#i watched reruns of total drama with my older brother when i was 10

[mix-macher252]

We keep getting older and they stay the same. I can't help but rewatch these shows or think fondly of them because of how old I was when they started and how I grew up with them on air. These characters mean so much to me because I see myself in them.

I started off younger then Dipper and Mabel in Gravity Falls, Steven from Steven Universe, and Star Butterfly from Star vs. The Forces of Evil. However, I was their age when the shows concluded. I started a Greg when Over the Garden Wall first aired and became Wirt when I watched it earlier this year. I watched Total Drama when I found High School a distant future and my older brother had a few years before he went into it. Now there's a remake and I'm in college, fully aware of the flanderized and over-exaggerated caricatures of teenagers.

The beauty of these cartoons is the very thing that makes it cruel; their immortally. I had the ability to experience these shows, but so does everyone after me. A new 12 year old can watch Gravity Falls and see their birthday at the end as something for them to look forward to. Some other young teen can watch Steven Universe and see Steven grow, relating it to their own experiences discovering the world. So many of these shows are for younger kids, so we are bound to "outgrow" these shows. But do we really ever outgrow them? We still watched them, we still experienced them, and we still have the lessons and stories these shows taught us. How cool is that?

(Excuse my rant. I kinda wanted to talk about this and never really had an opportunity to)

the fact that i'm no longer the same age as the protagonists of novels and films i once connected to is so heartbreaking. there was a time when I looked forward to turning their age. i did. and i also outgrew them. i continue to age, but they don't; never will. the immortality of fiction is beautiful, but cruel.

[changesxnight]

The gang as Gen Z?

- when I saw Gen Z, I mean the millennial-gen z hybrid that was born from 1997-2003 - the best generation- aka my generation (and most of ours) so prepare for this to be long

- Darry was born in ‘98- that makes Sodapop and Steve 2001 babies and Ponyboy a 2004 kid HAHA WHAT A BABY- so Johnny was born in 2002 whereas Dallas and Two-Bit were born in 2000- you better believe that when Dallas learns Pone was born in 2004, he makes fun of him for it constantly. like “Pone’s 14. Makes sense. WAIT HE WAS BORN IN 2004? WHAT IS HE, SIX??”

- the economic crisis in 2008 wasn’t kind to the Curtises. A lot of their clothes were second hand, or in Pone’s case, hand-me-downs- They got most of their toys from yard sales too- Because of this, they really connect with 90s kids cause they got old 90s toys

- The gang grew up with the best shows - The boys didn’t like Victorious but loved iCarly?? okay - Darry loved Boy Meets World You can fight me on this. He watches reruns every day after school- Dallas, Steve and Two loved cartoons. Especially Total Drama, Chowder, Ben 10, Johnny Bravo, Codename: Kids Next Door, Flapjack, Johnny Test and Camp Lazlo- Two-Bit, Dallas and Steve are Ed, Edd n Eddy- Darry won’t admit it, but he LOVED the Powerpuff Girls. Two-Bit, on the other hand, will admit it. He even had a crush on Blossom

- Since Brenda, Two-Bit’s sister, is significantly younger than him, he saves all their VHS tapes of his favorite movies- he also only lets her watch reruns of his favorite shows

- y’know how we made Pone’s red bouncy balls a meme? well he had a blast as a 2000s kid- got them at every yard sale - bouncy balls are all over the house. when he’s like seventeen, they’re still haunting him

- Ponyboy watched General Hospital with Johnny after school when no one was around - He won’t ever admit this and the only proof they ever did is in Ponyboy’s journal (diary)

- y’know Malcolm in the Middle? that’s the Curtis Brothers - someone Ponyboy is Malcolm AND Dewey at once- NO- Johnny is Dewey

can you tell I watched a lot of tv as a kid?

- Dallas used to steal candy - his favorite were the push pops that came with the sour juice. y’know what I’m talking about?? - Steve would call him a baby if he ever caught Dal with a Baby Bottle Pop

- y’know those off brand composition notebooks we got in elementary and middle school?- Ponyboy has always loved to write and he used to fill those things up - on average, he went through two composition notebooks a year- and his teachers knew he was a good writer. even in first grade, he paid attention to his descriptions

- Dally’s father didn’t care what he watched, so Dallas grew up on Adult Swim and Fox cartoons- shit like King of the Hill, Family Guy, Bob’s Burgers and the Simpsons- he also loved Tim and Eric sketches

- when the Curtis boys couldn’t sleep, they’d watch late night shows with their parents until they fell asleep - so Dare, Pone and Sodes have faint, distant memories of shows like Home Improvement, that one George Lopez show, Friends, Full House, Boy Meets World,

- there were a LOT of weird food things that companies made in the 2000s and lemme tell you, Sodapop has tried them all- he fuckin’ loves sprayable cheese- and totally made s’mores in the toaster oven

- Dallas got his sass from Judge Judy sorry I don’t make the rules

- the gang loves watching game shows and playing along with the contestants - Dallas screams at the tv when people give stupid answers

- the Curtis boys loved Full House- Darry had a crush on older D.J., Pony had a crush on Stephanie and Sodapop wants a daughter like Michelle - Mr. and Mrs. Curtis liked that their boys watched wholesome shows. They were totally oblivious to what they watched when over at Dal or Steve’s houses

- Johnny loved webkinz but couldn’t afford them- well, his parents never got them for him- the Curtises would though and he still has them in his closet

- you best believe they all have depression now- and they’re really stressed cause of school- and broke cause everything is so expensive but minimum wage hasn’t budged in so long- they’re just like us, guys!

- Two-Bit destroyed his furby because it creeped him out

- Ponyboy, whenever driving in the car, would imagine someone beside the car that could only travel by walking on fences, jumping from cracks of sunlight between tree shadows or just plan followed them along beside the car- (Apparently this is a sign of an active imagination??) - Sodapop still does this- Ponyboy just day dreams about his current story

- Two-Bit refuses to acknowledge the new Disney and Nickelodeon - old school Disney and Nick or none at all- he’s just really disappointed in his three favorite channels

- Ponyboy and Soda’s room was once littered with Hot Wheels cars - you can still find them under their bed or in the closet corners

- when Dallas was a freshman and sophomore, he had an iPhone where he illegally downloaded about 1000 songs - most of them are 2000s emo music (he was in high school from 2014-2018) - he wishes he was old enough to be a true emo in that era- but he keeps his music taste a secret and pretends he listens to modern rock- but he totally listens to 80s-00s rock, punk and all the classics

- they all love memes- Dally, Steve and Two like offensive memes where as Soda and Two like surreal memes - Darry uses iFunny to find his memes, Ponyboy and Johnny use Instagram and Steve, Two, Dal and Soda use Reddit like the rest of us - the four of them make reddit videos and I’m notonna lie, they’re fucking hilarious (even though all they do is earrape and curse)

I could go on forever but here’s the gang was Gen Z and honestly?? I love it. Let’s change the book. It didn’t come out in ‘67, J.T. came out in ‘17.