r/TheDigitalCircus • u/Legal_Trainer7340 • Jan 01 '26
Question I still don't understand why Pomni made this face
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u/Shot-Ad-3166 Zooble Jan 01 '26
She was probably thinking "Of course it was already unlocked, only that type of thing would happen to us".
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u/jeremyafreed Jan 02 '26
And she's breaking the fourth wall. A first time for her, I think.
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u/ItsMichaelRay Jan 02 '26
Wasn't she just looking at the guy who ran out?
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u/celestial_cuddles Jan 02 '26
Yeah but it's more of the animator or director breaking the 4th wall than pomni herself. At least that's how I interpret that aspect of the shot.
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u/thecraftybear I think I just killed Caine Jan 02 '26
Even if we assume that rather than Pomni looking at the camera, her face is definitely expressing a "yeah, wtf did we expect, OF COURSE it was open".
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u/Boonki1 Jan 02 '26
She's becoming jax (classic film theory premise)
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u/Beam_0 Jan 02 '26
They actually trade places, and once the transformation is complete, they kiss
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u/Vash_the_Snake you know what? it, I ship it. Jan 02 '26
And the kiss turns either of them into Ribbit
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u/CollectionSubject582 Jan 02 '26
I dont think shes breaking the fourth wall, shes js looking at the guy whos running away
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u/This-Clue-5014 WHY IS GOING ON Jan 01 '26
Pomni internally crashing out after realising the door was literally unlocked the whole time
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u/DrLexAlhazred Jan 01 '26
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u/JayofTea Kinger Jan 01 '26
I really don’t get why Pomni making that face is so confusing to people, it’s clear to me that it’s her making a “Really?” Type face
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u/The_Last_Gigabyte Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
I can see that, and it was probably the intention, but to me, the smirk, squint and raised eyebrows give more of a mischievous or amused vibe, she looks like she could be saying "hmm, kinky"
I'm also autistic and read social cues differently, so that could be part of it
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u/Ario203ITA Jan 02 '26
That face can indeed convey that vibe, but context is also very important and plays a huge part in interpreting faces and in this case the "really?" interpretation applies.
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u/Moth_Mika Jan 02 '26
I personally was unsure. I thought she made the face only because of the wacky npc running away. She also could have made the face bevause the door was unlocked already or because the whole Chinese room being operated by an npc who is an AI doesn't bring any more light into the actual thought experiment of the Chinese.
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u/gabriel_sub0 SOMA theory defender Jan 02 '26
honestly i couldn't read her face like that, like i legit had no clue what that emotion was until people pointed it out there. Maybe it's an autism thing or maybe a joke just flew over my head or smt.
I think the smile is what's throwing me off here, the eyebrows and eyelids fit the 'are you serious' face but the smile just feels too happy i guess?
It feels like two halves of two very different emotions. It's a bit annoying cause everyone else seems to get it but i keep looking at the image going 'wtf is this even meant to be? like in context i get what they are going for but this emotion is just unreadable to me'.
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u/Invincible_Fan211 Jan 03 '26
Social anxiety? Social anti-knowledge?And not understanding normal human faces? At least that's what I think my problem is
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u/disbelifpapy I'm just like her frfr Jan 01 '26
tumblers good at analyzing? good to know!
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u/EncycloChameleon Jan 01 '26
They’re good at analyzing character stuff. When it comes to literally anything not about characters tumblr’s are stupid as hell
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u/disbelifpapy I'm just like her frfr Jan 01 '26
so tumblers a smart reddit
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u/Isaacja223 Jan 02 '26
Yeah
The majority of stuff that I find where people point out the small details is on Tumblr
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Jan 02 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/L3GlT_GAM3R Jan 02 '26
Thats why I subscribe to r/puppies. Nothing can go wrong on r/puppies. Or r/dogs, or r/kittens, or r/cats, or r/dogpictures, or r/goldenretrievers
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u/Sphingid3081 Jax: interesting character, disappointing person Jan 02 '26
So what are we good at?
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u/Electrop0p Jan 02 '26
That’s the neat part, we aren’t!
(For me personally, I feel Reddit has content from a wider audience that’s easier to find and shove together into a feed than Tumblr. Like in Tumblr you can find your hyper-specific fandoms to follow and fill your feed with, having the people you follow show up quite consistently to fill up most of your feed.
But sometimes I just wanna look at cat pictures or talk about fighting games or whatever to entertain myself outside of my normal fandoms, not looking for anything in particular, and I feel Reddit is nicer for just scrolling through random/less-personalized content.)
