HOME | DD

Description
Welcome to the very first (or pilot) review part of my brand-new review series, The 3C's, where I compare the two's resembling aspects, whether flawed or strong, by checking how they executed it, which would lead me to choose who did them better, hence the series' title. In the past, I have experimented with plenty of other review series, those of which aren't as popular as my scorecards and ControChoices. It was some nice little experimentation but I began to show little interest in continuing them. In this case, however, sketching all these characters and blending them in with this "kind-of" template will make my time with this review series pretty fascinating since I have shown interest in drawing characters these days.

Here is how the deviation works, that'll continue on with pretty much every installment of The 3C's; First off, you have the main stars of this deviation, which includes me, and the most significant characters of the two pieces of work I'm comparing. They will be interacting with each other, which is honestly the highlight of making these reviews as it's fun to see two different characters from two different pieces of work either arguing, falling in love, or even do some physical contact with me. While these two fictional characters are meeting each other for the first time after being lifted from their respective episode, movie, etc., I express how I would react to the situation.

The creativity doesn't stop here. The background includes the audience members watching as I decide which piece of work is superior or inferior. The many colors reflected on them describes the color schemes you will see in these pieces of media. And then there is the title of the review with the title of the piece of works being directed to the side of which the characters belong to. And of course, we have the main logo of the new review series. So, that's how the visual review works. I didn't put a review on the visual deviation because I wanted the deviation to focus more on the interactions as well as editing and that the description will have a lot of room to type this otherwise lengthy comparison.

And now that I described how the visual deviation is set to be, what are the first pieces of work I'm comparing? Well actually, since I first thought up of this idea back in December of 2016 (which is almost three years from now), I would say that I'd like to start off with every show I completed in that year, that way I have a small amount of shows to compare yet these shows are the ones I am the most familiar with when it comes to reviewing. As the months go by, I will add another show to compare, and the order that will work out is from the shows I completed chronologically. Not the release dates of when I uploaded my thoughts on these pieces of media, when I finished the visual scorecard of these shows. If you don't know what I mean, then check out the Scorecard Initial Creation Dates within my Scorecards Scorecard .

But seriously, what are the two I'm comparing? To give their reveal a more exciting start, these two specials are considered major flaws by the fanbases of each show, criticizing them especially for flanderization of the main characters. They called out on them for being such selfish jerks towards the ones they're recruiting and when they got their comeuppance, it too was criticized for being harsh. On the left ring as the comparing episode to be released first, is SpongeBob SquarePants' "Party Pooper Pants" and on the right is a more recent special, The Loud House's "Kings of the Con". To give a brief summary about what these episodes are about, the former has the titular main character wanting to throw a party, but it doesn't go according to his plans as the characters he invited doesn't abide to his rules. With the latter, it's about Lincoln and Clyde wanting to be crowned as "Kings of the Con", or more specifically, star in the new Ace Savvy movie. However, when they recruited Lincoln's sisters to help them get a spot in the movie, they ended up getting more attention, which apparently wasn't what Lincoln and Clyde had in mind.

So, what did these two have that makes them comparable? The first reason is pretty obvious:

1. The main protagonist is derailed into a selfish jerk

To give a brief overview of each of the main character's personalities during the part where they become unlikable; SpongeBob in "Party Pooper Pants" tries to strictly control his party whereas Lincoln and Clyde in "Kings of the Con" are both jealous of Lincoln's sisters amassing fame from the judges so they tried topping their position without admitting. What makes both of these characters selfish? A selfish person is someone who simply cares about himself and not about others, and SpongeBob, Lincoln, and Clyde are shown that way where both characters care most about their personal needs, rather than the feelings of their recruits, with parties and great impressions respectively. Yeah, they are written as pretty unlikable characters, but now that I compared these two characters, let's check how each episode executed them in different ways:

Party Pooper Pants: In this episode, SpongeBob's flanderization is more apparent or really noticeable here. At the beginning of the episode (and before the main conflict goes in full swing), he starts off as his youthful and enthusiastic self by attempting to break his record for the fastest time shopping at Barg-n-Mart and feeling optimistic about his party, something we'd expect of SpongeBob. However, since this is a Season 3 episode and that my issue with that season being that SpongeBob's characterization can be unnaturally mature at times, when we get to the party scene of the episode, SpongeBob here acts more normal and a bit subtle by evident of one of his realistically awkward conversations with Patrick as well as making topic cards that don't go along with how SpongeBob would interpret them. Would he really write something like "Discuss the philosophical nature of irony" ? I think not. What kind of made me realize about SpongeBob acting mature here is that here, he's treating his party like a fancy party with all the scheduling and tidying to make his place look appealing in front of the guests, but then again, that fits alongside his strangely mature attitude within this episode.

"Party Pooper Pants" is known for SpongeBob's major flanderization where he went from being an innie to outie before and after the 2nd part of Patchy's segments. Him acting more adult-like is an issue, but the real deal with SpongeBob's character is that he becomes a jerk. In this case, a bossy, overtly selfish jerk. Of course, he does have a reasoning behind his control freak-ish attitude, which is that he worries about the Plan Your Own Party Kit implying "unsupervised parties may lead to disaster", but it doesn't excuse how much he care about the schedule he planned, strictly guiding his party members not to talk to each other until given time and even having the laughter be scheduled, blocking anyone from his party from laughing. Now that's unfair selfishness, seeing SpongeBob care so much about the schedule that not even him worries a bit about how his party guests are feeling about this predicament. I mean, I kind of chuckled at one moment where he felt disappointed about Tom arriving late at his party, but that's like the only thing I enjoyed out of his character during this time. This episode's humor is pretty flat, so SpongeBob's jerky behavior apparently makes matters worse where he even forced Squidward to the party by cutting out his cable.

