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cf56 · 2 years

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What's going on with Yakko that he felt the need to make and carry around an egg daughter?

This is a tough one. I saw a theory by someone else, don’t remember who, that he made it because he misses when his sibs were little and he had to care for them. That doesn’t make sense to me, though, because they’ve always been the same age.

I could see a modified version of that theory working, however. Even if they don’t physically age, they still accumulate life experience. Maybe they are less dependent on him now than they used to be. It does seem like they’re branching out more individually in the reboot, while before they followed him around like magnets. Maybe the egg is his response to that.

A sadder theory, perhaps- in season 2 of the reboot, Wakko said that they can’t have children because they’re hybrids. Maybe Yakko wants to have kids, but knows that he can’t because he never ages and couldn’t produce one anyway. He would adopt, if he didn’t already have two small siblings to look after, and if anyone would let him adopt a human child, but they wouldn't. So he created a fake surrogate daughter. (Side note- I think it’s cute that it’s a daughter and not Yakko Jr. or something.)

But, really, I think the more boring and lighthearted answer is likelier to be true. He just felt like doing it for fun. Maybe it was a sarcastic rib on his siblings- “Look at how well behaved my precious and well-adjusted daughter Yolko is. Why can’t you two be like that?” Or maybe he created it specifically for the exact situation he used it in, as a gag if anyone ever asked him about parenthood, so he could deflect and avoid having to verbally admit how he acts as a father figure to his sibs.

One last dark horse possibility- my mom told me about how she had to take home an egg and care for it as a baby for a school assignment. I got a robotic baby when it came time for me to do that, but that’s beside the point. Maybe the egg is simply an assignment from “school”, if the Warners go to a real school. Maybe it was assigned to him by one of his siblings in that fake school they hold with each other.

So, yeah. I personally don’t think the egg is that deep. It could be, but it would be on a very deep subconscious level for Yakko, he might not even realize the real reason he did it.

Thanks for another intriguing ask, if you’re the same anon as before. (And also if you aren’t.) If anyone has anything to add, or some other topic to ask about, don't hesitate to share!

#animaniacs #yakko warner #yolko warner #the warner siblings #answered ask #animaniacs headcanon #cfposts

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cf56 · 2 years

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In the reboot the Warners are very openly violent with each other, they go after each other in ways that in the original series they saved solely for their enemies. Do you think this is something they are being forced to do by their new writers or has there been some sort of negative shift in their relationships with each other? Primarily it seems to be Wakko and Dot against Yakko. Could this even be part of the reason Yakko created Yolko?

I think criticism of the reboot can often be over the top, but this is one point I do agree with. I think the writers (real world writers) fell into the trap of knowing they needed to include cartoony violence but didn't know when or how to use it. In much of the reboot, the Warners are the only cartoon characters around, so they end up directing the violence at each other. If you think about it compared to the original, though, they also seem to be strangely reserved when it comes to using violence against their human "special friends" in the reboot. Why aren't they dropping anvils on Ralph or smashing Nora with a mallet? They just sort of hang around and talk most of the time. Almost seems like they've mellowed out, but the opposite has happened in regards to how they interact with each other.

In the original, they were kind of written in most cases as a single character with three different personalities. Rarely separated, always pursuing the same goal. Basically, if you wouldn't write a single character malleting themselves, you shouldn't write the Warners malleting each other. I think the change can be described succinctly like this: they went from acting like the Marx Brothers to acting more like The Three Stooges.

In-universe, I think there are some things we have to establish first when looking at this dilemma. First, toons cannot be permanently injured except by means of a plot device specifically devised to injure them (Dip). It's also unclear if they actually feel pain, or if they just have comedic reactions to violence that simulate being in pain. It's possible that the Warners aren't hurting each other at all. If you knew you could hurt your siblings without actually causing them pain, would you?

Perhaps the answer to that is irrelevant in the Warners' case, because the Warners are closer than regular siblings. They are not just the only family each of them have ever had. The only people in general who care genuinely about them is each other. Their relationship is built on total, implicit trust. Whether they can really hurt each other or not, the fact that they try at all is troubling. I'll get into detail on that lower down.

I have one solid theory on why it started happening, in-universe. We all know the Warners can't physically change. But I think some people let that fact trick them into thinking the Warners also can't mentally change. Like any other living being with a brain, the Warners learn and develop and grow (mentally). If they didn't, they wouldn't really be living beings. People have often pointed out that it feels like the Warners are older in the reboot. And, yeah, they kind of are. I don't know if that's what the reboot writers intended, but I don't think it's really canon-shattering to think that the Warners aren't exactly the same now as they were in the 90's. There's one particular event that may have changed their outlook on life permanently- the cancellation of their original show, followed by whatever happened in the 22 years in between that and the reboot.

My headcanon is that the cancellation of the original show deeply affected Yakko in a negative way. He felt like he failed his siblings, let their livelihood and ticket to freedom be taken away. Worst of all, he didn't even know exactly what he did wrong to deserve the cancellation. In truth, it was nothing, just the changing economics of the animation industry, but that doesn't stop him from blaming himself. So, when the Warners are reanimated and put back on air, his mindset has changed. This is what led him to becoming more openly protective/paternal towards his siblings in the reboot. It led to him becoming more anxious as well. He has decided that he must guide them more firmly if he wants to protect them and avoid another cancellation. However, becoming more like a father figure and exercising his authority over his siblings had an unintended side effect- his siblings started to rebel. Not in any major way, but they take what liberties they can to get back at him for his annoying behavior, which is where the violence comes from. I have explored this concept in some of my fics, most openly in "The Warners Write."

