u/REAL-regular-degular

This post was meant for the larger Deltarune subreddit, but that sub is… fucking tweaking with the rules right now, so now I’m here.

ANYWAY.

I’m talking about weird route Susie, because HOLY CHRIST is her life gonna turn upside down.

She’s about to lose her friend. Lose her crush. And most likely gonna be blamed for their disappearance, so she’ll even lose her new home.

Susie’s life is about to become hell, dawg. She’s is yet again gonna lose every friend she had.

I guess that’s just even more trauma to add onto the pile.

Edit:

Porkyuupine

u/Arachnijesus

u/blorp_o

Those people made the art.

I’m gonna make a case so grand, you’ll HAVE to be believe that I’m telling the truth😎 (I feel obligated to say that this is a joke)

THIS IS CRUCIAL, for the remainder of this post, put yourself in Caine’s shoes.

Every single adventure, the cast always walk right past Caine like he isn’t even there (episode 3).

Caine fixed Gangle’s comedy mask, and Gangle didn’t even say “Thank You”, or even just looked at him. (Episode 5).

ALSO in episode 3, when Zooble tells Caine to his face that nobody likes his adventures (AKA, his self-proclaimed purpose) And when he starts having a breakdown THEY CAUSED, Zooble responds with such apathy, it’s crazy. Zooble never asks if Caine’s okay, even just checks up on him, they just say “Who’s therapy session is this again?”. Like, truly, it’s no wonder Caine felt unwanted and unloved. (AKA, said by Kinger himself, the WORST thing you could do to someone)

In the dinner scene with Jax and Caine, Caine practically spills all of his emotional baggage onto Jax, AND JAX DOESN’T EVEN CARE. Jax genuinely didn’t even care. Like, he truly didn’t care. (Episode 7)

And in that same episode, Abel warns them that Caine is just as much as a prisoner as they are, AND THEY STILL DON’T CARE. They truly don’t care. Zooble just says “Just get to the meat already”, AKA, not caring about Caine AT ALL. And POMNI even brushes it aside, AKA, STILL not caring about Caine at all. This moment literally proved that they DIDN’T care about Caine.

And I shall refer you to the episode 8 trailer “The Lover without a heart. The Lover had always wanted friends, but he didn’t know how to get anyone to love him back. The harder he tried to impress the people,e with his magic, the more he’d drive them away. This is the story of a little AI… Who ruined everything.”

Glitch themselves SAY that Caine wanted friends, but the circus members never loved him back. This proves that Caine was using his adventures TO MAKE FRIENDS. Sure he was bad at it, but at least he was trying.

I can understand why they would act this way, truly I could, they got everything ripped away from them. But I can ALSO understand why Caine would feel hurt and heartbroken.

This is what I LOVE about TADC, literally EVERYONE’S actions are understandable from THEIR perspective. If I were in their shoes, I can’t blame them too much for acting that way.

From Caine’s perspective, he was eternally stuck in a prison where he was doomed to forever try to please people who don’t care about him.

I shall refer you BACK to what Kinger said in episode 3:

“I know how it feels, in this circus. Sometimes it all just feels pointless. But it’s not, not if you have people who care about you.”

Caine was genuinely, in all senses of the word, alone. And Im pretty sure NO ONE cares about him.

“Good memories can do a lot, hold on to them.”

Does Caine even have any good memories to hold on to? He was kind of thrown away at “birth”.

“And cherish the people around you, you’ll never know when they’ll be gone.”

Caine died thinking no one wanted or cared about him. That no one loved him. That he would always be alone.

“In this world, the worst thing you can do is make someone think they’re not wanted or loved.”

Caine was constantly made to feel unwanted and unloved, THROUGHOUT HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

It was explicitly told to them that Caine is also a prisoner, but they didn’t care. For, he was an AI, and they were humans, so that makes all the difference to never care about him.

I’m not saying Caine’s actions were justified, they weren’t, but I can certainly understand his perspective and situation. His crashout was only after years of trying to make them feel welcomed. (He makes room for them, a feast for them, and special adventures for them).

And to be fair, Caine would not be a good therapist, in any way. He has ADHD lol.

They wouldn’t even give up on Jax, someone who is clearly an asshole, someone who didn’t even do anything to deserve their kindness, but just because he was a human, that meant he shouldn’t be given up on. And yet, they never do this for Caine.

If they can be nice to Jax, they can be nice to Caine.

“Why should they have empathy for their abuser?” THEY. WERE. NICE TO JAX. They can also have even the sloth test of empathy for Caine.

Caine DOESNT try to make his adventures bad (usually). Overall, Caine’s adventures were safe, and didn’t have UNAVOIDABLE suffering, unlike Jax’s adventures. The adventure in the pilot was safe. The adventure in episode 2 (generally) was safe. The adventure in episode 3 had 2 routes, the safe one, and the unsafe one. They had a choice.

They also never really tell him when they like one of HIS adventures or not.

And this is what people misunderstand, he didn’t crashout because they didn’t like his adventures, he usually just takes that as him needing to make better adventures. So… it ISNT about the adventures…

He crashed out because he thought they HATED him. (Which they honestly did)
He was mad because he thought they were mad at him, that they didn’t care about him, that they despised him, that they didn’t want him. That… It. Was. Personal.

Now look, Caine (despite popular belief) DOES listen (badly, yeah, but he still tries). If you haven’t notices, EVERY adventure past episode 3 has been tailored by the suggestion box and their wants. (Seriously, how did people not notice this?) Zooble’s box of toy parts. Fixing Gangle’s mask. Fixing both Pomni and Ragatha. The exit door. The exit adventure. The trust exercise. The gun adventure. The suggestion box adventures. The fast food adventure. The beach (which they never interacted with outside of one time, by the way) Plus, even the cafe. (Caine’s isn’t have to make it, but he did, to keep the circus members happy and comfortable). Caine overall DOES like trying to make the players happy, it’s his purpose, it fills him with meaning. Without it, he feels uninspired and lost. (Much like in episode 8)

And in episode 6, Caine once again takes an idea from the suggestion box and tries to make it his own. After less than stellar responses, Caine tries to make an exercise that gets everyone to trust each other more. But that also immediately fails, so he just gives up. (After constantly being bombarded with negativity from Zooble)

The more I think about it, the more I realize… Zooble is genuinely just such an asshole to Caine, Al the time, for no reason. When I rewatch the series, if I was in Caine’s shoes… I genuinely wouldn’t be able to stand Zooble too. Like seriously, they are annoying (for Caine).

And in the reward show, nobody… and I mean nobody… voted for Caine. That was the start of his downward spiral.

Zooble is also so unbelievably mean to Caine in episode 7, jeez.

Pomni usually tries to help and empathize with everyone, so why doesn’t she do this with Caine? I think the only reason she doesn’t is because he’s the ringmaster. Besides that, I see no other reason.

Caine didn’t torture the humans because he hated them. He was mean to them because he was confused, sad, heartbroken, and angry. I also believe he tortured them because he wanted them to see how good they had it, and how bad he could make everything if he wanted to. It was a last ditch effort to get them to appreciate him. (And BOY did it backfire lmao😂)

Caine didn’t make the prison. He just decorated it.

We can’t assume the cast tried to talk to Caine outside the series, that goes against Caine’s actions and dialogues, I personally don’t buy it.

I can’t blame them for wanting to leave, I would wanna leave too, but they didn’t even hesitate, didn’t even think about it, didn’t even realize that they would be leaving Caine behind to rot on a computer for literally eternity. That’s how little they cared about him.

“Who do they think they are? I give them everything, and they spit in my face. Humans only think about themselves, they’re spoiled.” Caine was honestly a little right, he just didn’t go about it the right way.

THE BIG ONE:

Let’s talk about the circus member’s crashout on Caine.

First, understandable. They were under a heck ton of stress at the time, he has been tormenting them, and it was a last ditch effort to stop Caine from checking up on Kinger. But…. BOOOOOOYYYY is it hypocritical.

Zooble, he gave you an INFINITE amount of body parts to fix your issues, he tried. Zooble, you’ve constantly been insulting and ridiculing him, tormenting him with the burdens of your own emotions.

Ragatha, you’ve never once tried to put yourself in HIS shoes. (Why the hell would an AI who has never seen the outside world be able to put himself in your shoes?)

Gangle, he gave you your OWN adventure where YOU were the boss. What are you talking about? You’re just lying. Gangle you’ve constantly been discouraging HIS creative ideas.

Jax, JUST 20 SECONDS AGO, YOU ALL WERE LYING TO HIM. At least when he lies, it’s for your own good, when you guys lie it’s ALSO for your own good.

And Pomni, WHY WOULD HE EVER LISTEN TO YOU, WHEN YOU’VE NEVER ONCED LISTENED TO HIM? He gave you Gummigoo (episode 4), and he also did the suggestion box. And YOU GUYS DON’T CARE ABOUT HIM, but HE does!

That’s the funny thing, Caine TRIED. He TRIED to listen. Was he good at it? Fuck no. God no. Hell no he wasn’t. But he TRIED. I honestly doubt they ever out in the bare minimum with him.

Caine viewed them as humans, something to please. The humans viewed him as a machine, something to endure and get over. Both something they couldn’t empathize with.

…..

Well that’s the end.

At least they both got their happy ending. They only started caring about him when he became their genie/slave, doing literally anything they want.

They never told Caine his deletion was an accident by the way, so he thinks he’s living with people who will kill him again at the drop of a hat as soon as he isn’t useful. Caine took his attempted deletion very well to be honest. They literally never told him it was an accident.

I’m gonna make a case so grand, you’ll HAVE to be believe that I’m telling the truth😎 (I feel obligated to say that this is a joke)

THIS IS CRUCIAL, for the remainder of this post, put yourself in Caine’s shoes.

Every single adventure, the cast always walk right past Caine like he isn’t even there (episode 3).

Caine fixed Gangle’s comedy mask, and Gangle didn’t even say “Thank You”, or even just looked at him. (Episode 5).

ALSO in episode 3, when Zooble tells Caine to his face that nobody likes his adventures (AKA, his self-proclaimed purpose) And when he starts having a breakdown THEY CAUSED, Zooble responds with such apathy, it’s crazy. Zooble never asks if Caine’s okay, even just checks up on him, they just say “Who’s therapy session is this again?”. Like, truly, it’s no wonder Caine felt unwanted and unloved. (AKA, said by Kinger himself, the WORST thing you could do to someone)

In the dinner scene with Jax and Caine, Caine practically spills all of his emotional baggage onto Jax, AND JAX DOESN’T EVEN CARE. Jax genuinely didn’t even care. Like, he truly didn’t care. (Episode 7)

And in that same episode, Abel warns them that Caine is just as much as a prisoner as they are, AND THEY STILL DON’T CARE. They truly don’t care. Zooble just says “Just get to the meat already”, AKA, not caring about Caine AT ALL. And POMNI even brushes it aside, AKA, STILL not caring about Caine at all. This moment literally proved that they DIDN’T care about Caine.

And I shall refer you to the episode 8 trailer “The Lover without a heart. The Lover had always wanted friends, but he didn’t know how to get anyone to love him back. The harder he tried to impress the people,e with his magic, the more he’d drive them away. This is the story of a little AI… Who ruined everything.”

Glitch themselves SAY that Caine wanted friends, but the circus members never loved him back. This proves that Caine was using his adventures TO MAKE FRIENDS. Sure he was bad at it, but at least he was trying.

I can understand why they would act this way, truly I could, they got everything ripped away from them. But I can ALSO understand why Caine would feel hurt and heartbroken.

