For the past couple days I've been trying to think of a way to express properly why the season 7 premiere of Rick and Morty was such a letdown, and honestly there's a whole host of reasons.

For one, it was already at a disadvantage since everyone was focused on the new voices. But maybe that's actually a good thing because the episode itself, despite making a reference to being "canonical", was not satisfying in the slightest. Rick's previous encounter with Birdperson in season 5 wasn't referenced nor did it inform the way the characters interacted with each other. The one thing I can give the episode credit for is developing Birdperson's daughter more as a character. Unfortunately she was introduced in an incredibly short scene and her off-screen rescue was mentioned only as a side note.

The other issue is that Morty was irrelevant and disappeared shortly after the start of the episode. This would only be slightly annoying if this wasn't the season premiere to a show called Rick and Morty and the previous finale didn't foreshadow that Morty's life was going to be severely affected by Rick's revenge obsession from here on out. But since that's the last major scene we saw him in, it's incomprehensible to me that the writers would instead choose to center focus on Mr. Poopybutthole and celebrity guest Hugh Jackman. Again, this would have been MUCH more palatable if it wasn't what they chose to lead with.

It just serves as a reminder that the writing in Rick and Morty remains wildly inconsistent. They still seem unsure about how to strike a proper balance between serialized and episodic elements. And I think it's indisputable that their method of writing the show to go on forever is at odds with their desire to deliver an overarching storyline with an end goal. Season 6 was paced pretty well all things considered, but the start of season 7 broke their stride.

The episode concept could have been done well. It could have revealed more about Rick's friendships and examined their flaws in an interesting way. But of course it didn't. It was completely shallow outside of developing a gag character. I am crossing my fingers that the rest of the season will have more to offer.

In 4x01 Liz said she didn’t want to get engaged yet because she was afraid “the other shoe would drop” as soon as she did.

And rather than the show letting her feel emotionally safe in the end—

The other shoe did drop. Liz overcomes her fear and decides to propose and is immediately narratively punished for it.

Worst of all, we see Liz supported by none of the other characters. She literally cries alone in a diner while eating pancakes. The series ends on her crying alone in an empty desert.

This show just really didn’t care about Liz at all.

I really hope Rick and Morty as a series will finally move on from portraying Rick's love for Morty / his family as this special, redemptive trait that Morty just needs to open his eyes to. Or portraying it as something Rick just needs to be emotionally honest about, finally admit in a grand gesture, and then everything will be healthy and resolved.

Two things can be equally true: Rick can sincerely care about Morty, deeply enough to be tender with him, showing gestures of affection, being protective of him, being truly proud of him... and can also constantly let Morty down, put him in mortal danger, make Morty feel responsible for his emotional health, treat him awfully and in manipulative controlling ways, and not be there for him when it matters most. His love is real, but is also a fickle thing that Morty cannot always rely on. That uneven dolling out of affection is exactly what entrenches the abuse and damages Morty further. Even now that Rick is slowly improving as a person, his simultaneous love and unreliability persists in milder ways, and the long pattern of abuse leaves deep scars on his grandson.

In my opinion, it makes perfect sense for Morty to see Rick's care for him as this unreliable, dangerous, and potentially non-existent thing, but also to paradoxically crave it nonetheless. Every time he lets his guard down and starts to trust Rick too much, he's been kicked in the nuts for it to varying extents-- even recently. I don't think he actually believes Rick cares nothing for him, but he's been trapped in this cycle of good and bad for so long that his self-worth is eroded and wholly defined by his grandpa's conditional affection, and he's scared of and dependent on it simultaneously. Even if Rick became truly healthy and openly caring from now on, that won't change how he's screwed up Morty with his behavior.

The series isn't going to make any meaningful progress if the writers keeps cycling around the superficial "does Rick care? does Morty know how deeply Rick cares?" question that they've asked since Season 1, instead of progressing to more meaningful, realistic questions about what Rick's love even means after all the past seasons of codependent abuse, and how much it should be worth to Morty in the end. (Ideally, much, much less than it's worth now.)

Yes, Rick cares. Yes, he loves his family deeply. But as with many forms of abuse, that's part of the problem.

here, take some rick sketches, since the rickfucker server seemed to like them :DDD

left is my interpretation of the show's style, and the right is closer to how I usually draw people :3c

headcanons below for those that like that kinda thing 🔽

-rick is mixed, his mom was jewish and his dad was mexican, and they raised him catholic. they both sucked in different ways :/ (she was an alcoholic, he was emotionally absent, etc)

-he's a trans man!! he and diane were t4t, and he was the one who carried beth. he developed super advanced hrt for the two of them early into their relationship, but he didn't give himself top surgery until after he realised that diane was truly gone in every universe

-he is technically only 55 years old, but his experiments with time (and the damage of repeated trauma) have caused him to be closer to 75 mentally, physically, and emotionally.

