#steven universe isn't garbage

[sjbattleangel]

Once again: Please watch Hiding In Private's excellent videos defending Steven Universe.

It still baffles me how wholesome series about loving yourself and loving others got so much backlash, it became, and still remains, one of the most hated cartoons of all time. But why? Steven Universe never set out to be "the next Avatar: The Last Airbender", "another riff of Star Wars" or a "pastel-coloured Game Of Thrones in space". It was wonderfully queer series about fixing broken bonds and understanding each other. It also sought to teach kids about acceptance, forgiveness and self-esteem. Steven Universe was never about "pacifism", "upholding the status quo", "forgiving abusers" or "being nice to fascists". It was never intended to be a "complex work for adults" yet it was/is treated with adult expectations. If you want complex works for adults, watch the films of Coppola, Scorsese, De Palma and Nolan; read Watchmen and Berserk (For the record, I have nothing any of the adult work mentioned. In fact, I enjoy them immensely). Steven Universe is none of those things, it is for children and that is okay. I understand it not appealing to everyone. Yes, the metaphors could be messy; yes, there were weak filler episodes; yes, character-development and plotlines were rushed due to forces out of the crew's hands yet it is still beautiful in its own way. Steven Universe is a hopepunk masterpiece and I will die on this hill defending it.

Zack, take it away:

[critical-espurr]

Hello, hi, I've decided I have more to say on this one, hope you don't mind.

Another reason it's incredibly difficult to take this stance from Lily seriously is that, if someone had a similar sort of deeply emotionally moving response she's describing here but it was due to an anime, manga, JRPG etc., she'd call them a weeb and imply they're a pervert of some sort. She probably does think that art can influence and deeply move people, but only the (few and far between) pieces of art that she personally has any respect for. As we know, she's disturbingly self-centered and self-absorbed like that. Rules for thee, not for she.

One of the pieces of fiction that not only still deeply emotionally moves me to this day but made me realize just how I had been harmed and wronged in the past is the anime she keeps mischaracterizing as a substanceless, violent abusefest between lesbians (not because she's actually seen it, mind -- she's super lying about that and I believe the old gossip blog has proof of that somewhere, proof I saw when Lily herself INITIALLY POSTED IT -- but because it inspired cartoons she doesn't like and that makes her incredibly mad for some reason.) We all know she wouldn't approach this the same way she does for the books that have supposedly moved her (and I say supposedly because, as mentioned by our good Gallade friend here, she's bragged about how she hasn't read anything for a time period that roughly makes up half of her total life so far.)

this is a deeply ironic point to make from the woman who, not that long ago, was bragging about never reading anything in the last 15 years. especifically because she thought everything sucked anyway.

or about how she never reads fanfiction outside of a very limited scope.

or how she claims artists wanting credit for their work are divas that should be doxxed and mocked for eternity.

or how they don't deserve any recognition at all as long LO deems they don't because she stole their work on a arbitrary timeframe.

because LO just has that much respect for art, right?

[directdogman]

Super stoked for the Roger DLC and WILL be playing it on release, but something that’s been bugging me ever since the first few teasers was Peter, his personality feels quite different to me and my Peter obsessed friend, is there a reason for his personality change or was it completely unintentional?

He feels a lot more hot headed now, not completely the same as but similar to Steven, which feels like a complete 180 for Peter, I always remember enjoying him more in DSaF 2 because he was the more relaxed Phoney who when he had geniunely serious moments, it was incredibly impactful and gut wrenching when Peter would yell at me. 😔

Also, will Steven ever be real in dialtown please sir I miss my wif-

The comparison just always bothered me slightly.

Different universes. I should note that while Peter IS chiller in DSaF 2, if the restaurant goes under, the main consequence is that the company will get mortally wounded and he might die. The other employees will (for the most part) be fine. Peter cares. He cares if you hurt employees, he cares if you fuck up but is also willing to look the other way a few times if the fuckup isn't bad enough (without letting it slide, because he still cares what you do at work too.) I'd say his attitude at work namely stems from that, rather than the other way around. Steven does NOT care. He is literally willing to throw you under the bus to save himself and his sole goal is keeping the place open specifically so he can save his own hide, and his hot-headedness comes from that.

In DT, Peter is at the end of his rope and has had to deal with a LOT up until this point, arguably even more than his DSaF counterpart in terms of his day to day job, as shocking as that may sound. There's also WAY more on the line this time. He isn't the one that's going to face the worst of what'll happen if things continue at their current trajectory (unlike Peter or Steven in their original games.) He explains this pretty early into the DLC, which may explain why he's testier than you remember him, namely what's on the line. He's trying his damndest to fix it but is failing. He's stuck between a rock and a hard place with Roger, recognizing his bad leadership is sinking the plant but caring too much about the guy to effectively deal with it until this point.

His guard is up because it has to be, but he does have a few nice moments where it's clear how much he cares and if you listen to Roger's dialogue carefully, you'll see just how much Peter has put up with that would've made any sane person walk away. He's also noticeably nicer to Gingi if you don't waste his time and seem to actually care about Roger, and he acts closer to how he does in the DSaF 2 screenshot you showed off, though perhaps with slightly less energy (since he is, like I said, at the end of his rope.) There's even a scene in the evil route where you can identify this and use it against him in a pretty sinister way.

To mention another thing that even Gingi sees as far back as his original scene in DT: He's a natural manager who's playing second-fiddle to someone who clearly doesn't know what he's doing.

