The most unbelievable thing about Disney's Descendants is that the princes and princesses, people who are known for being kind and compassionate, would be okay with literal children living on The Isle, despite knowing what things are like on The Isle, just because their parents are villains.
Like, I'll believe they decided to put their dangerous villains there to protect everyone.
(Not villains like LeFou and Smee though, because they're just not worth the trouble.)
But you expect me to believe that no one thought it wouldn't be fair to punish the kids for their parents' crimes? That people who are known for being kind thought this was fair?
Sorry, not buying it.
And it's not that they didn't know, because everyone knew the villains had kids, so they just, somehow, honestly thought this was a good idea.
But I don't believe it.
I understand that it has to be that way for plot reasons. My proposed change would be a very simple one:
They didn't know there were kids on The Isle.
They only found out shortly before Ben was going to be coronated, because Belle and Adam wanted to check on The Isle one more time before it became Ben's responsibility.
Thus, Ben immediately decides to invite some VKs to Auradon for a better life, but Belle and Adam are concerned that the VKs might be a lot like their parents. He agrees to only invite a few at first, but he's confident that they're not evil, just in terrible conditions.
One thing about Rainbow High that drives me crazy is that River Kendall is supposed to be the teal colored character, my favorite color, but he doesn't actually wear teal.
So, to make myself a little less mad about it, I made an edit where he's actually wearing teal. I left his letterman jacket as is.
And, just for fun, River in teal with his hair the same color as his eyebrows.
Obviously, I know they're not perfect, but I still think they're pretty good.
I've rewatched the show more recently and noticed some new details, so I've decided to redo my first post on this blog.
Kim is known for saving the world and helping people with things like park cleanups and cats stuck in trees.
But she is also known to put her own desires before her friends, even if it causes them harm.
And that is not something a good person does.
These are not "mistakes" because Kim is doing them intentionally.
And it's not a one-time thing:
Kim forges an application in Ron’s name before she even brings up the idea of working there to him.
When he's upset with her for doing that, she uses the puppy dog pout, which he explicitly states she knows he can't resist, to get him to take the job.
She refuses to be supportive of him or happy for him when he turns out to be good at it, to the point of refusing to do the job at all.
I will give Kim credit for apologizing for her jealousy, but she never apologizes for manipulating him to take the job in the first place.
She forces Ron into a haircut, despite the fact that even her own mother had reservations about it.
When Ron tells her he hates it and why, she feigns sympathy, steals his hat, and runs through the halls yelling that he got a new haircut.
When Ron starts to embrace the new haircut and becomes popular, she hates it. But despite his popularity, he's not a jerk.
He didn't abandon Rufus, Rufus wandered off and Ron gently chastised him for it.
She was only upset because Ron was starting to change into someone who cared about hair care and appearances.
(Which, if that wasn't her goal with the new haircut, then what was her goal?)
She apologizes for saying Ron needed a new haircut, but not for the lengths she went to to force him into one, nor for her contempt for him after he started to embrace the haircut.
At the end, she tries to tell him that it's what's on the inside that counts, but it's very hypocritical since she was the one who wanted him to change in the first place.
Kim locks Ron in the janitor closet, though semi-unintentionally; she wasn't intending to lock him in there, but she did shove him back in when he was trying to leave.
She ignores Wade’s attempts at reaching her, even though Wade never contacts her unless it’s important.
(I will give Kim some leeway here, as a teenage girl deserves one night to herself.)
She also expressed no concern at Ron being missing, nor does she seem to even notice he's missing.
We also have no idea how long Ron spent in that closet, but even just an hour is too long.
(Also, that is a really big janitor's closet. The ones at my high school were closet sized, not room sized.)
When Kim's told the bracelet is armor that grows when she lies, she keeps lying, even though it was probably unnecessary. Her parents and Ron would have been understanding about her wanting to go to a party with her crush.
Her actions led to her destroying Monique's garage door, which probably landed Monique in trouble.
And though Kim does get grounded for lying, she doesn't get in trouble for putting others in danger.
(Probably because Wade's the only one who could confirm that she knew she was putting others in danger.)
She uses the Neural-Compliance Chips on her brothers, after saying that just making them would be unethical.
After an entire episode about how bad they are.
After being a victim of them herself.
It’s meant to be a joke.
This is not the kind of thing anyone should joke about.
