#merger talk

[laf-outloud]

https://twitter.com/sarafischer/status/1737577535876259874

Scoop: Warner Bros. Discovery (@wbd) in talks to merge with @Paramount — David Zaslav met w Bob Bakish on Tuesday at Paramount HQ to discuss — Zaslav also has spoken to Shari Redstone about a deal — WBD has hired bankers Story on @axios: https://www.axios.com/2023/12/20/warner-bros-paramount-merger-discovery-streaming

Some (possibly) interesting network news. With WBD still holding the SPN IP, anything involving them could have an impact on if/when we ever see a revival.

Sigh. What a mess.

I know these companies will still be making content even if they merge, but something like that could certainly affect a possible reboot. Whether it's for or against? Heck if I know.

[lemonerix]

fixed up my templar sketch bc he's just so fun to draw :DDD

[nyan-bynary]

I'll be completely honest the gojo letters irked me just a lil bit

[frost-felon]

I've seen people debate over whether Yuji has been "out of focus" or not. And it's like...yes and no. He's been IN a lot of scenes, and not quite sidelined (Maki found dead in a ditch), but as with many characters, he ends up standing around. Doing nothing until a specific scene requires him. And unfortunately, we haven't gotten much perspective on his mentality/inner thoughts, as of late. He hasn't exactly been replaced as the protagonist (recent official comments on the "old and new protagonists" aside...), but a lot of JJK's recent chapters have been centered on other characters. That's fine, but when it happens so often, Yuji has to fight to get narrative attention. I consider him to be the most interesting part of Jujutsu Kaisen, so this is personally disappointing to me, but it's also just narratively dissatisfying.

Combine that with the single-file lineup of combatants against Sukuna, and JJK becomes stifled.

[pocketgalaxies]

marisha as creative director walking on set for this dark horse ad and trying to decide the name of the horse max is dressed up as and going, very professionally, "i like tim. pitch me on biscuit."

[lavenderjewels]

is the merger something that’ll just naturally happen or is tengen still needed to officially start it? it would be very nice if tengen was freed from cursed spirit manipulation, but that’s not something that’s been proven or disproven with that technique yet. and would Tengen not have any sense of autonomy in that case?? this is only in the case that that’s who kenjaku is referring to about their “will,” but this could end up being something or someone else entirely

[ghostingcrows]

One day I will return to my roots and make a long ass post hyper analyzing all the new comic Noir appearances post Geddon and why they suck and why I hate them

But until then

Just know

I fucking hate this man

[katierosefun]

hitting season 4 of suits is particularly funny to me because this show really went from going "being an attorney is exhausting and the politics of a big law firm is exhausting and everyone in this building swings between being morally grey or morally bankrupt" to "but at least you're not a goddamn investment banker"

[spockvarietyhour]

yeah sure, CJMS 1280, why not deck out your news car like a police car, sirens and everything

[laf-outloud]

I know these companies will still be making content even if they merge, but something like that could certainly affect a possible reboot. Whether it's for or against? Heck if I know.

I'm personally hoping its against lol. Hopefully there will be so many moving parts with a big merger that SPN will fall by the wayside and then maybe by the time it gets brought up again it will be too late to make it work (or something along those lines).

Especially when I see stuff like this:

https://twitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1737595438147010627

Warner Bros could gain these film/TV rights if they merge with Paramount: Dora GI Joe TMNT Star Trek Terminator PAW Patrol SpongeBob Yellowstone Transformers The Godfather Mission Impossible Paranormal Activity Avatar The Last Airbender

Those IP's are much bigger than SPN and hopefully (if the merger happens) they'll want to focus on using these bigger IP's first.

Supernatural generally seems like a small fish in a bigger pond anyway, this would just be an even bigger pond (though I would put it ahead of Yellowstone). Either it will be overlooked or deemed not profitable enough, or they'll figure they can at least make a few bucks while spending very little. I guess it depends on whether WB wants to focus on making big risks for a possible big reward, or take the small risk for the smaller reward.

[bcnezone]

Good for business, good for pleasure, bad for everyone else.

NAME: Merger PRONOUNS: She/Her SEXUAL PREFERENCE: Pansexual HEIGHT: 6′7″

When rivals are making gains through ‘alternative’ methods and you want a leg up, even a means to completely buy out your enemies, you find Merger. Few are better in the business of hacking and slashing than the self-proclaimed “Cyberlance”, having penetrated and outright destroyed the best cybersecurity in the business and putting other supposed prodigies to shame.

Where she is now is a mystery, and whatever her original identity was is gone to history- some say she’s been completely chromed out, others say “who the fuck is that”, but you’re guaranteed to never meet the real her in your day-to-day. After all, one doesn’t just cause trouble and rock the boat with big corpos and get away with it- not without a lot of time, money and preparation.

