Writing and Complaining about my Writing

I didn't include Gravity Falls, since I think it's part of a different genre.

Edit: to clarify what "genre" means here, obviously some of these shows are very different. However, I feel like they are all part of a resurgence in Western Cartoons that largely happened due to ATLA. When deciding which shows to include, there were three criteria I used:

Is the show made by ATLA alumni

Do the show's creators say it was heavily influenced by ATLA?

Is a show centered around action, adventure, complex character dynamics, and worldbuilding?

I could talk at length on dissecting these images and other popular depictions, but in the interest of brevity and staying on message Ill just summarize. In 2016 Orcs are monstrous humans, in 2024 they are buff elves. Ill admit that part of m dislike of the change is just a departure from things I liked growing up. Warcraft II was a big part of my childhood and introduction to Orcs, and Ill always love them that way best. But there is more to it than that. I understand that a lot of this change comes from a place of reimagining Orcs beyond simple evil archetypes, to avoid the potential for unfortunate racial or xenophobic undertones, and so on. I think that's a good and noble thing. Fantasy tropes are modern myths, we can and should shape them and build upon them. But I don't feel like this really does that. What does it say that to make the Orcs less 'problematic' that they need to become elves? Why can't they keep their bestial jaws, their somehow both ape and swine-like features? I remember once, on this very website, seeing someone repost a bunch of art of very elven looking Orcs with a comment to the effect of "Who says Orcs have to be big and buff?" and framed itself as somehow, frankly, woke for the depictions. As though saying "I have made the thing slender and elegant and now its beautiful" was somehow deviant, and not the most mainstream of takes. There also comes with it a kind of strange erasure, a kind of white-washing of Orc lore. I think its because if we want to imagine Orcs in the frame work of modern conceptions of race they definitely aren't "fantasy white" so they must be "fantasy POC" and therefore anything wicked is a big no-no. They can't be demon-blooded marauders, they need to be misunderstood. Ironically, I feel we just reinvent the Noble Savage but green.

me one week later: i must draw catrapta

me five years later: i think ive gotten over catrapta since it's not canonical and now i only care about the canon pairings

me: i have just deleted my reddit and now i am bored

me: i must read all the entrapta fanfic