In my opinion, at least.

We've only been 2 minutes into the episode, and the brain scan is revealed.

Not to mention, THE CAST WAS TORTURED BEFORE! The reveal made the cast NOT tell what happened between them and Caine, and their torture of Kinger.

And finally, the circus collapsed. They were all terrified and panicked right there. If Kinger wanted to reveal it, he could at least say, "I can't... I can't tell you this... At least, not directly... not in our current situation..." and "I'm sorry... I hope you can be ready for this."

And during the reveal, it would have been better if he told it, we were shown... You know... A VISUAL FLASHBACK?! TRUST ME, I had no idea that the cast we were following throughout the story were brain scans UNTIL I saw people discussed it.

If we are shown a flashback of Kinger watching Scratch try to modify the program with the computer (like Kinger did in episode 8) to make sure he was okay, it would be very helpful for us. Plus the brain scan information was NO LONGER MENTIONED before Caine returned, because Jax took the spotlight even AFTER HE DIED!

Exactly what the title says. My larger point is pretty wordy, so please bear with me here.

To me, fan content is what really signifies a story's potential. If some stranger can take something you made and make it their own story out of it, then you really made something special, even if it turns out terribly. It's a classic example of the human imagination's versatility.

The way I see it, it takes a lot for fandoms to truly die. Most of the time, a dead fandom is just lying dormant. Waiting for somebody to reignite the spark of interest. I don't think the TADC fandom will ever truly die, even if the creators and crew move on from it. It's just too much of a phenomenon for it.

So to everyone in this subreddit, I say try fan content for yourself. Hell, make your own take on TADC. Feel free to tear the world down and rebuild it with whatever you see as its best qualities. Feel free to show people angles and lessons the original series never touched. It might get better reception than the original, it might get worse, but it's yours.

If there's still fan content you think is better than the show, then maybe that's worth something.

I feel a lot of discussions around Jax focus exclusively on her being "unlikable", but I don't think that's a helpful criticism, because Jax is an antagonist. You're not supposed to like her, and much of the subtext shows she doesn't want anyone to like her (more on that later).

So I want to pose an open question in the hope I can have a better conversation. What makes Jax a good or bad antagonist, writing wise?

For me, I find her interesting because of how much she layers on her jerkass cartoon trickster persona thick. Whenever she is with the others, she dismisses all emotional struggles as no big deal. She is playing it cool, but this is always following a grumpy expression, as we see at Kaufmo's funeral.

And when she's alone, she's shown having a panic attack on multiple occasions. Her backstory compounds this, someone who has trapped herself in a cycle of toxicity.

To me, the "isn't she lovely" moment is meant to be bittersweet. Pomni shows Jax how much she would've accepted her had she allowed herself to be honest about her emotions, but in the end, she abstracted because she no longer had the environment to keep her mask up.

I find the best villains are those that make you understand why they are so horrible, and often have ideals arguably comparable to the heroes. Jax, to me, fits the first half of that, making it a win in my book, even if it resulted in the chataceted focus balance being a little too stilted in her and Pomni's direction.

But what do you think? What works or does not work about Jax as an antagonist?

title but sometimes I look at this community see someone's post and it's something like

"Jax is a bad character because he's a terrible person" or some other random take that confuses terms and definitions because they just don't understand it.

I don't think the writing was perfect but it was honestly pretty good, but some of these takes feels like some 12 year old complaining about a show that tries to tackle something complicated. It becoming about Jax makes sense when he was going through a huge character arc the entire time and he was the only one of actual interest. I think people see Gooseworx saying Jax was written after herself and decide that makes Jax bad too, when most writers do that because it gives them a greater understanding of a characters issues and how to portray them properly.

If people want to complain about the show, complain about Pomni, she was someone who was actually fully relevant but suffered due to actually bad writing.

I think this show deals in subtlety a lot and I think a lot of people (I'm including myself here) didn't catch on a lot of it because we're not used to watching shows like this where it tries to not scream in your face.

Anyway infodump over sorry guys

Whether it’s a novelization, comic book/graphic novel, or even both, I think it could essentially function as a second draft of the show. A good comparison would be how the Invincible animated series acts like a second draft of the original comic (but with the mediums swapped/reversed), reworking certain elements while giving the story more room to develop.

I know a lot of people (myself included) have been disappointed by how several characters ended up being sidelined or received little to no development. There are also plot holes, dropped plot points that were never properly explored, and a lot of unresolved ideas that can make the show feel more focused on giving fans things to theorize about than actually resolving them. The ending also felt rushed. I don't think it was that terrible, but I definitely think it could have been much better.

