#so evil how cartoon network can make something so amazing and good for kids and filled with dedication just to rip it away from us

[ordinaryschmuck]

Top 20 BEST Animated Series of the 2010s-Honorable Mentions

And now. 

What is hands down.

The Best.

Animated series.

In the 2010s.

Is…

Going to be revealed tomorrow because I'm a piece of s**t (I’ll change the title when enough people fall for it). For now, here are some quick honorable mentions that aren't bad, but just not as good as the shows I picked...in my opinion, at least.

Craig of the Creek (2018-)-From what I've seen from season one, this show is pretty charming. It understands the pure imagination that comes from being a kid and has moments when these characters are more human than cartoons. But it also has the same energy as a Beach City episode in Steven Universe, and as we discussed, not everybody is going to be into that. Plus, I haven't caught up past season one (due to just not having the time), so it wouldn't be fair to claim it's one of the best when I haven't seen how seasons two and three hold. I've heard from other people that it's good, so I'll be willing to take their word for it. And maybe you should too.

Milo Murphy's Law (2016-2019)-I've seen a handful of episodes of this show, but from what I saw, I'd say it's worth watching further. The idea of this kid, who's cursed to literally have the worst life ever, deciding to have an optimistic outlook of the hand he's been dealt is pretty admirable. Plus, Weird Al Yankovic voices the main character. I can't physically hate it. Although the ginormous issue that Milo Murphy's Law has is that it relies too much on Phineas and Ferb's recognizability. I get that both shows were created by the same people, and I'd be more than fine if there were just a few shout outs and references. But the creators decided to force one of the characters in Phineas and Ferb into Milo's Murphy's Law, making it sort of a spin-off series on top of being its own separate thing. Meaning that you don't have to watch Phineas and Ferb beforehand, but you do need to know who these characters are going in. And if you're wondering how that paradoxical concept works...I couldn't tell you. I haven't seen the show in its entirety, and from what I have seen, it's at least good enough for an honorable mention.

The Avengers: Earth Mightiest Heroes (2010-2013)-There's nothing wrong with this series. The designs are great, the representation of these iconic characters is even better, and the level of quality is on par with the Marvel Cinematic Universe...I just always forget that this show exists. No offense to the series, but I just prefer shows that I'll remember instead of shows that I'll forget in another ten years.

Young Justice (2010-)-And before you start making the audacious claim that I'm a DC fanboy, let it be clear that Young Justice is an honorable mention for similar reasons. I love the character designs, and I think the representation is on point. Plus, while it does not have MCU levels of quality, Young Justice matches up with the good DC movies. It's just forgettable...and also because I never got the chance to watch the third season yet. Instead, I wasted my limited time with an HBOmax subscription on watching Doom Patrol, Harley Quinn, and my favorite Doctor Who episodes. Don't judge me!

Harley Quinn (2019-)-And seeing how I mentioned it, Harley Quinn is a fantastic show with perfect satire. And like some of the best satirical writings, this show has a deep understanding of the source material that it's making fun of while still providing an excellent story at the same time. However, most jokes die quick, and the animation is just flat out garbage at times. I recommend it, but keep in mind that there's a reason why it's just an honorable mention.

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018-2020)-I know I kind of trashed it with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) review, but the truth is that I really love this show. Or, at least, I want to love this show. Because there is something amazing and worthwhile that’s hidden under a gigantic pile of poor planning and network meddling. I plan to make a full review for it in the future, so I'll save my thoughts for when that comes. For now, just know that it's something worthwhile if you're the right person.

Amphibia (2019-)-Aaaaaaand it's the same thing here. There's a lot that I like about it, but the stuff I don't makes it hard to enjoy. I'll also do a full review on this one in the future, so you're just going to have to wait...again.

Tangled: The Animated Series (2017-2020)-Another show that I really liked and even considered putting on the list. Even wrote a review and everything. But looking back, the parts that it did wrong highly outweighed what it does right, and honestly, it was a toss-up between this and Star V.S. the Forces of Evil for what took twentieth place. I ultimately went with Star V.S. because at least it had villains that were actually intriguing and terrifying characters. Unlike a specific antagonist with blue hair who was so idiotic and insane that I honestly would have felt nothing if they died in the end...I know that I just made a ton of enemies with that statement, but I don't give a s**t. And if you're nice, I might rewrite my review so I can accurately explain why this series is a tad bit overrated.

The Looney Tunes Show (2011-2014)-... I liked it...other people didn't, but I liked it.

Hilda (2018-)-Because I haven't seen season two yet. That's why. And from what I've seen in season one, this show is incredibly charming, beautifully imaginative, and is absolutely something I would show to my children if I ever have any. Maybe it forces in drama when it doesn't need to, but overall, you can better believe that this would have made the list if I saw season two before I started ranking shows.

And those are my honorable mentions. I’ll see you tomorrow for the actual unveiling of the number one spot. And for the fandoms that I ticked off...be patient.

(Also, let this be a lesson to read the tags before clicking 'Keep Reading.' Unless that's what you did, in which case, BOY, do I have egg on my face.

[gay-jesus-probably]

So I’ve started watching Sonic SatAM, cause I remember watching Sonic Underground on youtube when I was a kid, and I’ve heard it was very similar to SatAM. I’m only a few episodes deep, but I’ve got a few thoughts already about the show.

For a start, SatAM has made it clear to me that the 90′s were a dark, dark time. Not because of the whole apocalypse thing, that’s fine, but dear fucking lord Sonic is the worst part of the show. I want him to stop talking. Forever. Shut the fuck up. Did people actually talk like that in the 90′s??? Was the word ‘mondo’ a major part of peoples vocabulary? Because listening to Sonic’s dialogue is physically painful, especially since nobody else on the show talks like that. Sonic is the only one who abuses 90′s slang to that extent. ...Fuck, Sonic is the only character that actually uses 90′s slang at all. The only reason anyone else uses 90′s slang is if they are talking directly to Sonic and repeating something he’s said. Also, what’s with the obsession with juice? I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to mean ‘going fast’, but he just keeps fucking talking about it all the time, and I want him to shut the fuck up about juice and just do whatever he’s going to do.

Just generally it’s never a good sign when the opening theme of a cartoon feels the need to mention that the main character has an attitude. That translate to ‘obnoxious dumbass’, and that is one of the worst character archetypes ever made. I feel like cartoons in the 90′s and 00′s were all deliberately aiming for the most unbearable piece of shit protagonists they could possibly make, and I hate it a lot.

Speaking of unbearable, my least favorite character in the entire show is Antoine. But it’s a weird kind of hate, because as a concept, I actually really like Antoine. He seems to be the only member of the main cast that’s actually aware of how much danger they’re in on a constant basis, and despite being rightfully terrified he’s still going on on regular missions. Especially since he’s the only member of the cast with a language barrier, which puts him in more danger than the others (as misunderstanding instructions can very easily be a death sentence, and the others don’t seem very invested in making sure he knows what’s happening). The concept is great. The execution makes me want to hunt the writers and voice actor for sport.

Just... why. Why would you ever think thats a good character. The joke is that he’s french. WE GET IT. The accent is terrible, every single line is mangled, and none of it is funny. He’s such a god awful caricature that I feel insulted by him, and I’m barely even french. I really like the potential of Antoine’s character. I just can’t stand the way they wasted it.

Anyways complaints aside, I am actually really enjoying SatAM. This probably the darkest concept I’ve ever seen in a show. Not just cartoons, not just childrens shows, any show ever. This setting feels grimmer than The Walking Dead. There’s something deeply unsettling about a show where the main antagonist wants nothing more than to be the last thing left alive, and has already killed nearly the entire planet, leaving the protagonists as a small group of survivors using guerilla warfare in a desperate attempt to slow him down. When the show begins, it’s extremely clear that the main characters will never get their peaceful happy ending - even if they defeat Robotnik, the planet is still a hellish poisoned wasteland. It’s going to take centuries for the environment and population to recover. Victory just means that things stop getting worse. That’s some dark shit.

And as for Robotnik, god damn. This might be because I’ve only ever known Robotnik as a giant ham whose evil schemes are doomed to failure, but holy fuck. I was not prepared for Sonic SatAM’s Robotnik. He’s fucking terrifying, and I love it. I’m half a season deep and he’s barely even raised his voice. He’s just got this sinister calm tone the entire time, and it’s extremely unnerving, but works perfectly for such a monstrous character. In his first scene, I didn’t even realize it was Robotnik talking until he turned around; I figured it had to be a bigger scope villain because there was no fucking way Dr. Eggman could sound that intimidating. I don’t know how they made Robotnik so intimidating, but he’s an amazing villain.

Also, I’m extremely into Sally, even if I don’t really like her voice actress. ...There’s nothing specifically wrong with her voice acting, it’s just that every other member of the resistance actually sounds like a kid/teenager, but Sally sounds like she’s in her mid thirties and it’s really distracting. Apart from that though I really like her, although I was... unimpressed with her leaving Sonic to rescue another freedom fighter alone so that she could go running off immediately to search for a clue about someone who has been missing for like a decade. I get that it’s her dad, but there was literally no reason as to why she had to search the swamp right that second. She could have helped Sonic rescue Cat. Fuck, she could have just waited until he was rescued and then gone. But instead she went off right away, which meant Sonic had to leave Cat to go save her and Antoine after they were caught on camera, causing Cat to be tortured to death off screen while the others were busy with shenanigans. And they don’t seem to acknowledge that she was wrong about that.

I’ve already heard that for Season 2 the network executives ordered the writers to chill the fuck out and make the show lighter, so they had to add even more terrible comic relief and flanderize everyone into bland caricatures, so I’m not looking forwards to that. But issues aside, I’m extremely into Sonic SatAM. Even if it’s a few decades late.

[clusterfullofblueberries]

I Just Realized That I Learned How To Draw Within This Decade

Like? Not because I had a school project to do or assignment like that, no! I just remember coming home everyday after school when I was a kid and drawing nonstop. Most of the stuff I made was Dragon Ball related because? Way back when I was little (9 maybe?), I went and watched Dragon Ball Z Kai on nicktoons. For some of you that don’t know DBZ or KAI because you are newer peeps that are into things like Transformers, Invader Zim, and an assortment of others that I have not posted work for in a while. You all have zero idea on what I’m talking about. 

Just know that DBZ Kai was an anime that aired on nicktoons that was a quick paced version of DBZ with more fluent voice acting and stronger lead ins to fighting sequences and good vs. evil crud. 

BUT I DIDN’T WATCH IT FOR JUST THAT!!!!

I watched it because the style was so bright and interesting to me. How these characters looked? The settings it took place, just all of it was so fucking cool to me and I wanted to draw in that style for the longest time. But when I tried to mimic that style it looked so god awful. No joke all of the artwork I had first made during that time was so bad. And yet for some reason? I didn’t stop drawing. 

I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to work to get that look that I saw every Saturday afternoon. Every year my style would get better, but I still wanted to do more. And no. Not a single damn day in my life did I ever think to take a class to improve my work. Why? 

For one, I was a baby and didn’t like class too much. Plus, I already had the drive and motivation to push me to make more, and this was something my parents noticed real quickly and bought me stuff to draw on. And by age 10 I had barely gotten the internet and by god was there a treasure trove for me to explore and possibly fuck me over in the near future but? I seem pretty alright all things considering. Minus the smut I saw much later on  > > that-... That’s for another time. BESIDES THAT THOUGH! 

Lil ol’ me was so in love with DBZ KAI because it was so beautiful and different than what I normally watched. It was so expressive and exciting. But what some people don’t know about me is that both DBZ KAI and Transformers were within my decade that I worked to draw. 

I drew TF stuff mid 6th grade and this was the time I caught up to Prime as I already watched TFA on Cartoon Network and now the Hub. But like? I was already in the year that the series was ending in Prime and cried. But!! That didn’t stop me from watching the shit out of them. 

Though I fell out of the loop for a while, I jumped back sophomore year in high school and i’m still doing it! Still drawing TF because I have the same amount of love for it as I do for KAI. I’m typing this real fast and their might be some errors in my writing, yet it just amazes me.

I have come from such a long way. Not even once did I ever feel like I was scared of drawing things, but I think when 2016 to 2019 hit everything stressed me out. I gained friends, I lost them. I’ve even despised a few now because of what they did to me as well as themselves. 

Just in all, I wasn’t too hot on things and often felt like dying because I really didn’t know how to handle this sudden rush of pressure filling my space. 

Everyday I felt like I was drowning and I couldn’t escape it. Like at any moment I would sink to the bottom of the ocean and decompose into nothing but food for sea animals.

There really is no other obvious way to put it that my teenage years really fucked me over and made me want to talk to as little people as possible. I can say that sort of mentality hasn’t changed much because I still am a teenager and want people to like me. Hell even love me. Don’t know what the plan is for me in the future other than to live and keep my passions in life strong.

I want to improve and work on things. I want to learn because having knowledge is good and vital to every living person, but if I could educate others on what I know? And what this world has to offer. That makes life so much better and in some cases more manageable. 

When looking at it from a certain philosophical perspective. We are like living books that do have an expiration date. Eventually we die. All parts of ourselves die and go into the unknown. But when sharing ideas or memories to others? Our memories live on and take on different interpretations for our newer guests to view and ponder upon. 

Look. I’ve been talking nonsense for the longest, but at least you know a little more about myself? Least a little bit. And know I love the hell out of DBZ and Transformers respectively and don’t plan on leaving this Earth just yet. 

I have to live past these stupid boomers that fucked us over. I live for myself and for as long as I am breathing I will continue to smile and better my way of thinking.

[fly-pow-bye]

DuckTales 2017 - “GlomTales!”

Story by: Francisco Angones, Madison Bateman, Colleen Evanson, Christian Magalhaes, Bob Snow

Written by: Colleen Evanson

Storyboard by: Vince Aparo, Emmy Cicierega, Ben Holm

Directed by: Tanner Johnson

Scheme-worthy!

The episode begins with Louie looking out the window in the room he has been grounded in in the last episode. Yes, he managed to get a grounding that actually lasts more than an ending of an episode, what a concept. He sees Scrooge and the rest of the family preparing for another adventure that is pretty much 100% out of Scrooge's unwillingness to lose the big bet that he made with Glomgold.

Louie tells himself that while he's grounded, at least he wouldn't be dragged into another dangerous adventure. He then notices the hobo bindles and cans of beans, and realizes exactly what they're going to adventure to a place where there's cherry Pep springs, where the con men sing, where the geysers spit out gold for everyone, and the Hobo King has a Ruby Bindle with Scrooge's name on it. In a reference to the old folk song, they're going to the Big Rock Candy Mountain, and Louie jumps out of the door and says he has to go.

Of course, Louie's mom is not going to let Louie go on the adventure of his dreams, because he's still grounded. Della's not going to be a pushover like she was in the last episode, oh no, she's not everything covered for him as we'll soon see.

Della: You can come out when you learn that no good ever came from cockamamie schemes!

In a masterful transition, we cut to the A plot of the episode, where Glomgold is using a slingshot to try to get into the Junkyard where Ma Beagle and her Beagle Boys live. While he ends up succeeding, he does end up in the hands of Bouncer Beagle.

Glomgold tries to defend his trespassing of the junkyard by saying that he's here because he has a plan to defeat Scrooge and his family. In his words, he's only here to recruit, not as workers, but as family, and family is the greatest scheme of all, according to him. With an evil laugh, we cut to a not-so-familiar title sequence.

Instead of the usual DuckTales theme song, we get his Theme Song Takeover instead. Honestly, I would have been disappointed if they didn't use it; it's great! It starts with him following the blueprint, we get "amazing CGI" that makes him look like some sort of muscleman, and lyrics that can only come from the masterful schemer, like "Scrooge stinks, Scrooge stinks, Scrooge stinks, Scrooge stinks!"

After that, we see that Ma Beagle is not exactly thrilled with working with Glomgold. She thinks he's a moron, and he can never beat Scrooge because he's smarter than the smarties. She also correctly accuses him of only doing this because he wants to win the bet. Kind of an interesting comparison between the two combatants of the bet: both Scrooge and Glomgold only have that on the mind. Of course, Scrooge is just getting more treasure, while Glomgold just wants to wipe out the other guy and his family.

The usual three Beagle Boys chime in to this offer, saying that they need a powerful male figure in their lives, and eventually Ma Beagle accepts the offer. No, not because she feels sorry for Glomgold, but because if Scrooge is defeated, she can get what she wants out of it: the deed to Duckburg. This is going to be a theme.

Meanwhile, Louie tries to sneak out, only to find his new babysitter...

Schedulebot: Punishment time! Punishment time!

Oh no, not Schedulebot! Get back in your own cartoon! Okay, it's actually DT-87, the security robot that also doubles as a video player that has Della trying to teach Louie ethics. Gotta say, Della using a robot that doesn't have a good track record of not becoming evil may not be her best idea. Granted, she wasn't around when this robot was attempting to shoot the kids with steel cutting lasers all those episodes ago, so I cannot exactly blame her for not knowing about it.

