#next year: YAKKO WAKKO AND DOT

[wickedcriminal]

What do you MEAN it's not anywhere near Halloween its Spooky Time whenever I want it to be 🦴 I also don't feel like waiting until October to post this so 😂

They decide to make it a trio this year, just to keep the neighbors on their toes

List of sibs below cut:

Year 1: Wirt and Greg from Over the Garden Wall, with Astrid as Beatrice

Year 2: Dipper and Mabel from Gravity Falls, with Dagur and Heather as Soos and Wendy, and Camicazi and Little Fish as Stan and Ford

Year 3: Phineas and Ferb from (shocker) Phineas and Ferb, with Heather as Candace

Year 4: Mario and Luigi from the Super Mario Bros, with Astrid as Princess Peach and Camicazi as Wario

Year 5: Edward and Alphonse from Fullmetal Alchemist, with Astrid as Winry

Bottom: Alvin and the Chipmunks

[galactic-glamour-girl-posts]

Enjoy the show!

(The reboot should've lasted longer though.)

[cringetownusa]

The Warner Tax Rant.

Being “So far below the poverty line, they’re off the graph”, doesn’t seem to be a statement only true in the movie after all. This is almost 1k words. Sit tight.

OG RANT DATE: 3/22/2023 We know the Warners pay taxes. We know they pay income tax from the “We pay tons of income tax” line from the 90s intro. Tons is subjective, but we also know based on many instances of the Warners gaining some sort of monetary wealth(even to be immediately taken away) that money is something they care about(1). There’s been jokes(2) about how little they’re paid by the studio, one of which from a cut song about tiny things where the smallest thing of all was their paychecks. We know in the comics they also just. Don't have money to treat themselves to nice outings and so they have a separate thing they call “The Cute Fund”(3) where the Warners allow people to pay to pinch their cheeks, and they use that money for things like trips. Not only are the Warners like wicked underpaid and taken advantage of for being children, but since they were originally from the 30s, when they were released from the tower for the 90’s show they didn't know what the base wage was at the time. 

So even with all their fame in the 90s (on the level that would make it a cultural phenomenon, eg: clothes, games, theme park partnerships, school supplies) they were not fairly compensated for it.

But even with them being such a household name, if they had to talk over their own contracts, they were likely tricked into thinking they were getting a better wage just by holding it up to what they were paid for their very few paychecks for their 30s films, even if they’re smart kids, they’re just kids, and between desperation and relief of being released, their judgement may have been clouded on their own contracts. They were probably also just thankful to be getting the opportunity to get them at all because it meant that they would get time outside the tower for the first time in 60 years Anyway these thoughts brought me to thinking about Yakko having to calculate their paychecks and do taxes every year since they have an income.

But based on how little the three of them make together and how expensive California is, i assume tax season is pretty stressful for poor Yakko.

In the 90s when there wasn't a ton of tech going around it meant he'd have to do all their taxes by hand with a calculator and a bunch of notes and i am thinking of this poor boy pouring over then at like 12 in the morning after Wakko and dot have gone to bed under the guise of practicing his lines.

For assistance programs that exist for humans that the warners making so little money might qualify for, e.g. food stamps, would they even be approved?

Maybe toons get rejected for that since "they don't need to eat" regardless of toons like wakko who are designed differently to eat more and always be hungry and also hypoglycemic(4). (5)So in the 30s, minimum wage was .25 an hour, which translates to a little over $4 an hour now

In 1990, the minimum was was 4.75 ($9.19 as of 2024)

HOWEVER

We can assume toon labor laws would be different since they didn't even have the right to vote until 2020 bc of Dot, and the way animals are paid for their “acting” in 2020s.

So for the sake of this exercise in taxing we’ll assume that they were convinced being paid $1 an hour for each of them was a really REALLY good deal because it was 4x the wage in the 30s.(during the great depression)

This next part was calculated with help from my friend allowing me to use his California pay stub. Thank you Mickael. <3

Toons are probably paid less because they "have less necessities" and get rigorously overworked because their bodies “don't work like humans”. If we assume that they've been tricked in this way and calculate this off a 4 week paycheck, while also saying that they're pulling 40-60 hour work weeks due to overwork, with no overtime pay, that puts their GROSS pay for a MONTH at around ($480 for 40 hours) ($720 for 60 hours). 

Taking out California and Federal withholding, and healthcare on through the studio all together at around 12%, net take home would be ($422.40 at 40 hours) ($633.60 at 60) Now let’s assume the Warners get the tower as free room and board. That includes rent, electricity and running water ONLY, so we still have to calculate their wifi and phone bills (since we know for a fact that it’s relevant in the reboot. For the state of California, I used Mint unlimited at $60 a month since all three of them have phones. ($64.35 after tax) Internet needing to be somewhere around 100mbps for all their device’s wifi in the Burbank area, the least expensive option with wiggle room for Wakko(the Gamer) would be Starry Internet ($32.18 after tax). Yakko would be able to get a (LIFE) LA Metro tap card for low income, which would also give him a certain amount of free bus rides per month,after that each metro ride is $1.75 one way, and each bus ride is $1 one way. Let’s give all three Warners together a Budget of $50. This leaves them at ($275.87 for 40 hours of work) ($487.07 at 60) Much, if not all remainder would go to food or clothes depending on your headcanons for that. It’s no wonder they can’t afford expensive picture frames! ---

I'm sure there was more stuff I could have linked back to like the amounts and how I got them, and if people want more info they're welcome to dm me, but I've been impatiently wanting to share my thoughts lol.

Back in march of last year, I first spoke to my friend @help-the-lesbian in DM's about the warner's monetary situation. As I made more friends, I roped more of them into listening to me and now it's kind of an in-joke, but I just like thinking about Yakko getting stressed out about taxes and doing them because he cares about his siblings and he needs to take care of their family.

