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keyofjetwolf · 4 years ago

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Bonus Question Answers! (non-anime animated noms)

This was SO. FUCKING. HARD. This question went so much better than I expected, and I’m only sad I lack the artistic skills to make it all a reality.

Below, my PAINSTAKINGLY selected top answers, If yours is listed below, you’ve earned an entry in a random draw to win a GIFTENING liveblog OF YOUR CHOICE

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Q: The Senshi suddenly find themselves in a very different animated world. Which cartoon power (think Looney Tunes) do they each now possess?

* Usagi can make literal rainbows happen when she smiles. Rei can set anything on fire with her mind (she feels a bit cheated because she can do that at home too). Ami can write down anything in her special notebook and it literally changes reality around her (she does not share this with her fellow Senshi, because she knows the full weight of this power. She did, however, write Michiru having a bad hair day for just one day. Just one.) Makoto has the ability to pull out any ingredient she wants from any pantry/door/closet. She usually uses this for cooking purposes, so she won't have to purchase groceries. Minako has the ability to mimic any voice in the world, whether she has heard it or not. Hijinks ensue. The Outer Senshi sensibly escaped from the new animated world right after Michiru recovered from her bad hair day. They don't speak of the experience. -- @amberlilly [The whole thing was so solid, but what absolutely sent it over the top for me was Ami using her powers to fuck with Michiru in the most petty benign way, which is EVERYTHING.]

* Usagi is definitely rocking the exaggerated tear gushers. Ami can pull charts/diagrams out of nowhere at any time. Rei combusts when she gets sufficiently mad. Makoto has birds fly around when she sings while cooking or cleaning. Minako breaks the fourth wall to make jokes and asides to the audience. Chibi-Usa is somehow able to walk through ludicrous danger without getting touched, because the censors won't allow kids to be hurt in this show. Haruka can make girls melt into puddles of goo with her flirting. Michiru can summon a servant at any time to take care of an unpleasant or potentially dirty task for her (including to take the slapstick comedy for her). Setsuna has access to the script. Hotaru just sort of appears sometimes, just standing there, silently and menacingly, but never does anything on-screen (though you may hear the occasional off-screen screaming). Oh, and while I'd like to say Mamoru gains the power of inexplicable entrances... he kinda already has that one. --Darkcloud k'California [Again, I loved all these, but particularly Chibs saved by the censors, Michiru’s poor hapless slapstick avatar, and everything about Hotaru, thank you.]

* Usagi: The power to be found charming by every character she encounters and somehow escape all consequences and damage by simply remaining oblivious, a la Tweety Bird.

Rei: The power to explode, reducing her surroundings to charred wasteland, but remain relatively unscathed (perhaps a bit singed)

Ami: The power to grow multiple arms, hands, and hundreds of fingers in order to do tech stuff

Makoto: The power to punch someone through a brick wall, possibly several, and into someone's family dinner. It's always some surprised-looking family's private event. Often the same family.

Minako: the power to, Bugs Bunny style, apply lipstick and seduce ANYTHING. Which, according to her, is a power she already has.

Haruka: The power to run off a cliff and keep going until she looks down. She never learns to not look down.

Michiru: The power to stick a pin into any other character and cause them to deflate like a balloon

Hotaru: She just gets to actually be used. It is thrilling.

Pluto: She will observe this strange planet from afar with her huge telescope and breathe the Martian air and look great in a kilt and Roman-style helmet. -- @incorrecttact [Your set-up and punchline delivery style on all of these was perfection, and I legit lol’d at Mako and the poor family she continually interrupts.]

* to make dynamite go BOOM (Rei obviously); to have their opponent chase them to the point where they're floating in midair and then their opponent falls 5000 feet but they calmly walk back to land (like Wil E Coyote & the Roadrunner) (Usagi); the power to blow kisses to their opponent (which are clearly poisonous and end up killing the chap) (Minako); the power to have their opponent's entire arm shattered if they try to even punch them lightly on the arm (Makoto - this is canon anyways, but moreso exaggerated here hehe); to open a book and start reading it out loud and words start showing up on screen, confusing tf out of their opponent (Ami - also canon already) --@midnightdrops [Each of these were great, but Usagi and Mako as you described them totally sold me.]

* usagi: can now float on yummy aromas, so long as they lead her somewhere tasty! the others play a quick tournament of jun-ken-pon each time it happens to determine who will be responsible for steering her from blissfully drifting into traffic. again.

ami: is now possessed of x-ray vision! only she can neither turn it off, nor control its intensity. she is working on developing a set of goggles to dampen the effect, and secretly hopes they will make her look like geordi laforge.

rei: rei-chan is now blessed with the power of song! her heartfelt melodies soften the malice of even the most one-dimensional baddie, and influence public policy on a global scale. international success life, yo! i guess she's really a hard worker!

makoto: has become something of a cartoon cupid! in a poorly-ventilated room, her mere presence has bystanders declaring their love for one another within minutes*; and her decadent wedding cakes are the hit of second marriages across the country. *all of them so like her old senpai, and none of them falling for her, alas!

minako: employs her considerable powers of confidence and charm to convince the others she now has access to Plot Manipulation, mainly by engineering and taking ownership of a series of happy accidents. her real power is to literally jump out of her skin when she's startled*, and she has no intention of EVER letting the others know about it. *minako discovered this new ability while she was changing a roll of toilet paper, and a spider dropped onto her hand. the leader of the inner senshi had never been so horrified. her bones were so slick and cold, her skin a hideous unwiped pile, and then THE SPIDER CRAWLED INTO THE PILE and she STILL doesn't know if it ever got out and sometimes her skin itches REALLY bad and you know what let's stop talking about this right now okay???

setsuna: can now manifest a giant pencil and erase the enemy! but doing so would be breaking The Greatest Taboo, and leave her impaled upon the pencil.

haruka: her new empathetic ability is remarkably similar to Ma-Ti's "heart" ring (Captain Planet and the Planeteers, 1990 - 1996). basically, she's just like really soft at you, and it inspires you to take more positive actions toward yourself and the world at large? she protests about wishing she'd received something tough and intimidating, but secretly is very moved by being made an instrument of kindness.

michiru: her intuition has mutated into fourth wall awareness, and the subtlety with which she makes this known to you is SO GODDAMN UNCOMFORTABLE OH MY GOD

hotaru: can now not only communicate with inanimate objects, but also render them permanently animate! you should have been there during the princess tutu crossover episode when she met lamp-chan - they're STILL inseparable, and chibiusa is SUPER jealous. speaking of which,

chibiusa: can now use hammerspace to store her endless series of magical geegaws and weird animal boyfriends. -- @rasiqra-revulva [Dude, you have got to stop making me snort laugh, it’s RUDE. Pure solid gold, every word, with a special nod to Haruka, MICHIRU, and Minako’s extended tragic cartoon backstory.]

* Usagi - like her name suggests, she is now Bunny. By which I mean she is now a very pink and blonde bunny (somewhere between Bugs and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit), but with super-elastic limbs to accompany her new form. Ami - Magical Science Powers up to and including ‘mix one brightly colored liquid in flask with another brightly colored liquid in flask, explosion, get hammer.’ Rei - An infinite supply of dynamite she can pull out of nowhere. This shouldn’t be as useful as it is. Mako - Literally suplexed a giant metallic youma not just untransformed, but before she has Senshi powers at all. I fully believe she could lift an anvil in canon. Minako - While Usagi looks like a rabbit, Mina now has the supernatural trickster abilities of Bugs Bunny. Implausibly effective bad disguises, persuasion, showing up out of nowhere. Chibs - Now that gun from her first appearance is a real gun, but it shoots anything from normal bullets to pies in the face to live birds. Pluto - The fourth wall is a real and tangible thing. Pluto can not just break it, but control it. If she wants to remove a layer of cel or suddenly turn things into sketch, she can do it. If she wants to teleport, she can skip in the animation. If she wants to suddenly appear as a Roger Rabbit-style cartoon in a live action field, or vice versa? Yeah, she can do that too. She basically uses this power to warp the layers of her cartoonish reality for pastry acquisition. Haruka - You’d think it would be Roadrunner speed. Haruka thinks it will be Roadrunner speed. But no, it isn’t. Space Jam is Looney Tunes, and Haruka’s power is Basketball. Michiru - Another power that’s just canonical: Wealth. Ridiculous, tremendous wealth. Hotaru - The funniest thing for Hotaru to be in a zany cartoon world is Even More Spooky. Nothing changes except the artstyle and a ridiculous supervillain cape. -- Regalli [Pluto, man. Fantastic and brilliant and I legit WANT THIS. Also though, Hotaru with a cape.]

