#Franchise Network Building

[franchise-guru]

Franchise Guru™: Your Trusted Partner in Franchise Success

In the dynamic world of franchising, navigating the path to success requires expertise, strategic insights, and unwavering support. Franchise Guru™ emerges as a beacon of guidance, offering comprehensive Franchise and Business Consulting Services to both emerging franchisors and franchisees. This article delves into the multifaceted approach of Franchise Guru™, exploring how it has become the go-to partner for realizing franchise aspirations.

Section 1: The Franchise Landscape and Its Challenges

Franchising presents unique opportunities and challenges, demanding a nuanced understanding of market trends, consumer behavior, and operational intricacies. Franchise Guru™ begins by acknowledging the complexities inherent in the industry, recognizing that success hinges on a delicate balance of strategy, innovation, and adaptability.

Section 2: Franchise Guru™: A Holistic Approach to Franchise Development

Franchise Guru™ sets itself apart through a holistic approach to franchise development. By offering services ranging from strategic planning and market analysis to operational efficiency consulting, the team at Franchise Guru™ ensures that every aspect of the franchising journey is meticulously addressed. This comprehensive approach is designed to empower both franchisors and franchisees with the tools they need to thrive.

Section 3: Tailored Solutions for Emerging Franchisors

For those looking to expand their business through franchising, Franchise Guru™ provides tailored solutions. From developing effective franchise development strategies to optimizing franchise systems and assisting with legal considerations, Franchise Guru™ is committed to paving the way for emerging franchisors to build successful and sustainable franchise networks.

Section 4: Empowering Franchisees for Success

Franchise Guru™ recognizes the pivotal role played by franchisees in the success of any franchise system. Through targeted business advisory solutions, market entry consulting, and ongoing support, Franchise Guru™ empowers franchisees to navigate the challenges of entrepreneurship while maximizing the potential for profitability.

Section 5: International Reach and Expertise

With a global presence spanning key locations like Al Huda Building (Dubai), Mumbai (India), and Beirut (Lebanon), Franchise Guru™ brings international expertise to the table. This global perspective is invaluable for businesses aiming to expand their franchises across borders, offering insights into diverse markets and cultural nuances.

Section 6: Success Stories and Testimonials

The true measure of a franchise consulting service's effectiveness lies in the success stories of its clients. Franchise Guru™ takes pride in the achievements of the franchisors and franchisees it has supported. Through testimonials and case studies, this section highlights real-world examples of businesses that have thrived under the guidance of Franchise Guru™.

Conclusion:

In the ever-evolving landscape of franchising, having a trusted partner like Franchise Guru™ can make all the difference. From strategic planning to operational execution, Franchise Guru™ stands as a beacon of support for those aspiring to achieve franchise success. With a commitment to excellence and a proven track record, Franchise Guru™ invites both emerging franchisors and franchisees to embark on a journey of growth, innovation, and lasting success.

For more information or to explore how Franchise Guru™ can support your franchise goals, contact us today. Your success is our mission.

[dakoosuperapp]

💡 Entrepreneurship requires a range of skills that are essential for success. Some of the basic skills that every entrepreneur should possess include: 💡 Opportunity identification and evaluation 💡 Creativity and innovation 💡 Effective communication and leadership 💡 Financial management 💡 Risk assessment and management 💡 Time management and organization 💡 Networking and relationship building 💡 Problem-solving and decision-making 💡 Adaptability and flexibility 💡 Resilience and perseverance These skills are necessary for entrepreneurs to navigate the challenges of starting and running a business. By developing these skills, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of success and achieve their goals in their entrepreneurial journey. 🎢 #dakoo #franchise #business #india #entrepreneurship #innovation #leadership #success #success #opportunity #entrepreneurs #entrepreneur #networking #building #creativity #communication #management (at India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqIjWDDvDaZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[liyawritesss]

ᴄᴏʟʟᴇɢᴇ!ᴍɪʟᴇꜱ ᴍᴏʀᴀʟᴇꜱ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ

Characters: College!Spider-Verse!Miles Morales 

Type: headcanons

Synopsis: What would our lovely boy Miles be like as a grown up college student? Does he change or does he still keep his dorky, boyish demeanor?

A/N: HAPPY JUNETEENTH TO MY FELLOW NEGROS!!! In honor of Juneteenth and the release of ATSV, I'm dumping some headanons on yall, and I'm so proud of how these turned out. I was talking with my friend how we heavily believed that we would see a grown up Miles but when we found out only a year passed in Miles’ timeline for him, the topic of college!Miles came up. So these headcanons are pretty much a product of how we thought miles would be as a college student around our age.

Note: the first pic is of Shameik Moore, I just used a cartoon filter over it to try and make it look like the art style in the spiderverse franchise. The third one is not Shameik Moore but I use the same cartoon filter over it for the same effect

Warnings: Some cursing but that’s about it. KEEP IT CUTE PG-16 CUZ THIS IS NEPHEW WE TALKIN' BOUT HERE!!!

Tags: @6-noir @babyboiboyega @badass-dora-milaje @jacuzziwaters @venusdraco @mbakuetshurisprincess @shuriszn @verachii @writingintheshadowsforever @cafehyunji @lulu-network @niyahwrites @pantherheart @marsfunzon22

Sign Up For My Taglist Here!

College!Miles isn’t a complete one-eighty of his mid-teen self, but rather, he builds on the defining attributes of his youth and matures them. He’s still pretty self-effacing, modest and humble, but he’s more confident in himself and the man he wants to become. He’s selfless and courageous and loving to a fault, and anyone who’s anyone who has been in his presence can say that Miles is a great person all around.

College!Miles ends up going to study in New Jersey, majoring in Physics Engineering, but also minoring in African Psychology on the track for social work. He knows that he can only do so much good behind his Spiderman mask, and believes that he should also be putting in the work when he isn’t wearing it. It’s an obligation for him to put his best food forward for his community and his people.

College!Miles who mixes his style with 90’s black streetwear and modern day. He’s a sneakerhead, so his dorm room gradually accumulates with boxes upon boxes of shoes damn near reaching the ceiling. His room back home is much worse though (Rio can’t even clean his room anymore because everywhere she looks, it’s a box of shoes chucked somewhere. Mama has given up lmao). And similar to the first outfit we see him in in ATSV, he loves the sports-jersey-over-solid-color-shirt combo, but has a decent amount of hoodies and tee’s both graphic and plain, that he likes to throw on with a pair of jeans and shoes. He knows how to dress, and he knows that he looks good in what he wears too.

College!Miles who never steps out the house without a chain on. He’s got two specific ones that he wears primarily - a silver cuban link his parents got him for his eighteenth birthday that he wears daily, and a gold snake chain that he bought for himself with his first check from his first big boy job. There are other necklaces that he has that he’ll throw on it he wants to switch things up. He’s not a big fan of things on his wrist (he’s gotten too used to the web shooters that everything else just feels funny or wrong), but he has a watch that he only wears to be fancy and a couple of rings that go on his middle or forefingers. He also has a few pairs of studded earrings he switches between every now and then to keep up a fresh look.

College!Miles who starts to take special care in his appearance as he reaches his late teen years. He can only go to his mom when he’s on breaks or vacation when he travels back to Brooklyn, but he’s learned enough from Rio to do his own line-ups and touch ups to make him look decent. It took him a minute to get used to doing it on his own, but he was adamant on learning because he was firm on not letting anyone else into his head besides his mother. He’d recently gotten into cutting slits into his eyebrows too, as they make him feel super cool

College!Miles who knows he’s got girls & guys coming left and right waiting for the opportunity to get with him, but as much as he’s a loverboy, he’s also very intentional with how he moves and is very perceptive of people (his Spidey senses enhance it a lot more than what he wishes sometimes) that he peeps that a lot of them are only attracted to his looks. He doesn’t date for the first few semesters of college, and when his parents ask if he’s gonna bring someone home soon, he tells them that he’s too busy making gateways to dimensions to open the gateways to dating

College!Miles whose love for hip hop never dies over the years. Instead it seems to grow. He adds a few new artists to her playlist - JID, Young M.A., Tobe Nwigwe, & Kendrick Lamar from the hip hop and rap scenes (Miles uses many of Tobe’s songs as hype music to gas himself up). Though he’s also found an appreciation for other genres, like R&B and Neo-Soul. Some of these artists include but are not limited to: H.E.R., UMI, Ari Lennox, and Bryson Tiller.

