#succession and bojack too

[edwardsissyhandsthtdanceslikeabb]

uhh, don't mean to be blonde on main but is invincible literally about generational trauma?

[longlostlorian]

I watched barry, succession, and bojack all this year and my brain wouldn't stop rotating until I made this (spoilers)

[akajustmerry]

something that bugs me when people (and I've been guilty of this too) zero in on how much the Roys love each other, which they do, is that people tend to treat that love like it's enough to justify the worst parts of these characters. this is something bojack horseman as a show addressed really well, always showing how bojack did care about the people he harmed but that's just not good enough. even when he apologised for the inadequacy of his love in the face of harm and abuse he caused, it's not enough for his victims. because loving someone doesn't mean you don't abuse them, just as much as abusing someone doesn't mean you don't love them. the love had no value that mattered. i think Jesse Armstrong said it best in the new yorker interview where he was asked about how Logan loves his children and Jesse said, "What does love mean when you never express it, and do things which are antithetical to it?" i think a lot people are comfortable applying that to Logan because his abuse is so obvious, but not to the sibs even though it applies to them too. Kendall loves Shiv and Roman, but what does that mean if he's lying to them and shutting them out for his own gain? Shiv loves her brothers, but what does that mean if she's happy to publish their deeply private weaknesses? What does that mean if they in turn just misogynistically cut her out? Roman loves his siblings, but what does that matter if he'll sabotage them in the swing of a mood? I think if Succession is about anything it's that love, the feeling on its own, is not enough, and it's just another thing that's perverted, weaponised and exploited. love is not enough to save, redeem or heal anything if you live in a world where it holds the least amount of capital.

[raguma1002]

okay i want to put my two cents in that whole children thing too

tbh i've never thought about the idea of them having children, together or separately, but! if (could it be considered the 293948th au? probably not) hollyhock forgave bojack after the end of the show, and they somehow patched things up with each other... that would be... cool. i just feel sorry for this old dummy, and his interactions with her were not very successful but strangely sweet... and, in fact, if he still had a more or less close relationship with not only a member of his family, but also with another horse, it would be a great growth for the character i think.

bojack would be extremely awkward with her then. he would choose every word he says and try as hard as he could not to disappoint hollyhock again. he would also be very happy every time she texted/called or even visited them, but still remain kinda low-key due to his self-doubt?

pb would be completely comfortable! oh it's bojack's sister! she's sweet! so they wouldn't have any problems. he'd most likely even act as some kind of intermediary between them.

they'd also try soooo hard to stay on the same wavelength with her. because of the age difference it would be a liiittle difficult! pb sends hollyhock funny "meme-style pictures" every time he sees them (stoned fox or pepe the frog at best) and hollyhock responds with a simple "lol" or "haha" quietly cringing. bojack realizes that this is not what makes modern youth laugh and grumbles every time but pb doesn't listen to him.

from time to time hollyhock would also recommend them some games or recently released cartoons/tv series and they would actually play/watch them! just imagine how these two go through undertale together for example... pb openly sobs over the ending while bojack sits with a stony face trying to hold back tears. or she would recommend her favorite bands/singers and it would be mitski or will wood (?!?!)

anyway, i love this cliched concept with parents who have that "how do you do fellow kids" vibe and their cringing child, which is so often used in sitcoms. it brings me happiness and heals my soul

[crooked-wasteland]

Vivziepop and Bojack Horseman: Learning the Wrong Lesson

Vivienne Medrano started her writing career on a comic by the name Zoophobia. A comic that lacked any sense of story whatsoever. While she would argue with comments about the lack of purpose by saying the story was Slice of Life, it was a forewarning of her future to come.

The story started with a concept of overcoming prejudice, but was quickly washed over with a bombardment of a large ensamble cast at the very start before introducing a whole separate but attached world that spun off into Hazbin Hotel. At no point actually finding a reason to care about the original premise of a prejudicial school counselor overcoming those qualities to help those around them that were substantially different from them.

Rather, Medrano has perpetuated the misnomer that Slice of Life is the same as storyless. And that's the greatest misunderstanding of a genre that can be achieved. Slice of Life being deemed meaningless time wasting as you look into the dull happenings of someone else's benign problems is a childish perspective.

Slice of life is the cornerstone of coming of age narratives like Grave of the Fireflies. For young adults, a slice of life mature story about what it means to grow up, or inner child healing, or how to move on would be a niche that could shape a generation for the better. Especially in our Era of the internet where most of us have spent more time learning socialization online.

Where people are stripped of their humanity and nuance, and tone is read into lettering on the cold blue light of a screen in the dark. Unless this little pixelated square and string of text makes me feel important by either agreeing with me and thus making me feel worth through their "support" for my beliefs or flatter me and validating my existence before disagreeing with my points, they are the villain of the second.

And especially being a show released at the height of a world trapped in quarantine, where all our sense of community and humanity came through a screen, Helluva Boss seemed to want to be a dark comedy that tackled the topics of damaged inner-children, relationship and abandonment trauma, self worth and moving on from past mistakes, and the complicated minefield of grey morality.

This is not mere conjecture either. Medrano has an outspoken love for shows like Bojack Horseman but lacks the understanding of why this absurd vision of slice of life was so emotionally and mentally profound to an entire generation of young adults. Medrano herself has liked sycophantic tweets comparing Helluva Boss to Bojack Horseman and subtly props herself on these pedestals alongside her idols despite not deserving of the comparison.

Blitz is the show titular Boss of the series and is very obviously a concept inspired by Bojack directly. Both Bojack and Blitz are performing artists, but while Bojack was immensely successful, Blitz was not.

