That Is Another Excellent Point, But It's Still Disturbing.

I actually have a lot of opinions about Totally Spies, but I won't get into those right now.

I will say, I noticed that there aren't a lot of fandom spaces dedicated to discussing Mandy and her friends.

(Or, if there are, I haven't found them yet.)

So, if that's something you're interested in, I suggest checking this out.

M.i.G. is LIVE, PEOPLE!

There's an actual Facebook group called M.i.G. (Mandy is Great) that's accepting members. If you want to extoll the virtues of the real star of the show, join at the link below:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/2596797444042145/?ref=share&mibextid=NSMWBT

Also, unlike the M.i.G. in the show, this one's open to all!

Rainbow World is Tonal Dissonance

Starting off with a quick definition: tonal dissonance is when there is a sudden, jarring shift in the overall tone of the show, movie, book, etc.

And it's the biggest reason I can't stand Rainbow World.

Every episode up to that point was about the adventures of teenagers at an elite arts high school that was also a boarding school.

And that was the concept that originally appealed to people.

And then, we have Rainbow World.

Now the show is about the whacky adventures of high schoolers in a magical world where they have cute pets made of crystal and magical missions to help people.

Not a terrible concept, but after four seasons of the show going one way, I'm not interested in suddenly changing the overall tone and premise of the series.

Rainbow World is such a different idea, it would've been better off as a different series.

And, honestly, the way it was introduced doesn't help either.

But that's for a different post.

Kim Possible: Great Hero, Not So Great Person (Redux)

I've rewatched the show more recently and noticed some new details, so I've decided to redo my first post on this blog.

Kim is known for saving the world and helping people with things like park cleanups and cats stuck in trees.

But she is also known to put her own desires before her friends, even if it causes them harm.

And that is not something a good person does.

These are not "mistakes" because Kim is doing them intentionally.

And it's not a one-time thing:

"Bueno Nacho"

Kim forges an application in Ron’s name before she even brings up the idea of working there to him.

When he's upset with her for doing that, she uses the puppy dog pout, which he explicitly states she knows he can't resist, to get him to take the job.

She refuses to be supportive of him or happy for him when he turns out to be good at it, to the point of refusing to do the job at all.

I will give Kim credit for apologizing for her jealousy, but she never apologizes for manipulating him to take the job in the first place.

"The New Ron"

She forces Ron into a haircut, despite the fact that even her own mother had reservations about it.

When Ron tells her he hates it and why, she feigns sympathy, steals his hat, and runs through the halls yelling that he got a new haircut.

When Ron starts to embrace the new haircut and becomes popular, she hates it. But despite his popularity, he's not a jerk.

He didn't abandon Rufus, Rufus wandered off and Ron gently chastised him for it.

She was only upset because Ron was starting to change into someone who cared about hair care and appearances.

(Which, if that wasn't her goal with the new haircut, then what was her goal?)

She apologizes for saying Ron needed a new haircut, but not for the lengths she went to to force him into one, nor for her contempt for him after he started to embrace the haircut.

At the end, she tries to tell him that it's what's on the inside that counts, but it's very hypocritical since she was the one who wanted him to change in the first place.

"Crush"

Kim locks Ron in the janitor closet, though semi-unintentionally; she wasn't intending to lock him in there, but she did shove him back in when he was trying to leave.

She ignores Wade’s attempts at reaching her, even though Wade never contacts her unless it’s important.

(I will give Kim some leeway here, as a teenage girl deserves one night to herself.)

She also expressed no concern at Ron being missing, nor does she seem to even notice he's missing.

We also have no idea how long Ron spent in that closet, but even just an hour is too long.

(Also, that is a really big janitor's closet. The ones at my high school were closet sized, not room sized.)

"October 31st"

When Kim's told the bracelet is armor that grows when she lies, she keeps lying, even though it was probably unnecessary. Her parents and Ron would have been understanding about her wanting to go to a party with her crush.