1[Animaniacs "Temporary Insanity" 1993] 2[Rob Paulson, “Animaniacs in Concert”, 2023] 3[Animaniacs Comic #2, 1995] 4[Wakko Warner Wiki] 5[Department of Industrial Relations, state of California] 6[California state tax is x1.0725]

[321spongebolt]

As a little sneak peek of what I'm planning to upload next month, I thought I would mention that King Salazar from the series finale, "Wakko's Wish" would in fact be one of the villains Waldo would team up with. I haven't seen the full movie (I only saw its ending back in 2011, as I was curious about how my characters would respond to Dot's death, but I'll discuss that later.)

My thought was if Waldo could introduce himself to the king and tell him about his history with Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. How he spent years chasing after them and failing to capture the Warners. He'll even bring up how years ago, they "killed" his brother, Wizard Egon with their water tower. And ever since, Waldo went into the outside world to find his brother's killers and kill them back so he can revive Egon with a sacrifice ritual, then later cook their dead bodies to make a either stew or some type of dinner involving meat. Maybe even skin their hides and make clothes out of their fur. King Salazar would hire the wizard and his army, much to the horror of Mr. Plotz and Ralph the Guard, who actually hate Waldo for all those times he tried to raid the Warner Bros. Studio.

Regarding the wishing star, Waldo could even bring up Babes Bunny, whom Waldo also tried and failed to capture for years, as with Babes' magic lamp, King Salazar can get three additional wishes. This would mean that if either one got the wishing star, they'd get four wishes in total, two for King Salazar and two for Waldo, with Waldo's only wish being to revive his brother and bring him back home so that he can apologize to Egon and make sure he never escapes the woods again.

Credit for this template goes to DeviantArt user, MagicalKeyPizzaDan

[theonethatyaks93]

Animaniacs Super 7 Figures!

Hi everyone! I know in my last post, I said that my next post was going to be my biggest one yet (my ranking of every single Pinky and The Brain segment from the reboot) but something arrived before I could start that!

My Super 7 Animaniacs Ultimates figures arrived! Yakko, Wakko, Dot, and Brain arrived last Wednesday while Pinky came last Thursday. I’ve been waiting for these for over 1 year and two months and I’m so excited they are now in my collection! Here is my official review of these amazing figures (and all the trouble I went through to get them out of the box).

Here they all are in their boxes. First things first, I love the way they designed these boxes. They’re colorful and each one is different. I plan on keeping them for storage. Brain’s box is absolutely gigantic and sticks out compared to the others. I don’t have photos of the backs but it’s only a picture of each character and a little background. Now, onto each figure.

Here’s Yakko! I love how tall he is when compared to his siblings. He also has some good weight to him. The figure is a tad bit hard to move, but that’s a given since he’s new. Moving around the joints will loosen them up a little. The ears also move, which is a surprise! Unfortunately, I found it very difficult to put on his alternate head, to the point where I couldn’t actually get it on. I’ll figure it out and even if I don’t, I’m not really going to use that head anyways. Yakko’ s tail was also hard to change. The hands are cute, though I haven’t tried changing them. I really like the way Yakko looks even if there are a few paint smudges (but that’s always going to happen). The board with the countries of the world is very detailed and contains every single country mentioned in the song. The bag of fun is nice and weighted and I think the little pointer is a nice touch. This took me about 20 minutes to get out of the packaging because it was so secure! My fingers were sweaty and my thumbs hurt. I did manage after a while. While it was hard, I’m not going to let that detract from my opinion! Overall, a great figure.

Next up is Wakko! He was very easy to take out of the plastic thankfully. I think he looks really cute and I love his sweater! It does make it kind of hard to articulate his arms, but I’ll work on that. I didn’t even try to put on his alternate head since I didn’t want to have another Yakko situation. His tail was mercifully easier to change than Yakko’s. I love all the little hands and how they can actually hold the accessories. Speaking of which, these are the best accessories from the three Warners. The mallet was heavy and a good size, I love the USA on the board, the fiddle was a little big but it still worked, and the dynamite stick (which comes with all three Warner siblings) is very colorful. I love Wakko’s alternate head; I just think it looks neat. The paint job was good also. Another win here.

She’s cute, she’s feisty, she’s witty: it’s Dot! She was also really hard to get out of the box, though not as hard as Yakko. She is so tiny; she’s actually smaller than Brain! I love her heads, particularly her heart eyes head. Dot’s tail was hard to swap out since her skirt got in the way, but I figured it out after messing with it for a minute. Her hands are so cute! I love the rose and the butterfly. She also has fists! Sadly, she comes with the least amount of accessories only having a stick of dynamite and a little duck float (which has a softer plastic rubbery texture!). Dot’s paint was pretty good with barely any smudges. I can’t wait to find a little stool and do some Dot’s Poetry Corner things. I hope I can get her to sit down! She was very adorable and fun!

Pinky’s turn! Narf! This was hands-down my favorite of the 5 figures (and not just because Pinky is my favorite character). He feels the most accurate and was the easiest to pose and articulate. Removing him from the box was also easy. His tail will become a little loose though when moved around a lot. It does stay in place when positioned. Changing Pinky’s heads was easy and didn’t take too much time. His alternate heads were my favorite! I love the “bopped on the head look” and Pinky’s happy face was really cute. He also has the most hands. I also love it how they made Pinky left handed and gave him some hands that not only hold the accessories, but look like he’s giving a thumbs up. The accessories are cute too. I love the grappling hook, notepad, and the science equipment that make me wish we got a cage play set. And though I don’t personally ship Pinky and Phar Fignewton, the little picture was a nice touch. This was just an amazing figure and I can ignore the paint defects since he’s fantastic looking. I will be taking a lot of pictures of this mouse; he’s so photogenic!