* Usagi gains the ability to eat anything and everything like the Tazmanian Devil, though she shares none of his aggressive personality; Minako enjoys fucking with people by bending reality (you know, diving into painted tunnels and stuff like that); Ami is able to utilize and test unreal technology without harm, like jet boots, massive bombs, tornado seeds, etc.; Mako uses body manipulations to change her size and shape--especially for blocking attacks to protect people or grabbing people (coupled with her immense strength); and Rei is the only one aware of the audience beyond the Fourth Wall... She tries not to talk to them but sometimes she just can't help it, especially when Usagi is getting on her nerves. -- @thehubby [I said pander to me, and you absolutely did. I can’t stop thinking about Rei trying not to make fourth wall eye contact, then just whirling around all “CAN YOU FUCKING BELIEVE THIS SHIT??!?” and as it turns out, that IS precisely what I wanted.]

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I’ll be drawing for the bonus liveblog around the start of THE GIFTENING 2020 (currently looking to be Monday, 11 January 2021). Each bonus question is another chance to earn an entry, so keep those answers coming! I CAN ABSOLUTELY AND SHAMELESSLY BE BOUGHT.

#THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 admin shit #THE GIFTENING 2020 bonus q

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ordinaryschmuck · 4 years ago

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What I thought about every episode of The Owl House Season 1 (Part 1/2)

Salutations random people on the internet who probably won't read this. I am an Ordinary Schmuck. I write stories and reviews and draw comics and cartoons.

Hey, do you miss Gravity Falls?

...

Yeah, I know, dumb question. Which is why I have good news! Not only is there a new series that is just as good as Gravity Falls, but in some ways, it's even better. That new series would be none other than Disney Channel's latest hit: The Owl House.

The Owl House, slowly but surely, became my new obsession since Eda reacted to decapitation with an unconcerned, "I hate when that happens." I wrote fan-fiction, made fan-art, and even began to separately review new episodes. Unfortunately, I got in a little late in the reviewing game and only managed to analyze the last four episodes of season one. And like an idiot, I promised that I'll review the rest when they came out on Disney+. Seeing that all of the first season has finally come on a legal streaming service (which means WATCH IT RIGHT NOW!), it's time I finally saw through to that promise. However, I'm not going to over-analyze each episode because that would be insane. So instead, we're going to lightning round these suckers. Because it's my Tumblr, and I get to decide what I review and how the hell I review it...hooah.

Which means this is your last chance to avoid spoilers if you haven't seen The Owl House yet. Seriously, it's a great show, and you can catch up right now on Disney+. A week-long trial is more than enough time to watch the series, so DO IT! With that out of the way, let's get started with:

“A Lying Witch and a Warden”: This episode gets a lot of flack for having poor pacing and being too preachy with its message. And to that, I say...you're not wrong. Yeah, I wish I could be that person who can defend this episode against criticism like that, but these are understandable problems that just left this icky feeling in my tum-tum when watching. But that's only when looking at it as a regular old episode when in reality, people need to see it as a first episode. The first episode in any show needs to get viewers interested enough to continue watching by answering these five essential questions: What's the plot of the show? What's the tone? Who are the main characters? What's the world they live in? And what are the rules of the same world? "A Lying Witch and a Warden" does a great job of answering all of these questions. And if you stuck around until the season finale, then that means it did a great job of keeping you interested in sticking around as well. So seeing how it got its job done, albeit, with mixed results, I give this episode a B-.

“Witches Before Wizards”: Don't mind me. Just reveling in the fact that Luz escaped to a fantasy world to avoid Reality Check Camp, only to get a reality check anyway. Because that's what this episode is in a nutshell. Through the "quest" that Luz goes on, she learns two important lessons: One, don't trust strangers who offer you something nice and shiny (bonus points for Eda warning Luz to avoid men with sandals and then have Ategast wear sandals). And two, there is no such thing as having a predetermined destiny. I love the idea that Luz coming to the Isles was just a twist of fate, and everything that happens afterward is pure dumb luck. And that moment when Eda gave a speech about making your own path instead of waiting to become something special? That was the moment when I went from thinking this was going to be a fun show to thinking it's going to be a great show. So consider this episode a solid A in my book.

“I Was a Teenage Abomination”: How is it possible for an episode to get better and worse with time? Because here's the thing: This episode does a great job of showing how perfect Amity's development is. After one single season, it already feels jarring, seeing the way she acts in certain scenes. However, in that same respect, it's the same reason why this episode got worse. I didn't mind that Willow practically got away with cheating and vandalizing the school with her magic because she and Luz were basically trying to show up a two-dimensional bully. But knowing what we know in the future, it does seem unfair that Amity gets punished for their bad behavior and Willow got little consequences for it. Sure, Luz got banned and had to work at gaining Amity's trust, but what about Willow? Although, despite this complaint, I don't really hate this episode. It builds a believable connection between Luz and her friends, and the B-plot King and Eda show off their budding friendship. So while this episode is a C-, it's a somewhat enjoyable C-.

“The Intruder”: Is it weird for anyone else that King gets most of the blame in this episode? Yes, he took the potion, but Luz was the one who kept pushing him. This is why it never sat right with me seeing how everyone, including himself, blames King for this episode's incident. That being said, "The Intruder" is fantastic. Eda, as the Owl Beast, is legitimately threatening, and the way the episode treats Eda's curse like a chronic illness is actually kind of sweet. It teaches kids how this is something that just happens to people, and they're not any weaker because of it, as long as they take the right steps. Which is cool, and it's why this is another solid A episode for me. Sure King getting the blame bothers me, but it pales in comparison to everything else “The Intruder” does right.

“Covention”: If you want my personal opinion (obviously, seeing how you're reading this), "Covention" is the perfect episode to show a friend to get them into watching the The Owl House. Everything there is to love about the show is seen in just these twenty-two minutes. Eda being a chaotic good, Luz being a sweet and understanding character, some incredible/natural world-building, an actually decent B-plot, an epic fight scene, great comedy, and, my personal favorite, the building of Luz and Amity's relationship. In fact, this episode has the most quintessential moment between these two, that Dana Terrace herself took charge of making the animatic for it. A scene that is so perfect that you can do an analysis of these few minutes alone...which is what I did. Click here to read it! "Covention" gets an A+ in my book and might possibly be the best episode of the season. Maybe even the series!

“Hooty’s Moving Hassle”: There's not really a lot I can say about this episode. I don't hate it, but I'm not exactly in love with it. The interactions between Luz and her friends are adorable, and there are a few good jokes that kept me laughing. But the story is kind of bland, and I just find Eda's sudden obsession with Hexes Hold'em kind of odd. Especially since a card game is what nearly defeated the "undefeatable" Owl Lady. If it wasn't for the nice reveal of Willow's and Amity's friendship (which comes into play in a far better episode), I'd say that you could skip this one on future rewatches. Because this is a C grade episode that just doesn't grab me as well as others.

“Lost in Language”: Ah, yes. The episode that made dozens of fans jump aboard the Lumity ship...unless you're like me, and you've been shipping these two since the show's theme song (And I don't know why, either. It's just the second I saw Amity my first thought was, "Oh, honey. You're gonna fall in love with the main character, aren't you?" AND I WAS F**KING RIGHT!). But jokes about shipping aside, "Lost in Language" is a fantastic episode. It has a great lesson about how people are more complex than their first impressions (Or to not judge a book by its cover, if you wanna stay on theme). Edric and Emira seem like a chaotic duo who cause mischief all for good fun. But Luz, as well as the audience, learns that Ed and Em are kinda the worst (they get better in future episodes, but still). Then there's Amity, who hasn't had the best first impressions in the last few episodes. We got glimpses of a good person here and there, but for the most part, that's all they were. Glimpses. Then there's this episode, which gives us more than a small look, but some actual insight into who Amity really is. Better yet, who she wants to be. It's something that I appreciate about The Owl House in that it wastes no time in developing Amity's character. So much so that I can forgive this episode for shoehorning a "Two idiots and a baby" plotline that does nothing but add maybe two minutes of padding. So yeah, it's an A+ for sure.

“Once Upon a Swap”: "Ugh! It's the body swap episode! How cliche and-" SHUT UP! Shut your mouth, and listen: Something being cliche does not always make it bad. Only when the cliche fails to tell an entertaining story does it have the right to work as a complaint. "Once Upon a Swap" may have a cliche premise, but it's still an enjoyable story (or stories) with great laughs and even some ok lessons. I can understand if you hate the episode because its premise is something you've seen a dozen times to the point where your sick of it. My most hated story idea is the "Character A saves Character B, and Character B becomes a life slave." If you have seen this story once, you've seen it a thousand times, and it's the same case with a "body swap" episode. But guess what: The Owl House is a kids' show. Kids'. Show. You can complain all you want about predictability, but kids are the type of viewers who will be new to this experience, despite if it's one that is done to death. Which is why this is solid B of an episode if you ask me.

