As I'm sure many may know, the full color reprints of Pilkey's various books have suffered from unnecessary censorship, with Super Diaper Baby being the worst offender.
I haven't read the CU books in years, so I'm wondering what elements in those books were censored/altered?
Outside of obvious picks like #32 Kristy and the Secret of Susan, what are some books that aged poorly, and for what reasons?
(EDIT: I wasn't suggesting it was okay for young girls to date almost adult boys; believe me, I would definetely be upset at a 13-year-old dating an 18-year-old, regardless if the releationship is physical or not. I'm sorry if I came off that way. Should have worded myself better)
CONTEXT: There is a graphic novel created by Dav Pilkey (creator of Captain Underpants) called The Adventures of Ook and Gluk. It's about cavemen who travel to the future and learn kung-fu. It's a pretty damn awesome book.
Sadly, it was put out of print in 2021, because some guy made a big stink about some "offensive Asian stereotypes" in it, and Pilkey and Scholastic decided to ban it. It's a pretty crummy decision he made, if you ask me. Most people, even Asians never found it remotely offensive in the least bit.
Personally, I think Pilkey was forced to say all that "Oh, I'm sorry" BS, considering it was lampshaded in the one Cat Kid Comic Club book.
There's a lot of mediocre kids shows, especially in recent years, such as Cocomelon, All Engines Go!, Caillou (although I'll admit the CGI reboot is a slight improvement, mainly because they toned down drastically on his brattyness, but that's beside the point), etc.
However, if anyone has the gall to remotely criticize it in anyway, people, be the creators or those who like the show, will say "It's for kids" to defend all the problems with it. Here are two examples I've experienced:
The First example: When I was young, there were these series of websites called the Reception Wikis. They are honestly the worst websites I've ever used, especially Rotten Websites Wiki; that one in particular was filled to the brim with alt-right BS, which really turned me off, being a leftist/centralist myself.
Anyway, on Terrible TV Shows Wiki, I attempted to make a page for Caillou, because I think we can all agree that show's a dumpster fire. However, the page got deleted; When I asked the admins why, one of them, Matthew the Guy I believe his name was, said it was because "we don't want to look like this sites runed by 12-year-olds." I had half a mind to tell him that ship had sailed for most people on the internet by that point, but instead I pointed out this was kind of hypocritical, since they had a page criticizing those who use the "It's for kids" excuse. They did eventually allow Caillou on that wiki, but that wouldn't have been for awhile.
The second example: For those who don't know, there is an upcoming preschool show based on the Cars franchise called Lightning Racers. I absolutely think it's gonna be terrible, mainly because a preschool show based on Cars isn't necessary, since the movies are already made to appeal for all ages. I made a post discussing both the pros and cons based on what we know, while still admitting I wasn't expecting much, but I received a ton of backlash for making a post, never mind that I stated I would be willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. And yeah, most were using the "It's made for kids" excuse, even though I literally stated in my post why I disagreed with it.
So yeah. The excuse bothers me, because when you say
>It's made for kids
everytime someone criticizes a show for kids, you're basically saying
>Kids shows don't need to have any quality whatsoever, because kids are too stupid to care about the plot or decent characters.
And that's not true. Yes, the mind of a child is less developed than that of an adult, but that doesn't mean they're dumb; kids have more intelligent that people give them credit for.
There are plenty of good/decent children's programming, including, not limited to:
And the list goes on.
And FYI, kids are able to recognize bad shows when they see them, considering when All Engines Go! came out, even little kids despised the show.
So yeah, I think the excuse is bullshit. I'm interested to hear what you think down below.
As I'm sure many here knows by now, Disney is coming out with a Cars spin-off called Lightning Racers. It will be the first in the franchise to be aimed exclusively at preschoolers. And yes, I'm in the camp that thinks it will suck.
Yeah, yeah, I know y'all act like it's a federal offense to be remotely critical of this series, but given the large spew of babyfied slop that's came out these last ten years (Kamp Koral, All Engines Go, etc.), I do think it's pretty fair to have low expectations for this show.
I do admit the haters are being pretty toxic, but to be honest, the people defending this show can be just as bad, if not worse. From making hate memes to flat out telling those who dislike it to "shut the fuck up (yes u/HarringtonMAH11, I'm looking at you), it's just irritating.