Lastly, we have The Brain! The heaviest figure, (and shockingly, the easiest one to remove from the packaging) Brain is a tad bit top-heavy and is difficult to stand, though you can get him to stay upright. Brain’s head is huge, about as big as the palm of my hand. His tail can be popped out with ease, which can be frustrating, though it’s quick to put back in. He is easy to pose and his hands are so freaking tiny! I love his alternate head; it’s so expressive. I wish he had another head to get more expressions from him. His accessories are incredible! I love the giant magnet and the blueprint was made of cardboard to my surprise. The paper clip and pointer are also fun. My favorite accessory, perhaps maybe of the entire line, is the globe keychain. It’s a real keychain that can be put on things like backpacks and it comes from my favorite episode! I was so happy when I found out that this was going to be an accessory in this set. He was fun to pose and was size-accurate when compared to Pinky. I think he looks very close to the show and I can’t wait to put him in some situations with Pinky. Brain was amazing overall and I’m excited for some more pictures.

Overall, I loved these a lot. There were a few paint issues and the posing and swapping of heads and hands could be difficult, but I still adore them, especially Pinky and Brain. I am loving all the accessories and all the possibilities for articulation. These are honestly a must-have for people who love the show. They’re not perfect by any means, but I still find them really cool. Overall 8.5/10 for the entire lot. I hope you enjoyed my review! Here are a few pictures I took of Pinky and Brain below:

The mice (attempting) to hold hands. The posing for this took a while and the balance was hard. I’ll work on it later so I can get better shots. There will be a lot more Brinky photos in the future!

Here’s Pinky in his first dress! This was on a random fairy doll I had and I thought it would look perfect on him. Luckily, it did! Now, I can use this dress as a size comparison when I want to find more outfits. I think he looks beautiful, though I wish I had a blonde wig he could wear. Image what Brain would think! I’m looking forward to putting Pinky in more fun clothes and expanding his wardrobe!

[ireallylovepuppies101]

Inky Mystery Audrey AU 3

Part three!!!! (beware of spoilers if you haven’t read the fic)

With it being late when they reach Warnerburg, and way past Audrey’s usual bedtime, despite her protests of her being able to walk and keep up with her brothers, Bendy would ignore her and scoop her up into his arms to carry her until they find someplace to stay for the night. Which unfortunately doesn’t happen and they end up crashing for the night outside against a wall. Bendy obviously is not thrilled that his younger siblings are forced to sleep outside, but thankfully Boris does his best looking at the bright side of their situation while Audrey says she doesn’t mind as long as they’re all together.

Too bad the next morning they realize Bendy’s bag got stolen with all of their money inside, and literally get kicked out of their sleeping spot by a security guard. (Audrey thankfully didn’t get kicked, Boris was holding her when they were sent flying). Fortunately though when they take a food break, they meet Sammy and Finley who helpfully point them towards the police station to report Bendy’s bag stolen. Though going there doesn’t exactly boost their spirits or their hope in finding the bag.

Meeting the Warners certainly distracts them over their rather bleak situation. While Boris gets confused by them and Bendy looks ready to lose his marbles, Audrey’s having the time of her life watching the Warners go nuts and do a bunch of funny crazy stuff. Especially when Dot starts flirting with Bendy. “Bendy, you finally got a girlfriend!”

“Zip it you little stinker.”

Yakko, Wakko, and Dot would be intrigued by the little girl laughing up a storm at their antics. Dot even asks Audrey if she’d like to join their zany group considering both of them could use a gal-pal. Bendy and Boris for a moment worrying over if the Warners were going to try to keep their sister before Audrey declined. “Thanks, but my brothers need me.”

Dot sighs but accepts her answer. “Fair enough, mine would be LOST without me. What would our dear hopeless brothers do without their wise little sisters?”

Later when they reunite with Sammy and Finley and find an alley to crash in for the night, all of them have friendly chats about their dreams and even laugh. Well, most of them were laughing. Boris looks annoyed as Bendy makes puns and Audrey encourages him by giggling.

But then Bendy has his attack in front of all of them.

Safe to say that whole ordeal certainly spooked Audrey. Once the attack passes and Bendy snaps out of his horror over seeing the black ink he coughed into his hand, he’d look over and notice Audrey, who’s looking like she’s trying her damned hardest not to cry as Sammy rests his hands on her shoulders to comfort her. Bendy opens his arms towards her and lets her rush into his embrace as he quietly tries to sooth her, telling her she was very brave, and assures her he’s okay now. Boris hugs both of them as he and Bendy explain to Finley and Sammy what just happened.

Thanks to Finley, Sammy, and the Waner’s help, Bendy’s able to get his bag back, and despite a few hiccups, like finding out Bendy and Boris are now Wanted and officially meeting Cuphead and Mugman, Bendy, Boris, and Audrey can continue on their way to Toontown. Though both Boris and Bendy’s stress level goes up quite a bit considering the extremely dangerous situation they just got out of, being wanted criminals, and now being hunted by two assassins with cups for heads. All while they had their 6 year old sister RIGHT THERE. Thankfully Audrey seemed to handle the situation well enough, not looking like she was badly traumatized from the near death experience, but that doesn’t stop the two brothers from worrying.

Best they can do for the time being is double check with Audrey to make sure she’s emotionally okay and remind her they’re there for her if she needs them. Audrey always tells them she knows and that she’s okay.

Thanks to the whole “wanted criminals” thing though, Bendy, Boris, and Audrey would have to bail off the train they were on and be forced to walk so Bendy and Boris don’t get arrested or Audrey gets taken away. Which leads them to finding Hat’s casino and stopping there for a meal. Boris takes Audrey with him for a bathroom break while Bendy orders their food, and the two of them coming back confused from how spooked Bendy looks after he met Hat.

After going to the Toontown college in search of Oddswell and meeting Holly who gives them directions to Oddswell’s old address, Audrey barely paying attention to any of that as she stares with big wide eyes at the stain glass and mural (she’d want to draw everything so BADLY but they don’t have time so she’d be pouting big time), they officially meet Red Hood after they broke into Oddswell’s house, and are taken to the “clinic”. Properly meeting Oddswell and helping decode Wilson’s note he gave to Bendy.