-he has audhd, cptsd, and bpd (don't mind me projecting...) morty is his current fp, and he's constantly splitting on him. some of his past fps include his original beth, diane, birdperson, unity, and mr nimbus.

-he has chronic pain from his cybernetic implants. he could improve the tech if he wanted to, but he prefers to punish himself or numb himself with drugs and alcohol.

-he has big beautiful brown eyes like a baby cow 💖

THE PROMO FOR RHE NEXT EPISODE AUUUUUWA FYRHCYFYAYAYAYAoooOoh yeahh🎵 ohhhh Yeah mmMmm YEAH....

I don’t blame anyone for looking at solar opposites and thinking that it’s rick and morty 2.0 because considering the fact that it was literally created by justin roiland and mike mcmahan and has the same art style I think it’s a really easy assumption to make but like. I do think it’s funny how absurdly different they really are when you actually watch them.

solar opposites just has such a different vibe to rnm, even in the beginning when it’s just “episodic fun with a wacky sci-fi family” the tone still feels so different and I think that’s why I actually had a hard time getting into it at first bc I kinda wanted it to be more like rnm. and I feel like as the seasons have gone on and as new plot threads keep getting introduced they’ve started diverging even more. and I just think that’s neat

glad to finally have a “malex” ep to reconfirm

1) that none of these characters can convincingly be written to care about alex at this point and

2) that anything that was supposed to be malex’s must be repurposed to prop up echo and/or maria

I’m sorry guys but wow we are so easy like give us one picture and we will never shut up about it

RNM 4x10

I was really hoping for at least a glimpse of Alex in 4x10 but, like the last eight episodes, let's hope for the next one, right? At this point, it's an exhausting exercise because they aren't doing a good job on screen to tie us in this game of wishful thinking and hopeful waiting. Let's be clear, I don't find any joy in being critical but it's just so frustrating. I mean, everything that we are watching it's just a way to drag this season to the end, it doesn't hold any of the high stakes that this storyline could potentially have. It's a shame, really.

We could have had an entire season of meaningful searching making this annoying kidnapping really important but no. Eight episodes later we still don't know anything about why Alex was kidnapped and what that contingency plan really was. Probably nothing, judging how Tezca never acknowledged it, nor with her dark triad or with Isobel in this boring redemption arc. It seems just something thrown in an episode for the fun of it, probably because it sounded cool. If I'm wrong and the last three episodes give us the most epic twist on this front, I will be really happy though. Will it happen? Eh, again, the past experiences tell me no but I hope so (see? the wishful thinking again 😔 so frustrating 😤)

What irks me more it's the low speed at which Alex's storyline is proceeding. Five episodes to have someone just notice that something was wrong (someone not Michael, lol) and five more to finally start searching for real. Amazing. Two episodes full of discourses about how Michael not jumping in the sinkhole was a sign of character growth, because he knew he needed a plan, just to have him going through the portal still without a plan. Do you see the irony in this? It wasn't that the disappointed Alex's fans couldn't see Michael's growth, it was that they were annoyed at yet another attempt to stall the search. I don't care if in canon it's all happening in a handful of days, this thing is so badly handled that it doesn't matter. However you watch this storyline, there's a lack of urgency that's undeniable. Everything falls flat, saving a couple of moments here and there. This season needs to shift gears and it needs to do it fast. I mean, it's kind of overdue at three episodes from the end, right? I don't know if the writers thought they would have a fifth season, so that this one would have been part of a multiseason storyline, but I don't think it really matters.  It's a slow repetitive season no matter what. The new things introduced by the dark triad started strong, and then ended up being a lot of exposition and a compelling villain that now is no more. It's confusing.

