ilikekidsshows

[ilikekidsshows]

My brother and my pig he didn't want

[ilikekidsshows]

ATLA: the general public doesn't know that toph's parents even had a daughter

me as a kid: huh i wonder why...

me now: .......... oh those pieces of shit

[ilikekidsshows]

This episode is where the pacing issues of this season come out. You can really tell that this episode was made a function before anything else. It serves as simply a way to build up tension again after the breather episode in between act climaxes, and it shows. The situation doesn’t change at all between the first segment and the final segment of the episode, almost like everybody, both the characters and writers, is just wasting time. The keystones are a plotpoint that only pops up for this episode for the sole purpose of giving it something to focus on.

This episode reminds me of the final acts in many anime series that go from an episodic format to a multi episode conclusion, where a lot of stuff seems to happen just to keep the clock running so that episodes can end with appropriate cliffhangers. Although, they do sprinkle in some of that foreshadowing that this season has been really good about, using the dream from an earlier episode to establish Karai’s importance to the second climax.

[ilikekidsshows]

"That's how truces tend to be, yes"

"What did you guys fuck up this time?"

"We accomplished nothing in this episode, the Shredder just bullshitted himself a victory anyway"

[ilikekidsshows]

"Donatello, watch out! It is a boss battle!"

"Master! That was video game terminology"

"Yes, I have been reading up on your interests so that I can keep being an active part of your lives"

"Aww, that's sweet, Master"

In cartoon time, that gives us about half an episode

Which is enough to solve almost any problem ever

[ilikekidsshows]

Which would explain why others using the name is such a big deal

"I'm surprised it isn't covered in drawings of dicks"

Is that magitek?

I'm gonna say: definitely

[ilikekidsshows]

"And he has shoulder pads from the 80s"

"Hey, April, is there any way that a Japanese forest can be symbolic of New York?"

"Or so I've heard"

[ilikekidsshows]

"I know you don't like the Utroms for what they did to Master Saki, but I am quite confident they would grant us sanctuary"

This place is getting Halloween Towned

"Are we sure this Shredder guy is all bad? This looks pretty dope"

"Yes, he is a murderous demon"

"He's got a good architect, though"

[ilikekidsshows]

"I am not sure if it's my injuries, but I feel very intimidated by you"

"I found this nerd skulking about. Is he a stalker?"

"He's not one of mine"

"He is mine! But not a stalker!" "He is more like a dog"

"Dude, that's messed up"

"Why? Dogs are wonderful"

"If that's the way you wanna play together that's fine, but make sure the green dudes don't hear"

"Hear what, Casey?"

"Dang it"

[ilikekidsshows]

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episode 114: Past and Present

"And, women even show their ankles! What a terrible, moralless world"

"Master, some of them even show their collar bones"

"Even worse!" "Who is responsible for this travesty!"

"We believe it is called the fashion industry"

"I shall slay this beast called the Fashion Industry and the masses will praise me as the god king who freed them from debauchery"

Is he sensing all the crystals or Cthulhu? Because New York has a lot of sources of power

[ilikekidsshows]

In light of recent events 😭😭

Crying laughing because of this:

[ilikekidsshows]

Happy 54th Anniversary, Sesame Street!

[ilikekidsshows]

girl's night!!

+ bonus

[ilikekidsshows]

I actually disliked the direction where I was recently seeing a bunch of the more reasonable S5-critical ML fandom people going. Those discussions and analyses were spiraling increasingly towards demonising Marinette over time, as we were left hanging with the s5 ending for a long time, and the fandom had nothing new to talk about.

I actually liked her flaws.

But then the canon does... this...

And I do admit, it's an in-character way to pust Marinette towards a villain arc. Like, if I had to construct a darkfic scenario where Marinette goes evil and try to keep it as close to her canon personality as possible, it would look something like this. Which, I guess, means that it's theoretically easier for me to accept than, for example, S5's occasional incidents of Edgy Murderboy Chat Noir (how is that the same character who had TWO guilt-based mental breakdowns about accidentally cataclysming someone completely out of his control, including the main villain??!). I'm sure there are in-character ways to turn Adrien (or anyone else) into a villain, but Murder-Noir was Not It.

