#shrek 2 reference right there

[julientel]

Astarion has zero patience

(not a ship)

[beefjumper]

Life Series but beefburgered

Hello my tumblr 👋 I'm not dead, I've just been fandom jumping then felt the urge to make somewhat of a reference sheet for the lifers for future use. Yap session about the designs below:

Grian: Very standard Grian. You can smell the Cherrifire influence in this one. I imagine the turtleneck being wide enough to hide his mouth behind as he stares menacingly into the distance. His eyebrows are practically fused with his eyes but it's probably best not to think about it too much. I have considered placing a literal waffle on the back of his head but it might be tedious to draw continuously.

Scar: Everytime I draw Scar he looks weird. It might be because I'm not too good with longer faces, but that's how I'd imagine the character looks like. I think I'll switch up this design a lot as his eyes and hair bug me sometimes. Maybe experiment with the scars too. Artists make him look really cool as an explosion victim.

Mumbo: The slicked back hair looks right. Extra strand sticking out to make him look a bit disheveled. I wonder if I should commit to making him look more goth/vampire-like. He gets a tiny mullet because it fits.

Jimmy: Wanted to make him look a bit bird-like so I tried to express that with the back of his head. I hope he looks pathetic enough.

Joel: Fairly shrek-like. I wanted to make him look grumpy so he has a shorter and broader build. Also decided that one green hair streak wasn't enough for my satisfaction. His brown coat has a honeycomb pattern, but that's not too obvious. Also, he is shorter than Lizzie.

Scott: Pretty sparkly guy. I wanted him to look quite friendly. He actually has thick eyelashes here instead of eyeshadow but I'm not against that idea either. Kind of miss his Last Life skin.

Impulse: I don't watch Impulse too much so this design was based on some common interpretations of him. The horns are a cute idea.

Skizz: Very standard Skizzleman design. The ripped sleeves and the arms are probably my favorite thing. Maybe I should add more hair on the arms.

Tango: People tend to draw him really different, so I took aspects from designs I liked and put it here. Both his sclera and shades ended up being red, but I thought the sclera was iconic and the design looks more interesting with shades on. I'm not sure if I'd prefer for Tango's hair to literally be made out of fire. I tried making it resemble fire instead.

Etho: Attempted to make him a contender for Top 10 Hottest Anime Men. I'm always interested to see how people work around his definitely unrecognizable Minecraft skin (sarcastic). Like other designs, I think I'll add a maple leaf on his clothes or something.

Bdubs: He looks more terrifying than I intended but that might be the point. Might change his hairstyle here. I'd like to draw his white-haired skin at some point.

Cleo: Very standard ZombieCleo design. The hair was based on their VTuber but I decided to use the clothes from their Minecraft skin. The stitches are the fun part. I might make her hair curlier.

Martyn: Very standard InTheLittleWood design. You can smell the Cherrifire influence in this one ×2. The little beard is a wonderful addition I think.

Ren: Picking between black or cyan shades was tough. He also gets an obligatory ponytail because uhm. Tail. Dog. Get it? I also took a good while figuring out how I should go about his ears. I wasn't satisfied with human ears but I needed the shades to fit somehow. You can smell the Cherrifire influence in this one ×3

Lizzie: Yes, I have watched Empires S1 and S2 and it shows. Whoever first decided to give Lizzie cat-like buns should be given an award. I like the idea of heart-shaped buns too so maybe I'll alternate on that.

BigB: Very standard Bigbst4tz2 design. Don't let his friendly interaction with Lizzie fool you but he tends to stare into your soul for uncomfortably long periods of time. The highlights in his eyes come and go.

Gem: Very standard GeminiTay design. She probably has my favorite skin among this batch. I heard there was a shortage of elf Gem (there isn't) and I have decided to contribute to that (because there's no such thing as too many elf Gems).

Pearl: Inside Pearl are two wolves and I decided to draw the one that's sopping wet. Her hair has a few crescent-shaped curls. I'm definitely looking forward to drawing her more intimidating side sometime.

Overall I was hoping to make the designs simple and mostly accurate to skins/pfps. Nothing too special, other than a few pointy ears I sprinkled around here and there. I might add more to the designs the more I draw them.

[nartblartmallcop]

human swap AUs

some more pics and also ideas for each scenario under the cut

human Mud AU

Mud has spent the past 50 years of his life lying, cheating and weasling his way through a world that would instantly kill him if it found out who he truly was

this includes painting any visible skin, hiding injuries as soon as they appear, slinking through crowds as unnoticably as possible and, yes, disposing of rotlings who find out his secret

he really wishes the prophecy could've chosen anyone but him. he'd love to relax for once and just be. maybe even for eternity. not worrying about death sounds like such fun

he hasn't even had any visions of the end times or guidance from the angels like he always imagined he'd get when he was younger

enter Ken, a Rotling who sees Mud bleeding from a wound and quickly reveals himself to be embarassingly hard to dump in the ocean

and despite his expecations, Ken makes him an offer: to come work at his butcher shop. they could use a clever guy like him as an accountant

this is deeply baffling, but as Ken explains, he gets a free employee and Mud gets a safe space and an easier way to get rid of any witnesses

what Ken is mostly thinking is that if he tries to kill Mud now it could very well cause a chain reaction awakening whatever forces of fate lay dormant around him. going 50 years without setting it off is too good a record to waste on a creature that'll only live for like 30 more

so Mud eventually agrees, coming to live and work at the whale belly butcher shop (no crime association in this universe) and having a single person to confide in. they'll develop a brotherly bond eventually

the whole plot becomes a story about trying not to set off the prophecy. will it work? probably not lmao

ken is playing the long game in killing Mud sooner by offering him cigarettes at any given opportunity. Mud doesn't even mind, but by the time he'll die of lung cancer Ken will be so attached that he'd be sobbing about it. ironic <3

human Ken AU

Ken has never been one for hiding. or even particularly good at it, so most of his 40 years of life have been spent out in the open and fighting to survive

somewhere along the way he accidentally created a yeast golem, but really, this became his greatest gift

ken had been achingly lonely before breadhead' creation, so finally having somebody to confide in and to trust pretty much saved him from going completely insane

and breadhead also has a deep affection for Ken, mostly expressed in his readiness to crush anyone and everyone who dares to threaten the duo, and in the enthusiastic way he offered himself up as Ken's mobile knife holder

i dont have as many ideas for this AU tbh, it would largely just be an action fest. loads of fighting because Ken just can't hide who he is (shrek 2 reference)

human Breadhead AU

i like just calling him Bready in this AU :]

Bready is around 30 and has been doing relatively okay on his own, but that hardly mattered to Melancholy, the spoiled rotten Mafia Princess of the Smiling Dead (who are far more powerful and influential in this AU)

she found the human from the prophecy all on her own and she wants to be right there with him when he brings in the end times, however he plans on doing that

so she decides to keep him, almost in the way that one would keep a stray cat

but of course, nobody else can know about that. it's their little secret. So she fashions him a disguise in the form of a massive Bread Head. he's totally tall and strong enough to just look like an "underbaked" one

and while Mel does regularly give him delicious food and a soft bed, Bready hates it here and would love to leave. But the Smiling Dead have henchmen everywhere on the island. He couldn't go anywhere without being found out immediately. in a way it'd probably be worse than his human identity being found out

this AU would take on a more comedic tone while still keeping in mind how much Bready's autonomy is being ignored. definitely imagining him snapping in the middle of a fancy ball or smth

bonus: all four humans meeting each other

mud would be salty to hear how comparatively cushy a life mel and bready have, while ken would just get protective of everyone

[tinyfantasminha]

for your batb au i got the secne form shrek where fairy godmother was like "she's a a princess and your a orge" "if you really love her...you let her go" i go that form the last Batb post you did where your yuu/oc left with the mirror

referring to this art

First of all, aaaaaaaahh thank you for mentioning my beauty and the beast au cause I miss it SO MUCH 😭😭😭I love receiving asks about it! (it prompted me to make a batb au art after so long)

(a lot of rambling and rotting down below)

Now as for Gaston I don't mmm have an official one for this AU? 😅it doesn't sit right with me to get another character of the cast and utterly villainize them just to push the ship. (Leona, the WOMEN RESPECTER 3000 posing as a MISOGYNIST villain??? He would SEETHE with indignation at the suggestion) Vargas is obviously our official twst-Gaston but that's still a hard NO for obvious reasons 😭 If I wanted to add Gaston I'd have to end up using some random mob guy for it or essentially create a new OC 😔 (bastard villain oc that only serves to be a jackass and then fucking die)

OMG SHREK 😳😳this may come as a crazy coincidence but I kind of... have a Shrek AU for the ship??? It got the beauty and the beast dynamic that I loooove and fits them so well and shrek 1 and 2 are PEAK fiction I had the idea of a Shrek AU for ages so I came with a storyline (and then commissioned it to be written by marvelous writer @/raven-at-the-writing-desk) where it's not actually a direct AU but more of a meta-narrative where Shrek is a fictional tale set in the twst universe, and ogres are replaced by beasts (making it essentially a beauty and the beast retelling lol) Jack and Vic star as the Beast (Shrek) and the Princess (Fiona) respectively in a school play directed by Rook.

(this is an angsty bit of the story- context of this scene is that they are reenacting the misunderstanding scene from the first movie.)

BUT I DIGRESS— The ''I let her go because I love her'' will always be one of my favorite moments from BATB that makes me cry every time. It fits Jack so well. One recurring trait of his character is that he’s quick to judge, often dismissing others without meaning to… but when he’s shown another perspective, he listens. He reflects. He changes. He owns up to his mistakes and tries to be better. He's so beast-coded like hhhnNNNGG— *gesticulates my hands wildly*

[odiesdayoff]

Fly Boy

Pair: Neil Lewis x Fem!Reader

Summary: Frustrated with Neil's rule about the employees being required to cosplay, you decide to mess with him.

Warnings: SMUT; 18+; Neil is a bit pathetic and mean at points; he can't find the clit but has a big dick lol

“Surely, you’ve seen something by Milos Foreman.” Neil held a stack of VHS that needed to be reset. It was mostly older stuff, you saw the worn copy of Persona in the middle. He and Jonathan had a heated argument (or discussion, as they referred to it) about why the customer would stop watching in the middle, but you understood. Only the men deeply involved in film could possibly enjoy something so bad. Too trained to think black and white meant that it was a good movie automatically. 

You shrugged, continuing to put the tapes on the shelf. “Never heard of him.” Paisa slid in right next to the edge of the shelf and The Red and The White. Only this place would have a section dedicated to foreign language war films. Like it would kill him to buy a copy of Shrek 2.

He nearly dropped the tapes on the counter and looked at you as if you just admitted to a horrible crime. “How have you never heard of him? One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest? The Fireman’s Ball? ” Just because you heard of the movie didn’t mean you knew every production assistant’s name. You watched movies for fun. They just weren’t your taste.

“More like The Fireman’s Balls.” You stifled a laugh at your own joke, though Neil was far from impressed or amused at all.

He put a tape into the rewinder and shook his head. “We’re gonna fix that. This Saturday.”

“Can’t do this Saturday.” He continued his quite bewildered stare at you. Of course, he forgot. “It’s your little Star Wars marathon night.”

