Taina's Musings

This is where I talk about whatever's on my mind. I'm new to Tumblr so, bear with me...

[michaeldemiurgossociety]

Welcome to Secret Sword 3: Sword Hard with a Vengeance!!!

It's the third annual secret santa/gift exchange for the MDAS/Michael Demiurgos Appreciation Society.

Please see this year's rules below:

First the Dates: Sign-ups from 11/7/2024 - 12/8/2024

Assignments Sent on 12/12/2024

Assignments Due on 1/12/2025

Works Posted on 1/20/2025

Big Reveal of the Secrets on 1/27/2025

**

Second, the sign up form:

Secret Sword 3: Sword Hard with a Vengeance

The third annual Michael Demiurgos Appreciation Society holiday fanworks event.

Third, rules:

*This is a Michael-centric gift exchange, as a result we are going to encourage mainly having Michael as the primary character or focus in fic, art, videos...etc.

*However, we will also ask if people as one of their sign-up questions would prefer any gift that either crosses over or might involve Tom Ellis in another role like Godcat in Exploding Kittens or Oliver Knight in Tell Me Lies. If we have two people with requests and willingness to do something that's TE-related from other projects, then we will consider doing that as a pairing option as well. It depends on if we have two people who match up in that way, but you are allowed to give a Tom Ellis in another media project answer to that specific question as a prompt, yes***

*This is an all ship zone. The only exceptions are for ships that might be seen as promoting inappropriate adult/underage relationships or bestiality. Everything else goes. If you don't like it, don't request it or add comments to it when works are revealed.

*The sign up list will ask everyone what their squicks/triggers are. If you have them, please list them. This helps us to appropriately make sure you're paired doing work for someone who matches you and also so you don't have to make something that makes you feel uncomfortable.

*The exchange has two hosts, myself (Legendarytobes) and Dtaina. You need to save our email when we reach out to you with assignments and be open with if stuff comes up. We don't mind, we just want to have enough time to let possible pinch hitters know.

*Similarly, please reach out to me or to Dtaina if you need more clarification of your giftee's prompts. We can always be intermediaries and ask the giftee for more specifications if that will help you create better as the Creator.

*Yes, if your giftee requests something with AU or crossovers you can do that. If they don't specifically request a crossover or AU michael idea, then you need to try and honor their prompt/request as closely as possible.

*Also, honor ratings requests of your giftee. If they want something to stay PG, then please do that. We will try as hosts to pair people who have similar heat level requests together as well.

*You will provide three prompts. The gifter who makes your gift only has to fulfill one of the three. They can do more but one out of the three prompts fulfilled is all that is required.

*Please feel free to spread this all over the internet and social media. We love to have new people participate too. Even if you've never made a fanwork, you can feel free to start now!

*In case you feel overwhelmed by being a new participant---and we love new people---but a story only has to be 500 words minimum and a vid only has to be 60 seconds and art only has to be one drawing/image. And, yes, we'll also take poems if that's your kind of fanwork.

*If you want to use AI to create images like from Bing AI Art, that is allowed. We do not want, however, fanfics created with ChatGPT at this time.

So, if you're on the fence about trying it, this is a great way to try creating in fandom too.

We really look forward to having old and new artists/writers/vidders joining us this year

Finally, please keep in mind:

*This is a very golden rule place. If you can't say something nice about a work, then just don't say anything and respect all types of Michael appreciation.

[dtaina]

Come join us!

[michaeldemiurgossociety]

Welcome to Secret Sword 2: Even Pointier!

Last year, MDAS hosted its first Holiday Exchange. This year, we're doing it again.

So, here are the dates first:

Sign ups - From November 12th - November 24th

Assignments sent out on November 26th

Assignments Due on January 6th

Works posted for all to enjoy in the collection on January 13th

Master reveal list on January 20, 2024

Second, this is the sign up link:

Please answer EVERY question. Do NOT skip questions in the form. Thank you!

Secret Sword 2: Even Pointier

Third, rules:

*This is a Michael-centric gift exchange, as a result this is going to have Michael as the primary character or focus in fic, art, videos...etc.

This is an all ship zone. The only exceptions are for ships that might be seen as promoting inappropriate adult/underage relationships or bestiality. Everything else goes. If you don't like it, don't request it or add comments to it when works are revealed.

*The sign up list will ask everyone what their squicks/triggers are. If you have them, please list them. This helps us to appropriately make sure you're paired doing work for someone who matches you and also so you don't have to make something that makes you feel uncomfortable.

*The exchange has two hosts, myself (Legendarytobes) and Dtaina. You need to save our email when we reach out to you with assignments and be open with if stuff comes up. We don't mind, we just want to have enough time to let possible pinch hitters know.

*This is a very golden rule place. If you can't say something nice about a work, then just don't say anything and respect all types of Michael appreciation.

*Yes, if your giftee requests something with AU or crossovers you can do that. If they don't specifically request a crossover or AU michael idea, then you need to try and honor their prompt/request as closely as possible.

*Also, honor ratings requests of your giftee. If they want something to stay PG, then please do that. We will try as hosts to pair people who have similar heat level requests together as well.

*finally, please feel free to spread this all over the internet and social media. We love to have new people participate too. Even if you've never made a fanwork, you can feel free to start now!

[dtaina]

Come join the festivities!

[michaeldemiurgossociety]

Welcome to the Secret Sword First Annual Holiday Exchange!

The first annual Secret Sword Holiday exchange is being hosted this year by the Michael Demiurgos Appreciation Society. It is where individuals can sign up to be a “secret santa” for another artist/author/vidder/fanwork creator within the fandom. More details provided below the cut

Keep reading

[mechanicalemotions]

I really like the idea of the Lucifer show, I like the actors, but god damn am I fed up with the heterosexual agenda of it.

They say Lucifer is canonically a bisexual character, cool. Makes sense, he's the devil. (Would make even more sense if he canonically f-ed more men to spite Christianity but that's a story for another time) Yet then they go on to only show one glimpse of a man in Lucifer's bed, show one male character he's slept with, and he doesn't even kiss a man on screen once. (I'm not counting Pierce because that was pretend. It wasn't a real 'I'm attracted to you so I'm gonna kiss you' thing.)

Then they proceed to have him drool over the most whitebread cop lady ever, (I love you Lauren German, but Chloe is so boring) and have him COMPLETELY infatuated with her to a point where it takes over his entire life and being.