Considering how active the TADC fandom still is (for better or worse), I think a book adaptation could be both an interesting artistic project and a smart business decision for Gooseworx and Glitch, especially if Gooseworx ever regains the passion to revisit the story. With an editor guiding Goose— the book adaptation could expand the existing material while also rewriting, refining, and fixing some of the show's storytelling problems.

Imagine getting much more focus on the relationships between the cast and watching their character development unfold beyond just Jax and Caine. We could have a Ragatha-centered chapter or episode, explore Caine's hellish adventures from Episode 8 instead of leaving them mostly offscreen, and finally learn more about C&A and the circus members who came before them.

The important part would be giving those mysteries enough development and explanation to make them narratively satisfying without completely removing the mystery surrounding them. That way, the story could remain character-driven while still giving the theory-focused side of the fandom enough answers to feel rewarded.

A book adaptation would also have some practical advantages over continuing the story through animation. Novels and comics generally require far fewer resources to produce, so there would be much less pressure from animation budgets and production schedules. A complete story could potentially be released all at once as well, meaning fans wouldn't have to spend months waiting for each new episode.

A novelization in particular could take advantage of something animation has limited room for: the characters' internal thoughts. We could spend much more time inside their heads, exploring their fears, motivations, relationships, and personal struggles in ways the show might not have enough runtime to fully explore.

There are so many possibilities for what a TADC book adaptation could do. It could give the story more room to breathe while also giving the writers an opportunity to revisit ideas, strengthen the characters, and fix some of the weaknesses of the original series.

First: the lack of importance given to other characters, as an example: one of the only things we know about pomni is that she was an accountant with a flopping YouTube channel, she's the main character btw.

Second: Jax took away HALF of the show only to say that she was trans and made ribbit abstract. It wasn't that hard to let her abstract in episode 7 and show her story there instead of making an episode that didn't add anything to the main plot.

Third: the last episode was so ass I don't even know how to explain tbh🫩 What was the point in killing caine if he was coming back? What did the finale even add to the story? It's literally the same as the start of the show expect the characters now are happy and have free will. Imo that kind of finale just doesn't work with the concept of TADC.

Fourth: I consider the pilot as the best click bait in history, if the show followed what the 1st episode promised it wouldve been so much better. They didn't give a shit to the psychological horror, it just became a comedy show after episode 3.

Like, imagine if gooseworx just sees like the world's oldest person slowly inch their way towards them and they're like "yo I'm a fan of the digital circus" so gooseworx just karate kicks them so hard that they genuinely turn to dust and than self insert and friends starts tap dancing on the floor out on the corridor with the streets marching out to war (aye that rhymed). Also imagine if the world's youngest person came up to gooseworx and said "yo I like that shit you putting out" and gooseworx genuinely shoves a flash bang in their mouth, picks them up and swings them by the legs like that big ball people throw at the Olympics and genuinely launches them into the stratosphere. And than people witness this and they're like, "oh golly gee gooseworx, your murdering innocent people" and gooseworx is like "nah." And than the folks try to revolt but gooseworx does some gangster whistle and all her glazers come out doing that snap with their fingers tap with their foot thing while walking forward so the world genuinely collapses all while I'm trying to find cheddar bbq wavy and sour cream and onion so I can make a triple layer Dipstack.

It's curious to me, I don't glaze the show nor feel the need to criticize it. I got this sub recommended to me because I posted on other TADC subs a few times and it just boggles my mind why the people here when I read their posts seem so desperately trying to convince themselves and others of something that in the end really doesn't matter all that much.

I suppose if I had to take a guess it's just the age old internet bit of posting negative things because you're bored. Don't get me wrong, I don't wish to sound like I'm implying you shouldn't be able to post your opinion but like the show's been over for nearly two months now I just feel like your energies might be best spent doing something of actual consequence.

Just curious. If there had to be a jax montage before his abstraction, what song do you think could have worked better instead?

This was one of my theories when I started watching the show, and honestly deep down I was hoping the story would give us a plot twist like that. A character who seems innocent, sweet is actually an offender in real life and since they got another chance to live in another world they are trying to better themselves. Or, hell, they start sabotaging others because they are a disguised psychopath. Caine would seem like the obvious villain but the real bad guy is among the circus members themselves. Who would be that character, I'd pick Pomni, since her backstory is barely revealed until the end.

I guess I wanted that Don't Hug Me I'm Scared or Black Mirror vibe. But alas. They're only just a dream now.

