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crooked-wasteland · 1 month

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Hazbin Hotel Liveblog: Dad Beat Dad

We are back to finish this. Real life got a bit in the way, but I do seek to write something rather big about this series and media literacy in general, but before i really can, i need to finish. Additionally, there are no more Vivienne Medrano-written episodes from here on out, which I am interested to see. I am watching these alone from this point, and sober, so I do apologize that they may not be as entertaining, or maybe they will be more so since you will see the active participation of my brain this time around.

Vaggie is sleeping like she is sitting at a desk. The way she wakes up is going from a slouched position to sitting upright like she’s the anime protagonist by the window at the back of the classroom. I immediately had to pause and laugh.

I didn’t even recognize Vaggie’s voice when she asks if Charlie is good. Goodness, After Angel Dust’s voice was so out of character last episode, I legitimately thought Roman just stopped trying for the rest of the series there for a minute. I actually had to start the scene over just to physically see who was talking.

I’m fascinated by the writing for Charlie this episode because instead of talking about things happening that were actually important, we focus on the things she did. It feels selfish of her to really only attribute the things she personally has done, all of which didn’t help at the time or were actively harmful to those around her. Additionally the idea that the hotel “isn’t working” is confusing. In what way is it not working? What is it Charlie thinks is supposed to show it working? There is entirely no clear idea of what “working” would be to Charlie. And instead of actually expanding on the idea of what this very nonspecific idea of failure is, they immediately use the situation to lazily introduce another character in Lucifer. It just reminds me of Carmella and how Sir Pentious’ out of character paranoia was just a segue to her being introduced through her arms dealing.

Side note, but this episode is written by Rachel Kaplan who wrote two episodes for Bojack Horseman. Specifically Season 5’s Ancient History and season 6’s A Little Uneven, Is All. I definitely feel Kaplan has solid comedy chops in her writing, but both of her episodes in particular really thrive in regards to her female characters. In Ancient History, for example, the story heavily focuses on Hollyhock and Princess Carolyn with sprinkles of Todd and Emily. The way Kaplan writes women in Ancient History is refreshing in media. She embraces HollyHock’s fragile mental and emotional state and how trauma has attached itself to Bojack in her mind. Despite Bojack not being the one to have harmed her, things that are fundamentally associated with Bojack are triggering. And you see how having such a sheltered and loving upbringing as HollyHock made her less resilient to the dysfunction that Bojack has horrifically normalized in his life.

Kaplan really does excel in writing for her female characters and I’m curious to see how she handles this episode. I see the similarities in writing such as Mr. Peanut butter asking for the rights to a happy birthday gift card that happens to be made by Ralph’s company to instigate their engagement for the episode. However, Bojack continued forward with Birthday Dad as a legitimate outcome and subplot within the series from that point forward. The point being that utilitarian writing is a necessary form of writing, but due to how little Medrano as a director focuses on the specifics of the story it results in the writers hired onto the team to struggle with very little to actually work with. How well this episode goes definitely feels like a canary in the coal mine for how much behind the scenes work was actually put into the female cast and series as a whole. If there is some strong foundations at least in the planning, Kaplan can probably make this episode one of the best ones, whereas if she is being left to build on sand, I believe the episode will feel hollow at its core.

While Kaplan is the writer for the episode, Medrano has self-identified as having written portions as a director, and it shows. On twitter she identified herself as having written the interaction between Lucifer and Alastor, and it completely broke the flow of the scene. I was starting to get into the feel of the episode for a second, Charlie was starting to feel like a person and her and Lucifer had a back and forth dynamic that was detached but affectionate and rather sweet. The visual direction also had improvements with more interesting compositions to tell the story and the silence felt less robotic. It started to get a flow only for Alastor to act as a massive pothole. I hypothesize that Medrano is highly protective of Alastor as a character and thus monopolizes his writing. Ironically it works well alongside her own personality she has displayed. Alastor is a very self-absorbed individual with entitlement who uses bravado and abuses to project this sense of power while being extremely insecure. It must be comforting to write what she actually knows for once.

Lucifer becoming an insecure manchild ruined any goodwill I was starting to build towards him. He went from being insecure in himself to suddenly projecting that insecurity outward onto Alastor and it immediately hollowed him as a character. The sudden screaming that wasn’t a part of his mannerisms until he’s demanding attention is a Medrano staple of what she thinks comedy is. It sounds like Medrano herself screaming for attention when threatened by someone with legitimate accomplishments and talent taking control of her show.

The issue with the large time skips and much ado about nothing going on in the actual episodes is why Alastor’s behavior is so confusing. Him being endeared to Charlie both seems in character when place in context with the pilot, and grossly out of character when it is not anything we have seen since. In fact, the series has made a point to emphasize this malicious side of him to, I guess, make him appear more “cool” and it disrupts any coherent idea of actually who he is.

