#opinon piece

[macarthurpark]

accidental pregnancy with fordsie :3

since you've made your way back to gravity falls for the summer, you hadn't stopped looking at the long lost twin of Stanley, the rather reclusive man with streaks of both black and grey in his head and a stoic frown of focus always on his lips.

safe to say, after he'd accidentally pulled you against him due to a reaction between the necklace on your bosom, the bracelets on your wrists, and the metal attracting device in his hand during a day of experimentation in the forest, there wasn't much stopping you both from developing a deeper interest.

ford was somewhat reserved, you weren't-- you liked singing karaoke at greasy's every Friday, and he couldn't be caught dead even attending such an establishment without either his brother or great niece and nephew, and Stanley would have to buy him fries if he wanted his brother to stay longer than ten minutes.

all these differences mattered little when he'd offhandedly mentioned Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons in a conversation with Dipper in front of you. after one game and a passionate screaming match between the two of you that reverberated through the mystery shack's floorboards, it was clear that a match had been made by the gods. even ford found himself unable to let you go from his mind when fall arrived and your lease had run out.

so, after some passive aggressive encouragement from Mabel on her grunkle's behalf, you stayed in your little rental in town. you took up some shifts at the mystery shack (stanley offered, not only for the extra help and lower than legal minimum wage, but also to watch with popcorn as his Sixer would grow red and all eager to discuss his latest discovery with you), and sometimes you even spent the night in his room.

it was all friendly at first, him offering a bed after you two spent the evening after playing Dungeons after his studies; it was nothing more than a sleepover, he'd tell himself! his thoughts couldn't defy the fact that his body burned to even consider sleeping nearby someone nearly a third of his age, as beautiful as you were.

(how he wasn't sheepish by those green shorts he wore to sleep, you had no clue. at least you liked the look of them when he wore them in the mornings, his hair all mussed with sleep and his glasses resting lazy on his nose.)

his bed was a twin size, too small to share between two grown adults, and he'd usually offered to sleep on the floor if you stayed overnight, even as the infatuation between you two grew obvious. No matter how tightly he would hold you close as you cuddled or how hungrily he could kiss you if you accidentally helped him with a discovery, he refused to sleep in his own damned bed, just because you were there.

until one night, he'd gotten the hint when you refused to let him go as he tried to slip away and lay on the floor.

he really got the hint when you straddled him instead of returning the stiff 'goodnight' he gave you.

the poor man's glasses had fogged up as he was fucked into next week by you.

such was the life of ford for the next few months or so, and time even came where he'd felt jealous on the nights you weren't asleep next to him.

one evening came where you weren't with him, for he'd been too busy with his work to chat. it was no big deal, not for you-- you already had felt rather drained, so it would be a peaceful night in for once. you were excited to crack open a beer, and watch some old reruns of the golden girls, anyway.

as soon as you'd flicked off the bottle cap of the beer, your nose wrinkled-- was something in the fridge bad? did a animal shit right outside your damn front door? you sniffed around till you leaned close to the fresh beverage in your hand-- and you gagged violently before dropping the glass in a panic. now there was glass and beer all over your tile!

what the fuck just happened!

you'd thought the beer had somehow went bad with such a vile smell that emanated from it, and you'd plan to give stanley the rest of the twelve pack when you saw him the next day. whether he'd drink it himself or sell it off as some sort of evil potion, you didn't care.

you tried to move on after cleaning up the mess, making some popcorn and finding almost an exact same reaction-- except this time, you did end up puking into the bowl when your senses became overwhelmed with the scent and buttery taste all at once. the better question now showed itself-- what was going on with you? How had you suddenly lost all taste for the things you loved to consume?

Later that evening, you could only seethe as Stan cracked open and drank one of your precious beers with a healthy chug, an echoed belch following you through the hallways to Stanford's office so loudly that you couldn't help but get pissed off. what a waste of perfectly good beer on that old con!

you went to ford about your concerns, even he was confused by such a reaction-- so of course, now you were sitting on his desk as he scrutinized you heavily. you'd given samples of your nail trimmings and had your armpits examined, but you trusted that your eccentric older boyfriend knew what he was doing.

"there's no tautness of skin...hmm... your palate remains the same..." He was busy muttering to himself, ignoring any actual question you made to his low words, and he turned away to look through his drawers again. He paced around from desk to desk in his lab, but Ford was finally returning to stand before you after a few minutes of scrounging.

"it could very well be a leech or some bug from swimming in that putrid lake! If you'll allow me to obtain a full body scan, I'll check to see if all is in order."

With a raise of his hand, you could see Ford had brought out this weird device that looked more like a gun than anything from your perspective. of course you shrieked and tried to dodge the end of it that was pointed at you. "hey, hey hey HEY!"

Pausing with a confused stare, the poor man was more caught off guard than anything as he watched you flail and shriek, but he was resting the object aside as he tried to calm you down.

"heavens above, y/n! its a wireless X-ray gun! it's harmless, it cant even emit radiation! sit down!" his voice boomed, more annoyed that you would think he'd hurt you than being willing to calm your sudden shock. you sat back on the counter, more shaken than annoyed or fearful, and pondering quietly as he pointed the thing first at the top of your head-- he could see the results from his perspective as he scanned over the expanse of your form.

his brows furrowed once he passed over your head, neck and arms to see nothing. he murmured and cursed to himself one more, and you were more interested in how he'd made such a device like the one scanning you now. he slowly guided the gun down your midriff, frustrated that nothing seemed to be showing itself off out of the ordinary.

"I don't understand. Nothing is--" The very moment the machine trailed over your stomach and lower half, his hand paused, and Stanford's eyes got big.

It was small, but the eyes of a scientist like him knew when he was staring at a fetus or not. It was so little, so new, but it was resting serenely inside you.

by the gods, after the last thirty years of trekking dimensions and surviving battles against demons, how did the topic of his own fertility be the last thing on his mind whilst he had been pumping you full of seed almost weekly?

From your perspective, it was humorous to see his glasses slightly dramatize how big his stare became-- you found yourself panicked the longer he remained still and said nothing about what he was very clearly looking at inside you.

"Christ! Do I have an egg or something inside me?! Let me see, Ford!"

"NO! No, no, y-you're fine!" No longer lost in shock, he yanked back the x-ray gun as you reached out for it, more panicked than anything in that moment and already very sensitive about his inventions. Even as he reassured you all was well, the look on Stanford's face didn't seem to appease you. He was shocked at whatever he saw.

"You're not making me feel any better, Ford. Can you let me see the reading?"

"i... it cant capture an image, i-it just exposes what ever is in front of it."

Ford was still being too quiet for you to stand.

"Ford, you're being dramatic! If I'm fine, then what is with this weird silent treatment? What, is there a baby or something?" You try to laugh off his fearful gaze with your ironic statement, but Ford wasn't laughing with you. As a matter of fact, that stunned stare was turning in to something more soft at your words-- more of a puppy dog's pleading gaze.

"You... happen to have a more enlarged uterus than normal?"

you both stare at one another for a long minute. ford isn't uncomfortable with the news discovered by some awry invention of his, but he's watching you closely for any sense of negative response. he's slightly even praying that you'll just smile and give him a hug with the happy news.

you burst into tears, and ford is in panic to start hugging you close once its clear you're in need his support. you hold him close, getting his jacket wet with your tears, finally calming yourself into an unsteady silence that is more familiar to you two both.

You look up at him, and you smile.

Ford smiles back, and he can feel his heart grow so warm he thinks he might start bawling with you at any moment.

"If my assumptions are correct, we've got eight months to have Mabel plan the perfect baby shower."

[supercantaloupe]

if a jew writes or creates something about Current Events specifically through the lens of judaism (particularly religious judaism, not simply cultural judaism) i think that's within their right even if i disagree with what they've written/created. but it makes me really uncomfortable watching it get spread around by goyim

[seishiroed]

giggling to myself thinking about all the straw hats + law carefully picking out their outfits for the onigashima raid. like did penguin have to roll up law’s sleeves on his shirt??? sanji having to do an emergency iron because his shirt is not in supreme condition, and zoro making him do his stuff as well. luffy digging around in the storage of the sunny to find that coat because he hasn’t worn anything that isn’t shorts and a vest in so long.

[hellzfire]

me personally, i just think that the entire yamato gender arguments are completley unecessary

like there are so many different and interesting aspects of yamatos character other than their gender identity that people can argue and have different types of disscussions/opinions about but no you just want to sit here and bash eachothers heads over whether its a boy or a girl because oda made a color spread that if you really think about, has nothing to do with yamatos overall gender identity and was most likely made for profit/fan content

if you actually care that much over a characters gender and/or willing to send death threats to oda or other people over it dni

[boytroutsofamerica]

One day ill learn to see DECIDER or VULTURE or whatever in the link for the photo I want off Google and I WONT click on it so I DONT have to talk myself out of [critical fail] reading the article by like a boring tumblr-turned-twitter user saying shit like "why would I a NORMAL PERSON who is not a EVIL KILLER OR MURDERER ever enjoy this icky yucky disgusting horror movie about people who do bad things????????? It's because I'm depressed" like ok.

