Penny

The Dangerous Act of Zim Squishing by BlueXCanary

I don't like Test Tube in Season 4 so far. I think there are a few high points, but so far she has largely been relegated to the role of Fan's sidekick— always the first to enable him, the person who "knows [him] so well" the person he trusts more than anyone "to face a challenge head-on", the mother to his child, his literal assistant moderator, and so on. Her relationship with Fan has taken precedence over any other motivations she has had in the past, and their relationship is deeply unhealthy in a way that, rather than being compelling to me, is stale and difficult to watch because the writing seems unwilling to fully commit to it? I don't think the season is trying to portray their relationship as perfect, but so far it feels like the writers want to have their cake and eat it too, by addressing some of the flaws in their relationship in rather ambiguous ways that allow most of the audience to come out of episodes thinking their relationship right now is still ultimately a wholesome one. It gives off the impression that the audience is meant to root for their relationship, that it must continue and we have to accept that it is the way it is because it is "special", and the way that always seems to manifest is with Fan's feelings taking up more space in the story as it tries way too hard to get the audience to sympathise with him, and with Test Tube always being there to support him, but little of her own feelings being explored beyond that. I think their reliance on each other in season 2 is nice and I love them clicking immediately because of their surface-level similarities (and how they end up going on to show us that they are actually very different people), and I have come to appreciate certain negative aspects of their relationship colouring Test Tube's behaviour in season 3, but their relationship in season 4 feels painfully normative and contains so many negative aspects of "traditional" heterosexual relationship dynamics as they are often portrayed in media, even without them being a romantic couple. I also don't know how I can expect Test Tube to be handled well this season when Inanimate Insanity doesn't have much of a history with intentionally considering the way society in real life treats women and the ways the story should mirror or challenge that. I hate to be flippant here, but if I wanted to watch a brilliant woman pour herself into a relationship that wasn't even serving her while everyone gushed about how cute she and her counterpart are together I would just go outside,

more test tube angst because she drives me crazyyyy

Your Friend Stands Behind You

Dib Halloween A-plot: Boy tampers with dimensions beyond mankind’s knowledge/reach and begins to disappear into a hellish mirror world of his own twisted imagination, inadvertently also opening a gateway that threatens to allow his nightmare creatures to cross the veil into the normal world.

Mandatory reminder if he were a sane middle schooler that actually knew when to hop off the the single interest hobbyhorse and just do normal childhood stuff he could literally be playing video games like his sibling. Or being insufferable on his in-universe equivalent to Reddit. Or riding a bike or learning how to carry a convo with other human beings or something. All of what I’ve brought out above is presumably side quests he finds to unwind and enjoy himself when he’s taking a break from the war on Zim. This is his downtime and I would never deprive him of his enrichment survival horror. If he is not going on his walkies through the shady alleyways and past the barriers between this mortal coil and what hideous things lurk beyond, then it’s a serious sign he is in poor mental health.

Mari and Sunny as cats ! :-3c

✅ “do they know its legal now” suggests the characters are stupid, poorly suggests that this is the only barrier to their relationship—both of which are funny as hell

absol art with a lil bit of liminal space vibe because i love absol and whatever aesthetic this is

they’re all so proud of you for trying your best <3