#i have not watched megamind rules

[th3e-m4ng0]

sorry

[jicklet]

Megamind Rules! - S01E16 “Thrilling Conclusions!” (1/2)

[nientedal]

You know, I could say a lot about the public response to Megamind Rules. But I think my favorite part was the way so many people who CLAIMED to love the original movie-- a movie about not judging books by their covers, a movie about a guy the world decided would be bad despite not knowing him, just because he didn't look normal-- proceeded to decide the spinoff show would be bad despite not watching it, just because the trailer wasn't as pretty as they wanted. Teacher says Megamind is bad; it's okay and popular to bully him! YouTuber who gets more money if he pisses people off says Megamind Rules is bad; it's okay and popular to bully the people who made it and enjoyed it!

I mean you can't make that shit up. It's fucking poetry.

[deeneedsaname]

Megamind Sequel, animation, and the apparently-forgotten era of CGI shows

Alright guys, buckle up, it’s time to talk about Megamind and the sequel/show!

Let’s start with the basics: two new additions to the Megamind world are coming out: a tv show called “Megamind Rules!”, and a sequel movie, Megamind Vs the Doom Syndicate. Obviously, the first thing everyone noticed was the animation quality lacking in comparison to the first movie. Then, people quickly reacted either agreeing or complaining that people were complaining, etc.

Yes. The animation is not as good as the movie, or as good as what people have come to expect from CGI nowadays. This is NOT the fault of the animators, obviously!

But I think we can all temper our reactions by remembering a few key points!

This sequel is not the grand ‘Megamind 2’ people have been dreaming of. Will Ferrell is not voicing Megamind and the animation looks funky, I know. Therefore, we can’t think of this as a movie going to theaters, but a sort of direct-to-tv/direct-to-dvd sequel. Think Cinderella 2, Ice Age Buck Wild, Aladdin 2: The Return of Jafar, etc!

To put the expectations of the Megamind 2 of our dreams on this movie and series is unfair to it. This is the equivalent of a direct-to-DVD disney sequel that you didn’t hear about until I years later and were like ‘wait, there’s a Tarzan 2???’ in the middle of a drug store (that was a shocking day.) Enjoy it for what it is!!

2. The modern CGI animation consumer has been spoiled rotten. Yes, that includes lots of animation enthusiasts! Back in the day, particularly in the 2010s, ‘poorly’ animated TV shows based on a popular movie were pretty common, ESPECIALLY for dreamworks! Meet some of the examples:

Kung-Fu Panda, Legends of Awesomeness

Aliens Versus Monsters

Penguins of Madagascar

This is NOT a knock on those shows, especially on their quality. Personally, I think Penguins of Madagascar had great animation quality, especially in the later seasons. CGI animation for television is a different beast and doesn’t have the same budget as a movie. (Also, Penguins Of Madagascar show was fantastic, 10/10, no notes, INCREDIBLE music changed lives etc etc.)

Nowadays, CGI animated shows have animation quality comparable to movies, including some Dreamworks ones, such as Kung Fu Panda show Paws of Destiny, or Cars on the Road, the really fun cars short series!

3. The good points!! There is a lot to like about this! The Doom Syndicate is actually pretty cool, as they were first mentioned in I believe the art book, a video game, and an original draft of a sequel film (don’t quote me on that)

Not only that, but ROXANNE IS STILL THERE!! This may seem small, but it’s been common in the past for female love interests to be thrown away and replaced, often because a voice actress couldn’t come back (that’s part of why I loved Puss in Boots 2 so much: Kitty Softpaws had her same voice actress and was still an integral part of the plot just like the first movie) Roxanne still being part of the cast and still being with Megamind is not something to take for granted.

4. Is it disappointing that the long-awaited sequel isn’t a full-blown theatrical release? Yes. Is it disappointing that the voices aren’t returning? Also yes. However…

TL;DR - Megamind 2 and the show should be taken for what they are: a 2010s style tv series and a direct to dvd sequel respectively, this is NOT the fault of any animator, and is not necessarily indicative of quality of writing. Enjoy it for what it is!

