#it’s a wonderful tiny toons christmas

[punster-2319]

A little late, but as of yesterday (December 6th) it’s been 30 years since Tiny Toon Adventures ended its initial run with the Christmas-themed episode “It’s a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas”.

[skullislandproductions]

Babs, Buster and a sled named Rosebud whoosh down the snow covered hillside, on this production cel, from a scene I animated for, the opening of “It’s a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special” 1992. 

[acmeoop]

Melted “It’s A Wonderful Tiny Toon Christmas Special” (1992)

[deimonspikelet777]

Song covers by Bugs Bunny's voice AI.

Disclaimer: it's no more than the experiment in style "What if?..." and there is no evil thought about bullying over cartoon idol and his voice actors.

Although, I believe, that nobody will read it and everyone will accuse me of mocking the toon, as it was on DeviantArt in the case between Krypto451 and Anti-LU. Am I correct?

You can criticize me for using voice AI and inappropriate songs to cover, but without trolling or sarcasm. I'm already fed up with them. And yeah - I WON'T DELETE IT.

There is list:

Robbie Williams - Only you know me

Michael Jackson - Bad

Eminem - Without me

Thousand Foot Krutch - War of Change

Sean Paul - Get Busy

Linkin Park - One More Light

Static-X - The Only

Adema - Immortal

Lostprophets - Ride

F.R. Davis - Words

Wham! - Last Christmas

Баста - Раз и навсегда

Will Smith - Men In Black

Essenger - Half Life (#1)

Essenger - Half Life (#2)

Jah Khalib - Порвано Платье

The Prodigy - Diesel Power

Scandroid - Datastream

Daft Punk - One More Time

Daft Punk - Digital Love

Celldweller - One Good Reason

The Qemists - Our world

Дискотека Авария - Планета Любовь

Last Fighter - Morlock

Last Fighter - Awake and Unite

Юрий Шатунов - Белые розы

Moby - One Time We Lived

Poets of the Fall - Carnival of Rust

Сергей Минаев - Сиреневый кадиллак

Дима Билан - Держи

Eгор Крид - Слеза

Джокер - Магия

Gayazovs Brothers - Малиновая Лада

Smash Mouth - Everyday Superhero

Starset - The Future Is Now

Linkin Park - Breaking the habit

Пицца - Человек из зеркала (orchestra edit)

Enigma - Why

Modern Talking - Geronimo's Cadillac

Gary Jules - Mad world

Glee cast - Scream (Michael Jackson cover) (#1)

Glee cast - Scream (Michael Jackson cover) (#2)

Cee Lo Green - I want you

Наутилус помпилус - Матерь богов

Борис Моисеев - Звездочка (#1)

Борис Моисеев - Звездочка (#2)

Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes

DJ Slon - Бумер

Nirvana - Come as you are

Dub FX - Made

John Newman - Fire in me

Эндшпиль - Под одним солнцем

Чиж - Фантом

The Police - Every breath you take

Plazma - Take my love

Thomas Anders - Geronimo's Cadillac

Modern Talking - In my heart, in my soul

The Rasmus - In the shadows

Limp Bizkit - Behind Blue Eyes (russian cover by CoverOK)

P.S.: When I converted the singers' voices to AI voices and listened to them later, I wondered: why didn't the voice actors try to sing the songs with toon voices, like they did in the old Tiny Toon Adventures, but not then, but now, in the 2030s? I won't be surprised, if someone of Bugs Bunny's fans would want to his idol would sing something from 80s for returning of nostalgia.

[animaniacsartmuseum]

General Tags, a-h

#aged down or #younger- Art where characters are shown to be younger than their usual, canon age. Character-specific: #young yakko, #young wakko, #young dot

#aged up- Art where characters are depicted as being older than their usual, canon ages. Character-specific: #older yakko, #older wakko, #older dot, etc.

#alternate clothing- Art where characters wear clothing that differs from their usual, canon outfits. Can be anything from a small subtle change, like Wakko wearing his hat forwards instead of backwards, to total outfit changes.

#alternate universe or #au- Art featuring Animaniacs characters in an alternate setting than the canon Animaniacs universe, usually consisting of multiple different posts from the same artist all taking place in the same alternate universe.

#animaniacs- Not really sure what use this tag has, it just felt right to tag posts with it.

#ask- Post that was originally an ask, where the author posts art in response to an ask, or fulfills a request from an ask. Art from pure ask accounts is not usually reblogged here, unless it's of an exceptionally high quality. (That art is wonderful and just as valuable as the art posted here, but there is a high volume of it, it can often require a bit of outside context to understand, and it's already relatively easy to find and access, so it doesn't really fit what I'm trying to highlight here. I may change my mind in the future. If you want to see art from those accounts, it is easy to go to their page and simply scroll through it.)

#angst- Art that's angsty, that contains characters seeming worried, upset, anxious with the world, or just generally upset

#animated- Art that is animated in some form. Could be a gif or a video, and could be anything from a few frames to a full fluid animation.

#animatic- Animation where characters are drawn acting out an underlying track from another source. For example, a character singing a song that's not from Animaniacs, or characters being shown acting out a non-Animaniacs movie scene with audio from the original movie.

#anime- Art where characters are drawn in an anime style, or shown interacting with anime characters/concepts

#animeniacs- Art featuring the anime versions of the Warner siblings from reboot season 1. Character-specific: #anime yakko, #anime wakko, #anime dot

#arson- Art featuring people or objects on fire, or a fire deliberately started by a character

#baby- Art featuring baby versions of characters. Character-specific: #baby dot, #baby pesto, #baby squit, #baby bobby

#brinky or #pinky x brain- Art featuring a romantic relationship between Pinky and The Brain

#christmas- Art featuring Christmas imagery, themes, or stories

#clothes swap- Art where a character wears the clothes of another character

#clowns- Art featuring clowns or characters drawn as clowns, usually in relation to Wakko's fear of clowns

#comic- Art that tells a story through multiple panels. Does not necessarily have to have multiple pages. Generally, art must have more than three panels to be tagged as a comic, though I'm not entirely consistent with this and consider it on a case-by-case basis. All "comic-type" stories are tagged with "#story", regardless of the number of panels or how comic-like it is. Comics that have multiple pages over multiple posts will be tagged with a single, unique, common tag, usually the title of the comic if it has one.

