#I was there when the writer was making 2010s youtube animations to these characters before it got published.
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Was looking for xenofiction to read and was just about to settle for the varjak paw books i got laying around for a few years already (not that they're, like, bad) when I remember I had THIS- *grips it's fucking throat violently* - fucking dude
#you will never understand. I got HISTORY with that fucker#I was there when the writer was making 2010s youtube animations to these characters before it got published.#I did not get the lore but also I knew way too much about it at the same time#I got like three of these books at my shelf and i read one of them and half of the second#but that was. an entire few years ago.#there was many editing issues and at times the book expected you to already know all the lore teelia put up on social media#thorought the few years she developed it (hazbin hotel style)#and i think i forgot like 90% of whatever WASN'T drilled into my head by the older yt animations. however.#VIDEO KILLED THE RADIOOOOOOO STAR‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️#Also I love the names. Technology cats... kid named Tape. Also I liked Video and Film. The sillies...#There's also an evil wizard monkey with plot relevant gorgeus blue eyes👍#mine#you don't understand. you don't understand. the beautiful relationship we got despite not speaking to each other for over 4 years
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I finished watching The Cleveland Show last Friday, been wanting to write a review of some sort about it but couldn't really find the words to do so yet.
It's an interesting spin-off, I remembered when it first started airing in the Netherlands around 2010-ish that I was intrigued by the idea of a "black" Family Guy spin-off, not yet realising that Cleveland was being voiced by a white guy at the time until shortly afterwards. I did remember the characters from the show, the slightly uncanny character designs compared to Family Guy, and of course Cleveland's rap! I used to keep an mp4 of that rap on my MDA Vario IV Windows Mobile PDA, playing that on the Windows Media Player app as I fantasized about becoming a musician as I was listening to very niche music from chiptune to underground rap music I came across on YouTube that mostly sounded catchy as my English listening skills weren't up to scratch yet.
I vaguely remembered episodes where the stories just felt "off"
But enough rambling, let's get to the actual review:
(Beware of spoilers)
The first episode was MUCH funnier than I remembered, I was prepared for the absolute worst and poorly aged jokes for a 15 year old show but I honestly thought it was hilarious! The meta joke of the "black show written by white people" sets an interesting tone for what I think the idea of The Cleveland Show was. I genuinely enjoyed the first season of The Cleveland Show, the cutaway gags were neat too, although one might notice that there's just a different vibe in the air, I still struggle to put it into words in a way that makes sense, but the animation style feels different from Family Guy and American Dad. I should mention that beyond looking up the writers, I have not yet looked into the team behind The Cleveland Show (or any of Seth's shows for that matter), so it wouldn't surprise if different animators worked on this.
I've mentioned this before, but The Cleveland Show's animation style resembles that of a Playstation 2 game. It might be the fast-paced "stop and go" animation where characters quickly move from pose A to B when talking ans background characters sometimes being so static that they keep staring at a subject that has since disappeared. There are so many scenes where you could add a loading screen behind and it would feel natural lol I'm on the spectrum btw
Season two was also pretty funny and enjoyable! I do start to notice that the whole "black comedy" part of the show starts to disappear, but the stories surrounding Cleveland's family still make sense to me and show interesting characters dynamics and growth.
Season three is where the show started to lose me a little. Even though this show has little to none necessary need for canon events and continuity just like Family Guy and American Dad, the stories just did not make sense to me strangely enough. What might have been a contributing factor for me is the character designs on The Cleveland Show being far more detailed than any character I've seen in Family Guy and American Dad, most camera compositions being in medium-medium close added to those details as it felt more like a "single camera sitcom" compared to those total shot multi camera sitcoms.
I feel like I was "hate watching" season four to some extent. But the episodes just did not feel interesting to watch. A large majority of season three and four felt like "filler episodes" if that make sense. Not literally but there's that feeling you experience when watching those episodes that feels similar to watching a filler episode of any show with a more canon storyline.
I can see why the show got cancelled because you could feel the decline, I do wonder what a "finale" would've looked like. In any scenario, the family would probably return to Quahog either way but it would be nice to give the characters some closure.
Here's a list of other thoughts as the formatting of this pose is already messy enough:
Love the guest stars brought on this show, Ye's character Kenny West still gotta be my favourite character. Ye's voice acting sounds a bit monotonous as of he's either reading the script out loud or having a difficult time saying his lines with the time codes. I'd kinda love for his character to make a return to Family Guy or American Dad.
Gus is another character I love and HOLY MOLY you're telling me that David Lynch voiced Gus?! That discovery made me love Gus' character even more!
The hurricane episode missed the mark for me! The family trying to navigate around Junior being an atheist has such potential to make for a powerful storyline, but sadly misses the mark so much! The family does not find common ground with Junior and then completely ruins it when Cleveland sneezes and Junior says "god bless you!"
Choni's introduction to the show feels so unfortunate. They painted her so cocky and it made it difficult for me to sympathize with her during her first episode. it's sad because her character in general is pretty lovely.
Cleveland Junior being a spy who got rid of the original Junior is so funny to me and I choose to believe that this is (still) canon in Family Guy
I disliked the international episode with a passion, but the German segment parodied a certain "Persona 2 character" that acquainted me about info surrounding the writers that suddenly made me aware why so many characters were... like the writers (Forgive me for the vague wording for I'm not informed enough but have zero issues with these characters, it was just a bit notable, especially as they kinda took the place of what I feel like initially was supposed to be black characters)
I watched multiple reviews about the show on YouTube to see if they experienced similar things I did and could put them into words, I agree with how all of them point out the bond in Cleveland's family and how everyone learns to get along, make mistakes, and learn/grow from them!
Like most other fans, I wish that Family Guy involved Cleveland's family more often! Seeing Rallo and Roberta just standing in the background despite probably being the strongest two characters back in The Cleveland Show is such a shame to seeing them reduced to a "Boondocks ripoff" punchline.
Donna's ex husband getting together with her mom makes me realize that Donna is now technically canonically also the older sister of Roberta and Rallo.
That's pretty much all, might add more thoughts later.
#Late Night Thoughts#The Cleveland Show#review#thought piece#Family Guy#American Dad#Seth MacFarlane
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Did forces ruin tails?
No. Sonic Free Riders was the start. That game was so bad that it ended the Riders series and is where the personalities of characters began to change. Colors and Generations wasn't really bad for Tails (more so a negative for Sonic & others like Knuckles). Those games just made it seem like only Sonic could handle threats while his friends could do nothing but stand around and root for him despite them all having their own unique skills and abilities.
Sonic Lost World is where they COMPLETELY changed Tails from being the humble sidekick who became confident in his own abilities into a cocky rude know-it-all who gets extremely jealous for no reason. As a YouTuber (Characters In-Depth) once said, they made Team Heroes have the personalities of Team Babylon; the team that were negative parallels to the 3 heroes.
If Sonic was cool with an attitude, Jet was arrogant and hotheaded.
If Tails was smart yet humble, Wave was the rude know-it-all.
If Knuckles was the simple and chill guy with a temper, then Storm was the birdbrain with a chip on his shoulder.
And how do Sonic and his friends behave when sritten by the 2010 writers? Like the Babylon Rogues.
So, imo, Lost World ruined Tails. But, Forces was the nail in the coffin. Pontac & Graff changed Tails'personality every game until it just wasnt him anymore. In Colors & Generations, Tails was decent but treated as some sort of background character in a game written like a bad kids cartoon. In Lost World, Tails had an abrubt personality shift that is nothing like who he was shown to be for over 20 years. Then, in Forces, Tails had yet another abrupt personality shift in the complete opposite direction from Lost World. With those writers gone, we are just now getting back to normal character depictions with Ian Flynn's writing in Sonic Frontiers (although Sonic Team mostly made the story and his job was to make the characters feel like themselves again). Frontiers was a course correction game. Hopefully Sonic Team continues this course & make fun games with great character interractions & compelling stories like they did before the 2010's.
Sidenote; Frontiers will be having other playable characters next year. Hopefully its not just cyber space levels and the gameplay for other characters is fun. If it looks fun, then I'll buy the game so I can finally play as Tails in a main Sonic game after 17 very long years. Sonic Team is moving in the right direction. And giving us multiple playable characters is definitely a very good move. Can't wait to see how other character play after only having Sonic playable in 3D games for all these years (Shadow was playable in "Episode Shadow" of Sonic Forces, but that was just reskinned Sonic with skating animation).
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One Year Anniversary: Top 12 Ducktales Episodes!
Happy anniversary all you happy people! Yes it was one year ago today I started reviewing animation and it’s been a ride to be sure. I’d always WANTED to be a reviewer: I love going on and on about stuff I love, really digging into it and picking it apart... but I could never get started. I tried youtube but I didn’t have the money for the equipment nor a proper shooting space to record, so my efforts.. were not great. And while I TRIED text reviews, my own looming pile of self hatred meant every attempt I made was shot down when it got hard as me not being good enough.
But one year ago I finally got past that. I’d already been reviewing a bit, doing invididual issues of comics... but got way in over my head trying to do the current line of X-Men comics as it came out, and wisely bowed out of that. But that left a gap: I had nothing to cover week to week and with a demanding new job, I drifted into just doing in charcter chats, little fan fictions script styles. Not bad work, I should do some more at some point and I even got a comissoin once in a while, but nothing I could really live on and not what I wanted to do with my life.
Enter Ducktales. I’d always WANTED to review the show.. and when the double premire happened, I decided fuck it, and put up my thoughts. And then decided.. hey maybe I can do this every week.. and slowly.. my work evolved, getting better and better, getting more and more likes. I picked up Amphibia when that came by week to week.
And eventually.. this went from a hobby, if one I was passionate about to a career. Not a largely paying one, as only one person was really intrested in paying me for it, friend of the blog and our fincial backer @weirdkev27, but .. it’s money and i’m now making about 30 dollars a month due to a comination of comissions and patreon. Other contributers are always welcome mind you, my patreon is here if your curious and comissions are 5 dollars an episode, but i’ts just nice to have money coming in. To have gone from simply WANTING to review things and make a living off it.. to simply doing it.
And it’s been one hell of a year.. and not just because 2020 felt like hell or 2021 began with a full on insurrection. I feel like i’ve acomplished a lot in the year i’ve been doing this: I finished what I started with Ducktales season 3, getting better and better as I went. And I didn’t stop there with ducks: I started covering what brought me to Ducks in the first place, the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, and while that retrospective has slid a bit on the schedule, I intend to get it back on track this month. I reviewed a bunch of Darkwing Duck episodes leading up to the Just Us Justice Ducks.. chronologically anyway. The actual airing order reads like someone took 50 issues of a comic, made it rain with them, then just started reading whatever ones they picked up randomly. I also covered some of Duck Master Carl Barks work with the classics Night on Bear Mountain, A Christmas for Shacktown and Back to the Klondike, with more to come.
And the Duck didn’t stop at just reviews I did on my own: Kev comissioned two MASSIVE retrospectives from me: My first for him was Ride of the Three Caballleros where in just a few short months I covered the boys entire televisied careers together from the movie, to house of mouse, to mickey and the roadster racers, to ducktales (again) and finishing with the wonderful Legend of the Three Caballeros. It has probably the worst Daisy imaginable, but otherwise is really excellent and i’m glad I finally watched it. I also covered Don Rosa’s two stories with the boys as part of it. It was a fun ride and I enjoyed every minute of it... okay most of them again Three Cabs Daisy is the worst. And once that finished Kev started up another idea: Shadow Into Light: a look at Lena’s character arc from start to finish that has gone on to be my most popular series on this blog, and that finishes next week. And there’s more to come as after that there’s a short breather with a look at Lilo and Stitch’s crossover episodes.. folllowed by me looking at all three of season 2′s ducktales arcs. And I fully intend to have covered every episode of the series by this time next year, so stay tuned.
Outside of ducks though I didn’t slow down. I restarted my Tom Lucitor retrospective, covering what i feel to be one of Star Vs’ two best characters, tied with eclipsa, and my personal faviorite as he redeemeed himself, found love and I bitched a lot about the horrible directions the series took and probabably will more as that’s still not done yet. I did what I always wanted to do and started looks at some of my faviorite comics ever, starting with Life and Times and adding in New X-Men and Scott PIlgrim. I also threw in the awesome comic Blacksad. I did pride month for the first time and not only came out publicly, but also did two whole arcs i’m proud of with The Saluna episodes of Loud house and the rednid episodes of OK KO, and generally just had myself a good old fashioned time as an out bi man reviewing childrens cartoons.
I started Season 2 of amphibia with it’s lows of an endlesss road trip and highs of adding Marcy to the cast and giving us more of the silky voiced keith david. And finally Patreon wise Kev’s taken me on a hell o fa journey: In addition to the restrospectives i’ve covered some additional darkwing duck, and a simpsons homage to the duck comics... but also got a bit weird and obscure with detours like the lost animnaics sucessor Histeria, the apocalyptic comedy where Santa dosen’t know how doors work Whoops! and the adventures of Santa’s bratty teen daughter jingle belle. In short.. it’s been a long year but damn has it been fun and there’s more to come. I’d like to thank all of you for reading, thank my Patreons Kev and Emma for supporting me, and thank my family for doing the same. So with that out of the way, I figured the best way to celebrate was to do something i’ve been wanting to do for a long time, something honoring the show that gave me this calling in the first place. And with Season 3 sadly being the last, and enough weeks having passed for me to digest it between the finale and today, I could think of nothing better than my top 12 episodes of Ducktales.
Ducktales is one of the best cartoons of the 2010′s. Brilliantly taking EVERYTHING that had come before, the comics, the original cartoon and every bit of duck media period to craft a masterful, unique and wonderful reboot. It was funny, it was insane, and it had damn good character arcs. By the end every member of the main cast along with major supporting cast members like Fenton, Drake and especially Lena, had changed and signifigantly at that. The show was everything I could’ve dreamed of and more and I miss it terribly, hoping DIsney will do a revivial movie at some point. For now though, Frank and Matt’s run on ducktales, as they called it and I do too since i’m a massive comic book nerd, it’s time to look back on my favorite tales of ducks. So grab your sharks, your number one dimes and your friendship cakes with clear gay undertones and join me under the cut as I celebrate one of my faviorite shows and my anniversary in the best way possible.
12. House of the Lucky Gander!
��So as i’ve gone on about before and no doubt will again, Donald kinda got the short end of the stick in season 1. While Frank and Matt had good story intentions, keeping Donald away from adventure since he had no interest in it, in practice it meant a beloved Disney Icon who they and disney HEAVILY promoted as part of the series and whose being here this go round was a big draw for fans of the comics.... was only in a quarter of the season and only got TWO plots centered around him in 23 episodes, with only one being the main plot of the episode. The PIlot and Finale both centered around the family more as a whole if your curious how I counted those so while he got plenty of focus in both, it’s still not a day in the limelight sort of thing.
But unusually for Donald, he lucked out as his one big starring role for Season 1 was both one of my faviorites and one of Season 1′s most inventive outings. A lot of the episodes enegy comes from a one two punch of a great guest star and one of the series best settings. The guest star is of course everyone’s faviorite overly lucky himbo Gladstone Gander. The show adapted the prick perfectly: The original Gladstone from the comics.. was the worst asshole imaginable, utterly insufferable. And for a villian, and Donald’s rival, that’s all well and good.. but his super luck meant he RARELY , if ever, suffered any consequences for being just...
The 87 series simply made him nicer, while Going Quackers simply removed his luck. No adaptation really got how to make this fucker work.. until this one. Here Frank split the diffrence: Gladstone is still smug.. but he’s no longer actively malicious. While he is an insensitive prick to Donald in this one, unlike the comics he’s not constantly bragging about his luck or how great he is or actively BAITING Donald to fight with him or trying to ruin his relationship or a million other reasons he sucks and I hate him.
This version by contrast... is generous. He’s not the most empathetic, because he doesn’t get how life works, but he does share the riches of the casnio with everyone and in a cameo appearance in “Treasure of the Found Lamp” gladly offers his nephews some diamonds. He’s got a nice surface level charm to him that makes you understand why people like him.. but it’s also clear ther’es nothing UNDER that of value, making you equally understand why Scrooge and Donald hate him. Gladstone in this reboot is a perfect example of why we need reboots or new adaptations in the first place: Because sometimes the original got something wrong or something can be done much better by the new writers.
He’s perfectly paired with the setting: The House of Lucky Fortune, a mystical casino with an East Asian astatic based in the country of Macaw and provides two great plots. Donald’s really highlights his character: His understandable jealousy at gladstone earning the boys love through nothing while he struggles to make a living for them, and how he feels like a looser and like Gladstone is simply showing that off instead of just not knowing what empathy is. Having Louie be the one to bond with Gladstone was also just pitch pefefct, as is showing some depth for the boy by having himr ealize his hero is an asshole and be the one to help donald in the end.
The other plot is just pure joy though and is where the setting REALLY shines: Scrooge and the rest of the kids try to leave.. but can’t find the exit. This is where the creative part comes in: The Casino simply morphs to keep people trapped, and caters to them, giving them whatever they want to keep them trapped. In the cases of the kids it’s all hilarious and adorably in character: Huey becomes entranced by a fancy water show, in one of his best bits of the season, Dewey gets a pet tiger who sadly did not come home with him and Webby gets to live the dream we’ve all had of stuffing her face directly in a choclate fountain. Scrooge’s escape is likewise clever: He simply prepares to get a room.. then books it as the check in desk is ALWAYS near the front.
We then find out Gladston’es trapped get the whole mystical contest with absolutely gorgeous animation, i’ll talk about it in full some time but this episode is just a treat to watch, has a great arc for donald and had some memorable gags. I can’t help but smile when I watch it.
11. The Dangerous Chemistry of Gandra Dee! As I mentioned before i’m a superhero nerd so naturally Fenton was one of my faviorite parts of the show. Frank and Matt were just damn good at crafting superhero stories, and like gladstone improved fenton turning him from an awkward donald stand in to an awkward peter parker-esque science nerd who just wants to be a good person and the best hero he can be. He got into science not just because he thinks it’s neat, but because he honestly wants to help people and you can’t help but foot for him whenever he pops up. Lin Manuel Miranda is a large reason for that, bringing his incomparable a-game to the character. While we sadly didn’t get a ton of gizmoduck focused episodes, the fatct we got AS MANY as we did and that Lin didn’t drop out for a minute even with his busy schedule was a miracle and I’m acknowledging that.
As for why this one, I feel it builds brilliantly on the previous Fentoncentric episode Who Is Gizmoduck?! which just BARELY didn’t make this list and uses the fact we haven’t seen fenton in a while as both a plot point and to move some things forward without having to spend screentime they clearly didn’t have. By having Fenton be just burnt out on superheroics it finds a way to both explain where he’s been, he’s been busy with his new job, and give us an interesting angle to the old “superhero is tired of the life” thing. He never once complains about saving people or stuff... it’s just like any job it gets tiring after a while. As someone who has his dream job but has struggled with it from time to time, I vastly relate.
Though while I love my boy and Lin is game as always, the episodes real MVP is my other boy Huey. The episode has moved Huey up from being simply Fenton’s fanboy to being his best friend, and adorable as hell relationship. The two clearly respect and appricate each other and Huey is looking out for his buddy the whole episode. His love of love is also just really cute. Added in the mix is Webby, who in one of my faviorite gags of the series, finds out Fenton is Gizmoduck because Huey is incredibly and insanely blatant with his unecessary coverup. But she of course is game to help while Fenton is trying to play it casual. We also just get a waterfall of great gags as everyone overdoes it wingmanning for fenton: Huey sets up an itallian bistro and tries to purposfully create a lady and the tramp situation, and sings opera (With Manny on acordian), the wonderfully 80′s suit from Fenton’s dad his mom gives him to wear, and Launchpad, who gives us a tremendous list of his exes, and plays my favorite song of the series: It’s a Date, a micheal mcdonnel riff.
This episode also wisely ups Mark’s Beaks game as Fenton’s arch enemy, still keeping him hilaroius, with the guy acting like a bored teenager and guzzling so much nanite jucie he turns into a hulk, as well as said hulk mode leading to a ton of great gags from kidnapping the children (”I got your kids.. are they your kids? I don’t know how this family works), to “take that coach dad” to eating a pie with tins and all and wondering about said tins. But he’s an actual threat now, taking on fenton in one hell of a fight, and having an utterly transcendent scene where he hacks his way past gyro’s security while dancing.. and dabbing because of course he does. It’s a fun, well done character piece that’s mostly here for i’ts laugh but Fenton’s struggle with Gizmo overtaking his life, and finding out someone he truly hit it off iwth only wanted him for that.. it’s really good stuff and Lin’s delivery after Fenton finds out, the pure pain and betryal in his voice, is just excellent. Also that opera scene is poetry.
