>>111644416>>111644480I think both of these points are good and make sense, but I lean toward it being better that they kept Janna as the one major teenage character (besides Ponyhead, who doesn't really count since she's a non-anthro pony head) who doesn't have any real involvement in shipping at all. Kept her feeling enjoyable across the series and could maybe counteract some of the dumb shipping shit for kids/teens watching it; like showing you don't automatically have to start trying to find your soulmate as soon as you hit high school or whatever.
But I do also think part of the reason the bi/lesbian Jackie stuff felt kind of cheap is that they literally invented an OC for her to be with, like not only is this sort of coming out of nowhere but it's also a character who came out of nowhere too. I think it could've felt less dumb if it was a more established character, even though there aren't a lot of options besides, like, StarFan13, who's gayer than Jackie ever was but also much more of a joke character. For that reason I think if they wanted LGBT stuff with a teenage character, they could've also gotten Tom or Kelly's involvement with Starco out of the way earlier than they did, and did the bi stuff with one of them.
And I'm not saying the Jackie stuff really felt that dumb in-universe, like yeah if you leave for a year in high school it's not surprising that you might discover someone's exploring their sexuality, but that it's dumb because you can kind of see the crew's hands in it even more so than in most of what was already a really political season. Cotugno saying nearly two years before that she wanted Jackie to date girls, Jackie literally given Cotugno's "backstory," etc. I actually think it was probably the best episode of the season, but it still ends up all feeling a bit too fake/setup or something, even for a cartoon which by definition is fake and set up.
