As a Fridge subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
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Fridge Brilliance
- If you speak Russian, Pomni doesn't sound like nonsense at all. It can actually be translated as "Remember!"—which, considering her namesake's inability to remember her real name, comes off as a Stealth Insult.
- So we have mouthless, slug-like creatures born from mentally broken humans who couldn't cope with the impossibility of leaving the Circus. And they're confined in a cellar where all they could do is nothing but just to stay idle. If this description doesn't ring a bell, it's an homage to Ted's final transformation from "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream".
- Gangle is seen on two occasions, both her character teaser and the pilot, of her mask breaking, leaving her with another mask that is perpetually tearing up. It may serve as exposing her true feelings, of sadness at best and depression at worse, that were literally Beneath the Mask.
- Crosses over with Fridge Horror, but since Kaufmo, the resident clown of the Circus, abstracted, it's possible the program gave Pomni a jester body to replace him. This is supported by one of the doors in the hallway having a picture of another chess piece who was abstracted as well.
- Alternatively, it is more likely the case that the humans customized their forms the same way a person would customize their online persona. So the reason for why Pomni became a jester, is because she likely chose to be one.
- It isn't clear who Caine is talking to in the main theme song — it's diegetic for sure, since Jax comments on it. The theme song actually serves two immediately evident purposes:
- Like the adventures, practicing a theme song routine helps keep everyone's minds busy so they don't get bored or think about the situation too much.
- It acts as a sort of role-call for the Avatars — if someone is missing from the theme, like Kaufmo was, it's a good first indicator that (if they haven't Abstracted already) they might be in danger of losing it or becoming depressed.
- A no swearing rule on account of the Digital Circus being for all ages also implies other content is restricted for an all ages audience rating. But as many series aimed at general audiences show, there's a ton of creative ways you can terrify your viewers that don't require an R rating — in fact, being not allowed to directly kill bad guys or the like has driven many creators to find other, worse fates for them,note and now, Pomni and the crew are completely at the mercy (or lack thereof) of that mindset.
- You can see that this has already happened. Abstracted avatars are sent to 'the cellar', trapped in their Abstracted form seemingly indefinitely, without being put out of their misery.
- Why can't Caine cure Abstraction? He explicitly states the performers' minds are one of the only things he can't control in the Circus, and Abstraction is a result of a mental breakdown.
- The humans don't know their names because they are not humans. They are Avatars, and typically, Avatars have names that differ from the players' real names to protect their identities.
- If you look, the monitor the Amazing Digital Circus is playing on doesn't seem to be connected to a computer; but then a normal computer wouldn't be able to handle one human mind let alone multiple, two self-aware AI, and all of the rendering. It's probably connected to a supercomputer that's in another room.
- After being beaten by Kaufmo, Ragatha begins horribly glitching out. This could be that Abstraction also represents a computer virus as much as insanity, and a program usually glitches out when infected.
- Each of the forms the humans have been placed in fits their personality and role.
- As stated earlier, Gangle is a manifestation of Sock and Buskin (the Comedy and Tragedy masks). Her Comedy mask hides her tragedy mask, and to an extent her true feelings. But this also shows how one mask leads to another. The breaking of the comedy mask is tragic in itself. Mending the comedy mask can lead one back to happiness. Much like how a tragedy even can be mended.
- Ragatha as a rag doll represents helping others. Dolls are often seen as comfort items that help their owners. Even if damaged, a rag doll can be sewed back together. Ragatha is the most helpful of the group, trying to comfort the other humans. She is also the only one to really get damaged, being repaired by the end, and for added bonus, her design includes visible patches all over her dress and one of her eyes replaced with a button.
- Jax is a Bugs Bunny-esque character. Often trolling and in hindsight kind of dickish, Jax is also observant and willing to play along. Jax seems to be the only one of the group well-adjusted to the world, milking all the cruel tricks he can. But he is also observant, knowing when the joke has gone too long and when he has to exit stage right. Remember, he was the one character that suggested the group do an adventure for Pomni.
