#and all the examples and readings are: 'how to get your art sold to a museum for 2000 dollars' which. Not Helpful for Me Personally.

[cfrog]

sometimes i forget im getting a professional art degree. how did i get here. i literally just want to make art for furries and freaks, who let me in here with the painting and sculpture majors. put me back in cartoon class.

[3liza]

i mean the truth is that we do not need and should not have all this stupid plastic clutter in or houses. no one should be producing or selling this shit. everyone make your own merchandise and charge a living hourly wage to sell it 🤷 sorry to be so simplistic about this but it's one of the results of the lack of class unity specifically in the means of production-owning creative class, who is not mentioned or dealt with by the core Marxist texts as far as I know (i asked about this earlier on here, did marx ever address in his analysis people like, for example, a professional photographer who owns a camera ans prints his own dagguereotypes? or a portrait painter or idk, independent milliner or seamstress? these people all own the means of production and do not employ anyone, and the answer from better educated people than I was that no, Marx didn't mention them), I'm not well read on this at all, there is just a big void where leftist analysis of what modern economists call "the creative class"

I'm getting off topic. my point is make your own keychains in your kitchen. it's actually not hard. you can even mass produce (on a small scale) little plastic crap if you want, with resin and a UV lamp, or a 3d printer, or a laser cutter and acrylic sheets (or just use balsa wood damn, at least its biodegradable and less tacky).

all this stuff is available to little creators AND there are hundreds of people who already own these machines who will take work for you and produce your designs. you just have to actually find them and know them and email them. that's what I mean about the class unity issue with creatives. we have no large scale union, we have no large scale class consciousness, and we're all sending our orders for little plastic crap to sweatshops instead of emailing a guy with a laser cutter in his garage and saying "hey Keith can I get uhhhhhhhhhhh 50 laser cut keychains of this twerking Diggler design I made, like how much would that cost" and he's like sure here's the work and materials cost and tbh it's always always less than i think it's going to be. you just have to do some basic arithmetic and then order shipping, and I hate order fulfillment with my life but you can actually pay or barter with someone to do that for you too. learn to delegate and then factor that into your unit cost. this is basic shit every commercial creator needs to know. they should teach you this in art school but they dont

don't give me crap about "I can't afford a laser cutter" either because I just told you to email Keith. and all these machines get sold secondhand when a manufacturer or hobbyist needs to upgrade. i got a color laser printer perfect for making zines and wheatpastes and shipping labels from a retired lesbian on capital hill for $75 and it was still full of ink. my friend gave me her 20 year old canon dslr because she just didn't need it and didn't want to bother selling it. it works fine because I spent the time finding the right drivers and shit for my computer. and card readers exist. Craigslist. Facebook marketplace. nextdoor sales section. eBay. everyone always forgets eBay. eBay lets you save searches and will email you when it finds a guy selling his vinyl plotter in your city with local pickup. I'm serious

[galedekarios]

gale as a professor at blackstaff academy

i have to say that at first i wasn't too sold on the (then still fanon) idea of a professor ending because of gale's own prior anecdote about being irked by his previous students and their inadequacies.

i thought it might not be a good fit for him as far as professions go.

but reading the epilogue files, i have come around on it.

i think it's just one more way in which he's really grown into himself, become content with who he was in the past, the mistakes he made and what he has learned from them, and the person he wants to be in the future:

Player: You? A teacher? I'd hardly say you set the best��example for impressionable young wizards... Gale: I think it makes perfect sense. devnote: Surprised you wouldn't recognise this, a tiny bit offended you don't trust him to do this Gale: Who better to warn of the perils of misusing magic than someone who was once only a wayward sneeze away from destroying a mid-sized settlement? devnote: playing up to his past a bit, you can imagine this is how he acts with his students Tara the Tressym: Don't remind me of those terrible times, Mr Dekarios. My blood pressure has only just recovered.

a few more cute banters & things we learn about gale and his new teaching position:

tara swipes at students who fall asleep in gale's classes, which he himself doesn't mind. he, too, slept through some of them (like his calishite lessons):

Player: Perhaps that's a good thing. I'm sure they're far better students than I was... Gale: Ah, so you still remember our little lesson? devnote: A little bit bashful, it was a vulnerable moment for him Gale: 'Teaching' you was hardly an effort at all. Not like my present cohort of apprentices. devnote: Complimentary, pulling the thought back to the teaching element after getting lost in the memory of the moment Gale: They try their best, of course - when they can manage to stay awake. devnote: Not upset by this - he slept through his fair share of classes as a student Tara the Tressym: The cheek of them! Nothing a well-placed swipe from Tara can't fix, though.

2. gale offered to teach more subjects than illusion via simulacra:

Player: Only a professor? With your expertise, I'd have thought you could teach every kind of magic going... Gale: I did offer, as a matter of fact. devnote: Secretly glad the player thinks so highly of him Gale: However, the Blackstaff insisted I couldn't teach every subject, nor could the simulacra of myself I offered to create for that purpose. devnote: Reluctantly accepts that this was the right decision Gale: So, I've settled for teaching the art of illusion. Magic to confound the senses, to render the impossible into reality, and to allow expression of that most magical attribute of all - imagination. devnote: Selling it a bit - he wants to make sure you appreciate how cool this is

3. gale has told his students about the player's adventures and will invite a player to be a guest lecturer:

Player: I found the love of my life. I'd say I'm pretty happy. Gale: And I couldn't be happier for you. A fitting reward for the sacrifices you made in getting here. Gale: I've told my students plenty of tales about our escapades. You're something of a hero to them, you know. Gale: I'd be delighted to introduce you to my current cohort - as a guest lecturer, perhaps? I'm sure they'd have plenty of questions for you. Player: It would be my pleasure. Gale: Excellent. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist the allure of sharing your expertise. Gale: Of course you'll be most welcome to stay with me in my tower- Tara the Tressym: Ahem. Gale: My apologies, Tara. That would be our tower.

4. his students find him somewhat intimidating due to his backstory with mystra and the orb:

Gale: Well, that was quite lovely. I'm glad you're as pleased to see me as I am you. Gale: I have to say, I'm quite grateful to just be 'Gale' for the evening. Gale: I fear my students find me somewhat intimidating, due to my erm, explosive former reputation. I seem to put the fear of the gods into them. devnote: He plays up to his reputations a bit, so he isn't overly surprised Gale: Or the fear of Mystra, to be more specific. Gale: I surrendered the Crown of Karsus to her, as I told you I would. And in return, she cured me of the orb at last. Gale: Even now, I struggle to put the feeling into words. It was like exhaling for the first time, after holding my breath for so very long. Gale: Of course, I haven't clarified with my students that the orb is no longer a threat. The legend of my explosive capabilities is an excellent means of controlling a classroom. Too good, if anything.

5. he wants to teach his students that there is fun in studying magic:

Gale: I spend most of my time trying to convince them how much fun the study of magic can be, but it'd be easier to crack a smile on an intellect devourer than some of my pupils... devnote: Despairing a little, doesn't understand why they aren't all as passionate as he was Player: Or on a mind flayer, perhaps... Gale: Smiling may no longer come easy to you, but I've seen how your tentacles twitch at my jokes. Even the ones I'm not entirely certain I was trying to make... devnote: Last sentence a tiny bit self-conscious, aware that people sometimes find him ridiculous. Gale: Still, I hoped my students might be a little more open to the playful side of such magic.

anyhow, i hope this was insightful to someone! 🖤

[onlycosmere]

BlackCoffeeBulb: you'll get him sued for copyright infringement for a few useless internet points, congrats

mpkeith :  It's free advertising...

"Where did the name Wind Runner come from?"

"Well, there are these amazing books..."

So far (to my knowledge) nobody has been sued for Bridge Four homemade stuff, fan art, 3D printed shard blades and so on.

I really don't think Brandon Sanderson is that kind of guy. Seems to me he's happy to share with all of us his work.

Brandon Sanderson: I have expressly permitted it, in fact. I had a lawyer draw up as liberal a fanart policy as I could make, and not scare away people like film companies. Basically, you can create whatever you want for your personal use, and can even sell some form of fanart so long as you're not using me or implied relationship with me in the marketing.

Do look at the official language in my FAQ, though, as opposed to taking my (flawed) memory on how it works. Either way, no, I'm not going to ever be bothered by individual fan creations, and instead encourage them. And something like this far is a huge mark of respect from the owner, toward me.

gsauce8:  So essentially as long as you're not saying something along the lines of "Officially licensed" or anything close to that, you're good to go? That's freaking awesome.

Brandon Sanderson: It's a little more tricky than that--I let the lawyers hash it out. But basically, you can't use our artwork, our branding, and can't say it's official. But you CAN sell art prints of art you made of characters/scenes from the books, even if they include things like Kaladin's scars or a Bridge Four patch. You don't need a license, and you don't owe us anything.

It's a legal grey area that I want to make less grey. I like fanart, and want to encourage it--and in so doing, feel like an artist making something transformative like this should be able to profit from their art. Yes, my books inspired that art--but other books inspired me to write, as did films and artwork. This is how art is created.

Mostly, this applies to thinks like prints right now. (We haven't authorized T-shirts, for example, as that kind of thing gets really tricky with movie deals wanting merchandising rights.) Again, read the exact language on the FAQ, but we've tried to be as lenient here as we can be.

Also, I have no problem with fanfic, so long as it remains in the fan realm, rather than being sold. (But if you write something awesome, and readers like it, I'd encourage you to change the names/setting and rebrand it as your own so you could sell it.)

[jenny-in-a-jar]

🖤💙 4 days until my Surgery 💙🖤

(Picture taken Dec 9th, 2023)

I'm very very excited for my surgery (it's my second gender affirming surgery but this one is more significant to me since it'll be top and bottom surgery) and I'm obviously counting the days until it and I thought some people might be interested in my trans journey 🏳️‍⚧️ So see part 7 below the cut.

Part 1 here

As the summer was ending, I got really lucky! A lesbian hairstylist (who helped organize the drag show I went in the last update) gave my name to this sales lady who sold accounting work to like companies and she needed help with researching CEO and CFO types. And she paid me out of pocket and honestly it was pretty easy internet research using Google. I felt like a little rat scurrying across the Internet 🐀 So, thank you lesbians 🙏🙏

(Picture taken Nov 6th, 2022)

Apparently I really impressed her so she got me hired full time as a sales admin for her company (I wouldn't have gotten with my lack of a college degree without her) and I've had that job since! And a lot of my transition wouldn't be possible without the pay and benefits of this job. Also this is my first job where I get gendered correctly and I'm slowly getting less anxious about going to the bathroom at work 🥰

She honestly mom'd up on me and bought me a bunch of new business casual clothes for the job. And here's an example of one of my new work outfits 😁

(Picture taken Nov 14, 2022)

Bc of the new job I was able to afford a lot more things for transitioning! Like voice training. I remember when I first cracked I tried to just teach myself using videos but I wasn't good at it 😅 Also a friend during the summer of 2022 helped me and I did make some progress with her help. But, I started making a lot more progress once I started seeing a speech therapist. But, there was a barrier since I could tell she hadn't worked too much with trans people. I went to a speech therapist bc it was covered by my insurance but she moved and then I couldn't find anyone for insurance covered speech therapy. So, I eventually just paid for lessons Your Lessons Now. And, honestly it's going a lot better! It's really nice to be able to talk about my frustrations with voice training with another transfem. The biggest thing I'm learning from here is how to break the bad habit of pitching up my voice by squeezing my vocal chords.

