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the-musical-cc · 11 months

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FRANKELDA AND HER GHOSTS 1. (Part 2)

Seeing how more and more english-speaking audience is apparently watched Frankelda now, I feel like it's a good moment to post the translation transcript I did of the first live event with the Ambriz brothers, 'Frankelda y sus Fantasmas'. Posting on parts for easy reading because it's over 20 pages long. These are basically Q&A of making-of aspects of the series, going from concepting and design to even edition and post-production, going through Voice-acting and even trivia. They do sometimes comment some lore, but are restricted in how much they can talk about it as it would apparently spoil upcoming things. Latter episodes have some guests, including Mireya Mendoza herself (Frankelda's VA both in english and spanish) Kevin Smithers, who composed the score and songs in the series and even the edition team in the most recent one! (It honestly gives me life to see how much Cinema Fantasma values the whole team.)

It's fair to warn you that it's probably better to have watched the entire first season before checking it out, as it contains commentary on things that might spoil you if you haven't. It's also worth noting that this one was recorded on November the 26th in 2021, back when we had no word of the film being made or the new dub and USA release. Some additional notes:

-El Coco and the Boogeyman are both used for the same character in this one because it's how they do it in the dub. -Something happens in there that I cannot describe with the screencaps alone and the transcript would feel naked without, so description is provided. It's magical, you'll see.

Arturo Ambriz: Good, let’s move to this question which is also really nice- well, we already replied to Val Guerrera’s question, which is: ‘Are you thinking about publishing a book for the show?’. Well, that one’s already settled. Let’s do… let’s move to the next one, which is: ‘Is there one puppet per character and a lot of changes, for instance, mouth, eyes, etc.? Or are there multiples and a lot of changes?’

Roy Ambriz: They’re one-of-a-kind.

Arturo Ambriz: Ah, wait. The question is by Bailey Val… Bailey Valquion.

Roy Ambriz: All the characters are unique, they’re priceless, they have a personality and that’s why there’s only one for each… no, but seriously, yes, there’s only one, because…when you watch the ‘Nightmare Before Christmas’ making-of and you see there’s ten Jacks or something like that, I don’t know when- sorry, how many. We… I reiterate, being a Mexican production, new, and the such, we obviously didn’t have the budget to make a thousand copies of each character. So, what we did was make them the smart way in the puppet wing, so that we could fix them, and we had a very talented and… arrrgh! Super strong and buff puppet hospital team, just constantly fixing them again and again. Frankelda… yeah, there’s two Frankeldas, which is… something we hadn’t mentioned up ‘til now. There’s two Frankeldas because she was the character who had the most animated minutes on-screen, and the cool part is, if you look really closely, you can actually tell which is which, and that’s something we love.

If you watch the original ‘King Kong’ movie, the one from the 30s, there’s like three… the King Kong puppets were hand-made, they didn’t even cast them, Ray Harryhousen made them with wet cotton on latex and built them over… over skeletons he made…

Arturo Ambriz: Willis O’Brien.

Roy Ambriz: Ah, my bad, Willis O’Brien. I said Harryhousen but it’s Willis O’Brien. And he made them by hand. So, they’re not identical and there’s like three King Kongs, but it doesn’t matter because the illusion of life is there and, and you know it’s real. But, yeah, the hardcore ones, which I think is all of you, can figure out which one’s Frankelda mark one or mark two. But really, she’s one and the same, don’t worry, she sometimes just… likes to do her hair a little bit different, or arrange her dress some other way, because Frankelda never sits still and her… her spirit can take any shape she wishes to.

Arturo Ambriz: Next question… and it’s from Noemi Juárez… I wanted this one to show up. ‘¿Did you use the same figurine for Frankelda’s grandma and Magali’s hen witch?’ Let’s see, we can answer this one very plainly. It’s not that it’s the same figurine, it’s not that it’s the same puppet. Could it be that perhaps, perhaps, it’s the same character…? Anything you’d like to add?

Roy Ambriz: Well… Frankel- I mean. Frankelda, her stories, to write them she has to base them off her own life because, and this is a tip I’m giving you, we’re giving you, if you want to tell your own stories, write about what you know. Write about what… what you’ve learned, what you like…

Arturo Ambriz: What you’ve lived, what hurts you.

Roy Ambriz: But this doesn’t mean it has to be hyper-realistic and like… a copy, an exact replica of what is. You can tackle it from fiction, fiction can help to make-up and transform, because you can transform yourself. So you can create characters from an aunt you knew or your friend’s mom who is really interesting, and you can create… and that’s what she does, and so, ask yourselves why Frankelda drew inspiration on her grandma, right? To… to make the witch- who, by the way, her name’s Totolina.

Arturo Ambriz: Good. Next question… ‘What was the production process for the songs? Did you guys make the concepts for the lyrics?’ Alex Rosas asks.

This question is really interesting, we’re definitely inviting Kevin Smithers to one of these, he’s the composer of our songs and our orchestral pieces, and we’ll be able to talk more about this. But look, here’s a really fun little history tidbit… originally, we’d only planned for one song in the whole series, and it was El Coco's.

It was the very first one we wrote, it was the very first one that got recorded. Actually, that one… the Boogeyman’s story only exists because when we… I think it was literally the day we got greenlit to produce this, Roy and I were talking about what we wanted to see on-screen and we said: ‘Ooooff… this hobo monster, El Coco. All scruffy and ragged… in an alley in Coyoacán… playing a thousand instruments and flying ghost kids out of his hat and forming a dead kids orchestra.’ We were like: ‘Yes! That’s what we want to do for this season of ’Frankelda’’. And we started working on the story, we started creating everything and that’s when we made the lyrics for what at the time we still called ‘The Boogeyman’s Waltz’ …

...and here’s El Coco dropping by, and- hang on, let me get this out of the way… we started to work on the Boogeyman’s song. Sergio Carranza sang it, it turned out amazing, it turned out absolutely breath-taking, and, well, we realized...

[Here Hernevalito hilariously falls off Herneval's arms and Roy tries to silently non-react to it...]

...maybe it was worth it for the whole series to be a musical and have one song per episode. Why? Because we love musicals, because at the end of the day… think about this, I mean, each song… and here’s a little tip in case you like to write songs… each song is a poem.

[Roy then discreetly sits Hernevalito on El Coco's horn.]

Each song is actually a poem, that’s why Herneval tells Francisca ‘Hey, why don’t you read me that poem you just wrote?’

[Success! No one saw that, right?]

and it’s a sung poem. Well, songs are poems, right? I don’t know if it’s our way to put in a little bit of… creative, poetic and philosophical writing into the show, on top of it making it a lot flashier, making it more memorable. You listen to the song and it reaches faster. So what we worked on with Kevin was, while we worked on the lyrics…

Roy Ambriz: Specially him.

Arturo Ambriz: We kept working them, writing them, and like… turning them over, looking for… concepts, which, come entirely from the scripts, because the scripts were there first, and once we were clear on which ones they were- what it was we wanted to say and how it could have a nice ring to it- it was then that Kevin Smithers got involved and he helped us to, well, create the music proper, and there’s some… some texts that got edited, and some got longer or got shorter, and it was a very organic process where we included parts of the script, the poetry part, the conceptual and musical part, and everything got combined. And, believe us, we’re really glad to see you liked the songs, you’ve sang them, you’ve posted videos, you know the lyrics. That’s a dream come true for us.

Roy Ambriz: Besides, soon you’ll be able to sing with Frankelda or Herneval. So stay tuned to our Tik Tok channel on the next weeks.

Arturo Ambriz: Yes. Yeah, that’s right.

Next question… ah, this is a good one. ‘Will new kids inspired on your crew show up for the next episodes?’ Danitza Rivas asks us.

Roy Ambriz: Yes! We’re really excited, we have a lot if ideas, we want to see them already. I really like how… I want to clarify, just because they’re based off… as a fun little nod, from- the characters, it doesn’t mean they’re, like… exact copies, right? Of… I mean, they’re fictional characters, that should always be clear.

But yeah, we’re really, really excited about getting to include more kids. Tormenting even more characters; because a writers job is always to torment their characters, that’s how you put them to the test and depending on how they face the challenges you make for them, that’s how you discover what their nature is like. In this case, we like how… they don’t make it, and it’s something really fun to do because there’s a nice little reflection in there. But yeah, there will be many other children- but also expect to catch a glimpse of old acquaintances, of old friends in there, for sure.

Arturo Ambriz: And… I was precisely trying to look for the question to see who made it a while ago… the truth is I lost it, hope someone can help me over here…

Roy Ambriz: Tinta Invisible.

Arturo Ambriz: Someone… no. Someone was asking how we got the idea to use members of the Cinema Fantasma team to be the inspiration for the kids. And yeah, that’s the reality, not everyone may know this but, all the kids that app-

Female background voice: Daniela Herrera.

Arturo Ambriz: What? Daniela Herrera? Daniela Herrera was asking this just a while ago. And we realized we needed a bunch of kids and we didn’t want them to be generic. We wanted each one, even the ones in the background, just walking by, to have something unique to them that took a step away from cartoon stereotypes, where you always have… the chubby one, the red-haired one, the goth one. I mean, those stereotypes get on your nerves, right? So, we wanted everyone to be a combination of very particular elements, and we were like: ‘Well, people who work in Cinema Fantasma are visually fascinating, it’s like a whole new range of personalities, of shapes, of colors, of voices, everything.’

So, that was the best inspiration because it really is also an homage for our team, they do so much. I mean, this, the stop-motion, the series, the movies, it’s teamwork! And for the next seasons, we’ll keep using people from the team and new people too, people who’ve joined this crew to create more and more characters. I mean, this is part of ‘Frankelda’s DNA and will always be.

Roy Ambriz: Mm-hm.

Arturo Ambriz: OK. Let’s see… ah, this one. Go on and answer this one, Roy. It’s a question from Valeria Palacios: ‘Do people turn unto Spooks when they die or are Spooks born some other way?’

Roy Ambriz: No, a normal person doesn’t necessarily turn into a Spook when they die. It’s actually quite strange but, there’s Spooks who want to be human, like the Gnome- the Gnomes. They want to be human because they don’t like the… the place they were assigned to as Spooks. There’s Spooks who are fascinated by humans, like, from an anthropologic point of view. Like the Boogeyman, who loves to study them and has been doing it since he was… his dad used to bring him to watch him work when he was a kid.

Arturo Ambriz: Don Coco!

Roy Ambriz: Don Coco would bring him to watch him work, and he’d be gawking at them, and he loved them, and he’d say: ‘I just don’t get them. They’re so fragile and so… so stupid…’

Arturo Ambriz: ‘So temperamental!’

Roy Ambriz: So, they loved that. There’s Spooks that absolutely loathe humans, like the Mermaid, who used to have control over the territory and was worshiped as a goddess and now she hates that no one is even aware she’s there, and on top of it they polluted her world, and her pyramid lays forgotten. It’s undiscovered, it’s in Xochimilco but no one’s discovered it yet, it’s underwater.

And then there’s humans who want to be Spooks because they aren’t happy with their lives. Like Tamazola, Tochina and… which one am I missing?

Arturo Ambriz: Totolina.

Roy Ambriz: Totolina! Who are the three witches. In order to become Spooks, they had to figure out a lot of things, I can’t really give away too much because it’s a spoiler. And they had to perform a ritual which they’d been constructing for a long time before they could actually do it, and they hadn’t accomplished it until Magali came along… but there’s a reason they have so many caged animals in their kitchen, y’know?

Arturo Ambriz: You touched upon one of the questions someone… someone else made. This one’s by Alexa Casas: ‘Will we be seeing Don Coco in the next seasons?’

Roy Ambriz: Don Coco! Who can say?

Arturo Ambriz: What do you guys think? A bit of homework for you, you’ll see.

Next… ah, this one’s great: ‘Why did Herneval’s attitude change so much when he became a book?’ Picture this. You guys are maybe, I don’t know…

Roy Ambriz: No spoilers!

Arturo Ambriz: Yeah, no spoilers. You guys are… I don’t know if in middle school, high school, college or already graduates. What were you like five years ago? Picture yourselves ten years ago, the kind of personality you had, the way you spoke, OK? It’s been a hundred and fifty years. That’s all I’m saying.

Roy Ambriz: But, Herneval aged, didn’t he-? ahhh.

Arturo Ambriz: Spoiler! Spoiler, spoiler, spoiler… soc! OK, next question. Ooff, no, I’m not answering this question because it would be a huge, huge, huge spoiler…

Roy Ambriz: Let me see, what is it?

Arturo Ambriz: I’m gonna skip it.

Roy Ambriz: Read it and I won’t… they’ll just see my expression.

Arturo Ambriz: You sure?

Roy Ambriz: Yeah.

Arturo Ambriz: They’re asking, and there’s actually more than one person asking: ‘Whatever happened to Francisca’s body?’

…next question…

Roy Ambriz: Tinta Invisible.

Arturo Ambriz: Yes, yes, next question: ‘What’s Herneval’s biggest fear?’ by Meru Chan. Look how- this is a really nice question, it’s true, Spooks have fears too, right? I mean… specially Herneval, Herneval shows himself as… fragile, vulnerable despite… he’s such a good… I was going to say ‘Good person’, but, let’s say he’s such a good Spook, and…

Roy Ambriz: A handsome lad.

Arturo Ambriz: And a handsome lad.

Roy Ambriz: The fussy book.

Arturo Ambriz: He’s gentlemanly, he’s kind, he’s passionate… but I definitely think that… not to give away to much: Herneval is very scared of loss. He’s afraid of having- people he loves and…

Roy Ambriz: Ah-ah! Erm…

Arturo Ambriz: OK. Yes. Yeah, that would have been a spoiler.

Let’s see, this question has no, no, no spoilers at all, and it’s… they’re asking… ‘What can I do if I want to learn animation but I’m already studying for a different career?’ Paulina Cortés is asking.