- Kinger is a King Chess Piece, and as we all know one does not lose chess until the King has been checkmated. King safety is therefore paramount, and moving the piece out of cover is often only done in the most absolute of circumstances, meaning the piece is often ignored and forgotten about until required. Kinger is afraid of everything, while also having a tendency to forget things. But on the other hand, he is still in play, meaning his (and to extent the other humans) game has not been lost yet.
- Kings are never captured (their implied capture ends the game), and thus are always on the board. Kinger is the first human to join the circus, and is still present.
- When first introduced, he is hiding in a pillow fort, similarly to how Kings are very often hidden behind a wall of pawns after castling. But once the fort is dismantled, the King is safer (and thus should be) keeping close to other pieces (humans).
- Zooble is a mix match of parts, befitting a perfectionist. Sure Zooble could have a perfect body, but would it be a "perfect" body? By being a mish mash of parts, Zooble can rearrange themselves into any shape or form that is perfect in the moment.
- Pomni is a jester, a specific type of clown known for pointing out things. Pomni is the one who identifies that an exit door exists, publicly revealing Caine's secret. Through her actions, she inadvertently reveals that Kaufmo has abstracted. She also points out to Ragatha that her hand is not working, showing that any help she could offer would be pointless.
- The figure of the jester is also often used to represent the Joker in playing cards, giving way to the idea that by entering the circus, Pomni has become the "wild card" that will cause an extreme change to the work's previous status quo, like a certain other protagonist named "Joker".
- Jesters are also associated in the 78-card tarot deck as The Fool. In a sense, Pomni may have been a fool to go down the rabbit hole that is the corridors leading from one of the exit doors.
- Jax may be kind of a prick mocking Pomni's idea that everything is just a dream, but there's also the fact that snapping her out of denial and making her accept/face what's happening can help stabilize her and prevent Pomni from abstracting (or the other way around). Worst case scenario, someone abstracting at day 1 would still be a little bit beneficial as nobody would have time to bond and mourn one more friend that went completely bonkers heightening the risk of causing a Disaster Dominoes scenario.
- "Jax" being a play on "Jack" has a double meaning. Not only is he a jackrabbit, but he's also a jackass.
- If the circus really is restricted to just six characters at the same time, Pomni's arrival should be a dead giveaway that Kaufmo has abstracted. Why do none of the other characters seem to notice this pattern and mention it to Pomni? It makes more sense than you might think.
- Gangle seems to be the next most junior member of the circus. Though she knows what abstraction is, she has apparently never seen it before Kaufmo. Whoever she replaced must have been dealt with quietly, possibly without any of the other members noticing it either.
- Zooble might be the third most junior member, having seen maybe two or three abstractions, including Kaufmo. It might not be enough to indicate a pattern, but they are not present to object when Ragatha suggests visiting him.
- Ragatha seems to have been around for a good while, and should definitely suspect that the party size is capped at six. However, as her main coping mechanism is apparently "relentless optimism against all else", she has probably blocked that out of her mind entirely.
- Jax has been in the circus for a while as well, and is not at all surprised to see an abstracted Kaufmo. His main source of entertainment is watching other people get into slapstick situations; he wouldn't dare warn Pomni and Ragatha of the impending danger.
- Kinger has been there the longest, but he has some serious problems regarding short-term memory. If he ever realized there's a strict party cap, he's probably forgotten about it.
- When Pomni enters the room with the suddenly screaming mannequin in a bathtub, the latter's reaction is more than just a cheap Jump Scare. After all, what would be your first instinctive reaction when someone barged into the bathroom while you are using it? Scream at the sudden intrusion.
- Why are the abstracted performers sent "to the cellar" instead of being deleted? Caine may not be able to harm humans and at some level the abstracted ones are still human.
- When Caine built an “exit” he decided to fill it with an office space (one that is heavily implied to be a replica of the real office space that contains the headset Pomni used to enter the Circus). This makes total sense: Caine says that he built the exit because his performers kept asking for a way back to the real world, but since he apparently had no idea what that meant, he likely had to ask them what the real world looks like. So the first thing they would think of would be the office and the headset!
