#Like that velma show for example

[set-wingedwarrior]

I just saw a post where someone "read the plot of rwby9 and it's bad and rwby fans are delusional" bitch, you haven't even watched it, of course it sounds insane out of context

If you really want to say something is bad at least have the decency to watch it first

[desnaa]

still thinking about the experience i had at a con literally called queer con today cosplaying velma when someone showed me a picture of their daphne cosplay. after complimenting them i said “yeah, i ship velma and daphne together so—” only for them to interrupt me and say “EW EW EW NO. DAPHNE IS ASEXUAL”

i was so caught off guard like damn bro ok calm down please. it’s ok you think daphne is ace but they were really like ❌🚫🏳️‍🌈no gays or sapphic women allowed🏳️‍🌈🚫❌ at a queer convention and it was both so off putting and hilarious

[iminaworldofpureimagination]

listen to me velma show TOXIC FEMALES EXIST i ive known toxic females toxic femninity exists its not all dudes

[inkedmyths]

sorry i was just worried :(

Oh geez ok nooo anon sweetheart its ok

It's all fun and games. I don't actually like Hate it or anything I just bitch and moan For The Bit. It's hard to explain esp if you're new here

It's liiiike. If your friends pulled a harmless prank on you and you're like "You guys are the worst I hate you so much". You're not genuine, its part of the comedic bit

[mbat]

oh wow, you hate this this show that youre clearly not the target audience for? youre soo special! everyone tootally wants to hear your opinions about it! do you want a gold star? maybe some brownie points?

[gl1tched-g0th]

Happy Pride. Can we celebrate by, just for the month, having fandoms not be weird about lesbians/lesbian-coded characters.

Can we acknowledge that just because a woman character exists, and doesn't stare directly into the camera like an episode of the Office to say "I Do Not Like Men", that doesn't mean they aren't lesbian?

Can we please acknowledge how fandoms, especially cartoon spaces, are not normal about lesbians and lesbian coding. Can we acknowledge that lesbian is not a "dirty" or "taboo" word, and that it is okay to admit that a character is just a flat out lesbian.

Can we not try to maneuver our way around it by saying "well they could be bi/pan!", like so many people do with lesbian characters. For example:

-Amity from TOH, confirmed lesbian. People still argue that she's bisexual, because she drew herself with a fictional nonbinary character from a book once in the entire show.

-Velma from Scooby Doo, confirmed lesbian. When she got confirmed, people still argued she was bi because she dated men in past shows/specials - despite her being visibly uncomfortable in the relationships in question. Some even argued it was "bi-erasure" to make her a lesbian, which is insane to me.

-Amaya from The Dragon Prince, confirmed lesbian. Before she was confirmed, people said she was a "bicon" instead of lesbian, despite her showing no interest in men within the show. All she did was have a male interpreter (because shes DEAF and needs one), and people immediately paired them together.

-Ellie Williams from TLOU, confirmed lesbian. She shows no interest in men, states multiple times that men are "not her type", has only dated/had crushes on women within all games, the show, and even the comic, and yet people still claim she's bi.

-Robin Buckley from Stranger Things, confirmed lesbian. There's not much I can say here. She came out as a lesbian in the show, and people still call her bisexual. The jokes write themselves.

-Sammy from Camp Cretaceous/Chaos Theory, lesbian-coded. She's often headcanoned as anything but lesbian, often excused with "she never Outright said she's a lesbian like Yaz said she was bi", or that a few crew members said she was meant to be ambiguous. Yet I see nobody questioning why she specifically - the only other main female character, and who has never shown interest in men - is being kept that way.

-Vanessa from The Hollow, lesbian-coded. Developed a friendship with a male character, but has never expressed romantic interest in men. Laughing at a joke made by the opposite gender, and wanting to impress a male character because of a need for validation are not signs of romantic interest, by the way.

I am not saying you can't headcanon characters as bi, or that bi people are "evil", or trying to ""police"" who you ship together or whatever else excuse people use to derail conversations about this. There is a frequent pattern within fandoms where a lesbian (coded) character exists + has any relationship with a man ever + doesn't explicitly state they don't like men = not a lesbian. And fuck, even when they DO say they don't like men, they are still seen as bi.

Queer-coding is just as eminent as having a character be confirmed as queer. And, surprisingly (sarcasm) that also applies to lesbian coded characters. Lesbian characters do not need to "prove" their lesbianism to the viewers by hating/isolating themselves from men to be lesbians. They do not need to say outright that they don't like men in order to be lesbian coded. They can have relationships with men without being romantically interested in them. Lesbians have been fighting for so long to not be seen as "needing" to be with men in order to just. exist.

