#i wish any adventure time merch really appealed to me but i think a lot of finn stuff fails to nail his side profile

[holoscout]

another day another fern and jermaine sketch dump whats upppp

[youarejesting]

My fics in 2020

I am proud of this year. I worked hard until the end. 2020 was my year of finishing my stories. I have done so much and next year I want to do more. So keep an eye out Jester will take over.

Fandom(s): BTS, mentions of NCT, BLACKPINK, MONSTA X.

Networks:@btscreatorscorner @castlebangtan

Total Fics: 34

Total chapters: 404

Total Words: 565,587 Total vids and fake subs: 13 

Best and Worst Title?

Best: ‘Music is the spark that sets my soul on fire’ and its sequel ‘Dance is the celebration of the flame’

Worst: The Check Up

Best and Worst first line?

Best: Yoongi never understood why people would say one's blood is important. (Mania)

Worst: It all started in Mykonos. (Steal my sunshine)

Best and Worst ending line?

Best: “I got you this pretty dress” Seokjin grinned showing you the dress before hugging you and giving your forehead a kiss, “Let’s go burn it” (Me & the ghost in number 23)

Worst: But all you got was a sharp-toothed smile. (Pandemonium)

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than, or about what was expected?

I think I wrote what I expected, but I think I could have definitely finished more. Which is a bit upsetting.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year? 

I don’t have limitations to my writing so nothing is deemed unpredictable.

I am however generally surprised by my love of throwing in twists and also gore, I love gore.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Wild space: it is strange because I am not particularly a fan of space and scifi, but I am really into writing world building things and having the ability to create a whole planet was amazing.

Most popular story? 

Tumblr:

Seoulmates

Femme

Quarantine

AO3: 

Quarantine

BTS365

Love Listening

Story most underappreciated by the universe? 

Tiny Tan: Limited Edition

Story that could have been better? 

All

Sexiest story?

 Love Listening

Saddest story? 

 Me & the ghost in number 23

Fluffiest story? 

Mall Santa

Most fun story? 

BTS Among Us 

Hardest story to write? 

Kisaeng

Daylight (i'm still writing it haha)

Easiest/most fun story to write? 

Light it up

What story took the longest?

365 lol took all year

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them? 

The biggest risk I took all year was posting my work. Living life on the edge.

What are your fic writing goals for next year? 

To double my writing

Fics that you wrote in 2020:

BTS365: 365 mini stories ✓ fluff, comedy, angst, romance, mature, action, adventure, smut. This has it all. Find your birthday and read your story. I wanted to give something unique to people.

Quarantine: 100 Chapters ✓ Something to accompany you while you are alone during quarantine and the pandemic. I was lonely and I figured so was everyone else. So, I decided to have BTS help us all go on an adventure that didn’t focus on the covid virus but on some other aspects around it.

Femme: 50 Chapters ✓ A futuristic world where women are rare. This was an indulgement fic that gave circumstances for the reader to be in a polyamorous relationship with the boys and live a glamorous life. Ending was a bit rushed.

Seoulmates: 29 (ongoing) Each member of BTS has a unique soulmate bond. I love the idea of this, another indulgent fic but you aren’t alone with the boys you have friends and you can play different parts.

Witching: 11 Chapter ✓ When your brother goes missing trying to find them gets you in a turf war between two covens. This fic was actually a way for me to vent for a project I wanted to complete but the project is so big that I wrote this instead.

Herb: 2 Parts ✓ mature, smut. Jimin claims he has everything you need, he doesn’t disappoint. I came across this idea within the 365’s and extended it because I liked the idea so much. Jimin has everything from casseroles to scarfes, cat food to cell phone chargers and the reader just wants to be loved and relieve stress.

Limited Edition: 10 Chapters ✓ BTS boys are sold as limited edition figurines. This was originally me venting about not having any merch and then became a daydream that what if the merch came alive. And the story was born.

BTS Among Us: 7 Chapters ✓ gore, action, adventure, scifi, angst, death of main characters. This one was so funny for me, I had my friend pick a colour and that was the imposter from the start. I was amazed that no one figured it out in the end. I want to play again soon.