I liked it because the performances as Sad Wet Rat and Unhinged Woman were fucking sexy u don't have to moralize enjoying literally everything thats not a story about a 1:1 carbon copy of your life like Jesus christ some people literally never graduated a high school English class

[famouslysleepy]

me @ my sister

i know her sense of self-awareness is below the dirt, but my god she really is that fucking shitty.

[eurydike-on-media]

I've been listening to the If Books Could Kill podcast, and the Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus episode was a really exciting find. Maybe exciting isn't the best word for it, but it's the closest. For one, I could now know what the book is about without wasting my time reading it which brings me to point two, I can now feel very grateful towards my laziness for never following up on my aunt's recommendation to read it when I was still a teenager.

Over time I intend to comment plenty more in much more detail on feminism, but for now, let me lightly address this book based on the podcast's summary and quotes. A book like this can be very damaging if someone is already in a vulnerable position. To be told that you are simply asking for help from your partner in the wrong way as a justification for why your partner is willfully ignorant and uses weaponized incompetence can be harmful. You are in essence asking for someone, namely married women in the context of the book, to remain in positions of subservience and potentially domestic abuse. By implying that marriage is a hierarchy rather than a partnership, the author asks that the misogynistic and controlling roots of marriage be upheld.

We live in an era where we are beginning to more widely accept the unpaid labor women participate in. A husband is not helping out his wife by looking after their children, he is being a responsible parent. Not every act in the home from a husband must be a show of love, some acts are chores that must be done one way or another and they should be shared, such as emptying the dishwasher or changing the baby's diaper. This book asks for women to place further pressure on themselves to make the life of their husbands easier, never once questioning whether these men may need a lifestyle change instead. To ask women to remain in relationships, to carve themselves out to fit into the mold of these relationships, is harmful.

To return to point two, I am glad I hadn't read this when I was younger and more impressionable. I am glad that I hadn't read this book at a time that may have lead me down a path of belittlement and subservience. We are not half-people meant to complete each other, but entire beings who should be willing to complement each other.

Sadly, as I grow older, I question my aunt. What kind of person is she if she read this book and whole-heartedly recommended it to a self-conscious teenage girl? How can I mend the gap that is growing between us as I learn that the woman she is doesn't align with the woman I thought I was looking up to? My aunt was such a powerful figure in my childhood, a whirlwind always pursuing something new and exciting. In my adulthood where I can see her more as a peer, I find that she is not as progressive and decisive as she once was, as I once perceived her. Today, I find it hard to bond with her as she sits on her couch binging romantic dramas and cooing over men speaking lines with sexist undertones and silencing the female lead with a kiss.

[aahsoka]

this is so…….. your son didn’t even study in the US?? would he have even been part of the conversation around loan forgiveness if he had debt???

What did he study because it seems like while some international students have to pay tuition, there are exceptions where their education can also be state funded? You think loan forgiveness is bad for people who are ‘lazy’ or whatever but ur son went to school in a country that has state funded education??? lol. lmfao even. Even if he didn’t have his tuition paid by the state I’m sure it was cheaper BECAUSE of state funding.

Maybe. Think about this for a second. You shouldnt have had to work your body to the point of needing THREE SPINAL SURGERIES so that your son could afford college. Maybe it would have been OK if he had some debt and you didn’t now experience chronic pain. Do you have medical debts? Because I want you to think about how unavoidable debt is as a USAmerican because of the very attitude you have.

Pretty sure my parents also poured their heart and souls into supporting our family but that didn’t mean they were able to help me pay for tuition because that shits fucking expensive? I have had a job the entire time I’ve been in college! It hasn’t made it any easier to afford!

How do you know that these other people haven’t face the same level of sacrifice? How are we supposed to gauge the appropriate amount of sacrifice necessary?

And you’re ok with your tax dollars going to whatever it goes to now or ? I actually do want MY tax dollars to be used to help people.

you are not ‘starting a conversation’ you are stalling it at the exact same place it’s always stopped !

then swallow it bitch

[my-rewrite-academia]

New Blog!

Hi. This is @harukamitsuki speaking.

So... I decided to make a blog specifically for rewriting MHA.

It's been on my mind for a while now, ever since I started ranting a whole lot about My Hero's shortcomings, and since I my post about Kurogiri and Shigaraki abandoning AfO.

I will absolutely tone down any bashing of characters, such as Bakugou, Aizawa, and Shinsou. I will still be critical, but I won't declare them as unredeemable pieces of shits, and all that jazz.

First and foremost: this is not canon compliant. It will change before canon, though not by much. (Basically giving Izuku's dream of being a quirkless hero some ground.)

The timeline will be stretched out further, with the final arc being in Izuku's third year, rather than in the first. It always bothered me how fast everything was happening, to the point that we rarely ever see the characters getting any sort of down time.

There will be no bashing of characters, with the uncertain execption of Endeavour as I'm not sure if I want to redeem him or not.

As for rules for this blog...

1 - Asks regarding opinons of certain characters are not allowed. Instead, please send them to my main blog, @harukamitsuki

2 - Asks should be pertaining to this blog specifically. Any asks not related to the rewrite will be deleted and ignored.

3 - I do not want to see asks demanding that I do this or that. If I see them, they will be promptly ignored and deleted. Asking if I will be doing this or that is perfectly fine.

4 - If I decide to implement romance, it will be my decision, and mine alone. Feel free to interpret different relationships however you want, but if I include any shipping, it will be my decision alone.

5 - This will be going arc by arc, so please don't ask about arcs that come into play much later on. I will be focusing on only one arc, and maybe setting up foreshadowing for later ones.

6 - Bakugou, Aizawa, Shinsou, and Endeavour stans will not enjoy this blog, so if you are any of them, I suggest that you do not read and/or interact. Just keep scrolling man

[goldenheart-supremacy]

WHERE is the Ambrosimp post I need it

Haha, literally the movie but lemme fix something up for ya.

Before making an official opinon about Ballister, Ambrosius already knew he was going to back him up because he hated bullies to the core. After getting to know Ballister... Well...

The lamentations of the "Ambrosimp/Simprosius" (<- because ongoing poll) complex...

Ambrosius won't let shit-talking about Ballister slip by without giving it a piece of his mind. It doesn't matter if it's as trivial as 'his clothes are cheap' or as major as 'he doesn't deserve to be here.' Talk shit? Get hit.

"Small shit or big shit! Doesn't matter, both needs sweeping away!"

Some of the instructors didn't care for Ballister much either, but they enforced the 'no bullying' as much as they can because 'Fuck, if we get Gloreth's descendant expelled because he won't stop beating up the other trainees, that's gonna bite us back in the ass someday'

Minors beware a bit beyond this point. But it's only slightly, nothing explicit.

Flash forward. Ambrosius loves every inch of Ballister. Foreplay takes too long with him because he wants Ballister to know how much he adores every inch and he remembers each scar Ballister got from their training years and practice mission simulations.

Ballister doesn't mind. He does tell Ambrosius if he's getting impatient though.

Post-movie, Ambrosius makes sure Ballister knows he loves his prosthetic too. He doesn't consider it 'not part of him', whether it's attached or unattached.

He makes sure to kisses the prosthetic hand first, before kissing the other.

Ballister eats anything, growing up in the streets would never make him picky about food. Doesn't mean Ambrosius doesn't move heaven and earth to make sure he eats only the best. Even if all Ballister wanted at the moment was a piece of gum, just so his mouth was doing something while working on a project.

Sometimes, Ambrosius gives Ballister's mouth something else to chew on though. (Nimona has to leave the room for that. Not because she's a minor, but just because "ugh not this again")

Ambrosius is caught between a rock and a hard place when it comes to people talking shit about Ballister or praising Ballister (especially after the movie).

Ballister sucks. "YOU WANNA SAY THAT TO MY FACE AGAIN?"

Ballister is so amazing! "Yeah, AND AMAZINGLY MINE! Off limits, got it? You can look, but you can NEVER touch!"

That's all I got for now.

[tokuxsenshi]

Sentai Body Swap Episodes rank

Okay so I finally done I watched all the body swap episodes. My favorite trope in all media so im an expert so this is the true ranking of them anyone else opinon is WRONG. (Also sorry so bad at words)

King-Ohger Episode 28. Shuffle kings

this THIS RIGHT HERE is a MASTER PIECE OF BODY SWAP EPISODES full team no voice swaps and FULL of chaos. I love everything about it. I love that Gira Jeremy Hymeno and Kaguragi learned a lesson and Yanma and Rita just want to kill eachother. 100/10 episode ART in its purist form.

