#toh critical

[flower-boi16]

It always bothers me when fans mock or make fun of critics/antis for constantly making posts venting their grievances about a story they dislike and say shit like “oooh why can’t u just talk about something u like11” or “pfft, get a life and do something more productive than complaining about a show!” and plenty of other shit.

Not only does this come across as condescending, it’s also hypocritical. So if people aren’t allowed to make posts about things they don’t like…I guess that means that fans can’t make posts about things they do like. I throw these same arguments fans use against people who complain about something that’s enjoyed by a good amount of people. “OMG why do you care so much about a stupid show” and shit like that.

Fans like these don’t realize that the reason for why people talk about things they don’t like is the same reason for why people talk about things they do like; they are passionate about it and enjoy analyzing it. They like breaking it down because they just enjoy media analysis. It’s not unhealthy, it’s not obsessive, it’s just a perfectly normal way of consuming media. And critical communities on Tumblr allow for a safe space for people to voice their grievances about a piece of work without being harassed by deranged stans.

My point is; let people make blogs criticizing shows whenever the fuck they want. What they are doing is no different than what fans of the work are doing; analyzing the story and voicing their opinions.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

bro. he had MAIN CHARACTER energy. not saying he had to be the main character but it's absurd how the writers made such an insanely skilled character with a powerset that is so insanely versatile and expansive (you're saying he can make ANY kind of illusions, look into a person's worst memories and also torture them by forcing them to relive their worst memories??) and then were like "nah he's the black best friend, he's just there for emotional support ?? like ???

[toaverse]

Couples I wish were written better.

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

Apropos of nothing (totally apropos of something), if you accuse a fan of being a racist, sexist, bigot for liking a fictional character then you just suck. Like objectively you suck.

You misuse real concepts and issues such as fandom racism because you can't stand how other people are having fun with their blorbo.

You post hate in the tags all because someone is interpreting a character differently than you.

You accuse fans of not analyzing a show properly when your own analysis has the depth of a slotted spoon.

Fandom is supposed to be a fun hobby in which a variety of people play with and engage with the text in different ways. We're not all going to agree or even like what the other does. And that's the point.

But if you can't handle that, then at least do the courtesy of not using fan specific tags and stay in your lane.

Stop spreading hate and malicious lies and recognize the harm you're causing.

(and remember: you're not a fucking activist just because you enjoy a show the "correct" way. Go out and do some canvassing if you really want to make change instead of being cringy on Tumblr Dot Com)

[anona1-mous]

Not wittober art, but just reminding about basic internet etiquette bc it seems some mfs forgot

stop posting hate under the wittober tag if you don't like the event

i personally think people who hates something and then continues to actively engage on it are massive losers

it is very mind-boggling to actively engage on something that you don't like, it's literally not made for you so don't insert yourself in OUR space

Let people enjoy in their own sub-fandom space especially when they're just minding their own business holy shit

[mayandjuly1811]

I DISLIKE HUNTER'S FAVORITISM

Lilith is so based for this. Hunter gets special treatment from not only in the Emperor's coven but also in the entire show, crew and fandom.

The crew also loves the idea of giving him more trauma and focus. During livestreams and talk shows, there are always questions about him, even more than King - one of the main characters.

In the show, many point out that the first letters of the episodes in which he appears with the Hexsquad is an acronym for H-E-A-L (Hunting Palismen, Eclipse Lake, Any Sports in A Storm, Labyrinth Runner). It means the Hexsquad, even Luz, the main character, is a plot device for his arc. I also knew that Hunter was written to stay at the Owl House after the whole event of Hollow Mind. Imagine him staying with the main characters of the show, having them comforting him, center around him. It will be the same with how the Hexsquad is written to be centered around him as his support system again, specifically Gus and Willow. Undoubtedly, the show intended to make him one of the main characters so obviously that it isn't subtle anymore.

- Luz: the main character of the show. In season 2B, Hunter replaces Luz as their new best friend in the trio. Like seriously? Even though Luz is dating Amity, she can still have spare time for her friends. But the writers don't care, so Hunter will have more time with Willow and Gus. It paints Luz in a bad light as someone who throws her friendship away once she finds love. It's OOC of Luz. Never thought a main character could get such bad writing treatment.