He nodded with realization. “Right.”

His slight frown made you feel guilty, as it always did. Somehow, the grown man always managed to use puppy eyes on you successfully. “We’ll watch them. Soon.” He continued to rewind the tapes with a smile.

Star Wars wasn’t exactly your cup of tea. Boring was the descriptive term that rested on the tip of your tongue whenever the topic was brought up in the store. Not that you would ever admit that out loud. All three of them gave you a college-level lecture when you suggested that the Chanel boots-wearing Luke might have been into men. God forbid you had fun.

The costumes for women were slim, at least they were on Amazon. Your options were Padme, Leia, Rey, or some random obscure character from a show or cartoon you’d never heard of. A part of you wanted to make felt ears and be Jar Jar Binks just to piss them off.

There was still a way to mess with them, Neil especially. Hopefully, the extra you paid for overnight shipping was worth it and actually pulled through. 

By Saturday, you walked into Gumshoe with a large coat covering your costume. You braided your hair to the best of your abilities, trying to get as accurate as possible. The fabric of the costume was uncomfortable, digging into your skin and surely leaving marks you’d feel for days after.

Nerds crowded the small store, much more than usual. It was events like this one that made you reconsider your employment and how much you were a fan of movies in general. A Darth Vader brushed by you with a red solo cup of beer. Not many women were there, other than a few of the regulars dressed as Padme and Ahsoka. 

Neil, in Han Solo’s iconic white shirt with the navy blue vest (the version from Return of the Jedi ), waved you over to join the couch with him, Jonathan, and Lucian. A New Hope was in the VHS player and ready to start, the original cut before George Lucas made revisions of course. He was so proud of winning the Etsy bid for the original set of VHS tapes. 

You dropped the coat as you walked over and draped it on the front counter, locking eyes with the group as the costume was finally revealed: The bikini Leia wears at the beginning of Return of the Jedi. A part of you was anxious about the amount of skin you were showing and the people who were staring daggers into you. All you cared about was Neil’s reaction.

None of them said a word as you sat down on the couch next to them. “So, when’s this movie going to start?” Three pairs of eyes just looked back at you, more specifically, how your breasts bounced when you sat down and the thin straps that held the cloth that covered your panties. All you wore to work were t-shirts and jeans, along with the occasional tank top that left much to the imagination. You leaned over to the table and took the can of beer that Neil had been drinking, bringing it to your lips.

Neil cleared his throat. “Um, right now, actually.” He called everyone to the couches and rug, made a quick introduction to the night and thanked everyone for coming, then started the movie. You couldn’t help but notice the way his hands were clasped in front of his crotch and the bulge he was trying to hide.

Another person, dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the third film, sat next to you. Only fifteen minutes in, he did the classic “fake yawn” in order to wrap his arm around your shoulders. He wasn’t slick, but as much as you noticed the attempt at flirting, Neil did as well. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat, turning his attention back to the movie and trying not to make his glances towards you too obvious.

The can of beer didn’t last you too long, only until they were in the trash compactor. There was no way that you would get through the rest of these movies sober and a half-can of beer wasn’t going to get you there.

You got up and walked to the storage closet, where you knew that a full case of beer was hidden. Finally alone, you pulled out a can and opened it, allowing the lukewarm liquid to coat your throat. The beer was still a bit disgusting, but it got the job done. “What the fuck are you wearing, Princess?”

Neil stood in the doorway, closing the door behind him. You shrugged, even though you knew that he knew you were getting to him on purpose. “I’m participating. You never let me live down the Lord of the Rings night when I wore my regular clothes.”

He sighed and shook his head. “I didn’t mean to whore yourself out and wear practically nothing.”

“It’s accurate, not whoring out. Are you mad that I’m wearing it or that people are looking at me in it? What is it, Fly-boy?” You crossed your arms, unknowingly pushing your breasts together and creating more cleavage than there already was.

He ran a hand through his hair. “Christ, Y/n.” His hands cupped your cheeks and he pulled you in, crashing his lips against yours. It was a side of him you’d never seen before, his eyes were dark and only focused on you. Your back hit the wall and Neil’s hands traveled lower, pulling the string that held the bra together and ripping fabric until it fell to the floor.

“Now, beg me to fuck you like the whore that you’ve been parading yourself as all night. I know that’s what you want.” His hot breath burned your neck as he trailed his lips from your mouth to your collarbone. His words cut deeply, like nothing you’d expect to come from his mouth. Who knew sweet Neil could turn into this?

You nodded. “Please, Neil. I need you to fuck me. I’ve wanted you for so long.” He moaned against your skin as you spoke and hastily unbuckled his belt, freeing his aching cock. You untied the bottom of your costume and dropped your panties with it.

His chest pressed against yours and you winced as the cold wall came in contact with your bare skin. He wasted no time in lining his tip with your entrance and pushing in, softly moaning into your neck. “You’re so warm. You’re not a whore, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that. Fuck.”

So, he really was all talk. Once he felt the touch of a woman, he became a needy mess. “It’s okay, Neil. Just, ah!” It was now that you finally understood the saying about nerdy boys and the size of their cocks, feeling him hit spots you didn’t know existed. You only hoped that the ongoing battle within whatever galaxy or solar system was louder than both of your unholy gasps and moans.

You would never hear the end of it if Jonathan or Lucian heard. They gave you enough shit for Neil’s unbelievably obvious crush on you that you chose to avoid on behalf of keeping peace in the store. Clearly, you had failed miserably in that aspect. Look at Neil’s cute face.

Not to mention his cock. The same cock currently driving into you and knocking the wind from your lungs. Neil fucked into you like he was on a time limit, chasing his climax and nearly sinking his teeth into your bare shoulder. “Your tits are mesmerizing.” You held back a laugh at his comment, reaching down to your clit before he slapped your hand away. “No, let me do it.”

A part of you wanted to deny it, but you let him. He blindly reached down and rubbed your labia, thinking he was on the money. You squeezed your eyes shut and gently guided his fingers to your clit, jolting when he found the right spot. “Oh, Neil…so good.”

His pace slowed and became less controlled. “I’m so close, sweetheart.”

“You’ll pull out, right?” He bit his lip and nodded. By the way he held tightly onto your hips and breathed in your scent, you knew that he barely heard your request.

The suspicion turned into fact when he stilled, pushing himself further into you as he came. “I’m sorry, baby. I’ll pay for the pill. You’re just…so warm.”

You nodded along with him, not caring as you crossed the finish line as well. As you both came down from the high, the realization kicked in. He tucked himself in his boxers and buttoned his pants. You picked up your shirt, well, bra. The straps were broken. “Shit, Neil. I can’t wear this.”

He furrowed his brows, then rummaged through one of the boxes in the corner of the room. A large, baby blue t-shirt with the Gumshoe logo on it was in his hands. “Put this on. Say you got too cold.”

You caught the shirt and put it on, watching the fabric fall to your knees. “Great.”

“You still look sexy.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and looked you up and down.

You rolled your eyes. “What does Leia say to Han Solo? Nerf-Herder? You’re that."

[fizzysodasocarbonated]

intro post?!?!

hello! im KATE. i use any pronouns and whatever, i dont care how you refer to me as long as youre respectful. please keep in mind that i am a minor and that im still in school.

i run the @askponyboymcurtis

my asks are open to drawing requests, chatting, headcanons, whatever. im usually super friendly, but i can come off dry when texting sometimes.

i actually really like getting drawing requests! as long as its nothing inappropriate or uncomfortable, please send in requests!!

but with this all, please remember this is just where i post my art. i make it for myself, and just like to share it within my community.

onto my real intro:

i am a huuuuuuge theatre nerd. especially shakespeare; i love shakespeare. so much.

i do theatre myself! ive only do it for about a year or so, but ive realized that its my passion. the roles ive played (in order) are:

1. coach carr (mean girls)

wizard of oz (makeup crew)

legally blonde (costume crew)

2. eddie (mamma mia)

3. prospero (the tempest)

4. mama bear (shrek)

currently im super into the outsiders, newsies, and next to normal!

just to brag a lil, heres a list of shows ive seen:

six x2

beetlejuice x2

lion king

wicked

lion witch and the wardrobe

annie

shrek the musical

to kill a mocking bird

the tempest

music man

godspell

the prom

mean girls x2

jesus christ superstar

little shop of horrors

les miserables

romeo and juliet

cats

the laramie project

hadestown

something rotten

dear evan hansen

newsies

sense and sensibility

as you like it

moulin rouge

hamilton

the play that goes wrong

& juliet

the wiz

puffs

ride the cyclone

100 ways to succeed in business

wizard of oz

back to the future the musical

sweeney todd

a midsummer’s night dream

arsenic and old lace

the outsiders

peter and the starcatcher

floyd collins

the outsiders musical

cabaret

a picture of dorian gray

right okay. thats all. toodaloo

[autumnwoodsdreamer]

Have a star for that director's cut ask game! ⭐ Alas I don't know your fan fic as well (yet) but I'd love to hear more about it!

Thank you!!! 🥹 and that’s totally okay: I just really, really appreciate the excuse to ramble!

Okay, so I’ve been kinda dying to gush about the different media that has inspired Lift a Sail—i.e. the movies/shows/books (both Star Wars and other). This is particularly coming to mind because my sister and I are rewatching Star Wars in chronological order and I’m rereading my series to keep the story straight and, as I’m going along, I’m seeing and remembering the influence different things have had on the story (as well as gleaning some new things to weave in).

I started Lift a Sail in January 2021. It was hot on the heels of Mandalorian season 2. No Bad Batch yet, no Book of Boba Fett, no Ahsoka, no Andor, no Kenobi. The only live action Star Wars show was Mandalorian (oh, take me back…). We had watched a handful of Clones Wars episodes (particularly the Mandalorian-centric episodes) and we saw Rebels through, start to finish—in-universe, they had the greatest impact on the tone and setting of Lift a Sail there at the beginning.

But when it came to story beats and dialogue, I have to credit the books I was reading along the way: Pride & Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Anne of Green Gables (for about the dozenth time), James Herriot, Sherlock Holmes, No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Dick Francis, Pax, As Easy As Falling Off the Face of the Earth, The Little Prince, Secret Garden. And then there were the other movies and shows that had a part: Iron Man, HTTYD, Tangled, Mulan, The Sea Beast, Treasure Planet, Titan AE, Lilo & Stitch, Brother Bear, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Secondhand Lions, Fatherhood, Shrek, Quest for Camelot, Tarzan, Anastasia, Lois & Clark, Quantum Leap, Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, maybe a couple of rom-coms… everything contributed something.

I struck out a little on my own when it came to developing Din’s voice and character. I find he’s quite a blank slate in canon: the list of things we know for sure about him is quite short and in the show he’s largely reactive: the further the series goes, the more the plot just happens to and even around him (hence why I tend to refer mainly to the first season for the best study on his character). To flesh him out, I use characters like Sam Beckett (Quantum Leap), James Herriot, Clark Kent, Tarzan, Hiccup, Li Shang, and (I admit this shamelessly) Shrek as references.

