#steven universe isn't garbage

[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?"

[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.

[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.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Lily Orchard was WRONG, and Here's Why - Steven Universe is Good, Actually!

So I've watched this video, it's 3 hours long, and I think it's very good. It does a fantastic job of rebuking each point in the original "Steven Universe is Garbage and Here's Why" video, while also addressing a lot of the offensive, bad faith commentary about Rebecca Sugar made there, without going so far as to trash on Orchard for her personal characteristics etc. This video isn't made out of hate for Orchard, but out of love for Steven Universe, and that's why it is so good.

I haven't seen any SU since Future ended back in 2020, and back then I had very strong negative opinions of the show's direction in its second half. I still hold a lot of regret for how it evolved, but over time, I've found it much easier to recognise what the show did fantastically well, the ways it was groundbreaking, and the things about it that were jarring at the time, but that I'm going to miss now that queer animation has apparently been wiped off the face of the earth.

It's interesting watching someone counter the same arguments I once believed, arguing for why the things I thought made the show bad actually make it a good work of art and a good showcase of interpersonal relationships. SU has NO REASON WHATSOEVER to be a "moral" demonstration of good relationships, in fact, to force it to be so and never have any questionable dynamics or any out-there episodes would be to crush artistic freedom altogether. There is no reason that queer stories should be squeaky clean, that they should sanitize themselves to appear to right wing conservatives that will boycott the show regardless.

There is also no reason, in any year, that anyone should be allowed to call Rebecca Sugar, a nonbinary, incredible artist who has been fighting for queer representation for over a decade, a "fascist sympathizer". All because you hate how a specific show was written.

I did have some counter-criticism of Hiding in Private's rebukes, specifically around Bismuth - they kind of brushed off the Bismuth stuff as "it's a show for kids so they'lll show the nonviolent route" and I thought that was a weak defense of something that has a lot of reasons for feeling politically charged and insensitive - however, other than that, I mostly agree. Any disagreements I have are just because of the writing of the show, not any sort of moral alignment, unlike the ORIGINAL video by Lily Orchard which classifies SU as MORALLY DETRIMENTAL just because it doesn't tell a black and white story.

[oblivionbladetd]

Lily and the Wonderful World of False Equivalency!

I've been stewing on this a while, and when focusing specifically on her self-appointed career, it's probably one of the worst things she does. (Because peeping at the larger whole has us gazing down the barrel of sexual abuse, grooming, and several other vile things Lily has perpetuated over the years.) But before this, context.

HBomberguy has two videos, one about Fallout 3, the other about Sherlock, both about how they are garbage. Now, this might come as a shock to some that he doesn't bring up other properties in his take downs. In the Fallout 3 video, he doesn't talk about anything other than Fallouts 1-3. In Sherlock, he does branch out, but only into Moffat's other projects and the original Sherlock Holmes story's. Both videos are very tightly focused and worth the watch for it.

Now, those who have had the major lapse in judgment that I had in 2016 watch the infamous Steven Universe video and probably remember that nearly 30 minute long diatribe about Kotor... The comparison doesn't really work on many levels, but the big one the little problems all lead to is that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a rated T role-playing game that will have infinitely less restrictions compared a primarily children focused show on a major television network. Leave light sith, dark jedi, gems being tools, and anything about the diamonds at the damn door. despite passing similarities, they are vastly different beasts in execution.

Then more recently we had her compare Laios and his quest to save his sister to an episode of Digimon where Tai is upset his sister got sick and there isn't more he can do to help her. Leave alone questions of morale, preparedness, and general dispositions. Lily Orchard compared the entirety of what will be a 30+ episode adult anime that already existed as a near 100 chapter Manga to just 1 episode of Digimon. Are you out of your fucking mind woman??? I hate to break it to you but Tai doesn't explain why he's upset just because he's at wits end! HE DOES IT FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE SINGLE DIGIT AGE CHILDREN THE SHOW IS MADE FOR!!!

It's such a shitty way to bolster weak points because it leaves no room for nuance. Kotor and SU both involve space colonization, but that's about where the comparison ends. Any nuance from there on out can just be explained by how vastly different they are and the vastly different circumstances of their creation. Steven talks the diamonds down for many reasons, but key amongst it all is that it's a children's show. Like how being a light side sith can have nuance for many reasons, but key amongst it all being the expectation that you aren't a child and are fully aware of the consequences of your actions and the actions made around you.

