Wander Over Yonder: Full of Fun Little Components

Wander Over Yonder is... a weird show to talk about. I think out of everything on the Disney Watch, this is the one show that really stuck with me. I really enjoyed it while it was airing, and I still enjoy it, which is more than I can say for shows I fell off of like Gravity Falls, but the thing about Wander Over Yonder is it's got a huge fanbase. To this day I see people talking about these characters and shipping them. I've even seen a lot of comparison and crossovers with Kid Cosmic. That's to be expected of course. Craig McCracken created both, and there's little hints toward the world of Wander Over Yonder taking place in the same universe, albeit maybe a different galaxy.

But really, at the core of it, Kid Cosmic and Wander Over Yonder have a lot of the same themes, writing style, and humor going for them, which is great. Both were fantastic to sit through. Wander Over Yonder telling a more Looney Tunes esque story while Kid Cosmic goes harder into the superhero comics genre. Wander Over Yonder also has these goofy archetypes it delves into, while Kid Cosmic's characters are very fleshed out from the start, and, you know. Human. But the thing is, they're treated the same way. All of this to say, Kid Cosmic is not the only show that came after Wander Over Yonder that I would say shares those qualities with it.

A lot of the Ducktales 2017 crew came from Wander Over Yonder and it shows. Like Wander Over Yonder, but unlike Kid Cosmic, Ducktales looked a bit more into its goofy characters, particularly Glomgold. When you dealt a whole season (of your life) to Lord Hater's introspection, dissection, subversion, and inversion, it's always fun to see some of that similar energy again. Honestly, the way the Ducktales reboot does characters in general, is pretty similar to how Wander Over Yonder does its characters. Not necessarily overlapping like Hater and Glomgold, but opts for goofy characters and tells you more about them. (Which, to be fair, is pretty easily done with the world of Disney Ducks).

The other show that reminds me a lot of Wander Over Yonder is another reboot, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. Laugh all you want, I am aware this is one of those shows on the same level as Voltron, and Steven Universe to some, but personally, I find it better than the other two. But yeah, ND Stevenson was also a writer on Wander Over Yonder, and you can really see it in how he does humor and story. Yeah. That's my hot take. Season 2 of Wander Over Yonder and the entirety of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power have the same sense of humor to me. Both are very goofy and character driven jokes, usually coming from exaggeration of character traits. And I'll be honest, that sort of style comes through in my own writing too!

There's not a lot else to say about Wander Over Yonder that hasn't really been said already. There's a lot of gay subtext in it, to the point where if it came out 10-15 years before it did, I would argue it was actually a gay show with hidden subtext. Hell, "The Big Day" compares Hater destroying Wander to a wedding pretty hard, and depending on how you view it, "The End of the Galaxy" may even have Peepers be revealed as a last episode gay (depending on if you count heart eyes as gay love, and also whether you count literally everything else about Peepers as gay love).

I guess my hottest take (besides the She-Ra thing) is that I prefer season 2 over season 1. Season 1 certainly has a lot of goofy cartoon stuff, but season 2 is where they play with the formula a bunch. Hater becomes the main character rather than Wander, and while I do prefer Wander to Hater, seeing Hater as this almost protagonist is a lot of fun! Episodes like "The Cartoon" and "The New Toy" are absolutely hilarious in how they poke at cartoons and 80s marketing, respectively. Episodes about Wander also start pushing him to his limits, such as "The Heebie Jeebies," where he deals with fear, and "The Flower," where we see him at his lowest point. Of course, I still enjoy season 1. Episodes like "The Gift" and "The Day/The Night" work off each other and show events from different perspectives, and episodes like "The Void" are so creative!

I think of the Craig McCracken shows, Wander Over Yonder is my favorite. It's got goofy, heart wrenching, experimental, and visually appealing all rolled up into a fun package! I'd recommend you watch it, but I feel like this is one you probably already have.

Overall Rating for Wander Over Yonder: S Tier

Proud Family Louder and Prouder Season 2: Probably for the better I watched the whole thing!

Usually when it comes to shows like this, I have a rule. I either watch majority of the series, or I watch 13 episodes. Since Louder and Prouder currently only has 20 episodes, I could have watched just "Old Towne Road Part 2." Hell, if I wanted to be done with it (if the show is getting a third season), I could have watched "Grandma's Hands" and "Curved." It's probably really good I didn't do that because season 2 starts off pretty weak.

And I can't really blame any of these problems on the reboot because the show nonetheless stays seamless. Mostly.

I think the biggest difference between the original series and "Louder and Prouder" is that in the original series, I preferred Penny's family. Here, I think I'm starting to prefer Penny's friends, which may be due to "Grandma's Hands" and "Curved."

The former is absolutely distressing. Penny sneaks out a bunch going on dates with her boyfriend Kareem and spends a good half of the episode getting disciplined by her mother, Suga Mama, and to a lesser extent, Bobby. The second half of the episode turns things around a bit, showing Penny taking care of Suga Mama (and to a lesser extent Bobby), but it's upsetting to watch, and I do wonder if that was the point? I did notice Penny taking after Oscar a lot more this season, in terms of snark, wacky hijinks, and being the butt of the joke. Though I don't know if Penny has nearly as much hubris as Oscar does, especially in the reboot. Like she certainly has it. Even episodes like "A Star is Scorned" from the original series have it. But for Oscar, it's his core point. Penny it's just something we see in her from time to time. But "Grandma's Hands" did not give me good hopes going in, which were soon proven wrong.

