#i just have a lot of disney world footage sitting around so i figured i might as well put them somewhere

[starrattlerofprydain]

Anyone interested in checking out my new youtube channel?

It's a Disney centric channel! I'm gonna be posting stuff from the parks, movies, etc. on there.

[obeymeluv]

The Bros Visit the Human World

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You bring the bros to the human world for a little get-away and they develop some interesting habits.

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Lucifer

He’s the restless one that doesn’t sleep well. It takes a night or two to get comfortable and sleep normally.

Lucifer will probably be the first one up. Not only out of habit, but you’re in the human world so he’ll see the sun again

Being away from Diavolo and the responsibilities actually makes him seem like a stranger. Everyone forgets who he is outside of that because he’s so dedicated.

If you’re around a lot of nature, he’ll just casually stroll around. Almost like he’s forgotten what grass, trees, and flowers look like. He loves to spend time in the sun and just breathe the air.

Have pets? He’s partial to cats and well-behaved dogs.

Surprisingly, he’ll be the type to chase birds off of anything half-wounded or put birds back into their nests

At some point you’ll find him on the roof, wings out and sunning

Take him to livestock stores or somewhere like Tractor Supply Co. and he’ll be super tempted to smuggle a baby chick out in his pocket.

Loathes most human TV. Can’t bring himself to be interested until you bust out bible-history related documentaries. If he finds one he’ll take control of the TV, watch it all, and rip it to pieces.

Kind of develops a complex about it. “What would these humans know?! They’ve only been around for, what, forty years? Try five thousand!”

Take him by the coffee shops or smoothie shops to try decadent treats! He secretly likes them!

Mammon

Sleeps easier than Lucifer but has a tough time because the noises are different

If you have an open field or bigger back yard, his favorite thing to do is stand there and watch birds come to him. It surprises him that he can summon more than crows

Boy will definitely throw on a sunhat (or some cool glasses) and ask you what you feed birds around your place. Stands out in your yard throwing bird seed like the birds are starving and he’s got a million bags.

The type to fight squirrels and chase them out of your yard or away from feeders because “It’s not FOR you!”

If you live somewhere more laid-back he’ll feel very restless. He’s drawn to bigger, busier places.

IMMEDIATELY asks you about restaurants and things to do (”What’cha got? What’s good? Anything fun around here?”)

Gets super frustrated by shows like Storage Wars but it eerily good at appraising the value of stuff at a glance. Often guesses the real value of the objects

Show him Antique Roadshow. He’ll LOSE. HIS. SHIT.

He’ll ask to go by places like pawn shops and jewelers to just look at the different things humans trade or want to save up for. Can probably get discounts on the stuff.

Bring this guy when shopping for jewelry. He has an innate gift for appraising and can see flaws. He knows when you’re being played.

Want to be a little mean? Get those chocolate treasure chest coins and give one to Beel first. Mammon might just have a heart attack.

Definitely goes on a rant about how making chocolate money is wrong. (”Why make a currency you can’t spend?!”)

Make the visit special by getting some type of matching jewelry--earrings, rings, necklaces--and he’ll wear it around.

Take him by pet stores where they’ll let the birds out of cages, he’ll make kissy noises and love on all of them. Will definitely try to smuggle one out.

He’ll spend whole days in parks when he realizes you can park it on a bench and feed birds. Birds that don’t always get food!

Don’t show him water fountains. He doesn’t get the concept of people tossing coins in and will definitely try to take them by posing as a cleaner or something

Taking him by a museum is a 50/50 gamble. He’s genuinely interested in the displays and setup but might try to steal something   

Do you have a way to watch The Road to El Dorado? Show it to Mammon. He’ll love it.

Leviathan

Unless you live by some cute cafes, comic book stores, or video game retailers he probably won’t do much on his visit

Do you have a pool? He changed his mind. Might gripe about the chlorine messing with his skin though.

If you only have access to a community pool he refuses to do anything with it

Take him to the beach if you live near one. He’ll ALWAYS go for ocean water!

Because the Devildom is the Devildom, I bet they don’t have Ghibli movies. Maybe they have knock-offs, or they’re considered rare because they’re human world related, but have a Ghibli marathon with him! He’ll love it! It won’t be Ruri-chan levels of love, but he’ll stan and want to buy some stuff

Can you make boba tea at home or swing by a coffee shop that makes a close substitute? Take him! He’ll like it! Levi may complain about it not being authentic but he’ll secretly appreciate it

He likes savory food and junk food so take him by a dollar store and get some cheap chips and sodas. It’ll be interesting to try. Maybe he can make a Deviltube video about trying human food!

Levi also strikes me as someone who would like nachos, so maybe grab him some nachos!

Do they know about the Doritos and Mountain Dew thing in the Devildom? He might want those. (”Look, I’m like the human gamers!”)

Levi runs a little colder than his brothers (by Devildom standards) so take him around to feel on blankets and maybe get one to take back to the Devildom.

Satan

Has a great love for books (obviously) and a great disdain for Devildom bookstores that charge an arm and a leg for human finds. TAKE HIM BY BOOKSTORES AND LET HIM LIVE IN HIS NATURAL ENVIRONMENT!

The type to bring an extra suitcase just for books

Is actually quite a homebody because he has no connections in the human world (besides you), so he’s fine to sit and read his new finds.

Do you have books at home? What are your favorites? He’ll read them, too, while he’s here

Show him some kind of crime channel or crime YouTuber and he’s 100% obsessed. Binges them like Netflix

Will wave you over and demand you sit, tangling your legs together as you lean back and speculate on who the murder is and what happens since most of those TV episodes are an hour long

Loves anything psychological-based. Wants to understand why people do things and how they work. Show things like Criminal Minds and Mind Games. He’ll be SUPER interested.

Do you have cats? You’ll see Satan whispering them and holding them against his shoulder. He’s in love and might be planning to steal your cat.

Taking him by animal shelters makes him a little sad but he’ll be glad to play with all the cats at one time.

Don’t tell him that, to most humans, Lucifer and Satan are the same figure in the Bible. He just might lose his shit.

Does your town have history/mystery tours? Take him! It’s a two-in-one and he loves it! History and culture, mystery and crime!

Show Satan Cinderella. He’ll get the BIGGEST laugh out of the cat being called Lucifer.

Asmodeus

Like Mammon, will ask you about aesthetic places and things to do

In a rare moment of not hating Mammon, the two will gossip at the jewelry stores and be really critical. Mammon stops Asmo from making bad purchases

Show him around some makeup stores! He’d LOVE to see human products!

If you take him by ANY store with clothes, he will look, pick, feel, analyze, and try things on for the hell of it. It will be an all-day thing

Human fashion takes off more than he expected on the Devilgram, so he’ll buy a few things.

When he realizes makeup stores give free makeovers, he’ll use that to his advantage. Especially by charming people

Goes on a small kick of charming people to get what he wants because Lucifer only ever told him he couldn’t do it to YOU. It’s a new level of fawning and attention and he eats it up

If he sees a cute Starbucks drink on TV, he wants it.

If you show him Pinterest or Instagram, he’s glued to a device and saving things.

By the time everyone goes back to the Devildom he has a tiny notebook full of ideas and details--ways to recreate it in the Devildom

Gets several modeling offers and you (or one of the bros) has to pull him away, It’s not happening.

Unexpectedly into unboxing videos and calligraphy. Lives for pretty hand writing and is fascinated by bullet journaling even though he’s too lazy to maintain one

Show him soap operas/dramas and celebrity entertainment channels. He won’t know what to believe.

If he sees shows like Jerry Springer, Maury, Jeremy Kyle, or Judge Judy he live-streams them like ‘can you believe what crazy things happen in the human world?!’

Beelzebub

The dollar store is his heaven! ALL THIS FOOD FOR A DOLLAR?!

I personally think that human food is less calorically dense so he’ll need to eat a lot. Take him by fast food places that have cheap dollar menus or five dollar deals

If you go to a restaurant with a ‘finish in ‘x’ amount of a minutes and it’s free!’ do it. He’ll set a record

Beel learns about all you can eat buffets and gives you puppy eyes until you take him to one. At least you’ll get your money’s worth!

Don’t take him by a real grocery store. He’ll bankrupt you. Or eat all the free samples.

He’s interested in cooking shows but if he watches them you’ll have to clean up a lot of drool, give him something to eat while he’s watching, or stop him from absently grabbing the closest thing and trying to eat it

Is super into renovation shows and technical shows where people work with their hands. It’s like sports of the mind.

Not as interested in watching American football because he’ll critique it too much. Any other sport, he’ll find it interesting and want to know how it works.

Show him old Olympic footage. He’s surprised at the variety of sports and will watch the whole thing

Will also enjoy Ghibli movies. How do they make food look like that?!

This boy is a Disney princess in a demon body. If he sees any critters while he’s out and about (ANY), he’ll want to try and feed it or pet it

Bugs are drawn to him. He especially likes caterpillars and butterflies.

Beel likes to hunt for ladybugs.

Likes to “donate” to ant hills and watch them work,

Likes to watch nature documentaries about different animals

If you take him to the zoo, he’ll marvel at the different animals. Wants to wrestle a tiger and the bigger animals to see if he’ll win. It looks “fun.”

Belphegor

When he hears about mattress stores, that’s his thing. That’s what he wants you to do together. Belphie will literally lay on as many mattresses as possible and judge them

He may not have a hard time sleeping as long as he has his favorite pillow, but, for kicks, show him ASMR. Beel’s not the only one who drools!

Will definitely fall asleep outside in the sun. Any place is a good place for a nap, and to look up and see clouds is special

Spend a night outside under the human sky. It’s constellations and things he only ever gets to see in the star room

Will watch just about anything on TV. He’ll say he doesn’t have a preference but he likes those happy, soft movies that have gentle endings where everything turns out okay. Actually cries a little.

If he learns what Snorlax is from Pokemon, he’ll want one. A big Snorlax plushy to cuddle and sleep on/with!

If he hears the word “demon” uttered on TV he’s instantly hooked. What stupid thing do these humans think? THAT’S their version of a demon?!

Can you take him to see real cows? He’d really like that.

The type to make flower chains in the grass because he’s bored. Gives his first one to Beel and falls asleep before he can make another one.

Loves milkshakes unironically. Will slink out of bed and come along on any errands/brother outings if he can get one out of you.

[revchainsaw]

Stargate (1994)

Welcome to the Cult Film Tent Revival my freaky fanatics, prepare yourselves to take the sacrament from across the stars, as we engage in the miraculous works of one of our most beloved Cult Saints, Saint Kurt. Coming to us from the golden age of Sci-fi Adventures, when Hollywood would dump the big bucks into a film so out of this world, we are partaking this evening of 1994's Stargate!

The Message

Every child has an Egypt phase. I remember fondly flipping through my DK Eyewitness guide to ancient Egypt with my Anubis warrior action figure from the movie stargate propped up on my desk. This wasn't even school work, Egypt inspired this young freak to learn outside of the classroom, and Stargate inspired me to look to Egypt in the first place. My father was a military man, as mentioned before, and this film irked him to some degree. He hated that the film was slightly critical of firearms, but mostly he hated that it depicted the high security military installation where he worked unrealistically. You know the high security military installation in the side of Cheyenne Mountain. yeah, that one. I don't know why my father expected a bunch of nerds from Hollywood with not security clearance to have any idea what it looked like in that hyper-secure location, but he did. I suspect after they lost him on the guns he was looking for any reason to hate Stargate, and so, impressionable as I was, I thought for years that this movie was really stupid.

Thank the Gods of Cult that I had the inspiration to give this film a second chance. I have to say, it's a little stupid, but it's not REALLY stupid. Also, Disney's Atlantis is totally just animated Stargate, and that's pretty fucked up.

Stargate is the story of how a big old nerd, whos name is NOT Milo, played by James Spader was enlisted by a bunch of military bad guy types to use his crackpot pseudoscience egyptology crap to decipher a bunch of writings that every other scientist or academic was wrong about. When he does this he succesfully creates a Stargate, a bridge between our world and another.

Our other hero is Sergeant Kurt Russell. Russell is sitting around trying to take two and not call his doctor in the morning, just generally being sad about guns because his son accidentally shot himself. Like father like son I guess. Sorry if that sounds cruel, it's just so desperately reaching for pathos and drama that it kind of enters into the realm of parody parody. I may have been raised by gun nuts, but I am very pro depicting guns as dangerous. Stargate is about as subtle as a pie in the face, or a bullet in the face. Ok, I'm done. Anyway, the military has one more mission for Kurt and he decides for some reason that means that guns are good again for killing bad guys, except for later when he decides that guns are bad again.

So Disney's Atlantis and Guile from Street Fighter enter the Stargate and discover a world where illiterate humans are kept in subjugation by a ruling class of aliens who use them to mine precious minerals and demand to be worshipped as Gods. The leader of these aliens is an immortal alien being who has possessed the body of a teen boy pop sensation and goes by the name of Ra.

James Spader is gifted a wife by the locals because it's so quirky that women are property, i guess, but it's okay because they happen to be in love, and with her help he is able to learn the truth behind this worlds condition. Ra had built the Stargate to travel between worlds and was worshipped in Ancient Egypt, however the people got wise to his BS and he had to escape. He took many humans hostage and crossed the stargate and then banned reading and writing as an attempt to quell any kind of uprising, and it's worked for a long time.

Ra is pissed at the earth boys though because he knows a nuclear weapon when he sees one. Turns out Kurt Russell brought a big ol bomb with him across the stargate as a contingency plan for any aggro aliens they may have found. Hey, they found them so I guess it wasn't too bad of an idea. Ra punishes his worshippers by having them mercilessly bombed and Spader and Russell team up with the locals to revolt. They eventually gain the upper hand and Ra attempts to flee with his Pyramid space ship but our heroes teleport the nuke onto his ship and save the day. Thus launching several Sci-Fi television series that I have never watched.

