#what if Wreck it Ralph had a good sequel

[biginkyboyo13]

Currently obsessed with the crackpot idea of a Wreck it Ralph sequel where somehow the original Turbo Time game actually was popular enough to get it's own line of games or something, and suddenly one day the arcade is upgraded or something because we've entered the era of Nostalgia and like, one of the new Turbo games is brought in.

It's like, also a Mario Kart clone, like Sugar Rush, and has a Punch out storyline where you play as Turbo obviously, and he has to defeat multiple racers to become the greatest racer ever and I'm kinda obsessed with it, bro is just a little guy in this world and he learns about what the old version of himself did and he's just absolutely mortified, but the others in his game probably vilify him for it.

Actually, this au sequels Vanellope would probably also hate him. Like, yeah, he's a different person, but PTSD is PTSD, Turbo literally tried to kill her and she wouldn't just move on from that immediately.

I'm going feral over this, it's stupid and I love it.

[velvet-vox]

Why King Candy has been so underrated and misunderstood for a long time (Still is, but to a lesser extent)

(All the images in this post come from the video linked below)

Hi everyone; so, usually, I'm not a trend chaser, in fact, I completely missed out on the hype of the Murder Drones finale by not releasing something for the occasion, as I have been very busy this past couple of months, and still am, but I've decided to make a special, out of program post just for my new current hyper fixation, that being King Candy from Wreck-It Ralph, who, for the past couple of weeks, has slowly risen up to become my third favourite Disney movie villain of all time.

And all of that, as some of you might have guessed, happened because I watched @king-crawler 's two hour long video essay on the character and the movie that he comes from.

Needless to say, just like many others before, it inspired me to add my own two cents to the conversation, and talk about some points that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere else.

This is probably the only Wreck-It Ralph related analysis that I'm ever going to make.

I even thought about scrapping this whole analysis, because midway through development I thought that I was just spewing out nonsense, but I kept going because some of my points may give food for thought to someone who understood this character way better than me.

I may reblog some analysis/art posts of this character, but I'm not going to turn WIR into a staple of my blog; however, if I see a lot of people in the comments or the reblogs adding stuff or points to my arguments, I could always make a sequel post to this one.

But first, I need to get something out of the way immediately.

Spoilers below the cut if you never saw this movie, kind of important, as it is the movie's major plot twist:

King Candy is Turbo.

Who's Turbo? Watch the movie.

With all that said, enjoy the read, I'll now elaborate on the meaning of my title, also, here's the video in question; I highly encourage everyone to check it out, as it is a way better sequel to Wreck-It Ralph than the one who was lost in the depths of Lake Laogai:

Clarifications:

Wreck-It Ralph is an amazing movie, but one for which I've never had much to think about.

Don't get me wrong, I always considered it to be the smartest Disney movie ever made since my first watch, but I saw it for the first time relatively late, after I had consumed other Disney movies as childhood classics and other crossover movies featuring video game characters, so it never had neither a nostalgia nor hyper fixation factor as reasons as to why I should have put the story under a microscope after that.

Also, as Rando says at the beginning of their video, it is not a movie that blew me away after my first watch. Or the second. Or the third.

Why is this section important? It is important because these are my subjective opinions of the movie, which are unfortunately going to subtly influence what I'm about to say in one way or another, regardless of me trying to speak from a place of supposed "objectivity".

I'm really passionate about this world now thanks to Randomalistic, but you won't get the same vibe from this post as you would get from one made by long time fans of this movie.

Ok?

Good.

Next:

King Candy/Turbo has always been... in a weird spot for me.

Just like the movie where he comes from, I never really cared about Turbo until a month ago, despite always feeling like I should have loved him a lot more, especially since Deltarune chapter 2 released a while ago, and the character of Spamton G Spamton is someone for whom I have very strong feelings about; and Turbo, in a technical sense, is literally the spiritual predecessor of that guy (actually, Turbo is the spiritual predecessor of a lot of similar characters, he kinda was ahead of his time).

If I had made a Disney tier list for their movie villains, a completely subjective one for that matter, I would have put him in A tier, but thinking that he should have gone in B tier... while also feeling like neither were appropriate placements for him.

Randomalistic's video finally helped me fall in love with the character; so much in fact, that it got me thinking:

"Damn, if Turbo is actually this amazing of a villain, why was(is) he so underrated and overlooked by general audiences, when he admittedly is, in my opinion, one of the best Disney villains of all time? Frollo is by and large considered the best villain out of any Disney movie, and the HOND was nowhere near as successful as Wreck-It Ralph when it first released, so it can't just be a matter of first impressions (?). Maybe there are other factors, that stop audiences from recognizing Turbo as the Magnum Opus of villainy that he truly is..."

... And that's exactly what I'm going to discuss!

Let's get right into it.

The minor stuff.

First things first:

He's ugly. I'm sorry to all of the people who ironically and unironically simp for him, but that's a design only a mother could love.

On a serious note, KC and Turbo's designs always felt... not very eye-catching to me? (The bug form is excluded from this conversation)

I'm not saying these are bad designs, far from it; but each form has on them a certain amount of design decisions that, by the authors own decisions, make them unappealing to a viewer like me (I'm using myself as reference point because the topic that I'm talking about is inherently subjective).

Starting off with King Candy, is design has to balance a lot of different aspects simultaneously: it has to be eyecatching, so that the viewer can pay attention to him as an antagonist, and believable enough so that the watchers buy the fact that he is the King of Sugar Rush and not someone else, but it also has to be generic and fake enough so that it can later on add up to the fact this is just a performance, a facade, a ruse, a costume, and not the real character, it also needs to be friendly enough so that the audience can be manipulated together with Ralph into believing that he actually is a good guy;

I could go on and on listing off all the amazing things, that the King Candy facade pulls off simultaneously, but exactly because the design has to feel real and fake at the same time, it also, by proxy, ends up feeling weird, and that inexplicable sentiment can end up alienating the viewers who are watching the movie and the ones who have finished consuming it without thinking too deeply about what the meaning of the KC's facade actually was.

In the case of Turbo's design, all the people working behind the movie did such an amazing job making him look as scary, ugly, alien, and deranged as possible, all the while keeping him relatively PG friendly; the result clearly paid off, but Turbo's ugliness is not as slick as the likes of Ratigan's, nor is it as nightmarishly horrifying as the Other Mother's.

The most nightmare fuel qualities of Turbo's design are hidden out of plain sight, which is basically a recurring theme with his character.

To put it in a funny way, his looks neither end up in the conventionally attractive territory that most other Disney villains fall into, nor do they grab the attention of the Monster Fu###rs crowd.

I have zero things to say about the Cy-bug form, but I do have a section later on where I talk about that entire scene in and of itself.

All in all, it might just be me, but the first impressions of this character's design don't really do him any favours when it comes to his popularity.

I now love both designs, but before, they just didn't click with me, and I think some other people might understand what I'm talking about.

Admittedly, I could have explained this section better, but these were mostly my personal opinions and they are not really important in the grand scheme of things, unless somebody else agrees with me, in that case I'd have to take a closer look at the situation.

Second of all:

The marketing.

To be honest, I feel like what really elevated all of the most iconic Disney villains into pop culture status was a joint push from the company and the artists to include these characters into more stories and products.

Like, sorry to all of the Oogie Boogie fans, but that character is barely in his movie and doesn't do a lot, and he wouldn't be nearly as iconic as he is if Disney didn't use him again multiple times after his first debut.

And the same can honestly be said for all of Disney's most popular villains; they got used multiple times in multiple different projects, that either kept them mostly the same, changed them with some unique twists (that change in quality, but that's up to you), expanded on their preestablished characters, or put them into unique situations that showcased just how versatile they are.

Kingdom Hearts, The House Of Mouse and Descendants are very obvious examples of what I'm talking about, but even appearances in lesser known stories like Lady Tremaine in Cinderella 3, Captain Hook in Jake and the Neverland pirates, or the entirety of Disney Twisted Wonderland help solidify these characters as pop culture icons;

All except Frollo.

Frollo is the only one whose hype and cultural recognizability wasn't built up by the company or the media in which he was featured, but by the fans of the original movie.

And despite Disney almost never used that character ever again after his debut, he, his movie, and Hellfire still get a lot of prise and are talked about classics to this very day.

Because Frollo is just that freaking awesome.

Turbo, on the other hand... is barely in anything.

Let's get the most obvious stuff out of the way first: King Candy is a relatively new character, released in an era where Disney was slowly starting to integrate the new, corporate ideals that we see today.

All of the villains that I've mentioned previously already became tried and true successes by that point, so even if the company doesn't care about having good villains anymore they still use their likeability because it has already shown in the past to bring in audiences.