#crossover- Art that features non-Animaniacs characters. Art will usually also be tagged with specific tags about the crossed-over property and characters, so a post with Disney characters would be tagged "#disney" and a post with Mickey Mouse would be tagged "#mickey mouse". Common crossovers: #disney, #looney tunes, #bendy and the ink machine, #sam and max, #tiny toons, #betty boop

#crying- Art where a character is shown to be crying (usually requires the direct presence of tears). Does not necessarily have to be a genuine, sad cry.

#cute warners- Art featuring the Warners in their cute/chibi style from reboot season 1. Character-specific: #cute yakko, #cute wakko, #cute dot, #cute pinky, #cute brain

#dancing- Art where characters dance

#dialogue- Art where characters talk to other characters. Does not count art where the character is talking to the audience or just saying something to no one in specific

#different age- Art where characters are shown at a different age than their usual, canon ages

#dog wakko- Art where Wakko acts like a dog or exhibits dog-like traits

#drug use- Art where characters are shown using drugs, including legal drugs like alcohol and tobacco

#edit- Art that partially consists of an edit, for example, art of a character being inserted into a meme, screenshot, or real-life location that was not drawn by the artist. Pure edits, where no part of the image is an original drawing by the artist, are not posted here.

#family- Art about family themes. Usually applied to art where the Warners have a family besides each other, or talk about such things.

#family kiss- Art featuring a character kissing someone from their family, in a non-romantic way.

#fancy pants wakko- Art showing Wakko in his fancy pants

#front-facing hat wakko- Art where Wakko wears his hat forwards instead of backwards

#gag bag- Art featuring Wakko's gag bag

#ghost of christmas future/present/past- Art featuring the Warners specifically in their A Christmas Carol forms from the original show: #ghost of christmas future, #ghost of christmas present, #ghost of christmas past

#gif- Animation in the form of a gif (not a video, plays automatically, loops, doesn't have sound)

#gloveless- Art showing a character that usually wears gloves without gloves

#god warners- Art featuring the Warners as Olympian gods from reboot season 1

#hand drawn- Art that is drawn traditionally on paper in the real world. It is sometimes hard to tell with my untrained eye whether art is digital or hand drawn when the image is zoomed into the paper, so this tag is admittedly not very accurate or thorough.

#hatless wakko- Art that shows Wakko without his hat, even if only briefly

#horror- Art meant to be scary or art containing horror themes

#hug- Art where a character hugs another, can be platonic or romantic

#human- Art that depicts normally non-human characters as humans. Character-specific: #human warners, #human pinky and the brain, #human goodfeathers

#hypoglycemia- Art about hypoglycemia, pretty much all related to Wakko

Tags i-z

[termiteterraceclub]

Termite Terrace Club - December 6th

1930 - Big Man from the North - Dir. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising

1941 - Rhapsody in Rivets - Dir. Friz Freleng

1947 - Catch as Cats Can - Dir. Arthur Davis

1958 - Hip Hip-Hurry! - Dir. Chuck Jones

TV

1992 - Tiny Toon Adventures Season 3 (Season Finale): “It’s a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special”

1993 - Animaniacs Season 1: “A Christmas Plotz” / “Little Drummer Warners”.

[kahran042]

My list of crapisodes

First of all, know that these are all my opinion. Ones marked with asterisks are ones I haven't seen, but to paraphrase Huey Freeman, you don't have to see a lynching to know that they aren't funny.

AMERICAN DAD!

Big Trouble in Little Langley

Gorillas in the Mist

Minstrel Krampus

Tapped Out

ARCHER

White Elephant

A Kiss While Dying

A Debt of Honor

House Call

Southbound and Down

Baby Shower

Smugglers' Blues

The Rules of Extraction

On The Carpet

Palace Intrigue: Part I

Palace Intrigue: Part II

Filibuster

Arrival/Departure

ARTHUR

Francine and the Feline

Arthur's Big Hit

Sue Ellen Chickens Out

The Secret Origin of Supernova

FAMILY GUY

Wild Wild West

Family Cat

FOSTER'S HOME FOR IMAGINARY FRIENDS

The Little Peas

FUTURAMA

Amazon Women in the Mood

KING OF THE HILL

Plastic White Female

Husky Bobby

Junkie Business

*Three Coaches and a Bobby

Bills Are Made to Be Broken

Movin' On Up

What Makes Bobby Run?

'Twas the Nut Before Christmas

Bobby Goes Nuts

Joust Like a Woman

Get Your Freak Off

Full Metal Dust Jacket

The Witches of East Arlen

Reborn to Be Wild

That's What She Said

Hank's Back

*The Petriot Act

Redcorn Gambles with His Future

Harlottown

Business Is Picking Up

Hank's Bully

*serPUNt

Lady and Gentrification

Lost in MySpace

Bad News Bill

*Uh-oh, Canada

*The Boy Can't Help It

MY-HIME

Mischief of the Wind

OURAN HIGH SCHOOL HOST CLUB

A Challenge from Lobelia Girls' Academy!

RECESS

Kindergarten Derby

ROZEN MAIDEN

The Stairway

SOUTH PARK

Chinpokomon

Timmy 2000

Red Hot Catholic Love

Raisins

Stupid Spoiled Whore Video Playset

Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina

Cartoon Wars Part I

*Cartoon Wars Part II

Tsst

*Go God Go

*Go God Go XII

The Ungroundable

City Sushi

*Ass Burgers

*The Poor Kid

Cash for Gold

Raising the Bar

You're Not Yelping

Member Berries

Skank Hunt

*The Damned

*Wieners Out

*Douche and a Danish

*Fort Collins

*Oh, Jeez

*Members Only

*Not Funny

*The End of Serialization as We Know It

*Help, My Teenager Hates Me!