The nightmare sequence is also unreasonable. While others’ resentment towards Luz sounds more logical, Hunter's isn't, at least to me. I don't get why the writers wrote Luz thinking Hunter get mad of her like this “I lost him helping you.” Who helps who actually? He came to Luz's place first. He was the one asking Luz for help and not the other way around. He literally ran away first and intended to face Belos alone despite Luz's calling. Even though Luz is self-blaming, her interaction in the nightmare sequence with Hunter makes no sense.

- Next is Amity: I was expecting Amity to have more screen time with Willow, since I'm not satisfied with how their friendship is written. But alas, if Luz, the main character, doesn't even have any episodes ever since Hunter appears, how could Amity - a side character - can?

The writing flaw is obvious in her rekindled friendship with Willow. The way Amity views Willow's strength is negatively retconned. In Understanding Willow, she says that she didn't think of Willow as weak. In the next episode, she even cooperates with Willow and Luz to compete against Boscha. Grudgeby is a dangerous sport, and Boscha is a tough competitor who has won several cups. Obviously, Willow proves her strength there, shows her magic and even scores the last goal. Amity sees it all. In season 1, it's going in the right direction, Amity acknowledges that Willow isn't weak and even cooperates with her. She never tries to stop Willow from competing with the excuse of thinking her weak. But in Labyrinth Runner, she gets done dirty so bad. The writers intend to show that she's overprotective of Willow and wants to protect her, but by what way? Trying to make up for the times when she can't stand up for Willow in the past? No, by underestimating her. This makes no sense compared to how she's written in season 1. This scene, when Amity says that the guards are tough, and not anyone can stand up to them, her lines can be added up like “Willow, you just got kidnapped by them and I'm worried about you. I faced the Scouts before, and they were quite tough, so I got thrown down the pit by one.” It would be better than writing her as underestimating Willow's strength! Oh and I hate the irritating scene “Good luck, Willow”. They could have just written Amity asking Willow if she was okay.

Why Amity is retconned like that? I strongly believe that Amity is flanderized as someone who underestimates Willow's strength to uplift Hunter, who admires and appreciates her strength despite only meeting her once. I already saw “Willow forgives Hunter faster because he sees her as strong while Amity sees her as a weakling.”

- Willow: Any Sports in a storm is supposed to be a Willow's episode but it's a Hunter's one apparently. Willow is written to be hard-working, determined and strong from the start of the episode with her dream of being the first Flyer Derby captain. But it gets overshadowed by Hunter's new friendship and interaction with the group. From the middle till the end, there's barely any scenes of Willow being recognized as a good captain. There's no scene at least like other teammates praising her for her leadership and planning. And there's no scene of her interpersonal emotions like “I did it” or her fathers being proud of her. She wishes to be good at Flyer Derby and follow in her fathers’ footsteps. It's never mentioned again. It's not about her, it's only about developing Hunter and the ship tease Huntlow. Instead of writing how her newfound confidence and captain leadership are recognized, her old wound “half-a-witch” is brought up to develop Hunter and Huntlow, even though it's not the SAME thing Hunter and Willow have in common!! Hunter gets the spotlight in the Flyer Derby team, from praising, encouragement to the photo taking. He's the centre in the photo, just like how everyone is focused on his slow typing at the end of the episode.

Willow is also retconned as a forced girlboss stereotype from dragging Hunter when they first met to being insensitive of his trauma. Like why did she get done so dirty? Especially in Thanks to Them, Willow comforts Vee quite well. She said Vee didn't have to go to the museum if she was still afraid. But it's not the same in For the Future when she tries to comfort Hunter by bringing a Flapjack's photo right after he lost his palisman.

- Last but not least, Gus. Labyrinth Runner is a Gus episode that gets overshadowed. The breathing technique is something special in Gus and Willow's friendship. But it's used to develop Hunter again. It's used to develop his and Gus's friendship, and his relationship with Willow.

Gus, who has been friends with Willow for years, can't recognize the real Willow while Hunter can. It's reasonable if Willow gets scared of Hunter. Also, that he thinks Willow doesn't get scared of him isn't entirely convincing to me. Even though Willow isn't utterly scared, she would at least be wary of him. He kidnapped her and others, locked them up, took their Palismen and took them away from their families. He saved them at the end, but what they've been through was very traumatizing. Willow is insecure about her strength. Not to mention it doesn't make any sense when Hunter sees how Willow doubts her strength and calls herself half-a-witch. He stirs up her insecurity and how can he think she isn't afraid of him? Yet in Labyrinth Runner, he is written to be more understanding of her strength more than Gus?

