on a budget of $0 and hardly any time, as long as you have strong fundamentals and the know-how we're excited to share here.

Where Actual Play and Scripted Fiction Meet What can actual play learn from audio fiction, what can audio fiction learn from actual play, and what's actually the difference between these two? These two forms of podcasting overlap, but there's much more knowledge to be shared between them than there could be – and sharing more could help us all from writing to sound design to marketing. Learn about the connections between a good actual play GM and a good audio fiction director, how players and voice actors can learn immediately applicable skills from each other, and how a little bit of random chance can help any script.

Adapting Audio Drama A good story can exist in multiple forms, across all kinds of media – but how do you actually translate something from the page to audio, or audio to screen? Learn from folks who have done exactly this to find out what changes they had to make and how they made them. It’s time to kill your darlings that only work in their original form, but meet some beautiful new audio darlings along the way.

Solo-Producing an Audio Drama Don’t have the budget, connections, or energy to cast an entire audio drama? You literally don’t have to. Solo produced audio dramas made by one person from start to finish are a fundamental backbone of audio dramas throughout podcasting history. But how do you manage all of that alone? From editing yourself to setting deadlines to keeping yourself sane, this panel will help you launch a podcast with the only resource you’ll always have at the ready: yourself.

Community in Audio Fiction Community in audio fiction gets a lot of talk, but who are we really talking about, and how do we find our people? In this panel, we break down who the “audio fiction community” is, as well as how to find a community for your show. Community can mean a lot more than listeners or fans. It can mean the people who keep you afloat when things get tough, a trusted group to bounce around ideas – or the always-necessary salt circle so you don’t post your way to professional hell.

Crowdfunding Crash Course Crowdfunding is hard! It’s overwhelming! Not sure where to begin? We got you. Brad Colbroock and Tal Minear tell you everything they know about the state of audio drama crowdfunding. You’ll learn how to make a good crowdfunding campaign (which includes what you should never ever do), different ways to promote it, and how to avoid burnout while funding. We’re fitting as much as we can into this crash course!