Roy Ambriz: I think this question might also be exemplified better along the next sessions as we get more of our friends parading here, who also created ‘Frankelda’. But in order to animate, to make an animated production, you’ll need lots and lots of different talents and abilities. It’s really funny because sometimes we get called ‘Animators’. The two of us. It’s like- that’s not true, we don’t animate. Well, I animated… a couple of things, but we’re not animators per se, we’re directors, were writers, we’re sculptors. So, an actual animator and with a big range too… I think that might be… too much, and it might be- what’s that word again? Like, overwhelming. Right? Like… too much. It’s… when, really, when you shred animation into tiny pieces, you realize you need someone who knows how to write, someone who knows how to administer a project, someone who can paint, someone who can draw well, and design. Someone…

Arturo Ambriz: Book-keeping.

Roy Ambriz: Book-keeping! You need a musician, or someone who knows about music, you need actors and voice actors. It’s endless, right? Someone who knows about tech, someone who knows about IT, someone who knows computer programming, who can do motion-controls. Who can do post-production-

Arturo Ambriz: Social-media.

Roy Ambriz: So… college is always a starting point, and this is something we always say, from experience. We graduated more or less, ten years ago, give or take. College is a starting point, it’s not that you have to stay there just because you got your degree in that area, it’s a starting point you chose for… a project. But from then on, it’s up to you and your guts, and your continued studies of many other things you didn’t really see in school, and to living, it’s up to you where you lead your life to and where you want to go, and whether you achieve that your calling is… aligning what you want to do for work, with earning money, and on top all of this, with your reason to live, because it’s your life project; and this is how you feel accomplished, and this is how you know you can do some good in the world, and if you manage to align all of that, it’s beautiful. We’re very happy we’re able to do this for a living, but it implies a lot of work and for you to move to where you want to be.

Arturo Ambriz: Next, it’s a question by Bets Chan Ching, and it’s: ‘What is the Spooks’ life cycle and is it the same as humans?’

Roy Ambriz: Hmmm…

Arturo Ambriz: This question is a really good one, such a good one, it’s something that will be gradually answered as the next seasons roll by. What we can say is, it’s definitely not exactly like a human being’s. But I think you can reflect on, I don’t know… have you realized there’s times you don’t want to do a specific homework, you’re scared of doing it because you’re convinced that you’re going to mess it up? And maybe if you’d done it immediately you would have spent half an hour doing it and then you’d be done, but because you didn’t do it during the week, well, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger in your mind, and it’s gigantic by Saturday and it’s even bigger by Sunday? And by Monday at four AM this homework, this fear of doing homework is just massively huge and it’s crushing you? And now something you could have gotten done in half an hour ruined your entire week? I think if we understand, like… fears, we can get a better idea of what the life cycle of Spooks is.

Roy Ambriz: ‘Anything? Heeheehee…’

Arturo Ambriz: Yes, exactly. It’s a very, very interesting question, but… actually, if we tried to completely explain it right now, it wouldn’t make any sense to you, you have to see it, you have to watch it happen little by little in the next seasons.

Ah, this question is really nice, Mansand Saga asks: ‘Did you have any problems with friends or family when you picked your career and to pursue your passion?’ …no. We happened to be in luck…

Roy Ambriz: In our specific case.

Arturo Ambriz: The two of us, specially, were lucky to have our parents, our friends, our family always supporting us. We specially got a lot of artistic stimulation- and corporate as well, from our parents, that’s how it’s always been. Our mom always made us draw, made us sculpt, made us get our hands dirty… I’m even exposing her a little bit here, but my mom would sometimes even let us skip school so we could go to an amusement park, or to the movies, or because- I don’t know, maybe even something like the weekend’s game got a bit too long and we wanted to finish it properly, like, we had those kinds of permissions.

So, it did help us big time to have that kind of help. In conclusion, if you see one of your friends wants to do this for a living, support them, cheer for them, because yes, there is a professional life for arts. Now, obviously, we’re aware that not everyone has this kind of family support, we have a lot of friends who experienced rejection in their homes in order to be able to make a living with this. But what we’re saying, the best message we can send about it is episode four of ‘Frankelda’s Book of Spooks’. That’s why we created the El Coco, that’s why we created Tere, that’s why we created these ghostly children who dance and make music, it’s because we’ve watched a lot of our friends and acquaintances get their passion stolen by the Boogeyman…

Roy Ambriz: And they just settled…

Arturo Ambriz: They settled, they dedicated themselves to something they didn’t even want to do, and suddenly it’s been ten, fifteen years, and they’re like: ‘Oh, my God, I wish I could turn back time and give myself unto the things I’m passionate about.’. So to keep that from happening to you guys, we made the Boogeyman and Tere.

Roy Ambriz: Play it for your aunts and uncles, the Boogeyman episode, when they get on your case.

Arturo Ambriz: Oooh, this one’s really, really good, only detail’s that the username of the asker is JICJ2442. They’re asking in Tik Tok, and it’s… ‘Will we see…?’ ah, we’re mixing our sources for the questions from all the social media, eh? They’re asking if we will ever see the Spooks’ world.

Roy Ambriz: Tsss… it’s what we want to show you the most!

Arturo Ambriz: It’s not so much the world, it’s the Kingdom of Spooks.

Roy Ambriz: Herneval’s Kingdom, y’know? And that of his parents, hm? So… that’s what we want to show the most. That’s where Francisca’s headed to right now, Frankelda, and, well, we hope we get to show it to you.

Arturo Ambriz: Alright, Camicatura is also asking when they’ll get to watch the series if they’re in Spain. This is a very, very good question. Look, there’s no precedent for this kind of series made in México or Latin-America, like… a stop-motion, horror musical, and one of such a high quality. I mean, it’s like a very odd mixture of elements, and there’s definitely plans for the international launch, so it can be watched all over the world, but that’s something we’re going to achieve little by little.

For us, the ideal scenario would be to get to a point where… where season two can launch simultaneously in every country that has HBOMax. But it’s a matter that’s not really in our hands, rather, they’re completely strategic on the part of HBOMax and Warner Bros.

Roy Ambriz: Now, if you want to watch it, you can write to HBOMax’s social media about wanting it to also arrive on Europe, and that would be great help, y’know? If more people around the world start requesting it, there are more chances that it’ll be authorized for more countries.

Arturo Ambriz: Great. Herneval’s little wing is covering your face quite a bit. Let’s see, you’re going to love answering this one, Roy, I’m sure. It’s: ‘Do Spooks only haunt kids or adults too?’

Roy Ambriz: They haunt everyone. Really, I think… children can get a better grasp of what a Spook is, and humans… they look for another explanation…

Arturo Ambriz: Adults.

Roy Ambriz: Adults. Like, children will see them as Spooks, and adults will too, but the Spooks won’t… won’t allow themselves to be seen quite as easily, because Spooks live anywhere you look, but you can’t see them for lack of knowing to look.

Arturo Ambriz: Great. This question is very nice, asked by Axel Imanol and it’s: ‘What was your inspiration for making ‘Tinta Invisible’? Honestly, I love that song a lot.’ Look, the lyrics to ‘Tinta Invisible’, like we said just a while ago, are a poem. It’s literally a poem, its inspiration comes from what writing implies, what making fiction implies. For instance, this line about… it’s one of the lines we like the most, it’s: ‘Reading, you inhabit the hidden.’ Picture it, right? If I have my ‘Harry Potter’ book here, well, it’s just an object, it’s like some sort of brick, right? A paper brick, my ‘Harry Potter’ book. But within those pages lies in hiding all of Hogwarts, and all of Diagon Alley, and it conceals… I don’t know, Azkaban Prison within. And it hides… the Weasleys with all of their kids.

So, within a paper brick, there’s this whole world, hidden. So, when you read it, when you read a book, when you read a story, you inhabit the hidden. Because, I swear to you, I’ve been in Hogwarts- because when I read Harry Potter, I picture myself walking around and climbing the magic stairs, and getting into one of the rooms… I don’t know, the classroom for Potions Class with Professor Snape. I mean, I’ve lived in Hogwarts by reading fiction. That’s what ‘Frankelda’ is about, that’s what ‘Tinta Invisible’ is about. ‘Tinta Invisible’ is a song that pays homage to the art of writing and fiction. If you analyze each line, it becomes very clear… well, not all that clear but all of the… the symbolism of what writing and creating something that doesn’t exist is hidden there.

Roy Ambriz: Here’s Frankelda’s ‘Harry Potter’ collection.

Arturo Ambriz: Oh, that’s so cool!

Roy Ambriz: The books.

Arturo Ambriz: Where did that come from?

Roy Ambriz: Walmart.

Arturo Ambriz: I’d never seen it. It’s really cool! Ahh, goody. Well, let’s see… ‘Frankelda and Herneval’s personality, did you plan it in advance or did you base it off someone?’

Roy Ambriz: Yes… our task as writers is to plan out the personality of each character, it’s… when you write a character, it’s like you’re living it, it’s like you’re placing yourself in their shoes and seeing the… I mean, you’re within their perspective and looking at the world from their eyes. Counterweights start emerging, right? And Dramatic Orchestrations, as they’re known, start emerging, like… Herneval, you’ve seen it yourselves. Young Herneval with Francisca isn’t the same as…Herneval-libro with Frankelda, and it’s not the same as Herneval-libro with Procustes, right? I mean, he changes, depending on who he’s with. Why? Because that’s life, you’re not the same when you’re alone with your friends to when you’re in a Christmas dinner with like family members you rarely see, you only meet them once a year, or when you’re in class. It changes.

So yeah, each personality and each character has to be written, has to be pondered, has to be rewritten, has to be erased and… and raised again, and gradually discovered. And, obviously that process starts with writing but is run by character design, art design, animation, run by voice actors, who also permeate it, and the character is uncovered throughout all of these processes.

Arturo Ambriz: Very good. Also… that’s the thing, I mean, you guys can see that so many of the characters we’ve seen in TV or movies are opposites, aren’t they? And Frankelda and Herneval-libro, spending so much time together on-screen, well they had to be opposites, right? One of them is red and the other is blue, it’s that simple, I mean, it’s a visual-psicological-narrative codification. Frankelda is an optimist, Herneval’s a pessimist. Frankelda’s cheerful, Herneval’s a grump. Frankelda always moves in circles, her hair has circular curls, her hand movements are circular; and the book is a small square, and everything about him is a square, right? So, this is a good tip for writing characters, thinking about opposites, thinking about complements, thinking about the Ying and the Yang.

Next question… this question is Meru Chan’s: ‘What made you change Herneval’s appearance from the Pilot?’

Roy Ambriz: It was a… that’s a rather interesting question. As we’ve said, when we made the season as opposed to the Pilot, we agreed that we had to improve everything. And the Pilot- we didn’t really wonder about that many things because it’s a Pilot, y’know? Obviously, we’d gotten less time, and the top priority was to show that the series could be great, so what we did when they greenlit the season was to think better about the characters. At some point, as you’ve seen in the concept art, Herneval was thought up as more of a demon, but it was way too obvious, and it could also have religious connotations we really don’t want there to be, so, we decided to ponder it. He’s not the Demon Prince, he’s the Prince of Spooks, I mean, he has to be a Spook. What’s a Spook? It’s something new.

So, we started to ponder and around this time, Ana Coronilla, who is the art director, had the idea- she was like: ‘I kind of see him as an owl.’ Because with Herneval, in order to make him princely, we kept thinking and got- we were creating with the Awesombrosos, trying to make him more reptilian, or some other thing, and when we said ‘Owl’, it was like ‘Wow, he looks amazing!’ and on top of that, he has to… like, the personality we want, and that’s when we said ‘It’s just, if this were a live-action, he’d be played by someone along the lines of Timothé Chalamet-‘ not sure I’m saying that right.

Arturo Ambriz: Timothee.

Roy Ambriz: Timothee Chalamet, so… well, we said ‘Him, plus owl, plus some other elements.’ And, well, we got hunk Herneval, and then we saw the book and the character progression made no sense anymore, the one from the Pilot, because he’s more snakelike. So it was like ‘OK, how are we going to rebuild the character so he still has Herneval’s essence that we’ve already gotten to know from the Pilot, but make it make sense that this character turned into the book?’. And that was the ruling on which we decided to make… to change the Hernevals.

Arturo Ambriz: Well, next question, by AB_8A_7: ‘If Herneval used to be the Prince of Spooks, does that mean the King will show up in a flashback?’

Roy Ambriz: Oooh…

Arturo Ambriz: You’re getting close to the… the heart of the matter. Definitely, obviously, we’re going to meet the King of Spooks, we don’t want to disclose anything else about him, but… but props to you guys for realizing it, right? If there’s a Prince, then who’s the King?

Roy Ambriz: Besides, somewhere… well. Nope. I was just about to spoil it!

Arturo Ambriz: No spoilers.

Roy Ambriz: But that’s the thing, it’s… how cool is it to think, who is Herneval’s dad? Why… why does Herneval have to go to the human realm? Why wasn’t he in the prologue? That is, why was he with Procustes and not his father? So you start to… to develop and sprout a lot of fun things…

Arturo Ambriz: Why is there an hourglass that’s close to the limit?

Roy Ambriz: No one’s talked about the hourglass, have they?

Arturo Ambriz: I haven’t really seen that much…

Roy Ambriz: Hmmm… go figure.

Arturo Ambriz: Anyway… well. This one was by La Reina Cuervo, who we’re already familiar with because we had an interview with her this week, real fun. She’s asking how much time Frankelda spent with Herneval before they got trapped. And that question, well, can’t be answered because it’s something we’re going to see in the next seasons, what happens during this process. That is, once they cross that threshold at the crypt, at the graveyard, what Herneval and Francisca had to do, how they got to where they are right now. For sure, it’s in there, this story that’s still going to develop further.

Next question… ah, well, this one’s really simple. 199501 asks: ‘I don’t know whether you already answered this one, but what are the three witches’ names?’ And, the witch who speaks the most, the one that turns into a hen, the one that sings, her name is Totolina. We just barely realized we never had them mention their names, but in production her name was always Totolina. Then, the witch that turns into a toad, her name is Tamazola, and the witch that turns into a rabbit, a hare, her name is Tochina. Yeah?

Next question… ‘Does Herneval have some sort of power?’ question by Blackroses.

Roy Ambriz: Well, you saw that already, he does, right? And… his power is used three times along the first season. We can’t say more, but he definitely has. Well, he’s the Prince of Spooks, he has to have something special to him.