Meanwhile, "Curved" is sort of the obligatory "Dijonay is a jerk" episode. It isn't nearly as bad, but it was incredibly hard to follow the initial plot of the episode. Especially when Darius came back as Dijonay's sort of recurring love interest. I'm still holding out for the bi Dijonay theory, but Proud Family already has a sizeable LGBT cast.

Speaking of the LGBT cast, Michael was a lot more fun a character this season, and I'd like to say he's no longer my biggest problem with the reboot. It feels like they extended his character a bit past the sort of stereotypical mean gay digs, and we get to see him be a bit more gender-non-comforting. I'm also not certain if Michael now canonically uses he/they, but I heard him refer to himself as they once, so if that was intentional, that's pretty cool.

This season also tackles race a lot. There's discussion about things like reparations (which is the debate topic in "Curved"), racial preferences, the history of racism in the US, descendants of slaveowners, police brutality, and Juneteenth. Honestly, the episode "Juneteenth" was by far my favorite of the bunch. We got to see Maya and KG a bunch (the latter of which didn't really show up much this season), and the episode really explored Maya as a character. In the episode, Maya meets a mysterious girl named Emily who leads her to find out the history of her town. Particularly that it used to be a plantation, and she finds out that her father (Barry, not Randall) was descended from him. You get some really good scenes within the family too and how they respond to it. I don't want to give too much away, but it's amazing. It has a great message, great comedy, and great character writing. Definitely the Proud Family at its best!

Some of the characters that were missing from season 1 show up as well. In particular, Omar and the Chang triplets. Really not of interest; they only get one line each. But what is of interest is how Penny and her friends basically have a completely different circle of guy friends they hang out with. While in the original it was Sticky, Omar, Frankie, and Duke, in this series it's Kareem, Darius, KG, and Billy. Also I think Michael is dating Makeup Boy? Idk I think he could do better. I guess Myron is there more in the main friendgroup in the reboot as well. 

The Gross Sisters also show up a lot less as well, only appearing in the bizarro episode "Us Again" (really crazy ret-conny episode by the way), where Olei (yes, Olei) tells Penny all about cryptocurrency.

I don't know how I feel about all these Disney cartoons where kids talk about cryptocurrency if I'm being honest, but at the same time, it is Disney, and this show had its episode about racial preferences and its episode about flaunting its Disney Princess IPs be the same episode. It's actually kind of crazy, coming from a huge Elena of Avalor fan, that the show kind of just paused for 9 seconds to play the Elena of Avalor theme song. But also, I don't think that should detract from how Zoey's ignorant to Noah's preference for white girls, and how that preference really upsets the other girls, especially Dijonay.

Season 2 didn't have as much of Maya and LaCienega being friends, or Oscar Proud selling Proud Snax at pride as I would have hoped, but I don't mind too much. The season was still really fun to watch, and honestly, I don't know if there's been a show as consistent in its reboot than this one!

Also they made BeBe autistic.

Overall Rating of the The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder: A Tier

Henry Hugglemonster: The Show That Took A Month To Watch

6:01 PM · May 26, 2021 "oh henry hugglemonster how could you let this happen"
6:05 PM · May 26, 2021 "henry hugglemonster when he doesn't find a way"
6:08 PM · May 26, 2021 "oh henry hugglemonster there is something wrong with you"

I hate to say this one was unpleasant when it didn't even get into F tier.... But you know what. It was still unpleasant. I had a month where I had to watch this show with my good friend Gwen, so it was at the forefront of our minds for quite some time...

Thing is, I don't remember a thing about it now.

And now I'm faced with having to make these post with some of the most contextless tweets possible from two years ago.

4:47 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "ROARSOME"
4:48 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Daddo"
4:49 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Thirsty little flower"
4:50 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Nano is in this show"
4:52 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Henry Hugglemonster is a flat earthier"
4:56 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Summer gets cancelled"
4:58 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "“This is called Chekhov’s gun” -Gwen when the see saw from the beginning of the ep came back"
5:15 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "ANOTHER SUMMERS GUN EPISODE"
5:44 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "MR GROWL THEY THEMMIE"
5:59 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "They keep calling him a fuddy duddy"

Wow that was a good way to get those out of the way.

But yet, I'm reminded I need to make this post. I also have one in waiting for Louder and Prouder, which I finished the second season of, but I find myself tired. Tired because of work? Likely. Tired because I have to make a blog post about Henry Hugglemonster? Also likely.

Might as well get this one over with and see if it's the case!

First thing to note is this one is kind of weird. It's like Bob the Builder in that it has an American Dub and a British Dub. Anything you find from official sources uses the British Dub.

6:11 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "all thee clips of this show i can find are uk clips but here's the ep we just watched imagine all the dialogue is the same but the blue one sounds like hamtaro, the pink one sounds like starfire, and the yellow one sounds like a gremlin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qd5lS6QQ_Wc"

So naturally you don't quite understand what I'm going through unless you go and find the show through illegal means.

As this show is British and from the 2010s, that also means there's an X Factor episode.

