#adventure time critique

[panicked-herb]

Critique of Fionna and Cake’s Season Finale

It’s been a good couple months since the Fionna and Cake series finale came out. At first it felt lackluster to me, then it felt extremely disappointing, then gradually I felt more and more meh about it. I could see what they were trying to do, but it kept bothering me how bad the finale was in comparison to the earlier episodes.

Now I finally have time to write out my thoughts about it and make it everyone else's problem.

Important note before I start: All of this is just my opinions on a TV-14 show. If you disagree, that’s great and I’d be interested to hear why. Just please be respectful. 

What I Liked

The animation and visual storytelling was great. I liked that at the bus stop, they initially had Simon place Betty on the step below him, but later had him place her next to him. Too bad the writing doesn’t back this up (more on that later). 

The voice acting was good. This isn’t my forte, so no comments besides that. 

Most of the jokes landed for me. Especially Pawn Swan. He was easily the best part of Cheers for me. 

I loved the Lich speech to Glob

Blue Shift is such a feel good song it almost made me like the ending.

What I Didn't Like

Catharsis

My second biggest issue with these episodes is how little catharsis there was. We got to see Fionna get upset and cry, but that was mostly because the Scarab was kicking everybody's ass. I wished we got to see Cake get upset about how people don’t see her for who she is. Or potentially exploring her fears of going back to being a normal cat. 

I especially wished we got to see Simon ugly cry. This man has been through an apocalypse, lost his sanity, lost the love of his life, been depressed for years, and is now trying to curse himself. Dude literally said he missed being the Ice King because he was so out of it most of the time he didn’t realize how messed up his life was. He felt like almost everybody preferred him when he was cursed. Then he finally sees GolBetty after years of searching for a way to cure her, only to fail. There should have been some waterworks going on. 

Pacing

Generally, the pacing felt too slow for me. It made the episodes feel more like a second or third draft vs a finale result. The biggest offender to me was all the fights against the Scarab. Each individual battle was fine, but there were too many of them. We know the Scarab isn’t going to destroy their world in the end, so all the fights don’t do much besides look cool. Which would be fine, if they weren’t trying to make it emotionally impactful. 

This is relatively minor, but it bothers me that Casper and Nova are mostly in the episode Cheers when in basically all of the other episodes, the titular character(s) are the main focus for that episode. I think this could have been fixed, if they just cut back on the number of times they fight the Scarab. 

Pay Off

There were a lot of Chekov’s guns that either didn’t get fired or turned out to have only blanks (basically you could remove them from the story and it wouldn’t affect the plot much).

No Pay Off

Simon and Marceline’s phone call/ relationship: I know I wasn’t the only one hoping to see these two reunite after Simon tried to curse himself again. 

Dirt beet guys manuscript: This is minor, but I just feel like it would have been easy to fix. 

The time core: This is a classic case of Adventure Time world building, where they introduce a cool concept, but don’t do much with it. I don’t know what I wished they did with it. But I would have liked for them to do something.

Disappointing Pay Off

Cosmic entities that the Scarab imprisoned: Cake lets them go and they fight the Scarab. But that fight lasts for like a minute. We also see Kheirosiphon in the ending credits. But besides that, we don’t see much else. 

Everything in You song: The song is only used as a segway into the final flash back of Simon’s and Betty’s relationship. I’ll give it credit, the song is good and the scene is cute. However, you could remove it and there would be almost no effect. Considering Glob’s weakness is harmony (music), I really thought they were going to do something with it. 

Fionna’s top fantasy: Throughout the series, Fionna makes references to her dream fantasies (EX: castle made out of candy). We learn what her top fantasy is after their universe already becomes canon and they’re in their final (unnecessary) fight against the Scarab. Her top fantasy turns out to be turning into a giant woman. Ignoring the Totally Spies vibes that scene gives me, I think they really missed an opportunity to make this really sweet. In the final scene, instead of Fionna saying “Just a normal world.” She could have said something along the lines of, “This is my top fantasy”

Fionna and Cake turning things normal in other universes: Ignoring the Winter King, this plot point does almost nothing. Sure, Cake accidentally turns BMO into an alarm clock, but BMO was already dead. There’s also the Scarab’s speech, “All the worlds you've visited, all the people you've infected. Your little trip must have shown you the truth. It would be better for everyone if you were just gone.” But they themselves don’t ruin that many worlds. The only reason for them seriously thinking that is the Winter King. But he was a grade A asshole and removing his magic freed Princess Bubblegum from the madness he imposed on her. 

