#jac rant

So Netflix is gonna have 2 He-Man shows coming soon, and I want to be super hyped for them. But I’m a cold-hearted cynic, so I can’t help but hold my heart close to my chest and say, “we’ll see.” I wanna say I’m cautiously optimistic, that while my expectations are low, I’m hoping that they’ll be fun shows that I’ll enjoy, but honestly, but it’s 2021 and I’m not going into these expecting I’ll get that fix I’m looking for.

Revelations is a continuation of the original 80s cartoon, while the latter is supposed to be a CGI Reboot. Confusing, and I might’ve mixed the two up, but this COULD be an ideal scenario. Something for old school fans and something to aim at new fans. Everybody wins, and Netflix and Mattel will win.

But we’ve heard these song and dances before. A continuation of a previous, popular series?

Now don’t get me wrong, I actually liked the final season of Samurai Jack that we got on Adult Swim, but I don’t think it’s unfair to say it was rather rocky.

And a reboot of a previous series?

Yeah, this was a reboot and boy was it just awful.

And I’ve made it clear that, while I enjoyed Season 1 of She-Ra, its final season left such a bad taste in my mouth that it legitimately soured my enjoyment for the previous seasons.

Now, that’s not to say that any kind of reboot or continuation of a previous cartoon is doomed to failure from the get go. Heck, the fact I liked the Samurai Jack continuation on its own disproves that point. And, who knows, maybe I’ll be proven wrong and both shows will be shows I grow to love. It’s just that at the moment, I’m not feeling the hype or any confidence in either of these shows.

"Ｂｕｔ ｄｉｄｎ＇ｔ ｙｏｕ ｈｅａｒ？ Ｋｅｖｉｎ Ｓｍｉｔｈ ｉｓ ｂｅｈｉｎｄ Ｒｅｖｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓ！ Ｈｅ ｈａｄ ａ ｈａｎｄ ｉｎ Ｄｕｃｋ Ｄｏｄｇｅｒｓ ａｎｄ Ｊａｙ ＆ Ｓｉｌｅｎｔ Ｂｏｂ Ｓｔｒｉｋｅ Ｂａｃｋ ａｎｄ－"

Yeah, I’m gonna have to ask you to shut up. Cause I HATE that mindset. That because Person X was behind Product A, then Product B will also be good. Have we forgotten Frank Miller?

The guy who made this?

Also made this.

Yeah, okay, it’s totally possible that someone who worked/made something really good can make something good again. I ain’t saying that is somehow impossible. But, like, don’t use that as some kind of excuse. Don’t try and use their previous work as a shield; they shouldn’t do that either. 

This gut feeling I have for the upcoming He-Man shows aren’t born from not knowing the creatives working behind it, for good or for ill, it’s just that: a gut feeling. I might be right, but hopefully I’m wrong. 

I think both shows will completely miss why The Masters of The Universe franchise is so inspiring.

I’m worried that they’ll try and force a gay subplot between Beast Man and Skeletor, making it incredibly toxic, and banking on people liking it cause shippers gotta ship.

I’m worried they’ll try to force a political message in the most heavy handed way possible and completely missing the POINT of the intended message and muddy it up.

I’m worried they’ll turn Clamp Champ into a funny black sidekick.

Hell, I’ve heard rumors that Revelations will take the Sword of Power away from Adam and give it to Teela.

And I’m sorry, but...this is wrong.

This is absolutely toxic.

And yet everybody is just eating this up.

Now I get it; Season 5 has done everything in its power to show Catra’s redemption. And I gotta admit, it’s more than I ever thought she would be getting. I went into Season 5 afraid Catra would just get a free redemption card, cause that’s just been what’s popular in animation lately: people can just be forgiven at the drop of a hat without any problems. So because Catra had gotten scolded when she slips into her old self, that means she’s been redeemed, right?

I mean, Frosta struck her! See, she’s not getting an easy ride! She’s gotta work for her redemption! :D

Except...no.

Catra’s trials and tribulations are totally artificial and it’s mostly kicked off just cause she ‘sacrificed’ herself to save Glimmer from Horde Prime, when everybody could’ve seen from a country away that Catra would be saved; she wouldn’t die or anything, she’s been Noelle Stevenson’s creator’s pet since Season 1.

