#sorry for the huge pics

[hotwaterandmilk]

I'm seeing "Wedding Peach was unsuccessful" trotted out on Twitter again and it's honestly kind of funny to me. You can dislike the series, but you're rewriting history if you suggest it was a massive commercial flop/astronomical failure — it simply wasn't.

The Wedding Peach TV series maintained viewership throughout its run which is why it aired an entire year's worth of episodes (the full length it was intended to run) and didn't get cancelled like Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, for example.

I'm not going to pretend it did Sailor Moon numbers, dear god, it absolutely didn't get close hence why it wrapped as it did. I would suggest looking back now, that it was the definition of a mid-performing title for the time period. It sold toys decently but not outrageously, it got viewers but not an outstanding number, and it garnered a small but dedicated fanbase of male otaku. All of which is par for the course when it comes to a mid title in 1995.

Wedding Peach DX was produced because the TV series LD sales were decent enough to warrant it. Children were not buying LD box sets at this time, adult fans were and it was this interest that justified the creation of the four DX episodes as direct-to-video releases. If a series doesn't sell well they don't make more episodes, let alone higher quality deluxe episodes specifically for the home video market (and thus for older audiences with spending power).

It is very important to point out that Wedding Peach DX had NO INVOLVEMENT from the original creative team. Tomita Sukehiro and Yazawa Nao did not contribute to its creation, Tadano Kazuko didn't provide designs. Yuyama Kunihiko was the driving force behind the production of the DX episodes and he served as both director and writer for all four episodes (bringing on Wedding Peach animator and soon-to-be frequent Pokémon collaborator, Ichiishi Sayuri to serve as character designer).

What inspired these to be fanservice dreck to the level they ended up being is honestly beyond me. I mean the otaku market definitely wanted more episodes featuring the characters (and more songs featuring the seiyuu, if you want to see how keen otaku were for FURIL please see this post) but part of what they liked about the characters at the time was their (barfbarfbarf) perceived purity and innocence. The DX including panty shots and swimsuits kind of threw them for a loop. Even now, if you look at discussions about the DX among otaku there's a bit of a divide in opinion.

The DX episode sales were (as far as I can tell based on magazines from the time) also mid, but enough to cover four episodes. Three and four don't seem to have sold as well as one and two, but again the stats from the time aren't comprehensive. I think the fact that there weren't any after episode four says it all, honestly. OVA episodes are expensive to produce and it was extremely common for them to stop immediately if the sales weren't there. DX didn't justify its existence beyond those four episodes and Yuyama moved onto a far more successful project in Pokémon.

On that topic, I think it's important to note that Wedding Peach was OLM's first television series (albeit a coproduction with KSS). If it and the studio's adaptation of Mojacko hadn't made some level of profit it would have been quite difficult for them to adapt Pokémon. Neither Mojacko nor Wedding Peach set records with their viewership or sales numbers, but they both did "OK". It was in Pokémon however, that that OLM truly found a successful property with the series still running today. Sometimes you've got to have a few runs at producing things before you find success. Wedding Peach was one of these early runs, a project where a lot of people cut their teeth but one that didn't justify its own continuation beyond a certain point. Just a very standard media mix from the mid-90s, in other words.

Wedding Peach is a problematic title with indifference through to outright objection to representing love outside of heterosexual romance. Looking back now it feels like an absolute dinosaur on so many levels. Between the anime's fatphobic episode and Momoko dropping some gender essentialism, I'm not surprised people want to relegate it to the dustbin of history.

However, I think it is very telling that Tomita Sukehiro, when presented with the opportunity to tell a similar story in the modern day, chose to represent not just queer love, but platonic and familial love in Wedding Apple. While he can't undo the regressive and cringy elements of the original series, as a creator he has progressed and I'd like to think we can all continue to improve our outlooks and output as we grow.

Disliking Wedding Peach in the modern day is completely understandable. I'm not going to pretend anyone should watch it in 2024 without knowing that it is a camp, cheaply made relic of a time when heterosexuality was considered magic. However, just because it pandered to all the worst things trending at the time doesn't mean it didn't sell enough products or hold enough viewers to justify its production. It did, it just wasn't a strong enough property to go beyond that and that's representative of mediocrity rather than mind blowing commercial failure imho.

