Artful Dodger

You know the movie is not resonating with young people if there's practically no fanfic to choose from.

I've been reading a bunch of critiques trying to figure out why people don't like and it the reasons don't make any sense to me. There's a big complaint across many forums that a film based on an 80s cartoon that was only made to sell toys in the first place had too many jokes in it? Like, what? That's giving Emperor Joseph when he tells Mozart to cut a few notes! Did I like every joke? No, but do we really need a "gritty reboot" of He-Man? Come on! Go watch a Star War.

I read a review from Rolling Stone that seemed to be blaming the film for the ridiculous CANON names of the characters. I thought the film handled it fine! Like, "yes, these names are ridiculous but Adam was 10 and this is what he called them". I do think they spent too much time being embarrassed by the names but they ARE ridiculous and pretending they're not is not a better choice. When you're between a rock and a hard place you have to go down the center.

I also saw people saying it's "too 80s" or it's referencing itself too much. Huh? How can it be referencing the source material too much?

I've never played D&D and I loved that Dungeons and Dragons movie even though there were TONS of references and jokes that I didn't get. It was still fun and it gave me something to look into. Why would I demand the film cater to my lack of knowledge?

I feel like I'm going crazy. I read the things people are saying and I simply do NOT see these reasons. Did we watch the same movie? Did I somehow forget how to understand media?

Maybe it is me. Maybe I'm just at point where I needed something fun and that's as deep as I wanted to go.

It's fine for people not to like it! I'm not trying to pick any fights. Obviously this kind of film is not everyone's cup of tea. I'm just trying really hard to understand WHY. Usually when I like something that is not popular, I can at least understand why people don't like the thing, but this time I'm truly stumped that MOTU 2026 has not been embraced by fandom.

If you had told me I would one day be doing fan art for He-man I probably would’ve asked you if you meant She-ra. I’m pretty sure She-ra was the first fan obsession of my life.

And since I’m 100 years old and fandom years I do mean the original run of She-ra.

But since She-ra was He-man adjacent I liked He-man too. I was lucky enough to have a he-man and battle cat action figures. I had one called battle scar he-man and he had a rotating plate in his chest to show an ax indent to his breastplate.

I wonder if I still have them in my childhood bedroom?

Spoilers!

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I don’t know everyone.

I think if you liked the ending and you got something from it, I’m very happy for you. No bashing anyone who liked it! Seriously the ping ponging of love and hate and slandering both sides of the argument is not a good look for us.

For me, the finale left a bad feeling. Am I glad we got something? I guess. I don’t know if it’s better to have wondered forever what happened after season two with no official resolution, or if it’s better that we got what we got.

I feel like we got “Jossed” (if anyone here remembers Buffy). It just feels like NG knew what the fans wanted, but he was loath to give it to us. We wanted a happy ending. He wanted to do something contrary, that clearly came from him, and could never be confused with pandering to fans.

If you’ll remember he already did this in season two by giving us a kiss between Aziraphale and Crowley, but he made it the most heartbreaking and devastating one possible.

I'm kind of pissed off about it tbh.

It’s not even that Crowley and Aziraphale are dead, they simply do not exist anymore. They’re completely and utterly obliterated with no prayer (pun intended) of coming back. Nothing we spent three seasons caring about exists anymore. Like... there's nothing left for us.

If someone knows how to fix it, i'm very willing to read it.

Who TF are Asa and Anthony? Just because they look like our angel and demon, does not mean they are.

(>>>Mini rant: This is why I hate AUs. I feel very strongly that character is not just how somebody looks— it’s how they behave and their behavior is shaped by their experiences and if you take away their experiences, they are no longer the same character. I also don’t read stories if the characters feel "out of character" to me.<<<)

NG made it impossible for these characters to remember anything or to have an echo of what came before because there is no before. So as nice as the sentiment is that they’ll "find each other in every universe", it isn’t possible because they never existed. They can't be reincarnated if they were never incarnated to begin with.

If you like AUs, you might be able to make this work, but for me it's just :/

(I’ll also add that my strong dislike of AUs in no way affects how I think of people who write and enjoy AUs— I’m so happy that people find something in fandom that inspires them, it’s just not for me. Please enjoy your bean soup! I will keep searching for a recipe that I like.

ARs make way more sense to me than AUs, but I digress.)

NG is well within his right to handle his IP as he sees fit, but I do not have to like it. And as sorry as I am for the people who fought to give us this finale, their hard work does not invalidate my dislike of the story. I can appreciate they did the best they could with what they were given in the time they had.

All that said, there were parts I could enjoy, which I will have to explore in the future. And I can always just not think about the tv show beyond what the original book gave us.

Just, gosh, what a bummer! I was really looking forward to playing in the Good Omens sandbox again and now I just feel sad about it.