Light it up: 13 Chapters ✓ fluff, comedy, angst, romance, mature, action, adventure. This was inspired by the dynamite trailer, I loved it so much that I began writing, I had no clear direction but as I wrote it started to shape and someone said it was like stranger things and I credited Stranger things cause it did indeed have a similar premise and I don’t want to pretend I came up with something that has already been done.

Love listening: 2 Parts ✓ SMUT, comedy, fluff, angst, romance, mature. This was inspired by a strange video that came up on the internet, I was searching for BTS misheard lyrics and the video I clicked had some funny ones but after that the next suggested video was bts moans and auto play was on and well this fic was born.

Me & the ghost in Number 23: 11 ✓ fluff, comedy, scifi, supernatural, romance, angst, mature, smut, death of main character. This was inspired by many of the ghost text au’s I had read but many of them were like the show oh my ghost where the main ghost character isn’t actually dead just in a coma and I thought the opposite way instead of them waking up, I wanted things to shape the other way. This one was so difficult to write and I cried a lot due to the loneliness Jimin was facing and the mourning from Yoongi.

Hope in the sheets: 4 chapters (so far) fluff, comedy, smut, adventure, slice of life, romance, angst, mature, growing up. This one is a fic that targets my childish desires. I have grown up so much and this fic is a visual representation of that. 

Asks: 77 (ongoing) where the bts boys answer the readers questions and concerns.

Reactions: 15 (ongoing) 

Prompts: 18 (ongoing)

One shots:

Kisaeng: This was a reverse fic project, the idea that instead of Mulan pretending to be a man and going off to war, it was BTS dressing as women to stay home from war. I loved writing about fictional history. 

Steal my Sunshine: This was a summer project. I wanted to write something that felt like a very bad spy movie, like Mellissa Mccarthy and Mr Bean-esque. I formed this one and it made me laugh the whole time writing it.

Blue Side: This was talking to myself about being sad and admitting that I could be sad but I should learn to split the happy and sad into two worlds and limit my time in them both, it was about equal balance and finding the good in the sad and the sad in the good. I don’t know how hard to explain.

Temptation: I had fun writing but it is pure SMUT. not even good SMUT.

Pandemonium: This was really fun. The premise is dark and the ending is left ambiguous, in the original, Namjoon kills the reader but I left it open so you can imagine them continuing their relationship or not.

Mall santa: A fluffy christmas piece. A secret santa I wrote that I felt needed to be soft and quirky and have just all the hallmark moments.

Mad: This one is finished, but I have it published privately at the moment waiting to unveil it as it is well SMUTTY. I don’t know what it is about Taehyung but he is always so dark and I guess that's what people find appealing. I had this idea from a 365prompt and well I had to write it.

One wish: This was a birthday fic that I wrote for a friend. I wanted people to read it on their birthdays or imagine their birthdays and themselves in this position if they made the same wish.

The Check Up: I wrote for this for a friend going through a personal procedure, they were nervous so I took their bias and made something I hoped they could think about while in the procedure and I even explained the steps and what might happen over the next few days hoping the whole thing wouldn’t seem as scary because technically her mind had already been through it when reading the story.

Sparks of the heart: Robots developing human feeling. It was a cute universe and Yoongi’s story will be a series within 2021.

Dance machine 3000

Digital Art

Electronic Tonic

Circuit chef

Random Access Memory

Kookies Trojans and Malware

Feel Better: Another fic written for a author who was sick, I wanted them to endulge in some escapism whilst they were sick.

Music is the spark that sets my soul on fire & Dance is the celebration of the flame: These two were requests that I loved dearly.

Horror movies: Cheesy damsel in distress meets boys will be boys.

I will wait (somesay): This song wouldn’t get out of my head so I had to write it.

Wild Space: When I wanted to write a hybrid AU but I already have a hybrid AU being edited. So hybrid werewolves meets space.

The Bomb: This one is compete and ready to post I had to talk myself out of writing this as a series but I love the story line. I love the end.

Lost Boys: This has been stuck in my head since i had a dream about it and I finally wrote it into the new year. I hope you like it.

Mania: Not my favourite work, love ABO universe I just haven’t got an actually story line so it is on hold.

Incaceration: The story that never was, I really need to get around to this one.

