It’s Weird That They Simply Dropped Josh Mankey As A Character. All They Have Done With Him Was Say

Thoughts on "Motor Ed"

The episode, not the character.

Well, I do like that it dealt with disability. And Kim's behavior is actually reminiscent of how many people in the real world treat someone with an obvious disability.

I love that Ron treated Felix like a normal person from the beginning.

And I like that Felix's mom was patient with Kim being uncomfortable with Felix's chair.

(Because Kim's not discriminatory, she has just never been near someone with a physical disability before and has no idea what's considered acceptable behavior.)

However, I do have one complaint:

For all the times Ron acts like Felix is a normal person and even tells Kim to treat him like a normal person, Felix doesn't.

At no point is Felix anything other than...polite.

Sure, Kim's not trying to be mean, but micro aggressions are typically done by people who don't have harmful intentions.

(Though Felix isn't aware of most of them, so I will give some leeway here.)

We have Ron advocating for Kim to treat Felix like a normal person, but we never have Felix advocating for that himself.

(He's also not really advocating, he's just treating Felix like a normal person and telling Kim she's too hung up on the chair.)

Felix is never his own advocate when it comes to how he's treated.

And having a disabled person in a show is great, but it's even better when they advocate for themselves.

Again, I know that Kim's not trying to be mean, but she is treating Felix differently because of his disability. And Felix should be the one calling her out on it, not Ron.

(Though he's new, so it's possible he thinks she treats everyone that way, though it's really unlikely.)

I know it's not intended to be offensive, and I wouldn't say I'm offended, but I do think disabled characters should be allowed to advocate for themselves.

Still, I do like this episode, and I wish we had gotten to see more of Felix in the series.

Bonus: A lot of people in wheelchairs are able to stand or walk without it for a bit. Does anyone think Felix is able to do that?

About the Show

I fee like, with all my criticisms, it's about time I talk about what I do like about the show.

Firstly, I love Ron. He's very relatable - not instantly good at everything, but tries. He's always got Kim's back. He's not afraid to be himself, most of the time. And the way he treats Rufus like his best friend is sweet. His willingness to help his enemies is also very sweet.

Fun Fact: Rufus was put in the show because the execs requested an animal sidekick. So, they chose one that you couldn't just go out and buy, and it let them make people say "naked" a lot.

Secondly, I love the villains. Most shows of the time had villains where all their motivation is the same - money, power, etc. It can be kind of boring.

But that didn't happen in Kim Possible. Their villains were interesting, and a nice break from the usual mold.

Drakken? Recognition and revenge.

Shego? No one really knows. Hatred of her brothers is a good guess, though.

Senor Senior, Senior? Bored during retirement.

Senor Senior, Junior? Wants to be a pop star.

Duff Killigan? Revenge for being banned from every golf course in the world.

Motor Ed? Just wants to build the raddest vehicles ever.

Adrena Lynn? Revenge for being exposed as a fraud.

The Fashionistas? Fashion's too expensive.

DNAmy? Just wants real cuddle buddies.

Even the ones who did want money and/or power had interesting methods of going about it.

Monkey Fist? I am going to master Monkey Kung Fu.

Frugal Lucre? I am going to hold the internet hostage unless everyone in the world pays me $1. (This would work on me. I'd be giving him a dollar.)

Mathter? Turn someone into a guy who destroys everything he touches. (Actually, I'm not 100% sure what his goal was. Power, probably, but then what?)

The villains were genuinely entertaining. There's no other show where you're going to be fighting an angry Scotsman who's launching exploding golf balls at you, or a British master of Monkey Kung Fu.

Lastly, I like that, when Kim and Ron made new friends, they didn't immediately become new teammates. They might help out on a mission that's in their area of expertise, but they're not all joining the team right away, if ever. It's nice that Kim and Ron were able to have friends to just do normal stuff with.