10. Quack Pack!
One of the episodes that started my career naturally landed here. Not for that reason though: Quack Pack is a fun riff on sitcoms, specifically the tgif ones of the 90′s that Disney Afternoon Kids no doubt also watched, the kinds Disney Channel still makes today, and most importanly the kind the Disney Afternoon itself made like Goof Troop and well... Quack Pack.
Riffs on sitcoms are nothing new and the last year has been FULL of them. 2020 gave us this episode, Beef House and the wonderful “The Perfect House” episode of Close Enough, and this year gave us WandaVision, my second favorite MCU project so far, right behind Black Panther, which used the sitcom deconstruction to create one hell of a character study.
So you’d think with a year having passed and this concept happening as an entire mini series would dull this one.. but no. it’s still damn funny, having fun at the cliches while, again like WandaVision, having one of the main cast be responsible by accident but go along with it. The episode pivots from glorious affectionate parody of cheesy sitcoms, to that plus horrifying “Humans”, and a character piece for Donald. This brings Donald’s hatred and fed up ness with adventure to a head revealing his fondest wish is just to have a normal life and not loose anyone again.
It takes one of his best friends to snap him out of it. Look Goofy is my second faviorite of the sensational seven, an episode with him was already an easy sell for me.. but the episode uses him really well. First for laughs as he’s gentically dispositioned to be a perfect sitcom neighbor.. but also for heart. With his family preoccupied and a bit hurt, i’ts Goofy who cuts to the heart of the issue, pointing out NO ONE is normal and even his normal domestic life raising Max, who we see go to prom with roxanne eeeeee, has all sorts of chaos. Normal is what you make of it and pining for some ideal that will never happen was just tearing donald apart piece by piece and by letting go of that.. he finally begins to grow as a person throughout the season. It’s also a great thematic tie in to the season’s overall plot with Bradford and what Makes donald, despite also disliking the chaos his family gets into, different. Donald accepted it and grew as a person.. Bradford clung to his hate and it ate him alive. Or turned him into a non-sapient kind of vulture. Before I close this part out Jaleel White is also excellent and I wish eh’d get back into voice acting. He’s so freaking good at it. Seriously man i’d love to see him and ben in a sonic property together as a mythology gag. Same with Jims cummings and carey. Just think about it whoever owns the sonic movies.. think about it.
9. The Last Adventure!
Look I knew this was coming, you knew this was coming. But it had to be on here. The Last Adventure is not perfect: The lack of a build up episode like the previous two finales had really hurt this one: even at about 70 minutes, it still feels rushed in places and Huey, one of hte main characters of the season, dosen’t feel like he has a full payoff to his character like Dewey and Louie got.
But despite those flaws.. this episode is just a damn good ending. Almost everyone gets a big moment paying off their character arc, everyone in the party that comes to rescue webby and huey, along with the two themselves, gets a moment to show off, and everything comes together to give us one last epic sendoff. There’s just moment stacked on moment stacked on moment from Launchpads heroic second wind and donning of the gizmoduck armor, to Webby’s tearful confrontation with Beakley, to Huey using the greatest adventure of all line to foil bradford in one of the most deligfhully nuts moments of the series, I could go on for days with just how triumphant this finale felt. While it left a lot of doors open.. that feels like part of the design. It’s the end of the fight with FOWL.. but our heroes will never stop adventuring, never stop going and never stop being in our hearts and the curtain call at the end is now my faviorite bit of end credits ever, perfectly giving the main cast and friends one last chance to take a bow in their own unique ways. I will always miss this show but I will never be disapointed by the note it went out on.
8. The 87 Cent Solution!
Look some episodes are show stoppers, some are heartfelt tearjerkers, some are all this and more.. and some episodes are just clever and hilarious. The 87 Solution is the second funniest episode of Ducktales with me and my go to episode when watching the show. It’s just pure fun and with a clever premise: Scrooge notices 87 cents have gone missing, and already coming down with a cold, goes mad with paranoia as the kids slowly don face masks, something that has become even eeerier given everything, one by one realizing he needs to stop.
While David Tennant is an EXCELLENT dramatic actor, his comedy timing is really something that shoudln’t be ignored and i’ts on full display here as his performance gets more and more deranged, to thep oint he thinks an 8th dimensional imp is repsonsible. He nicely balances the disturbing side of Scrooge’s paranoia, his distancing from his family, with plenty of great gags about it too, the standout being when he offers 2 million dollars to whoever took the money like he’s publicly appeasing kidnappers. It’s fucking brilliant.
But while David is awesome as ever what really, truly makes the episode is my boy, one of my faviorite characters on the show if not my single faviriote FLINTHEART GLOMGOLD. Keith Ferguson is ALWAYS a dream as the character but this is his best performance by far. Part of this is the addition of Zan Owlson, Kev who I mentioned earlier’s faviorite Ducktales character. She’s not only throughly likeable in her own right, but provides the one thing Flinty was missing; a straight man.. or woman in this case. Scrooge wasn’t TERRIBLE in the roll, but can easily step away from his shit or foil it. Owlson has to put up with Glomgold’s nonsense while desperatly trying to stop him from undoing all her hard work with sheer force of jackass. The two jut play off each other brilliantly, Glomgold not getting sh’es not his employee but his equal and Owlson constnatly snarking at him.
And of course both things hit their peak in the climax with the family staging a fake funeral (Though no one told donald it was fake), and we get the funniest scene in the entire fucking show as Glomgold burts in in a white suit, money shades and full dance number to “All I Do Is Win’, which when first watching this I was convinced the song was somehow accidnetly on in the background but nope. They got it after using it in the test phase and the scene is better for it. Glomgold twerking on Scrooge’s casket, trying to get on it to dance, and having to be placated like ac hild is the icing on this very rich cake
And the reveal scene is also gold as Glomgold gets into a YEARLONG staring contest with a baby, fails to steal more than the 87 cents and, in my faviorite touch, put on an imp costume just to make scrooge seem crazier... then keeps the damn thing on the rest of the time for no explicable reason. The episode is the show at it’s comedic peak while giving Glomgold a chance to be a genuine threat and that’s Glomgood.
7. Let’s Get Dangerous!
Frank’s Rebooted Version of Darkwing Duck is probably his greatest achivment with the show. While this show is a team effort, something I slowly realized as I reviewed the show, it’s very clear from the way he talks, how well he knows the show and how much effort was put into porting Darkwing into the reboot that this was his baby. While redefining ducktales for the 2010′s was clearly a huge dream of his... doing the same for the master of suprise was an even bigger goal. And as a huge fan of superheroes i’ve seen my fair share of half assed takes on laired and complex characters. The XCU alone is one giant grab bag of missed opportunities for me.
So i’ts no exageration when I tell you Frank.. nailed it. In one of the most brilliant moves i’ve seen for a superhero work Frank worked his love of the show into the reboot.. by having Darkwing have been a show, one Launchpad loved.. and so did Drake, who was inspried by the show to become an inspriation himself and while his attempt to do that through a zack snydery reboot failed, Launchpad encouraged him to do it for real. Drake was still himself, but the meta aspect and the toning down of some of darkwing’s more obnoxious traits that didn’t work in a universe that, while patently rediciulous still took it’s characters seriously, he made a BETTER version of the character.
This is where all that comes to it’s peak, and hoppefully convinced Disney to let Frank , and possibly matt, run the reboot. And no, even if Point Grey is producing that dosen’t stop that: Thanks to Invincible i’ve now realized that Seth and his friend Evan producing the show dosen’t mean it’ll be RAN by them, nor unrelated to this. It just means their helping make it and if anything given how lush and gorgeous invincible’s animation is, it’s a VERY good sign their helping out with it if it’s true.
But wether this versoin continues or not, Frank gave it his best shot. Part of his diffrent angle is having Drake as a rookie here and as such here we see him truly struggle: he’s had his origin, he ahs the cape, he has the gadgets (in a brilliant turn thanks to fenton, who he actually likes... but is so far the ONLY person to not get he’s Gizmoduck), and the city.. but no crime to fight and no real idea how to go about his lifelong dream. The events of the episode slowly shape him: WHile he already had the spirit for darkwing, never giving up, looking good in a cape etc, this episode gives him the heart the same way it gave his original it: With Gosalyn. Dimantopolis and Beatriz just play off each other perfectly, as the two go from neimies to slowly bonding as Drake realizes this kid needs him and that he needs to fight for more than just filing the ohle inside, and goes to hell and back to help her get her grandpa back, with one of the best moments of the episode to me being when Launchpad helps her realize how hard he’s been working at it, an exausted drake refusing to acccept that he can’t get her grandpa back because he promised. He grows from simply trying to live the dream.. to surpassing the original. We also see more from Launchpad, who grows into his new family and helps push his boyfriend and newa dopted daughter in the right directions. The episode really evolves these characters from the simple disney afternoon versions, who while awesome were made into fully fleshed out characters. Gosalyn still has her edge but now has a hard lesson to learn about doing the right thing, forced to give up someone she loves for the greater good but finding a new family in the process.
Part of what makes the episode work though as while it is funcitonally one big darkwing duck reboot pilot that’s awesome, heartrending and a joy to watch... it’s still a ducktales episode in parts without either part hurting each other. Huey plays a vital role, figuring the ramrod is too good to be true.. and discovering just how it is, then when captured, slowly unravling why Bradford’s there and being at least in part responsible for outing him as a FOWL agent. While this is largely Drakes story the rest of the cast is still vital to it: Scrooge trusting in huey, Louie serving as his logical counter and Dewey meanwhile bonding with team darkwing and helping Gosalyn, knowing exactly where she’s been and providing a nice foil. The episode is just one long and impressive love letter to the original show while creating it’s own thing and that’s really this reboot in a nutshell. It also has some of the best fights of the series, with the first fight between darkwing and bulba, where our hero, unlike his original counterpart, easily troucnes bulba using his speed and skill, is the standout.
6. Woo-Ooo!
I covered this one recently so I won’t go on for too long.. but I will say I hold this one up as the gold standard for first episodes. In one hour, hell even in jus the first half we get a sense of the whole cast, the tone of the show, and the world we’ve been thrust into. It gets all the table setting out of the way by weaving it into a compelling story of Scrooge getting back in the game, finding a reason to get back to what he does best in those he loves most and setting up the season long arc effortlessly in the process. The worst I can say about the episode is it sets the bar a bit high for Season 1 and a lot of the first half really struggled to reach these heights. This episode is a masterwork and the perfect showcase for what the series would be at it’s height.
5. Moonvasion!
Speaking of Golden Standards, Moonvasion is one of the best season finale’s i’ve seen. it’s not THE best.. but that’s a really high bar to clear and that spots currently taken in my heart by “The Crossroads of Destiny” from Avatar the Last Airbender. But while not the best of it’s kind, it’s sitll the best the series put out and is an utterly satisfying epic that ties up season 2.
While I love the Last Adventure, it had a LOT to tie up and was really hampered by having to do all of that with no direct lead in. Moonvasion by contrast hits the ground running with the Moonlanders arriving on earth and all hell breaking loose, and the episode itself breaking into two stellar plots. Scrooge leading an army of every ally he has against the invaders, and Della seemingly going for reinforcements.. but really just trying to keep the kids safe from it, to their anger once they find out.
Both sides end up going badly: Scrooge looses most of his army as Lunaris was one step ahead of him and is left iwth Beakly and Launchpad, while Della ends up marooned.. and finds Donald. The reunion between the two is the highlight of the special, as the two argue as you’d expect (And Dewey cutting in seemingly to stop it.. only to rant at Donald for costing him “ten years of turbo” is the best gag of the episode), before embracing.
Our heroes naturally find ways to bounce back though. Louie, capping off his growth for the season, convinces his mom they can’t just hide.. and in the second best scene of the episode sings the lullabye she wrote.. one Donald sung them every night
And no sooner than Della gets her step back and realizes that dangerous or not she and her newly reunited family have to get back in there, do the cousins show up on Fethry’s giant shrimp/girlfriend Mitzi, and our heroes head back.
Scrooge’s plot hits i’ts peak though as he’s forced to accept the help of an unlikely and unwelcome ally: Glomgold, who turns out to be exactly what they need: While his plan is as stupid, short sighted and insane as you’d expect, complete with forcing Scrooge to dress up as santa just to piss him off and dressing his sharks in parkas (”I call them sharkas”), the sheer lonacy throws Lunaris off as he dosen’t know how to deal with this and Glomgold not only gets the better of him but gets his company back as part of his scheme. “You were prepared for our best but not our dumbest!” “And i’m the dumbest theirs ever been! Muahahahaha! Wait...”
And of course our other heroes arrive just in time to save things.. and the episode still manages to pull off what many works struggle to, something tha’ts very hard to: a SECOND climax. Lunaris decides to just say fuck it and blow up the earth and i’ts up to our core family to kick his ass in space. Epic space battles, Della’s girlfriend meeting the family and more insues and an emotoinal, action packed and fully satisfying finale is had by all... and it’s all topped with one of the best sequel hooks i’ve ever seen as FOWL makes themselves known to us.. and prepares to strike.
4. How Santa Stole Christmas! This one will also be short as i’ve talked about this one.. a lottttt. The initial review, my best christmas specials list and my best of 2020 list. I stand by all of that: this is a unique and wonderful christmas special, i’ll be watching it every year, and i’ts full of charm, humor and gay subtext. In short it’s this series but on christmas footing.
3. Last Crash of the Sunchaser!
Another one I covered very recently, this episode is a master piece of suspense, slowly building tension as our heroes get closer and closer to the truth about Della.. and to death, the simple but deadly stakes making this an absolute nailbiter from start to finish. This is some of the series best pacing bar none... but what seals it is the ending: the masterful flashback finally explaning whatever happened to Della duck, our heroes lashing out at each other.. all cumilating in the best Scene of the show. I said it might be in the review but no I can confirm: Scrooge bitterly ruminating over things while we find out just how much he’s lost... ending with him tearfully and angrily sitting once again alone in one hell of a powerful shot echoing Scrooge’s first apperance. Damn fine stuff.
2. Escape from The Impossbin Only one episode not only matches Last Crash in mounting tension and atmosphere but suprasses it. With FOWL and Bradford’s true nature now out in the wind, this episode uses that to create tension and rattles it’s two most unshakable characters: SCrooge’s normal boundless confidence is shot, not sure he can win this time against an opponent who knows him as well as he knows himself while Beakly slowly unravels, pitting Webby against the boys.. and pitting herself against Webby when Webby sees her terroizing them is only dividing them. Both plots start out funny enough but slowly escalate in tension and stakes until by the end your on the edge of your seat. The Beakly plot is the standout of the two, giving Bentina the starring role she badly needed, having gotten even better in light of the finale. Everyone is at the top of their game and everything builds up to one hell of a twist ending and one hell of a badass boast from our heroes: Their down.. but their far from out and this is far from over.
1. Nightmare On Kimotor Hill!
I”ll be reviewing this episode in full later this week as part of my Lena retrospective, but I stand by putting it up top. This episode is ducktales in it’s purest form and focuses on it’s best original character as Lena grapples with her self hatred and her past. That core helps anchor an amazing concept: going into the Kid’s dreams and finding out their greatest desires. The results.. are all gloriously rediclous and are easily the best gags of hte series as a whole: Dewey’s high school musical santa claus is going ot high school nonsense from getting a’s in Dewology to running away from the abstract concept of a love intrest, to not getting the sybolism of himself crying a moon made of his own tears. Louie quite literally becoming garfield, and my faviorite scene of the show: Huey, wanting to be the tall older brother..g iving himself horrifcly long leg. While everyone else is just understandably baffled, what makes the scene is the banter between Dewey and Huey, with Schwartz and Pudi at their best as Dewey first freaks out and then asks what the hell man, while Huey defends his weird decision (”I”m not good at imagination stuff okay!”), and then tries to get a jar of pickles. Each dream is just so oddly and wonderfully specific to each kid and each one of the triplests dreams, as well as violets being color coded down tot he backgrounds is a very nice touch. The visuals here are just peak ducktales, using the setting for all it’s worth and the climax is utterly emotoinal and heartbreaking... and Lena’s break from her abuser, finally realizing she has the power now is not only a wonderful metaphor... but also just so damn cathartic. And that’s why this one’s the best to me personally: it just packs so much into 20 minutes: some of the series best and most creative jokes, a gripping emtoinal arc, and so much more. It’s just that damn good and tha’ts why it’s the best... that and starting Huelet for me. Seriously that LIbrary scene is so fucking cute.
Thank you all for reading. If you liked this artcle, join my patreon and help me get to my stretch goal for monthly darkwing duck reviews, a review of super ducktales and more after! Until the next rainbow... it’s been a pleasure.
#ducktales#huey duck#dewey duck#louie duck#webby vanderquack#scrooge mcduck#bentina beakly#lena sabrewing#santa claus#della duck#donald duck#gladstone gander#gizmoduck#fenton crackshell cabrera#gandra dee#mark beaks#flintheart glomgold#zan owlson#goofy goof#launchpad mcquack#darkwing duck
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My unnecessary and irrelevant reviews about the transformers media I have consumed.
Please let me have this. I was doom scrolling and transformers is my comfort fandom.
G1: I have not watched all of it, I do plan on doing so but I did watch it when I was younger and does invoke nostolgia. I watched it on Teletoon Retro (does that even exist anymore?) ((just googled it, rip teletoon retro)). For some reason I really like the episode The Ultimate Weapon. I am a huge fan of First Aid and it was because of this episode and I have no idea why. Rodimus is the main character of that episode with First Aid just having a very prominent role in the side story of that episode. I really liked the Aerialbots and their storyline with the time traveling and the not knowing if they’re on the right side was really cool. Honestly the animation errors and weird inconsistent story are part of the charm I guess.
RID 2001: another show I’ve only seen tidbits of. I watched this one via random episodes illegally uploaded to YouTube in the early to mid 2010s and now all those videos are taken down. As a lover of camp, this is camp. I love it. Transformers as a concept is pretty camp (which is why I adore it) and I definitely will watch all of this one day. Though Sideburn is cool and all, I do wish he didn’t chase a red sports car every episode. Otherwise he’s one of my favourites cause himbo rights I guess.
Transformers IDW 2005: So... I read the entirety of the idw comics purely because I found out Thundercracker was a screenplay writer and I wanted to read the entire story so I got the complete context of his development from scary fighter jet to an Oscar winner. I was not disappointed, I was met with queer and trans representation of all sorts, a diverse storyline with action filled parts, comedy elements, slice of life, political drama, adventure, horror, and the best road trip through space. Honestly I was not expecting transformers of all things to have queerness represented so casually and quite well in my opinion (though technically they are guilty of bury your gays, I don’t count it cause there was a clear reason for that death) Thundercracker was marked as one of my favourites cause of this series. I did experience a wonderful story because I wanted to see how he got his happy ending. My biggest criticism of idw transformers is that I love their interpretations of characters and sadly I know I’ll probably never get to seen them like that again. But if I want to experience those characters like that, I’ll just re read it I guess.
Transformers Animated: I have watched the entirety of this great show twice and it still love it. Funny characters, a human character that has a purpose, and a fun change to the formula, Transformers Animated has one of my favourite Optimus and made a Bumblebee so lovably loud they had to take away his voice so he wouldn’t become too powerful. Loved all of the characters except the human villains, Headmaster did not age well and I wasn’t in love with Ratchet’s design but his personality more than made up for it. If you want more animated, I love Transformers ReAnimated the void is filled by that series and channel. While I wish it got another season, it’s ending was satisfying enough I guess.
Transformers Prime: Smokescreen is great and was underutilizes -100/10. Just kidding, kind of I really enjoyed Prime. I’ve only watched through it completely once cause when I was a child I did not like the designs since apparently as a child I was a G1 loyalist I guess. Though now Prime has one of my favourite styles that still holds up today. Dramatic story with actual character development, I can over look that the plots a tad slow. I wish Breakdown was utilized more and it also could have benefited from an extra season but the movie wrapped it up much better than animated’s ending. Knockout is an amazing character and I was spoiled while I was watching it that he turns Autobot though I didn’t realize that wasn’t until the literal end of the series. Would’ve like a completely fleshed out Breakdown and Knockout or at least Knockout redemption arc but there’s always fanfiction I guess.
