#mulholland kataow

[interstate35south]

rewatching kataow and i'm realizing how clutch mulholland was like man. every time there's a situation that would take another show three episodes and a full supporting character arc to resolve they get mulholland on the phone and bam it's over with in 30 seconds

[collydanny02]

Que sirva de lección para todos el no dejarme ver esta serie de nuevo /j

[cottonspridet]

No hay contexto, solo dibujos que hice a las cinco de la mañana, ¿Les gusta el ship?

[royxart]

when being immortal hurts

[artsymajestyuwu]

Kipo as Memes Saved on my Phone (SPOILER WARNING ⚠️🛑)

Kipo

Wolf

Dave + Benson

Mandu

Song

Lio

Scarlemagne

Jamack

Mulholland

Emilia

[cattywh0mpus]

Hey yo happy gluttony day

I hope y’all are enjoying it with YOUR various loved ones! 💕

Now if you’ll excuse me I stayed up all night drawing this and it is 9am now and I will now very ironically sleep through the whole holiday. Fareweeeeelllllll

[fannishcodex]

Tad Mulholland: I have your daughter.

Jamack: I don’t have a daughter.

Tad Mulholland: She made me reevaluate my life choices and now I feel really bad, can you come pick her up?

Jamack: Oh my gods you have Kipo.

Tad Mulholland: I’m gonna become a painter.

[cartoon-connoisseur]

What do you mean this isn’t how it happened?

[sepublic]

Kipo Season 2 Thoughts!

-Wolf smiles a LOT in this Season, at least moreso than usual, and I’m living for it! Maybe one day I’ll make a “Smiles I want to protect” montage, but it’s just every shot of Wolf smiling...

-I have to wonder, is Fun Gus a result of the lab experiments as well, or did he just sort of move in after the place was blown open by Song?

-Emilia though... Ugh. Not really much else to say about her. She talks big about humans having built an empire or whatever, but she also seems to conveniently forget that it was humans who also brought it down. Or, not- Maybe Mutes deliberately had an uprising, but still. I wondered if we’d have Human characters who are very pro-human, but at the cost of Mutes as a result... I guess we got them, and in the form of a genocidal jerk!

-The Rats were my favorite Mute group followed by the Umlaut Snakes, so OF COURSE the show had to mess with me by having Scarlemagne attack them! Thankfully, Brad and Amy made it out alive and good, but I’m still depressed over them! Ratland was THEIR dream- Which confirms they were in charge, but also we saw other background rats? WHAT HAPPENED TO THEM??? But hey, at least Brad and Amy are okay, I just wish they got their Goat Cheese! Maybe they can make a NEW Ratland from the ruins of Aurum, that’d be fitting! Also the Umlauts are fine, although I didn’t see one of them... I think she was the one voiced by a famous celebrity? That’d explain the absence, guest voices can be hard to reprise. However...

-DANG, I did NOT expect the Mod Frogs to die like that! After Brad and Amy got away fine, I just... YIKES. I knew Scarlemagne was going to be upset at them for messing with his family, and in his own house no less, but... OOF. RIP to those frogs, they shall be missed- Really, I was just thinking about how much I enjoyed the designs and vibes of them before, y’know... Jamack really dodged a bullet there, huh? And talk about MESSED UP... The Mod Frog Boss got to choose her own place in Aurum, and that’s why she and the others were there before everyone else! That blessing by Scarlemagne led to a Butterfly’s effect of their horrific execution, I just... It’s messed up, especially knowing that their bodies are forever buried under who knows HOW many karats of gold?!

-I realized that the Goats adopted a reverence for Cheese because Goats have their milk used to make cheese (as well as other culinary purposes), but like... It didn’t really SINK IN that it was their milk until Dave asked. Brilliant way to end THAT episode, I tell you!