And believe me I could go on a whole rant about how this entire issue has roots in misogyny within the community, or how some people still haven't unlearned the idea of how a man and woman can have an 100% platonic relationship, or how people treat calling a character lesbian as a "last resort", but this post is already a wall of text as it is.

Please just be normal about lesbians in media.

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

Bad Writing Can Make A Underprivileged Character Unintentionally Unlikable Or Likable

Sequel to my other earlier post.

Like I said in my earlier post, there can be a way to make a privileged character sympathetic or unsympathetic. The same can be said for characters that are underprivileged as well. This can be shown with Velma from 2023's Velma and Striker from Helluva Boss. With Velma she is race and sexuality swapped into a bisexual Indian girl who we are supposed to root for because of her minority status. On the other hand, Striker we are supposed to hate because of supposedly being an imp supremacist who misjudges royals.

Like the thing with Fred and Stolas, we get the opposite reaction because Velma goes out of her way to be a narcissist, sociopathic asshole who uses and hurts other people who gets in her way. Also despite trying to set herself up as this righteous social justice warrior she doesn't practice what she preaches and is as sexist and racist as the people she crusades against. Not to mention she treats her family and friends like total garbage while wanting to have all attention on her. This is in contrast with Striker who although a villain is made out to be a so-called supramcist because he hates the nobles of hell for belittling and taking advantage of the lower classes like imps. And again we are supposed to see him as a extremist, but in a series that is made of all sorts of killers and the fact that many nobles are shown to be crappy people have come to be sympathetic to him. He might try to kill Stolas because it's because of how terribly written he is we side with Striker due to how he has abused his privilege and is an example of that system despite the narrative saying otherwise.

Despite showing herself to get so much wrong, Velma is often still treated as if she is smart and capable while also trying hard to make it work in a bigoted world. However, a lot of stuff contradicts that with Velma always shown to be a lazy moocher who leeches off other people work and claim it as her own. She only claims to say she has to work for everything so she can make herself look like the underdog when in reality she doesn't put effort into anything. She also claims to be smart in reality her ego gets the better of her and prevents her from seeing errors. Meanwhile, the narrative tries to tell us Striker is only doing it out for selfish reasons and wanting to blame all nobles even so-called innocent ones for his tragedies. The problem is Stolas ain't innocent and he has the right to bite the bullet in Striker's bath. Also again we are told by Vivziepop he does have a tragic story but never shown in order to keep Stolas more sympathetic. They try to force him into being seen as toxic by giving him traits like seeming like he's LGBTphobic or has machismo so we shouldn't root for him but all of that comes out as forced instead of natural. Also his distaste for sexual comments comes off as contra dicing when he didn't mind doing that talk with Blitzo and again the penis statue of himself. He also mentions hurting Octavia even though that doesn't make sense since he works for Stella and she should be off the table since Stella wouldn't want her daughter involved but again it's more on trying to make him unlikable rather than logically make sense. Again a case of trying too hard to make unlikable it makes no sense.

And again how the hypocrisy is shown with both characters is that with Velma the writers are so unselfaware how hypocritical and nasty she is they often underestimate how much she doesn't practice what she preaches. As said before, she says she fights against bigotry but shows herself to be a white man basher and is sadistic in enjoying their pain even when they don't deserve it. She even can be shown to be racist against other minorities if she's really being intensively obnoxious. And when it comes to sexism girl just straight up loves slut shaming other girls. Also when it comes to rich people she might say he hates them but when she gets a taste of that privileges she changes her tune and it shows it's more about envy than actual injustice because she really is thinking how about she thinks the world is unfair for her and not anyone else's needs. It's the thing they try to do the same with Striker but you really can side with him because of the hierarchy that is often ignored but sometimes is present in the series. While in theory don't judge all rich people can be a good thing, but with this series it's in hell where bad structures are enforced and that the hell nobles are shown to be shitty towards the lower class. Striker is thus is depicted by a hypocrite by working for Stella but it doesn't work because you get more of an enemy of my enemy situation rather than him actually would act like the nobles if he was offered to be one.

So just like with how one series has a unintentionally sympathetic rich characters and the other has an unintentionally unsympathetic ones, the former has a unintentionally unsympathetic underprivileged character while the other is a unintentionally sympathetic one. It reflects the biases of the creators and also how they think they are viewing the character's blight. Ones like Velma come off as assholes who pretend to be the victim of a cruel world when in reality they want to blame everyone for their own mistakes. Meanwhile, Striker is bashed in series for daring to think that imps have it hard and that nobles shouldn't be unfairly judged when the series in general shows how shitty the higher ups are. Bad writing can make us either think underprivileged characters are sympathetic or unsympathetic.