(Picture taken Sept 8th, 2023)

I had also switched to injections and I highly recommend it! A friend even made my first two vials into earrings 🔥

I also got a lot lazier with makeup 😅 I do eyeliner wings, mascara, and blush for when I go into the office. Which for a bunch of accountants means I do about as much makeup that is normal for the women in the office 🤷‍♀️

(Pictures taken October 31st and December 2nd of 2022)

These were two notable exceptions. I really love the makeup I did for the Halloween of 2022 bc I decided to go as a ghost-type trainer. And the one on the right is when I learned how to use concealer to cover my 'raccoon eyes' as my dad liked to call them 🦝

Also this would be a good time to mention something I probably should've mentioned earlier 😅 I never learned how to use foundation. I know it's easy but I have a weird mental block around it 🤷‍♀️ But, in the summer of 2021 I started doing twice daily skincare routine for my face. Which took me from a very acne heavy face to people being surprised I'm not wearing foundation. Also the routine is really nice. Would recommend to those who want to get rid of their acne (send an ask if you want to know specifics).

(Picture taken Aug 20, 2023)

Romance update since I've been doing that lol: Well, things ended with all the girlfriends I had so I am down to 1 partner. And I got caught in a romance scam for a few months 😭 However, I can't really complain because I got engaged!!! It was so sweet in cute. My partner and I had this date the night before Valentine's Day under a statue outside of a local art museum. We read sapphic poetry by candle light and then they popped the question 🥰🥰

But, I say another big part of this era was I made a lot more local trans friends. Went to a good amount of house parties which would've surprised pre-transition me! And I really love my community of queer people I've been building 🥺🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️💕

(Picture taken July 21st, 2023)

Oh yeah!! I also started laser hair removal at the beginning of 2021 as well. Which was before this era but time is a lie. But the new job definitely made it easier to afford.

The biggest step for my transition was getting my surgeries set up!! And my FFS (facial feminization surgery) marks the end of this era. Below was the last picture I took before my FFS.

(Picture taken Feb 17th, 2024)

So, in my next update, I'll be showing my post-op pictures once most of the swelling went down. See you tomorrow!! 😁✌️

Next Part Here

[raccoonspooky]

If the slashers had dating profiles:

Slashers included: Jason Voorhees, Brahms Heelshire, All 3 Sinclair brothers, Bubba Sawyer. Micheal Meyers, Billy Lenz, Leslie Vernon

X Reader format. Gender neutral. Slight nsfw

Jason Voorhees:

The profile has several burry pictures of trees and what you think is some kind of shambly looking cabin. There’s picture of a bee on a weirdly gnarled looking hand with an offputting blueish green color to his skin. You figure that it must be the lighting and there’s nothing to be alarmed with. His profile description is wordless save for a bunch of emojis, trees and flowers and a campfire.

His height is listed as 7’0 so… you swipe right immediately.

Brahms Heelshire:

Theres several pictures of a dapper little doll doing things. Sitting in a chair, playing with blocks… You swipe through them intrigued by the strange little doll and lastly theres mirror selfie of a man holding the doll, the camera flash conceals his face but you’re able to get a nice eyeful of a tempting hairy chest. The doll is creepy but… if that’s his owner, he cant be too bad. Everyone has hobbies!

His height is listed and he’s a respectable 6’4. Under “Hobbies:” he’s written “Dolls.”, and added an emoji of a violin. You’ve always had a weakness for artsy guys. You figure he’s just some hipster. He’s selected various tags to mention he’s a homebody, and he’s looking for a long term relationship, and he’s a homeowner??? You’re sold.

Bo Sinclair:

Pictures of a dirty truck. Several memes about mechanics. You would’ve immediately swiped No, but he’s uploaded quite a few pictures to go through. Amongst the unfunny memegenerator images and past the ones showcasing a dirty old truck, there are several selfies to go through and the guy is just drop dead gorgeous. His jawline could cut butter. He’s got sparkly blue eyes and god damn does he know how to take a proper thirst trap.

There are a number of red flags unfortunately, his description is extremely long and it says nothing about himself besides what you can infer from his LONG list of what he’s looking for in a partner. He wants obedience, a good listener, someone who’s not afraid to get dirty, someone to cook and clean and do his laundry. It all makes your eyes roll. The weirdest part of his profile is that he’s selected that he’s looking for short term things, and that he’s not wanting to be tied down…? Yet he seems to be looking for someone who will just about chew his food for him.

To you, he seems like an overgrown manchild with a pretty face. But… if he’s only looking for fun, you could really do worse when it came to a no strings attached dick appointments. His page says he’s from Louisiana and you wonder what his voice sounds like… As you’re debating whether or not to swipe right, your phone buzzes with a notification that Bo’s superliked your profile.

Vincent Sinclair:

The first image of his profile is purely black and you think that it must be a blank profile. On a whim you read the tags he’s selected, and his interests include several different art mediums. You swipe past the black header image to see several examples of his work, he’s skilled in everything he does and wax figures are a pretty interesting medium. It’s not everyday that you find someone who specializes in working with wax.

His description is blank and he’s not selected anything in terms of what he’s looking for. Even so, you swipe right in hopes you’ll match so you can ask him a load of questions. Mysterious as the profile is, you have to admit that the guy is talented.

Lester Sinclair:

The photos in his profile are a little yikes. Though he’s not holding fish like every other embarrassing profile on this website, there are a number of photos involving dead animals. In one of the photos, the guy is squatting near a bloated gator, pointing and grinning. In another photo, a grimy hand holds a flattened rodent of undeterminable classification.

In the photos with his face, he’s grinning in every one of them. His clothes are kind of grimy and you can assume that he must be some kind of roadkill guy, hopefully as a job rather than as an enthusiast. He’s got such a sunshiney smile and you think he’s cute besides the grime.

The description attached to his profile is just adorable. Everything that he’s selected displays that he’s on this site genuinely because he’s looking for someone to love. Long term or short term, but nothing casual. He’s written that he doesnt have much but he’ll make up for it by ‘Lovin’ ya.” and its just so sweet that youre hitting that superlike button to send him a message immediately.

Micheal Meyers:

Blank profile. No description. No pictures besides a plain black image.

You accidentally swipe right rather than left with a catastrophic finger fumble and you’re surprised that your phone chimes with an immediate match. A moment later, you recieve a message and it’s just one emoji. A knife. Yikes! Blocked!

Despite the block. Your phone chimes with another message and you’re met with a photo. Its blurred for your safety, just in case its an unwanted dick pic. You have to click on the photo and what you’re met with is so, so much worse than the scummiest dick pic. The photo looks like a photo of the outside of your house.

Billy Lenz:

His photos are almost incomprehensibly strange. Everything’s blurry. One of the photos was a blur of movement of which you could vaguely make out a human shaped thing and a single eye. Everything is offputting and strange. The only non blurry picture is (1) single photo of a fluffy white cat.

In his description, theres a very strange paragraph about someone named Agnes, accompanied with baby emojis and then several cat emojis.

At the very end of his paragraph, you see that he’s selected several tags to imply he’s looking for something quick and dirty. The only coherent part of his entire profile is a single, long winded sentence about his apparent desperation to eat pussy.

Bubba Sawyer

Several photos of a chicken. He’s used one of those filter apps to put hearts and other things around the chicken.

Besides chicken pics, there’s a picture what looks to be a windchime made of bones. It’s hung up on a porch, looking out toward a green field with the sun making everything look warm and tinted orange. It’s a nice photo, Bubba seems to have a good attention to detail.

He’s selected no tags to help you determine what he’s looking for. But he’s listed his height and weight. He’s a big… big guy. You swipe right in hopes that you can beg the guy for a face reveal.

Leslie Vernon:

Finally! a guy who shows his face! His profile seems almost meticulously curated. He’s got all the things that would show up if you were to google “How to have the best dating profile.” Theres a photo of him with a dog, a photo of him covered in flour, a photo of him laughing and eating a salad. All the photos seem incredibly staged, which is…. strange.

His description is all about himself. He seems as if he’s been looking for an opportunity to talk about himself and he decided to use a dating website to do it. He mentions that he loves horror movies and that he’s in the “business.” You’re not sure what to make of that. Does he… make…?? horror movies? Does he run a blog or something?

At the end of his very, very long monologue that includes his favorite color and his all time favorite top five movies and music and everything under the sun— he closes his description by saying that he’s looking for his final girl. It’s cheeky and adorably stupid.

Strangeness aside, you love horror movies too, so you’re at least open for a fun discussion about them over drinks or something. He’s pretty much the only guy on this website that seems to know how to use it anyway.

[the-golden-comet]

Does anyone ever read a piece of fiction and start crying because of how good it is? Because I’ve done that. Several times.

The greatest part about having mutuals who write fanfiction and original works, is that I get to see some of the most creative stories that I have ever seen. Stories that align with my interests, rather than check the box for required reading (though some was good, a lot of stories I’ve been required to read were not to the outstanding quality I’ve seen on AO3 and Goodreads)

To use an analogy, I think about indie authors like indie game developers and indie artists. Some of the best works of art come from a one man team, or a smaller team. Look at Stardew Valley, made by the incredibly talented ConcernedApe (aka Eric Barone). He did EVERYTHING pre 1.4, and because of the love, time, knowledge and dedication he put into his game, Stardew Valley became one of the highest rated, highest sold games in the indie genre.

Or another example you may be familiar with: Toby Fox of Undertale. Him and Tem were a two-person team. They captivated the hearts of so many people, that their game is now a staple in the gaming industry. Fox, and his musical prowess, has created iconic tracks that have broken through to mainstream media.

Vivienne Medrano, aka VivziePop, started her journey with web comics, namely Zoophobia, and has said it best in a podcast (paraphrasing here): “Advice: just get your art out there. Get it out there for the world to see.” And she did…with Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel. She’s now working with Maxwell Adams, the creator of Cartoon Network’s The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

These were once one or two people teams. They all had a vision, a passion of what they do. A passion I see in all of these wonderful stories.

Writers, Artists, Creators of Wonderful Worlds….never stop creating. You can be more inspirational than anyone could ever imagine. Get your art out there. Get your beautiful hearts out there for the world to see. You have a gift to share, and that gift is your unique mind. 💫

[daystarvoyage]

Luz Shouldve Been Dressed By A POC (Person Of Color Or Luz Batista To Show Better Cultural & POC Reprensation)

Hello Tumblers, This is kyoko cane of daystar voyage, as a proud black person who’s genderqueer who makes content creations On Pop culture such as Cosplay & drag, I do talk on Animation & Family Entertainment So glad to get this topic cause what we see on tv can be put into reality, Now (Disclaimer)

I will not accept hate on the daystar voyage anyone who can’t handle different opinions, ship whatever (unless legal) if not walk out or off this spaceship into a asteroid belt and black hole

Don’t hate appreciate.