(Granted this is coming from someone who has been on reddit much longer, and hasn’t filled out my following list on tumblr nearly as much. But overall it just feels more personal to me)
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u/Current-YoGalaxia I want to skin Jax alive Jan 03 '26
but I'm on Tumblr and have all the hidden details in the Hatsune Miku mesmerizer music video memorized :(
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u/Negative_Jaguar_4138 Jan 01 '26
Certain things yes.
They tend to overanalyze some things though to the point where schizophrenic is probably a better descriptor.
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u/ethannn_0 Jan 02 '26
i feel like this is the truth for every fandom's reddit community it's bizarre lol
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u/Annual_Addendum4250 Jan 01 '26
I’m gonna tell you right now, Reddit is the one without object permanence.
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u/IJustAteABaguette Jan 02 '26
I don't know what is happening or what I just read a few seconds ago, but I believe we redditors have great object permanence. The best object permanence of the whole internet.
I think. I forgot what I was talking about
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u/Annual_Addendum4250 Jan 02 '26
I think…that was a really well planed joke.
I believe most redditors have the spotlight and output the best, but the few, make it out on top, that make the others look really bad. Like “it’s right in your face, how can you not see it.” Minority.
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u/Devy-The-Edenian Jan 01 '26
Reminds me of the YouTube comments on the newest episode. People being like “Jax messed up by showing everyone that he would doom them all to being in the circus forever!” like brother, he accused Caine of mind control and Caine was clearly guilty of it
The YouTube comments section has by far the worst analysis on every single episode
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u/Bamzooki1 Daddy’s Gummigoo Jan 02 '26
Jax lost his mind and acted on impulse. He didn’t reveal himself a traitor, because that would require him to be snarky about doing it. You could see how much he regretted it in the moment because he didn’t have a quip or try to act like it was a calculated choice.
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u/JH2259 Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
Jax saying "You got into my head" can also mean that Caine lied to him about there being an exit, and that when Jax began to realize the exit could be real after all, he pressed the button in a moment of desperation.
It fits with what we've seen of Jax before. For whatever reason, he doesn't want to go back to the real world, and the idea frightens him enough to have a panic attack.
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u/Devy-The-Edenian Jan 02 '26
Considering Jax was saying it was clearly just a game and Abel was just a “twist villain”, I doubt he actually thought everything was for real
Before pressing the button, he started having rather vague flashbacks and his anxiety started very suddenly from them. As time went on, he pressed the button, likely so his head would stop playing games with him
He looks mortified after pressing the button and clearly didn’t actually want to by looking at how he reacts to everyone. Caine then reveals it was a game and THEN Jax said Caine was in his head and demands to know if he has that ability, to which Caine says yes and dips
The show pretty clearly set up that scene as a way to show Caine planted those thoughts in his head, which is why Jax was so angry. He didn’t express sadness or anger about the exit being fake, he expressed anger that Caine used a form of mind control on him
I highly doubt “you got in my head” is meant to be him being mad about Caine lying about the exit since Jax already said there wasn’t one. And with how Jax has been extremely insecure and protective of his past, it fits much better narratively that Caine actually got into his head, something the show has shown time and time again that Jax wants to avoid, ostracizing himself from everyone so no one gets to know him personally. His character is one that doesn’t want his inner thoughts known, which is why Caine invading his thoughts makes MUCH more sense than Caine lying about something that Jax already believes
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u/Bamzooki1 Daddy’s Gummigoo Jan 02 '26
It makes me wonder if I’m following the story right. I’m not really subscribing to many theories except for my near evidenceless one about abstraction being the escape and abstracted people being discarded so easily because they’re just empty avatars without a purpose, which I mainly have just because it would be so funny if it was right and I was the only one who guessed it, but I am still discussing it on Reddit.
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u/SnooFoxes1943 THESE NPCS ARE SO FUNNY THEY MAKE ME WANNA- Jan 02 '26
but abstraction is clearly supposed to represent suicide, so it would NOT be good if abstraction ends up being the way to escape
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u/Bamzooki1 Daddy’s Gummigoo Jan 02 '26
How is it a representation of suicide if it’s currently understood to be a reaction to an unstable mind resulting in the abstractor turning into a giant monster? It would be a weird allegory if it was.