Honestly, there is a lot to like about the show. There is a lot that I like about the show. But those are the three big ones I felt like mentioning.

If I listed everything I love about the show, this post would be too long to read.

What are your thoughts on the Tweebs?

Well, the original pitch bible had them as sociopathic geniuses...

Which is kind of a horrible way to describe ten-year-olds. End of.

Jim and Tim are energetic, hyperactive, rambunctious geniuses with a tendency towards taking apart household appliances to build things.

They don't respect Kim's boundaries and work hard to embarrass her.

James and Ann don't seem to be big on disciplining their kids or regulating their behaviors.

And Kim is constantly commenting on how she wanted a sister, thinks of them as freaks, and doesn't think they're human.

Frankly, I wouldn't blame them for not wanting to be nice to her after dealing with that for a lifetime.

Especially after they went through the trouble of helping her on a mission and she used mind-control chips on them afterwards.

The same ones they had freed her from.

The same ones she said were unethical to just make.

I know that when my older sibling spent my entire life telling me how much she never wanted me, I wasn't exactly inclined to be nice to her either.

(We're doing better now, but it took an acknowledgement and an apology on her part before I was even willing to try. I think it'd be nice if Kim did this, too.)

But even though they had nearly helped embarrass Kim out of existence in "Blush", it's clear that they hadn't known what was going to happen, and thus hadn't intended to cause that much harm to Kim.

So it doesn't seem like Jim and Tim are as "sociopathic" as the creators had originally intended for them to be.

TLDR: They aren't really different from how any other ten-year-old boys would be if they were geniuses, had access to advanced technology, had parents who don't discipline or regulate them, and had an older sister constantly talking about how much she hates them.

So I can't really blame them for how they turned out.

Would you?

What are your opinions on Mr. Barkin?

Barkin shouldn't be an educator. Or allowed to be in charge of children.

He runs the school like it's the military.

He admitted to disliking Ron since Ron gave him a weird look in the ninth grade.

He assigns extra homework to Ron just because he can.

He refused to let Ron specifically leave the classroom at the bell despite letting everyone else go just so he could assign him extra homework for no reason.

And demanded that the homework be on his desk at 7:00 despite the school not being unlocked until 7:30.

And gave Ron more homework for pointing out that they don't unlock the doors until 7:30.

He took a whole letter grade off of Ron's assignment in "Ron The Man" just because Ron's bar mitzvah certificate hadn't been signed.

(If Barkin wasn't grading most of Ron's assignments, do you think Ron's grades might be higher?)

He humiliated Bonnie at graduation when she didn't deserve it.

(Seriously, Bonnie's squabbles with Kim and Ron are not something Barkin should be humiliating her for. The punishment was disproportionate to the "crime".)

And the one time anyone's in actual danger, he completely panics.

That being said, he also praised Ron's personal hero essay.

And was proud of Ron's impressive culinary skills.

Let Ron take charge in "Sink or Swim".

And had no problems assigning detention to Kim when she had deserved it.

Barkin mentions in "Graduation" that Ron reminds him a bit of himself, so Barkin is probably trying to prepare Ron for the things Barkin's faced. It just isn't having the desired affect.

I think that Barkin genuinely cares about the students, even Ron, but is in no way qualified to care for them.

Truly, I don't think Barkin is a completely irredeemable person, but he clearly has issues to work out, as shown in "Fashion Victim" by his break from reality, and needs to fix those before he's placed in charge of anyone ever again. If he's ever placed in charge of anyone again.

I believe that Ron Stoppable is neurodivergent. Many of his traits line up with being neurodivergent.

Disregard for Gender Norms

In "Mind Games" Ron mentions liking the skirt on Kim's cheer uniform.

In "Attack of the Killer Bebes" he got a movie makeup kit as a birthday present.

In "Two to Tutor" he is revealed to love baking and is mentioned as being interested in interpretive dance.

He becomes a fan of the Oh Boyz in "Oh Boyz".

