#they're all on paramount plus

[britneyshakespeare]

the fact that all grown up ran for five seasons is unaccountable

#they're all on paramount plus #text post #i remembered the show recently out of curiosity #and i'm not bashing it don't get me wrong. that show's been bashed enough #and frankly i haven't watched a single episode since i was like 11 so i can't judge #rugrats also ended when i was kinda young. and i've seen that show since but like. i'm not a Rugrats Kid #i never appreciated it as much as some ppl. it was just kinda another show i watched. i missed the big phenomenon of it #i think #but i never knew a single person growing up who was really all that into all grown up #it seemed like whenever someone talked about it they were just like 'why' #i knew a girl on my bus in like 2nd/3rd grade whose mom stopped letting her watch all the 'cool' shows #i dont remember why. but all of the sudden she was complaining about how all she watches anymore is like #all grown up and life with derek #loooool #LIFE WITH DEREK WAS ... LET'S JUST NOT TALK ABOUT IT #those 2 shows were not incredibly popular and the main networks never showed them that much #so like. hm? FIVE SEASONS #im assuming at the end they sent it to nicktoons network to die but still. five seasons #is it good actually? im thinking of rewatching it just to see

[marvelsmostwanted]

This is sad but unfortunately I think this is just going to be the norm for the next few years as streaming services die a slow death.

HBO Max should in theory be able to make money from a show that was at one point the top new series in the US. At the time, David Jenkins said "This is what happens when a major media company invests in inclusive mainstream stories" (agree!) but unfortunately that major media company, like all streaming services, has a terrible business model that can't support that investment.

This is an interesting article about how streaming services are losing money and scrambling to make it back by trying to convince people to buy cheaper, ad-supported options or bundling with other streaming services. Unfortunately for them, I think that's like... all of the options? At some point they're just going to continue to lose money. Making shows is expensive and very few consumers are willing to pay more when they could just cancel and use a cheaper service (or, you know. 🏴‍☠️)

This is also a good article that was written after Shadow and Bone was cancelled by Netflix about whether it could be saved:

"The problem is that while saving shows used to be plausible, at times, the cost of Shadow and Bone combined with the fact that streaming services are really, really starting to cut back on spending means that this would be an extremely tough sell. WB Discovery’s Max is being lambasted for killing finished projects for tax breaks to chip into its massive debt. Disney Plus has done the same thing and has said they will cut back on things like expensive Marvel shows. Amazon Prime is mired in expensive creator deals going nowhere and throwing insane amounts of money at projects they are realizing are not panning out. Paramount Plus losing $500 million a year. NBC’s Peacock is losing $650 million a quarter."

TLDR; Streaming services have reached such a dire point financially that they have to cancel some of their most popular content (Marvel shows on Disney+???? These have seemingly been very successful; it's wild to read that they're "cutting back") in the desperate hope that a new season of something that's cheaper to make will get more attention.

What I gathered from these articles is that steaming services are dying a slow death and sadly, a lot of good shows are going to go with them.

#as a teacher i'm Very Familiar With Budget Cuts and listen #when they start doing stuff that doesn't even make logical sense you know it's bad #this is the point where they're pointing at chairs in the break room being like 'do we really need that' #streaming was a terrible business model in the first place #subscriber services are pyramid schemes no i will not elaborate #mine #our flag means death #ofmd #rip in peace #where else can i watch con o'neill tho #him saying 'ooh daddy' haunts my nightmares i want to watch all of his content

[bikinikillarchives]

SHOWS BIKINI KILL PLAYED WITH NIRVANA

yeah we all know bikini kill played a crucial role in aspects of nirvana. despite the fact that they're often very simply watered down to Kurt Cobain having a crush on Tobi Vail and (good fucking lord) Kathleen naming Smells Like Teen Spirit, it's not often talked about how Kathleen, in her feminist art space Reko Muse, hosted some of earliest shows, and is even the venue featured on their first 1989 album cover, Bleach. in media, often overlooked as well is how Kurt himself had been a very outspoken feminist and supporter of the emerging Riot Grrrl scene and its bands. you can find more on that under this blogs 'kurt cobain' tag🥰

moving on cuz it has nothing to do with this really. i wanted to document the very few shows bikini kill had with nirvana. fliers and dates, etc. under cut.

EARLY

REKO MUSE, OLYMPIA, WA: JUNE 16, 1989.

pictured on the left is a flier Kathleen Hanna had made for a benefit show at Reko Muse, dated for Friday, June 16, 1989. Nirvana opened for the band Lush, and the show was hosted by Tammy Rae Carland. Tobi Vail joined the stage with Nirvana. x.

REKO MUSE, OLYMPIA, WA: APRIL 1, 1989.

hosted by Kathleen Hanna at Reko Muse, Nirvana played with Tree House and Helltrout on April 1, 1989. the cover album for their 1989 album Bleach was shot here, by Tracy Marander.

THE MUSHROOM, OLYMPIA, WA: FEBRUARY 9, 1991.

scheduled to play with Giant Henry and Bikini Kill ("plus maybe a cool band too."), Nirvana ended up not playing at this show due to Krist not being able to make it. instead Kurt Cobain, Dave Grohl, and BK guitarist Billy Karen, played on stage with Kill Rock Stars' co-founder Slim Moon's band, Witchypoo.

BIKNI KILL:

OK HOTEL, SEATTLE, WA: APRIL 17, 1991.

Bikini Kill opened for Fitz of Depression and Nirvana. Nirvana played an early version of Smells Like Teen Spirit for (what i believe!) the first time.

THE PARAMOUNT THEATRE, SEATTLE, WA: OCTOBER 31, 1991 (HALLOWEEN SHOW)

Bikini Kill opened for Mudhoney and Nirvana.

information sourced from livenirvana & Tiger Bomb.

#bikini kill #nirvana

[lastweeksshirttonight]

LEE'S FAQ!

