#i just. in terms of impact. i feel like bill cipher was worse

[discountdyke]

tbh i actually do not remember cecils time as a tumblr sexyman at all and like. i was into wtnv when it was big and hip and i feel like that time also coincided with when dr was really big? so its like on one hand how come so many of you remember komaedas cruel reign over tumblr but also not remember cecil...but on the other hand who has thought about him in the last 5 years except for the people who consider podcasts in general as a singular fandom

[therussohousehold]

S3 Sucks Big Time And I’m Tired Of It.

Hi y’all. Next chapter’s well underway! In the meantime, there’s something I need to get off my chest, and this platform seems like the perfect place to do it.

SVTFOE season 3 has been the worst possible direction that the show could have taken. Out of all possible scenarios, the only way it could possibly get any worse is if all the problems that have been created in the past dozen episodes were, from here on out, totally ignored as the show tries to backpedal its way out of this conundrum.

The season’s complete trainwreck of petty drama, plot regression, character devolvement, and tonal problems is so complex and varied that it’s almost impressive, because of all the parts that seem like mistakes, the most glaring issues seem to be deliberate choices by the writers.

This starts at the beginning of S3 with the Battle for Mewni, and continues on through the season, to the point that there isn’t an episode in which it’s not present. Let me go ahead and dive in here, and just explain some of the myriad of things that are wrong with what’s been produced thus far.

Tone - mistakes and choices.

Right from the beginning of the Battle of Mewni, all of the show’s tonal problems are thrown up into your face, over and over again.

The purpose of story tone is to help the story retain focus, both in the direction you’re heading, and in helping your viewers know what to expect from the show. It informs the actions of the characters, and helps you to understand how to feel about certain things that happen. There are a lot of great examples of how this works in modern cartoons.

Most appropriately, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teen Titans, and Gravity Falls are all very obvious examples of this. Each series’ tone is constant and lets you know what to expect from every episode, and more relevantly, features a mix of serious, character-driven narrative progression, while also allowing room for each series to tell jokes, show off the lighthearted interactions between characters, and have those personal moments of heart and meaning that mean everything when forging a bond between yourself and the characters you’re watching.

SVTFOE has always had problems with tone, from the introduction of Toffee onwards. Toffee himself is a perfect reflection of what the problem with the show always has been. He’s a character that wants to be serious, with real meaning and consequence, but the show itself is very goofy and lighthearted, and only in his presence is there any sort of continuity for the first two seasons.

This problem is thrown into overdrive with Battle For Mewni, which creates a world-shattering conflict that the show just isn’t prepared to handle in any capacity. The conflict itself is world-ending stakes, with Toffee’s plans finally coming to fruition - not only is the kingdom of Mewni in shambles, but he’s draining all the magic from the multiverse.

Despite this, though, the show’s goofy tone and ridiculous antics sabotage this more serious, tension-filled plot, over and over again. This continues until the parts that actually have tension, like Star drowning in the magic dimension, Toffee’s return and death, Ludo’s transformation into a horrible dictator, are not only undermined, but actually feel completely out of place in the context of the show.

One minute the show is telling you how funny and ridiculous it is, like with the parts that show River trying to run the kingdom, or anything involving the dungeons or Marco’s “vigilante pranks,” and the next minute, it’s demanding you sit up and watch, because world-ending consequence is crashing down in a manner completely unprecedented.

This problem continues into the season, long after Toffee’s death, with the conflict between the goofy elements of the show, and the more serious angle of princess that Star obviously wants to become.

First, it should be noted that the writers did at this point FINALLY make a conscious choice about the tone of the season/series - they did it when Marco arrived on Mewni in “Lint Catcher.” It happens in the most jarring way possible.

The series until this point has been all about lighthearted choices and fun adventures, so you’re led to believe that when he gets there, you’re going to see an emotional reunion, a return to the status quo, and a setup for next week’s fun antics. The setup feels as though the show is saying “okay, we’re going to do what we did before, but on Mewni now.”

Instead, it’s apparent immediately that Marco’s made a huge mistake. He burns the bridges he has left on Earth. Meanwhile on Mewni, Star’s not so much excited or even happy to see him, as she immediately seems as interested as possible in making sure he isn’t around for reasons that are never actually directly stated.

This is the tone that the series sticks to for nearly the rest of the season - Star being selfish and emotionally distant while Marco acts as a third wheel - and as far as a conscious choice for tone goes...

WHY???

This is the first issue because it’s really the underlying problem behind why I don’t enjoy S3 at all. It’s not written to be enjoyable. The tone of the show is “mistakes which have no resolution,” or perhaps “actions have consequences,” but unlike, say, Adventure Time, which shares this theme BUT is drowning in interesting side-plots and settings to draw focus (since “adventure” is also a primary theme of the series), that tone is taken and crammed down your throat at every opportunity.

