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(S1E5) Battle For Dream Island: The Power Of A Community

Today I'm doing something a little different, and delving into the world of indie cartoons! Instead of being aired on a big channel like Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, or even a streaming platform, Battle For Dream Island is a YouTube webseries! I’ve always had an admiration for people who find ways to do big projects like this without the support of a whole company behind them. The show was released way back in 2010, created by twin brothers Cary and Michael Huang when they were just 12 years old. It follows a cast of anthropomorphic objects competing against each other to win the titular “Dream Island”. Since its initial release, the show continued on for another 4 seasons, two of which are still going on RIGHT NOW, and they currently have an entire crew and production team to help make episodes!

While it’s an incredible success story, the reason I’m talking about BFDI isn’t because of the show itself, but the community it created. The show raked in tons of fans even when it was a small no-budget project, and it only grew as the show got bigger. Heck, I was a fan way back when the second season was coming out, back in 2013! Soon, other people got inspired by the show, and by the fact that it was made independently by two preteens, and made their own “Object Shows”, as the genre is called. Nowadays there are dozens of different shows in the category, such as Inanimate Insanity (the second object show to be created), ONE (A genre deconstruction of object shows), and Open Source Objects (a show in which every scene is animated by a different person, in their own style).

Even those who didn't go through the effort of making an entire show still made things inspired by the show. There are a lot of people (including me) who make fan art, original characters, write fanfiction and more! An especially interesting phenomenon is object “camps”, where someone will host a competition online, and other people in the object show community will join with their original characters as contestants. The host will set up a challenge, and each contestant will write their character completing said challenge. In fact, this is actually how I met my boyfriend! 

Which brings me to a personal point. The show and its community are important to me, personally. Like I said before, my boyfriend and I were both huge fans of BFDI, and we first interacted when he was hosting an object camp! He loved the way I wrote my character, and we bonded over the show. We became close friends, and a few years later, got even closer! On the non-romantic side of things, the object show community really inspired me to draw art consistently and create my own characters (even if they were just drawings of household objects with stick figure limbs), since I wanted to participate in all the fun I saw my community members having. I even tried to create my own object show (which I almost fully wrote out but never animated, but hey maybe I’ll revisit it someday)! Also, a group of my friends and I created our own little BFDI-inspired competition show multiverse called the Character Elimination Cinematic Universe. We all take characters from shows, movies, or games we enjoy and write them into our own big crossover stories, where they do fun challenges to win a prize! It’s a bit silly, but it’s a lot of fun too! Though I don’t watch Battle For Dream Island too much anymore, I cannot deny that it had a huge impact on me as a person, as it has for so many other people.

And that’s really all I have to say for this post! Honestly, I could ramble for way longer but I’m writing a blog post, not a 10-page essay! Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you in my next post (also please give me cartoons to cover I’m running out of ideas lol)

#bfdi #bfb #osc #object shows #cartoon #animation #Youtube

[mia-talks-toons]

(S1E4) Infinity Train: How Companies Disrespect Animated Shows PART 2

This is part two to my previous post about The Owl House and how companies disrespect animation, so go read that first if you haven’t already! 

Infinity Train, oh where to start… Well, it first aired in 2019 on Cartoon Network and was created by Owen Dennis. It started as a 1-season miniseries but was quickly turned into an anthology series with a planned 8 seasons. As an anthology, it follows different stories set in the same universe, surrounding a common setting, which is the titular “Infinity Train”. The train, as you might assume, is a train with an infinite amount of cars, that goes on for eternity in a lifeless wasteland. It’s an unexplained place where those who have personal issues/traumas are transported and are able to work through them by making their way through each of the huge, unique cars on the train.

After 2 seasons, the show was moved to HBO Max (now simply called Max for some reason) and continued for 2 more seasons before getting cancelled. The 5th season, which was in early production, was canned for not having a “child entry point”, though the show is a mature cartoon, and is able to be enjoyed by people of all ages. The rest of the story, though bits and pieces have been revealed, will never see the light of day. 

