#i loved all the sparkly disney characters in the end credits

[number1spongebobfan]

I just got back from seeing Wish in theaters. I loved it! Then I got an Advent calendar and gingerbread house from the store.

[lovelivingmydreams]

Paper Flowers: The Prince’s Enemy

You liked it so I made more of it!

Part 1 over here. Enjoy!

You sit in your room relaxing before dinner. Homework’s done and social media isn’t going to check in on itself. You are replying to a post one of your friends placed on their wall when a notification pops up. ‘Thomas Sanders just posted a new video’.

You smile as you finish your message and click the notification. Thomas is one of your favorite creators. And it’s insane what he can do in six seconds.

The first thing you notice is that it is a return of the prince character. It makes you smile.

Who doesn’t love a real life Disney prince?

“Stop you fiend!” the prince declares, standing in what looks like an old concrete building, which probably was meant to create the illusion of an old fortress.

Then the angle shifts and… Wait that’s not one of Thomas’ friends playing a villain. That’s Thomas wearing a black hoodie with the hood up to mimic a cloak and black eye shadow to make him look more threatening. Which is a tall order for the human cinnamon bun.

“Prince Dude! My arch nemesis!” villain Thomas growls.

Then the prince comes back into view. He looks shocked.

“Wait…” he dramatically brings a hand to his chest. “I’m your arch nemesis?” he asks... Why does he sound so emotional?

Villain Thomas comes back into view and looks… Flustered? What?

“Sorry… I didn’t mean to assume…”

Wait. This is… This is like someone calling their SO boyfriend or girlfriend for the first time. OMG this is the cutest!

“No!” Prince rushes as he comes back into view. “I just didn’t…” he sighs and shakes his head. “Shall we?” He asks as he raises his sword ready to continue their battle.

Villain Thomas comes back into view and smirks as he raises his own weapon and nods.

“Prepare to die!” He declares letting out a battle cry. The camera shows Prince again who lets out a war cry of his own, charging in.

And that’s the end. You smile to yourself as you leave a like. You’re curious what other fanders think of this new character. Will he ever come back? You hope so.

“Roman it’s so nice of you to include Anxiety in the fun!” Patton cheered when he found out about the new villain character.

Virgil rolled his eyes. Of course Princey was getting praised. Not that it would occur to Patton how hard it’d been for Virgil to agree to let Thomas use his aesthetic, his identity, to create a new character. Or that his heart was racing at the thought of how much the fans would probably hate it.

“Think nothing of it Patton. I merely had the idea for a nemesis, and figured that if Thomas played the character himself it would minimize speculation of the fans on any hidden meaning behind the skits. They are almost more eager to see Thomas find a partner than I am, and none of our friends need that kind of attention on them. So when it came to picking out a look, Anxiety’s… Style, seemed fitting. That’s all,” Roman explained, surprising Virgil.

Roman was passing up on the chance to bask in the praise? Praise he deserved, maybe… A little. Virgil knew that this whole thing was an olive branch from the Prince to him.

And honestly it was kind of a fun skit. Thomas had a lot of fun making it… But here Roman was, downplaying his good intentions and how thoughtful he’d been about it. He’d asked Virgil’s permission to do this. He never asked Logan or Patton to use their looks for the dad or the teacher character.

“Speaking off the raisin cookie… Anxiety!” Roman called. Virgil looked up from where he was sulking against the kitchen counter.

“What?” he scowled.

“I have a few more skit ideas you’ll probably want to criticize. Let’s get that over with shall we?” Roman suggested casually as he headed to his room.

Virgil made a point to sigh and roll his eyes in annoyance, grumbling under his breath as he usually would. Patton might not pay enough attention to him to notice anything amiss, but Virgil was pretty sure Logan would ask questions if the two of them started to act too different.

He entered the fanciful side’s room and took a look around. It was a nice place honestly. Both similar and opposite to his room somehow.

“Soooo… How did you like the skit?” Roman asked eagerly.

Virgil shrugged. “It was alright. Thomas really enjoyed it,” he allowed.

Roman grinned, happy he got some sort of positive feedback from the usually more sullen side.

“And um… It was really cool of you… What you said to Patton. You didn’t have to. You deserved some sort of, like, praise I guess, even if he didn’t know the real reason why you did,” Virgil muttered then.

Roman’s eyes widened. Did Anxiety just… Praise him? He hadn’t expected that. He’d corrected Patton because he didn’t want Anxiety to think that he was using their truce to earn extra brownie points with the fatherly side.

“Thank you Anxiety,” Roman bowed.

“Don’t mention it,” Virgil shrugged awkwardly.

There was a silence. Neither knew for sure how to continue from this point. Their interactions usually ended with one of them storming out of the room.

“Um… Want to watch some tv until Thomas checks up on the comments?” Roman suggested.

“Yeah, sounds good,” Virgil nodded.

Roman gestured to the couch and they sat down as far away from each other as possible.

Virgil chuckled as he realized Roman had put on Avatar.

“Is there a problem? Mr. moodbender?” Roman asked tensely. Clearly ready to call of the truce if Virgil criticized the show.

The anxious man shook his head. “No. Just surprised you’re not putting on Disney,”

Roman rolled his eyes. “I can love things that aren’t Disney, scorned king,” he huffed.

Virgil nodded, Princey had a point.

They both mouthed along to the opening narration and smirked at each other while the intro music played.

“So… What other things do you like Princey?” Virgil started casually.

Roman blinked in surprise, happy surprise that is. Anxiety was clearly making an effort, showing interest in making this truce evolve to a friendship. It was nice, to know that he was not the only one invested in this.

“Well it should come as no surprise to you that I adore all things musical.”

Virgil looked around to all the playbills and smirked. “I would’ve never guessed,” he teased getting a pillow to the face, though it was clearly in good humor.

“Sush!” Roman chuckled.

“Anyway. As I was saying…” Roman proceeded to talk about his favorite artists, some of which Virgil admitted to liking as well and Virgil, in return talked about his favorites as well.

“Oh wait…” Virgil suddenly interrupted as his attention was caught by the screen. Momo had entered the story.

“This is the part where I got respect for this show,” Virgil divulged.

“Why’s that?” Roman wondered.

“Well, on the one hand you have the first time you realize that Zuko isn’t bad. Cause he spares the commanders life. And on the other, the show literally looked at their demographic and said: you kids can handle some genocide. Here is an actual body, confirmed to belong to a character our protagonist cared about,” Virgil explained. “They don’t look down on the kids that watch the show. And they made that clear, very fast. I respect that.”

Roman thought about that, and he could see Anxiety’s point.

“Yes, I suppose they didn’t hide their vision for the show at all,” he nodded.

They continued watching the episode in comfortable silence, both silently noting that they’d moved closer together during their conversation, now only leaving enough distance for both of them to still keep their personal bubble intact.

“I guess it’s been an hour now…” Virgil muttered as the end credits played. Roman nodded as he paused the tv. Thomas would soon give in and see if anyone had reacted to his recent post.

“It’ll be alright. Worst case scenario, they don’t like it and we don’t bring the character back,” Roman assured the younger aspect. “I’d be a little disappointed, because I have tons of ideas for your character. But we’ll think of something else,” he assured Virgil, not willing to give up on his plan to make Anxiety feel more wanted in some way because of one hypothetical set back.

“What if people stop following Thomas because…”

“Anxiety, we’ve posted videos of much lower quality than this one and they didn’t make people run for the hills,” Roman countered.

Virgil nodded but curled in on himself anyway. Roman sighed.

“Things are as they are, we can’t change them now so we might as well face the music. Alright?”

Virgil took in a deep breath and nodded. That made sense.

“Okay. Let's do this,” he sighed.

Roman smiled and nodded as they watched Tomas ‘casually’ check notifications.

Oh no, Virgil thought as he could feel the way Thomas' heart skipped a beat when he saw all the likes and shares popping up.

“Comments!!!” Roman cheered.

And indeed. The Fanders had left several comments already. Some keyboardsmashes, some big eyed or hearteyed emoji's. Some one word exclamations like ‘Adorable’, ‘wholesome’ and even ‘perfection’.

Virgil couldn't help smiling as Thomas' excitement grew. He was about to be outed, he knew it.

But he didn't care that much right now.

Because someone demanded Thomas make more vines with his villain character. And another joked that they should call Disney because they found the new big hit Disney Channel show.

He couldn't stop himself from letting out a soft sound of excitement as he played with the sleeves of his hoodie to release some energy. He wanted to jump up and down and scream, Thomas was so happy.

