#I don't know how accurate any of this is but i just love king molly so much and this is very moonweavery of him honestly

[nikibogwater]

I watched The Last Unicorn (1982) with very, very little prior knowledge of the film. And I wasn't planning to, but I ended up taking notes because wow. This movie. It's something.

The very little prior knowledge I had was as follows: it's an old animated film about a unicorn and I've occasionally heard people talk about it fondly. That's it, that's literally all I had going into this thing. It was not nearly enough to prepare me.

Ohhhh I love the scenery! Man, nothing hits quite like a traditional hand-drawn backgrou--OH MY WORD WHAT IS THAT WHY IS IT MOVING LIKE THAT STOP IT

Ohhh, this is a Rankin-Bass production? Well, that explains the animation.

Yeah that is not a unicorn, that's a llama with a table-knife glued to its head.

Ooh, the opening credits play over a lightly animated medieval tapestry! That's so coo--aaaaand they picked the most 80's sounding song I can imagine to go over it, okay.

Yo this butterfly is stoned out of his little buggy mind, maybe he should get some rehab.

Love that it's not immediately clear what the "red bull" actually is yet. Is it a literal bull? Is it a raging fire? Is it the inescapable march of industrial progress?? Gotta stay tuned to find out. (edit: it was literally just a bull and I need to stop reading symbolism into every little thing).

Ok ngl, the "Man's Road" sequence was actually fire, despite (or perhaps because of) the 80's cheese.

Angela Lansbury!!! Man, she just ate this role. Who'd've thought Mrs. Pots could sound so threatening?

I would die for Shmendrick.

Oh that is a very lore-accurate harpy right there. (⊙_⊙;)

Love how the witch's carnival arc touches on the idea of truth vs. wishful delusion. There's a beautiful irony in a movie about a literal unicorn talking about the importance of staying grounded in what is real and truly beautiful.

No, seriously, I would die for Shmendrick. Protect this precious man at all costs.

Can we pretty please stop calling the witch Mommy

"That's my immortality!" eyo this witch is actually a great villain. Really wish she could've stuck around for the whole movie.

Awww, the unicorn is taking care of Shmendrick! That's so sweet! God knows he needs it.

Shmendrick: Run! We'll find each other later! *immediately gets captured*

Have I mentioned that I would die for Shmendrick.

I feel like the entire bit with the outlaws had a lot of connecting shots cut out for time because I really couldn't follow any of what was happening.

Hehehe...That tree looks like a butt. I wonder if they did that on purpo--WHAT THE HELL

*nervously glancing over my shoulder to make sure my family doesn't see me watching this*

Unicorn to the rescue!! Thank heavens.

"That was true magic." Then please don't ever do true magic again.

"How dare you come to me now, when I am this?!" H-hey, nobody told me this movie was gonna go that hard...

Mom-friend acquired! Just in time, too. Unicorn looked like she was getting real tired of being the only one with two brain cells to rub together.

Our heroes: *bracing themselves for what may be the darkest, most dangerous part of their journey* Freakin' Gerry Beckley from "America:" 🎵MOON RISIN'! DISGUISIN'!! 🎵 Gotta love that tonal dissonance.

Oooh hey the animation on the Red Bull is actually kind of good!

Molly: DO SOME MAGIC! Shmendrick: I CAN'T! Molly: YES U CAN I BELIEVE IN U Shmendrick: *does some magic* Molly: NOOOOO WHAT HAVE U DONE Molly I love you, but make up your darn mind.

Love that being turned into a human being is like, the worst thing that could ever happen to the unicorn. Yeah, being human is a pretty awful experience.

Boy there is just empty static behind Prince Lir's eyes. Homeboy doesn't have a thought in his head and probably never will.

Lir: babe look I got u a severed dragon head pls love me

Oh yeah. Marry this one, Unicorn. He's a keeper.

Molly: Shmendrick will help! Unicorn: I hope for no help from him. He is no magician now, but the king's clown.

GURL SAY THAT AGAIN! U KEEP DISRESPECTING MY BOI SHMENDRICK AND U WILL GET THESE HANDS!

The pirate cat is now my second-favorite character. I've known him for all of 10 seconds, but I love him.

