Evolution

(2 years)

15 oct 2022. 6janv 2024

Everyone keeps talking about "traditional villains," but in retrospect, I wish Disney had gone in a different direction for the Revival Era. Hear me out...

King Magnifico's failed characterization and poor writing in "Wish" really bummed me out. I was looking forward to a complex villain who was kinda right. I was hoping it could usher in a new age of Disney villains who were more grey than black and white, who made the characer grow as a person because they challenged their perspective. But then I realized that the opportunity existed in earlier revival-era villains:

Dr. Facilier is a villain first and foremost, though thinking back on it, I do think he is kinda proto-Magnifico, granting people's wishes, only for them to find that what they wanted isn't what they expected. I do wish he tied a bit of truth in with his scams, mentioning (similar to Magnifico) how people's dreams are very difficult to achieve--especially in the post-WWI American South, particularly POC. Naveen is generally assumed to be a POC himself, so he could juxtapose this viewpoint as someone who's never really had to experience such hardships. Dr. Facilier could still be 100% villainous, but further emphasis on dreams, wishes, and hard work would be part of his character. However, this is the reverse of "Wish"; Tiana has already worked hard, but she's lost a lot of her innocence and light-heartedness trying to achieve it, thus causing her to reevaluate how important love is and how she may not have realized it, being more practical about her dreams. It all starts with a wish.

Mother Gothel was already right; the world can be dark and cruel, and will destroy any light it finds. However, similar to Magnifico, since she's completely evil, the protagonist she goes against doesn't really change to understand what she's saying. Rapunzel doesn't see the world as dark or dangerous anymore; it's the opposite, thanks to her experiences. Because of this, I do wish Rapunzel did have a bit more negative experiences independent of Gothel to prove Gothel's point rather than it being "hey, she's just saying that because she's the villain." Maybe Rapunzel tries healing someone and people start lusting after her hair.

Hans is DEFINITELY a missed opportunity. He was the anti-Anna; isolated and alone, and he became bitter and cruel because of it. It's mentioned that the deleted song "More than Just the Spare" was removed because it made Anna too much like Hans. I don't think that, and if anything, it furthers my point: Hans gave up on his brothers, who he felt overlooked by and pestered by (he doesn't even mention his parents). Maybe give Hans less brothers and feature them a little in the movie so we can see how they interact with Hans and how it's a "what could be" for Anna and Elsa. His evil character is exactly what Anna is trying to avoid, but she understands how he became this way rather than it simply being for shock value.

Yokai was a great villain to me, but the reveal happened too late. I'd have loved seeing a more thorough exploration of his character and parallels to Hiro (which were done great in the film; I just wish it was expanded on). Highlight how people quickly forget about the dead and don't always learn from history, how there's this cycle of loss and hatred that you have to break.

Bellweather was on a power trip, but I do wish she had a storyline similar to Judy and Nick, since--in an interesting twist--they come off as more interesting and complex than the villain. She doesn't really say what made her act like this, and comments that "fear always works." I wish we got more of that, especially to play the two sides card; Zootopia is mainly predator-phobic, and challenges to this, ie predators playing down predator-related crimes in order to get people to look past their identity (and the fact that many predators are in positions of power) may have caused Bellweather's abuse by predators to be overlooked, causing her to want them all gone.

Te Ka is interesting. Despite "Moana" being a great film, I do feel like Te Ka and Maui's storyline was underutilized. It's revealed Maui stole Te Ka's heart for humans, but from what we see, Moana lives in this ideal community where their heritage, culture, and nature is loved and respected. Maybe embrace the fact that Tala is the only one who tells the story of the ancestors and how being they became "comfortable" since they were no longer voyagers, being used to the hierarchy and their stagnant society. Highlighting some humans' selfish natures would've been nice rather than Maui just telling us about it, with Te Ka being a metaphor for the destruction and disregard for nature and love.

Namaari is such a missed opportunity. Despite caring about her community, she comes off as more villainous than an antihero since she doesn't show any sympathy or care for Raya--in fact, she seems rather smug about hurting her. By making her a villain burdened by expectations and love for Fang while slowly being redeemed would've been better to me, shifting her POV slowly, making Raya angry with Namaari but understanding her motives. Having some regret about her choices--even if she believed they were the right ones--would've gone a long way for Namaari's characterization.