Arturo Ambriz: OK, next question… ‘Why does Tere play the theremin?’. Question by Lagunas X. Look, we realized long ago that… the theremin is like, the musical instrument of ghosts. The theremin, in every B-movie in Hollywood where there’s ghosts or aliens, zombies, it’s like… a sound that doesn’t seem to belong to this world, because it’s really similar to a human voice. But at the same time it sounds like the mix between a robot and a… a howl. So, it’s like, hard to decipher. So, the theremin has this whole symbolic weight which we love, ever since we created this studio ten years ago, the bumper of the intro we had, which was the Cinema Fantasma bumper, you can hear a theremin. So, for us it’s always been like the theremin is the Cinema Fantasma musical instrument. Personally, it’s my favorite musical instrument.

So, when we started to unravel this episode which I’ve told you about a while ago, that we wanted to get to this big moment of the orchestra in the alley with the dead children and the Boogeyman dancing, we start to realize we needed, like… a character who wanted to make music in order to get to this moment, and we realized it would be very original to have her play the theremin, because we’ve seen a million boys and girls who play the violin or the guitar, even Coco and Book of Life have this, right? You can always look for something different to… to give the show a unique flavor.

Moving on, Yara Edith asks: ‘Why is Frankelda from Hidalgo?’ And, get this, originally, this was only going to last one hour and we’re at, I think, an hour and a quarter. Let’s… let’s answer a few more questions and we’ll call it a day, also so you guys can have a nice Friday and not just sit there listening to us. Right, so let’s go back to Yara Edith’s question. Why is Frankelda from Hidalgo?

Roy Ambriz: Because, well, something both of us really wanted to do is… make something that felt… a series that felt Mexican but by someone who actually lives in México, y’know? Like, for there to be these little elements no one else who didn’t live in México could have, and it’s mixed in with experience. One of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to is the Panteón Inglés. I love it. One of my best friends hails from there, from Pachuca, but she’d take us… back in college we went a lot of times, to- Hi, Rosa, if you’re watching.

Arturo Ambriz: I don’t think she is.

Roy Ambriz: I don’t think so because I didn’t even give her a heads-up, but OK. But we traveled a lot, and we made a lot of- she’s a photographer. And we did a lot of photography exercises at Panteon Inglés, and it’s just gorgeous. And… truth is that when we were framing this series, we said: ‘It just would be so cool that she was a Victorian ghost, right? In this big house.’ And back at the Pilot we couldn’t really get into it, show it, how we want to break away from that cliché, I mean, she is Victorian, and she is from that period, but it’s not in Europe, it’s in México. Because mixing in with history -which is something we also love, like, mixing in bits of truth- it’s around this time that the British arrived in there to, well… care for and extract from the silver mines, they brought in a lot of things, right? Soccer, the pasties, which turned into pastes, and whatnot. We figured it’d be really nice if Frankelda’s house is European because his dad is British, but he’s a British man who fell in love with a Mexican woman, and Frankelda’s born from that union. Why? Because Frankelda- as you know, well, in México we’re a mixture of the European and the Mexican-origin, and, and we’re not- it doesn’t matter anymore, to us, origin doesn’t matter anymore, just that we’re Mexican, and that’s very Mexican.

And so, Frankelda is Mexican. She makes her stories up with the mixture of things, of elements within her head, and what better place than… I mean, if this beautiful place that actually exists in real life inspires us, well, we wanted to also pay homage to that place, and even though it’s not exactly identical, it is a rather latent inspiration for us.

Arturo Ambriz: Alright. Now, Emily Delgado asks us whether we’re giving some kind of courses or bachelor, and, yeah, actually yes, we’ve given several of them. Next year, we’ll reactivate our section called ‘Cinema Fantasma EDU’ which is where we give our courses, bachelor degrees, workshops, conferences on stop-motion. That’s a great way to learn. Stay tuned to our social media, cause that’s where we’re giving notice. Thing is, between COVID and all the work we had with ‘Frankelda’, we had to put this project on hold, well, this whole year. But we’re eager to get back into it and get it done. This is something we love, and we’re exploring other options, really cool ones too, with a certain… how do I put this, brand that makes online courses to make a very specific kind of thing. Really cool, we’re working really hard, I don’t want to spoil that either, because it will be announced in due time, but we’ve got more options coming up so we can talk and we can try to impart some of the knowledge we’ve been saving up all these years by making these productions.

Roy Ambriz: Good.

Arturo Ambriz: Very good. And… I think this will be our last question.

Roy Ambriz: Last question!

Arturo Ambriz: Let’s see… I’m looking for one that’s real good.

Roy Ambriz: Yeah, close it up with some meat, go on.

Arturo Ambriz: Something that makes fans speculate?

Roy Ambriz: Yeah.

Arturo Ambriz: …there’s just so many good ones. Let’s see, for instance… ah, look, this one’s nice because it additionally comes all the way from Chile. Sent by Gabriel Beltrán, and it’s: ‘Are the Spooks’ stories told on the show based on real legends or inspired on something of the sort?’

Roy Ambriz: And, well… it’s a mix of everything, right? We aren’t basing them on anything specific per se. I feel like we’ve already seen so much in México, in Mexican adaptations about Mexican legends. Which is really cool, but it’s already been done, even in animation. So, we wanted to do new ones. There’s characters like, for instance- in the… originally in the pitch, back when we hadn’t thought so much about it, the witches… the original concept art is somewhere around, they were more… European, more classic, or United States-like, with the hat and the broom and the stockings. And we were like: ‘No, we want it to be…to feel more like… witches who have somehow been living around a lot of places in México or Latin-America for a while, and who, as luck would have it, right now are living around Colonia Roma maybe, or La Condesa, something to that effect. How do we make it feel specific?’

So… it obviously comes from, well, people- we can’t say ‘We invented witches, we invented mermaids.’ Or anything. But they’re more like… characters and archetypes we take and resignify to things we’ve lived through, things within our imagination, and things we want to see. Maybe the one that’s more inspired in an existing character which we felt had barely even gotten representation in Latin-America is El Coco. The Boogeyman, always-he comes from… our mom always tells us this story, we’d mentioned it a couple of times, but my grandpa used to say to her, because we collected toys, and back in the nineties they were all monsters and stuff like that, really cool stuff. And my grandpa used to tell my mom: ‘Why would they ever be afraid of the El Coco if they have that kind of toy and aren’t scared by it?’. So, this Boogeyman character, like… a bum, or, just something that’s not exactly what we have in the collective imagination, but we had that idea floating around, and, well… we decided to capture it. And I hope we can see more of the El Coco in the future.

Arturo Ambriz: Totally… well, I think we’ve reached the limit with this session. We’re obviously absolutely thankful to you, this is why we want to keep creating these opportunities to chat. We know there was a lot more questions but, think about it, we’d be here for five hours. We’d be happy to, but we also don’t want to ruin your Friday, so I think the good stuff has to be, like… like, in moderation.

We’ll also take this chance to tell you that we seriously are on the constant lookout for everything you’ve posted on social media- look, for example, I have a physical fanart right here, and it’s so cool! But trust me when I say all the digital ones, all the ones I’ve found, I’ve shared them on my Instagram account and I’ve been saving them. I feel like it’s like I’m filling up my Panini album, I’m logging in all the time to see what I can find and save it. And something we would love to do here in Cinema Fantasma, we’d just have to rearrange the space, is to print all the fanart you’ve made, print out all the fanart you’ve made and post it over a wall in Cinema Fantasma even just a small print. Because, trust me that, for both of us as well as the whole crew it’s mind-blowing to see you liked what we worked so hard on, what we toiled so much to make. Right now, we’re seeing some of the fanarts we love on screen…

Roy Ambriz: Just not Tik Tok because…

Arturo Ambriz: Uh-huh, not Tik Tok.

Roy Ambriz: Because we’re… on a different one.

Arturo Ambriz: But it’s not that…

Roy Ambriz: Look how gorgeous! Wow!

Arturo Ambriz: It’s not that we’re only seeing the ones we like the most, y’know? We like all of them, it’s just that we did a quick search right now and these are the ones we had close-at-hand to show, but really, we love all of them, and all of them have their charm.

Roy Ambriz: Yes, and they’re beautiful, thank you so much. We’re very, very, very grateful with all the Fankeldos and Fankeldas…

Arturo Ambriz: Or Spooks.

Roy Ambriz: Or Spooks, or…

Arturo Ambriz: The Owls.

Roy Ambriz: The Owls and the Writers.

Arturo Ambriz: The Quills.

Roy Ambriz: Anything you like, thank you so much because Frankelda is alive thanks to you. Something we can say is… ‘Frankelda’ is a celebration of fiction. So although there’s a… an official storyline which comes from us and Cinema Fantasma, Frankelda, the thing she likes the most is to be alive. So, consider the stories you make for her, when they’re in your minds, in your hearts, to be canon as well. To you, to the one reading right now, it’s real, because Frankelda is alive. So… draw her, write her, think about her. It's so nice to see it, really, we’re super thankful. It’s… this is the best possible present for us after… for the whole team, after… such difficult years in order to keep it afloat, where we had to, well… work so much, sacrifice some things in order to get it out there. So, this is super gorgeous, and we’re sending hugs to absolutely all of you guys and… an announcement. A fun one.

I think it should be up by now, a new filter that you can find, called ‘Frankeldízate’. If you want to turn into Frankelda or in… if you want to be real Fankeldos and Fankeldas, you can use that. Please, use it, it’s really fun. You can use it to sing, you can use it to write, for anything you want, it’s up. Start using it. Tag us, please, we love to see everything you make.

Arturo Ambriz: Something very important we nearly forgot is… we have a little surprise giveaway, OK? We have 5 posters, signed by the whole team. By the team who made ‘Frankelda’s Book of Spooks’, the Cinema Fantasma team. And we’re going to give it to the first five people who answer the following question and sent it to our mail, [email protected]. Repeating the address, [email protected], OK? First five people to send the answer to this question, we’ll get in touch with you through the mail to see about sending it. If it’s within México City, it will be through our messenger boy, our dear Arturo, but if you’re not in México City, well, we’ll look for a way to get it to you through national or international mail. OK? So, the mail is [email protected] and here’s the question, OK? And it’s: How… where does-? We mentioned it a while ago. Where does Herneval’s name come from?

Roy Ambriz: Go!

Arturo Ambriz: There it is, we went into it in detail a while ago, so if you paid attention, you can answer that question. And we’ll look for a way to make… make some other dynamic so we can give away this kind of things. Is there anything else you want to add, Roy?

Roy Ambriz: Well… please use the #Frankelda. You can use the other ones, they’re really cool. The ‘Que Listo Sos, Herneval’ one, all the ones you’re making up, but also use the #Frankelda on its own, because that way we can get everything thrown together and it’s like evidence for us to show the producers of you wanting a second season. Be insistent. If you wish, insist at the Cartoon Network LA and HBOMax LA social media accounts in your different kinds of posts, but use… flood them with requests for ‘Frankelda’s second season because that’s the only way we’re getting it. So, if there’s a massive second season bombing, it’s way easier, I hope no one kills me for saying that, but it’s the truth and I have to ask. So, well, I think that’s all for this session. If you liked it, expect more. We’ll be announcing the date for the next one along with our guest star soon.

Arturo Ambriz: Also, believe us when we say, as Roy did a while ago, if we can talk for a bit about what ‘Frankelda’ represents, well, we highly, highly, highly recommend for you to read. It’s never too late to get close to literature. We already made it easy for you, why not start with ‘Frankenstein’ by Mary Shelley? I’d be very surprised if you didn’t love it, truly, it’s fascinating. It’s a beautiful, philosophical, horror, science fiction book, it’s got everything, y’know? It has family drama, it has traditions, it has murder, it’s an incredible book. Read. Write. That’s something I struggle with a lot regarding my students, as we’ve mentioned, we teach in a handful of classes, and I do see sometimes how they lack… reading, and this is also why we were so insistent on the main character of the show being a writer.

So, well, we’re finishing up and, I just read a great suggestion and it’s that we should leave but first we should put Herneval and Frankelda together, and we should leave them like that for a minute, leave them like this for a minute… and leave. Thanks, goodbye.

Roy Ambriz: Goodbye!

Arturo Ambriz: It’s been great.

#Frankelda #Sustos Ocultos de Frankelda #Frankelda's Book of Spooks #Cinema Fantasma #cc translates #And now you know why the latam fandom makes so many jokes about Hernevalito falling on his face

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fourthreee · 11 months

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Saw a post a while back about favourite and least favourite bits of star trek and I wanted to join in. So here's my two cents :

Original Star Trek

Favourite: Spock. Bones. Scotty. Uhura. Kirk. Chapel. Sulu. Chekov. EVERYONE. The sets. The lighting. The camp. The blatant homoeroticism. The do or die for each other crew. That time they found an alien that was just a pomeranian wearing fancy headgear. The fact that every episode is self contained and ends with a little bit where everyone stands around the conn and chats. Leonard Nimoy. Sulu with a sword. Sulu the rest of the time.EVERYONE. This is my favourite trek, and the one I return to over and over again. First trek is best trek.The bell bottom trousers and cuban heel knee high boots. More kinky boots, modern trek, d'ya hear me? More kinky boots.

Least favourite: When the show reveals how terribly it can abandon everything that makes it good. Of all the episodes, there's about a third I just cannot watch. Times where they fill it full of weird christian metaphor.

TNG

Favourite: Geordie and Data. And Spot. I keep trying to watch this but I've only ever seen A Fistful of Datas. IT was great. And horribly horribly slow. (oh. And one where Picard chases bandits through the ship armed only with a saddle and while dodging a laser car wash. That one was great. Except for when I rewatched this as an adult. When it was horrifying.)

Least favourite: Invented the holodeck which gets used too much later and which always confuses me. Can't watch holodeck episodes without obsessing over how it works. Everything is carpeted and it panics me. Why are there wall to wall carpets in the future. In high traffic areas. Also it was genrerally too slow and difficult to watch. And whil I love Hornblower I have neither a headmaster nor a Naval Captain fetish, so Picard never does it for me.

