can anyone understand this?!

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[fandomcritical]

i joined the critical community last year because i started to have my reservations with the hellaverse, which is by far the easiest topic to tear apart, and realized that media should generally be criticized in good faith, no matter what it is. s2 of arcane came out about a month later and i was really unhappy with it before i even knew it wasn't well-received by most other people. those are the two shows i talk & repost about the most here, but i'll add anything to this blog if/when i have thoughts or see something i agree with regarding pretty much any show.

i guess i just want to make it clear to everyone, since even this corner of fandom doesn't seem to grasp it well, that you can enjoy whatever you want (especially in fiction) and have no right to disrespect someone for their interests. unless they're truly problematic to interact with, innocent "stan behavior" is... fine, actually. cringe culture should be dead already. if you think someone's opinion is dumb, just leave them alone instead of displaying that to your audience. unfortunately a "don't seek them out" warning doesn't negate the feeling of being targeted, speaking from experience. if someone's not looking for a debate, maybe don't start one. that's all.

[fandomcritical]

TADC LEAKS SPOILERS

i have nothing else to add about the name reveals except for that was too much arrogance and assholery for a guy named leeroy 💀 goodnight

[fandomcritical]

a youtube commenter who claims that they'd be suspicious of catradora shippers supporting actual abuse but their username is literally "stolassupremacy" ...

[proxima-bee]

can you imagine how good shows would be if writers thought of women as human beings

[tadc-crit]

In light of me speaking on blackgryph0n, I'd like to share the Google Doc displaying his behavior. Warning for many, many inappropriate conversations and behaviors towards kids and teenagers.

Regarding BlackGryph0n/Gabriel Brown

Regarding Gabriel Brown, aka BlackGryph0n Recently, allegations have been circulating regarding Gabriel C. Brown, known online as Blackgryp

I'm putting this in both the crit and (sue me) main tags because the TADC cast's continued interactions with this man are genuinely unacceptable.

[tadc-crit]

I can’t post the screenshots for some reason but very interesting thread about Glitch’s supposedly “indie” status and how much money they’re making, I think should be shared here if you wanna take the screenshots:

https:// (space) www (dot) reddit (dot) com/r/TheDigitalCircus (/s/) 61WmA5QVDo

It seems that the OG post has been deleted, but I think these comments are more than good enough to share.

[forgetmaenott]

The TADC fandom has a huge misogyny problem in favor of babying Jax.

[fandomcritical]

the vivziepop ass-kisser posting a 10min video trashing on a female character who did nothing wrong (but stood in the way of the fan-fav toxic male character)? fork found in kitchen!

[tootiredtocomeupwithaname123fck]

This is more of a rant than a coherent TADC critique, so feel free to skip it, but I really want to talk about how Gangle is treated in the show.

First I want to say that I really liked her character. We actually get to know a little about her background and her general goals and dreams. And, well, she's pretty relatable! As a person roughly her age (I don't remember how old she is exactly, but I think she's supposed to be in her early/mid twenties? Like 24-25?) I understand her struggle of not being able to fulfill your dreams and settling for whatever job is available. And if I were in her shoes, I'd probably want to leave the circus too, because I would want to actually try to make my dream come true in real life even if I fail.

So, I initially thought that her arc was going to be focused on that: it's either her learning to live with the thought that she's never going to reach her goal or her learning to appreciate her situation at hand and use it to her advantage. I guess the second option is still possible if either Caine returns or everybody in the circus will get the ability to create whatever they want, but... I'll be honest, it probably won't be satisfying because of the elephant in the room:

It feels like the show is more interested in victimizing or treating her like a punching bag.

Her happy mask is always broken, she's constantly getting shoved, her friend calls her "annoying" in one instance she's not on the verge of tears, the other "friend" is more interested in buddying up with her bully, it is revealed to us that her self esteem is in the gutters thanks to Jax to the point she doesn't feel like a person.

She doesn't even get to stand up for herself properly. The only instances of her "getting back" at Jax are making him wear a dress once, letting Caine punish him. She couldn't even get a single hit when she had her tommy gun.

Honestly this begs a question: if all of their bodies are digital, why are we still treating a male(-presenting) character as a threat or someone who can't be held accountable?

How convenient how the only one person who's willing and not afraid to physically confront him is Zooble, who doesn't go to adventures 90% of the time.

"Oh but Ragatha is a soft ragdoll and Gangle is made from ribbons-" why does it matter lol?