Robots in Disguise 2015: I didn’t hate it? It definitely helped that I watched this before Prime for some reason. I liked the designs, Sideswipe... himbo rights. Biggest flaw is the lack of character growth. I just want nice things for Sideswipe, Strongarm and Fixit. Grimlock was fun, I like Bumblebee trying to be a good leader and Optimus should have stayed dead. The crossover and referenced to Rescue Bots was fun and Blurr and Sideswipe was the rivalry I didn’t know I needed. But the one I really needed was Smokescreen in there too. The ending arc was interesting though not executed the best and Steeljaw did a lot of the heavy lifting for the villain side to a point where they over utilized him and his character suffered as a result. Windblade was not as bad as people online said she was, splitting the group up into two was stupid cause I’m bitter and still don’t want Optimus there. Also long list of underutilization: Denny and Russel Clay, Jazz, all the characters from prime except Optimus and Bee, Jetfire and Jetstorm, More Rescue bots, and many more! Like that girl that’s Russel’s friend that I literally don’t remember because I’m pretty sure the writers forgot about her! Anyways, in retrospect the show probably wasn’t great but I liked it I guess.
Rescue Bots: This show is way better than it needed to be. I actually love the no Decelticons and war. I’m a sucker for slice of life and especially slice of life with a twist. Human villains that were actually interesting, actual character development, continuity (somewhat), great human characters all while being target for children. I’m so happy I watched this show while I was kind of the target age and rewatching it for the third time was great cause some of the science jargon actually made sense to me. Satisfying ending too and honestly it can just appeal to everyone. Love all four of the main rescue bots and constantly wish they made evergreen designs and toys for them so they could at least make cameos in other transformers media. Sometimes it’s nice to have transformers being wholesome I guess.
Rescue Bots Academy: ... I was not the age democratic for this show and I somehow still liked it? Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve been gravitating to more wholesome content due to current events but it was actually good? Love all the students, I do miss the old crew and characters like Doc Green and Frankie are under utilized and the Burns family is almost nowhere to be found :(. Once again there’s some actual character development and Hot Shot’s mentor relationship with Heatwave is super sweet. Also actually having positive post war Decepticon and Autobot relationships in this children’s show? Woah. Biggest issue is like RID 2015; the lack of continuity and characters completely disappearing. Perceptor was fun and I was not expecting him to appear. And I love me some microscope dude. It was a good send off for the aligned continuity I guess.
Cyberverse: ending too soon. I was about to be upset that bumblebee didn’t have his voice but he had his voice in his head which was great. Episodes like the velocitron one was really good and it definitely got better with each season and peaked in the Quintesson arc and then rolled to the cancellation date. Thundercracker shouldn’t have been killed off but I’m very biased. Seeing the rebuilding of Cybertron was cool. Windblade and Bumblebee had a fun relationship. I really liked this iteration of Grimlock. Perceptor was super interesting but then they did nothing with him after the Quintesson arc which was a shame and I would have liked to see better relationships between the Autobots and Decepticons after the team up. Also wholesome Whirl was fun. Honestly this needed one more season so bad. I just think it could have been great if it got one. But it’s still good I guess.
War for Cybertron: ...let’s see how I feel after Kingdom comes out but right now, meh. For me my favourite transformers characters usually end up being side characters due to me wishing they had more screen time so in this case, Red Alert is great please show me more of Red Alert. I get what all the people are saying about the voice acting and whatever but I can look past it (though please give us Peter Cullen or let the current VC make his own Optimus voice). But one thing is that all the YouTube reviewers be saying that I completely agree with is that it’s dark. Like lighting wise. I occasionally had trouble making out what was happening because it was dark. Honestly my biggest issue isn’t a fault of the show. I like development of multiple characters to be shown so I can fall in love with a multitude of characters but due to short seasons, it makes sense to focus in completely on one character at a time. Siege in my opinion at least let me see more of the background characters rather than Earthrise but I’d probably like Earthwise more if I was a bigger fan of Optimus. I’m going to watch Kingdom but I’m not expecting to be wowed I guess.
In conclusion, I should watch Beast Wars, I’m going to re read the ending of Lost Light again and revel in the melancholic ending I adore and I really like Thundercracker and First Aid. One great thing about transformers and other franchises that have been around for awhile, if you don’t like the current thing, there’s plenty of last media and you probably won’t need to wait too long for the next piece of media you’ll hopefully like.
Please be good idw 2019, I’ve read a bit of you and I have a scrap of hope. Oh please please please be good. Give some characters the Thundercracker treatment.
#idw transformers#transformers#transformers idw#transformers rid2015#transformers rescue bots#transformers prime#transformers cyberverse
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And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you
A lot of people post hopeful, positive messages like “It’s never too late” and “You’re never too old” and I’m not gonna lie, at age 50 sometimes the only thing that keeps me going is the fact that Georgia O’Keefe was 70 before her art career began. But I’ve got a different message for y’all.
If there is something you burn to do, something that has consumed all of your ambitions for years, something you spend enormous amounts of time planning to do or thinking about doing... do it. Do it now. You suck at it? Doesn’t matter, you won’t get better until you do it. You don’t have time to do it? You’re going to be 50, 60, 70 someday and then you’ll really feel like you don’t have time and you could be a recovered cancer patient in the middle of a pandemic that kills people like you going “Oh shit, I never actually did the thing I wanted to spend my life doing!” YouTube can wait. Tumblr can wait. Spend at least some time doing it, as often as you can.
I wrote my first story when I was 4. (It was a fanfic. My OC paired up with my two favorite heroes as her best friends. Very environmentally conscious; it was the 70′s, so it was all about Pollution Is Bad.) I have wanted to be a published writer my whole life. Not just a writer -- I am a writer. I’ve written over 4 million words in my lifetime. How many of those are professionally publishable, though?... a hell of a lot fewer.
I have published four short stories in professional markets, one of which never actually went to press as far as I know and two of which were authorized fanfic. I have also been one of three authors on a published technical book that’s already out of date. I have not published any novels. I’ve made, lifetime, about $2500 on writing, which would be awesome if I was 24, but I’m 50. It would also be awesome if writing was just a hobby for me, something to do to relax, rather than the sole burning passion of my life and one of the reasons I was put on this planet and the highest ambition I have anymore. And it’d be fine if I never intended to publish original work and all I wanted to do was write good fanfic and become a niche BNF focusing on single favorite characters in each of the fandoms I join.
But it’s not fine, because I wanted to make a living at this, or at least make enough to justify not working full time anymore. And it’s not fine, because when I’m on, when I know my characters and I know what happens next and I’m focused and the flow is with me, I can write 1500 words an hour... which means if I did it 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, like it was a job, I could put out a novel in three weeks. Have I finished any novel at all since 1992 or so? No.
And it’s not fine because I’m 50, and I’m a cancer survivor, and I have diabetes, which ruined my mom’s life before cancer finally killed her, and I have depression, and I’m living in a pandemic, and not only am I not done with my life’s ambition, I’ve barely started. I spent my life writing fanfic and goofing off and letting work that really did not deserve so much time and attention from me steal my life. And yeah, we all know we could be hit by a bus tomorrow, but a pandemic that’s killed 160,000 of my fellow Americans and that our fucked-up, idiotic, sadistic, selfish black hole of leadership has no plan for fixing or even ameliorating is out there, and I could be dead within weeks. Anyone could, but I’ve got medical history here, and I’m the only driver in my family so “just stay home and self-quarantine” isn’t actually an option even though I work from home.
Most of you guys out there are young, or at least, a lot younger than me. And a lot of you are just doing what you do for fun, a hobby, a way to relax and pass time and enjoy yourself, and my message is not for you. You’re fine, keep doing what you’re doing. But if it’s your life’s passion to be a published author, or a comic book artist, or an animator, or whatever, then get out there and do it. Not to the exclusion of all else -- even your passion shouldn’t eat your life -- but don’t accept excuses from yourself as to why you haven’t done anything to move yourself forward in your ambitions in a couple of weeks. Because you just don’t have as much time as you think you do. Thirty years is forever when you’re 20 but it’s so much shorter when you’re 50. You’ll look back and think where did all the time go? and Why didn’t I do more of this when I was younger? Because no matter how hard I work right now, nothing’s ever going to give me those thirty years back. And yeah, I spent some of that time getting better at my craft, sure, but I could have been doing this twenty years ago. I’ve been planning this 52 Project for over ten years, I could have done it in 2010 instead of 2020. The novel I started in 2006? Why is it not done? If this is how I want to make my mark on the world, why did I think I had the freedom to just... not do it?
I mean... of the 19 stories I’ve published since April 3, 7 of them have been completely written brand-new since February, which works out to one complete story from scratch a month, and I’ve revised or completed 16 others (not all of which have been published yet, that includes my backlog), and I’ve got 8 more that I’ve worked on substantially this year but haven’t finished yet. I could have done this any time. I’ve written 100,000 words of original short stories this year so far and also half of a children’s chapter book. If I’d had output like this for my original work in any previous year, ever, I’d be a lot closer to achieving my dreams now.
None of us know how much time we have left, but even 80 years isn’t going to turn out to be all that much if you don’t do the thing you love and desperately want to be a success at. If you burn with the need to do a thing, do it. Do it now. Or real soon, anyway.
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Hi, Let’s Talk About Some Controversial Shit Yeah?
So lately people have been telling Horikoshi Kohei to go kill himself, because they’re trying to be a shitty version of Shane Dawson exploring conspiracy theories that have no right to exist. I don’t even know where to fucking start, but since I’m not a YouTuber, but I’m a writer, I decided to ditch my phone for this one, and am currently typing this shit out on my laptop. Yes, that is how pissed I am.
A new decade and a new start to the shittiness that was 2010-2020. More and more people of the LGBTQ started coming out of the dark and trying to accept who they are to the chagrin of assholes who have no business in their lives anyway. I feel like there’s been a lot more racism here than there was from 2000-2010, or maybe that’s just me. I think it’s because people are getting more vocal with their opinions as the earth goes to shit. We are slowly killing it after all. Not only is there more racism, sexism, anti-LGBTQ pricks, and people prejudice against other religions (the prejudice against Muslims is a big one. Poor Muslims, it’ll be okay, Brookie’s on your side), but there are now people who don’t like freedom of speech, or the right to write a story, and people who are just plain pussies because they don’t wike dere wittle feewings huwt 😥.
I could write for hours about all of those subjects. But since I’m an aspiring writer myself, I picked the right to write. What do I mean by that? I mean the right for an author of any kind to write their story, their way, without these little pussies coming around and being like, “bro can you not mention the Mongols breaking through the Great Wall of China? Yeah, because I’m from a Chinese family and I don’t want to be reminded of my ancestor’s tribulations even though it was 800 years ago. Thanks”. Let me break this shit down like I’m in debate class and my entire University grade depends on me winning this “argument”.
Writing is an art. Duh. People don’t write because they had a good life, I don’t care what anyone says. Writers write because it relieves stress, allows them to get their feelings out in a healthy way, take them away to their own little world in their own special way to escape the hell they’re living through, lets them vent the dark desires and thoughts they may have, and get their opinions out there when they feel like no one listens. Writing is a cure for depression for some people. It’s a healthy kind of drug that doesn’t make someone overdose (unless they’re like me and write’s for hours on end losing sleep and starving themselves just to write an idea down before they forget it).
People write about what they can’t speak. My mom has this saying “say it forget it, write it regret it”, and in certain contexts that saying is a good moral to have, but that’s not always the case. My mom and I watched the movie “Her” the other day and (spoilers) at the end of the movie, the main character Theodore, who’s a writer, writes a letter to his ex-wife. He writes about how they met, how they grew up together, how they grew to be the best of friends, then lovers, then built a trust they couldn’t replace, and the sorrow he felt when the relationship started crumbling. Joaquin Phoenix did an amazing job lamenting about the character’s past, most likely because he’s been through a lot too, and the character did an astounding job putting his words to paper (or in this case email) and getting out years of stress and sadness so that he can start loving life again.
The point of me describing that scene was to show the impact writing has on some people. It’s the escape they need and sometimes the emotions they feel put into a context where they can explain it all they want without having to waste a breath.
Now, picture if you will, that you’re a writer down on your luck. You have an amazing story to tell and the audience in mind that you want to tell it to, but no one believes in you. They want to alter your story to suit a wider audience, but, you don’t give a shit about appealing to people, you’re telling a story that helped you and may help others too, no matter the money you might lose or recognition you’ll never gain. Imagine that you found a way to both appeal to a wider audience and tell that story you have in your mind’s view. It gets more popular than most media to come out of your country and helps you bring in more than enough money you need to survive. Suddenly people are falling in love with the characters you wrote in more ways than one. People are starting to call it a modern classic and then, you start getting letters from people all around the world telling you how much your writings helped them and that they’re living better lives because they were inspired or motivated by the words you oh so carefully put onto a page, with the art you spent hours, upon days, upon weeks on opening people’s eyes to what they’re capable of.
I may have put some personal shit in that last paragraph, but I was mainly talking about the subject of this... (essay?) Horikoshi Kohei. A man who never gave up because dammit, he had a story to tell and fuck anyone who doesn’t want to hear it. All that matters to real writers is that someone feels special because of the words you put together on a page. Horikoshi puts a lot of time and effort into My Hero Academia, and what does his fans do? They tell him to kill himself because he dared wordplay to get the names of some characters. Y’know it’s funny, I don’t hear a lot of Jews, trans, gay, or Polish people complain about the shit their ancestors went through 70 years ago during the Holocaust like they went through it as well, but I always hear about Korean, Chinese, and Black people (off the top of my head don’t @ me) complain about shit their ancestors went through from 70 all the way back to a thousand years ago. Not to say that everyone in those races do that. because they don’t. I’m sure a majority probably doesn’t give two flying fucks what someone writes as long as they aren’t being personally targeted or threatened. But go on Horikoshi’s Twitter once and tell me that you don’t see hundreds of his followers (mostly Asian) threatening him and criticizing his naming of his characters. If you’re Korean or Chinese and you find issue with the fact that Horikoshi named a mother fucking villain character after a place where your specific race was tortured and experimented on, decades before were even fucking thought of, please tell me why. If you feel personally attacked then you’re... (I don’t wanna use retarded because people will automatically stop reading and DM me about my word choice) doltish. That’s a fancy word for stupid by the way. Maybe if it were one of the heroes named that way then I would completely understand, but it’s not. It’s a fucking villain.
But hey, what do I know? I’ve never been through shit. I’m just a plain, short and chubby little white girl with a big mouth that’s never been the victim of prejudice or racism. No one’s ever taken a look at me and judged me based on my ancestors or religious choices. No one’s ever made fun of my accent or the color of my skin, or the birth defect that effected my feet and slightly effected my hands.
Oh by the way, my mom’s a closet Psychopath that wasn’t diagnosed because the rest of the family is too fucking psycho for anyone to notice her torturing animals at a young age. My dad was a Paranoid Schizophrenic with an undiagnosed Psychosis and severe PTSD (diagnosed) that grew up in a home with an abusive father and a mother that was too busy grooming her oldest son (take that how you will) to pay any attention to him. Not to mention she also killed him. It’s not like my dad’s dad was also a psychopath that purposefully killed my unborn brother and laughed when my mom miscarried It’s not like my life was at risk because there was people shooting at my house (where I lived with my grandfather) and I could hear the bullets bouncing off of the trees. It’s not like I was bullied when I was little leading to a brain injury that caused my memory to be fucked up and my speech to slur and stutter. Oh and I definitely didn’t have to start being a second mom to my brother, and an actual mom to my little cousin because my family doesn’t give a fuck how their actions effect others.
I didn’t have the worst life by all means. There’s a lot more people that I know personally that have had it way worse than I have. I’m just saying, don’t take shit so fucking personally. Grow some goddamn balls and stop telling people to go kill themselves because they named a character something you didn’t like. Stop bringing up shit from the past unless people ask about it, or you’re telling you life story. It’s 2020. It’s time to stop being pussies and act like functioning members of society.
Oh and one last thing. Ya’ll are telling a man to kill himself while the corona virus is spreading like the plague. I think we should be more fucking worried about the fact that humanity could easily be wiped out thanks to the Chinese government silencing a scientist who know about the damn virus a year ago. If anything, we should be targeting them and Trump for being awful, not a poor mangaka that was just word playing with the names of his characters.
#fuck this shit im out#horikoshi kohei#my hero academia#boku no hero academia#corona virus#shane dawson#japan#china#south korea#her#jaoquin phoenix#im taggin all this shit so people see this#go i hope it works#i spent an hour just typing this shit#rant over#*mic drop*
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PREFERRED NAME — nora. i think i started going by it in like, 2009?? my full name is eleanor but i hated it n thought it was way too pretentious n i never felt like it fitted me so when i started writing on forums i decided i’d be a nora rather than eleanor and then my school friends called me it and it just kinda stuck, the only person who calls me eleanor is my mum
PRONOUNS — she / her / ethereal being beyond comprehension
AGE — 23 but i tell everyone im 21 because even tho time is literally fake im desperately clinging to that fleeting thing we call youth trying to catch it like smoke in my hands
PINTEREST — i actually have two. this one is my main one where i just cram all my shit n i’ve had it for years and some of its super unorganised. then i also have this one which is one i made for exclusively female characters. it started as mythological figures but now its like, women in literature and the occasional oc as well. variety is the spice of life!
DISCORD — lindsay lohan’s meth#8664
TUMBLR (PERSONAL/MUSE/RPH) — i used to be froseths but now im pvrscphones cos ya gal is a fucking whore for mythology
OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA YOU’D LIKE TO SHARE — oi oi guvna ere’s me twitta. also here’s my letterboxd n my goodreads if anyone still uses tht
MYER-BRIGGS — enfp / infp border .... the classic profile of a lit student
HP HOUSE — hufflepuff, am fuckin mad.
ZODIAC — libra which is a joke because i am in no way balanced but i guess i AM indecisive and a peacekeeper so?
DO YOU BELIEVE IN ASTROLOGY? — i believe it when it says good shits gonna happen in my life and blame it if bad shit happens but i don’t strongly follow it i just find it interesting
HOW OLD WERE YOU WHEN YOU STARTED RPING ON TUMBLR — maybe like 14?? my first rp blog here is literally so embarassing i wrote as clove from the hunger games n my best friend irl wrote cato :/ it was wild
WHAT YEAR WAS IT? — like 9 years ago?? 2010 maybs
NAME A RANDOM ROLEPLAY THAT STICKS OUT IN YOUR MEMORY — me n my friend ellie made this really cool group the summer before we left for uni which was loosely based on a concept mentioned mayb once in the divergent series, but it gave us loads of freedom to make it our own thing. it was called the fringe n it was like..... this dystopian society where people with different genes were cut off from the rest of society n lived in overrun slum cities where different groups had like, a monopoly over weapons, produce, etc.... my character jack was the leader of this lost-boy-esque tribe called the wolf pack who were hunters n used to run across the rooftops wearing the skins of animals they’d killed and engage in tribal rituals with sacrifices to the gods n shit. sounds lame but everyone there was so invested in their character arcs that it was a shame to see it go. but ! it kind of reached its end point so we blew it up w nukes n they all died. tragic.
WHAT WEIRD ANIMAL WOULD YOU HAVE AS A PET IF IT WAS REALISTIC — a fox?? do ppl keep foxes? idk i’ve always just felt a sense of connection w them like when a fox stares at me im like this shit is life i am living and breathing in this bitch.... visceral
NAME THE FIRST SONG ON YOUR DISCOVER WEEKLY ON SPOTIFY OR THE FIRST SONG THAT COMES ON APPLE MUSIC / ITUNES SHUFFLE — everbody party tonight by cobra man n summer girl by haim..... not my usual stuff but big summer chillin vibes,.....
NAME A BOOK THAT YOU READ IN SCHOOL THAT YOU SURPRISINGLY LIKED — lord of the flies and also the handmaid’s tale. one of assignments was to write a chapter from another character’s perspective n i chose moira
NAME A BOOK YOU HATED THAT MOST PEOPLE LIKED — skellig. fuck off with ur asprin ugly bat man i don’t care. also of mice and men. don’t care about the rabbits or curley’s goddamn wife.
WHAT TV SHOW DID YOU RECENTLY BINGE? — im not a big binger bc i find it jst makes me depressed if i watch tv all day but im nearly finished stranger things season 3 n i recently finished euphoria (big rec but proceed w caution as quite triggering content)
FAVOURITE QUOTE — cool girl speech from gone girl. but also “there’s something dangerous about the boredom of teenage girls” i know its like.... such an overused quote but it really encapsulates this kind of feral girlhood that a few of my characters like bridget n greta have tapped into. i also loved the line “i feel like i could eat the world raw” from song of achilles, that really captures this kind of.... pure n childlike enthusiasm tht i wanna achieve w rory
LINK TO A VINE THAT EXUDES YOUR ‘ENERGY’ — this is my energy completely am always covered in glitter n staring broodily out of the windows of ubers at 4am like im in the sad bit of an indie film
DO YOU WRITE OUTSIDE OF RP? WHAT DO YOU WRITE? — uhh.... not as much as i shd.... i want to be a writer so i shd be makin some effort to get my stuff Out Into The World but im just not.... lol. ive done a lot of poetry collections . i wnt to finish a novel @ some point too.
