She/Her They/Them | 26 | INFJ | ace ♤ | Hopelessly Multifandom | Anime & Manga | Games | Books | Kpop | I draw sometimes @shiori8 | Basically a place where I rant about stuff in varying amounts and degrees of excitement😜
If there was ever an episode for Cory and Topanga to have their epiphany that they just weren't meant to be and break up for good, it would have to be 'Resurrection.'
There are plenty of episodes that show Cory and Topanga being incompatible, but in 'Resurrection', it's like someone put up a neon sign that says, "THIS ISN'T WORKING!"
Topanga wants Cory to prove he can handle dire situations, but Cory needs Topanga to help him cope in his hour of need. She was right! It was bad! It was serious! But Cory needed someone to tell him it was going to be OK. He needed Topanga to give him hope.
They should have called off the engagement that episode.
Cory having a whole dramatic crush out after him and Shawn had a fight so Cory's dad proceeds to ask how Cory is doing with Topanga and asking if he enjoys kissing her, and then a few scenes later we see Topanga kissing Cory and asking him if he enjoyed it are such valid reactions, they be acting so much like a couple it crossed everyone's mind that there could be something more going on. (That's when you know the ship is good).
Sometimes homophobic media is meant for gay people in the sense that we’re the only ones who can truly understand the inherent queerness of it whereas the straight allies simply don’t Get It and think they’re doing us a service by critiquing it and telling everyone how problematic it is like shhh sweet child this isn’t about you
(This is about the latest pod meets world episode reaction)
I've been thinking about how to put this feeling into words that I got from listening to all those bmw rewatch podcasts, who are trying to be the arbiter of whether or not "it holds up" or is "offensive". But you took the words right out of my mouth and expressed it better than I ever could OP lol.
Imo all this simplified handwaving away and labeling of everything that doesn't get the perfect gold star for representation as "offensive to modern sensitivities" does, is to ignore all the queer (closeted or otherwise) people behind the scenes who have fought to sneak in an authentic piece of their experiences for ages. Even in the midst of pitiful legal rights, heavy network restrictions and a world that doesn't want to acknowledge them. A lot of straight allies in their good-natured attempts at critiquing these "outdated" pieces of media simply seem to have a huge blind spot when it comes to this, that makes them lose sight of that tbh.
tbh im kinda sick of entire fandoms being treated like boogeymen who you need to avoid like the plague. yeah sure there are genshin fans and hazbin fans and dsmp fans and homestuck fans and kpop fans etc etc etc who are, diplomatically, annoying as all hell. and they all have their share of awful stories and toxic behavior that should not be tolerated. but 99% of the fans i meet are just regular people who happen to really like a thing?? and a LOT of them are teenage girls and queer people who happen to really like a thing. which im sure is Just A Coincidence And Has Nothing To Do With Their Reputation As Annoying. Probably.
what I love about the scene in "Well have a good time then" when Jack says "I'm his son too" and Shawn says "are you?" And then delivers his monologue is the camera angles and their symbolism like tell me if I'm reading too much into this but throughout Shawn's monologue Shawn is standing further into the room than Jack, closer to his father. When Shawn talks about his childhood and father, Chet is shown in the background. But when Jack is speaking about how he grew up without his father, you can see that there is only a door behind him, like Jack has arrived recently or just walked in, and he doesn't have the background and (messed up) connection with his father than Shawn has. Idk I might be reading too much into it haha
no no you’re cooking, i love reading into symbolism like that in shows, especially boy meets world where a lot of the times you can’t tell if something’s intentional or not (which makes it more fun honestly).
This is probably a hot take, but the more I think about it, the more I actually disagree that "Turner should have adopted Shawn and stayed on the show".
On rewatch it is very evident that they simply ran out of meaningful things to do with him in s3. And that's because he worked best in season 2 were he served as a great way to flesh out the school life/education part of the show + he was a meaningful bridge between the different generations. He was mature enough for the kids to be someone to look up to, but still young enough to both be able to meet them halfway in a way someone like Feeny couldn't (especially at that point in the show) and inexperienced enough to still need guidance from the other adults in his life as well. Ironically the more competent he then becomes, the more he loses that distinguishing factor and just becomes another face in the crowd.
