Film Theory: Jax's Master Plan EXPOSED! (The Amazing Digital Circus) 

To be fair, his behavior could just be the nihilistic realization that in the Circus nothing maters, there are no consequences. And wasn't it said that Jax deserved to be there the most? Would that not suggest that he is in a similar situation to the others?

Surprised y'all didn't mention Kinger's rare moment of clarity, saying how he remembered how difficult it was for Ragatha to adjust to life in the circus while comforting her and encouraging her attempts to mentor Pomni. It's a really sweet exchange, and veryy strong evidence that Ragatha was indeed originally human.

I think Jax realized a while ago that they're all immortal and the most pain they seem to be able to feel is mild discomfort. If they're ever in any "danger," Caine will just save them. The real threat is losing your mind and abstracting so he's doing his best to keep things interesting for himself and others without being able to cause any serious harm. He's basically pulling a zero-approval gambit to keep everybody from succumbing to the monotony.

Purple bunny? Big smile? Might be an NPC? breaks the fourth wall? Trapped in a video game? GLItcH TRaP

The only problem that I see with specifically Jax being the NPC is that he made a reference to Willy Wonka in the episode. To quote, “we’re seconds away from being Augustus Glooped!” Something that I imagine a human would know/reference, but not Caine, and if Caine wouldn’t know it, why would any of his NPCs?

Interesting, but I like to think that Jax is a Hacker Troll, so it fits that each member of the cast is Involved with IT and game development, with Kinger being a Bug Tester, Ragata being marketing, and Pompni a Beta tester

If anything, Jax gives me more of vibes of a hacker that broke into the system without warrant. Maybe that's why he has keys everywhere? Because he was able to hack himself access. And I mean, we've all seen what doxxer jerks are like online... It would also explain why he's so engaged in the activities. He wanted to get in on this game with crazy advanced Ai, but not just to play with in its intended way, more like how people make torture builds on games like The Sims.

Good theory but, If Caine didn’t know who was the NPC, and he couldn’t delete humans, why couldn’t he just try deleting everyone until the NpC died?

1:09 "I guess the T-Pose wasn't submissive and agreeable enough." BRO 💀💀💀

jax's weird physics does have an explanation, everyone's bodies have their own rules like one being able to split up and pomni being able to stretch (and probably anything else needed for physical comedy for the jester thing), kinger doing whatever you want to call that glitch, etc. their bodies follow the rules related to what they're based off of and jax is clearly bugs bunny-esc hence the weird interactions he has, stabilization while shaking and standing up when one should fall is classic cartoon logic

TBH, I think Caine’s line was more meant to imply that he *deleted a human* not that an NPC is a cast member. That’d be a nice twist, buuuuut Jax made a pop culture reference. Given that all the NPC’s have no knowledge of anything, that feels misleading, if someone really is an npc

"I don't think it's Zooble or Gangle because they are used for comic relief. Here's a collection of comedy moments that proves it's Jax"

I knew Jax was gonna be the villain just from his description. A purple digitalized bunny tormenting souls no longer connected to physical bodies.

The fact that even after mat pat has left, the quality of these videos is still as good as ever.

12:10 actually in this scene, he doesn’t seem to be looking directly at the camera, he’s looking slightly more to the right

Honestly, wouldn't Jax being the main antagonist seem to... Predictable?

I don't think that is actually the case, because Caine claims the ai was 57% more immersive implying that they were much more rudementory in the past, and jax seems to be stuck there for quite some time.

One thing about NPCs blending in... Caine specifically states that he's using new, presumably more complex AI than he previously had. That would suggest that Gummigoo's level of awareness is part of the new AI

the thing is you said he couldn't delete a human so why doesn't he just try to delete them all until he deletes the npc?

This is exactly what I love about Film Theory! You guys always find the most fascinating connections and insights. Can't wait to see what other hidden gems you'll uncover.

The main hole with this is that Jax is pretty humanized despite his cruelty. It’s implied that Jax’s wickedness is just a mask to cover the fact that he’s hurting, and we even see him give a sad expression when he hears about Kaufmo’s funeral. However, we do know from Gummigoo that AI can be advanced enough to have complex feelings, but Kane implies that that’s a rather recent development in new AI.

