I'm Just Trying To Summon The Haiku Bot To This Post Syllable

When the snake men took my grandma

When’s the last time you skedaddled

The true meaning of the Pan flag

thanks walmart

i just wanna clarify, this is valid criticism, and it’s really respectable how you just pointed out those flaws without attacking the creators or games themselves, I just like shooting bugs and watching them blow up into green

Starship troopers is (Not) Satire

Starship troopers is a 1997 satirical re-interpretation of the 1956 Sci-fi novel by Robert A. Heinlein, which went on to inspire the 2015 Satirical top down shooter Helldivers by Arrowhead Game Studios and later the 2024 Satirical sequel game Helldivers 2, by the same studio. But everyone knows this..., or do they? During the popularity of Helldivers 2 there was a large spike in people and players who didn't realize that the game was a comedic and satirical commentary on fascist governments. Even some close friends whom I played the game with didn't know this was the case and as the discussion went on there were people saying they didn't know or think Starship Troopers, the games very clear inspiration was also a satire.

And there were many people throwing around accusations or poking fun at people for not knowing this, but I feel like there was and still is an important discussion to be had around this, why didn't people know this? IT'S SO OBVIOUS RIGHT? Well..., no, when Starship Troopers initially came out many movie goers didn't see it as satirical, some people even thought the film was pro-Fascist and pro-nazi. And later sequels would tone down the satirical angle of the films. When I was younger I assumed the movie was just another sci-fi American war film about brotherhood and defying the odds, it wasn't until I was told of the films satirical nature did I stop and look for it.., so what went wrong?

I believe both the issue with the film and the video game is the framing of it. In the example of Starship trooper... The movie is about Rico, a young student who wants to join the military because of a girl he likes despite the wishes of his parents who want him to go onto higher education. Sadly the girl he threw his life away for breaks up with him, so he puts himself completely into becoming a great soldier. And he's really good at it, until his strive to achieve ends tragically when he gets one of his friends killed and is punished for it. Demotivated and blaming himself he wishes to leave, only for the bugs to launch a meteorite at earth, killing his family. Motivating him to return to service and fight. The initial assault on the bug home-world is absolute failure and a slaughter, but Rico manages to survive and we learn in a shocking twist that the bugs are a lot smarter than we gave them credit for. Responding to a distress call, we learn the existence of a brain bug, that is able to drain the brains of humans to gain information about us. We've learned where one of these brain bugs might be and we push for an assault on the planet. Rico lands, saves the girl of his dreams and the army is able to capture a brain bug, learning that for the first time that they are now scared of us and the chance to win the war is growing closer, happy ending. Now, many people will read that and think, wait no, your missing out key details or important observations. Well, what I told you is probably what most movie goers would of probably picked up on when watching the movie. The important satirical and anti-fascist details we are familiar with are essentially, background noise. They are very small scenes. Example, the needing the citizen ship to be able to have a kid detail? That is in one scene, it lasts for about a few seconds and isn't expanded upon. We were suppose to take away from it that the government is controlling who and who can't have a kid and enrolling into the military is essentially indoctrination, however, without more context there isn't much else to go on. The fact that the whole war is started by the humans first by invading the bugs territory? Again, it's a really small scene and we don't know what exactly invasion means in the grand scheme of things, but through out the movie we have ONLY seen the bug be the aggressors and the manner in which they aggress is incredibly violent, cruel, painful and indiscriminate. Casper Vein Dien, the actor for Rico, asked the director, Paul Verhoeven if the satire was a bit too heavy handed, with the director saying that the satire was 'subtle'. To which after seeing the reaction with most people missing the point of the movie, agreed that maybe they made the film, too subtle. And I agree, but I don't think it's the only problem. Helldivers 2 is WAY less subtle with it's broadcasts and use of propaganda. With videos and images of robots stealing baby prams. However, most of the fanbase, who are in on the joke have responded with Pro-propaganda and in doing so, many people take the game as a pro-war game. After all, you are fighting against mindless bugs and machines who attack you on sight, slaughter workers and stuff them into cages. Your just taking back your worlds from these invaders, right?

By framing both media as the 'hero', having you defend and fight against these attackers. you convey to the audience that you are in the right, especially when you compare how much damage the enemy do compared to yourself. There is no scenes of squashing sympathies, rebellions, or seeing what life is like for the average non-citizen, we get to see the world from the 'privileged', the rewarded, the heralded. The characters we are typically seeing doing right, but we aren't seeing them doing wrong. The context is there, but it can be missed by an average viewer and the fact it can be missed is a problem as it paints the setting as one of pro-war propaganda and doing what is right for the people. Like I said, if you aren't looking for it, you don't see it.

You never know!

you never know!

Piggy only knows of Stephanie Beatriz through 99 and as such expects a tough, bad@ss, and is prepping to outdo her the whole episode, but she shows up and is (like real life, or so I’ve heard) absolutely lovely, and Piggy’s just standing there with nunchucks and a printed list of insults that Deadly helped her with

Muppet Show: 2010s Ideas

-Kermit goes on staycation, so John Mulaney has to manage the Muppets. -Lizzo somehow manifests both onstage with Fozzie and in the balcony with Statler and Waldorf to both defend Fozzie and be shady. -Mitski gets everyone to open up about their insecurities. It turns out Animal is the most stable and emotionally intelligent. -Virtually any member of the Brooklyn 99 cast. Hijinks ensue. -Tyler, the Creator tries to hang out with the spooky Muppets, but he’s too much of a dork, so he does “See You Again (the Tyler song)” with Gonzo. -Michael Sheen thinks he’s David Tennant, and David Tennant thinks he’s Michael Sheen. -Daft Punk are confused for two Muppets. -Me. -Jack Stauber Halloween episode.