In contrast, when it came to writing Sabine, I found her portrayal in SWR was fleshed out so well, I didn’t have to do extra homework. That said, I did realize I would be writing a version of her a decade older than we last see her, so I did take care with that. I do use Natasha Romanov, Elizabeth Bennet, Swan (Fatherhood), Akima, Mulan and Nani as (I don’t know a better way to describe this) vibe references for her.

And, of course, can’t forget little Grogu here. Right at the beginning, I determined not to write him as a mere prop. Two factors here: too often in media, I see child characters portrayed as bratty, incompetent, oblivious, and about as emotionally intelligent as a piece of paper. I don’t like that. I’ve worked with kids for years and I know full-well how complex and sincere humans-in-training can be. Secondly, I saw how even the show itself didn’t really know what to do with this puppet for the most part and it was sadly obvious he was becoming meme-fodder and a quick cash-cow. Yes, okay, he’s cute, but I don’t come for cute; I come for character. I drew inspiration from Lilo, Walter (Secondhand Lions), Matilda, Jim Hawkins, Koda (Brother Bear), and the Little Prince for Grogu.

And then there’s a whole list of inspiration for other characters throughout the story. Even secondary and background characters I try to find vibe references for. I don’t solely use other media. For instance: Chi Drench, an OC I made specifically for the fic, I based on some doctors and nurses I knew in real life. Marida, while not an OC, I based on some of my aunts.

But then, as I was writing the story, other Star Wars shows came along and my sister and I dove a bit deeper into the lore. We’ve never been particularly taken by the trilogies and we tend to give them the least attention, so I’d say they had the lightest influence on the story. But we rewatched Rebels constantly, and I have to credit Rogue One and Bad Batch as having a massive impact on things.

I didn’t expect to enjoy Bad Batch so much (I was biased: at the time, I didn’t particularly care for that whole period of the Star Wars timeline because I thought anything set there would just taste like the Prequels). But the first episode had me hooked! That was the vibe I was going for in Lift a Sail!

I found Hunter to be one of the best references for Din. From character to speech pattern to temperament to mannerisms to motivations to movements, he works exceptionally well as a model for him.

(I also use Rohlan the Questioner from the High Republic comics as a reference for Din.)

You can kinda see at what point Bad Batch started airing because my writing changed with it. Like I said: Rebels had the biggest influence on the start of Lift a Sail, but Bad Batch carried the last part and it’s to credit for the specific tone and aesthetic of Head Above Water.

The Book of Boba Fett came out while I was concluding Head Above Water. I don’t know how to describe the impact it had. I didn’t hate it, but it wasn’t what I expected. I really loved the Boba backstory with the Tuskens and I liked seeing Fennec choose to stay with Boba, it was nice to see Din again, and it was, in general, quite fun, but I didn’t like the Mods and the mangled Mandalorian season 3 they crammed in there at the end was horrendous. It actually made me change my story quite drastically because, originally, I was going to have Din go to Peli after rescuing Grogu but, while I enjoyed her more jovial portrayal in TBoBF, I hated the stupid Starfighter they forced on Din. I also didn’t know how to fix the mess with the Pykes (why even the Pykes? There are so many other things to fix up on Tatooine, did we have to add them?) so I figured, until I can think of how to work that out, I’d better leave it all alone.

So I took them to Lothal instead and I’m glad I did because I had so many ideas I wanted to explore there.

Then came Kenobi and it really helped keep the tone and setting straight. I know a lot have problems with Kenobi but I adore it, through and through! (Okay, admittedly, I really don’t like the look of the Grand Inquisitor and the Fifth Brother but my sister and I have so many jokes about them that I’m kind of fond of it all now.)

Andor came out while I was writing the third part: Anchors. In particular, the prison arc inspired how I wrote Ryder Azadi because I figured he could’ve been in a similar prison likely at the same time as Cassian (though not the exact same one). Also, the more intense focus on character in Andor helped me dive into the more character-driven story of Anchors.

Then Mando season 3 came out and, honestly, the spite fuelled me to continue the story. I seriously thought I would wrap up my story once the next season came out because I figured they’d explore those story threads from season 2 and TBoBF so well that there was no way my story could bring anything interesting to the table and I figured I might want to start something new with the expanded story in canon.

Then they just… dropped those story threads altogether.

No Din dealing with the removal of his helmet. No Darksaber journey. No fleshed-out Mandalorian tribe. No Grogu character arc.

Nothing.

So I pressed on.

Thankfully, TBB season 2 came out at the same time, so I focussed more on that to keep the tone and characterization straight.

For The Lighthouse Keeper, I referred to Treasure Planet and Titan AE. A lot. Because I was having them trek through Wild Space, those movies offered the best material—visually and thematically. There’s also a smidge of Doctor Who influence—in particular, I based older Ezra’s character off the Tenth Doctor.

Unsinkable is a product of all the previous. I’ve got a bit of a groove now: when I want to capture a particular feeling or vibe for a scene, I rewatch something that reminds me of it. I do try to refer back to the original material to keep the characters themselves consistent, and I’ve set which parts of the original media I want to keep as a base (for example: Sabine and Ahsoka in the Ahsoka show just don’t feel like Sabine or Ahsoka at all, so I don’t ever use that as a reference for them. I stick rather to their Rebels’ portrayal. Same with Din and Grogu: their characters are richest and clearest in Mando S1 and parts of S2, so I refer to those episodes).

I’m really looking forward to Andor season 2. New worlds, new storylines, further character arcs—I can’t wait to see it and glean some more inspiration! (I’m still trying to work in a roadside diner made out of one of those Ferrix shuttles… and I don’t know where to bring in Luthen’s antique store, but, man, I want to.)

[mirioho]

“Sorry, but I don’t think a wish will give me what I want”

[SR] Reyu Carrera- Fairytale Soiree

Event by @angelwishess

Voice Lines Below: ( mentions of Kyra @angelwishess and Victor @theolivetree123 + Closeups, Notes)

💼 Groovy: [Locked]

💼 Home: Everyone looks like they’ve walked out of a storybook, I guess the fairytale theme is in full swing.

💼 Home Idle 1: I’ve been exploring inside and outside the palace, I never know what to expect when I turn a corner.

💼 Home Idle 2: You know where I’m from, some say you shouldn’t eat food offered by fae…But I’m glad that doesn’t seem to be the case here. Everything is quite delicious.

💼 Home Idle 3: I actually really like the outfit they gave me, I don’t think it’s sophisticated enough for the party but the hooded cape is comfortable.

💼 Home Idle Groovy: [Locked]

💼 Home Tap 1: Kyra is quite generous wanting to share the wish she’s been given, hopefully whoever is picked gets what they want.

💼 Home Tap 2: Victor really seems to be putting on quite the campaign to get his wish granted, I respect the effort.

💼 Home Tap 3:  Just because I’m not out on the dance floor doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying myself, there’s lots to see around here.

💼 Home Tap 4: The deadline for the wish being midnight is just another fairytale cliche, huh?

💼 Home Tap 5:  My wish? I already said I won’t make one…But fine…If you insist. Going back home won’t be that easy, so if I can’t wish for that…I’d wish to somehow let my mom know I’m okay. Her peace of mind would be my wish.

💼 Home Tap Groovy: [Locked]

(Close-Up + Outfit Inspo + My rambling)

as you can see above, my vision for this outfit was pretty much taken from the outfit on the right which is one that is worn by the character she's based off in Disenchanted (which is the sequel to Echanted). I thought it would be fitting considering he wears that outfit while the world is turned to a real life fairytale and considering this event is called Fairytale Soiree, it just made sense to me to put her in it.

Now that I look at it, I think maybe the prince outfit from the first movie would've been more fitting for this event, but I'm actually saving an outfit based on that for something else.

Anyways moving on to the background, I wanted to note that I was watching Shrek while drawing and I was very much inspired by the swamp. So I kind of just made a cave with lots of green and all that. And then I added fireflies to kind of give it a more magical and pretty feeling.

And then as I kept watching Shrek, there's this scene where they come upon the dragon, but at first all you see is the green eye. And idk I really liked that and I looked at my art and thought hey maybe I'll add that to the cave since it looked too empty. But after I added it I was like hey Malleus is a dragon, it'd be funny if he was the dragon in the cave. He's not. Or maybe he is? I don't know. It's a dragon eye but it may or may not be his.

And finally, this will likely be the last Reyu art I make before I redesign her. Though it's not so much a complete redesign, so much as me organizing her profile, information, references, etc. Mostly because I was finally able to compile the templates I needed to put all that together. But she'll be pretty much the same, there will just be some tweaks...probably.

[queen-of-mandalore]

Em’s Star Wars Rewatch part 50:

The Siege of Mandalore

This arc is essentially a movie split into four parts and I love it so much. I would love to see the whole thing as a movie in the cinema at some point - it would be epic. So many shows disappoint with their ending but clone wars truly peaked with this final arc. Honestly it’s perfect.

Part 1: Old Friends Not Forgotten

Obi-Wan swooping into save Cody with the most bad ass entrance ever.

‘What are you doing down there?’ 😏 - Anakin being a smug little shit. Dodging the blaster bolt like it was nothing.

The way Obi-Wan and Cody’s heads popped up together 😭

I love that we end the show with Anakin using the same tactic that Obi-Wan used in the TCW movie - using ‘surrender’ as a distraction.

‘Okay boys, hold on a little longer.’ Simultaneous groaning accompanied by the most unenthusiastic ‘sir yes sir’ ever 😂

Clones with jet packs will always be iconic and I wish we had seen more of them throughout the series.

The way Cody looked to Obi-Wan for permission to join the fight the same way an excited kid asks to play with his friends 🥹

The playful banter between Anakin and Obi-Wan both makes me very happy and very sad. We are so close to the end and it hurts knowing what’s about to happen.

Anakin’s face when he saw Ahsoka for the first time 🥺 he was so happy to see her.

Ahsoka has really grown up, even when you compare her to season 5. Going through what she did and having to survive in the real world changed her.

‘It would drag us into another war!’ ‘What’s one more?’ - if that exchange doesn’t show the difference in pov between Jedi and Mandalorians I don’t know what will.

Obi-Wan admitting that Satine meant a lot to him 😭😭😭

The helmet tribute 🥹😭 the men were so happy to see her and I love how they all still call her commander and salute her.

Rex is so happy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him smile so much in an episode before.

Ahsoka really doesn’t pull her punches and honestly good for her. She is so done with the Council and she has every right to be.

I wonder why Rex wasn’t promoted before now 🤔

The fact this is the last time Ahsoka will see Anakin until they meet for the fight in Rebels 😭😭😭😭😭😭

‘Anakin, good luck’ 🥹

The action scenes in this arc are so good! The mandalorians and clones with backpacks fighting as they approach the surface is so cool. My only complaint is that the Mandalorians go down too easy - they have beskar armour after all.

The smirk 😭😭😭😭

‘Race you to the surface!’ The way Ahsoka was so mature with Anakin, even in their softer moments, but she’s so carefree around Rex and the men 🥹

The fact Rex laughs in the middle of a literal battle. As much as we know Rex can share a joke, he is always progressional and focused on the job at hand. And yet with Ahsoka he is laughing????? 🥹

Saxon is such a fanboy (his armour is very cool though)

RIP Vaughn - we only got you for one episode but I loved you dearly.