DS9

Favourites: Everyone. Everyone together. I want Sisko to be my dad. Or my friend. Or my Captain. All of the above. Julian Bashir trans icon. Jadzia Dax trans icon. Everyone is poly and queer. Ferengi episodes. Kira Nerys lesbian energy. Every 36 hours I turn into a liquid. I can swim. The whole Odo marrying Lwxwna episode. Our Man Bashir. He was more than a hero. He was a Union Man. It's written all over his back.

Least favourite : When they switched to serialised I do struggle to keep watching. Taking away Kira's butch haircut and stompy boots. Show never recovered from that. Any time they give Kira a beard. I've never finished the series bc I couldnt face the Julian/parents arc or the Jadzia death/Julian and Ezri thing. When they stopped Andrew Robinson from being on screen with Siddig El Fadil. Any time Dukat got more than a minute airtime. Any executive decision Rick Berman made.

Voyager:

Favourites: Seven of 9. Harry Kim. Janeway. B'elanna. The time they all opereated the French Resistance out of a bar. Stand alone episodes. The time Janeway definitely slept with Amerlia Earhart. The time Janeway ran around in a dirty singlet with a big gun. That episode where they hide the telepaths in the buffers of the transporters to sneak past a moustache twirling villain while Janeway flirts with him like they're both opponent pirate captains with insane homoerotic tension. Ther's coffee in that nebula.

Least favourites: The Doctor. Seven not getting a uniform. Tom Paris any time he's not just Harry Kim's boyfriend. Janeway's inconsistent characterisation. The fact that phages might be a real world last line defence against antibiotic resistance but thanks to voyager it will always terrify me. I've never made it to the end because Tom/B'elanna was too hard to watch and I didn't know how to deal with them actually getting home. Ithink they never should have. Any executiev decision Rick Berman made.

Enterprise:

Favourites: I have seen two episodes and Hoshi Sato has my heart forever. Phlox is great. Tight-wound angry queer british guy can stay too. Travis is great. Theme song is terrible and I love it. It's so incongruent. Sounds like the sort of country song you listen to while committing suicide in the bathtub. Can't stop singing it. The fact that it killed Rick Berman's career.

Least favourite: Everything else. The dog in particular. Why is it there. Why is it soulless. Poor Jolene Blalock. Why are their uniforms so bad. I love a jumpsuit but they didn't colour code them properly! Every executive decision Rick Berman made.

JJ Abrams:

Favourites: Nothing. This is terrible.. If you can't make up you own characters why are you butchering my boys. Go away.

Least Favorites: Trying to remake wrath of Khan (the worst movie with the original cast imo) without even bothering to buiild the relationship that makes us care. Why is he still white? Why are they in a brewery? Why is Pike a hot dad now? He's a wreck of the american masculine heroic ideal who exists as a counterpoint to Kirk. If tumblr wants to make his doomed ass a poor little meow meow fine. JJ Abrams shouldnt put him in his movie. Every exectuive decision they made about women in this movie. Making Sulu gay in massive disrespect to Takei's depiction of him and Takei's own acting skills. Making everyone else straight in the worst possible way. Pretending miniskirts in 2009 meant the same thing as in 1969. Also I stoppped after the first couple because it was starting to feel like i was just doing to make myself mad. Blue orbs. The fact their chracterisation feels like if you'd never seen star trek but a cabbie had explained it you once badly, and the fact that literally WAS WHAT HAPPENED

Oh wait. Leonard Nimoy cameo. only good thing.

Discovery.

Favourites: Wanted to love it. Couldn't see what was going on because it was too dark. Everytime I tried in spite of that I fell in love with many parts of it, then they immediately fucked it over. Michael Burnham? In jail for unfair reasons. Cap. Georgiou? Dead. Burnham should be Captain, and I think she still isn't. I don't know I couldnt see. Etc etc. Apparently it gets better but It's too serialised to start in the middle.

Least Favourites: Too dark. Bad uniforms (Why would you bring back the ENTERPRISE uniforms of all things?) The fact that klingons are now middle eastern coded so that they still align with the zeitgeist of who we're being xenophobic again right now. (OOHscary FIGHTYculture is Russian. No WAIT black. NO middle eastern. yeah) Jason Isaacs. I liike my villains NOT on the crew. Personal preference but it's just not my kind of star trek when it's this dark. Thematically and visually. Why does EVERYONE have to be related to Spock (ok this one dates back to tos and it's annoying if funny there too)

Lower Decks: I don't do this format of cartoons.

Prodigy: Favourite: its a kids show and has those priorities but I had a surprising amount of fun. Usually I don't do animation but this is relatively watchable.Despite feeling like it's also star wars and Indiana Jones and a ton of other types of story all at once, they also captured Star Trek better than any of the other modern ones. Janeway. Og murph. Wesley Crusher cameo. REFERENCE TO OPERATION ANNIHILATE MY BELOVED!

Least Favourites: Janeway being given physiology of a Barbie doll. Murph being turned from a intelligent adult slug with dog energy into a pointless toddler. It would have been kinder to kill him. Desynchronization of voice and face in a way that makes it tiring to watch (I'm just fussy about animation). Janeway in a singlet revival ruined by aforementioned Barbie physique. Give me older fatter buffer Janeway!

SNW:

Too dark to see. Also stop just redoing the original characters. Make your own. For years now I get excited about new Star Trek and it ALWAYS either too dark to see or too animated to see or just about tos characters done badly. At which point I'll just go watch tos. Also remember when Star Trek uniforms actually looked futuristic? Yeah, me too. I know everyone likes this one there's probably a lot of good in it but I can't get into it.

Turn the lights back on and maybe we can talk. And at least Rick Berman isn't involved.

#long post #og 4:3 #star trek #this makes me painfully aware of how few shows I actually watch all the way through #i have the attention span of a squirrel #wrote this ages ago the found it in my drafts

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indraklyr · 1 year

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My Adventures with Superman is really cute! It’s fun, and after decades of superheroes being either snarky or brooding it’s so refreshing to get this version of Superman, who’s gentle, earnest, and kind in addition to his heroic characteristics. But what really stuck out to me on sitting down to watch the first two episodes of this show is how its opening scene, while short and simple, cuts to the core of what this show wants to get at with its approach to Superman.

The whole first episode is on YouTube, but I’m talking just about the opening two minutes:

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Because the basic origin story of Superman is one so familiar within modern culture, adaptations like this can really use their opening scenes to show their audience what makes their version of this story distinct. Basically, because culture has already done the job, these stories can use their openings to focus on the why more than the what of the story they’re about to tell.

A great example of this is the first page of Morrison and Quitely’s All-Star Superman:

Morrison distills Superman’s origins to four panels and eight words. Doomed Planet. Desperate Scientists. Last Hope. Kindly Couple. These images communicate so much to the reader about the series they’re about to read! The emphasis on the cataclysmic destruction of Krypton tells us that the story we’re about to read is going to be a BIG sci-fi tale, a send-up to Silver Age comics. But these panels also emphasize the fundamental, emotional humanity at the core of Superman’s origin. This tale is one of deeply felt love, from Kal-El’s parents, who sacrifice their chance to escape to save the life of their son, to the Kents, who raise this boy from the stars as their own. Man, All-Star Superman ROCKS.

Back to the show! So obviously, this show doesn’t start with the destruction of Krypton: instead, we begin with a young Clark Kent, saving a mother and her child from a deadly car crash. Now, starting with Superman’s first use of his powers is a really strong way to start off this show, especially given that this show’s Superman is a young guy who hasn’t even started the superhero business yet.

But what I love most about this scene is how it shows the deep care for others that’s at the heart of the Superman story. Young Clark has no idea that he’s special, no clue that he’s an alien Moses/Jesus/Chosen One, and yet the instant that this car starts spinning out, he rushes into action to try to save these people. No ordinary person could ever just grab a car and stop it from slamming into a tree, but Clark tries anyway, because these people need help and, at his core, he knows that that’s all that matters.

And damn, that’s how I knew that these showrunners get Superman.

#my adventures with superman #superman #all-star superman #I hope we get more magical girl transformation sequences lol #Youtube

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historyhermann · 1 year

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My Adventures With Superman Season One Spoiler-Filled Review [Part 1]

My Adventures with Superman is animated superhero series which mixes the romantic comedy, action-adventure, and sci-fi genres. It's the latest adaptation of Superman, a DC Comics character. DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation produce the series. Studio Mir was contracted for animation services. Studio Mir, a South Korean animation studio, is known for its work on The Legend of Korra, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Dota: Dragon's Blood, and Harley Quinn season 3. Jake Wyatt, Brendan Clougher, and Josie Campbell developed the series, with Campbell as producer. Wyatt and Clougher are executive producers along with Michael Ouweleen and Sam Register. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, My Adventures with Superman being reviewed here wouldn't exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-ninth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on September 21, 2023.

The first episode begins with a bang. As a little kid, Clark Kent (voiced by Jack Quaid) discovers he has superpowers. In the present, he tries to be "normal." He and his his friend Jimmy Olsen (voiced by Ishmel Sahid) go to The Daily Planet. Along the way, he meets Lois Lane (voiced by Alice Lee) and develops a crush on her. As it turns out, Lois is also applying to be an intern. All three get the job. Their boss, Perry White (voiced by Darrell Brown) shoots down Lois' ideas for stories. Lois ignores this. She meets her "source," a newspaper girl named Flip Johnson (voiced by Azuri Hardy-Jones). The reality is more terrifying: Livewire activates robots which Clark barely defeats. He only survives due to his powers and Lois's quick thinking.

At the end of the episode, Lois declares she wants an exclusive interview with Superman, where she will expose all his secrets, terrifying him. That's only the first episode! In later episodes, Clark tries to find out more about his past. He talks to Jor-El (voiced by Jason Marnocha), who speaks Kryptonese. Despite the fact he is Superman, he works with Lois and Jimmy on an investigation into Superman. He even has a magical transformation sequence. Some said it was inspired by magical transformations in Sailor Moon. Other fans argued it resembled Pretty Cure.

Storyboarder Diana Huh confirmed that Superman's transformation sequence was based on the part of Kaido Minami's transformation into Cure Mermaid in Go! Princess Pretty Cure, "specifically the part in her transformation when her back ribbons and hair were formed." She noted that she watched it on "repeat for inspiration." As for Clark, he grows closer to Lois. In fact, she even gives Superman his name. Clark's adopted mother puts together his superhero costume. All the while, those who call themselves "good guys" torture people.

This focus on identity is not unique to My Adventures with Superman nor is the relationship between Lois and Clark. The latter is key in many Superman series, including Justice League Unlimited. In that series, their romance is even known by other superheroes. They never kiss in that series, from what I remember, but the closeness between them is apparent. Another difference is that Jimmy is a Black man and Lois is a Korean woman. She also calls Clark by the nickname "Smallville."

Clark struggles with his powers. In other depictions he is older and fully aware of his superpowers. In this series, his identity struggle is complicated when Lois calls Superman a liar. It weakens Clark's resolve to tell her the truth about himself. Clark continually tries to cover his tracks that he is Superman, even ripping out a key piece from the tabloids. After she tells him that she hates being lied too, he chickens out, again, in telling her the truth. Their relationship development is better paced than dragging it out across the season. It gives them more time together.

The push-and-pull between Lois wanting to find out about Superman, and Clark's determination to ensure that Lois doesn't realize the truth defines the early part of the first season. Both have identity crises. In fact, in the second episode, he is traumatized by his adopted parents almost being killed when he visits a spaceship which is supposed to show his origins. They face challenges along the way. They fear that The Daily Planet's star reporting team (Steve Lombard, Cat Grant, and Ronnie Troupe) will scoop their story. These characters are voiced by Vincent Tong, Melanie Minichino, and Kenna Ramsey respectfully. Even so, Lois is persistent. She swipes the keycard of the warden (also voiced by Minichino), allowing them to see a prison cell.

At first it seems that the fifth episode might not be the big confrontation between Lois and Clark. He shows Lois his "murder board"/investigation board, and plans to say he likes Lois. She even goes to the extreme and chains herself to him, but he breaks free. This is dashed quickly. Later, she falls off a building to see if he will catch her! While this generated some online discourse about how she was "wrong" and Clark was "right," the truth is simple. Clark was lying to her and her reasoning makes sense. At the same time, Clark understandably held back, as he was afraid.

Social media has a key role in the series. Jimmy has a secret YouTube channel named Flamebird which covers conspiracies in Metropolis and beyond. This comes to a fore in the fifth episode: Jimmy gets a response video for every single video he has posted. Some internet troll attacks him, and it turns out that star reporter Steve is behind it all! This focus also gives Jimmy character depth, as a sort of social media influencer, and makes you sympathize with him when Lois and Clark leave him behind.

There an interesting secondary plot in My Adventures with Superman. Mist/Kyle (voiced by Lucas Grabeel) and Rough House/Albert (voiced by Vincent Tong) break out Mist's sister, Siobhan/Silver Banashee (voiced by Catherine Taber), the leader of Intergang. They accomplish this thanks to weapons Livewire (voiced by Zehra Fazal) and are able to escape. Using these weapons, they rob Metropolitan City Bank. Superman saves them all when one of their machines goes haywire. This is interlinked with the tech plan of Ivo (voiced by Jake Green), the founder of Amazo Tech. He creates a super suit named Parasite and markets it as something which turns people into their own personal Superman. Of course, this doesn't work, since the prototype is unstable.

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Superman takes extreme risks to protect those he cares about and support justice. Often, he saves people across Metropolis. He fights villains like Heat Wave (voiced by Laila Berzins) and supposed "good guys" like Agent Wilson (voiced by Chris Parnell). The latter only stops at the urging of Amanda Waller (voiced by Debra Wilson). The General (voiced by Joel De La Fuente) wants Agent Slade Wilson / Deathstroke (voiced by Chris Parnell) to eliminate Superman once and for all.