It can't be anything other than shallow mud slinging because the only way it works at all is by that single vague thread. By this logic, I can say, oh let's see... "Anything about creating personas to strike fear into certain people is the same." And it doesn't sound like I don't have a point until you are tasked with acknowledging that the SAW movies, Persona 5, and Scooby-Doo have no meaningful differences. Sure you can pontificate a bit on it, but I'd raise you the fact that the rpg elements of Saw are dogshit. The fact that anybody gives Lily a pass on this let, leave alone her general hostility or the mountains of evidence of just how vile of a person she is, it's as laughable as it is depressing.

She's a terrible critic, a garbage writer, and a truly despicable person. And this has been one of many snippets of exactly why.

[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.

[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!! 🎉🎊🎁

[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

[sjbattleangel]

Lily and her lying

   Ever since that terrible “Steven Universe is garbage, and here’s why” video, Lily Orchard has constantly accused “Steven Universe”-a wonderfully LGTBQ+ positive series about loving others and loving yourself-of being “crypto-fascist propaganda” all because it didn’t reach her nigh-impossible standards of perfectionism. She was also enraged that Steven-instead of fighting the Diamonds in a Luke-vs-Vader-style showdown-stood up to the Diamonds whilst holding them responsible for their wrongdoings. So no, Steven did not “forgive the Diamonds” nor “hug it out with them.”    Throughout the video, Lily is purposely dishonest: By exaggerating SU’s weaker parts to outright lying about certain points via misinformation and manipulative editing, she aims to make SU look as objectively horrible as possible. All driven by her own personal, grudge against Rebecca Sugar.

Yes. Lily hates Rebecca Sugar as a person. Hang on, didn’t Lily say things like these?:

Lily is lying through her teeth as we can see here in a few little screenshots I caught flying around online:

Here, she contradicts herself, showing her true feelings: Lily believes Rebecca Sugar-a progressive, leftist, non-binary, bisexual Jewish woman, directly related to an actual holocaust survivor-is a Nazi-sympathizing, fascist, white supremacist.

Best case scenario: Lily has severe apophenia and sees Nazis and Nazi-apologia where they don’t exist. (Such as “Steven Universe”)  Worst case scenario: Lily Orchard really is a vile, vindictive antisemite. 

[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”

[kchasm]

Ryu Number: "Jaws," the shark from "Jaws"

Directed by Steven Spielberg and based on a novel by Peter Benchley, the 1975 thriller Jaws tells the story of Larry Vaughn (played by Murray Hamilton), the mayor of the New England beach town of Amity Island. When a couple of ivory-tower out-of-towners recommend he close the beaches for fear of shark attack—a move that would herald economic disaster in the town's tourist season—Vaughn sticks to his principles and refuses. By the end of the film the shark—an isolated aberration—has been successfully disposed of, the out-of-towners have learned something about life in Amity Island, and Vaughn's position as mayor is all the more secure.

There are a number of terrible Jaws games, but the cleanest way to get to the shark is probably Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure, a video game where you walk around a Universal Studios theme park, taking part in such thrilling activities as picking up garbage and shaking hands with Universal Studios characters.

Do this long enough, and Woody Woodpecker will even let you play a smattering of minigames based on Universal Studio franchises!

(And yes, that's definitely Jaws and not one of the Jawsoids from the sequels. You're on the Orca, Quint's boat, which didn't make it past its first appearance, on account of portions removed by shark.)

(I mean, it's not a faithful rendition of the Orca, but it's the Orca. Probably.)

Alright, so Jaws has a Ryu Number of at most 3. But can we do better?

...Maybe?

Remember that bit I mentioned up there about shaking hands with Universal Studios characters? As you wander about the godforsaken place, looking for stray litter to exchange for points to exchange for hats to exchange for actual gameplay, you might run across this guy:

Right—Frankenstein is a Universal Studios character. The twin-bolted "fire no good" version of him, anyway. Which counts!

Granted, to me, those superdeformed proportions make this look more like a guy dressed in a Frankenstein mascot costume than the Frankenstein himself...

...but you can also find E.T. wandering the park, and he seems the real deal—probably. Which doesn't necessarily mean Frankenstein is also the real deal, but sort of implies it? Maybe? Look, I dunno. Reality gets kind of liminal at Universal Studios.

