#kinger npc theory

[aalien-s]

im seeing a lot of the npc jax theory and though i must say i like it (literally just cuz hes my fav) i can see it more being Kinger than Jax.

short rant under the cut

Kinger has been here the longest- Long time for Caine to forget and none of the current squad to know (someone that abstracted mighve known)

Kinger calling himself a royal in the pilot- he wouldve probably been coded as a king and seems to genuinely think he is one.

Hes been there for so long, is literally insane and yet, he hasnt abstracted. Im guessing NPCs cant abstract.

i think itd be funny if Caine just made an npc specifically for Queenie during one adventure and maybe Queenie got so attatched that she brought him with her and maybe abstracted soon after. So when Caine found Kinger he thought he was Queenie (as in: Queenie never existed instead it was Kinger all along)

anyway i dont really care what happens. it would also be extremely hilarious if the creators put that Caine line where he said that he can forget whos an NPC and whos human, just because they knew ppl would go crazy with the implications lmao. ik its been said that theres a lot of hidden secrets and forshadowing (if im not wrong ofc), but not everything has to be.

[purplerabbitkisser]

so we all know the npc jax theory but

what if he didnt know

aftermath

(i might make this into a comic if this gets enough attention)

edit its finally here

[almadash]

she knows

(continuation to the NPC Jax comic)

[skekilla]

hh

npc

so anyway developments in the au plot hehe

when the gang all try to leave the uncanny world pomni made, the key she programmed in to get them out doesn't work. they kinda glitch and no-clip as a result, all scattered throughout the bottom of the map---amidst all the assets! now remember this world was originally created by caine a really long time ago and pomni just reused it as a base? well the original setting and plot had to do with anthropomorphic animals. a certain rabbit character had been sculpted and programmed, but scrapped and forgotten by him as he made the world. but that npc still existed ! and so, forgotten and having nothing to do in the world, he had snuck into the circus when the adventure was done oooo

he was hiding there for a long time before he witnessed kinger appear in the circus. that gave him an idea: he'd fake being a human coming in and just hope for the best. so he did, and caine, having forgotten all about him, just kinda accepted it and called him jax! and jax has been hiding this ever since :) until everyone, underneath the map, stumbled right across his model :))))

everyone is very disturbed and things will not go well, but for now, everyone's agreeing to go back to the circus and pretend nothing happened hahaha

[toastedclownery]

Hello Jax is an AI theorists.

https://aijobs.net/insights/jax-explained/

[stars-around-scars-collective]

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[pockethep]

TADC Theory...One of the Characters could be an NPC.

Even before episode 2 dropped people were theorizing that one of the main cast could be an NPC. With episode 2 having come out yesterday a very specific line said by Caine only fuels that theory....

"I know you guys love your NPCs but if I start losing track of who's a human and who's an NPC, who knows what could happen..."

I LOVE this idea for the drama. If the main goal is everyone escaping from the circus, there’s a lot of potential for a scene where everyone leaves but one of them physically can’t make it out because they aren’t a real person. (Very Wreck It Ralph like.)

Just based off what we know from two episodes I'm trying to decide who is most and least likely.

We know it probably isn't Pomni or Ragatha, they both glitched out in the pilot plus Pomni has outside game knowledge. She's been saying "collision" and "glitch" and "we're somewhere under the map", these are video game specific terms. And although NPCs can glitch as well (The Gloinks glitched in the pilot) Kinger remembers Ragathas arrival and how hard it was.

Jax can be ruled out in a similar way for the same reason as Pomni. He referenced Augustus Gloop, the child from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this episode. This is real world knowledge that would be a very specific reference for an NPC to know let alone make.

I can somewhat rule out Kinger just based on the fact that Queenie was a character who (presumably) abstracted. Based on naming conventions and design alone (weak defense but there's only two episodes out) they could have come to the digital circus together. With all the characters having such random designs it feels intentional for two characters look similar. If this is just a coincidence it would be cool for his erratic and paranoid personality to be a result of being an NPC. His spontaneity comes from the fact that he's in an area he isn't supposed to be in. Also he's been at he circus for so long and hasn't abstracted which is very very interesting.

My bets are on Zooble and Gangle. Although mainly because we don't know much about Zooble and the mask gimmick with Gangle is both something no other character has and feels like something from an actual game. Gangle is cheerful with the happy mask and more emotional and depressed with the tragedy mask while the other characters are more permitted to show emotion without something actively filtering them. Also my own bias thinks it would be cool for Gangle to snap, it'd be fun to watch the characters try to avoid getting grabbed by the ribbons while hiding around the circus.

