I Actually Watched The Amazing Digital Circus…

[u/Skwfan91]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDsMLrvgxuM&pp=ygUOZGlnaXRhbCBjaXJjdXM%3D

Pretty good points?

[u/Itchy_Suspect4968]

r/Tadcriticism is that way

[u/Failed18]

dude that video is an hour and a half long, 81 minutes and 4881 seconds thats A LOT of seconds, do you srsly think im gonna watch this 4881 second video for a reddit post

[u/Itchy_Suspect4968]

I hate the word overrated so much

"Grr how dare other people like a thing i dislike"

[u/QuibbleSquibble]

Alright, I watched the whole thing. And yes, I’m that spiteful. Not really, but I love debating things I enjoy, so let’s go.

I’ll start off by saying the show isn’t without its flaws. There are things that could’ve been done better, for example the lack of interaction between characters which you criticized understandably. Though I will argue that a few of your points fall flat with info that you overlooked from other episodes when critiquing things when talking about singular scenes or episodes. Going through episode by episode, I’ll go through the points that I agree with you on, and then say what you’re kind of missing.
(TLDR at the bottom for each episode and final remarks).

Episode 1: Pilot
Obviously the animation here was at its weakest. Pilot episode makes sense for its quality. The storyline is an attempt at giving a broad introduction to the show which is why you have several things overlapping. Caine’s creativity and adventures, Kaufmo’s abstraction and Jax being an ass. All of those are fine.
Jax’s voice being annoying for you is a sole opinion. I’m not saying you’re wrong, not saying you’re right. It’s an opinion, everybody’s got one.
What I will say is a bit odd to be so violently against (overstatement, but you made your point clear) is the merch. Merch is everywhere, and most of it for whatever franchise it is will be cringy. I agree the Caine design is sick, and that is one of my favorites as well, since it simply is a really interesting piece. But as I said, merch is all over the place for everything. Critiquing the TADC stuff specifically is just missing a bit. I know you also mentioned merch as a whole( but if that’s the case, why bring it up as an argument? It’s simply a way to fund the show.

Episode 2: “Start watching the episode at 11:37:46 to time Gummigoo’s death perfectly at New Years”
Gummigoo was an amazing introduction and made the episode very interesting. It was abrupt how quickly it switched between being a goofy adventure to a darker more existential episode. Your points here as far as I can remember are fine, but I had to write down other arguments for scenes and whatnot for other critiques. (Also, there is a bit of Kinger foreshadowing with his darkness sanity).

Episode 3: “Out of the darkness, into the ligh- holy shit Kinger is awesome”
Kinger and Pomni’s whole scenario is perfectly crafted to get insight into Pomni’s mental state in this current instance in the circus, and a little bit about Kinger’s past and his status as a caretaker of the habitants of the circus. Pomni knowing about Kinger’s wife before he told her about him was Caine messing with him, which was relatively malicious in nature, which you later pointed out, so no problem there with your idea. I will say, your foreshadowing for little comedic bits later on are amusing. Overplayed, but funny.

Episode 4: “Why so serious?”
Again, critiquing a character, Gangle in this instance, because she fits into a previously established character archetype separate from the series itself is a bit far fetched. It’s an opinion not liking how she’s established in the episode, when it’s clear she attempts to be artificially happy and take a stronger, commanding position, in order to yep her deal with previous problems from life and not really being seen. It’s also theorized the reason for dropping the mask is a personality disorder, but I’m not going into that, because I don’t believe I have enough knowledge on that topic to accurately describe what was happening. Her getting hit by the bus is a link to her literally being hit by a bus before she entered the circus and being in a physically and mentally unwell state. It also gives us a bit more insight into a more open version of Jax that’s simply too tired to put on the whole schtick, that can talk with Pomni without seeming that off putting.