5:40 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "the X factor??????????"
6:34 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "one more thing. i decided the x-factor episode of henry hugglemonster is just like the clint eastwood episode of gummi bears"

But let's get into the show itself. The show focuses on the city of Roarsville, particularly Henry and his family. Henry Hugglemonster's your pretty basic kid show protagonist. Full of childlike wonder. Speaks to the audience. Works as a good role model most of the time (unless he's learning a lesson).

5:57 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Henry is a centrist"

Unfortunately that leaves him a biiiit generic.

Summer Hugglemonster is the devil. 

 

3:40 PM · May 13, 2021 "this ep is just henry and summer harassing a hoh man"
3:47 PM · May 13, 2021 "I hate this show so much"
6:04 PM · May 21, 2021 "I hate summer"

 

 

And finally, there's Cobby, the oldest sibling and the best one, known for his inventions, and uh... being a cop.

5:06 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Cobby is trans masc and that’s why he’s the best one"
5:58 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Cobby is kind of justified"

 

also fucking ivor the baby i guess.

5:12 PM · Apr 24, 2021 "Henry: now we need to turn on Ivor’s nightlight [removes roof] Gwen: what if it rains?"

Honestly, the thing we remember most from the show is that it had multiple episodes in which the Hugglemonsters had to move their house, to the point where it's become an inside joke. It's kind of wild that we didn't make that many jokes about it, because it's something we talk about to this day, while I have a hard time remembering the show itself.

One thing I do remember though is one episode, "The Mighty Heromonsters," which was my favorite episode. The kids started making their own fan comic, and a lot of the episode was in 2D and I specifically remember going "man. I wish the whole show were like this."

Overall, a pretty painful and forgettable show to get through, but like. It did have its moments. sometimes. Still..

Overall Rating for Henry Hugglemonster: E Tier

Motorcity!!!!! (and also the Tron cartoon I guess...)

I'm gonna get killed for placing these shows together, but I think it's a bit fitting. Two dystopian action shows from spring of 2012 with amazing casts that aired on Disney XD and feature savvy young people going up against oppressors.

One of them just happens to be good and the other happens to suck.

I've never really been into Tron. My only knowledge outside this show is from Daft Punk doing the music for Legacy and footage from Kingdom Hearts 2 (Which reminds me. I have seen the storyboarded KH cartoon pilot and I found it a biiiiiit goofy. More so than the games.) That being said, I'm not as certain about Tron as a whole, but Uprising sure does use the computer stuff as little more than aesthetic, replacing words like "person" with "program" and not really considering much else.

1:56 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "oh i abhor the plot"
2:16 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "hey hey question uhhhhh if tron's programming got fucked up why did the programming that makes him tron stay in tact god i hate whatever this is doing"
3:25 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "like i get what they are trying to do but the whole computer theme brings it down sooooooo much"

And sometimes, that can be really fun! I think the problem is that Tron takes itself far too seriously for me to get much out of it. 

Meanwhile, Motorcity gets a little more in touch with its setting, a futuristic Detroit set in a sort of hypercorporate future where society is controlled by one big monopoly. I admittedly don't know as much about cars as I do about computers and programming, so I can't say much about the accuracy there, but Motorcity is a lot more loose and fun than Tron is. We have a ton of goofy characters like Tooly, Texas, The Duke of Detroit. But let's talk about the characters in Tron first.

They... uh.... aren't exactly that memorable. We have our protagonist trio: Beck, and his two friends who are in love with each other and one of them is Mandy Moore. We have Tron, who is the most memorable character by virtue of brand recognition. 

8:09 AM · Apr 21, 2021 "It just occurred to me I dont really see some archetypes I saw in 90s Disney. There’s no weird dad who wants to date a monster which was surprisingly common in late 90s Disney"
8:16 AM · Apr 21, 2021 "Is tron a weird dad"

And there's Paige, who's one of the villains, but has a bit of a sympathetic side. She was probably my favorite character in the show, but at the same time, two years down the line, I really don't remember her.

3:18 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "this is gonna be one of those shows where i hate the best friend characters and i think the protag falls flat....."
3:24 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "this show is just kind of cringe i think"
2:27 PM · Apr 19, 2021 "beck gets high for the first time"

I actually rewatched Motorcity in order to have a clearer head about it, because this is the show I rated number one, and I wanted to talk about why, and honestly, the characters are a big part of it. Worth noting, I haven't watched this show in at least five years before getting back into it, but doing so felt like reconnecting with old friends.

8:06 PM · Apr 6, 2021 "y'all i've been wanting to tell you how much i appreciate motorcity so much. like it's such a great show and you don't expect it going in. it's got a lot of relatable characters and tropes i enjoy. also it has mark hamill but as a good villain"
8:12 PM · Apr 6, 2021 "idek what to say except watch motorcity. i dont wanna spoil a single fucking thing about it there's so many good things i think it's kind of fucking amazing to go into blind. all you need to know is that there is clean dystopian detroit and underground rebellion detroit and CARS"

Every single major character in this show is amazing, be it because of their backstory and character development, or because they're just so entertaining to watch. Hell, there's a character who shows up in the middle of the series, is ordered to melt his face off by a character, blames a different character for this, and then has a vendetta against said different character for the rest of the show. The characters are that great. In fact... I don't think there's a single character in Motorcity I dislike. Like if I had to rack my brain, I would have to say I'm not the biggest fan of Kaia strictly as a villain, but I still love her as a character. And the Terra have a really sympathetic backstory. Honestly, a lot of characters do. You have Mike, who was raised to essentially be the world's bestest child soldier for the villain, Abraham Kane, only to realize he wasn't actually protecting anyone and that he was hurting people, and trying his best to make up for that. You have Dutch, a normal guy who moved down to Motorcity to express himself. While his parents up in Deluxe support him, his younger brother was a bit disappointed and ended up working for Kane. Honestly, "Reunion" was a super good episode and I wish we could have seen Darr more than once.