While writing this review, I can't avoid comparisons between My Adventures with Superman and previous series, like Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. The latter's end marked the end of the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). Some fans call DCAU the Timmverse, after animator and director Bruce Timm. It comprised eight animated series, four feature films, four short films, and two digital series between 1992 and 2006. While I haven't watched all the series within DCAU, I see some similarities, especially with the two Justice League series, when it comes to Amanda Waller. She's a Black woman who's continually skeptical of superheroes. She even partners with Lex Luther to fund a research center supporting a superhero-hating metahumans.

In this series, Waller gives Task Force X one mission: to take down Superman. This differs from the two Justice League series, where her goal is broader. She intends to ensure that Earth can defend itself if the superheroes go "bad." Waller, in this series, along with the General and Agent Wilson, believe that Superman will bring the end of the world. They remember how someone like him killed many during an event they call "Zero Day." This military slang means a day in which a Basic Combat Training company "picks up Soldiers." I think The General meant it to be equivalent to a D-Day or "Invasion Day." The General is misguided. Superman is not like the marauding Supermen he (and Lois) sees on a record from the League of Lois Lanes.

In another major difference, My Adventures with Superman depicts Cadmus more positively. Lois and Clark go through the forest to save Jimmy. He was kidnapped by Monsieur Mallah. The latter is an intelligent ape, voiced by Andre Sogliuzzo. He is working with Brain (voiced by Jesse Inocalla). Like the two aforementioned Justice League series, Cadmus is a secret government project. In this series, it was begun 20 years before. It is where Mallah and Brain fell in love. However, Task Force X came to eliminate them. The Task Force believed that no one survived the unstable Black hole.

The reality, obviously, is very different. Mallah and Brain are almost trapped. A nearby minefield, drones, and a protective bubble stop anyone from leaving, or reaching, Cadmus. Task Force X wanted to ensure that no one could discover Cadmus. At one point, Lois and Clark are chased by robots. They are only saved when mutants, created by Mallah, attack. Thanks to Clark's actions, the black hole maintains its power and a containment field stabilizes it.

In a heart-felt scene, Mallah and Brain step through the wormhole, wanting to reach a world where they can live freely. The Brain warns them that once the person who is trying to get Superman (The General) sees him as a threat, they will never stop. This is clear from a final scene, in that episode. The General asks Ivo to help him figure out where the technology is, and to help him take down Superman. The Brain nor Mallah is evil. The former is exclusive to the continuity of this series and is an adaptation of a character which first appeared in Volume 1 of the comic book Doom Patrol.

The sixth episode of My Adventures with Superman is one of the strongest not only because of the action-packed sequences or the romance between Lois and Clark, with Clark saving Lois from dying. It shines because Clark tells Lois the truth. He admits to her (and Jimmy) that he didn't want to reveal his true nature due to a fear that Jimmy and Lois would see him as an "alien" and treat him differently. Instead, he wanted to be "normal." Jimmy, who already knew Clark was Superman, reassures him they are friends because of who he is. Lois says they want to be open with him. In the next episode, he declares there will be no more secrets, so he brings them to a spaceship, the same one which brought him to Earth, which surprises Lois and Jimmy.

By the seventh episode, it seems that the romance of Lois and Clark, is moving forward. Both lose their minds over a date, having charts, maps, and other ways to ensure it goes perfectly. These plans never come to pass. A so-called international "peacekeeper," Mxyzptlk (voiced by David Errigo Jr.), asks for Clark's help and declares that Clark is a Superman is in every universe. Meanwhile, the aptly named League of Lois Lanes, peacekeepers tasked with saving the Multiverse, come to save Lois. They declare that Clark is in danger, and Jimmy comes along. In the process, Lois and Jimmy become skeptical of the League. Clark realizes that Mxyzptlk lied to him and only wants chaos. Clark tries to do the right thing and stop Mxyzptlk from stealing.

The episode focuses on what Lois sees on a computer screen: a restricted file about Superman only accessible at League headquarters. Not only is this suspicious, but the centrality of a classified record drew me into the story. I say this is a person who indexes such records for my day job and someone who has written about archives and archivists in popular culture for many years. I liked how Lois even works with Mxyzptlk to get to the League headquarters, despite being wary of him. While there, she accesses a mainframe and gets the restricted record. Of course, her temporary ally-of-sorts is only there for his own benefit. He gets what he wants, allowing him to villainous "again." On the whole, the episode is so absurd, it's a bit funny.

The League sees Superman as evil, shooting him with guns filled with kryptonite. In some ways, the episode ends well. Lois, Jimmy, and Clark work together to take down Mxyzptlk. However, he later escapes prison. He sees Lois looking at the file which has the "truth" about Superman. He soon leaves, declaring it will be "more fun" to watch her figure it out. Lois doesn't consider possible manipulation of the record or that it only shows one "truth."

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The eighth episode goes a different direction. It begins with Ivo collecting former villains and saying they need to fulfill their "debt" to society. Lois and Clark both face villains of sorts. Lois meets a reporter she idolizes, named Vicki Vale (voiced by Andromeda Dunker). She soon sours on Vale. It is revealed that Vale has an anti-Superman bias. Clark becomes obsessed with finding The General, thanks to his new power of super hearing. He ignores the pleas from Lois and Jimmy, going off on his own to face "the evil." In a local park, he takes a beating. He is kidnapped and The General calls him the "end of the world." Due to the splintering of the typical friend squad (Lois, Jimmy, and Clark), the ending sequence is different. It features the cityscape and none of the characters.

In the ninth episode, everything goes off the rails. Lois and Jimmy enlist the help of the Newskid Legion to find Superman. In actuality, he is in custody of The General. Falsely, The General believes that Superman is the enemy. He tortures him with electricity and declares that he won't let any more of "his kind" invade Earth. While Superman tells him what he knows, this isn't the "right answer." There is a powerful scene in this episode in which Clark sees what happened on Zero Day, 22 years before, as The General terms it. Many of Superman's kind come through, attacking people on Earth, until a light shines and the attack ends. Due to this incident, it makes sense he, and Waller, created Task Force X, and used the tech left behind to create new U.S. government weapons.

Superman empathizes. He realizes that not all Supermans are good, and asks why Supermen would do this. His responses takes The General back and makes him realize that he is making the wrong call. He begins to ask if Task Force X is wrong. Arrogantly, Waller shows her commitment to the task force: she claims that it is never wrong. As The General even admits, Superman was too young to be part of Zero Day and implies he is innocent. To make matters worse, Waller deactivates a camera, encouraging the villains to get out of their cells, including Ivo, who wants to "finish off" Superman, in revenge for what happened in the past.

He somehow escapes in a weakened state. He makes his way back to Lois and Jimmy. Thanks to assistance from his two friends, he defeats the Ivo Kaiju monster, which is attacking Metropolis. They call on everyone in town to turn off their power so that Ivo cannot suck in any more electricity. As a result, Superman is victorious. Jimmy lets Lois and Clark have time alone, together. Clark proceeds to carry Lois into the sky and kiss her. The General stands against Waller. She relieves him of his duties. Waller becomes head of Task Force X. The General gets a new mission: to track down and terminate Superman.

The season one finale of My Adventures with Superman goes further than showing Superman as the immigrant, "the adoptee living in a world that says being different is bad." He embraces his differences every day, with his weirdness and strangeness as his strength, as Campbell put it. Everything comes full circle. Clark becomes a full-time reporter with Lois and Jimmy. He dreams about being an evil Superman and learns something about The General: he is Sam Lane, Lois' dad! While Clark is, understandably, nervous about telling Lois this reality, Jimmy pushes him to do the right thing, causing Lois to come to his aid.

This all happens during Thanksgiving. There's family drama between The General and Lois. Clark's adoptive parents are also there. This all falls to the wayside when kryptonite inside the record weakens Clark. Although none of them are entirely sure what kryptonite is, Jimmy rightly realizes that the rock is causing the problem and puts it back. The entire scene echoes part of the She-Ra and the Princesses of Power series finale. Clark risks his life to ensure that the portal can be closed. He puts the kryptonite on the ship core, causing it to explode, and Jor-El saves him. Lois also saves his life, after he ensured that she (and everyone on Earth) wouldn't die. She stands in front of her dad, stopping him from killing Clark.

While The General listens and follows the pleas of Lois, he does not stay for Thanksgiving. It is only Lois, Jimmy, Clark, and his adoptive parents. In a funny scene, Jimmy announces that he sold Flamebird to the Daily Planet for $5.6 million and is "super rich now," surprising them all. The series ends with one final scene:, a kryptonian warrior declares they have found a new planet (presumably Earth). One commander tells him that it doesn't matter whether they destroy the ships and close the portals, saying they will kneel ultimately. That sets the stage for a season 2, which Campbell confirmed.

My Adventures with Superman somehow survived corporate fuckery. It had an uncertain future through various corporate mergers, the pandemic, and a thin budget. But, the passion of the writers and crew showed through, as Campbell noted. Such a message can't be more apt, considering the continued twin strikes by writers and actors, regardless of efforts by some to break the strike and fill their fat pockets with wads of cash. Previously, Drew Barrymore withdrew her plan to restart her show after intense criticism. Bill Maher sneered at the strike by writers. Thanks to backlash, he decided to put his show on pause. He has made Islamophobic and anti-Chinese statements, supports NSA surveillance, dislikes critical race theory, and opposed accepting Syrian refugees into the U.S., in the past.

A second season will include more moments between Clark and Lois, shipped by fans as Clois, generating fanart and fanfics. In fact, many of the over 130 stories on AO3 focus on this ship. In the words of Campbell, the second season will "blow people's minds." It will consist of 10 episodes, like Season 1. It is likely that the Kryptonian warriors will attack Earth. Spider-Man, Lux Luthor, and Lana Lang might appear. Hopefully, a second season has more outward LGBTQ+ representation in the main case. In this season, there is only, directly, a lesbian couple helped by Superman (he returns their child) and a gay couple (Mallah and Brain).

Fans who enjoy Clois are undoubtedly looking forward to another season. As for others, they may believe that the second season will reveal the truth behind Clark's birth father or infuse strong sci-fi elements "with heart," and make viewers love Superman all over again. Whether viewers see Lois as adorable, enjoy the fluid animation, humor and character designs; see Superman for gays and girls, or compare Lois with Luz, there are many reasons to enjoy this series, especially for those who like shonen action or shojo romance. Furthermore, it is relatable that Superman has been training, but doesn't have hold of his powers.

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My Adventures with Superman is very animesque, from opening and closing credits which resemble anime series in more ways than one. Clark's voice actor, Jack Quaid, described it as "some anime influence...that is just so fun." Along with the aforementioned magical transformation of Superman, some said there was a reference to Ouran High School Host Club opening sequence ("Kiss Kiss Fall In Love") in the title of the seventh episode: "Kiss Kiss Fall In Portal."

As part of a thread on X/Twitter, producer Josie Campbell confirmed this. She noted other influences on the series from Pokemon's Team Rocket, the anime Gurren Lagann, and many other media. While Sailor Moon likely didn't influence the series, the fact that a Pretty Cure transformation influenced Superman's transformation has caused interesting results. For instance, some social media users called on people to watch series within the ongoing anime franchise.

In a strange coincidence, this series is airing at a time that a character, Sora Harewata-ru, in Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure, transforms into Cure Sky in a manner which resembles Superman's transformation. Cure Mermaid's transformation likely inspired both. The My Adventures with Superman ending sequence is meant to resemble "old anime EDs with the softer palette and slow pan while time passes." In Crunchyroll News, Briana Lawrence wrote an article about the similarities between Usagi Tsukino in Sailor Moon and Clark. Others pointed to Dragon Ball and Kill la Kill references, and anime tropes.

The anime influence isn't the only factor influencing My Adventures with Superman. While fans have pointed out that some of the Crew-Ra, the name for the crew of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, worked on the series, this was more limited in reality. Campbell, a co-producer, was a story writer and staff writer on She-Ra. Writer and co-executive producer of one episode, Brendan Cougar, was a storyboarder on She-Ra. He also storyboarded on Young Justice and on The Legend of Korra. Storyboarders Jasmine Goggins, Karen Guo, Diana Huh, and Jessica Zammit all worked on She-Ra.

More of an influence on this series could be, in some manner, Harley Quinn. 17 crew members of this series worked on that series, including animator Yew Yung, writer's assistant Sari Cooper, production executive Audrey Diehl, and executive in charge of production Jay Bastian. In addition, nine crew members did work on Young Justice, including prop designer Austin Reinkens and storyboarder Chris Palmer. Another eight worked on DC Super Hero Girls. The latter included effects animator Jason Plapp and storyboarder Michael Nanna. Other crew members worked on Dogs in Space, The Casagrandes, Glitch Techs, Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, and the Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes and Huntsmen Part 1 film.

The co-executive producer for My Adventures with Superman, Jake Wyatt, was a background designer for Steven Universe. Art director Jane Bak was a background designer on the same series. Bak did the same on Steven Universe Future and Adventure Time: Distant Lands. Animator Edward Artinian worked on Steven Universe too. Online listings show that some crew members were part of the crew of Pantheon and Final Space. Series composer worked on Nomad for Nowhere. Others contributed their time and labor to series ranging from Chicago Party Aunt to Invincible, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal to High Guardian Spice. The title sequence animator, Yves Bigerel, better known as Balak, is the director and writer of Peepoodo & The Super Fuck Friends.

Continued in part 2

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harleiquina · 1 year

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All TV series I've ever seen.

@thefirsthogokage 's search for new show to binge inspired me to list all TV shows I've seen so far. Of course I might add some along the way because I won't remember everything in one sitting.

Considering that it's going to be a lot... I might as well divide them in

1940 -1970 (this post)

1980 - 2000

2010 - Now.

Let us begin.

1944 - The Black Whip (serial)

For youngsters, a serial was like a TV show that our grandparents (maybe even great-grandparents) watched on the cinema. Sometimes all episodes (around 15 min each) would be edited together and played as a movie.

It was an experimental take of the character known as Zorro (born in pulp fiction) transported to USA's Wild West where two siblings have a newspaper but the brother is also "The Black Whip" a vigilante that keeps the peace in their town... until he's killed so his sister takes over his mantle (without anyone noticing). Fun fact: George J. Lewis later played Guy Williams's Zorro's father: Don Alejandro de la Vega.

