Hi! this is Lovelypink2005, aka Chika! this is going to be where i'll dump my Captain Underpants stuff! from arts, aus, and ocs! please make yourself at home and feel free to talk to me whenever you want :]
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga - Sneak Peek 1
Here's the first Sneak Peek from Captain Underpants: The First Epic Manga, written and adapted by Dav Pilkey and artwork by Motojiro, releasing on April 7, 2026!
Source: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1546151214
MELVIN AND ERICA ARE MORE SIMILAR THEN THEY SEEM GUYS PLEASEEE
alright look. ik the show tries to make it seem like melvin is the stuck up lonely nerd and erica is the aloof cool guy, but i feel like they have so much in common that it feels kinda weird that the show continually tries to get us to hate melvin but like erica; even though they have so many similar flaws
first, lets talk about the most obvious common traits between them
for one, they both antagonise george and harold multiple times, melvin obviously more times then erica. erica is meant to be their "wise older sister figure", while melvin is supposed to be "the kid that thinks he's wise but is actually stupid".
but honestly, it doesnt really make sense to me why george is "friends" with erica in the first place.
george is known for disliking people who are stuck up, self absorbed, overconfident, and who think they know everything. but honestly, erica does fit these traits if we look at it from his perspective.
for one, in the comic that george and harold made to slander her, they mention how erica has told them in the past that "tomatoes are actually a fruit". not only does this imply that erica has told them these types of facts that can lead to pointless arguments before, this implies that they see erica having the attitude of a know-it-all (esp because the narrator literally says that lol).
the implication of her "sucking the joy out of everything", saying the types of comment of "you're so wrong", "you eat too much cheese", are very similar to the things that melvin says too. even the choice word of the word "actually" is a very stereotypical word that "nerds" use when they correct people on stuff that no one cares about.
logically here, you would think that the show would point out how technically similar melvin and erica are in this regard, yet its never really brought up?
when erica says something, with her always believing she's right, (like when she didn't believe captain underpants could fight crime without her, or when she didn't believes in vimpires, or the hundred other times) she's never supposed to be seen as annoying. yet when melvin says something in a similar attitude it's seen as stuck up.
and even when she does get called out for saying something only to be proved wrong later, she never has an overly emotional reaction like melvin does. she's always cool, self assured, and when she makes a mistake it is barely touched on or the show moves on really quickly. but when melvin makes a mistake its rubbed in our faces, to remind us how dislikeable he is.
the double standard between melvin and erica always sticks out to me whenever i watch the show... it always feels so weird to me. why is erica allowed to be cool and confident but melvin always has to be the butt of the joke, always has to be a little too nervous, a little too wierd?
like when melvin tattletales (and while tattletaling is annoying, george and harold honestly deserved it) and they made an entire comic slandering him, he gets upset but we as the audience are expected to laugh at him. however, when erica points out a valid critique in their comic and they make a whole comic slandering her, suddenly everyone at school cares and we as the audience are supposed to see it as something bad and in bad faith.
apparently erica is so smart that melvin has a crush on her because of her "beautiful big brain", but how much bigger can her brain be atp????
melvin has created multiple time machines, has created things the world isn't even ready for, is so intelligent he gets perfect grades in everything, and shouldn't even be in school atp. yet erica is NOT supposed to be a braniac, she actually seems like a normal person, and we're supposed to believe that she's so smart that HE would be impressed ?? THE melvin????? the one that thinks he's better than everyone ???????
if we got a scene where erica does something super cool and he falls head over heels this would be easily solved, the fact that we get into the show and we don't even know WHY he likes her makes their dynamic all the more confusing
i wish the show would be more clear on exactly how smart she is because its so infuriating >?? okay so she is apparently VERY smart, so smart in fact that she can be equals with MELVIN, yet we never see her mention studying and we never see her getting good grades and we never see proof of that. she's apparently a prank master, even better than GEORGE AND HAROLD themselves, but where is the proof of that too? is her idea of a prank to trick two of her classmates into getting suspended ?? because that doesnt really sound like a "prank" anymore, that just sounds straight up mean.