-Back to Wolf... WE GOT TO SEE HER SING! We saw her make Stalky! RIP Stalky... hopefully she makes a new one- Possibly from that same Death Stalker she beat, though I’m not sure if it’s still alive? Regardless, it was a TREAT to see more backstory for her, and how she learned to fight off the Death Stalkers, and then chose to attack one for its stinger! Anyhow, I need to hear her sing Heroes on Fire at least... TWELVE more times after this!

-Did NOT see that twist over the masked figures being the ones to put the collar on Song, not Scarlemagne! One might say that the show is ‘predictable’ in some ways, but in those ways that predictableness FEELS good and proper! Like how an actual story should go... At the same time, KatAoW still saves its genuine twists for what really matters!

-Love the usage of Mulholland by the way, glad to see the friendships made along the way have paid off! I wonder if he’ll be used to help Song speak to Kipo and Lio more! Also, it was weird to see some Fitness Raccoons boo Kipo and Co. while at Cappuccino’s place, but I guess the animators just needed some background variety.

-And, hey! Cappuccino has a fun design, although it feels awkward since I’ve just recently eaten shrimp... Although I HAVE recently visited some brunch places, so I can still appreciate her cafe!

-Did not expect the potential plot thread of Kipo losing control and hurting others as a Mega-Jaguar. I was legit concerned when she almost went for the kill on Gerard, and I love how Wolf, who is very much survival of the fittest, still respects and admires Kipo’s compassion to save her from doing that!

-Good for Jamack, by the way, getting the fame he also desired with those The-Otters! On a small note, I love the gag of the whole gang being unmasked, before we see one Otter, because then you remember that there was that one dude who was also in a costume! Pretty surreal seeing the gang play caricatures of themselves, in COSTUMES of themselves...!

-Zane and Greta are himbos, they’re total Kronks. Not much else to say, I just like that about them! I’ve seen TWO buff, himbo ladies working for the bad guys by Dreamworks -Scorpia and Greta- and I’m down for more!

-It was ADORABLE seeing Mandu try to mimic the tusks of those Boar-Mutes, and how they low-key were encouraging Mandu as well?

-Also, will Kipo’s community NOT LISTEN TO EMILIA SHUT UP YOU’RE THE WORST CHARACTER NOW I WAS WILLING TO GIVE SCARLEMAGNE A CHANCE BUT THEN YOU-

-Dave is apparently so immortal that he can survive being blown apart from the inside? Those Bats made a point that I’d become desensitized to, but... He really IS the weirdest character now that I think about it!

-Poor Kipo, each season ends with her thinking her journey is over, only for someone else to come in and change the current objective after the previous one was fulfilled! Give Kipo a break, dang it!

[mazoomlec]

I like how everyone else’s Mulholland dreams are just self-indulgent wish fulfillments, and then Kipo is like, my ideal world is one where I have an identity crisis and overcome obstacles to earn acceptance from my community. 

[sepialunaris]

Also what makes Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts great is that they're not only unafraid to embrace music from different genres that may seem untypical to a show like itself, but also that it uses music from different languages and cultural backgrounds as well.

[keentall]

we love two living helpful animated water human things

[sidecharactersdomatter]

Me: No Fear.

Kipo gets hit with Emilia’s Formula and won’t be able to become a Mega Jaguar.

Me: O N E  F E A R

[appri-dot]

*looks at Mulholland*

This bad boy can fit so much dad headcannons in em

[demonicintegrity]

Dude I appreciate Mulholland’s debut a whole lot. Before he debuted we were lead to believe all mutes were all animal/insect based. Extra limbs, advanced consciousness, slugs in cars, fuckin disco lights for the bees for whatever reason. Already really wild stuff.

Then outta left field you got this fuckinnggg water amoeba hivemind who somehow can interfere and generate electrical pulses in your brain and not only does he uses that power to put you to sleep, but he fucking digests you in the process. No biggie.

Then Kipo and co snap out of it and he’s “oh shit? Forcefully putting someone to sleep until they die pisses people off? Damn.” And fucks off for a bit to ponder that.

Like,,, that’s wild man.