Would a more permanent solution for the both of them have been best for Shawn? Eh, probably? There is a part of me that wonders though, if at this point in their lives this decision would not have led to some kind of resentment building up. But all that aside, just from a storytelling perspective leaving them both forever haunted by the road not taken is much more interesting to me than the played-out reality would have been.
People kind of forget how crucial it is that this whole last conflict between them was never actually about a permanent adoption but a temporary legal guardianship. That makes a BIG difference. I know people have rightfully picked this apart for all the logistical issues that brings up, but if you're willing to suspend your disbelief it's also kind of brilliant how much nuance this adds to the whole conflict. In the grand scheme of things, signing these papers essentially means nothing. It would only serve to legitimize/make the situation they are already in more real, for a maximum of 2-3 years until Shawn turns of legal age anyway. Yet the weight of even that is still too much for him.
Don't get me wrong, I greatly empathise with Turner too and I have absolutely no idea how I would react in his position, but Shawn also has every reason to feel as upset and unwanted by Turner's prolonged hesitance as he is. For all that Turner is probably one of the most positive role models Shawn has ever had, the fact that even his fatal flaw (like all the parental figures in Shawn's life) is that he can't fully commit himself to anything, feels so much more messy and human than having him come in as the perfect saviour who can just magically solve all of Shawn's issues. It's such a more interesting route to take for both of their characters and informs so much of Shawn's own arc and relationship issues moving forward.
Also again, from a storytelling perspective nothing in the world can convince me that reintroducing the whirlwind that is Chet and Virna back into Shawn's life isn't the inherently more compelling premise than essentially wrapping up Shawn's entire character arc before it ever really had a chance to begin.
So in the end I would argue that the amount of time he is in the show is actually perfect. What is terrible though is that he never gets a proper send-off. Their relationship just fizzles out quietly in the background without a proper last revisit. As iconic as Cult Fiction is, yeeeeesh does it have a lot of structural issues. But to have Turner's last ever apperance be in that hospital room without having the guts to actually kill him off because they somehow still need him as a convoluted tool to prove that God is real or whatever is just... insane lol.
Small tangent, but if I had to propose a quick rewrite: Cult Fiction should have been a two-parter. The first episode focusing on actually SHOWING that there are issues popping up between Chet and Virna again, they leave town and Shawn decides to keep it a secret that he's on his own for the time being, then we cut to scenes in school of Shawn being distant and almost telling Cory about what happened but Topanga comes up to them with something leaving them too wrapped up in each other to notice him, so he drops it. Then Turner pulls him aside at the end of the turn to tell him he's leaving for some reason (maybe he got a job offer in a different city, maybe his family has reached out to him in an effort to rebuild their relationship so he is moving back to teach in Connecticut, etc. etc.) and says something to the effect that he wanted to have a last conversation with him to say a proper goodbye and to tell him he feels guilty about how things ended between them, but that it means a lot to him that Shawn is so happy now. Then essentially not wanting to spoil this impression, Shawn swallows what he was about to say, confirms that he is and wishes him well. Cue heartfelt goodbye. And with this last straw to break the camel's back the stage is now completely set for Shawn to spiral to his heart's content in the next episode. Scrap the motorcycle accident and the completely out of left-field monologue to God lol. It's more than enough for something like him leaving town being the catalyst for Shawn's downward spiral. And then just pick something else to be his wake up call. There is absolutely ZERO need to have things take such a dark turn and use Turner as a cruel prop to create drama only to never follow up on or speak about it ever again.
This is a really fantastic return to form for this genre of post. In recent years there's been less and less effort put into this vital aspect of internet culture, it's nice to see a return to the truly artisanal work of the late 00s.
I think interpreting Shawn Hunter as being in (ambiguously) unrequited romantic love with Cory, that he is repressing because he doesn’t want to get his “mess” all over Cory and his typical suburban perfect life, is a valid serious interpretation of Boy Meets World that you could support with textual evidence. I’m so dead serious about this.
