#daniel spellbound spoilers

[nikibogwater]

. . . Oh. Oh dear.

Oh there are going to be a lot of Jayce x Reader fics, aren’t there?

[cattatoir]

Love that the alchemist was like listen I’m not a scary fascist like some people I’m just a libertarian

[bonkalore]

Daniel Spellbound stuff that is ACTUALLY content from the show and not just my AU?? It's more likely than you think!!

"Dangerous" by LEFT BOY, was 1 of the many songs I associate with Jayce Chinda and thought it'd work good for a video with actual show clips! I'd like to do the whole song eventually maybe, but for now just wanted the loop! 1st time using Davinci Resolve 18.

Haven't done video editing since 2011 I think, but synching visual media to music make brain go brrrrr

[deathishauntedbyhumans]

just a boy and his human pig companion

[clansocreations]

Urgent PSA: Everyone who’s ever liked Tales of Arcadia GO WATCH THIS SHOW RIGHT NOW

Im not kidding it’s EXACTLY THE SAME FLAVOR OF AWESOME

It’s got all the stuff you loved in Trollhunters and Tales of Arcadia

The technically normal kid with a legacy and insanely fricking cool magical armor (Daniel)

The wisecracking best friend who loves to eat more than anything else in the world (Hoagie)

The badass magic user who will mess up anyone with or without magical means (Lucy)

(And I suppose leaving your body to go talk to a long dead member of your legacy also kinda counts as a parallel but that’s a bit of a spoiler so schhhhhhhh 🤫🤫😂)

Also the worldbuilding on this show holy noodles. Loved the gremlins. And the magic system. And the character developments.

Oh and anyone who’s been spending the entire evening binging the second season of Daniel Spellbound and now don’t know what to do with themselves until season 3, y’all might wanna give Trollhunters a try and also I would very much like to talk to you XD

Also Tales of Arcadia isn’t just one tv show no no. It’s THREE TV shows (and I guess a movie also) that are connected to each other! One has trolls! One has aliens! And one has both plus magic users!

Trollhunters is the most like Daniel Spellbound though. And it’s the first one. So you might wanna start with them. Enjoy. You’re very welcome.

[grabowskibeepboop]

Spoilers ahead, if you haven't seen the Netflix show Daniel Spellbound DON'T READ

The show Daniel Spellbound is so giving me "blueballs" with the idea of Hoagie turning back to human, I mean in s1 all magic was taken away, so he should've turned back right? WRONG! He just lost all his remaining human attributes, which doesn't make any sense, since he's A HUMAN. But okay, you somehow managed to look over that fact, so you go and watch s2, kind of hoping it's gonna happen, and they keep bringing your hopes up with all the mentioning of it, and ngl, I even thought, well if Jayce wants to get to the coffer to turn back, maybe Daniel will use it to turn Hoagie back too, BUT NO, that's not even the point of all that, GREAT, but then Shak gets the scepter, and you're like, okay, maybe she's going to be Primus and maybe sorta have the power to turn him back? NOPE AGAIN, because she turns to stone... s3 BETTER be REVOLVING around that because I love myself a good animal companion but THE TENSION IS KILLING ME!... good show tho, def recommend, I friggin love Hoagie

[mother-snake]

my review on what ive seen on netflix, having never had it before

so far on the completed netflix list i have: race to the edge, tales of arcadia, daniel spellbound, voltron, ninjago

spoiler warning

race to the edge: Growing up with httyd, i was bound to fall in love with it. ive only seen clips on youtube and im still pissed that they killed grimborne. dagur is still my favourite and snotlout still for no reason makes me mildly angry, for no reason. (riders of berk is slowly being bought. i got most of the two seasons. just need part two of s1 i think)

tales of arcadia: Holy shit. i love this. the only one i couldnt connect with really was 3below, wasnt too keen on the first few episodes, but it quickly picked up. trollhunters is still the best, wizards is amazing, rise of the titans could have done without steves sublot. if you know...well. you know :/ (will be getting the books using any christmas money one gets)

daniel spellbound: was a bit hard to get into at first. the pie witch was....mmm. no. but after that it was fucking amazing. currently in the midst of getting fanfiction outta my system for this one. daniel and the sea queen absolutely have the, oh fuck. ive adopted a child that thrives on adrenaline, better give him a fucking weapon energy and i fully intend to use that.

voltron: everything was going smoothly, until season 8 attacked. what the absolute fuckery was that shit. anyways. rewatching cause its been years and i miss lotor.

ninjago: having grown up with it and keeping up to date, i was sad to see it end. but am happy with the 'reboot' netflix is doing. the budget clearly shows and it looks so stunning. cant wait to buy this months ninjago magazines.