[daydreaming-scheming-demon]

minecraft doesnt need to be a fucking multimedia franchise, it doesn't even need anymore games than one, there's no fucking point to it, nobody gives a shit about minecraft dungeons, since when was the last time you saw someone go "oh wow, i cant wait for the next minecraft dungeons update" and there's even more minecraft spinoffs that nobody gives a shit about, i cant even remember the name of the latest one because it died so quickly

and now they're making a minecraft movie, and it's live action, which makes no sense but i guess making it animated wouldnt have a mainstream appeal and they need dat money from da masses. and they're having fucking jack black in it. and it's just. please. stop. you couldve made a movie about something original and interesting but instead you need to make a fucking minecraft movie.

i feel similarly about the mario movie and the fnaf movie but like, at least with those games it makes sense. mario games have plot even if simple, and fnaf has a plot even if it's a bad and confusing one. minecraft is a fucking sandbox game with no characters or plot going on unless you're matpat or something. it has fucking nothing. they're making a movie out of fucking nothing. they might as well be making a fucking live action tetris movie.

you know, it could be good. maybe id even like it. but even if it is, it's just so fucking unnecessary, they could've been making something original but nooooooo original is risky, we need a fucking minecraft movie to bring in those shiny fucking dollars to stuff down our fucking throats and choke on and die.

minecraft isn't designed to be anything other than a single fucking game, but because it's big and owned by microsoft it needs to be fucking everything. there needs to be a minecraft movie, and a minecraft show, and a minecraft branded pencil to stab my minecraft branded eyes out of my minecraft branded eyeholes so i dont have to see anymore fucking minecraft.

and to add to this, even if the minecraft movie is good, it's just such a fucking shame that it had to be minecraft and nothing else had any chance to be made. there's been lots of great movies that the big guys up top only allowed to be made because they're based on popular things. the lego movie for example, the barbie movie too. but it's just so fucking irritating that if any creative wants to actually make a good fucking movie they need to do it through this already popular thing. that's how shit like velma gets made. that show feels like an original show with scooby doo slapped on top of it to grab more attention.

everything needs to be appealing to the masses or it's not even seen as worthy of being made. the only movies worthy of being made and the only shows worthy of being renewed are the ones that ceos think will give them enough money to violently shove down their throat and fill their stomach with, fill their lungs with, fill every crevice of their shriveled old body with until every shit they take is hard and full of bloodsoaked gold coins, and every piss they take is shining gold, and every time they pick their nose they pick out gold.

there's just so little space for original works now.

[office-anomaly]

I mean, I’d love to hear your varcie thoughts!

(again, these are my opinions only. we can discuss to avoid fighting if ever there is disagreement lol ;w;)

READ UNDER THE CUT

ok so i will preface this by saying that everything is framed in the context of SDMI since marcie appears in that show only. vaphne and varcie are both good ships, but i prefer varcie a bit more due to how in sync velma is with marcie in a way that i think is even more aligned than she is with daphne in the show. and an extra element that i think seals the deal for me!

the first is the most obvious, which is velma and marcie being more aligned in interest and intellect. daphne is also intelligent, but it manifests more in her empathy and social navigation rather than hard knowledge and investigative method. this difference in approaching problems is important, and since marcie has the same (or near the same) informational understanding of the world as velma, this allows her to help velma in more straightforward ways. one example is how they were able to reverse engineer a tracking device from a chip they found, making investigation easier. given velma's one-track mindedness for mystery-solving, this could be read as commitment on marcie's part.

velma and marcie also both come from the same circuit. while different interests have not hindered velma and daphne from forming a meaningful friendship, it did affect priorities for them, the most obvious one being personal pursuits. having similar approaches to problem-solving allows velma and marcie focus on the task at hand most, if not all, the time. this lessens the likelihood of derailment and friction. a fair thing consider though is there's speculation here due to how brief marcie's appearance was in SDMI.

second is how they made each other better people in the short time they had on SDMI. as i said in a previous post that i like vaphne because V&D make each other better people, but we see this across the span of many shows and movies rather than being contained in a single storyline, so it feels less urgent and more stable. i felt like in SDMI, it was more of a given that V&D would be there for each other rather than a development i'm supposed to follow. in the case of velma and marcie, it was such a delight to see them develop into each other's support systems, even if its origins were off-screen in the time between seasons. personally, this feels more heartwarming because you see how big the changes are in velma when she came to terms with who she is and dropped whatever pretense she had about what she thinks she needs. it was refreshing and freeing to see her not want to change anything about marcie because she already knows that this is what she needs.

in marcie's case, she finally found a friend (and possibly more) in velma and doesn't feel like she has to put up walls around her. it's fairly simple since she's a secondary character, but it doesn't feel any less earned.

the whole rivals-to-friends-to-lovers thing is honestly so peak, i have to say.

