Somebody's Gotta Do Something

hello there! this is my blog where i talk about cartoons

[criticizinganimation]

i’ve noticed some differing opinions on the butch hartman fiasco and i’d like to give my thoughts about it. i’ve seen some people say “oh you just don’t like him/his network because it’s christian!” i want to clarify that for me personally among many others, that is not the case and this is a misunderstanding! if butch wanted to make his own religious streaming service, by all means he absolutely could. he’s within his right to do that. the problem is not disclosing this information. he didn’t even tell anyone it was a religious thing until he already had over $200,000 to work with. in general, when you are asking people to donate to your campaign on kickstarter, indiegogo, whatever, the #1 thing you need to do to gain trust from possible backers is be transparent. 

if you’re open and honest about your intentions and plans from the get go, people who are interested will donate, and people who aren’t will not. it isn’t even about the fact it’s religious in general, i’ve even seen christians upset about this, too! nobody likes being mislead, regardless of their beliefs. hiding the truth from anybody is harmful, and people who may have been interested before might just back out entirely because they don’t like being lied to and dishonesty.

[criticizinganimation]

can i just say that nickelodeon is absolutely hitting it out of the park with reboots lately?? like, wow, it’s legitimately impressive especially because in terms of animation, nick was on a steady decline and stayed down for a long time since sitcoms mostly took over the network and the cartoons that were there weren’t great (with some outliers of course!) and i’d like to take a moment to appreciate these

this is how you do an animated revival that respects the source material

[criticizinganimation]

hello everyone! apologies for my absence. a lot of personal things have been going on in my life and i haven’t had the time to update this blog as much as i’d like. i’ve cleaned out the archives since theres a lot of things ive changed my mind about regarding certain topics and i wanna start fresh! 

[criticizinganimation]

hey so I don't think you'll remember? But awhile ago I asked for some tips on writing a transmasc character. The development is going great so far :•] is there anywhere I can tag you so I can how you the final production of him?? bless ur heart 💙

OHHH WOW hey anon i’d absolutely love to see it!!! you could probably just dm it to me! i’d love to see what you’re working on!!!!!!! <33

[mikeyandpizza]

Meet the first African-American April in Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles first look!

Nickelodeon will offer up a new animated series about the crime-fighting crew with emerging ninja powers later this year. Right now, though, you can get a peek at the characters who are voiced by some familiar names — and they come with a few twists…

April O'Neil

The first African-American April O'Neil — a savvy New Yorker and first human ally of the turtles — is played by Kat Graham!

Donatello

Soft-shell turtle and tech hero Donatello (Josh Brener) rocks a tech-bo staff and impressive coding skills.

Leonardo

Leonardo (Ben Schwartz) is a red-eared slider who boasts “irreverent charm and a rebel heart.” Weapon of choice: ōdachi sword.

Michelangelo

Box turtle/skateboarder/artist Michelangelo (Brandon Mychal Smith) is the youngest brother — and dangerous with a kusari-fundo.

Raphael

Raphael (Omar Miller) is now the leader and oldest brother, a snapping turtle who brandishes twin tonfas as his weapons.

Splinter

Splinter (Eric Bauza) is part father figure, all sensei to the turtles!

[bogleech]

The last series started out promising and kinda deteriorated fast but this one looks fun and adorable, definitely ready for another wildly different turtle reboot.

[criticizinganimation]

hey i hope it's alright for me to ask this sort of question and it's totally fine if u don't wanna answer this but can i get some tips on how to write a transmasc character? im not transmasc myself and i thought it'd be best to ask those who r, thank u!

i’d be more than willing to help you out!! here are some tips:

- avoid tropes. i know this one kinda seems obvious, but here are some common things to avoid: 

1. someone walking in on your character shirtless so they are outed, or have your character get outed without their consent (if they come out themselves it’s totally fine, but not against their will)

2. “in the wrong body” or any phrasing like that

among others but you probably already know that.

- do not take away the transmasculine character’s autonomy / violate their privacy in any way. for example, no bodyswapping or anything like that. it’s invasive, and you’re better off just avoiding that altogether

- don’t sexualize your transmasculine character. we’re fetishized enough as is

- do NOT by ANY means use the terms tr*p or f*mboy. EVER. 