[driftsart]

Some doodles

(Yes ik the first pic is fake but it's silly though lmao)

[moe-broey]

Quick and rough Plumeria redesign, mostly just cause...... I gotta do what comes naturally to me, man. Give me some Shapes. Simplify that design or so help me.

I don't have a lot of complex thoughts about it, actually! Just the idea of having a "sexy" outfit that draws the eyes to certain parts of the body -- while simultaneously being modest and Sharp. Having an edge to it. Also!!!! The luna moth inspired wings!!! I wanted to stay within her og color palette, but I've also always thought luna moth wings would suit her... the top wing is vaguely heart shaped, too!

[dreammeiser]

Can you talk about more of the world of dreamalong? 🥹

I can tell you a little bit!

I look at The Kingdom of Ooo (Adventure Time), Moominvalley (90s Moomin anime), Don't Hug Me I'm Scared (everything being made of felt!), Raggedy Ann and Andy (the Fleischer Studios 1941 short film, everything was also made of fabric), Disneyland, Meow Wolf, and Night Vale/Twin Peaks (two beloved weird towns) for inspiration on the aesthetics/feeling of this world!

Dreamalong is the biggest town in the old kingdom, next to the lands of Cloudsveil, Cottonwood, Eiderdown Acres, Merry-Go-Town, and Sleeper Valley. These places all have themes akin to what the dreamscapes in a child's dreams might look like.

The humanity that populates this world are referred to as Puppetkind, of which there are 7 types you can be. (I will not be sharing them in full detail yet because I have to be cautious now, but they are all represented in the Dreamalong Gang! Some of them are mixes!)

Their currency was referred to jokingly as Chocolate Coins at first, but we sort of ran with it after because it was silly and cute :o)

Have some of the visual inspirations from the board!

[nicoscheer]

Something about the Turkish air …

[catwif3]

we went to the art fair!! a very nice lady asked to take my photo and sent it to me otherwise i would not have a fullbody pic lol!!

also ran into a person who clocked my shawl (around my waist) and was asking about the pattern and when told it was an anna victoria was like "I'M KNITTING AN ANNA VICTORIA" and when mentioned the yarn dyer (wendy'swonders) was also like "OH LOVE HER" IT WAS SO WILD. SUCH A NICHE SHARED INTEREST. I'M LIVING. I HOPE THEY KNIT THEIR SHAWL!!

[visualtaehyun]

dorky Zee is my favorite Zee (x)

[kingdomstims]

-> happy (belated) birthday @garfieldstim!! board with both junhan & han with stuff i thought you'd like, such as mycology & loosely horror stims :3

[ID: A 3x3 stimboard of 7 GIFs with two images on either side of the middle row. GIF 1: A pan-over of mushrooms on a mossy log. GIF 2: Devils finger fungus growing, unfurling its tendrils. GIF 3: Rain falling on a window at night, lit up by a cityscape. Image 1: Junhan from Xdinary Heroes. GIF 4 (center): A white mushroom being plucked from the ground. Image 2: Han from Stray Kids. GIF 5: First person POV of driving down an empty country road at night. GIF 6: A timelapse of a forest floor as the shadows of trees above shift. GIF 7: A spinning lamp next to textbook pages of butterflies and mushrooms. End ID]

[statementlou]

.

[tetzoro]

zoro really went :3c

[golden-gear-guy]

took perse ages to send me the pic but this was our halloween setup! you bet i ate more candy than i should have!

he was so shy to get on my bike LOL. BUT! lemme introduce you to THE 🔥ghost rider🔥 (i would never ride a ghost) and his trusted companion, ✨slutty vampire✨

((ooc bonus gear whorish smirk sketch cuz,,, it was too good to be fully lost))

[deus-ex-mona]

has chizuutan been sitting this close to aizo in class all this time…?

[the-everqueen]

@stellerssong asked for the masc version of "head shaved."

[stayatsam]

im in a like, trans anthology/textbook(?) actually, i'm just thinking about my "blue period" was when i found out i was gay (i figured out trans first)

i got to write a little blurb about one of my pieces and it was accepted.

it's called trans bodies trans selves 2nd edition

[jounosparticles]

[oceanmoss]

me and the most insane lovely creature on earth 🐦‍⬛💛