#;; I JUST REALLY REALLY REALLY ////REALLY//// HATE SAVINO

[voidthewanderer]

WIP Whenever!

Got myself a tag from @typosandtea thank you!

No pressure tags for @romaniwasteland @gardening--tools @secondhand-lions @meatgrinderminefield and anybody else who wants to do this! These are so much fun 🤩

Drawing:

I present to you: part of the reason why I have to wear noise cancelling earbuds when I work on art! Paperlike screen protectors are loud AF and when you also have YouTube playing, a radio in the next room over, a clock ticking, two different conversations going on at the same time, and occasionally a really loud Steam Deck being played; I get super overwhelmed and angry by all the noise.

Writing:

I’ve been actively working on Addicted, though chapter seven is still very baby stages. I keep trying to remind myself that Shae’s story is not and will never be a happy one; the “unfortunately attracted to the abuse they’re stuck in” situation. A life I’d imagine someone like Shae would wind up being in.

But this chapter is one that really highlights that and the fact that even bad guys are still people who can do normal, not bad things. Gonna throw the writing under cut for length.

Jason pulled Shae into a small shack as the rain started to pick up. He'd felt her body almost violently shaking at that point and knew he wasn't going to make any progress with her stumbling about.

Small was a bit of an exaggeration. Clearly abandoned, but it was the perfect size for a single person to live comfortably away from others. Twin sized mattress propped up on some pallets, a very dusted over loveseat. Small, cobweb filled wood stove… Best of all; dry.

Jason threw himself down onto the bed, the springs giving a pained creak at the new weight on it. Shae just stood in the middle of the room, seeming unable to process everything that was going on. She watched as the lanky man sat up, "What, you wanna keep stumbling about in the rain?"

"No, I just…" she sighed, was she seriously getting used to being around these people? Feeling bad for them? "'M sorry about your friend."

"Don't act like you didn't want it to happen."

"I'm a fighter, not a murderer."

Jason snorted, "Didn't think about all'a 'at when you fucked a ganger, didjya? That he'd wind up being a murderer like the rest'f us."

Despite the taunting, sardonic tone in Jason's voice, she didn't feel anger by it. She knew where it came from; something she was all too familiar with. Was this what the settlers got after Lorelei was found? She had some people she needed to apologize to if that was the case.

"If it's any consolation, Savino is a shitty shot when he's angry. And I know that wasn't a shotgun that was fired."

"An' the other one?" Jason's brow perked, seeming interested. That taunt never left his voice, though.

"Better shot, but more level headed; he'll only fire first if he know there's immediate danger. You know they just want to get me home. And your friend wasn't exactly a threat to them missing an eye."

Jason didn't respond, though kept his icy blue eyes on Shae. She did seem to stiffen slightly at his gaze, though he understood why; he just had that effect looking at people. The dark bags under his eyes only made them brighter… sharper… narrowed lids making the striking blue piercing.

He let the silence hang for a moment longer, deciding he hated it, "So; who's better?"

Her head tilted slightly in confusion. Fuck, that actually looked… cute. Who knew how long they'd be there for…

"Between those two an' th' boss. Who gives dick better?"

Shae nearly cleared the room in a second, smacking Jason. He grabbed her wrist, wrenching it down to drag her face to his, "The fuck's your problem, whore?"

"I'm not one of the girls from the brothel, the fuck you going on about?!"

Jason let her go, her stumbling back slightly as he shoved her arm away, "You've gotta be fuckin' kidding me."

It fell silent for a moment, the pale man staring wide-eyed. Slowly, the corners of his mouth pulled into a bitter smile, a low chuckle delving into manic laughter, "The fuck we take ya for then? 'E made it seem like ya were the woman they were fuckin' over there!"

"Why the fuck would I cheat on my partner with his married brother?! Or a ghoul for that matter?!" she shuddered the unsavory thought away, though this time is didn't feel so disgusting, "God, just the thought of that."

Jason only groaned again, "The fuck was he doin' up there with ya, then?! If he didn't fuck ya, Maxson lost his eye for nothin'."

All Shae could do was take a step back, gesturing at her new clothes, "Outside of this? And the usual arguing?"

"So he got a show an' didn't do fuckin' anything." Noted. Sinjin was self sabotaging. As much as he hated to admit it, Dusty was right. Sinjin should have fucked her in the woods. Ended things by Rock Tavern. Hell, they most likely could have. But no. Keep hiding, keep quiet. Let's keep going to Boston.

"What, realizing that him not actually thinking with his dick is killing you guys off?"

Jason tore up off the bed, squaring himself up over Shae's frame. Yes, he was only eight inches taller than her, but her shrinking back at the sudden approach made him feel taller. His face practically hovered over hers, her taking in the small details.

Up close his age was evident, though his seemingly self inflicted scarring tugged the finer wrinkles taught. The dark rings under his eyes were more red than purple; how often did he actually sleep? Despite spending most of his life in the wasteland, his skin wasn't too pockmarked or scarred outside of the aforementioned.

"Not feelin' so high and mighty now, are ya?" he hissed, his breath hot against her face.

"You're grieving, Jason," she saw his eyes widen slightly, almost shocked she knew his name, "Don't be mad at me for what he did."

Before Jason could say anything, he felt her hands on his face; one full palm cupping his cheek, the other brushing fingers along his scars. She changed the subject, "What are these? They're so… precise."

He pulled back from her touch, though tried to mirror the light touch on her own facial scars. She flinched away, expecting to be hit. He kept his voice low, "Did 'em with my previous group. Was th' only human in a group'a ghouls, felt left out with th' scarring. Don't mean anything, just thought it looked cool. One'a th' prewar ghouls told me 'bout cosmetic scarring, said 'e knew how t' do it."

Managing to finally brush his fingers along her scar, he did before cupping it within his own hand, "How'd this happen?"

Unlike his, hers were clearly from something less controlled. Four long, semi-deep gashes that had long since started to blend in with her pale complexion. He couldn't tell if she was just trying to save face or showing genuine curiosity towards himself. All he knew was that he needed to keep his guard up. She tried to run away and he'd be cooked.

"Coy-dog. There's lots of them in the area. Got into one of the chicken coops, I just happened to be the one tending that part of the farm that day. Think I was fourteen when it happened." She answered it so easily; like they hadn't just had a minor fight a few moments earlier.

She felt his thumb brush against the scarring again. What… was happening? This entire interaction felt… weird. A strange discomfort of nerves tugged at her stomach, not liking being so close to the other; yet the feeling also wasn't unwanted. Human touch… His eyes flicking over her face, studying it. She didn't know what to think. What to feel.

A ruse? A shot being taken? Guilt? More importantly for her, why the fuck was she feeling it? She didn't stab Maxson's eye out. She didn't tell him to go ponyshow to Savino and Drogo. Yet, she still felt responsible.

"Jason?"

His eyes flicked back up to hers. He took a step back, sitting back onto the bed, "Go t' sleep. I'll wake ya when th' storm passes."

"Maybe you should sleep instead?"

He snorted, laying back, "An' you think I'm gonna trust ya t' not run off?"

"Where am I gonna go? As far as we ran from that tavern, I wouldn't get close enough before you caught up."

"You think I wanna have t' travel that far back an' deal with Sinjin's wrath for being late? Absolutely not. You're gonna sleep an' I'm gonna keep watch."

[channeleven]

Recollection on Later Dexter's Laboratory Seasons

Over the past couple of days I've had Dexter's Laboratory on my mind. I'm more than familiar with the series, I have seen a lot of Cartoon Network in the early-2000s and got to know a majority of the old greats.

With Dexter's Laboratory, I got to experience episodes of the show from both eras. As a kid I thought the show was weird, and this is referring to the show as a whole, I didn't know what to make of it, same for a show like Rugrats, also a series that mostly changed as it went on coincidentally.

Not to say I was oblivious to everything that changed about shows I was familiar with. I did catch onto most of the differences between Johnny Bravo's first and middle seasons for instance. But as I got older I became more receptive to what changed about these shows, and I also got to see that a lot of people weren't always so kind to shows like these as they entered their later seasons, and Dexter's Laboratory's third and fourth seasons are generally frowned upon.

Now I get it, the seasons were harmed by Dexter's creator Gendy Tartakovsky leaving the production after the TV movie Ego Trip. Without his input, the remaining creatives were essentially left to fend for themselves and make something out of the new episodes.

Chris Savino was appointed to showrun the last two seasons. He has done a lot of disgusting things, but if you wanna get technical, these had occurred time after his tenure on Cartoon Network, at least as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong. If it is true, then beyond his proverbial stench by name alone, his Dexter seasons can still be seen with some degree of separation from the artist.

But that aside, Dexter's Laboratory wasn't Savino's only rodeo on Cartoon Network. He was also hired to oversee the later seasons of PowerPuff Girls, and was also behind what I consider to be a pretty terrible Cartoon Network pilot Foe Paws. Before I go further, regardless of what I may say about the seasons as well as the general consensus, to me, it's far from the worst things he has overseen.

This will just be a personal recollection, so I won't go into excruciating detail. I'm just going into my opinion on these seasons in general and why I don't hate it.

For his part, the Savino Dexter episodes are a farcry from the previous ones, resorting to cheaper jokes that don't always align with the humor of previous seasons, most characters are dumbed down and the animation and art direction was changed as well. Whiplash withstanding, and that's just what it boils down to.

Which are fair arguments. A show can't stay consistent forever if it goes on for too long. However, there have been exceptions where a show in spite of its changes managed to not only thrive but gain fan approval overtime. For example, Johnny Bravo underwent radical changes in the second and third seasons, but overtime people grew accustomed to them and felt there've been positive qualities even beforehand. Perhaps ironically the show began to suck when its original creator came back and tried to return it to its previous state.

Of course you may say Dexter's Laboratory's later seasons didn't really add that much that people would go on to enjoy, and fair enough.

When it comes to the episodes themselves, I just prefer to view them as their own thing. This is easily helped by the new animation style, where I can single out the Savino episodes and know what I'd be in for. People dogged on this, but the style can be real helpful in that regard. As for the style itself, it's different but I managed to adjust to it pretty well, owed to me playing a lot of CartoonNetwork.com games from the era. The change was noticeable, but not necessarily horrible, at least in my opinion. I mean compared to Savino's PPG era the changes between his and McCracken's episodes were surprisingly not as drastic compared to Dexter (all I really noticed changed was Ms. Keane), so maybe people were just upset that he could've kept it close but didn't. I think it could've been worse though but that's just how I see it.

Some Dexter fans, while dogging on the later seasons at least consider the fourth to be an improvement from the third. I'd say the third was the creatives trying to find their footing and a middleground and they got into the groove for the next season, or people managed to adjust to the changes well enough.

I can accept a decline in quality, but I don't hate the later seasons. Going into them without any context that would develop over the years I liked the episodes for what they were. Maybe I saw the Savino episodes first back then, I was watching Cartoon Network on and off around this time when the episodes were new and thus I was able to avoid that kind of whiplash. Maybe there wasn't that big of a difference if you weren't a fervent Dexter's fan, or maybe I just have low standards.

What I can say is that the third and fourth seasons of Dexter's Laboratory at large are... okay. Not to the standard set with its previous seasons, but you can do a whole lot worse. I doubt Gendy could've kept the quality of the episodes consistent forever especially as he had a conclusion set. Maybe if people had more time with the Savino seasons they could've at least adjusted to it, some do say the fourth season was better.

But for now, this is perhaps the only thing by Savino I consider to be decent, and this was far from the worst thing ever.

[the-firebird69]

There's a huge number of people hate these clones for their gay ads they're going after them and savino says that's a bit much but he wants it to cut them off to launch the ships but it's kind of the same people don't start beating on him and his elite guard

This is the size of the inside of our cathedrals the usual size is about twice as high as most of the cathedrals in Europe and it's impressive because none are as big and I do mean and his churches are teeny compared to it and some of them are quite high 25 feet and things like that but he wanted them to be a little humble but they took it the wrong way but boy this is an incredible cathedral it's up in the northern part of Norway and it's near the tundra and it's frigid inside usually and they heat it with a humongous fireplace it's designed to be a furnace and he said very well in 20 minutes after the fire is going pretty good the whole place heats up to about 60° that's very warm up there and you can get it to 70 and still can get a little and it'll stay that way all night long with the coals it's a beautiful cathedral and it is steaming steaming huge on the inside even when I was in it it was breathtaking to me and it is actually like this on the inside at this very moment about 15 ft tall and the top of the inside of the ceiling is about 85 ft which is about 7 1/2 stories tall it's supposed Sarasota City the parking garage is about 20 ft shy of the heights it's very high and people know that that's pretty high and it said it's that stupid doctor building that's about the same height and he went to and he told them f*** off we're going to sue them cuz they're smiling cuz they're a bunch of weirdos. Going to take your building your cars your houses your money your stuff you can smile all you want a little weirdos any of you have gotten anything by smiling at us that way.

It'll be a house of God but people think it's a house for the demons and that's the whole name of the game and three sixes and our son and daughter explain it cuz they came up with it means 18 or 1 8. And they grew up with that code was Frank Castle hardcastle and Duke Nukem Blockbuster and the formulated it with them and the military formulated it which they're part of. And we are part of. And this is awesome the inside of the new cathedral looks like this it's built with very similar arches and they are somewhat ornate like this yes and people wanted it that way and our son and daughter did and we did an Olympus and it is a Hallmark of what we were doing in the past to let people know yeah we're powerful and people knew it too and that's why they did it it was out of reverence and fear and I need to try and be us and like us and some of it is great of course but really it's all and what we've done is strikes fear into everyone and it's power

Thor Freya

I have to laugh you're talking about power and he's done his whole life is abused here he's kind of acknowledging it thinking of it but it looks like he's just fooling around and Thor Freya kind of get irritated actually all do is saying no no I havenl an itch and Harry tells us he's itching and he can't stop it it's powerful and stuff so they're trying to threaten for stuff and things like that. And she's right on the money. And that was Hera. And he's laughing but it's not funny she says. So have a great time and you say look at the big church come on that's impressive that is intense she says it is intense and it looks gigantic it's bigger than the ones in Britain and maybe not twice and they say yeah and those are about 45 ft and these are about 85 to 90 ft it's intense and it looks like Lord of the rings on the inside and people going to love these cathedrals they're gigantic inside and we have to find one show them but this is what the inside looks like to a degree and there's cage in there statues and people think they're real and but boy they intense you should see it it is intense people's reactions cuz we put some in the other one that's a test he and I did it was Zeus and I and our wives were there too but we did it he used his character that is mine but and that you're there but it was us for secret project I'm going to put it out there now 2 hours intense reactions emotional reactions some people get sick and they threw up in their jackets and their jacket pockets in their hands and held it and went outside some people bar so bad they put in their shirt and it was intense people are shaking and quivering and fear someone turned pale white and started to sweat and they called the ambulance and it was really really awesome because, and Justin is not laughing yet but he shall, the cage you stand most of them about 20 or 30 ft and about 80 ft long inside this massive cathedral and people are shaking in fear and then crying and asking for forgiveness and he and I and our wives behind us wall scene and about 15 or 18 ft we're almost as tall as the cage you and they started pissing their pants and we said in Norwegian good day to you and he has this big long beard and it's white as snow and it's like my God it's Odin himself one person yelled it out and on the way out he wasn't saying anything he said and watch it without yelling someone might know who you are. And they said it's him it's him and they couldn't move they were in fear is wearing a crown and it's well documented we went in and we did a blessing and they saw how we did it it was a little long but they watch the ceremony and didn't do anything no phones nothing and they didn't use the phones inside and that's what we wanted to show people