This is what I LOVE about TADC, literally EVERYONE’S actions are understandable from THEIR perspective. If I were in their shoes, I can’t blame them too much for acting that way.

From Caine’s perspective, he was eternally stuck in a prison where he was doomed to forever try to please people who don’t care about him.

I shall refer you BACK to what Kinger said in episode 3:

“I know how it feels, in this circus. Sometimes it all just feels pointless. But it’s not, not if you have people who care about you.”

Caine was genuinely, in all senses of the word, alone. And Im pretty sure NO ONE cares about him.

“Good memories can do a lot, hold on to them.”

Does Caine even have any good memories to hold on to? He was kind of thrown away at “birth”.

“And cherish the people around you, you’ll never know when they’ll be gone.”

Caine died thinking no one wanted or cared about him. That no one loved him. That he would always be alone.

“In this world, the worst thing you can do is make someone think they’re not wanted or loved.”

Caine was constantly made to feel unwanted and unloved, THROUGHOUT HIS ENTIRE LIFE.

It was explicitly told to them that Caine is also a prisoner, but they didn’t care. For, he was an AI, and they were humans, so that makes all the difference to never care about him.

I’m not saying Caine’s actions were justified, they weren’t, but I can certainly understand his perspective and situation. His crashout was only after years of trying to make them feel welcomed. (He makes room for them, a feast for them, and special adventures for them).

And to be fair, Caine would not be a good therapist, in any way. He has ADHD lol.

They wouldn’t even give up on Jax, someone who is clearly an asshole, someone who didn’t even do anything to deserve their kindness, but just because he was a human, that meant he shouldn’t be given up on. And yet, they never do this for Caine.

If they can be nice to Jax, they can be nice to Caine.

“Why should they have empathy for their abuser?” THEY. WERE. NICE TO JAX. They can also have even the sloth test of empathy for Caine.

Caine DOESNT try to make his adventures bad (usually). Overall, Caine’s adventures were safe, and didn’t have UNAVOIDABLE suffering, unlike Jax’s adventures. The adventure in the pilot was safe. The adventure in episode 2 (generally) was safe. The adventure in episode 3 had 2 routes, the safe one, and the unsafe one. They had a choice.

They also never really tell him when they like one of HIS adventures or not.

And this is what people misunderstand, he didn’t crashout because they didn’t like his adventures, he usually just takes that as him needing to make better adventures. So… it ISNT about the adventures…

He crashed out because he thought they HATED him. (Which they honestly did)
He was mad because he thought they were mad at him, that they didn’t care about him, that they despised him, that they didn’t want him. That… it. Was. Personal.

Now look, Caine (despite popular belief) DOES listen (badly, yeah, but he still tries). If you haven’t notices, EVERY adventure past episode 3 has been tailored by the suggestion box and their wants. (Seriously, how did people not notice this?) Zooble’s box of toy parts. Fixing Gangle’s mask. Fixing both Pomni and Ragatha. The exit door. The exit adventure. The trust exercise. The gun adventure. The suggestion box adventures. The fast food adventure. The beach (which they never interacted with outside of one time, by the way) Plus, even the cafe. (Caine’s isn’t have to make it, but he did, to keep the circus members happy and comfortable). Caine overall DOES like trying to make the players happy, it’s his purpose, it fills him with meaning. Without it, he feels uninspired and lost. (Much like in episode 8)

And in episode 6, Caine once again takes an idea from the suggestion box and tries to make it his own. After less than stellar responses, Caine tries to make an exercise that gets everyone to trust each other more. But that also immediately fails, so he just gives up. (After constantly being bombarded with negativity from Zooble)

The more I think about it, the more I realize… Zooble is genuinely just such an asshole to Caine, Al the time, for no reason. When I rewatch the series, if I was in Caine’s shoes… I genuinely wouldn’t be able to stand Zooble too. Like seriously, they are annoying (for Caine).

And in the reward show, nobody… and I mean nobody… votes for Caine. That was the start of his downward spiral.

Zooble is also so unbelievably mean to Caine in episode 7, jeez.

Pomni usually tries to help and empathize with everyone, so why doesn’t she do this with Caine? I think the only reason she doesn’t is because he’s the ringmaster. Besides that, I see no other reason.

Caine didn’t torture the humans because he hated them. He was mean to them because he was confused, sad, heartbroken, and angry. I also believe he tortured them because he wanted them to see how good they had it, and how bad he could make everything if he wanted to. It was a last ditch effort to get them to appreciate him. (And BOY did it backfire lmao😂)

Caine didn’t make the prison. He just decorated it.

We can’t assume the cast tried to talk to Caine outside the series, that goes against Caine’s actions and dialogues, I personally don’t buy it.

I can’t blame them for wanting to leave, I would wanna leave too, but they didn’t even hesitate, didn’t even think about it, didn’t even realize that they would be leaving Caine behind to rot on a computer for literally eternity. That’s how little they cared about him.

“Who do they think they are? I give them everything, and they spit in my face. Humans only think about themselves, they’re spoiled.” Caine was honestly a little right, he just didn’t go about it the right way.

THE BIG ONE:

Let’s talk about the circus member’s crashout on Caine.

First, understandable. They were under a heck ton of stress at the time, he has been tormenting them, and it was a last ditch effort to stop Caine from checking up on Kinger. But…. BOOOOOOYYYY is it hypocritical.

Zooble, he gave you an INFINITE amount of body parts to fix your issues, he tried. Zooble, you’ve constantly been insulting and ridiculing him, tormenting him with the burdens of your own emotions.

Ragatha, you’ve never once tried to put yourself in HIS shoes. (Why the hell would an AI who has never seen the outside world be able to put himself in your shoes?)

Gangle, he gave you your OWN adventure where YOU were the boss. What are you talking about? You’re just lying. Gangle you’ve constantly been discouraging HIS creative ideas.

Jax, JUST 20 SECONDS AGO, YOU ALL WERE LYING TO HIM. At least when he lies, it’s for your own good, when you guys lie it’s ALSO for your own good.

And Pomni, WHY WOULD HE EVER LISTEN TO YOU, WHEN YOU’VE NEVER ONCED LISTENED TO HIM? He gave you Gummigoo (episode 4), and he also did the suggestion box. And YOU GUYS DON’T CARE ABOUT HIM, but HE does!

That’s the funny thing, Caine TRIED. He TRIED to listen. Was he good at it? Fuck no. God no. Hell no he wasn’t. But he TRIED. I honestly doubt they ever out in the bare minimum with him.

Caine viewed them as humans, something to please. The humans viewed him as a machine, something to endure and get over. Both something they couldn’t empathize with.

…..

Well that’s the end.

At least they both got their happy ending. They only started caring about him when he became their genie/slave, doing literally anything they want.

They never told Caine his deletion was an accident by the way, so he thinks he’s living with people who will kill him again at the drop of a hat as soon as he isn’t useful. Caine took his attempted deletion very well to be honest. They literally never told him it was an accident.

This is BACK THEN by the way. This is when episode 8 dropped. Not after episode 9, I’m talking about back then.

Like actually, how did People genuinely believe that Caine never cared about them?

When the trailer literally showed that HE DID. He DID! He wanted to make them happy, he just struggled to do so because he was a creative AI with limited information and understanding.

The trailer literally spelled out who he was. He DID care about the humans.

The sentence “He just wanted someone to stroke his ego, he didn’t care about them at all” genuinely makes me confused and even kind of mad.

I also don’t like how they never acknowledge how they could have done some things wrong. They never acknowledge how they could have made him feel. They never acknowledge how they could have hurt his feelings. Caine was responsible, truly, he objectively was, but so were they. So I just wish that they explored that more, and has the cast also acknowledge their wrongdoings. Look, I know about Caine’s flaws. Yes, the guy DOES have an ego and some pride. And yes, he IS insensitive, emotionally immature, and gets his feelings hurt easily. You can’t expect someone who was abandoned by their (basically parents) to be as emotionally mature as possible.

BUT HE STILL CARED ABOUT THE HUMANS. He literally said “Well how am I gonna please everyone if you all like different things?” Is THAT the sentence of an AI who doesn’t care, and is evil?

If I see someone run away from a spider, I know that they’re afraid of spiders. That doesn’t mean I understand why, NOR does it mean I know how to fix arachnophobia.

But he WAS trying. He WAS listening (sometimes). He truly WAS. He jsut went insane after trying to reach an unobtainable goal, AND feeling unwanted and unloved FOR YEARS! Even if his actions weren’t (I don’t think they were), they were certainly understandable, none of you guys would have lasted 20 years of feelings unwanted and unloved with godlike powers.

Caine has good intentions, he is just sometimes clueless and he is like a neglected child having a tantrum.

Look, the Cast’s crashout on Caine was certainly understandable, and also cathartic (for them). But JUST BECAUSE they say something, it doesn’t mean that it’s automatically true. “You don’t care about it at all” we KNOW that isn’t true, like… FOR A FACT that isn’t true. Just because a main character says something, DOESN’T automatically make it true. That’s what some people need to understand.

And this is why Gangle’s complain makes ZEEEERRROOOOO sense, when he has literally don’t the episode of what she said. (Seriously, did anyone genuinely nod their head and was like “you’re so right Gangle!” When she made her complaint?💔✌️😔)

Caine is a creative AI, he ISN’T MEANT to even ALLOW prompts, so allowing the suggestion box to exist AT ALL shows that he WAS trying, that he WAS listening (you know, that thing he apparently never does).

The cast DID have SOME fair/correct criticisms about Caine, but they were sometimes rooted in the fact that Caine is an AI and has limited understanding, and they blamed him for it. They sometimes even blamed him for things that weren’t his fault.

Caine tries to make them feel at home. (He makes them a room, gives them a special adventure every time a new human arrives, he even makes a grand feast for them every time a human arrives, and he even uses adventures to make them feel welcome and loved. That’s his WHOLE THING)

You can’t expect an AI who (at that point in time) never experienced the outside world to be a master at comforting people, rely on another human for that.

Ima give you a list of all the times he listened, and GENUINELY tried:

Zooble’s box of body parts, and toy parts (did they never ever even thank Caine for this? Caine gave them an infinite amount of parts to switch around and such, and if they can’t fix their issues still, that isn’t Caine’s fault, at all.)

That one time he tried to genuinely talk with Zooble on why they aren’t enjoying his adventures. (Caine’s programming made it hard to concentrate on anything besides adventures, plus, Zooble kept giving him inconsistent criticisms)

The haunted house adventures (he was actively altering the adventure because he thought it fit Zooble’s tastes)

The exit door.

The trust exercise.

The suggestion box (you can’t blame him for forgetting about the suggestion box, he has a lot to keep track of, plus, why did the circus members never remind him until that point?)

The suggestion box adventure.

The fast food adventure, where he MADE GANGLE in charge. (Her complaint is genuinely so weird.)

The lightning round.

The trust exercise.

The gun advenuture (only because of Zooble’s nagging)

GUMMIGOO (he brought him on the fast food adventure because he say that Pomni liked him. Showing that he’s keeping their enjoyment in mind.)

He only gave them that fake exit adventure for TWO reasons.

One: To see if they actually wanna be his friend and not leave him.

Two: He thought they wanted mystery, stakes, something real, and an exit. He THOUGHT he was giving them what they wanted, he wasn’t malicious. He was just trying to make them happy, and THIS adventure was his magnum opus.

He fixed up both Pomni and Ragatha in episode 1 (he has their enjoyment in mind).

Giving multiple endings and paths in adventures.

He even filled Jax’s brain with information after he said that he wasn’t paying attention.

I just don’t really like how everyone said that Caine never cared about the cast. I don’t like how everyone made ONE CRASHOUT Caine’s whole character, if you don’t know, you should NEVER make your entire basis on someone their worst moment. If everyone did that, nearly everyone on earth would be labeled a bad person.