HOWEVER we could look at what Caine said in a different way. Mainly the "who knows what could happen...". What if it was a warning about an actual event that happened? He actually couldn't tell the difference. What if him not being able to tell a human and an NPC apart led to the death of an actual character?

Gummigoo looked very distinct from all the other characters in the circus. He was more gelatinous, had an accent, and was very much from the candy world that Caine had created. It was easy to rule him out from the main group design-wise.

But Kinger and Queenie who look VERY similar...

It would be interesting if the real reason Queenie disappeared was because Caine mixed up the two because of similar designs and blasted the wrong one.

Probably more in tags but TL;DR someone in the main cast could be an NPC and Caine could have accidentally killed a human because he couldn't tell them apart from an NPC. RIP Gummigoo

[dullahanblorboposting]

Re: Jax and the NPC theory

I've seen everyone speculating about which of the current TADC cast is most likely to be an NPC, but I don't think any of them are? I think it's much more likely that either

A different NPC is confused for a human in a future episode, and terrifying shenanigans result as expected

We get a flashback of that happening with old former humans who have since abstracted, tying to some of the portraits on the doors maybe?

Or my favorite possibility: I think there is more potential in that line foreshadowing the exact opposite.

What if Caine in a future episode mistakes one of the human members for an NPC? Apparently Gooseworx teased that Jax will be crossing moral event horizon at some point in the series, and to be honest there is no way it involves him slaughtering NPCs. He's a jerk for messing with the other humans' enjoyment in that regard, sure, but the NPCs aren't real and don't matter. He cannot be 'evil' by harming them because there is no true harm done. He's treating the NPCs as the video game characters that they are.

So whatever he does that earns him the crossing-the-line badge has to be something that directly affects one of his fellow humans, the people who ARE real and DO matter. I've seen the idea that he causes someone to abstract somehow and I think that's the only way for him to cross that line.

Wouldn't it be interesting if for some reason something happens that causes Caine to lose track of who is human and who is an NPC momentarily at some point, and for shits and giggles since Jax treats everything so carelessly, he does a bit where he tries to convince Caine that one of the humans is an NPC. Maybe not even thinking anything seriously bad will happen, just in the usual asshole menace type of way, just to freak the victim out. Only for Caine to actually buy it and try to poof them away. But since they're human, the impact of the attempted poof is that they abstract instead? I doubt that will be how it plays out, like if Jax does cause someone to abstract it will probably be because he went too far with his words and mentally breaks them, but like wouldn't that be fucked up? It would be so fucked up.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Did Caine accidentally kill all the original players(Except Kinger)?

So there is some rather blatant foreshadowing at the end of episode 2, where Caine has an obvious PTSD moment thinking back to something terrible that happened, which in turn is why he murdered Gummigoo on the spot.

The implication is of course that Caine at some point accidentally killed a player by mixing them up with an NPC.

However, there are some hints that suggests this wasnt just one, or two, but maybe a total extinction event for the then players.

Of the 28 players we know of(including the one door we know exists, but havent seen the icon for), 10 of them have the look of Caine's usual mannequin NPC's.

There are two likely explanations. 1. is that these are just placeholders, but the 2. is that these are all the players that Caine accidentally killed at some point, thinking them NPC's, he tried to erase them as he did Gummigoo, only to completely erase their very beings, leaving them as nothing but puppets, mayhaps still running around the circus somewhere, completely unable to recover, or even aware that they used to be something greater, or even worse, maybe they are now lifeless puppets, just lying around.

Then of course there is the mystery of how the oldest resident human went completely insane... And there might be an answer tying into this accidental killing spree.

Kinger is, or at the very least if we take this concept art at face value, was going to have a moment of complete shock where he proclaims "Everybody's Gone.

Assuming this isnt foreshadowing that he'll be left behind in the game while the rest eventually escapes, this probably has already happened at some point, maybe after being stranded in the Digital Circus as it's one, lone human occupant.

