#sorry for being a disney adult for a sec

[rydengg]

don’t speak to me or the traumatized shadow of my youth ever again 🔮

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

I was the first person in America to watch Butterfly Tale!

Okay, so Butterfly Tale and Migration are both the BEST animated movies of 2023 in my opinion and you can't even compare them to the others!!! I wish Butterfly Tale got released in America and other countries because it was amazing. It makes me so mad that Disney can use A.I on a movie yet it still beat an original and adorable story about friendship and self confidence.

There are a lot of things I loved about Butterfly Tale, which I literally been waiting months to see, but let's start with the creative story and characters! Can we all just appreciate the "funny" villain tropes for a sec? I mean, I don't like these stereotypic evil cackle, mustache twirling villains like in old Disney movies. I like the funny, silly villains that aren't super threatening, but threatening enough to know they're the bad guys. The villain birds in Butterfly Tale were actually pretty creative! It's giving Gabu's pack from One Stormy Night, mixed with the Greasers from CatDog, and I'm here for it!!! Like, one of the birds was even missing an eye like Giro did in One Stormy Night, that also happened to be bitten off by the main character's dad. Like, there's no way they weren't inspired by One Stormy Night a little bit! I'm so happy. I also loved the designs too (I thought they were magpies at first but they were colorful and they were big enough to be hawks so idk what they were) but it was mostly the girl who was colorful. They didn't give her the stereotypic female design with big eyes and chest, they just made her more colorful. Even though the Butterflies also had human like designs, nobody was sexualized! The designs also looked good against the backgrounds and it blended in so nicely. You gotta love Marty's design and how he was as a caterpillar and as a butterfly. I also like the symbolism as turning into a butterfly is like puberty for caterpillars, instead of having adult caterpillars which doesn't make sense (**cough cough** Disney Bugs life).

We also got to appreciate the mother-son aspect with Patrick and his mom, and the symbolism for Patrick's disability is that one of his wings is smaller than the other. His mom was trying to protect him so much, kind of like Mei's grandma was in One stormy night. I found it most sad when Patrick got separated from his mother in the movie, (i don't wanna give spoilers tho). I also love Margaret's design too, she's a super sweet mom! This movie has a lot of girl power too, not just with Margaret, but with Jennifer and Lily's relationship, and also with the chief of the butterflies being a woman! I know it's not a big deal anymore, but I like seeing girl power. Speaking of Jennifer and Lily, they were adorable characters and Lily was such a supportive friend. I also like how they made Jennifer strong and confident but also gave her a soft side with her being afraid of heights. She kind of reminded me of Scaredy Squirrel in a way (there were a few characters who reminded me of Scaredy Squirrel too tho). Jennifer also learned to face her fears, sorry if that's another spoiler.

This movie was so adorable, the humor was also really good and the songs were too! I actually loved the "one liners", ike the little jokes that background characters made. This is another reason why I love foreign animated movies that are dubbed, the background characters will sometimes say really funny things. (Example, like when Marty said he fell asleep in the trailer that was full of the milkweed, one of the guys in the background were like "Who sleeps in a trailer?" and also one of the birds were like "Don't you know anything about politics?" after they lost direction). Pink Parrot is also a pretty underrated company, and I bet this is their best movie. I haven't seen Snowtime yet, but that loos cute and fun! I love Oops Noah is Gone (which was also titled "All creatures Big & Small" for some reason... not to be confused with Big & Small, the puppet show with the toothpaste meme). ScaryGirl doesn't look like that good of a movie though, but I'm not a fan of spooky stuff. I think I'll stick to Butterfly Tale and Oops Noah is Gone.

Anyway, tell me what you think! If you have the streaming service Crave, PLEASE WATCH BUTTERFLY TALE! It's so worth it! I wish this could have been nominated for 2023 Oscars but no.... Migration didn't get nominated either which I think is equally an amazing movie (although Butterfly Tale appeals to me more personally, they're both my type of movie tho). Also, if you're in Canada and was lucky enough to see this amazing movie in theaters, share your thoughts!

[aquoteamusetheword]

Colombian Light Bulb

“Life is 10% of what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it.” ~ John Maxwell

 Cali, Colombia 1979

I was 14 years old and was on the other side of the world from Tuscaloosa, Alabama. My uncle Tom Ed had invited me on a month-long trip to Colombia. He worked for Johnson & Johnson and was traveling to visit three of their factories.