The Benediction

Best Scene: Ra Footage

The Throne Room Scene where we are first introduced to Ra and his godlike warriors is pretty excellent. It's so menacing how he surrounds himself with a force field of children, and the combination of futuristic technology with an ancient Egyptian aesthetic that this film sells itself on is on it's ultimate display in this scene. I really like the villains in this movie and I savor whenever they get to be shown off.

Best effect: Mastadge Ride

The CG on Stargate is better than in Species which sought to be it's competitor a year later, but it is still dated. It's utilized in cool enough ways and sparingly enough that even though it looks cartoony at moments it is very easy to forgive. Being Easy to forgive however, would be a pretty lackluster qualification for best effect and I'm going to have to turn this honor to the practical creature effects for the Mastadge. When we are first introduced to our alien world one the first things we see is the fuzzy maw of one of these creatures, before it takes James Spader for a very harrowing trip across the desert. These alien beasts of burden do sometimes reveal that they are mounted upon horses, but in close ups they just look so good. I love them and I want one.

Worst Scene: It's just sad OK!

Kurt Russell becomes very popular with the young men from the village of Ra's worshippers. They come to see him as some kind of hero and seek to emulate him. However, these people are very peaceful and not in any way battle hardened. A group of the young men stand up to the leaders and seek to aid the Earthlings in their revolution. They are brave but in many ways out classed by Ra's elite guards. Through the sheer force of numbers they do succeed in casting off the shackles of their oppressors but not before one of the young men we've come to care about is tragically blasted all to shit in slow mo. That scene made me cry a ton when I was a kid, and I dreaded waiting for it as an adult. It is worth noting that if you aren't 5 years old a lot of the drama in Stargate is pretty hamfisted and corny. It's a pretty excellent action movie, and a pretty goofy drama.

Coolest looking Villain: Animals as Leaders

I used to think that Ra was really stupid looking, but I was a kid and was biased towards cool warriors with animal heads, but I really have a much better appreciation for the effects and costume design of all of the godly villain crew than I used to. That said, The Anubis guy in particular still holds up. It's the dope Jackal head, the teal of the armor. It's what I picture when I picture Stargate. The Horus guys are also worth a mention with their awesome hawk jets. I couldn't pick a "Best" villain, so I went with the Coolest Looking.

Worst Aspect: Lacking Character

When I have fond thoughts of Stargate, they almost never revolve around the characters, or if they do it's in a juvenile manner. Who had cool armor, who had cool weapons, or who did the coolest thing? I have a hard time caring about these meandering people. They are inconsistent. They have no flaws that they work on or grow from. They are special because the script insists that it's so, and I don't really care if they succeed or fail at any point in the film. It's a shame because we have a good set up, and good lore. If at any point any body acted like a real person I think Stargate would be better remembered as a film than as the weird older sibling of a long running television series.

Summary

I'd like to say that Stargate succeeds at everything it's trying to do, but it doesn't. Stargate fails in the tragedy and pathos it attempts to create within it's characters; but it does succeed in almost every other way. Stargate is an engaging and exciting action movie. Stargate delivers on it's science fiction concept, and provides some fun fantasy lore to round out it's world building. Stargate is also a great looking (at most times) special effects spectacle. For all of those reasons, It is not a great film, but it is pretty darn good film.

Overall Grade: B

[fyeahcamcountry]

Cam: The Otherside - track by track

(Apple Music)

'...“I was a total idealist,” Cam tells Apple Music. The Nashville country singer, who’s also one of the city’s most sought-after songwriters, says the five years she spent writing her sophomore album were some of the hardest of her life. “I had this Disney idea of how the world worked, and at some point that just...broke.” Tracing a string of major life changes—breaking up with her old label, inking a new contract, marrying her husband, and welcoming her first child—The Otherside reflects a dramatic shift in thinking, or her journey through disillusionment into clear-eyed realism. That evolution unlocked a new side to her sound. “My songs have always pulled from my psychology background, but I had this filter on and didn’t even know it,” she says. “Once I took that off, I could be so much more honest. I could see the world, and myself, for exactly what they were.” Read on as Cam tells us the inside story behind each song.

[[MORE]]

Redwood Tree

“I grew up in the Bay Area with a redwood tree in my backyard, and I did a lot of thinking up there. I wasn’t raised in a specific religion, but the most magical, awe-inspiring experience I can think of is being in the redwoods, feeling so small. It’s like a cathedral in that it reminds you of your place in everything. Fallen redwoods have rings that represent the thousands of years that they lived, and you’re like, ‘Oh, we’re just flies buzzing around.’ We wake up one day shocked to realize our parents are suddenly old. Like, when did my dad's beard get so white? I had watched the movie Arrival around the time we wrote this song, and I loved the idea of time not being linear. The soundtrack has these voices that go ‘Da, da, da, da,’ and we nod to that in the production. I hope time isn't linear. I hope I get more time with my parents.”

The Otherside

“Tim, or Avicii, came to Nashville a few years ago to write for one of his albums, and we were in the studio with Hillary Lindsey and Tyler Johnson. He started playing this piano melody over and over and over again, and I don't smoke cigarettes but when Hillary took a cigarette break, I was like, ‘I'm going, too.’ It was just so intense. He was really stuck on this thing. While we're out on the back porch, she and I came up with an idea for the chorus, and he loved it. But he fiddled with it for hours. He was thinking about cadence, about how we speak, about code-mapping it onto a melody, and about the actual phonetics. Tim never wound up releasing that song, so I was like, ‘Ooh, maybe that means I can.’ Even though it’s such a heavy thing not having him around for the final edits, I did feel this great responsibility to work my ass off to get it right. Because I knew that’s what he would have done.”

Classic

“On the other side of the spectrum, this is one of those songs that just magically fell into place. I went up to New York for a few sessions with Jack Antonoff at Electric Lady Studios, and it was so fun. Creatives tend to beat themselves up a lot, but Jack and I sat there jangling around on this 12-string guitar and writing a song that had this nostalgic Simon & Garfunkel ‘Cecilia’ vibe. It’s about how there are people in your life that outlast everything else—technology, fashion trends, swings in politics, whatever. Nothing's a constant in life, but a few people are. It was inspired by this moment when my husband and I were in Argentina and he found a pack of Lucky Strike cigarettes. He doesn't smoke anymore, but he goes, ‘I’ve got to smoke these because they don't make ‘em like this anymore.’ And then he looks at me and goes, ‘That's a country lyric.’”

Forgetting You

“I was writing with Lori McKenna, Tyler Johnson, and Mitch Rowland, and we’re all pals from working on various projects together. Still, I always get nervous when I go write with Lori, even though she's so humble and chill, because I’m like, ‘Don't embarrass yourself in front of the poet of our generation!’ Which is to say, I knew I needed to bring in something cool. I had this line, ‘I'm getting older/But you never change.’ The song is about holding on to the concept of someone from the past, and measuring everyone up to them even though it’s no longer real. That's why you keep moving forward but they never seem to age.”

Like a Movie

“Before we were married and had a kid, I’d come home from tour and my husband and I would have this tiny bit of quality time together. And the truth is, we’d usually get high and go to Walmart. One day, we were unloading all our groceries and I was like, ‘How did you know it was me? How did you know not to settle for someone earlier or wait for someone else?’ And he just smiled and said, ‘Because when I met you, it was like a movie.’ Now, I can remember when we met. I was a mess. It did not look like a movie. But it was so, so sweet. I wrote with the love junkies—Lori McKenna, Liz Rose, and Hillary Lindsey—and the strings are David Campbell, who’s actually Beck’s dad. Jeff Bhasker wanted a ’50s movie soundtrack vibe with strings that swelled like an orchestra, and David immediately got it. Apple Music did a teaser video for the album, and if you watch it, there should be video footage from that string session.”

Changes

“I usually write all my own music, but this is the first of a couple songs on this album that I didn’t. I guess I feel like it's cheating. I'm supposed to be digging all this personal stuff up and figuring myself out, so taking someone else’s song feels like a shortcut. But I trust Harry [Styles]’s writing. I feel like he tries so hard to be himself in his music, and he doesn't take it lightly. That pursuit resonates with me. The demo had Lori McKenna singing with Harry on background vocals and his whistle, which is still in the track. It was amazing to hear a song that someone else wrote that clicked so much with me personally. It’s about feeling like you’ve outgrown where you're from, and you don't really want to admit that. It’s kind of an uncomfortable thing to say, but I love when things are uncomfortable. That means it’s important.”

Till There's Nothing Left

“This song has steamy sexual energy... Like, ‘I'm giving you my whole heart but also my body and a quickie in the back seat.’ While we were recording my vocals, I was trying to sit back and make it cool and sexy, and I realized I was blushing. I was blushing because society tells us that sexuality is a private thing. If you want to be respected as a woman, if you want to be considered intelligent, you can’t be sexual. But then I was reminded of my grandmother who was raised Baptist on a farm in Saskatchewan. She's the one who gave me the sex talk, unbeknownst to my mother. She said, ‘Sex is like a milkshake. Once you have it, you're always going to want it.’ She was comfortable with her sexuality without it being the main thing about her. So I thought, ‘If a woman born in the 1930s on a farm in Canada can own it, I can own it.”

What Goodbye Means

“A friend of mine was going through a divorce. It was pretty ugly, but he was being so kind. I asked him, ‘How are you being so nice right now? I don't get it.’ And he said, ‘Because she might change her mind.’ I still get goosebumps thinking about it. We've all been there, not quite ready to accept the reality of something, and that's okay. You've got to take it at the rate you can take it. This song has such a classic melody. It’s warm. For some reason it feels like a summer evening in New Mexico to me.”

Diane

“This song is a response to Dolly Parton’s ‘Jolene,’ and man, it really seems to resonate with people. Crowds sing it back to me in this emotional, over-the-top, theatrical way. I suppose most people have had infidelity affect their life one way or another, but it’s hard to watch people you care about go through it. There's so much shame around it that you don't get to talk about what you need or how to heal. And you almost never get to hear the other party’s side. So ‘Diane’ is my moment to role-play, I guess. I'm the other woman and I slept with your husband and I didn't know he was married, but you’ve got to know the truth. Parton's lyrics to the other woman include the word ‘please,’ and that just killed me. She's so humble and human, asking someone to please not take the love of her life away. Immediately, I was like, ‘That's the narrative. That's what is so often left unsaid.’”

Happier for You

“This is the other song that I didn't write, and it’s from Sam Smith and Tyler [Johnson]. Sam and I have a great relationship because I helped write the song ‘Palace’ for their album and then they brought me out on tour. We have a lot of trust. When Lindsay [Marias, Cam’s manager] and I first heard this demo and Sam came in singing, our jaws dropped. The emotion was so raw and honest and real. I love the juxtaposition of saying something very loud and publicly—to the point where it almost feels proud—but actually it’s something that makes you want to curl up in a ball.”

Girl Like Me

“This is the author's note at the end of the book. Natalie Hemby had come over and started playing a verse on the piano, and I was like, ‘Oh god, that is so sad.’ And she's like, ‘It's your story. This is your comeback story.’ It’s funny how sometimes you can’t recognize your own self. Writing this song was uncomfortable but in the best way, trying to pull lyrics out in the chorus (‘They’re going to give up on you/You're going to give up on them’). You can’t just become jaded. You have to push through. It’s a gift to be able to see life for what it is, and to see yourself for who you are. I think anyone who has been through that phase of disillusionment will think, ‘Oh, yeah, tough. But this side is better.’”

[herocentral]

Possible Hero 6

Well folks heres chapter 2 of Possible Hero 6 and where the rest of the crew comes into play, there are some references to the movie in this part, but otherwise just enjoy.

Note: This is just for fun I don't own any of the characters in this story so no-one is allowed to copy, trace, steal etc without my permission.

Big Hero 6 & Kim Possible (c) Disney, 2020

Chapter 2: Sparks fly.

It’s a bright clear morning in the city of San Fransokyo, everyone was going about their normal day walking down the sidewalks and riding the cable cars. Near the city stood Krei tech industries the leading technological company in the city. Inside was the head office of the companies CEO and founder Alister Krei wearing a blue suit with a white shirt, blonde hair and grey blue eyes. He sits at his desk looking at his tablet when soon his assistant enters she has short black hair with glasses, wearing a grey long jacket with a white shirt and black pants.

“Excuse me Mr.Krei.” Said Judy entering the room. “Yes Judy what is it if it’s that reminder about, Jones’s incident with in the experimental tech division I’ll compensate him next week.” Krei said dryly. 

“No sir a Miss Kim Possible is here to see you.” Judy just said which caught Alister’s attention. 

“Kim Possible?” He said. “Yes the teen hero who fights bad guys.” Judy said. “Yes Judy I know who that is I watch the news.” Krei said. “Alright send her in.” 

As he did Judy went to the door, opening and walking in was Kim and Ron now in their mission outfits. 

“Mr. Krei.” Kim introduces “My names Kim Possible and this is Ron Stoppable.” 

“Yes Miss Possible I know who you are, I’m familiar with your reputation quite impressive.” Krei said standing from his desk and greeting them with a handshake. 

“So what can I do for you.” Krei then said. “Well it’s just we’ve heard recently that you’ve had a series of break ins at a number of your facilities.” Kim explained. 

“Break ins? Miss Possible, Krei tech has the most advanced security in the world.” Krei insisted

 “Actually Mr. Krei our security team has received reports of a number of our facilities have been broken into and several men were sent to the hospital.” Judy then added to which Kim raised an eyebrow to his ‘security.