I believe Ragatha is a very likely candidate for the NPC twist actually! Whether or not she’s aware of it, she definitely acts as a “tutorial” type character; helping Pomni along with her arrival, trying to keep her on track with Caine’s antics, interacting directly with the candy princess and leading the gang along… she’s very mission oriented! Maybe that’s what she’s programmed to do. Not to mention, with Kinger being there the longest, she seems surprised that he remembers something about her from so long ago, shouldnt that mean she should be even slightly deteriorating mentally alongside him?? But in fact she seems one of the more stable of them all! Anywho, just my thoughts, just wanted to put them out there in case I’m right one day haha

I didn’t have enough time to watch the whole video so idk if this is mentioned but some people (including myself) think that Caine might be struggling to remember if HE is an npc. Another theory I have is that Zooble or Kinger is an npc. Kinger is just really dumb and doesn’t remember things from a few seconds ago and also know a suspicious amount of things about the digital world as proven in episode 1. Zooble is just cold and distant and the character we know the least about. Gooseworx has confirmed that episode 3 will be about Zooble. She has a also told us that there will be a big plot twist and most people think it will be “Jax is a npc” but maybe Gooseworx thinks no one will suspect her favorite character to be an npc. But remember, it’s just a theory!

2:59 Something with a little more Pizzaz (BFDIA reference)

Counterpoint: At the start of episode 1 when Pomni was trying to take the headset off, Jax said 'Yeah keep trying, because that worked for all of US' implying that he also was part of the group that tried removing their headsets, which an AI wouldn't need to do.

Y'know I just thought about this; The very first line from Jax in the Pilot; "is this *another one* of your NPCs" implying that an NPC did make it into the Circus at one point or that Cain made one inside before.

Honestly, im just glad yall covered this theory, its popped up in my feed a lot

I’ve already gotten used to this guy taking over matpats place

Jax halfway through the series according to this theory: "I AM NOT AN NPC!!! COULD AN NPC PUNCH! YOU! INTO! THIS! PIT!!! Huh?! Could an npc do that!?! ... uh oh"

Another idea is that Jax did skip out on Kaufmo’s funeral, maybe because he doesn’t appreciate how AI are just forgotten (Gummigoo’s death) and how humans are deemed more important by the cast. Just an idea, because he seemed a little sad when the characters mentioned giving Kaufmo a funeral. This is in contrast to Jax’s carefree attitude when Kaufmo abstracted, despite everyone else seeming surprised or upset.

15:08 is a fantastic visual. I'd honestly love to see an adventure where Caine is directly involved. Oh! I never connected that Jax was disappointed about The Fudge "dying." Interesting.

When you really think about it, Jax is similar to AM from I have no Mouth and I must Scream. He has the same tendences as AM like how Jax is always putting the other characters in danger, just like AM when he puts the 5 survivors in danger. He also doesn't seem to like the other characters either like at the end of episode 2 when Jax doesn't attend Kaulfmo's funeral, kinda like at the end of I have no Mouth and I must Scream where AM goes into Ted's mind and tells him how much he hates humans, this could comply that Jax is a NPC.

I think like how Kinger is likely the QA tester, Jax is likely the System Admin and his special skills have low-key translated into the Digital Circus. He is a human but like later in the series will be revealed to have a huge role in finding an escape route with his _access_ to keys and all.

I think Jax was the second plush toy because he’s the easiest plush to design out of the whole circus gang. After the first episode did so well, they then had the ability to make all the more complex characters as best as they could.

I was so invested in the mystery of Jax's plan, but I never thought of it like that! Your analysis is always on point and I appreciate the depth of your explanations. Thanks for the awesome content!

I love this guy, he’s such a great theory channel host.

There is a spilt second during Kaufmos funeral where Jaxs’ “mask” drops and him looking sad. It’s very easy to miss but it makes me think that he must have some form of motive behind his cruelty.

I think Jax standing straight up while falling into the chocolate river is just a visual gag. You can see that Jax needs to hang onto to the truck just like Pomni does after Kinger throws the anchor out, and additionally, Jax has hang on to the front of the truck when The Fudge tries to eat them, even swinging back and forth from the momentum.

You are getting better at this

I've been just as excited for this Film Theory as I was for the actual second episode of ADC

19:50 I think this is because Jax knows how to get out of the Circus, but because he is so much of an asshole, he likes staying in a place where there are no consequences for being a murderhobo.

i personally saw jax not appearing for the funeral to be him sad but grieving in a different way or not wanting to appear weak in front of the others

