High Guardian Spice - Tumblr: The CalArt Anime

[Atatata]

Cartoons in the past relied heavily on toy sales - how did that change?

Advertisement laws made it more difficult, didn't it?

 

[SBG]

Cartoons in the past relied heavily on toy sales - how did that change?

Well in Japan the big thing seems to be relying on merchandise that adults would buy. So you end up with expensive figurines of cute girls being sold which kids would not be able to afford to buy. I think Cowboy Bebop was even developed to help sell toy spaceships.

In the US, kids aren't buying toys so much so it may have helped to prevent their being a lot of action cartoons done that aren't Marvel. Plus you don't seem to see adults buying merchandise for cartoons unless it's a cheap funkopop.

Still I'd figure the bigger issue is that investors are needed to get cartoons off the ground and the big thing these days is increasing the diversity measurements as much as possible due to investors thinking that helps to either make the products more appealing or a moral good to invest in (billionaires often have agendas after all). There's not a lot of big money willing to invest in "right wing" cartoons and I'm not even sure there's evidence a decidedly right wing crowd would be merchandise to help support such a thing. The closest you can get to that is anime where they're selling high priced merch to adults and the makers of that anime know they need to milk those otaku for all they're worth.

 

[Nynn]

Well in Japan the big thing seems to be relying on merchandise that adults would buy. So you end up with expensive figurines of cute girls being sold which kids would not be able to afford to buy. I think Cowboy Bebop was even developed to help sell toy spaceships.

In the US, kids aren't buying toys so much so it may have helped to prevent their being a lot of action cartoons done that aren't Marvel. Plus you don't seem to see adults buying merchandise for cartoons unless it's a cheap funkopop.

Still I'd figure the bigger issue is that investors are needed to get cartoons off the ground and the big thing these days is increasing the diversity measurements as much as possible due to investors thinking that helps to either make the products more appealing or a moral good to invest in (billionaires often have agendas after all). There's not a lot of big money willing to invest in "right wing" cartoons and I'm not even sure there's evidence a decidedly right wing crowd would be merchandise to help support such a thing. The closest you can get to that is anime where they're selling high priced merch to adults and the makers of that anime know they need to milk those otaku for all they're worth.

Not sure what a right wing cartoon even looks like.

 

[hairazor]

Well in Japan the big thing seems to be relying on merchandise that adults would buy. So you end up with expensive figurines of cute girls being sold which kids would not be able to afford to buy. I think Cowboy Bebop was even developed to help sell toy spaceships.

In the US, kids aren't buying toys so much so it may have helped to prevent their being a lot of action cartoons done that aren't Marvel. Plus you don't seem to see adults buying merchandise for cartoons unless it's a cheap funkopop.

False, so many times people insist toy markets are dead when its adult franchises (Mortal Kombat, Doom, Dark Souls, Marvel Hot Toys/Legends) or 80s reboots/continually series (Transformers, He-man, Gi Joe, Dragonball) getting 90% of the focus online so things such as goojitzu, paw patrol and other children's properties created to sell toys to children do well. There are outlier franchises such as FNAF, Amongus, Fortnite, Minecraft, Peppa Pig, Bluey and other media first series that saw a tremendous amount of popularity with children that get the plastic treatment later yet over looked because of the stigma associated as a thing for children and meant for them in the first place as it should remain. You're correct about Bebop like many Sunrise shows it was developed to sell model kits. It got action figures much later yet didn't sell as well because the fanbase is not the same market for toy buying audiences, they'd rather discuss casting choices for a live action remake or a Jam session remaking the entire OST. Did you know Jakks Pacific's Nintendo toyline focused on Mario after the other sub franchises such as zelda, star fox etc didn't sell as well as the plumber himself? edit: skull kid of all things got a $10 action figure and goes for insane markups on the aftermarket.


Don't forget a lot of franchises in Japan are merely merchandise fronts with few shorts or barely any animated features, here is one of the best selling brands for little girls I bet no one outside of the country has heard of.