So Alastor has not a single line for about two minutes after Lucifer requests to get to know the other members of the Hotel, and then this song. I’m so disappointed in this song. Lucifer distanced himself from Alastor and is introduced to the other sinners, and instead of having this song be what it clearly should have been: Lucifer singing about how he feels about Sinners and how foolish he finds Charlie’s quest because, you now, look at them. Lucifer has a first hand experience in Heaven and it would be reinforcing his character by reminding the audience that he himself is also in Hell to be punished. And his punishment is the very Sinners that Charlie loves. Like, there is so much interesting content to be pulled out of this ad explored. Instead, out of nowhere, Lucifer is just hyperfixated on this one sinner for no reason. That one second scene of Alastor doting on Charlie being grounds for this song-battle just makes Lucifer look insecure, petty and pathetic, which is also how Alastor looks. These two now are the same exact character and it is soul sucking. This episode was genuinely the best one yet, but Medrano is so infatuated with her own tumblr sexy man that it resulted in both of these characters becoming less interesting almost instantly. And I genuinely enjoy Lucifer’s singing and personality, and there was so much you could have done to really make this work. It almost worked. It’s so unfortunate that no one involved higher up had the experience or desire necessary to pull this together by keeping a tight control on an amateur and weak director.

I was informed that this is an unpopular take, but as a character I like Mimzy. Granted I’m only in so far as her being introduced to Lucifer, but she seems fun. Not really digging the idea of her backstory or her accent however. The issue is she has a very New England accent but was supposed to run in the same circles as Alastor when he was alive. So it would negate Alastor’s supposed Louisiana roots and life-long heritage because its very clear that Mimzy is from the North East. Flappers were primarily located in modern liberal areas like that of New York and Chicago with its money and socialite society providing them their primary source of income. The south, even in places like New Orleans, was still heavily segregated which resulted in stark social and economic expectations between social circles that Alastor and her never out have been able to bridge in 1920s Deep South. While there was a flapper movement in the 1920s, the society of the south was far more rigid and oppressive. And Mimzy's design flies in the face of historical context as the Flapper style and much of the 1920s was about being slender and boyish, the flapper style hinged on this androgynous look with shapeless and less restrictive clothing. Trying to make Mimzy sexy through tight clothing is the antithesis of Flapper culture. Taking into account Alastor’s supposed black American ethnicity, her line “Mixed company” comes off overtly racist, even if appropriate to her time period.

Mimzy’s animation on the bar. I had to pause and laugh again. There isn’t even any animation, she just slides across the screen as a static image with only her face being animated. Anyone who claims there was no rigging used in the animation process is a liar.

Niffty’s mouth movement in her line “Not for long” does not, at all, match the dialogue and I am curious what the original line was supposed to be.

This feels like an ego trip or Medrano. She really thinks Alastor is an interesting character and pushes this idea of how “badass” we are supposed to find him. Instead it reads like. Severely insecure OC (TM) and she really wants everyone else in the roleplay to be obsessed with him.

It shows how little Medrano understands the use of music in musicals. Typically speaking, you want the emotional heights to be the content of the songs, so by not having Lucifer’s song be about how much Sinners suck (which, again, would have made way more sense for the lead up and context of where the song was placed. In the script) it reduces his opinions about sinners to be unimportant compared to his own ego. It isn’t even about Alastor’s relationship to Charlie as the comparison to them both being “father figures” only appears in the middle of said song. This whole reminder about how he sees Sinners being an afterthought undercuts the idea that he even cares about Charlie at all. It has muddled the entire concept because you have one writer who knows where the emotional beats should be, and the other overly obsessed with her own wish fulfillment and ego. It is fascinating to watch this tug of war where one person is genuinely trying to make the characters their own people and build into them human connection and feelings while the other is so fixated on spectacle and her own identity being the focus of the show that any character groundwork is bulldozed in favor of aesthetics and attention. It’s actually almost heartbreaking to watch. It shows how, on every level, Medano has ideas that could work, but neither the ability nor desire to follow through, and the pitiful lack of security to allow others to really bring these ideas to fruition. It highlights how little the existence of this show is about telling a story and how it really is just all about Vivienne Medrano having a show.

The writing around Alastor is grossly unfocused and amateur. Husk warns him about the damage Mimzy brings with her, Alastor tells him to mind his business. Then he fixes her issues and tells her she needs to seek redemption or leave. And just like how the song is clearly played as a show to make Alastor appear like he cares, his interaction with Mimzy is (I think) also meant as a show. He doesn’t mean anything of what he says, but it is to just reinforce this facade for Charlie, right? Here’s the thing, I don’t know for sure. Based on the writing, it just feels like odd whiplash. It is a direct contradiction to what he said not minute before and it seems like Medrano wanted it played deceptive, but it lacks all feeling and buildup that it is just flat. If you read duplicity into the scene, your only evidence and reasoning is that nothing makes sense. When the clues to the direction of the story is that nothing is adding up, it’s a child’s concept of deception. It feels like a child telling themselves what they think is clever to some fictional idea of an audience in their head. It feels like a child brainstorming their story and how they will trick their viewers without understanding how human interaction works. And in regards to the idea of it being intentionally meant to be confusing, I can only paraphrase HBomberguy on his video covering the BBC Sherlock: If you don’t give the audience the tools to solve the mystery, you didn’t make a mystery. You are more in love with the character than the story and everything else, including quality, be damned.

