#the amazing digital circus ep 4

[magpiemayday]

Love all of Gangle's expressions in the new episode, she was so expressive and sporadic that you can just feel the unhinged buildup.

[irrational-anthropocentrism]

. ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ Jax expressions from episode 4!

[fellatitledthemf]

Well it's been hell of a day

How are we feelin' multifandom nation?

[xxinkys-ocsxx]

I am only now realising how happy this frame makes me as a ribbun shipper and as someone who wants multiple anvils to fall on Jaxs head

[zebracorn-chan]

She's gonna be a menace in this episode.

[darkenergyheart]

Can we just apreciate the way Jax was so tired he didnt bother Pomni?

Even she was shocked

[bogboy420]

ok so i hav THOUGHTS and FEELINGS abt ep 4 of tadc that r honestly kinda difficult 2 put into words? but im gonna try

so i actually genuinely liked this episode even tho it was kinda difficult 2 watch (in a good way!!) but then after watching it i immediately went into the tags 4 tadc and specifically tadc ep 4 2 c what every1 else was saying abt it and tbh i think that was a mistake? like now tbh the problems i hav w the fandom r kinda almost overshadowing the actual content of the episode 4 me which is rly sad bc the episode was a rly good 1

okay so i may as well get this out of the way and accept that im probably gonna get hate 4 it but i gotta say smth that ik basically no1 else is gonna agree w me on,,,

GANGLE WAS NOT THE VICTIM OF EPISODE 4!

and i don't just mean that in the "she wasn't a victim of jax's antics this episode" way i mean like,,, i keep seeing ppl still doing the "oh no poor baby" thing w gangle even w this episode and like? it's tiring!? tbh i honestly thought this episode was the 1 that would get ppl 2 c in gangle what i was seeing in gangle the whole time tbh which is that gangle is the embodiment of weaponised "im just a girl" white woman tears

also 2 get this out of the way since ik the fandom is kinda split on this 1 yes i hc gangle as white, i feel like her character would b different if she was asian both in how she interacts w anime and in her design

so okay 2 explain that, if gangle was japanese i don't think her design would include the european comedy and tragedy masks so heavily and it would be more likely that her design would instead be modelled after japanese kabuki masks since she wouldn't hav the same connection 2 the european comedy and tragedy masks as a european person would and we see that cultural signifiers do in fact change in the character designs with pomni who i think likely is supposed to be asian, her jester costume is more similar to asian styles of clothing than european and her hair is in a style that's very popular with asian working women, now because im not asian and i don't know a lot about cultural signifiers in asian culture aside from what i've heard i could be wrong about some things here and if there are any asian people who would like to correct me please feel free to, just to be clear bc i keep having this problem across my blogs WHEN I SAY IF U R IN A MINORITY GROUP IM TALKING ABT U CAN CORRECT ME THIS DOES NOT EXTEND 2 PPL OUTSIDE OF THAT MINORITY GROUP WHO WANNA START BEEF W ME OVER NOTHING!

so okay in my head gangle is a white girl, this is relevant 2 how she weaponises toxic positivity and then weaponises her crying, white women hav been doing this 4ever and it's how i was able 2 c her being like this from a mile away, i knew she was gonna b like this the whole time but it feels like every1 else in the fandom keeps falling 4 it idk, like at least 4 me this episode rly highlighted how gangle and jax r narrative foils of each other

jax is abrasive and rude and wants ppl 2 think he's just an asshole bc he doesn't know how 2 connect w ppl on a deeper lvl but realistically all he would do if he had a bit of power over some1 would b 2 mess w them a bit bc of him being chronically bored

gangle if she had even a tiny bit of power over some1 would literally b micromanaging them and incredibly controlling and abusive but wants every1 2 think she's harmless

jax when he bullies the others it's clear that it's him lashing out bc of a lack of control in his life so he acts as a bully 2 try 2 feel like he has a dagree of control over his environment

gangle when she starts treating the others badly it's when she's finally in a position of power

gangle is literally being an abusive manager this episode but every1 is more focused on the fact that jax was a bully in the previous episodes 2 notice! hell even some ppl r glorifying gangle's actions! like wtf!?