THREE YOUTUBERS YOU STILL TRUST — bold of you to assume i trust any youtubers
A CELEBRITY CRUSH THAT JUST WON’T QUIT — id literally die for saoirse ronan n timothee chalamet :/ chance perdomo also owns my ass.
EVER MEET A CELEBRITY? SHARE YOUR STORY — i once high-fived dani harmer, the actress who played tracy beaker. today my sister text me tryin to make me guess what celebrity she just saw on holiday in wales and for ages she let me think it was timmothee but it was actually bradley walsh from the chase :/
WHAT’S YOUR PICTURE-PERFECT NIGHT? — i am in a bomb ass crop top and mini skirt, several scrunchies in my hair, glitter all over my face, wearing cowboy boots. we eat dinner in a trendy but affordable pub that doubles up as a cocktail bar n then we drink zombies or sex on the beaches n go to a rave where everyone is on the same wavelength n i share drugs with girls in the toilets and we swap numbers knowing we will never text each other but its ok bc in that moment we feel like we are soulmates and everyone is super drunk n touching everyone else n its all very visceral and we walk through the woods when the rave ends and lie in the grass because we wish to suck out all the marrow of life
A CONSPIRACY THEORY YOU KINDA BELIEVE IN — princess diana was murdered
ARE ALIENS REAL? — maybe the real aliens are the friends we made along the way
PLAY ANY PHONE GAMES? WHICH ONES? — love island game im addicted and way too invested in my fictional relationship with bobby, a cartoon
WHAT’S A FILM YOU LOVED WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG AND RECENTLY WATCHED, ONLY TO FIND OUT YOU DON’T ANYMORE — bold of u to assume i remember my childhood. but if we’re talking last 10 years angust, thongs n perfect snogging is so so cringe
DO YOU COLLECT ANYTHING? — pairs of glasses belonging to other ppl when they break / get new ones even though i can see perfectly well.
WHAT’S SOMETHING YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT BUT YOU’RE TOO LAZY? — mythology...... always a craving and a wish i’d read like ancient texts but my school wasn’t good enough to do greek or latin or any of that shit n even tho i could read english translations i cant be bothered. also criminal psychology
THREE LANGUAGES YOU DON’T SPEAK, BUT WISH YOU COULD — italian, french and latin
MOVIE YOU’VE WATCHED MORE THAN 5 TIMES — ladybird, about time, angus thongs, shrek 2, what we do in the shadows, the history boys, atonement, coraline, the breakfast club, ferris bueller’s day off
NAME A FICTIONAL CHARACTER FROM TV/FILM/MOVIE/GAME/BOOK THAT YOU FIND YOURSELF PROJECTING ON / YOU RELATE TO — cecilia lisbon. rue in euphoria. alison brie in glow. adam parrish in the raven cycle. richard papen. olivia cooke’s character in thoroughbreds. allen ginsberg in kill your darlings. lily in sex education. holliday grainger’s character in the film animals --- i too am an aspiring writer who never writes and just gets drunk instead .
DO YOU FOLLOW ANY SPORTS? WHO DO YOU ROOT FOR? — no. cba
HOBBIES BESIDES WASTING AWAY HERE? — i go to the movies basically every day bcos i work in a cinema. im also a voracious reader n i occasionally do theatre or costume making
PLUG A TV SHOW / MOVIE / BOOK / VIDEO GAME / ETC… YOU WISH MORE PEOPLE WOULD CHECK OUT — where the wild things are (film by spike jonze). animals. beats. the book fen by daisy johnson and a girl is a half formed thing by eimar mcbride. andy warhol’s biography from a to b and back again
WHOSE BRAIN WOULD YOU LIKE TO PICK, ALIVE OR DEAD? — phoebe waller-bridge on how i get her life. carey mulligan on how she got to be such a good actress n how i can become her. maybs wes anderson. maybs gillian flynn. i tend to listen to podcasts w the ppl i really wanna pick the brains of.
TEAM EDWARD OR JACOB? — edward :/
LAST MOVIE SEEN IN THEATRE — blinded by the light n i lovd it
DO YOU STILL READ? — when i finished uni i kinda got out of the habit but this week i finished two books so ive set myself the challenge of a book a week.
IF SO, WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? — i finished song of achilles yesterday n i also finished call me by your name yesterday. started circe by madeline miller today, im also partway through milkman by anna burns and the plays of annie barker
ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW MUCH DID YOU HATE FILLING THIS OUT? – 3 i didnt hate it bcos at heart i am self-indulgent and love fashioning some sense of self when i feel lost in a world that is scary and constantly changing
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LisAni Interview with Jin
Kagerou Project is restarting after about five and a half years!!
Jin’s “Kagerou Project”, which was developed through a wide range of media such as music, novels, comics and anime and became a content that represents the 2010′s, is being restarted after almost five and a half years. We asked Jin himself about his 3rd album, “Mekakucity Reload”.
“Kagerou Project is a raw and fresh series.”
――The 3rd album Mekakucity Reload of the original series Kagerou Project has been released after about five and a half years. Since when had you been thinking about KagePro’s restart?
Jin: When was it again? *laughs* There’s nothing like “this is certain” in Kagerou Project, and I’ve been progressing with it while giving form to whatever I wanted to portray the most at a given moment. Except, by the point I’d made the 2nd album, Mekakucity Records, I had a feeling that I’d “run out of things that I wanted to express through music”. After that, I had to write the novel and the things I had to do increased as I wrote the original story of the manga by hand, and in this meantime, I took notice of what I hadn’t yet talked about in the 2nd album. They were things that I hadn’t managed to reach with my eyes the way I was back then, and my understanding of the characters deepened, so I acquired feelings like, “I want to express that scene with this kind of song”.
――So you mean that this led up to the current Mekakucity Reload.
Jin: That’s right. If we take the 1st album (Mekakucity Days) as a first season and the 2nd album as a second, I guess the 3rd album would feel like an OVA or a movie. Of course, this is an essential work aligned to Kagerou Project, and I think I managed to make it into a compelling album. The production environment changed greatly too. Ever since the release of the 2nd album, there was a time when my creativity was stagnant and my mind was deteriorating. I ended up convincing myself that “there’s nothing else I can accomplish through music” and lived on facing a wall all day long.
――How did you overcome that period?
Jin: It was through Saiyuki-sensei, the mangaka who is taking part in this album (there is an original manga written by Jin, of which the art Saiyuki-sensei is in charge, included in the primary limited edition of this time’s album, Mekakucity Reload A), coming around to ask, “Won’t you do something together with me?”. I was very happy when he said, “I’m interested in the stuff you’ve been making”.
――So through creating NIRVANA (the comic by Jin and Saiyuki’s unit “ZOWLS”), you yourself overcame a rough time.
Jin: That’s right. And before and after this, people gathered up to assist me in the production of the music pieces. I think “Kagerou Project” has been a raw and fresh series from the get-go. I’ve been progressing with feelings like, “I wanna write a story like this” and, “I wanna convey this kind of message through this character”, and it has to be something that I can proudly present to the children who pay money to listen to it. There’s nothing strategic like “this series had this effect, so it can only profit this much” to it, and I believe that I’ll fall into hell if I end up mixing even a little bit of lies in it. So earning conviction through my meeting with Saiyuki-san and my involvement with the people of the current staff was something very significant.
“I realized once again that music can’t come into completion if people don’t listen to it.”
――I see. And in December 2017, you announced “Shissou Word” on YouTube and NicoNico Douga. How was the response of the users?
Jin: It felt a lot like, “A Kagerou Project song has come after a long while!” and, “We take it”, so I was purely happy. I once again realized that “music can’t come into completion if people don’t listen to it”, and I think that my passion for music has become stronger, so to say, and that “I wanna do more of it”. Shissou Word was based on an episode written in the novel’s seventh volume, and I depicted it with music. In that sense, while I was writing the novel, too, I might have been creating songs all along.
――It’s a story that you yourself gave birth to, so logically, you can make connections with the musical compositions the deeper you dig into that worldview, so to speak.
Jin: That’s right. I also make musical compositions for anime series, but even if I understand the contents of those animes, I don’t understand why their creators made them. Yet I’m the one who creates everything in Kagerou Project, so I can bring themes about from deeper spots. This goes for “Additional Memory”, which is included in this album as well. The female character portrayed in this song is normally a gentle girl, but she actually had a tingly side to her. I was finally able to express this with music, and I think I want people to feel the serious emotions that the characters bear.
――Are you not concerned about the fans’ reactions during the stages of production?
Jin: That’s right. If your consciousness of “wanting to please everyone” becomes too strong, you end up catering to them no matter what. I think you have not to do that but to pull them along through your work, like, “It’s over here”. Thankfully, the fans notice things such as, “Why did Jin make a song like this?”. For that part, they probably look at me severely, like, “He’s at loss” whenever I hesitate.
――I think that Kagerou Project is a series remarkable for its juvenile elements as it uses boys and girls as themes. It will soon be eight years since the project started, but is there anything charming in writing about youth that has not changed to you even now?
Jin: Yes. If anything, it’s got a more colorful feeling than before. I began Kagerou Project when I was nineteen, but eight years after that, my admiration towards the times when I was a child became even stronger. I’m probably taking ahold of the techniques to write about this little by little, and there are still things I must express. In particular, “Remind Blue” is a song in which the longing for childhood comes out a lot. I didn’t choose things like “summer” or “joviality” as themes because they’re comfortable subjects, but am depicting them with a feeling like, “there’s nothing but this inside me”. Rather than it being a so-called writer’s nature, I wonder if I’m not actually self-projecting. At the end of the day, I think it was my most vivid period. I would play with my friends in the river, make up codenames, have fun at relatives’ houses. Everything was a huge event. Next time, I also want to write about this kind of world.
――Seems like Kagerou Project will move forward from now on as well.
Jin: That’s right. Rather than a goal, I have a vision like, “I’ll end it after I write about this one thing”, but as I progress while heading towards it, I find swamps in unexpected places *laughs* and unforeseen things happen. I have a hunch that I’m getting gradually closer to my goal, so more than it being my lifework, I’m just thinking, “I wanna do more of it” right now. The fans are turning into adults like I did, but there have always been those at around middle school listening to and reading it. It seems there are also people whose school libraries have the Kagerou Project light novels and who listen to its music from there. I’ll do a live in a library in November (on November 11th, there was a live show in the Tagajou public library of Miyagi, “Jin Book Forest Music Tour ~ Library Live ~ in Tagajou Public Library”), and I’m also looking forward to it.
――Has your motivation regarding the form of expression called music fully returned as well?
Jin: Yes. I like my own melodies a lot. *laughs* I did have this sort of feeling since before, but it became even stronger. I think there are better melodies within me, and I want people to listen to them. That’s linked to my incentive for creating songs, so I want to go on steadily making them.
#kagerou project#kagepro#mekakucity actors#mekakucity reload#kagerou daze#kagerou days#jin#shizen no teki p#interview#my translation#lisani
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I actually have had no interest in Transformers up until now (I only knew about the old cartoon robots and overly humans faces don’t appeal to me) but I had no idea there was a more recent cartoon until you reblogged videos and art and such! I wanted to ask, is the series narratively engaging? Like does it have good arcs and character builds and themes and what not? Also, I think there was a 3D a 3D animation series, right? Between 2d and 3D, which would you recommend to watch first?
There have actually been a lot of recent cartoons, when one ends another one follows in roughly a year. Based on the ones I post about though, the two you’re probably referring to are Transformers Animated… (2007 ~ 2009, newer in regards to the original 80s cartoon but hardly the most recent Transformers series. also my favorite lol)
... and Transformers Prime. (2010 ~ 2013, the series after TFA and the only real 3D animation TF series I actively reblog.)
Transformers Animated has a good narrative and absolutely amazing characters tbh. The three-part episode it starts with really grabs your attention so you don’t even have to wait for it to get good, but it’s not afraid to be silly either - season three does get more serious but it doesn’t majorly affect the overall tone of the series, its def still goofy. I recommend TFA as anyone’s intro to the franchise, it’s a great look at what Transformers is really meant to be? It can be serious, but at the same time its a story about giant alien robots coming to earth that turn into cars. Silliness comes with the territory. Also the world building and development that went into TFA is... absolutely crazy. The folks that made it obviously have a looooot of love for the franchise. Overall: TFA is underrated, hella well-written, you end up loving most of/all of the characters, and the only downsides are the occasional kinda-annoying human villains and the fact that Hasbro cancelled it so finishing season 3 gives you a sad empty feeling inside and the feeling to avenge it. (You can legally stream it for free on Tubi btw! and if you like it make sure to tell hasbro that, we’re trying to get the fourth season we deserve and the writers said if we push hard enough hasbro might give lol.)
Transformers Prime is... not bad, honestly. It used to be my favorite for a while but it lost some of its luster with age, it’s not a bad show IMO but the characters can be a lil flat sometimes (mainly the autobots, the decepticons in this show are actually more entertaining most of the time lmfao) and some of the plots can get repetitive. I’d still recommend it if you’re really into Transformers but it’s a darker take on the franchise, even written for a young teen audience rather than kids. If you prefer the silliness of TFA though you might not like it, and the 3D animation is kinda limiting so there aren’t as many characters as there are in TFA.
.... gonna tangent back to TFA real quick but that’s another thing that’s great about it, because it’s done with 2D animation it fits in a looooooooot of characters. you end up falling in love with characters that only show up for a couple of episodes, and all of them have such unique crazy personalities i guarantee you’ll have at least a couple favorites by the time the series is over.
anyway there are quite a few other series, some 2D, some 3D, some a mix of both, and of course the movies as well (the only liveaction TF movies worth watching are the recent ‘bumblebee’ movie), and I do reblog a bit from series I don’t watch much or at all, so if you had another series in mind that i missed i apologize xD Transformers Cyberverse is the current series, TLDR ehhh its not bad. the episodes are short and its also silly so if you like TFA check out the first few episodes on youtube and see if it’s your kinda thing.
Also, the original 1980s cartoon can definitely look weird in a lot of ways but surprisingly it has quite a few genuinely good episodes. If you enjoy TFA i recommend watching some of the fan favorite episodes because there are some solid ones. the series had a lot of writers and none of them were allowed to talk to each other so the writing quality varies, some of the episodes are Typical 1980s Cartoon Nonsense(tm) and some of them are Genuinely Good Especially For A 1980s Cartoon Hot D a m n.
tldr - transformers animated is great, i absolutely recommend you watch it first ESPECIALLY if you've never really watched anything transformers before. transformers prime is... okay. darker themes but some of the characters aren't as strong and some of the plots are bleh. watch it second if it appeals to you but based on your ask it might not. G1 (original old cartoon) has some Genuinely Good Episodes that still hold up which i recommend you to seek out should you enjoy TFA, they're worth looking past the animation errors and personal taste in character design.
#liz blogs#transformers#maccadam#blogofthemod#ask#wooo i get quite a few of these asks come to think of it#i wonder if i should make a masterpost of series i think people should watch#it can have all the specific details and if people want specifics like OP with what they're into then I can just cut to the chase lol#sorry i ramble so much im just super passionate about giant transforming robots and iwant other people to love them too#i hope i answered your question OP lol#if you want good characters stories and worldbuilding transformers animated is DEF the way to go
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Inazuma Showcase Spotlight: @yuumanosaka / @lulurionu
[tumblr] [art tumblr] [twitter] It shows two girls holding plushies of the person they love the most! obviously, the right is Nae holding Norika, which represents my current Inazuma OTP! and then there’s the girl on the left, which actually shows my OC holding Gouenji. she just represents as myself holding Gouenji, who is my favorite character in inazuma hhgjkd
Introduce yourself! Hello everyone! I'm Lulu. I'm 20 years old, I live in the Philippines, and I've been a fan of Inazuma Eleven for a really really really long time! I'm a mainly illustration artist, but I'm also partly a writer in the Inazuma fandom! Though, I did start out as a fanfiction writer, I gradually shifted to becoming an artist, mainly because of my interests towards art and desire to have it as a career in the future.
How long have you been a fan? How did you discover Inazuma Eleven? Somehow, I still remember how I first knew about Inazuma. It was around August 2010, and I was at home during that time. It was nighttime in our place, but it happened before dinnertime. I walked to the living room of my house where I saw that the TV was on and my brother was watching something. The channel that was on was Cartoon Network, and the show that was airing right now was...?
It was a bunch of kids playing soccer, against...aliens?! It was that episode where Epsilon was introduced, and Kogure (or Scotty, as how I first knew him) first played for Raimon. Intrigued, I sat down and continued watching it with my brothers. And then the episode finished, but it was around then that I caught on the name of the show that I watched. Inazuma Eleven, huh? Oddly, I can't remember myself watching the rest of the episodes after that...sort of. I somehow remember watching the last few episodes (of the Aliea arc), and honestly, I really enjoyed those episodes so much that I wanted to watch it all again! It was September 2010, and I began my habit of watching continuously the Aliea arc episodes from Gouenji's return, up until the finale of the Dark Emperors...with the dub version. Somehow, CN Philippines' website had those episodes, and I would find myself watching those episodes everyday after school. But as time went on, I craved for more. I was curious if there was more to Inazuma than just fighting aliens. So I searched it up on Google, and the answer I had wanted was true. There were MORE Inazuma episodes! More than A HUNDRED! I quickly typed up Inazuma Eleven Episode 100 on Youtube, because I was curious to know what was the 100th episode. And I watched it, obviously, and to my surprise...it was about Xavier...and Scotty? Why are they called Hiroto and Kogure?? Why are they together??? It was October 2010, and around this time, I discovered the original Inazuma series...in JP audio! I just continued watching the series after, finishing the original series immediately after it aired and moving on to the GO series. I also constantly rewatched a lot of the episodes during that time! I was really obsessed with Ina11, but it honestly really made me happy so I'm not complaining!
How has Inazuma impacted you since discovered the series? What does Inazuma mean to you? What has made you stick around? I think, if anything, Inazuma is the series that really cemented majority of my interests and made me who I am today!
Inazuma is the series that really made me start out both writing and drawing, it's the series that made me realize that anime is my main interest in media, and it's what got me engaged in the Internet and fandom engagement!
Also, because of Inazuma, I made so many friends! Many of my friends I met here, we all came from Inazuma! And I would like to meet and make even more friends!!!
And this series, it...really means so much to me. I really, really, really love Inazuma??? It's hard to explain how much I love this series. I honestly feel like I fundamentally wouldn't be where I am today without Inazuma, seriously! Despite it being such a pretty unpopular series, I love this series so much to bits;;;;;
I mainly stuck around because...I guess, the series really kept me interested?? Inazuma is one of those series I don't think I would ever let go,. It's too important to me! It's hard to say with words why exactly I stayed hdhhfksj;;
Who are your favourite characters from Inazuma Eleven and why are they your favourites? I started out without really having a solid favorite, until the episode where Raimon and Epsilon Kai happened. Episode 52, specifically.
Back then, I was in despair that Raimon was losing against Epsilon! And there was also a mysterious boy in a orange hoodie who kept popping up. He seemed to be in danger, why? (Please note I started watching Inazuma from Fubuki's debut.)
And then after going through a lot of trouble with aliens, the mysterious boy came to the field. I was confused to who he was, until he took off his hoodie and all of the Raimon cheered happily to see who he was.
It was Gouenji (or Axel back when I first watched)! I didn't know him at all, but from the past episodes I've watched, everyone seemed to admire him a lot. I wonder why?
And I got my answer when he began to play.
I JUST HJHKJHFDJKGF 12 YEAR OLD ME WAS AMAZED BY HIM???? HE WAS SO COOL, DODGING THEIR PLAYS AND WHEN HE SHOT FIRE TORNADO I WAS SCREAMING SO MUCH IN JOY. AND THEN THE MOMENT HE SHOT BAKUNETSU STORM WAS SO AWESOME, AND THAT SHOT OF HIM WHERE THE GOAL MADE IT IN AND HE HAD THIS COOL SMILE. IM SO!!!!!!
IT WAS RIGHT THEN AND THERE THAT HE WOULD BE MY FAVE. I LOVE HIM. I LOVE GOUENJI. i love one good flame boy sO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oops, sorry for...that. I'll be honest though, I fell in love more when he was Ishido??? Though, initially, I wasn't...accepting of this change of his. It was pretty hard for then 13 year old me at the time to accept that he was playing the bad guy! But I've changed my ways and realized...Ishido good. All Gouenjis Good.
