CLONE HIGH SEASON 2 is AWFUL

[@PyxeledGenesis]

The show wanted to make fun of "woke culture" so bad while simultaneously adding 3 new non-white characters with "positive" flaws, and the one new white guy was supposed to be the unlikable one. I understand why they took out Ghandi, even if it was the dumbest reason ever, but he probably would have saved this new season.. if they didn't flanderize him too and make him the quirky stupid ADHD character. It took away all of it's own progressive ideals and parody, and replaced it with..whatever this is while having such little self awareness to not realize it became the thing people parody.

[@ambrielcooley4554]

I liked the video and how organized your formatting is. I still think you’re very underrated. I too have a lot of thoughts about season 2 and no one to talk about it with so I hope you don’t mind if I put a mini-essay here: I think the biggest problem is that all the characters feel flat because there wasn’t a lot of time to flesh out their concepts which they imply they will improve upon in s3, but idk here are just my thoughts broken down to each character and humor. Older characters: I agree with most of what you said about them although for Abe I don’t believe him unintentionally making offensive comments in ep 1 wasn’t ooc. Being oblivious is one of his traits but they could’ve changed what exactly he said. I was most upset about Cleo changing. How I would’ve handled the popularity conflict was that she has the old clones behind her so she competes with Frida for the spotlight. Or forms a fake relationship with Frida to manipulate her. It could’ve been a rival to lovers deal if they wanted a sapphic relationship in there. Also yeah, I miss the voice actress :( New Characters: The idea of their designs was to separate the new generation from the old one. It’s apparent by the color scheme. The main older clones have a lot of faded tones of blue, red, black and white. While gen 2’s dominant color scheme has bright yellow, blue, pink, and green. All except for Topher who has the gen 1 color scheme. Although there was one image of his concept art where he wore a tie-dye shirt and did share the gen 2 color pallet. I like them having team colors, but I think toning down the saturation of the new ones and putting the colors in different spots would help. Frida: I like her design overall. I’d maybe remove the sleeves though so it looks less cluttered and it could reference the body hair thing. I like her chill vibes but they need to give her more. I think being too chill can be a flaw as it can lead to indifference. OG Frida was definitely very passionate and put a lot of meaning behind her paintings many to cope with the constant physical and emotional pain she was in. Clone Frida has never gone through that kind of struggle as she is healthy, on top of the school, and in a good relationship. Basically, I want Frida to have doubts about her art more than what we get in ep 3. Also, OG Frida had a tragic love life, and is the only thing we’ve seen make Clone Frida anxious. I want to know how she would handle cheating whether she’s the one doing it or if it's done to her. Harriet: In the backdrop of the show her design is a pain to look at. I wished they would’ve used her other concept art designs. However, I do think her not resembling Harriet is the point. I see it as “What if Harriet Tubman wasn’t raised as a slave and had the freedom to do whatever she wanted?” Getting a giant pink Afro? Sure, why not? I think she respects her clone mother, but doesn’t want to be her. Slavery is a very depressing subject to think about and be associated with all the time and so clone Harriet leans into the more fun aspects and talents of Tuban like her ability to sing. However she might not want to squander the opportunities that those before her gave her either which is why she tries so hard to be famous and go to a prestigious school. Your idea about being a risk taker is something I hadn’t thought of that could be explored. She is shown to be a people pleaser in ep 6 so I do think caring about friends to a fault trait is there. I did like her dynamic with Joan when it comes to their different takes on expressing art. I wish Frida got involved with that situation but oh well. Confucius: I kind of give a pass to the historical figures who didn’t have photography. There are vague descriptions mentioning he was tall with long limbs and had buck teeth. There are pictures of clone Confucius having buck teeth as a kid in the background. Maybe they were removed? They could’ve gone with a famous artist's interpretation like they did with Joan. The problem is all of them depict him as an old man which would clash with his E-boy persona. (Although I would enjoy a tiny bit of facial hair) I figured he was like Abe where he wants to be like his clone father but doesn’t know how. His being an influencer would be a modern take on what his clone father was trying to do when he spread his philosophy. With the joke being unlike Confucius he doesn’t have anything wise to say. The whole thing with friends is confusing as you said, I'm not sure where they were going with that. I feel like him being raised by a rich foster family is supposed to say something. As the OG Confucius was born into a noble family but had it taken away. He’s also the one who perpetuated the idea of respecting your parents while clone Confucius seems to have a strained relationship with his foster family. I think there is something there, however, I don’t know what type of commentary they are trying to say with him. Topher: I too fell in love with Topher conceptually, but I didn’t expect them to do anything with him for the rest of the show. So to cope I posted a fanfic while s2 was still airing about him as a kid getting progressively more criticized each passing Columbus Day. Then I came back a few weeks later to not only see that he was super popular, but most of the fanfics about season 2 were about Topher blackmailing Abe because he had internalized homophobia and how he wants Abe to himself. And apparently, they say there’s actual evidence in the show and there are videos about it. Whether they date or not. I think they are setting up for him to hang out with Joan next season. Seeing how everyone hates them now. It would be fun to see them secretly cause chaos to the entire school system. I find it ironic that he says he doesn’t want to associate with his clone father, yet he dresses like a sailor or an Italian boy from a Renaissance painting. You’d think he’d be the one with the unrecognizable design. And maybe technically he is as the painting everyone thinks of for OG Christopher Columbus isn’t actually him as it doesn’t match any of his physical descriptions. Someone theorized he’s a ginger that dyed his hair brown and wears a hat to hide the roots. Unrelated but I feel like there are two types with Topher fans. There are those who relate to aspects of him like having a mental illness and not being part of any social group at school. Or they sympathize with his background which is understandable, but It’s unclear if he’s actually discriminated against or it’s his self-righteous persona that puts people off. Then there are some who sympathize with him so much they invert Topher's personality where they see him as rude on the outside but he’s really a misunderstood good guy that can’t express his feelings. These people tend to gloss over the severity of his actions in ep 8. While others who are most likely big fans of season 1 like ep 8-10 and are glad that someone can act like a d#%^ for once and fill in the antagonistic role that Cleo and JFK left behind. I’m just very anxious how the writers could please both groups and without his schtick getting stale if he had more screen time. Humor: I agree season 1 is peak. However, I don’t think they completely abandoned the parody aspect. They had the save the Recreational Center plot in ep 6. High School Musical in ep 5. Oscar Bait in ep 9. Maze Runner ep 10. And I heard that the sex ed teacher in ep 8 was a reference to one in Riverdale that they made look hot even though she was older in the comics and had a weird relationship with a kid but I’m not going to watch Riverdale. Uncomfortable teacher/student relationship is a trope unfortunately so I wouldn’t be surprised. The main issue is the comedy like you said. It doesn’t matter what they parody if no one laughs. I will give it this at least I can decipher which ones are supposed to be jokes, unlike Velma. --Thanks for reading, I'm probably overanalyzing and made half this stuff up. I just hope the writers do have actual intentions to develop their ideas. BTW season 3 is supposed to have religion and snorkeling so…hype? (Also found this manga called AfterSchool Charisma which has basically the concept of clone high and they have their own version of Topher but it’s Hitler XD)