If Hunter knows that the illusion isn't Willow, Gus should have known as well. Gus is the master of illusion, and he can't even recognize an illusionist? Also, his best friend? They could have written that Gus recognizes Willow through the breathing technique, which is the only thing they knew to solidify their friendship more.

In Labyrinth Runner, both Amity and Gus are done dirty in this episode in order to make Hunter outshine them. And most of all, Huntlow. Hunter is written to be more understanding and appreciating Willow's strength more than Gus and Amity, so Huntlow would be more convincing.

- Season 3 has only three episodes but more than half of the screen time is about Hunter, playing the main character role just like Luz. I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks Hunter's possessed scene and killing Flapjack are unnecessary. How does it benefit his character and the plot? Hunter can still defy and fight Belos without being possessed. The only effect from this is his ability to do magic and going through more trauma. According to what the crew says, they like to give him trauma. It makes me think that they're too focused on him and make him have more screen time and attention than others.

- The writer gives him too much trauma yet they can't handle it right. Hence, they shouldn't have added that in the show, especially in a cancelled one. In For the Future, Hunter has to shove his grief down to comfort Willow. Gus is sidelined like usual in favor of Hunter and Huntlow. He knows about Hunter's secret, what Belos did and it traumatizes him a lot, but his feelings are never mentioned during season 3. Oh great, it's only brought up again when it has something to do with Hunter.

- Why can only Hunter reach out to Willow when she has a breakdown? Why is Gus trapped and further away from her? And if I thought it can't get any worse, Willow only says thank you to Hunter then holds his pinky. What about Gus? He tried to comfort her too. Willow first met Gus when he was having a mental breakdown, she comforted him and understood him. That's the start of their friendship. It will be much more meaningful when Gus plays a more important part in helping Willow by the same breathing technique she taught him. Even though Willow and Gus usually stay together, their friendship is written on such a surface-level despite having a lot of potential.

- Willow and Gus are considered as the most powerful characters in the group. But the writers say “no, let Hunter shine”. First minute, both Willow and Gus are confident that they can take down Kikimora, but later, Hunter has to come to the rescue. Like, I'm not saying Hunter can't save her or Willow is weak but it doesn't fit right in this moment. Willow has just got her comfort and confidence back, yet she doesn't get to have the moments to show her strength and power. Give me Willow and Gus’s power combo that defeats Kikimora satisfyingly, not just boasting about their power, but failing and then getting rescued by Hunter. It feels like their power is nerfed out so Hunter has a chance to show off his new power (even though he's already done that).

- Lastly, Flapjack tattoo, another sign of Hunter favoritism to me, so feel free to agree to disagree about this. Tattoo is one of the most noticeable traits on one's body.

It's ingrained on the skin and noticeable on the characters’ designs. How on earth everyone else has to have the tattoo of his Palisman? I get that they want to respect Flapjack, but this seems like Hunter has main character favoritism in the show. The group doesn't even bond with Flapjack that much. They can show respect for the Palisman in other ways, making a carving, album and so on. If they tattooed it, it's mostly because of Hunter. I still prefer Luz to have flowery tattoos or something else related to her father. And I prefer others having their tattoos of their own Palismen rather than Hunter's.

- Not only the Hexsquad but another side character also suffers from this, Alador. In Clouds on the Horizon, Alador shows his clear doubt towards Hunter. It makes perfectly sense because he was the Emperor's right-hand man, everyone is doubtful of him, including people at Hexside. They even intend to send him back to the coven. But when Alador doubts him, instead of explaining himself like he has with the Hexside teachers and students, he chooses to criticize Alador. "At least I didn't build him an army." That's a weak counterback. Did Hunter forget that he was the one coming to the Blight factory and inform that Belos wants the Abomatons exclusively?Belos is the most powerful person on the Isles, so both Odalia and Alador can't defy him and can only build the Abomatons only for him. They can't sell their invention to others anymore. It's hypocritical of Hunter to say that to Alador when he was in the same position like them, unable to defy Belos's power and demand. Instead of saying that "I'm leaving Belos" "I'm not going back to him." "I realized he wasn't like how he actually is" to counter Alador's doubt, Hunter criticizes Alador for also helping Belos with such a weak counterpoint. People only attack others personally when they run out of excuses in an argument. The writing of their interaction makes no sense, and intends to make Hunter the victim and Alador the bad guy. Unfortunately, I only saw how hypocritical Hunter is.

