sauntering vaguely downwards

Staff: That’s actually 3 capuchin monkeys in a khaki trench coat with Jeff’s missing hat.

Automattic: What are you going to do? Shoot them or something?

Staff: We’ve got it under control.

from this

to this

- the trailers were shit, they genuinely took the worst clips, ignore them

- yes there are some stereotypes, but there's nothing wrong with that. stereotypes exist for a reason, and they aren't used at the expense of characters. eg. twink (the characters everyone's most apprehensive about) isn't made fun of for being feminine. it's just part of his character, he isn't weak or just there for a joke, he's a complex character who kicks ass.

- the show is genuinely funny! i mean most of the production team is queer, and all the voice actors for the queer characters are actually queer. this isn't a bunch of cishets just pandering. the whole show is laughing with us. the main plot line is about how lgbt people are sidelined and the main characters fighting against it.

- despite being a comedy, it's also heartwarming. i mean come on, found family trope. there are lots of cute moments and the dynamic between the characters is sincere.

- the creator said that he based the characters off people he knew, and it shows. even though there isn't one specific character i personally relate to, i can see my queer friends in these characters. eg. the dynamic between stat and twink is exactly like the dynamic between my girlfriend and her bestie. the characters are realistic.

I don’t play the games but the fact that this is all canon just makes me even more excited to see them next season

But also me:

So steampunk is usually an aesthetic centered around the late 1800s, early 1900s. The little detail I saw is that you will notice most of the in-universe art (posters, vinyls, murals, etc) are in the style of, and some based off real pieces, of art nouveau. You’ve probably seen this art style around, its known for its highlight of beauty and grace. More importantly, it was the art style of choice for France and some other parts of Europe in the 1910s-1920s. So I really loved that attention to detail in not only the in-universe lore but also the real life history that inspired it.

Here’s some examples btw

and some real world counterparts

Despite all the jokes and mad scientist stuff it’s a very realistic look at the relationship between an abusive parent and their child. Reagan knows Rand is abusive but sometimes he’s nice so she tries to make it work because there’s still a deep need for his approval.

But then she realize just how profoundly abusive he actually is. Even the nice moments were nothing but manipulation and grooming to turn her into the tool he needed her to be for his own gains and finally her gloves come off and she tries to cut him off but it’s a lot harder than it should be because that’s the thing about abusive parents, they don’t respect a no and he never cared about her feelings to begin with.

And Rand’s abuse is evident in Tamiko too. It’s chilling to realise that a lot of her behaviour seems to be a response to the trauma he put her through. That’s why she keeps discarding her young lovers like they’re nothing and “marries” herself. Rand ruined her ability to have normal, healthy relationships and she’s desperately trying to build herself back up by over correcting.

And I’m very curious about Rand and J.R.’s past and Reagan’s place in all of that. The show has sprinkled a lot of clues that something more is going on.

The story we get: Rand and J.R. used to be best friends and created Cognito Inc. together with Rand as the scientist and J.R. as the businessman but Rand had a “meltdown” and tried to blow up the sun so J.R. fired him. Now Rand hates J.R.’s guts but J.R. actually seems to miss Rand. He keeps photos of him, including a framed photo on his work desk from Rand and Tamiko’s wedding where Rand has his arm around J.R. Apparently that is still a nice memory to him. When Rand tries to blackmail him by exposing a bunch of sexual stuff about J.R. he panics but doesn’t retaliate and eventually Rand has to contact J.R. and pretend to hand his shares of the company over to J.R. because he just couldn’t goat him into getting aggressive with him. Or more likely, he knows J.R. still loves him and had to get him mad and desperate enough to want to punish him in some way.

And J.R. hired Reagan, Rand’s daughter, to work for the company and even wants her to be J.R.’s own replacement. If that isn’t a huge show of good will and lingering love I don’t know what is. If J.R. hated Rand as much as Rand hates him he would never have hired her no matter how good of a scientist she is. And Rand must have known that J.R. still cared or his plan wouldn’t have worked.

The court room scene also has an interesting little moment. When Rand shows up J.R. can be seen smiling at him in the background but when it’s revealed how abusive Rand was to Reagan the smile disappear. Other people have noticed that even tough J.R. acts like a boss to Reagan he still seems to care more about her wellbeing than Rand. On a few occasions he asks her to go home and take care of her mental health. Not always in the nicest ways but it’s more than what can be said for her dad or even her mom. It’s kinda telling that Rand is super self righteous and refuse to acknowledge how evil he is while J.R. constantly refers to himself as a bad person.

I do wonder if they’re setting up that J.R. was/is in love with Rand and is trying to work out his feelings now that he knows what an actually terrible, child abusing person Rand is. That could be why he keeps a photo from the wedding where it kinda looks like he and Rand got married more so than Rand and Tamiko and why he’s shown to lust after Brett a few times just so it wouldn’t come out of nowhere that he loves Rand. (I’m kinda amazed by how well they handled his behaviour around Brett btw. Sure he may have hired Brett just because he’s attracted to him but he never tries to seduce him or touch him inappropriately. He just likes having some eye candy around)

…Only for the show to come out, and people falsely giving all creative credit for the show to Alex Hirsch, the executive producer, despite Shion Takeuchi being the person who created, wrote, directed etc. the show.

Heck, Alex even had to correct several major news sources, multiple times, who falsely claimed that he was the creator this time instead of Shion.