Can you give me advices for how to draw cats and how to draw their bodies?

I'm not the best at explaining but I'll try to explain a little how I started to understand and modify the cat anatomy to fit my style

To begin with, let's take a cat skeleton to understand its structures and how they work

It is important that you circle or just point out the main movement points, other parts that only serve to locate main body parts (skull) is also important, u dont rlly have to do this everytime, but i do this a lot when im studying anatomy or just want to figure out a pose.

wahh, what about a classic thing? use references. a lot of them. trace them over and over again, figure out the shape and draw them with a reference after that, do whatever u want. u can and should play around with references.

now when u have some experience with cat anatomy u can start playing around with shapes! woah thats fun right?? right???? this is not a good guide, it's pure junk actually, This guide does not show how shapes generally appear in the character's personality, so just consider it as a "drawing guide"

i play around with faces a bit more than with bodies, i loveee to just shape the head and than never think about the body every again, I think it's more important to focus on the face shape where it expresses emotions than on the body, but that's just me

a little eye guide, they're pretty simple all the way, i would recommend to look at other ppls art to see how they draw eyes, it's a good exercise + eyebrows; i do whatever i want with those, any shape works

aaaaand a bit of rambling. that's pretty much it, u can ask for specifics if ya want, like a properly drawing guide lol

Dragon Ball GT Retrospective (4/7)

[Note: This was originally written on January 13,2013.  I embedded YouTube videos on each part, including several Evanescence AMVs, but Tumblr won’t cooperate with that for some reason.   Just look them up yourself.]

Today I'd like to talk about the Super 17 Saga.  It sucks, but it's short.   Man, there's an Evanescence AMV for this too?  I'm starting to see why that Daredevil movie was so poorly received.  Starring Ben Affleck!   Soundtrack by Every Fifteen-Year-Old on YouTube!