Casper and Nova

Before I start this section, there are two important things for me to mention

I should note that I've had over ten years to theorize about Simon and Betty. Naturally, I’ve probably forgotten some of my head cannons and character interpretations aren’t actually canon. Especially since we never really got much screen time for the two before Fionna and Cake. It also doesn’t help that Simon/ Ice King’s character arc hits close to home for personal reasons I’m not sharing in a tumblr post. But, it does mean that I’ve probably projected some of my feelings onto those characters at some point. 

I’ve never particularly liked how Betty’s been written. I wished she got more screen time in the original show and I STRONGLY dislike that they introduced the fact that she didn’t go on an expectation she was really excited about for a man she’s known for one day in one of the final episodes of the show. To me, it turned her character from an impulsive, headstrong woman who for all intents and purposes is stuck on an alien planet and the only person she knows who is still alive has magical dementia to a fucking manic pixie dream girl. She doesn’t need to have always been completely obsessed with Simon to explain why she’s going to desperate measures to save him. Once again, he’s the only person she knows in Ooo, but as the Ice King he’s basically a stranger. She also convinced him to give up his only chance to die as himself with the hope that she could save him. Finally, she loves him and doesn’t want him to suffer. 

Casper and Nova are pretty explicitly supposed to be narrative parallels to Simon and Betty and help show Simon the issues in their relationship. A lot of defense I’ve seen against criticism about this part of the story comes from a place of assuming the fandom is owo-ing the male character and doesn’t want to admit he has flaws. To be fair, it is a reasonable knee jerk reaction to have. Fandom has a LONG history of doing shit like this and villainizing women. But, at least in my case, this isn’t what's happening. 

Casper and Nova aren’t on equal footing because Nova keeps making unseen sacrifices for Casper and they always do things Caspers way. The moral that Simon is supposed to take from them is that he/ Casper should have realized how much Betty/ Nova was sacrificing for him all the time, stopped, and supported her. However, this isn’t the main issue Simon and Betty have. 

There are a total of two times where Simon does kind of stand to the side while Betty sacrifices herself:

The first trip planned to study petroglyphs in Australia: Simon jokingly offers Betty to go on his expedition with him. She accepts, which surprises him, and mentions offhandedly that she had another trip planned. Maybe he could have told her she could always go on another trip with him sometime else. But he could have just as easily assumed she wasn’t really interested in her original plan and if he asked if she was sure, it could come off as him telling her not to go.

The second trip planned to study petroglyphs in Australia: Simon stops Betty before she leaves for the bus and in the heat of the moment he says he always wants her by his side always. Betty still could have easily just given him his number and still go on her trip or they just agree to meet up later. Also, the show makes a point that Simon should have gone on the trip with her. I would like to note that Betty was planning to leave the day Simon realizes she has feelings for him. I don’t know how archeological expeditions exactly work, but joining so last second seems really rude to me. Also, he would have either needed to pack really quickly or bring nothing with him for a six month long trip. To add on, he won’t know what type of funding that trip was. For all he knew, it only had funds to send Betty over.

More often than not, we actually see Simon recognizing the sacrifices Betty is making and actively trying to stop her:

Betty time traveling into the future and away from basically everything she knows: Simon originally time travel calls her to apologize and tell her that he forgives her for leaving him as a way to allow her to move on. Betty chooses to jump through the portal. 

Dedicating herself to save him: Simon literally begged Betty to let him die rather than turning back into the Ice King. He only changes his mind after she begs him to give her a chance to save him. Everything she does afterwards, he’s either basically passed out or is cursed.

Merging with Glob: Simon begged Betty to forget the crown and escape Golb with him and Finn. Betty pushed him out of there and merged with Golb. Simon spent years trying to find a way to unfuse her with Golb. 

Not getting any acknowledgement for helping to find the Enchiridion: Simon wanted both of them to get credit. Betty told him that she wanted him to get all the credit. He awkwardly, but professionally, told her that she deserves the credit just as much as he does. She still turns down any acknowledgement. (I really don’t like this story beat because it could have been such a good chance to comment on how academia often discredits or ignores women)

We also have moments where they do things Betty’s way (or at the very least Betty does things her way) on their expedition together.

When crossing the river: Simon carefully walks across the rocks. Betty takes her shoes off and just walks through the river. Simon follows suit then slips and falls. I would just like to add that crossing a river without shoes on isn’t safe. It decreases trackson and increases your risk of cutting yourself in an open body of water. They should have just either dealt with the wet socks, brought a spare pair, or use water proof shoes.