If you do meet her, its safe to say she’s taken an interest in you... but thankfully, that doesn’t guarantee danger.

[toastedpopsicle]

Legitimately deeply tragically sad about what's happened to Cartoon Network Studios in this merger. Intellectual property and the exploitation of it will always be a blight on cultural and artistic development in society.

[andyetnobananas]

I posted 946 times in 2022

That's 908 more posts than 2021!

64 posts created (7%)

882 posts reblogged (93%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@eternal-savvy-blog

@sevenpilotfish

@redbuddi

@chongoblog

@jelloapocalypse

I tagged 76 of my posts in 2022

#bananas art - 34 posts

#bananas talks - 14 posts

#friend art - 10 posts

#youtube - 9 posts

#bananas vids - 8 posts

#epithet erased - 7 posts

#jelloapocalypse - 6 posts

#parasomnia oct - 5 posts

#original character tournament - 3 posts

#dnd oc - 3 posts

Longest Tag: 86 characters

#feel like reblogging my animatics from this year. with new people coming in i'd really

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

NEW VIDEO: Flour Bag MURDERS - JelloApocalypse Animatic

@jelloapocalypse @bigmovingtarget @eternal-savvy-blog

151 notes - Posted September 17, 2022

#4

Ok, so you know that whole "HBO Max killing off cartoons" thing that happened recently? So after some digging (and by that I mean watching this video from Shark3ozero) the situation is so much worse than that. Like... Monstrously worse.

In case you don't know, it's not just cartoons and their creators that have been f__ked over recently, but a WHOLE SWATH OF PoC CREATORS HAVE BEEN LAID OFF. Like, almost no non-whites left in executive positions.

Apparently, before the merger, Discovery has a more white, old, heteronormative demographic than HBO, and instead of trying to consolidate the 2 demographics, Discovery's CEO, David Zaslav, has been made into the CEO of both sides of the company, and is trying to turn one into the other. To this end, he has slashed the divisions overseeing kids, family and international content, and intends to create more content for "Middle America." So yes, they cut Infinity Train and Batgirl and others BECAUSE. THEY. ARE. DIVERSE. CONTENT. They are deliberately removing different cultures from their services because catering exclusively to white audiences is more profitable... According to them. I have serious doubts this is casting the net wider instead of narrower. (Also, another part of the shift is that they want to pivot back to cable content and away from streaming, which... Lol, good luck man. Warn-scover-CNBO might already be on a collision course, and fingers crossed that it is.)

OH, BUT IT GETS WORSE. APOCALYPTICLY WORSE.

HBO also owns CNN, and they have a new chairman in the shadow of the merger, Chris Licht. It's already canned one news show, 'Reliable Programming' a show frequently critiqued the republicans and fox news, and has warned that "more changes are coming soon."

Worst of all, John Malone, who is on WBD's board, and gave Zaslav his job in 2006, has explicitly said that he wants to CNN to have a "less liberal bias", and thinks that Fox News "makes actual journalism." Yes, Fox dominating a third of US cable news is not enough, he wants to make another 3rd of it propaganda programming.

Warn-scover-CNBO's market capitol were flushed down the tubes in light of all this horses__t, but in order to keep the a new propaganda apparatus of unfathomable scale from rising, it must stay down and never recover. Warn-scover-CNBO's changes scaring off huge droves of people is an objective good, and the complete collapse of the company is our only hope now.

Tl;dr: The death of Infinity Train and Uncle Grampa is the canary in the coal mine of a massive swath of pop culture and journalistic practice turning into a right-wing propaganda apparatus unlike anything seen before.

180 notes - Posted August 28, 2022

#3

NEW VIDEO: Ike get TROLLED: JelloApocalypse Animatic

@jelloapocalypse

200 notes - Posted February 1, 2022

#2

268 notes - Posted August 10, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Epithet Week Day 1: Prison of Plastic

333 notes - Posted June 13, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[idlebirdsparagon]

I have had so many migraines in the last 3 months I would very much like it to stop, at this point I am being fueled by excedrin and sheer determination

[yugsly]

INTRODUCING... the revival of Team Egg and I's horror-comedy Cartoon Network show... DONUT CANYON! This was a sizzle-reel we created years back to pitch the show- with some updated shots here and there! It is so nice to finally be able to talk about this again, after the show was extinguished by the company merger cuts mid-production hahaha. We're going to be moving forward with it in an indie fashion, with fully voiced animatics, multimedia, and full animated episodes eventually! I will be posting about it here of course, but for the most updates go check out Team Egg. MORE INFO SOON!

[deadsetobsessions]

Danny always knew tax evasion ran in his veins. His parents hadn’t been the most… morally sound of people, and less so as ecto-scientists.