[fannishcodex]

Unpopular Opinion Maybe: Kipo had an Identity Crisis in S1

More and more I honestly get bothered when people are all like “ooh Kipo wasn’t affected by being a mega mute lab experiment due to her parents experimenting on her it’s so refreshing compared to other cartoons LOL” because it’s completely glossing over season 1 where Kipo absolutely freaked out over her body suddenly physically changing and suddenly looking like a mute for no apparent reason. Tad Mulholland gave her a dream that was largely about this, Wolf almost left her over this. Kipo was absolutely affected by this, it absolutely caused an identity/existential crisis for her, it absolutely freaked her out.

Kipo absolutely freaked out when her body started growing fur and exhibiting other extreme physical changes and showed indications she was somehow suddenly changing into a mute for no apparent reason. (This in no way indicates she ever harbored serious anti-mute feelings. This is literally about her body suddenly physically changing for no apparent reason.) So much of Tad Mulholland’s dream reflects her anxiety and yes, angst, about these sudden physical changes. Kipo’s allowed to get upset when her body suddenly starts physically changing and she has no idea why; and it’s happening on top of an already stressful situation where she’s separated from her father and the rest of her people in a world that’s still brand new to her and filled with as many dangers as wonders, etc. Kipo again has angst, or is reasonably upset over the whole thing when Wolf realizes she seems to be part mute and seemingly lied about it, and apparently rejects her for it; Kipo pours out her sadness and frustration and emotional turmoil to Jamack, who comforts her, and of course Jamack couldn’t comfort her if Kipo wasn’t upset or had angst and an identity crisis.

Kipo’s not automatically a cheerful sunflower all the time. She’s largely positive because she makes a concentrated effort to be (for example, Kipo does seem tired and ready to leave Jamack, but she decides to go back for him). Kipo’s an actual character with feelings and should be allowed to experience all emotions, even angst, because she should be allowed to get upset.

The only “refreshing,” actually different thing about this is the order--Kipo freaked out and had an identity crisis and angst when she got signs of an extreme change in her body before she learned the truth behind why this was happening.

I’d argue Kipo’s reaction is more about being so relieved to finally get some kind of answer for why her body’s been physically changing that she doesn’t try to challenge it too much, and that she’s also in denial about the gravity of the situation when she gets the revelation about what her parents did to her, and she also ends up pressured by time crunch/emergencies and just pushes her actual feelings over this aside because there’s no time. Kipo learns what her parents did to her, and then has a like a week to save her dad and her people before Scarlemagne’s coronation. Kipo really doesn’t have time to fully process the revelation; she has to focus more on using her mega mute jaguar powers for the practical use of saving her father and people, not actually take the time to really consider how she really feels about them and what her parents did to her.

And even when she’s just focused on practically using her mega mute jaguar powers, Kipo is in fact stressing and angsting over it. She may say she’s fine and express enthusiasm for her mega mute jaguar abilities and act impressed with what her parents did, but her mega mute jaguar abilities do adversely affect her whether she directly admits it or not. In the Deatherstalker episode, Kipo does show signs of the emotional pressure her mega mute status has put on her; with these mega mute powers, she has the power to help her dad and her people, so she keenly feels she has to, she feels responsible for this and probably feels that there’s no one else she can really turn to fully take this burden (of course she loves her dad and people and wants to protect them, and of course this is an all ages show with a number of kid protagonists, but still, she just turned 13, and lived a pretty normal, safe Burrow life until her home was attacked), and she stresses over suddenly being asked to successfully do a thing she’s never done before; Kipo gets super freaked out when her mega mute powers accidentally hurt Benson; and of course the Chevre Sisters have warned Kipo that she can lose her mind if she fully transforms, and much of the season is devoted to making sure that doesn’t happen. And later Kipo gets a concrete example of that threat when she learns her mother has been entirely absent in her life because she’s lost her mind to a mega mute transformation for 13 years and was also under Emilia’s control. (And while this probably needs its own post, to sum up: a lot of this is also again Song and Lio’s fault because of their experimenting, Song exposed herself to mutation, Emilia’s the worst but it doesn’t seem like she would weaponize Song if Song didn’t turn herself into a mega mute monkey susceptible to puppet pheromones torturously taken from Hugo.)