Or, maybe she did know, and she doesn't care, as we see that one of the ways DT-87 is keeping Louie into his room is with that said steel cutting laser. Granted, those lasers are different-looking here; they could be just set to stun, but we never find out if that's actually the case.

The next stop is Waddle, where Mark Beaks is busy looking up if he's still the "hottest" and "tallest" of the billionaires. He scoffs at Glomgold's offer to take down Scrooge while being a part of his family because he's too busy raising his rep with his inventions, like his very own cryptocurrency named Beakcoin! Surprisingly, Bitcoin is still relevant, at least from my research. Big Time wants to know where this magical coin is, and Beaks says it's in the cloud.

While the joke this leads to is predictable, I do like the execution, as Bouncer decides to throw Burger out the window to the clouds. Needless to say, he won't be successful, and Beakscoin isn't really the point of this episode anyway.

While Glomgold couldn't get Mark Beaks on his family, Ma Beagle decides to do her own plan based on her manipulation skills. She talks about how Mark Beaks is a loser, anyway, and there's no reason to use technology against Scrooge. Mark Beaks, out of offense for both of those, decides to join in as the Gyro Gearloose of the family.

Oh yeah, Glomgold is trying to get equivalents to all the people in the Manor, or at least the people that are in a photo he is putting faces onto. He has himself as the Scrooge, Ma Beagle as his Mrs. Beakley, the Beagle Boys as his Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and, as mentioned before, Mark Beaks as his Gyro Gearloose. It's neat to know Burger is supposed to be the Huey. I couldn't really tell what Burger's character is supposed to be even now.

Glomgold has to find his Launchpad McQuack, and that turns out to be the legendary Don Karnage. He is completely fine with going after Scrooge's family...or at least just the one member of it that defeated him. He also wants to sing, but I'd imagine they'd want to save the money they would put into such a musical number for the Moonvasion.

Finally, his family is complete, at least according to Glomgold. Unfortunately for him, Don Karnage and Big Time Beagle point out that he’s missing someone: he needs a Webby. Glomgold knows what person that needs to be, and he’s none too happy to get her.

Oh yeah, I kind of forgot to mention what happened to Magica De Spell in her last appearance. I would talk about that, but I'd say the way this episode introduces her is good enough.

We see Magica do this majestic boasting that she is the one that will make the world tremble, while in a void of purple dust clouds. If Dragon Ball Z has taught me anything, if there's dust clouds, that means it's probably not what it seems...

...and it turns out that the times after The Shadow War have not been kind to the wicked not-so-witch, as she's now a birthday magician for Funso’s Fun Zone. Her willingness to take over the world is only mitigated by her manager telling her not to do that.

Glomgold tries his best to not get Magica in his family, not because she would definitely overshadow him in every way...at least, that’s what he wants people to think.

To make a long story short, she agrees to become Glomgold's Webby, all so she can prove that she's Scrooge's worst enemy. Glomgold reluctantly agrees, and they begin the Glomgold-vasion. Also, yes, I like all everyone is dressed for the occasion. One can't see it here, but Mark Beaks's disguise is just a shirt that says "I am 10 years old". Mentally, yes.

Meanwhile, oh no, Louie used his master scheming to get Huey into his room, somehow! At least, that's what Louie wants DT-87 to think, as he tries to do the sibling switcheroo. We never find out if Della could tell the difference between the boys like Donald could in the comics; I’d think she would.

We don’t find out because of one one problem with this scheme: DT-87 knows fully well that Huey is on the adventure of Louie's dreams, as it shows that it's getting a video call from Huey.

Of course, the other kids are having this unbelievably amazing adventure at the Big Rock Candy Mountain's river made entirely of cherry Pep. Emphasis on unbelievable, it's just like that cliche plot where the kids decide to skip school, and the school happened to be doing something cool that day. It's almost like Della is rubbing it in by even allowing Huey to do this.

Eventually, one of Della's videos on ethics leads to her saying that Louie just needs to learn that his schemes are harming his family, and he should just stop. Louie tells himself that those schemes are the only thing he's good at.

Speaking of schemes, the newly formed Glomgold family all show up, using all of their abilities to infiltrate the manor. The manor has cannons, but they're all stopped by Don Karnage's ship. DT-87 tries to stop them, but his lasers are not set to "can do anything to Bouncer before he bashes his head in". Duckworth tries to use his ghostly demon form to scare them off, but Magica uses her ghost-capturing gem to capture him. Wait, I thought she lost her magic! Also, this never gets undone.

Unfortunately, all of this leads to their disappointment when they only see the grounded green one. They get angry at Glomgold for not checking if the others were on vacation, and that his scheme is worthless. I mean, that's what the adventure pretty much was, so I can't exactly say that's wrong. As Glomgold mopes about how his schemes are the only thing he feels he's good at, Louie gets an idea. Oh no, don’t be inspired by him!

We cut to Scrooge's premature celebration of winning the bet, and Zan Owlson congratulates Scrooge, and she can't hide that she would love to not work for that dreadful schemer.

Sadly for her, that dreadful schemer arrives with his family, and we get a shot that is worthy of the promos. This makes this look like the big battle we have all been waiting for. Well, except for that other one that involved those Moon people.

We get that big battle, actually, though it’s a bit late in the episode for it to pay off that much! One highlight is Glomgold and Magica eventually fighting each other, as they both want to beat up Scrooge. Of course, all of these mixed motives aren’t exactly making Glomgold win, much of the chagrin of the one that planned this invasion of Scrooge’s party.

Louie shows up, acting as if he's the big planner of this. His family is none too pleased, especially not Della, who was ready to give Louie a souvenir from the Big Rock Candy Mountain because she felt so sorry for him. Because of course.

Louie tells his plan: he was going to have each of the family members combine their fortunes, and, thanks to that contractual agreement, Glomgold gets to have a combined fortune.

With that combined fortune, this gives Glomgold more money than Scrooge, making him win the bet at the last minute! Oh no, say it ain't so!

Of course, this isn't how it ends. However, in a twist, it doesn't end in the other way either. This is all due to a technicality that goes into Glomgold's history. See, the deal Louie made is that the money is supposed to go to Flintheart Glomgold. However, there's one problem: there's no Flintheart Glomgold. There's a scheming guy who likes to call himself that, but his name is actually Duke Baloney!

Because of the contract they signed, all the money also goes to his partner, and since the partner actually exists, that means the money goes to one Llewellyn Duck. Wait, what?

In the end, Della pretty much instantly forgives Louie at this point due to the plan saving Scrooge McDuck from losing...as long as that money is transferred right back to Scrooge. Yeah, I'm not getting the vibe that he'll actually do that.

How does it stack up?

I liked this episode. Louie's schemes to get out of his time-out were pretty clever, including one I left out of the review. The big star of this episode is Glomgold. While it may not be the big battle, that's because we got another big battle coming up. Yeah, it's good.

Next, we get to see what happens when one becomes the richest duck in the world.

← TimePhoon! 🦆 The Richest Duck In The World! →

[timegal25]

The Odd Side of Youtube

     YouTube, the popular video sharing website, has been around for over a decade. It’s had it’s over abundance of videos themed around Fortnite, “emotional apology videos” stuffed to the brim with ad revenue, a disturbingly high number of poorly animated nursery rhymes, and surprisingly graphic skits targeted at kids. But it’s also been an outlet for creative expression and connection for those outside the mainstream. For a socially awkward and isolated kid who found companionship in watching YouTube, fandom videos offered a sense of connection, belonging and reassurance that there were “odd people” out there who shared his interests and passions.

While the vast majority of people know about things like “Gangnam Style” and “Let’s Plays,” not as many can say they have extensive knowledge of the various niche fandom videos that make up a good portion of the website itself. These are the odd clips that either you only come across by looking up directly, or have randomly pop up in your recommended feed with no real reason as to why.  In my case, I remember a majority of these from watching them when I was younger, and then rediscovering them when looking deep into the site on late night nostalgia binges. It’s  a common hobby of mine, and it usually leads to me finding some of the strangest things as a result. Oddly, a great many of these strange finds just so happen to include Sonic the Hedgehog.

Let me preface this by saying what follows is in no way an attack on any of the creators of these videos, nor is it a call for others to go out and harass them. In fact, that’s part of the point. Many of the people who create some of the more odd or innovative content on YouTube are doing it as creative expression of who they are or what interests them. It’s a place to express a part of themselves, and it takes courage to do it. It’s easy for those who aren’t so brave to attack the creators.  I actually enjoy a lot of the content I’ll be referring to because the people behind it are genuine and clearly having a ton of fun making it. This is all done in good fun, and shows just how strange and odd fandom culture as a whole can be. And for some of these innovators who dared to put themselves out there, it paid off big time just by how fondly remembered they are by those who talk about them. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s begin.

Part One: Hedgehogs and Dragon Balls

To start things off, let’s look at a project that is fully animated. Before YouTube, there was the popular website Newgrounds, a place where you could watch videos, play games, and just mess around. This is where a lot of influential and important creators got their start by posting their little animations on the site. On August 14, 2006, user Chakra-X (real name Aaron Cowdery), posted the first part in a three-part movie called Sonic: Nazo Unleashed with part two coming a week later and part three following in 2007. All three parts were later uploaded all into one HD remaster under the title of Sonic: Nazo Unleashed DX on YouTube in 2014. The film follows Sonic and his friends as they take on the mysterious and powerful Nazo, an unused form of Sonic from a promotional video for the anime Sonic X.

Now what makes this special from say the dozens of Sonic themed fanfics that follow a somewhat similar premise? Chakra-X did something no one had dared to do before. The animation was very heavily inspired by the anime megahit Dragon Ball Z and its then airing sequel Dragon Ball GT . The sound effects used and the presentation of special moves were ripped right from the series and even parts from the climax are just ideas presented in the show such as two characters fusing to make one new powerful being. In 2006, it was unheard of to see Sonic characters perform such high speed anime action. What was even more notable is that it was created by one single guy on the internet.  The professionally produced Sonic X TV show that was airing at that time paled by comparison, even with a team of professional animators with high tech equipment.

In the decade since Nazo Unleashed originally came out, Chakra-X has been a part of various animated collabs and now works for Titmouse Inc , an animation company that has done work for companies like Warner Bros., Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and even Disney. What was even more inspiring for me, Chakra-X is a young black man . This was the first I’d become aware of anyone who looked like me being a much sought after animator. It told me that I could be him, I could be in his position if I put in as much effort and love into a creative project. And with how amazing the upcoming sequel he’s working on looks, I feel that kind of hopeful inspiration even more.

The next piece I’m going to examine is another well known series in the Sonic fandom community that also is heavily influenced by Dragon Ball Z. While it is also animated and is full of high speed action packed fights, this one has its own amazing identity. The series I’m talking about is the always spectacular Super Mario Bros. Z by Mark Haynes, aka Alvin Earthworm, starting in 2006 and going until 2009. While this series was originally created on Newgrounds, it’s real exposure and popularity came from being uploaded to YouTube.

The series follows Mario, Sonic and friends as they go on an epic race against time to secure the powerful chaos emeralds from the clutches of the evil Mecha Sonic. Much like Nazo Unleashed, the influence of Dragon Ball Z series is anything but subtle, with the plot of “good guys need to find powerful objects before bad guys” being one of the key ways to describe Dragon Ball as a whole. One of the key things that makes this stand out on its own is the fact that this entire series is animated using sprites from the games. Just about every character that wasn’t made specifically for the series has their models taken right from their games. Mario and Luigi for example come from the Mario and Luigi role playing game (rpg) series on the Gameboy Advance (GBA), while the Sonic and Shadow sprites come from Sonic Battle also on the GBA. An extra step is taken by having the characters act like they do in their retrospective series. Mario and Luigi never actually use dialogue boxes in their games, with other characters still understanding them. The same is true here with the brothers’ words never actually being seen on screen. Going that extra step to emulate the games made the videos feel more authentic.

I was relatively young and new to the internet when Super Mario Brothers Z  (SMBZ) started popping up. I wasn’t fully aware of what sprite animations were, as they weren’t as easy to make or common back then as they are now, so I would see all the action and Sonic and Mario on screen together and I thought that it was an actual game. I wanted to play it so badly on my Gameboy Advance SP. On one trip to a Gamestop, my young self boldly walked up to the lady working the register and asked “Hey, do you have Super Mario Bros Z ?” She gave me this look that said either she knew exactly what I was talking about or didn’t have a single clue at all and just nicely said that they didn’t. I went on to repeat this at several more gaming stores before I realized that it wasn’t a real game, nor did it ever claim to be. It was then that I started looking for games I wanted myself because sometimes just saying a title out loud can make you look like the strangest person around.

What made the SMBZ series so attractive and so entirely different from anything found on YouTube at the time was the animated action. You might think  that since the series is using pre-made assets and models, that there must be some limitations on what can be done. However, with a bit of help from some custom new sprites as well as some fast editing and sound effects, things can get insane . Being able to translate the speed and intensity of a Dragon Ball Z fight is hard enough to copy with regular animation, yet Mark was able to do this with 2 dimensional sprites and flashing lights. And even that pales in comparison to the pure adrenaline of fights concerning the series main antagonist, Mecha-Sonic.

Originally starting off as a mostly side boss in Sonic and Knuckles , Mecha Sonic became a fan favorite thanks to this series. Like any good antagonist, he can easily prove himself as a threat to the heroes while also being able to take the hits himself. This comes across easily in the series most popular episode, Brawl on a Vanishing Island . This 30 minute episode has a variety of characters going up against each other, but the mood quickly turns the second Mecha Sonic arrives and absorbs the power of the Chaos Emeralds. What follows is an absolutely brutal beatdown of another team of antagonists, the Axem Rangers X. The speed, the sound effects, alongside an amazing remix of Sonic and Knuckles’ Doomsday Zone playing in the background, this is a simply amazing bit of animation that can’t really be put into words without it sounding absolutely ridiculous. And much like with Nazo Unleashed, so much of this was done by just one guy.

After episode 8 in 2009, things basically ended on a cliffhanger with the series being presumed over. Haynes had his own life and things to deal with, and something that took up so much time to make could be easily seen as poor use of it. In the years following, many others tried their hand at sprite animations with heavy action scenes with that becoming its very own subgenre on YouTube. Then, in 2016, Mark made a glorious return with the first episode of what was basically a reboot of the series. Fans loved it, amazed to see how far things had come. And then..there was basically nothing else. Originally, Haynes had a Patreon set up so that fans could fund him making this as well as possibly being a way for him to make this his job. It was shut down, most likely due to him directly saying it was going towards the series and Nintendo seeing it as someone else profiting off their IP. With any funding that could go towards rewarding all this time and effort being taken away, as well as Haynes having more important personal things and depression, it is unlikely that we’ll see an update anytime soon. It’s been three years since the first episode went up on YouTube, and while I still hope someday he’ll return, but as someone who knows that forcing yourself to make something others want even if you don’t want to is like, the personal happiness and health of Mark Haynes is so much more important.  He’s already left an amazing legacy on the net, and the stuff he’s given us is already great enough as is.

And now to go from flash animation, to sprite animation, we’re reaching the next logical step. Out of all the series discussed in this part, this one is my absolute favorite. And it is one of the weirdest things out there. Another crossover series featuring the world of Mario and Sonic, alongside a few notable others. One that’s full of action and character, and it’s all animated in PowerPoint (no, I’m not kidding), this is Chocobro Cinemas’ The “Dimension” Saga. Strap in, things are gonna get really, really weird.

The series started in 2007, with Dimension Mix-Up as it followed various characters from Super Mario Bros, Sonic the Hedgehog, Frogger, Invader Zim, and Calvin and Hobbes. That was all 100 percent serious, and to the credit of both this and Super Mario Bros Z, there is a feeling of self-awareness running throughout the whole series. I unironically love this entire series from start to finish, mostly just due to the fact that there’s so much creativity and love being put into something that most people would just brush aside as another cheap fanfiction. When I originally found this back in 2007, it was like the most amazing thing ever. The computer I had at the time took forever to not only load flash animations, but even playing them took like 5 years for just a few seconds. I hadn’t really known what Newgrounds was fully back then either, so Super Mario Bros Z also wasn’t something I watched at the time, and I came across this. An action filled adventure that had characters not only from Sonic and Mario, but also Invader Zim which was still super huge at time, and Calvin and Hobbes?! To a megafan of all those things who would actually spend their time on Fanfiction.net reading stories about this stuff (Yes, even Calvin and Hobbes), this was like the holy grail. Also Frogger was there, so...that was cool?