He becomes a fan of "Kim Style" in "Kimitation Nation".

He is implied to be interested in Britina dolls in "Queen Bebe".

These are all things typically regarded as feminine interests, but when Ron has his crisis about being a man in "Ron the Man", none of that stuff is what he's concerned about. He's not afraid any of that stuff makes him less of a man, and he feels no shame about them (most of the time).

Lack of Concern for Popularity

There are several times where Ron is shown to not care about popularity, though there are also several times where Ron is shown to care a great deal about how others perceive him.

Obsessive Tendencies

In "October 31st" Ron is shown to still be interested in going trick-or-treating, despite the fact that most people would have outgrown this hobby by this point.

In "Grande Size Me" Ron becomes obsessed with proving Barkin wrong about the food pyramid, and begins behaving in a defensive manner over it.

(Of course, Ron invented the Naco, which was the specific item Barkin was criticizing, so it's a bit understandable.)

In "Dimension Twist" Ron spends three days straight watching cable television.

Ron has a tendency to become obsessed with his interests, and defensive if someone doesn't like them.

Hobbies and Interests

In "Monkey Fist Strikes" Ron is revealed to be interested in video games, and this is mentioned again in "Steal Wheels".

In "Larry's Birthday" it's revealed that Ron has regular meetups with Larry and Larry's friends.

In "Queen Bebe" Ron is implied to have an interest in Britina dolls.

Ron is a fan of the Oh Boyz in "Oh Boyz", even when they're so unpopular no one goes to their concerts. In addition to this, he doesn't even realize they're no longer popular.

Ron may not having been looking for a naked mole rat specifically, but he does consider them to be cool pets.

In "Two to Tutor" there is a brief mention of Ron having an interest in interpretive dancing.

He's still interested in trick-or-treating in "October 31st".

Many of Ron's interests are things typically regarded as "uncool" or "childish", things his peers are usually not interested in.

Social Life and Anxiety

Ron is frequently shown to lack social skills - bad at picking up intonation, doesn't have many friends, has a hard time dating, and is generally believed to be unpopular.

There's also Ron's tendency to panic, and his occasional bouts of paranoia.

(Though his belief that Barkin is targeting him specifically was apparently correct.)

In fact, Ron's anxiety reached a breaking point when, in "Odds Man In", he experienced such bad anxiety, he locked himself in some kind of panic room.

(Also, where was this? When did he have it built?)

Ron is also concerned about being replaced as Kim's best friend or sidekick, as shown in "Pain King vs Cleopatra", or boyfriend, as shown in "Ill-Suited".

So Ron displays many traits associated with neurodivergent teenagers.

And these also happen to be the traits that the show used to write him as a "loser".

And that's one of the reasons I dislike so much of the show's humor being at Ron's expense - because it often relies on poking fun at Ron not behaving in a neurotypical way.

And as someone who is not neurotypical, seeing the character that's the most like me being the "buffoon" character, the "inept sidekick" character, the one who is incompetent and incapable, well...it kind of hurts.

Because it kind of feels like they're saying what I and many other neurodivergent people have heard our whole lives - that you can't do anything, and you look foolish for trying.

Look, I realize this wasn't intentional. But, even unintentionally, Ron is very heavily neurodivergent-coded, and that happens too often in media - humor that relies on someone having neurodivergent traits and making fun of them for it.

And we've all grown past that.

One of the reasons I refuse to watch Rainbow World is because its introduction completely derailed a plot that could have led to character development.

"The Big Day Off" showed everyone getting a day off of classes and assignments, and showed them dealing with problems during them.

Jade and Skyler want to spend their time relaxing, but both have a hard time doing nothing so they keep finding new tasks to do.

Bella and Ruby are planning to revamp the Rainbow Union, but have gotten artist's block and can't come up with anything.

Poppy's planning to bake and Amaya's freaking out over an online personality test.