For the rest, I don't think anyone from the main cast really got a story arc worthy of this name. Even Echo, it's just the same problem again and again, just in another font 🤷🏻‍♀️ If a was a fan of them I will be pissed, because four season in and they still have the same problems of season one. They talk a lot and make big speeches and promises to just be back at square one when the next science excitement or moral discourse comes along. I understand the beauty of flawed characters, but at a certain point they need to make some kind of progress that sticks. Otherwise it's a never ending repeat of the same thing. At least, even if largely off screen, Malex had real growth on both parts. I still think that, in normal circumstances (aka with a fifth season), there will not be a wedding in 4x13. Otherwise, it will be laughable, because Echo is nowhere ready to take the big step, and Malex has been nonexistent. And going from a move-in with a lot of trauma-related doubts to a wedding after a kidnapping, it feels like a rush decision, even if they are ready and the commitment is there from the start. It sounds like a consolation prize, for whichever couple goes there. It's not ideal but, if it happens, I will gladly take that as a finale. RNM has already made a lot of mistakes, some sort of happy ending it's the least they could do. It's not gonna change that this group of characters deserved better. They all did. And Alex...

Alex deserved so much better than the way he has been treated in these four seasons. I'm going to mourn all it could have been and it has not. I'm sorry if this makes me a bad fan. I don't have the slightest problem admitting that Alex is my favorite and that I care about him and not much more. I think it's fair, because everyone watches a series for a motive. Sometimes it's for the ensemble, sometimes it's for the plot, sometimes it's just for one character. Everything is valid. Disappointment for something you hoped to be good and it wasn't, it's absolutely valid. So, I'm going to wait for Alex to finally return, hoping for the best in terms of screen times and importance, and I'm going to enjoy whatever they'll give us. Will it make me less disappointed? Absolutely not. This is still a season that has wasted my time and I would love to be able to miss the episodes I don't care about, but I'm not that kind of tv watcher. And I can't wait until the end of the season to binge-watch the entire thing, because I really lack the patience to sit through a mess like this in one long session. Me problems, I know. Being aware of that, though, doesn't make me less disappointed. And it's valid. 

☕️ adult animation in general :}

i really feel like adult animation, as a whole, is an aspect of animation so overlooked by people online because they have mushed peas for brains. do not get me wrong, there's a lot to criticize/is bad, but thinking that the only "good adult stories" lie in animation geared towards kids is stupid and really doesn't highlight the stories adult animation does tell. like if animation is for all ages, why the hell do people only recommend shows and movies clearly aimed at an audience made for children. "oh but(x) is for all ages" i don't think i have to tell you why the talking cat movie and the Australian show that airs on a kids channel may be aimed towards a certain demographic.

a main criticism of adult cartoons is that they rely on sex, drugs, and cursing jokes. now i could point out that people laugh when that jokes are animation for tweens but whatever. all i'm gonna say is, so? adults do those things, obviously they're gonna joke about it. (also people loveeee saying smiling friends and hazbin are so different than adult animation despite BOTH shows using this humor. hell, while not a western animated cartoon, panty and stocking's humor is like this and no one shits on it.) and when adult animated shows aren't focused on humor (LIKE PEOPLE WANT THEM TO BE) people complain About them being too depressing or miserable to watch (DESPITE THEM WATCHING SHIT LIKE THE OWL HOUSE WHICH PEOPLE PRAISE FOR IT'S DARK STORYTELLING). basically no matter what genre it is, I feel like adult animation can't win.

people always point out the artstyle too which again really isn't a problem. there's a lot of beautiful adult animated cartoons and ones that are really stylized, but everyone ignores them to make fun of the family guy ripoff that will get canned in two minutes. and that's really the biggest problem yeah? the family guy ripoffs are what people judge literally the entire landscape of adult animation by. despite there being really good stuff out there, it's judged by the few that suck dick and balls. people used to do with kids' animation and now people complain about how the whole genre must suck. and then when people recommend shows that are good they get all mad and go "well there's only a few that are good!" or "well...that's comedy based so it doesn't count" LIKE AT LEAST GIVE IT A CHANCE!!!!

AND. AND!! it seems like even the industry is stacked against adult animated projects. netflix cancelling qforce, tuca and bertie, and inside job for one, but also adult swim's "put eggs in one basket" strat they have with rnm. it seems like adult swim only (for many years at least) cared about rnm and it seems they didn't put as much effort in promoting the other show on the network. adult swim being one oif the only (besides like fox) that host adult animation kinda sucks but a lot of these stories that people create don't seem to reach their full potential because networks are scumbags. adult swim has built a good will reputation with most of it's fans (i say most because [looks at paper shredder]) by being cool and hip with what their audience likes but at the end of the day they are a network. and they act like any other scumbag network. see their desire to just cancel shows: moral orel and venture bros for instance. and well. you know. [looks at a paper shredder] or adult swim refusing to pay carey means (the voice of frylock) residuals. in other news there's a new season of aqua teen coming soon.