[starleska]

just finished watching Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate and i have some thoughts!! please do take this with a grain of salt as i'm just one person; i absolutely do not want to rain on anyone's parade!! if this is your favourite movie, don't worry about the gripes of some stranger on the internet 🥰

let's start with the positive!! despite what some people are saying there are things to enjoy about the film, and i think that lies in the fun of Megamind's old crew. although Behemoth looks a little phoned-in and Pierre Pressure was an easy joke, i really enjoyed the designs for Lady Doppler and Lord Nighty-Knight. the scenes they were in with Megamind were definitely the most engaging!! but that's...about where my enjoyment of the film ends. i think the film's biggest sin is the enormous amount of exposition-dumping and telling rather than showing. there were so many times where characters just...stated things about themselves, or spoke aloud why they were feeling the way they are. they're like...character notes that a writer jots down to keep track of emotional journeys. it really breaks the immersion and makes the characters feel mechanical, clunky, and a bit of a hivemind. Megamind and Roxanne in particular feel quite stripped of their original personalities, which is such a shame. then there's drastic reduction of chemistry between Megamind and Roxanne. canonically, this movie only takes place a couple of days after the events of Megamind, but the two are barely affectionate with one another to the point that it's weird. perhaps it was written as them being comfortable with one another, but at times it almost felt like there was dislike between the two of them...especially from Roxanne's side!! Megamind is hardly recognisable compared to his lovestruck counterpart from the first movie, and Roxanne's bold, caring nature seems to have evaporated. it makes it very hard to get invested in their relationship at all 💔 speaking of Roxanne, i find it such an odd choice to make Roxanne have an existential crisis about being dissatisfied with her life just a few days after the events of the previous film...you'd think she'd want to take it easy for a while! i feel this characterisation of Roxanne does her a lot of disservice, and reduces her more to plot functionality. Roxanne doesn't strike me as the kind of woman who'd be starstruck re: some kid's online following and decide she's inadequate by comparison. again, a lot of the things we love Roxanne for were just quite...absent, from this movie. you could predict what she was going to say well ahead of time, because she was just following the beats of the plot 😓 and the time-retcon...isn't it a bit weird that Megamind is a complete Internet n00b? it's one thing for him to be a bit out-of-touch with Gen Z (as he's relatable to us neurotypicals given his alien grasp on certain concepts), but he seems completely baffled by the concept of streaming and followers at all, and this movie takes place in a post-2020 timeframe. it's odd because Megamind is already established as a tech genius in the first movie, and we know he's somewhat affiliated with Internet slang by his use of LOL : ) when texting Roxanne!! perhaps this is a small nitpick that can be explained away, but it seems like a baffling choice and an excuse to write in a trendy character for the kids to relate to 😵 then, moving onto Keiko...she wasn't terrible by any means! but i wish she was more than a social media influencer to get Megamind with the times. if she's Megamind's number 1 fan, surely she would have been his fan while he was a villain...couldn't that have made for an interesting moral dilemma along with the return of the Doom Syndicate: having a child trying to follow in his previously-villainous footsteps? what about Keiko being taken under the wing of the Doom Syndicate after Megamind became a hero? 👀 those are my thoughts for now...i do hope all those talented Megamind fans will build upon these flaws in the movie and create more compelling stories from it 🙏💖

[kaythefloppa]

If there is any better real-life example of a monkey's paw wish than the entire existence of Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate + Megamind Rules, vs. what society was like before it was announced when everyone was begging for a Megamind sequel, then I am yet to have seen it, and my viewing experience of the former makes me doubt I'll ever see one like that again.

[thedawningofthehour]

i love ur writing so much its genuinely one of the only ones i can sit through without getting bored or just swiping through

(I've always wanted to use this meme)

For real, thank you. I'm always worried that people will get bored because I know my stuff is so slow-paced. I feel like the fact that this is written by someone with severe ADHD helps make it interesting for other ADHD people lol.

