#shit I need to finish the sonic boom cartoon

[biblio-bitch]

Teen Titans 1x01 Blind Reaction

I haven’t watched the OG Teen Titans yet. Sue me. I wasn’t allowed to watch cartoons as a kid so I’m playing catch-up here. As usual, spoilers and cursing under the cut! Also. apologies for the short sentences, it was like 3 am.

A disclaimer: This is entirely for fun and a lot of the comments I make are based on my preferences for media as well as the way I, as a writer, would have written things.

If I say something you disagree with (more likely in my analysis posts than my reactions) then I am more than happy to hear your opinions so long as you are respectful! 

If you followed me for Detroit Evolution content I promise I’ll post the rest soon. Formatting and proofreading takes ages. I also might start liveblogging my adventures in screenwriting so look out for that!

That being said, let’s get into it!

[In brackets is added post-watch.]

Holy old animation Batman. It feels like Phineas and Ferb.

BB Sounds like Phineas.

The cheesy intro tho

Seriously which Robin is this cause I think it’s Dick but Idk

“Titans Go!”

The theme song is iconic

Love the OG Raven design

Is the theme Japanese?? It kinda feels Japanese

I love that Starfire’s outfit isn’t like literally a bikini it’s nice since she’s designed like a sixteen year old

Epic fight scene™️. Makes me feel like something’s going to go wrong.

“I am stronger than I look” fuck yeah Star get his ass

Honestly wtf Rob you’re like twelve and you don’t have powers??? Also is he wearing steel toe boots?? I thought they were converse at first. Seriously Batman, what’s with the child soldiers??

Cyborg?? I love him

Ouch that was a fail

Ok the bo staff is a Tim Drake signature as far as I know so wtf???? Which black haired mf is this???

It’s Dick. I googled. [I love DC and I realize that most of the Robins were designed before having diverse characters was a thing but literally they all look the same. Like personally I’d love to see a Romani or other non-white rep for Dick.

 {I gleefully return to this post with news that Dick is canonically Romani! He’s been played so often as white, including in the new Titans, which I will be making a post about, but he was confirmed to be poc in Devin Grayson’s Gotham Knights. He’s part Romani on his mother’s side. She, according to Tim Seeley’s twitter, is an immigrant. He was originally presented without a confirmed ethnicity! My apologies for being uninformed about this. I stated Romani specifically here before knowing because I had seen people talk about him as such and really enjoyed it.}

 Maybe a mixed Jason? I feel like Tim is white mostly bc he’s rich IN GOTHAM,,, but like I never turn down the possibility of poc characters. Damian is canonically middle eastern so if I ever see a live action Damian not played by a middle eastern brown kid I’m rioting.]

What a petulant child. Blaming each other. Now they’re fighting. [This part feels very overdramatic to me personally. I do think that if this wasn’t animated it would be toned down quite a bit. That being said? I do think it’s in character for Dick, especially late Robin-era Dick, to have outbursts like that, especially as a character that I see as needing a lot of control.]

Oh wonderful. He quit. That’s overly dramatic.

Oh goddamn it Slade.

I’m not supposed to know he’s Slade yet tho huh. [Rip the element of surprise with that, I have a habit of learning everything from things before investing my time in it, and my obsession with other versions of DC comics isn’t helpful in this situation. Also the 25 pages of AO3 I’ve read about the Bats gives quite a bit away.]

Oh ew that’s a plasma monster

He looks like fuckin,,, Underbelly! that mf from the Red Hood/Arsenal comics. [Underbelly is the personification of the criminal world. I got through four RH/A comics as of posting this so once I finish that storyline I’ll probably post about it]

“It’s pointless to get upset about Cyborg” breaks glass. [I personally really fw Raven being like ‘master of meditation i feel nothing’ but then these dumbasses get all up in her brain and she ends up loving them like honestly that’s amazing]

“I’m fine” fucks up that punching bag. Master of emotions this bitch. [I don’t think that this little tantrum is entirely because Cyborg left. Again, Dick was raised by Batman, and neither of them are too good about losing control and fucking up. This to me is very much a mix of guilt for having driven away a friend and teammate, anger at Cyborg for leaving, and also anger at himself for a perceived failure. Bruce really needs to get his kids therapy bc the complexes are really shining through.]