[@Baitelvideos37]

Wow! I love this mini-essay a lot, thank you! Also, there is a possibility Topher is suffering from mental illness (in some form). Again, as I mentioned, he had to realize years later that his clone father did awful shit. Which can take a toll on someone. Again, I don't really know why he is hated. I don't think anyone at school knows who his clone is, or they just somehow found out about his true intentions???? Idk man, these writers did not put a lot thought into this lol. Also, if season 3 is gonna tackle religion, OH BOI, I sure do wish them luck. I did not mention this in my video, but they handled the teacher/student "relationship" with Abe so terribly. I want sexual abuse to be explored in media, even if it's comedic it's totally fine to me. But every time someone in media does it, they either silenced, or the creators do a terrible job at handling the subject, and not taking it seriously as they should. Actually you know, that whole sex ed episode was awful. Were in a time where sex ed is getting taken away from us high schoolers, and these writers could not do the bare minimum to properly spread awareness with clever writing and comedy?? That's fucked up. Also I am scared now, on how they will even tackle the subject of religion, if they can't handle the subject of grooming. Also, P.S the OG Clone High did actually have amazing commentary as well. But, the writers knew what to do with the characters and their commentary. And they did it so well, because they mixed it with comedy. I recommend checking out @bigrowdydemon on twitter. They have made awesome Clone High comics that stayed loyal to Clone High's OG sense of humor and style. Anyways, have an amazing day, and I loved your insight, bye bye!

[@wut5295]

omfg found the author of the best clone high fanfiction on ao3 currently I LOVED THAT FIC SO MUCH AND THIS IS AN EXCELLENT DEEP DIVE ACTUALLY. Very appreciative that there have been more posts about Confucius's caricature possibly being a result of trying to replicate his clone father's cultural significance in the current era. Since there doesn't seem to be a lot of talk surrounding this connection despite there being hints to it sprinkled across the season. Though To be fair considering S2's disjointed character writing in general it's admittedly hard to tell if this was a consistent writing decision, and not a concept that was initially brought up and got derailed after a couple episodes. On the subject of that though, I do believe Tophers reputation in school was never intended to be good from the start to be honest. While yes he was always openly performative about his activism and constantly paranoid about appearing offensive around his peers(with the joke being that since nobody talks to him in real life he has a very warped, chronically online filtered perception of what that means), but it was never stated early on that people bought this persona, considering Harriet called him out in the very first episode for posting about Abe's mansplaining in an ironically "super" mansplaining way. (I have many, MANY thoughts on the possibility of a Joan/ Topher pair up next season (and have made several long winded posts about it on tumblr already lol), but I'm afraid it might be a bit off topic to discuss it here considering it was not the focal point of the video but man do I wish the writers hadn't changed Joans personality so drastically in S2, me thinks she needs to start kicking people in the face again, intentionally, possibly Tophers ( hopefully Tophers).)