This story should not work, these characters all being together on screen expecting viewers to care for them all should not work, this idea of using powerpoint back in 2007 to simulate animation of any kind should not work. Yet somehow...it does. Even with the fact that this is clearly just a camera recording a screen at this point, there’s something rather entertaining about it all. And the action isn’t half bad for something made with a tool that clearly was never meant to be used in this way. It can actually be creative with how some fight scenes are done. The whole of episode 6 is able to show off a giant robot boss battle with some pretty decent speed, while episode 8 can trick viewers with its looping backgrounds. The best part of this comes just from watching how not only does the quality of the video improve over time, but so does the writing and the story. Dimension Takeover and Dimension Obliteration are amazing and admittedly addicting watches that have the same level of love and care put into them as the previous two series discussed in this. Giving the fans such high quality action and adventures while also doing a really great job of making all the interactions feel like they’re from their source material. Well, at least as close and one can get when you have a hedgehog talking to an imaginary tiger and a group of cartoon frogs. I can’t say thank you enough times to the people who’ve made all their series, as my love of writing stories based on my own favorite series probably wouldn’t be as strong today. And hey, one can surprisingly do a good job with powerpoint. At least it wasn’t just a slide show.

Part Two: These literally are just slide shows!

Sticking to the topic of Sonic, he seems to be a super popular subject for crossovers. Besides Mario, he and his friends have appeared in both official and nonofficial meetups with all kinds of pop culture favorites. The one series that seems to dominate the realm of Sonic crossovers online is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic . The series itself has had quite the impressive run of nine years, with its final episodes airing this year. What probably would have been seen as just another cheap product placement by the majority of people if it hadn’t been for the rather large audience of grown up fans that for a time basically ruled the internet. While in the later years the fan base has shrunk as all fandoms do, there are still those that happily enjoy watching cartoon ponies and doing various things related to them online, myself included.  

Now how does a super fast and cocky blue hedgehog that saves the day from an evil egg shaped man and his army of robots have any kind of connection to a cartoon about six colorful and talented ponies as they go through their lives learning about and solving problems with the power of friendship? Well, both are series that have similar characters with Sonic and Rainbow Dash both being blue,fast, and cocky. Both series deal with giant world ending disasters by using powerful gems and the power of teamwork. And both believe in the real power of friendship. So, yeah. There’s bound to be a ton of fan series based on seeing these two worlds meet up. And hoo boy, Youtube sure seems to love hosting a ton of them.

The common theme in all the Sonic/My Little Pony Crossovers in this part is that they’re all going to be slideshows. There might be a few clips from the shows or games, maybe a piece of fanart or two, but 99 percent of the stuff in these videos is just going to be static text. Let’s start with the...highest quality one of the three brought up in this part, Sonic X Equestria by Speedstar Productions . The plot is nothing new. Eggman shows up to wreak havoc and Sonic must team up with the cast of My Little Pony, or Mane Six as they’re called, to help stop him. When I said most of these are just slideshows... I wasn’t kidding. The entire series will go from random screen cap to random promotional images, with text overlaid on the bottom. There is no original voice acting either, with the only voices that occasionally can be heard coming from the clips or sound bytes. There is no promised sense of consistency either, as photos of the characters can be pulled from different seasons, games, comics and shows all together. In this, Sonic is supposed to have his normal modern look but some screenshots are from Sonic Boom which is a show with different designs. Another example of this comes from shots of Twilight Sparkle. This show takes place in the My Little Pony world after Twilight becomes the princess of friendship and gets her own wings. Even shots from the first episode will use photos of her without them. It’s never actually a thing that matters to the show, as it acts like everything is on model, and that we can perfectly see everything that’s going on.

Another thing that this and many others like it seem to have in common is the idea that Sonic is the one doing all the work, while all the ponies just kinda...watch in the background. Sure, Twilight will pitch in with her magic every once in a while, but if Sonic’s taking on Eggman? He’s mostly going in solo. Sure, these ponies have easily taken on things like chaos incarnate, and powerful tyrants with black magic. But a man in a giant robot suit? Too unpredictable . Sure, one could argue that it’s because the mech being used in the fight only has images of Sonic fighting it...but in a later episode , the girls join in a fight that’s entirely animated! I shouldn’t be mad about this, yet I am!

Though..despite the rant, I still find myself enjoying watching this series. I can’t fully explain if it’s ironic or if it’s unironic. Maybe it comes from the fact that everyone still acts in character to their on-screen counter parts, leading to interactions that fans wanted to see. We want to see the ponies talk to Sonic characters, and help take down Eggman. The use of actual pictures from the shows and games helps too, making us help visualize it as if it were an actual episode.  Maybe it comes from the fact that it feels like something I would watch in the early days of Youtube. The kinda low effort yet also decent attempt of trying to make events appear coherent in some way, even if the images shown aren’t the most in continuity. Though, episode 11 is literally the Shadic vs Nazo fight from Nazo Unleashed. Those things aside...this is still kind of a guilty pleasure watch that I’ll binge from time to time.

Sometime last year, I was looking up Nazo Unleashed videos late one night, due to that time bringing out a large sense of nostalgia for days gone. As I was looking, I saw a thumbnail that stuck out to me. Or rather...a title that stuck out to me, as well as a runtime that had my interest set to max.

The Adventures of Sonic in Equestria Nazo Unleashed The Movie HD , by Adam Selvig, is a title that feels like it should be one of those videos that promises an upload of a current movie in HD that only links to scam sites that will give your computer a virus. It isn’t that. This is a slideshow that’s the length of a movie. College lectures aren’t this long. The best way to describe this one is that Sonic and the ponies must come together to defeat Nazo as well Tempest Shadow, a character from the My Little Pony movie. Also, Sonic and Rainbow Dash have a daughter called Sondash, which is literally just art of a child Rainbow Dash. This series is weird. Another strange thing is that a lot of the channels posting Sonic / My Little Pony stuff in series like this...usually have around 1K subs. That’s nothing to any major Youtuber, but the idea that even just one thousand people subscribe to watch this stuff as soon as it comes out..is just mind blowing.

This film is part of a series, one that started all the way back in January of 2018. The playlist for this thing says that the series as of March 4th, 2019...is 103 videos long?! And with seemingly all of them in the 20 minute range...the question becomes, how long has Selvig been working on this thing, and does he have others help him with it? And again...why is it always Sonic that seems to be doing everything around here? Are the ponies just lazy now that an outsider is here?

The odd thing is that there are so many Sonic/My Little Pony crossover videos on Youtube, but when looked into, so many of them are the exact same content. Stills and transparent photos with clear backgrounds with text overlaid. And so many are able to get these creators at least a few hundred subscribers. In a surprisingly deep sea of similar executions, are there any left that stand out above the rest? Good news, there is at least one series that goes in another direction. In more mixed news, well…

This is Harmony and Chaos by Michael Evans. While originally popping up as text on gradient background sometime in 2017, the whole series is now being voiced over by its creator. That’s all this is. Text on a background while one man narrates over it in various voices. And for the most part, there isn’t much there at all in terms of action. Now, I’m only nine episodes in this seemingly sixty plus episode run with multiple seasons series, so I might be wrong. The main focus of this series is romance, and boy is there a lot of it. If there’s a male character from Sonic and a female character from My Little Pony that interact a lot in this thing, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll end up smooching somewhere on down the line. This sounds exactly like what many seem to see fan bases as general as, writing overly long amounts of fan fiction that are also chock to the brim with romance and needless drama. In this series, Rainbow Dash is getting a divorce from her husband who she thought was cheating on her, when really he only made it seem that way so that she wouldn’t have to know that he was dying from a deadly disease. It’s a move right out of the soap opera playbook.

Despite all of this, I find myself coming back to all of these series and watching them in huge chunks. It comes from a sense of odd curiosity on how the story is going to play out.  It also helps that the people behind this stuff seem like just genuinely nice people that want to post their creations online and share it with the world. It’s just that the stuff they make is really weird, not bad, just strange. And even then, it’s not the most strangest thing on the net that’s out there.

Part Three: Big Adventures, Bigger Casts

The best way to start this final part was with an image. An image that perfectly tells someone everything they need to know, as well as absolutely nothing at all. Welcome to Pooh’s Adventures , a seemingly endless number of movies and tv shows that are “edited” to include characters from Winnie the Pooh, My Little Pony, Transformers, Thomas the Tank Engine and so, so many more. I put edited in quotes because really, does this count as editing in any way, shape or form? To give a basic plot outline of just about every single Pooh’s/Thomas’/Insert Character name here’s adventure, large group of characters are inserted into popular movie or show, where they help the main character of said movie or show against the antagonist who is now usually joined by other villains from various forms of media. Rinse and Repeat for every movie ever with vague hints of events from previous adventures running into this one.  Take any movie, and there’s a good chance there’s at least the idea for a Pooh’s Adventures on it. Like for example Winnie The Pooh vs. Jaws , which while not a real movie as of this writing does have a devoted page on the fan wiki . And it seems to promise quite the cast of characters.

It can actually be somewhat hard in trying to find some of these, due to the fact that they’re just full movies with other copyrighted clips put in at random intervals. Those that are still up on Youtube seem to be the ones that use the most obscure of movies as their source . And just like with the Sonic/Mlp stuff, all of these channels seem to have at least a few thousand subscribers thanks to it. Of all the adventures that still remain on Youtube, Winnie the Pooh Goes to Hotel Mario / Pooh’s Adventures of Batman Forever is the one I’m most proud still remains. There is no connection between the two, besides the fact that both Hotel Mario and Batman Forever are both seen as surreal experiences that have very little connections to their source and are enjoyed in a “so bad it’s good” way.

There are still ways to find both older and newer uploads of the various adventures online. Many of the members will just upload their older stuff to Google Drive or Dropbox , and more recently, a lot of uploads are being moved to Pandora.tv, a mostly Korean based website where they can run ads on the video.

The wiki for this fandom is massive, with there being over thirty five thousand articles as of the time of this being written, with new ones being added or updated seemingly every few minutes. Most fantasy wikis can’t reach numbers that high! Though, most of the pages on it are bare-bones with only a single line or two for a ton of characters while others are pages clearly ripped right from other fandom wikis. There’s also ideas for series that are just the title and then nothing else, along with transcripts and posters put next to dozens of dead or empty links. For a site that seems so bloated and full, it’s actually pretty empty and hollow upon closer look.

I wanted to share all of this because so much of this resonates with me in some way, even Pooh’s Adventures , since I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought up crossovers with insanely large casts that really should have nothing to do with each other.I guess in a way...I saw these all as the things I wanted to make but never knew how to. I’ve always wanted to animate, to tell my stories with these characters that I know and love to as many people as possible, to hear their feedback on all of it. That’s why I got so passionate talking about all certain moments or episodes, it’s all the things I would do! They’re people just like me, and that’s why I wish Mark Haynes the best in his life, why I’ll say the guys who work on the Sonic and My Little Pony  seem like nice people. That’s why I’ll be so amazed by someone having a thousand subs or more. I see myself in these creations and the experiences of their creators. The pains of depression, the joy of seeing how their work has influenced others, the effort and care put into these things. I want to see them succeed and be supported, because that shows me that I can succeed too.  

[jaeh1]

party time - jjh

pairing: jaehyun + fem!reader

summary: in which you and your boyfriend Jaehyun blast a party for his little girl, and you would never change this life for anything else.

genre/warnings: fluff, language, past mentions of cheating (and i am sorry, yet it’s not the reader or jae doing it.), suggestive maybe. Jaehyun being a wonderful dad we all know he is going to be.

wc: 3115

a/n: GUYS, this one was requested, and i’m really not sure if this is what you had inside your mind anon, but i tried my best to write something for you, and I actually like how it turned out to be. Happy Jaehyun Day!

masterpost | network

Today is Jena’s birthday, and it means you are going to bake her favorite cake for her and her little friends from her class that is going to party with her at Jaehyun’s - your boyfriend - house. You and Jaehyun are together for almost three years now, and his intentions with you were always the best.

So, here you are, with flour on your cheeks as Jena runs around the kitchen holding the sugar pot. 

“Hey, you little Usain Bolt, come here with the sugar!” you chant as you try to catch the six year old girl, and even if you’re way taller than her, she moves so fast that you can’t get her.

That’s when you realize Jaehyun is at the door, looking at you two with a bright smile. He notices that you both just saw him and he stands there, his hands on his waist, trying to look like a hero from a movie, superman, you would say, as he takes the towel he was holding and ties it around his neck so it looks like a cape.

“I heard a girl got some precious sugar at this house!” he says, trying to sound like a hero from a cartoon, his voice lowering a level.

“Oh, no!” Jena exclaims, her little eyes getting bigger as she looks at you, and then at her dad again.

“Join me, little girl!” Jaehyun puts some effect on his voice and you hold back a laugh, helping him creating a scene. “And I will help you run away from the evil baker!”

“Pause!” you say, and then you smile “The evil baker? Is it my villain name?”

“I think it’s a cool one” Jena says, nodding her head.

“Well, ok!” and then you’re back at the play again. “Yes, I am the evil baker and I need the sugar to make an evil chocolate cake!” You make some effort to sound like one of the bad guys from Jena’s favorite cartoon.

“Will you join me, Jena?” Jaehyun pretends he’s worried, rushing Jena for an answer.

“Help me, good guy!” she shouts, running for her dad, and Jaehyun gets her in his arms, lifting her until she’s sitting on his shoulders, her head almost hitting the low ceiling, and you almost forget you’re playing with them as you think how she grew up so fast, probably getting more from his dna than from her mother, she’s a bit tall for her age, she got his dimples and her eyes look exactly as his eyes when she smiles.

She laughs loud as he starts running away with her, just now you wake up for life, smiling at the scene.

“You can’t catch me now!” a big smile forms on her face.

“This is not fair, you two together are like a human kind of megazord!” you pretend you had been defeated, and Jena looks confused.

“A mega-what?” she asks, and Jaehyun uses the moment to get her off his shoulders, as she protests a little, pouting, yet, she hands you the sugar pot and you whisper a ‘thank you’ to her.

“Megazord is a big robot that defeats the bad guys!” Jaehyun show off a pose of a megazord, an old memory of your childhood playing on your mind as he does, remembering the time you watched to power rangers on tv while your mom untied your hair after you coming home back from school.

“It seems so cool!” she’s amazed by her dad and try to do the same pose as he does, you get the chance to finally get back to baking the chocolate cake she likes so much for her little party that evening, you still hear their conversation at the living room. “Can i have one?”

“Hum…” Jaehyun seems to think. “Getting a real megazord is really hard, you need to be a power ranger to have one.”

“What is a power ranger?” she asks, and you wait for your boyfriend’s answer before turning on the mixer.

“Huh… we can actually watch what is a power ranger, explaining is kinda hard.” and you laugh, Jaehyun always being the confused guy when trying to explain even the simplest things for his daughter.

“Can we watch it now?” you can almost see an excited smile on her face.

“After you get all your toys inside the box, yes, maybe…”

“Ok!” and just now you start the mixer, smiling at the little moment.

You would never change this life for another.

+++

After putting the cake inside the oven, you go upstairs to find Jaehyun and his daughter inside the bath, both wearing swimsuits as they sing a strange version of ‘Yellow Submarine’ and you take your time to watch them together.

From the first date, Jaehyun let you knew he had a daughter, and your friend Johnny, who tried to put you two together, had already said that to you when you first showed interest on his “tall and dimpled friend from that pic of his stories on instagram.” When you knew things with Jaehyun were starting to get serious, and your feelings for him was a little more than just a summer thing, you made sure to show him how much you wanted to meet Jena, and just for the way he talked about her you could feel how much he loved her, and how much she means for him.

He would smile every time you asked him about her, and what she liked to do,  you also noticed how he had never told you about her mother. You asked Johnny if it was a good thing asking Jaehyun about his ex, or not, - because first, you thought she was dead, but Jaehyun was talking about her getting Jena for winter break, and he cut the subject at the same time, not giving more information than that one.

Johnny said the basics, that his ex had cheated on him so they divorced, being married for just a little more than a year, nothing more than that. You weren’t pushing Jaehyun, though, so you never really asked him what happened, waiting his own time to do so.

When you went with him to get Jena at her mom’s house for new year’s eve, he held your hand, driving slowly because of the rain, and he told you that he found out what she was doing behind his back, and the process of getting divorced, and fighting to know who would be with Jena, Jaehyun saying that he would never let his little girl live with her mother because of what she did.

Jaehyun finds your lost eyes on his and somehow manages to smile even bigger.

“Calling from earth! Where are you?”

You arch your eyebrows, Jena’s laugh making you smile softly before you even know.

“I thought you two were watching power rangers.” you look at Jena and she smiles.

“We have a party to blast!” she’s clearly excited to get together with her friends.

“You are watching too much television, little lady.” Jaehyun boops her nose and their interaction makes your heart flutter, nothing is more perfect than their relationship.

“Is mommy coming?” she asks, and a small smile plays on her lips, you actually don’t know that answer and look at Jaehyun waiting for him to say something just like Jena.

He takes some time to breath in and out and nod his head, humming. Jena claps her hands, visibly happy with the news, though you couldn’t see the same excitement on Jae’s face, he smiled too, but only because he saw how happy Jena is about seeing her mom again.