Or at least, Bendy and Boris help. Audrey’s reading level is better than the average kid, but not THAT good to try decoding anything, so she’d be rather bored until little Steven asks her if she wants to play. Never being asked that before by the kids in Sillyvision, Audrey would be a bit dumbfounded until Bendy tells her to go have fun while he and Boris work. Which she does. Audrey never really realizes how nice it is to have an actual friend close to her age. The two of them having a blast together.

Until all of that is ruined when Cuphead and Mugman show up, and Jerry calls the police. Audrey decides then and there she REALLY doesn’t like Cuphead, Mugman, OR Jerry when she and her brothers are forced to run away, and she has to say goodbye to Steven. Steven promises though they can play again whenever she gets back. She’d be looking forward to that.

For now though, she and her brothers would be making their way back to the casino.

And now time for the funfacts!

-When Finely asks about Audrey’s dreams for the future, Audrey loudly and proudly claims “I WANNA DRAW!!!” as she holds up her notebook. Making her brothers, Finley and Sammy laugh at how determined and dead serious she sounded.

- Audrey would be very stubborn when it comes to trying to keep up with her brothers, and to her credit she does a very good job at it, but she also has a bad habit of not speaking up when she’s getting tired so Bendy and Boris have to pay attention to the signs of her slowing down before one of them just picks her up and carries her. Bendy does it the most since he’s got his demon strength to help hold her for long periods of time if he has to, and because he has an easier time ignoring her squirming when she’s grouchy over being carried until she accepts her fate.

-She also has a bad habit of insisting she can wait to eat when she’s aware their food situation is a bit bad. Denying she’s hungry even if Bendy and Boris can hear her stomach. Bendy quickly puts a stop to that whenever she tries and firmly tells her that when he says it’s time to eat, she’s not going to wait until later or argue with him about it. He and Boris can worry about their food situation, not her. Thankfully she listens without too much of a fuss.

-Normally whenever Audrey spends the night in her brothers room, or how in the events of the fic they have to sleep outside occasionally or get a hotel room, Audrey sleeps between her two brothers where she’s safely in the middle so Bendy and Boris can protect her if something happens, or she’s sleeping in the same bed as Boris since his fur is nice and warm. Due to Bendy’s attacks starting to scare her though, Audrey finds herself wanting to sleep in Bendy’s bed more often. Bendy not minding, but it does make him concerned over how well she and Boris are handling this whole ink illness thing.

-Despite how Bendy and Boris kinda procrastinate with sending Sasha a letter to let her know they’re doing okay, Audrey would insist they at least send her the drawings she made with the crayons Sasha gave her since the whole adventure started. The two brothers agree to that since it makes Audrey happy and hopefully keeps Sasha from getting TO mad at them for not writing as much as they promised.

-During their trip, Audrey likes drawing all the different things they’ve seen and the people they’ve met. She makes really nice drawings of the people that are their friends, but the drawings of Cuphead, Mugman, and Jerry are anything but flattering. Boris frowning at Bendy who’s trying his damn hardest not to laugh over how Audrey wrote “Cusshead” with an arrow pointing at the drawing of Cuphead. Once Bendy gets some control over his giggles he’d tell Audrey to scribble that out since she’s only allowed to say bad words, not write them.

-Audrey would LOVE Granny Gopher! She’s a very sweet little old lady who doesn’t take BS from anyone. Granny in return thinks Audrey’s the sweetest little girl, gladly looking over her drawings and complimenting her, as well as making Audrey and Steven snacks as the two children play together. When Granny gave Audrey full permission to call her Granny instead of Ms. Gopher, Audrey 100% rolled with it. “Neat! We have a grandma now!”

[viridianvenus]

Oh my gosh! Just realized you were a beta for Family by the middle Warner sibling! I’m just so curious—what was that like? Highlights?? Lowlights?? It’s probably my favourite piece of fiction <333

Obviously the biggest highlight was getting to read the new chapters early. She had a pretty detailed outline going well into the Warner's adulthoods. I don't know the details, but she already knew who wound up with who, what careers they had, who had kids and how many and if they were boys or girls.

Another highlight was when she'd slip shout outs to me in the story. That friendly cat reporter Anica? I had a cat named Anica. One of the other students in Dot's riding class, Diego? My other cat was named Diego. Yakko's early girlfriend Athena working in a cookie store? I worked in a cookie store at the time.

Another highlight was just knowing that I was helping what I knew from the very start was going to be the biggest deal fanfic in the fandom. Obviously all of the genius came from her and my impact was minimal, but it was there. When I read the very first chapter she posted I knew I was reading the start of something amazing, but the spelling and grammar were all over the place, so I contacted her and offered to be her beta. We did not know each other at the time. Her immediate reaction was "God, yes!" I edited that first chapter, she reposted it and I was her beta for the next two, maybe three years.

A lowlight would be that, try as I might, I was never able to get her to stop info-dumping non-story related content. All we need to know is that the grandfather clock is significant to Goose, and why. We don't need a full page explanation on how grandfather clocks work. All we need to know is what's going on emotionally between Wakko and Foghorn, we don't need paragraphs explaining on how to fix a car engine. But her justification was that she spent the time doing the research and by God she was going to use it.

Another lowlight, and I'm not sure I'd really call it a lowlight, but it is ultimately the reason why I stepped down as beta (the final two, maybe three, chapters were not beta'd by me) was that it was a major time commitment. You know how massive those chapters were. My turnaround time was 4-5 days. That was not an expectation set by her, she was always saying she didn't know how I was doing it so fast, that just wound up being the speed that I worked. My process was that I would get the chapter and then I would read it through just as a fan enjoying the story. If something stuck out to me I would notate it, but I was reading with my fan brain, not my editor brain. Then I would reread the whole chapter again. much slower, with my editor brain. I was working two jobs at the time, so it eventually got to be too much, but by that time she had a second beta so I wasn't leaving her high and dry.