going to finnish up kipo and the wonderbeasts, lego dreamzzzz (started buying the magazines), sweet tooth will happen soon. watching umbrella acadamey, stranger things and breaking bad with the family once we get our shit together and have some time to do so. (im paying for the netflix and i intend to let them use it as i do like disney from my mums account :P)

any suggestions

[aurelliocheek]

Leveraging Player Motivation Models to Increase App Engagement – Part 3

Paula Neves is a Product Manager at Square Enix and describes herself as a gamer turned psychologist turned marketer working in mobile free-to-play games. Prior to joining Square Enix based in Montreal, Paula was the Chief Mobile Officer at Gazeus Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she headed up user acquisition and product management. Paula is a proud member of the UA Society and a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences, where she eagerly shares her knowledge and experience from her 10+ years in the mobile app marketing industry.

Learn more about Paula on her Mobile Hero profile.

This is the third part of a three-part blog series intended to explain what motivates players into picking up a game and continuing to play it. It’s a combination of psychology models transposed into gaming and its characteristics. This blog series hopes to educate product managers, marketers and game designers on player psychology and how we can all leverage it to make a game that more people will play. You can read part one here and part two of the series here. 

Wants and Needs

Abraham Maslow is one of psychology’s most renowned figures. He was heavily influenced by the work of John Watson, the father of Behaviourism. Behaviorism was a line of psychology that considered mannerisms acquired in response to external stimuli. In other words, actions that can be shaped by two primary conditions: reinforcement and repetition.

This simple approach to human behavior is frequently referenced in mobile free-to-play articles. Behaviorism applications in mobile games usually refer to games acting as an external motivator that is analogous to Skinner boxes conditioning human manners—provided that the behavior stems from an outside stimulus unaffected by the individual’s mind.

In the 1930s, behavioral psychologist, B.F. Skinner, constructed such a box and tested his theory of operant conditioning on rats.

Skinner’s hypothesis was that he could influence the rats’ behavior by providing positive reinforcement – in the form of more food – whenever the rats’ actions were positive. Or, by giving negative reinforcement in the form of a shock, when the action was negative. Skinner hoped this would encourage the rats’ association of a particular behavior to a consequence, either more food or a shock.

While plenty of developers regard their games as Skinner boxes, this approach should be reconsidered. First, for moral and ethical reasons—your game should be fun and not viewed as a machine to reproduce certain behaviors for a quick buck. Second, you should recall that Skinner’s boxes were successfully applied to animals—not humans. Human psychology is far more complex.  

Hierarchy of Needs

Maslow sought to humanize behaviorism through his 1943 paper “A Theory of Human Motivation” where his infamous Pyramid of Needs (also known as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs) was established. 

With the hierarchical pyramid, Maslow iterated that all humans required satisfaction from a variety of needs and that these needs must be achieved from the pyramid’s baseline going up. 

According to Maslow, psychological needs were considered the most urgent. The majority of well-adjusted people in a stable society would easily satisfy these emotional needs. On the other hand, self-actualization needs were deemed as less pressing. For example, needs of love or esteem, would not be your primary concern if you have not yet satisfied your psychological or safety needs. 

You cannot focus on your higher needs if the most fundamental ones are not met.

Previously mentioned in part one of this blog series, competence, autonomy, and relatedness are addressed as innate universal psychological needs in the Self Determination Theory (SDT). These requirements allow you to achieve both long-term motivation and happiness. 

In a parallel sense, the SDT is a horizontal cut of Maslow’s pyramid, starting at the love/belonging stage. From this point onward, you must address and fulfill the needs brought on by the SDT through your human connections, work, and daily functions. 

Tower of Want

A few years ago, I came across a GDC talk by Ethan Levy where he proposed his theory, the Tower of Want:

An escalating series of short and long term goals, each of which feeds into the next goal.

It was impossible to hold back the psychologist in me and not want to make a connection with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—for as Maslow noted, ‘Man is a perpetually wanting animal’. 

Levy suggested that a user will stop playing a game if they run short of things they desire. Similarly, if humans fulfill every wish we have ever had, what would be our primary driver? Would we still find reasons to move forward every day? 

The Freudian Slip mentions that we are all born with a missing piece, a “hole” we need to fill, that continuously propels us forward. If this void is filled, what then?

Levy applied this thought process to developing games: a good game design will motivate you from one goal to the next. Using The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening as an example (I’ve just finished the remastered version on Switch!), it could look like the following – *spoiler alert*:

his is an example of one of the many Towers of Want that the game provides. I left out the important items you acquire along the way, for instance, to reach other parts of the map and other dungeons. 