In short, the favoritism in Hunter's writing did damage to other characters' writing, including Luz, the main character. He is written as the most sympathetic character, while some characters are nerfed and OOC to make him outshine them. If the show is written like that, no wonder the fandom centres around him too much and put other characters down in favour of him.

[mr-damian-s-power]

Mini-tangent incoming, but this thing always got under my skin a little bit. Crazy fantasy/sci-fi worlds where the entire main cast is almost exclusively Humans or species that looks almost entirely Human but with a very minute difference. I know it's the ultimate first world problem and really just a nitpick at the end of the day, but I'm gonna pick!

Now, there is nothing inherently wrong with having a main cast that is just all Humans or 'Humans but with pointy ears', but when the world they're in contains a bunch of fantastical and interesting looking species, that's where it gets a bit boring.

Star Wars is the main culprit of this! Hundreds of thousands of unique Alien species, but 90% of main casts are Human or 'Human but green', with maybe a single Droid or Alien to break it up if you're lucky. How about a story where the entire cast is a bunch of crazy Alien designs. Or a ragtag group of runaway Droids from different jobs.

Then, you've got the Owl House! The Demon Realm is a world of all kinds of crazy Demon people, but most of the characters of significance are Witches, which are just Humans with pointy ears. Look at Luz's friendgroup, the Hexsquad. You've got Witch, Witch, Witch and magic Human/Witch hybrid clone who looks exactly like a Witch.

Wouldn't it have been cool if one of the Hexsquad were a quirky looking Demon person? Make Willow or Gus a Demon! Luz's first friend could've been a Demon! Fits her characterisation as a weirdo! Hell, make Amity a Demon! Luz falls in love with a non-Human because she can look past physical differences. It doesn't matter that Amity has 6 arms or 12 eyes or is some weird giant Mantis creature, she's still her Batata!

Any other franchises you feel this applies to? Tell me!

-

Okay, tangent over! You may all go back to your tedious lives!

[sergeantsporks]

It’s “being annoyed that Lilith didn’t get an in-show confirmation of being aroace” hours boys

[memelordotherblog]

Hate sink characters are the worst especially when impiled to villainous characters. While I adore the owl house they really needed to expand on these two. Especially Belos, you don't drop such a interesting backstory in the background and not expend on.

I understand things had to cut, but as much as I like the collector, they should had probably shouldn't have been added and instead the screen time should be given to belos backstory

[amiizuki]

watched the pilot storyboards, albeit only 3/4 of it, and I like how the pilot made Luz seem more like an outcast eccentric weirdo, which is what she's supposed to be, rather than an ignorant asshole who is borderline terrorist

instead of her waltzing into school with dozens of spiders, snakes and fireworks, that she all planned to use INSIDE the building with a smile on her face and not a care in the world, here she instead only brings one snake to school and that's it. a snake that stays with her and her only, doesn't bite anyone, and whom she also later sets free OUTSIDE school. sure, she mentions that Azura is going to "explode out of the snake's stomach", but I heavily doubt it meant that, if the teacher hadn't stopped her, she was gonna pull out a big pack of fireworks, like the ones she had in the show, stuff them inside the snake's mouth and blow it up, especially considering she called the snake "friend" and seemed to treat it like an actual living being, instead of a book report prop, since she had a bag of food for it in her locker.

honestly they should've kept this scene in the 1st episode, at least partially.

like, the start of the episode would play out the same as in the pilot, except Amity isn't here and doesn't stand up for her, so Luz just quietly sits down at her desk in embarrassment and maybe pets the snake while looking upset or something. it then continues the same, up until she opens her locker.