He just didn’t think their lessons would ever result in a criminal empire that spanned the entire city and then some. Danny hadn’t seen it coming. His parents definitely wouldn’t have.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Wayne. Mr. Fox.”

Danny ‘the Phantom’ Fenton sat down across from a rather tense looking (to Danny’s enhanced senses, anyways) Brucie Wayne and his right hand, Lucius Fox. He smiled pleasantly, matching Brucie’s vacant smile with that touch of Midwest suburban mother smile.

With his acquisition of multiple Gotham companies, his rather newly established Fentom Co. became one of the largest holding companies in Gotham, the first being Wayne Enterprises and the second being Drake Industries. After months of constantly working his butt off while fending off assassins, reforming Gotham’s slums and cleaning up some of the streets, and taking care of his nest of street kids, Danny garnered enough power to even stand close to Wayne Enterprises in terms of financial powers.

The topic of this meeting was, of course, the proposed merger of Wayne Enterprises’ Medical R&D division with Fentom Co.’s pharmaceutical department. Usually, Wayne Enterprises wouldn’t even consider such an offer, as their Medical R&D division was the most well funded and least likely to be part of a Rogue’s scheme- and therefore most beloved- department of the same nature in Gotham. However, Danny had something the other offers didn’t.

Blackmail.

His overly polite smile widened as Bruce’s mask twitched. His eyes slid over to Lucius Fox.

“It’s an honor to meet you, sir. I’ve heard much about your genius in… research and development.”

By that, Danny meant that he knew Lucius Fox helped develop Batman’s tech.

He did a lot of stalking that week. It felt rather… invasive, even if he did get a bunch of juicy secrets.

You know what they say: dead men tell no tales… but halfas are generally blabbermouths.

“Is that so? It is a pleasure to meet you as well, Mr. Fenton.” The man quickly glanced between the youngsters, accurately predicting that this might have something to do with Bruce’s active nightlife.

“Yes, it is such a pleasure to meet you.”

Wow, Danny didn’t think he’d ever heard anyone sound both so perky and dead inside at the same time, except for Susan at Gotham High’s bake sale.

Bruce wishes he could be a Susan. He’s at best a Becky.

“Will you be staying, Mr. Fox? You’re the head of the R&D department, correct?”

“Ah, yes-”

“Oh, Lucius! I think you had an appointment with the finance department right now! I heard Sally talk about it, you know!”

Lucius Fox sent an unreadable look at Bruce before rallying.

“Oh, it must have slipped my mind. My apologies, Mr. Fenton, it seems as though I can not skip this appointment.”

“That’s alright. I suppose it gives you… plausible deniability… should things go wrong, haha!” Danny allowed his smile to widen a little further than natural. Bruce tensed but Lucius Fox simply politely smiled and left the room.

Ignorance is bliss and all that, Danny amusedly thought.

As the door shut with a click, Bruce dropped the vacant Brucie smile and sighed.

“What do you want,” he gritted out. Danny wasn’t about to let that slide, not after he spent the better part of this month wrangling Bruce’s problem children.

“Ah, it must be because I’m from the Midwest, Brucie, but where I come from, we value these things called manners.”

You uneducated jerk, he doesn’t say.

Danny leaned back in his chair, loosening his smile into something relaxed and sharp.

“…” Oh, boy, Danny could just hear the other man’s blood pressure rising. “What is the purpose of your visit, Mr. Fenton?”

“Relax, Brucie,” Danny sing-songed in a non-relaxing way. “I’m just here to discuss a possible merger that I’m sure you’ll agree to, and give you a couple of updates on your… wayward bird.”

He heard Bruce take a slow, controlled breath. “Very well. Where. Would. You. Like. To. Start.”

Danny ignored the gritted out sentence. He passed a contract to Bruce, who took it like he was handling a live bomb.

“Here’s the proposal, Mr. Wayne. Please, look it over.”

He watched as Bruce looked over the contract with an eagle eye before lowering it, scrutinizing Danny.

“This is… very fair.”

Danny raised an eyebrow. Of course it was fair. Danny wasn’t interested in exploiting the Waynes, despite them being very able to afford it.

He’d brought fifty manufacturing sites for pharmaceuticals, and offered up a building where both companies could send their workers. He provided top notch security- that definitely didn’t have any talons on staff, what were they talking about?- that came from his own security division. Granted, most of them were reformed and trained goons, but hey, creating jobs can only help Gotham’s economy and help break the cycle of poverty, right? Guaranteed by the Wayne name and, most importantly, uncompromised medicine that was accessible to everyone would be a damn good start. He’d also have Penguin’s empire to distribute it to those who couldn’t make it to a clinic or a store, and there were plans in there to work with and establish contracts with Gotham’s welfare department. Well… once Danny finished replacing them with people who wouldn’t try to take a cut of the funds and actually cared about the people. He was thinking… the multitudes of poor grad students and parents that need income. He’s in the process of building childcare centers and…

It’s a good thing he managed to save money from the taxes (thank you, Gotham’s morally ambiguous tax experts that were in desperate need for clients! He could do it himself but having a team of accountants at the ready was seriously so helpful.) because ancients knows the government weren’t about to step into Gotham and help the people here. He needs so much money to pull all of this shit off and a lot of it has to be clean.