Slow it down there sailor. Wasn't Lucifer introduced as a bisexual polyamorous and promiscuous character? But he falls for this random ass white lady because?? Oh right! Because she was literally put on earth to screw with Lucifer. YIKES.

So. Takes this detective 3 whole seasons to find out this guy is actually the devil. I mean humm... Isnt she supposed to be a detective?? I get that it's a lot to take in but, there's been plenty of proof before the 'big reveal'. And then what does she do?

SHE TRIES TO KILL HIM. Okay uh. Holy fuck?? This was the point where I became so fucking fed up with this stupid ass ship that I just... Ugh. I would NEVER and I repeat NEVER forgive someone for trying to kill me over something I have no control over. Like hey, yeah he's the devil, but you've gotten to know him and uhh, he ain't bad hunny. That's like someone trying to kill me because I'm gay? Or because I'm a pagan? Because? You believe stereotypes apparently?

YIKES.

I just can't believe the devil, THE ACTUAL DEVIL. Who has existed for thousands of years would fall in love with the most boring detective lady ever.

And if y'all think I'm complaining only because its hetero, I would have loved to see him with Mazikeen, like he was in the comics. BUT I still would have wanted him to be more obvious about his attraction to men.

If you weren't gonna put in representation, then don't hype up the fact that he's bisexual?? And don't even get me started on the double standard of femxfem relationships and malexmale in the show.

YIIIIKES.

I love the character Lucifer Morningstar on his own. But the way they put this forced het ship in our faces and expected us to all love it. Uhm, no thank you.

I loved Chloe and Lucifer's friendship dynamic, but the relationship part just makes me go 🙄🙄🙄 and don't even get me started on (spoiler alert!!!) MORE HETEROSEXUAL SEX SCENESS!!! WOOOHH!! Did I also mention ZERO GAY SEX SCENESSS....... Yeah. Double standards.

Think about that for a minute.

[dtaina]

There have been multiple instances in the show of same-sex kisses, and they’ve talked openly about Lucifer’s bisexuality on multiple occasions.  They even showed him in bed with a man and a woman once.  And Eve/Mazikeen has been a thing for 1.5 seasons, but you seemed to have left that one out. 

If Chloe Decker had been a man, Lucifer would’ve fallen for him, but she just so happened to be a woman.  She’s the only one on Earth who sees him for what he truly is, and that’s what makes her so special.  It’s not because she’s a “random ass white lady,” WTF.  Why’d you have to bring race into it? 

And Chloe NEVER tried to kill Lucifer.  She was under the impression that she was sedating the Devil so that Father Kinley would send him back to Hell.  Kinley was the one who told Lucifer that it was poison.  Everyone’s always so quick to judge Chloe while giving Father Kinley a pass.  She messed up, yeah, but Father Kinley was  holding the reins. 

Maybe take a step back and see the show for what it really is: a story about redeeming the Devil.  Maybe stop trying to read so-called ‘agendas’ into it that just aren’t there.  

P.S. Lucifer is around 13.8 billion years old, not thousands.  He’s been around since the beginning of time.  

[mechanicalemotions]

Take a step back? Excuse me honeyy.

There is little to NO malexmale representation on Lucifer. And you CANNOT tell me the 0.005 seconds we saw a man in his bed compensates for the 50+ making out scenes he has with random ass female characters.

Chloe is incredibly boring, and it makes 0 sense for THE DEVIL. Who has been around since FOREVER to fall in love with her bland ass when she's only gonna die in what would be the blink of an eye for Lucifer.

Don't even get me started on Maze x Eve, that's some toxic bullshit. Eve spent a whole season tossing Maze aside to look for Lucifer's approval, Maze deserves better than to be treated as second best every single time.

Sit your ass down miss thing. You are NOT here telling a gay man what is and isn't representation for ME.

Smfh.

[dtaina]

Did you forget that Lucifer kissed Cain?  It’s in Season 3, episode ‘Till Death Do Us Part’.  They literally did a whole episode with those two pretending to be husbands and it was the most normal thing in the world.  There was that other episode, ‘Stewardess Interruptus’ in Season 2 where they show that he’s had multiple male partners.  There was also the time he told Reese Getty that he wouldn’t sleep with him not because he was a man, but because he just wasn’t his type (Season 3, Off The Record).  

Eve clearly has issues dating way back to Adam and she transferred those issues to Lucifer.  Clearly she had a lot of soul-searching to do, which is why she left.  We’ll see what happens with those two in Season 5B. 

As to this whole ‘Chloe is boring’ thing, that’s subjective.  I don’t think she’s boring.  She’s a dedicated mother, an awesome detective, and really fun when she lets loose.  She also kicks ass on a regular basis.  How is that boring?  

Anyway, we’ve seen what Lucifer’s like in a committed relationship with a wild party girl, Eve.  She brought out the worst traits in him and he didn’t like who he was.  Chloe, on the other hand, always brings out the best in him.  We’ve seen throughout the show how well they complement each other.  Maybe check out ‘Chloe Does Lucifer’ in Season 3, which is another episode that deals with the exciting/boring thing.  

I am bisexual, by the way, and I think you’re reading way too much into things.  Or maybe you’re just not as familiar with the show as I am.  So, take a step back, calm down, and enjoy the show for what it is.  Check out the episodes I listed for examples of gays and lesbians in the show.  But if you were watching Lucifer expecting to see him in a committed relationship with a man, you’re simply watching the wrong show.  

Anyway, I love discussing the show so I’ll be right here if you’d like to talk.  

[mechanicalemotions]

I really like the idea of the Lucifer show, I like the actors, but god damn am I fed up with the heterosexual agenda of it.

They say Lucifer is canonically a bisexual character, cool. Makes sense, he's the devil. (Would make even more sense if he canonically f-ed more men to spite Christianity but that's a story for another time) Yet then they go on to only show one glimpse of a man in Lucifer's bed, show one male character he's slept with, and he doesn't even kiss a man on screen once. (I'm not counting Pierce because that was pretend. It wasn't a real 'I'm attracted to you so I'm gonna kiss you' thing.)

Then they proceed to have him drool over the most whitebread cop lady ever, (I love you Lauren German, but Chloe is so boring) and have him COMPLETELY infatuated with her to a point where it takes over his entire life and being.

Slow it down there sailor. Wasn't Lucifer introduced as a bisexual polyamorous and promiscuous character? But he falls for this random ass white lady because?? Oh right! Because she was literally put on earth to screw with Lucifer. YIKES.

So. Takes this detective 3 whole seasons to find out this guy is actually the devil. I mean humm... Isnt she supposed to be a detective?? I get that it's a lot to take in but, there's been plenty of proof before the 'big reveal'. And then what does she do?