It's also the main reason as to why Mother Gothel is used so rarely: King Candy, as the last truly great Disney movie villain (excluding Tamatoa, who's barely used anyway, and movies not produced by their main animation studio), arrived at a point in time when the company wasn't pushing for their villains anymore, and instead actively sanitized some of them in their new stories (you know what I'm talking about); therefore, Turbo, being actually incredibly dark on second look, and with no actual intention of tuning him down like Jafar because he hadn't already reached the iconic status by that point, had no reason to make any big appearance ever again or be paraded around as much.

There are some more reasons as to why Turbo likely doesn't have more stuff dedicated to him, like the fact that he is technically 3 characters at the same time, but I don't want to prolong this section too much.

So instead, how about we take a look at some of his other appearances outside of Wreck-It Ralph?

Let's see...

He has various cards in Lorcana, which is his most recent appearance, mind you;

He became a playable character in the 7th season of Disney Speedstorm, a game where I was hoping he would be the main villain, due to a variety of reasons, but hey, that's perfectly fine;

And he was mentioned multiple times in Disney Heroes Battle Mode, a game where he hopefully is the secret main villain, as it would pay off a large amount of story and design decisions chosen for that game, but it's probably just wishful thinking and unless the game's plug is pulled, I doubt we'll see him anytime soon.

Ok, it's more than nothing, but it's also not that special if you ask me.

But hey! At least he got a boss fight in a Kingdom Hearts game! That's more than Randall can say! He was a major boss in Union Cross... the mobile game... that you can't play anymore... and since KH adheres strictly to its own canon most of the time, it also probably means that we'll never get to play through the storyline of the first WIR in any future mainline game, and we're more likely to see a world based around the second movie instead.......

Yeah.

That seems to be it, unless I'm missing something huge (feel free to let me know).

This section is important because Cruella De Vil became one of my favourite Disney villains of all time not after seeing her in the original movie, but after I saw her in 101 Dalmatian Street, a niche show that almost nobody knows; so other medium appearances are important to these characters popularity, especially when not all of these villains are Frollo.

ALSO, PLUS 1+, I was originally going to cut this point, but I decided to add it anyway: the Italian voice actor.

After recently rewatching this movie in English, (I'm Italian, we in Italy translate the movies to our language because it's easier than learning an entirely different language for them), I have to really admit that Alan Tudik's voice performance really does a lot of heavy lifting for the character's memorability.

This is not to say that the Italian voice dub sucks or that King Candy's Italian voice actor does a bad job, in fact, the voices are actually quite similar to each other, it's just that Alan's performance has that small edge of hidden bitterness that really brings the character together; though I do prefer Turbo's Italian voice for its twist reveal: the more raspy, heavy tone of the actor really highlights the vicious, alien nature of his character, as well as the sense of dread that Vanellope is feeling in this moment; I encourage you to give it a watch.

Again, this is extremely minor, and it really only affects me specifically, but don't worry, it's not going to have influence over the rest of this post.

These were just additional points and not the actual meat of my argument, so now I'll start discussing what I actually wanted to talk about from the very beginning:

Who is he?

I think that one of the main reasons as to why Turbo is so underrated is because we spend way less time than with most other Disney villains (before him) to know him as a person.

Think about it:

Most other Disney villains, or at least the most popular ones, all have moments where they are doing nothing to progress the plot, that are dedicated solely to get us to know them better.

Hades has several moments with his minions to show off his personality and anger, Jafar has silly little moments with Iago that show off his depravity, Maleficent has talks with her crow that make her more dynamic, Ursula has her introduction scene where she spies on Ariel and does nothing but talking, and Captain Hook... has 30% of his screen time dedicated to just that.

Heck, Hellfire, one of the most iconic sequences in all of Disney, is just a character set piece for Frollo, and it's arguably completely disposable, as it doesn't really do anything to progress the story, it just explores Frollo's character in deeper depth and that happens to make the big difference when it comes to him.

King Candy doesn't really have an obvious character centric moment, something easy for the audience to quickly latch onto: every time we see him, he is always doing something to push the plot forward.

Yeah, there's that small character interaction with the Donut cops when he gets glasses, and other small moments here and there, like the would you hit a guy with glasses joke, but nothing truly character-defying.

I also don't count King Candy's first scene as a character centric moment, as that's more of an introduction rather than an elaboration, but it is technically valid, even if it ultimately is just a facade that he puts up to serve his needs.

Speaking of which: the fact that most of what we see of Turbo throughout the story could be entirely fake is definitely something that I could use to make the argument in this section stronger, but I'd rather save it up for later.

Also, side note:

I think that the moment most dedicated to him only, to show off a different, "true" aspect of his personality, is when he is walking back and forth in the castle waiting for his cops to show up again.

This moment is so interesting on rewatch, as it is one of the few moments in the entire movie where I can safely say that Turbo is being 100% genuine and isn't putting up any facade whatsoever, as there really is no benefit to him appearing distressed in this situation.

In general, it's funny to think that Turbo's most genuine reactions are of fear.

Back to point one, do you wanna know why Maleficent was given a crow in Sleeping Beauty? The reason as to why was for her to have someone to bounce off, a way for the writers to showcase more facets of her character, and while Candy has Sour Bill, the movie never uses the relationship between the two to show off a different aspect of his character.

To be clear, I'm not saying that Turbo is a worse character than these other Disney villains, or that without these moments of calmness he doesn't work, one great example

Do you know that Calhoun in early development had a camouflage ability, meant to highlight how she hides her feelings but was scrapped because it made her harder to relate to? Well, let's just say that Turbo's entire character is a What If scenario where that idea actually went through.

It's a double edged sword: King Candy is so interesting because he is so mysterious and surprising all throughout the movie, but exactly because he has to be so mysterious, he is not a character as easy to understand as some of the other villains from the company; it's incredibly easy to miss out on just how cruel he is and the full scale of all the damage that he has done.

I, AM, .......the twist villain.

There's also something to be said about how popular to the conversation the twist that King Candy is Turbo became.

Everyone loves this reveal, am I right?

It may not be the best moment in the movie, but my god if it isn't hype, all thanks to the music, the lighting, the setup, yada yada yada....

But the identity reveal scene is to Candy what the Genocide Boss Fight is to Sans: it's the most impactful moment about his character, to the point where it becomes the entire baseline where most discussions are built around, which, more often than not, lead a lot of people to overlook other things about Turbo.

Let me explain: how many analysis videos have you seen where the person making it talks more about the setup and subtle hints present in King Candy's earlier scenes that slowly build up to the twist and less about the events happening in it?

The reveal is amazing, don't get me wrong, but if Rando's video didn't come along to dive deep into King Candy's earlier scenes with the twist already in mind, the true impact of what Candy had been doing throughout the entire movie up to this point would have been lost on me, and I can imagine someone else feeling the same, as me, casual enjoyer of WIR, have been conditioned to think of Candy more for his well planned out surprise, rather than for how that surprise makes the character more engaging (I hope this makes sense).

I also want to mention this video ranking all the different twist villains from Disney and Pixar where CellSpex says that the Turbo twist is useless, since the movie doesn't do much with it afterwards.

Now, aside from the fact that CellSpex is clearly in the wrong and she's missing the point, I think this lack of reconsideration highlights that casual viewers care more about the Turbo plot twist than they care about Turbo himself.

But honestly, I don't believe people focusing too much on the twist is that big of a problem, more so, the problem stems when you want to use the twist... to discuss something else.

Now, I think it's perfectly fine if you want to use Turbo to explain why other Disney twist villains don't work, but when the villains that King Candy is compared to the most are Hans, Yokai, and Bellwether, you kind of start to think that he is only the best of the worst, and not an actual amazing antagonist in his own right.

It may not be a message that was intended to be sent, but it is something that may subconsciously cling to someone's brain, especially when you consider that there might be a huge audience of people who watch these videos because they saw Hans in the title (wishing for the video to bash him), and have seen Frozen, Zootopia and Big Hero 6, but have never seen Wreck-It Ralph in their lives, and they get all their knowledge of Turbo from them.

It's exasperating, especially when King Candy has way more in common with renaissance Disney villains than contemporary ones.

Yes, through technicality, he is a twist villain, but he's more so a hybrid antagonist to be honest.

And even worse than people just grouping up Candy with a bunch of morons, as I've just discovered by reading a comment from this Turbo Tribute, is that some people apparently despise him for starting the Disney Twist villain trend: even if he's leagues better than his competition, the simple fact that you can attribute some of the blame for the fall of villainy onto him, is enough for someone to despise him.

King of the Cy-bugs (feat Rockotar):

Very recently, I've rewatched Rockotar's video analysis of the first Wreck-It Ralph, and when he arrived at the "Welcome, to the Boss Level!" scene, I decided to analyse all the possible reasons as to why he (and possibly many others, such as, admittedly, myself) wasn't as entranced by it as basically any other scene from the movie, who he had been praising non-stop up until this point.

