#w.i.t.c.h. animated series

[yorblair]

I am starting to feel like older animated shows and stories that were successful like Winx Club , W.I.T.C.H comics(!) , ATLA, LOK, were so successful because they didn’t try so hard and think so hard.

I mean the creators/writers obviously worked hard, though hard about their characters, their would building and stories. ATLA season 1 is slow and there is ridiculous episodes and filler, same as Winx Club season 1, but it’s so wholesome and makes you like the characters who are flawed and make dumb decisions, but you don’t care because you get attached and they’re interesting.

But I don’t think there was this trying so hard, so much effort into the Netflix-ication of the story and characters. And trying so hard to make ‘complex’ characters without having them be too annoying, too flawed, too rude, too angry, too much arguing between them, too anything in fear of the audience disliking them.

So like trying to be deep,complex and interesting , but playing it too safe.

[trixiegalaxy]

@livmadart fun Detective Conan AU ideas and drawings inspired me to share my own AU idea.

This AU is called - The Guardiens Of Beika Where Conan and the Detective Boys become the new guardians of the veil, and use their magic powers to fight against the Black Organization. (More information about the AU is underneath the line. Feel free to say what you think of my AU in the comments or reblog.)

AU Storyline; One of Shinichi's ancestors was the previous keeper of the Heart. After that ancestor died, the Heart became a family heirloom that has been past down to the eldest Kudo child on their 16th birthday. Both the Heart's origin and magical powers remained hidden from the Kudo family, until the day Shinichi went to Tropical Land. That same day, Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko had to sneak back into Tropical Land when they discovered Genta accidentally left his phone in one of the park's bathrooms. This leads the children to witness the men in black force-feeding Shinichi the Apoptoxin drug, and watching Shinichi's body shrink. After helping Shinichi escape from the park's security guards, the Heart's power awakens and the spirit of Xin Jing appears before them. Xin Jing explains that the Heart had forseen the many difficult battles that awaited Shinichi, and decided to grant him it's power. The Heart also granted it's powers to Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko after witnessing their courage and kindness when helping Shinichi. At first, Conan didn't believe in the Heart's magic, nor did he want the others to be involved in his fight against the Black Organization. But Conan changed his mind after they all transformed and used their powers for the first time when saving the kidnapped CEO's daughter. They soon become famously known throughout Beika as "The Guardiens". Later on in the story, after solving the murder of Professor Masami Hirota, Haibara is chosen by the Heart to be the fifth (and final) guardian. Haibara didn't want to accept the Heart's power at first, mainly because of her background with the organization that she didn't think she deserved to be a guardian. It wasn't until the old blue castle investigation case that Haibara accepts her guardian powers in order to save Conan, Genta, and Mitsuhiko after they were kidnapped.

Other AU Details [contains anime spoilers!]:

When they transform into their guardian forms, the Heart not only gives them teenage bodies, but also changes their appearance (such as different hairstyles and color), and makes it so their fingerprints and DNA can't be identified. They also gave themselves codenames based off their elemental power.

The groups guardian forms (including they're hairstyles and color), powers, & codenames; [the guardians' outfits were made on the online character creator game "Witch Guardian Maker v2". They didn't have a male body or outfits options on the game, but I tried making the boys' outfits look less girly]

drawing version of them by @zestyperiwinkle

Conan aka Shinichi [codename: Rakurai] - Quintessence/Keeper of the Heart

Haibara [codename: Scarlet] - Fire

Ayumi [codename: Aqua] - Water

Mitsuhiko [codename: Tenkū] - Air

Genta (codename: Terra) - Earth

Since Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko knows Conan's true identity, they are with Conan more offen and get involved in cases way more then in canon. Such as being there when Conan first met Heiji.

The group still solve cases as the "Detective Boys", but with more dangerous cases or sometimes cases involving the Black Organization, they transform and use their guardian powers.

In the AU, the police aren't entirely sure if the Guardiens can be trusted, and has even opened an investigation on the Guardiens' true identities. But during dangerous situations, some officers and investigators (such as Sato and Takagi) are willing to work together with the Guardiens.

The FBI and Public Security Bureau are also wary of the Guardiens, but are more willing to work with them in their fight against the Black Organization, and doesn't investigate the Guardiens' true identities.

At the beginning, Agasa didn't know about the Detective Boys being The Guardiens. It wasn't until they transformed and used their powers to capture Agasa and Shinichi's parents after they "kidnapped" the group.

After learning about the Detective Boys' powers and the Heart of Kandrakar. Shinichi's father, Yusaku Kudo, began researching on the Heart's origin.

In this AU, Heiji first figured out the Detective Boys were the Guardiens before figuring out that Conan was Shinichi. Heiji kept quiet about knowing the Detective Boys' secret until he found out Conan's other secret.

Kaitou Kid also learns the Detective Boys' secret. Like in canon, The Detective Boys first encounter Kaitou Kid on top of the Haido City Hotel's rooftop. Ayumi, Genta, and Mitsuhiko (in their guardian forms) later try to help Conan capture Kaitou Kid during the Suzuki family's party, but failed. It was then that Kaitou Kid started suspecting that Conan and the Guardiens had a connection to each other. Kid didn't figure it out though until the events of "The Last Wizard of the Century".

FBI agent, Shuichi Akai, starts to suspect the true identities of the Guardiens shortly after faking his death, but doesn't saying anything or try confirming his suspensions.

Vermouth suspects that the Guardiens are working with the FBI, but hasn't figured out the Guardiens' true identities. And since she doesn't have any proof of the Guardiens' involvement, Vermouth decides not to tell the other members about her suspensions.

(I might add more to this if I think of anything else)

[object-obsession]

W.I.T.C.H. > Objects around Will, Lady Crash and Bugg

Inanimate Object Characters List | Entry: 85

In this comic series, the main character, Wilhelmina "Will" Vandom harnesses the element of energy. Among her powers is being able to talk to inanimate objects (and have them functioning without electricity). When around Will, only the other Guardians can hear the objects talk, too. Will's sentient appliances debut in the second issue of the comic series. Lady Crash and Bugg appear in the 123th issue of the comic series.