- don’t portray your transmasculine character as either 1. a bully or 2. a douche. that’s a trope i REALLY wanna see die. don’t make them harass people or vape and spout memes

- your character doesn’t have to be hypermasculine! you can have a feminine transmasc character (a good example of this is mettaton from undertale)

[criticizinganimation]

this is literally just burgerpants and papyrus i’m hfjhbkdfgjbdfgkjhbdf???

[criticizinganimation]

if i see ANY of you horny for the skeleton from ok ko i will physically manifest in your home and rip your dick clean off 

[criticizinganimation]

wait what did gashi gashi do that was racist? I cancelled him when I found out he drew loli shit but what happened? what did he do?

this drawing

[criticizinganimation]

interesting opposite trend, as someone who cares a lot more about writing than animation: while there are certainly cases to the contrary, i believe it's a common trend that the writing of pilot episodes tend to be quite bad compared to when the show is greenlit. i remember a good video about how pilots are put through production hell and that's why it's incredibly rare to find one that doesn't suck, even if it looks good.

you do have a good point; i think i have a feeling i know why this happens? typically pilots have a much smaller staff and might be lacking in the writing department, as a lot of cartoons tend to juggle writing and animation (for example the storyboard artists write the plot instead of dedicated writers). when something is greenlit for a full series the staff count probably gets a significant upgrade so they can have multiple dedicated writers on the team

[criticizinganimation]

When I say Studio Yotta art style I don’t just mean Studio Yotta’s work but also art styles that have a similar, wacky, sometimes half-anime, but sometimes not, cartoony, expressive feel. Like the art styles for Villainous, Mighty Magiswords and OK KO. Or art styles of internet artists like Gashi Gashi, Shenaniganza, Gerph, Andrew Dickman, etc. to name a few. I feel like this specific kind of art style is rising in popularity and media.

as i mentioned before, i don’t really mind it. i really enjoy more expressive cartoons, and there’s typically enough variation that i wouldn’t say they all look the same. i don’t think ok ko falls under that category since as i said most of the styles you mentioned have enough variation they don’t look the same (and if you ask me i think ok ko would fall under the calarts style in terms of ugly proportions)

[criticizinganimation]

opinion on the “studio yotta” art style? I have a feeling it’s going to be the new “calarts” style

i had to google what this was, and

titties.........Do Not Work Like That. 

also about the art style itself...it’s not...terrible? it’s a little bland, but i’ve seen the way it’s actually animated and in motion it actually looks okay. i’d definitely prefer this to the calarts style to be real with you, odd tiddies notwithstanding

[criticizinganimation]

the designs in ok ko bother me......so goddamn much. like they make me REALLY uncomfortable especially because ok ko is a show aimed at children. not only because some designs directly clash with the (already unappealing imo) art style, the linework is SUPER jank (and even if that’s intentional and an Artistic Choice Trademark its still ugly and ed edd n eddy did messy lines just fine) i swear to god some of these designs look like they came from a newgrounds porn game not a cartoon meant for kids. 

EVERYTHING is overly sexualized and it’s really, really creepy. every single female character has pretty much the same oversexualized, over-exaggerated features. regardless of age too, which makes this even MORE creepy. examples:

and this isn’t even scratching the surface. most of them look like this. and you know what’s strange? enid, the main girl character who also has this issue, had two perfectly fine designs they could have used (the pilot design being one of them) and one of them is in the show itself! its used for flashback scenes and it could have easily been used as her main design

it just looks more natural, she still has big legs but everything looks cohesive and she has a clearly defined normal body type

[criticizinganimation]

on that note, i’m gonna make a post about something that has perplexed me for a long, long time

why the hell do most cartoons look great in the pilot, but the actual show’s animation quality is objectively inferior???? granted a LOT of these are just personal taste but i wanna see if people agree. why does this happen??

examples including but not limited to:

hi hi puffy ami yumi:

(pilot, it was traditionally animated too)

(main show, cheap flash)

steven universe:

(pilot)

(main show)

bee and puppycat:

(pilot)

(main show)

oh and my favorite example: ok ko

(they made an entire episode of the characters just watching the pilot lol). where the girl main character (enid) had normal legs and anatomy

(main series)

(pilot)

[criticizinganimation]

hello there! been quite a while since i updated this blog. sorry about that! life and stuff has gotten in my way. i kinda wanted to make this blog more multipurpose, since i have a lot of feelings on many animated shows and i need an outlet for them. limiting myself to strictly su is a restriction im gonna be removing! so keep your eyes peeled for more in the future