[cable-salamdr]

Reminder that Peacock are the same who made and distribute Megamind 2 and Megamind Rulez and that the second half of the first season just dropped for that— I’m imagining everyone getting subscriptions and Peacock being really excited that people seem to be coming around to the show, only for people to watch this strange Lego Show that they agreed to run instead

Everyone yesterday: Ugh, October?? I mean, it’s nice to know, but we don’t wanna wait three months— most of us are busy with school or life by then :////

Peacock:

Peacock: So guess what

[megamindsecretlair]

Megamind's Secret Files

Formally posted on MegamindsLair.

All fics are Black/Fem coded. All fics are consensual.

Rules and Navigation:

Welcome! Thank you so much for being interested in my blog! I want to make this a safe space for everyone. Please heed all warnings on all my posts. Consider changing your icon and header to prove you're human. Add ages so I can be sure minors are not interacting with my blog.

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No Big Deal Original Writing

Fic Front Covers (aka Mega's Self-Rec list)

Blink twice if you need help, Mega

Behind the Megadome

How to get on my taglist!

The Secret Loki Files

The Secret Bucky Files

The Secret Nomad Steve Files

The Secret Sam Wilson Files

WARNING: multiple uses of the n-word. Coded for Tyrone/Los Angeles

The Secret Tyrone Files

The Secret Isaac Files

WARNING: multiple uses of the n-word

The Secret Franklin Saint Files

The Secret Kane Files

Warning - can turn dark but always consensual. When not stated otherwise, Ghostface is usually anonymous and coded Black.

The Secret Ghostface Files

The Secret King Ghezo Files

The Secret Tre Files

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The Secret Big Stunna Files

The Secret Kevin Atwater Files

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The Secret Black Noir Files

The Secret Mother's Milk Files

(all my white boys with too many fandoms to list)

The Secret Grey McConnell Files

The Secret Reacher Files

The Secret Terry Richmond Files

The Secret Alex Cross Files

Thank you so much for being interested. Happy reading!

How to get on my taglist!

[buginateacup]

On the first day of Christmas my hostage gave to me...

It starts with the socks.

Now many would say socks are among the least exciting Christmas presents to recieve. And provided you are of an age where preferred presents would take the form of Lego or rollerskates you may in fact be correct.

But a good sock is worth appreciating nonetheless. As people old enough to buy their own Lego for Christmas can confirm.

However socks were not what Megamind was expecting when the festive kidnapping bag (Minion had INSISTED on adding tinsel) was removed from his regular hostage's head and instead of screaming in terror like she was supposed to, Miss Ritchi looks around and says, "Hey did you bring my- oh good you did." and had indicated with great delight that one of the many little giftbags Minion had collected along with her from a crowded December street was intended for him.

Megamind dove for the bag immediately and is now standing stock still staring at the socks in his hand.

They are a bright Christmassy green. All the better to contrast the bulbous heads of grey aliens decorating every inch of them.

The faces are wearing Santa hats.

They are objectively, inherently

Awful.

"What... are these?" He demands finally.

"They're socks!" Roxanne offers brightly, trying not to giggle.

"Are you sure?"

Roxanne had not intended to give Megamind socks. Giving presents to your regular kidnapper was well...kind of weird if you thought about it too hard. But the socks had been in a three for the price of two sale and when she'd gotten over laughing at the design herself she simply thought, what the hell. It wasn't like she couldn't give them to one of her cousins, she reasoned. Seeing Megamind first was simply a gift of opportunity. So here she was, trying not to think about it and watching Megamind's face twist into an expression like he'd just bitten into a watermelon flavoured lemon.

"Well you could wear them on your hands but I'm not sure what kind of sock puppet they'd make?" She adds, fighting (and loosing) the battle to keep the laughter out of her voice.

He's still staring at them a little confusedly as he says, "I don't think anyone's ever been brave enough to give- to give me socks before."

Roxanne rolls her eyes, "You must have done well if you've never been given socks for Christmas."

She'd meant it as a joke, expecting some joke about a lifetime supply of coal as black as his heart or some other Grinchlike pronouncement. Instead Megamind's eyes dart the way she's seen before when he's running full tilt with some wild villainous plan only to stumble over the correction of some unspoken societal rule and he draws himself a little further into his cape and mutters a short "No."