Overall entertaining. The cliffhangers are kind of over done (keep in mind maybe back then they had to wait 1 week or more to see the next episode) and the escapes are sometimes kinda ridiculous but well... it's fun anyway. I saw it on Youtube.

1957 - Zorro (Disney)

You are not argentinean if you didn't grow up watching Zorro at noon while having lunch (or run from school to catch it before it ended). It is still being broadcasted today (in 2023) believe it or not!

Follow the adventures of Diego de la Vega, a señorito (very delicated gentleman) that during the nights turns into El Zorro, a vigilante that rights injustices and saves the people of Los Angeles.

LOVE IT. Guy Williams is Zorro, no-one will ever be better than him. It's fun for the whole family (and do not be fooled by the time it was made, the female characters are well written and very progressive for the time being). Saw it on TV over and over and over again and never got tired of it.

1959 - The Three Stooges (year they began to be televised)

How could I forget about my childhood heroes?

My first contact with slapstick comedy and absurdities galore.

In this house we believe in Moe, Larry, Curly & Shemp supremacy!!

1961 - Mr. Ed.

Ever wondered how it would be to live with a talking horse? Well, now you'll know.

Fun for all family, catchy title song... you can see it probably in lots of places because it's a classic (but for me it was on a bootleg DVD pack)

1964 - The Addams Family

We all know and grew up with The Addams Family movies in the 90's but this is the original live-action (with Gorey's insight). The family canon is different: Mom is Gomez's mother, Fester is Morticia's uncle and my favourite (yet always forgotten in the new media) is Ophelia, Morticia's twin sister -who was supposed to marry Gomez in first place-.

To be fair I saw it a couple of years ago so I don't remember too much, but its all-family-fun and if you are a spooky-inclined person (such as me) you'll end up wanting to own a house like theirs (and maybe some of their creatures as well). I saw it on bootleg DVDs, shhh... don't tell anyone.

1965 - Get Smart

Another argentinean staple (not as strong as Zorro, though) was this spy-comedy born out of mocking James Bond with gadgets and all. "Smart, Maxwell Smart. Agent 86" carved himself a space in our hearts with Agent 99, the Chief, agent K-9, Jaime and the equitative incompetent villain Siegfried.

Super fun with all the weird and borderline ridiculous inventions and plots. It sort of loses its momentum in the final seasons (when Max and the 99 get married and have twins) but there are still moments of greatness. I have all the DVDs, original ones this time.

1967 - Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons

In Argentina we use the expression "wooden actor/actress" a lot... but in this case it's probably right because they are all puppets (unless they do a close up of their hands, then they are human 😱).

Follow this colour-coded crew of space travellers and their adventures. I don't fully remember if it was a concept or if it actually happens in the show but maybe Captain Scarlet doesn't make it to the end of the day. Very early Aeon Flux from his part. Be like me buying a bootleg DVD collection or you can probably find it on Youtube.

1971 - The Persuaders!

Who on this Earth hates either Roger Moore or Tony Curtis? I'm ready to throw hands!

Two millonaires (with lots of monetary issues aparently) have to work together for a Judge solving different crimes (identity theft, kidnappings, robberies, etc). It is never quite explained why both of them are the right ones to do the job but no-one cares because you'll end up loving Lord Brett Sinclair (Moore) and his love-hate relationship with Danny Wilde (Curtis) plagued with sarcasm but, eventually, true friendship.

I'm a Danny Wilde kinda girl (and I would like to have like half of his jackets, they are awesome) but Moore is also lovable. Yes, most of the cases have a beautiful girl that ends up with any of them... yes, some things are a little too convenient... but it is a show to have a good time. Don't think too hard about it. I've watched it on bootleg DVD but it is also on Youtube.

1973 - El Chavo del 8 & El Chapulín Colorado (The Kid from the 8th and The Red Cricket)

Both shows were aired pretty much at the same time and starred by the same cast the first one tells the story of a orphan kid that lives in a vicinity with very colourful characters.

The second one is the Mexican Superhero by excellence.

Chespirito (a wordplay for the Spanish "Little Shakespeare" -Shakespeare chiquito-) AKA Roberto Gomez Bolaños -author and lead in both shows- even said that his superheroe was better than the ones from Marvel or DC because he didn't needed muscles... he just wanted to do good and had big heart.

1976 - Charlie's Angels

I really don't understand why is it so hard for the movies to get it right. They were private investigators, not super-spies!!

3 girls became cops but were destined to "girl jobs" like secretary, school crossing and making parking tickets... but were recruited by the misterious Charlie that knows that they are capable of more so now they work solving cases where the police can't or won't be called.

We only own the first season on bootleg DVD (my mom's and aunt's favourite with the three original angels). It's fun and it's for everybody.

1976 - The Bionic Woman

Jamie Sommers (professional tennis player and Steve Austin's finceé) has a skydiving accident resulting in her getting bionic replacements of her legs, arm and ear. Since the equipment was very expensive (not like Steve's six million dollars bionic parts) she agrees to use it to help the goverment in dangerous missions. In the meantime she'll keep on working as a teacher.

Adventures of all kinds and the most memorable ones are with the fembots (altough many people like the Sasquatch episode, who knows why 🤷🏻‍♀️). Saw it on bootleg DVD.

1976 - Wonder Woman

Really? Wonder Woman? Lynda Carter? Do I need to explain anything? Just go watch it. (I saw in on bootleg DVD, shhh! Mrs. Carter is nearby, I don't want her to get upset).

1976 - The Muppets

Do they need introduction? Guest stars in every episode, humor, music and Ms. Piggy. You just can't hate Jim Hensons' creatures.

I have the first season on bootleg DVD but saw quite a few scenes on Youtube and social media as well.

1977 - The Incredible Hulk.

Bill Bixby + Lou Ferrigno + weekly adventures + that bloody journalist that follows them everywhere (and you will recognize as the bartender in Back to the Future III) to try and caught them red handed + the saddest end to every episode seeing poor Bruce Banner with his backpack walking to another town because he can never stay on the same place for too long = this early Marvel property that gave us a sneek peek into the complicated life of a superhero.

It's good, a problem-of-the-week show, but then again... poor Bruce Banner always alone, I want to cry 😭 Saw it on TV, I don't think that all episodes were aired back then nor when my mom and aunts were little.

1978 - Mork & Mindy

An alien that looks and acts like Robin Williams ends up living with the human Mindy to learn more about us. By the end of every episode Mork gives his report about what he learned about Humanity and it's usually very uplifting.

I've watched a few episodes on TV (this was Argentina in the '90s, you were lucky if any TV channel bought 2 seasons of any show to repeat ad eternum).

Nanu nanu!!

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cangse-sanren · 1 year

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Thai QL Favorites Tag Game

Tagged by @dragonsareawesome123; tagging @firstkhaolesbian @lolacouldnotcareless @el-dritchknight @harleydellarte and/or anyone else interested

Credit: original tag game by @thatgirl4815

Favorite Thai QL:

Never Let Me Go if I absolutely have to pick only one, but I want the record to state that this question is biphobic.

Favorite Pairing:

I’m never not going to have brainworms over Palm and Neungdiao ok like they’re shrimply everything, they are the moment, etc.

But! But.

The actual answer is InkPa.

Most underrated actor:

I don’t actually think she’s underrated but I want to see Mild more. Independent actors deserve more love too! Also Jennie because I will never have enough Jennie Panhan in my life.

Favorite Main Character:

Khabkhluen Kanaruj Wongthampanich

Favorite Side Character:

Tiffy my beloved! I’m not ashamed to say I scrubbed through Lovely Writer for her appearances and ignored the rest.

Favorite scene in a QL:

The episode five rooftop scene in… He’s Coming to Me. Surprise!

Favorite line in a QL:

“Shit, Pat, you’ve got to stop doing this to me.” 😈

Most Anticipated QL (& why):

Uranus2324 because I miss FreenBecky. Not enough to finish scrubbing through Secret Crush On You because holy fuck I am not strong enough, but still.

Healthiest relationship in a QL:

Either Mon and her stepdad or Wen and his stepdad. I’m a sucker for positive stepparent rep ok?

Most toxic relationship in a QL:

Like, in a show I sat all the way through? Because I haven’t ever made it through a Mame series and uh. Yikes.

But my very first lakorn was 2gether so all I can say is that Green deserved and still deserves better. He deserves a better show.

Also sending a sincere fuck you to Teh in IPYTM. Oh-Aew date someone who deserves you challenge 2kforever! like me jk

Guilty pleasure series:

Honestly I have great taste so 💅 ok no but Star and Sky: Star In My Mind. Who needs plot when you can watch JoongDunk angst all over the place for 6+ hours out of an 8 episode show? Hidden Agenda is fucking fantastic so far but SIMM gave me Khabkhluen.

Most underrated series:

Vice Versa.

Wait, wait, hear me out. Yes, I realize it got a slot in Our Skyy 2. I’m absolutely not trying to argue that it’s some hidden gem.

I need to list it here, however, because every single review I read of this show was so overwhelmingly negative that I completely ignored it when it first dropped and only watched it recently. As in, a week or two ago recently. I put this show off for a year only to fall utterly in love.

Vice Versa hasn’t given me brainworms the way other shows I could mention have (I am a CLA$$ enjoyer first and then a human maybe like, fifth), but it’s so satisfying! Seriously.

#thanks for the tag!#zee.txt #never let me go the series #palmneung my most belovedest meow meows #inkpa supremacy #bad buddy #mild lapassalan #jennie panhan #lovely writer the series #he’s coming to me #uranus2324 #secret crush on you #gap the series #midnight series: moonlight chicken #2gether the series #itsay the series #i promised you the moon #star and sky: star in my mind #vice versa the series

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madwheelerz · 2 years

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Who’s Spying?

I believe that something that is decidedly not Vecna has been watching over Mike since before the events of season one even fully kicks off. We don’t see Vecna really start stalking people until season four. We see Mike from some very odd angles far before that. It’s almost like we peer in at him. We don’t do this nearly as often, if at all, with other characters. Even if others are shown under framing that implies stalking. It’s not to the extent that Mike is.

(more stalking shots)

So, who do I think is spying? The mind flayer who, for the purpose of this post, I will be referring to as the “shadow”. Mike’s understanding of the shadow is very unsettling under this perspective, but I digress. @boysdontcryboycry pointed out that Mike’s name only appears in the second episode summary of a season, if it appears at all and so far it has appeared three times, mysteriously absent in the season three summary. They also noted that his appearance with different groups totaled to seven and all that I could think of was the relationship between seven and demogorgons. There is also the fact that we are introduced to the shadow as the second villain in the series after the Demogorgon.

In season two the main villain is the shadow, and this is the same for season three. In season one all signs are pointing to Vecna and we know in season four that Vecna is the big bad. This to me implies that Mike is opposite of the shadow and that while Willel are off fighting and defeating Vecna, Mike will have to deal with the eldritch monster that might have been spying on him. Additionally, so many important numbers make their first appearance in the Wheeler house: 8:15, the moment Karen calls off the game, 20, which we hear repeated a few times and is what will be needed to win, a campaign that took 2 weeks to plan and stopping breaks the flow. Vecna not being able to continue back-to-back once he’s been foiled.

There’s also 10 hours and two 10s make a 20. We learn that the shadow intends to utilize Will to spy- on what exactly? What is the shadow so interested in that it needs to be close to in order to understand? The shadow is capable of moving across plains so what does it need Will for? Perhaps to spy on Mike? The shadow was content staying in place and being dormant until the soldiers burned it as well. It knows Mike’s name and nobody else’s.

The hivemind tries to grab Mike specifically.

This honestly makes the hub reference that much more ominous. Mike’s sensitivity to Will feeling the supernatural and Will feeling the supernatural specifically when it has to do with Mike. We have to remember that Will might be connected to Vecna, but the shadow is what possessed him and what likely continues to possess him. We learn in season three with more concrete information that the shadow can go dormant and allow the host to do as it pleases.

We also see Mike in some very odd outfits, odd in the color choices. We see him in green in every season, but four. We see him in red in season one, we see him in outfits that seem to have all the colors of the clocks in stranger things, primary colors with a green background, in them. He’s worn every color associated with the upside-down.

I believe he wears blue the most frequently and red the least. Red is the color we see least associated with the Upside-down outside of brief flashes. Yellow is the color that the Upside-down was originally and blue is the color we see the Upside-down in the most.

I think Mike created El. Micha(el) and (El)even. Now you might be wondering, ‘if he created her what about her number’? What significance does the number 11 have to Mike? Well, it’s his birthday number. Mike’s birthday is 4/7/1971. 4 + 7 is 11 and even if you include the year and go 4 + 7 + 1 + 9 + 7 + 1 = 29, 2+9 = 11. Another reference to Eleven is the number of days Mike calls her. He calls her for 353 days. All these numbers add to 11 and right after his final call El goes on her hero origin journey.

Also, the meaning of their birth names is reflective. Michael means “gift from god” while Jane means “god is gracious”. They imply something similar. The kindness of a deity. This is also likely why there seems to be a glitch with the Ives family because Jane wasn’t supposed to exist originally instead her history is filling itself out as we go. That would be the kicker, wouldn’t it? All these parallels to Mike and different parental figures in El’s life leading up to this reveal.

There is also the word lifting that Mike does. It makes sense for him to be repeating what he heard from Will and/or Eddie, but for him to tell El that she “can move mountains” and “fly”? Where does that even come from? It’s not like he heard Brenner say it and if he had he definitely wouldn’t be repeating it. He also directly follows it up by telling her that she doesn’t have to do all that and that she just needs to survive.

My guess is that the words are his own and that Brenner and many other figures from El’s past are fabricated in a way by Mike. Afterall, Mike already thought that the lab was a place where the government made weapons due to stuff his father said. He’s probably also heard his father complain about Russians because the Wheeler’s are supposed to be all patriotic. I could see this plotline all coming from Mike as a part of some story that he’s made unconsciously being influenced by the people around him..

We also know how closely coke ties into El’s powers, but the first time we see coke is at the Wheeler house during the first DnD game next to Mike. Later we pan out and see that there is another one for Dustin. In season three we proceed to get an argument between Lucas and Mike regarding “new coke” and how Mike can’t believe that it’s good. In season four we see Karen give one of the cops a coke. Coke must be a pretty big deal in the Wheeler house.

