Tag Archives: Littlest Pet Shop

A Dog and a Half: “Grounded” review

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“Circumstances of birth are nothing more than random, and should never be a source of pride or shame.” – Penn Jillette, Penn and Teller: Bullshit, Season 4 Episode 7: Reparations

I don’t really know why people think their ancestry actually matters. I guess it’s because of this weird obsession some people have with the past.

I’m sure we’ve all heard of the documentary series, Who Do You Think You Are?, which takes celebrities on a tour of their ancestry. And the title is enough to annoy the hell out of me. I’m sure it’s interesting to learn what our ancestors did for a living, but saying that in any way tells us who we are (as implied by the title), is just fucking asinine! But I guess, Who Do You Think Your Ancestors Were? doesn’t quite roll off the tongue.

I’ve said all this before. The only practical thing genealogy teaches us is: What type of genetic predispositions we have to certain illnesses. It’s not really useful to anyone other than medical professionals.

But what about ancestry in a broader sense? I hear you ask! Surely it matters if our ancestors come from Asia or the middle east! It’s our heritage, our culture! If our ancestors were from Africa, shouldn’t we start practising ancient African tribal religions? If our ancestors were Jewish, shouldn’t we start practising Judaism as well? And what about royalty!? Surely if we have pure royal blood, that’s something to be proud of! We should start wearing crowns, and demand to be called lady or lord or whatever!

No! No! No! No! And finally: No!

Whether our parents are Jewish, or African, or the King and Queen of Spain, or anything else, doesn’t matter in the slightest. It’s certainly interesting, don’t get me wrong. But it doesn’t change who we are. I mean, if I found out I descended from Jewish people, I might gain a greater hatred for the events of World War II, but it wouldn’t change who I am, nor what I believe. And I wish this was a message that was told more often. But when they had the perfect opportunity to do so, the writers of Littlest Pet Shop decided to squander it instead. Which I find very fucking irritating. Continue reading →

Unrelated Stereotypes: “Shanghai Hi-Jinks” review

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A stereotype is a trait that is applied to every individual of a certain group. And the thing about stereotypes, is that nine times out of nine, they’re wrong! I’m rounding off here.

And intellectually, we all know this. We know that the stereotypes we place on people are all bullshit. You don’t even have to look very far to notice this. For instance, Stereotype #547: All black people are gang members and criminals. Yes, just like Neil DeGrasse Tyson, noted astrophysicist and assassin. By the way, that last part is sarcasm.

Stereotype #822: All Americans are stupid. Yes, much like the famous astrophysicist, Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Dude, he’d wipe the floor with you on Jeopardy!

Stereotype #292: All black people are cool and suave. Have you met Neil DeGrasse Tyson?

This man’s so nerdy he managed to fit in with the cast of The Big Bang Theory!

Of course, this doesn’t prove anything, some people might say. He’s the exception that proves the rule. You don’t know what the word ‘rule’ means, do you?

Now, I’m sure that there are a lot of black criminals out there. The majority of the American prison population is black, after all. But I think that has less to do with the colour of their skin, and more to do with the fact that many black people are poor. And I think the fact that they are poor has less to do with the colour of their skin, and more to do with the fact that many of their ancestors were slaves, who didn’t really have much to pass on to their children.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to get to is that stereotypes are bullshit. There may be societal correlations that can be extrapolated into stereotypes. For instance, the United States does have a pretty shit education system. In many places, some twats are still trying to get creation taught in science classrooms. But that’s not really due to anything other than a few pricks in government. It’s not something we can blame on the populace… then again, they did vote for those assholes. But the stupidity feeds itself. And they’re not even the dumbest nation on the planet. No, that title goes to Niger, where the literacy rate is under 30 per cent! Now, I’m no expert. But teaching people to read… anything, doesn’t seem that difficult to me. Read the kid a book, and let them look at it too, eventually they’ll catch on.

So yes, stereotypes are bullshit. Even the stereotype that all stereotypes are created by white heterosexual cisgendered males. That is most certainly bullshit, as was demonstrated on a recent episode of Littlest Pet Shop.