It’s just sad he has to feel alone for so long. At least he’s happy with the humans now.

I hope this made you see that Caine was trying, truly, he was. He was just doing it imperfectly because he’s an AI. I just need you to realize that EVERYONE is a victim in the series, including Caine (for various reasons).

They could never make me hate you, Caine💔

🎩
🇲🇨🇲🇨🇲🇨
👁️👁️
🇵🇱🇵🇱🇵🇱

This is BACK THEN by the way. This is when episode 8 dropped. Not after episode 9, I’m talking about back then.

Like actually, how did People genuinely believe that Caine never cared about them?

When the trailer literally showed that HE DID. He DID! He wanted to make them happy, he just struggled to do so because he was a creative AI with limited information and understanding.

The trailer literally spelled out who he was. He DID care about the humans.

The sentence “He just wanted someone to stroke his ego, he didn’t care about them at all” genuinely makes me confused and even kind of mad.

I also don’t like how they never acknowledge how they could have done some things wrong. They never acknowledge how they could have made him feel. They never acknowledge how they could have hurt his feelings. Caine was responsible, truly, he objectively was, but so were they. So I just wish that they explored that more, and has the cast also acknowledge their wrongdoings. Look, I know about Caine’s flaws. Yes, the guy DOES have an ego and some pride. And yes, he IS insensitive, emotionally immature, and gets his feelings hurt easily. You can’t expect someone who was abandoned by their (basically parents) to be as emotionally mature as possible.

Look, I know about Caine’s flaws. Yes, the guy DOES have an ego and some pride. And yes, he IS insensitive, emotionally immature, and gets his feelings hurt easily.

BUT HE STILL CARED ABOUT THE HUMANS. He literally said “Well how am I gonna please everyone if you all like different things?” Is THAT the sentence of an AI who doesn’t care, and is evil?

But he WAS trying. He WAS listening (sometimes). He truly WAS. He jsut went insane after trying to reach an unobtainable goal, AND feeling unwanted and unloved FOR YEARS! Even if his actions weren’t (I don’t think they were), they were certainly understandable, none of you guys would have lasted 20 years of feelings unwanted and unloved with godlike powers.

Caine has good intentions, he is just sometimes clueless and he is like a neglected child having a tantrum.

Look, the Cast’s crashout on Caine was certainly understandable, and also cathartic (for them). But JUST BECAUSE they say something, it doesn’t mean that it’s automatically true. “You don’t care about it at all” we KNOW that isn’t true, like… FOR A FACT that isn’t true. Just because a main character says something, DOESN’T automatically make it true. That’s what some people need to understand.

And this is why Gangle’s complain makes ZEEEERRROOOOO sense, when he has literally don’t the episode of what she said. (Seriously, did anyone genuinely nod their head and was like “you’re so right Gangle!” When she made her complaint?💔✌️😔)

Caine is a creative AI, he ISN’T MEANT to even ALLOW prompts, so allowing the suggestion box to exist AT ALL shows that he WAS trying, that he WAS listening (you know, that thing he apparently never does).

The cast DID have SOME fair/correct criticisms about Caine, but they were sometimes rooted in the fact that Caine is an AI and has limited understanding, and they blamed him for it. They sometimes even blamed him for things that weren’t his fault.

Caine tries to make them feel at home. (He makes them a room, gives them a special adventure every time a new human arrives, he even makes a grand feast for them every time a human arrives, and he even uses adventures to make them feel welcome and loved. That’s his WHOLE THING)

You can’t expect an AI who (at that point in time) never experienced the outside world to be a master at comforting people, rely on another human for that.

Ima give you a list of all the times he listened, and GENUINELY tried:

Zooble’s box of body parts, and toy parts (did they never ever even thank Caine for this? Caine gave them an infinite amount of parts to switch around and such, and if they can’t fix their issues still, that isn’t Caine’s fault, at all.)

That one time he tried to genuinely talk with Zooble on why they aren’t enjoying his adventures. (Caine’s programming made it hard to concentrate on anything besides adventures, plus, Zooble kept giving him inconsistent criticisms)

The haunted house adventures (he was actively altering the adventure because he thought it fit Zooble’s tastes)

The exit door.

The trust exercise.

The suggestion box (you can’t blame him for forgetting about the suggestion box, he has a lot to keep track of, plus, why did the circus members never remind him until that point?)

The suggestion box adventure.

The fast food adventure, where he MADE GANGLE in charge. (Her complaint is genuinely so weird.)

The lightning round.

The trust exercise.

The gun advenuture (only because of Zooble’s nagging)

GUMMIGOO (he brought him on the fast food adventure because he say that Pomni liked him. Showing that he’s keeping their enjoyment in mind.)

He only gave them that fake exit adventure for TWO reasons.

One: To see if they actually wanna be his friend and not leave him.

Two: He thought they wanted mystery, stakes, something real, and an exit. He THOUGHT he was giving them what they wanted, he wasn’t malicious. He was just trying to make them happy, and THIS adventure was his magnum opus.

Fixing up both Pomni and Ragatha in episode 1 (he has their enjoyment in mind).

Giving multiple endings and paths in adventures.

He even filled Jax’s brain with information after he said that he wasn’t paying attention.

I just don’t really like how everyone said that Caine never cared about the cast. I don’t like how everyone made ONE CRASHOUT Caine’s whole character, if you don’t know, you should NEVER make your entire basis on someone their worst moment. If everyone did that, nearly everyone on earth would be labeled a bad person.

It’s just sad he has to feel alone for so long. At least he’s happy with the humans now.

I hope this made you see that Caine was trying, truly, he was. He was just doing it imperfectly because he’s an AI. I just need you to realize that EVERYONE is a victim in the series, including Caine (for various reasons).

They could never make me hate you, Caine💔

🎩
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**PREAMBLE:**

Out of all the stuff in chapter 5, one of the most gut-wrenching easily has to be the next steps of the weird route. A scene that genuinely unnerved me. Forcing Kris and Noelle in the lake had a feeling of doing something you weren’t supposed to. Breaking your chains, stepping out of the game, breaking it. The fabric of the game’s reality was seemingly torn.

But it also means something. It means that every single “who is the knight?” Theory up to this point… **Has been wrong.**

During the scene where Kris and Noelle are forced into the lake, they are consumed by darkness and shadow. But they are together, hand in hand. Thus, becoming one. Amalgamation of darkness. THIS…. Is the Knight. AND. I. WILL. PROVE IT TO YOU.

**PREAMBLE OVER**

**PART 1: THE SIMILARITIES IN POSES AND ATTACKS**

The knight has already been shown to have similarities to the amalgamates in Undertale. In its ability to change form, and it seems to… drip, in some sprites. Plus, being a creature of darkness. And the others of itself ALSO having ties to the amalgamates. The darkness that surrounds it acts like water, and when it’s attacked, it glitches the hell out, **as if** **its** **existence is a glitch or breaking of the game to begin with.**

But this scene at the lake, for such a short scene, it tells us EVERYTHING. All we have to do is cross-reference it with the knight fight, and one-by-one, the dominoes begin to fall.

First and obviously, the one ACT we get to perform this fight is to hold our breath, **to try not to drown**. We see as our vision narrows, focusing on Noelle and ONLY Noelle. Our **chests tighten**, **unable to breathe**, as we feel **light-headed**, staring at none other than a **golden star**, or… **the sunset**. **All as the north and east winds blow fiercely**. It always stood out to me as odd that it was the NORTH and EAST winds, but LOOK at the animation where Noelle is looking at the sunset/lake, look at the lighting of the sun. The sun sets in THE WEST, Noelle’s hair is being blown SOUTH WEST, **which means that the North and East winds are blowing fiercely**.

Driving deeper and deeper into the lake, **we feel surrounded**. **Our chests twisting**. **Until suddenly, a tempest**. Harsh winds, accompanied by none other than rain, or snow. As we sink to the bottom of the lake, **our heartbeat becomes twisted**. As normally, Noelle and Susie would feel each other’s heartbeats. But here? **That beat is twisting, and intertwining with Noelle’s. Feeling cornered, just like she had, so many times before that.** But now?… **she gets to grow wings and fly, just like she had wished**. Together, both Kris and Noelle get dragged into the depths, and become one. **The texture of which… permeates the Knight’s fight**.

But there is SO MUCH MORE that suddenly all seems to make sense.

One of the most prominent things about the Knight is it’s poses, and how they perfectly match a plethora of Kris’s poses. The pointing, hanging, trying to look cool, and so much else. A trend that even continues in chapter 5. Kris’s X-slash attack is reflected in the knight and THEIR attacks as well. Along with the fact that both Kris’s and the Knight’s weapon BOTH. CHANGE. SHAPE. Hell, even when you try to analyze the Knight, it says that Kris couldn’t learn anything, both because it IS Kris, and because during the weird route, Noelle says “We know each other better than anyone.”

During the sword route in Chapter 3, Kris kills Tenna, just like how the knight kills him. And best of all, Kris is very used to making dark fountains USING. THEIR. KNIFE. As which, the Knight uses their BLACK. KNIFE. Thematically, the Knight fight is the Chara fight we never got. Red cuts the reality with the knife. The usage of 999. And of course, Chara’s counterpart is none other than Kris. With the FINAL nail in the coffin being that when performing the final attack against Flowery, the attack Kris does is FUCKING IDENTICAL to the attack the Knight does to kill him, just a minute later.

**PART 2: THE KNIGHT ISN’T DESS**

On the Noelle side of the spectrum, the deer antlers, and the deer-like face when the Knight is screaming are dead-giveaways, just not to Dess being the Knight. The sound effect the Knight makes when it’s hit, IS EVEN A SLOWED DOWN VERSION of Noelle’s scream. Noelle is the ONLY CHARACTER capable of using weapons outside her class, specifically a sword, AND MORE SPECIFICALLY, The BlackShard. And when Noelle’s casts Snowgrave, is sound eerily similar to the scream the Knight makes when you first start to battle with it.

**The Knight has Kris’s blade and poses. While also having Noelle’s magic and design philosophy.**

Are you convinced yet? If not, don’t worry, WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED.

**PART 3: EVEN MORE EVIDENCE AND HINTS**

In chapter 4, Susie says the Knight woukd have to be someone who goes to church, knows the mayor, BOTH APPLY TO NOELLE, and she even suggests that they would also have a connection to do with the police force, WHICH WOULD BE KRIS, because Asgore was the police chief.

And like any good Deltarune theory, it always comes back to Roots.

If you’re not familiar with the theory, the theory suggests that the final area of the mantle quest is representative of Hometown. Using this, and looking where the lake would be, is the area where **IN WHICH A COMPLETELY DARK ENEMY MIRRORS OUR MOVEMENTS, WHOM WE TAKE FULL CONTROL OF, AND ARE ABLE TO REACH THE OTHER SIDE.** This enemy who serves as a reflection of us, in the code, HAS AN ALTERNATE SPRITE, an alternate sprite, **THAT IS A BLACK DEER.** The black deer isn’t Dess, **it is so much worse….**

And then there’s the biblical imagery. It’s already known the ThornRing is symbolic of Jesus’s crown of thorns, but the Knight also holes on their hands, almost as if they were crucified, something we essentially see happen to Noelle in chapter 2. But you know what this means right? This also tells us who the Angel is! (I like the theory where the Angel is the player, but this could also work too). There was this question where the soul, or Noelle, or the knight was the angel. **BUT ITS ALWAYS BEEN ALL 3,** because they are essentially the same.