(First time we see coke behind Mike)

There is also Mike’s understanding of El’s powers to consider. This isn’t necessarily about the coma comment because that makes sense. He’s seen El overuse her powers and collapse afterwards, but how did he know B*lly could hurt her in the mind space? Mike also calls their meeting “dumb luck” which is a major red flag because the events are leaning into something very different. El being a parallel to Will, El knowing where Will is, El’s powers in combination could’ve very easily been used to save Will, El appearing in Will’s color to help the boys find Will, and Mike understanding that what El is talking about is literally another world.

There is also something else that I hadn’t considered under this context before, but Mike is the only character we ever see take off his watch and actively lend it to someone else. We only see him lend his watch to El, temporarily. You could say he’s giving her time because he puts it on the same side as the other members of the party have their watches. He wants her to meet him at 3:15 which all together is 9. Upside-down that’s 6.

Someone also pointed out that the role Mike gave to El was the role of a mage, which isn’t actually a role in the 80s. Instead, a mage is a npc monster. Mike identified her this way. Contrary to giving El a npc role, Mike doesn’t actually give Max one instead she decides to identify herself a zoomer, which to quote Mike “doesn’t exist”.

In conclusion my thoughts are that Mike invented El as a way to find Will. He would’ve manipulated space and time in order to do this causing a butterfly effect.

We see in the above picture that one of Mike’s identifiers that they want us to focus on is his watch. Knowing all the references to time travel I find this particularly interesting.

As for the battle Willel will be going after Vecna while Michael will come face-to-face with the shadow. I’m not sure how far this power would extend to and how much protection Mike could offer El if this turns out to be true, but I doubt he would let her go because despite what people want to say – El is a very important person to Mike.

Numbers & Appearances

This is a mini section in relation to the number of times that certain characters appear in the summary. Lucas only appears twice in summary, Mike appears three times -mysteriously missing in season three and only in the second episode-, and Max appears four times, not including her titular episode. The order of that is literally going up 2, 3, 4 without Max’s titular episode and 5 once you include Max’s titular episode. Once again taken from @boysdontcryboycry post. Max is on there twice, but I digress. What I think this means is that Lucas will by the thessalhydra and Mike will step in which leads to him getting captured and meeting Max. I believe that the end of episode four and episode five will be the time Mike and Max really meet if this theory comes true.

Mike’s vs the Thessalhydra

Mike will battle thessalhydra. In fact, he will be leading the party against the thessalhydra and Will is going to deliver the final blow, but it will have the consequence of greatly injury or maybe even killing Mike. Will’s painting shows us Mike leading the charge against the creature, but throughout the series we see multiple scenes of creatures that greatly resemble it in Will’s art and a character that looks suspiciously like Mike’s dying at the hands of it. I also believe that the dragon will be from someone being turned.

In accordance with my theory, it’s likely that it will be El who is turned into a thessalhydra. Max isn’t there and all the boys are going to be fighting it meaning that El is, for whatever reason, unavailable. I believe they will save El and it will cost Mike.

There is also the final DnD game where Mike mimics dying after the thessalhydra is defeated and the painting depicting him leading the party against the thessalhydra. I believe he will be lost sometime during the battle against it.

My thought process is that they will be fighting the thessalhydra first. It’s weaker than Vecna as it only requires a fourteen to be completely neutralized, but Vecna requires a twenty in order for the hit to be deemed critical.

So, I think things will go like thessalhydra -> Vecna -> shadow monster in terms of the s5 enemies. This means that what they fight on the hill will be the thessalhydra.

The Therapist

I recall a long while back that someone made a comment about the Hawkin’s High Therapist and her watch necklace. I finally have thoughts about it and what it could mean. The watch itself is shaped almost very key-like as if saying that “mental health is the key” or “mental health is the solution”.

This leads me into the next stage of this theory. We only see the therapist take special interest in Max’s case. We see her call Max out and make sure that they speak. We also see something very peculiar with Max this season. She is wearing a lot of blue. Blue is a color we’ve associated with multiple things, but in particular we’ve associated them with the Upside Down, Mike, and danger.

Mike is very rarely out of blue in season four. He wears his hellfire shirt for a long period of time in the first episode. That shirt has a red face on it and it’s what he almost starts out wearing, but just before that we see him in a pure white top. We see him in pure white top again in the desert. In any case Max is heavily paralleled with Mike throughout the series and for her to be wearing colors that are normally associated with Mike while seeking therapy seems important.

In season four especially when it’s the first time we see Mike invalidate his own emotions and actively doubt his place in the lives of his friends and family. I believe this is meant to be signal that the key to solving things is for Mike to seek mental help. Plus, the green present in each meeting and Hopper the last season referring to Mike as the key with a green key in the background.

X-Men 134 Reference

So, X-Men 134. We see this comic referenced right before Will separates with Dustin. At this point we might not know the full story regarding the reference, but out of curiosity I went to search up the premise of the comic and I found some interesting parallels to the Phoenix, Jean Grey, and Mike.

Both of these characters are apart of the Hellfire Club. This club is noticeably antagonist in the comic, however. I’m not certain if that means that Mike’s feelings regarding the club are more complicated than what we see or if perhaps something else will be going down with the club.

Now Jean Grey and Mike. Jean’s name has the same meaning as El’s birth name, Jane, so I’ll spare you the details, but we already have a play on the similarity of names. Jean is associated with the Phoenix, a powerful cosmic entity. Her connection to the Phoenix lead to a great number of deaths, and resurrections. It’s also said that because the Phoenix force, the entity, felt a kinship with young Jean Grey that it kept a close eye on her.

Who have we been spying on almost from the shadows throughout the series? Mike. We keep seeking him out from behind the stairs, behind bushes, in the dark, and we see El spy on him through the void. It’s rare that we got those stalker shots in the light. I believe that this might be the connection between the shadow creature and Mike.

What I believe is Happening

I think we are quiet literally watching Mike manifest a DnD game in real life. I don’t think he manifested everything, but I do believe that a lot of what’s happening ties back to Mike and his deteriorating mental state. I believe what we are seeing is Mike’s mental state because the focus shifts quite literally depending on what Mike is focused on and what he is trying to do.

In season one he’s desperate to find Will and a girl with the perfect abilities to help them appears. She can find people across different dimensions and all she needs is tons of water plus salt. If they had never gotten the help of the adults and lab it’s possible El might’ve freed Will herself. In season two Mike’s mind is “Will, Will, Will” because he’s worried about how Will is dealing with everything.

I know we complain about Will being sidelined in season three, but who was trying to sideline him exactly? Who was pushing him away? Who was pushing Will to the back of their mind? Mike. Mike was quite literally sidelining Will. In season four we learn that he thinks of himself as just “some nerd” which would explain the sidelining off himself, and he felt like he “lost” Will. Hence both of them are on the sidelines that season.

It would also lend an interesting perspective with the fact that Mike’s feelings are constantly invalidated every season with the idea that “there are more important things” if those important things literally relate back to how he’s feeling and coping.

#byler #thoughts and theories #mike & the shadow #if this doesn't happen it'll make a dope fic though

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ariel-seagull-wings · 2 years

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TOP 10 BEST CHARACTERS FROM 31 MINUTOS

@thealmightyemprex @goodanswerfoxmonster @angelixgutz @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @princesssarisa @softlytowardthesun @tamisdava2 @faintingheroine @moonbeamelf @world-of-puppets

Every one has a show that they love, who hasn’t nearly enough people talking about it... so we take as our duty to obsess over it and scream about it to the four corners of the world until someone gets annoyed.

In my case, this obsession is the chilean puppet comedy show 31 Minutos (31 Minutes in english): the show explores the lives of a group of characters from the fictional city of Titirilquén, who work in the title show’s morning news, both showing their presentations of the different segments and the internal backstage drama that goes in the production.

With each episode being a self contained story, you can watch in any order and understant the general formula of the series and the characters personalities. Its strenght lies mainly in two things: the handmaid quality charm of the puppets, who rather than all being perfectly crafted animals, humanoid or monsters can vary from a literal socker ball with a mustache and glasses to the basic sock puppet, without ever looking lazy, and the caotic humour born out of the many, many flaws of the characters, who are still pretty likable.

Sometimes we laugh WITH them.

Sometimes we laugh AT them.

One thing is sure: you will rarely be bored with this colorfull cast of characters, and now I shall present the ranking of top 10 best of them.

What is the criterion that makes them the best? Only the most important criterion: my personal preferences.

10º Mico, el Micófono.

A microfone with plastic eyes and Mickey Mouse like high pitch voice that is a field reporter. An idea so silly that it must be a stroke of genius. Mico is the reporter who opens the morning show with the survey sections, asking people the most random question like “What is your nickname”, “What are you afrayed of?” and “What is the ugliest world that you know?”.

Are the surveys usefull for something? Not really. But the citizens of Titirilquén sure find flattering that someone is asking them their opinions on SOMETHING. Overall, Mico is very polite and sweet. However, he is no innocent: if you dare to make him angry, he will stop at nothing to get his revenge.

The mascot of 31 Minutos shows that you shall never underestimate the little person... and that is why i love him so much.

09º Jackson Aceituno.

A racoon with huge black eyes that resemble giant olives (hence his surname Aceituno, wich is spanish for olive), originally he was a field reporter that covered the events in the city of Titirilquén, before receiving the ungratefull promotion of war correspondent, covering the conflict between the warring nations of Salsacia and Conservia, whose inhabitants are literary made of metal cans. During those years, his face was hurt so bad that he has been hiding it under a white and red scarf ever since, wich becamed the characters definitive look.

Far from malicious, hard working and resilient, no matter that he doesn’t know the languages of the warring nations to be helpfull at diplomacy, and how much times he receives lost bullets and is made a hostage: he will always be ready to keep audiences informed of what is happening in the war torn lands.

That suicidal level of professionalism is a rarity in 31 Minutos, and so its really worthy of admiration.

08º Mario Hugo.

Full name: Ernesto Felipe Mario Hugo.

Originally, this white chihuahua was only a field reporter whose only real quirk was being slightly stiff and having a ridiculously long list of pet dogs he'd say hello to. However, around the start of season two, he started gaining a lot more screen time and even got his own section in the show called La Dimensión Hermosa y Desconocida (The Beautifull and Unknown Dimension), where he talks about the things that surprise and bewilder him in nature and in people, gaining a more phylosophical personality.

Combine this with his unrequited crush on fellow field reporter Patana, and you will have in Mario Hugo the figure of a quixotesque misguided romantic, who you can’t help but pity and want to give a hug.

The melancolic dreamer is a character type that I always find fascinating, and Mario Hugo is one of its greatest representatives, wich is why he becamed one of my favorite characters in the show.

And since i talked about Mario Hugo’s crush on his colleague...

07º Patana.

Full birth name Patricia Ana Tufillo Triviño, this green lady bird is the niece of 31 Minutos anchor Tulio Triviño. Sent to Titirilquén by her mother to get a job in the news show, originally her uncle abhored her due to her initial trend to scheme pranks, giving her jobs like cleaning the floor and serving coffee. Seeing that her uncle wouldn’t give her a good job, Patana decides to take things in her own hands, going into the dangerous scenario of a house robbery to show she can be a competent field reporter. And she did, not only informing audiences of what was happening in real time, but managing to make the robber and the house’s owner befriend each other and stop the crime!

Talk about being a badass!

This made her colleagues and the boss impressed, so she becamed a field reporter in the show, dashingly going into adventurous scenarios, and also coming up with creative sections like the reality show Patana’s Refrigerator, where several food itens compete to stay longer in the titular refrigerator.

Speaking of impressing the boss...

06º Eusebio Manguera.

This black rolled up hose tube in a suit is the owner of the channel where 31 Minutos is transmited. A dangerous greedy milionary mobster who can fire and rehire on a whim, everyone who works on the show knows that he is a monster, and fear let him pissed of. And what makes him specially intimidating is his voice: he has a very, very deep voice that he doesn’t need to raise to convey his anger when things don’t go his way.

And while he is a dangerous criminal, he also has standards of quality, demanding dignity, eficiency and competence of the staff to produce a good TV morning news show.

While his right to call out anyones moral’s is really questionable, its interesting to see the token evil character assume a leadership position and how much he cares about doing a good job, so you can’t help find this hateable boss fascinating to watch.

05º Policarpo Avendaño.

The wig wearer, cylindrical, energetic and renowned music critic and cultural producer, host of the "Ranking Top" section of 31 Minutos, where he lists the Top 3 current best songs. Usually called to host major-scale events like the Top Top Awards.

A shameless oportunist, Policarpo always flatters those with power and chooses to side with them when he feels this can benefit him, while secretly resenting them and letting his friends be screwed alone.

His nepotism to judge the Top 3 current best songs is also a recurring joke, because the winners are always “The godchild of the cousin of my neighbour”, or something alike. But the fact that he always returns to embrace his friends, clearly sounds passionate about the topic of music and gives such a joyfull presentation of his section makes impossible to hate him.

He is simply great fun to be around, and that is why he is one of my favorite characters.

04º César Quintanilla/Calcetín Con Rombos Man.

His nickname literary means Sock With Holes Man.

The superhero of the universe of 31 Minutos. An orphan sock with diamond patterns who is also a superhero for Ciudad Comoda (Nightstand City). Originally treated as the fictional character of an in universe superhero show that is exhibited as one of the segments of 31 Minutos, soon he was shown interacting with the shows crew, changing his status from fictional hero to an in universe real character who is a known public figure in Titirilquén, where the characters look after him for moral guidance, specially because rather than using violence, he will rather solve problems trough the use of dialogue, teaching the characters and the audience about UNICEF’s Convention of the Rights of The Child to help people in need.

In a show where a mobster is a powerfull media mogul and several characters act out of greed and selfishness, the sock with sweeming glasses superhero is a nice reminder that is still worthy to be genuinelly good, wich keeps a balance of perspective and helps the show to avoid falling into edgy cynicism.

That’s why he wins a place as one of my favorite characters.

03º Tulio Triviño.

