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Don't mind me just indulging my occasional out of nowhere rage that this show went from such heartfelt scenes with integrity in its first season to the worst hot garbage you've ever seen in all respects. Look at this shippy fucking framing in this shippy scene where they have genuine chemistry and care for each other, Harry was a being with a brain who cared about people instead of a cartoon monkey just made of bad improv jokes and Asta was truly a good person and protector of the little guy not a huge cunt saddled with a manchild she loathes and it's a joke somehow she's always demeaning him.

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Amazing how such a horribly ableist, disgusting show can just keep on trucking like that. Worst people get rewarded huh

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Resident Alien The Book Of Life issue #1 goes on sale June 26th!!!

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Comparing the two is like adult (comic) vs toddler (ableist sitcom) versions of items.

Which version of this do you prefer?

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Am autistic, watched the decline of this show and the flanderization of Harry with my group of nd friends who loved s1 bc we so saw ourselves in Harry. In fact I've only spoken to autistic and nd people about how the show hurt them deeply with its ableism. You are interpreting it however you want, and god ofc there are more 'childish', high support needs, or unmasked autistic/disabled people irl but that's not what this show is representing or even trying. Unintentional non-canon autistic rep happens all the time, especially with non-human characters, but in order for that not to be used as mockery there has to be a respect for the character and their difficulties (a la Data on Star Trek) that doesn't exist here

It is not that he has these traits that exist irl it's what they do with them. The problem is that the show uses all of those traits as a joke or a negative. They're used to infantalize him, make others upset or exhausted with him, to undermine his person. They call him names and treat him like shit (someone is always rolling their eyes and exhausted with him sitcom style, which s1 didn't have) the show literally calls him Asta's 'child' when he's a full grown man/alien simply bc he doesn't know entirely about being human. Alan and the cast call Harry a moron and a child. Every body movement, loud laugh, behavior that would get him labeled as a 'spazz' by nt society isn't bc they're trying to be authentic to some idea of a character wholly themselves or accepted in an unaccepting world, it's bc Chris and Alan think all of those traits are worth making a mockery of and the audience laughs right along with them at this 'moronic child'.

In season one he was just canonically smarter and more in touch but not 'less' nd just treated better, now they literally regressed that to the point where his knowledge is entirely dependent on the scene or situation. To them that's funny, to them 'if Harry was human the show would be over' so they had to make him 'less' human in their eyes. S1 he's brilliant and the portrayal is earnest, mid s2 he doesn't even know what crutches are, he doesn't understand lessons he already learned in s1 episodes, he's nonsensically unsure of most things we already saw him do. His character now is closer to the bit we saw of him learning to walk and eat in 1x2, as if he was born the second he landed on earth.

Sorry not sorry I am completely disgusted and uncomfortable with this disabled caricature with three tropes for a personality they're putting on for everybody to laugh at.

I geniunely cannot stand when allistics try to say Resident Alien is actually making fun of autistic people because they believe Harry is too childish now because I JUST-

In the beginning, Harry tried SO MUCH HARDER to fit in with the humans around him. He mimicked their speech patterns, consistently observed them, emersed himself in their activities so they wouldn't suspect he was different.

The Harry now? He doesn't care. He's loud in places he should be quiet. He talks how he wants. He laughs FREELY. He's learned large crowds of people? Not for him. He doesn't like being touched by strangers.

He's just Harry. Himself. Because he can be. Because he's realized even if some of the people of Patience find him strange, it doesn't matter. They'll never guess he's from outer space.

Have you noticed that every other alien we have seen is not like Harry? Not the greys, or the half human hybrids, not even Heather. When Heather is around humans who know she is an alien, we get to see the difference, but when she isn't? She fits in so well with any other neurotypical human.

Not Harry though. So yes, he is autistic because I said he is. Because I am autistic. And if you're allistic, you don't get to tell autistic people they shouldn't headcanon Harry as autistic (even though it is very obvious they're purposefully playing him as neurodivergent now.)