third and last is...there's an element of reckless abandon that adds a lot of drama to this ship--which is ironic since both girls are shown to be very logical and grounded. what does this mean? you have to excuse me for being a bit delusional, but it reads like love to me. i think this is a unique factor of varcie, where our girls make dangerous, borderline bonkers calls in the name of love for each other.

we all know what happened at the end of marcie's arc, but there were other instances where she willingly laid down her own safety just so velma can achieve her goals. it almost feels kind of like a soap opera, where love takes over logic by way of self-sacrifice (figuratively and *sigh* literally). like you gotta realize how insane it is for marcie to say yes to going into the heart of Mr. E's lair to steal the disks for velma (and mystery inc). that is not a light favor to ask, and not a light favor to agree to!

on velma's end, she has to swallow her grief and see things through to not waste marcie's sacrifice. that is not an easy thing to do either. there's a tinge of madness happening in this ship that's driven by love and i think that's bittersweet and beautiful :( i try to be normal about this ship, but i fail most of the time lol

so yeah, that's pretty much it. thanks for being patient and reading my thoughts on varcie. i wanted to make sure what i'm writing made sense, so hopefully it does (??). if there are any violent reactions, let me know, we can talk about it :D

[verboselocket38]

I need to make something clear or else the fans might attack me and send me threats, I like this show and was kinda scared to post this but I gotta say it........

.......Anyways, Im just rant about some excuses for Helluva Boss that are just not good excuses when fans defend the wrighting.

1. "If you dont like it dont watch it 🙄"

So this excuse I hear a lot when fans are backed into a corner and cant protect the critisisms from the show (Sorry I am tired, so my spelling might not be that good) And even if people deny it they use this excuse anyways without giving a good argument to why whatever critism the show gets is wrong.

Also I told this to someone before, but by the logic of this excuse, that means anyone who watches and said they openly hate a show like Velma or High Gaurdian Spice secretly likes it.

(I am gonna bring these shows up a lot to use them as examples. Should probably mention now that I dont like either Velma or HGS, but Helluva Boss has SOME THINGS in common, not ALL THINGS, but SOME)

2. "The Series isnt finished, you should wait for it to be done"

Now to an extent this one is ok. Like for example: If Aang from ATLA were going on a journey to learn how to Waterbend, Earthbend, and Firebend to defeat the Firelord, then obviously its gonna take awhile and shouldnt be like "wHy DoEsNt He BeAt HiM NOW!!!". BUT that does not mean you cant critisize the episodes where Aang might get out of character, Katara does something that will leave a bad taste in your mouth, or anything that might not be good writing.

Yes Helluva Boss isnt finished, but thats still a bad excuse for defending the writing. You should still put effort into the writing. Like the fight between Blitzø and Stolas was resolved in A TEXT MESSAGE AND PEOPLE SAY ITS GOOD WRITING. IT ISNT!!! Like if your most emotion point in your show is going to be resolved in something we dont see happen, then there is no growth to the characters. (Saying this is an easter egg is just another excuse for bad writing.) People say that later on it might get resolved and that we should be patient I call bull crap. In S2E2 Stolas and Blitzø are not even akward around eachother, so I highly doubt future episodes will talk about this.

Also, I just thought, shouldnt shows like Velma also go for its excuse? Like its getting a Season 2, so we shouldnt judge the show until its finished right? I dont wanna hear "Its because Velma ruined Scooby Doo!" Or "Velma is an acception since it can make my eyes role" Nope!!! We gotta wait till Velma is over to fully critisize it.

2.5 "You shouldnt be comparing VELMA to HELLUVA BOSS!!!"

Gonna bring this up since SOMEONE WILL. But I do NOT like Velma, I think its crap. I like Helluva Boss, not a fan of the stans and a lot of things Viv says and does. They can not take Critisism. She says she can but accually doesnt. And I kinda realize that there are some things Velma does that people role their eyes at, but when Helluva Boss does it, they get praised for it. Again, I 👏DO 👏NOT 👏LIKE 👏 VELMA. Im treating it equal to other shows, when Velma does something everyone hates it. When Helluva Boss does it everyone likes it. For example, the Swearing and Sex jokes. When Velma does it, people say that they swear and do sex jokes for no reason and it ruins the mood. But when Helluva Boss does it (Which keep in mind, 90% of the dialoug is sex and swearing.) It gets praised. Just wanted to point it out.

3. "Its Hell, what do you expect? 🤡"

I saved the best for last. Yall probably heard this one before lol. So, Im just gonna say that yes the characters do live in hell and that can lead to their bad behavior and cruel humor. The issue that I have is that will be used to defend bad writing. Yes they live in hell, but that doesnt mean 90% of the dialoug should be sex, swearing, and angst. Yknow the end of Unhappy Campers where Moxxie and Millie dressed as siblings and had sex on stage infront of minors? "But its hell!" Yes, BUT its out of character for Moxxie and Millie. MOXXIE ESPECIALLY!!!! ITS ALSO GROSS LIKE HOW IS THIS FUNNY?????