He doesn't actually purr. He just says, "Purr, purr." I love him even more now.

"No cat anywhere ever gave anyone a straight answer." Most accurate line ever put to film.

Unicorn, please marry Prince Lir, you well never find a purer source of Himbo Energy than him. Look at him, he's even singing badly for you, you gotta take this one.

"I mean you can't really be that ridiculous magician's niece--" BETRAYAL. OUTRAGE. SCANDAL. I DISOWN YOU, LIR, YOU FOUL SERPENT WHO SPEAKS NOTHING BUT FILTH. I HOPE THE UNICORN BREAKS YOUR STUPID LITTLE HEART

Dang. This guy voicing the skeleton is putting his entire heart and soul into that laugh.

Prince "I love whom I love" Lir will not be stopped even by the threat of potential bestiality. I'd say Husband Goals, but first of all, ew, and second, he insulted Shmendrick so he is dead to me.

"I wish to God I didn't care about anything but my magic, but I do!" Oh Shmendrick, honey... 🥺

Yooo, that transformation back into her unicorn form was actually sick. For a Rankin-Bass made-for-tv movie, this thing pulls off some surprisingly good animation every once in a while.

Yeah, kick his magical red butt, little unicorn! Go save your boyfriend and your family!!!

What is it with Christopher Lee and playing creepy old guys who get thrown off of towers at the end

Wait, no, I only sort of meant it when I said the unicorn should break Lir's heart, I didn't think they'd actually do it!

Molly ditched her outlaw husband to travel the world with Shmendrick and honestly, I'd do the same if I was in her place.

Oh wow. She chose to save her own kind and return to her forest even though she loved Lir. This is actually very bittersweet and--GOTDANGIT GERRY BECKLEY, NOT NOW!!!

Closing thoughts: This movie was an absolute trip and I'm probably going to think it was a fever dream I once had after some time has passed. It's also the only movie I can think of that I would actually want a remake/remaster of. The story was great, though it jumped around from place to place so quickly that it was sometimes hard to follow what was happening. I like the characters a lot (mostly Shmendrick tbh but they're all good), and I wish there had been more time to let them interact with each other. You can see the potential for chemistry between the different personalities, but it's stifled by moments of awkward voice acting and the strange, jittery character animation. With more time to breathe and better animation, this story would really be something amazing. I'm actually very interested in reading the original novel it was based on now, I'll have to see if I can get my hands on a copy. All in all, The Last Unicorn (1982) is a mind-boggling experience with surprisingly deep themes combined with what I can only assume is what you see when you're on acid. If you have any interest, I would highly recommend seeing this thing for yourself.

Yes. Even the Boob Tree. Please. I don't want to be the only one who is cursed to have that scene in my brain.

[no-one-picked-maris]

Why I Think They Won't Re-Release Felicity (in any meaningful capacity)

Felicity's stories are very white and protestant in a very alienating way - and I say this as someone who related to her as a child. She's literally a member of the gentry, she's Samantha of the 18th century.

Fun Fact: In the earliest editions of Meet Felicity, rather than referring to Jiggy Nye's language as "not proper", it's referred to as "sinful". Felicity is also chided with reminding her that disobeying one's parent's is a sin. Oh, and this change:

Nan: "Then Mr. Nye called the horse a nag, and he said the devil could have it. And he said he would skin us alive if we ever came back!”

Nan: "Then Mr. Nye called the horse a nag, and he said anyone could take it if they could ride it. And he said he would skin us alive if we ever came back!”

Her hornbook:

(and the parentification)

Felicity and Kirsten share a very similar problem in the way they present history, they are literally the mascots for sanitized white people history. There are no black people in Kirsten's stories. Kirsten is literally Manifest Destiny: the Doll.

There's only one free man in Felicity's stories, Issac. Rose and Marcus are slaves. King's Creek is a plantation, a plantation left to Mother and the children when Grandfather dies (he knew they "loved it so.") Felicity is a slaveowner.

She's not reading Thomas Paine there guys.

I haven't read Felicity's Beforever series. I know they're abridged, and I know they didn't substantially change them. Felicity's relationship with her Grandfather, and his subsequent death, are integral to the series.