Bojack's history is that of two abusive parents who had no love to spare for him. Instead, his only worth came in the form of performing. It was the only time he felt any ounce of love from his cruel mother, Beatrice, who used him as a means to elevate herself socially while simultaneously feeling any form of worth through the validation of strangers. Bojack is aware his mother was not a great parent, but he has a damaged inner child still desperate to get her approval and affection. Even though he genuinely hates her, he has a lingering empty maw within himself that begs for her love. Bojack suffers from a fear of loss.

When Sarah Lynn drinks his alcohol, he throws the hair dressed under the train to save himself. Despite his honesty having a high chance of being seen as the accident it was and excuses being made for him, Bojack was too insecure to recognize his protection through his popularity. He grew up with a mother who was the definition of conditional, and any small or large mistake could be the catalyst that took everything he had worked and waited for away.

Bojack's sabotaging of Todd also showsbthis fear of loss more blatantly. However, it lacks the understanding as to why Bojack would want to keep Todd near while also chronically putting him down. This is where the lack of understanding best shows between what Medrano thinks is happening and reality.

Blitz begins his story much the same way as Bojack. Instead of a slave driving mother profiting off her son, it's Cash Buckzo, Blitz's father and owner of a circus, who slave drives his children to perform. Blitz loves performing but is not deemed talented enough to be valuable. He has an implied sick, unseen mother who is treated as his motivation for complying with his father.

Medrano doesn't seem to realize that an external motivation lacks the emotional depth needed to have an audience empathize with the character. This is a repeated issue in every character.

Blitz isn't seeking a parent's approval but is instead held hostage by the desire to help someone else, and to do that must be submissive to an authority who has no care for him.

Stolas isn't at war with himself over cheating on his wife due to the fact that he is a gay man in an arranged straight relationship but instead is a victim in his own life. He is told what to do and how to do it by every other person in his life and doesn't have an internal sense of responsibility that he is contending with. He has no needs vs. wants. Instead, his wants are universal. To be loved is a base desire, and Medrano puts no effort into expanding on what that means for her character. Instead, utilizing the natural inclination in her audience to pretend there is depth in Stolas' conflict.

Loona is similarly a victim. She and Stolas are not fighting their own emotions, but the bullies contrived in the plot for them to confront. Her fault isn't her own insecurity that she must overcome. Rather, it is the fault of every other character for not coddling her insecurities due to her having a sad history. Actively fighting against the notion that people should ultimately be responsible for themselves.

This gives the impression of someone who believes a sympathetic past must justify one's behavior in the present. It's a blatant misreading of the idea that everyone has their own storm to navigate. The idea behind that saying is that you should be kind despite what you are going through because it is easy to believe you win the bad day Olympics when you're in the middle of it, not because someone else may be going or has gone through something worse.

Wrapping around, the Todd and Bojack relationship is a clear parallel to the Moxxie and Blitz relationship. But while Medrano uses the line "I'm hard on you because you can do better" as to why Blitz is a chronic asshole to his "friend", the writers of Bojack are not at all interested in justifying abuse. The reason Bojack ruined Todd's chance to leave can be seen as sympathetic because he is afraid of being alone and the loss that comes with that. But he isn't cruel or rude to Todd to make him better, rather it is the systematic disintegration of Todd's sense of ability and self worth to keep him codependent to Bojck and less likely to leave. It is only when Todd is away from Bojack that he actually comes into his true potential. The support of those around him telling him how badly Bojack treats him and instilling confidence in Todd to try things once again ultimately results in him escaping Bojack. It is a slow process for Todd to leave. He doesn't just walk away like it feels in the episode. Rather, he has spent seasons slowly becoming more and more distant from Bojack with new relationships and hobbies, even as Bojack tries to brow beat and insult him into complacency.

Instead, Medrano thinks things just happen from large, grand gestures and emotional beats. That a sad past is a free ticket to being an awful person who is accountable to no one. Much like the villain of Bojack Horseman.

[showtoonzfan]

Any thoughts on the pitch bible for HB?

I remember seeing it a long while ago and holy shit it was such an embarrassment lol, I cannot believe she actually wrote all that and showed it to studios/other people. It’s screams edge-lord galore and she clearly has no idea how to create a pitch bible, or at least create something studios would be interested in.

This goes for how she describes the characters too, I rest my case when I said that she had no idea on what she wanted in store for the characters cause she only saw them as one thing, but it also shows how she clearly wanted this show to be about edgy assassins and nothing else. Blitz is the crazy goofy boss who “loves his employees deep down”, Millie is the killing machine wife, Moxxie is the straight man guns expert, and Loona is LITERALLY described as a “lazy bitch”, (man Viv, you really know how to tell people which character is your favorite and which isn’t) but yeah this show was NEVER meant to be taken seriously and it especially shows since Stolas isn’t even included in this pitch Bible, bro was never supposed to be a main character.

I will say the only thing I wish we could have gotten was the old premise regarding Blitz. Beforehand he was basically obsessed with the fact that he never killed this mysterious target from his past that would have caused him a more successful life had he did, and it was also the only thing that got under his skin. While this is very vague, I would have 100% preferred THIS storyline rather than the shitty soap opera rip-off version of Bojack Horseman that we have today.

[dirhwangdaseul-archived]

this is so funny but sadly i just think it's just the world that is filled with shitty parents and considering how much of thailand's culture via bls rests in proving your worth through capitalist accomplishments to other people thus the making of children becomes sth out of sculpting art and objects rather than any actual parenting

At this point, I'm starting to think that there is a surplus of sh*tty dads in Thailand (***looking at you, Chanon and Win's dad) 😑

[madamefeu]

Hi! Here’s what your favorite Helluva Boss character says about you. Once again, don’t take this to heart, it’s just a bit of fun:

Blitzø: You relate a little too hard to Bojack Horseman. You've done a lot of bad things in your life that you bitterly regret, and even though you're trying to be a better person now, you can't escape the feeling that you'll never be able to outrun your past. Regardless of what you did in the past, all you can do is try to be better now, even if you've burned several bridges to a crisp.

