#but more modern stuff like amphibia are good too

[the-magnificent-otaku-draws]

Drop some of the most terrifying post 2000 animated kid's TV show moments, I'm making something special

#television #animated series #animated horror #kids horror #animated tv show #animated tv series #i'm mostly looking for stuff around the atla and code lyoko era #but more modern stuff like amphibia are good too

[mdhwrites]

thoughts on camila?

So I've talked about how she is just as a character before. I think as a character, she's as sweet as a saint and I like her in isolation. However, and this is what I want to focus on more because of an element I'll get to, she's a bad character in the context of The Owl House for the same reason King and Eda are: What is she doing in this story? How does she add to it?

Camila makes Luz look a fucking terrible as a human being. Almost EVERYTHING we see in the human frankly makes Luz like a terrible human being because that's the genre that The Owl House is a part of: Modern Isekai. Like most Modern Isekai, it's a story about a nerdy person who has no real prospects in real life and would rather live in their fantasies getting to go do that. Luz has a power that no one else has, gets to be with the prettiest, most popular, richest girl in the new world. She gets to stand up to a corrupt system but it never actually bothers her so she can just have fun shenanigans for the vast majority of the run time. She even fights an Evil Emperor which is almost as generic as a Demonic Lord as far as fantasy villains go. Honestly, TOH being isekai is probably a large part of why it was green lit (and frankly, same goes for Amphibia) since while it's not critically acclaimed, isekai is still one of the most popular genres of anime out there and the popular ones have made money hand over fist.

For most stories in this genre, they A: stay in the fantasy realm, TOH isn't fucking special people but also B: have a terrible home life in part to justify that desire and decision. There's also elements of wish fulfillment to its target demographic which is actually kind of important here. That your life sucks so you deserve to escape from it, just like this person. That terrible homelife in turn turns into a payoff for the audience because it can be used to highlight just how much better this world is and how much better off for everyone the MC is in this new world.

Camila doesn't really work for that though, does she? Something the show itself acknowledges with Yesterday's Lie. "You had it good." Hell, in that episode we have Camila wanting Vee to keep Luz's stuff because she knows those things are important to her daughter. Even in the first episode, Camila just wants Luz to make friends. She could fail to learn ANY life skills and stay just as weird at the camp (which she presumably needed to go to to not be EXPELLED for what she did) and Camila would happy if she was in a new Discord group with some friends. That is how low the fucking bar is for Camila's expectations of Luz and somehow THAT was too much. That was, as Camila will apologize for, multiple times, pushing her daughter away or repressing her.

That doesn't function for a Modern Isekai story... It functions for an old school isekai like Amphibia is. Old school isekai after all featured a lot more character growth, a lot more of the other world being an abstraction of problems the person was facing in the real world and had to learn how to deal with. As such, they usually ended with the main character going home a better person and putting their fantasies behind them. Not admonishing them but recognizing that staying there isn't what's best for them.

Camila's character for one of those is AMAZING. Like it could genuinely have led to one of the best deconstructions of the modern isekai protagonist. It's like the ass hat protag from Far Cry 3 (not saying this is handled well btw in that) who still wants to be bigger and more cool and seen as strong by those around him while he already has a smoking hot fiance, lives his life doing dangerous stunts, is really attractive himself and could just coast for the rest of his life. It doesn't fulfill his image and fantasy of what a 'man' is so fuck all of that, I need to go kill people and take over this native tribe! Which hurk, again, it's not done well, but it was trying to deconstruct this sort of fantasy. This sort of escapism that says the image in your mind is ALWAYS more important than those actually around you.

It could have highlighted how things are never as bad as they seem and wanting to escape always hurts someone and always is selfish... But for that, the show would have had to be willing to say one needs to learn to respect reality over fantasy. This could either be done by Luz learning that treating everything like one of japanese animu is a bad thing or they could do it through doubling down and showcasing after Yesterday's Lie that Luz is a genuinely terrible, selfish person who only views the promise she made to her mom as requiring her to give up the world she likes, not the damage she did to her mom.

Which I phrase because they literally did that. They changed the ending promise scene of Yesterday's Lie from being about their complex relationship to just being a summary of the stakes. "Come home, never come back." It's a narrative cheat to welcome anyone back from the mid season hiatus and that is frankly the BEST way to read it for Luz's character because otherwise she changed a conflict mostly about the pain she inflicted on her mom purely to the consequences and that's not really a thing a good person does.

But then the series ends with her having both worlds, getting to literally be Azura finally, quoting the damn book and just ENTIRELY admitting that it's not an OC, it's her replacing Azura, and it's all just fucking awful. In part because, like with the Liar Reveal stuff I talked about with TOH, it's a subversion without a new payoff. They try VERY HARD to give a new payoff but it's not earned. People adore the "I just want to be understood" moment but it ONLY functions in that moment from a meta perspective of it being a neurodivergent girl seeking understanding because who, especially of the people Luz cares about, hasn't shown her understanding in the past SEASON? SHE HAS A GIRLFRIEND WHO IS WAY BETTER AT IT THEN HER!

And so Camila is just this contradictory sore spot that goes right back around to "Man, our target audience would really love it if their parents would tell them explicitly that they don't need to grow as people or even try to understand others or how they may hurt them, literally but instead that their comfort is all that matters." It goes right back to being all about modern isekai's worst element: Wish fulfillment. Bland, obvious, pandering wish fulfillment.

And I COULD end the blog right there... But I said I had a reason to wanted to answer it like this. Admittedly, it expanded from what I expected so sorry for the long blog but here's the real tragedy: The moment of Luz recontextualizing Yesterday's Lie's promise should have been AMAZING to me. After all... It's the part of Luz I loved writing the most.

Yep, more of that celebrating ten years of writing stuff to talk about one of the elements of my TOH writing that I genuinely am very proud of: Luz being a scared, anxious teenager who doesn't read the world correctly. One who is held back because she thinks if she isn't scared, she'll be hurt or, more importantly, hurt others.

I know a lot of people will tell me that TOH didn't do that and like... gestures at everything above and SO many other elements like how Luz has two token moments implying she's been traumatized from bullying that doesn't read with how she was for the entirety of the first season, or up to those points in the second for that matter, AT ALL. She doesn't actually have that sort of fear or anxiety. She's too selfish and self serving for it. Her needs always come above others and that's not the compelling part of this to me, nor is the self protection element.

No, it comes from the fact that you have to actually care what others think for it to torture you, like most teenagers do. That disappointing someone would be essentially the same as stabbing them. In The Power of Love, I got a lot of people to go from "This is cute" to "Okay, you have my attention" with chapter 3: Ru-Luz (which reading back... Some of my transition lines are not working there. Why did I think they did? Brain moving too fast I suspect like usual or trying too hard). Despite the pun, it's not a fun chapter. It ends with her listed rules that are actually nice, like telling her to be herself, but a final rule that, so as to keep the voices in her head, the things others have told her, quiet she must follow. "Treat Amity like anyone else, even if that means breaking other rules." And one of those voices is said to be Camila's.

I don't leave it there though. Through complications, it's very explicitly revealed that, well... Luz is a teen. Everything is world ending for her. That she's taken small comments or momentary frustrations, or just straight up misread things, so as to have them attack her and form her view of how others perceive her (along with having been genuinely bullied). That her mom does adore her and would accept any part of her but she can't believe that, not with how she is now. And that leads to really highlighting an element of Lumischa that I've always loved: Boscha as Amity and Luz's rock. Someone who is honest enough that neither worry about if she's holding back on her opinion. And you know what happens?

Luz and Boscha get multiple chapters of Boscha providing the wake up call she needs. Of her chipping away at those fears that others may be secretly hating her because here is bad bitch Boscha telling her to shut up because she's better than she thinks she is. It's blunt enough to actually make an impact, harsh enough that it still addresses the fuck up, and is something no else would do. Not even Amity because Amity is her own ball of anxieties who's worried about the wrong move upsetting people. I would have ADORED this element actually being a thing for Luz and you know, maybe leading to a Power of Friendship moment with all of them backing her up and giving her the confidence she needs for something. Instead we get her ignoring what she's claiming to be worried about (making mistakes) and then getting a power up when her mom tells her that she should have quite literally never criticized anything about her daughter which is not what a good parent does. Even my Boscha will still call out that Luz did make a mistake if she did, just then also point that she's being over dramatic about it because no one hates her because of it.