Roxanne doesn't let her face slip an inch. Megamind does not do well with sympathy, on the rare (and they are exceedingly rare) occasions when some bubble of truth surfaces from the whirlpool that is his constant performance any "sorry's" or attempted understanding just make him snappy and viciously sarcastic.

She gives it a moment then raises both eyebrows in the most mocking way she can, "If let me have my hands back I'm happy to demonstrate?" She suggests, deliberately saccharine.

"Oh no!" Megamind jerks back into motion, "No juvenile attempts at bribery are going to get you out of facing your doom, Miss Ritchi!" He shakes them in her face and that's when he discovers the bells sewn into the ankles.

Celery has been added to the water-lemon and they are having a party in his mouth.

Roxanne bites back a snort with everything she has and asks "Was that an option?"

"No!" Megamind rather desperately wishes he had a hat similar to the not-at-all-similar faces on his new socks. Instead he spins in place and hopes his collar is tall and menacing enough to hide the fact his ears are blushing.

"Damn," She doesn't sound too worried.

"Yes well," he mutters, "Socks to be you," and Roxanne's laughter peals bright as bells through the Lair.

[thatfilthyanimal]

What are your thoughts on Schaffrillas?

Oh Anon I really hope this is being sent in good faith and isn't just bait because well. Hm.

I want to like the dude. I do. Without his review of Megamind (2010) I'm not sure Megamind would have had such a resurgeance that it's had in the recent years. And for a long time, I deeply respected the dude for that.

But I also had slowly fallen into the youtube trap of what I will not-so-affectionately call "ragebait youtubers", which are people who profit off of whatever new piece of media is the Big Thing To Hate. I was subscribed to a bunch of them, and had my big laughs at all the new "terrible" media coming out, for years.

And then suddenly Megamind Vs The Doom Syndicate was the new thing to hate. It was no longer funny. At all. Everyone I subscribed to dogpiled onto it and collectively sabotaged the series following it (many of which were people regurgitating things every other reviewer was saying, often getting things wrong about either Vs The Doom Syndicate or the show following it, Megamind Rules, if they even knew the show existed at all). The Rotten Tomatoes reviews tanked. The screenwriters got threats of violence on their personal blogs, one person actually stating that they wished they could cut their hands off so they could never write again. (Hi, what the fuck?) The Megamind tags were flooded by hate. The fans that DID like the new stuff were dogpiled and told they were stupid Dreamworks shills being paid to promote the new stuff. Nobody believed that there were actual fans that actually liked the new stuff, because the fans of people who do ragebait youtuber shit are miserable, unhappy people who fail to see joy in anything new just because it isn't 100% perfect.

My biggest gripe with Schaffrillas is the fanbase he caters to these days. I have not watched his newest videos about the new Megamind stuff (I refuse to watch any of it; I refuse to give these people my views for their blatant misinformation and hostility towards something "mid" at worst) but there was a SIGNIFICANT uptick in both hate in the fandom tags and harassment to both fans and the screenwriters on twitter, here, youtube, ANYWHERE-- after his video. I don't believe this was his actual intention, he's obviously not a dick, but I refuse to entertain the idea that his intention with his newest videos wasn't careless. "Why Megamind 2 Is A Cinematic Disaster" is a title implying the lie that Megamind Vs The Doom Syndicate is something that should be held up to the same standard as a theatrical "Megamind 2" and the dude is smart enough to know exactly that. The thing is, it ISN'T "Megamind 2", it's an extended pilot episode to a low budget straight-to-streaming show that is actually very damn good. Before Schaffrillas even got to review it, before it even released, I had seen news outlets falsely labeling it as "Megamind 2" in the same way, getting people's hopes up. I asked the screenwriters in a (now deleted because Elon sucks and lots of people fled the site) twitter post if they considered the film/series to be a proper sequel on par with a title like "Megamind 2" or not, and the response was basically "we just consider it a continuation of his story", aka what I took away from it: "No. Not a grand theatrical sequel like everyone is implying. But more stuff, regardless." My own expectations going in were lower, because of this, and I wasn't as greatly disappointed as everyone else who was under the impression this would be some high-budget Puss In Boots The Last Wish level production. Not these people's fault! News outlets and youtubers BOTH painted this film like it was supposed to be more!!