There are also double standards. For example when Stella turns out to be a abusive bish, we are made to suppose to hate her. But when Loona was abusive to her adoptive father who took her in and gave her love, we are suppose to laugh??? Also, dont say "But he threatened to replace her!" No, Loona brought it up AFTER she was attacking Blitzø and he roled along with it.

"But its Hell!!!" my butt. If Stella is abusive to make Stolas look like a justified character and her unlikeable, then why should I like Loona? And no, trauma is not an excuse. She is 22 and she has control of her own self.

And like??? If I were to write a story of some unlikeable guy in New York City who killed people for no reason, should my excuse be "Its society, what do you expect? This is life, get over it."

Conclusion

In conclusion, if you accually want to defend the writing of your horny demon show, then find accual critisms. Again, I👏 Like👏This👏Show. But when Fans and Viv shield any critisms and just see it as blind hate, it makes me upset. Most people who critisize this show like it. The thing is, if we praise or ignore something that needs to be critiqued, then the writing wont get any better. If we critisize it, then there is a chance that Viv will realize she needs to put effort into her wrighting.

I like this show, it inspired me, but Season 2 is such a downgrade from the previous season.

[highly-important]

VELMA

-spoilers-

I don't know. I want to keep it short. I really wanted to like this show. I really like the art style, I love Scooby Doo iterations.

But ugh. I thought this show was so grim. Why is everyone so mean? Why is everyone so quippy?

It felt like what a right-winger thinks wokeness is. Like, there is all this commentary on race, and gender, and sexuality, but in the end it really just enforces the kinds of ideas its pretending to speak out against because it can't really imagine anything else.

And I think its super frustrating because I am sure Mindy Kaling is going to do interviews saying its the misogynists or racists who don't like her show, because it takes away from real criticisms of how "Velma" depicts race, gender, and sexuality. Its insulting to the target audience.

The first example of that is how the show opens with a bunch of naked teenage girls making meta-commentary about how TV shows use sex to pull in an audience. But this self-awareness doesn't really absolve the show from what its doing. And it doesn't help that after this, Velma (and Daphne) are the only capable woman surrounded by vapid, slutty, stupid women.

And the racial-blind casting is cool, but it doesn't absolve a show from having to have consciousness around racial issues. Mindy Kaling has shown a pattern for internalized racism: and "Velma" exhibits her usual jokes about Indian stereotypes. Especially all the jokes about body hair. Or the fact that Velma fetishes a white man while seeing obvious romantic advances from a Black man as laughable. And could they not see how making Shaggy a Black man might lean into some stereotypes?

I think the show also has issues with internalized patriarchy as well. Fred is having issues because he's a late-bloomer who can't live up to his dad's ideals of masculinity. But then half the jokes about Fred are about how he's pathetic because he's not masculine enough. There is even a joke about how, because he hasn't gone all the way with daphne, that he must be gay. Fred isn't a critique of masculinity, he's a re-enforcement of patriarchal beliefs. And its not better if his character turns out to be gay.

I'd also say the plot with Velma and Norville, rather than being a criticism of the “nice guy” mythology, just re-enforces every incel belief about women “using” men for favors.

Even Velma and Daphne kissing seemed like it was just to set up a joke about Norville seeing it and hating romcoms. The quips and the meta-commentary just really rob this show of anything sincere.

I do really like the art style, though.

[fandomwe1rd0]

How not to and how to write an asshole protagionist

Honestly I know asshole protagonists are sadly more common now, but I think Rick and Morty did it best (Wowwww shocker, I think Rick and Morty did something better than other tv shows?! Wow it's not like I'm constantly singing Rick and Morty's praises or anything…)

Now, first what exactly is an asshole protagonist? Now, I feel like the title itself is kinda self-explanatory. An asshole protagonist is a protagonist that…is an asshole. They don't portray the usual likable trait most protagionist have, and are usually prone to being assholes, hence the name. Now I assume most tv shows add asshole protagonist(s) are either so they can be unique, make the character feel more human, or for comedic purposes. Sometimes it can just be one, multiple, or all of them.

Now, first let's look at a tv show that did this poorly…sorry to everyone, I know everyone is probably glad to have forgotten this, but I'm gonna bring up Velma. Now Velma, is an asshole protagonist. She's mean, snarky, sarcastic, and is all around just an asshole and an insensitive jerk to her friends and girlfriend.

Ok now, a character who has these faults, can still be likable in a way. Now if a character gets called out on these faults and try to work on them, complex, or at least if they are actually funny when showing a character being an asshole, Velma is neither of these things, none of the jokes are funny, and everyone treats her like she's some great person when she's just a horrible person, she isn't even complex, just annoying.