🍜🍥🍜

some people think writers are so eloquent and good with words, but the reality is that we can sit there with our fingers on the keyboard going, “what’s the word for non-sunlight lighting? Like, fake lighting?” and for ten minutes, all our brain will supply is “unofficial”, and we know that’s not the right word, but it’s the only word we can come up with…until finally it’s like our face got smashed into a brick wall and we remember the word we want is “artificial”.

Now, before I start, DT17 was my introduction to the greater Duck Universe, I was aware of Donald, HDL, and Scrooge because my parents took us to Disney once every year or two, and showed us the movies and stuff, but outside of finding life and times of Scrooge McDuck and skimming it in middle school, I knew nothing, so I’m biased towards DT17

Your point about kiddy adventures is incorrect, as the episodes had these as framing devices, but always focused more on an adventure, the first Funzo’s episode was about establishing the new Webby as a character, and about the beagle boys. The sleepover episodes, the 2 I can think of, are about diving into dreams and fighting Magica, and searching through Scrooge’s other vault and dealing with monsters.

Yeah the Scrooge morals thing is fair, I have no rebuttal

However, your point about family is where I most strongly disagree, you brought up the rescue rangers, but I don’t think Scrooge counts them as family, they are a background reference, and with coworkers, he is shown to be close to 3 coworkers, Gyro, who he sees as a brilliant mind and is trying to help improve his people skills so he can be great, Fenton, a bumbling buffoon at first who he’s willing to give a chance to be a superhero, and Launchpad, who is on all his adventures and is close friends with Dewey, the weakest point here is Launchpad, but all of these coworkers who he counts as family are his close friends, same with Beakley and Duckworth, alongside Lena for a time, all of them aren’t blood family, but found family, which is a type of bond also included in the show’s premise.

I think that the show is focused on all types of family, which is shown really well by the finale credits, showing severs groups of characters, some related, some not, but they are all family, through their bond.

Anyways yeah, no disrespect, I just have an addiction to DUCKTALES 2017 and wanted to throw my thoughts in.

What are actually your thoughts on DuckTales 2017 reboot?

It took me a long time to answer because I had to think about it for a while.

I think DT17 is a fine kids show, but it lacks a lot of maturity depth in its themes ans story in addition to missing the point of nearly every character it adapts.

To me, show's problems begin with the main cast. In the comics you had pretty much only 3 main characters: Donald Scrooge and HDL (which in the comics are considered one character). This makes sense for the comics, it makes the cast simple, recognizable and fleshed out while giving time to side characters. Now, DT17 decided to split the triplets to make the cast wider for the TV setting, but while they did that they also added a lot of other characters, and this quickly got out of hand.

DT17 has 8 main characters: Scrooge, Donald, Huey, Dewey, Louie, Webby, Mrs. Beackly and Luanchpad. And 9 after Della comes back. This doesn't allow all the main cast to shine like Donald who was extremely neglected.

The worst part about this cast change is that they changed the focus from Scrooge and Donald. And no matter how much they try these kids aren't nearly as interesting as Donald and Scrooge in the comics. Due to this change stories deal with kids' conflicts like sleepovers or the Funzo's episodes. Makes the show feel a lot more childish.

I find stories about Scrooge going to find treasure simply to get richer or Donald trying and failing at his new job(s) much more compelling than what DT17 has to offer.

Scrooge and his adventures actually take a really big hit in this show. DT17 feels afraid of making Scrooge morally dubious. He's barely greedy or stingy in the show and there's not really any focus on his money. We don't see Scrooge being stingy moments like the crashout over the kids finding out about Della isn't very believable because I don't see why the kids would think Scrooge wouldn't spend money trying to save her.

Btw, in that whole story Scrooge did nothing wrong! Yes, he built Della a spaceship but as we see later, the rocket itself was perfectly safe and functional, Della only crashed because she flew it without preparations and during a cosmic storm! And after she did Scrooge nearly went bankrupt trying to save her. He genuinely did nothing wrong, and that's a shame! Because I want him to be in the wrong! The best part of Scrooge's crashout with his family in The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is that it was completely his fault for being a despicable asshole. After that, the writers tried to lift responsibility from their main characters even more by making it so Bradford told Della about the spear of Seline and imo it doesn't really matter because Della was an adult woman who should be able to take control over her actions (especially while having 3 kids on the way).

As I'm writing this I realize I can't put all my thoughts on this series into one message so I'll write one final point. The main theme of the shoe, the importance of family is stupid.

Not only is it cliché and honestly pretty childish it doesn't really mean anything in the show. As far as I remember the show doesn't really explain why family is important. It doesn't go far family is good and maybe that loneliness is not fun, and that's incredibly basic! Not to mention that by the end of the show the term family loses all of its meaning because Scrooge considers everyone his family, the rodents his great nephew saw once, his coworkers and so many more. It just devalues family and makes it pointless. But at the same time it also overvalues it because nobody is allowed to have any individuallity outside of the family and do their own thing, and once they do their own thing the family also claims it. Personally I find it a pretty toxic approach.

Overall, DuckTales 2017 is an okay show, but it makes incredibly nuanced characters very flat and childish and unlike what they used to be while lacking any depth to its own themes. I think it can be fun on a first viewing but once I start thinking about what I saw it all falls apart.

I might continue adding to the post later, but I'm tired rn.

Captain Amelia from Treasure Planet is here to remind the Disney clowder that that movie exits. Acknowledge it dammit!