College!Miles who still holds on to his art as a hobby and destresser from his many classes and double-identity. His street art follows him wherever he goes, tagging new places that have people wondering who the hell made it all the way up there to tag that. There’s a secret pride that swells in him when he sees passersby admiring the artwork.

College!Miles who, when the world gets too much and he feels like everythings going wrong, he climbs the tallest building he can find and just watches the sunrise or sunset. He lets the breathtaking view ease his mind and the warm sun soothe his worries away. Being so high up and away from people allows him to actually think about the troubles that plague him, so when he comes back down, he can address them accordingly

College!Miles who’s still very much a momma’s boy. He calls Rio almost every day, either to just talk or to rant about something silly. She’ll put him on speaker for Jefferson to hear and just looks at her husband like “Listen to your son” when he’s being silly. But it’s so sweet that Miles always has his parents on his mind when he’s away at school. He also calls his dad to have ‘guy talk’, which ain’t nothing but Miles and Jefferson either talking about sports, his academics (which Jeff is really supportive of, even if he doesn’t understand the physics part, he loves to hear his sons ideas on the psychology minor he’s taken on) or random funny shit the guys that they hang around do every day.

College!Miles who grows more confident in his Spanish and uses it more and more in his day-to-day life. He’ll speak it when he’s talking to himself, when he’s angry or if he’s hurt himself (which happens the same amount of times as it did when he was a teen), or he’ll try and surprise his mom with a conversation in complete Spanish (which he does succeed in sometimes).

College!Miles who’s barely changed from the loveable boy who we all know and love as a teen. He just grew some more and became cooler, but he still radiates the same dorky, intelligent, and loving energy he’s always had.

[nyaagolor]

What are your thoughts on Apollo Justice (the character)?

OH BOY. OHHHHHH BOY. I have a fever and some free time lfg.

So honestly, I think part of the reason I love Apollo so much is because he runs parallel to Phoenix but also counter to him at the same time. I always saw Simon and Athena as the successors-- in terms of ideology and job and all that other stuff-- to the Phoenix-Edgeworth dynamic and status rather than Apollo and Klavier. Athena and Simon, to me, feel like extensions of the arcs of Phoenix and Edgeworth + the vibes of the original trilogy. Apollo and Klavier ( who I will not talk about bc we will be here all day)? They're the antithesis.

Apollo Justice The Game directly foils the original trilogy in so many ways, but I think even on a more base thematic level it runs counter to a lot of the ideas that we take for granted about the original trilogy, and because Apollo sits at the center of this, the things I love about the game are encapsulated in why I like him. There are a ton of themes in the ace attorney trilogy-- support networks, faith, trust, the truth-- and Apollo is defined by their limits, their failures, and their absence. He is let down, kicked around, defined by abandonment and betrayal and distrust. Apollo is defined by everything that Phoenix is not, and bc of how the timeline goes we don't really get any retribution for that, just a steady march forward, and I think that gives me a lot to think about with his character

Phoenix's arc right from Turnabout Sisters is about the building of a support network, and the ways that developing this support is integral for when things go wrong. We contrast Phoenix with Godot, Maya with Dahlia, and see how people left to stew in their resentment can chase vengeance to dark places (wow I wonder who also does this after the death of a dear friend leading to a crusade of misplaced revenge that almost leads someone they care about being killed.). With Apollo we get to stand on the precipice of resolution, but the important part is we don't get it. Apollo's life falls off the rails, and he's the one left to pick up the pieces.

We see through him how our trust can be betrayed by people of good and bad intentions, and the lingering consequences that has on one's ability to not only trust the people around them but themselves. And yeah!! That's why I adore him so much-- he's tested not by the possibility of failure like Phoenix often is, but climbing up from the reality of it. It's less "how do we make our way out of this mess before it goes nuclear" and more "things are already destroyed-- where do we go from here?". It has more of an element of recovery than prevention to me, and I think that's a fascinating avenue to explore in stories like these. Apollo pushes the envelope of the themes of the narrative and the characters-- he is the epitome of what it looks like when things fall apart, and it gives him and the trilogy characters something to reconcile

A lot of people have complained that Apollo barely feels like the protagonist in his own game, but that's honestly a huge part of the reason why I love him so much. He's defined by the spaces between, the limits and failures of things we had up to this point taken to be true, and left with a pretty limited degree of autonomy through it all. He's pushed around and puppeteered by people who mean well and those who don't, and I feel like a major theme of AA4 that I love but don't often see talked about is "what does it mean to have autonomy-- and by extension, control? What does it mean to take it back? What does it mean to lose it, and what does it mean when you'd do anything to keep it." Most of what I said is only partially resolved bc AA4 is... a game. A technically finished game. but!! Because it eviscerates our expectations of the franchise so thoroughly AND leaves open so many avenues, it makes Apollo and the rest of his crew some of my favorite characters because there's so much you can think about and do with them!!

also he's like. An insect to me. <3

[invested-in-your-future]

I am new to rwde stuff, and I'm wondering why Miles is so often singled out in criticism? Like, with self-insert stuff that makes sense, but I also see people criticize the relics/gods worldbuilding as a Miles thing, without mention of Kerry. Same for similar criticisms like the plot driving them into a corner in v10, or the mishandling of the WF plot line. Is there a reason for that, or is it holdover from not liking him for the self-insert? Is he the one who talks about it the most, or has he specifically claimed responsibility for that, or he writes more than Kerry, or something? Is it because he just seems to be the more public of the two of them, doing things like his cameos? Is he simply the more unlikable one? Thank you in advance, if you answer this question.

I think it is that, yeah - Miles is the one most often putting his foot in his mouth with weird hot takes that come back to bite him.

Him being tasked by Monty to watch a bunch of anime to see what NOT to do and ending up gushing about sword art online and loving the one soul eater character he was supposed to understand about being crass?

Him going on an off-tangent rant about how Korra world building is bad only to then rip off parts of that lore and it all end up a mess.

Him ranting how on how LGBTQ+ rep in Korra has absolutely no build up only for BB ending up getting ZERO PROPER DEVELOPMENT that it SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN FOR VOLUMES (because the show was too busy queerbaiting) and only getting a desperate kiss to attempt to get the views back up... (Mind you Korra was under a LOT of network restrictions and actually doing what the show did took actual guts while the only excuse RT has for dancing around the topic is "we don't wanna")

Him watching Land of Lustrous (a show about an immortal being experiencing trauma and PTSD and dealing with grief and existential crisis) and going "I don't get it" and then delivering the absolute messy v9 nonsense that literally vilifies trauma and goes against basic mental wellness concepts.

There's a trail of Miles stepping on the same rake over and over again going back years so he kind of became the face of all the wrong decisions taken in the show.

Plus, you know, yeah, Jaune is his baby and he somehow ends up being the faux protagonist of the show leeching off the screen time of actual protagonists and getting more development and focus than actual protagonists. And him being the guy to whom "the idea of brother gods came to in a dream" and it's easy to see why he kind of became the poster child for everything bad in the show.

However, Kerry is just as guilty for a lot of aspects of the writing but people are bit more lenient because again two worst parts of the show - Jaune and brother gods both come from Miles.

RWBY having borderline nonsensical setting and offensive problematic writing is a group effort though because RT as a whole never grew out of the "edgy homophobic jokes machinima youtuber" phase - not even after becoming a company that owns million dollar franchises.

[crazykuroneko]

Mark Johnson Builds Anne Rice Universe for AMC Networks

The interesting points from this are:

And that Talamasca show hasn't been ordered to series yet. But the fact they're running a PR on Mark and the franchise should be a good sign

[disneytva]

Ariel To Make A Splash Debut Thursday, June 27, Streaming Next Day On Disney+

Disney Branded Television announced today the premiere date for the highly anticipated animated musical series “Ariel.” Inspired by “The Little Mermaid (2023)” the series will debut on THURSDAY, JUNE 27, on Disney Junior (9:00 a.m. EDT/PDT) and air on Disney Channel later that day, with an initial batch of eight episodes available on Disney+ the following day, FRIDAY, JUNE 28.

Disney Junior has also released the theme song who will be Disney TVA 's #98 series overall.

To help build excitement for “Ariel,” it was also announced that a new series of shorts titled “Ariel: Mermaid Tales” will be featured across Disney Junior, Youtube and Disney+ beginning Wednesday, June 5. Each two-minute short will highlight a different aspect of Ariel’s life in Atlantica.