From what I've read, Episode 41 was supposed to have been the finale of Dragon Ball GT, but the show got renewed and so it chugged along for another 23 installments.  I don't know if the post-Baby storylines were rushed, per se, but it does sort of feel like Toei was caught flat-footed.   For one thing, the opening credits still kept using the same animations of Goku, Pan, and Trunks flying around in space, looking for Black Star Dragon Balls, and fighting Baby.  Well, the outer space adventures are over, the Black Star Dragon Balls are gone, and Baby's friggin' dead.  Hell, Trunks even gets kicked out of the main cast.   From here on out It's all Goku and Pan with a little Vegeta now and then.   Also, I think the Super 17 Saga feels like a kneejerk reaction.  "They ordered more shows, what do we do?   Shit... uh, let's just bring back all the bad guys from the old series!"   For a Dragon Ball Z fan, watching GT for the first time is like getting whiplash because they kept switching the premise around.   The whole point of the first two dozen episodes was that they were abandoning the DBZ formula and trying to do old school Kid Goku stories in outer space.  Then they spend another dozen episodes setting up a Goku vs. Vegeta fight with new power-ups.   By Episode 42, the series has given up any ambition of offering a distinct flavor or vision.   It's settled into a rut of doing lame comedy and watered-down superhero fights.   So first off, Episode 41 is about the latest World Martial Arts Tournament.   Goku used to compete in these things, but after he won the tournament he let everything that happened in DBZ distract him from the event, and during that time Mr. Satan became the multi-time World Champion.   The gag with Mr. Satan is that he has no super powers whatsoever, and while he's a brilliant martial artist, he only dominates the competition because all the super-fighters lost interest in the event.  By the end of DBZ, Goku and Mr. Satan's kids got married, so now they rig the tournament like some kind of kung fu mafia: Whoever wins the tournament has to fight Mr. Satan to actually claim the championship, and that person always agrees to take a dive.  By the end of DBZ, the Z-fighters are comfortable letting Mr. Satan serve as a figurehead hero to the people of Earth, while they do all the actual daysaving.  By the GT-era, Satan is now in his mid-fifties, and feels comfortable retiring and passing the torch to someone new.   He tries to rig the event so his grandaughter Pan can win, but she withdraws for fear that she'll be required to wear his ring gear and mustache if she wins.   Goku wanted to compete, but Mr. Satan convinces him to fight in the junior division because he's too short.   Ultimately, it's Uub who wins the tournament, but at the last moment he freezes and Mr. Satan actually eliminates him cleanly.  The reasons for this are complicated, and so I gotta explain Majin Buu.   The final bad guy of Dragon Ball Z was Majin Buu, a genie who could absorb the personalities and traits of his enemies.   This ability eventually caused him to split into two Buus, a good fat Buu and an evil version who went on to be the main villain.  The good Buu made friends with Mr. Satan, and was instrumental in preserving his stranglehold on the World Championship.   The evil Buu was killed by Goku, who wished that he could be reincarnated as a good guy so they could fight again.   Goku's wish came true, and the evil Buu was indeed reincarnated as a young human boy named "Uub" (get it?).   Goku quickly took the boy as his student so he could train him for a rematch and groom him as his successor.   You'd expect that Uub would have been a major player in Dragon Ball GT, but instead he barely ever shows up, and when he did finally make his big move to stop Baby he got his ass kicked.   Fortunately for him, the good Majin Buu stepped in and recombined with Uub, transforming him into "Majuub".   Majuub still got his ass kicked by Baby, but at least he made him work for it.   The point of all this is that Majuub consciously wanted to beat Mr. Satan for the World title, but unconsciously, the part of him that was once Mr. Satan's BFF wanted to let his old pal have the glory one last time.   This is sort of a problem with DBGT.  I meant the show has tons and tons of problems, but this is one that I think deserves more attention.   There's a certain fatalism to the series, because even if it isn't the final act for these characters, they're all older and half of them got 9-to-5 jobs and so forth, so it's clear that things are winding down.   To that end, it makes sense that GT would see the deaths of some of the major characters, but they're all kind of cheap death scenes.  Majin Buu doesn't die so much as he just merges with another iteration of himself.   Mr. Satan misses him, but only because he doesn't understand what's happened.   Piccolo dies, but it was a stupid and pointless sacrifice as I explained last time.   In any event, he shows up later on in the afterlife, so it's not like he's actually gone.   Then there's Krillin, but I don't want to get ahead of myself.   Mr. Satan retaining his title is a variation on the theme.    He talks about retiring, but when the moment arrives, he can't bring himself to step out of the limelight.   In a similar vein, one could argue that Dragon Ball GT should have been mainly about Uub and Pan as the successors to Goku and Gohan, but Goku just couldn't walk away from the action.   Anyway, with that business resolved, the Super 17 Saga can get started.   Basically, it's like the Batman stories where a bunch of villains break out of Arkham Asylum, except all the worst offenders in Dragon Ball are dead, so they have to literally escape from hell.  The plan begins when Dr. Myuu is recruited by Dr. Gero.  Again, it really feels like Toei was just trying to come up with something on the fly, and they decided Gero and Myuu's resemblance was a feature instead of a bug.    Myuu designed the Machine Mutants in the early episodes of GT, and Dr. Gero created the android villains in DBZ.   They're both doctors and they both wear silly hats and long, bushy mustaches.  Also, both of them were betrayed.   Gero was killed when Android 17 turned on him, while Myuu was killed by his creator Baby.   Gero's plan is to work together with Myuu to correct that whole "betrayal" thing that made Android 17 backfire.   Android 17 is still alive on Earth, but if the two doctors build another Android 17 in hell, they can.... harmonize their subspace... tachyons.... resonance.   Something.   All I know is they somehow managed to build an exact duplicate of 17 in hell, so apparently they have hardware stores in hell.   Dragon Ball has never been very consistent about how hell works.   In theory, a dead bad guy is stripped of his corporeal form and he languishes in hell as a disembodied spirit until he's finally allowed to be reincarnated in a new identity.    That's why Frieza can't just beat everyone up and conquer the afterlife.   But Toei always liked the idea of dead bad guys stirring up trouble, so they kept depicting them with their bodies in hell, complete with their full powers.  Dr. Gero was a cyborg, and I think they let him keep his robot body in hell, even though Frieza didn't get to keep his own cyborg implants.   Go figure.   For that matter, I'm pretty sure Dr. Myuu is purely mechanical, so I'm not convinced he'd even be in hell to begin with.    But somehow he and General Rildo are there.    So if Machine Mutants have souls, why isn't Baby there with the other villains?   He's the strongest one, so wouldn't it make more sense to rebuild a stronger version of Baby and use him in the big revenge plan?  Realistically, Toei probably left Baby out deliberately because they just killed him off, but that's why you don't do a story like this right after killing off a major villain. The point of all of this is that "Hell Fighter 17" and "Not Dead Yet 17" are mentally linked because they're basically the same unit in two bodies.   They both fire some sort of energy beam in unison, and this allows them to open a portal connecting Hell and Earth.   It's just sort of implied that the original Android 17 was mind-controlled for all of this, because he's the guy who sent Dr. Gero to hell in the first place, so I doubt he'd willingly endorse a plan to help him get out.   