Tagging: @moccahobi I know you wanted to tag me... but I am finished so I am tagging you.

[weeping-petals]

Shadow Rabbit

Word Count - 2,493

The Crystal Gems need to have a talk about their encounter with the hostile Spinel, and send Steven off on a quick ‘errand’ to pick up doughnuts. By the time he returns home, he has even more questions.

“That can’t be right. You didn’t just fall asleep.” Pearl began, promptly when they return to the Crystal Temple.

 The blast of light faded, and each member of the Crystal crew stepped off. Pearl followed close behind Steven, still aboard the ‘you’re wrong and I must be correct’ train. Behind the Pearl, Amethyst made a face.

 “Maybe fell on your head,” the lilac gem posed. “Or got dropped, tossed, hurtled. Maybe a fist collided with—”

 “Would you guys stop it!” Steven burst. He tugged off his hoodie and threw it aside. They weren’t listening, and hastened to judge ever sentence that popped out of his mouth. All throughout the hike back, they boggled him with interrogation of what happened, how he felt. The trio was uncharacteristically clingy, more so than if he had fallen into actual peril. “That’s how it happened. We were sneaking around, well, she was sneaking. I stopped paying attention, and… yeah, it was really boring.”

 Amethyst shrugged. “No, that doesn’t sound like Spine. Try again.”

 Pearl disregarded the coat on the floor (very unusual) and knelt on her knee, to examine Steven once more. “You must’ve suffered a concussion. You shouldn’t have been sleeping, in fact, you should stay awake for the next few hours. To be safe.”

 Steven was at his wits end. “I didn’t FALL! The complete opposite of interesting happ—”

 “I could use some doughnuts,” Garnet blurted. She put a hand on Pearl’s shoulder, stole her away from Steven, and set a hand on Amethyst’s head. The two gems went along with the gesture, grasping a hidden meaning. “Steven, you’re the best at catching doughnuts. Do you mind running a quick errand?”

 This was a universal request to excuse them for a short spell. Steven toed the floor with his sandal and pouted. “Sure. Any special requests?”

 Pearl raised a finger. “Two bakers dozen.”

 Amethyst piped up next. “Filling. And coating. Lots of sprinkles. BACON!”

 “Red and blue,” Garnet wished, clasping her hands together. “You better take the wagon.”

 It hurt a little more than it should have, despite knowing it was gem business. The topic always spooked his dad, but it fascinated the pants off Steven. He should have been a part of it; he was the one kidnapped, but he also wanted to help Spinel. The time he spent in her company (or captivity?) felt like days, though it was only a few hours. The sun was rising on the tranquil shores of Beach City, the denizens emerging from storefronts or meandered their way along the boardwalk to begin opening shop. The Crystal Gems spent a whole day and night out in the forest.

 The wagon was easy to haul off from the beach and to the road. He ventured to the front of the Big Doughnut and hurried inside.

 “I need a bakers dozen! ASOP!” He whooped.

 “Whoa-whoa!” Sadie, opening shop today, struggled with two large boxes of merch. “I barely got the displays set. Can ya kinda give me a sec?”

 Steven immediately chilled. “Oh. Sorry! Forgot what time it was. What time is it, by the way?”

 “Barely got in, if that’s a good ref,” she offered. She set the boxes on the counter and began opening, pulling out pre-packaged pastries. “You’re up early for a Saturday.”

 “So, time doesn’t flow differently in the magical petrify forest. Huh?” Steven tried to sound clever, stroking his chin as he crossed to the counter. “In-teer-esting.”

 Sadie smirked as she rose up from behind the display case. “Magical forest? Time flow? Is this more of that gem stuff?” If Lars was here he would be groaning at her, to not get Steven started. But it was nice to have some positive company while she was setting up, and Steven was always getting into some wild adventures. It kept him out of trouble.

 “It was cool,” Steven enthused, eyes starry. “We – the gems and me – went out to check on this rock forest, where this temple was bein’ built. There were crystal trees, bigger than the city, bigger than the temple and the city combined!” He swung his arms up, exaggerating details. “It was sunset there, while here it was middle of the day! Oh-oh! And there was a gem there! A real gem, like Garnet, Pearl, or Amethyst!”