“Something Ventured, Someone Framed”: Can people please stop shipping Gus with Mattholomule? Because that slimy, greasy, weaselly little son of A BASTARD BITCH WEASEL DOES NOT DESERVE LOVE IN WAY POSSIBLE!

...

But enough about how Mattholomule is the worst character ever, because "Something Ventured, Someone Framed" is a B+ in my opinion. Sure it shows the worst side of Gus and lets Satan's little herpe win in the end, but there is still quality to be had. We get insight into who Gus is as a character, on top of Eda swallowing her pride and cleaning the school so Luz can get into Hexide. Also, Eda's permanent record was the first time this show brought me to tears due to laughing so hard. So while I have to take points off for the inclusion of Mattholomule (I don't make the rules. I just live by them), this is still an episode I wouldn't mind revisiting.

“Escape of the Palisman”: I subscribe to this theory that Luz will one day have Eda's staff as her own. And episodes like this that strengthen the bond between Luz and Owlbert help confirm that theory. Luz's dedication to trying to make things right could just be part of her kind nature, but I like to believe that this is Dana and the crew trying to set up this possible outcome. As for what I think about the episode itself...it's ok. Again, Luz's dedication is nice to see, and King's adventure with Owl Beast Eda is somehow insanely adorable, but there's not really much to say other than that. So it's another B episode for me.

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And that’s the end of part one! Part two has probably already been posted by the time you finish this, so you can go ahead and find that if you’re interested.

#the owl house #the owl house review #what i thought about

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dyketectivecomics · 6 years ago

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I’m the anon whose setting the bomb off by asking why season six won’t happen

TL;DR- bc Teen Titans (2003) ended! It wasn’t canceled! It was brought to a conclusion, that fans weren’t super happy with obviously, but it was an ending nonetheless.

I’d really like to encourage everyone in the fandom to read the interviews gathered by TitansTower (2nd half of the page) during the time TT03 actually aired. David Slack, Glen Murakami, & the crew have said over and over again, the original order for the series was for 4 seasons. WB hadn’t expected the popularity of the show to last past that, but it exceeded expectations and by the time season 4 was wrapping up development, they were asked to pen a movie and move forward with development for s5.

They had LOTS of ideas for season 5 too! More side characters they wanted to explore! More depth to get into the Brotherhood’s plot! But unfortunately, when they pitched the idea of a Longer season/more episodes, they were asked to keep it at 13 eps, the usual order. There were Talks about a possible 6th season & the crew started prepping for it and pitching it because, hey! they were passionate abt the show they were working on too! But WB ultimately decided to move onto other projects and guess what? So did the crew! Because that’s just what happens! Things end and you have to accept it and move on. Huh it’s almost like Things Chan-

(The rest under the cut here, is very much getting more into a Rant that veers way off topic (the Bomb is above mostly, the shrapnel is below lmao) & it hasn’t been proofread for errors bc I am, as the kids say, Big Mad. so Beware. You’ve been Warned) (also tagged: long post, in case the cut doesnt work for whatever reason, sorry mobile users RIP)

[[MORE]]

Even IF, for whatever reason, against all logic & reasoning they decided to Greenlight a sixth season, 12 years after this series ENDED. I GUARANTEE fans would find SOMETHING to bitch about every single step of the way. Just look at Young Justice. Much shorter timeframe between s2 and s3 getting picked up and yknow what fans are still doing? Being the Same Old Fans that Fans who Fan will Be.

Misinformation gets spread around every so often too, and I just wanna be really fucking clear: No amount of Toy Sales success/failure had anything to do with the show. No amount of the Demographics they Targeted vs Ones they Hit, had anything to do with the cartoons perceived ‘failure’. Especially considering that, again, they got a movie+5th season that hadn’t originally been planned for. So from that, no amount of fan petitions or campaigns were going to ‘bring it back’ because WB & the crew, again, had moved on to other projects. Because the show, as a production, had reached a natural conclusion.

Now sure, let’s fast forward to 2011/2012? The DC Nation block gets dropped into a SatAM slot. Nostalgia hits Big as, alongside new eps of Green Lantern:TAS & Young Justice, they showcase a plethora of shorts! One of which, is the New Teen Titans, done in that ~*adorable*~ Super-D form but with more or less the same style as the first cartoon.

Fans lose their minds and there’s a resurgence of petitions and letter writing campaigns (ones that I will readily admit to participating in because I was 15 and we all do DUMB things when we’re 15) And through all of this. WB/DC answers our Monkey Paw wish.

But here’s the thing abt the monkeys paw: you’ll get what you wish for, but it’s gonna come with a Big Ass Catch

And that catch, while they gave us the same lineup and same voicecast, they also gave us a comedy-focused & fully super-d/simplified style. And “fans” were Outraged with that.

But here we are again, 7 years later. And there’s a whole generation of fans who have forgotten the mistakes of the past, thinking and hoping against any kind of logic & blinded by nostalgia, that maybe JUST MAYBE. WB will revive a cartoon that ended in Two Thousand and Fucking Seven.

I tutor kids now who weren’t even born by then! The only Titans they know are TTG! And when they tell me they LOVE them, I say “that’s AWESOME dude! Did you know that they’ve got comic books abt them too?”

I tell them about the new generation of TTG! comics, the ones based on the cartoon they grew up with, not the ones I did. I let them know that there’s even more kid & teen heroes beyond the titans. And if they have a certain fav I let them tell me everything they love abt them and I tell them a cool Fact that might encourage them to find out more later!

Some days I HATE TTG, but I will NEVER tell a child that I hate something they love. I saw too much of that when I was growing up and I’ll be damned before I turn around and do the same damn thing to these kids.

Cartoons are a WONDERFUL medium to introduce a new generation of fans to these characters. And we should be encouraging WB to take more chances on bringing more of them to life. Not asking for the same few characters or groups to be redone over and over again.

Give me a Birds of Prey limited series! Give me a Secret Six Adult Oriented action-comedy! Explore that Amethyst short, with all its 80s game tech+magical girl anime aesthetic! Explore more Obscure characters with a quick 5-10 min story! Put a fresh new spin on a golden/silver age storyline (bc lbrhh some of them got WILD)

Just for the love of fuck stop pretending that One cartoon was the absolute Peak of Achievement and is the only thing that deserves to be revived or redone to death. Teen Titans WILL get another cartoon eventually. It’s like Scooby Doo and Batman. Its like Sherlock Holmes or Star Trek. It’s just a little early in its journey but it WILL have another reboot, another reimagining, another chance to shine for an entirely new generation. Everyone will have their preferences.

Just sit down, have a juice box and popcorn and enjoy ur fan servicey nonsense movie that you asked for But Didn’t Ask For, until we get that brand new series again.

TTG is gonna have to end eventually. And when it does, WB will be rubbing their hands together just biding its time until they can reboot the Titans again.

#long post #asked and answered #anonymous asks #randywrites #randyvents #I'm using both tags for archiving/post blocking purposes #(just in case ppl want to block my vents. i Totally Get It ur valid)#but i want y'all to understand its ok to reblog but if you try to Enter a Debate i WILL kneecap u #well. just block really bc I'm not about to Debate this #theres NO DEBATE. the show ENDED. its OVER. we almost had a CHANCE in 2011/2012 but??? is it REALLY any surprise that they took it in a #difference direction when all they had to go off was that the shorts were doing WELL #and that they probably wouldn't have been able to get the exact same crew back together anyways? besides the voice cast at least?#i was PSYCHED when they got amy wolfram to write a few eps of TTG!!! that had be HYPED! but she wasn't brought on as a Regular writer! which #is understandable! she probably had other shows she was working with!#like!!! enjoy the stuff these writers and artists have GONE ON TO DO INSTEAD #theres a lot of the same Spirit of TT there!! its just in something Else instead!

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fullmetalirin · 6 years ago

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Fullmetal Alchemist OG vs. Brotherhood: Reconciliation with Al (OG 23-24, BH 09)

OG stretched this into two episodes, adding its own subplot for the second one.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 23: "Fullmetal Heart"

Ed, recovering from his wounds from the laboratory, is scolded by Ross for almost dying. Needing his automail repaired, Ed calls for Winry to come to Central. When Winry arrives at the train station, Al still contemplates what Barry had told him. After the brothers refuse to tell her about the events, Winry leaves in a fury and is dragged off by Hughes to his daughter's birthday party. Hughes tells her that men tend to hide things so as not to worry anyone. Al decides to confront Ed about what he was afraid to tell him, asking if he was really an artificial soul.