Speaking of family, hohoho, Julie... Julie is a double agent living up in Deluxe working as an intern for Kane, but she's also Kane's daughter, something Kane keeps under wraps.

If you've been reading this blog enough, you might have caught on to the fact that I love family dynamics. The Castillo-Flores Family, The Proud Family, The Duck Family. Well, Julie and Kane are no exception. Honestly, if it wasn't for Heinz Doofenshmitz, I might argue that Kane started that sort of trend of the villain who loves his daughter more than anything. On Julie's end though, he's the man she's fighting, but she still knows he's her father, and spends so much time in the series trying to get through to him to no avail. And Kane gets frustrated about this sometimes. It's a lot of fun. Honestly... "Like Father, Like Daughter" is a really good episode in this regard, showing how similar the two are and the roles they play on their respective sides. I fucking love it.

Chuck and Texas have little going for them in terms of backstory, but I still enjoy them a lot. Chuck in particular is a really good character dealing with anxiety and amaxophobia. Despite cars being a central point of the show and representing freedom (I'm sure people would disagree with this take but let's let it be for now), he still spends a lot of time fucking terrified while being in them, and learns to drive during the show. Texas... is not that deep. But he is funny. He's sort of the self-absorbed dumb muscle of the group, but, you know, Mike likes him, so they ought to keep him around. Most of his episodes are more comedic, but I think they help set a mood for the show!

And of course, there's also Claire. While not an official Burner, she's Julie's best friend and often helps the crew out. She brings a sort of materialistic viewpoint to the show, because she likes living under Kane. She likes all the gadgets and materials Detroit Deluxe has to offer, and she's not super big on Motorcity. In fact, living there for the rest of her life is one of her biggest fears!

And even outside the Burners and Kane, there are a ton of great characters. You see a bunch of the gangs in Motorcity, like the Skylarks, the Momma's Boys, the Amazons. And of course, there's the Duke of Detroit. He's fucking great. If you haven't seen the show, just imagine Dee Snider acting like the world's biggest slut. That's the Duke of Detroit.

Honestly, the voice direction isn't something I usually take notice of, but I really enjoy it here too! You get the idea that each of the Burners comes from their own sort of world, and are coming together, just from the voices! And needless to say, the animation is fucking great too, but I think everyone and their mom has talked about the animation at Titmouse.

Really I think the tone of Motorcity is what sets it apart from Tron, and the characters are what set it apart from every other Disney show (including Tron). Sure there's story and animation, but seeing the characters in it, and how they bounce off each other and drive the humor... That's what really makes this badass show go above and beyond for me.

Overall Rating for Motorcity: S Tier

Overall Rating for Tron Uprising: D Tier 

All Those Popular Shows You Like (Gravity Falls, Star Vs, and The Owl House Triple Feature)

10:22 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "WHY WOULD YOU INVITE PEOPLE OVER WHEN THE HOUSE IS A WITNESS"

Gravity Falls are The Owl House are just okay. [I am immediately pelted with garbage]  Also Star Vs. sucked. [I am immediately met with applause]

I decided to talk about all three of these shows in one big serving because, lord, everyone has fucking talked about all three of them to death. I don't really have all that much to add to the conversation.

Gravity Falls was one that I actually was proper obsessed with, and I really liked Bill Cipher a lot. He was sort of this chaotic creature and fun to be around. Then season 2 happened.

Honestly, it's kind of funny. Gravity Falls is usually considered the cartoon version of Twin Peaks, but when it came to both shows, I fell off during the second season. For Twin Peaks, I think stuff just got a little too hokey for me. And for Gravity Falls, I just hated the direction the show was going in. I did not think Bill had the motivation or intimidation to be the series' big bad. I did not like Ford. At all. I hated the twin twist and I hated him as a character.

But Gravity Falls was still a funny show, and it got a bunch of kids (my 18 year old self included in "kids") into codes and mystery solving, which is really cool.

I also watched Inside Job recently, which Alex Hirsch didn't create, but did write on, and I find myself of the opinion that Alex Hirsch is just kind of better in adult animation. He's the right amount of edgy and hokey for the adults of my generation, and I hope whatever his next project is, it's once again an adult show.

Okay that's the show I actually watched in full, let's talk about the other two that I didn't.

I'm told Star Vs. gets better and then gets a lot worse, and that it's essentially indulgent shipping crap for the teens who were watching it. I only watched season 1 though, and that was boring, and it made me totally unmotivated to keep going. And I don't really think it was the lack of lore either. You guys have seen my tierlist. Episodic shows like The Weekenders and Darkwing Duck are on the same level as story-driven shows like Elena of Avalor and Motorcity, and there's even some in between like Kim Possible and Wander Over Yonder.

Star Vs. just came off as pretty tryhard to me. Which is going to be so funny when I finally get to shows most people think are tryhard like Pickle and Peanut, but Star Vs. really went for like the tryhard quirkiness I was into in like, middle school, and came waaaaay too late for me. 