Her actions led to her destroying Monique's garage door, which probably landed Monique in trouble.

And though Kim does get grounded for lying, she doesn't get in trouble for putting others in danger.

(Probably because Wade's the only one who could confirm that she knew she was putting others in danger.)

"The Twin Factor"

She uses the Neural-Compliance Chips on her brothers, after saying that just making them would be unethical.

After an entire episode about how bad they are.

After being a victim of them herself.

It’s meant to be a joke.

This is not the kind of thing anyone should joke about.

"Grudge Match"

Kim thinks telling Ron that he might stand a chance with a girl is "fudging".

At this point, they know so little about Zita that they think her name is Annie.

There's no reason to believe Ron wouldn't stand a chance except for having a low opinion of Ron in general.

They also had their conversation about it while sitting across the table from Ron at Bueno Nacho, so there's a good chance he heard them.

And despite this belief that he doesn't stand a chance, she spends the rest of the episode angrily telling him that there are no rules to try to encourage him to ask her out.

"Adventures in Rufus-Sitting"

Ron's steps of taking care of Rufus aren't just long because he's an exotic animal, those are also things Ron learned about taking care of Rufus from experience.

He also refers to Rufus as his son in "Mind Games", so Kim's disregard for how to take care of Rufus is extra mean given that Rufus clearly means a lot to Ron.

Not only does Rufus accidentally eat the chip due to Kim's negligence, she doesn't even notice it's missing until Wade tells her it's broadcasting a signal from inside Rufus.

And she lies to Ron about all of it on multiple occasions. I can understand some of them, since she was dealing with an emergency, but this is the kind of thing pet owners like to know about.

"Exchange"

Kim and Monique were both arranging “accidental” run-ins with Hirotaka to ask him out, but Kim’s the only one who had Wade track Hirotaka’s movements to do it.

I know Monique couldn’t do that, but the point is, Kim took it to creepy stalker levels for a guy she’s known for less than a week.

(I'm also interested in the fact that Monique was confident she could take Kim in a fight.)

"Return to Wannaweep"

Though Kim and Bonnie both sabotage each other, Kim started it.

She unplugged Bonnie’s alarm clock, supposedly to charge the Kimmunicator, but there was another available outlet that she could’ve used.

She also uses all the hot water in the showers so Bonnie can’t have any, which wouldn’t harm just Bonnie but anyone else who may need to use the showers after Bonnie.

And she refuses to take any of Ron's feelings seriously.

Even if Gil hadn't actually been up to something, Ron was still stuck sharing a cabin with a guy who used to bully him and had attacked him and the squad at some point. He has every right to be uncomfortable with it, but Kim keeps dismissing his feelings because she's too focused on sabotaging Bonnie so she could win a plastic stick that's been painted gold.

Dr. Lurkin apologizes to Ron for not taking him seriously, but Kim doesn't.

"Go Team Go"

Despite getting on Ron's case for cheating in "Naked Genius", which is completely fair, Kim had no problems using her newfound super strength for gym class or cheerleading, which is unfair and hypocritical of her.

"The Big Job"

Though I agree the "doofy" and "stupido" thing was embarrassing, coupons shouldn't be embarrassing, especially since Kim isn't offering to pay for it herself.

I can understand how the kids' menu thing was embarrassing, especially since Kim wouldn't want to order a kids' meal. However, she should just let Ron order of the kids' menu if he wants to.

The whole plot around getting jobs would have been better if Kim was getting one to pay for dates herself, not to "encourage" Ron to get one to pay for dates.

And then Ron decides Kim deserves better and starts looking for a job himself anyways.

"Fashion Victim"

I could understand being upset about not getting to see the designs, but Monique signed an NDA and would be risking not just her job but her future career in the fashion industry if she told Kim. And having Wade check the contract for loopholes is obsessive and could’ve landed them all in legal trouble.