I also want to give a shout out to this essentially being an element of my Luz for Ruff Secret as well (original version too) as an essentially tragic element to the majority of the story. Camila clearly accepts parts of her daughter in that story that their wider community doesn't but Camila is also critically still a part of that community which is Christian. She's very devout even, going every week to church. There is nothing except coming out to Camila that will ever make Luz not just assume that being gay will not get her disowned because of the fears in her head and because of those same fears, she'll never come out of the closet. She has clearly never even been willing to approach the topic with her mom about it. It does payoff in the end though with Camila freaking out WAY harder about Amity being a werewolf and the danger that puts her daughter in than of Luz being gay because why would you judge something as incredible as love?

It's not new, I've seen some other things take similar approaches, but it uses the age of the character and society to actually amplify the emotions and make the angst more justified. Make what normally just be "I can't confess, what if she says no?" more dramatic while also managing to tie the two romantic leads together in their conflicts since Amity is dealing with something she sees as a curse, as a primal sin that could only ever hurt others, just like Luz is. And just like Luz, it's actually in repressing and rejecting that side of her that Amity does end up hurting someone but that someone is herself.

All while still managing to be one of the funniest stories I've ever written. I ADORE Ruff Secrets. Crises Girlfriends may be my most personal story but I still think Ruff Secrets is my best story. Period. Which is frankly a miracle since it was a snap start based on a joke a someone made.

So yeah, I like Camila conceptually. I think there was a lot you could do with her. Any direction though would have required TOH to be at least as grounded as Amphibia, let alone ANYWHERE near as grounded as the fandom thinks it is. As is, she's a subversion that doesn't add anything and actively hurts what is a very normal fantasy story.

As such, she's a bad character because what you add to a narrative does matter to that metric unless you are actively ignoring that part of a character's purpose for existing. That's just less useful to a writer though because it means you add a tool to your toolbox without understanding how to use that tool which is always dangerous as any professional mechanic or engineer may tell you.

======+++++======

I will admit that I fidget at praising myself so much like this. I know I've used my own works as examples in the past but it always makes me feel awkward. It especially never helps that it likely comes across as, justifiably, saying I could have done X better. There's a big difference though between "In this context I DID X better" and "If I had made X, I WOULD have done it better." Situation, context, and just the creative process can always muddie things and doesn't even mean the same writer will always tackle the same subjects as well every time. It's just a part of the process.

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

#the owl house criticism #toh critical #toh #the owl house #luz noceda #camila noceda

[enriquemzn262]

What are some western cartoons you've enjoyed?

Amphibia

A fun western take of Isekai, without the wish fulfillment escapism that plagues Isekai, which was actually criticized with the character of Marcy, with a lovable cast, great animation and a well made story with a bittersweet yet satisfying ending.

Hilda

The best modern cartoon period, a cozy and sweet yet action packed and even sometimes dark adventure show about a little girl exploring her magical realism world.

Gravity Falls

Not nearly as fantastic as everyone and their mom claims to be, but still a great show, with tons of good characters, excellent animation, and an overarching plot that while ultimately flawed (the second half of season 2 really dropped the ball on that one) was still great.

She-Ra

Great solid show from beginning to end, but especially towards the end when the silly princess stuff finally began to be properly integrated with the actual plot. Also Catra best character don’t @ me.

Kipo

The most underrated modern cartoon I’ve seen, a superb show with a great story, characters and a truly unique setting, not to mention it did the whole villain redemption thing everyone and their mom was doing at the time, but actually did it fantastically.

Invincible

Like many others I was drawn in by the brutality of the first episode, and boy did it just keep getting better after it! Just skip everything with Amber in it, and you should be in for the best animated superhero show since JLU.

Arcane

Love it! From beginning to end it was a wild ride of a show, and this is coming from someone that only knows about LoL through memes and porn. At times it almost felt like I was watching an extended movie.

The Amazing World of Gumball

This has to be the funniest modern show there is, at least before they decided to use a ton of “funny faces”, when it went down to being among the funniest. Still, a love letter to animation, featuring just about every style of it there is, and with an extremely weird yet fun cast of characters.

Before jumping back to anime I used to watch a ton of these, so I’m sure there’s more, but these are on too of my head and from the last decade, but I can honestly tell you, that my favorite cartoon of all time is:

Courage the Cowardly Dog

There’s just not a single bad episode in it, and every character has been as memorable as Courage himself.

Dishonorable mentions:

The Owl House: Amphibia but actually embracing the bad of Isekai.

Steven Universe: Started weird, got good but ultimately fell down the stairs due to its terrible obsession with finding good things about terrible people.

OK KO: Garbage character models and too obsessed with making references.

Adventure Time: Everything wrong with modern animation.

Regular Show: Modercai is a simp and just looking at the guy gives me cringe.

Bee and Puppycat: Everything wrong with AT and SU COMBINED.

Korra: Not canon

#Amphibia #hilda #invincible #kipo

[springbloggy]

It funny because BOTH Teen Titans Go and Johnny Test actively have new episodes/movies being made based on them to this very day, while the VAST majority of those ‘LoRe ShOwS’ from the 2010s have ended by now. So it actually, OBJECTIVELY looks like jack fucking shit was killed off for an entire decade. Almost like specific genres being killed completely for a set amount of time just doesn’t fucking actually happen in the entertainment. At all. Because how the FUCK would that even work.

What else is different about the universe you live in where Teen Titans Go and Johnny Tests didn’t obviously outlast those evil lore shows (whatever the hell that’s even supposed to MEAN)? And instead its Owl House and Amphibia that are still having new episodes/movies being made about them to this day??

Personally. I also think the future of animation looks horrible. Cartoons are constantly being cancelled or pulled off of streaming services, the unique and creative cartoons that ACTUALLY came from indie/outsider animators (I.E. those lore based shows you need to hate so much) have all been dropped in favor of cheap garbage that can be pumped out indefinitely because nobody gives a shit about making them any good, and constant layoffs/shutdowns are plaguing animation departments at multiple studios in general. Which are all BAD things that lead to animators and cartoon creators/writers being fucked over by companies as hard as they are right now.

I don’t even know what to say to you in that regard. It just seems like you don’t really give a shit about animation, REALLY don’t like any of the real world indie creators or people who actually want the medium to prosper, and are just towing the line of what Lily/Ginger have said nearly every fucking day for YEARS by now because you don’t actually have any ideas yourself about what the hell you’re even talking about when it comes to the animation industry. The unions for animators and those working on children’s cartoons overall weren’t even A PART of these most recent strikes you fucking moron!! I don’t even think that those can be called any type of animation “takes”, because you clearly know so PAINFULLY fucking little about cartoons or how the animation industry works at all. While getting all of your information about them from the like 3 fucking terminally online losers that you have an extremely unhealthy parasocial attachment too!!

Dang @ginger-snap-talkin-nonsense looks like I got one of your guys.

What I find the strangest thing about this act is the implication that modern animation is cheap, when it is the complete opposite now. Like, have you seen Spiderverse, Puss in Boots, Nimona? Even preschool shows have upped their game. That can't be cheap or easy.

Also there's a lot of assumptions on my personal life or my knowledge of animation here. Now I won't pretend I am an animation expert or industry expert, but I know quite a bit. I've studied in depth on some of the behind the scenes stories of animation, to the point where I cracked the story of what happened to one of the most obscure pieces of lost media (which btw expect that post in about 3 days). That takes time and effort out of my life studying this stuff to understand where things went wrong or right.

Also I do like indie animaton, and I do like people who actually want the medium to prosper, but a lot of people forget that animation, like all mediums of fiction, needs variety to prosper. You can't have every animated series to be a serious, lore telling show like how you can't have every movie to be a superhero action flick, or every book to be a dystopian novel (just for example). Variety is the spice of life. You also have to ask, did people make so many lore telling epics because they truly believed they were making a good story, or because it was the latest trend? I think something like Steven Universe did want to tell a story, but something like Amphibia it's a bit more questionable.

Also last bit, to define a lore show. Lore shows are shows that favor bits of pieces of lore drops and mystery instead of telling a good story. It's a term I came up with after my fascination with FNAF's history. FNAF used to be a game series with a good story, but after some time it became obsessed with hiding as many secrets as possible. Doing this for so long has hurt FNAF in the long run, where people dislike how many mysteries don't have a plausible solution, how bare-bones the story is, and how far it has come from its original roots of telling a simple ghost story.

My current list of lore shows are as follows:

Adventure Time at some point, Steven Universe, Owl House, Star vs., Amphibia.

I am not saying of course, that lore is a bad thing. I love a good mystery, or else I wouldn't have followed FNAF for as long as I did. But there's a good line to draw when having a good mystery over a good story. Or having story be there, but not be the total focus of everything the show revolves around.