I didn't just wanna do more of the same, so I played with the dynamics a lil. Peter is in a very different role here, one that he's not exactly suited to. He's out of his element. He's inundated with work and in this scene, is thinking about the lives of the employees who are going to be laid-off in a week or so time if things don't change FAST, and while this is happening, his boss is bantering with a weird cryptid on the street and talking about random garbage.

There are times in DSaF 2, like you said, where you do see him get like this. It's not as much that his character is different in my eyes, but that the context is. This is a version of Peter who is one bad day away from having to make a difficult decision. Literally. I'll gladly talk more about it when the DLC's out (namely I could compare + contrast certain decisions he makes!) For now, I don't wanna spoil anything that isn't explicitly stated in the first major scene he has.

[liquid-bonhomme]

Lily's Harley Quinn Show video is Garbage (and here's why)

We all know Lily's media hottakes are BAD. But, I feel like critics have mostly focused on her hottakes on media she hates. I've personally become more interested in what media she actually LIKES . . . Because her rational is often times even more nuts.

Well, this video made me mad enough that I'm gunna write a post about it now. Prepare your assholes for the death rattle of this DC fanboy losing his shit:

To be clear, I like this show, for some of the same reasons Lily does even. . . But that's not going to stop me from taking the piss.

(I encourage you all to watch the video in full beforehand so you can get the context of the quotes I'm pulling. Timestamps will be included though.

I just told people to watch your stupid video Lily-- can't cry copyright here.)

-0:19: TWENTY SECONDS IN, STEVEN UNIVERSE IS REFERENCED. GG LILLIAN.

-0:36: BITCHING ABOUT HOW VICTIMIZED SHE IS. 30 SECONDS IN.

-0:55: "I dare say it's the best thing to come out of the Batman franchise in a long time."

It seems like the last thing Lily watched/played/read in "the Batman franchise" was The Dark Knight. You dare boldly, Lily. Ironically I feel like she would at least like the Lego Batman movie, if not all the other good shit that's come out since 2011. Also, this is one of the first of many times she calls the entire fucking DC Universe "The Batman Franchise."

-1:00: "If you're watching this show for at all you're watching it for the romantic arc between Harley and Ivy. Don't lie."

I know this is a joke. I'm not an idiot, but. If you're familiar with Lily's general media consumption, you'll be well aware she watches shit a lot of the time for the ships and the ships ALONE. I feel like this really highlights how she views media in general in a way that's rather revealing. This video is two years old, and I wouldn't be surprised if Lily's opinion has soured a bit given the direction the show goes after this video was released. Put a pin in this comment. 📌

-1:15: "I mean it's a post-joker Harley Quinn show what else are they going to do.

Put a pin in that comment.📌

-2:00: Lily goes on to summarize the plot of the show . . . Completely ignoring all the plot beats that have nothing to do with the romance.

Put a pin in that one too.📌

-3:30: Lily indicates she identifies with Ivy.

Another pin.📌

-4:10: Lily starts talking about how near the end of the second season, Harley has now confessed her feelings to Ivy, but Ivy turns her down because she's going to get married to Kite Man (enjoy the insanity of that sentence if you haven't seen the show.)

Though I don't think she's nessesarily making any real poor points here yet, I want to point out that she really flattens the complexity of the emotions going on here. The problem is that Ivy and Harley's relationship has reached a level of intimacy where they really can't just go back to being friends. Ivy is happily in a relationship with Kite Man at this point, he's been a much more stable and reliable partner to Ivy. Though it's implied her feelings for Harley go a lot deeper. During Joker's confrontation of Harley, Lily frames it as a "go get 'er" pep talk like it's a fucking 80s rom com. He's trying more to get Harley to emotionally resolve things with her-- regardless of outcome. Ivy did say no once already. The audience expects she isn't going to say no a second time since that wouldn't be a narratively satisfying conclusion, but in the real world equivalent, she could have. The Joker wasn't telling Harley to harass Ivy until she gives in.

-5:16: Not really a mark against Lily's video persay, but in a season that aired after Lily made this video the prospect of Harley and Ivy breaking up is explored. Lily must have been seething, lol.

-5:28: "I love a good fluffy romance. I'm so fucking done with people's obsession with the nasty stuff [Flashes Catra and Adora on screen.]"

Honestly this comment has me wondering if Lily decided to check her phone or just skip through scenes where Harley and Ivy weren't being lovey-dovey. I don't know what fucking show she apparently watched (foreshadowing is a narrative tool wh--.)

-5:48: "Poison Ivy has always had the same problem a lot of female characters in DC comics have had in despite being an actual doctor they always just put her in a skin tight leotard [ . . . ] About the only notable exception to that was in The Batman [the 2005 show] where she was a teenager [classical Lily goonery inserted here.]"

Ignoring the goon comment, in isolation I don't have a grievance with this comment persay. As a generalization, it's more or less true about Ivy. She's unfortunately one of the lesser well-used characters in the various DC canons as a whole. However, Lily is going to start implying she's more familiar with DC in general, especially the comics, than she really is. I have strong reason to doubt Lily would know Ivy canonically has a doctorate in botanical sciences if this show didn't call so much attention to it. You'll see why in a moment.

Also the 2005 Batman show is far from the only iteration to reimagine Ivy as a teen. I like that show's take on Ivy too, but that's not a fucking unique spin on the character.

-6:57: "Clayface was always a random D-list monster like Carnage, but here he's reimagined as a struggling actor."

In a show that had the balls to feature Queen of Fables, she's calling Clayface a fucking "d-lister." Nevermind Carnage. But no Lily, Clayface has been a struggling actor since his first appearance in Detective Comics No.40. It's literally the first thing in his bio on his fucking wiki page.