The issue with Lucifer saying how Heaven never listened to him makes no sense to his character and story. If anything, he should be on the side of Heaven. HE is the one who didn’t listen, gave humans fee will and now he sees how much they suck. This whole stance he has doesn’t even line up to his own character. The way this should go is “Heaven didn’t listen to me, AND I WAS WRONG.” Like, Heaven and their rules, they were right. Lucifer’s hatred for Sinners is because Heaven was right. He thought they would be creative and loving when free, but he was wrong. They are sadistic, selfish, and cruel. Even in their altruism, they constantly put themselves first. This scene could have redeemed Loser Baby and show how Husk enabled Angel and not actually sought to help. How Husk’s empathy comes from a selfish place of superimposing himself over another person by making any sort of comparison between him and Angel before he shows even a sliver of care. There was so much here you could have fixed if you just had any idea of what story it was you were telling, if any story at all. Is Kaplan still even involved with the script at this point?

I think this episode gave me depression. This song could have been so powerful, but Charlie’s portion is jarring and doesn’t have any context to really comprehend what I am supposed to feel or understand. “Wishing it was me”, Wishing what was you? Wishing what? - Okay mid-typing i think i understood the context and this sucks. She means Lucifer was literally telling he stories and Charlie had an imagination. Like, not stories about his life or heaven, I mean fairytales. And she is literally singing about how, as a kid, she had an imagination. Like that is somehow special? And the reason this is so confusing and poorly placed is because Lucifer is singing about how much he wants to protect her from Heaven. But none of it adds up. He says he did this himself, which alludes to him also trying to redeem sinners and Heaven beat him down for that, when everything else suggests that this idea Charlie has is legitimately new. But the way it tries to combine these ideas completely loses the plot, the character relationships, the motivation, the world building. Angels in the Vivziepop universe have free will. Lucifer had to have free will to gift free will, and it is seen that the other angels choose to conform over stepping outside of that box. So Charlie being Lucifer’s child is not taught imagination, that’s a given and inherent trait of angels. And her whole “you inspired me” portion of this song falls face first flat because… imagination is inherent. It also means that free will is, in fact, just having an imagination. And heaven shows that angels can very much just choose to conform and how free will is a choice, but an imagination isn’t a choice. This just brought the whole suspension of disbelief crashing down. There is so much here to talk about in terms of media literacy and messaging and what is the meaning Medrano is trying to convey, but none of it works and it would be way too long for a live blog. As it is, this one episode has lasted me 2 hours.

Let’s talk credits a moment: Anyone else notice how Stephanie Beatriz is first to be credited? She is the highest paid actor in the show. She charged a lot of money for her very minor role and it shows in order of credits who is credited first. Right after her is Alex Brightman who had three, maybe four, lines throughout the episode. Then Keith David who had about as many lines as Stephanie. Kimiko Glenn is even paid more than the main actress Erika Henningsen, and now you know why she only has about 3 lines per episode. This cast drains the financials of this show and the evidence is front and center at the credits.

I am just so disappointed. Before Lucifer enters the hotel 5/10. After Alastor: 0/10

#vivziepop critical #vivienne medrano #vivziepop #spindlehorse critical #vivziepop criticism #hazbin critique #hazbin hotel liveblog #hazbin hotel critical #hazbin hotel criticism #hazbin hotel critique

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mengy007 · 9 months

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~{What if SolarFlare had gained sentience?}~

(An alternative ending to THE DEATH OF ECLIPSE IN VR CHAT pt 2)

(Starts off with the storyline from the episode, ends different)

“…where are we?”

Eclipse glared at the other Solar bot in front of him.

SolarFlare had that blank stare on his face that he always had, he simply just stared into the vastness of the mindscape with his glowing yellow eyes.

“Where do you think?” He answered, looking back at Eclipse

“I don’t…”

Eclipse stumbled a bit and caught his breath

“I don’t know…”

“Did you think it would end differently?” SolarFlare then asked, turning to Eclipse and crossing his arms.

“Even if you did tell them the full truth, it wouldn’t have changed the outcome. They never would’ve trusted you”

“I thought I could-“

Eclipse began to speak, but Flare abruptly cut him off.

“If you had just shown even the slightest bit of friendliness. respect. Perhaps they would’ve listened” SolarFlare scolded, “But now we both shall die.”

“…you’re not concerned at all do you-are you? You had something planned for this crap!” Eclipse snapped, having no one else to lash out at.

“No.” SolarFlare replied simply, “I intend to keep you here”

“I don’t even have a way out!” Eclipse shouted again, “I’m stuck in another dimension that- that stupid good Eclipse thing or whatever the hell he wants to call himself-“ he said “there is no contingency! We’re both. dead!”

Eclipse started sounding more desperate…

“You have to have SOMETHING, some way for us to survive! I-I-In your-!”