He knew this would be quite the trip for me, as I thought I left the country once before when I passed the Mason Dixon line on a summer trip with my grandparents. As you can imagine, my country boy mind was blown when we visited my uncle Tom Ed in Los Angeles the year before. Knotts Berry Farm, Disney Land, Magic Mountain, the beach…Oh my!

 This was another level altogether. When we flew into Bogotá International Airport the first thing that struck me was that the police were armed with submachine guns. This was both awesome and frighting to my teenage mind.

 We stayed with the nicest family in Cali who treated me as one of their own. One day they asked if I wanted to go to a football (soccer) match with uncle Pedro. I played goalie at my school so I was excited to see the pros play. A lot of families have the crazy, out of control, wished they wouldn’t come to Thanksgiving, drunk uncle. They have these in Colombia too; enter Pedro.

 I must predicate the following account by saying this…Even though I was 14, in Columbia I was taller than the vast majority of adults. So, Pedro definitely thought I was older than I was.

 We arrived at the field and it’s very obvious this is not the Denny Stadium (Bryant was added later) that I was accustom to attending. The visiting fans had a separate fenced entrance and, once inside the stadium, they were partitioned off by a chain link fence with razor wire on top. Guards protected the field with…you guessed it, submachine guns. SEC football fans had nothing on these fanatics.

 It was a great back and forth game. Beer bottles were broken on the chain link fence. I was glad my Spanish vocabulary did not include the insults being hurled. The home team won and Pedro was ready to celebrate.

 Off into the mob on the streets we went. He looked perplexed that I continually turned down the beer he purchased from the street vendors. We finally arrived at his ultimate destination. A run down two-story Victorian mansion with a line of men waiting to get in the front door. When I noticed the half-naked women hanging out the windows, the light bulb went off. I blushed, pulled out my passport, and showed Pedro my age. He blushed, grabbed me by the hand and whisked me back home.

 Mom, I’m sorry I never told you about this part of the trip. More on this adventure to come…

1 Corinthians 10:13, Matthew 6:13, James 4:7

[thebluestbluewords]

Something New (~1700 words, Mal/Ben, shameless fluff content because I don’t care what Disney says, I’m writing a better wedding for these kids)

✨

“Hey, Mal.” Ben says. “Look at me for a sec?”

Mal turns. There’s a faint breeze blowing through the pines, and the air moving over the water of the enchanted lake smells fresh and sweet, despite the late-summer heat that’s making Mal’s hair fall limp and sweaty against the back of her neck.  “Yeah?”

Ben’s smiling at her, that sweet one that makes his cheek dimple and his eyes go all bright and happy. He’d been sitting on one of the rocks by the lake, but slides off so that he’s kneeling instead, still staring up at Mal with that sweet look on his face. “Will you marry me?”

What.

“I--” Mal stutters. “Yes?”

“Really?”

Mal’s heart is pounding like she’s running from a dragon. From Mother. No need to sugar coat it when there’s nobody but herself to hear. “I think so,” she tries again, breath stuttering. “I mean, yes. I do want to marry you.”

Oh, gods above. Mal does want to marry him, and it’s terrifying. She’s never wanted to marry anyone before, and she’s thinking about it too much now, and oh, Evie is going to absolutely flip when she hears this. “What the fuck.” Mal says. As Ben scoops up her hand and kisses it. There’s no new ring in his hand, but he kisses the seal, the one that Mal’s been wearing since that first day where she choose this new life, when she chose to be good.

“I love you,” Ben says. “And I want to marry you.”

“And I love you.” Mal says back, automatically. “Why do I feel like I’m being completely blindsided by this?”

Ben shrugs. He’s still down on his knees, and the sunlight filtering through the trees is turning his hair all golden. He’s so earnest about these things. Mal loves him, whatever the hell that means.

“I couldn’t tell you that,” Ben says, leaning into Mal’s leg a little bit. “I wasn’t trying to be subtle, you know. The whole, like, cute place out here, making time to actually get a proper date instead of just crashing after class, and I did literally ask you how you felt about marriage the other week.”

“I thought it was a hypothetical.” Mal says, almost automatically. “I thought you were asking for, like, some kind of vague time in the future, not now.”

“Do you want me to take it back?” Ben asks, looking a bit taken-aback himself. “I can ask you later, or never, if that’s what you want.”