Stolas: Sinister gay, life-ruining mean gay. The kind of mean gay who does the most toxic shit to you and then plays the victim when called out.

Stella: Got room for the Jax fans in your little, 'my favorite character got ruined even though they were like that from the start' club? Because you should definitely start making room if you haven’t already. They need it.

Octavia: Your childhood was completely destroyed by your parents' unhappy marriage and subsequent divorce. You can't talk to either of your parents without one of them complaining about the other, and you wish more than anything that you weren't born into a loveless marriage so that you could've had a stable and happy childhood.

Loona: Furry. Need I say more? Because of all of the characters you could've picked, you went for the emo Hellhound. You have a kinky AO3 history and you dream about being stepped on by a goth dommy mommy.

Moxxie: You cling to your significant other because your relationship with them is the only healthy relationship you've ever had in your life. Your family are the worst, and you don't have many friends, on account of the fact that you keep befriending complete and utter jackasses.

Millie: Look, I get it, you love your significant other, and that’s great, but it is ok to have a life outside of them. Get a hobby, or something, IDK.

Fizzarolli: Hurt/comfort is your all-time favorite trope, and you live for romances with happy endings. You dream of finding a rich and powerful man who loves you with all his heart, not because you're a gold-digger, but because you want a classic happy Disney princess ending, and though you haven't found the right man yet, you're certain that you will someday.

Asmodeus: Your significant other thinks that you're way out of their league (And let's face it, you are), despite your repeated attempts to assure them that you love them as they are. Your sex life would make the most hardcore AO3 writer blush like a schoolgirl, and you'd be proud of it.

Beelzebub: Hello, Ke$ha fans! Your favorite music genre is 2010s EDM, and your favorite drink is whatever gets you drunk the fastest. Many people have tried to beat you in a drinking contest, but few have succeeded, and they consider it a great honor, because you have an iron liver, and getting you drunk is no easy task. It's a miracle that you haven't died from alcohol poisoning yet.

Mammon: I know that you've thought about putting $20,000 in a blender, drinking it, and then bragging to everyone that in a few hours, you're going to piss away 20 grand. And for the love of all that is holy, DO NOT DO IT.

Verosika Mayday: You’re still bitter over that one shitty ex of yours, but instead of letting it get you down, you use it as a driving force to become the most successful that you can possibly be. You’re fueled by spite, and you want nothing more than to rub your fame and fortune in the faces of everyone who’s ever wronged you.

Glitz and Glam: You’re a K-pop stan. Like, the most hardcore K-pop stan out there. The kind of K-pop stan that makes other K-pop stans uncomfortable and writes real-person fanfiction about your favorites.

Striker: You have a serious thing for cowboys. I’m talking, Brokeback Mountain is your favorite film, kind of serious. You’re into the brooding, lone ranger type of cowboy.

Andrealphus: You saw him, and you screamed, ‘Elsa birb’. Which, to be fair, that does seem to be what he is. If he gets any songs in the show, you hope that they’ll hit as hard as Let It Go did.

[revolutionaryboydante]

INTRODUCTION!

hiiii it's dante! came here to tumblr after the brazilian purge on twitter, so i'm not used to tumblr, BRAZILIANS FOLLOW ME PLS!!

i'm a kpop fan (loona, newjeans, g-idle and aespa) i'm also a big fan of a brazilian TTRPG series called ordem paranormal, and i often talk about it's creator, cellbit!

i'm also a huge cinephile! my letterboxd is demiclown ! my favorite directors are yorgos lanthimos, wes anderson, anita rocha da silveira and takashi miike!

I'm an editor too!

my last fm is demiclown and i have 2 tiktok accounts where i post edits, demiclownn and infernofilm

my fav shows are: community, interview with the vampire, fleabag, bojack horseman, american horror story and what we do in the shadows

i also love most sitcoms in general!

i'm currently watching: Silicon Valley, Riverdale, Yellowjackets, Succession and Twin Peaks!

My favorite anime are: Revolutionary girl utena (duh), Chainsaw man, Dungeon meshi, Kakegurui, Madoka Magica and Violet evergarden!

let's be mutuals! <3

[edwardsissyhandsthtdanceslikeabb]

i feel like i'm slowly linking pretty much all of my banger shows to generational trauma (i.e bojack, succession, invincible) or some otherwise maladaptive response to the often totalitarian shaping that children who have been parasitized by vicarious idealizations suffer — however, as i've come to realize that the bear (a show i made a previous meta on when i sort of scented this notion but couldn't really articulate it), embodies this in a completely transformative way.

the bear may be about generational trauma, and though this initially sounds counterintuitive, it's not a show about carmy's generational trauma, its a show of camy's generational trauma.

the show doesn't explore the ways carmy's been wrecked, it moreso uses them to give character to his dysfunctions, to help the viewer see corporeal manifestations of the chaos brewing inside of him. the fanfare of carmy's life is the bear, its all the bombast and theatre of life's torture porn tendencies looming over his shoulder and rotting the floorboords and having its poison drip through, it's all the regrets and flashes of shame and brokenness slowly clawing through anything good in his life bc good things are brittle and unpredictable and detract from his value as a person, the utility he's found in being untouchable and cold and practically mechanical, and the way that makes one feel like all of the suffering was worth it.

it's carmy letting his internalizations of imperfection, from his family, his relationships, himself, his life, dictate what should define him. carmy circumventing feelings of helplessness with compulsive, neurotic control, aiming to undo the damage that chaos wrought through obsessive perfection.