Now here’s where things go even more downhill. In August of 2022, Infinity Train, along with 36 other shows (20 of which were originals, and 14 being cartoons) were being removed from the platform, many of which aren’t available anywhere else, meaning unless you have a physical copy of it, you have no way of being able to legally watch it. And such is the fate of Infinity Train. What makes it all even worse is that many people involved with the shows weren’t notified whatsoever about their removal, and the only reason for their removal is due to cutting costs. 

Oh, ANOTHER THING. While I was researching for this blog, I found out that according to a crew member, the first 4 seasons, the unfinished 5th season, and a Christmas special were all part of a singular season order. This means that even though 4 seasons aired, the writers were only paid for a single season's worth of content. This show has gone through hell and back, and if that wasn't enough on its own, the crew wasn't even paid fairly. Just... wow.

…When I was younger, I dreamed of becoming an animator, sharing my ideas with the world in the form of a cartoon show. That dream has long since been abandoned (though I still help other people with their projects, and work on my little original universes for my own enjoyment), but as more and more time goes on, and as stuff like this keeps happening not only to Infinity Train, but to so many other cartoons, I feel a sort of bittersweetness. I’m relieved that I didn’t make my way into an industry that would Thanos snap all my hard work away for no good reason, but it SUCKS that I have to feel good about not pursuing my passion. Art should be appreciated, not thrown in the trash to save a few dollars. Beautiful, mature, interesting and well-made art, no matter the medium.

So that’s all for this post. Sorry to end on such a downer, haha… Hopefully the next one will be happier? Actually, no. The next one WILL be happier.

#infinity train #cartoon #animation #writing this made me so mad oh my gosh. #anyways pirate the show it's SO GOOD- #Youtube

[mia-talks-toons]

(S1E3) The Owl House: How Companies Disrespect Animated Shows

A relatively new show to join the ranks of some of Disney’s BEST animated shows, The Owl House was created in 2020 by Dana Terrace, and is the last of the Disney Channel’s serialized cartoon shows (more on that later…). It follows the adventures of Luz Noceda, a regular teen girl, who was magically transported into another world, named the Boiling Isles, full of witches and (friendly) demons and all sorts of neat creatures. There, she trains with her mentor, Eda the Owl Lady (and a demon named King), on how to become a witch and use magic, even though she, as a human, has no natural magical powers of her own. The story is, in my opinion, extremely well done, and I fell in LOVE with every single character. The only issue is that it felt a liiiittle bit too short… And let me tell you why.

While the second season was airing, it was revealed that The Owl House would end prematurely, and the show’s third season, which was already planned out, would be shortened to three specials, instead of the usual 20ish 22-minute episodes a season would have. Many ideas had to be cut, and a lot of character development had to be shortened in the process. A lot of fans were sad, disappointed, and outright outraged, including me! Such an amazing show didn't deserve the short end of the stick. The question on most of the fandom’s mind was “Why?”, and Disney tried to answer.

Dana Terrace (The show’s creator) has gone on record saying that the show didn't fit the Disney "brand". She mentioned the fact that Disney TVA wanted to move away from serialized content, as it’s mostly older kids, teens, and adults who could keep up with those kinds of shows. The Disney Channel wanted to keep their target audience a tad younger, so that meant getting rid of shows with linear storylines and introducing more shows that you could jump into at any episode.

However, many fans have speculated that this was because the show contains a lot of queer themes and characters, and Disney has shown over and over again that even though they may seem progressive, they show many homophobic tendencies. Examples of this are removing gay scenes or characters from their movies when they’re released in homophobic countries, and boasting about their “first gay/lesbian/bi/trans character!!!” while only giving them a blink-and-you-miss-it moment that mentions their identity. Knowing this, it feels like Disney’s intentions were different than they lead us to believe.