One more thing I do love my girl Luz pilot outfits, there goals however wish they had time to put patterns into her clothes often, like I said in my hootview

However the female cast had a better closet then her, and I did discuss that in my video, for some time they did make her dress in a shonen archetype, (which I made a post about her hair) or an spicy Latina Which of of course personality wise too, (cause she’s made to be the gender non confirming character) but excuse all that cause in a way, the staff shoulda hired someone whos Either Afro, African American Or Latin to dress this girl.

Oh boy now that im done rewatching The Owl House there’s so much in store soon anyway,

I do feel its time to start this short post, I have a fashion hootview which is the intermission so there’s still a lot to come meantime, finished my rewatch of The Owl House as an animation lover,

Lets discuss this topic at hand,

2020s animators need to take notes on costuming & style tips to make characters stand out in environments and to treat there characters better in fashion or color coordination,

yes you can have a color coded character and not rely of a main palette to be able to bring out there features & complexion,

Animators need to take notes, how to properly show kids & there audience that good clothing could be put onto a character of any occasion & not have to rely on sexuality or Stereotype (Disney Programs have a hit or miss on certain shows.)

while proper fashion can do justice, that goes into making a franchise and making a product to sell for marketability in retail & consumers.

if the character or product can be sold with a great design if executed flawless by character, design, costuming, and the app that comes within the series,

This goes to the fandom cause there might be future artistsor small indie creators reading this who probably never read, or look up fashion brands, magazines either hot couture or brand clothing and don’t have that knowledge But that shouldn’t stop you from being able to experiment with different color palettes on what goes into your art.

The fandom needs a wake up call that not only is everything’s perfect and people have the right to critic and criticize a show or any form of art.

cause fandoms today has a self righteous way of bullying others of different opinions and ostracizing others and ithas to stop,

Here’s a quick tv trope in color-coded characters, & a Toonsmag article on fashion in animation.

Marketability is a important factor, industries rely on that to make the money off of that series, be a cartoons or projects,

it impacts the character and representation that kids see when they purchase said item and teaching kids, see good representation within media can matter if done right.

Especially POCs if executed well however

DONW BELOW in some cases miraculous ladybug fumbles it hard, at one point had all the poc of color (EXAMPLE limited to alya and nino if not max be lighter tones on there merch.)

You know lighting character's skin tones like Alya and other brown or dark skin characters, on their products & merch (bad ethnic representation award goes to them).

Not to mention the whole Vas underpaid controversy, that’s been discussed countless times.

(still disappointed about there business decisions)

I appreciate the love of anyone who can view and read this article if you gotten this far,

thanks for reading make sure to check my Tumblr and YouTube vlog cause so much of this particular series I’m gonna debunk

The show had a-lot going for it however feel flat including in the fashion department along miraculous ladybug that’s another thing to be discuss OH BOY so anyway

here’s an example of the video game art of Guilty Gear showing great costume progress years later

always educate yourself cause I do want my platform to show variety on what I offer creatively and semi-education-wise to be able to let people be inspired and that you don't need to follow trends, thank you very much seeya on the next space voyage.

[radioluminescentoblivion]

Hazbin Hotel: The Corruption of Creativity. Part 2 

1. Continued Discussion (Also Spoilers)

I wanted to continue talking about the problems with the show in part 1, but since this crossed the line between the art and the artist in terms of discussing two different subject matters, it made it rather difficult to try and divide it up. So this goes off from the additional notes I made for the show and transitions into the problems I have outside of it from behind the scenes. This post will go into more about Vivziepop, the community, and her controversies and how this impacts not only the show but her bottom line as well. 

BE WARNED, this will include some serious topics like Sexual Assault, Harassment, Death Threats, Misconduct, and Suicide. Read at your own caution…

2. Angel and Valentino: A tone-deaf understanding of the source material 

I left this part out of the first post because this would be the point where I transitioned into the issues that led me out of the show onto reality. But I’ll still talk about this segment in Episode 4: Masquerade to provide context. In the episode, Vaggie persuades Charlie to be more commanding around the hotel to get things done or in Charlie’s words “aggressively kind” about her being the boss of the hotel, she marches up to Valentino’s studio where Angel Dust is having a sex scene filmed and he gets worried and wants her to leave but she doesn’t listen. She comes across Valentino who has a no-more subtle approach to Charlie’s presence. Valentino resumes the film but Charlie gets in the way and mayhem ensues: this enrages Valentino and prompts him to put out the fire that Charlie caused, leading to an uncomfortable scene where Angel Dust gets abused in his dressing room as Val berates him and reminds him who he belongs to. Afterward, Charlie gets upset and is about to go off on Valentino but Angel Dust intervenes and yells at Charlie to leave. This then transitions to the infamous song “Poison” by Blake Roman. The next scene continues with Angel Dust crashing on Husk’s bar table demanding some hard alcohol to numb the pain.  

When I first watched this scene I could feel the raw potential of how this went out, how despite the show’s pacing still had a slow-burning impact on the viewer to appropriately leave a bad taste in their mouth (no pun intended). You can see and feel the devastating impact laid down on Angel Dust by his abusive boss and with the additional context from the music video Addict where he has his soul sold to Valentino where he gets sexually assaulted and abused, it only makes it more depressing. Angel Dust’s relationship is a horrifying reality that many people in the sex industry face every day which makes it all the worse for marginalized people such as POC, women, LGBTQIA, and all of the above. Sure it’s not the best depiction of an abusive relationship I’ve seen in media, but it does drive the point home, it also makes it more reassuring to see Angel Dust open up his feelings towards Husk, expressing empathy to each other more and even have a song about it with “Loser Baby”. This draws them closer than before and results in Charlie apologizing for her slip-ups with Angel forgiving her. 

Episode 4 is a bittersweet example of when the show goes into a direction differing from the main plot that focuses on the side characters in a way that matters most and builds up on who they are as people and how they might one day be redeemed from being sinners. On its own, the episode is a good case of how the show can work with its stories to display the varied life of Vivziepop’s vision of hell. However, the perspective of the narrative becomes very contradictory when it goes outside the story. 

On December 9th, 2023, a Twitter user and creator known as UninformedArtist posted screenshots from a deleted user account of a storyboard lead from Helluva Boss/storyboard artist from Hazbin Hotel, R2ninjaturtle or Raphielle. R2 has made art centered mostly around Angel Dust and Valentino, sometimes Vox (The TV-headed demon) in non-consenting scenarios and other explicit interactions. And with Vivziepop engaging with R2’s post featuring Vale and Angel in these situations with a lighthearted giggityness to it, creates a huge form of whiplash. 

Now normally if this was an artist outside the Spindle Horse team, I wouldn’t mind this too much and just take this as someone expressing their taboo kinks—that happens a lot. However…this is coming from someone who works on a show that features an abusive sexual relationship that is supposed to be taken seriously. And yet, you have an artist who works on this show who has a kink for sexual assault and abuse and the creator of the show who hired this person is getting all cutesy about it. Are y’all starting to see the red flags here? 

If this was a show that didn’t take itself seriously and wanted to make some edgy humor similar to how Sir Pentious got railed by everybody in the nightclub in episode 6 (which also doesn’t help Viv’s case since these things are supposed to be taken seriously.) But that isn’t the case, it wants to have its cake and eat it too. You want to make this show highlight the dark side of the sex industry, Yet you also make a light joke about rape in the show while having someone who gets turned on by that to work on that same show. This also demolishes the message of the abuse even further when you have R2 and Vivziepop herself getting excited over “Angest” Pins of Angel Dust and Husk being chained to their masters. 

If this still doesn’t seem like a conflict of interest to you for trying to convey the point about sexual assault, abuse, etc. Imagine if I made a story about genocide: I display the horrifying realities of how a marginalized group of people being oppressed by the ruling majority class try everything in their power to kill, erase, displace, and steal from the people they hate so much and want to destroy to the very roots that no one will ever forget in gruesome detail, everyone from friends, family, and enemies are being systemically wiped out by these fascist’s monstrously distorted pursuit of glory. 

Imagine me making all that…but, ✨WE HAVE A NEW MERCH DROP✨ Now you too can get your starving mother holding her dead child in her arms grieving, not only that, I also meme and get excited about someone’s art depicting those same people getting persecuted and ethnically cleansed for sexual gratification, YAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!11 

Do you see how fucked up this is now?

But that’s not even the worst part about it. As more people started to show disgust and concern over this stuff, one of whom was a minor (I won’t say their name for their security you can read the thread yourself) this resulted in R2 saying some pretty fucked up stuff to this minor, using vulgar language directed towards this individual, not even doing the bare minimum of checking the person’s account to see if it was a younger person or not. It still wouldn’t excuse the behavior regardless of age, but this makes it all the worse.  

Now I will give credit where credit is due (which ain’t a lot here) R2 did apologize for their comments made, but it was more of a backhanded response, and when a user pointed out the flaws in this comment, they simply responded: “Stay Mad”. On top of having to victim-blame a minor for being uncomfortable seeing this imagery, Vivziepop herself also chimed in with the victim-blaming, claiming how R2 was “joking” and that “You can’t always know the age of a random Twitter account you’re clowning on”. Even though they had their age on their Twitter account which is wild to me. She also goes on to say they don’t have a lot of influence on the show and that they’re harmless. 

I’m not here to tell viv that R2 should be fired, I don’t think they’re a danger either, and it probably would’ve helped to just block R2 and move on from such gruesome imagery. That being said, that doesn’t excuse someone for sexually harassing a minor or for the creator of a show to double down on it. I hope R2 and Viv can learn from this experience and try to do better. 

I want to be clear here I’m not trying to “cancel” people for having different tastes regardless of how people view it on a personal moral ground. I’m not saying Viv has to fire someone because they think this way, I’m not even saying that you can’t have any moments of nuance about a difficult situation in your own way and cope with it, that’s fine, that’s healthy. What isn’t healthy is sexually harassing people online and begrudgingly victim-blame a minor for coming across this shit. And it doesn’t make your work look genuine when you have someone who works on the storyboards of your show who gets off on the very thing you’re trying to take seriously.  At that point, you’re not trying to make a serious story, you’re making a rape fantasy for someone. This wouldn’t be that big of a deal if this was supposed to be taken at heart as a real issue. 

If this was just this related incident that was the biggest controversy for Vivziepop, I wouldn’t bat too many eyes. But unfortunately, you’ve read the title, you’ve read the warnings, so you know this isn’t where it ends. 

3. SpindleHorse Workplace Misconduct

It’s not any news that allegations of misconduct at SpindleHorse Studios have been buzzing around since Helluva Boss was made into a YouTube series. These allegations have been met with both skepticism as well as a concern as to how things were going behind closed doors at SpindleHorse, but these allegations would grow and become more of a problem when animators who worked on Helluva Boss and Hazbin Hotel spoke out about it, giving their experiences about workplace culture, low wage pay, and fears of speaking out on these issues because of retaliation from Viv, her team or the rabid fanbase. Some of the employees and contractors even spoke out anonymously for fear of getting blacklisted and targeted by the community. That being said, it wasn’t always a nightmare for some people who worked at the studio, and some that worked there have mentioned it being a pleasant experience, but I’ll get to that later. All these things plus more are mentioned in a passionfruit article that I’ll link below for a further read. It’s pretty damning. 