Over the past nearly-two years, I've noticed that I get some questions about John's work asked repeatedly. That doesn't bother me - half of his prominent work is somewhat lost media, Tumblr's search is super fucked, and I always want to help anyone falling down the JO rabbit hole - but I realized that one central pinned post would be helpful! I'll keep this up to date as much as possible.

I know I have a lot of international followers, and if you have any knowledge of where to stream or find some of these items, please let me know and I'll update this post.

WHERE CAN I FIND...?

Anything really, I've just started going down this rabbit hole:

The John Oliver Masterlist is an incredible resource - while it hasn't been updated since about 2017 and has some broken links (especially in the LWT sections), it has functional links to every JO clip from The Daily Show, all the main segments of LWT through 2017, radio shows, and lots of other material. This was made by @johnoliverphotos and @ilovejohnoliver, and I'm eternally grateful for it.

The Department:

YouTuber Ben Jennings has the entire series on his channel.

Player FM has the series uploaded here as well.

The Bugle:

The Bugle Archive has all Times Online era episodes available to download. PLEASE DOWNLOAD THE EPISODES DIRECTLY; DO NOT STREAM FROM THIS SITE.

The Bugle is starting to upload Times Online era episodes to their official channels, which can be found here. They're up to ep 75 as of Feb 2024.

All post-Times Online episodes (starting with episode 179) are available on The Bugle's official channels linked above.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart:

Have you perused the John Oliver Masterlist above? This is the best way to find direct links to JO clips from The Daily Show on the Comedy Central website, because this shit is still not streaming anywhere else. Use a VPN if you're outside the US to view.

There are a small handful of TDS episodes available for purchase on Amazon Prime if you're in the US. I have no idea if any of them feature JO in any meaningful way - I will update this section once I review that.

Otherwise, you're gonna have to sail the high seas to watch this. I'm sorry that this is the state of the US' most important comedy show of the 2000s. Maybe Paramount will drop it on us when Stewart comes back to host TDS, who knows.

Community:

In the US, this can be streamed on Netflix and Hulu. Individual episodes can be purchased on YouTube, Apple TV, and Amazon Prime.

Worldwide, Community is available on Netflix until April 1st.

Every season of Community is available on DVD and Blu-Ray.

John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show:

In the US, the whole show is on Paramount Plus and can be purchased through Amazon and Apple.

The godawful Comedy Central website has limited episodes for viewing. You'll need a US cable subscription to watch more than the first episode of every season, because of course you do.

Back catalog episodes of Last Week Tonight:

You can buy back catalog episodes on YouTube and Amazon in the US.

In certain areas outside of the US, LWT is now being uploaded in full on their YouTube channel. I'm glad that there's more offerings for you all!

HBO Max no longer has back catalog episodes because capitalism is fucking ridiculous, I pay monthly for this service entirely for this show and I can't even watch old news from 5 years ago

The Horne Section:

The whole series is on Taskmaster Supermax+, which should work everywhere except the UK.

In the UK, you can stream this through Channel 4.

BLOG-SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

How did you get into John Oliver?

I answered this in too much detail in two posts, here and here.

Where is your icon from?

UPDATED: It was made by the lovely @stalebagels for me. She is wonderful <3

Is this blog a bit?/Do you really find this man attractive?

No, this is not an ironic bit, I really like John Oliver and find him genuinely hot. (Tbf, I get this question way more in person than online.)

#john oliver #last week tonight #last week tonight with john oliver #the daily show #the daily show with jon stewart #the department #the bugle #the bugle podcast #john oliver's new york stand up show #john oliver's new york stand-up show #community #community nbc #nbc community #community tv show #the horne section #all my friends hate the comedy central website #but it's all we got sorry

[fernsnailz]

you dont need to answer this if you don’t want to btw but ive read and enjoyed a lot of your analysis and lore dump stuff so. thoughts on the paramount sonic movies? (especially the second one + thoughts on whatever they might do with Shadow Stuff in the 3rd movie)

thanks! though honestly, i don't really have that many thoughts/opinions on sonic 1 and 2? i just think they're. fine. imo they get all of the characters down well - i'll defend versions of sonic that lean into a little rambunctious childishness, and tails and knuckles are the best part about the second movie. but that's kinda about all i have to say on them, they never left much of an impact on me.

while i don't normally like to make predictions or pitches for upcoming movies/media (because i always get disappointed when something is never as good as the fan pitches i see), i do have some general thoughts on what i'd like to see from the third movie. it seems like they'll be drawing from SA2 for a number of things, but i don't want a beat-for-beat retelling of that game. i'd like to see how they integrate it into the world of the paramount movies and create a unique version of that story - for example in sonic 2, james marsden's character (don't remember his name lol) mentions that his family has been around green hills for 50 years doing... something idk i dont remember. 50 years is a very important timestamp regarding Shadow Lore. if that character's history is integrated into shadow's past, i think that would be an interesting way to build up a struggle between sonic's family and shadow, and i want the drama. i want this movie to hurt me emotionally as much as it can.

and as excited as i am for shadow in the third movie, i do REALLY hope they at least introduce amy as well. i'm not sure if we'll see many new faces since balancing that many characters in a feature film is a lot to ask (unless you're marvel and you don't care about writing interesting characters AYOOO), but i don't care to see a sonic world without amy. her compassion and heroism is something that would bring a lot of life to these movies, which is something i think this particular series could use. plus, while i don't want an exact retelling of SA2, i don't think you can have a shadow origin story without amy. at least not one i like. yes im still a little mad they gave her moment to chris in sonic x. i know why they did it like i get it. but also maaaannnn c'mon where's amy :(

also they should give shadow a gun and let tails kill the president

#the live action sonic movies feel like such a blind spot in my sonic analysis brain #like yeah ive seen em. do i remember much of them? nah #fernasks #sonic loreposting

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

PARAMOUNT PLUS KNUCKLES WOOOOOOOOO

Spoilers obviously!