 “A gem person? Y’mean, other than those gem monsters….”

 Steven broke from his whirlwind showman and gawked. “Why does everyone keep hating on her? She’s not a monster!”

 A loud thump resounded from the counter, likely from Sadie bumping her head. “Hold up, take it easy.” She straightened, rubbing her crown. “I’m going off on all those stories you tell, and the fact the other gems are always fighting these… monsters.” She cast her eyes away, hesitant. “And, aside from you, your friends, and… your mom – I had no idea there were other gems, gem people, around. So….”

 “A bakers dozen! Make that two!” Steven announced. “I have to get back, so I can ask them about her.”

 “I gotcha the first time, kiddo.” Sadie resumed ripping packages and lining up the inventory. “That’s like twenty-six doughnuts, and we’re not officially opened yet. What sort of doughnuts you want? I can go through the boxes and get started.”

 “My dad!”

 Thump!

 “Maybe he knows something about her!” Steven did an about-face and raced to the door. But halted. “Wait, Amethyst might be upset if she doesn’t get her doughnuts.” He did a little dance at the door, indecisive about what he should do and fighting the urge to blast out to the carwash. Even worse, what if his dad didn’t know anything?

 “Yes, do that!” he harped.

 Sadie sighed and dropped her forehead to the countertop. Adorable as Steven was, he sure was a mess.

 “So,” she said, after hauling out the third box from storage. “Did you catch the name of this new gem?”

 Steven sat at one of the tables, swinging his feet under the chair. “Spinel.” He was twiddling his thumbs on the tabletop, focused intently. The crash of the box snapped his attention back to Sadie.

 “Spindle?”

 “Spinel,” Steven repeated. Sadie gazed at him, expression perplexed. “Hmm?”

 “Sorry. I’m sure I’ve heard that name before.” She shook her head. “No idea where.”

 “My dad?”

 “Nope.” Sadie collected up the boxes and made progress on filling up the order. “That’s half my stock. Anyway, I think it was… Sour Cream? Certainly not Lars. I think it was around Halloween, we were sharing creepy stories about stuff that frightened us, y’know, when we were kids. That guy Sour Cream told us about this imaginary friend that was a kind of variant of this crooked man, and he called it Spindle—”

 Outside the Big Doughnut, Steven burst from the doors screaming, “SOUR CREAM!”

 Sadie was not close behind, didn’t catch Steven, and stood at the threshold. “Steven! YOUR DOUGHNUTS!”

 For the better part of the day, Steven raced across Beach City checking every nook and cranny he laid eyes on, every shady alleyway seeking the ‘Cool Kids’. He ventured to the abandoned warehouse, but the nights activities ended hours before dawn. In desperation, he tried hammering away at Lars door, but the father of Lars answered and spoke on behalf of his son that “that boy is still sleeping.” Steven raced off, exploring all the likely cool places the Cool Kids would meetup. He had no idea where Sour Cream lived, let alone other go to hangouts. He didn’t want to race out to the cliff.

 At long last, Steven began a desperate patrol of the shoreline. And there, near the pier of Funland he spied the Cool Kids in the midst of a round of hacky sack. And there was Sour Cream, balancing the lumpy satchel on his knee.

 “Sour Cream!”

 “Huh?” He balanced the sack on his elbow, right before Steven nearly bowled him over. “Brah! What gives—” He passed the orb, and Jenny managed to nab it on her ankle. “I guess I’m taking two!”

 “I have questions! Questions! And you have answers I need! Please!”

 Reluctantly, Sour Cream let his arm get tugged by Steven, and went along with the pre-teen. “I was in the middle of something. Do you get bad reception at your house? Texting is a thing.”

 Steven stalled. Above, the noises from screaming ride goers spilled down as the coaster careened through its track. “That’s… true. I’m used to talking face-to-face though. Heh.”

 Once Sour Cream liberated his arm, he jammed his hands in his pockets. “That’s more direct. I see the appeal.” He nodded. “I can’t help but catch those vibes of tension radiating off you. You got something you think I’ll help you with?”

 “I don’t know.” Steven was beginning to second guess. He was in such a hurry to locate Sour Cream, a task deemed all but possible, he didn’t gather up a good question. Or beginning. “Uh… did you ever know a gem?”