2. GOGO V Episode 37. The Beauty is a Saima Beast!?

I'm honestly very surprised that I loved this episode as much as I do like I don't even remember it from watching Gogo I remember the season being very serious but honestly forgot how funny it could be. I love that this monster didnt even plan to do body swap and him going on the marriage interveiw and acting all weird but the fact he did that in Tsugumi body and the parents didnt react make me think shes just like that normally. Tsugumi is such a girl boss as well true QUEEN. 10/10 episode

3. Magiranger Episode 39. Inverse Brother and Sister and Episode 40. The Gorgon's Garden

Honestly though this was gonna be my number 1 when I started this episode was one my favorites when I watched Magiranger (despite forgoring its a 2 parter) though RIP to Houka 15 man harem. And Kai sick burning his sister. this some great mid 2000s sentai. though it being a 2 parter kinda un imporant it could been done in one so the episode be counted as 1 and together their a 10/10

4. Gokaiger Episode 27. An Unusual Gokai Change.

This another one I forgor but its a great episode and choosing Doc an Luca for it was perfect. some great sentai body swap shannies in it with doc running around from guys who think want to attack luka and being scared to hurt her body pure boi. 10/10 love Gokai so much

5. Go-Onger Episode 12. Sosuke Banki!?

I just love Go on its one my favorite seasons and this episode some the best of how wacky this season is. even with a voice swap I actually genially love this episode. and the fact the monster couldnt even spend 10 mintunes with the team because their just to insane that they couldnt even tell that Sosuke was switched. only one bad thing its set before miu so for no miu I have to give it - 100 points so its a -90/10

6. Abaranger Episode 27. AbaRed is AbareBlue

Another favorite season and this episode is not a low point honestly love that most of it just Yukito trying to be a dad and failing like dont let this man take care of kids again. like I think the only thing that bring this episode down is the voice swap again. 10/10 episode

7. Lupat Episode 16.Because You're A Friend

Another BANGER. Choosing Touma to be the body swap for this as AMAZING dont think the comedy could been better with anyone else. and the fact the Patoranger saw the monster in Touma body and basically though he some kind of play boy peek comedy. and the way they trick the monster to switch back really good. 10/10

8.Zenkaiger Episode 32. kai! Sakasama Gets Angry! Is That a Monkey?

I want to start with that the sub I watched the name the epiosde was freaky friday or is it monkey monday and like THAT WHAT IT SHOULD BE! this episode pretty alright I like Kaito running around Tojitendo Palace and completely failing at pretending to be stacy loud boy in quite boy body peek comedy. also love we get t see Flint do the Twokaizer dance even if its a body swap. 10/10 Episode

9. Dekaranger Episode 19. Fake Blue

Alright this where my real opinion shine. I LOVE Dekarangr its one my top 10 seasons BUT this episode where it was good... WAS SO BORING compared to what I was watching like I like the epiosde but for what I was making thi slist for its just not that good. 6/10

10. Toqger Episode. 21. The Runaway Bride

Another season I love but this episode so MEH. like honestly this did not have to have the boys body swap it just seemed really unessary and didnt really effect anything. The Gritta stuff was really sweet though I always felt bad for her in the show she deserved better. 5/10

11. Kyoryuger Episode 37. Revenge! The Ghost Deboth Army

Honestly this episode so boring I could barely pay attention like this one 100% did NOT need to be a body swap epiosode like did that even effect anything. 4/10

12. Fiveman Episode 36. Super Twin Strategy

I wont really reveiw this one like I did watch it and its alright but I've never seen Fiveman so I feel like maybe when I do eventually watch it i'll have an actual opinon ?/10

13. Kiramager Episode 19. Partner

I'll start with saying the Juru and Fire stuff this episode ADORABLE I love that... but I CAN NEVER purely enjoy this episode because MACH IN IT IS FUCKING DIGUSTING. like the fact whoever wrote this thogh that was comedy A SHAME makes sense the same guy who wrote episode 11 of Lupat the worse epiosde of ANY sentai I hate this episode it makes me so uncomfortable even thinkig about it. fuck mach. -1000000000000000000000000000/10

an now here at the end I'll talk about my FAVORITE swap episode and episode in general that I just couldnt rank with this since I dont 100% think it counts but I love it so we talking about it.

Shinkenger Episode 27, Switched Lives

I LOVE this episode its so funny and crazy. like taking the switch body trope but with furniture is so good. and the fact Genta turned into sushi and was almost eaten actually turned into an epiosde where he couldnt morph because he was to scared is so funny. and also Ryuunosuke the show punching bag of course gotta turn into little piss baby statue since thats what he is. this episode just great like honestly this one I feel like you can watch without even seeing the rest of shinkenger (Though why would you its the BEST SEASON) and the fact its a Chaiki and Kotaha episode just makes it even better. 10000000000000/10

[rowanwritestoomuch]

An Introduction to Small World Theory

aka my favorite theory to write with

I don't see this one talked about often, and I don't even know if its a real theory for literature or just something my mentor shared with us, but I am going to introduce you to it now if you have not considered it before.

Many books begin with two characters meeting for the first time. Often plot points, especially in romance, include meeting each other's extended social groups, friends and relatives, all of whom do not know the other party to any extent so they are forming opinons of each other for the first time.

But there are lots of pieces of media that work *because* the characters all know one another from the start, in a variety of ways. Consider the primarily comedic How I Met Your Mother or Friends. Often when a new character is introduced, the conflict or rising action of their introduction is pointing out their connection to another character where in the introducer did not know that the introducee knew an adjacent member of the party. This is a very direct way to use Small World Theory and is the most common.

But my mentor taught us a more subtle way, and it is my absolute favorite--- the indirect method. Consider this; in the place you live, you are only ever 3 people away from someone you know, whether its a friend or your doctor or a worker at the gas station you frequent. When you travel to a place you don't live (within your country/state of origin), you are generally still only about 7-10 people away from someone you know, potentially even less. Often these connections are not something we think about or even know about one another; a mutual friend who is important to one party but simple an acquaintance to the other can still make for compelling conflict if one is wronged by the other and the middle person has to consider which relationship is more important to them-- or they find out that this conflict exists, and it changes their perspective on one party.

The connection can be even more subtle than that. You can reveal a lie by indicating that one party seems familiar or alluring to another party, and then later explain to the reader that the liar seemed familiar because the pov character caught them in the lie BEFORE they knew who they were, witness-of-the-crime style, but this can be used for anything not just real crime. See, we observe other people's lives every day and barely notice, until something sticks out to us when we gain information we didn't have before. Perhaps the liar suggests they had a good relationship with an ex lover, but the MC witnessed the liar and their ex in an altercation outside a restraunt weeks before, only now realizing these two situations are connected.

Even further than that, you can give your characters a mutual motivation or development. Have one be taught by an influential teacher who later moves after the character has graduated and is again an influential figure for another character, giving them an intertwined sense of morality, or perhaps an inverse form because they were influenced by this character at different points in their lives. More options; you could make two characters familiar with one another in a way that the other characters don't immediately understand, to the point where it becomes almost bothersome, and they have to confront their nagging interest with a conversation, only to find out these characters they thought were just friends are actually blood relatives or co-workers, or even dating without anyone realizing.

These are all ways we can realistically create connections through individual characters in subtle ways, which is the meat of our theory, but what is the meal? What is the big picture? Make them all connected.

If Character A is connected to Character B then Character B must be connected to Character C who is connected to Character D and Character D connects back around to Character A. That is the 3-person adjancy we see in our real world. For maximum effect, rather than making these connections unique between each individual pair, instead have them all connected in different ways to a fifth Character E. If Character E is the ex lover of Character A, but also the co-worker of Character B, the acquaintance of Character C and the current lover of Character D, then you have motivational connections between all of these people around the same topic. If the conflict is that Character D and Character A are at odds, then Character B might be on the side of Character D due to their bond with their coworker, or they could be on Character A's side because they can't stand their co-worker. Character C might be annoyed that they're dragged into a situation about someone they barely know, or they could be a drama-hound who loves to eat up the details of other people's lives. Character B could be a gossip, Character D could be in an unwittingly abusive relationship, Character A could be an empowered victim, Character C could be an unbiased observer. All dancing around the same central point; how did Character E affect us?

Small World Theory explores the intimate connections that we have with other humans, even when we don't realize it. It helps us craft backstories for our characters that take place moment by moment, instead of years or decades at a time of doing the same thing. It begs the question; who do they know that's off screen and how would knowing that person affect the story? How can we make characters have rich, intriguing and complex lives without showing the reader every moment, every acquaintance, and without beating them in the head with exposition? Through connection. You don't even have to fully explain any of these connections, but knowing they're there can really change how you view your plot, your character's motivations and their personalities.

Always remember, write because it hurts if you don't.

til next time

[tomwambsmilk]

the martin scorsese vs marvel thing is hilarious bc sooo many people read his initial comments but very few actually read his followup piece. and the thing about his followup piece is. ummmmm it actually kind of sucks. the whole followup is just him going 'marvel movies suck bc they lack auteurs with singular unifying visions' which is actually Incorrect. pretty Bad and Wrong as far as opinons go, unfortunately. but people only read the 'marvel bad' part of the conversation so whenever they bring it up they always say things like 'I think what he meant by that is the creative bankruptcy caused by the profit motive - ' and no thats actually not what he meant. I wish that's what he meant bc then he would have been correct but unfortunately we KNOW what he meant bc he told us. and what he meant was marvel movies suck bc they dont have one really smart brilliant creative genius guy (like me) at the helm. sorry.