(by the way, I feel like this scene would work better to show the audience that Luz is a nerd, by looking at all those things in the locker, that are usually considered as either nerdy, childish or both, rather than having Luz herself just tell us that she likes to do nerdy things)

in the pilot, that's where Amity walks by and Luz tries to talk with her, but since she wouldn't be able to be here in the actual show, instead Luz would hear an announcement from the principal that he needs her to go to his office. cut to her sitting in the office with her mom already there, and then it generally plays out the same way it did in the 1st ep – the principal says that Luz's been disrupting classes often and have been making her classmates weirded out and disturbed by her antics, which also simultaneously lead to her having no friends. no spiders in class and fireworks inside building – only her acting overly eccentric and weird, to the point where she might accidentally ignore some of the social norms, like with that book report in the pilot and the school play in the show. then the principal mentions today's geometry class that Luz interrupted and says that this was the final straw – not only because something like that happened however many times before, but also because this time she brought a live snake to class, and while it didn't bite anyone (unlike in the show, where her snakes bit MULTIPLE people, and Luz was just like "oops, guess that's where the backup snakes went haha lmao"), it was still a very dangerous thing to do. Camila would react to it in surprise and ask "Mija, where in the world did you even get a snake?" or something like that, with Luz just kinda awkwardly shrugging in response, while looking down at the floor. after that, the principal offers for her to go to a summer camp, to "get her head out of the clouds", and everything else plays out the same way it did in the actual 1st episode.

if it was like that, then, once again, it would actually make Luz look like just an eccentric nerd, who doesn't actively try to harm or disturb anyone, and just does things that she thinks are cool or fun. sure, she might come off as a bit ignorant, with her occasionally ignoring classes and social cues, but it would be just because she's too passionate about the things she likes and gets so much into them, that she might forget the real world in the process.

but uh... the 1st episode Luz isn't exactly that

letting dozens of small spiders inside class, while not giving a shit about people who are scared of those is not cool or fun.

letting however many snakes roam free and bite everyone, while, again, not giving a shit about them being bit is not cool or fun.

and, fucking hell, setting off fireworks inside the school without a second thought is NOT cool or fun

so yeah, that's all I've got

also I wish the "Why would anyone throw it away?" moment with Eda was somehow kept in the show, because it's honestly beautiful and I love it. I don't know how they'd be able to pull it off in the actual show, since Amity was never able to go to Human Realm there and thus Luz wouldn't be able to make that drawing of them, but oh well, it's good that we're able to see this scene at least in the storyboard form.

[flower-boi16]

I Don’t Really Like How Season 3 Handles Hunter’s Trauma of Losing FlapJack

Thanks to Them shows the grand finale of Hunter’s whole character arc throughout the series; he’s healed from his past trauma and abuse he underwent from Belos, and finally stood up to Belos cuts him out from his life. It’s a solid ending to his arc…until you remember that Hunter now has some brand new trauma of his abuser coming back, being possessed by that abuser, and then having that abuser kill his best friend while possessing him meaning that he was essentially forced to watch himself kill his best friend.

And this…never gets addressed. Ok, that’s a bit of a lie, For the Future tries to resolve this but execution is…eh. Hunter spends a lot of For the Future grieving over what happened with FlapJack, with him being more dead set to catch up to Belos then ever. The resolution that the episode tries to give to this is Hunter gaining new powers that he got due to FlapJack’s sacrifice.

Now, I do like what this represents, as it represents that FlapJack will always be with Hunter deep down even when he’s gone, it’s pretty sweet. But….at the same time, it’s also still fairly rushed and doesn’t really fully resolves or addresses Hunter’s grief. We never get to see Hunter come to terms with what happened, his grief still goes unaddressed.

Watching and Dreaming further continues to gloss over Hunter’s grief over what happened and at that point it doesn’t really get much of a resolution, it’s, again, entirely glossed over and not really resolved. The show effectively added in new trauma for Hunter at the last minute in the final season when it didn’t have much time to really address it, so now we’re supposed to just assume that Hunter came to terms with it off screen which doesn’t feel particularly satisfying to me.

I don’t think FlapJack’s death was pointless and it did serve a purpose, but it seemed that writers didn’t have much time to address Hunter’s grief and the resolution we got felt…very underwhelming. Season 3’s ending for Hunter was decent overall but when it came to this aspect I think they kinda fumbled the bag.