 “Amethyst? Yeah. Forever a long—”

 “No-no-no.” Steven took a breath. And stalled. Amethyst? He shook his head. “A gem named Spinel?” The bafflement that met him was disheartening.

 “Sorry lil dude. Aside from Amy, I don’t know any gems.”

 “Well,” Steven cupped his chin and considered. “What about the crooked creature? Spindle?” At first Sour Cream shook his head, but then, recognition lit up in his eyes.

 “Ooh, yeah. That thing.” He turned his gaze up thoughtfully. “This critter used to hang around the city, I’d see it lurking in the shadows sometimes. Kinda spooked me, but I didn’t get the ambiance it was dangerous.” He stooped on the sand, and began sketching out a face, grin, bent body, and tall ears. “It was sort of like a rabbit, made of ramen. Say, who’s been telling you my stories?”

 Steven didn’t answer. He was mesmerized by the crude picture, and could see how Spinel could be mistaken for a rabbit. Minus the fluffy tail. “Spindle?”

 “Yeah! Er, don’t know where the name came from.” Sour Cream weaved his arm in the air, fish like. “It did this deal, sort of slithered up and down walls. I’d see it, but no one else could. Meh. As I got older, I stopped seeing it. One day, I guess.” He shrugged and stood. “I grew up.”

 The story was very strange, but there was no mistaking what was staring at Steven from the sand. “Thanks Sour Cream. That really helped.”

 “Really? I didn’t do much.” He wiped the sand from his hands.

 Steven waved, as he took off. “That was all I needed. Sorry for stealing you from the game!”

 “No prob. Don’t do anything I would!”

 It was a long hike back to the Big Doughnut. Long, because Steven was halfway to the Crystal Temple, before he realized he’d forgotten the goods. He hurried back to the shop and raced inside.

 “Where’d you go?” Sadie asked, upon coming from the back storage.

 “No time to explain! I hope I’m not too late!” He grabbed the doughnuts, nearly forgot to pay, and went back to the cash register.

 “Too late for what?” she was getting panicked. Steven was sweaty and red, from running around too much in the sun. “Are you okay?”

 “Thanks for the doughnuts! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Steven blew out of the store, nearly plowing into Lars.

 “Crud, what is it now?” Lars barked, scuttling aside. “Don’t they feed you?”

 “I was just leaving!” Steven threw the boxes onto the wagon and took off, leaving a cloud of dust.

 Lars scratched his head. “Weird. Usually he tries to hug me… or something else weird. Sadie!” He entered the shop. “Did you give him caffeine again?”

 “Again!?”

 Racing a second time back to temple winded Steven. He managed to not lose a single doughnut or box on the uneven, and soft surface of the sand. Local seagulls took an interest in his cargo, and a few brash winged beasts pursued prepared to tear apart the precious goods if the boy stopped for the barest of moments. It raised the stakes for Steven’s skirmish back to the home, but he managed.

 “Shoo! Rawr!” He swung his arms at the seagulls, as he unloaded the boxes. They were still following him, gracefully gliding on wind current, while Steven ascended the steps. “AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

 Steven plowed through the screen door. Boxes went flying, a few doughnuts scattered, and seagulls poured in through the gaping portal. “Hey guys!” More seagulls swooped in, settling on the confectionary treats slain in the madness.

 The Crystal Gems gawked with varied stages of horror. Except Garnet. This was not the scenario she anticipated, but it was no less what she would’ve expected.

 “My DOUGNUTS!” Amethyst roared. She shifted form mid leap, and a large liger pounced on the crushed boxes, hissing and swiping at the laughing gulls. One bit her on the nose. “OW!”

 Steven rolled away before he got stepped on. He still had a lone box in his hands. “Salvaged one!” He scampered up and held it out to Pearl.

 “Aw, uh, thank you… Steven.” She took the box and handed it to Garnet, whom just held it. “It took you longer than we expected.”

 “RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!” Liger Amethyst shook her mane. Seagulls had overrun her, while she competed with them for eating the doughnuts. The birds were stealing the crumbs from beneath her jagged teeth. “THAT’S MINE YOU SEA RATS!”