Episode 1 thoughts: writing is kind of annoying, and I don't think I like this version of Knuckles that much - his proper arc in the movie was good but divorced from that context this is basically just idiot meathead Knuckles pushed in another direction entirely. Wade isn't funny or entertaining. Sonic's model looks worse than it did before, the forehead wrinkles are so offputting. I feel like they fucked their own lore weirdly - the second movie showed the literal founding of G.U.N. in this continuity and yet their headquarters are based in London and they're apparently already big enough to have double-agents within them working to support criminals. G.U.N. just didn't feel like such a big thing in the second movie is all, but now they are with no fanfare. Also they've acquired both warp rings and Knuckles' quills from ???? so hmmm. I'm definitely approaching this too much as an adult out to nitpick rather than remembering that this is for kids and it doesn't matter when G.U.N. became so prominent or how and when they got their hands on X macguffin, but idk I feel like the first 2 movies were paying some degree of attention to stuff like that so this just sticks out to me.

Episode 2 thoughts: actually not just Wade but I think nobody is funny or really all that entertaining to watch. I don't think the Sonic movies are great or anything but this feels aggressively like we're just going through the motions. I need a hero scene was kind of torture. I appreciate Knuckles gliding anyway since that's one of those things that's acknowledged surprisingly little despite being a core part of his gameplay in every playable appearance he's had.

Episode 3 thoughts: my favourite so far on the sheer absurdity of a lonely Jewish mother whose husband left the family and whose kids hate each other finding solace and comfort in Knuckles the Echidna and teaching him about Judaism

Episode 4 thoughts: absolutely indescribable experience. felt like a high budget fan parody. I was juggling so many feelings through my head while watching, reaching each end of the quality spectrum - this is both incredibly kino and also one of the worst things to ever grace the Sonic franchise. one must actively sever any interest in pretending this is something that should be taken seriously in order to enjoy it, although in doing so one must also acknowledge that the Knuckles show on paramount plus is now but a joke. the same Sonic movie franchise that rejuvenated public interest in the franchise has also birthed unto us a mockery of everything the series has ever stood for. Wade Whipple stole a kid's bicycle and chopped off a man's ponytail with a katana before then forcing that man to undress.

Episode 5 thoughts: this is straight up more enjoyable when consumed as a bizarre and surreal anthology but with a continual plot wherein the anthology part of it is just what is gonna be the directorial fetish of the episode. in this case it's several instances of shots being split across comic-style panelling or the same frame repeated in grid-patterns across the screen, things like that. that type of shot for bowling for 10 minutes and then a heartwarming emotional reunion with an estranged father turned heartwrenching as Jewish mother recounts the fact that he hurt us before and he's going to do it again. I almost forgot I was watching a Sonic the Hedgehog show until the bad guys showed up and reminded us that Knuckles the Echidna does actually exist in the show named after him. I'm starting to think this show is seriously worth watching entirely because it's so ludicrously detached from its source material and absurd in everything else it chooses to depict. The dialogue is so unnatural it's hilarious. Everybody has a certain voice they're doing for the camera and it's all super exaggerated. Wade actually betrays Knuckles in the end and I'm about to watch the last episode to see what happens.

Episode 6 thoughts: I think this show is incredible

Overall thoughts!

I don't even know how to succintly put into words how much fun I was having with this by the end. And I do mean by the end - you can see the progression of my enjoyment after each episode in this post itself - but it really is kind of slow and annoying to start until it eventually reaches such a level of absurdity that I turned off Sonic fan brain and turned on "I want to laugh at batshit insane media" brain. Once it got to that point though I was so fucking invested that I was feeling everything. I wanted Wade to start throwing bowling balls at the buyer so fucking bad and he did. The electric guitar kicking in when Knuckles powered back up and became the flames of disaster or whatever was the most excited I've been watching anything in a while. The juxtaposition between a serious emotional tale about broken families and standing up against those who have hurt you versus Wade Whipple in a Knuckles costume having a musical performed at him about the strength of the heart or whatever is immaculate.

I feel like this show was greenlit and allocated a budget before they actually decided anything they wanted to do with it so they just wrote some vague story outline and handed each episode off to a different director to see what they could come up with. The few who played it a little more safe, kid's action show type thing, didn't really offer much. But the ones who decided to have fun with it and just not even care about the source material, those are the ones that turned out really fun.

I will acknowledge right now obviously that none of that is exactly praise from the lens of a Sonic fan. This isn't good at being Sonic in any way, it's not even good at being part of the separate and standalone Sonic movie continuity either. Calling it disrespectful to the source material is an understatement and even the times where it decides to pull from what it's adapting you get absolutely bizarre errors like the Flames of Disaster being singularly attributed to Knuckles just for the hell of it. This should not be thought of as a serious attempt at telling a story within any Sonic the Hedgehog setting. This is a high budget parody that, through circumstances we'll never quite know, is also an officially licensed and endorsed Sonic the Hedgehog product. It's the worst Sonic adaptation ever. It's also so fucking entertaining and I would honestly recommend it to just about anyone. I'm literally already lining up a rewatch with some friends. It's so fucking fun. Like there's an element of irony and there's an element of so bad it's good and perhaps all of this is birthed by that and me being in a state of "I just finished something absurd and need to process it so I'm just yelling" but as a lifelong diehard Sonic fan who yearns for nothing more than good quality Sonic content I had more actual fun with this than almost any other Sonic adaptation period. This shit, my friends, is kino. And Wade Whipple is my new favourite Sonic character.

#sonic #28.4.24 #knuckles spoilers #paramount knuckles spoilers #paramount knuckles #knuckles series #knuckles series spoilers

[dragon-snoots-a-boopin]

Alright, I don't typically comment on stuff like this but, I can't not do that since this is something in the Transformers community that is just absolutely wild.

The fact that Nightshade from Transformers: Earthspark is causing such controversary is driving me up the wall with the amount of stupid takes I've been about this. It's literally a little over one minute part of a 22 minute episode wherein Nightshade tells one of the humans that their pronouns are they/them and the human says their pronouns are she/they and that is the extent of it.