“No!” Mal exclaims, and makes a grabby motion at her fiance, whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean. Ben’s got a very kissable sort of face, so it only makes sense for Mal to kiss him a little bit.

“Okay.” Ben says, but it comes out sort of like ‘Ookey’ because of the way Mal is sort of holding on to his face. “Not taking it back then.”

“I think I’m gonna need a hot second to process this.” Mal says, once she’s pulled back from kissing the daylights out of her prince, what the fuck. “Are we like-- what does this even mean?”

Ben buries his grin in Mal’s cheek, as is right. “Well, when two people love each other very much--”

“Shut up! Are we like, is this it?” Mal asks, tipping over into something a little bit hysterical. “Do you have some kind of royal bling hidden somewhere you’ve been waiting to pass on until now?”

Ben kisses her again, just a little bit. “Well, I do sort of have to do this publicly at some point,” he says, voice low like he’s at least sorry about it. “It’s a whole tradition, and my parents will get really mad if I don’t, and you know the whole deal. I was going to give you the ring then.”

“I want fair warning before you make me have emotions in public,” Mal says, quick as anything. She’s crying a little bit, oh gods. “And the council will get mad, you mean. Your parents accept me for who I am now.”

Ben kisses the tears that are sliding down Mal’s cheek. “Yeah. My parents want me to be happy, and you make me really happy, so. The council was still hoping that I’d get married to one of the Auradon Prep princesses, but well, you saw how well that was working out.”

Mal snorts through her tears. “You like a bit of rough, huh princling?”

“I like you.” Ben says, oh-so-earnestly. Oh, she’s going to cry again. Ben must notice the way that Mal’s face is going warm and blotchy pink with the emotion, because he pulls back sort of abruptly to put his hands on her shoulders instead, moving his thumbs gently along the tense muscles there. “Is that too much? I shouldn’t say I like you?”

“I-- I don’t know,” Mal stutters. She feels sort of sick, but in a good way. A stomach-flipping, butterflies way.  “I feel sort of like I’m going to-- I think I’m having an emotion?”

“Does it hurt?” Ben asks, grinning.

Mal smacks him gently with the palm of her hand, and leaves it there, cupping his sweet face. “Yeah! It does. What’re you gonna do now, huh? You’re making fun of me, and I’m hurt. You can’t say something like that to your girlfriend. That’s not Auradon-approved.”

Ben’s grin only gets wider. “Ah, but I’m not saying it to my girlfriend!” he says, approaching unbearable levels of disgusting joy. “You said yes! You’re my fiancee now.”

Mal has to laugh, and even if it comes out a little hysterical sounding it’s better than nothing.  “Evie says it doesn’t count until there’s a ring on it, and I don’t see any ring yet, princeling. Gotta get me that bling and then you can be mean to me all you want.”

“I do have a ring, you know,” Ben says, leaning into Mal���s touch. “I thought you wouldn’t want to see it yet.”

Mal’s not sure what exactly to do with that one. Sure, she’s got some different traditions around relationships, but it’s hard to miss any wedding traditions from back home when none of the villains she knew even got married unless it was to publicly announce an alliance, and even then those marriages were usually short lived and an excuse for a night of indecency and public innuendo. Nobody but sidekicks got married for love on the isle, and while gangs might have exchanged some sort of trinket to make sure they were marked as running together, the bracelets and tattoos didn’t have the same sort of sentimental value as proper wedding jewelry.

Unless.

“Oh. Until you do it publicly?” Mal realizes. She’s been the one to put more emphasis on doing things the ‘right’ way, and even after some of the revelations that came with her somewhat public meltdown last year, she’s still got some hangups about doing things the way that Auradon society would have them done.  Evie would have some psychoanalysis about it , that’s for sure.

Whatever. It’s fun to figure out how to blend in to proper high Auradon society, especially now that she knows there’s no pressure from Ben to do so. As  long as she’s not actively insulting people or trying to stir up too much trouble, he doesn’t care what kind of lowkey, simmering dissent she’s stirring up against his father. It’s like blending in anywhere else, really. All it takes is a little practice and some bending of the rules, and now that she’s got a good enough handle on what boundaries can be pushed, it’s almost like a game and not like a terrifying unknowable pit of anxiety that’s consuming her bones from the inside out.

Yeah.

“Yeah,” Ben agrees. “I thought you’d want to have something left of the surprise for when I do it publicly, but you can look at it once we get back if you don’t wanna wait.”