Here's a list of shows I think have good stories/lore, but have other things that make the shows good that keep them balanced:

Modern spongebob (no, really), Gumball, Kim possible, American Dragon, Regular show, Clone high s1, Gravity Falls

Of course, I probably spent too much energy to answering someone who probably wanted to get a rise out of me instead of a thoroughly thought out answer, but there you go.

#Anonymous #springy thoughts #springy answer

[seddm]

are you a sashannarcy stan?

AMPHIBIA'S FINALE SPOILERS BELOW

Not an easy question for me to answer.

I'm a simple man, easily swayed by what's more "canon". If you asked me what my favorite ship from the show was during S2, I'd have said Marcanne. Now that the show is over, I'd probably say Sashanne: their interactions and overall arcs got both more screentime and depth than Anne and Marcy's one, and some of the most emotional scenes in the series involved the two of them (Sprig doesn't count, that's cheating).

But things aren't that simple: while fans can find a lot of subtext in the show, and maybe the slightest of hints of possibly something more coming in Marcy's Journal, the show itself never put "girls" and "romance" in the same room. Not among the three of them, nor with any other character in fantasies or flashbacks. Matt himself acknowledged this:

“I love shipping, I feel like it is the greatest expression of love for characters, you’re really thinking about them romantically and what’s best for them [...] with our three leads, we have worked very hard to keep things very open and never commit because the last thing I would ever want to do is ruin somebody else's headcanon or ship for no reason. That’s destructive for me because oh my gosh all the fighting and the arguments. So for me, especially in this story that is ultimately about friendship, and their friendship dynamic is to end the show in a way that is constructive and open. That’s basically what I’ll say to that is how we’ve worked very hard to have empathy for the people who are shipping these characters and at the same time do right by the show and its themes."

And in a way that's good, less to worry about during the run of the show. But that also leaves me with a problem: the three girls were way too likeable and their interactions too endearing. I'm left with a trio of characters that scream to me "sold together, do not separate", but the show itself (despite the hopeful ending with the promise of a better, closer future) tackled the problem of life clashing with friendship, of stuff getting in the way and people moving and work life and school and our time on this Earth being limited and so on - in a word, of change, the main theme of the story. And that won't do.

In the perfect happy world of cartoons, to make me happy, the three girls should stay together forever and ever, but that's hard. Being in a romantic relationship absolutely isn't a requirement for a "lifelong devotion" to someone else (mutual, obviously), but it's the standard in the overwhelming majority of cases, at least in the modern way of life in most of the world. A job opportunity might mean you have to say goodbye to your friends and move away, but your spouse will usually move with you.

Aligning this concept with my personal bias was much easier with SVTFOE: by the end, Star and Marco are A- in love B- friends C- have displayed multiple times that being together takes priority over just about anything else in their lives D- in a world that has no immediate reasons to separate them

Clearly this doesn't mean nothing would ever change should Star and Marco and their world somehow take life and continue independently, but as far as the reality of the shows goes, the very last scene closes on their "happily together ever after".

Things are harder with Amphibia: I love the characters, I'd like to imagine them together forever, and their status at the very end of the canon was "indestructible bond, still partially physically drifted away for a time because life is like that, they meet again and it's like nothing ever changed, they're happier than ever".

With these ingredients, what can my little brainspace concoct? Personal preference, the very first thing that comes to mind, would be "Sasha and Anne in a romantic relationship, Marcy somehow always being close to them, maybe first as a roommate, then as a neighbor in some sitcom with almost daily shenanigans". But then I feel like that puts Marcy in a position of "third wheel", something that made her suffer already during their pre-Amphibia days; and she already moved once, they could be separated by life again.

So I look at the fandom favorite polycule, "Sashannarcy". Historically, as I've been critical of the Star related poliamory couple (throuple?), Star - Tom - Marco. But, in that case, canon gave plenty of reasons to identify a deep imbalance in the dynamics that (obviously we're talking about speculations in my lil' brain based on what the series showed us about the characters, it's not like they're real people) would have spelled doom for the relationship. But that's not the case in Amphibia, or at least not nearly to the same extent.

So all I'm left with is my monogamous bias, my subjective skepticism about the long term possibility of poly relationship, weighing me down from very easily and comfortably jumping on a ship that could (again, in the world of my brain trying to trace the path the characters might take after the end of their lives on screen) solve all my ""problems"" and allow this to be their daily reality

until they look like this

So the short answer to the question is: probably yes and that would be for my subjective best, but my brain isn't fully convinced.

#seddm answers #amphibia #amphibia spoilers

[dnpanimationstudioclone]

High Guardian Spice Redo

 I know Crunchyroll’s new series High Guardian Spice has gotten…less than favourable reviews and criticism with some people even rewriting some scenes or redesigning the characters. Thought I might give it a try. 

     Make the show a magic fantasy genre/hero anime deconstruction/satire. If it’s for mature audiences might be better to have the show point out the flaws of their world, even child shows have done deconstructions well. Have the whole magic hero fantasy be shattered for the main characters and see the dark reality of it. People die, lives are at stake, u could die on TRAINING PRACTICE! It can also be played for dark comedy, for a mature humour. Maybe someone dies and the teacher could be like “wow, that happened sooner than expected”. Maybe it could come off like an abridged anime.

 Sword Art Online Abridged by Something Witty Entertainment is one of the funniest abridged series in my opinion and many have considered it better than the original itself. I also like Tomotasauce’s abridged work with Amphibia and The Owl House. U can find them on YouTube, they’re hilarious🤣 The theme song, credits and soundtrack be mixed with more modern music such as techno and rock. Like Aggretsuko. More mature content and humour. I don’t really swear or do mature content things like that and a mature show doesn’t necessarily need it or should rely too much on shock humour like that but if this is for mature audiences, should have more mature content. Plus a lot of abridged series and satire tend to do this.

Make the show more animesque. I don’t think it’s bad to mix Western and anime style together but perhaps should be more anime styled. Western could work too. Depends on how you draw the style really rather than the style itself.

A Guardian is basically someone apart of a hero agency. An organization of heroes and trained fighters who help take care of things such as monster attacks or evil villains. Their biggest threat yet is the mysterious and elusive "Trimuvirate" and their many minions of evil. A running gag could be the cast and more being confused of what being a "Guardian" means. Most Guardians come in groups. There could also be corruption and flawed things the Guardian organization has. Seriously the cast are young teens, even younger. Apparently Parnell is 10…A TEN YR OLD IN A SCHOOL WHERE YOU COULD DIE, WHAT THE-. Good deconstruction potential on hero academies encouraging children into dangerous crap. Also instead of the students being chosen, you can enroll by choice but you might also get an offer, if shown to have potential, like a college offer. Set the world in a more modern fantasy setting. Would portray new magic/modern themes better and in previous stuff, shown the show having more modern things such as business buildings and street lights.

The Academy to put students of different classes such as warrior and mage together, D&D together for better defense and power.

Perhaps another running gag could be confusion of the whole show in general, like breaking the fourth wall. Is it an anime, kids show, DND, action hero, No one fully knows. And netheir does the cast. Could be more up to interpretation. Shows can have multiple themes.

Old and New Magic. Old magic is traditional, mystical magic like with potions, rituals etc while new magic is simpler and more technological. Basically old magic is just traditional way of doing things before, technology. People use new magic now a days for most things such as electricity, internet, and even weapon fire power and lost interest in old magic. But new magic was built from old magic and can still be used for a lot of things, such as healing, cooking and combat too, can also represent old and new ideals.  There’s a lot of heated arguments and debates over which is better. Sage and Amaryllis have had these and still do in the rewrite. Both have their pros and cons.

Old magic takes more time and practice but because of said time and work put into it, easier to control and allows you to do more complex and powerful spells. Also connected to nature and the elements

While new magic is magic that’s stored and can be stored into terraspheres and other technological devices and systems. It’s easier to use and apply to things but far more unpredictable and if not careful can cause serious damage. Also can’t be used to perform ancient spells, done with old magic. 

Together, they’re nearly unstoppable. It’s difficult for one to use both old and new magic together . Only some of the most experienced and powerful magic users can do this. Think of it like environmental energy like solar powered machines and wind mills.

It’d also be fun for the show to reflect on fantasy/hero cliches and stereotypes like the whole Mary Sue magical girl savior. Maybe Rosemary had fantasies like that and has them all  basically destroyed first day at the academy. Like The Owl House style with Luz’s magic fantasy dreams. Perhaps she even tries to do a grand, iconic character introduction or internal anime monologue only to get hit by something or attacked while in the midst.