Recurring Guest Cast on ARIEL include Yvette Nicole Brown ("Firebuds", "Pupstruction") as Aquatica, Melissa Villaseñor ("Primos", Cartoon Network Studios "OK K.O Let's Be Heroes") as Navi, Ron Funches (Pixar Animation Studios "Inside Out 2") as Delfino, Kevin Michael Richardson ("The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder", "La Familia Avenúñez") as Sebastian, Parvesh Cheena (Netflix Animation "Centaurworld") as Ravi, Danni Washington as Tantie Chantale, Alanna Ubach (Nickelodeon "El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera") as Cristina Cuttles, Dana Heath (Nickelodeon "Danger Force") and Jessica Mikayla (Disney Launchpad "Project CC") play Ariel’s twin sisters Ayanna and Alanna, respectively.

The acclaimed songwriting teams are comprised of Anthony M. Jones (Tone), Sofia Quinn, Olivia Waithe, Chantry Johnson, Michelle Zarlenga and Rosemarie Tan.  Christopher Willis ("The Wonderful World of Mickey Mouse" franchise) serves as composer. Sean Skeete, dean of the Professional Performance division at Berklee College of Music, is the Caribbean music consultant.

Walt Disney Records will release a digital soundtrack on Friday, June 28, and an array of dolls, playsets, role-play, costumes, apparel, books and more from Disney Consumer Products and Disney Publishing Worldwide will be available this summer.

[livebloggingmydescentintomadness]

Wait I’m late to this, so I’m genuinely asking. Do Jensen and Jared secretly hate each other or something?

oh. uh...

kind of, basically, yeah. jared has been an asshole who receives special treatment from the network for a long time, while jensen has tried to keep the peace and got fucked over by the end of spn. now that he's free from having to work with jared all the time, he seems to have lost his patience with jared and has been getting noticeably more and more prickly toward him. jared seems oblivious to this, or doesn't care, because he thinks being an asshole is funny.

the punchline is, jensen now has full control of the spn franchise as it moves forward. if jared ever wants to be in a spn show again, he's going to have to do it on jensen's terms.

here's some links to further explore the drama:

the "gutted" incident + building tensions surrounding the finale

"j2 fallout theory" explained

jared's homophobic destiel rant + jensen's face listening to it, his angry body language

my jared tag, for all your "why is jared an asshole?" needs

my j2 tag, for more documentation of jensen having had it with jared's bullshit

[best-tv-theme-song]

Polls will start to be posted within the next week or so.

Bracket list under the cut!

UPDATE: LIST CANCELLED

*Starred shows have multiple theme songs or I have combined shows in a franchise in an effort to include as much as possible. These will have preliminaries built-into their polls on the first round. This is how it works: 1. all of the songs will go into a poll together against one other show; 2. the COMBINED votes for those songs will determine which show wins that poll; 3. only the top voted song for that show/franchise will move on, if the show has won the poll. (If you are confused it will make more sense when we start, I promise!)

The 100

30 Rock

9-1-1*

The Addams Family

Adventure Time*

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

All That

The Amazing World of Gumball

American Dragon: Jake Long

Animaniacs

Arcane: League of Legends

Arrested Development

Arthur

Assassination Classroom*

Austin & Ally

The Backyardigans

Barney & Friends

Barry

Batman*

Bear in the Big Blue House

Ben 10*

Better Call Saul

Beverly Hills, 90210

The Big Bang Theory

Big Time Rush

Bill Nye the Science Guy

Black Sails

Bluey

Bob the Builder

Bob's Burgers

BoJack Horseman

Bones

Boy Meets World

The Brady Bunch

Breaking Bad

Bridgerton

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Buffy the Vampire Slayer*

Captain Planet and the Planeteers

Charmed

Cheers

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Choo Choo Soul

Code Lyoko

Codename: Kids Next Door

Cold Case

Community

Cory in the House

Cowboy Bebop

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*

Criminal Minds

CSI*

Cyberchase

Danny Phantom

Daredevil

Dawson's Creek

Death Note*

Desperate Housewives

Detective Conan

Dexter

Dexter's Laboratory

Diff'rent Strokes

Digimon*

Doctor Who*

Dora the Explorer

Downton Abbey

Dragon Ball*

Dragon Tales

Drake & Josh

Ducktales*

ER

Ever After High

The Fairly OddParents

Firefly

The Flintstones

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Fraggle Rock

Frasier

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Friends

Fringe

Full House

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood*

Futurama

Game of Thrones

George Lopez

George of the Jungle

Gilmore Girls

Glee

The Golden Girls

Good Omens

Gravity Falls

Grey's Anatomy

H2O: Just Add Water

Hannah Montana

Hannibal

Happy Days

Hawaii Five-0*

His Dark Materials

Horrible Histories

House, M.D.

How I Met Your Mother

How It's Made

Hunter × Hunter

Huntik: Secrets & Seekers

I Dream of Jeannie

I Love Lucy

iCarly

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The Jeffersons

Jeopardy!

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure*

Jonas

Justice League

Kim Possible

The Last of Us

Laverne & Shirley

Law & Order*

LazyTown

The Legend of Vox Machina

Leverage

Lilo & Stitch: The Series

Little Einsteins

Lizzie McGuire

Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies

The Love Boat

M*A*S*H

Mad Men

Madoka Magica*

The Magic School Bus

Malcolm in the Middle

The Mandalorian

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

Merlin

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir

Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Mob Psycho 100

The Monkees

Monster High

The Muppet Show

Murder, She Wrote

Murdoch Mysteries

My Babysitter's a Vampire

My Hero Academia*

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

The Nanny

Naruto*

NCIS

Neon Genesis Evangelion

The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

New Girl

NFL (various network themes)*

Ninjago

The O.C.

The Office

One Day at a Time*

One Piece

Only Murders in the Building

Orange Is the New Black

Ouran High School Host Club

The Owl House

Parks and Recreation

The Partridge Family

Phil of the Future

Phineas and Ferb

Pinky and the Brain

Pippi Longstocking

Pokémon*

Power Rangers

The Powerpuff Girls

Pretty Little Liars

The Price Is Right

The Proud Family

Psych

Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure

Reading Rainbow

Reba

Red Dwarf

Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Riverdale

Rugrats

Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat

Sailor Moon

Sanford and Son

Saturday Night Live

Schitt's Creek

Scooby-Doo*

Scrubs

Seinfeld

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Sesame Street

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power

Sherlock

The Simpsons

Smallville

Sofia the First

Sonny with a Chance

The Sopranos

Spider-Man

SpongeBob SquarePants

Star Trek (instrumental themes)*

Star Trek: Enterprise

Star vs. the Forces of Evil

Stargate*

Steven Universe

Stranger Things

Succession

The Suite Life of Zack and Cody*

Suits

Taskmaster

Ted Lasso

Teen Titans

Teen Wolf

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Teletubbies

That '70s Show

That's So Raven

Theory of Love

Thomas & Friends

Tokyo Ghoul

Total Drama

Totally Spies!

Transformers*

True Blood

The Twilight Zone

Twin Peaks

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

VeggieTales

Veronica Mars

Victorious

Voltron: Legendary Defender

W.I.T.C.H.

The Walking Dead

WandaVision*

Welcome Back, Kotter

The West Wing

Westworld

What We Do in the Shadows

The White Lotus

Wild Kratts

Winx Club

The Wire*

The Witcher

Wizards of Waverly Place

Wonder Pets!

Wonder Woman

Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!

The X-Files

Xena: Warrior Princess

Yellowjackets

Yu-Gi-Oh!*

Yuri on Ice

Zoboomafoo

Zoey 101

[thelediz]

Sonic Underground watch along

Because… madness, is why. Almost twenty goddamn years ago, I started writing a crossover between the absolute worst piece of Sonic media ever and the games. That fic is The Lost Prince. I am maybe like… two or three chapters from finishing it. TWENTY YEARS AND THREE CHAPTERS. And I have no motivation. You cannot understand the pain this causes me.

So I’m watching the worst piece of Sonic media again in search of inspiration.

And I’m going to talk about it while I do it.

(Normally, I do things like this over on lediz-watches, but because this is specifically to explain some of my headcanons and inspire my writing, it’s here)

So let’s set the scene, first. This has become somewhat common knowledge in Sonic Tumblr fandom these days, but bear with me, because it’s important context.