And the kicker to all of that is Dreamworks fully failed to promote Megamind Rules properly. In the advertising for Vs The Doom Syndicate, the show is mentioned as an afterthought at the end, as if there isn't like 7hrs of content behind that film to still watch after, that the writers/artists put blood/sweat/tears into for years beforehand. I assume there was a lot of push to have a pilot episode get turned into a "movie" even though it would have been better as maybe two episodes. But the backlash from the internet seemed to have hurt the Megamind Team SO BAD that the advertising for the 2nd half of the first season didn't even get finished. One of the team members slipped the unfinished ad video onto twitter finally. The ONLY people who advertised the 2nd half of the series were the Megamind Team themselves, and the fans who liked the show. Dreamworks social media was absolutely silent about it, choosing to promote everything else instead. Ragebait youtubers, and this culture of hating EVERY new piece of media that comes out, whether it deserves it or not (spoilers: it rarely ever does) had damaged the future of this show when it truly didn't deserve it. Dreamworks threw their hands in the air and gave up. The Megamind Team did their best to still promote it because their paychecks probably rely on it and they knew old fans still liked the new stuff even IF there was overwhelming backlash about it!

I don't think Schaffrillas realizes the full impact of everything he says and does in his videos these days. I don't know if any ragebait youtuber even cares anymore, as long as they get paid by Daddy Youtube for churning out the next video as quickly as possible before anyone can watch things for themselves and form their own opinions on anything. Does Moana 2 actually suck or is youtube just feeding me videos by unwashed losers who are mad their sequel isn't Shrek 2 perfect? I don't know!! But it's all I see! "This new movie sucks!!" "This new show sucks!!" "This new game sucks!!" holy shit! The reason I -LIKED- people making videos about Megamind before all of this was because the reception was generally entirely positive! People were talking about it because they LIKED it! Schaffrillas, give me a video over a damn hour about everything you LIKE about Megamind and I'll freakin' watch it. I will NOT sit there for an hour listening to someone complain about a piece of media they could just stop watching or walk away from and choose to go watch anything else the actually LIKE instead. IDK!! Idk. I'm old, I'm cranky, I'm tired. I'm glad people have mostly moved on by now and I can have a shred of normalcy back in the tags again. But it will forever be marred and ugly from all the hate from everyone shitting on the newest stuff (whether it deserves it or not) and I will forever be nervous to promote my fandom server to new fans for fear of one of these big youtubers dropping another "this movie sucks" video and their fans going to the tags on various sites to find ways to grief the fanbases for liking something "so horrible". Which, yes, already happened. A lot. (We banned a lot of people this year when we rarely ever had to before this :/)

I don't know if the dude realizes the bridges he's burned, both in the Megamind fandom and with various Dreamworks employees (not just about Megamind, mind you, but also other recent things he's said). This is NOT the way to get anywhere if that's what he's trying to do. It's just going to get him remembered as the dude who made people lose money/jobs because they couldn't make a budget larger from thin air, or couldn't read minds on what would be considered "good enough" to a larger swath of fans of something.

The Megamind Team is full of really good people who really did do a good job and tried VERY HARD with A LOT going against them to make a good product that would make fans happy. It certainly made ME happy! It was consistent with the the original canon material and even borrowed from fandom theories for some things (probably unintentionally? but it's still funny to me). Somehow Schaff managed to make a video over an hour long about everything bad about it. I don't see it that way, and it must be infuriating to live in a world where you CAN find over an hour's worth of stuff to bitch about with it. Yeah, the animation is crunchy and the pilot film goes on a bit long and could have been shorter. Whoo. I'm done. It was easy. Not over an hour long.