“Ahem, yes well.” Krei said pulling his shirt collar. Kim then took out her Kimmunicator and contacted Wade. 

“Wade can you access the security cameras of the Krei tech facilities that were robbed?” Kim asked “Not a problem Kim.”

“Oh please you can’t just access our highly secure cameras.” Krei insisted but... “ Got it sending you a feed.” Wade then said and Krei just stood there gobsmacked. 

“Yeah Wades our secret weapon.” Ron said smugly. Rufus then appeared on Rons shoulder and gave him a high five. 

“Gah just keep that rodent away from me.” Krei said hiding behind his assistant. Rufus just frowned. 

Kim meanwhile was watching the security footage of the facility and saw a figure stealing something from a crate and the figure then turns round and Kim notices something. 

“Wade hold it there!” Kim said and Wade pauses the footage. “Now zoom in on her face.” The footage zooms in and it shows the face of a certain green and black suited woman that the teen hero recognised all too well. 

“Shego!” Kim said grinding her teeth. “What’s she doing here?” Ron asked. “Whoa that’s who’s broken into my facilities she looks rather, feisty.” Krei said admiring the green thief a bit. 

“Yeah trust me dude she ain’t your type.” Ron said. “Yep deadly.” Rufus squeaked. 

“Mr. Krei was there anything in those warehouses that could be considered dangerous.” Kim then asked. “Well those facilities only stored old or work in progress projects as well as a few classified projects.” Krei then said. 

This placed a concerned look on the faces of Kim and Ron’s faces. 

Later the two leave Krei tech discussing their recent findings. 

“So why’s Shego breaking into facilities anyway?” Ron asked. “I don’t know but where Shego is you can bet Drakken won’t be far behind.” Kim said then turning to her Kimmunicator. 

“Wade, any ideas as to what Shego stole from the facilities?” Kim asked. 

“No clue but I’ve mapped out all the facilities that Shego’s robbed over the past week.” Wade said then bringing up a map of San Fransokyo and all the Krei facilities that Shego had robbed marked in red dots.

“So far I haven’t found a pattern to the break ins but the only two she hasn’t hit are on the north and east sides of the city.” Wade explained. 

“And no idea which she’ll hit next.” Kim said. “Exactly.” Wade said “but I’ll look into it and see what I can find.” 

“Right mean time we best get to SFIT and meet my Dad for his lecture.” Kim then said looking at her watch. “Ah yeah early admission to College!” Ron said excitedly. 

San Fransokyo institute of Technology (SFIT)

San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, SFIT for short is the source of all the potential scientific minds in robotics, bio tech and more. It is also the campus attended by Hiro and Baymax. 

Kim and Ron soon arrive at the campus by cab and walk out to see the different campus buildings and the students walking by between classes. They were now in more casual attire, Kim was wearing a white shirt with a pink heart in the middle, and wore pink pants with white shoes. While Ron was in his normal red and white collared sports jersey with black under shirt, brown cargo pants and white sneakers. 

“Whoa, this place is more advanced than our school.” Ron said looking round. “Well it isn’t called an institute of technology for nothing Ron.” Kim pointed out. 

“Kimmy” called a voice and Kim looked to see her dad and the tweebs waiting for her outside the Ito Ishioka Robotics Lab. 

“Hey Dad sorry we were a little late, just had to do some mission work.” Kim then explained. “Well I’m glad your here now lets go inside.” James then said. “So where’s mrs Dr P?” Ron then asked. 

“Oh she’s meeting with Cass to talk about their old time’s in high school, she’ll meet up with us later.” James explained and entered the campus. 

Walking down the hallways they soon meet with a dark skinned woman with short hair, dressed in a black long sleeved shirt a grey dress and black heels. 

“Dr. James Possible, so glad you could make it.” Said Professor Granville greeting him with a hand shake. “Glad to be here Professor Granville.” James greeted. “These are my sons Jim and Tim and my daughter Kim.” He then introduced his children. “And I’m Ron stoppable here for the sights.” Ron then added. 

“Ah the infamous Kim Possible, I’ve heard a lot about you exploits around the world most impressive.” Professor Granville complimented. 

“Oh well thank you, Professor.” Kim said humbly. Just then Hiro and Baymax entered the campus and saw the people they met yesterday. 

“Dr. Possible” Hiro called and they turned to see Hiro and his robotic companion. “Oh hello Hiro.” James greeted. 

“Ah I see you’ve already met mr. Hamada one of our younger students.” Granville explains, “His brother Tadashi, was one of our finest.” 

“I, heard about that, and Professor Callaghan’s involvement.” James said rather down hearted. 

Something then got Hiro’s attention. “Wait, you knew Professor Callaghan?” He asked. 

“Yes, he was a tutor I had in college one of the toughest I ever had.” James explained. 

“Before joining SFIT Robert was a teacher at the Middleton Institute of Science and Technologies.” Professor Granville explained. 

“He taught me a lot and it lead to my career in rocket science.” James explained. “I still couldn’t believe it after I heard the news of what he did, attacking Krei tech, I always considered Robert to be a man of great principles.” 

“I’m sorry to hear that dad.” Kim said apologetically. 

“Yes what happened to Robert was tragic, grief and loss has a way of making even the most decent of men do things they wouldn’t do.” Granville said. 

“Loss?” Ron asked. “He thought he lost his daughter in an accident several years ago.” Hiro explained. “Yes but she’s alive and well still recovering from years in hyper sleep.” Baymax then explained. 

“Now to business if you would like to follow me Dr. Possible I’ll get you set up in the lecture hall.” Professor Granville said. “Okay Kimmy your in charge of the boys.” James told his daughter. 

“What!” The tweebs said annoyed. “You heard him tweebs.” Kim said with a smug look. 

“Mr. Hamada, perhaps you could show them round the campus.” Professor Granville suggested. “Uh okay, I was just on my way to my lab anyway.” Hiro agreed. 

“Very well I’ll leave them with you.” Then Granville noticed Rufus in Ron’s pocket. “I would suggest you keep your pet on you and away from any, delicate equipment.” Granville suggested in a rather strict tone. To which Ron nodded nervously. 

“I don’t know why but she reminds me a lot of Mr. Barkin.” Ron whispered to Kim. “Yeah Professor Granville tends to be a little strict especially to me at times.” Hiro then said. 

They then made their way down the hallway towards the robotics lab. However before they arrived Hiro accidentally bumped into a girl about sixteen years old, with tanned skin, brown eyes, brown hair, wears a pastel yellow sweater, orange mini skirt, has green and red bracelets on her left arm with black pants and black shoes. 

“Hey watch it Hamada.” Karmi said. “Sorry Karmi but you should watch where your going.” Hiro said in return. “Hello Karmi, I am..” “Yes yes I know who you are.” Karmi said interrupting Baymax. 

“Yeah well anyway I’m in the middle of giving these people a tour.” Hiro explained and Karmi looked to see Kim, Ron and the tweebs. However the moment she eyed Kim Karmi’s eyes just lit up in shock.

“Oh my, no way is… oh my!” Karmi said barely containing her excitement. “Y.. YOUR KIM POSSIBLE!” Karmi said pushing past Hiro and right up to Kim. 

“Uh yes that’s me.” Kim said stepping back a little. “Oh my gosh! OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH!” Karmi said practically jumping up and down in excitement. 

“Uh what’s with you?” Hiro asks. “I’m face to face with the Kim Possible!” Karmi said in excitement. 

“When does her name have a The in it?” Hiro asked. “Oh of course you don’t know, Kim possible is a famous Teen Hero who fights super villains around the world.” Karmi explained showing Hiro, Kims website on her phone and several videos of Kim facing bad guys. 

“Wait so your a super hero?” Hiro said in surprise. “Yeah she can do anything!” Ron exclaimed “and I’m her sidekick!” 

“Your her sidekick?” Hiro then said. “Oh now I remember you your the one that always loses his pants.” Karmi remembered. “Oh come on its only been a few times.” Ron moaned. 

“Losing ones pants can be considered rather embarrassing.” Baymax then explained showing a diagram of embarrassment on his screen.

“Hey okay if I get a picture.” Karmi asked “Uh sure.” Kim said since Karmi was clearly a fan. So Karmi put her hand round Kim and took a selfie of her and Kim with a peace sign. 

“Oooo I’m so posting this!” Karmi said “Okay Karmi, if your done being a fan girl I have a tour to give.” Hiro said pushing Karmi away. 

“Oh sure it’s all about you we get it your a young genius but I’m still the one who got noticed.” Karmi said smugly. 

“Well, you don’t always have to hog the spotlight Karmi.” Hiro said irritated. “Not everyone can Hamada.” Karmi retorted. 

“Gah what makes someone like that!” Hiro groaned as he continued to the robotics lab. “Who was that?” Jim asked. 

“Oh that’s Karmi, she like me is a young genius and works with bio tech, but she’s also snarky, disdains me for stealing her spot light, not to mention can be impossible to work with.” Hiro listed. 

Ron couldn’t help but notice a similarity between Hiro and Karmi and a certain someone from their high school. 

“Whoa talk about deja vu.” Ron whispered to Kim. 

“What?” Said a confused Kim. “Come on KP that’s just like how you and Bonnie are the rival cycle of life.” Ron explained. “Ron it’s totally different.” Kim denied. 

Soon they arrived at the robotics lab and Hiro pushes open the doors, when Jim and Tim entered their jaws just dropped like anvils,Kim and Ron soon followed and couldn’t help but be amazed. They saw a work space filled with robotic equipment, like robot arms playing ping pong with other students, and others riding on top of small planks with wheels over ramps. 

“Whoa! this place is awesome!” Jim said. “Yep this is where the robotics magic happens.” Hiro said. Tim then noticed a yellow and purple metal bike hanging on some hangers. He went over to the bike to take a look. Jim noticed there were no pins holding the wheels to the bike. Tim placed his hand through it and heard a magnetic sound. 

‘Whoa!” Tim breathed. “Its electro mag suspension!” Jim noticed. “Hey!” Said a female voice. The Tweebs turned to see a young woman dressed in a white tank top shirt, grey jacket, ripped dark grey leggings underneath a pair of black shorts with red lines has black bare knuckle gloves on her hands, she has brown eyes, and short black hair with purple highlights. 

“Who are you two?” She asked “Oh Gogo its okay, their with me I’m giving them a tour with two others.” Hiro explained. 

Gogo who was chewing gum blew a bubble which then burst. “Whoa sweet bike” Ron said looking at it. “Yeah I’ve never seen electro mag suspension on a bike before.” Tim said amazed. 

“I know I said the same thing.” Hiro said. “Yep lower resistance, faster bike.” Gogo explained. “But not fast enough.” Gogo said removing the wheel and throwing it like a frisbee into a wheeled bin full of similar wheels. 

“yet.” Gogo said heading off to another part of the lab. “Well she’s cheery.” Kim said. “Yeah that’s Gogo.” Hiro said He then noticed another one of his friends working on a project. 

They went over to the workspace and saw a tall burly man, very muscular, and has smooth dreadlocks for hair with a yellow headband he wears a green sweater with a light green stripe across it and wears all black jikatabi shoes. He’s dark skinned with brown eyes and bearded. 

He has green safety goggles on his face as he set up the apparatus. 

“Hey Wasabi!” Hiro called getting his attention. “Hey Hiro.” Wasabi greeted with a fist bump and noticed the company he was keeping. 

“Who are they.” Wasabi asked. “Oh there the kids of Dr.James Possible I’m just giving them a look behind the robotic trenches at SFIT.” Hiro explained. “The rocket scientist?” Wasabi asked. “Yeah we are his kids.” Kim explained 

“They are I’m not, just along for the ride.” Ron pointed out. “Well your just in time.” Wasabi said as he picked up an apple and then tossed it between the metal rods which sliced the apple into thin shreds. 

Hiro grabbed one of the shredded pieces as fine as a piece of paper. “Whoa!” Jim and Tim said in unison. “Talk about thin cut!” Ron breathed and Rufus scurried up to Rons shoulder and held one of the shredded pieces. 

Wasabi then showed the machine was generating many green light beams. 

“Hm, laser induced plasma.” Kim observed. “Sweet! With magnetic confinement!” Tim said in amazement. 

“Both correct all for accurate precision.” Wasabi explained as he organised his workspace keeping everything straight and organised. 

“Wow talk about over organised how you find anything in this mess?” Ron asked. “I have a system, there’s a place for everything everything in its place.” Wasabi explained. “Need this a minute.” Gogo then stepped in and borrowed a wrench from his workspace messing up the rest. 

“What you can’t do that! This is anarchy society has rules!”  Wasabi complained as he went after Gogo. 

Just then they heard an explosion from another work space and they look to see a woman with lightly tanned skin, long honey orange hair with a yellow headband holding her fringe back, and is slightly tall and thin wearing yellow platform heels a yellow peter pan collared sweater with white leggings. She has green eyes and wears large lensed glasses in red. 

She appears to be caught in a green sticky goop explosion. She struggles to escape the goop until Baymax manages to pull her out.

“Thanks Baymax.” Honey Lemon “You are welcome Honey Lemon.” Baymax said in his mono tone voice. “I will scan you for injury.” He then scans for any sign of injuries. “Scan complete, you have sustained no injuries.” Baymax assessed. 

“You okay Honey Lemon.” Hiro asked. “Yes I’m fine Hiro, that’ll teach me not to mix the wrong mixtures together.” Honey Lemon said. 

“Well I’m just giving these guys a tour.” Hiro explained gesturing to Kim, Ron, Tim, Jim and Rufus (on Rons shoulder) 

Honey Lemon then noticed the red head in the group and instantly recognised her. “Wait, are you Kim Possible, super teen and daughter to Doctors, James and Ann Possible.” Honey Lemon asked.

