#critical fandom

Look, sometimes you're right on the money that the creators of something decided to DEFINITELY change the way a character is written- "Flanderization" IS a thing, after all. In the context of this post, I'm talking about how a writer retroactively favors a character and so gives them both too much screentime and/or acts like said character did nothing wrong. Favoritism in writing, especially in series, does happen--

it's what made later seasons Spongebob insufferable with how it made Squidward suffer for no reason and with no real follow through for Spongebob and Patrick themselves, Total Drama Island did the same thing with Duncan, it's DEFINITELY my point of contention with Starlight Glimmer and Discord in Friendship is Magic, people who hate Frozen -movienotaseriesIknow- often point to how they think the story department messed up in deciding Elsa was NOT a villain and rewrote the entire film because of it, to get away from the cartoons for a second, I believe that's what Whovians complain about in Steven Moffat's shows; his leads are written to be the best at everything ever and everyone else in the world is wrong to question that. They get 'sued up' so to speak.

tl;dr: favoritism. It's a thing. Discuss.

The point I'm trying to make with this post is that not all shows and series are written equally, be they episodic or serials.

Some series, kind of especially these days, are written with only a certain number of episodes in mind and so are conceptualized as a complete story from day one- and the characters as they are written and 'feel' more favored as the show goes on actually were written that way BEFORE fandom stepped in and/or the creator decided that their fav did nothing wrong. It happens. It happens with ships and couplings that 'take over canon' too.

While I of course understand the frustration of a character being excused by the narrative for their wrongdoings, like A LOT, what I'm saying is this:

I think Jax was always meant to have the impactful role written for him in Amazing Digital Circus,

Starco was in the books as early as season 1 of SVTFOE,

No CD-Call, Rebecca Sugar didn't steal the idea of the Diamonds changing their ways from fans- that's just where the show was always headed. Take it or leave it.

With my own cruddy media analysis, I'm always about asking myself what it is I WISH would happen in a story, vs the thing that NEEDED to happen. Because, in talking about series especially, you end up finding the source of a problem really early on that way- I think.

Game of Thrones could have had most of the beats of it's final season stay as is and they would have been good; Danaerys freaking out, the Starks being reunited, Bran being the king; with actual quality writing they could have been good choices. BUT THEN objectively, the whole 'capturing a white to show to Cersei to get her to sponsor us' and 'Tyrion is just da saddest boy and always right' were awful decisions. When you combined that stupidity with the otherwise poor writing of ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING ELSE, you have the disaster that was it's final season--

Sometimes, a critique doesn’t just get pushback it rattles. It spirals people. It makes them lash out. And it’s not because the critique was mean. It’s because it hit something real.

Here’s why my post about a fictional ship, no less hit a nerve.

I didn’t insult. I exposed.

I didn’t say Zutara fans were delusional.

I said the pairing, while popular in fanon, wasn’t emotionally compatible or supported by canon.

That kind of calm analysis is more threatening than insults because it’s harder to dismiss.

People couldn’t play the victim, so they called me manipulative instead.

I challenged a deeper fantasy.

Zutara isn’t just a ship it’s a romanticization of emotional intensity, healing through pain, and being chosen after conflict.

My post said:

“That’s not intimacy. That’s trauma-colored projection.”

To someone who ties their identity to that narrative? That feels personal.

I said the past mattered.

I said Zuko being the heir to Katara’s colonizers isn’t just background noise. It’s baked into their power dynamic.

I said forgiveness ≠ romance.

I said Katara didn’t need to kiss the Fire Nation to complete her arc.

That’s uncomfortable. It disrupts the fairytale.

So instead of examining that discomfort, they attacked the person holding up the mirror.

I refused to center a man’s redemption over a woman’s peace.

Zuko’s redemption is valid.

Katara’s forgiveness is powerful.

But I said:

Katara doesn’t owe him her heart to prove she’s healed.

That’s a threat to anyone who thinks a “good man who changed” deserves the girl. And they called that misogyny. Think about that.

I stayed calm, and they lost control.

I didn’t yell. I didn’t name call.

I responded point-by-point, clearly, confidently.

And when people can’t win with logic or receipts, they fall back on:

-Tone policing

-Fake feminism

-Guilt tactics

-Character assassination

Because if they can’t discredit your argument, they’ll try to discredit you.

The truth? It hit.

This wasn’t about ships.

It was about the emotional stories people use to feel seen. And I critiqued one of those stories and stayed standing.

That’s why they deleted comments.

That’s why they reblogged to spiral.

That’s why they called critique manipulation.

Not because I was wrong.

No, they’re not.

Jello was an unlikable ego-driven pos about his own takes but that’s not what his problem is; his problem was actively trying to do an English translation of an anime where he purposefully wanted to go off script and change things because he didn’t like it originally. That? That SUCKS. 