Hassling Monique to break an NDA and trying to get Wade to find a loophole so Monique can tell her is the kind of thing Kim would've gotten fired for.

(Also, there is no way Wade was just given a copy of that NDA, so he's definitely in trouble if Monique ever decides to snitch on him.)

"Big Bother"

We learn in "A Sitch in Time" that Kim always wanted a little sister, so it's no surprise that she took to Hana immediately.

But Ron's life was changed against his will without warning while he was at school, so a little sympathy would be expected from his girlfriend. Especially since the attic isn't as nice or comfortable as his old bedroom.

When Yori needs Ron's help on a mission, Kim refuses to let him go because she doesn't trust Ron alone with Yori, even though he's never given her any reason to think he'd be disloyal and Yori had requested help from him specifically.

"Clothes Minded"

I know they’re criminals who are behind bars, but that doesn’t make it right for Kim to use The Fashionistas’ design without their permission.

Monique didn't know it was The Fashionistas' design, and Rufus is a six-year-old rodent, so he wouldn't know any better.

But Kim did know it was their design.

I know they wanted her to bust them out, and I'm not saying she should, but it doesn't seem right for her to use their design without their permission.

(It's also kind of a disappointment that Kim is wearing a design made by The Fashionistas instead of Monique, her fashionable best friend who helped her put them behind bars in the first place. That would've been so much cooler.)

"The Cupid Effect"

At no point should Kim and Ron have been trying to get Monique to date Wade.

(A more realistic way of handling that would be to have them tease her about it for a bit, not seriously asking her to consider it.)

Also, Kim didn't actually need to hit Monique with the Cupid Ray just because she "didn't have time" to deal with Monique being upset. She was in a car, she could've driven away.

Because she did, Monique refused to leave Wade's side and ended up on a mission that she would have never gone on if she had been herself at the time.

Conclusion:

If this show handled relationships a bit more realistically, people would at least be mad at Kim for her actions, and stay mad. Kim being a hero doesn’t excuse such behavior, nor does her being a teenager.

As an action hero, Kim is great; cool, calm, collected, and always victorious.

But as a person, Kim is controlling, competitive, manipulative, insensitive, and more focused on her own wants than others around her.

And those aren't qualities someone who's meant to be a role model should have.

I know it's an old show, but my sister proposed one of the craziest possible AUs for Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Background info: We're both convinced that the Ty sisters are descended from air nomads. They're all good at acrobatics, and their faces look just like Aang.

So, for the AU:

Firstly, Kuzon never claims to be from the colonies, just that his family does things a bit differently

When Kuzon gets into trouble, the school doesn't ask to meet his parents, they say they've already contacted his parents.

See, a free-spirited kid who disrespects the teachers, dances, gets into fights, and "does things differently" has got to be from the Ty family.

They assume no one ever mentioned Kuzon because, compared to his sisters, he is quiet and respectful, so he must get overlooked quite often.

Mr. and Mrs. Ty did show up. They were planning to just clear up the misunderstanding, but then they see a young boy who looks just like their daughters, and is on the verge of a panic attack, and just roll with it.

"You know why we know that the history book is wrong. We're not going to punish him for being right."

"He didn't start that fight, so we're not going to punish him for defending himself."

"Kuzon, sweetie, you can't dance while playing the tsungi horn, you'll hit the other students."

The Ty family might not show it often, but they are nobility, so it's not exactly the best idea to get them upset.

Mrs. Ty has air nomad heritage, and she and her husband disagree with most of the current Fire Nation policies. They've hoped to make good changes, but it's not easy.

Aang tells them he's the avatar after he finds out about their heritage.

The promise not to sell him out, and ask for air bending lessons.

Not much else planned here, but Ozai does get defeated quicker.

Not sure if you considered this, but does Ms. Bustier's partner agree with her teaching methods, given how supportive she was in canon?

I imagine Giselle gets a very...biased reimagining of what happens in Bustier's class. She's only got Caline to go off of sooooo...