(Also, the next paragraph is going to get me more death threats because I CERTAINLY HAVEN’T GOTTEN ENOUGH OF THOSE FROM THIS FANDOM, but we’ll carry on anyway because it’s important context)

Once upon a time, there was a cartoon series called Sonic the Hedgehog, now known as SatAM for reasons mostly relating to its timeslot. Sonic the Hedgehog was perfectly acceptable grimdark 90s environmentalist children’s programming which due to classic 90s multimedia marketing strategy also gave rise to the Archie Sonic the Hedgehog comics. It got cancelled on a cliffhanger because that was the kind of thing that happened in the 90s where writers thought FOR SURE a cliffhanger would spare them from the dreaded 2-season contract. (It never did.)

The reason this matters is because the production house maintained the licensing rights to that particular branch of franchise. And they needed a quick cash grab.

For some reason which I will never understand, this spawned Sonic Underground, which is… an insane premise, cheap animation, surprisingly not terrible songs, and a handful of voice actors getting milked for every inch of their three-voice contracts.

Sonic is a prince! He has siblings that are TOTALLY NOT knock-off Princess Sally Acorn or Miles Tails Prower! They have magic necklaces! They save the day with music! Don’t notice the statues of King Max Acorn in the background! Knuckles’ grandfather from the comics is there! Knuckles has magic! The Floating Island has guns! Totally don’t pay attention to the fact that both the episodes and music tracks have separate licensing that will cost the networks extra! No we don’t have time to check for animation errors! ALSO let us use highly complicated political socio-economic difficulties of enlightenment and industrialism as world building BUT DON’T NOTICE WHAT WE’RE DOING just accept the ones we say are bad are bad and the good guys are good! Good? Good. Great.

It is a trashfire.

I adore it.

I have no excuse.

I do, however, have wine.

Let’s go, kids.

Sonic Underground 01: Beginnings

The plot (for want of a better word): Once upon a time, Queen Aleena of Mobius ruled a beautiful world kingdom city (?) and had three lovely babies: Sonic, Sonia, and Manic. An evil industrialist named Ivo Robotnik came out of nowhere and took over her city world kingdom (?), turning all the aristocrats evil. In desperation, Aleena turned to the Oracle of Delphi I mean Delphius who told her that she must hide herself and her children away, until they could reunite as the Council of Four and enter a glorious New Age.

This episode is about the three children growing up, realising they have siblings, magical music, and the much less exciting fact that they’re once and former royalty, and coming together through The Power of Harmony.

Now, this episode immediately showcases what I love about The Trashfire: its background worldbuilding. You are not supposed to notice the worldbuilding, but it’s there and it’s amazing.

Realistically, Aleena would have been an absolutely terrible queen. I am not in the least bit surprised her aristocrats followed Robotnik, who promoted science and industrialisation and then sold them cheap labour. Honestly. Compare that to –

The facsimile of the Hanging Gardens, right there in the first twenty seconds. The HANGING GARDENS. Beautiful, yes. Legendary, absolutely. Would I have loved to see it? Hell yes! A good use of time or resources or indeed environment? HAH. MEANWHILE –

Slums! I don’t care what your artistic imagery is telling me, those tight dark alleyways you’re running down were there before Robotnik took over, your majesty. And you’re wasting tax payer dollars mobiums on THE HANGING GARDENS.

Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family – you can tell by the clothing of the person that comes to the door. And he’s immediately stolen. Don’t question why a thief would steal a baby (there are so many things we must not question), but notice that it took all of ten seconds. The crime rate in her supposedly perfect city is CRAZY.

Side note: Manic was supposed to go to a middle-class family! The triplets should have gone aristocrat-middle class-working class, but instead we skipped straight from aristocrat to working class and then down to thief, but Aleena NEVER INTENDED to teach her children about the underclass.

Is Mobius a kingdom? Is it a world? We don’t know. We will never know. It Just Is, and Robotnik rules it, while Aleena used to rule it. Stop asking questions.

Music is illegal. This is a real thing that has happened in fascist communities, by the way, usually as a way of controlling the youth. And yet Sonia and Bartleby are out looking for an illegal club. Bartleby is bitching the whole way, but he’s there and he’d looking because it makes Sonia happy and it says SO MUCH about the spineless little worm. I love him.

Anyway. Onto my episode notes:

These character designs. What are these character designs… In my fic I call the alien-looking thing mixes, and say it's what happens when too many super classes (like... canine, feline, fish, etc) interbreed, but really it's just WEIRD.

Goddamnit, I hate Sonia. Not because of her character itself – she is… fine. But I hated GRRL Power even when I was the target audience of it, because of reasons that I can and probably will eventually go on for hours about. But basically, I mostly just hate that she’s perfect at everything, and her only flaws are being bossy and over emotional. It’s not real character, it’s not real personality, and I hate it.

Oh. A thing I’d forgotten. Sonic Underground’s one and only positive influence on other Sonic media: this was the first western animation that gave the hedgehogs more than three spikes. Probably because 3D games were also coming and going to make it A Thing.

Also: Sonic’s Tragic Backstory! I make so much of these foster parents for so many reasons.

But uh… yeah, starting the first episode with the out of place smiles during emotional moments… Sonic and Chuck smiling blandly as the only home Sonic’s ever known burns to the ground in front of them…

Imagine if you’d never read the comics or watched SatAM. Uncle Chuck and his dump-base would be a such a strange thing to see…

Oh, wow… Sonic’s reaction to the Oracle of Delphius’s nonsense. “I’m a prince? Weird. I’m a BROTHER? HOLY CRAP!”

Poor Sleet and Dingo. They never wanted to be evil, but they’re… not even very good at it…

THE SONG: Someday. Meatloaf pop eat your heart out. You would never believe that this was actually a pretty good storyboard match for some legit music videos at the time.

Seriously, Oracle, you could have stopped all of this by just stabbing him instead of warning him. You aren’t a good guy. Don’t pretend to be.

The instrumental song! Legit Sonic music. In fact, this gives serious Sonic and the Secret Rings vibes… I demand more than thirty seconds.

“Oh no, my family has been captured and turned into a robot! But you say my necklace is MAGIC? Fascinating…!”

I mean, look. I can’t defend this thing. I won’t defend this thing. Even when I was a kid, I knew it was terrible.

But I’m having fun anyway.

Normally, on these posts, I'll do one at a time because I've just realised how LONG these are, but the first three episodes are really just an hour-long conjoined episode. And things like that are s why I know at least someone in the producer's studio legitimately thought the Trashfire was a good idea. They were wrong.

Anyway. Sonic Underground 02: Getting to Know You

The plot (for want of a better word): the three siblings set out as directed by the Oracle of Delphius. They encounter a trainer who teaches Sonic how to stop, Sonia how to spin, and Manic how to do cool tricks with his drum sticks that he will barely use throughout the series. Mostly, it’s an episode that introduces some overarching themes, like Sonic being impulsive and irritable, Sonia being prissy, Manic’s insecurities, the divide between proper girl and stinky boys, and that while the triplets will tease each other constantly, it’s always all for one if someone else comes after them.

…That made it sound much sweeter and better than it actually is.

Dingo… she’s not that pretty, and don’t let Sleet tell you you’re ugly. You’re both 90s villains. I’m sure someone’s made Rule 34 fanart of you.

Oh hahaha Sonia’s so out of touch, thinking there’s a maid and that a mouse is terrible ahahano. GUYS.

Look, I hate Sonia, I do, but I have to give her props that Sonic and Manic don’t. Two hours ago she was a sheltered aristocrat’s daughter, she’s stating her expectations, and when Sonic shuts her down she makes a quick joke and gets on with things. I appreciate the pragmatism. I will give her that.

Look, Sleet, you gave Dingo an instruction and he followed it. Don’t act surprised. (Spoiler warning: He will continue to be surprised.)

Okay, this is a weird thing that the show will play with occasionally. Sonic and Sonia trade off mission-focus tunnel vision all the time. Usually when they want the other one to seem flighty or impatient respectively. But Sonia loses her props for not just getting to the point when their lives are on the line.

And then the boys lose it for being Idiot Boys despite the conversation.

Ah, Sonic Undgeround’s weird timelines. How I’d forgotten them. Side note, I also have trouble with pacing and timelines when writing The Lost Prince, so I probably can’t blame it. But here, they’ve been walking for two days, and Sonia is only NOW asking what Manic did for a living.