To this day, Family is still my favorite fanfic ever. Not just for Animaniacs, but in general and I still do occasional re-reads. She and I aren't in touch anymore, we're still Facebook friends but neither of us really use Facebook anymore. She's married and works full time, and we basically just slowly lost touch. We did briefly reconnect when the reboot first dropped. She wasn't impressed. She couldn't even make it through the season. I don't like the reboot either, but I watched all of it and gave her a rundown of what she had missed. She's glad she stopped watching when she did. We both agree that the reboot writers have no idea who the Warners are.

[juicesocks]

[painfully-unoriginal]

last set of fandom pride doodles that i’ll have time for! i hope you’ve all had a good pride month 💖💖

[madelynartz]

Love it SO MUCH

I wanted to do a palette swap type of thing to see what the Warners would look like in each others’ colors! But just recoloring the same drawing wasn’t enough, so I added some variety to their clothes! I love how they all turned out, though the pinks ended up being my favorite UvU

[joddit-y]

in case you didn't pick up what I'm putting down: 

cartoons don't need food to live, when they //do eat it's by choice and for enjoyment, not out of necessity, so therefore they don't feel hunger. But for Wakko, he was literally made be the hungry food guy, so while he doesn't need to food to live, he needs it to not feel awful all the time. Yeah so then he got imprisoned for like 59 years without anyone coming to give them food cause they don't need it lmao

Since I'm not making a part two, here's what it would look like if I did: Dot gets filled in the next morning, she and Yakko spend the rest of the day banging around, screaming, trying to get someone's attention for help. They're still clinging to the idea that their situation is temporary, but Yakko lets go of it first and tries physically breaking down the door. It doesn't work, Wakko hasn't eaten in four days now and he's constantly in pain. Dot and Yakko eventually figure out that while they can't summon food (bc food isn't a standard prop and it isn't funny), they can pie each other and feed Wakko the pieces that survived the toss. Once they escape, he never eats pie again.

[cf56]

Welcome to the final installation of "overanalyzing the Warners," at least for now. I present my ultimate Animaniacs fan theory: the Warners could have been dezanitized. In fact, they almost were.

This is going to be a very long post.

First, I want to talk about the fundamental nature of the Warner siblings as I see it. They are chaotic, they abide by only their own rules, they act as a painful check on society's uppity adults. Generally, the show presents it as if they are this way by default; that's just their character, and there's no changing it.

I have a different viewpoint. The Warners clearly have free will. Yes, they were created with certain fundamental character traits. That doesn't prevent them from changing, though. We all have fundamental personality traits we acquired at a very young age. Does that prevent us from changing our nature, or acting against it at times? Not at all. The Warners act the way they do because they choose to, not because they were pre-programmed to always be that way. Look at their origin: created to be zany cartoon stars, by an insane artist, which explains some of their more outlandish traits. However, they didn't rebel right away. For the first few years of their existence, they were mostly compliant, acting in company shorts and doing their best to play along. It was only five years later, after the company had enough of playing nice with them, that they began to run around acting crazy. This is all covered in the Warners' 65th Anniversary Special Episode, which I covered in my last big post. In that one, I talk about the events that led up to their contract's cancellation and their eventual capture in the tower. Is it possible that the cancellation, even after all of Wakko's hard work directing his own cartoon short, is what drove them to be so antagonistic to the studio? In any case, it's clear in my mind that this was a conscious choice on their part.

"We're the Warner Brothers!"

"Like the studio?"

"Not very much, but we don't have a choice." -Yakko

(Also, look at how offended Wakko is at the mere mention of the studio. If you watch the clip, his expression changes from happy to this at the very instant Pfeiffer mentions the studio.)

That leads me to the episode I'll be focusing on today, "Taming of the Screwy," Episode 5 of the original series. It's appropriate, and perhaps not a coincidence, that this episode takes place so early on in the series. I believe it sets the foundation for everything that comes after.

At the beginning of the episode, we see Dr. Scratchansniff in Mr. Plotz's office. Plotz tells Scratchansniff about an important party they'll be having in honor of some rich foreign investors, who want to meet every employee of the studio- including the Warners. Plotz orders the doctor to teach the Warners good manners and appropriate behavior for the party, which is in 24 hours. Scratchansniff doesn't seem confident in his ability to do this.

In the next scene, the Warners are delivered to his office.

I mostly posted this screenshot so I could point out the portrait of young Scratchansniff in the background there. Never noticed that before today.

The Warners start out with a nice little ditty about Scratchansniff, before he explains to them why they were brought in. They get very excited upon learning they've actually been invited to this big party with all the huge stars. Yakko wants to see Michelle Pfeiffer, Dot wants to see Mel Gibson (heh), and Wakko wants to see Don Knotz, of course. Scratchansniff then tells them that they have to be behaved, clean, and nice children if they want to go. He asks them if they're willing to abide by these terms, and, after discussion, they agree.

This is pretty interesting to me. The Warners can go anywhere they want. There's no doubt they could get into the party whether they were invited or not, and that does in fact happen in the last act of the episode. So, why agree to these terms that they're less than enthused about? It must be because they want to be included officially. They're willing to follow the normal rules and procedure, if they're given the opportunity to do so. The problem is, they're almost never given that opportunity by the studio, so they're forced to do it the chaotic and zany way instead. Their whole lives, the studio has deliberately barred them from feeling any sense of inclusion, making them feel like outsiders, and then gets upset when they act outside of the rules.