STAR OCEAN EX

Stampede

THE CLEVELAND SHOW

Cleveland Jr.'s Cherry Bomb

Wide World of Cleveland Show

Pins, Spins and Fins…

THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS

The Boy Who Would Be Queen

Twistory

THE SIMPSONS

Two Cars in Every Garage, Three Eyes on Every Fish

Homer vs. Lisa and the 8th Commandment

Homer the Heretic

Lisa the Vegetarian

Lisa the Iconoclast

My Sister, My Sitter

Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment

The Cartridge Family

Lisa the Skeptic

Miracle on Evergreen Terrace

Lisa, the Simpson

Lisa Gets An “A”

Wild Barts Can’t Be Broken

They Saved Lisa’s Brain

Treehouse of Horror X

E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)

Eight Misbehavin’

Little Big Mom

Missionary: Impossible

Kill the Alligator and Run

Behind the Laughter

Lisa the Tree Hugger

The Computer Wore Menace Shoes

She of Little Faith

Sweets and Sour Marge

Pray Anything

A Star is Born-Again

‘Scuse Me While I Miss the Sky

Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays

Margical History Tour

Smart and Smarter

Catch ‘Em If You Can

Bart-Mangled Banner

On A Clear Day I Can't See My Sister

Girls Just Want To Have Sums

*The Great Wife Hope

The Day the Earth Stood Cool

Homerland

Opposites A-Frack

Peeping Mom

TINY TOON ADVENTURES

Going Places

*Elephant Issues

YES! PRECURE 5

Komachi Quits Being A Novelist!?

Coco's Big Healthy Plan!

BTW, if you're wondering why there are so many Simpsons episodes, it's because this list was originally just a list of Simpsons episodes I hated. And if you're wondering why fellow long-runner Family Guy has so few, it's because I cut it some slack for a long time due to it being the internet reviewing community's whipping boy.

[cinematicwasteland]

[sidetable-drawer]

Thoughts on every season of Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends:

Season 1 - Great introductory season. The show’s still coming into its’ own but it started out amazing with “House of Bloo’s”. That pilot movie alone was enough to let you know “oh yeah, this show is gonna be special” (I remember our local newspaper having articles about it- the day after it premiered, I remember my mom putting the front of the entertainment section in front of my cereal bowl...Foster’s was THE main story!) One of the most amusing things about it looking back are how different some of the voices are- same voice actors, but you have Bloo with a lower and more relaxed voice and Mac with a higher, more childlike one (I prefer how Bloo sounded in the earlier episodes, meanwhile I’m a little more used to how Mac would sound later on). Also I miss the “nicer” Bloo from the first season!

Season 2 - Season 1 was really good but this is when the show REALLY started to shine. Some of my favorite episodes came from this season. We were introduced to Cheese, Mac’s sugar condition, and “Orlando Bloo”. Bloo’s voice got higher and midway through the season, Mac’s voice broke. I think this might just be my favorite season of the show overall. And “The Sweet Stench of Success” is probably my all-time favorite episode of the entire series. It just has that perfect balance of humor and emotional moments that won me over in the pilot movie.

Season 3 - While still with some good episodes, this might have been the weakest season overall. While some good episodes premiered this season, the best one probably being “A Lost Claus” (which is still one of my favorite Christmas specials in general), this was also the season with some of the worst and most mean-spirited episodes of the show, like “Imposter’s Home for Um...Make ‘Em Up Pals” and “Foster’s Goes to Europe”. Even episodes that I did kinda enjoy had at least something that brought them down, like “Duchess of Wails” having a crappy ending despite having a lot of parts I liked, and “Go Goo Go” had that annoying part over everyone thinking Goo and Mac were an item, much to Mac’s annoyance, and then them blaming him for Goo continuously coming over...yeah, Goo’s a wonderful character but I really wish her introduction episode was handled a little better. Not a terrible season, but there was a much more mean-spirited streak to it that didn’t feel right.

Season 4 - Much better than season 3 with some REALLY iconic episodes coming from this season, such as “Squeeze the Day” and “Good Wilt Hunting”. Also it was nice to see Goo again since she didn’t appear for the rest of S3 after “Go Goo Go”. If anything brought it down though, it was “I Only Have Surprise for You”- like how Frankie was treated horribly for all of “Imposter’s Home for Um...Make ‘Em Up Pals”, this one does the same to Mac, and it’s just painful to watch (especially since Mac is one of those characters I tend to get kinda maternal over- he’s just so sweet but goes through so much). The whole thing felt like one of those later season Fairly OddParents episodes where everyone, even the nicer characters, are just assholes for no reason. BUT the good episodes outweighed that one and “Good Wilt Hunting”, which concluded the season, might be THE most emotional thing to come out of the series. And yes, this is the season that brought us “It’s hot in Topeka”, which is one of the most iconic moments in any Cartoon Network show. On another note...one of the strangest things to come out of this season was probably “Emancipation Complication”, where a pen that looks like Abe Lincoln and his crony sell all the imaginary friends into jobs so he can turn the house into a casino. And there’s a big musical number which, while kinda fun, isn’t something Foster’s tends to do at all. The wackier tone of the episode almost felt like something out of Tiny Toon Adventures. It’s...something.

Season 5 - Another favorite season of mine! An interesting thing about it is that it puts a lot of focus especially on Mac and Bloo and their friendship. Most of the season unfortunately put Wilt, Eduardo, and Coco on the sidelines, but they had a bigger focus in some of the season’s later episodes. I love “band episodes”, so “Schlock Star” is one of my personal favorites (”Talk to the Jeans” is still an amazing song). Mac and Bloo’s friendship is one of my favorite things about the show and I could analyze the two to hell and back, so I loved how “The Bride to Beat” and “Affair Weather Friends” showed more of Bloo’s fear of Mac outgrowing him in the former and Mac’s fear of Bloo ditching him for another kid in the latter (specifically, Mac imagining Bloo saying “I’m TIRED OF YOU!” to him was pretty heartbreaking). Another great episode was “The Bloo Superdude and the Magic Potato of Power!”, which my friends and I quoted constantly after it aired. “The Buck Swaps Here” was also pretty fun and felt like one of the earlier episodes in the best way possible. “The Little Peas” was a letdown though- while not one of the WORST episodes, it did end up ruining the end of “The Big Cheese” (of which the episode is a POV switch to Peas, an imaginary friend who was never seen before this one). After the 2006 all-day Foster’s marathon on Thanksgiving Day led up to “Good Wilt Hunting” and 2008′s Thanksgiving CN marathon (which was the only time a new episode premiered on the holiday that wasn’t preceded by a marathon of the show) led up to “Destination Imagination”, this was...underwhelming. Oh well.