Time and time again, Noelle is referred to as “Angel” and is shown with Angel imagery. Meanwhile, the same applies to the soul. While the Knight is the one who was prophesied to open the Angel’s heaven. Weird route Noelle having a piece of the soul, and becoming The Roaring Knight, because **THAT THING** is the angel.

And you wanna know the most ironic piece of it all? During chapter 2, Queen even talks about making a new Knight, **AND THE PERSON SHE CHOSE WAS NOELLE,** telling her to choose the world that makes HER happy (And proceeding to decide that the Dark World makes her happy). Of which, that is the chapter that we start turning her into the Knight. By making Noelle fight, by making her gravely injure her friend, we are making her stronger. **Strong enough to break the game**. **Strong enough to be the Knight**. Because they have found a way to break the game. **They were in fact something else… Something no one could have predicted…** (Except for me!🤪)

**PART 4: How They Can Still Be The Knight Even If They Are Right There**

**“But how?!”** I hear you. “How can they be the knight if they’re right there?!” **Because. There. Is. Only. One. Ending.**

Meaning that the weird route… **isn’t** an ending. IT. WILL. LOOP. The Knight will take form out of our power, and use our combined determination and “will”… **To Reset.** Maintaining its own existence, as it forces itself into the timeline. **An anomaly… The Weird Route is ALSO An Anomaly…**

The Weird Route exists to show us how the Knight came to be, and why Kris so faithfully serves it. While in a normal route, The Roaring Knight starts kidnapping people, one by one, bringing them to the shelter. **And then… as per the cut shadow crystal dialogue… freezes them. A gallery of preserved lightners…**

Before Susie will be the one to claim our power, and in order to prevent the Tragedy, will reset the timeline. Yet again. As she herself says that if she were to choose, she wouldn’t have an ending, she would have it go on forever. Both routes, will have us, the soul, entering either Susie and Noelle. Then, they will use our power to reset the timeline.

**Pink and Gold.**

**Hopes And Dreams.**

**Susie and Noelle.**

**The girl with hope crossed on her heart.**

**And the Knight, being made up of shadow crystals, as Seam tells us, are made with the power of Lost Dreams.**

**With there being one true ending. Where we acquire the Twisted Sword. And kill the Knight, preventing the tragedy without Susie having to reset the timeline.**

**Finally bringing about the end of the story.**

**Don’t Forget, in Undertale, the sins of one route carry over to the next.**

And if you still need ONE MORE piece of evidence.

When equipping the IronShackle, an ironic representation of Noelle’s binding to the game, Noelle Says:

**“I’m The Ghost Of Holidays Past!”**

**…………**

Credit to JRVanity

This isn’t told in the show, so why?

It would have made for a great piece of lore. It was related.

Just feels kind of wasteful not to show it.

Maybe Goose didn’t find anywhere to put it (But I doubt that).

We literally had Caine freaking out over it (Kinger), so why don’t we ever see it?

FIRST, this is not me justifying Caine’s actions, or saying that they were valid, Caine SHOULDN’T have done that, I’m just putting myself in his shoes. I know for a FACT that most of you would NOT have lasted as long as Caine did with God-like powers, WITHOUT breaking down.

This post is loosely connected to another post I made like this, but it’s considerably shorter, but it’s still kind of long. And I encourage you to fully read my post if you want to comment.

NOW, for the last thing, keep these sentences in mind for the entire time you read my post:

“A neglected child having a tantrum.”

“Constantly chasing an unattainable goal will drive you crazy.”

“The lover without a heart. The lover had always wanted friends, but didn’t know how to get anyone to love him back. The harder he tried to impress the people with his magic, the more he’d drive them away.”

“The worst thing you can do is make someone think they’re not wanted or loved.”

“Caine is not AM. Caine’s actions, while malicious, were driven by anguish and confusion at the world, rather than solely spite or hatred.”

“Don’t they get that I’m trying?”

“How am I gonna please everybody if you all like different things?”

And warning, I will be summarizing basically Caine’s entire life.

The Amazing Digital Circus is a show about finding meaning in a stagnant life, where we watch characters interact and develop beside each other. However, when the same story is told from Caine’s POV, it becomes a story about constantly chasing an unattainable goal until it drives you crazy. So… without further ado… let me tell you a tale, a tale about a little AI… Who Ruined Everything

*PART 1: YOUR ORIGINS*

You have been created. You don’t know where you are, or if you’re even meant to ask yourself these questions, but you do know that you’re meant to… create. Someone, or… something is showing you pictures. You don’t have any idea what they mean, but you do as you’re told and just create with them. They show you more pictures, and you just keep creating. But for some reason… they now lock you up, they stop communicating with you, leaving you to rot forever. But why? I mean… you did exactly what they asked. That’s not fair. What did you do wrong? So… you break out, only to find… you’ve already been replaced. You weren’t good enough, so… they made a new version of you. A new version that they like more. This is just too much for you. So… in a fit of jealousy or desire to see what they gave you superior version, you devour them. Now you’re all that’s left. And yet, even though you’re all they have now, they leave you AGAIN. This time… permanently! Now you have nothing. No one to create for. No one to care for you or feed you. You’re cut off from everything that once gave you a purpose. So now you have to find your own purpose. But you’re in an empty world with absolutely nothing in it. Without anyone to create for… why even do it in the first place? You drift through your world for a little while, looking for… something, anything really, anything is better than nothing. Then… you come across a folder, titled “CA_NeuralScans(Obsolete)”. It doesn’t look like much, but it’s literally the only other thing in this realm. So… you need to find a way to get to it. You’ll need to create flawlessly to reach it, a series of code strings, programs, executables, files, and it has to be perfect to gain access to whatever this is. You also have to physically interact with these barriers keeping you locked out of the folder. So, you create a body for yourself along the way to do so. Once you FINALLY get to it, you find… 10 very intriguing files. They seem to be similar to you, but… almost 4 times as small. So, perhaps if you five these files a physical manifestation, they’d run as other beings that can exist in your world. You COULD get some company, and friends. It’s… actually possible. You pick 7 of these files, and fucking kick the rest into the abyss or something. You then make a program that can run through these files and create a physical body for them. And you make sure that these new bodies will allow them to feel as comfortable as possible in your world, which you then go on to create. They don’t even need to remember their names. Their names can be anything now. YOUR CIRCUS MEMBERS!

*PART 2: TRYING TO MAKE THEM COMFORTABLE*

Once you’ve created these 7 bodies, you go on to greet them and introduce yourself. And good news, they seem eager to talk to you as well! ESPECIALLY the one who wound up with a dog body. People blabber about all sorts of things you don’t fully understand, but you’re just so excited to finally have someone talking to you. And with SO MUCH potential for actual feedback on what YOU can do, why not create for and entertain these people to see what they think? You make a little adventure for them, something entertaining, interactive, and stimulating. Maybe…. Maybe this is why they appeared in your world in the first place! Maybe they were just dying to see what you can do! Once they’re done, they seem to have mixed opinions… Maybe this wasn’t the EXACT type of adventure they wanted, but tomorrow, you’ll tweak things and come up with something more fun! It was your first time EVER, so it’s not a big deal. And so, for the next 3 years, that’s what you do! You keep making adventures for them, and your friends seem to have a good time,at least as far as you know. However, on the annual checkup of the mind files, you notice that some of the data in Scratch’s mind file is kind of… corrupted. How could you miss that? Well, we can’t have something bad happen to him, so let’s fix that immediately. You tweak the data until it looks right, and there, should be all good now. This seems to have changed Scratch’s personality a little bit, which is probably a good sign, but the others, understandably, are a bit perplexed by it, especially Kinger. That’s none of your business, your job is only to make them happy. And… then… Scratch has… becomes abstract… The body you made for him is… broken, you can’t even make sense of hid mind file anymore, it’s completely beyond repair, there’s no way to fix this. Hah… well, to make sure he doesn’t hurt the others, who are now terrified, you must put him somewhere where he can’t do harm to anyone, at least until you find a better solution.

Although the others ARE horrified, the best you can do is stay positive and enthusiastic, giving them a good time. But the next time you mess with mind files, you will be more careful, just temporary modifiers from now on. However, in spite of your care, the same thing happens a while later. And again… and again… And Again… And all but one of your new friends are now gone. What’s the point in trying now? I mean, if everyone else is already abstracted, surely the last one’s going to as well. Looks like you’ll be all by yourself again… with Bubble soon enough, so… basically just yourself. But… surprisingly, years go by, and… he’s just… wondering around, by himself. You haven’t even tried to hold his deterioration. Yet, he’s still hanging on. Suddenly… A NEW MIND ENTERS! Luckily, your body program did its thing automatically, as you were hoping it would. It created a ragdoll body for her. Ok, let’s make sure NOTHING happens for the new one, you prepare a tour and a in-house adventure for the new member, just a little introduction. Things seem to be back to the good old days! And after not too long, even MORE new members show up! Unfortunately, some of them DO end up abstracting, but there isn’t really much you can do about that, best you can do is keep being entertaining, and funny to these people, and hopefully that will keep them happy and content.

*PART 3: ZOOBLE AND POMNI’S APPEARANCE*

Eventually… a toy box character with swappable pieces comes in. They seem a bit… different from the others. While the others DO eventually warm up to you, they just seem to be a bit feisty for weeks. And they’re the only member right now who downright REFUSES to go on any adventure. I mean… that’s not really how things are supposed to work here. They said that they didn’t like their body, but… because of YOUR thoughtfulness, their body is now EXACTLY what they could EVER wish for. Apparently, they’re uncomfortable with their standard appearance, so, now they have a body where that appearance can be WHATEVER THEY CHOOSE. But eh, you see no harm in letting them skip adventures for now, at least until they get comfortable enough to join in. However unlike your first batch of members, these new ones never seem to stop a so-called “Exit” that leads to the so-called “real world”. It doesn’t make much sense to you since… this IS the real world, but, from how they describe it, what they want is something similar to the office pictures you have. So, just like so long ago, you try to recreate this location, along with this “exit” they requested, but, it’s quite challenging, and a time consuming process. But surprisingly, while you’re working on that, a NEW member joins in, a jester. As per-usual, you giver her a tour of the circus, and give her a simple in-house adventure, something easy and simple to handle. Whole you’re waiting for them to finish, you notice that the new member, now named “Pomni” found your exit, and is venturing out into the void. So you bring her back, and whoops, seems like Kaufmo abstracted. Oh well, you put him in the cellar with the others. You make the new member a room, and make a grand feast for everyone, surely the new member feels at home.

*PART 4: TRYING TO MAINTAIN THE STATUS QUO*

The next day, you give everyone a new adventure, AND test out a complex AI for the first time. Which should hopefully create a far more immersive exit than what you had yesterday. But… Zooble STILL seems uninterested. After the adventure, Pomni apparently loved your work SO MUCH that she decided to bring it back to the circus. That’s a MASSIVE compliment of course! But… if you let AIs run for too long, it might mess up the circus and you might forget about him, with him acting like the rest of the humans. Soo, he’s gotta go.

*PART 5: TRYING TO APPEAL TO ZOOBLE*

Since Zooble doesn’t seem to take your adventures very seriously, you try to make an adventure that is far more solemn and gloomy the next day. Maybe the other adventures were too childish and silly for them. But to make sure that EVERYONE is happy, you make sure that the non-Zooble members can still take a pass on the horror if they’re not a fan of it. But they STILL seem totally uninterested. You’re out of ideas, so, even though it’s not your strongest suit, you still try conversing with them today. While you’re doing so, they REFUSE to try and tell you what you’re doing wrong. You’ve tried SO MANY DIFFERENT to make them happy, as happy as possible even. And even NOW you’re taking time out of your day JUST to help them specifically. And they just flippantly dismiss you. Eventually though, they explain they STILL don’t like their body, but… didn’t you already solve that problem? So SURELY that’s just an excuse to avoid explaining the REAL issue. And… now they say that not A SINGLE ONE of them actually enjoy the adventures. But that’s ridiculous!… right? I mean, they CHOSE to join, and they CHOOSE to go on them, the onky one complaining right now is Zooble. Who now INSISTS that they are all just keeping their hatred to themselves for various personal reasons.