[beanghostprincess]

tbh I don't really like shipping that much (aroace might do that to a bitch) as in like. i mostly just don't ship characters romantically. but i LOVE to observe and pick apart their dynamics and acknowledge the deep deep love they have for each other (and yes sometimes i will in fact be like "these bitches gay and that's just a fact" but mostly i just observe their relationships without trying to label them) but i LOVE SO MUCH your ship posts i really think you have very good takes and while i may not label some things as you do i love your headcanons and generally just like. what you say abt one piece relationships :))))) gràcies per les bones opinions lol costa trobar-les a vegades

AWWW THANK YOU!!!!!!! I am aroaspec too and I kind of get what you mean because even though I love romance in fiction (as you can definitely tell) a lot of my ships are based on queerplatonicism rather than romantic love (Zolu my beloved. Or anything with Luffy, really) and I sometimes don't get some ships that most people like because they're just too... Classical romantic types? Idk how to explain it. I guess I just look for very specific things in ships that fit my extremely poetic way of defining love and turns out that most of the time isn't even normative love.

And that is so so so sweet, thank you <33 I really try to analyze characters and portray them accurately! So I'm really happy you appreciate my takes!!!!!

Nono, gràcies a tu. És genial trobar a persones que comparteixen/l'interessin les meves opinons!!!

[popculturebuffet]

Disney 100th Birthday Special: Top 12 Disney Television Animation Shows

Happy Birthday all you happy people! And it's a very special birthday as it's the 100th anniversary of a company that, while I routinely mock on a regular basis for impaling themselves about a dozen time a year, has brought me a lot of joy. It was a 100 years ago that the wonderful world of disney began and 100 years later it's still bringing us some of the finest and funnest animation around and will likely continue for a hundred more as they create a whole disney planet serving up mickey shaped foods for all time around a disney owned star.

So before we can look forward to happiest dystopian future off earth, I thought hard about what I wanted to do for the 100th. I've covered disney a LOT on this blog: season 3 of ducktales AND the arcs for the two seasons before that, seasons 2 and 3 of both amphibia and owl house, classics like the Lion King and A Goofy Movie, a whole year worth of house of mouse reviews, shorts, various comics great and donald being pro illteracy.. the list could go on for an entire article itself.

So while I had PLENTY of options, from a shorts marathon to another movie, I decided the best way to honor this occasion was by focusing on a portion of disney near and dear to my heart: Disney TV Animation.

Way Way Back in the 1980s, DisneyTVA was formed by fresh faced executive overlord Michael Eisner. Eisner was looking to expand his new empire, and found a clever way to do it. See at the time while there were certainly good cartoons, most had the budget of a paper clip and a piece of string. It's why Disney took this long to get into the game: Walt thought he just coudln't get the quality needed on a tv budget and while he WANTED to at some point, he passed before that could happen.

Many laughed at this decision, citing it as a huge money sink waiting to happen.

Yeah critics not taking animation or kids watching it seriously isn't new and assuming they'll just watch anything is laughable. Yes low budget shows like Transformers got plenty of views... but transformers also put in high quality voice actors and intriguging designs. Take both of those and make the animation bouncier, and kids would notice.

And they did: The first Disney TVA show, Gummi Bears, was a massive success, leading to the planet sized one that was Ducktales and a whole legacy of classic shows.

There is a double edged sword here though: While most of these shows are high quality and well loved.. Disney tends to.. ignore they exist. They don't make merch, think adult and teenage fans aren't a think, and when it comes to merch don't usually tend to make it for these shows during or after their runs. There are exceptions and they are reviving stuff.. but disney has a bad habit to prefer cashing in on nostalgia than on what they have now unless it fits their narrow perameters

For me though.. Disney TVA is home to some of the best, most game changing shows in the medium. From shows I grew up with to shows that sadly just ended, Disney has made a ton of shows permeanntly embded in my heart. My doctor says I should get that removed but what does he know. At this studio are creators who are passionate, create unique works, and work very hard to stand out. Even when shows get slapped with the dreaded 2 season limits, they still stick in our hearts not just because of that nostlaagia pop disney wants, but because they were just that good and still hold up into adulthood. I've covered a lot of this library, owe my career to these shows and will never sotp being impressed by them.

So out of the 42 i've seen I whittled it down by 30 which was way harder than it sounded down to the very best. A few shows like Gargoyles I sadly just.. hadn't watched, so if something's missing it was either that or a very hard cut. Whlie the top 8 was shockingly easy, it was hard to narrow this list down to the very best. I'd also like to point out that this is my opinon: feel free to send me your own lists, i'd be curious to see how your own personal experinces shaped yours. But for now this is mine... and this is my top 12 best disney telvision animation shows.

12. The Weekenders Created by Doug Landale 2000-2004 4 Seasons, 76 episodes

Our #12 is a childhood faviorite of mine.. and also one of the two shows your most likely to hear me bitch about disney+ not having. IT'S BEEN ALMOST 4 YEARS.

But bitch complaning about disney being disney aside, the Weekenders is a charming classic that needs more eyes on it and it's weird I haven't covered frankly.

At any rate Weekenders is a slice of life show with a good yet simple hook: it follows 4 middle schoolers, Tino, Carver, Lor and Tish, as through their weekends from Friday after school to monday morning. It allows for the show to do pretty much whatever it wants, and what it wants is to be a fairly lowkey slice of life show. The only really zany element that I can remember, or that I saw in ToonrfiqTariq's excellent retrospective of the series, which you can find here, is main character Tino, a sarcastic but kind guy played by voice acting royalty James Marsden, talking to the audience zack morris style, which is really just a neat way to move things along so it's not that obtrusive. I highly recommend that retrospective by the way. Tariq is awesome and it helped jog my memory on the show.

The series is a fairly low stakes affair: our heroes have a fairly typical problem, they talk it out or deal with it as the weekend goes on, and at least once an episode they go for pizza at an ever changing pizza restraunt with a fun new gimmick each episode, something I loved already as a kid but love even more NOW as an adult knowing that gag was likely a LOT to do. Keep in mind they had to draw new backgrounds, exteriors, and a new costume for the guy running it every time. It's the kind of joke you think a series would've given up on for those reasons but nope, every episode has one.

Weekenders is a throughly charming slice of life show, helped by it's characters: In addition to tino we have the egotistical Carver (Phil LaMarr) thickheaded jock Lor (Grey DeLise) and immigrant nerd and vegtarian Tish. While the four coudl've easily fallen into their sterotypes there's just enough depth to the cast to make them work. Tish in paticular was my faviorite, not only being one of the first immigrant stories in a show I saw that was largely respectful and not just

It's a great show I genuinely wish I had more to say about. Find it somehow if you can, it's entirely worth it.

11. Phineas and Ferb Created By Dan Povmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2007-2015, 20XX- 129 Episodes, 2 Movies, Upcoming Revival

At a time when kids animation wasn't in the best place, Phineas and Ferb was the smash hit we all badly needed. Done by vetran creators and Rocko's Modern Life Alums, Phineas and Ferb was a fun, creative show about two boys who simply wanted to make the best out of summer... and happened to be child progidys only limited by their immgination, so they could do anything and the utterly catchy theme song helpfully outlined it. Having only watched the first three or four seasons, I still don't know if they ever found Frankensteins' Brain. It was over there.

While the a-plots with the boys were great most of the time and had a great supporting cast: Helpful scout Isabella, shrill voiced nerd Baljeet and bully turned buddy Buford, the real draw for most of us was the b-plot: each episode the boys Platapus Perry would sneak out, don a fedora and foil the plots of his arch enemy and best buddy Heinz Doofenschmirtz, an awkward mad scientest who rather than therapy decides to deal with the many, MANY traumas in his life by building various inators and talking to Perry. Their shenanigans inevitibly undo whatever our heroes did in time for their mom to never notice and just think their sister Candance needs help as she tries to bust them.

The show mostly used this loop for it's lengthy run, ocasionally mixing up the setting by visiting the kids grandparents or with a special, but it mostly went like this. This started as the shows strength as the repitition allowed them to REALLY play with the formula: lampshade it, subvert it, and play with it. Sometimes Perry would go to foil doof but it ended up being something benign like Doof trying to do a party for his Daughter or go on a date. Sometimes the boys would genuinely be trying to help Candance or she'd have her own concerns outside of bustin making her feel good. The show packed this with tons of lampshade hanging, catchy songs (after an early one made the network want it once an episode), and genuine heart. It's hard not to root for Phineas and his optimism and genuine cheer. Depsite "driving our sister insane" being a main lyric.. the kid has nothing but love in his heart for his sister and that simple goal of just wanting to do something fun or help someone each day makes this one of the sweeetest shows around.