- Why is the table instantly digested and converted into Gloinks, but Zooble comes out of the Gloink Queen still themself? Gloinks are part of the Digital Circus program, which doesn't have any control of the Humans' minds, so their Avatars simply cannot be converted into Gloinks!
- This is also why Jax seems so blasé about the Gloink situation, but expresses real fear when running from Kaufmo: the worst thing the Gloink Queen can do to him is either smash him or eat him, neither of which will have any lasting effects. An Abstracted Performer, on the other hand, runs the risk of spreading their Abstraction to him, which would become permanent if left untreated.
- The way the circus performers are introduced in the theme song already shows a lot about their personalities.
- Gangle gives the audience a friendly wave while striking a cutesy pose, already establishing her as a kindhearted Girly Girl. The pose itself is somewhat coy and her wave is light and slow, foreshadowing her true introverted personality.
- Zooble crosses their arms and looks at the audience with a bored/neutral expression, showing their apathy and disinterest. Even so, they also tap their fingers in a way that could be interpreted as a wave, showing that despite their grumpy persona, they do have a soft side.
- Kinger is shown peeking out of his pillow fort before swiftly ducking back inside, showing that he's paranoid and easily frightened. It also foreshadows the darker side of the circus, as he's the first one who actively shows he doesn't want to be there. Noticeably, he's also the only one who never greets the audience.
- Ragatha puts on a cheery smile and waves more vigorously than Gangle, showing her optimistic personality, but notably her eye is closed, foreshadowing how she "blinds" herself to the circus' darker side so as not to reach her breaking point.
- Jax lounges on the stage floor and gives the audience a playful wink, showing his lazy and mischievous personality right off the bat.
Fridge Horror
- Considering the fact that all of the circus members have been there for an extremely long time, it leads one to wonder what happens to their physical bodies. They don't need to eat or sleep, which means that, if all of them were at one point just as caught off guard as Pomni is, that their physical bodies are all rotting at whatever state the person was sitting last. With this in mind, Pomni may be on a timer, and someone who's been there a long time, like Kinger, may not have a body to go back to.
- Alternatively, the avatars experience time at a much slower pace, so what feels like a long time to them may be a short time in the real world. This is still not comforting at all, as it not only means their torment will last a very long time, but even if they get out, their brains may struggle to cope with the dissonance of having lived years in a game.
- It's also possible that the characters are just copies, and that the originals are still out there after having used the headsets for whatever purpose they put it on. This is arguably worse, since that would mean they have no way of going back outside whatsoever. This is the most realistic scenario, as it would be theoretically more difficult to "suck" the soul/mind out of someone rather than to scan and clone it. This is reinforced by the fact that they don't need to eat or sleep to sustain themselves, further implying the "mind-only existence" of the characters. (This theory has been referred to as the SOMA Theory.)
- The ending of the first episode showing the computer with the headset neatly placed back on the desk rather than lying on the floor or on the head of a comatose person would seem to suggest this to be the case.
- Then there's the potential classic Digimon-esque scenario where somehow the players were entirely sucked into the digital world, including their bodies, which were transfigured by a matter-to-data conversion process. Normally this scenario would be the least horrifying since it implies a chance to return to the real world along with complete normality, but that's entirely contingent on the notion that their bodies can be restored to the state they were exactly when they were sucked in …and that's assuming that original data still exists.
- That's not even taking into account situations like Kaufmo's, who, as far as we know, have been irreversibly changed by their time in the Circus.
- The rules of the Digital Circus basically makes any way of escape impossible, even if an avatar is Driven to Suicide. Try to starve or die of thirst? You don't need food or water anyways. Try to kill yourself? You're protected by Cartoon Physics and will get Amusing Injuries at the very worst. You can’t even die of old age because the digital realm doesn't seem affected by time or physics. Abstraction seems to be the only result that gets you out of the Circus, and even that doesn't give you any peace.