Of course another reason why the writing of Murder-Noir gives me extra heebie jeebies, was how it felt like an abuse apologia excuse, validating Gabriel's accusations for Adrien to not "deserve" autonomy, nor to experience or express any negative, inconvenient emotions. Murder-Noir feels like it's a writing choice directed at child abuse victims in the audience, who related to Adrien. "See, your abuser was right, you're horrible and overly emotional and out of control, so you NEED to be rigidly controlled for your own and everyone else's good!

Anyway.

While I admit that Marinette taking up Gabriel's mantle this way is technically in character, I cannot claim to enjoy the writing choice at all. I liked Marinette's flaws. I wanted to explore them. I did not want her demonised to this extent. She could have been meaningfully flawed without becoming better at being Gabriel, than Gabriel himself was!

After this, the only justification for the lovesquare to stay together, would be as a wish-fulfillment or "reward" for Marinette, and that's not enough for me. When I think about, if there was a real-life abuse victim in Adrien's position (minus the supernatural elements), and then they were friends with, and/orstarted dating someone who repeatedly treated them the way Maribug has been doing (and "repeatedly" is important here, it demonstrates unwillingness to learn from mistakes and be sincere about apologies – S4 was brushed under a rug as soon as Chat Noir superficially forgave!), ESPECIALLY but not only siding with the abusive parent and lying to the victim that the abuse they experienced was "not really abuse" and For Their Own Good, and demonstrated this complete infantilisation and lack of respect for the abuse victim, wanting to see them only as a palatable, innocent fairytale being who's not allowed to be inconvenient, express negative emotions, make informed choices mor generally be a complete person...

Obviously the right thing to do, for the abuse victim, would be to get the hell away from that person.

It does NOT mean that the person is irredeemable. They're just... not owed the abuse victim's forgiveness and continued presence in their life.

And I can't ignore that anymore.

We failed to get an arc about Adrien surviving and escaping Gabriel and healing. He has now been put into a position where, in order to ever be okay, he would have to survive and escape Marinette in order to heal.

I don't like this. It feels very hopeless and bleak and unenjoyable. I don't even think the story is gonna go there and free/heal Adrien (Astruc made it clear that Adrien isn't supposed to be his own character or have agency, he's supposed to be Marinette's accessory and that's never gonna change).

But as far as I'm concern, any excuse for the lovesquare relationship to get back together after this, would have the unpalatable aftertaste of propaganda to make victims return to their abusers.

I don't like this trajectory!!!

[ilikekidsshows]

being clumsy in fiction: Oops sorry the author didn't want to give me any real character flaws to make up for how adorably perfect I am, so I've got this cute little quirk where I trip on my own feet sometimes! uwu being clumsy in real life: Hey sorry I broke everything in vicinity, it's not because I don't love you or value your property, I just. fuckign suck at having hands.

[ilikekidsshows]

I guess inventing a childhood adventure the characters forgot all about is a reasonable way of creating a breather episode in the middle of a long, high-stakes finale. Although, I'm not sure how much of a breather it is to see the Ancient One and Splinter literally rip apart a bone demon.

Fun fact, the change in the way the Turtle Tots are drawn was because there was an idea for a future season of the series to feature the present day Turtles teaming up with their past selves. The TMNT: Overload concept features Turtle Tots that look very similar to this episode's take on them. This change makes them easier to differentiate from the grown Turtles than the Tots we see in previous flashbacks.

Ultimately, Playmates thought audiences would still be too confused by there being two sets of Turtles, and considered kid Turtles to be "anti-aspirational". My guess is that's toy company speak for "kid audiences don't want to see annoying kids being annoying kids on TV, they want to see characters they can fantasize about growing up into", which is a reasonable enough take when we consider how the kid audiences of shows like Ghostbusters and Transformers have reacted to the inclusion of kid sidekicks in the past.

[ilikekidsshows]

He must have gotten those while he was running errands, which means the bone demon had to stand there waiting while he picked colors for his grandkids

Whoa! They were the Ninja Turtles the whole time?!

Gotta get the leitmotif in there somewhere, I suppose