Violet and Sunny were planning to have a fun day together.

This where the problem arises.

When we make it to Violet and Sunny's part of the story, Violet realizes she lost her phone and freaks out about it.

Now, we could have had a plot of Violet struggling with her social media addiction while spending time with Sunny, but, instead, Sunny and Violet find a magic egg and spend the day taking care of it so any conflict that they might have had is overshadowed.

I would have liked it better if we had Sunny and Violet doing fun things together, and Violet keeps instinctively reaching for her phone. Sunny notices, and eventually she's just sad.

Violet: "Sunny, what's wrong? Aren't you having fun?"

Sunny: "I am. I just...I miss you."

Violet: "I've been right across the hall for months. I think it's the closest we've ever been. Aside from all those sleepovers."

Sunny: "I don't mean physical distance."

Violet: "What do you mean?"

Sunny: "I mean...I totally support your dream of being an influencer, but I miss being able to do things with you without you trying to get the best shot. I miss just having fun with you, without you worrying about showing the rest of the world. I miss you. I think I've seen your phone's camera more than you, lately."

Violet: "Oh. I didn't know you felt that way."

Sunny: "I'm trying to be supportive. You're my best friend and I want to support you."

Violet: "I don't want you to support me if it upsets you. I guess I do have a problem."

Sunny: "I mean, I wouldn't say it's a problem..."

Violet: "But it is, because it upsets you so much. I don't want to upset my friends, especially you. I'm going to try to do better, Sunny. I promise."

Sunny: "Thanks. And I guess I'll start telling you when you do something that upsets me."

Violet: "I'd like that."

Then, Sunny and Violet would hug and discuss their plans for the rest of the day.

See how interesting this would have been? We could have had acknowledgement of not just Violet's greatest flaw (social media addiction) but also Sunny's (overly forgiving and passive) with them both recognizing their flaws and promising to work on them.

Instead, we have Sunny and Violet taking care of an egg all day.

They deserved better.

What role do Ron character has in team possible? Do you believe he gets the credit he deserves for his contribution to team possible within the narrative of the show?

Well, the role Ron is supposed to have is "bumbling sidekick".

But, as stated in my "Ron Deserved Better" post, he outgrew that role very quickly.

He demonstrated on numerous occasions that he is capable of being more than that.

But he's not treated that way.

The narrative wants Ron to be a sidekick, so no one acknowledges that he's capable of being more.

Kim acknowledges it once, at the end of "Sink or Swim", but then follows up with telling him he's not going to be allowed to lead a mission anyways. She never acknowledges it again after that.

(Despite this, he goes on four missions alone in "Overdue" and is successful in all of them.)

In "Showdown At The Crooked D" Kim's cousin Joss, who knows everything about everyone of Kim's missions, does not recognize Ron as anything other than the guy who's always losing his pants.

In "The Ron Factor" Kim refuses to consider the possibility that Ron might be important to her success, even when Wade, someone who she greatly respects, suggests it might be true.

And people are always talking about how Kim saves the world, but never even mention that Ron's with her every time.

And this is despite the fact that it's canon that she can't save the world without Ron.

In "Bueno Nacho" it takes no time at all for her to get captured when she tries to go on a mission alone.

And in "A Sitch in Time" it highlights just how important Ron is to Kim's success. Once again, she gets captured immediately when trying to go on a mission alone. (And then the timeline gets reset and everyone forgets everything.)

But no one's opinion of Ron really changes until the last episode. To everyone, he's still Kim's sidekick.

Even though they're dating in season four, Kim doesn't actually acknowledge any of Ron's skills or admit that he's more than a sidekick when it comes to saving the world.

Even when Joss acknowledges Ron as a hero, it's because he always faces his fears to be there for Kim, not because of any of his own skills.

Ron doesn't get gadgets, or his own Kimmunicator, and many people who owe Kim favors don't even remember Ron being there. Or, if they do, it's because Ron caused the problem in the first place. (Which, that last part is fair, but still...)