the only adult cartoons people talk about are the really popular ones or the ones that suck. from my experience (see: college campus in nj) the only adult cartoons people discuss are rick and morty and south park. which is like UGH. Ive seen people in archer shirts though, but it's mainly those two, which sucks because i feel like there's much to choose from. and on the other hand people love to talk about the ones that suck. despite everyone saying they weren't going to watch velma they did. they hatewatched it. and they gave it attention social media. "but it was all negative" king, that's still attention, do not act surprised when they green light this for season 2. you hatewatch the bad shows and then act surprise when good shows that you don't watch at all get canned but the bad ones do. curious!

conclusion: i think if you want to say animation is for all ages you gotta watch adult animation! yes! it's not going to be what you want sometimes, it might be a bad artstyle, or have dumb humor, but you gotta go out of your comfort zone sometimes! ask people for recommendations online and i am sure you'll fine something for you. and most importantly STOP MAKING TWEETS AND POSTS DISPARAGING ADULT ANIMATION. YOU'LL NEVER APPRECIATE THE MEDIUM FULLY IF YOU KEEP SHITTING ON WHAT IT HAS TO OFFER!!

second conclusion: i don't care how good arcane is i'm not watching a league of legends show.

third conclusion: stop recommending bluey as a show for adult it is literally for preschoolers. i know you'll say it's good and i'm sure it is, but if you think bluey is the best show for adults right now you literally have mushed peas for your brain. go see a doctor.

fourth conclusion: also metaloclaypse sucks dick. don't watch that

Air Force Wong was exciting for a second because of Unity and then it was painfully average. I don't see how Rick cutting an ex out of his life is unhealthy. Unity was the one enslaving the population of Virginia.

Ready to throw hands with everyone saying this ending is "equality" because Maz and Liz are a m/f ship with an uncertain future and malex got the happy ending (and I'm a fan of malex too). But like Liz is my girl, I'm hispanic and her character has meant so much to me for years. She and her relationship with Max are why I started watching the show. She deserved a far better ending on her own damn show and in her relationship than she got. I'm so mad rn.

Yep. We are not oversaturated with happy endings for WOC. We barely even have any Latina-led shows. But over and over conversations of diversity in romantic representation don’t extend to this. How many times have we been told Liz/Max are “standard m/f we’ve seen hundreds of times” as if romance involving WOC isn’t sorely lacking.

Liz did not deserve to end her show heartbroken and crying and no plans, no storyline for herself.

Anyway tbh my most consistent fandom experience here since 2019 is having my bisexuality erased simply for being a Liz/Max blog 🤷‍♀️

Okay. I returned briefly to R&M just to watch the latest episode because I heard Evil Morty came back.

... unpopular opinion I guess, based on the excitement in the tag, but I... didn't like how they executed his return that much? Like it was promising on paper, but in execution I was constantly like "... :|"

From the moment Evil Morty showed up in front of Rick C-137 and Morty Prime, he just felt like he was there to stand around and quip constantly and to get counter-quipped about how much of an asshole he was being, as well as to pull off Rick-tech cyborg badassery to fight alongside Rick in a very overblown way (his more unique manipulative skills only getting to show with the fakeout near the end). There's no... gravitas, for a lack of a better word. He just shows up and oh, he's here, and he's helping, and he feels strangely superfluous to the plot in spite of all the little ways the episode has him progress the fight against Rick Prime. It felt fanservicey and not in the good or natural way.

It also felt like there were scenes missing between the moment he appears and the moment he starts giving backhanded technobabble advice to Rick about how to improve his tech. Like... shouldn't there be more tension, instead of this casual acceptance of "oh this guy again, this is happening"? Why does the episode not give time to explain why Evil Morty decided to help our Rick kill Prime to solve the curve-fracking disruption, instead of just killing him? Why is Evil Morty giving snarky advice and/or cooperating with Rick like they're a real team with minimal preamble? It didn't go enough into the thought process from A to B for most scenes in the episode, honestly. Things were just constantly being thrown at you with no time to digest what was going on, making it all feel rather shallow (until the end, I guess)