That’s not to say it’s consistent, though. The show attempts to break through this tone on multiple occasions, with the immediately following episodes, Trial By Squire, Princess Turdina, and Starfari attempting to show that no, this is not the way things will go.

Despite this, though, the tone is so present in Star’s more serious attitude, in her dynamic with Marco, and in his own actions (and continuing, progressively worse series of mistakes) that I’m left wondering “what the heck am I supposed to be feeling right now?” Trial By Squire, like the other Quest Buy episodes, is excellent, but in no way am I prepared to invest myself back into Marco and Star’s relationship when they themselves have turned it on its head in ways we aren’t even seeing yet. The theme of the season is “consequence” but nothing actually seems to have consequence. You just feel bad after watching, because somehow you’re more aware of what the characters should be going through than the characters themselves.

Plot - how to story.

Like with tone, SVTFOE has always struggled with plot. One minute you’re getting a lore-packed episode like St. Olga’s, or a compelling character narrative like in the episodes preceding The Battle For Mewni, and the next you’re getting completely disconnected adventures like the Quest Buy episodes, Interdimensional Field Trip, etc. etc.

Up until now, though, the show has always done a pretty good job on both ends. Some of the filler episodes are annoying (Fetch/Star on Wheels will forever remain “the block that should never have been produced”) and some of the plot-driven episodes don’t always land (Baby is great, but also the most out-of-place episode in S2, IMO) but generally speaking, things have always tied together in the end. If not that, then it’s at least fun to watch.

So then S3 starts out by killing the antagonist and central conflict before we even see them emerge, and then continues onwards as if it still has a reason to do so. Then it introduces a theme that is like nails on a chalkboard for trying to build something to be around and watch. Talk about shooting yourself in the feet!

Throughout S3 so far, we’re given a bunch of characters that are changing radically, but no reason for their change, and no motivation to get them to show that development. Star is trying to change into a more down-to-earth, serious princess, but it’s not until Starfari, nearly a third of the way into the season, that we’re even given a glimpse of a conflict which suits this mindset.

Meanwhile, Marco’s trying to come to terms with who he wants to be in life, but whether he was on Earth or on Mewni, post Sophomore Slump, the series itself would not have been affected at all. It’s like he’s totally isolated from everything that’s going on around him, and any time he tries to have an impact or take control, things blow up in his face.

Eclipsa is introduced as a full character to show off a moral grey area and try to influence Star into her “do what you want” lifestyle, but there’s no catalyst to show this change at all, and as a result she, too, could be completely cut from the season to literally no effect.

This is not how you do plot. It’s not how you do a story, and it lends itself to the theme of the show, because now in addition to “mistakes without resolution,” and “actions have consequence,” (via Star’s attitude), the entire season thus far has had a running theme of “pointlessness.” The only conflicts which you’re driven to care about at all are those between characters, but even those are so poorly managed and difficult to understand that you just want the series to tell you what it’s trying to do, already.

Killing off Toffee was, in my opinion, the biggest waste of a character that I can think of in recent memory. It’d be like if Aang defeated the fire lord at the end of book 2, or Bill Cipher showing up and being beaten halfway through Gravity Falls.

I expected the show would at least provide a reason for the defeat so we could move on - like a “now that he’s gone, we can do this other thing that we really want to show” approach, but that just hasn’t happened. These characters still have so much growth to go through, the story still has so much to tell, but we’re just missing any driving force behind the plot, and as a result, the only really interesting bits of the series (the relationships like what are shown in Lava Lake Beach and the story development like in Deep Dive and Monster Bash) fall extremely flat while you wait for a reason for their existence.

Characters - unjustifiable and unlikable

Okay, so we’re seeing a running theme: inconsistency. The show likes to jump around with plot. It likes to have a few different themes. And up until now it’s liked to jump around with characters, too.

But this season actually introduced some consistent characterization for Star and Marco, with Star being the more selfish and serious version of herself, and Marco being a walking pile of bad life choices and personality shortcomings.

So, again, we’ve got a conscious choice by the writers that makes NO SENSE.

That is to say, we’ve now got consistent characters and they’re awful.

The biggest thing that you need from a character in any show is a WHY and a HOW.

The WHY is the reasoning behind their existence and character from an out-of-show perspective. It creates a relateable backdrop/canvas for the character to act on. Zuko’s struggles with honor, family, and his own duality are is WHY. We understand who he is and WHY he acts the way he does, and as a result, despite him making some terrible choices and being full of angsty late-teen drama (”nobody understands me mom! I mean, uncle!”) we still sympathize and know where he’s coming from.

