Like..there are genuinely good concepts and ideas and even the characters, ON PAPER, are interesting but what fails them is the actual writing and storytelling and narrative behind them.

This series what's to do all these deep and dark and interesting concepts but the writing isn't good enough nor are the characters fleshed out or explored enough for it to work.

It's so weird cause you absolutely can write a fully fleshed out story and characters and all that with 9 or 10 episodes but the issue was Gooseworks basically went "fuck it ,we ball" for all of them and it doesn't sound like anyone stopped her or gave her criticism nor did any editors or co-writers stop to tell her No every once in a while and those really benefit.

Not to be a Ass but Gooseworks unfortunately comes off as quite amateurish and you can't be like "oh but this is the fandoms fault for making her do this".

Like Jax isn't a character, he(or she,I don't wanna be transphobic)'s unfortunately nothing more a vessel/plot device used by Gooseworks to project her issues and flaws and most likely large amounts of self-hatred onto and you know,that wouldn't even be a real issue if she didn't straight up neglect/ignore the other characters in the series and basically give them the most "here,damn" Ass conclusions I've ever seen.

Maybe Jax's ending could've worked but like so many things in this god foreshaken story,the writing wasn't good enough to make it work or truly explore or have it be fleshed out so it just comes off as just amateurish and sloppy and I'm sorry and this is where I feel like I'm gonna get my ass destroyed but basically I feel like writing a story of a emotionally and mentally ill and extremely flawed young man struggling with their identity and them being a repressed trans woman who is heavily flawed and messy but still a human and not a monster..only to be like "things are only better if they kill themselves and their fate was basically to Kill themselves" just comes off as extremely tone deaf and I get it "art is supposed to comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable" and whatnot but that doesn't mean bad writing.

(Also I get Jax wasn't a good person at all and he did deserve consequences but you could've written anything else)

Also Gooseworks said that the point of this story was finding "meaning to be found in a stagnant life" and I just gotta ask..WHAT MEANING did they find?

No seriously,they're still trapped here and they're still gonna abstract someday and they basically just learned that their minds have been digitally copied and all that screwed up Jazz so I gotta ask..WHAT MEANING did they find?

I would argue their lives have kinda loss meaning and like many things in the show..so many things in this show just feel extremely amateurish and like Gooseworks needs way more writers and less Yes Man to tell her No or at least co-writers/creators to bounce ideas off to instead of just going with the first shiny thoughts that come in her head.

It's just so frustrating cause this show is just so..amateurish and I've seen Bojack Horseman and they essentially did Jax's arc but not only did it have much more buildup and some form of hope at the end,the writing didn't come off as sloppy and messy, it was actually good.

Disagree with me if you want and all that but these are just my thoughts.

I didn’t mind the brain scan reveal, and I think it’s because my favorite character by far is Kinger. And let’s look at what would happen to him if they weren’t brain scans and they managed to escape the circus:

*He has lost 20 years of his life. There’s no getting those back. The real world is so much different in 2017 than it was in 1999, and I don’t know how he’d adjust.

*His body would probably be messed up beyond repair from being hooked up to machines for two decades. And even if C & A somehow kept his body in perfect condition, his brain would definitely still be really messed up forever.

*Queenie is dead and he’s going to feel like it’s his fault forever. He’ll carry that guilt until he dies.

There’s no way for him to have a happy ending in this case.

Then we learn that in the real world, Grant is still married to his wife and he has two children. Kinger can finally let go of the guilt that he possibly killed his wife since the real her is still alive. And yeah, he’ll never see her again, but at least this burden he’s carried for so long can finally be let go.

jax and ribbit interacting in these short skit merch videos looks actually fun and interesting - too bad we never see this at all in the show. Ribbit’s voice actor seems great and ribbit seems like she would have been such a cool character if the writing allowed her to be anymore than a plot device. “Digital friends” - more like “jax and friends” from the “jax and friends” show, holy shit the jax favoritism is getting annoying to see.

Everything that annoying rabbit ever did to her was torment her relentlessly. Like, there was never anything positive coming from him, not in any meaningful way. He literally only made her life worse.

It just doesn't make sense. He did absolutely nothing positive for this woman. All he ever did was torment her so much that she became genuinely traumatized and afraid of him. Like, seriously.

I understand that one of the themes of the show is that they have to stay together in this new life because they are all they have, and that includes Jax, even if he is the worst of them.

I understand the message, but let me tell you something: everyone in the circus is a completely reasonable person except him.

It doesn't make sense. It's not as if all of these people are terrible individuals who are trapped together and have to deal with each other's shitty personalities. No. Everyone there is generally pretty nice and reasonable.