Though, enough of Gouenji! I have other faves in the series as well!
In the OG series my faves are Kazemaru, Fubuki, Hiroto, and Haruna! My faves in GO are Kinako, Kariya, Taiyou, and Manabe! And my faves in Ares/Orion are Nae, Nosaka, and Norika!
It's hard to explain why I love them so much?? Since I got to know most of them when I was much younger and just liked them if they gave me...feelings. Anyways, yeah! Tbh, I love most of the characters in Inazuma anyway! They're all good and I appreciate them for what they are, even if they don't get to shine so much!!
Any favourite pairings? OTPs, BROTPs? Initially, I never really liked any ship in Inazuma, but I think the first pair I fell in love was RanMasa! It's my very first otp ever, so it holds a special place in my heart!
Now, aside RanMasa, I also really love NoriNae, KazeSaku, Honoo no Pride poly (Gouenji, Fubuki, & Someoka), HiroMido, Taiten, and NishiYuu!
As for BROTPs, I love Break Trio, Ares Teikoku, GO Raimon First Years, and Ares Hakuren!
Has there been any particular favourites moments within Inazuma Eleven so far? Why are they your favourites? Obviously, my favorite has got to be the Gouenji's comeback in the Aliea arc! Mainly because it's what solidified my love and appreciation for the flame striker! Though if there two other scenes that left a huge impact on me, it was probably Chrono Stone's Episode 18. Particularly, Kirino's inner struggle on how he feels that he can't keep up with Shindou, and then Kariya comes in and helps him by pretending to be sick so Kirino can go with Raimon instead to the France era. And the other, is the whole Dark Emperors versus Raimon match! I loved that episode with Kirino's struggle, mainly because it's kind of what made me love RanMasa and also appreciate both characters a lot more. Kirino is more than a pretty face, and despite Kariya knowing that he isn't on best terms with Kirino, decides to help him. It's really touching, actually, it made me love the ship!
As for the Dark Emperors versus Raimon match, it's...hard to explain why I like it so much? I think it's because I've always liked the trope of friends to enemies (for a time), and it kind of made me appreciate Kazemaru and Endou's friendship a lot!
What do you hope to happen for the next 10 years of Inazuma? Anything on your Inazuma wishlist you hope to happen in the future? Whether it be in Orion or any future IE series? I just hope nothing bad happens to the OG and new cast in Orion, please let them all play happy soccer ;____; and also, maybe an alternate GO series that follows after the Ares-verse??
Mention some awesome people, blogs or twitter accounts in the community To my long-time Inazuma PH pals, Lou, Sukki, and Ven, thank you for sticking with me for a really long time! Without Inazuma, I probably wouldn't have met you guys!! Also to my new Inazuma PH pals, Aru, thank you and hopefully we continue screaming abt Inazuma for the years to come!!
And to all the new Inazuma pals I've made during the past months since I got back into the fandom, thank you for all the fun times!! You're all cool and I love you all!
Thank you for taking part in the showcase Lulu! If you’d like to take part in the Inazuma Showcase Spotlight event, please follow the details in this post here!
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I Like to Watch | The Walking Dead
by Don Hall
I have this great idea. At the end of Return of the King, following the battle to destroy Sauron, we follow Aragorn and Gandalf as they continue battle lesser evils in Middle Earth. You know, maybe like a Balrog with delusions of grandeur or an evil faction of dwarves. In the meantime, Sauron, instead of being destroyed, is held captive and we get to know him a little better. Maybe we extend the saga to show his backstory and exactly how he became evil?
Hell, we could milk the battles for years!
No?
How about this: a The Princess Bride follow-up wherein Count Rugen survives the sword fight between he and Inigo. Then, later, the two form a bond and travel the countryside looking wrongs to right.
NO?!
OK: After Luke Skywalker kills the Emperor and we spend three prequels on the backstories of both Vader (as a kid) and the Emperor (as a Senator), we jump forward in time. There is a new threat with a bad guy not quite as bad as Vader because he's so openly conflicted and kinda horny for the female Luke. Then, when things come to a head at the third sequel, we bring back the Emperor so we can kill him AGAIN!!
No. You're right. That is a shitty idea.
At the (long) tail-end of the pandemic, the rest of the 10th season of The Walking Dead resumed airing and I found myself undeniably un-inspired. I didn't really care much for The Whisperers and after they bumped Rick Grimes off and then carted him away on a helicopter, the show sort of fizzled. I couldn't figure out what was missing (besides Rick) so I decided to go back to the beginning and watch the whole thing again.
The zombie trope goes back a ways into horror history. The concept of the dead re-animating and going for our living throats has elements of the Golem, aspects of Frankenstein's Monster, and a historical basis in the slavery practices of the French in Haiti.
The zombie archetype, as it appeared in Haiti and mirrored the inhumanity that existed there from 1625 to around 1800, was a projection of the African slaves’ relentless misery and subjugation. Haitian slaves believed that dying would release them back to lan guinée, literally Guinea, or Africa in general, a kind of afterlife where they could be free. Though suicide was common among slaves, those who took their own lives wouldn’t be allowed to return to lan guinée. Instead, they’d be condemned to skulk the Hispaniola plantations for eternity, an undead slave at once denied their own bodies and yet trapped inside them—a soulless zombie.
In 1968, George Romero shot (on a budget of $114,000) what was originally entitled Night of the Flesh Eaters and later renamed Night of the Living Dead. He didn't refer to his walking dead as "zombies" but as "ghouls."
The grainy black and white film was far more than a gruesome horror flick—it was an allegory for the protests of both the Vietnam War and the riots of those fighting for Civil Rights. Later, his sequel of sorts, Dawn of the Dead, is another social satire disguised as gore flick with the zombies (he now called them zombies) acting as stand-ins for the suburban consumerist ethos. 1985's Day of the Dead is an allegory about the mindless authoritarianism of the military. Land of the Dead was a satire of class division; Diary of the Dead spoofed the age of blogging and YouTube.
What were the zombies? How did they come to be? Romero gives us a comet. A cosmic incident with no more explanation. This gives the satirical representation the foreground.
Along came more zombie apocalypse movies: Re-animator, Dead Alive, 28 Days Later. Certainly a lot more including Night of the Creeps and Zombie. In 2004, we get Zach Snyder's brilliant re-make of Dawn of the Dead. This list of the undead had as much in common with the classic atomic monsters as they did the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park—these ghouls were created by man. These were the inevitable result of humankind's hubris and god-complex. We created the end of the world and now must make sense of our creation.
In 2003, Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore co-created a long-running comic series published by Image Comics: The Walking Dead. In 2010, AMC picked up the comic for a television series of the same name and what set these zombies apart from the previous strain is that one didn't have to be bitten in order to turn. These zombies represented a natural human-wide disease that re-animated anyone who died. Like a bizarre metaphor for Purgatory, becoming undead was inevitable for all living people. This created a completely different dynamic for those surviving.
Which brings us up to speed.
I was hooked to TWD for the first four seasons. The conclusion of the Governor arc was satisfying and everything about the prison was exceptional but I was exhausted by the time they arrived at Terminus. The thing became taxing to follow and I believe I'd hit my limit. I dropped away until I was talking to a friend who loved the show and she told me that Negan was the best villain she'd ever seen.
I rejoined the Grimes Gang with Season 5. Terminus cannibals. Again, I got sucked in. The tragic end of Bob. The back-and-forth conflict of Gabriel. The whole Beth in the hospital with the corrupt cops was weak but that may have been because I don't find Beth remotely interesting. Then we get to Alexandria and the dynamic between the people so blind to the world that they're having cocktail parties and the group who have endured almost comical loss and tragedy makes for some excellent storytelling.
Then came Season 6, episode 4 He's Not Here.
Both loosely connected to the journey of our merry band yet set completely apart, this standalone episode finds us with Morgan (the extraordinary Lennie James) being brought back from the insanity he's afflicted with by Eastman (an equally wonderful John Carroll Lynch). Eastman slowly brings Morgan back from the edge.
A psychiatrist, Eastman tells the story of his prison practice. He explains that he has worked with over 800 incarcerated patients and only one was irredeemably evil. He tells him of that patient, Crighton Dallas Wilton. While a model prisoner in the eyes of the prison staff, Eastman saw Wilton for what he was, an evil, manipulative psychopath. When the time for Wilton's parole came up, Eastman was the one to interview him and it was here that Wilton realized that Eastman had seen through his facade and attempted to kill him.
Later, we find out exactly how evil Wilton was and how Eastman came to be who he is in this apocalyptic world.
This episode is beautifully done and, upon re-watching the whole thing all over again, stands out for one important aspect. Eastman tells us that in this world of heroes and villains surrounded by the undead, there is only one truly evil person to watch out for.
The Governor isn't evil. He's an asshole. An authoritarian. He's also insane from grief which has driven him to become a villain. He's no more or less brutal in many ways than Rick. The Terminus cannibals are likewise justified in their choices as sickening and horrifying as they may be.
Eastman is warning us of true evil on the horizon.
That evil is Negan.
From the moment we see him (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his barbed wire bat, Lucille, he is the embodiment of gleeful malevolence. He is brutal and he fucking loves it. He kills both Abraham and Glenn with such casual smug pleasure that the fact that he just offed a beloved character who has been on the journey since the second episode of the entire franchise only hurts more.
Negan is the anti-Rick. No conflict within himself, convinced that he is righteous in his path with so little regard for even his own Saviors (his 'relationship' to Dwight is a thing of remarkable cruelty). It isn't even the body count (both the Governor and the Terminus gang kill more onscreen) but his enjoyment in brutalizing people, teasing them into submission, then gutting them on the street is Hannibal Lecter territory.
Negan is the one truly evil man Eastman warns us about.
In my marathon from the start, I realized sometime during Season 8—I had no interest in seeing any more following Negan's defeat. Having seen the episodes before, I didn't want to see the character redeemed. I didn't want him to be at all relatable. I wanted Rick to kill him and for a sense of closure.
Now take a peek at Season 8. The writers wrote the end of the series in this one. The alliance of Alexandria, The Hilltop, and The Kingdom against The Saviors. Eugene finds his safe place and Gabriel struggles to redeem himself. Fucking Carl dies! Rick beats Negan one-on-one in a field and cuts his throat with a piece of stained glass. FINIS. OVER. DONE, for chrissakes.
Carl's death means nothing if the ending isn't peace. I'll be honest, the first time I watched Carl die, I didn't much care. He wasn't a heavy weight character in my mind. The second time, I bawled like a baby because, in a few weeks, I watched him go from scared kid in the camp when Rick (presumed dead) strolls in to the young man sparring with Negan. Carl's vision of Rick's future is the end. Except for the Negan part. FUCK THAT. Negan doesn't get to survive.uck that
Rick cuts his throat. He doesn't instruct Sadiq to save him. Negan dies. Maggie gets her revenge. Rick makes his "a better world" speech. Cut to black.
HBO’s Six Feet Under, The Sopranos, The Leftovers. All could have continued following their obvious and arguably brilliant endings but they didn’t. Game of Thrones could’ve just stopped as soon as the Night King is defeated but they couldn’t help themselves and tarnished the legacy of one of the most watched television series in history. I loved Lost all the way up until they explained everything poorly.
I get it. AMC needs the cash cow. Lots of people employed so they just have to continue the tale but, man, when you get to an ending that good, walk away.
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jm
Meh my old Jollymation stuff. It was all copied here and it’s at the bottom. I’ll just post this. Because I haven’t been huge into Bendy for so long. Originally was gonna use and remake this for my Bendy sequel AU. But stuff has changed and I expect Dark Revival to change a shit ton of things.
Gunnar Hirsch: Born 1993.
Voiced By: Shawn Baichoo(The Outlast series specially Outlast 2).
One of the founding members of Jollymation Studios and the creator of, “Mystery Town”. Other roles are animator, writer, and voice actor. Especially the voice of Modern Boris in the Modern Bendy cartoons. In some of the cartoons.
A young indie animator who’s, “Mystery Town” project wasn’t being picked up by any tv network due to its content. But Nicole Wayne noticed it’s potential and wanted the series as a launch series for Jollymation’s YouTube channel. Believing in the young man’s potential and talent. She was able to help him achieve his dream and make it a reality. During this time, Nicole was Gunnar’s mentor in his early years. Teaching him things about animation he didn’t know.
Now these days Gunnar is considered one of the top employees at Jollymation. Being a head animator and helping keeping the studio afloat. Even after, “Mystery Town” ended in 2019. He stuck around to make more cartoons in the studios.
The man has a talent for changing his voice. Which led him to voicing many characters in his show and other animations. Mainly for two reasons. To save money and because he honestly enjoyed it.
Considered in a way a madman for his strange humor and some what trollish behavior that wasn’t malicious. Such as after Mystery Town ended, a scavenger hunt for something related to the show happened. Where the prize was to meet him, Nicole, and a tour of Jollymation Studios.
Yet he’s known to be a relaxed individual who is very kind. Often helping teaching young new animators who were hired at the studio. Just like how Nicole helped him when he was younger.
During his years growing up. He was taught in self defense by his father who was a seat officer. Which had lead to Gunnar learning multiple ways to defend himself. Making him almost like a fighter. He remembers those times of his father training him just in case something were to happen to him or even the studio.
When making the modern Bendy cartoons. He was casted to be the voice of Boris. Even though Boris didn’t speak in every cartoon. He was chosen because of his talent to give this deep cartoon like voice for the wolf.
He is the youngest grandson of Henry Stein.
Fate: He survives and is right now alright. Despite going through Hell through the studio he worked 11 years in. He survived due to his father’s old training. But because of trusting Allison Angel, Tom The Wolf, and Buddy Boris. Despite he was concerned if they were tricking him or not.
Nicole Wayne: Born 1977.
Voiced By: Susan Egan(Steven Universe).
The leader and one of the founding members of Jollymation Studios. Including the younger sister of the famous Gabriel Wayne.
A long time animator who has worked for tv networks. Yet after certain networks were being restrictive with creative freedom. With animation not being the best during the early 2010’s. Nicole thought of an ambitious idea. To put together a small studio that makes it’s own cartoons. No network, no ratings, no needing to worry about the censors. Where creative freedom can be allowed. Where cartoons can be enjoyed by both young and old alike.
Thinking online would be the best option. Nicole banded a small team consisting of Gunnar Hirsch, Nick Lance, her older brother Gabriel Wayne who invested in the project, and a few others.
After some successful cartoons that were uploaded. Jollymation was a success. Slowly becoming it’s own studio.
Nicole had a passion for animation since she was young. Inspired by her older brother. She’s in charge of making sure everything goes well in the studio. While she knows they have to make money. But she is known for being a mother like figure. Sometimes helping some animators and even with the cartoons at times.
Despite trying to keep everything afloat by paying bills. She has made sure the studio is in good shape. Everyone mainly likes her. The studio is a healthy work environment. Where cartoons are made on time and all that.
During 2022, Nicole wanted to obtain the rights to the Bendy cartoons. Seeing that Jollymation had the money and the crew she needed. There were others that wanted to revive the cartoons. Even though they were up for public domain. But just in case she wanted what was ever connected to Joey Drew Studios.
Despite the history behind the scenes with the cartoons. Including the fate of Joey Drew himself. She saw the potential in the cartoons. While every cartoon the studio made was original. She wanted to take on a series that wasn’t made by Jollymation originally.
Especially knowing the fact that other animators including her brother tried reviving it but failed. She wanted to take on the project.
In early 2022, it was announced that Jollymation Studios had the full rights to Bendy and it’s characters. Including everything’s from Joey Drew Studios. What surprised Nicole is that the modern cartoons were a huge success. As if the dark history behind these cartoons were almost gone.
She was grateful to see this dream finally come true. Especially with these characters she honestly loved and wanted to bring back into the modern age of animation.
But with it’s huge success. There came an issue. One of her investors being Nick Lance was glad it became a success. But he wanted more. Seeing that Bendy was relevant again. He thought of ideas that seemed….too ambitious.
While liking Nick’s ideas. Nicole told him it wouldn’t happen yet. Because while yes they we’re selling merch like plushies and whatever else. But ideas like Bendy Land 2.0, a Bendy movie, and Nick’s own ideas for the show which seemed inappropriate at the time.
She didn’t dislike the ideas. But she knew the history of Joey Drew Studios shutting down because of bankruptcy. So investing in such ideas seemed too risky at the time.
During that time. She wanted to keep things simple. Everyone else agreed….except Nick. Which led into arguments between the two. It also resulted in Nick talking to Eric behind her back. As if he was tired of reporting to the woman.
Even though for a decade. Their relationship was really good. It’s like the success changed him. While he did think more about money than others. This was a new change in him. Which seemed to have happened because of meeting Eric.
Nicole Wayne is actually the grand daughter of Allison Pendle/Connor and Thomas Connor.
Fate: Despite being one of the few employees that survived who stuck at the studio. Eric had plans for her. Overtime Eric never liked the woman. He had always despised her kindness and motherly nature towards everyone.
When he found Nicole. Eric didn’t wanna kill Nicole. He wanted to turn Nicole into something he felt would be a fitting end for her. But also something amusing for the disturbed man. Including to have Nicole face off against Cassie. Another woman Eric seemed to have a problem with. He wanted Nicole and Cassie to suffer in a way he thought was better.
He wanted the larger than life but motherly and gentle leader of Jollymation Studios to go out in a way that traumatize all who looked up to her forever.
Nicole was turned into a creature similar to the likes of Brute Boris. She is killed by a reformed Twisted Alice who saves Cassie. With everyone believing killing Nicole was the best for her.
Gabriel Wayne: Born 1973.
Voiced By: Guy Cihi(Silent Hill 2).
Considered to be one of the most well known names in animation today. Before all that, Gabriel started out small. A young talented animator who was considered a prodigy in his younger days. Including known to be a gentle and sweet soul. He is a man who is passionate in his work.
Hearing that well known animated movie director Bradley Clark was gonna try to bring the Bendy cartoons back into the new era of the 21st century. Along with the legendary Aaron Bluth. He volunteered to join the group. As someone who had discovered the old cartoons from Joey Drew Studios and seriously enjoyed them. He wanted to help out with the project.
But during the course of the project and Bradley trying to get networks to air Bendy again. Despite them being hesitant. Something was going on during the week with the concept stages of trying to remake Bendy. Gabriel began having dreams. Where he was inside Joey Drew Studios itself….but it didn’t look like reality.
As the week went on. The dreams soon became nightmares. He was seeing things he couldn’t explain. Gabriel didn’t know what was real. What was going on?
But at the end of the week when surviving his unexplained nightmares. The project was cancelled. Due to no one wanting to associate with Bendy anymore. Which had saddened everyone. Including Aaron Bluth himself. Yet 5 years later after the project. Aaron Bluth became depressed and committed suicide. Which shocked the world of animation. Before then he was speaking about nightmares that included what appeared to be a demonic version of Joey Drew himself.
As if the man behind Joey Drew Studios was out to get him.
Despite the sadness of it all. Gabriel kept going forward. Becoming a well known name in animation. Yet the nightmares from that Bendy project strangely haunted him. He didn’t really tell anyone. But what he heard about Aaron Bluth shocked him. That it made it sound like some how Joey Drew killed him. Because there was stories about how Aaron and Joey didn’t seem to like each other.
Over time, the only person he had told was Bradley and Nicole. Which surprised Bradley because he had similar nightmares that week. But Nicole was confused. Yet she heeded her brother’s warnings in case. A year latter after the modern Bendy cartoons started….Nicole would soon understand what Gabriel had nightmares about.
Fate: It is unknown if he’s in the studio. But considering he’s more high profile now. Even though he’s an investor for the small studio. He’s mainly off doing other work.
He is also the grandson of Allison Pendle/Connor and Thomas Connor.
Darcy Angela: Born 1990.
Voiced By: Faye Mata(Hazbin Hotel).
A well known voice actor in the animation. Despite appearing rather cheery. It seemed like working in the voice acting business changed her. She’s actually narcissistic and a strangely cruel woman who seems to put down others for her own pride. Including she also enjoys the attention being on her.
Yet after many that have worked with her called her out. Including the internet in a way cancelling her. She hasn’t had any roles in a while. But for some reason Nick requested Nicole to have you as a possible voice for Alice Angel or a new character. Nicole didn’t want to, even though Nick wanted another well known voice actor in their ranks. But also strangely Eric approved of her. Mainly for his own amusement to annoy Nicole. She allowed Nicole to work at the studio. But warned her three strikes if she does anything similar to her acts in the past. She would be fired.
Unsurprisingly, no one liked her. While some ignored her, some despised her. Despite trying to be on her best behavior because of Nicole watching her every move. She thought with a role in the modern Bendy cartoons may give her the spotlight again. A way to keep being well known and praised by everyone. Even though she looked down on everyone she met.