Now they’re sad like bitch ur the one who kicked him out???

He’s eating something and it’s gross.

“That stuff can’t be good for you” Robin,,, sweaty,,,

The puns. Jeez Louise.

Immensely powerful half demon lady and the best you can do is some cans?? [Again with the things you shouldn’t know, Theo. Yeah I get that she’s still a kid and the demon lady thing isn’t exactly revealed yet, but I maintain that the barrels -- which I realized that they’re barrels not cans -- could be improved upon]

“You giant zit”??? A Child [Seriously how old is he because it’s concerning that he seems as young as he does. @ Bruce wtf did you do to your kids]

Phase three what an ominous asshole

Again with the puns Rob like jeez just fight this mf

Star,, you’re an alien?? Why are you screaming??

Both eyes on the road while flying Raven

He just extends the bo again bro what kinda bat bullshit is this

Cyborg saving the day!! We gotta love that. “Still got the sonic if you still got the boom” what kids I love them

I love that he just,, brought Cinderblock with him. He’s just that powerful.

Wtf is up with this knockoff Alfred mf with Slade? Also?? What stereotypical villain shit Slade step it up. [Titans (2018) Slade is like,,, so much better at this. Hell, even Arrow Slade is more nefarious.]

[I know it’s stupid to say this about an antagonist from a kids show vs two YA/Adult shows but like?? Titans Slade had the Motive, and Arrow Slade was Deep. In my defense here, I’m only on Ep 1, I’m sure he gets more interesting as the show progresses.

My non-sleep deprived rating? 9/10. Points off for melodrama but points on for nostalgia and attention grabbing. I’m not really into kids shows so I did my best to be fair despite that. Personally I think it’s a little much on the fighting especially for a pilot and it definitely seemed a little bit rushed. But, the animation is fun, I love the way each character is distinctive in costume and personality.

Keep in mind I prefer watching things with writing/pacing like Arrow, The Flash, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the new Titans TV show and all of my ratings are going to be skewed based on a preference for stronger and darker material. 

With that in mind, I did enjoy the episode and I do want to continue watching. I think if I had watched this as a 10-11 year old, it would’ve been amazing.]

[moomingitz]

so why do you think Sonic X was the exception to being screwed over when it originally aired?

First thing I need to get out of way before I go any further. This really only just applies to when it comes to the states and other parts of the more Western world. Sonic was always more popular and more successful in the states and more western regions than the franchise ever was in it’s home country. The franchise still does have fans over in Japan, but apparently it’s more on a dedicated cult fan base kind of status. On top of the animation industry in Japan already being really cut throat and over saturated, and apparently “furry” things in general weren’t as popular with the average Japanese audiance back then(unless you were Disney), Sonic X didn’t exactly do that well in terms of ratings in Japan. After all, the show’s success overseas is the reason why a third season was ordered, despite how it was originally supposed to end at two seasons.

And I think it sucks, because I actually liked seeing a take on Sonic that wasn’t meant to appeal or even pander to a more Western audience for once- especially when the more Western side of the Sonic fandom tends to be more insufferably entitled. I still feel like Sonic X is one of the most genuine and least cynical Sonic adaptations even now.(As long as you’re watching the original Japanese dub, at least. And Chris and Cosmo are good characters, fight me!)

Now that I got that out of the way, I have three major assumptions on why, I at least, think Sonic X was lucky to not be fucked over by a TV network when it was localized outside of Japan, unlike the other Sonic TV series. Again, this is just based on my personal observation, here.

- In terms of modern Sonic, it was during the peak of not only it’s popularity, but good enough public opinion of at least the video games outside of the fandom itself. This was after Sonic Adventure 2 and before Sonic Heroes was released, and based on what I was seeing at the time, it was right before the Sonic fandom started to fully become a miserable fuckheap. There was still the whole thing between Western and Japanese Sonic continuity purists, and shippers butting heads here and there, but things were going to start getting pretty ugly soon. And yes, there were still the gaming “journalists” who had that whole, “SONIC SUCKS NOW HE’S 3D, BRING HIM BACK TO HIS ROOTS”, viewpoint, but again, it still was nowhere as bad as it would eventually become when Sonic 06 came around. Saying you unironically liked Sonic was not something you were going to be immediately shamed into hiding at that point.