So your probably wondering why it's so low. And it's really simple: it's constant status quo.. kind of wore it out for me. After a while there was no real reason for Linda NOT to know the boys were doing this. We never got any indication she'd care beyond "Maybe wear a helmet" or "Have candace watch you", neither of which would really STOP what they do every day. While Across the Universe was a great movie it having a MASSIVE snapback at the end is what eventually got me out of the show. It was hard to invest when the show wasn't willing to really change anything. In hindsight I do get some shows just function better as status quo shows and my bitterness has lessened and it's why this show ended up making the list: it's status quo could be frustrating.. but no one had more fun playing with it at the time than these two kids. And the hunchbacked old man what fights/is common lawed married to their platypus.

10. American Dragon: Jake Long Created by Jeff Goode Developed by Eddie Guzelian and Matt Negrete 2005-2007 2 Seasons, 52 Episodes AmDrag was part of the teen superhero boom on kids shows in the 2000's. Classics like Danny Phantom, My Life as a Teenage Robot, El Tigre and more came about at this time, with disney only dipping it's toes in twice with this show and another we'll get to soon enough.

That said.. American Dragon is an excellent show, mostly down to it's core: The show follows the titular Jake Long, a guy who on surface, from rapping part of his theme to his frosted tips to his skateboard comes off very much like an energy drink came to life and starred in it's own show. Which given the 2000's i'm very suprised never happened. But jake is somehow likeable.. he's a bit arrogant sure, but his arrogance is only in his skill: He genuinely does try his best as protector of new york, cares about his friends and cares heavily about his crush Rose. He's got a heart to him beneath the layers of axe body spray and Dante Basco's standout performance, what would easily have been his defining role as a VA had avatar not come along soon after, helps make this guy feel human.

What also helps boost it's show is it's myth arc. Like Danny Phantom a year before it, AM Drag breaks from the style of the time to have a dedicated arc and continuity. There's plenty of monster of the week stuff, some better (like the oracle twins, easily my faviorite side characters , who also have the fun gimmick of one being super cheery yet predicting horrible things and the other being jaded but seeing only good, with their powers being why (If you see every good thing that you'll ever get it makes it hard to enjoy them and if you see every possible horrible thing that happens to you, it makes the other stuff easier to swallow), some worse, and that can be a weaker part of the show.

But it's core arcs are what make the show it's most intresting. For the first season and a half we have the shows best: Jakes battles with the huntsclan, the foot clan.. if they were violent racists who slaughter magical creatures. Granted we don't SEE that on screen but the show does a good job showing us that no, that's what they are.

This itself would likely work.. but what makes it special and standout for the time it came out.. is the wrinkle they throw in: Huntsgirl, the Huntsclan's #1 guy and sidekick to the huntsman.. is Jake's crush Rose, a fairly well adjusted kind girl who simply dosen't know what she's been indoctrinated into, thinking Dragons are evil. This is a nice change of pace as at the time most relationships with teens and tweens in cartoons were either between some popular slab of cardboard of the characters best friend.

Instead Rose SEEMS to be the cardboard type.. but not only has depth outside of the hood, but the fact the audience can easily tell who huntsgirl is, Mae Whitman has a distinctive voice after all and as usual does a fantastic job only adds the tension: We know who rose is, but Jake doesn't and early on we don't know how much of her is real. And once the secret breaks we get the drama of both dealing with not only being on opposite sides but Rose realizing she was on the wrong one.

The arc after, focusing on a dark dragon isn't as strong in comparison, but it's also not entirely fair given they likely though they'd have another season and a half to wrap it up proper. That being said the series also has an interesting arc with Jake's overachieving younger sister, who goes from knowing about the dragon thing (his whole family does minus his dad for.. some reason) and showing some powers.. to being a dragon herself and often her brother's sidekick.

The show had it's weaknsesses, outside of the big bads there was never really much of an interesting Rogue's Gallery, Trixie felt a bit flat as a character, and again there was no good reason Jake's dad shouldn't know so we got stupid groundings and such. But we also got a compelling enemies to lovers arc with a lot of tension, a nice mythology, and profressor rotwood, Jakes teacher and magic hunter, a fun butt monkey for the show. It's a solid show that i'd love to see get a revivial.

9. Wonder Over Yonder Created by Craig McCracken 2013-2016 43 Episodes

Wonder Over Yonder is one of Disney's more infamous cancelations. Despite being DisneyXD's #1 show they not only barely promoted it, I wasn't aware the second season was going on till it was almost over and still need to get around to watching it, Disney cancelled it. Despite being well loved Disney cancelled it. It's not the worst cancellation on this list, that comes later, but it's still a pretty dang bad one. The fact they didn't put the show on Disney+ for some time dosen't exactly help.

Why Disney hated this show so much I'll never know as Wonder is one of the most heartfelt and creative show's disney put out. And keep in mind as I said i've only seen season 1. I know it gets even better with season 2's dedicated story arc and the introdcution of lord dominator. I've seen the musical number.

Wonder took inspiration from, of all things, dr. seuss, with Craig being an admitted fan of 60's and 70's astetics already, it just flowed naturally as we got the tail of a gentle tumbleweed whose kind and thoughtful to everyone he meets wether they desreve it or not and his tough as nails steed and best friend sylvia. The rolls are easily the best of Jack McBrayer and April Winchel's long careers, nicely contrasting each other in perfect ballance: Sylvia fights the battles wonder can't win with kindness or is too oblvious to realize he's in, Wonder wins fights simply by being too cheery and oblivious to beat.

Over their journey's they repeadtely run into our other main characters, Lord Hater, played by the awesome Keith Fergeuson, an over the top skeletial manchild who badly wants to be taken seriously but is too impulsive, stupid, and easily angered for him to actually achieve that depsite the help of Commander Peepers, his #2 and put upon lackey. Add in tons of great sets, fun scnearios and creative uses of animatoin and you have something unforgitable. McCracken really loves to play with storytelling here, from your standard genre breaks to simply taking a conventional tale like a kinight rescuing a princess.. and turn it into our heroes accidently assitating a stalking jerk and said princess easily clocking him one before they can all unite to save him. The show had so much fun with it's cast and heart in it it's really hard not to like and while it sadly ended too soon what we got... is something magical.

8. Clerks the Animated Series Created by Kevin Smith 2000 6 Episodes Like most of you are as you read this entry, I was suprised to find Disney TVA made this. To date this is Disney's only adult animated series, and the fox acquisition giving them a full studio for that tells me it'll likely stay this way unless they do something actiony for disney +. It's also far and away the shortest lived show on this list. only airing two of it's 6 produced episodes, neither of which was the actual first episode. ABC didn't like what they got, they buried it, standard corprate procedure, and thanks to DVD and Comedy Central airings the show went from quickly forgotten weird relic to one of the best animated adaptations out there and one of the poster children for shows too good to last.

I grew up with this show. Since I was too young for the kevin smith movies my brother was obessed with, the series was the first Kevin Smith related thing I ever watched and it's stayed with me since. The show's short.. but it's 6 episodes are absolutely STUFFED with great jokes. I could honestly spend the rest of the article quoting this series, from "Hey, it's ted danson" to "Why are we walking like this" to "The weed of crime bears bitter fruit you old hag!".... and that's just the second episode. Admitely in terms of tone, Clerks TAS.. is nothing like the movie. The original Clerks was a fairly low key film mostly driven by our leads Dante and Randall's conversation and the various people who came in. It was a character piece about being stuck in a dead end job, about ignoring rules versus blindly following them, and about two stoners who were in it for 5 minutes but became the backbone of this cinematic universe because their the best.

Clerks the Animated Series instead is a gleefully wacky romp where our heroes can't say fuck but do get into sitcommy hyjinks, from clipshows, to a rival buisness across the way, to the deadly motava virus, to a pastiche of the last starfighter turning into a pastiche of the bad news bears then a pastiche of temple of doom. As you can tell this show is kinda nuts and really just Kevin Smith getting to be all kinds of redicluous in the funniest way possible. He replaced being able to say fuck and talk about sex with hyjinks and turned randall from a charming if assholish slacker into one of the best dumbasses in animation. The show is a near constant laugh riot, beautifully animated too. It also naturally has the boys, with Jay and Silent bob still getting in lots of neat antics even if they can no longer deal on screen. Clerks the Animated series is one of the funniest shows there's ever been and I highly recommend seeking it out.

7. Milo Murphy's Law Created by Dan Povemire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh 2016-2017, 2019 46 Episodes

Meet the show disney somehow treated WORSE than the last two. I swear when I put this list together I did not realize these three would be clustered together.