“Yep.” Kim said. “Wow it’s so nice to meet you!” Honey Lemon said shaking her hand, and then Rons and she noticed a certain naked mole rat on his shoulder. 

“Aww who’s this little fella?” Honey Lemon cooed. “Oh that’s Rufus, he’s a naked mole rat.” Ron explained “Oh well that’s kinda cool I guess.” Hiro said “so what’s your thing?” Kim then asked

“Oh advanced chemistry, in fact wait here a second.” Honey Lemon rushed off from her lab then a second later she came back rolling in a huge grey ball and carefully moved it to her work lab. 

“Whoa is that tungsten carbide?” Tim asked. “Yep four hundred pounds of it.” Honey said excitedly. “Now watch this!” she then went over to her chemistry set and began adding certain chemicals. 

“A dash of pyloric acid, a smidge of Cobalt, a hint hydrogen peroxide…” As Honey Lemon explained everything to the Tweebs, Kim and Ron the mixture went through the tubes and into a small spherical jar, Honey took out a heat gun and heated up the mixture.

“Super heated to 500 kelvin and….” The mixture Honey creates is now bright pink in colour and attaches a spray tube to the top and sprays the sphere of Tungsten Carbine. She flicks a lever on her lab wall and it sends out electricity binding the spray to the metal making into a bright pink sphere.

“Tada! Pretty cool right.” Honey said excitedly. However the audience was more than a little confused. 

“Uh its, pretty?” Kim said smiling nervously. “Yeah so Pink.” Ron agreed. “I don’t get it?” Jim asked. 

“Well watch this is the best part.” Honey Lemon then said as she approached the sphere Hiro took a step back as he knew what was coming next. 

“I suggest you step back.” Baymax advised, and so they did just as Honey touched the sphere and it exploded into pink dust. 

“Whoa!” Ron said in surprise. “Chemical metal embrittlement!” Kim said in surprise. “Exactamundo!” Honey said. She was covered in pink dust and removed her glasses to reveal not all of her face was covered in dust. 

“This place is awesome!” Jim said excitedly. “We’re SO enrolling here when we’re older!” Tim agreed. 

“Explosive as always Honey Lemon.” Hiro complimented. 

“So what’s with everyones names I mean, Honey Lemon, Gogo, Wasabi? were you guys born with those names.” Ron asked as the rest of Hiro’s friends came over. 

“For the record I only spilt wasabi on my shirt ONCE!” Wasabi stated quite clear. “Well they’re just nicknames we use but they just stuck after a while.” Gogo explained. 

“Yeah and Freds the mastermind who came up with them.” Hiro then said. 

“Uh who’s Fred?” Ron asked as Rufus looked confused unbeknownst to them there was someone standing behind him.

“This guy right here!” Said a muffled voice and Ron turned to see a green skinned monster with large yellow eyes with Diamond black eyes large black and orange fins on its head and back with an orange spot on its belly. It carried a sign with the SFIT logo on it.

Rufus and Ron screamed at the sight of the monster. 

“Ah ah don’t be alarmed.” Said the monster but its mouth didn’t move. Its arm then flopped and its mouth then opened to reveal the monster was just a suit and inside was a tall shaggy young man with long blonde brown hair, blue eyes and wears a bright green bobby hat with an image of Kaiju monster on it, he wore a white long sleeve shirt under a light red t-shirt with a Japanese Kaiju monster imprint on the lower end of the shirt. He wore dark green OD cargo shorts  and white grime-covered sneakers with dark green laces under his monster costume.

“It is just a suit this is not my actual face and body.” Fred explained. “The names Fred.” He then said shaking Rons hand. 

“School mascot by day!.” Fred said in a dramatic pose. “but by night…” He swings the sign round and flips it before he catches it and shows it off fully removing the top of the monster head. 

“I am also the school mascot.” Fred finished. “Sweet I’m the mascot back at my school too, the Middleton Mad dog.” Ron said. 

“Dude is that a naked mole rat?” Fred noticed. “Yeah his names Rufus.” Ron explained showing his small friend to Fred. “hello.” Rufus chirped. “Dude that is so cool!” Fred said much to Rufus’s joy. 

“So what’s your thing Fred?” Said a voice and saw it was Kim. “NO WAY Are you Kim Possible!” Fred said excitedly. 

Kim just nodded and went with all the fandom she was getting today. “Oh man this is so awesome!” Fred said excitedly. “This girl is a super hero who saves the world every single day!” Fred said. 

“Seriously?” Gogo asked. “Yeah we do.” Ron admitted “Yeah it's so no big.” Kim tried to say humbly. 

“Now to answer your question, I’m not a student, but I am a major science enthusiast.” Fred explained. 

Kim looked at Gogo and Wasabi all confused. “His families rich they fund the school.” Wasabi explained. “Yeah his full name is Fred Fredrickson.” Gogo said. 

“Ah I see. One of San Fransokyo’s rich society.” Kim said understanding. 

“No way!” Ron said in amazement “You have Monsterzilla issue 3.” “Yeah bought and owned.” Fred said as Ron was looking at some of the comic books he had brought to read in the lab. “Wow looks like Freds got a new BF.” Honey said. 

Later Hiro and the rest of the gang showed Kim, Ron, Rufus and the Tweebs around the campus looking at sites like  Periodic table Cafe, and the recently built Tadashi Hamada hall. Hiro explained how it was the show hall for the SFIT showcase where the fire took place. Kim couldn’t help but feel sorry for Hiro, she had faced a lot of villains in the past but no-one ever got hurt or lost anyone. No one deserved to lose someone the way he did. Gogo then explained how they rebuilt the hall and named it in Tadashi’s honour. 

During the tour Ron began to bond with the group especially Fred, as like him he had a good taste in comic books, video games and food, though Wasabi was a little freaked by Rufus he did get along with Ron too. Kim took time to adjust to Honeys enthusiastic attitude but did admire her enthusiasm and Gogo did bring some of their conversations back down to earth so to speak. 

Soon it was time for Dr. Possibles lecture to begin and everyone went to take their seats in the lecture hall. Hiro, Wasabi, Gogo and Honey Lemon sat together as a group whilst Kim, Ron and the Tweebs sat in the fourth row near the stage. Fred not being a student sat outside the door with Baymax until the lecture was over.

Later Ann arrived to see her husbands lecture, and took her seat next to her children and Ron. 

Professor Granville then came up to the lecture stage to make her announcement. 

“Students, welcome to todays lecture on the future of rocket science and robotics.” She announced “I would like to welcome todays visiting lecturer to show us the advancements and progress of rocket science.” Granville then gestures to the left of the stage. 

‘Dr. James Possible, of the Middleton space centre.” 

Dr. James Possible then walked up on the stage in his grey suit with a white shirt and black tie and took his place on the lecture stage. 

“Thank you Professor Granville.” James thanked. “You know when I look at all you young students, I see the same potential for greatness that my teachers saw in me and my classmates. We all have the potential for great things be it robotics, bio tech or even the arts. That same potential guided the first astronauts into space braving the unknown which has lead to the endless potential in the new ideas we develop in the advancements in rocket science.” 

As the lecture continued unbeknownst to everyone who was paying attention, two individuals had snuck into the lecture hall wearing black trench coats and headed towards the stage. The sleeve of the shortest of the two revealed a small bracelet device grey in colour and had blue highlighted lines. 

“However we must remember that potential could be good or bad, so today I shall show you some of the advancements in Rocket science today and my own personal experiences in the field.” Dr.Possible explained, as he did the mysterious figures started to make their way up to the stage. 

“And don’t worry I brought pictures.” James then joked to which the students laughed. 

However all of a sudden the lights in the lecture hall exploded one by one spooking everyone in the lecture hall. Sparks of blue electricity could be seen flying around and on the stage stood the two mysterious individuals in one flash they discarded their trench coats to reveal a certain mother daughter duo. 

Their attire resembled that of fashion from the 80’s they wear similar outfits, the daughters being a black sleeveless dress with a purple lighting bolt on it, a pink belt with a cyan coloured belt buckle, black boots and gauntlets with cyan power lines and wore purple leg warmers. 

Her mother wore a similar outfit except hers is a one-shouldered and has purples sleeves, tights and pink leg warmers. They both share similar pink stared earrings and cyan eye shadow, the mothers in the shape of a lighting bolt on her right eye. 

“Hope you don’t mind we add a spark to this lecture doc!” Juniper said showing her shock power to empathise. 

James could only look in shock as these two individuals appeared out of nowhere crashing his lecture. Kim and Ron saw from their seats that these two had no good intentions and Kim acting on instinct quickly jumped and flipped onto the stage in front of her dad to protect him. 

“You know it’s rude to show up uninvited?” Kim said in a combat stance. 

“I’m sorry who are you?” Barb asked with a raised eyebrow. “Mom that’s Kim Possible, you know that teen hero from the news.” Juniper 

“Yeah and you two would be?” Kim asked. “I’m Barb!” Said the mother. “And I’m Juniper” Juniper then introduced 

“Together, we're High Voltage! Power Surge!” They introduced using their electric powers to write the words ‘High Voltage’ to empathise their name. 

“So electrical villians?” Ron said as he got up on stage. “Eh I guess we’ve been due one of those.” He then shrugged.

“So who’s your tailor don’t you know it’s so not the eighties anymore!” Kim then cracked at their attire. 

“Everyones a critic!” Barb said the duo then began dancing hip hop style and from their electricity orb shot bolts of lighting towards Kim and Ron who were able to jump clear. 

“Whoa! electrical villains who can dance!” Ron said in surprise. “Dad get off the stage and get mom and the boys to safety!” Kim said to her father. 

“Now Kimmy you know I don’t do violence but you go girl!” James said as he made his way off stage. The rest of the students quickly evacuated the lecture hall under guidance by Professor Granville. 

“Everyone stay calm!” She said. However a certain group of students didn’t leave the area around the lecture hall and headed round back. 

Hiro and the team unlocked their phones and pressed a certain symbol representing a capsule sending out a signal. Then a few seconds later arrived six capsules each in the teams respective colours and bearing their BH6 symbols. 

Hiro’s was purple with the symbol of his micro-bots in the shape of an ‘H’, Baymax’s was red with his face as the symbol, Honey Lemons was bright pink with a flying chem-ball symbol, Gogo’s was in yellow with a spinning disc symbol, Wadabi’s a shade of turquoise green with his energy blade as the symbol and finally Freds which was blue with his Kaiju monster symbol. 

The Skymax capsules land and open their front compartments to reveal the teams respective armours. 

Back in the lecture theatre High Voltage danced their hips off in their routine and shot electrical bolts towards Kim and in the background its as if you could hear High Voltage’s theme song. 

Kim using her skilled acrobatics was able to avoid the electrical blasts and gets in close enough to fight the mother daughter duo. However the two were also skilled acrobats and avoided Kim’s punches and round house kicks. 

The two then did several back flips and jumped away from Kim before firing a jolt of electricity towards Kim who was just able to avoid them in time. 

“Wow your good where’d you learn?” Juniper asked “Cheerleading.” Kim answered while catching her breath. “No way I tried out for cheer leading once, didn’t make the cut!” Juniper said a little irritated. 

“With a look like that I can see why” Kim smirked. 

The mother daughter duo then shot another bolt of electricity but before it could hit Kim jumped to avoid it and quickly grabbed Junipers wrist before she could fire another bolt. The bolt hit the ceiling and a tile fell from the cieling. 

Below Kims family was hurrying to escape but Ann tripped and fell to the ground right under the piece of ceiling that was falling down. 

“Honey!” James cried in fright and Ann looked up and could see she was about to get hit by the ceiling fragment. However something arrived in time to stop it. 

She looked up and saw a giant red armoured robot with red purple spots on his shoulder pads and hands holding the ceiling fragment up. 

“W-what?” Ann said in shock. “I suggest you vacate the premies for your own safety.” Baymax advised in his monotone voice. 

Ann quickly got up and went to her family who were relieved to see her unharmed. Jim and Tim could hardly believe what they were seeing when they looked at the armoured robot, but the surprises weren’t over yet. 

Kim was starting to lose ground on High Voltage, she just managed to avoid another bolt of electricity before tripping off the stage and landing in the seats. 

“Hang on KP!” Called Ron as he ran over help his friend only for Barb to zap him with a bolt of electricity and send him flying into the seats and sends Rufus flying out of his pocket and onto the floor. 

“Ron!” Kim cried, soon High Voltage’s attention was back on Kim who were about to zap her with electricity when suddenly. 

A flying yellow disc intercepted the blast and flew back to the one who threw it. Standing in the lecture theatre was six certain super heroes armoured up and ready to fight. Kim and Ron looked in complete surprise to see these armoured individuals and how they arrived. 

“Long time no see High Voltage!” Gogo said and thankfully  her helmet voice modulator disguised her voice, as well as her teammates so no-one who knows them would see its them. 

“Oh look if it isn’t Big Hero 6.” Juniper said. “Big Hero what?” Kim said in surprise. 

“Oh you have your electro orb thingy back.” Fredzilla noticed. “Why got bored of using Krei’s stolen tech.” Hiro asked. 

“Funny you should ask, after we broke out of jail we found our old electro orb and ditched the batteries.” Juniper explained. 

“And we have a new routine just for you six!” Barb said. 

The duo tapped their feet and performed several flips before firming bolts of electricity at the six heroes, who quickly scatter to avoid them. Gogo uses her mag lev discs to avoid the blasts then throws her hand disks at High Voltage who lean back to avoid them as they return to sender. 

