#and become successful even

[funishment-time]

as i've gotten older i've prized sincerity in fandom/content spaces more. i find it harder and harder to watch, for instance, Let's Players who are clearly trying to find reasons to shit on a game and pretend like they're not invested. i used to think it was funny in a schadenfreude kind of way, and now it's just kind of sad, especially if those content makers are Middle Aged. if you're like 40 and making videos where it's apparent you're hiding your excitement over FNAF Lore and using slurs to refer to anyone who does dare to get excited, that's, i think, way "cringier" than just being 40 and openly into FNAF. why do we police ourselves like this

[lokh]

fake dating au where shuro ends up pretending to go out with laios in order to secure his inheritance.... but is it really what he wants? a journey of romance and self discovery that ill never ever write

[nokkiart]

As a long time httyd fan who has been heavily involved in the fandom since the first movie and who has spent years working in the animation industry, I’d like to share my thoughts on the new httyd movie. Keep in mind, this is just my personal opinion and it's completely fine if you disagree with me. I just want to say a little something about all this that really bothers me.

The core reason that Dreamworks and Universal made this film is that it’s a quick and easy cash grab for them. Thats it. They don’t care about telling a good story or making a “better” version of the original movie for fans or even having an accurate portrayal of the characters/story. It’s purely about money. They know that fans of the original film will go see this movie, whether it’s good or bad. And those guaranteed ticket sales are all that matter to the studios. And with Universal, it has the added bonus of being a cheap promotional and merchandising opportunity for the new HTTYD land in Orlando that opens around the same time that the film is premiering in theaters.

And to help the studios make even more money out of this, they are using non-unionized VFX companies around the world to make this film, so that they can get cheaper labor and push the artists to do more that would be against American union standards. The same thing has probably happened with the costuming and fabrication for the filming, hence why the costumes look un-weathered and the sets look cheap. They don’t want to pay for the extra time and effort that it would take to make the practical bits of the production look good.

On top of all this, Dreamworks has already announced that they’re shutting down all their in-house animation projects in favor of using AI and outsourcing projects to cheaper international non-union studios.

With all this in mind, I just can’t support this film and I will not be seeing it in theaters. And I hope that others will do the same.

The only way to stop all these horrible “live action” remakes (which are actually just realistically animated remakes) is to not buy tickets to see them. Money is all that matters to these studios, and if they don’t make any money off of it, then they will stop and try something different. Maybe they'll even go back to focusing on original stories!

That’s the power that we hold as audiences. Our wallets help drive the decisions that the executives make. So support unique storytelling and gorgeous cinematography in movies. Support indie films. Support animators as they're fighting for fair pay and better contracts. But don't support a mediocre shot-for-shot remake riding on the coattails of an already successful film.

And I just want to wrap all this up by saying I have absolutely no hate towards anyone that has worked on the new film. Toothless looks incredible and I know the artists and creatives involved in this project did the best they could with what they were given.

But I also know that those same artists have so many more brilliant ideas that they would’ve loved to be given the creative freedom to do. I just wish hollywood would be willing to take a chance and let them do it.

[the-clock-of-the-time-dragon]

It will forever be hilarious to me that Disney wanted so fucking bad to make a Wicked movie — but couldn't get the rights from Universal — that they literally spent billions upon billions of dollars making SEVEN different films (and a whole season of television; not even including their sequels and spinoffs) more than one of which they even got Idina and Kristen to be in based on the stripped-down premise of "what if the Stock Female Antagonist™ was secretly the Misunderstood Angsty Girlboss Heroine™ all along?" (because Disney execs don't actually care about Wicked, they just saw Green, said "hey! if we can't get the real thing, why not use Our Own (and/or Public Domain) characters?" and simply followed the Marketing Department Road all the way to the bank).

Less funny is the fact they were so successful at it — regardless of the merits (or lack thereof) of any of those projects — that it ended up getting the production of the actual Wicked movie delayed by more than a decade (because it would ironically have looked like a copycat and probably faded into the background if it had come out back when Disney was pumping out knockoffs every fucking year).