What I believe what should've happened in this episode is that SpongeBob should at least lighten up here by containing similar energy he obtained at the beginning of the episode, feeling optimistic about his party and glad that all his friends are here. If something doesn't go according to plan and the party guests are still disobeying his rules, then I would say have him, again, lighten up. He can be bossy, but the lighter side of bossy. It may still be flanderizing as he's still selfish, but it's better than being strictly bossy. But the deal with SpongeBob is that his jerkiness is pretty omnipresent throughout the second half where we often see him complain and bicker about his party not going according to plan. We even got to see him wearing a bunny suit in a frustrated manner, which really continues not just how out-of-character SpongeBob feels here, but also how the episode conveys that as a joke, yet seeing SpongeBob being this furious isn't entertaining to watch.

SpongeBob's selfishness in "Party Pooper Pants" is pretty hostile of him where he starts from being optimistic to completely bossy, transforming him into a strict party host who is barely likable in the second half.

Kings of the Con: In this episode, Lincoln and Clyde's flanderization, in contrast to SpongeBob's character derailment in "Party Pooper Pants", is actually tamer in this episode. They may be jealous of Lincoln's sisters, but I wouldn't really say that their selfishness is frustrating to watch. Just around when they realized that the judges favor the sisters (aka The Full House Gang), they were actually supportive of Lincoln's sisters, thinking that they made them Kings of the Con. But then, the judges agreed at this point that they favor the sisters over Lincoln and Clyde, which is when the out-of-character business begins.

But unlike "Party Pooper Pants", Lincoln and Clyde doesn't become selfishly jerky to their sisters for ranking the highest standard according to the judges, they simply try different attempts to impress the judge on their own. It's tamer here because at this point, no one (besides the judges, maybe) is being cruel to one another nor is it very strong here. The story in this episode is pretty straightforward, so the episode doesn't amount to Lincoln and Clyde trying to sabotage their sisters from winning the title, but instead have another plan; kidnap the Kitty of the con and bring it back to where it was left before they kidnapped the Kitty. Although their attempts at saving the Kitty are pretty bland and continues to tell us that yes, they mess up as Ace Savvy and One-Eyed Jack, I'd say that this works as a better alternative than Lincoln and Clyde trying to sabotage Lincoln's sisters' fame because this plot point not only makes Lincoln and Clyde apparently unlikable, but also because that it's a pretty overdone plot point as well. Plus, you've got to admit that it lead to that nice little fight scene in the climax behind stage where the sisters actually do all the action to save Lincoln and Clyde.

Then we move over to the near ending of the episode, which shows us that Lincoln and Clyde both have developed pretty well here. When they were announced as "Kings of the Con", they at first leave their sisters out, almost ignoring them until they realize the sad look on their faces, confessing that their sisters deserve the title and they freed the Kitty all along. This actually shows that Lincoln and Clyde felt bad about feeling selfish, rather than have SpongeBob realize that his party was a success all along after Patrick told him so, which this proves that SpongeBob didn't change after the poor effects he contributed to his party. SpongeBob failed to change in "Party Pooper Pants", but Lincoln and Clyde did in "Kings of the Con", going from proud of Lincoln's sisters' works to growing selfish about winning the convention all the way to feeling bad about what they've done. SpongeBob simply went from optimistic to selfishly bossy and that's it, and that would leave a huge gap in his character there. And of course, Lincoln and Clyde's confession is part of The Loud House overusing that same scene already that it becomes predictable every time it comes, but I guess it beats a character not changing whatsoever.

I would give it to the Louds at "Kings of the Con". Yes, Lincoln and Clyde are both selfish, caring more about winning the convention rather than Lincoln's sisters in the second half, but they did show appreciation for them at some parts of the episode and at least they have some sort of functioning character development.

So if you've read all of this, then you know that I shall choose who did this con better. Well, "Kings of the Con" gets this point as Lincoln and Clyde's selfishness are actually tamer than that of SpongeBob's. They aren't really mean-spirited and have pretty alright character development, unlike SpongeBob in "Party Pooper Pants" where he appears to be just cruel and when he becomes selfish, he stays selfish.

There are actually some more aspects and cons I would like to compare so if you're tired of reading my first comparisons, then don't stop there because the next ones aren't really as long as my first reason. The second reason (or aspect) is:

2. The ones the protagonist recruits to go according to his plan are actually the ones that get advantage, making the protagonist worried

Yep, I'm not just talking about one single character who played a major role in these episodes, that also includes the supporting characters or those who changed the course of the plot in some way. What I'll be describing here are the party guests in "Party Pooper Pants", where all they want to do is party and ignore SpongeBob's rules, and Lincoln's sisters in "Kings of the Con" where they were the ones that get more attention than Lincoln and Clyde. Respectively, the party guests invited treat SpongeBob's party like a real house party which made them all have a lot of fun in contrast to SpongeBob getting locked out of his own house, whereas Lincoln's sisters were brought over to the convention and for their impressive characteristics, they astonished the judges in contrast to Lincoln and Clyde struggling to impress them. SpongeBob was expecting his guests to abide his rules whereas Lincoln and Clyde want Lincoln's sisters so that they can make them win the convention. Now let's see who did this aspect better:

Party Pooper Pants: In this episode, all of the party members are reduced to behave like one single character; the social rebel who doesn't listen to the host's rules. Whenever each guest gets their chance to have light shine on them, it often falls flat because of, again, the episode's ineffective taste in humor, incorporating jokes into these characters that aren't necessarily the most entertaining I've seen. The characters greeting each other was alright for them, albeit pretty underwhelming either because the timing of the jokes feel a bit off or the obvious dialogue makes these scenes pretty flat. When they party without SpongeBob's supervision, they seem to have a great time in a lot of uncreative possibilities such as Patrick chugging all the deviled eggs from the pinata. What is so interesting about that?