And, of course, all the conservatives are having such a problem with it. I've seen people calling this "revolting" "disgusting" and saying that "they're after your kids" or "felt uncomfortable and unnecessary" which has to be some of the stupidest ones yet, saying that this one minute part of a 22 minute episode is going to brainwash your kids. No one said that conservatives were smart. Though, the worst of the worst one said "The worst part is they imply that the world is evil and you can only trust non-binary people. This is the most sinister message you can send to a child. Absolutely revolting" which like most of that was never specified in that single minute part of the episode. There's is, of course, the typical thing of these conservatives calling this "leftist propaganda that must be repelled" like I just can't roll my eye any harder at the absolutely stupid shit these people are saying about this one minute part of a 22 minute episode that's apart of a season of show that is 26 episodes long.

Now, first thing to me is to throw part of this right back at them. I can't tell you how many military movies that I've gone to the theater to see with my dad (he likes military movies) and those movies will very often have advertising for one or two branches of the military before the movies starts. Plus, on the behind the scenes of military movies they will often talk about putting the actors through training and will gush on and on about how great whatever branch of the military is helping with the movie and it just turns the movie into pro-military propaganda which the conservatives have zero problem with, of course. Yeah, a whole two and a half hour movie of military propaganda and yet this is how they react to a one minute part of a 22 minute episode of a cartoon for kids.

Now, the part of this I really want to talk about that, for as long as I have been apart of the Transformers community, has never made sense to me. WHY DO TRANSFORMING ROBOTS NEED TO BE GENDERED TO BEGIN WITH??? I believe that these Cybertronians probably wouldn't have specific pronouns like he/him or she/her because they're just autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron. You know why I think people gave these robots genders at all? Because in G1, someone said they needed more diverse characters in the show/comics and thus they introduced the "fembots".

I'm sorry for the hardcore G1 fans but this design is horribly outdated and is just painful to look at. Why the hell did they ever design these characters this way??? Also, the problem is just G1 either but also it leaked into Transformers Prime as well.

Just tell me why all these robots have to have that stereotypical and wholly unrealistic hourglass shape to them??? To me, it's honestly more disgusting and revolting to see these character designs this way because the hourglass shape is just an unrealistic body shape expectation.

Look, I have not watched Transformers: Earthspark because I don't have Paramount Plus and don't want to pay for another streaming service just for one show. But, I don't see anything wrong with Nightshade wanting to have they/them pronouns because I believe that all Transformers characters should be they/them anyway and that they should do a serious redesign of these "fembots". Alien robots shouldn't have these hourglass shapes or angular chests to basically be implied boobs. If this makes people unfollow me then so be it but, I am all for Nightshade and am rooting for them to cause some sort of change in the Transformers franchise as a whole in the future. I may not have watched Earthspark and I hope that someday I can. I hope they release all the episodes on DVD or something. But, I know that regardless of that, I will definitely buy Nightshade's deluxe class figure because I am rooting for them. Keep it up, Nightshade.

#rant #transformers #transformers g1 #transformers earthspark #nightshade #hasbro #transformers prime

[section-69]

Okay Destination Trek notes! First here's what I really liked:

- Everything was SAG compliant and there was so much important strike talk. Obvs this made some questions impossible to answer, and it was slightly hard to predict what would be wrong to say just since different actors had different comfort levels (big range from "I support my comrades but I'm not gonna pretend I'm not in Star Trek" from David Ajala to J G Hertzler encouraging us to threaten media executives with [COPYRIGHTED SPACE WEAPON] to Terry Farrell not wanting to mention working on TV or film at all), but honestly it just made the whole thing really friendly

- on that note, multiple guests said it was the best convention they'd been to in years. I don't have a lot of personal experience with them, but I was talking to a lot of older fans and many of them said this felt a lot like the early days of conventions which were also set in hotels

- being in a hotel made it a) more accessible (and there were So Many fellow disabled Trekkies to prove it!!), b) easier to hang out between activities, and c) just super personable. The guests could hang out in the bar with the fans, there were lots of comfy seats everywhere, and it was very easy to step away if something wasn't your speed.

- not being in London helps the vibes too

- not being Paramount affiliated made the tickets a bit cheaper (much appreciated)

- most of the activities were teamwork focussed. Initially I was a little freaked by that but actually it gave the whole thing a friendly social club vibe

- science talks! Community talks! Asking the actors questions about their lives and work outside of what they're most famous for! Stories we haven't all heard a thousand times!

- I'll make another post about the specifics of accessibility and why I liked this infinitely more than the official ones in London aircraft hangars, but I just really have to stress how important I found that here

- being fan organised and fan led, the focus was on us and how much we love this shit. I didn't find the old format Bad in this respect, but this really did hit different

- J G Hertzler is seriously the coolest person I've met. He stole my craft group's batleth and we couldn't be happier about it.

- So Many Cool Cosplays!!! Shout out especially to the drag queens, the older man cosplaying Admiral Janeway, the Voyage Home Spock and inflatable whale, the power chair decked out to look like a shuttle, all the babies in uniform, the tribble queen in her tribble pelt dress, all the Klingons who didn't artificially darken their skin, the furry doctor from lower decks, all of the Borg, the Klingon pug with a plush batleth, and so so many others I'm forgetting ❤️🖖❤️

Notes for Future Cons

- If you don't already have access to it because of an expensive ticket, I wouldn't bother paying for the opening ceremony. It's not actually at the start of the event and also it's literally just the actors coming on stage, saying hi, then rushing back to the autograph tables. Do go to the closing ceremony though! There's way more of a point to those

- If you're not a huge extrovert, already drunk, or completely happy in awkward situations, I wouldn't recommend being the first in the door at the parties. Give it an hour or so - they sounded very lively later on, but when I tried to go in earlier the primary school disco vibes were off the charts. Plus the music's too loud to actually talk to anyone, and no one's dancing yet. I did see one guy run past with a portable charger for his friend in a wheelchair that lost power on the dance floor though, so clearly they got cooler later on lol. Addendum here that I'm an autistic non drinker so that might colour things.