No matter what the REAL reason was for the cancellation, I’m still extremely upset. If it’s for the anti-queer reason, it would hurt, as I grew up watching Disney movies and shows, and shortening a show because of characters who are LGBT, just like me, would frankly be offensive. But the other reason would hurt just as much. Animation is constantly referred to as a “children’s genre”, both by the general public and the film industry itself. Anyone older than mid-teens is often discouraged from watching animated shows and movies unless they’re specifically targeted at that demographic. Because of this, a lot of people are missing out on some really great stories and incredible visuals. My own mother made fun of me for preferring the animated Mulan movie to its abysmal 2020 live-action counterpart. I LOVE animation, and I feel like it’s constantly being mistreated by those who are meant to defend it. And that leads to beautiful pieces of art being, well, cancelled and shortened.

But hey, at least The Owl House got to properly end, right? Unlike some other shows…

#TOH #the owl house #animation #cartoons #Youtube

[mia-talks-toons]

(S1E2) Bob’s Burgers: Subverting Adult Animation Tropes

A lot of people think that if you’ve seen one adult cartoon, you’ve seen ‘em all. A lot, especially the most popular ones follow the same format, after all. A nuclear family consisting of a father (the main character), a mother, a handful of kids, maybe even a pet or creature, who have a messed up family dynamic. Right now, there could be a bunch of different cartoons popping up in your brain (Family Guy, The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, Central Park, King Of The Hill, American Dad, Bob’s Burgers, F is for family, I could go on…) based off that description. However, I want to focus on Bob’s Burgers right now. 

Now, it still has the same format: the show follows a quirky family, though this time they own a burger place. Bob Belcher, the dad, who the show (and the restaurant) is named after. Linda, his extremely extroverted wife. Tina, the eldest daughter who’s really socially awkward. Gene, the middle son, loud and annoying (but in a fun way). And Louise, the youngest daughter, a real chaotic firecracker. The main thing that differentiates the family from other popular cartoons though, is how the family treats each other.

Let me explain: have you ever noticed how the families in Family Guy and The Simpsons like- hate each other? The “messed up” part in “messed up family dynamic” is very obvious, with Homer Simpson constantly strangling his son, and the constant mistreatment of Meg Griffin. The Belchers on the other hand, especially further on in the series, very obviously love each other a lot. Bob and Linda are in an extremely healthy relationship, and they both love their kids despite all their little quirks. The “messed up family dynamic” mostly comes from typical cartoon shenanigans, and how intense their character quirks can get. It’s a very neat subversion of the trope, in my opinion.

Another thing I like, as a neurodivergent person myself, is Tina. She is heavily implied to be autistic, both said by the characters, and through her actions. Her social awkwardness, lack of understanding of social cues, and her intense obsessions with a few different subjects (such as horses, boys, and fanfic) are all very prominent parts of her character. And the best part is, they’re never made to be the butt of a cruel joke. I see a LOT of myself in her, and seeing her being portrayed so positively in an adult cartoon, where characters like that are constantly teased or treated badly by other characters or those who watch the show (ahem… South Park…), felt so amazing. Also, I drew a Tina to make up for the gross old SU fanart last post. (Should I put fanart in all my posts now...?)

My last example of its subversion is the series’ overall kind heart. Characters are always rewarded and never mocked for being good people, and the show deals with topics extremely respectfully. This, again, Is something I don’t really see often. A lot of serious subjects are often played for laughs, and no characters are outright terrible people unless they’re the villain of the episode. I don’t know, I just… Really like that? I’m kind of sick of seeing bad people as the protagonists of so many mature cartoons, and this is a really nice change of pace for me.

Aaaaand that’s my overall coverage of this week’s topic! Bob’s Burgers season 14 is actually airing RIGHT NOW (as of the time I posted this) and I highly recommend checking it out, even if you haven't watched the previous seasons already! Thank you for reading, and see you on my next post!