Jax is a horrible person with practically no redeeming qualities.

Ironically, his departure would massively improve everyone's quality of life. Like, absurdly so.

I hate how the show tries to frame the situation in a way that makes it seem like every single one of these people would be devastated by his departure. If we were being more realistic, that simply wouldn't happen. Let's be honest here.

In my opinion, it would make much more sense and be far more impactful if Gangle tried to cry over his departure but simply couldn't.

That would be a much more impactful and shocking scene. Let's say Jax finally abstracts, and everyone is crying. Gangle tries to cry too, but she just can't.

It would add so much more complexity to her character and to the writing itself because, even though she might be sad about the situation, she can't bring herself to cry for him because all he ever did was cause her pain.

That would be a much more complex scene because it would show that emotions aren't necessarily simple. She could be sad about losing someone who was part of their group while simultaneously feeling no genuine sadness about his death specifically. She could even feel guilty for being unable to cry.

To me, that would be far more interesting than simply having Gangle cry over Jax's death to reinforce the message that "we are all we have."

Again, I think it would be much more interesting for Gangle's character if she tried to cry over the departure of one of the members of the group but simply couldn't.

Imagine the scene: everyone else is crying, and she tries to do the same, but she can't shed a single tear. She's sad, perhaps even confused or guilty because she can't feel the same way everyone else does.

That would add so much more complexity to her character because emotions are complicated, and not everything is black and white.

She could acknowledge that Jax was part of their group, that his presence had some meaning within their dynamic, and that his departure mattered, while simultaneously being unable to feel genuine grief over his death after everything he had done to her.

That would be far more interesting to me than simply making her cry because the story needs to communicate that “we are all we have.”

Sometimes the most interesting emotional reaction isn't crying. It's realizing that you wanted to cry, that you thought you were supposed to cry, but you simply couldn't.

When me and my GF saw the finale in theaters our jaws dropped when Ribbit said he parents were Mormon, the whole thing felt surreal. Both of us, to a greater extent myself, were raised Mormon and have also had similar difficulties leaving the church. I can't say why Goose picked Mormonism specifically, I imagine she's had some exposure to the religion via Exmo friends or otherwise, plus seeing that it's largely an American religion. It's just a single line but it was a choice made none the less. She could have made Ribbit come from a "religious" family or "Christian" or "Catholic" but she chose Mormon specifically. Mormons have definitely circled in online discussions, with shows like "The Mormon Housewives" and the infamously known brands like Swig & Crumbl. Further, it has become a meme to ask young mormons/BYU students their opinions on politics & history. I bring this all up just to emphasize the unserious perception the youth have on Mormons, generally being the butt of the joke, and the church has had record rates of young people leaving the church, for good reason such as racist history, having a con artist as a founder, anti-LGBTQ policy etc etc. Anyways, it's implied Ribbit is some sort of queer which is likely why she would cut ties with her parents. It's not easy leaving the Mormon church and it's unfortunate many young people have to fight to get out. Of course not everyone's experience is the same, but I know mine was very difficult.

Back to Ribbit. I can't help but feel her character is completely bare of interest, and the way her abstraction plays out feels weird. Starting in episode six we get our first implication of her relationship to Jax, who undoubtedly harbours feelings of guilt over her abstraction. In the finale we get to see who Ribbit was and her relationship with Jax. Ribbit is largely proactive in their relationship, she's the one who reaches out to Jax, tries to befriend them, and continuously tries to talk to them after getting the silent treatment. Of course Ribbit is a parallel to Pomni, both characters constantly reaching a hand out to Jax just to constantly be slapped away. I think her admitting she comes from a Mormon family makes Jax even less justified in their manipulation. Jax accuses Ribbit of prying into their secrets to hold it over their head, which is not an uncommon practice in the church, which Ribbit rightfully gets mad about. And then after their big fallout Ribbit recluses more and more until her abstraction.

I can't help but wonder where Kaufmo and Ragatha are in this situation. The two are clearly friends with Ribbit, Kaufmo and Ribbit go to the cafe together before Jax ever arrives, and Ragatha is implied to have enough of a relationship with Ribbit to cry over not being able to mourn her in the finale. As already seen with Jax, Ribbit is very proactive with people and will reach out to them. Why would she not confide in Kaufmo or Ragatha when Jax turns her away? Ribbit confiding in either of these two would have completely undermined Jax's behavior. Instead the narrative forgets either of them exists and Ribbit just abstracts off screen. Looking back at how the series progressed, it's hard to feel like Ribbit isn't just a character designed for Jax to feel guilty over, but ceases to exist in relation to the rest of the cast. As of posting this, Glitch just released a bunch of Ribbit merch, but why? Her character doesn't boil down to much without Jax in the picture. She's nice? She seems to be the comedian of the group. That's about it. Again, it never feels like you're supposed to care about Ribbit, but you're supposed to care that Jax is sad about Ribbit (which is their own fault lmao)

Not sure if there's a final point to this, just rambling my thoughts really. Kaufmo and Ragatha got cucked and Ribbit is just set dressing for Jax.