In the TV series adaption, the sentient objects around Will debut in season 2 episode 3. In season 2 episode 9, a major antagonist, Nerissa, brings objects to life that go into battle with the Guardians.

Comic series: W.I.T.C.H. (2001-2012) | TV series: W.I.T.C.H. (2004-2006)

---- SPOTLIGHT CHARACTERS ----

These characters are not Spotlight Characters because they are the only "actual object" characters. They are Spotlight Characters because they (1-4) appear first as inanimate object characters, (5-6) have a significant role in an issue and (7-8) in an episode and (9-10) were almost the only inanimate object characters in another episode.

JAMES (comic)

BILLY (comic)

GEORGE (comic)

MILDRED (comic)

LADY CRASH (comic)

BUGG (comic)

SAMMY (series)

ED (series)

UNNAMED BUGGY (series)

UNNAMED HOUSE (series)

Characters: James, Billy, George, Mildred, Lady Crash, Bugg, Sammy, Ed, unnamed buggy, unnamed house

Requested by @marsmarvel02

--

PS: since I'm unfamiliar with this media, some applicable character type tags (e.g. "humanoid characters") may be missing.

[tiagobarros1699]

..

I had talked about this in the comments, but I went to check it again and... And Yes, the damn phrase was really there. Crap, Augusto Machetto, why did you have to invent something so meaningless? Everything in the previous arcs contradicts this, a good part of his plot in the fifth arc was him wanting to do the guardian job but only getting into trouble because of it and getting trapped inside the Ludmoore's book through the entire arc. And him leaving at the end was precisely for him to reflect on his participation in this scheme or whether it was worth just moving on with his life and that was it. It would be so much easier to just make up an excuse that he was training in kandrakar during the time he was supposedly on tour with karmilla's band. An alternative so much simpler....

Oookay, here is the infamous scene in two versions, the English one and the Brazilian Portuguese one (it has its differences with other places).

The Portuguese version is a translation by Brazilian fans (since the official magazine stopped after Ludmoore.) and she used the English version as a base, which in turn seems to have translated straight from the Italian originals. And Matt states in no uncertain terms that he "knew about the guardians from the beginning", oh, screenwriter, why did you do that!?

My theory that they wanted to turn Matt into a new Caleb to take advantage of his popularity on The animated series makes more and more sense.

Speaking of animated series..... I was the only one who looked at this specific painting (when the oracle goes to open the Sanctuary of Powers, and confronts the protector of the place, Nayla), NO IS IT THE MERIDIAN MAGE FROM THE CARTOON!?

please behold the **Adventures of Kandrakar Matt**

ok *spoiler alert for 7th arc* in New Power we find out that Matt is from Kandrakar and knew all the time and is very clever and everyone should listen to him blahblablah it makes no sense whateverrr

so i kind of wondered how much this magic superhero must have struggled throughout the early arcs

i am so sorry

i could not help

(also sorry for the bad quality, you know, the scans..)

[superspookyjanelle]

I’m so happy! I finally got my favorite childhood series on dvd ( since it’s literally not on any streaming services and stuff ). I’m so excited to rewatch it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Anyways, if y’all see a w.I.t.c.h fic get posted anytime soon you now know why lol

[mahou-furbies]

Magical girl sequels and reboots! (series under cut)

[edit July 3, 2024] updated with Shugo chara & MKR, they really keep cranking these out!

Sailor Moon - remake, faithful to manga (anime)

Cardcaptor Sakura - sequel (manga and anime)

Ojamajo Doremi - is about young women who grew up watching Ojamajo Doremi and now get to meet the Ojamajos (movie)

Mermaid Melody - sequel about Lucia’s daughter (manga)

Tokyo Mew Mew - remake (anime)

Precure - crossover sequel (?) about the Splash Star and Yes5 Cures as adults (anime)

W.i.t.c.h. - reboot (comic)

Winx Club - reboot (animated show)

Puella Magi Madoka Magica - sequel (movie)

Shugo Chara! - sequel (manga)

Magic Knight Rayearth - remake? (anime)

[disneytva]

Bloomberg Confirms Disney+ As The Third Most Watched Streaming Platform For Kids Content While Discussing Cartoon Network's Depressing State After Discovery Buyout.

This morning the journalist website Bloomberg posted a article of the current state of Cartoon Network and Warner Bros Discovery struggle to attract kids consumers to it's platforms and channels like Cartoon Network, Discovery Family and the streaming service Max.

The company recently decided that children’s programming is no longer a core part of Max’s strategy with the service being just for unscripted content and dramas, further clouding Cartoon Network’s prospects. with the animation hub only for the service being for Adult Swim and Anime.

However Bloomberg's article about Cartoon Network's current and depressing state mentions that Disney+ is the third most watched platform within kids behind Netflix & Youtube.

Warner Bros Discovery no longer sees MAX as a channel for kids and young audiences; only 13% of people between 10 and 12 years old watch MAX ( 57% of the kids audiences watch Disney+, and 72% Netflix with 90% watching Youtube).

This is not surprising as last April, The Walt Disney Company mentioned that Disney Channel recently became "the leading destination for kids and family content" with hits like Big City Greens, Bluey (which Bloomberg reveals that Cartoon Network tried to buy the broascasting and streaming rights for the now defunct Cartoonito block), Kiff, ZOMBIES, Descendants, Primos, The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse Funhouse, Sofia The First, Spidey And His Amazing Friends, Amphibia, Pupstruction, SuperKitties, Robogobo, StuGo, Chibiverse, and Phineas And Ferb

The mouse owned service recently has a big pipeline in the coming months in terms of kids and family content with the premieres of ZOMBIES 4 : Dawn Of Vampires, the Phineas And Ferb revival, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse+, Iron Man And His Awesome Friends, The Doomies, Dragon Striker, Vampirina, How We Became The Biggest Band In The World, a revival of Malcom In The Middle, a holiday movie starring The Jonas Brothers, Hey A.J! and Magicampers.

This will continue with the premieres of Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, The Sunnyridge 3, Sofia The First: Royal Magic and Tiny Trailblazers in 2026. Disney will also release a theatrical animated Bluey film in 2027.