Anyway, if you are willing to say that that is Frankenstein, that shortens Jaws' Ryu Number nicely to at most 2.

("But the shark isn't named "Jaws"; "Jaws" is the name of the movie—" Yeah well Woody Woodpecker says otherwise.)

(Go ahead. You tell Woody Woodpecker he's wrong. I'll wait.)

[antis-solve-nothing]

"Peeple hav gott two stahp erazing ARO REP >:(!!!"

There is none! There isn't any! You are complaining about the wrong problem! We are still treated like we don't EXIST that is the problem!

And no, the "aro characters" you're thinking of DO NOT COUNT. Because I can guarantee you that they are either A) characters from webcomics, podcasts, and free online novels that have been viwed by six people each and have fandoms too small to create an ACTUAL ISSUE with "representation erasure" or B) are mainstream characters who not canonically aro.

I hate to break it to you, but:

Data from Star Trek is not Aro. They never intended him to be. The writers would literally laugh in your face if you said that at a Q&A. They don't know that word. It was not around when they made Data. You can view him like that but your headcanons are headcanons.

Garnet from Steven Universe is not Aro. Peridot was supposed to be but the crew wasn't allowed to make that canon. Garnet does not count and Peridot barely does, especially since tumblr queers decided that SU was garbage and burned the fandom to the ground.

Katniss Everdeen is not AroAce. Suzanne Collins very fucking clearly did not intend that. You'd be shocked how many alloromantics pull that exact sequence: character denouces romance as a waste of time, falls in love anyways. Just like Data, have whatever headcanon you want, but its a HEADCANON.

[mediacinemtographyartetc]

God isn't Tumblr just the best?

I love when I write a comment agreeing with OP then getting attacked by some rando, defending myself then told I'm unsufferable? Wow, okay. And what caused all this? A steven Universe argument. If ever before I thought the SU fans were psychos this makes me never want to talk to anyone online about kids shows because there rabid. So - minecraft came out and this was the response.

So I'm of the opinion that just because it's a "Kids show-" doesn't give it the excuse of it being straight up garbage the PROBLEM however is that as SOON as the discussion is about kids shows or speicifically, using SU as an example all of a sudden people jump to conclusions and in turn act childish themselves and can't have a normal civil conversation without making a topic like SU go from 0-100 real quick.

So a Tumblr Post wrote this;

Which I agreed with and wrote a comment saying;

What was wrong with this? tell me like I'm five- because how could someone see this and go "Yeah thats a bad take and I'm gonna have a problem with it." Look if a show like Voltron is like "It's about war," but then makes you care for characters like, Allura, Lance, Lotor and Kuron ONLY to just ruin them then use the excuse-

"It's a kids show, it's not that serious-" But with word limits I didn't use that (Didn't even think i HAD to) to explain.

...Okay? This comment just felt passive aggresive, and it rubbed me the wrong way thinking, "Why are you upset?" Or maybe I'm wrong maybe their just really passionate - but this is sarcastic, who knows? So either this is going to be an argument OR I'm just taking it the wrong way so I ASKED-

I knew where it was going so I tried to write "It's a kids show don't take it too seriously," because I thougt that would make them chill out and discuss like adults, but yeah- EVERYONE agrees SU is good 90% they in every single episode spoke about dark complex themes and look peridot fighting back against yellow WAS good writing, but the last season final was rushed (and that wasn't the crews fault, they had problems so we'll allow it) and yeah they fixed these problems a little with SUfuture that the events of that time did have an impact (but of course word limit, and I just assumed everyone was on the same page- we ALL know SU is unless you lived under a rock and yeah that it handled facism of colonising military gems taking over planets, but when compared to AITA and how THAT included themes of war one is better than the other)

Now THIS is why I got annoyed and assumed this person was just an asshole- any type of conversation went out the window because no where did I put-

"This 14 year old didn't execute his aunts?" where did I write that in the previous replys? This person was just twisting what I was saying- so anymore responses would've led to this, and the mental gymnastics to understand THEIR pov and the passive aggresive tone as if I was some stick figure to their argument like hell I was going to waste my time, at that point I took it as an attack and thought fuck this, theres no point to it.