Ron is treated horribly by the narrative. He doesn't even get recognition that other sidekicks get. (Robin, Kid Flash, Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, etc.)

So, no, I don't believe Ron gets the credit he deserves. He's not even treated with respect part of the time. (The tracking chip, the haircut, the lack of gadgets or communication device, etc.)

Ron is barely even a sidekick. He's treated more like a lapdog.

And it's disgusting.

The most unbelievable thing about Disney's Descendants is that the princes and princesses, people who are known for being kind and compassionate, would be okay with literal children living on The Isle, despite knowing what things are like on The Isle, just because their parents are villains.

Like, I'll believe they decided to put their dangerous villains there to protect everyone.

(Not villains like LeFou and Smee though, because they're just not worth the trouble.)

But you expect me to believe that no one thought it wouldn't be fair to punish the kids for their parents' crimes? That people who are known for being kind thought this was fair?

Sorry, not buying it.

And it's not that they didn't know, because everyone knew the villains had kids, so they just, somehow, honestly thought this was a good idea.

But I don't believe it.

I understand that it has to be that way for plot reasons. My proposed change would be a very simple one:

They didn't know there were kids on The Isle.

They only found out shortly before Ben was going to be coronated, because Belle and Adam wanted to check on The Isle one more time before it became Ben's responsibility.

Thus, Ben immediately decides to invite some VKs to Auradon for a better life, but Belle and Adam are concerned that the VKs might be a lot like their parents. He agrees to only invite a few at first, but he's confident that they're not evil, just in terrible conditions.

Ron Deserved Better

Ron deserved better, from a narrative standpoint. Ron was capable of being more than just Kim's sidekick, and it would've been great to have that emphasized more.

In "Tick-Tick-Tick" Ron is the one who comes up with the idea of using hot sauce to short out the tick and a straw to remove it.

In "Bueno Nacho" Ron figures out how to work the laser after messing around with it for less than a minute.

In "Attack of The Killer Bebes" Ron is the one who made the connection that Kim's dad was the next target, came up with the plan to protect him and find out who was behind it all, and made an extremely convincing disguise in less than a day.

(I know Kim wasn't aware of any of this because she wasn't around, but Kim walking off the mission because she was mad isn't a good look for a hero. However, that's not the point of this post.)

In "Sink or Swim" Ron displays stealth, cunning, quick-thinking, improvisation, resourcefulness, and bravery. Even Kim acknowledges this, but only this one time.

In "Animal Attraction" Ron figures out that getting Rufus to eat corn dogs would make him heavy enough to press the button to release them. Simple? Yes. Effective? Also, yes. And most importantly, a plan that Kim had failed to come up with on her own.

In "Royal Pain" Ron manages to use a mini golf prop to stop a bad guy, aimed in such a way that Prince Wally, who was being held in the bad guy's grip at the time, wasn't harmed.

In "The Twin Factor" Ron manages to not just evade Kim and Shego, but trick Shego into undoing his bindings and lasts against them long enough for Jim and Tim to finish their silicon-phase disruptor.

In "Job Unfair" Ron used sneezing powder on Drakken, which managed to take both Drakken and Shego out of the fight. Simple, effective, and clever.

In "Naked Genius" Ron's mangler was actually a fairly decent weapon, especially considering he was just throwing random things together. And his idea to use it against all the armor was brilliant.

In "The Fearless Ferret" Ron actually makes a decent hero at the end, despite the fact that his mentor was a delusional man.

In "Exchange" Ron manages to kick a tree, that then splits cleanly and falls over. That is not a normal amount of strength. He also manages to make his clothes disappear during Bo practice, which, though embarrassing, is also a bit of an impressive feat.

In "Hidden Talent" it's stated that Ron proved quantity was better than quality, but Ron was actually good at half of the acts he performed; tap dancing, ventriloquism, and water glasses.