For this game, you discover each goal as you continue along with the storyline. Mirrored from Levy’s GDC talk, where he said:

Real life, like a well-designed game, reveals itself to you over time. So as you achieve each goal, you discover a new goal that builds on your previous knowledge and skills.

The overarching objective could even be an aspiration outside of the game, such as becoming well-known in a guild and then famous in real life. 

More common uses include placing live events at the top of the tower, like in Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes. At the apex of the tower, there was the meticulous placement of a live event that rarely happens. This occasion justifies the effort a player places into the game and makes the hours of game-grinding reasonable. 

For more casual games, social peer pressure and events are usually the standards for pushing the Tower of Want’s peak. These strategies work incredibly well, such as in complex Player-versus-environment (PvE) live events where you and your friends can join forces against a common enemy that requires everyone to do their part.

During the GDC talk, Levy raised two questions:

Why will the player repeat each level of the tower each day?

What repeatable purchases will help advance the player’s progress at each level of the tower?

Every respective level is a self-sustaining loop that carries to the next independent loop (level), and so on until the entire Tower of Want repeats itself. At this stage of design, developers should ideally incorporate repeatable monetization opportunities at each level, associated with player progression. 

The diagram below reflects a straightforward version, for a progression-based, mobile free-to-play game. Each circle represents a self-sustaining loop that functions by itself, that continues to the next circle and so forth until we are left with one big repeating loop with its sub-sections:

Conclusion

he Tower of Want is a design-oriented perspective of player motivations that can be linked to Maslow’s method in the Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow’s pyramid included a clear connection with the Self Determination Theory and its approach of looking into human needs. 

In order for a game to be given a chance in the first place, it must first appeal to a user’s taste. With the subsequent objective of developing sustainability, the game must fulfill the important psychological needs of competence, autonomy, and relatedness. This is obtainable through human connections, esteem, or self-actualization. 

Holistically, we can make use of all the psychological frameworks discussed, such as The Big Five, The Self Determination Theory, or Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs—respectively, to enhance the game design.

Especially in the F2P industry where money typically comes alongside with user engagement, this long-term fulfillment is important. These frameworks can and should be used when designing core loops, meta loops, monetization, UX flows, UI, and VFX. 

Does your game fulfill the important psychological needs in its macro features? Can any detail of the macro features be tweaked to fulfill them even more? Do your design loops reflect a progression of want? Is monetization integrated into that? If you are asking yourself these questions, you are on the right path.

More Resources

Talks

Psychology of Engagement

The Importance of Player Autonomy

Engines of Play

The Gamer Motivation Profile Model

The Freedom Fallacy: Understanding “Player Autonomy” in Game Design

The Tower of Want

Papers

“The Player Experience of Need Satisfaction (PENS)“, C. Scott Rigby and Richard M. Ryan (2006)

“The Motivational Pull of Video Games: A Self-Determination Theory Approach”, Andrew Przybylski, C. Scott Rigby, and Richard M. Ryan (2006) 

Books

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Collins Publishers, 1991.

Rigby, Scott, and Richard M. Ryan. Glued to Games: How Video Games Draw Us In and Hold Us Spellbound. Praeger, 2011.Pink, Daniel H. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. Canongate Books, 2018.

The post Leveraging Player Motivation Models to Increase App Engagement – Part 3 appeared first on Liftoff.

Leveraging Player Motivation Models to Increase App Engagement – Part 3 published first on https://leolarsonblog.tumblr.com/

[nikibogwater]

Niki Blethers: Daniel Spellbound season 2 First Impressions:

Okay, Netflix, you guys seriously need to get your advertising act together because I was completely unaware that this show had been confirmed for a season 2, let alone that it was already out. 

Uuuuuuggggghhh, the character/monster design is still SO FREAKIN’ GOOD.

I love how Daniel just throws Hoagie at every gross/dangerous thing they encounter. The little snot has had it coming for way too long.

So it looks like it’s been a little while since the ending of the first season, which I wasn’t expecting. Considering the last episode of season 1 ended with Daniel booking it for his life from the Tracker’s Guild, I assumed we’d pick up right where we left off. But I actually kind of like the timeskip here. Daniel is no longer panicked and confused, he is just downright desperate, and quickly losing hope.

Aww, I’m really loving Lucy here. She’s very driven and passionate, and really wants to change the magical world for the better. And I love that Daniel and Hoagie are the only ones she trusts enough to tell about her ambitions. 

Aaaaaand there’s the forced character conflict. -_- 

Hey kids, you ever heard of this new-fangled thing called communication? You should try it some time. Really makes things a lot easier. 