-7:09: "There's one episode where [Clayface] assumes the identity of Stephanie to get into Riddler's college [ . . . ] Seriously I'm convinced he's been moonlighting as Stephanie a lot. The other girls on campus call her 'Steph.' She's been there for a while. This is Clayface's secret identity and you can't convince me otherwise."

LILY THAT'S NOT SUBTEXT THAT'S THE FUCKING JOKE. IT'S TEXT. IT'S CANON. YES. CLAYFACE HAS BEEN FUCKING AROUND ON RIDDLER'S CAMPUS THIS WHOLE TIME. CONFIRMED IN THE SHOW. LILY. LILLLYYYYYY.

Worth pointing out too, she'd totally call Clayface's Stephanie character transphobic if she hated the show.

-9:00: "The writers though 'okay, what do we use to fill our quota of the sad misguided villian this arc-- oh I know fucking BATMAN!'"

Lily what the fuck are you doing when you sit down to watch a show for your channel? Are you playing Candycrush the whole time? Are you screaming at Mikaila that often you miss like . . . Almost everything!? What are you doin' sweaty!?

Lilian, Bruce is not the primary antagonist of the 3rd season . . . IVY IS. Or really, Harley and Ivy's emotional dysfunction is the antagonist of basically this whole series, and it's Ivy's turn to be the main driver of conflict. The person destroying Gotham is Ivy. Not Batman, IVY.

Bruce and Selina's relationship is supposed to be a conceptual foil to Harley and Ivy's. Bruce is having an emotional breakdown the entire series has more or less been building up to.

-9:15: [In reference to Batman getting sent to prison] "I want him to get some nice and comfortable therapy."

. . . Lily is that what you think happens in prison?

-9:35: Lily is talking about the Joker's step-dad arc, and this is as good a time as any to stop for a sec to talk about how Lily doesn't seem to get what The Harley Show is doing with the characters.

The thing that makes the show an exceptionally brilliant take on the DC universe is that virtually all the characters (with some exceptions, that were tweaked for the better mostly) are actually faithful to their comic book/generally established characterization. To an impressive degree, down to even just minor details. You can tell the people who made this show are genuine fans of DC comics. Their personalities and character arcs are exaggerated for comedic effect, with specific interesting angles teased out to draw focus to them. Some elements of their personality are recontextualized to create a more engaging dynamic, but regardless. Even most of the plot elements are at least loose adaptations of storylines from the comic, or other DC media. It's really impressive how the show both works as a functional take on the DC universe by itself, and as a parody of it. Lily demonstrates she's totally oblivious to this multiple times in the video, but her section on the Joker best exemplifies this.

The Joker has taken over and/or become mayor of Gotham multiple times in the comics. Lily thinks for some god forsaken reason in the 70 something years Batman comics have been printed, nobody's thought of that. THEY HAVE. The gag with the second time Joker takes over Gotham IN THIS FUCKING SHOW ALONE is . . . He's actually a really good mayor. Gotham is a perpetual capitalist nightmare shithole of a city. The most insane, radical anarchist thing for The Joker to do is . . . Be a socialist who actually gives a shit about the small folk. That's the joke, Lily. That's the joke. That's the mother fucking JOKE. THE FUNNY HAHA, THERE IT IS LILY. I FUCKING EXPLAINED IT TO YOU.

And Lilian. The Joker being at his most normal and stable while he has a family. Is. A. Direct. Parody. Of. One. Of. The. Most. FAMOUS. BATMAN STORIES. EVER. WRITTEN.

SHE IS LITERALLY FUCKING SHOWING THE EPISODE WHERE THEY DIRECTLY VISUALLY REFERENCE THE KILLING JOKE ON SCREEN. LILY YOU'RE GOING TO GIVE ME A FUCKING HERNIA.

-10:10: Lily calls Sam Raimi a "douchebag."

Fuck right off.

-10:25: "It's a return to wacky hijinks that uses to define The Joker back when he was a gangster in funny makeup."

NO IT ISN'T LILY.

-11:00: Lily bitches about Harley Quinn for the 7 minutes in the remaining runtime.

Okay, the play-by-play is over, I'm going to address this section all at once because it will be quicker and more comprehensive if I do. This is the point where all the aformentioned pins come in.

Though I'm going to have to be ignoring some bullshit Lily says here in order to stay focused, I will mention first, Lily doesn't seem to realize Batfleck and Nolan's Batman were MASSIVE departures from the comics and don't pull much from the storylines. I don't think that's nessesarily a bad thing, even though I'm not the biggest fan of either of those interpretations, but for the record-- no. Those adaptations have almost nothing to do with Year one, The Dark Night Returns, The Killing Joke, or The Long Halloween outside of superficial elements. Lily just googled "famous Batman comics" and picked the four she probably vaguely heard of before. Again, she didn't even recognize the in-your-face impossible to miss Killing Joke parody episode she used as footage for this video. SHE'S JUST PRETENDING SHE'S READ COMICS SHE HASN'T.