Change the name. Many people have pointed out that even though Spice is in the name, the main 4 girls are named after HERBS! I’m thinking instead of just a spice or herb, maybe it could be called “Sweet High Guardian”. Ngl when I saw the show and named it made me think of dessert and food. Maybe the girls and other characters could be named after ingredients or even food. Could have a food/dessert theme. 

     A lot of people have been criticizing the main girls looks, especially Sage’s for being too bland and cliche. Maybe mix the traditional D&D look with some modern fashion elements.

Snapdragon's identity journey. Not that I have anything against trans characters but many people have discussed about the unfortunate implications the show made, with them implying that a guy liking traditionally feminine things mean he’s automatically trans and the whole “all men are bad” controversy in general. So perhaps Snap could be still a guy but enjoys traditionally feminine things and effeminate and learn that’s perfectly ok and doesn’t make you any less of a man like vice versa for a girl liking traditionally masculine things. There’s also the idea of Snap not really feeling like either and exploring that, like being non binary or gender fluid. The trans journey really could work too. There's really no bad ideas, just bad execution. I'm not an expert on this kind of stuff but it seems to be an issue of how the message was delivered.

 The villains, Olive, Mandrake, Triumvirate to appear sooner. 

Have characters like Aster and Cal have sympathetic, relatable traits. For Aster maybe he came from a traditional knight saves damsel in distress family and tries to be that but learns the problems with that mindset. And Cal maybe a jerk with a heart of gold. Either way, just have some more positive masculine characters.

Beach episode. Guess the mermaid ep kinda counts.

Prom or fun event dance episode. Similar to the Halloween one.

Character tropes deconstruction. Since it's satire in my version and deconstructing the whole fantasy hero stuff, makes sense to break down the character cliches too. Like Ex. Rosemary trying to be some MarySue knight in shining armor magical girl, falls flat on her face, trying to fit the ideals like being brave and charming end up with her being reckless and even annoying. People criticize how the writers are trying to make Rose be a plucky wide eyed hero only for her to come off annoying, so maybe that could be played for straight. It's suppose to be the opposite effect. And with the show having a vague concept and Rose trying to be so many things could be her trying too hard to compesnate to be like her mother and not fully knowing what she really wants or what she's getting into. The message for her arc could be learning that she shouldn't be trying to be like her mother or some Mary Sue magical warrior or whatever, but rather just be herself. 

What do u guys think? Any ideas u want to share? Feel free to add💖

#high guardian spice #rewrite #sweet high guardian

[iamdeltas]

Gonna have to disagree with you on the Gravity Falls opinion my friend, but being A) polite, B) British and C) polite and British, I do respect it. I love it personally and even have a tattoo of the water tower on my calf. It certainly pushed the envelope on what could be gotten away with on a kids show and it's awesome to see those who grew up on the weird eighties and nineties cartoons make their own stuff. I'd have to say if one was overrated, it would either be Adventure Time or Steven Universe. Then again, I much prefer the half hour story based shows rather than the fifteen minute per episode ones. Much less to focus on that way

That's entirely fair! I'm aware Gravity Falls is well-loved and I like it a lot as well (and also that my opinion that it's a bit overrated is an unpopular opinion lol). And that is a good point on how much it got away with for a kids' show. I tend to focus more on, "oh whoa, that's a surprisingly mature theme that this episode of a kids' show tackled," but I can't deny that Gravity Falls really showed how much absolute nightmare fuel a kids' show can get away with. There's no way I could have watched it as a kid. I was wayyyy too much of a weenie, lol. (Freaking Scooby-Doo was too scary for me as a kid!) I can't really speak to Adventure Time since I've only watched a few episodes of it but it does get praised a ton so I can see how that can get overrated. And, full disclosure, I think some part of my opinion about Gravity Falls is kind of informed by me being a slightly bitter Steven Universe fan--SU is legit one of my favorite modern cartoons and it does feel like the general cartoon fandom consensus on it is that it's Bad Actually, and that the only good thing it did was be a Puny First Step For Queer Representation. It's interesting that you prefer the half hour episode shows. I don't honestly know if I have a preference, tbh. I did mention liking Steven Universe, and it doesn't hurt that most of the time I was very impressed with how much they could fit in an 11-minute episode (they fit in more than most 45-minute episode shows fit in an episode do, IMO), but in contrast, Amphibia, another 11-minute episode show, sometimes has episodes that I feel like would have been better paced if it were 22 minutes long and I kind of prefer The Owl House's, with its 22-minute length episodes, pacing in this regard.

#i appreciate the politeness! #and i hope my response doesn't come across as harsh or anything #especially since gravity falls is important to many people #and also people having different opinions on cartoons than me certainly isn't the end of the world lol #(also fwiw i do really like amphibia. i just wanted to bring up another 11 minute show as contrast) #s answers asks

[popculturebuffet]

Schedule Reshuffling and my thoughts on the True Colors Debacle

Well.. this weekend has been a crapstorm professionally. Personally not so much: I’ve had a nice lunch, went on errands, bought a dollar store transformer and named it Murderboat, found a transformer dog that’s also a motorcycle, went garage sailing.. it was nice. 

What wasn’t.. was finding out Friday, out of NOWHERE, that the hotly antipciated Season 2 Finale of Amphibia, True Colors, would be delayed a week. This was unusual to me as Disney is usually extremely good with scheduling.  It’s the main reason I do Disney Shows for regular coverage: CN usually releases the episodes in bombs on their app beforehand meaning i’d have to cover 6 or 7 at once, Nick only reveals what the episodes are a few weeks in advance, and streaming tends to release episodes by season making it easy to cover them all at once, with exceptions like Invincible which I MIGHT have done.. but I already was doing final space and by the time I decided to just wait and do a full season review invincible was too far in and I didn’t have the space to do all the episodes so far. Point is I need consitancy to do a show week to week: it’s something that has to have a guaranteed slot on my schedule, and means I have to keep one open till the end of the month before just in case. 

Thankfully while you’d THINK this would mean i’d have to let go of a review entirely and destroy my entire schedule while desperatly waiting for the episode to be put back on it, you’d be wrong. Surprisingly the scheduling was annoying but not a huge issue. I simply moved my Lilo and stitch review up a day.

 Granted ironically enough that got delayed as I had a busy day yesterday and didn’t get it finished before I went out, and then passed out not long after getting home. But unlike Disney i’ll not only apologize if that happens but fully own up to the fact I screwed up about it. Yeah as of this time Disney STILL hasn’t apologized for this or what happened next. As of this article this is all that’s up on their  tv animation twitter, i.e. the one place most likely to talk about this.  

So yeah all they had was a shocked face and a “stay tuned yo!” not even an actual rescheduled date and time. In contrast series creator Matt Braly genuinely apologized, and even COVERED for them, saying the episode needed to be fine tuned. As today would bear out that wasn’t true.. BUT I can’t blame a guy for wanting to make fans less upset with his bosses and to try and keep them calm after this level of a curve ball, especially since he was likely the angriest of all of us at Disney pulling this. And ESPECIALLY since it will NOT be airing next week as theirs a marathon thing going on, but instead two weeks from now at the earliest... after a full Season’s build to this. 

So yeah this was a huge fuckup. Given Disney makes these schedules way in advance and had made this one weeks in advance, there was NO good reason to keep this episode off air and none to not premept something else rerunning. YOU MADE ADDS FOR THIS EPISODE AND IT AIRING YESTERDAY. HOW DID YOU NOT CHECK ANYTHING BEFORE FRIDAY. This is fucking inexcusable stuff. You are a multi trillion dollar company, one of the biggest media empires on earth.  This shouldn’t happen. And look i’ve had to deal with a LOT of delays over the past year. Cornoa moved most movies back a year. Even completed ones. I’m still waiting on Free Guy and Bob’s Burgers: The Movie despite both clearly being done. But given the pandemic, theaters being a no go and streaming not having been seen as a viable alternative yet for distrubutors or rental, it is now, they had no real choice. 

This is not that. This is you making some sort of computer error and somehow not seeing it till it was too late. That was preventable. That should be something your past by now. We should not have to wait two whole weeks because you fucked up. You have TONS of reruns in the schedule, move something around for fucks sake! 

Oh and it got MORE fucking embarssing today because the episode LEAKED. Yeah. That happened too. I have not watched it. I’ve read spoilers because I ran into some while trying to figure out how the episode leaked and if it was kosher to watch it. 