(also, notice that even Sonia, sheltered aristocrat that she is, thinks everyone of their age should have a proper job. They are somewhere between the ages of twelve and sixteen, folks! I make way too much of this!)

Gondar. Is certainly not voiced by the same guy as Robotnik, I’m sure.

No one questions why Sonic has super speed. This is not considered to be his ‘hidden talent’. For Reasons.

Manic’s ability to make drum sticks fly around will never be mentioned after this episode, to my memory.

Three days plus however much training time… and Robotnik is only just now figuring out the map they found? Apparently the super genius can’t read.

Ahh, Manic’s insecurity. So very well founded. He’s right, I’d argue – Sonic’s speed and Sonia’s… whatever that spin thing is, they are both so much more powerful than being able to throw sticks. And this isn’t even Sokka in the Last Airbender thing, the sticks are basically useless and will continue to be so. His actual power (SPOILERS) is over the earth, to the point that the whole stick thing is a weird addition from the get-go.

I’ll be honest with you, the monks and the invisible stairs are the only things I ever remember from this episode, because it’s such a weird visual that isn’t important in any way.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Okay, so this is another running theme with the series, where they’re going to say Sonic’s impulsiveness is a huge problem, but the times when it isn’t, he won’t do anything different, it will just be that either Sonia tells him what to do, or he suddenly shows far more battle skill than he does when the impulsiveness is a problem. This is a common thread in Sonic media, actually, and it always kind of annoys me because they never do it well. Everything is always Sonic’s fault, except when it isn’t. Yes, this is why I still haven’t gotten around to watching Sonic Prime.

The SONG: Working Together, in which 60s rock would like their style back, thanks

…Wait, that was it?

Oh, yeah, in a better show this would have been the second third of a long first episode, RIGHT.

Sonic Underground 03: Harmony or Something

The plot (for want of a better word): After having discovered Manic’s power over the earth, the triplets are told Sonic’s friend Trevor is in danger. They abandon their training to rescue him, only to uncover a scheme to hunt down the Oracle of Delphius! The triplets must think quickly and work as a team to save everyone!

Once again, Sonic being cranky disrupts the harmony and causes problems. 90s Sonic was always so cranky…

A bit of world building here again, that you surprisingly are supposed to notice: elementals (of which dragons apparently count) are a thing, and apparently common-place enough that they teach it in school. Now, the way the conversation is phrased, you’re supposed to think Sonic’s stupid for not knowing about it, but Sonia is the only one that does. This is absolutely where I got the idea that she’s the only one of the three that went to school. Which would make sense in context, but I am thinking way too hard about it…

“Control of the earth can set off powers beyond your control”… this will never come up again. Manic, you could have had such an epic character arc of growing arrogance and humility… Instead I have to think too much about it and read into Manic’s insecurity and make him into A Nice Guy and ughhhh I am such a problem.

“I have also learnt that you might have the biggest heart in the world” – this is about Sonic, and while I agree with this characterisation in general, I have not seen it in this series, and certainly neither has Sonia. But we move on.

 Jeez… yeah, Bartleby’s a sleaze and a problem, but again, put a little reality on this situation and he’s actually worth his salt. He ‘walks the fine line’ as per Sonia’s words, and is immediately threatened by the sight of a woman who was his social equal (if not better) having been robbed of her sentience and turned into a slave, and he still does nothing worse than continue to walk the fine line. He’s a jellyfish, but the man’s got integrity.

Dingo, in contrast, is a creep, and Sleet’s insults make like, no sense

Once again, Sonia knows all the things. Hacking, flying jets, this will keep happening… If a skill is needed, Sonia will have it, as a good 90s female. God, I hate her character type.

Manic… seriously, man, mortal peril is not the time to play around, but Sonia, snarking at Sonic during mortal peril is also not appropriate

And the first of Aleena’s guilt tripping holograms! Hooray!

THE SONG: Birds of a Feather… oh, the… the early 90s pop nostalgia… oh ouch… it hurts…

 …I appreciate Sleet’s pragmatism. It never works out for him, but I appreciate it.

Sonic implying less than 100% American heterosexuality counter +1

Aleena… Oracle… it… I get prophecy, but… you’re RIGHT THERE. Reunite! Save us the next 37 episodes and the unresolved ending! Or at least tell the kids to stop looking until they’re ready. Come on.

The prophecy is obnoxiously vague, by the way. In this episode, it’s… arguably implied that the triplets need to learn to be better before they can be given their rightful place as rulers, but I would argue that in 40 episodes, the show takes absolutely no steps to improve their characters and make them better leaders. And as I said last time, Aleena is implied to have been not great to begin with. So CLEARLY my solution to this whole problem is change the last two minutes of this episode.

But that was the opening movie! Ridiculously too fast-paced for what it was trying to do, terrible animation, amazing world-building, interesting characters, acceptable dialogue. Welcome to the Trashfire that I have loved for half my life.

Come back tomorrow if you want to know more!

[rriavian]

Ok so here is a snippet of today's Corintheus week fic! I do intend to post it later on but am currently struggling through the edit (and I still need to decide on a title!) so I'm sharing this a little early :)

For the prompt: Undying devotion ‘this time, do not let go’ wherein Dream agrees to take part in a charity auction.

@dreamlovescori thanks for another amazing prompt!

-

Lucienne was the one who informed Dream about the auction.

The winter celebrations had always included an event for charity, the chosen organisation rotating each year, decided by an office vote taking place at the beginning of September. Dream had implemented an early deadline to ensure they’d have time to book—rarely an issue given their standing contract with the venue—as well as time to plan the scheduled festivities. It was an evening of various events both competitive and otherwise. A paint and sip had been made popular enough that it returned year on year, karaoke was also an office favourite, and depending on the mood there was sometimes a scavenger hunt.

It always ended with an awards ceremony.

The winners were voted upon in the first few weeks of December. That part was only for employees—though select clients were invited to celebrate at least the first half of the evenings events—a light-hearted way to celebrate the years achievements. It was an important occasion, not only an opportunity to network but a time for relaxation before the end of the year.

Anticipation had been building in the office for weeks.

Jessamy had scheduled a meeting to discuss the arrangements, prompt as always, the invite reaching Dream’s inbox at exactly 9:05am on December first.

This year had been a particularly busy one, the celebrations arranged for a date right in the midst of it all. In all honesty, Dream didn’t tend to pay much attention to the preparations, just ensured the funds were available and then allowed his employees to plan it as they wished. He’d almost forgotten about it entirely, had been reminded when Matthew had quite cheerfully given an update in the most recent team meeting. The subsequent email reminder that had been sent around listed out exactly what the schedule would be for the occasion.

Dream would much rather be onboarding the new client.

A latecomer to be sure but that could not be held against them—a novelist pitching a phenomenal detective story Dream had devoured in a few hours and immediately agreed to publish—the contracting process revealed to be far more complex than initially anticipated. It appeared his client dipped into different markets the same way Dream did; this the first novel, not the first venture, one such enterprise a dabbling into a franchise of horror themed escape rooms that was going very well. It may have added weeks of work to the end of the year but that was just part of the job. There was much to be done before the year was over, all needed to ensure a smooth transition.

Yet it was also Dream's responsibility to attend his own charity event. He would not risk creating an impression that he didn’t think it was important.

Still, when Lucienne knocked on the door of his office and explained that there had been a last minute adjustment he���d been sceptical. Then when she’d elaborated on how there would now be a charity auction added to the schedule Dream had stared at her a moment too long to claim neutrality.

“What sort of auction?”

There was much he could donate.

But Dream had his suspicions that this was an occasion of another sort.

“Not one you’re used to.” Lucienne’s smile was amused, but kind, she’d seen what his concern was without him needing to say it. “For your time. A dinner, to be precise.”

Dream frowned. “Who would want to take me to dinner?”

He didn’t try and hide the perplexity in his tone. Lucienne laughed; fond, not mocking, and so it did not rankle despite how it was clear she was laughing at him. “You might be surprised about that.”

“I don’t think I will be.” Dream replied. Then nodded briskly. “Very well. May I request a favour?”

“Depends.”

