Love and Fury can coexist

Democrats: WE ARE TRYING TO SUE DONALD TRUMP AGAIN, PLEASE HELP US SUE DONALD TRUMP, WE LITERALLY ARE DYING TO SUE THIS MAN FOR ALL THE ILLEGAL SHIT HE IS DOING ALL THE TIME, IF YOU GIVE US MONEY WE ARE SUING THE PRESIDENT!!! WE'RE GOING TO SHE THAT MAN FOR ALL HIS CRIMES.

I can’t believe this episode of Adventure Time, and I mean that in the best way. Can we please take a moment to appreciate the fact that this CHILDREN’S show, (which airs at Seven PM Eastern Standard Time in the US) shown on a network that is entirely and undoubtedly produced for CHILDREN, just did an entire episode filled with subtext about an actual SERIOUS issue? 

Adventure Time just addressed the fact that at some point in your life, you might be faced with sexual assault, coercion, or even, as shown in the last two gifs, emotional manipulation and or abuse. And what did Adventure Time, this children’s show, have to say about it?

DON’T LET ANYONE DOMINATE YOU OR FORCE YOU TO DO SOMETHING YOU DON’T WANT TO.  

Adventure Time just told its audiences: “If some big galoot is trying to have his way with you, fight back. Don’t be afraid to show him that you are strong.” And most importantly? “Be prepared for this to happen, be ready to defend yourself." 

Last time I checked in with kids cartoons they were spouting crap like "Share with your friends”, “Help your parents clean up the house!” and, my personal favorite, “Treat others as you’d like to be treated! (Unless this is a show about sexy teen girls, in which case, be super judgmental and treat everyone around you like shit because that’s what "cool” characters do in shows, even if they’re made out to be bad guys.)“  But not Adventure Time, they were like "What do children need to know that is absolutely essential?” “Well, we could tell them to defend themselves if someone is forcing themselves upon them…” “Hey, yeah, sexual assault is a serious problem. Let’s do that.”  I MEAN HOW  MUCH MORE FUCKING AWESOME CAN THIS SHOW GET? 

– farewell, warden!

KNOCK... knock...

Yes, even if you're neurodivergent. I don't have ADHD, but it is allegedly a thing with ADHD as well. And I am autistic, and after a bunch of nerve damage (severe enough that I was basically housebound for 6 months), I had to completely rebuild my ability to get my brain to Do Things from what felt like nearly scratch.

This is specifically from ADDitude magazine, so written specifically for ADHD (and while focused in large part on kids, also definitely includes adults and adult activities):

Here's a link on this for autism (though as an editor wow did that title need an editor lol):

Resources on this aren't great because they're mainly aimed at neurotypical therapists or parents of neurdivergent children. There's worksheets you can do that help a lot too or thought work you can do to sort of build the neuro-infrastructure for tasks.

But a lot of the stuff is just like. fun. Pulling from both the first article and my own experience:

Play games or video games where you have to make a lot of decisions. Literally go make a ton of picrews or do online dress-up dolls if you like. It helped me.

Art, especially forms of art that require patience, planning ahead, or in contrast improvisation

Listening to longform storytelling without visuals, e.g. just listening regularly to audiobooks or narrative podcasts, etc.

Meditation

Martial arts

Sports in general

Board games like chess or Catan (I actually found a big list of what board games are good for building what executive functioning skills here)

Woodworking

Cooking

If you're bad at time management play games or video games with a bunch of timers

He played the role since he was a child and now is in his what 30s? 40s?

He knew there was never any real danger with Megamind in charge so decided to pursue something that’s a passion and doesn’t come naturally easy to him

The rest of Metro City treats MegaMind like a real, sincere, serious threat once he’s unopposed, and it takes them a while to learn otherwise. But Metro Man? He’s not surprised to see him and Roxanne working together, he doesn’t act like there’s any kind of threat beyond his cover being blown. He wastes no time in coming clean once the cat’s out of the bag. He’s been working with this guy all his life. Besides his own mental health, I get the impression that he also recognized that this would be good for MegaMind too.

I just really love how in a superhero pastiche that asks “Is the villain really so bad, and the hero really so good?” the answer is “no, but that’s okay”. It’s okay that Metro Man isn’t a paragon. It’s okay that he has to take care of himself. It’s okay for him to step down and live his own life. It wouldn’t be okay for him to leave people in danger, but it’s pretty clear he knew he wasn’t doing that.

And it carries to the end. MegaMind becomes the city’s new protector, but it’s clear that he’s still got some issues to work through, and he’s getting help working through them. He’s got a support network, he’s willing to put in the effort, but he’s not the shining paragon Metro Man was believed to be. And he doesn’t NEED to be that paragon. He’s still good. He’s still protecting people. And he’s not alone in it.