SHE TRIES TO KILL HIM. Okay uh. Holy fuck?? This was the point where I became so fucking fed up with this stupid ass ship that I just... Ugh. I would NEVER and I repeat NEVER forgive someone for trying to kill me over something I have no control over. Like hey, yeah he's the devil, but you've gotten to know him and uhh, he ain't bad hunny. That's like someone trying to kill me because I'm gay? Or because I'm a pagan? Because? You believe stereotypes apparently?

YIKES.

I just can't believe the devil, THE ACTUAL DEVIL. Who has existed for thousands of years would fall in love with the most boring detective lady ever.

And if y'all think I'm complaining only because its hetero, I would have loved to see him with Mazikeen, like he was in the comics. BUT I still would have wanted him to be more obvious about his attraction to men.

If you weren't gonna put in representation, then don't hype up the fact that he's bisexual?? And don't even get me started on the double standard of femxfem relationships and malexmale in the show.

YIIIIKES.

I love the character Lucifer Morningstar on his own. But the way they put this forced het ship in our faces and expected us to all love it. Uhm, no thank you.

I loved Chloe and Lucifer's friendship dynamic, but the relationship part just makes me go 🙄🙄🙄 and don't even get me started on (spoiler alert!!!) MORE HETEROSEXUAL SEX SCENESS!!! WOOOHH!! Did I also mention ZERO GAY SEX SCENESSS....... Yeah. Double standards.

Think about that for a minute.

[dtaina]

There have been multiple instances in the show of same-sex kisses, and they’ve talked openly about Lucifer’s bisexuality on multiple occasions.  They even showed him in bed with a man and a woman once.  And Eve/Mazikeen has been a thing for 1.5 seasons, but you seemed to have left that one out. 

If Chloe Decker had been a man, Lucifer would’ve fallen for him, but she just so happened to be a woman.  She’s the only one on Earth who sees him for what he truly is, and that’s what makes her so special.  It’s not because she’s a “random ass white lady,” WTF.  Why’d you have to bring race into it? 

And Chloe NEVER tried to kill Lucifer.  She was under the impression that she was sedating the Devil so that Father Kinley would send him back to Hell.  Kinley was the one who told Lucifer that it was poison.  Everyone’s always so quick to judge Chloe while giving Father Kinley a pass.  She messed up, yeah, but Father Kinley was  holding the reins. 

Maybe take a step back and see the show for what it really is: a story about redeeming the Devil.  Maybe stop trying to read so-called ‘agendas’ into it that just aren’t there.  

P.S. Lucifer is around 13.8 billion years old, not thousands.  He’s been around since the beginning of time.  

[dtaina]

The best resource for Gargoyles screenshots on the World Wide Net.

Check out the brand-new Gargoyles Imagery Resource site!  I dragged the design kicking and screaming out of the 90′s and into the 21st century.  It was long overdue for an upgrade, too.  

[dtaina]

Screenshots archive

The Gargoyles Imagery Resource is back online!  It’ll stay up as long as I can afford it.  And I plan to give it a major makeover.  

[dtaina]

I might as well post this one, too!  This is Tamora in all her glory.  This took me an insanely long time to do.  

[dtaina]

A commission done for Greg Bishansky of Tamora being a mother figure to Zafira.  I love drawing Tamora’s dress. 

Tamora was created by Greg Bishansky and designed by Equigoyle.

Zafira was created by Chip Coffin and designed by Kordyne.  

[dtaina]

Samurai Jack

After all these years, we finally have a proper ending for Samurai Jack.  True, I’m disappointed that we didn’t get a rematch with the Guardian, that the time paradox wasn’t explained, that he didn’t get a proper reunion with his parents, and that the ending was so rushed.  But I loved hearing Mako again.  I loved seeing everyone come together to help Jack in his time of need.  And I loved Ashi’s entire arc and how she was the key to getting Jack to the past.  

It was a bittersweet ending, but it felt very satisfying.  Finally, his quest has come to an end.  

Thank you for being a part of my life all these years, Samurai Jack.  

[rise-fall-rage-and-repeat]

Gargoyles Fandom Rant

Honestly, I hate most of the Gargoyles fan base. There’s so much arguing about ‘Oh Goliath Chronicles was horrible and anyone who liked it has low standards’ or ‘season three isn’t cannon but the comics are’ or ‘Stop making OC’s for Brooklyn he has a cannon love interest’. First off, yes, season three, aka The Goliath Chronicles, was not the greatest season, that’s for sure. The writing was certainly sloppy when compared to the other two seasons, but the episodes themselves weren’t bad! It also wasn’t exactly the writers’ faults. Disney took away so much of the funding during season three, they saved most of the budget for the last episode (which we should all be GRATEFUL that the show ENDED and didn’t just stop airing), and Greg Weismann (whom I don’t consider a big part of the show. He only wrote Season 3 Episode 1 “The Journey” and the SLG comics. He wasn’t a big part in the rest of it but for some reason is considered the GOD of the Gargoyles universe) took a lot of that budget for the ONLY episode he wrote the story for. The art wasn’t as great for the rest of the episodes, yes, but again, saving the money for the last episode. And honestly if you look back at some of the previous, especially later season two, episodes, they weren’t all great animation either. “Hunter’s Moon Part 1” sticks out. The animations jumped around to different studios. Disney studios were MUCH better at animation than SunWoo studios (examples being Season 2 Episode 4 “Lighthouse in the Sea of Time” and the next episode “The Mirror” (one of my personal favorites)). Honestly just pick two random episodes and I can almost guarantee the animation will be different as long as they aren’t two episodes from season 1.

Back to Greg Weismann, as mentioned before, he wrote the 12 SLG comic issues. Now this is where I get really irritated. People complain about the poor quality of season 3’s drawings, but just look at the comics!!! The only one that looks ANYTHING like the show is issue 5 “Bash”. Yes, I own the comics, but they feel more supplementary to me. But I don’t go around bashing the people who feel the comics are cannon over the head with my keyboard, but that favor certainly isn’t returned!