And yeah I'm being rude- but they were being rude first, at that point I just wanted nothing to do with it anymore and just go on with my life, and when I said that they were confusing I was admitting that maybe I'm the one whose taking it wrong, so either way we should've both agreed to disagree and move on- nope.

Yeah but using the "14 year old didn't kill his aunts," implies thats my take and why I think SU was a badly written show, and trying to explain thats NOT my reasoning is just detracting onto the actual problems of SU (Which when I used SU as an example I thought it would make it EASIER, I had no idea that people would just JUMP to conclusions on where people are coming from and having SCRIPTED arguments instead of idk READING WHAT THE PERSON IS CURRENTLY WRITING)

And yeah this person was right - but that wasn't my argument, there was a formula with Su that was repitive with all seasons, and they discussed and fixed problems and seemed to be doing fine- like Stevens birthday party, or Steven and Connies fight, or even Peridot standing up to yellow= GOOD WRITING the finale of SU= Rushed writing.

And if people in charge of companies didn't use the excuse of "It's a kids show-" THEIR meaning being "Kids are dumb and won't notice or even care so if it's rushed or crap it won't matter lets just cancel the show-" But it's frustrating that SU could've ended better if companies treat kids shows with the respect of adult shows?

What? THIS person was the one who was being antoganstic but I was supposed to respect THEIR thought pattern, but instead of just clarfying when I FREAKIN ASKED - instead of starting the convo headstrong with a sarcastic remark then have the nerve to think "WHy is this person upset?" Why should I talk to anyone who was being rude then give THEM the benefit of the doubt?

It was hard to take anything they said as a discussion. when I had already saw EVERY response as an attack, my original comment was

"If a kids show has dark themes they should handle those dark themes well, and if it's written terribly shouldn't use a lazy excuse like "It's just a kids show." to write hot garbage and call it a day-"

Just to get met with "gOod ThIng tHe bAd gUyS tAkInG oVeR iSn'T a mAtUrE aNd dArK tHEme~" Like what was your problem? If someone writes something edgy that a 12 year old on devientart would write but THEN say "Oh this is just as good as Hunger games! It's written just as well-" for me to watch it and think, "You WISH you were hunger games," and pointing that out DOESN'T mean I the material, just that it didn't do well. SU was a story that talked out their problems and found other solutions to fix a problem without the use of violence. And thats good, but there are some episodes of SU that DID NOT HANDLE THEM WELL.

And when people point that out- like they would ANY literature or Medium regardless if it was a kids cartoon, or an adults movie or book it's still the same! Or if people there ARE moments you think, okay it is a kids show it's allowed some leeway- but then you compare SU to Avatar, to Samurai Jack, to Teen Titans, to Star wars clone wars and SU falls short. (Doesn't mean its a bad show) And yes absoluetly SU had bad writing - not just bad but some things thats really fucked up to normalise to kids. (2001) Hole. A movie where a girl had a crush on a guy and she had the key to this hole, all these kids went in, saw it was locked and ended up starving on food (Kiera knightly died in this one) and after one of them by being driven insane as only three were left, killed his bff when he opened the last can of pepsi. The girl who had the key the whole time, who could realise them at any moment who had their death on her hands- kept them locked up to emotionally manipulate the guy into liking her back-

Sound familiar? SADIE did the same thing and emotionally manipulated LARS and the two made out on the island (where SHE knew where the portal was and HID it) she dragged Lars AND steven a CHILD onto an island for how many weeks just to turn around and say- "I did it for you lars, I did it to help you-" thas abusive. And people still like Sadie and that episode portrayed Sadie as in the right, for lying, manipulating and putting Lars and Steven in danger- Next episode, Lars lies to hand out with the cool kids, lie Sadie he's justified right? Not as if he's killing anyone- oh no he's in the wrong AGAIN and ends up getting a drink that burns his mouth, something only gems can withstand and he could barely speak (or defend himself) as Sadie ripped into him and said that is was HIS fault. Also Lars died. Hair pink, trapped in space running for his life-

And yet HERE'S sadie complaining about the double shifts (Which she could just...not do? Dying is a good reason to not come into work) and makes it all about LARS - bitch he DIED.

so anyway that was a trainwreck, and YES I am aware that sometimes I AM the problem I am just a dumb person who misreads and flys of the handle that would give elphaba a run for her money. But anyway I moved on, figured we were both not on the same wavelength but that persons comments just rubbed me the wrong way and I couldn't help but see every response as someone condescending but then get this after.