It’s not though: Matt Braly asked all of us in a tweet not to watch it. And I will say this: If you DID and weren’t aware of said tweet when you did.. you are okay. You didn’t know, and you were just pissed off and frustrated and like me when I was going to before reading that, figured “Fuck Disney, they really screwed up. “ And while that’s still true.. i’m not going to punish Matt Braly for thier fuck up by watching his work before he wants me to. This leak, on itunes for the record, was not his fault, this scheduling error was not his fault, and he is clearly at a breaking point here. The guy seems like a genuinely nice, kind compasionate person who gladly supports us the fans, and really loves making this show and has given me hours of wonderful television through it. The least I can do is wait two weeks to watch the episode in full and get context for what I read and avoid any other spoilers. He’s earned it and he’s also even deleted a tweet RIGHTFULLY expressing frustration just so it won’t risk his or his crew’s livelehoods or the possiblity of finishing the story. 

So yeah obviously I won’t be reviewing it till it comes out in hopefully two weeks. As I said my schedule is flexable enough, up until the last week of the month as that’S Goofy Week, hyuck, that I can just rearrange episodes. And while i’m certainly not THANKING Disney for this, their bullshit does mean i’ll be able to do the Danny Phantom episode Materinal Instincts in time for Mother’s Day. So some good came out of this but not enough.

This is one of the most ABJECTLY EMBARASSING, dickish and stupid things i’ve seen a compnay do. That i’ve seen THIS company do. The only things I can think of WORSE from Modern Disney are:

The corproate culture of homphobia: Not letting Penumbra just come out and say she’s gay, fighting back against most representation, with Owl house being such a victory because not only did it happen , not only was it the lead btu Dana Terrace fought tooth and claw to get it through and have a bisexual lead with a female love intrest and have it be explicit, and hiding the fact Out, a short CENTERED around a gay character’s struggles coming out, is about a gay man despite the fact it opens with a gay space cat riding a gay space dog out of a rainbow and we learn the character is queer within a minute of the film

The filming of the Mulan Remake in a region of china that has RELIGOUS CONCENTRATION CAMPS, caring more about getting a funding bonus and the film’s chinese box office than basic human denceny.

Disney is a company I DO love. I woudln’t write about their stuff so much on this blog if I didn’t. But their also a company that frustrates me to no end, time and time again making dumb selfish decisions and now they’ve outright hurt one of their creators. They’ve hurt his work by delaying it, they’ve hurt his fans and they’ve hurt the show’s reputation by claming an episode would air and then withdrawing it because THEY fucked up. Sure most of US, the older fans on here will know.. but the kids watching won’t and that could damage the show in the long run. So yeah, fuck this whole situation, hopefully i’ll review te episode in a few weeks. 

#amphibia #disney #fuck this so hard #rant

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff's Best of 2019

WARNING: Just wanted to say cheers to you for making it through another year. I send you best wishes for next year to be fruitful. Thank you, take care out there, and enjoy. (Best of 2017) (Best of 2018)

Dedicated to Russi Taylor, John Witherspoon, Rip Torn, Tartar Sauce, Caroll Spinney, Peter Matthews, and the many of KyoAni lost in the arson incident. You all did wonderful; rest in peace.

Welp, I figured the last year of this decade would be the most chaotic one by far, then again everything peak after 2012. As for now, I am counting down the best cartoons/animations/comics I’ve seen and loved this year in no particular order other than #1. Same rules apply: No sneak previews of future projects, no repeats, and this time anything goes.

Runner Ups: Superman Smashes the Klan, Marvel’s Aero, Infinity Train, Enter the Florpus, Amphibia, Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart, Helluva Boss, Meta Runner, Lego Movie 2, Forky Asks a Question

Anyways, Badda boom bang whiz, let’s do this shizz...

10. Super Mario Bros GT

Nostalgia can be quite a mystery, especially one that can come out of nowhere. Super Mario Bros Z kicked so much ass as a kid that now, it still frustrates me to this that it got a cease & desist from Nintendo, even the reboot from the same person couldn’t last long. But the gods have offered a slight miracle in the form of this new spiritual successor that has heart and soul put into every pixelated frame. There is much to celebrate with Youtube animation, where many say it’s dying due to the algorithm and all of the site’s corporate bullshit, but it’s stuff like this which helps me understand why we should celebrate. Against all odds, channels like Smasher Block willfully put their works out their for the people and continues to because on top of getting a little dough, it’s what they want to do.

9. DC SUPER HERO GIRLS (2019)

Awwwwww yeah, this is She-Ra and the Princesses of Power done right. Diverse female squad, each given a quality screen time to truly shine (Beecher especially) on their which makes the episodes where they’re all together feel earned and joyous to watch. Certainly reminds me of Friendship is Magic, which is coincidental since they were created by the same woman. I’d like to think this and MLP G4 were the answers to Faust’s cancelled project Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls where multiple personalities collide to one extraordinary superhero team of girls capable great feats that are lifted from their insecurities or drawbacks. And on top of this being a fun series to kick back to all around, it’s a comforting, somewhat aspiring thought to consider.

8. JOKER

I am somebody that rarely goes to the theaters to watch a film; you have to hook my tight just for me to even think of buying a ticket, no less plan to. But honestly, Joker was worth the hype, the ticket, and the fact that it wasn’t the incel uprising that buttfuck normies tried to make it out as. It’s lower on the list because in thought, there definitely could’ve been some tweaks to the dialogue and a couple scenes that I felt didn’t work in the long run. But really, this movie to me worked because of the escalation that leads to a cathartic climax and ending that left me in actual tears. I don’t give a shit if it “doesn’t fit”, having Frank Sinatra sing the film's credits put me in shambles. Joaquin Phoenix was phenomenal as Arthur, and this movie felt authentic in its many details. This is definitely up there with my favorite comic book films of all time. Good thing, too, Spider-Man was taking up most of that shelf.

7. TUCA & BERTIE

This series being what I can’t help but say is a spin-off to Bojack Horseman, a show I respect, was enough to pull me into watching it. But it being like Bojack where it’s tight-roping between a bouncy comedy and a grounded drama was what kept me around for more. It is a damn shame this was cancelled after one season (while 13 Reasons Why gets FOUR seasons like what the fuck), because while this did feel enough like a complete series, I was certainly interested for more because I really enjoyed it all. I have my issue with a couple choices in the show, but I am sure this series would’ve addressed them later down the line. I can see why some women would find this personally endearing, it felt like the personal stories of actual people, and it deserved better. Either way, I enjoyed this series and I recommend it just as much as Bojack.

6. PRIMAL

Genndy Tartakovsky is that kind of cartoon creator where you feel he’ll go beyond if you give him the right amount of space. He’s not a perfectionist like John “Dirty Diddler” Kricfalusi, but with things like Hotel Transylvania and Samurai Jack, he certainly has proven to have the range in animation where you know how he plays. Primal showcasing his noted skill in dialogue-less storytelling and dynamic action scenes, able to convey everything clear with its ruthless yet careful protagonist and his dinosaur friend, all on top of the most luscious backgrounds. This is a series that definitely feels like Genndy’s taken what he’s used from his previous works and putting it together for a brutal yet passionate look at the prehistoric life. He truly brought us an adult series to enjoy and to look forward to more in the coming year.

5. SPINEL

Bet you didn’t expect a character to be on this list, eh? Spinel is the best thing to come out of Steven Universe in general; makes me wish she was in a better movie. The crew certainly did their darndest to make her not only an enjoyable and connectable character through and through, but a very versatile character that the fandom could take in any which way. Call it corny, but Spinel perfectly represents SU as a whole: a lovable goof that can certainly mean business but deep down is deserved of a hug because of what she’s gone through. Wish she had a more satisfying resolution in her respective debut, but really it’s the balance between those three elements mentioned that makes Spinel almost eternally wonderful.

4. MOB PSYCHO 100 II

As someone that doesn’t like reading, I’m a firm believer that the best animations or visual medias elevate the writing to a memorable degree; the visuals hook to the point where you want to think about what you saw and how it was conveyed. Mob Psycho 100, for two seasons now, does this in spades where Studio Bones throw them bones in animating one of the most dynamic animes of the modern era, providing the writing and characters a proper chance to flex its muscles. The characters are especially what makes this and MP100 as a whole work so well, the story being about a boy learning to be more sociable as well as emotionally stronger all while helping others understand maturity and empathy. For more on this, I recommend Hiding in Public’s video(s) on Mob. But with the animation, Bones was able to provide a sense of impact and immersion to the moments that matter, not making it an overstimulating mess, and putting some respect on ONE’s webcomic art style. 