 Pearl grimaced and clasped a hand over her mouth. Garnet sighed.

 “I think that’s enough of that.” Garnet handed the box back to Steven. “Cover your ears.” Pearl did that for him, but Steven was concerned, and dropped the doughnut container to set his hands over Pearl’s.

 Garnet formed the gauntlets and walked over to the doorway, where Ligerthyst combated the bold avians. She raised her hands over her head.

 “OUT OF OUR HOUSE OF SUFFER MY WRATH!” She screamed. That was it. She was loud, and commanding, and terrifying when needed.

 The seagulls screeched and flapped, vacating the premises in a white cloud. In their wake, feathers covered everything, including a scratched and scuffed up Liger. “ooOow.” Amethyst pawed at the boxes, tears formed in her eyes.

 Steven shifted his head to view Pearl. Her hands went tense, and were uncomfortable on his head. He couldn’t hear, but Pearl looked super upset and paler than usual. He pulled away from her grip.

 Amethyst sniffled. “Nothings left. It’s all gone. Everything. Gone.”

 “Look! We still have one box here! TADA!” Pearl snatched the box off the floor. She barely got the lid off, before Ligerthyst lay siege to the contents. She sighed, relieved.

 Steven almost expected vultures to descend, it looked like one of those nature documentaries in the veldt. Anything would be more pleasant than those seagulls. “Um, so… did Spinel live in Beach City, too?”

 The room went silent, and all three gems looked at Steven. Ligerthyst had crumbs all over her muzzle.

[groundramon]

Hm, you know, the more I think about it, the more I hate everything about Ren and Stimpy and its existence and its effect on popular culture.  I honestly can’t believe how contrary Ren and Stimpy is to pretty much everything I value in a story.  Yes it’s had some good impacts but honestly? I blame it for the reason I can hardly find western animation that interests me.

First off I’m gonna say I’m gonna be harsh here because I have no respect for the creator.  He’s a piece of shit.  However I have nothing against fans and especially not against people who enjoyed it while growing up.  I didn’t watch it as a kid, but I did watch the cartoons (looney toons, tom and jerry, ect) that inspired it and its existence.  So I guess call me a hypocrite for liking those, idk?  But there’s a reason those weren’t originally made for television.

You see, Tom and Jerry and the Looney Toons were designed as pre-movie shorts in theaters.  I don’t know exactly how these shorts worked in regards to making profits, but my point is that their original intended purpose and profit was more akin to a pixar movie than Spongebob.  Television animation is much different than movie animation for a reason.  Movies directly make their profit based on how many people watch the movie.  That’s how profits work.

I don’t know if that’s how television works.  I know advertisers pay more money to have their advertisements during prime time hours or during big events, but I don’t believe that the amount of money they pay changes after the advertisement is aired.  I really don’t know, but based on what I’ve heard, that’s how it works.

That’s why, for years, animated kids shows were primarily long commercials.  Pretty much all 80s and early 90s cartoons were just toy commercials meant to market toys to kids.

Educational TV was one response to this, to create a safe space where kids were not bombarded by constant manipulative advertisements.

However, and I don’t know if this was due to laws like the educational TV movement or if it was just a natural response, there was another countermovement in the form of kids TV shows that didn’t care about marketing toys.  This is where shows like Ren and Stimpy came in and also why they were so influential - things weren’t simply as cut and dry as EVERYTHING being 100% a commercial and nothing else, but it was still pretty uncommon and revolutionary at the time to have a show with so little merchandise surrounding it.  Especially given how the show pushed boundaries in other ways.  Grossout cartoons weren’t a thing back in those days, and heck I don’t even know if censors let the old Tom and Jerry cartoons air reruns due to their violent nature.  Ren and Stimpy had both, and completely abolished previous standards of cartoons.  Not to mention, the fluid art style was radically different from the rigid styles of the past.