Now to the point:

Lily's rational for not liking Harley's portrayal in the Harley Quinn show is honest to god brain damage. I'm not even sure how hard I need to go into explaining this because . . . It's pointing at the text itself and calling it a flaw. Harley's entire journey as a person is TRYING TO DISCOVER WHO SHE IS outside of the toxic codependency she had with the Joker. Her arc is both a meta commentary on the nature of the character conceptually and her journey to redefine herself. THIS ISN'T FUCKING SUBTLE. THIS IS STATED IN THE SHOW. Harley's identity crisis over whether or not she's even a villan anymore STARTS IN SEASON 3. Harley's lack of inhibition is what DRIVES THE PLOT IN SEASON 2. Harley's struggles to emancipat herself IS THE PLOT OF THE FIRST FUCKING EPISODE. This is also honestly the ONLY DC property I can think of that actually bothers to do something with the fact that Harley is a psychologist. Almost on that basis alone, it's one of the most refreshing takes on the character. That actually means something when I say it, because I've actually read a fucking comic in my life. LILY WHAT FUCKING DIMENSION DO YOU SLIP INTO ANY TIME YOU SIT DOWN TO WATCH A SHOW.

That question is rhetorical-- Lily tells on herself several times throughout this video. Remember those pins? Go read em again. Lily identifies with Ivy, so Lily decided Ivy is the "real" main character-- and wants Harley to be Ivy's loving kissy huggy gf. She genuinely thinks the show is actively making a mistake anytime her smut ship fanfic is interrupted. Lily wants porn. LILY YEARNS FOR THE PORN, ALWAYS. Every single fucking time.

She's decided Ivy has done nothing wrong to create tension in the relationship. She has deemed the character flaws Harley has that creates tension in the relationship a mistake in the writing.

Because Lily has not actually read a comic, but probably has seen Batman: The Animated Series-- she's missed all of the other references and spoofs in the show except for the ones involving Harley. That was the show she was originally created in.

Case-fucking-closed. Water is wet, the sky is blue, and Lily Orchard is talking out of her ass.

Kill my parents and call me the world's greatest detective, I guess.

[oblivionbladetd]

You Know Who Related Question: Can you explain what it means to “engage with a story on its terms” and why it’s important to do so?

Well, it's more complicated than it sounds. Though not so complicated that it makes no sense. It's taking in multiple viewpoints and essentially culling them for relevance. You can and should paint with multiple brushes, but you shouldn't use all brushes.

Easy and popular example for why the time it came out matters, Lord of the Rings. Today, it's basically bog standard, but that's not a fair dismissal. This is where you must remember that the films are over two decades old, with the books edging close to 8 decades old! Even now, it still holds up, and its influence has given us only better and better high fantasy. The fact that something so old is still the baseline is a truly monumental feat!

Without letting things exist on their own terms, you can compare anything to anything. Lord of the Rings is a pretty shit medical drama compared to Dr. House, for example. This is a tactic Lily has used saying things like Cowboy Bebop is less popular than Friends... just ignoring the difference in place of origin, genre of shows, and time of airing. I and others have rightfully called the comparison out as comparing a perfectly cooked and seasoned steak with all the best sides to a bag of potato chips, calling the chips better because they are cheaper and the prep begins and ends at opening the bag. You do have to factor in the genres and cultures things come from.

The last bits to get a grasp on author intent, but also to not... I've got a good example for this paradox, though. If you don't read too far into the works of Lovecraft, they are relative masterworks of the fear of the unknown and cosmic horror.... though if you know the kind of man H.P. Lovecraft was, the books lose gas fast, as it's all easily explained by him being a remarkably racist man who feared anything he didn't understand and coincidentally didn't understand a lot. Now remember the SU is Garbage vid is primarily about explaining how Rebecca Sugar made Nazi propaganda, except this requires leaps in logic. To yadda yadda a longer explanation, if you don't land on ants, most of what we see is not far off from basically any military. The only way you can land on Nazi is to just really WANT to land on Nazi. Add the context of Rebecca's heritage in there and even uncharitably the Nazi comparison is fucking WILD.

From here, you just do all of it and don't do it selectively. Case and point the forgotten gays vid of Lily's. To just blow the unfair comparison wide open before lingering on the bits, most all of Lily's examples just didn't air outside of Canada. They aren't forgotten, to most of the world they didn't exist. With that out of the way, it goes without saying the Canada first cartoons vs. The action slop already isn't what's happening, and the comparisons are jank. When you are trying to equate the representation, you can't play up the 2000s and play down the 2010s as, frankly, a lot of context lies in the political climate. Dion was pretty revolutionary for being a gay man in a kid's show in 2001! The thing is... saying he's equivalent or superior to lumity in the 2020s by comparison is frankly just blazing through a lot of real-life strife to get here! It's never at any point been Braceface vs. Owl House, every show Lily listed has been leading to Lumity! She is overstating the impact of the old shows while downplaying the new like this wasn't a linear progression that was pushing and fighting the whole time. You have to accept that for all the good that Braceface, 6teen, Lloyd in space did... they were all weak sauce and trivially censored. They weren't ever going to not be. That was the only way to sneak it by executives. Even the weakest of new stuff is what the old hoped and prayed it could be! And even then, it is still kinda weak, save lumity and catradora... The gay in Steven Universe is basically exclusively space rocks, and Korrasami is implied...

Always meet things on its own level. While there is one last thing I can talk of that will get its own post nearly this long down the line, this has run on long enough. Hopefully, this clears up at least a bit of what judging a story on its own terms means.