“There is no other way” Flare interrupted. “You made me, you would know my capabilities, you would know I cannot survive that-!”

“You-!”

Eclipse interrupted SolarFlare, but he was unable to say anything else.

“…this is the end. For both of us” Solar Flare said

“…I already died once before” Eclipse said, his tone softening “I…I think I’m tired…”

“…Eclipse” Solar flare began, “you are not a good man” he said, “you are not a good person in any regard but. You did care.” SolarFlare added, “you always did even if you could never show it. You’re just like him”

“…who?”

“The first Moon.”

“…I…”

SolarFlare extended his hand out to Eclipse.

“Come on. It’s time for us to go, I can hear it. Now….”

Eclipse was hesitant, he looked at Flare’s hand, then at his own.

“…do you think it hurts?” Eclipse asked

SolarFlare shook his head and pulled his hand back. “I don’t think so.” He shrugged, “It’s just the way it is”

Eclipse hesitated, then chuckled a bit and looked at Flare, “Bojack Horseman…? Really?”

Flare gave him a genuine smile

“You did always like that show” he said, “Watched it whenever you were bored, didn’t you?”

Eclipse sighed, “but why now…?”

“I wanted to give you a bit of comfort in your last moments” Flare said with a shrug. Eclipse chuckled again and sat down, “I need to sit…” he said, SolarFlare came and sat next to him, they both stared into the vast mindscape.

“…hey, is this my mindscape or yours?” Eclipse asked, “I think it’s mine at the moment” Flare answered, “…could you think of stars?” Eclipse asked, “why?” Flare answered, turning to Eclipse.

“…I’d like to look at the stars as I die” Eclipse said with a smile, Flare nodded and soon the place was dark, but filled with beautiful stars that dotted the void of the mindscape as the two sat on what seemed to be nothing. “…I’m glad I at least have someone with me as I pass” Eclipse said “I know I don’t deserve it…but I’m grateful”

“I’m glad I give you company” Flare answered, as they both looked up at the stars, “…god, I’m so tired…” Eclipse said, Flare was surprised as he felt Eclipse’s warm body lean against him, “…then let’s take a nap.” Flare said, “a nap would be great…” Eclipse mumbled, already closing his eyes. SolarFlare smiled and his eyelights faded to black as he also leaned on Eclipse, the two falling into an eternal slumber with nothing but themselves and the stars for company…

#i love this thing #sun and moon show #crying rn #fnaf #five nights at freddy's #art #sams #eclipse #Solar flare #writing #story

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angrymac · 11 months

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DTAMHD predictions and rambles

so the episode starts with Dennis going for a physical again (obvious parallel to Frank’s Pretty Woman) except maybe he goes without Mac this time, or if they go together, now Mac is healthier than he is. Either of this things would bother him, especially coupled with learning about his high blood pressure

Dennis is prone to building up these ideas in his head of what he thinks his life should look like, traditional milestones and experiences that he believes a normal person would have, and that he in turn should replicate.

So he comes up with the newest “scheme” to turn his attention away from the sudden reality of his own mortality and the fact that he only has so much (little) control over his own health. (Look back on his behavior in 7.01, 9.07, 15.06 for reference— Dennis sees physical illness as a personal failure, and in turn, he’s likely going to try to make up for this by forcing some semblance of a normal experience.)

but of course, unfortunately, life doesn’t and never will go according to plan, or to script. And throughout the episode, little things will pop up that gradually chip at Dennis’ resolve, bit by bit, testing his control over his anger and encouraging him to explode.

being away from The Gang may also force him to address the things (and memories) that their company, constant schemes, and involved conversations are always distracting him from.

so all of these memories are coming to the surface along with his own mortality, finally accepting that he gets sick sometimes and that he needs food and that he’s not a Golden God, just a human person in a human body.

which will be a huge body blow. because, and allow me to cross-reference Bojack Horseman for a moment if I may:

if he’s not a Golden God, and the pain that he’s endured and ignored hasn’t turned him into some all-powerful immortal being, “then all the damage [he] got isn’t good damage, it’s just damage. and all the years [Dennis] was miserable was for nothing.”

depriving himself of things that he needed— food, Mac, the ability to be vulnerable, was all for nothing. he wasted so much time for nothing.

and it won’t take much for him to break down after that. hopefully this will be something cathartic for him and will lead to a real breakthrough (his MFHP moment in the rain).

#just some musings bc I can’t stop thinking about it #dennis takes a mental health day #and it’s the season finale too #I’m going to be a puddle #Dennis reynolds #iasip #always Sunny #always sunny season 16 #Sunny sweet 16 #it’s always sunny in philadelphia #jen rambles #Dennis meta #Sunny meta #dtamhd

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danganronpa96 · 3 months

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Whew, I gotta ask another one while I still can, so Imma ask this:

If the settings of both killing games were swapped, how would their respective casts react to their situations before the announcement of their killing games?