“Yeah? Is it in the back of your sock drawer too?” Mal asks, teasing now that she’s got her mind under her again.

Ben goes a bit pink about the cheeks. “Maybe,” he says. “So what? It’s not like anybody’s looking there.”

“Knowing you, you’re keeping some kind of historical relic in the back of your drawers, huh?” Mal asks, sweeping her fingers through her fiance’s hair. Fiance. It’s not sort of a nice sound to it, actually.

“No.” Ben says, immediately. “It’s not a relic. Not for you, Mal Bertha, first of her name, first of the VKs to come over to Auradon. You deserve something that’s all your own.”

“I’m not--” Mal starts.

Ben cuts her off. “You are. You’re the first Mal, and that’s what matters. Your mom might not have given you a full name, but you made one for yourself. That’s what we’re about, aren’t we? We’re the ones in charge of our own destinies, not some stuffy adults who are still living in the past.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you crying?” Ben asks, because he’s awful sometimes and wants Mal to talk about her emotions.

Ugh. Dragons don’t cry. “Not yet, asshole.” Mal gets out, around the weird feeling in her throat, and okay, yeah, the tears that are threatening to slip out.

“Do you want me to stop being nice to you? I can smack you if that would help.” Ben offers unhelpfully, still grinning a little bit. What a dork.

Mal lets out a choked sort of laugh, and leans back to offer her cheek, tears and sweat and all. “Yeah, actually. Just gimme a good whack, okay? I’m sure that’ll go over great with the others.”

“We can say you drove into a branch.” Ben says, and presses a kiss to her cheek instead.

“Oh geez, don’t even remind me,” Mal says, wincing a bit at the memory. She’s still getting the hang of the whole moped thing, and narrow forrest trails don’t make for the easiest learning experience. “I think I still have pine needles in my teeth.”

Ben kisses her again. “Sorry.”

“No you’re not.” Mal reminds him.

“I’m not!” Ben says gleefully, and hugs Mal so hard she can feel her ribs protest a little bit. “I’m going to marry you.”

“Dork.” Mal says, ruffling his hair.

“Yeah.” Ben agrees, and pulls on the sweaty end of her ponytail in something like retaliation.

“You wanted to make this official, beastie boy?” Mal says, teasing but also so deadly serious that she can feel her heartbeat all the way in her fingertips.

“Yeah,” Ben breathes. “Yes, Mal.”

“What’s more official than a little true love’s kiss, huh?” Mal breathes,  and kisses him.

[unironicduncanstan]

[UNI’S LPS LORE DROP BITCH]

so ,,, i used to collect littlest pet shop (mostly the 1st and 2nd gen ones bc yall i am old) and theyre long gone now but. these are some of the lps i remember playing with and giving distinct personalities growing up. most of them didnt have names at all so im just referring to them with numbers and pictures. also warning it gets pretty Dark bc weird kid culture but here we go;;;

the first is #11 and #86. they were my absolute FAVORITES, a mother and daughter duo, a lot of their stories revolved around the kitten getting lost and the mom having to get to her, or the kitten dying and the mom having a mental breakdown. 11 mostly acted as a single mom but sometimes id cycle out different potential dads, usually the dog lps bc i did Not care abt the actual scientific lack of interspecial breeding possibilities

#25. a basic white picket fence ass dude, really common choice as the ‘dad’ in the above situation, he also was not immune to being ‘killed off’ for angst. was also cheated on a couple times by 11 (THOSE WERE AUS THO,,, DONT CANCEL HER ITS OK TO KEEP STANNING)

#200. she was #11s best friend, I think her name might have been hannah??? anyways if the mom and dad were killed off sometimes she’d “adopt” #86. but usually only after #86 fell into the custody of a terribly neglectful parent for a while and had to be rescued bc again, in my gay neurodivergent little brain peace was never an option

#487. another love interest for #11, usually competed with #25 in an almost edward vs jacob type battle of cool brooding boy and average mcfamily man. he was a big fav

#672. number #487s sister! usually either helped him get #11 like a wingman, or i’d flip the cards and make her manipulative and sabotage 11 bc she didnt think she was good enough for her brother. the personality switches id give characters were rly like. getting the bad ending in a video game,

#44. YET ANOTHER,, LOVE INTEREST FOR THAT ONE CAT,,,, but it was one sided and he always lost. poor friend zone ass simp im sorry man idk why you deserved that 😔 i think sometimes though id pair him with #200/hannah at the end. cant get the girl date her best friend idk i was 8 my morals were not always applicable to the adult situations i created

#14. SO I,,,, i ended up with three of these. and in the end i made them triplets that performed for the circus and were unhappy in their life of exploitation. i think sometimes they would. form a sui pact to escape their torment.