“By Hermes' Sandals! Anxiety! Your eyeshadow!” Roman exclaimed. He'd heard his fellow side’s uncontainable  excitement and had looked up, unable to pass up the chance to see the closed off side smile. He had not been ready for this. The layer of white foundation seemed to be less thick revealing it was hiding freckles underneath. That was not the most important part though. The usually black, smudged eyeshadow was brilliant and sparkly and a royal purple.

Anxiety blushed upon being caught but didn’t really stop smiling.

“Yeah, that happens when Thomas gets really excited. Don't make it a big deal,” he shrugged. Roman nodded, understanding that Anxiety meant to ask him not to mention it to the others.

He felt a sense of accomplishment well up inside him. Surely Anxiety had known there was a good chance Thomas would get excited upon seeing the responses to the skit. If he wanted it to be a secret he could've excused himself and hid in his room until the effect wore off. But he hadn't. He'd stayed and taken the risk of being seen. Roman wondered what he’d said or done to make the hooded man want to open up like that. Maybe he’ll ask, some other time.

“Anyway, good job Roman. Seems you’re stuck with me,” Virgil winked as he got up, pulling his hood over his face so he could hide his state until he got to his room.

“Princey , is stuck with the hooded fiend,” Roman corrected. “but I don’t think he minds. And neither do I,” he added while he basked in the glow of the complement.

Virgil felt his smile widen just a bit as he saw how happy Roman was with all this.

Once you gave him a chance he wasn't that annoying.

Virgil had found himself going from wanting someone to not hate him, to wanting Roman to like him over the course of their conversation. Their truce had been tense and awkward up until now. But even so, it had been going surprisingly well. Virgil could tell Roman was looking out for him. By distracting the others when Virgil felt cornered by example. And Virgil had tried to help Princey out as well. Making him go to bed, trying to push Thomas towards creating more content and trying his hardest not to be too, well, mean about actually posting it. And when he sensed Roman was getting overwhelmed by the spotlight he took the attention away from him too.

And now he had shown Roman that he was right. There was more to him than just anxiety. Sometimes he was bright, bouncy and sparkling excitement.

“It suits you by the way,” Roman added, janking Virgil back to the present.

Virgil froze for a second finding he had his hand on the door handle. “Um… thanks, see ya later,” he muttered before rushing out.

He was about to enter his room when he heard someone else call out to him.

“Anxiety kiddo, are you and Roman finished?” The question was friendly enough in and of itself, but as always Patton sounded tense when talking to him which set Virgil on edge. He wasn't that scary right? What did he do to make Patton so scared to be around him?

Sure he was trying to make them keep some distance. But he was going for cautious, not this.

He didn't know what he'd done and he wasn't willing to risk repeating it, so he kept was careful about keeping enough distance between himself and the resident dad as a rule. Now he had an extra reason though.

Virgil nodded, not looking up. Patton's precense might make him nervous in a less fun way, but a comment that called his character adorable flashed through his mind and set loose another swarm of butterflies. Easily overpowering the unease in the hallway. He was definitely still sparkly.

And if Patton saw, he'd ask about it. And Virgil would have to explain, trapping both of them in this conversation far longer than either wanted. Worse what if seeing evidence of a less broody side of him made Patton feel like he had to make an effort? He'd already managed to make Princey feel like he had to be kind to him. And sure that might be turning into something genuine, but that didn't mean things would work out so well for the others.

Another door opened. “Padre! There you are! I was just about to come looking for you. I had the most marvelous idea!” Virgil chanced a glance at the hallway and saw Roman drag a surprised Patton into his room. The prince locked eyes with him for a second and gave him a reassuring smile and a wink.

Virgil nodded, sending Roman a grateful half-smile, before entering his room.

Virgil had spent mostly all of Thomas' happiest moments in his room. Partly to hide his secret, first from J and Rem who'd probably tease him about it, and now from  Thomas' golden three who would never take him serious again if they knew. Or well, two of them, Roman knew now…

Anyway, there was another reason. His room was very nice to be in when excitement dominated Virgil's functions.

It was the same, but lighter. The curtains were open, the clock was no longer a maddening reminder of the never ceasing passage of time, and the spider webs sparkled with dewdrops. Virgil took in a deep breath, even the air was more breathable.

What was it he wanted to scream about again?

Right.

He let himself belly flop onto his bed and screamed.

The fanders liked it! And more importantly, Roman might actually be his fried now. He could relate to the villain character right now. Were they friends? They had each other’s back, had bonded over common interests, shared a secret…

Would Roman consider them friends?

Maybe he was getting ahead of himself due to the butterflies. But it was definitely going that way.

Virgil turned around in his bed and looked up at the ceiling with a smile.

This was different than with Janus and Remus. They’d grown up together, they had to tolerate each other. But this was… Some sort of proof that he was likable. Roman didn’t have to hang out with him. He’d seen something in him and chosen to give him a chance.

He didn’t have to complement him, but he did and he didn’t turn it on himself right away as he tended to do.

Remus and Janus were… They just tended to trigger him more often than not. Not on purpose, he knew that, but he’d started having his meals upstairs for a reason.

He shook of that thought. It wasn’t important, he’d catch up with them later today or something. He was sure they’d have some things to say about the video. Maybe some of them would even be genuinely nice.

He smiled to himself. Look at him being optimistic.

Chapter 3: Green eyed jealousy

He was curious though, what he’d find around the river bend.

@selenechris

[hathousehappenings]

Character Closet: Hare

I would like to preface all the following information with an author’s note! I am not a professional costumer nor do I have any real education in costume design. I took one costume class in college ages ago and that’s it. All the below information is what I’ve gathered through scouring @teaforten​‘s blog for reference pictures and my own observations while watching the show. All image credit goes to Jenny and Jenna @teaforten and the drawings are mine. I am in no way affiliated with Disney, Betty Productions or Lois DeArmand, nor any of the costume crew who worked on the show.

ALSO, I will only be covering the costumes in these posts! How you decide to draw the rest of the character is completely up to you. Everything I have written below is up to interpretation and can be changed by you when it comes time for you to draw your favorite character!

Warning... below the cut is very image and text heavy! I might have gotten a little carried away...

Now that -that's- out of the way, let's get this show on the road!

(Above image was sourced here)

Oh Hare. We all love you and your wacky sense of style. During the course of the show, Hare had two significant costumes. One I have dubbed the Easter Bunny suit (or coral suit), the other the Blue Vest suit. I will be covering only his Season 1 Easter Bunny suit in this post. The other will come later because jfc the blue suit will be the end of me! I don't think I have it in me to explain that pattern today...

Hare's Season 1 costume is comprised of the following pieces:

American-fit suit Jacket (custom print)

Capri pants (custom print)

Long Sleeved button down shirt (yellow)

Suspenders (orange)

Jazz boots (yellow, often sparkly) with rainbow shoelaces

Knee socks (Right is red, Left is green)

Gloves (yellow)

Diamond Point Bow-tie (purple, stripes)

Wrist watch (outside shirt sleeve on left arm)

Accent buttons for jacket (round domed, yellow and orange)

Round Glasses (duh!)

When I was pulling colors for my first Hare drawing, I went on a deep dive mission on @teaforten to see if there were any decent quality photos of Hare’s suit. This one is probably the most popular and this one is a little grainy, but does the job well enough.

However, I really studied this image in particular. It's a funky one, but it's also one of the clearest scans that we have of Hare's coral suit! Look at all those colors! We have coral, yellow, orange, blue, purple/pink and even some specks of green in there. There's no way this could have possibly translated to television in the early 90's and yet they still made sure to put in those subtle colors to make all the others stand out. And if you study it long enough, you can see a pattern! We'll get into that further along...

As for episodes of the show, the ones that I looked to for the best reference shots of his suit (as of this writing) were Welcome Back, Hatter, Off the Cuffs and For Better or Verse. The colors are a little more muted in WBH, but you can see the pattern fairly well. And the neon in OtC is just something else! Especially when he's running around singing “It's Got To Be (In Here Somewhere)”. There are a lot of really nice closeups when he's doing the handcuff gags and a few nice shots of his back, which gives you an idea of the fuller pattern in general.

But my favorite episode to look at is For Better or Verse. Hare is only in one scene but his suit is -very- consistent with its pattern in it! It's one of the easier ones to duplicate because it's mostly the blue and purple swatches and has less of the pink/yellow/orange that tend to blend in the old footage. Also, it’s perfectly mirrored on both his left and right sides. The above images are all from FBoV.