Thor Freya

So our son and daughter say the ones hair looks crazy like she's possessed and she wants to know what it was about and I said they said it was that day at the temple in Norway and he said it like that like that "that one day" and she got the shivers she went home and cried a little and told her people

Haha she peed a little too yucky says stop it okay that's funny

Hera

Zues

There's a religious occasion and we get to speak. So stop flipping. We know you're younger and we hear you I had problems definite problems. But here we go we're advertising this and we're sending it out and we're going to have the Kaiju put in there. And we'll have the pulpit and so forth arrangements and there's a sacristy there's acquired area there is a what looks like a sacrificial table but it's not there's a whole bunch of things in there that are typical for this type of cathedral where it references the beast that is controlled by God almighty. And Goddess and we do not mention them because of our culture. And the kju are huge the statues and they are purely for people to look at and affect them to see what they look like and smaug is in there in several of them. And his wife and their white as snow and absolutely beautiful creatures. And we have an artisans that make them and it is us and we do carve them and it's out of something specific each one of them and it is a wonderful Stone and they're going to be available for sale but only at a certain size and the larger ones are not for sale that are in our cathedrals and we're going to be putting these wherever someone request them because it is something that they want to have followers worshiping and if people who are worshiping God and yes Goddesses. And it's not really prevalent that the women are brought out front or Goddesses. We're getting requests and offers and not from Italy. Although they might think about it and Sicily is an option. And it does make sense Madonna was from there and they're starting to freak out a little because they do get it and Chris's race and clan and crossbred and tons of people are obscenely obsessed now. It was Olympus but I crept back in and yeah Thor and Freya

We're going to use this time to thank our son and daughter and Thor and Freya for their time this is intense and it's finally come it's a long time coming. It was going to come on but fine but okay they made him swear. He doesn't like to. And we're going to allow a certain size and he wants nuata Ariana to announce it

And they say they shall on a separate sheet

Olympus

We're not going to write up a scroll and on it will have these concepts about the beginnings of the cathedral of this kind it was just a regular cathedral and we changed it and they did visit it and they were the first of ours and they had patrons before us all. And they had patrons in there before yes before the Entourage it was greatness but on a separate sheet he they will do it

[builtperil]

Anonymous said:

ok, least favorite episode of all time if favorite is hard this should be a bit easy everyone has that one episode the will never like

;; SAVINO, YOU’RE UP ! there are a LOT of unfavorable episodes in the reboot season, not necessarily HORRIBLE - but ones I personally definitely prefer to skip over, be them disinteresting or otherwise irritating. 

;; ‘ babe sitter ‘ has to be THE least favorite, with PLENTY runner ups. picture several minutes of ONE unfunny joke being played out, with awkward pauses & moments galore. ' the joke? ‘ the episode itself ???? mandark is babysat by dee dee, who hears from oceanbird ( mandark’s mother ) the boy’s real name ‘ susan, ‘ & proceeds to refer to him by that name once every second for the duration of the episode - leaving mandark & the audience miserable by the end of it. ( it’s especially painful if you’re on board with the idea that mandark is trans & that’s his deadname. real fucking classy savino. )

;; ‘ a boy named sue, ‘ the reveal OF mandark’s birthname is significantly less irritating but his parents & mandark’s homelife leave SUCH a bad taste in my mouth - which is honestly SUCH a shame, because it’s shoved in our faces for a good handful of mandark’s episodes. I’ll give it credit, it introduced us to the very popular & wonderful transdark idea, but that wasn’t savino’s intent at all - making it that much more... eeeeeh. ‘ mountain mandark ‘ & most other episodes featuring mandark’s parents are unfortunately affected & get a 2/10 from me; I did personally kind of like mandark’s new attitude in the newer seasons but I also recognize it’s VERY distant from the attitude he used to have in the earlier ones, & it definitely does have it’s flaws.

;;THOSE ASIDE, ‘ D2 ‘ I found to be a little stale & OOC - as of typing this, I just watched it for the first time in a long time & I’m indifferent, if not a little salty. the episode revolves around dexter & dee dee getting along & teaming up, but it leads to everything becoming utter chaos until the parents get them fighting again. a pretty pointless episode, in my opinion. & it’s not that I don’t care to see dexter & dee dee getting along, that’s not it at all, but it could have most certainly & HAS been done better ( even canonically! ). ‘ that magic moment ‘ & most ‘ a dad / a mom / a dee dee cartoon ‘ segments were very uninteresting if not downright inconsistent with already established storylines & relationships AND ‘ lab on the run ‘ had a great concept ( robots escaping dexter’s laboratory ) but honestly annoyed & bored me to tears.

;; savino’s laboratory ( that’s what I’m gonna call it now ) has it’s good & bad moments, but these were particularly out of place & are very much my least favorites out of the ENTIRE series.

;; ‘ any least favorites from the original seasons? ‘ no, genndy’s a godsend next question

[koolkat9]

AmeLiet Week 2022: Day 5

@amelietweek

Prompt: Gakuen / Highschool / University AU/Confession/Film/Struggle

Rating: T

Paring: AmeLiet

Word Count: 852

Until Tomorrow

Tolys was leaving in two weeks. Alfred had known about this from the very beginning; after the school year concluded, Tolys would have to return to Lithuania. But now that it was here, Alfred couldn’t help but feel heartbroken.

He had gotten to know Tolys after they were partnered up in one of their shared classes. They had become fast friends shortly after that, but recently, Alfred had discovered he felt something more.

It had started after he and Tolys had watched a scary movie together, and Alfred couldn’t fall asleep. Tolys had been kind enough to stay over and even slept beside Alfred after Alfred woke up screaming from a nightmare. As he stared at Tolys’s sleeping face, it became abundantly clear that Alfred liked Tolys more than just a friend. That was four months ago.

He had two weeks left. Two weeks to come clean and finally tell Tolys how he felt. Every time he had attempted to confess in the past he would chicken out as soon as he met Tolys’s gentle gaze. Luckily their friend Kiku quickly caught onto Alfred’s feelings and failed attempts at confessions. 

“Why not film it?” Kiku suggested during one of their annual Friday movie nights. “Maybe it will be less nerve-wracking that way.”

That seemed like a reasonable solution, and, if done right, it could be very romantic. So Alfred had agreed and began compiling all the images and videos he had taken with Tolys over the course of the year, and with the help of Kiku, he compiled it into a video with a confession at the very end. Now all he had to do was send it. That proved to be the most challenging part of it all. 

“You shouldn’t leave it until the last minute,” Kiku advised. 

“I know…I know, but whenever I go to press send I just…I freeze up.”

“Hand it over,” Savino snapped. 

“What?”

The Italian rolled his eyes before snatching Alfred’s phone. “If you can’t hit send then I will.”

“Vinny!” Alfred tried to take his phone back, but Savino was persistent and sharply turned away. 

“Done,” Savino said with a smirk as he handed Alfred his phone back. 

“Vinny,” Alfred whined again. At least it was now done, and all Alfred had to do was wait for Tolys’s reply. 

He wouldn’t hear from Tolys until later that evening, leaving Alfred to worry all afternoon. He jumped at every ding of a phone, and he was constantly checking and refreshing his messages with Tolys. Finally, just before dinner, his phone dinged.

Tolys: I’m coming over.

Alfred’s heart pounded in his chest as he read the message over and over. That gave him half an hour to get ready and maybe even get Tolys some flowers. With a plan in mind, Alfred grabbed his keys and headed out. 

— 

Alfred was late getting home. When he arrived at his apartment, Tolys was standing outside the door. “You could have gone in, you know,” Alfred noted, feeling guilty for making him wait, “That’s why I gave you a spare key.”

Tolys shrugged. “I don’t know. I always felt weird just letting myself in.”

“Well, I’m here now. Would you like to come in?”

“Yes.”

Alfred unlocked the door and let Tolys inside. The Lithuanian stood awkwardly in the middle of the small living room, fidgeting with the sleeve of his sweater. Alfred hated seeing him so nervous.

“Th-These are for you,” Alfred stuttered out, handing over a bouquet of pale pink peonies. 

Tolys flushed a deep shade of red but was happy to accept the flowers. “They’re beautiful Al, thank you.”

The two lapsed into an awkward silence. Tolys caressed the petals of the flowers, trying to focus on anything but Alfred while Alfred turned towards the window as if something outside would give him an answer as to what to say next.

“So…” Alfred eventually said.

“So…”

“I really like you. B-But I don’t want this to change anything if you don’t want to. M-Maybe I should have said that before giving you the flowers. N-Not that I wouldn’t have given you–” Tolys lifted a finger to Alfred’s lip. 

“It’s okay,” Tolys said with a shy smile, “I-I was actually really happy when I got the video.”

“Really?”

“Yes really.”

“Thank God.” Finally finding his confidence, Alfred pulled Tolys into a tight hug, lifting him off the ground. Tolys laughed lightly, returning the hug with just as much force.

“Now what?” Alfred asked as he returned Tolys to the ground once more.

“Well, we have a little time before I head home, so I suppose we go on a date and see where that leads.”

In the back of Alfred’s mind, he wondered what would happen when Tolys went home. He hadn’t thought that far ahead, having been too occupied with the actual confession. Surely a long-distance relationship would come with many struggles, and it was something they would have to discuss before he left. But when Tolys extended his hand and suggested they get dinner and a movie, Alfred figured those questions could wait until tomorrow.

[thatsamericano]

Careful, Throwing Snowballs May Result in a Kiss

Pairing/Characters: America/Romano. Background mentions of Seborga, Veneziano, Canada, and France.

Ratings/Warnings: T for cursing and mildly suggestive dialogue. Pure fluff with no warnings to speak of.

Word Count: 2103

Summary: America throws a snowball at Romano when he’s trying to build a snowman with his brothers. Once Romano tackles America, he has to decide what he wants to do with him.

A/N: Written for @hetalia-fanart-memes, who requested Romerica with the prompt “Don’t throw that snowball” on @helltalia-inc. I hope you enjoy this.

It was snowing in the park only a block away from where the nations had gathered for the world meeting. Romano was never the biggest fan of the cold, so if it had been up to him, he would have gone straight back to the hotel.  He was looking forward to taking a flight back to Rome the next day, where he hopefully wouldn’t be dealing with this snow crap. In the unlikely event that it was snowing in Rome, Romano would go to Naples or another city in South Italy not affected as strongly by the winter.

But for today, Marcello, who had come along on this trip with Savino and Feliciano even if he couldn’t attend the official conference, had practically begged Savino to come build a snowman with him after the meeting. Feliciano had begged too, and under the force of two sets of puppy dog eyes, Savino had folded like a paper napkin.

This wasn’t so bad, Romano reflected. Sure, it was cold as shit, but he was relatively protected in his scarf, hat, and gloves, and he got to spend time with his brothers. At least he hadn’t been pelted with a snowball, which many of the nations had, thanks to America and Canada.

Romano glanced up when he heard France fussing about his appearance as he attempted to brush snow out of his hair. America, who was obviously the one who had thrown this particular snowball, was laughing in his usual obnoxiously bright, ridiculously loud, attention getting way. So, of course Savino turned to glance in that direction instead. He didn’t really have another choice.

Savino hated how his heart started pounding as soon as he looked at Alfred. It wasn’t fair, damn it. No one should look that handsome while just fucking standing there, hunched over a little as they laughed at their own joke like they were God’s gift to comedy. Alfredo was laughing so hard at himself that his cerulean eyes were narrowed into thin slits and tears were leaking from the corners. The sunlight reflected off his glasses, creating a bright light Savino couldn’t manage to look away from. Alfred’s grin was so big it could swallow the sky whole.

And the bastard had dimples, as if God hadn’t blessed him with too much beauty already. Savino wanted to kiss the corner of the idiota’s mouth, just to feel those dimples under his own lips. Savino swallowed heavily at the thought and told himself to focus on the snowman he’d been working on for the past half hour.

But he was too late. America’s smile had already softened, and he had already noticed that Romano was looking at him.

“What’s up, Little Italy? You feel like joining in on the snowball fight?”

Savino scoffed and forced himself to go back to reshaping his snowman’s head. “Hardly. As you can see, I’m busy at the moment.”

“Are you suuure? It could be a lot of fun.”

“If you want to go run around with America, that’s fine,” Seborga told him. “I wouldn’t mind.”

Romano wasn’t looking at his baby brother. He was looking at America, because he knew that mischievous tone of voice from back when they lived together, and he knew that Alfred was planning something. Fredo was never good at subtlety.

America was rolling a snowball together in his gloved hands with a smirk on his face. Because of course he was.

“I swear to God, if you throw that fucking snowball at me—”

The snowball went sailing through the air, and it hit him square in the chest. Savino was stumbled backwards a little, because Alfred had used way too much fucking force with that throw because of his super-strength. It wasn’t enough to really hurt him, but it was almost enough to knock him off his feet.

The sounds of laughter rang out around him. Alfred, of course, and Feli and Marcello nearby. Canada seemed to be chuckling, though he was too quiet for Romano to actually hear him, and so were the other nations nearby, even the ones like France who had been America’s snowball victims.

And that just wouldn’t fucking stand.

Romano glared at America as viciously as he could manage when he was more irritated than truly pissed off. “Now you’re gonna get it, stronzo!”

Alfred took off running, shrieking with laughter, and Savino chased after him. They ran for a couple minutes, because America could be pretty fast when he wanted to be. But he couldn’t outpace an Italian.

Eventually, Savino tackled him in a snowbank and fell right on top of him. If America had really wanted to get away, Romano would have had no hope of holding him down. But America wasn’t struggling. He relaxed back against the snowy ground, panted for air, and smiled up at Romano sheepishly.

“Looks like you caught me.”

“I guess I did.” Savino moved one of his hands to the side to gather up some snow in his palm. Alfred didn’t notice. He was still too busy grinning up at him.

Alfred giggled, because apparently, he found the idea of being in this position inherently hilarious for God knows what reason. “Now that you have me, what are you gonna do with me?”

Savino gazed down at him thoughtfully. He took a moment to examine the golden blond hair tousled underneath his knit cap and how it perfectly framed his rosy cheeks. He stared at the goofy smile and the electric blue eyes that had distracted him so thoroughly before. He memorized what it felt like to have Alfred’s firm, solid body laid out underneath him.

“I can think of a few things,” Savino admitted quietly. “Not all of them would be appropriate for a public park.”

Alfred’s eyes widened comically behind his glasses, and his face turned red. No, not just red, practically scarlet. His face practically matched the poinsettias that had been decorating the lobby of the office building they were in earlier today. “Vinny, that’s um, that’s, wow, I…”

Romano chuckled at how flustered and tongue-tied he was. “Do you want me to kiss you?”

Alfred nodded frantically, with a desperate look in his eyes. “Please.” He might have been embarrassed, but he was eager too. It was too adorable for Savino to resist.