Now, let's look at Rick, another example of an asshole protagionist, he's cynical, sarcastic, rude, manipulative, abusive, and just an overall asshole, but here is how Rick and Morty does it right, Rick is more than just a mean old man, he is incredibly complex, struggling with the trauma he had when he watched his wife and child blow up TWICE. And there's actually a reason as to why he's an asshole, he feels like if he cares about people, they will either die or leave him, that's obviously no excuse, but it adds reason to his actions (Meanwhile Velma was just always an asshole…)

He also gets called a lot for being an asshole, and even insults himself when he does something especially shitty, like in season 4 episode 10 after he cloned Space Beth and Beth and watched the mindblower where he shuffled them and didn't look because he didn't want to answer Beth's question on whether he wants Beth to stay and be apart of her life or if he wants her to leave, he says, and I quote

"Holy shit I'm a terrible father."

And he couldn't even go out and see them, and just sits down in the garage alone and thinks about how big of an asshole he's been in general, this is not only a powerful emotional momebut…butttt a good segueway into his redemption arc!

Now Rick in the later seasons in genuinely trying to be better, he goes to therapy, is nicer to Jerry, gentler to Morty and insults Morty a lot less, really just is nicer to Morty in general, treating him a lot more like an equal partner, treats Summer with more respect, and learns to control his anger a lot better. Now it doesn't make up for all the shitty things he does, and the show acknowledges that, but it's definitely a start, and he is not the same murderous maniac he was in say, season 4, where he just couldn't resist traumatizing Morty every 2 seconds. Meanwhile in season 7, he actually treats Morty like…gasp a person! And is actually acting like a grandpa, even spoiling Morty which is adorable.

Also…he's just funny y'all! He has a sense of humor and it's genuinely really funny, I mean ik humor is subjective but c'monnnnn

Rick is a good example of an asshole protagonist because he's funny, complex, and wants to be better, Velma is just…nothing.

[idolomantises]

talking abt that one thing in velma thats on my mind a lot for the past few days (that turned into a big incoherent rambling about gay rep in media)

i'm seeing jokes about how the queer representation in mystery inc being so much better than the queer representation in velma and honestly it makes me want to go on a whole tangent about my thoughts on queer representation nowadays vs the more subtle examples decades prior.

There's this weird debate that goes on online about what is "good" queer representation, and one of the most notable and honestly annoying examples is that queer representation has to be so subtle that you could easily miss it/ignore it. i've always hated that take because its a claim mostly said by straight people who are uncomfortable with seeing characters who are openly queer and/or state their identity, but they present it as some sort of push for subtle and nuanced writing. personally i do prefer it when a character just, identifies as how they are without explaining their identity, but that doesn't mean flat out explaining your orientation is inherently bad representation. its why i will always defend the very clunky and awkward high guardian spice scene. it is absolutely poorly directed and written, but that doesn't make it "bad representation". however, I do consider the character who explains that he's trans bad representation because he is flat, uninteresting and very clearly a creator self insert. he doesn't feel like a well rounded character who's also a trans man, but just an incredibly sanitized example of trans representation.

i have many, many issues with helluva boss/hazbin hotel and i do genuinely find some depictions of queer characters just flat out offensive (you can argue with me about how angel dust being written like your average 90s gay stereotype is woke actually because he has trauma, i dont care), but i do admire and appreciate that the series doesn't want to sanitize its queer characters, even if its done poorly. though i could go into a whole rant about how i find it very telling that female characters that are queer are far less sexualized or allowed to be problematic compared to their queer male counterparts.

anyways back to velma. that show does something that i've always found pretty irritating in queer representation which is just this weird lack of faith in its audience. characters can't have a slow burn anymore. internalized thoughts, anger, frustration, longing. you have to immediately know that two characters are gay for each other, even if they're lifelong enemies. its like when modern horror movies open with the gore because they're scared people are going to be bored or leave early. there's no subtlety or chemistry between daphne and velma, they're just lovers because idk, its two girls who hate each other and who doesn't love that.

then i think about how mystery inc handled velma and her sexuality, how she was allowed to be well rounded and nuanced before you slowly realize that "oh, she doesn't like boys". i know her whole thing with shaggy is controversial among fans but i always loved how she does do something pretty unlikable but not immoral. yeah, it is shitty to force shaggy to choose between her and his dog, but i can understand her line of thinking and empathize with her. and i do like how they become friends in the end despite their awkward break up. It's always fun rewatching it and realizing that their incredibly awkward and cringe relationship was meant to be awkward and cringe. it was supposed to be weird and difficult to watch, because those two weren't meant to date each other. you could see how hard velma was trying to make the relationship work despite the fact that you never get the vibe that either character was full invested in it, unlike daphne and fred's relationship.