“Would you bid?” He asked. “To ensure that—”

Dream trailed off, frowned as he realised how he’d intended to end the sentence, unsure where the sudden insecurity had come from. He was not worried about being forced to spend time with someone intolerable—that was already a part of his job—nor was he concerned about no one bidding at all. That was already somewhat certain. Yet something about an unknown entity had him needing to ensure he would spend the evening with someone he knew.

Further explanation didn’t end up being required.

Lucienne’s smile was soft. “Of course. I presume you’re paying?”

The tone turned sly at the end, the gentleness a cushion for it. Dream laughed quietly, tension uncurling. “I will fund your donation.”

He waited a beat before changing tact.

“Now. About the new client.”

[dakoosuperapp]

💡 Entrepreneurship requires a range of skills that are essential for success. Some of the basic skills that every entrepreneur should possess include: 💡 Opportunity identification and evaluation 💡 Creativity and innovation 💡 Effective communication and leadership 💡 Financial management 💡 Risk assessment and management 💡 Time management and organization 💡 Networking and relationship building 💡 Problem-solving and decision-making 💡 Adaptability and flexibility 💡 Resilience and perseverance These skills are necessary for entrepreneurs to navigate the challenges of starting and running a business. By developing these skills, entrepreneurs can increase their chances of success and achieve their goals in their entrepreneurial journey. 🎢 #dakoo #franchise #business #india #entrepreneurship #innovation #leadership #success #success #opportunity #entrepreneurs #entrepreneur #networking #building #creativity #communication #management (at India) https://www.instagram.com/p/CqIjPDLPB7X/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[probablybigfoot]

Trolls Movie Timeline Breakdown

Ok, so I've been seeing a lot of people try to piece together the history of the Trolls franchise based across the three theatrically released movie. I know there's a T.V series, but I dont care about that. I only care about setting the record straight because I've seen all three movies at least 10 times each and I keep seeing people get shit wrong. I understand I have a problem. So here's how it is.

The Bergen held the trolls captive long enough that "Trollstice" became a central part of the culture to the point of the head chef being considered a position of significant political standing. Chef literally has a direct line to the royal family as well as underlings which means that enough time had to pass for there to require not only a higher authority second to the king, but an organized group of people who held some form of authority over the other Bergens to maintain order. Trollstice was also around long enought the the Bergen's literally forgot how to maintain their mental health without the trolls. Poppy's narration at the beginning said the Bergens didn't know how to hug, sing, or dance, but Bridgett was capable of all those things before she ever met Poppy and the Snack Pack which means the only thing really stopping the Bergens from being happy was their belief that they simply couldn't be happy. That's going to take a hot minute to accomplish. It could be speculated that the Pop Troll's initial enslavement could have even happened shortly after the troll leaders originally disbanded with the strings. Unsure of how to survive with a significantly smaller colony and recovery from the disaster, the Pop Trolls would have been incredibly vulnerable to outside threats. This would also explain why none of the current Pop Trolls alive didn't know about the other tribes. The royal family, recognizing that the Pop Trolls' capture was caused by their mistakes of destroying the harmony with the other tribes, decided to let their memory fade, passing the secret of their existence down the familial line along with the Pop string. King Peppy didn't plan on telling Poppy because, after 20 years of living in the forest and never seeing the other tribes, he probably thought they weren't around anymore and that their memory should die with him.

I believe this is the first chapter of the Pop Trolls' history.

The next major event was the escape from the troll tree and the loss of the elder troll princess.

Despite being enslaved by the Bergens, the trolls all maintained their color. We see in the first movie that Trolls lose their color when they lose hope, so the Trolls must have had something keeping them going. It is also worth mentioning that King Peppy is the only visibly elderly Troll shown. I believe that the oldest Trolls of the tribe would willingly sacrifice themselves to the Bergen to give their children a little longer to live and Brozone was formed because the presence of young trolls living without the fear of being eaten and having a greater chance of escaping through the tunnel that the tribe had been secretly building for years, gave the older generations peace.

This would explain why Branch and his brothers were never shown to have parent(s) they were part of a sacrifice. This is complicated by Branch's grandmother being alive, but it's possible that she either held a ranking that excluded her from sacrifice, or his parent(s) died in an accident leaving only his grandmother to raise him and his brothers. When Brozone broke up, they all talked about going different places. It is likely that they were going to go underground to different mining colonies that had been established as the trolls had blindly dug under Bergen Town before intercepting a natural tunnel network outside the borders (This is the Neverglade Trail. Trolls that hiked it were essentially survey scouts figuring out which tunnels were best for the whole tribe's escape route and which were dangerous.). This is also why Branch and Floyd dreamed about building an underground hideout. They probably grew up watching the secret tunneling operation and idolized the trolls who were digging their way to freedom.

This happened a few years before the beginning of the first Trolls movie. A few months after losing his brothers, Branch formed Kismet with his childhood friends because he wanted to keep performing and bringing people joy. Unfortunately, they formed around the same time Chef became head of the Trollstice committee and they never got a chance to perform. When Chef went to collect the sacrificed trolls, she saw Branch rehearsing for a show, and she saw an opportunity to assert her dominance over the Trolls and show that she will no longer abide by the agreement by taking once of their beloved children. As we all know, Branches grandmother (who had been exempt from the earlier sacrifice) got in the way and Chef, angry that a troll defied her, chose to take Grandma away and come back for Poppy later to punish the tribe. This shock caused the Pop Trolls to rush their tunneling process, leading to unsafe conditions and Kismet never finishing the song they'd been working on.

This is when Viva and the other Putt-Putt Trolls got separated and were presumed to have died. Viva had gone to some of the outlying colonies to lead them to the main tunnel, but the Bergens intercepted. Clay was in one of those colonies, which is why he was there to help establish the Putt-Putt village and also why he never knew about Grandma's death. Viva never said anything to him because she doesn't like talking about bad things and/or assumed he already knew.

This would have been extremely distressing to King Peppy because his desperation to save one daughter lead to the loss of the other. It's possible that King Peppy lost or came close to losing his color and that is why nobody ever told Poppy about Viva or talked about the lost trolls, they feared one or both of the only living members of the royal family would lose their will to lead and leave them vulnerable. The story of how they were captured was likely passed (albeit heavily altered) down from generation to generation so the extant trolls knew the danger of losing key members of their tribe.

Following their escape and the establishment of their new village, Kismet disbanded due to Branch losing his color and pushing his friends away. The other members of Kismet are not seen in the previous movies because, after Branch gets his color back, they felt guilty for abandoning him to his depression (they were like, 5 when all this happened, so you can't really blame them) and didn't think he'd want them around. The came back at the end of Band Together because Branch had finally reached out to them (Branch thought they were angry at him for causing their band to break up, so he'd avoided contact.)

Poppy remembers none of this because she is several years younger than Branch. She knew and loved Brozone songs because the older trolls continued to play their music for several years before Branch became to much of an outcast and it just got too weird).

John Dory had already established a homestead (and tamed a wild Rhonda) so he was never present in Pop Village. Floyd and Bruce were part of the initial escape, and knew about their Grandmother's death, but they were still too upset about their group breaking up to want to stay in the same village and chose to strike out on their own before ending up in Mount Rageous and Vacay Island respectively. Neither checked on Branch because they didn't know the details of what happened having been in the mining colonies and thought other trolls in the village were taking care of him.

Floyd ended up in Mount Rageous where he worked as a private music and choreography coach. Velvet eventually heard about him and concocted the plan to steal his talent by arranging to take classes with him and then kidnapping him.

The Trolls say all of this happened 20 years ago because it happened over the course of 1 year.

I have no in universe reason as to why Viva speaks Spanish. Maybe King Peppy had an affaire with a Spanish Reggae troll in his wild and youth.

Thank you for your time.

[ritunn]

A Brief History of the Illusion Fox Pokemon: Zorua & Zoroark

Recently I remembered the existence of Zoroark, Master of Illusions, the last Pokemon movie of the D&P era and essentially the segway into starting the B&W era in the Pokemon anime. This led down a rabbit hole of Zorua and Zoroark history in the Pokemon franchise from their first apperance in the movie to their release in Black and White. Let us start with the movie however which has a notable feature.

Zoroark, Master of Illusions is notable for the fact that it was the first Pokemon movie to receive a PG-12 rating in Japan and one of the few pieces of media in the Pokemon franchise with a PG rating in North America. Why did it receive that rating? Well first I should summarize the plot.