Now I know what you're all here for... a breakdown of Hare's suit pattern. There's no easy way to say this, but this pattern is completely up to your own interpretation. One thing to keep in mind is that if you pay close attention, Hare has a few different versions of the same suit that he wears over the course of the series. The stripes and colors will shift around his jacket episode to episode. What I took from this is that you don't have to be exact with the placement of things unless you really want to. This is something that I utilize with my own drawings. I have a stripe system that I use but it's by no means exact or even remotely accurate.

For example, here is a picture that I've done up two ways: the left is the way I usually do his jacket (very loosey goosey) and the right is more screen-accurate. You can see the reference image in the top center. Both pictures are using the exact same reference image, but the one that sticks closer to the reference image is a little cleaner while the other just has colors and stripes going every-which-way. They both get the point across, it's just more about which look you like better!

Now, let's look at that original reference image that I referred to above. Do you see the pattern yet? Let's break it down as if we were to try to recreate it...

What I recommend is study the pattern from the black stripes on out. Those are big and bold and will usually fall in the same areas no matter which suit he's wearing. Look at which colors are below those bars.  And then next to those, etc. If you can create a shorthand for this (or learn the repeating pattern) you'll have his jacket down in no time.

In the end it's all about how much time you're willing to spend on learning the pattern and getting it right. It's completely doable and really quite impressive to nail that pattern accurately. It just takes time to learn it. I know this personally from devoting time to the blue suit jacket, which.... I will cover another time.

Even when I made my cosplay for Hare, I decided that the best way for me to achieve his suit pattern was to tie-dye. Obviously this isn't what they did for the show! I believe it was a pattern that was custom designed, printed to fabric and the best bits were used to tailor his suit. You can kind of see in a couple episodes where they had scraps left and he's mostly pink/orange/coral...

The fit of Hare's jacket is American-cut, meaning that it's boxy and hangs off him a bit. I think they did this to give a little more of a size difference between Hatter and Hare. John Hoffman is 6'3 without the hat and Reece Holland is approx 5'10 without the ears and they are both rather slender, so the costumers tried to use clothing to bulk Hare out a little to make more of a difference. You can draw Hare either athletic or chubby, but one thing is for sure: that jacket doesn't do Hare many favors. He tends to swim in it at times.

And you can follow that same pattern from the jacket onto Hare's pants as well. Remember that he has straight legged capri pants, which means they come down to around mid-calf and are rather loose fitting. I think they chose to do this to mimic the proportions of a real hare's legs without having to go full-on fur suit and padding like they had to do with Rabbit. It gives a rounded look to his leg and also makes his feet look a little bigger. It also, once again, bulks him out.

Also, as a note because I don't know where else to stash this little bit of information, the lining inside Hare's jacket is a rainbow of the colors used on the outside of his jacket. He also has three domed buttons on both his sleeves as well as for the closure of the jacket, each alternating orange and yellow colors.

If Hare were to remove his jacket you’d see that he has orange suspenders on as well as a wristwatch that he wears on his left wrist. He also has that purple-striped diamond-point bow-tie, meaning that the sides come to a point rather than being straight (like Hatter’s).

Dropping to his feet, he wears yellow jazz boots. In early promotional shots they look like they are made more of a yellow vinyl, but I don’t think that worked very well once Hare got a’movin. One of the only real close-ups that we get of his shoes is from A Litter Help From My Friends right before the “On Your Side” number. Here we get a better look at the fact that they are glittery and might be made of more of a canvas material. Also, his shoelaces are pastel tie-die. Are his shoes always glittery? Who knows! Maybe those were just his good dancing shoes because he had a very dance-heavy number in the scene. But it’s what we have to go on.

And there we have it! Hare’s costume in a nutshell.

In the many times that I’ve drawn Hare, I’ve added my own touches to the character. I switched out the jazz boots for yellow high-tops, I gave him an orange waste band and for a little while I gave him a butterfly bow-tie. I also practically made up a whole new pattern for his suit just because. I made these choices because they were more appealing to my eye. It’s my interpretation of the character and that’s it.

At the end of the day, I would urge you as the artist to interpret Hare’s costume (as well as all of the other characters in the show) in your own individual way. There is no right or wrong way to go about this. It’s your art, make it the way you want it. If you want to make his suit screen-shot perfect, then you do it! If you’d rather limit your pallet to two or three colors and mimic the pattern doing that, that’s also fine.

This is fanart. It’s meant to be fun. If the thought of coloring Hare’s suit makes you not want to draw him at all, simplify your design. As you get better and get more practice with him, you can add those other details back in later.

Finally, as much as I’ve harped on doing this your own way, if you’re still having issues with his costume, look to the other fanart you have available to you. There are some artists who I greatly admire who get his suit picture-prefect, even when they are just working with graphite. But I would urge you not to copy their design! Make it your own and it’ll mean all that much more to you when you’ve completed your piece.

Questions/Comments/Concerns, drop me a line! I’m by no means an expert but I’m very willing to help out in any way that I can.

[brittanybutler]

Sydney to the Max + The Importance of Representation 

Can I just say, I really love Sydney to the Max on Disney Channel??? When I saw promos for it, I was interested in the plot because it’s about a single dad named Max raising his daughter Sydney and they also live with his mother Judy. So it’s this nice father/daughter/grandmother dynamic going on and it’s so cute! Caroline Rhea plays the grandmother, so I knew it was going to be a decent show at least. It has surprisingly good writing for the most part. I absolutely LOVE the fact that it takes place in two timelines, 1992 and 2019 -- showing parallels (and differences) between Max’s upbringing and Sydney’s. The 90s flashbacks are so freaking fun and nostalgic. Max’s best friend Leo is HYSTERICAL. They give him the best lines, omg. I mean, this happens one minute into the very first 90s flashback: 

I was immediately hooked. ANYWAY...

I knew right away that the star Ruth Righi (Sydney) was mixed/possibly biracial and I kept wondering if Disney would acknowledge that or not. Max and Judy are white and Sydney is clearly of a different hue + more ethnically ambiguous. Disney pretty much could’ve gone the entire series without addressing it, but they just recently revealed that Sydney’s maternal grandmother is black and it made me really happy. EDIT: They also finally revealed her late mother as well through flashbacks in a very emotional episode. I love that they’re not making a big deal out of it though. It’s not some big plot point that Sydney is half black. It’s just a casual thing. It normalizes the situation, which is how it should be done imo.

I’m 26, but it made my heart so full to somehow see myself represented on this Disney Channel show, even though it’s 14-18 years too late for me lol. If this show existed back when I was the target demographic of 8 to 12, Sydney probably would’ve been my idol because I’ve never seen a girl that actually looks like me on TV, actually playing a mixed character.

It might be kinda weird to do a comparison picture, but you need to understand how SEEN and represented my tween self feels by the casting of Ruth:

Nearly every time a biracial/mixed actor is cast in a mixed role for TV/movies/advertising, they’re obviously/stereotypically mixed looking: extra ~exotic~ with big curly hair, etc. I don’t look like that. I actually think it’s helpful sometimes to cast actors who are “obviously” mixed. It helps ignorant people make sense of us when they can clearly see it spelled out in front of them. But, it’s important to see other phenotypes too. Some of us are rather plain looking in comparison -- with straight/loose type 2 hair and a tan. We look like we could be a number of different ethnicities. Sydney literally looks so much like I did as a kid. I’ve never seen our “brand” of mixed/biracial represented like that before, especially on Disney Channel! 

I’ve always been very confident in who I am. But growing up mixed, I was still very aware that I was different than most people around me, at school, and yes -- on TV. I was also very aware that I look different in comparison to the rest of my family. In a lot of ways, I’ve always liked being a little different. I actually think my being mixed oddly makes perfect sense and goes hand in hand with the fact that I’ve always been a strong-minded, creative ~individual.~ But, still. It’s always in the back of your mind. 

Me and my cousins circa 2001.

This show sorta feels literally made for me in practically every way, even at 26! I’m a child of the 90s, so I love and get a kick out of the flashbacks. I’m biracial, and I also completely relate to the familial situation. I, too, was raised by my white single mother and white grandparents. Not only that, Sydney is very into music on the show. She plays bass and it’s a big focal point for her character. I’ve been in love with music my entire life and I’ve played guitar since age 11. 

A screenshot from the opening credits. Which features a pretty awesome Third Eye Blind “Semi-Charmed Life”-esque theme song btw. 

It’s just crazy to me. I really feel like I’m seeing my younger self portrayed here in more ways than one, haha. It’s like they took inspiration directly from my life or something. The importance of representation is a big topic these days, but I didn’t truly realize how impactful it can be until now. Seeing my type of upbringing on the Disney Channel today, even if it is many years past my childhood, is very emotional. It makes me want to shed a tear for tween Brittany and all of the little girls today who are in the same boat I was. 