When crossing an area full of snakes: Simon advises Betty to stick with the tried and true method for dealing with snakes. Betty decides to do the trick her mom taught her and runs through the area screaming. Simon doesn’t stop her. Instead once he sees that it’s working, he smiles.

As we see, with the exception of two instances (which could easily be changed without impacting the plot too much), Simon doesn’t need to learn the lesson that he should have supported Betty more and stopped her from sacrificing herself so much.

I think the bigger issue in Simon and Betty’s relationship is just how obsessed they are with each other. When the crown drives Simon insane and takes all his memories, the last thing Simon can remember is that he wants to marry his Princess. This leads him to literally kidnapping princesses. Betty time traveled 1000 years into the future after hearing Simon say he never saw her again after wearing the crown. In the process of trying to save him, she went mad herself. They’ve both spent years trying to save the other from and were willing to sacrifice themselves to do so (I’m fully convinced Simon didn’t have a plan for how to leave Golb’s dimension. I think the dude was just going to apologize to Betty then die).

Not Part of the Finale, But Still Bothers Me

Having Prismo be the one to actually write Fionna and Cake removes depth from Simon/ Ice King’s character. I liked how surprisingly good Fionna and Cake was and interpreted that as parts of Simon shining through. But they needed to have Fionna and Cake actually be real for the show, so they had Prismo make them. Instead of Prismo making them out of boredom, I think it would have been cool if he made them as a way to grieve Jake. Maybe after Jake died, Prismo turned to reading Fionna and Cake since his favorite person liked it and Cake’s basically a genderbent Jake. But, after reading everything the Ice King wrote he wanted more. Since he lives in the TIME ROOM, I don’t think it would be a stretch to allow him to interact with the timeline in weird ways (in fact I think we already saw this in the episode Is That You?). So, as a temporary solution Prismo made Fionna and Cake real and stores their universe in the Ice King’s head so he could get more stories out of them. Prismo meant to delete their world before the Ice King turned back into Simon, but he didn’t have the heart to. Also, they could have totally had Simon keep writing Fionna and Cake fanfiction like how he sometimes dresses up as Ice King. Except, this time, he writes them in his own modern day AU as a way to cope with how out of place he feels. 

Not part of this spin off, but it’s always irked me that Simon got to time travel to the past, but Betty didn’t. I get that Betty wanted to intentionally create a time paradox. But it still feels really hypocritical. Honestly, I think they should have just made Simon accidentally freeze her when he first puts on the crown. After Frost and Fire, when the Ice Kingdom got melted, have her thaw out and start researching ways to cure Simon. Then, during the episode she’s supposed to debut in, have her be the cause of Bella Noche. 

Conclusion

The finale had cool concepts, but it doesn't fully match up with everything that came before it.

[jajanvm-imbi]

Hey remember when I said that this was the most frustrating thing about being a Helluva Boss enjoyer?

Yeah I was wrong.

The most frustrating thing about being a Helluva Boss enjoyer is explicitly stating multiple times that I like show and then get called an anti and homophobic and media illiterate when I complain about the direction it has taken.

I LIKE the comedy

I LIKE the animation and artstyle

I LIKE the more serious plotlines like the government agents plot and the Cherubs plot

I LIKE the themes of friendship and found family

I even like most of the songs!

And ofc the voice cast slays every time

But just because your show has angst and tears and drama and sad music doesn't automatically make it "good".

Just because your characters are queer doesn't automatically make them good or well written characters

This fandom is so frustrating to deal with when you want to express your more nuanced takes of it

This is probably gonna be the last post I make about this subject and about Helluva Boss in general, this shit is too stupid to deal with

[penelope-kat]

So I'm a little dissatisfied with the ending of F&C (btw totally fine to disagree, this is just my opinion. Also it's just a show ok let's all be mature here).

Let me be clear: I don't hate the ending; I think the rest of the show is amazing, AND while I LOVE the message of Simon and Betty moving on from each other and being able to be ok without each other, it felt really disingenuous for the show to say that Betty was more obsessed with Simon when they're clearly both complete freaks for each other?

Simon's whole thing in the original show whenever he was lucid was about how much he missed Betty, how fixated he was on her, and how he'd do anything to get her back, or at least be able to talk to her one more time. Marceline is always talking about how Simon was constantly obsessed with finding Betty again when she was little, and Ice King's whole character and obsession with kidnapping princesses stemmed from Simon desperately wanting to find Betty again.