But I’ll mention some of the keynotes that are worth mentioning:

Low Pay Wages on Clean-Up Animation

Users like Chai posted on January 5th, 2024 on Twitter how clean-up artists are offered a low pay of 35$ a second of rough animation. Not literal seconds mind you, but $35 a completed animation per second, that’s $1.45 for every 24 frames. For reference, according to ZipRecruiter: The average pay for a work-at-home animation clean-up artist is lower than this with a rate of $29 an hour nationwide

https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Work-From-Home-Animation-Clean-Up-Artist-Salary#Hourly

(this isn’t an exact figure to go by for all clean-up artists nor do I know all the financial ins and outs of animation, so I may be wrong on some math here.) It's not as bad, but it's still low. One freelance animator mentioned that when Helluva Boss was on pause for Hazbin’s production, they had no choice to find another source of income so they had to deal with the low pay and stressful job that ultimately wasn’t even worth it in the end after finishing Hazbin Hotel. While this is nothing new in the animation industry (especially one where it's the most thankless and underpaid job), the wages can vary depending on the project, location, industry, etc it just goes to show that this is a recurring practice within the industry that really needs to change. Be it for animators or artists alike. It’s one thing to make a passion project with your closest friends and partners or people who need an extra buck and aren’t suffering, it’s another to offer up underpaid jobs with slave labor wages and then suddenly make it seem as if desperate people have a “choice” to work or not it's no more unacceptable than those who defend such practices. 

“The job was voluntary, nobody was being forced into taking less money”

This is a sentiment that is brought up a lot by Neylan in the article. I’m well aware that Neylan said they had a fixed budget and had to lock the budget to adapt rates for things to work out. Now I could understand this being something for newbies getting into work for the animation industry for a first-time experience, but to make it seem like this was a part-time job to work at is baffling to me, especially for something seen as a passion project, which to me, is a code word for work for me for free/less money. Not to mention, the notion of “no one is forcing you” is one that is echoed frequently in other abusive industries like the video game industry (despite these people having no other choice to find another job to survive.) 

No Human Resources

As of now, SpindleHorse has no Human Resources or dedicated HR person aside from Neyland himself who performs such tasks as coordinating and firing freelancers and works as the production supervisor at the company. Though he mentions that something they’re hoping to fix in the future. I guess it remains to be seen. 

 Fear of speaking out

It's not a surprise that people become weary when speaking out about their experiences in or out of SpindleHorse. Freelance artists such as Erin Frost wrote in a tweet thread before getting deleted about her experiences at SpindleHorse and her frustrations with people not believing her when being open about the unstable and abusive environment working with Viv and how she got a note sent by one of her lawyers as a scare tactic.

https://ben-the-hyena.tumblr.com/post/699242311996047360 

Artists Ken Cook and Nicholas Jordan also spoke out about the bombardment of harassment from fans. With Ken, making a whole pdf on their circumstances of crediting their work and ideas.

https://www.docdroid.net/zyvFyCb/kens-experience-pdf

The pdf also gives some transparent insight into Vivziepop’s workflow in conceptualizing and executing stories. As well as some horrible accusations against Ken such as grooming and trying to steal viv’s IP of Hazbin Hotel despite clearly stating that wasn’t their intention, on top of gaslighting and bigotry such as transphobia and acephobia. 

I could go on about Vivziepop’s history of manipulative and toxic behavior toward friends and peers, but for the sake of relevance, I wanted to keep it mostly tied around 2018-2024. When viv isn’t directing her venomous ire towards her colleagues that she doesn’t like or agree with, she directs it towards those outside her work/friendspace. 

Kedikatzen is an artist who made a webcomic back in the days of old that is now discontinued. Judging from the discussion, I’ll assume it was around anywhere from 2014-2018, but I’m not sure, Kedi/Katt was not only bullied by viv herself but got harassed by her zealous fans. All Kedi wanted was an apology but never received one, forcing her to delete her personal accounts and avoid the internet for a while before coming back in hopes of starting over, until she heard news of other people speaking out and wanted to also chime back in just to prove this wasn’t an isolated incident. In 2020, Viv was making big accusations of stalking, harm, and threatening to use lawyers against Katt (noticing a pattern?)  All while acting like the victim here when she clearly wasn’t. 

She also explains how Viv went to a con in Georgia at one point and met up with April, a person she had beef with in the past, and when April wanted to clear things up with no hard feelings, resulting in viv to tweet about April “stalking” her which in turn made her rabid fans send death threats to her which she deleted and then made an apology about.

But even when it’s not towards other creators, she’s also had a history of being very defensive towards her critics, often deflecting legit critiques, getting salty about criticism as a concept or critics as people, getting defensive about people just having slight gripes, etc. 

As someone who is a critic myself (I mean you are reading this) it's not surprising that you will come across bad critiques of things and that people will either be trolls or just assholes, but for those that have genuine criticism, viv tends to lump them all together despite saying she thinks the criticism is important for growth when it's obvious that isn’t exactly what she wants. I’ve sent tweets to her at one point calling out these bad takes on criticism, but that was ages ago and unfortunately, I don’t have those tweets on me—sorry y’all.

And now we get to our final and easily one of the most depressing segments of this post, which is the dark side of fandoms and the damage they can cause. 

4. Fanaticism

It goes without saying that the community for vivziepop has garnered some of the most abysmal, delusional, toxic, and manipulative fan base since Steven Universe if not worse. I’ve seen a lot of shitty people in fandoms, but this takes the cake of it being up there with the greats such as: MLP, FNAF, Steven Universe, etc. It’s quite amazing how such a community is so dedicated in all the best and worst ways.

But all jokes aside, the vivziepop community has had a long radioactive history of having the most deranged of fans sick themselves to those they deem less than worthy of respect or decency. So much so that some will even dehumanize others be it in or outside the fandom, and lose their shit over the most trivial of inconsistencies. Obviously, this isn’t supposed to be a sweeping generalization of everyone, just a focus on those who have lost their cool. 

This makes situations all the worse when the leader herself has something unflattering to say to someone she doesn’t like. Viv is known to both intentionally and unintentionally enable her fans to attack people, innocent or not. Now that’s not to say Vivziepop herself is all to blame here, nor does that mean she hasn’t made any… “attempts” to apologize, but it was more just playing the victim card and slapping some backhanded response on it. 

Though this is older she might’ve made more “apologies” over time, so if someone has a more recent example of this, please let me know. 

However, this leads us to the most crucial part of this post which is the story of Shay and how they took their life. 

The document opens with an introduction from a person named Liv who explains the story of how Shay was a young queer neurodivergent fan who got to be part of the community around the days of the Hazbin Hotel pilot, Livestreams, and Huniecast, Shay was a massive fan of Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss that she would collect an abundance of merchandise in support of the show, holding Vivziepop to high praise as a creator. They would also share and like posts from social media to further spread their infatuation with the media. 

Those involved in the screenshots were part of a fan discord server dedicated to HH and HB and shared their love for specific ships like RadioDusk (Alastor and Angel Dust), this ship would be widespread in the server at the time until around the middle of 2023, with new members who had a focus on the HuskerDust ship (Husk and Angel Dust). This new inclusion of members began fueling flames with their support for their ship, creating a resentful environment towards RadioDust fans, this fueled the flames of what would be a digital turf war between ships in the server and the internet at large on different social media sites all from the same community, some bouts of which have been around for quite some time and continue to this day. 

On December 12th, 2023, Shay showed gratitude for an administrator stepping in to stop the barrage of harassment by HuskerDust fans over Shay’s comments on the ship made them uneasy due to the age gap and coerciveness of it. Shay felt that their moments of joy in the community just wasn’t there like the good old days with Ashley, Michael, and Ed, but now it's just resorted to ship wars, with Vivziepop herself partaking in these petty engagements and enabling the toxic mentality of the HuskerDust shippers. But despite all this, they continue to support viv and hold her in high esteem. 

Later in the year, Shay would pay for the ultimate package that was available at the time for early access to Hazbin Hotel ($80 no shipping) to show their support for the show and new cast but felt iffed by the growing pain that would be the HuskerDust shippers on Twitter, this was also between the time of the teaser’s release and trailer’s. As these HuskerDust shippers grew more zealous towards those who had different ship preferences like Shay, it made them step away from their position of being a RadioDust shipper in turn for something more middle ground in not wanting any ship to be on top of another. 

On December 11th, 2023, the conversation between Shay came back again expressing more disheartening feelings about the state of the fandom how they don’t belong anywhere, and how further in the conversation after some downtime, Shay feels out of place and like garbage and that they feel greatly disappointed about Vivziepop’s continued enablement of this mob mentality. 

This would be the same time the HuskerDust ship would be teased on Twitter and Instagram by the voice cast and animators, making an already overloaded community of rabid shippers go even crazier. Shay would continue to spiral into emotional distress. How they felt betrayed by Vivziepop for choosing one side and enabling their behavior, Shay expressed hopelessness and felt sick—this would be the last time they ever posted.

On December 13th, 2023, the Hazbin Hotel trailer dropped with praise from the community, especially with the HuskerDust fans in awe of this post, pushing the envelope further. https://twitter.com/HazbinHotel/status/1734999724397035963 

Eden (the one who took the screenshots) was concerned and tried to reach out to Shay, but made no progress with Shay’s accounts being deactivated, after Shay left the server, Eden followed suit the leading day and tried to contact them, however, it proved to be impossible since they didn’t friend them and sending a message only prompted the discord bot to notify Eden that they couldn’t message Shay since they don’t share servers anymore. Eden did however get in contact with a close friend of Shay’s known as Mari, and since then Mari had ceased supporting Vivziepop’s work after the incident.  

On December 14th, Mari got in contact with Shay’s sister as they expressed their worries of Shay’s attempt at suicide. Further screenshots that are mostly blurred show multiple attempts were made directed to the Hazbin Hotel team to call out such destructive behavior. 

None of them received any response from the team or Vivziepop herself. 

Mari and Shay’s sister would continue to keep in touch with updates on Shay’s condition until 26-27 of December, Shay died from serious gastrointestinal injuries from drinking household cleaning acid, causing her to cough up blood, and having been sent to the hospital on December 13th. The last screenshot messages include Shay’s sister and Mari in grief over the passing of not only a friend but a loved one. 

Liv further explains that they were a HuskerDust shipper at one point, but now feels a deep loathing and regret at such a title, their statements close with sorrow, and urge people to be wary of such dangers a fandom can cause. 

5. Conclusion

I didn’t really have plans on making this deep dive at first, especially seeing how there were a lot of moving elements to this saga, some of which were far too extensive to cover all the controversies, critiques, drama, etc. I wanted to make this as condensed and digestible as possible. Though I realize this wasn’t the best-formatted post, I guarantee this has some issues that can be fixed in the future (assuming anyone gives a shit). 