Gero and Myuu send a bunch of dead villains to invade Earth, and they issue a challenge to Goku: Come fight Cell and Frieza in Hell, or we'll send them to Earth too to make the situation even worse.   Goku is eager for a rematch with his old archenemies, even though he's gotten far, far stronger while they've been puttering around the afterlife all this time.   He stupidly flies through the portal, only for Gero and Myuu to close it from the outside.   So now Goku's trapped in Hell and most of his enemies are  causing trouble on Earth.   One of the first episodes of GT I ever saw was #43, because it came on a bonus DVD packaged with a strategy guide for a DBZ videogame.  This was the episode where Goku fights Cell and Frieza in Hell, and I guess they put it on the DVD because it seemed like the best possible choice to promote the new show to DBZ fans.  Cell's my favorite character in the show, so this has gotta be good, right?   Well I watched the episode and quickly realized that GT sucks ass.   First of all, it's been 43 episodes and Goku's still stuck as a child.   He can turn into a Super Saiyan 4 and blow Cell and Frieza away in one hit, but he never does this.   Hell, he could annihilate them in one of the lower Super Saiyan forms.    But this is GT, and GT-logic demands that any preliminary fight be fought in base-form.   Never mind that Goku had to go Super Saiyan the first time he fought these guys.   Now he's fighting them at the same time, with a smaller body, and he wants to do it in normal form.   Frieza and Cell act like they're gonna curbstomp Goku because they have scary new ghost powers, and they can't be killed themselves because they're already dead.   But the reality is that Goku makes them look like idiots because he won't even bother powering up to fight them.  Up your ass, Dragon Ball GT.   At one point, Cell tries to absorb Goku with his scorpion tail, which doesn't even make sense because Cell only absorbs Androids whole, and he doesn't need to absorb anything anymore because he's in his final form.   Goku simply forces his way out of Cell's ass.   Later, Goku defeats Cell and Frieza using a snowblower.   I wish I was kidding.  It's some kind of magic snow blower, designed to freeze dead people, but it's still stupid.  Cell deserved better.   Meanwhile on Earth, the other bad guys get their asses destroyed because they're all incredibly outclassed by the good guys.  Seriously, most of the villains from Dragon Ball were just mercenaries in helicopters and shit.   They were fine at the time, but now all the good guys can throw mountains and shoot lasers from their hands.  They're treated like cannon fodder, and rightfully so, but it kind of makes you wonder what the point of all this was.   I always appreciated the fact that DBZ villains have to die because they're obsolete after their first loss.  The good guys always train and get stronger, so if they were to come back for revenge they'd just be at an even bigger disadvantage.   It's kind of neat to see Nappa come back and confront Vegeta for killing him, except Vegeta's like a thousand times stronger than he was the first time he killed him.   The lame thing is that a handful of the villains might have had a chance, but Toei screwed them over.   Trunks and Goten shoot down Android 19 with hand energy.   Well, fine, they're probably strong enough to do that, except #19 was built with the power to absorb energy blasts.  If a good guy kicked his head off or something I'd be fine with it, but they went for the one quick-kill scenario that made the least amount of sense.  Captain Ginyu can switch bodies, so if he played his cards right he could trade up and be a contender again.   I don't think they even used him in the story, though.  A lot of these guys would have been better off running away from the battle and hiding out somewhere.   I mean, if you're a human bad guy, you could just slip away in the confusion and if you can stay out of trouble for a few days, you're home free.  You'd think most of these rank and file guys would rather have a new lease on life than revenge on some goofy kid they only met once.   Once the villain army is wrapped up, Gero and Myuu sic Hell Fighter 17 on Vegeta, while the original #17 wanders off and tries to seduce his twin sister, Android #18.   I'm not really sure what his motives are exactly, but he does some sort of hypnotic thing to her, but when Krillin snaps her out of it, he kills him, then attacks 18 when she objects.  Maybe Gero wanted to use 18 in his plan, or this was 17's personality trying to fight his programming, but whatever.   Guess how Vegeta fights Hell Fighter 17.   If you said "base form", congratulations, you understand GT-Logic.   Gero and Myuu summon the other Android 17 to the battle, and they combine them together to make "Super Android 17", a taller, more eyebrow-deficient version.   Super 17 basically no-sells everything, and his secret weapon is that he can absorb energy from his opponents, just like #19 could do, except it actually works.   Vegeta, Trunks, Goten, Gohan, and Majuub all take turns getting their asses kicked, then they finally power up and do it all over again.   I should point out that the original, non-super, one-at-a-time 17 was more than a match for a Super Saiyan back in the day, and yet they all had to try fighting him in base form, just in case it suddenly works this time.  The whole thing is a pointless debacle, because we all know Super 17 is too strong for anyone but Goku to fight, so we're just marking time until he can show up to save the day.   Fortunately, Piccolo has an idea to free Goku, but he's stuck in heaven because he's a good guy.   The guy in charge of that sort of thing refuses to send Piccolo to hell, so Piccolo starts blowing shit up to deserve the punishment.  Once he arrives in hell, Piccolo starts duplicating the Android 17 thing.   He and Dende time their energy beams just right, and that creates a polaron inversion that realigns the warp field coils, allowing Goku to jump back to Earth.  Piccolo is unfortunately stuck in Hell now, but he gets to spend all his free time beating up bad guys, so he's probably happier that way.   Goku finally comes to the rescue and shockingly transforms to fight Super 17.   The only beef here is that he starts out in Super Saiyan.........1, the same form Vegeta used when he got his ass kicked.  After a short warmup, he finally gets down to business and whips out SSJ4.   The weird thing is that Super Saiyan 4 was GT's signature thing, and yet they barely ever let Goku use it.   It's like they were embarrassed or something.  It doesn't really matter anyway, because Super 17 can just absorb Goku's energy no matter how strong he is, so Goku gets beaten just as easily as his weaker allies.   I should point out that, along the way, Super 17 turned on both Dr. Gero and Dr. Myuu.   In Gero's case, Myuu secretly programmed Super 17 to only follow his own orders, but then he later blows up Dr. Myuu in an act of defiance, so it probably would have come to that no matter what.   The only thing that stops Super 17 is his sister. 18 shows up at the critical moment and demands revenge in spite of the odds.  Her rejection of what 17 has become stirs his original personality, and he manages to sabotage himself just enough that Goku can use 18's attack as a diversion and defeat him with a Super Dragon Fist.   For no obvious reason, 18 tears her blouse during this scene.   GT.  Logic.   So the saga ends as it began, with a character taking a dive to let a weaker character win.  Not that I was rooting for Super 17 or anything, but it doesn't really make Goku look special when he can't even fight his own battles.   On the other hand, Android 17 is finally, definitively killed, after years of being in a sort of limbo where no one really knew what had happened to him.  It's really the only death scene they let stick, so I guess I have to give some credit there.   The interface of hell and Earth causes environmental problems, so Goku resolves to find the Dragon Balls and use them to restore the Earth and resurrect Krillin.  Unfortunately, all seven Dragon Balls are cracked.   These are the good old Red Star Dragon Balls, by the way, the ones that don't blow up the Earth when you use them.   At least, they used to be reliable... NEXT: Breakin' my balls