The way Ahsoka still mourns each trooper even though she must have watched hundreds if not thousands die 🥺

Maul revealing himself from the shadows like the drama queen he is.

Part 2: The Phantom Apprentice

It’s so chilling how Maul hesitates to say Sidious’s name. You can tell he genuinely fears him.

An interesting detail I noticed whilst rewatching is that Rex says ‘yes ma’am’ to Ahsoka. I know that she isn’t technically a commander anymore but all the other clones all still refer to her as ‘sir’.

I love Jesse. He’s so loyal and defiant.

‘The dark side has never been stronger’ - I got chills.

Love the sinister imperial march motif after Anakin’s name is mentioned.

I’m glad I read the Son of Dathomir so I now know how Maul ended up back on Mandalore. I wish they had been able to make that arc of clone wars.

Maul is giving ‘some of you may die, but that is a risk I’m willing to take’ from Shrek vibes 😂

Maul’s followers remind me of Vikings - dreaming to die in glorious battle.

Poor Jesse, he looks so distraught and guilty knowing he helped Maul against his will. He really feels like betrayed Ahsoka 😭

Ahsoka was so close to joining Maul. In the end, the one thing she couldn’t believe was that Anakin would join the dark side 🥺

The Maul/Ahsoka fight is incredible. It’s up there with duel of the fates and the Mustafar duel as the top 3 lightsaber battles in all of Star Wars. You can really see the benefit of the mo-cap - there is more detail in the footwork and everything feels a little more real. I love that they got Ray back to play Maul - he brings such a specific physicality to the role.

The cinematography!!!!! The lighting!!!!!! The atmospheric detail! The window smashing!!!!!!!!!!

‘You’re lucky Anakin didn’t show up. The way you’re fighting, you wouldn’t have lasted long’ 😏 Ahsoka my sassy queen

‘We’re all going to burn! We’re all going to die!’

Part 3: Shattered

I love the tie ins to RotS. It really puts into focus the timescale of the movie and makes you realise these events are happening at the same time. When we get the ‘I sense a plot to destroy the Jedi…’ scene it’s a real ‘oh shit it’s about to happen moment’.

‘Not as a Jedi?’ ‘No, not yet.’ - not yet, she was thinking of coming back, she just wasn’t ready 😭

I love that Yoda still calls her padawan.

It’s subtle but you can tell Rex isn’t happy when Mace basically tells her it’s none of her business.

‘You didn’t tell them about what Maul said about General Skywalker.’ ‘No, I didn’t.’ - First, Rex wasn’t in the room when Maul said this which means Ahsoka trusted him enough to tell him, she didn’t tell the council but she told him. Second, Ahsoka was trying to protect Anakin. Maybe if Obi-Wan had been there she could have told him. Honestly though, I think at this point it wouldn’t have made a difference. Even if Ahsoka had joined Maul, it was so close to the events of order 66 I doubt they would have made it in time.

The music in this whole arc but especially here is superb. It really gives a sense of dread and foreboding. Combined with just seeing Maul’s eyes watching was bone chilling.

You know what’s coming but you still hope that somehow it will end differently.

‘Gives us clones mixed feelings about the war’ - Rex has grown so much! Season 1 Rex would never of had ‘mixed feelings’. He’s been through so much and you can tell that it’s shaken a lot of his beliefs.

‘The Republic couldn’t have asked for better soldiers, nor I a better friend’ 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹😭😭😭

Not Rex crying and his hands shaking as he tried to disobey the order 😭😭😭😭💔

I also never noticed that Jesse comes in and starts shooting at her as well 😔

You can see how expressionless and emotionless Rex’s eyes are whilst he’s shooting at her. It’s truly like his mind has gone blank.

I love Ahsoka, but releasing Maul was not her brightest idea. Her ‘I’m not rooting for you 🤨’ was iconic though.

TCW has always empowered droids and made them heroes and I’m glad they got to help Ahsoka. They are true heroes here.

Oh Fives, if only people had listened 😔

Maul gets a hallway fight and it’s absolutely brutal!!!!! He decapitates two guys, slicing two more in half and cuts someone’s arm off without even having a weapon! He is so cool.

I’m not sure how the ‘I am one with the force and the force is with me’ thing works but it’s very cool. Also it’s totally normal to place your hands gently to cradle your friend’s head right?

I love that Rex doesn’t hesitate. Those are his brothers but in that moment he chooses to protect her, even if that means killing his brothers.

I am so normal about them I swear (I’m really not normal about them)

Part 4: Victory and Death

I’ve only noticed on this rewatch that it’s Jesse who is giving the orders to track down Ahsoka over the comm. He also refers to Rex by his CT number which truly shows how the chips take away their individuality.

‘He didn’t escape, I let him go.’ ‘What?! Why?!!!’ - Rex with a very valid reaction.

Ahsoka and Rex fight so well together! They are so attune to what the other is doing.

Not Rex crying underneath his helmet. I can’t 😭😭😭😭

It hurts so much more that it’s Jesse fighting them. For a moment you can see he hesitates, as he struggles against the chip, but in the end there’s no fighting it.

Seeing all the orange helmets with Ahsoka’s markings 🥺 they were so happy she came back, so proud to be serving with her that they decorated the one thing they owned, the one thing that distinguished themselves from each other as a tribute to her. And here they are, forced to try and kill her. The story of the clones truly is a tragedy.

Ahsoka going for Maul’s throat and only just missing. The way he clutches at his neck afterwards like he can’t believe she almost did that.

The fact that Ahsoka let go of the shuttle, at that point what she believed was the only way off that crashing ship, to protect Rex 🥺

The droids were true heroes and I was so sad when they were killed.

Imagine not knowing that Ahsoka and Rex survived and were in Rebels. This would be so tense!!!! It was tense enough even though I knew they survived.

The music at the end makes me cry every time. The fact they spent time recovering the bodies and burying them, giving them one last act of respect 😭😭😭

Also only noticed this time watching that they recovered parts of one of the droids that helped them.

Ahsoka must have felt so guilty - even though order 66 was obviously not her fault, it had been her decision to free Maul which led to the ship crashing, if she hadn’t, the clones would still be controlled by the chips but they might have been alive. I feel like that’s something she’d never forgive herself for.

Seeing Jesse’s helmet at the end really hits in the feels, not just because we lost a trooper we knew, but because of the Republic symbol it also represents the death of the Republic.

Vader didn’t need to go to that moon to check that Ahsoka was dead, Anakin did though.

These four episodes are a masterpiece and I truly believe they are some of the best Star Wars we have ever gotten.

[litsnobconfessions]

A Year of Animation Day 24: The Wind Rises

Date: January 24, 2025

Day: 24

Content Watched: The Wind Rises

Year: 2013

Rating: PG-13

Run Time: 2 hr. 6 mins.

I wanted to follow Avatar: The Last Airbender with a Miyizaki film because one of the videos I watched while researching Avatar said that the showrunners were inspired by Miyikazi (as are we all.) But Miyizaki is also a big name in animation—I think I've heard him referred as the "Disney of Japan"—and I think that you really cannot effectively talk about modern animation without talking about Miyizaki.

I believe Miyizaki started working as animator in the 60s, and about 20 years later, he co-founded Studio Ghibli, which also worked on The Red Turtle, which we watched last week. Both the studio in general and Miyikazi in particular are famous for creating animated masterpieces. I honestly think that Miyizaki's films really show us the power of animated media in a way that Disney can't because not only are they beautifully animated, but they are filled with realistic characters and complex storylines and unlike Disney, they are not made exclusively for children. Therefore, I think that someone who says they don't like animation or non-Disney animation or modern animation needs to watch a couple of these movies before they make that determination.

I was first introduced to Miyizaki by my parents' Japanese friends. I was really little, so I didn't know who this director was, I just knew, years later, when I re-watched his movies that they were already familiar and they felt like old friends. Miyizaki's films also tend to fall in the category of magical realism, rather than the more standard fantasy worlds that Disney creates. Magical realism and coming of age are probably my two favorite genres, and I think Miyizaki may have had a hand in that.

I watched this movie with my husband, and in case you're wondering, we did choose to watch it in English, to better focus on the film and not have to focus on subtitles. I thought the DVD was interesting, though because it asks what language you want to watch in before it plays the previews, and I'm curious what the Japanese previews would have been. Also, for that matter, the French ones because it also had French as an option.

One of the things I'm excited about with this project is getting to see studios' fingerprints. Like, even if you don't know what movie it is, most people can recognize a Disney movie when they see one because there is an animation style that is immediately evocative of Disney. Likewise, when we watched How to Train Your Dragon, we saw characters who looked like they were right out of Shrek. Dreamworks has a style. Studio Ghibli has a style. (This is what made The Red Turtle so interesting--it wasn't drawn in the style we typically associate with Studio Ghibli.) But I'm going to go one step further and argue that Miyizaki himself has a style--both artistic and thematic--which is what has made him such an iconic director.

Sure enough, Miyikazi's fingerprint is immediately evident in this film. It's filled with beautiful landscapes and baby Jiro resembles Kanta from My Neighbor Totoro. The animation is, without a doubt, filled with details. In the scramble to escape from the broken down train at the beginning, we see a pair of broken glasses and an abandoned shoe lying in the dirt. The difference between the German cities and the Japanese cities is clear in the way they're drawn. And even Kastrup looks way different from the Japanese characters--he actually looks like he could be a character in The Triplets of Belleville--and I think that's there to show that he stands out as a German in Japan. 

Also, in several scenes we see men playing baseball like... off to the side of the airplane hanger? Like... it seems like a weird place to play baseball? But it makes sense in that these are men who are probably here for long stretches of time, and this is the best way for them to take a break from their work. I think it also adds a lot of the world we're in. I mean, I know this is more or less the real world, since this is a biopic, but I don't know anything about Japan in the 1930s and 1940s, and I feel like this little detail tells me a lot.

Also, the baseball scene just makes the space feel lived in. Like in Persepolis, we see a lot of locations like this in The Wind Rises. The train car is so busy that Jiro gives up his seat to another passenger. And the masses of people who are fleeing the train, and then the fire are all animated. Unlike Persepolis, they are not in sillouette, and unlike Avatar: The Last Airbender, none of them are static. Every. Single. Person. moves as the aftershocks of the earthquake roll under them. And this is not at all to criticize the animators of ATLA or Persepolis. I've already talked about why I think that animation works. But if we're talking about motion in the frame, this is like watching Nimona. Everything is moving. And this is from 2013, so it certainly flies in the face of hypothesis 4. At this point, it's practically superflous to talk about Jiro's workplace or the cafe or the hotel also feeling like busy, lived in places, but they do.

Some of the other movement we see includes the trains passing, as well as the scenery passing from the point of view of the people on the trains. There's the meeting with all the military men talking over one another, and quite frankly, both this and the earthquake scene at the beginning provide a feeling of chaos that reminds me of M*A*S*H. And considering they're both kind of about war, that sort of makes sense. I also really love the scenes where just see people's shadows moving. This is often connected to the secret police, and I would love a film that focuses on that type of event happening in a country and really utilizes that animation. Then there's the grass moving in the wind, which is another standard Miyizaki thing, as well as the gust of wind when the plane they're testing flies overhead, which brings me to one other thing. 