He started to lean down, and America closed his eyes, because he was innocent and gullible enough to do that. He couldn’t see Romano’s arm lifting with the snowball he’d make earlier. A millisecond before their lips touched, Romano shoved the snowball he’d made earlier directly into the crook of America’s neck, right above his coat collar and scarf, where he was unprotected from the cold.

America’s eyes flew open, and he squawked indignantly. “You tricked me!”

Romano laughed at the offended look on his face. “You made it so fucking easy.” He couldn’t believe America had actually fallen for the oldest trick in the book.

Alfred growled at him, and the low noise sent a tingle down Savino’s spine. “That was evil. I really oughta do something about it.”

Savino snorted. “What the fuck do you think you’re gonna do, Mr. Tough Guy?”

“This.” Before Romano could ask what “this” was, America flipped them over, and in the space of a second, he was pinned underneath someone a lot stronger than him. He couldn’t have escaped if he’d wanted to. Savino couldn’t breathe properly, and he couldn’t tell if it was because of the sudden body slam or the fact that Alfred was on top of him.

To repeat, Alfred was on top of him. His brain couldn’t function at half its normal capacity when he realized that.

Then Alfred was kissing him, and it wasn’t soft, nor gentle, nor sweet. America’s tongue shoved its way into his mouth immediately, without any build-up or finesse, and Romano could feel how frustrated he was. He must have been suppressing this desire for as long as Romano had, because it didn’t just feel like something America wanted. It felt like a raw, animalistic hunger, like he was kissing Romano hard enough to bruise because he might die if he didn’t.

Savino felt the same way. He groaned in the back of his throat, clutched the collar of Alfred’s coat, hauled him close enough to feel the edge of his glasses digging into his face, and kissed him back just as forcefully.

After a while, it had to end. They couldn’t kiss forever because of that whole inconvenient “need to breathe” thing. Alfred disconnected their mouths, sighed happily, and scooted down a little to nuzzle Savino’s cheek.

“Best revenge ever,” Alfred declared triumphantly.

Savino huffed out a laugh. “I’m not sure if that counts as revenge. Revenge is supposed to be something the other person doesn’t like.”

“And you liked kissing me a lot, didn’t you?” America sounded so smug and sure of himself, and ordinarily, Romano would have been annoyed by anyone with that kind of attitude. But with Alfred, the fondness tended to outshine his annoyance. That didn’t happen with most people.

Savino rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I did.”

“I liked kissing you too. I’ve been wanting to kiss you for ages. I could kiss you all day long. Well, except for when I have to go to the bathroom or something like that. But other than that, pretty much all the time.”

Savino shook his head and laughed again. “God, I love you.” The words slipped out, because they were so easy to say. Fredo was a dork who would openly admit to wanting to kiss Savino all the time, and he wasn’t even exaggerating. He looked like a goddamned movie star, but even with his occasional moments of arrogance, he never seemed to realize how ludicrously attractive he was, much less how he could have anyone in the world wrapped around his pinkie finger. America made Romano laugh and smile more than anyone else ever had. Of course Savino loved him.

Alfred blinked in shock, he’d just seen the face of God, but somehow more astounded than that. Then he grinned, with the adoration of a child to its mother or a puppy to its owner, but somehow purer and more loving than that too. Savino’s internal similes were failing him.

Alfred’s words were failing him too. “I love you too! I love you so much, I just—” He didn’t finish his sentence and resorted to covering Savino’s face with ecstatic kisses.

Savino giggled at his overexuberance. “Tesoro, I believe you. You don’t have to prove it, okay?”

“But I want to.”

Fair enough, Savino supposed. He laid there, grinning like an idiot in the snowbank, and let Alfred keep kissing his face. His hat had been knocked off earlier when Alfred flipped them over, and the cold at the back of his head and the nape of his neck was starting to get to him, but he was trying to ignore that.

When he noticed Savino shivering, Alfred sat up and pulled him into his lap. “Better?”

“Much.” Romano saw his hat on the ground and frowned in indecision. It had been laying in the snow for a long time, so it would probably only make his head colder, not warmer.

So instead of reaching over to get his hat, he nestled his head into America’s shoulder. America wrapped both arms around him in a clingy embrace.

“Now it’s perfect,” Savino decided.

Alfred kissed the top of his head. “Damn right it is.”

Savino wasn’t quite warm due to the temperature outside, but he was content and drowsy. The rhythm of Alfred’s breathing was oddly soothing.

That rhythm was interrupted by an abrupt laugh. “Dude, I just realized. If someone came by looking for us, they’d find you curled up in my lap instead of running after me and throwing snowballs. They’d be confused as hell.”

“Let ‘em be confused. I don’t really care what they think, do you?”

Alfred squeezed him a little tighter, and Savino didn’t have to look up to know that he was smiling.

“I never did. I’m just happy to be holding you.”

Savino’s face was warm, and he was blushing at least as badly as Alfred had been earlier, after Savino had implied he might do something to him that wasn’t appropriate for a public park. He wasn’t used to this much affection, and maybe he never would be.

But Romano didn’t care who might walk by and see him blushing with a cheesy grin on his face. He was happy, Alfred was holding him, and that was all that fucking mattered.

[icanbehardcore]

Top 10 WORST Powerpuff Girls Episodes

For a long time, I have been wanting to make a project resembling a countdown list, being inspired by the likes of @umbramagna777​, @phantomstrider​ and even the Nostalgia Critic. After some considerate years, I have finally decided to make a list based on my all time favorite show The Powerpuff Girls.

Cartoon Network's breakaway hit of the late 90s and early to mid 00s starring three adorable, precocious little kindergartners with superpowers was a cultural phenomenon. Spawning hundreds and thousands of merchandise, a theatrical film, several TV specials, an anime and a reboot, it's unbelievable that a cartoon with an all female lead would become an icon in the cartoon industry.

Created by Craig McCracken fresh off two pilots in the "What A Cartoon" shorts and evolving from the earliest incarnation "Whoopass Stew", The Powerpuff Girls became the highest rated cartoon debut at the time. Critics praised this show for being so unique, entertaining, epic, action packed and nothing like anything else at the time, but most of all, this show was very, very funny.

But that doesn't mean this show gets all the glory and praise 100% per episode, like every television show, there will always be flaws and bad episodes and, the Powerpuff Girls is no exception when it comes to rotten entries in the line-up.

Whether you like these episodes or not, remember to respect each other's opinions, including mine. If you like these episodes, that's great, you're more than welcome to have your say, but be nice.

I am only counting down episodes from the ORIGINAL series, this won't include the movie, the anime, the Dance Pansted special, The tenth anniversary special, the christmas special or especially the reboot.

Mixing either of these up would be one big mess and would derail my points of view. With that being said, let's begin.

NOTE: Spoiler alert ahead.

 10. Keen on Keane   This episode was a new era for the original show, it had a new art style which was first introduced in the movie. So if you hadn't seen it, you would have had to get use to this new art style before getting puzzled or confused.

Unfortunately, these episodes were somewhat mediocre and after 2002, show creator Craig McCracken left the show to Chris Savino, so he could work on Foster's Home for Imaginery Friends. Usually when this happens, that's a sign of a show losing it's...err...Mojo. No pun intended. For a first of this newly animated version of the show, this episode is just ...well...sappy.  

So what's the story: It's Valentines Day...oh boy, what a way to start the new era of an already great show. I am NOT a fan of this holiday whether I'm taken or not. I prefer to keep romance and affection personal.

While receiving various little Valentines from her beloved students, Ms. Keane gets the one simple innocent question asked by the girls: "Where are you going out tonight?" and "Who's your sweetheart?" (don't you just love precocious little questions coming from kindergartners). Ms. Keane explains to the girls that she doesn't have time for going out on dates and is too busy for that sort of thing, this leaves the girls slightly worried, knowing she may be lonely and in need of a significant other half.

Later that evening, the girls are all at dinner with the Professor whose attention prompts the innocent, curious little question from an inquisitive Blossom "Why aren't you going out, tonight?".

Personally, if he WAS going out, he may need to hire a babysitter for the girls and knowing the Professor, he may end up calling someone but being delayed or on hold due to everybody with their arms round each other, making googoo eyes and lip wrestling all evening as they bask into their romance.

Anyway, the Professor tells the girls that HE doesn't have time for dates or going out, nor does he have a sweetheart...(hope he hasn't forgotten the events a long time ago when meeting Ima Goodlady who turned out to be using him and was revealed to be Sedusa).

On hearing this, the girls trade rather sly and calculating looks to each other, a plan has hit them. If their father isn't going out and doesn't have a sweetheart and Ms Keane doesn't have a sweetheart, why not get them together for date?

At Ms. Keane's place, she is busy grading homework. On hearing the doorbell ring, she goes to answer the door only to recieve a love letter from a secret admirer and a rose. Oh bittersweet cliches...

Round the same time, the Professor too recieves an identical love letter from a secret admirer (by the way, I do love how he recieves a red rose and Ms Keane recieves a pink rose).  The two admirers meet at "Petes-A Pizza", an obvious parody to Chuck E Cheese, you can just feel how out of place these two are.

Not to hurt each others feelings, the two adults try to strike a conversation, but seem to show no interest in each other, all they can do is slap on a plastic smile each.

As they try to communicate and interact more and order, Ms. Keane suddenly forces a hearty little smile, stunning and questioning the Professor. As she tells him to look behind him, he sees that his own daughters are hiding in the large ball tank, this catches on as both Ms Keane and Professor Utonium have realized that they had been set up.

Unfortunately, the evening was unsuccessful and the Professor offers his date a ride home with three dejected little girls in the back. Their high hopes sunk to the bottom, gone down like a ship, but the Professor tells them if they did end up going out, then he wouldn't have enough time to spend with his own daughters. As he walks her to her door, Ms. Keane trips on a crack, the Professor immediately dashes forward to catch her. After bewilderment and indecision on what to do next, Ms Keane and the Professor's hearts become intertwine. As they stand up straight, they both share a nervous laugh while blushing (by the way, I find this scene amazingly cute, I mean...the Professor here is just...OMG, how can you not just want to reach out and dive into his arms...ahem...).  Finally,  they hold hands and are somehow...in love. Also note this is the only time in the episode where they see each other  face to face. Feeling accomplished, the girls smile knowing that their mission is complete . The following morning, the girls notice that not everything is all hunky-dory! Now having a significant other half, the Professor neglects his family duties and lab work and Ms Keane neglecting her school duties and even forgetting to feed her cat. Why? Because the two most important role models in the girls' lives are now sickeningly sweethearts talking to each other endlessly on the phone together, complete with EVERY single sentence ending with a mushy pet name. And you know what? It's really degrading! Also that phonebill must be really expensive by now,

Because of the neglection, the girls don't know what crimes are being caused....seriously, not even watching the news? Also, doesn't Ms Bellum have a light for a signal? Why couldn't she  just set that up in the sky for them?

But no! Instead, Sara Bellum gets kidnapped while the conversation continues until the Mayor sneezes, causing the couple to realize that they were holding up phoneline and neglecting their duties, including feeding the cat. This upsets the Professor and complains about the past event where a cat made him jump off a building which somehow, Ms Keane doesn't believe and causes them both to suddenly break up. Hmm...like every other couple today right? Okay that was bad.

Overall, this was a weak episode with no crime fighting at all and for a new start of upgraded animation, this was pretty bad. Especially being a Valentines themed episode.

9. City of Clipsville  I ought to let you know that seasons five and six sucked. Big time and this episode is no exception. I am not much of a fan of clip shows and this one was really weak, lame and the repetitive dialogue is as entertaining as a stale book made for toddlers. "Remember when Mojo Jojo turned us into dogs?"...umm...yeah? There's like two episodes with pretty much the same chunks of animation of it and it doesn't help that they referenced BOTH episodes! Also, did we really want to be reminded of some of the more mediocre episodes?

Mind you, most of these little trips down memory lane never happened. These include The Professor marrying Ms Bellum...for some reason, the girls losing their superpowers without realizing until they fall off a building...the Professor turning the girls AND all of Townsville's citizens into helpless infants...(no, seriously...make way for cliche'd moments whenever a baby is in a cartoon, which I'll get to later), complete with Blossom spitting up over the Professor's shoulder.

BUT the most most shameful fan-service cringe-worthy moment would have to be a quote on quote flashback of when the girls sped up time and became teenagers. Oh my god! Just...yeah. Complete with their midriff showing, slender figures, skinny jeans and stereotypical valley girl accents and mannerisms such as blowing bubble gum talking on their cellphones and ...discovering boys, teenage boys...in this case, the Rowdyruff Boys.

Yeah...remember when I said that the whole counterpart thing is a drag, well they do it here too. But this time, they are somewhat getting along, yet the girls are ditzier. I do love some of the hidden innuendos snuck in this scene visually and audibly.

Besides this episode being a weak one, I do admit that I like how the girls looked as teenagers, a bit two fan-service material-esque but still cute. I love how Bubbles still kept her pigtails in, but are a little longer, Blossom's red hair still makes me jealous *seriously...) and Buttercup growing out that little bob, it suits her.

Of course, I can't mention this scene without the fact that it was a reference to Craig McCracken's fan mail he was  receiving from fans about what would happen if the girls and boys were couples. He hated the idea so he decided to poke fun at this little trope.

Interestingly, there was going to be a scene that never made it, but there were storyboards lying around of the teenage girls becoming popstars...obviously a reference to the likes of Mandy Moore, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera and other teen idols, maybe even the lesser known band that have since broke up, No Secrets.

The episode gets more stupid as everyone somehow ends up in the house until the episode ends which turns out to be filmed in front of a "live audience". Yeah, just...weak.

If you do like this episode, that's great, it does have a few funny moments but I still feel like it's just another cheap bland clip show.  

8. Neighbor Hood Good god was this episode lame? The moral was a good one I will admit, but first, the story...Bubbles rushes home from school in time to watch her favorite show: The Wondrous World of Whimsical Willy. Mr. Willy being the host of the show (and an obvious parody of Mr, Rogers) greets his audience warmly, at first, he seems like the typical friendly, harmless, yet unsettling kind of person on a kid's show. He never snaps, he's calm and mellow. But when Daydream Lane loses all of the happiness and joy, Mr Willy asks his audience to hand over all of their cash to him so they don't lose hope.

Being naive and simple, not wanting the show to fall flat with misery, Bubbles somehow breaks into the town hall and takes off with the money in the Mayor's vault and hands it over to Mr Willy and the rest of the crew on set. By the way, the Mayor also donated...yeah, he's a man child. lol

Meanwhile, back at home, after getting a phone call from the Mayor, Buttercup and Blossom notice their sister live on TV with a huge bag of money, thanking Bubbles, Mr Willy and his gang celebrate until Bubbles' sisters barge in telling Mr Willy to literally drop his act.

Sweaty and nervous, Mr Willy finally snaps and reveals his true plan to steal all of the money of Townsville, showing his true colors at last. Bubbles demands an explanation and tells her sisters that Mr. Willy isn't a crook, he just needed the money to help save Daydream Lane. Blossom isn't buying it and tells Bubbles that none of this is real and that the whole set is just canvas painted with scenery and backgrounds and the crew are all crooks in costume.