You don’t feel anything too, because you know things between them ended in the worst way, Jaehyun would never come back to her and you’re not jealous, but that doesn’t mean you like her even a little. It’s important that she have interest in Jena, but she clearly hates you for something, and you already know that it’s because you’re with Jaehyun, you see Jena more than she does, and you love, and are loved back by the person she used to be married with.

The few times you had to meet her, she would let everyone know her dislikes on you, and you never did something to try to change her mind, - like, if you could really do something about it. However, you try your best to pretend you don't care about it, and you really don’t, but sometimes she is so annoying about how “the house was better looking when I lived here” and “Jena loves it when I cook her favorite food for lunch.”

While you were thinking, Jena and Jaehyun got out from the bath and he wrapped the towel around her body. “Will you help me finding the perfect dress?” she looks at you and you soften at her.

“Of course!” you say and she tighten her arms around her body to hold her towel, running to her bedroom. “Hey, little girl, don’t run with your feets wet!” you turn around to get her but Jaehyun’s hands finds yours before you can do it.

“You’re overthinking.” he says “Don’t, okay?” he gives you a quick peck on your lips that leaves you unconsciously leaning in for more. “Everything will be fine, I promise, I don’t think she would try to ruin her daughter’s birthday.”

“I hope so.” you say. “Now go change yourself and buy us some ice cream because I don’t think we have enough.” you peck his lips now, and his hands find your face, trying to get more from your touch. Both of you smiling when you hear Jena yelling your name from her room, rushing you.

“You have a princess to dress.” he says, and you give him a last kiss before heading to Jena’s room.

Crossing your fingers, you hope she likes the dress you bought for her a week before and hid it inside her wardrobe without her noticing it.

+++

The kids started to come inside the house as their parents left them and said the “they’re allergic to this and don’t like when people do that to them” stuff that you didn’t really understand before meeting Jena, and now you are the one who says these things whenever you leave Jena at a party when Jaehyun can’t make it.

Much to, practically everyone’s dismay, Jena’s mom made a little late but was there too. She helped a lot, though, looking after the kids while you and Jaehyun were in the kitchen trying to keep up with the children’s rhythm of eating snacks.

Soon enough, you gathered everyone to sing happy birthday for her and take pictures of Jena with her friends. You headed to the kitchen with Jaehyun with the cake to start cutting it and giving it to the kids, as their parents were already starting to send messages saying they were coming to get their kids.

You left the kitchen with a tray full of candies and cakes to feed the kids and you saw Jena’s mom sneaking inside the kitchen, making sure you would see her. You sigh, one more time that evening, trying to hold yourself from all the stress she wants you to feel.

It’s Jena’s birthday and it should be a happy day, even with her picky taste for everything making you want to scream your lungs out.

You walk back to the kitchen, hurried since kids can’t be too much time alone, and you stops suddenly as you hear her voice. hiding yourself behind the wall, you try to catch what they’re talking about.

“...We could’ve talked it out, Jaehyun.... at that very moment.”

Jaehyun lets out a chuckle, and you look at her, frowning. Jaehyun never talked about their relationship in the past years, and you never forced him to say something, sometimes he would let a memory or another, but you could feel he was uncomfortable even with the idea of remembering that something happened between the two of them.

“Well, at that very moment was impossible, because you were fucking another guy on our bed, I kinda guessed that you two would be tired from all the, you know” he says, gesturing with his hands, you can feel how nervous he is “all the movement.” he finally looks at her, and your heart hurts, knowing for the first time what really happened.

“That was not like that-”

“Then what did I see that day?” Jaehyun cuts her, and she takes a long breath.

Jaehyun keeps cutting the cake and putting it on the small, purple colored paper plates.

“I miss you.” she gives another step closer to him.

“Don’t-” Jaehyun says, shaking his head, and that’s when you decide to do something.

You enter the kitchen, holding a tray, you put it on the table and shake your head “This is your problem, not his.” you say, putting the plates inside the tray, and you let a small laugh leave your mouth without your consent, nervousness running through your body, you don’t know how Jaehyun would react to you doing this. “But I kind of feel you,” you look at her, and with your peripheral vision you could see Jaehyun frowning at you. His ex with a disbelief expression on her face, waiting for your next words, “You know, he fucks me so good at that very bed, I would miss it too.”

Her jaw dropped open, and she can’t seem to find a reply for your sentence, shaking her head, as she leaves the room. Now alone with your boyfriend, you let out a sigh, one more because of her, going back to your work and organizing the plates inside the tray before getting it on your hands to head to the living room again.

Jaehyun touches your hand and you seem to finally come back to world, now hearing the sound coming from the room beside the kitchen, kids laughing and Jena’s favorite song playing on the speakers, you could even hear she singing to the lyrics with all her heart.

You look at him, and he still frowning, but now, a little smile starts to display on his face and you smile at him too, he takes your hand and touch it with his lips, the warmth of his lips touching your skin making you feel a little less nervous.

“Only because I have to keep everything G rated today.” he says, and you’re finally laughing at his goofy way of doing things, and when he shows you his dimpled smile, you know everything is alright, just then you leave the room to feed all the hungry children running through Jaehyun’s small house.

+++

You hear Jaehyun’s steps, coming from the stairs and soon his arms embrace your waist and you feel his head on your shoulder. Taking off the super-bright yellow gloves that Jena had choose because she liked the color, you turn yourself and look at your boyfriend with loving eyes, mirroring his own.

His hands roams down your body and you look at him with suspicious eyes, and he just keeps smiling, he then suddenly lift your legs and you straddle his body, laughing as he walks you two around the kitchen. He sits you on the counter and press his lips softly on your forehead, and you close your eyes, embracing his body close to yours, staying like this for some minutes, you could even fall asleep, with his embrace making you feel safe and the warmth that comes from his body that makes you feel like you have, finally, found something that is worth to live for.

“Thank you for today.” he says and you hum, slightly startled at his low voice close to your ear, he kisses the skin just below your ear and you know exactly what he wants.

You chuckle. “There is nothing to thank me for, I love you and I love Jena, and she loves my chocolate cake, of course I would come to help.” you say, but you know what he is talking about, he is talking about you finally fronting his ex, and for not asking him further about anything because he is not comfortable with the idea of talking about it yet. And you understand it, and he is thankful for that.

He lifts his head and his forehead touches yours. You intertwine your fingers in his and he closes his eyes, drawing imaginary circles on your hands with his thumb. “can you stay tonight?” he asks, and gives a kiss on your left cheek, you smile with the little gesture, and before you can answer he speaks again “and tomorrow morning?” and tomorrow night…” he smiles and open his eyes to look at you.

You frown, trying to get his words, and it makes your heart warm with every kiss he is now leaving on the skin of your neck, and his hot and soft breath as he say every word.

“And you can maybe stay the week,” another kiss “and the month, the year…” he kiss your soft spot and you can feel his smile against your skin and you smile too, pulling his body impossibly close to yours.

“Are you asking me to move in, now?” you say, and he looks up at you. His serious expression takes you by surprise, your smile slowly fading away as his face is getting close to yours, your breath mixing with his, your heart beating a little too fast, his lips so close you can almost taste them with your own.

“I am asking you to marry me, now.” he says, his lips touching yours as he finally says the words. You smile as the words find your heart, finally catching what he said.

You kiss him softly, and his hands press you softly against his own body, making you feel like you two gonna melt into one.

“Yes, yes, yes” you say against his lips, bringing your hands to caress his cheeks, “a thousand times yes, holy shit, yes, I want to marry you!” you laugh, not really believing what is happening, but you feel so happy, your heart beating fast like it is going to have a life for itself and starts running, the butterflies flying inside your belly and the stupid smile that insists to play on your face.

“Fine, now I can fuck you really good on that bad everyday for the rest of my life.” he smiles and you laugh, smacking him on his shoulder.

“Let me live, will you?” you say, and press your lips against his cheek, “besides, I will be all wrinkled.”

“I swear to God, I know you gonna look just as fine as you look right now.”

[joyofcrime-elinorhigh]

Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular REVIEW:

Hello there, everybody. My name is JoyofCrimeArt and Halloween is right around the corner. Enjoy it while you can because the minute Halloween is over you know that big business and mass media are going to start bombarding us with Christmas music and advertisements twenty four seven, (assuming they even wait that long.) But regardless of that THIS time of year is celebrated with candy, pumpkin spiced everything, and of course Halloween specials. You got your Charlie Brown's and your Over the Garden Wall's and such, but if you ever watched Cartoon Network during the month of October during the early to mid two thousands their is one special you must of at least glimpsed at least once. That special is Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular!.......Ah, I see what you did there, it's a pun on... yeah, well played special.

In case you don't know Scary Godmother is an animated CGI Halloween TV special created by Rainmaker Entertainment in 2004. It is based on the children's book and comic series of the same name created by Jill Thompson. This special was a staple of Halloween on Cartoon network for many years and even got a sequel entitled "Scary Godmother: Jimmy's Revenge" the following year. Now is this special any good. Ehhh-Ye-No....Sorta? Let's talk about it.  The first thing you'll notice about this film is it's animation. It's...not the best looking by today's standards for sure. CGI from this era is definitely dated by this point, but it's hard to blame the special for it's animation given that it was only 2004. Plus the special does offer up it's own sort of style in many respects. The character designs on the humans aren't very good, as a lot of the time they do just looked like pallet swapped versions of the same model, but the designs of the actual monsters later in the special are really creative looking, just like in the books. Plus they do this neat thing where a lot of the backgrounds will be hand drawn illustrations and certain props will have a cool "pop-up book" element to them. So yeah, the animation is pretty dated, but I'm glad that they did something to make it have it's own unique look. So I can forgive it for the most part.  The special opens up on Halloween night as we see three kids, Daryl, Bert, and Katie dressed in Halloween garb outside of the haunted "Spookhouse." Katie is dressed up as a cat, which is sensible enough, but Daryl is dressed up as a piece of candy, Bert is a baseball driver in his SUV. It's dumb and cheesy but in a charming and kinda amusing kind of way. Anyway, then we Jimmy appear on top on a tombstone dressed in his devil pajamas, but he is quickly knocked off of the stone be the light from a flashlight held by his younger cousin, Hannah, our main protagonist for the story.  Now here is where things start to get a bit odd. Jimmy asks why Hannah is flashing the flashlight around, and then the three other kids jump in calling for a "flashback." Now some fourth wall humor isn't the weird thing, but what's weird is the fact that we don't actually get any real "flashback." instead we get a scene of the characters reenacting a scene where Hannah's parents give Hannah the flashlight with Daryl and Katie playing the part of Hannah's parents. But the thing is, 1.) Jimmy and Hannah clearly came to the Spookhouse separately from the other three kids because they show up afterwards, so there's no way that Katie and Daryl could of known the specifics of how Hannah got the flashlight. 2.) Jimmy was in the flashback, picking Hannah up before going trick-or-treating! So how was he confused by Hannah's flashlight? He saw Hannah's parents give the flashlight to Hannah! I mean I suppose he might not have been paying much attention to what Hannah was doing since Jimmy wasn't in the exact shot where Hannah's Dad (played by Daryl.) gave Hannah the flashlight, but still! Also then there's like this wipe, where Hannah comments that that was close to how it all went down. With, Bert even being annoyed he didn't have a role in the flashback, so I'm not even sure if that scene even happened at all! It's hard to explain but it's a really bizarre scene. Point is, Hannah's dad gave Hannah the flashlight, saying that light from a flashlight could scare away monsters.  Anyway, while Hannah is off flashing her flashlight around Jimmy talks to his friends. Jimmy comes with the idea to trick Hannah into enetering the old Spookhouse. That way Hannah would run home scared and they could trick-or-treat without her, since there "big kids" and she isn't. The other three are against it at first but end up being tempted into evil by the silly devil hoodie clad little boy. So they tell Hannah that there is a monster in the Spookhouse, and every Halloween the new kid must go inside and give the monster a piece of candy or else the monster will come out and eat every kid in the world. So Hannah goes into the house, and is tricked into thinking the house is full of monster due to Jimmy's amazing work at creating hand shadows.

I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE OR HOW GOOD YOU ARE, HANDS DO NOT WORK THAT WAY!  Anyway the big kids run outside the house leaving Hannah in, holding down the door knob so she can't run away. Even though the whole plan was to make her run away. They just want to traumatized the kid a little more. Y'know, for the lol's and such. Anyway Hannah starts crying until suddenly her Scary Godmother appears! Hannah is at first to sad to even notice this, but eventually Scary Godmother is able to get her attention. Now you may be wondering what is a Scary Godmother, and the answer to that is obvious! It's..um...I guess there like Fairy Godparent's but...spoopier? Or something? I dunno, it's not really touched upon much. All that matter's is that Scary Godmother is going to kidnap-I mean-invites Hannah to her home on the "Fright Side" for her Halloween party, so she can introduce Hannah to all of her monster friends in order to help her get over her fear of monsters.  We get this weird scene where Scary Godmother has Hannah get on her broom and they fly up the chimney and into the sky to get to the Fright Side. They fly through this weird cloud monsters mouth and then end up there, but what I don't get is if Hannah flew up the chimney how come none of the big kids saw her? Also later in the film they don't seem to need to fly back in order to get back into the Spookhouse. I figured that the Fright Side was tied to the Spookhouse but they seem to be flying away from the house in order to get there. WHAT ARE THE RULES HERE! NO, YOU'RE OVER THINKING THIS!  Anywho they end up in Scary Godmother's house located on in the Fright Side. I like the design of the house, it oozes Halloween and the pop up book aesthetic really shines here. Scary Godmother begins introducing Hannah to all of her friends. Starting with her "Broommate." (Yeah, I hope you like puns, cause you're going to be getting a lot before this 44 minute film is over.) Mr. Pettibones, a Skeleton who lives in peoples closets. Much like Pearl from Steven Universe his main personality trait...is being really gay. *OH MY GOD, IT WAS A JOKE, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME STEVEN UNIVERSE FANS* I swear as a kid I never got the joke that he was suppose to be a skeleton "in the closet." but it's actually kinda clever looking back on it now. And all joking aside he's not a bad character. He does act as the sassy gay best friend to Scary Godmother but he is a funny character who has a role in the story. He's the one setting up most of the party. Mr. Pettibones also explains more to Hannah that not all monsters are bad.  We then cut back to Deryl, Bert, Katie and Jimmy waiting outside of the house waiting for Hannah to come out screaming, annoyed that it's taking so long and-OMG WHAT THE HECK!

We get a Black Hannah and what I think is just a literal clone of Katie, except she's in a bee costume. Who cares about this story, I want to know about the secret underground cloning lab that exists in this town! Anyway as I said the big kids are waiting for Hannah and Daryl and Katie are trading candy, because they decided to trick-or-treat a little before meeting up with the rest of the gang. Katie offers Deryl a piece of candy for "three kisses." And they go in to kiss before Bert interrupts them. I wonder where this romantic subplot will lead........  (It leads nowhere.)  Back on the Fright Side it's time for Hannah to meet another one of Scary Godmother's monster friends. This time a werewolf (or is it wolf man?) named Harry. Harry is...pretty much the worse. He's dumb, arrogant, rude, and overall self absorbed, with food being the main thing on his mind as he mooches off all of his friends. And I'm not saying this as an insult to the film, because the film acknowledges it! Nobody in the film likes this guy! And to be fair he's not too annoying to the audience, as he seems far more annoying to the characters in the film, but still. It's weird why they even bother inviting this guy. Even when Harry isn't doing something wrong everyone at the party seems to have disdain for him, which in some ways makes me actually feel bad for him. But then he does something else selfish or annoying to make me feel less sympathy towards him, which I guess is good since the film isn't trying to make him sympathetic I guess? You'll see more as I go forward with the review, but yeah. Harry is THAT guy. The guy we all know, the friend that we don't like but we just got to put up with.  Harry goes up to Hannah thinking that she is an actress in his favorite "Skelevision" show. (Ha Ha! The puns have returned!) I wonder where this subplot of Harry thinking Hannah is an actress will lead........  (It leads nowhere.)  Though I do appreciate the film diverting from the cliche "Vampires vs Werewolves" rivalry, instead opting for a "Skeletons vs Werewolves" rivalry, which makes a lot more sense when you think about it. Though this rivalry probably has less with race and more with everyone hating Harry.  So after that it's time for the next guest to arrive. We get the vampiric couple of Count Max, Ruby, and their son Orson. Wait a minute....Max....Ruby.... 

