anyways i've keep making jokes about gameoverse but genuinely i already got some ideas on how to turn the show from "cheesy and a little fun but overall Pretty Mid" to "wait holy shit this has a lot of potential to become a masterpiece" cuz there's plenty to like about what we've been shown this first episode... but also a lot of things VERY MUCH holding it back. artstyle's pretty cutes tho. i spent a lot of time writing down this stuff so here we goooo. warning long
• the intro is kinda weird, Kit sees her entire world being destroyed after achieving victory, then this mysterious sinister bishie vampire dude (his name is Dusk) shows up, and... she immediately trusts him and takes his hand??? look if i ever saw my world dissolving into a fine mist and then one second later this random spooky guy shows up my panicked ass would IMMEDIATELY clock him as the one responsible, it's basic cause-and-effect! and i bet Kit would feel the same way too! she'd point her megaman blaster at him and go "w-who are you?? w-what have you done!?!?? stop!!!" and he'd just say something like "none of this was ever my doing. in fact, i am here to keep you safe, not leave you for dead. this world— no, this universe is not what it seems. its natural order is a cruel beast, and it is my and others' job to forever halt its inexhaustible wrath. now, come, if you wish to save others from that same heartless fate." this dialogue might be a tad bit verbose but you get the idea
• and obviously Kit is still frozen terrified and Not Processing Jack Shit From Immenent Traumatic Shock, then Kaboodle proceeds to attack Dusk out of defense before he looses his composure and goes "does it look like you even have a choice?!? you're all going to die here!!!" and then instantly snatches them both away and disappears without their agreement, as the world they left behind crumbles...
• okay, going a bit earlier from that, i think it would be a lot more interesting (and also logical) if the game worlds didn't end after the final boss — but during the credits roll! it would be way more scarier and tragic if the end of the world happened during a big celebration going on in the cat village after Kit and Kaboodle saved everyone from the evil robot invasion or whatever. Kit is helpless to watch as the people around her are frozen in place, with their faces and forms glitching into nothingness from the red light, including her parents...
• present day, Kit is on the ship explaining the destructive logic behind game worlds to a freshly-rescued Gobbles (who's still using juice boxes and ipad baby tactics to cope with The Horrors), narratively as a way to more naturally weave in Important Exposition into the story i guess. also it's heavily implied that this isn't the first time she had to explain the rules of the universe to someone else, from her slightly exhausted "get on with it" demeanor despite her heavily sympathizing with Gobbles' shared experiences. Dusk also shows up but as a mysterious holographic mission control from the ship's dashboard, because it makes perfect sense. Kaboodle is still a huge jerk because it helps builds friction, and also i think it's better to treat it as the crippling character flaw it really is rather than a way for the writer to make other characters the butt of the joke.
• in fact, there's huge potential in giving character flaws to the two protagonists that stem from their shared trauma, but it's barely ever utilized. starting with Kaboodle, i feel it's pretty easy to spin his asshole tendencies into a toxic coping mechanism, maybe he was just a little quick-tempered and cocky back during his adventure with Kit, but after his world's destruction he's now devolved into lashing out when facing confrontation out of his absolute fear of losing control and autonomy in situations he cannot predict, stopping the world from ending is his number one priority and he will beat your ass if he feels you impede that goal. he's also become increasingly clingy towards Kit — his only "family" — to the point where any separation anxiety will make him even more emotionally disregulated, and the fear of her dying...
• Kit meanwhile would probably become more overprotective, her heroic tendencies exaggerated into a "duty" that puts her at the brink of overwork and exhaustion, she tries masking herself with the upbeat hero attitude from yesteryear but it crumbles as fast as it's put on, her "straight-man" act with the formally more comedic Kaboodle has turned into a tiring game of playing friendly mediator with him whenever he goes on berating someone again. she puts way too much responsibility towards the safety of the universe onto her shoulders and it causes her to break. she also has some clinginess and attachment issues like Kaboodle, due to losing her friends and family, and despite it arguably being even worse she still has a better job with hiding it. in the end these two inadvertently feed into each other's bad traits, despite (and especially because of) still seeing one another as inseparable best friends, and it's only through their encounters with more gameworld denizens that they can truly begin to heal...