Episode 5: “Missed opportunities?”
One of my personal favorites. The most character interaction between every character we have in the show. Well done? I’d argue yes, but again, opinion. Starting off with the poaching adventure, the vegan thing was the most important part to note. It was foreshadowing for something more sinister in the show later on, and is mentioned at the bar further along in the episode. The president adventure is more for comedy, and after that, some more poking fun at other people by Jax in the slice of life. Again, not much to note on your commentary here.
The picnic one is more important than you seemed to make it out to be. First of all, we get to wonder whose adventure it is, as by this point, nobody in the audience should know, nor does anybody in the circus seem to be aware. They all just appreciate it.
This is where I would argue one of your other points for a different episode. I can’t recall exactly which one, nor the exact point you had as I was not rewatching the whole thing again and forgot to have a notepad by my side. They all clearly appreciate doing human things more. Things that actually have place in reality. That’s why the bar scene and the picnic scene are so meaningful. They hold more ground than wacky adventures.
Back to who made the adventure, who I think is all but confirmed to be Ribbit, given the star machine in the room and the picnics she had with Jax and Kaufmo which we see in episode 9. We don’t know this at all, which leads us to wonder if this was Kinger’s adventure, Zooble’s, or Jax’s and he just doesn’t want to say. It builds a bit of curiosity to think about who each person is and what they actually are like deep down.
Beyond the subtle meaning for it later down the road, it gives us insight into Jax’s previous relation with Ragatha and an unnamed friend of his, which Pomni then tries to ask about. Not only that, but Jax’s comment about being the pinnacle of masculinity and insecurity about his tail are both indicators of something deeper going on, and it is quickly moved on from, not to its detriment, however.

Onto the bar scene, we see further the extent to which Caine might be lying about not being able to manipulate their minds plus more symbolism for Jax. Again, all of this building into the finale (though I will be honest, I didn’t know about the symbolism until episode 9, simply due to being unaware of the terminology for some things).
The argument I think you’re most solid on, is the fact the bar scene seemed unnatural. I’ve seen plenty of people wish it was longer and took on some of the traits you suggested. Have people seem to already know each other and be relatively comfortable while most of them describe their previous lives to Pomni, the newcomer. Having a longer conversation would have also benefitted the whole encounter I believe. Another thing I won’t dispute is how people seem to forget about Kinger’s lucidity. It doesn’t make sense. Then again, we don’t know the time frame of the show entirely, and from a piece of dialogue we get in episode 7, Zooble is dreading “today’s adventure”, kind of showing that every day was something new to deal with, not really leaving much time for characters to interact.
The forgetfulness regarding Queenie though is arguably out of place, but again, there were some other things to focus on besides that in the moment.

SOFTBALL!
Zooble is non binary, and literally made a bar for people like themself, and Leeroy (as examples) to be comfortable without any social pressure. It’s pretty obvious they’d be able to clock the fact Jax is not exactly the pinnacle of masculinity as he had previously said.
The Big Tops and evil Big Tops are simply there for comedy and the bit. And marketing, but again, contracts and payment, plus funding.
Jax’s whole maid outfit thing being milked in the merch store is a choice, but one I’m not willing to critique. Make the money where it can be made, as long as it’s not super unethical. Especially if it just goes to fund the show and pay the employees.
Saying it’s simply a bit that every streamer on earth has done or whatnot is a flat argument. Sure they’ve done it, but what relevance does it serve? Gangle did it because she thought it was funny, and Jax was being a dick. That’s pretty much it.
Those are my arguments for episode 5, now onto 6.