EDIT: Sydney also plays guitar and writes songs. This is FREAKING ME OUT. Here’s Sydney vs. myself at age 14:

You have no idea how insane it is for me to watch this show. In a recent episode, they literally say the word “biracial” multiple times. I just about died. The way Sydney straight up says she’s proud of being biracial and she doesn’t have to choose a side. I’m cryin. If hearing that on Disney Channel means this much to me today, I can’t even imagine how validating it could’ve been for me years ago.

My Disney Channel idol that I desperately wanted to be like growing up was white & blonde Hilary Duff/Lizzie McGuire (which I’m not saying is a bad thing, I freaking love Hilary to this day and think she’s the best) but I just started thinking about how different my youth might’ve been had Sydney to the Max been on my TV screen. Maybe I wouldn’t have felt different than anyone else at all. Because here’s Sydney -- a girl who’s mixed and looks a little different than her family. It’s normal, and that’s awesome. I would’ve felt SO COOL knowing someone like me was the star of a Disney Channel show. 

Here, why don’t we end the post with this photo of me trying really hard to rock gold sparkly jeans like my tweenhood idol Lizzie. 

[cinematicct]

Cinderella (2015)

From Walt Disney Pictures, this live-action adaptation of the 1950 animated film contains breathtaking visual effects and colorful costumes.

The cast includes: Lily James (in her breakthrough role) as Cinderella, Cate Blanchett as the Stepmother (aka Lady Tremaine), Richard Madden as Prince “Kit” Charming, Stellan Skarsgård as the Grand Duke, Derek Jacobi as the King and Helena Bonham Carter as the Fairy Godmother.

Cate Blanchett embodies the appearance and cold-hearted demeanor of the Stepmother quite nicely with her refined features (especially her cheekbones) and sultry voice. Lily James puts together just the right mixture of innocence and meaningfulness to the title role. Helena Bonham Carter, known for playing a variety of roles, sticks in a little quirkiness to the Fairy Godmother’s sweet, helpful nature. She even played an entity with a magic wand (albeit an antagonistic character) in the Harry Potter movies.

This particular movie (while paying homage to Walt Disney’s cartoon version) depicts some untold background to flesh out the characters and story. Cinderella (whose real name is Ella) once had loving parents and was taught to understand the feelings of animals, hence her association with mice, lizards and farm animals. Her family had a household staff of servants until the Stepmother fired them, thus forcing her to do all the chores. The Stepmother (whose hatred toward Cinderella grew upon learning her father loved his daughter more and still had feelings for her mother) and stepsisters gave her the name “Cinderella” when she woke up one morning after sleeping by the fireplace. She first meets the Prince before the night of the ball, prompting him to extend the invitations to every woman in the kingdom. What’s more, Cinderella’s budding relationship with the Prince establishes a mutual connection unlike the animated film where they just dance and sing without getting to know each other. The Fairy Godmother, while helping Cinderella prepare for the ball, places an additional spell to prevent her stepfamily from recognizing her. Stellan Skarsgård’s version of the Grand Duke is a secondary antagonist who ends up conspiring with the Stepmother to keep Cinderella and the Prince apart.

Among the costumes, Cinderella’s iconic ballgown stands out as a masterfully stunning work of art: blue, huge and sparkly. The dress even moves like ocean waves as she dances on the ballroom floor. On top of that, the glass slipper is a crystal-like design complete with a shimmering Aurora Borealis effect, which makes it all the more lovely up close on Cinderella’s foot.

The visual effects involve both the traditional artistry of Disney and the updated magic of the Fairy Godmother, whose gown lights up in different colors whenever she’d cast a spell. What’s more, one particular scene depicts Cinderella (while fleeing the palace in a race against the clock) briefly trapped inside a pumpkin as the enchanted carriage dissolves.

Two of the original songs from the animated film are featured on the soundtrack, but only heard during the end credits. They are: “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” sung by Lily James and “Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo” performed by Helena Bonham Carter. A traditional English folk song titled “Lavender’s Blue” is also featured as an underlying theme for Lily James’ version of Cinderella.

The film as a whole demonstrates how powerful kindness can be (as well as magic). Cinderella survived her stepfamily’s cruelty and got to know the Prince through courage and kindness. All that said, I definitely suggest putting this modern yet magical Disney remake on your watch list.

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

 SIDEBAR IMAGE DESCRIPTION ( REUPLOADED IN FULL VIEW)

[  A stylized image of the bloggers Persona: Moon, The Heart Shaped Creature From Criptoon Lagoon, beautifully drawn and commissioned from @thetrainticket.

Moon is what you would call a “Mermaid Narwhal Moth” with dark blue hair the color and texture of the night sky.  Though Humanoid, Moon has pale white skin and two dark purple eyes, with bug like pupils in the shape of an Eclipse, that are a lighter shade of purple with a shimmer. Moon has a heart-shaped face plump red lips, dimples, and fangs that give her a cute overbite. Her mouth is closed and she has a casual expression and smile on her face and sleepy eyelids, she also has long winged eye lashes.

Moon also has a broken narwhals horn coming out of her forehead , with moth antennae grown out of and coming together to form the shape of a heart when they curl. The moth antennae heart has electricity sparking from inside it. Underneath Moon’s broken horn is a glowing white crescent moon symbol, much like the ones featured in Classic ‘Sailor Moon’ and she has Classic Powerpuff Girls style, or “Growing Heart Emoji” symbols on her cheeks, much like the “Cheek Marks” in ‘Star Vs.’ , and a pug like noise much like the ones the  anthropomorphic characters of Angel, Roxanne, and “Beret Girl” have in Ralph  Bakshi’s ‘Rock and Rule’ and Disney’s ‘Goofy Movie’ franchises.

Moon is wearing a “sweater” that starts with a moth torso that is also very  heart-shaped, pink and fluffy, and ends in a form fitting black blouse that looks like a velvet texture with the slightest outline of dark purple to it. A sparkly, shiny texture alluding to moons and stars is present throughout the piece. The “blouse” part of Moon’s ensemble is stylishly cut to to reveal her shoulders and has a dark red velvety trim to it as well, with a sash around her waist to match.

Moon’s mermaid tail is the same color and texture as her hair, and instead of a fin, she has bright pink fire flaming at the end of it.

Moon is sitting down in a plain manual wheelchair with a dark purple background. Attached to her back are her big, extravagant lunar mouth wings, pink on the inside, and what appears to be a darker shade of red that matches the trim of her blouse on the outside.

Moon has four arms, two of which are posed dramatically: One reaching towards the spotlight shimming down on her and illuminating her face and hands. The other hand is curled and posed firmly on her hip, while the other two hands are holding a white teacup, which she looks like she’s a about to take a sip from.

Moon’s accessories include a pink headband she is wearing, with dark red roses and extravagant horns with a dragony texture to them, much like Classic Maleficent's in Sleeping Beauty. The horns go a little behind the roses, which are very big and prominent here. The  dragony part of the headband appears to have a dark purple outline to it as well.

Around her neck, Moon is wearing a black choker collar with white, spiky studs and a purple horned owl hanging at the end of it. Other jewelry Moon wears are tiny white skull earnings. Moon has strands of her dark blue hair coming down to frame her face. And her dark blue, sparkly hair is pinned up in a high fluffy pony tail because her hair is very thick and large. Moon’s wavy bangs are parted because of her horn, and some of her hair is falling next to her ears, which are very cute and pointy, sort of bat-like, without being in a “vampire way”.   Again. the image back drop is light purple color with with shimmering stars and spheres, and a spotlight shining down, illuminating and shading her character. END IMAGE DESCRIPTION.]

This is my first time writing an image description so I hope it’s okay! Will write one for the header image Finnley drew for me later!

