I should really draw a kangaroo gal. A big, fat, busty, energetic, AGGRESSIVELY stereotypically Australian (she'd use "me" in place of "my" so often she'd even do it when quoting other people) kangaroo babe with a fatty, gassy blimp of a belly that she could switch between having a pouch and a deep, humpable navel at will with no ill side effects, huge perky boobs dripping with warm, rich, fatty milk, a rump so plump you could lie down on the soft, pillowy camel humps of blubber that are her cheeks (maybe she'd have an actual fatty hump people could ride on build up on her back from time to time), and farts and belches so mighty she shakes the earth with every sulfurous, musky, thunderous she-roo toot and foul, raucous, gluttonous sheila burp she emits from her bulky, pudgy marsupial tooter and greedy macropod muzzle.

I also probably want to draw a fat female Rocket Raccoon with my new techniques. GOTG3 could possibly be their last major appearance (or last appearance period) in the MCU even if they don't die or retire, but there'll always be plenty of adventures for a certain plump, flatulent, greedy, Cockney-accented alien procyonid heroine to go on in my heart and in my art.

I know this is pretty late, but I had no idea how I was going to word this until today. Anyway, I've decided to state what I just said in the title. My views are that, while I'm okay with Pepe not being in Space Jam 2 (seriously, I'm a lot more disappointed that the Dover Boys aren't getting in like they did last time, especially given how much the internet likes them) or future WB projects until further notice due to the nature of the original animations he's from possibly coming off as disturbing or sexist in today's world, I can, at the very least, understand the people who feel like removing him was misguided, feeling like reworking rather than removing him would be ideal (while still understanding that that reworking would have been harder than removing); that said, I find it really frustrating that so many people on the internet care more about a company deciding not to use a character they own for certain projects due to them feeling that the character's original schtick might not come off the same way to modern audiences that it did to older audiences than they do more serious issues.

Firstly, I'll state my reasons for agreeing with WB's decision: Times change, audiences change, people's views change, and in order to keep with the times, media has to change. I'm not saying every work of media has to follow the "we're still relevant, dammit" trope and jump on every single new fad and movement, but creators need to understand when a character's schtick might be dated and come off as insensitive instead of funny/cool/cute/interesting/whatever. The newer James Bond movies, for instance, have called some of the older movies and novels' less PC elements into question, and IMO it works because the character in question and what made them cool is still there (and if any of you think that Bond's archaic views on women, non-white people, and LGBTQ people in the older works were what made him cool instead of him being a badass super-spy, please seek help), but certain aspects of the character that might not come off as acceptable in the modern day are reworked and removed (it helps that he initially has the archaic views and stuff and is then called out on it in-universe) so the character can be enjoyed by more people. A similar thing happens with Lovecraftian horror: Lovecraft himself was afraid of minorities, the "horror" in some of his works coming from the fact that characters connected to the various evil gods and monsters in his stories weren't straight white (and this is going by his time's idea of "white," where it discluded Jews, Irish people, and basically anyone from south/east Europe) cis men, but even people who dislike Lovecraft's racism can still enjoy the idea of "big freaky entity from space that can make people's brain crash if they even look at it and is planning on doing (sometimes literally) unspeakable things" that he came up with. It's a lot harder to do this with a character intended to be funny, especially one whose whole joke is based on ideas that can seem insensitive these days and especially when the character themselves has sometimes been portrayed in a positive-ish light like Pepe has. In fact, WB was originally planning on Pepe being in a scene where he'd be brought up to speed on things like consent, but they cut it for (I think) being too preachy, and I think that the people complaining about his removal probably would have probably complained about him being taught about consent unless the scene had the person telling him about consent being portrayed as some prudish/oversensitive killjoy who was in the wrong.

On the other hand, I think that removing Pepe entirely wasn't exactly ideal (though I acknowledge that ideal isn't always achievable) and they could have reworked him somehow (even if it was hard to do so) to have a lot less values dissonance (as TVTropes puts it) which they actually kinda managed to do in Wabbit (in which Pepe is a (possibly affectionate) parody of spy fiction), or, failing that, they could just have him as a cameo or something.