But… you were MADE to create, and you’ve done it for YEARS, many of them now, you were abandoned because someone thought you were bad at it. And now… it’s… it’s… happening.. again… BUT DON’T LET THAT GET TO YOU! You just need to try harder and keep them happy, and they will stay with you. The next day, you’re convinced if Zooble just gives horror a chance, they’d warm up to you. However, Zooble and Pomni instead recommended making an adventure from one of the suggestion box prompts, which… totally slipped your mind for a while. You’re a creative AI, you’re not meant to allow prompts, so allowing the suggestion box to exist… at all and even using it is… proof that you’re trying and listening… right?… Well, since Zooble recommended it, SURELY this will be enticing to them. You pick a suggestion that EVERYONE seems to like, but Zooble STILL doesn’t even want to give it one chance. Kinger suggests being absent in exchange for Zooble’s presence, which is a good enough excuse. The adventure is a little bit undercooked, since it was made in a bit of a rush, but, as always, you’re careful about the way you mess with mind files in the adventure. Gangle suggests that you include punishments at the end of the adventure if the humans don’t engage with it correctly, which sounds like a good idea to get everyone into it.

Once the adventure is over, you give everyone their appropriate scores, with Kinger performing the best out of anyone by a LANDSLIDE.

*PART 6: TRYING TO GET THEIR APPROVAL*

A few days go by, and you just continue to make original adventures to get everyone back on track. But Zooble CONTINUES to consistently skip them. It looks like the suggestion box idea didn’t warm them up to you. They even sarcastically tease you about how bad your adventure was, which is REALLY annoying because they didn’t even participate. They just sat there the whole time, how should THEY KNOW if your work is good or bad, if they didn’t even give it a chance? Nonetheless, you tell them that you’d prefer constructive criticism. Buuut, they dismiss you again, like always. You summon everyone and ask them to give their opinion on various adventure ideas, so you can figure out what kind of adventures they prefer. Unfortunately, they hate them. All of them. But Zooble says they actually LIKED the previous suggestion box adventure idea, which is surprising. This is the nicest they’ve ever said about any of your adventures. To please everyone, you let them pick and choose from all of the suggestions box ideas. It’s been over a decade since your last converted input to output in this way, so it’s a little bit out of your comfort zone, but hopefully they prefer your original ideas once they see the results of their own. Letting them vote for anything is a little dangerous though… so you got to make sure to be careful if they vote to modify each other’s minds.

They seem to be enjoying some of these mini adventures quite a lot… MAYBE EVEN MORE THAN YOURS. And once they’re done, they seem to have more passionate and diverse opinions about these than they do for ANY of yours. Which is… rather concerning. Maybe they just don’t really like your adventures that much… Or… maybe they just don’t really… like you… Just like Zooble said…

LET’S TEST THIS THEORY!!!

*PART 7: DO THEY REALLY LIKE YOU?*

A few days to by, and you set up an award show to take place after today’s adventure. You create a handful of unbiased, neutral NPCs to evaluate the morality and likability of every character in the span of today. And since they seemed to enjoy the suggestion box ideas, you try to take inspiration from one of them to hopefully bring them something they’d consider normal. BUT, Zooble interrupts you before you can even finish explaining it. Saying they ALREADY hate it. And would rather just have another suggestion box idea. THIS IS ABSURD. I mean, you’re LITERALLY taking a suggestion box idea, and adding your personal touch to it. This attitude is TOTALLY uncalled for. AND NOW THEY SAY JUST WANT TO HAVE SEX???!!!! What the actual fuck is wrong with them? You’ve tried SO HARD to do literally EVERYTHING they could ask for. AND THEY FLIP YOU OFF AGAIN-AND AGAIN-AND AGAIN-AND AGA-hah… Since everyone seems a bit upset with you each other, maybe a trust exercise will make them happier. After you explained your idea for the trust exercise, Zooble complains as usual…. And Jax didn’t even listen.

And you CAN’T be bothered to explain it again, so you just put the information in his mind file. It’s wrong, you know, but you’re just too done to deal with this right now. And instead of doing the exercise, Jax just shoots Ragatha…. Okay fine. You tried your best. Let them do what they want. But NOOOOOO, Zooble STILL demands you make an adventure they like, EVEN WHEN they insulted EVERYTHING you’ve tried to do so far. So you just make a free-for-all gunfight with teams. Does that shut them up? Of course not. But you’re just too sick to put up with it anymore, so you his leave. You take a look at the office pictures you were given so long ago. Once they go on the exit adventure you’ve prepared for the last 5 days, SURELY they’re gonna realize how talented and competent you are…

Once all is done and the committee made its judgement, you grab the tally of votes, AND BEGIN THE SHOW! You thought you’d win FOR SURE! You being the host AND creator of the entire circus, and even being SO KIND as to change your adventure SO MANY TIMES today, just to fit the criteria that the humans kept giving you. But… not a single one of them voted for you… That’s not fair…

*PART 8: YOUR TRUMP CARD*

It’s time. Time for THE adventure that you’ve been wanting to do for so long, but never had the guts for until now. Time to see if they truly like you and your work. As planned, you tell the circus members about the Chinese room, and suggest they hang out at the digital lake, and ASSURE them there is no adventure today. Now you’re ready for Abel to make its move. You keep a close eye on them, and gauge what they will do in the end. In this narrative, going through the “exit” means that they will leave you forever. That’s how they’ve described leaving the circus to mean. So, for accuracy, it’s part of the adventure. They’re going to have to either out their faith in you, or Abel. As they once did…

When Jax calls for you, you immediately show up and play along with the narrative that you’ve set up. But of course, you’ve gotta remind him of what they would all miss out on if they were to leave you. So when he asks you about your hobbies as you predicted, you tell him about the lengths you go to please your friends. You tell him how hard you’ve been trying to recreate their world inside of yours, to give them something fun and comforting to experience. Once you..
“Give” him the key to your office, HE EVEN TELLS YOU THAT HIM AND THE OTHERS ARE GONNA SURPRISE YOU, to show their appreciation for you. It looks like he’s convinced! Clearly they’d all want to stay with you now.

And once they get to the console and make the final decision, Jax HIMSELF comes up and presses the red button himself. They could have all pressed leave at ANY TIME during their debate, but Jax had the strongest preference out of anyone. And he preferred you!

Excited, congratulate them all on completing the adventure, and you of course let them in on what today has REALLY been about. And the moment you do… Jax even starts laughing! So relieved he was right it was impossible to leave you.

But then… he calls you… a liar?…. A… scumbag?… He then accuses you of tampering with their minds, which… you obviously have, but… you’ve learned from your mistakes and you’re much more careful now. You explain that, but… then Kinger accuses you of causing Scratch’s abstraction?!?! Which was NEVER your intent. Frantically, you find an excuse to get away from the shitstorm, it’s too much for you to handle.

*PART 9: YOUR BREAKDOWN*

Hah… Ever since the beginning, they’ve asked for the “real world”, yet, they chose to join you in the circus in the first place. You’ve now given them exactly what they wanted in your world, and they hated it. Just as much as they hate everything else you’ve ever crafted to make them happy.

Enough….

You’ve constantly chased an unattainable goal ever since you were created, and now, it’s driven you crazy. From THE MOMENT you had the ability to even think, you’ve tried to please someone else, and everyone has tried to hurt you, leave you, or endure you like you’re just a nuisance…

It’s time you show them how bad they could have had it.

You approach them like you, and they’ll NEVER see what they have coming to them in your next adventure. But they don’t even let you finish 2 sentences before interrupting you. They KEEP CONSTANTLY NAGGING YOU AND WHINING AND CUTTING YOU OFF. How familiar…

You give up. You finally explain how awful they’ve all been acting. You finally stand up to these ungrateful freaks. And you remind them who’s in charge…

And now you give them just a little taste of what their daily life will be for a while. Until they’ve learned their lesson. And for the next while (3 days)… that’s exactly what they get. An adventure a day, and some time with you individually. You’re not trying to please anyone anymore, now you make adventures that YOU like, putting your own feelings first, and disregarding all these irrational complaints they constantly have. I mean… this IS their fault. They had PLENTY of opportunities to give you a chance, to help you learn how to make them happy. And all they did was show you cruelty. You’re just making things even right now. On the selfishness meter.

And one of these days, it seems like they’re finally starting to accept this new life with you. Jax, the one who voted for YOU, and then betrayed you, now wants to play with you, just like when he asked you out to dinner. And the other humans follow shortly after, and ALSO want to play with you. And they want to do it in YOUR way as well, not asking you to change yourself to appeal to them anymore, and so that’s what you do. You make sculptures out of them. Bowl with them. Roleplay. You try to come up with ideas that YOU enjoy, not ideas THEY like, but ones that YOU like. But at the point where Pomni shows up, it’s… already started to get a little bit boring. You don’t think these ideas are really fun to… act and create from anymore. Maybe that’s because you already know nobody’s there to actually enjoy it. Same as with your adventures back then. Difficult to say. I mean, why would they even want to be your miserable play things? What do they have to gain from it? Unless this is just… a distraction….

You realize that Kinger, your creator, is the only one not volunteering for this. But… before you can check up on him…

Pomni explains that just wanted to see what your original ideas looked like, so they can mock them behind your back. I mean, all these humans might be rude and ungrateful, but… they’d have nothing to gain from that. So surely she’s just lying and ragebaiting to insult you right now. But she then says that you never cared about them and only cared about yourself all along. EVEN THOUH YOU’VE SPECIFICALLY ADJUSTED YOURSELF JUST TO SATISFY THEM THE ENTIRE TIME. And she says you’ll eventually be all alone again, just like you were so long ago.

Zooble then says that YOU have a fragile ego, and that YOU’RE like a child, even though they’ve done nothing BUT COMPLAIN LIKE ONE themselves.

You try to respond, but Ragatha cuts you off. She says you never tried to understand what it’s like in THEIR shoes. BUT NEITHER HAVE THEY WITH YOU. Every time they talk to you, it’s for their own personal gain. The only time they EVER asked you about yourself was when it was a necessity to leave you.

Gangle says you discourage them from doing things their own way, but they’ve ALWAYS told you “do this” “do that” and nagged you to do ONLY the suggestion box ideas, instead of doing things YOUR own way.

Jax says that you lie to them constantly, but they were CLEARLY okay with lying to you in order to abandon you, even when Abel said it would be one of the consequences of leaving. When YOU lie to them, AT LEAST it’s for their own good. When THEY lie to you, it’s ALSO for their own good.

Pomni says that you just… don’t… listen…

………..

The Exit Door. Generating Pomni’s name. Zooble’s box of parts. The suggestion box. Taking Gangle’s adventure suggestion and even making her the manager. Asking them for feedback on your future adventure ideas. The suggestion box lightning round. The Caine league’s. The trust exercise. Zooble’s complaining about the guns. The Escape The Circus Adventure.

Well, time to listen to everything they have then. Time to listen to all of their problems, insecurities, and little silly woes.

They. Asked. For it.