Season 6 - One thing I remember the most about S6 was how Cartoon Network REALLY screwed with the show around this time. After “Race for Your Life, Mac and Bloo”, the show was taken off the schedule for months, with some episodes only showing up for holiday airings (”Nightmare on Wilson Way” for Halloween, “A Lost Claus” for Christmas, and “Setting a President” for Election Day 2008) and then “Destination Imagination” premiering on Thanksgiving (speaking of which, this was the season where THAT Macy’s performance took place. You know the one). And then finally burning the final five episodes off in a marathon on a Sunday in May (which fortunately, they DID advertise), before the show was unceremoniously removed and replaced with horrible live-action shows. And how “Race for Your Life, Mac and Bloo” actually had the viewers vote on the CN site for the outcome of the race with two endings animated for it- I voted for Mac (surprise, surprise), expected Bloo to win since he’s more popular especially with CN’s main audience, and was really excited when Mac won (Bloo’s ending would later be shown on the CN site). Other than that, this season was mostly just...okay. Some really funny episodes here and there like “Jackie Khones and the Case of the Overdue Library Crook” and “Race for Your Life, Mac and Bloo”, and “Destination Imagination” was an absolutely amazing movie that might have been the darkest and most intense we’ve seen the show (when 12-year-old me saw the “TV-PG” rating in the corner of a show that was normally Y7...that’s when you knew shit was getting real), most of the season just didn’t really “stand out” as much and felt like the “spark” might have been going. For a finale, “Goodbye to Bloo” I’m pretty mixed on. While I feel like a show like this could’ve done something bigger with a little more drama (since the show handles emotional episodes really well)...it does at least leave the door open for a continuation (and if if ever did, CN needs to hire Craig McCracken and Lauren Faust back because I don’t want a repeat of PPG 2016). And that very last shot of the house erasing itself (being the intro in reverse) and the “Thanks for watching!” drawing during the credits...13-year-old me was not okay for a while and I don’t think she recovered. Especially since a very dark period of CN followed...fortunately Adventure Time premiered the next year.

[themasteroffan]

Bunnies kissing

Happy Valentine's Day

Pictures from Tiny Toons episodes: episode 1, The Looney Beginning episodes 41, Buster's Guide to Dating episode 74, Lame Joke episode 98, It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special © Warner Bros owns Tiny Toons

[punster-2319]

Top 10 Favorite Tiny Toon Adventures Episodes/Segments

1. Tiny Toon Music Television (s1, e51)

2. Ruffled Ruffee/Loon Lake (s3, e14)

3. It’s a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special (s3, e20)

4. Thirteensomething (s3, e1)

5. Stand-Up and Deliver (s2, e9)

6. The Return of Batduck (s3, e6)

7. Two-Tone Town (s3, e9)

8. Take Elmyra Please (s2, e13)

9. Hollywood Plucky (s1, e7)

10. K-ACME TV (s1, e64)

Honorable mentions: Tiny Toon Adventures: How I Spent My Vacation and Night Ghoulery

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR FAVORITE EPISODES OF TINY TOON ADVENTURES?

[popculturebuffet]

Animaniacs: King Yakko Review (Comission by BlahDiddy)

Hello my beautiful technicolor rainbow! It’s time for Animaniacs, and while there is no balonga in my slacks there is one last christmas review for my friend to finish up, and after two visits to Acme Lab for the spinoff we’re finishing up with a look at Animaniacs proper.  Suprisingly for a show that stands so easily on it’s own it’s existance is entirely thanks to another show: Tiny Toon Adventures, which had largely the same staff, including ep and co-creator stephen speilberg and Todd Ruegger, who was brought aboard from A Pup Named Scooby Doo. Since TIny Toon was a colossal hit with tons of awards and merch, including some very good video games I wish Warner would find a way to re-release, I mean.. come on if disney can rerelease the disney afternoon games (If...not..for..switch), and LIon King and Aladdin games (If somehow FOR switch), then Warner, which has it’s own game stuido no less, can put together a collection of the good Tiny Toons games when the new show comes out soon. 

Point is it was a mass sucess and Warner Bros likes money, so they had Speilberg try to get Rutger to come up with another show for the two of them to do, something with name value. Rutger found his inpsiration when seeing the iconic warner water tower and taking some platypus characters, came up with our heroes and the rest is history.. well okay he retooled them from plataups’ to early looney tunes and other toons style characters minus the racisim of say bosko the tall ink kid but still, the rest after that is history. And the rest of this review is after the cut

The show was, and KINDA still is, a variety show: taking a page from looney tunes, as well as tex avery’s other work, the crew decided rather than just focus on the warners, to instead create a whole cast with various ensembles to work with so we got Pinky and the Brain, The Goodfeathers, Rita and Runt,  the Hip HIppos, Katie Kaboom, Chicken Boo, and my personal faviorite Slappy Squirrel.. and the bane of my existance, Buttons and Mindy.. or rather Mindy’s Mom. The kid did nothing wrong.  So naturally the first thing Animaniacs related I cover.. is an episode entirely breaking from format for one 20 something minute Warners cartoon. I do intend to do more animanics stuff in the future, so i’ll hopefully get a chance to talk about everyone, I just feel unlike with say house of mouse most people reading this probably know who they all are, and I can save any deep dives for if I cover the characters specifically. Spoilers: there’s probably never going to be a buttons and mindy deep dive unless someone tourtues me by paying for it. 

So with that out of the way, we can dive into the episode.. which I won’t be covering in my usual recap it point by point because the writers have freely admitted that’s not what Animaniacs is about. While some of i’ts SEGMENTS are more story based like Pinky and the Brain, Goodfeathers and Rita and Runt, most are just based on simple set ups to reams and reams of gags. And I love it. I grew up with this stuff not just Tiny Tunes and Animaniacs but the classic Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry and Droopy shorts. 

Their well timed, well executed feats of comedy and most have aged pretty well.. emphasis on MOST. I’m keenly aware why there are several gaps in the shorts for both Tom and Jerry and The Looney Tunes on HBO Max, including all of the Pepe LePew and Speedy Gonzalez shorts. Also all of Droopy is missing. 