Magnifico...well, you already know he could've been one of Disney's most complex villains. Horrifying backstory and powers that are the result of hardwork left him with a jaded view on wish granting. He wants to help others, but has MANY reservations about it.

This is just my POV, of course; some of you may disagree (or feel like the aforementioned villains already achieved what I ask for), but I do hope future Disney villains have that "they're kinda right, even if they're wrong" characterization. It'd be a nice new era as the successor to traditional villains and twist villains--though just like twist villains, this trope requires VERY good writing.

Who in their right mind decided to make all the evil women HOT?? LIKE C'MON. How are you gonna expect me to make morally correct simping decisions when the most attractive women are the ones tearing hearts out and draining people of their blood?

Oh well, fuck morals then I guess, evil women pretty 🥰🥰

If Chief Virana were to be a parent in today’s society, she would be the type of parent to have a bad habit of saying the most downright outrageous, outta pocket, non-filtered comments that would get her cancelled within a microsecond

This crossover familyship between Namaari and Hunter was created by Serpanade-Toons on DeviantArt. With the third and final season of The Owl House coming out, I thought it would be fun to focus on making Owl House related collages.

Some random characters I spotted in Once Upon A Studio:

The Christmas elves from Prep and Landing

John Henry (from the eponymous short film), Lewis' adoptive mother Lucille from Meet the Robinsons, and Kida from Atlantis.

The Godfather and his daughter from Zootopia, Shank from Ralph Breaks the Internet and Namaari from Raya.

Namaari: I don’t get why you’re so irritated. I’m helping strengthen the bond between Fang and Heart

Virana, trying not to have an aneurysm: by making out with Heart’s princess?

Namaari: the bond is stronger, mother.

I didn't even watch "WISH" yet because in my country it will only be available at january, but people are saying it's a bad cliche so I probably won't watch at the cinema.

The thing is, even though I am a hopeless romantic, not everything has to have romance. There are princess who are perfectly fine without a prince, like Mirabel, Elsa, Merida, Moana and Raya(I do kinda like the idea of Raya with a girl, just not Namaari). But we were so robbed of seeing Asha and the star boy(he is literally a staR so I don't doubt Disney would call him StaN or something like that, so his name is Stan from now on, I am gonna call him like that, is easier than star boy). Asha and Stan had the potential to be the next Tianaveen and Rapunzel&Eugene (I don't know their ship name). The concept arts are the cutest thing I have ever seen. Also "At All Costs" (bop) would have been a love song between the two!!! Them singing it man. The pain I will feel when I don't see them passionately sing it, very "I see the light" coded, in the actual movie. Somehow, now is not feminist for a strong female character to have a male partner by her side. Like...This doesn't make sense! You can be a strong female character and have a man at the same time! Have y'all forgotten Mulan and Shang? Anna and Kristoff? Ariel and Eric? Jasmine and Aladdin? (There are more examples and I could go on all day, but you got what I meant already) I hate Disney for throwing good ideas at the trash and playing safe just for money(like Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk said "it's a metaphor for capitalism"). And as the guy looked blonde with blue/green eyes in the arts I have seen, and Asha is a black latina, they lost the opportunity of having a biracial couple ACTUALLY DONE RIGHT (Pocahontas and John Smith don't count, he is a collonizer with the most common name in the world, she deserves so much better). Like, if the thing is show how inclusive you are by having a black latina female protagonist for little girls to see and feel represented in a good way, you could have increased that feeling by making someone fall in love for her. Little girls would feel like they are beautiful and desired/desireable in a positive way and that they worthy of being loved and love and be with whoever they want to be with, even someone who has a different skin color.