As for the season 1 villains, Ludo and Toffee were... okay I guess? I usually like more competent villain sidekicks like Toffee, but he was kind of a bit underwhelming, and Ludo kind of made me wish I was watching Dave the Barbarian again. Which, my rule is if I'm watching a show, and I get a bit nostalgic for a mid Disney show, that show probably isn't going to be very good.

Finally, we're onto Owl House, which is, in my opinion, the best of the bunch. Yet even now I'm hesitant to discuss it, considering a new episode just dropped.

I'll be totally honest, I didn't really get into the series, I watched the 13 episodes I was told to watch and left, despite pleas that it does get better. And it's like. It's a good show. It's got an intriguing story, a really great and relatable protagonist, some funny moments, and a goofy romcom styled lesbian couple, but there's just two characters in it that turn me off from the show... Amity and Eda.

10:02 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "God I hate Amity..."
10:18 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Amity fucking sucks"
10:31 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "The fact that Willow is still bullied by Amity even tho she’s shown herself a competent plant witch. Bitch."
10:32 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "This show annoys me"
6:30 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Amity Tsundere moments"
8:15 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Scalding Take: Amity is Literally a Binky Barnes Character"

Amity's whole character was kind of rushed. And I don't necessarily mean the romance aspect of it. Luz and Amity becoming a couple was the most enjoyable part of that! I think it was a bit cheesy, but like, it's the good amount of cheese that straight people get.

9:21 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "ok few last thing about owl house... i get a lot of formerly repressed woman vibes from it. i think some stuff seaped through also luz and amity's love story. i do know they are canon but like. it's got some good and interesting setup"
9:22 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "ranks pretty high on the organic gay scale. gives me weird romcom vibes but for gay people."

Really, I just wasn't keen on Amity going so strongly from unlikable bully to ally of the other kids. I don't necessarily mean Amity should have been nicer, or meaner for more episodes. I just think that the transition could have gone a little smoother.

As for Eda...

8:50 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Eda fucking sucks dude."
9:45 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Eda is a creachure. They ought to keep her like this"
10:12 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "If you’re gonna loom the threat of Eda being a cursed creechur then commit."
10:19 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Eda has the DNA selected to grow feathers"
7:14 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Fucking hate Eda. Hate hooty also"
10:44 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "eda's like a girl mix of rick sanchez and waldo wiggleswoth and if she was less rick and more waldo i would probably respect her a lot more"
10:45 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "also she's literally a giant owl monster how do you mess that up?"
10:48 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "disregarding my thoughts on eda has anyone like... strongly disagreed with any of my disney takes so far. things seem controversal to me but mostly ppl just get mad that i didnt rank their faves high enough."

My dislike of Eda is admittedly pretty personal, as she reminds me of a former boss I was not keen on. I'll spare the details but I remember she once texted me asking me to testify for her the day I testified against her in an investigation. 

I really enjoyed Eda's owl curse a lot, as you can SEE!! I also really enjoyed how they sort of had it act as a chronic illness metaphor that Eda had to live with and sort of take medicine frequently for to keep under control.

10:27 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Oh it’s a metaphor for diabetes"

But Eda as a character? Not for me. Hooty I'm told, gets better.

10:08 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Stop telling me everyone gets better"

And you know... If I'm being honest, I'm not that big on King either.

9:43 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Why are they doing horror shit with king."
7:37 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Hoooooooooooooo king is the most hit or miss character" 

But back to Eda. Honestly, While Luz and Eda do have a good dynamic, I've actually found myself thinking a lot about the show and how characters foil Luz. I kind of found myself wishing that Luz had befriended Gus, considering both are nerds for the other's world and could have this really fun sibling-like relationship. Also Gus just happens to be my favorite character besides Luz, and I find myself a little disappointed how shafted he gets in season 1.

10:43 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "owl house is actually like. the opposite of the proud family in that the friends are the only ones i like."
7:10 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "GUS EP????"
7:14 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Imagine getting bullied by a kid w a bowlcut"
7:16 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Liar Reveal Trope Gus Episode. Disappointing"
7:43 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Gus is so funny I wish his episode wasn’t fucking tropes"

Another set of characters I really enjoyed were Amity's siblings. I think they're a lot of fun because they're more cartoonish than her. Not to mention still somewhat friendly to be around. I think they both have that likeable jerk angle that was missing from Amity

6:31 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Amity’s siblings are so fucking funny they make me wanna merge without looking"

But I should talk about Luz more. She's my favorite character after all! She really was one of those characters who I would have latched onto if this show came out in middle school.

6:33 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "Luz is a little cringe but she is 14 sooooooo"

I loved seeing a protagonist who was just as nerdy as I was and had a hard time getting along with other people in school. It feels like these days, being a nerd is more common. Hell. It was common when I was in middle and high school. But still, you never saw a nerdy girl character gushing about her geeky interests as a protagonist. (In addition, Luz is Afro-Latina, something else you didn't really see in protagonists back in the day!) 

Admittedly, I didn't get too into the lore. I learned about Eda's curse and the Emperor's Coven.

9:59 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "You can just be a cop in this show"
9:59 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "AMITY WANTS TO BE A COP"
10:04 PM · Jul 1, 2021 "Eda’s sister is a cop..."

