Welcome everyone to a brand new challenge for the blog – Mae’s 31 Day Series Challenge for 2024! Similar to what I did with my gaming posts last month, this will be more of a monthly celebration of all things – well series related. Originally I was going to focus it solely on my favorite TV shows but then…I kept thinking about the shows solely on streaming services, as well as web series on platforms like YouTube – all of which I watch regularly. So I decided to combine them all in this month’s celebration 🙂 so don’t be surprised if these posts go all over the place as I talk about some of my favorites, some that may have strong impacts on me, or maybe even some coming down the pipe. Who knows! We’ll see where the night takes us haha. I’ll likely revisit the gaming challenge at some point and continue talking about even more games but for now let’s celebrate series media!
Day Seventeen: The Amazing Digital Circus
Indie animation has been booming in the last couple of years and I, being a huge fan of the animation circuit, couldn’t be happier seeing the success of projects like today’s series we’re talking about – The Amazing Digital Circus. It’s pilot is one of the most viewed animation pilots on YouTube and continues to grow, especially since the recently released Episode Two came out – which had one of the most audible gasp “WTF” moments in an animation in recent years in my opinion.
Created by Gooseworx and produced by GLITCH Studios, this series follows a cast of “humans” who were trapped inside this virtual reality game, the digital circus, where they must follow the instructions of the ringmaster Caine, who is an artificial intelligence. Pomni is the latest addition to the cast, popping up in the pilot and sort of acts as our main character for the most part. She’s trying to come to terms with being trapped in this world, seeing into her anxiety and deteriorating mental health as she is forced to embrace this new life. The “human” characters include Jax, a purple bunny man who is known to prank and bully others (this man is chaotic evil – we will get back to him lol); Ragatha, a kind rag doll who is motherly towards the other characters and tries to maintain the optimistic attitude towards their situation; Gangle, a ribbon-bodied individual whose mood is shown as the comedy and tragedy masks (I love her – she needs a hug); Kinger, a king chess piece whose paranoid and forgetful who’s been said to be trapped there the longest; and Zooble, an irritable individual whose body is made up of mix-and-match blocks (she is a vibe – I love her).
What I love about this series is its inspirations fully on display in the series. You see a lot of 1990s computer-generated imagery as well as homages to things such as the old school Raggedy Ann and Andy movie and the story I Have No Moutch and I Must Scream. There’s more I’m sure – and all of them are appreciated!
What’s been interesting about this series though is the fan reception and it’s jump…on Jax (amongst other things). Remember the purple bunny man I mentioned above? Well, when the pilot launched, the internet went crazy for this man. Perfectly portrayed by Michael Kovach, who’s a big name in the indie animation VO world (Hazbin Hotel Pilot, Murder Drones, Lackadaisy to name a few), Jax came into the pilot fully showcasing his bullying personality and how he does things to keep the chaos and not be there for his friends. Even so, the internet was in love with this man – he was a wacky guy who was a bit mean. And then the second episode came out…and the internet was surprised this man…was a dick haha. Insert Surprised Pikachu Face here.
Ya’ll – Jax is unhinged. He wasn’t rewritten to be more chaotic, Gooseworx confirmed that the scripts were already written for the first couple episodes when the Pilot was released. His character hasn’t changed. It’s ok to dislike a character for the way they are written or how they are portrayed – but perhaps don’t lash out at creators because you don’t like how the characters are written. This is a good example of headcanons vs. canons – and how in this digital age, sometimes the lines can be so intensely blurred. Hell, if you search the show, you’ll likely see fan submissions above the actual show…and a lot of those submissions are a bit risque to put it mildly 😉 hey man, if you aren’t actively hurting anyone, you do you. But there’s a reason things are headcanons – and there’s a reason there is actual canon from the creators themselves. And you getting mad at the creator because whatever you thought up in your head isn’t canon is not the way.
Through all the drama and chaos of the internet – I still really enjoy The Amazing Digital Circus and look forward to all the create things coming our way. And yes, I audibly gasped in Episode Two. Dare I say, I cried. I’m an emotional person – let me live lol. I can’t wait to see what comes next for our little circus family – and discover the mysteries behind why they are there, what really happens to the abstracted characters…and what’s Jax’s story 😉 there’s theories out there, some that may get mentioned in the videos I link down below. I’m following it all – I’m a theorist at heart and I’m loving the fan theories! Let’s see what happens next!
Thanks for reading today’s post! Lots of love and stay safe out there! I’m looking at jumping into deeper dives for some of the posts remaining for this month! I’m also debating keeping this train going next month or taking a small break to dive back into more creative writing like I’ve been trying to do for a bit now. We shall see! ^_^
*~Mae's Corner~* 