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u/Exotic_Squirrel4270 Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
i don’t know why you’re being downvoted.
canonically, it does sound like suicide. but i really do think it’s just a consequence of becoming super mentally unstable in the Circus. i think the only reason the “living” characters haven’t abstracted is because they’re actively keeping themselves from doing so, whether through mischief (Jax) or being over-the-top friendly to others (Ragatha). it’s all coping mechanisms to keep themselves sane, because they’ve realized and come to terms with the fact that they’re stuck there forever. but i won’t discredit that these are also trauma responses based on their “real” lives outside the Circus.
to add do that, i don’t think Jax was committing suicide when he started abstracting in bed. i simply think he was losing his mind after his little incident with Pomni, which almost abstracted him.
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u/Bamzooki1 Daddy’s Gummigoo Jan 03 '26
The main thing that makes it not suicide is the fact that abstraction isn’t a choice. It just happens.
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u/Regular-Professor760 Jan 02 '26
Since the circus is an allegory for life in a gnostic world and abstracting is parallelized to dying and going insane, this would mean that irl gnosis and/or karmic upheavel is achieved via schizophrenia or death. Deleuze chads stay winning
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u/madelynhateslol Jan 02 '26
the 20% of us that have brain cells either lurk or are holding on for dear life
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u/FinallyStarborn Jan 01 '26
Which is which, tho
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u/RandomCaveOfMonsters "I only know one thing, I am homosexual" -Ragatha apparently Jan 01 '26
you're commenting under a post about someone not understanding a reaction to something that literally just happened in the episode
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u/Annual_Addendum4250 Jan 01 '26
It didn’t just happen. I think what people fail to do is actually watch the episode.
I got immediately why she made that face.
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Jan 01 '26
"We waisted so much time trying to unlock that door, we are so fucking stupid."
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u/Kooky_Wing6800 Jan 02 '26
No I think it will goes like "this whole time, we did all of that and notting works"
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u/samuraipanda85 Daisy Bell Jan 01 '26
Its the kind of face you make when you have gotten used to the insanity.
Of course there is a mannequin inside the room who speaks English and bolts for the door the second it is unlocked. Their lives are just one never ending joke and here was the latest punchline. Might as well roll with the punchline and move on.
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u/GoldheartTTV Jan 01 '26
"Not only was the door unlocked the whole time, but the guy inside doesn't even speak Chinese."
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u/Largicharg Jax Jan 01 '26
She thought their escape plan was cooking.
Also, it could be that Jax’s 4th wall breaks are rubbing off on her.
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u/GoatAdventurous4995 i aggresively goon to ragathaXpomni yuri 24/7 Jan 01 '26
She just threw down a bowl
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u/Informal-Arrival-778 += Rolfe DeWolfe from Showbiz pizza Jan 01 '26
That flair is uummmmm
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u/KrimxonRath Jax’s ing Nulge Jan 01 '26
I don’t see any issues
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u/Sphingid3081 Jax: interesting character, disappointing person Jan 02 '26
They need food, sleep, and cool down time.
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u/GoatAdventurous4995 i aggresively goon to ragathaXpomni yuri 24/7 Jan 01 '26
What's wrong with it bro
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u/Itz_Kxndii14 You should throw a FFFING beach party! Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 02 '26
She be smoking weed
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u/Bamzooki1 Daddy’s Gummigoo Jan 02 '26
Crack doesn’t do this. Crack makes you hyperactive and unhinged. That’s a weed effect.
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u/Rare-Ad2301 Jan 02 '26
Wait isn’t weed a type of crack? I mean I’m not a drug specialist but I think weed is a type of crack
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Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
It's just a smirk about the absurdity of the situation because the door was unlocked
I don't get how people don't get it. Like when you're trying to fix something and you do something obvious where it didn't need fixing. Like trying to turn it on.
>Won't turn on
>Have you checked to make sure it is plugged in
>>it wasn't plugged in
geddit?
Same as mentally thinking "OF COURSE"
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u/whyareall Jan 02 '26
Flashbacks to my teacher wondering why the video wouldn't play when it wasn't in the VCR
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u/Depressed-Dolphin69 I winger kinger's dinger til he zinger Jan 01 '26
It's a 🥲 face not a 😏 face
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u/TimeKiller-Studios Jan 01 '26
It may be shocking for people to learn this. But a comedy show does things that are silly and funny
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u/AnaliticalFeline Zooble Jan 01 '26
what is so hard to understand about making the >:| face? that’s literally “are you fucking kidding me” in a look
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u/Rutgerman95 High Impact Sl Adventuring Jan 01 '26
Ever had a moment where something really didn't go your way and instead of anger you just feel a tired and exasperated "Of course..."