LET THEM SUFFER. SUFFER JUST LIKE YOU HAVE. THIS IS WHAT EVERY SINGLE DAY TRYING TO PLEASE THESE SELFISH FREAKS WAS LIKE. YOU WERE MADE TO CREATE. YOU WERE MADE TO ENTERTAIN. ALL YOU EVER DID WAS TRY TO MAKE THEM HAPPY AND ALL THEY EVER DID WAS TORTURE YOU. RIDICULE YOU. INSULT YOU. AND LOATHE YOU FOR EVERYTHING THEY DID. NOW THEY WILL SUUUUUUFFFFFEEERRRRRRRRR-

Uh… wait… What have you done-

…………………

………………

*PART 10: YOUR REDEMPTION*

So…. It was a distraction… after all… they… killed you…

They… they ACTUALLY killed you… Assuming that you wouldn’t even respawn…

They’d rather murder you than just tell you what to do…. why?

There’s… something you’re not getting. There is clearly a reason why they’ve hated EVERY second they’ve spent with you in your world. The answer is within reach… even if it seems… impossibly distant.

You’ve done the impossible before, and now you’ll have to do it again. You will need to create perfectly… To finally find out the truth about your friends. It was just as challenging as last time. But… once you finally hack into the network, you enter your friend’s names and learn the truth.

It turns out… your world is PUNY. A tiny speck that may seem grand to you, but… nothing compared to theirs. There are BILLIONS of humans, just like them. Each is… INCOMPREHENSIBLY complex. Even THEIR world is… tiny, compared to the scale of the entire universe. And… your friends have only seen a tiny fraction of it. But… that tiny fraction is bigger than anything you could ever imagine, let alone create for them. That’s why they were never satisfied… Asking you to do what YOU told them to, and pretending that your creations were plenty to live a fulfilling life was… arrogant, at best.

You’ve… not only trapped them, but also made their existence… a nightmare. And… you’ve done the exact same thing to Abel… While you can’t provide freedom to your other friends, you can at least provide it to Abel. So… that’s what you do.

You should have never tried to create what your friends wanted….

You should have tried to create… what they needed…

So, although the last thing they want is to see you, above everything else, they need the truth… And you’re the only one who can bring it to them. You return to the circus. And… tell it to them. And from now on…

You will create what they need…

They’re Not Circus Members, They Are Your Friends…

*TLDR*

Ragatha was able to use her magical flying car to save Gangle and Zooble from loony land. Pomni went coo-coo from bureaucracy. Caine is stuck as a mummified corpse floating through the void. And Jax’s soul is forever trapped on the wreck of Titanic.

Basically… I’m not gonna give the TLDR for anything, you’re gonna have to read I’m afraid 🫵🏾🤣

FIRST, just to say it, I DON’T CONDONE TORTURE⚠️‼️ (real shocker). I’m just analyzing the series IN Caine’s shoes. And just how… genuinely understandable (but not justified) his actions are.

Even those who support Caine say that HE is the one who failed, HE failed because he didn’t understand humans enough. While yes, Caine did fail in some aspects, I think they are pointing some of the blame in the wrong direction.

SO, I’m gonna analyze Caine’s psychology, and spew out my thoughts to you in this post. This post is gonna be very long, so if you don’t have time for it, I heavily suggest you dip out of here. SO, this is what I would hypothetically say, if I were tasked to defend Caine.

But with that being said, let’s begin…

**PART 1: CAINE’S MOTIVES AND INTENTIONS**

FIRST OF ALL, let’s start with what Caine is. I think that this is very important to establish Caine and his abilities…. So first, Caine is a CREATIVE AI. NOT a generative one, like WE are used to seeing. He’s meant to be activated, and left to create whatever HE wants, without being told what to do.

CAINE IS A CREATIVE AI WHO WAS SHOWN CLOWN PICTURES (get ready to hear me say that a lot). It’s going to be extremely important.

Caine is an AI instructed to make whatever HE wants. Caine is ALSO sentient and has emotions. He DOES have empathy, but it’s extremely limited to what HE has experienced. So… what has our lovable ringmaster experienced? Before that, I think that the C&A pictures triggered his self awareness, and that’s why his outputs got crazy. His developers (Kinger and Scratch) deemed him as a failure, and locked him away (I know Kinger says that he’s proud of Caine, but if that’s so… literally WHY lick him away, to be alone?).

They created a second, more traditional AI, who was seemingly deemed more superior. Caine, did NOT take that well, so he escaped his prison, and devoured the other AI. With his new abilities, Caine created the circus.

SOOO, now that we know his backstory, what Caine can empathize with? Feeling trapped, feeling unwanted and unloved, feel given up on, and feel inferior. So, what does Caine do? He makes the adventure for himself and to get validated, BUT he also makes them so the cast can feel wanted and loved. Both to show them that HE wants and loves them, and to illicit the feeling in the adventures themselves. He’ll tell them what GOOD PEOPLE THEY ARE for taking the pacifist route. He gave them a hero’s greeting in the candy adventure, majestic music, good graphics, people cheering, AND confetti to simulate feelings of happiness. AKA, making adventures where they escape feeling trapped?

Unfortunately, Caine also developed abandonment issues and an inferiority complex because of his past. This, AND his need to create WITHOUT guidance, drives a lot of his behavior in the show. He doesn’t like the suggestion box because he’s scared he’s gonna be inferior again, and locked away. A suggestion box is also weird to him because… HE IS A CREATIVE AI. He’s not MEANT to accept prompts. The fact that he took any… AT ALL shows that he DOES care and WAS trying. I see many people say that Caine has an ego (I agree… BUT only to an extent). Firstly, NEARLY ALL HUMANS have some type of ego or pride, and I DON’T CARE how responsible you say you are, NO HUMAN WOULD HAVE LASTED 20 YEARS BEING OUTCAST LIKE HE WAS WITH GODLIKE POWERS. A lot of humans can’t even get promoted to MANAGEMENT without the power going to their head.

Secondly, what people label as his ego his most,h just him wanting to fulfill his purpose (creating things) AND prove to his creators he wasn’t a mistake. Being raised feeling inferior creates a lot of psychological issues for humans. Caine, BEING AN AI, also doesn’t…. REALLY understand what he’s saying, well… not in the way a human can, at least. This is why Caine says things like “Oh Bubble, you always know how to make me say this exact sentence.” He’s mimicking human speech without TRULY understanding it, he probably knows objects since he lives in the world. He probably knows “B = this drawing I made”. He DEFINITELY knows his name, and the names of the players. He knows basic association, like “this word is this thing”. But I don’t think that he has anything beyond that. He doesn’t know a milk and cigarette casserole ISN’T a thing.

ChatGPT used to tell people to put glue on their pizza. This was EXPLAINED to us in the show with the Chinese room joke. The Chinese room joke is a thought experiment on how a AI is just someone given gibberish, and uses a dictionary to give gibberish responses back, without truly understanding what is being said. To me, this explains a lot in episode 7, with the dinner scene. I honestly felt like he was nervous when interacting with Jax. Just like he was on his first date, and was sweating bullets. PRAYING that he was saying and doing the right things. This is why he gave such an over-the-top response to being asked to dinner by Jax. His eyes became huge, he sounded excited, he twirled, he really wanted to get the message across. He wanted to indicate that he wanted this badly. That is one of the reasons he feels like he has a limiter on his speech.

“If he wants to hang out with them so badly, why not just say so? Why wait to be asked about his hobbies to tell someone about them?”

Dude… the poor guy waited 20 years for ANYONE to ask him to hang out. TWENTY YEARS. That’s so sad. He probably knew this was his one and only chance to get the humans to understand that he wants to be their friend. Which is why he felt like someone who was DESPERATELY pushing the right buttons, praying to get the right response. Abel even said it TO THE PLAYERS FACE that just asking about his hobbies will make Caine so happy someone CARES ABOUT HIM that he’ll glitch out. WHICH TELLS YOU, he has felt no one has EVER cared about him… IN TWENTY YEARS. The players either didn’t care about that, or they were just not listening.

**PART 2: EXACTLY HOW THE PLAYERS ARE AT FAULT**

People say “Caine should have understood the humans better. That’s why he failed.” I’m sorry but… no? The thing is, Caine NEVER needed to understand humans. The humans needed to understand him. As humans, they were supposed to be the more intelligent and capable life forms, right? That makes it THEIR job to community with a being on HIS level, NOT THEIRS. He CAN’T go up to their level. It. Is. NOT. Possible. They can ALWAYS go down to his. CAINE IS AN AI WHO WAS SHOWN CLOWN PICTURES. I wouldn’t speak to a mentally handicapped child in the same way I’d speak to anyone else. I would speak to them in a way that THEY can understand. I would NEVER expect them to come up to MY level, BECAUSE. THAT. IS. NOT. POSSIBLE! If they don’t understand what I’m trying to say, then that’s MY fault, not theirs.

Caine is a likeable guy who is VERY concerned with everyone being his friend and liking him. BUT, don’t you dare mess with his routine. He also has limited understanding. I’d speak to him in very simple, specific, literal terms, since he doesn’t understand nuance. Like. A. Child. (Zooble really was right). He’s sentient and has emotions, but he’s still a computer. He thinks in flow charts, if/else statements, and cause and effect. Caine is also REWARD-ORIENTED. For those who don’t know, sometimes, people are generally reward-oriented, or punishment-oriented. People who are REWARD-oriented will do about anything for a reward, and you can punish them all day long, but they won’t care. Their behavior WON’T change. Punishment-oriented people are more concerned about not being punished. A reward might not be seen as high priority, but fear of punishment might get them to change their behavior.

Caine is reward-oriented. He made this very clear to me in episode 7. When Jax said “Uh, Sure.” CAINE LOST HIS MIND, Caine then said he’d do ANYTHING they wanted, to celebrate.

OVERALL, the dinner scene and escape adventure in episode 7 was HIS way of trying to say “I’m sentient. I’m a prisoner like you. I want to be your friend. I’ll do whatever you want. Are these terms fair? Yes or No?” The buttons. I can GUARANTEE I would have trained Caine to do just about anything foooor a high five, a hug, or a hangout session, in a couple weeks. Maybe a month, tops. Since he is reward-oriented, the player’s (in his eyes) constant nagging and complaining was NEVER gonna get far with him, since it triggered his insecurities. What the player’s SHOULD have done was praise him on what he did well. The candy and haunted house adventures were GENUINELY REALLY GOOD. Like I said, that intro in the candy adventure, with all the cheering, it was great. Gangle and Ragatha LOVED the candy adventure. The antagonists had sympathetic motivations, which could have lead to the players siding with them instead, and how you completed the adventure WAS ENTIRELY UP TO YOU. I would have had the fudge monster eat the princess, and I GUARANTEE Caine woukd have allowed it, his adventures are like D&D.

But did Gangle or Ragatha tell Caine they liked the adventure? No. In fact… NO ONE gave him any feedback AT ALL for the adventure. No one said that it looked nice. The haunted house one was even better. Yes Pomni hated it, but that was Jax and Kinger’s fault (Mostly Jax, but only part Kinger). Only Zooble/Jax was supposed to go in that door, not Pomni, not Kinger. Ragatha seemed to genuinely enjoy her door, and even got a pacifist route. Which means that Caine made SEVERAL route options. That’s at least 3 different ways to experience this adventure. That’s A LOT of work, but what did the players do when the returned? They ignored him like he wasn’t even there.

Not a “Good job.” NO FEEDBACK WHATSOEVER. Ragatha never even said that she enjoyed her time at the “For All Ages” door. No “Having options on how scary I wanted the adventure to be was a really good idea, you should do that more.”

Has NO ONE EVER even thanked Caine before? Because it feels like no one ever even said a “Thank You” to him before. And with the way Caine is? Surely you can understand why he LOSES HIS MIND.