Kim thinks telling Ron that he might stand a chance with a girl is "fudging".
At this point, they know so little about Zita that they think her name is Annie.
There's no reason to believe Ron wouldn't stand a chance except for having a low opinion of Ron in general.
They also had their conversation about it while sitting across the table from Ron at Bueno Nacho, so there's a good chance he heard them.
And despite this belief that he doesn't stand a chance, she spends the rest of the episode angrily telling him that there are no rules to try to encourage him to ask her out.
Ron's steps of taking care of Rufus aren't just long because he's an exotic animal, those are also things Ron learned about taking care of Rufus from experience.
He also refers to Rufus as his son in "Mind Games", so Kim's disregard for how to take care of Rufus is extra mean given that Rufus clearly means a lot to Ron.
Not only does Rufus accidentally eat the chip due to Kim's negligence, she doesn't even notice it's missing until Wade tells her it's broadcasting a signal from inside Rufus.
And she lies to Ron about all of it on multiple occasions. I can understand some of them, since she was dealing with an emergency, but this is the kind of thing pet owners like to know about.
Kim and Monique were both arranging “accidental” run-ins with Hirotaka to ask him out, but Kim’s the only one who had Wade track Hirotaka’s movements to do it.
I know Monique couldn’t do that, but the point is, Kim took it to creepy stalker levels for a guy she’s known for less than a week.
(I'm also interested in the fact that Monique was confident she could take Kim in a fight.)
Though Kim and Bonnie both sabotage each other, Kim started it.
She unplugged Bonnie’s alarm clock, supposedly to charge the Kimmunicator, but there was another available outlet that she could’ve used.
She also uses all the hot water in the showers so Bonnie can’t have any, which wouldn’t harm just Bonnie but anyone else who may need to use the showers after Bonnie.
And she refuses to take any of Ron's feelings seriously.
Even if Gil hadn't actually been up to something, Ron was still stuck sharing a cabin with a guy who used to bully him and had attacked him and the squad at some point. He has every right to be uncomfortable with it, but Kim keeps dismissing his feelings because she's too focused on sabotaging Bonnie so she could win a plastic stick that's been painted gold.
Dr. Lurkin apologizes to Ron for not taking him seriously, but Kim doesn't.
Despite getting on Ron's case for cheating in "Naked Genius", which is completely fair, Kim had no problems using her newfound super strength for gym class or cheerleading, which is unfair and hypocritical of her.
Though I agree the "doofy" and "stupido" thing was embarrassing, coupons shouldn't be embarrassing, especially since Kim isn't offering to pay for it herself.
I can understand how the kids' menu thing was embarrassing, especially since Kim wouldn't want to order a kids' meal. However, she should just let Ron order of the kids' menu if he wants to.
The whole plot around getting jobs would have been better if Kim was getting one to pay for dates herself, not to "encourage" Ron to get one to pay for dates.
And then Ron decides Kim deserves better and starts looking for a job himself anyways.
I could understand being upset about not getting to see the designs, but Monique signed an NDA and would be risking not just her job but her future career in the fashion industry if she told Kim. And having Wade check the contract for loopholes is obsessive and could’ve landed them all in legal trouble.
Hassling Monique to break an NDA and trying to get Wade to find a loophole so Monique can tell her is the kind of thing Kim would've gotten fired for.
(Also, there is no way Wade was just given a copy of that NDA, so he's definitely in trouble if Monique ever decides to snitch on him.)
We learn in "A Sitch in Time" that Kim always wanted a little sister, so it's no surprise that she took to Hana immediately.
But Ron's life was changed against his will without warning while he was at school, so a little sympathy would be expected from his girlfriend. Especially since the attic isn't as nice or comfortable as his old bedroom.
When Yori needs Ron's help on a mission, Kim refuses to let him go because she doesn't trust Ron alone with Yori, even though he's never given her any reason to think he'd be disloyal and Yori had requested help from him specifically.
I know they’re criminals who are behind bars, but that doesn’t make it right for Kim to use The Fashionistas’ design without their permission.
Monique didn't know it was The Fashionistas' design, and Rufus is a six-year-old rodent, so he wouldn't know any better.
But Kim did know it was their design.
I know they wanted her to bust them out, and I'm not saying she should, but it doesn't seem right for her to use their design without their permission.