Ross slaps Ed. During her scolding she continues the "you're just a kid" theme, and asks him to trust her more.

Cartoon face when Winry realizes she forgot the screw. Appropriate, given Winry's established character and the fact this is a breather episode.

The military is investigating the laboratory. Hughes says they're explaining it away as Scar's doing.

Some of the prisoners blabbed that they saw Grand. I again have to wonder what Envy was thinking.

Oh, I spot Izumi in a crowd shot!

Hughes is purposefully keeping Mustang out of the loop.

Cartoon skit where Winry tries to convince Ed to take his milk.

Winry admonishes them for not telling her about the danger they're in.

Hughes explicitly says Winry's like a sister to Ed. Ew.

Gracia made a cake for Ed. That's sweet.

Al sulks because Ed brings up a memory he can't remember. If he really was just constructed memories, surely Ed wouldn't point out the holes? Also why would Ed have made so many personal sacrifices for him. He's so stupid to fall for this.

Ed tells Winry everything, and he thinks Al's mad at him because he didn't make the Philosopher's Stone. Ed admonishes himself for not doing it, even when Winry says obviously Al wouldn't want him to. This is shaping Ed into a pretty dark character.

Winry knows what Ed wanted to tell Al but Al cuts her off. This is so contrived.

And now Al is convinced that everyone he's ever known being in on the conspiracy is more plausible than him being real. Seriously?

Al hits Ed so hard it splits his lip.

Ed plans to jump off the building after Al and has to be restrained by Winry.

Fullmetal Alchemist Episode 24: "Bonding Memories"

Al has run away after not receiving an answer from Ed. He soon runs into Scar, who has been hiding among other refugees from Ishbal as they are terrorized by mercenaries posing as the state military soldiers with Barry accompanying them. After being reunited with his brother, Ed and Al reaffirm their existence.

We open with the Ishbalan camp. It's attacked by the military, including Barry. Suddenly he is being portrayed seriously.

An alchemist uses harpoons to make a transmutation circle that sends electricity everywhere.

Ah, Scar actually is badly injured from the 5th laboratory.

After the OP we get an abridged flashback to last episode's ending, which I don't think is necessary.

Pathetic fallacy: it's raining now, when it was a clear sky last episode.

Sloth picks up the call from the soldiers tailing the Ishbalans. Ominous!

Al thinks about how strange it is that Leo wants to forget his memories, because wow, that's the exact opposite of him! This seems unnecessarily waffling, probably added to fill time.

Al calls Ross, so she continues to be the more important one.

Old dude says Ishbalans value blood above all else.

Ah, but when Leo reached out for his mom when the invaders came, she ran away from him. Wow, that's heavy.

Al uses alchemy to cage the soldiers while he's outside the building. How did he know where to aim?

Al is unscathed after a direct hit by a bazooka. How strong is this armor???

Ed makes a wall to protect them, but it doesn't hold up for longer than a few seconds.

Okay, so the harpoons aren't making the glyph, they just make a circle and the glyph magically appears. I don't think that's kosher, but I believe alkahestry can do that in the manga so what is consistency anyway.

Barry dies, having fulfilled his purpose, instead of sticking around for another arc to stalk Riza and make more jokes about how hilarious murder is, because that would be weird.

The locket protects Rick, and breaks open in the process. They find eye medicine that shows their mom was going blind, so she actually thought she was running towards them, not away. That's sweet, if a little contrived.

The alchemist runs back to Sloth, who drowns him with her liquid body while calmly sipping tea. Our first look at her powers, and nicely creepy to boot.

The Elrics see the Ishbalans off. Scar affirms Al's humanity, which is nice of him. Ed just tries to grill him on Ishbal's Philosopher's Stone, to which he does not answer.

I'm not sure how I feel about the resolution to the mom – I'm generally not in favor of "blood is everything" or "one grand gesture makes up for a lifetime of petty abuse" as tropes. They could have easily just had the mom abandon them and have that be the last word. But this is a nice ending, and it's good that the Ishbalans get at least a little happiness here instead of only being used as a prop for the white characters.

And you know, it actually does strike me how much this episode really is about the Ishbalans. Despite ending last episode implying this was going to be about the brothers, Ed is almost completely absent and Al is a leaf in a river. Leo and Rick drive the plot, and Scar is actually the one who defeats the antagonist.

FMA Brotherhood Episode 9: "Created Feelings"

Edward is hospitalized following the incident at the fifth laboratory. Needing his automail repaired, Edward calls for Winry to come to Central. Winry arrives and repairs Edward's arm, adding the small bolt she forgot to insert back in Resembool. Alphonse still contemplates what Barry had told him about being a doll created by Edward. Hughes invites Winry over to his daughter Elicia's birthday party, where she laments that Edward and Alphonse never tell her anything. Hughes tells her that men tend to hide things to avoid worrying anyone. Alphonse then confronts Edward about whether he is really an artificial soul. Edward storms off and Winry yells at Alphonse, telling him that Edward was terrified Alphonse may have blamed him for getting him stuck in the armor. The Elric brothers then fight, with Edward emerging as the victor. They both reminisce about their past fights, reaffirming their existence. Meanwhile, Scar wakes up in the care of Ishvalan refugees.

We finally stop with the alchemy exposition opener.

Still get a recap of the last episode, though.

Cartoon skit where Ed's angry the laboratory was destroyed.

Ross still slaps and scolds Ed, but it's played for comedy before abruptly transitioning into seriousness because what is tone. She also has Brosh play backup. Her speech is pretty similar. Though she gives the same line about trusting adults, she doesn't call Ed a kid.

Comedy skit where Ross worries Ed would penalize her for slapping him because what is tone. We do get the additional information that State Alchemists have the rank of major, though.

Does Ross have a different voice actor in Brotherhood? Her voice sounds a lot higher-pitched and more childish.

Ed calling Winry is more comedic, and he asks her to do a service call instead of her volunteering.

Oh wait, we do get a flashback to Winry finding a missing screw. Did I forget that? It's hard to keep the two continuities straight sometimes.

Comedy when Brosh calls Winry Ed's girlfriend, followed by him tearing his wounds open, I think? He has to go in a wheelchair afterwards.

Ed generally does not seem to be acting like he's injured or in pain at all. In OG he seemed visibly drained.

Al sees a kid with a windup toy and gets sad. I feel like that's a bit too on-the-nose.

Winry complains the train ride was uncomfortable.

Izumi still gets a cameo, walking behind Winry. We see her face so it's a bit more obvious.

Ed needs to be admonished by the peanut gallery before he comforts Winry for blaming herself. Wow, he's a dick.

Same bit with Ed refusing his milk, but it becomes a full-on skit complete with Armstrong barging in.

Ed's the one to bring up Al acting weird.

We see Winry sneaking the screw out of her bag to put it in, which I think is a nice bit of subtle comedy.

Since Al isn't wrecked here, we spend more time on him walking around and doing stuff while he sulks, which feels like filler to me.

Hughes assumed Ed called Winry over so he could bang her and we get comedy about it. Thank you for cutting that, OG.

Hughes drags Winry to his house without telling her it's Elicia's birthday. It seems like the only purpose is to make a joke when Winry is confused.

Winry is enamored by Elicia's cuteness.

Winry is the one who says they're like brothers. Ewwwwwww.

Hughes' pep talk is similar, so the weird gender thing is here too. It's actually worse – he says it's Winry's duty to be receptive to them when they do open up, not that she should be proud she's the one they open up to when they can't keep it together. Maybe that's just different translations, but…

Cartoon skit where Hughes threatens kids to treat his daughter nicely. Not necessary.

Gracia offers to house Winry as long as she's in Central, which is nice of them, and an echo of their offer to the Elrics in episode 1. This is doing a good job of showing they're good people.

Similar thing where Ed jokes he wishes he had Al's body. Al's reaction is much more dramatic, to the point I can't take it seriously. Less is more.

Cartoon when Al makes his accusation. Seriously?

Ed walks out instead of talking to Al, because the idiot ball's getting passed around today.

Cartoon when Winry smacks Al because lol female on male violence is funny.

Winry does get to tell Al, and we even get a full flashback to Ed telling her.

Winry points out the plot hole of why Ed would sacrifice so much for a doll.

Al runs after Ed and Ed fights him. This is stupid. Al points out he should be opening his wounds, but he does not, which is stupider.