- to the white folks darkening their skin for generic Klingon cosplays, reconsider that one next year

- to the white guy wearing brown face paint to cosplay Worf specifically, what the fuck, man??

- to the person who boo'd the mention of Julian/Garak at the LGBTQ+ panel, fight me but also maybe skip whatever the equivalent is next year cause Andy Robinson's booked to come

- host mocked Scottish accents a couple times :(

- here's hoping the unions will have their demands met and we'll be able to talk about Star Trek publicly with actors who can access healthcare and pay their rent. But if not, at least we know the con will still be fun.

- maybe see you in Blackpool next July 💙

#star trek #I've probably forgotten something glaring. I'm incredibly sleepy and had to spend much of the con lying down #but again. hotel setting means I actually Can lie down and be comfortable and return without spending ages walking

[dynared]

I noticed I was getting some pushback on my observations about Earthspark (essentially that while it does nothing wrong, Nick seems like they could not care any less than they do) being this "filler" season while the brand, after years of unclear direction, and Hasbro's own very public financial difficulties, so I wanted to go over my, on the outside looking in, guesstimation theories about Earthspark, the Energon Universe, and Robert Kirkman moving the Hasbro properties away from the low selling, unpopular later years of IDW.

Rant under the break for those of you inclined to read it.

The key to all of this is the fact that they did hire Robert Kirkman to spearhead their new Energon Universe, rather than hiring a company to produce the comics more akin to Hasbro's say-so. Kirkman was a recent guest on the Forbidden Planet podcast, and after reminiscing over older titles he worked on, goes into the Energon Universe at the 44 minute mark.

According to Kirkman, around 2020, Hasbro was done with IDW following years of poorly selling comics and issues with the brand. So Kirkman put together a pitch as roughly every other comic company worth their salt, including Marvel, pitched Hasbro on getting the license. Kirkman specifically pitched them on a long-form universe with major future plot beats based on the cartoon (as opposed to most attempts at modern Transformers comics which take their cues from the Budinansky/Furman comic run from Marvel back in the 80s and early 90s) and from there hired people and creatives to help build out what he had in mind (Daniel Warren Johnson specifically cited that while there are certain big events Kirkman has planned he can't contradict, he has a decent amount of freedom to build out the Transformers series the way he feels is best).

This is a lot of work for just a comic universe, especially since the idea is to make a coherent whole out of a Transformers comic based on the 86 cartoon, a GI Joe that organically fits with them (it's heavily implied that both GI Joe and Cobra form as a direct response to the Transformers), and the original characters which are Hasbro property. All this effort and the bidding war doesn't make sense if it's just for a comic universe. And Robert Kirkman, unlike some of the other contestants for the writing rights, has a development company that wouldn't step on the toes of existing contracts (such as Paramount not wanting to deal with Disney), which given the success of The Walking Dead and Invincible, shows he has Hollywood credibility.

That leaves the animated front. Earthspark is being viewed by Nick and Paramount Plus as an afterthought, though thankfully not to the degree of the written-off Star Trek Prodigy. The toys are there, but they're not the main draw, there's a few kids books, but there's not the concentrated effort and promotion to indicate that this is a major going concern for Hasbro.

That's why I keep coming back to "Earthspark is filling time" as we wait to see what reception the Energon Universe has. It can't be any worse than what IDW had in its final days, but the goal seems to be something bigger than just a comic to pluck ideas from for a separate cartoon or a movie script.

Besides, after the debacle that was the War for Cybertron Trilogy, Robert Kirkman headed a big shiny Energon Universe cartoon sounds like the sort of thing that would get the Transformers attention.

#energon universe #skybound #transformers #gi joe #hasbro #robert kirkman #transformers earthspark #transformers skybound #IDW #transformers idw #rambles #Youtube

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

So I watched that Under the Boardwalk movie and it's surprisingly amazing? + my thoughts on other upcoming movies

Okay, when my friend texted me the trailer I was shocked to find out it was by Nickelodeon and Paramount (When I think of Nickelodeon I think of perverted jokes in trashy sitcoms and cartoons) but when Nickelodeon actually has something good, I'm surprised! I feel like I have sort of a love-hate relationship with Nickelodeon stuff as I do with Disney, but there's more stuff by Nickelodeon that I love more than there is Disney, and I mostly have more nostalgia for Nickelodeon (I'm not like other people 0w0). There was literally one foot joke in the movie! Just one! Not filled with dirty jokes either, and it had a good message!

The message and the songs were actually amazing and the characters were adorable and sweet! They actually had amazing character development, which I wasn't expecting from this movie. Armen and Ramona had a cute relationship with Armen being the scared one at first but then turns to being the braver one, and Ramona being the wildcard and adventurous one but ending up needing rescued in the end. They could have done the whole "damsel in distress needs rescued by guy" type of thing that I get sick of seeing in old Disney movies, but they didn't! Ramona's sister, Shelly was adorable as well, and she was deaf and couldn't hear but she didn't let that stop her from trying to save her sister! I also love how the big tough guy Bobby had a soft side and didn't pick on Armen like we would expect him to. Like, the big tough strong crabs were actually Armen's friends and supported him even though he wasn't like them. Also, can we talk about the villain? Like, it was cool to see the posh spoiled rich boy be the villain but also just a guy you gotta hate (he tried hitting on Ramona, Shelly, and their mom which was weird). Like, they combined the snobby spoiled rich mama's boy traits with also making him a womanizer and full of himself. Almost like Victor Quartermaine but without the lip fillers, and more of a flirty womanizer. (spoilers; even the villain, Meiko, got redemption in the end). I also liked how they showed the humans in the story as well. They didn't try and make the humans seem all evil but still had the dumb human antagonist who gave them different shells and tried to sell them, but that's only a minor part in the movie and not the main conflict which is a plus! Like, I don't like when animal movies try to make all the humans seem evil (I kind of like how the movie Barnyard, which is also Paramount and Nickelodeon, did kind of the same thing where the animals weren't afraid of being eaten by humans, they were just trying to hide from them).