And I think I understood why: aside from the fact that this scene is only a setup for Ralph's sacrifice (and I wished the actual boss fight to be longer and more creative), the Boss Fight is less of a climax for Ralph's journey and more so a character study for who Turbo/King Candy is.

In my opinion, this is the closest we ever get to a "villain at rest" moment with Turbo because in every other scene of the movie, King Candy is always doing something, he's always active and we never see him doing anything that doesn't coincide with his role.

And, paradoxically to what I've just said about this being a "villain at rest" moment, in this scene, he is still doing something and being active in the plot, only that this time, instead of advancing the story, he's holding it back from its conclusion.

This scene simplifies Turbo's character to his most bare bone essentials: he's a short-tempered jerk, a power hungry murderer, a virus; it's all pretty interesting stuff once you take a sweet moment to break it down.

However, there's a point that I briefly mentioned before that I want to bring up; this creature that we are laying your eyes upon, is now three different people all at once, King Candy (anxious, quiet and manipulative), Turbo (short-tempered, competitive and spiteful), and now this Cy-bug hybrid.

To reiterate what I've said before, if you don't think about it for long enough, you aren't going to understand who either character is exactly.

Because that's the big thing: all of his facades, implied development off screen and reactions are so well constructed that at certain points, it feels like we're following two different characters simultaneously, which fits perfectly with the narrative that so called "real" Turbo died and now he's no longer himself, but...

I'm scratching the bottom of the barrel to bring up other possible points as to why this character is so underrated, and the lack of a clear identity seems like a pretty obvious thing to me.

But that's only two out of the three characters I mentioned; we need to take a second look at the Cy-bug form, who, in many ways, is simultaneously the thesis and antithesis of his character.

In particular, there's one thing I want to consider:

There's this theory made by somebody else that says Turbo, upon getting eaten by the Cy-bug, didn't take over the animal's conscience and control his body, instead, upon eating King Candy, the Cy-bug took upon himself his mannerisms, meaning that, according to this theory, neither King Candy nor Turbo technically survived the encounter.

If we accept this theory as true, then that means that even during what is supposed to be a character study, the character that the movie is highlighting may also be just as fake as the act that was put up until this point, meaning that, in a sense, we never saw the real Turbo in the movie.

He was three people at once.

(Yes, I've been spamming this image everywhere, and I'll keep doing so because I can)

In Conclusion:

Turbo is, ironically and unironically, an incredibly subtle character, and that makes it extremely easy for a lot of people to overlook and miss out on the most subtle details and characteristics that make him truly exceptional;

Him being so deceptive and mysterious helps and hinders his popularity, as some either love the mystery surrounding him, others fail to get a good grasp on who he truly is and become disinterested.

He is, by design, a building block, a puzzle to be solved, a character to piece together, that makes him so much fun!

But also, if you aren't interested in putting the pieces together, then he may not be up everyone's alley.

I definitely feel like the best thing that @randomalistic did in her/their video on Wreck-It Ralph was create an easy jumping point for new fans/casual watchers of the movie to get insanely invested over the story and characters;

I'm sure it was incredibly easy for many other people like me to focus only on the most talked about aspect of Turbo, aka the plot twist, and overlook all the other things that were not as much in your face as that; I was blinded by the spotlight, and it made it hard to see the genius that was put everything else;

Now, thanks to Random highlighting King Candy's cruelty and repulsive behaviour, my favourite thing about Turbo is how he weaponized the "disability" of a child to marginalise and persecute her, discriminating her for it all of her life WHEN HE'S THE ONE WHO MADE HER "DISABLED" IN THE FIRST PLACE.

This man, is so HORRIBLE, and he deserves to be publicly exposed for all the heinous s##t that he did, not just for being the best of a bunch of villains who frankly he shouldn't even be attempted to be compared to.

Anyway, I hope someone had fun reading this. I definitely felt like I started to write this with some really good ideas that I wanted to share, but in the end, I feel like they weren't all that interesting to begin with.

Feel free to share your own opinions, and have a great day!

[beeebird]

Uncleared bug

（Wreck-It Ralph AU）(What follows is a super long introduction…) (To put it simply, this is a story about a ghost.)

_________________________________________

(Background Premise)

In the years following the events of Sugar Rush (the plot of the movie), word that Turbo had survived the previous accident and had been lurking in Sugar Rush quickly spread to Game Central Station. The characters are shocked that Turbo survived, and glad that he is now dead. ... But is he?

Game companies never miss a good opportunity to continue making money. Of course, they had no idea that their character would murder another character. ... In short, a new TurboTime series of games has been launched. Cutting-edge 3D technology, a sequel to an old game - a well-run arcade has no reason not to buy this new arcade. So a brand new TurboTime game was plugged in.

New Turbo, and the twins, Drift, and Set arrive at Game Central Station. (There are other roles, if needed).

On the surface, at least, their appearance is very different from the appearance in the old series of TurboTime. And in character... well, Turbo is still the same cocky, attention-obsessed, over-conquering, annoying guy. The characters in the arcade game hid from the new series their previous accidents due to the old Turbo. And at the same time try to be friendly to them in the new series. But the previous accident had left a bad impression of Turbo in their minds. Naturally, the new Turbo was not welcomed by Game Central Station. (The twins, on the other hand, are constantly being looked at in the "poor guy" way, which is strange to them.)

Unaware of the tragic events that had taken place in the arcade, New Turbo assumed that the characters were simply rejecting him because he was the new guy. So he was determined to prove himself. Well, if you want to prove yourself worthy of affection. The easiest way is to challenge someone to prove themselves better - and that person is Vanellope. (" I must be a better driver than a little girl!" He said so at the time). It's a pretty embarrassing situation.

But all in all, Vanellope is friendly because "well, it wasn't the new guy who made the mistake, so maybe he's a good guy?" The idea agreed to the friendly match.

The day of the race went well. Turbo doesn't mind being stared at by candy residents. All he cares about now is the next game.

Start the engine and hit the gas as hard as you can. Turn the wheel, don't be pulled by centrifugal force... Pay attention. It's just a simple friendly match with a little girl from the candy world. Turbo thought. Until their go-kart made it all the way to Rainbow Cave (if that's what you can call it). As he rushed out of the tunnel, Turbo suddenly felt a strong sense of dizziness, and it seemed that he saw some red and white figure. Although he quickly shook off this sudden discomfort, he was thus overtaken by Vanellope.

Even if the game ends in a draw. Turbo still felt bad, physically and psychologically. His head has been aching ever since he felt a sudden dizziness at the mouth of the tunnel, like something was... Pull his code. "Maybe it's just the bright colors of the candy world that make me dizzy," he thought. So Turbo found an excuse to go back to his game and rest.

Back in his lounge, Turbo felt restless. Yes - that was a "draw," but it still pissed him off. He should be better than all the racers, not some "draw". Even more unbearable than the frustration of failure (which he thought he was) was the growing headache, the tearing of the code in his body that challenged his endurance all the time. "damnit, I really need to calm down and rest right now..." 'he thought.

In the bathroom, the cold water on the face temporarily relieved the headache. But a ringing in his ears put Turbo back into a trance. He's in a weird state today. What's going on? He held the edge of the sink trembling, trying to suppress the queasy feeling in his throat. Then he looked up ——

... Suddenly, the red-and-white figure he had seen vaguely as he walked through the tunnel appeared in the bathroom mirror. "Do you want to win?" The figure whispered. In a trance,

Turbo thought he must be crazy.

[randomalistic]

first off. i can't believe that i already followed you- your spam blog -and didn't know.

second. i literally just had a dream shere i was rambling to someone about turbo using stuff from your essay. apparently it rewired my brain so hard it, and you, manifested in my dreams lol (i even made a bad joke that "you can say he's Turbo-tastic!" hah)

and congratulations on making such great work of art that is the essay, you can feel and hear the love(and hyperfixation) poured into it.

i do wonder tho, what was the hardest part when making it?

I’m so glad you enjoyed it yay :)❤️ and also recognized me from my sneo blog LOL

I feel that so horrendously much. I legit had a dream a few nights ago about someone APPROACHING ME cuz they recognized my voice from the essay (girl get an ego check) but they then said “dude it’s so obvious you’re into him” or something. And I was like. 🧍‍♀️Well you don’t have to say it out loud

Anyways you’re not the only one cuz the video haunts me too. even after its birth.

The hardest part?? Oh Man. Can I say Everything.