You are absolutely right OP. But I'll raise you one more and say that honestly the inverse of this is even more true to me and I am dead serious about this (xD). When viewed through the lense of Cory being deeply... deeply in denial and stuck in "white-picket-fence-All-American-Everyman-comphet-hell", just so many if not all of his lofty ideals and complete neurotic meltdowns about destiny, love, intimacy and relationships suddenly make a lot more sense, don't they?
I'm not much of a shipper tbh. And even when I am, I'm like THE farthest thing from the type of shipper who likes to dig around for evidence that xy is/should be canon actually! I'm usually the one in the corner scratching my head and going: "Eh, I don't really see it, but sure you guys have fun." This is LITERALLY the first and only fictional relationship that has ever compelled me to pull out my tinfoil hat and go full-on:
What do you mean "I just want to do what every one else is doing" what do you mean "I always thought Topanga was the one person I couldn't live without, but she's gone and you are here, so it must be you!" what do you mean we get a whole episode of whacky dream sequences of Cory poorly processing his fear of losing Shawn to marriage (and it doesn't even end on any semblance of a positive note)?? DO I EVEN NEED TO MENTION THE WEDDING??? Honey, if THIS is how blatantly overt the text is can we even really call it "sub"text anymore lmao???
It is actually insane to me, how little you have to stretch to make the puzzle pieces fit for this interpretation of their dynamic and just how often canon fully supports this (right down to small details like Alan's occasional offhand 90's-sitcom-Dad gender-essentialist, slightly hompohobic comments, rooted more in ignorance than actual malice and his at times strained relationship with Shawn).
Shory are literally THE blueprint of the "Wouldn't mind being in love with a guy if the guy wasn't also his best friend x Wouldn't mind being in love with his best friend, if his best friend wasn't a guy"-dynamic (also credit to whoever coined this concept: 5 stars, very evocative lol).
The other thing about viewing the show through this lense is also that it has the potential to turn so many iffy, clumsy or lazy writing decisions and plotholes into wellsprings of nuanced character drama lol. Taken at face-value, BMW's thesis statement (especially in the later seasons) that Cory and Topanga supposedly embody the perfect and most aspirational relationship ideal to judge all others by.... I'm sorry but it is laughable and falls completely apart under even the slightest shred of scrutiny. Between the absolute shitload of plot-breaking continuity issues, exposition dumps, red flags, multiple dramatic break-ups, serial cheating incidents and a near constant stream of miscommunication, you have to suspend your disbelief by a LOT to possibly buy into the idea that these two are just so honestly and genuinely perfect for each other uwu.
Watching Boy Meets World's central relationship drama as this slow-burn trainwreck of three people who deeply care about each other in all the "wrong" ways and all eventually settle not for the love they truly want, but the one they think they should have... is just a lot more compelling and supported by the actual text to me than treating it as the simple fairytale love story they probably want you to.
I liked the humour and fun character interactions and it feels like a movie that was made with a lot of love and its heart in the right place so I was charmed by it overall. But I still think the first movie is the tighter more thematically sound narrative.
Some of my spoilery grievances under the cut:
Pawbert turning out to be a "twist" villain was so eye-roll inducingly obvious from the very first second he appeared. While it certainly is better that we get to spend at least a bit more time with him as an actual antagonist on-screen I'm still not quite sure how I feel about him as a whole. There are many different routes they could have taken with his character and I can't decide which option would have brought the best result:
He could just genuinely have been trying to help out, but inadvertantly be found out and tracked by his family as a sort of "reverse-twist" where you're convinced he is the villain only to turn out he is not.
All of the above at first, but after a massive falling out with the main gang for getting them caught he runs back to his family and becomes the main antagonist then
Or he could have been trying to screw them over at the start but gradually comes around, until being convinced to switch sides at the end
As it stands I think the route they went with (where he is desperately trying to become everything his family stands for) is genuinely interesting actually, but for it to be more than a very predictable "plot twist" we just needed a bit more time to flesh out his motivation and of seeing him actually interact with the rest of his family more.