I’m sorry but his thinking Adventure Time in the height of its seasonal rott was bad, disliking characters like Ludo or Maple Pines, or the dialogue in kingdom hearts- those aren’t new takes unique to Jello. Those are like…his opinion, man. And say your dislike of him started with his takes, then make it about how he conducted himself as a critic/riffer and not the fact that he happened to dislike your special interest. All walks of people will do the latter and you have to cope (trust me, I know). It’s when someone is really bad at being a decent critic of your special interest- harboring bad faith, encouraging bad behavior from fellow critical fans, showing outright disrespect towards the creators -that you need to pull out the “so and so is wrong and here’s why” counter-takes. 

MrEnter isn’t a lolcow for disliking later season Spongebob, classic Simpsons or Turning Red. He was/is a bad person for antagonizing people, not getting and proudly standing by how he didn’t get the point of the stuff he was covering, while also showing a snobbish bigoted side. His fans up and bothered Spongebob writers on twitter which is how he backed off talking about that show. Bro said with his FULL CHEST and not a hint of irony, that not only should Turning Red be more sad because 2002 - 9/11, aparrantly, but more importantly implied that TR was unnecessary because “we HAVE asian characters/teen girl puberty shows already” and showed American Dragon and Braceface as examples. The man thinks that diversity in media is unnecessary if there’s already existing diverse media. I guess he and I have Mary & Max which means we don't need anything about autistic people ever again. We're good. We had one.

He outright said, in his ‘Homer Badman’ review, “I would rather be r@ped than accused of r@pe”; he DOES NOT understand or care about the topic at hand and that’s what made him a bad media critic. Or, at least, he did. If the man’s let go of anti-masker/antitrans/antiBLM stuff at this point, good for him…but it will always be what he was saying through his reviews, not the fact that his reviews were negative, that ACTUALLY mattered. 

Lily CD-Call Orchard is another prime example. Girl’s allowed, especially as a gaytrans woman, to not like the gayrocks in space show for how it handled genocide or give Korra a pass on its writing because Korrasami was a last-minute implication. She and SO MANY others are entitled to those opinions and their takes backing up their opinions.

The issue with Lorch’s reviews were always in HOW confrontational and cruel they were to the series’ creators and fans. When called out for fanning lies that Sugar took ideas from fans or ‘jokingly’ calling Sugar a fascist…Lily didn’t walk back, add a disclaimer of clarification or try and take any responsibility at all, even for sheer self-preservation’s sake; “oh, SHIT! Guys, nonono I mean it I do not think the creator of SU is a Nazi!”; she JUST doubled down and never apologized/cared that she spread real harm. And all of that’s before you get into the stuff she did besides her reviews...

Idk man, I just kinda feel like it should be: 

JelloApocalypse = Active anime mistranslator, secondarily dickwad who hates Mabel Pines for being a preteen kid in a kids show, ect/ 

MysteriousMrEnter = Anti-masker/BLM/trans whiner, secondarily doesn’t get or care to get whatever he’s talking about unless it fits his perspective, ect.

(Put down your pitchforks. This is not what you think.)

Let’s get one thing out of the way: When I say “a misunderstood love,” I don’t mean we misunderstood it. Oh no, no. I mean the writers misunderstood it. Horrifically. Tragedy-of-Shakespearean-proportions misunderstood it.

And before you do what the internet does best and rages before reading the fine print, I absolutely do NOT ship Five and Lila. The exact opposite actually.

I'm posting this almost a full year after The Umbrella Academy Season 4 dropped. Why? I needed the distance. I needed the bile in my throat to settle. I needed the residual nausea from watching Five and Lila kiss to dull so I could return—not as a fangirl armed with rage, but as a critic armed with... well, still rage, but also analysis.

Here's a clearer image. My phone camera is terrible!

Here's a link with more info if interested:

Through the Walls: A Survivor’s Take on TharnType

Why Read or Watch TharnType

Because it’s not just a BL, it’s a messy, human drama with teeth.

If you want squeaky clean fluff, this is not your show. If you want something that forces you to sit with contradictions; attraction and revulsion, trauma and tenderness, hate and love crashing into each other in a tiny dorm room, then this one’s for you.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s problematic. And it’s also deeply relatable if you’ve ever had walls so high you didn’t think anyone could climb them, and then someone did.

You watch TharnType because:

It’s not afraid of showing the ugly side of healing. Type lashes out, Tharn screws up, Techno blurts out the truth at the worst possible times. It’s not tidy, and that’s the point.

It’s got humor where you least expect it. (Porn group chat? Legendary. Techno being the accidental truth-teller? Iconic.)

It’s about care; real, flawed, complicated care. Survivors will recognize that hunger for someone to see past the thorns and still choose you.

It’s about chemistry. The actors don’t just play enemies-to-lovers; they radiate it. That pull makes you want to scream and swoon in the same breath.