Now shocked and realizing she had been conned along with the rest of the those who donated, Bubbles loses faith in Mr Willy and the show and even refuses to save his fall. In case you might guess, Mr Willy is arrested and thrown in prison and Bubbles apologizes for her foolish act and also that she shouldn't believe on what she sees on television. In a way, this is a great moral for kids, especially when the main cast are kindergartners, but come on, the girls are more precocious than this, they are better than this. This is basically a weaker version of Film Flam.

This episode is really unsettling for many reasons.  Mr Willy asking for donations from little kids, isn't that a little creepy and somewhat makes him a pedophile? But to go as far as flying all the way to the set on your own and revealing the stolen cash is even more risky and dangerous.

I have read something interesting here from the PPG wikia, this episode was based real-life events in a 1965 New Year incident where Soupy Sales, miffed at having to work on the holiday, ended his live broadcast by encouraging his young viewers to tiptoe into their still-sleeping parents' bedrooms and remove those "funny green pieces of paper with pictures of U.S. Presidents" from their pants and pocketbooks. "Put them in an envelope and mail them to me," Soupy instructed the children. "And I'll send you a postcard from Puerto Rico!" He was then hit with a pie. He later admitted that he was joking and that the money would be donated to a charity, but Sales was negatively affected by the incident.

Also I learned that this episode was actually written back in 1999 as a season 2 episode, but was scrapped since the staff feared a lawsuit from PBS, so instead the story was given to DC Comics named Remote Controlled. The story was much better and less mediocre compared to this one. It's such a downfall when a great cartoon runs it's course and episodes that were originally written for the comics suddenly have elements thrown onto the screen and never live up to how they could have been.

There's something else I would like to point out here. I saw this comment on the PPG wikia by a user named Crossoverfan4ever and he pointed out that Bubbles commited a crime and got away with it, and did she get punished? Of course not, because she's, cute, innocent adorable, precious, sweet little Bubbles who can probably get away with murder if she tried.

So...in A Very Special Blossom, Blossom steals a rather valuable set of golf clubs and gets punished for it with 200 hours of community service, yet the Professor asks the cops to go easy on her and she's also sorry (seriously, you can feel her sorrow in her voice and that face just says it all).

In the fan-loathing controversial episode Moral Decay, Buttercup commits a crime by breaking into the local villains homes and steals their teeth for money from the "tooth fairy" after already beating up crooks for committing crimes. Her punishment: Ambushed by her worst enemies as her sisters sadistically watch her get beat up (note that Buttercup is a little girl, so can you imagine the pain inflicted on her?). Going back to Neighbor Hood, yeah, it's bad. One of season five's worst.

7. Crazy Mixed-Up Puffs

Season six was definitely the weakest link in the original show's run, so in a way, it's a breath of fresh air when McCracken and Savino declined a season seven from Cartoon Network (much to the disappointment to the fans).

CMUP just made way for some really weak points in writing and character development and derailment. Whichever one, even my feelings for this are mixed up...or mesed up. Whatever!  

In this episode, Mojo Jojo is watching old clips of the past fights and battles he has had with the girls and soon stops for an ice cream break. Unforunately, a little girl is in front of him and he deters her. As Mojo orders his three scoops (which happen to resemble the signature colors of the Powerpuff Girls), the little girl throws her ball at him, causing him to drop the ice cream onto the floor. As it does, Mojo gets an idea.

Mojo then goes home to his lair and creates a dummy of a girl calling for help, attracting attention from the Powerpuff Girls, they fly over to save her and are immediately caught in his trap.

The machine swirls the girls together, fusing them all into one and because of this, the girls find it hard to fly, spin and even keep their own balance, not to mention worsening their arguments every single time. It's really unpleasant to watch.

From here, the girls  now have to rely on each other with trust and work as a team to stop Mojo. After finally making their way to Mojo, they defeat him, destroying the fuse machine with a huge blast, but are still stuck together as one.

As they make their way back to the Mayor's office, they get Professor Utonium to try and seperate them. Feeling hopeless, the Professor breaks down into tears knowing that his daughters will never be the same, but they tell him that they don't mind being this close and reassure him that everything is going to be okay. The Mayor finds a thread from their fused dresses and pulls it which somehow...separates the girls restoring them to their glory. I do love when the Professor tells the girls that he loves them all, it's moments like this that always make the show great, it's too bad this episode suffered from mediocicy, unpleasant arguments and...this (Really? After all you've been through, you decide to add this in here?) NOTE: Never let Paul Stec or someone else write a Powerpuff Girls episode storyline which may result into tasteless immature fart jokes...speaking of which...

6. Reeking Havoc Season six...why? Why did you have to go with this crap? An entire episode about flatulence? Really? Okay, well silently but still visually. I for one don't care for this kind of humor, it's immature, lame, not funny, pointless and...just go watch South Park if you're into that stuff (by the way, I'm a huge fan of South Park, freakin' ironic I know! lol).

The Girls have just returned home from enjoying a beautiful sunny day in spring, admiring the fresh air until their noses are suddenly inflicted with the smell of something ...not so fresh, in this case, chili. Yep! Because how else are the writers going to come up with an episode which is ten minutes of fart jokes. Real mature. Not.

It turns out that the girls father Professor Utonium is cooking this...chili for the "2nd Annual Chili Cook-Off" in Townsville. The girls reluctantly try a sample, as expected by them and those watching, it doesn't go down well (we even see a shot of Buttercup losing it in the waste-bin). Worried that he may lose again, Blossom decides that they should tell the Professor, but her sisters object due to the year before, in which the Professor lost and broke down.

Later that night, the Professor still thinks his chili needs something extra...or should that be "x-tra"...with that, he adds a drop of Chemical X into the concoction. Sure, because somehow that works right? Also, maybe adding COFFEE into the chili is the reason it doesn't taste so good. Later on that night, the girls (one by one) also happen to put a drop of Chemical X in the chili.

The following morning during the annual chili contest, the judges (which happen to be Ms Keane, the Mayor and Sara Bellum) are trying out all the dishes that have been made for the event when soon, they try the Professor's chilli causing reactions that they never experienced before. With that, the Professor is declared the winner of the contest and is awarded the trophy and with that, the Mayor hands out free samples of the prize winning chilli.

What then follows is nothing but flatulent puns, visual and audible, one after the other while everyone's guts start growling and all that gas happens to escape and creates...a giant methane monster. No, seriously! A giant cloud made out of everyone's gas! What were the writers thinking, seriously? It's like they have watched Ren and Stimpy and got some ideas off there, no? 

The following day, the methane monster soon causes chaos all over Townsville and his stench is so unbearable that it causes everyone to feel nauseous and complain. This then causes the Mayor to call the girls and...*sighs*...watching them trying to fight off a huge flatulent monster is just...well...yeah. Lame.  

As if stinking up the city has already been done in season 2's Down and Dirty, but that as caused by Buttercup refusing to bathe, but nope, we get a full on episode with gastronomical proportions and bad jokes!

From here, we get some rather ridiculously stomach churning moments including the girls actually trying to suck the monster up...err...gross? So...after the mention of a "match", Blossom gets an idea and takes off and returns again in seconds with...a giant match...no seriously AND to make this episode even more cringy, she mentions that she got it from the same place where she got the giant jar in "episode two season one". Was that really necessary?

I don't wanna go on since its pretty cliche'd with the fact that entering a chili cook-off with an ingredient that happens to be linked to chaos, it's obvious what that equals.

This was a bad episode and I mean really really bad. GOLDEN RULE: Keep fart jokes off this show! Oh wait...the reboot pushed that further! *sighs*

5. Gettin' Twiggy With It Consider this the Pet Sitter Pat episode of The Powerpuff Girls. Nearly every character in this show is likable, funny, great, relatable and somehwhat a decent role model. All but one...that being a less major character: the girls class mate Mitch Mitchellson. A sadistic, nasty, evil, selfish, greedy, manipulative  child who takes pleasure in bullying his fellow...ahem...classmates. Think of him as the Nelson Muntz of Townsville. Think of him as Ren Hoek off Ren Seeks Help in Ren and Stimpy Adult Party Cartoon, or maybe even Stewie Griffin. In this episode, it's Friday and that means one of the kids has the responsibility of taking the class hamster Twiggy home. The girls volunteer, but somehow Ms. Keane chooses Mitch to look after her.

This episode is legimately painful to watch in my opinion. As an animal lover (especially hamsters) who hates animal cruelty to a degree couldn't even watch this. It isn't funny, isn't a pleasure to watch, it's just sick, twisted and evil, I'm glad though that the episode itslef wasn't treated as comedic, that would make me up this episode straight to number one in my opinion. Mitch apparently says he never owned a pet before, yet you can clearly see that he has a snake in the background, what the hell?

I like how when Twiggy becomes a vicious monster, the girls do their part to save him, but still teach him a lesson in harming little Twiggy. It's rare for an episode to be played out seriously for the most part, yet this is just so difficult to watch. Especially all the ways Mitch tortures the hamster.

Gettin' Twiggy With It is just nasty and an unwatchable episode. It's unpleasant, demented and just uncomfortable to watch. For a better review on this episode, I suggest reading this: https://www.deviantart.com/regulas314/art/1001-Animations-Gettin-Twiggy-With-It-517452789. He does great reviews and provides decent detail.

Overall, Mitch Mitchellson is hands down my most despised character in The Powerpuff Girls, maybe even worse than Princess Morbucks. And that's saying a lot. 

4. Girls Gone Mild I don't think there's one countdown of top ten worst PPG without this episode at least appearing on there. It's bad, the story, the premise, the fact that this episode was inspired by letters Craig McCracken received from parents thinking the violence was appropriate as a defence, pretty much the Three Girls and A Monster of the Chris Savino era. This episode is basically like a reminder that parents and legal guardians are the ones who should ultimately take responsibility for their children's actions instead of just blaming other people for it. But for what it is, it's not funny or entertaining and definitely one worth skipping. Need I point out that the two people of "P.A.P.P" (People Against Powerpuff Girls) were played by the same people behind the voices of Cosmo and Wanda from The Fairly Odd Parents?

But seriously, where do these two come from? Clearly not from Townsville otherwise they'd be more than happy to ask for the girls help, but no, instead they eat everything up with complaints and threaten to sue the Professor if the girls start using their superpowers again. I hate tropes like this, especially when we all know in the end, they go back to normal and do what they do best. Now if only they were kicking Stanley and Sandra Practice's butts instead.

3. Moral Decay *sighs* some of you have definitely seen this one coming but you can see why. It's one of the most unpleasant, mean spirited and degrading episodes of the Craig McCracken era. What were the writers actually thinking?

Buttercup's nothing but a straight up sadist in this episode, the moment those mouth muscles form a malicious slasher smirk, she has straight up changed in personality throughout the episode. After accidentally knocking one of Bubbles' teeth out, she learns of the "tooth fairy" bringing money in exchange for teeth under kid's pillows and what does she do? She constantly abuses Bubbles just to try and knock out her teeth.

First off, Buttercup may be tough, but she loves her sisters dearly and wouldn't think of abusing her own sisters for kicks. Sure she gets into scrapes now and then, argues and teases them, but she would never want to hurt them to this extent!

UmbraMagna's stated this before on YouTube but have they go something against Buttercup, did they hate her character? Why did she always get the rough stuff in punishment and treatment? Think about it? In Down and Dirty, she refuses to bathe and even gets kicked out the house until she gives in and is forcefully given a full scrub by her own sisters. In Cover Up, a whole opportunity is wasted  on a story that could have had a heartwarming peptalk scene between Buttercup and the Professor, there, Buttercup feels vulnerable without her security blanket. You gotta remember that she is a little girl, it's normal for someone her age to have a baby blanket.

Going back to Moral Decay, it's a terrible episode that's just painful to watch and do NOT get me started on the ending. The Professor at his most non-caring right here, not to mention that close out ending scene. As punishment, the Professor pays covers Buttercup's dental bills with the money she "saved". By the way, I suggest you check out @UmbraMagna's extended review on this episode. Since mostly I'd be shadowing and echoing what she has said, along with A Very Special Blossom in her top 10 worst PPG eps countdown.

2. Sun Scream/The City Of Frownsville I put these two together because...well, they both aired together, simple as, bit cheap and not so well explained or thought but what else. These two episodes are just torture! Despite being on different topics. 

First off, Sun Scream. This episode is just a chore to get though. The girls all catch the sun after refusing to put sunscreen lotion on while trying to stop a solar flare from plummeting to the earth. What do their fans and the rest of the citizens do? They laugh at them, instead of showing concern for three kids who have badly been sunburned. Just...what has happened to Townsville?

The rest of the episode is nothing but the girls struggling to get up out of bed and trying to answer the hotline, getting dressed to even struggling to attack some con artists. I won't spoil this episode but if you have made it through till the end then good luck, this one's just painful to watch.

Then we have The City of Frownsville. Although being dedicated to those who lost their lives during 9-11 (with all my respect, I pray now even). Despite this, this episode is nothing but everyone sobbing their eyes out for ten minutes. If you can't stand nails scratching on a chalkboard, then you will definitely not be able to make it through this episode.

All of Townsville's put under a spell by "Lou Gubrious" and his machine that causes everyone to cry uncontrollably, this then reverses his mood giving him the new name "Hal Larious" (please, seriously?), the rest...ugh.

Skip this one while you can guys.

Before I get to number one, I'd like to give out a few dishonorable mentions.

Cover Up - For shaming Buttercup being a softy. Also her sisters cruelly laughing at her. Twisted Sister - First off, I don't hate this episode as a whole, I don't like what they did with the new sister Bunny. She's unstable, but her slurred speech and lack of English, as well as dying in so called comedic fashion's a bit too much. Fallen Arches - Blossom's unbearable in this episode. Sure, we should respect the elderly but refusing to fight these crooks and throw'em in jail. Just...no. Sweet and Sour - Ugh, cutesey animals getting away with crime and the citizens are just as clueless because they are "TOO CUTE!". Come on! Pee Pee Gs - Unsettling and nothing but pee jokes. Umm...no, unfunny and a cringefest. Prime Mates - Mopey Popo's constant complaining and rambling in his Droopy-esque voice and the girls not having enough screen time make this a true downer. A Very Special Blossom - Ugh, one of the first of episodes where one of the girls does wrong and gets punished for it. In this case, Blossom's dark side shows when she steals a valuable set of golf clubs just to please the Professor for Father's Day. That's Not My Baby - Ah the baby cliche! Whether it's abandoned or just being looked after the whole package is there. The baby never stops crying, and when it eats, it's diaper needs to be changed yada yada yada, I'm sick of this cliche and this episode's no better. HOW did they not even notify the Professor even? I left it out of here because the ending was actually clever. Cop Out - Forgettable, bland and yeah. Unfunny, also that cop. Ugh. Custody Battle - Just doesn't feel like a PPG episode, but a Rowdyruff Boys spinoff. Also the whole two daddies thing...nah. Divide and Conquer - I know education and learning's important but an entire maths episode...nope. Save Mojo - I'm a bit of an animal activist, no lies but...a cartoon chimpanzee with constant diabolical plans to destroy the Powerpuff Girls and take over the world, that's different (plus a cartoon), and...yeah. Basically Girls Gone Mild with animal activists and protesters. Say Uncle - Absolutely forgettable and lame. Mizzen In Action - I love the Crack McCraigen pun name but over all, this swash buckling episode's one of the show's most forgettable episodes. Seed No Evil - Bland and boring and...seriously, what's this all about seeds in olden times? The City of Nutsville - Bubbles gets stung in the throat by a bee/wasp and her sisters actually laugh at her...messed up. Also, squirrel apocalypse. Insane. West in Pieces - Ugh...ancestors of the Powerpuff Girls? really? As if Seed No Evil was no better.