All relationships have flaws, but I feel like this wasn't the right flaw to give their relationship. Simon and Betty's relationship was flawed because they were super obsessed with each other, not because Betty was more obsessed with Simon than Simon was with her. I guarantee that Simon would have done all the same shit Betty did if the roles were reversed and Betty had put on the ice crown instead, like I have not a single doubt in my mind.

It also makes Simon look a lot less emotionally intelligent and empathetic, which is like yeah, people don't always see how they hurt their loved ones, but you're really telling me he NEVER ONCE did anything Betty wanted to do? Never?? And Betty is a strong-willed woman, we always see that. She's unhinged. I love her. I feel like Simon would have picked up on her wants, too, especially since they were implied to have been together for a long time given, you know, they've co-written books and explored the world together and all. Simon ADORED Betty, and he's always been shown to be very empathetic and insightful, even at his worst during F&C! I highly doubt after all that time with Betty he would have never even considered doing her stuff. Do you really think Mr Semen Peggtricock over here, the final-boss of pathetic submissive twinks, took the reins on every aspect of anything they did together? I know that man gets his bussy destroyed three nights a week by Betty's 12 inch strap and whimpers under her weight m'kay there's no WAY he never ever once listened to what she wanted to do.

I do appreciate that the show doesn't make Simon or Betty out to be monsters or bad people or anything, and I do think in the context of Simon and Betty's stories, them going different ways makes the most narrative and thematic sense since their obsession with each other did end up severely negatively-impacting both their lives. Also, it was heavily implied that Betty reincarnated after blowing Simon sending Simon back to Ooo, so she won't be fused with Golb for all eternity in infinite loneliness. Uh that also makes me feel way better about the ending too lol.

But the specific point of "Simon didn't appreciate Betty enough".. it just doesn't sit right. That man spent collective decades mourning the loss of Betty, his princess, and all he really wanted was to be with her. He understood how brilliant she was, he loved her for it. Yes, he almost gave up her sacrifice that made him Simon again, but can you really blame him for that? He was super depressed and genuinely believed it would be the best thing to do in order to protect the little gay people in his head. He wasn't doing it to punish Betty, he'd never do that. Tbf I haven't seen many people claim he did it to punish Betty, I can just see that being a reachable conclusion for someone watching who already wasn't too keen on how their relationship had been portrayed thus far.

Betty was right: they did make their choices. And that means her choices too, choices that she literally took ownership of in the same breath, so it's weird for the show to imply only she would have gone to the lengths she did in their relationship.

Honestly the topic of overcoming obsession makes perfect sense to explore for BOTH of them. Betty having had time to think about it for 12 years as a chaos god, and Simon still being hung up because he blames himself for everything that happened. They were both equally obsessed with each other, and that mutual obsession destroyed both their lives. Now they need to be able to move on and, in Simon's case, keep living, even though Betty isn't around anymore, because his life as Simon Petrikov MATTERS.

Also before anyone brings up Temple of Mars that episode SLAPS it's GREAT and yes it is about Betty's obsession with Simon, but I always found it to be more of a "wow things became so screwed up. It's a shame Betty didn't go on her trip but the happiness she had with Simon was clearly worth it to her, it's just crazy how something like her missing a trip to be with him evolved into her time traveling into the future and losing her mind trying to save him". It wasn't really an episode about how bad Simon was for her in the beginning, it was like "holy shit girlie we need to get you on mood stabilizers ASAP cuz this shit is CRAZY".

Yeah I dunno how to wrap this up. Didn't mean to make anyone upset: I'm still shaky about how I feel on all of this and just wanted to get my thoughts out there. Opinions are valid! Even if you don't agree, I hope you can see where I'm coming from :)

Have a good night!

[hamable]

Hey I just finished Hilda season 3 and I am forever changed.

I joke that I could write a thesis about some media but I could really truly talk for hours about how fucking good Hilda is.

It’s core strength, which tears at my heart and soul so earnestly, is that it is not just a story about child adventurer, but equally a story about the MOTHER of a child adventurer and it’s just so beautiful. So impactful.

I think Johanna may be one of my favorite characters… ever. I think she is Absolutey Incredible.

Season three was just so amazing, the whole series is. I beg y’all to watch it because it’s so so good and deserves all the love it can get.

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Stolas stans comparing Stolas to Simon/Ice King. Like fuck that. Simon mistake was putting on crown and he life was screwed. Stolas made all the mistake himself. Simon had destroy his only mind to save his daughter and almost destroy his mind again to save his second adopted daughter. Has guilt and remorse and blame himself for things that aren't his fault and the show almost show that Simon wasn't perfect. Simon is way better written character then Stolas.