Oh, but I see the real point: Ed beats Al for the first time. Because that's what's really important here, the winning.

The reminiscence scene is similar, but Al adds that they fought over who got to marry Winry, and Al won but she shot him down, thus foreshadowing the Edwin romance.

Ed is more aggressive towards Al, asking rhetorical questions about if he really thinks all his desires are fake.

Then Winry agrees with Hughes that the manly way of not needing to talk about feelings works sometimes too.

Flashback to Kimblee in the war before Scar wakes up.

We end with Scar saying he got the arm from his family; I think that's the first time we've heard that in this continuity.

Conclusion

So as you can probably guess, I like OG better. Brotherhood just can't stop the madcap comedy. Every time it attempts to be sad and somber, it falls completely flat. Al has even less reason to believe this or care without the addition of Tucker literally doing exactly what he fears plus his memories fading, and it's all resolved too quickly and neatly. The drama just feels so manufactured: the author was like "WHAT IF THERE WAS TENSION BETWEEN THE BROTHERS WOULDN'T THAT BE COOL", made everyone hold the idiot ball to contrive it into possibility, then it's wrapped up in one episode and we're done. Like Nina, it's not a thing that builds or goes anywhere or matters.

On the flipside, I think this is a rare instance of OG not spending enough time talking about feelings: Ed's confession isn't engaged with or reflected on at all, it just gets the same "of course I don't hate you!" response seen every time this trope appears. If there was ever a time to throw the action to a grinding halt for some navel-gazing, that was it. And I actually did think Brotherhood's flashback felt more vulnerable and genuine than Ed's confession in OG, though the difference wasn't by orders of magnitude.

On representation: OG is better. Brotherhood says the woman will deal with your feelings, then turns around and has her declare that actually toxic masculinity is great. Her only purpose is to be a plot device and cheerleader. OG actually deconstructs toxic masculinity by having Al spiral so bad he doesn't let the woman deal with his feelings, forcing Ed to actually open up instead of fighting it out because he is a MANLY MAN and that is the only language he knows. In OG, their fight is serious and Ed gets seriously injured. In OG, we have the emotional intensity of Ed nearly leaping off a building because he can only think of Al. In OG, we have the genuineness of Ed spending a whole day trying to rescue Al. Actions rather than words, eh? OG continues to be miles ahead of Brotherhood at the "let's talk about our feelings" genre, even when hampered by the source's utterly moronic plot.

And by God it is moronic. I'm trying to think of a way you could fix this plot and I'm not coming up with much. You could maybe go deeper on the Philosopher's Stone thing, with Al seeing Ed's willingness to kill people for it over Al's objections as proof Ed only really cared about fixing himself… That would fit well with the theme of miscommunication, since Ed sees it in the exact opposite way. I could even buy him working himself into a conspiracy that Ed only made him to carry him back to the Rockbells when he was bleeding out, or maybe, what with Tucker and his Nina clones, he thinks since Ed went there with the intent of getting someone back, he decided to make a doll to keep him company when Plan A failed… but ugh, even that doesn't work because he should have made a doll of the person he was actually trying to get back. Maaaybe instead of thinking he was a total fabrication he might think Ed just made the memories instead of getting the real Al's soul, but that wouldn't actually change anything, ultimately. Ed and the audience are still invested in him, so it doesn't matter.

The conspiracy of everyone they've ever known needing to be in on it is just so absolutely ridiculous. It's not impossible to make someone emotionally compromised enough to believe that, but I can't think of what could possibly push Al that far. Ed would have to be treating him completely differently, like not trying to sacrifice himself for Al every five seconds and constantly fussing over him and just generally loving him 24/7. Like seriously, why would Ed give himself up to Scar for a doll? How did Al just conveniently forget that? And that's not even getting into the fact that Winry and Pinako recognized him even in the armor when there is no way the unconscious kid in his arms could have possibly coached them on his grand conspiracy in advance… None of it makes the slightest bit of sense.

#fullmetal alchemist #fma #fullmetal alchemist brotherhood #fma 2003 #liveblog

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scrawnydutchman · 4 years ago

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My Animation Journey: Thomas van Kampen

Hey everyone! It’s been a VERY long time since I updated my blog, huh?

So for this post I thought I would do something a little different. For those who don’t know, I’m a professional animator. I have been for about two years now. I’ve worked on shows like Trailer Park Boys: The Animated Series, Care Bears: Unlock the Magic and Curious George. I’ve also been a part of a few other projects before that like the crowdfunded feature film Dawgtown. Reason I bring all of this up is I figured it might be helpful to some folks if they knew how exactly I got to this position. Nowadays it feels like if you throw a rock you’ll more than likely hit an aspiring professional artist, but for as many as there may be a lot of them aren’t actually sure if they can make it due to a number of doubts. Maybe they can’t afford schooling. Maybe they aren’t in a region where the industry is prominent. Maybe they just don’t know what they have to do to get studio attention. I personally feel that the story of how I broke in to the industry is pretty unique so my hope is that reading it might help many an aspiring artist gain confidence and maybe even fill in the blanks for their own story. So without further ado, let’s start at the beginning.

Part 1: The Beginning

My entire life I’ve always been a storyteller. When I was in elementary school I used to make little comic books out of stapled pieces of printer paper and hand them out to my classmates. In high school I wrote a 100 page fantasy novel and wrote/directed a play in drama class. My grades were never all that good, but I always scored high in art and creative writing projects. Here’s a comedy skit I put together back in high school with my friends (warning: incoming cringe):

youtube

As a testament to my love for storytelling, I thought for a very long time my destiny lied in live action film making. But that didn’t exactly pan out the way I hoped. For one, I was rejected from my nearby institute’s video production course 3 times. For another, I didn’t exactly have all the skills necessary to direct a production involving multiple people. Film proved to be a difficult path for me because I couldn’t work around peoples’ schedules and I couldn’t find the locations I wanted for the types of stories I wanted to tell. Best I could ever do was comedy skits. All this compounded failure left me drifting for a little while after high school.

But then, on my 18th birthday, my dad pulled me aside to give me a proposal. He said that since 18 is such a milestone, he and my mom wanted to do something extra special for my gift. He told me I have two options: I can either get $100 dollars to spend on whatever I want . . . or, if I had something in mind for starting a career, he would spend as high as $800.

Obviously I wanted to take the latter. But I wasn’t sure what to do. Film wasn’t panning out. My mom and dad at the time tried to pressure me into app development and computer coding because they seemed like safe ventures, but I couldn’t entertain something like that. Whatever it is I chose, it had to allow me to tell the stories that I wanted to tell.

Then, it hit me. I suddenly remembered hearing about this animation program called “Toon Boom” back in high school comm tech. So I thought “why don’t I do animation?”. After all, I could already draw. Plus, with animation you don’t have ANY of the limitations of live action. You can create anything you can imagine with animation and you can make everything yourself from the comfort of your room. I knew it was going to be a time consuming thing, but after a bit of soul searching I knew this is what I wanted for myself. So I told my dad about it and he managed to find a student copy of toon boom animate for cheap on Ebay (back when it didn’t go by Harmony). So I got that for my birthday and got to work. I still have my very first cartoon here:

youtube

Oh yeah, it’s awful. I had a VERY rudimentary understanding of how animation worked. I drew everything haphazardly with my mouse. I didn’t know how to use motion tweens all that well so in some places I just copy pasted assets and rotated the drawings slightly. I stole copyrighted music (which miraculously I haven’t been caught for yet). I recorded the dialogue on my phone. Worst of all, I didn’t even know how to properly compress my video. Believe it or not, this took me a month and a half to make.

But you know what? Everyone I knew loved it. My feed blew up and everyone made a point to tell me how funny they thought it was. I remember my dad saying “toon boom seems like a good investment!” Needless to say, the positive reinforcement was very encouraging.

I’m hoping the takeaway here is two things:

1. Knowing what you want in life is a deep, soul searching process, but once you find it, committing to it isn’t all that hard, even if it’s tedious as hell.

2. The best way to get started in anything is to just, well . . . get started. Make something. ANYTHING. even if it’s not that great. For as poorly as this cartoon has aged, it resulted in me getting my very first commission from my brother where he asked me to make a music video for his band. It also resulted in me getting a drawing tablet for Christmas later that year. Even bad content is better than having nothing in your repertoire at all. Try getting your ideas out no matter what.

This boost in confidence eventually resulted in me going for making long form content. I wrote, animated, edited, voice acted and directed TWO episodes of a show featuring the character you see in my very first cartoon. The first episode took me half a year to create and the second took me a WHOLE YEAR. But you know what? I was showing clear signs of improving all the way.