While it’s nice feeling like you’re seeing something new and refreshing, I feel like sometimes people fall into overly reactionary trends and don’t look at things on an individual basis or think of characters as their own individuals. Maybe people want to think it’s refreshing that Kipo’s not affected or not having angst over being a mute lab experiment due to her parents (but again, she has been affected by this) because they’re comparing this to other cartoons, but what about Kipo as a character herself and the show as its own story?

I also actually think the idea of Kipo getting upset over this makes more sense than many other cartoons and has much more impact, because her situation is actually really severe when you think about what the story’s done so far in terms of events.

I’ll probably do another separate “unpopular opinion” post on this, but to sum up: Lio and Song unnecessarily experimented on baby Kipo without her consent and pushed their own ambitions of “making the surface safe for humans” on her, also without her consent. It was canonically a dangerous experiment because they failed to realize Kipo could’ve lost her mind and been stuck as a mega mute, something that did happen to Song for 13 years; Song was accidentally mutated, and again the side effects were gravely underestimated because Song had a dramatic transformation where she not only lost her mind but destroyed the DNA Burrow, and Kipo could’ve been killed in that accidental rampage (and Hugo/Scarlemagne was literally scarred from it, he suffered literal physical damage from it--which also implies worse than injuries and physical scars could’ve happened).

I’ve read some people essentially say “well, not every cartoon has to get this emotional, it could just be cheerful,” and that just makes me think 1) then a cartoon should be written so that the more 24/7 cheerful tone fits, and 2) there are several cartoons you can already watch that don’t get so emotional. Just deal with the cartoons that do choose to be emotional, because cartoons can have a wide variety. 

And I don’t think KATAOW is the place to pull “oh haha she’s not affected by all this even though it’s super messed up because let’s be just different from others and not think about our own story and cast we’ve just gotta go against an apparent so-called trend without laying down the groundwork to actually support that reactionary rejection of an apparent so-called trend.”

And I do really hope and still think that on some level the show is actually gonna pull through and address this and do something really neat. Because while Kipo acts like she’s fine with what her parents did to her, again there was her severe freak-out in season 1 when faced with actual consequences of what they did and with no one to give her any explanation for what the hell was happening, and there are her struggles with her experimental mega mute jaguar side in season 2; and just as importantly, Wolf and Benson seem alarmed by what Lio and Song did. I think that’s critical. Even if Wolf and Benson aren’t explicit about it, it’s pretty clear that they look uncomfortable with what they learn from the Project Kipo notebook, even if they’re more focused on going along with Kipo’s cheer. I just feel like that will be followed up in season 3.

And it’s a 3-season show. Writers have said that they have told a complete story with the show over 3 seasons. I can imagine that in season 3 they’ll follow up on this in some way and better challenge what Lio and Song did and let Kipo finally freak out over what her parents did, as much as she freaked out by herself in season 1.

Because that also gets to me. As things stand now, Lio and Song have avoided the worst of the direct emotional fallout of what they did to Kipo. They did not get to see their daughter have a gradual meltdown over the sudden changes in her body, her confusion and emotional turmoil and fear that her friend-sister Wolf rejected her over the whole thing. Kipo’s only ever acted like “it’s fine” to them about it. And I find that really unfair, especially to Kipo. She should get to be upset, she should get to be upset with her parents and make them better realize the consequences of what they actually did to her. Lio and Song should also just deal with even more consequences. 

P.S. I also don’t really buy the half mute/half human as mixed race metaphor because it’s too deeply rooted in scientific experimentation on babies without any possible consent (and Kipo is already actually mixed race with a Black father and a Korean mother), and I have more thoughts on what it’s more about and its potential as a more unique story that’s specifically tied to the world of KATAOW, but I think that’s another post too.