But yes, when I said there was a worse cancelation I meant it: Milo Murphy's Law was the dwampy duo of Phineas and Ferb.. and got utterly buried because Disney was mad it wasn't the mega hit that show was, forgetting that was also a fairly slow burn, or that you kow THIS IS A DIFFRENT SHOW. So they not only barely promoted the second half of season 1.. but then just sat on season 2 for a full year, with many an episode airing elsewhere long before that and released it over a few weeks. They then just.. straight up ended production to make a phineas and ferb movie. In fact despite a full soundtrack apparently existed only ONE song's gotten released from the show in full thanks to said movie's soundtrack. To say Disney screwed this show over is putting it lightly.

And it's a huge shame this show got buried as it did as Milo.. is freaking awesome. I mean I gave it a shot from episode one simply because it had Weird Al attached. Even if i'd gotten burned out on the previous show, i'll give anything Al's in a shot.

And that shot was worth it as from the first episode to the last, Milo is a truly charming show with, say it again ya'll, "a truly unique premise" . Disney has a knack for those don't it?

MML follows Milo Murphy, a happy go lucky 6th grader who meets new kid in town Zack.. who soon finds out Milo has a family curse, based on, of course, Murphy's Law; if something can go wrong, it will. So the universe bends over backwords to try to murder this tween and anyone around him... hence why while everyone likes Milo well enough, only his feisty hustler best friend Melissa really hung around before Zack took a chance on his new pal.

What makes the series great though is that Milo... dosen't ever angst about having murphy's law. You'd think with his life being a constant never ending string of disaster dominos, the guy would give up or we'd have one episode of him bedguging all he's missed out on. Instead.. Milo sees his life as an adventure, enjoys in the shenanigans he gets into and simply packs his backpack to be prepeared and keep his spleen in tact. He's a sweet, kind, optimist who helps people no matter what and dosen't let his curse get him down or stop him from living his life. It's milo that makes the show this good, having to both work around his jinx as well as many an adventure coming from people's reaction to him: From his love intrest Amanda intitally avoiding him due to being a perfectionist only to let him in more once she realizes what a kind guy he is, to the local security guard played byc hristan slater being an absolute dick to him, we see how it impacts his life.. but how he also enjoys his life regardless.

The series also has it's own perry equilvent, Dakota and Cavendish, who genuinely drive the seasons story arcs, two time policeman and ambigously gay duo who try to prevent pistachos from being destroyed.. then do the opposite once i'ts clear it'll cause the end of the world. They add to the story.

What puts this show up here, and way above phineas is that it's not afraid of change: the basic status who dosen't, but the show has a story arc for each season, characters grow and change with Zack getting more used to the chaos around his bestie, the relationship with amanda I mentioned, and most importantly Dakota and Cavindish finding out about milo fairly early on and vice versa, allowing their plots to intersect. It's also really damn funny.

Honestly the show's only this low because the top 6 are REALLY that good.. and because season 2 kinda crams Dr. Doofinschrmitz in there on what feels heavily like an executive mandate. Sometims he cab be a bit overbearing.. but the show's still up this high because frankly, Doof was the best part of his previous show and still gets a LOT of great material, paticuarlly this bit.

Also his friend there is Jeff. Jeff is a man who lives underground. He's great. And this series is, badly underated. I can't wait to see these characters again as it's been directly said that while their tabling it for the first two seasons apperances by characters from the previous two shows aren't off the table for hamster and gretel, they just learned from this one to wait, but while I wait.. what we got.. is still damn magical.

6. Kim Possible Created by Bob Schooley and Mark McCorkle 2002-2007 4 Seasons, 82 Episodes, 2 Movies, 1 Live Action Reboot Film

Kim Possible was one of my faviorite shows as a kid, and for good reason. Even over two decades later, the show still holds up as a smart, hilarious, and well done spy show. I also will gladly count it as part of the teen superhero boom as it hits a lot of those tropes too.

The setup however is nicely unique: Rather than work for a big spy orginzation (Though she does freelance in a few episodes for SHIELD expy Global Justice), or for money or what you'd expect from a world class adventuerer and super spy, Kim is just an above average teen whose fairly smart, popular and really damn good at both gymnastics and kicking people who does the job because it's the right thing to do and her organization is really just four people: herself, Wade, a child progidey who finds jobs for her, Ron, her best friend, eventual love interest, and overly panicky but loveable goofus, and Ron's pet Rufus who counts because he saves their lives quite a bit simply by being in ron's pocket and being smart enough. He's also a naked mole rat and the reason I know those exist.

While the show has a strong supporting cast with screen legends Gary Gole and Jean Smart as Kim's Rocket Science and Neurosurgeon parents, her annoying twin brothers, her sarcastic best girl friend monique, her annoying rival bonnie and my personal faviorite her authorative yet still resonable and utterly hilarious teacher Mr. Barkin, played by my boy Patrick Warburton, one of it's biggest strengths is Kim's Rogue's gallery.

Like I said with americna dragon a lot of the weakness for these teen hero shows is that they genuinely only have one or two major foes that are actually you know.. memorable. In contrast Kim has a LOT of intresting and fun villians of the week, not a huge pool but enough to keep it intresting with plenty of fun one offs. The main one is Dr. Drakken, played by John Dimaggio in one of his best parts and Shego, played by Nicolle Sulivan in her best role, an over the top , hammy shortsighted blue mad scientest and his snarky assitant who does most of the punching and is easily kim's physical equal. The two show up the most out of Kim's rogues, and while this on paper could get reptitive the two's banter is great, they play off our heroes fantastically, and they frankly never seemed to run out of great schemes for Dr. D to do.

There were other greats too, my personal faviorites being Senior Senior Senior and Senior Senior Junior, character actor Ricardo Montalban in his best role as a rich old man who after accidently blacking out paris, takes ron's suggestion he had all the makings of a super villian to heart and using his vast wealth to arch our heroes for fun while Junior.. badly dosen't want any part of this. Ther'es tons more I could gush about from DNAmy to the bebes, to my boy Frugal Lucre, a guy who works at a wallmart expy and barely spends money on his arching suplies.

The show's other weapon is it's writing: it's clever, hilarious, and the main duo are incredibly likeable: Kim is incredibly compitent but just as prone to teen angst as anyone her age, while Ron is incredibly panicky and goofy but far more compitent than he seems or he thinks himself to be. Our leads, Kristy Carlson Romano and va god Will Fridle in my faviorite role of his, have an effortless chemstriy between them, even before it turns romantic. You see how valuable their friendship is and how much they need each other even when they bicker.. and it turning romantic just feels.. natural. There's a risk there, and i'll likely go more into tha twhen I eventually cover so the drama (Either later this year if I can squeeze it in or early next year), but needless to say their the gold standard for friends to lovers and I love them.

The show is just.. damn good and worth checking out if you haven't. It's on Disney+ , all of it including the reboot film which is.. alright. not as good as the series but thanks to great casting and the creators involvment , still solid. Call it, beep it, reach it, it's a masterpiece and I badly hope those revivial rumors are true as i'd love to see this cast as adults.

5. Amphibia Created by Matt Braly 2019-2022 3 Seasons, 58 Episodes

Anoyone whose seem this blog before probably saw this coming. I mean I covered two whole seasons of the show and deeply love it's main cast. And Maddie. God bless my creepy frog daughter. So it being this high up isn't a huge shock.. but damn if it dosen't deserve it. Amphibia isn't perfect: some of the one off episodes, even those important later, aren't the best... but the show still plays one of the best long games in animation. The character arcs are well set up from the get go and we follow our lead Anne Boonchuy from reckless and irresponsible teen plunked into a frog world to a strong empathetic heroine who has to save both worlds from a tyrant and his abusive computer dad. Along the way there's betrayal, slice of life shenanigans, and lots of cleverly done worldbuilding. And some padding. There's just a touch padding. But the strong character arcs not just for Anne but her friends (With Sasha being my easy faviorite but Marcy not exactly far behind and complex and engaging enough to get her own spinoff journal), found family and even her earth family. It's a beautifully done three act story: what seems like a lonnnng time spent in the rural town of Wartwood ends up not only buliding up the show's supporting cast but characters who are vital to the world's salvation later. The second season shows how far anne has come while also building out the world, continuing Sasha's arc as she spirals further and giving us the glory that is marcy, cumilating in season 3, a fantastic season that reverses the premise to amazing effect and ends with a truly satisfying conclusion.. even if SOME of the getting there is messy. Hey it's #5 for a reason.

IT's a well built, hilarious, and heartfelt human into swamp water story, and one of my faviorites. I only don't say TOO much as I want anyon ewho hasn't to try this themselves. Amphibia is a masterpiece and if you haven't seen it it's WELL worth the binge with one of the best voice casts in animation (Something that's really true for everything from far out), really choice world building, and a satsifying ending. This section may of been short but damn if i don't love this show with a lot of my heart.

4. Gravity Falls Created by Alex Hirsch 2012-2016 2 Seasons, 40 Episodes

Another fairly obvious pick.. but one I weirdly HAVEN'T covered on this blog. I'll really have to fix that next year. Still just because something's obvious dosen't make it any less true. Gravity Falls is easily one of the most influental animated series of the 2010's, right up there with adventure time in kicking off the animation renaissance of that era and several of it's crew, including Matt Braly from the previous entry and a certain someone else coming up, going on to make stellar shows of their own.