My grumblin aside though, it is VERY NICE to have all the classic Warner and Tom and Jerry shorts at my fingertips and it was one of the biggest selling points of Max for me. Last year I gained an intrest in the old disney theatrical shorts, hence my various birthday specials, so I BADLY wanted to revisit the theatrical shorts I grew up with. And honestly.. Max is the best way to do that: their in crisp hd, in neat season collections (Though the Looney Tunes one is better sorted, tom and jerry’s seasons are just.. random smatterings of shorts across various eras), and most importantly EVERY SHORT they felt comfortable with putting up there is on there. Every. Single. One.  I make a big deal about this because Disney.. has only maybe 30-40 of their hundreds of shorts on there. Now lucky for me the vast majority are still on youtube and I get why some really arne’t suitable.. we probably don’t need the donald duck short where he prepares to shoot a penguin in the face or the Goofy short where his own reflection, the goofy equilvent of tyler durden I guess?, keeps saying “Hey Fat” to him. And yes BOTH of these actually happened. But.. there’s MANY shorts with no clear excuse why their absent like the triplets first apperance, gus’ only apperance, and one a friend told me about.. that time mickey built a robot to box a gorillia. Again not making this up, just wondering why you can’t restore the rest of these for plus. They’ve ADDED shorts ocasionally, but it still dosen’t make a whole lot of sense to just.. not have them all up there. and to not put them in some sorta collection for easier consumption but hey it’s Disney. They either full ass things or half ass it. There is no middle ground.  Point is Warner.. actually cares about their heritage in shorts and honors it and thus has everything avaliable in the best quality, so tha’ts nice.

My point after that detour is I really love this kind of humor, and now as an adult I can see the effort the timing, pacing and character chemistry these shorts had takes. And Rugger and co.. they got it. They got it down perfect. And this episode is a great show of that and just how they barely updated this format for the 90′s. But as I said it’s more about the jokes and basic setup, our heroes are slotted into x scenario and just left to run wild. It’s been the basic seutp for looney tunes, tom and jerry and all the gag based greats, and it works perfectly here. Sure there’s some setting and continuity with the warner lot, scratch n sniff, ralph, plotz and in the reboot Rita, but it’s mostly just our heroes go up against “X asshole” and it just works. 

And that’s.. entirley what this episode is. The short is an homage to the graucho marx film Duck Soup, which given the warners were based on the marx brothers that isn’t a huge suprise, a film like brian’s song I have not seen, but genuinely want to. The basic setup is the same: An underqualified womanizer, though since htis is Yakko it dosen’t get past hitting on his chancelor, played by hello nurse, constantly, which is still.. ewwwww... but clearly not the same thing, becomes king of a small nation and ends up at war with another country. There were spies and other stuff in the original short but that was left out to streamline things.  But this homage stands on it’s own fine: The basic plot is this: Yakko, due to being a distant relative and the last one alive, becomes king of the small happy and very musical, as the wonderful opening number shows, country of Anvilania, which makes anvils and why yes there is one MASSIVE anvil gag as a result at the end. Yakko says he’ll try his best and geninely tries to with the shenanigans you’d expect, including Dot not gettnig Polka Dot’s are a thing and instead taknig any mention of it as a sign to polka, Yakko again hitting on his colleague and wanting ot get a new anthem because the current one by “Perry Coma’ puts people to sleep. Honeslty that gag didn’t do it for me: Partly because I genuinely know next to nothing about Como and he’s far past my generation.. and because despite this, SCTV did a MUCH better Perry Como gag over a decade before this episode that while still left me baffled as to why anyone cared about mocking him, was 80 times funnier and felt far less like you needed to know who he was to be funny. 

That being said it’s one of only three running gags, and jokes period that didn’t land for me. The other ones being the hello nurse bits, because it’s aged really badly to have Yakko harass one of his employees and his age is hte only thing that keeps it from scuttling the episode as he’s just 13 or 14. Maybe 15. 

So SO glad I now have that on hand whenever i need it. The other being the “Your highness” joke as it just.. dosen’t make much sense and isn’t very funny. But that’s it: a refrence i specfically don’t get and I doubt most of you will, and if you do fine we all have our frames of refrences, a joke that’s dated very poorly, and one that just.. didn’t land. And even then the Perry Coma thing’s third use to knock out the opposing army DID work for me as did the VERY clever joke of “Sire” “Maybe later”, so even the weaker bits still had some legs.  But getting back to what little plot there is the king of the rival country, upon hearing this, assumes he can easily intimidate a child into giving him the throne and goes to a royal reception. Instead, as you’d expect, the Warners mistake him for a party clown, show him no respect and fail to take his delcration of war seriously, and while in a REALLY great gag, and the reason i’m not doing a strict summary is 90% of the review would be me saying something to that effect, Yakkos’ call to action for his troops ends up having them all run off in fear, the Warners take out the army as noted above and then in one of the most GLORIOUS climaxes in the series history...

 In which the Warners give the bad guy “all the anvils” as he requested. I sadly coulnd’t find a clip of it but seek it out if you got hulu, my words can’t do it justice as they hit him with anvil after anvil in increasingly clever and insane ways till the guy finally gives up and it .. is glorious.  Other highlights not already mentioned include: The opening song, the bad guy dictator from the other nation not being able to hear because of his helmet and his attendee having to lift it, leading to Yakko taking off his helmet just to end the “what’ running gag, Yakko’s bit explaning his distant relation and more.  So yeah not a ton to say on this one. It’s a very good, very funny episode but also very typical of a warner cartoon in structure, just stretched over 22 or so minutes. As I said with few exceptions the jokes work, the anmation is crisp as always, and the climax is one of the series best. A crisp, quick watch and a nice quick review after a week of with some really tough ones behind me and ahead of me and a month of rather large ones a few weeks out. So yeah if you like animaniacs, even ifyou’ve seen this one worth a watch, if you have any more animaniacs you’d like me to take a look at feel free to comment or comission and until the next rainbow..

[acmeoop]

*Laugh Track “It's a Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special” (1992)

[pluto-art]

Pinky and the Brain - Animation Studios: An Essay

Howdy kids,

During production of Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and other shows, animation was outsourced to various studios -- TMS Entertainment in Japan, Wang Film Productions (also known as Cuckoo’s Nest) in Taiwan, and AKOM Productions in South Korea being a few. The quality, style, and fluidity of the animation varied per episode depending on who was given the work. The studios that had a hand in Pinky and the Brain, specifically, are as follows: - TMS Entertainment (Japan) - Wang Film Productions (Taiwan) - AKOM Productions (South Korea) - Rough Draft (South Korea)

For Pinky, Elmyra, and the Brain, only Wang and Rough Draft contributed. On the Pinky and the Brain segments in Animaniacs, StarToons (USA, Illinois) was also given work along with the other studios. For this essay, however, we shall only be reviewing the studios that worked on the Pinky and the Brain spin-off.