But I'm told there's a lot more, that probably fits into the lore and themes of being yourself the show pushed really hard into from the start, which is a good moral for kids, and even better when being yourself also means being a bisexual loser, coming from a fellow bisexual loser.

Overall, I love the protagonist and some of the ideas going on, but not enough to continue it. I don't care about the finale right now. Maybe see where I'm at a decade from now?

9:03 PM · Jul 5, 2021 "i think the writing twists and turns too much. not explaining some things (amity's development felt hard to follow) while over explaining other things (eda's curse and how we know nothing about it)"

And before I go, I made another Disney Watch Song Sporcle! This one I think is easier? So maybe you'll enjoy it more? Take it if you like. I honestly make these mostly for myself and the two people who also really enjoy them.

Overall Rating for Gravity Falls: B Tier

Overall Rating for Star Vs. The Forces of Evil: D Tier

Overall Rating for The Owl House: B Tier

Doc McStuffins: We're All a Little Scared and Hurt at this Point, Aren't We?

8:29 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "lambie: your dragon is gnc as fuck

doc: YOU'RE INSANE" 

Trigger Warning: In this blog post I talk a bit about my own medical trauma, particularly medical and psychiatric negligence. I also talk about self-doctoring. And there is a slight reference to fascism. Proceed at your own risk.

In February 2020, I was hospitalized. I won't go too into it, but during the hospitalization, some of my prescribed medication, Klonopin, was confiscated for about three days. I'd been taking Klonopin for a pretty long time, and I think it's safe to say that while I wasn't addicted or abusing the drug, I certainly had some physiological and psychological dependence on it. Klonopin is an anti-anxiety drug which is particularly used for seizures and panic attacks, and one of the risks of suddenly stopping Klonopin is, naturally, seizures and anxiety. Fortunately, I didn't end up having a seizure, but like, when the intense anxiety hits and you know how easy it is for someone to get blood on those hospital floors and walls, it essentially screws with your brain for some time to come.

I decided to quit Klonopin shortly after the incident, researching tapers, and to this day, I'm a bit floored by the amount of care I was able to show myself compared to... you know... actual doctors...

So with all that fear in mind, I may have been a bit hard on Doc McStuffins.

3:21 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "this girl has a magic stethoscope"

Like, obviously I'm not gonna clown on some seven year old with a magic stethoscope and an undiagnosed anxiety disorder (we'll get to that later), but I was annoying about doctors in 2021, to the point where I almost refused to see one for a broken leg due to the trauma of it all, so let's just get that out of the way right now.

6:32 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "doc mcstuffins is a character i want to see as an adult. she's clearly a doctor in the future, but has she changed much. are her values the same, has she become disillusioned with her field,"
7:04 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "for the record i am not anti diagnosis but doc mcstuffins and her diagnoses remind me of a greater problem in medicine (especially psych fields) of diagnoses only done by what is externally visible. many mental illnesses are also just. arbitrary as hell"
7:05 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "we're getting into an age where we can predict likelihood of mental illnesses, but we are still a ways off. and clinical fields don't really even look into the neuro of it all unless a neurodivergency is explicitly neurological (epilepsy, migraines, etc)"
7:05 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "doc mcstuffins gets away with this because she is 7. but what about society."

To my past self: You're stupid. Doc's arbitrary diagnoses exist because she's a second grader who repairs toys on a cartoon show made for babies. You needn't compare it to your stupid qualms about the DSM. That being said, the show is actually incredibly soft, and gets into why you should trust doctors. There's plenty of episodes about people being afraid of the doctor in some way, and Doc's once-an-episode song even tells her patients what to expect from a visit to the doctor.

There's also two minor characters who really stood out to me, both of which I really related to.

First, there was Stanley, the villain of the season 4 premiere.

7:13 PM · Apr 13, 2021 "anyway i am gravitating toward this freak."

 

 

 

 

 

 

7:13 PM · Apr 13, 2021 "he wants to be evil for the sake of his friends and he has trauma."

Stanley's whole thing is that he was broken and repaired the wrong way. This, alongside a coincidental abandonment from his owner made him distrustful of doctors and convinced no one would ever love him, unless they were broken like him. I really liked Stanley as a character and as a villain, it really showed how much someone's medical trauma can shape them, and even do screwed up things. Eventually Stanley learns his lesson at the end, and gets a lot of closure too, which is really nice to see!

Though I'm not sure how much I like the last episode, which implies he set up a fascist regime in the timeline where Doc was never born.

1:33 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "i watched the series finale and god it's something..... without doc mcstuffins there is fascism."

But Stanley, unfortunately, does not hold a candle to my girl Quackson.

 

Quackson doesn't necessarily have the trauma that Stanley has, but she is terrified of doctors, and as a result, has begun to doctor herself (and others!). She doesn't hold a medical degree by any means, but she does get by with her own doctoring. Except that screwy leg.

Seeing a character like Quackson, someone so extroverted and friendly, but also so scared and forcibly self sufficient, really made me feel seen, and the kindness she's treated with, because everyone knows she's scared is something I really adore about the show.

Honestly, the show is so kind, just in general.

2:14 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "doc mcstuffins is a good show because it goes over what a doctor should be. the kindness of it all"
8:23 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "the episode where doc gets sick is givng me a lot of feelings...."