Not only that, but some of the party guests even act out-of-character, though not as much as SpongeBob did here. Patrick, although a little on the dumb side of himself during the partying sequences, weirdly had a normal-awkward situation with SpongeBob where we see him welcome him as the first guest at the party and since this conversation behaves more in a mundane fashion rather than a playful, best friend-like situation, this is what makes this scene unlike what SpongeBob and Patrick would do. Mr. Krabs is another character that feels off at first when he first appears in this episode where he has a similarly awkward conversation with Patrick. He seems to be more casual here, which makes me think that he can easily be replaced by any other character at this point.

And like SpongeBob, these characters could've been written better to at least be more dynamic in the episode. The issue I have with these characters is that when SpongeBob isn't under their supervision, they all go back to partying, ignoring SpongeBob and his jerky behavior of which they showed no reaction to. Not even SpongeBob's bossiness influences their character at this moment or even question why is SpongeBob in this state. If this were to work well, then it should instead have all the guests getting tired of SpongeBob's strict hosting by either calling him out on his selfish behavior or try to leave the party to make SpongeBob learn a lesson. This is the sense of development that should've been in this episode rather than emphasizing more on humor, which is unfavorable of the old seasons to do.

The guests at SpongeBob's party do have all the advantage, but like SpongeBob, they're rather poorly written as most of their moments are just flat, out-of-character, and wasted potential for a better comeuppance on SpongeBob.

Kings of the Con: In this episode, The Loud sisters in “Kings of the Con” have more personality to them than the ones SpongeBob recruited in "Party Pooper Pants". Here, the episode does a decent job at showcasing what the Loud sisters do best as cosplaying The Full House Gang by making their characteristics shine at some parts of the episode. Of course, they may have their in-character awkward moments, especially with Luna whose jet pack malfunctions are mostly unfunny, but when they shine, they do have their solid moments such as Lisa successfully counting how many poker chips in the jar Lincoln and Clyde are trying to guess and Lynn doing the Hammer of Justice, whose strength rang the bell and eventually through the roof of the convention. As I said, they're for the most part bland ways the Full House Gang was able to reach to the judges' liking but what they offered is at least better than what the party guests have from "Party Pooper Pants".

In the climatic fight scene, however, was when the episodes becomes a bit more fun and it's thanks to the Loud sisters fighting together to stop the Kitty from attacking Lincoln and Clyde. When getting the signal that Lincoln and Clyde are in trouble, they almost feel like one character to save their brother and his friend. But mixed with each’s own distinct dialogue and their characteristics mixed into their actions so that they don't become too alike. The climatic battle continues to shine each of their personalities from Lisa’s weapon being an abacus to Lily using her dirty diapers to stop the Kitty once and for all.

Just like Lincoln and Clyde, the Loud sisters also seem to be a lot more dynamic compared to the party guests from "Party Pooper Pants". Their motivation is thanks to the setup of the episode where both Lincoln and Clyde try to convince Lincoln's sisters, but they seem uninterested in the event. But then, Lincoln successfully persuaded them that they’ll appear in a movie if they got the best cosplay, which as a result made the sisters interested. Hmm, this is still some sign of character development, but since when were they fascinated in appearing in movies? Their dream of making at least a cameo in a feature-length film doesn't seem to be mentioned in the series, or maybe I forgot that existed in an episode I literally forgot about. But anyways, they went from that to being acclaimed by the convention, but what came out as a surprise is that they don't appear to be arrogant towards Lincoln and Clyde but in fact at times supportive of them for getting them here such as Lisa crediting them. So far, they went from being uninterested to interested and then the ending came and made them disappointed at first, but then pretty mad at Lincoln and Clyde once they confessed. Unlike some bits of the first half of the episode, they were never shown feeling pity towards Lincoln and Clyde for their harsh punishment, which kind of makes them a bit unlikable here. It's kind of bad that this episode didn't have time for the Loud sisters to actually thank Lincoln and Clyde for getting them into this situation or perhaps feel sorry for them, so the ending kind of ruins Lincoln's sister here.

And like Lincoln and Clyde, the Loud sisters each have their own bit of charm in this episode even if it's a bit dull or forced. Their development may not be the best as it does have some plot holes, but like with Lincoln and Clyde, having development is better than having no development...if the character seems unlikable.

Finishing reading the comparisons and the results are similar to that of the first. "Kings of the Con" gets another point as it tries to make the ones Lincoln and Clyde recruited, Lincoln's sisters, have a good time as the spotlight as well as getting some alright development. With the party guests from "Party Pooper Pants", however, are almost just one character, each moment of these characters are pretty flat, and they could've did more positive contributions to change SpongeBob's attitude as well as themselves.