As in, if the DR69 cast were to be invited to a "corporation" because of their talents and the DR96 cast ending up in a school because of their talents?

I gotta answer this one while I still can! (2 months later)

This is a funny question considering how the DR69 school thing was more or less a by-product of me going for a school setting and not really realising “hey half of these characters are actually adults”. Still it kinda made things even more absurd in a good way (and I even reference this in the chapter 6 trial).

I think if the DR69 cast were to be invited to work for a company, it might play out in a similar way to the DR96 cast for the most part. Like, the teens going for work experience and all that. Well until we get onto the more non-working characters like Dedede and Fluttershy because I’m not even sure what got them to join a corporate business (“hey let’s hire a penguin and call him the Ultimate King I mean that’s totally what this company needs”).

I don’t think most of the cast would take their new job very seriously is all I would say.

Now, for the DR96 cast being put in a school takes away more of the more mature step-up I was aiming for. Sure the teens (plus Latte and Walter) have a familiar setting but Bojack Horseman the 54 year old horse has literally no benefits here. Also cue all the adults going “wow back in my day my school life was such and such”.

So, they’d mostly be more confused if anything.

#DR96: bAck 2 SKOOL!#DR69: office job simulator #also if I had actually made lore for DR69 involving a company #I would’ve probably made the name something just completely dumb and silly #like idk meme-corp

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most-tragic-character-tournament · 8 months

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To tide y’all over until the bracket is finished, here’s a list of every fandom in the tournament! Sorted by when each got its first submission.

It takes time to make the bracket cuz I gotta arrange all of these to be at least semi-equal in popularity to each other, and then make all the edited photos. I’ve been rather busy lately, but it should be up by tomorrow night :)

Minecraft Diaries

The Outsiders

God of War

Ace Attorney

Bungou Stray Dogs

Murdoch Mysteries

Yu-Gi-Oh!

The Raven Cycle

Lego Star Wars

Sanders Sides

Kamen Rider

Castle Swimmer

QSMP

The Magnus Archives

Lego Ninjago

FNAF

Half Life VR But The AI Is Self-Aware

Pokémon

DC Comics

Critical Role

Romeo & Juliet

Macbeth

Witch Hat Atelier

Final Fantasy

One Piece

Warrior Cats

Sonic

Chicory: A Colorful Tale

Trigun Stampede

The Owl House

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Fallout: New Vegas

MCU

Arthuriana

Tokyo Ghoul

Total Drama Island

Nimona

The Cable Guy

Paranatural

Marble Hornets

Marvel Comics

The Umbrella Academy

Life Series SMP

Fire Emblem

Julie and the Phantoms

Persona 5

Star Wars

Young Justice

Fullmetal Alchemist

Hamlet

The Shadowhunter Chronicles

The Young and the Restless

The Untamed // Mo Dao Zu Shi

Cooking Companions

Demon Slayer

John Wick

Pit People

Battleblock Theater

Star Trek

LittleBigPlanet 2

KinnPorsche

Midnight Museum

The Witcher

Teen Wolf

Beast Wars: Transformers

Lost

The Stormlight Archive

The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System

The Arcana

Jujutsu Kaisen

Ultraman Nexus

Antigone

Angel

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Edward Scissorhands

The Mechanisms

91 Days

Assassination Classroom

Death Note

Repo! The Genetic Opera

Pluto

Kikai Sentai Zenkaiger

Bokura

Mabinogi

Battle for Dream Island

Leverage

Twisted Wonderland

The Iliad

Call of Duty

Tangled: The Series

Team Fortress 2

The Goes Wrong Universe

Harry Potter

Bendy and the Ink Machine

DSMP

Live A Live

Real Life

Stranger Things

Malevolent

Red Dead Redemption 2

Ib (2012)

Spies Are Forever

Madoka Magica

Magia Record

My Hero Academia

Ravenous (1999)

Lifesteal SMP S4

Outsiders SMP

Phineas and Ferb

Empires SMP

Ruse of the TMNT

Origins SMP

Frankenstein

The Otterverse RP

GenLoss

Woe.begone

Danganronpa

Witch’s Heart

Project Sekai

The Silmarillion

The Lord of the Rings

Spider-Verse

Helluva Boss

Greek Myth

Percy Jackson

Limbus Company

Rain World

Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure

Homestuck

Markiplier

Mob Psycho 100

Lord of the Flies

Good Omens

Word of Honor

Just Roll With It

Subnautica

Witchcraft SMP

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

Realm of the Underlings

Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint

Clangen

Hadestown

Rats SMP

Steven Universe

The Hunger Games

Fate Grand Order

Arcane

Everymanhybrid

Nashville

Welcome to Dreamworld

The Dolls of New Albion

Pact Web Series

Brandon Rogers

Ghost Quartet

The Dragon Prince

Steam-Powered Giraffe

Six of Crows

Torchwood

Deltarune

Bojack Horseman

Epithet Erased

Steins;Gate

Casualty

Tale of the Nine Tailed

Cookie Run

Succession

Purple Hyacinth

The Wicked + The Divine

Outer Wilds

Carnosaur

Miraculous Ladybug

Transformers Comics

Legend of Zelda

Breaking Bad

Devil May Cry

Castlevania

Dragon Age

Smallville

RWBY

Undertale

The Locked Tomb

Mystic Messenger

Black Butler

Interview With a Vampire

Death By Dying

Higurashi When They Cry

Transformers Animated

Pirates SMP

All The Bright Places

Chulip

Ride the Cyclone

Grey’s Anatomy

Empire of Exiles

Octopath Traveler 2

Hello from the Hallowoods

The Burning Sands of Ma’ssob RP

#most tragic tournament

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mandareeboo · 4 months

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Unfinished Work #60: "Untitled" (Finished)