Zoroark, Master of Illusions follows Zoroark and Zorua, two Pokemon who've been abducted from their home region of Unova and brought to Crown City. There, a man named Grings Kodai practically rules since he has total control of the news media and is also a rich stock broker who got this way via THE ABILITY TO SEE INTO THE FUTURE.

Kodai did this by absorbing a time warp left by the mythical Pokemon Celebi a few decades ago, causing the collapse of the entire ecosystem in the city as a result by literally killing off all plant life in the area. The city eventually rebuilt but no one realized he was the one responsible for it, so he rose in power. Now, Kodai's powers are fading and since he's a capitalist, he's more than willing to decimate the local plantlife again to get his future sight back and he knows another warp will appear soon thanks to it. However, he needs a distraction, thus he captured Zoroark and Zorua and threatened to murder Zorua (who is Zoroark's child) if she did not comply. Zorua however escapes and ends up in the hands of Ash and the gang. But, Kodai's plan has only just begun.

Zoroark still doesn't want her child to die, so Kodai manipulates her into creating illusions of the 3 guardian Pokemon of the city, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune who Kodai set up as coming to the city for a special event. Zoroark then makes these illusions rampage and makes it looks like she is controlling the 3 legendary Pokemon, thus allowing Kodai to convince the police to put the city on lockdown and evacuate civilians as Zoroark wrecks havoc. Using this as cover, he searches for Celebi and another time rift to consume. For the rest of movie, Ash and the gang work with a journalist who figured out Kodai is corrupt and tries to stop him from killing all the plant life again. Surprisingly, Ash and the gang sort of take a backseat with the focus being on Zorua (who can transform into a little boy or Dawn if he wants to make her hate him) and his mother, Zoroark. However, some pretty dark things end up happening for a Pokemon movie.

These include but are not limited to:

Zorua being nearly electrocuted to death by Kodai when Zoroark turns against him and accepts his fate to die. All while Celebi cries out that he's killing him in tears.

Celebi nearly being choked to death by Kodai.

Kodai actually just literally killing Zoroark. There's a moment with Zorua trying to wake up her lifeless corpse and being traumatized that his mother died. Celebi however uses their mythical god Pokemon powers to just bring her back to life.

In the manga, Kodai also just dies ala Gaston as Zorua tricks him with his illusions to stumbling off a very tall building. In the anime however, he's arrested as he accidentally confesses to all his crimes on his own news network and Ash and the gang give him death glares as they force him to watch him ruin his own empire.

In the end however, everyone lives happily ever after! Zorua and Zoroark return to Unova and Ash says farewell to his friends. With that out of the way, one might wonder how you actually obtain the witty illusion foxes in Black and White. A lot of people thought Zoroark would be broken in comp after all due to its Illusion ability (until team view was announced as a new addition) and it's just cool in general. It got a whole movie after all! Well that's a bit difficult actually.

During the movie release, you could acquire level 30 shiny versions of Raikou, Entei, and Suicune (who do actually show up in the movie as non-illusions after the plot has basically been finished), along with a Celebi through events or seeing the movie when it released. Why this is important however is because Zorua and Zoroark were two new Pokemom introduced in gen 5. But during gen 5, you were incapable of actually catching them in normal gameplay.

You see, to get Zorua, you had to have Celebi in your party. From there you could speak to two kids, one of which was actually the Zorua from the movie disguised like a young boy! Seeing you were friends with his ol' chum, Celebi, his human friend notes he wants to enter into a spare pokeball if you have one and then joins you if you have room in your party for him. Even if you missed the event, if you had a Celebi from older events, you could just use that one... Zoroark on the other hand.

You see, Zoroark requires you have one of the 3 shiny legendary guardians from the event compared to any old Celebi you may have acquired in previous games or the new event. If you do however, Zoroark is found in a little trailer home outside of the Lostlorn Forest but you wouldn't notice at all if you hadn't learned of this event as she is disguised as a normal mute woman. A camper who tried to talk to her notes she's strange but seems nice, but if you bring one of the event legendaries listed above, Zoroark will get very mad and try to attack you, appearing as the legendary guardian with her Illusion ability that best counters the one you lead with. This also shows that Zoroark has PTSD from what happened in Crown City and you catch her by bringing back those memories. Pretty sure that makes you a bad person.

All of this together means that without the event, Zorua and Zoroark are completely unobtainable in the game without access to trading, effectively making them sort of pseudo-legends when they first released. Gamefreak would later do a special event however to get a level 50 Zoroark from Mystery Gift during Zoroark month in 2011 however (which is September). In B&W2, you can acquire a Zorua fairly early on from retired Team Plasma members that belonged to N originally, making it the first time it was available outside of events in Pokemon history, but still impossible to catch in the wild in the generation it was introduced in. In fact it wouldn't be until gen 6 in Pokemon X&Y that you could catch Zoroark for the first time in the wild in the Pokemon Village and in Pokemon ORAS that you could catch Zorua for the first time on Route 101 all without the use of in-game events. It wouldn't be until USUM that you could catch both in the wild in the same game for the first time, 7 years after its introduction.

These days, Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark are easily obtainable in PLA and their Unovan versions are found in S&V (though disguised as other Pokemon, a really cool mechanic honestly), which makes it trivial to obtain one for new players. Which I quite appreciate myself, even if I have 5 of them from my years playing. If you want to be stylish however, you can acquire a Shiny Baneful Fox mask clothing item in PLA via Mystery Gift! Goes great with shiny Zoroark.

Speaking of PLA, with its release came Zorua's second big anime feature in Hisuain Snow!

The short trilogy follows Alec who's just arrived in Hisui with his father, however after a fateful encounter with a shiny Hisuian Zorua, the two grow closer together and their friendship is built and tested as his father and Zorua's mother searches for the pair. You can watch the episodes all on YouTube! It's a cute series about the usual bonds between Pokemon and human with beautiful animation and a somewhat sad yet hopeful ending.

That however is a brief look into the history of Illusion Fox Pokemon, Zorua and Zoroark. I hope you enjoyed and I hope you give your own Zorua and Zoroark a lot of love... they honestly need it with how the series has treated them.

[animesavior]

“Next, we’re attacking the moon, get excited. It's us versus Y-man. And to build our spaceship, we'll needs stuff that's 10 billion percent not here in Japan, guys. Meaning we'll have to collect our resources from all over the world.” -          Senku Ishigami, Dr. Stone: New World (Ep.22)

The Toonami Trending Rundown for February 3-4, 2024. Another season of Dr. Stone is in the history books, as Season 3, the New World comes to its conclusion.

On Twitter, #Toonami trended in the United States alongside Dr. Stone and Lycoris Recoil. Meanwhile on Tumblr, #Toonami would trend alongside Demon Slayer. Dr. Stone, and Naruto Shippuden.

This week, Adult Swim revealed an early preview of Ninja Kamui on their YouTube page, in addition to a trailer for the English Subtitled version of the show, which will close out the block next Saturday at 3:00 a.m. EST. The English dubbed version will open the block at midnight.

Of course, this won’t be the end for Dr. Stone just yet. Following the season finale airing in Japan, TMS Entertainment has announced that a fourth and final season of the franchise, titled Dr: STONE: Science Future, is in production. Get excited.

In the meantime, Tune in tonight for the world premiere of Sunghoo Park’s Ninja Kamui, among other great moments. Until next time, stay gold as always.

Legend: The shows listed are ordered based on their appearance on the schedule. Show trends are listed in bold. The number next to the listed trend represents the highest it trended on the list (not counting the promoted trend), judging only by the images placed in the rundown.Forthe Twitter tweet counts, the listed number of tweets are also sorely based on the highest number shown based on the images on the rundown.

United States Trends:

#Toonami [#10]

#DrStone [#15]

#LycorisRecoil [#12]

Tweet Counts:

#Toonami [4,108 tweets]

#DemonSlayer [6,611 tweets]

#DrStone [2,148 tweets]

#LycorisRecoil [2,212 tweets]

Tumblr Trends:

#Toonami [#2]

#Demon Slayer [#4]

#Dr Stone [Trended with #Toonami]

#Naruto Shippuden [#8]

If you wish to send me a tip for the work on the trending rundown, donations can be sent to PayPal.Me/DanielLimjoco.

Get Excited. Only Toonami on [adult swim] on Cartoon Network.