 MY GOD!  Scary Godmother invites the vampires in. (Because vampires can't enter a house uninvited.) and Hannah starts befriending Orson. It's a really cute scene and makes some great use of a rotating camera angles. Orson is also really fun with his awkward childishness contrasting the fact that he is a vampire. Hannah and Orson's friendship just feels like a genuine friendship in the way kids there age becomes friend. (Also it's a better love story then Twilight, am I right? Yuk Yuk Yuk?)  Oh and there's also a pointless chase scene...moving on.  Also throughout the film Harry keeps becoming incapacitated. First he get's peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth making him unable to talk earlier in the special, and then he get's hypnotized into a trance by Count Max.  We then get our next guest, the monster named Bug-A-Boo. A giant multi-eyed fanged monster. I love his design due to it's uniqueness and while he's not actually scary looking to the audience, if you where to imagine this thing being in the real world it would be terrifying. And Hannah agrees with me as Bug-A-Boo is the monster that causes her to finally freak out. And can you blame her. One of his teeth is the SIZE OF HANNAH!

Also there's a genuinely funny bit with Hannah screaming, then Scary Godmother telling her to breath. She breaths and then starts screaming again. Good stuff.  Anyway another chase scene begins and Hannah tries to shine the flashlight on Bug-A-Boo. Only to find out it doesn't have any effect. Scary Godmother lies to Hannah telling her that flashlights only work on monsters who live in the closet, not under the bed. Hannah says she wants Bug-A-Boo to leave and he begins to comply. This is when she see's that looks don't matter, and that Bug-A-Boo is actually nice. Though is he that nice? We learn that his job is to scare children by hiding under there beds, which is pretty much the same thing that the big kids do to Hannah, and their treated as the villains. Also do you think whatever company Bug-A-Boo works for is a rival company with Monsters Inc?  With all of the guest arrived the monsters and Hannah begin their Halloween party. We cut back to the big kids and theirs a bizarrely funny bit with a Bert saying that his "Door is ajar." there's no logical reason I find it funny, but I do. Also that cut to the big kids lasted exactly 19 and a half seconds and only exists to do the "Door is ajar" bit. WORTH IT! Then we get a very brief dance sequence with the monsters and then cut BACK to the big kids. Because...why not? The night is ending and the big kids have, for all intensive purposes ended. Katie wants to go an rescue Hannah but Jimmy is insistent on waiting for her to come out of the house on her own.  Jimmy you're plan isn't very good! You have your little cousin run into an old abandoned house that has a frickin' GRAVE YARD it it's front yard, and then spend like, hours, waiting for her to run out. Why not just go in there and see if she's scared? If she is she'll probably agree to have you take her home. I means she's must of been there for a while since all of the houses are turning there lights off, so if she wasn't scared before what would make you think that she's be scared now. What do you think she's been doing this whole time?! You wasted your whole Halloween on faulty logic! If you wanted to get more Trick-or-Treating done you should of just cut your loses and given up long before now! But no, you still hold on to this plan. What is she was attacked by a murderous clown or something!? Who knows what kind of non supernatural threats could be inside this creepy old house. Jimmy you are so stupid!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgxYUxqcg1Q

Ugh! So anyway Jimmy says that they should continue with his idiotic plan because he's the leader, and all of the big kids get into an argument on who the leader is. There's a bit decide to do a vote on who should be leader and they each get one vote each. Bert and Jimmy vote for themselves and Katie and Daryl vote for each other. (Which is a cute moment and the one of the only bits of continuation for their "romantic subplot.") Then if that wasn't pointless enough we get a scene of Bert demanding recounts and Daryl recounting the votes. Granted the scene is kinda funny, but I would be lying if I said it wasn't pointless.  Back in the Fright Side we get more interactions between our colorful cast of characters, and we get to see a bit more of Hannah and Orson and also some interactions with Max and Ruby. We get to see Max is sort of introverted and behind the times. He wants to be, in his own words, "groovy." I like Count Max a lot because of this and most lines from him get a pretty good laugh out of me. He's kinda like a less silly version Count Dracula from the Hotel Transylvania series. Again, it's good stuff.  So then it turned out that Harry, the Scumbag Steve of the monster world, has eaten all of the buffet. (Though in Harry's defense, before this scene none of the other monsters where letting him eat any of the buffet, which does seem a bit unfair. It further goes to show how odd it is that they even invited him if he wasn't even allowed to partake.) So now that there's no food left And thus Bug-A-Boo suggests that they should order pizza. And thus we begin the pizza sub plot! I call it the sub plot because the whole pizza scene takes up a total of four minutes (not counting the cut back to the big kids that occurs in the middle of said subplot.) and contributes almost nothing to the story! I know that four minutes does not sound like much, and it really isn't, but consider the fact that the special is only 44 minutes long. So that's an eleventh of your whole story! Keep that in mind.    So we then get a scene where we learn that Bug-A-Boo and Hannah both like pizza with extra cheese and olives on it. Further cementing that fact that Bug-A-Boo is nice and doesn't eat little girls. Proving that no matter how different people look or act we can all bond over are love for pizza. World peace is truly a possibility here folks.  So they have Harry order the pizza's because they clearly haven't learned there lesson by this point and he ordered twelve pizza's, and Scary Godmother doesn't have enough money to pay for it. There's a funny bit where the pizza delivery boy offers to give them the pizza's on the house is Scary Godmother gives him her soul, but she declines. Scary Godmother, Mr. Pettibones, and Hannah try to get some money by taking all the money that got stuck to Bug-A-Boo from being under the beds all day. Hooray for stealing money from your friends! (Which he accidentally stole from children!) Also the pizza's are said to cost about 200 dollars, and Hannah even mentions finding a 50 dollar bill. I know Bug-A-Boo goes under a lot of kids beds but how many kids who are young enough to be scared of monsters under the bed really have that much money under there beds. Even I've never seen a fifty dollar bill before, and I'm way older then those kids would be!  So then Scary Godmother chastises Harry for buying to many pizza's, telling him that he's going to make it up to her by working for her until he makes up the money. This is actually a major plot point in the second special, if you can believe that. Also Harry doesn't get any of the pizza. Poor Harry. If only he wasn't so darn awful I wouldn't feel so conflicted in feeling bad for him!  There's also a funny joke where Count Max recalls an old conversation he had. "-But other then that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you enjoy the show!" It's funny because her husband was shot right in front of her...oh, now I've bummed myself out.  Then Hannah tells the monsters why she's here, and gives Bug-A-Boo a piece of candy in exchange for not eating everyone in the world and that's when the monsters tell Hannah that she had been lied to by Jimmy. We also learn that Jimmy is one of the kids on Bug-A-Boo's route and that even big kids get scared. Then Scary Godmother comes up with a plan to get back at Jimmy. It's time to go Toy Story on those fools.  Outside the Spookhouse the big kids finally decide to enter the house, even though by now they seem scared to enter it themselves, which would make a logical reason why they didn't go in to get Hannah by now, except they where in the Spookhouse earlier in the film when Jimmy was making his magical shadow puppets. They walk inside and see Orson, thinking he's just a kid in a costume. Orson get's mad that they don't think that he's a vampire and called out his parents form the closet, as Count Max and Ruby say that there going to eat the big kids. They run in fear from the actual vampires and end up coming across all the other monsters all threatening to eat the kids. Harry ends up actually trying to eat Daryl thinking that he's a actual piece of candy. So that's one potential human casualty that could of occurred as part of this plan. They then find Hannah and Hannah uses her flashlight to "defeat" the monsters, as every time she points the flashlight at one of the monsters they pretend to die. Scary Godmother even frickin' melts. The big kids end up running out of the house scared and Scary Godmother gives Hannah a magic key, telling her that if she ever wants to return to the Fright Side she can, and all that she would have to do is use that key on any door. Jimmy asks if Hannah wants to hold his hand for "her protection" and she agrees. The special ends on the valuable moral that "Revenge is great!"  So in conclusion, is Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktacular any good, and is it worth watching? Ehhhhhh, I think it depends on who you are. This special, from a technical standpoint, isn't that great. There are a ton of flaws with it. The animation is dated, the special is overall pretty plotless, there is a ton of filler, and some of the choices made by the characters don't make to much sense. So if you want a special that is better on a more technical level, one with better story, animation, ect. then this special probably won't be your cup of cider. But if you have nostalgia for the special, or if you don't mind some cheesiness and just want a fun but kinda dumb special that will put you in the Halloween mood, you might end up enjoying it. I had more fun watching this special for this review then I expecting to be honest with you. So maybe consider checking it out sometime.  What do you think of Scary Godmother? What do you think of the sequel (which I hope to review next Halloween, from what I remember it's one of the few sequels that is better than the first one, though that not that difficult considering this special.) Leave your thoughts in the comments down bellow, I love to hear what you guys think. Any suggestions for things I should review. Suggest them down bellow and maybe I'll do em' if I find them interesting enough. Please fav, follow, and comment if you like my review and have a great day and Happy Halloween!  ...Oh, and did you know that Scary Godmother is played by Rarity from MLP:FIM? And Hannah is Princess Cadance? It's weird. (I do not own any of the images or videos in this review all credit goes to there original owners.)

[zatyrlucy]

Random question: What do you love about Hazbin, and what could they do to improve a few things (in your opinion)

Hi! Sorry the late answer, I got busy all weekend because of a party and other social activities. I saw your question on my cellphone but I decided it deserves a long post. Also, I want to thank you because I was wishing for this type of question since Wednesday, like “why people care only about the negative, nobody cares about the positive aspects too?” So I guess I called you with my mind xD Anyway, for the sake of order, I will do a list. I’m tired, so these topics are the ones at the top of my head, maybe I will come with more in the future or if people make more questions that could help me think about it.

1.    The art style. Vivz art style is AMAZING! and unique. I have never seen anything like that before. The way she does the hands, the arms, that long neck, big eyes, everything! That’s why after I watched the Hazbin Hotel’s trailer on April I started to look for more of Vivz artwork and I loved all of it, especially because she has a consistent art style since the beginning, and that’s remarkable.

2.    The design of the characters. Vivz characters are crazily designed and I love that. Angel Dust is the best example, I have never seen a character like him, so complex and yet so simple. Even the human-like characters look beautiful and unique, like Vaggie and Alastor.

3.    The personality of the characters. Even with the fact of being demons and the fact that they have to act bad and evil doesn’t make them the same. Every one of them has a different type of evilness, different ways to be bad and that’s excellent to me. Is like, every demon have a different sin to work with. Angel Dust is lust, Katie is greed, Sir Petious is proud, Husk is laziness and so on.  

4.    The originality. Yeap, I said some things about the plot of HH but I really like the idea in general and the potential it has. Because I’m frigging tired of those stories about “The (young) chosen one that has to save the world from evil (and maybe goes to school)”. Like reaaally tired of that. Something I also love about HH (cof* and villainous cof*) is that the show is about the bad guys, not the heroes. Also, a bonus is that all the characters are adults. As someone in her late 20’s, I am tired of kids or teenagers being the protagonists of animated shows. Yeah I know adult animated shows also exist but most of them work with the same formula, the good guy defatting evil, or at least, giving a good example to society at the end of the episode or whatever. Also, the base of adult shows is the stupidity. South Park, The Simpsons, Family Guy, there is a lot of stupidity in them, but Hazbin Hotel has pretty dam intelligent characters. They are evil, not stupid.

5.    The place where the story is taken. Is HELL!!!! What others shows take place in hell 100% of the time? Uh? I love hell and everything about it!! Especially because is the Christian hell, so I hope there would be a lot of biblical references, demonology, and angiology.  

6.    The fact that Vivz and the crew can do whatever the f*ck they want. Last but not least. I screamed of joy when I discovered this show is not attached to any company or channel or whatever and so (by logic) there will be little censorship. They can say bad words, there will be blood, a lot of sexual references, homosexual content and a lot of violence! Is not like Invader Zim when they got problems with Nickelodeon or Villainous where Cartoon Network censors the blood; even shows of Adult Swim get censored. Youtube could be a problem, but if things got nasty I guess Vivz can put the “+18 confirmation” to watch the video (I watched a video of a man who killed himself with a gun and it seems ok for youtube). The sky is the limit, they are free.        

Remember, this is just my opinion, this is how I feel about the show, is not pointed against someone in specific etc etc etc

Now, about the second part of the question, what “few things” are you exactly talking about? plot? designs? the thing I talked about of not liking Charlie as a protagonist? If you want, you can send me the question again being more specific. Also, that gives me a chance to answer it in another post, so this one doesn’t get so damn long hehe. And thank you again for your question :) 

[brendancorris]

Thundercats Roar thoughts...

So a friend of mine showed me this trailer a few weeks ago, and for a second I didn’t believe it was real. But, before I get further into my thoughts on this thing everybody else on the internet has already covered, let me go into my history with Thundercats.

Despite never drawing much fan art for the series, Thundercats is a property I love, and one of the biggest parts of my life in my earliest years. Born in ‘86 with three older siblings, I was just in time for the original Thundercats. My family already consisted of die-hard fans, so it was naturally one of the first franchises I got into. From the time I was born to when I was about 4, Masters of the Universe and Thundercats were what it was all about. It wasn’t until ‘89 that I got my first TMNT toy, and about a year later that was literally all I cared about. 

But before my TMNT obsession, there was Thundercats. While I do have many fond memories of watching the show, my most beloved memories of it are simply being a fan. Collecting the action figures, listening to my siblings talk about the show, and playing Thundercats. Not a video game, though. On nights when my Mom was out, my Dad would host He-Man or Thundercats games where he’d be either Skeletor or Mumm-ra, my oldest sister and brother would be She-Ra and He-Man or Lion O and Cheetarah (while my other sister would be... somebody) and I, being the baby, would always get stuck being Orko or Snarf. All us kids would wrestle our dad and beat up on him as he’d try to defeat us. Epic stuff. Some how the younger of my two sisters would usually end up horribly injured after each game, though...

Simply put, Thundercats was the real deal with my family when I was little. The action was great, the evil beasts were awesome, the toys were a blast, and Cheetarah, along with the He-Man girls, made me feel things my tiny self wasn’t yet ready to feel. 

It wasn’t until I was in high school that I revisited the show, and, honestly, I was surprised how much it held up. Especially considering in high school I was “too cool for everything” yet I still acknowledged its quality. Yes, it was corny in the way all old children's’ shows were at the time (I have nothing but love for that tone, but I can see how it would be hard to digest for later generations), but it still had great, smart, sophisticated writing for its time, amazing animation and artwork, good characters, and one of the most hype intros ever.

In 2011 a reboot was made. This reboot was far darker and more built on political commentary. It was an understandable progression. The fans had grown up, so the franchise did too. While I wasn’t a huge fan, I can respect the quality of the writing, art, and over all work that went into it. It was a sophisticated piece of art. I felt it went a bit too extreme with the tone it was pushing, and as a long time fan of the original, found lots of the changes and design choices hard to digest. But again, it was a good show, and I respect what it attempted to accomplish. 

However, the show was canceled before season 2 could air. This left a lot of fans mad, confused as to whether it was low ratings, low ratings as a result of its switched time slot that was far from ideal, or just a business decision to sacrifice a popular show just to make way for a potentially more popular future show. While I can understand the upset from fans 100%, I didn’t feel it as I wasn’t a regular viewer. 

So, fast-forward to earlier this month when my friend shows me this trailer. As I said, at first I thought it was a joke, like College Humor or something. Then when the realization sunk in that it was real, I hated it. But, quickly I told myself that I don’t know enough about it yet to fully judge. I haven’t seen an episode. Sure, it looks awful from what I’ve seen, and I can clearly see the “monkey see monkey do” going on here with the copying of other successful modern cartoons. But, again, I haven’t seen it. Before I get into my final thoughts thus far, I need to address the elephant in the room...

...the similarities everybody has seen in this and Teen Titans GO!

While I wasn’t a die hard or anything, I did watch the entire first two seasons of the original Cartoon Network Teen Titans series when it was new, and I did like it. I thought it was very well-written, well-acted, had great characters, great character development, great stories, and great action. The characters worked off of each other beautifully. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit I had some issues with it.

UNPOPULAR OPINIONS AHEAD - PREPARE TO HATE ME

Since its release I have always found the art style to look very under-developed and unappealing. It looked like an awkward imbalance of the (already bland in my mind) Justice League cartoon style and a newbie anime style. The best way I can describe it was it resembled the artwork of a junior-high kid who just started drawing anime. Also, I found a lot of the anime-inspired elements to feel forced. When characters would mutate into chibi disasters or tropes like sweat drops scrolling down their faces would happen, it was always a bit cringy and out of place. It felt like it was shoehorned in rather than rightfully fitting in.

But the most notable thing about the show was it was a pretty huge departure from the original DC comics. Gone was the realistic art style of the comics. Now the characters all had big, round heads, twig-like limbs, huge hands and feet, and big anime-eyes. Everything was very simplistic, sharp, and jagged. There was far more comedy, some great, and some that cringy chibi stuff I mentioned. The integration of anime tropes and far more kid humor was a huge departure from the comics. So, basically, despite being a good show, Teen Titans, the show, was a huge departure from its source material.