Though I didn't grade this show that high, and honestly, a lot of it is due to the characters. Doc and her family are fine, but Doc's main cast of toys are forgettable at best and Stuffy at worst.

3:20 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "man just from the theme alone i can see the cheers comparisons.... i can't believe im saying this about doc fucking mcstuffins"
7:07 PM · Apr 7, 2021 "seriously tho as far as quality goes i think doc mcstuffins kind of has the same energy as handy manny but is like. better. it does things a little more subtly which i appreciate."
8:28 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "stuffy is like one of those characters everyone would see as gnc or something because there's a bunch of jokes about him in "feminine" accessories"
8:54 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "i think the toys in doc mcstuffins are kind of the opposite of the tools in handy manny. the tools i grew accustomed to but the toys are kind of grating on me. not all of them though. mostly stuffy"

I compared it a lot to Handy Manny, which I think is fitting because it was kind of opposite in a way. While Manny's tools started to grow on me, I started to dislike Doc's toys.

Or, most of them.

9:15 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "gaslight gatekeep girlboss vs manipulate mansplain malewar"

 

 

 

 

 

11:37 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "wicked king looks more like a drowned victorian child.... finally a man who understands my plight tbh"
11:47 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "me saying a cartoon toy from a baby show isn't cis...... is a bit cringe but... wicked king isn't cis"

If you'll forgive me for gushing about even more Doc McStuffins minor characters, The Wicked King and Queen Amina absolutely stole every scene they were in. The Wicked King in particular is a prototypical antagonist: not necessarily evil and does get some redemption, but selfish and antagonistic as hell.

Honestly, it makes me kind of sad how colorful the background characters in the show are, and that we have to deal with another Stuffy episode. I'm not saying I blame Stuffy for the lesbian doll moms only being in one episode, buuuuut...

5:19 PM · Apr 14, 2021 "THEY HAVE GAY PEOPLE IN DOC MCSTUFFINS????"
5:21 PM · Apr 14, 2021 "im just sitting here and suddenly i hear "where are your moms" these are the moms in question"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay, I'm being too mean though. Sometimes the main toys are pretty cute. The last season or two has them working essentially as med school students, which is always fun to see in a baby show. Maybe that's just me I love seeing higher education rep in my baby shows.

12:25 PM · Apr 15, 2021 "all the other toys are med students i think that's really funny and cute."

Also, Michelle Obama is in this show.

9:04 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "MICHELLE OBAMA I AM A HUGE FAN"

 

 

 

 

 

 

9:13 PM · Apr 12, 2021 "BARACK?"

 

 

 

"Doc McStuffins goes to Washington" is a really fun episode. We learn that Michelle Obama is basically Doc's hero, so she applies to this Kidspiration contest, where the winners are the kids who most inspire Michelle Obama. There's a bunch of kids who do typical inspiring stuff, such as improve school lunches. And Doc's whole thing is being a toy doctor. It honestly feels a little underwhelming when you remember that no one else is aware these toys can talk. But still, Doc's toy repair skills come in handy at the White House, which is nice to see, but it also gets into another part of Doc I think about constantly. Her massive fucking anxiety disorder.

9:21 AM · Jun 20, 2021 "it's kind of funny to see doc mcstuffins be such a collected doctor but when she isn't that she's like "i can't be a FREAK in front of MICHELLE OBAMA.""

I don't know if this was a trend started by Doc or what, but I've noticed a lot of the Disney Junior girl protagonists are absolute anxious wrecks. Doc is by far the worst of them all, jumping into immediate denial that her stethoscope isn't magic and that she doesn't talk to her toys, even when none of that is a point of conversation. She really wants to be seen as a normal girl. She doesn't want to weird anyone out, but her anxiety makes her kind of awkward. Honestly, I'd almost recommend Doc McStuffins with people dealing with social anxiety for that reason alone. The show is absolutely adorable and has great morals, even if I spent most of the time gushing about minor and recurring characters.

Overall Rating for Doc McStuffins: B Tier

Jake and the Neverland Pirates: Guys! Hook is Ballin'!!!

 

So I watched Jake and the Neverland Pirates back in 2021. I'm not afraid to admit that it kind of fuzzies my opinion of the shows as I make retrospectives of them. That, and I only watch 13 episodes unless I like it a whole bunch. 

It always seems like such a more interesting show than it actually is. People sing its praises, and its Disney Junior's first original. We finally got to the era where we start getting lore in our baby shows. In this show, Jake becomes Captain Jake, and not much else really happens. We meet a lot of characters, but the ones I ended up meeting I wasn't too keen on, except the Ariel Winter mermaid.

5:50 PM · Apr 1, 2021 "thsi fucking baby mermaid is obsessed with surfing"

I can't really say much about the show's lore and minor characters, but I can say a bunch about the characters from the original story, particularly Hook and Smee.

11:08 AM · Mar 27, 2021 "are hook and smee... boy best friends????"

(Also, if you guys want like, a four and a half hour analysis on baby shows that is way better than what I have to discuss, you should totally check out this video by The Wacky Delhi. Has a lot of good info in it, and it talks about Sofia the First and Lion Guard too, which we've discussed here in varying amounts of detail.)

Anyway, the reason I specifically talked about the time I watched these outside the tweets is because I watched the actual film Peter Pan earlier this year with a good friend as sort of a Hans Conried movie marathon, which, in case you are not aware of the films Hans Conried has been in, basically means we really just sat through absolute dogshit. It's fine though we were stoned as fuck.