#137. HIS NAME WAS FUCKEN CHEESE

Groovy goat / unnumbered. I remember she was spanish to me but spoke mostly english, this decision was made bc i was an extremely white american child, and she was almost always involved somehow in a story bc she was my favorite design ever. anyways she usually was a model that would give a struggling lps a ‘makeover’ like that one scene in any dramatic disney live action film ever made

#464. another fav bc of her design omg. she was like a little sweetheart and would often play the role of ‘baby’ for any species i didnt already have designated ‘babies’ for. BUT, when i’d play with the other hamsters (we’ll get 2 them in a sec), i made them all the same age and theyd all crush on her at the same time lmao the DRAMA

#34, #35, #36. they were brothers and in order from left to right;;; biggest brother and a leader+positive role model, then the punkish middle brother that didnt like to listen and would often get them all in trouble, then the youngest nerdy brother that was naive and soft and did w/e he was told. they stuck together thru all their antics, except when #464 was involved, then theyd have a classic ‘fighting over a girl then realizing thats ridiculous’ arc. rly loved these guys cuz i always wanted a hamster so id pretend they were real animals sometimes too loL

#693. i got thsi in a mcdonalds happy meal but anyways she was a princess/queen/whatever and was very spoiled royalty. probably tried to behead some of the other lps idk. all she wanted was drama and money

#112. punk boy,,, usually paired with one of the ‘popular’ girls,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, oh my god did i government assign this dog duncan kin b4 td even existed yet

#48, #79 #42. !! HUGE FUCKEN BITCH ALERT !! (popular girls trio lol), i think a couple times i like, aged down #11 and got rid of the kitten for a ~highschool au~ where these girls bullied her but she ofc ended up stealing the middle ones man. and then other times i just paired the middle girl with #112 in a genuine ‘opposites attract’ ship . where were u guys when i was making duncney lps a thing tbh

#59. i love this guy but he was just an eccentric dork and mostly used for comedic effect

#43. love interest for #59 that he goofily fawned over till he eventually got the girl at the end of every story bc i loved cliches

#673. usually a mysterious adventurous girl from out of town that meets the mains in my story and befriends them/helps them out. also a close friend of the groovy goat character

“Paws off diary” Bull Terrier. ok this ones weird but he came in this lil electronic diary right (you can google how it looks to see what i mean) and there was this like, plastic bubble on top that he came in and you could stick him or any other lps in there and shut it securely cuz it was a diary so i. used it as like. a prison almost where id trap lps and the other characters had to ‘save’ them like they were rescuing a princess from a tower or smth. but it was usually just this lil guy. also he was given a name but i was kinda cheating skjdfsdf it was, “Max” bc that was always his name in the commercials for the diary--

#646 and #647, twin orphans separated at birth. did a lot of princess and the pauper esque ‘long lost siblings from different worlds’ reunion stories with these two

#94. so this one came with a head bandage and a little medical looking case to carry them in. i used the carry case as like an ‘ambulance’ or med helicopter to put ‘sick’ pets in and carry them to the hospital, and this pet had chronic illness so they were always the roommate patient at the lps hospital.

#10 and #142, the goldfish couldnt be taken out of the bowl if i remember correctly so. he felt sad and isolated but the seahorse was his best friend who was able to go anywhere so id stick him in the bowl with him a lot to hang out n make him feel better. solidarity

#463. i LOVED her design, so i used her a lot as just a friend to whoever i was playing with. she was also one of the bigger birds so shes the only one i remember really utilizing as a ‘this character can literally fly’ plot device. she also might have been magic i dont remember. ik whenever i did the circus story she was always in it

#37, #38 and #39. i lost the ‘girl’ one early on, like completely lost it and never found it again so idk what happened to it. so the story was the other two were brothers in a constant search for their long lost sister. sometimes id either have another lps be their sister or make a ‘found family’ trope out of somebody

#331. i had two of these and they come with little hats but i lost one of the hats so. evil twin story babey the regular one was a nice old pirate guy but the one with the hat was evil and nobody could ever tell the difference

#641, IM THE TRASH MAN! I START EATIN GARBAGE,