i am being overdramatic for fun when i call it a downfall but the way its general perception has shifted from "universally loved" to "seen as kind of cringe by a not insignificant amount of people" is interesting to me because it's not a case of "it's popular, so it sucks" - or not entirely, at least; i think it's also a result of:

1) people completely missing the point/appeal of found family and assigning every character a Traditional Nuclear Family Role (annoying) (& if there's a woman of colour in the group she will inevitably be deemed The Mom regardless of her actual personality. so also racist.)

2) people, usually overenthusiastic fans, overusing & watering it down as a descriptor. i'm sorry but are they actually found family or are they just coworkers. are they found family or do they just have friends

3) media trying to capitalize on the popularity of the trope - or earnestly but clumsily trying to depict it - by rushing into it and trying soooo hard to convince the audience These People Are Family Now without earning it (i.e. actually depicting them getting to that point of familiarity and intimacy). it comes across as cheap and inauthentic - like it's trying to appeal to your fondness for the trope as a shortcut in place of developing the characters' particular relationships properly

does that make sense

People finally think they’re attractive and cool and funny but they’re dead. People finally treat them well but they’re dead. Do you see the vision

Transforms into a shell of my former self and finally gains the respectability society never bestowed upon me before

anyway i’ve been thinking lately about that part in book 5 where nudge, gazzy, and iggy discover the lost city of atlantis but they decide not to tell max because she just had a lot going on. that was crazy.

Patrick Bateman if he was chill