And on third hand, I just want to bring up the fact that people care more about A GODDAMN CARTOON ABOUT ANTHROPOMORPHIC ANIMALS PLAYING BASKETBALL (I don't even think Pepe had all that big a role in Space Jam 1 IIRC) than they do about real issues: We're killing our homeworld through incompetence, ignorance, lack of environmentally-friendly tech due to unfounded fears (fears of it being unprofitable, less functional, or actually unfriendly to the environment (there are people who claim to be environmentalists yet believe a system in which solar and wind are backed up by either huge expensive batteries (which would almost certainly require a lot of child labor to get the materials required because we're too scared of AI turning on us to even make remote-controlled mining robots) or fossil fuels whenever the wind isn't blowing enough/the sun isn't shining enough is better than one where we use nuclear power plants improved to avoid a lot of the issues older ones have) leading to fewer people trying to make eco-friendly tech, hence why virtually nobody's come up with things like more eco-friendly jet propulsion or methods of recycling single-use plastic (well, things like those that are likely going to see widespread implementation, anyway)), and people deliberately harming the environment just to annoy people who say they care about it; very real and very concerning issues regarding police accountability, trust, and training, especially around minorities, leading to equally real and equally concerning polarization among many influential people where some believe that the police are always wrong and should be replaced by either mob justice (sometimes literally, believing that street gangs would be better than the police) or a complete lack of law enforcement (or at least law enforcement equipped to handle certain crimes) and some believe that the police are always right and their job isn't just to enforce the law, but make and interpret the law on the spot, leaving very few influential people who believe that while the actions by police that led up to this polarization are reprehensible, police still have a place in our world and shouldn't be gotten rid of, only reformed; poverty, starvation, disease, unemployment, bigotry, war, terrorism, crime, totalitarianism, and all sorts of other horrible things exist, but no: these people would rather complain about a GODDAMN CARTOON SKUNK NOT BEING IN A GODDAMN CARTOON BASKETBALL MOVIE. I really hate people sometimes...

• R63 CJ

•Isabelle

•Reese (Animal Crossing)

•Winnie (Animal Crossing)

•Retsuko

•Zelda (Aggressive Retsuko; she's called Fenneko in Japanese and in the Netflix version)

•Giselle (Aggressive Retsuko (called Tsunoda in Japanese) and/or Open Season)

•Some more mammals (Sandra, gassy BBW moose, gassy BBW zebu, gassy BBW kangaroo, gassy BBW donkey, gassy BBW badger, gassy BBW wolverine, gassy BBW panther, gassy BBW grizzly bear, gassy BBW rat/mouse, gassy BBW panda, gassy BBW/BHM corgi/St. Bernard/Great Dane/Rottweiler/bulldog/beagle/collie/poodle/bloodhound/foxhound/wolfhound, gassy BBW cape/water buffalo, gassy BBW rabbit, gassy BBW skunk, gassy BBW pig/boar/warthog, gassy BBW rhinoceros, gassy BBW yak, gassy BBW goat, gassy BBW sheep, gassy BBW ypotryll, gassy BBW gazelle, gassy BBW sea lion, gassy BBW otter, gassy BBW weasel/ferret/mink/ermine, gassy BBW raccoon/tanuki, gassy BBW squirrel, gassy BBW beaver, gassy BBW horse, gassy BBW reindeer, gassy BBW hamster, gassy BBW honey badger, etc.)

•Thunderbolt (Archie Sonic)

•Some bird BBWs (jays, crows/ravens, penguins, geese, swans, eagles, etc.)