And the number one worst Powerpuff Girls episode is...

1. Toast Of The Town I HATE this episode! Talk about character derailment, especially when you're in the middle of season five. If you can get through this episode listening to the Mayor speak in the third person, good for you, because there's a lot of it and it's enough to make your eardrums split.

The Mayor has a huge craving for toast (say, at least SOMEONE now has a toaster unlike everybody in Too Pooped To Puff few seasons back) but his toaster is out of range, so he goes to the Professor to have it fixed. And with that, we get some of the most cringe inducing audio, lack lustered story writing and some of the most ANNOYING dialogue in any episode! The Mayor is basically nothing but...a child in a man's body here. The Professor won't fix his toaster because he's busy, but after more complaining from the Mayor, he gets on with the job and the Mayor is so impatient he asks in seconds if it's done yet...really? The Mayor is an idiot, that's for sure, but at least he means well and loves his city and job and looks out for the girls. BUT his stupidity here is both questionable, childish and dumbed down to a tee!

The Professor makes the Mayor wait somewhere in the lab which he does despite still dejected and impatient. What follows is...the Mayor curiously pressing buttons like a child and setting off an alarm and causing a huge explosion in the lab...err...is this Dexter's Lab or The Powerpuff Girls? Some weird pattern here! Anyway, the Professor then proceeds to let the Mayor stay put by putting him in a high chair...for...some reason...

Later on, the Mayor discovers a can of Chemical X and rubs some of it on his head thinking it's hair growth formula and...his entire body is now the size of King Kong, complete with a shameless parody to boot. I don't need to explain anymore of this.

Seriously? The Mayor's third person speech and childish behaviour here is some of the worst character derailment I've ever seen. As I said with Gettin' Twiggy With It, there's a more detailed review here by Regulas314: https://www.deviantart.com/regulas314/art/Animated-Atrocities-Toast-of-the-Town-475588395

There's no other way I can mention this episode without any...ahem spoilers, but I suggest avoiding it while you can. SERIOUSLY! This episode's unbearable!

Compare the Mayor in episodes like Uh Oh Dynamo, where he was against the girls having the city destroyed (even though it was the Professor making the girls use the Dynamo). Then compare him here...it's just painful. And with that, let me know what you think which episodes do you think are th eabsolute worst? 

[popculturebuffet]

The Casagrandes Reviews: Operation Dad

In my first look at The Casagrandes, We meet Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s dad Arturo as Ronnie tries to get him to start working in the city to be closer to them.. and when a genuine honest appeal dosen’t work, shenanigans will have to do. Dad stuff under the cut. 

This is one i’ve had in the works since my labor day catchup binge of shows, but kept getting pushed back either due to regular coverage or specifically timed things like the bi visalblity day review of “What Was Missing.  And with Halloween next month, my time to cover this is running out a bit and I feel it’s a great place to start covering this show so, pitter patter.  The Casagrandes didn’t really hook me in at first: It did have two things going for it: An intresting premise A blended family coming together, with our heroine and her big bro being fish out of water in a new family situation. Wheras with the Loud House Lincoln, and by extension most of his sisters, is used to how his house runs, knows the score and knows how to manuvre around it, Ronnie Anne was being dropped into a new situation, with people she KNEW, but only likely from seeing them breifly. It’s one thing to see your cousin once or twice a year, as I did with mine at that age, it’s another to live with them. It had a lot of potential. The other thing was Bobby Santiago, Ronnie Anne’s brother, and one of my faviorite characters across both shows, an endlessly nice guy who while suffering from a terminal case of dumbass, is utterly likeable, helped by his VA Carlos PenaVega, with the spinoff and i’ts build up only fleshing him out more by giving him his job at the Mercado, and showing he has serious buisness acumen  in addition to his many other talents. 

But what made me wary was the lead: Ronnie Anne didn’t get the best intro on the loud house. You know this, I know this. We all know this. No sense beating around the bush: She was a bully, who had a crush on lincoln and masked it by pummeling him. And this was seen as okay by the show which isn’t as suprising in hindsight as Chris Savino clearly has messed up views about women and harassment, and is thankfully no longer part of this. She did get slightly better once she actually showed up, getting genuine chemstiry with Lincoln and being shown underneath the bully exteriror was a pretty nice kid who shared his intress. Granted it wasn’t perfect as the show madei t clear he was terrified of her, but it did at least also make it clear he no longer had a reason to be, and while she’d prank her boyfriend, or assits his sister during her dark time once a year in doing it, and if your wondering if i’m ever going to watch or cover the april fools episodes .. yeah i’m just waiting you know.. for april fools. 

My point is it was kinda mixed and their solution was to soften her up a bit but also act like she and LIncoln weren’t intrested in each other all of a sudden instead of you know, dealing with her past actions and having her make up for them. It was sloppy is what i’m saying and the character while not bad wasn’t in the best positoin to tkae the reigns of her own show. They did add some intresting depth with the move though, showing that Ronnie Anne and Bobby were often on their own, and that Maria moved them to the casagrande household simply because she felt her daughter would be happier NOT having to be the strong one or take care of herself all the time and actually have someone look out for her instead. It was a good emotional reason for hte move and both casagrandes showed up ocasoinally, mostly Bobbi whose still with Lori to this day as seen in the season 5 premiere.  It was an okay foundatoin but it would depend on what they did with her character.. and i’m glad to say.. they made it work. The show still has rough edges, mostly having the same problem ducktales and the loud house itself had during season 1 of juggling such a large cast: Most of them outside of Ronnie Anen and Bobby have only gotten 1 episode, and even then CJ feels underutlized despite being amazing, while the adults outside the grandparents feel underutlized.  Buuut the show is funny, intresting, has good pacing and unlike the loud house, having already learned that lesson, while Ronnie Anne does get more episodes than the rest of the family, it does feel more like an ensemble show and the focus on her feels less like the show not knowing what it has and more like easing the viewers into the rest of the cast by using her as a viewpoint.  Ronnie herself is better, the bully aspects gone. She can still take care of herself, and is still fairly indpentent and clever, but she’s got a sharp sense of humor and a clear love of her family and the fish out of water aspect I hoped for, while not used a ton, still comes up in intresting ways.  Overall i’d say the show is off to a good start.. and it has Melissa Joan Heart and Ken Jeong as a married couple and let’s Ken play a diffrent role for once: A dorky, kind dad instaed of any degree of lunatic. That being said given his character her’s last name is Chang, I can’t help but think this and community are in the same universe and that the Changs have just had to put up with whatever insane phase Senor Chang was going througha t the time every time he visted. I mean i’d love to hear Sid tell ronnie anne the time her uncle came over in a napoleon outfit and revaled he’d taken over his community college with the help of a bunch of children.  But i’m getting off topic, I gots an episdoe to cover and out of the ones I watched this felt both like a great re-introduction into the cast and was easily one fo the best with a great emotional core and great jokes and LOTS to dig into. So i’ve jawjacked enough, pitter pater. Again!

It’s with this episode we properly meet Arturo Santiago, Ronnie Anne and Bobby’s father, Maria’s ex, and owner of one hell of a beard. Ronnie mentioned him back in friended aka the pilot because fuck that airing structure but not the time or place for that moving on. 

We see he video chats his daughter once a day, though today she made hte mistake of doing so on a crowded subway while with her best friend and future wife Sid. NOW we can talk about Sid. Sid was introduced in Friended! over on the loud houd house as part of that mini arc I keep yelling about and will again and again. Sid is Ronnie Anne’s clyde: A best friend whose there as her sidekick, emotoinal support and resident goofus, being a bit of a weirdo and given i’m a giant ass weirdo, you can see why I like her/want to keep her safe from the nightmare that is at last half this fandom. Plus she and ronnie anne are adorable together and have more chemstiry than she and lincoln did.. thoguh the two do have OT3 energy together in his one episode, but that’s for another time. 

Anyways as Sid helps her rangle wifi by them by doing the mecha shiva we soon find out Arturo is coming home! Home lord he’s been off in Peru for too longggg. Point is Ronnie Anne is excited, Bobby is excited, everyone’s excited except for Hector who hates him.. and honestly I can see why the contrast. For everyone else, Arturo is a charming, friendly guy who genuinely loves his kids and only is away from them because he has a lot of important work to do and even with that is still an active part of their lives. Buuuut Hector likely sees it diffrently and is likely homing in more on the fact Arturo is barely there in person for his kids and left Maria to do all the raising them by herself, with her own demanding job.  It’s not a black and white situation is what i’m saying and.. I genuinely love that. It’s a complex thing to deal with: A parent who isn’t there for his kids but it’s hard to say if he’s being selfish or not. He’s not david from roseanne doing this so he can feel good about not wanting to deal with being a father or the death of his brother, Arturo genuinely just wants to help those who need him, even if he has to sacrifice a lot to do it.  Ronnie Anne naturally wants him to move here though and convince him during his visit, and her plan nicely shows off the duality of her charcter: She’s clever and can easily think things through, as his originzation has it’s home office in Great Lakes City so he could still help those in need, just more from the organizational end, as well as i’m assuming GLC’s own homeless and needy. But she also has an 11 year olds understading of complex issues and thus thinks the easiest way to convince him is to take him on a fun daddy daughter day that will make him love the city. Bobby is less optimistic about the plan though.. and that’s because he’s been through this with Arturo already. Granted his job for him was at weenier on a stick because it’s bobby, the boy is a peach of a human being but has the plkanning skills and common sense of a basset hound on qualudes.  He just sugest she enjoy the time. And this says a lot about BOBBY too: He’s used to his dad being out of his life, he’s probably been gone for most of it and while he loves him, he’s had ot get used to the fact he’s probably never going to be regularly in his life and while he understands why his sister’s trying this he wants to spare her the pain he went through. It’s interactions like this that to me show the series at it’s best and what it could be: deeper character interactions that really let the characters and voice cast shine, that still mix well with the usual nonsense.  Arturo arrives and everyone loves him.. and again it’s easy to see why: he’s kind, friendly and to the kids, he’s their cool uncle who lives in another country and as someone with one of those, It does feel neat. Hell he was my cool uncle when he just lived in chicago or seattle, but somehow he had to top those by moving to fricking ireland. So I get where they come from and really relate to it.. I mean I met mine in high school, my family tree is complicated, but still.  So while everyone but Hector is happily remeetinmg their uncle Maria shows up. And it’s awkward, the two not knowing how to greet each other, but it’s very obvious Maria and Arturo are on good terms, it’s just hard when theres so much history there.  Speaking of Maria let’s talk about her since this is one of her only scene’s this episode. Maria is one of my faviorites. She isn’t used a ton, but this is more excusable than it is with the Casagrande parents, as the whole point of Maria uprooting her kids to Great Lakes City was to give them company and someone to take care of them while Maria worked the long and varied hours of being a nurse. She’s a good parent, who just picked a rough career, and made the hard decision to uproot her kids, not for her sake, as it can’t be easy living with both your elderly parents, your sister and her husband not to mention 5 kids, a giant adorable pupper and an obnoxious parrot, but so they’d be happy.. which given Ronnie Anne went from having no friends and largely having to be the rock in the house, to having a sizeable friend group plus her cousins, as well as generally being happy while Bobby went from bouncing from job to job to running the family buisness and planning to expand it when he gets older. She’s a good gentle person who still makes time for her kids, and I wish we saw more of her with her spotlight episode, which was about Ronnie Anne trying to spend more time with her, being one of my faviorites so far. I also like the fact that for once in a cartoon a parent with a time sink of a career isn’t demonized for trying to put food on the table and rather than just quit or have a mean boss or the usual cliches, Maria just found a way her kids wouldn’t be alone. She’s awesome.  Ronnie Anne first tries showing him how great the city is with home cooking and a warm bed, but the first while nice is something he still gets, and the latter in a nice touch is just.. too soft for him. Ronnie meant well, but understadably he’s just not used to it and makes a cot under the stars instead.. he’s not trying to be ungreatful, he’s just sued to it. 

Anyways Ronnie indeed takes him on a montage, with some cab headbonks beacause why use an uber that’s cheeper and safer huh? Anyways our father and daughter do have a montage, and hector gets beaten up by a luchadore because this promotion apparently dosen’t get not to attack the crowd. They really need to stop booking that guy.

Ending on our article image, which is really sweet and a real beautiful shot, Ronnie Anne finally gets to her Ronnie Plan. First Arturo cycles through two diffrent assumptions about what she’s asking him about. He first thinks she’s about to tell him about a special boy or girl in his life, his exact words. He backspaces to include that. She says no which.. I guess okay you have other things in mind but you can’t put off him meeting Sid forever. That aside I do think it’s a good indication Ronnie Anne might be bi, and both her parents just easily accepted it which is great. I could be reading too much into this, and I probably am, but I’ve thought I was before on nickeodeon and look how legend of korra ended. 

The next is just hilarious as Arturo tries to let her down gently that he’s not getting back with maria which Ronnie Anne agrees with and was not remotely her point, but I do like as it shows their well and truly done, and it’s nice to see that sort of dynamic with a divorced couple in fiction where it’s not because of lingering sexual tension or anything, just that their apart but have kids to think about and presumibly the split was amicable if again still awkward. Finally Ronnie asks him.. but he gently refuses, since the people he helped need him as much as he wants to stay.. but part of what makes Arturo likeable, especially since he’s in the REALLY throny situation of not being in his kid’s lives in person despite having the opprountiy now, is that he genuinely tries to compromoise, saying he’ll try to up the calls to two a day, and he’ll visit more often. Ronnie Anne sadly and half heartdly says it’s fine and walks off.  So Ronnie Anne vents to that girlfriend she apparently dosen’t have that he cares more about her patients than him and Sid sidgests that part of that is simple: He dosen’t feel she and bobby need him since, as I pointed out earlier, their doing better than ever. So Ronnie Anne intitates a second Ronnie Plan: to convince him she’s a troubled youth and get him to stay and reasssmbles her cousins to help.  Before we move onto this plan that’s totally a good idea and not a borderline Zach Morris evil scheme, let’s talk about those cousins real quick. Quick fire: CJ is really great, a sweet kid and I wish they’d use him more and generally do nto get why they don’t, Carlota is fine but not all that defined at this point but Alexa PenaVega tries.. and why yes it is kinda weird Carlos PenaVega’s wife and the former star of spy kids is playing his sister. And Carl.. I don’t likes him. I just don’t. He did give me a really good episode, which we’ll be covering next month, but he’s just a little asshole with out the charm of fellow little asshole Louie Duck, who alsos cams people but actually gets consqeunces more often. 

That quickfire done Carl does a forgery which depsite me being eh on him, clearly, is a funny bit, to make Ronnie Anne look like she’s failing, but that fails as you’d expect when he can help her with that from Peru.  So it’s on to the actual plan: Which really boils down to this. 