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

i really wish eda had retained some of her initial morally grey edge in the later seasons. it feels like she was this cool rebellious and somewhat selfish character in the first season and then she just becomes the resident mom.

i like that she got fleshed out more and we got to see her backstory and see her develop relationships with new characters, i just wish they hadn’t erased all of her initial characterization for that. she basically becomes an archetypical hero, just with some added sass.

i feel like gravity falls strikes a good balance in this trope with stan pines. he starts off as a money-minded con artist and later gets fleshed out into a more complex character, while still being the same money-minded con artist.

we see his backstory, we see him develop his relationship with ford, the kids and even soos and wendy, but he isn’t reduced to just a parental figure. he is still hilariously cunning and greedy, and i love him for that.

idk maybe i just like morally grey bastards too much lol. i really liked eda in the beginning because she was kind of like the female version of stan, but still unique as a character. and i hate that by the end of the series, she became somewhat flanderized. and fans only talk about her in the context of her being a mom to all the younger characters, or in regards to her relationship with raine.

[antispopausandstuff]

this might be a hot take, but it feels like a light smack on the face to have Lilith as aroace rep and not include Willow.

now, i have no issue with Lilith being aroace. i love Lilith and there's no actual problem with her being labeled as such.

but in comparison to Willow, who hasn't shown true romantic interest or chemistry with anyone until s2-s3 kinda pushed it in there, i do feel a little bit salty as a questioning arospec person.

i don't particularly understand why there has to be one of every type, when the 'romance' between Willow and Hunter negatively affected both of their arcs and sidelined their true character as a whole. to only have Lilith as the aroace character, when she was an antagonist previously, can possibly send a weird message.

maybe none of this really matters and i'm just nitpicking, but i really would've loved to have Willow as the aroace rep too. there doesn't have to be one way or another.

[let-us-cultivate-our-garden]

I just remembered the "Please. I don't want to see another human life destroyed by this place” line, and honestly did they have scenes of Luz starting to wonder if Belos' had a point and going into the island did destroy her life? If not, they should have had.

No, they did not have Luz ever wonder how the isles affected Belos--except in the storyboards:

Luz still calls him out for trying to destroy the isles and being a hypocrite but there's still that moment of empathy in which she asks point blank: "What do you think they DID to you?!" She briefly contemplates just why someone would go so far to destroy an entire population and what his mindset might be. Unfortunately, this was not included in the final version and Belos' expression is blank instead of pleading.

Then there's this storyboard from For the Future in which Luz, Eda, and King explain to the Collector how people like Amity and Lilith became their friends:

Luz's line about "people being complicated" is in the episode but the entire exchange between her and the Collector is not even though it opens up a lot of interesting ideas and themes. Without it though, the show becomes straight up hypocritical when it states that people are complicated but reduces its villains to generic archetypes and its hero characters as being simply misguided or victims of the villains.

And no, this doesn't mean that the show should have excused Belos' actions or even forgiven him; but they could have and should have acknowledged the complexity of his character by keeping this nuance in and how the characters react to it. By doing so, the message of "people are complicated" becomes clear and strengthens the other characters as well. Luz gets to self-reflect on how she sees other people and learn that even the worst people among us are incredibly complex and have driving forces that are uncomfortably close to our own, thus making it much harder to demonize them. The Collector--instead of being a Giant Star Baby--keeps both his childlike bluntness and keen observational skills that he had in season 2, thus fleshing out the character instead of devolving him.

Regrettably, that nuance is absent from the show and we have a rather black-and-white narrative about Good vs. Evil; people are only ever really "bad" if someone tricked them or if there was a misunderstanding and all the Real Bad People are just selfish jerks who are power hungry and controlling.

This is not compelling storytelling; this is a tale as old as time. And the worst part is that there was a great story in The Owl House but it was left in the rough drafts.

Storyboards by Yasmin Khudari and King Pecora

[autistic-ben-tennyson]

I have a lot of things to say about this character. I used to identify with her a bit but I no longer do and a lot of the writing in her “arc” has aged poorly. The narrative wants to portray her as just someone who longs to be understood. What we got though is a character who never grows and remains selfish and inconsiderate. I respect and understand that she’s important to a lot of people who are queer and neurodivergent as I am too but I don’t think she’s as good as her stans say.

I’m going to contrast her with two protagonists I am fond of. The character I named my blog after, Ben Tennyson, and Akko from Little Witch Academia which I just finished watching. I actually compared the former to Luz in a more positive post back when I liked her but I think a more critical comparison is needed now. Some have said it but TOH is just an isekai anime for queer people. Any development Luz may have had regarding being less impulsive and selfish got dropped in favor of her just wanting to be understood. She gets everything she wants, to be the hero, to date the rich popular girl, and never be criticized or challenged by anyone.