The point of making this post isn’t to “cancel” Vivziepop, but rather highlight the VERY consistent pattern of egotistical behavior that she has displayed over time, how she intentionally uses manipulative tactics to gain leverage over people and weaponizes her audience against those she disapproves off. Vivienne Medrano has not changed for the better and unless she takes a little self-reflection on her actions, she never will. If her silence on someone taking their life over the consecutive harassment and death threats from HER fans doesn’t ring any bells on how she really views her audience and other people, I don’t know what will. Vivizepop has shown everyone how she has no stability in running a full studio or maintaining a healthy social presence (indie or otherwise) and how she should invest in her personal demons rather than value fictional ones over others. 

If you are a fan of Vivziepop and her work or were on the fence about it before, I hope this provides some clear context as to why she “Gets non-stop hate” and that it would be wise to reconsider your loyalty or support for her at face value. I want this post to be an important message for those who still love Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, this isn’t about me being a “hater” but someone who wants you to be cautious just like I was when I first heard about these allegations. 

If you’re still not convinced about what I or many, many, many others have been saying for years. Perhaps it would help if I came from a more vulnerable position? (Not the most original but whatever)

When I was first introduced to Vivziepop’s work by my sister, I instantly fell in love with her work with her Die Young fan animation. Since then, I was never the same, and as I mentioned in my last post, I got indulged in her craft and was introduced to not only her community but the furry community as well. I kept tabs on her zoophobia comic and her other works, supporting her along the way. Vivziepop’s style of art and animation greatly influenced me over time and I propped her up as a major influence in my art and I still do to this day. One of my favorite characters of hers was Clarrisa, Fabian’s daughter from Zoophobia (we never saw her in the comic doe). Clarrisa would inspire me to create a character heavily inspired by her called Clair (I’ll more than likely work around the name to not make it as obvious) she was the first character I took seriously in my pursuit of art when I otherwise wouldn’t have cared or taken it seriously before. What started as one concept for a character with a fox based on another person’s character, would spark an entire list of stories with their worlds and characters—and I had Vivziepop to look up to for that. 

But knowing that this is the same person I looked up to as a source of inspiration, leaves a poisonous taste in my mouth that can never be washed off. I no longer support Vivienne now or in future unless she has shown that she is really willing to take major strides to improve herself. As it stands now, she’s left a legacy of pain conflicting with future potential with new creatives. I don’t ask for people to stop loving her work because guess what? I still love her work too in some areas, I just won’t support her anymore. (at least financially or influentially). 

If you are a fan of her work, own it and keep making and loving what you do, draw fanart, make redesigns, have your ships, write fanfictions, etc. Two realities can exist: you can enjoy someone’s work, but also recognize when someone is a massive piece of shit who makes donkey dooky. (Hello Warrior Cats fans).

Shit sun, I’m still making fan art for some zoophobia characters because I still love those characters or their designs, I ain’t special!

“You know, for the longest time I thought you were cool…”

Final Thoughts:

I honestly didn’t expect this uh…rant/analysis? To be this winded, I apologize if there are segments in here that are just a mess, if y’all have any constructive feedback, that would be appreciated. Or maybe I’m just a big meanie that needs to self deletus? Idk, I highly doubt this post will get much attention. I could’ve spent all this time and energy drawing my characters kissing each other or somthin. But here I am, making a totally original post about a creator I’ll never meet. But, if you are a vivziepop fan old or new and you feel like this post has done some justice or resonated with you, then I’m glad! I know there are some really good people in the community who aren’t alone on this and feel the same way, and I understand…I think. 

Anyways. I’ll just leave some sources here and give credit to the people who made these posts linked here, if it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t really be in this position now to raise awareness on this controversial topic. Please support these people below, don’t harass anyone or be a massive bigot for those I critiqued or featured here, be civil for fuck sakes, and yeah. I hope y’all have a good one.

Rest in Peace Shay- 2003-2023

Sources:

[fromtenthousandfeet]

HYBE Financials and Media Play Part 1

Friends! Remember a thousand years ago when I mentioned the HYBE 2nd quarter earnings call and how there would be loads of lies and media play?

Then I disappeared before I could give you examples. Sorry about that.

@isaidnothankyou are you still reading my posts? If so, I must warn you and all the others reading this that I am also a product of a liberal arts college, and to make matters worse, I majored in Studio Art! So, take what I say with a healthy dose of skepticism because I am in no way an expert when in comes to this stuff, but I do enjoy researching it.

Ok. There is so much media play going on today it's enough to make your head spin. Let's start with the quarterly financials, though.

If you run to Google right now and type in HYBE 2Q24, you will get loads of stories about how HYBE generated a record 465 MILLION DOLLARS in revenue in the second quarter of this year. AND! They did it while BTS is serving in the military, meaning the company doesn't need to rely on BTS to be profitable. Isn't that great? Investors must be delighted. The problem, however, is that their net income was down 86%. Net income is what's left over once all operating expenses have been deducted from revenue earned. These expenses include the cost of goods sold (like manufacturing costs), payroll, taxes, interest payments, and any other expenses.

HYBE made approximately $465 million in revenue, but their net earnings were only approximately $12 million. Where on earth did all that money go?

In the first quarter of this year, HYBE's net earnings were only $8 million USD. So, for the first half of 2024, their net earnings were only $20 million dollars.

Each quarter, when the financials are released to the general public and the company conducts an earnings call, they always claim that the reason net earnings are low is because they are investing in new groups, new labels, acquiring new companies, new whatever. Instead of focusing on doing one or two things well, HYBE's strategy seems to be to grow as fast as possible in a number of different directions (See HYBE 2.0 announcement). This can and should be seen as a red flag.

Net earnings, or net income, is known as "the bottom line." The net profit margin gives investors a snapshot of how well a company can turn income into profit. So, is HYBE profitable? To calculate net profit margin, we divide revenue by net income and multiply 100. HYBE's exact second quarter profit margin was 2.28%.

For comparison, Universal Music Group's net profit margin for 2Q24 was 16.54%. Warner Music Group's was 8.98%.

If you were an investor, which music label would you invest in. HYBE?!

It's 2 a.m. I need to go to sleep, but please stay tuned for my next installment.

Here's a little reading for homework to tide you over until my next post:

[that-ari-blogger]

Slow Down For A Bit

There is context that needs to be added here.

Season Two of The Owl House was the last season. That’s something that needs to be understood not just because of what will happen in later episodes, but in the context of events leading up to them. Oh Titan Where Art Thou is things winding up to the end of the series.

Even then, the final season of the show is three episodes total. So we don’t have much time for anything new.

To make this even clearer, I am writing these posts a month in advance and if things go to plan, I will have finished my series on The Owl House in its entirety before you read this. We are marching towards the end.

So, I want to slow down for a moment and just talk about this episode as two conversations. We’ll put aside the overarching plot for the most part and focus on two groups of people talking to each other.

Let me explain.

SPOILERS AHEAD: (The Owl House, Undertale, Oh Brother Where Art Thou)

“Loose your way little guy?” “Actually, I got to where I was going. But now I…” (Shrugs)

A big theme in this series has been identity. Specifically, in how it relates to time. Luz struggles with the question of who she wants to be and whether she wants to go back home, for example.

Now, the show is getting philosophical with itself. It is making the audience aware that the ending is closing in, and it’s asking where we want to go from here. What will you do when the series finishes. There will be a last episode.

It’s a question that takes a morbid tone with the Titan and King. These two standing by a sign that says “Dead End” while looking at the corpse of King’s predecessor. This is what King will end up as, eventually. Just like there will be a final episode, there will be a final moment when King is King before he becomes another Titan for life to spring up off of.

But there’s a grey area isn’t there. Because that is a way off. The series itself isn’t dying, it just knows it will end. So, what do? What does the series want to be with its final episodes? What does King want to be before he dies.

At this point, I have to talk about Steve, because there is a reason he gained so much traction.

Steve was a popular-ish character before this episode dropped, and he hadn’t been given many lines beyond getting beaned by the Emerald Entrails and being at a party. This man had no personality to get attached to.

Except for one thing. Matt Chapman’s delivery.

How is this not a meme format yet. This is golden.

There is a distinct sense of weariness to this man. Like he eternally has an hour left on a night shift, close enough to see the freedom but just far enough away that you can’t touch it. And that’s exactly what is going on here. Luz joined the story while it was winding up to the day of unity, and so everyone is looking forwards to how the end of the nonsense.

That is what Bellos has promised everyone after all, piece. He offered the powerful security, sure, but the common folk were just told not to worry. He was offering them an end to the shift. He just didn’t mention that they wouldn’t be going home afterwards.

Also, whichever genius decided to put that little guitar riff over Steve’s reveal needs to be promoted to sound effect designer of the world. That one riff probably sold this character almost as well as the voice acting.

“Growing up, all I wanted was to be an emperor’s coven scout. To be considered one of the best. I got what I wanted, but it’s not what I thought it was.”

Steve is a parallel and an opposite to King. He’s the older figure looking back at a life he is unhappy with, but he’s also at about the same point. King wanted to be admired; Steve wanted to be a coven scout. They got exactly what they asked for, to the letter. But they are unhappy.

People don’t crave experiences, people crave emotions, at least in my experience. That’s why people can enjoy different things. A bungy jumper seeks that thrill and adrenaline, and they get that through their sports in the same way that a professional e-sports player does without having to contend with the altitude shifts.

King and Steve didn’t want the thing in their goal, they wanted the emotions they associate with that goal. Companionship, accomplishment, happiness. And it didn’t give them anything. Their goals didn’t change anything, they were still them on the other side.

I’m going to come back to this idea.

“Bellos is supposed to know everything, but why should he know what the Titan wants. Maybe the Titan doesn’t even know what he wants. Maybe he’s just some normal guy, you know?”

Steve is being utilised as a mentour here in story, and as rushed as is feels to bring up this connection with two episodes to go, I actually like how it is framed. He’s not a wizened old guy with a beard. He’s just a friend who you can talk to and who knows some things you don’t. He’s an older sibling.

And at this point, I need to talk about the music. If anyone has a link to the specific song that backs the little montage, please please please let me know as soon as possible.

But the montage is in three parts, and I’m including it in this episode because I think it is part of the conversation and relationship between the two.

We are just showing off scenery at this point, and it is worth it. This looks incredible. Especially the sunset colours. This is a goodbye to the world of The Owl House before the bombastic finale after all.

In part one, we get a single repeated, descending riff. I’m not good enough at music to pick out a key by ear, but I can tell you it’s relaxed and grounded. It’s melancholy and doesn’t go anywhere.

Meanwhile, Steve reads a book about the emperor’s coven, and King gives his parent a hug.

Then the drums kick in and I think the key changes to something more hopeful (don’t quote me on that) as they move to doing something that they love. They are on a beach with all the time in the world. King is chasing waves like a little kid and Steve is throwing rocks while his book sits out of the way, kept safe.

But.

We see two old ladies who have found happiness in each other. Two people who have reached the latter ends of their lives and who are content.

Steve is looking back at his own life unfulfilled and breaks down. So, King consoles him, and we get a beautiful moment of connection, but also vulnerability in a symbolic sense. Steve is the mentour, but he is also just as lost as King.