I mentioned earlier about a "harsh punishment". You know what that means:

3. Their comeuppance is contrively harsh

This reason is what shook reviewers as to what makes these episodes pretty bad in their opinion. If you don't know what happened in the episode, then I suggest you to skip this part to avoid spoilers but if so, then stick around for this. In "Party Pooper Pants", SpongeBob is caught by the police while breaking into his own house whereas in "Kings of the Con, Lincoln and Clyde are not only stripped of their winnings by the judges, but also given an extra punishment. I will explain the contriveness of these two karmas as I elaborate more on these episodes, but do you smell something? Another similar aspect in a con? Yeah, this makes a similar aspect in a similar aspect. Too meta for you? But I digress, what you notice here is that SpongeBob, Lincoln, and Clyde are both punished by unlikable authority figures. Those authority figures being the police and the judges to be exact and they punish them for pretty dumb reasons enough for me to tear them apart. But who do I consider better? Well, let's see:

Party Pooper Pants: In this episode, SpongeBob gets arrested by the police for a reason that feels more like a joke you shouldn't take seriously, yet it feels like a plot point. Here, the police arrest SpongeBob for...not inviting them to his party. Is that really a reason that the police may do? From the impression that the police weren't acting serious when they were besides this bit of dialogue, it feels like the delivery of this reasoning feels like they're joking around with him, but it turns out they aren't. It sounds like they were acting jealous or not on duty rather than serious to show that they're taking their jobs seriously like any police officer would do.

Although there are some aspects of this badly-written punishment that look like they can be passable, they only make it worse. Firstly, this bit of the episode does nothing for anyone. It didn't affect the plot in anyway besides stopping SpongeBob from breaking into his house, it didn't make him feel guilty about leading into this mess, which could've lead him to change at the ending, nothing. Yes, considering that this bit doesn't affect anything could've made this scene a bit more tolerable, right? Actually, similar to the ending and the party guests, this was a missed opportunity to be useful towards the plot and characters. Secondly, the police tries cuffing him, but it turns out that the cuffs are broken, which lead to them using a pillory instead. Again, it's an uncreative twist similar to what the party guests suffered from. Sure, this isn't what you'd see as usual, but all I can say is that this twist is mostly there for me as it didn't affect anything, like the entire appearance of the police in this episode.

SpongeBob's comeuppance is rather pointless as it doesn't affect his character nor the plot and it's mostly there for humor values but it doesn't work because of how dumb the police are that makes them more cruel than funny.

Kings of the Con: In this episode, Lincoln and Clyde actually get two punishments of which are obvious and cruel respectively. Because of the show's formulaic writing, the falling action would often have a character confessing his or her wrongs and it turns out that the person feeling suspicious about it is alright with it. But here, the judges are apparently angered by Lincoln and Clyde's wrongdoings. It may be different since it doesn't give the main character a happy ending, but that doesn't mean it's good here because as you may know, the judges aren't very round characters who are written to do the obvious, so of every situation they do, you can easily guess of what they'll might do, which therefore makes this scene predictable.

But Lincoln and Clyde getting disqualified isn't their only punishment, the judges have made a decision to let them in the movie...as the Kitty's personal "pooper-scooper". What is wrong here? Technically, it's a harsh punishment because after all Lincoln and Clyde went through to lead the Kitty back into its cage, from ending up in danger of the Kitty's claws as well as getting attacked by the Kitty firing hairballs at them, they now have to deal with the Kitty again without explaining themselves. Not even the judges can realize the threat and craziness of the Kitty that they could've think that it was a bad idea to give Lincoln and Clyde the punishment or even Lincoln's sisters pop up at the end and feel bad about their punishment despite being still mad at them, but here, the ending makes you want to think that Lincoln and Clyde are both really in the wrong in this episode for doing something intolerable like...freeing the Kitty from its cage. It could be that the Kitty's hostility is seen as a threat towards the judges that it made them think that because of Lincoln and Clyde, the Kitty destroyed major parts of the convention, but the Kitty only did minor damage.

Lincoln and Clyde's comeuppances makes you think that they are really in the wrong. Not only are their punishments predictable, but also because that no one felt bad about them receiving the "pooper-scopper" services for the Kitty as well as getting one that they really don't want to face again.

Wow, so how both of them handled the whole contrively harsh comeuppance idea ended up in a negative light. But if I were to choose, than I would say that "Kings of the Con" at least have an acceptable reason for Lincoln and Clyde's punishments. The police punishing SpongeBob because he didn't invite them to his party makes no sense at the slightest. The judges, however, punish Lincoln and Clyde for freeing the kitty, which is pretty harsh, but it's not as immature as punishing someone for not inviting them.

And guess what? I have no more comparisons to compare other than one pretty minor aspect; the protagonists attempt to get their plans back on task, but they awkwardly backfire. As I said, I'd like to talk more about the major aspects that not only makes them comparable, but also that these issues are major issues I have with these episodes. So now that you've reached to the end, from comparing the two's flawed, resembling aspects, to checking how both of them executed them, it's time to choose who is the better handler of all these reasons combined. With three wins, I pick "Kings of the Con" for being more reasonable and less cruel than "Party Pooper Pants". Not that I'm biased for the latter as I do really like some aspects of the episode, it's just that whenever an episode handles this aspect in a bland type of way, I would say that beats something that's more badly-written.

That wraps up my first 3C's review. A 2nd review might be coming very soon if this succeeds well to my liking. Now I have a question which I'll be asking in each of these reviews; which episode do you think is executed better and why? Let me know in the comments.