I agree. Stolas pales into comparison what Simon/Ice King is as a character.

[bowlinggwithmargo]

List 5 things that make you happy, then put this in the askbox for the last 10 people who liked or reblogged something from you! :D

Hi! I'm gonna commandeer this ask to let y'all know what I've been working on (bc that's what's making me happy the most, so why not) 1. The Fat Ass Kelly Price Episode of Catfish is a Shakespearean Tragedy (and yes, I can prove it), it is kind of self-explanatory, but I've been doing a ton of research on what makes something "Shakespearan," the hyper-reality of reality TV, how black women are depicted in reality TV and so much more. It's still an outline because it needs tweaking, but it's getting there.

2. Marceline the Vampire Queen Isn't Black (and y'all gotta be okay with that) is essentially an essay exploring black representation in media but, moreover, how black characters don't feel black because they lack any reference or acknowledgment of black cultural philosophy. I will also explain why non-human characters in media feel black even though they aren't and how their alignment with black philosophy facilitates the black headcannons people make of them. Ultimately, it will culminate in a new metric or character alignment chart (like the morality alignment chart) that one can use to generate black characters who feel black and are rooted in black culture as a whole.

3. The Goliad Dilemma is an essay exploring a sibling dynamic I've seen in three different animes. It can likely be found across media featuring dueling siblings, but it's so much more than that. The dilemma is structured based on the adventure time episode Goliad. I'll be analyzing Naoki Urasawa's Monster, Trigun, and Donquixote's brothers from One Piece and basically trying to answer how these sibling relationships ended up becoming so twisted in the first place (which sounds easy, but it surprisingly isn't bc this isn't a question of morality but rather a question of how did these siblings break apart, who is responsible for them fighting against each other, and how did the core traumatic event that befell their lead to two different outlooks on life.)

4. Untilted The Mountain/Golden Kamuy Essay is something that's been driving me insane for the past few months bc it's so slippery to me. I watched a film called The Mountain, a fictionalized story about Walter Freeman, who created the ice pick lobotomy, and the young man photographing the lobotomies he performs. Despite not being super outwardly scary or gory, it's one of the most horrifying movies I've ever seen, but immediately after watching it, I thought of Golden Kamuy. The relationship between the two main characters of the film matches Tsrumi and Tsukishima's relationship damn near perfectly. There's a severe loss of personal identity and purpose in both works that I want to analyze by comparing the protag of the move to Tsukishima. Still, more interestingly, Tsrumi and the real-life Walter Freeman are both showboats who constantly perform for others despite those performances involving the gross scaring of others physically and mentally. Their similarities have been driving me insane because they're both insane, but it's hard to write about them because one committed real-life harm, and the other is a bunch of lines, but I think I have a grasp on how I want to write it.

5. Untitled Berserk/His and Her Circumstances/The Talented Mr. Ripley Essay is a work essentially analyzing Griffith's character, the golden age arc, and parts of the overall story through the lens of the shoujo anime His and Her Circumstances. His and Her Circumstances was directed by Hideaki Anno, of Evangelion fame. It explores what happens when you identify too closely with the facade you've made for yourself and how, if you wear a mask for too long, that mask impedes your ability to form connections with others. Berserk is a work that is so concerned with masks and hiding one's true self for the sake of a grander goal or to avoid one's pain, so the comparison works perfectly. Coupled with TTMR, there's so much to say about how these masks can ultimately damn those who wear them, with Griffith being the most obvious example. It sounds bland because I'm only scratching the surface here, but it's riveting.

5+1. Respites I have a ton of short-form essays I want to write, like the second installment of my one-chapter manga recommendations, a new series called "The ________ Problem," where I give myself free rein to complain/criticize about what I'm watching, and more random short-form thoughts I have on things.

I've been working on these essays since last year, and I'm working hard to finish them. However, they take a while to outline and write them. Hopefully, I'll get them all written by the end of the year!

If any of this interests you, consider subscribing to my substack to get notified when I post these essays! You can also check out the essays I've already written :)

[ordinaryschmuck]

"Ooh, look! Another Amphibia critique from Schmuck!"

Yeah, yeah, blame Twitter. This one came to me last night because of a post and it's been stewing in my brain ever since.

I'm learning more and more that nothing causes an Amphibia fan to foam at the mouth more than when you tell them that the first season is mostly filler.

Cause here's the thing: I've seen that first season THREE times. And every time, it felt like a chore to get through as I'm forced to watch characters go on silly adventures as the show dangles this carrot on a stick in front of your face, promising something interesting with a grander story.