What--HOAGIE DON’T STOP HER. SHE WAS TRYING TO APOLOGIZE! 

Okay, fine, I will give Hoagie a tiny bit of credit, he and Daniel do finally get a moment to just talk to each other, and Hoagie reassuring Daniel that he’ll stick with him no matter what was sweet (if a little bit unearned...) 

Kind of undermined by the fact that he just prevented Daniel and Lucy from clearing up a misunderstanding that is clearly causing Daniel even more grief than he already has to deal with but OKAY MOVING ON TO MORE POSITIVITY!

I adore Shak. She just radiates Chaotic Youngest Child energy. An overeager, inexperienced, sassy little spitfire. She must be protected at all costs.

Oh, she’s looking for her long-lost big brother... 🥺💔

OH??? OH WHAT’S THIS???? IS THAT A FOUND FAMILY BROTHER-SISTER DYNAMIC I SEE FORMING BETWEEN DANIEL AND SHAK?????? 👀

Wow, okay, I forgot that sometimes this show can be surprisingly brutal. Daniel getting impaled by those magical spears caught me totally off-guard (but in a good way). 

Also I would like to re-iterate a point I made in a past Blethers post: Daniel is a Whump-magnet. I haven’t checked the fanfic community for this show yet, but I’d bet a nickel that it’s mostly Daniel Whump fics. 

As critical as I get with this show, I do genuinely enjoy it, and finding out there was already a second season out was a really nice surprise. I feel like some of my criticisms of season 1 are already being addressed, and that makes me hopeful that Daniel Spellbound will keep improving throughout its runtime. Again, I do recommend this show for anyone who enjoys animation. Even with its flaws, it’s still a very fun and creative romp with really likable characters (sans Hoagie) and a fascinating world.

[nikibogwater]

Okay I’m starting to feel like the Daniel Spellbound writers are targeting me specifically with the second season because:

Brother-sister relationships 

Blatant Fullmetal Alchemist references

Corruption arc

Big lizard creatures that look like magical cynodonts (extinct ancestors of modern mammals) 

Hoagie: “I’m un-hateable!”  Daniel, Shak, and Jayce: 😐😐😐

[nikibogwater]

Further Daniel Spellbound Blethers:

I take back what I said about Hoagie being tolerable. He was fine in the first episode, but he is definitely the Wizards-era Steve Palchuk of this show. Literally every time he is forced to shut up or leave the scene for a while, I breathe a sigh of relief. Like, I get why he’s so crass and wise-cracky all the time, but for the love of sanity, TONE IT DOWN. 

DARTH MAUL?????? Oh wait no, just a spider centaur? Okay nevermind, continue. 

I love all the creature/character designs in this show. The mermaid queen in particular was a standout to me, as well as the feral frog lady who keeps the door for her. 

ALSO OH MY SWEET MOTHER OF MUFFINS, I LOVE THE GREMLINS SOOOOO MUCH. THEY’RE SO WEIRD AND JANKY AND BIZARRELY ADORABLE. JUST FUNKY LITTLE DUDES. 😍

Story-wise, the pacing of this show is just right for me. Nothing moves too fast or too slow, and important information about the characters tends to be dropped in little tidbits so the audience can put the pieces together themselves. For an urban fantasy, there are surprisingly few exposition dumps, so kudos to the writing team for that. 

Our third protagonist Lucy takes a few episodes to really join the fray, but we get to see enough of her in the beginning that we have a vague idea of who she is and what she wants. I will say she seems to suffer from a mild case of “Strong” Female Character Syndrome. It’s not as bad as Claire Nunez from Trollhunters (at least Lucy is allowed to not know about or be particularly good at certain things–she even gets her butt handed to her in combat a couple of times), but there is an annoying bit where both she and Daniel are morally at fault for something, but only Daniel is expected to apologize and make up for his mistake–Lucy gets off scot free. 

I do like that even though she and Daniel are on opposite sides of the fence, so to speak (she’s basically a cop and he’s basically an agent for the black market), they actually like and respect each other to a certain degree, even before they are forced to work as a team. 

I think this series’ biggest flaw is in its action sequences. Some of them are genuinely painful to watch–not because the characters are actually getting hurt, but because the choreography, timing, and animation are super wonky. Action scenes are crazy hard though, so I have nothing but sympathy for the people who had to work on these. Still, the poorly-done action scenes are very emersion-breaking for me. It this show gets a second season, I really hope they can improve in this area.

Speaking of characters getting hurt, Daniel is a whump-magnet kind of character for sure. Like, if this show ever gets a proper fandom presence with fics and stuff, I can guarantee Danny is going to get hurt a LOT. 