I cannot thank @thetrainticket ENOUGH for this wonderful sidebar image!!!!! Moon is so beautiful and I love her SO MUCH and I hope that I described her okay and that people love her just as much!!!!! <3 OX 

Tumblr won’t allow me add anymore tags so please just let me know if there’s a problem or you need anything tagged!!! <3 OX It’s a low spoon day as I’m writing this past 1:00AM after taking sleeping meds so I’m sorry I sound so blunt but just thank you all for reading and Merry Mermay! <3 OX 

The next few posts are pretty long and are pre-written over the span a few Months and I’m finally done so, I’m gonna post one right after the other RIGHT NOW so they’re blog ready but let me if they’re too long, need a ‘readmore’ or need to taken out the  tags because I’m gonna link them all back to this page once they’re posted anyway .... So, HERE WE GO!!!!! ❤ OX

‘ACTUAL ABOUT’: 

https://heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon.tumblr.com/post/174341193608/actual-about

ICON IMAGE DISCRIPTION, ‘SHORT’ ABOUT + ‘ARTISTS CREDIT’ /Q&A PAGE: 

 https://heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon.tumblr.com/post/174341267363/short-about-icon-image-description-qa-and

BEFORE YOU FOLLOW: 

https://heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon.tumblr.com/post/174341749423/b4-you-follow-get-it-b4

[shewhowantsmouseears]

Love Like Lava, 10

Notes: As always, big thanks to my editors Drucilla and BlueShifted!

MICKEY SHE LOVES YOU, SOMEONE SMACK THIS BOY WITH A CLUE BY FOUR.

Also, Neraja and Garma are disney characters from the comic book series Wizards of Mickey!

Summary: As Mickey seeks advice for the questions in his heart, Donald faces a mysterious burden from the Sisters of Fate.

Mickey truly and deeply loved his odd family of mermaids and nereids, despite the headaches and annoyances they could give him on a daily basis. They weren't the smartest fish in the sea, but they had good hearts and treated him well. Yet when Mickey headed out that day to see them, it was with great reluctance and hesitation. He needed help with a problem and he had no one else to turn to. The Axelias only knew what Mickey told them, and as for Minnie...well, the problem was about her. That was everyone here in his social circle, so he had no choice but to turn to his girls for aid. Whether they'd actually be of use was anyone's guess, but he had to try.

Their usual morning started out as it always did. He gave them whatever trinkets they had previously requested, they gave him fresh fish to eat, and then they dissolved into babbling about whatever sparkly thing had caught their attention an hour or two ago. Once everything appeared to have settled, Mickey loudly cleared his throat to get everyone's attention. The majority of the women turned their heads, but one or two still kept their conversation going. Mickey didn't mind.

“I need to ask you girls some questions,” Mickey said, his cheeks already starting to burn despite the whole embarrassing ordeal having only just begun. “But you can't tell anyone else about this, okay? Not even Minnie.”

“Why not?”

“Is this a new rule, like the No-Aphrodite rule?”

“You broke the rule!”

“I did not!”

“Minnie is very pretty, I like Minnie.”

Clearly things were off to a fantastic start. “Because I said so, that's why,” Mickey cut in before they could distract themselves even further from the topic at hand. Thankfully the girls appeared to accept his curt reasoning. “All right, first question. I know some of you got boyfriends and girlfriends and folks you...you...” Oh boy, the word itself was already giving him trouble. “You know, you... you really...” He desperately hoped they'd catch on so he wouldn't have to say it, but instead he merely had an audience of slow blinkers. “You...you...” He cleared his throat again and turned his head away, mumbling, his tongue feeling like taffy. “Okay, just...how do you know when you...luh...luuuhhh...love someone?”

Growing up, Mickey had heard the mermaids and nereids happily talk about men they had caught for themselves. To Mickey, that whole concept had seemed as distant as any other island. When he listened to them talk, it often sounded more like they'd caught another shiny bauble than had any genuine feelings for someone. But every so often a mermaid would fall for another mermaid, or a nereid with a nereid, or one for the other. Young Mickey had difficulty understanding the difference between this and friendship. At first it didn't seem any different than how they treated the other girls. All of the women in the water hung off each other, complimented each other freely, gave away kisses, it was all standard. But little by little Mickey had taken note of the subtle nuances of each relationship – like Delphina and Cyrena, who sometimes went whole minutes without saying anything, instead more than content to lean on each other and stroke each other's hair. Or Eleni and Feodora, who instead of asking for jewelry for themselves instead asked Mickey to make something for their other, wanting to match perfectly.

If these strange, bubbling, happy feelings toward Minnie were love, then Mickey had to do something about it. But first he had to know if these strange, bubbling, happy feelings were love. Mickey needed things in his life to be precise and accurate.

The girls had never been asked such a serious question before, and they gave it serious thought – as serious as they could make it, anyway. “Kissing!” one nereid volunteered, her hair so thick that clown fish often hid in it to hide from predators. “When you love someone, you want to kiss them a lot!”

Mickey thought he was in trouble before an elder mermaid spoke up, wearing a self-made “scarf” of seaweed. “That's not true! You can love someone and never ever kiss them. My third husband and I never kissed but I loved him very much. Love isn't about touching. Love is about feeling.”

“Yes, feelings, feelings! It feels good!”

“Love feels very good!”

“I want to feel love!”

“I love you very much!”

“Aw, I love you very much too!”

Mickey snapped his fingers three times in a row to keep things back on track. “Look, I know love is a feeling. Sheesh.” He rolled his eyes. “I need to know if that's what I'm feeling! Or is it just friendship? How do I know which is which?”

Either Mickey wasn't being as sneaky as he thought he was, or his family was a whole lot smarter than he gave them credit for, because it was Aquata who looked him right in the eye and said while pointing her finger, “It's Minnie.”

“What - no! No it's not!” It was perhaps the most pathetic attempt at lying he'd ever made.

“Who else would it be?”

“You're not in love with any of us, are you?”

“And not with Axelia. Wouldn't say Axelia.”

“Mickey loves Minnie! Mickey loves Minnie!”

“You spend a lot of time with her, more her than us.”

“And she makes you happy happy happy.”

“You smiiile when you talk about her.” “And you talk about her a looot.”

Of all the times for them to actually pay attention to something! Mickey rubbed his face over and over, trying to find something to deny but they were right on the mark. The warm sensation in his chest never happened with any of the mermaids and nereids, nor with Axelia. As much as he enjoyed his time with all of them, spending time with Minnie was different. She engaged him, she wanted to learn, she was fascinated with everything he came up with. She valued his happiness and wanted to bring it to life day after day. Whenever she did speak about her life, it was only about the friends she made or who she adored and wished to help. She was sweet, and kind, and caring, and clever, and adorable, and oh no, he did love her, didn't he?

“Well,” Mickey said, but no argument came forth, the word running out of his mouth like a stalled motor puttering and broken, in a silly attempt to get his brain working. “Well. Well. Well. Well!” Eventually the word stopped sounding like a word and just sounded like babbling, which his girls copied in amusement. “Well, okay, so, maybe, maybe, just maybe, I luhhh. I luuuhhhh. I love her. A little bit. DON'T START CELEBRATING!” He knew that was coming and with his hand out, he put an end to it before it even began, several girls frozen in cheering poses. “The second question is much more important.”

“You want to know how to make her love you,” Calista guessed, and many nodded with her in agreement.

“Of course not.” Mickey's temper cooled – if he was in her shoes – well, scales – he'd have made the same assumption too. “A girl like that deserves better. And I don't wanna ruin the nice thing we have going. She's a great gal, a great friend. The sooner I stop luh-luuuh-having those feelings, the less awkward things gotta be.” The idea of Minnie loving him never crossed his mind. That'd be madness. A girl that fantastic and a reject weakling like him?

Even if she said there was nothing wrong with him. Even if she accepted all of him. Even if she cried over his past and had apparently devoted her life to his happiness. None of that meant she could love him. She was just being a very, very, VERY good friend. Of course. Obviously. Maybe she acted like that towards all her friends – although that idea made his stomach churn.

Andria raised her hand. “Think about all the stuff you don't love about her! Like how...” She trailed off, trying to find a negative point about Mickey's friend and unable to come up with one. Rare silence fell over the group as they all tried to come up with her faults and came up with nothing, save for wordless gestures and scratching of heads.

Yet Mickey thought it was a good idea. “No, that's good! That's good, Andria, good girl.” Andria beamed, even if she didn't understand. “See, you guys aren't with her as much as I am, she's got some bad stuff about her too. Like, sometimes when I'm working, she'll sit on the floor and lay her head on my lap and just watch me.”

Rydia squinted. “That doesn't sound bad at all.”

“Of course it's bad! When she does that, I can't concentrate at all! And then there's times, like, with the boat! She'll make me want to do something I don't like to do.”

Damara clicked her tongue. “Didn't you wind up liking that a whole lot? You told us you wanted to make an even better boat after seeing it.”

“Yeah, well, um, that's just more work for me!” Oh boy, he really did love Minnie, didn't he? Did he ever stand a chance? “Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.”

“I've got an idea, but it'll break a rule,” Lydia offered, swimming up to be closer to Mickey. “Is that okay?”

“Fine, but just this once.” He patted her head to reassure her she wouldn't be doing anything wrong.