The movie is called The Wind Rises, which is a line we get several times in Jiro's dreams of Capproni. But the wind also blows his hat away the day he meets Nahoko and Kinu. And it blows Nahoko's parasol on the day he re-meets her. There's this beautiful visual of the wind throughout the movie, which makes the wind itself feel like another character. This comes up in some of the shots in the film, like at the beginning, when Jiro is imagining flying a plane, and we're in the cockpit, watching the terrian fly by. Or when the model airplane is flying directly toward the camera. It puts the whole film in constant motion.

There are some other interesting shots as well. At the beginning of the film, we see thorugh Jiro's glasses and the mosquito netting around his bed. We have shots on the wings of planes, which show us just how big they are. At one point while evacuating the train, the camera focuses on everyone's feet. In another scene, we see Jiro and another character at a table, shot from above, almost from the perspective of the overhead light. I don't know if all of Miyizaki's films do this, since I've never given them that much attention, but I did think it was very interesting, visually.

My favorite scenes are probably the dream sequences. I read ahead of time that this film doesn't have the same magical quality that Miyizaki's films usually do, which makes sense since it's a biopic, but I also disagree with this assessment. No, the dream sequences aren't the same kind of magical realism as soot sprites or forest spirits, but they are both ethereal and vivid, creating a sense of magic in a world that (theoretically) has none. I find this especially true in the scenes in which Jiro "dreams" while working. This indicated to me that these dreams--whether actual dreams or daytime imaginings were part of his work--that this is how he develops his ideas. This also really makes me wonder if Miyizaki saw himself in Horikoshi, and if any of the elements he depicts in this story, are, in some way autobiographical.

Like The Red Turtle, this movie doesn't really follow a 3-act structure, like we're used to in the United States, so I do think some people might not like it as much as Miyizaki's other films. Personally, I felt like there were plot points that got dropped along the way, and the storytelling just didn't feel as tight as I'm used to from Miyizaki. For example, Jiro's sister only shows up in three or four scenes, and she always seems to yell at him, but then follows up with her affection for him. And while this isn't necessarily out of character for a sibling relationship, she appeared so infrequently, that I felt like I never got a feel for her character, and kind of wondered if she needed to be there at all. I'm guessing she's there to show how Jiro struggles to balance his work with his personal life because almost everytime she sees him she starts with "let me guess, you forgot I was coming."

I also felt like there were some interesting anti-war threads that started weaving through the story, but didn't exactly go anywhere. For example, Katstrup tells Jiro in a very hush hush sort of way that ther German engineer doesn't want to work with Hitler. And a while later, there's kind of a side comment about the secret police coming after him? But we don't really hear any more about either of these things, or for that matter, about the secret police also looking for Jiro in one scene. My husband said he had similar feelings about Oppenheimer, so this may be a side-effect of biopics.

I do think this was a good follow-up to ATLA because of its war themes, and particularly its anti-war themes (I haven't seen this one bfore, and I didn't actually know was it was about before watching it.) In Jiro's first conversation with Caproni, Caproni tells him that planes are beautiful dreams that are not meant to be used for war or money. My husband observed that it feels like Jiro is interested in passenger planes, but keeps getting dragged into making bombers, and the film indicates that the Germans feel the same way. So over and over, the engineers emphasize the importance of planes to help people, rather than hurt them, as their governments desire. I noticed the soundtrack also reflects this, switching from romantic strings to military brass.

All of this leads to the final scene, which is perhaps the most striking in the film. Jiro dreams once again about Caproni, meeting him this time in what is essentially an airplane graveyard, as the romantic strings play incongrously over it. Miyizaki is known for pacifism and his anti-war stance, and despite making a film about a man who designed bombers, still made clear the destruction and devasation that war causes. Airplanes are beautiful dreams, Caproni tells us at the beginning, and at the end, we see dream after dream after dream cut short. I can't help but think that Avatar Aang would have been moved by this film.

Tomorrow, we'll see a different kind of turbulance as we watch a very different animated biopic.

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #680

Top Ten Fictional Companies

I love me a bit of good world-building. A sense of a real place, perhaps wildly different to our own, perhaps tweaked in a couple of interesting ways; but the feeling that you could go there, walk around, buy a sandwich, kick a chicken. And one of the things that really helps sell your fictional universe is a bunch of fictional names on the sides of buildings.

In our world, corporations are often really bad. They pollute the environment, they diddle people out of their time and money, they buy the President of the United States and enact a neo-fascist regime to destroy democracy. And I’ll be honest, very often fictional companies aren’t that much better either. Although it’s worth bearing in mind that when he became President, Lex Luthor divested himself of all his LexCorp holdings. He might be a supervillain but he ain’t that corrupt.

But fictional corporations are good for lots of things, and not just preventing you from having to pay McDonald’s if you want to stick a burger in your movie. Some fake brand names in a series can help tie disparate stories together – staying in the junk food sphere, Big Belly Burger appears to be the place to go in the DC Universe, cropping up repeatedly in their books, TV, and film. Similarly, Quentin Tarantino’s films often feature repeated use of the same fictional brands – Red Apple cigarettes, for instance. But these fakey factories also allow us to mock and mirror the real world. We’ll see some examples of that below; companies that hint at the dystopian excesses of current corporate culture.

Another thing fake companies do is show us how a really different world might function. It’s not quite the same, but think of the Fairy Godmother’s factory in Shrek 2, a comedy production line churning out spells to order. Transformers features shops that will change your body at will, or allow you to place your brain into another robot’s body to feel the experience of flight, for instance. We can understand the capitalistic undertones of the society even if the actual products are wildly alien.

And then there are just the weird ones. Like the first one on this list, for instance. And so I guess, with no further ado, we’d best get cracking. Here are some companies from films and TV and comics and games and that. Now, go eat the rich.

Acme Corporation (Looney Tunes cartoons, from 1935): it’s weird, it’s funny, it’s surreal, it’s satirical – it’s Acme. The perfect American company, it does everything, it ships everywhere, its reach is gargantuan and its product line never ending. And, of course, nothing it makes seems to work right. Its name literally means pinnacle, and nothing can get higher than this; no joke is funnier, no satire more biting than the everything company that actually delivers nothing. And on top of all that, it’s just a factory of utter batshit insanity. No wonder Wile E. Coyote kept on falling into canyons.

Wayne Enterprises (DC Comics, from 1974): there’s a common type of internet gotcha were people say “oh, but what if Bruce Wayne donated all his millions to charity instead of spending it beating up muggers and the mentally ill,” forgetting of course that the reason Bruce Wayne is rich is so they can make Batman stories where he has a jet and a UFO and an underground rocket-powered train. But also, he actually does do all that. Wayne Enterprises – sometimes referred to as the Wayne Foundation – is another company that seems to do everything, from defence contracts to medical supplies. Nowadays we do get the sense that Bruce uses it to further social reforms in the interests of driving down the crime rate – he employs ex-cons, funds homeless shelters, builds libraries, pays for Gotham’s redevelopment… and, of course, allows Batman to have shark-repellent and the Justice League to live in space.  

Omni Consumer Products (RoboCop, 1987): RoboCop’s satire is so on-point that in no longer feels like satire. OCP is a company that basically buys a police force so they can sell weapons. From their monolithic, macho, and incredibly eighties logo, through to their relentless advertising, and the fact they repeatedly indulge in horrific criminality to get what they want, they’re a picture-postcard representation of the corporate American dream. Considering we live in a age where a company has de facto bought a presidency, the thought of Amazon taking over the Chicago Fire Service to sell Alexa-branded extinguishers does not seem so far-fetched.

Aperture Science (Portal, 2007): on the one hand, it’s just a sterile research and development company; on the other, it’s a sublime use of emergent, satirical world-building, as everything around you is couched in supposedly-comforting terms, like a posh therapist’s office but made of white plastic. The apotheosis of company as parent, they want you to feel warm and relaxed whilst you undergo their tests, but the cracks – metaphorical and literal – show not only the grim-faced reality of their perverse death traps, but also the apocalyptic hellhole of a world you’ve woken up in. And, of course, this is all anchored by GLaDOS, a malevolent AI who keeps promising you cake.

Buy N Large (WALL-E, 2008): another one of those “they do everything” corporations, but this one also gets points because it appears to have ended humanity. A corporation that got so big, its CEO appears to be the leader of the entire human race; every single thing you can use is made by Buy N Large, who – despite apparently operating hundreds of years into the future – have retained the logo of a 1950s American supermarket. The casual, careless malevolence hidden behind the cheery façade is growing common in this list; but I guess they did also build WALL-E, who saves the human race, so they’re not all bad.

Combine Honnete Ober Advancer Mercantiles (Dune, 1965): CHOAM is less of a company, more of a religion. In a future of incredibly prescribed order, all economic transactions are undertaken by this one phenomenal hyper-corp, who therefore holds ridiculous power as a galactic monopoly. Their power causes the great houses, and even the Padishah Emperor, a great deal of tension and unease, because they can cripple a planet’s finances and – potentially – disrupt the whole empire. The way these large powers in Dune intersect – CHOAM might control finance, but they can’t ship anything anywhere without the Spacing Guild – is fascinating. Also, “CHOAM” is just fun to say.

Weyland-Yutani (Alien, 1979): a company so callous that they repeatedly send squads of people into certain death just to get their hands on an alien species that they think they can use as a bio-weapon. Operating in secrecy, with the truth of their instructions known only to a tiny few, they’ll do anything, risk anything, to get their hands on an alien. Although their boss, Weyland, looks suspiciously like Bishop the android, they’re really given a face in the form of Burke, the snotty, cowardly arsehole from Aliens. Bonus points for the nice way their name reflects a merger between two big British and Japanese conglomerates, hinting at some kind of corporate melting pot down on Earth.

InGen (Jurassic Park, 1990): a company that, to a certain extent, is the will of one man – John Hammond, the visionary CEO whose past endeavours have included – depending on who you listen to – a genetically-engineered pygmy elephant and a flea circus. But InGen as a company was capable of actual scientific wonders – they literally cloned dinosaurs and tried to bring them back to life. True, they did then also try to set them up in a theme park where, even before someone shut the fence off in the rain workmen were being, well, eaten. And, even after all that, when you’d think they’d have learned their lesson, they kept trying to go back to get more dinosaur DNA. So: clever scientists, stupid executives.

Monsters, Incorporated (Monsters, Inc., 2001): it’s always fun to see a weird kind of business operating in a weird world. Here we have fantastic world-building because although the concept is really strange – monsters harvest screams from human children in order to power their civilisation – it’s presented in a way we can recognise: a blue-collar factory. The business feels like a large American corporation from the 70s, and there’s an almost propaganda-ish undertone to the way they earnestly talk of the benefits Monsters, Inc. brings. But they do have cool tech, though: however the door thing works, it’s an amazing visual treat to see them dangling from a suspended train track as they motor their way through the underbelly of the factory.