I mean.. that’s essentially the plan convince him she’s running with a dangerous crowd and is breaking bad, dressing up in punk clothes and making a scene at breakfast. She also gets a really neat new haircut, similar to luna’s but spiky which.. why isn’t this her normal hair? and why dosen’t she at least keep the cool leather jacket? I always get annoyed when a character’s temporary costume change is even better than their default design and htey fail to realize it but whatever.  IT starts to work a little but clearly a breakfast tauntrum won’t be enough so Ronnie Anne enlists Sid.. who is frightend,d osen’t recognize her and dosen’t want to get shoved into a locker. .. who hurt you.. tell me.. I have a box to deliver. Just let me pop a quick H on there real quick. 

Anyways, once Sid realizes “Oh that’s not a bully come to shove me in a locker that’s just my girlfriend in the middle of a zack morris grade elabroate manipulative scheme”, which happens once a week their fine, she comes up with one last plan: Have her friends, who are neat but need more filling out, dress up like punks bullying her friend sameer.  This plan.. makes no sense. For one she was already a bully back home.. granted it was because she liked the kid, which no just no, but it’s heavily implied she did the same to the rest of the lincrew too. .which aside from Rusty isn’t a good look. I mean his face is punchable and he mocked hte idea of them being together despite next season hitting on Lincoln’s sisters, there’s a 1:1 chance he hit on her and she shoved him in a locker as is the natural response to anyone getting asked out by that goober. No matter how hard the show tries to pretend that didn’t happen it did. If her bullying kids didn’t get him to move home back in royal woods it won’t work now. 

So they had behind the fish market for their plan, Arturo is directed there.. and sees through it. I mean she’s probably sent him pictures of her friends, he knows who they are and no amount of costumes is going to fix that. I mean you really only changed Nikki’s hair. Why not just have a dance fight. i’m legitly asking dance fights are rad and this reminds me of the venture bros episode where hank, to impress his date, has billy and white pretend to be a street gang to impress his date. Just do that for sid instead of trying to gaslight your dad into staying.  But no while he pulls her into the car, Arturo knows this was a stunt and asks why. When Ronnie Anne tearfully reveals she just wanted him to stay.. he hugs his child.. and agrees. He realizes that if she’s willing to go to these lengths to get him to stay, she must REALLY miss her papa. So he plans to call the office to transfer.  But then while helping her dad unpack, Ronnie Anne finds something and we get another emotional scene: Ronnie Anne finds the letters he got from the various kids he’s helped, and is moved to tears. Props to Izabella Alvarez for her performance here as she reads the letter and realizes just what her dad’s work does ,and why it means so much to him. He truly helps those who need it and she decides she can’t take that awy from it: Sure her dad won’t be around.. but other kids need her dad more. She has a big family, she misses her dad.. but she can live without her dad. They need a doctor. 

So Arutro heads out with a tearful goodbye and Ronnie Anne leaves him a scrapbook of their time together. We then cut to the Santiago sibs playing cards, and being sad about their dad and all that.. when Arturo calls.. and then shows up in person. He took the Headquarters job after all, though a close friend of his we met earlier in the episode but I ddin’t mention will be taking over in Peru, and from earlier clearly wanted to get back out in the field, so it all works out. And it’s a nice character moment; Arturo realizes while his work is important, and as mentioned he does make sure a compient replacment will continue it.. his family can be too and it’s okay to think of himself and them for once. As I said he’ll still be able to help just in a diffrent way and there are probably needy kids who need him here too, if not in the same ways obviously as a doctors without borders type project. So eveyrone shares a group hug and even Hector bursts into tears. And Maria comes in wondering what she missed whiel Sergio asks who wants to tell her. oh sergio.. why didn’t you stay away when you ran away in a future episode.  Final Thoughts: Not much more to say. It’s a well done episode with high emotinal stakes, great acting and some great jokes I didn’t get to, and while the plot of “Make absent parent stay by pretending things are bad’ isn’t new, it’s done well enough here. Overall just a really good episode that shows what this show can do and why it’s unique family setup makes for intresting stories a lot of shows can’t tell, and validates this spinoffs existnace. The episode also really fleshes out Ronnie Anne’s character, and givne Arutro’s been gone since the divorce if not longer, it’s resonable to supsect her earlier bullying might have been lashing out at her parents divorce. It’s just good stuff. Keep an eye peeeld to this blog for my regular loud house and ducktales coverage , and some more casagrandes this october. ANd until then, Go Team Venture!

[bugeyedfreaks]

Man, what a bummer of an article but it’s right.

I’ve had soooo many creepy people follow my blog from day one with their weird fetish stuff for the PPG and I HATE it. I’ve known some of these dumbass animator shitlords described in the article. They’ve sent me disgusting shit. They’ve stolen my writing on here in attempts to look “progressive” and pretend that all their gross sexist and racist art is just the product of a made-up persona instead of the sick people they ACTUALLY are. I’ve called them out. I’ve blocked them from my blog. I hate that some of these people are involved in actual professional work FOR KIDS and none of this is okay, and the moment I find out that an artist is unapologetically doing this kind of stuff, I will call them out and stay as far away from them as possible. Do cartoon creators really just still shrug this stuff off as a big joke and not call people out because they care about the money that they’ll get for shows? Like... wow, I have no respect for them.

[seeksstaronmewni]

Oh, Joy! The Insanely Amazing Art of Animation Cartooning in Ren & Stimpy

In the era and world of the “modern” cartoon, there’s one show that started and defined most of the cartoons that we watch today... and that show is Spümcø’s/s The Ren & Stimpy Show.

What is there to love about a crazy, wacky, gross, dark and violent cartoon that people say is “ground-breaking”?

The gags. The detail. The sound. The stock music. The design. The animation. The layout artists...

I could go on about a show that was a part of @nickanimation’s/@nickelodeon... although, while considered a “kids” show, it truly is one of those... “cartoons for MEN”.

WARNING FOR HATERS: Before I go on, in regards to the show’s controversial creator, If his wrongs cause you to think hatefully of him, AVOID THIS POST! Don’t associate your hate with my posts and tweets about this ground-breaking cartoon.

Anyway, let’s look deep into the magic of the wackiest cartoon ever created that changed animation--namely “Western” animation--forever and for good...

THE TALENT

Under the creators Lynne Naylor-Reccardi, Jim Gomez, Felix Forte, and controversial creator John K., many gifted artists were a part of this amazing series, including @donshank, Charlie Bean, Carey Yost,  Bob Camp, Chris Savino, @stephendestefano, the late and great Chris Reccardi (I began this article prior to his death on May 2nd, 2019 A.D.), Marc Perry, Mr. Lawrence (the “Ooh! My leg! My leg...” guy), Vincent Waller, Donovan Cook, Larry Murphy, Richard Pursel, @gadworks​, @ncrossanimation​, and many others. These people, many of whom were in the layout department, would go on from Spümcø to work on some of the most popular pieces of “Western” animation in history, like Spongebob Squarepants, The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack, Dexter’s Laboratory, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Mickey Mouse (Paul Rudish era), The Incredibles, the also ground-breaking The 2 Stupid Dogs/Super Secret Secret Squirrel Show and so much more!

One thing to note about these creatives is that John K.’s production company, Spümcø, was based in Canada, and so were its staff and creatives. I note this as most Canadian cartoons these days have no creatives who work in popular American animation (save for Wild Kratts character designer Alan Stewart, who did character design for some Season 7--or, in “reboot terms”, season 2--episodes of The Powerpuff Girls, as well as Lauren Faust’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Season 1 of Johnny Test). Most Canadian cartoons these days are on PBS or Cartoon Network, and some of those are imported from Teletoon or YTV. Such Canadian cartoons as Total Drama’s franchise, The Adventures of Benjamin Bear, My Pet Goldfish is Evil, and the like don’t have creatives who work on more “American” media.

Certain talents of Ren & Stimpy included Michael Fontanelli, Charlie Bean, Vincent Waller and Eddie Fitzgerald (creator of CN’s Tales of Worm Paranoia), who went on to contribute their artist talents in the YouTube Poop-phenomenon Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, which somewhat resembles that art direction of The Ren & Stimpy Show. Such talents also contributed to another insane-looking cartoon, Film Roman’s The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat. Likewise, one of my favorite character designers, Carey Yost, who contributed to The Powerpuff Girls, Uncle Grandpa and Spongebob Squarepants, was a major layout artist on this show. Charlie Bean (Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog) and Don Shank (most of the above, plus Sym-Bionic Titan) also served as layout artists, and they with Carey created a gem of a Cartoon Network Minisode, Buy One, Get One Free*, which reflects the animation and art of Spümcø and features creatives of Spümcø.

THE DETAILS

First thing to note in both art and animation is the barrier-breaking levels of exaggeration. The “wild take” is a common element to slapstick cartoons like The Ren & Stimpy Show, and the controversial creator was a part of Hanna-Barbera Cartoons (which developed the Cartoon Network and its studios). Many Spümcø creatives would work at H-B, too. Hanna-Barbera, who worked with animation legends like Tex Avery, would create some of the wildest takes in cartoons with A Pup Named Scooby-Doo!, but The Ren & Stimpy Show’s Season 2 opener “In The Army”, written & directed by Bob Camp, features what is probably the wildest wild take ever conceived by man in the history of history:

“You don’t want to anger that big, dopey...”

“...sar...”

*( Sound Ideas, BOING, CARTOON - FLAT JEWS HARP BOING )*

*clink!*

*( Sound Ideas, THUMP, CARTOON - TUBE THUNK 01 )* [+12 pitch]

*glass breaks*

*(  Sound Ideas, WOBBLE, CARTOON - SAW BLADE WOBBLE, MEDIUM )*

This wild take is really slow, huh?

Wait for it...

“GYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

As if that weren’t wild enough, his brain pops out of his skull! Now, that’s more than just icing on the cake... it’s GENIUS!

Teen Titans GO! is perhaps the peak in the evolution of the “modern” cartoon that began with Ren & Stimpy, and in the hands of producer/director Luke Cormican, a layout artist on Ren & Stimpy’s “Adult Party Cartoon” episodes. It’s very nice that, in TTG episode “The Streak (Part 2)”, there was the parody illustration of duos in media, comparing Robin to Ren and Beast Boy to Stimpy. Some of the character designers on TTG worked on shows that included creatives from The Ren & Stimpy Show, too, namely Chris Battle.

One of the most popular episodes, of course, is the season one finale, Stimpy’s Invention.

These shots from the scene of Stimpy attempting to invent something are just beautiful! Great attention to detail and the lighting (including effects design) give a very cinematic, theatrical feel to a mere, 11-minute episode of a TV show. The art of the series has the charm of a 1940′s Paramount/Famous Studios “Noveltoon”, the Bob Clampett-directed Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes shorts (a major inspiration for John K.), and the Saturday morning cartoons of the 1960s, and the show’s creatives would become part of certain modern cartoons in the 1990s, some of which were dubbed by @cartoonnetwork as “Cartoon Cartoons”.

Also cinematic to the quality is the authentic film grain, a result of recording the cels (animated frame by frame on their respective backgrounds) on film. The deterioration of the episode’s film masters make it look believably like something out of the 1960s or even The Golden Age of Hollywood, the 1940s! (I personally dislike the quality that the videotape masters add to the picture, though. It may be that, in the future, UHD / HD prints could use the actual film masters, though!)

Some shots of Stimpy in Stimpy’s Invention have a color mistake where, like in the title card of the pilot “Big House Blues”, Stimpy’s nose is red instead of blue. It looks pretty swell on him, though.

The grooves and moves that Ren & Stimpy make during the montage of the song Happy Happy Joy Joy are filled with bouncy, weight-distributing pieces of animation, with lots of squash and stretch.

Speaking of “squash and stretch”, the above pics are of the extremes as Stimpy does a take of joy when he succeeds at making Ren be happy.

The takes of the characters really stretch their design and animation. Aurally, a common sound effect to accent these takes is a quick, loud record scratch, and their shaking/trembling movements often sound like a record rapidly skipping.

Regarding one of my favorite character designers, much of the designs by @cheyennecurtisart and @lynnvwang in early episodes of Disney’s Star vs. the Forces of Evil (particularly “Brittney’s Party”) are highly graphic and detailed, and that work of hers reminds me of the designs by Chris & Lynne Reccardi, Jim Smith, John K. and others. Very similar are the designs of @stephendestefano on Disney’s Mickey Mouse, which are also very graphic and extreme with character takes and injury aftermaths.

In the infamous Happy Happy Joy Joy sequence in “Stimpy’s Invention”, to stop himself from being controlled by the Happy Helmet, Ren whacks it (and thus himself) with a hammer to break it..

...and every hit pushes the extremes of not only the looks of his body, but also the styles of the psychotic-looking backgrounds.

Often in the show is a lot of mental breakdowns, including the end of Stimpy’s Invention as Ren goes from being the angriest he ever was in his entire life...

...to becoming very jovial as he comes to love being angry. That also causes a change in these psychedelic, psychotic backgrounds. The practice of such backgrounds came to other cartoons of the 1990s, such as The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show, in the episode “Night of the Living Shnookums”, with art direction by Lynne Naylor.

Another great episode, one of my favorites, is “The Boy Who Cried Rat!”, directed by Vincent Waller, who, replying to my tweet compliment, described the episode as “a chance to tip the hat to all the amazing cartoonist/ writer/ funny people who took the time to invest theirselves into their artwork for the enjoyment and tutelage of the regular folks and cartoonists to come.” The episode involves a literal game of “Cat and Mouse” and Stimpy tries to make a living for him and Ren by unleashing his inner cat in service to a couple. It probably bases itself, of course, on Tom and Jerry, and Ren’s costume references the fashion of Mickey Mouse.

Eventually, Stimpy is forced into eating the rat whom Ren plays (this reminds me of another classic cartoon, @paramountpictures’s Noveltoon called Cheese Burglar, featuring Herman and Katnip). In terms of cartoon physics, though, how did Ren become small enough to fit inside Stimpy’s mouth?

This episode features a very clever, unexpected visual gag that is the result of being hit with a frying pan.

See? and it’s not even a violent image, either.

Sometimes, the show would feature various segments among the episodes, including their close-out segment “What’ll We Do ‘Til Then”. The Ren & Stimpy Show actually predates Animaniacs (1993), VeggieTales (1993) and Uncle Granpda (2013), which were similar with a variety of segment material.

THE ANIMATION

The animation is certainly something when one considers the defining quality of this show’s animation, which occasionally was produced by Rough Draft Studios in Seoul, Korea, one of the most popular animation studios today. There’s also some great timing directors, like David Feiss (Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, All Dogs Go to Heaven 2, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy), Bob Jacques, James Tim Walker (Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls, Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring), Kent Butterworth (Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog) and even the awesome Tony Fucile (Osmosis Jones, The Iron Giant, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, Inside Out, The Little Mermaid), who was uncredited for a few episodes like “In The Army” and “Ren’s Toothache”).

This scene of animation from the episode “Nurse Stimpy” (frame shown above) is one of the very best pieces of animation ever done in the series. The balance between slow and mostly fast-paced animation/timing, along with weight, looks very cinematic--of theatrical-quality animation (like Don Bluth, Tony Fucile, etc.). The film’s quality is fairly deteriorated here, but film specks and stuff add to the cinematic feel.