Additionaly for the past 5 months Disney Careers website has been hiring for 6 new Disney Television Animation animated series for Disney Channel, Disney Jr. and Disney+ with the Disney Branded Television unit developing new live-action interations of Holes, Gargoyles and W.I.T.C.H. for a new generation of fans.

According to Bloomberg, "Warner Bros. Discovery continues to rent out pieces of its historic inventory as it keeps paying down debt. Along the way, most of Cartoon Network’s past shows have been pulled from Max, either shelved to save money on upkeep costs such as residual payments to writers and actors or licensed out to other streaming services, primarily The Walt Disney Company's owned service Hulu."

"Somehow a company with three celebrated animation studios and one of the world’s largest collections of cartoons had failed to generate much interest from young viewers. Nobody came to me yesterday and said, We should get HBO Max now, Dad." --- Industry analyst Michael Nathanson when HBO Max launched in 2020.

[toychest321]

With the end of Ramadan rapidly approaching, I'd like to give attention to another Muslim doll line. Though unlike the others, this one is far less obscure...

You know them, you love them, give it up for the Arabian Friends!!!

While Fulla is objectively more popular than Arabian Friends (having a longer span of releases and merchandise), I'd definitely say Arabian Friends are more talked about in western doll collecting circles. This is likely because while all the other Muslim doll lines I've found use Barbie proportions, these moreso resemble Winx or W.I.T.C.H.

Arabian Friends were released by Newboy, the company behind Fulla, in 2007. They were first teased in issues 08 and 10 of Fulla Magazine, before being officially revealed in issues 11 and 14 (the latter seen above).

Only 8 dolls in total have been released for the line: a Deluxe and a Budget doll for each of the four characters. The Deluxe sets came with two outfits, accessories, and an Abaya. The Budget sets came with one outfit and a matching Hijab. Each doll had 7 points of articulation, with bend-and-snap knees.

A third line was announced in 2008 in Fulla Magazine issue 19, advertising that whoever could answer which character had which profession would enter a raffle with the chance to receive a full Arabian Friends collection, but this ultimately never came to pass. (The answers were: Muna - Fashion Designer, Amal - Kids' Teacher, Dunya - Coach, and Ahlam - Air Hostess)

It's said on Dollect there might have been an accompanying animated series, but the most I was able to find were two videos. One seems to be a trailer for the animated series.

The other includes a Back To School merchandise advertisement, and what might be an animation where the girls reminisce on when they were younger and how their aspirations led to their respective careers (the trailer seems to re-use animation from both of these).

A comment beneath the Trailer claims these were actually meant to advertise for an upcoming movie rather than a series, but no further news came out after these videos were released. If this is true it's honestly a shame, and might have been cancelled around when the third series was intended to release. The animation provided reminds me of Sailor Moon, and I would've loved to see it in a full storyline!

First character up is Amal, whose name means "Hope"! Her description reads:

"Never forget that hope is the key that opens all closed doors. With hope in your heart you will never be alone and nothing in life will seem impossible.."

Amal reminds me the most of Usagi from Sailor Moon, as the animation seems to portray her personality as being kind yet clumsy. It's ironic that she eventually becomes a schoolteacher as well, considering she apparently had a habit of arriving to classes late. She's also seen tucking a child into bed, so perhaps she's a mother, older sister, or aunt as well?

While depicted in the animation as having honey blonde hair, her doll has dirty blonde hair in two low pigtails (possibly tied by pink ribbon or thread). And ironically, despite her Deluxe doll using more patterns than her friends, her Budget doll is the only one without a patterned shirt.

Next is Muna, whose name means "Wish". Her description reads:

"Wishes are like bright stars in a dark sky although they are only small they fill our lives with happiness and make the darkness beautiful."

Muna is a Fashion Designer with an eye for intricate design and detail. She spends a good amount of time in her studio, seen drawing on her friend's leg cast and her highschool classroom's chalkboard. At one point, Muna is also seen helping an elderly woman across the street, so clearly her devotion to her work doesn't stop her from being charitable when she can be!

Her fashion style in both doll and animated form definitely seems the most bold out of her friends, reminding me of when 2000s-era fashion would draw inspiration from the 70s! While in the animation she and Dunya were depicted with tanned olive skin, their dolls have the same skintone as Amal and Ahlam. She has brown hair with red highlights. In the animation her hair was often depicted with side part bangs and a headband. However, her Deluxe doll has a red beanie, and her Budget doll has a middle part with braids coming down on either side of her head.

Ahlam's name means "Dreams". Her description reads:

"Dreams are like beautiful butterflies that fly in the wide blue sky. It is good to have dreams because they take you to a place where anything is possible.."

Ahlam is apparently a pianist in addition to her Air Hostess job, having dreamt of flying since she was in school. She seems to be portrayed as considerate and low-key, which aligns with her cool blue color scheme!

Her doll's fashion style seems to be Boho Chic, with beads, frills, and florals. In the animation her hair is short, with a side part and a blue butterfly barrette. Her doll, meanwhile, wears her black and blue hair beneath a navy cap in her Deluxe look, and a middle part tied back in her Budget look. Visually, she reminds me of Ami Mizuno!

And last but not least, Dunya! Her name means "Life", and her description reads:

"Your friendship is like a beautiful flower to me. Your nice words, kind deeds and positive attitude are sure to be rewarded with happiness and love.."

Dunya seems to be a healthy eater, going to someone's house with a bowl of greens (salad or kale perhaps?), and making a smoothie while on the phone. She also does stretches and runs on her treadmill. All of this makes her the perfect fit for a coaching position!

Weirdly enough, her hairstyle in the animation is exactly like Amal's doll, with two low pigtails tied by pink ribbon. Her doll, meanwhile, has brown hair in a side part tied in a high pony with silver elastics (giving me Vidia vibes tbh). Her olive green fashion seems to be relatively modern (at least for the 2000s) and urban. Her clothes are the ones I can most easily see on a Bratz doll!