Moving on, Scratchansniff begins to teach the kids proper manners. I don't want to highlight every gag in this segment (I greatly recommend watching it for yourself- I think it's one of the funniest episodes), so I'll just summarize. In separate lessons, he tries to teach the Warners how to do a proper greeting, how to enunciate correctly, and how to eat politely. They fail at all of these tasks, but it's very clearly deliberate. They're actually listening to everything Scratchansniff says- they just wanted to have some fun in the process. At the end, when it seems like they're a lost cause, Scratchansniff disinvites them from the party, at which point they show him that they really have learned and perfected everything he's taught them. He asks them why they gave him such a hard time-

"'Cause we love ya!"

And he actually hugs them back!

Now understanding how they operate, Scratchansniff seems to be on their side. He proudly introduces them at the party, and the Warners perfectly follow the proper protocol.

Yakko even cracks a joke in Japanese to the Japanese investors, getting them to laugh. So, not only are they acting politely, but they immediately prove that they can be a great asset to the company if the studio would just let them be on its side.

Of course, the company immediately does the opposite. Just as the Warners get into the party and are about to join the festivities, Plotz orders Scratchansniff to kick the Warners out, because he believes they'll ruin the party (even after having just witnessed Yakko having great chemistry with the investors). Scratchansniff tries to argue against it, but there's not much he can do to stand up to the CEO, so he has to walk over and break the news. The Warners' reaction is one of the most heartbreaking things I've ever seen, period.

"Huh?"

To his credit, Scratchansniff does actually explain why he had to kick them out.

"But we behaved!"

Yakko never seems more like an actual child than right here. Scratchansniff apologizes and walks away.

This is the pivotal moment, not just in this episode, but the entire series. The Warners played along, did everything asked of them, only to be immediately betrayed, a promise broken. This is the moment any possibility of the Warners ever being dezanitized was shattered. They learned that if they try to play along with society's rules, that if they make an effort to be accepted, all they're gonna get is heartbreak. From this point on, they never genuinely try to be polite or "normal" ever again. To them, it's pointless. And it's hard to argue with them.

From the studio's perspective, Plotz dug his own grave, without ever realizing it. He had the Warners exactly where he wanted them. If he just let them stay at the party, prove that their efforts would be rewarded, it could have been the start of a new era. Maybe it wouldn't happen right away, but Scratchansniff would have had the ammunition he needed to work with them more, make real progress, and eventually teach them to control their zaniness. Plotz threw that all away, while continuing to solely blame the Warners for the way they act. These characters aren't even real, and it infuriates me.

The Warners predictably respond in the only way they know how, when they've been spurned by the studio once again. They go back to the party and cause chaos. They do whatever they want. Plotz tries to capture them, making things much worse. In the end, the investors are entertained by the Warners' antics and hand over the billion dollar check to them. Plotz then chases them in pursuit of the check, while Scratchansniff signals that the CEO has gone crazy himself. This ends the episode.

So, I don't think I have to summarize much. The point was made pretty clearly already. I do want to look at this from the writers' perspective. Do I think they intended to put all this deep layered character building in this episode? No, not really, but there are a few subtle hints here and there that seem to work a little too well with my theory. I think it's a possibility that they deliberately structured the plot this way, though it's still unlikely.

I think what this episode is truly meant to be is an important lesson for adults. Most of us probably remember a childhood experience where an adult told us to do something in the promise of a reward, only for that promise to be broken once you go through with their demands. It's a very powerless feeling, because adults always tell children not to lie and make false promises, when many of them don't seem to have an issue doing those things to children. Animaniacs is a very child-oriented show. By that I don't mean that it's childish, but that it shows the world through a child's perspective. According to the show bible, the Warners are meant to do the things children wish they could do to mean and arrogant adults. This episode attempts to teach the lesson that breaking promises to children will only result in mistrust and heartbreak- that children recognize hypocrisy just as well as the rest of us. The Warners do what we wished we could do as children by going back to the adults and basically sticking their tongues out in their faces.

Focusing back on the plot of the show, if anyone ever feels like the Warners are in the wrong for how they act, just watch this episode and you'll understand their perspective a lot better. The studio deserves every torment the Warners can give, because the studio is the one that created not just the Warners, but the conditions that make them do what they do. The studio then hypocritically tries to blame it entirely on the children they've deliberately mistreated since birth. Animaniacs is quite unique in that regard, because the main antagonist of the whole series is actually the very studio that produced the show in real life. I wonder if they ever realized it.

That about wraps it up. This is the last deep analysis I'll do for a long time, since I'm sure almost all Animaniacs discussion for the next few months will be centered around season 2 of the reboot.

(I also don't have any more ideas.)

[mel-is-a-melon]

Fuck it, in-depth analysis of what the final lines of Animaniacs season 2 episode 13 mean within the in-universe context under the cut. Warnings for manipulation and medical harm to children.

So, those last lines were absolutely terrifying and I’ll break them down one by one. These lines are taken verbatim from the subtitles on Hulu.

Dot - “Sounds like a problem for next season. If there is one...”

Yakko - “Guess we’ll wait here until they make more new episodes, just like we did in the 90′s...”

Wakko - “This time, I wonder if we’ll dream...”

So Dot’s line is relatively simple to break down. The intro only had them signing on for two seasons in the reboot, and even though we know that a third season has been ordered, the Warner siblings evidently don’t. What gets me, though, is the emphasis on “if”. The italics show up in the subtitles, so they’re meant to be there. It feels like a notation that they as the characters have reason to believe that there won’t be a next season. Dot certainly looks scared at the idea. Were they outright told the chances were slim, or did they overhear something? I’m thinking the first, since the people they work with to produce the show (at least the higher-ups, and they interact with the CEO a LOT) would know about plans for a third season. Was it used as a threat, then? A way to keep them in line - “behave yourselves, or we won’t renew you for a next season”? The implication is there, I think.