 

[The Bovinian Derivative]

I honestly cannot stress enough how much I hate this type of character. The message behind it is simply horrible and it can be downright harmful to people who struggle with similar issues. "Oh? You don't act like a literal stereotype of your sex 24/7? You clearly must be an opposite sex then, go transition immediately!!1!"

This is a character that got literally bullied into being trans and they treat that as a good thing?? Fuck this bullshit.

How much more refreshing would it be if he was a feminine guy, who during the course of the show slowly learnt to embrace his femininity and accept himself for who he is and eventually stood up to the people who abused him?? Without all this trans bullshit? AND staying 100% straight and cis (and getting the girl)? To prove that straight men can be feminine too, without being seen as a joke?

I'm asking too much, aren't I?

Kenshin from Ruroni Kenshin is basically like this. The guy is short, slim, has long hair, does house work, is a better cook than his would-be wife, and is even voiced by a female VA. Granted he's a badass from the start.

 

[Kyria the Great]

Kenshin from Ruroni Kenshin is basically like this. The guy is short, slim, has long hair, does house work, is a better cook than his would-be wife, and is even voiced by a female VA. Granted he's a badass from the start.

Also Kenshin is man that aims to atone from his incredibly bloody past, what does this generic Steven Universe and Little Witch Academia ripoff have?

 

[starborn427614]

Also Kenshin is man that aims to atone from his incredibly bloody past, what does this generic Steven Universe and Little Witch Academia ripoff have?

It's...on Crunchyroll? I got nothing.

 

[Neil]

This show is the personification of everything wrong with western animation post 2013.

2000s kid fujo weebs are now old enough to get their own shows made, so now we get pseudo-anime swill like this full of self-inserts and unnecessary political grandstanding because people like Raye Rodriguez were probably in college and active on tumblr around the time of Anita Sarkeesian's popularity, FemThor, and every other "nerd culture" thing trying its hardest to appeal to progressives.

It's literally Steven Universe-lite, right down to the mother being revealed as the true villain at the end, designs being ripped off of other anime (Rosemary is very clearly a Madoka rip-off, Lapis's design was lifted from Fantaman/Ogon Bat), the cheap animation, the shitty quasi-anime artstyle, and copious amounts of in-your-face yuri shipping bullshit. The story is an afterthought compared to the shipping and "rep".

The only reason this show will ever be "remembered" outside of how laughably poor quality it is is because it has a canon tranny in it that says the word "transgender", and that kind of validation gets the twitterfags drooling. Cartoon has gays in it, therefore it must be good.

Ginger kids got actual school shooter vibes in that first clip with his reaction to the short kid making dumbass mermaid jokes the while menacing stock music plays. The reason the music is playing is blatantly to try and make it seem like the short kids like some sort of EEEVIL HOMOTRANSPHOBE when in any other piece of media a lot of the dialogue would be just funny moments embarrassing memory type stuff that wouldnt result in the other character snapping and beating the shit out of the other.
EDIT: Jesus fuck the second clip is literal tranny grooming fetish shit oh god. Nobody talks like that, and the shit he's describing is just basic shit. A lot of guys don't want to have hair all over their body it's why razors exist. Not a lot of guys want freaky large hands or the implied robbie rotten level of ass chin. Nobody talks about that shit as a gender thing save for people in scripts like this. They should have given him actual gross hands and the fuckyou level large chin if they wanted to put those lines in but he looks like a non-threatening calarts androgyny type ginger nerd kid.

The scenes with the crossdresser are the funniest, most hamfisted shit I've ever seen.

Actually, that's a lie, in any "progressive" show, especially when it's one made by troons like Raye, any scene featuring a"-phobe" will be hamfisted and unnatural, especially when the friend character steps in and threatens the "-phobe" with physical violence, like they always do.