Sonic X was basically made at the right time. The Sonic franchise had not only a now established fan base that was at the time sustainable enough, unlike when the former DIC cartoons originally aired, but it helped that it was loosely based off of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, games that were still fresh in people’s minds.

- It was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment and their subsidiaries when it was localized outside of Japan.(At least in most regions it appeared so.) Say what you want about the now defunct 4Kids’ dubbing and localization practices, especially when it came to censorship, but they usually knew how to market things, or they knew when they had something lucrative on their hands. Even if I do think the English dub of Sonic X is not good and I would not recommend watching it, especially watching it now, it’s still one of the anime series that got better treatment from the company’s infamous edits and censorship- even if certain deaths(Molly and Cosmo) were flat out censored. The fact that none of the episodes from Sonic X were outright cut from airing when it was localized says a good deal about it. Keep in mind, episodes being cut from airing on TV, due to content that not even censorship could take care of, was the norm back then with airing anime on mainstream TV.(Unless a series aired on Adult Swim. But even Adult Swim wasn’t fully immune to having to edit or censor things in certain cases.)

Not only did 4Kids Entertainment usually knew what they were doing when it came to advertising or marketing their dubs or series they localized, but they had something that I think was the most important part of Sonic X’s longevity.

- 4Kids Entertainment not only aired the shows they brought over on more local channels, but they also would have their own special programming blocks to air on Saturday mornings. I think these really helped the show’s ratings in at least the states for two major reasons.

Having Sonic X, and their other shows, air on more local channels, unlike a major cable network, made it much more accessible for their target audience to watch, because even back then not everyone could afford cable or satellite. If you had the right TV, and the right self-made shit kicker metal clothes hanger antenna, you would still be able to watch Sonic X on Saturday mornings, when things were still analog back in the early 2000′s. That’s how I was able to watch re-runs of Pokemon and The Simpsons during my pre-teen and early teen years, without having to fight over using the main family TV.

The most important part I see in all of this, however: 4Kids having their own block to air their shows during Saturday mornings appeared to have given them more control over which time slots to give their shows. As someone who watched Sonic X when it first aired over here in the states, it always had a good release schedule, it didn’t have a super early god awful time slot(I remember it tended to air 9AM-10AM), and whatever hiatuses it would have were the typical spring and summer ones. It had a consistent airing schedule, it’s time slot was never fucked around with to my knowledge, and I knew when and where it was going to air.

Past Sonic TV series, and Sonic Boom, have not been lucky when it came to that. Sonic SatAm was apparently given a bad time slot during it’s initial airing, and it had the misfortune of having to compete with then brand new Power Rangers and the network itself apparently wanted the show dead- not to mention the Sonic franchise and the fandom itself was still in it’s infancy at the time. AoSTH was apparently produced to be aired in syndication, so it’s not like where and when the show would air was that consistent over the years anyway. Sonic Underground originally aired on a channel I’ve never even heard of back then. And oh, Sonic Boom. Poor, poor Sonic Boom was done real dirty by both Cartoon and Sega. If the other Sonic TV series weren’t made to air in syndication, then they had the misfortune of being at the mercy of a major television network who may have at the most viewed them as the red headed step-child who was shoved into the back of the living room and ignored.

For better or for worse, 4Kids Entertainment at least appeared to be the only ones who were smart enough to realize they had something lucrative on their hands when they got the rights to Sonic X. Sonic X even aired in constant, endless re-runs long after season 3 finished it’s initial airing out here in the states. The endless re-runs continued even after 4Kids had lost the license to the show. Hell, the re-runs went on up until right before Sonic Boom premiered in late 2014, over a decade after Sonic X first aired in the states. And that only happened because Sonic X was one of the very last hold-outs of what we consider a traditional morning cartoon airing on more local TV stations! The Sonic X re-runs only stopped because Saturday cartoon airings on more local stations had finally breathed it’s last breath.—–

Of course, all of this is based on speculation. Speculation based on what I’ve observed and remember back then, but speculation none the less. I’m also speaking from the perspective as someone who grew up in the US, and the show’s airing history at least out here, so I’m sure it was a different story in other countries or regions.