Now Brooklyn. My favorite character, and really, one of the few Gargoyles that I actually think changed DYNAMICALLY over the course of the series, and let me tell you why. Each gargoyle was kind of given their own interest that they fell in love with in New York. For Goliath, the cheesy hunk, it was Elisa and spending time with her. For Broadway it was movies (namely old westerns as shown in Season 1 Episode 8 “Deadly Force”) and later on wanting to BE IN movies. Lexington became the tech wiz of the clan, and Hudson fell in love with reality TV. But Brooklyn? Sure, he had a little fascination with motorcycles (Season 1 Episode 7 “Temptation” one of my other all time favorite episodes), but that was short lived as were the sunglasses (Season 1 Episode 5 “Awakening Part 5”). No, his focus was protecting those he cared for. He was shown to be EXTREMELY intelligent, perhaps even more so than Elisa, but he had his short comings, especially when it came to Demona. He was so angry with himself for letting her trick him (“Temptation”) that he let his emotions run his actions whenever she was around, justifiably so, and that’s something he WORKS on through the series. Lexingon has a similar issue with The Pack, and it took Brooklyn almost DYING to snap him out of his revenge induced haze. No, Brooklyn was not fuled by revenge. Lex was. So was Goliath several times through the series, something Goliath DOENST work on. But what irritated me was how ‘love-sick’ they made Brooklyn for Angela in season three. Sure, he was hurt when she chose Broadway over him, understandable, but then the writers CONSTANTLY went back to it and it got old. So what was Greg’s solution for this? Why let’s trap Brooklyn AWAY from his clan, bouncing around the time stream, eventually finding a mate and having kids! What?

Okay, I wouldn’t have had an issue with the time travel thing if it hadn’t pretty much been a rouse to get Brooklyn a mate. I would have been fine with Brooklyn finding a mate, but not out of the necessity it seemed Greg wanted to push behind it.

In my opinion, the comics were confusing, disjointed, and too set on continuing for a long time to get any semblance of an understandable story started as a foundation. The first episode of Season 3 was rewritten, WORD FOR WORD as the first two comics, then we had a Halloween party (insert MORE love-sick, pouty, woah-is-me, OUT OF CHARACTER Brooklyn) where the clones showed up (characters I always thought deserved more development, but not in the way they did it). The clones were brought into play when Elisa wasn’t sure about her relationship with Goliath, so Goliath felt the need to have a date to Xanatose’s party??? WHAT??? When was the relationship aspect of this show the forefront of its plots? None of this would have happened if Goliath had given Elisa the space she needed to think things over. Sure she was a little harsh, but he couldn’t really blame her for being a little bit skeptical of a long term relationship.

Then they tried to start something with Aurther Pendragon and Macbeth teaming up (which actually would have been kinda cool) and Demona found a gem in there somewhere and the London clan EXPLODED in size??? There were so many holes left open, and Greg put too much faith into the comics IMMEDIATELY taking off that the stories made no sense, and THAT was the major downfall.

Okay, now Brooklyn OC’s. Who cares?! You don’t like that someone wrote a story with their own character in a relationship with Brooklyn? Don’t read the story??? Why is it so hard for so many people in so many fandoms to realize that they don’t have to read a story they don’t like the pairing of??? And why are OC’s looked so down upon? Again, don’t like, DONT LOOK! No one is forcing you to enjoy OC’s, but leave those alone who choose to create them for their favorite characters.

Yes, personally I have an OC with Brooklyn. He’s an adorable, beaked, second-in-command dork, and he was my first crush as a kid (along with Leonardo from TMNT). Does that mean I’m destroying the integrity of the whole show? Is the whole fandom, maybe even the whole world, going to collapse because I don’t consider the comics cannon and therefore created an OC for Brooklyn?! Oh, my goodness, no! It won’t! It has no impact! The stories that I write for Brooklyn and my OC, I don’t publish online. It has nothing to do with me being ashamed, I just put a lot of personal things in those stories that I don’t want the whole internet to know. But if I did? BIG WOOP! I’m not forcing you to read it, and neither is anyone else who writes Brooklyn/OC fan fiction. You don’t have to like it, but don’t spread hate about it! The real world has enough as it is and not to mention, for a show that strived at its core to express what happens when anger and hatred fuel people’s actions, the fandom sure seems to harbor a lot of hate…

Another thing that spews a lot of hate is Lexington’s sexuality… Oooh man I’m about to open the flood-gates with this one! Greg says Lex is cannonically gay… Sorry to burst your guys’ bubbles, but I don’t believe that’s true. I could see him being bisexual, but not gay. Here’s why. In Season 2 Episode 47 “Turf” the clan’s trio all fight to gain the attention of the new arrival Angela. THIS INCLUDES LEX AND THIS EPISODE IS ALSO ACROSS THE BOARD CONSIDERED CANNON. Lex even looks after and ogles a group of female Gargoyles in season 2 Episode 5 “The Mirror”, another episode that’s considered cannon across the board. But if you do believe Lex is gay, okay, cool. That’s your opinion. As I’ve said before, it’s not going to destroy the world if people have different opinions on the sexuality of a character. It wouldn’t surprise me if people started typing out their angry comments the moment I said I didn’t think Lex was gay. The fact that people get so angry over a FICTIONAL CHARACTER’S sexuality is amazing to me. There are REAL problems in the world, and people decide to destroy others online because we have differing opinions on a, once again, FICTIONAL CHARACTER’S sexuality. Grow up people, come on.

No, I am never going to stop liking this show. This show was my childhood, I got up early to watch reruns of episodes on ToonDisney (back when that existed). It’s what got me through a lot of tough times and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But the fandom needs to get itself together. I’m so tired of being afraid to put my opinions out in the Gargoyles fandom, because most of my opinions are not the ‘popular’ ones. And I can’t be the only one. I know a lot of people, especially on Tumblr, that love the show, but don’t interact in the fandom because there’s so much anger and hatred. Just love the show you love and get over petty opinion disagreements. Can we just share a common interest and enjoy the company of other people who enjoy the same things? Please?

[dtaina]

Hi there.  I’m D. Taína, and I have a few things to say in regards to your post.  I will try to get to each of your points in the order you presented them…

1. I’ve been in the fandom since late 1997 and while I grant that most of us hate TGC, I’ve never encountered anyone belittling a fan for having an OC.  In fact, I’ve lost track of how many OCs have been created for each of the main characters.  

2. The Goliath Chronicles is not canon for the simple reason that Greg Weisman was not involved in it.  He was the CREATOR OF THE SHOW, involved in every aspect of it from Awakening: Part I up to Hunter’s Moon: Part III, and the sole writer of the SLG comics.  He was a HUGE, HUGE part of the show.  Anything he says, goes.  In fact, other people who worked on the show, like Frank Paur and Michael Reaves, all agree that the show is Greg Weisman’s baby.