Overall, I simply adore this line!!! It feels more character-focused than other ones I've covered, and I'm a sucker for such strong color-blocking! It's hard for me to even pick a favorite, since their centralized aesthetics are all so compelling and unique! If anyone who knows Arabic would be able to translate what they say in the animations, I'll happily add an addendum to this post for clarification!

It's a shame the line and its movie was cancelled before it could receive the acclaim it deserved, I would've loved to see what more it had to offer! Regardless, I'm thoroughly impressed with what they managed to put out, and hope the designers have been able to apply their clear talents in other endeavors!

Ramadan Kareem!

[veilchenjaeger]

Your W.I.T.C.H posting reminded me how much I love the series. The animated series is the reason my English is as good as it is, because I couldn't find the episodes in German. So it got me started on watching stuff in English. For a while I read all the comics as they came out. I'm increasingly tempted to do a rewatch and a reread.

Yes, reread W.i.t.c.h.!!! I personally am something of a comics purist; the cartoon never hit the same notes that I loved so much in the comics, so it just wasn't for me. But a lot of people love it, so it's probably worth a rewatch as well!

I'm doing a W.i.t.c.h. reread atm and I'm honestly impressed by how fucking good this comic is. Aside from the characters just all being excellent and not falling into tired character tropes at all (or at least putting interesting spins on those; ask me about Cornelia Hale), the narrative has very clear themes and discusses them in a very nuanced way. That's outstanding, for a comic that was made in the 2000s for a predominantly preteen/teen audience. I could also gush forever about how realistic the portrayal of the girls' everyday life is and how deeply human the side characters feel, which gives so much life to the main characters as well - but I go feral over this comic enough as it is, I'll say all those things eventually if I haven't already said them.

I started reading W.i.t.c.h. when I was approximately ten years old and I've loved it since, so I fully expected the quality of the comic not to hold up anymore now that I'm reading it as an adult, but it does. It fully does. I'm noticing things now that I never noticed as a teenager, and they all show how carefully a lot of this story was crafted.

Obligatory warning that the quality decreased rapidly somewhere between arcs 5 and 7, so I'll personally stop reading there, but yeah. Reread W.i.t.c.h.

[ariel-seagull-wings]

@thealmightyemprex @piterelizabethdevries @themousefromfantasyland

So here's my turn: these are my top 10 Hottest Animated Guys

10. Uncle (Kirikou and the Sorceress)

09. Little Creek (Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron)

08. Clopin Trouillefou (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

07. Caleb (W.I.T.C.H)

06. Kanon (Saint Seiya)

05. Aragorn (Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings)

04. Prince Lir (The Last Unicorn)

03. Asterix and Obelix (the Asterix franchise)

02. Egon Spengler, Ray Stantz, Winston Zeddemore and Peter Venkman (The Real Ghostbusters)

01. Hank McCoy a.k.a Beast (X-Men: The Animated Series/97; X-Men: Evolution; Wolverine and the X-Men)

[winxwiki]

On the W.i.t.c.h. vs Winx Club plagiarism case

According to this forum user that has spoken to active Disney Italy artists, Francesco Artibani took the character designs sheets and proposed them to Rainbow before the official W.i.t.c.h. comic came out.

Officially, Artibani has said that he was called by Rai "to make sure Winx was not too similar to W.i.t.c.h.; Disney was fine with me working on it". That's odd, since he's credited as a writer on Winx, not as a consulent or anything like that (there is a fashion consulent on the team, for example).

The W.i.t.c.h. project started in '97, while Winx started in '99, both while Sailor Moon Sailor Stars was done airing in Italy. The Magica Bloom Pilot was approved in 2001 by RAI but Iginio Straffi decided to scrap it in 2002, albeit parts of it were salvaged (according to his Rimini Comix interview, likely for episode 1). If W.i.t.c.h.'s italian 2001 release influenced the pilot's retooling is unknown, though storywise Winx was already set in stone according to Iginio. It was only the artstyle that needed retooling.

Timeline by user Iku

It's curious though that Magica Bloom did not have a diverse cast, as Flora and Musa were white. Musa was also redesigned the most.

To make the spy rumours worse, official Winx art taking poses from W.i.t.c.h. does exist:

this concept art of Flora which has never been inked and colored

Various comparisons from a russian website

It's also well known by credits that Disney and Rainbow had freelance artists working left and right. The italian comic and animation industry at the time was just very small.

The lawsuit Disney made focused on the brand, genre and name instead of investigating further on character designs and ideas being tossed around despite NDAs. Could it be that Disney didn't want to make enemies of their best writers and artists?

Afterall, Artibani still works for both Rainbow and Disney to this day and so do many others... despite claiming of having left for 6 years in 2004. While working on the W.i.t.c.h. cartoon and Monster Allergy (while it was under Disney).

Either way, don't be shocked, as this is common in magical girls. Wedding Peach was one of the earliest Sailor Moon "clones" made by ex staff of the series and Izumi Todo's team at Toei constantly references itself and other properties with Precure and each new series even in official art (Tokyo Mew Mew? Doremi? Sailor Moon? Precure A La Mode has it all!).

[damnfandomproblems]

Fandom Problem #7849:

It’s rather silly to assume anyone who likes Totally Spies is a sex criminal and needs to be locked, nor does fetishes make anyone a bad person. Totally Spies does not suck because it has tons of fetishes in it. There are many great works that have sexual or perverted themes in it; such as Beyond te Valley of the Dolls, Fellini Satyricon, Caligula the Ultimate Cut, etc. And some are even fairly entertaining (not because of sexual appeal) otherwise, such as Caligula’s original trainwreck 1979 version, some of the later Hammer Horror films, the Friday the 13th series, etc. No, Totally Spies sucks because of two reasons. One, is that it’s the creation of adult men, adult men who wrote, draw, and animated teenage girls in fetishistic situations. Y’now, some states would classify “teenagers” as “children”, and almost all classifies teenagers as “minors”, it’s why it’s illegal to have impure relations with them in pretty much every state. If they had just done pretty much ANYTHING, like set the series in college from the start, or have them be fully adult spies this wouldn’t have been so bad. Now one could say “Oh this is fiction” however propaganda is a thing (whether intentional or not); it’s why many who watch Steven Universe are under the stupid belief that anyone could be redeemed no matter how horrible they can be (but that’s another case for another time), and when you consider people like Chris Savino and John Kricfalusi; the latter of which drew underage women in skimpy outfits for a shitty special… and before someone mentions something like the Friday the 13th series, well for movies like these technically the “teenagers” are all played by grown adults (probably in their 20s), so really they’re sexualizing young adults’ bodies so that’s not so bad there. But in animation only the voices are truly adult, otherwise it’s grown adults (most commonly men) drawing and animating young kids/teenagers bodies in… questionable material. And even then the creator of the tv show Euphoria, Sam Levinson (which depicts several sexual scenes with its teenage characters) is under fire for some creepy vibes to him, so… The second, and less serious reason, is that ultimately the fetishes are ALL Totally Spies has for it. The aforementioned works above at least have a little more to them than just sex stuff, be it F13’s hilarious kills and sympathetic murderer, the overall insanity of Caligula’s production, British stars, etc. Like let’s just say for this moment that shows like Kim Possible, Winx Club, and W.I.T.C.H. have tons of fetishes in them. Well the reason they’re not known for that is because there’s more to them than that. They have fun characters and plots, decent stories, etc. But what does Totally Spies have? Nothing really. This is just one of many dime a dozen empty cartoons. Not helped by the characters. Y’now… alongside the simple fact of “just make them adults from the start”, if there was just one queer sensibility to any of the cast or themes of this show I MIGHT have been on board with it. However Sam, Clover, Alex, Jerry, and Mandy for that matter are some of the most mainstream heteronormative patriarchal assholes on screen. Those scenes where they fight over what boy of the week they want to date, stupid popularity contests, and the girls getting bossed around by a stupid incompetent old man who’s not fit to run a world security agency? Sorry, that is sooo 2000s ago. Compare that to shows like the Owl House, Amphibia, the new She-Ra and Harley Quinn series which are not afraid to depict queer relationships and they all kick ass. Couple that with some bizarre messages- two episodes in the series does the mean girl character try to make amends and be an okay person and both the characters and series say “No, having a bully torment and try to ruin your life is a GOOD thing really!”- and you got what is certainly NOT one of the best 2000s animated cartoons.

[iridescentmidnights]

live action reboot for witch is unfortunately happening.

at this point i don't even know who it is for, considering witch isn't a well known series by the younger and newer generation unless they had siblings who have told them about it or seen documentaries on yt, or edits/amvs.

avatar is coming back as an animated series again, and like. this was disney's answer to it. wouldn't the smart answer be to have it be animated again.

i'm so. i'm so upset.

Oh I didn't know that w.i.t.c.h. was getting the LA treatment, if it really is then I'm surprised since Disney doesn't really acknowledge it. It's okay to be upset about it, though if for any one reason the fact that it's not well known or popular is a good reason for a reboot or new show/movie adaptation. It brings new life to a franchise and gets new eyes on it protecting it from becoming lost media. But I can understand being upset, I bet a lot if not most fans (I mean me haha) want a continuation of the cartoon or new animated series with a fresh start that cleans up the OG comics while being faithful to it. (tbf I think the only way Avatar can be continued is in animated form, I don't think fans would receive anything else with grace (again me). But as a property ALTA/LoK can done well in LA, its really not hard to imagine.) I don't understand why they would want to make it in LA though, it's nearly impossible to cast (since the art is so stylized and human kids age unlike cartoons) and budget constraints already mean a lot of the magic and whimsy has to go. I can't imagine they'd bother with effort in the costuming or using practical effects. So all these cool monster characters will just be human people 99% of the time. In like...a shirt and pants... Though I haven't read the reboot comic since there's no English version I can get my hands on, I imagine that's what's on the table to be adapted. Though if the og is still on the table the possibility of needing to double cast characters for the civilian child and guardian teenager/young adult sounds like a nightmare. Either they keep it and make it weird, make them teenagers making it weird, or they stay kids also making it weird because it really only works as a fun girly power fantasy if it stays animated. So yes, imo w.i.t.c.h. would be best served animated, it would be the smartest choice. And double triple yes you're valid for being upset and tired of this. "Girl" media gets treated horribly and magical girl stuff especially. We deserve a win and I have heavy doubts we'd get a quarter of the thought and effort PJO got 🥺😔

[z-saint-box]

Tara Duncan (2010) Series Review

"also known as, How Tara is Not a Spellbinder"

[this series review was originally posted on deviantArt]

"also known as, reviewing the first season, because the show is not good enough for a second."

"I want to like it, but I can only analyze it, because it didn't live up to my hype."

Physically attractive, yet fundamentally bland, Tara Duncan is yet another typical heroine of a standard, uninteresting girl show. Unlike the other girls, she does not have charm or personality. Rose (Regal Academy) is cute and silly, Iris (Lolirock) has an outstanding art and character design, and even Raf (Angel's Friends) has identity through how bad her show is.

As for Tara, she comes from a book series I never knew about until I learned about her equally obscure show. The former never saw widespread publication and the latter never saw widespread broadcast. Ironically, to non-French speakers, the animated series is more well-known than the book series. For perspective, I didn't even know about the Kabillion channel that she was on until I learned more about her franchise. And for that matter, only the first two Tara Duncan books have ever been translated into English whereas all twenty-six episodes of the animated series has been. Despite this, there are very few methods for Anglophones to watch the latter. A few years ago, the entire series was available on the official youtube channel until they were removed or deleted for unknown reasons; and at the beginning of 2023, it was removed from Amazon's streaming service Freevee.

However, I have a low opinion of the show, and this may have been the issue of adapting a book series into a cartoon; alternatively, the English dub may even be a bad translation. As a result, this is not necessarily a review of the show in its original voice.

One reason why I had such high hopes for Tara Duncan is the theme song. It is legitimately one of the best intro music for any cartoon ever. Each episode begins with high energy to create anticipation for Tara's next adventure. While Dania Gio slurs the lyrics to the English intro, the opening theme is still just as strong as the original French version. A complete English version does not exist; but the song is so good, I recommend listening to the original, which I can listen to multiple times despite having no knowledge of French. If anything , my opinion also applies to every language the theme song has been adapted into, such as Spanish, Castellano, Portuguese, and Arabic. The only caveat though is, the German version sounds terrible.