Although a post or two has gone around detailing the differences in studio styles (I give credit to @mx-sid-warner​ for creating one of these posts), I wanted to submit a more comprehensive list, complete with a plethora of screenshots for better comparison purposes. My apologies in advance for the low resolution of many of the images. Had to work with what was available to me.

- TMS Entertainment (Japan) -

• Expressive, bouncy, fluid

TMS is undeniably one of the best, if not the best, studio that Warner Bros. turned to for outsourcing work, as they provided the most dynamic animation, shots, and expressions. Oftentimes, they would push the characters to their limit when it came to squash and stretch, compromising keeping them on-model for impactful poses. They were a “no holds barred” company and have stood the test of time, still churning out animation to this day.

Going for a cuter, goofier look, TMS didn’t always draw Pinky on-model, but it didn’t matter... ‘cause he looks so darn adorable in their style:

With Brain, TMS always ensured that his large cranium was kept as such, and, as with Pinky, they weren’t afraid to eschew correct proportions for the sake of making a character really ‘pop’ emotionally.

Depending on what worked better emotionally, they’d either set Brain’s eyes further apart or bring them really close in.

When it came to squash and stretch, TMS were masters at their craft. The following screen shots are from the short Brain Meets Brawn.

They didn’t have to animate him swallowing the potion like that, but they freakin’ did, and it’s much more impactful as a result. Even the thimble is pliable. I really like this angle and background, as well. It was probably done by an artist at the Burbank studio instead of at TMS, but it’s still worth pointing out.

Extreme stretches to emphasize the character’s current emotional state. They pushed that neck and held it, helping you feel the moment.

Another fun bit is when he turns into a rather beastly state after having drunk a potion that turns him into a Mr. Hyde version of himself:

These are some GREAT poses -- very bold, fun, and hilarious.

TMS is also known for having worked on the Christmas special, which had some wonderful moments in which Brain confronts his sentimental side:

Bonus screenshot ��cause, I dunno, I like this shot:

Even these images don’t quite do TMS justice. They’re my favorite in regards to animation for just how bouncy and expressive it gets. It’s a good example of how veering way off model can work in your favor if done correctly.

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- Wang Film Productions (Taiwan) -

• Cute, sentimental, pliable

Although not as risk-taking as TMS when it came to animation, Wang is my absolute favorite of the studios for one thing alone: style. I can’t describe how they draw these characters as anything other than adorable, and when drawing Pinky and Brain myself I tend to take a leaf out of Wang’s book in particular.

Instead of following the standard when drawing Brain’s skull, they opted instead for a softer, cuter touch, slimming down his cranium a little and giving him a more pronounced forehead that gave him a sweeter, “babier” look.

Pinky gets a similar treatment, keeping his proportions cute, albeit more solidified:

Like TMS, Wang had a penchant for strong, palpable emotions in their work, and seemed to have a blast portraying everything from fear to smarminess:

Wang kept the proportions of the characters more petite, with their heads and limbs closer to their bodies. They would stretch them now and again, albeit not as often as TMS would, and the characters were given a lot of leeway and pliability in regards to expressions. They also seemed to have been given the more saccharine episodes that pushed the relationship between the characters and that explored the more tender sides of themselves -- episodes such as The Pink Candidate, This Old Mouse, Megalomaniacs Anonymous, Brain’s Night Off, and Broadway Malady.

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- AKOM Productions (South Korea) -

• Minimalist, direct, metamorphose

AKOM is... interesting. They are altogether simple in their performances of the characters, keeping the animation fairly direct and unmalleable, while at the same time being somewhat metamorphose in style. They seem to have had a difficult time sticking to a specific design, with the characters ranging in size and shape from short-to-short and sometimes even within one episode:

Brain is generally given a head quite a bit larger than his body (this is standard, of course, but as opposed to TMS and Wang, AKOM pushes it even further; it’s almost bobble head-ish at times), along with a more pug-nosed look and eyes set farther apart:

Pinky varies, going anywhere from his general form and big-nosed profile...

... to a literal pixie:

Occasionally, you get a cute pose that has a nice little spurt of emotion in it, but, generally, Brain is kept very straight-faced and dull against Pinky’s boisterous demeanor.

AKOM is known for animating the Brinky episode, which featured Brain and Pinky’s son/clone, Romy. I’ll give them credit in that there are some sweet Romy poses to be found throughout the episode:

That being said, I do wish that they’d pushed the emotional element more. Take this shot from The Maze, for instance:

Had TMS or Wang been in charge, we probably would have gotten much more dynamic expressions here. Not that these are bad, but they could have been pushed more than this.

AKOM is by no means the worst, but they’re not the best either.

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- Rough Draft (South Korea) -

• On-model, solid, sketchy (occasionally)

Of the four studios involved in the Pinky and the Brain show, the one that kept the characters most on-model was probably Rough Draft. They were somewhat conservative when utilizing squashes and stretches, rarely deviating from the model sheet and pushing the characters only so far animation-wise. While this resulting in stiffer performances, particularly in regards to Brain, they didn’t deprive their audience of cute expressions either.

The following screenshots are from Two Mice and a Baby, It’s Only a Paper World, and Pinky at the Bat.

Rough Draft harbored a couple of cute little ticks that, while not necessarily unique to them, tended to show up in their work.

One is that, when Brain was ruffled, they’d appropriately ruff up his fur, as well:

It’s a cute look that I wish had been put into play more often.

Another is what I call the “squirrel paws” pose, in which Pinky brings his hands up to his chest like a squirrel would do. They did this a lot, and it’s adorable:

When it comes to squashes and stretches, Rough Draft certainly didn’t take advantage of it as much as TMS or even Wang did, but the poses would still be expressive:

Animation-wise, Rough Draft kept it limited, but sweet and very on-model.