3. There is no evidence that most of the TGC budget went to Angels in the Night.  The animation was poor because they switched animation studios to Nelvana Limited.  The only exceptions are Seeing Isn’t Believing (which was animated in Australia) and Angels in the Night (which was animated in Japan).  The writing was poor because the new writing team had no time to familiarize themselves with the characters and, of course, they didn’t have Greg Weisman.  

4. The animation was inconsistent in season two because they had to do fifty-two episodes in one year instead of thirteen.  Taking that into consideration, I’d say they did a great job.  

5. Hunter’s Moon: Part I was animated by Animal-Ya, which also did Thrill of the Hunt, Deadly Force, Double Jeopardy, Golem and Ill Met By Moonlight.  Just because the animation was different from Hunter’s Moon part two and three doesn’t mean it wasn’t any good.  

6. I’ve never met anyone who hated TGC because of the poor animation.  Wouldn’t that mean that we’d have to hate episodes like Enter Macbeth, Metamorphosis, The Cage, Monsters…

7. The comics are the official continuation of the show, written by the creator of the show.  They were officially licensed and endorsed by Disney.   They are as much a part of the show as the first two seasons.  

8. Every single character had character development throughout the episodes, not just Brooklyn.  

9. TimeDancer wasn’t just used as a “ruse to get Brooklyn a mate.”  It was also about exploring Demona’s past, Mary and Finella, Duval, etc.  There would’ve been a lot more to it if the license hadn’t been cancelled.  

10. “The Journey” was always Greg Weisman’s story, and he used it to introduce a new audience to the comics, with more name-dropping, a corrected ending, and some deleted scenes.  

11. Brooklyn was depressed mostly because he was feeling out of place in the world, and not just because he was “love-sick.”  

12. Goliath unhappily agreed to a date because Elisa asked him to, but his heart wasn’t in it.  

14. The London Clan was always that size.  We just saw three members that worked at the shop during “M.I.A.”  How is this a plothole?  

15. Again, I’ve never met anyone who actively hated OCs.  I’ve met a lot of people who hate Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters, but we usually avoid those kinds of fanfics.  Does your character qualify as a Mary Sue?

16. Lexington is gay.  If Greg Weisman says Lexington is gay, then he is gay.  Just because he hadn’t figured out his sexuality at the time of Turf doesn’t mean he’s not gay.  In fact, right after he says, “I can’t help if you guys can’t keep up with Angie and me!” you can see that he actually stops to think about that.  He never goes after Angela again after that.  I can tell you from personal experience that people who are gay don’t always realize it when they’re young. Lots of gay people date people of the opposite sex before they realize their own orientation.

17. No one is stopping you from having opinions, but you also need to realize that other fans may disagree with you.  That’s what it’s all about: having healthy discussions with other fans, even if we disagree with what they’re saying.  I’ve been in the fandom for twenty years and I’ve always felt welcome among the other fans.  

[btmotley]

DT, your response here is nothing short of amazing. Beautiful job.

OP…I’ll be honest, I actually agree with you somewhat about TGC. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. But I know it’s silly and not good and bad and other things. There’s…no possible way that it’s canon.

DT’s response on Lex will have to stand.

[dtaina]

Thank you!!  I tried to reply to each point as respectfully as possible. 

As long as we’re discussing TGC, I will admit that Genesis Undone is a guilty pleasure of mine, but only because of Thailog.  Don’t judge me!  

[rise-fall-rage-and-repeat]

@dtaina Thanks again for the honest feed back. I’m really glad someone could help me with the information I had wrong. And honestly I wrote this at like three in the morning after and argument with my family so I was perhaps more harsh than I had intended.

[dtaina]

You’re welcome.  I love talking to other fans and answering their questions.  You did sound harsh in your original post, but no hard feelings.  

[rise-fall-rage-and-repeat]

Gargoyles Fandom Rant

Honestly, I hate most of the Gargoyles fan base. There’s so much arguing about ‘Oh Goliath Chronicles was horrible and anyone who liked it has low standards’ or ‘season three isn’t cannon but the comics are’ or ‘Stop making OC’s for Brooklyn he has a cannon love interest’. First off, yes, season three, aka The Goliath Chronicles, was not the greatest season, that’s for sure. The writing was certainly sloppy when compared to the other two seasons, but the episodes themselves weren’t bad! It also wasn’t exactly the writers’ faults. Disney took away so much of the funding during season three, they saved most of the budget for the last episode (which we should all be GRATEFUL that the show ENDED and didn’t just stop airing), and Greg Weismann (whom I don’t consider a big part of the show. He only wrote Season 3 Episode 1 “The Journey” and the SLG comics. He wasn’t a big part in the rest of it but for some reason is considered the GOD of the Gargoyles universe) took a lot of that budget for the ONLY episode he wrote the story for. The art wasn’t as great for the rest of the episodes, yes, but again, saving the money for the last episode. And honestly if you look back at some of the previous, especially later season two, episodes, they weren’t all great animation either. “Hunter’s Moon Part 1” sticks out. The animations jumped around to different studios. Disney studios were MUCH better at animation than SunWoo studios (examples being Season 2 Episode 4 “Lighthouse in the Sea of Time” and the next episode “The Mirror” (one of my personal favorites)). Honestly just pick two random episodes and I can almost guarantee the animation will be different as long as they aren’t two episodes from season 1.

Back to Greg Weismann, as mentioned before, he wrote the 12 SLG comic issues. Now this is where I get really irritated. People complain about the poor quality of season 3’s drawings, but just look at the comics!!! The only one that looks ANYTHING like the show is issue 5 “Bash”. Yes, I own the comics, but they feel more supplementary to me. But I don’t go around bashing the people who feel the comics are cannon over the head with my keyboard, but that favor certainly isn’t returned!

