User blog comment:ThatGuy456/A Guy's Thoughts: Slight Shortcoming/@comment-26215750-20181121092319

Two Years Ago:

''"I probably won't do this again with something, or if I do, it won't be for a while." ~Guy.''

Present Day and 20 freaking articles later:

"Shocker, but I can actually publish my mediocrity within a timely manner if conditions permit. " ~also Guy.

''Never change, Guy. Never change.''

Well, first of all, happy anniversary of writing about the show (cue the confetti!) Two years of dedication to publishing analytical work such as this, amounting to the staggering number of (as I counted) 20, is no small feat to gloss over or not envy. So great job and keep on pumping my our reading material!

So, I'll try to retort to your points in my own fashion by addressing all of them and laying out my stance, whether it be agreeing with you, disagreeing with you, or, as I often do, try to find a silver lining in a seemingly irrefutable point against a character.

First up is the case against both the romantic partners to our main duo and how their relationships were handled. One element I have always admired in the series was how the writers didn't shy from giving us a rather bleak and noncommital view of the romantic relationships between the seventh-grade children. Although plenty of relationships in the show are grounded in deep emotional roots, including the ones you addressed, and ought to adhere to a strong feeling of commitment, I feel as if though the fact that the writers haven't done much with those relationships, and haven't urged that feeling, is really because they didn't want to have to shoehorn the respective partners into their plots constantly simply for continuity's sake, hence why just resorting to omitting them for a big part of the show's episodes and therein making the casual viewer slowly forget if there even was a relationship between those characters in the first place. I think that's really the main consequence of the problem - making the viewer feel disconnected from the overall relationship, only to serve to remind you that there actually was one when it appears once again on-screen.

But... think back to seventh-grade. Now, I'm no romantic, having yet to find a girlfriend, but seventh-grade (i.e. age 12,) despite sounding a bit daunting, really isn't a time when romantic relationships are formed on a serious basis. Now, I know most relationships don't begin like Penny and Gumball's or aren't as seemingly odd as Darwin and Carrie's, but you simply have to take in the in-universe factor of their age, in my opinion, or otherwise the noncommitment, as a fault of the writers, really does feel like it lessens the extent of the love between the partners of both parties, which we've seen time and time again, isn't the case. That's my stance on the first two issues.

Rob. Rob is the best the show's had in terms of an actual villain (with it even acknowledging that itself) and played his role as an imposing villain in "The Rerun" and "The Disaster" with staggering success, elevating the episode to unprecedented heights of tension, drama and overall quality. Where he suffered, though, was truly in what was to come after, as "The Ex," despite not being as horrid of an episode in my eyes, is undeniable that it didn't serve Rob's character much, if any, justice when taken into account what happened in the aforementioned two episodes. Sadly, even after he was utilised again in "The Spinoffs," his character still didn't feel any more satisfying, as he yet again simply, as you said: "fumbles around in an attempt to destroy Gumball with no clear motive." He is bound to change, in my opinion, since his role to play in the finale will surely be a quintessential one.

Anyway, those are my thoughts on what you addressed. Sorry, the ending's gonna be a bit short because I've got to go and I wrote this comment in a big hurry, but take care and great job on adding another fantastic addition to your article archive!