When you take an autistically coded character that a lot of autistic individuals relate to, and try to argue the character is actually a "child" and being "infantalised," you're actually being ableist.

You're saying that the traits we have resonated with are childish... Harry seems like he's "regressed" because instead of trying to adapt and pretend to be human, he is becoming something else entirely. Not human, but not fully alien either.

The body of doctor Harry Vanderspeigle was once just a disguise. Now it IS Harry's. It's his body, his own skin. And he's gotten comfortable in it and you know this because you deliberately witness times where he might be holding his hands like he would his claws (primarily when he's sleeping.) His brain doesn't realize he's not in his normal form, because in many ways, this is his new normal form.

He has emotions. He cares. He's in completely new territory and finding himself. And in doing so, that carefully crafted human mask? It's fallen a bit.

So that thing you label as "regression" is a thing I label as progress. He's learning still. Let him learn. Let him be. And give it time. And I hope to GOD Harry never becomes fully human to the point we can't recognize him. I hope he never loses his unique inflictions, or his love for pizza and pie. I hope he continues to love the quiet. I hope he ALWAYS laughs obnoxiously. I hope he always runs like he doesn't know what to do with his limbs. I hope you always see his emotions throughout his body because they simply cannot be contained. I hope he continues to jump when excited or pace when he's angry. I hope he stays obsessed with Law & Order forever.

Because if you take all that away, you're taking away the bits that make him Harry. You want a carbon copy human. I want the autistic alien struggling to understand human nature.

That being said, of course you can express your opinion him. And it can be discussed because everyone is going to have a different perspective.

But you don't get to dictate an autistic perspective if you are not autistic. Or try to cancel anyone for it either.

I love Harry. And I relate to him SO MUCH. And I love how much representation I can see him through him for me. Because I personally believe Alan and the writers have chosen to keep presenting this character as ND.

It's okay to dislike the direction of his character development. It's okay to find the flaws. It's okay to share that perspective. What's NOT okay is dictating the feelings of others because they might not agree with you.

I don't find him childish. I see him as an autistic individual trying to navigate a society that his brain hasn't been hardwired to understand.

And if you think he's too childish, please look closer at the why you think he is. Really be introspective on this one.

Because Harry is a parent. And has a child. And he has relationships. And he takes care of himself. Not only that, he is the town doctor and takes care of everyone else too. He is the smartest. He is the strongest. None of the characters have had to worry about the wellfare of Harry specifically. Its why no one realizes the greys have captured him. Because of course Harry would be fine, hes the alien expert. He knows what he's doing. So while everyone else spent so much time worrying about each other, no one was left to worry about Harry.

So ask yourself why you believe Harry has become "too childish" and if your answer comes down to any of his quirky traits or his misunderstandings of human nature, then you really need to consider if what you're actually uncomfortable with is autism/autistic traits.

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The amount of young white transmasc people I've seen attach to Ben Hawthorne and uwu baby boi autism never did nothing wrong when he's literally white cis male weaponized incompetence written as a self-insert by a middle aged white cishet man (showrunner) where 'hot wife' has to be the competent one and when she has an opinion it's an affront to his person and she's a bitch in true blue 90s/00s sitcom style like........get better role models pls

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This review of Resident Alien comic is so fucking funny to me. These comics feature murder/suicide, bigotry, domestic abuse, blackmail, corruption like you name it but bc the characters in town actually care about one another and accepted a weird outsider as one of their own apparently it's outside of the realm of believability for some.

Sorry the comics are wholesome and show the goodness in humanity???

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*animalistic chanting*cancel cancel cancEL CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL CANCEL

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Resident Alien: Book of Life issues #2-3! Synopsis of each can be found here (major spoilers).

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NOBODY FW VANDERTREES LIKE I DOOOO s3 does not exist ok guys they’re still my otp and im still in that s1 and comics-specific brainrot

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"oh ra deserves another season, it deserves 54 seasons, it's so go-"

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There's just something about enjoying the ableism on the show, especially from fellow nd people. Hehe haha look how stupid and childish Harry is he doesn't know anything he's so rude and clueless, he's so autistic.....