Just to be abundantly clear here as to how this is going geometrically. Steve is reading this book at an almost ninety degree angle. This shot distorts itself something savage to tell you what he is reading. That means it's important.

If we turn to the book for a moment, it was called “Synergy in the Emperor’s Coven.” We got a shot to specifically show us that. It would seem Steve is looking for connection, for friendship, maybe for love, we don’t know. But he is looking for someone to spend time with.

Part three is crucial, because it’s a decision point. What do these two want to do with their lives? Help people. The two change a wheel for a parent and child and are happy to wave and smile. The two have found a connection.

King can then sink back into a puddle, content, and lie there in the exact same pose as his predecessor. The symbolism for fulfilment is obvious, and Steve makes the parallel clearer when he puts a folded page from the book on King’s head. It’s a person. King is becoming like his parent.

The book anchors this section. It is a manifestation of what the emperor offered, and it starts out being used fully, then set aside, then fully cast away and used for something else.

But there is something else that is clever in this sequence, especially about that book.

There is no blue in this sequence except for that book and one other thing.

All the colours are topsy turvy in the Boiling Isles. The rocks are green, the trees are red, the clouds are a gorgeous pink, the lake and sky are purple. Etc. Etc.

I’m specifically talking about that bright baby blue here. If you look, you can see a log that is a darker shade, but it fits with the background. That book stands out because it is the only thing coloured like that.

It is bright and cheerful, but when the pages are torn out, it loses that lustre and even the cover is cast in shadow. The book is an empty promise.

The only other thing in this entire montage that matches it in vibrance is the puddle, and that keeps its colour on impact. It would seem that the two have been looking for connection and synergy in one place but have found it somewhere else.

But that reframes Bellos' design for a moment though, doesn't it? If we associate that blue with contentment, and Bellos' eyes are that exact same blue, we have a problem. His eyes are without light, it is a dead desire, empty and vacuous, representing his own aims and goals as a bottomless pit. But also, he tries to hide them with a mask, but a single crack to it shows them off plainly. Bellos' desire for destruction is on plain view to those who look closely, but you have to get within striking distance.

Back to this episode.

“Wants can change. So can people.” “I don’t want people to see me as a big scary monster anymore.” “Me neither.”

Let’s talk about Undertale for a moment.

“It’s you!”

Undertale is a story about growing up. That’s an overly simplified way of talking about it, but it’s not wrong. It’s about learning and complexity. It’s about redemption and friendship and morality. It’s about growing up and becoming more nuanced as a person. But…

“Despite everything, it’s still you.”

You get both of the lines upon looking into two mirrors at the start and end of the game respectively. You have changed a lot as a person and the character has as well, but you haven’t changed who you are.

It’s a threat and a comfort. You are the person you can’t escape, but you are the person you can save and be saved by, you are the person you can comfort, and you are the person who will always be there to offer yourself hope. You will always be you; nothing can ever change that.

“Stop, I’m still King. King!”

King and Steve have been through some stuff, and the next few days are going to be wild for them, but they are still themselves. They want to be treated differently, but not as different people.

Steve doesn’t want to be treated as a monster, for example, but he’s still Steve.

Meanwhile, Luz and Eda are discussing their own plans for the future, and this is a thematic rehash, right? They both are trying to decide where to go from here, and Eda is looking back at her life unfulfilled and being upset about it. Right?

No. That’s not what is happening at all.

The thematic constant of past and future is there, but everything else is different. Where King and Steve looked backwards, Eda and Luz are looking at what tomorrow will bring.

I find the framing of Eda’s actions in this episode fascinating, because they are antagonistic, but not villainous.

The show doesn’t side with Eda in this debate. She obscures information from Luz and tries to prevent her from exercising free will. That’s explicitly what the show presents as “wrong.” But they are also the exact opposite of Luz.

Luz is knowledge and freedom. She is curiosity.

This is most readily demonstrated every time she acts, but I’d like to point out the occasion in this episode when she spots François from 100 metres away through a solid wooden cart.

I’m sorry. I have to make a joke about this. Luz calls out to look because she has seen the rabbit, then it cuts to a considerable distance away so it can show an extremely small rabbit being carried inside. But he was behind the cart when Luz noticed that. They moved him out from behind after she noticed him. PLOT HOLE. THIS SERIES IS RUINED.

There's even a guy between her and the cart in this shot. This rabbit hole is driving me nuts!

In all seriousness, this most likely is a gimmick in how the scene was storyboarded that doesn’t really count as a mistake, it’s just funny. But it leads into my point about Luz being thematically linked with knowledge.

Luz finds things, she learns things, she is reckless.

That last bit is crucial, because it is the core of Eda’s motivation in this episode. She is sympathetic, but not right.

I feel like the internet at the moment has mixed those two concepts up, especially around villains. A villain who is likeable isn’t in the right.

I find those compilations of “quotes from villains who were right” frustrating because a couple of them, yeah, they are agreeable. But then it cuts to someone saying “I was cast out as a kid and so now I will murder everyone” and I’m like, girl, stop.

On the other end of the spectrum, if a story presents someone as sympathetic or understandable, that doesn’t mean it agrees with them.

Case and point, Eda is explicitly treated like she is in the wrong and needs to learn from her mistakes.

That's what the thing with Raine is about. Raine had Eda's motivation, but couldn't stop her learning, so brought her into the fold.

"Is it so unbelievable that I wanted to keep you safe?"

The conversation between her and Luz takes place much more in what they don’t say than what they do. Eda lies and obfuscates the truth until she physically can’t anymore.

“Me and Lilith don't have magic and we don't have allies, we're useless. We have you and King. So, I was gonna do anything to make sure that you were safe. But now, it’s all over.”

Here’s a question for you. This episode’s title is a nod to Oh Brother Where Art Thou, a 2000 film based on The Odyssey. Why?

Every episode title has had a meaning, even if it was just a joke, but Oh Brother, Where Art Thou isn’t a film most people have watched. You can’t just namedrop it like you namedrop Narnia and expect a reaction.

I think the answer is the thematic overlap. Both the film and the episode focus on the unpredictability of life, but also the intrinsic dissonance of optimism and comedy.

Oh Brother Where Art Thou is surreal and funny. It’s a satire that hits you with some real emotions, and it features a song that I can’t get out of my head.

"You can bury me in some deep valley For many years where I may lay Then you may learn to love another While I am sleeping in my grave."

The traveller has reached the end of his life, but things keep moving anyway. It's a morbid sense of optimism and hope.

The CATs joke is a tone setter. We've had some serious drama, here's a joke. But it's also some characterisation for Darius. It makes him seem more human by undercutting him. Up until now he's been aloof, now he's a person and I love him so much.

Which is exactly what The Owl House is about. The series is satirical and real. It’s set in a horrifying wasteland, and it is funnier than anything else I have seen.

The setting is intrinsically built around this. Decay and life. These people are walking on something that would be too big to register their existence, and yet they make jokes and cast spells and create new life. Every shot of the titan has something growing in it.

That’s why the trees are red. It’s blood. Lifeblood, new blood. It’s the blood that kept the titan alive and it’s the blood that fuels the next generation.

I had a conversation with a friend recently about tone in TTRPGs. Specifically, how horror games work even with the innate hilarity of everything going spectacularly right and wrong for both sides. I haven’t really stopped thinking about that, and I think I’ve landed on why. Realism.

The real world is funny and scary. The two don’t feel like they go together, but they absolutely do. People laugh when they are scared because they can do nothing else. Death isn’t funny, but it renders everything else a punchline. Tragedy is the perfect setup for a sincere joke. Reality is complicated and doesn’t make sense sometimes, but you still have to keep going.

I've mentioned the sunset colours, but does this remind you of anything? To me, this is a very similar vibe to the moment when Luz discovered glyph magic and made her own light. She discovered hope then, and everyone is rediscovering it now. Light, do not faulter. But there's something to that sunset. The sunset is the end of today, yes, but it's a promise of tomorrow. There isn't just one day, the world will keep existing. We need to decide what to do about that.

King and Steve help some people and make themselves feel better, then they get up and keep moving to go and do it again.

Eda has given up, but she needs to come back, because the story doesn’t stop when you say it does. Your story stops when the final flag is down, no sooner.

So, Eda makes a decision and offers Luz a piece of Pallistrum wood. It’s a chance to make something new, a chance to choose creativity.

That’s why people smile and laugh even in hardship. The one thing nobody can take from you is hope. The one thing you can never escape is being yourself.

Final Thoughts

Gordon Bennet the scenery design of this episode is phenomenal. Wide open spaces and packed winding streets on the side of a mountain. This series is gorgeous, made even more so just by the choice of colour, and I will never get over how even the interior of the vault is designed.

Back to the story though, the reveal of the CATs and Raine’s true allegiance is really cool, and I love Darius’ everything, although Ebberwolf biting through solid steel feels like something that could come in handy.

Next week, however, is Clouds on the Horizon, an episode that I don’t need to introduce. Stick around if that interests you.

Previous - Next

[mariequitecontrary]

2024 TF Reverse Mini Bang Memories Part 1

With the @tf-bigbang discord server closing today, I thought I'd share just a few of my favorite memories during my first community fandom event :)

Not to be dramatic, but this event changed the trajectory of my part in the transformers community for the better. It felt like I was at a 4 month long summer camp! I had so much fun talking to everyone and making so many precious, precious friends that I truly hope to stay in touch with.

So buckle in and grab some boba or your preferred drink of choice, because this is going to be long and sentimental.

A Welcoming Start

I joined at the beginning of April, due to someone reposting the Big Bang's twitter post about how writers were still welcome to join. I thought, "Only 5k word requirement over the course of a few months? Yeah sure. I can do that." Little did I know I'd actually committed to writing a fic almost 5 times that length

The vibes in the discord server started out with a bang (heh). Everyone was immediately kind and welcoming to one another. It was an immediate safe space to be excited, let loose and show our freak XD I loved how ferally affectionate we were with bringing new friends into the fold.

A sketch by @nepetacataria-art perfectly shows this I think XD

The Support and Love Shared

The sheer amount of love, comradery, and support shared with one another was astounding. Almost 200 writers and artists shared tips and tricks and offered advice and encouragement to each other! It was unreal and I learned so much. It truly encouraged me to improve in my craft and even inspired me to want to learn how to draw again!

Oh, and the RECS everyone shared!!! Everyone shared so many fics and art pieces that I am now obsessed with! I have been blessed with a LOT of quality, amazing content that I never would have seen otherwise! My tbr list grew from large to neverending haha <3

Teasing the Artists Before Match Ups

I'm ngl, I had WAY too much fun once the sketches were released to the writers and the secret-authors-corner channel was made. We all OBSESSED over all of the art and fangirled over each one! But we also talked, and talked, and talked. And dropping out of context messages into the public channels for the artists to see was too much fun!

Talking Transformers

IT WAS THE BEST THING EVEERRRRRR!!!!! WOWOWOWOWOW! I loved raving about characters and lore, both canon and fanon! Even when I wasn't a part of the conversation, just lurking and reading what people talked about whether it was AUs, comics, shows, character breakdowns, brainstorming ideas...it was all so cool and so fun. Everyone is so creative and thinking about the sheer amount of fun we all had makes me tear up.