Also, aside from that moment where he shows interest in bringing Morty along, Evil Morty gets no meaningful interactions with Morty Prime at all (who, as an aside, does so little this episode it's uncanny, even though being faced with a competent alternate version of himself who loathes Rick is perfect character development fuel, and they just keep wasting it by giving him nothing to do and not following up on the confrontation in S5 meaningfully) and in addition he's randomly acting far more tolerant to the main duo + giving them more credit for reasons that feel very OOC and more just to justify the rushed team-up. They could have done a lot with his distaste for our R&M because they represent what he hates about the abusive dynamic he left, like they hinted at in the S5 finale, but that seems quietly dropped or at least ignored. All the interesting parts of his character aside from being a hypercompetent asshole Morty got kinda glossed over due to the insanely rushed pacing and him existing as a plot device, even though I conceptually like the idea of him being less of a straightforward antagonist and more of a wild card who wants to be left alone after his escape in Season 5. He did feel somewhat more natural at the end once it he was downloading the Omega weapon information from Rick Prime, but his parting words where he shows an interest in our Rick felt so forced I cringed.

... I did like his intro backstory somewhat, but there wasn't anything really surprising in it (aside from the Evil Rick attempted suicide scene, jesus that got dark real fast and reminded me of my old fanfic), so in practice it kinda just ruined the mystique and prior applicability of Evil Morty's character to every Morty's backstory + character trajectory. Ironically, showing too much led to his character feeling smaller, not larger, and muddied what made his parting speech in S5 work so well. I feel like they should have just kept him relaxing in his private resort and dropped the rest of the intro, honestly. That was the best part, seeing how pissed he got at his peace being interrupted.

All that being said, I think a lot of the ideas in this episode were decent on paper, but it should have been a two-parter. Nothing was given room to breathe as they just hit you with canon after canon to service Rick's greater arc, and as a result Evil Morty felt really wasted here. And I was surprised since I was going into this expecting to enjoy it as an Evil Morty fan.

🥺 @trucknoisettes love youuuu what a compliment.... i know the episode has gotten criticism for like, its trite concept, or rather for falling into the trap that rnm has fallen into a couple times. that poking fun at heists while not really having love for the genre and while wanting to be smarter than heist movies makes for an overcomplicated, annoying episode that ends up doing what it claims to condemn, you know?? (plus you have to ignore elon musk being there, briefly, it still sucks major ass though lol). but from a character standpoint, it's just so good it's become one of my favorites !!!

[This is more an introspective personal post more than anything else, but I do express minor disappointment/criticism for the show/finale in it so proceed with caution it you don’t want to see it.]

The thing is, I knew before the official cancellation that this was probably going to be my last season in the RNM fandom. Somewhere during this last hiatus, I realized the spark had left, that I was no longer really invested in the what happened next, no longer as interested in fandom conversations and creations. When the cancellation news came, I was relieved, though also kinda of pissed because goddamn it, I was going to leave first. 

The cancellation news did reignite a small flame though, knowing it would be the final season. I was excited to watch, even writing again in the weeks leading up to the premiere. And I loved the premiere a lot. But then I missed 4x03 and 4x04 because life kicked my ass, and I got behind. And in the moments when I had free time, I was too exhausted to watch something I was so invested in, so newer media was more appealing...and some of that new media ended up being very, very shiny. So by the time I felt ready to catch up...

The thing is, there are things I know I would have loved about this season and the finale, if I was still in that emotionally invested fandom state, even with all the disappointing stuff. But since I mostly emotionally moved on, it just all fell flat for me. The faults glared at me in all their ignominy. It sucks. I didn’t want to leave this show feeling disappointed and let down like I do. 

That being said, RNM joins only two other major fandoms of mine that I have watched in real time and made it to the finale. A rare distinction in almost two decades of fandom. And I am incredibly grateful for this show. For three years, it did bring me a lot of joy (and pain too, but quite a bit of joy). I have friendships I know I’m walking away with that will be long-lived, and even for those that will fade without this shared interest: just because it was temporary doesn’t mean it wasn’t important. This show and fandom challenged me to teach myself to gif, inspired me to actually complete and post fanfic, inspired me to run my first fandom event(s). I’m walking away with good, tangible things that I will be able to take with me, and honestly, I think that’s more important to think about than dwelling on yet another tv show letting me down in the end. 

I guess at the end of the day, what I want to say is thank you to everyone who shared this journey with me. To those who left before me, and those who will stay long after. To everyone who contributed positively to my fandom experience over the last four years, be that through reblogs, likes, kudos, comments, asks, dms, conversations on here or discord, through your art, your gifsets, your fic, your creativity, your meta, your enthusiasm, your salt, your encouragement, however you contributed. You are appreciated. Thank you for being here. <3