Disaster ‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories

‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories

archived 14 Jan 2023 17:10:03 UTC

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‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories

People are certainly talking about Velma, that much is true. Just…not very positively. Velma currently has the lowest audience score I’ve seen for an HBO or HBO Max production, a 7%. To get that low requires not just “review bombing” but your show also likely has to be…genuinely bad.

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‘Velma’ Is So Bad It's Spawned Psyop Conspiracy Theories​

Paul Tassi
Senior Contributor
News and opinion about video games, television, movies and the internet.
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Jan 14, 2023, 10:20am EST
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Velma
HBO MAX
Yesterday, HBO Max bragged that Velma, the new adult-rated Scooby Doo cartoon, was its most-viewed animated premiere ever. I’m not sure precisely what that says, given that the only other Max original animated series I can even think of is Harley Quinn, plus a bunch of other older series that WB Discovery recently murdered.


But people are certainly talking about Velma, that much is true. Just…not very positively. Velma currently has the lowest audience score I’ve seen for an HBO or HBO Max production, a 7%. To get that low requires not just “review bombing” but your show also likely has to be…genuinely bad.

And it is. Velma is very, very bad.

Velma is so bad in fact, that it’s spawning conspiracy theories that creator Mindy Kaling made what is essentially a parody of what the right wing thinks left wing comedy is like. As in, a show that not just recast most roles with new races, but also features loads and loads of “white guys, amiright?” jokes. The idea is that Kaling is a secretly conservative force in media trying to make the left look bad by making a cringey adult cartoon full of “this rich white guy has a small dong” jokes that the right can point at as everything wrong with race-recasted, social justice-influenced media.


I do not want to go down a big rabbit hole about Mindy Kaling’s personal beliefs and influences here. And yet if that wasn’t the intent of the show, it sure feels like it in practice. On one side, it absolutely is working to spark mockery from the right, exactly as you might imagine it would. But on the other, it’s just not defensible at all by those who would normally welcome a progressive series.


Take She-Hulk for example. That was a hugely controversial show where it was very explicit about roasting misogynistic comic fans, perhaps often lacking in subtlety. But I would still very much defend that show, as I think its humor and fourth-wall breaking works, and most of the people who were upset about it are the very people that it’s overtly making fun of…for being upset about it.

Velma is not that. Velma is not defensible by any stretch of the imagination. It’s just bad. Making progressive jokes is fine so long as the jokes are good. They are not good. I heard the show described somewhere as a series written by TV writers who only ever talk to other TV writers. That’s a pretty good summary. And the idea here is that it’s so, so bad at landing its jabs at right wingers that it almost feels like self-sabotage.

There is a world in which this concept might have worked. I can see an “adult” Scooby Doo series where you have an overlooked Velma attempting to claw back credit from a privileged Fred, the “leader” of the gang. And yet here it’s not just jabbing at Fred for being an overconfident white dude, it’s literally “he’s such a whiny white man baby that his mommy cuts his steak and he hasn’t finished puberty so he has a small penis.” Like just…no remote hint of subtlety or nuance or anything that could make the progressive humor work.
An easy counter-example to turn to is the R-rated Harley Quinn series, also on HBO Max, which still feels true to the characters it focuses on, is full of left-leaning messaging on misogyny an LGBTQ issues, but importantly…is funny and compelling. I mean, this show recently did a full bit about the Joker running for mayor as a progressive socialist and it worked.
Velma? I don’t know what Velma is doing. I’m not sure I subscribe to this “Mindy Kaling made a dogwhistle series for right wing trolls” theory, as the Occam’s Razor explanation is that the show is just…bad. The jokes are…bad. That’s really it.
I may continue watching out of morbid fascination, but man, this is truly one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever seen.

 

[Mothra1988]

Pay attention to the current of conversation before interject with egregiously irrelevant statements while simultaneously insulting someone for no reason.

Nobody claimed that anime made this ostensible Scooby-Doo rendition bad. I conjectured that specifically the teenage nudity was the product of the rising generation of writers and artists being substantially influenced by anime/manga, where teenage nudity for the sake of ribaldry and/or erotica is common.

You have the worst fucking takes on the planet. Who other than you would come into a thread about the woketard USA Velma cartoon filled with catty attempts at left wing humor and then start crying about how tits from anime made by apolitical or right leaning people in Asia offended you as an old man. What's even worse is now your autism will force you to try to debate this retarded point for several pages like you always do. Jesus, just fuck off to some Catholic message board somwhere already. lol

 

[Zero Day Defense]

You have the worst fucking takes on the planet. Who other than you would come into a thread about the woketard USA Velma cartoon filled with catty attempts at left wing humor and then start crying about how tits from anime made by apolitical or right leaning people in Asia offended you as an old man. What's even worse is now your autism will force you to try to debate this retarded point for several pages like you always do. Jesus, just fuck off to some Catholic message board somwhere already. lol

Your BPD's showing.