There were a bit too many action/chase sequences with little substance crammed into the film's runtime that would have been better spent on establishing a more solid relationship between our two leads and both the new antagonist as well as our other new character who is supposedly the emotional crux of the story. Everything around Gary falls incredibly flat (all the emotional investment is carried entirely by the endearing character design and voice acting) considering we never find out anything substantial about his personality besides "precious cinammon roll" + we never see him actually form a meaningful connection with either Judy ("You're my best friend" ??? Excuse me you have known each other for a day at best, lol???) or Nick who he doesn't even meet until the last 20 minutes of the movie. He is more of a plot device than a fully realized character which ends up hurting the supposed emotional gutpunch at the end.
The overarching theme/commentary they chose to focus on this time was executed pretty well imo (aside from the previously mentioned misstep with Gary) though I still feel like in the pursuit of trying to be "less problematic/controversial" in their messaging they kind of lost the ambitious scope that made the first movie stand out (for both better and worse, I guess, depending on who you ask).
But by far my biggest gripe is how the central conflict between Nick and Judy was handled. The movie very much seems like it wants you to believe their individual sides were portrayed in a balanced way. But in practice it's very much one-sided in Judy's favour with no substantial case to make for Nick's side of the story, which makes their dynamic pretty lopsided and leaves behind the satisfying back-and-forth between two complete equals that they had in the first movie.
What could have been an interesting clash of world views - aka Nick's jaded cynicism ("Sometimes the world just sucks and there is nothing you can do about it") and his tendency to give up prematurely because he can never allow himself to care about anything too much vs. Judy's bright-eyed nearly toxic optimism and insatiable need to prove herself and bulldoze over everything in her path; both very much informed by their respective upringings, and clouding both of their judgments in different ways - instead gets reduced to "I just care so much about you, but I know you're right uwu" and heaps almost all of the blame for their situation on Nick's shoulders. Don't get me wrong, the scene is very sweet and the intentional comedy of having them resolve their conflict through overly self-aware therapy-speak did kind of land with me. But I just can't help but feel a bit disappointed that the writers took the easy way out and shied away from the more interesting aspect of their conflict.
I would have much prefered a nuanced approach to watching them overcome and balance out their fundamental differences instead of the writers conveniently ignoring the bigger underlying issue in favour of focusing on something that is much easier to resolve with a few tearful hugs. Am I expecting too much from a fun Disney flick? Sure, maybe ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ but I wouldn’t have these expectations in the first place, if they didn't already prove to me that their character writing was strong enough to handle it.
Sooo TLDR: Overall charming and fun movie, with a lot of great set pieces (also amazing soundtrack and stellar animation btw), but ultimately suffers from being pulled in too many different directions. Maybe some things just had to be left on the cutting floor or maybe there is a better way to fit all of these ideas into one balanced, cohesive narrative. As it stands the plot and high-octane action sequences probably just needed to be scaled down at least a little bit to better accommodate all of the movies different plot threads.
man I'll never get over how much I love the beginning parts of lop, more specifically krat station/cerasani alley and elysion boulevard sections
I love that you are greeted and welcomed to krat when you first start at the station, when you get to the phone the first time the radio announcement is unsettling and setting the scene to what happened in the game but I always love the line that tells citizens to obey the rules and don't protest what's going on, in that same area you can slightly see the silhouette of the arch abbey of the isle of alchemists in the fog across the sea (it's hard to see early game but later on you can see it more clearly in the same area), on elysion boulevard I always love helping the lady w her baby and toma w the whistle they're both so sad, also lastly in the same section near the city hall that one alleyway which has writing on the wall showing the triangle for the trinity rooms also the very first (I believe, I haven't seen any other carcasses in that area) victim shown due to be turning into a carcass monster and he's just there stuck to the wall he's sitting near I like that these two things subtlety tell you abt these things that'll be shown in the later chapters