Description
Welcome to the very first (or pilot) review part of my brand-new review series, The 3C's, where I compare the two's resembling aspects, whether flawed or strong, by checking how they executed it, which would lead me to choose who did them better, hence the series' title. In the past, I have experimented with plenty of other review series, those of which aren't as popular as my scorecards and ControChoices. It was some nice little experimentation but I began to show little interest in continuing them. In this case, however, sketching all these characters and blending them in with this "kind-of" template will make my time with this review series pretty fascinating since I have shown interest in drawing characters these days.

Here is how the deviation works, that'll continue on with pretty much every installment of The 3C's; First off, you have the main stars of this deviation, which includes me, and the most significant characters of the two pieces of work I'm comparing. They will be interacting with each other, which is honestly the highlight of making these reviews as it's fun to see two different characters from two different pieces of work either arguing, falling in love, or even do some physical contact with me. While these two fictional characters are meeting each other for the first time after being lifted from their respective episode, movie, etc., I express how I would react to the situation.

The creativity doesn't stop here. The background includes the audience members watching as I decide which piece of work is superior or inferior. The many colors reflected on them describes the color schemes you will see in these pieces of media. And then there is the title of the review with the title of the piece of works being directed to the side of which the characters belong to. And of course, we have the main logo of the new review series. So, that's how the visual review works. I didn't put a review on the visual deviation because I wanted the deviation to focus more on the interactions as well as editing and that the description will have a lot of room to type this otherwise lengthy comparison.

And now that I described how the visual deviation is set to be, what are the first pieces of work I'm comparing? Well actually, since I first thought up of this idea back in December of 2016 (which is almost three years from now), I would say that I'd like to start off with every show I completed in that year, that way I have a small amount of shows to compare yet these shows are the ones I am the most familiar with when it comes to reviewing. As the months go by, I will add another show to compare, and the order that will work out is from the shows I completed chronologically. Not the release dates of when I uploaded my thoughts on these pieces of media, when I finished the visual scorecard of these shows. If you don't know what I mean, then check out the Scorecard Initial Creation Dates within my Scorecards Scorecard .

But seriously, what are the two I'm comparing? To give their reveal a more exciting start, these two specials are considered major flaws by the fanbases of each show, criticizing them especially for flanderization of the main characters. They called out on them for being such selfish jerks towards the ones they're recruiting and when they got their comeuppance, it too was criticized for being harsh. On the left ring as the comparing episode to be released first, is SpongeBob SquarePants' "Party Pooper Pants" and on the right is a more recent special, The Loud House's "Kings of the Con". To give a brief summary about what these episodes are about, the former has the titular main character wanting to throw a party, but it doesn't go according to his plans as the characters he invited doesn't abide to his rules. With the latter, it's about Lincoln and Clyde wanting to be crowned as "Kings of the Con", or more specifically, star in the new Ace Savvy movie. However, when they recruited Lincoln's sisters to help them get a spot in the movie, they ended up getting more attention, which apparently wasn't what Lincoln and Clyde had in mind.

So, what did these two have that makes them comparable? The first reason is pretty obvious:

1. The main protagonist is derailed into a selfish jerk

To give a brief overview of each of the main character's personalities during the part where they become unlikable; SpongeBob in "Party Pooper Pants" tries to strictly control his party whereas Lincoln and Clyde in "Kings of the Con" are both jealous of Lincoln's sisters amassing fame from the judges so they tried topping their position without admitting. What makes both of these characters selfish? A selfish person is someone who simply cares about himself and not about others, and SpongeBob, Lincoln, and Clyde are shown that way where both characters care most about their personal needs, rather than the feelings of their recruits, with parties and great impressions respectively. Yeah, they are written as pretty unlikable characters, but now that I compared these two characters, let's check how each episode executed them in different ways:

Party Pooper Pants: In this episode, SpongeBob's flanderization is more apparent or really noticeable here. At the beginning of the episode (and before the main conflict goes in full swing), he starts off as his youthful and enthusiastic self by attempting to break his record for the fastest time shopping at Barg-n-Mart and feeling optimistic about his party, something we'd expect of SpongeBob. However, since this is a Season 3 episode and that my issue with that season being that SpongeBob's characterization can be unnaturally mature at times, when we get to the party scene of the episode, SpongeBob here acts more normal and a bit subtle by evident of one of his realistically awkward conversations with Patrick as well as making topic cards that don't go along with how SpongeBob would interpret them. Would he really write something like "Discuss the philosophical nature of irony" ? I think not. What kind of made me realize about SpongeBob acting mature here is that here, he's treating his party like a fancy party with all the scheduling and tidying to make his place look appealing in front of the guests, but then again, that fits alongside his strangely mature attitude within this episode.

"Party Pooper Pants" is known for SpongeBob's major flanderization where he went from being an innie to outie before and after the 2nd part of Patchy's segments. Him acting more adult-like is an issue, but the real deal with SpongeBob's character is that he becomes a jerk. In this case, a bossy, overtly selfish jerk. Of course, he does have a reasoning behind his control freak-ish attitude, which is that he worries about the Plan Your Own Party Kit implying "unsupervised parties may lead to disaster", but it doesn't excuse how much he care about the schedule he planned, strictly guiding his party members not to talk to each other until given time and even having the laughter be scheduled, blocking anyone from his party from laughing. Now that's unfair selfishness, seeing SpongeBob care so much about the schedule that not even him worries a bit about how his party guests are feeling about this predicament. I mean, I kind of chuckled at one moment where he felt disappointed about Tom arriving late at his party, but that's like the only thing I enjoyed out of his character during this time. This episode's humor is pretty flat, so SpongeBob's jerky behavior apparently makes matters worse where he even forced Squidward to the party by cutting out his cable.

