#toh critical

[mr-damian-s-power]

Naming names: TOH Basilisks

not naming names but i hate this character design trope

[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 ???

[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

[palesweetscherryblossom]

I would’ve liked it if someone genuinely called out Luz for essentially being really weird about how she perceives the world and people around her.

It’s giving those people who go to different countries and treat the native people like some tourist attraction

“Going Native” trope and idealizing the “other world” in The Owl House

I’m surprised that Luz’s obsession with becoming a witch wasn’t ever seen as offensive by anyone on the Isles. Like the witches on the boiling isles are shown to be born that way and it’s kinda odd how Luz shows up with her own biases and preconceived notions about witches and immediately applies them to Eda and others.

It’s like someone showing up to a remote village only having read about the people but having simultaneously romanticized their culture. Maybe it’s my sociology/anthropology major brain interpreting it that way lmao but that’s a big no no when it comes to interacting with another culture.

I know Eda tells her she’s wearing a dirty traffic cone on her head in the second episode when she dresses up in the stereotypical witch attire. But other than that, I don’t recall her getting much flack for her behavior. (Unless we’re including Amity saying she’s not a witch but I feel like that was more about Amity’s personal gripe with Luz)

I think this is an example of the “going native” trope where the protagonist fully immerses themselves in the new world that they’ve been thrust into. Think Anne Boonchuy in Amphibia (specifically her connection to Wartwood) or even more so, Jake Sully becoming one of the Na’vi in Avatar. However, I think TOH is an underdeveloped example of the trope because the show’s narrative barely examines Luz’s journey from outsider to respectable member of the Boiling Isles.

Basically, Luz encountered such little obstacles when it came to being accepted in the isles and I feel like that was so unrealistic. It’s like no one cares that she’s a human at all. It’s completely different from how Anne was treated in Amphibia. She was considered a monster for most of season one, which was funny, but also interesting because it made her character development stand out all the more when the townspeople eventually considered her one of their own.

I guess what bothers me is that the show didn’t really demonstrate Luz earning her position in the boiling isles, which I feel like is important when it comes to considering oneself part of a culture that has been stereotyped and put down. And especially since she ended up being their savior against Belos.

Plus, Luz treating their everyday lives like a fantasy come true feels sorta icky. I feel like that was okay at first, but I never got the feeling that the novelty ever wore off. At some point, Luz should’ve began to acknowledge the boiling isles as just another place and not some fantasy world where she could escape from reality.

[toaverse]

Couples I wish were written better.

[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

[daystarvoyage]

Basically made for shipping discourse if not that,

(before changing his sexuality after being villanizing in the pitch bible like the adults in the series to favor fandom.)

Was gonna make a essay post but I’m saving my content on Disneycember YouTube video

so let’s talk tomorrow

tbh I really don't think Raine should have been present for Belos's death.

This is something I've been thinking about more recently but why have Raine there? like writing wise

a lot of people try to claim that the reason for other characters not being present for Belos's death or at least not getting a final scene with him beforehand ( cough Hunter cough )

is that the scene was meant to be about our main three and keeping the focus on just them again like it was at the start of the show.

but that's kinda contradicted by the fact that Raine is also there now I love Raine don't get me wrong but they have no real business being there as they have no real emotional connection to Belos

and they aren't one of our main characters, and also what's with them being a ruthless killer all of a sudden?

does no one else find that out of character? kind caring sensitive shy but baddass and noble Rain is suddenly stomping a dying man to death while gleefully remarking on how satisfying it was.

that just seemed out of left field tbh.

makes perfect sense for Eda's character she was a criminal who lived on the run for ages and existed in a eat or be eaten type of world ( In most cases literally lol )

and same with little King who she raised but that never really seemed to be who Raine was at least not in my opinion.

so it just makes little sense to me tbh writing wise to have Raine present for such an important moment over other characters who it would make more sense for in terms of storytelling

like I said Hunter could have been given a final moment with Belos even if he wasn't present for his death as that would probably mess him up even more

or Darius could have showed up since Belos literally killed his mentor so him taking part in his death would make a bit more sense given the emotional connection.

or Lilith given the emperor used her for ages promising to cure her sister but secretly never planning to

or the collector who Belos lied to and used for countless years and tried to murder even after he forgave him.

or ya know Raine could just not be there and the scene could actually just be about our main three like people try and claim it is

but having them there over other characters who would make way more sense writing wise just feels wrong and kinda annoying tbh.

[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.

[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.

[kiwisandpearls]

the statements “this piece of media was made for kids, it’s not that serious” and “a piece of media being made for kids does not exempt it from criticism” can and should coexist.

[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.

[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