[@Baitelvideos37]

Honestly, if they didn't change Joan's personality of being cynical, Topher and her could've gotten along super well! It just sucks, because they completely changed her. Also, thanks for telling me about Confucius guys, I did not know about that lol.

[@Baitelvideos37]

Btw, I found the manga you are talking about, and for some reason, they do the "person cloned by someone awful concept" better?? At the start of the season, I think no one knows who Topher's Clone is (I think). But if they somehow know Topher's Clone, it would make 10x more sense why he is shunned from the rest of the school. Kind of like the Hitler Clone from the manga.

[@ambrielcooley4554]

Oh wow, I haven’t actually read the manga yet I just found surface level similarities between a clone not wanting to be associated with their clone parent and befriending the ostracized main character. Obviously the two have different tones and the clones can just be a series of gags in clone high and still work. Also I think in the manga they clone the same person more than once so there might be multiple Hitlers which would add a whole new layer to things. As for the other thing, I can see Topher hiding it from the gen 1’s, but I really doubt the gen 2 clones don’t know who he is. For one, they live around the same area, he probably grew up with them and went by Christopher for a while. And even if they were all complete strangers until high school he doesn’t go by the name of a different famous person. So either they have to believe that there is someone significant in history named Topher Bus which by looking at the internet they would know that there isn’t one or that he’s just some normal guy that goes to their all clone school. (Also he’s not that great at keeping it a secret he told Abe after knowing him for 5 seconds.) The name change I think is more is to separate his identity rather than hide it.

[@Ramenretro]

u just earned a sub great video

[@aesoprockinin]

It's become the type of show it used to parody

[@violatormelms]

So... You actually saw it all? I tip my hat for you.. I TRIED to watch it and tried to like it since I reallly loved the first season. Thought I just lasted a few episodes before I gave up. Im up with new changes and such, but not such bad changes... I really get what you say in this video but there were several things that I just did't get into... Like how they act like they act like self-aware and that they have Fixed* everything now since now they have womens doing the script as well like tv-shows would be crap unless there were women in charge as well. ( Gender just dosen't matter, if you can't write well...) Also I admit that most girls have it rought in modern time, but they acted like all womens were brainwashed slaves 20 years ago obsessed with only boys and fought to be girlfriends to them. ( Episode :2 Sleepover.) Abe was a homofobic character and did't learn anything from gay people ore anything, he just did whatever he thought would help to be a part of the school again despite learning NOTHING from the incident. It was also very weird to see JFK being MORE into accepting femenism from nowhere despite he mostly saw girls as sex-objects. Also it was weird and just plain boring to see him having an internet-duel with somebody on the web, just "Winning" because the other guy misspelled a word. AND speaking of JFK... My favorite episode from the first season were the episode when JFK became best friends with Ponce. That episode was weird and touching how JFK drop the whole cool act and just cried & sobbed during the whole episode when Ponce died, with everything that came with it. Refusing to accept his death, losing his cool infront of his love-interests, his regret over their last fight, wanted to be alone but still not sure about it and maybe even hallucination. However, in season two when he and Confucius talks about really close friendship JFK dosen't even mention Ponce. It is like Ponce never existed. it is weird since that episode ( "Litter Kills: Litterally",) was one of the most unique & emotional episodes of Clone High. I really tried to laugh at it but I didn't find anything funny at all, not even close. Except for the joke about Abe's imitation of a lighthouse. But that was all.

[@GNAWalker1992]

Lord and Miller has been abusing their animation staff. Is this show better or worse than Velma?

[@Baitelvideos37]

NO! It's not as bad, but at some points, it got close to there. Also, I mostly put the blame on the writers, and showrunners for how the show came out because you are right. I heard the animators on Clone High season 2, were dealing with the same problems, the animators on Across The Spider-Verse were dealing with.

[@SgtTankDempsey]

Now Clone High been canceled again

[@karajames4273]

The reason why I hate clone high 2023 is because the new writers have made the characters a shell of their former selves and the clone high reboot is so woke now like seriously the clone high 2023 reboot pissed me off so much like for example the 3 new non white characters are portrayed as positive while the white characters like Abe and topher bus unlikable seriously the 2003 clone high was way better in the first episode it was about cancel culture and that episode sucked the clone high reboot sucks and I wish it was never made I could go on and on of why clone high 2023 sucks but for now i will end it there

[@kombuchaenjoyer]

39:05 nah, but it suits topher's character. all his "wokeness" is completely performative, he's one of those guys who spouts shallow, feminist-adjacent statements on regular basis, but then calls a woman a bitch and a slut because she disagrees with him. he *would* think christopher columbus "got cancelled for being a dirtbag" instead of realising that people just started acknowledging his wrongdoings.

[@AngryPossumPlays]

Clone high season 2, more like woke high season 2

[@MatthewRatburg]

I hate Freda