The main character for most episodes, the puppet of unknown species Tulio Triviño Tufillo is the anchorman and host of 31 Minutos. He started out as the straight every person, a bit naive, but still generous, and caring of making a good job. After the series got a better production value and a larger cast, the writing of Tulio evolved to make him more flawed: while well articulated in his way of talking and concerned to keep the order in the studio, he is also greedy, selfish, self absorbed, with a tendency of overspending his salary with superfluous expensive things and pretends to be more inteligent than he actually is.

So watching the karma bite him in the ass after he screws up is always great to watch, while he is nicely humanized by ocasionally seeing the error of his ways and reluctantly apologizing

He can understand the difference of right and wrong and since he is basically a subordinate of actual dangerous mobster Eusebio Manguera, you understand that Tulio is not really the problem, but rather someone who lashes at others bellow him because he is trapped under an actual evil power.

Mix to this his charisma as a host, and you end up enjoying the character of Tulio.

02º Juanín Juan Harry.

The last of a species known as the Juaníns, Juanín Juan Harry is the producer and organizer of 31 Minutos, who, while extremely passive and an easy target of peer pressure to mess up, is decently competent and the most innocent, gentle and responsable member of the crew, always concerned in keeping the studio organized and remembering what the hosts and reporters have to say.

Whereas someone like Calcetín Con Rombs Man is the idealized powerfull good guy who always wins against the villains, Juanín represents the goodness in the little person who, while in a situation where they are submissive to mean people in the work place, still keep being his pure and kind self, wich we all know sometimes can be an even greater battle.

And my Number One favorite character from 31 Minutos is...

01º Juan Carlos Bodoque.

A red rabbit, and a reporter with a strong reputation in and out of the show, Juan Carlos delivers the "Nota Verde" ("Green Note"), ecological and historical report initially about Chilean ecology and culture, but eventually branching out to cover more general topics mostly relating to environmentalism and animal preservation.

Bodoque is a deadpan snarker cynic, agressive, quick to anger, and full of debts due to his gambling adiction. However, he still cares in making the ecological reports and also started to work on the census section and make reports about the quarantine.

Being a wildlife and enviromentalist reporter, he has a strong set of morals and is quick to correct himself upon learning new information, all the while not punishing himself with an exagerated guilt complex nor acting like a holier than thou preacher to the other characters or the audience (at worst he only sighs with a “I am surrounded by idiots” mood).

He always treats the subjects he reports as a nice and light hearted, if sometimes melancholic, conversation.

Bodoque is the great example of an Anti Nihilist character: he shows that while life can be bad and meaningless and we are usually a mess, we still can do the best that we can to do good and save this shitty little world, because is the only one that we have, so its better to value it.

This complexity free of pretense is why Bodoque has become the break out character of 31 Minutos, and my personal favorite.

#31 minutos #31 minutes #puppet shows #wallpapers #fandom musings #my rankings #tumblr mutuals

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domnorian · 2 years

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Have you seen the Young Justice cartoon? If you have, do you have any thoughts on it?

Ooh boy. That's gonna be a long one.

Yes, I watched the Young Justice cartoon when it first aired but I stopped after season 3 part 1 (yes, I didn't even watched part 2).

Let's just say I have mixed feelings about this cartoon. There are aspects that I like and some that I hate so f***ing much. So I understand people could love this cartoon, especially people younger than me that discovered it when they were teenagers themselves. This is just my opinion and point of view on it.

More explanations under the cut:

For context, when I watched the first two seasons (in 2014), I was 22 and my only knowledge about DC was what I saw in the Batman, Superman and Justice League animated series from when I was a kid and Smallville when I was a teen. So I had limited knowledge about Young Justice (so not particularly influenced by the "it's better in the comics" stuff).

When I first watched it, all my friends told me that it was great. I thought it was good at best. Like I said good elements but also really bad ones. But it was at a time when we didn't have much decent DC content on TV so I still thought it was okay and enjoyable to a degree.

Then, a few years ago, I started reading comics. And then I joined a Discord rpg server to have some fun and I started to make my little research about Conner because I was looking for a new character to rp with and since I've always been a huge Lex Luthor fan, I thought "from all the characters in Young Justice, Conner's concept seemed interesting to develop I just think it was badly written". I read his wikipedia page... and let me tell you when I discovered Kon El I screamed. How was it possible to ruin a character that much? How could a reboot be so fucking wrong? How dare they remove all that was fun about Kon to make some random ass guy always brooding in a f***ing corner! And then I watched Reign of the Superman, and then I read Reign of the Supermen and then I read the Superboy run. And I was getting even more pissed. And then I read the Young Justice and Impulse comics...

And now I really REALLY hate that cartoon. Because we could have had so much better. Young Justice in comics is so awesome, Young Justice characters are so relatable and likable and I love them all when all I saw when I watched the cartoon was a bunch of terribly written teenagers, Teen Titans characters where they shouldn't be, interesting plots but always disappointing me in the end.

I understand that this cartoon is seen as one of the best shows DC gave us. But really, I didn't even watch the last season because I just think this cartoon is boring. They try so much to developp plots that goes nowhere, character cameos over and over again, plot twists that are just not that interesting in my opinion... I think they should've focused on the teens more. Less adults intervening. It felt as if they wanted to write about too much stuff and too many characters and couldn't decide on what was important.

Honestly, I just have too much to say about this cartoon and it's already so long. I'm so sorry for dumping this on you...

Only good stuff about that cartoon: Lex was okay (which is good because there isn't enough well written Lex). that episode with Bane helping the kids? Really nice stuff. Political intrigues (Queen Bee and all) were interesting and original and I liked it... ... Okay I just now realized that I think I only enjoyed the bad guys in that cartoon. 😅

#thanks for the ask!#long post #dc comics #young justice #i hope i haven't offended anyone #again I understand why someone could love that cartoon #i just think it's not for me #but I really hate how people tend to say that it's a masterpiece when it's clearly not

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derekscorner · 8 months

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Fated Rantings: Bone of the Sword

I've done it, I've finally crawled my way from Fate/Stay Night 2006 to finishing Unlimeted Blade Works. Well, technically I started with FGO and watched Apocrypha first....

But that's not what's important! (at least, to me) What's relevant here is that I have finished what many consider the best adaption of the original Fate/Stay Night visual novel.

If you've found this at random or if you think Fate is an anime series allow me to clarify real quick. Fate/Stay Night is a visual novel, a type of game-book hybrid you play on pc.

Visual novels tend to have multiple routes, endings, and character scenarios that require more than one run. Something built with replay-ability in mind.

Due to this Fate/Stay Night is a video game series that's exploded into a setting that branches multiple media. The anime adaptions in particular seem confusing because they usually tackle different routes presented in that original novel. (some are fully unique stories)

Fate: Unlimited Blade Works specifically is the "Rin route" made into an anime. What makes it popular is the focus on Shirou Emiya but I also think that this small corner within the Fate world that Ufotable has made plays a huge factor.

Although terms, characters, and some events are shared each Fate work is typically it's own timeline of events. Each with one to several routes as equally valid as the other due to the String Theory setting the universe exists in.

So while each anime is it's own thing, can be watched as it's own thing, Ufotable in particular also connects them. Fate Zero is referenced rather heavily in Unlimited Blade Works.

(I'll refer to Unlimited Blade Works as "UBW" from here on)

I was actually surprised by this given what I know about how the author, ol Nasu, thinks about the parallel timeline setting. That does not make it unwelcome though.

If you watch Fate/Zero first and Fate: UBW second you'll feel like you've watched a three to four season story that spans two generations.

You may even feel more invested the side series El Melloi since Waver from Fate/Zero is the lead of that story but now ten years older.

In essence, UBW is great own it's own merit but the adaptions produced by Ufotable create this small pocket of continuity that can be appealing.

I rambled off a bit there, I apologize. Doing so helps me think but also helps me clarify points as I go, think of it as build up. I wanted to convey how these anime adaptions appeal to so many.

That said, you're likely confused as to why I said the focus on Shirou Emiya makes this story so popular. After all, it is based on the Rin Tohsaka route of the novel. She's the heroine here, so why is Shirou more of a focus?

To put it bluntly, it is because it focus' on the fucked up mentality of Shirou Emiya and how that manifests as Archer.

Rin gets plenty of focus herself. She's a good kid, more of a tsundere trope than she was in Fate 06, but it's nothing compared to Shirou's self destructive nature.

It was something I mentioned in relation to Saber's character when I finished Fate 06 way back when. I covered it only in relation to her own character and in how they both help "fix" each other.

What I did not realize back then is the likelihood that Shirou, albeit changed, was not deterred from his nature.

Dual Emiya

If episode 20 did anything it was showcase that Shirou is determined to die. Not in a literal suicidal fashion but in his stubbornness. He's unwilling budge on his ideals and goal even when he has his future self standing in front of him to tell him how much of a hypocrite he's being.

In fact, several times the story points this out to Shirou. Shirou's foolishness lets Caster steal Saber forcing her to endure much against her will.

Rin tells him several times how self destructive he is. After all, you truly can't save everyone nor can you do much for others if you die. Dying in the process of helping someone rarely actually helps. Fiction aside, you often just die trying.

You will likely find Shirou annoying as a result of his choices. Despite everyone and the world telling him he is wrong he won't accept that he is wrong. I've watched two Fate/Stay Night adaptions now, seen much more in lore vids and FGO, and I can't see him as anything other than a fool.

I will not sugarcoat it for you, Shirou Emiya is a fucking idiot.

However he is not a bad person nor is he a bad character. Like Rin states, it's hard to not like a person like that. Suicidal, sure, foolish, definitely, but that core drive to help other people is rare.

I personally do not hate his character. I will state again, I think he's a fucking idiot, but he is not bad. This flaw actually sells his character.

Heroic Spirit Emiya

This flawed personality manifests in a loose sense as Archer. The confrontation between the two is interesting to me for how quiet Shirou is throughout most of it.

Archer is the hero of justice Shirou hopes to be but Archer is also the Shirou that realizes he's a fool. Their entire battle is Archer trying to kill his past self in a vain attempt to end his own existence.

If not that, then he at least hopes to talk sense into his past self. Not once does Archer make a point that can be considered wrong. That may seem like an objective statement based on my subjective view of Shirous ideals but no.

I say that with confidence because Shirou himself admits it. As the fight progresses he sees glimpses of Archers life, Shirou's future. Archer states truths that Shirou didn't want to admit but is forced too.

Shirou is forced to admit his hypocrisy. He offers few rebuttals. Whether it's saying he'll "correct" the flaws in his view that creates Archer or avoid the mistakes that Archer experienced.

By the end he's forced to admit it is moot. Archer is right, even down to the dream Shirou strives for. To be a hero of justice wasn't Shirou's dream but Kiritsugu's.

A dream that Kiritsugu was forced to realize as impossible by the end of the 4th Grail war. A fact that Shirou did not learn.

Kiritsugu told his adoptive son that he had to give up on his dream but he did no tell him why. This was possibly the last bad decision Kiritsugu made in relation to his ideals as a hero of justice.

That does not mean that he should've (or even could've) told Shirou the truth of the war but it does mean that he likely shouldn't have mentioned magecraft or his lost dream to the boy.

Shirou suffers form extreme survivors guilt, he wanted a reason to justify him being alive, and so he adopted Kiritsugu's dream.

This, this realization, was probably the most interesting thing Archer forced Shirou to admit. If not to himself then to me as the viewer.

Shirou fully admits to his own hypocrisy, he embraces being a "faker" in the UBW route, but sticks to his dream anyway because it is worth it to him to validate Kiritsugu even a little.

What he remembers most from that fire wasn't being saved but seeing how finding even just one living person saved Kiritsugu from total madness.

In this vein Shirou isn't wrong. Even if everything from his ideals to his magecraft is imitations and borrowed they do have value. They can succeed where the original didn't.

Confused?

Having read that you probably feel like I just went in circles. If you do then that is natural because Shirou & Archer are arguing in circles.

They are self admitted hypocrites. There is no way to fix this logic.

If Shirou is forced to realize his hypocrisy and grim future then Archer is forced to remember his determination. UBW dives into Archer's logic but his character always falters in every Fate route.

You may even find it odd or jarring how he'll flip between oddly hostile to willingly dying to stop Berserker or give Shirou an arm. (yes that is literal)

There is a purity in Shirous dreams, as borrowed as they are, and Archer still has that buried under regret. It is a bit hard to explain, perhaps I just did not understand it well, but I take Archer's defeat as acceptance.

I do not think that he believes himself to be wrong, hell I do not think Archer is wrong, but he accepts that there is no fixing his path. Maybe, deep down, he also hopes that his dream wasn't a total mistake.

Shirou's Others

I started this knowing that I would likely have to make two posts anyway due to everything UBW throws at you but I've ended up making this one the Shirou & Archer post...

A part of this is basic info but that whole text wall between is all from just three episodes. The battle between Shirou & Archer adds that much to think about.

Shirou is molded by his other interactions to be sure but nothing in Fate dives as deeply into his mind and flaws as that battle did. And yes, I know where he ends up depends on the route (female lead) taken but they just do not dig that deep-

As soon as I typed that I made a bet with myself. Just you watch, when I sit through Heaven's Feel I'll prove myself wrong.

What I mean to say is that I didn't really fold Rin into this. UBW is technically her route or it's based on it to be technical.

While Saber & Shirou seem to naturally help each other with their flaws in that route Rin just tells Shirou when he's being foolish.

But I may need to save that for the part two of this post. I can't think of more to add due to how much that one battle overshadowed my impressions of Shirou.

I can explain Rin in the other post but aside the hypocrisy of his dream I can't draw on more. There is stuff there, the little things, like how Rin determines to help Shirou realize his self worth.

The whole epilogue episode is great, Shirou and Saber's friendship, and then there's the cute date scenes. There is more to Shirou in this adaption but none of them really dig into his motives. His realizations.

Oh well, onto part two!: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/post/740393959245938688/fated-rantings-unaware-of-loss-nor-aware-of

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For my other experiences with Fate go here: https://derekscorner.tumblr.com/tagged/fated-rantings

#fate series #fated rantings #fate unlimited blade works #fate ubw

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