#cartoons #animation #adult animation #bob's burgers #GO WATCH SEASON 14 #Youtube

[mia-talks-toons]

(S1E1) Steven Universe: Revolutionizing LGBTQ Representation in Cartoons

Hey there, I’m Mia, and welcome to the first entry of my blog! All of my posts are going to follow a similar structure, with the first half being about the show I’m covering, with a summary, what I enjoyed about it, and all that good stuff. The second half would explain what effect it had on the greater cartoon landscape, or what it represents in the industry. Today I’m going to be talking about a cartoon that’s very close to my heart: Steven Universe. The show first aired in May 2013 on Cartoon Network and ran for 5 seasons, a movie, and a single-season epilogue series. It’s about this kid named Steven, a half-human half-alien hybrid, who’s being raised by three ancient alien warriors named Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl (as you can see in the intro). Together they fight monsters and protect the earth from danger. These aliens are called gems, and every member of their species is based off a different kind of gemstone, from physical, chemical, and spiritual standpoints (which I think is REALLY cool, by the way). Over time, Steven Universe’s focus goes from wacky adventures to exploring deeper themes, such as grief, toxic relationships, depression, and living up to other people's expectations. The show has been praised for its absolutely stunning animation, incredible songs, and the way they developed their characters. It also has a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, if you care about that kinda thing. 

Now let me tell you, I absolutely LOVED this show as a kid! I watched every episode as it came out, I drew fanart (see the picture below… Also ignore how bad it is. I drew it when I was like 13, okay?), I made my own gem-inspired characters, and it really impacted my view on the world. A major part of the show is its message of treating others with kindness and acceptance, which I try to live by to this day. 

Now then, how did it revolutionize queer representation, do you ask? Well, a majority of the characters on this show are part of the LGBTQ community. Stevonnie is a nonbinary character, the first out of many to appear on the show. Pearl is in love (though it’s unrequited) with Rose Quartz, Steven’s late gem mother. Every gem character on the show, in fact, are feminine-presenting agender beings. And Garnet, the most important character for this section, is actually two characters: Ruby and Sapphire, who were so in love that they vowed to fuse together and live as one for eternity (super adorable by the way oh my goodness). All of these characters were probably my first time seeing prominent non-cishet characters on TV, and the same thing can be said for a lot of people around my age at the time. It wasn’t easy for the show to do this, however. The most explicitly queer characters, Ruby and Sapphire, had to be censored in many non-North-American countries, with kisses cut out and some languages using masculine pronouns to refer to the more butch of the two, Ruby.

Despite all this pushback, Rebecca Sugar (the creator of the show) and their crew worked hard to make sure their characters were allowed to be who they really were on-screen. All this came to a climax during the 2018 episode “Reunited”, where Ruby and Sapphire have an entire on-screen wedding ceremony to celebrate their love. This was a HUGE deal at the time, and even countries where equal marriage was banned HAD to air the episode, due to about a million other plot-essential things happening during the second half. I vividly remember staying up until midnight JUST to watch the episode as it was released online, as I was extremely invested in the pairing.

Being able to have a queer wedding episode was no easy feat, and the Steven Universe crew had to fight hard with the network executives for them to allow it, but in the end, it was all worth it. After SU was able to break boundaries for queer representation in cartoons, other shows came along and were able to have out and proud LGBT characters as well! Adventure Time, which Rebecca Sugar started working on before moving to their own show, featured a kiss between two of its lead female characters: Princess Bubblegum and Marceline. The Owl House had the Disney Channel’s first openly bisexual protagonist AND first nonbinary character, Viewers were able to see a beautiful relationship blossom between Luz Noceda (the main character) and Amity Blight, her girlfriend, and Raine Whispers, who uses they/them pronouns has to be one of my favourite characters in the entire series!

Though this representation doesn’t only mean a lot to the world of animated television, it also means a lot to ME. I’m nonbinary and queer, and my family isn’t the most accepting of people who share my identities, so it meant the world to little 13-year-old Mia, who was ashamed of who they were, being able to see characters who were just like them! Those characters, as unimportant as the casual viewer might find them to be, allowed me to see parts of myself represented for the very first time. People like me were able to exist and be themselves, unapologetically, and it inspired me to do the same, many years later.

Okay, I just realized how long this entry was, so I’m ending it here, but in my defence, I had a LOT to talk about! Thank you all for reading, and be sure to tell me what you thought in the comments section! Also, if you have any cartoon series you’d like to see me cover, I’d love to hear it (though I already have an extensive list LOL). See you all in the next blog entry!

#Youtube #SU #steven universe #lgbtq #cartoons