There's also a thing about the DeGun? Idk. I don't have the full context but I assume it's about the opening scene where Megamind doesn't dehydrate the Go Fish Gang dudes as they're running away. From a writing perspective, the building should have been completely flooded with water, so it makes sense that he wouldn't. Obviously though the animators didn't have time for the water everywhere or it just got overlooked. But also, Megamind sucks at his job. That's the point. He's new and he's not good. He also canonically doesn't use his DeGun to dehydrate people well before this! Metro Man, Titan, hell-- the whole tower falling towards them at the end of the movie? There's clearly rules towards his tech that are being followed (or the guy is just an idiot idk) that we don't ever get told about, and yeah that would probably be good, but personally all I thought was "ok he's dumb but let's go XD;" when it happened and that was it. I also didn't have monetary incentive to make an hour long video about hating it, though. So. Y'know.

All I really want is for the dude to reflect on where his videos are currently heading and, again, the bridges he's burning due to the careers and lives he's hurting by going this route. I can't sit here and pat his ass for him and tell him he's doing a great job when I feel like he's doing more harm than good, and apparently that's enough reason for his fanboys to have a problem with me and harass me and other fans. Again, I want to like the dude. But at the moment I don't think I can. Maybe he's said some really nice stuff in his recent videos, I don't know! I just know how his fans reacted and how much damage it did, and I don't care to look further.

As usual I just want to say that even if you don't like the movie, the show Megamind Rules is REALLY good and the ending is fantastic and satisfying. It's worth sticking it out, but you HAVE to try to put aside the urge to hatewatch and instead just watch for fun. This stuff is meant to be ENJOYED. Stop holding yourselves back from that. The world is hateful enough already.

[jicklet]

Megarox hug in Megamind Rules! 1.09 – "Hero For a Day"

[nientedal]

Is it worth watching Megamind rules? I know I’m not the target, but I’m curious yet also really really nervous. I know it’s for a younger audience but I’m still very on the fence and nervous. Also, love your writing

Omg, thank you, and thank you also for asking and yes yes yes 100% it's worth watching! It got crapped on by a bunch of people who decided based on the trailer alone that it was going to suck (how fun, a movie about a guy who everyone decided would be bad despite not knowing him got a spinoff show that...everyone decided would be bad despite not watching it, lol), so there's a lot of hate out there for it. I'm assuming you've caught wind of some of that, and that's why you're nervous? But for what it's worth, I was staring at the screen like :D basically the whole time.

Some more specific notes below the cut, but the tl;dr is please do give it a chance, if you can find the time. A G-rated direct-to-stream spinoff show wasn't what a lot of people were hoping for, and there were some folks who watched it and didn't care for it. But from a writing and storytelling standpoint, I think it is genuinely good! If you go in expecting a cute kids' show with some silly jokes and social misfits finding their way forward together, and keep an open mind, I don't think you'll be disappointed-- in fact I think you may be pleasantly surprised.

Just a gentle heads-up on some stuff because I'm not sure what you've heard about the show yet, and I'm also not sure what your existing expectations are!

The show was given a shoestring budget and not a lot of time to go from writers' room to final product, and yes, there are places where you can tell. But that was always going to be the case-- Dreamworks was absolutely not going to be spending big bucks on a franchise they've barely even acknowledged in more than a decade-- and it wasn't the fault of the people making the show. And even with the low budget, I think the animation is still genuinely solid, especially in later episodes! The people who worked on it really did a great job with what they were given.

And the writing!!! Holy shit!!! My skin is clear my crops are watered etc. The original writers handled this project and they absolutely delivered. Megamind & Roxanne's whole Thing progresses and grows and blooms in a really sweet and realistic way. Roxanne & Chum have a great dynamic. (Minion's name needed to be changed for legal reasons, but the writers worked that into the show and I gotta say, as a trans person, it was really lovely to see everyone else respond to "actually, because of [spoiler], my name is Chum now" with "oh! cool okay" and just keep rolling. I love that that was modeled for kids.) The character development is tangible; we get to watch Megamind really grow as a person and come into his own over the course of the series. And the new characters are really fun-- I genuinely enjoyed Keiko and everyone else.

Even if you never watch it (it's OK if you don't!) please just know: this was not a cash grab; Megamind Rules was made by people who truly cared about this world and these characters.