Now Brooklyn. My favorite character, and really, one of the few Gargoyles that I actually think changed DYNAMICALLY over the course of the series, and let me tell you why. Each gargoyle was kind of given their own interest that they fell in love with in New York. For Goliath, the cheesy hunk, it was Elisa and spending time with her. For Broadway it was movies (namely old westerns as shown in Season 1 Episode 8 “Deadly Force”) and later on wanting to BE IN movies. Lexington became the tech wiz of the clan, and Hudson fell in love with reality TV. But Brooklyn? Sure, he had a little fascination with motorcycles (Season 1 Episode 7 “Temptation” one of my other all time favorite episodes), but that was short lived as were the sunglasses (Season 1 Episode 5 “Awakening Part 5”). No, his focus was protecting those he cared for. He was shown to be EXTREMELY intelligent, perhaps even more so than Elisa, but he had his short comings, especially when it came to Demona. He was so angry with himself for letting her trick him (“Temptation”) that he let his emotions run his actions whenever she was around, justifiably so, and that’s something he WORKS on through the series. Lexingon has a similar issue with The Pack, and it took Brooklyn almost DYING to snap him out of his revenge induced haze. No, Brooklyn was not fuled by revenge. Lex was. So was Goliath several times through the series, something Goliath DOENST work on. But what irritated me was how 'love-sick’ they made Brooklyn for Angela in season three. Sure, he was hurt when she chose Broadway over him, understandable, but then the writers CONSTANTLY went back to it and it got old. So what was Greg’s solution for this? Why let’s trap Brooklyn AWAY from his clan, bouncing around the time stream, eventually finding a mate and having kids! What?

Okay, I wouldn’t have had an issue with the time travel thing if it hadn’t pretty much been a rouse to get Brooklyn a mate. I would have been fine with Brooklyn finding a mate, but not out of the necessity it seemed Greg wanted to push behind it.

In my opinion, the comics were confusing, disjointed, and too set on continuing for a long time to get any semblance of an understandable story started as a foundation. The first episode of Season 3 was rewritten, WORD FOR WORD as the first two comics, then we had a Halloween party (insert MORE love-sick, pouty, woah-is-me, OUT OF CHARACTER Brooklyn) where the clones showed up (characters I always thought deserved more development, but not in the way they did it). The clones were brought into play when Elisa wasn’t sure about her relationship with Goliath, so Goliath felt the need to have a date to Xanatose’s party??? WHAT??? When was the relationship aspect of this show the forefront of its plots? None of this would have happened if Goliath had given Elisa the space she needed to think things over. Sure she was a little harsh, but he couldn’t really blame her for being a little bit skeptical of a long term relationship.

Then they tried to start something with Aurther Pendragon and Macbeth teaming up (which actually would have been kinda cool) and Demona found a gem in there somewhere and the London clan EXPLODED in size??? There were so many holes left open, and Greg put too much faith into the comics IMMEDIATELY taking off that the stories made no sense, and THAT was the major downfall.

Okay, now Brooklyn OC’s. Who cares?! You don’t like that someone wrote a story with their own character in a relationship with Brooklyn? Don’t read the story??? Why is it so hard for so many people in so many fandoms to realize that they don’t have to read a story they don’t like the pairing of??? And why are OC’s looked so down upon? Again, don’t like, DONT LOOK! No one is forcing you to enjoy OC’s, but leave those alone who choose to create them for their favorite characters.

Yes, personally I have an OC with Brooklyn. He’s an adorable, beaked, second-in-command dork, and he was my first crush as a kid (along with Leonardo from TMNT). Does that mean I’m destroying the integrity of the whole show? Is the whole fandom, maybe even the whole world, going to collapse because I don’t consider the comics cannon and therefore created an OC for Brooklyn?! Oh, my goodness, no! It won’t! It has no impact! The stories that I write for Brooklyn and my OC, I don’t publish online. It has nothing to do with me being ashamed, I just put a lot of personal things in those stories that I don’t want the whole internet to know. But if I did? BIG WOOP! I’m not forcing you to read it, and neither is anyone else who writes Brooklyn/OC fan fiction. You don’t have to like it, but don’t spread hate about it! The real world has enough as it is and not to mention, for a show that strived at its core to express what happens when anger and hatred fuel people’s actions, the fandom sure seems to harbor a lot of hate…

Another thing that spews a lot of hate is Lexington’s sexuality… Oooh man I’m about to open the flood-gates with this one! Greg says Lex is cannonically gay… Sorry to burst your guys’ bubbles, but I don’t believe that’s true. I could see him being bisexual, but not gay. Here’s why. In Season 2 Episode 47 “Turf” the clan’s trio all fight to gain the attention of the new arrival Angela. THIS INCLUDES LEX AND THIS EPISODE IS ALSO ACROSS THE BOARD CONSIDERED CANNON. Lex even looks after and ogles a group of female Gargoyles in season 2 Episode 5 “The Mirror”, another episode that’s considered cannon across the board. But if you do believe Lex is gay, okay, cool. That’s your opinion. As I’ve said before, it’s not going to destroy the world if people have different opinions on the sexuality of a character. It wouldn’t surprise me if people started typing out their angry comments the moment I said I didn’t think Lex was gay. The fact that people get so angry over a FICTIONAL CHARACTER’S sexuality is amazing to me. There are REAL problems in the world, and people decide to destroy others online because we have differing opinions on a, once again, FICTIONAL CHARACTER’S sexuality. Grow up people, come on.

No, I am never going to stop liking this show. This show was my childhood, I got up early to watch reruns of episodes on ToonDisney (back when that existed). It’s what got me through a lot of tough times and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But the fandom needs to get itself together. I’m so tired of being afraid to put my opinions out in the Gargoyles fandom, because most of my opinions are not the ‘popular’ ones. And I can’t be the only one. I know a lot of people, especially on Tumblr, that love the show, but don’t interact in the fandom because there’s so much anger and hatred. Just love the show you love and get over petty opinion disagreements. Can we just share a common interest and enjoy the company of other people who enjoy the same things? Please?

[dtaina]

Hi there.  I’m D. Taína, and I have a few things to say in regards to your post.  I will try to get to each of your points in the order you presented them…

1. I’ve been in the fandom since late 1997 and while I grant that most of us hate TGC, I’ve never encountered anyone belittling a fan for having an OC.  In fact, I’ve lost track of how many OCs have been created for each of the main characters.  

2. The Goliath Chronicles is not canon for the simple reason that Greg Weisman was not involved in it.  He was the CREATOR OF THE SHOW, involved in every aspect of it from Awakening: Part I up to Hunter’s Moon: Part III, and the sole writer of the SLG comics.  He was a HUGE, HUGE part of the show.  Anything he says, goes.  In fact, other people who worked on the show, like Frank Paur and Michael Reaves, all agree that the show is Greg Weisman’s baby.

3. There is no evidence that most of the TGC budget went to Angels in the Night.  The animation was poor because they switched animation studios to Nelvana Limited.  The only exceptions are Seeing Isn’t Believing (which was animated in Australia) and Angels in the Night (which was animated in Japan).  The writing was poor because the new writing team had no time to familiarize themselves with the characters and, of course, they didn’t have Greg Weisman.  