With permission granted, Lydia gained more confidence, and began to clap her hands in her water, making big splashes. “Just pretend she's Aphrodite! You hate Aphrodite, so if you pretend Minnie is Aphrodite, you won't love her at all!”

“Hmmmm.” Mickey shifted around on the sandy shore, uncomfortable with the suggestion. “I don't know...Minnie's nothing like Aphrodite. She doesn't use her looks to get what she wants. She works hard, and she's smart! Not some air-headed beauty who just sits on Olympus and lets everyone tell her how nice she looks. Minnie's not like that. That's like comparing apples and oranges!”

“I like apples and oranges!”

“They're both very yummy.”

“Are we allowed to talk about Aphrodite now?”

“Poseidon told me she's getting married!”

Mickey sighed, shaking his head. He thought of reinforcing the rule, but the girls had clearly done their best to give him their honest opinion and help him out, so he let them rattle on with silly gossip for a little bit more. What was the harm?

“Is she? Who is she marrying?” “She's marrying Hephaestus.”

“Isn't Hephaestus Mickey's name?”

“Mickey's name is Mickey!”

The harm was being so stunned Mickey almost slid into the water. “Wait a minute, back up, back up!” he yelped, flailing his arms about. “Did you say Aphrodite is going to marry Hephaestus?!” He then jabbed a thumb at his chest to remind them that, yes, he was Hephaestus.

Tallia had been the one to hear the rumor, and as she leaned her head back in thought, she remembered that, oh yeah, he was Hephaestus, wasn't he? “Poseidon said that's what she said. She said she was in love with Hephaestus and she'd marry him. It made Queen Hera very, very mad. Are you going to marry Aphrodite? I thought you hated her.”

“Of – of course I'm not marrying her!” Mickey sputtered, a hand to his head as he tried to find some logic to this revelation. What in the world had happened up on the Mountain? Why would a goddess, the goddess of love and beauty, want to marry him? It made no sense – and then his anger returned, hard and hot, as he found the only reason she would do such a thing. “Why, she's just making fun of me! To her, I bet it's some big funny joke!”

Tallia tilted her head. “I don't get it.”

“She's mocking me! She must've learned about me, and thought it'd be a gag to say that the goddess of love is marrying the ugliest god! The goddess who everyone accepted right from the get-go, and the god who got thrown off when he was born! I bet she thinks that's rich!” Each word became hotter, a rabid snarl as he imagined some vapid beauty laughing cruelly at his life, eating it up with the other snobby gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus. Why not? His whole life was a joke. Well fine, what did he care? I don't need nobody and nobody needs me -

Ah. But. That wasn't true anymore, was it?

Mickey's growling stopped, replaced with somber silence. His tense muscles relaxed, his anger evaporating, and he glanced at his reflection in the water. But instead of seeing his face, he saw Minnie, sweet Minnie, who had held him and kissed his leg and would never leave him. She'd never do anything to hurt him.

“Minnie would never do that,” Mickey said quietly, watching Minnie's image vanish in a few ripples. “She's not like Aphrodite at all.”

Normally when Mickey's anger, or more specifically his sorrow in reaction to any form of pity, was at its highest it was impossible to calm him back down. He would rant and rave and return to his cave to vent out his aggression on his projects. Yet here and now, the girls saw that he managed to calm himself down all by himself just by thinking of Minnie. They'd already liked her because she was so pretty and because she was Mickey's friend, but this solidly sold her on them forever. If Minnie made Mickey happy, why, she was the best woman in the whole wide world.

“I like Minnie a whole lot,” Rydia said, and in short time was joined by the others.

“I do too. I want her to stay with Mickey forever.”

“I love Minnie lots.”

“Mickey and Minnie should get married!”

“I wanna go to Mickey's wedding!”

Mickey smiled, and moved to stroke the hair of whoever was closest, allowing them to speak of weddings and pretty dresses and all the other tangents that grew from it without interruption. He doubted he was going to get any better advice, and decided to leave it at that. In time, he'd get over his feelings for Minnie. Since they were both immortal, they had eternity to change, and Mickey was confident that one day he wouldn't feel any love for Minnie. How, he couldn't say. It wasn't as if he was going to get sick of her curious questions or the feel of her hand atop his own, definitely not anytime soon.

Minnie was good and sweet, and deserved any man she wanted. He mused that such a soul would be the luckiest man in existence. For now he was content to be with his family, engaging them in whatever drivel they were yammering on about – he topic of weddings had led to rings and now the mermaids wanted rings on their tails – and his heart didn't ache. Instead of dreading or planning for the future, he ultimately decided to just be happy with what he had.

Minnie's tiara would be ready soon.

~*~

Deep in the furthest depths of the Underworld lived three people Donald didn't enjoy visiting. He avoided them whenever possible, as they gave him the creeps whenever they had a conversation – and he was well aware of the irony of the Lord Of The Dead getting creeped out. The Sisters of Fate were the keepers of mortal life, spinning the threads of life and snipping them when it was time to die. On several occasions Donald had come to them, reluctantly pleading for a mortal's life to be extended due to sad circumstances. He hated being seen as a softie, even if Daisy found it charming. The Sisters tended to mock his sympathies, and regularly abused it to make him beg on his knees for what he wanted or demand luxurious gifts. They knew that no matter how harsh they were, Donald couldn't punish them. Who else knew how to thread mortal life?

They absolutely never reached out to him, which meant that today the Underworld must have frozen over, since that's what they did. Donald was working on his schedule, trying to figure out the best time for him to see the nephew he'd never visited. He wasn't confident he could do it alone, and Daisy assured him that she and Minnie would be there. Then there was the matter of what exactly to say to the boy – other than an extremely overdue apology – and how he should present himself. Should he be natural as he was, Donald? Or try to impress him as the Master of the Underworld, Hades? He was pacing about, writing on an endless scroll, his mind bouncing about.

Should he get on his hands and knees? Or just hug Mickey when he saw him? Should he get his nephew a gift? Maybe invite him to the Underworld to see what it was like? He was so lost in these thoughts he didn't see the thin yellow thread sliding its way towards his foot – but he certainly felt it wrap around his ankle, and in the second he looked down to see what was going on, it yanked him off his feet and speedily began to drag him away across the cave floor.

On the River Styx laid islands inhabited by spirits, and each spirit stopped what they were doing when they heard a deafening “WAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUGHHHHHHHHHH!” echo across the Underworld, followed by several expletives so harsh that elder ghosts covered their descendants' ears. To save whatever is left of Donald's dignity, there's no need to go into all the bumps, corners, jagged rocks and near drownings he endured as a result of his dragging. It ended in roughly five minutes as he entered the lair of the Sisters of Fate, his belly scratched and aching, and having poofed into his smoky form about six different times. The thread untied itself from his ankle and laid down, now as normal and lifeless as thread should be.

Donald took one look where he was. “YOU CAN'T JUST WALK OUT AND ASK FOR ME LIKE A NORMAL PERSON?!” Whereas most mortals would tremble and cry at his thunderous voice, the Sisters just scoffed in unison.

“Why should we ever have to leave our home?” asked Neraja, the Sister of the Past, and the youngest by seconds. All three were ducks with soft white feathers, but Neraja was not only the tallest, towering over her sisters and her own spinning wheel, she was also the most beautiful. She had raven night hair spilling down to her feet, and eyes equally dark and alluring. Her flowing silk dress so deeply red that it would have been easy to mistake it for blood, and her arms were coated in trinkets symbolizing the moon and planets. It was her duty to pull along the threads of life so mortals could be born, and even now her hands were effortlessly pulling forth threads in all of her fingers, birthing several mortals at once across the world.

“You should be honored we've called upon you,” declared Magica, the Sister of the Present, the middle child. She was a head shorter than Neraja, and the shortness also applied to hair that stopped at her shoulders, and a dress that cut off at her knees. Her outfit contained fading red and darkening purple, depending on how the candles in the cave were flickering. Her legs had ringlets of solid gold in perfectly shaped circles. It was her duty to keep the threads smooth during one's life, and cross and tie them over if certain lives were destined to meet and entwine. At the moment she was untangling a pair of lovers that had argued they should split up for good, and Magica was taking great enjoyment from it.