It's also worth noting that Megamind Versus the Doom Syndicate (the extended pilot) recaps a bunch of the same lessons as the original movie, so it can feel a little bit "...didn't we JUST do this??" but I'm pretty sure that was because Dreamworks didn't want to rely on kids to watch a 13 year old movie rated PG instead of G in order to get context. So like, I get it. And it's still cute! But it did mean I was nervous about what the rest of the series would be like until I was laughing my ass off halfway through Episode 2. If you're nervous, you can probably skip MMVtDS.

But yeah. I truly do think Megamind Rules is worth watching, and I've been so sad about the reception it received. Thank you so much for asking about it, and not just deciding it sucks and moving on. I appreciate you.

[alpaca-clouds]

Something that will forever be a thing that drives me nuts, is people not understanding that yes, there are aspects about art that are subjective.

Look, no matter how good or bad a piece of art is, it does not mean it will connect to you. That is fine. As a picky eater, I always likened it too food. Were those eight-course meals that I got served in France objectively better than a fucking Pizza Hut pan pizza? Yes, they were. I will still choose the pan pizza every time, thank you very much.

And it is the same with media. One of my favorite movies of all time is Van Helsing. And I can tell you a lot of things the movie does good. I like the soundtrack a lot. I find the comedic timing in the movie amazing. And some of the actors are great. However, is the main reason I am watching this, that I am a simp for Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale? Yes. Yes, it is. And while the script is funny to me (like I really do enjoy the humor), it is certainly no master piece and if I was a youtuber, I could probably do a two hour video on stuff about the script I take issue with. Don't get me wrong. It is not a bad script by any means. Just... very mediocre. I am able to tell that. Just as I am able to call out the CGI that has aged a lot worse than the CGI in other movies. And some costume choices that were... less than ideal. I still love the movie.

Or maybe an even better example: I freaking love the movie Megamind. It is one of my Top 5 animated movies of all time. But the script was written by two guys who had never learned or studied screenwriting. And this shows. While the script had been edited a ton by people who knew more about screenwriting than them, it absolutely shows in some places, that it was written by folks, who just did not know how to best pace out scenes and stuff, how to work with show and tell, and how to think cinematically. But you know what? To me it does not matter, because I love Megamind and Minion as characters. Again, I am not saying it is a bad script because of it, just that... it could have used even more work than it got.

And this, too me, is part of the reason why I even in my childhood had a big issue with people who are like: "I love this piece of media and hence it is objectively the best thing that was ever created!"

I had this a lot in my first real fandom. Digimon. Because, yeah, it is perfectly fine that you connected more with Digimon Adventure or Digimon Adventure 02, but this does not mean that either of them were better written or better crafted than Digimon Tamers. Like there are very obvious problems in the writing of the first two seasons. Mind you, these days - after getting my answers on why this happened - I am way more chill about it. Like, I get that the people who wrote this were still trying to do the best with the options given to them. But partly because those options were limited, that "best" was just not the same "best" Konaka could do with Tamers, due to on one hand having more experience, and on the other hand just being a lot more stubborn about certain things.

Again, no, that does not mean you have to love Digimon Tamers. It also does not mean you have to dislike Digimon Adventure or Digimon Adventure 02. Like, heck, while I would argue there are more problems in Adventure, they are a lot more noticable in 02 - and I still like 02 more than Adventure, despite the animation being at times worse than some of those fan animatics on youtube. And yes, I mean animatics. Actually things that are not fully animated. Because 02 was suffering from timecrunch in the production a lot, so the animation really at times is a mess.

Why am I talking about this now?

Well, mainly because I am once more annoyed by this. By the fact that people do not acknowledge the fact that writing and art does have objective factors. And that there are rules to follow - or that if they get broken need to be broken for a good reason. Like, you absolutely can for artistic reasons subvert any writing or artistic rule. Totally fine. But only if it is done for artistic reasons and not, let's say, because of fucking time crunch.

And yes, this is still because of Arcane, and me being very, very sick of people claiming season 2 was well written. It was not. I am sorry, there are rules to writing and those rules were broken. Most notably rules of set-ups needing either a payoff or a clear subversion, and the good old screenwriting rule of "show, don't tell, you are a visual medium after all". (Please note at this point: Show don't tell was always for Screenwriting and visual media, it was never meant for pure prose writing, as in prose writing you will always just tell - given words are the only tool you have at your disposal. Yes, it usually works better if you write about characters in whose head your POV is not more in terms of reactions, rather than 'XY was angry', but other than that... there is only so much you can do as someone just using words.)