then you had velma and her relationship with marcie, which started off as sort of a catty rivalry (not full on attempted murder, i mean holy shit hbo velma) that slowly grows to where you're completely convinced that these two did gradually like each other. and i do really enjoy stuff like that, more subtle writing like that. which doesn't just apply to queer rep btw, my favorite ships are relationships that feel understated, something you have to really dig for and pay attention to. its why i consider bubbline the best f/f representation in cartoon. because its subtle, but not too subtle where it feels out of no where when they kiss, and nuanced in ways that enhances the relationship AND characters.

there's a good amount of relationships i see in cartoons where the creator, who is usually queer themselves, often wants to depict queer relationships, but is weirdly adverse to depicting the uglier aspects of that character, and refuses to add subtlety to it. steven universe is a show i've always felt conflicted on its handling of queer representation because on the one hand i appreciate writing lesbians that are messy, traumatized and make constant mistakes. but on the other hand, the show goes out of its way to ignore these issues and/or make excuses for it, making the decision to make these characters messy and complicated genuinely baffling (this is also one of the big issues i have with catradora and stolitz).

it makes me think back to my own work too. i really enjoy making fluffy, easily digestible gay content for my followers and myself because it puts me in a good headspace. But even now and then i like exploring those little nuances too, because i don't really enjoy stories with little conflict. Because of that acknowledgement of how satisfying it is to write fluffy, queer rep, you end up putting yourself in other creator's shoes. you're so used to media that either dehumanizes gay people or tells people that they don't exist that you push yourself to make the most in your face queer rep you can but its at the cost of an interesting and subtle characters. characters that don't really have arcs or places to learn and grow.

With bugtopia i made a joke about how i want some of my queer rep to feel like you're being queerbaited. It's not literal, obviously, but mixed in with characters who are already married and in same gender relationships, i really want to write dynamics that feel subtle enough for a bit of a slow burn. even if you know they're going to end up together, to at least value the characters on their own before centering them on their relationships. queerbaiting is something that deserves all the criticism it can get, but it is embarrassing when queerbaiting feels genuinely more interesting than actual queer rep because queerbaiting has that factor of "maybe they won't get together" that adds that bit of intrigue, vs so many shows that repeatedly hammer in your head "don't worry guys, they're gonna be lesbian lovers".

mystery inc (and many other shows) being forced to keep a relationship obvious while subtle to get through censorship really forced creators to be creative with their storytelling and not center characters around their relationship and identity. but nowadays i think shows like to take the easy way out. for me, i always thought the most impactful example of queer representation in steven universe is "Rose's Scabbard". I genuinely don't enjoy that episode because it's a good example of the show thinking that trauma is an excuse for shitty behavior, but i cant deny that an entire episode of pearl breaking down and finally accepting that she wasn't the center of rose's world. it's the crew being forced to be creative and push through censors to telling a compelling story about a traumatized lesbian slowly realizing that she basically deluded herself into thinking she was someone's savior.

I think it's silly to try to place good queer representation in one box. like subtle queer rep is good, but also queer rep where a character flat out states that their gay. where I think it falls apart is when it either reinforces stereotypes without properly deconstructing or expanding on them, makes the characters so overly kind and non-controversial that the relationship is just boring, or try to make your messy and complicated characters but the narrative refuses to hold them accountable or at least acknowledge that they're doing something wrong. and to clarify on that last part, i'm not asking for some hays code nonsense where every bad person goes to prison and/or promises to stop being a bad person again. i mean the narrative doesnt just fucking sugarcoat their behavior. i don't want to see helluva boss ignore the fact that stolas made blitzo call him out for only using him for sex and then pathetically rush to justify their relationship by giving them a bizarrely sanitized and sweet backstory. and i don't want to see catra literally end the fucking universe and only do something good because she's straight up out of options and the show just decides that that was her redemption and she doesn't need to do anything to atone for what she did (including repeatedly abusing and verbally berating adora).

anyways velma has none of those interesting qualities and i'm pretty sure daphne and velma kissed because the creator is a weird pervert who thinks two girls kissing is hot.