- What makes this even worse is that, because it's a digital setting, there cannot be any means of escape until whoever is in control decides to create one. At least in I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, TADC’s inspiration, Ted manages to find a loophole to kill his fellow prisoners and allow them peace in death. That simply can't happen here.
- When Caine puts Abstracted Kaufmo into the Basement, we see dozens of other Abstractions. This leads to several horrifying revelations:
- The presence of so many other Abstractions means that there have been members of the Circus trapped there that all eventually went insane, and the group we see are merely the latest in the roster. Just how long has Caine been doing this?!
- Kinger, as the one who's been there the longest, has likely witnessed all of those who welcomed him when he first joined eventually go insane and morph into monsters, and the group now eventually replaced his old friends. When Zooble suggests that Kinger would be Abstracted next, it was likely for this very reason. No wonder he's such a Nervous Wreck.
- It gets even worse when an eagle eyed viewer notices that one of the crossed out doors in the hallway is of a female version of Kinger, being a Queen chess piece of the opposite color to his King chess piece. It's highly likely the two were close, maybe even lovers, which would mean that Kinger got an especially emotional hit from all of the abstractions too…
- The fact that there are so many Abstractions means that Ragatha is a bit too spot on when she says that there isn't a way to leave. If the current group has tried every avenue to escape, then chances are that the dozens of others before them also tried every route, and they all failed.
- This also paints a disturbing eventuality to Abstraction. It's all but stated that eventually every avatar ends up snapping under the pressure and Abstracting. It's not a matter of if, but when. Which means that, despite the group's efforts to stay sane, they will inevitably fail.
- At the end of the pilot, there's a zoom out showing the computer this is all taking place in, presumably Pomni's computer, since it's the exact same one she seems to recognize. But real-Pomni's body isn't there. So what happened to it? There are many possibilities, and none are good for her if she somehow manages to find an actual exit.
- The two possibilities listed above that could explain this. The easiest would be the minds of the players being copied after the player is finished with the headset or their bodies being fully digitized like in Digimon. The latter is the best option, if of course the data for the original body is still around.
- Pomni and Ragatha have had their new relationship already strained due to the former abandoning the latter not once, but twice, to save herself. However, there's some tragic irony in that Pomni's second attempt to save herself is what saved the gang. If she hadn't tried to leave, she wouldn't have ended up in the void where she caught Caine's attention.
- Ragatha probably doesn't hold a grudge against Pomni for abandoning her to save herself because she wanted Pomni to find out for herself that there really is no way out. Pomni's Thousand-Yard Stare during the final scene of the episode might be her truly understanding that everyone is trapped here forever.
- Part of the conflict of the episode comes from Pomni needing to find Caine in order to get Kaufmo taken care of and heal the glitching effect on her and Ragatha. An understandable problem... except during Caine's tour to Pomni, he mentions that he has hundreds of all seeing eyes on them. Despite this, he only acts when he becomes aware that someone has entered the Void. This suggests either that he isn't as omniscient in this world as he makes himself out to be, or he is aware of what goes on and simply doesn't respond.
- Since he had just given the group a relatively simple task and was seen at a restaurant with Bubble, it's likely he just wasn't looking through said all-seeing eyes at the time. He probably isn't fully omniscient, he just has the equivalent of a bunch of cameras.
- While Caine saying that Pomni can go drown herself in the lake seems like just a bit of Black Comedy at first, think about it: how many people have tried to commit suicide in the water for Caine to think that it's just a normal thing people do?
- There is a fan animation
that interprets Kaufmo as a child. While the cast as of now consists of adults (with the youngest being Jax at 22), there is a real chance that's because any children that may have at some point been pulled into the Circus simply didn't have the mental fortitude to avoid promptly Abstracting. How many kids are there in that dark void? - At the end of the pilot episode, Kinger mentions that the group can really only enjoy the "experience" of eating. Which begs the question of whether the performers can still taste anything, or even satiate the hunger that Jax claims to feel.