4. The animation was inconsistent in season two because they had to do fifty-two episodes in one year instead of thirteen.  Taking that into consideration, I’d say they did a great job.  

5. Hunter’s Moon: Part I was animated by Animal-Ya, which also did Thrill of the Hunt, Deadly Force, Double Jeopardy, Golem and Ill Met By Moonlight.  Just because the animation was different from Hunter’s Moon part two and three doesn’t mean it wasn’t any good.  

6. I’ve never met anyone who hated TGC because of the poor animation.  Wouldn’t that mean that we’d have to hate episodes like Enter Macbeth, Metamorphosis, The Cage, Monsters…

7. The comics are the official continuation of the show, written by the creator of the show.  They were officially licensed and endorsed by Disney.   They are as much a part of the show as the first two seasons.  

8. Every single character had character development throughout the episodes, not just Brooklyn.  

9. TimeDancer wasn’t just used as a “ruse to get Brooklyn a mate.”  It was also about exploring Demona’s past, Mary and Finella, Duval, etc.  There would’ve been a lot more to it if the license hadn’t been cancelled.  

10. “The Journey” was always Greg Weisman’s story, and he used it to introduce a new audience to the comics, with more name-dropping, a corrected ending, and some deleted scenes.  

11. Brooklyn was depressed mostly because he was feeling out of place in the world, and not just because he was “love-sick.”  

12. Goliath unhappily agreed to a date because Elisa asked him to, but his heart wasn’t in it.  

14. The London Clan was always that size.  We just saw three members that worked at the shop during “M.I.A.”  How is this a plothole?  

15. Again, I’ve never met anyone who actively hated OCs.  I’ve met a lot of people who hate Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters, but we usually avoid those kinds of fanfics.  Does your character qualify as a Mary Sue?

16. Lexington is gay.  If Greg Weisman says Lexington is gay, then he is gay.  Just because he hadn’t figured out his sexuality at the time of Turf doesn’t mean he’s not gay.  In fact, right after he says, “I can’t help if you guys can’t keep up with Angie and me!” you can see that he actually stops to think about that.  He never goes after Angela again after that.  I can tell you from personal experience that people who are gay don’t always realize it when they’re young. Lots of gay people date people of the opposite sex before they realize their own orientation.

17. No one is stopping you from having opinions, but you also need to realize that other fans may disagree with you.  That’s what it’s all about: having healthy discussions with other fans, even if we disagree with what they’re saying.  I’ve been in the fandom for twenty years and I’ve always felt welcome among the other fans.  

[btmotley]

DT, your response here is nothing short of amazing. Beautiful job.

OP…I’ll be honest, I actually agree with you somewhat about TGC. It’s a guilty pleasure of mine. But I know it’s silly and not good and bad and other things. There’s…no possible way that it’s canon.

DT’s response on Lex will have to stand.

[dtaina]

Thank you!!  I tried to reply to each point as respectfully as possible. 

As long as we’re discussing TGC, I will admit that Genesis Undone is a guilty pleasure of mine, but only because of Thailog.  Don’t judge me!  

[rise-fall-rage-and-repeat]

Gargoyles Fandom Rant

Honestly, I hate most of the Gargoyles fan base. There’s so much arguing about ‘Oh Goliath Chronicles was horrible and anyone who liked it has low standards’ or 'season three isn’t cannon but the comics are’ or 'Stop making OC’s for Brooklyn he has a cannon love interest’. First off, yes, season three, aka The Goliath Chronicles, was not the greatest season, that’s for sure. The writing was certainly sloppy when compared to the other two seasons, but the episodes themselves weren’t bad! It also wasn’t exactly the writers’ faults. Disney took away so much of the funding during season three, they saved most of the budget for the last episode (which we should all be GRATEFUL that the show ENDED and didn’t just stop airing), and Greg Weismann (whom I don’t consider a big part of the show. He only wrote Season 3 Episode 1 “The Journey” and the SLG comics. He wasn’t a big part in the rest of it but for some reason is considered the GOD of the Gargoyles universe) took a lot of that budget for the ONLY episode he wrote the story for. The art wasn’t as great for the rest of the episodes, yes, but again, saving the money for the last episode. And honestly if you look back at some of the previous, especially later season two, episodes, they weren’t all great animation either. “Hunter’s Moon Part 1” sticks out. The animations jumped around to different studios. Disney studios were MUCH better at animation than SunWoo studios (examples being Season 2 Episode 4 “Lighthouse in the Sea of Time” and the next episode “The Mirror” (one of my personal favorites)). Honestly just pick two random episodes and I can almost guarantee the animation will be different as long as they aren’t two episodes from season 1.

Back to Greg Weismann, as mentioned before, he wrote the 12 SLG comic issues. Now this is where I get really irritated. People complain about the poor quality of season 3’s drawings, but just look at the comics!!! The only one that looks ANYTHING like the show is issue 5 “Bash”. Yes, I own the comics, but they feel more supplementary to me. But I don’t go around bashing the people who feel the comics are cannon over the head with my keyboard, but that favor certainly isn’t returned!

Now Brooklyn. My favorite character, and really, one of the few Gargoyles that I actually think changed DYNAMICALLY over the course of the series, and let me tell you why. Each gargoyle was kind of given their own interest that they fell in love with in New York. For Goliath, the cheesy hunk, it was Elisa and spending time with her. For Broadway it was movies (namely old westerns as shown in Season 1 Episode 8 “Deadly Force”) and later on wanting to BE IN movies. Lexington became the tech wiz of the clan, and Hudson fell in love with reality TV. But Brooklyn? Sure, he had a little fascination with motorcycles (Season 1 Episode 7 “Temptation” one of my other all time favorite episodes), but that was short lived as were the sunglasses (Season 1 Episode 5 “Awakening Part 5”). No, his focus was protecting those he cared for. He was shown to be EXTREMELY intelligent, perhaps even more so than Elisa, but he had his short comings, especially when it came to Demona. He was so angry with himself for letting her trick him (“Temptation”) that he let his emotions run his actions whenever she was around, justifiably so, and that’s something he WORKS on through the series. Lexingon has a similar issue with The Pack, and it took Brooklyn almost DYING to snap him out of his revenge induced haze. No, Brooklyn was not fuled by revenge. Lex was. So was Goliath several times through the series, something Goliath DOENST work on. But what irritated me was how 'love-sick’ they made Brooklyn for Angela in season three. Sure, he was hurt when she chose Broadway over him, understandable, but then the writers CONSTANTLY went back to it and it got old. So what was Greg’s solution for this? Why let’s trap Brooklyn AWAY from his clan, bouncing around the time stream, eventually finding a mate and having kids! What?