Honey Lemon tapped on multiple buttons on her Chem purse to produce several small balls in blue. 

“We’ve got to cut off their power target the orb!” Hiro said remembering how they beat the duo on their first encounter. 

“On it!” Honey said as she rushed forwards “Gogo keep them distracted!” Hiro relayed. Gogo nodded and skated around the room drawing their fire whilst Honey Lemon threw her chem-balls at the duo to try and hold them down. However they double back flip out of the way.

“Juniper more sparkle in that smile and dance those hips!” Barb said dancing as she generated electricity.

“On it!” Juniper said and danced to fire electric bolts towards Honey Lemon who quickly avoided the, blasts but was hit by an energy ball thrown by Juniper she was sent flying into the air. She was quickly caught by Baymax as he flew into the air with Hiro on his back. 

“Thanks Baymax.” Honey Lemon thanked “you are welcome.” Baymax replied. Then quickly avoided another electrical blast. 

“Juniper double act five six seven eight!” Barn said and they began dancing in sequence and blasted energy blasts at Baymax who avoided the first two but just missed the third. Before the duo could ready the next blast a certain teen hero jumped in and tripped them up with a leg swipe. 

“All that talent and you decide to commit crimes rather than go on American Star maker?” Kim cracked. 

“What and face that fickle judge I don’t think so, we are telling our story through dance and Juniper is number one!” Juniper exclaimed as she stood up. “You mean we’re number one honey!” Barb reminded strictly. 

This distraction gave Wasabi and Fredzilla the chance to act Wasabi readied his plasma blades whilst Fred charged in mouth blazing literally. 

“Back into the fire!” He exclaimed but Barb quickly blasted him with electricity Wasabi acts quickly and slides under him as he crashes into the stands. Fred gets up and looks to Ron who’s stood right next to him. 

“Oh hey.” Fredzilla said and thanks to his suit Ron couldn’t recognise his voice. “Ah!” Ron screamed and Rufus jumped in fright. 

Wasabi sliced his blades at High Voltage as they tried hitting him with electricity but dodged them. Kim then comes in from the right with punches and roundhouse kicks. 

“We need room to dance!” Barb said and the duo back flip away then Juniper does squat dancing firing bolts of electricity from her feet Wasabi tries his best to avoid the bolts but trips up. Kim was able to avoid them using back flips and lands next to Wasabi. 

“I’ve heard of crazy dance offs but this is ridiculous!” Kim said. “Yeah she has her moms thighs” Wasabi pointed out. 

Baymax quickly flew into the scene with Hiro in tow, however as they came in close High Voltage blasts the red robot which shorts out Baymax’s circuits. 

“Oh no.” Baymax said as he came to a quick halt flinging Hiro off his back and landing on the stage. 

“Didn’t you learn from last time to our red there and bolts don’t mix I thought you were smarter than that?” Barb questioned 

“Yeah I am, but that was just my job distracting you.” Hiro smirked then out of nowhere Gogo leaps in and Honey Lemon throws her some chem-balls which she caught and as she grabbed the electro orb the chem balls insulated Gogos gloves to prevent her from being electrocuted. She lands on the opposite end of the stage. 

“Lights out ladies.” Gogo said. “Aw yeah the catchphrase!” Fredzilla said. 

The duo try to use their electricity powers but without the orb their cut off from their power source. 

“Time for a Michael Jackson Mom!” Juniper said. “Yeah honey let’s beat it!” The two said making a run for it but Kim quickly flips towards them and lands in front of them pulling out her grappling hair dryer and fires a cable which wraps around their legs tripping them up. 

“So not.” Kim smirked. “Booyah! Kim!” Ron cheered. 

“Nicely done.” Gogo complimented but slightly darkened her visor a little as did the others. Soon they heard Baymax get up again after rebooting his systems. 

“My systems are rebooted, is everyone unharmed?” He asked. “Yeah we’re good.” Hiro said 

“Okay so who are you guys?” Kim asked in a slightly demanding tone. 

“Oh we’re Big Hero 6, a pleasure to meet you Miss Possible.” Hiro said but disguised his voice so she wouldn’t recognise it was him. 

“Yeah we’re the super heroes of the city!” Fredzilla said.

Soon the sound of police sirens could be heard from a distance and it was the police. Big Hero 6 climbed aboard Baymax and he formed his wings on his back.

“Thank you for your service.” Baymax waved as they took to the sky leaving Kim all but surprised. 

“Whoa, now they’re cool super heroes!” Ron said amazed. 

Several minutes later the San Fransokyo Police arrived at SFIT they sealed off the crime scene whilst two officers took High Voltage into custody. The other students on campus were unharmed.

Soon Kim and Ron found the other Possibles outside the building. The family then noticed the two approach. 

“Kimmy you okay?” Ann asked, “No big but I should be asking you that mom, are you okay.” Kim then asked in concern. 

“I’m fine honey thanks to that red robot.” Ann assured. ‘Yeah you see that thing now that was an awesome robot!” Jim said excitedly. “Yeah and those other guys with the blades and discs beyond amazing!” Tim agreed. 

They then noticed a certain group of students and their robot approach them. 

“Yep that’s Big Hero 6 for you, always here to help.” Hiro said. “Big Hero 6, cool name.” Tim said. 

“How’d you know their name?” Kim asked with a raised eyebrow? “Oh well we heard about them in the news.” Hiro covered up. 

“For once Hamada’s right.” Karmi said as she came over and showed Kim her phone and she and Ron looked to see a news paper about the six heroes after the incident at Krei tech. 

“Big Hero 6 saved the city from super villains and appeared about a few months ago after stopping the attack at Krei tech.” Karmi explained. “Not to mention they’re lead by a cutie.” Karmi said lovingly. 

Hiro just rolled his eyes at how oblivious Karmi was and how she hadn’t guessed who her ‘cutie’ really is. 

They then overheard a conversation between two police officers. “Sir we just got word from the precinct, there’s been a break in at a Krei warehouse north of the city.” Said one officer to another. 

Kim and Ron looked at each other thinking the same thing while Hiro and his friends looked in surprise too but didn’t know that both groups were thinking the same thing. 

Drakken’s lair

Far side of the city in Drakken’s new lair Shego had returned this time with the cyber circuit she previously tried to steal from the Krei tech warehouse. Drakken turned round to see that his partner in crime had returned.

“Ah I see we were able to benefit from our bait and switch.” Drakken smiled. 

“Yeah I got your stupid circuit even if we did have to reach out to a couple of amateurs dressed like a lame eighties band.” Shego said placing the circuit on the table. 

“Fashion critics aside Shego, the plan worked they caused chaos long enough for you to get the circuit without getting caught by the police or those Big Hero 6 guys.” Drakken explained.

Just then Drakken’s phone rang and he reached into his pocket and pulled it out to answer it. 

“Yes Dr.Drakken.” Drakken answered and the person on the other line spoke to him “yes.” Drakken nodded, “Yes of course, we’ll be there.” Drakken then hung up the phone.

“What was that about?” Shego asked “That Shego was our benefactor he wants us to meet him at a place he calls, good luck alley.” Drakken explained.

“Good luck alley, who names these streets?” Shego asks. “Come we must not keep him waiting.” Drakken said reaching for a trench coat on a coat hanger. 

Back at the hotel

At the hotel where the Possibles were staying during their trip Kim was in her room with Ron talking with Wade about recent events while Rufus is enjoying some peanuts that came with the room.  

“According to the police report Krei techs warehouse was robbed during the time these High Voltage villians attacked SFIT.” Wade relayed over the Kimmunicator. 

“Coincidence?” Ron said shrugging. “Doubt it, my guess that dancing duo was just a distraction to keep us busy whilst Shego pulled the heist.” Kim surmised. 

“From what I can tell she made off with a cyber circut drive something Krei tech was working on for one of their robotics project, what Drakken could use it for I’m not sure.” Wade then said. 

“So in other words we don’t know where Drakken is or what he’s up to.” Kim concluded. “Yep pretty much.” Wade answered. “Well that’s dead endish.” Ron said

Kim could only sigh knowing there was no way to learn what Drakken has been doing in this city before they arrived, however she did have one possible theory.

“Wade keep digging into Drakken but before you do, could you look up some info on a group of people called Big Hero 6?” She then asked. 

Wade did some typing on his keyboard and soon found some information on what Kim was talking about. 

“Well not much is known about Big Hero 6 except they’re a group of super heroes who protect the city of San Fransokyo.” Wade explained. “According to some newspaper articles they appeared around several months ago when they stopped a masked villain named Yokai from using an experimental portal from destroying the Krei tech campus. They stopped him and saved one other person, a test pilot by the name of Abigail Callaghan.” 

“Callaghan?!” Kim breathed as she’d heard that name before. “Wait ain’t that the name of the guy who worked at SFIT?” Ron asked. 

“Yeah.” Kim said and then remembered something. 

“Wade anything about a fire at SFIT?” Kim then asked. “Yeah there is apparently he started it to fake his death so no one would suspect it was him under the mask, but the fire claimed one other victim, a student by the name of Tadashi Hamada.” Wade then explained.

“Hiro’s brother.” Kim said slightly shocked. “Oh man.” Ron breathed whilst Rufus just looked in despair.

“Anything else?” Kim then asked. “Well other than several fan fictions written by someone by the name of Karmi which are quite popular.” Wade then informed. “What how come we don’t get people writing fan fictions about us!” Ron moaned. 

“Uh actually you do, some rather interesting even team ups with comic book heroes, others a little dark.” Wade then explained “I’ll keep digging and see what else I can find.” “Please and thank you.” Kim thanked. 

However she couldn’t help but wonder about the six heroes that stopped High Voltage today, the way they fought them and the tech they used somehow seemed familiar to her. Not to mention there’s the recently discovered connection to the fire at SFIT, the death of Hiro’s brother and the attack at Krei tech months ago, could it be a coincidence or something else? 

Good Luck Alley.

Later as night fell in a darker part of the city lay a single alley full of shady figures and misfit criminals. Drakken and Shego walked down this alley passing all the criminals such as Felony Carl shaking a person “Quite literally” for money. 

They soon arrived where they needed to go and entered to find something going on in the ring were a couple of small robots fighting each other in a ring. 

“Hm, not my kinda place but dark alleys are the next best thing.” Shego observed. “Now Shego when we meet with him I shall do the talking.” Drakken advised. 

They soon went in the back and are greeted by a woman with pale skin, red lips and black hair in a traditional Japanese hairstyle.Wearing a pink tank top shirt and purple shorts and wore an eyepatch over left eye. 

“I’m here to see your employer.” Drakken said simply. The Bot fight ring leader just looked at the two new comers and then lead them further into the club. Soon they arrived at an office above the bot fighting ring. They are then greeted by a rather large obese man almost similar to a sumo wrestler. wearing a dark blue tack suit with yellow stripes and a Japanese symbol on the back. 

It was Yama head of the bot fighting ring and a known player in the criminal underworld of San Fransokyo. 

End of Chapter 2

Welp, that's it for chapter 2 folks, and I told you Obake wasn't Drakkens partner in this escapade but who knows he may show up again later down the line. Now as regards the villains who crashed the party I was originally going to have the Mad Jacks crash Mr. Dr P’s lecture but it seemed to make more sense to have High voltage perform the deed, after all they seem like the kind of people that Drakken would employ just to keep Teen Heroes off his back. 

Another thing I thought it be a good element to have Dr. James Possible have a history with Professor Callaghan pre SFIT as I thought that would add more to his story. 

Anyhow now Team Possible have had their first meeting with BH6 and it looks like Kims beginning to wonder about them, hm what will happen next well don't worry I’ll have chapter 3 written in due course but I do have Uni work to think about. But don’t threat I’ll be back with chapter 3 of this crossover soon.

Until then Boyah! 

[where-theres-smoak-2]

GOT Season 8 Theories

ok so I’m waiting for ep 4 to come out and I figured I’d fill the time by putting down a few thoughts me and a friend had about how we think season 8 will end. Some of these theories are probably more likely then others but as they all came up/ popped into our heads I’m going to put them all here. As a disclaimer type thing I just wanted to say that I am aware of some of the leaks that were well leaked but seeing as I also know that they filmed different fake scenes and differnet endings to the point where it seems like half the cast themselves don’t actually know what is going to happen I’ve decided I’m not going to trust any of them and yes thats including the ones that have footage. Until I see it in the episode I’m just not entertaining it. I’m saying this as some of these theories might completely contradict the leaks and to let you know they haven’t been influenced by them. Warning some of these are a little out there lol. Anyway there’s potential spoilers so I’m going to put the rest under the read more tab. 

1) Cersei wins and becomes the new Night Queen. So this one is the theory that Jon and Dany are on the verge of winning the battle for the IT. In a desperate attempt to keep her power Cersei gets Qyburn to thrust a shard of dragonglass into her heart and turns herself into the next Night Queen. She then raises all the dead on the battlefield and all our fav characters die. Maybe one or two escape to the iron islands but the majority are killed. This one came about when we were talking baout how we thought the white walkers were the great darkness to be defeated and how it was odd that they were gone so quickly and how we found it hard to believe that Cersei is the last big bad of the series. I like this one because it marries the two together. The last big bad of the series is both Cersei and the whitewalkers. I mean its not going to happen but its an intriguing thought anyway.  

2) Jon and Dany and all their armies fight against the golden company while Arya sneaks in and kills Cersei. Series ends with Jon and Dany ruling together as husband and wife. Arya goes off travelling, Sansa becomes warden of the north. And they all live happily ever after. Again I’m not sold on this one. I think it might be a little too much like if Disney did GOT. 