You equate the ableist/dehumanizing/infantalizing jokes from nt writers/alan and caricature he's become with autistic portrayal and the issue there is lost on you ig? Once upon a time the joke was not on him but it sure af is after s1.

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Peter Hogan and Steve Parkhouse’s Resident Alien will return in June with another four-issue miniseries, Resident Alien: The Book of Life. The story picks up after the events of Resident Alien: The Book of Love, as the Resident Alien deals with the fact he’s going to become a daddy.

Read more

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Watching a character you love getting flanderized in real time is so painful.

Especially when it’s a character you heavily related to for specific reasons only to see them being regressed to a caricature or a joke of a character and throw away all their traits and development that made them who they are

I know it’s silly but as someone who only consumes extremely few very specific pieces of media I get attached to them and characters very heavily so it hurts more to see stuff like this happen or topics being mishandled

The first season of RA was so amazingly written, the characters and plot were so natural and appealing, and how our main character Harry was written and portrayed really struck me. He was clearly written to be autism coded by his mannerisms and speech patterns. The way he navigates society and speaks about and to humans really resonated with me as an autistic individual who always felt like I was from another planet as everyone else and couldn’t understand or relate to those around me.

Despite being weird and silly and having goofy behaviors he was still a self sufficient, independent adult character who knew what he did and didn’t want. He wanted to be respected (partially because he thought he was better than everyone else) but also as one of them. He was extremely intelligent and tech savvy, but emotionally undeveloped.

He doesn’t understand social cues to an almost extreme level but he is trying his best.

Specifically I need to mention Asta, whom he never hurts intentionally and the one scene that really stuck out with me was when he accidentally reveals to her family that she had a baby she gave up for adoption. He didn’t understand why people kept things secret from those they love and had no intention of exposing her closest secret to harm her in any way.

In the newer seasons, seeing Harry be regressed to an immature man baby is painful and sad. They are now trying to force a mother and son dynamic out of what was a beautiful mutual friendship and potentially romantic relationship. Asta is shown to be annoyed and exasperated with him while he just annoys her with a smile on his face. They’ve infantilized and reduced him to a joke and an idiot that just doesn’t sit right with me at all. Characters making fun of his neurodivergent traits when they rarely commented on his quirks before.

“He doesn’t understand” “I don’t understand.”

“He’s basically a child”. “Im Just a child.”

That hurt me so much. It’s not funny. I finally felt like I had an interesting and great semi-representation I’ve longed for without being a savant or aspergers stereotype. Cant have anything smh

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When even people who like it realize it's just a tone nightmare they write like it's supposed to be an edgelord adult cartoon. Can't separate the garbage showrunner from his roots, eh?

the thing abt resident alien is like. they made a live action tv show but i’m not sure they wanted to. there r so many family guy dad noises type bits that are cringe worthy bc they’re live action where like. if this was a cartoon i wouldn’t care

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Sara: HARRY AND ASTA WOULD NEVER BE ROMANTIC BC THEY'D NEVER FUCK. EVER. THEY'RE PLATONIC. LIKE FRIENDS LOVE PLATONIC. SHE PARENTS HIM. DEEP MEANINGFUL PARENTING FRIENDSHIP. ROMANCE IS LIKE CRINGE AND ROMANCE MEANS FUCKING SO THEY'D NEVER BE ANYTHING BUT PLATONIC. UWU FRIENDS. NEVER FUCKING EVER. EW.

Interviewer who only asked how she was doing:

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I fucking fucking fucking knew they would retcon basically the entire basis of the show by making Harry the 'village idiot' of his own people. It already made zero sense they flanderized him til he's only smart when narratively convenient but now lol what he was a brilliant scientist, adaptable, and entrusted to travel light-years and take out a whole race of people? Nope s1 never happened, everyone make fun of his ND traits haha.