its him eviscerating the [personal] value of his deep need and capacity for autonomy and forgiveness and peace, by reinforcing the same parasitic paternalisms he was fleeing from in the first place.

its him going from his mom to his mentor chef.

its him becoming what destroyed his chances to be human, destroyed his chances to be him. his own person, with individual purpose and intrinsic meaning and happiness.

that sort of self-dehumanization is what carmy is dripping into syd. like yes they have similarities, i'm not trying to deny that, but i feel like the 3rd season, especially the last episode, highlighted why syd x carm wouldn't be an optimal or even relevant consideration for their current dynamic, and that's bc carmen sees sydney as an extension of himself. she's all the things that validate his: maybe this is worth it, maybe i'm supposed to be a chef, its actually okay that i'm not functional bc now i get to be useful and revered and mean smth in the world and i'm no longer weak and useless deadweight.

now, now, i've proved myself, i've embodied the predetermined mould, i've surpassed it. i've become real, finally claimed autonomy.

its him seeing their similarities as reason to mould her in turn, as the only thing she needs. carmen reducing himself to apparatus and so reducing her in turn.

its a perversion of empowerment, accessing control through wielding it against others.

with syd exhibiting certain tendencies bc carmy spurs them from her. like sydcarm both having panic attacks, both being hyperfocused on stains, carmy wanting a star, not just bc syd acts as the northstar of his craft but bc he wants to prove himself. he wants to be excellent too. or them both snapping at softer, caring figures like tina when frustrated. its sydcarm degrading others under stress, sharing memories of hostile bosses, bosses who didn't appreciate them, whose mentorship was selfish with care and dignification and belief — made them feel small and claustrophobic and marginalized by one's own worst traits - by dysfunction willingly embraced.

and now you want out but you're also ambitious like syd, or proud like carmy, and its your pull to chaos vs your pull to happiness splintering you. now anything good is just a cruel fleeting thing that reminds you of what you won't let yourself have. now, people can only try reach out to the bear, coax it.

enter claire, who often gets flack for being a manic pixie dream girl and unrealistic, but when dealing with carmy, she revealed smth very primal in him, was palliating wounds he's let fester into core beliefs. like think abt it, claire is gentle, and claire treats carmen like he is gentle, fragile, she affirms his worth constantly and perpetually reassures him, whether intentional or not, claire aims to soften his wounds, aims to coax him out of his armor. she recognizes the depth residing in carmy, that the bear is equally damaged as it is brilliant, yet senses that a lot of that was mangled by malignance and flagellation. she attempts to let the bear shed his skin, remember who he is again. that someone cares abt him, both the chef and the boyfriend, the professional and the life of the party, he's allowed to have both. him the prodigy, the baby lamb. but claire spent so much time nursing the deer, by the time her own interiority could have room for growth, carmy had already cut her off, the sheep back in bear's clothing.

claire is the desperate attempt to reach someone backfiring completely, the incongruence between want and need, and how this can destroy you from the inside.

and the funny thing is that, neither claire nor the bear are carmy's actual need, when — beyond a gf not being able to fix carmy — he still kicks and screams at love and care despite desperately needing them. he's still the one who overindulged in the perfect patience of claire's love and validation, yet spurned it over how incapable and human it made him feel, still didn't want to lose control of himself, his personhood, his value.

he's still trying to imbue this same perfection into those closest to him in the kitchen, still insulating himself in that headspace, a wounded animal ensnared by a deathtrap, the bear stuck in his own freezer on his debut day.

its a trap that kills, and as carm embraces his confines, they throttle harder in turn, capturing those reaching for him in their rot.

it started with donna and passed down to carmen (who sought it in his mentor) and is dripping into syd. into richie, into claire, its carmen cultivating dysfunctions in all those beholden to him, dependent on his guidance, support or love.

its beyond generational, its a malignance, a pathogen, and although carmen may not realize how his conflation of perfection and value are lethal to him, its smth slowly killing nonetheless, mauling the warmth and love and soul of the kitchen, just as it slowly kills it in him. the bear killing the bear.

[best-tv-theme-song]

Round 1 is over, full results below!

Round 2 will start on Monday.

What are your most devastating losses this round?? Mine are Milo Murphy's Law, Gilmore Girls, That 70s Show, and Reba. (No respect around here for a single mom who works too hard who loves her kids and never stops)

Group A

The Addams Family vs. Fairy Tail

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat vs. Goosebumps

Wizards of Waverly Place (S1-3) vs. Ed, Edd n Eddy

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood vs. Only Murders in the Building

The Backyardigans vs. Downton Abbey

Naruto vs. The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy

Dexter's Laboratory vs. Kenan & Kel

Parks and Recreation vs. Jujutsu Kaisen

Danny Phantom vs. Pippi Longstocking/Pippi Långstrump

My Life as a Teenage Robot vs. My Hero Academia

Sabrina the Teenage Witch vs. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (S4-7)

Little Einsteins vs. The Benny Hill Show

Teletubbies vs. Ted Lasso

VeggieTales vs. Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Lizzie McGuire vs. The Proud Family

Steven Universe (Original Theme) vs. The A-Team

Group B

Doctor Who (New S1-2) vs. Charlie's Angels

Thomas & Friends vs. Bob's Burgers

Community vs. The Brady Bunch

Adventure Time vs. Ever After High

Seinfeld vs. Ranma ½

Batman vs. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Monty Python's Flying Circus vs. One Piece (2023)

Friends vs. Rocko's Modern Life

Sesame Street (S1-23) vs. Saved by the Bell

Total Drama vs. Monk

Full House vs. Winx Club (We Are the Winx)

Looney Tunes vs. Murder, She Wrote

M*A*S*H vs. South Park

Pinky and the Brain vs. Happy Days

One Day at a Time (2017) vs. The Suite Life on Deck

Pokémon (Pokémon Theme) vs. The Andy Griffith Show

Group C

Gravity Falls vs. Milo Murphy's Law

Horrible Histories vs. Leverage

Neon Genesis Evangelion vs. Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

The Simpsons vs. Samurai Jack

The Golden Girls vs. Wonder Pets!