Like, SO MANY plot bunnies were made with everyone! Myself included! Sometimes people would just say a random ass thing and then five others would hop on, riffing against each other and developing that little idea into something concrete and so so JUICY.

Two out of many MANY conversations that I personally loved were the video games x transformers ideas and talking tentacles and transformers in the nsfw channel XD

Writers Panicking, As We Do

It was all in fun, but it was very entertaining and validating to be in a space where we can all stress about our writing, our fics, and approaching deadlines.

The mods clearly enjoyed adding endless fuel to the fire and (lovingly) watched us all scream and run around in a fiery chaotic panic over every little thing.

Streaming

I didn't get to join many, but it was always so cool watching artists draw! I also had a lot of fun streaming Hades 2 with a few friends with it was first released :)

Team 0 - A King Julien Starscream Fic

It all started when Writer's Choice Period began...and the example inspired many of us writers to obsess over this...I'll let the screenshots tell you XD

A King Julien Starscream fic just WORKS and you can't tell me otherwise! @mendely's sketch REALLY sold it to me as a thing that's GOTTA happen.

Madagascar AU FTW

AND THEN THE MODS MADE IT A THING THING

@useless19's king julienscream puppet owns my soul and their little vid is possibly the finest piece of silent cinema I've ever watched in my entire life. I was ENRAPTURED.

@sxpaiscia's art KILLS ME. PUTS MY HEART IN A CHOKEHOLD. Julienscream lives in my head rent free and 50% of it is imagined with their art in mind.

The sad end to the story is...the Team 0's fic wasn't completed within the time requirements to be posted with the rest of the Mini Bang's fics :( Do we still plan on continuing and finishing it? HELL YEAH WE ARE!

To Be Continued...

Did you know that there is a limit to the amount of images you can share in one post? SMH.

Link to Part 2!

[absolutebl]

Hey absolutebl, I am a TV writer with a very strong and personal interest in BL series. Living in Thailand for many years, I was asked by a friend Thai actor to give BL series a shot, to see the foreigner perspective on Thai tv dramas/BL stories... and here I am. I have developed 2 series so far, TRUTH & DARE and IMPERFECT MATCH, and written their respective pilot episodes.

I mentioned "personal interest" because, as a gay writer, I find it almost therapeutic to write these stories, although it would be cathartic to see them sold and produced haha!

I'd love to read your opinion on something...

I have read your discussions about language, which I find very interesting. Personally, having lived in Thailand for many years, I am more than used to the language, but not able to write it, so I write these stories in English. I know this will throw off more than one Thai producer, but I believe my stories are universal and should be easily adapted to many different languages without losing their uniqueness. Details of the story, settings, names... can always be changed to localize the series and make them culturally relevant. Do you think this is a valid argument when it comes to explaining to a producer why is the series not presented in Thai? Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Okay, you did come to this blog, so presumably you know what you're in for. But if you want the nice answer, you should stop reading right now.

Still here?

You're not gonna like this, but I think if you're pitching to Thai production the script should be written in Thai.

One of the things i keep running into learning Thai is that linguistically there is a cap on comprehension without the script, not just comprehension of the language but of the way it fits within culture. And you're pitching to a studio house that sits within THAT culture. On a very basic level the burden is on you to meet them in their world, not foist yours upon them. And their world is Thai. It smacks of both western entitlement and farang rudeness to do otherwise. Like not taking your shoes off in an Asian house. You're in their house, honor their culture, that includes the written one.

There's also an artistic component to this on a core linguistic level with regards to comprehension.

How do I put this?

It's like... you can't do an oil painting on watercolor paper, it has to be done on cavas. The art side of language impacts creativity at a root level, especially visually. And all languages are creative because they are living evolving artistic endeavors as well as tools for communication. The way something is written down, the words as pictures, is part of that endeavor. The true bones of your story can't be communicated properly to a team if they're obfuscated by a whole different suite of linguistics.

English, under this context, just feels... wrong. It's a brutal, cumbersome, lumbering beast of a language when compared to Thai. Full of excess words and redundancies, stunted and plain when forced into brevity.

And it will LOOK that way when slapped down on a desk in front of a Thai staffer. It will look ugly, and bloated, and shocking, and unpleasant to the subconscious of a non-English speaker, and when compared with all the Thai scripts they have read before or after it will be judged and found inferior.

Also, I suspect you're young (no offense) but no story is universal. No book appeals to everyone. I, for example, happen to have always (from the get go) been highly indifferent to Harry Potter.

Side tracked.

On a purely business front:

The point of a pitch is to get through barriers and into production.

By pitching in the wrong language, you give yourself an insurmountable barrier.

Remember what studios are looking for, first and foremost, is a reason to say NO. They are always looking for the flaws, always. Not being in Thai is not just a flaw it's a red flag against you personally as someone they want to work with.

You really want my feedback? Put your scripts down, sign up for a three month immersion class and learn the Thai script instead.

In the long run, the thing learning how to write in another language does most for you as a creative writer, is expand your artistic brain in new directions. So your stories will actually come out more inventive, more adaptable, and, yes, more universal as a result. I guarantee it.

See what happens? You come for feedback and I gave you stern words and a homework assignment.

On the other hand, you can wander in with you script in English and see what happens. The worst thing is you get rejected. Or laughed at. Or ignored.

I'm just some scmuck on tumblr. What tf do I know?

[nickmaghighlights]

Nick Mag Highlights - Nick Mag Presents: Danny Phantom (Fall 2005)

Well, well, well, fancy meeting you here. Welcome back to my blog and the words that inhabit it. Today, Halloween comes early this year when we read through another exciting issue of Nickelodeon Magazine Presents, this time all about Danny Phantom. Boo! Trick-or-Treat! Deck the halls!

And not only is this edition of Nick Mag Highlights spooky, it’s also… pretty chill. Y’know? Just takin’ it easy, reading a handful of comics and probably a crossword puzzle or something. As much as I love researching the kind of stuff Nickelodeon Magazine includes in its articles, sometimes it’s nice to sit back and take things at face value and just see what the state of Nickelodeon was like at any given time, and these short-and-sweet issues of Nick Mag Presents are the perfect venue for just that.

But why exactly am I tackling this purportedly Halloween-themed issue in August? Well, mainly it’s because that new Danny Phantom graphic novel just came out… two weeks ago (oops). And I really enjoyed it! So I’ve since been in a big Danny Phantom mood lately. I even ended up re-watching the whole first season and had a blast doing so. This show was a real obsession of mine as a kid, so maybe this blog post is also a way for me to give it its dues.

This issue can be found online here, read along… if you dare!

Another Nick Mag Presents, another humorously wordy introduction. If you’re unfamiliar, basically all these Presents-styled issues have a panel on the first page with a character essentially advertising the book to you and talking about all the comics and activities included inside. This one here features Danny and an understandably perturbed ghost, for example. 

Since these issues were usually sold in stores as opposed to through a mail subscription, I suppose this is the issue’s way of hooking you in and explaining to you why you should buy it. I think a kid would probably be more inclined to just flip through the book and arrive at the same conclusion, but I guess this approach doesn’t hurt anybody.

But anyway, let’s see here… aw, only two wholly new comics? The Fairly Oddparents-themed issue I took a look at previously had five original comics. That’s a bummer, but at least we’ve still got variety… SpongeBob, My Life as a Teenage Robot, and The Wild Thornberrys, oh my! Even Tak makes an appearance here, two years before the premiere of his actual Nickelodeon cartoon, meaning this was an attempt to interest readers in the then-recently released video game: Tak 3: The Great Juju Challenge. Not sure if that worked.

And if you’ll take a look at that yellow, spiky bubble with words on the right there, this September 2005 issue is meant to coincide with the then-upcoming two episode-long Danny Phantom special, “The Ultimate Enemy”, which featured Danny taking on a more powerful version of himself from the future. Seems like the included removable poster is even themed around that very episode! Let’s just hope that poster is still left intact, eh?

So first up, we’ve got a page to get you up to speed on the main cast if you’re new to the show. It’s even got some new factoids for the already familiar superfans! For example: Did you know Sam is into anime? I sure didn’t.

Oh, and if you’re wondering where series villain Vlad Masters is, don’t worry, they go over him later on in the book.

On the right you’ll find an easy if not slightly amusing word puzzle, which tasks you with solving questions where each answer contains the word boo. Simple enough for a kid while still being worth the time, methinks.

Although all the stock ghost art on the page gets me wondering, how come most of the ghosts in the show manifest as typical-looking cartoon ghosts while others manifest in a human form? I guess maybe it comes down to the strength of your spirit. Who’s to say?

You’ve met the characters, now it’s time to meet the voices behind them! I’ll always take a side of interviews with my Nickelodeon Magazine, and this is no exception. The questions are cute, and I had fun reading them. Not much to say.

So we’re finally here at the first comic of the issue, and… not really a fan of this one! Yeah, sorry to start this retrospective off on a sour note but this isn’t really doing it for me. The main villain of this one is Youngblood, who already isn’t exactly one of my favorite villains from the series. But here they’ve got him and all the other characters stuck in a pretty by-the-numbers plot where Danny and co. get stuck babysitting the brat while he tries to maim them, with them of course unable to fight back lest they face the wrath of his parents (who are humongous lizard monsters, for some reason). 

If you’re even a little familiar with cartoons you’ve probably already seen quite a few takes on this formula already. And even if you like Youngblood as a character they don’t have him doing his usual pirate shtick he’s remembered for, so I’m not sure what anyone is getting out of this, really. What's especially not helping is that this goes on for ten pages, further dragging out an already tired concept. 

So there you have it, I guess. Done-to-death story with accordingly done-to-death jokes, a lame villain, and about two pages of action. I will say though, Danny and Tucker’s babysitting poster on page 2 did get a smile out of me, at least.

You’ve met the characters, and you’ve also met the voices behind them, now it’s time to meet… the rest of the characters! The villain ones! These guys really made the show for me, cause the team behind the show really just seemed to understand the assignment and made all of them really unique and memorable.

So we can see they’ve been ranked in terms of how dangerous they all are, which is a fun idea. ‘Course you’ve got Vlad at the top of, but then there’s Technus just behind him? I can’t say I remember him being notably more dangerous than any of the other baddies, I’m fairly certain he gets swept up at the end of his specific episode just like all the rest. I’m pretty sure Valerie gave Danny a bigger run for his money, and she’s down at #3.

Woah now, I’m starting to scrutinize the power levels of cartoon characters. Cartoon characters from a show I haven’t even fully watched all the way through since I was a kid, no less. Better put a stop to that before it gets ugly.

Cool little cartoons on the left there, that one on the top right is properly devious and I’m all for it. All the art is quite lovely too.

The right is… well, it’s Mad Libs, there’s no other way around it. Y’know the Mad Libs website refers to itself as “the world’s greatest word game” but I seriously think they need to take that up with Scrabble, or hell, even Hangman. Yeah I was never a big fan of this kind of fill-in-the-blanks stuff, but I guess it’s a pretty inoffensive activity to include.

Check out Danny’s dad rocking that emo hair.