[ncisfranchise-source]

Two decades ago, CBS spun off a show about criminal investigations led by a niche unit of the U.S. Navy from the network’s legal drama “JAG.” When it first premiered on the broadcast network, “NCIS” was hardly a hit, landing as only the No. 23 most-watched program of the season against juggernauts like CBS’ “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,” Fox’s “American Idol” and NBC’s “Friends.” 

It took U.S. audiences a few years to come around, but the Mark Harmon-led show performed well with overseas audiences — particularly in Australia, the U.K. and Europe. By Season 7, the show grew into the most-watched broadcast drama on TV. In 2023, with the flagship series in its 20th season and having spawned four spin-off shows, more than 300 million people across the world watched the “NCIS” franchise across all platforms, according to CBS data. 

On Monday night, the franchise will air its 1,000th episode, an inspiring milestone for a collection of CBS crime procedurals in the age of declining linear television. The only other primetime TV franchise to have reached 1,000 episodes are Dick Wolf’s “Law & Order” shows.

The feat by “NCIS” is just as impressive considering how its flagship evolved from a small show in its early seasons into a global phenomenon comprising five series and over 46 seasons of highly-rated television — with more still to come. 

“When [“NCIS”] began I figured it’s an America-only show that’s not going to necessarily play well globally. But the show really took off internationally before it did in the States,” CBS Studios president David Stapf, who was the network’s head of current programming at the time of the show’s premiere, told TheWrap. “Now knowing what the show is and what’s in its DNA, I see how naive I was.”

Creative and corporate leaders behind the franchise — consisting of “NCIS,” “NCIS: Los Angeles,” “NCIS: New Orleans,” “NCIS: Hawai’i” and “NCIS: Sydney,” the franchise’s first international iteration — said its continued success stems from building strong ensemble casts to tackle inventive cases week after week, while striking a delicate creative balance of high-stakes drama, light humor and a sense of family that appeals to a worldwide audience. The showrunners’ success in “recasting well” and maintaining cost-effective productions has also helped ensure the longevity of “NCIS” — and declining linear TV ratings haven’t stopped the franchise from finding a strong audience in streaming.  

“One thing that helps is appealing to a wide range of people, being a show that men can watch and women can watch, and that kids can watch with their parents,” flagship co-showrunner Steven D. Binder told TheWrap. “It also helps that we’re not a serialized show. You can tune in and tune out, although there doesn’t seem to be a lot of tuning out.”

It’s fitting that the flagship series, recently renewed for Season 22, holds the honor of airing the landmark 1,000th hour. But other than ensuring to make the episode special — as they’ve done in the past for the show’s 100th, 250th and other landmark hours — showrunners Binder and David North admit they haven’t had much time to think about making television history. 

“It’s one of those things that I think I can’t really answer until I’m like 75 looking back on it,” Binder told TheWrap. Added North, “When you’re in the middle of it, you’re just focused on ‘What are we doing next?’ How can we keep the show interesting and fresh? How can we replace this cast member?’” 

While celebrating their own milestone, the showrunners for all five “NCIS” series, along with Stapf and CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach, agreed that they can see other TV franchises replicating this success and longevity — though with shorter episode orders it might take more time. 

Overcoming challenges

The “NCIS” flagship has gone through an almost complete cast shakeup in 21 seasons. Sean Murray and Brian Dietzen are the only remaining cast members to have been involved in some capacity since the first season. 

Binder and North recalled the first cast exit — the death of Sasha Alexander’s Caitlin Todd — as the “scariest” one to get through. But it also served as a blueprint for introducing characters and dynamics to push the series forward after other high-profile departures. The introduction of characters played by Wilmer Valderrama, Diona Reasonover and Katrina Law made up for the losses of fan favorites like Weatherly, de Pablo and Pauley Perrette. 

The biggest challenge came after Harmon stepped away from his role as team leader Leroy Gibbs in Season 19. 

“Mark was the face of this thing, so that was a scary time for all of us,” North said.

While cast shakeups have happened across the “NCIS” universe, one behind-the-scenes loss stands out: The sudden death of longtime “NCIS” showrunner and “NCIS: New Orleans” creator Gary Glasberg in 2016 at age 50. Veteran CBS producer Brad Kern stepped in as showrunner of the Scott Bakula-led spin-off, but his tenure was short. After two internal misconduct allegations — reportedly involving mistreatment of female colleagues and making racially insensitive statements — Kern was demoted to consulting producer. He was fired in 2018. 

Kern was replaced with franchise veteran Chris Silber and newcomer Jan Nash, who led “NCIS: New Orleans” through the remainder of its seven-season, 155-episode run before it wrapped in 2021. The duo now lead the “Hawai’i” spin-off led by Vanessa Lachey, which is currently in its third season. 

“Life happens around you and sometimes it happens directly to your show,” Silber, who worked alongside Glasberg as a writer and producer on “New Orleans” since Season 1, told TheWrap. “I always saw my job at ‘NOLA’ to be the steward of the show that Gary created and following through on his vision… ‘Hawai’i’ was an opportunity for us to start something from the very beginning.”

“NCIS: Los Angeles,” the franchise’s second longest-running series starring LL Cool J and Chris O’Donnell, wrapped up in 2023 after 14 seasons and 323 episodes. “LA” showrunner R. Scott Gemmill, who recently announced a new series at Max, “The Pitt,” with former “ER” collaborator John Wells, told TheWrap he’s certain he’ll return to the “NCIS” universe someday. 

While the Los Angeles and New Orleans versions had long runs, “all shows have to come to their natural conclusion at some point due to a variety of factors,” Reisenbach told TheWrap. “They were able to wrap up their stories, give their characters great send offs… we’re thrilled with the runs they had.”

Global success worthy of expansion

“NCIS” stands as the top-rated broadcast drama of the past five TV seasons (2018-19 through 2022-23), with an average audience of 10 million per episode in delayed viewing. 

The franchise’s global, cross-platform audience of more than 300 million people is 10% higher than the “Law & Order” universe, according to CBS data. Internationally, “NCIS” is licensed in more than 200 markets, and is the No. 1 scripted TV franchise in Australia, Italy, Sweden and the U.K. Along with streaming on Paramount+, 15 seasons of the flagship series are also on Netflix, a likely contributor to its overall visibility on streaming, much like NBCUniversal’s hit “Suits.”

The numbers show why CBS, and parent company Paramount Global, are determined to grow the franchise. Its latest spin-off, “NCIS: Sydney” — contributing eight of the 1,000 episodes with its first season — was an Australian production originally intended to only hit Paramount+ in the U.S. But the Hollywood double strikes left some holes in CBS’ schedule that led to the Olivia Swann-led show’s massive stateside debut (its premiere gathered 10 million viewers across platforms). The show was renewed for a second season that will stay on CBS. 

“I’m thrilled to be bringing those characters back to life for a bigger and more ambitious second season,” Morgan O’Neill, the “Sydney” showrunner, told TheWrap. 

What’s next for the franchise?

Though audiences seem enamored with the various iterations of “NCIS,” Stapf said he’s meticulous when it comes to developing a new show within its universe. He hears “a lot of ideas” for new shows from writers within the show’s creative ranks and outside pitches. The key to getting a green light is whether a spin-off can stand on its own and present a unique perspective, while still feeling like a good fit for the overall franchise.

That used to mean bringing the DNA of “NCIS” to a different city — or in the case of “Sydney,” to another continent — but the latest CBS spin-off to receive a series order will go back in time. “Origins,” an idea brought to the studio by Harmon and his son Sean, in collaboration with North and Gina Lucita Monreal, will follow the rise of young Leroy Gibbs (played by Austin Stowell) through the NCIS ranks. 

“When David (Stapf) sent over the script for ‘Origins,’ it was undeniable,” Reisenbach said. “The audience will be so thrilled when they see a story that’s never been even alluded to before, once you get into the nitty gritty of it. That goes back to the fact we’re not printing out widgets with these shows.”

As for the existing shows? While “NCIS” wrapped production on its latest season, “NCIS: Hawai’i” awaits news about a Season 4 renewal, and “Sydney” is gearing up work on Season 2. 

“I remember maybe Season 7 or 8 CBS came with a big cake and said we were the most-watched drama in the world… Then I had my high school reunion shortly after that. I’m standing around talking to people, and I said I was a writer on a show called ‘NCIS’… Like two people recognized it, and the other eight were like ‘What’s that?’ ” Binder recalled. “So as you’re excited. You’re also constantly humbled.”