[ryuuko-ko]

Kinger could be a NPC

Since ep1 released everyone's been debating if any of the main cast is a NPC. Well, I'm putting my bet on Kinger! (if the NPC theory is true) Now here's my thought process (too lazy for evidence sorry) Kinger has been there the longest so it makes sense that the rest of the cast wouldn't know if he's a npc. In the pilot episode Kinger was going on about a "bug collection". Now OBVIOUSLY this was probably just a jpke, but we're ignoring that. As others have said, he could be talking about game bugs. If so, wouldn't it make sense that Kinger would be ESPECIALLY worried about game bugs? If he's a NPC, he would be not only completely powerless but really the only one who COULD bug and glitch out. Kinger's design also tips me off a bit. Everyone else's design makes sense as "toys" and "circus themed" but Kinger is a literal chess piece. Yes I know chess/chess pieces can TECHNICALLY be considered toys, but it's still really odd. If Caine has worlds that surround one theme (I.E candy) then it makes sense that Caine would have totally made a chess themed world! What about Queenie though? Well, she actually helps this theory! The entire cast (yes even the abstracted ones) all have VERY different designs and themes, but Kinger and Queenie are from the same theme! Hell, even game! There are NO OTHER characters that share that much of a resemblance (Kaufo and Pomni are kinda close but are still very distictly "clown" and "jester".) This could mean that they came from the same world! Perhaps one of/the reason(s) Kinger is so Coo-Coo is because he saw Queenie lag/bug out? Or maybe Caine accidently assumed Queenie was a human, put her in a situation that only humans could do, and she died (or anything similar to that concept.) Anyways I know this is pretty lame and not very convincing but I just wanted to write my thoughts down before they spiraled and took over my brain fuctioning lol

[the-jade-jester27]

I believe that the theory that one of the main cast in The Amazing Digital Circus is an NPC is true, but instead of Jax as the NPC, it makes much more sense if the NPC is Kinger instead.

The main point about Jax being the NPC is that he acts so different from the rest of the cast, but this isn't a strong point considering the following points:

Him having a counterpart - Kinger is the only character in the entire series thus far to have a counterpart, that being Queenie, and having two completely different people being themed after chess pieces and having similar names is a major point for them both being NPCs.

Having been in the circus the longest - this point means that the people who would have brought him there already being abstracted and with Caine losing track of who's human or not and Kingers fragile mental state there wouldn't be anyone in the circus who would know except for Caine

Obsession with bugs - one of Kingers main traits is that he is obsessed with bugs, bugs being a mirror to glitches in programming. This is a big thing because NPCs are likely more aware of bugs than players are, they are part of the same program that the bugs are after all.

Kinger being crazy - with how realistic Caine's NPCs are with how Gummigoo acted in the second episode, it's likely that after the players who brought him into the circus as well as Queenie were gone that he couldn't take it and turned into the Kinger we see in the show.

This theory makes the most sense to me personally but I believe that it is more likely that it being Jax

[burgercheese1812]

TADC THEORY

OK YA’LL I FINALLY FOUND SOMEONE WHO HAS A SIMILAR THEORY FOR THESE GUYS:

AND WHY THEY HAVE THEIR FACES ON ALL THE DOORS

Basically if you haven’t seen this post I just talked about all my current small thoughts about the show and I said how these guys may be like NPC bases for the characters?

WELL @ ChipNCola on TT put this theory into like, actual words that make sense:

So they’re theory is that when a character enters a game files have to be created and so those faceless figures are like the “blank files”

Also when these characters leave the game their file just kind of becomes corrupted because well, the character isn’t in the actual game anymore,

THIS ALSO backs up my other theory that (I don’t think I posted lmao) the other abstracted characters have actually left the game

But then that brings up my SUPER sad headcannon that Queenie left the game and is now in the real world trying to free Kinger :(

I WANT THEM TO BE HAPPY SO BADLY 😭😭

[ordinaryschmuck]

With Gooseworx all but confirming that the Jax being an AI thing is bullshit, I personally want to talk about an interesting part about Jax that a lot of theorists used as "evidence" that validates the theory:

Jax's fourth wall breaks are a common topic brought up amongst the "Jax is an NPC" theory. After all, Caine broke the fourth wall in the pilot, knowing full well that the world of The Amazing Digital Circus isn't real and is talking to some unseen viewer as he introduces the Circus Crew.

There's also this bit of official art surrounding Jax's pin:

Where everyone else is inside their room, Jax is outside as pieces of the circus fall apart around him and all of reality to crash. Certainly lends itself to this idea that Jax knows he's not a real person and that his presence could cause great disruption to this world. And he doesn't care because none of it is real. Might as well have fun and cause chaos in a world that doesn't exist.