The Character Defence: Broly

In the few years that I have been a Dragon Ball Z fan, I’ve grown to love so much of it. But there is a trend that occurs in every fandom and in truth, every person. The constant battles and bickering about characters. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and clearly this is mine but I’ve seen some tremendous hate for him but I’m going to put forward a defence of Broly.

1) Broly is Non-Canon. For the Dragon Ball community, canon has been a shifty thing. A general consensus seems to point to one solid conclusion: If Toriyama didn’t write it, it’s non-canon. This is to help ease over fans who try to fight over this particular point and hopefully this closes that particular wound: Your love for a character is your love. It may not matter if it belongs within the cannonical storyline but no one can take away the joy you have about your favorite character(s).

I personally love the Super Saiyan 4 transformation from GT. I love the design and everything about it and I readily accept that it’s not part of canon. I accept it because in the end, it doesn’t diminish the love I have for the form itself and Broly not being in canon shouldn’t make you love him less.

2) Broly is too OP. This is almost a joke at Dragon Ball itself. The premise of the show follows Goku & co battling enemies far stronger than any enemy before. If they weren’t, it would get boring really quickly. But Broly seems to reserve a special kind of resentment and confusion in this regard. To the best of my knowledge, he is currently the only character confirmed to be a galaxy buster by an on screen demonstration. By comparison, the villain that would make the most sense in terms of what characters that were present for a scale would be Cell (based on the appearance of Future Trunks and Pre-Super Saiyan 2 Gohan. It most likely would be placed during the ten day wait for the Cell games if established in mainstream canon)

Now already this sounds like I’m reiterating old facts that everyone knows but I do so for a good reason. It’s been expressed multiple times throughout the series, in particular the Tournament of Power, that a Saiyan has every capability of surpassing their current limits. (Spoilers) Vegeta expresses this himself to Belmod in the ToP when Goku is going for his final battle against Jiren when he achieves Ultra Instinct again.

What should also be common knowledge is the Zenkai boost ability. A quick recap: Zenkai boost is what a Saiyan gets when placed near death and then allowed to recover. Best example is during the Frieza Saga after Goku heals in the medical pod. It allows the Saiyan’s power to rise exponentially at a near 33% rate (based on Vegeta’s power level Pre-Recoome and Post-Recoome) on average though it could vary.

A Saiyan’s ability to surpass limits coupled with a near death power boost is how Broly could have gotten so strong. After all, it’s quite clear that throughout his childhood, Paragus was less than exceptional as a father and used Broly as more of a tool than anything, most likely leading to quite a few Zenkai boosts before the events of the first movie.

