u/ItsNovabat

The ultimate problem I have with the “I don’t headcanon the Jax is Trans metaphor” is that people will ideologically default you to some hateful bigot if you think this way.

In truth, The Amazing Digital Circus is so much more interesting than a trans metaphor. It is such a shame that, for some people, the entire show legitimately disassembles to pass along this message because when I first got into the show it was most certainly not what I was interested in..

Also Gooseworx isn’t some victim for audiences having multiple reads of these scenes. It was purposefully written to be vague. Trans Jax fans treat the desire to see a trans egg plotline to be more specific with a pedantic, “what?? Do you want Jax to turn to the camera and just say he’s trans?” Like, yes?? One of the specific behavior Jax is consistent in doing? Why is this a rhetorical argument whenever the show already transparently has a nonbinary show in Zooble? Why does Jax get shafted with the endless trans/non trans arguments that Gooseworx rod had created from her own back.

I never, at any point, attacked fans for gender headcanons before it was supposedly “obviously confirmed in the plot”- so why, when the script has been flipped to them, is it okay to call people abusive bigots when they don’t follow your headcanon now that this read of the show has eclipsed all other interesting aspects of the show. With the finale, the fate of Jax completely consumes everyone else’s character arcs besides, perhaps, Caine. By the way, Gooseworx has confirmed that you can freely use he/him or she/her pronouns for the rabbit- so why is it ok to attack people who doesn’t respect the pronouns that Jax themselves don’t use. Where I am from, it is considerably disrespectful to use someone’s non AGAB pronouns without their consent. Also, they are fictional.

Oh, speaking of twitter. Didn’t we all hate when J.K. Rowling and other writers chose to confirm plot elements in external media, especially media posts like twitter/reddit/interviews? I am sorry, if it isn’t in the media- it is dubiously canon. Again, the degree of canon for this specific read has famously been dubious in the actual text itself.

I’ll say it again, if you come from an lgbt background, obviously TADC being ultimately a trans story and little else is more prone to be the specific read you take away from it. That’s the funny thing about media. It’s not just the stories themselves, it can also be what you bring to the table. I love when people have multiple reads of the story and the purpose of this post isn’t to demonize when you have a trans takeaway from the story. Great for you! But stop attacking other people when they don’t see it that way either. Respect is a two way street- and you are making people not adopt your read of the story on principle.

Pomni might’ve been the most curious character in the beginning of the show. Her entrance possessed bigger gravitas than most of the other cast members, it suggests she will be the most forward character in the pursuit for an exit (the whole plot point, of course, being a red herring now), and Pomni so quickly installing herself into the cast dynamics made her actually a compelling perspective protagonist.

But in hindsight, it is sort of a shame, isn’t it? Now, she has no character development, her backstory is shallow enough for Caine’s torment to only reference a trauma (inaccurately, Pomni was never worried Gummigoo was gonna attack her?) that occurred strictly within the circus, she doesn’t provide any meaningful contribution to the plot other than being the hand of the writer that pushes people out of the status quo.

Kinger’s sanity in the darkness conveniently never gets discovered until Pomni enters the circus and it doesn’t come up until the finale even though, while sane, he is immediately able to completely expose the circus for what it is.

Ragatha really is just a foil for, and an element of, Jax’s backstory. Going to be honest, the finale implies there’s a meaningful development between Pomni and Ragatha but the lack thereof is a consistently criticized element of the series as a whole.

Gangle exists as cast fodder, and only interacts with Pomni to lampshade her role as a narrative device.

Zooble? Idk man did they even talk in the show I honestly can’t even recall.

And I’m not even going to bring up Jax. We all know that’s a rabbit hole (lol) but we also all know that will just completely derail the conversation of this post away from Pomni. Much like the show, ironically.

Pomni is just one of the many Amazing Digital Wastes of Potential

That’s all, I find it cozy.

No spoilers please, if possible. (I am playing the series for the first time and I’m only on the first game, since the dragon age games are 90% off on steam) But I’m open to hearing about how the currencies work in future games. From what I heard, dragon age abandoned the copper-silver-gold system in favour of simplified currency and I feel this 3 coin system is just cozier overall.

There’s nostalgia at play for me, sure, but I want to gauge the opinion of other dragon age fans. How do you feel about the way currency progresses as the series goes on?

I understand that this post is adding to my exact complaint, and I'm sorry. But I feel actually addressing the Jax gender discourse is warranted.

I'm not here to establish "what the canon read of the story is" or "which side is media literate and not". All of that wasn't important, it still isn't. The fact of the matter is, Gooseworx wrote a story with intent to be open ended and up for interpretation and I just don't think the TADC fandom is mature enough to be able to approach that idea. It's especially confusing in a show where we, canonically, have a nonbinary character in Zooble. That is to say, if Jax was intended to be given a clear answer Gooseworx would have done so.

Nonetheless, it is disappointing how so much of all online spaces surrounding this really, genuinely interesting show has become arenas for people to keep throwing the same vitriol and stubbornness in their Amazing Digital Shit-Flinging Contest. At some point, we need to learn to agree to disagree and disavow people on both sides who use their read of the situation as an excuse to harass other fans that disagree with them and call them all sorts of names. In this situation, nobody wins.

I, you and many others were captured by the show's ideas and themes much sooner than any discussion of Jax's gender. Did we lose interest? I hope not. Did the show shift all focus away from those elements and towards fueling this discourse? Don't answer that...

I would stand in favor of considering promoting a stickied containment thread for this discussion. I understand it's inevitable, and it would be asking mods to be capable of deleting posts and warning people for a while about the containment thread- banning them if they are repeat offenders of the same warning.. But it's sort of overwhelming. When I've been at work for the past month and I check the silly alien app for entertainment it's very often the tadc subreddits constantly talking past each other and never coming to an agreement.

tl;dr This whole gender discourse is exhausting, and was never what captured us in the first place. Some effort must be made to reel in the perpetual vitriol and my proposition is a containment stickied thread for a while.

Not a hate post, just a possible alternate reality where the plot went a different way using existing plot elements. Curious how Pomni would factor into this dilemma.

I’m open minded with low standards but man this is so ass.