A few things I wanted to mention about the show, that cOuld be nothing but could potentially be something. 1) Early in the first episode Jax mentions Kinger to Pomni saying “he’s supposedly been here the longest” possibly insinuating he knows how long he’s actually been there but is going along with what others have said. 2) The ‘exit’ door Pomni goes through is different than the one she first saw. The arrow is pointing in a different direction. The one she goes through has the arrow pointing away from the picture of the door ON the door. The one she originally saw when Caine was showing her around the map had the arrow pointing towards the door. And while she’s inside the office backrooms, the arrow changes direction with every door she walks through. It’s pointing away from the door until she walks through, then it’s pointing towards it. Could that potentially mean there IS an exit? What would’ve happened if she walked back through the door she came through? Nothing? Maybe. Or would it have changed? Who knows. 3) Were the characters that these people embody randomly chosen? Were they picked by the people in them and they don’t remember doing it? Or were they chosen based on the individuals personalities? I wonder if it’s the last one because Kaufmo was a clown that, as mentioned, told jokes often and Gangle is actually always sad after their happy mask is broken, just as a couple examples. If the character models WERE chosen based on their personalities, is it just because whatever AI is here scanned their brains so well that it chose models from that? Or is it because whoever put them here knew them personally prior to trapping them here? Just a few things I’ve been thinking about. If anyone even sees this, let me know what you think!

Wait, then how did Jax get a room because only real people (or their conscience's) get rooms, we know this because in the room hallway when we see everybody's room there is no Caine or Bubble room (because their both A.I). So if Jax was an A.I he wouldn't have a room. Also in the first episode of TADC when Pomni tries to take the headset off Jax says "Just keep grabbing at it that worked for all of us." he says "us" meaning him and the cast all tried to take the headset off, so if Jax was an NPC it wouldn't make sense for him to say that cause he knows he doesn't have a VR headset on.

I would just like to inform you that you missed some crucial parts that might prove 2 of your evidences incorrect. Jax does actually react to gravity during the part where the truck rams into the other one after kinger throws the anchor. Another thing is that Jax does actually show emotion during kaufmo’s funeral, it’s a quick freeze frame but for a second he looks sad but then immediately gets mad at himself for showing the emotion. Gooseworx has also confirmed that Jax has an age of 22 like a human

about the food and water part, at the end of the second episode, caine says that he hasnt drunk water in a while meaning the he doesnt NEED water, it's just something they do to feel human (lack of a better phrase)

While the AI twist might be alright, that'd mean we're losing an interesting character for an ultimately minor thematic set piece. While I'm not convinced that Jax is an AI, he's the only one who could be exactly because of his mastery over invasion. He's the only one who could convincingly appear out of thin air like Pomni having escaped his map, meaning Caine wouldn't know to erase him.

In all my years of being a viewer of game theory a d film theory THIS video, this video right here is by far 5he most cohesive and most accurate theory ever imo. I think you're spot on.

I think it could be Gangle. For a few reasons, but mainly because Gangle doesn't seem to have a human personality, being controlled by the masks. The line " Aren't you supposed to be submissive and agreeable" also could suggest that Gangle is programmed to fill a specific role, and Jax knows about it.

One issue with the food, bringing up the lack of need for food for people but then stating NPC's like the gummy gators needing syrup to bring back to their village that probably doesn't actually exist is more of a Magoffin than proof of anyone needing food, NPC or not

17:57 Never thought in a million years that I would appear on an episode of Film Theory

Another thing that i haven't seen people mentioned is the character design for jax, all of the other humans in the show are built differently than jax, pomni has the 2 colors making her look different, ragatha has the button eye, kingers eyes are separated weirdly, but Jax seems to be the only one out of the main 6 that is perfectly asymmetrical which makes him stand out even more

Gummygoo was a good guy. We will remember him 🫡

Jax is acting more like a hacker and internet troll.

It’s also alongside that when he is hit, little exclamation marks appear and he had things around him, like the bandit when he hits the rocks in episode 2

Amazing video! I have heard about this theory before, but the only evidence they had was the pins. You brought in a lot more evidence, making this theory a lot more solid. Great video 👍

Tangentially I assume that zooble was the only one who got close to escaping and was punished for it by becoming a mass of shapes, which is why shes so standoffish. She also cant say anything because she'll be dumped into the basement.

Caine describing Gummigoo and the others as “rotten bandits” despite making their AI immersive enough to have reasons for stealing makes me question if he actually creates the AI. The fact that the AI is immersive enough to have an existential crisis makes me believe that someone outside of the digital circus is tampering with the world to make it capable of withstanding AI. It’s a stretch, but I feel it makes sense from a realistic point of view

At 20:22 they make a reference to his head not moving when the truck goes over the road, I realized so late from when it was posted omg did anyone else see this???

I love all the new theorists! They deserved this job more than anyone else!