(It's also kind of a disappointment that Kim is wearing a design made by The Fashionistas instead of Monique, her fashionable best friend who helped her put them behind bars in the first place. That would've been so much cooler.)
At no point should Kim and Ron have been trying to get Monique to date Wade.
(A more realistic way of handling that would be to have them tease her about it for a bit, not seriously asking her to consider it.)
Also, Kim didn't actually need to hit Monique with the Cupid Ray just because she "didn't have time" to deal with Monique being upset. She was in a car, she could've driven away.
Because she did, Monique refused to leave Wade's side and ended up on a mission that she would have never gone on if she had been herself at the time.
If this show handled relationships a bit more realistically, people would at least be mad at Kim for her actions, and stay mad. Kim being a hero doesn’t excuse such behavior, nor does her being a teenager.
As an action hero, Kim is great; cool, calm, collected, and always victorious.
But as a person, Kim is controlling, competitive, manipulative, insensitive, and more focused on her own wants than others around her.
And those aren't qualities someone who's meant to be a role model should have.
I believe that Ron Stoppable is neurodivergent. Many of his traits line up with being neurodivergent.
In "Mind Games" Ron mentions liking the skirt on Kim's cheer uniform.
In "Attack of the Killer Bebes" he got a movie makeup kit as a birthday present.
In "Two to Tutor" he is revealed to love baking and is mentioned as being interested in interpretive dance.
He becomes a fan of the Oh Boyz in "Oh Boyz".
He becomes a fan of "Kim Style" in "Kimitation Nation".
He is implied to be interested in Britina dolls in "Queen Bebe".
These are all things typically regarded as feminine interests, but when Ron has his crisis about being a man in "Ron the Man", none of that stuff is what he's concerned about. He's not afraid any of that stuff makes him less of a man, and he feels no shame about them (most of the time).
There are several times where Ron is shown to not care about popularity, though there are also several times where Ron is shown to care a great deal about how others perceive him.
In "October 31st" Ron is shown to still be interested in going trick-or-treating, despite the fact that most people would have outgrown this hobby by this point.
In "Grande Size Me" Ron becomes obsessed with proving Barkin wrong about the food pyramid, and begins behaving in a defensive manner over it.
(Of course, Ron invented the Naco, which was the specific item Barkin was criticizing, so it's a bit understandable.)
In "Dimension Twist" Ron spends three days straight watching cable television.
Ron has a tendency to become obsessed with his interests, and defensive if someone doesn't like them.
In "Monkey Fist Strikes" Ron is revealed to be interested in video games, and this is mentioned again in "Steal Wheels".
In "Larry's Birthday" it's revealed that Ron has regular meetups with Larry and Larry's friends.
In "Queen Bebe" Ron is implied to have an interest in Britina dolls.
Ron is a fan of the Oh Boyz in "Oh Boyz", even when they're so unpopular no one goes to their concerts. In addition to this, he doesn't even realize they're no longer popular.
Ron may not having been looking for a naked mole rat specifically, but he does consider them to be cool pets.
In "Two to Tutor" there is a brief mention of Ron having an interest in interpretive dancing.
He's still interested in trick-or-treating in "October 31st".
Many of Ron's interests are things typically regarded as "uncool" or "childish", things his peers are usually not interested in.
Ron is frequently shown to lack social skills - bad at picking up intonation, doesn't have many friends, has a hard time dating, and is generally believed to be unpopular.
There's also Ron's tendency to panic, and his occasional bouts of paranoia.
(Though his belief that Barkin is targeting him specifically was apparently correct.)
In fact, Ron's anxiety reached a breaking point when, in "Odds Man In", he experienced such bad anxiety, he locked himself in some kind of panic room.
(Also, where was this? When did he have it built?)
Ron is also concerned about being replaced as Kim's best friend or sidekick, as shown in "Pain King vs Cleopatra", or boyfriend, as shown in "Ill-Suited".
So Ron displays many traits associated with neurodivergent teenagers.
And these also happen to be the traits that the show used to write him as a "loser".
And that's one of the reasons I dislike so much of the show's humor being at Ron's expense - because it often relies on poking fun at Ron not behaving in a neurotypical way.
And as someone who is not neurotypical, seeing the character that's the most like me being the "buffoon" character, the "inept sidekick" character, the one who is incompetent and incapable, well...it kind of hurts.