Long Story Short: A rough childhood along side his Saiyan genes could easily mean Broly attained his power by simply living through numerous harships.

3) Broly is 1-Dimensional. A fairly common complaint but an important one to him. Broly was born (in movie canon) at the same time as Goku. Goku was quite the fussy kid, meaning that Broly never could really rest easily. Have you heard a baby scream without stopping? But beyond the constant screaming, it’s also the day Broly gets stabbed in the chest and when Planet Vegeta is destroyed. Broly endured a lot of trauma, more than people give him credit for. Of course he’s going to associate everything negative in his life with Goku. His earliest memories were hearing him scream, being stabbed and nearly dying in a planet wide explosion.

Remeber how I said Paragus was a particularly bad father? He also had a hand to play. Paragus would have used Broly’s exceptionally high power level to his advantage and would no doubt use him like a weapon. Broly’s only interaction prior to the movie was casually destroying and killing at his father’s behest.

Without a doubt if Broly had received a similar up bringing to Goku, he would be radically different. While he would still associate his near death to Goku, it wouldn’t consume him. It would more so just make him give Goku the cold shoulder at best and maybe hostile remarks at worst, rather than a direct murder attempt. Being treated like a weapon and being forced to fight no doubt left him with a mental state that though such acts of violence would get him praised and allow him to get attention.

Long Story Short: A bad childhood followed by worse parenting are to blame for Broly’s mental state rather than lazy writing.

4) Broly went out like a sucker. He did but upon some thought, it would make sense. Where Goku punched him at the end of the first movie was also where he was stabbed as a child. In a way, it’s an almost tragic poetic flaw; his first wound that nearly killed him would later be the wound that almost kills him again. Upon watching the battle he has with the Z-Fighters, he has no other weak points. He took a full powered Kamehameha point blank for fun but that’s because the blast hit a wide area rather than a focused point.

If you want to bring up the Special Beam Canon and it’s piercing properties, this is where I stop you. Even if Piccolo wanted to use it, he wouldn’t have the time to charge it. Most of the battle is Broly trashing the rest of the fighters with almost no effort on his part. Even if Piccolo did charge it and it was fired, it’s doubtful that he would aim for that ONE spot. Piccolo never knew about it in the first place and would most likely aim for a different area such as the upper chest ala Raditz, the heart or perhaps even the head. But we’ve also seen the attack being deflected, notably during the battle between Piccolo and Imperfect Cell. Who’s to say Broly couldn’t deflect it similarly?

5) Broly mistook Goten for Goku. (Spoilers) For those that don’t know, Broly survives the events of his first movie and arrives on earth in the second. There he is frozen (for what the movie guide describes as several years) until his is awoken by Goten crying near by. When Broly goes under, the events of the battle are entierly fresh in his mind. So much so that his is in a state of flight-or-fight because of his near death. He is awoken by the sounds of crying, crying that reminds him all too vividly of his own traumatic childhood and he simply wants it to end. The last thin he really sees is Goku’s face (before he blows up, escapes in a pod and makes his way to earth?) and since Goten is an almost exact carbon copy of him, Broly simply lashes out with animalistic insinct.

His near death and sudden awakening from his traumatic past hitting him again throws what rational thought he has out as he wants to SURVIVE. In his mind, killing Goten (Goku by extension) would end that torment for him. The last thing from his past would be laid to rest and he could relax.

That brings us back to his mental state. He’s fine when he encounters everyone else. I dare say he even smiles when he is introduced to everyone. But upon seeing Goku (Goten by extension after a few years), his thoughts of peace are shattered as the one trigger that brings back all the torment he’s endured stares him in the face. He simply seems to exhibit a very violent survival reflex.

6) Why was Broly almost killed? Less of a complaint and more of a good question. Broly was born with a power level of 10,000. King Vegeta at the time was barely above that. No doubt the king gave it consideration as to using Broly. But what would happen if one day Broly didn’t want to take orders from the king? What could he do against a warrior who’s power would ecplipse his own once he became an adult?

Had King Vegeta not ordered his death, Broly may have even grown strong enough to challenge Frieza long before Goku would have, beating the tyrant and becoming the greatest warrior ever known. Dragon Ball could be a whole lot different with that train of thought.

7) Broly one shots too many characters. This basically ties into my “Broly is too OP” argument. But lets go a bit further into detail by comparing his fight with the Z-Fighters against them vs Cell. Cell (Perfect and Super Perfect) took the likes of Future Trunks, Vegeta, Goku and Gohan to beat, easily the most powerful characters at the time. But during that fight, each fighter worked individually or as a tag team in some cases to bring down Cell.