A huge reason why many people hate erica is also because of her "know-it-all" attitude, similar to why people may hate melvin, but atleast with melvin, the narrative points it out and picks fun at him all the time. erica is never supposed to be seen in a negative light in a substantial way, we never see her develop as a character, never have flaws that are treated like flaws. she just hides in the shadows and somehow knows stuff that is literally inhumanely impossible to know and can be sooo infuriating
also like??? the way they were the only ones not affected by the spaceship taking off theyre so corny i hate these damn kids 😤 /JOKE
and keep in mind, i havent even MENTIONED their future selves because thats a whole thing in itself
BOTH OF THEIR FUTURE SELVES WENT BACK IN TIME DUDE. and theyre also the ONLY future characters we see. melvin is the only one we know who can make time machines, so did grace and melvinborg go together in an invention he made himself? what is their relationship in the future because it seems so confusing, apparently melvinborg didn't know that grace was erica or did he i forgot??? i wish the show explored this and explained this better because it was so all over the place.
okay essentially, melvinborg wanted to go back in time to kill george and harold and to have his past self go to elitani so that he wouldn't end up the miserable cyborg he ended up as. i think? i'm ngl i haven't rewatched the show in a hot minute, because then someone else told me that no, he went back in time TO secure the future that he already has, so is melvinborg in an infinite loop of always having to go back in time to put himself in elitani ? also apparently melvinborg says "now we leave george and harold here, like i did!!!" did HE have his OWN melvinborg who also did the whole shabang and for some reason this specific melvin decided "fuck it" and decided not to kill his rivals ??????
time travel plots are always so fucking confusing dear god
and apparently, grace went back in time TO prevent melvinborg from murdering george and harold. but this was so stupid to me ngl, because girl, you are the PRESIDENT OF THE EARTH. you CREATED WORLD PEACE SOMEHOW. like don't you have other priorties other than george and harold and this stupid murderous cyborg>?? and i know for a fact that grace/erica cannot make time machines, did she use one that she could've possibly stolen from melvinborg??????? god this is so convulted
also I DONT CARE WHAT ANYONE SAYS but i fully believe that grace wain DIED. okay. if melvinborg had to die when melvin changed his future grace has to die too IDC ALRIGHT.
ughhhhhh i just hate how erica just KNOWS EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME i hate how the show just treats melvin and erica as very convenient writing devices and nothing more JUST KILL ME NOW
ive spent wayy too long talking about this and its funny because i started this on November last year so this has been on my mind for like WAYYG tooo long
lets make a bullet list because im falling off the deep end rn
Why they're similar:
they're both "know-it-alls", overconfident, cocky and self assured. often stubborn, once they land on an opinion it can be hard to get them to think of other opinions or perspectives
while george and harold tend to be more cheerful and upbeat, theyre the more "sarcastic" and deadpan ones
so smart that its ridiculous (for melvin its in terms of invention making, for erica its how she somehow knows everything all of the time for no reason)
both seem "more mature" than other kids their age. (its also interesting to note how they both have adult voice actors while george and harold have child ones, so scenes with the four of them sometimes sound a bit weird to me because melvin and erica not only ACT like theyre more mature but they also sound like it too) (i know the other side characters also have adult voice actors but idc alright)
also about the "more mature" part, they tend to team up with other adults for some reason ...... like when melvin teams up with krupp or other adult villains, it parallels when erica teams up with toilette ree or moxxie swaggerman. almost like theyre "so mature" that they dont fit in aswell with their own classmates who tend to be more childish or stupid
theyre lowkey obsessed with george and harold like they wanna be a part of the adventure SO BADDD!!! the FIRST CHANCE erica saw she took it and got harold to make a comic with her SHE WAS WAITINGGGG. and dont even get me started on melvin he went full simp behavior and made an entire robot for george in like seconds because he asked and proceeded to make up their ship name in the same episode like CALM DOWNNNN. also erica wanted them to make a comic about her so bad dude.... mf made an entire self insert superhero oc and made herself super cool and badass (and i definitely think melvin would've done the exact same thing with a superhero self insert oc) and i love that for her honestly
(oh and ofcourse they made harold happy with erica but george be annoyed by melvin the entire time... do you guys see a pattern)
theyre both amazing at singing, dancing, writing AND drawing. like this is insane to me you can't be good at everything guys why are they good at everything wtf 😭 okay i dont know if erica is good at drawing specifically because she never does that in the show but from past experience with the show i can assume that she's probably amazing at that too. (but her being horrendous at drawing could be a funny headcanon lol)
i might reblog and add more if i feel like it but i feel this has already gone too long LMAO