-------

So what’s the tally? That’s entirely up to you. Everyone is going to have their own, personal preference, depending on which style they favor. Speaking for myself, TMS is, in my opinion, the best studio overall, but Wang remains my favorite for how charming their drawings of Brain were and how emotive their facial expressions would get. Here’s my final ranking in terms of skill:

TMS: 10/10 Wang: 9/10 AKOM: 6/10 Rough Draft: 7/10

How about you? Which studio is your favorite?

-------

Episodes shown:

A Pinky and the Brain Christmas (TMS) Brain Meets Brawn (TMS) Megalomaniacs Anonymous (Wang) This Old Mouse (Wang) Fly (AKOM) The Maze (AKOM) Brinky (AKOM) Two Mice and a Baby (Rough Draft) It’s Only a Paper World (Rough Draft) Pinky at the Bat (Rough Draft)

[rockmiyabideusexmachina]

My cels are tiny, they’re toony, they’re all a little looney...

Finally added a pair of Tiny Toon Adventures cels to my collection. These come from the Season 3 episode, It’s A Wonderful Tiny Toons Christmas Special.

After a series of changes and mishaps to their Primetime Holiday Spectacular stage rehearsal, a dejected Buster finally gives in to let Plucky have his sketch go forward. 

Both from the same scene, just not at the exact same moment. First, Buster’s cap, as he sighs and says, “You’re on, Little Drummer Duck.”:

To a few second later, where the awesome exaggerated stars are in Plucky’s eyes, knowing he’s finally getting his big break...with William Shatner:

Scanned from: My Production Art Stash

[tiny-smallest]

day one - cake

Rating: G  Characters: Henry, Alice via text Warnings: none Description: Henry acts on a personal belief that birthdays are sacred and tries something new: to bake a cake for Bendy’s second birthday since the studio now that he can afford to do that.

But can he get past his own anxieties at making the perfect cake?

Also on AO3!

----

Birthdays were a big deal.

Most people would agree with that but Henry felt something especially... emotional about birthdays he wasn't sure was normal for other people. There was something about the gesture of celebration for another year of life that was special. Big. Important. Something that deserved attention and very particular care and attention to detail.

He remembered, once, his mother teaching him how to wrap presents- his father's birthday was the next morning and she'd only found the gift she'd wanted for him that day, or something like that. He'd come to see what she was doing in her garden shed so late at night and found her wrapping, and rather than shoo him to bed she smiled at him and asked if he wanted to do a big boy thing, but he'd have to keep a secret.

There were precious few memories of such moments left but he did remember the conspiratorial whispers, the feeling of the heavy paper against his little hands, and the fact that her eyes had been twinkling more than he remembered an image of that fact. She put him back to bed and kissed him goodnight after that.

In hindsight he was pretty sure he'd done an awful job but she didn't say anything about it.

Remembering that incident made the specific emotion he attached to birthdays feel ever more right. Birthdays were important. They celebrated lives- another year here, together, with the people you loved, growing and learning. Birthdays were love.

Everything had to be perfect.

It was with this thought that he rolled up his sleeves to bake his first cake.

Bendy's first birthday after the studio, after everything, was even bigger and more important to acknowledge than any year before, but they were drowning in poverty. Henry was a poor mechanic who made just enough money to live now suddenly with three more mouths to feed and the results were predictably disastrous despite his best efforts. Bendy's birthday passed with Henry out of the house from the crack of dawn until long after the sun had set, their only time for celebration the span of a couple hours after he returned home, where they ate rice for dinner and a tiny cake Henry bought on the way home that he couldn't afford but decided he could eat a little less in the coming days so he could provide it anyway.

But now, the following year, with the toons out in the open and their stage show so wildly successful, it was time to make up for that. For all the years Ben suffered alone in that nightmarish hellscape. For the years before that, as Joey shifted from the fun-loving, goofy caretaker to the monstrous puppetmaster they all knew him to be now.

He could buy a cake. A good cake. He could have his pick of any bakery in Spectrum City, even the fancy ones.

But none of those were good enough.

Henry was going to make Bendy a cake this year.

He kept the cookbook propped open against the wall as he surveyed the ingredients. Dark chocolate, check. Unsalted butter, check. Cocoa powder, milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, cake flower, sugar. Whipping cream. Check, check, infinite checks.

He grabbed the cutting board and laid the block of chocolate on it as he began to dice. It was a little more difficult than dicing vegetables, but not so much. He poured the diced chocolate into a bowl, which he set in a pot of near-boiling water and dumped the butter in after.

It didn't take long to melt but he still found himself watching anxiously. Calm down Henry. It's going to melt. That's how heat works.

Once it was becoming goop he went to stir it and froze.

For a moment the rich, dark brown was the void-black of Ink.

It wasn't until he heard the clatter of the wooden spoon hitting the tiles that he realized he'd dropped it. With a huff of derision he bent down and picked it up, knees screaming at him--that's what he got for spending so much time on his knees yesterday in the garden--and hesitating despite himself before turning lifting his head to look at the glass bowl.

Dark brown. Not black. Not Ink.

He sighed and went to stir before stopping. No, he dropped this on the floor. He had to wash it first. Shit. The chocolate needed to be stirred. If he left it any longer it'd melt unevenly or burn-

He cut the voice in his head off by lifting the bowl from the water. Shit. Shit shit shit. The recipe didn't say what to do if you were an idiot and dropped a spoon and-

He had other spoons.

Cursing himself quiet liberally now, careful to keep his voice quiet, he threw the spoon in the sink and grabbed another from the drawer, setting the bowl back and giving it a good stirring. The lumps smoothed themselves out soon enough. He was lucky he had more than one wooden spoon.

I've cooked a whole Christmas dinner but I'm all wigged out by one little cake? he groaned to himself as he pulled the bowl off to dump the cocoa powder in.

Well I was just as wigged out by the Christmas dinner. And Thanksgiving before it. And-

Ohmygodpleasestop.

He picked up his whisk and stirred the powder into the chocolate. Ben. Ben was the focus of today. Take it off of yourself. Think of your son.

Think of how absolutely fuck wild he's gonna be once he consumes this cake. Oh dear god this is so much chocolate.

The image of his face when he bit into this fudge was enough to make him snicker. Okay, we might need an exorcist, but at least it's gonna be funny before then.

He poured the milk in. Resumed stirring.