Yakko’s line is a bit ambiguous. Does “wait here” mean to wait in that exact position, or within the limits of the studio? Probably the second, though the concept of the first is unnerving to say the least. It’s canonical that they’re locked in the water tower when they aren’t filming, and this line implies that the practice has continued. Which is fucked up and a conversation for another time. The first time they were locked in there, it was for a 60 year stretch, and the second time, as confirmed by that line, it was for 20 years. Yakko believes they are about to undergo that again “until they make new episodes”. Not “until they film a third season”. Another point towards the theory that they’ve been lead to believe they won’t be renewed for a third season, and that they’re about to be locked up in the water tower for an indefinite amount of time. Fans of the show generally believed that they were awake and bouncing around the water tower for that time...

And then there’s Wakko’s line. What. The. Fuck.

Immediately, this changes a lot. They aren’t awake when they aren’t filming, and they aren’t dreaming. Or at least, they didn’t dream last time. So, what kind of controlled sleep lasts for a very long time and (for the most part) doesn’t induce dreams?

Sedation. Which is seven kinds of fucked up, but makes sense.

Normal sleep could never last as long as 20 years, let alone 60 years. That would be a coma, and while there are non-sedation ways to induce one, most of them would bounce right off the Warner siblings as a result of cartoon physics. When under sedation, most patients do not experience dreams because drug-induced unconsciousness is not the same brain process as sleep. It might be the only explanation for Wakko’s line that makes sense in-universe and not as a throwaway meta gag.

So under this theory, when the Warner siblings aren’t filming videos for the studio, they’re sedated and left unconscious in the water tower until they’re woken up to film more videos. And now I’m wishing I had the power to jump through the screen so I could beat up the people doing that, which is most likely (based on association with and power over the Warners) the CEO giving the order and Dr. Scratchansniff carrying it out. No wonder these kids have so much energy whenever we see them - it’s the ONLY TIME they get to run around and be awake and be KIDS, and yet the whole time they have to play by a script and have the ever present shadow of being sent back to unconsciousness once it’s all over hang over their heads.

[321spongebolt]

Next to the "Animaniacs" episode, "A Christmas Plotz", I'd also make him a villain in "Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt" as a boss character, and he would have two boss battles so to speak. And like video games such as "Scooby-Doo!: Night of 100 Frights" and even "The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge" (which ironically turns 20 years old this month if you consider it was first released in Japan), Oogie Boogie Background Singer's theme song would play on loop (or at least in cutscenes where the verses can be presented in a certain order). Here's how I would present this version of Oogie's theme song down below.

[LYRICS]

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: Well, well, well! Yakko, Waldo, Wakko, and Dot! I've been expecting you fools! So how do you like my Oogie town!? (Evilly laughs)

Background Singer/King Egon (Spoken): ♪It's over! It's over! This time, you've gone too far!♪

♪It's over! I'm FURIOUS! Just who do you think you are!?♪

Yakko (Spoken): ♪Just because you stole the Edgars doesn't make you king!♪

Wizard Waldo: You'd better give up!

Dot: Surrender now!

Wakko (Sung): ♪We're fixing everything!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: ♪That's what you think!♪

HA!

♪But you couldn't be more wrong! And this will be the last time, you hear the Boogie song.♪

Ha ha!

♪Whoa!♪

Oogie's henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie's henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie's henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer and his army: ♪I'm/He's the Oogie Boogie Man!♪

(Instrumental solo)

Background Singer/King Egon (Spoken): ♪I see you're pretty proud of all your kidnapping schemes.♪

Background Singer/King Egon (Sung): ♪But let's just say, you'll kill me ONLY in my bad dreams.♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Spoken): ♪That's true, Singer! It was your dream! But now, it's coming true!♪

♪'Cause even my mere shadow knows your singing days are through!♪

Oogie's Henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Sung): ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie's Henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

(Oogie Boogie Background Singer evilly laughs)

Oogie's Henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: Yeah.

Oogie Boogie Background Singer and his army: ♪I'm/He's the Oogie Boogie Man!♪

Background Singer/King Egon (Spoken): ♪Release me now, or you will face the dire consequences!♪

♪My fans want me to sing tonight, so please! Come to your senses!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Spoken): ♪You're joking! You're joking! I can't believe me ears!♪

♪You're joking me, you've gotta be! Best laugh I had in years!♪

Dot (Sung): ♪I hope you did amuse yourself. My head is getting hot!♪

Yakko and Wakko (Sung): ♪You better pay attention now, 'cause she's our sister, Dot!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Sung): ♪You think that you're a winning, but that's a lot of noise!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Spoken): ♪But just to be a sport, dear Dot, I'll share some vulture boys!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Sung): ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie's henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie's henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie's henchmen and Vultures: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer and his army: ♪I'm/He's the Oogie Boogie Man!♪

(Instrumental solo)

Background Singer/King Egon (Spoken): ♪The Edgars for these feature films must right now be set free!♪

♪Release them all at once or you will have to deal with me!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Sung): ♪You foiled my plans!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Spoken): ♪So what? Big deal!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Sung): ♪You even ran the maze!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Spoken): ♪You still can't stop me! I'm the king of all your films and plays!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer (Sung): ♪Whoa!♪

Yakko, Wakko, Dot, and Wizard Waldo: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: ♪Whoa!♪

Yakko, Wakko, Dot, and Wizard Waldo: ♪Whoa!♪

Oogie Boogie Background Singer: ♪Whoa!♪

Yakko, Wakko, Dot, and Wizard Waldo: ♪Whoa!♪

Dot: ♪I'm the Warner sister Dot!♪♪

(Song repeats on loop until C.C. DeVille is defeated in his boss fight)

[phasesofpencilsmain]

I've only read one chapter so far and like damn this IS good

Everyone is talking about the milk fanfic but it isn’t the only good fic that animaniacs fandom have. So I’m here to talk about “Family” fanfiction. Really guys, this fic have everything: 

Angst background story? check

Protective big bro Yakko? check

Cute anf fluff siblings moments? check

A society where humans and cartoons live together and have their own social  problems? check

Crossovers with Looney Toons and other shows and characters from disney and more? TOTALLY CHECK

This is my favorite fanfic and it could be a movie if you ask me. So yeah, please read it, the shit is sooooo good

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3703685/1/Family

[etaleah]

I Watched the Animaniacs Reboot and I LOVE IT

When I first heard about it a few years ago, I was on the fence, thinking there was no way they’d be able to replicate the clever humor, how it wouldn’t be the same, etc. Then, after seeing a couple of clips on YouTube and liking what I saw, I borrowed the Season 1 and 2 DVDs from the library and gave it a go. 