"Ooh, look! Something's going to happen with the music box!"

"Ooh, look! Sasha's here and she means business!"

"What will come of this? Tune in next time to find out!"

And when you tune in next time, you're met with Anne and Sprig pretending to be cops or the town having a literal shipping war. And sure, that can be funny, but when you promise a grander story and take too long to get to it, it leaves people WANTING that story feeling a little disappointed.

Or worse: Annoyed.

Even MORE worse: Angry.

And when you bring up that season one is mostly filler, you're given the usual three responses:

"It's to build the world and develop characters!"

"It's starting off fun to suck people in before getting darker like [Insert show here]"

"[Insert show here] had a first season that was mostly filler and people loved THAT. Y'all just hating."

And those are good arguments, but there's also good counters to all of them.

Infinity Train is a series that has a new cast of characters every season, each one having only thirteen episodes to grow and develop while showing off the world around them. The writers make each episode count though, not wasting time as every goofy adventure the characters go on it either reveals something about themselves or about the lore of the train. You can absolutely let characters go and do something silly for ten minutes AND have it feel like the plot and development of the world and characters are moving forward. You just gotta do more than something as inconsequential as Sprig learning to be more patient when watching a hog or Hop Pop learning how to be honest instead of selling literal garbage. The meat of those episodes (I.E. the LESSONS) can be brought up in smarter, better ways that leaves EVERYONE satisfied, especially when they learn these exact lessons later in the series anyway.

As for starting off by being fun defense, it's a fair one until you realize what show everyone's trying to copy.

You see, Adventure Time is a great show. One that nailed the "silly at first but serious later" mindset. It changed the landscape for serialized animation, and shows have been trying to do what IT did ever since. BUT they forget one essential factor that's the reason to Adventure Time's success: It had NO plan. It started off silly and fun only to get more serious over time, but in a similar vein to your favorite comic series. The writers just wanted to have goofy fun times and nothing else, but the longer the series went, it would get more and more serious as it started to evolve into serialized storytelling. There was never a singular arc in Adventure Time or even an endgame in mind for how the show would conclude. There were definitely arcs but they were treated as small webs of something the show COULD build upon if the writers wanted to and less as a part of this grand narrative to a complete story. Even the latest spin off, which has a singular story in mind, is something based on an idea that NEVER went further beyond being something silly upon its conception. The writers just wanted to do something fun and would LATER come up with a good and expansive story through it.

Basically, the reason why Adventure Time nailed the silly THEN serious style is because it improvised the whole thing. When a show like Amphibia tries to go through the same style, it does it WITH a plan in mind and forgets that Adventure Time succeeded because it didn't HAVE one. The writers know exactly where they want the show to go and plan out how to reach that finish line, leaving behind crumbs of the grander narrative every now and again. But in Season One, so much of the focus is about characters going on fun adventures and leaving behind those crumbs not as often as they should. The end result might just be one of the weakest examples of a show being silly THEN serious because of it tries to be one thing while also wanting to be another.

And as for the final defense, about how other shows tries to be silly THEN serious too, let's look ANOTHER series made by Disney: Gravity Falls.

Gravity Falls' first season, let's be honest with ourselves, is a lot like Amphibia's. There's hints of a story there, but much more time is dedicated to Dipper and Mable going on goofy one-off adventures while the second season takes a much more serious direction towards the plot and characters. It still leaves crumbs as well, like what's going on with Gideon and the Journals, but the majority of the season is still stuff like Mabel freeing a merman trapped in a public pool or Dipper using a video game character to intimidate Robby. So while it's the same as Amphibia it terms of tone, there's ONE difference: Episode length. Within the first season, Gravity Falls has twenty episodes where Amphibia has thirty-nine. Amphibia has ten-minute episodes stitched together to meet the twenty-minute runtime that Gravity falls have, and the end result is making a series feel MUCH longer than it actually is. It drags out the silliness longer, making Gravity Falls more digestible because we're watching random nonsense ONCE per week and not TWICE. So when the bigger, more serious story stuff comes, it feels like less time was wasted to get to it.

You can argue all you want about how Amphibia's first season doesn't have filler or, if it does, it's not a detriment. And if that's how you see things, that's fine. But not everyone is going to feel that way.

Look, filler can be fun. It can give you an enjoyable little adventure in between the meat of this grander narrative the writers are building. But filler isn't fun ALL THE TIME, and you need to find a right way to space it out between the story bits if a serialized story is what you want to make. As fun as it can be, it's not the necessity that people claim it is for a good show to exist. Some amazing series exist when they're all killer and no filler. Just because the characters don't randomly go to a casino for an episode, that doesn't mean it's a lesser form of storytelling.