These scenes are literally never not-cringe because they're all wish fulfillment. Writers like Raye wish they had a punk best friend to come and smash her TERF parents and ex-boyfriend for them.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

Kenshin is presented as very feminine or "feminine coded" with the intention of shocking the audience on how dangerous this guy is supposed to be. That's actually good storytelling because, even when you see some moments of him showing his fighting skills at first, the real revelation is that this easy-going guy was once called "the butcher". It wouldn't be the same if he shows up saying "HAHAHA, I'M THE ALMIGHTY BATTOUSAI!" Current day writers don't know how to do "show no tell." And no, this isn't "subverting the expectations", this is good crafting of a story, because in this case, we know Kenshin wants to leave his past behind: so both connect, he doesn't want to be known as the Butcher any more.


@madethistocomment said:

Rosemary's ridiculous poofy hair takes me out of every single scene. It just looks stupid and weightless and I have no idea how they connect to her head other than being glommed on like two pieces of chewing gum. Also, again, the animation is bad. Nothing has weight or speed and a lot of stuff seems.... clippy.

This is supposed to be "Candy Candy" type of hair.

The hair style is part of the character, who's supposed to be wild and free spirited, unlike the other society girls she's close to. The main villain has in fact a more elaborated hairstyle.

I outright laughed at
*Dramatic swelling music*
*Rosemary and Sage gasp as cymbals crash*
*cuts to reveal the most underwhelming magical school that I have ever seen in my life*
The school literally looks like a dollar store brand Alfea, and that is an insult to Alfea. They couldn't have gone with anything more impressive? Like, I dunno, the massive castle in the middle of the city?

I too thought the castle was the school.

I think they said the school was either majestic, which was really funny because the school was very underwhelming to anyone watching. And considering most people watching this has read/watched HP, it's even funnier. This was a good moment for any character telling them: "pfff, you think that's majestic? You've seen nothing yet!" Never happened.

 

[starborn427614]

Lapis's design was lifted from Fantaman/Ogon Bat)

Y'know I thought this was a big coincidence all these years since she usually comments on what her inspirations are, but I just remembered her dad imported a lot of anime and cartoon stuff so it's possibly she saw the design without ever having watched the show itself. Plus there's Sour Cream and his obvious inspiration.

 

[Trilby]

Y'know I thought this was a big coincidence all these years since she usually comments on what her inspirations are, but I just remembered her dad imported a lot of anime and cartoon stuff so it's possibly she saw the design without ever having watched the show itself. Plus there's Sour Cream and his obvious inspiration.

No wonder where she got that crap from! Seems like these guys always rip the surface elements and less the meat from anime in their work.

 

[Caesare]

Sounds like you're talking about this, some Franch thing...

Yes! Papa Beaver's Storytime was what they called it later on. I forgot all about that until your comment. Even before Papa Beaver's, they had a daytime show on Nick just called Storytime. It was animated shows like that, but they would also play live action shows with actors in them. Basically, after school special type shows.

I remember liking both the animated and the live action shows as a youth, but I only remember one of the live action episodes on Storytime but I remember it pretty well.

There was a Mexican boy that lived in an apartment building with his family in the 80s and he was into music. He played the acoustic guitar but his father didn't approve for some reason. I think the dad was an immigrant and he thought kids should have more serious minded pursuits like child labor or something.

I remember one scene the boy was watching a Devo music video, the song where they sing, "We are Devo" and his mother made a bemused but lighthearted comment about their wacky hats. The son thought they were just about the coolest thing ever, but when the father walked into the room, he saw the whole scene and got angry at Devo's nonsense and shut the TV off and yelled at his son for watching such silliness instead of doing school work or looking for a job maybe. (The kid was about 12 just FYI)

The kid had a little sister and she kept talking about wanting this dolly that wet itself, and at the end, I think it might've been Christmas, she got the dolly and she says, "Look! She wets!"

The kid got a new acoustic guitar, I think, and something happens either that same day or possibly later on where the father gets extremely angry at the son for some insignificant thing. He snatches the boy's guitar and storms down to the apartment building's basement and attempts to burn the guitar in the furnace.

Luckily, the boy stops him in time and somehow they have a tearful, father-son moment where they hug and make up.