Because it kind of feels like they're saying what I and many other neurodivergent people have heard our whole lives - that you can't do anything, and you look foolish for trying.
Look, I realize this wasn't intentional. But, even unintentionally, Ron is very heavily neurodivergent-coded, and that happens too often in media - humor that relies on someone having neurodivergent traits and making fun of them for it.
And we've all grown past that.
I am a Huge KimRon shipper, I love them.
Ron clearly loved Kim and Kim very clearly loved Ron.
But don’t you think Kim and Ron relationship could feel one sided at times?
Like we have so many episodes where Ron is able to ponder about his feelings and show in various ways his love for Kim
5 love language: quality time, acts of service, giving gifts, words of affirmation etc. Always being there, always supporting her emotionally, being more emotionally available and open about his feelings. if that makes sense, I hope it does
Kim clearly also loves Ron, she tells him she needs him to save the world, her small moments of jealousy, there’s the Christmas episode where she gifts him an album full of their childhood memories, there are plenty hints that show how Kim could have liked Ron since the very beginning.
But there aren’t really any introspective or truly emotional moments where she thinks about her and Ron’s relationship or where we as the audience get to see how she truly feels about Ron. 1_5
Yes! Their relationship does feel one-sided! I have been saying that for years.
And it's not that I don't think Kim likes Ron on some level - because she does do nice things for him - it's that there are way more examples of Ron putting Kim first than there are of Kim putting Ron first.
And, for all the moments where Ron's feelings are discussed, we don't get that with Kim.
It's really disappointing.
I am going to respond to the rest of your asks.
They felt so odd and even out of character for Kim at that point, everything about the movie felt very season one-isn, Kim’s character felt off and even a little disrespectful:
Kim: “Ron is not boyfriend material, he is Ron ”
Bonnie: “you could end up with the president of the Chess club or worse” (as Ron enters the scene)
There are so many scenes where Ron is able to ponder about his feelings about Kim, there are many scenes where he does something that shows he loves her and in general seems to prioritize her happiness.
( little scenes like when he buys her a jacket, every time he is supportive and tells her she can do anything, that she is beautiful, when she gives her the credit for saving the day in the Ron factor episode, we have whole scenes where Ron’s character evaluated the way he feels about her and how important she is to him.)
I think is amazing how the cartoon portrays Ron as an introspective, open and emotionally available person (very rare in a boy character during that time, is amazing and part of the whole subversion of tropes the show had going on).
This is part of the reason what made me love Ron’s character and Kim and Ron’s relationship
But we almost didn’t get any of that with Kim, we barely ever saw how she felt about anything, she was never allowed to be as open and vulnerable about her feelings as Ron was. 3_5
Truthfully, even today, it can be hard to find a teenage guy character who is so open about his feelings.
So I do love that about Ron.
And I hate that Kim was never allowed that same vulnerability. She was only shown to have fears or insecurities a few times; fighting the Lorwardians in "Graduation", a newly discovered fear of giant bugs in "Roachie", and anything involving Josh Mankey.
And, even though she could experience fear and insecurities, it never made her sympathetic towards any of Ron's.
There where shows back then where the teen male protagonist was allowed to be emotional and vulnerable, so why isn't a teen female protagonist allowed the same?
Yeah, Kim feels unrelatable. Her life is too perfect, she's too naturally talented at everything, her parents are too permissive, etc. Kim's life is not relatable. At all. Sure, she's a great fantasy, but when you're older, you want relatability more than fantastically perfect.
At some point, it just stops being fun to watch someone who's life is unattainably perfect.
I actually left out the pre-school Halloween costume because, due to his age at the time, I wasn't sure if that would count as a disregard for gender norms.
Also, in the episode "Grudge Match" his rules were that Zita was out of his league and he shouldn't even try asking her out because of it. Less to do with gender norms and stereotypes, and more to do with his perception of himself.
(He's also more surprised that Vivian's boyfriend isn't as good looking as her and that he's a robot than he is that she's a scientist.)
Kim did call his rules ridiculous, but the early part of the episode makes it clear that, despite this, Kim actually does believe Ron doesn't stand a chance with Zita.
Ron: What kind of chance do I have a girl like that anyway? Kim: Honest opinion or best-friend fudge? Monique: Fudge it, girl! Kim: It doesn't hurt to ask.