Broly functioned in a very similar fashion for most of it. But where they diverge is how they ended. Cell was beaten by a Super Saiyan 2 Gohan after an intense beam struggle. Broly was beaten by four fighters (Gohan, Trunks, Piccolo and Vegeta) channeling their power into Goku who then beat Broly. That is the final nail in the coffin for this argument.

Gohan during the fight received no ki transfers from the other fighters and barely beat Cell during the beam struggle. Goku on the other hand took noticeable leaps in power with each ki transfer. Pre-Vegeta boost Goku almost punched directly through Broly’s ki barrier, meaning that there was very little difference remaining. After receiving Vegeta’s power, Goku was finally strong enough to push through Broly’s ki and strike him, ending the events of the first movie. The difference is simple for this comparison: Gohan worked alone as a Super Saiyan 2 and barely won while Goku received energy from four other fighters and ended the lengthy battle with one strike.

Why does this matter? Because it gives us a scale. In the main canon, Buu was the only one held to a similar power level. He tore apart planets left and right and while not explicitly seen trashing galaxies (feel free to correct me if I’m wrong here or at any point), it is heavily implied he did. Broly direclty showed us his power by trashing a galaxy in the beginning of his movie, giving us a clear indicator to his power. Compared to Cell who COULD reach similar heights but never did, it’s pretty easy to see why he can trash around other characters so easily. I won’t say he’s stronger than Buu who took a Super Saiyan 3 Goku to kill while Broly was handled by a Super Saiyan Goku with four fighters, it’s pretty easy to see how he is able to beat most other fighters.

All in all, Broly receives a bit more flak than he actually deserves. He’s a character who went through a lot of suffering very early on in his life and rather than be given the chance to move on and recover, he was used as a weapon and treated as such for most of his life. He is a powerful individual in the Dragon Ball universe that is a very serious contender on the villain roster. Had he been given a better up bringing, Dragon ball would be very different and would see him as the most powerful player on the character roster. Canon or not, Broly has made quite the impact on the fandom as a whole and certainly deserved his spotlight in the games and movies. In the end, he’s an example of what even Goku could have been if he received a Saiyan upbringing instead of his earthling one. Also, apologies if there are spelling mistakes throughout.

Dog Whistle

There’s been an influx of cast turnovers in animated shows lately over race. Apparently, characters portrayed as people of color who are voiced by white actors, are quitting in droves and i find this sh*t to be ridiculous. Jenny Slate pulled out of Big Mouth where she portrays the biracial Missy. Miss is half black and half white, both are accepts aspects of who she is. Slate is white. Why can’t Slate voice this character but the SJW rules pr whatever? Kristen Bell is in the exact same position, though, she has her own, purple colored problems. Ma’s heart is in the right place but she seems to be going about it in the worst way lately. The creator of Bojack Horseman even refereed to his casting of Alison Brie as the Vietnamese, Diane Ngyuen. That’s bonkers to me! Brie was exceptional in that role and Diane is one of the best characters on the entire show. So much of that passion and humanity was imbued by Brie’s performance but, because some thumb-sucking, armchair activists, are upset that the Asian-coded cartoon they watch has a white woman voicing them, it’s a problem? Get the f*ck out of here.

Look, casting white voice actors for non-white parts, isn't racist. It's not. Stop it. You're not seeing them onscreen, just hearing them. This is not the same thing as whitewashing a character on film where everyone can actually connect a real face to events. This is not the same as blackface. This ain’t a mistral show. This ain’t Emma Stone in Aloha or Jenette Goldstein in Aliens or Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell. That last one, i'm not even sure is a big deal to begin with anyway. Sure, i think it’s f*cked up Johansson is the Major in the eyes of the US. You know who doesn’t? The director of the anime. The people of Japan. They don’t care. They laugh at all of this PC bullsh*t. They were just happen that Johansson, an actor of renown, got to portray the role. If the people who created the property are okay with the change, why are we so goddamn upset? It’s stupid. It’s even more absurd to me when all you’re using is the actor’s voice. The quality, cadence, and detail of the voice are what take precedent. The character being voiced ain't even real, man. Sure, it's cute to have a black person portray a black coded character, but it shouldn't be a goddamn requirement. It shouldn’t be a point of controversy. The character you created has a very, specific identity; One that you, as the master craftsman of this entire universe, forge. That includes what they sound like. Why the f*ck should you have to alter your vision just because it’s not “socially acceptable?”