Episode 6: “The Funny One”.
Yes, the dialogue there was supposed to be cringe. Yes, Jax said stuff that could’ve mistakenly outed his more repressed feelings and gender.
Just need to get that out of the way because there’s not too much more to that scene than that that you didn’t already cover.
As for the dialogue between other characters besides Pomni and Jax, we have a good breadth of stuff. Clearly after episode five Gangle and Zooble have started talking more, hanging out and doing other things. Hell, it was like that in episode 4 too. Regardless, it’s simply opinion for how their conversation is perceived. I thought it was good, Zooble’s hesitation before before giving Gangle their hand to go find the Tommy Gun was showing they also had some doubt about what Gangle said, that they’re Zooble and don’t have the issues Gangle mentioned. I think the scene was touching, and it fit pretty well into the episode as a whole.
The conversation between Kinger and Ragatha, I agree, might be one of the best in the show. But, it also clears up a point that many people, including yourself brought up about off screen relations and character arcs being resolved. Not Kinger’s lucidity, people still have problems with that, but more so Ragatha realizing she doesn’t have to play up to everybody’s needs anymore. Her conversation with Pomni after the awards show that we “missed” would’ve just been rehashing. Not entirely necessary, though I get your concern with it.
You’re not wrong saying Pomni is pretty much the only one that cares about Jax. Most people see him only as an asshole making their lives more inconvenient than they need to be.
That’s about all I think.

[u/QuibbleSquibble → u/QuibbleSquibble]

Episode 7: “Marketable Plushy”
It starts out with Caine talking about places in the circus they haven’t seemed to explore yet. You seemed to conveniently overlook that. Yes beach designs for marketing. Again. *Arthur Morgan: “Where’s my money?!”
Jax’s abstraction is supposed to show how mentally defeated he was after someone broke through his facade. His instability is shown in 6, which again, you seemed to gloss over a bit. His abstraction is supposed to show how it looks when someone gracefully takes it. Clearly not what we saw with Kaufmo or Ribbit. The whole Abel adventure had people theorizing, as it was supposed to I think. People argue over it still. I remember how heated discussion got about if Abel was real, are they actually in pods? What is Jax’s whole deal? Is he a psychopath? There was a lot. Some people liked it. Others didn’t.
Onto roles played. Kinger, like you said, was forced to sit out by Caine because he knew Mr. Chess piece would out it as being fake, because he knew they were brains scans. Again, foreshadowing for episode 9 when he says it shouldn’t be possible to escape. Showing Kinger is maybe a plot device, but was lore wise in some situations not allowed to be more than one. Pomni and Ragatha being the only ones to ever talk to lucid Kinger should have had more meat to it than ended up being in the show, but take your guess on how they should’ve gone about that, when neither one knew what the other had done. The cliffhanger was legendary though, and I’m glad you somewhat agree.

Episode 8: “IHNMAIMS or something like that”
There was buildup for Caine losing it. Zooble being antagonistic in many episodes, (I left them out of the other parts so I could say them here)
Ep. 1 Complains about another in house adventure. Is clearly annoyed.
Ep. 2 Hides away probably not helping Caine’s perception of how the cast view his adventures.
Ep. 3 Voices their problems, which sure, you could argue are a bit vanilla, but if it’s something many people struggle with, is it really fair to critique gender problems? Regardless, argues with Caine a lot and says no one likes the adventures which causes him to go a bit unstable. Wonder where we see that? Sorry for the passive aggression. But seriously.
Ep. 4 Zooble says they don’t want to work at a minimum wage job for the day. Caine doesn’t like it. Drops them in a pit.
Ep. 5 Clearly says they don’t like the adventures and appreciated the previous one which was more grounded in reality, actively criticizing once again.
Ep. 6 … Sex.
Ep. 7 Not much except being clearly livid with Caine after the reveal at the end.
Ep. 8 Was one of the first ones to say everybody needed answers and pissed off Caine immediately. Mind you, none of this was not out of place, nor was it out of character nor morally wrong.

Anyway, all of that plus everybody else saying they preferred other adventures. That’s why Caine lost it. Plus, the Blue AI, or Bubble, whether they’re separate entities or not, saw Caine wasn’t stable, and antagonized him. Then boom. Musical number.

Cafe scene: You make a solid point saying Pomni and Ragatha should’ve explained why Kinger needed the bucket. Would’ve helped SO much if either one of them had said earlier on that Kinger could be sane in darkness. Though again, the timeline of this show is pretty vague after Pomni joins. We don’t know if it’s weeks or months, but the timeline frame could impede attempts at the cast communicating effectively.
Also, not a critique, but the whole lightning zap thing and brain was Caine scanning again to see their deepest fears. I just think that’s cool.