There were a few stretches that were REALLY TOUGH. short answer: Entire first half of the video. Also the longer parts like the Manipulation section, Turbo reveal section, and the Cybug King Candy section. I had a lot to say for these and it was tricky to condense it into something Comprehensible

Long answer:

I completely overhauled the entire first half of the video (EVERYTHING before the kart breaking scene) because I wasn’t satisfied with the writing/delivery etc. (Which was a good choice because my arguments were pretty half baked before) but oh my god that was like a week and a half of 7 hour recording and rewriting sessions it was brutal. Especially annoying because those arguments were super old and I was getting sick of thinking about them. So instead I used them as a backbone to structure better arguments and revamp the script so that kept me from going insane. However it was also really fun because I got to see my old ass arguments finally be explained to their fullest capacity. And also I got to write shit like ☝️🤓Excuse me sir your turbo is showing..

The biggest issue with this being my first ever video essay and it taking so goddamn long: you could SEE my writing/editing/voicing skills improve over the span of the video itself. Which is really cool improvement wise but REALLY . REALLY BAD CONSISTENCY WISE. Like the first half of the video is the part people are gonna see first. It SETS EXPECTATIONS. IT HAS TO BE PEAK

I think I re-edited the synopsis upwards of 5-6 times. Which makes sense as that was like the first thing I started the project with but ouhvhhhgghghr. Making a section from scratch is WAY easier than going back and having to redo something

Early on I cut out an entire fully edited/scripted/recorded 3 minute section of me talking about Megamind and its sequel because I realized. This is pointless and everyone has TALKED ABOUT MEGAMIND BEFORE AND THIS HAS NOTHIBG TO DO WITH WRECK IT RALPH. There were a lot of scrapped ideas

Audio was also really challenging, just entirely. Making sure the levels were consistent (I had absolutely zero voice volume normalization I did it all manually 😭 I’m gonna have to figure out how to do that) Also just the concept of recording my voice and having to speak out loud in a space was Real Bad for my anxiety but You Do it Scared. Had to wait until I was home alone or like 99% sure I was alone before I could say anything without worrying. Also training my voice to sound engaging and consistent was so hard and it took maybe 6 months for me to get it down. Also I had no fucking idea where to record, like at first I was recording in a CLOSET (and later under a piano??) and then I was wondering why my lines sounded so weird. Then I realized I could just Record in a room and it would sound JUST FINE. So basically uhhh every single part was the hardest part. But it was worth it and very fun I think 🫶

[beebfreeb]

hiii ive never interacted w you other than rbing sometimes but i just wanted to let you know that theres something ab the wir takeover of your blog ive genuinely loved. like i watched you get into it and then it just slowly took over your blog as you made it your own n like what youre posting now is almost in the territory of unrecognizable from the source material and i just think thats fun :) youre taking the world and characters from the movie and twisting it and adding onto it n idk, its special to me. its your wreck it ralph now. its filling the good sequel shaped space in my heart but way more creative n out there than disney would ever create

I'm glad you're having fun! A lot of people have unfollowed me LOL. I am easily delighted by characters made for a specific purpose and their relationships to that. I like playing toys with the setting and characters because there is a lot of questions that are never explored due to the scope of the movie.

What if the arcade had a GameCube in it for hosting Super Smash Bros. tournaments?

[legendary-defender-of-fandoms]

You want to know the worst thing about Ralph Breaks the Internet?

It wasn’t the already-dated Internet jokes & references - we all knew going in that stuff was never going to work.

It wasn’t the new characters - honestly, they’re all fine (except maybe Double Dan - Alfred Molina deserves better!).

It wasn’t the exclusion of Felix & Calhoun (my delusional ass is still waiting for a short film about the two raising the Sugar Rush racers.)

It wasn’t even the thousands of details they ignored, retconned, or forgot from the original Wreck-it Ralph (Fix-it Felix Jr. was THIRTY years old when Ralph met Vanellope, Vanellope ABDICATED HER THRONE in favor of a constitutional democracy so everyone in Sugar Rush would have a say in how the game was run, Sugar Rush was a two-seater racing game, etc.)

No, the absolute, positively, undeniably worst thing Ralph Breaks the Internet did was tarnish & distort Ralph so thoroughly it made us all question if the original movie was even that good to begin with.

Everything else in Ralph Breaks the Internet could be forgiven or overlooked. But what they did to Ralph is just baffling. He was never going to be mistaken for a Rhodes scholar in the first movie, but he WAS smarter than the doofus who couldn’t even name a graduation cap in the sequel.

Wasn’t he?

And he wasn’t a gross slob by choice - he HATED living in the dump (I believe his exact words were “NOT cool! Unhygienic, and lonely! And boring.”) but he was kind of stuck there because the game literally left him nowhere else to stay. That’s why in the epilogue he decided to finally make something of his situation by building himself a proper shack instead of just camping on the bricks.

Wasn’t it?

And Ralph had many flaws in the first film - he had a short temper, he was a little clumsy, he broke things by accident just because he was a little too strong or things weren’t made for someone with his physical abilities in mind, he was stubborn, he had a one-track mind and couldn’t be deterred from his short-term goals no matter the long-term consequences. But the one thing he WASN’T was insecure. He knew his own strengths & weaknesses, and he wasn’t trying to change himself to win anyone’s approval. He was just trying to find VALIDATION, a way to satisfy the small-minded Nicelanders and prove to them (and himself) that he had value as he was.

Wasn’t he?

I’m terrified to rewatch the original movie now because I’m afraid the Wreck-it Ralph in my head is based on lies & fanfics, and the real Wreck-it Ralph was ALWAYS some insecure doofus with no accountability or self reflection.

And you know the absolutely insane part? Disney is doing their absolute darndest to pretend Ralph doesn’t exist. AND HE’S THE TITLE CHARACTER OF HIS OWN IP!!!!! There’s a new chapter book series about Vanellope & some of the Sugar Rush Racers getting stuck in a little girl’s tablet, and Ralph’s ONLY appearance so far is a line-drop in the first book when Vanellope says she left him sleeping in Game Central Station while all the consoles were unplugged for a remodeling of Litwak’s Arcade. WHAT THE FUCK?!?! Remember how EVERYONE in the first movie lost their shit at the possibility of their game being unplugged, treating it like an Apocalypse? Remember how even the sequel did a halfway decent job reminding folks that having a game unplugged was a Big Deal? Now everyone’s just chill axing on vacation in Game Central Station (which is NOT BIG ENOUGH to hold every single game character - it could barely fit the Sugar Rush citizens when they got unplugged) and Ralph is snoozing in a corner while his daughter is accidentally whisked away to some girl’s tablet.

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!

The Wreck-it Ralph from the first movie wouldn’t be asleep in a corner when he could be spending time with Vanellope. And THAT man would go through Hell & high water to find her! While Vanellope & her gang are helping Molly (the kid with the tablet) learn about friendship & camping or whatever, Ralph should be an absolute MENACE online, tearing through every website, personal device, and Cloud account looking for his little girl!

Right? Wrong?

Did we all delude ourselves into thinking Ralph was deeper than he was intended to be? Or does Disney just hate Wreck-it Ralph now? And if it’s the latter, why? WHY do they hate him? Why do they want US to not care about him? Is it because he’s the last of the Lasseter projects? Did John C. Reilly and Bob Iger have some sort of falling-out? Did the FANBASE do something to put Disney staff off from ever wanting to do anything with Wreck-it Ralph ever again?

I think I could move on if I knew for certain whether Disney actively sabotaged Wreck-it Ralph with his sequel & subsequent exclusions from merchandise & multi-IP projects, or if I was just crazy for ever liking this character or his movie to begin with. It’s the not knowing that kills me.

[deuterosapiens]

Took my niece to see Moana 2. Had a bit of a different time of it than I had expected. First, yeah, the fact that this one was originally intended to be a Disney+ series before being expanded into a full film is kinda obvious given how the movie is structured, and how large the main cast is, and all that jazz.

The short version of my opinion of the first movie is that I find Maui a fairly annoying character, and that I consider the best moments to be those which don't really include him. The Call of the Ancestors where Moana reunites with her grandmother is a beautiful scene, and I genuinely consider the ending with Te Fiti to be one of the most gorgeous moments in Disney animated history (I'm a sucker for the image of a very large monster backgrounding a very small figure, especially one that's being tamed by it: consider Kong with the little girl from Godzilla versus Kong; or anything related to The Last Guardian). But, Maui being basically just animated Dwayne Johnson makes him kind of boring to me (I've seen him play this exact character so, so many times over the years), and is the reason I have very leveled opinions of it.

Honestly, this one's more of the same, but as we by now know, I love monsters. There are more monsters this time, and I love them very much. I'm also a bat guy. Love bats, they're like giant flying sky puppers. There are plenty of bats, thanks to new villainess Matangi having a bit of a bat theme that would probably make her a modern Bruce Wayne's secret crush. Okay, she's not really a villain: she'd actually just got a bit of a brooding theme going on from being imprisoned in a giant clam (makes sense in context).

Kele the Farmer is so, so much a relatable character and I appreciate his crankiness. A character like this would typically get annoying quickly, but his absolute commitment to not being involved with any of the singing is a mood I can respect.