Ben should stay occupied with his siblings and friends until this got done. He hoped. Bendy was nothing if not the kind of person to upend any and all plans he came into contact with, knowingly or unknowingly. Alice and Boris were tasked with keeping him busy all day and he grinned at knowing what lengths they might've resorted to in order to keep his attention without attracting his suspicion. As long as it didn't involve property damage, it was all good.

But it'd probably involve pie. A lot of lemon meringue. Maybe a few dares and taunts. Definitely some very loud sound effects. Henry imagined if they ventured into non-toon areas that the humans would send him complaints about bike horns and car honks. Some would be about the noise. Others would be about what the noises meant.

Eggs. He set the whisk down and grabbed the carton of eggs, moving to another bowl and getting out the item that would help him separate the whites from the yolks. He set it up and cracked an egg into it, watching the whites drip through.

Hah. As if the fact that the language was censored via the noises meant nothing. Some people just lived to clutch their pearls. It was always the ones who didn't know how to have fun once in awhile.

But today was all about Bendy's fun, and Henry would have a few, choice, uncensored words if anyone actually ruined that, thank you very much.

Yolks and whites separated. He added the required amounts of sugar and vanilla extract into the bowl with the yolks and dumped them all into the chocolate batter, attacking it with his whisk.

It was too quiet. He pulled out his phone, dialed the volume up, picked music. "Nobody's home to bother with it," he said. His voice sounded strange in the empty kitchen, and maybe a bit uncomfortable, but he wasn't alone. "Well, I'm alone right now, but I'm not alone-alone."

Not anymore.

He returned to the whisk.

"This is good. This is going well. It's going to go just fine, and he's going to love it. I picked out red striped candles and I'm going to have to restrain myself from adding thirty of them as a joke because I don't know exactly what's going on with his aging but he's definitely not thirty and I don't want to waste all those candles even if watching him pout would be funny."

Silence.

"Also it means we'd have to pick them off the cake before anybody got any and that part wouldn't be very fun."

He'd stirred this long enough, right? Probably. He looked at the cookbook and felt a trill of panic run through him. Where was he again-!

Oh, right, there. "Cake flour."

Cake flour added, shaken through the strainer. "To get lumps out," Henry guessed as he scraped the bottom of the strainer with a clean spatula. He stirred the flour in.

"Okay. Egg whites next," he said as he grabbed the mixer. There was going to be so much shit to clean up. This wasn't even counting his birthday dinner-

Oh wait they were going out to eat for that. "Wonder what place he picked," he murmured as he turned the whisk on, watching the egg whites turn from clear to a sort of... yellow with bubbles in it.

"Is... is that right?"

You have no idea what you're doing. You're never going to make it as magical as you should; you never did, not with any of them, not with Harry or Sammy or Joey or the toons before Joey kicked-

"Shut up," he mumbled as he set the mixer down carefully near the sink and consulted the book so fast he almost gave himself whiplash. Okay. That was right. He added the sugar next.

The rest of this process was something of autopilot. Add some sugar, mixer. Add sugar, mixer. He stopped when all the sugar was added and the egg whites now looked like light and fluffy icing, which was the point of this whole thing.

He almost said 'I did it' and stopped. No, that was just asking for something to go wrong. Reel that thought in until later, when he was actually done.

He scooped the meringue into the bowl in two installments and mixed them carefully in. "There's something kind of nice in mixing. Something... methodical. Comforting. I kind of like this," he mused as he poured the batter into the paper-lined baking tin. "I'll like it more once I know I'm doing this right, though."

Oh no, now there was nothing to do but wait until it was done, huh. He set three timers before he was anywhere near satisfied and left the kitchen.

This was the worst part, he decided later when he dropped the pen he was doodling aimlessly with and ran for the oven. He discovered that was wrong when he realized he had yet more waiting to do, because it needed to be cooled and then chilled.

He checked his phone after putting the cake in the refrigerator. Still no texts. Was that a good thing? "Both of them would text me if something went wrong. One of them would remember- oh but if they've resorted to pie throwing maybe not..." Meringue and electronics didn't mix well.

Meringue. Mix. Hah.

He returned to the living room to doodle after setting another timer for twenty minutes. That should be long enough right?

It took way longer for this step than he would've liked but once it was done the last part was mercifully simple. Just take the last of the chocolate, melt it in a glass container with some whipping cream in the microwave, and pour it over.

His phone buzzed. His heart nearly leapt out of his throat as he pawed for it, nearly dropped the glass.

It was Alice.

I'd like to inform you Bendy is no longer the Great Pie Conqueror.

Henry snorted so hard he almost choked as his heart settled. He poured the chocolate over the cake as he typed with one thumb.

Will a cake console the dear general?

He may be too far gone. Give it to me instead. c:

Absolutely not, angel. :I

Worth a try.

It's not like you won't get some! That's how birthdays work.

This is true. But if your baking is half as good as your cooking, can you really blame me for wanting the whole thing?

His face went hot. You flatter me. ^^; 

You know me. I don't like liars.

A memory so sharp in its intensity it could cut him in two almost split the happy scene, but the phone buzzing against his hand pulled him back.

Also we're on our way home so soon I get to tell you in person over and over, until you die.

It took a moment before he realized the weak chuckle in the room was his. No fair. That's going to turn into a three v one and you know it.

Then I suppose you'll just have to admit defeat, won't you. :p

You're lucky I can't pull magic pies from nowhere.

Pieing me for speaking truth! I thought fathers were supposed to set a good example!  Oh the humanity!  Won't someone please think of the children!

Okay okay, stop buzzing my phone repeatedly you devil in disguise. Come get a taste of this cake.

I just want to say first: Thank you. For all of this.

Henry paused.

I mean it. It means a lot to us. It means a lot to him already, and he doesn't even know you spent the last several hours personally baking his cake for him. Even if this cake is a total disaster, it's going to mean the world to him. To us. Thank you, Daddy.

He bit his lip, tapped his foot against the floor, and glanced away. Shaking thumbs returned a message, the only thing rattling around in his head.

I love you.

Maybe perfect wasn’t in the outcome of the cake, after all.

Phone buzz. He checked it through the blur of his tears.

Also we’re covered in pie goo who wants a hug.

... You know what I change my mind I’m eating this whole cake myself.