[geek-gem]

Sonic Fighting Game Guest Characters

1:29 pm I just wanted the title to get to the point. Basically relating to that one post I made about me imagining a Sonic game like Injustice 2 and the official Sonic Tumblr blog made a post containing a fake character selection of a fake Sonic game which inspired me to now talk about it.

Including just turned off my laptop and.... really this is gonna be a silly post. Because these two thoughts well these two character ideas that got me thinking. Also continuing from the first post talking about this.

I talked about guest characters being Sega related like Nights and Ulala. Then thinking and about guest characters being Sonic characters from different continuities.

Then this idea a trailer for fighter pack 2 after fighter pack 1 had E-102 Gamma, Sonic The Werehog, and Jet The Hawk.

Including me speaking of a surprise that would make people excited, sad, and confused or some shit.

The introduction of Sally Acorn from the Archie Comics universe, Cosmo from the Sonic X universe, and Sticks The Badger from the Sonic Boom universe being the next three dlc characters for fighter pack 2.

Including my mindset screw Nights and Ulala despite their cool this is some real guest character shit. Including the idea of people being so shocked of seeing them together in a actual Sonic game with game characters.

Along with their returning mainly English voice actors yes Sonic Boom is still going.

Then a talk about other characters ideas like Bunnies Rabbot from the Archie Comics almost forgot that on the next two characters these, and Sonia and Manic from Sonic Underground. Their those two, and just okay...

Then talking about stuff I guess in a stream like only guest characters that would fit in. Talking about how characters like Crash Bandicoot and Sly Cooper would fit but would be unfair to have console only characters when others might wanna try them. Along with joking about your never gonna get any of the characters from Mortal Kombat or even their guest characters because of how brutal they are. Even Ryu from Street Fighter crossed my mind that would fit okay but still.

I already put then yet okay the most crazy guest character ideas when I thought of cartoon guest characters.

Wanna know which ones.

Garnet from Steven Universe, and Enid from OK KO.

Weird I keep thinking of KO helping her out almost left the shows full title instead of his name. Yet I kept Steven out and not made him a fighter or KO as a fighter because it would be too much for them.

Yet seriously those ideas are like my God I need to speak about this.

But I did thought about Mega Man whatever version it could be the original or X but still.

Seriously the idea of cartoon guest characters is crazy but awesome. Including you'll be close to crossovers with Sonic if that would be possible.

But I didn't talk about this yet because decided to watch the rest of this video by Caboosexbl about Injustice 2 fighter pack 3 and 4 teased, and watched the Injustice 2 Raiden trailer on the Injustice YouTube channel. Because I wanted to have those thoughts of just wow.....

Garnet and Enid as guest characters in a Sonic fighting game. It's a crazy idea to have them as guest characters yet so awesome yet fits a lot more then Scorpion yelling GET OVER HERE while he throws his spear into poor old Tails, using his Injustice 1 special, and basically his victory ending whenever he wins.

Yes Mega Man makes more sense and.... seriously even thought we can't have Dante from the Devil May Cry series yes I know that's a meme I question why ha seriously. It's okay to smile so just..... seriously.

This weird thing I wanted to share.

I honestly want that. For a Sonic fighting game like Injustice 2 from what I've seen looks amazing. I don't just want characters we haven't seen in years or characters from other continuities. Yet I still want them as dlc characters if Sega and Sonic Team allows that.

Yet I want me some God damn Garnet from Steven Universe and Enid from OK KO kicking some of the characters asses.

Reason I chose Garnet instead of some others because she's one of the more popular characters and an awesome fighter who can be a great representative of the show Steven Universe. For Enid forgot and looked at last paragraph have KO be by her side or some shit. She's an awesome fighter too and hey you have KO by her side.

Seriously I've thought of some others but I feel some companies might not want to share a game with cartoon characters unless their ready.

Basically two other ideas are Jenny Wakeman XJ9 from My Life As A Teenage Robot and Aang from Avatar The Last Airbender

1:53 pm

Edit same time now changed now to 1:54 pm

I thought about this but didn't wanna copy this and just wanted to finish this. But I checked my first post and turns out I did put a tag