As a Disney sequel, it's better than Ralph Wrecks the Internet and Frozen II. Not as good as say (wait... what's a genuinely good Disney sequel...? Toy Story and Inside Out have good sequels, but they are Pixar... Mulan II is complete trash... Tangled got a series but not a true sequel and I guess... huh. Okay, the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean are fun... Are there any animated sequels to non-Pixar Disney movies I actually like...? I'll have to think about this...)- moving on.

Stand-out musical number goes to "Get Lost", and any of the Ancestors' Maori songs which I don't understand but love the feel of anyway. In terms of soundtrack, this one's a bit weaker than the first movie. I guess I like "Beyond" more than "How Far I'll Go," but they're kind of the same sort of song anyway.

Is it better than the first movie? No, but it does still look absolutely gorgeous, which is a win for the animators slaving away to please the Mouse God.

[showtoonzfan]

My thoughts on the upcoming Disney brand sequel movies:

Zootopia 2: Hell yes, this is one of those Disney movies I believed actually DESERVES a sequel, unlike movies like Wreck it Ralph 2, The Incredibles 2, or Toy Story 4, because I actually thought the originals had decent or satisfying conclusions and we didn’t need more. However Zootopia is one of my favorite modern Disney movies, and there’s so much more to explore and expand regarding this world and it’s characters, and since there’s a shitload of issues going on in the world right now, I’m confident this sequel will touch up upon another great lesson and handle it really well because Jared Bush and Bryon Howard are very good directors and writers in my eyes.

Inside Out 2: FUCK yes. This has got to be the one I’m the most excited for. I can see why some people are skeptical because some think it could be another “Turning Red” where they focus on puberty regarding a teenage girl, and yes that seems to be the route Inside Out 2 is making, but I personally have no problem with that, for me it’s all about how good the first one was. I could honestly write a whole essay on how well written this film was and the emotional impact it had on me as a person. The lesson that being sad is okay, not just sad…but embracing your other emotions and allowing yourself to feel those other emotions is SUCH a good moral to teach younger kids, and the way they handled that lesson was just amazing in my opinion. Inside Out has got to be one of my favorite if not THE favorite modern Pixar films I’ve ever seen, and I’m confident that the second film will be just as good. I can’t wait.

Frozen 3: I’m not really passionate about Frozen, I remember being dragged to the theater to see the first movie when it came out, and while the movie was obliviously flawed in many areas, I do think it’s deserves its praise here and there, wether you think it was handled well or not I’ll always applaud the film for at least attempting to write a complicated sister dynamic, and yes…most of the songs are really good. I never saw the sequel but good GOD I heard about the production issues it went through, going through many rewrites and scrapped content (that btw, was better than the end result) and how the team was STILL working on it a mere month or two before the film would release. They made an entire documentary about it and how it was hell for everyone, and I couldn’t help but feel really bad. Despite me not really caring for this franchise, I think Frozen deserves a third movie because with the right amount of time and effort, they can possibly create a better movie.

Toy Story 5: No. Just no. We don’t need any more, while I never saw the 4th movie because even THEN I thought there didn’t need to be any more, in SOME way, from what I’ve seen it did try to pull off a satisfying conclusion, especially for Woody’s character. However I will admit, the audience reactions were always split between saying it was really bad and not needed, to how it was really good and a perfect sendoff. All of that doesn’t matter now however, since they’re making another one and this is a sequel I can clearly tell Disney is just doing for the money. I always hate it when people take a franchise I used to love dearly and then just DRAAG it for way too long, like Despicable Me or Hotel Transylvania. No matter how good the franchise, no movie like these should be going up to 5 freaking sequels and all, that’s just ridiculous. I’d say “wait and see” but I’ve honestly lost passion for this franchise, in my opinion the third movie ended with a really good conclusion for everyone and they should have stopped there.

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

Ugh...

Here we go again with this... Something something, "It's not my fault Disney is making these sequels! I avoided their latest original movies because they sucked! I shouldn't be to blame for that!"

A) These Disney Animation and Pixar sequels were likely always going to be made regardless of how the recent original movies performed financially. In the biz, if a movie makes a shit-ton of money, it's likely getting a sequel. It ain't 1997 anymore.

B) There is no blame or punishment, per se... The system in the world of mainstream American feature animation is working as intended. It's capitalism 101. It sucks, yes, but that's how it is. The performance of one movie dramatically affects the slate, or even the studio's survival. Must we dredge up what happened to Blue Sky after The Walt Disney Company bought them and their first movie released by them lost money at the box office? Better yet, all the times Disney Animation faced shutdown for many decades.

C) What if... Hear me out... These sequels are all pretty good? Better than the recent original stuff, even? Impossible! Something can be a critically-acclaimed audience favorite, and you'd still have gaggles of people online insisting the thing in question is garbage. Just look at TURNING RED, for example. It's all fuckin' subjective at the end of the day.

D) It's never gonna be good enough anyways, so why bother? I don't think I can name a *single* Disney animated movie where almost everyone was on the same page, praising it... Since THE LION KING? The latter-years Renaissance movies all had their detractors, as did the early 2000s movies, as did all the "Revival" movies (why don't they do 2D anymore? Because a lot of people avoided PRINCESS AND THE FROG and WINNIE THE POOH). I remember there were at least a few people who didn't like TANGLED, WRECK-IT RALPH, etc. etc. Were very vocal about that or didn't think they were "Disney enough" or whatever. Hell, even LION KING used to get flack for the KIMBA similarities. Plenty of the now-beloved films overseen by Walt Disney himself were largely greeted with mixed or negative reviews upon initial release. It'll never be perfect, it's just the nature of the beast. How the movies live on, is the more important part. Not the opinions of self-appointed "experts" on the Internet. Again, it's all personal preference.

The thing is, the movies Disney chooses to make is kind out of our control. No one should be obliged to pay for a product so that you get the next one like it ("vote with your wallet!"), but unfortunately, that's how the biz works. If you're not game on the latest films from the studio, you're also not to blame for what they do next, but they're gonna do what they're gonna do. That's just that about that. Hell, the thing can be a big success... And they'll still do the opposite of what people want! Off the top of my head, not an animated movie, but WORLD WAR Z 2 not moving forward despite how well the first one did. Again, it sucks. But... If WDAS ever got to a point where they were making things that I just did not want to see whatsoever? Then I'd go watch something else. It's ultimately the higher-ups' decisions that are at fault.

Very rarely are financial failures looked at logically, very rarely do executives ever try to pick up the pieces from there. Instead it's "never make this kind of thing again" or "shut this place down". It happened to Blue Sky. It happened at DreamWorks, projects cancelled (B.O.O., MONKEYS OF MUMBAI, etc.), staff laid off, a whole animation unit closed down (Pacific Data Images), etc. Disney Animation threw 2D features out twice, cancelled many movies, laid off tons of people multiple times, they faced complete shutdown multiple times. Animated movies are expensive and require lots of people and resources, they're fragile as is. COVID-19 really cut into their box office, and it doesn't help that going to the movies costs a fortune.

I'm not saying this is all a good, it's not. I've just made peace with it, and can only hope films keep getting made, staff still have work and roofs to keep over their heads, and maybe... Just maybe, I'll like the movies, too?

Anyways, I hope I like MOANA 2. I'm curious to see what the director and writers and artists and musical talents all bring to this world that was created by the first film.

[ithoughtitdbefunny]

Vanellope Von Schweetz: A Character Rant

[Note: This rant will focus on the presence of Vanellope in Disney Dreamlight Valley, the good and the bad. I make these criticisms in the most respectful way possible, so please keep an open mind. And if you disagree with some of my opinions, I'd love to hear why! I can't shut up about this game lol.]

Wreck It Ralph characters have been anticipated since the furniture and clothing for the series showed up in Dreamlight Valley. But upon Vanellope's entrance, I can't help but feel offset by what feels like a change in personality for her.

Among film critics, it was pretty blatant that Ralph Wrecks the Internet was a synonymously frustrating sequel to the first of the Wreck it Ralph films. The blatant advertising and cash-grabbed inserts had made the characters severely lose their charm. Personally when I think about Vanellope and Ralph, I'm reminded of the amount of heart and creativity written in their initial premiere. The arcade-world and how it was presented, the clash of video game characters, the sympathy it made us feel for antagonists- it was a great movie with well written characters and the first Disney twist-villain I had ever witnessed as a child. All around- great!

My problem with using the sequel-written version of Vanellope is that she no longer comes off as a spunky kid with his ambitions and a mischievous demeanor- she feels like a character that thinks she's too good to be in Dreamlight Valley. Now, let me explain.

[I will use the disclaimer that I have not been on many quests or had many conversations with her. Simply because I don't feel motivated to.]