What I believe what should've happened in this episode is that SpongeBob should at least lighten up here by containing similar energy he obtained at the beginning of the episode, feeling optimistic about his party and glad that all his friends are here. If something doesn't go according to plan and the party guests are still disobeying his rules, then I would say have him, again, lighten up. He can be bossy, but the lighter side of bossy. It may still be flanderizing as he's still selfish, but it's better than being strictly bossy. But the deal with SpongeBob is that his jerkiness is pretty omnipresent throughout the second half where we often see him complain and bicker about his party not going according to plan. We even got to see him wearing a bunny suit in a frustrated manner, which really continues not just how out-of-character SpongeBob feels here, but also how the episode conveys that as a joke, yet seeing SpongeBob being this furious isn't entertaining to watch.

SpongeBob's selfishness in "Party Pooper Pants" is pretty hostile of him where he starts from being optimistic to completely bossy, transforming him into a strict party host who is barely likable in the second half.

Kings of the Con: In this episode, Lincoln and Clyde's flanderization, in contrast to SpongeBob's character derailment in "Party Pooper Pants", is actually tamer in this episode. They may be jealous of Lincoln's sisters, but I wouldn't really say that their selfishness is frustrating to watch. Just around when they realized that the judges favor the sisters (aka The Full House Gang), they were actually supportive of Lincoln's sisters, thinking that they made them Kings of the Con. But then, the judges agreed at this point that they favor the sisters over Lincoln and Clyde, which is when the out-of-character business begins.

But unlike "Party Pooper Pants", Lincoln and Clyde doesn't become selfishly jerky to their sisters for ranking the highest standard according to the judges, they simply try different attempts to impress the judge on their own. It's tamer here because at this point, no one (besides the judges, maybe) is being cruel to one another nor is it very strong here. The story in this episode is pretty straightforward, so the episode doesn't amount to Lincoln and Clyde trying to sabotage their sisters from winning the title, but instead have another plan; kidnap the Kitty of the con and bring it back to where it was left before they kidnapped the Kitty. Although their attempts at saving the Kitty are pretty bland and continues to tell us that yes, they mess up as Ace Savvy and One-Eyed Jack, I'd say that this works as a better alternative than Lincoln and Clyde trying to sabotage Lincoln's sisters' fame because this plot point not only makes Lincoln and Clyde apparently unlikable, but also because that it's a pretty overdone plot point as well. Plus, you've got to admit that it lead to that nice little fight scene in the climax behind stage where the sisters actually do all the action to save Lincoln and Clyde.

Then we move over to the near ending of the episode, which shows us that Lincoln and Clyde both have developed pretty well here. When they were announced as "Kings of the Con", they at first leave their sisters out, almost ignoring them until they realize the sad look on their faces, confessing that their sisters deserve the title and they freed the Kitty all along. This actually shows that Lincoln and Clyde felt bad about feeling selfish, rather than have SpongeBob realize that his party was a success all along after Patrick told him so, which this proves that SpongeBob didn't change after the poor effects he contributed to his party. SpongeBob failed to change in "Party Pooper Pants", but Lincoln and Clyde did in "Kings of the Con", going from proud of Lincoln's sisters' works to growing selfish about winning the convention all the way to feeling bad about what they've done. SpongeBob simply went from optimistic to selfishly bossy and that's it, and that would leave a huge gap in his character there. And of course, Lincoln and Clyde's confession is part of The Loud House overusing that same scene already that it becomes predictable every time it comes, but I guess it beats a character not changing whatsoever.

I would give it to the Louds at "Kings of the Con". Yes, Lincoln and Clyde are both selfish, caring more about winning the convention rather than Lincoln's sisters in the second half, but they did show appreciation for them at some parts of the episode and at least they have some sort of functioning character development.

So if you've read all of this, then you know that I shall choose who did this con better. Well, "Kings of the Con" gets this point as Lincoln and Clyde's selfishness are actually tamer than that of SpongeBob's. They aren't really mean-spirited and have pretty alright character development, unlike SpongeBob in "Party Pooper Pants" where he appears to be just cruel and when he becomes selfish, he stays selfish.

There are actually some more aspects and cons I would like to compare so if you're tired of reading my first comparisons, then don't stop there because the next ones aren't really as long as my first reason. The second reason (or aspect) is:

2. The ones the protagonist recruits to go according to his plan are actually the ones that get advantage, making the protagonist worried

Yep, I'm not just talking about one single character who played a major role in these episodes, that also includes the supporting characters or those who changed the course of the plot in some way. What I'll be describing here are the party guests in "Party Pooper Pants", where all they want to do is party and ignore SpongeBob's rules, and Lincoln's sisters in "Kings of the Con" where they were the ones that get more attention than Lincoln and Clyde. Respectively, the party guests invited treat SpongeBob's party like a real house party which made them all have a lot of fun in contrast to SpongeBob getting locked out of his own house, whereas Lincoln's sisters were brought over to the convention and for their impressive characteristics, they astonished the judges in contrast to Lincoln and Clyde struggling to impress them. SpongeBob was expecting his guests to abide his rules whereas Lincoln and Clyde want Lincoln's sisters so that they can make them win the convention. Now let's see who did this aspect better:

Party Pooper Pants: In this episode, all of the party members are reduced to behave like one single character; the social rebel who doesn't listen to the host's rules. Whenever each guest gets their chance to have light shine on them, it often falls flat because of, again, the episode's ineffective taste in humor, incorporating jokes into these characters that aren't necessarily the most entertaining I've seen. The characters greeting each other was alright for them, albeit pretty underwhelming either because the timing of the jokes feel a bit off or the obvious dialogue makes these scenes pretty flat. When they party without SpongeBob's supervision, they seem to have a great time in a lot of uncreative possibilities such as Patrick chugging all the deviled eggs from the pinata. What is so interesting about that?