[skysiren41]

My 2 cents on the Jax controversy (and why I still like him)

Since the release of episode 2 of TADC I've seen a lot of people (mostly on twitter) go from loving Jax to despising him overnight, it's gotten to the point where some are accusing Goose of retconning Jax. He's definitely grown to be the most devisive character and I wanna throw my 2 cents on the discussion

I think the reason why so many people are angry and accusing the show of retconning Jax is cause some people got attached to THEIR version of Jax. During the wait between episodes when the fandom was at its peak a lot of fans made a lot of headcanons of the characters and how they thought they would act just from the pilot, including Jax, to the point where some forgot just how much of a asshole he was in the pilot. So when Jax didn't match up with how some fans headcanoned him and they were reminded just how selfish and cruel he can get, yeah a lot of them weren't happy. Even though Goose made it clear MULTIPLE times in posts and tweets that Jax was gonna be a massive asshole in the series, a lot of people either didn't know about these tweets, or ignored them because they didn't like the idea of their headcanon being 'threatened'. It's gotten to the point where some are acussing people who still like Jax of being abusers or endorsing abuse. To me that's incredibly silly, just because someone likes a character who is a jerk or a villain doesn't mean that they themselves are like that or endorse said characters actions

Personally I love they didn't hold back on how much of a jerk he was towards everyone, it's really hard to write jerk characters that are also funny (Mindy Kailing's Velma is a good example on how this can be done poorly) and I think they did a good job writing Jax, he's a jerk that you wanna see get his comeuppance but he's funny enough to not make him unbearable

Apparently Goose has said that he's gonna get worse as the series goes on to the point that he does something unforgivable later in the season, I'm really curious just how far there gonna push him and if this is hinting at him becoming a full fledged antagonist or if after he does his unforgivable act he finally starts to become a better person. But either way I'm really excited to see what there gonna do with this smug purple rabbit

[peonarcya]

I think the biggest problem with "Velma" is that it doesn't feel like the show belongs to "Scooby-Doo" franchise.

Let me (try to) explain.

"Scooby-Doo" always was a light detective for kids with fun characters and interesting plot, but, of course, without anything drastic. So, when you imagine a "Scooby-Doo" cartoon for adults, you want to get similar plot with the same characters, whose personalities don't change. You want to see the same story, but with more mature additions.

For example, it would be great to see character developments that we haven't seen before. Imagine if "Scooby-Doo" characters face some internal problems and insecurities, some hard choices that come with serious consequences. They have to deal not only with crime problems, but their own too. For example, what if someone from Scooby gang is accidentally involved in crime and has to hide it from their friends. What if someone feels responsible for that crime. What if something happens that they can't trust each other. There are so many possibilities.

Also the detective line should change too. It should break the pattern. More complicated plot, more mysteries, more dilemmas, more plot twists. Real murders, for example, or real horrors. "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island" is very close to what I'm talking about.

But what can we say about "Velma"? Well, it contains lots of typical "adult" jokes... Cringy dialogues that are written by how-do-you-do-fellow-kids screenwriters... Also we have stereotypical adult-cartoonish teenage characters, who are always mean and sarcastic and basically lose their original personalities. Daphne is a bitch, Fred is a rich asshole, Shaggy is a "beta male", and Velma herself is... well, definitely not quite charming nerd you expect her to be. And Scooby-Doo is absent. Detective line could be interesting, but the pacing is already horrible.

If you look at it, "Velma" is a typical adult animated sitcom. I can even say that it isn't about Scooby-Doo gang at all. The creators just decided to insert the main characters from "Scooby-Doo", so the show will get a lot of hype. But in reality it's just original characters who don't have anything in common with "Scooby-Doo" characters.

Some might say that this is a parody show, but, well... "Scooby-Doo" doesn't really fit for parody cartoon, especially with such tasteless jokes, weak plot and annoying characters.

[singofsolace]

I am absolutely in love with the behind the scenes videos of Chicago (2002), because they not only show just how hard these actors were working to pull everything off, but in the case of Catherine Zeta-Jones, you can see how widely she was smiling in rehearsal, how eagerly she took direction, how focused she was in giving 110% even when they were just walking through a song, and just how technically complicated all the dance moves were when you're watching her full body move, as opposed to the close-up shots that eventually make it into the film's final edit.

For example, watching the footage of rehearsals for All that Jazz and I Simply Cannot Do It Alone, you see choreography details that didn't make it into the film, whether they cut away from Velma Kelly while CZJ is doing a certain move, or they do a close-up that hides her footwork, and so on. I also think seeing her dance in her casual rehearsal clothes vs. her costumes is an entirely different experience, because without all the flashy beads and sequins and such, you're able to focus on the specific movements more closely (or at least I am, because I'm easily distracted by the way a costume moves).

And I just can't get over how happy she looks in every frame while practicing. She seems like a kid in a candy shop in the dance studio. She's loving every moment, and even when she messes up, she just goes "oh right shit" and immediately nails it the second time. Her dancing isn't just technically good, and so you begrudgingly have to admit she's talented--it's on a whole other level, because you can see she's having fun. It isn't just another job for her, or another day at the office, so to speak. She is giving her all and having the time of her life doing it.

Just...wow. I could watch hours of this footage and not get bored. Her Oscar should go down in history as one of the most well-deserved there ever was.