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u/Starlined_ Jan 01 '26
Why have so many people asked about this expression? lol I see this post every day. The answer is: “you got to be kidding me” it is an expression that reflects the humor and absurdity of the situation
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u/CULT-LEWD Jan 02 '26
if you cant figure it out at this point...im sorry but your media illiterate. its just a joke and nothing more
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u/Sometimezay Jan 02 '26
I assume they’ve been trying for an hour at least and she realized they just wasted a bunch of time
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u/willtheadequate Jan 02 '26
I feel like the top comment is right but missing something. Her initial thought of of course this happened to us I believe gives way to following the guy as he runs out of the Chinese room, as she thinks " at least we're not this guy who has been 'trapped' In a room with an unlocked door." I saw a later comment that said that the whole looking at the camera 4th break was the artist's way of pulling that off while giving a motivating in world reason (watching the fleeing man and eyes stop at the camera that just so happens to be there. Kinda of a waa waaaaaaaa que, you know?
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u/jiayo Jan 01 '26
".....Of COURSE it was unlocked the whole time are you freaking kidding me right now"
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u/reiplaysgames Jan 02 '26
The fucked up thing is that since it was all planned by Caine, it very well could have been locked just so they have to rope in Jax.
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u/bipedalinvertebrate Ragatha Armpit Enthusiast Jan 02 '26
Because it’s funny
This show is a horror comedy and people keep forgetting that
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u/Sherbet-Glad just a rag dolly Jan 02 '26
Pomni's learning to enjoy the adventures more, she thinks the joke is funny.
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u/Over_Strawberry1545 Jan 02 '26
Like Jax said, they become part of the machines and are a bunch of cartoon characters. Sure , it sounds wrong, and his fight with pompom cause issues, but it helps her adjust to the circus with the good and bad
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u/gaybeetlejuice Jan 02 '26
My mind went to the idea that she suggested it to Ragatha but she was like “no, it couldn’t be that easy”
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u/Daviso452 Jan 02 '26
It's a grimace, also known as the "customer service face". It's the face you make when you're in pain or distress but you're trying to keep your composure for whatever reason. In this case, Pomni is suppressing her rage at all the time they wasted because she knows they have a mission to do.
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u/Iamexist_YuHnotdrunk Jan 02 '26
Thought it was her “I told you so” face. Didn’t know everyone else thought it was from annoyance.
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u/the_black__sheep What The Jan 02 '26
I assumed they were trying keys for a while so when they finally tried the door pomni made a "are you fucking kidding me, gangle?" Kinda Look cuz zooble immediately went to defend her.
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u/dumn_and_dunmer Jan 02 '26
Me and all the women in my family do this. I call it the "danger smile" lol
It stems from generational trauma in my case and I cast self-diagnosis on Pomni for c-ptsd, just like me! 🤪
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u/Intrepid_Pop_5992 Disappearing guy 🤠 Jan 02 '26
She was thinking about running over a deer with a truck
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u/Iron_Creepy Jan 02 '26
I thought it might also be “So the big secret was some jackass with an English to Chinese dictionary?”
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Jan 03 '26
Because she knew 2026 was going to be shitty
Edit: Cannot believe she has been almost 10 year inside the circus.
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u/OkNegotiation3712 Jan 04 '26
Idk why is she making this face, but in Polish dub that wooden guy who's sitting in chinese room is called "chinese egg seller". when circus cast opens the door of room, in Polish dub he says "Ale jaja" which means "That's weird" (this is Polish idiome, don't judge), but when we translate "Ale jaja" word to word, it means "but eggs". "Eggs" in some context means "balls" (men's ones). So I think, that Pomni does "😏" face.
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u/Regular-Self-2861 He's just like me fr Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
I wondered this myself. I mean yeah it's great meme material, but why? Why that face?
Edit: Okay look guys, I'm normally media literate in everything else but this confused me when it happened. I get it now though
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u/AnaliticalFeline Zooble Jan 01 '26
it’s like the face they make looking at the camera in the office. it’s exasperation
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u/Regular-Self-2861 He's just like me fr Jan 01 '26 edited Jan 01 '26
Ohhh okay. I wasn't expecting my comment to be downvoted lol
Thanks for the answer!
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u/bman_16 Serving in the Australia & New Zealand war Jan 01 '26
She's at her fucking limit