And fine, it maybe makes sense for Glimmer to let her in. And maybe for Bow and Adora. But Entrapta forgives her for sending Catra to Beast Island? Frosta gets in only 1 punch and that’s it, almost no side glances or open hostility? Oh, Perfuma scolds her, but after that? They good.

Even Scorpia? After all the abuse that Catra put her through, Scorpia scoops her up again and hugs her?

Oh, but it’s okay, cause Catra knows how to be a good friend now! :D

“Ⓨⓞⓤ'ⓡⓔ ⓙⓤⓢⓣ ⓐⓝ ⓐⓝⓖⓡⓨ, ⓞⓛⓓ ⓕⓐⓡⓣ ⓒⓐⓤⓢⓔ ⓨⓞⓤ ⓓⓞⓝ'ⓣ ⓛⓘⓚⓔ Ⓒⓐⓣⓡⓐ! Ⓢⓣⓞⓟ ⓖⓔⓣⓣⓘⓝⓖ ⓐⓝⓖⓡⓨ ⓞⓥⓔⓡ ⓐ ⓚⓘⓓ'ⓢ ⓢⓗⓞⓦ!”

You know what? You’re right, this IS a kid’s show!

And because it’s a Kid’s show, I don’t want it to be telling kids to just forgive people just cause they’re sorry! It was a problem with Steven Universe and it’s a problem here! But let’s not derail this rant.

Regardless of whether or not she’s your kitty waifu, Catra has passed over a moral event horizon in the show. Let’s ignore the fact she’s abused two of my favorite characters, she’s practically signed the death warrant for both her own forces and the Rebellion’s because of what she’s done in Season 4. She doesn’t have a body count as big as Hordac’s, but she’s still a war criminal and she doesn’t pay for any of them. Hell, she’s responsible for the death of Glimmer’s mother!

But awe, Catra’s trying to change. She’s a good kitty now~

Let’s not forget all the times that she’s tried to kill them over the course of the series. 

Ⓑⓤⓣ ⓢⓗⓔ ⓦⓐⓢ ⓑⓔⓘⓝⓖ ⓜⓐⓝⓘⓟⓤⓛⓐⓣⓔⓓ ⓑⓨ Ⓢⓗⓐⓓⓞⓦ Ⓦⓔⓐⓥⓔⓡ!

Bitch, from Episode 1, Catra’s known what they were doing and didn’t care! She was willing to lead tanks to battle and destroy villages for the Hoard because ‘that’s what they do’.

But here’s the ACTUAL point of this rant and why Catradora is so toxic: because it shows with minimal effort, an abuser can not only make up with their victims, but can also have a relationship with them.

This hurts me on such a personal level, because I’ve seen that in my life. I’ve seen that kind of thing happen over and over again, of an abuser just continuously manipulating their victim and the victim letting them in. The abuser goes right back to abusing them and it just repeats all over again in a vicious cycle, where the victim keeps getting worse and worse every time it happens, but the abuser-of course they don’t care. It’s a system where they solely benefit, so of course they won’t change. They don’t have to change. They can act as nasty as they want cause they know if they just say they’ll change, they’ll be let back in.

That’s what Catradora is; it’s Catra, an abuser, saying she’ll change and claim to be working on their faults so Adora will let her back into her life. Catra doesn’t have to make any big changes, she never has to do any more than say ‘sorry’ as though that’s enough to make up for everything she’s done.

But it’s okay, cause lesbians. 

Now, I’m not a woman; I’m a man. A bi man, but I can’t claim to stand as some kind of authority for how people should feel, but shouldn’t ya’ll be offended that your representation comes down to a pair of background characters and a textbook toxic relationship?

Should we really be clapping that our progressive kid’s show is telling kids that as long as you say sorry, you can treat people like shit as much as you want and you’ll still have a place in their lives, no matter how badly they’ve hurt someone?

This part of my post is a rant. Turn back while you can!

I get what the show was going for, and I applaud Sugar and co for wanting to tell a story about coping with stress and taking care of your mental health. I think that’s something important for people of all ages to learn. Both the young kids Cartoon Network aims for and the older audience who either grew up with the show or came into watching the show after could all use that lesson.