Unfortunately for me, personally, I don’t like grossout shows, and I’m not a huge fan of mean-spirited shows.  Now granted, if both parties are pieces of shit, or only the piece of shit party is getting their comeuppance, then I don’t quite mind.  But I wasn’t very fond of episodes where Squidward or Tom were unfairly punished by the normally “innocent” party, who would normally win since they were the “good” guys.  There’s a reason I dropped SpongeBob in season 8 and wasn’t the biggest fan in the few seasons before (and I’ve heard it’s gotten better since then, but the Squidward diaper fetish ep was enough to make me forsake the show forever, sorry.  Still consider myself a fan of the old seasons though, and not even just 1 - 3 bc I grew up liking seasons 4 and 5 too.)  And my opinion on exaggerated art styles depends very much on how well its done and how appealing it is to look at.

I don’t find Ren and Stimpy very appealing to look at, but it’s not bad on a technical level.  The off-model stills make a fluidity of motion, a proper illustration of exaggeration in animation unlike something like SU.  It’s basically the opposite of modern-seasons SU - they’re both off-model, but Ren and Stimpy is ugly to look at while doing it right and SU is tolerable while doing it 100% wrong.  If that makes any sense.

But I’m not a huge fan of the exaggerated, off-model art styles in TV shows.  I wasn’t a fan of Adventure Time’s art style and I’m still not.  I didn’t like early season 1 SU (although to be fair, SU critics give it WAY more credit than it deserves, because it was off model a LOT and not always in a properly exaggerating way).  I just don’t like these “weird” art styles.  SpongeBob starred anthropomorphic sea creatures (well, and a kitchen sponge) so it was easy to come to terms with how they looked.  They were reasonably designed for the world they lived in, and were appealing enough to look at.  Adventure Time’s style is relatively inoffensive but there are other art styles that honestly kinda hurt my eyes.  Like I don’t care if you have a reason for it, idc if it’s okay on a technical level, it’s fuckin Ugly.  That’s another reason I dropped SpongeBob in season 8 btw - all the new characters’ designs hurt my eyes, and I wasn’t even a fan of the revamps of old characters.

In addition to that, again, I said I don’t like grossout shows.  Guess what started popping up absolutely everywhere once Ren and Stimpy showed up?  Not even SpongeBob was safe from it.  (TO BE FAIR, yes there was grossout in the original few seasons, but I feel like I just...wasn’t phased by most of it, or something?  It’s like.  Yeah that’s a picture of a butterfly’s face.  Yeah that’s a hyperrealistic drawing of Squidward.  Nothing made me cringe due to my high levels of empathy because - other than the butterfly, which was quickly patrick and spongebob being silly - it was never grossout towards the characters.  I don’t know, does that make any sense?  It’s like.  Not grossout because grossout is supposed to hurt the characters, and bad grossout often hurts the audience more than the characters but also I just wasn’t grossed out by it so it wasn’t grossout.  If someone WAS grossed out by it then I guess it was bad grossout.  I’m not a hypocrite it just. didn’t faze me as a kid.)

And, apologies if I sound like a capitalist right now, but am I the only one who thinks its actually a good thing when TV shows sell toys?  Like, obviously it shouldn’t come in the way of a good story.  But that’s the thing - it doesn’t inherently come in the way of it.  You market a toy around a story and a good story makes the toy all the more profitable.  Like, look at Digimon.  100% a toy commercial (not good at marketing the toy it was trying to sell, but I digress - that’s another problem entirely) but it’s still beloved by people for its good story and good characters.  There’s NOTHING wrong with that, and in fact I wish it was a more common business model nowadays because that’s the only way I can hope to get 1. a serialized story and 2. enough of a budget for decent animation if I ever apply to a studio with my show ideas.

Ren and Stimpy normalized the idea of both non-serialized stories and non-toy-based cartoons.  Both of which are things contrary to my interests as a consumer, a producer, and as someone who looks at business from a logical perspective.  Non-serialized stories don’t matter, I mean look at SpongeBob, it’s just a personal thing there.  But like...not making shows for toy franchises is kinda?? a bad business strategy??  Why do you think CN plays TTG so much?  It’s because TTG has all the merch and sells all the merch and SU merch and other shows’ merch is superbly hard to come by.  Adventure Time was incredibly popular and well-pushed by the network when it first came out (one of the few things in this I’m saying with absolute certainty, because I was there) and there was quite a bit of merch for it right off the bat.  And as far as I know, it was pretty successful for the first few years.  But now as the show is ending, it’s fallen into obscurity.  AT was CN’s old TTG, just without the quite as ridiculous airing schedule (it was more akin to Nickelodeon and SpongeBob than TTG, if not slightly less than SpongeBob - it was on quite a lot, though).