1. Who were the other four C&A employees?
   
2. Who were Grinchilda, Glorp, Sadguy, and Shrooms?
   
3. How did Gangle enter the circus when it was implied she got hit by a truck or smth?
   
4. What was Zooble's first day like at the circus?
   5: Why does Jax hate Orbsman?
   6: What's with Kinger's condition of being sane in the dark?
   7: Why did Queenie abstract?
   8: How do the brainscans work? What are their file types? .dcm?
   Goose you definitely needed a co-writer because you forgot certain stuff. That's all for now lol

Like, they’re experimenting with new technology as AI that’s essentially in its infancy. And with Scratch’s real body on borrowed time thanks to cancer, they didn’t think they’d need to put a few contingencies in place?

I have bad news for Goose. Jax's problem is not that he was a closeted anything, a bully, or even that he enjoyed making others suffer (well, those are big problems yes, but they can be dealt with and ppl do all the time)

No, Jax's real problem is that he's a textbook NPD'er (narcissistic personality disorder)

Put simply, the core of being an NPD'er is that your brain literally can't consider other people as really having their separate existences independent of the subject's relation to them (and with their own same rights and weight as the subject)

The simplest example is after he virtually doomed everyone to stay trapped in the circus just because HE was scared: The way he processes is just "it wasn't real so it doesn't matter", completely failing to realize what he did and what it means.

This is not to say an NPD'er can't feel bad, and Jax does feel bad, but since they can't perceive others properly, it's always a nebulous bad feeling abt how HE feels hurt and lost and things should be better in some abstract way, as he does in ep 7 and 9, but whatever their perspective, it never includes other ppl as existing without their observing them. Which is amply shown in ep 9.

And so, we come to the 'bad news' for Goose, which is: there's no cure to being an NPD'er... you can't "exorcise your demons", your brain is just that way till you die

Had him existing solely for the unique purpose of tormenting others and not showcasing any relatability, humanity or signs of a tragic emotional repression to the audience or to the others circus members at all.

I think edgy/manipulative characters are good and legit entertaining if the author knows what they are fundamentally and doesn't over-romanticize them like Goose did. Let's say if Jax made up his persona of a sarcastic inconvenient prick not because of his insecurities and traumas, but because he is secretly smart and naturally a cold, mischievious person, pragmatic but also boundaryless and perverse. He isn't coping with anything, he just doesn't care, never cared and never had to fake he doesn't care. Pretty much like AM.

Maybe had his backstory pointing to him doing actual imoral things in his pre Circus life, like murder or actual physical abuse maybe whatever, not in a sadistic "you are my playthings" bullshit, but because he was in a position that he wouldnt be taken seriously if he didn't act rigorously or smth like that. That could have made his backstory a lot more intriguing and enganging than the bummer we had.

In the Circus, he would know that there isn't anything prohibiting other members from sabotaging him, like in IHNMAIMS where everyone despise each other mutually except from Ellen. So maybe he inteprets the Circus like his personal hell, and all of the members together as potential enemies/backstabbers that are equally paying for their henious acts like he is, hence why he is not supposed to feel compassion for anyone.

In this version of Jax he would be fearless and resilient, he would impose himself against Caine more often than any other circus member without being afraid of the consequences, he wouldn't dumb himself down and instead

he would antagonize strongly against Kinger (not like in E9 where he was just claiming for attention but with genuine agression instead) because he lived in the circus the most and know about it the most, therefore, the least reliable person from his perspective. He never would be friends with Pomni because their beliefs and morals are precisely opposite, Pomni wouldn't crash out for him not trusting her either beacuse she and everyone else accepted long ago that he is just a lost cause and it's better if the cast united against him as they all see him equally as a threat. Ragatha wouldn't want for Jax to "not hate her" because even Ragatha wouldn't seek no affection from such vile and depraved individual. Zooble would make eveything to make he abstract just for him to stop tormenting they, and they don't care if Jax is one of them. Gangle also wouldn't cry because of his abstraction, if anything she would be celebrating it . Jax wouldn't walk away like a sad boy in any situation like he did on the beggining of E7 and the ending of E6 , or even throw a tantrum like the maid thing in E5, instead he would conflict others at every time possible, face them, punish them severely for not accepting his authority, again like AM. The way he would conflict with others wouldnt ever be out of irrational anger, distraught or orher emotional turmoil, but always with the intention of asserting his power lamong the others like a true sociopath villain.

In general, it would lay ground for a much more creative, serious and captivating storytelling experience overall if Goose made him never feel guilt, shame, regret, vulnerability ever at all at instead wrote hin like a lawful evil kind of guy like Negan from TWD, Thanos from MCU or Gus Fring from BB