#RottThoughts

[gold-kobold]

Hey, Goldie, did you watch RotT? If so, how did you feel about it?

ok so like

hear me out

i REALLY liked it

and don't worry, i think we can all pretty much agree that the m-preg was trash in every way and the ending was handled HORRIBLY, but like

i still??? had a great time with it despite those flaws????? like, i get why everybody's super mad, the ending of any film or series is essentially the most important part, and if you flub the ending, you're gonna get an ANGRY response, so the fandom's totally justified in that response, i think (save for harassing the writers or anything like that, don't do that shit oh my god you WILL be dead to me if you do that shit)

but like, i feel like there was a lot of good stuff in that movie that kinda got rug-brushed because of the "wtf factor" of the m-preg and the ending

(also, before i ramble on, let it be known that these are just my personal opinions and it's totally fine if you disagree!)

i feel like i don't even have to comment on the animation, that shit was HELLA good like omg THE ANIMATION WAS SO PRETTY I'M DYING except the staja babies those were nightmare fuel

anyways, the fights were REALLY amazing and suspenseful, and like, i've seen some people complain about nomura and strickler's deaths being pointless, and i do get that viewpoint a little (and btw they should've mourned nomura too like damn, okay main cast, glad to see who the favourite changeling is lmfao--) but honestly, i felt like their deaths were important in showing the sheer strength of the titans, and also in raising the stakes, if that makes sense?? i dunno, i thought it was a bold choice that kinda worked (for me, at least lol)

and hoo boy. toby. i'll, uh... i'll get into that in a minute. i'm gonna put it under a "read more" because a lot of my thoughts on THAT death and why it would've been really important to keep rather than reversing time involves some personal stuff on my side, so i won't bore you with those details yet lol

CAN I JUST SAY THAT QUEEN AJA WAS ONE OF THE BEST THINGS THOUGH--

Like, they really showed how tactical she's gotten in her new position, and hot damn, she just looked badass, i wish we got to see more of her shooting that cool gun afdgfdsfhdgjfhgk--

ALSO WANTED MORE ELI BECAUSE OMG I MISSED THAT DORK, he was also 10/10 amazing aaaaaaa

i honestly felt like the story itself was pretty solid most of the way through? it was kinda weird how they pretty much erased jim's "unbecoming" character development, but at the same time, it's like, worries and insecurities from your past CAN come up again even if you thought you beat them the first time, so it didn't totally throw things off for me because i kinda feel jim there in some ways -- i do wish they'd at least mention the similarities to the "unbecoming" episode, even if just in a throwaway line to show that it wasn't something completely forgotten about, idk

anyway, time-travel "fix-it" endings are the worst and i hate them vgfdasfhdjfhgh--

ON TO ME RAMBLING ABOUT WHY TOBY'S DEATH (AND EVERYTHING TBH) SHOULD'VE STAYED PERMANENT

there's honestly not that much more to say in how the ending of ROTT is basically just a slap in the face to everything we've watched so far. a lot of posts have summed up why this was such a frustrating writing choice better than i could. but oh boy, what got to me particularly was toby.

this isn't something i really like to talk about, so please don't message me about it or anything, but i feel like it's important to my point on this scene. so, to put you guys in context of the kind of feelings i'm about to talk about watching toby's death scene, i lost my best friend in middle school to a car crash. it's not totally comparable, obviously, but it's one of those things where like, as a kid, i didn't really think about death or loss of my peers as a thing that would happen, really? and then when it DOES happen it's like, "woah, what the fuck, i wasn't prepared for this on any fucking level" and it's just, like... a really hard-to-describe gut punch of mortality and loss at that kind of age.

the reason i mention this is because i can't recall a single fantasy-like tv show for young audiences in the same vein as trollhunters where they make a child main character's death permanent? like, i don't know how to describe this in a way that DOESN'T sound weird, when i saw toby's death, i felt a weird sense of, like... being seen, or something? like a life struggle similar to mine and similar to many other kids, though it barely gets talked about, was actually being recognized in a serious, long-lasting kinda way. i feel like a much stronger ending than reversing everything they did with a stupid time travel ex machina device is this, like...

just imagine, we get a shot of the characters a little farther into the future -- a stricklake wedding too, perhaps? but as a very end scene, the gang visits toby's grave, and acknowledge the loss, but also the times they all shared together or something--

idk. maybe people are just worried that's too dark a thing to show kids. but i feel like it'd be a really important thing to have in a media like this for those few that can relate to it and possibly move in the right direction about processing their own feelings about loss and stuff

anyway. there's also the complaint about how toby (and recently steve too) only ever got treated as comic relief as well, so this ending would've been more impactful if the writers had given more respect to toby as a character anyway, idk lol, i think i'm done rambling all the same

anyway, 7/10, not enough dictatious and notenrique