And the same goes for shows WITH filler. If you like Amphibia's first season because of how silly and fun it is, I don't blame you. To me, it was a show that got my attention because there was a hint to a bigger narrative, but it's not what the show tried to do in it's first season. It took its time and the end result was a finale that legitimately brought me to tears, so SURELY it isn't all bad, even if most of those silly adventures weren't my cup of tea. It's DEFINITELY a season of filler, but whether or not that's a detriment to a show is depending on who you ask.

[esonetwork]

The Diary of River Song Series 8 Review | Earth Station Who

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The Diary of River Song Series 8 Review | Earth Station Who

Delve into the captivating world of Doctor Who with the Earth Station Who Podcast’s review of the Big Finish Audio’s, “The Diary of River Song” series 8! Join us as we journey alongside the enigmatic River Song through time and space in this thrilling audio adventure. Joined this week by Podcaster Julie Filipek, we explore each riveting chapter of River’s escapades along with Rachel and K9, unraveling the mysteries of her captivating character through Time and Space. Whether you’re a devoted Whovian or a casual listener, our review promises to immerse you in the rich storytelling of Professor River Song and the ever-expanding universe of Doctor Who. Tune in now for an unforgettable journey with the Doctor’s most intriguing companion!

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Promotion Tales From Hollywoodland

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[m00dysunflower]

Testimone di Gangster vs Purple Haze Feedback

Just came fresh off of reading the new Squatizi light novel (which I LOVED) and decided to ruminate on why I loved one and hated the other so much.

I want to preface that if anyone is nasty in replies or tags about my views and opinions of PHF, I'll block you, I don't have time to fight over a non canon Fugo centric light novel. And I think it's valid to compare the 2 stories because they're both based around part 5 and in light novel format that supposedly expands upon the part. If you find my thoughts valid and insightful, cool, if you don't, move along, you're not going to convince me to change my mind sadly.

Also this isn't going to have too bad of spoilers. I'm kinda more vague when it comes to talking about the Squatizi story.

............................................................................

Purple Haze Feedback:

I respect that people needed more Fugo content and it was a genuinely good premise. An aftermath story of Fugo returning to Passione under Giorno and Mista? Yeah I would have loved a story about that. But if you need to warp characters' personalities and throw in a bunch of forgettable stands and their users to do it... I honestly can't bother to care.

If it was much shorter then I could tolerate it, but it wasn't, so here I am. I'll be going point by point with PHF just to organize my thoughts better for such a chaotic story.

1. It warped the pre-established characters.

Mista I think was done the most dirty with that opening scene, but to insinuate that Abbacchio and Fugo killed kids behind Bruno's back felt like absolute whiplash. Also Abbacchio is bisexual obviously, he would have slept with men too, not just women lol.

I don't like that they made Trish become a pop star. Maybe she would have been better as a model, but regardless, not so soon after part 5 when she needed her time to be normal and heal, or at least be under Giorno and Mista's protection.

The whole "Fugio" moment also felt off-putting to me and is part of the reason I don't like the ship. Look, it was absolutely no rain scene or "The only time I feel at ease", let's not try to compare it.

Fugo was okay, but he was just boring and I feel that's not good... you know, considering he's the protagonist of this story. He got better near the end, sure, but by the time I got to the end I was so tired and done with the story. A better writer would have done him and the story more justice.

2. Uninteresting supporting cast and villains

Cannolo was a fine addition, but I never understood what his stand actually did, same with all of the villains' stands. I think that's just poor writing if people walk away not understanding what just happened. I had to reread scenes and I still didn't get most of what happened. Voodoo Child was a cool stand, reminded me a bit of Moody Blues, but I didn't like Sheila as a character. And I'm sorry, who let's a 14 girl in a skimpy ass outfit be the Don of Mafia's bodyguard? Sheila's whole design was so hyper-sexualized and gave me the ick, especially if she was allegedly supposed to be indigenous coded. I've only seen speculation though so I won't go into it further.

Volpe and Manic Depression are the only villain names I remember. I couldn't even tell you the names and stands of the others or what Manic Depression even did as a stand. None of them felt like an actual threat.

3. Felt like a poorly written fanfic

The random mention of Tonio from DIU as Volpe's brother was also a whiplash "where the fuck did that come from" moment, because it was so unnecessary and felt like a cheap tie in for something that was formally published in a book. It really helped give it an average fanfic feel (and I write cheesy, overly dramatic fanfiction!). I think that was also when I was nearing my breaking point.

