The Amazing Digital Circus

https://twitter.com/NonnApplic/status/1714062398015799322/photo/1

Here are the ages for the six humans for those who don't know.

• Pomni-25
• Jax-22
• Zoobie 22
• Ragatha- 30
• Kinger- 48
• Gangle- 26

Edited by fateslay56 on Oct 16th 2023 at 5:35:13 AM

I wonder, is that the age when they entered the circus or their actual chronological age?

Probably the latter but more likely they stopped ageing anyways.

The memes are coming! Look! Here’s a meme now! And it’s a mood!

Not surprised Jax might be just psycho. It seems like if Caine is basically typical crazy malevolent AI only without the malevolent part then Jax is basically doing the sadistic asshole shtick for him. I wouldn't mind if we acknowledge for a bit why he's like for some sympathy like with AM but I seriously don't need every jerk redeemed. It's a little overdone.

So far, Caine is my favorite. All his scenes are so fun, especially those with Bubble. "You parasite!"

Edited by Sunchet on Oct 17th 2023 at 1:52:13 PM

While it's early days, Caine in the pilot comes across as far, far, less villainous than the show's "X meets Y" pitch built him up to be. His "adventures" look genuinely fun rather than torturous, and he generally seems attentive to the players' requests as long as they're in the spirit of the game.

Honestly, the problem with Caine might be less that he's oblivious to the performers suffering, and more that he was designed to handle an 6-14 demographic expected to be spending a few hours a day in the Circus with the ability to leave freely. So naturally, he's struggling to accommodate the long-term psychological needs of grown adults trapped there 24/7. Particularly when you have to live with a piece of trash like Jax who revel in the freedom from consequences the digital world offers.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Oct 17th 2023 at 4:28:55 AM

Hey, so, correct me if I'm wrong here, but rewatching the pilot, didn't Jax do, like, EVERYTHING?

He recognizes that if Pomni is a new character, then they'll have to redo the theme song. He's the one to break it to Pomni that she's stuck in the circus. He's the one to suggest an adventure to show Pomni how the circus works. He's the one to arrange the teams for the adventure. He's the one who lets Kaufmo out. He's the one to get Kinger and Gangle to actually do the adventure. Through his actions, he's the one to defeat the Gloink Queen and save Zooble, even if unintentionally.

I mean, I know he's rude and sketchy, but he's also the only one doing anything. Everybody else either did nothing, was kidnapped, or tried to escape.

Not true! Kinger did try to grab Zubles head….but his hands went along with her and the gloinks rather than rescue her.

Kinger gets an "A" for effort. However, my point stands.

Jax really did do everything in the pilot, and if that's his regular day-to-day, that he's just kind of a jerk and not a murderous monster is a testament to human fortitude.

I mean, he can't exactly kill or permanently harm the other circus dwellers even if he wants to. Also as far as "credit goes, Ragatha thought to go check on Kaufmo in the first place, Gangle and Kinger actually found the Gloink lair, and Pomni has as much to do with luring Kaufmo to the gloinks as Jax. He did more than the other players, but not that much more.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Oct 17th 2023 at 10:39:12 AM

" While it's early days, Caine in the pilot comes across as far, far, less villainous than the show's "X meets Y" pitch built him up to be. His "adventures" look genuinely fun rather than torturous, and he generally seems attentive to the players' requests as long as they're in the spirit of the game."

I will say I don't think his adventures are quite 'fun' to the survivors. Jax seems to be the only one who enjoys the one they actually go on, and that is because he enjoys screwing with the others. I imagine the bit we see in the teaser is how his idea of 'entertainment' usually goes. With the character involved ending up in pretty bad shape but with Kaine not understanding that is bad.

I will also say I think his lack of cruelty is pretty consistent with how things were pitched. Early in the year Goose made it clear that Caine would be a more sympathetic twist on AM rather then playing him straight, in their words.

"Digital Circus is very inspired by I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. But instead of AM being a living embodiment of hate, he's a fun-loving wacky little guy."

"I figure I should mention that Caine isn't really evil, he's just kind of oblivious. He has a hard time understanding humans, but he tries his best. Even if his best ends up turning Pomni and the others into knife pincushions."

Edited by Snoketrope on Oct 17th 2023 at 7:53:06 AM

caine being sympathetic seems to go at odds with the teaser where he throws knives at pomni. though i suppose knowing that they cant permanently be injured makes such games like knife throwing be mundane.

I got into this since I've been a big fan of Alex Rochon for a long time, dating back to before his Spamton stuff exploded. He absolutely crushes it as Caine, and I love his energy in the role. Hell, there's a lot of other VAs in this project that I've also been big fans of for a long time, and everyone did an amazing job.

As the creator said, he is oblivious to suffering and pain that the circus denizens to through. He will still do things that result in the folks at the circus getting hurt, but that is not out of sadism, he legit wants to entertain and just has very little grasp on human morality or needs.

To give a comparison, his inspiration AM is like Nyarlothotep from the Cthulu Mythos while Caine would be Cthulu himself. Both Nyarly and Cthulu cause damage to mortals, but Nyarly does this out of malevolence and a desire to inflict pain. Whilst Cthulu just cannot understand the harm his actions will cause.

Alex Rochon is making a video where he says what people submit in his Caine voice

Thanks for the info, I thought over what to submit for a while and then just decided to go with Morshu's lines.

@Snoke: I meant "genuinely fun" in the sense that, if you were freely able to leave, something like Gather the Gloinks would probably be fun. Knife pincushion decidedly less so especially, once it's apparent Caine doesn't know how the real version of that magic trick is supposed to work.


So far that's 50:50 with Caine's activities.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Oct 18th 2023 at 11:28:22 AM

Not too keen on the character designs, excepting Pomni. But it was a real solid pilot.

Edited by Spirit on Oct 18th 2023 at 11:46:23 AM

Here's to hoping my Friendly Fandoms entry of this show with Helluva Boss doesn't age poorly.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Oct 19th 2023 at 10:57:08 AM

Why would it?

Eh...you know, just petty shit online.

Edited by AudioSpeaks2 on Oct 19th 2023 at 2:01:14 PM

So this came to mind right as I was going to take a nap, but it hit me as I was thinking about Caine and Bubble. When I repeated their names together, it reminded me of the common theory about C&A standing for Cain and Abel, or at least some variant spellings.

Bubble sounds like Abel.

Maybe Bubble is in some way 'Abel', either the actual thing, a digital representation of him, or a fragment of the AI, or whatever he's supposed to be.

I can see it, especially since it’s usually Caine who keeps popping him.

That was an excellent pilot.

God, I love Michael Kovach’s voice; Be it as a gay spider prostitute mafia member, an Irish-American cat or weird purple bunny thing, his voice is like butter to my ears.

And Alex Rochon set off some MAD 2007-2009 nostalgia for me: I loved his top 10 lists back in the day, so to see him in the voice acting scene now really tickles me. I low-key love the way his Canadian accent bled into Caine’s zany circus announcer voice, it just works so well.