Do you really think all of ML's problems would be fixed if Adrien never existed?

Good heavens, no.

Adrien isn't the problem. He's just a symptom of a much larger issue. That issue being laziness and poor writing that comes in the form of "tell, don't show", plot threads that go nowhere, and lack of character development or plot progression that leads to a setup of "Status Quo Is God". Removing Adrien wouldn't fix all of that. Heck, it wouldn't fix any of that.

I can't fault the writers for replacing Felix with Adrien. Even if I and others could write out a plot with Felix, that's not to say everyone could or that the writers could. It could very well be that Felix as he was in the PV simply didn't work for the setup they had in mind.

...the issue here is that the setup they had in mind seems to require stagnancy. Where Hawk Moth attacks without winning and the heroes fight off the akumas without really trying to track him as the source and the two leads chase each other around in circles without anyone making any headway in either of these battles. Marinette wants to date Adrien. Chat wants to date Ladybug. It's why all her plans to ask him out fail while his attempts to express his feelings aren't taken seriously. And there is no forward movement, whether in their arc or in the fight against Hawk Moth. There wasn't even build or lead up to the two falling in love. They just started out episode one with crushes on each other and remained having crushes on each other until arguably season 5.

But no good story is stagnant. In this setup, characters need to do things and there needs to be a feeling of forward momentum.

Break it down this way: What is Adrien's problem? What is his goal? What is the obstacle to his goal?

Yes, we could say Adrien's dad being a supervillain and a neglectful jerk is Adrien's main problem, but it's not the problem Adrien is actually focused on in the show. Instead, if we could say Adrien has a problem, it would be that he wants to date Ladybug. And his goal is to date Ladybug. And the source of the problem and obstacle to his goal is...Ladybug.

So his problem, his goal, and the obstacle are all the same thing. This ultimately seems to make his problems Ladybug’s fault then because the problem would be solved if she gives in to his wants rather than by any real effort on his part.

Adrien as he is in the show doesn't do anything. And he doesn't need to do anything because he is at his base a character that things are done for. He doesn't have a goal or direction or drive. He just comes out to deal with akumas as needed, flirt with Ladybug when he can, and then be sad because his life is so hard when he doesn't get what he wants. We don't see him doing anything else. We don't see him making friends. We don't see him engaging in school. We don't even really see how he interacts with the classmates he only recently met. Things happen around him, but he is not a driving force in anything in the show.

But Felix in the PV is a very driving character. He had a problem: he's cursed. What does he need to break the curse? A kiss from Ladybug. What are the obstacles to his goal: Ladybug refusing to kiss him and Hawk Moth trying to kill her. How does he get that kiss? By flirting with her and trying to earn her affections while protecting her and making sure she doesn't DIE against an akuma before he gets that special curse-breaking kiss.

It's the start of Felix's journey. His goal and the various obstacles to that goal that make his story interesting and his growth possible. As such, I see him as a character who would progress in his attempts to obtain his goal as well as one who would progress the storyline...which is also accurate of 3D Felix since that's kind of what he's done more in his relatively few appearances than the series has in 5 seasons.

Adrien didn't have to have Felix's personality. He didn't have to have the same goals or level of drive. But he could still have had things where he grows and helps to push the plot forward.

Adrien...

...just started school. He has no friends, knows no one, and is trying to learn the ins and outs of public education. How is he doing in the different setting with teachers instead of tutors? How is he trying to get along with his classmates? Does he experience bullying? Does anyone NOT like him? What is he going through as a new student who had been homeschooled all his life?

...is friends with Chloe. What's it like learning his "only friend" is a bully? How do people respond to this? Does anyone (besides Marinette) fear him or avoid him because if he's friends with Chloe, he must be just like her?

...is a superhero. He could have been spending time learning the history of the ring and trying to develop his powers. Trying to get stronger? Trying to get to know Plagg? What is he experiencing as a highly known model who is also a superhero and having to juggle those dual identities?