Yes, we went on that whole trip for this. And really, it’s not worth it. Continue reading →

Skunk Love: “Sweet Pepper” review

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If there’s one piece of advice I could give to anyone with regards to wooing a prospective mate, it’s this: Don’t take advice from anyone!

I say this because I once took the advice of a friend, and it turned out to be terrible advice, but I did not know that at the time. I can’t tell if she honestly thought it was a good idea, or she was secretly plotting some epic revenge over something!

But the fact that you might receive bad advice is not the only reason. Another reason is because taking someone else’s advice means going against what you yourself want to do. Which will only fuck things up in the long run. Your potential match will end up seeing not you, but your friend’s interpretation of what they think you should be. That is, assuming you don’t grossly misinterpret their advice.

This’ll result in one of two things, either they’ll be turned off, because they don’t find this version of you attractive, or they’ll be attracted to someone who’s not really you.

It may seem cliché, but really the best advice is to just be yourself. Don’t put on an act, just do whatever feels natural, and be honest. It may not ‘get you the girl (or boy),’ but it’ll mean that if they do reject you, they’ll be rejecting the real you, rather than some façade you put on. And that may seem bad, and it is, but let’s be honest, it was gonna happen anyway.

So, all this was going through my head as I watched a recent episode of Littlest Pet Shop. It’s all about Pepper falling in love. How great is that!? Continue reading →

One Ordinary Mongoose: “Super Sunil” review

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Why are superpowers such a common fantasy trope? I know it may seem like an obvious question, but it’s still worth asking.

And yes, before you ask, it is extremely common. Jedi, Magi, super soldiers, mutants. Generally, every fantasy franchise that has ever existed, featured characters who are more than human. But why?

Some may say it’s an ego thing. We like to imagine ourselves as having these great powers that we could use, and that’ll show everyone! But that’s not really true, is it? No, a proper ego trip would involve you imagining yourself as you are. If you’re already awesome, why add to that?

So if I had to guess, the real reason to fantasize about having superpowers, is due to feelings of inadequacy. One imagines themselves as being better than the shitty human being they are now. Imagining one has superpowers can really boost one’s self-confidence.

And there’s really nothing necessarily wrong with that, it can be a fun creative exercise if nothing else. For instance, I kinda wish I could jump 50 feet in the air. It’d make getting around town much easier. And like any fantasy, it’s perfectly harmless, unless the person starts acting like they really do have superpowers, but that’s a different category altogether. That’s not due to low self-esteem, it’s due to egotism and mental illness or LSD. Or a friend, tricking you in the most contrived way possible, as displayed on a recent episode of Littlest Pet Shop. Continue reading →

The Canine and the Frog: “To Paris With Zoe” review

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The weird thing about romance in your typical, modern-day, Saturday morning cartoon, is that it’s not often portrayed on-screen.

This can be a good thing, or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. In the case of some shows, like Littlest Pet Shop, or My Life as a Teenage Robot, our main cast is composed of teenagers. And generally, teenagers get involved in romance, whether they want to or not. Obviously this is not true in all cases. But I remember when I was in high school, around fifty per cent of all students were in some type of relationship. Not only that, even if you’re not in a relationship, at that time of your life you tend to want one. So in those shows, a lack of romantic sub-plots, would feel like they’re actively avoiding it for no reason.

On the other hand, having every episode feature that kinda thing would actually be… kinda sad. And it would get stomach churning pretty quickly. Imagine every episode featuring our main characters doing nothing but talking about the opposite sex. And even if it didn’t make you sick, there’s no way to make likeable characters out of that. If they’re girls, they’d come off as vapid stereotypes; and if they’re boys, they’d come off as slimy pickup-artists. Continue reading →

Rainbow Wins!: “Rainbow Falls” review

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I never understood the appeal of sporting events. Right now, the Olympics are happening in Russia somewhere, and I couldn’t care less. No, literally, I’ve tried, I’m pretty sure it’s physically impossible for me to care less than I already do.