Sequel-vanellope has already spent time in Slaughter Race, a game she fought hard to get programmed into and play freely, leaving Sugar Rush behind. This new game she's in has very clearly provided everything she'd want. So why is she here?

To help promote the new photo-sharing system. Now I won't offend the writers by saying that was a bad idea, because I actually like it. But rather than having Vanellope STAY,

I think Ralph deserves a chance. Especially after coping with his best friend having moved on. I think it would have been far better to have Ralph stay in Dreamlight Valley to expand his horizons and to really drive home what makes the Valley so special. There's so much potential!! I could list what types of friendships and rivalries I think he would have around the village but I'd be getting off track.

TLDR: It's a little out of character for Vanellope to move from Slaughter Race to Dreamlight Valley. Ralph should have taken her place to make new friends and we would help him cope with her having moved from the arcade

[2dents]

20 Questions for fic Writers!

Okay so, I was tagged by @outtoshatter and I'm just going to take a swing at this. Here we go.

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

Currently 22.

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

202,411.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

I mainly write for Dungeons and Daddies, Nark specifically. But I also have a couple in there for the Teen Wolf Sterek fandom.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

But You Have Heard of Me [ Teen Wolf, M, Wc: 82,014] (my baby!) The Taste of Perfume [DnDads, M, Wc: 58,717] (wip) Sudoku [DnDads, G, Wc: 5,226] Uno Attack [Dndads, G, Wc: 5,717] A Consuming Faith [Dndads, E, Wc: 33,963] (My baby wip! I'm aiming for another 80k with this one.)

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

Absolutely I do! If someone takes the time out of their day to not only read my silly little stories, but also comment on them, I will absolutely reply! Unless they're mean I guess? I haven't had any mean/rude comments yet so knock on wood. lol

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

I love angst. I write it into a lot of things. But as far as endings go... hmm. Well I guess that title would currently go to one of my drabbles, A Done Deal [DnDads, G, Wc: 100] but without giving away spoilers one of my wips is going to take that title as soon as I get around to writting it lol.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Oh, But You Have Heard of Me [ Teen Wolf, M, Wc: 82,014]. My baby~! Happy ending and maybe one day it will have a happy sequel.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

I feel like I'm going to jinx myself by saying no. I haven't recieved any rude or hateful comments on any of my fics. Not even when I posted on LJ.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

I am not confident when it comes to writing smut. I used to write a lot of it back on LJ. Now I just Fade To Black, but I do have plans to maybe write some for a wip. But idk we will see when we get there.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

Nope! I wrote a fusion fic, But You Have Heard of Me [ Teen Wolf, M, Wc: 82,014] but no crossovers.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I am aware of.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

I had I believe 2 fics translated on LJ, but not on Ao3

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Hahaha, yes! On LJ my irl bestie and I wrote a fic together! It was very cute, we each did a chapter following one half of the ships pov. I'd love to do it again some day it was super fun! What I really wanna do is get a bunch of different writers involved in doing a collaboration where the characters are stuck waking up in different timelines, so each chapter could be a different one-shot by a different author but they all connect. I think it would be fun.

14. What’s your all time favourite ship?

Sora/Riku. I don't write for this ship but I will fight god about them. I've been obsessed with them since I was 12 and played Kingdom Hearts. I have fics I've been re-reading for alkjsdflks way too long omg. When I played Kh3 and Riku showed up I screamed so loud it scared my partner. You can pry them from my cold dead fingers okay.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

Hahaha, I just recently posted this fic to my Ao3. A Divine Move [Teen Wolf, M, 8,676] Stiles is a horror game character (based off games like Until Dawn and The Blair Witch Project) and Derek is from a dating sim (Based off Hunnypop lol) It was going to get an E rating cause I had some absolutely slasher ideas for Stiles game and the plot was loosely adapted from Wreck-It-Ralph. So, maybe one day I'll get the inspiration back, but as of now it's just not there.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I have been told I have a very clear writing voice and that I'm very good at setting a scene and showing it to the reader. I think my main strength is my humor. lol I find myself very funny.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

A lack of confidence alksdfjalksd. I get so anxious trying to make sure that the movie in my head is being translated into word correctly that I sometimes over do things. Also I have the absolute worst grammar, and spelling omg.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

If I don't speak the language enough to be confident that I'm using the words correctly I just do the "They said in language" kinda thing.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Okay, lmao. Okay okay. It was for the Gorillaz back when Demon Days had just come out.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

My two babies that I'm the most proud of are

But You Have Heard of Me [ Teen Wolf, M, Wc: 82,014]

I spent a year writting it and I made several friends because of it. It is my baby and I love it. I re-read it and still laugh at it.

A Consuming Faith [Dndads, E, Wc: 33,963]

I have been putting so much work into this fic and it's really pushing me as a writer. I have been obsessed with cult and demons since I was young, probably too young lol, so this is just basically 3 of my hyper-fixations coming together in a fun way. I have big plans for this fic and I'm very excited about it. I've been working on it for 7 months now, and I'm really hoping I can finish it before the end of the year.

Thanks for the tag! I'm going to tag some people and maybe they'll play along too, no pressure though and I have no clue what I'm doing so sorry if you didn't want to be tagged. @evanesdust @nottoolateforthegame @siogosho @missanniewhimsy @calamity-unlocked

[kookies2000]

Disney tries to make a sequel, everyone hates it already.

Dreamworks plans a sequel, Shrek 5, Kung Fu Panda 4, and wanting a Puss in Boots 3 and Bad Guys 2, everyone is hyped and dying of waiting!!!

And I fully understand why.

Sequals (Essay because there's a lot of sequels to talk about)

Disney was never the type to serialize their films. Heck, most of their films are stand-alone films because of the fairytales they're based on. You can't exactly make a series out of Cinderella, Snow-white, Beauty and the Beast, etc, without changing a few things from the original. Disney tried and let me just say that Cinderella 3 was most likely their only good sequel. And that's because they retold the story of Cinderella. Even redeeming one of the step sisters. As for the other sequels that Disney has planned or made, 50/50 for me. I'm not looking forward to Frozen 3. Frozen 2 was good until the third act. Elsa just pushed Anna away again, and instead of it being this bad thing, Elsa is rewarded for it. She gets to see her mother and gains an improved version of herself. While Anna struggles by herself. Yes, Elsa did "die," which could've worked as character development if Elsa realized that pushing Anna away was the cause of that death. But no, Anna unites the spirits again, and Elsa comes back to save the kingdom and all it good. There isn't really a punishment for Elsa pushing her loved ones away. Anna was the one with the best development because she had to grieve and push forward without Elsa. And she grew into a better version of herself that way, earning her crown as queen. I can see why people liked the ending, but to me, Elsa really should've reflected on what she did to Anna and Olaf at the end. It's just a little detail that made the film fall flat for me. Toy Story 5.......... what? The first three are masterpieces, really, they are. The 4th was definitely unnecessary, but I liked it as its own stand-alone film. Like a bonus film, a reboot to a possible new chapter for the franchise. But the way they ended it, they separated Woody and Buzz. Bonnie just straight up left Woody behind. I get it. There were hints that Jessie was gonna be her new favorite toy, but Woody should have some value. Yes, I know the film was about Woody accepting that he is no longer in the spot light and must pass down that title to someone else and his new chapter in life doesn't include his old friends. I get it. That happens in real life, too. But a 5th film? How are they exactly gonna do it with the way the 4th film ended. It doesn't seem very possible. Plus, it's not like the 4th film lived up to the first three, I still think they made Buzz a little out of character. And the old toys were underused. Like they could've evened out the roles a little more instead of letting Buzz take the spotlight. The same with Wreck it Ralph. I'm not going into detail about this. The sequel was pretty bad. I get it. Ralph is insecure and doesn't want to lose his only friend. But to put her in a life-threatening situation to get her to stay with you? I'm pretty sure you could've just said you were feeling lonely without her. That was too big of a drastic measure. I know that wasn't his intent, but the writers might want to have rethought about that. Ralph was just a bit too much of a jerk, and the product placement was kinda too much. Cars 2.......... it's a guilty pleasure of mine for a reason. 🤣 Incredibles 2, I thought it was good, but I can see why people have issues with it. The villain didn't make that much sense. The only sequel I am looking forward to is Zootopia 2, and that's because that story has a lot to offer. I'll explain later.

Dreamworks sequals, oh boy, where do I begin!!! Dreamworks serialized their films at the very beginning. Did you know there were at least six El Dorado films planned? If the first film didn't flop, we could've had a whole franchise of the treasure hunting trio. Or the fact that before Shrek was released, they were already working on a Shrek 2. Dreamworks make their films with a franchise in mind. They planned ahead. And each squeal they made only added more and more to their characters.