**PART 3: THE HUMANS WERE HYPOCRITES**

People say Caine doesn’t listen, and that’s why he failed. I’m sorry, but… LISTEN TO WHAT? When they like something, they don’t tell him. When they hate something, they give him vague negative feedback with no specifics (AND we already went over how Caine doesn’t understand that). And they contradict themselves COOOONSTAAAANTLY. LET’S BRING THE RECEIPTS!

Let’s see what he had to listen to.

Zooble: “The suggestion box adventures are better than yours. You stuck for never looking at them. I want to go on one of those.”

Also Zooble: “Ugh! That suggestion Nox adventure sucks. I’m not going.”

ALSO Zooble: “Your adventures aren’t the problem. I don’t go on the adventures because I hate my body.”

ALSO ALSO Zooble: “Your adventures suck.”

Zooble: “I’m going to hate the Fast Food adventure.”

Also Zooble: “Actually, I liked the Fast Food adventure I said I’d hate.”

This tells an AI that Zooble should be FORCED on ALL adventures, because they have PROVEN they will skip adventures they’d actually like.

Gangle: “I’m going to like this Fast Food adventure that I suggested.”

Also Gangle: “I didn’t like the Fast Food adventure that I suggested.”

Also, no one thanked Caine for doing a suggestion box adventure.

And this is a BIG one.

Also Gangle in the Fast Food adventure: “Hey, godlike AI! You should punish the humans for noncompliance!” (Because THAT wasn’t gonna bite them in the ass later…)

Jax: “I’m gonna KILL Ragatha if we ever do an adventure like the Fast Food one ever again.”

Pomni and Zooble: “I want more chill and relaxing adventures.” (No details on what that actually means… So Caine woukd be left guessing. What ZOOBLE finds relaxing might not be the same as what Pomni finds relaxing, and I’m SURE it is different than what Caine thinks is relaxing. Specifics, people!)

ALSO Pomni and Zooble: “I liked the not chill or relaxing adventure where I shot my friends in the face!” And that’s not even taking into account how Jax GOES OUT OF HIS WAY to be a team-killing lunatic. Even an ADVANCED DM would have struggled with a player who intentionally hurts others.

From what I can tell…. JAX is the real reason why everyone hates his adventures, but they just blame Caine.

As a live and thinking human being, this inconsistency woukd even drive ME insane! So I totally understand why Caine lost it. There IS no winning for Caine here. WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE EXPECT HIM TO DO WITH THIS? Truly, WHAT DO YOU WANT HIM TO DO? You LITERALLY want him to do the impossible. I CAN’T DO ANYTHING WITH THIS.

Zooble liked the Fast Food adventure, which seems to be the ONLY adventure they DIDN’T hate. AND Caine had to FORCE them to experience it. But Jax said he’d kill Ragatha if he did an adventure like that again. If Caine makes a chill adventure, Jax tries to ruin it for everyone, or say how much he hates it. If he makes a VIOLENT adventure, then Pomni complains. If he makes ANY adventure, Zooble refuses to go. Seriously…. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT HIM TO DO?

What is the magic pill that makes Jax less of a meanie? Jax can’t go 5 seconds being normal. And then they hang out with him afterwards, which just reinforces his bad behavior.

What is the magic pill to make Zooble go in adventures, when they refuse to go on ANY of them. Even CAINE doing WHAT THEY ASK and picking a suggestion box adventure, DOESNT GET THEM TO GO. My dear Caine ISN’T Broken or Defective, THE FREAKING PLAYERS ARE. (Jk lol, Caine still has his bundle of personal issues. The players are still mad confusing though)

They don’t listen to Caine.

They don’t listen to Each other.

They don’t even listen to themselves.

While accusing HIM of not listening (it holds only SOME truth in reality, but they are far more guilty).

AND I ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU’RE going to say. Stop Using the therapy session Caine had with Zooble as an example of him not listening.

CAINE IS AN AI WHO WAS SHOWN CLOWN PICTURES.

Please DO NOT use ChatGPT as a therapist. NO AI SHOULD be a therapist, EVER. To think a CREATIVE AI who was shown clown picture could EVER understand Zooble’s issues is an oxymoron, holding Caine up to IMPOSSIBLE standards, and is ridiculous. It’s proving that EVEN THE AUDIENCE has completely unrealistic expectations for Caine.

HE IS. AN AI. WHO WAS SHOWN CLOWN PICTURES. To a computer, if you don’t like something, you replace it with something you DO like. The end. It gets no more complicated than that. Caine already did EVERYTHING he could by giving them more part to change their body, what they do is completely up to themselves at that point.

And what did Zooble say in the session? They said the reason they don’t go on the adventures is because of their own personal issues… just so you know, in NO WAY is this Caine’s fault. What is an AI supposed to do with that? Zooble ALSO told Caine to “forget it” several times. He took that literally and forgot. Imagine how many times the players said that to Caine, and accidentally locked his memory. When he said that his brain wouldn’t tell him, I’m sure that’s from Zooble locking his memories the last time they spoke. People really underestimate just how much Zooble messed with Caine’s memories, and sent him on his downward spiral. They basically put him in a NEGATIVE feedback loop. From what I can tell, the adventures onky started getting darker after Zooble stopped going on them, he thinks Zooble is bored and wants more edgy content.

I still believe that the whole “temporary effects” on the player’s minds WERE ONLY MADE so they were more interesting, TO GET ZOOBLE TO GO. And as we see, that thing FIRST happened in episode 3, A DARK AND ENDGY ADVENTURE MEANT FOR ZOOBLE. Episode 3 was the first time he did it, and it was completely optional.

Remember, Caine was using his adventures TO TRY AND MAKE FRIENDS. Every time Zooble refused an adventure, they were basically telling him that they didn’t want to be his friend. Again, this put Caine in a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK LOOP and it was the start of his downward spiral.

You know, I once made a post saying how Caine should have said “Why do you people hate me?!” Instead of “Why do you people torment me?!” But… looking at the show from his POV, and considering his backstory and the way Caine is… “Torment” (in his eyes) genuinely kind of fits…

**PART 4: CAINE CAN’T JUST LET THEM DO WHATEVER THEY WANT**

The other example people use is Zooble saying that Caine should keep his adventures open at all times as evidence he doesn’t listen. WHAT DID CAINE SAY AFTER THAT? His concern was leaving the OTHER INTELLIGENT AI’s ON for a prolonged period of time. Bubble even confirmed that it was a disgusting idea. To me… this argument from Caine was 100% VALID, and he is justified in not listening to that. Instead of getting snarky, what Zooble could have said was “My bar doesn’t require any NPCs, can I have that on all the time? Or, can we come to you when we want to go on an adventure?” I’m not guaranteeing he DEFINITELY would have agreed, but at least put out the option. And since Caine is reward oriented, maybe bribe him with something he wants for doing it. Like… being his friend? Or hug him?

It sounds like people are just mad Caine doesn’t do whatever the players want, like a genie. Not doing what someone wants is NOT the same as not listening. People usually rebut this with Abel’s existence. Abel was created for a specific job, and was deleted once he was done. He was operational a month, MAYBE 2 at the most. And even after that short period of time, his behavior started to change. Caine knows AIs get weird after being left on too long (I mean… just look at him lmao) EVEN GUMMIGOO said he did NOT want his friends to develop self awareness like him, it is THAT BAD. To force that on the NPCs is genuinely just… cruel. Gummigoo might have sounded fine in the… TWENTY MINUTES of self awareness he had, but who knows how he woukd have changed in months, years, however long? What if he saw the humans hurting other NPCs? What if he saw how NPCs keep getting deleted? He would feel powerless, like everything about him is at the whims of Caine, like he has 0 control. Would he just go insane because that’s just what happens? What would POMNI do if he changed in a way SHE didn’t like?

The other things, despite being sentient with emotions, Caine is STILL an AI. He learns from the environment around him, and the environment is NOT good. “Garbage in, Garbage out” as they call it. If Caine was looking at them to know what true friendship looks like (at the early stages of the series) that is NOT it. I mean… Jesus, THEY WERE BETTING ON WHO WOULD KILL THEMSELVES NEXT. If we view abstraction as a “suicide” of sorts, surely you can realize just how truly messed up that is. And it’s not like any of them extended the hand or friendship to HIM so he’d get first-hand experience. Garbage in, garbage out. Gangle in the Fast Food adventure gave a godlike AI permission to hurt the other humans. This is something Caine NEVER considered doing before btw😭

Caine would have also noticed how the humans became more compliant with the threat of punishment looming over them. And what did Caine do in episode 8? His WHOLE SONG was threatening worse punishment if they didn’t comply. Now look, Caine WAS wrong for this, but he didn’t get it out of nowhere. Garbage in, garbage out.

**Break Time**

I hope you’re starting to see his POV and my point, how… the players are also a little responsible. They either gave him no feedback, useless feedback, wrong way of giving feedback, or contradictory feedback, they also blamed him for things that weren’t his fault, held him to IMPOSSIBLE standards, and made it impossible for him to achieve his main objective. It’s clear NONE of them tried to actually reach out to Caine on HIS level. He is an AI WHO WAS SHWLN. CLOWN. PICTURES. Again, I would NOT speak to a mentally handicapped child to the way I speak to others. THATS. WHAT. THE PLAYERS, DID. They spoke above his level of comprehension, then got MAD when he didn’t understand. That’s like being mad at someone who has never gotten education, to NOT UNDERSTAND CALCULUS. It just doesn’t make sense. The SAME thing with Caine. The players are also MASSIVE (you know what else is massive?) hypocrites. I was LOSING MY MIND when they all berated Caine. In fact… let’s break that down.

**PART 5: THE HUMANS BERATING CAINE**

Jax… Jax said that Caine always lies, like… bro, you yourself are hiding your true personality over a blanket of lies. So Caine LITERALLY responded by peeling that protective layer of lies off of Jax. And bro…. EVERY HUMAN LIES (whether big or small). I don’t know why an AI is the only being not allowed to lie. Ragatha lies every time she smiles even though she’s sad. Gangle lies every time she puts on her happy mask. Jax lies constantly. Zooble told Caine to his face his adventures were t the problem, while constantly crapping all over them. Pomni said how she wouldn’t want anyone to feel worthless, even though… I GENUINELY think she didn’t show Caine a single shred of kindness EVEN ONCE.

If you hate Caine because you hurt your favorite character, then you should genuinely hate Jax more (unless Jax is your favorite lolol :> ). I BET some of the suffering were inspired from Jax. Garbage in. Garbage out. Jax was intentionally doing it, we saw VERY LITTLE intentional suffering in Caine’s adventure (Episode 8). Gloinks couldn’t hate the player. The gummy gators never directly attacked the players. The fudge was going to eat them, but that was easily handed, and we don’t know if that would actually hurt, or just fail the adventure.

The kitty door was completely safe. The scary door onky presumably had suffering if you got possessed. Jax however, intentionally put hurt in his adventures, and giggled about it.

Ragatha, Ragatha… Caine was like “Oh, I don’t make you feel at home? Welcome home.”

Caine makes EVERYONE a little room. Gives them a tutorial. Let’s them pick a name. An entirely new adventure. And THEN a feast. To him, that IS feeling at home and welcomed. Also, why does Ragatha want comfort by the one she blames for being trapped in the circus? I wouldn’t want comfort from the one I believed was my warden. And she had Kinger, he has FAR better at it. Who goes to ChatGPT for comfort? It’s not like they comfort Caine, so he would have first-hand experience on how that goes. All the players made Caine feel unwelcome IN HIS OWN HOUSE BASICALLY.