Either way, I'm disappointed that I could not write episode reviews for this series, unlike what I did for Regal Academy and Lolirock. It's because there is very little for me to talk about. Every draft proved difficult to write, owing to a lack of opinion. For these reasons, I even had trouble remembering episode titles. Not helping is that I can barely remember specific plot points for the majority of episodes. This very review was incredibly difficult, due to how hard it is to articulate my thoughts. It took an entire year of editing and revising, because Tara Duncan lacks creativity and personality.

The show's aesthetics are presentable, but the art and character design looks similar to W.I.T.C.H, to the point where Tara is comparable to Cornelia; and the resemblance is not only close, but understandable. Tara's line art however, is cleaner, and her color palette is brighter.

Unlike W.I.T.C.H, Tara uses CGI, and even though it is limited to just the vehicles, it looks terrible. I have to mention this because every car, trolley, boat, or airplane looks completely detached from the overall art style. They look so poor, that their time on-screen is limited; or, their time on-screen is limited because of how poor they look. I understand that vehicles are harder to draw than characters, but they must look cohesive with the world they are in; otherwise it will seem that they are a separate entity, even if the intention is to save time, effort, and money. However, this may explain why the 2022 reboot of Tara Duncan is presented entirely in CGI.

Tara uses the most basic fantasy tropes without anything unique to distinguish herself. Werewolves are vulnerable against silver, dragons love gold, and mermaids swim in the ocean. In some fairness, I was unaware of the first two before watching her; but this may explain why the original books were rejected by up to three hundred publishers, at least according to the author herself.

Ironically, vampires on the show can survive in broad daylight and they are uninterested in drinking blood. It is unknown if the latter is the result of censorship, or a design choice to show that they are different from conventional vampires. Still, their most predominant traits are not present, although Serena does order raw steak in the second episode, albeit in the morning.

Despite the variety of mythological creatures at the show's disposal, they are the same kinds that viewers are already familiar with, which also includes sirens, harpies, elves, and mummies.

Although it makes no difference when newcomers to the animated series will not understand a significant portion of her world. Sparrow's actual name is Gloria Davile. Cal's full name is Caliban Dal Salan. And Serena's name in the original French language is Selenba. I did not know the former two until later episodes, and the latter is information I had to search for on my own.

More importantly, a spellbinder is someone who has magic powers, or someone that can use spells; but at the same time, I have also read that Tara is a witch. After having watched the entire series multiple times, a witch is a spellbinder, but a spellbinder is not a witch. If I am wrong, it is the show's fault for not making this any more clear. Not only that, but the original title of the theme song is "Sortceliere," which technically does not translate into "sorceress."

[see, I told you]

And to add confusion, the official youtube channel says that Tara is a "spellweaver," but this could be a mistranslation. For convenience, "spellbinder" will be used instead of spellweaver. Not only is the former used in the English theme song, the characters use the same word in the English dub. And for a long time, I thought the first letter is meant to be capitalized, because it is an important word that specifies an important person.

I suspect that the show was created with fans of the book series in mind; in which case, the lack of exposition is understandable, albeit only for fans who have read the original text(s). But compounding this issue is Tara herself.

Being the main protagonist, she must have the strongest personality. She must have the most unique, interesting, or remarkable traits that define who she is and why she is the central character. Her physical beauty is not enough, and despite how noticeable and distinct it is, no character ever mentions or references the front portion of her hair, which is a different color from the rest of her head. While it is obviously genetics, due to her mother having the same abnormality, there is no explanation, let alone suggestion or why it is unique to her family. Because of this, it also gives the impression that it is just hair dye, or even that Tara is bad or lazy at dying her hair.

[there is something abnormal in this shot, and it's not the vampire]

Beyond this, she is not just attractive, she is a powerful magic user who lives in a luxurious manor that can literally defend her against trespassers. One of her romantic interests is Robin, a handsome elf that her rivals, Sandra and Olivia drool over. Tara even has her own majestic pegasus, and most importantly, her name is the title of the show. These elements prove that she is a Mary Su.

I honestly wonder if her creator, Sophie Audouin-Mamikonian, is actually going to read this, because Tara is a self-insert of herself; and she has admitted to this. I think I should also mention that she likes to be addressed as "Princess," because I honestly believe that the book and show were specifically created be her wish fulfillment. If they were, I'm glad she had (has?) fun, but that would explain the quality of the writing. Nothing is inherently wrong with self-inserts, but they risk becoming  flawless characters, hollow with no personality.

Tara's worst flaw is using via transportus incorrectly, and this does not happen often. If it did, it would present believable irony; she might have powerful magic, but she does not have the experience to use it correctly. And she doesn't even use other spells incorrectly or inefficiently.

In the episode "BFF," Tara says she has trouble making friends on Earth, and that she is a social outcast, but later episodes contradict this. Secondary characters such as Edward have no problem with her, and because she plays basketball, she has no issue with befriending the twins. Either that, or Sandra is less effective at suppressing Tara than she thinks, or Tara is effective at allowing Sandra to inhibit her, because at the end of the same episode, the twins walk over and socialize with her and her friends. I should also mention that in a later episode "Guardian of My Heart," the antagonist completely suspends his objective just because Tara is beautiful, I kid you not.

Even though Sparrow and Cal are not any more interesting as characters, they would make better protagonists. The former has spontaneous transformations that she cannot control, and better demonstrates naivety or lack of experience than Tara. As for Cal, his constant misuse of common Earth phrases exhibit his lack of familiarity in a new environment. But because Tara has blonde hair and blue eyes, the network decided she must be the main character.

[Even though Tara is the main character, how is she any different from the girls you see here?]

In spite of her being a Mary Su, I am legitimately interested in her role as Earth guardian. This enormous responsibility, which was passed down via mother and grandmother, is delegated to a teenage girl with teenage problems, which is highly ironic.