And it's a bit offensive, because they knew nothing about Zita at the time, so the only reason to think Ron doesn't stand a chance is because she just has a low opinion of Ron in general.
(I'm not going to get into it here, I have several other posts about it.)
But thanks for your commentary, because I really do appreciate it.
I believe that Ron Stoppable is neurodivergent. Many of his traits line up with being neurodivergent.
In "Mind Games" Ron mentions liking the skirt on Kim's cheer uniform.
In "Attack of the Killer Bebes" he got a movie makeup kit as a birthday present.
In "Two to Tutor" he is revealed to love baking and is mentioned as being interested in interpretive dance.
He becomes a fan of the Oh Boyz in "Oh Boyz".
He becomes a fan of "Kim Style" in "Kimitation Nation".
He is implied to be interested in Britina dolls in "Queen Bebe".
These are all things typically regarded as feminine interests, but when Ron has his crisis about being a man in "Ron the Man", none of that stuff is what he's concerned about. He's not afraid any of that stuff makes him less of a man, and he feels no shame about them (most of the time).
There are several times where Ron is shown to not care about popularity, though there are also several times where Ron is shown to care a great deal about how others perceive him.
In "October 31st" Ron is shown to still be interested in going trick-or-treating, despite the fact that most people would have outgrown this hobby by this point.
In "Grande Size Me" Ron becomes obsessed with proving Barkin wrong about the food pyramid, and begins behaving in a defensive manner over it.
(Of course, Ron invented the Naco, which was the specific item Barkin was criticizing, so it's a bit understandable.)
In "Dimension Twist" Ron spends three days straight watching cable television.
Ron has a tendency to become obsessed with his interests, and defensive if someone doesn't like them.
In "Monkey Fist Strikes" Ron is revealed to be interested in video games, and this is mentioned again in "Steal Wheels".
In "Larry's Birthday" it's revealed that Ron has regular meetups with Larry and Larry's friends.
In "Queen Bebe" Ron is implied to have an interest in Britina dolls.
Ron is a fan of the Oh Boyz in "Oh Boyz", even when they're so unpopular no one goes to their concerts. In addition to this, he doesn't even realize they're no longer popular.
Ron may not having been looking for a naked mole rat specifically, but he does consider them to be cool pets.
In "Two to Tutor" there is a brief mention of Ron having an interest in interpretive dancing.
He's still interested in trick-or-treating in "October 31st".
Many of Ron's interests are things typically regarded as "uncool" or "childish", things his peers are usually not interested in.
Ron is frequently shown to lack social skills - bad at picking up intonation, doesn't have many friends, has a hard time dating, and is generally believed to be unpopular.
There's also Ron's tendency to panic, and his occasional bouts of paranoia.
(Though his belief that Barkin is targeting him specifically was apparently correct.)
In fact, Ron's anxiety reached a breaking point when, in "Odds Man In", he experienced such bad anxiety, he locked himself in some kind of panic room.
(Also, where was this? When did he have it built?)
Ron is also concerned about being replaced as Kim's best friend or sidekick, as shown in "Pain King vs Cleopatra", or boyfriend, as shown in "Ill-Suited".
So Ron displays many traits associated with neurodivergent teenagers.
And these also happen to be the traits that the show used to write him as a "loser".
And that's one of the reasons I dislike so much of the show's humor being at Ron's expense - because it often relies on poking fun at Ron not behaving in a neurotypical way.
And as someone who is not neurotypical, seeing the character that's the most like me being the "buffoon" character, the "inept sidekick" character, the one who is incompetent and incapable, well...it kind of hurts.
Because it kind of feels like they're saying what I and many other neurodivergent people have heard our whole lives - that you can't do anything, and you look foolish for trying.
Look, I realize this wasn't intentional. But, even unintentionally, Ron is very heavily neurodivergent-coded, and that happens too often in media - humor that relies on someone having neurodivergent traits and making fun of them for it.
And we've all grown past that.
First Thought: Who the fuck let an old lady own a puma?! How did this happen?! Just...what?!
And she owns an alligator too?!
And briefly owned a grizzly?!
Who is this woman?!
Second Thought: Wade should have told them it was a puma before they even went on that mission.
Kim might have had a battle suit to protect her, but Ron didn't, and should have been told ahead of time the kind of danger it really was so he could better prepare himself, even if it meant not going.