“It's deplorable that you show us such disrespect,” came with a snort from Garma, the Sister of the Future, the eldest of the siblings, and with all the wrinkles on her face, one might have thought she was older by centuries. She was the smallest of the three, with a hunched back and blue veins throbbing underneath her dry feathers, her fraying gray hair dyed yellow in a pathetic attempt to hide this. Her dress had become so dark and faded it was impossible to tell what it once was, especially given how tattered and ripped it was, though she wore each tear like a badge of honor. Sharp teeth jutted from her beak, even showing when her mouth was closed. It was her duty to cut the thread when a mortal's life was up, and out of all the sisters, she enjoyed her job the most. Her scissors cut the air even now, eager to sever a living person from their body of flesh.

By this time Donald had managed to poof back into his normal form, and once the make-up was off he stood to attention and crossed his arms. “There's no way you hags invited me here for a pleasant chit-chat, so what did you need me so badly for?”

The Sisters grumbled together, reluctant to come forward and admit there was a problem. Impatient Neraja straightened her back, sticking out her chest – ever since Donald had married, she had tried to tease and flirt with him, but he'd never taken the bait, which was a great wound to her pride. Even now he looked at her eyes and nowhere else. “There's something amiss with one of the threads.”

Donald blinked, looking at the millions of threads that laid on the floor, hung on the walls, roped the ceiling – it was impossible to know what the room really looked like, since everything was covered in different colored threads. He wasn't even sure if the Sisters had seats to sit on, or if the threads were so intricately wound and numerous that they could solidify and be sat upon. He never cared to ask. “How can you tell?”

Magica crossed her arms, glaring at Donald who glared back. “We've been at this since the first mortal was given life, we've never had this happen before!” She got out of her stone chair – oh, so they did have seats, Donald mused to himself – and strutted up to Donald, holding up a single white thread in his face. “Look at this!”

Donald looked at what he saw as a perfectly normal thread. If the Sisters said there was something wrong with it, then it had to be wrong, since they took pride in their work and hated being around Donald. He didn't want to come across as a fool by saying he couldn't see what the problem was, so he sucked on the inside of his cheek and squinted. With every passing second, the Sisters' eyes became harder, and he could feel himself shrinking. If only Daisy was here today, she'd give these women what for! Any insult they lobbed at her she could give back twice as hard. She wouldn't allow them to cut Donald down -

Cut? Donald blinked, and then reached over to touch the beginning of the thread – which indeed looked too perfect, too even, as if it'd been cut with a precise sharp object. “Say,” he finally spoke out loud, rubbing the end with his fingers. “Garma's only supposed to cut the end of it, right?”

“I didn't cut it at all!” Garma hissed, her old bones loudly clicking underneath her flesh, her elbows sticking out in angry flutters. “How dare you imply that I would! I have half a mind to come down there and cut off your beak!” Garma sat atop the highest seated platform, so she could look down upon her sisters. Magica's and Neraja's were evenly spaced and evenly sized, as they often teamed up to insult their elder, when they weren't insulting each other.

“The old biddy is right,” Neraja said while sliding a sleeve of her dress down her shoulder. Still no reaction, as Donald was studying the thread intensely. Peeved, she rolled it back up, deciding to stick to business, or at least what she saw as her business. “She knows her place. She'd never cut a thread before it's time.”

“Who are you calling an old biddy, you impetuous brat!”

“Don't tell me you're going deaf, you stupid shrew!”

If Magica had joined in, Donald would have been more than happy to put the whole weird matter behind and leave as fast as his feet could carry him. But Magica was even-minded, sometimes, and she managed to stay focused. “Neraja has no memory of spinning this thread! It happened many days ago, I was pulling along as usual, and that's when I found this abrupt beginning of life!”

“And only felt like telling me now, I see,” Donald muttered under his breath. No doubt the catty ducks had thought they could solve this issue on their own, and only “asked” for Donald's assistance when they realized they couldn't. He drew himself up, trying to figure it out, scratching his head with one finger. “So if I've got this right, instead of being born, this person just...suddenly...appeared out of nowhere and lived? Is that even possible?” It was a silly question because it couldn't be answered, but he had no clue how they thought he'd be of any use. “I guess I could try and look into it, but if it's just the once and it's done no harm, is it really that important?”

Neraja answered that first by throwing one of her sandals at his face. “Of course it's important! Creating life is MY job!”

“And if you don't figure this out,” Garma snarled, pointing her sharp scissors in Donald's direction, “We'll never do another favor for you for the rest of eternity! No matter how hard you beg!”

“Noted,” Donald sighed, rubbing the sore spot where the sandal had smacked. “Okay, fine, I'll look into it, but I can't make any promises. Can you tell me anything about this mystery person?”

Magica rubbed her fingers along the thread, her eyes momentarily reflecting the color of the thread, a marble white. “A young woman who lives with a sculptor...She knows nothing and must learn everything. She has been called a heroine in this humble village. At first she only wanted to please her man, but now she seeks to understand how the heart works.”

“Yeah, that's not a needle in a haystack at all,” Donald replied dryly, unimpressed by Magica's mystic mutterings. He managed to back up before she could kick him in the shin. “I said I'll do it already! But you have to keep your word too! As long as I'm making the effort, you still have to listen to my requests.”

Neraja cackled, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Of course we'll still listen to your pathetic wails over mortal life! It's one of the highlights of our lives! Seeing the great and mighty Hades grovel like a dog...”

“...All for the life of an insignificant peon!” Garma finished, laughing and knocking her head back as she found it funnier and funnier. “The lord of the dead who doesn't want any dead!”

This time Magica did join in, curling the thread around her fingers as she sneered. “Never forget, we hold the real power here! You will always be beneath us!”

“Sure, whatever,” Donald smoothed down his robes, the insults having gotten pretty dull since he'd been hearing them for years. What were once daggers to his soul were now more like yippy Chihuahuas nibbling at his ankles. At times he wondered if they acted this way because they were lonely and wanted attention, even if it was poisonous, and so he was often the one feeling pity for them. Not that he'd ever tell them – they couldn't kill him, but they'd make him wish for it. If these miserable crones enjoyed being miserable, let them go at it. “I'll keep you updated.” Relieved that it was done, he headed for the circular exit of the cave.

“One more thing, Lord Hades,” Garma voice was low and dangerous as she glowered at him, and the others followed suit, lowering their heads and rubbing their hands together.

“Of course,” Donald groaned, and turned right back around. “What now?”

“We have seen a prophecy,” Garma announced, standing up tall, as did her siblings. “And it must be heard!” It wasn't often, but sometimes in the course of their duties, a spark would fly from the various threads, giving all three Sisters a vision of a possible future. It wasn't guaranteed, but whenever they had one, it had been ordered that Zeus was to be told immediately. They would tell Donald, who would tell Fethry, who would tell Zeus, who would then announce it to everyone else. It had been a rule established since the first prophecy prediction, which had said Zeus would overthrow his father, although later prophecies had never been so momentous.

Donald raised an eyebrow. “The last time you guys chucked out a big one, you said Zeus would be dethroned by a son. I don't see that happening anytime soon.” If what Daisy had told him was correct, Mickey was in no shape to overthrow anyone, nor had a desire to. Zeus probably had hundreds of sons and daughters out in the mortal and godly planes, but so far none of them wanted his seat either. Not all of their prophecies came true, but for a big one to fail like that – it didn't bode well for the rest.

“It could still happen,” Neraja defended, though her shoulders were slumping in defeat.

Magica ignored her and continued on from Garma. “In the near future, a great and bloody war will overtake the mortals! Thousands will perish, and the war will be endless! The Underworld will be flooded with the souls of the innocent! The will of Ares will bring about an end to mankind as we know it!” She drew up her hands, fingers twitching as if she was raining down souls from her fingernails.

Donald stared at all three of them, his temper threatening to rise, but he managed to stave it off. For a second. “You know, if I actually believed you, I would have suggested that you should have SAID THAT WHOLE THING FIRST BEFORE GOING ON ABOUT SOME STUPID THREAD!” Now it was he who towered over them in his form of deadly smog and glistening red eyes. “HAVE YOU BEEN HOLDING BACK ON ANYTHING ELSE?! OR DO YOU WITCHES JUST LIKE TORMENTING ME?!”

“Yep.”

“Absolutely.”

“Well, duh.”

Honestly, what kind of answer was he expecting? He scowled at them a moment longer before poofing back to normal, not bothering with his make-up or ponytail or any other additions his anger tended to give him. “Doggone stubborn little...” He stormed out of the cave, cursing his rotten luck that his job was saddled with those wretches. He would tell Fethry about the prophecy, but he sincerely didn't believe a word of it. The will of Ares? Puh-leeze! Pete was a lazy slob who preferred to watch people fight, and threw temper tantrums when people got along. Besides, Zeus, as lazy as he was, would surely prevent the “end of mankind”. He enjoyed the physical pleasures of it so much he'd never let it die out. Prophecies were merely one path out of millions. It was not a guarantee of anything.