Also Daniel has DEFINITELY met Douxie from ToA Wizards at some point. This crossover is a gimme. I need art and fics immediately. 

[bonkalore]

Just wanted to say that if I have time, I'm totally gonna watch Daniel spellbound because of your au! ( even though I may or may not be sad that there not together)

Oh gosh! 😂 As I said before, the ship is pretty much nonexistent and honestly the closest thing you'll get to a ship in the show is Jayce & Daniel lol I've wanted to compile images of all the times he's super handsy with him cuz it's comical how much it comes up. Daniel & Lucy is usually the ship people lean into most, and I can get that, but I was never a fan even in s1 personally.

This shit is homo lmao The show definitely has potential for some deeper lore and world building and what interested me a lot and part of why I dove deeper, but Jayce was who I clung to most with the potential of his character and he only comes up in s2. As a heads up: if you enjoy my stuff and have that expectation... you might not enjoy what's there in the show! Or you might anyway! Idk!! I think it does add for some level of understanding what I'm working with, but I really have gone off and done my own thing! 😅 Either way, I'm glad you've enjoyed the AU and I hope you get some enjoyment the show if you do!

[bonkalore]

Sooo... There’s this newer show called Daniel Spellbound and this demon guy named Jayce Chinda in the second season, who I’ve kind of attached myself to recently and very suddenly, but I will add admit, I feel the show could have been much better and I’m sad about that. 😭 You can tell there’s a lot of constraints from budget and time that limited it a lot. It’s an urban fantasy setting with some cool concepts and good & diverse character designs, and whoever is doing the color keys for the show is on point, but it does end up feeling lacking in most other things to me unfortunately.

Jayce here sadly only mostly looked like the first few pics here. No tail or other horns. 😔 I don’t want to give spoilers, but it definitely felt like his narrative was leaning toward him having a bigger, badder demon form or at least something change, but he did not and I was rather disappointed.

So I gotta do it myself I guess.

But yeah, I’m back on my bullshit and have gone and run off with the AU stuff as I usually do and will say in advance that most of my fanart is only vaguely rooted in what was given in the canon if you’re wanting to check out the show and expect something else!  I’m just glad to want to draw something again tho, it’s been ages.

[nikibogwater]

Final Daniel Spellbound Blethers (season 2):

In terms of overall quality, it’s like Season 1+. All of the stuff I love about the show has gotten even better. But unfortunately, a lot of the things that didn’t work for me in season 1 were done even worse in season 2. Or, maybe they just looked worse because the good stuff was better? Yeah, let’s go with that, I like that better.

Anyways, I’m gonna be bouncing all over the place here (more so than usual, I mean) so apologies if this is a little jumbled. 

Spoilers below the cut!

My biggest positive from this season was the new characters and their involvement in the story. Shak is an endearing little brat in the way that only kids can be, and Jayce is a deliciously tragic villain with all the swagger and charisma of a main protagonist. It genuinely broke my heart a little bit to see Shak reunite with her brother, only to realize that he’s not the person she once knew and loved. 

On the flipside, I also often felt like the show wasn’t giving this situation the emotional weight it should have had. Shak and Jayce reuniting played off more like old classmates running into each other at the grocery store. And Jayce being able to temporarily fight off the Dread Magic within him because of the love he still had for his sister seemed more like an afterthought than a serious character moment. 

Looking back on it, I think this was more to do with how the scenes were directed and edited than with the script. Like I said, the characters and the story they are part of are enthralling, it’s just something about the way it was delivered in the final product that felt a little....I don’t wanna say half-assed, but more like the directing/editing team were skittish about making things too serious. Which is a real shame because they had everything they needed to make a really emotionally compelling arc here. 

Jayce as a character is surprisingly complex and oddly sympathetic. I loved that there were often no clear visual cues to let you know who was talking at any given moment--you’re left guessing as to whether this is really Jayce saying/doing these things, or if it’s just the corrupting force of the Dread Magic. 

I’m anticipating a redemption arc for him somewhere down the line. There were just too many hints that the real Jayce is still in there for this to be the end of him.

Shak is just as fun to watch as her brother, and speaking as a little sister who loves her big brothers, I think the writers nailed her personality and motives. Her bit about touching all of Jayce’s belongings when he’s not around to yell at her felt particularly true-to-life, haha. She’s also allowed to be vulnerable, and I like that the show never lets you forget that she is just a child.  

Daniel getting a little sister in Shak is everything I could have asked for from this show (sans Hoagie being turned into bacon) and I can die a happy woman now.

I really loved Daniel’s character as a whole this season, even more than last season. He’s clearly grown a set of morals since we were first introduced to him, and he constantly gives off these wonderful Exhausted Oldest Sibling vibes. I love seeing flawed characters change and grow to the point that they can start guiding other characters through their arcs. 