If you are worth your weight as an artist, as a creator, you wouldn't compromise your vision over something so goddamn trivial. I am a creator. I write and draw. I build worlds. Hopefully, in the next few years, i can share some of them with you all. That said, If I have to choose between Cardi B giving my ethnic coded, femme fatale character life, over Scarlett Johansson because some wuss sees that as problematic casting, then I'm about to be real problematic. Scarlett has one of the greatest voices in the entire history of Hollywood. There's no way I don’t jump at that opportunity. Plus, she’s a consummate professional. Her talent outstrips a great many other options, Cardi B being one of them. I’m not about to crippled the essence of my character just because you think the actor chosen to portray them, has to match the skin tone with which i literally chose to color them. That’s how unstable the grounds for this argument are. It’s literally based on artistic discretion. If i decided to color my Femme Fatale white instead of black, on a him, technically there wouldn’t be a problem. For you. But i would have betrayed everything i put into her by doing that. Scarlett’s voice would have been a part of who she is. It would have been the striking quality you remember most about her. Maybe her dope appearance but definitely them sultry vocals, too. That’s how animation works.

Where are the pitchforks for Grey DeLisle portraying Azula; An Asian coded, very possibly Japanese inspired, character from Avatar? That entire f*cking show is held in the highest regard for it’s diversity but, by these ridiculous new rules and outrage triggers, it would technically be the most problematic show on television because of all the whitewashing. I love Avatar. Just finished watching the entire f*cking show for the third time, last week. It’s spectacular. Great characters, dope lore, unique vision. It’s near perfect television. I hate the fact people call it anime, it’s not, but other than that, outstanding. Not one white person in sight, but a ton of them heard. Where is the ire for Aang and his misadventures? Why not go the other way? Phil LaMarr has voiced a ton of characters in his long ass career, one of them Samurai Jack. Phil LaMarr is not a Samurai. He is not of Japanese descent. He’s as v\black as i am. Why has no one canceled him for his audacity in portraying what can only be described as  a character with the basest of Asian characteristics? Hell, how is the Samurai Jack character, not offensive unto itself? Because they’re f*cking cartoons.

If we, as a society, have decided to tumble down this stupid f*cking rabbit hole, where does it end? Why is no one upset that Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Matthew Broderick, both white boys, voiced Simba in the Lion King? That entire movie takes place in Africa. Those two cats are decidedly not African. What about Mulan? That Ming-Na Wen casting was inspired but what about Mushu? I man, the name Mushu is a problem for another day but guess who ain’t Chinese? Eddie f*cking Murphy! No one is out here coming for his career over that sh*t, whatever is left of it anyway. I’ll do you one better. F*cking Trap Jaw from He-Man. That motherf*cker is a blue cyborg with a green, necrotic, face. Who gets to portray that character? Is it anyone because he’s a Frankenstein monster or is it because he’s more fantastical than, say, Kidagakesh? What about Bonnibel Bubblegum, Jake the Dog, Marceline Abadeer, B-Mo, or Lumpy Space Princess? What about Panthro from Thundercats or Jazz and Blaster from Transformers? Who gets to voice Piccolo from Dragon Ball? Freezer? Cell? Buu? Yoruichi from BLEACH? Mirko from HeroAca? Any localization roles from all goddamn anime, ever?? Does it actually f*cking matter who voices any character, ever? F*cking no! The only thing that matters is the voice actually fits the character, regardless of their skin color. I can definitely keep going but i think my point is made. This sh*t is stupid. Getting upset over actual f*cking cartoons, drawings created by a person with a singular vision, is the dumbest sh*t i have ever heard in my entire life. Appreciate the art. Immerse within the journey presented by the guiding narrative. Stop getting tied up in your irrelevant opinion and performative indignation. Let creators, create, free from your superficial concern, fickle ass expectation, and transparent, agenda driven, dog whistles. Just enjoy the ride.

Dog Whistle

There’s been an influx of cast turnovers in animated shows lately over race. Apparently, characters portrayed as people of color who are voiced by white actors, are quitting in droves and i find this sh*t to be ridiculous. Jenny Slate pulled out of Big Mouth where she portrays the biracial Missy. Miss is half black and half white, both are accepts aspects of who she is. Slate is white. Why can’t Slate voice this character but the SJW rules pr whatever? Kristen Bell is in the exact same position, though, she has her own, purple colored problems. Ma’s heart is in the right place but she seems to be going about it in the worst way lately. The creator of Bojack Horseman even refereed to his casting of Alison Brie as the Vietnamese, Diane Ngyuen. That’s bonkers to me! Brie was exceptional in that role and Diane is one of the best characters on the entire show. So much of that passion and humanity was imbued by Brie’s performance but, because some thumb-sucking, armchair activists, are upset that the Asian-coded cartoon they watch has a white woman voicing them, it’s a problem? Get the f*ck out of here.

