#i need the lyoko warriors to be the precious kiddos who cares for their friends again

[shugokairifatewin]

I need to rant about Code Lyoko.

I watched this show as a kid, a little ten year old if recall correctly, and I was OBSESSED with it. I loved the characters, I loved the music, I loved the story and the concept and it really shaped my life in a lot of ways but I never got to finish it as a kid.

Fast-forward fifteen years and here we are, Netflix comes out of left field with my favorite childhood TV show and I'm stoked - LIKE I'M REALLY STOKED, this is what I've been waiting for, this is it! I can finally see what happens after all the sectors are deleted (I had watched on and off up until about Season 3 and I had seen some of season 4 with William being possessed / on Lyoko - what's that saying about kinks coming from your favorite Villains?)

Anyway, putting my favorite Good-Character-Possessed-Against-Their-Will-And-Forced-To-Fight-For-Evil Trope 👀

So I rewatch the whole thing, I want to refresh everything and enjoy the experience and relive my childhood. And I'm chugging through season 4, eating UP That William Angst, gotta save William, gonna save William, William isn't himself, he doesn't mean to hurt us - LIVING FOR IT - and then I start to get a little nervous because I finish episode 26 and I'm like alright we have 3 episodes don't be playing with me Code Lyoko I need some William Redemption in here, that's what I live for after this angst fest, we love angst with a happy ending-

Except that's not what we get at ALL. We get the Lyoko Warriors - whom I love very dearly, each and every one of them with my soul and heart - celebrating for like 10 seconds - MAYBE and then we see these little shits BLOWING WILLIAM OFF IN THE NEXT EPISODE LIKE HES STILL HALF-POSSESSED, LIKE XANA ABOUT TO COME IN AND STRANGLE AELITA - and don't get me wrong because I get it, it's all about paranoia, think about the lasting effects Xana has probably already given these poor kiddos and now we're going to add the fact that William was literally forged into a Xana Warrior to further tip the scales in Xana's favor - I've considered that it wouldn't be easy for them to just pretend like that didn't happen - but to completely drop him? To literally just refuse to let him be a part of the gang? First of all, not even looking at how morally FUCKED that decision is, but Bro he knows your secret, he remembers when you Return to the Past, you guys fucking decided to bring him into your group, you can't just undecide that he's in it. He could really mess y'all up - BUT HE DOESN'T HE INSTEAD HELPS YOU GUYS WHEN YOU NEED HIM EVEN THOUGH Y'ALL TREATING HIM LIKE A TRASH CAN AND THEN WHEN YOU FUCKS REFUSE TO LET HIM GO TO LYOKO TO REDEEM HIMSELF AND GET A LITTLE ANGER AT XANA FOR OH I DONT KNOW RUINING HIS FUCKING LIFE - HE 👏 GETS 👏 POSSESSED 👏 AGAIN 👏 WHICH WOULDNT HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU GUYS HAD LET HIM COME WITH YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE INSTEAD OF DISTRUSTING AND ASSUMING

Can you even fathom the amount of PTSD, the amount of guilt that William has? Let's just pretend for a second that it isn't all sunflowers and rainbows because it's a kid show and William's memory of his time possessed by Xana isn't magically blank, let's talk realistically here for a second. William would be so fucking wrecked afterwards, he literally would feel so guilty, he'd have some crazy bad anxiety. And to top it the fuck off, all his friends are literally estranging him. my heart literally WEEPS for William. THEY DIDNT EVEN INVITE HIM TO THE SUPER COMPUTER SHUT DOWN PARTY. WHAT THE ACTUAL-

I'm going to watch Code Lyoko Evolution ONLY SO THAT I CAN SEE IF THEY REDEEM THIS ENDING BECAUSE WILLIAM FUCKING DESERVED MORE! The last three episodes of Code Lyoko could've been a whole season on its own. Could've spent a whole season getting William back into the group, helping him mo e past his anxiety and his guilt, could've had him redeem himself on Lyoko and let the group rely on him, let him come through for them so that everything's RIGHT IN THE END. Convince me otherwise.