Fuck off.

 

[SBG]

Pay attention to the conversation before you spout off with irrelevant garbage.

Nobody claimed that anime made this ostensible Scooby-Doo rendition bad. I conjectured that specifically the teenage nudity was the product of the rising generation of writers and artists being substantially influenced by anime/manga, where teenage nudity for the sake of ribaldry and/or erotica is common.

Here is a woman on Riverdale, I'm presuming playing a teenager.

Showing some skin on shows for teenagers or horny adults has been routine for a while now. Anime is a bit tame in comparison to modern American television.

Spoiler: Sorta NSFW

I also remember there was an episode of Charmed, that seemed to be an entire show of showing off possible fetishes, where a character ends up just making her breasts larger.

 

[Jaimas]

Who other than you would come into a thread about the woketard USA Velma cartoon filled with catty attempts at left wing humor

The thing is, the show also has a ton of potshots at wokeism's expense. The sole purpose of this show is either to inflate the creator's ego or bait hatewatches. There is no other possibility.

 

[Mothra1988]

Am I right to suspect the only reason the backalash to this show got larger than usual is because Musk took over Twitter?

 

[Mariposa2.0 LTE]

It's not truly progressive if Velma doesn't have a huge dong

 

[Socrates]

Am I right to suspect the only reason the backalash to this show got larger than usual is because Musk took over Twitter?

I highly doubt that. It's just a bad show, man.

 

[Mothra1988]

I highly doubt that. It's just a bad show, man.

I don't know. There's been so many bad shows and films, and it was like criticizing them wasn't allowed.

 

[pikachudidnothingwrong]

Liberals it's not complicated, it's just trash made for BlackRock investors and ESG scores in mind.
It's the future and culture you choosed.

THIS! It can't be stated hard or often enough!

 

[Socrates]

I don't know. There's been so many bad shows and films, and it was like criticizing them wasn't allowed.

I think people today in general attribute too much of what is the random unpredictable nature of a large crowd. Sometimes for better or worse things just take off. For sure shadowy influence op shit goes on, but I don't think that's what was going on before.

 

[Zero Day Defense]

Showing some skin on shows for teenagers or horny adults has been routine for a while now. Anime is a bit tame in comparison to modern American television.

I think "a bit tame" is more than a little wrong unless there's examples of slapstick in Western productions where a high school student inexplicably goes from standing upright to on the floor eating ass of various ages in (at most) two seconds.

To an extent, I'll take you at your word on the first statement, but I still get the sense that it's comparably less normalized in Western productions overall and is especially not normalized in animation aimed at teenagers/young adults (though some such shows are actually marketed to pre-pubescent children, so that'd be a reason why).

 

[Mr. Bung]

View attachment 4280469

If they're going this route it would actually make a lot more sense for Scooby to be a black man and the two have a homosexual relationship. That's how fucked up and bizarre this all is. I'd rather have those two in a gay relationship because Scooby as a black woman is infinitely more fucked up than Scooby as a black man.

 

[FuckedUpDeer]

I don't know. There's been so many bad shows and films, and it was like criticizing them wasn't allowed.

Fucking up an entry to such a widely known and uncontroversial franchise that goes back to the 70s that is somehow still relevant this badly(allegedly, I haven't seen it) probably gave it a bigger spotlight.

 

[anustart76]

True. Bollywood actresses are usually pretty hot. Mindy Kaling looks like an unwashed potato.

From what I know about Bollywood, those actors are also a lot more humble. They don't go around bragging about how great and special they are.

I got the feeling then Spongebob might be the next target by the woke mob if it wasn't already.

SpongeBob died with Steve Hillenburg. The show's been shit since Season 10 with the change in animation style and switch to Teen Titans Go style "humor" with the spin-offs being even worse.

These fuckers are actually greenliting a second season of this turd. Just reenforces that shows should be made cheaply and that bad publicity is still publicity.

HBO Max cancelled/removed a bunch of shows and films due to the Discovery merger, but are keeping this trash fire.

Nerdrotic, a YouTuber I follow, suggested it could just be the episodes already having been made, ie the initial order was split into 2 seasons.

Reminds me a bit of what happened with the 90's Spider Man cartoon, where Spiderman didn't get to punch people and the cops/villains weren't allowed to use guns so they instead use laser guns.