• with these flaws, there could be some obvious friction with Gobbles, with Kaboodle mocking him for his childish interests and tendencies, while Kit being the overprotective one runs in to comfort and defend him — but inadvertently infantilizes him in the process, despite him actually having a lot of inquisitivity and emotional intelligence underneath his childlike demeanor. there's some of that dynamic in the original show but it's more like "see how dumb and stoopid this dino from a baby game is??? SEE?????" and doesn't actually do any exploring into the characters on that matter, but here i want it to actually be something the characters actively have to learn from instead of it just being low-hanging-fruit insult comedy. and also taking things a little more seriously would make Gobbles' eventual growth into the team's genuine emotional anchor/unconventional smart guy feel a lot more impactful and resonant. damn even without these rewrites he's still probably the best written character in this entire show it's not even fucking close we love you Gobbles
• oh, and i'd also remove any references to "video games" as part of the worldbuilding, like "game worlds" or "gameoverse", they'll just use "worlds" and "universe" cuz that's simpler. the creator wanted this to be "a show about a game world but it's a regular show and not a show where the games are EVERYTHING" (which when i say it aloud it sounds rly fucking confusing) so why the hell would he do that. anyways i think there would be a lot more tension if the universe's nature as a far more "digital" realm than initially believed was not common knowledge (only we the audience know it's Games, to everyone else it's just typical sci-fi universal weirdness), and the characters would have to spend several episodes not knowing much before learning of any relevantions relating to their worlds being "games", in case there's any future plot twists where it turns out the "gameoverse" was purely made as an AI entertainment program to elate higher cosmic beings or something
• now onto the villain group, Syntax. if their job is to actively help the hero "save" the world, why would they look so blatantly evil??? they should look like good guys! with lovely heroic colors such as whites and blues and golds instead of the menacing black and red we've seen a million times! wouldn't that be more "trustworthy"? and the heroes of Farcade could don that red-and-black bad guy look, because a role reversal on "good" and "evil" aesthetics is always super fun, and is so obviously thematically fitting with the whole "help the villain to save the world" thing. i mean look at Dusk, he's on the heroes' side but he's clearly got the typical gothic villain archetype look down!
• i don't know what i'd change about the villains (besides making them. yknow. more heroic-looking for the Theming. and also give Fold a scribble face a la Doodlebob instead of Kaboodle's face ctrl-V'd onto him) but hooollllyyyy shit i would change so much about Crab Girl. why did they include Crab Girl. she is not funny in the slightest. she just says "i'm crab girl" and acts stupid and that's it. she feels entirely made for the creator to go "haha, look how ugly and stupid she is! look how unfeminine and brutish this female character is! haha!!!", and that is the lowest form of comedy ever, like genuinely, it tells me all i need to know about whoever made this fucking show and why i should never speak to them whatsoever. anyways i would either get rid of her entirely or just switch the joke from "hurr durr i'm crab girl 🤤" to her entirely acting like a super cutesy peppy anime girl voiced by a typical anime girl dub VA despite the fact that her design is visually monstrous and uncute. because gap moe is always funnier than blatant punching-down. spiritually she is the future protagonist of a shojo romance
• Flappers also feels very redundant, like having three of the four members of your core group be annoying comedy relief archetypes seems... very imbalanced, as far as main character dynamics go. idk what I'd do besides turning him from happy-go-lucky idiot with perpetual derp-face to... i guess a typical shonen protagonist? extremely hot-blooded, loves eating, loves fighting, loves friends, and is also dumb but in a different way from other characters; that kinda of personality would be pretty funny to see on a dolphin, and also maybe it could remind Kit of her times as a young and inexperienced yet excitable hero, which would be kinda sad. though the point of the original episode was that it was not obvious at all that he was supposed to be his world's predetermined "hero", sooooooo maybe find some workarounds around that? also i thought about making her a girl because ✨Cast Gender Equality✨, and also having more goofysilly female designs to balance out all the gooner-type designs is good
• give Kit and Miss Information diver suits instead of those stupid dinky bikinis lol
• keep Snappers alive. his design is way too cool to be killed off. hell maybe even make him part of the Farcade team, it would be so fun to see him and Flappers beefing with eachother as rivals, having to reluctantly work together and eventually become friends despite the universe originally designating them as mortal enemies, cuz they're the only ones they even have left from that ocean world of theirs... it could really work for a greater story theme of breaking away from the roles and fate set upon you by the universe, the archetypes designated from the games you are a part of......
• idk maybe make Mayhem and Malice like... actually interesting instead of just being Anti-Kit and Anti-Kaboodle. they're booooooringggg
• and. oh wait. holy shit you could redesign Kaboodle to look like a little kitty bell. and when Kit transforms into her super suit he could turn into a little bell collar around her neck. holy shit i'm a genius. rubberross why the FUCK didn't you ever think this up. you spent over ten years crafting this show's concepts and ideas and yet this never even crossed your fucking mind. that's why i don't have any faith in you. goddamnit