3) Similar to above only Cersei is killed by her brothers. Tyrion makes it into the red keep and is distracting Cersei. She’s there boasting about all the wildfire under Kings Landing and how she’d let the whole city burn to the ground before she’s let the Dragon Queen sit on her throne. Then Jaime stabs her in the back as he did the Mad King. 

4) Dany discovers she’s pregnant which makes her all the more determined to win the throne. She marries Jon to ensure her baby’s father is around and to stop him claimimng the throne for himself. They decide they are going to rule together though it is reluctant in Jon’s part because he’s not overly intersted in the throne. They go to war against Cersei which costs them greatly because they are so outnumbered. Jon hides Dany away for her saftey making a similar promise to her that Drogo did in that he will win the IT for their child. Despite their forces winning and Killing Cersei, Jon is killed in the final battle along with alot of others and Dany dies in child birth mirroring Lyanna’s fate. Sansa and Tyrion become regents to the heir and raises them to take the throne when they’re older. To be honest all though this one is possible I again just don’t think it will happen. Mostly because the pacing of the last few episodes has been very fast, we’ve only got 3 episodes left and I’m not sure they will pack an entire pregnancy and then birth into the timeframe. It just wouldn’t make sense for them to jump 9 months forward when everythng is happening now.  

6) Dany is the last big bad not Cersei. Basically Dany is soo tramatised by the events of the Long Night that she goes mad and starts going to any means necessary to dethrone Cersei. She thinks she’s doing it for the greater good but it causes tension between her and her allies. Jon ends up standing against her as he is unable to go along with her methods. Varys and Tyrion also turn but Missande and Grey Worm remain loyal. As she gets more violent Jon in desperation turns to Cersei as a potential ally and houses Lannister, Stark and Baratheon (in the form of Gendry) band together along with the Vale to take down the Targaryen Queen. With GOT I’ve found there’s alot of parallels to the past and history repeating itself and I feel this narative would suit that as it would be like a repeat of Robert’s Rebellion.  

7) So this next one is the one I personally think is the most likely and its similar to the above. As I said GOT seems to follow the whole history repeating itself theme. Well I think Dany is going to follow the same path as Rhaenyra Targaryen. For those who don’t know Rhaenyra spent most of her life as the kings only child and spent years being prepared to take the throne. Pretty much most her life she believed that it was her right to sit on the Iron Throne. This is similar to Dany who has spend the last seasons preparing for the throne and believing she was the only one with a true claim to it. Then boom outta nowhere Rhaenyra’s father remarries and suddenly there’s now a male heir who by tradition has more of a claim then her because you know he’s a male. Again this is similar to Dany in that suddenly Jon has dropped this news on her that he’s a suprise heir and has a claim that is stronger than her own. When Rhaenyra’s father dies her half brother Aegon is crowned, angered she ceases the throne back and declares herself Queen. However the conflict continues and in the end she loses most of her children and dragons and is killed by her brother who takes the throne. This is referred to as the dance of dragons. I think Dany is going to follow a similar path. I think she will defeat Cersei quite early on in either ep 4 or 5 and it’ll be a similar twist as the Night King where we are all sitting there as an audience going is that it what happens now. Then she will be crowned the Queen of The Seven Kingdoms and sit on the throne. But then when she calls for Sansa to come to Kings Landing to declare her houses support,  Sansa refuses and tells her the North is independant. In retailiation Dany wants to have her executed which obviously doesn’t sit well with Jon. The long and short is that Jon goes to war against Dany to keep his sister safe. Then one of two things could happen. Either Jon is forced to kill Dany to stop her. Or and I like this one better she flees back to Essos and realising she sees Meeren as more of a home then Westeros, She goes there and rules merrily. If we’re being honest it’s more likely to the be the first with Jon Killing her. 

So there’s are our half baked theories. Now as for how I want it to end 

I’d like to see the Kingdom split in two with Gendry on the Iron Throne and Jon on the Northern Throne. Tyrion will be Gendry’s hand and Sansa will be Jon’s. Although the North has its independance they work in partnership with the south. This is ensured by the marriage unions of Sansa and Tyrion and Arya and Gendry. 

Sansa spends a lot of her time in the north while Tyrion is in the south but they do own their own castle in the middle that they both go to to spend time together. Jon never marries or has children instead choosing to work on finding happiness and peace and fixing all his broken pieces. Tyrion and Sansa’s child sits on the Northern Throne after Jon.

Gendrya rule as King and Queen for a time. They have children young and as soon as their heir is old enough they go exploring to find out what’s west of westeros.

Brienne becomes the Kings Guard and she and Tormund have giant babies that conquer the world. 

Sam and Gilly and Lil Sam are given Bear Island to make their home. They have another son who they name Mormont so as to keep the name alive and out of respect for the three Mormont’s we lost in the war against the wights. 

Dany makes a home for herself in Essos where she creates a land of peace and posperity and rules with democracy and there are never slaves again. 

I know all very cheesy and never going to happen lol. Anyway what are your theories on whats going to happen. What do you want to happen? 

[zerochanges]

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative - One Night Movie Premiere

If you told me ten years ago that I would be able to regularly watch anime movies on the big screen in theatres I would have surely not believed you. Besides maybe a few Pokemon movies or an occasional film in some mega franchise I don’t particularly care for such as Naruto, the prospect would probably seem alien to me even. So it’s funny how times have changed and how anime screenings in theatres is becoming increasingly more common in North America. Just last month I was able to watch the phenomenal Dragon Ball Super Broly film in a packed theatre with a ton of other nerds and it was a delightful experience. Before that I got to see the fun anime version of Die Hard known as My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, and before that a love letter to Go Nagai known as Mazinger Z Infinity! Now only a month after Broly I get to watch an honest-to-God Mobile Suit Gundam motion picture in a theatre too? I feel like the luckiest guy alive. 

If I am being honest, I actually hate going to the cinema most of the time, and spent many years avoiding doing just that. I was always the type of person that was happy enough to rent a movie once it released on DVD/BD and that was the extent I would need out of cinema at large. The only exception I started to make was when Disney purchased Star Wars, and that was more out of fear that ravenous fans online couldn't keep their mouths shut than it was about anything else. Over the years however I started to develop a greater appreciation towards movie theatres at large and a lot of that has to probably do with anime. As I began to become a serious collector of anime and made the transition from my old DVDs to crisper BDs I realized I was at the point where as a fan I wanted the most out of my all time favorite movies--because these were not just my favorite anime movies but my actual favorite movies, and that’s when I realized I truly wish I could have seen them the way they were meant to be; on the big screen, with an insanely powerful surround sound system, with fans all gathered around cheering at the best moments. I will probably never get this experience for Akira, or Galaxy Express 999, or the many other films that mean the world to me now, but I can get the experience for future movies, so I don’t want to miss out ever again.

Gundam is one of my favorite franchises from my childhood. As a young kid I fell in love with the amazing robot designs and was blown away at the prospect of an anime that just felt so different from DBZ, which besides Pokemon was probably my only real understanding of anime at that age. As a teen and young adult especially the franchise became increasingly important to me and left a lasting impression on my psyche. I can’t tell you my favorite Gundam series nowadays because the answer will probably be different every time. Maybe I’ll say the original Mobile Suit Gundam, warts and all, it’s everything I love about anime from the 1970’s and to this day I still love the original Ocean Group dub from Canada. This dub while wooden and showing its age terribly will forever be etched in my mind as the definitive voices for most of the Universal Century characters despite Shuichi Ikeda buttery smooth, ecstasy inducing voice in most of the Japanese series. Maybe I’ll say Zeta Gundam as Kamile was a character my younger self identified a lot with and the series as a whole left a very strong impression on me. Maybe I’ll say Turn A Gundam, a beautiful psychedelic series that displays some of the best writing from series creator Tomino. 

So yes, having a chance to see any Gundam film in theatres was something I couldn't miss. Even if said film ended up just okay it wouldn't matter, as not in my wildest dreams did I actually think I would get this opportunity. I figured the closest I would ever be to seeing Gundam on the big screen would be if I happened to be in Japan for some reason around the time a new Gundam OVA or film was being screened. When Gundam Narrative tickets went on sale for North America I bought them the day online orders were opened and was even the first person to buy a seat at the theatre (thanks to reserved seating I could see nobody else had bought a seat yet). It didn't matter to me that I had to drive 45 minutes to the cinema, nor did it matter to me that I honestly knew nothing about Gundam Narrative, I just wanted to experience Gundam this way at least once in my life. And so last night I made the trek across the city and finally got to see Gundam like I never have. Now I have decided I want to share some of my thoughts and impressions about it. This won’t be a formal review, nor is it meant to be, as more or less I’m just expositing some of my thoughts, off the cuff.

First a little background information. Sunrise’s current "UC NexT 0100" project that tackles the next century of Gundam’s UC (Universal Century) time-line as well as their ambitious promise to deliver a new theatrical Gundam film every 1-2 years from 2018 onward is something to behold, so it’s no big surprise to me that the first film to kick off both of these initiatives would be a sequel to the highly acclaimed Gundam Unicorn OVA series. Saying Sunrise is kind of on a Unicorn kick right now would be an understatement after all. I actually don’t mind this so much however like a lot of people seem to, as Unicorn deserves all the praise it got and there is no two-ways about it being a pivotal factor behind Sunrise’s returning commitment to the UC time-line again after releasing nothing major in it for nearly a decade. Gundam Narrative serving as a sequel to Gundam Unicorn is something I am totally neutral about. 

My greater concern going into the Gundam Narrative film was more that Gundam and films have a pretty rocky history. Honestly most Gundam movies tend to be more on the awful side. If I had to rate all the ones I've seen I would probably only say Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky and Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower are fantastic, the original Mobile Suit Gundam film trilogy is an excellent compilation movie series and a good enough replacement for its own television version, the Zeta New Translation films are incredibly disappointing and omit too much, Char’s Counterattack is a hot mess that barely makes a lick of sense, Gundam F91 would have been a fantastic TV show but as a movie it makes me sad, A Wakening of the Trailblazer is okay but also undone by its own weirdness, Endless Waltz is what you would expect out of Wing, the Turn A compilation movies are pointless, and G-Savior sure was … a thing that exist.

Well I am happy to say Gundam Narrative is among the rare films for the franchise that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish! A lot of this has to do with the scale being relatively small versus the usual scale in Gundam films that are way too big for their own good. Narrative’s laser focus on chasing after the missing Unit 03, the Golden Phoenix sibling to the two Unicorn and Banshee units we've seen in the previous Gundam Unicorn series allows it to tell a story largely separated from politics and the world at large--and let’s the characters become the main focal point of the film like any good movie should. 

This aspect alone is missing from so many other Gundam films and is partly why so many fail at being a good viewing experience. I’d say the few that do find that focus, mainly the Thunderbolt series of films and the original trilogy of movies made from the 1979 TV series are the best in the franchise’s filmography. A ton of other Gundam films tend to be bloated as well with rather boring middle sections, so the brisk fast pace of this 90 or so minute runtime for Narrative was a welcome relief. There are some awkward cuts to the film sure, but honestly I felt this beat sitting in the theatre for two and a half hours bored at the long winded middle section that goes nowhere like some previous Gundam films are especially guilty of. This was just enough time to tell a story of this scope properly. Of course the characters and scope of the story isn't enough to carry an entire film so the fantastic soundtrack from returning Unicorn composer Hiroyuki Sawano helped to sell a lot of scenes in the film as well.

The biggest factor that made Narrative for me however had to be the film’s focus on the more metaphysical aspects of Newtypes. Despite my disliking of a lot of Char’s Counterattack I still find the more psychedelic (so to say) aspects of it to be fascinating, just as I always have when such spiritual topics have shown up in prior Gundam works by Tomino and the many teams at Sunrise. While far from perfect I always enjoyed this kind of kooky spiritualism to the Gundam universe, a sort of new age 80’s science fiction interpretation of the soul would be the best way I can describe it but there’s no real way for me to do it justice nor to make it not sound ridiculous. Since Tomino has left a lot of Universal Century Gundam series have focused more on everyday soldiers instead and not so much on Newtypes, the future evolution of mankind, and the soul. In fact I always felt Sunrise somewhat shied away from a lot of these aspect to Gundam since then, so when we got to see this aspect return near the very end of Gundam Unicorn it was a nice treat to me personally. Having it permeate almost the entire runtime of Narrative’s story had me over the moon. A lot of people disagree, and more power to them, but I just can’t get enough out of the spiritual aspects seen in Narrative. 

Gundam Narrative being a modern UC time-line production means it of course has references and lore connections to a ton of other classic Gundam series and moments. I really enjoyed most them even if they were just silly fan service moments. I love that we got to see the famous Colony Drop drawn with modern day high budget animation and it wasn't just reused old footage. Getting to see clips of the Psycho Gundam ravage Hong Kong City was a joy on the big screen even if it lasted only about 10 seconds. I loved that we got to hear some of Char’s Dakar speech again in Narrative--this gave us an opportunity to hear Keith Silverstein, the modern English voice of Char since 2010 handle this legendary speech of his from Zeta Gundam. 

Speaking of the English dub my favorite performances were definitely Griffin Puatu’s portrayal of the protagonist Jona Basta that had to carry a lot of the emotional weight of the film and Stefan Martello’s portrayal of the off-the-walls insane Zoltan Akkanen who was just a pure fun villain that ate up every scene he was in. The Narrative Gundam itself being a reworked prototype of Amuro’s Nu Gundam from Char’s Counterattack four years ago was also a fun way to fit another Gundam into this time frame and I love it gave us such a classic looking Gundam in the Unicorn era of the franchise.