I’m not saying there isn’t a place for shows like Ren and Stimpy in the world, but like, I can’t BELIEVE how much of the supposedly good things it did aren’t good in my eyes at all.  It’s a personal opinion, but still.  I can’t really think of a single thing Ren and Stimpy did that I liked.  The only good thing I can think of is loosening up censors enough for stuff like SU and other lgbt+ programs to fly by, but even then, all it did was loosen the censors in general - and loosening those censors has made a lot of problems alongside the good.

[myersonmusicalmayhem]

Celebrities & Musicians Who Leave Us

Hey folks! Been a while. Haven't toured or done much of anything related to music since my last post, just been working like a clown. This post comes from a related subject, and has a slightly different nature to it. It's a sort of appeal to fans of musicians from a fellow fan, and it has to do with the number of celebrity deaths & suicides which seems to be on the rise in the last few years. Some of it simply has to do with time; many of our heroes from the 1960's & 1970's are just at that age now, and perhaps weren't really helped out by the rock-'n-roll lifestyle that they lived. However, I think a good portion of it has to do with the way that we, as fans & listeners, treat them and accept their wishes/choices. Please allow me to (ramble) explain.

In my opinion, the most important thing for all of us to remember is that celebrities & musicians, just like us, are human. Music is a job like any other - a select few have the privilege of handouts on a silver platter, but the majority have to work immensely hard to reach their goals, and many of them never make it that far. Most artists have the additional handicap of being more susceptible to their emotions as part of their personalities, which is what helps to elevate their craft. This can be a double-ended sword, with the close end of the blade having the potential to be much sharper. I'm only an amateur; I have only experienced the musician's lifestyle as a roadie and lucky friend of several professional musicians, but even from that minimal perspective I was exposed to a lot of psychological & emotional extremes, both ups and downs. To me, the most notable downs were quite paramount: varying degrees of existential isolation, physical & emotional stress (often due to the major amount of responsibilities, many of which are self-imposed and only really exist in your own head), and frequent failures to meet expectations (also largely self-imposed) which can be profoundly unrealistic. With the extreme ups of interacting with fans, hearing your art in a completed form, the beauty & adventures of extensive traveling, etc., it can be a genuine challenge to maintain balance, especially when you're often severely drained of energy & resources. If a musician or artist is already emotionally unstable in general, then it can be understandably difficult for them to keep an objective view of their world, and the darker voices in their heads - the ones that inspire & direct them to create the music that they do, but also lead down other dangerous avenues - begin to have a lot more sway. They start to see terrible answers as the best conclusions. Whether those answers are right or wrong to everyone else is purely relative from their viewpoint.

I'm one of the lucky ones, so far. I had the unbelievable fortune to travel several times with One-Eyed Doll, a band who had already been touring, completely self-sustained, for ~10 years when I joined them. They had a plethora of advice, guidance, experience, and tricks of the trade to impart, and they knew exactly how & when to ration it to me in such a way that I wasn't overloaded or confused. I'm entirely certain that they accumulated this knowledge through their own versions of the difficulties & trials mentioned above, the amount of which is not lost on me. They (and their other experienced crew members) are shockingly intelligent & adaptable, but were still prone to a constant onslaught of unfortunate circumstances on the road, which makes it all the more apparent just how capable you must be to keep a level head in the industry. It made me realize, as I think we all should, that the terminal decisions which many of our favorite artists choose, while we may not agree with them, make perfect sense to them and we should not fault them for it. Instead, we as fans & listeners should offer them as much support as we can in return for all that they have given to us. Praise them while they're here, write letters to them, buy their music & merch instead of leeching it from the internet, and be the loud boisterous (but not obnoxious) fan at their concerts shouting love to them at every opportunity. Make it seem *worth it* for them. They could be having a rotten day and wanting nothing more than to give up, and you could help save them from that. We must also accept that we may not be able to save them from themselves. When it all boils down to it, they're the same as every other group of people, the same as us. All we can do is cherish them and try to make them feel as good as they make us feel. You never know what impact you might have.