with regards to Caliborn mocking John’s childhood, this focus on the purple clown fridge magnet (with accompanying shitty little green monster?) also feels like it foreshadows Gamzee’s appearance; which makes me wonder if Caliborn’s whole family unit - teenage son, father who clowns and bakes, and a bunny - is meant to be a perversion of John’s upbringing?
(Gamzee is a clown because he belongs to the cult of Lord English; so in essence, like John’s dad, he’s only a clown because he thinks his son likes them? while the implication of Caliborn’s behaviour in the credits is that he’s only a clown through Gamzee’s influence; another classic family misunderstanding)
@zenosanalytic suggests that the position of “DAD” with “AUTHENTICITY” calls into question the “authenticity” of John’s current “Dad”, who is after all a Dad from a timeline alien to his own; recalling his inability to accept Davesprite as a “real Dave”, John seems to have an anxiety that his new Dad isn’t his “authentic” Dad, and that his new friends and family aren’t his “real” family because he’s from another timeline. which I like because it again suggests that when Caliborn and Gamzee subsequently butt in, they represent a ghastly vision of a “fake version” of John and his family.