Hoagie was slightly better this season, but not enough to really change my opinion of him (I detest him and I’m always extremely disappointed any time he escapes from a near-death experience). He had a handful of moments where he acted more like a genuinely likable character, which is a marked improvement over season 1, where he had literally zero. But he’s still unbearably loud and obnoxious and just overall despicable, and I’m afraid no amount of self-aware jokes about his general awfulness is going to fix that. They’d have to either send him through one hell of a character arc to make him clean up his act, or turn him into lunch meat. Personally, I’m voting for the latter.

This second season also delved into darker visuals and implications, which really lent a feeling of weight and tension to the story. I’m of the opinion that antagonists/antagonistic forces ought to be at least a little unnerving, but Dread Magic and the way it manifests is downright scary, and I love it. 

I adore Elyse. She exudes massive amounts of raw Karen Energy, and Julie Sype sounded like she was having a blast voicing the character. She was a really fun minor antagonist. 

Alright. I’ve put it off long enough. I have to address my biggest negative with this season: the character drama. 

The conflict between Daniel, Lucy, and Hoagie felt as forced as a toddler jamming a circle into a square-shaped hole. In order to establish conflict, one or more of them had to act in a way that is painfully at odds with their established personalities. And what’s even worse is the way this retcons all of the relationship development that happened in season 1. Lucy is constantly assuming the absolute worst about Daniel and flat-out refuses to hear his side of the story. Like, Luce, honey, I thought you guys were friends. I thought you cared about him and valued his friendship, why are you suddenly so determined to push him away???

Then there’s poor Daniel, who is constantly being treated like he’s the one who needs to learn a lesson here, but given the circumstances, he’s really not the one who should carry the blame. Yeah, of course he can’t help Lucy find her scepter, he has a literal bounty on his head. He’s not actively putting off finding a way to turn Hoagie human again, he genuinely has no idea where to even start. The show keeps painting this as Daniel putting his career as a Tracker before his relationships, but in an effort to keep him from looking irredeemable, they kind of forgot to have him actually do that. In fact, it’s always his supposed friends who push him away first.

If anything, the lesson Daniel needs to learn here is how to end toxic friendships, because my LAND, Lucy and Hoagie spend the entire season treating him like trash when he’s not done anything that even comes close to warranting such behavior. And then they have the gall to make him feel like he’s at fault??? I’m sorry, but no matter how much this show tries to convince me otherwise, the fact of the matter is that Lucy and Hoagie were the ones instigating every negative interaction with Daniel. Why wouldn’t he focus more on his job instead of his toxic friends? The whole Friends Before Career thing only applies if your friends are actually, y’know, your friends.

I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking this, maybe I missed some crucial detail, or maybe it was just the ten-episode limit that kept the writers from being able to tell the story they actually wanted to tell. Whatever the case, the whole thing left me with a very bitter taste in my mouth, and I’m actually a little concerned about the kind of influence this could have on young kids starting to form friendships of their own. Like, I think it’s great to show kids protagonists who screw up and do or say awful things, but if you then forget to portray those protagonists realizing that what they did was wrong and working to fix it, then you’re just telling kids that it’s actually okay to treat people like this. 

I feel like I should clarify that I really only notice this show’s flaws because it does so much so well. It’s like when you love someone, and then that person does something stupid that only hurts themselves, and you want to take them by the shoulders and shake them because DANGIT, STOP SHOOTING YOURSELF IN THE FOOT YOU BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL FOOL!

So yeah. In conclusion, season 2 was a very fun time for me, but also as frustrating as it was fun. But I will definitely take strong feelings of fondness and frustration over apathy and anger any day. So go watch Daniel Spellbound if you’re even a tiny bit interested. This is an original IP floating in an ocean of soulless reboots and cash-grabs, so even if it’s not absolutely perfect, I still want it to get as much attention as it possibly can. I will always want a flawed but inventive story over tasteless, risk-free rehashes. 

[nikibogwater]

Final Daniel Spellbound Blethers:

They were. So. Close. 

Daniel Spellbound was just inches away from being amazing every second of its runtime. They had the creativity, they had the intrigue, they had the interesting world and likable characters, but every time this show approached the line of Greatness, it would always trip in some small, but still painfully noticeable way.

(Mild spoilers and a very long rant/review under the cut)

Daniel as a character is ripe with potential for meaningful development. He’s just likable enough for the audience to care about, but still has those rough edges to him that need to be sanded down over time. He starts the series as largely cynical and self-centered, perfectly set up to go through an arc that would result in him growing into a loyal and selfless hero. Except....the writers forgot to give him a solid arc, and by the end of the first season, he’s just magically (ha) become a better person without any clear development. He doesn’t really learn anything, he just....changes for no real reason. And yet the pieces were right there, the writers had given themselves everything they needed to craft a great character arc, and they just didn’t use any of them.