And I'll admit, all of this seems like valid claims for how the theory could be true. I saw it all and thought that it surely COULD be possible...but there are some things that stop me from being convinced.

Firstly, Caine breaking the fourth wall in the pilot doesn't really seem like an AI talking to the audience. It looks more like an AI programmed to talk to a player as a game boots up. What we saw in the opening could be more like a morning routine that he has to do at least once a day. Plus, we've yet to see any other NPC talk to the audience like Jax has. He explicitly called out the viewers in episode three, knowing full well he's being watched by SOMEONE. Or, at the very least, acting like he is. What do I mean by that? Well, to explain, I'd like to use one of my favorite fourth wall breakers as an example:

Deadpool, in most adaptations, knows fully well that he's a fictional character. He'll talk to the readers/viewers, move the camera around, and constantly talk shit to the writers/studio for occasionally screwing him over. It's all in good (Sometimes bloody) fun...but there's a canonical reason for this. It's not like She-Hulk where the fourth wall breaks are a way to tell HER stories HER way. You see, Deadpool...is just fucking insane.

No, really, that's the reason. Due to the trauma of gaining his powers, Deadpool's mind breaks and he's led to believe that he MUST be a fictional character. In comics, he actually gets voices in his head that makes him think he must be some comic book superhero, and the movies implied that something similar happened given how he never broke the fourth wall ONCE before getting his powers. This means him breaking the fourth wall could be seen as a coping mechanism. After all, it's better to believe you're a fictional character designed to entertain some invisible audience than believe that all of the shitty things that happened to you and people close to you is just a cruel joke from the universe.

Sound familiar?

Going back to the pilot, remember how Pomni's first instinct was to say that the Circus was all just a dream? To her, it's better to live in a lie that everything around her isn't real than to accept the reality that she's stuck in digital purgatory. Jax very well could be going through something similar, but unlike Pomni who seemed to just accept her reality, Jax never did. The trauma of being stuck in the Circus had led to his mind breaking just like Pomni's, Kinger's, and anyone else's. It's just that, for him, he thinks he's coping with it better because he discovered the secret that no one else did: None of this is real.

They're not actually people trapped in some hellscape while an AI unintentionally tortures them. They're all just fictional characters whose tragedies and silly antics are used to entertain viewers. I mean, it's either that or they're real people forever trapped in the circus with the closest thing to death being a full, psychotic break as they give up their sanity because they no longer want to exist in this hell anymore...But that possibly can't be true. Because if that IS true, then Jax has to face that he's a real person stuck in a real, awful situation that he can't joke his way out of. So, it's best to think nothing is real and nothing they do matter. So, might as well have fun with it.

Going back to the pin...

I don't think this is damning evidence about Jax being an NPC. Actually, it perfectly captures who he is as a character. He knows the circus isn't real. He even thinks HE isn't real. So instead of grappling with that, Jax lets himself believe that if nothing is real than nothing he does matters. He can break things, ruin lives, and assist in torturing the others in the circus. It's what he thinks will make the show more entertaining, even though all he's really entertaining is himself so his mind doesn't break more than it does.

Now, could the same apply if he's an NPC? Well...maybe. Gumigoo definitely proves how far someone could fall when they're told their world is fake. He was about ready to give up on life because he didn't think he had one. If Jax was an NPC, I could see him having a similar break, but going in the far opposite direction where, instead of giving up on life, he chooses to live the way HE wants it. Instead of being some one-off NPC for a lame adventure, he could go off on adventures of his own and ruin the lives of others now that his is thoroughly ruined.

However, Gooseworx makes a good point: "...a lot of people come up with theories based on how unexpected they'd be, and not because they make sense or align with the show's themes."

If Jax is an NPC, it would harm the overall message of the show. That there's meaning to be found in a stagnant life, and you find that meaning with people close to you who make that life worth living. Jax represents a sort of foil to that idea, with his way of coping with the madness being pure chaos and breaking others. It's his coping mechanism, and it works because it shows how human Jax really is. They're ALL human and they have human desires and wants, with the Circus pretty much stripping that away and leaving them...as they are now. They're emotionally broken, their sanity is decreasing, and some of them are losing all sense of self. By making Jax an NPC, it would definitely be surprising, but it would take away from that idea. It no longer makes him a human facing his own tragedy but instead an AI that's just as broken as Gummigoo. More than that, it gives the others an easy out. All the crew has to do is tell Caine that Jax is an NPC and POOF! No more annoyance. So making him someone who HAS to stay with the others and they're forever forced to deal with him also adds more to THEIR tragedy and torture.