Then there’s the HOW, which is the reasoning behind their actions WITHIN the show. Zuko’s driving force is to capture the Avatar, which is HOW that out-of-show WHY backdrop manifests. All of his problems come to a head and he’s created a simple narrative solution: if he can just capture the avatar, things will get better. Despite his antagonism, we understand him and appreciate who he is, even if we don’t want him to succeed. The problem with S3 is that it creates a problem that the series never really had before. The characters were never particularly consistent or driven, and when they are (like Star in Storm the Castle) the motivation was adequate. Star wants to get her best friend back. As soon as the stakes are raised from a character perspective - as soon as Star and Marco become consistent and show signs of a progression path - the show falls apart, because we’re not given any justification for it at all. The WHY and HOW behind Star’s actions in S3 is a total enigma, because the show never actually tells us her line of reasoning. The best I can come up with is that she feels the need to be more responsible following the problems her previous actions caused, but there’s been nothing in the season that requires that attitude at all. The actual stakes behind what’s going on in the series as a whole are actually lower than they’ve ever been, so why is she now choosing to be serious? She has no WHY because we don’t know WHY she’s acting that way, and she has no HOW because we don’t know HOW that new backdrop is guiding her actions. The result is this character that’s just designed to be unlikable. Star in S3 has treated her friends like crap, has been emotionally distant, difficult to understand, selfish, and irresponsible, all of which is now superimposed on a character we don’t understand. She was most of those things when she was bubbly and goofy, too, but we understood it! She just didn’t understand responsibility, and more importantly, she learned after her mistakes. Most importantly, the show did not ever demand us analyze her actions. S1 and 2 are stuffed full of apologies, emotional connections, trials and triumphs, and problems with solutions as she comes to terms with the idea. We don’t have any of that now, though, we’ve just got all the problems with none of the solutions. Likewise with Marco. You can understand his motivations a little bit better despite them never really being said at all (the WHY is that dude’s seriously misguided on what he wants out of life), but the HOW is still totally missing. He just stumbles about, not really learning anything or trying to understand why his life’s so messed up at all, and as a result, I just feel sorry for him. By the time his surprise party blows up in his face in the holiday special, I just want to reach into the show and tell him to stop trying. He doesn’t seem to be aware of what he’s doing, most of the time, and completely ignores the consequences of his actions. We understand WHY he’s so misguided, but we don’t understand HOW he’s continuing to act that way. So here we are. We’ve got a season with unlikable characters, no central conflict, and a depressing, scattered theme. This brings me to my final point.

Bullshit Drama - conflict vs. adolescence

In the absence of the villain, we’re left with the ultimate in adolescent, petty drama, as all these characters without understandable motivations or conquests scurry about, trying to find a way to make the show compelling while also maintaining the awful tone that this season’s chosen.

So we’ve got petty drama. Character dynamics without weight. Arguments with no meaning. A bunch of relationships which are built around a poorly-constructed love-triangle which is both completely unwarranted (this coming DESPITE me being a fan of Tom, this season) and unprecedented in the series as a whole.

The writers’ apparent obsessive need to use this BS “Dramabox” mechanic in place of any real plot or direction informs the entire season. Everything is building up to further defining the completely fucked-up relationship that Star and Marco now have, to creating conflicts between characters that could be solved with some half-decent communication, to backpedaling character growth (poor Tom, he’s tried so hard) in the interest of producing something that you can gossip about in a schoolyard.

The thing is, you can do drama without resulting to this. It’s one of the reasons you have an antagonist. As the plot drives the characters together into new situations, they won’t be comfortable with it, or with themselves as they’re tested. They’ll chafe as they adjust, and ultimately, come out as better people in the end. The subtle conflicts between Dipper and Robbie, or Grunkle Stan, the disagreements between Toph and Katara, Starfire’s bubbly surface or Beast Boy’s nonsensical nature compared to Raven’s dark, down-to-earth personality... these are all examples of well written character drama. Two informed characters trying to adjust to one another as they’re pushed forward by circumstance.

But instead we’re left with pointless adolescent bullshit. The kind that gets nowhere, it’s just something to talk about. “Did you see how annoyed Star was with Marco?” or “God, look at how bad a friend X is to friend Y, they’re just awful...” It’s schoolyard gossip and it completely disgusts me.

The most frustrating thing is, Eclipsa’s still a character in this show. She is the person to tell Star to get her shit together. Like, oh, maybe instead of running away and buying your feelings for your friend, you should confront them? Maybe there should be a balance between having fun and being serious? These are both things that a real person, particularly a mentor, would say in a real conversation, especially around the circumstances of S3. But that would be too easy, and kill the only motivation that the show has left to crawl forward!

So instead we’re gonna sit here and watch Marco fight with Tom over Star, for some contrived, bullshit reason. Because there’s nothing better for them to do.

Overall, this show has just about run its course for me. It reminds me of my short stint with the Walking Dead, where over time I gradually just... stopped caring. I’ve told myself I’ll see through another few episodes, and I’m going to continue writing my story regardless, but there’s a point where I just can’t be bothered anymore, and I think it’s approaching fast.