Quark’s (Star Trek franchise, from 1993): throughout Deep Space Nine, Quark’s is just one bar: as far as we can tell, it’s pretty popular on the station (although Quark’s own success seem to be as great or small as the plot requires), but also rather provincial. Yes, all the passing trade from both sides of the wormhole stop their for a raktajino, but Quark had loftier ambitions. So it’s nice to see, in Picard and Lower Decks, that he has been able to expand into an entire franchise; Quark’s can be seen across the quadrant, a popular and – presumably – profitable franchise. Maybe having your brother as Grand Nagus helps grease the wheels of commerce, somewhat. Anyway, who wouldn’t want to go there? Dabo tables, a dart board, drinks from across the galaxy, sexy holodecks, the possibility of some light illegal smuggling… let’s face it, it’s livelier than Ten Forward.

So there you go. Fictional companies definitely better than real companies. Even when they send you to get eaten by a xenomorph.

[lesbiandanhowell]

everyone's favourite format is back!

Sam reacts to: THE HONEYMOON - Dan and Phil play The Sims 4: Season 2 #7

- Hint in the shirt? Japan honeymoon? (I was right)

- Them only censoring the credit card info like, are they aware that people are very good at uncensoring stuff. I am genuinely slightly concerned they are about to get their credit card info stolen, but let's hope the audience is not that messed up.

- The audio is SO FUCKED UP WHAT. I am horrible at sound in any sense but even I can hear that the audio in this one is messed up so badly.

- JAPAN HONEYMOON IS REAL LIKE GUYS THIS IS ACTUALLY A REAL THING NOW.

- I love that they have started just cutting out dan ranting at Phil, PJ was a trendsetter with doing that in his video, but also over the Zen garden, really?

- "this is married life" HOW WOULD YOU KNOW DAN HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHAT MARRIED LIFE IS LIKE I AM ENDING IT ALL

- Phil just giggling at Dan doing a bad rap, at first he was so what the fuck and eventually he just sat there looking pretty and giggling (very school girl of him).

- DAN SAID HUBBY I AM SEVERELY UNWELL. He can not just use this to refer to two canonically married characters when he ahs called Phil this before, I am not stable enough for this.

- I love the Japan lore about them being horrible at hiking and fighting because they got exhausted, because it fits them so well. Also I 100% know which cat anime they were referring too haha

- Guys I pose the same way as Phil does, with my hand under my face. Why am I so Phil coded?!

- "My dad painted our bamboo forest trip" what if I end it

- Why do I lose my mind when they look at each other? They do so much more wtf stuff but them looking at each other sends me off the deep end every time somehow.

- "our garden" STOP WHY DO I WANT TO SOB (Also I am with Dan, moss garden is a good idea do it!)

- Dan having grown out of being a Kanye fan is the biggest growth he has been through ngl.

- I can not even imagine them being at a bar but them having their tallness on their side, ,meanwhile it's a whole body workout for me to get a bartenders attention.

- Phil has one specific laugh he uses only for stories Dan tells.

- OH MY GOD MOVIE THEMED COCKTAILS. Ofc Dan would go for a Shrek one and the selfie? Peak

- So Dab is Dan (piano) and Evan is Phil (bad singing) I am just noting this here.

- Can they stop looking at each other?! Tt upsets me

- I feel like I just learned too much about them by Dan saying "it's one of those nights", like truly WHAT WAS THE REASON TO SAY THIS SO ELABORATELY

- they are watching way too intently when Dab and Evan woohoo like it made me uncomfortable how they just, sat there watching LMAO

[cactusringed]

An essay justifying drawing characters fat should not have to exist, you're totally right and I think everyone should do whatever they want forever BUT I would love to hear your fat joel thoughts anyway they sound like they would be fun to read.

Even in this day and age of representation in media, fat characters are shockingly under represented. If I asked anyone right now to name fat characters who are 1. Important to a story's plot, 2. NEVER mocked in ANY WAY (whether overt or subtly) for their weight and 3. Whose storyline has nothing to do with their weight.... Well, let's just say that list would be depressingly short.

Whilst it isn't really our job to further representation with fucking Minecraft characters, I think it's always valuable to take that into account, take into account how much it could mean to other people, and how much one can learn.

Joel is a desirable man. One that is considered attractive and charming by several other characters (Lizzie, Jimmy, fucking Iskall now). He's also strong, skilled in combat, and absolutely fucking terrifying. He's capable. He has so many positive character traits so rare in fat characters. When was the last time you saw a fat character that would have people quake in their boots not because they wielded political or financial power (because the fat and rich aristocrat or mob boss is one of the only times we see fat people in power in media and it's never good, using their far as a representation of greed). It would just be such a refreshing portrayal? To have a fat person shown to be skilled, desirable, beautiful, strong? With a complex personality and psyche that does not revolve around their fatness?

But also to bring it to Joel very particularly, I say it all the time but like. His skin is based off Shrek. It USED to be shrek. And shrek is not just an empowerment to those who are seen as different, as not conventionally attractive - it's also very very importantly a fat empowerment. Shrek is fat. Fiona, as an ogre, is... Slightly thicker than as a human (insert grimace about the different expectations of beauty that even make their way into a movie made to combat that). And they're both recognized as valuable not just 'in spite' of that, but BECAUSE of that. Fiona's best, true self is as an ogre that I think was meant to be seen as fat. Shrek himself is definitely shown to be his best self as a fat ogre. Joel himself also fits the values of shrek so well - he's so damn honest and outwards to the point of rude bluntness, he lets his 'ugly side' shine. We all love to incorporate little Easter eggs and fanon headcanon into designs and so many people like to give Joel little shrek antennas to wink at his origins but imo it's kind of weak and has become a pet peeve of mine, which is funny considering the very first time I drew Joel he was also skinny w those antennas, but I think it's because I didn't really 'get' him. If you want to reference his origins as shrek you have to go further than that. You have to make him someone who is attractive, but not in a conventional sense, and who is not just okay with that but embraces it wholly. Or at least idk give him a bigger nose or just anything other than those little antennas. Like. You know. Giving him a body type similar to the character his skin is based off of. Gasps all around

But even without bringing the shrek origin up, like I said - Joel just really hits me as a character who could be empowering for us fatties and, further, I just think it fits his vibes so much more. He's such a force or nature, so utterly and wholly himself, so imposing and strong that to make his design fat, to me, enhances his traits so much more. Like it's just good character design. To me small, skinny Joel really does not encompass his personality and vibes as well. To each their own of course. But I wish more people took that into consideration. Took what fatness can give to your character design. Does that make any sense

[michanvalentine]

Don't say anything—I got carried away, but more than that, I really got a taste for it! ^^''' And as per the poll results, here it is: the interview with Wyll, I know you were all waiting for it with bated breath and burning excitement! xD But the surprises don’t end here—stay tuned! ✨💥

🗡️ EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH WYLL (Prince. Warlock. Dancing disaster with a heart of gold.) 👑🔥 “Heroism is 80% confidence, 10% swordplay, and 10% not tripping over your own cape.”

Fangs & Fame – the undead cinema magazine

REPORTER: Wyll! Such an honor to have you with us. Let’s get right into it: Blooderella is driving audiences wild in anticipation. What was it like to play the Prince?

WYLL (with the perfect toothpaste commercial smile): An honor, of course! Even though... let’s be honest: my character pales next to Blooderella’s charisma. But I gave it my all. And my left pinky. It never recovered after the acrobatic waltz scene, but hey, that’s the risk of the trade. I refuse to let a stuntman handle my action scenes – the Blade of the Frontier never backs down from danger!

REPORTER: How did you prepare for the role? Any classic fairy tale references?

WYLL: Absolutely! Preparation is everything! So I watched Cinderella three times. Then Shrek 2, my ultimate fairy tale reference. I also did an intensive course on salon bows and proper fairy tale prince etiquette, naturally. Unfortunately, I pulled a muscle on the third bow and have walked with a slight tilt to the right ever since. But I did learn how to say "my lady" in six dramatically different tones, so it was worth it.

REPORTER: And your outfit? Opinions are split on the shiny leather suit and glitter cape.

WYLL (seriously): It’s the most shameful and glorious thing I’ve ever worn. I looked like a cross between a dragon tamer and a Cirque du Soleil host. But the truth is... I like it. Sure, not even Remove Curse can get the glitter off me now, but the audience wants a show. And we deliver it with a smile.

REPORTER: Let’s talk Blooderella. You worked closely with Astarion. How was that?

WYLL (with a perplexed grin): Astarion? Once, I caught him talking to himself, staring into space. He was muttering, "Why would he pick me? Me, of all people? This is just another punishment, isn’t it? I’m not an actor—I’m a victim. A. VICT-IM." Then he looked up, stared straight into my eyes, and whispered, "I know he’s watching. And laughing. I know it." And I just... nodded. Slowly. Another time, I found him yelling at a poster in the dressing room: "YOU! YOU TURNED ME INTO BLOODERELLA, YOU SADISTIC BASTARD!" I said, "Astarion, that’s the promo banner..." He replied, "I KNOW."

REPORTER: So?

WYLL (sighs, chuckling): Astarion is... complicated. Charming, but complicated—like a rose full of thorns. Gorgeous, clever, sharp... and with more daddy issues than I can count on one hand. I mean, I’ve got a rocky relationship with my father too, but at least mine wouldn’t dig a grave and throw me in it for flubbing a line, you know what I mean? And those slippers… brrrr… Sometimes it feels like Astarion is still performing to please Lord Cazador. Or to defy him. Or to get revenge in style. I honestly can’t tell. Whatever he’s doing, he’s doing it with one eyebrow raised and a razor-sharp comeback locked and loaded. And a nervous breakdown or two between takes. Maybe that’s what makes him dangerous. Or wonderful. Depends on how he’s looking at you—and what he’s planning to do next. Anyway, he still calls me "Little Prince" off set. I don’t know if it’s an insult, a flirt, or dissociative trauma. Maybe all three.

REPORTER: We’ve talked about the role, the costume, and even a bit of Astarion... but now tell us: how was filming the romantic scenes with Blooderella?

WYLL (blushing slightly): Ah... those. Well, there’s always some tension when you have to... stare into someone’s eyes for more than thirty seconds without laughing or making faces. Let’s just say we needed multiple takes. Not my fault. Not entirely, at least. Ahem. The director wanted "spark". I think I gave "wildfire."

REPORTER: Rumor has it there was more chemistry on set than the script required. Care to comment?

WYLL (laughs, then gets theatrical): Let the gossip speak for itself. We actors... we’re like empty mugs. We fill our roles. And if a hand lingers too long on a shoulder, or a smile stretches a few seconds too far, well, what can I say? That’s movie magic. Astarion and I understood each other in our own way. I mean, I’m aware I’m a lot to handle—people says I'm charming, heroic, polite to a fault, with a smile that could probably qualify as divine intervention. Apparently, that’s “an affront to all that is unholy.” His words. Between takes, he’d look at me like I’d personally spit in his goblet and mutter things like, “Stop smiling like that, Wyll. It’s indecent. It’s radiant. It’s... smug.” And I’d just offer him a muffin. He even threatened me with foundation powder, saying my "natural glow disturbed him." But you know, I think it’s not that he hates it. I think it’s that he doesn’t—and that’s what really drives him mad. It's cute. He’s got more internal conflict than a paladin at a brothel.