How do her central series present her slaveownership? It was ignored as some sort of background consequence of her possession of King's Creek. Like it's just a fact of life, with no need to remark upon it.

okay, and:

Felicity was the worst selling light skinned doll in the collection. Even worse than Kirsten whose sales got cannibalized by Kit after 2000.

I'm not sure if there's a consensus on why Felicity sold so poorly. Red hair, a dainty collection, not girly enough? Her class contemporary, Samantha, is widely agreed to be one of the most popular historical dolls AG released. So it's not class consciousness.

Both don't follow the rules of the time (being a tomboy, befriending people outside her class status):

Felicity only got a movie because Julia Roberts loved her.

Kirsten: Little House on the Prairie and All American History. This is the time of the Oregon Trail Game, after all. I lived on pioneer stories when I was little (1990s).

Samantha: Romanticized "victorian" era things were popular, and her clothing is pretty 1980s inspired. Look at it.

Molly: The Grandmothers' generation.

Is it Felicity's mob caps? She was the horse girl, and that wasn't enough. Was she frumpy, with her gowns rather than dresses? Her schooling - it's unrelatable. She's learning etiquette with Miss Manderly rather than struggling with Miss Campbell's times tables:

Her daddy owning a fucking general store and being prominent enough to provoke a reaction with his refusal to sell tea?

Her Beforever release was out for 2 years, releasing during the 2017 Doll Deluge or whatever we call it. She was gone by 2019. She got a doll, accessories, and undergarments. At least the latter were more period accurate.

you have to keep your trademark active.

Kirsten's unpopularity prior to archival is easily explained by the release of Kit, the decreasing popularity of pioneer stories, and the changing times.

Felicity was never popular at the outset.

Why?

Felicity's 35th Anniversary Edition was the first to sell out, but that can mean a lot of things. AG doesn't realize sales figures and stock figures. Selling out of 2,500 Felicity is relative to selling out of, say, 10,000 Samantha. Businesses order stock based on projected sales. I'd argue, without the benefit of the full statistical picture, that Felicity collectors are a small and passionate group.

They removed Felicity from catalogs in 2001, making her an online exclusive. Did sixty somethings use the internet at the turn of the century? Mine didn't! She wasn't worth the catalog space a year after American Girl was sold to Mattel. Pleasant was inspired by colonial Williamsburg to create AG. She wasn't enough to gamble a new doll line on. She had to wait until they had some footing. I'd argue Pleasant always knew Felicity would be a poor seller.

When Felicity was removed, I got Kit. She was my next favorite after Felicity and I related to her as a small child, too.

Which reminds me, Kit is responsible for a lot in the AG Historical Collection:

She was another blonde haired blue eyed doll, but with a more relatable collection, and easier to deal with hair:

Ta dah ^

I think Kit also a soft relaunch of Felicity:

In photos and brief:

wearing boys' clothing

close with their fathers

tomboys: with felicity being interested in footraces and racehorses, and kit being a newshound, lacking patience for Ruthie's princess stories (at first).

Kit was like a two-for-one special. I'd really like to see her sales stats compared to Felicity and Kirsten.

[dent-de-leon]

Is there a explanation for the lack of tattoos on Kingsley?

No I don't think there's one officially yet! It's something I've been seeing a lot of interesting posts on lately though, and it makes me very curious 👀 He definitely still has them in episode 141, so I don't think it's something that got retconned. It could've just been kinda forgotten since it's been so long, like the little Balleater and Nein Heroez mixup.

But I also think it's a possibility that King is hiding the tattoos while still trying to work out his identity. I've seen a bunch of other posts point out that it's very noticeable Kingsley isn't showing any skin; he's got a high collar coat, long sleeves, gloves--you can't see the tattoos even if they are still there. (Except for the feathers on his face I suppose, though I'd also buy that that's either something he'd cover with makeup or even just a minor detail left out in the art.)

This also isn't out of character for Mollymauk himself. In fact, if he was reconsidering what tattoos he wanted to show off and what to cover up, it sounds very in line with his Moonweaver worship. The same goes for his little comment on reinventing the coat, that it's still a work in progress, but it's getting there. "I feel a bit underdressed."