Fate: Being one of the few employees that stayed at the studio. Her fate seems symbolic of who she was. She became a demonic version of the modern version of Alice Angel. She had also developed demonic wings that make her fly.
Eric had discovered these old storyboards from Joey Drew. He had the inspiration from these to turn Darcy into something that fit her just well.
Notes: While yes she is clearly based upon the character of Katie Killjoy. But she was also inspired by the MrCreepyPasta’s Hidden Lore take of Susie Campbell. Including her creature form is based upon those story boards from chapter 5. But taking it in the form of a demonic looking modern Alice Angel.
Nick/Nicolas Lance: Born 1989.
Voiced By: Matthew Patrick(Game Theory).
One of the founding members of Jollymation. An editor, and Nicole’s right hand man. Getting deals for promotions, merch, and other things.
Nick was a young man who wanted to help Nicole achieve her dream. He believed it in it. But also the possibility of a studio where cartoons with creative freedom sounded like where success thrived. Which actually worked and surprised everyone.
Despite being similar to Joey Drew in some ways. Such as having big dreams and ideas. Yet still having a heart despite maybe sometimes a ego. Which Nicole had to him tone down on. Nick wasn’t a bad guy. But he thought some times way too big. Yet he got along with everyone. Making everyone laugh with his jokes and all that. Including being a friend to the likes of Gunnar, Edward, and even a older brother figure to Cassie.
But when the modern Bendy cartoons became a huge success. More than any Jollymation cartoon than before. He then knew this franchise could make money. Even after the many decades of distain that Joey Drew Studios had gotten. Bendy was basically reborn. He wanted more of that success because Jollymation would be set for life.
Despite the cartoons having merch like plushies, accessories, and apparel. He wanted more than that. A few times he talked about ideas like Bendy Land 2.0, a Bendy movie, and for some reason darker materiel being added into the cartoons. Because during the modern age of cartoons. That seemed to be a thing in network shows. Adding mature themes into these shows that were for everyone.
But Nicole said no to that. She told him some of those ideas were nice. But it was too early for that. She didn’t wanna risk bankruptcy. Even though she said no, Nick kept asking. To a point where Nicole threatened to fire him. Which she never wanted to do. So he stopped.
Nick was shocked that the woman he looked up to wasn’t accepting his ideas. She was telling the truth but he thought they would probably make that money back soon. After he stopped asking Nicole. Eric decided talk to him more and hear his ideas. But also offering maybe some how his dreams could come true.
He started talking to Eric more. Nick started to drift away from Nicole and everyone else. Mainly speaking to Eric. Yet he was confused about Eric’s ideas of looking into the old belongings of Joey Drew Studios. But he listened and thought there was maybe something in there that could help with more of the success on Bendy. Such as the old Bendy Land they had discovered.
Yet overtime, he started to understand what Eric was digging through. Including what Joey Drew had hid for so many years. Along with what these ink machines can do. It seemed like this would be bigger than any of Nick’s ideas. Including Eric told him it would make him and all of Jollymation successful if he helped Eric. Despite how shady and dangerous it was.
Fate: Despite Nick tried to secretly prepare the possibilities of ink creatures coming out. Such as buying a few guns, and hoarding a months supply of food. He managed to get Nicole to give almost every employee a month’s paid vacation. Which gave Nick and Eric time to themselves with whatever they found at Joey Drew Studios.
But despite his preparations and slowly going mad. He summitted to the machine and Eric even more. After the world created by the ink machine was unleashed upon the studio. Nick wasn’t the same anymore.
He had become an insane slave to Eric. Who he and others now dubbed Eric, “The Modern Devil” an enemy to, “The Ink Demon”. He did his masters work. Bringing forth any traitors to him if they defied him. Thinking if he kept serving Eric. Nick’s dreams of success would still come true.
In a way, Nick became similar to the likes of Sammy Lawrence.
Yet under that insanity. There was still some humanity left in Nick. Such as keeping to himself what if Eric was wrong. What if he wouldn’t get his success? It wasn’t till he heard ramblings about, “The Messiah”(Audrey), and, “The Mother”(Cassie) being the one to save them. When he noticed Cassie returned and after learning certain things about her family.
He believed in the whole, “Mother will set us free”. Thinking if Cassie can stop everything. Then he can possibly be freed. Basically being a secret ally in a way but still dangerous. But sadly for Nick, he would never be freed even when trying to help Cassie.
Eric Richardson: Born 1985.
Voiced By: Edward Bosco(Hazbin Hotel).
Not much is known about Eric. He is a man that usually keeps to himself. Yet it was revealed he is a older cousin to Gunnar Hirsch. Who Gunnar doesn’t like to socialize with. Despite appearing very friendly and charismatic. Something was off about Eric. When it was announced the Bendy cartoons would be rebooted under Jollymation. He joined as their extra investor just in case. Because Gabriel was too busy with other things.
He was also a fan of the older cartoons. But he was also very intrigued with the history of Joey Drew Studios. When Jollymation got the full rights to Bendy and whatever Joey Drew Studios had. Eric wanted to look into any of the old things they had collected.
No one else was really interested in much of the old stuff. It was all just left in the past. But Eric was interested. In fact as he decided to dig through old history. He had discovered old recordings from Joey Drew himself, and many other employees. Along with other things…such as an ink machine.
At one point and others were a witness to it. Eric was simply replaying an old recording by Joey Drew. Talking about how you can cheat death itself. It confused them but they didn’t know what to do. Eric said he was simply intrigued by Joey’s words of cheating death.
He kept most of his discoveries to himself. Yet only telling Nick when he knew he could trust the young man. As the year went on. Eric had developed ideas and learned things about Joey Drew Studios that were covered up for years. It was these things that got Eric to think…..what if he can really cheat death itself?
Eric Richardson is the oldest great grandson of Henry Stein.
Edward Westbrook: Born 1994.
Voiced By: Michael Kovach(Hazbin Hotel).
A well known voice actor who’s voiced in many animations. Particularly cartoons from Jollymation. Despite appearing rather sassy towards people. Along with not taking certain things seriously. He still has a heart. Edward is long time best friends with Gunnar Hirsch.
Despite being a well loved voice actor in animation. There was one thing Edward was scared about and that was revealing he was homosexual. Yet as time went on Nicole being supportive of the man. Such as offering roles always at Jollymation. He feels super comfortable now with people knowing his sexuality. Mainly because of people like Nicole being supportive of him.
Fate: He is one of the employees who took the month paid vacation. Mainly because ever since people like the likes of Eric and Darcy gives him bad vibes. He is always the first one to say something about them.
…..I might make him related to Wally Franks. Yet there is the joke he is basically the Wally Franks of Jollymation. That’s why I keep thinking about Wally. Honestly I don’t have much to Edward right now.
Cassie Madra: Born 1998.
Voiced By: Jill Harris(Hazbin Hotel).
A young and compassionate woman who loved animation as a kid. Wanting to grow up to be an animator. Started to first work for Jollymation in 2016. Overtime she became one well known in the studio. Being one of it’s best employees.
Everyone had helped mentored her. Including Nicole herself. She was also the one employee that highly recommend that Nicole should go forward with rebooting the Bendy cartoons. As she loved the old cartoons as well. After it went through. She designed the modern designs for the characters, and wrote some of the stories, and animated them with others.
But like many others she was concerned with the likes of Eric and Darcy. Including how Nick wasn’t acting like himself anymore. Along with discovering he was preparing for something she didn’t understand.
Fate: She was one of the employees that was told to take a months paid vacation. But she wondered about what was going on at the studio. Because after getting a phone call from Nicole to get help. She was confused. Why did Nicole ask that? Including it was possible because she trusted Cassie the most. Nicole sounded terrified.
When Cassie came back to the studio…..her life will change forever.
Cassie doesn’t know much of her family history. It was mainly kept for her but she didn’t seem to mind. But during the course of trying to destroy the ink machine and stopping Eric. She soon discovers from certain characters, a few recordings, and other things.
She is the great, great granddaughter of Joey Drew himself.
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Wholesome Questionare Tag Meme
Tagged by @80sglamcowboy Rules are: -Post the rules -Answer the questions given to you by the tagger -Write eleven questions of your own -Tag eleven people
This is long as Hell, friends and I apologise.
One inquisitive bitch has asked me:
1. Name one person (real or fictional) that you think you could 100% take on in a fight
Foaming mouth guy from Avatar. He’s got no stamina, barely any health, no skill. He’s unfocused and weak and my noodley nerd-ass could take him. (Though I am a little concerned he has rabies.)
2. What’s your favourite snack rn
Grilled cheese w veggies, mustard, and grilled tofu w a side of ketchup made by my roommate. It’s honestly the purest thing.
3. Which apocalypse do you think you’d do the best in? (i.e. Nuclear winter/ robot uprising/ Too many vampires, etc)
O man. I love apocalypse movies and I love survival horror (that one episode of the X Files where they’re trapped in a cabin, anybody?). I also genuinely love camping and I’m a bit of a medical hobbyist. I also watched an unreasonable amount of prepper videos on YouTube. That said, as mentioned above, I am a couch potato weekling. Furthermore, I don’t do well in conflict so if the world hierarchy collapses into a power vacuum where you have to Orange is the New Black-style intimidate ppl for supplies, I would melt and die quickly.
My best bet, it would seem, is an Arrival-esque alien apocalypse where the ones who have enough patience and sci fi knowledge to communicate w aliens are at the top of the food chain. And worst case scenario it’s better for my ego to die at the hands of an alien than a human.
Sci go apocalypses are just cleaner y'know ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
4. Best and worst fandom you’ve been in? Or have you somehow managed to avoid fandom completely?
Worst has to be Steven Universe. I regret not just moving on after I got bored. Ah well.
(I also think celebrity/real ppl fandoms are a dead end.)
My other fandoms all have various pros and cons and it’s hard to pick a favourite.
Adventure Time has great fanart, great meta and ppl have yet to descend into Homestuck-ian chaos. That said, they’re quiet af. People also fixate way too much on the fake fanfic AU Fionna and Cake. I have yet to read a really good Bonny/Marcy fic and that is a tragedy (a few have come close tho). Bottom line for AT tho is that it’s my go to wholesome cartoonist fandom. I like that it has depth but that it’s generally very simple and fun and that the fans are mostly shut in animation adults.
AtLA/LoK fandom’s biggest pro is that it’s huge and you literally never ran out of quality content. I’ve even made a few friends via this decade old franchise. It’s also enjoyably rich and complex. One of my favourite (now inactive) blogs was one that connected world building and little background Easter eggs to real Chinese history and culture. That wAs so cool!! I defs think as a Chinese person it allowed me to connect to non-western culture in a socially acceptable way.
The downsides tho are many: it can be overwhelmingly complicated (esp as someone who knows jack shit abt Chinese history), people take it too seriously, The Great Shipping Wars, it’s so big it’s a little lonely, the show itself has so many flaws upon greater inspection you wonder why you wasted your time on anything related to it, it’s an Asian themed story created by white dudes who make fun of their fans, the best parts of the show were written by other writers but those same white guys get k the credit. Also as w any fandom related to POC culture, racism happens. Anyways most of you know this already. IMO the best thing to have happened do the fandom is korrasami. Now it’s just abt Asian lesbians ruling the world.
(Though I also thoroughly enjoy the Family Rivalry part of the fandom. There are so mNy dysfunctional families to choose from!)
Rick and Morty is technically speaking my newest fandom. It’s got a lot of obvious cons (pickle Rick sexists, Szechuan sauce racists, asfhkkh incest) but one other con is just how pedantic and overly analytical people are abt the world building. I can’t breathe wo being corrected. RM has a misleadingly complicated high sci fi aesthetic that begets the kind of overanalysing my brand of overanalytical nerdiness can’t handle. Too many alternate universes. It’s just too complicated.
However one thing I like is that conversely I can overanalyse the writing and characters’ psychology/relationships (which I LOVE) and ppl take me very seriously. (At least they used to.) it’s kinda validating to have your 3k word essay on an old man’s bedroom and what that signifies for his depression get over 1k notes.
Rm also attracts the fun, super talented animation crowd so there’s boundless fanart and memes. I never knew I would like a gravity falls crossover retirement home AU btwn Rick and Stan so much but the art is objectively gorgeous?? So ??
I really dislike the lack of attention the female characters get from fandom bc they’re all really great? Female rep is limited but both canon and fic really do their 2-3 tokens justice. Also the jerry hatred is getting old (that male aggression… Like… Calm down, Jake) but it’s a refreshing departure drom when Megg from family guy was the butt of the joke.
Harry Potter, one of the pillars of nerd society, has both changed my life and irreconcilably annoyed me to death. (W no thanks to the racist creator herself!) One can’t underestimate how huge the hp fandom is which offers you as many reasons to love it as reasons not to. Harry Potter’s canon has complex world building that’s also charming enough not to take itself too seriously and much the same could b said of fanon. To a degree. Certain corners of the fanbase are fantastic shitposters and meme-ers and can draw you back in like a black hole. Casually enjoying Harry potter imo is where it’s at. The fanfic is probably one of the most impressively vast. Strangers at Drakesaugh, believe it or not, still updates and not only that, I still read it.
Not casually enjoying Harry potter is, um, yikes? HP and Hunger Games love to insert themselves appropriately in real life political traumas and honestly the dedication of the fandom can be overwhelming.
The HP fanart corner of deviantart circa 2010-12 and @flocc HP comics however are the best.
Meet the Robinsons, Ye Olde Fandom, still stands to this day. (Thanks in part to me ngl) As Iroh might say, they are a proud people. MTR is so bizarre and tiny it’s the only fandom I was able to read EVERY fic summary in existence (ones published on obscure sites excepted). The fandom has never ceased to surprise me for better or worse and mostly due to its age range. The original movie was intended for 8-12 yr olds and their (jaded) parents which means that now, ten years later, the fans are anywhere between 12 and 25. It has approximately 20 pieces of professional-grade fanart and fic and I am downright serious abt the quality and thoughtful complexity of this minority of fanart. Like I shit you not some of it’s almost too dark. However, tragically, one can’t talk abt obscure Disney fandoms wo also mentioning the incest ships (this is what happens when middleschoolers have to resort to cartoons to explore their sexuality in an anti sex ed world), the disorganised crossovers, and the blinding lack of imagination. Nonetheless, that a fandom of any kind could sprout from a 90 min cgi movie before the recession, based off an obscure but objectively fascinating children’s book, is still impressive. The fandoms smallness can in many wars work to everybody’s benefit: it’s a tightly knit community w little to no drama. And lots of memes (that I mostly make) to enjoy sincerely or ironically.
I’m also going to mention, very briefly, the Twin Peaks fandom, most of whom, even the die hards, are v casual when it comes to fan content (I need more fic damnit). Nonetheless it’s a decidedly cool art kid crowd for an art house show and I really enjoy befriending twin peaks watchers.
5. What’s one hot food that you prefer cold? (or, alternatively, one cold food you like hot)
Is it snobby to say I like food to be the temperature God intended?
Like I like cold pizza and salad-y pasta but I wouldn’t mind if everything were room temperature as long as the food itself was well made.
6. ya like jazz? What music do you enjoy listening to? Can you recommend any songs/ artists from that genre?
I think in some contexts I can like jazz. It’s very cosy and nostalgic, it can make you feel like a grand dame stepping out of your limo into your martini filled mansion as records pop around you and your fur carpeted living room. I also occasionally like jazz covers and alternate genres of jazz like electro swing etc.
Generally though I also think jazz is a little antiquated and a little all over the place. I lean more towards the ambiguous minimalism of mellow techno music like Jonna Lee, Grimes, Björk, early Lorde, Yasmine Hamdan, Austra, TRST, etc
I mean I don’t stick to just one genre (I imagine most ppl don’t). I like alternative (Tori Amos, Regina Spektor, Joanna Newsom) and some musicians who seem to completely exist outside of genre like iMonster and the Gorillaz. Not to mention straight up pop like broods, Ellie goulding, lady gaga and Lana del rey. (I mean technically Ldr isn’t pop but u get the ideer)
7. What binge worthy show do you like?
So many man. There are so many out there! Twin peaks, Transparent, Love, Grace and Frankie, Adventure Time, House of Cards, Bojack Horseman, Rick and Morty, Mad Men, Girls, Broad City, Black Mirror, Avatar TLA, 6Teen, Chowder, Over the Garden Wall, Flapjack, the first season of Downton Abbey, Game of Thrones, etc
The list goes on. I’m a TV fiend.
8. What’s an old meme that you miss and wish would be brought back?
Always liked the Gothic [x town or whatever] meme. It was like a text post version of the cursed images meme. Currently I’m really enjoying the song from another room meme and I hope even after it gets old it’ll make a comeback.
9. Tell me your aesthetic
O man. That’s a can of worms! Okay. Deep breath.
I like futurism, of all kinds. I like strong lines and clear shapes. I like colour blocking and minimalism and glass and holographic LED neons. I like white Japanese urban tiled buildings. I like aliens and ruins and cubes and white and colour blocking and black. I like technology and aliens and Comme des Garçons and Issey Miyake. Rooms that are empty but for one light and one window and one plant. Love that.
I like the midcentury cubism and Mod and 30’s futurism. Clear and strong industrial shapes and curves and post modernist abstractionism.
I also love nature, I love most every Björk and Iamamiwhoami music video. I love the mountains and the forests and the desert and the winter tundra and most of all I love the water. A vast expanse of sky and sea w so many colours and textures. I love the 2000s and funny blob shapes and y2k’s obsession w secondary colours and shiny round things. Love pink. I am a grown adult who will never tire of pink. (Though I don’t really like when people overdo pink.) I love cursed image family photos taken with flash in a suburb. I love the grime and the sanitary aesthetic of suburbs and hospitals and brutalist office spaces. The fluorescent lights of the institution but with purple carpeting!
I love 70s mod and I love colorful 80s brutalism I like it when houses are shaped weirdly and they have carpets and polished curved wooden countertops and spacious nothingness where everything looks clean and cosy and bizarrely ugly and it all looks like an art gallery w too many plants.
I also really love maximalism and wood and detail and fur and velvet and embroidery and silk and windows and wood carvings.
I love 70s kitsch like John waters movies and Shrimps designer fake fur CDG17 where they just piled on knickknack after knickknack onto white dresses w food long trains. Toys and novelty items and lamps shaped like a woman’s leg in a fishnet stocking. (See also: most Tim burton movies, wes Anderson, Carrie fishers house)
An overwhelming mishmash of wool patterns with clean cubic 70s architecture and so many plants and windows and wallpaper and candles and cobwebs. Also really like witchy mourning jewelry and essentially every house in Harry potter. Love the unfortunately racist boho/hippie aesthetic. Any house designed by bill kirsch is a masterpiece. Woven baskets on the ceiling piles of hats and art supplies everywhere. Stuff!! Everywhere! Hidden passageways reading nooks fireplaces the Pink Palace from Coraline!
Everything!!!
I’m a cartoonist who’s a nerd for design so I like when concepts are taken to the extreme in a humourously charming and clear-minded way. Whatever aesthetic someone chooses, they should go all out and really dedicate themselves to the highest form of that aesthetic. It has to be perfect without being sanitary of fake. It has to be alive yet beautiful, frozen in one perfect moment.
10. Favourite time of day and why?
Dusk. I think it’s a nostalgia thing. I loved the hours before bed time as well the hours before dinner when it was getting dark and the sun was reflecting freaky colours along the horizon while I ran around the grass. It’s cozy but it’s spacious and adventurous. So many things can happen at dusk!
11. You have the choice to live in any fictional universe - which one do you pick and why?
Harry Potter!!! You get the best of both worlds: magical, over-romanticised Victorian/medievalism, wish-fulfillment surrealism and wifi. It’s great. Likelihood of dying is so low, medicine is so advanced and even then ppls n°1 choice of lethal weapon (Avada Kedavra) is painless. Me and Luna could hang in her garden. I’d never have to pay for the subway again. I could live a nomadic life in a tent w infinite space. If you chose to live as a wizard amongst Muggles you’re basically god and you can cheat capitalism. Gravity is my bitch! And I’m not gna lie my dream house has always been a combination of The Burrow, the Lovegood house, and Shell Cottage.
My turn to pick your brain:
1 Favourite texture?
2 Favourite smell?
3 Favourite children’s book/children’s TV show? (I’m talking about the bizarre abstract ones for toddlers)
4 Best and worst prank you’ve ever pulled?
5 Weirdest beginning of a friendship?
6 When you’ve been in fandom for a while you start to notice you’ve a habit of staying in the same corners. What corner are you in? Are you part of the fluffy ship corner? The intense world building spec meta corner? The shitpost comic fanart corner? Etc
7 If you could invent a class that would be obligatory for all high schools across your country what would it be?
8 What’s the weirdest thing you’ve gotten at Halloween while trick or treating?
9 Weirdest family tradition of yours?
10 Describe your significant other (or your crush, or your dream partner or if you’re aromantic your fave person) through only TV references.