I am also mad because we could have seen Disney's first evil villain COUPLE with King Magnifico and his wife, the queen(still don't know her name, sorry). Can't you guys imagine the HITS, THE FIRST PLACE OF BILLBOARD HOT 100 WORTHY songs, they would proportionate us? Even if only one song, it would be enough for me. But someone thought having a female villain would be anti-feminist and they discarded an original and authentic idea, which is what Disney built its empire on the first place. Come on Disney minorities don't want to be portrayed as those unrealistic superior beings, they want to be portrayed as real human beings with emotions, struggles, qualities and flaws. Having an iconic female villain like you guys always had(like Maleficent, Cruella De Vil, Ursula, Mother Gothel, Lady Tremaine, etc) and set her up with an iconic male villain(like Gaston, Doctor Facilier, Shan Yu, Jafar, Hans, etc) it would have been top notch, god tier. King Magnifico and the queen could have been like the Gomez and Morticia of evil. You could address so many topics by it. Like the kingdom being ruled by evil would have been a great social critic of some politicians out there, for example. And we could have had an iconic final boss battle between Asha and Stan VS Magnifico and the queen.

Anyway, what I mean by this is that if someone has fanarts or just ANY CONTENT, of Asha and Stan, tag me, reblog this or comment, I don't care, just warn me, because they are my new obsession. I will also write a fanfic about this movie with these ideas, but only after I have watched the movie so until them, please feed my hyperfixation in Stasha (Star boy/Stan×Asha), I'm begging y'all

Commission from Doodles. Please make sure you look at their regulations before contacting them, as they do not share the same kinks as you or I probably do.

www.deviantart.com/doodlminium

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Nine months ago, her dearest friend and roommate Sisusatu, the former last dragon, had learned from her brothers and sisters a new way of bringing new dragons to the world. Kumandra needed new dragons since the old ones returned. But the world was so much different than the one they once knew. Five hundred years of entrapment by the Druun’s evil stone left each of the dragons experiencing a culture shock. While most people were ecstatic to see dragons again, the dragons had to learn all that had happened over the last five centuries. The infighting, the distrust, the abandonment of values, the betrayal. It left some dragons distraught, others angry. A new generation was needed, to grow up and to understand the world as it was now.

Now, Raya would be helping those efforts in a more personal way than she could have known. The young warrior kept her sword double gripped and close, swinging and thrusting at the air. She’d been practicing forms for over an hour up in Heart’s summit temple, in the same chamber that nearly eight years prior, the world was broken. Now, another sacred power was held within this chamber. Deep within the princess herself. Her belly bulged from her thin frame, swollen to the nth degree. Curled up inside was a baby dragon, who was surprisingly calm despite Raya’s exertion .For almost a year, it had been growing steadily from the genpiece she consumed. It was a massive ritual that involved Sisu and her four other siblings, ending in Raya gulping down the fragment of a magic dragon gem.

With a huff and puff of air, Raya turned her body and primed to swing, before she twirled on her feet, her heavy center of mass guiding her blade. Normally it was a detrimate, her baby bump encumbering her every step around her home and whatever journey she took away with Sisu or even Namaari in this current condition. Her back ached, her belly bumped against things, knocking them over at times, made it hard to get comfortable when in bed, and even made her very sick. But here, it kept her firmly around the middle of the room where she could keep this up for minutes at a time.

When she stopped, her blade held over her head mid swing, her body felt quite sweaty from all this training. Raya would pant softly and regain her bearings and stand up straight with her blade held at her side. A soft wiggle from below her chest made her look down and bring her hand up Shriner the moistened, taut skin of her belly for a brief rub. The dragon growing inside was like a child to her, one that she and Sisu vowed to raise together. Once she never even thought about having children. But her experiences had given her a new perspective, and the dragon nerd in her heart won out.

Raya placed down her father’s former weapon of choice, and sat down cross legged on the damp stone of the chamber door, before she then leaned backwards until her back was resting on the floor and she was looking up at the stars through the skylight above. Both of her hands moved to rest stop her belly as she hummed softly, her eyes beginning to close. After a long training session, Raya always meditated with her steam let off and her mind open and clear. Where she contemplated her place in the world, and the future which grew within her, preparing to come into the world. A smile spread over her face as she felt the little unborn dragon push and wiggle in the womb of its mother. Her hands slowly began to move about the surface as if she was interacting with her baby, the feeling of her self-induced massage sending the powerful warrior into a euphoric state, and soon, sleep.

Title ?

I'll let you find a title for this drawing of Namaari and her daughter Nur. I will choose from the proposals

Domestic modern day AU Raya x Namaari headcanons!