Merlin vs. El Chavo del Ocho

Victorious vs. CSI: Miami

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic vs. Smallville

Good Omens vs. Good Luck Charlie

House, M.D. vs. Pride and Prejudice

LazyTown vs. The Big Bang Theory

Bob the Builder vs. Wild Kratts

New Girl vs. Infinity Train

Arthur vs. I Love Lucy

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The X-Files vs. Pucca

Group D

The Fairly OddParents vs. X-Men: The Animated Series

Sherlock vs. Monster High

Spider-Man vs. Revolutionary Girl Utena

Orange Is the New Black vs. Hunter × Hunter

The Office vs. Angel: The Series

Law & Order (SVU) vs. Arcane: League of Legends

BoJack Horseman vs. Wonder Woman

Jeopardy! vs. Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody vs. Taskmaster

Totally Spies! vs. Yellowjackets

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia vs. Ouran High School Host Club (Japanese)

Yuri on Ice vs. Samurai Champloo

Ducktales (1987) vs. Charmed

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood vs. Shaun the Sheep

How It's Made vs. Tokyo Ghoul

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! vs. The Emperor's New School

Group E

Kim Possible vs. Once Upon a Time

The Great British Bake Off vs. The Legend of Vox Machina

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power vs. Gilmore Girls

Animaniacs vs. Pretty Little Liars

Zoboomafoo vs. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

The Umbrella Academy vs. The Muppet Show

WandaVision (A Newlywed Couple/Ep 1) vs. NCIS

Reading Rainbow (1983-1999) vs. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Hannah Montana (S1-2) vs. Gilligan's Island

The Mandalorian vs. Dragon Ball Z (Cha-La Head-Cha-La)

What We Do in the Shadows vs. Inspector Gadget

Big Time Rush vs. Barney & Friends

Power Rangers (Mighty Morphin) vs. Young Justice

Futurama vs. Spy × Family

Succession vs. Bluey

iCarly vs. Code Lyoko

Group F

The Magic School Bus vs. Jackie Chan Adventures

Digimon Adventure (Butter-Fly) vs. The Last of Us

Star Trek: The Next Generation (S3-7) vs. Soul Eater

Zoey 101 vs. Xena: Warrior Princess

Dora the Explorer vs. We Bare Bears

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend vs. Carmen Sandiego (2019)

Star Trek: Enterprise (S1-2) vs. Mr. Bean

Sailor Moon (Japanese) vs. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Buffy the Vampire Slayer (S1-2) vs. Red Dwarf

Death Note vs. Phil of the Future

Yu-Gi-Oh! vs. El Chapulín Colorado

The Flintstones vs. His Dark Materials

Game of Thrones vs. Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

The Nanny vs. Haikyu!!

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends vs. Frasier

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air vs. Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji

Group G

Bill Nye the Science Guy vs. The Facts of Life

George of the Jungle (1967) vs. Veronica Mars

H2O: Just Add Water (S1) vs. Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: The Original Series (With Vocal) vs. Hawaii Five-O

Drake & Josh vs. Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman

Puella Magi Madoka Magica vs. Cowboy Bebop (1998)

Lilo & Stitch: The Series vs. Torchwood

The Twilight Zone vs. Wander Over Yonder

Rugrats vs. Columbo

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius vs. The Walking Dead

Hey Arnold! vs. Psych

Twin Peaks vs. Voltron: Legendary Defender

Dragon Tales vs. How I Met Your Mother

Stranger Things vs. Mission: Impossible (1966)

W.I.T.C.H. vs. Daredevil

What's New, Scooby-Doo? vs. Tiny Toon Adventures

Group H

SpongeBob SquarePants vs. X-Men: Evolution

Fraggle Rock vs. Stargate SG-1

Firefly vs. Scrubs

Codename: Kids Next Door vs. Inuyasha (Change the World)

That '70s Show vs. Bear in the Big Blue House

Cheers vs. American Dragon: Jake Long

A Series of Unfortunate Events vs. Black Sails

The Powerpuff Girls vs. Darkwing Duck

That's So Raven vs. Grey's Anatomy

Ben 10 vs. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Cyberchase vs. Reba

Malcolm in the Middle vs. Shake It Up

Teen Titans (2003) vs. Mob Psycho 100

The Owl House vs. I Dream of Jeannie

Assassination Classroom (Question) vs. Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

Phineas and Ferb vs. Batman Beyond/Batman of the Future

[jellogram]

We really let the Armie Hammer cannibal thing disappear from public consciousness way too quickly. We had a successful hollywood actor whose career ended because multiple women accused him of wanting to eat them. That's incredible. That's like a subplot from Bojack Horseman. But it happened for real and we just let it go.

[bojackandherb]

Gina

Oh yeah this was from when I told people to ask about my opinions on bjhm characters, right?

Anyway, I liked her :)

The way her dream of singing/theater fell apart made me so sad. But also kinda frustrates me, like, girl, you had one bad audition. The problem I think is she kind of gave up on her dreams too quickly. I think she like. Had always longed to be in theater but didn’t think she could do it. So she went into a different type of acting but like. Sure she sang for fun but I don’t think she ever got voice lessons or anything. So like.