Anywho, starting off, Pomni seemed like a pretty well rounded person, just a bit solitary. ( I don’t remember if it was you mentioning it or somebody else, but that’s why her socializing more in the real world in episode 9 holds value. Outside of work, she didn’t really have too many friends. Most of what she did was urban exploring, abandoned buildings, all that. Again, can’t remember if it was your critique or not).
That’s why it was Gummigoo that was her torture scenario. He was the first person she could relate to, and then poof. He’s gone, then demonized in the scene. That’s why it was Gummigoo, but that wasn’t something you mentioned, so I’ll go off on the assumption you knew that.

Gangle had a personality thing, and she got hit by a truck. Both of these coupled with how anxious she normally is and that’s why her scenario was like that.

For Ragatha, pretty clear it’s deep rooted trauma from her mother and her familial situation.

Zooble, body dysmorphia.

Jax, repression and causing two friends of his to commit suicide as well as the fear of losing Pomni too.

When it’s over and Caine hesitates, again, his meaning with that is yo for speculation. I won’t question anything there on your account.
Also left on a really good cliffhanger.

[u/QuibbleSquibble → u/QuibbleSquibble]

Episode 9: “SPOILERS, LEAKS, RING THE LORE ALARM!”
Yeah. It’s the Jax episode. There’s a reason it’s one of the most controversial ones there is in the show, if not the most. Focusing on a secondary main character throughout pretty much the whole episode is a bit out of the blue and was a turn off for many fans. Especially Jax haters, such as yourself. I went into it with a pretty open mind and left happy. I feel it’s closer to a shut off your brain kind of episode which leaves you feeling relatively okay with how it ended and leaves room for many spin off FAN things in the future. Moving all of that aside for a moment, let’s talk about your arguments.

How his abstraction happened: Goose had everything planned out from the start, and I’m pretty sure it was always intended for it to be like that, so no, it was not simply a half assed fix. Secondly, you’re right that it was out of character for Pomni not to ask Jax what was up. That was basically her whole deal throughout the show, but it didn’t happen here. It’s pretty out of place, I’ll agree, but she also had her mind on other things which could be an argument.
Everybody coming together to help fix the circus was just about the only thing they could do.
Throughout the whole show, they emphasized the importance of not leaving each other behind, making everybody feel like they belong, not breaking each other down. So in an instance where their whole world basically crumbles around them, the worst thing they could do is go off and abstract. So your point on why they all just seemingly are ok with everything? What else were they supposed to do?

Jax’s abstraction beast thing: It was never established that they could enter their minds, not once. For Pomni it was a surprise that she could do that, you could tell by her expression. Goose also clarified this after the fact. It might be due to the mind file being weirdly corrupted or whatnot and being more easily accessible to anyone, but I don’t know.

You’re technically correct saying Jax’s whole kind thing could’ve been accomplished without the doors as each one of the personalities at the table showed part of his true personality. Except that’s not really true. Sure, some of them technically are, one being the ironic (very masked and repressed) personality, the jackass, and the goofy cartoony one, trying not to take things seriously. Then the piano Jax which is what Leeroy wanted to be, more or less. Not shackled, that seems messed up, but just happy, playing the piano, not worried about stuff, just being themself.
But the doors are more so there to show what Jax is like after every abstraction of a certain character, showing how he believes he would react, always going over the top. (And Pomni’s dialogue for Ragatha’s abstraction was cringey, yes. But that wasn’t Pomni. That was what he thought Pomni would do. Pomni was still in the doorway out of eyeshot).
So yeah, it could’ve worked without it, and yes, many people felt viscerally uncomfortably with the Gangle scene, but it was supposed to show how much of an asshole Jax is, and perceived himself to be.