BUT! On the opposite hand, I feel the show sacrificed a lot to make this point and the internal narrative suffered. It feels rushed at times, yet slow at others. There’s a lot of points in the series where I think ‘wow, this is interesting’, but the show cuts it short and we’re never gonna see it expanded cause that was the show’s final hour. Or we get smaller snippets that just don’t seem to line up with what we saw in the previous series-a problem Steven Universe classic had a problem with, but it’s pretty amazing just how bad a problem Future has it, breaking its own continuity’s back for the sake of spinning this exact narrative.

Let’s start small: here’s an episode that crushes my dreams where Steven wants to propose to Connie and before he gets the chance to ask Garnet, she splits into Ruby and Sapphire so they can go off and do their own thing. On paper, that doesn’t sound too bad, cause we get more Ruphire! 

...Except this goes against the characterization they had. If anything, they were borderline dysfunctional when they were apart.

And this entire plot hinges on Garnet not waiting, like, 2 minutes just to explain to Steven ‘no, don’t propose to Connie. She won’t make you feel complete’. Which is a good lesson to teach, and the episode that follows this is also a good lesson to teach, but that’s my point: the narrative is sacrificed in order to preach to the audience. 

But now, let’s REALLY talk about character assassination. There’s an episode where Greg tries to help Steven find what he wants and it leads to Greg taking Steven to his childhood home-AKA, his parent’s house. 

The differences between how Greg was raised and how he raised Steven is night and day and we get a lot of insight to Greg’s past and relationship with his family. He ditched the family name for ‘Universe’ cause of some random song he heard, he lived in a pretty standard suburb home, and had a pretty normal upbringing. Steven is actually envious of his father, because he had a normal life and had a normal family and didn’t have to deal with the issues of having to deal with homicidal aliens and dying almost every week. And Greg...

Just doesn’t get why Steven is so upset! Steven wishes he had what Greg had, but Greg wanted Steven to have the freedom to be whoever he wanted to be-even if that means he never went to school and never went to the hospital. The episode ends with him just being so upset with Greg and it’s heartbreaking for me to see.

Now, Greg has never been the BEST Dad, considering he’s mostly been a deadbeat and let Steven be raised by a group of space rocks who more or less kept using him as their personal therapist. But, you know what? As badly as Greg was written in that last moment, the real character assassination...was of Steven’s.

Let’s rewind a bit: Greg’s upbringing was normal, but it was restrictive. His parents never let him discover himself, he wasn’t allowed to listen to the music he wanted to nor did they let him grow out his hair. Greg was miserable, so miserable he ran away and changed his name because to him, Greg DeMayo wasn’t someone he wanted to be. And we see in the episode that Greg wrote letters to his parents to reconnect with them, but they were never opened. They never responded or heard him out. Greg wanted his freedom, but his parents cut all ties with him when it was clear he wouldn’t fall in line.

And Steven...

Just doesn’t care. He completely ignores Greg’s point of view on the matter because he just doesn’t agree with him. And I’m not saying Steven should agree with Greg, and I still think he has the right to be upset with his father since Steven has poor social skills, can’t really relate with a lot of people his own age, doesn’t have a standard education, and hasn’t even gone to a hospital until the episode prior.

But here’s the reason why I think they assassinated Steven’s character for the narrative: Steven’s greatest character trait-more than his powers, his musical talents, or his crippling depression, is his empathy. Steven’s always had the biggest heart and always listened out to others and their problems. Even when they didn’t want his help, Steven’s always been willing to extend an arm to them-friend and foe a like. 

Naive? Yes. But it’s staggering how age didn’t give Steven wisdom. Future focuses on Steven’s powers and his anxiety and seems to have completely forgotten his strong sense of empathy for the sake of pushing a story about that anxiety and stress and depression and all that awful stuff...

And boiled it all down to Steven just needing a hug.

...I hate this pic. I hate this pic a lot. XD

Not just cause of the poor lighting on my laptop's shitty camera. I mean, that's obviously a problem. But, like, I mostly hate how I did Blackfire's skin. All I had to do was to just get the orange and I grabbed the fucking 'mango' pencil. I made this mistake, like, twice before and I still fucked it up.