- Namaari is an early bird, Raya is more of a night owl

- Namaari puts the toilet paper over, Raya puts it under. Both think the other is super weird but they go with it

- Raya sleeps with a fan on every night, she needs the white noise

- Raya is a deep sleeper (once her mind slows down enough to fall asleep), Namaari is a light sleeper. But Raya's light snoring doesn't bother her, it's like her own white noise

- Namaari is super warm when she sleeps and Raya loves to snuggle up to her in the winter. The summer is a bit more of a struggle lol

- Namaari is a great cook and cooks most nights. Raya does the dishes after

- Though she doesn't have much of a green thumb, Raya loves to grow flowers in their window and porch boxes. Namaari secretly waters the flowers when Raya forgets

- Raya still sleeps with a ratty old build-a-bear that she made with her mother before her mother died. The bears that Raya and Namaari made together on a date sit together on a blanket on a shelf in their bedroom

- Of course, they have a pride flag hanging outside on their porch

I’m back on Tumblr, so it’s time to talk about GAY FROZEN! The movie is gay. All of it.

Okay, not all of it. But a lot of it!

Daily reminder as I yeet myself back onto Tumblr that Elsa is freaking gay okay? That’s how we’re gonna start this and the main thesis of this bullcrap will be Elsa’s obvious gayness.

I’m sorry, but in this scene (only moments before Elsa is shown talking to Honeymaren while holding her hand and gazing at her face) there is clearly some gay stuff going on. Note the absolute HOPEFULNESS on Honey’s face when she looks at Elsa and says “you belong here, you know?” in an extra hopeful tone? And the way Elsa actually does stay there with her?!

And earlier in the movie when they’re talking to each other it looks just like that scene from Tangled where Rapunzel is talking to Eugene! If it was a girl or boy the calm and wholesome way they talk to each other while maintaining steady eye contact and all that wholesome stuff would be read as a romantic connection, yet here it’s just shrugged off by the people who watched it as friendship. Yes, it could be that, but it also could be more and y’all aren’t even willing to suggest that alternative simply because they’re both girls.

Let’s talk about Oaken! He’s gay and has a husband and kids, and it’s clearly seen in the first movie.

Yes, I’m aware the tall girl with brown hair could be his (snore) wife. But all the kids honestly look more like the possible mother other than the blonde hunk, so it doesn’t make too much sense. If that woman was the wife and mother, why does she look just like all her kids except one, and the one doesn’t even look like her or Oaken? It would make much more sense if the blonde guy, who looks older anyway, was his husband and the kids were adopted. Yes, realistic genes usually don’t mean much in animated films, but then why are Elsa and Anna and their family designed to look related? And Honeymaren and Ryder from Frozen 2 look related as well. So yeah.

BACK TO ELSA! So, you see, if Oaken is gay, it would be perfectly reasonable for her to be given if this is true the franchise has tackled gay characters before. A gay Disney Princess would be awesome and given the first two movies showcased Elsa’s own personal journey and journey to mend her relationship with her sisters, a third movie could in turn have her beginning a romantic relationship with someone who very well may be a woman, and very may well be Honeymaren given the way they behave in the second movie. It seems to me like the Frozen 2 interactions are like Raya and Namaari from Raya and the Last Dragon— homoerotically toned friendships that seem to all but outright say that the two characters are gay. Except with Honeymaren and Elsa their friendship is shown a lot less given the movie is about Elsa’s self discovery. Unless, you know, Frozen 2 is merely setting up the building blocks for them to get in a relationship later. A girl can dream.

Did any of that make sense? I hope so. Because come on, Disney. A lot of people don’t like you know and some of your actions have gone to crap, but you can at least try to fix things by ceasing to support genocide and just maybe hearing us out and giving us a gay Disney Princess— hopefully Elsa, because that girl is gay-coded as all hell.

Raya: ...You know what? FUCK GENDER NORMS!!

Namaari: *confused, but wants to be supportive* Um...Yeah! Fuck 'em! Raya: See!? You get it!! :D Namaari: Um yeah! Sure!! *blushing* *later* Virana: You want to legally change your name to WHAT now? Namaari: *dead serious* Please Mother. I need this. You don't understand. Virana: ...