In "Return to Wannaweep" Ron figures out how to use his new beaver-like mutation and his surroundings to defeat Gil, and figures it pretty quickly.

In "Partners" Ron and Monique manage to build a donut-launching system relatively quickly, and it proves extremely useful in distracting a mutant dinosaur.

In "Oh Boyz" Ron manages to help the Oh Boyz escape by having them use their dance moves to throw off the motion-detecting lasers. He also taught himself their dance moves just by watching them.

In "Triple S" Ron actually did a decent job of staying on the tray and holding the umbrella. I'm not surprised people thought it was a new sport; an average person doing that on accident wouldn't have been able to stay on it at all.

In "Bad Boy" Ron builds dangerous and powerful devices, and has the foresight to track the Kimmunicator's frequency. And the only thing he switched with Drakken was morality, not intelligence. Thus, it's reasonable to assume that Ron is extremely intelligent, he's just not trying.

In "Overdue" Ron goes on several missions alone to retrieve a library book.

In "Stop Team Go" even Shego acknowledges that Ron turning evil again is very bad. And he sends a bunch of Wegos flying through the air immediately afterwards.

And, of course, Ron's powers come into full bloom in "Graduation".

TLDR: Ron was capable of being more than a sidekick, a solo hero in his own right, and it would've been nice if the narrative hadn't treated him as Kim's inept and clumsy sidekick, even when he's being amazing.

Bonus: In defense of his clumsiness, and less than stellar grades, Ron mentions in "The Fearless Ferret" that he has "a slight stigmatism" but that his doctor says he shouldn't need corrective lenses. As someone who needed glasses at Ron's age, and someone who had astigmatism, I can say this; Ron's astigmatism may not be bad enough that he is legally classified as visually impaired, but even with slight astigmatism, it can still make things blurrier than they should be and mess up his ability to see detail, read, and screw with his depth perception.

In other words, Ron isn't horribly clumsy or stupid, he just can't see.

I don't know how you can say that Ron outgrew his role as the forgettable sidekick while still claiming it's part of his character. Sure, Ron's probably not one to try hard, but acknowledgement of what he does for Kim would be nice.

(He's also been shown to be unhappy with being the forgettable sidekick, so it's not fair to act like he needs to keep being that.)

Do you think Ron outgrew his original role as the forgettable sidekick and comedic relief? If the answer is "Yes", at what point do you think that happened?

His chracter was treated that way mostly because he was the primary source for comedic relief, the show needs humor if Ron outgrew that role and his character was being held back by that, then in order to solve it, they needed to either introduce another character to fullfil that role, change the way the humour operated or find another way like tone down the humor and the gags or at least not make them at expense of the chracter.

How would you solve this?

Was Ron's character really unhappy with being just the sidekick? There were few instances where he sounded proud of having that role, I think it was people overlooking him and outright forgetting him which annoyed him and not that he was known as a sidekick.

I definitely say Ron outgrew his original role. As for when, hmm...

As early back as the first (chronological) episode, Ron was shown to have some skill at this.

I'd have to say by mid-season 2 it's just mean to keep up all the jokes at Ron's expense.

If one character is the primary source of comedy in a show, I do agree that needs to be changed. The change I'd make would be having humor rely on more than one character.

(Of course, I'd make it that way from the beginning.)

Yes, I do think, at times, Ron was unhappy being the sidekick.

There was "Bueno Nacho" where he was upset that Kim only wanted him to join her as a sidekick.

In "Sink or Swim" he asks if he'll be allowed to lead the next mission, which implies an interest.

There was "The Fearless Ferret" where Ron wanted to branch out on his own as a hero.

And at least one occasion where Ron asks Kim why she never has Wade make gadgets for him.

So it certainly seems like there are times where Ron wanted to be treated more like a partner than a sidekick.

And, honestly, I think he deserves it.