Look, casting white voice actors for non-white parts, isn't racist. It's not. Stop it. You're not seeing them onscreen, just hearing them. This is not the same thing as whitewashing a character on film where everyone can actually connect a real face to events. This is not the same as blackface. This ain’t a mistral show. This ain’t Emma Stone in Aloha or Jenette Goldstein in Aliens or Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell. That last one, i'm not even sure is a big deal to begin with anyway. Sure, i think it’s f*cked up Johansson is the Major in the eyes of the US. You know who doesn’t? The director of the anime. The people of Japan. They don’t care. They laugh at all of this PC bullsh*t. They were just happen that Johansson, an actor of renown, got to portray the role. If the people who created the property are okay with the change, why are we so goddamn upset? It’s stupid. It’s even more absurd to me when all you’re using is the actor’s voice. The quality, cadence, and detail of the voice are what take precedent. The character being voiced ain't even real, man. Sure, it's cute to have a black person portray a black coded character, but it shouldn't be a goddamn requirement. It shouldn’t be a point of controversy. The character you created has a very, specific identity; One that you, as the master craftsman of this entire universe, forge. That includes what they sound like. Why the f*ck should you have to alter your vision just because it’s not “socially acceptable?”

If you are worth your weight as an artist, as a creator, you wouldn't compromise your vision over something so goddamn trivial. I am a creator. I write and draw. I build worlds. Hopefully, in the next few years, i can share some of them with you all. That said, If I have to choose between Cardi B giving my ethnic coded, femme fatale character life, over Scarlett Johansson because some wuss sees that as problematic casting, then I'm about to be real problematic. Scarlett has one of the greatest voices in the entire history of Hollywood. There's no way I don’t jump at that opportunity. Plus, she’s a consummate professional. Her talent outstrips a great many other options, Cardi B being one of them. I’m not about to crippled the essence of my character just because you think the actor chosen to portray them, has to match the skin tone with which i literally chose to color them. That’s how unstable the grounds for this argument are. It’s literally based on artistic discretion. If i decided to color my Femme Fatale white instead of black, on a him, technically there wouldn’t be a problem. For you. But i would have betrayed everything i put into her by doing that. Scarlett’s voice would have been a part of who she is. It would have been the striking quality you remember most about her. Maybe her dope appearance but definitely them sultry vocals, too. That’s how animation works.

Where are the pitchforks for Grey DeLisle portraying Azula; An Asian coded, very possibly Japanese inspired, character from Avatar? That entire f*cking show is held in the highest regard for it’s diversity but, by these ridiculous new rules and outrage triggers, it would technically be the most problematic show on television because of all the whitewashing. I love Avatar. Just finished watching the entire f*cking show for the third time, last week. It’s spectacular. Great characters, dope lore, unique vision. It’s near perfect television. I hate the fact people call it anime, it’s not, but other than that, outstanding. Not one white person in sight, but a ton of them heard. Where is the ire for Aang and his misadventures? Why not go the other way? Phil LaMarr has voiced a ton of characters in his long ass career, one of them Samurai Jack. Phil LaMarr is not a Samurai. He is not of Japanese descent. He’s as v\black as i am. Why has no one canceled him for his audacity in portraying what can only be described as  a character with the basest of Asian characteristics? Hell, how is the Samurai Jack character, not offensive unto itself? Because they’re f*cking cartoons.

If we, as a society, have decided to tumble down this stupid f*cking rabbit hole, where does it end? Why is no one upset that Jonathan Taylor Thomas and Matthew Broderick, both white boys, voiced Simba in the Lion King? That entire movie takes place in Africa. Those two cats are decidedly not African. What about Mulan? That Ming-Na Wen casting was inspired but what about Mushu? I man, the name Mushu is a problem for another day but guess who ain’t Chinese? Eddie f*cking Murphy! No one is out here coming for his career over that sh*t, whatever is left of it anyway. I’ll do you one better. F*cking Trap Jaw from He-Man. That motherf*cker is a blue cyborg with a green, necrotic, face. Who gets to portray that character? Is it anyone because he’s a Frankenstein monster or is it because he’s more fantastical than, say, Kidagakesh? What about Bonnibel Bubblegum, Jake the Dog, Marceline Abadeer, B-Mo, or Lumpy Space Princess? What about Panthro from Thundercats or Jazz and Blaster from Transformers? Who gets to voice Piccolo from Dragon Ball? Freezer? Cell? Buu? Yoruichi from BLEACH? Mirko from HeroAca? Any localization roles from all goddamn anime, ever?? Does it actually f*cking matter who voices any character, ever? F*cking no! The only thing that matters is the voice actually fits the character, regardless of their skin color. I can definitely keep going but i think my point is made. This sh*t is stupid. Getting upset over actual f*cking cartoons, drawings created by a person with a singular vision, is the dumbest sh*t i have ever heard in my entire life. Appreciate the art. Immerse within the journey presented by the guiding narrative. Stop getting tied up in your irrelevant opinion and performative indignation. Let creators, create, free from your superficial concern, fickle ass expectation, and transparent, agenda driven, dog whistles. Just enjoy the ride.