REPORTER: Let’s talk about the midnight ball scene. How did that go?

WYLL (sighs): A glorious disaster. The floor was slippery, the cape kept getting in my way, and Astarion wouldn’t stop winking at me... but I’ve never been so graceful while collapsing spectacularly in the middle of the ballroom. I think they edited the fall and replaced it with a CGI bat lifting me up. Movie magic, right? My hip still complains a little, but I manage...

REPORTER: Wyll, let’s be honest. Word is, you were incredibly convincing in the prince role. Ever thought you might be trying to... impress your father?

WYLL (laughs, but with a half-sarcastic, half-tender grin): Oh come on... me? Seeking approval? Never. Absolutely not. The idea that I might have thrown myself into a glitter-drenched vampire fairytale just to earn a reluctant “well done” from my emotionally constipated father is absurd.

Pause.

...Okay, maybe not that absurd. Let’s just say that when your father is a battle-hardened general who considers “dramatic flair” a tactical mistake and “grace and elegance” a form of treason, it’s not exactly easy to score points for artistic merit. He once told me stage combat was for people who couldn’t handle real combat — and that glitter was a substance invented by demons to sabotage stealth missions. So no, he didn’t exactly burst into tears of joy when I told him I’d been cast. But he grunted and said, “Interesting career choice, son.” Which, from him, is basically a standing ovation. I half-expected a slow, nearly imperceptible nod. Or at least a blink of pride. Still, deep down, I think he was proud. Or horrified. Or both. It’s always hard to tell with dads. But I like to think that somewhere, behind that cold military exterior, he was picturing me twirling across the ballroom in a leather doublet and glitter cape and thinking: “That’s my boy.”

REPORTER: We heard Cazador himself gave you some "directorial tips" on set. Can you confirm?

WYLL (raises an eyebrow): Oh yes. Our beloved terror stepmother never stopped giving advice. Things like: "A true prince doesn’t trip, he kills the floor beneath him." Or: "Remember, if the audience doesn’t kneel voluntarily, you can always break their legs. Elegant, practical, and efficient." Very... instructive.

REPORTER: Back to your father... did you get to watch the film with him?

WYLL (guiltily laughing): Let’s just say I mailed it to him… in script form. With annotations. I may or may not have highlighted every scene where I look especially heroic, charming, or tall—especially the ones with dramatic lighting and wind in my hair. I also added a few sticky notes like “Look, Dad—emotional range!” and “This is where I rescue someone with my heart.” He replied with a note that simply said, “Too many capes. Not enough dragons.” Which, honestly, is the nicest thing he’s said about my career since I told him I wanted to be more than just a sword and a title. But hey, he’s still more excited than when I made a pact with a cambion to save the city and accidentally grew horns. That earned me a thirty-minute monologue on “choices,” “consequences,” and “why warlocks are just a subcategory of wizards with contractual issues.” So yeah—baby steps. He didn’t declare me a disgrace to the family name or challenge me to a duel, so I’m calling it a win.

REPORTER: Let’s go back to the cast. What was it like working with the stepsisters... Petras and Dalyria?

WYLL (takes a deep breath): An educational experience. Like when you stick your fingers in a socket as a kid "to see what happens." Petras is... interesting, apart from his pyromania. Really, his comic timing is amazing and he can scream "that shoe is mine" for seven minutes straight. Impressive. Dalyria, on the other hand, is the only person who can weaponize silence. On set we called it "the Dalyria effect." She said five words during the entire shoot: "None of this is real." And once left a glittery shoe in Petras’ duffel bag with a note: "This looks better on your face."

REPORTER: In your opinion, who’s most likely to win the "Best Off-Set Drama" award?

WYLL (without hesitation): Cazador. Oh, no contest. And the best part? He wasn’t even on set that day. He had already wrapped his scenes as the Evil Stepmother—flawless, terrifying, emotionally scarring—so of course, he had to leave his mark from afar. He sent his children black flowers. Yes, black. Roses dipped in raven ink or something equally theatrical. With handwritten notes, naturally. Astarion’s read: “You are the mistake I keep in my house only to remind myself how overrated mercy truly is.” And Astarion? The thorns pricked his fingers, but he kept holding them—said the pain was “therapeutic.” I offered him a handkerchief. He refused. I couldn’t tell if I should hug him… or book him a therapy session. Petras, on the other hand, framed his note. Swore it was the greatest compliment he’d ever received from their father. Hung it up in his trailer, surrounded by candles like it was some kind of infernal relic. The note literally said: “You disappoint me exactly as usual.” And he was glowing. Absolutely glowing. Dalyria read hers silently, blinked twice, folded it into an origami dagger, and stabbed it into a pear. Didn’t say a word. Just… stared at the fruit like it owed her money.

REPORTER: Speaking of your past heroic exploits… let’s talk about Mizora. Some say she’s your patron, others call her your number one fan. What’s the truth?

WYLL (sighs theatrically, rubbing his temples): Ah yes, Mizora. My number one fan. My biggest supporter. My… demonic stalker! You know how most actors have an agent? I have a cambion with horns, wings, and a dangerously inflated sense of entitlement. She calls herself my “patron,” but honestly, she acts more like a clingy ex who’s convinced every heroic deed I do is somehow a tribute to her. Look, I made one tiny, itsy-bitsy binding pact to save a city, and suddenly she thinks she owns the full creative rights to my biography. She’s like an uncredited producer who crashes every event just to cause a scene. She even tried to “collaborate” on Blooderella. Said the film needed more fire, more horns, and way more skin. I told her it was a fairy tale, not a runway show in Avernus. She rolled her eyes so hard, I think she triggered an earthquake in the Hells. Another time, she tried to rewrite the script so I’d have “a darker arc and more shirtless scenes.” She said it would “strengthen my brand.” I told her my brand was hopeful heroism, courage, and toothpaste-commercial smiles. She just scoffed and said, “Adorable.”

REPORTER: Does she visit often?

WYLL (makes a face): Depends what you mean by “visit.” If you mean “appearing in a cloud of brimstone at three in the morning to critique my manners and ask why I haven’t texted her back,” or throwing compliments like daggers—“Oh, Wyll, you were adequate today”—and then vanishing with maniacal laughter... then yes. Very often. She calls it “mentorship.” I call it “harassment with extra venom.” And look—I’ll admit, a part of me is flattered. I mean, who wouldn’t want a fan who can hurl fireballs and manipulate souls with a single eyelash flutter?

REPORTER: So she’s always watching?

WYLL (sighs deeply): Always. I mean… it’s sweet. In a “please let me have five minutes alone in the bathroom” kind of way. You know it’s bad when your mirror fogs up and suddenly there’s a heart drawn in it… with horns.

REPORTER: Alright Wyll, lightning round: who is the Fairy Godmother?

WYLL (wide-eyed, laughs nervously): Ah! The infamous Fairy. Well, I can’t really say anything—NDA. Wickedly binding. Like, magically and legally. I tried to mention them once in an interview and my mouth filled with glitter. Not metaphorically. Literal glitter. For three days. But I can say this: their entrance? Legendary. In a puff of lavender mist, holding a steaming mug labeled “World’s Most Modest Arcane Genius.” If they were a school of magic, they wouldn’t be Evocation or Enchantment. No. They’d be Evocative Library, all the way. With cantrips like Omniscient Sparkle-Stare and Aggressively Enthusiastic Knowledge Burst. They once ended a conversation by snapping their fingers and turning a footman into a disco ball just because the lighting technician was having issues. And it worked. Mood instantly improved.

REPORTER: And how did you react to their entrance, as the Prince?

WYLL: Well… I was still trying to figure out how a pumpkin with reading glasses and arcane runes carved into the rind ended up in the middle of the ballroom. Or why my socks had suddenly turned a very specific shade of stardust purple and started quoting Elminster when I put them on. And then—they spoke, and—wow. A thesis statement wrapped in silk, sprinkled with starlight, and delivered with the tone of someone who once tutored the gods and found them slightly disappointing. At one point they mentioned my third birthday. The one where I ate six apple pies, spun in circles yelling “I’m a pastry dragon!” and vomited on my father’s ceremonial armor. But they didn’t just mention it—they recited it. In verse. With accurate pie-to-vomit trajectory statistics. And then they described the exact shade of the vomit. And they had that look. That look of someone who’s read your entire emotional backstory, written annotations in the margins, and come prepared to offer gentle mentorship… and twelve alternate endings. Honestly? Kind of comforting. In a "this person definitely keeps star charts on all their friends" kind of way.

REPORTER: Last question, we promise. When you watch Blooderella on the big screen, who will be by your side?

WYLL (smiling, running a hand through his hair): Probably no one. Just to avoid the usual comments like, “Hey, you looked taller,” or “Was that a real bat or Cazador mid-transformation?” But—if Astarion were to “accidentally” sit next to me with two crystal goblets of lukewarm ethically-sourced blood and his trademark look of elegant disdain… I’d accept the company. He claims my “natural radiance is an eyesore” and that I smile like I’m trying to start a musical number. But he always shows up with snacks. And he never misses his scenes on screen. Sometimes he mutters things like, “Disgusting,” while watching the romantic bits. But then he rewinds them. Twice. So… make of that what you will.

🎬 Blooderella: A Bite Before Midnight.✨🎭

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

SHREK 2, approaching its 20th anniversary, took in around $1.3 million this past weekend... In its first theatrical run since its original release.

I have a movie theater job, and I worked this past Friday. Spring break for many schools was this past week, and this week too. Those screenings on Friday at my cinema were often packed, and a lot of them were packed with kids. As in, kids who were born well after this movie originally hit theaters. And *after* SHREK FOREVER AFTER was released, at that.

Yeah, there's some multi-generational appeal there with SHREK and SHREK 2.

Some animation fans jeered at the SHREK movies back in the day, feeling that their early 2000s attitude and pop culture references-aplenty scripts would date them, ditto their art direction and design... But no, nostalgia is very strong, especially when it's passed down. These movies appeal to little kids today. The second PUSS IN BOOTS movie being more recent also helps.

It goes to show that at the end of the day, the characters and what the movie does with them can make something a long-lasting flavor.

And I'm saying this, as someone who is not the biggest fan of those movies myself. As a kid, I did *love* SHREK and SHREK 2. I was the perfect age for them, you could argue - I was 8 1/2 when SHREK came out, 11 1/2 when SHREK 2 hit. I could probably quote whole sections of them verbatim. I know it's sacrilege to say these things, but to me, the SHREK movies are basically the animated equivalent of late '90s/early '00s live-action comedies that were usually made for adults, but in PG-rated form. Set in a fractured fairy tale world with ogres and talking donkeys and dragons and such. If not for those fantastical elements, these movies could've been some '00s live-action comedies with hot stars. They just have that vibe to them, right down to their contemporary soundtracks.