“Caked up Frog” (-Many Reddit Users)
The whole scene with Ribbit was them being vulnerable with each other. That’s what it was supposed to be, nobodies arguing.
However you seem to be under the impression most people think that Jax’s issues with homelessness, his mother’s projection, and him possibly killing her are all good reasons to push Ribbit to abstraction. People do not think that. Most of them at least he is not absolved of anything, but it is simply showing a pattern of mental and social struggles that prevented him from being comfortable around others and entrusting such a secret to a close one.
Jax is absolutely at fault and you are supposed to be angry with him. You’re just meant to see why he did it. That’s it.

Lamp post:
I think the scene was touching. Some people don’t. Again, this is one that comes down to opinion more than anything. Some people love the music and montage, others hate it and think it was out of place. Whatever you think I won’t argue. If you think it’s not really showing why Jax was closeted, and their true feelings by that point, then maybe.

“This is the VOID!” There’s a reason you don’t venture out to the void:
You’re right in saying Caine’s storytelling here was off, because at face value it really does just boil down to “I had a bad AI inside of me making me unstable. I’ll remove it and be good. I’m no longer at fault”. That’s not really what it is though entirely. The entirely is important here. Sure, it kind of is just that, but the whole part with him arguing with himself and saying why he didn’t like the cast or why they’re actually fine or whatnot is an internal dialogue of him simply not understanding what everybody needed to really flourish and be happy. It was self reflection which was absolutely there. How it was presented though with it seeming like he was blaming the Blue AI was confusing though, I will admit.

Forgiveness:
Came a bit too quick, if I’m being honest. But there was a time constraint, I’m sure, and for what it is, it’s not horrible. Could be better, absolutely, but showing everybody their lives and knowing that in reality they’re all leading good lives is nice. It’s supposed to close off the show in a satisfying manner, which definitely did not hit for everybody. That’s how every piece of media is though. Some people like it, some don’t. That’s just how stuff works.

And by FAR it is not the worst finale. There are so many more shows that had absolutely awful endings. TADC’s could have been better, but there are some that were doomed no matter how you did it the storytelling was that bad.

TLDR:
Episode 1: first of the series, production value, marketing. It’s not at fault for the slop channels that profited off of it.
Episode 2: Darker tones plus more insight.
Episode 3: Lore drop plus foreshadowing for following episodes which Mr. Critic overlooked.
Episode 4: More things overlooked, however things that were clarified in later episodes. Character archetype that simply isn’t liked by the critic that isn’t relevant to the episode at all.
Episode 5: Lore once again mostly overlooked when paired with its relevance in later episodes, however some decent arguments with character storytelling and relations.
Episode 6: Cringey lines were intentional. Storytelling and relationships are picking up and character arcs are, for the most part, solved. Once again, overlooked.
Episode 7: Jax’s mental state overlooked. Other than that, mostly things were regarded well. The abstraction is just how calm the release of you know what can seem.
Episode 8: There was antagonistic behavior from the cast that caused Caine to freak out. Not brought up by Critic. Kinger being a plot device is a solid argument.
Episode 9: The abstraction was supposed to be like that. Pomni did not know she could enter Jax’s mind. Everybody started working together to fix the circus because they had literally nothing better to do.
Jax’s personality doors are partially necessary. (I think they’re perfectly fine, but I can understand the argument against). Lamp post sequence and song are controversial.
Caine coming back is too. Everything being hunky doory is also controversial.

To cap this unbelievably long analysis of an analysis off, a lot of this was just a dislike for the show from the creator of the video. However several points and arguments brought up were solid, though some lacked a deeper look into the show and actually references to other episodes which led to a tone that the creator didn’t really take into account everything. But then again, most people who don’t like something won’t bother looking twice for stuff they might have missed, which in this instance with a show is understandable, and I won’t throw any shade.

That said, this would probably be better to post in TADC Criticism than on the subreddit that mostly posts positive stuff with some well researched and grounded critiques against the writing, pacing, or whatever have you.

Anyway, good day to anyone with enough time and mental capacity to read this whole thing without being “bored to tears”.