Then comes Teen Titans GO! and overnight it becomes one of the most hated (and most popular) cartoons of this age. I didn’t quite hate it, but wrote it off as crap without seeing it. It is a shame that the original show was canceled before it got to be finished, but putting fans’ anger towards that aside, the creation of TTG makes perfect sense. The characters proved extremely popular and marketable, largely because how comedic they could be when bouncing off each other (and the original show had been canceled. Continuing a canceled show years later is a difficult task, regrouping the team, dancing through the legal BS, and finding enough staff and people to fund it to be on board, as well as a network to accept it). More simplistic art styles were becoming more popular, and after the post-Adult Swim days, hyper, wacky, odd comedies have become the norm.

To be honest, any time I have seen Teen Titans GO!, which has only been about three episodes or so, I laughed. I don’t care what people say, the show is legitimately funny. Is it the greatest show ever? Not by a long shot. Is it better than the last TT show? Probably not. Is it a shame it exists while the original never finished? Kinda. But is it a bad show? Honestly, no. 

TTG knows exactly what it wants to be and delivers. It may not be the sequel show old fans wanted, but if you put aside the hatred, you’ll see it’s not only a funny cartoon bursting with energy and very well-defined and appealing character designs reminiscent of shows like Dexter’s Lab, but also a huge love letter to the Titans, the last show, and all things DC. It is clearly made by DC fans. I may be biased because I love Weird Al and The Golden Girls, but, man, this is funny right here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ICmOMLX3rQ

Admittedly, even the movie trailer looks funny, and I’ll likely see it, despite not really being a fan of the show. Just like the 2011 Thundercats, I see what the TTG team is intending to do, and I appreciate how well they do it, despite not being a regular supporter of it.

And, well, that brings us back to ‘Roar’. Will I like it? Based on what I’ve seen so far, likely not, but who knows. It could end up being the next Sonic Boom. I do strongly dislike the art direction for Thundercats Roar, and the footage shown thus far did not make me laugh (except Mumm-ra learning about the cats being on Third Earth by reading it in the newspaper. That actually got a chuckle from me). But, as much as my gut is telling me to hate this show, I won’t pass judgment until I’ve at least seen a couple episodes. It’s definitely not the Thundercats I love, but to be honest, I didn’t want a TC reboot. I was fine with it just being as it is. So if somebody’s going to reboot it for a new generation, I’ll be glad to see my favorite franchises get passed down, so long as it is done lovingly. If the show truly is a love letter to the history of the franchise as it claims to be, and if it’s a decently quality product that obvious care went into, I’ll be fine with it.

It would be so easy to tear it apart and hate it, but as I get older I find myself growing more accepting of such change. I’m not EXPECTING to like it, but who knows, I also wasn’t expecting to like Sonic Boom. Basically, so far I’m not digging what I’ve seen, but I’ll keep an open mind and stay hopeful. Here’s hoping they can change my mind with the final product.

The End

[thesimplekritik]

So...San Diego Comic Con

Another Year, Another SDCC happened. To be honest, I was never into sdcc until this year, and now that is over (I believe) I want to share my top 5 reveals/trailers that happened in these days. Before that, I want to say my honorable mention: The Aquaman trailer; Invader Zim; The Godzilla trailer; that Cartoon Network Crossover; Star vs Forces of Evil S4 Clip...that’s all I can remember. Okay let’s go

5# Infinity train trailer 

Back in 2016, I watched the pilot of this show....which l loved, and I was hoping one day this would be greenlight. And one day, Cartoon Network was like “....kay fine” And now, is coming for next year

To be honest, even though I’m ok with her appearance, I still kind of preffer her pilot face. But look at the background, is beautiful. That artstyle is something I can watch for hours

So yeah, if this still has the charm of the pilot (the mistery and stuff), I believe we have another masterpice from CN. (You can watch the trailer here)

4# SHAZAM! trailer

Okay, first of all, I like DC (even though I preffer marvel), like some of the animated shows and some of the animated movies (specially the Red Hood and Dark Knight Returns), but the real life movies...not so much. I mean, focusing on the DC Cinematic Universe, Batman V Superman I didn’t like, saw chunks of Justice League, which it bored me, and didn’t watch Wonder Woman (ok don’t kill me on this one, I saw clips of the movie and it looks good as heck, just need the motivation) So DC shows Titans....was ok for me, then it shows Aquaman, it looks nice, nothing mindblowing for me, but then...shazam, instead of being all dark and serious, they go with this...

which...I like...a lot, and I believe THIS is what DC needed, their Guardians of Galaxy/Ant-man. For what I see, I’m really looking foward, the child who plays as Billy does a nice job of portraying a kid character. The foster brother also does a nice part of his job.

But the character that takes the cake is Shazam himself 

Zachary Levi does a great job portraying this Superhero acting imature and childish (because, well...he’s a child) I don’t know what else to say, I believe this is going to be the one of the best, if no the best live action movie for DC.(Again, the trailer is here)

3# Amphibia Intro

Some while ago, Dinsey revealed two upcoming series. One was The Owl House and the other one was Amphibia. By just looking them, Owl house looked amazing, but I didn’t know what to think for the other one.

But then, the intro for Amphibia was shown, and by it looked, I ended up pleased as heck. The ambience, the style, the pacing, the music, that friking music, makes me want to see more of this shows.

Also it looks that is going to have like a fantasy, adventure, mistery tone, which is welcome I’m really hyped for this one and going to see it when it came out (Sadly, Disney didn’t show yet a HQ intro for amphibia, so you can whatch it here, provided by Ford in Bikini)

2# The Three Caballeros on Ducktales Season 2

Okay, I know that showing just a image is not that amuzing, when they show a season finale trailer, and let me tell you, Magica is not joking around, but let me explain.

Donald duck is my favorite Disney character, period; and when they put him along side Panchito Pistoles and José Carioca, goddamn, I can smile like for a day. I really love watching this trio, from their movie (which was a fine movie, but the animated parts are amazing) to House of Mouse. Then, a few week(s) ago, they leaked the show “The Legend of Three Caballeros” which...is not bad, but not that good, and it doesn’t make justice to the trio.

So when they showed the upcoming characters for the next season, I was glad for their fans (not mind blowing for me, but happy to see them) but when they show Panchito and Jose, my mind was blown. I can’t wait for season 2 and how the crew behind this amazing show would handle these 2 characters

1# Steven Univese: The Movie Teaser

I know it’s just 20 seconds, I know they show the next episode and revealed White Diamond and White Pearl, and yes, those are also cool, but for me, this, this is just cool, it makes me think the journey that Steven, the cristal gems, Rebecca and The Crewniverse had for all this time.

For a show making a movie, is a big deal for the crew behind it (I know it’s a TV movie but still), so the budget for a movie is more than normal, so the team can update some of the animation. So I can’t wait for the movie of S.U, and can’t wait to see how the background would look, how the movement of the characters would be, and many many more. Also the reveal of this character.

I remember seeing this shape heart stone on a comic of Steven, with the two Topazes. Also, with this, would be fun to read/watch the theories many fans would do, which is interesting for me with the ideas or clues they came out. So yeah, I can’t wait for this movie and what Steven Universe will bring us to the future.

So yeah, that was my top 5, hope you like them, be free to comment your top 5 :)

[botslayer]

Thunder Cats Roar: The hatred of Cal Arts coming to a head because...?

Okay, We all, at this point, know about “Thundercats: Roar” Which has earned the Ire of Many MANY fans of the original. Generally because of the style of not only animation but genre the show seems to be going for. So, I want to give my Two Cents, cool? Cool.  So what’s the problem with the Style of animation? A lot of people use, what is basically a catchall term, “CalArts Style.” For those not familiar, CalArts is the short version of “California Institute of Arts.” This is basically an Art School with quite a few people who have shows these days. Now, why is this a problem? Well for starters, The style most people have walking out of there is similar, I think we’ve all seen the following quasi-meme. 

Yeah, Weird, isn’t it? Now, Here is ThunderCats Roar:

It’s got a lot of color, if nothing else. Kinda looks actiony, I guess. But Otherwise, it kinda looks ugly and fairly sloppy. The characters look more fat than muscular, And yes, I’m well aware that Proper Muscle, not just from bodybuilding, like actually going out and getting super fit, makes you look more broad, But the anatomy doesn't QUITE sell that.  Compare that image, while you’re at it, to shit from the original show or from the 2011 Reboot. 

The original show, while the designs on the kids were funky in all the wrong ways, Had detail and knew how to get across the musculature of its characters, I wouldn’t want to run across ANY of these people in a dark alley, I’d probably get killed. Especially Panthro, Spikey bastich. Buuuut, one look at Lion-O if no one else, and I get this vibe, Like “He means no harm” He’s a guardian, a protector. And on top of all of that, they pulled off fairly fluid animation despite the time frame. 

Mind you, the latter is a low res pic, But the point stands that the character Designs in the 2011 reboot were actually pleasing to the human eye. I could tell all of these people, just from a glance, while fairly fit and probably deadly if they wanted to be, are actually decent people, and the kids don’t look too weird anymore. This show had more heart in these two frames it almost seems, than that poster up above. So that’s actually part of the reason this new direction pisses people off, we HAD a reboot that was actually well drawn and had heart, the only reason it failed was because Cartoon Network didn’t know how/want to Market it and put in a bad time slot as either an ill-fated boast or out of genuine stupidity, no one knows.  Now, I by no means “Grew up” with either show, but I enjoyed the 2011 series during its run and the original is still a legacy series, It had a lot of people that loved it to death, it is, to this day, the subject of one of the longest-running “Who would win” debates, “Lion-O or He-Man?” The second series looked better than the original, and now Roar is happening, with what most consider to be an inferior style to the show from (At present) seven years ago. 

This isn’t just fanboys hating reboots, it’s people spurned by an idiot network that then re-uses a licence they fucked up on the first go. And let’s actually talk about the “Cal Arts Style” thing for a minute? Okay? I don’t hate the Cal Arts Style. It’s just a lot of shows are using it right now. Compare it to back in the day, Courage the cowardly dog, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, etc. Most of the shows then looked different. Cal arts has become somewhat ubiquitous as a style, and let’s talk about the shows that use it, namely the four listed above in the meme.

The Amazing World Of Gumball:

The Watersons, the main family from the Amazing World of Gumball. 

Tina And Bobert, side characters from the same show. Do you see how the styles are different from the Watersons? That’s one thing that helps Gumball stand out, all the different styles working with each other, all of them pretty well animated and the show is still good from a writing stand point. 

Gravity Falls:

Gravity falls has (Mostly) good characters, good fluid animation, an interesting setup, and fairly unique monsters and plots. Those things all help it stand out.  Star vs the forces of Evil: 

Star is like Gravity falls, the characters and unique monsters keep it afloat, you also have aspects IN THE NAME that are evocative of Older Cartoons, the idea that our heroes are always justified. “Well those guys are evil, aren’t they?” And then later it gets twisted on its head. Star is a good show for those reasons and more, you feel me? But let’s get on to my favorite one form that little example list:  Steven Universe: 

I want to make something clear, I LIKE STEVEN UNIVERSE! The music is captivating, The animation is usually pretty awesome, the characters are great, the designs are fairly memorable, the world it built is at a Transformers level of top-notch... Until the most recent twist. Like whoever wrote that was on something. Also, just to air my grievances, the animation fuck ups are numerous. Don’t blindly be like “Well that’s just hate.” “You aren’t an Animator” Etc. It’s not hate, it is a COMMON criticism of the show, and I may not be an animator, but I’m not an actor either and I can tell you when an actor screws up. Okay? The show is good but it’s flawed.

Now, What did all the shows (Save for Thundercats Roar) have in common save for the head shapes more or less?

... Give up?

THEY WERE ALL ORIGINAL. 

They built their own worlds, made their own characters, had their own thing going on. While they have slightly similar styles, the lot of them are so unique from both each other and generally what came before that it beggars belief.  And what about Thundercats: Roar? It’s appropriating an old show for no godsdamned reason. Theoretically, you sometimes do that to attract the old fan base or get attention. Transformers gets away with it because it has 1100000 reboots and separate universes and shit, whereas Thundercats Roar is the Teen Titans Go of the franchize. If nothing else, that’s how it comes across. Plus, the animation in the shows above is actually Better. Roar looks like one of those wonky sketches from MAD.  Those are my thoughts. Other shows built their own worlds, Roar looks like crap, and we lost a show that looks better than this fairly recently. Okay? That is why I HATE Roar. It has basically no spark of its own. 

[bluezey]

Bluesy ramblings about Spongebob SquarePants

@scribblinglee made a post about Spongebob as a cartoon currently, and it's basically what I hear about a lot. Usually people who talk about the show miss the older seasons and believe the current seasons are hollow or utter trash. Which makes me think, where do I fit in this? Because, I'm not sure myself. So, I thought I decide to talk about my experience with the show.

So, Spongebob began in 1999. And, here's where things get interesting from my perspective: I was a freshman in high school at the time. Maybe that's not weird cause the show can reach teenagers and adults, but I dunno, it still baffles me. And what did I think of the show when it came out? I thought it was a good show. I wasn't obsessed with it, it lived it, but I did see it's potential. I liked it enough to watch it and have a few favorite episodes. One was Pizza Delivery. I think one reason I liked it was how in the end of the episode Squidward stood up for SpongeBob. He does in other episodes, but how he did it in this one felt perfectly Squidward. Another all time favorite of mine was Band Geeks, but that's for a biased reason as I was a band geek in high school. So, seeing an episode about a marching band was awesome to me, and also amazing as I don't remember watching another cartoon that focused on marching bands. While in the end it didn't show off marching bands as accurately, compared to the movie Drumline, Band Geeks was as accurate as band geeks are gonna get. Also, I love the ending of the episode, and how Squidward came out on top.

You know, I'm noticing now that even back then I may have found a favorite character with Squidward. I have my reasons for liking him now, but back then I had no favoritism, I just liked him out of the others. My best guess was even back then his character seemed to be the straight man of the series. He was gruff and mean, but you could sympathize with him as you can tell he got that way from life beating him down when he chased his dreams, while others kept chasing their dreams in the show and not getting much of a beating from life. I think Squidward was and is representing how jaded adults got after trying to pursue their dreams, and every decade I'm seeing people become jaded sooner in life, even before they graduate high school.

But, back to the show. The episodes were funny, clever at times, and even brash with it's humor. I mean, looking back, they got away with a lot of crap in the early seasons. Like the Christmas episode has aired fir nearly two decades, and every year they get away with blatantly calling Squidward a jackass. Oh, and how Sailor Mouth got away with swearing, and the infamous cut scene from Just One Bite and how it managed to make it to air for a while before being cut from future airings. And the characters were loveable, funny and relateable, but if I had to make one critique they did hammer in one particular aspect of their personality. It didn't make them one dimensional, but enough that we only knew Spongebob as happy, Patrick as dumb, Krabs as money loving, Sandy as a cowgirl and Squidward as grumpy. The one who barely had a blatant personality trait to me was Plankton, and that's barely as his motivation for being the villain flipped between evil and jealousy. One episode he just wants the formula to destroy the Krusty Krab, and another episode it's world domination. But they weren't blatant flaws, just little speed bumps that kept a great show from being perfect.

Now I remember watching the Spongebob SquarePants movie in 2005 on DVD, and I thought it was fun and simple like the show. But, I'll admit, as we went into the era of seasons 5-8, I did see a slump in in the show. But, believe it or not, I couldn't grasp why. I just assumed it was going through the same slump all shows go through when they've been on the air for that long. Every show hits their slope, and usually it's a sign that the show would end if it didn't hit that upswing back to what it once was. But, looking back, I can see the problems some fans gripe about. Mr Krabs got a little too greedy for money that he came off as evil as Plankton at times. Patrick would be mean, and at first I thought it was because he was too dumb to know any better, but there are times when even I couldn't see that as an excuse. I mean bratty toddlers don't know right from wrong, but eventually someone would step in and talk some sense into the kid. Squidward kept getting brow beaten by life for seemingly no reason. I mean, I actually believe Squidward getting the shirt end of the stick would work if he did something to deserve it. Like in Scavenger Pants, the more dangerous the tasks he gave the two, the bigger his coneuppance. But in these seasons, most of the time he didn't do anything to get what life gave him, so the joke fell flat because it was a punchline with no setup. And, yeah, eventually it just look like cruel torture at his expense. But, despite these major flaws and the show losing it's spark, I could still see it's potential. It had it's okay episodes, some good episodes, and even some jokes that would get a big laugh. I could still see effort, and the crew trying to make the show work. So while many call seasons 5-8 it's dark times, I just see it as a rough patch. This was after the creator left, and the show was showing that they were running out of ideas.

So, eventually I stopped watching Spongebob around season eight. Now, you may think it's because I gave up on the show. But, funny enough, it was an outside source that pulled me away from the show, as well as Nickelodeon. That's when my college roommates introduced me to Cartoon Network, and their shows were better, funnier and more bizarre than what Nick was making at the time. So I quit watching Spongebob and whatever Nicktoons the network was trying or failing with, and was watching shows like Kids Next Door, Camp Lazlo, Foster's, and Ed, Edd and Eddy. Oh, Chowder and Flapjack too. And, they still had reruns of Courage and the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and I was surprised with how much Cartoon Network got away with such scares.