Being the next person in a lineage of spellbinders, Tara Duncan's plots work best when they are focused on the dilemma of balancing life as a spellbinder with the life of a non-spell, as seen in the episodes "Assault on the Manor" and "Heart of Stone."

Speaking of her magic, her powers are not based on any element, so she and her friends are not limited to one specific ability. Having an unlimited range of spells at their disposal, they have teleportation, transformation, miniaturization, memory wiping, and vocal transformation. In spite of this, these are not only basic, but they are not as interesting as they can be; and ironically, the characters limit themselves from using their powers to the full extent of their uniqueness; and due to how broad they are, the characters are not as vulnerable as they should be.

Although one good thing is, unlike the magic in Lolirock, I can not only understand the spells that Tara and friends vocalize, I can even spell them correctly without having to look them up. For example, "via reformis" is a spell that reforms or fixes things; while in Lolirock, I still don't know what "crystal collaida" is. Consequently, via reformis is a boring, uninteresting spell while crystal collaida launches a volley of crystal shards.

In general, Tara's magic is mild and subdued, to the point where climactic battles merely have characters standing back and releasing a beam, or stream of magic. I understand that these moments are meant to be intense, but the animation does not complement the action that is supposedly happening. There is not enough damage, let alone collateral damage to show the impact of what they do. Or just as egregious, when the show makes several action cuts, such as in the climax of "Four Parchments."

But it matters less when every episode follows a typical formula. A semchanach comes to Earth and Alpha team, lead by Tara, is dispatched to subdue him, her, or it. The slow pacing, excess exposition, and copious amounts of dialogue will deter new viewers. A lot of the episodes feel padded; to stretch every story to twenty-four minutes. And the runtime will feel longer if you are completely new to Tara Duncan. After passing through continuity lock-out, the show is better on a second viewing, albeit not by much. For comparison, Lolirock episodes do not require background knowledge of a pre-existing book series, especially when the show specifically takes place between the seventh and eighth book, long after basic exposition has been presented. The only good thing is that episodes can be watched out of order.

Tara is so uninteresting that I actually adore Sandra, despite her function as Tara's sworn rival. Being a direct anti-thesis to the main protagonist, straight down to her physical appearance, this may explain why she has more personality than her; even if admittedly, her worst offenses are physically attacking Tara and stealing Sparrow's diary. Although she is callous and otherwise nasty, she has more potential for growth and development than Tara does.

Whether she is unintelligent or ignorant of how to be a better person, she is a child-like brat without the same responsibilities as Tara. For these reasons, she is cuter and more fun to watch, such as the moment when she breaks down crying because she did not invite enough girls to her party.

Sandra makes every episode she appears in more entertaining. She brings the show closer to reality that Tara must deal with as a result of living on Earth. I would genuinely like to know about her than the title character, because Mary is a Tara Su

Understanding all the elements at play here, the show could have been Tara battling her grandmother. Because her mother is missing, Isabella is responsible for taking care of (or parenting) her. Due to the generation gap, Tara and Isabella could have had more intense conflict between them. Tara would like to be a regular, teenage girl while Isabella demands that she fulfill her obligation as Earth guardian. These issues are lightly discussed in episodes like "Gold Fever" and "Mirror of Youth," but they do not make a major bulk of the show. Furthermore, Master Chem is a surrogate father to Tara, and he is more liberal to her than her grandmother. For these reasons, I think the episode "Summer School" is good, because Master Chem and Isabella literally battle each other over what Tara should do for summer break. I also love the episode "Master Chem's Honor," due to Chem being stripped of his authority over Alpha Team; and consequently, his guardianship over Tara.

[you would think with a dvd cover like this, the show would be more exciting]

But this review is not entirely critical. Aside from Sandra, Sparrow is my favorite character for being cute and feminine. Aside from being attractively girly, she is also half animal, i.e. a big, hairy beast that she transforms into when she is upset or loses control. She is descended not only from the Beauty, but also the Beast, which explains her unusual, but charming quirk.

I also like the character Fafnir for her similarity to Carissa from Lolirock. Like Carissa, she has the energy of a warrior girl she makes very few appearances on the show. Unlike Carissa, she is a dwarf; but this does not stop her from using her full strength.

Master Chem is my favorite adult on the show, and beyond what I explained above, he has unique, and fun ways of debriefing Alpha Team. When Tara and Sparrow are looking through a clothing rack, he startles them by hiding in the clothes. In "Four Parchments," Chem sneaks into Tara's bedroom in the middle of night and scares her. Beyond this, he is sensible and fair to Tara and Alpha Team.

Beyond these three character, I also adore the show's use of split-screens. This is when two scenes play at the same time with a line splitting the screen. This happens when two characters are talking to each other, and they may even interact with the screen itself, usually by pulling or pushing it out. This makes the show a bit more charming, and it uses animation to its advantage. A good example is in the episode "Mirror of Youth," when Isabella pulls the split-screen from off-camera so that Tara can give her powers back to her. Another good example is in the episode "Alpha Male," when a miniature version of Tara pushes it away so that Robin can resume his mission. The creators use animation to the show's advantage, if not embraces it.

Characters and backgrounds are hand-drawn; and surprisingly, the show does not utilize flash animation, even though its production studio could have easily done this to save money. I would rather watch Tara Duncan over Angel's Friends because of this; and overall, character animation is equally good. Even though she and her friends do not wear anything interesting or unique, they are practical and conventional for everyday assignments in an urban environment.

The voice acting is nice, even if is too soft to capture a range of feelings, and even if it comes across as dull sometimes. Tara's voice in particular, is the nicest to listen to, even when it doesn't produce raw (RAWR?!) expressive emotions.

And admittedly, she is a bit less bland or dull than other girl show protagonists such as Iris from Lolirock. Not only does she play basketball with boys, she is also a fan of Madney Spears; and idolizing her, would like to dance just like her, triggering the events of "Gold Fever." So she is also athletic. I should also mention that unlike Iris, Tara is a bad singer.