The last I checked Ragatha was capable of holding a baseball bat and Gangle could throw him down the balcony like a yo-yo until he would throw up all the code that made him a jackass. And why can Jax continuously wallow in his delusions and misery after his friend's death and make it everybody else's problem, but Gangle isn't allowed to snap and meaningfully defend herself against him once to send a "I'm not your toy" message?

At this point of the story Gangle became such a one-note victim she doesn't even get to be sad about HER dreams not coming true.

What do you mean ZOOBLE who we know almost NOTHING about gets the line "I had dreams of leaving the mark on the world"??? Wouldn't that suit Gangle more since you know- THAT'S LIKE ONE OF THE ONLY THINGS WE'VE BEEN TOLD ABOUT HER???

Now, you could say it was supposed to be a part of her character arc, where she would comfort a like-minded individual going through the same struggle, to which I say-

WHAT CHARACTER ARC??? She doesn't even get to enjoy her little anime adventure because of Jax again! We get told she wanted to make manga, she draws 1 picture, she didn't even seem to be upset when she couldn't enjoy her own suggested adventure... and that's it, I guess she's cured of all her aspirations so she can comfort Zooble now?

Now, I'm going to mention her torture sequence, just because I know someone will eventually bring it up in the comments: it's just vague as shit.

Does it mean that she's sick of her own emotions?

Does it mean she's afraid she failed as an artist?

Is it Caine mocking her about her emotional instability through the things she loves the most, reminding her she could never be the artist she aspired to be?

Is it just another hastily thrown together scene that's "up for interpretation" so fans can argue endlessly what that's supposed to mean? I don't know, and frankly it just gives me nothing.

Honestly, besides Ragatha, she's the only reason I dread the finale. It's either a woman who gets to have nothing before she killed off by her abuser (if that's gonna be the case... wow, what a story about a meaning of stagnant life am I right guys?) OR is forced to continue to live with the guy who abused her and didn't get to have any consequences for his actions, because he'd magically explode otherwise. Even if both of these predictions won't turn out to be true, I feel like her character just has been waisted because focusing on her abuser is apparently more interesting and important to the narrative... Man, I'm just so tired.

[berryblade]

Just some TADC rambles about Jax and his writing

Jax is a really disappointing character. People want to argue that he's not poorly written but I think he is. People claim it's because they relate to him but I don't think he's relatable at all. You unintentionally hurting your friends or pushing away people is nothing like Jax's intentional torture. If anything, that's more like Caine. Jax targets his "friends" weaknesses because he thinks it's funny. I don't care if he doesn't think it's real. It's like shooting a dog in a video game. There was no reason to do what you just did other than to be evil. So why did you do it?

Goose has implied that Jax isn't going to get a major change to his character in the finale, which means that Jax is JUST going to stay this uninteresting asshole character. The only thing that would save him was if his character arc came to a satisfying close. I don't want them to just ignore what he's done. He has hurt people beyond belief. He needs to take accountability or something. He needs his Zuko / Catra moment. That's the only thing I want from his character in the finale.

The thing is, is that we keep almost getting this moment. Like the scene with Pomni in ep4. Or the scene in ep5 with Ragatha. Where he's just being himself. And then, for some reason, he reverts back after a few seconds. I really hated ep6 for this reason. I wish we had more of that non-asshole Jax.

And the thing is is that... Pomni still likes him. After everything he's done, as if everything he did was an accident. There's lashing out and then there's doing everything he did. It was intentional, calculated damage towards his friends. That isn't a whoopsie or a mistake that can just be forgiven.

This paired with the fact that he's been the focus for the last few episodes without much character growth, and seems to be the focus in the finale too, just really really sucks. Pomni and Ragatha would've been much better characters to focus on because it seems like they're both having actual character arcs in the background while we focus on Jax almost abstracting for the third time this show. Especially because ep5 was supposed to be Ragatha's episode, but we hardly learned anything about her aside from her mom thing.

Jax was a fine side character but never should've been made a main character.

[chaifootsteps]

https://kiwifarms.st/attachments/5vuced-pdf.8888676/ https://kiwifarms.st/attachments/scyb7b-pdf.8888680/

We've got the full leak, everyone!