Like all those after school specials, it was a pretty weird show. I loved stuff like that though. I still kinda do.

I remember I used to feel embarrassed watching shows like that, with poor people or abusive parents, or kids doing really awkward, embarrassing things.

Nowadays, people would call stuff like this cringe, which I am a huge fan of.

Old shows that I loved as a youngster that had lots of cringe: Ready or Not (two Canadian teenagers, one blonde, one dykish Italian. The dykish one liked this black kid and got him a job at her dad's butcher shop but fired him after accusing him of stealing when the money was actually stuck in the bottom of the register. Like all Canadian shows, nothing ever gets resolved at the end)

My so called Life (lots of embarrassing moments but an awesome show. Got canceled after one great season, I think because the main actress was doing movies. Ended on a HUGE cliffhanger with all kinds of plot points needing to be explored in a new season that never was made)

Degrassi High 80s version. (So much cringe in all versions of Degrassi, but especially the 80s one. I find that Canadians are much better at being embarrassing and creating cringe than Americans. Had episodes with molestation and pedophiles, high school kids dressing like sluts for attention "Stephanie Kaye" etc.)

 

[Kari Kamiya]

About the mermaid outfit, maybe something something referencing to Mermaid trans kids stuffs.

Tumblrinas are obsessed with mermaids, like, they really love mermaids, even to the point that mermaid AUs are a popular yaoi setting. I also wonder if it's supposed to be a "take that!" to "traps", but you can't have traps when everyone's trans.

Lapis's design was lifted from Fantaman/Ogon Bat

I'll give Rebecca Sugar credit for using a more obscure (to the West) design to draw inspiration from. She would still go on to copy other anime, but I honestly have to appreciate folks who bring old-school stuff more attention in any way they can. Meanwhile, Rosemary is clearly a Madoka clone and has shades of Hikaru but even more of a dumbass, and Raye has both not hid it and has tried to hide it to avoid any potential lawsuits/cease-and-desists that'd come her way.

 

[Trilby]

Yes! Papa Beaver's Storytime was what they called it later on. I forgot all about that until your comment. Even before Papa Beaver's, they had a daytime show on Nick just called Storytime. It was animated shows like that, but they would also play live action shows with actors in them. Basically, after school special type shows.

I remember liking both the animated and the live action shows as a youth, but I only remember one of the live action episodes on Storytime but I remember it pretty well.

There was a Mexican boy that lived in an apartment building with his family in the 80s and he was into music. He played the acoustic guitar but his father didn't approve for some reason. I think the dad was an immigrant and he thought kids should have more serious minded pursuits like child labor or something.

I remember one scene the boy was watching a Devo music video, the song where they sing, "We are Devo" and his mother made a bemused but lighthearted comment about their wacky hats. The son thought they were just about the coolest thing ever, but when the father walked into the room, he saw the whole scene and got angry at Devo's nonsense and shut the TV off and yelled at his son for watching such silliness instead of doing school work or looking for a job maybe. (The kid was about 12 just FYI)

The kid had a little sister and she kept talking about wanting this dolly that wet itself, and at the end, I think it might've been Christmas, she got the dolly and she says, "Look! She wets!"

The kid got a new acoustic guitar, I think, and something happens either that same day or possibly later on where the father gets extremely angry at the son for some insignificant thing. He snatches the boy's guitar and storms down to the apartment building's basement and attempts to burn the guitar in the furnace.

Luckily, the boy stops him in time and somehow they have a tearful, father-son moment where they hug and make up.

Like all those after school specials, it was a pretty weird show. I loved stuff like that though. I still kinda do.

I remember I used to feel embarrassed watching shows like that, with poor people or abusive parents, or kids doing really awkward embarrassing things.

Nowadays, people would call stuff like this cringe, which I am a huge fan of.

Sounds like something from "Special Delivery", Nick's loss leader fodder of random movies and specials they used to play on the weekends.

 

[Caesare]

Sounds like something from "Special Delivery", Nick's loss leader fodder of random movies and specials they used to play on the weekends.