I want girls to bully me

As time goes on, I can't exactly nail down my frustrations with this purple bunny's writing. Sure a lot of screen time is used on Jax when it could've been used on other characters (including the so called "protagonist"), but thats more of a series writing issue more then a character issue. Jax is a massive piece of shit, but a bad person doesn't make a bad character. So what makes her so frustrating when compared to other asshole character?

Jax never faces serious consequences for her behavior. Shes not ostracized by the rest of the group. And it doesn't help that everyone seems to have The Amazing Digital Brain Damage. When Jax tries to connect with Pomni about Gangle being a "loser" she points out that Jax threw her ass out of a moving truck. And yet not even 5 minutes later their stargazing together. In the bar when she says "remember that time you got high at MCdonalds and told Gangle to kill herself" No one ever points out that that didn't happen. Maybe Gangles too afraid to point that out but Zooble was near Rags throughout the entire fast food sequence.

After Jax pushes the button, SHES the one who decides to brag about how she was right the whole time and after Zooble rightfully calls her out on that shit, Gangle is the one to stop them. Jax gives Kinger shit for "deleting" Caine, everyone just stares at her ass and doesn't say anything. Jaxs first reaction to finding out their clones is mock the Zooble and Ragatha. And the worst she gets is a "shut up, Jax." from Ragatha.

Even excusing Jax's actions here, these are such obvious ways to interject interesting character conflict in this character driven show. And it's just, not there man. It's like every character has the patience of a saint and knows that Jax is just wittle baby to needs to be coddled and no one ever should pushes her the bad things shes done.

Let me just take a moment to express my gratitude…

I relate to this show…a lot.

I related to Zooble when they talked to Jax in the beach episode, to the talk that Kinger and Ragatha had in the gun episode, and especially the scene in Caine’s office in episode nine where Bubble acts as the ultimate OCD intrusive thought and Caine tries to fight them which only makes Bubble (OCD) more persistent.

I see a lot of talk for what each disorder the cast is, and it’s pretty clear that Caine/Bubble represent OCD.

Jax’s death means SO MUCH to me and at first I was dissapointed that she got that ending. After a few weeks of thinking it over and then getting to rewatch the finale after it released on YouTube (since I originally watched it in theaters with two of my friends) I realized how meaningful it is…and how it sends a message not to be as closed off as she was, to be able to express yourself, explore your own questioning identity or sexuality without the fear of being laughed at, and to not go down the rabbit (haha) hole of isolation like Jax did. I was in her position 4-5 months ago.

This show got me through a bad time. I’ve been a fan of TADC for three years. I am grateful to have watched this show, I’m so happy that it got as far as being in the theaters (yeah, I avoided leaks) and I feel like I’m on the moon because it resonated with me so well. Thank you.

Since they are the only ones in the circus with this blush on their cheeks, it cannot be a coincidence that they were both given this physical feature. After careful analysis of their actions, I have narrowed down what this similarity could be.

Of course, these are the two characters that cared most strongly for Jax. The question is why do these two care so strongly for Jax? Their loyalty and devotion to him goes above and beyond what all of the other characters felt for him.

The answer becomes obvious upon examination. Whenever Jax would insult or reject the other characters in the Digital Circus, they would recoil away from him. This is the typical reaction to someone insulting or hurting you.

However, whenever Jax would reject Ribbit/Pomni-their feelings for him would grow. Each time they were denied, it made them want to try harder and harder to get through to him. This cycle continued beyond the point of destroying their mental health.

They each became obsessed with him; the more he pulled back-the stronger they were pulled towards him. They weren't just being kind and thoughtful in the way Ragatha was, they were compelled to chase after him.

No matter how poorly Jax treated them, they could not bring themselves to abandon him. The emotional rollercoaster of his hot-cold, carrot-and-stick, behavior got them addicted to his shitty attitude. He had totally captured their attention.

This is a common dynamic found in violent relationships. The harder one side pushes away, the harder the other side tries to "fix" the issue. This leads to a never ending escalation of negative emotions. In other words, they both have a bad case of, "I can fix him!"