I never felt up to publishing this, but I've been rewatching BoJack and felt it'd be good to put here! A little goodbye to an old friend between Hollyhock and Diane.

Title: N/A

Summary: N/A

"Sorry about this," the horse said. "You're probably really busy with writer things."

"You wanna know what I was going to do before coming out on the porch to have a smoke and chat with you?" Diane asked dryly. "I was about ten seconds away from telling my husband I was going out onto the porch to have a smoke. It's not even half the inconvenience you think it is."

"Oh," she responded, and fell silent.

Diane let out a gust of lung cancer in a long, drawn-out sigh. Texas is pretty in postcards but hotter than the sun in person, with the added bonus of all sorts of creepy crawlies straight out of the official nightmare catalogue, but it's kind of nice? There's trees everywhere. Lots of open, bumpy land. The spider currently weaving its web a few feet from her isn't even venomous- it's an orb weaver of some sort. All in all, better than death.

It'd be nicer if her company talked, though.

"Let me guess," Diane prompted, making her jump. "You're Hollyhock, right?"

"Bojack told you about me?" Hollyhock asked, ignoring her question.

"He told all his friends about you. He was really excited to have family he didn't loathe with all his being."

"Oh," she repeated, softer this time.

"Relax, you're not gonna end up on his wiki page or anything. And, for what it's worth, I'm really happy to meet you in person. You're shorter than I thought you'd be."

Hollyhock looked at her hands, where her phone was situated, then back at Diane. "Bojack's told me about you, too. He talked a lot about a lot of things, but you especially."

"And that made you think I had answers?"

She shrugged helplessly.

Diane took another drag. "You want the truth? He's an asshole. Whatever you feel or suspect about him is absolutely vindicated."

"Yeah." she said. "But I miss him anyway. Isn't that... awful?"

"No? I don't think it is. I mean, the part that sucks about people is that they're more than just one thing. Sure, Bojack is a sleezy, emotionally-abusive jerk who's slept with almost every woman he's ever met, but he also sends stupid little text messages about stuff he saw on his drive home, and one time when he got drunk he sang the lollipop song and it was actually the prettiest thing ever, and he helps you pack even though he complains the whole time. He's all that shit."

"He once threw his mom's doll out a window."

"I know. He told me."

"He did?"

"He's always drunk-dialed me. Fifteen years now, and I'm his drunk-dial SOS." Diane considered her cigarette a moment. It was her first one of the day. A new record low. "I never met her, but I spoke to Beatrice twice- for his book."

"Oh, yeah, that thing. I never read it?"

"It sold alright, but it wasn't the next great American novel. Anyway, I called the retirement home to get a statement- got the phone number off of Bojack's long-time manager and friend Princess Carolyn- and called. This was before the dementia really ate up her brain- think, I dunno, almost nine years before you knew her- and she was still pretty sharp. I said, 'hi, this is Diane Nyguyen, I'm ghost-writing a novel about your son, Bojack' and she said, 'what, is he too lazy to write it himself'?"

Hollyhock winced. "Woof."

"Oh, I'm just getting started." Diane flicked some ash away. "We went in circles a bit, but eventually I laid it out for her. 'Mrs. Horseman', I said, 'I'm writing about your son's life, and as such I have called to see if you had any note-worthy stories or quotes you'd like to add'. She was pretty quiet for a minute. Then she said, 'sure, why not, I'm dying anyway. Might as well debase myself even more.' She told me all about her husband, Butterscotch-"

"Bojack never said much about him."

"There wasn't much to say, honestly. Bojack took after him and he always hated himself for it. Beatrice despised her husband for being unfaithful, bitter, and sexist. And she told me, 'now, put this in your little book, girl, and put it word-for-word. Bojack took after him, but he had the sense to be a bit quieter about it; which is a bit like saying the hissing roach is less disturbing to the eyes than the American one because it eats leaves instead of garbage. They're both insects, and they're both a waste of the paper their books were written on'." She paused. "Gotta say, she was damn eloquent."

Hollyhock winced again. "Double woof."

"It's the one story I never put into One Trick Pony. Not because I thought she'd regret saying it, or because it wouldn't fit the tone of the book, but because I knew it'd rip Bojack apart. Even back then, I was putting him above my own job. He has a way of worming into things like that." Diane stamped out the rest of the smoke, then pulled out another one. "I used to smoke like a freight train, but now it's only when I get worked up. Sorry about the second-hand."