Not only that, but some of the party guests even act out-of-character, though not as much as SpongeBob did here. Patrick, although a little on the dumb side of himself during the partying sequences, weirdly had a normal-awkward situation with SpongeBob where we see him welcome him as the first guest at the party and since this conversation behaves more in a mundane fashion rather than a playful, best friend-like situation, this is what makes this scene unlike what SpongeBob and Patrick would do. Mr. Krabs is another character that feels off at first when he first appears in this episode where he has a similarly awkward conversation with Patrick. He seems to be more casual here, which makes me think that he can easily be replaced by any other character at this point.

And like SpongeBob, these characters could've been written better to at least be more dynamic in the episode. The issue I have with these characters is that when SpongeBob isn't under their supervision, they all go back to partying, ignoring SpongeBob and his jerky behavior of which they showed no reaction to. Not even SpongeBob's bossiness influences their character at this moment or even question why is SpongeBob in this state. If this were to work well, then it should instead have all the guests getting tired of SpongeBob's strict hosting by either calling him out on his selfish behavior or try to leave the party to make SpongeBob learn a lesson. This is the sense of development that should've been in this episode rather than emphasizing more on humor, which is unfavorable of the old seasons to do.

The guests at SpongeBob's party do have all the advantage, but like SpongeBob, they're rather poorly written as most of their moments are just flat, out-of-character, and wasted potential for a better comeuppance on SpongeBob.

Kings of the Con: In this episode, The Loud sisters in “Kings of the Con” have more personality to them than the ones SpongeBob recruited in "Party Pooper Pants". Here, the episode does a decent job at showcasing what the Loud sisters do best as cosplaying The Full House Gang by making their characteristics shine at some parts of the episode. Of course, they may have their in-character awkward moments, especially with Luna whose jet pack malfunctions are mostly unfunny, but when they shine, they do have their solid moments such as Lisa successfully counting how many poker chips in the jar Lincoln and Clyde are trying to guess and Lynn doing the Hammer of Justice, whose strength rang the bell and eventually through the roof of the convention. As I said, they're for the most part bland ways the Full House Gang was able to reach to the judges' liking but what they offered is at least better than what the party guests have from "Party Pooper Pants".

In the climatic fight scene, however, was when the episodes becomes a bit more fun and it's thanks to the Loud sisters fighting together to stop the Kitty from attacking Lincoln and Clyde. When getting the signal that Lincoln and Clyde are in trouble, they almost feel like one character to save their brother and his friend. But mixed with each’s own distinct dialogue and their characteristics mixed into their actions so that they don't become too alike. The climatic battle continues to shine each of their personalities from Lisa’s weapon being an abacus to Lily using her dirty diapers to stop the Kitty once and for all.

Just like Lincoln and Clyde, the Loud sisters also seem to be a lot more dynamic compared to the party guests from "Party Pooper Pants". Their motivation is thanks to the setup of the episode where both Lincoln and Clyde try to convince Lincoln's sisters, but they seem uninterested in the event. But then, Lincoln successfully persuaded them that they’ll appear in a movie if they got the best cosplay, which as a result made the sisters interested. Hmm, this is still some sign of character development, but since when were they fascinated in appearing in movies? Their dream of making at least a cameo in a feature-length film doesn't seem to be mentioned in the series, or maybe I forgot that existed in an episode I literally forgot about. But anyways, they went from that to being acclaimed by the convention, but what came out as a surprise is that they don't appear to be arrogant towards Lincoln and Clyde but in fact at times supportive of them for getting them here such as Lisa crediting them. So far, they went from being uninterested to interested and then the ending came and made them disappointed at first, but then pretty mad at Lincoln and Clyde once they confessed. Unlike some bits of the first half of the episode, they were never shown feeling pity towards Lincoln and Clyde for their harsh punishment, which kind of makes them a bit unlikable here. It's kind of bad that this episode didn't have time for the Loud sisters to actually thank Lincoln and Clyde for getting them into this situation or perhaps feel sorry for them, so the ending kind of ruins Lincoln's sister here.

And like Lincoln and Clyde, the Loud sisters each have their own bit of charm in this episode even if it's a bit dull or forced. Their development may not be the best as it does have some plot holes, but like with Lincoln and Clyde, having development is better than having no development...if the character seems unlikable.

Finishing reading the comparisons and the results are similar to that of the first. "Kings of the Con" gets another point as it tries to make the ones Lincoln and Clyde recruited, Lincoln's sisters, have a good time as the spotlight as well as getting some alright development. With the party guests from "Party Pooper Pants", however, are almost just one character, each moment of these characters are pretty flat, and they could've did more positive contributions to change SpongeBob's attitude as well as themselves.