[spacenintendogs]

ALSO what are the gang's favourite shows

The people need to know

The people is me

<333

god.... i don't. know shows. ah

hiccup

he's always running outside so he doesn't watch a lot of tv he has Important things to do (aka whatever he feels like doing)

had a dr who phase tho. pretends it never happened (he can still get excited abt it)

star wars

he has a soft spot for full house bc he & his dad used to watch it together

astrid

are you smarter than a fifth grader (she is. she would win that show. she likes being competitive)

sports. any and all. her & snotlout can get Mean abt it if their team isn't winning.

i honestly struggle with thinking of things she would like?? she would watch whatever her friends put on & she does pay attention & like them but idk??

fishlegs

LOVES the x-files (first 7 seasons. anything after that for him is not canon and not real <3)

star wars

every documentary in the history of existence

anime (sailor moon is his fave)

how it's made

cartoons in general! very open abt it!! (his fave is steven universe. he's a sap <3)

snotlout

american football games. gets pissy when the patriots lose or ppl dunk on them

he watches cartoons he grew up with but pretends they're kiddie shit (he loves ed, edd, n eddy & also johnny bravo)

golden girls (pretends he hasn't seen it at all even tho he's rewatched it multiple times)

ruffnut

she watches garbage reality tv bc it's like a science to her & she has it under a microscope.

buffy the vampire slayer enjoyer

open cartoon enjoyer as well! loves courage the cowardly dog

a weather documentary enjoyer. good background noise for her

tuffnut

also watches garbage reality tv but is more invested in it & loves quoting things

loves cooking competition shows. food network shows in general tbh

loves cartoons and anime as well! open abt it!!

looooves psych (comedy series abt a guy with eidetic memory & powers of observation who pretends to be a psychic. fake psychic, real detective. pls go watch it)

idk!! i'm so bad with this kind of stuff. there are things listed here that's under one person but they've all watched & enjoy together (like buffy, psych, & x-files). i think there'd be a couple shows (not listed) they all got into together & just make it a Thing to sit down & watch together. idk!! i can more pinpoint general vibes for what they'd like over specifics.

[lilyvalerieorchard]

Wait, WHAT?

Lily....

Lily...

Breaking Bad is one of THIS generations greatest television series OF ALL TIME.

But since I know you so well and see how shallow you are, you never even watched it! Why? Because the people you hate enjoy it and that was enough for you to dismiss it as garbage sight unseen. After all, you openly admitted that barely, if never, watch any of the stuff you decided to hate on a whim.

First, it was Steven Universe. Then it was The Legend Of Korra. Then She-Ra. Then Star Vs. The Forces Of Evil. Then The Owl House. Then Avatar: The Last Airbender (yes, really). And now, it is Full Metal Alchemist, Baldur's Gate III, Dragon Age, Arcane and Breaking Bad. But here's the thing: It won't work. Not anymore. We know you're a disingenuous, hipster-snob who can't be bother to watch anything that isn't toddler faire. We know you have zero taste in anything. And for that, we will never let you turn the internet against good media ever again.

Everyone knows that you're not a "critic" or a "tastemaker", you're a petty, anti-art, anti-intellectual hack.

[midnight1nk]

Okay I need to send in another ask cuz i literally just thought of this (i will preface tho by saying that there is Steven Universe Future spoilers in this one so feel free to not answer if you haven’t seen it)

There needs to be a Steven universe future-esque intervention with Smg4 cuz that whole intervention scene with Steven just screams like something that could potentially happen with Four. Just something to aggressively chew on (I know I am lol)

And what if I say that's exactly how I imagined goop!4 to go down ever since the Garbage episode? :)

oh, dude, I had SO many ideas in how goop!4 would even start and then the actual activation itself (Writer Ink was just as insane as Theorist Ink, let's be real here LMAO). Like if the goo wasn't gonna get activated purposely by force, it was gonna be like the intervention scene and I'm so glad I'm not the only one think about that

We all know 4, telling others and frankly himself, that everything's fine. They're fine, he's fine. They're ALL fine. Besides, he can still fix it, there's time, there's still a way. There has to be. But we all know he's crumbling, terribly. And the thing is, each of the Crew would've seen by then a few signs of his perfectionism showing up again and (depending how much we can spiral this) it's gotten worse.

Honestly, I would absolutely LOVE for something like this to happen, bc it's the heart of it all, isn't it? The Crew concerned for 4, but 4 having to put up a strong front for them, for too long. He's terrified in losing them and, let's make things worse while we're at it, then 4 thinking he was the problem all along. But we ain't gonna solve the goop!4 problem too quickly, we gotta have a whole movie dedicated to it

But, just it helped the other times, all 4 needs is love 💙

thanks for the ask!

[chaifootsteps]

After watching the tipical aggresive folks that treat others like garbage exposed around the tags, I can't help but remember an interesting moment that happened years ago. I still remember how, once steven universe ended, a lot of the most toxic fans had this weird ''wake up'' where they admited their wrong behaviour over the last years and some of them didn't even came back due their shame on being to obsesive over a show to start fights online. What is going to be once hellaverse ends? will people realize how abusive they acted online, and how much harssment they involved themselves over a show that isn't even entitled to it's original premises? Like, the SU fans, not so long time ago, had no problem acknowledging the plot holes and writting issues, but I have to be honest, to some people admit they were wrong is harder than to keep a pointless fight and Viv fandoms are full of individuals who love being jerks over hellaverse because they are ''passionate''. But I guess a person can dream, I hope one day the same toxic stans that harass and attack people who give their sincere opinion on this mess shows, will look back and think how much time they wasted in a horrible behaviour defending a low level writting and an equal bad person who doesn't even care for her fans. anyways, goodnight sir, have a wonderful evening. -*Midnight anon*-

One can cross their fingers and hope. I definitely have more faith in this happening to the younger people in the toxic standom...I think the boat's kind of sailed for the 33 year olds.

[sjbattleangel]

Edited from Hiding In Private's fantastic video which you can watch here.