[cuttle-creatures]

A bit rough on the edges, but the finished creature design painting I speedran for a design challenge!

[mageknife]

hey does anyone else ever think about archon!dorian and lose their minds

[oldbutchdanielcraig]

FREAKING AWESOME BEST GUY EVER I LOVE YOU.

[hyacinthsdiamonds]

Imagine having the fastest car on the grid, but Max Verstappen lives so rent free in your head that you try to copy him instead of doing literally anything original... Mclaren, you'll never be him, no matter how many times you claim the orange army as your own!

[charlesemersonwinchesteriii]

if Crozier had a nickel for every time someone close to him kept a mortal wound secret from him he'd have two nickels which isn't a lot but it's definitely enough to give him some very specific trauma for the rest of his life

[skz-miroh]

love how the “if buddie turns canon” has now turned into “when buddie becomes canon”

[riverin-stories]

i'm back from hiatus here 1 million years later to say: that okami sequel announcement had me in shambles

[cursed-onepiss]

the way my ass was not prepared for shanks rolling up to marineford, immediately intimidating every still-conscious major player on the battlefield including gd sengoku…

and then whipping around like a soap opera protagonist the second he realized buggy was there

*:･✧BUGGY?✧･:*

i don’t have to ship them when shanks does it for me

[jesuistrestriste]

SAGE SAGE SAGE SAGE

ARE YOU SEEING THIS

he is EMPLOYED

WHHHHAAAAAATTT ! ! ? ! ? i’m gonna frow up

i was driving all day today w my friend + just got back from a concert abt three hours ago and i missed this???

:( i’m so incredibly happy for him :(( he’s gonna do so well ! YAY MIKE !

[myimaginationplain]

do you ever think about how Ohkubo extremely casually dropped the fact that Spirit & Kami were teen parents & then proceeded to never expound upon that fact or bring it up ever again despite it explaining a whole lot about them & Maka

[starrysharks]

i want to delete my twitter account so fucking bad

[pastelaspirations]

I had a dream last night, or early this morning, that I was reading this scholarly book about how to write a dissertation. I have no idea why. But the book kept having... utmv references? Like, it would tell you how to do something and then use utmv characters to demonstrate

I got to one point where it referenced this supposed "famed" fight of Error and Ink. They went to a wild west au and Error supposedly "braved the chacoa in the canyons."

What is chacoa?? And why did Error have to "brave" it??? I don't know, man, but that is an exact quote that I remember

Anyway. I was reading, trying to discover more about this famed fight because it sounded low key interesting. Then, the book mentioned that Ink ran into… Coshuss. It was the au's variant of Cross. Imagine a very disgruntled bounty hunter cowboy and that was him. Getting angrier and angrier because it was apparently a source of comedy that Ink was having difficulty saying his name right

All I could think was, "Yeah, same, Ink." I had no idea how to pronounce that name

Well, the librarian who was in the room with her daughter with me, the daughter eventually had to run out of the room to get something. The librarian somehow knew what part I was at and said, "You know, you can admit what you thought his name was."

I didn't know what she meant. I guess she thought it was supposed to look like a bad word?? Dream version of me thought that too since I went, "Nah, I think it looks like... Koksue. Kosueh. Koshu."

Cue me badly trying to pronounce this poor man's name. Finally, I settled on one name I pronounced consistently, "Koshussss." Basically, "Koshu" with an awkward, annoying "s" sound dragged out at the end

The librarian woman started busting a gut. I laughed along too, even though I didn't really know what was so funny. Sure, I meant my pronunciation to be kinda funny, but not that funny

I then looked at the book and that was when I saw the correct pronunciation written out in parentheses

It was supposed to be pronounced CrossCross

I literally thought that was so funny, that I snorted so hard from laughing in my dream, I woke myself up.

A part of me is sad. I kinda really do wish there was a "How to Write Your Dissertation 101" book out there with utmv references I should know, but apparently don't