I had almost zero expectations for Gundam Narrative, and all I really wanted was the big screen experience for Gundam. As someone that loves the psychedelic spiritual aspect of Tomino’s old works, and someone with zero expectations that a Gundam movie can really be all that good anyways I walked away from that theatre last night loving what I saw. Gundam Narrative has me personally excited for the future of Gundam films, especially if it means we may see more theatrical screenings in North America for said films. This is probably not a film for everyone, and is definitely heavy on both your love of Gundam Unicorn and your love of some of the craziest stuff Tomino would whip out in his heyday of working on the franchise, but if you’re like me I think this one will be a lot of fun, even off the big screen. 

[davewakeman]

Talking Tickets 12 June 2020--AFL! MLB! Revenue! And, More!

Hey There! 

Thanks for being here again this week. If you are enjoying this newsletter, tell your friends and colleagues to sign up by visiting this link.

If you aren’t a member of the Slack community, join now. Folks in 12 different time zones get together there to talk tickets and learn from each other.

How is it mid-June? How’s everyone holding up?

I’m relatively fine. Only relatively because if you’ve never seen a string of those 90+ DC summer days, you don’t know what a heatwave is.

Check out a special session I’m doing with Eric Fuller’s Rescue Meet serieson Tuesday, 16 June at 9 AM PST/12 PM EST. I’m leading his session on sales and marketing and we will be doing a little talky thing, but the core of the event is a 30-45 minute break out of my workshop where we are going to focus on rethinking our strategies, coming up with a diagnosis of the real challenge to tackle, and create some action items to move us forward. It is FREE, but you have to get an invitation by visiting the Rescue Meet website.

Don’t forget Happy Hour with me and my buddy, Ken Troupe, this afternoon at 5 PM EDT.

To the tickets!

————————————————————————————————————

1. Reopening in many shapes and forms:

We continue to power forward with the reopening of sports, at least. With concerts and other performances still in a place that lacks a lot of certainty or clarity for when things will be safe to return to normal.

While there are no fans, we will see La Liga return this week and the Premier League restart next week, even if I am going to have to wait a few more days to see Dele Alli.

For many venues, making the most of a bad situation has meant adjusting their business model to allow their venues to become drive-ins and gathering places of a different sort.

The NBA and MLS are going to Orlando in July and Orlando is going to get a moment in the spotlight, though if you haven’t heard of Orlando and Disney…I’m not sure what planet you’ve been on.

What will be curious is whether or not folks actually change their habits after sports comes back and further after folks can attend games. As with everything, the first rule of marketing is to remember that you aren’t your market and that folks often say one thing and do another.

The thing that is obvious is that we need fans in the stands, the Bundesliga has shown that fans matter to the atmosphere, home-field advantage, and…revenue, of course.

Any signs of progress are welcome.

I still would say that I’m cautious because it seems that the science points to an uncertain timeline around a vaccine and cases still building in a lot of places.

I was chatting with my friends in Tokyo about 10 days ago and they were mentioning that the cases were low and I saw this piece about masks in Japan. I think what a lot of us are missing is a clear direction that says “wear the mask because it helps reduce transmission, lessens community spread, and reduces the likelihood of more disruptive actions.”

Of course, I’ve also never realized how filthy too many people are with not washing their hands, covering their mouths when they are coughing and sneezing, and other stuff…

Anyway, continue to keep an eye on the reopening activities like starting up games and events with no or few fans like the AFL’s match with 2,000 fans in attendance. The performances of theatre around the world. And, how the virus is impacting other countries as they move through the different phases of reopening.

And, what do you think about Garth Brooks’s idea?

2. Revenue! Revenue! Revenue! 

Somewhere along the line, I should have shared a piece I saw about how brands were discovering that a lot of their partnerships weren’t paying off.

Part of this is because folks weren’t really making the business case for sponsorship and relying too heavily on emotions and fluff.

The reality is that sponsorships is just one part of the larger revenue puzzle that will need to be reimagined coming out of the pandemic.

We are going to have to put our heads together and rethink a lot of the things that we have taken for granted or just “always done that way” like:

* Sales * Marketing * Customer retention * Customer service * Merchandise * Food and beverage

I can go on.

To achieve our revenue goals in the future, we are going to need to think through how we use technology, what our business models and processes look like, and many other things.

In fact, I think to see the industry of sports, the arts, and other forms entertainment continue to grow, we are going to have to see a much higher level of comfort with innovation become the norm.

In the arts and theatre, the unwillingness to change has popped up in the need for many organizations to try and figure how to become digital and offer digital solutions now.

Where was the urgency before a pandemic set in?

The same goes for the sports organizations that still rely on ~40% or more of their revenue from fans coming to the venue?

Why hasn’t the reinvention of the in-game business model been the number one priority?

I’ll tell you three things when I look at this:

First, we can’t get stuck in the way things have always been done. Obviously, no one can plan for a depression and a pandemic…but we really should be doing more risk planning and stress testing of our organizations so that we can be a lot more flexible in how we generate revenue and more secure in our business practices.

Second, right now is a great opportunity to rethink how you are doing business. In too many instances, I sit on webinars and Zoom calls where the gist of the conversation is about how quickly we can ramp back to “normal” and when I look at how many challenges and points of weakness that the industry was facing before the pandemic…I want to go, “Get back to normal? Are you kidding? That’s the best we can do?”

Maybe I’m just grumpy today? Or, maybe I’m just tired of watching the same bad habits get run on repeat.

You tell me!

3. How do businesses fall apart? Slowly at first, and then all at once…or how MLB is determined to miss a great opportunity to have the spotlight: 

MLB seems to continue to move down a path towards no season…and it leaves a lot of folks scratching their heads.

Last week, I shared the story about the Cubs claiming that 70% of their revenue comes from having fans at their games. And, I’ve been adamant about the need to rethink business models, pricing structures, and the underlying approach to having folks at games as a way to make sure that attendance isn’t sacrificed at the foot of revenue…which is what is happening all too frequently now.

We also saw MLB lose Coca-Cola as a sponsor this week as well, due to “budgetary concerns” which is code for they don’t see the value of a partnership with someone they’ve been associated with, in a major way for a long time.

What’s even crazier is that baseball seems to spend a lot of time on ideas that would hurt their TV monies as well.

MLB, “call me, please!”

If I were an academic and not a marketer, I would have a paper out that would talk about how the economics of the baseball standoff mirror a lot of the challenges we are dealing with in the American and global economies as a whole…but I’m not so instead I’ll offer up these ideas for how baseball can move forward to salvage this season, but the long-term potential of the game.

First, let’s get a season with somewhere between 70-80 games, expanded rosters, and some sort of pro-rated salary for the players.

To quote Gary Adler, “the owners seem to be jumping over dollars to pick up dimes.”

If the nuclear bomb of no baseball season at any level goes off, I don’t really know that MLB recovers because despite “record” revenues, real attendance is crap, interest in the game isn’t that high, and the already aging fan base is only getting older.

To be clear, if the money saved by not paying minor league players and squeezing a few million out of the players is going to make or break your business…the sport has a much bigger problem.

Second, lay on the marketing as much as possible.

Someone asked me about what is being aired on the MLB network and why they weren’t showing a greater variety of stuff.

I don’t have the answer. I know marketing and not television…but there are so many historical games and so much historical footage, it seems like a missed opportunity to not share these things and give the generation of fans that are still diehard baseball fans the chance to share some of the things they love with folks that might not have experienced baseball in this way before.

4. What will saving the theatre and the arts look like? 

In general, I’m a fan of offering public support to the arts because I think the arts are so important for doing a few things like helping us understand other folks’ point of view, explaining complex ideas, and bringing us together. That funding the arts seems like a value in a lot of instances.

In the United States, there are a few industry-led efforts to lobby the government for help for the live entertainment industry. I’m not holding my breath on action anytime soon. But I do appreciate the effort…it is necessary.

In the UK an idea is being floated to allow folks to invest in theatres.

Last week, I shared some of the things that Australia and New Zealand are doing to support the arts. And, this week, the German government has stepped in with a $1.13 billion dollar package to help get their countries arts and entertainment venues back up and running. These are really great starts to helping the industry get back up and running.

As a general topic, I’m concerned about the future of the arts coming out of the pandemic because we’ve seen the funding for the arts be whittled away in so many places.

But the bigger challenge as I mentioned in the revenue section is the need to reinvent our businesses and to rethink how we are marketing and selling our experiences.

The idea that the London Symphony Orchestra is offering up is novel with a shortened production and two performances a night to help maintain social distancing.

Over the last few weeks, we’ve seen a lot of folks share social distance mapping, even if I’ve felt like a lot of this was just ducking the hard work of thinking about how to actually create something that will bridge the gap between where we are now and where we need to get to in the future when we get the virus tamed and are able to have full capacity shows again.

I know we have to work to save the arts and theatre and here are a few suggestions:

First, we need to get some sort for the arts and artists at a government level. Full stop. These buildings are centers in our communities and the artists that make the arts are necessary for these investments to make art happen.

Second, saving the arts is a good time to rethink the relationship between the arts, the buildings, and the communities. We’ve become used to the idea that a stadium can revitalize a downtown area, whether or not that actually happens or not.

What about an opera house or an arts center?

If you’ve ever been to Sydney, you’ll know that the arts buildings are just as much gathering places as any stadium…maybe more so.

Right now is a great time to rethink the relationship between the buildings, the performances, and the community to allow them to take center stage as cultural homes and gathering spaces in the future.

I mean, look at the MoPop in Seattle.

You can experience that place inside and outside the building. Lincoln Center, the same. Insert your favorite here.

I don’t have a complete answer for how to use these buildings as indoor/outdoor community spaces going forward now, but I do think back to the concerts on the pier in Seattle during the summer. Or, the way that we’d have concerts for small groups in the Liquid Lounge at the EMP.

And, I recognize that it may be difficult to come up with a solution…there are opportunities.

More importantly, if we aren’t really pulling out all the stops…we may face a situation where many arts organizations do have such catastrophic losses that they can never recover.

Remember, this isn’t a fight that just the arts are fighting, nightlife, pubs, and other folks are all in similar positions and making sure folks fight for their industries is essential. 

5. The AFL is in a good spot due to owning Marvel Stadium, but being creative with their revenue streams should be a priority: 

File this one under, if you are nice to me, I love you…but I’m a fan of Marvel Stadium and the AFL.

As I’ve mentioned on many occasions, I look at the membership model that some of their clubs offer like Melbourne FC as something everyone around the world should be looking to emulate because it allows them to drive attendance and monetize their global market.

The article above talks about many of the leagues in Australia and how the AFL owning Marvel Stadium has allowed them to have a stronger position than other codes in Australia.

One of the frightening things for a lot of folks as they read through this piece is how the television broadcasters have used the pandemic and the shutdown period to drive down the prices of rights fees. At some point, I think that is a reckoning that a lot of folks are going to be dealing with and I’m certain that this is a scary idea because the expectation that Facebook or Amazon was just going to swoop in hasn’t materialized and I’m not sure if it will.

If you’ve been paying attention to the ongoing challenges Rugby Australia is dealing with, you’ll see that having assets that you can control and that can insulate you from the moment-to-moment ups and downs of business can be helpful in helping you avoid making short-term decisions that are potentially harmful in the long-run.

The truth is that the AFL is a window into the heart of what a lot of organizations in the arts, theatre, sports, concerts, and other live events are dealing with. And there are three things I think we can look to AFL CEO Gillon McLachlan as we head out into our week:

1. Recognize the human side of all of these struggles. Behind every decision are real people that have had their lives disrupted or worse.

2. Be creative. The AFL gained possession of Marvel Stadium when everything was great and this has enabled them to be more in control of their code as the pandemic has played out.

3. Make sure you focus on the right questions. The AFL recognizes that this season is a wipeout on profits and a lot of revenue, so instead of just trying to squeeze everything out of that…they are continuing to focus on recovery and growth. While it doesn’t take the short-term pain away, it does get the focus off of pain and panic and onto progress and positivity. —————————————————————————————————————-

What am I up to this week?

As I mentioned at the top of the program, I’m leading Eric Fuller’s Rescue Meet session on 16 June on sales and marketing. It is open to VPs and executives of organizations around the world and you can sign up for an invitation to the event on the Rescue Meet website.

I’m still at home…so I’m not visiting a city near you, yet. But if you want to chat about something or just need someone to chat to, let me know.

Get yourself some podcast episodes by going to my podcast landing page. I’m working on having some really great new guests around finance, marketing, and strategy…so something a little different than normal.

Check out my website and blog.

Please follow and like us:

Talking Tickets 12 June 2020–AFL! MLB! Revenue! And, More! was originally published on Wakeman Consulting Group

[mylifeincinema]

My Week in Reviews: October 13, 2017

Blade Runner 2049 (Denis Villeneuve, 2017)

**SPOILERS**

Been letting this one sit for the past two days.

Technically, it's pretty much perfect. Villeneuve knows how to build the world and immerse us into it completely. Deakins' cinematography is some of his best, bringing 2049 Los Angeles to life in a vivid and intoxicating manner. And the visual effects are flawless, especially when it comes to Ana De Armas, who quickly became my all-around favorite part of the film behind Deakins' work.

Then there was the story, which is really the only main area in which the film ever really falters. And even then, it only ever falters once we reach the third act.

Throughout the first two acts, Blade Runner 2049 feels very much like a noir adaptation of Pinocchio. Gosling is our puppet on the verge of becoming a real boy. Wright is his Jiminy Cricket, trying to keep him on his intended track. And Ana De Armas is his Blue Fairy, feeding into his dreams of becoming real. Only here, instead of having a third act that finds Pinocchio's wishes coming true, we're given one that continues to tease at it only to yank it away from him in a woefully underdeveloped sequence involving a shoddy plot of revolution and a shitload of painfully unnecessary exposition.