Here are the episodes:

youtube

Part 2: Making connections

So at this point, my motivation to break my way into the arts was in full throttle. I was SURE that animation is what I wanted to do in life. Making little shorts was cool and all, but I still needed to learn how to get professional attention. So there’s a number of things I did:

For starters, I needed to know what employers were looking for when I apply for a job. I remember way back, around the time i was halfway through making episode 2 of the Peacock, I was talking to a friend of my brother’s at his birthday party. I told him I wanted to pursue animation professionally (I believe this was after we were talking about the music video I made for my brother) and he said that he knew a guy in Vancouver who was doing 3D animation. I asked for his name and then later that night looked him up on Facebook. Once I was sure I was talking to the right guy, I wrote him a lengthy message about how much breaking into animation would mean to me. He told me that he was visiting my home town for a little while anyway and he generously donated his time to answer my questions about the industry over coffee. He told me all about demo reels and how I would need to structure it and what kind of knowledge that studios were looking for and all that type of stuff. I was also recommended to talk to another professional in my home town and she told me to get started on a portfolio website. So I took everything they were telling me and started applying it.

my niece told me about this organization in my hometown that she found out about through the grapevine. This place called the “Quickdraw Animation Society”. It was this organization dedicated to helping local artists find their voice and gain the skills necessary to make their own animated films. I thought this was perfect!! College was sort of off the table for me since my dad highly encouraged getting an education at this trade school and he told me he wouldn’t pay for an education that didn’t guarantee a job at the end (and looking back knowing the kind of debt i could have fallen into, I kind of side with him on that one). But Quickdraw was offering animation courses for cheap! Even i could afford it on my part time retail salary! So I took Quickdraw’s classes and used them as a vehicle to start making even more of my own projects.

Here’s just one of several short animations I made while studying under Quickdraw:

youtube

But my involvement with Quickdraw didn’t stop there. I made a point to volunteer for them in their move and their fundraising efforts and their little animation showcases. I made a point to REALLY get involved with their community. That ended up being arguably the most instrumental decision in my career. After a while I got done making my very first Demo Reel. I was ready to start officially applying for jobs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fx5OHGfYz-4

I know this reel doesn’t seem like much, but believe it or not, with the help of the Quickdraw Animation Society, this reel ended up getting me my first two major animation gigs.

The takeaway here is: get involved with a community. Reach out to people. Get yourself out there. Don’t be afraid to ask professionals questions and accept that a lot of this is going to involve relying on the kindness of strangers. Nobody gets anywhere without somebody helping them.

Part 3: Thomas the Freelancer

After I completed my very first demo reel, as fate would have it Quickdraw began emailing me among others about new job opportunities popping up. The first time they informed me of a job post, it was somebody looking for an artist to create animated backgrounds for a stage play performance of “Curious George”. I was among the very first to send my application and this was the very first time I used my demo reel to try and land a job. The next day, their recruiter contacted me on the phone and started with “thank you for including a demo reel instead of putting the illness on me to track down your work like other applicants”. See how important a demo reel is? I ended up creating every background for every scene of that play, which was projected onto the screen behind the performers as they did their thing.

After that, Quickdraw informed me of ANOTHER job post. This time it was a children’s book author in Edmonton looking for an animator to help her win an animated film pitch contest. The winners of this contest would get a grant of $10,000 to create their animated short which would then be featured on Telus’ Storyhive platform. I sent her my demo reel and she brought me on to help put together the assets we needed to make the cut. And guess what? We were among the few who were selected to earn the $10,000. This resulted in me flying for the VERY FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE to Vancouver, where we would attend a workshop detailing the conditions of the contest. I also happened to meet even more animation friends on the plane (they were sitting right across from me and were other winners of the Storyhive competition).

In the following months I would dedicate almost ALL my free time to this short film. I even quit my part time job so i could commit to it full time (a decision my dad was thrilled about, I’m sure). I did all the storyboarding, background design, character design and animation BY MYSELF. If anything in the development cycle was visual related, I was the guy that did it, taking notes from my directors all along the way. In hindsight, I definitely should have asked for more help since the final product has a few flaws, but this is still a milestone achievement in my career.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmTuwIeEoqA

At this point, I had somewhat made a name for myself. I had credentials. I had recommendations from clients. Gerry Mouse would go on to be featured in multiple film festivals: My film festival debut in fact. As you can imagine, my ego was at an all time high. After the film released I updated my demo reel again and felt like I was ready to officially start applying for full time studio work in the industry.

As I would come to find . . . it wouldn’t be that easy.

Part 4: The Dry Spell

Gerry Mouse was the last big success of mine for quite some time. What followed was an entire year of doing ‘freelance work’ . . . .which is a polite way of saying I was mostly unemployed with only a few small gigs inbetween. I was relentlessly applying for studios all over Canada, hoping SOMEBODY would give me the time of day. In some places, a few studios even offered me the chance to do a test . . . but due to circumstances that I’m honestly embarrassed about in retrospect, I either failed them or couldn’t complete them at all. My dad eventually started pressuring me to get any kind of employment I could get my hands on, but even trying to find work in low requirement fields was proving to be fruitless. I was getting depressed, which was compounded on by the fact that I had gone through a hard break up around that time as well. it wasn’t ALL bad though. Around that time I made another short film called “A Lovely Stroll”, which would later be featured in both the Florida Animation Festival AND the Open World Animation Festival (which is kind of like my debut as a writer and director, not just the crews animation lead).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afN2v3pBiqQ

It was also around this time where I got a month long remote gig from a studio in Toronto that was . . . honestly? Best paying gig I ever got to this day. It’s too bad that never amounted to anything bigger. I also started doing a wee bit of animation for Dawgtown too, but that eventually ran dry due to production complications. The bulk of that time was just spent by me being depressed and uncertain about the future, earning what ever money I could with small commissions here and there.

Then, within my endless pushing of applications hoping for any studio in all of Canada to notice me, I happened to send an application to Copernicus Studios in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The human resources department responded to my application saying that they weren’t hiring at the time, but they were gearing up to recruit for something that summer and may contact me again with the opportunity to do a test months down the line.

And that’s exactly what they did.

When I received the animation test from Copernicus, I was more determined than ever. I was going to dedicate as much time as I possibly could to making this test look the best it could be. I remember spending VERY late nights being very paranoid about every little detail and frantically looking up whatever I didn’t know about Toon Boom at the time. After I submitted my test, I was counting down the days for their response.

They got back to me in a reasonable amount of time and asked if I would be interested in a video interview. I was freaking out and wanted to make ABSOLUTELY sure I could impress. I cleaned up as well as I could and made sure to answer all their questions honestly and concisely.

And then . . . they officially offered me a role on the production. You can’t imagine the rush of joy that went through me when I first read that email. After years of grinding and twiddling my thumbs I finally broke my glass ceiling. The idea of a random kid from Alberta breaking into a niche industry like that with no college education was unheard of. They told me in the video interview that the contract was for a Netflix animated adaptation of a classic adult Canadian sitcom. At the time I thought it was going to be Corner Gas. It turned out to be Trailer Park Boys. Once we got the news, I celebrated with all my family and friends and my dad and I planned my move to Halifax; a city on the complete opposite side of the country.

This next bit has nothing to do with the animation stuff, I just think it’s an interesting tidbit to share:

At first, my dad and I were struggling to find a place for me to live in the city. The problem was that my new contract wanted me to start in late May, but every lease of every apartment naturally wants you to start living there the first of the month. But, the biggest stroke of luck in the universe would happen to me. My dad happened to call one apartment’s office and explained to them what my situation was and they said

“funny you should mention that . . .I have two tenants here in my office RIGHT NOW that are looking for somebody to sublease for them and they need to be moved out by May 25th. If Tom subleases for them he can be in there before June no problem.”

WHAT. ARE. THE. CHANCES. OF. THAT??????

My apartment’s previous tenants were super nice too. for a thousand dollars they gave me their double sized bed, their microwave, their working desk, their couch, their vacuum cleaner and a bunch of other things to help me get started. They also went out of their way to get me nice things like a laundry card with $20 on it, a map of Halifax, a cupboard stocked up with insta-noodles, some cheap cutlery and bowls. . . . they went super out of their way to be nice to me on my first move and I’ll never forget that.

At the time I thought a stroke of luck like that was a sign from God that I was pursuing my destiny. To this day I think that still might be true. My takeaway here is don’t give up no matter what. Even if things seem uncertain at times, perseverance and tenacity will pay off in the end.

So with that, I said goodbye to my family and friends and moved to Halifax to begin my adult life as a full time PROFESSIONAL animator. I felt like I could take on anything.

And that . . . wasn’t 100% true.