I don't see the first two SHREK movies as the high-water marks of the animation medium that they were sometimes made out to be by critics who didn't see animation as anything other than babysitter fluff. In addition to feeling that MONSTERS, INC. deserved the inaugural Best Animated Feature Oscar over this film, I also never bought that the first two SHREKs were these "revolutionary" "adult" alternatives to whatever Disney had out at the time. There's a roughly 2-second scene in Ralph Bakshi's X-rated FRITZ THE CAT - from 1972 - that's a way better satire of Disney than this movie is said to be, haha. I know at least one person who doesn't really like animation, but they will admit that they liked SHREK. That tells me a lot... SHREK was an animated movie that managed to appeal to just about everybody, including folks who would otherwise not bother with cartoons. It just has that zazz to it... Their core appeal, well specifically, SHREK 1 & 2, is undeniable. How many other relatively chill, less formal comedies like this did you see in mainstream feature animation at the time? It's not zany like, say, Disney's similarly irreverent buddy comedy THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE from five months earlier, nor is it like Pixar's clever, tightly-plotted movies.

The first SHREK movie hit a sweet spot with a lot of American audiences at the right time. Adult audiences who were burnt out on Disney's Renaissance formula being repeated for each movie after THE LION KING, and especially all the movies made at other studios following their lead. Like ANASTASIA and QUEST FOR CAMELOT. Even DreamWorks' own THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, for that matter. These big, grandiose musical pictures... Certain young film fans nowadays will say "those movies went SO HARD", but back in the late '90s/early '00s, the attitude towards them was "Okay, enough of that already." They were often called things like "politically correct", that era's version of "woke". Audiences wanted an animated film that they could just laugh and have a fun time with, without the moral messaged in a specific way.

Adults had also avoided the slew of edgy action-adventure animated movies aimed at a demographic that would never be there, films like DreamWorks' THE ROAD TO EL DORADO, along with Disney's ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE and Fox's TITAN A.E.

So you have this particular landscape of animated features, circa early 2001... Big grandiose family-friendly musicals that have become rather traditional, and these action-adventures for preteen boys that few were interested in seeing in theaters. Few exceptions are in-between, like THE IRON GIANT, but those were ignored because of other circumstances. IRON GIANT by all means should've been a small respectable success back in 1999 at the very least, if not a sleeper hit/blockbuster, but distributor Warner Bros. didn't believe in it. That's the animated movie landscape of early 2001... and then this chill comedy with dick jokes and a gross-out factor to it comes along... Right place, right time, planets aligned... One person put it this way: SHREK was an animated movie that "you could have a beer with."

And to think that SHREK was at one point shaping up to be a cursed, troubled production. Something that animators were punished with. An impending bomberoo, a film that was stopped and restarted, that lurched through a tumultuous 5-year journey...

Then the sequel went on to break records in the spring/summer of 2004, a high that the later films in the franchise couldn't rekindle.

SHREK THE THIRD certainly made a lot of money back in 2007, it was the highest-grossing animated movie of that calendar year, beating out the likes of THE SIMPSONS MOVIE and RATATOUILLE... but I don't remember it landing the way SHREK 2 did. I remember seeing it opening weekend with my dad, my good friend, and his family... and... largely forgetting about it afterwards! I was in high school at the time, and had mentioned one day that a fourth one was coming. This was around late 2007, by the time SHREK 3 was out of theaters and close to DVD release. (And HD-DVD as well, remember that?) One of my classmates responded, "Ugh, they're making another one?" A new SHREK movie wasn't as novel and fresh by then, and when SHREK FOREVER AFTER came out in the spring of 2010, I remember everyone being hyped about TOY STORY 3 - opening less than a month later... Not a word on the fourth green ogre movie. SHREK 4 still made plenty of dough though, it was bigger worldwide than here. Then DreamWorks pumped the breaks on the green ogre, as FOREVER AFTER was billed as "The Final Chapter".

It's interesting to note that DreamWorks' original plan was to make five SHREK movies, and PUSS IN BOOTS would be a direct-to-video movie with the subtitle THE STORY OF AN OGRE KILLER. The fifth SHREK movie would've been a prequel, interestingly enough. But over time, as PUSS IN BOOTS graduated to theatrical feature film and was given to SHREK 3 director Chris Miller, the plans slightly changed...

PUSS IN BOOTS had a rather blah opening in fall 2011, no doubt fueled by franchise fatigue and arriving just a little over a year after SHREK 4... but the cat legged it up something fierce. Because it was pretty good, and for some, a return to form after two lackluster SHREK sequels. It was right for the time, too. An old-school swashbuckling adventure for the family, featuring a fan favorite character from the SHREK sequels. I'm not sure a Donkey or Gingy spin-off would've landed the same way, lol. I remember the early 2010s being a time of more sincere animated movies, a country mile from the ironic early 2000s attitude of the first SHREK movie and all of its imitators. PUSS IN BOOTS Uno was more in line with those kinds of movies, and some of the classic-style adventure movies that DreamWorks had out at the time, like HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON and the first two KUNG FU PANDA films. Their then-recent comedies, like MONSTERS VS. ALIENS and THE CROODS, leaned in a more cartoony and wacky direction. The early 2010s, to reiterate, were way different from the early 2000s in terms of animated movie output. What goes on in the world moves the needle as much as the pop culture does, indeed.

So then, some 11 years and at least one period in limbo later, PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH comes out. An exciting reinvention of the whole franchise, and arriving after a decade-long void where SHREK became something of a meme. Add in nostalgia, word-of-mouth, THE LAST WISH was a gradual trip back into the world of SHREK for many audiences. A big hit in the end, and a beloved movie. It's certainly my favorite movie in this series, for sure. I still find it neat how they didn't just do the safe thing and simply make a SHREK 5 after Comcast acquired them, no. They stuck to that long-gestating PUSS IN BOOTS sequel and saw it through first, as a sort-of lead in to new SHREK movies... And still did something amazing with it, when it could've just been another typical-style SHREK universe movie. It could've also been the movie that it was initially planned to be.

I have no doubt that SHREK PLEADS THE FIFTH, when it hits in a few years, probably makes a good run at highest-grossing animated movie of all-time. SHREK 2 was just that for six years. $919m back in 2004 - without 3D, IMAX, and other such premium formats - was **massive**. TOY STORY 3 took the crown thereafter, and held onto that for three years. SHREK 5's target to beat is the 2019 CG remake of THE LION KING, $1.6 billion. If you don't count that, FROZEN II with $1.4 billion.

I wonder if this re-release of SHREK 2 sparks Universal and DreamWorks to re-release other older films of theirs. Maybe even one that didn't do so hot back in the day? This year also happens to be SHARK TALE's 20th, and MONSTERS VS. ALIENS' 15th. 2014 saw the release of three movies: MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN, HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2, and PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR. 2019 saw the arrival of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD and ABOMINABLE.

Who knows...

I think they should re-release animated movies more often, no matter the studio. The SHREK 2 re-release opened wider than the three recent Pixar first-time ever theatrical runs of movies that went straight to Disney+, and people turned out for it. It also helps that the movie is that old, whereas those three Pixars aren't that old. SOUL, the oldest of that trio, came out Christmas 2020. Not even four years ago.

Now, if Disney re-released a Pixar film wide like - say - THE INCREDIBLES this year, I'd imagine it'd get *some* traction like this SHREK 2 re-release did. Or if Disney did the same to an animated feature like LILO & STITCH. Remember those 3D re-releases of various Disney Animation and Pixar films? THE LION KING did quite well in 2011, while everything else barely made half of that... But still quite a bit nonetheless. $40m+ for, say, FINDING NEMO in 2012 is something a new animated feature would fight for today.

Every year, my cinema does the Studio Ghibli fest. Most of the beloved movies... Ya know, little tiny unheard-of movies like SPIRITED AWAY and PRINCESS MONONOKE? Always sold out to the front row.

The original KUNG FU PANDA ran for a few weeks earlier this year in the lead-up to KUNG FU PANDA 4, and a few people showed up for those screenings.

Yeah... More re-release of animated movies, please. Plus, they're great to experience on the big screen again.

[jeannos]

I'M CRINGE BUT I'M FREE.

every kid in this fandom MUST have their au phase where they make aus of this stupid skeleton, and I FINALLY got the courage to make one!!

I lied actually... I have like 6 sans/skeleton ocs... and 2 of them are self inserts... BUT ANYWAY this guy is the only one I posting publicly atm

btw this reference specifically is really old (I started drawing this in like- 2021/2022 I guess?? Idk honestly) but I never actually finished it till recently bc, yeah, I got super lazy... ironic isn’t it? I don't even draw Sanses like this anymore -_-

SUPER AMAZING AU INTRO ↓

THIS HANDSOME FELLA IS- IS- is...

...

he does not have a actual name yet...

I mean- I call him Dreamer!Sans but I'm not really sure if I'm gonna set with that yet, since I don't actually have a story/plot for him besides his purpose in the multiverse, but I do have some other ideas ;]

Dreamer!Sans is basically a protector of dreams, he protects mostly the realities of dreams (or the Dreamscapes, is what I like to call them) to make sure everyone from his au and multiverse have sweet and safe dreams.

Theres this things called Night Spawns or Nightlings who feeds from peoples nightmares and trauma while they are asleep. They oddly look like spiders... Dreamer is responsible for defeating these pests.

"But why?" you may ask.

Well... the Nightlings "power" to manifest bad dreams in your sleep can cause you depression, anxiety, paranoia, and much more, if they stay too long attached to someone, AND since they are really hungry they are trying to consume the dreamscapes of the person they are attached to. If they succeeds, one may never dream again (or woke up, in other words)

"What are Dreamscapes?"

Every time someone dreams, that person's consciousness is "transported" to this place, and each person has their own dreamscapes!! They are directly connected to people's consciousness and that is why they are so important.

SILLY BILLY SKELE INFO ↓

Hes mostly like classic Sans, very lazy, laid back/relaxed, and he enjoys puns a lot

but it's a little more extreme-

• He is always tired and cannot stay awake for more than 20 minutes without falling asleep again

• He aways looks tired/sleepy

• Sometimes he sleepwalks, he can do unbelievable things while he's asleep, from knitting and cooking to physically fighting or writing a quantum science research, all unconscious!

• For some reason sometimes he sleeps in super specific and random places, once he slept for two whole days inside Nightmare!Sans' castle and no one ever noticed... strange right? He wasn't even in a room, he slept in the kitchen storage the entire time lol

• He has been in and out of so many people's dreams that he probably knows EVERYONE, he has an incredible memory too!

• Sometimes he can't tell if he's really awake or if he's still dreaming, so he doesn't usually take things around him seriously. Which can make other people upset or annoyed that they're not being taken seriously.

• He learned to never try to find meanings in dreams that don't make the LEAST sense, and since he cannot distinguish which reality he is in because he is almost always dreaming- he will always accept anything absurd you propose to him.

You wanna make a birthday party for a giant unicorn baby? sure sounds fun.

You think Shrek is upset and needs help? yeah lets cheer him up.

Several alternate versions of him are fighting for some bizarre reason he doesn't understand?? yeah ok he can help, he don't mind.

• He snores when he's having a really deep sleep, he won't believe it if you tell him that tho

THE END!?

Well thats it! These are my ideas and thoughts about this Sans I created, I might and probably will add more things about him and his story later in other posts, can't wait to finally see his au takes more shape hehe~

also I will make another post about his magic skills and possible weapon along with more illustrations of him, so keep a eye out for more~~

heres a old doodle I made of him before finishing his ref, bye bye!! :3

ignore my old signature pls T-T