I've watched the show, and if I used it as an excuse I don't need the entire premise explained to me like I'm a child. But I disagree that this is fine writing, I've watched tons of cartoons, read tons of books and watched tons of movies that have explained a nuance morally grey character who is trapped in their role much more better- I am forgiving of SU and the Crew because they were under time constraints and had limited episodes to get their point across.

SUfuture actually fixes the problems of WD and the other diamonds who carry on completely oblivious to their actions and think that talking it out and forgive and forget is good for everyone (until Steven possesed WD and tried to shatter her forehead diamond)

But first time watching SU the finale, being told thats the end at that point people are allowed to say that the forumla for every episode of SU has been consistent BUT the final episodes and a few leading up to it weren't written with the same expertise as the first few episodes. I think the french fry kid working for his dad and trying to play with steven and feeling too old for it- did a much better job of detailing a person trapped in their role better than WD did at the end. I compare SU to ITSELF, first season writing was good, final was rushed.

And thats a fact, which is why no one praises SU as much as they praise ATLA.

I'm sorry to say this is a little bit (no offense) a chronically online take. No one outside the internet thinks that a kid show teaches kids real life lessons- most people look down on kids shows and on adults who watch it- INCLUDING the executive of Disney themselves. Kids shows are now just used as a free babysitter to give the parents some peace, and some shows ARE good and aren't lazy and treat kids with the respect they deserve but thats not true for all of it.

9/10 everytime someone says; "It's just a kids show." They mean.

a. Don't take it seriously, it's just a dumb show no speical meaning. b. Its NOT supposed to be that deep or profound its a generic show. c. the producers/writers don't try as hard knowing no one would care if the writing was shit.

Like Voltron- Bex Taylor said "This isn't JUST a kids show it's about war-" but then handled it terribly, like forget it's a kids show- forget the stupid ship wars as a story, making us care for Lotor?

Why give us this? Why give us a DND episode making the fans feel bad for Kuron and in the forumula of writing REDEEM these two characters JUST for the producers/writers to act shocked when the fanbase was upset thinking why did they kill off these characters? Why give Lance a sword when he barely used it? Why say one moment "It's about war-" Only to then turn around and say "Oh yeah nevermind," Lance almost died in the second season and the characters reacted to that Shiro HAD ptsd-

ALLLL forgotten, Lance ACTUALLY died in S5 no one cared, and shiro's PTSD? poof gone, what PTSD? But the fandom can't complain- we're then labelled as psychos who take KIDS CARTOONS TOO SERIOUSLY.

That actually wasn't my point- this was what I wrote and I'll admit yeah- my point was above with the Voltron rant- but I LOST my point when so many people kept distracting from the argument saying-

"Oh people are angry that Steven didn't kill his aunts-"

"Thats not what I said-" "Oh not YOU, people in general-"

Then why bring that up!? What does that add or take away from my original comment?

I agree with this but now I'm even more confused (more at myself really this is like mental rubix cube) because now I'm thinking wait- Did I write or imply that SU wasn't about facism, is that why people are upset? No I didn't write it, but thats why I'm frustrated because people are thinking of others and in their mind they have the evidence - I can't read peoples thoughts I'm not thinking of what they're thinking off, so yeah I know SU but any bad takes? I'm out the loop but these comments or focused on bad takes OTHERS have said and applied that to ME- hence the strawman argument.

People who assume instead of reading what the person is saying have a script because of discussions they've had with others. So a simple "If a kid show has dark themes but it's handled badly the writers should take responsibility to do better not assume kids are stupid and being lazy," And it snowballed to this.

So overall- pretty much done with that- at the time it felt like an attack, that my words were twisted and just annoyed that a person was using me for a stick-man argument and just made ASSUMPTIONS about what I was saying and wondered why it was rubbing me the wrong way.

Then months later having forgotten all about it. Get this.

I don't care, yet you spend the time to make the comment- what did you want out of this a cookie? THink I'm just going to sit here and be insulted when I thought I was completely justifiable in my responses over defending myself.

What have I learned from this? Kids shows- especially Steven Universe- BRINGS OUT THE WORST IN PEOPLE (and I'm including myself in there) Yes Steven universe was a good show, but jesus some of the writing isn't that great.