That's my best explanation for this- but it isn't that simple. Before I elaborate, let me eliminate some other possibilities. First, that the Warners are simply getting tired of each other after almost a century. Maybe, but I don't think it's the case. I don't think it's possible for the Warners to get tired of each other. They adore each other, now and always. Second, the possibility, as you said, that they are being forced to do it by the fictional writers of their in-universe show.

There's nothing about that theory that inherently makes it unlikely. It probably is the best explanation overall. I just don't like it, because it's kind of... lazy? I don't know, there's probably a better way to describe it. But when you start getting into this territory, there's nothing to stop you from saying that everything the Warners do is just part of the script, and then the entire canon falls apart and we're back to square one. If nothing the Warners do represents their actual personalities and actions, then there's no point speculating on anything they're shown to do, ever, at all. Plus, if everything they do is part of the fictional show, then there's really no difference in discussing it from discussing it as a real world show. They're still directed by writers and live a fictional life, which is exactly how it really plays out on our screens. You're just adding another pointless meta-layer to it.

Anyway, now to that big climax I've been putting off. You heard my best explanation. That explanation works well enough for when it's the younger siblings directing violence towards Yakko. The problem arises when it's Yakko directing violence towards them.

The single worst instance of this inter-sibling violence problem in the reboot, the one I absolutely can't stand or explain at all, is, coincidentally, its very first scene. There's just no way to explain it that's consistent with the characters of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.

When I first saw this scene... it didn't bother me at all, of course. It was the first scene of Animaniacs I ever saw. I couldn't have known then how awful and out of character this moment is. But I do now. And it's hard to watch. Am I being too dramatic about it? You be the judge.

It isn't the using Wakko as a battering ram that bothers me. It's the slap after. Yakko says "Oh, right, it's a pull, not a push." Then he promptly punishes his little sibling for his own mistake, after he already gave him a pointless head bashing against the door. Neither he nor Dot even show an ounce of concern at any point.

Now, sometimes siblings play rough. Sometimes they seriously hurt each other. This doesn't necessarily harm their relationship. In some cases, it even makes it stronger (as long as it doesn't rise to the level of bullying). The same would not be true if, say, a father did the exact same thing to his child. That would be abuse, possibly, negligence at best, if it was accidental, and the father should feel guilty for it.

To see what I mean, imagine this exact same scene playing out, but Slappy is in the place of Yakko and Skippy is in the place of Wakko. Kind of changes the connotation, doesn't it? But it shouldn't, really. By and large, Yakko is just as much of a parental figure to Wakko as Slappy is to Skippy. The size difference is even similar. Some of you may not know this, but Yakko is actually taller than Slappy.

Point is, Yakko holds the absolute trust of his siblings. They can be violent to him, but him being violent to them is a completely different ballgame. Using Wakko as a weapon, making him visibly beat up, and then twisting the blame for your mistake onto him and hitting him once more for good measure is almost abusive-level conduct. It would be straight-up abuse if we didn't know these were toons who can take damage without actually being injured. There isn't a way to explain it in-universe. As much as I hate to resort to such simple answers, the best explanation here is that the reboot writers simply got it wrong. They tried to write the Warners like Daffy and Bugs. This scene would be absolutely fine if it was between those two, because they're rivals, not the closest set of siblings in the world.

Sometimes the reboot gets it right, though. For example, when Nora knocks Wakko off the desk, and the next frame shows his siblings at least checking on him.

Since the egregious example of Yakko hitting Wakko happened in the first scene of the first episode, I can just chalk it up to the writers not really knowing the characters yet (though they should've, but that's beside the point). To frame this all in a more positive way, ignoring that one scene, I think Yakko might actually be proud of his siblings for standing up to him more and developing their own boundaries. He did his job- he raised them to be self-confident and assured. It took a century, but he did it, and he can withstand a little physical pain along the way. It's worth it.

As for Yolko, if you take my main theory earlier, it could be connected. Yakko is proud that his siblings are branching off a little, but he does miss when they followed him without question. So he gave himself someone else to raise from scratch, an egg. Though it probably isn't literally alive, since it would need to be constantly incubated.

I didn't really intend for this post to turn into a long rant about the reboot. If this is the only post of mine you've seen, you might think I'm some reboot hater. If you've been following me for some time, though, I hope you already know that isn't the case. The reboot got me into Animaniacs. Even if it was the worst thing in the world, I could never hate it. And it's far from the worst thing in the world. It has a few flaws, some glaring, but overall I still love it, and I think it's only gotten better as time has gone on.

I'm really pleased with the number of asks coming in over the past few days. If the current pace of asks continues, though, I probably will not be able to continue answering them the day they come in, especially since I returned to college yesterday. Keep sending them if you have them, but my response may not be instantaneous.

#animaniacs #yakko warner #wakko warner #dot warner #the warner siblings #animaniacs 2020 #answered ask #cfposts

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