Shrek 2, Shrek has marriage problems because his in-laws are baiscally racist towards orgers. Shrek 4, he learns to love his life again. I will not mention Shrek the 3rd because that movie should disintegrate and never come back to reality. 😅 And I'm hyped for Shrek 5 because there is still more to write about. The film takes place in a fairytale land. There's hundreds of fairy tales out there that Shrek can make fun of. Hence, more films. The concept itself opens up new stories.

HTTYD. I haven't seen this one, but I know enough. I love the idea of Hiccup growing up and learning something new every film. Finding his mother, dealing with the loss of his father, dealing with being separated from his best friend at the end. Each film gave a new element to his story. A new gain and a new loss. I can't see the film going beyond three films, though. Unless it's gonna be about Hiccups kids, they kinda closed the book, and the concept isn't very open to anything. Unless a new threat comes and Hiccup has to learn to be the new village leader. Which he kinda already did. So I'm glad there isn't a HTTYD 4 planned.

Kung Fu Panda. This franchise has 6 films planned since the very beginning. SIX! And they always add a new element to Po's story. Earning the Dragon Warrior name, finding inner peace and dealing with his PTSD, becoming a teacher and chi master. And there's still more to Chinese culture that can be added to this franchise. The concept opens up the franchise to new ideas. The number of characters they have adds to the story. We got Shifus back story, we got Po's back story, we got Oogways back story, and the fandom is now expecting Tigress's back story soon. The concept and the characters are the reason why this franchise is loved and why we're dying for the 4th film!!!!

Madagascar. Fun fact, Madagascar 3 was, in fact, not the final film. 😅 Yeah, shocking. After the Penguins of Madagascar in 2014, Madagascar 4 was supposed to be released in 2018. So they did plan more films but got delayed with Kung Fu Panda 4 and Puss in Boots 2 because of the reconstruction of the studio. How many more films? I think the 4th one was supposed to create a reboot situation. I have no idea how the story is supposed to continue. I really don't, but at the same time, I do. The first three films had one story. The three wanted to go home to the zoo. Each film took place in a different setting, with each character learning something new about themselves. In the first film, they learned how to be in the wild, just like animals in Madagascar. Second film, they reconnect with their African roots. 3rd film, they realize what they really want is to see the world, so they move in with the circus. In Europe. That's why the sequels worked. Different settings = different discoveries = new story. Yes, their story about getting to the zoo is over, but we can't forget about the situation their in now. They're traveling the world now. The point of Stefanos and Gias character in the 3rd film was that the two were tired of staying in one place. They did the same acts to the point where they lost passion and meaning. They wanted something new and to improve the circus. And now that they have that, new stories can be told. In other words, the new concept opens up a door to a new story. They can travel the world and discover new things and new characters. New culture and even back stories to new characters. As far as I remember, Vitaly has a father like relationship with Gia and Stefano. Why? What's their past? Or we can get new pasts from new characters to come from different parts of the world. The concept of a circus traveling the world is what opens up the door to new stories.

Trolls, I know people don't like this film, and I agree it's for a much younger audience. Like 8 and under. But I can still appreciate the franchise for it's story telling. Poppy has to learn to be queen before becoming queen at the end of the film. She had to learn where happiness comes from and how having others you love in your life can improve on that happiness. Trolls 2, she had to learn about being a good queen. And I do love the metaphors they used in the 2nd film. Using different kinds of music a metaphor of tribes at war with each other. Poppy learned that it was her kingdom that caused the war in the first place. She had to learn that she can't push her own culture onto the other tribes because you can't just think your culture is superior. Like she wanted to make the country trolls happy with her own music simply because she believed the country trolls music was the wrong way. Which makes me love her interactions with Coopers family so much. Learning that her kingdom tried to erase the other tribes culture by replacing it with theirs. That her tribes scrapbooks are just cutouts and glue ons by the winners to rewrite history so they feel comfortable with it. And I love that the king and queen of funk explain it to her. That differences do matter, and no, we are not all the same deep inside. Our culture, our lives, and our experiences are different, and they make us who we are. Harmonizing with different cultures is what makes a good queen. And that's why the sequels work. Why I'm excited for my little sisters to see the franchise. There's so much you can do with a story about a queen trying to do good for her kingdom. And YES, I know Frozen is the same. Like I said, I did enjoy Frozen 2. It's just that the third act fell hard on its face. Like, why is ice the 5th element and not love? There are little details that really made it flop. I can understand Trolls being kiddy and cute because they are made for children and babies. I would much rather have my sisters watch Trolls than Coco Melon any time. I appreciate Frozen for what it is as well. Loved the films, wish it reached its potential and that's why I'm not looking forward to Frozen 3.

Are there any DreamWork films that would work as a franchise? Yes, Megamind can learn how to handle being the towns new hero. Bad Guys, this screams franchise!!! It's like Suicide Squad. Former criminals help to save the world!!! Puss in Boots. Puss, Kitty, and Perrito are three out laws going on adventures. How many new adventures can you write for them to go on? HUNDREDS!!! And this is why I'm excited for Zootopia 2!!! That story DOES have something to look forward to. The concept is great. A cop and a former criminal fighting crime together? HELL YEAH!!! That's why Toy Story worked, too!!! The life of a toy is creative. They watched their owner grow, and each stage of their owners life affected them. When a kid moves houses, they can lose toys on the way. What if a toy gets broken? What if the kid is no longer a kid? What do toys feel about being lost or replaced. The concept is incredible and leaves tons of opportunities to continue the story or create new ones. So I'm a 50/50 on Toy Story 5.

Conclusion

Disney doesn't plan ahead when they make a film. They clearly start to make it up as they go with no plan. DreamWorks does plan ahead. A lot of Disney's concepts don't work for sequals. I can not see a squeal to any of the Disney princesses. Bell? Ariel? Cinderella? Not really much to their story except they lived happily ever after. It's a closed book for good unless they take a Cinderella 3 route and rewrite their stories. Dreamworks do have concepts in their stories that open opportunities. And the #1 reason why we don't get excited about Disney squeals. Reputation. Disney has a horrible reputation when it comes to sequals. Dreamworks have a perfect record. As long as we burn Shrek the 3rd from our minds. Not talking down on Disney. I know they have the ability to create great classic stories. But only stand-alone stories. While DreamWorks has a gift in making franchises and taking risks in their stories.

Ps. SHREK 5 IS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED!!!!!

[100-yardstare]

I am finally done with Normal 2!! I started the original Normal in 2015 after seeing the movie for the first time, and I loved it so much! Can't believe out of all the fandoms I've ever been in, the POM movie was the one that got me writing a 119k+ fic and an entire sequel. The only other fic I wrote a novel length fic for was for Wreck-it Ralph.

Felt like writing a bit about my process behind the scenes as a way to send it off officially:

I love writing first person, especially self inserts. I can picture myself in situations very easily and my emotions tend to spill out with the perspective.

After reading my fics over a few times and reading some of my reader commentary, I've been told that my insert is "loud" and one time was told I was "obnoxious" and "mean", but tbh viewing the fic by taking a step back and re-reading made me realize this is my loud inner voice and may be attributed to my ADHD!!

Speaking of self discovery, my statements in the fic such as not being able to sweat, fainting, feeling like I might piss myself, etc were supposed to be just funny statements, but in conjunction with my discussion of my inserts "illness" I was actually writing about my dysautonomia before I actually knew what it was! I was diagnosed January 2023, so it's kinda interesting seeing my writing reflect my disability.

I am unashamed of the fact that I wrote Dailey as being a messy relationship that grew and had its ups and downs. I like angst in my ships anyway, so this one was no exception even being a self insert. Dave is a bad guy, and Kailey is, well... me, totally not perfect, weird, working with a bad guy as if she has no choice. They both did really crappy stuff, and THAT'S THE POINT!! I actually wrote a sequel because I knew the ship had a whole lot more to go development wise.

While the first fic generalized a commentary on what it meant to be "normal", when I wrote the sequel I wanted to touch base on different aspects of society, what is normalized, and what it considers beautiful. I write this in outside characters other than my insert, but it manifests in my inserts "turning into a monster" story arc. I am often alienated from being beautiful (how I dress, whether I wear makeup or not), how I behave (my ADHD, my introverted-ness, my emotional disregulation, etc.) my sexuality (I am asexual not interested in sexual relationships), and my physical disability (incapable of keeping up with what is expected of me in jobs, obligations, etc.). In the end the hope is to allow my true self to shine, hence breaking the "curse" of the Medusa Serum in the end.

In extension, my alienation and turning into a monster arc emphasized my negative emotions as being made an outsider or not deemed good enough by society, and how that brings out the worst part of you. I had this resolved by working through this in a relationship because I believe the foundation of mental well being is being part of a community or sharing your burdens with others.

When I decided to make the characters that were turned into monsters with the influence of the QCUs, I was watching Dragon Ball at the same time, and thought the scenes where Goku gets shot and just goes "Oww, that hurts!" without being hurt, was hilarious and ended up putting that trait in my fic.