Hiding In Public: "It's unreasonable to attack Rebecca's character as if the most malicious interpretation of everything in the show was their personal idea. The writing and storyboarding team of Steven Universe is one of the most diverse in cartoon history. On a show that pushed diversity and inclusion, a lot of this criticism starts to stink of right-wing co-opting of progressive language, without understanding context and sentiment, in order to have a "gotcha" moment. Considering a lot of videos pushing this also include racist and homophobic jokes (as I've covered in my own series).  Even then, the argument that you're trying to make is that there was a malicious characterization of minorities made by those same minorities...so the next question I guess is: Why Steven Universe? A show about pushing diversity, inclusion and acceptance was being specifically targeted by countless takedown videos (and posts) on this specific thing. It seems to me-at least-that even if someone were to concede all the bad things being said, that it would make more sense to target-more loudly-the shows (and other media) that do the same thing more often with less tact and who are also not led by minority communities rather than one of the only shows intentionally trying to support these communities. Especially when most the people making the criticism, show by virtue of their own comments, are neither coming from these communities or are at worst actively vilifying them with homophobic and racist comments. Say there are two shops: One that sells apples and the other that sells grapes. The apple owner overhears a customer complaining about the grapes not tasting good. Does the Apple owner then run a campaign pretending to be a grape fan in order to make grapes better? Or is it more likely that they stoked a flame to ensure that their business had less competition?"

[picklerocket]

Happy 3rd Anniversary Little Nightmares 2!!

I have not finished my pointillism piece for the celebration, so it will have to be belated. Instead, I will share a disjointed rant about how I think Thin Man and the Signal Tower function!

In my mind, the Signal Tower from Little Nightmares 2 (pictured on the right) is a Lovecraftian Shoggoth (pictured on the left), and it crashed to the earth thousands- perhaps even millions of years before we see the game take place. This is a theory I have personally had since the game came out, but I know there is a theory video floating around somewhere about this same theory, and a few of my fellow fans also share it.

(If you have not played/watched LN played or listened to the podcast, and do not want it spoiled, be warned! Spoilers ahoy!)

I will attempt to explain how I see Thin Man and the Signal Tower having a sort of symbiotic relationship, and what exactly Thin Man is and where Mono comes from.

In "The Sound of Nightmares", we learn that children almost always get to the Nowhere in their sleep, with a few possibly having been born there (i.e. the Pretender). However, Mono seems different, and not just from Six. His abilities of walking through tv screens, and whatever other powers he possesses as he grows into Thin Man, seem to be completely natural to him- to the point that he must cover his face with a bag to keep them at bay.

I am going to take this a step further and say that Mono was not only born in the Little Nightmares universe, but he wasn't even born on their version of the earth!

This is where my theories begin to seem a bit far-fetched, so stay with me.

I have decided to call what Mono/Thin Man is, a "Broadcaster" (a name which was assigned to Thin Man by fans when he first appeared in the secret ending of the Residence DLC), and has been a populr name for him in fanfiction, as well as fanart and comics as well.

Well, now I want to take a closer look at Thin Man's powers- and how they are comprised of electromagnetic fields and frequencies of light. So why can Thin Man manipulate these things in his environment to the point where he can pretty much control reality?

Because he is part of a species- a "Broadcaster". An alien. He has these superhuman abilities because he isn't a human at all!

You may have noticed that I said "a" Broadcaster. Implying there are more- which I believe there are, somewhere, out in the universe. I personally think that they are ageless beings similar in life cycle to the fabled pheonix; Growing old and being reborn again new each time.

But where do these Broadcasters come from?

The way I think, the only way any being could manipulate the laws of matter and light could be to have it composing their bodies as well. Yes, I am indeed implying that Thin Man is a solid projection of light (yes, like a gem from Steven Universe lol). All this to say, I believe they are born amongst stars forming in nebulas. They are made of/powered by stars! Made of light!

I mean, think about it! Whenever he's seen in-game, he looks black and white and staticy just like he's on tv! Like he's made of fizzling and flickering light. But what about Mono? Mono is solid, and he can even die!

Well, we can explain Mono being more physical and vulnerable as him being a tiny baby of course! I don't think he's just trapped in a time loop by the Signal Tower- I believe the Broadcaster life cycle for Thin Man starts over when we see Mono wake up in front of the TV in the forest at the beginning of the game.

"But why is Mono 'born' as a 10/11 year old?"

That, my friend, is because the Shoggoth that composes this particular Signal Tower is garbage at approximating human anatomy! It's never seen a human baby, and therefore can only replicate what it has seen- children.

"But Pickle, what do you mean the Tower made him look human?? What???"

Well, if you were a giant behemoth that consumes entire populations, you'd need something to lure them in. Like an anglerfish! And what did I pose is made of light? Broadcasters. That's what I think so far. The Shoggoth rips through nebulas searching for a Broadcaster, and once it traps one it its body, it takes it to a planet and uses the Broadcaster's abilities to consume the populace. Make him look like them and plaster him all over their communications and entertainment.

So there you have it! My current Thin Man/Mono theories and headcanons. I may elaborate on this further, and draw up some broadcaster life cycle examples. Let me know what you think! 👁️✨

Again, Happy Anniversary Little Nightmares 2!! 🎉🎊🎁

[franki-lew-yo]

It says so much about Ben Shapword as a person that he was threatened enough by Bluey to greenlight Chip-Chilla.