I also noticed other details I thought was cool, besides the fact that they made fun of... you know who **cough cough dirty dan**, with the one foot joke. Or at least I hope they were making fun of him (at a scene where Armen and Ramona were in a photobooth together they were going through filters and Armen ended up as a foot and Ramona was laughing at him). I also love that this movie was a musical and included songs that fit in with the "cheesy teen beach musical" type of vibes, but they also made it take place in New Jersey and the conflict was focused around the sea crabs coming up and bothering the land crabs. It was also a good anti-racism type of symbolism because they were both crabs, and it's not the same as what Zootopia or Sheep & Wolves did and use other animals (although Sheep & Wolves is still a great movie). Like, I can't ship a fox and a rabbit but I can ship a sea crab and a land crab because they're BOTH CRABS! I noticed a lot of other little details in it and I'm really proud of Paramount on this one! I don't understand but I'm curious to know if they have an animation studio in Italy, since I saw the Italian flag in the background of some scenes. If they do have an animation studio there, then that's awesome! If not, it's still fine, I'm just curious! I'm an American and I support other countries when it comes to them making animated family movies. Just to see a smaller foreign studio make a movie that's better than what Disney puts out...

Also, I'm still pumped up about Butterfly Tale and I'm furious that it won't be released in the U.S any time soon. If you're in Canada, please go see Butterfly Tale and give that smaller studio some support because Butterfly Tale looks like an amazing movie and my friend loved it! And idc about this knock off Chicken Run sequel dawn of the nugget or some crap, I still consider Chicken Run a DreamWorks movie and I don't want Netflix and Sam Fell to ruin what was once amazing. This Chicken Run 2 looks so dumb and they ruined the movie, this is totally a knock off, no telling me otherwise. DreamWorks isn't working on it and Aardman only works on it because they're being forced to by Netflix. At least I can still support DreamWorks by going to see Trolls 3, but the villain designs look hideous (at least we get that Broppy romance), and i doubt that it'll beat Under the Boardwalk or Butterfly Tale.

nyway, tell me your thoughts on what I said in either of these paragraphs and feel free to state your opinions, even if you don't agree!

#under the boardwalk #under the boardwalk movie #under the boardwalk 2023 #under the boardwalk spoilers #movie spoilers #my thoughts on trolls 3 #my thoughts on under the boardwalk 2023 #nickelodeon #nickelodeon movies #butterfly tale movie

[mrawkweird]

A lot of the more hyperbolic reactions have come from long time Sonic heads who sort of rightfully feel gypped. I've only seen episode one and various clips so far. Episode one being the one praised for feeling the most like the movies.

Though from what I've gathered, the show is at it's best when Knux is around or/and they really lean into the insanity of the situation.

I've heard people freak out and go "Damn, if the shows this bad then I got no faith in Sonic 3" like the muti million blockbuster is really gonna try and emulate the shit from the possibly less than one million streaming show, plus we already know the details about the trailer we just haven't seen it for ourselves yet.

I got to say at this point I just respect the hustle Paramount pulls with Sonic series, having the main draw be these expensive ass cgi characters but filming enough stuff with humans to balance out the cost so the movies are never too expensive so unless they go up against some expected to be box office juggernaut they're garneted to at least meet back their budget at the box office

Anyways I'm gonna watch the show at slow pace, possibly just on or two a day opposed to binging it.

Also would you believe me if I told you this wasn't the first Knuckles spin off with the complaint of not focusing on Knuckles enough?

I do believe it because I know that frustration mostly stems from the feeling that Knuckles won't ever get the credit they believe he deserves due to past events. The world could always use more Knuckles but I think the last thing this show ever did was disrespect the character. Hell, one episode even feels like a straight up tribute to him. One might even be able to argue that the series as a whole is a tribute. A very affordable tribute. When it comes down to it I think they just showed exactly why this thing still had a movie looking budget for a streaming series and it's because they used as much as could be afforded for it.

Also, if people enjoyed episode 1 most of all then there should be no worry about the third movie considering that was the one episode actually involving the director of the films. Like, I get we've all been burned before and not just by Sonic but I don't think we're back in "Ugly Sonic" territories of down bad like some would make it out to be. I have absolute faith that fans will be eating like Robotnik in those theaters come December.

#Knuckles

[true-blue-sonic]

sorry blue this time i'm not gonna talk about silver but;

considering espio as an underrated character:

i think SEGA and paramount have to surpass themselves to make a new and amazing characterization to our boy, with the fact that the sonic movie has the ability to turn a hated character into the best one

without forgetting other members of teal chaotix of course, i also think the best moment to undroduce them could be not in sonic movie 3 but in the fourth, beacause of shadow plus maybe amy and MAYBE SILVER, too much characters, and i really wanna see espio becoming the powerfulest ninja warrior as well as i see him in my mind, so to take the time to make an amazing enter they should make them in 4th movie

did you have the same throughs, and if no what about yours?

One the one hand, I would love to see more members of the game cast in the movies, but on the other hand, I think said movies have a setting that makes it highly difficult to incorporate the game cast in the way they deserve and that gives each added individual time to shine. In short, I feel like the fact the movies take place in the human world and with human characters as main casts makes it difficult to introduce game characters. In the second movie, the (by lack of a better term) OC human characters were kind of 'left out' into a wedding plot while Sonic, Tails, Knuckles and Robotnik were doing all sorts of things with the compass and Master Emerald. And though eventually the anthro plotline and the human character plotline did come together again at the end of the wedding, I fear future instalments will suffer from the same thing: Tom and Maddie will have to be added somehow, but how to best reconcile that with the further introduction of the game cast? It would be weird to leave especially Tom out because of the central role he plays within the universe of the movies, but in the same vein, how often can the creators justify/come up with plots where the game characters travel to the human world without it getting old?