Like, it is perfectly fine if you totally connected to the story or specific characters. I mean, despite seeing the flaws with the writing - given they were really, really noticable - I would lie if I said I did not cry at some places. But yeah, if you were all there for Caitlyn, Vi, Viktor or Jayce, all power to you.

But the writing was not good. And from all we know the chances are very good that the reason the writing was such a mess was executive meddling of one sort or another. (Very probably the writers getting less time to tell their story than they had expected.)

And that exactly is why I am so fucking pissed at people being like "Oh, but the writing was great!" Because what you are saying with that is basically: "Creative interference and executive meddling is the most amazing thing. Creative people should not have their own freedom. Who also cares about people learning writing as a craft. Let's just let AI write this stuff, I don't fucking care."

And I actually do mean that last part. Because while I do not think that AI had written anything for that season, the time crunch made it so that there were certain things showing up, I have seen a lot in AI writing. Mainly the tell over show, and the set-up without payoff. Because AI is obviously not good with setting up and paying things off, because the AI does not plan a story. It just gives you a line of words in a row, that it has predicted have a high probability to go with a prompt it was given. And those usually do not have a payoff to set-ups.

Also, yes, I am very much the person, who will always give the creative behind any project a lot more benefit of the doubt, than any executives. There are times where it turns out that this is not warranted, and it turns out that indeed, something was weirdly written, because like some guy, who might or might not have been called Joss Whedon, wanted to write something that was titulating for himself. But still, in many cases where a piece of media turned out to have obvious issues, and someone broke their NDA, it often is the case that some executive was to blame for the mess that existed. Be it, because they wanted to pander to a specific audience. Be it, because they wanted to force in certain advertisements. Be it, because they decided that the creatives would just not have the time to do the creative stuff - or not enough time within the piece of media (runtime) to tell the story they wanted to tell. Be it, because some producer decided that his nephew Larry needed to have a role in the show, and because now this role was played by Larry, who was after all his nephew, this role needed to be way bigger than it was originally intended to be.

No, I do not know what happened behind the scenes of Arcane season 2. I can make some educated guesses, but I do not know it. But I know at least in part what happened behind the scenes of Digimon Adventure and 02, and exactly that makes me kinda pissed of people excusing stuff that was fully and completely there because of executive meddling.

Because yeah, most people who write for TV and movies have in fact somehow learned screenwriting. Not all at uni, some are self-taught. That is totally fine. But they have learned writing. The producers meanwhile have not. And it shows.

[smileyaly]

SPOILER/TEASER FOR MEGAMIND RULES . . . . . . . . . . .

Okay, I admit that I haven't watched and have no plan to watch the movie and show. It's just too different of a story/characters compared to the original for me. But if you enjoy it, have fun; I'm not taking that away from you <3 With that said...I HONESTLY LOVE THIS SHOT OF MEGAROX. Ever since I was a kid I've always wanted to see Roxanne as a sort of villain to match Megamind and now, LOOK AT THEM 😭🥹💞 Still weird they're not together (or just crushing and being awkward with one another) since the first movie implied they are official

[niyana-the-ambiguous-mobian]

Well uh, the new trailer for the Megamind show is here and....ohohoho boy, it doesn't look at that good.

I knew it probably wasn't going to be top-tier animation quality, but watching it gave me serious flashbacks to that Bad Guys holiday special that came out last year and a few of us know how bad that looked.

But upon IMMEDIATELY hearing the new voice they have for Megamind just turned me off and had to take a second before watching the rest of it.

But hey, at least we got this shot of Megamind wearing a beard. That’s one plus for it.

Guess that we're getting a TV movie first, Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate, then a full show afterward that's just called Megamind Rules.

It's too bad since I was looking forward to seeing what they had planned, but it seems like this isn't going to be my current cup of tea since I'm not the demographic anymore, as much as I wanted it to be.