I probably have a lot more facts in my head that I am not remembering at this moment but here are some of my thought processes for now! I am very thankful for all the support I had writing this fic. Dave and Kailey's story is over from a writing standpoint but I def see there being a lot of open story ideas/extras that I would love to talk about so if anyone is ever interested please shoot me an ask!

[tessathegamefreak]

Headcanon Time...

All Wreck-It Ralph AUs/realities can exist on the same Earth with the right conditions!

Okay, so hear me out...

Now, the vast majority of us Wreck-It Ralph fans were not happy with the results of the sequel we got, AND FOR GOOD REASON!

There was so much wrong with the sequel, from inconsistencies with the original story to the sudden throwback in characters. I was so appalled by what we got that I found ways to consider it non-canon; one of these ways went as far as being a headcanon that this sequel was just a really bad fanfiction Candlehead wrote!

Then, there were many people that said, "well, what if this took place in a different arcade?". Now, they might have something there. There was no mention of Turbo in the new movie, the Sugar Rush game console is different, and doppelgangers are a thing, so maybe Litwak is actually a fully different person or a relative that runs a family business. Plus, the Internet is a wide place, so big that there was no way the sequel could capture and depict every part of it, so everything is possible!

But this goes beyond that... I am here to explain how you can fit your AUs into one world on top of this! I will use a couple of examples to give clearer explanations.

So, I have an OC that is from "Kingdom Hearts Union X", a mobile game that was once online- and once so great. If you are familiar with Kingdom Hearts, you know that they are a big crossover between Final Fantasy and Disney franchises, and Union X was the only KH game that has the Wreck-It Ralph world as a playable location. I have integrated my OC into my WIR roleplays numerous times, despite having lived out the events of the movie through her game. But how can that be possible? Doesn't it get awkward that she thinks she has these memories, but the others have no memory of her? Well, I have 2 reach arounds to combat this...

"The Simpsons" explanation! The Simpsons is so well known as a show, but not just for its revolutionary comedy, but for its "predictions"! Now, the farfetched explanation for how they could have so many accurate predictions is that "Matt Groening is a time traveler!". For the plausible explanation though, it could be said that "there are numerous possibilities in the world, and if you throw one out on the media, it is possible that it will come true". So if you were to write a story where you interact with the characters, but the movie already exists, you could explain it lore wise that Disney had bought licensing to these games, made a movie, and the events from that movie became a reality.

[KHUx OC] Coalette's character arc is similar to Buzz Lightyear. She is so ingrained into her false memories that she will eventually have to grow apart from them by interacting with the real characters in front of her. You could write something similar to this where AU characters meet their original counterparts and vice-versa!

Now, that could account for the potential plot hole of the events of the movie happening across multiple coordinates in the world, but you may think that there is another plothole when it comes to connecting AUs: Turbo. How could I possibly explain the same character from the same game getting greedy in the same way and manner across numerous arcades?...

Well, what if I told you my explanation for that was a flaw in Turbo-Time's programming? Think about it, we don't hear much of anything about Turbo in the sequel, not even mentioned or seen as merch or a fan favorite game, or even as a remastered/revival game anywhere on the Internet! You see, Turbo was programmed to be the "#1 racer" ever, and this held true for the first five years in arcade history. When newer, fancier racing games began to come out, Turbo would then feel his programming being challenged, causing him to go berserk and break into other racing games. What if this issue was common amongst ALL Turbo-Time consoles? They would have all been programmed the same way, so the moment arcades took notice to Turbo causing other racing games to crash and become corrupted, a nation-wide recall was issued on the consoles, preventing the game to become known amongst future generations. The surviving Turbos would remain in their arcades, and Turbo-Time would be put away as lost media. His story would only be a tale that those from before 1987 would be able to tell.

And there you have it, my explanation for connecting Wreck-It Ralph AUs and Realities together! Hope you have fun with world lore writing!

[randomalistic]

Inside out 2 was great for a sequel ! Not as impactful as the first movie, but still carries its own messages :) i also love that they kept the same creative and clever comedic spirit as the first movie, especially when they shook up the artstyle teehee

That heartthrob final fantasy guy was honestly my favorite, I love how they made him low resolution on purpose. Glad they’re trying to have fun with video game characters again ever since they fumbled wreck it Ralph’s sequel 😭 ALSO BLOOFY … I LIKED HIM.. those were the funniest parts of the movie. Along with Anxiety’s Intrusive Thoughts Sweatshop. JOOOOOYYY I KNOW YOURE IN THERE

However I will say they were cowards for not having Riley crush on the cool girl… that would’ve been fun. AND WE WERE ALL THINKING IT💔 it’s like a blander version of what Mitchel’s VS The Machines did . I mean like Duh Disney doesn’t exactly take risks anymore. But the artists likely tried their best to make it novel within the constraints they were given I suppose… just wish there weren’t any constraints to begin with :[

I do like how Anxiety was a realistic antagonist while not being actually evil. She just lacked foresight and had a flawed way of thinking, but still wanted to protect Riley like all the other emotions. Not annoying in the slightest. But if there was one part that was supposed to be serious but didn’t really hit was when the panic attack was happening and as she was frozen/trembling she began to cry, I THINK THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A LOT MORE IMPACTFUL but unfortunately to me she just looked so goddamn goofy it was hard to take seriously 😭I’m sorry. I appreciate that they went for that though 🧡 it definitely makes sense for a panic attack to be the climax of the movie but they leaned into it pretty hard. Not a bad thing! It’s just really unfortunate they’re “overdone” now. Especially because this is a movie about Literal Emotions it makes sense to focus on it! But maybe I just prefer subtly when it comes to depictions of them

Anyways the parts that got me were “maybe when you grow up you just don’t feel as much joy anymore” GOD. ??? and of course “Anxiety, it’s not for us to determine who Riley is” I can’t remember the exact quotes. But when all the emotions hugged Riley’s sense of self I teared up ‼️

Anyways good movie 👍

[monkey-network]

Good Stuff: Megamind 2

I remember many moons ago that I reviewed Dreamworks's Megamind in all its brilliance. I remember around that same time spitballing about a sequel. Cut to 2 years ago where they announced one and my optimism was in it. I wasn't expecting much, I had simple expectations of this since Dreamworks never slacked when it came to their sequels, you know? Now we're here... and it's like how am I meant to feel? Should I feel grateful for this sudden monkey's paw, this baboon's dishwater soaked digits for giving us this take on Megamind? [sigh] I don't want to be too sour about this though.

Still better than what Wreck-it Ralph fans got, I guess

Now I'm not bothered by them making a film that's essentially a backdoor pilot to the TV series, nor that the original cast's been replaced, introducing new characters, and that the series itself isn't theatrical tier animation wise. That has always been an acceptable given with Dreamworks shows vs movies. What bothers me is that the new "film" couldn't have the same quality as before. Like this is unprecedented, where a sequel doesn't get the same stellar animation as before but is basically just episode 0 of the TV show. This never happened before, The Croods, Trolls, and Boss Baby never got downgraded to direct-to-DVD status with their sequels's animation looking worse than the fucking Paw Patrol movies. We JUST got Puss in Boots: The Last Wish couple years ago, so can you imagine how this kinda bothers me? I'm cool with it not having the same great writing and worldbuilding as the OG film, but this felt like the biggest disservice to any Megamind fan, heck any animation fan in general.

Presentation was the ONE thing this should have had

But I've been sour enough, is the film/show actually worth it story and character wise? Dear lord, it's corny. It makes 60s Batman feel like a Christopher Nolan production. The characters you know are basically the only reason to watch this as none of the new ideas given are compelling enough that makes this feel justified. It's nice getting a series about heroes and villains, and Megamind himself is the most enjoyable part about all this, but it's like even I can't sift out the hidden gem this could have with what I've seen. It's like kids will enjoy this as is like the other Dreamworks shows, but it's hard imagining any older fan of the original movie being ecstatic enough to even bother past the film. I'm sorry, it's overall serviceable but I can't offer any silver lining that can prove this was worth it.

Again, I can't even be mad. I'm used to this pain.

I don't know what else to say. Do I just lie to you all and say this wasn't a massive disappointment? This hasn't soured my feelings for Dreamworks, I'm still a believer given they aren't exactly the studio I go to for long running streaks of quality compared to others. It's not like Megamind was the biggest thing in my life, that goes to Shrek and Bluey, but I kinda wanted... more from this? This just barely does anything for me. I'm gonna watch a couple more episodes and honestly not look back when this weekend's over. What sucks the most is that this isn't the first time a sequel animation has made me feel this way, but this is a newfound low for me.

I give Arzette: Jewel of Faramore a 9 out of 10. Just a fantastic blast from the past.

Megamind 2 gets a 2 out of 5. Fucking fiasco.