I mean this in the nicest way possible, but nothing about Bluey is striving for being ''progressive'', at least not by rightwing standards. It's no Owl House or Steven Universe. Outside of the ep where Bluey makes a French friend and the Heelers celebrating Easter I can't ever recall the concept of religion, ethnicity or heritage being important in the series. Don't think I've ever seen a gay couple or pride flag in the background, neither. Obviously I don't think the show being made for little kids and/or about anthro dogs means you can't talk about concepts like that, it's just that Bluey doesn't even attempt that. In fact because it IS made for and about small children I would argue that's the reason there's no big talk about money problems in the show and all the characters seem well-off.

My point is, unless Steiner/Waldorf schools became a tool of the left when I wasn't looking (they're not; Waldorf schools teach pseudo science and are sometimes antivax. Hopefully not in Calypso's class but yeah now you know what to look for when you google 'waldorf school controversies'), Bluey is about as 'woke' as modern day Peanuts or Illumination. It's inherently nonthreatening and non-confrontational of bigger concepts outside of what's universal to kids and the kid characters. It'd be interesting if they had a LGBTQ character or a talk about (dog?)race and culture, but overall the show seems 'safe' from that stuff that makes conservatives cringe. So at first glance you think Chip-chilla is just a "want to cash in/draw people away from sinful mass media"-thing. Still disgusting but honestly par for the course. Christian programing meant to be a 'safe' alternative to nasty secular shows isn't new.

And then, it dawns on you:

Bluey gets confused for a boy by those who don't watch the show, kind of like how people misgender Bambi, Tweety or Peppermint Patty sometimes.

Chili and Bandit both work and have equal time to be the at-home parent with their kids.

Dailywire is offput by a girl character not being definitively feminine from first glance. Dailywire can't stand the idea of a man being a home husband. They not only see these standard lifestyles as threatening, but that this alone is trying to 'push' something on them when it's just, you know, trying to depict accurate home life of most kids.

What hope do trans people have even existing in the world when a cis girl without eyelashes is a threat to you? What kind of person looks at a dad (who isn't even a fulltime homehusband) having a nurturing relationship with his kids and thinks "DEGENERATE!"

I don't have to answer. You all know the kind of person.

On a happier note: I'm very curious how Bluey would go about addressing that real world representation I was talking about. I think that could be done well but, considering how the exercising episode was received by some adults, no doubt there'd be controversy. And I mean controversy inside the communities they're talking about, not pundits like Ben who'd have a heartattack over a progress flag being in the background that's never even addressed by anyone. I can see an adult character walking off with their same-sex partner or maybe a new classmate who's muslim and wears a hijab just being there and some people being concerned they're not handling it right/well enough. Which is probably why the writers just have steer cleared of it, I think.

If there's one gift Benny boy gives us all it's making us realize that that kind of discourse is always preferable the one where garbage people have no care for others.

[peridotlazuli]

watched a video essay abt someone going through lily orchard's "steven universe is hot garbage and here's why" video and debunking her points and wow??? lily was so critical of rebecca sugar as a person for literally no reason?? like legitimately just insulting them at multiple points, acting like anything she didn't like about the show was rebecca's fault. this isn't even going through all the bad faith criticism of the actual show itself

[kiisaes]

Do you at least agree with any of the points Lilly Orchard made in the "SU is garbage and here's why" video? Just out of curiosity

not really off the top of my head. a lot, if not all, of her points just feel like bad faith criticism where she already hated rebecca sugar like they killed her family and then built her arguments around that

I'm not and never was a huge steven universe fan but lily made it sound like that show was the spawn of the devil, when it was a perfectly functional show (from what I consumed of it) with actually pretty decent writing to it. it's not flawless but much of lily's hatred seemed to stem from her inability to understand what she was watching. which ... isn't really SU's fault, it's hers; especially bc SU is a kids show and lily is an adult.

in order to find points I agree with in that video I'd have to rewatch it, but frankly I don't feel like giving her a free view and a lot of her bad takes stand out far worse (like calling sugar a nazi sympathizer despite sugar being jewish; claiming rose quartz is a bad character bc she's nuanced and morally grey and her legacy affects/troubles those around her, essentially not getting rose's purpose; saying the LGBT rep in the show was bad+not enough despite SU being one of the first kids shows unapologetically fighting for rep and open queerness, like holy shit that show tried so hard; trying to paint complicated and messy queer relationships as problematic writing to appease the homophobes; etc.)

aka even if I agree with content in the video, I overall disagree with how lily made it, how she seems to have such a strong vendetta against sugar and nuanced writing, and her beliefs as a whole

[oblivionbladetd]

Learning from Lorch (and hazcrit): Very Reasonable Demands.

Seeing as hazcrit is doing to Sai exactly what Sai pointed out that they are doing to vivzie, I feel now is a good time for this post. For what is Hazcrit other than SUcrit that was reheated in the desk microwave? The desk microwave of none other than Lily Orchard, of course! Memes aside, the SU is garbage vid was a prized by the SUcrit community and like... that says a lot more than it should.

Now, to preface my ensuing info dump, one question I ask myself in the myriad of questions I use to formulate my critique is, "How could I have done this better?" Though not as what I am currently. I am an independent hobbyist writer with no oversight, no team to manage, no deadlines, the full script of Steven Universe, nearly a decade of knowledge about every shortcoming and controversy both intentionally and not, and most of all no financial or creative incentives to reach as many people as humanly possible. Could I make a better Steven Universe special for me with all that in my pocket? Short answer: yeh. Long answer: Of fucking course I could, stupid. Rebecca and vivzie had few to none of these benefits. In fact, they had about the opposite in most ways. I'll admit that they are still 6/10 shows because this is by far from the only metric, but what many of the crits seem to think are the most important.