Hollyhock was quiet again, but this time it was more pensive than anything else. "I... wrote him a letter. I actually don't even know if he read it, because he kept sending me voicemails telling me he would, but he never told me he did before I changed my number. I thought it'd be over. I thought I was moving on, but..."

"Moving on isn't the same as moving away," Diane said. "Trust me. I've packed houses before. But even now, I still find myself looking for him in the news, or thinking back to the good times we had."

"Mhmm. He tried to learn sports for me, you know? Because he wanted to cheer me on. And that still means a lot to me. But then I remember that interview, and I just... I just can't do it. I can't talk to someone who's done stuff like that."

"That's completely in your right! I know you're a grown-up, but you're still pretty young, you know? Bojack's in his fifties. His problems shouldn't be on anyone, but they especially shouldn't be on you."

"You won't tell him I came, will you? I know you're friends, but..."

"I think your definition of friendship is a bit different from us, kiddo. I mean, we haven't spoken in almost a year now. I just go see his movies, and he sends me long rambling reviews about my books, and we follow each other on social media."

"That feels like friendship," she concurred. "Mrs. Nyguyen?"

"God, don't. Diane."

"Diane. Did you and Bojack….?"

"Nope. But not because he didn't want to. I was dating when we first met, and married a good chunk of the time I lived in L.A. Now I'm married again. If I hadn't been... well, he would've tried, if nothing else."

"And you?"

She pursed her lips. "There was a time where I lived in his house and spent every day getting shitfaced drunk, and nothing skeevy happened. He'd come home, I'd be drunk and when was Bojack not drunk? We'd drink more and we'd watch reruns of Horsin' Around. I liked that. It wasn't healthy, but I liked it. And I liked him. I try not to think too hard about it, but... I dunno, honestly."

Hollyhock pulled her knees to her chest. "I came here hoping to find a way to stop missing him. Now I just miss him even more? I hate emotions."

Diane smiled. It was bittersweet. "Now you sound like a true Horseman."

#BoJack Horseman #BH Fanfic #BH Fanfiction #Fanfic #Fanfiction #Diane Nguyen #Hollyhock Manheim Mannheim Guerrero Robinson Zilberschlag Hsung Fonzerelli McQuack #Unfinished Work

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ms-scarletwings · 8 months

Text

Media Musin’ Monday, #7:

Screw You, Nickalodeon: Making Fiends Deserved Better

I have no idea how anyone could seriously believe that the entertainment industrial complex™ even tries anymore to hold the illusion of a just or meritocratic realm. No holds barred, I have my issues with about every company still clinging like barnacles to the tragic, sinking ship that cable TV has become, but if you want me to point to a network that’s given me an entire skeleton of bones to pick by this point, and I’m underlining Nickelodeon in red at the top of my list.

It’s not because they host some bad shows, no. It’s not a sour grapes reaction to the untimely end of some of my favorite shows either, and though the entire rotten apple situation with creators like Dan Schneider and Butch Hartman certainly added to barrel’s spoilage, I would still feel every bit of my disdain for Nick’s tv group for the one cardinal sin they have committed again and again and again to ad nauseum- their ongoing phase of running a talent slaughterhouse.

It sounds hyperbolic, but I’d call it a fair observation: Spongebob is widely aknowledged as legitimately both the best and the worst thing to happen to this corner of kid’s media, hands down, but I don’t blame the little yellow guy one bit. He’s only another victim to the mess, and as much as I would love to go on a whole dossier spiel of the history of Nickalodeon from the 90s “golden age” to a full list of the dozens of shows and creators their execs have royally fucked over in the name of chasing the ratings dragon… for one, that’s been done a hundred times by other people at this point, and much better than I could. For two, that would take all freaking day. Just off the top of any cartoon savvy person’s head you’d vaguely recall the assassination of Legend of Korra, El Tigre, or Invader Zim, but that can is filled with so many “blink and you’ll miss it” smaller shows that were barely given two steps out of the starting gate, it pads down an entire TVTropes article on the subject. Dozens of them, shows that Nick all but basically set up for failure before quietly shipping them to the peaceful farm upstate- by which I mean shuffled off to inconsistent time blocks and lower priority channels so they could burn out their final approved episodes in hospice. Nicktoons alone garnered a hell of a reputation for exactly what I’m talking about, but that’s show biz, or… something.

Their worst and probably most audacious offense of all? Let me tell you about the fate of the charming world of a little girl who made fiends.

There’s no better place to talk about the end than the beginning.

Making Fiends, I mean, the original Making Fiends was a series of flash-animated shorts among a handful of other early 2000s web cartoons made by Amy Winfrey.