But that is just my overall view on introducing game characters into the movies, that has little to do with your question at hand. I'm not getting my hopes up for the creators introducing more characters of the games into the movies, especially less-known ones like the Chaotix or Silver, but I would absolutely love to see it! And I feel that there could be ways in which it can work, for example if the movies begin taking place entirely in a fictional setting as opposed to the human world. Though, I do fear the Chaotix are not popular or well-known-enough characters to get a whole movie for themselves. But in the same vein, I can see them be fun supporting characters in a grander overall plot! Their shtick as detectives can easily be added to many different stories, in my opinion, so I do not think much needs to be changed to their general purpose. Nor do their personalities need much editing either; they're fun and they mesh together well both within the Chaotix and with the game cast at large. With Shadow properly introduced in Sonic 3 and maybe characters like Metal Sonic or Amy (though I do doubt they'll get added, to be quite honest, especially Metal Sonic) as well, it might be too busy to also introduce the Chaotix, but I do think they can have a nice role in an upcoming instalment of the movies.

#plus seeing them all be animated would be so cool! #sonic the hedgehog movie #I do like both the movies but on the other hand‚ I am not necessarily a fan of the 'they find themselves in the real world' trope #precisely because it can be so limiting to future instalments and adding more of the games/medium the title character is from #espio the chameleon #team chaotix #and as for Silver... I believe the filmmakers said they had no plans for him : ( #my prediction is that if he appears it's gonna be in the sixth movie and the only reason for that is because of Sonic '0*6* lmao

[go-to-two]

Hi! Just wondering/hoping you could shed a little light on the writers strike situation?

I'm assuming this goes for ALL writers in the named networks, Netflix, ABC, NBC etc?

So let's say, hypothetically, a writer didn't want to be involved in it, could they still write for the show or would they not accept a script because of the strike and have to wait for it to be over and they all come to some sort of agreement? Obviously if no agreement on pay is made, filming will be pushed back from scheduled season returns, say in September (using PD as an example here) until something is settled on? Meaning possible shorter season for all shows included etc?

I will say, selfishly, I'm glad PD has finished filming, because if they had to drag out this season any longer I think I'd lose my mind 😂

Just to say, I'm 100% in support of it, what they're asking/fighting for isn't unreasonable at all, they absolutely deserve more than what they get! Without writers, we would have no shows. Period.

Hi! The negotiations are between the Writer's Guild of America (WGA, who represents writers) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP, which includes Disney, Warner Bros-Discovery, Paramount, Sony, NBCUniversal, Amazon, Netflix, and Apple- plus all their subsidaries).

There's a little clarification that needs to be made in your question! The strike doesn't apply to "all writers in the named networks", it applies to all writers in the WGA.

If a writer is part of the WGA, they can not write for, pitch, edit, or take meetings with a "struck" company, nor is the company allowed to accept work from them. If they are in the guild, they are in the strike.

If a writer is not part of the WGA, they are technically allowed to work with these companies. That's referred to as scabbing, and it's as looked down upon as it sounds. Crossing picket lines and providing work while the WGA is trying to squeeze the networks/streamers can result in a future barring from the guild altogether- and when things are operating as normal, you need the guild to get work. Producers who worked with them can be passed over for future projects with the WGA as well.

The main exception to this whole thing would be productions- namely, game shows reality shows- whose writers are not represented by the guild. They can and likely will continue work.

Frankly, I don't know what the timing and fallout of this strike will be but if it continues for a long time, delayed and abbreviated seasons would be the most immediate outcomes audiences will see. So you're correct, thank goodness this season of PD is done and the conclusion is already finished.

It's a pivotal strike for the industry right now. If anyone hasn't seen the document the WGA released detailing what they're asking for versus what AMPTP is offering, do! It's terrifying.

#anon ask #tv talk

[phasesofpencils]

Ok so one more post i wanna say to the rise fandom, and forgive me if i get something wrong I've only been here for 2 weeks.

1) Remain CAUTIOUSLY optimistic! Keep your expectations in check. Hope for the best but don't expect much, if something does come of this I'd imagine it might take longer than a week to hear any definitive news on the fate of the show, good or bad. I'd give it a month and that might still be a little early.

2) i know we all want the show on Netflix, damn I do paramount sucks, but there's probably some legal hoops they'd have to go through to make that happen if they even could. Paramount is now officially Nick's hosting service for their shows for streaming. Pretty sure the only reason Netflix got the exclusive rights for the movie was because at the time of development i don't think paramount plus even existed yet. Now that it does, and it's the only legal place to watch season 2 (in the US) if we get more seasons i think its more likely it'll be on Paramount.

3) if the show does get renewed expect at least about a year for it to return or to get trailers. I know we got boards out there but idk how far into development they got on those deleted episodes. I also don't know like who has like custody of those boards ya know? I imagine Nick but i also feel like the artist who worked on those boards have been releasing them i think? Either way the point is those episodes aren't finished. And the show has been on pause for like what, 2 years right? It would be pretty difficult to get everyone back. I garuntee a large number of the people involved have moved onto other projects and don't have the time to return to the show. Plus what was already developed might still need to be edited or cut due to the sudden change in dynamic at the end of the season 2 finale (mostly leo being dubbed the leader)

4) who is this man??? (/srs /lh)

And why does it seem like we're taking his word as gospel on the fate of this show? Unless I'm getting people confused here, Everyone seemed to be talking about him talking about the show. So much so i assumed he was one of the creators, but i looked into it and he's not? Idk i kinda just glanced at his info but it seemed like the only involvement he had in Rise was creating a calendar (?) And i think creating the krangified challenge? I even asked my friend who got me into the show who was following it when it was airing and even they don't know who he is. Genuinely who is this person, just let me know if he's even a credible or reliable source. Cus unless it's coming right from the creators themselves im not convinced.