THE SOUND

The sound design, of course, done at Horta Editorial and Sound, which became/folded into Hacienda Post at Sabre Media Studios, was also defining for the modern cartoon as an unusual array of sound effects were used to accent all sorts of takes, impacts, etc. The use of Hanna-Barbera & Warner Bros. sound effects (mostly available from Sound Ideas) with Disney sound effects (mostly available from Hollywood Edge’s Cartoon Trax Volume One) became a very common blend for many sound designers, up to today. Hacienda Post’s founder and president, Timothy J. Borquez (Spongebob Squarepants, Samurai Jack, The Powerpuff Girls), served as the Re-Recording Mixer and Supervising Editor, as well as the uncredited sound designer, and considers the groundbreaking show to be “a laboratory for using classic sounds (in different contextual situations); adding Foley and new design to create "hybrid" textures and moments. We conscientiously did this and it opened up a whole new world for us! A lot of this was done on the mix stage.” He worked with talented sound editors like Michael M. Geisler, M.P.S.E., Michael A. Gollom, and sound/music editor William B. Griggs. Speaking of cartoon sound design expert Michael M. Geisler, M.P.S.E., in an Animation World Network article, Michael Geisler described the detailed process of sound design in a moment of the controversially violent scene in “Man’s Best Friend” (which never showed the credits): “Sometimes the eyelid closing and the eyelid opening are two very separate actions, and so each motion, open and close, must have different sound effects. In "Man's Best Friend," the classic Ren & Stimpy episode that introduces George Liquor, Ren smacks George with his own "Prize Bludgeoning Oar" and George's eye pops out of his head like a piece of meat. The eyelid does a wet sounding movement down over the eye until the eyelids meet and blink (splat, wet hit), and then slosh up again.” For some reason, however, on prints of that episode, George’s blink is silent.

The music for the show was usually unoriginal, very much like the series soundtrack to Spongebob, as it was mostly composed of music provided by Associated Production Music (APM). This included classical music, too, just as Tom and Jerry, Disney’s Silly Symphonies and Warner Bros.’ Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes would often use. Someone even created 3 volumes of Production Music from Ren & Stimpy, unofficial collections of APM music from the series. I kind of wish that they made those.

You may wonder at this point: After many years of seeing almost nothing of this series, how found I The Ren & Stimpy Show in my life?

I knew or remember very little of the show as I grew up (at least attempting to watch the episode “Ren’s Pecs” one Sunday afternoon in 2007 on Nick), but on August 13th, 2016 I saw another Spümcø project, the later Yogi Bear (or Ranger Smith) episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild”, on @adultswim. John K.’s approach to a classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon (CN doesn’t even air this stuff on anymore) was very inspiring. Looking the names of the team up on IMDb, I found that they were a part of many amazing cartoons that i grew up watching! In May 2017, recommended on my YouTube user were “disturbing” scenes from The Ren & Stimpy Show, including Ren’s insane threats in Sven Höek (the audio of which I heard in a YTP where the King [of Hyrule] goes psycho and does the same menacing threats) and perhaps a spiritual taste of Hell in Stimpy’s Fan Club. Ren’s acting (voiced then by creator John K) was so hilarious that, from that point onward, I desired to see more of this groundbreaking cartoon on which I was missing out.

On the day that I began to concept this post, June 18th, 2018, in my final visit to Toys ‘R Us (a local one, though I remember visiting the New York one in 2001), I got collectible Ren & Stimpy figures, and at the time of this post’s original concept I placed Ren and Stimpy in the presence of my Aku wacky wobbler.

It’s interesting that a 2018 Google spot regarding how children react to crowd noise used an excerpt from the episode Stimpy’s Fan Club. This practice is like certain phone commercials (namely T-Mobile, I think) that use some brief footage from “public domain” cartoons. Likewise, what Google did with that ad makes The Ren & Stimpy Show feel like a public domain cartoon (and the highly famous Merry Melodies/Looney Tunes and Popeye shorts were often distributed as “public domain” too, though WarnerMedia holds the ultimate rights to the shorts).

From a Christian viewpoint, The Ren & Stimpy Show is sometimes controversial, but its biggest controversy is whether it’s really a kids show or not--perhaps more of an adult show--mostly due to violence and intense situations like the aforementioned mental breakdowns (this excludes the “Adult Party Cartoon” episodes as those were deliberately produced for adults). Of course, classic cartoons of MGM, Warner Bros. and other studios would often show violence, sensuality, smoking, and alcoholics (even though Cartoon Network/Boomerang still rates them “TV-G”), so even those weren’t produced completely with children in mind. That’s why I consider this show and the aforementioned classic cartoons as “cartoons for MEN”.

The humor and heart of The Ren & Stimpy Show isn’t the purest either, given all of Ren’s hate and violent anger, but Stimpy’s Fan Club has an actually touching ending: after attempting to kill Stimpy or otherwise at least upset him, Ren discovers that the one fan letter addressed to him was from no one else but Stimpy himself--and Stimpy meant every word in his letter. Then, Ren is broken to tears.

THE FUTURE?

As a devote cartoon-watching guy, I find great inspiration from the barrier-breaking art and animation, visually and aurally, of The Ren & Stimpy Show. If you love slapstick comedy and cartoons, then this one’s definitely worth a watch--essential viewing. I surely hope that it comes back again; I can agree on one’s opinion for the show to come back (and, if you want the show to be rebooted as I do, share this IMDb list with Nickelodeon/Spümcø or whatever studio’s in charge). Now, if Viacom/Nick is willing, [adult swim]/Turner/WarnerMedia or some other studio may be better off to purchase the rights to Ren & Stimpy, as Nick or at least Paramount no longer wants anything to do with the series (due to the objectionable material in the “Adult Party Cartoon”), according to this article.

There were rumors of an upcoming Ren & Stimpy short that Nickelodeon Animation was producing. IMDb once removed the title, but now the short “It’s Our House Now!” may be in production by Jessica Borutski, also a former layout artist on the “Adult Party Cartoon”; this may be based on a short John K. sketched to promote Sponge Out of Water.

The closest thing to Ren & Stimpy so far is John K.’s Cans with out Labels [WARNING: some strong language and nudity], a dark, edgy Kickstarter short featuring George Liquor, including storyboards & layouts by Jim Smith and amazingly cartoonish, detailed, over-the-top animation, contributed by @gadworks, @mikepelensky​ and @sandrarivasart​ (a DVD is available for $25 purchase here). Color cards were made by @kalikazoo​ too.

In the future, also, it would be swell to see true high-definition transfers of the actual film negatives for the non-digitally animated episodes of Ren & Stimpy. Most filmed cartoons were often recorded onto videotape masters, which lowered the quality, and I suppose that some of the film negatives still exist in Spumco’s/Nickelodeon’s archives. In point of fact, this clip of The Muddy Mudskipper Intro here looks like it came from an actual film negative (of which I tweeted), with brighter colors and no videotape quality. Though the film looks fairly aged, it looks better than usual prints of the scene.

As we come to the conclusion, I have some additional notes: I began this post in January 2019. 5 months later, Chris Reccardi died, so I refer to him in my posts as the Late and Great Chris Reccardi. He and his family are in my thoughts and prayers. A documentary premiered at Sundance 2020 on January 28th, 2020, Ron Cicero’s Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story; while the controversial creator is known for some terrible things he did due to mental issues in the past, the least people could do is respect the work of both John K and his groundbreaking team. If it weren’t for them, many great Western animation projects for Cartoon Network, Pixar, Disney TVA, Nickelodeon and others would not be the same.

Before I close, whether or not you think negatively of John K., here’s something you should know, understand, and remember about the value of the creatives of The Ren & Stimpy Show: "Brilliant cartoonists like Lynne Naylor, Jim Smith, Bob Camp, Vincent Waller, Rich Pursel, Elinor Blake, Bill Wray, Chris Reccardi, Gabe Swarr and many many more added a lot of richness and personality to the cartoons. Actors like Billy West, Cheryl Chase, Mike Pataki, Gary Owens, Eric Bauza and others inspired us all to capture the subtle nuances in their readings. Henry Porch, Bill Griggs and Tim Borquez contributed much to the wacky new sound design style Ren and Stimpy was known for. We also had some very talented producers like Chris Danzo, Libby Simon and Kevin Kolde who helped me execute the totally new production system that gave the artists ways to express themselves more personally. These people and more are all heroes to me. Think of them when you remember my cartoons." I will always think of these people and pray for them.

For the inspiration, I give thanks to the entire Spümcø staff and creatives who went on to produce some of the best cartoons ever made.

[pygian-weapon]

About Me Challenge

I was tagged by @bakerstreetlady (thank you ! ^3^)

Name: Caterina

Height: 1,63m (which google tells me equals to 5′3″)

Star Sign: Sagittarius

Middle Name: Sitlali

Put my music on shuffle, the first four songs that came up were:

We Will Fall Together - Streetlight Manifesto

Sono Il Tuo Sogno Eretico - Caparezza

Florence en Italie - Yelle

Go It Alone - Beck

Grab the book next to me and turn to page 23, what is line 17?:

 “Se qualcuno narrasse l’inverno -gli uccelli stecchiti, la neve dell’Ida a fare più acerbo il patire- o la vampa estiva nell’ora che il mare -né soffio di brezza né onda- crolla di sonno e stagna nei suoi covili, a mezzogiorno... serve ripetere il pianto?”

Agamemnon, Aeschylus (trad. Savino)

Ever had a song/poem written about me?:

If there is I’ve never heard it.

Who is your celebrity crush?:

You mean my weekly Top 10 favourite people that I admire? This so hard

Let’s go with Terry Crews, he deserves everything

A sound I hate, and a sound I love?:

Mosquitoes buzzing, fire crackling

Do you believe in ghosts?:

Nah, I find the world already too scary and complicated without the help of the aid of the supernatural; however if I am alone at 3am in an abandoned place I tend to be more open minded. I do enjoy ghost stories anyway

How about aliens?:

Listen, the universe is HUGE. So fricking huge. When we talk about searching for life outside of Earth we look for planets with similar characteristics (like conditions suitable for live beings, not an extreme gravity, a distance from the star and atmosphere that will allow water in its liquid state, some protection from the star being a deadly laser ya know). 

But -BUT- this is looking for life as we know it, what if there are aliens and they don’t look at all like our definition of life (which is itself sketchy at best)? What should we look for exactly? Do we look for something similar to DNA? Bacteria? Something able to reproduce itself? Something with a nervous system? A consciousness? What it’s not carbon-based life (I dunno, Nitrogen) and we have looked in the wrong places all this time? The evolution of life on Earth is a result of contingency, a mix of randomness and environmental restraints, and the current result is not to be taken for granted even if we found a twin planet of Earth.

I’m so sorry this turned into a rant, I get excited. Uh, yeah, I think it’s probable that there are aliens but I have no idea if/when we will meet them.

Do you drive? If so, have you ever crashed?:

No, not yet.

The last book I read?:

Laurel - Isabel Miller

Do you like the smell of gasoline?:

I tolerate it.

What was the last movie I saw?:

“Paris is Burning” directed by Jennie Livingstone

Do you have any obsession right now?:

I am falling deep into Les Miserables.

Do you tend to hold grudges against people who have done you wrong?:

Not really? Honestly, it’s too much emotional effort to resent someone for a prolonged period of time, especially if it’s someone that you have to see with regularity. People will be shitty to you eventually, but they can change. And if they don’t, then you can change, which does not mean forget and pretend nothing happened, but you can move forward. Having to relieve that one time that someone betrayed one every time you meet them? Nope, too exhausting, I’ll pass. 

Of course you have to get out of bad and abusive situations, I’m not saying you have to forgive everybody, my point is that it would be good to find a way to not let oneself be haunted by past experiences. 

You won’t always get a apology or even a recognition that you’ve been hurt because of them, sometimes it’s best to just let it go.

Except for that bully in middle school. You’re still worse than the buzzing of mosquitoes.

In a relationship?:

I tag @janedoe297, @anhardchoice, @unicorntrooper, @lone-rhapsodist, @eowynsunknownsister, @the-march-hair and whoever wants to do it

[ptbf2002]

Animated Atrocities - Foe Paws

Show - The Cartoon Cartoon Show Episode - 9 Air Date - July 7, 2000 Writer(s) - Chris Savino Director(s)/Editor(s) - Chris Savino, Chris Savino (Storyboard), Genndy Tartakovsky (Animation) Rating - 0/100 Other Note(s) - Yes Guys, This Is The First Time I'm Doing An Animated Atrocity On A Cartoon Cartoon. Not Really A Cartoon Cartoon. But A Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Cartoon. I Mean, I Had To Say What Have Ruined Hanna-Barbera & Cartoon Network Masterpieces. Let's Talk About Foe Paws. Yes, This Cartoon is Totally Stupid. The Day When I First Watched This Cartoon On YouTube, And I Really Hate This. It Involves These 2 Cats Being Adopted By An Italian Old Lady Named Mama Mia. Which That One Reminds Me Of Rosa Casagrande From The Casagrandes. But Still This One Orange Cat Has Forced To Wear A Girls Costumes Like A Red Bow, And A Red Skirt, That's A Stupid Reason To Force A Male Cat To Wear A Female, Which Proves This Is A Homosexual Cartoon. And They Make This Orange Male Cat Look Like Blossom From The Powerpuff Girls. Mama Mia is Also A Pure Jerk To It's Cats. That Is One Of The Pet Peeves In This Cartoon, Then, It's A Good Thing That The Cats Are Ready To Eat One Of The Italian Traditional Dishes, Which Is Spaghetti And The Meatballs, What?! Spaghetti And The Meatballs For The Cats? Why Wouldn't Mama Mia Let To Eat Their Cat Food. They Could've Die. And If They Die, Mama Mia Could Go To Jail For That. Then This Orange Cat Is Getting Out Of Here. But Then, He's Forced To Take A Bath. Why Wouldn't He Clean His Face For Once? Then This Orange Cat Is Planning To Get The Hell Out Of Mama Mia's House. But The Grey Cat Is Leaving By The Stairs. Then Mama Mia Found Out That Her Pets Were Lost, Which Caused To Break Down Into Tears While In Her Accordion, And The Whole Town Has Heard All Of Her Accordion Crying Concerts. The Ending Was Totally Stupid As Mama Mia Is Scolding Her Pets For Getting Lost. Wow! Just Fucking Wow! This Cartoon Is Totally Stupid, Poorly Written, And Mean-Spirited Indeed! And This Is Also A Torture Porn For These 2 Cats. Is This Cartoon Is Made For Kids? I Don't Think So! Because Of The Writers Committing Serious Crimes! So Basically, I Always Hated This Cartoon, Ever Since I First Watched It On YouTube. If Cartoon Network Greenlitted This Cartoon, Then Nickelodeon & Paramount Global Would Sue Chris Savino And The Whole Hanna-Barbera & Cartoon Network For Ripping-Off Cat-Dog. Case Closed! This Cartoon Sucks! Original Meme Template: https://imgflip.com/memetemplate/196127392/MrEnters-Notebook What A Cartoon! Belongs To Fred Seibert, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Cartoon Network Studios, Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. & WarnerMedia Foe Paws Belongs To Chris Savino, Rough Draft Studios, Inc. Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Cartoon Network, Warner Bros. Domestic Television Distribution, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. & WarnerMedia

[flamaflavio]

Hii South Italian here! Can my friends and I help with the Italian characters names?