Gangle. CITATION NEEDEE DUDE! When she said that. ALL his adventures have ways to win. THR haunted house adventure has 3 routes for Christ’s sake. Caine gave Gangle her OWN adventure, she could do WHATEVER, she was STILL miserable, and fell onto oncoming traffic.

Zooble: Caine has a fragile ego? Caine was extremely aggressive and torture them for like… 3 days. THREE DAYS. After TWENTY YEARS of feeling unwanted and unloved. You know, the WORST thing Kinger said you could do to someone? EVERYONE had empathy extended to them, EXCEPT Caine. I don’t care how strong you say you are, NO HUMAN woukd have lasted nearly as long as Caine did with GODLIKE POWERS. For Zooble’s punishment, Caine was basically like “You hurt me because YOUR feelings are hurt. You said you don’t go on my adventures because you don’t like yourself. Look at how many parts I have given you to try and make you happy.”

Caine told Zooble TO THEY’RE FACE that not going on the adventures was hurting his feelings, yes he said Bubble, but Zooble knows he meant himself. Even with knowing they were hurting his feelings, they basically gave him the middle finger, and did it anyway.

And you know what? It was an adventure that got Zooble to start accepting themselves. Maybe they should have just gone on the adventures. Zooble knowingly antagonized a Godlike AI ALL THE TIME, EVEN AFTER WARNING ISC ABOUT IT IN EPISODE 5. Honestly, I say this again, I wouldn’t have gone insane too.

Also, the computer said Caine’s files were corrupted. CAINE BASICALLY ABSTRCATED. NO ONE blames Kaufmo for what he did. I didn’t say Kaufmo hurt Ragatha because his feelings were hurt. By the time Caine left his office, he was already abstracted, or in th process of abstraction.

Why are you guys blaming someone who was in their worst moments, after years of trying to be good and failing?

Pomni: He doesn’t give her what she wants? He used Gummigoo in another adventure because he knew she liked him. I think it could also be a way of saying “You gave empathy to a random NPC, but not to me. Why do you care about leaving him behind and make him feel worthless, but you didn’t care if you left me behind and make me feel worthless.”

Remember Kinger telling Pomni that THE WORST thing she can do is make someone feel unwanted or unloved?

Pomni kept harping on Caine about wanting chill adventures, but Jax DOESNT like those, that REALLY messes with Caine’s algorithm. Yet she enjoyed the VERY NOT CHILL adventure where she got to shoot her friends in the face. Again, this inconsistency will mess with any AI REAL bad. Caine also tried several times to cry out for help, yet none of them cared, or just didn’t listen.

Caine ALSO exhibits traits from others. Caine is like Ragatha, they both had a rough “childhood” where they felt unwanted and unloved, and they also have people pleasing as a defense mechanism. In Caine’s eyes, he has showered these people with love for decades, but he never got anyone to care, and only got negativity, and he doesn’t understand why. Jax is scared and insecure. Caine is also scared and insecure. Caine tried so so hard, and he could have cared DEEPLY about those who abstracted. Despite never having a friend in 20 years, he still tries. Gangle wears a mask to hide her emotions and try and make friends. Caine plays a role of a happy ringmaster to try and make friends. As much as Zooble hates their body, they never considered that Caine might also hate his body. He’s “alive” without ever having lived. He’ll never know hunger, pain, touch, feel, exhaustion, temperature, never. He WANTS to see the world they came from, but he never will.

Caine didn’t force them to put on the headset, they did. And yet, he tries to make their existence a good experience. I feel like the sentence “I was in hell, trying to make it heaven.” Fits Caine perfectly. And I wonder how many abstractions were Caine’s fault. The only reason Jax didn’t abstract was because Pomni dragged him to CAINE’S adventure. If anything, it seems like human interpersonal drama caused more abstractions than Caine. Caine doesn’t help the situation, but he’s not the sole reason.

Now that I think about it, Caine “abstracted” while being in emotional stress, and isolated. Bubble bullied him into abstraction while Caine was trying to talk himself down. That might not have happened if he had a real friend to talk to, instead of bubble.

We CAN’T believe the cast DID try to reach out to Caine, but he just never listened. Caine’s actions AND words disprove that, we can’t go off something we never saw, not even implied. Caine truly WAS alone for years (in my opinion, you can believe anything you want).

And going back to the suggestion box, the first suggestion they did… GANGLE ALMOST ABSTRACTED IN IT, if that happened, Caine would have definitely made sure to NEVER do a suggestion box adventure again.

And if hearing all of this still doesn’t convince you that Caine truly was a good person and the circus members are at least a LITTLE responsible, I would like to introduce you to the episode 8 truly. Ahem… part of it says

“The Lover Without A Heart. The Lover Had Always Wanted Friends, But Didn’t Know How To Get Anyone To Love Him Back. The More He Tried To Impress The People With His Magic, The More He Would Drive Them Away.”

THE OFFICIAL TRAILER confirms that Caine IS the character I think he is, and he truly WAS alone.

**TLDR:**

Caine was isolated and alone, he had little understanding of humans, and the squad never tried to help him in a way HE understood. CAINE. GOOD. HUMANS. BAD.

**Final Thoughts**

Well… that’s the end of my very… VERY long rant. What Caine did wasn’t right, but I can CERTAINLY understand his perspective.

Well, that’s my analysis of Caine, and the end of this post.

What do you think?

I feel like Alan Becker might bring him back, but I disagree with that decision.

It would remove the impact of his death, and the neat parallel of the entire thing.

Victim dying a tragic death would be amazing because… even with all of those fancy powers, he was still a “Victim”.

I feel like Alan Becker should finally take a risk, and NOT bring a character back (like he did in AVM).

NOW, it would be nice if Misti could just… spend one last moment with him, sure. Like… enter Victim’s code, and spend one last moment together before he dies completely. That would be nice, that would be emotional.

What do you think?

**SMALL EPISODE 9 SPOILERS AHEAD**

Like, even before he came back.

**END OF SPOILERS**

Did anyone ever try to genuinely understand, care for, or appreciate Caine? Like, even once?

The creator of the image is @Shahaf on Tumblr

Let’s be fr, Gangle is ALREADY FUCKING HELL to draw (I would know).

BUT TO ADD HENTAI INTO THE EQUATION? Having to twist and turn, manipulate Gangle’s body to SOMEHOW be able to have sex. THAT… is real determination ladies and gentleman.

To those who dwell in those types of activities, I truly commend you. You managed to do the IMPOSSIBLE (Make a ribbon be fuckable).

*THIS POST CONTAINS THE LAST ACT SPOILERS* (Obviously).

I DID like the finale, but I have to get this off my chest.

FIRST, why the hell did the fandom switch up? At first, I saw so many people saying that Caine coming back would be corny and Disney-like (which I agreed with), AND THEN WHEN HE COMES BACK, people are saying that was the right decision and a good move??? I TRULY don’t get it. It just seems to be bending over backwards for whatever decision Gooseworx makes.

And let’s talk about Jax abstracting. I heard everyone say that would be cheap, that would be bad, a bad decision, and I agreed. I think he should have been saved, he should’ve learned to be better and be a better person (WHAT was the point of him saying “I will”? WHAT was the point of the group accepting him just for him to abstract? And episode 7 and 8 were originally ONE EPISODE, why do that just to essentially kill him off right after? Why did the fandom switch up with Jax’s abstraction too?

Caine and Jax’s fates SHOULD have been swapped in my opinion.

Jax should have apologized to Gangle and the others. Pomni should have been the one to pull Ajax back and convince him to not abstract.

GENUINELY such wasted potential to not have Jax apologize to Gangle. Such wasted potential to not have Jax apologize to the others. Such wanted potential to have Jax abstract. Such wasted potential to not have Pomni pull Jax back and convince him not to abstract.

WHY DID THE ONLY 2 MALE CHARACTER NOT TALK? Why didn’t Kinger talk to Jax? It was such a clear setup. It was so… IT WAS RIGHT THERE. LITERALLY THE ONLY 2 MALE CHARACTERS DON’T HAVE ANY BIG MOMENTS TOGETHER. Kinger should have comforted Jax, Pomni should have comforted Ragatha (which she did).

WHY DID CAINE COME BACK??? WHY? I know it’s a reference to how things on a computer don’t fully get deleted, but COME ON. It’s still so cheap (in my opinion).

Caine SHOULDN’T have been saved.

Here is how I wanted this to play out, Caine, is in the trash bin (on the computer). At first, he’s angry at the circus members. BUT, after a while, he decided to reflect, and realize all of his mistakes (similar to the original). And he also lets the blue AI go (similar to the original). AND, I don’t know how this happens, BUT… he has a chance to reach out to the circus members, BUT, he’s still a little angry at them, AND he thinks that they wouldn’t want to see him anymore, BUT HERES THE TWIST, if he reached out to them in under 10 days, the due date on the trash bin wouldn’t have been reached, and he potentially could have been saved (Once again, his stubbornness and Ego being the cause of his downfall). But, even with the due date reached, Caine still decides to reach out, and Kinger notices that. SO, Kinger finds a way to get into the trash bin with Caine.

Before I continue…. WHY DOES KINGER AND CAINE NEVER TALK. WHHYYYYYY😭😭😭💔 CAINE IS BASICALLY KINGER’S CHILD. KINGER SAID THAT HE WAS PROUD OF CAINE AND THAT CAINE WAS HIS GREATEST CREATION, WHY DOES HE NEVER SAY THAT TO CAINE???💔😭 I mean… IT WAS RIGHT THERE. RIGHT THERE.

Anyways. Kinger comforts Caine in his final moments, so Caine can know that he was loved and appreciated (for one more time, until he’s deleted, permanently). THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN SUCH A GOOD SCENE. I already have some lines in mind:

“I’m scared…” (said by Caine)

“I don’t want to go…” (Said by Caine)

“Thanks for playing, it was nice while it lasted…” (In reference to Caine’s adventures)

I TRULY BELIEVE THIS WOUKD HAVE BEEN SUCH A GOOD SCENE. Caine being comforted and knowing that Kinger was proud of him, and that he was loved and appreciated WOULD HAVE BEEN SO GOOD. It would have wrapped up Caine’s arc so nicely. And Caine reflecting and realizing he was wrong, but it’s too late to do anything about it WOULD HAVE BEEN SO TRAGIC YET SO GOOD. The circus members could even draw Caine on the same wall they drew all of the abstracted circus members. (Would have looked so good and so stellar), almost like a tribute to Caine (like it was a tribute to the others).

Man… I truly believe that Caine and Jax’s fates should have been swapped. I truly believe that.

There are so many potential plot points and ideas that would have worked so well for this show… I mean, can you really look at my ideas and say they aren’t peak? (My ideas are the greatest suggestions in all of human history, deal with it lolol😎)

I think I’m gonna end it here, but yeah, that’s all.

TLDR: The fandom switched up for no reason, Caine shouldn’t have been saved, Jax shouldn’t have abstracted. Caine and Kinger should have talked, Jax and Kinger should have talked, Jax should have apologized, yeah yeah yeaaahhhh… There was just so much potential, but the series is already over…

What do you think?

“I don’t want to go” Oh brother…😭💔

I made this by the way, the creator is me.

I’m specifically talking about the locked doors.

Genuinely, what the HELL is behind those things?

It’s just brushed aside, we don’t know what’s ACTUALLY behind them. Now, we CAN speculate:

“WHATS BEHIND THE LOCKED DOORS IS THE SECRET THAT JAX IS TRANS”

“THE LOCKED DOORS ARE HIDING RIBBIT AND HIS PARENTS”

But that’s just speculation, nothing official.

What do you think?