So, for years I was watching Cartoon Network. I went through it's dark times of CN Real, and it's next generation of classic cartoons such as Adventure Time, Regular Show and Steven Universe. While I switched over to Nick for Avatar and Monsters vs Aliens (I liked the DreamWorks movie and Dr Cockroach okay? Also Staabi was a great character too), I hardly ever saw Spongebob, and when I did catch it it was an episode I saw before.

I did come back to the show, and how is kinda as strange as how I left it. It was also kinda an outside force. It was when I saw the cast of the Spongebob musical perform Bikini Bottom Day at the Macy's Parade. After that, it was a full month of following clips and pictures from the musical, until I came to a point where I needed more, but the bootleg wasn't out yet. (By the way, I keep losing my link to the bootleg!! Can someone link me a good copy of the Broadway show so I can FINALLY see this thing??) So, I went back to the show by watching a livestream on YouTube, full of never seen episodes from seasons nine and ten. And guys, it's like seeing the light of heaven. This is Spongebob! This is the show! They got back on track and are making new episodes for a new generation!

Okay, now that we got my initial reaction out of the way, let's talk about seasons 9-11. First, drastic change in animation. But, you have to expect that for being on for twenty years. There's a wider aspect ratio, and the animation is now digital. But, it's not that distracting, it's just the show, only brighter and bouncier. Now, the controversial thought, I like the bouncy animation. It reminds me of bouncy animation from the 50s, 60, hell, even 90s, and Spongebob is a 90s show. Is it reminding me of Ren and Stimpy? Only because Ren and Stimpy does bouncy, expressive and over detailed still. If anything, the bright and bouncy reminds me more of Superjail. Nice to know where those animators went. (Oh, can we have the Warden guest star?) The characters are back to how they started, mostly. Patrick can be mean, but usually he's just dumb. Krabs isn't mean for money, but damn is he still hungry for it. Squidward gets some torture, but now there's setup and reason. Also, he's not tortured in every episode he's in. Mustard O'Mine had him following along, hell he was happy at times. Mermaid Pants may had him grumpy, but man was his shift at the end perfect! Pate Horse, horse puns. Squid Noir. Squid Noir. Other changes, I can see they're being inventive. Some shows are mixing up character dynamics. At least two episodes have Squidward and Plankton. One episode had Sandy and Karen. An upcoming episode has Squidward and Pearl. Hell, Mall Girl Pearl was all Pearl. They're doing small things that surprisingly make a big difference. For example, Spongebob isn't always happy. Yeah, he can not be happy, like sad, but it was so rare yes almost one dimensional. In Drive Happy, however, we see him get sad, tired and even pissed. In Old Man Patrick, he starts acting like an adult when babysitting the old folks at Bun E Buns. And back to Squidward, but did you know he's germophobic, claustrophobic, allergic to nuts and snails (but he can handle one or two snails in a room) and apparently has an inking problem. Okay, I could go on and on about this part, now controversial thanks to Ink Lemonade, but did you know Stephen Hillenberg himself wanted ink jokes to begin with? The biggest character change I believe is Plankton. Ever since Sponge Out of Water (and yes, I saw that too, a lot, Nick plays it every other week) Plankton has become somewhat of a friend, at least with Spongebob. Sure he's the villain, but Spongebob sees him as a friend who happens to be a competitor, and I think the others do too since the second film. I mean, Grandmum's the Word would never had worked before the second film.

So, we've gone from classic from the 90s, to so downhill that I switched to Cartoon Network, to back to it's original stride. But, is it the same show or us it a hollow shell? Guys, it's neither. Spongebob has gone through a lot of development over the years. It's had it's golden times, it's been out of ideas, it's had it's instant classic and it's blunders. The characters are still the same, but if they appear different it's because they've been through a lot. We all act different after twenty years of life's crap. And yes, to reiterate, this show has been on for twenty years!! It has it's own big task of changing for a new generation while entertaining the old one. It needs to bring in new viewers while keeping the old ones. It needs to be fresh and relevant while remaining classic and timeless. It will follow the trend of theonth, but it will try not to steer too far from it's core of being a 90s cartoon. Will it lose viewers? Yeah. It even lost me for a time. Will it deserve it? No. Even it's bad episodes have a silver lining. Did you know I watched a list of dark kids episodes where the reviewers said good things about Are You Happy Now? (Please send all flames to where they will most likely ignore you https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hXwhVUWwHlM) Through it's ups and downs, Spongebob's going to be on for years. But, just years. Sadly, the creator has ALS, and if the show doesn't retire after the creator does, every show has to end sometime. But through it's ups and downs, and even the praise and criticisms, we can all agree that fans young and old will enjoy the ride.

[raccoonfootproductions]

Editorial: Why Does Nickelodeon Give Up On New Animated Shows So Quickly?

(The following post is long. Very long. And I did my best to word it properly even though I’m not the best with words. Still, I’d very much appreciate it if you took the time to read it because it’s about something that really matters to me. I know stuff about Nickelodeon isn’t very popular unless it’s 100% negative, but please, if you have the time, give this a look)

Nickelodeon. Once beloved by everyone, now infamous for two things: Either ending animated shows too early (El Tigre, Harvey Beaks) or treating them terribly (The Legend of Korra). They’ve been like this since 2006 and have only slightly improved since then. Even now, Bunsen is a Beast and Welcome to the Wayne, which only just premiered this year, seem to already be on their way out, either cancelled or ready to be moved off the main network for their next season.

Why has this happened? Why has Nickelodeon lost faith in its own animated output? I believe there are two groups of people to blame:

Nickelodeon’s current management

The general viewing public on the internet

That’s right, WE are just as much to blame for Nick’s downfall as they are. Yes, really. There are several factors that led to the state the network is in now and we had a hand in quite a few of them...

1. The Change in Management (The Dark Ages)

Let’s rewind to early 2006. Nickelodeon had just gotten a new president -- Cyma Zarghami. Needless to say, it didn’t take long for her to become the most hated president in the history of the network.

What was her first move? Cancelling almost every current animated show. Danny Phantom, Jimmy Neutron, My Life as a Teenage Robot... The only ones that remained were Avatar: The Last Airbender (for a while) and SpongeBob SquarePants. This was obviously received as a terrible move and fans were outraged. So much so that protests were held outside the network offices in New York (by fans of Danny Phantom).

Did Cyma respond to criticism and stop there? Nope! Many shows after that were cancelled quickly, several only getting one season (El Tigre, Tak and the Power of Juju, Making Fiends). Even pilots that had potential to live longer than that (Adventure Time, The Modifiers) were rejected before even getting their own series. To make matters worse, many shows that did live beyond a single season were terribly received by critics (Back at the Barnyard, Fanboy and Chum Chum, Sanjay and Craig, Breadwinners).

Only a small handful of shows since then have lived for at least two seasons and received critical praise, thanks in part to two seasons becoming the minimum for most new shows, but even most of those were treated terribly by the network at some point. However, at this point, it wasn’t entirely the network’s fault, which leads me to the next factor...

2. Our Refusal to Give New Nickelodeon Shows a Chance

I’ve seen it far too many times. So many people on the internet either not knowing about a new Nicktoon (more on why that is later) or outright refusing to watch it. The latter is a problem that stems from our inability to trust Nickelodeon anymore, thinking the new show will either be dumb or the network will just cancel it early.

Hear me right now and hear me well: THAT ATTITUDE IS EXACTLY WHY THEY CANCEL SHOWS EARLY.

You boycotting shows just because you think the network will mistreat it or because you just don’t like the network only makes things worse. It greatly affects the rating and online buzz, the very things shows need to survive. The network won’t think you’re refusing to watch because of how bad they’re run; They’ll think you just don’t like the show and axe it quicker. If you want to make a real impression, boycott the shows that you think are bad and support the ones you like by watching them or merely talking about them online.

Sometimes, it’s not even the mere fact it’s on Nick that makes people too judgy about new shows. It can be the way the show looks. If we think the art style isn’t good enough or the premise is a ripoff of something else, we’ll pass on it, even if the show is actually pretty good. There were people who thought Harvey Beaks was a ripoff of The Amazing World of Gumball because of how it looked and decided not to watch it. There were people who thought Welcome to the Wayne was a ripoff of Gravity Falls just because of its premise and decided not to watch it. There’s already people planning not to watch Pinky Malinky because they don’t like its art style. These shows (not counting Pinky because we don’t know yet) were all good, but got very little attention because many judged them at first glance rather than actually watching them. This was a major factor that led to their early demises. Not enough people gave them a chance right out of the gate, so the network gave up on them.

The Loud House is the only recent Nicktoon that managed to become popular right away and avoid cancellation, but that’s mostly due to early online buzz and people actually giving it a shot because they actually liked how it looked. It ended up rivaling SpongeBob in ratings, which Nick is always looking for in a new show. If we can’t help it get close to SpongeBob numbers, there’s a chance the network won’t support it for long.

I know what you’re thinking. “C’mon, new shows can’t become popular that quick! It takes time to build up popularity! Nick just has unrealistic goals!” Well, as a rebuttal to that, I present the next factor...

3. Cartoon Network (and Disney XD)

Cartoon Network... That network... I have a lot of problems with that network...

My main problem with it is simple: It’s an attention hog.

Ever since 2010, with the introduction of Adventure Time and Regular Show, all I ever heard online was how great those two shows were. Day in and day out, no one would shut up about these two shows. Cartoon Network had apparently entered a new golden age, while Nickelodeon was still seen as a rotting corpse. I’m definitely not saying these two shows were bad; I was just annoyed by how much people were talking about them, especially since I wasn’t as into them as everyone else.

Then came The Amazing World of Gumball. Then Steven Universe. Then Clarence. Then We Bare Bears. Then, most recently, OK K.O.: Let’s Be Heroes. So many shows came out in the last few years that appealed to pretty much everything the internet wanted. Because of that (and I suppose a lot of promoting on CN’s part), most of them became famous almost instantly. Their ratings compared to other networks’ shows didn’t matter; They had online fame. A lot of it. Much more than anything Nickelodeon could produce.

Don’t believe me? Just look at these Google trend charts, the blue lines representing Nicktoons and the red lines representing Cartoon Network Originals:

Breadwinners vs Clarence (admittedly not a fair comparison already)

Harvey Beaks vs We Bare Bears

And most recently, Welcome to the Wayne vs OK K.O.: Let’s Be Heroes

As you can see, the CN Originals had enormous spikes of popularity around their premieres, while all the Nicktoons could barely reach their level at any point. The internet’s focus has always been directed toward CN more, as if Nick doesn’t even exist anymore because we’ve become that biased. New CN shows barely have to do anything other than exist and repeat the formula of the last hit show to get immediate online fame. Even unpopular shows like Teen Titans Go! have achieved fame simply by being controversial, something that not even Nick’s worst shows have achieved.

That's my problem with Cartoon Network. It achieves so much by doing so little, while almost all other animated shows get next-to-zilch.

Of course, Cartoon Network isn’t the only attention hog. There’s also Disney XD. While its ratings are the lowest out of all kids’ networks, its shows can easily become as popular as CN’s. Gravity Falls and Star vs The Forces of Evil are two prime examples.

All that being said, these networks are just as guilty as Nick of sweeping shows under the rug early if they think they’re under-preforming. Let’s not forget how Disney treated Wander Over Yonder or how CN treated Young Justice and all other action shows. So this isn’t just a Nick thing; Nick’s just the most notorious for doing it. This is probably because of the next factor...

4. Poor Promotion and Business Practices

Now this one is entirely Nickelodeon’s fault. There’s really no way I can pin any of the blame for this on the public.

When was the last time you saw a commercial on Nick for something other than SpongeBob, The Loud House, or a live-action show? Almost never, right? Unless there’s new episodes or it’s a big event like Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, most animation gets shoved to the side or completely off the schedule. Obviously, this is a terrible way for a show to gain any attention. It can’t gain any traction if it’s never advertised or airing. It also doesn’t help if the schedule’s constantly changed. Just ask The Legend of Korra.

Sadly, when it comes to new shows, if it’s not live-action, Nick doesn’t care. This raises the question, why does Nick like live-action show so much, even when the shows are so poorly made and received?

The answer is simple: They’re cheaper to make.

Animating a single episode of an animated show can take over half a year and many resources to produce. A live-action show can be churned out in much less time for much less money. All those recent Dan Schneider shows that just lump together at this point were likely greenlit because it barely costs the network anything compared to an average Legend of Korra episode. Even imported animated shows like the current Alvin and the Chipmunks series were brought onto the network because of their cheapness (Cyma Zarghami doesn’t even like Alvin that much).

That said, a show being cheap doesn’t automatically make it bad. A good example might be The Loud House. Its Flash animation can’t be all that expensive, but it still manages to be good because its staff cares about their craft. In the end, caring enough about what you’re making is what counts, not the price of it. Sadly, not enough live-action shows have a caring-enough crew to make them any good. The kid actors and kid viewers just play along because they really don’t know any better.

All I really want here is for Nickelodeon’s scheduling and promoting to be more balanced. They can keep the SpongeBob reruns and live-action shows, just as long as other animated shows get just as much airtime and advertisements. They need to even the playing field and then, only after more than a few weeks or months, judge a new show’s popularity before pulling it. Also, checking the amount of views a show gets on their website and other legal streaming sites is a good idea for them too. We live in an age where online viewership matters a lot more than television viewership.

5. Our Inability to Let Go of the Past

How many times have you heard this? “Nickelodeon was better in the 90′s!” Yeah, we’ve all heard something like it. Everything was apparently better back in an earlier decade. That’s part of the reason companies rely on nostalgia so much these days -- It’s stuff that people already like. Therefore, it’s easy to sell and they don’t have to take risks with new stuff.

This is a driving factor behind a lot of Nickelodeon’s decisions these days. Think about all the movie reboots of old properties they have lined up: Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling, an Invader ZIM special, theatrical movies of Dora the Explorer and Are You Afraid of the Dark?... And that’s just what they’ve announced so far. There’s also the merchandise based on old shows, which is also growing more and more abundant. Even the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series managed to stay alive for a long while thanks to it being a familiar brand, with yet another series on the way. You could also say it’s why SpongeBob and The Fairly OddParents have lasted so long.

Why all the nostalgia? Like I said, it’s easy to sell, but also because... NO ONE GIVES THE NEW STUFF A CHANCE.

Why waste money on a show someone’s bound to dismiss as a poorly-drawn ripoff of another show when they can easily grab attention and cash by bringing back an old property that everyone already loves? Yep, you ignoring new shows just because you think they don’t look good was partly what led to this.

Don’t get me wrong, these nostalgia-fueled revivals of old franchises aren’t inherently bad. In fact, Nick probably does it better than anyone else. They actually bother bringing back the original creators and as much of the cast and crew as they can. There’s actual love and care put into these reboots, which is more than I can say for some other cash-grab reboots (looking at you, new Powerpuff Girls).

The problem is that these shouldn’t be the only thing from Nick you support. Next time a new show comes out, try watching a few episodes when they first premiere and see if you like it. If you do, keep watching it on the air and from legal online providers. Talk about it online and get other people interested. Do what you can to show support. If you don’t support it, I certainly don’t want to here you complain when it’s cancelled.

So is there still hope for Nickelodeon to improve?

At the moment, I definitely think so. It already has a bit, in some ways. However, it still has a long way to go before it’s learned from its mistakes. Cyma Zarghami is still in charge and she’s not much smarter than she was in the beginning.

That’s why we should help them get better.

I know in this day and age, it’s easy for us to not care about something like Nickelodeon. It’s past its prime and we’re beyond its demographic now, so why bother, right? Apathy can be dangerously powerful like that. Still, it’d be nice if we could all help somehow. I already named a lot of ways we can and many problems we should tell them to fix.

I’m sure a lot of you reading this grew up with them, possibly during their heyday, and if you did, who better to tell them what they should do than you? Who knows? They just might listen if you actually bother to speak up.

After all, wasn’t it fan demand that helped Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie finally get made?