Starting by the surname Vargas: it's a Spanish surname but it's used in Italy!! It's rare but it exists. Not only you can find some families with this surname (they're harshly 230 in Italy), it was also the surname of a noble family in Salerno (a city in south Italy). There are better surnames but it's okay to use this one!

Next, Feliciano: as you said it's rare (there are like 2500 Feliciano in the whole country??) but it's still used in Italy, there are some historical figures who had this name and it's even the name of the Saint protector of Foligno (a city in Umbria). So it's a good name after all!

And then Lovino: we tried to search online and we can't find any website that talks about it as a Spanish name? Anyways Spanish name or not it obviously isn't an Italian name, but it's actually a rare surname used in South Italy! It's used in Bari (a city in Apulia) and we assume Himaruya saw it and mistook it for a name or something like that. He tried his best lol.

For the name Lorenzo: I'm sorry but we have to agree that it really is a North Italian name. I always personally thought that it felt like some North Italian stereotyped name™ so I searched it online and 55% of Lorenzo live in the North while only 23% is in the South + islands. I noticed it's a popular name in the American fandom and I still don't know why? Italians don't use it for Romano :0 I remember seeing some people saying that Lorenzo is a name popular in the Italian fandom but?? Where??

If you're curious about what names the Italian fandom use in Italian fanfictions: almost all of us use Lovino. There's this belief that we hate the name Lovino but it isn't true.. there are some of us who don't like Lovino and they simply use Romano (Romano is a real Italian name btw! Sadly it's more common in the North, but we use it anyways because it's his canon nickname and it doesn't confuse readers. It's the easiest option and you can use it for him in Human AUs with no problems). If Italians really wanted to change it we would use real south Italian names (like Giuseppe, Vincenzo, Nicola, Salvatore, Gaetano, Pasquale, Saverio..) but definitely not a North Italian name :')

Now if you're looking for a name similar to Lovino: we would recommend Savino which is a name a bit uncommon in Italy (there are 15K Italians with this name so it's way more popular than Feliciano tbh) and it is South Italian! It's popular in Apulia :0. No one ever used it in the Italian fandom but it's the only good alternative we could find..

So in the end the best alternative to Lovino would be Romano! Then there's Savino I guess? Liberato would be okay too but it's a bit too different from Lovino? If you still want to use the North Italian name Lorenzo I guess it's okay just keep in mind Italians kinda find it annoying lol especially the ones in the South because people in the International fandom often give him North/Central Italian things (tiramisù, Venice Carnival masks, Florence's Renaissance..) and it's a bit tiring :/

My Italian friends @hws-cernunnos (Liguria, North) @j-crna-zvijezda (Campania, South) and @elelloletee (Salento, South) helped me with researches ! If you need help with other things related to Italy (both north and south) we're always happy to help <3

Honestly, trying to make the Hetalia characters’ names culturally accurate in fanfic while still making them recognizable to a casual reader familiar with the human names Himaruya gave us is stressful as hell. Random ramblings below the cut:

Continua a leggere

[zorak-phd]

I really hate what Savino did and I hope he’s held accountable for his actions but Cartoonbrew and others shouldn’t be trying to use this incident to try and get the loud house canceled or shunning those that still like it, just because you like the show doesn’t mean you support Savino’s actions of sexual assaulting people or Savino himself, especially after he’s already been fired off of it already. Savino is not the loud house, stop trying to spread the idea that by liking, watching or continuing the show, that you approve of his horrible actions.

[thatsamericano]

My Missing Puzzle Piece

Pairings/Characters: America/Romano, with background FrUK and FACE Family and mentioned Cankraine. Human AU.

Ratings/Warnings: Teen, for cursing. No warnings.

Word Count: 1564

Summary: According to the words written on his arm, Alfred will initially be more of a nuisance than a hero to his soulmate, but he’s eager to meet them regardless.

A/N: Written for @aphrarepairweek2021​, Day 5 “soulmate.” Title taken from “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry.

Alfred woke up on the morning of his sixteenth birthday more excited than he’d ever been. He was getting closer to adulthood, and like all teenagers on their sixteenth birthday, he would finally be able to read the first words his soulmate would ever say to him on his arm.

He ran into the bathroom, turned on the light and read what his soulmate had to say to him. Or to be more accurate, he tried to read it. At least it was in the same alphabet he was used to, unlike Mattie, who had woken up three days ago with a Cyrillic script on his arm. But it obviously wasn’t English.

Che cazzo di problema hai?! Mi hai fatto inciampare, stupido stronzo!

From what he could tell, his soulmate was having some kind of problem with a stupid person.  That wasn’t an ideal situation in which to meet the fated love of your life, but Alfred, optimistic as always, spun it in a positive direction. He smiled as he thought of rescuing his soulmate from whatever stupid person was bothering them, showing off how cool and heroic he was, and impressing them so much that they fainted right into his arms, just like Superman had met Lois Lane. It would be totally epic!

His hopes for a heroic, comic book worthy meeting were dashed a few days later. On the morning of his birthday, Alfred explained his soulmate tattoo to his curious family, and his Papa Francis was able to determine that he probably had Italian on his arm. The following week, their other dad, Arthur, brought Alfred and his brother to a language learning center in order to have their tattoos assessed by the specialists working there. After knowing the language written on their arms, they would begin receiving tutoring in their soulmate’s language.

The expert in Slavic languages was able to determine that Matthew had Ukrainian on his arm. His soulmate had lost their cat and was asking Matthew for help. Matthew’s new language tutor took him into another room for his first lesson, and then it was Alfred’s turn to be assessed. When the Italian instructor, a balding, middle-aged man who introduced himself as Mr. Moretti, read what was on Alfred’s arm, he started chuckling.

“What’s so bloody funny?”

Mr. Moretti addressed Alfred rather than his father. “Your soulmate is annoyed with you. And they weren’t exactly polite about it.” He explained what the tattoo said. The “stupid person” (asshole, really) they were having a problem with was Alfred, who had apparently made them fall over, and his soulmate was wondering what the fuck was wrong with them.

“Oh.” Alfred frowned down at the desk he was sitting at. “When I saw that they had a problem, I was kind of hoping I could be their hero. Does this mean my soulmate’s gonna hate me forever?”

Mr. Moretti smiled sympathetically at him. “That’s generally not how it works. But helping you learn as much Italian as you can before you meet your soulmate will probably go a long way to smoothing things over.”

After that, Alfred said goodbye to his dad, who promised to pick him up later, and started his first lesson in Italian. He learned how to say “I’m sorry,” and how to tell his soulmate what his name was.

Nearly two years later, Alfred had graduated high school without meeting his soulmate or bumping into any other Italians. Matthew hadn’t met any Ukrainians looking for their missing cat either, so instead of a more traditional graduation present, Alfred and Matthew asked to go on a trip to the places where they would be more likely to meet their soulmates. First, they would visit Italy for a couple weeks, and then they would go to Ukraine so Mattie could get a chance to meet his soulmate.

After flying into Naples, Alfred was eager to immediately go out and explore the city on the off chance that he might meet his soulmate. The rest of his family, however, was exhausted by the long flight and insisted on checking into the hotel so they could catch up on their sleep and adjust to the time difference. Alfred went along grudgingly.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast at the hotel, Alfred, his dads, and his brother all left to go sightseeing. They’d visited the ruins of Pompeii and had been wandering around the Piazza del Plebiscito for a while when his Papa brought up the idea of stopping to get lunch.

“I think we should give it another half hour. Statistically, I’m more likely to run into my soulmate out here than in a restaurant.”

Matthew laughed. “You’re actually objecting to the idea of eating? That’s not like you, Al.”

Alfred pouted at his brother’s teasing. “I just want to meet my soulmate,” he muttered.

“Perhaps if you could tell us your type, it would narrow down the search a little, mon chou,” his papa suggested.

Alfred thought it over. “I don’t think I have a type. I hope they’re around my age so we can be together for the rest of our lives, but other than that, I’ll like my soulmate for whoever they are.” Matthew was fairly sure his soulmate would be a girl, but he was open to other possibilities. Alfred had no gender preferences, so it could theoretically be anyone.

His dad sighed. “So the plan is to walk around this city aimlessly until some Italian calls you an arsehole.”

Alfred glanced behind him to speak to his dad. “Pretty much.”

“And if they’re not here?”

“Then we’ll wander around aimlessly somewhere else in Italy. And then, if that doesn’t work, we’ll go to another town, until I meet whoever it is I’m supposed to—”

Alfred was interrupted in the middle of talking to his dad by a body colliding into his. He heard a startled oof, then whirled around to see a brunet man falling to the ground. He managed to avoid faceplanting on the pavement by throwing out his hands at the last minute, then quickly scrambled to his feet.

Alfred knew Italian pretty well for an American kid who had a French and English parent. He knew that in this situation he should say mi dispiace or ask him ha bisogno di aiuto, but Alfred couldn’t get his mouth to work. His heart was beating too fast, his stomach was filled with butterflies, and he’d scoffed at the idea of love at first sight so many times before, but he couldn’t explain his reaction any other way.

The stranger he’d knocked over because he hadn’t been paying attention to where he was going was beautiful.

Of course, he started yelling at him, with that phrase Alfred had first learned nearly two years ago and that was now making his arm tingle with recognition. The stranger was glaring at him, but Alfred was too mesmerized by his gorgeous hazel eyes to feel intimidated. He was gesturing furiously, but Alfred was awestruck by how cute it was.

He was grinning by the time the stranger had finished ranting at him, and he said the only thing he could think of. “God, you’re perfect.”

Alfred’s soulmate’s eyes widened, and he grabbed onto his right arm in disbelief. Alfred laughed and went over to hug him. But he was too exhilarated from hugging his soulmate to stay still. Alfred picked him up and spun him around. His soulmate hissed at Alfred to put him down, but he ended up clinging to Alfred’s neck in a way that suggested he didn’t really want to let go.

By the time he set him back down on his feet, his soulmate was blushing and smiling a little in spite of himself. Alfred beamed. “You’re the cutest person I’ve ever seen!” He turned towards his amused family. “Isn’t he the cutest person you’ve ever seen?”

Matthew chuckled. “Alfred, you might want to find out his name before you start telling us about him.”

“Oh right.” Alfred cleared his throat. “Mi chiamo Alfred. Lei… come si chiama?”

His soulmate snickered at him. Maybe it should’ve bothered him that he was being made fun of, but Alfred was too focused on how adorable he was and how much he wanted to kiss him. “Your accent sounds ridiculous,” he explained. “And my name is Savino.”

“Well, Savino, I’ve got the rest of my life to get better at it. Especially if I have you to help me.”

Savino’s lips twitched up into a grin. “I’m willing to give it a shot.”

Alfred introduced his soulmate to his brother and dads then mentioned that he and his family had been thinking about getting lunch before Alfred ran into him. He asked Savino if he would like to join them for lunch.

“I know a place not too far from here. I’ll take you there.”

Savino linked his hand with Alfred’s and started to lead them forward confidently across the piazza. Alfred snuck glances at his soulmate’s face and squeezed his hand, marveling at how right it felt to hold Savino’s hand, and how right it felt to be with him, even if he was only beginning to get to know him. The piece of his life he hadn’t even known he’d been missing was guiding him through a foreign city, and now Alfred felt complete.

[geek-gem]

About The Loud House Situation

Well got a message from my friend. I've been reblogging from her okay I'll mention her. @wyomingparmesan luckly remembered the first two letters not silly.

Okay might not be the same title. But it's about what's been going on. I copied and pasted this from when I was making this on DeviantArt. Giving missed giving at first just I'm gonna tag this too.

Just no don't wanna update now. Including title was about the loud house news or whatever okay got a message from a friend on Tumblr. Who I told I was gonna write this on here and copy and paste it to Tumblr.

But this is about the situation where and I tried getting link you know what I reblogged it on Tumblr yet I should search for it. Even if at one point went to Google by mistake.

http://variety.com/2017/tv/news/loud-house-showrunner-chris-savino-fired-nickelodeon-sexual-harassment-charges-1202594788/ well my phone remembered the link.

Yet yeah it's about that situation. Including when I found out more details in a journal I favorited on here. Which bothered me a lot more then when I found out the day the news broke out on another site.

So basically it was a rumor or just here's the thing. The internet people can make stuff up. Which is why I was cautious about it. It reminds me a bit of the shit that goes on when people speak about the DCEU or other shit. Because not everything is the truth. Some people make stuff up.

But their was more stuff coming up including yeah the idea Chris Savino the creator of The Loud House has harassed well sexually harassed women in the past. I read the news but read through it a bit quick. It explains the situation.

In fact I no not know but don't know if I should trust this yet....yeah should listen to my friend about that. I believe her.

But the idea just....it shocks or just...I think I got a bit more uncomfortable when finding out the exact details of the sexual harassment.

Now this might not relate or it could. I'm one of the fans who dislikes the whole Loudcest shit almost left shot but well when people ship the siblings. Honestly being a fan of the show and learning some stuff. Weird thing I kind of changed. When it comes to stuff like that. Because I think it's gross and it's illegal.

Now this oh head no don't respect Chris Savino I hate him. Just...my head said that. This here basically....I'm using the periods a bit too much but just remember. I don't condone anything Chris has done. Including that bothers me. Seriously just okay don't wanna sound weird. I may be a perv at times. Yet the shit Chris pulled. That shit is bad.

Including I remember I was upset thinking about this more. I imagined Chris Savino as such a cool guy and even made jokes of him making LGBT head canons well canon to piss off certain fans basically being a troll a good one. Also having him as one of my favorite visual artists.

Okay I'm bothered no they can't change the art style.

This has happened with Clarence before a show I like honestly. I haven't seen it in a while but it's still a good show even after the creator I think did some sexual harassment. I wonder if the fanbase for that show honestly I feel were in the same position as them. Where news shocking like this.

Listen I'm rambling on and just head at times like at the position part could of said place. But I basically wanna say I'll still watch the show.

Including it's a show while I'm not the biggest fan of it right now when I first discovered it. It's a show I really enjoy and support. Despite I'm quite critical when it comes to certain episodes.

Really the impact honestly got to me when I discovered more details and that even a woman he worked with talked about this on Twitter not Tumblr. Including remembering that I respected Chris Savino and him creating the show and everyone working on it.

But right now with him fired. So we are moving on from Chris almost left Christmas but I even thought we should forget that he created the show....

Really I'm being weird. I have this weird thing against Chris now and....theirs other good Chris's so the name isn't really tainted. Along with....I just feel like not wanting to remember he's not London but he's the guy who created this show and it's awesome. Including it's one or I think my favorite yeah Nicktoon related show.

This was a weird journal or well post. But I wanted to speak of it giving you my guys thoughts. Seriously was hearing Film Junkiees voice reading this haven't seen and not London...don't wanna see that video about Ben Affleck I'm getting off topic.

I still like the show. Just this is sad news just...even thought tragic in my head. Okay just...no this is extreme because people were hurt in a different way. Yet the show will still go on and I'll support it. Along with the movie. Just gonna pick category I just wanna post this it's fucked up seriously just...don't wanna pick category yet oh yeah copy and paste this....

But still it's shocking don't wanna post was gonna copy...

Just have to message that friend of mine about this.

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