I once had someone try to mansplain to me that PHF was a "more realistic look of the mafia"... it is not, I promise you that lol. Mafia had rules about women and children and all other kinds of shit that Passione definitely does not abide by. Real life Mafia has so much more to it. This is camp fictional media, no one should ever take it so seriously.

In short, I just think PHF had a lot of wasted potential and would have done better with an altered story. I just can't convince myself to blindly love it, no matter how much I tried to like it.

............................................................................

Testimone di Gangster

I read it last night so it's still so fresh in my mind, but this is how you expand upon a story in my humble opinion. This is also probably going to be shorter just because it was a shorter and more focused story with less characters. I also don't want to spoil it for those who haven't read it yet since it just came out in English.

First off, I think it was a such great idea to take two characters we knew so little about and expand upon them in a way that felt so much more natural. There's less room for warping characters when they didn't have such distinct personalities to begin with and also helps build the world up.

There was no overly complicated plot about drugs and stands and it gave more insight on how the crime world works in Jojo's version of Italy. It even had nods to other real life gangs and how Passione fit into this world with them. It even gave nods to the Cosa Nostra and a real life prosecutor (Falco) who dealt with a lot of gang business in Italy and I think that's just so cool. I love shit like that so much, I adore me some good worldbuilding in general that we didn't necessarily need, but it's just cool to see.

I'll admit, the story was bit hard to follow in the first chapter, but once I picked up that it was from Squalo's perspective, it was such an easy and fun read that didn't make me question what was going on every two paragraphs.

It really showed us how Tiziano is clever and calculating and can be such a useful stand user and teammate. It solidified why he and Squalo are partners (and most definitely in more than just crime for sure now ahaha). I also just love the idea of him being an attorney, especially with Talking Head as a stand, it was a fantastic concept.

The entire time I was just so entertained and caught up in the story, it was so much more engaging than I thought it was going to be. I was genuinely invested in the trial and how Tiziano was going to win the case for Passione. I'm almost sad that this story was so much shorter and would have loved more in between moments with Squalo and Tiziano, but maybe it was for the best not to drag things out.

The ending was a great nod back to their involvement in part 5 and this was in general a great insight into who they were before joining Diavolo's special guard. Plus it makes so much more sense and is amusing to know that he had a lawyer (Tiziano) apart of his elite team.

............................................................................

Now look, I don't think I necessarily have a bias because I do like Fugo just as much as I like Squalo and Tiziano. I also normally don't care for light novels when comes to anime/manga so I don't think it could be that either.

Maybe it was simply the Fugo/Fugio lovers had over-hyped and demanded that everyone read PHF that it just soured the novel before I even read it? I couldn't say for sure. All I know is I went into PHF was no expectations and was so dissatisfied where as I went into Testimone di Gangster with some expectations and was thoroughly entertained.

This is by no means a dig at Fugio shippers, like I said, PHF's ending and the hype around it made me personally more uncomfortable with the ship than I already was before reading it. Simple as that.

If I were to recommend additional Jojo content, especially for the part 5 lovers, Testimone di Gangster is the one I would urge people to read if they have an hour or two to spare. It's a short and sweet look at some great side characters and has more of part 5 spirit without getting caught up in a bunch of bland ocs.

[mell0bee]

perhaps i shouldnt say anything bc im not caught up but that imogen design..... hmmmm.

[punk-raphaelite]

Just spent the entire day uploading random jpegs, mp3s, pdfs and other digital detritus to a 2003 eMac for my senior studio crit tomorrow

I am not sure my profs will like it or get it and I’m nervous!

[leezuhh]

it feels like the population of people online who understand that sometimes people watch stuff that is not technically "good" simply because they enjoy it is getting smaller all the time

[penelope-kat]

I like how a lot of us are choosing to ignore episode 9 and parts of episode 10 of Fionna and Cake. The parts we like are canon and the parts we don't aren't, it's that simple.

[avantguardisme]

im spending xmas + post-xmas (the extra xmas u get when ur parents are divorced and ur stepsiblings parents are also divorced) the way god intended: getting wine drunk every night and reading so so much gay literature

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Simon did a betrer job raising a kid in an apocalypse while he was losing his mind. And only left his adopted daughter because he fear he was becoming to dangerous. Also even as Ice King he was better father to penguin. Simon is better father then Stolas will ever be. Plus Simon is actually funny character.

This.

[locallibrarylover]

i love rereading my favorite books from when i was little. hey what was going on in michael buckleys head when he wrote the sisters grimm