like okay, early in the episode jax throws ragatha into the deep fryer, that's bad we all know it is, w that being said we also know that physical damage in this world is not permanent and that ragatha will b fine even tho she's having a bad time of it, jax is very clearly doing this as a way of lashing out bc he doesn't like that the adventure they r doing 2day is working at a fast food place

gangle,, seemingly doesn't care abt what's happening 2 ragatha? and is more focused on punishing jax's behaviour, telling him off and then having a conversation w caine who is "upper management" 4 the adventure abt how she wants a punishment 2 b awaiting jax 4 his behaviour at the end of the day, she then also delights in holding this power over jax the entire episode, it's worth pointing out i think that gangle never bothers 2 get ragatha out of the deep fryer and is even shown walking away from ragatha still in the deep fryer showing that she really doesn't actually care about the fact that ragatha is being hurt

later gangle consistently keeps piling work onto jax throughout the episode and seems to delight in holding this power over him, jax gets more and more tired and depressed throughout the episode and eventually stands up for himself but in a way that is less violent than usual, gangle tries to get him to do a job that isn't in his job description, jax then points out that that should be handled by the people who's job it is to do that, gangle then asks jax "doesn't he want to be a team player?" and other office buzzwords that managers often use 2 coerce employees into doing work that isn't in their job description, jax then says no and that he doesn't care abt any of this which is a very normal attitude 4 a fast food employee 2 hav and that's when (if i remember correctly) gangle sends him 2 the brainwashing room also this bitch has a brainwashing room where she tries 2 brainwash jax but no1 cares bc every1 is still defending her 4 some reason!?

another thing that i think is relevant is that i hc jax as having ASPD bc i hav ASPD myself and i relate 2 jax a lot bc of this and hav noticed ways in which jax's behaviour is very similar at times 2 how my ASPD symptoms show up, there r some differences obviously since jax is living in a video game simulation where physically harming ppl leaves no permanent effect and i don't live in that situation but the cycle of messing w ppl around u 4 entertainment, lashing out when things don't go ur way and then not being able 2 connect w those around u thus making u less able 2 control these behaviours in the future and making u lash out more is very real, the chronic boredom is there, the irritability is there, jax using messing w ppl as a primary source of entertainment and also a primary way of trying 2 connect w those around him is there

this is relevant because this would mean that jax is being punished by gangle for showing symptoms of ASPD, smth that he can't control not just that but while gangle is the main villain every1 is kinda a dick 2 jax in this episode, pomni assumes that jax must hav an ulterior motive when he asks how she's doing, zooble basically tells jax that his actions r making it more likely 4 caine 2 kill them all (which i don't think caine would do but zooble seems 2 think he would) and ragatha says that she hates jax but doesn't want jax 2 hate her and basically confesses that being the actual reason why she pretends 2 b nice 2 him, (also yes i say pretends and not tries since she gets mad at jax earlier in the episode 4 smth that jax points out "was actually a mistake that time") and the thing is? jax isn't even surprised, he knows that ragatha hates him already he just also knows she wouldn't say that if she was sober

also side note i rly need ppl 2 stop saying that gangle's brain washing was successful and that's the only reason jax was more friendly/agreeable/less of a bully this episode like no, it's bc he's depressed af this episode also pls stop saying that gangle brainwashing jax would b a good thing if it made him act differently that's legit such an ableist thing 2 say omg

anyway i think im gonna leave this here 4 now bc i woke up not long ago and this post is getting long so idk lemme know if any of this is coherent ig? lol fr tho i hate gangle and i don't understand y u guys like her and hate jax so much

edit: seems like i may not hav made it super clear but i hc jax as being a black queer man as a black queer man myself, i didn't make that very clear initially bc i legit 4get that not every1 sees him that way, idk man 4 me as a black queer guy the coding was there and gangle picking on him in the workplace i think was definitely partly motivated by her doing that white woman thing of seeing a man who doesn't hav as much power as her in society and then leaping at the opportunity 2 abuse that power in the work environment as a perceived "revenge" thing

[randomname3]

Kinger dodging the bullet in marvelous fashion this episode

[bixell-pixell]

This 100%

[cheatsykoopa98]

yeah, gummigoo 100% remembers pomni and wasn't allowed to say it, just look at his face

[plasticwxrms]

I think he might like bees... not totally sure tho

[fellatitledthemf]

Well this wasn't relatable at all.. hehe

[irrational-anthropocentrism]

She ended up accepting herself!

This sequence hits harder from a neurodivergent person's point of view.

Masking for a full day does get you tired as Gangle in this episode.

That , and adding up having to put up with people's comments about the behaviour which you're trying to fix ("I like you better when you're sad" "You're kind of annoying with the new mask").