This also extends to the relationship between our main trio. The dynamics are there, we can see that these three work well as a team, and by all appearances, they seem to care about each other, but we’re never shown any real growth in their relationships. These characters never sit down and just talk to each other. There’s nothing to their friendship outside of the main plot. I can’t really see these three hanging out and being friends in any situation besides the one they’re currently stuck in. Which is extremely frustrating, because again, the potential is RIGHT THERE, I can practically taste it. Daniel and Lucy have a fun rapport, their friendship could be something very compelling and emotional, but the writers stopped just short of the goalpost. 

And Hoagie--ohhhhh do NOT get me started on Hoagie. I really liked him in the first episode. In that context, his non-stop snark and obnoxiousness made sense and fit the situation he was in. But the episode ends with him and Daniel becoming business partners--and perhaps, maybe even friends. SO WHY IN BLAZES DOES HOAGIE CONTINUE TO SPEND THE ENTIRE SEASON BEING AN OBNOXIOUS LITTLE SNOT WHOSE ONLY CONTRIBUTION TO THE STORY IS THAT HE CAN TRACK THINGS BY SCENT?! And another question: WHY DO DANIEL AND LUCY PUT UP WITH THIS LITTLE JACKASS?! And a follow-up to that question, WHY DO THEY NOT ONLY PUT UP WITH HIM, BUT ACTUALLY LIKE HIM AND CONSIDER HIM THEIR FRIEND?! 

I’m not exaggerating when I say Hoagie does absolutely nothing to endear himself to these characters, or to the audience. He has zero positive traits, apart from sometimes occasionally deciding to do the noble thing because Plot Reasons. He made me smile one time throughout the entire season, and that was in episode one. And to make matters worse, just like with everything else in this show, this issue would have been such an easy fix. Either take away Hoagie’s ability to speak altogether, or sprinkle in some of those quiet character moments where we actually see him make an emotional connection with the others. 

I hate to keep comparing this show to Tales of Arcadia--really, I do, I know it’s not entirely fair--but I have to bring up Archie the talking cat again because he is the perfect example of what Hoagie should have been as a character. Archie is snide, mischievous, deadpan, and haughty. But he is also shown to be loyal, affectionate, and loving towards Douxie. (I mean, he’s also much quieter than Hoagie and has much better comedic timing with his jabs, so there’s also that). For every snarky comment that comes out of Archie’s mouth, we also see him actively working to keep Douxie safe and accomplish their goals. For all his teasing, we can still see how much he genuinely cares about his friend. 

Hoagie desperately needed that balance--something to make the audience believe that at the end of the day, he is truly Daniel’s friend, no matter how much he may bluster and complain. So much of his characterization could be forgiven if they had written in even just one scene of Hoagie and Daniel opening up to each other emotionally. I kept waiting for Daniel to bring up Hoagie’s missing eye, or for one of Hoagie’s jabs to sting just a little too much, and lead into a conversation where he (and by extension, the audience) learns a little more about why Daniel is all alone, why he takes the dirtiest, sleeziest jobs, why he has this disdain for magic users. But it just never happened. It was all set up and ready to go, and the writers just never got around to it.

There were other small factors dragging the show down, most noticeably in its music, moments of painfully bad action choreography, cringe-inducing snippets of dialogue (especially from the villains), and weird contrivances. What’s most bizarre about all of this is that this is not a consistent issue throughout the entire show. Some of the action sequences work just fine, sometimes the dialogue is snappy and fun, sometimes the music perfectly sets the mood of the scene and every beat works to reinforce a certain ambiance. 

I know all of this makes it sound like I hate the show, but I actually really loved everything they had to work with. I loved Daniel and Lucy as characters, I loved the way the writers delivered important worldbuilding information to the audience without it feeling forced or overwhelming, I loved the amazing creativity on display with the visuals. I loved the endless potential this show had for a heartfelt and exciting story. And yet somehow, in spite of giving themselves all the groundwork they needed to accomplish something like that, the writers couldn’t quite put all the pieces together. I had the same issue with Roster Teeth’s RWBY series. I was never able to enjoy that show for what it actually was, only for what it had the potential to be. And somehow that is so much worse than just watching a terrible show and hating everything about it.