[ask-jackie-chan]

Ah, Valentine's Day

[[ The day people share love for one another, be it platonic, romantic or any other types of love. while I the mun do not really like Valentine’s Day like that, I want to just say a couple of things that deal with Jackie Chan Adventures, so this might be touchy-feely:

I want to start with my most talked about characters, the J-Team. I love their dynamic; teamwork, arguments, differences and essential character builds and how they grow to care for one another. The funny times are always the best kinds of times to me. While each member may not be blood related and come from different places and pasts, they are still able to get the job done and defeat the greater evil. There’s the caring attitude towards one another where they will fight to save the other and essentially put their own life on the line if anyone fights them i’m fighting them

Then there’s the Enforcers. They are one of my favorite ride-or-die cartoon buddies of all time. I love ‘em to death! They win and lose together and have great bonding moments. They grow and learn from their mistakes (sometimes through bruises). If one doesn’t like something, they all don’t like it. if a character tries to disrespect them i will fight them. They have flaws as villains and yet, still have some heroic qualities and aren’t as harmless as a demon. They aren’t the best fighters but will still attempt to do some damage if someone tries to come after one of them. Finn, Ratso and Chow have helped me see that villains can be cool people. They are like the middle men. Yeah they did bad, but I also kinda feel bad for them bc of how shitty a majority of their magical masters were to them. Like these guys have been through so much, they need a raise from life for going so far. That, and I’d totally hang out with them at the cafe for donuts and coffee. ^_^

Finally to the villains. I like Tarakudo and his respectfulness towards others, even if they aren’t on the same side as him. He is also a cool villain i wish there was more of him in the series, like a part two of Ninja Twilight. He’s pretty convincing on getting people to put on masks and have their own army of shadowkhan. Like if I had come across a mask and Tarakudo was there egging me on, I most likely would’ve done so XD. I love how calculated he is and how he knows what he’s doing, how to do it and the events that follow if things look like they will head south. I like how he doesn’t boss the Enforcers around as much as the other villains which honestly is a relief. out of all the main bad guys daolon wong and i are going to box That joke he made about the drums and cymbals was simply brilliant. His dry-humor is funny. Tarakudo is just so awesome man :)

My second is Drago. When I first saw him, I’m gonna admit it; he is attractive but practically everything else he did was a huuuge no for me and discredited him quite a lot. Over the years, I’ve come to realize how… clever and smart Drago is. He’s done some growing on me, so much in fact I enjoy teasing him sometimes a lot of times. Now don’t get me wrong; Drago still is a villain, has flaws and unanswered questions whos da mommy but still, he’s quite the formidable demon we still gotta to fight on account of the enforcers tho. I can respect him for that the only thing I wished for drago to do is to think ahead before marching in hands blazing and getting mad when his plan epically fails Before I didn’t think much of him, but now I see how determined he was to make a name for himself. He’s changed tactics so many times; went solo for a while, moved HQs, fired the Enforcers while i was sad at this if Drago wants to have a better chance of taking over the world he cant use them as henchman, got all the demon chi, attacked Uncle’s shop etc. The only thing that still gets me is Drago’s puns no like Drago why

Now on me.

Jackie Chan Adventures first premiered when I was waaaaay too young to remember much, so I’ll be speaking from the first time I re-watched it on Netflix in the summertime, when I was 12. Like what made me want to visit the show again was a short funny memory of when I was maybe 5 seeing a rerun of Jackie run down the side of the breaking building (Tough Break) on the Kids WB network and I remember I laughed uncontrollably at the TV. Somehow, this popped into my head when I saw the JCA cover for Netflix, which made me start the first episode.

At that age, I was pretty impressionable, naive and painfully shy. A good part of my life was spent being by myself because I got bullied a lot. It was pretty terrible. I didn’t know much about the outside world, how to interact with people and got culture shocked a lot. As a result, I was a pretty close-minded and ignorant kid fed knowledge about the world and the people from my parents (mainly mother) who are superstitious and biased about a lot of stuff and believed it. That all changed when I finished Jackie Chan Adventures (though it took a while for me to teach myself to unlearn the wrong things I believed). While I may have not learned about how to open up and how to interact with people, I learned so much like history, mythology, other countries and their cultures in it. This either came from the show directly, through my own research and sometimes both. My brothers were with me and dealt with similar issues when it come to school, so it was always fun to talk to about what one discovered from the show.

For me, watching Jackie Chan Adventures is kinda like how people describe reading; it was a new experience that probed me to ask questions about the world and be curious about the things I didn’t know, like other languages, countries, people and cultures. In a way, it made me feel proud of my own heritage, even though JCA and I have… different cultural backgrounds, I say. The mythology is soooo interesting to me. I would get lost in hours of surfing on the internet of chi, the Chinese Zodiac, the Bagua etc just because I wanted to know more! When I was younger, I used to read a lot of mythology but I got picked on a lot for it, so I stopped. But seeing JCA again has greatly re-awakened it.

Last but not least, I have a never-ending love for the friends and RPers I’ve met online, even the ones that have moved on and are long gone. You guys are literally the greatest! You guys put up with me in my bad times, my good times, when I went ghost and most likely all the annoying times of blowing up your timeline for no reason. It’s lonely being the only one in my real life into JCA, so it’s nice to see other people’s views, sharing brilliant ideas, the interesting theories, the OCs, videos, cool memes, great screencaps, RPs, jokes, amazing artwork, awesome fanfics and so much more across the Internet. I had honestly thought I was the only one who knew about JCA, so I can say that I’ve really hit the jackpot online! It’s so fun having Jackie RP with you guys and witnessing the shenanigans come from it. :D

Now it might annoy some how much and how frequently I talk about JCA and how it seems like I’m annoying and I never shut up about it but I don’t care! i mean this is an ask jackie chan blog which serves as my main soooo. If someone gotta problem with me expressing myself and what I love online, then they can come fucking fight me! JCA has saved a special place in my heart and I doubt it’ll ever go away soon.

That is all :D ]]

[codywalzel]

This is part one of two summarizing replies to a conversation I had following an ask by @arletestanyol on Instagram. This response is about storyboarding portfolios. I’ll post part two about TESTING for storyboard positions soon.

I wouldn’t write anything in script format, that’s not really showing anyone hiring for storyboards that you can do what is required of the job of ‘storyboard artist’. If you’ve seen me posting writing material, or seen me writing in script format, that’s either just for fun, or something I’m working on for my writing portfolio. I’m transitioning from storyboard artist to writer, and hoping to get staffed on a show for a totally unrelated, live action position- Staff Writer. Big world building/character design/pitch projects are fine, but I personally don’t recommend them. For one thing, if what you’re looking to do is storyboards/writing, there’s a lot of surrounding art required, (character designs, environments, unseen backstory, text documents with outlines and character descriptions, visual development, etc….). Basically it’s a ton of work for one short storyboard sequence, which is the only thing in there really worth looking at for storyboards. And, they’re big to sort through. There’s a good chance the person looking to hire board artists will give up scrolling through pages of character designs to get to board samples. Try to keep in mind that recruiters are looking for people to fill positions as fervently as you are looking to get a job. Meaning line-producers, showrunners, and studio recruiters are on a moving train that is a TV show or movie. They don’t think in terms of “let’s give this kid their big break.” They’re more like “We need a board artist who can start and be trained perfectly by next Monday, or we lose a day in the schedule.” So, in that panic, they don’t care about your well thought out art, they want to see specific skills on display that show you can do the job immediately. Make things they can look at QUICK, many times they barely read in boards or comics, they just scroll through and know in an instant how it feels. Storyboard artist can mean many types of work, ranging from projects where board artists write all the dialogue and most of the plot from a Writer’s outline- to projects where board artists follow detailed scripts to a letter, interpreting the images visually like a cinematographer, but not contributing to writing at all. I’ll get into the different types of jobs and the broad categories of ‘board driven’ vs ‘script driven’ shows later. First, I want to mention some of the better types of storyboard portfolio samples in my opinion, and why they are better: Webcomics, any type: -They can be a big serialized story you work on over years, like Jesse Moynihan’s Forming. (Jesse= Board Artist/Writer, Adventure Time, Creator, Manly) -They can be a weekly gag strip style comic Like Kelly Turnbull’s Manly Guys Doing Manly Things (Kelly= Board Artist/Writer Ben Ten, Board Artist Good Vibes, Ugly Americans) -They can be a mini series like my buddy Alex Cline’s Stinker’s Garden  (Alex= Board Artist/Writer Regular Show, Pickle & Peanut) -They can be just random ideas you have like Toonhole Chris (Toonhole Chris=Artist/Director/Writer at Cartoon Network. 

-They can be real life stories like Avner Geller’s Things That I Hearn (Avner= Visual Development Artist  Mr. Peabody and Sherman, The Penguins of Madagascar, Trolls, and Larrikins,) Webcomics are great because 1.Little things are really easy to digest quickly, 2. They show both your drawing/staging/joke writing ABILITY, and the unique FLAVOR you would bring to the team. There’s no one ‘cartoon network artist’ sence of humor or specific take on storytelling, the point is to do your own thing, and show your own voice. The other good one- Board Samples: -These are more prevalent in feature story, but see my buddy Todd’s feature portfolio anyway. TV focused people can do a similar, but slightly less detailed set of boards for their own personal projects. But this is where it gets into complicated territory, because different categories of project are looking at slightly different things when hiring. On A board driven show like Adventure Time, you are often writing the dialouge, and a good deal of plot based on a Writer’s or Showrunner’s outline. People staffing on those shows are going to want to see writing centered stuff like webcomics over a bunch of boards mostly focused on staging and acting. On a Script Driven Show like Bojack, they are going to care way more about staging, acting, and economic shot choices. Script driven shows tend to be half hour episodes (Family Guy, SImpsons, Bojack, Rick and Morty, Gravity Falls), instead of board driven’s 11 minute episodes (AT, Regular Show, Ben Ten, Star vs. The Forces of Evil). So, the longer episodes tend to call for more economic use of existing backgrounds and character models. Some of what they want to see if that you aren’t just cutting to a new angle every shot, that the acting is clear and thorough. On an Animated Feature, the boundaries are a lot more loose. You get strict movies where you are basically providing ideas at the occasional story meetings, then executing the script to the letter. You get really loose, open projects where the script is in  a constant state of development, and you are pitching ideas, shole scenes, huge, structural plot changes, and even songs. On most moves it’s in the middle- where you are changing and playing with dialogue, and keeping the intention of scenes as written in the script, but changing up the structure of your sequence to make it work. On all animated features, the recruiters scrutinize acting, staging, and cutting VERY closely. You are almost always drawing boards for a 3-d movie, so the camera restrictions are gone, because almost any angle is easily producible. Even 2-D features don’t place as much emphasis on re-using backgrounds as 2-D TV, because the budgets are big enough to cover a bunch of different backgrounds, so you can get a ton of angles on a scene. In any case, when you have freedom of camera, you need to use it wisely. Feature boards require the highest level of cinematic language, but not as high of writing ability as board driven TV shows. You don’t have to know which type of thing you most want to work for, you should be open to all of them starting out. And, you will probably end up working multiple types of jobs as a board artist. For any of the above jobs, a badass comic or board sample will always impress, so just do your thing tonally in your personal work. You definitely should be doing original story ideas, but that can include fanart of existing characters. If you’re doing board sample featuring the Little Mermaid, do something that comments on the movie, or is a joke or something, don’t, like board serious, cannon attempts at LIttle Mermaid fan fiction, and don’t just re-board a scene that’s already in the movie. Personally, I prefer to do board samples and comics of my own ideas and experiences, because I think it shows off your flavor better. But if you make any kind of comic or board sample amazing enough, recruiters will completely ignore the fact that you’re a different tone than the show, and assume you’re talented enough to adapt. One last thing on your portfolio: it’s not the hard part, I wouldn’t get too nervous about that. Pretty much all TV boarding is decided by tests. The only thing the portfolio is for is a key that unlocks the gate to the tests. It only needs to be good enough for the recruiters and line-producers to send you test. Testing is almost a completely different skill set, so I’ll talk about that in the next post. But the portfolio is pretty easy & difficult at the same time: Make awesome personal work and submit it to studios, if they get back to you with tests, try and pass them. If nobody is getting back to you or sending you tests, you probably need to work on your portfolio, make more awesome work, repete. Social Media: You can send studios your social media pages like instagram, tumblr, a facebook art page, twitter, etc, if it’s only your art on there (or if it is MOSTLY your art. You can have tweets about other stuff on your page, but if you send them to the ‘media’ section of your Twitter, the recruiter better not have to scroll past a dozen Green Arrow reaction gifs before they get to your first piece of art.) If your social media is a little more disorganized, that’s fine, just don’t submit it to recruiters. You’ll have to make a separate website for your art. I still recommend at least a simple website on top of the social media page though. It just keeps every type of thing in one place, so someone looking at people’s comics can find all your comics in one folder, someone looking for board samples can find that, for sketchbook pages can find that, and so on. I send both a portfolio website and my social media page, since they have slightly different things on them most of the time. As crappy as it might sound, if they see on your social media that you have a big audience, that can only help you. When you get to the next round and a Showrunner is looking at your test, they probably won’t care that much whether you have 10,000 Twitter followers or not. But, the recruiter deciding who to pass through to various productions in the studio definitely will consider that. If you DON’T have 10,000 Twitter followers, submitting your social media still won’t hurt you if the art’s good and your page is mostly art. Tons of people nowadays are scoped out by studios through their social media pages, whether they have followers or not, but obviously, the more popular online artist are more visible. Part 2, on TESTING, to come. Follow me on Instagram or Twitter  here.

[blacknerdproblems]

There I was on an ordinary Monday afternoon minding my own business and ignoring Teen Titans GO! on my television when suddenly a promotion for OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes interrupted me from my trance. I remembered a time when pitched pilot episodes for Cartoon Network shows were being leaked all over YouTube. It was then, about four years ago, that I first started rooting for this little show that combined video games, anime, and 80s style dialogue. Originally titled Lakewood Plaza Turbo, OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes is finally making its run on Cartoon Network and after seeing a few episodes, “I am Dendy” in particular, I’ve deduced that this might be one of the purest shows ever to exist.

The animation of O.K. K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes can be described as “great for what it’s trying to accomplish.” It’s not super fantastic animation, but it’s not cheap either. It found a happy medium. There was one fake fight scene that showed off the potential way the show’s animation would portray a fight scene should any serious story arcs start to manifest. The opening was storyboarded by Hiroyuki Imaishi who is one of the co-founders of Studio Trigger, an animation studio you should all know and love, and his influence is felt in every single frame.

Let’s talk about the story because THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE HAS SO MUCH POTENTIAL. As far as I can tell the story goes a little something like this: The year is 201X. A boy named K.O. has a mom who was a great hero back in the day (and still is in the present). She’s a level 11 hero, which may be the highest hero rank in the show. Oh yeah, this show has hero ranks so you know it’s gonna get good. Carol, K.O.’s mom, has a fitness dojo in Lakewood Plaza right next to Mr. Gar’s shop. Mr. Gar is a Mike Haggar-type character with a hero rank of 11 as well. He gets all flustered whenever Carol is next to him; it’s kind of cute.

K.O. desperately wants to be a hero so he uses his mom’s super-ultra credit card to buy a bunch of crime fighting gear from the shop as a birthday gift for himself. He tries and fails to defeat a villain with his new gear and after Mr. Gar straight up PERFORMS A PEOPLE’S ELBOW FROM THE HEAVENS to defeat the villain, K.O. realizes that the only way he can become a hero is to work at Mr. Gar’s shop and learn from him and his employees.

The employees I’m referring to are, Radicles, who is an alien with a hero level of 2 and can move things with pink telekinesis and Enid, who is a kunoichi with so much sarcasm it puts her at a hero level of 3. Both of these characters are great, and they’re the exact opposite of each other which makes for some fantastic character interactions. The main villain is Lord Boxman who literally has an evil lair across the street. Lord Boxman is a mixture of Dr. Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Wily from Megaman because he creates robot masters. Get this though. GET THIS! Lord Boxman is voiced by JIM CUMMINGS! DA GAWD OF CARTOON VOICE ACTING. His voice brings the character to a new level. The other side characters are pretty amazing as well. Did I mention K.O. is sometimes voiced by Stephanie Nadolny, who voiced kid Goku and Gohan in Dragonball and Dragonball Z? Cause he is and it’s glorious.

Now let’s get to the episode that got me hooked, “I am Dendy”. This episode is the epitome of why this show is a purity punch right in the mouth. The episode centers around K.O. and a girl named Dendy (tell me that isn’t a sly Dende name reference) who sits behind him in his class. Dendy needs help from K.O. when she’s trying to find parts to fix her high tech backpack. Throughout the episode, Dendy is shown as a weird girl who doesn’t really care about others while she’s trying to find the parts to repair her backpack and K.O. tries to show her that she should think about others while she’s accomplishing her goal.

There’s a part where they need a token at an arcade and K.O. looks in his pockets, with no money in them, and moths fly out and he yells “OH NO! MY MOTH COLLECTION” and I lost it. Anyway, there are hints that Dendy might be a robot or that she might be secretly evil and there’s a scene where K.O. gets eaten by a robot and she just collects data to increase the suspicions of her evilness even more.

It turns out Dendy’s backpack was never broken and she just made the problem up to spend some time with K.O. but she was too shy and awkward to just ask him. The episode ends with Dendy writing in her notebook where she jotted down all the data on K.O. and next to his acquaintances she puts herself as a friend and IT’S SO PRECIOUS. The episode plays with how characters like her are usually written. Most of the time they actually are secretly evil, and the episode truly shows that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover or a stereotype by …well the character’s stereotype. The ending of that episode made my heart grow ten sizes that night and I’ve vowed to spread the gospel of K.O. because of it.

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