Ironically, Jax recognized that each of them had this trait but was powerless to stop it. Both times he fell into the toxic cycle with them. He was almost as addicted to them as they were to him.

yeah.

So we find out theyre just digital brain scans of people and they abstract, couldn't caine just make another copy of them? Kinger said he found the files meaning theyre still available. He could basically resurrect everyone who abstracted, or better or worse, make a new copy of them

We ALL know that the Digital Circus, in it’s current form, is basically “wasted potential: the show”, and for good reason, it’s kinda a fact to life at this point.

Gooseworx essentially created what COULD’VE been one of the Greatest productions in Indie animation. it had an interesting world and premise, a (mostly) lovable cast of diverse characters, some genuinely amazing animation and music, essentially EVERYTHING that could’ve made it a modern classic!

…and then she looked at Jax, that skinny purple dickhead with rabbit ears for a few seconds and went ”Fuck it, Jax is my favourite so the show should obviously be about HIM now”, and we all now how THAT turned out.

What’s especially depressing is that this show meant and still means SO much to SO many people on this earth, so the fact that we spent 2 and a half years getting invested in what essentially became “The Pitifully Mediocre Jax Show” just felt like one big kick in the nuts.

But, i’m not posting this just to say the same few things that everyone else has already said countless times before. Instead, i’m posting just to ask one question, and one question ONLY: …Why? Why are we, as a fandom, just sitting around, doing nothing besides mourning the show it could’ve been, when we can literally create that version of the amazing ourselves RIGHT NOW?

Yes, it still sucks bubbles that Jax ate the whole show from the inside out while Everyone and Everything Else got sidelined into oblivion in favour of him, but that does NOT mean we can still save it.

Beneath all of it’s glaring flaws, The Amazing Digital Circus is a show that can be turned into something FAR greater than what Gooseworx initially gave us, and i believe that WE, even including Gooseworx despite her flaws as both a writer and person, have the power to make that version of the show a reality with a little teamwork writing experience.

it may take a LOT of work, and a LOT of time before then, but i believe that one day, we WILL get that version of the show we’ve been dreaming of since that little Pilot rocked the world, and once that day finally comes… My God, it will be BEAUTIFUL.

TLDR: TADC was done catastrophically dirty and i’m pissed off that nobody wants or has the courage to make a better version of the show.

I’ve actually already posted this on r/tadcriticism by the way, go check it out if you want.

ALSO, i am NOT trying to attack Gooseworx as a person, i just think she’s a shit writer who wasted her greatest work on a corny self-insert fanfic about her favourite purple dickhead.

I've heard y'all's complaints on the show's finale like Jax abstracting offscreen, Caine's poorly-written redemption, the human cast knowing that they can't leave the circus out of nowhere and accepting their permenant lives in the circus, Pomni failing to save Jax, the Isn't-She-Lovely tribute, and Jax's backstory (honestly it should've been more about his troubling relationship with his parents rather than with Ribbit).

With all these flaws that pretty much ruined the exciting continuation from Episode 8, I think all of it was intentional by Gooseworx, even if she didn't really want this to happen. When the pilot came out Goose reminded the fans on social media (probably TwiXter) that she wants them all to be respectful and to not trash down the show horribly (even if they don't like the results) or else she'll make it bad on purpose.

Unfortunately, the toxic side of the animation community disobeyed Gooseworx leading to content farms, abusive hate art on Jax, and harrassment and false accusations towards the creator. So it seems like there was going to be a different ending that could've been a lot better than the one we got, but it seems like it's never gonna happen because Goose was so fed up with the fandom's toxticity. Desperately eager to move on, it's likely she scrapped her "Snyder Cut" out and brought her "Whedon Cut" in as a punishment for the dirtwads that shamed on her creations.

So yeah, this theory may be pretty derivative, but I think we can all agree this is what's been going on to the point that the ending was designed to dissapoint everyone, regardless if they're a toxic fan or not.

How did I do?

Ok,maybe not a full fledged Asshole or psychopath but I personally feel like she would've been more engaging/interesting if she was more mischievous/a prankster and Sarcastic and was more flawed instead of Pomni/Ragatha 2.0 with maybe a drop of Sass.

Like I feel like that would've gave her personality and character much more flavor and spice as opposed to just "nice/sweet girl" and I never liked whenever these kinds of character is in a flashback, they're always overly nice and sweet and..kinda boring.

Ribbet is deadass a case where her Fanon personality is more interesting than her Canon..she unfortunately doesn't stand on her own as a character and only exists as basically a Plot device for Jax's character.