And what makes her a bit more respectable than other girl shows is that she does not have a line of dolls like Winx, Bratz, or Ever After High. Instead, her series was produced to sell or promote the books, and as said before, maybe even satisfy the author's fantasies. Not only that, but Tara does not attend a special or magical school, a trope that is too common with girl shows.

Because she only lasted one season, she didn't waste all that much time, and it's still better than Angel's Friends, which got two seasons. And in a bizarre twist, I am weirdly nostalgic for her , even though I didn't catch (meet?) her back in 2010 when she was first broadcast, or when she first introduced herself.

But Tara does not have a meaningful premise, nor does she have as much spirit, or girl power, as other shows. It's quite baffling how little creativity she has, yet she was somehow given an entire, twenty-six episode animated series. I am not even the first to criticize her. For that matter, I am not even the first person to scrutinize her writing. And like I said earlier, she has another animated series. There is still no explanation for why her original incarnation did not continue for another season. Although the easiest explanation may be everything I just detailed above, because Tara is clearly lacking magic.

Overall Grade: D / D +

[the D stands for "Duncan"]

[Tara's face when she reads how bad her show is]t

[problematic-faves-appreciation]

Cartoons With Continuity (Overarching, Season-Long Arcs, Partial, Multi-Part Eps, Etc.) That Came Out Before Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005)

1980s

• G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1983)

• The Transformers (1984)

• Thundercats (1985)

• The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985)

• Jem and the Holograms (1985)

• The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers (1986)

• Ducktales (1987)

1990s

• The Pirates of Dark Water (1991)

• The Legend of Prince Valiant (1991)

• The Adventures of Tintin (1991)

• Batman: The Animated Series (1992)

• X-Men: the Animated Series (1992)

• The Animals of Farthing Wood (1993)

• Exo Squad (1993)

• Sonic the Hedgehog (1993)

• ReBoot (1994)

• Iron Man (1994)

• Gargoyles (1994)

• Spider-Man (1994)

• Beast Wars: Transformers (1996)

• Todd McFarlane's Spawn (1997)

• Men in Black: The Series (1997)

• Princess Sissi (1997)

• Silver Surfer (1998)

• Batman Beyond (1999)

• Roswell Conspiracies: Aliens, Myths and Legends (1999)

• Cybersix (1999)

Early 2000s

• Jackie Chan Adventures (2000)

• Chris Colorado (2000)

• As Told by Ginger (2000)

• Justice League (2001)

• He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2002)

• Codename: Kids Next Door (2002)

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)

• Teen Titans (2003)

• Code Lyoko (2003)

• Lilo & Stitch: The Series (2003)

• Xiaolin Showdown (2003)

• Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003)

• Winx Club (2004)

• Danny Phantom (2004)

• Justice League Unlimited (2004)

• The Venture Bros. (2004)

• Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go! (2004)

• W.I.T.C.H. (2004)

• American Dragon Jake Long (2005)

[blackdigitalrose]

Wed - Smile Pretty Cure! - Ep 29 - 31 (These summer episodes are getting a little tedious now -.- too many at once.)

EP 29

It is another for the bingo card, it's the, I haven't completed all the summer homework and school is tomorrow ep and yes, it plays out like all the others so far, mostly.

Not one of Reika's brightest moments, she does often feel very out of place but 6:30 XD how specific, yet in other ways relatable, wonder why 6:30 though?

Sunny would be right on this one, that is pretty crazy but that is definitely a unique use of the attack. (Peace Thunder may be my fave attack from this series)

I had nothing to say, the changes are small but I really like that look on Beauty,

Oof, that's just an awkward finisher after all that talk. However, I guess the message it was trying to get across is there and it does get a bonus point for at least being willing to show, ironically, the bad end.

It is odd though, the ep was pointless and yet it flew by.

EP 30

Now, were these aired in the wrong order? They started school again at the end of the last one, then it is summer again in this one?

Who could they even show any of these photo's to? It isn't like they could explain how they magically got to a,b,c? Gotta appreciate that proper digi-cam screen quality though.

And trying all that food is one thing but whose paying? Magical currency conversion as they go to?

Or how they even had a book case for some of these locations? If anything, this ep is bringing up a lot of questions.

They say for the sake of a plot but seriously, this is the second time now but if they can do this, why not get the energy they need like this and not get the Precure's attention? It isn't like it suggests its barely enough or anything?

Wait... if Candy could have done this by herself this whole time, why did she keep getting the others to use the pact to use a charm?

Part of me expected more, make them more personal, on the other hand, it'd definitely be alot easier to animate like this. I am disappointed we didn't get to see all of them do their attack like this, March would have been quite fun to see. (I've only just noticed how glittery their attack backgrounds are...)

Triple KO, allies and enemy alike XD

Sounds menacing but falls empty because we have no idea what he's actually been up to or trying, just something, he never elaborated at any point. How are we suppose to know if it really is bad or not? They could have given it some build up if you were going to use him so scarcely.

(Free toy merch advertising!) Not that I'm trying to be overly critical here but with a light show like that, why didn't they do this in the secret hideout? Just miraculously never getting anyone else's attention.

EP 31

Didn't this start off dark again, dang Smile, you jump from one extreme to the other so easily.

Just what is his story? How much does he know? Can he see it or is he able to sense it? 30eps in and he's still such a mystery? How is he always steps ahead of everyone else?

The unintended contrast but that feels like foreshadowing some how.

You've got to give him points for thinking ahead and taking precautions.

XD Candy is having her equivalent of a super saiyan moment, the struggle, the anger, the yellow glow, the little speech about not hurting anyone... (This is very much Goku's first SSJ transformation, magical girl style)

Egads -.- we are doing this for a third time, why are we doing this for a third time? (this was in subbers notes)

And it ends with Joker having actually stuck around and kidnapping the other four because naturally, we can't have it the other way round? Pink saves the rest (here's looking at W.I.T.C.H, who actually had that role reversal in their S1.)

I can't tell if the show has derailed or not, it started of strong but it seems like it has lost its way abit but it can still have these amazing moments, none of these eps were really bad, bad. Nor can I tell if Joker is good or not, they've got the intrigue still there at least but he still feels too much of a background character.

Maybe next weeks set will clear things up a bit more?