She wasn’t a terrible singer, she has potential, she just could have benefited from more vocal training and such. But the fact she never truly believed she could do it to begin with means she didn’t actually truly work towards it, and when she finally did get an actual opportunity due to Bojack she just. Gave up right away when things didn’t go well on her first try. So it’s very sad but also very frustrating because it’s like nooooo girl it doesn’t have to be this way! Honestly maybe she’s benefit from learning about the growth mindset…

But also like, her giving up so quickly makes sense because like. She had such bad luck in Hollywood for so long that she decided that like. Not caring about stuff and giving up up things quickly and having zero expectations was the way to go to avoid getting hurt. But while those mindsets potentially protected her, they’re also just like, not great mindsets to have overall.

Tbh her and Bojack like, never really seemed like much of a couple to me, it kinda seemed they were both lonely and mainly just needed a friend, and honestly they seemed more just like friends to me for most of their relationship. I like them way better as friends than as a couple, but they did have a few genuinely sweet moments together. Which just makes what happens at the end up of Showstopper all the nore heart wrenching.

Under her cynicism she has a sweet and dorky side that Bojack is surprisingly able to bring out… well, him and the success of the show.

Tbh they never really made sense as a couple to me. Like there’s not really any spark between them, and. The only time they act like an actual couple is the beginning of the showstopper, and like. A lot of the development for their relationship going from “casual friends who tease each other and also bang (but the banging is pretty much just because they’re both lonely and don’t have anything better to do)” to “actual couple” happens offscreen. Like, he accidentally gives Gina the idea that he really does want to date her when he and hollyhock sneak into her house to try to find drugs. And then after he crashes his car she apparently visits him a lot in the hospital and then their relationship actually blossoms into an actual romance I guess. Apparently. But we don’t really see any of it, there’s the time skip and then it’s like “oh they’ve been dating for months now.” Anyway idk how much the show actually wanted us to ship them anyways.

In the end Gina and Bojack’s relationship was just a plot point the writers used to get Bojack to a low enough point that he had no choice but to get help and go to rehab. Now that I think about it the way the show used her might’ve been kinda crappy. But idk

However it was pretty neat how the show explored “people who don’t want to come forward about the abuse/trauma they dealt with in Hollywood and how for some coming forward about it might actually do harm than good” through her.

Her season 6 scenes made me sad… glad she was able to get a part in Kelsey’s movie, though! (Based off of posters we see in the background)

Anyway.

There’s more I could talk about but asjkndkandkwnsman idk how to articulate my thoughts and I’ve already rambled a lot haha

Anyway. Gina is a sweetheart who deserved better

[merlot-and-chardonnay]

The Targ from Horsing Around: A Character Comparison of Aegon and Bojack

For anyone whose read my post about the Blacks vs Greens discourse, I once brought up that I was someone who 1) have watched the entirety of Bojack Horseman and 2) made a comparison of the horse's life to that of Aegon from HotD.

Now you're probably wondering, how is so? Well if you stick around, I'll be more than happy to explain why. So sit back, relax, and read my...unnecessarily long take of our favorite brooding blonde dragon prince and...the Horse from Horsing Around.

Also quick spoiler warning for both shows as well as content warning for subjects such as addiction, depression, and abuse of power as well as dysfunctional family dynamics.

So, first off we have to do a little brief background for both characters.

So first we have Aegon:

Aegon Targaryen (second of his name), or also known in the history books as Aegon the Usurper, is the firstborn son of King Viserys I and Alicent Hightower, and in the patriarchal world of Westeros the heir to the Iron Throne...or he would've been had his father not named his older half-sister Rhaenyra heir, changing the line of succession.

Having not experienced much affection from either of his parents, Aegon strives to fill the void in his life by means of sex and alcohol, which doesn't do much as deep down he craves for someone to love him as he is and not because of what he can accomplish as the future king.

And then we have Bojack Horseman. An actor most noted for his role from the 90s sitcom Horsin' Around, and someone who comes from a very dysfunctional family, Bojack struggles with addiction and depression and self-loathing as well. He too has a void in his life that he tries to fill with drugs and booze and sex, but that doesn't do much.

So with the character synopses out of the way, now we'll dive into their similarities.

1. Family Background

While Aegon's family may not be arguably as dysfunctional as Bojack's (the casual eye mutilation and kin-slaying not withstanding), the dysfunction is still there. Aegon is the firstborn son of Viserys and Alicent. As I mentioned before in my Black and Green take, Alicent was basically forced into the marriage, never having a say in the matter, but did as she was bid because she felt it was her duty. She does not love Viserys, and frankly it was mutual for Viserys, as the two only lay with one another for the sake of fulfilling their material duties and to produce heirs.

I've already established Viserys was practically an absentee parent with his children, sans Rhaenyra, but we also see the way Alicent treats her children. She dotes on Aemond (more so after he lost his eye), and...she tries to dote on Helaena, bond with her, but she doesn't quite understand her (something I can kinda relate to in regards to my own relationship with my mother). And there's the way she treats Aegon.

Partly driven by paranoia by her own father, Alicent pushes Aegon in more ways than one in trying to prepare him to become king. She...uses some rather controversial tactics, most which include her slapping him out of the blue when he steps out of line, or for things that happened that were beyond his control as we saw on Driftmark, or covering for him when does something really bad, to which she proceeds to scold him in private and then slap him again before disowning him.

Alicent's relationship with Aegon is dysfunctional and complicated to say the least, and again to reiterate it was very telling that Aegon had asked her on the day of his coronation if she loved him.

I find it interesting how much of driving force between Alicent's parenting towards Aegon actually comes from her father pushing her, which led to some rather trauma inducing consequences to Aegon's psyche.

Sounds familiar Bojack Fans?

In contrast to Alicent Hightower, noble woman turned queen, Bojack's mother, Beatrice Horseman was a sugar heiress, i.e. someone who definitely comes from old money. Her father, Joseph Surgarman, also had an impact on Beatrice from an early age (especially after what he did to Beatrice's mother), and it haunted Beatrice for the rest of her life, to the point where she refused to love anyone the same way her mother loved her brother Crackerjack.