Jax being an NPC is an interesting theory, but I don't think it's one that SHOULD be true. To me, it's more fascinating watching Jax treat the world around him as meaningless knowing he's a human instead of a rogue NPC breaking everything. And Gooseworx made it clear how they feel about it. Now, could it potentially be a mislead to get fans off the trail? Genuinely...I don't think so. That sounded very "I don't like this idea so it's not gonna happen" type of response. Still, we won't know until the show wraps up. Anything can happen, but don't get your hopes up if a character who does bad things to people that don't deserve it is more human than you think.

[snow-calypso]

New TADC Theory: Caine's Losing Control

Warning: Contains spoilers for The Amazing Digital Circus episodes 3 and 4.

Just watched episode 4 of The Amazing Digital Circus, and going in, I honestly expected this episode to end with Gangle's abstraction, to the point that I was honestly surprised that it didn't. It honestly seemed like the whole episode was building up to this, what with her going in with hopes of finally enjoying an adventure, then gradually being whittled down both by the stressful job and the other characters demeaning her. The fact that she only seemed to get actual satisfaction from tormenting Jax like he did to her only seemed to solidify this fact. After the isekai fakeout, I was legitimately scared that she would receive the punishment she suggested for Jax, and that would be what pushed her over the edge.

But it wasn't. Caine gave her the same grade as everyone else (except Kinger) and let her go.

Then he starts glitching out.

It wasn't until I was talking to a friend about this that I had the realization.

Gangle isn't going to abstract.

Caine is.

We've seen already in his therapy session with Zooble just how fragile his mental state can be. He begins to question his existence and the environment around the circus immediately starts to glitch out. This happens just from him having to reckon with the fact that he might not be that good at making adventures.

And what happens at the beginning of this episode?

They reject the first adventure he brings up.

As soon as Gangle leaves the room, he begins to glitch unprompted. This has only ever happened to him before during his therapy session with Zooble when he began to question his purpose.

Something is eating away at his mental state, and none of the characters know.

Granted, it isn't yet clear whether or not NPCs can abstract. But what we do know about abstraction is that it happens when someone in the Digital Circus completely loses their sense of self. Personally, I'd say that Caine is close enough to sentient for this to be a legitimate risk, and his entire identity is centered around making adventures for the characters. Adventures that they hate and are gradually starting to push back against.

What truly solidified this for me was the fact that every single other character has something keeping themselves from abstracting.

Everyone else has each other.

This has already been shown with both Pomni and Gangle. After Gummigoo's death, Ragatha stepped in to comfort Pomi and invite her to Kaufmo's funeral. After Pomni was possessed, Kinger helped calm her down and offered a solution. When Gangle was cracking under the pressure of being a manager and thought nobody liked her, Pomni offered to close so she could leave, and Zooble reassured her that they'd still be there for her.

Caine has nobody.

None of the characters in the Digital Circus even like Caine enough to check in on him like they do with each other. Given how much they've gotten used to his zaniness, they might not even know something's wrong with him until he starts growing extra eyes.

I predict that at the end of the series, Caine will fully abstract, turning the Circus into a glitching hellscape, and the characters will be faced with a choice: Leave and condemn the AI to self-destruction, or find some way to calm down their tormentor.

But hey, that's just a theory!

Do you guys have any thoughts on this? I'd love to hear them!

[skekilla]

spooOooOooOoky adventure!!

(half because some of them are afraid theyre lost, half because replacement jax is freaky.)

everyone is trying to act as normal as possible, and so, pomni made a new little adventure---just a simple corn maze. unfortunately shes a scaredy cat and even though this is A Normal Corn Maze and she KNOWS this for a fact because she made it, she still has scared herself (at least shes got ragatha to hold her teehee). gangle too, though everyone else is mostly okay... although, they are unnerved by replacement jax at every turn

the real jax would be snarking and hiding in the corn to jump out and scare everyone... this guy just. stands there. unsettling to everyone, but especially ragatha, whos pretty used to trying to keep him in check,,, but now theres just nothing there,,,

also obligatory happy halloween :))) will probably make silly bonus sketches of halloween costumes why not

[flannycartoon]

I remembered the theory of Jax being an NPC and I thought what if the only one who knows about this is Kinger? And he doesn't say it because despite everything he respects Jax (or at least his privacy)