2 things that weren't mentioned: first, if jax is an npc, it could be assumed he was from an adventure, and most likely was themed to match it. he's clearly a looney tunes style of cartoon character, so it could be possible his cartoony nature is why he is so prone to enjoy and seek out, as he says, violence and chaos, which is what most old cartoons amount to. this basically would make him a cross between roger rabbit and judge doom secondly, on the other side of it, in episode 2 jax mentions augustus gloop in the chocolate river, implying that he is either human and knows willy wonka, or the willy wonka reference is coded in and somehow jax understands it well enough to make the reference himself, which seems unlikely

When Goosework was questioned about "Which character in the digital circus deserved to be there the most" Her answer was Jax. This implies that Jax had to have a rough upbringing in the real world to have his placement in the circus justified

Jax being an ai dose makes sense, also the background in the pin does stand out from the others and looks very different and yes caine dosen't go adventures with them

Also, the food thing mentioned is disproved moments later. Kinger says, though quiet, they feel a "digital hunger" and no one bats an eye when Jax talks about being hungry.

"Don't break it Jax, Don't break it Jax, Dont break it Jax that's all I ask" She doesn't even consider Kinger, she knows he didn't mean any harm, but Jax does

My one main problem with this theory is a small detail where Jax mentions "Augustus Gloop" from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I feel like this implies he has clear knowledge of the outside world if he made a reference like this so i'm not sure that he's an AI. (sorry if someone said this already i probably didnt read far enough to see it :p)

I noticed in the second episode that 1 of the A.I in the background was being shaken by another one and his head fell off and the one that was shaking him panicked showing that even individual ai can have emotions (it was in the scene were they were leaving the kingdom)

Wow, the new clothing line is beautiful!!! I NEED That scenic sweater 😍

Another thing about Jax is that he is the one unlocking all the content in the adventures. In Episode 1, he was the leader and directed the characters to their objectives. In Episode 2, if he wasn’t so forceful, they never would’ve met the Fudge, a main character according to the dev room, because Gangle’s driving would be less reckless and Kinger wouldn’t throw the anchor overboard for Pomni, who was thrown out by him.

You missed the scene where Kinger says it took Ragatha a while to settle in. That’s hard proof Ragatha was a human.

I just wanted to say, you are doing a great job filling the shoes that matpat left behind. Despite i still miss his squacky voice at the "film theory" cut, you are doing awesome and successfully added your own flavor to the chanel. I am glad this legacy was given to you and the others, and your efforts arent going unnotice keep up the amazing job, we will follow you just like with matpat

i love the fudge monsters funny face

I can see some reasoning for Jax to be made a plushie: The creators probably knew he would be a fan favorite. I haven't actually watched either episode, but from what I've seen, they've made him a lovable bully type of thing. He's always casual, adding humor in crazy situations, he mentions food all the time so people are like "lol same," he's sarcastic and somewhat quippy, and he's voiced by the OG femboy spider. They knew they had something here that people would love.

10:11 I’m pretty sure ragatha that isn’t an npc because when they were riding on “The Fudge” Ragatha and Kinger are talking and Kinger say this “I remember when you first entered the circus” or something along those lines. This shows that Ragatha is most definitely a human.

What if the reason Caine didn't delete Kaufmo isn't because he was a human, but because abstractions are like some kind of virus that's too complicated to just erase? Cuz honestly the most terrifying implication to me is that Caine could just snap his fingers like that and permanently erase an actual person

COMPUTER: INERTER ALERT, RORGE AI IN THE TENT. CAIN: RORGE AI IN THE TENT!?

I never saw cane’s little moment as a hint towards his possible fault. I just saw it as him being over dramatic thinking about what COULD happen.

I had a small suspicion that it was ragatha and jax being npcs, because they are just such perfect foils for each other that it’s strange

In the preview where jax is working in the fast food restaurant i had a thought, that jax is actually liberated in the circus. I got the feeling he was an extra nobody outside, worked a dead end job, hated everything about his life, but in the circus hes free. Which is why he hated working that fast food or store clerk position so much. Idk tho, i guess well have to wait and see

You're doing a great job

Jax breaking the rules of physics isn't that noteworthy when you realise Pomni just grows sharp teeth when she gets angry

I still think there's a definite possibility that it's not any of the main cast and is instead someone we haven't been introduced to yet. The way Caine talks about it, it's like something very big and very bad already happened, but if Jax was the NPC all along then he's kinda just been vibing with the cast and not really causing major issues that would warrant Caine's extreme reaction or delete-on-sight protocol for NPCs in the Circus. Whilst maybe not as narratively satisfying, I feel like it's more likely we'll get some kind of flashback to a character who used to be with the main cast but turned out to be an NPC and made things go haywire, before Caine ended up deleting them. And there's a good chance that Ragatha was the one who brought them in based on her comment of "is that allowed..?" to Pomni's suggestion of keeping Gummigoo around.

