Film Theory: The Amazing Digital Circus is LYING To You!

Thanks to Sundays Dog Food for sponsoring this video!

After covering Murder Drones a few months ago on the channel, we’re back to cover another @GLITCH production! And this one, which has already received 32 MILLION views on the pilot episode, is a doozy. Today, loyal Theorist, we’re diving headfirst into The Amazing Digital Circus! Which era are these characters trapped in a video game? Who helped create the game? And is Pomni letting on more than she’s letting on? Let’s find out…

‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
*🔽 Don’t Miss Out!*

Need Royalty Free Music for your Content? Try Epidemic Sound.
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
*👀 Watch MORE Theories:*
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
*Join Our Other YouTube Channels!*
​🕹️ @GameTheory
🍔 @FoodTheory
👔 @StyleTheorists
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
*Credits:*
Writers: Matthew Patrick and Forrest Lee
Editors: Tyler Mascola, Koen Verhagen, Danial "BanditRants" Keristoufi, AbsolutePixel, and Lace
Sound Designer: Yosi Berman
‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐‐
#TheAmazingDigitalCircus #AmazingDigitalCircus #DigitalCircus #Glitch #Cartoon #Animated #Anime #GlitchProductions #MurderDrones #Dark #DarkComedy #Theory #FilmTheory #Matpat

[archieharrodine]

I love the theory that Kinger (and Queenie) were original bug testers for the game when it was first made, which is why Kinger is the one who has been there the longest, constantly talks about an ‘insect collection’ (insects = bugs), and knows a lot about the digital world when he is explaining hunger at the end of the episode

[peggyjaws]

A thing I love about this show is how Pomni does not care about any of her newfound "friends", she always prioritizes the exit whenever she sees it, unlike most "I'm in a new world and I'll explore anything and make many friends" cliches. It makes her feel more real in terms of how a person would act in a panic situation.

[daakshadhaanvi]

Here's an interesting theory to look out for: "XDDCC", which was pomni's actual name, is in an encrypted language called "Caesar Cypher", and translates to "out". And when caine spins the wheel, the letters above it "PNCMM" means "get", So basically, caine/someone was telling pomni to get out. Also, pomni's name means remember in Russian, but everyone already knows that

Edit: Thank you for the likes!
Edit 2: Not to be _that_ person, but thank you for the likes! 1.8k??? That's crazyyy <3

[glertlesckletch]

I was surprised you didn't mention the fact that an exit does seem to exist. When Caine is showing Pomni the entirety on the digital circus map, she spots a green door that says exit and when she questions it, Caine dismisses her questioning. The exit Pomni goes into conveniently shows up in front of her, but this one is red, and to me seems like something Caine made to try and get Pomni to give up on the idea of an exit.

[sweaterhomeiscool]

I think the most shocking thing here is that MatPat seemed to not know what a Squirmles (worm on a string toy) is...

[anthonyzeedyk]

The consciousness copy theory is more legitimately frightening than humans being directly trapped in a simulation.

[Wolf_Dominic]

Now that I think about it, it is interesting and suspicious that Pomni just happens to arrive around the same time as Kaufmo’s abstraction.

[jayjaygaming]

Something I heard someone say in the comments of the pilot episode was how the characters represent the stages of grief. There is denial(Pomni), anger(Zooble?), bargaining(Ragatha?), depression(Gangle?), and acceptance(Jax). I can’t remember exactly who was in each role, so I may have made a mistake, but I remember that the theory made a lot of sense when it was explained properly

[OrdinaryPlayz-gehp]

I have a theory for kinger: he keeps talking about “an insect collection” and insects can also be called “bugs”
So kinger may have been a programmer in this and is looking for bugs but he went too crazy and started to confuse video/game bugs with an insect collection.

[ferr.]

I like the idea of Caine not fully understanding humans. Given he is an actual AI who may not know anything beyond the digital circus, there's a chance he doesn't get how important the outside world is to humans and why they are so desperate to get back to it

[kevincomplex]

Caine's name could also be a reference to Novocain, an recalled anesthetic commonly used in dental procedures. It could be the case that Caine's likeness to an anesthetic means that although he tries to make things better(creating adventures and keeping the characters in line), he doesn't ultimately solve the problem at hand. Cain and Abel is an interesting direction but doesn't seem relevant, at least not at this point in the series.

[mikefine]

The thing is, Pomni didn't go through the exit. That red door with exit on it was not the exit she saw when she was being given a tour of the grounds. That was an entirely different door. Now that she's been through the fake exit she'll be much less likely to go around looking for the real exit out on grounds.

[NorvaVindrise]

The third theory is quite scary. The thought of yourself not being real really feels wierd for me, being a real person stuck in a digital world gives some kind of hope of escape. But being a simulation of the real person unable to escape the computer gives the most hopeless vibes.

[orireth]

Counter point, Caine doesn't freeze up from not knowing the answer, but freezes as his code prevents him from answering. He doesn't do anything till jax asks him another question after all

[themasked_bug]

Also! Caine could be like those jumping denture toys we all loved as kids!! Just a little thought. RAGATHA could also resemble the Raggedy Ann doll. Zooble, BUILDING. BLOCKS-, Abstracted things, growing up/childhood fears. There is a lot of dark childhood things I’ve noticed, so yeah!

[acorn]

Something i just realized is that there is a possibility that all the characters know each other in the real world. This is a video game that is probably still being worked on by a crew. Pomni could be one of the creators, Kinger was a beta tester and I saw another theory saying that Jax could be an admin bc he has keys to all the rooms. There is a possibility that all these people worked on TADC together but since they lose their memories when they enter they don't remember each other.

[The-Branch]

A couple of counter points I thought of while watching:
- Pomni is shown to just pop into existence, so it seems unlikely that the artist dolls are placeholders for humans, it doesn't really seem sensible to overwrite a doll just to "teleport" it to a another location instead of just creating a new model in that location. Also, Jax considering the possibility that Pomni was an NPC, as well the existence of the gloinks and the Gloink Queen, proves Cain can create unique/more detailed NPCs, and that the dolls are likely just used for unimportant/background roles.
- Cain says that the humans' minds are one of the few things he can't control, which could imply they aren't actually part of the code and are still in their bodies. Admittedly, it could be that Cain is just lying, is unable to fully comprehend the intricacies of the human mind well enough to manipulate them, or that the humans' minds are stored somewhere Cain doesn't have access to (requiring administrative privileges or being read-only).
Edit: Correction and further elaboration from comments

[JackRook]

Caine isn’t evil, he just gets a bit quirky at night.

I firmly regret commenting this.

[silvesta]

Ok in all seriousness how does this Matpat guy simultaneously run 4 CHANNELS AT Film theory, food theory, fashion theory and game theory and they basically all upload once a week??? I know he has editors, but he is still has to voice and write up these episodes himself. Absolutely insane work ethic, I feel like he needs a break or something

[johnkarakash]

Not mentioned by anyone (that I've noticed): the 'headset computer' is not just grungier than the others, the layout of the desk is different, the computer is off to one side and the actual desk looks like it was bought from an office supply store rather than cubicle 'furniture' in the rest. That tells me there is something quite different about that workplace. Either it is a side project, an abandoned project, is unauthorized or so on. Notice that the lamp to the left is a house lamp, NOT what you'd find in an office. It might have even been the FIRST project (right out of the garage!), and the rest grew around it.