3. KLAUS

Hands down, this is a great Christmas movie. Take away the animation and you have a charming, wanna say ground and authentic, story about the makings of Santa Claus. With memorable and likable characters, a nice escalation in terms of the plot, and moments that are/can be so satisfying, they can bring you to tears. A couple overdone tropes in the road that doesn’t make this the most perfected story, but those sincerely minor compared to everything else that makes this story the best. Now. Add in the animation, and you have a gold, nay a platinum animated story of the year where the visuals definitely enhance the story to a degree where they’re undoubtedly inseparable. The visuals alone is enough to check this movie out and it’s eye-opening when you learn of how it’s all done. Klaus is a film that did it’s job and then some, and I hope this will be well remembered as a classic holiday film for it deserves that status.

2. BEASTARS

I’ll be fair, I’m mostly referring to the manga and not the anime but since the anime premiered this fall, it counts. Because be it the anime or the series overall, Beastars has such well intricate world building all while offering a little something for everyone (violence, romance, slice of life). The story is well paced and even when we aren’t focusing on the main characters momentarily, Itagaki is surprisingly able to make every supporting/side character we come across memorable in their own way; like I said before, the city is much a character in this story. Oh yeah, and the mangaka is the daughter of Keisuke “Grappler Baki” Itagaki, that in itself is a treasuring bit of trivia for this. Everything about Beastars is enticing and Studio Orange certainly helped in giving this series more of a following.

1. GREEN EGGS & HAM

Well, well, well. Guess Netflix is three for three in terms of bringing its best foot forward among its few steps back each year. The best term to describe this series is surprising. Surprising that this is a Dr. Seuss story that got expanded a 13 episode series, that has fleshed out characters, fun hijinks, an easy story, lovely emotional, more quieter moments... on top of being 2D hand drawn animated. I mean, what else is there to say? Green Eggs and Ham is to Dr. Seuss what Seven was for Final Fantasy, what Friendship is Magic was for MLP, what watermelon was before a nice menthol cigarette. This definitely took the top spot because to me, it was able to bring many good elements from the previous entries and knot it all together into a well kept bow that I never knew I wanted until now. I’m genuinely glad this show got to exist the way it is and I am hoping, praying, that the second season keeps that momentum up.

That leads us to the actual number one which is

1. STEVEN UNIVERSE FUT-

Total Dramarama is now the two time World Heavyweight Champion, babey. Will 2020 give us a quality contender? Will the streak last another year?

Stay tuned, and always seek out the Good Stuff.

#best of 2019 #cartoons #animation #anime #Good Stuff #Super mario bros gt #super mario bros z #dc super hero girls #dc super hero girls 2019 #joker #joker 2019 #joker movie #tuca and bertie #tuca & bertie #primal #genndy tartakovsky's primal #spinel #su spinel #su future #mob psycho 100 #mp100 #klaus #klaus movie #beastars #beastars anime #green eggs and ham #geah #green eggs and ham netflix #total dramarama #long post

[diamondsandlemons]

Well, OK KO and MLP:FiM (not counting EqG) are now over. In a way that’s a blessing in disguise ‘cause I wanna get to watching some newer stuff like Mao Mao, Amphibia, Twelve Forever, Tuca and Bertie, Summer Camp Island, The Owl House... still, it feels like eras are ending all around us.

OK KO hasn’t been around for that long but it’s been great for what it has, and it deserved better treatment than CN gave it. MLP is a big hit though, I mean it’s been airing for nine years. It’s gonna feel weird moving on into a post-FiM culture. (We do still have EqG to look forward too, seemingly forever. Infinite shorts and specials and choose-your-own-endings popping into existence every once in a while. idk man. I love ‘em but I have no idea how to keep track of them)

Now they’ll join the pile with all other greats of modern cartoons that are over (including my one true love: Adventure Time) I have to end this post so it doesn’t just become a list of all the great shows that I’ve seen the endings of (plus ones that have ended but I havent seen all of yet; TAWoG and Regular Show), and then a list of all the ones we still have more of to look forward to (Infinity Train! and SU! ᴴᶦˡᵈᵃᵎ ˢʰᵉ⁻ʳᵃᵎ ᶜᵃʳᵐᵉⁿ ˢᵃⁿᵈᶦᵉᵍᵒᵎ) and THEN all the ANIME I want to see but don’t have time for...

I guess all in all: animation is still good and has a future. but let’s not forget about the past on the way there

[0poole]

God, recent cartoons are/will be dope.

Just binged Twelve Forever in 3 days (because I wanted to prolong the experience, but failed quickly) and like, even though it’s not the best thing ever it’s super fun and cute. The fact that it’s on Netflix, not only meaning I can watch it without a second thought, but also meaning that they can slip in actual talk about puberty and shit instead of clearly alluding to it while simultaneously sweeping it under the rug, and even bringing up straight-up non-straight relationships, makes it more interesting to watch. Especially with that last one, because without the episode blurbs they totally could’ve slipped Reggie’s crush on Conelly under the rug. I mean, Mack and Beefhouse would still be there, but still.

I was super hopeful that that episode was going to be more like a generic cartoon crush episode, except with a girl-to-girl crush, but maybe something like that will end up in an inevitable Season 2. It’s weird, because usually when I hear about “progressiveness” in cartoons it kind of has a weird aftertaste, where I’m overtly okay with it but have some terrible gut feeling about it for some reason, but this time like 90% of me breaking me trying to prolong the experience was fueled by that episode. I was so excited!

And the Butt Witch is the classic part of most cartoons that make some part of it super creepy and dark. It’s funny, the fact that she has a male voice was fitting somehow, even outside of the obvious lore reason. Plus, you can never pass up a lady with multiple arms~ It’s also weird how, despite clearly being super sexualized, they managed to make her butt the sort of funny-haha-cartoon butt instead of the this-is-a-sexy-cartoon butt. There was a scene of her crawling on her knees for a second, and her but was seriously drawn like it was porn. Trust me, I should know. It was strange, considering the TV-Y7-ness of the show.

It’s not nice to play favorites, obviously, but I definitely think my favorite of the native islanders is Galaxander. First of all, his name is perfect. Second, I die for any kind of star-motif. It’s like he was made for/by me. That bit where he was showing a family photo album, except all the photos were of galaxies and planets, was genuinely the best joke in the entire show. I love it/him. Also, Ester’s nonspecific Saturn powers are really cool, as well as her vaguely retro-futuristic look. Oh, and Pretty Please? It’s always the rabbits. ALWAYS.

Really, the one thing that can sell me on any cartoon is just great art/animation/character design. Without that, I probably would’ve passed this show off as one of those “haha lol xd so ramdom111!!!1!!!” shows. Hell, even something so simple as the thumbnail for the pilot short sold me. Reggie and Shane (may he rest in peace) looked practically identical to a duo dynamic of my own creation (gung-ho long haired ginger and darker, medium-lengthed hair male friend) and that really caught my eye. It’s even funnier, because those two characters also ended up being too similar in concept to Inside Out, meaning I had to change them from that, so I guess they’re just a really “normal” character concept.

Apart from Twelve Forever, we got Mao Mao, Heroes of Pure Heart, also readily accessible via the Cartoon Network website. I love their set up for that, where you just need to log in with a network provider as proof you could’ve watched the episodes live if you wanted to. Anyway, Mao Mao has the same deal as I just mentioned: Mao Mao himself looks super dope. Plus, the overall concept of “Edgy warrior protects innocent town from evil monsters” Is what sold me in the first place. Not only do I get a fair dose of action, but I also get a fair dose of cuteness. Also, the concept of Orangusnake (had to rewatch the first episode with subtitles to figure that name out) is just stupid enough that it works. Also also, Mao Mao’s family clearly being set up as either appearing later as actual, professional warriors or as dopey losers that he thought were just cool is making me super invested. 

Then, Infinity Train. The show with the balls to kill of some random nobody in the first episode. Also, what’s the trend with every lead character in these cartoons having parental issues? Either way, everything seen is dope (even if pointy-chin pilot Tulip is superior) and it’s hard not to want more.

I also just bought the first season of Amphibia so I’ll check back on that, like, tomorrow maybe. Waiting is for the birds. I will say that the giant evil insect designs are amazing so far, from the first episode.

But, Owl House has the potential to overtake ALL of these. Oh my god, who knew that adding a little lip onto a character would instantly make their cuteness skyrocket? Luz (hopefully pronounced “Looz” because that’s how my mind is saying it) is actually one of the cutest characters I’ve ever seen. Plus, she has a tiny pet Cubone! And also the potential for creepy monster designs, amazing stories... The potential is high here. 