It. Was. PHENOMENAL. 

Surpassed my expectations and left me eager for Season 3, which I believe is happening this year (which means I likely won’t be able to see it until next year since I don’t want a Hulu subscription). In a time when I’ve been feeling really depressed, this show made me laugh and cheered me up more than anything else has. 

Here are all the reasons why the reboot succeeds and is well worth your time: 

1. The original voice cast is back. Rob Paulsen, Tress MacNeille, Jess Harnell, and Maurice LaMarche are all reprising their roles, and you can really tell how much they love their characters. It bleeds into every sketch. 

2. Despite being marketed as a family show for kids, this version of Animaniacs is clearly aimed at an older audience, mostly millennials like me who enjoyed it as kids and are grown up. There’s some slapstick for the young ones, but most of the jokes are wordplay, parodies, political/cultural satire, and barely-disguised sex jokes. I really dug it, and enjoy that kind of thing more than I do in the original because I actually understand it. I was so young in the 90′s that some of the bits about celebrities and pop culture went over my head and still aren’t all that clear to me, whereas now I understand everything. 

3. Instead of having 15 different characters like the original, only the Warners and Pinky and the Brain feature in the reboot. This was, in my opinion, the best decision they could have made. With the exception of Slappy Squirrel, I really didn’t care for any of the other characters. They were boring, void of any personality beyond one or two basic traits, and just didn’t really add much. Tightening the focus to the best-loved of them all makes the writing much better since the creators aren’t spread too thin. 

4. The reboot clearly had a much bigger budget than the original, which means the animation is more consistently good. Some of the older episodes look really dated and have mistakes in them, while the newer ones are well-drawn, more colorful, and just nicer to look at. This isn’t the original’s fault; it was made in an era where television wasn’t as respectable an art form and they didn’t have a built-in audience like the reboot does. But it’s still definitely a point in the new version’s favor. 

5. The humor for the reboot has clearly been updated for the current social climate. One thing I didn’t care for in the original was how Yakko and Wakko would throw themselves all over any woman of childbearing age, and Dot did pretty much the same for any man while saying “Boys! Go fig.” This doesn’t happen in the reboot. Hello Nurse is gone, Warner Bros. has a woman CEO who Yakko and Wakko don’t flirt with, and Dot has more of a personality outside of simply being “the girl” or “the cute one.” There’s even a bit in the revamped theme song where they sing, “Gender-balanced, pronoun-neutral, and ethnically diverse!” And yes, that does feel a bit like pandering, but still. I like it. 

6. FUCKING PINKY AND THE BRAIN. Whoever is writing them knows what they’re doing because just about every episode with those gay mice is pure gold. And speaking of gay mice, Season 2 really dials up the gay subtext between the characters. Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche have fully admitted there is love between the two and that they play them as kind of an elderly gay couple, and this dynamic is so delightful to watch. Season 1 is more similar to the original, but Season 2...man, they really threw the Brinky shippers a bone with Season 2. Brain is far less physically abusive with more cutesy facial expressions, there’s more hugging, and even a few episodes dedicated to showing how much they care about each other. For most of the season, the world domination plot takes a backseat to whatever is going on between them, and I just. Love it so much. The Christmas special of their ‘90s spinoff, the one where Brain cries over Pinky’s love for him in a letter to Santa, is the episode that won them the Emmy, and I think the writers learned from this and wisely decided to do more in that vein.

The fact that this is being made in the 2020s and not the 1990s means they can really go hard on the gay, and the result is that I actually enjoyed the mice even more than the Warners. There’s a super touching and emotional scene where you’re led to believe that Pinky has died, and Brain has tears in his eyes about it. Now, the audience knows Pinky can’t be dead because it isn’t that kind of show. Animaniacs is a silly cartoon full of satirical sketches, not the kind of media where characters get killed. So I knew Pinky was going to spring back to life at any second (which is of course what happens), but the important thing here was that Brain didn’t know that. He genuinely believed Pinky had died, and the tears in his eyes tugged at my heartstrings in a way I hadn’t felt in a long time. Then he does something I could not believe the creators were willing to have him do: 

He kisses his hand and then caresses Pinky’s face with it in a loving gesture. 

I about melted from sheer emotion at that scene. Not since Basil and Dawson have I had so many feels over cartoon gay mice.

There was a similar bit in Wakko’s Wish where we’re meant to think Dot is dead, only for her to snap back to life a minute later. That one didn’t work nearly as well because we’re told that Yakko knew she was acting the whole time and was only pretending to cry over her. The result here is that you feel cheated and manipulated because you were led to believe that Yakko was in emotional distress when he wasn’t. They were smart enough to avoid that with Pinky and the Brain by having Brain actually believe Pinky was dead, so the emotion feels genuine and sincere. They’re able to have moments like these that the Warners really can’t, so I think the mice have more potential. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if we got a reboot of their spinoff as well. They’re just so damn good together. 

All of this is not to say that the reboot is perfect. There are some sketches that are duds, a few god-awful ideas that don’t work like those stupid alien and gnome bits, and way too many fat jokes for comfort. Plus the songs aren’t quite as catchy and memorable as they were in the 90′s, though there are a few good ones.

But even with all of that said...anyone who loved Animaniacs should really give the reboot a chance. It kept what was good and scrapped what was bad from the original, and if they can keep that up in Season 3, I’ll be very happy.