American kid cartoons are sanitized an insane amount, especially on network television so you'd end up with stuff like these odd edits:
American vs Original
View attachment 4279242

It's weird thinking how kids will watch Family Guy with worse violence, but then won't produce anything more violent than Steven Universe for kids.

I think 90s Spider-Man deserves a lot of credit for managing to be so good in spite of the censorship. What baffles me though, is that it was on Fox Kids at about the same time as Batman, which wasn't censored at all.

Indian women are the second grossest on the planet (the first being Australian aboriginal women). The producers know this. In their efforts to get back at whitey, they enlist token curry muncher Mindy WhatsHerFace to tank yet another beloved franchise. She walks away with money and her ego sufficiently fluffed, and they get to destroy yet another beautiful thing. It's such a predictable cycle now that I'm surprised anyone cares. The goal is the demoralization of the population. Yuri Bezmenov told us 30 years ago how it was going to happen. We didn't listen. It's too late now. Get used to being force fed curry and ‎witchetty grubs or get used to living in the margins. Sins of the father, and all that. :/

Ugliest women are black women,regardless of origin, and they're uglier than anyone else by a mile. Indian women are either smoking hot, or ugly, there's no in-between.

Here is a woman on Riverdale, I'm presuming playing a teenager.

Showing some skin on shows for teenagers or horny adults has been routine for a while now. Anime is a bit tame in comparison to modern American television.

Spoiler: Sorta NSFW

View attachment 4282354

I also remember there was an episode of Charmed, that seemed to be an entire show of showing off possible fetishes, where a character ends up just making her breasts larger.
View attachment 4282369

Riverdale really pisses me off. I grew up with Archie comics, and this show feels like a total slap in the face. It's nothing like the original characters. We deserved a reboot of Archie's Weird Mysteries, if anything, not this.

 

[Mothra1988]

Fucking up an entry to such a widely known and uncontroversial franchise that goes back to the 70s that is somehow still relevant this badly(allegedly, I haven't seen it) probably gave it a bigger spotlight.

They did the same thing to Star Wars, Ghost Busters, etc. and there was alwasy a strong push back against the critics.

 

[BrieLarsonFan2004]

>They aren't retarded, it's just that sdiofjsdiofewfiewhfg8uewhgu9we8shgv0pbewsdhy8gpweiakUO0G8HJY0PAOWEIGHUNAW0[epsIHGBN0[waepiugh0Q[8UYFHYIewhjgajoiurgawsogiaweuhjgfahsewgu89ashgoisadjhfgi0sadojf890asy e89ruvn8e9rnv7w8runvwe894vuqw4n89erv7nq4we89rgumfvnqew89rbuwerq89byquer8r9uqwet89ierhgjb9oewsruhjatioq23a4whjt89gwejuthgi8wauuyhtawioejtghaw9u8eihtgioaweujtaiw9euotjiaoweutrjiawejtg

COPE.

 

[FuckedUpDeer]

They did the same thing to Star Wars, Ghost Busters, etc. and there was alwasy a strong push back against the critics.

Again, I haven't seen the show but I've heard it takes some potshots at some leftist related things, that might explain why its not being defended by the usual goblinoids. Also, sometimes something is just that bad.

 

[spastic_bag]

This is just what happens when you throw money at undeserving talentless hacks solely on the basis of "brown" and "vagina".

 

[OrangeManCostume]

As long as the budget is reasonably low, this show should still benefit WB if it ups or maintains their ESG score.

There could be a future where companies keep launching low-budget woke-lightning-rod projects so they can continue to exist in today's world without it affecting big projects like LOTR.

 

[Larry David's Opera Cape]

I got to see one episode, pirated, in a friend's Stream.

It may very well constitute the worst thing I've ever seen, and not solely because it makes HGS look like high art.

I realized something, watching it: It is intended to offend literally any audience. It attacks several woke cows with nearly the same vitriol it reserves for the original show's fanbase. Every single thing it changes, every single thing it does wrong it does with malice aforethought. I know a number of people who are relatively woke and who would be just as livid about this show as their counterparts outside the wokesphere. It is in every way excessive, and intended, in a calculating way, to piss off every possible demographic.

They're trying to bait even the woke to hate it in the hopes of securing hatewatches. This is not a viable long-term strat but in the short term it will turn this piece of trash into something able to carry its own weight for a little while. When even the hard-leftie tards are looking at this and going: "Dude, what the *fuck* is this shit?!" You know you've got something unusual on your hands. I can only hope that this strat blows up in their face.

"That's exactly why we want to produce this play. To show the world the true Hitler, the Hitler you loved, the Hitler you knew, the Hitler with a song in his heart."