With that in mind, Donald decided he wouldn't bring Mickey down and risk any chance of running into the Sisters. They didn't deserve a chance to meet his nephew, and he wouldn't subject Mickey to their sadistic whims. As his anger cooled, Donald reasoned that he should also find a way to thank Minnie for finding Mickey in the first place. He'd only met her once, but he found her charming and sweet. He wouldn't mind seeing her again, and much like Daisy, he found an urge to protect her from the things she was only just discovering.

He slowed his walk as he remembered that she too was an unusual discovery. It seemed like ages ago when all of the gods, goddesses and lower creatures were struck with that odd sensation, that “something was coming.” That “something” had been Minnie, and then everyone went on as normal without ever questioning where she'd come from. Much like the odd mortal thread, he supposed, which indicated a mortal merely popped into life. Maybe the two were connected somehow, though he was sure Minnie would have brought it up to Daisy if she'd known anything. The two were as close as actual loving sisters, as opposed to the hateful brew back in the cave. Seeing Daisy speak so happily of her friend was quite entertaining, and while Daisy would try to deny she felt that strongly, it was clear that Daisy adored Minnie and would do almost anything for her.

Still, that made two mysteries in one short leap of time. Instead of concerning themselves over one mortal, shouldn't everyone be more worried about one goddess? Mortals couldn't come from nothing, and neither could gods. Gods had to be born too. That was the only way.

…Well. There was one other way to create a god.

But the idea of Minnie being created in such a way was so ludicrous that Donald slapped his own head for even imagining the concept. What had he been thinking? He should be concentrating on Mickey first, then the thread, before thinking about the impossible. When nearby spirits asked what had happened, he told them it was nothing important and they accepted it at face value. Donald resumed his planning, and chose not to give Mickey a gift, since he didn't know Mickey well enough to know what he liked, and chose to merely be himself when they met. It took up all of his day.

Yet far, far back in the reaches of his mind, the idea of the other way lingered, and one day it would be visited again. Only a handful of gods knew about this method, and they had no reason to speak of it because it hadn't happened since the dawn of creation. There was no way it could have happened again.

But. But! But! The almighty word that lingered and created frightening yet fascinating possibilities.

But if she had been born that way, then Minnie had the potential to be more powerful than Zeus and Hera combined. She would have enough power to topple Mount Olympus and burn the world itself to ash and dust.

What Donald didn't know was this was also one of the possibilities and prophecies that the Sisters of Fate had seen. They'd deemed it so ridiculous that they didn't bother to speak of it. Yet it was still out there, along with infinite others on the horizon.

The day ended with no questions answered.

[theothermodulesideblog]

In defense of Anastasia (1997)

20th Century Fox’s 1997 animated film Anastasia is.... let’s face it, not very well thought of by most animated film fans. It’s widely thought of as Don Bluth’s worst work, due to what most of them thought of as pandering to the Disney audience. It was a princess musical from the creator of The Secret of NIMH, of course animation nerds left and right were gonna call bullshit on that. 

I can kind of see where they’re coming from here, but the film itself is gorgeous. The animation is clean and (mostly) devoid of what I like to call “90′s face animation slide”, which is when a character’s face tends to slide around between frames as they move, which is something I noticed a lot of in late 90′s animated features like Beauty and the Beast. It also has some of the best motion I’ve ever seen in a 2D cel animated/cg film, probably only bested by the more action-packed animated movies of the late 90′s, like DreamWorks’ Prince of Egypt and Disney’s Mulan, both of which required a lot of smooth motion scenes and believable kinetic moments. The art direction -- especially the backgrounds -- are stunning, and do a great job representing pre-Revolution Russia. They do a great job immersing the viewer in the aesthetic of the time when it was set; all the decadent golds and reds of the Romanoff palace contrasted against the greys and browns of the rest of the city is a powerful image. 

Another aspect in which it does well is the character building and designs. Dmitri is a whiny little bitch and no mistake, but his character grows with Anastasia and they have an incredibly cute romantic arc (I really love the idea of two people that approach each other as equals and have natural chemistry that manifests in being annoying and teasing each other). His bestie Vlad, and his love interest Sophie (who enters in the middle of the second act, if memory serves), are my favorite part of the whole film. These two characters are adorable and sweet, and they flirt with each other for pretty much all of the time they’re on screen. Anastasia herself is.... Meg Ryan with red hair that magically changes length, probably due to some oversight on the animators’ part. She’s not really a very compelling character to me, but I do like the final (long hair) design. She has some very good costume choices (the blue dress and ponytail she wears on the boat is lovely, as is the sparkly midnight blue dress she wears to the French Opera -- tangent: apparently they had to devise a new technique to animate that dress), and, as she is voiced by Meg Ryan, is very facially expressive. I also love that she has a dog, but then again, I love dogs.

The musical score and songs are great. There’s really no question there. I haven’t seen this movie in 5 years and I can still call to mind pretty much any of the songs from it. They’re memorable and catchy without breaking the character of those singing it, besides maybe I Can Learn to do It, which, okay, I can’t imagine Dmitri going with that. But Rumour In St. Petersburg and Once Upon a December (the first two songs in the film) are incredibly strong, and the animated sequences that accompany them are great. Rumour has a big group scene where everyone in St. Petersburg is complaining and gossiping, and it shows in the animation how miserable the revolution made them (historically inaccurate, yes, but we’ll get to that), and Once Upon a December has a haunting ghostly ball in an abandoned ballroom at the Romanoff’s palace that’s just lovely. It has all the hallmarks of a scene from Joe Wright’s Pride and Prejudice (2005) -- revolving camera view, yellowy colorscheme, ballroom, tension -- and I love that. The song itself gives me goosebumps just recalling it. The songs from the second act (Paris Holds the Key To Your Heart and In the Dark of the Night) both have slightly lacking lyrics, but the animated sequences still hold up after 20 years. I have to give special credit to Paris Holds the Key because it went for some pretty ambitious visuals and had quite a few references to period-appropriate 20th century French thinkers/writers/artists, which both my sister and I find pretty great. The end song, At the Beginning, is probably the weakest song (it was written by Richard Marx, what can ya do), but I can forgive one song not being as great as the rest. 

Yes, I will admit this film has quite a few shortcomings, not the least of which are the glaring historical issues. The Russian revolution wasn’t brought upon by some evil sorcerer hellbent on killing the aristocracy. There were no evil sorcerers in 19th century Russia to begin with, let alone to incite some big revolution. And I’m no expert on the revolution aftermath, but I’m willing to bet they weren’t secretly wishing there was one Romanoff left to guide them back to their previous ways, because yes early Russian socialism was pretty shit, but I doubt they’d want to go back to having all the issues they wanted to rectify in the first place. Also Anastasia was missing and presumed dead, but I think they actually confirmed her as dead at some point in the last 100 years, so yknow, also there’s that. 

Another criticism which I mentioned earlier is that this is seen by most discerning animation fans (read: animation nerds) as Don Bluth selling out. His last few animated features, Rock-A-Doodle and The Pebble and The Penguin, were meh at best, and hot trash messes at worst. They’re really not well-thought of, and are nowhere near as beloved as The Secret of NIMH and Fern Gully, two of his best-known films. This man was well-known and well-loved for not pandering to his audiences, and giving them dark children’s content, which may be coming back into vogue now, but wasn’t really a big thing back in the 80′s (unless you count Jim Henson). To see him creating what is essentially dumbed down Disney content was disheartening to a lot of his fanbase, and upset most of them. And it’s not hard to see where they’re coming from; if Alex Hirsch had decided to cop out and make more seasons of Gravity Falls, or if Over the Garden Wall had been extended further for the sake of making money, I’d be really upset too. I’m a drama queen about this sort of thing, so I’d most likely wail about how my favorite creators were losing their integrity to the great machine of capitalism, and I wouldn’t be completely off. But the fact of the matter is that market trends change, audiences change, and art changes as a result of them.

 Anastasia is probably a copout, yes, and is probably the worst of Bluth’s filmography if you grew up with his darker 80′s material, but it is by no means his worst work. This is a film very near and dear to my heart and I will fight whoever says it’s not at least worthy of a viewing, because it’s kind of a masterpiece. The animation style is gorgeous, the songs and score are literally haunting, and the characters are well-written and expressive, and they grow as characters -- something not a lot of animated films care about anymore (absolutely throwing shade at all the Smurfs movies). It may not be Bluth’s best work but it is SUCH a far cry from his worst, sellout or no.