Third Thought: Since when does Kim have a Cuddle Buddy collection? I know it's been mentioned before, but her Pandaroo is the only one that's ever seen. I'd hardly call that a collection.
Not trying to be insulting, I'm saying it'd be nice to see Kim with other Cuddle Buddies. One Cuddle Buddy does not a collection make, so show us the other ones she has.
Fourth Thought: Ron needs to work on not telling other people about Kim's secrets. Not just about the battle suit, but her Cuddle Buddy collection was also meant to be a secret and he shouldn't have told Larry about that either.
Fifth Thought: Not really role model behavior from Kim here:
Says she and Larry don't share the same planet.
Runs out of the comic shop exclaiming "real world" as though spending time around geeks is physically harmful.
She apologizes for putting down Larry's interests at the end, but then makes a condescending comment about real life being cooler than science fiction.
(Kim's real life might be cooler than made-up scenarios, but the average person's real life isn't.)
Sixth Thought: Gotta agree with June here: a guy who willingly stands around during a fight, comments on how it's like a video game, ignores the suggestion to get to safety because "it's just getting good", and gets into a helicopter with strange people assuming it's a LARP for his birthday, is not someone who should be left alone.
Seventh Thought: Why is Larry's birthday party being thrown at Kim's house? Shouldn't it be thrown at Larry's house?
Kim's kind of condescending, but I feel bad that she has to either attend a party she, no doubt, doesn't want to go to, or spend the whole day out of her own house to avoid it.
Also, I feel bad for Kim, with her closet getting blown up. I know it probably gets fixed quickly, but I still feel bad for her.
Eighth Thought: Does June not have any pictures of Larry dressed in normal clothing to use for the posters? Is the wizard costume the only outfit he ever took a picture in?
Ninth Thought: Kim doesn't care about Ron or Hana. Okay, that's probably not true, but she should never have suggested that Ron bring his baby sister on a mission when he's supposed to be watching her.
(Would you be okay if your SO told you to bring your baby sister on a potentially life-threatening adventure?)
She called it "recon" and said it wouldn't be dangerous, but she was clearly expecting to run into Dementor and his henchman while doing it, and thus expecting a fight. And Ron would have had to protect himself and Hana while fighting. This is not the behavior of someone who cares about Ron or his loved ones.
(Especially when she will adamantly deny needing Ron on missions, so, if she had truly believed it wouldn't be dangerous, there was no reason to bring him along anyways. And if she had believed it would be dangerous, she should never have suggested bringing the baby.)
Also, it's not really fair of Kim to not believe Ron when he said he didn't blow up the lair. Ron is canonically a terrible liar, and he wouldn't lie in the first place. He'd own up to his mistake, like he's done every other time he accidentally destroyed something.
Final Thought: Regardless of Larry thinking the whole thing was a LARP, he was pretty badass at the end. He needs a reality check and his own battle suit. He would make great backup on a mission.
(Ron also needs his own battle suit, but that's a discussion for another time.)
That is another excellent point, but it's still disturbing.
Even if it was just those three, the fact that they either didn't know what The Isle was like or didn't care is disturbing.
In Beauty and The Beast, Adam was cursed into the form of a beast because he behaved cruelly towards someone who turned out to be an enchantress (or fairy).
Only once Beast starts learning to be a kind person does someone fall in love with him and break the curse.
Cinderella got a movie where Anastasia made amends with Cinderella and found love on her own. Fairy Godmother would know about that.
So, clearly, everyone who was ever a villain or a villain's sidekick, or people who are descended from villains, should be forced to live in squalor. No one can ever grow as a person and do better, and their children are guaranteed to be as bad as them no matter what we do. /s
The whole story was about how anyone can grow past being a monster if they want to and are given the chance. To say that no one else should ever get that opportunity and that the kids of villains are damned just for being their kids is wildly out of character for all of them.
I guess most people assume all the heroes would know because they were sending their own villains there, and it'd seem weird and out of character to not ask questions.
But Beast doing a lot of lying, manipulating, and bribing would make sense.
Unfortunately, it'd mean Beast kind of sucks.
The most unbelievable thing about Disney's Descendants is that the princes and princesses, people who are known for being kind and compassionate, would be okay with literal children living on The Isle, despite knowing what things are like on The Isle, just because their parents are villains.