But yeah. Peter Pan is not a good movie. I do not need to tell you this. But it does make me understand why they'd make a cartoon with Hook and Smee in it. They're objectively the best characters in Peter Pan. Hook, like many of Hans Conried's characters, has this absolute perfect mix of sleazy and pathetic that all the tumblr girlies were talking about last year. Meanwhile Smee serves as the cheerful and relaxed foil to Hook's hotheaded impatience.

Of course, it's not quite as intense in Jake and the Neverland Pirates (some of Hook's more fierce moments are replaced with that sort of villainous manchild nature common in Disney's baby shows), but the relationship is still fun to watch.

Also the voice acting is just. Amazing... Naturally Hans Conried and Bill Thompson have been dead for 3-4 decades at this point, but. Man. Idk I just have a lot of respect for voice actors who are able to do amazing impressions. That kind of stuff inspires me a lot.

10:58 AM · Mar 27, 2021 "corey burton's impressions are impeccable... you ought to get an ear for that he can do a crazy good hans conried impression"
10:59 AM · Mar 27, 2021 "this is all i am going to talk about"
10:59 AM · Mar 27, 2021 "i didnt realize it was jeff bennett playing smee he does an amazing job as well."

Another thing I really enjoy is the modernization of the characters. They aren't necessarily "hip" with the times, but they have a sort of more modern humor to them.

11:12 AM · Mar 27, 2021 "i do enjoy hook having stuff instead of his hook there i think that's just really fun"

Look at him. He's literally ballin.

Genuinely though, I think one of my favorite episodes of this show was the season 1 episode "Off the Hook," which had a skateboard wash up on the Neverland shores, and Captain Hook learning what the hell this wheely rolly thing (the actual terminology) is.

And like. It makes sense, considering skateboards came about after the novel of Peter Pan!

8:11 PM · Mar 28, 2021 "kind of obsessed with the terminology "wheely rolly thingy""
10:22 PM · Mar 28, 2021 "i am rotating hook on a skateboard in my mind. greatest image"

 

 

 

 

 

10:23 PM · Mar 28, 2021 "does captain hook know what memes are"
10:23 PM · Mar 28, 2021 "probably not. he doesnt know what a skateboard is."

And even though I don't like the other characters, there is some appeal in seeing Peter Pan show up.

4:06 PM · Mar 30, 2021 "PETER PAN IS SINGING AN EMO SONG????"

 And even the Darling children show up in an episode where Captain Hook steals the book of Peter Pan, which is magical and contains the memories of their adventures in Neverland.

6:31 PM · Apr 6, 2021 "WENDY WROTE A FUCKING BOOK ABOUT PETER PAN AND IS READING IT TO HER BROTHERS A LA FUCKING.... ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS...."

 

 

 

 

 

6:33 PM · Apr 6, 2021 "so the plot of this TWO PARTER EPISODE is that hook wants to destroy a book
u would presume this is a magical book but no it's just a regular book written by a child that makes him look bad."
6:47 PM · Apr 6, 2021 "these kids just have really shit memory."
6:51 PM · Apr 6, 2021 "the book is magical actually i just want to imagine they're foolish"

 Unfortunately... It gets a little old. 

6:03 PM · Apr 1, 2021 "honestly the appeal of having captain hook in the cartoon has finally started to bore me"

And other than Hook and Smee, none of that is really important. This show is about Jake and his Pirate Crew (two other kids and their bird friend), who were entrusted to protect Neverland by Peter Pan himself, so you know these pirates are GOOD!!! And they also solve problems for money.

11:09 AM · Mar 27, 2021 "this show is a little capitalist i think"
2:01 PM · Mar 27, 2021 "ngl i was expecting more kids on jakes pirate crew. there's only 3 including jake. idk i want everything to be an ensemble comedy"
8:16 AM · Mar 29, 2021 "The principles of jake and the neverland pirates are infuriating they’re pirates but they’re good people. If you are a pirate you have to suck at least a little. Come on. Also the pirate problems don’t sit right with me"

And I guess that means it's time to ah... Address the elephant in the room. I don't usually like to talk about parts of a show that are commonly discussed unless I have something constructive to add to them, but...

"Good Pirates Don't Steal" was something of a mantra as I watched this show. My friend Tabs, who had watched a lot of this show as well, was particularly bothered by it, and the show really does go into this theme of "Good Pirates Don't Steal." It's really interesting to see these upstanding members of society in this sort of lawless world. But it's also a saccharine kids world, so like. Whatever. Let's talk about the other pirates.

11:23 AM · Mar 27, 2021 "there's a live action segment at the credits where two pirates just sing a song."

 

This show is filled to the brim with pirate shanties, which I think would be well appreciated by any shanty fans, and they're all done by these guys, Captain Bogg and Salty, known as Sharky and Bones in universe. I don't really have much to say about them but I do like that they got pirate themed children's entertainers to do the music for their show. Also a friend of mine knows them, which is pretty cool. Love having indirect connections to famous people.

The show had a lot of potential, but unfortunately, the bit got old a bit too quick... And it's not the most memorable of shows. At the very least, it's still better than the source material.

Overall Rating for Jake and the Neverland Pirates: D Tier