We see a new , free Gangle. Throwing away her unbreakable , plastic mask, running around the streets unbothered, dancing, not caring about her surroundings (to the point where she runs into oncoming traffic), looking directly into the light to illuminate her true self, reclaiming the tears that stream down her face as hers only.

The new mask is from Zooble's room.

Or at least she modified her original mask with Zooble's or Caine's help (throwback to that one "Suggestion box" frame; we may see it actually being used).

Given her interest on Gangle seen on episode 3 , we can speculate that Zooble is (?) trying to help Gangle overcome her emotional instability.

I'm betting this episode is going to be about accepting yourself, even with the heavy weight of your flaws, something we've seen Gangle struggling with.

Her extremely sensible mood has been vacant in all of the episodes so far, impeding her from enjoying Caine's adventures (for example, we see her smiling and being presumably excited for the Candy land adventure, on episode two, before the smallest inconvenience breaks her "happy" mask) and letting Jax step all over her; emotional instability just won't let her stand up for herself.

(I'll reblog this post with even more speculation later on, right now I'm too excited for the episode to keep on writing. Apologies if this doesn't make much sense, again, the excitement sjksjsw38d...).

[zebracorn-chan]

Pomni here looks like she's hiding away a corpse.😭

[darkenergyheart]

Whyyy! Glitch, why are you torturing our fav character?

[bogboy420]

DISCLAIMER: this is abt my actual experiences w being cyberbullied on this website 4 2 of my recent posts both abt jax and gangle in ep 4 of the show, this is not abt ppl having different opinions from me, u can hav ur own hcs or interpretations of the show or the episode, characters ect, that's not the issue here the issue is i've been being harassed on my posts, made fun of 4 using txt speak, accused of being sexist 4 not liking gangle and 4 liking jax as a character, accused of ableism 4 saying that i hc jax as having aspd even tho i hc him that way bc of my own aspd and having symptoms that line up w his and made that clear in the posts i was making, and every time it's some1 deliberately misinterpreting my post and saying that im like morally a bad person 4 not liking gangle as a character and im just so fucking tired of it happening all fucking day 2day, so now that that's cleared up, i wrote this disclaimer last and after i had calmed down and the next part of this post is my very tired and angry ramblings so if u don't wanna c that then this post is not 4 u, this isn't abt disagreement this is abt consistent cyberbulling and im allowed 2 b angry abt it

u guys srsly need 2 stop cyberbulling me just bc i don't like ur "uwu smol bean mask girl"

pointing out a female character has flaws is not the same as me being sexist

pointing out that a male character is not only flaws is not me being sexist

but god forbid i wanna just c these characters as actual interesting and complex characters and not just 1 dimensional tropes

like im sorry u guys think that the writing sucks and that the writers would do their audience the disservice of writing their characters 2 b that bland but it's rly not my problem that u hate creativity so much

idk mayb learn 2 actually hav fun and enjoy the media u consume instead of getting mad at ppl 4 making character analysis posts and actually having media literacy that goes beyond the most baby surface level stuff of "this character cry so they did nothing wrong" and "this character angry which is bad"

also it's so fucking rich seeing u guys accuse me of sexism when lets b fucking 4 real here if gangle was a man and jax was a woman u all would hav hated gangle just as much as i did episode 4 and u all would think that jax being a lil shitheel bully was them being a ""girlboss""

also 4 the ppl saying im "blindly defending jax" i know jax is an asshole that's part of y i like him as a character! i just also think that it's likely not out of fucking nowhere since that's generally not how ppl work and i hav noticed similarities w his behaviour and some of my aspd symptoms leading me 2 believe that this might b partly the cause 4 some of his behaviour, like sorry 4 liking good writing and complicated characters ig!? damn!

but also just bc jax is an asshole doesn't make gangle this innocent uwu bean who did nothing wrong, like im sorry u guys think a woman crying means she doesn't need 2 take responsibility 4 being an abusive manager and attempting 2 brainwash her employees but that's rly not my fucking problem and it's not my job 2 comfort u or hold ur hand on that

it's not my fucking problem that u guys want every character on the show 2 b a one dimensional parody of themselves omfg

i should b allowed 2 fukin black gay boy post abt jax being a black gay boy being abused by his white girl manager without being dogpiled by fucking toxic gangle stans and ppl who r supposedly jax stans but clearly only like him as a 1 dimensional asshole they don't hav 2 treat like a person, imma b fr i think that's honestly partly y u guys love that "jax is an npc" hc so much u just don't want jax 2 b a person