Danny inwardly sighed and marked another thing onto his to do list.

Make money laundering fronts.



“Of course, Mr. Wayne. You didn’t think I’d come in here demanding money, did you?”

“I considered it.”

“I am, in fact, trying to help Gotham. You might not agree with my methods, but I’d rather not damage Wayne Enterprises when it’s doing so much to help the people.”

Ugh, he was doing too much work. Danny just wanted to- hah- chill at home and read bed time stories to his kids.

Bruce Wayne, the specific blend between Brucie and Batman, regarded him silently. Danny felt like he went up a few notches in the respect ladder.

Nice.

“You’re a criminal.”

“Says the man in the bat-suit breaking into places and assaulting people.”

Bruce’s hands spasmed around the contract. Danny smiled at him, taking a sip of the coffee they’d prepared. Oo, nice!

“Ah, I heard you’re adopting- pardon, fostering- Tim Drake. Getting empty nest syndrome, Brucie?” He slipped back into using Bruce’s first name. The proposal was formal. This… was very much not.

“What about it?”

“That’s very kind of you. Speaking of which, well, of your birds, I was wondering if you remembered what I asked you to do.” Danny continued, not giving Bruce a chance to reply. “Didn’t I ask for you to keep your birds in line, Brucie?”

The CEO straightened even further, form filling out to be Batman’s imposing figure. “I did.”

“No, you didn’t. Do you know where your charge is, right now? No, not the formerly dead one,” Danny tilted his head, smile shrinking.

“Don’t you dare do anything to Tim. I swear, if you even lay a hand on a strand of his hair, I’ll-”

“Sit your Armani clad ass down, Bruce.” Danny snapped. “Your son’s in your office. I don’t harm children, and your assumptions are deeply insulting. Threaten me again, Bruce, and I’ll make sure you know exactly how much I know about your birds, your cousin, and the commissioner’s daughter.”

Bruce snarled but leashed his anger just enough to sit back down. He itched to go check on Tim, but leaving a threat like Phantom unwatched felt inherently wrong.

“Your other son,” Danny continued. “Is doing quite well. He’s learning that he has hobbies again. He’s actually working under me, you know.”

“He’s what.”

Oh, yeah, that tracks. It figured that Jason wouldn’t tell Bruce about anything. He’s still conflicted about his death. Danny got it.

“Ah, that’s precious information. You’ll have to offer something of equal value if you want to know. There is, on the other hand, a piece of information I’ll give you for free.”

Danny paused for the dramatic effect. It was lost on Bruce, the ultimate drama queen of this world.

“The League of Assassins are hanging around Hotham lately. It’s getting tedious, getting rid of them. I suggest talking to your old flame, you know, with words and what little communication skill you’ve got rattling around in your noggin to get them to pull back. Her interest is… unnaturally focused on Jason.”

Danny read the dark agreement swimming about Bruce’s face and inclined his head. “Should negotiations fail, rest assured that Jason will be protected.”

“…Thank you.”

“You are most welcome. Go ahead and discuss the contract with Mr. Fox, I am sure you’ll find little problems with it. Ah,” Danny stood up, fixing his suit jacket. “And you should probably check up on Timothy. He’s probably having a great time in your office, Mr. Wayne.”

“I’ll see you out.”

“Of course.”

Having Batman escorting him out should probably be more intimidating.

Danny stood in the elevator, waiting for Bruce’s contemplative silence to put itself into words.

Sure enough, “What… what kind of hobbies does Jason have now?”

“I’d tell you to ask him, but you two aren’t on speaking terms, are you? He likes books, of course, but recently, he’s found an interest in glass blowing. He made quite a bit of progress on his attempts at sun catchers.”

“I see.”

Well, Danny’s not about to step on that landmine any more than he has to.

——

“Danny.”

“Oh, hey, Jason. Sit down, we were about to have dinner.”

Jason clambered into the window. Danny sighed. He had a door, but by the way Jason never used it, it was like the door didn’t exist.

“Mind telling me why the old bastard showed up on my rooftops with a bunch of glass and glassblowing tools?”

Danny smiled. “No idea.”

“Uh huh.”

Danny placed a hand on his chest and put on his best woe-is-me expression. The teen’s face twitched in annoyance. “Doubt? At me? Why, I never!”

A bread roll thwacked him in the face.