I mentioned earlier about a "harsh punishment". You know what that means:

3. Their comeuppance is contrively harsh

This reason is what shook reviewers as to what makes these episodes pretty bad in their opinion. If you don't know what happened in the episode, then I suggest you to skip this part to avoid spoilers but if so, then stick around for this. In "Party Pooper Pants", SpongeBob is caught by the police while breaking into his own house whereas in "Kings of the Con, Lincoln and Clyde are not only stripped of their winnings by the judges, but also given an extra punishment. I will explain the contriveness of these two karmas as I elaborate more on these episodes, but do you smell something? Another similar aspect in a con? Yeah, this makes a similar aspect in a similar aspect. Too meta for you? But I digress, what you notice here is that SpongeBob, Lincoln, and Clyde are both punished by unlikable authority figures. Those authority figures being the police and the judges to be exact and they punish them for pretty dumb reasons enough for me to tear them apart. But who do I consider better? Well, let's see:

Party Pooper Pants: In this episode, SpongeBob gets arrested by the police for a reason that feels more like a joke you shouldn't take seriously, yet it feels like a plot point. Here, the police arrest SpongeBob for...not inviting them to his party. Is that really a reason that the police may do? From the impression that the police weren't acting serious when they were besides this bit of dialogue, it feels like the delivery of this reasoning feels like they're joking around with him, but it turns out they aren't. It sounds like they were acting jealous or not on duty rather than serious to show that they're taking their jobs seriously like any police officer would do.

Although there are some aspects of this badly-written punishment that look like they can be passable, they only make it worse. Firstly, this bit of the episode does nothing for anyone. It didn't affect the plot in anyway besides stopping SpongeBob from breaking into his house, it didn't make him feel guilty about leading into this mess, which could've lead him to change at the ending, nothing. Yes, considering that this bit doesn't affect anything could've made this scene a bit more tolerable, right? Actually, similar to the ending and the party guests, this was a missed opportunity to be useful towards the plot and characters. Secondly, the police tries cuffing him, but it turns out that the cuffs are broken, which lead to them using a pillory instead. Again, it's an uncreative twist similar to what the party guests suffered from. Sure, this isn't what you'd see as usual, but all I can say is that this twist is mostly there for me as it didn't affect anything, like the entire appearance of the police in this episode.

SpongeBob's comeuppance is rather pointless as it doesn't affect his character nor the plot and it's mostly there for humor values but it doesn't work because of how dumb the police are that makes them more cruel than funny.

Kings of the Con: In this episode, Lincoln and Clyde actually get two punishments of which are obvious and cruel respectively. Because of the show's formulaic writing, the falling action would often have a character confessing his or her wrongs and it turns out that the person feeling suspicious about it is alright with it. But here, the judges are apparently angered by Lincoln and Clyde's wrongdoings. It may be different since it doesn't give the main character a happy ending, but that doesn't mean it's good here because as you may know, the judges aren't very round characters who are written to do the obvious, so of every situation they do, you can easily guess of what they'll might do, which therefore makes this scene predictable.

But Lincoln and Clyde getting disqualified isn't their only punishment, the judges have made a decision to let them in the movie...as the Kitty's personal "pooper-scooper". What is wrong here? Technically, it's a harsh punishment because after all Lincoln and Clyde went through to lead the Kitty back into its cage, from ending up in danger of the Kitty's claws as well as getting attacked by the Kitty firing hairballs at them, they now have to deal with the Kitty again without explaining themselves. Not even the judges can realize the threat and craziness of the Kitty that they could've think that it was a bad idea to give Lincoln and Clyde the punishment or even Lincoln's sisters pop up at the end and feel bad about their punishment despite being still mad at them, but here, the ending makes you want to think that Lincoln and Clyde are both really in the wrong in this episode for doing something intolerable like...freeing the Kitty from its cage. It could be that the Kitty's hostility is seen as a threat towards the judges that it made them think that because of Lincoln and Clyde, the Kitty destroyed major parts of the convention, but the Kitty only did minor damage.

Lincoln and Clyde's comeuppances makes you think that they are really in the wrong. Not only are their punishments predictable, but also because that no one felt bad about them receiving the "pooper-scopper" services for the Kitty as well as getting one that they really don't want to face again.

Wow, so how both of them handled the whole contrively harsh comeuppance idea ended up in a negative light. But if I were to choose, than I would say that "Kings of the Con" at least have an acceptable reason for Lincoln and Clyde's punishments. The police punishing SpongeBob because he didn't invite them to his party makes no sense at the slightest. The judges, however, punish Lincoln and Clyde for freeing the kitty, which is pretty harsh, but it's not as immature as punishing someone for not inviting them.

And guess what? I have no more comparisons to compare other than one pretty minor aspect; the protagonists attempt to get their plans back on task, but they awkwardly backfire. As I said, I'd like to talk more about the major aspects that not only makes them comparable, but also that these issues are major issues I have with these episodes. So now that you've reached to the end, from comparing the two's flawed, resembling aspects, to checking how both of them executed them, it's time to choose who is the better handler of all these reasons combined. With three wins, I pick "Kings of the Con" for being more reasonable and less cruel than "Party Pooper Pants". Not that I'm biased for the latter as I do really like some aspects of the episode, it's just that whenever an episode handles this aspect in a bland type of way, I would say that beats something that's more badly-written.

That wraps up my first 3C's review. A 2nd review might be coming very soon if this succeeds well to my liking. Now I have a question which I'll be asking in each of these reviews; which episode do you think is executed better and why? Let me know in the comments.