The Blazing DracoGriff

First of all I'm gonna say the quiet part out loud - I hated the ending. Yes, it's probably bias, but Jax's abstraction isn't the only reason it all fell flat for me even though it's the biggest one.

Short warning: I'm using he/him for Jax here since the show uses those pronouns for him, but also because it's somewhat relevant in my rewrite of his friendship with Ribbit.

Look, I get why some people like the ending Jax got, but personally I just felt like it was a bit...sudden. I honestly disliked the ending for several reasons but, again, one of the biggest ones is that I feel like killing Jax and bringing Caine back was an awful writing choice and didn't feel like a deserved plot twist.

Everything up until that point was treating death and deletion really carefully, the message seemed to be to continue rebuilding and growing even after losing everything. Caine suddenly reappearing to fix Pomni felt like such a deus ex machina that it caught me completely off guard. It was a really out of place decision considering the show as a whole.

Like, imagine if in episode 3 Gummigoo suddenly came back alive to save Pomni from her breakdown or something instead of what we got with Kinger. Or if Abel suddenly came back in episode 8 to stop Caine from tormenting the cast. Like, come on, really?

And the thing is I really like Caine, the moments he had with the cast felt really sweet and wholesome. But they were just moments, they didn't fit with the rest of the story and felt more like wholesome 100 keanu reeves moment than an actual segment that belongs to the rest of the story lol

It makes episode 8 feel so pointless on a rewatch. I don't understand why some writers want to focus more on shocking their audience than end the story in the direction it was leading up to. Caine's death no longer feels as tragic and as heartbreaking as it once did and one thing I personally value a lot is being able to really absorb emotionally heavy moments like that again on a rewatch.

I'm also probably biased but Jax felt, and I would really really hate to say this, a little bit retconned in episode 9. Not that anything he said or did specifically was OOC, but everything from the way he switched up to his abstraction felt so fast that it ended up feeling a bit unrealistic. The way he suddenly switched up on Ribbit and Kaufmo felt a bit cartoonishly evil if that makes sense, like I find it really hard to believe he could be so close and so affectionate with someone for months or even years just to literally ditch them after like. 1 conversation.

The way Jax reacted didn't feel like someone trying to push someone else away, in fact the writing just made him look like a total idiot. Because the problem is that Ribbit wasn't even prying. And I get it, I get his character and his insecurity, but it's so confusing watching him go from point A to point X in under 10 minutes. And if the secret is that he's a trans woman, why not just say it out loud? Because the conversation made it look like he was afraid of her telling people he shoved his mom to the ground, which is a lot less embarrassing for him, because he's afraid people will laugh at and mock him.

Also, Jax's friendship with Ribbit was sweet, but the fact she abstracted because of him when she's been there longer then him and was friends with Kaufmo and Ragatha before him honestly made her look strangely dependant on his affection. And I get it, there's people like this IRL, but it's just such a tired trope to me and it's disappointing to see another female character be treated as a plot device in this way instead of having her own struggles and issues. I really hate when the female best friend is so dependant on the male character's love and attention despite her not having any realistic reasons to be.

My boyfriend told me to include my own take on what should have happened so here, it's a bit imperfect, but picture this instead:

The conversation between Jax and Ribbit in her room largely stays the same. He tells her his fight between him and his mom, how guilty he feels about it all. But this time, Ribbit asks him what he told his mom that was so scary and personal. Jax is reluctant and nervous, but he’s felt so safe with Ribbit that he allows himself to take this one small risk, already feeling vulnerable and wanting to finally get it off his chest. 

Reluctantly, Jax tells Ribbit that he told his mom he wishes he was born a woman. Ribbit pauses, processing what he told her. She makes a sympathetic face and gently puts her bow on his head. She tells him it's okay, his secret is safe with her, and she won't tell anyone. That segment goes about the same way, and when Kaufmo knocks on the door Jax immediately threatens Ribbit that if she tells anyone he would give her Hell for it. Ribbit, kind of intimidated, agrees so she can keep the peace between her and Jax. 

But, say Ribbit is the kind of person who wants to help people, and she genuinely believes that if Jax transitioned in the circus he would feel happier. This is a major, fatal character flaw for her that would unfortunately change everything between her and Jax. 

It explains her getting close with him too, because she's naturally motivated to help others through difficult times. This could also be a habit she picked up from being raised religious, that she has to save people from their demons or whatever. So she starts to subtly try to encourage Jax to try on more feminine clothing when they're hanging out alone. Nothing too pushy, just a sort of “hey wanna do each other’s makeup?” or “this skirt looks awful on me but I bet you’d be killing it!”

It’s only lighthearted fun, so Jax at first laughs it off like she's joking and eventually switches the subject, in his perspective setting a quiet boundary that he didn’t want to continue on with this whole thing. Ribbit gets a bit discouraged, but she agrees to talk about something else. 

But as the weeks go by, Ribbit is starting to get more and more...pushy. She wants to help Jax be the person he deserves to be, so she starts to confront him more and more about the secret, and Jax starts to dig his heels deeper and deeper. Come one day when they're all on an adventure, and somehow they both end up separated and Ribbit gets Jax to wear a dress against his own will similar to how Gangle did it. She wants him to just SEE himself in it, just try it on you’ll change your mind!

And Jax. freaks. the fuck. out. 

He COMPLETELY crashes out against Ribbit, asking her wtf her problem is, why she thinks she can just do whatever she wants to him, and just says some nasty shit towards her. And she yells back at him that she's trying to help him, why can't he just trust that she wants the best for him?! But it’s too late, Jax tells her that he's done, their friendship is over, and he never wants to talk to her ever again.

And in the following weeks, Jax gets meaner and meaner. He grows resentful. He starts becoming cruel to Ribbit, making jokes at her expense, mocking and degrading her. He feels he's justified because she did this to him first, right?

And Ribbit's mental health plummets. She blames herself for getting too invested, too nosy. She just wanted to help, why is he being so cruel? She finds herself getting more and more depressed by the day, because Jax just wouldn’t let her apologize. She broke his trust, she knows it’s her own fault and beats herself up for ever trying.

Then the argument at the snowy mountain happens, and that's the final straw. They let it out at each other, and Ribbit walks away in tears while Jax just leaves her for dead. 

Then, Ribbit finally abstracts. Jax sees what he did to her, what he did to his only close friend. The consequences of choosing vengeance over trust.

It's Kaufmo's turn to want to help jax, but at this point, Jax doesn't believe in being helped anymore, so he turns his scorn towards Kaufmo and Ragatha, making sure that they understand he will never allow himself to be their little fix-it project to make themselves feel better.

By the time Gangle arrives, Jax is a shell of his former self, fully leaning into the cruel persona as a way to defend his own honor. Kaufmo barely recognizes his friend anymore, not understanding what could've happened between him and Ribbit to have caused all of this. He has some suspicions, but unfortunately abstracts before he's able to vocalize any of them. 

Leading to today. Jax is distrustful of Ragatha's kind intentions, doubles down on his masculinity, and fights to remain the one in control so he never feels vulnerable ever again.

...

Jax was an extremely interesting character up until episode 9, in my honest opinion he fell flat after that and it's... depressing. Even Discord from My Little Pony had a more realistic struggle with friendship lmao and that show's writing objectively sucks (even if I still like it lol)

All in all, I still do like the show even if the ending sucked. I mean I'm probably gonna continue my AU with Bibi and have it branch off episode 8. If I find the time to I would even write how I would handle the ending with and without Bibi. That's the nice thing about fanfiction, at least. Who needs canon when you have ao3? XD