Like, I'll believe they decided to put their dangerous villains there to protect everyone.
(Not villains like LeFou and Smee though, because they're just not worth the trouble.)
But you expect me to believe that no one thought it wouldn't be fair to punish the kids for their parents' crimes? That people who are known for being kind thought this was fair?
Sorry, not buying it.
And it's not that they didn't know, because everyone knew the villains had kids, so they just, somehow, honestly thought this was a good idea.
But I don't believe it.
I understand that it has to be that way for plot reasons. My proposed change would be a very simple one:
They didn't know there were kids on The Isle.
They only found out shortly before Ben was going to be coronated, because Belle and Adam wanted to check on The Isle one more time before it became Ben's responsibility.
Thus, Ben immediately decides to invite some VKs to Auradon for a better life, but Belle and Adam are concerned that the VKs might be a lot like their parents. He agrees to only invite a few at first, but he's confident that they're not evil, just in terrible conditions.
I am making this post to mention times Kim has done something good, and Ron has done something bad.
First, times Kim's done something nice:
"Mind Games" - It was nice of Kim to beat up Ron's bullies for him while still in his body.
"Pain King vs Cleopatra" - It was nice of Kim to give the tickets to Ron.
"Go Team Go" - Even though she clearly hated it, it was still nice of Kim to cash in a favor so Ron could see the world's first Mucho Grande Bueno Nacho.
And lastly, times Ron's done something bad:
"Naked Genius" - While he hadn't asked Rufus to do his homework for him, he did take it too far by turning in homework he didn't do and letting Rufus keep cheating for him.
"Hidden Talent" - It was definitely not cool of Ron to sign Kim up for the talent show without her permission.
"Larry's Birthday" - Ron apparently blabs Kim's secrets to Larry's friends when they meet up for RPGs, namely how to access her battle suit, and that is definitely something he needs to work on.
So, there we have it; times Kim's been nice and Ron's been mean.
This is so people know that I realize that Ron's not a saint and Kim's not evil incarnate.
I mean, for all I criticize Kim, I can acknowledge when she does something good.
And for all I love Ron, I can acknowledge when he does something bad.
I'm not blind or clueless, and that is why I criticize the show.
Regardless of my feelings on Kim/Ron, I think the show could've done a better job of portraying them as having feelings for each other.
In "Grudge Match" Kim mocks and insults Ron for even suggesting that people might think they date. This does not indicate that she's secretly crushing on him.
In "Emotion Sickness" Ron is uncomfortable with the idea of dating Kim. This does not indicate that he's secretly crushing on her.
In "Bad Boy" Kim suggests Ron take a date to Rueben's wedding, but gets uncomfortable when he asks her to go. They both agree that it's not a "date-date".
(I will give them props, Kim and Ron's conversation about the main characters of Agony County getting together was a nice lampshade.)
I will admit that Kim was jealous of Yori in "Gorilla Fist", and her conversation with Ron about Yori crushing on him could be a nice parallel to Kim's situation.
However, Kim was also jealous of Felix in "Steal Wheels", so it's not like she has to consider someone to be romantic rival to be jealous of them.
Ron is never shown to have issues with Kim dating, even attempting to help Kim with Josh.
And, though she doesn't seem to think highly of Ron, she doesn't have a problem with Ron dating.
Before "So The Drama" there wasn't a lot to indicate that they were attracted to each other.
Actually, there was more to indicate that they only see each other as friends than that they were secretly attracted to each other.
In "So The Drama" we get a lot of Ron pining over Kim, but only one line near the beginning that might indicate Kim is also pining over Ron.
And then, there's Eric.
Eric was perfect for Kim, and she begins to ignore Ron because of him.
This prompts Ron to realize his feelings for Kim, but he doesn't act on them until after Eric is revealed to be part of Drakken's plan.
Which is another problem; Eric was part of Drakken's plan.
Aside from one line at the beginning, there wasn't much to indicate that Kim was crushing on Ron. So having her date him after it's revealed that Eric was part of Drakken's plan makes it seem like Ron's the rebound.
Honestly, having two people end up together because the alternate love interest was no longer an option is kind of lazy writing.
(Granted, they hadn't been expecting the show to continue after this, so I'm not too surprised.)
Still, Kim ended up with Ron not because he was the better option but because he was the only option.
And that's just unfair to both of them.