11 Favourite piece of dialogue in a movie?
I don’t know 11 ppl but nonetheless tagging: @that-guy-in-the-bowler-hat @skairheart @nochangenohope @eventheslightestrayofsunshine@autistic-jaredkleinman@phoenixkluke
…and YOU (if you were not mentioned above and so choose to accept this mission)
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A Decade in Review
I actually wrote this at the beginning of the New Year--and, technically, New Deacade--, but I figured I’d also have it here for those who follow me on Tumblr and not on DeviantART
So, heads up, this is going to be a super long post, so I will put the extent of everything under “Read More” below, if you’d like to continue.
Thanks for your time
A Decade In Review
Well, the more I think about it... the title should be: "The deterioration of an individual through their slow painful spiral into the fiery pit of failure". Anyway... I don't really do the "Art Progress" meme things that people make for New Years Eve/Day, mainly because, for me, there wouldn't be a point. For other artists, yes, I'm sure it helps very much to show where they started off and where they are now. (Though, I did make this one way back in the day, but haven't made any since then). But, for someone like me, whose had a stagnant art quality for half of this decade now, all the pieces I would put together would just look exactly the same quality-wise xD So, I just like to take the time and write out everything together in a Journal. All in one go; no drafting or edits (unless, of course, there's grammatical errors that I spot after posting). I don't have any Resolutions for this upcoming year, especially since I didn't complete any of my resolutions from last year (except for the "save your money" one). But, very rarely do people follow through with their Resolutions--and, of course, it's awesome when they do. But, since a decade has passed... and since I've been a figure on the internet for a decade now, I'd just like to take the time and reflect on everything that has occurred since 2010:
~
2010
I actually wouldn't exist on DeviantART for another year (and wouldn’t be on Tumblr for another year after that). However, I got my start on Ye Ole FanFiction.Net. Yes, I was a writer before I was an artist. In fact, even before our home was wired with the internet (which was around 2008/2009), I would do nothing but stay up late and write. Before I got my first computer, I would have tons of notebooks with nothing but fan-fictions written in them. And, after getting my computer, I would transfer those written works to be a little more polished in a Word Document; and, from there, I would continue on with the story I was working on. You don't have to worry about killing trees when everything is on a file xD Of course, dumb little me didn't think to separate each chapter into different Documents. So, now there is a 800+ page document still on my computer of a "saga" of a Pokemon Mary Sue. That story was never posted, and will never see the light of day, unless, of course, I hit some special Milestone (probably a YouTube Subscriber because me going through it could only properly be done in video format--with my commentary and cringe over top of course xD). But, you know what was posted? My Ouran Host Club fan-fiction: "Fitting In". Still in that "Mary-Sue"-ish OC, phase, but I wanted to make this character more interesting and believable. So, with my anime crush, Kyoya, paired up with my Ouran OC, I set out to form my story. Completely unbeknownst to my parents, because they (specifically Mom--go figure) frowned upon me just reading fan-fictions. Because, in my mother's own words: "It's other people's fantasies". (Looking back on that now, her reason makes absolutely no sense). But, I enjoyed writing and enjoyed the series. So, after my parents had fallen asleep, I would write a chapter through the night and then posted it. Somehow, after a few chapters... my story got pretty big: tons of faves, followers and reviews--it was insane! Here I was, just being a geek, like everyone else, and enjoying the fandom. And yet, for the first time in my life... I felt what it was like to be truly supported. It wasn't support for something I didn't have interest in or was coaxed into doing (like with my parents). This was something that I enjoyed, even if it was just for fun. And people actually liked it. They actually supported me for what I liked. From there, it just continued to help me press on and keep moving forward. So, while balancing out my last year and a half of high school, I challenged myself to upload a chapter every week. And, I succeeded. I remember one Review from a user that said: "I literally got home from school and rushed over to my computer, because I knew there would be a new chapter!" Little did they all know that I actually would write the chapter all in one sitting. Yep, pulled an all-nighter the day before just to write out the chapter and then post it. I eventually did tell my parents. This was after my story had gotten a pretty good amount of following and faves to be considered--in the Fanfiction.net society--a Fanfiction worth the time to read. Dad was actually really happy and proud, even going to tell my mother about it just to "show me off". It felt nice to have his support--awkward, yes, but still nice. Mom, of course, didn't care; not that I was surprised in the slightest. But, even if I had one parent's support, the whole mass of support for individuals over the internet was able to compensate for the lack of support I received from my maternal unit.
~
2011:
Still writing early into the following year. I had attended my first anime convention at the beginning. mostly because J. Michael Tatum--the English voice for Kyoya--was a guest, but also other Ouran English DUB actors, including Vic Mignogna. While I was aware he played Tamaki, it wasn't until I sat in on one of his panels that I realized how popular he was among the anime community. He got many questions regarding this series called Fullmetal Alchemist. Because of how everyone seemed to know of this series (except me, of course), that was the first thing I would look into after crashing at home at the end of that weekend. Like with everyone starting out, the search results provided me with the original Fullmetal Alchemist series from 2003, so I started with that. Needless to say... it was definitely a 180 turn from Ouran, with how dark and depressing that it seemed. By the time I got to the episode with Lab 5, I didn't watch another episode for months. Long story short: Chimera!Tucker scared the absolute sh*t out of me--didn't help that I was watching the episode at night either. Parallel to those months, however... I was writing my newest Fan-Fiction, "Fire and Ice". Completely taken full interest in the Fullmetal Alchemist series, I created my newest OC, Danielle. Now, I made the mistake of jumping the gun with her creation as well as her story. Because I was still very very new to the series, and didn’t quite get a grasp on the canon character's personalities to be able to portray them In-Character well enough. Not to mention that I didn't quite understand the "Rules" of the FMA universe when it comes to creating an OC. But that's where DeviantART comes in. I made an account in the fall of that year and would post every so often. I used dA more as a secondary account just for the more visual references of my stories. So, in other words, I was promoting my main account (FF.net) by broadening expanding myself to other sites. dA being more visually oriented for creators, while FF.net was more for the story/world-building end. So, with two accounts on opposite spectrums of one another, I continued to create my stories and characters. Of course, Fullmetal Alchemist was a very popular fandom, and with the Brotherhood series being new, the fandom was more hyped up than ever. I kept to myself mostly, because I was more on FF.net than dA. However, after a while, I wanted to interact with the audience I had gained from being on dA. So, I would draw my characters and scenes from my story more often. Granted, I didn't have a tablet at the time, and would scan my sketchbook drawings in to post them. I would even try to go the extra mile to scan them in and re-purpose them digitally with GIMP (the only program I had at the time); again, though, no tablet, just a mouse. I started talking with other newbie artists and writers in the fandom, and we all started to become really good friends. The majority of us, of course (even myself at the time), looked up to the "FMA OC Matriarchy". Not naming names, but I'm sure a lot of you know the individuals I'm talking about. Inspired by their own detailed digital works, my fan-fiction was put on a hold as I began to become engrossed in drawing.
~
2012:
The year that marks my actual start as an artist here on dA. Or, if you want my actual take on it: The year that marks the beginning of my "downward spiral into the pit of no return or reformation". At the beginning of the year, I had purchased my tablet with my own money: A WACOM Bamboo Connect. In fact, it's the same tablet I use to this day, even though I have downsized to a much smaller version. Because my mindset at the time (and, to this day, still is): "You can have the most expensive equipment, but it's the artist themselves that makes the quality of the work." From there, along with a pirated version of Easy Paint Tool SAI, I was ready to take the next step into improving myself as an artist. (If anyone is curious... THIS was the first thing that I drew with my tablet). But, despite all that.. 2012 was rough. I picked A LOT of fights, even having the audacity to stand up to the "FMA OC Matriarchy" when there was a fight between the FMA OC groups. I saw their leader and the rest of them for who they truly were. Individuals, who still to this day (based on what I've seen from the 2nd-in-Command), that put on an act to make themselves appealing, welcoming, and "friendly" to their audience, while they're actually nothing more than self-entitled individuals who get upset because someone so dares to not like the pairing between their figment of their imagination and a fictional character. And that's when I vowed: "I will knock [her] off her throne." This said in regards to the leader of the Matriarchy. Because people, who are looked up to, shouldn’t be behaving in that sort of way! They shouldn't be acting like their word is law and whoever goes against them or disagrees with them should get their head chopped off, metaphorically speaking. Outside of the internet, they're nobodies. They don't have power over anyone when they're no longer hidden behind a keyboard and screen. The number on their profile is just that--just a number. It doesn't mean anything. And, in my mind, they all needed to be taken down a peg and realize that OCs, art, fandoms--whatever--should NOT be taken so seriously! We were all here to enjoy the same thing as them, and they had no right to treat themselves like they were queens, who governed what went on in the fandom. Of course, being a petty teenager... I did (and even drew) some things that I shouldn't have (i.e. making a satire of the Matriarchy as "Mean Girls" at the lunch table). And, I didn't really explain myself to anyone when said: "I'll knock [her] off her throne." I wasn't (and still am not) very good at explaining myself or feeling (or even understanding other's feelings and social cues). All in all that entire year was a roller coaster with on and off fights between myself and the Matriarchy--namely their leader. By the end of it all, I just wanted to quit and give up drawing all together. All I could think about was "There's no way I'll be able to surpass them and knock them off their thrones..." I always have, and still do, believe that I'm not one to be worshiped or put on a pedestal. I make it a habit to tell others that when they gush over me or my art: "I'm just a geek like you ^u^ There's no difference between us." Because I don't want to be treated the same way the Matriarchy was/is treated. I don't want to be seen like them at all, because I was nothing like them. I didn't take things seriously, I didn't treat others like they were lower than dirt to me--I wasn't an "Art Thot". I wanted to be the person that could actually BE A PERSON to my audience; not some high-and-mighty white-tower dwelling jerk like the Matriarchy. But, yet, there I was... dragging out the last of the year; trying to figure out how to not be like any of them, when it seemed like the only way to take them down a peg was to be like them. At least, to be able to surpass them. My mental state took a drastic turn for the worst as I began to become obsessed with these girls. I couldn't stand seeing them. I couldn't stand my friends talking to them (and I still can’t), because I felt like they had no idea what the Matriarchy was like--the way I knew them to truly be. I would constantly tear apart my art and look on it with disgust, because all I could see was just a big comparison between my work and theirs. I wanted to give up. "There's no way I'll pass them". I wanted to show everyone else so badly that there's someone out there that they could truly look up too. Not just as an inspiration for art, but as someone who actually cares about them and others. The days were so bleak, hopeless, endless... ending it all would have been too easy, and giving up seemed too cowardly. I was stuck. ...But, then I met AAV-sama. I had never seen them before at all. They weren't a watcher, didn't fave my works, didn't comment--nothing! It was just an out-of-the-blue comment on my profile: "Hey, wanna RP?" Now... I hadn't RPed on dA for a long while since then. But, I figured that getting back into writing would help take my mind off of everything art-related. So, we talked over what to RP, and they sent the starter. Little did I know that the beginning of that RP would be the start of something amazing.
~
2013:
The start of my last year in high school (graduated that spring), and would start my first year of Community College for an Art degree. I knew what I wanted to do with my life going from there. It's just, when you have little to no support system in real life, it's very very difficult to get on your feet from there and keep moving forward. Meanwhile, in the world here on DeviantART, I was still drawing little things here and there; working more on improving my ability to draw backgrounds as well as composition. I would still only post occasionally--about once a month or so--, because I was completely engulfed in the world of writing in the Notes section of dA. :devaav-sama: and I were still acquaintances and nothing more than RP Partners at the time. But, she would often share what was going on in her personal life, and, eventually, I would open up as well. From there, our acquaintanceship took a turn into friendship. She helped me find inspiration and creativity, and helped me remind myself of the love for the Fullmetal Alchemist fandom. And that would come the start of our little passion project: The Mustang Conspiracy. New OCs were made and had their own story in Next Gen of the FMA03/Shamballa universe. All the while, AAV, and I became closer and closer while excitedly gushing over scenes we made and even episodes and characters in the FMA series itself. A year after we started creating out series, I created the first picture of our own "Golden Trio". And, with the creation of these new OCs, I met other individuals, who I would become friends with. With these new friends, we all cooed and gushed over our OCs, and even made AUs of our OCs interacting with one another. Like with my Ouran story, I once again felt that love and support--support I knew I would never be able to have outside of the internet (parents/mother). I didn't (still don't) have any friends outside of the internet, so I would often have a tendency to be possessive or overprotective of my friends here online. I liked the feeling of being loved and having friends, and I didn't want it to go away. ...But, ultimately, it did.
~
2014:
Like with the other years, this was no different of a roller coaster. In the real world, I was passing with 90s and A's in my classes. Of course, Mom's response to my Math final grade, which was a 92%, was a big: "You can do better". (Mother, we're not an Asian family, could you PLEASE let up on the high standards...? -___- ). Anyway... Like always, I found my escape from my toxic family life to the love and support from people who liked me for who I was online. Of course... There were the same emotional disputes between I and the Matriarchy, mostly brought up because I couldn't stand to see my friends interacting with them. What took me by surprise and baffled me the most is that one of my friends became friends (and still is to this day) with the Matriarchy's "2nd in Command". My friend's art was less to be desired, and was far from being among the ranks of the Matriarchy because of it. So, needless to say, I couldn't wrap my head around the reason why the Matriarchy would allow someone like her to be friends with them when they were out of her league art-wise. The Matriarchy didn't ever do that. it was just them, and if you're not in their league, then you're not one of them. There was only one logical conclusion to all of this... They were taking my friends by lulling them into a false sense of security and making them their "friends" just so that they could turn my friends against me. Ultimately, planning to leave me in abandonment and cutting off my support system online so that I would be left with nothing. My friends didn't know them the way I did. I KNEW those people weren't to be trusted, they never were, but I didn't want to make my friends up-happy. Yeah, I can be possessive because of my over-protectiveness for my friends, but... I didn't want to be the one to make them feel upset. So, I kept to myself the majority of the time and bottled it in. And we all know what happens when you bottle things in.... you become a ticking time bomb until you eventually explode, even on the smallest of things. Sometimes, like how it was with me, the bouts of intense anger were in scattered spurts. Now, many of you may remember the time over the summer of the Ferguson shooting, which lasted until the end of the year. Being raised by an extremist (mostly the maternal side) Conservative/Republicans, my family, of course sided with the Cop. Me, not wanting to be kicked out on the streets, I did what I always did when politics came up in my family--which is 90% of the time. I agreed with them and let it absorb me to the point that I had to be like that and think that way to appease them. Clearly, the internet didn't seem to agree, and I was called a "racist" and all but one friend left. She wouldn't last long, but I cherished the fleeting moments we had together. Meanwhile, I continued to draw FanART, OCs, and such for the rest of the year, as well as continue working on The Mustang Conspiracy.
~
2015:
AAV was all I had during this year. Our friendship had grown to the point that I couldn't imagine a day where I don't talk to her. We had gotten to the stage where we exchanged personal contact info, and have messaged each other little "Good Morning" messages every since day since then. She was my everything. She made me feel like I was everything. If I didn't have her, I probably would find the nearest overpass to jump off of, or work on finding a good sturdy tree in the middle of the woods to tie a noose to. All in all, life wasn't worth living anymore without her. After everyone else had left, she became my one and only, and... it got to the points where I would unhealthily obsess over our friendship because of the constant fear of abandonment nagging the back of my head every single day. Even while working on our story, we took the time to set up a separate Note just for a "Creative Workshop" to further build our characters and make them more well-rounded. Now, during one of my "bleak" moments, I recall the very first time I came across the a certain Community on YouTube (not naming what kind, because I would like to keep myself and my family safe). No joke, I had searched "terrible people on DeviantART", not because I want to find other people deemed "terrible" just to laugh at, but because I was feeling like I was the terrible one. The Community was still in it's early days with only a few channels that would talk about pedos and bullies on the internet--though most of the videos at the time were just talking about pedos. Seeing those videos and watching these users deliver calm and collected speeches about users committing crimes towards children on DeviatnART, among others just laughing at lol-cows doing dumb things, it gave me a light of confidence and inspiration. They handled themselves so well, and were well respected within the Community. So, I made my first videos--not the best, just screenshots of anime characters used as expressions set to my voice reading from a script along with music, all thrown together and edited on Windows Movie Maker. Like how I got big trying something new to a new audience the last few times... this was no different. Except, well, I didn't really feel the love and support as much. However, I did start to realize that the majority of my audience really enjoyed my jokes and the way I handled situations. And, it made me reflect to the days where I would do theater. Being on stage and performing for an audience, making them laugh or impacting their lives just because a character I played happen to inspire them... it was the best feeling in the world. Up there in front of hundreds of eyes watching you, and entertaining them... it's the greatest feeling in the world. Performing was my life, it was (and still is) where my heart is and what makes me truly happy. So, while I couldn't do theater as often, making YouTube videos was close enough, and I could work on those and post them at any time; not having to worry abut a weekend-only schedule or any other time constraints. So, I started small by making jokes about bratty teenagers stirring up trouble on DeviantART, and even clicked with some of the minor channels; doing some collaboration videos with them as well. Of course, there was a group on YouTube called the YTTrollPolice. In reality, they were just kids stirring up trouble, but they would go far beyond random trolling to DoX threats. I was their first target, and, through the collabs with the others, they went after them. I shut my channel down--the others in the community did as well--, just to avoid the target and threat to our personal safety. Kids or not, we couldn't take any risks. The YYTP kid eventually found me dA and stalked me there, even after his account was banned. Taking my mind off of everything, I went back to drawing and interacting with AAV. Then... I met another user in the FMA fandom. It was a rarity these days, especially since the FMA fandom was slowly starting to die out (mostly because of me, since I was the one who made everyone--including the FMA OC Matriarchy--leave the fandom, never to return again). While I was still hesitant, as well as having those "abandonment fears", I decided "What the heck? It could just be a one-time conversation." Well... it wasn't a one-time conversation. We started talking and chatting on and off from there, and even became friends. I did my best to encourage her, because, well, I was just like her starting out. And, with practice and effort, she'd be flying on her own. Seeing every new piece she made--a HUGE improvement in such a short amount of time--, I felt what I believed to be pride. Not the selfish kind. No, I was proud of her. She looked up to the Matriarchy just like I once did. But... instead of saying anything against them around her, I encouraged her. I made sure that she didn't follow the same path that I did. And, one day, she sends me this excitement-filled note about how the Matriarchy's 2nd-in-Command +watched her and they started getting close. She had done it, and with my recommendations, she became friends with my former friends. Because despite what had happened, they were good people (or so I thought until 2016). Not only that... she also gave me hope. By giving me the name "Saki", she helped me find hope that I could turn around and become better. And, with that hope, we became closer and our friendship grew from there. Of course, with that fear of abandonment still at the back of my mind, I enjoyed our friendship for as long as the amount of time the bomb had on it. Because, at that point, my mind always saw all friendships that way--they were all the same and ended the same. So, it was best to enjoy the present until the inevitable moment when that bomb would go off. Near the end of the year, I received a Note on dA from a user I had never met, seen, or interacted with before. They and their friend had a Joined-channel that talked about brats on DeviantART and made fun of them. This user said that I was one of the ones, who inspired them to get in to the community. I let them know about the situation and why I left; they understood, but we started to chat, and they welcomed me into their group of friends. (For the sake of continuity through this journal, we'll call them "The Group"--Again, keeping it vague for my and my family's safety). We would just have fun chatting, geeking-out, and having streams reading bad fanfictions. During one of those streams, I got a message from a user, who was helping me with updates from the YTTP. According to them, the kid that made the DoX threats and stalked me and the other old users form the Community had the real police called to their house, and they ceased all intent with their "Troll Police" habits. And, like I said in that stream: "Now that they're gone, I think I'm going to start making videos again."