While Joseph didn't force Beatrice to marry (though he tried), Beatrice nonetheless found herself in a loveless marriage to Butterscotch Horseman, after she fell pregnant as the result of a one night stand with Butterscotch on the night of her debutante ball (keeping in mind it was the 60s and despite the sexual revolution having kicked off around this time, a woman pregnant out of wedlock was still considered scandalous).

Butterscotch was also an absentee parent to Bojack (when he wasn't busy smacking him around), spending his days at the office (*cough cough* having affairs with his secretary) and then shutting himself in his study at home to work on his inevitably failure of a great American novel (I could compare Butterscotch's obsession with being a writer of working class origins to how Viserys obsessed over his model of Old Valyria and its history).

Beatrice, meanwhile, was left with the burden of raising a child, and she often took that frustration out on Bojack, if not physically, than emotionally and psychologically. Beatrice also instilled into Bojack a very toxic need to perform in order to please the people and give them what they want, whether he wants to or not. (this was also a mindset Bojack would sadly pass onto Sarah Lynn and we know how that ended).

To summarize, Aegon and Bojack had some pretty shitty upbringings and it affected them greatly into adulthood.

2. Unhealthy coping mechanisms

As I mentioned before Aegon and Bojack use unhealthy coping mechanisms to deal with their lives, in the form of sex and booze.

Aegon drinks copious amounts of wine and cheats on his sister-wife with any woman who will (or won't) have him. He has also fathered an unknown number of bastards (something Bojack likely would've also done if he didn't use condoms or send money to his one night stands to get abortions).

Bojack took the unhealthy coping a step further in season 5 when an accident on set of tv show Philbert resulted in him getting addicted to prescription pain killers.

And of course people got hurt from these addictions. We saw what Aegon did to the servant Dyana, which resulted in Alicent putting out fires and giving the poor girl silence money as well as moon tea (and as I've mentioned before it's heavily implied this was NOT the first time something like that has happened). We also got a glimpse of the damage he caused Aemond, when the guy recalled to Criston his first and only time Aegon dragged him to the Street of Silk...when he was THIRTEEN FREAKING YEARS OLD!

With Bojack, we saw the damage his drug and booze benders have done, as we saw with Sarah Lynn in season 3, and with Gina in season 5 (and though he was not really on a bender in season 2, we saw what he almost did to Penny). And while Bojack's mother would never be willing to step up and pick up his pieces, that burden was constantly left to his agent Princess Carolyn (my favorite character of the show).

3. Toxic Personalities

It's no secret Bojack is a pretty toxic individual especially to his friends and loved ones. We see how he often takes Princess Carolyn for granted, especially when she goes out of her way to find him acting gigs and he flat out turns them down all the damn time. Not to mention he practically dropped her in season 3 when she screwed up ONE TIME for the first time in the many years those two had worked together. We also saw the way he treated Todd, never having given the guy the guest room, despite allowing Todd to crash on his couch for five years, and when Todd did have the opportunity to make it big and get his own place with the debut of his Rock Opera in season 1, Bojack goes out of his way to sabotage the whole thing cause he was scared of being left alone.

Bojack is a toxic person, something he is actually very self-aware of, but he doesn't do anything to change it, not until the very last season when he actually puts in the effort to go sober and reflect on why he is the way he is. But before that, his toxicity had real consequences and left lasting impact on the people around him.

Aegon is a toxic person too. He is something of a shit stirrer, as showcased in episode 8 during the family dinner when he tried to goad Jace and then made unwanted advances towards Baela. He's not the best person to his siblings either, particularly towards Aemond, such is in episode 5 when he convinced Jace and Luke to prank Aemond by giving him a pig with wings when he knew the boy wanted a dragon, and of course I already brought up the Street of Silk incident and what he did to Dyana.

Both Bojack and Aegon's toxicity are also compounded by their status as celebrity actor and royal family member respectively, which means there is little chance of being held to true accountability by others (though in Bojack's case, the closest we get to that was the second interview in the final season when Biscuits Braxby confronted him about the circumstances surrounding Sarah Lynn's death).

4. Need to feel affection from others

THIS....

This is actually the one thing that prompted me to make the character comparison in the first place. In HotD episode 9, after Aegon was crowned king, he pulled out his sword, and he saw the way the people cheered for him, practically cutting the image of his namesake Aegon the Conqueror.

Note the small smile Aegon made in this gif when he saw the way the people reacted to him in this state:

Aegon made not have had any desire to rule up until this point, and he probably still doesn't have that desire... but dammit, if being king is all it takes to win the love and affection of complete strangers, if that is what it takes to receive even an ounce of validation, then he will role with it.

This was the scene that made me think about Bojack. The reason Bojack got into acting, why he embraced celebrity status during his time on Horsin' Around was because that was when he had an audience to perform before. There were people out there that gave him love and validation for it even if they didn't know who he really was. And Bojack accepted it, because he certainly wasn't going to get it from his mother or anyone else whom he felt would eventually leave him for one reason or another. People in his life may come and go, but his audience would always be there for him...supposedly.

Spoiler alert, they weren't there for him as we saw as various moments in the show, ESPECIALLY the third and second to last episodes of the final season.

Bojack and Aegon gave the people what they wanted in performing their assigned roles, and it gave them the rush of validation and temporarily soothed their craving and need for the love and affection that was basically denied them since childhood (not true affection as much of this would be akin to a para-social relationship).

While there are similarities, there is also a key differences between the two (and NO it is not that Aegon is a human being in a medieval fantasy epic and Bojack is a anthropomorphic horse in a series set in modern day Hollywood).