That’s not even talking about that “Curse of Molly Mcgee” that we’ve only seen a poster for. It’s like its the era of cute girls. I’m dying here.

I’ve also heard Victor and Valentino is pretty good, with true-to-culture Mexican supernatural stuff. Sounds pretty cool, but due to the lack of cute girls on the poster I’ll wait until I’m bored. I have seen a cute goth girl inside of it, though, so I’ll have to watch to see where she fits in. I’m a sucker for thick eye liner and eyelashes(?) that are only visible on the lower half of the eye. 

That’s not even it, either. There’s bound to be something I’m forgetting. OK KO Is also dope but I’ve been watching that for a while, and Hilda’s pretty sweet, but is also old news (until we get another season). Like, so many modern cartoons are so great. Who needs anime?

#cartoons #poole #opinions #owl house #twelve forever #infinity train #amphibia #curse of molly mcgee #victor and valentino #ok ko #hilda #mao mao #cartoon network #positivity #love #animation #character design

[popculturebuffet]

Amphibia Reviews: The First Temple or Bessie and Joe: The New OTP

Hello all you happy people! Amphibia season 2 moves right a long and it’s time for some video game shenanigans as we enter The First Temple! Family drama, snail on bird action, and outhouses await you under the cut with a recap/review with full spoilers. 

So we open with the Plantars having chocopillbug pancakes. Ironically my mom offered me chocolate chip pancakes after this and thank god for that. This is a rare treat to the point Anne didn’t even know they had choclate, and is suprisingly not strangling Hop Pop over this. Unsuprisingly he broke out the good stuff to try and make up for hiding the box and things are still VERY awkward between the two, with Hop Pop walking on Egghshells around Anne and Anne doing the same when he brings it up with both desperatley trying to avoid the subject and Sprig not helping by bringing it up a bunch. 

I like this a lot and didn’t really think about the series continuting any tension over his decision.. but should have. Partly because this is a modern animated show and most of this wonderful new wave of shows have a LOT of emotional nuance. ANd partly because this show dosen’t forget things even most nuanced shows forget: the fact the characters cause chaos and learn life lesons is outright RECOGNZIED by the show as a pattern and brought up quite often, as are the patterns that lead to it, like mostly being sprig and anne, anne’s impulsivness that sort of thing. It’s the kind of thing you just gloss over in most shows but this one lampshades to hell and back for funsies so when something THIS important happens, you’d better belivie it’s not just going to disappear. 

The tensions thankfully broken by a new arrival, as a massive sparrow shows up in the yard. “It’s a giant bird with.. books on it’s back.. what. “ Great delivery from bill there. Naturally it’s Marcy! 

I missed this little goober. Such a joy to be around, and she of course marvels over the Plantar’s house before getting back on track: She’s found the first temple.. even though she sent a letter saying that and it’s not commented on that she did. It set off the whole previous episode Marcy... you okay Mar-Mar?

That aside though it’s time for the first temple and Marcy asks for the Box, with Sprig trying to make a joke about how good thing she didn’t ask for it a week ago. 

Polly rightly punches him in the ribs... do frogs have ribs? Hold on.. okay here we go

Huh.. so they do not You learn something new every day. Well lack of ribs or no our heroes are ready.. while Marcy’s sparrow Joe is also ready TO GET IT ON. Yes really, he does a mating dance for Bessie, complete with an intersumental version of “Sylvia” from last season. God damn that bird’s got game. The only time i’ve seen more game is THIS. 

 Marcy tells him to knock it off. Look marcy your a pet owner now and as a pet owner, it’s your responsiblity.. to let your giant bird do horrifying things with a slightly smaller but still giant snail. it’s what nature intended. Nature was doing a lot of cocaine that day but we still honor her wishes. 

But anyways Marcy’s figure out something intresting about the box.. by winding it just right the gems pop out, which allows her to take one, we later find out it’s the green one, to use in the temple. So off we go with Marcy and the rest of the kids up top and Hop Pop.. screaming in Joe Sparrows claws. He’s fine. 

So while they get ready, Anne worries about the amount of puzzles and hazzards Marcy’s hyping for this but Marcy shurgs it off and gives her own big boast about how may RTS she’s beaten.. suspciously like Yuaan as one post on here pointed out. Not a huge suprise though, to Marcy she’d just be the grand hero out of one of her rpg’s and not think of how many people she probably killed or who she’s working for.. though you’d THNK given all the RPG’s both tapetop and on her switch she’s played, that Marcy would see that “the benevolent king turns out to be the big bad” trope coming. 

But Anne’s worry is not on the big bad of the show but on Marcy who has a tendency to get so in the zone she ignores the world around her, which goes from focusing on her game while helping anne get softserve leading to a mess, not letting Anne down in a play and.. Anne catching Marcy on tv as all the snakes escape from the zoo. 

Regardless our heroes arrive and while the awkwardness between anne and hop pop continues, they find a majestic temple.. and what appears to be an outhouse. Hey we all gotta poop sometimes, even people making a majestic temple.  If you don’t it comes out like this. 

So they head in and we get our first puzzle, a mysterious cube that lifts you into the air and allows you to tilt the thing around. 

Those of you wondering why I have such a strong reaction have ever never played breath of the wild or played it with a pro controller, i.e. NOT having to tilt the very thing your screen is on because Nintendo has failed to grasp that MAYBE people don’t like that, that it takes you out of the experince and that it’s really hard to focus on your screen while having to move the fucking system about. And the plantar’s getting horribly jostled around as she moves it is EXACTLY how it feels to play a puzzle requring that shit. 

Next is a color based tile dungeon leftover from Link’s Awakening DX. As marcy figures out the reds do fire and the blues do crushing... but she reads the language (And as she put earlier “Guess who learned an entire dead language?” God she’s precious. ) and finds a green with envy pun (Which Hop Pop takes offense to.. several of his friends are green.). Which is curious as given several citzens of amphibia are green.. why would they make a green pun? So she gets on one tile and Hop Pop plans to take the risk of getting on the other green tile, but Anne does it instead.. and things get heated between the two as Anne reveals she no longe feels like family since he did what he did for polly and sprig and hop pop takes offense as she IS. Even if he screwed up with her. But Anne’s near death experince activates the tile. 

The final challnge switches us from Zelda.. to Harry Freaking Potter. 

Now I used to love Harry Potter, with all of my heart. Then JK Rowling turned out to be a transphobic piece of shit who thinks she’s an ally, but is really a bigot who wants to “accept” trans people without giving them any rights. So yeah while I still love the starkid musicals, ore more accuratley the music from them, and own a copy of lego harry potter I got as a gift recently as both parties had no idea she was a monster when this stuff was made. Still a sore subject though, but if I didn’t bring up the similiarties I wouldn’t be doing my job as a critic and this was likely thought up long before JK outed herself as well...

No no the great mighty poo respects all peoples.. and wants to take their heads and ram it up his butt. He’s an equal opportunity butt rammer. 

Anyways this is the frog equivlent of chess flipfrog, and just like with Wizard chess, our heroes end up as the pieces minus marcy.. and in a nice twist on that scene, Anne ends up on the other side. Marcy is a grandmaster at it though so after an hour or so of play she almost wins.. only for the king equilvent to refuse to be taken and the automatic board she’s up against to send Anne against hop pop, and with our heroes magically restrained and given stone weapons, this can’t end well. Eventually though Anne’s forced to hit HOp Pop multiple times and while he says “well isn’t this what you wanted”, she says no.. she didn’t want to phsyically hurt him it’s just complicated. So we get one heck of an emotioinal scene as Hop Pop just wants to help and wants this to stop and dosen’t knoow how to fix this which as someone who desperatlyt ries to fix most emotional situations right away this hit very hard.. and her response of needing time hit harder. The two while not reconciled, ar ecloser to it and Marcy realizes what she’s done getting so obessed with winning and forfits for thier benifit. Our heroes leave, seemingly having lost.. only to find glowing arrows to the crap hole, which turns out to be the pedistal. The temple wasn’t just an intellegence test but empathy.. and the temples are clearly built to specifically test each of the chosen three, our heroines, specifically. Marcy’s tested her intellegence.. but also her willingness to let go of cold clyincal thought to do the right thing. That earns her her gem recharged and a flash in her eyes and her gem starts pointing to the next. She needs time to triangulate and hop pop and anne are back on workable footing... though our heroes offer to take a break instead of going to the next temple. 