Part 5: Growing Pains

I was very excited to work on my first studio production in house and it was through this contract that I met some of my closest friends ever. I learned more about toon boom and animation in 3 months than I did in 3 years of freelancing. But it wasn’t all fun and games. In fact, a lot of it was VERY VERY stressful and I ended up making more mistakes than I care to admit. In retrospect it’s easy to forgive myself because that’s just what happens when you’re that green, especially with a journey as unorthodox as mine, but at the time I did NOT take it well at ALL. See, at this point I was 100% motivated to be the best artist I could possibly be. As far as I was concerned not much else in life mattered that much. And that made me toxic. I had a hard time emotionally with taking criticism for my work. I started getting argumentative with my friends. I overworked myself. I tried to have a sense of humor for my problems but the self deprecating jokes only made me feel worse. What followed was nearly 2 years of feeling what the industry pros call “imposter syndrome”. I had it BAD. But luckily, I get by with a little help from my friends. I started opening up about what I was going through and luckily the people around me have been very reassuring about my right to be where I am. But the feelings of inadequacy DID end up leaving a dent in my work at the time and by the time Copernicus was recruiting for another toon boom show, I was not one of the few selected. But there WAS an alternative. They had just opened up some positions for their flash show (which was Care Bears: Unlock the Magic). They gave me the opportunity to do the flash test and I accepted. At the time I didn’t know very much about Flash . . . like, at all . . . but I sat down to learn as much about it as I could in the week that I had and I had done JUST well enough on the test to get myself another contract. From then on I spent nearly a year mastering Flash. Then, I was eventually brought on to Curious George to help on shadows and revisions. Then, shortly after, Copernicus asked me if I’d be interested in doing the builds test. I said yes, learned a bunch of stuff on the fly and got that job too. That’s what I’m doing right now.

The takeaway here is more an important lesson for when you DO make it rather than your journey to that point. When you break into the industry, you’re going to be met with a LOT of challenges. this industry is highly competitive and highly demanding. It’s not enough to be a skilled artist; you also have to have the grit to be a dependable team member. Matter of fact, at a time when my skill wasn’t cutting it, my grit was what helped keep me from washing out. And also, don’t be afraid to try new things. In an industry as volatile as animation being a jack of all trades is a HUGE selling point.

My advice is stay determined and, more importantly . . .try not to let failure get to your heart. keep your head up, allow yourself to heal, and forgive your mistakes. You’re not always going to stick the landing, but that’s okay. If you stick with it, you’ll still come out of that situation with more than when you entered.

Conclusion:

So why did I share all of this? I shared it because I know a lot of young, aspiring artists out there are uncertain about their future. I know you might feel like you can’t do it because you don’t know everything or you don’t have all the right credentials or you might screw things up if you try. I want you to listen to your heart and pursue what you want anyway. If I can make it, you can too. And take pride in the story of your journey. If you succeed, even given your circumstances, your story will be valuable in a way that mine couldn’t possibly be. I know a lot of my success has to deal with inordinate luck and I will forever be grateful for that, but I will always be just as grateful that I had the fortitude for when times were at their toughest. Go out there. Make what you want to make. Do whatever you can to learn the basics even if you can’t go to college. Ask for help. Get as involved with a community as you can. Whatever you start, stick with it. Be patient. Embrace challenge. Take those leaps of faith. Finally . . . forgive yourself for the times that you fail.

To finish off this post, here is a montage representing my animation journey from 2014-2020. Best of luck, all you artists out there

https://www.facebook.com/tom.vankampen/posts/10221173577866185

#animation #2dart #2d animation #toonboom #cartoon #career advice

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stumperpumper · 8 years ago

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What Anime Is Worth Watching This Season?

Hello Anime Internet! Welcome to another exciting passage of StumperPumper, the blog where “opinionated guy watches anime then talks about it.” So that you, the reader, can decide if you want to watch ‘said anime’ or not. This week we’re talking about the current Spring 2017 animes, and which ones in the pack are worth your time. Of course, I’ve reserved on writing this to give these series some time to develop before suggesting them to you, I don’t really believe in recommending after just one episode after all. So this is coming after watching about 4-5 episodes of each anime, so I can say with confidence that each of these animes has the potential to be really good this season. Now, let’s get on with it.

Akashic Records of Bastard Magical Instructor

First, let’s cover some history. Akashic Records of Bastard Magic Instructor was a Japanese light novel series written by Tarō Hitsuji (his only true brain child as of the current date) and illustrated by Kurone Mishima (the same artist behind the original character designs for KonoSuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!), which published into eight volumes (starting back in July of 2014). The manga adaptation, with art by Aosa Tsunemi, began serialization in Monthly Shōnen Ace back in March 26, 2015, and has been collected in two tankōbon volumes. Now, the anime television series adaptation by Liden Films (the people behind both Senyu and, one of my personal favorite short-animes, Sekko Boys) is out, and it premiered in April (2017). The main character Glen is voiced by Sōma Saitō, who recently voiced Adlet Mayer in Rokka no Yūsha back in 2015.

I had to put this anime up first because it’s truly the first one to catch me off guard this season. I went in with really low expectations after watching through Clockwork Planet and KADO: The Right Answer, which were both laughable at best in my opinion. On the one hand, we could blame my low expectations for making me think this animes so good, but I really don’t think that’s the case. What this anime has, that few other animes this season do, is CHARACTER. So far, I’ve seen very few animes demonstrate such capability in forming a great character. Glen, in this anime, certainly fits the bill though, he’s an incredible character thus far and we’ve barely just met. He’s so damned interesting, funny, and even mysterious.

Unlike a lot of animes this one doesn’t just blow its load all over you on episode one. A little problem I’m calling Premature Anime Ejaculation, the symptoms being mainly that ‘said anime’ tries to introduce you to every character, the plot, the world, everything, all in episode one; all while blowing most of their budget to do so. Not only does this more or less not work because it’s overwhelming for the viewer, but it also creates a trend of series drop off where viewers often expect to become disenfranchised after episode one due to a loss in quality. But this anime is steady, episode one does what it’s meant to, and the series shows an obvious awareness that they have 12 episodes (at least) to develop the things the want too. This anime doesn’t rush, but rather strives to tackle things as they need to be addressed.

Overall I think this anime merits watching this season, keep an eye on it. I think it’ll probably shape up to a 7/10 and be the most incredibly average anime of the season. It’s certainly no ERASED or Re: Zero, but I think it’s definitely as good as an anime like Joker Game from last year. I’ll be watching this myself, mostly because I love Glen and ship him hard with some of the other characters. It’s got some decent feels, and I definitely think the way the magic works in the anime is one of the coolest I’ve seen in a while. Watch for sure if you like magic, a bit of a harem, light fan-service, light comedy mixed with well animated action and fight scenes. Story seems to be shaping up nice too, and the soundtracks not too shabby.

My Hero Academia

History time! My Hero Academia is a Japanese superhero manga series written and illustrated by Kōhei Horikoshi (author of another manga titles Oumagadoki Zoo, if you didn’t already know). It has been serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump (the best-selling manga magazine, as well as one of the longest-running, in short “a damn good place to serialize”) since July 2014, and 12 volumes have been collected in tankōbon format. The series has been licensed for English-language release by Viz Media, and began serialization in their weekly digital manga anthology Weekly Shonen Jump (the English version of the magazine above) on February 9, 2015. The manga was adapted into an anime series; the first season aired from April 3 to June 26, 2016, and the second season premiered on April 1, 2017. The anime is directed by Kenji Nagasaki (who also directed No. 6, you’re welcome for that sweet bit of trivia btw), written by Yōsuke Kuroda (the screen-writer for other good animes: Honey and Clover, Highschool of the Dead, and Drifters), and features character designs by Yoshikiko Umakoshi (Mushi-Shi’s Character Designer, and Chief Animation Director) and music composed by Yuki Hayashi (who did music for both Death Parade (2015) a damn fine anime, and Kiznaiver in 2016). On top of that this comes from Studio Bones, one of my favorite studios who also produced an anime you may have heard of… Fullmetal Alchemist, and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood (not to mention MANY other great animes). Essentially this animes got an all-star cast of stuff.

I almost hesitated to even mention this since it’s so damned obvious. My Hero Academia is back, and it’s obviously amazing. If you haven’t heard of this anime already then start watching now! I think it’s likely this will be on my list for anime of the year, because I’m a sucker for superhero shit. Regardless, this is great, the soundtrack is nice too. The animation is stellar. If I had to make a complaint I’d have to throw a fit about the ridiculous amount of flashbacks. I’m talking One Piece levels of flashbacks, like Christ. I get a certain amount of this because this is definitely for all age groups and it’s popular and a LOT of people are watching on simulcast. Which certainly calls for a certain amount of flashbackery to keep everyone on the same page, I’m just saying maybe not as much.