[sailorsenshishitposter]

Steven Armstrong x Reader

Warning for racism and xenophobia

Senator Steven Armstrong:

You're extremely patriotic, from Texas or just love huge men who smash everything with their giant hulk fists

First Date:

You were a secretary at World Marshal Inc. and had started to recently have an affair with your boss who was not only CEO of the company but was also running as candidate for the upcoming election. To say you had to keep things on the down low would be a massive understatement. The public couldn't get wind of this as it would be a huge scandal. You were saddened that you hardly ever got to see Steven but he promise that he would make it up to you. He donned a fake moustache with a chef's hat and pretended that he was a world renowned culinary artist from France who's specicialty was making the mother of all omletes. Personally, you thought he was kind of over thinking it. Especially since you were at a football game.

"Did you know that I used to play for the University of Texas? They said I could go pro but I did the honorable thing and joined the navy. These pansies couldn't even keep up with me. I bet I could break them in two!" You placed your hand over his massive forearm. "Lets just try to enjoy the game dear." You were right. "I apologize. I'll go get us some refreshments." He kissed you on the cheek and walked off.

While waiting in line he couldn't help but notice that a large number of people ahead of him were of asian descent. "Damn foreigners! First these orientals come here with their candy ass trees and the next thing you know they're taking our jobs. It's unamerican, I tell you what!" he thought to himself. Eventually it was his turn and he reached the register. "Hello, may I take your order?" Armstrong couldn't believe his eyes. "Jack?! What are you doing here!" he said in disgust.

"NO! No fucking way am I serving you!" Armstrong grabbed him by the uniform. "You piece of shit, don't make me get your manager!" Raiden cursed under his breath. "Shit!" He knew he couldn't afford to lose this job. "Alright, fine! I'll have you know that since leaving Maverick, it's been very hard to find a job in this economy and I need this one to pay for my son's child support. Anyway, what will it be?"

Armstrong looked over the menu. It was all deep fried, calorie loaded garbage that would give you imminent diabetes but damn it, it was the most American food he had ever seen. "I'll take two Big Mac's, some fries and two Coca colas. How much will it be?" Raiden was trying everything he could to keep Jack at bay. "There aren't any Big Mac's, this isn't McDonald's! Order something else!"

Armstrong said "Fine. Two Whoppers. Take it or leave it!" Raiden slammed his head into the cash register violently. "You idiot! That's Burger King and we don't have those either!" Armstrong was getting agitated. "WHERE THE HELL IS A MAN SUPPOSED TO FIND A GOOD OLD FASHIONED HAMBURGER!?" Raiden then pointed to the sign. "Sir, this is a Wendy's. We have burgers if you'd like to order some."

"Fine!" he grumbled and the senator threw some change at the table. "Allow me to prepare your order" and with that, Raiden returned to the kitchen and took his sword out, slicing all the food he could. He returned with a bag and said "That will be $24.99" Armstrong scoffed. "Damn war economy!" He opened the bag and inspected all its contents. "The hell is this? My fries are cold!" Raiden was stunned. "Sir, I assure you that's the standard temperature we cook them at-" Suddenly Armstrong got in his face and was screaming about how he was being scammed and that he wanted his money back.

"No way! I'm not giving you a refund-" The next thing he knew, Raiden was punched so hard in the face that he flew into the air and landed on the football field. In his haste, Armstrong's disguise fell off and he rushed after the cyborg. The players stopped to look at what they were witnessing and a camera was now showing living footage on a large screen television. Armstrong jumped on Raiden and began to punch him so hard that craters began to form.

"Die you piece of shit!" He caused so much trauma to his skin that his nanomachines hardened in response. Gasps could be heard among the crowd. "Isn't that Senator Armstrong? Why is he trying to kill this man?" Another person shouted "Hey! Stop doing blackface!" Suddenly everyone in the stadium was taking pictures. Armstrong stopped. "What's happening?" Raiden let out a chuckle. "Check Twitter lately? You're getting #cancelled."

The senator stood up in a panic. "WAIT! THIS ISN'T WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE!" Another person in the crowd began to shame him for attacking a helpless Liberian immigrant. "WHAT!? THERE'S NO WAY THAT SAUCY JACK IS A PERSON OF COLOUR!" Suddenly Bladewolf showed up and projected video footage of him in Packistan. "OH GREAT! NOT ONLY IS HE RACIST, BUT HE'S ALSO A COLONIZER!" The audience was calling for him to be burned at the stake.