It's rep and influence is well earned: Gravity Falls, like, as i've realized writing this, EVERY show on this list has a very simple elvator pitch: two kids spending the summer with their weird elderly uncle at his toursist trap get into paranormal shenanigans: Dipper as he tries to unwrap the mysteries of their temproary home and Mable as she tries to make friends, find a boy to smooch and genuinely ambles through life. She also gets a pig.

The simple setup belies not only a fairly intriguing mystery with a truly amazing twist halfway through season 2, but a fun arc villian in LIttle Gideon, the con artist next door, town hero and phony psychic, but a one of a kind, memorable and all time great vilian in Bill Cipher, a little triangle man who also happens to be a mad nightmare god trying to get into our dimension whose Chucky levels of deeply disturbing and terrifying as he is incredibly funny and charastmatic.

The rest of the cast is no slouch: Dipper and Mable are incredibly likeable, Wendy is great, played by personal faviorite of mine Linda Cardenlli and criminally underused and Soos, voiced by Hirsch along with Stan, Bill and MANY other characters, is a loveable dum dum 20 something who treats our heroes like surrogate siblings.

The real star of course, and the show stealling heart of the show is Stan Pines, the kids corrupt uncle and one of the most hilarious, and once we learn his deal heartbreaking and suprisingly complex, characters in all of animation. This show is on this list on it's own merits but woudln't nearly be so high without stan, a constant laugh machine, quote factory and powerhouse performance by Hirsch, who despite being new to voice acting steps into it like he's done this for decades. From teaching a bear to drive, to wondering if it's wrong to punch a child to "yes yes burn the child" and of course his greatest folly

Stan constantly boosts the show by existing. Add in strong character ties, a compelling mystery and, like most shows this high up a hell of a finale, and you have a true classic that understadnably changed animation forever.

Also i'm pretty sure Stan killed at least two people in that clip. No one ever talks about that. I mean I knew he had a body count but still.

3. Recess Created by Paul Germaine and Joe Ansolabehere 1997-2001 4 Seasons, 65 Episodes, 4 Movies

Recess is the oldest work on this list, ending just before KP and American Dragon started (though it'd air long into their runs as this show ran forever and rightfully so). It was also part of my childhood, airing long after it finished and being tender the whole way through.

Recess is a masterwork: while many a show stuck with me from childhood this is one that thinking back I can remember the episodes vividly, and given my memory is spotty that says something. It's a show with a lot of style, having it's characters dressed out of the 50s and 60s, with a cold war subtext I never had, but keeping it in the present to relate to kids when it's airing. It creates a vibe tha'ts both of it's time (the monstickers ep is very much of the pokemon boom), and timeless (kids STILL collect pokemon cards and despite some morons best efforts have recess and still form little clicks).

It takes two simple things kids grapple with, unfair teachers and authority figures and cliques and social circles and simply blows it up to be as big as it was in our heads: I remember having epic duels with the kids I played with , wars, whole conflicts and recess meets things on that level: the world of recess is one where the playground has a lineage of kings, the kindergartners are a feral tribe, two kids can reguarly acess shovels, and the local snitch is some sort of combination of gollumn and a weasel while keeping it just grounded enough for adults to relate to. Where rebelling against authority involves elaborate heists.

It's a perfect kind of show for kids: it meets them on their level, as it did when I was a kid.. but is smart enough that as an adult you can still enjoy it. It helps that most of the cast is three dimensional:

TJ is a loveable scamp.. but a good chunk of his schemes aren't just to stick it to the man or get some reward for him and his running crew, but to help kids. TJ's just as likely to break out of detention as he is to help a kid this week simply because they need it. He'll even help Randall, the local snitch I mentioned, despite his better judgment, simply because it's the right thing to do. He'll have to be talked into it because.. it's Randall. Randall sucks, But he'll do it. Spinelli is the tomboy of the group and will fight everyone, but has a good side to her and struggles with being a girl when she relates more to being masculine, something that's only become more relevant with time and can be read a lot of ways. Mikey is the big kid.. but a soft kind giant who deals with being sterotyped for his side. Vince is the sports kid... and okay most of his plots are around that, but we do get neat bits like him being ashamed his brother is basically urkel and having to learn his brother still slaps because unlike Urkel he dosen't harass women. Gretchen is a massive nerd, and the first role in Ashely Johnson's long and storied career, but also gladly paticipates in the schemes, has a lot of heart, and struggles.

And finally we have my boy Gus, the new kid at the start and the one I related most to being a nerdy nervous wreck myself: but he's gladly accepted into the rest of the gang, and finds a home at long last after moving around his whole life. He's got layers to him: he's a military brat, he's never really had stablility int erms of friendship, and he's often put upon, having to deal with King Bob being a jerk to him for being the new kid or bullies. Yet he's got a good heart despite being the nervous one of the group the biggest heart of them and will gladly stand up for himself when the chips are down.

Not only are these 6 fleshed out and relatable.. but they have a wholesome friendship. They'll fight sometimes, kids do, but despite being vastly diffrent people who on paper shoudln't really be hanging together.. you never doubt they like each other or would drop everything to help one another. Mostly because a good chunk of episodes are just that. Gretchen and Gus are never picked on by their friends.. teased a little, maybe , Spenelli be like that, but these six kids love and respect each other on level that's just heartwarming. You never doubt for a second these six are friends, even with Gus not having their shared history. He just fits because they like him, he's willing to do what's right, and he's a good kid. TJ is brave and noble, Spnelli is tough but dosen't punch down, Vince is cool, Mikey is insightful and kind, Gretchen is smart and clever and Gus ahs a good heart. You see the good they see in each other and it shows our diffrences.. make us better. There may be cliques at recess, but when the chips are down, TJ can get them to work together.

The series also just had a knack for creating really memorable episodes that feel entirely relatable: a trading card style boom leads to TJ becoming a rags to riches tycoon, swinger girl who always swings trying to do what all kids did and reach the other side leads to a tale about things we can't explain when she seemingly dissapears, a simple punishment leads to TJ"s teacher psychologically torturing him, a fake swear word leads to an ENTIRE COURT CASE, all stuff that's somehow realistic. The show's premise was a tool box that allowed them to tell a ton of diffrent stories, a lot of which with really adult, meaningful lessons, and the show never really got old. It only ended because Disney's attempts to continue it simply didn't work out and even with the 5th grade eps as an epilogue, it has a hell o a finale in the movie. The whole run's on disney+ and I.. really need to revisit it.. and to review it next year if possible.

2. The Owl House Created by Dana Terrace 2020-2023 3 Seasons, 43 Episodes

Let's face it even if the article image hadn't tipped my hat here.. this one being high up .. was a given. I've gushed about this show at length, covering it as season's 2 and 3 ran out, written fanfiction on this blog, and since I started doing them the show's always ranked decently on my 20 best animated episodes lists I do each year, and will likely have a spot this year for the finale. My love of this show is something I don't remotely hide and have no reason to. So it being #2 on this list is an obvious pick.. but one i'm happy to be obvious with. In fact with these last two their pretty nearly tied in my heart and it was one inching out the other.

And the weird thing is.. I didn't even watch all of season 1. I watched the first half much as I could, but while I liked it I didn't get really heavy into it. The characters were charming, the designs great and it was nice to have a show where Wendy Malick was not only voice acting, but had a MAJOR role that really let her show off her chops. I've always loved her and it was a lot of fun to get a roll this good. It was also nice to have Alex Hirsch back. The show wasn't without style, a compelling lead, a hell of a romantic arc or other attractions.. but it wasn't till later in season 1 when classicsl ike encahnting grom fright and the finale REALLY made the show into what it became.

This lead to season 2.. which is one of the best seasons of television i've ever seen, and tha'ts with the fact that halfway through they had to massively reorganize the plot to fit into 10 episodes and 3 specials, something that's only really noticable in hindsight. And i'm not hyperbolizing: the show was good before.. but season 2 enriches everything, giving the characters more depth, paticuarlly king who goes from an afterthought in season 1 to the emotoinal core of the season and Alex Hirsch's best roll... which given Stan above says a LOT. Season 2 takes the foundations of the show and really plays with them, with pretty much everyone getting a deeper character, the school stuff forced into season 1 downplayed into just showing up as needed, allowing for way more story freedom and belos increased presence and hell of a true self reveal giving us one of Disney's greatest villians. Add in hunter as a new main cast member and best good soft boy, and you have a riviting saga that kept me enthralled the whole season. Even the weaker episodes add something, and the result is something that can't be topped: a show tha'ts funny, heartfelt, unmistakably queer and unquestionably well crafted.