The story is still cool, the massive amount of interesting Quirks is cool, the whole animes cool. I can’t exactly rate this series at all or even project a rating since it’s going for the long haul and probably has many more episodes to come. I think overall what makes this anime work so well is the setting of it all, coupled with really consistent quality animation. We all love the thought of super hero powers, and the variety of them in this show and how the society in the anime addresses it is just plain fun to watch. It feels like the Saturday morning cartoons from my youth. If you like shounens, superheros, action, or just a good ol’ lighthearted anime about a rising underdog then this is for you.

Love Tyrant

A bit of history… Love Tyrant, also known as The Very Lovely Tyrant of Love, is a Japanese comedy manga series by Megane Mihoshi, serialized online since 2012 in Aplix's Comic Meteor website. It has been collected in seven tankōbon volumes. Most notable to me is the screen-writer Natsuko Takahashi (who wrote the screenplay for Bleach), she’s doing good work here. The main protagonist is voiced by Kenshō Ono, who voiced Slaine Troyard in Aldnoah.Zero and more recently Phichit Chulanont in Yuri!!! on Ice. You might notice the history on this is relatively small… That’s mostly due to the series being young and a lot of the people working on it are performing their specific functions for the first time. As such, the history isn’t as long. But this doesn’t detract from how well the whole crew is doing on this anime in the slightest.

I don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this on the blog but I consider myself a sort of connoisseur of quality harems. Frankly even I think the genre is sort of (overall) a lower quality type of anime. Mostly because it often substitutes good plot devices, character development, and delicate setting for male fantasies and petty fan-service tropes. That said, who fucking cares? I like to watch it, I fucking consume this garbage. Love Tyrant is obviously on my watch-list this season, it’s a hilarious harem.

It parodies Deathnote and has a lot of references to other animes that make for a good laugh. Lots of Yandere quality in here too, which is always fun to watch. The plot is actually quite good too, especially considering it’s a harem. Its on the level of The World God Only Knows, in the manner that it has more to offer than typical tropes and fan-service. It’s unique and obvious in it’s sources for inspiration. It’s an honest anime, it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not. They’re very blatant when they do something “tropey” or parody another anime. It makes the anime unique rather than coming off as a copy or whatever. It’s just a good time to watch all around.

In terms of characters there really isn’t much to be had, we’ve got a boy, a Tsundere, a Yandere, etc. Other than titles there’s not much CHARACTER to be had, typical harem. The soundtrack is whatever, the animation quality is sub-par. Overall the pacing seems rushed or otherwise a bit off in my opinion, I personally think Love Tyrant simply lends itself more to the manga medium. I think the pacing just got a bit off when moving from the literary context over to the cinematic context. It happens and isn’t a big deal, just a small gripe. This anime more than makes up for it in quality screen-writing, good voice acting, and a generous helping of comedy and over the top screenplay. I think it’s shaping up to be a solid 6 or 7 out of 10. Watch for sure if you LOVE harems or dating animes, parodies, comedies, or yandere nonsense.

To conclude, that’s it for now. I haven’t had a chance to go through everything for this season yet, and I’ll make sure I post again if I find something I’d like to recommend. If you have any ideas of an anime I should watch, send me a message. OR, just reblog this and write something like “you should watch blahblah.”

Thanks so much for reading, I do appreciate it. But what I’d appreciate more than anything is a bit of feedback. If you liked this post, give it a like or a reblog so I know what you guys are interested in reading. Because it’s the only way I can find out if you readers out there like something; save sending me a personal message which I’d appreciate just as much. Do any of the above, or if you don’t like the content then don’t do anything because that gives me feedback too; on what you guys don’t like, etc.

Naturally, following this blog tells me a lot too. So if you’d like to get more of this content, either when I post it or days later browsing through my Critiques section on my blog, give me a follow so you can do so. Thanks again guys, and take care of yourselves; happy watching!

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seddm · 8 years ago

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Even though this doesn't really match up with anything regarding "Wholesome Week", I would still like to hear your thoughts about a few things that have been on my mind for quite a bit. WARNING! Everything that I want to say will add up to one lengthy post, so I greatly apologize in advance. Alright, here we go! *gaaaaaaaaaaaaaasp*:

Long Ask after the KEEP READING!

1) Seeing loads of people in this fandom speculate how the episode "Starcrushed" is possibly going to involve a lot more shipping war fuel, considering how each of the show's episode titles have been quite literal in their content, what if that's also the case here, and instead the episode involves Star and Ludo having this big magic battle, resulting in Star finally managing to beat him, but not without the cost of both of their wands being crushed beyond normal* repair.

That’s definitely a possibility, since the show is obviously not afraid to change the status quo. Sure, I don’t expect the magical element to be removed from the show, it might be back soon after in season 3, in the form of another wand or a complete control on dipping down or who knows. Doesn’t sound THAT likely, since the wand is iconic to the show, but I wouldn’t discard the possibility either!

2) Considering how S3 will most likely continue and finish up any remaining stuff from S2, if a Season 4 was announced, how would you feel if the show during that time decided to go back to the more light-hearted and comedy based episodes like in S1, but this time taken in much more of a "Slice of Life"-esque direction? Specifically, the kind of "Slice of Life" that's generally used to describe the filler/in-between arc(s) episodes of "Dragon Ball Super".Me personally? I would absolutely love it! These kinds of episodes are not only a great way to bring back some levity after a great deal of heavy episodes, as Dragon Ball Super has shown, they can be used to explore more of the lore of a series (without going full-blown serious mode), explore more about other character's personal lives (perhaps Janna's or Jackie's homelife?), and even give them a chance to be in the spotlight (ex: Yamcha with the baseball ep., and Gohan in EPs 73-74).Oh! And it would also allow to give both the show itself and fans a bit of break from all those heavy episodes during S2 and (again presumably) S3. Because hey, after all that, I think most people would definitely need and enjoy a good break from stuff like that WITHOUT constant hiatuses (hell, it's partly why "Wholesome Week" was created, right? To bring the fanbase out of its angst because of the hiatus after Bon Bon, and give it some much needed levity?).

It’s a personal preference, but I’d rather avoid it: the longer a show goes on, the harder it is for every episode to be meaningful. So far, even more filler episodes such as Fetch or Star vs Echo Creek or Camping Trip, while not progressing the plot and lore at all, gave us important insight about the characters, and pieces for the puzzle that is their characterization. But you can’t introduce a new aspect of Marco’s low self esteem, or Star’s allergy to problems forever. So I’m in the team “Less episodes, more focus”. Note that this doesn’t mean that I want every episode to be about lore, magic and Mewni. There’s a difference between “filler episode that still adds something to the characters and world” and “filler episode that’s not even canon”.

3) Regarding the episode "Just Friends", since a lot of people are Starco fans (including you) and many of those speculate that the episode title possibly refers to a Jarco break-up, if that did happen, what reasoning would you prefer as to why they broke up?

It’s impossible to answer, for me at least, given how little we know about Jackie, and about what her relationship with Marco is going to be in the next episodes. It has to be GOOD, though. Something that either Marco, or Jackie, or both, are going to mature over the course of episodes, not just “You love Star more go to her” or poop like that.

Because a) Either one (or both) realize that they actually see the each other as just friends and not as a couple? Or b) Either one (or both) thinks it'd be better to stick to being friends not because they don't like the other person, but because they just don't feel comfortable being in relationships yet, but once they do, they would totally be fine dating again?Personally, I greatly prefer the second option. Mainly because while the former is the more common, and therefore, expected reasoning, considering that both Marco and Jackie are still 14 years old, the two are still pretty young and at the age where they haven't really fully "matured" yet. Having the two decide that it's probably not the best idea for them to be a couple at that moment and to just stick to being friends, to me, feels much more natural and believable too.Heck, even I've experienced something like that when I was younger, so it's not like I'm pulling this out of thin air. Plus, the former option just feels way too sappy imo, and for the love of god, I do not want to see this show become something of a soap opera.

This is, again, my personal opinion, but I’d hate the second option. While it’s definitely something extremely common in real life, this is a cartoon: I want relationships to be idealized, while still relatable. This “I’m not ready to date you right now but maybe in the future” feels a lot like something long-running tv shows do, to avoid closing any road.

But I agree, too much sappiness would be equally bad. In the end, I trust the writers, and I’d rather wait some more episodes before starting to speculate on it.

#seddm answers #azelf89

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