...has a dead mom who died of a "mysterious illness". Given that this loss supposedly occurred about a year prior, he could still be mourning her. Maybe trying to learn what happened to her.

...has a neglectful father. How is he trying to interact with his dad? How does he feel about his dad not being around? What is he doing to try to resolve this?

...has a supervillain father. Like, I cannot stress this enough! His dad is a SUPERVILLAIN! His dad is THE SUPERVILLAIN THEY ARE FIGHTING! People were predicting him finding out and joining Gabriel to try and revive his mom! People were living for the eventual heartbreak of when Adrien finds out the truth! Entire AUs, fan arts, and fanfics were born of this very idea! Going into the drama and struggle Adrien would be experiencing being caught between the "right thing" and the girl he loves and his duty vs his father and his mother and his family. HOW CAN THEY JUST IGNORE THIS?!

But we don't get any of that. Instead, we get Adrien...

...just acclimated with no issues in school and automatically friends with everyone. Good for him, I guess. Wish it was that easy for the rest of us.

...doing little besides occasional comments to Chloe as she is completely horrible for five seasons including Chloe stealing from classmates, getting the entire school punished for something she did, stealing a Miraculous, trying to crash a train, and betraying the city to Hawk Moth. But it takes him learning about something she did to Marinette a year ago for him to finally decide enough is enough and drop her as a friend.

...only goes out to deal with akumas as they come but does nothing to try and figure out his powers and history, get stronger, or try to track Hawk Moth.

...just moves on from dead mom. No relevance here aside from wanting to see a movie she was in or making a passing comment about how she got sick. No attempt to find out what happened to her. No questioning what she may have wanted for him.

...is just sad about his neglectful father neglecting him but seems to get over it rather quickly.

...never learns his father is a supervillain. Okay, I take it back. He learns twice and those timelines are erased with no real repercussions other than trauma for Marinette, so it really doesn't feel like they count. The pieces are all there, though! He knows his dad has the grimoire but never questions him about it! Never asks his dad what the deal was with Tibet! No question about how mom died or what is going on with Nathalie or what he's doing with a hidden mechanism in mom's portrait.

Adrien has potential. He has plot threads and aspects that could be used and goals he could have. But the writing does nothing with him, so while he has a number of things he COULD do to move forward and progress as a character or for the plot, nothing comes of it.

And that all boils down to a problem with the writing.

Adrien was chosen over Felix as an "easier" option to keep the story at a standstill so they could drag it out for as long as needed. That doesn't mean it should have been. There were so many paths that could have been taken, but Adrien was given the personality of a wet noodle, so he acts on none of them because that was what the writers wanted out of his character.

Thoughts on Bonnie?

I have been waiting for this ask.

I'm probably going to get hated for it...

I don't think Bonnie's as bad as we're supposed to believe she is.

Sure, Bonnie's catty, mean, rude, petty, shallow, selfish, and more.

But that seems to be targeted 90% to Kim, 5% to Ron, and 5% to everyone else.

In other words, Bonnie doesn't seem overly mean to anyone but Kim.

Her fellow cheerleaders are seen hanging out with her instead of Kim quite often. And if someone as nice as Tara or pragmatic as Crystal prefers hanging out with Bonnie over Kim, there's probably a good reason for it.

And it might be the fact that, had it not been for Kim, Bonnie would've never stooped to sabotage in the first place. ("Return to Wannaweep")

Or it could be the fact that Bonnie can actually keep her commitment to the squad, and was willing to put in a lot more work to help the squad. ("Number One")

(I still don't think she willingly gave up the Captain position, especially not to Kim.)

Or that she would've been better able to be Chair of the Dance Committee, since she could fulfill her obligations and get Smash Mouth to perform, but Kim didn't care if Bonnie was better, Kim's own pride and ego, and rivalry with Bonnie, were more important than actually getting the job done. ("Queen Bebe")

Even Ron couldn't see a problem with Bonnie being the Chair of the committee.