Now, I could bring up the infamous lines of SU is garbage where Lily calls the show both not gay enough and too gay, but I feel like pointing that out has been both been done better by others, and is Lazy since even in Lily's own words those statements are from an embittered lily a decade ago... so I brought this!

Lightly edited, but I am not watching the video to get the unedited one. Either way on the surface, this shit doesn't seem to be a tall ask, but you know your boy will break it down clean how it really is, step by step.

1. Must be a healthy relationship. Doesn't sound like a tall ask at all, right? Let's just hope that the story isn't about say, I dunno, working on a relationship at all. Or in a setting where maintaining a healthy relationship might be hard.... I'd bring up that not every person has the same definition of healthy, but there's a lot of these to chew through.

2. Needs to be human/human adjacent. Well, there goes any story about being loved for who you are and not what you look like, right out with the bathwater. Also what about two monsters and/or aliens being gay? I know that's not the point,but that's why we word carefully.

3. Relationships must be present before finale. Doable.... unless you are doing something where them meeting is far more fun and tumultuous than when they get steady. So, like... many sitcoms, romcoms, and a lot of romance in general. Like this is one of the most doable, but the amount you can miss out on is quite humbling.

4.No burying. I know she means the trope bury your gays, but I will point out that this clobbers tragedy with a steel chair.

5. MUST be main characters. So, no solo adventures. Honestly, this isn't the worst either, but I do love the implication that side characters just do not count anymore. Nobody likes characters that don't have top billing anyway, I'm sure.

6. No pussyfooting. I see what she means, but as somebody that can see past my own nose, this catches stories about closeted gays or any sexual awakening stories in the crossfire easy.

7. It's hard to define, but I'm going to interpret that any lore reasoning, positive or negative, affecting the character's relationship is bad. Which... oof to any high fantasy.

It's not fucking impossible, but just look at what is left on the table after this!

Now, if you are like Lily, a hobbyist vignette writer. It's not that hard. Incredibly doable. Easy work even!... but we now have to add conditions.

Take whatever vignette you cooked up. And now it needs to be a full product. 300+ page book, 26 episode show, respectability sized graphic novel, whatever poison you desire. I still think it could be done, but if you put a gun to my head, my confidence in anything I just planned sunk like a tungsten cube through air.

So let's do that metaphorically! That is how the industry works, after all. You gotta sell this idea to a guy whose only God is the almighty dollar. Unshakable if you can't convince them that publishing your crap is worth the investment. Like shit it ain't even have to be gay anymore. Knock the rep off, and that's still a BIG ask. I wouldn't say it just isn't possible. I just know anything I came up with initially certainly isn't something I'd pay for.

This is a statement I tend to blanket over the haz and SU crit when I see it. More often than not, they are asking for things that only sound reasonable in hindsight, or if it was an independent production that answers to no-one, or it just wasn't your speed and that's somehow not your problem... Nothing less than the vision of perfection that's specifically in my head? Right?

That's why I tend to believe Sai when she calls it misogyny. I've seen male creators do worse to DEAFENING silence. Was SU perfect? Obviously not. Was it good enough to communicate some heavy stuff to its audience of 14-17 year Olds? You betcha. Is Hazbin that great? Not incredible, but I'd argue it's better than 80% of adult animation currently being made.

But hey, I'm pretty sure there's a term for tying a less than perfect woman to a poll and burning them.

[episodeoftv]

Round 1 of 6, Group 1 of 4

propaganda is under the cut (354 words) - may contain spoilers

summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)

propaganda

Angel - 4.22 Home

Lilah returns from the dead to offer Angel and his friends full ownership of Wolfram and Hart.

1) It's the end of the worst season of tv I I can think of. So much on and off screen was just awful. I wish I could bleach any recollection of this from my mind 2) Easy summation of why Joss Wheadon should not be trusted with handling shows at this point. Connor is a horrible character that gets treated like garbage to the endthat despite the interesting premise of him, they don't address his issues and wipe his story to "fix" him and then there's everything with Cordelia that's best described in an essay that unfortunately isn't around but removing her after assassinating her character with everything is a mess and making her comatose to "wipe her away" never sat right and while the concept of Angel working for his worst enemy is a neat concept. it just. feels wrong. it just sucks.

Steven Universe - 5.29 Change Your Mind

cw: characters get stabbed (PG)

After landing on homeworld, Steven embarks on a journey to convince White Diamond to listen to him so he can help the corrupted gems back on Earth.

1) Genuinely just felt like a compact of all the issues Steven Universe had summed up that it tries to be deep and meaningful but felt so bad as a result. 2) "IDC that the interest decided media criticism is cringe or malicious and we all have to pretended Steven universe was some perfect little angel who was the victim of an evil hate campaign. The ending was rushed, horribley paced, had the worst redemption """"""arc"""""""""" in the entire series(yes I say redemption arcs look me dead in the eye and tell me the diamonds weren't redeemed), hideous fusion designs that broke the pre-established logic of fusion, and was some the most insufferable case of millenial writing I've seen. The only postive of the ending was that 10 seconds of james baxtet animation. It compounds all the criticisms people have held for Steven universe for years into a singular 40 minute episode and I'm glad it's considered embarrassing to like this show now. And in case anyone thinks I'm just a bitter 30 year old who was expecting too much from a children's show: I was 15 when the finale aired I was literally the prime demographic I thought it was shit then and I think its shit now”