The only thing that’s attracted my attention was the fact that it’s apparently taking place in some third-world country, with their medieval attitudes regarding homosexuals, among other fuck-ups.

But the sporting events, I just don’t care for. I tried getting into sports, but I just couldn’t follow the plot. When I was studying Journalism, one of my many assignments was writing about a basketball game, and I had no idea what to write about. Turns out there was a harrowing scene when two numbers were really close together and another number was really low, and I completely missed it. Oh, how exciting.

However I do understand the appeal of sport for those who participate. Actually being in the middle of the game can be quite fun. You build up a bit of adrenaline, and find yourself in the middle of a competition with your ego on the line. It can be quite a ride. That is, unless, you’d rather be doing something else.

The thrill of victory can be quite exhilarating. I won’t deny that. But what exactly are you winning?

Well, if you’ve spent a good part of your life training to be an athlete, you won the satisfaction that it all paid off, and you win the respect of both your peers, and all those who came before you.

It’s like winning a contest for writing, or winning a quiz show. Of course generally, in those cases, you win something a bit more substantial that a piece of gold-plated silver.

Regardless, there is appeal there. The thrill of competition and the desire to win. But at what point does your desire to win overshadow certain other desires? At what point do you say, ‘to hell with self respect’? Continue reading →

Tales from the Panda: “So Interesting” review

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Writing is hard. Writing prose is even harder. Anyone who says otherwise has never written a goddamn word in their fucking life.

Coalescing ideas into words to put on paper is not easy. First you have to find the right words, then you have to structure them so they make sense, then you have to double-check to make sure it sounds right, then you have to ensure the whole thing doesn’t contradict itself. It requires a special skill that takes years to develop. And it’s one I still haven’t mastered.

And writing fiction gets harder. Does the scene make sense? Does the tone match the events? Is it well paced? Is it well phrased? Are the characters consistent? Are the events consistent? And the whole thing can get quite overwhelming.

This is why most writers have editors.

So what does this have to do with the latest episode of Littlest Pet Shop? Absolutely nothing! What are you talking about? Penny really is from the land of faeries and goblins. Continue reading →

The Human Chameleon: “Commercial Success” review

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Littlest Pet Shop, as a show, has always been a bit lop-sided.

For all intents and purposes, it seems as if we only have one character on this show; Blythe Baxter. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Most shows feature one central character that we continuously follow, and it tends to work. My Little Pony did this for the entire first season, having Twilight Sparkle be a central figure in every episode. On occasion, when the episode featured a different character, her role would end up being a bit shoehorned in, but you didn’t really care since it still worked.

On Littlest Pet Shop, however, Blythe’s central role comes at the expense of proper characterization for everyone else.

Yes, the pets have gotten plenty of screen time, I’m not arguing that. We’ve had plenty of episodes about them, as one would expect. But even then, Blythe seems to overshadow all of them. Even the one episode that had plenty of reason to let her take a back seat (after all, she was out-of-town at the time), focused on her almost entirely. They could have opened the season with a single episode featuring the pets having a grand adventure without their human friend. Wouldn’t that have been nice? Instead, we got an episode focusing on how much they missed her, and how miserable they were without the main character.

Then we have the human characters. Last time I called Blythe’s friends the three stereotypes, and I wasn’t kidding. They’ve gotten nothing in the way of characterization, just enhancement of prior stereotypes, or in Sue’s case, establishment of her creepy-stalker side.

I’m still not sure what to make of that. And I even remember early episodes hinting at Youngmee’s love of exotic foods; but since then, it hasn’t really been utilized in any way, or even brought up.

Then there’s Jasper, an empty shell of blandness. I try to think of anything he’s done, any key moments, and all I can think of are his attempts to open Blythe’s locker during the première, him screaming ‘that sucks!’ in the season one finale, and the time he turned a photo of Sunil into a meme.

Not much to work with. But thankfully, I think this character is on the verge of a turnaround. Especially since last week, when we got an episode establishing him as being halfway interesting, when he turns into a douche.

This is gonna be fuuuuun! Continue reading →