It also managed to pull off one hell of an ending, not only introducing my murder child who learns his lesson the collector, but doing so with only three specials to wrap up what they shoul'dve had a season to. It's a show that like Gravity Falls before it is bound to really shake up animation and influence many a show to come an dI can't wait to see the results. A true epic about finding yourself, religious indoctrination and eldrich owl and tube shaped parasites, this show is something that may never be topped and was an utter joy while it lasted. Hoot.

1. Ducktales Based on DuckTales by Jim Magon /Uncle Scrooge by Carl Barks Developed by Matt Youngberg and Francisco Angones 2017-2021 3 Seasons, 69 Episodes Like #2... #1 is a show my love of has been transparently obvious: Covering season 3 started this blog, i've covered seasons 1 and 2's story arcs, and done a ton of other duck stuff from a full three cabs retrospective, to donald shorts to the very duck adjacent goofy movie. While I haven't done as much duck content this year, a shame really, and still need to finish my life and times retrospective some day... my love of Disney's Ducks has been something i've had since college and this series not only revitalized it but sent it into the fucking stratosphere with the gold standard for reboots. DuckTales is the only show here based on an existing IP, but still manages to be super creative with it. Matt and Frank took nearly 100 years of Duck stories (not hyperbole, Donald turns the big 1-0-0 himself next year), taking from the legendary barks comics, the worthy successor rosa comics, the giant pile of European duck comics, the shorts, the movies, anything Donald , Scrooge or the Boys had been in, every bit of the disney afternoon, and everything else they could shove in to creat the defintive duck universe: Something that fully and lovingly respects what cames before but uses it all to create something fresh and wholly it's own. The cast is a nice mix of reinventions of old characters and brand new ones just as good if not even better.

This can be seen well with the core cast: Scrooge only gets changed slightly, but those slight changes were BADLY needed: Scrooge is still a guy with flaws: he can get far too focused on the goal ahead and not the human cost, is egotstical as all hell, and disconected from the common person. He can raid a tomb better than anyone, sorry Indy and Lara, but god help him if he tries doing an interview or produce a film. It's a nice ballance: he's out of touch and crotchety as usual, but far less of an abusive asshole. It's also clear that while the bin stores a lot of his treasures, and he won't take one if it's owners need it, being more than happy to give Djinn his family's lamp for instance, with it only being a whole thing because Louie sold it. It paints him more as a historian than a theif and robber baron, while still keeping the nice flaws that make him who he is: he's still cheap, he just won't underpay his staff and in fact mostly recurits people other employers give up on for being too weird.

The rest of the cast is given a more extensive but needed overhall: My boy Donald is less of the likeably selfish ass he usually is, instead a loveable dad who still destroys everything he touches, but spends the first two seasons living entirely for his kids. He's more mature while still being the idiot we love.

Everyone else.. is a huge change as I said. The biggest and best.. is the boys. Usually Huey, Dewey or Louie are a hive mind of goody goods.. or obnoxious boys. Depends on what the story needs. It always annoyed me that when you have three characters there their not at all distinct and there's no real need for them. Thankfully the creators of this show understood that and thus evolved the boys into three seperate people: Huey is more like the barks comics versions, a junior woodchuck, close to his mom and uncles, and exitable.. but with a nice fine pace of neurodivergence and anxiety that not only makes him relatable to me but a fairly likeable kid: one scared of change but with all the potetial in the world. Dewey takes ab it after the more sterotypically 80s moments of the boys in the show, being a rad dude with a penchant for acting out.. but instead of a sexist bully or jerk like the boys could be, Dewey is a pure theater kid who badly wants attention and has no impulse control. He's basically Hank Venture , age 12 and i'm here for it. Finally Louie takes the boys more scheming moments from the comics and shows and boils it down into a gen z slacker who wants to work smater not harder, and not work at all if needed, who evolves from heartless lazy schemer and evil triplet to a keep observer whose just mildly shady.

While the barks 5 are all acounted for we also get nice overhauls for the ducktales three original core characters: Webby gets the best, going from just "small baby child babY" to a hyperactive girl who is easily near scrooge's level in adventureeing.. but has no idea how to socalize and still loves sparkles. She's empathetic, brave, and a contrast to what woudl turn out to be her old man: instead of growing to shut people out , she starts out badly wanting to let everyone end. Beakley likewise gets a glow up from "old lady stertotype whose constantly flustered" to "badass british former secret agent, only sane man and gender swapped brock sampson" , with Launchpad being made a loveable doofus, but still compitent since Donald's here to be the everyman.

The cast.. only gets better as it goes: Ducktales took a huge leap and decided "Hey what ABOUT the triplet's mom" turning della from a question mark that was answered all of once across nearly a century.. to a character just as vallad as her brother and uncle who have said near century on her: Della is Donald's opposite: brave, confident.. but a mess herself and stuck on the moon for half the series. Paget Brewster does a phenominal job.

I emphasise the series characters.. because tha'ts it's heart: it has solid plots, revamps and what not.. but it's a giant, instnatly loveable cast of characters: The side cast is MASSIVE pulling from all over duck history: Fehtry makes his debut, Gladstone is taken from easily one of my most hated characters in the comics to a far more loveable schister, Rockerduck finally debuts, Glomgold is turned from "Scrooge but evil" to someone badly trying to copy scrooge and the most glorious weirdo in all of fiction. Seriously Keith Fergusons glomgold is fucking majestic, and while he's never really a major threat his overinfalted ego, lack of planning, obessions with sharks and bombs and general haminess made him one of the best parts of this. You also get Magica as a genuine threat , and a mess later, Scooge's parents having a more active roll, Fenton having more of his own personality and weird swing for the fences complete and utter makeovers like Doofus Drake going from doofy kid to a very weird child who needs therapy, Donald's neighbor nemisis being his therapist or taking the zombie from voodoo hoodo, one of th emost racist and questionable things in duck comics history.. and instead making him into an unstopable juggernaut frankenstein curse ont he rich.

And of course the original cast.. is impecable. My adopted Daugther Lena is the clear standout, having covered her whole story arc on here and loving the character a lot, A cool teen TM who ends up being a traumtized girl badly needing a home, her stoic and neurodivergent sister violet, the egon to her venkman, fuckboy Mark Beaks, great final boss Bradford, gay icon Storkules, gay icon Selene, everyone's least faviorite dick Zeus.. I really coudl go on for some time and easily could but this article has taken a while. The show just had a knack for memorable loveable characters and making this world feel truly alive and humungous and scope, with gorgeous art designs.

It also had a great throughline, with Scrooge going from a man who pushed everything a way.. to the man who truly has everything, everyone growing along the way, and a finale that while a bit messy and leaving us hungering for more, really got to the hart of the show: a family that comes together after being torn apart and adds a LOT to them. It's a show unlike any other, and was truly the dream of a life time.. and I coudln't put anything else at #1. Thanks for reading.

[thebunnylord]

GUESS WHAT!? THEY FRIGGIN CANCELLED THE TRUNK OR TREAT THIS YEAR AT THE LAST MINUTE BECAUSE APPARENTLY TOO MANY KIDS HAVE A SOCCER GAME THAT NIGHT!!! EXCUSE ME SIR, BUT HOW IN THE WORLD IS KICKING A STUPID SOCCER BALL AROUND ON A PIECE OF GRASS MORE IMPORTANT THAT TRUNK OR TREAT!!?? KIDS CAN AFFORD TO MISS OUT ON A SOCCER GAME, IT'S NOT GOING ON THEIR RESUMES, THEY'RE MOST LIKELY GOING TO LOSE ANYWAYS OR GET A CRUMMY LITTLE TROPHY!! THERE'S GOING TO BE PLENTY MORE SOCCER GAMES, HALLOWEEN IS ONCE A YEAR!! IF YOU ARE GOING TO CANCEL HALLOWEEN, THEN MIGHT AS WELL CANCEL CHRISTMAS YOU !!%$$#%^&^^!!!! !!!&^%%$#!!! I DID NOT SPEND ALL MONTH MAKING MY MINECRAFT THEMED TRUNK ONLY TO BE TOLD THAT YOUR KIDS SOCCER GAME IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE CHURCH TRUNK OR TREAT!! SOCCER IS A STUPID GAME! i KNOW! I PLAYED IT!!! AND WHAT DID I DO?! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!! I BARELY EVEN TOUCHED THE BALL!! SOCCER DOES NOT MATTER!! IT'S A STUPID SPORT, AND SHOULD NOT PRIORITIZE OVER TRUNK OR TREAT!! SO WHAT IF YOU MISS ON ONE GAME!? WHAT'S THE COACH GOING TO DO? FIRE YOU!!?? BOO HOO JUST SIGN UP NEXT YEAR!! IT'S NOT LIKE YOU'RE GETTING PAID TO KICK AN AIR FILLED SACK AROUND THE FIELD!! I USUALLY DON'T SWEAR BUT HERE'S MY OPINON ON SOCCER;

SOCCER IS A SHITTY SPORT AND SHOULD NOT BE CHOSEN OVER HALLOWEEN!! AND WHOEVER INVENTED SOCCER IS A SHITHEAD!!