Okay you know what screw it I’m not done talking about tadc because this stuff is making me tweak.
1. If Ragatha was the one who abstracted (because people theorized that idea a bit) there would not be this much cope which kind of pisses me off.
Rags was criticized by the community early on in the show (around episode 2 I think but I’m not too sure) because she was “too nice,” not only that but when she dared to say anything about Jax’s behavior, a huge hate wave surfaced for her because she was just trying to be a good person.
2, and this is the big one, “Isn’t She Lovely” doesn’t fit in the slightest for Jax’s character arc. In fact, Jax’s arc is completely non existent.
“But she’s trans!” I’m aware, and that’s fine. But saying that she’s lovely is one of the farthest reaches I’ve ever seen in media. It’s like reaching out to the sun. In other medias, jerk characters like Jax normally find ways to redeem themselves near the end.
To name an example, Rex Splode from Invincible has a great character arc that spans the first three seasons of the show. At first I hated Rex. He treated the rest of the cast like dirt, cheated on his girlfriend, and acted so full of himself that it was a surprise to see him manage to join the Guardians of the Globe. Overtime, he tries to redeem himself, and he actually puts effort into this. He also opens up about his past later on. In the end of season 3, during the Invincible War, he ultimately sacrifices himself by blowing up his, and I quote, “entire fucking skeleton,” in order to defeat the Invincible variant that invaded the Teen Team base. This wasn’t just “character dying to be seen as a quick redemption arc,” it was growth through change.
Another character who has a similar development is Vegeta from Dragon Ball. As much as I have mixed opinions on Dragon Ball’s writing after the original, I feel like the best part of Z was seeing the change in Vegeta’s character. Vegeta started out as a conquerer. His whole purpose was to be the villain, to take over Earth because Raditz failed to. He even killed his colleague, Nappa, when trying to defeat Goku. As the series progresses, he sees Goku as less of an enemy and more of a rival. His development into a protagonist truly starts in the Namek arc. He commonly followed in Goku’s shadow, trying to step up every chance he got. However, after meeting Bulma he became more of a family man. While he still shared a rivalry with Goku, he also cared for the family he created. Before you call me media illiterate for showing a completely linear development, Vegeta’s storyline was still a very bumpy road. There were many times when his own arrogance blinded him, or when he was partially controlled in the Majin Buu saga by Babidi. Either way, everything he did after Namek had a goal, and while that goal was a rivalry, he progressed as a character, a fighter, and a person.
What I’m trying to show with these characters is that they did something. They made an effort to fix themselves, even if they were for different reasons. The problem I’m showcasing is that Jax has a non existent character development. In my opinion, his storyline is lazy. He doesn’t make an effort to change, even after Caine was deleted. His character was more stagnant than anything. He continued to treat the cast like dirt, he made a mockery out of most of the characters, and even gave Gangle her name as an insult. Whenever someone tried helping him, nothing came out of it. He pushed them away and wallowed in his own misery, leading to his abstraction. His only purpose was being “the funny one.” I like that he’s supposed to be the funny one when most of the time he isn’t even close to being that. The only two times I considered him funny were the deep fryer joke and the first instance of the maid dress. Other than that, he felt pretty dull.
What pisses me off about his character is that he suffers no real consequences for his actions. Nobody actually tries to distance themselves from him, especially Pomni. Her whole “I can fix him” attitude could have worked, that’s if Jax wasn’t a stagnant character. He’s forgiven for everything he’s done. He suffers no repercussions for anything. You could say “oh he abstracted, is that not a punishment?” Being doomed by the narrative isn’t a punishment, it’s a fate set in stone by the plot. Also, the whole flashback sequence does not make me feel any better about his character. It only shows that he pushed people away and never learned from that mistake. In the different areas where he had thoughts of if certain characters abstracted, he didn’t make himself look any better. He pretty much sexually harassed Gangle, strangled Pomni, and showed how much he didn’t care if Gangle abstracted. And before you say they’re intrusive thoughts, that doesn’t mean he didn’t think about it. He still had those scenarios that were all definitely possible. Even his backstory in the real world involves him messing up by pushing someone away. The problem is he never learns from his mistakes, making everything involving his character and trying to redeem him completely pointless. For a character driven story, he hasn’t even placed his foot on the gas.
Another thing I hear about his character is that “he’s a main character, Goose said it herself.” So? That doesn’t excuse anything. If Goose wanted the show to be that way, it should have been pushed into that direction from the beginning. Even then, it was more Pomni who was seen as the focus of the show, and even she feels dull. We still don’t know much about her character, and her personality feels more all over the place and inconsistent. She’s kind of a reverse Jax. Instead of staying the same stagnant character, she’s kind of all over the place, unable to decide what she wants to be. We can see this in episode 6 (my least favorite episode), and how she easily shifted into an “evil persona” until shifting right back to how she usually is during the fight she had with Jax. If she wanted the show to be about both Jax AND Pomni, she should have written it that way from the beginning.
Jax gets way too much respect from the creators AND the community. He’s portrayed as this silly little guy who’s “just a widdle baby!” Just face the truth about him already. He’s not just a little baby, he’s a menace. He never tries to work on himself, never changes, never tries to redeem himself. He didn’t even have a motivation as a character, which is kind of what a main character needs in order to progress the story. His only goal was to make the other characters lives a living hell. If you find him relatable, that’s not a problem with other people hating on him, that’s a problem with you feeling no shame in masking your feelings and pushing people away, no matter what the consequences are. Stop acting like he’s this extremely complex character that nobody other than yourself can understand. Even if you can’t die in the circus, he still hurt the others. Even if he abstracted, he still isn’t redeemed. Nothing he’s done so far makes him innocent. Doesn’t matter if he or she is or isn’t trans. She’s not lovely, she’s not wonderful. She’s done enough to display that.
Stop defending this rabbit.
blakekathryn
romaincrisis
janainaart
origamiaround
germansingergirl
2087