It felt about as deflating as if Geppetto took newly 'real' Pinocchio at the end of the Disney movie, laughed in his face saying "A real boy? Haha... oh Pinocchio, you're just kindling." and threw him into a f*cking fire. (Which, thinking about it now, would've actually been fucking epic.)

Some Other Thoughts:

-That opening scene was fantastic. It's odd to see Dave Bautista becoming such a consistent highlight in so many movies.

-Harrison Ford was Harrison Ford. But really, who doesn't love Harrison Ford?

-I wish I had a dog to drink whiskey with.

-Jared Leto is always fucking amazing. Get over it, kids. (Hell, the dude even almost salvaged the garbage dump that was the Suicide Squad Joker. Not quite, but he certainly came a lot closer than he ever should have.) Ultimately, however, his role here felt shoehorned in. Wallace would've worked so much better here as a shadowy God-like figure personified only through Sylvia Hoeks' Luv.

-Uhhhh... did I mention Ana De Armas, yet? That's right. Anyway, beyond being the focus of some seriously breathtaking visual effects work, she delivered a beautiful, beautiful performance, and should surely be seeing not only some awards consideration, but a lot of major offers.

-So many of the themes would've worked so much better if Gosling was the child, even if it turned out he wasn't the ONLY child.

-Ryan Gosling, though. Dude's got Bogart level eyes. The scene where the Doctor is inspecting his dream? Damn.

-Please, for the love of Christ, can we give Deakins is Goddamn Oscar, already?!?!

-Villeneuve is a beast.

-Turns out, for the most part, this unnecessary sequel was very much necessary. - 9/10

Spielberg (Susan Lacy, 2017)

I wish that it would have focused a little more on some of his newer and less-acclaimed films, and often the bits of interviews from the actors he's worked with make this feel a little too much like a fluff piece, but for the most part this is very much the in-depth portrait I wanted it to be.

Spielberg himself recounts much of his early career in an honest, candid manner, and the archival footage and amount of time they dedicate to his works of the '70s and '80s is fantastic.

Sadly, however, once they get to the '90s it all begins to get a little scattered; certain films are all but ignored, others are breezed over, and we never again get anything truly penetrating about our subject and his legendary career.

This was a long film, but I feel that - what with how iconic its subject - it should've been longer, preferably a two-part doc with both being around this length... the first covering up through the '80s, the second the '90s through now. - 6.5/10

The Dark Tower (Nikolaj Arcel, 2017)

This wasn't the complete clusterf*ck I was expecting. It still wasn't good... at all... but not a complete clusterf*ck. So, you know... there's that.

Plus, Matthew McConaughey is pretty fun whenever he can manage to rise above the lifeless writing. - 3.5/10

Enjoy!

-Timothy Patrick Boyer.

[pageturner92]

29th May 1941.

A date filled with significant events for Disney and yet they are probably more taboo than anything surrounding Song of the South.

Despite the huge impact of that day on the entire American film and animation industry, the Disney company are not going to talk about it, acknowledge it, or even reference it in modern-day animation and film-making.

For on that day, hundreds of Disney employees walked out on strike. The strike lasted for months, disrupting production on a number of projects and brought down the folksy atmosphere of the studios that Walt wanted.

Employee grievances such as salary cuts, layoffs, wage distribution, long hours, and merit had been brewing during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but its unexpected success increased tension behind the scenes. This influenced many animators to look towards the Screen Cartoonist’s Guild (SCG) for support. One animator and staunch unionist was Art Babbit, one of the highest ranking animators, and who openly detested Walt.

With many other smaller animation studios such as MGM and Looney Tunes already committed to the SCG and unionisation, they believed it was only time before the Disney studios fully cooperated. However, Walt wasn’t having any of it. He wanted to run the studios his own way.

In the February before the strike, he gave this following speech to his employees:

In the 20 years I’ve spent in this business I’ve weathered many storms. It’s been far from easy sailing. It required a great deal of work, struggle, determination, competence, faith, and above all unselfishness. Some people think we have class distinction in the place. They wonder why some people get better seats in the theatre than others. They wonder why some men get spaces in the parking lot and others don’t. I have always felt, and always will feel that the men that contribute most to the organisation should, out of respect alone, enjoy some privileges. My first recommendation to the lot of you is this; put your own house in order, you can’t accomplish a damn thing by sitting around and waiting to be told everything. If you’re not progressing as you should, instead of grumbling and growling, do something about it.

Many employees left this meeting infuriated and recruited more to join the guild. As Babbit was one of the leaders, tensions grew between him and Walt. However, on the day before the strike, Walt decided enough was enough and terminated Babbit’s employment, citing his cause “union activities.”

On that day and during the strike, all animators were forced with a choice – join the strike, risking unemployment and the horrors of the depression, or cross the picket line, go into work and earn the lasting hatred of friends and colleagues. There was no middle ground.

Those who did carry on working, especially those who worked on Dumbo, referenced the strikers in the film. They became clowns who wanted to go and “hit the big boss for a raise.”

  Even animators from other studios came out to support the plight, wanting Walt to change his mind and relent. Support for the strike was so influential that the American Federation of Labour (AFL) picketed theatres showing Disney films, and Technicolor (who worked with Disney) refused to process the films until Walt and the rest of the studio recognised the guild.

Undoubtedly, Walt was furious and felt betrayed. He saw the picket lines as an affront to his paternalistic style of leadership and he no longer believed that he could trust anyone, even his loyal allies. Later on whenever there was a staff cutback, the union supporters were the first to go, and when the Federally mandated 90-day arbitration period ended, Disney fired even more. In 1956, he did however try to find the silver lining by saying that the strike cleaned house better than he could ever have done.

Regardless, it still had a heavy impact on him and the studios. When the studios opened properly again in the September, they had 694 workers on the payroll – down significantly from the 1,200 at the beginning of the strike. He was also forced to reinstate Art Babbit again after he’d gone through the courts, believed to be unfairly dismissed.

Moving Walt aside for the moment, the strike had a huge impact on the history of Hollywood animation, spawning new studios (particularly the UPA), creative styles, and characters. The summer events also influenced the foundation of four major comic strips, and many ex-Disney animators became important figures in the comic book world including Walt Kelly, Hank Ketcham, George Baker and Sam Cobein.

In fact Tom Sito, a former president of the Animation Guild and Disney animator from the Renaissance era called it “The Civil War of Animation.”

Whilst the strike was not the first animation strike to happen, it was the most notable as Disney was the biggest and most prestigious of all the studios.

Regardless of what Walt Disney thought about the strike, none of us can deny that it gave Disney employees the rights that they deserved. It might have also changed the studio, forcing them to accept that the age of innocence was over but salaries doubled and screen credits were established.

Despite what I initially thought about the strike, I didn’t realise there was so much discontent going on behind the scenes. It just proves that Disney wasn’t and isn’t as perfect as we automatically deem it to be. A lot of work goes on to make the magic and as Mr Gold would say, magic comes with a price. That price back then was obviously the strike and even though unionisation was against Walt’s wishes, he had to bend to accept the will of everyone.

Walt Disney was not a perfect leader and this strike clearly highlighted his flaws, personally and professionally.

As I can’t seem to input video, I will leave some links to the videos talking about the strike down below.

PBS – The Animation Strike

Interview with animator Bill Mendelez

Strike footage

Had you heard of the animator’s strike? 

Do you think Disney should recognise it as part of its history?

Thanks for reading and have a brazzle dazzle day! xx

Animator’s Strike 1941

[princessintraining-blog1]

Disney Tag

1. Favorite Disney movie?  I have a top 9: Hercules, Peter Pan, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Tangled, Frozen, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and now, the most recent addition to the list.... Moana

2. Walt Disney World or Disneyland? Ive only ever been to Disney World

3. Favorite Disney character? Favorite Disney princess: Belle, Favorite Disney Character in general, probably Megara just because of all her sass.

4. The first Disney movie you remember seeing in the theatres? I typically wait until they’re or on DVD and buy them.

5. What type of Disney item do you collect the most? Funko Pops, I currently have Tinkerbell, Elsa, Anna, Olaf, Mrs. Potts and Chip, Village Belle, Rapunzel w/ Pascal, Disgust from Inside Out (I’m sure Im missing a few more). As well as many Funko Pops of Once Upon A Time Characters  

6. Your favorite Disney song? Go the Distance from Hercules will always be my fave.

7. Favorite attraction/ride at the parks? Haunted Mansion and Space Mountain are really awesome, but when it comes to going to the parks I am much more into character hunting

8. What is your dream job at Disney? To be one of the princesses, duh. I would love to be Snow White, Belle, Rapunzel or Anna

9. Who's the park character you never want to miss meeting at the parks? Rapunzel. She is so adorable and fun, last time I went we had a nice talk about art.

10. What's your most treasured Disney item? My pins or my Belle Mickey Mouse ears

11. Which Disney voice actor would you most like to meet? Idina Menzel (Elsa), Kristen Bell (Anna), Mandy Moore (Rapunzel) or Josh Gad (Olaf or more currently live-action LeFou).

12. Favorite Disney movie that's not a classic/famous? (ex. Black Cauldron) Hercules or Hunchback of Notre Dame, both deserve so much more attention than they get.

13. If you could say anything to Walt Disney right now, what would it be? Thank you for creating so many of the classic stories that I treasure so deeply and that often give me the push I need to get through the things life tends to throw at me.

14. Your favorite snack to get at the parks? (Churros, Mickey's Ice Cream Bars, etc.) Haven’t really had any of the “snacks” but I have had meals at the restaurants. I really want to try ‘the grey stuff’.

15. Your favorite parade/show at the parks? I haven’t seen many parades or shows. I did see video footage of the castle before the fireworks started. I really enjoyed all the projected images and clips from all the movies :)

16. Flounder, Sebastian, or Scuttle? Scuttle! He’s hilarious! Sebastian is way to serious, and Flounders such a guppy ;)

17. Your favorite Disney memory? Walking into the Princess Royal Hall and seeing Cinderella and Rapunzel (2 of my faves). I think being able to see them both at the same time almost made me cry.

18. Do you have a favorite pair of Mickey ears? Yep. My Belle ears :)

19. If you could, what "forgotten princess" would you add to the official lineup? Megara even tho shes not a princess

20. Your favorite princess dress/outfit? Belle’s Yellow Dress or Elsa’s Ice Dress

21. Your favorite Disney soundtrack? Such a hard question, probably either Hercules or Beauty and the Beast

22. Genie, Abu, Carpet, Iago, or Rajah? Genie or Carpet

23. Favorite restaurant at the parks? The one I went to was Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Cafe.

24. How did you first discover the "magic" of Disney? Been watching disney movies since I was a little baby child. I remember pretending to be a mermaid, sitting on the couch/floor with my legs crossed singing Part of Your World lol.

25. What attraction are you most likely to go to first when you're at the parks? Haunted Mansion or Rapunzel’s kingdom area.

26. Your favorite "iconic" moment? (ex. Ariel on the rock, Aladdin finding the lamp, Rafiki lifting Simba, etc.) Beauty and the Beast the ball room dance :)

27. What's the saddest moment for you in any Disney film? Both scenes I instantly thought of were both Disney Pixar but Up, the whole montage with Carl and Ellie or Inside Out when Joy is sitting in the pit where all the forgotten memories go or when Riley comes back home after considering running away.

28. Best Disney kiss? Rapunzel and Flynn after she revives him with her tears.

29. If you could live in any world from a Disney movie, which would you choose? Arendelle, when... you know, everyones not freezing to death, or Atlantica but only if I get to be a mermaid.

30. Which Disney princess has the best sidekicks? Tangled, Pascal is the best!

31. If you could have a party themed around any Disney movie, which one would you pick? I want to have a Tangled themed party.... there will be lanterns... LOTS AND LOTS OF LANTERNS!!!

32. Are you the only one obsessed with Disney in your family? Or does it run in the family? My mom tolerates my insanity and watches Disney movies with me but I’m pretty much the only one with the obsession

33. Lumiere, Mrs. Potts, Cogsworth, or Chip? Lumiere

34. What are your top five favorite Disney blogs on Tumblr? Oh jeez, I follow a lot and the names of almost all of them escape me. I apologize for all that I cant think of but I know some have refollowed me. The ones I can think of is thegirltobreakthespell and snowiebelle

35. If you could choose the plot/adaptation for the next Disney movie, what would it be? Princess finds a magical object that her family has been keeping from her and has to figure out on her own what it does and if they’ve been intending on using it for good or evil.

36. Favorite hotel at the parks? Any of the movie themed rooms

37. Which Disney movie do you turn to when you're sad/upset? Any of my favorites, for the most part either Hercules, Tangled or Frozen

38. The Aladdin show or The Little Mermaid show? Never seen any of the disney world shows.. :/

39. Do you plan to have/have you had your honeymoon at a Disney park? No but I do really want to go there with my boyfriend. Especially since we are both Disney nerds

40. Favorite piece of Disney clothing/accessory to wear? My stained glass rose Beauty and the Beast necklace or my snow white shirt.

41. Post a picture of yourself that's Disney-related. Some to come soon I promise :)

42. Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck? Mickey, duh. He’s the OG!

43. What Disney movies/worlds would you like to see in the next Kingdom Hearts game? Haven’t played Kingdom hearts

44. Which Disney movie, even if it's not your favorite, will always have a special place in your heart and for what reason? A Goofy Movie. That was mine and my dads movie as a kid and we still refer to it as “our movie” today. I was going to get both of us “Hi Dad Soup Shirts” off cakeworthy... - If you don’t understand what Hi Dad Soup is, watch A Goofy Movie RIGHT NOW!