And now we’ve made it to the second and last new comic for the issue, and unfortunately it’s only a two-pager. But hey, if my thoughts on the previous ten-page comic said anything, it was that I prefer quality over quantity. And this one is… okay. It’s funny enough, does what all it needs to with the concept, and it definitely doesn’t overstay its welcome. I’m again surprised by the lack of action in both of these comics, considering Danny Phantom is an action show, after all, but it’s not like the show wasn’t a comedy either, so it’s not that weird.

I guess while we’re here I could nitpick it a bit. The lineart here courtesy of series creator Butch Hartman* is a bit wonky at times. There’s the aforementioned emo hair Danny’s dad is wearing, but my main gripe is that dog robot just doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the artstyle. It being the only new original character design for this comic as well doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me. I guess the team was fine with whatever Hartman drew because he made the show after all, so surely he knows what he’s doing, right?*

*Insert obligatory comment about how much of a loser Butch Hartman is here.

Just want to give a shoutout to this pretty creative puzzle here. It actually stumped me a little when I first read it! Those monster designs are pretty entertaining too. Solid activity overall.

Next up it’s an installment of Sam Shade, which was a short-lived recurring series in Nickelodeon Magazine. Apparently the series ran from 2002 to 2005, so this may be one of the last times a Sam Shade comic was ever printed in a Nick Magazine. 

These comics mainly consist of the titular Detective Sam Shade trying to solve some mystery, sleuthing around the area in a series of detailed, wordy scenes. Likewise, you as the reader are as well tasked with scouring the pages for clues to help deduce the culprit. Each panel here smoothly moves into the next, making for something like a Where’s Waldo puzzle but with an actual narrative. It’s a really good idea! A shame this series didn’t last longer.

Hey, is that Carl from Jimmy Neutron on the bottom right there?

Pretty nice My Life as a Teenage Robot comic here. Although that’s kind of unfortunate in a way, since that means I haven’t got much to talk about! It’s pretty much a 1-to-1 translation from animation to comic here. The artstyle and writing are both on point, it’s all just in a shorter, more paper-y format.

I wonder why the aliens’ speech bubble has flowers in it. Is that a theater reference, maybe?

The design of these fiery aliens are particularly awesome - simple but effective. I’m surprised they used such a cool design in a comic that was going to be seen by way less people as opposed to using it in the cartoon. Man, this show is so cool, even its supplementary media is stylish!

But anyway, do you want to know how this story ends? Read it yourself!

Ohh man, I distinctly remember this comic. I don’t remember what issue of Nickelodeon Magazine this one is sourced from, but whichever one it was, I had it. The story’s nothing to write home about really, It's another take on the age old tale of “Squidward yells at SpongeBob and Patrick for doing something annoying, so they inadvertently ruin his life”. Squidward must have a really good lawyer for him to be able to bounce back from all the crap SpongeBob and Pat get him into.

This version of the usual story has S. Bob and P. Rick making a cake in Squidward’s image. Mr. Krabs ends up mistaking it for the real Squidward, bringing it to the Krusty Krab, and having it run the cash register, obviously to disastrous results. It’s all pretty par for the course, and there’s some funny lines to be had.

Weirdly though, unless I’m blind, I can’t seem to find any credits for this one. Not in the comic itself or at the back of the book. I’m pretty sure the artist(s) behind this one did more SpongeBob SquarePants comics though, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same writing team had a hand in them too. I distinctly remember one where all the characters turn into desserts. Or maybe it was an alternate universe where they’re all desserts? Something like that. Maybe I’ll find it and cover it on this blog someday!

And up next, it’s a Wild Thornberrys comic of all things (said with feigned surprise, having read the table of contents moments ago). And I’m just now realizing none of these comics have anything to do with ghosts, or horror, really. Quite the magazine you’ve got just in time for October, Nickelodeon!

But hey, it’s not right to judge a piece of art specifically by the context in which it is presented. Especially when it was originally published in a magazine that likely came out years earlier, probably not even around the month of October. Desperate times call for desperate measures and all that, even when it comes to filling the pages of a magazine.

This comic is especially cool, anyway, as you can no doubt tell from its distinct shakeup in style!

The story has Eliza receiving some gifts from her Japanese friend, Mayumi (who was probably in the show, presumably), one of those gifts being a homemade manga. And while I’m not exactly an expert on the Japanese arts, I certainly find this art convincing and really appreciate the attention to detail. I bet any kids that were fans of manga around this time must have felt pretty seen to have one of their hobbies referenced in a rather unlikely place, and with such attention to detail no less.

One thing I can also appreciate is that this story really isn’t something they could have pulled off in the show itself (unless they studio really wanted to have an anime-themed episode and go through the undertaking of doing an episode in an entirely different, foreign animation style all on their usual budget), so overall this is a really fun idea done quite flawlessly. My only gripe is we don’t get to see a manga-styled Nigel Thornberry, but what can you do?

Oh boy, the Tak comic, cool. Now, I know these games have their fans, but I can’t say I’m one of them. I did watch the show a bit though, but I’ve heard it has nothing to do with the games, so I guess that makes me rather unprepared to tackle this two-page comic on an intellectual, researched level. I will say though that I think the Sam Shade comic from earlier pulled off this style of free-flowing, no-panel storytelling to a much greater effect. The amount of Taks they threw around the page makes it feel really busy and cramped, and they had to essentially remove the second character Tak is traveling with from the story since I guess they were strapped for page space.

But yeah, the colors are nice at least, and Tak media is especially hard to come by nowadays, so I suppose if I were more into the property, I might be more into this.

Last comic of the day, and it’s Jimmy Neutron. At least this one kinda fits the theme, I mean, aliens are almost in the same horror-league as vampires, zombies, ghosts, and all that. This is a pretty quality one to end off the book with, and in regards to Jimmy Neutron, this is one of the better ways these characters have been translated to 2D. Although the incredibly warm colors and harsh shadows throw me for a loop. Pretty good overall!

Before we wrap things up, I would like to mention that advert for The Nicktoons Film Festival on the right. I totally forgot these used to be a thing! From 2004 to 2009 Nickelodeon hosted a film festival and let viewers vote for their favorite animated short, along with letting proper animation people who know what they’re talking about vote on their favorites, too. Lots of great up-and-coming cartoonists took part in these festivals. This one in 2005 actually featured a short by J. G. Quintel that eventually was used as a basis for his own Cartoon Network show, Regular Show! You can check the short out below:

Neat bit of history there, yeah?

Even though I’m still a bit disappointed this issue didn’t include more original content, I still think this ended up being a fairly entertaining walk down memory lane. And hey, I hope you had a good time too. I’m doubly disappointed, however, that the archive of this issue didn’t come with that tear-out poster! Now we’ll never see it in its full hi-def glory.

As always, thanks for stopping by and checking out another bit of Nick history with me. Have yourself a good one, and I’ll see you all next time!

[linesonscreens]

Let's Read Peanuts (Yup, still at it) – May 1954

There are lots of great strips I just don't have room to comment on. I strongly encourage everybody to read the full month at the official GoComics page. Today's month starts HERE.

May 3, 1954

~tugs collar~

Yeah... About that.

May 9, 1954

Aw yeah, here we go! I was wondering when this would pop up.

May 15, 1954

1) That's not a joke

2) Yes, Violet. I got that from him kicking the radio.

Also I hope you enjoyed this strip because “Charlie Brown doesn't like coconut” is now a running gag.

May 16, 1954

This definitively proves that adults exist in the Peanuts Cinematic Universe, they just happen to be 20 feet tall for some reason. Or maybe the kids are like 2 feet tall? It depends on how you look at it I guess.

May 23, 1954

Oh man! What's going to happen!? I'm freaking out!

May 24, 1954

Lucy is so unbelievably awful to Linus in these early years. Granted, she's literally four(?) years old so I can cut her a bit of slack but god damn do these kind of interactions not endear you to her.

Weirdly enough though, I actually like that the strip doesn't punish her for doing stuff like this. Others have made this observation long before I came along but the fact that Schulz is willing to just sort of... let bad things happen without immediately having the universe make an example of the perpetrator or teach them a lesson is one of the things that sets Peanuts apart from the competition. Life just kind of be like that sometimes and it's OK to show it.

May 30, 1954

(No, really. That's the last one)

Thoughts:

The golf tournament arc is kind of notorious and nobody really knows what the hell is up with it. You have continuity in the Sunday strips (very unusual due to how they are made), weird off-model art, the cast acting out of character, and of course, on-screen adults. Then it all just kind of... stops. It's very odd.

I've heard people speculate that this might actually have been ghost drawn (is that a term?) by another artist but I'm not sure if I buy that. The art is a bit different but it still very much feels like Schulz to me, particularly in how he draws his backgrounds. I ~do~ think there might be something to the idea that this is a repurposed experiment from another project though.

What this feels like to me is Schulz experimenting with “bigger” stories, perhaps something intended to be sold as a proper comic book rather than just a collection of strips. The art looks different because he's trying to set it apart from the strips by adding more detail and action (kind of like when an animated TV sitcom gets a theatrical movie).

As for why it just ends like that? Well that's a sort of punchline Schulz does in a lot in his daily strips so it's not actually that weird if you think about it. I think he just didn't realize that this kind of anticlimax punchline works with a 4-panel strip but not a 4-page event comic.

There's no official word on the matter though so your guess is as good as mine.

[bunnimew]

Your headcanons on what Jack and Pitch were doing during those 300 years (Jack’s rebirth into immortality, Pitch’s fall from the Dark Ages), when they weren’t trying to gain belief? Outside of their respective work, how do you think they spent their time? I think they like reading and traveling, for example (Rufftoon’s comics highlight that Jack and Pitch like books and storytelling, despite their stereotypes). Jack and Pitch also seem very DIY and self-learning due to their isolation.

Hello Anon!! This'll be fun 🤣

Jack was definitely getting into every place he shouldn't be, but could because nobody saw him. In A Cold and Dark Chronicle (the first fic we co-wrote for the fandom that is a self indulgent trash fire 🤣), we imply that Jack was watching the production of the latest movies before anybody else got to watch them. He would absolutely be reading the latest books over editor's shoulders, loitering in recording studios, present at sold out Broadway premiers, filling his days with all the media and experiences he wouldn't be able to if he were still alive.

Jack also displays too much grace to pretend he hasn't spent a horrendous number of hours practicing stupid human tricks. I bet if you give him a deck of cards, he could keep you entertained for hours. Baton twirling? A pro. Give him a yo-yo and see what happens. Silks, rings, and trapeze? Just another Tuesday for Jack.

It's a given that Pitch would read books, but he definitely also reads r/noSleep and has seen every episode of Unsolved Mysteries. He watches those compilation youtube videos of ghosts and disturbing things, and is subscribed to every analog horror channel. This man is up and up on the internet because the internet is where the scariest things are these days.

He's also obviously artistic, he sculpted all of those nightmares, and likes to dance, did you see him on that globe? We play with this a lot in Chronicle, having him dance with the nightmares and collect art and stuff he's built. People in pain often express themselves through art. Pitch has a lot of pain to express. And it probably compounded his pain that no one cared to connect to him through his art.

Thank you, Anon~ We love getting to talk about dancing Pitch 😂