5) last thing. Please do not harrass people about the show! I've seen people try and pressure at least one youtube reviewer into reviewing it like he was the only thing standing in the way of season 3 like Nick was holding thw show at gun point til he reviewed it. (Not like that dramatic but also i don't think its going to make that much of a difference. Pretty sure these studios don't look at who's reviewing their show unless they're trying to copyright strike them) and please don't bug the people who were with or on the show. They probably can't tell you anything anyways cus ya know NDAs are a thing. Just please be civil 🙏 (but the Nick and Maybe Netflix and Paramount that's fine probably. It is always morally correct to bully corporations /hj)

#rottmnt #save rottmnt #just please be civil and realistic about this is the main take away #I know we're excited and antsy but just dont take things too far

[alphacentaurinebula]

Small break from regularly scheduled good omens content because I finally watched the end of Lioness and like…come on. I knew it was a crap show the whole time I was watching it, but like…fucking hell.

In aid of anyone who like…doesn’t want to write bad stories, here are many of the things lioness did wrong. Please look away if you liked this show I’m not here to spoil anyone’s fun. Full spoilers below the cut.

- almost every single plot strand outside the main secret agent infiltration narrative was totally random and completely external, rather than grown from character or existing story. Not enough CIA shooting in this ep? Oh, your team has been borrowed for an illegal mission on US soil. Natural family angst not at a high enough level? Ah, daughter’s in a deadly car accident with people we’ve never seen or heard of and won’t again. Oh, and she’s randomly pregnant at 14! Cool cool cool. But it’s ok cuz god gives her an abortion

- the plot REGULARLY made no sense and the characters couldn't employ logic if it slapped them in the face. Like, someone explain to me why AFTER you have already run an insertion op to start the embedding process for your asset - thus meaning that the mark could contact her at ANY POINT - you decide THAT is the moment when you should fake abduct her, beat her up enormously, including on her face. Like, if it had been a ploy to get Aaliyah's sympathy that would have been one thing, but they 100% hadn't thought it through at all. These are supposed to be crack agents???

- they had a central moral quandary but they didn’t understand what it was or what they were trying to say. Was it about how money is all that counts and rich people are gonna rich no matter who you kill (eg all the weird dialogue with Nicole Kidman's husband)? Was it that fighting terrorism with terrorism is ineffective and pointless and cruel (literally one single conversation between Joe and Cruz at the end)? Is it that trying to have it all as a woman is not possible when you’re a super secret agent (I think this one was unintentional consequence of super clichéd writing tbh)? Was it that any problem can be solved with enough shooty fighty (prob the most evidence for this one)? The show certainly doesn't know, so how could I?

- the show was BAD at writing queer women. Like, ok, it was hot, and aaliyah and cruz had interesting potential. But there were these moments that rang SO false. Like...after Cruz runs from the hotel room after sleeping with Aaliyah, Joe heads off to meet her. She grabs Bobby and says, let's go. I literally was like, oh, finally, Bobby will talk some lesbian sense into Cruz. But Bobby was just like...there to drive the main character to the hotel?? You have a canonically queer woman and another going through extreme queer angst and you just...don't put them in the same room?

- the politics. Like, Ok. I know it's paramount plus. I know it's the same guy who did Yellowstone. I know it's US propaganda, and copaganda, and like every ganda that's known to humankind. I know it's not overtly antiabortion but also kind of is, I know it has a THING about the way it writes woman (like..did Joe really seem the type to have kids to anyone?? Are women EVER allowed to be strong and badass without a rape backstory AND an abuse backstory?). It's all terrible. But fine, whatever I sort of signed up for it. I knew from the first five minutes that this was going to be America Rah Rah Shootytime, and tbh I knew from the posters. But the thing that really pissed me off in the end? The like absolutely random and unnecessary barbs at climate change. There were just a few moments but it basically made out like the politicians wanted to keep this 'terrorist' alive because he was artificially inflating the price of oil and they're trying to 'wean the country off fossil fuels'. Like, REALLY? We don't have enough conspiracy theories? Fucksake.

And finally - the ending. After all the moral questioning about whether she can kill Aaliyah's father or not, Cruz's hand is forced and she ends up having to kill or be killed, which is an utter cop out. She also does not go back for Aaliyah. I'm sorry. That is some bullshit. I just don't buy it. I mean the whole plan was super dumb - literally, it really made zero sense - but was Cruz really happy to put Aaliyah in jeopardy that way? She is the one who brought this killer into the house - does Cruz really think she is safe? And given everything Aaliyah was saying about how little she wanted that life, wouldn't Cruz have offered her the chance to run with her? I dunno. Obviously not all lesbian stories have to be happy. But that one was just DUMB.

Ok, thus ends my rant on the narrative shortcomings of a terrible show that I watched because...lesbians. Anyway. I hope you either enjoyed the show, or enjoyed the rant!

#special ops: lioness #lioness spoilers #lioness series #lioness paramount

[vampiregirl-in-a-barbieworld]

Cleuce together possibility in G3?

Now granted I haven't seen all episodes of the new Monster High since I don't have paramount plus but it seems to me Cleo and Deuce have hardly had any interaction at all despite their history together in G1 like I know G3 is a reboot but that always stuck out to me and made me sad watching the new Monster High like I've yet to even see these two even just talk to eachother? um what? So when I saw this snippet on YouTube of Deuce and Cleo dancing together and flirting I got so giddy as a Cleuce shipper 😍 I really hope we see Cleuce together in G3 even if it doesn't work out I love their dynamic together so much and I think with how more balanced their personalities are in G3 they may have a healthier relationship this time around. I'm hoping for G3 Cleuce that Cleo finally stands up to her family and defends her relationship with Deuce instead of letting Nefera and her father come between them and I'm hoping if Deuce gets broken up with by Cleo again over her family he stands up for himself and tells Cleo he deserves better than to be broken up with over what her family thinks of him. I love Cleuce it's one of my favorite ships and I hope if they're together again we see them continue to grow together 💚💙

#monster high #mh g3 #cleo de nile #monsterhigh #deuce gorgon #cleuce