It's fair to say Bojack had a stronger support system than Aegon, granted one he often took for granted. He had friends that actually cared for him and had stood by his side for most of the series, even when he kept screwing them over and throwing them under the bus. I already mentioned Todd and Princess Carolyn, but there was also Diane and Mr. Peanut Butter. And before that, before Horsin Around, there was Charlotte and Herb (though Bojack was quick to burn those bridges with those two when he failed them on two separate occasions).

Diane was the one who was there for Bojack during his low points in the show; she was the one who comforted Bojack when he was reeling over the death of Sarah Lynn, and she was the one who took Bojack to rehab in season 5 when he decided things needed to change if he was to become a better person. She was also the last person Bojack talked to in the final episode.

I already know how the events of HotD are ultimately going to end...I'm not optimistic Aegon will have that kind of support system, save for enablers and sycophants and just about any nobles and Green supporter who want nothing more than to win his favor by kissing his ass.

...that was kind of a grim note to end on, but that is what I got.

Hope you enjoyed this take. Now have a nice day.

[moa-broke-me]

PJO characters and what I think their music tastes are (by the way, the internet? No longer an issue for the purposes of this post)

Rachel Elizabeth Dare: Oh, she's cool. Her playlist is made up, almost entirely, of artists you've never heard of until just now. Think about it, she's in New York City, so many talented people are prowling for a chance to strike it big, and as a rich person, she feels she owes it to them to give them a chance, and if she likes them, to endorse them publicly. She's canonically part of the avant-garde performance art scene, so this really isn't much of a stretch.

Percy Jackson: I think he tells people he likes Jimmy Buffet and other people like him, and he does, especially 'brandy you're a fine girl', mostly for nostalgia's sake because Sally used to play that on long road trips, so it's not a lie. But it feels like one. He knows that when people ask that question, they're trying to figure out what kind of person you are, and wants to convey that he's just this easygoing guy, y'know? Easy, breezy, beautiful, covergirl. Harmless and unassuming and kinda goofy, not much going on under the surface. But there IS a lot going on under the surface, he IS angry, and listens to a lot of angry, angsty music. Smashing Pumpkins, Insane Clown Posse, that kind of thing. But if you hand him the aux, he's not gonna play any of that personal shit for you unless he really trusts you.

Annabeth Chase: She's that girl that pretends not to like pop music because she doesn't wanna come across as a vapid airhead, but she's also learned that answering 'classical' won't win her any cool points, so she caves and just says she doesn't have a preference. Most of the time she's listening to music, it's not even like... With intention. She's just listening to music because she can't clean her room in silence. And for the most part... Yeah it's Taylor Swift. With some Journey and Bo Burnham thrown in there for flavor. Although she does have some weird things in there picked up from the weather reports on welcome to nightvale, because she's a podcast girlie.

Nico diAngelo: I think his time in the casino has exposed him to a dizzying variety of music in really quick succession, meaning he's very open-minded and genuinely will listen to just about every genre, every era, at least once. Also, he doesn't think to catagorize by genre, or even vibes, he just puts them all into the same playlist the minute he finds out they exist. Dean Martin, Will Wood, and everything in between is home in his playlist.

Hazel Levesque: Hazel, on the other hand, was dead for all that time. So while she's open to new music, she hasn't had the opportunity to adjust to this generation's sonic landscape, so she mostly prefers the classics of her time, or modern music that tries to recreate that sound. Think 'I will always think of you' from the Bojack Horseman soundtrack.

Will Solace: He loves Dolly Parton and the Dixie Chicks with his whole Texan heart. His playlist contains mostly that, and some of his mom's work too, although he feels a little weird listening to it because, like, that's his mom. It feels weirdly personal to share that with other people, but it's nice too, having that closeness with people. He's more open than Percy, more willing to be vulnerable with the people he loves, because he doesn't see his authentic self as something to hide.

Piper McLean: She's a theater kid through and through. Yes, once upon a time, she wanted to be just like daddy. And she loves, absolutely loves, belting her heart out to the entire soundtrack of whatever musical she couldn't get out of her head. Last week it was Twisted, this week it's West Side Story, next week, who knows?

(If there's anyone you want me to cover, just ask!)

[ravenkinnie]

get to know me better

i was tagged by @rapaccini ty!!

name/nickname: patrycja

middle name: none

pronouns: they/she

gender: nb

sexual orientation: lesbian babeyyy

age: 27

zodiac sign: scorpio

birthday: november

relationship status: I have a wife who eats people

work field/studying: I have a boring emails and meetings job acc <3

favorite colors: red and black

some of your favorite movies: secretary, the blackcoats daughter, pearl, the descent, three billboards outside ebbing missouri

some of your favorite bands: sir chloe, hole, london after midnight, of monsters and men, inkubus sukkubus

some of your favorite singers: allie x, emily from night club her high pitch scratches my brain, poppy, tove lo, ari mason

some of your favorite books: hangsaman by shirley jackson, white is for witching by helen oyeyemi, bunny by mona awad, the particular sadness of lemon cake by aimee bender, tender by sofia samatar

some of your favorite songs: something to believe in//eat the acid by kesha, lucretia my reflection by sisters of mercy, blue monday by new order, love like ghosts by lord huron, mateo by tove lo

some of your favorite actors/actresses: I don't really stan anyone because they always turn out to be supporting polansky or sth - and I'm too jealous of successful hot people to be a stan - but I've watched many movies just because the actress was hot and will continue to do so

some of your favorite tv shows: bojack horseman, greys anatomy - private practice - station 19 fused universes yes I watched all three, brand new cherry flavour, interview with the vampire, sex and the city

celebrity crushes: I don't crush really but I saw how tall hozier is irl and ykw!! would

tagging @lullabyes22-blog @dubiousdisco @aeolid-funkt @jiyuu-no-senshii @milfzatannaz