•A Pokémon OC who's my take on the "Astrobunny" fake Scorbunny evolution

•Several other Pokémon OCs (Gassy BBW Excadrill miner; laidback, gassy BBW Tepig; gassy BBW Purugly MILF; gassy BBW Buizel/Floatzel sisters; male Inteleon James Bond/Solid Snake expy who's more into vanilla sex; trans MTF Braviary girl who works for the Unovan government; BBW Togedemaru (who may or may not be gassy); thin aroace Beheeyem scientist, gassy BBW Grumpig, gassy BBW Numel, gassy BBW Granbull, gassy BBW Gogoat/Skiddo, gassy BBW Zorua, gassy BBW Persian, gassy BBW Wooloo, gassy BBW Mudbray/Mudsdale, gassy BBW Furfrou, gassy BBW Oshawott/Dewott/Samurott, gassy BBW Mienshao, gassy BBW Glaceon, gassy BBW Kubfu, gassy BBW Teddiursa/Ursaring, gassy BBW Stunky/Skuntank, plump-rumped gassy BBW Girafarig, gassy BBW Houndoom, gassy BBW Yamper, gassy BBW Rockruff, gassy BBW Komala, gassy BBW Obstagoon, gassy BBW Nickit, gassy BBW Herdier, gassy BBW Deerling/Sawsbuck/Stantler, gassy BBW Camerupt, slightly less gassy BBW Popplio/Primarina, gassy BBW Scorbunny/Cinderace, gassy BBW Fennekin/Braixen/Delphox, gassy BBW Sealeo, gassy BBW Skwovet, gassy BBW Ratatta/Raticate, gassy BBW Drilbur, slightly gassy slightly BBW Sneasel/Weavile, gassy BBW Beartic, gassy BBW Minccino, gassy BBW Pachirisu/Emolga/Dedenne, gassy BBW Miltank/Tauros, gassy BBW Swords of Justice, gassy BBW Arcanine, gassy BBW Cinderace, gassy BBW Litten/Torracat/Incineroar, gassy BBW/BHM Riolu/Lucario, gassy BBW Piloswine, gassy BBW Lopunny, gassy BBW Munchlax, gassy BBW Furret, possibly gassy BBW Xerneas, somewhat gassy BBW Solgaleo, slightly gassy BBW Zacian/Zamazenta, possibly gassy BBW Lycanroc, slightly gassy slightly BBW Perrserker, gassy BBW Sylveon, gassy BBW Umbreon, gassy BBW Eevee, gassy BBW Diggersby, gassy BBW Swoobat, gassy BBW Blitzle/Zebstrika, gassy BBW Mightyena, gassy BBW Glameow, gassy BBW Liepard, gassy BBW Glastrier, gassy BBW Spectrier, gassy BBW Boltund, gassy BBW Houndour, gassy BBW Bidoof/Bibarel, gassy BBW Raichu, gassy BBW Vulpix/Ninetales, gassy BBW Ponyta/Rapidash, gassy BBW Sandslash, gassy BBW Quilava/Typhlosion, gassy BBW Kangaskhan, gassy BBW Mareep, gassy BBW Pancham/Pangoro, slightly gassy BBW Luxio, slightly gassy BBW Audino, gassy BBW Heatmor, gassy BBW Pyroar, slightly gassy BBW Meowstic, female Noibat/Noivern (may be gassy BBWs), gassy BBW Stufful/Bewear, BBW Swanna, BBW Eiscue, BBW Piplup, BBW Empoleon, BBW Swellow, slightly BBW Braviary, BBW Pikipek, BBW Ducklett, BBW Corviknight, BBW Honchkrow, BBW Corvisquire, BBW Articuno, BBW Ho-oh, BBW Pidove, BBW Talonflame, BBW Combusken/Blaziken, BBW Starly/Staravia/Staraptor, BBW Noctowl, BBW Pidgey/Pidgeotto/Pidgeot, BBW Farfetch'd, gassy/non-gassy BBW/BHM/non-BBW/non-BHM Fakemon, etc.)

•Gassy BBW/BHM Duck Hunt Dog

•More art of the Pokémon OCs I've already posted (Bianca, Amelia, Delilah, Emma, Joyce, Chelsea)

•Juno (Beastars) (as much as I hate the series, I actually think Juno's pretty cute, and I have a role for her in a sort of fanfic idea I have floating around where she joins a team of anti-terrorists who specialize in dealing with bioterrorism)

•R63 Rocket Raccoon

•R63 Conker (maybe)

I want to do some Retsuko R34, but I don't know if me, a cis bisexual man, sexualizing her would go against my image of her as a heavily lesbian-leaning aromantic bisexual who DOESN'T hate her job (just how her coworkers and bosses are at times) and DOESN'T want to get married and quit her job (in fact, she wants to gain power and improve her workplace from within).

I first came to legionbeast because we both hated Netflix's version of Aggressive Retsuko and I couldn't find anyone else who did. We were like that for a pretty long time, just talking about how we didn't like the reboot and how toxic fanbases could be for a long time. AND THEN CAME THE THINGS WE FELL OUT OVER. The first sign that we couldn't get along with each other was what we thought about Pokémon Sword and Shield not having every Pokémon: I didn't mind and was excited for it, while legionbeast hated it and said I was enjoying an "inferior product" when I said I was enjoying it. I thought that if I just didn't talk about Pokémon with each other, we'd be fine. I was wrong. The second thing (and the one that prompted me to give up on this guy) was what we thought of Vic Mignogna. I made a comment about how it'd be enjoyable in a way if Vic played a character in the Netflix adaptation of Aggressive Retsuko I particularly hated because Vic sexually harassed people and made bigoted comments towards LGBTQ+ and Jewish people and got fired from several voice acting positions because of it. Legionbeast then had the audacity to then DEFEND Vic and his crappy lawyers, and that's where I decided I couldn't talk to this guy in good conscience anymore. Now I'm all alone, not just regarding Retsuko: I'm also pretty much the only person out there who shares his views on Night in the Woods, Beastars, Persona 5, Zootopia; basically all the pretentious garbage the world has to offer. FUCK. MY. LIFE.

I have a problem: On the one hand, Legion_beast and I are probably the only two people in the world who dislike Netflix's adaptation of Aggressive Retsuko, which is good. On the other hand, our opinions on Pokémon Sword and Shield differ quite a lot. I like the games and Legion_beast doesn't (in fact, he hasn't liked them since the original Direct), which isn't as good. It's one thing to not talk about a sensitive subject with someone, but it's another to not talk about a sensitive subject you really like. I assume he'd understand if I said I personally enjoy the games even though he doesn't, but when someone's journals since last summer have been complaining about the new games, it becomes a little disquieting.