I went to see Wish a little while back, and it was... fine. I had a good time watching it, but probably wouldn't watch it again on my own. It's visually beautiful, it's funny, Magnifico is a good villain, the story mostly works. But it feels a little flat and hollow. And I wanted to parse out what I think the problem is. In short, I think the problem is Asha. And I think that problem is twofold.

A. Personality and Motivation

I heard a lot of complaints about Disney always doing 'adorkable' princesses now (I will note, of the post-renaissance princesses, there's a pretty even split of adorkable and not- Rapunzel, Anna, Mirabel, and Asha on the one hand; Tiana, Elsa, Moana, Raya on the other). But I don't think that's the problem in itself. The problem is, that adorkableness is Asha's only clearly defined characteristic. Rapunzel, Anna, and Mirabel all have traits beyond that. And that's clearest in terms of what the characters want. Rapunzel wants to see the floating lights and that transitions into wanting the freedom and love that Gothel has denied her. Anna wants to connect with her sister (or really anyone-- Hans, Kristoff, Olaf...) and to protect Arendelle. Mirabel wants to feel useful to and accepted by her family. Asha wants to help everyone else want things. It's entirely focused on what other characters around her want. She wants other people to have a shot at getting their wishes. In theory that means she's selfless and cares about others. And that's all well and good but it creates this void around Asha herself that makes it hard to connect with her emotionally. What does she want for herself? If the King weren't hoarding people's wishes, what would Asha wish for? What would she dream about? What does her happy ending after the King is defeated look like? It's very hard to tell. A character can be selfless and focused on helping others and still have things they want for themselves. Look no further than Asha's "I want" song This Wish. It's so vague.

B. The Relationships

The other half of the problem with Asha is that she doesn't have a central relationship. Rapunzel has a broken relationship with her 'mother' and finds love and trust and partnership through her relationship with Flynn. Tiana is driven by her relationship with her late father, and finds healing in her relationship with Naveen. Moana is in conflict with her father and finds her confidence and independence through working out her friendship/partnership with Maui. Raya can only regain the relationship with her father by working through her trust issues with Namaari and learning from Sisu. Mirabel working through her relationships with her sisters, and interacting with Bruno allows her to confront her relationship with Abuela.

Asha has a lot of relationships, but none of them is really allowed to take a central place in the story. She's got 7 friends but there's not really room or a need for growth in any of those (except Simon, but that's kept more peripheral and really exists more to demonstrate that Rosas really does have a problem that needs to be fixed). She's got a dead father who forms some kind of inspiration for Asha, but it doesn't drive her the way Tiana's father does. She has a mother who matters to the story very little. There could have been key relationships between her and Magnifico and/or Amaya (and I think you can see hints of that) but that's not developed either. Asha's grandfather is important to her in some way, but again that relationship is not allowed to come to center-- he's the closest we have but even if we allow that he's occupying a role similar to that of Raya or Moana's fathers, that's still only half the equation. Asha still wouldn't have someone to interact with and grow alongside in the way that Moana had Maui, and Raya had Namaari and Sisu. The story is missing a deuteragonist.

And I think that contributes to the first point, to Asha feeling flat. She doesn't have anyone to define herself in relation to. She has a bunch of generally positive relationships and so is only defined by a general kindness and altruism.

There's been some concept art bouncing around of a human version of Star, so it seems that an early version of the story HAD its deuteragonist, partner for Asha to run around with and interact with a learn from (and in some sense to receive what she needs on a personal level-- in the way that Rapunzel receives the love she needs from Flynn, or Moana gains confidence in her leadership by having Maui choose to follow her-- which would help Asha recover a personal motivation). But when Star changed from having a human form to being a little blobby thing, he moved from deuteragonist to cute creature sidekick. And the story lost a key component and didn't replace it.

There are other smaller problems too-- some of the songs feel off (and none of them are great), the friends are sometimes annoying, Amaya's characterization doesn't quite work right, some of the easter eggs don't work etc.-- and I do think the thematic core of the movie has issues (but that's another post in itself, and I don't think the issue is what other people have claimed it is). But I think it would all come together reasonably well if Asha herself had come to life a little bit better. And that is a shame because I think her character design is good and I think Ariana DeBose does a good job playing her.

And finally! To wrap up my Disney Villains Polls, here it is!

Happy voting! ❤