✨ Just, in case you didn’t recognize or feel something for that name, Amy Winfrey is one of the utter beasts of cartoons in general, not purely kids’ media. Songwriter, directing, animation, screenwriting, voice acting… you name a part of the process, and she’s probably dipped her toe in there at some point. Professionally, she broke into the industry contributing work to earliest season of South Park, and while she personally is most known for and associated with Making Fiends, the likely most prominent body of work she’s been a part of would be Bojack Horseman, wherein she’s credited as a director for many of its strongest episodes, including (but not limited to):

- “Free Churro”

- “The Telescope”

- "Sunk Cost and All That"

- “The View from Halfway Down”

- Amy Winfrey and her spouse (Peter Merryman) making a cameo appearance in the BJH episode “sunk cost and all that”

And even before all of that, she’s been at this animation stuff since the 90s and it shows in a loaded up portfolio of accolades and projects, both professional and personal.

The relevance of this information is to help put in some perspective to just how rotten of a deal she comparatively got with Nickelodeon, when one of those passion creations got a chance to join the network’s airing list.

But to sum up the idea of the web series proper, it independently released 24 short episodes in total, each centered around the antics of two girls engaged in both a completely one sided friendship and nemesis-ship. The show’s namesake refers to the single action the evil little Vendetta is most known for- creating a variety of servant monsters, many of which she uses to secure her rule over the port town of Clamburg, and all its inhabitants. Charlotte, on the other hand, is the quintessential “children’s show” character: near inhumanly kind, cheerful, and naive. So much so that she’s oblivious to her “best friend’s” near daily attempts to murder her, or the fact that she, you know, despises her.

In 2006, Nickelodeon took an interest in Winfrey’s toon and the prospect of adapting it into a TV series, reportedly because a daughter of a studio employee was a huge fan.

And fun fact btw, this was actually the first time that Nick did this approach of turning an indie web animation into one of their shows, but it certainly wasn’t the last if you remember this was also the origin of Breadwinners.

And as far as the audience was concerned, it was quite the successful transition! The TV version pretty much kept all of the major beats and vibes of the original, with polished animation, the same voice actors, and some stylistic upgrades to the art/environmental designs. For a brief time, it was the highest rated thing on its release channel too. Someone I don’t quite recall the name of once endearingly referred to the show as “baby’s first grimdark” and I adore how fitting of a summary that is. It sports a charmingly unique art style, memorable soundtrack, and I can swear to y’all, the humor aged like a fine wine.

“Why don’t you pretend to be dead?”

“:) ok!”

*slam*

(Also, sidenote, the entire series is still up on your tube, in HD, completely free to watch!)

So, if it’s such a neat little show, then why on earth does barely a soul seem to remember it existing? And even fewer scare who recall knowing about the show during its 2008 release?

Because Nickelodeon Studios, without hyperbole, set this show up for failure at every single turn before it even got a fighting chance.

People know of some shows that Nick treated like garbage, but this one they treated like absolute shit for reasons I can’t fathom.

Making Fiends, for one, never actually saw the light of day on the main network channel, as per the original plans. It was actually instead delegated over to Nick’s sister channel, Nicktoons, by a last minute decision.

Nicktoons, fyi, was not carried by most cable packages. I obviously lived on it as a kid, and it was functionally to Nick what I remember Boomerang being to Carton Network- the cable block where reruns of much older but loved shows were shoveled off to once they finished their days on the main channel.

Second, it was quietly premiered with barely a couple farts of advertising, too. I remember maybe seeing one preview as a kid, on Nicktoons.

And I guess, not keeping either of these in mind, Nick then abruptly pulled the plug on the whole thing, citing the tried and true “low ratings” explanation and leaving it at that.

Not counting years of post-cancelation reruns, the show actively ran from October 4, 2008, to November 1, 2008.

That is roughly a month between premiere and the end production date.

One season. Six entire episodes.

Seven whole additional completed scripts abandoned on the table.

Yeah.

I’m a touch salty about it still.

And with the shutting down of the Nicktoons network social media in 2018, any additional acknowledgment of the show from Nickelodoen themselves has kind of vanished to my knowledge. Like, it’s almost no wonder you already had to be part of the cult following to know about it, when Nick has been quiet about the calf they sent to auction since. Worst part is, they still hogged the rights to the show instead of idk, wild idea, giving it back over to Winfrey. I can only imagine people get away with entire reuploads of the series under the otherwise very IP protective Nick’s nose as another display of how low and bastardly those execs really view Making Fiends.

And that sucks! Wow! But I guess in a “be happy it happened, not sad it ended” way, I’m kind of glad for the fact that we can still enjoy and pass around the show that we did get to experience at all, rather than see it fade into true lost media territory.

Even today, about 16 whole years later, I know for a fact there are still plenty of other fans that remember and cherish the splash this tiny show made in that big, brutal pond. So, in that manner, you can’t truly call Making Fiends dead and gone.

A bittersweet story to think about, and only one of many down a long list, but ultimately one I’m happy to be able to tell at all.

Even if all the while still raising a giant middle finger to the network for the ending.

#media musin’ mondays #mm’m #making fiends #nicktoons #amy winfrey #nostalgic cartoons #scarlet talks about things #enthusiastic recommendations #long post

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