[fandomcritical]

i've always had this thought in the back of my mind ever since we started talking about how ascending to heaven doesn't make that much of a difference when sinners get so much freedom and regular advantages of life on earth in hell, but i never knew how to word it before: it sure seems like with the way things are now post-s2, the only difference between whether you want to "redeem" yourself is based on whether you want your afterlife to be in bright reds or golden pastels. functionally, aesthetics is the contributing factor in the hypothetical decision of a human soul.

[critical-bug]

i have seen more and more fans of the show complaining about the quality of the sharkrobot merch and the issues they have with the merch itself, and i wanna make a post about with a compilation of screenshots because it's almost insane how the quality dropped so much. standees are cracked, milky, knockoff quality/cheap, the protective sheet is missing, sratched, and the bases don't fit. will keep collecting when i come across similar issues.

[fandomcritical]

the twitter user, who was a fan btw, that got blocked by viv for making fun of her latina stereotyping the other day now posted a five minutes long compilation of every swear word in hazbin hotel

[sweet--candy]

The Charlie/Vaggie break-up was done really poorly.

Specifically the reconciliation and how it was executed.

Imagine dating someone for 3 years, and knowing that person for even longer. And then it comes out that they’re not who they said they are. Maybe they also have a worldview that goes entirely against yours.

Instead, Charlie just says “Nice wings”, as if the reveal of her girlfriend being an angel didn’t just rock her whole world, and then gifts Vaggie the severed head key-chain. They sing a song together and then kiss, and that’s supposed to be it???

This is NOT something that can be resolved in a day, or a little over a day, and certainly NOT like this, as the show wants you to believe.

Communication is key in relationships, heck, ANY relationship. Charlie and Vaggie never communicate afterwards. Vaggie never apologizes to Charlie for lying to her all those years. Charlie never apologizes or, at the very least, explains why she made a deal with Alastor, since in that moment she absolutely did it to stick it to Vaggie in that moment because she was mad at her. She was dubious at first, but when she heard Vaggie coming, she agreed.

If the show had to have them be a couple again, do it later down the line. Maybe mid-season 2. It still wouldn’t be 100% believable, but given how the passage of time went in Season 1, as wonky and weird as it was, it would still be better.

I want to bring up The Owl House real quick and say that The Owl House did repairing relationships right. Not perfectly, but better than here.

Like Hazbin, The Owl House was cut short; Alador’s redemption was rushed. However, I think that having Amity shake Alador’s hand instead of going in for a hug, and saying “It’s a start”, was much more believable and realistic in comparison to Charlie and Vaggie’s resolution to their conflict. It shows that Amity was willing to forgive her dad and have a (better) relationship with him, but that she, and her siblings, would need time to come around fully.

Instead of the duet and kiss, have Charlie and Vaggie communicate and apologize. Have Charlie smile gently at Vaggie afterwards, place a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and say “It’s a start.” It shows that she’s willing to forgive Vaggie, but that she needs time to come away from it all, and not enter a relationship as if nothing happened prior.

This could serve as vital character development for the both of them, and their relationship.

Also, I love Rosie as a character, and her interactions with Charlie were sweet, but Charlie has known this woman for a few hours tops, and should NOT be taking advice from her. At least, not on something as big as romance. It’s just too early on in their relationship.

I might delve into another critical post on how I would rewrite the Charlie/Rosie therapy scene, but I just wanted to tack that on in the end.

[chaifootsteps]

Someone drew this thing of absolute beauty.

[fandomcritical]

if i wasn't already happy with my layout (finally), this would've been a really cool edit to use as my pfp:

y'know, 'cause a picture speaks a thousand words and all that stuff about representing an idea

[lolabearwrites]

maybe this is nitpicking idk, but it really bothers me that Charlie says "can anyone even understand this?" When Nifty is singing in Japanese. You're the princess of hell, over 200+ years old, have magical powers, you'd think she'd understand every language.

If they didn't want to go down the route that she automatically knows every language because of magical reasons, then i feel like it would have been interesting to add lore that charlie actively studied and became fluent in thousands of human languages to be able to communicate with all of her people, showing her dedication to her dreams.

also radiobelle sidenote because i have no self control:

Cue Alastor calling Charlie endearing pet names/phrases in French and having no idea she actually understands him, she lets the ruse go on for quite some time until finally, she replies back to him. He is shook.

[fandomcritical]

i was about to agree but then i thought... that doesn't really work? she's supposed to be exasperated about everything going wrong but in reality niffty is singing only nice things about her and the hotel during that part.