The Denver police unit showed up and arrested him on the spot, much to everyone's joy. Sadly this was America and being a corrupt country that empowers terrible people, he was released the next day and received a slap on the wrist for attempted murder. He was just glad he could bribe the judges to drop the charges. He turned on the television.

"In other news, Senetor Steven Armstrong was arrested last week, his following in the polls dramatically dropping. CNET would like to show you our exclusive footage with our special guest. Jack, how have you been since the incident?" Armstrong couldn't believe it. Not only was Jack on screen but he was seemed healthy and likely well recovered.

"Pretty good actually. I have a really good doctor that was able to patch me up. The best part is that I don't even have to pay him in cash. He takes hands!" Raiden started to snicker. The anchor woman wasn't sure how to respond to such a statement. "Yes... Well then.. Do you have any words that you would like to say to Mr. Armstrong?"

"Yes. Yes I do. I just want everyone to know that the rest of this country doesn't like dumb old Texas and that people from there are dumb-" Armstrong began to screech. "HOW DARE THAT MAGGOT TAKE THE NAME OF TEXAS IN VAIN!" Suddenly he was having a massive heart attack and managed to press the life alert button on his wrist as he fell. Paramedics arrived and rushed him to the hospital where he would later die during open heart surgery.

[lapis-lazuliie]

just a few things below the cut that lily 0rchard said about her su is garbage video that made me think about tlw 😅 because i can't get either out of my head lol

"this is not good representation. there's a reason that stories about LGBT relationships rarely cover these kind of issues, and that's because when these issues are botched this badly, it ultimately ends up being a reinforcement for conservative paranoia about gay relationships as some kind of twisted deviancy and finds it's way into the next bill to criminalise being gay. so it's been something of an unspoken agreement to not to cover those things until it can be certain that they won't become arrows in the quiver of the 'ban gays' crowd. conservatives and their stubborn bigotry are the reason LGBT representation is as politicised as it is. having the biggest concentration of representation come from such a myopic, melodramatic, and reckless person like rebecca sugar is not the political milestone so many people think it is."

"handling those themes well would be great! it'd be amazing if a show talked about gay relationships and talked about how, just like straight relationships, they can be rocky, or sometimes unhealthy, and actually stuck the landing! but doing that is extremely difficult and sugar continues to put her foot in her mouth by coming up to instances of clear and obvious abuse and saying how romantic."

"what makes this moment so horrible is that this was just left here for years. allegedly, sugar planned every story element beforehand; something that i simply do not believe. but if it's true, sugar let this episode sit here, stinking up the place and leaving a bad taste in every bodies mouths, just so she could have her shocking twist that didn't actually shock anybody. everyone and their grandmother was tearing this episode apart for the fucked up "lol so neutral" hack of theme, and the crew just let it happen!"

"......but in doing so gives the implicit lesson that giving valuable representation is second priority to placating a group of emotionally stunted crybabies; that LGBT representation is something that will be easily discarded if it risks cutting into the bottom line. and you know what? if that's your attitude, then more power to you. but don't pretend steven universe is some kind of pioneer; the half measure "blink and you'll miss it" representation isn't new. it's been around for over a decade, it's practically formulaic. the fact that people pretend this is in any way "brave" is fucking ridiculous."

"she's just not paying attention to what is going on around her. this drawing should've never made it into the public hands; it should've been found and remembered as oh yeah, this one? let's not release this. sugar admits to there having been an approval process, but apparently concrete stuck past anyway? alongside pimp amethyst? i'm gonna call bullshit. nobody was checking this shit. nobody is ever checking their shit. fucking steam has more oversight than this fucking show. how do you draw something like this and not immediately recognise what the fuck you've done?"

"the pink diamonds arc lays out the truth of sugars writing; she's going entirely with what she thinks might be the most subversive choices, regardless of whether or not they contradict eachother. sugar is so desperate for people to think her writing is smart that she has completely abandoned telling an engaging story in favour of setting up another shocking twist. and rose quartz had her entire character hacked up to pieces to achieve that goal."

"......and the audience is so desperate for this show to be smart and mature and challenging that they lapped it up. if you are a fan of steven universe still watching this video, and you think this shit was clever, you got scammed."