And also, please stop saying "It's made for kids" as a defense for this show. Saying "We should wait until it's out" is reasonable, saying "it's made for kids," you're basically showing you don't think kids shows having to have any substance whatsoever, as kids won't care. Yes, kids' minds are less knowledgeable and more impressionable than that of an adult, but that doesn't mean kids shows have to be completely void of any quality and substance. There are plenty of kids shows that adults can enjoy too, so "it's made for kids" shouldn't be used to dismiss criticism.
Anyway, now that that's out of the way, I will weigh the pros and cons of the show, based on what we know:
Pros
Cons
Like I said though, the show isn't out yet, so it's too soon to tell. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't holding my breath, but hey, I've been proven wrong.
Maybe someday for the oldsters, they'll make an R-rated Cars movie that takes place between 1 and 2 where Doc Hudson dies and everyone in RS has to cope ;)
I just heard about various people criticizing YouTuber Alex Meyers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5c6zd0ZPuw
What's happening? I mean, I never really liked the dude to begin with (he always gave me Critical Drinker-esque vibes with how much he tends to punch down on woman characters in modern films), yet many liked him before this whole fiasco, so what happened?
A few months back I discovered a website called joshreads.com, AKA The Comics Curmudgeon. Real name Josh Fruhlinger, he criticises comics everyday since 2004 (in fact tomorrow will be the 22nd anniversary of the site).
Reading his posts, I honestly have no idea why this guy is so popular. Sure, there are some independent reviewers I like, like this guy for instance. While I don't agree with everything he says, he generally for the most part gives valid reasoning as to why he doesn't like a certain album (although he does get butthurt haters who don't like admitting when their favourite rock artist makes a subpar release).
I don't feel the same for Fruhlinger. He often rips apart various strips for no reason, and while I agree with some of the things he said, I feel he's overly harsh to a lot of strips, particularly For Better or For Worse. I especially scoff at his claim that he's a fan of the aforementioned strip; Like... no dude. Just admit you despise it. You're not fooling anybody.
What bothers me the most about him is the influence he has on the comic strip community. There's an animated movie from 2007 called Ratatouille, and one of the antagonists is a famous food critic called Anton Ego, nicknamed "The Grim Eater," on account of the fact he has ridiculously high standards for food, and gives scathing reviews to any restaurant that doesn't meet said standards (which is a lot). He gave quite a nasty review to the film's central restaurant Gusteau's, which causes it to lose one of its five stars. A reviewer for the film said they found it unbelievable that the restaurant would lose a star because of one reviewer, which shows how grossly said reviewer underestimated the influence a single critic can have.
Point is, that's how I feel about the Curmudgeon in terms of influence. Sites that cover comic strips, like TV Tropes for instance, when talking about various elements in the strip, it feels like they can't go one or two pointers without directly quoting Fruhlinger. There's nothing wrong with citing critics, of course, but when you base your views on something entirely on a reviewer, it makes you look like you can't think for yourself.
Another example of his influence is how overhated FBoFW because after he (and other bloggers) started crapping on it nonstop. Not only was the strip so overhated in the 00s, most people my age nowadays hate the strip as a whole, and if I'm not mistaken, the writer for the strip, Lynn Johnston, said Fruhlinger and the various "snarkers" were one of the reasons she retired the strip. Thankfully, he hasn't talked about the strip much since 2012, only making one post about it since in 2020, but the damage was already done.
Granted, he's not the worst reviewer I've seen; he's not smug and self-righteous like say, ArcRoyale, but still, I find him tiresome. And he's like what, 50 now? Retire already, for Chrissakes.
But, that's just my opinion. I'm curious to see how you all feel about him.
I recently stumbled upon this cartoon reviewer named Chris Hagen, AKA ArcRoyale: https://arcroyale.loforo.com
Personally, I find him to be an insufferable gnat, but I’m interested in hearing what you guys think about him.
Specifically, I’m looking for one about a boy who’s forbidden from using the boy’s bathroom and is fighting for the right to use it. And no, it's not If You're a Kid Like Gavin.
What happens in the book is that the protagonist gets in a fight with a couple kids in the bathroom, he uses the phrase "suck my d**k" and when the principal finds out, he forbids the kid from using the bathroom and tells him he’s only allowed to use the small bathroom next to his office. This unsurprisingly angers the kid and he and other trans kids team up and try to get the rights to use the respective bathrooms (God, JK Rowling would have a field day with this one 😂)
Oh, and the kid on the cover looks like Scott Pilgrim. That’s all I remember. If anyone can help me, I’d appreciate it.