I stand corrected @Trilby it was Special Delivery I was thinking of with the after school special shows.

I think I must've been combining two separate shows into one. I remember Papa Beaver's storytime, but I still think there was a similar show or possibly the same show but with a different name called Storytime.

Though I was remembering it wrong earlier so it's very possible I'm remembering this wrong as well.

Glad to see you're still around @Trilby I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't interacted with you or read any of your posts in awhile. Always a pleasure.

 

[Jack Awful]

Fucking called it: https://twitter.com/i/status/1453582655845543936

So, in our progressive show about giving positive representation to transgender folk, the motivation for our dude wanting to transition is: His asshole brother kept calling him girly, he's not traditionally masculine and he really likes the girls who are really the only people he interacts with on this show. Basically, this show is making it look like he only 'feels wrong' because people keep insulting him for not being manly enough.

This show really surpassed all expectations.

 

[Trilby]

I stand corrected @Trilby it was Special Delivery I was thinking of with the after school special shows.

I think I must've been combining two separate shows into one. I remember Papa Beaver's storytime, but I still think there was a similar show or possibly the same show but with a different name called Storytime.

Though I was remembering it wrong earlier so it's very possible I'm remembering this wrong as well.

Glad to see you're still around @Trilby I was just thinking the other day that I hadn't interacted with you or read any of your posts in awhile. Always a pleasure.

Well glad to know someone misses me. Just recovered from a Stroke from last year. Glad it didn't robbed me of my memories of the past.

Thinking of what was said earlier of HGS's look being cribbed from World Masterpiece Theater, reminded we had this once on Nick I watched everyday!

 

[Boobie Bomb]

Don't care for spoilers since I saw Twitter clips of the show but spoiler alert.

Spoiler: shit spoilers

The mom the pink hair girl wanted to find out if she's alive or not is not only alive but is a fucking villain. Hey at least they not pulling the I'm my own mom shit again

 

[Mr. Zed da Robot Poon Fed]

I can't fucking take it anymore.
This show has utterly atrocious writing.
View attachment 2671586

Holy shit these characters are walking stereotypes: tranny tries to groom vulnerable femboy into taking hormones
View attachment 2671605
Clip Sauce
View attachment 2671596

Holy shit, this is fucking awful shit.

God damn. Right on the fucking nose terrible.

If this is what Raye and team truly believes, that means all of the yaoi they obviously consume is secretly straight because all those ukes are actually women on the inside since they don't conform to masculine stereotypes.

Also re: magic tranny potion, since it has to be retaken every month, that means that once the tranny wizard dies, their body will return to their original sex after a month (if not immediately upon death) and should the body have to be exhumed for any reason or archaeologists find the grave and study the skeleton, they will determine it a female skeleton and that it always was. Raye didn't think this through, did she?

None of these progs think that far. It’s like in the comic book Black about a society where only black people had superpowers. If there were black superheroes in the 13th century, how could slavery and the civil rights movements even happen?

Meanwhile the Right makes nothing at all. Believes they are somehow barred from ever creating anything and beg for Japan to save them. It's kind of sad really, I am sure if all of Kiwi Farms had the same budget we could produce a coomerbait series. We should start worrying when Disney or other big media companies decide to risk it and buy shares into porn companies to publish LGBTQ+ friendly adult comics.

With the ideas I have for an animated show, no distributor would want to fund and release my stuff.

Along with what @Omnium Ultimatus said, funding can be an issue. The work has to stand out in terms of both art style and plot from all the other garbage on TV and streaming, and that involved research, rotoscoping and a lot of other stuff that costs a ton.

That’s why I would opt to write some novels instead.

 

[Fat Tub of Lard]

Don't care for spoilers since I saw Twitter clips of the show but spoiler alert.

Spoiler: shit spoilers

The mom the pink hair girl wanted to find out if she's alive or not is not only alive but is a fucking villain. Hey at least they not pulling the I'm my own mom shit again

That twist villain sounds really lame.

I mean, who the hell do they think they are, Disney?