Also, here’s another fun theory. Cane is not an ai but also human. He’s the developer of the game who got trapped by Jax, the rogue AI but Cane still managed to maintain his admin privileges in the game. Cane could be being forced to continue developing the game and setting up new adventures for Jax to use to torment the human characters.

I actually think Gangle is a pretty good candidate for being the AI in the group. Caine says in the pilot that the one thing he can't control is their minds, but this seems to contradict the fact that Gangle's entire gimmick is that her emotions are dependent on the mask she's wearing. This could just be a digital representation of a fragile emotional state or something like that but I thought it was interesting.

F in chat for Gummigoo. RIP, our beloved Australian candy croc. You will not be forgotten!!! 🐊💛💚😭

Bro the way he referenced the gummy crocodiles death is crazy

You forgot that at the end of episode 2, Jax looked sad for a second then rolls his eyes showing that he might actually care about these people, but he’s just trying to hide it because I bet you something happened to him in the past

I think gummigoos character arc was the most well executed so far. Ive always thought that a fictional character having an existential crisis after finding out their fictionality, and this one is really well executed. And since his arc was over, he got removed and not milked. Also he became a likable character out of an antagonist! My fave char now

First we had Gregory is a robot, now we have Jax is an NPC... I'm starting to notice a trend

For lumen, can you please do a long ombre skirt? I absolutely adore the colour scheme of the jacket and would love a skirt to match! Awesome job on the clothing line guys!

Another big problem with this theory, is that caine mentions that the candy kingdom NPCs areuch more advanced than the previous versions, this implies all previous AI was less advaced, but Jax is as lifelike as the new AI, or like a human. Their is no way that Jax could be advanced AI, the timeline doesnt work.

"A SUSSY IMPOSTER IS AMONG US BUBBLE" -Caine

Proof backing up the fact that pomni is one of the creators of the game, is that, at the start of tadc 2, in Pomni’s dream, we hear caine say “welcome to the amazing digital circus!” Even though pomni wasn’t there when caine said that, the only way she could’ve known about that line is if she had made it.

The backs of the enamel pins definitely feels like an important detail

I love how people will drop everything and click on a film/game/style/food theory video

0:22 why would you do gummigoo dirty like that 😭💀

10:46 well in the scene with the anchor jax does get flug back and he hold on the truck to not get thrown off so i think most of those are gags since gangle also doesn't seem to be affected in that same scene when the truck falls

Small detail that I just remembered when watching the part about Jax being the only one interested in food: The Fudge is also interested in food (The Candy People) and mentions "...But I was Banished by that rotten Princess after I ate too many of the delicious Townsfolk." I'm not sure if this is much, because Kinger does say "...The digital food here only gives off the virtual sensation of Eating without any of the Nutritional Benefits." but it seems to indicate that the AI has a sense of "taste" so to speak; as part of the reason people like to eat/like certain food/are able to distinguish high nutrition food from low nutrition food is by taste as well as texture and smell. It's implied the humans simply partake to feel a sense of normalcy, where as the AI sees it as needed (even if they don't know why). Cain himself also seems to suffer from this flaw of knowing Food is important to people but not really knowing why (Again, there's no nutritional benefit, meaning he could do anything else as a reward because the food is unnecessary, but specifically chose food). He could have let them keep Gummigoo, but was worried about what might happen (because, unlike the humans, the NPCs DO need to eat/drink/sleep). I also see a lot of people bringing up how Cain said he was "Testing a new AI", but I'd like to point out: we only have two episodes for AI reference, and Cain specifically made the "Gather the Gloinks" adventure easy because Pomni was new. Cain, himself, is clearly a VERY advanced AI, so it's quite possible he's kind of suffering the same fate as Kinger. Going insane from isolation before dragging people in, so he made his own "AI Friend" that he eventually forgot about. Cue said friend being..... Displeased at being forgotten about.

5:08 I am very invested in this line of dialogue from Caine when I watched the episode. It's scary to think that Caine's limits could be self-imposed, that everything including the humans could be wiped out in an instant if Caine gets careless.

The idea of Jax and Caine both being different parts of an NPC computer program also kinda lines up with parts of the original material the show was based off of: I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream Caine is supposed to represent AM in this instance as the “rogue AI” on the surface. But I also think Jax lines up with AM’s motivations as well. While Caine is kind of like AM in the I have no mouth point and click adventure game (sending the humans on weird adventures and riddled quests) Jax is more like the AM from the short story and radio drama, evil, conniving, angry, tormenting all of the other characters just because he thinks it’s funny, or he gets some sick pleasure out of it