Back in Newtopia, Yuaan reports on the toads gathering.. but dosen’t get to mentioning sasha before Marcy’s letter interrupts and Andridas oddly and aburbly dimisses her.. and goes to talk to a watcher with a thousand eyes, his “master” who has plans to undo the prophcey and get their revenge. 

Final Thoughts: This was a damn fine episode that gave Marcy some much needed character development, and gave the reveals of last episode some more emotiional fallout.  It also had some really great jokes as always. Top notch stuf. 

Next Time: Marcy tries to win everyone over through science and we FINALLY get an episode with the Frog Robot apparently. Horay

Next on this Blog: We go into final space yo! It’s unexpected births, ho yay, and horrifying zombie gary’s galore! 

Until then if you liked this review, follow me for more, join my patreon, comission a review if you please and i’ll see you at the next rainbow. Play us out jeff... and I haven’t done THAT bit in a while but eh. This song was too perfect. 

#amphibia #anne boonchuy #marcy wu #the first temple #hopidah plantar #sprig plantar #polly planntar #king andrias #the watcher with a thousand eyes

[monkey-network]

Mini Stuff of Good: 2019 2nd Quarter

We’re doing a lightning round of anything up to this point, no holds barred! 3. 2.. 1...

One Punch Man 2

The story certainly made up the utter downgrade of its animation. If anything, I’d seriously stick with the manga if we’re talking good spectacle. (Grade: C+)

Care Bears: Unlock the Magic

I can say this is Turner’s answer to Hasbro’s My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic. The look of it is a plus and the episodes are on the same level of quality as MLP, but I had my doubts that this would get the same level of traction, especially since it’s Boomerang. It’s not bad, just not much to write home about. (Grade: C)

Uglydolls

An upbeat movie that I say didn’t deserve the disdain it received. Like yeah, it’s pretty by the numbers, but I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t entertaining in the slightest, and surprisingly heavy in its racial undertones if you’d believe me. (Grade: B-)

Avengers Endgame

Was certainly conclusive and fun, but inferior compared to Infinity War, especially when it unfortunately has to undo everything that happened in that movie. Not as many good memes from this as the interchangeable Thanos snap meme. (Grade: B)

Tuca & Bertie

Honestly a fun series that makes its cancellation just depressing to hear. The duo themselves made every episode enjoyable and while I wish certain plot points could’ve been better, the overall story arc with our MC’s friendship was very investing. In the least, the season ended on a good, optimistic note. (Grade: A-)

Mao Mao: Heroes of Pure Heart

Essentially the Adventures of Puss in Boots, anime edition. Not to say that’s a bad thing, because there are plenty of differences, but come on, the similarities between the two leads and the premise are eeriely similar. As such, it gets the same grade (Grade: B+)

Shazam

A DC comic book movie that actually tries to be a comic book movie. Bonus points for the director being one that mostly made horror movies. (Grade: A-)

Scooby Doo and Guess Who?

Scooby Doo and self humor doesn’t sit well with me since the fun came in taking its campy nature straightfaced while having some good sitcom laughs, i.e. Monsters Unleashed, Mystery Incorporated, or Be Cool, Scooby Doo. The celebrity guests are almost always a highlight, but they also admittedly take away from the characters we’re meant to see. (Grade: B-)

Archer 1999

Finally, a season of Archer that has everyone together doing space adventures, and it’s not the final season! (Grade: B+)

Dick Pikachu

Lovely to look at, not so much in remembering it. It has the same grade I gave the game it’s based on. (Grade: C+)

Gokushufudou: The Way of the House Husband

The most perfect yakuza based slice of life comic around. (Grade: S)

Burning Effect

I honestly haven’t seen a webcomic that went this hard before. It’s like Bakugo from My Hero Academia went into every character design and impacting visual, with a story and premise that gradually makes sense the more you carry on and a female lead that is a upcoming warrior in every sense. (Grade: A)

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

There’s a Youtube channel that reviews this show episode by episode and I found them more insightful and entertaining than this series. A shame since I like the original She-Ra and I was hoping for a good series about princesses fighting. But this series was slog to get through and it doesn’t help that my attachment to most of the characters has fizzled out. Season 3 certainly picked things up, but it shouldn’t have took this long to pick things up. (Grade: C+)

The Secret Life of Pets 2

Just as good as the first one, if not better, which I bet many who reviewed this will probably say otherwise. The scene near the end is honestly cemented in my mind, it just worked. (Grade: B-)

SMG4, The Anime Arc

This definitely fun. A middling 1st half, but things definitely pick up in the 2nd half. There are some contrivances and conveniences, but man was that the most engaged I’ve ever been with this Youtube series overall. (Grade: B+)

Aladdin (2019)

Oh wow, another remake that pales in comparison to the original. A takeaway from all this is Disney needs to hire directors that aren’t boring. (Grade: D+)

MIB: International

Oh wow, it’s Jurassic World: Men In Black edition with two great actors that are heavily underutilized in it. Where’s Taika when you need him? (Grade: C-)

Lion King (2019)

Oh wow, a remake that doesn’t understand why the original worked. This here was honestly the final straw for me as I am distancing myself from these remakes because unless one actually looks and feels appealing, my sensible bias towards them will never change. I feel annoyed that I DON’T know what people see in these. (Grade: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!)

DC Super Hero Girls

Honestly what I wanted Nu She-Ra to be, better animated, better characterized, and reminds me of the new Ninja Turtles series with how it is setting things up. As a DC fan, I am more than impressed. (Grade: A)

X-Men, Dark Phoenix

They honestly weren’t trying and this movie resulted in me getting Ligma. (Grade: D+)

Our Cartoon President

We had our laughs a couple years ago, but let’s be real. Trump is a dried up meme and there was no reason for a 2nd season of this. (Grade: F+)

Final Space

Season 2 has its hits and misses but I am very much enjoying this series still. The latest episode deep down made me wish it didn’t try to make things drama heavy for the previous episodes, like it’s trying to recapture the sharp turn that was season one’s episode six. Needless to say, they’re certainly keeping the momentum going for this series and I’m all for it. (Grade: B+)

Aero (Comic series)

Imagine if Nejire from My Hero Academia was a Marvel superhero. The dialogue and writing is generic and simple, but you not only get a nice grasp of our heroine but this is one of the first anime looking Marvel comics that looks incredible. This really stood out at my comic shop and I am very intrigued to see more of this character and this artwork. (Grade: B)

Infinity Train

Very compelling, nicely visualized, and the 10 episode work to a good strength of pacing. Though I will be honest, One-One wasn’t a character that stood out to me, I dunno, I felt distant towards him compared to the other characters. But I enjoyed this no doubt and I’m glad there is more to come. (Grade: ???)

Twelve Forever

This is one of those rare shows where I’ll gladly say it’s good but not entertaining. As much as I enjoy randomness every now and then, I felt bored watching it. The Butt Witch was the saving grace, immediately being my favorite character, but she wasn’t enough to make me keep going. I’ll give it a good grade tho with the effort they put into everything. (Grade: B)

Rocko’s Modern Life, Static Cling

I already reviewed this before, but I honestly considered this a great comeback to a very nostalgic and influential show. (Grade: A)

Meta Runner

A new series with surprisingly good pacing and a empathetically great main character. The dialogue can be give and take, with a villain that’s honestly too evil for his own good, but I can’t help but say that this is an engaging series. And it’s youtube sooo bonus. (Grade: B+)

Amphibia

A series that definitely got better as it went along. I like the episodes that had good ties to the season’s climax, the main four are especially the highlight with their personalities, and the character growth felt natural if on the nose sometimes. I’m stoked for part 2,,, hopefully they schedule it better. (Grade: A-)

Angry Birds 2

It was fun. Probably forgettable to many, but I won’t deny that it’s one of the better popcorn flics of the Summer (Grade: B+)

Toy Story 4

I grown tired of people questioning whether or not this movie was pointless, so I’ll come out the gate to say that this is the best movie of the Summer so far. It was a more solemn movie that was organically thoughtful with itself, there were plenty of laughs, I loved Bo Peep, and the way they handled the antagonist is something that rocked the franchise’s themes to the core sensibly. This film makes for one of the few times a fourth sequel can actually come out great. (Grade: A)

T I M E’S U P ! ! ! ! ! !

Welp, looks like the spring and summer have indeed strengthened itself for the better. Can the latter half of 2019 keep the momentum as we reach the new decade? Stay tuned.

#cartoons #movies #anime #critical #reviews #Good Stuff #long post