The last episode of Daniel Spellbound does set up a plot for a second season, and in spite of all my criticisms here, I do really want to see it get one. I think a lot of these problems can be chalked up to inexperience, and that maybe with one season under their belts, the Daniel Spellbound team will finally be able to cross that line of Greatness that they’ve only managed to briefly touch with this first season. I want this show to do well, and it has everything it needs for that. I want to see more shows like this, not connected to any pre-existing IPs or writhing under the thumbs of greedy corporate execs who couldn’t write their way out of a wet paper bag. 

So if you have time and are even remotely interested, I would recommend checking out Daniel Spellbound for yourself. It’s only 10 episodes so far, and if nothing else, I can safely say that it was never boring, nor do I feel like it wasted my time. It was a very earnest effort at creating something new, and for that alone, I give many kudos to everyone who worked on it. 

[nikibogwater]

Niki Blethers: Daniel Spellbound first impressions:

I’ve only watched the first episode, so I’m not considering anything I talk about here as Spoiler Territory, but if you want to go in to this show absolutely 100% blind, maybe skip this post.

The short version: Color me intrigued. 

Followers of mine already know that I am a huuuuuuuge fan of the Tales of Arcadia series on Netflix (sans the movie–we don’t talk about the movie), so when I first heard the premise for Daniel Spellbound, it immediately struck me as being in a similar vein as that series.

It’s an urban fantasy following the magical misadventures of a teenager and a talking pig. What’s interesting about this premise to me is the fact that our main characters start the series already fully aware of and participating in the magical underground that exists beneath New York City. Daniel isn’t some normal kid who discovers this magical world by accident, he’s been living and working in it for years by the time of the first episode. 

Speaking of Daniel, I like him as our main protagonist so far. He’s a quick-thinking, fast-talking, maybe-sorta-rule-breaking kid who has obviously been alone for way too long. He works as a Tracker–someone who hunts down magical artifacts and ingredients for wizards to use in their spells–but he doesn’t take any pride in his work, and even describes magic as “a scam.” Right out of the gate he’s shown to have no qualms about taking even the lowest, most disgusting jobs if it means getting paid (our introduction to him is literally him sticking his arm in a mound of troll crap to retrieve the mushrooms growing inside). But there’s also a quiet warmth to him, which comes out most prominently in his interactions with Hoagie the magical talking pig.

I’m gonna be up front here, when I first saw Hoagie’s design in a promo image, I was SO ready to hate him. Like, I know it’s not fair to hold him to the same standard as Archie the Cat-Dragon from ToA: Wizards, but I couldn’t help it. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that Hoagie….is actually very tolerable. And there is an in-universe reason for the eyepatch, a very dark and traumatic reason that hasn’t been outright stated, but heavily implied. 

Hoagie himself is actually very similar to Daniel, being a little self-centered and extremely sarcastic. I really like the dynamic between the two of them as a result. They butt heads more often than not (Hoagie’s best character moments are when he is just aggressively sassing the ever-living daylights out of Daniel), but their back and forth can be very fun, and it’s really satisfying to see them come out of the first episode as a newly-formed team. 

I can see Hoagie’s character being obnoxious to some (especially since he spends the majority of the first episode being a pain in Daniel’s neck), but I ended up tentatively liking him, and I really like the potential for friendship that has formed between him and Daniel. 

This show’s portrayal of magic is very fun and creative. From a hotdog vendor making duplicates of himself to expand his business reach, to a half-pint witch known for her highly dangerous magical pies and her propensity for holding intense grudges, it really feels like magic in this world is full of infinite possibilities, and not just limited to flashing lights and floating books. 

The magical environments reflect this as well, creating a very cool contrast with the drab and mundane New York City. I especially love the creature design of the trolls in the first part of the episode.

The animation is serviceable. It’s pretty obvious that they were on a tight budget, but that’s not something I hold against them. In fact, I have to commend the animators and directors for their clever management of limited resources. As I said above, the magical environments are extremely creative and even downright breathtaking in some shots. Character animation can be a little weightless from time to time, especially during an action sequences, but if that’s the show’s biggest flaw in terms of visuals, they’re doing pretty good. 

The dialogue can feel a little weird and choppy here and there, but it’s definitely nowhere near as bad as some other shows/movies I’ve seen. 

Overall, I’m interested to see where this series goes. I want to see more of the magical underworld, I want to learn more about Daniel, and I’m eager to see more of him and Hoagie bonding (or just Hoagie sassing him some more, honestly both are good). I don’t want to jump the gun and say it’s great, but from the first episode, I can safely say that it’s got a lot of great potential, enough that I’m going to keep watching and see where they go with that. Depending on how it turns out, I may do a longer and more comprehensive post about the series as a whole, but for now, I can at least say that it is worth checking out and seeing for yourself.