(And I still have no idea what "throne" Kim was referring to.)

I wouldn't blame other people for deciding Kim is too competitive to hang out with regularly. She doesn't seem to put a lot of value in enjoying things, just doing them, and doing them the right way (her way).

And from what we've seen of Bonnie's romantic relationships, she dates guys who are genuinely nice and doesn't seem to be very mean to them either. She says Brick is "cute" when he can't think, instead of just calling him stupid or dumb. And the date we've seen her on was to a horror movie, so either Bonnie likes horror movies, she let Brick pick the movie, or some combination of both.

(I don't blame her for dumping soda in Kim's lap, Kim was talking throughout the movie, and being rude and condescending about it to boot.)

And from what I remember of high school, no one who's as mean as Bonnie supposedly is would actually have that many friends. They wouldn't even really have a lot of followers.

And Bonnie didn't just win the vote for Captain unanimously, she won it with everyone other than Kim being enthusiastic about her being Captain.

I think Bonnie's biggest issue with Kim is that Kim quite literally has things handed to her, doesn't have to work for much, and people are too enamored by the hero to notice the person. And Kim treats her best friend horribly which, shockingly, is not something we actually see Bonnie doing.

I think Bonnie's biggest issue with Ron is that Ron is so slavish towards Kim, and Bonnie sees it as pathetic and loser behavior. When Ron distances himself from Kim, she not only has no problems hanging out with him, but dates him, or tries to, and is unequivocally supportive of him. Which is...interesting, as it implies her issue isn't with Ron himself, but with how Ron acts around Kim.

But more to the point: the "mean girl" of the show treats people better than our hero does, and that says a lot about both of them.

Would Kim grow as a character if she did the whole “young character reacting realistically to trauma” via Finn Martin, Anne Boonchuy and Luz Noceda?

She would probably grow as a character, at least a little bit, if she did that. It would at least make her more sympathetic to Ron's fears, so she wouldn't be constantly dismissing them all the time.

(Of course, I'm upset that she's constantly dismissing Ron's fears when she knows they were caused by traumatic experiences, but that's for another time.)

So, yeah, probably. And I think it'd be very interesting to see that.

It'd be nice to know that even the girl who can do anything experiences fear and trauma. And that experiencing those things doesn't keep her from being a hero, and it's not bad to seek counselling for it either.

It'd be really cool to see, I would love that.

I thought he we would see more of this on So the Drama, but again the movie focused more on Ron than on Kim

Now, I’m a huge KimRon shipper, I’ve made whole analysis, gifsets and even the occasional fanart. I love that paring.

But I hate how Kim and Ron got together in the movie, the Kim from so the drama seemed like the one from Season one, when the Kim from season 2 and 3 was very clearly in love with him the one of the movie….. how do I say this!

Alright there are still little scenes like the one where Kim complains about not wanting to go with a friend-friend to the Prom, how a “stinky boyfriend” would be nice for a change while she keeps looking at Ron.

There’s the scenes where Kim looks lovingly to couples passing by, when Ron approaches her and tells him he knows the reason she is looks down lately, Kim whole mood changed and she looks up, hopefully? Expectantly? The way I see it Kim very clearly was expecting him to ask her to the dance right there, but we all know that’s not what happened. Not yet.

But then we also get scenes where Kim seemed completely against the idea or even embarrassed about the possibility of going up with him to the Prom. 2_5

Yeah, the movie doesn't really hold up when you look at it again 20 years later. But few things do, so it's not *entirely* their fault.

But we get a lot of Ron pining over Kim and only the barest hint that Kim might also be pining over Ron.

And honestly, even before the movie, Kim had moments of being embarrassed by Ron.

I have many posts that highlight the ways Kim's treated Ron unfairly throughout the show, but I'm going to assume you've read them already.

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?