He's adding to it, customizing it, redesigning it. Like his original patchwork coat, lovingly hand-embroidered and intricately detailed. (And I think it means something, that this one is still red. A red coat like the one worn by the beautiful woman he kept dreaming about--who sounds an awful lot like the Moonweaver herself--)

For reference, here's what Molly has to say about Moonweaver oracle decks in the tarot card booklet:

"Each deck of Moon Oracle cards are different, as each deck evolves with the owner. When a card is weathered or simply no longer speaks to you, replace it with a new card of your own design. Something personal and true. Trust yourself; what is true for you will ring true for others. Some choose to change a card each Lunar cycle. Some decks magically destroy a card when it is replaced with a new one--such decadence!"

"Each card holds two balanced thoughts. They can be opposing thoughts, complementary, or different states of the same thought. Meaning may sometimes overlap between cards, but that's hardly the point. A deck with a point of view is far more useful than a false sense of worldliness. And if you find a card is too close in meaning to another, simply cast it off for a new idea."

Molly himself admits it's common practice to hold onto the cards that really resonate with you, and then discard and redraw the rest. Sometimes replacing cards as often as every month. And it's a philosophy Sehanine's followers embrace wholeheartedly. Again, these are Mollymauk's own beliefs.

While the thought of King not wanting to keep some of his old tattoos certainly hurts, I can at least take comfort in the fact that, for Molly, a core part of his religion is changing and reinventing your sense of self. The Moonweaver encourages exploring your identity, continually growing and changing, starting anew whenever you wish.

And I don't think it's necessarily supposed to be a destruction of the past so much as allowing yourself a sense of...fluidity. Staying in the moment and donning a new mask each day like the ever shifting phases of the moon. He might just be keeping the tattoos covered up for now while he decides what he wants to keep or add, still discovering who he is in this world.

It's also worth noting that Molly originally got those tattoos to try and hide the Eyes. He might want something a little different now that they're gone, just so he's never reminded of those empty spaces where the Somnovum once branded him.

[lexumpysfunland]

Who r the other sugar cubes? Since you introduced Sam and Bob I'm now curious

here is a little bio of them:

Sam: the leader! he is keeping an eye on everyone, all his siblings know that they shouldn't make him angry... also makes sure papa is ok.

Bob: he doesn't talk at all, he looks dumb but he is not and is the strongest of his siblings so he follows orders from Sam because he's fair with everyone

Marvin: he's the most bullied of his siblings. he's just an innocent little guy trying to live his life peacefully so he's usually around Sam.

Dale: sleeps almost all day long, he loves sleeping so every time you'll see him he'll probably be asleep.

Howard: knows almost everything about dark stuff from how to summon a demon, to cursing someone you hate, you don't want to be on his bad side...

Walter: he's one of the kind kids who like crafting stuff, he has only one eye because he hurt himself while crafting something... he is positive in his life.

Ray: he's just super dumb.

Carl: he's made fun of because of his right eye so he has a hard life.

Joseph: it's the artist !! draws every time, he's very obsessed with doing stuff perfectly. But out of that, he's very creative.

Harley: a drama queen, she loves causing trouble and putting the blame on his siblings

Josh: he's the bully, so he's always up to bad things

John: He's super chill, like a hippie you know? all about peace and love (yes it's "cliché")

William: believe he has to be treated like a king and is sure to be one

Norman: he is "blind". He doesn't seem like an ordinary being. by that I mean, for persons, he sees colors, and depending on the person's aura it'll have a certain glow. As for objects, they look grey and are not very accurate. you can call him a psychic

Tea: smells like tea and has tea leaves glued on her head thanks to Dave... she's kind and is curious about a lot of stuff that's why she hangs out with Hellen

Hellen: loves dark stuff like demons, eldrich gods, etc... she looks bored and she hates normal people but somehow she doesn't mind having Tea around

Molly: the absolute sweetheart you need to brighten your day but she is very naive ...

Thomas: he doesn't like being in any conflicts and he's usually alone, so everyone believes he's hiding something...

Dave: the chaotic child, he loves danger and he is very aggressive. ye he burned himself because he's a bit stupid too, but he has no regrets. definitely a psycho...

Arthur: the "mister knows all", he's very intelligent and talks perfectly. He's a grumpy little guy because all of his siblings annoy him but Sam maybe...