If Lumity was a cishet ship, it would get a lot more flack from people. Amity herself is woobified by her fans when she was often nasty to Luz or Willow for no reason and didn’t do much to redeem herself for the latter. Luz chose to keep lying to Amity and kept secrets even after she promised to do better. Despite suffering from bad writing in UA, Ben/Julie was still better than this. Julie actually held Ben accountable when he lied or screwed up and she never bullied him, Gwen or Kevin. Ben does try, even if he’s not very good at it to be a better boyfriend and spend more time with Julie as seen in “Revenge of The Swarm” after promising he’d do better.

Some other things that make Ben better than Luz is that his hero fantasy is actually deconstructed. He learns he can’t mess around and do what ever he wants. While he jokes around and acts like a brat, he admits it’s because he’s scared because of the stakes that come if he fails in the episode “The Forge of Creation”. This is not to say Ben 10 is great as it does slip into isekai territory as well with that disgusting harem episode in OV, but it does a little better. He’s also actually bullied as shown in the OS and AF which makes him a bit more sympathetic whereas fanon is used to make Luz more likable than what just the show itself tells.

Regarding Akko, she’s similar to Luz in that she’s impulsive, selfish, rude and wants to be a witch to live out some fantasy. The difference is that Akko learns to be more responsible, that not everything is about her and that she can’t just get whatever she wants. While patience is still something she struggles with by the end of the series, she still grows and becomes a better person. Whereas Luz was willing to abandon everyone while wallowing in self pity, Akko ran away for a few hours after learning that Chariot, her mentor, idol and friend was the reason she was struggling but a quick talk with Diana brought her back. The thing is that a character who’s not a noble saint but still very sympathetic can work such as Shinji Ikari but not if they’re framed as heroic like Luz. That’s why a lot of the show’s writing has not aged well.

To recap, this isn’t to bash people who do identify with Luz and like her. I used to as well, but she’s got some flaws that are often brushed away and the narrative seemed like it wanted to have its cake and eat it too. Wanted to challenge traditional fantasy tropes while ultimately turning into a chosen one wish fulfillment for Luz. TOH was praised for its representation as well as by people who view it as the anti SU but its not the greatest show ever and there are some troubling implications.

[stemms]

While I enjoy The Owl House for its captivating plot, fascinating characters, accurate and respectful representation of the LGBTQIA+ community, and strong character development, I find that the ending leaves something to be desired. Specifically, I would like to address Belos’ death. His character is fascinating, complex, and significant to the narrative, so I feel that, although he obviously deserved to face the consequences of his actions, his death should have been treated with more gravity and significance rather than mockery.

To me, Belos has always been an example of a well-crafted, complex villain, marked by internal conflicts, fears masked by a stern façade, regrets, and a flawed worldview. His delusional belief that his monstrous actions serve a noble purpose sets him apart from the typical villain, whose sole motivation is an insatiable desire for power and chaos.

Even the smallest glimpses into Belos' backstory reveal his complexity, making him… painfully human despite his desperate attempts to project an image of divinity and power. While his actions are undeniably inhumane — marked by obsession and unwarranted hatred toward witches — his backstory exposes a vulnerable, sobbing child, and a young man consumed by envy and fear of abandonment by his brother. This perspective shifts him from a mere cruel Emperor driven by a thirst for power, to a mere human full of insecurities.

While Belos’ past doesn't excuse his horrific actions, it sheds light on his motivations and twisted worldview, which would remain opaque without this context. Exploring more of his backstory would allow us to uncover vital details about the way his past influenced his future life, his mission to spread the “Titan’s Will” across the Boiling Isles, and so much more.

If only Belos’ vulnerable, human side had been explored more deeply, we could have seen the stark contrast between his imposing exterior and his inner loneliness and misery in more detail. This exploration would suggest that his public persona wasn’t just manipulation to gain the witches’ trust, but also the act of self-deception in an attempt to convince himself that his actions were for the greater good, while also trying to fill the void within him.

This being said, the scene of Belos’ death was quite the opposite, as it was treated as nothing more than a comic relief, completely undermining his character journey. After his entire body melted, he was casually stepped on by Luz and her friends, which felt jarring given the weight of his character, and was simply unnecessary. I believe that even if Belos’ death stayed the exact same, but the last part was removed, it would’ve been so much more tolerable.