I'm not done talking about this game SORRY but. The way Lies of P introduces the lying mechanic by being like "teehee you can do this because you're a special puppet! And it gives you humanity!" But then it's not just lying that makes you more human, (and by proxy, defying orders as usually puppets can't lie) it's also just being kind, a lot of the times. When you talk to Lady Antonia, Julian, the lady in the window, the sick little boy etc. you're telling someone who is close to dying something nice, and kind, and lovely, you're giving them one last moment of comfort. Being kind makes you more human. But iirc killing Alidoro and Lumacchio makes you more human as well, so does violence make you more human? You can humanity by reading letters and notes, by praying, by listening to music. Sometimes you're not even lying! Telling Polendina that a puppet can fall in love isn't a lie, because Polendina is in love with Lady Antonia, and Julian's puppet wife was also in love with him! This mechanic says so much about how being a human means kindness and cruelty and artistry and love and feelings and faith and I'm unwell
I also really like that you're not automatically locked out of saying fuck you Gepetto at the end of the game even if you don't have the highest "humanity". I know on a meta-level it's to give as many players as possible a chance to experience more content, but I always like it when stories about sentient robots or otherworldly beings that deal with the question of what constitutes a meaningful, worthwile existence don't just go for the easy answer of anthropomorphizing the being in question until every uncanny non-human trait has been cleanly stripped from them entirely. Lop even circumvents that in the "full humanity" route because as op said: it's not only being kind, it's also sometimes spite and cruelty that counts towards becoming more human (seeing as P is the imprint of another person's soul the additional question even to all that is also: Is P actually becoming more human or is P becoming more and more like Carlo?)
But I think it's interesting how the neutral ending strikes a middle ground between complete obedience to Gepetto's vs. Sophia's ideals and really feels like P forging his own path and carving out a meaningful existence for himself. Even the way Polendina essentially "rejects" humanity by reseting his memory after Antonia's death is an interesting tidbit to the question of which state is more desirable: puppet or human. The narrative doesn't condemn him for it nor do any of the characters give their opinion on it, so whether or not he made the right choice is really up to interpretation.
Soooo yeah: The lying/humanity mechanic is a lot more thought out than some people make it out to be and even if you can feel a certain bias towards the full humanity/lying route, the other two options aren't just meaningless additions and especially the middle route offers a lot more nuance than I initally thought it would.
did anyone not hate the crocodile. because i really really did hate that crocodile.
i could Not stop clipping into the model and getting stuck, or completely losing visibility because the camera would be up his ass and then getting combo’d to hell. it was so trippy i was getting a real life headache.
ended up dropping the difficulty just so those glitches were survivable, and then actually felt like it was a Fun (if buggy) Challenge instead of a migraine inducing nightmare. im surprised they haven’t patched it…? maybe it’s a boss you’re not supposed to lock onto, but even then…
i cant help but feel this would be an issue resolved easily by giving separate lock on points for the head and the body (the way they do for almost every other big boss like this????)
honestly, that’d also probably have improved some of the issues w dodging clipping you inside the model.
So I did say that I have Thoughts from rewatching RttE again (and properly this time instead of picking which episode I feel like watching) and one of those thoughts that I've had is just how sad I am for Hiccup in the first episode.
Because Snotlout found himself a job as the "official weapon's tester," Ruffnut and Tuffnut have dedicated their lives to Loki, Fishlegs is set on teaching the younger generation of Berk, and Astrid has also decided to join the Berk Guard.
Which I'm certain is a change Hiccup felt coming because he was veeeerrryy insistent on not listening to what she had to say at first. He wanted to find another dragon, he was holding onto that feeling and he's been holding onto that for long enough for the twins to plan ahead and play a prank on him by using that feeling against him.
But that entire series of events basically boils down to the fact that the Dragon Riders are growing up and they need to think of what's next for all of them. They can't do the Dragon Academy for forever.
But for someone like Hiccup, who didn't have friends until three years ago to once again see his friends pull away from him to all do their own stuff is probably so painful to see. And probably the reason why he tried to ignore Astrid's attempts to talk to him about her next step.
Because if Astrid never tells him that she's leaving the Dragon Academy, then he can keep on pretending like the happiest three years of his life aren't about to end.
Like, he and the Dragon Riders go out together to chase after Dagur and the first thing Hiccup does is comment to Toothless about how it feels like forever since they last flew together as a group and the very next thing he does is to test out how well they still know their flying formations. And he's so excited to test them, too!
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