~
2016:
The beginning marked the year of when the story of The Mustang Conspiracy was put on a hiatus. I had finished Community College with an Associates in Arts and was working on where to go from there, and AAV was in the process of going back to school for her own degree. So, with personal life taking up a bit more of our time, we put the story on the shelf; however, we still worked in our "Creative Workshop" for our characters, for when they would eventually come back. Aside from that, I was working on starting up again on YouTube. I had made two accounts this time: one for my Art/Speedpaints, and the other strictly for "those videos". Posting my drawings, as well as the quality of my art, was an an all-time low; and it would be that way for another year and a half. Had I known that becoming absorbed in the Community at the time would take a huge strike to your art, I wouldn't have thought twice about going back. But, I felt like I could be someone within that Community. After every video, I felt just absolutely amazing. It was like everything I had bottled up for years could all come out full force just in one video. People liked me and supported me, that's what mattered the most. Sure, it wasn't the same like and support I used to feel, but it was support regardless, right? It was best not to complain and be happy with what I had. So, from there, I continued on with making videos. Meanwhile, on DeviantART, I decided to open up commissions. I had only done so here and there when people asked about how much I would charge for (X kind of picture) back in 2013. I wanted to make it more like a professional info sheet, since I was nearing the point where I would be seen as a "professional" (quote unquote; because I didn't--still don't--see my art anywhere close to be seen as "professional" ^^; ). But, I digress... I set up my sheet, and some people from The Group even commissioned art from me. Until mid-May when one of my former friends (one of the ones that left in 2014) began going to my commissioners and saying that I "traced" my commissions. How did I find out about this? One of my "friends" form The Group sent me a message asking if I could get in a call, and she laid out what was going on. My "friend" from The Group was also friends with my commissioner, and they (my "friend" from The Group) was in a message with my former friend via Notes. I explained to my "friend" from The Group about the situation from a few year ago, and (during this time) they had my back (note from present me, this was a bad mistake to do. You DO NOT divulge any information like this to people from The Community. This reason will be explained in the later in this section as well as the 2019 section). Of course, what was I to do? I was a small DeviantArtist with an even smaller YouTube following on both channels. But, I had enough of being treated this way and made a video about my former friend and what was going on presently. To my surprise... the video blew up in just a short amount of months. Many of my other friends came out to say that they agreed with me and had disliked this individual's behavior even before this occurrence. Though, had I known about it at the time, I wouldn't have made a video, I would have filed a lawsuit. Because, in terms of legal definitions, what my former friend was doing was a form of Tortious Interference. Of course, that was a term I didn't know about until early 2019, so there was no way for me to know that what my former friend was doing was a liable court of law offense. But, what was done was done. Of course the Matriarchy found out (go figure; they're all connected to each other). But, regardless of what happened to my former friend, I didn't care. At the time, I felt like she deserved it. Little did I know that that unsympathetic callous feelings was just the beginnings of the toxic environment of the Community getting to me. My channel started to get big really quick, and, looking back now, I see that many of The Group were more than likely upset or jealous of this. Because, in August of that year, they were quick to turn on me instead of sit down and talk things out like friends are supposed to do. They quickly dropped me, started spreading rumors, even went so far as to tell my former friend that I was going to make another video on them. I was labeled as "toxic", had hate-art made of me defaming my character, and they even made an alt account to spam my name in the comments and notes of one of their former friend (because "Saki" is such a "mean-sounding word" apparently...). The time bomb had gone off, but, unlike the other times, I wasn't even ready for it. And, up until the end of the year, I was a mixture of mad an upset, going through all sorts of emotions on the spectrum. How stupid I was to not see that I was falling in with the "Wrong Crowd". How I shouldn't have even attempted to restart my channel. How I shouldn't even have grown close to these groups of people. It would all end the same. It always did. Yet... I wasn't ready for it. Now... 2016 is a year that the majority of people despite, mostly for the results of the USA's Presidential election. Personally, I don't care for politics, but there were other things on my mind that day. See, that morning, the very same day as the election results, I had received a call from my doctor about my recent biopsy's results: Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma--Thyroid Cancer. Sure, it's not as serious a cancer like Breast or Brain, but it was cancer nonetheless. So, I was scheduled to have a total thyroid removal at the end of November, and would be put on a super restricting "iodine diet" for the majority of December that would last through the entire holidays. Christmas Dinner was torture; only able to eat a very small selection of things, while watching my family eat such amazing and delicious foods. The following week, I was quarantined in my room because I was completely radioactive. Despite craving that delicious food from Christmas, I felt like I would throw up if I ate just a cracker. My week of quarantine was was literally nauseating, completely miserable, and, above all else, absolutely boring. I could only entertain myself with my phone, because I didn't want to touch anything else--it would just be more to thoroughly clean immediately after use. January 1st Midnight of 2017 was spent in my room listening to my family excitedly cheer "Happy New Year". Needless to say, out of all the years this decade, 2016 was the worst.
~
2017:
With the residuals of what occurred between The Group and I gradually sputtered to stop, I took the time to stay off the internet a little and focus on my real life. I had to do something with my life. I know what I wanted to do with it. But, the thought of my parents not agreeing with my decision and not being proud of me held me back far too much. Despite having an Associates in Arts and wanting to go in a field that was about The Arts, my parents' (mother's) constant comments of: "Digital Art Degrees are a hit or miss when it comes to getting a job", "You'll never make it out in the Art field", "They're called 'starving artists' for a reason", and then she would proceed to offer ideas for jobs that required either a Science degree or a Medical degree. And... I believed her. Through her constant comments, she had coaxed me to reluctantly work to something she wanted me to be. I mean, she was right: I needed to find a job that would support myself financially, and if getting a Graphic Arts Degree wouldn't do that, then, well, I wasted 4 years of my life in Community College. So, with my mind thinking "Back to Square One", I set out to look for a part-time job. And, in February, I did. It was a short-shift job, but it paid a decent amount to get by for a while. Meanwhile, I paid less time online; only making a few videos for my channel now and then, but also wanting to get my Art/Speedpaint Channel off the ground with videos that are years old (and videos that, to this day, I still have yet to edit and post), as well as posting art when I could (once or twice a month). There wasn't much else that was eventful for the rest of the year; not until a week before Christmas. On our home's doorstep was a package from Amazon that contained an "Adult Coloring Book" titled: Calm the F*ck Down and a pack of Prisma Coloring pencils (which, by the way are not a cheap brand of pencils). Who had sent it, we weren't sure. I know I hadn't ordered it, and I didn't have an Amazon account at the time, so the assumption of it being on my "Wish-list" was out of the question. But, it was a week before Christmas, so it was probably from an out-of-state relative. Little did I know that the individual, who sent it was not either of the two, but someone who I had known, yet hadn't met in real life. And their reasons for sending me the package? Malicious, devious, and text-book level of a psycho. I wouldn't know the identity of said person for another two years. All in all, this year brought new people for me to befriend and meet as well. Of course, after everything that happened, I was very very hesitant to pursue friendships with them. What was the point anyway? They would all end the same. At this point, I had already begun to accept who I was: A narcissistic, selfish, heartless, backstabbing, toxic, indifferent annoyance, harassing, ungrateful, apathetic, hurtful, manipulative, bullying, dramatic, sensitive, arrogant, petty, spiteful, over dramatic, drama whore, lying, shady, sociopathic bitch. People don’t change. I can't change no matter what. But, that’s okay. I’ve come to accept it. And I'll keep doing my best to protect everyone else that I care about—those very VERY small few that are left. The more I can protect from getting close and affected by the monster, the better. Nobody in this world deserves more of that. I tossed those Placebo-Effect pills away, so I could stop lying to myself once and for all that "I changed" and "I'm a better person now". There was no way that, after all that happened, that was true. There's no point in denying it or hiding anymore. I am who I am. I don't like it, but that's just the way things are, and I will forever be that person--No. I'm not even human after all that I've done. I'm a monster, and I'll be that way forever. My Cancer wasn't able to get rid of everyone else's suffering--suffering by the fact that I exist--, and I wouldn't be able to give them that release and make things right once and for all.
~
2018:
At the cusp of this year around January-February, I had noticed that the friend in the FMA fandom (the one who had given me my new name as well as hope to become better), hadn't been interacting with much as she used to. I found it strange, and I didn't want to assume anything, so I messaged her via Tumblr and asked if I did anything to upset her. Because, after the knee-jerk reactions of the Community, I had come to prefer talking things out with an individual and fix problems in a civil manner. Well, we did talk things out in a civil manner. But, long story short, she didn't want to be friends with my anymore. Her reason: Because she didn't want me to make a Video about her. Where did she come up with that reason? I never made any mention of it to her, and the only reason why I made the videos on my former friends because they actually did something to me and were going out of their way to commit Defamation per Se and Tortious Interference--among basic libel and slander. She had done nothing to me that would make me want to even consider making a video on her. However, despite my best efforts of trying to reassure her, I eventually had to reluctantly respect her wishes and let her go. We un-watched each other, and that was that. But, something was odd... Not only did he un-watch me, but also blocked me. Un-watching, I could understand. But blocking as well? That didn't make any sense... After months of having the worry drive me insane, I eventually came to the realization that tore my apart. I didn't want to believe it, but, after analyzing everything that occurred, nothing else made sense except what I had realized. She was USING me. She was only friends (and "litter sister" to the 2nd-in-Command) with the entire Matriarchy because of me. And what thanks did I get? NOTHING! She gave me false hope that I could change and be better--lying through her teeth the entire time. Not only that... she PRETENDED to be my friend. Like everyone else, she knew my weak spot: Friendship. All that mattered to me. Having the support group to escape to when my parents (mother) didn't give me any and tried to drag me away from the things I loved and enjoyed. They knew it. She knew it--it was her plan all along, wasn't it?! She used me. She. USED. Me. Slept her way to the top, so to speak, without any effort; just rode along on my coat tails until she had no use for me anymore. ...And I was stupid to fall for her feigned innocence and let her get away with it. I stupidly turned around, thinking nothing of the situation until she plunged her knife deep enough to the hilt right through me. ...I know that's an extreme jump to conclusions, but what else was I supposed to think? I thought I was numb after all the other things I had to go through in the previous years. But, after what she did... I couldn't remember a time where I went through that much pain; pain that lasted for months afterwards. Meanwhile, in the real world, I was taking each day by day and doing my best to act as normal as I could around family, despite everything that occurred/was occurring online. I quite my part-time job, and spent the summer looking for a better one; eventually landing a full-time job (my current one) that paid really well and had good benefits. Sure, it took a lot of time away from working on art, especially when the Holidays came around and there was so much overtime I was working between 55 and 60 hours per week. I tried to manage as much as I could with my online status and stay as active as I could though, even if my quality of art never increased because of the lack of motivation and little time I had in between with work in order to put some art together.
~
2019:
And, now we come to the final year of the decade. I focused more and more on my art and developing it enough to where I became a better Mimicker Artist. Even though there have been many more times where I had to politely put others down when they remarked about "[my] style"; it was a similar reply I would have to make to comments like those before. Other than that, though, there were many ups and downs, like there were every year. Midway through 2019, I met some new individuals, who had left when the Community became too toxic, and got in a call with one of the former friends of The Group (We'll call this individual "J"). Through the call, which lasted about 3-4 hours--there was a lot they had to unpack and let me know--, J informed me of everything The Group was saying and doing behind closed doors on Discord. Even going so far as to get their (former) connection, who had easy access to the Deep and Dark Web, to go after people they they didn't like. One of those people, included myself. Remember when I mentioned that Amazon package I received during Christmas of 2017? It was them. Their reason: "Make [me] so stressed out to the point that [my] cancer comes back in a more severe case and kills [me]." The moment J told me that, I let everyone in the call know that I had to step away for a minute. Then, I muted my mic, and promptly went to the bathroom to throw up. Even if it was way passed midnight after the call ended, I couldn't get any sleep because I was shaking so bad. These people--people, who third-party viewers call "drama whores"--, were more than just that. "Drama whore" was a huge understatement. These people... were psychos. Thankfully, they hadn't done anything else since then (Especially since their little Deep Web friend stopped interacting with them and The Group is against him now). But even so, the fact that these people went out of their way to have me killed just because I was making fun of them for being immature and stupid... it was more than just the epitome of "insane". Who does something like that? Who thinks that the way to "get back" at someone for making fun of you on the internet is to have them killed? Again, thankfully, nothing else has happened since then; but, of course, if it does, I'm calling the police. Back in the real world, I managed to sway my parents to let me go to an Art-Collage. Sure, had I let in on the fact that I wanted to go into Theater or Graphic Arts, they (Mom) would have shot it down immediately and gave me the speech I always got. So, I managed to settle on a Film Degree, which was more like my Plan C (a field that still interested me, but not 100% what I loved), still mostly out of the fear that they wouldn't accept me for a field that I actually wanted to go into. And, for the majority of 2020, I'll be working on saving up to attend that school; hopefully able to get some grants or scholarships so that I won't have to worry about paying the rest of my share after the FAFSA amount is taken out. At the end of the day, and year, at least AAV and I are still as close as ever, and I wouldn't trade her for anything else in the world. I've said it before and I'll say it again: life isn't worth living without her. She's all that I have left in this world that matters. She's the only one I can trust that won't leave or abandon me. To this day, it still baffles me that she didn't drop me and leave, like the others had, when we had our first petty spat. So, if anyone could be considered a "true friend", it would be her. Of course, I still can't get close to others, and I wouldn't even dare try to attempt a new friendship. I try to be nice and civil when others ask: "Can we be friends?" I give them the short explanation of why I can't get close to others anymore, and, luckily, they understand. I know it's wrong, and I should give people a chance, but, after all that's happened, I can't risk anything.
~
Anyway, so that's my entire Decade in review. It's crazy to think how long it's been since then and how much has happened... The years and events may have changed, but I and everyone else haven't. I know I certainly haven't. Like I mentioned in 2017, I began to accept who I was, and eventually fully accepted it through the entirety of the next year. And, like they have been for almost 10 years, my thoughts never changed on the Matriarchy, and it absolutely disgusts me whenever they (especially the 2nd-in-Command) acts mature and friendly for "brownie points", and saying lies like: "...inspiring others from a healthy approach to pursue whatever they aim for, because it can definitely be achieved. ..." (Not to mention that she has no idea what having an actual reason for anxiety feels like). Well, there's one thing I can agree with her on... there's people that I used to look up to that I shouldn't have. That includes her and the rest of the FMA OC Matriarchs. Because those people are nothing more than self-entitled, immature, holier-than-thou individuals, who act like their word is law, everyone else is lower than dirt underneath them, and use their mob mentality on others for some stupid petty "block brigade" on Tumblr just because someone doesn't like their OC with Ed. Even when I was a small barely-100-watcher DeviantArtist, I saw them all and their true colors and thought that way of them. 10 years later, and my mind still hasn't changed. Because people don't change, no matter how badly they want to--I'm a bright and shining example of that. My goal concerning them is the same that it's always been: "Knock [them] off their thrones." My mind hasn't changed about them. And I still wholeheartedly believe that what they did, have done, are doing is NOT the right thing to do. And I will keep working my tail off until I surpass them and take them down a peg. No one that "looks up to" you should be treated in the ways that they have done over the years. If you're looked up to, be an actual adult for once as well as a good role model. Of course, I am far from being the latter. Little me from 2010 might look at my art and say: "Wow!" But, I just have to say in response: "Kid... forget all you know about art. Go get a degree in the medical or science field. You don't want to go down the path I had to take." Present-Day "Me" isn't someone that 2010 "Me"--or anyone else for that matter--should look up to. I'm not worth anyone's time. I'm a "lost cause" after all, and I'm not someone that should be seen as "inspirational". Not after the things I've done and said over the years. And, through this entire decade, I began to see that the world is nothing more than a dark and cruel place full of people, who will turn against you the moment you disagree with them or abandon you when they have no use for you anymore. (That's not me being "edgy" -__- That's me being realistic). But, then again... had I not pursued this path and found the FMA fandom, I never would have met my best friend, AAV. She's the highlight of every New Year in my life, and, while the world may seem bleak to me the majority of the time... she finds a way to light it up in her own special way. So, even through these ups and downs, I'm happy to have her in my life. She means everything to me, and I wouldn't trade anything else in the world for her. No, we're not a couple--like many have assumed and publicly stated on that rumor--, she and I are just friends. Best friends, yes, but friends nonetheless. But, other than that, I'm going to keep working on art here on dA, because, with this new decade, there will be a new batch of up-and-coming artists. And, while I don't really think I'm someone worth looking up to, I still want to help them work on their craft and make something of themselves. Even if that one former friend used me for her personal benefit... I still enjoyed seeing how happy she was once she was able to start flying on her own, so to speak. It was an amazing feeling, and, knowing that I helped someone achieve that, I just can't help but feel so proud of them. And, I really want to help other beginner artists out and climb up their own mountain. It's okay if some aren't as fast learners as the others; it's the lessons we learn along the way and the mistakes we make to learn from. Anyway... here's to 2020 everyone!
#long post#You Know Who You Are#ironic how within just the few first months of this year.... everything goes downhill xD#Welp. It's always best to get the negative stuff done and over with at the beginning#better to start bad than end bad#madiis musings
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Hello and welcome to the Grid. First of all, I recently purchased Disney+ and would like to mention a show that brought me to today’s franchise. If you love films like me, I would recommend a series called Prop Culture with Dan Lanigan. Dan is given access to the Disney archives to look at some of the props from some of their most beloved films and speak to the artists and actors involved in making them come to life. It really is a lot of fun and I hope they make more episodes in the future.
If you were born in the middle ages like me, then you must remember a world before the birth of the home computer. I guess we did have a computer at school that used a floppy disk the same size of a mouse mat but a calculator was about as cutting edge you could really get. I think the point I’m trying to make is that when Tron was released in 1982, it was giving you a glimpse into a world that didn’t really exist in our lives yet. It’s been a very long time since I last watched Tron and I will admit that some of the digital effects haven’t aged well but this film still feels important and still ahead of its time.
Before I start, I would just like to say this is not a review of the film but just a look back at what I enjoy about it and where it stands now. What I like about Tron is the idea that sentient life could be created in a digital world that the human race has created. Okay, the story is pretty solid as Flynn Jeff Bridges and Tron Bruce Boxleitner take on the ENCOM Master Control but it was the visual style of the film that still catches my attention. I guess what I really love the most about Tron is the vision, hard work and determination, director and writer Steven Lisberger and his team endured to create the film.
Tron is a mixture of backlit animation, live-action and some of the first computer-generated images used on-screen, to say the film was difficult to make could be an understatement. To be honest, I learnt all this just from The Making of Tron of YouTube and it’s worth a watch. The design of this film is breath-taking and when you put Syd Mead and Moebius together you get some amazing work. On the featurette, you get to look at some early concept storyboards and backgrounds and its some of the best artwork ever. I really love some of the costumes used for the characters and Dumont Barnard Hughes is as experimental as you can get, it’s bonkers.
David Warner’s amazing performance, the Light Cycles, I could go on and on but simply there are a lot of original and unique ideas in this film that makes it’s brilliant. Basically, I think we are very lucky Tron actually seen the light of day after the issues with developing film, months of painstaking animation and inventing the technology needed as they went along. I think it’s a shame that some people regard it as a failure for Disney, but is it really?
First of all, Tron was not a failure at the box office, it made $50 million from a $17 million budget. I guess the only real pressure on director Steven Lisberger was that Disney wanted something as big as Star Wars and it never really happened that way. I think it’s interesting that Disney really wasn’t the powerhouse it is now in the early ’80s and George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and other younger directors had really taken a grip on Hollywood. To be honest, this is what makes the film unique, it’s basically like the board at Disney had to give the power to the artists and trust them in creating something new, because they simply didn’t have a clue. I think that is why people love the film, it’s because you can see it’s made with a lot of passion and conviction.
In 2010, Disney released Tron Legacy and I have to admit, I think that film is also pretty fantastic. Directed by Joseph Kosinski, some also regard as underrated in the movie business which only adds to the franchise’s cult status. I think the highlight of the film is definitely the score by Daft Punk and I listened to that a lot, even before the film was released. I think the song Outlands is a masterpiece. The second time around and Disney still dont have their blockbuster franchise but is that really what matters?
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To be honest, NO, I think that’s one of the reasons why it is so brilliant. Tron was created by artists but kept alive by the fans. Disney now have Star Wars and what a shit show that’s turned out to be!! What’s happening with Star Wars is not necessarily Disney’s fault, it’s down to the fans as well but I will save that for another day. You can compare Tron with Star Wars and Bladerunner, or any other film, but for me, it stands alone. I’m obviously not the biggest fan of the film but I just wanted to tip my hat to those fans that have kept it alive all these years. Could there be more Tron in the future, I’m not so sure and judging by the expansion of other franchises, is it what Tron needs?
Thank you for reading, are you a fan of Tron? I would love to hear your stories in the comments below. I think I will review both films in full one day and it was good to revisit them so if you know of any books or videos that will help me out, let me know.
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Tron, The Special One, 1982. Hello and welcome to the Grid. First of all, I recently purchased Disney+ and would like to mention a show that brought me to today’s franchise.
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