I felt like I should explain exactly WHY I hate the Netflix version of Aggressive Retsuko so much. I'll break it down into six main reasons, from most to least rage-inducing.

1. It's blatant anti-feminist anti-capitalist propaganda: While the original Retsuko DID get annoyed at her bosses and coworkers, she still had the drive and desire to go to work and climb the social ladder. That's not the case in the Netflix version, where she tries getting married in order to avoid having to work instead of standing up to the abuse and annoyances herself. As a feminist (and yes, you can be a male capitalist and still support womens' rights), this really offends me. Instead of the TBS series's message of "everyone needs an outlet for their anger, and having such an outlet can help you with your job," the Netflix series has the message "OFFICE WORK IS LITERALLY THE DEVIL, MARRY SOMEONE SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO IT!" If the series had been about, say, Retsuko starting a metal band with her coworkers and their eventual rise to stardom, I would have watched it. If it had been about Retsuko rising to power and changing the company for the better, I would have watched it. But that's not what it's about. The Netflix series is about how Retsuko is STILL unhappy with her job after FIVE YEARS (You'd think she'd have gotten used to it by then, or at least found a coping strategy WAY EARLIER! Ugh... And people say that Sonic still being his usual upbeat self after being held captive by Infinite for six months is unrealistic)! The implications here are that A. Women are too weak-willed to do office work, and B. Jobs in a capitalist society are literally torturous. This is a common problem I've seen among many young people, implying that communism is better than any civil rights movement compatible with capitalism, usually because they're meme-brainwashed idiots who believe that transgendered people are literally scum and that all feminists dislike men. It's not as bad as something Frank Miller would write, Metroid Other M, or the Dick House, but it's up there.
2. The serialized story feels kind of incongruous with the fact that she's a Sanrio character. The character, and thus the merchandise, are meant to connect with people who have annoying coworkers/classmates/teachers/bosses, so Aggressive Retsuko is basically, like all other Sanrio characters, a merchandise-driven work. The fact the Netflix series has a serial story, on the other hand, implies that, by the end, something's going to happen to Retsuko that makes her no longer relatable– She gets married, she finds a different job, she's still at the same job but can now put up with it a whole lot better, she gets promoted to a position of power within the company, she dies, she gets abducted by aliens and finds herself having to fight for her life in a gladiatorial arena, she develops superpowers and has to abandon her job in order to protect the world– In any case, she probably won't be relatable to the target audience by the end of the series. It really concerns me, as it feels like Sanrio is honestly trying to abandon the brand!
3. The characterizations have shifted to the point where they may as well be unrecognizable– Heinrich, once a mere background character, is now brought front and center into this steaming radioactive trash pile as someone we have to feel for, with him and Zelda replacing Eaglette and Ape Admin as her closest friends. Amir goes from background character to Hog Honcho's right-hand man, Puko (I don't know her English name) goes from someone who's a little TOO into her career into a free roaming NEET (Not Employed/Educated/Trained), and several characters from the original (Yokosawa and fan favorite Doug come to mind) are outright GONE!
4. The metal music aspect is severely underplayed. Now, what's Retsuko's most recognizable aspect? What sets her apart from the rest of Sanrio's mascots? If you're thinking "death metal," you're correct. If you're thinking something else, you're incorrect, and if you're thinking "I SHIP HER AND HEINRICH/HAIDA SO HARD EVERYONE ELSE MUST LIKE IT OR I WILL TRACK YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU," get mental help. NOBODY with half a brain likes that shipping. In the original, Retsuko's metal music was as much an integral part of her as Daria's sarcasm, Sonic's speed, or MacGyver's improbable DIY skills. In the Netflix series? It's hardly even there! (Of course, how could Netflix push its messages if Retsuko's coping strategies actually worked?)
5. The title. At least "Aggressive Retsuko" tells you what it's about! "Aggretsuko" sounds like some sort of Italian music term!
6. The voices suck. Retsuko's voice makes her sound like a ditzy teen (Ironically enough, she's played by Erica Mendez, the voice of SAILOR URANUS, one of the biggest badasses among the Sailor Senshi), so much so that she makes BRITTANY from Daria sound intelligent. Seriously, Iris from Pokémon sounds more like an adult than Retsuko does, and she's YOUNGER than Retsuko! Zelda sounds like Daria (Bad move, reminding people of a better show in the middle of your crappy show) and Heinrich sounds like a ditzy surfer dude. HAAAAAAAAAAATE!