Okay, I wouldn’t have had an issue with the time travel thing if it hadn’t pretty much been a rouse to get Brooklyn a mate. I would have been fine with Brooklyn finding a mate, but not out of the necessity it seemed Greg wanted to push behind it.

In my opinion, the comics were confusing, disjointed, and too set on continuing for a long time to get any semblance of an understandable story started as a foundation. The first episode of Season 3 was rewritten, WORD FOR WORD as the first two comics, then we had a Halloween party (insert MORE love-sick, pouty, woah-is-me, OUT OF CHARACTER Brooklyn) where the clones showed up (characters I always thought deserved more development, but not in the way they did it). The clones were brought into play when Elisa wasn’t sure about her relationship with Goliath, so Goliath felt the need to have a date to Xanatose’s party??? WHAT??? When was the relationship aspect of this show the forefront of its plots? None of this would have happened if Goliath had given Elisa the space she needed to think things over. Sure she was a little harsh, but he couldn’t really blame her for being a little bit skeptical of a long term relationship.

Then they tried to start something with Aurther Pendragon and Macbeth teaming up (which actually would have been kinda cool) and Demona found a gem in there somewhere and the London clan EXPLODED in size??? There were so many holes left open, and Greg put too much faith into the comics IMMEDIATELY taking off that the stories made no sense, and THAT was the major downfall.

Okay, now Brooklyn OC’s. Who cares?! You don’t like that someone wrote a story with their own character in a relationship with Brooklyn? Don’t read the story??? Why is it so hard for so many people in so many fandoms to realize that they don’t have to read a story they don’t like the pairing of??? And why are OC’s looked so down upon? Again, don’t like, DONT LOOK! No one is forcing you to enjoy OC’s, but leave those alone who choose to create them for their favorite characters.

Yes, personally I have an OC with Brooklyn. He’s an adorable, beaked, second-in-command dork, and he was my first crush as a kid (along with Leonardo from TMNT). Does that mean I’m destroying the integrity of the whole show? Is the whole fandom, maybe even the whole world, going to collapse because I don’t consider the comics cannon and therefore created an OC for Brooklyn?! Oh, my goodness, no! It won’t! It has no impact! The stories that I write for Brooklyn and my OC, I don’t publish online. It has nothing to do with me being ashamed, I just put a lot of personal things in those stories that I don’t want the whole internet to know. But if I did? BIG WOOP! I’m not forcing you to read it, and neither is anyone else who writes Brooklyn/OC fan fiction. You don’t have to like it, but don’t spread hate about it! The real world has enough as it is and not to mention, for a show that strived at its core to express what happens when anger and hatred fuel people’s actions, the fandom sure seems to harbor a lot of hate…

Another thing that spews a lot of hate is Lexington’s sexuality… Oooh man I’m about to open the flood-gates with this one! Greg says Lex is cannonically gay… Sorry to burst your guys’ bubbles, but I don’t believe that’s true. I could see him being bisexual, but not gay. Here’s why. In Season 2 Episode 47 “Turf” the clan’s trio all fight to gain the attention of the new arrival Angela. THIS INCLUDES LEX AND THIS EPISODE IS ALSO ACROSS THE BOARD CONSIDERED CANNON. Lex even looks after and ogles a group of female Gargoyles in season 2 Episode 5 “The Mirror”, another episode that’s considered cannon across the board. But if you do believe Lex is gay, okay, cool. That’s your opinion. As I’ve said before, it’s not going to destroy the world if people have different opinions on the sexuality of a character. It wouldn’t surprise me if people started typing out their angry comments the moment I said I didn’t think Lex was gay. The fact that people get so angry over a FICTIONAL CHARACTER’S sexuality is amazing to me. There are REAL problems in the world, and people decide to destroy others online because we have differing opinions on a, once again, FICTIONAL CHARACTER’S sexuality. Grow up people, come on.

No, I am never going to stop liking this show. This show was my childhood, I got up early to watch reruns of episodes on ToonDisney (back when that existed). It’s what got me through a lot of tough times and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. But the fandom needs to get itself together. I’m so tired of being afraid to put my opinions out in the Gargoyles fandom, because most of my opinions are not the ‘popular’ ones. And I can’t be the only one. I know a lot of people, especially on Tumblr, that love the show, but don’t interact in the fandom because there’s so much anger and hatred. Just love the show you love and get over petty opinion disagreements. Can we just share a common interest and enjoy the company of other people who enjoy the same things? Please?

[dtaina]

Hi there.  I'm D. Taína, and I have a few things to say in regards to your post.  I will try to get to each of your points in the order you presented them...

1. I've been in the fandom since late 1997 and while I grant that most of us hate TGC, I've never encountered anyone belittling a fan for having an OC.  In fact, I've lost track of how many OCs have been created for each of the main characters.  

2. The Goliath Chronicles is not canon for the simple reason that Greg Weisman was not involved in it.  He was the CREATOR OF THE SHOW, involved in every aspect of it from Awakening: Part I up to Hunter's Moon: Part III, and the sole writer of the SLG comics.  He was a HUGE, HUGE part of the show.  Anything he says, goes.  In fact, other people who worked on the show, like Frank Paur and Michael Reaves, all agree that the show is Greg Weisman's baby.

3. There is no evidence that most of the TGC budget went to Angels in the Night.  The animation was poor because they switched animation studios to Nelvana Limited.  The only exceptions are Seeing Isn't Believing (which was animated in Australia) and Angels in the Night (which was animated in Japan).  The writing was poor because the new writing team had no time to familiarize themselves with the characters and, of course, they didn't have Greg Weisman.  

4. The animation was inconsistent in season two because they had to do fifty-two episodes in one year instead of thirteen.  Taking that into consideration, I'd say they did a great job.  

5. Hunter's Moon: Part I was animated by Animal-Ya, which also did Thrill of the Hunt, Deadly Force, Double Jeopardy, Golem and Ill Met By Moonlight.  Just because the animation was different from Hunter's Moon part two and three doesn't mean it wasn't any good.  

6. I've never met anyone who hated TGC because of the poor animation.  Wouldn't that mean that we'd have to hate episodes like Enter Macbeth, Metamorphosis, The Cage, Monsters...

7. The comics are the official continuation of the show, written by the creator of the show.  They were officially licensed and endorsed by Disney.   They are as much a part of the show as the first two seasons.  

8. Every single character had character development throughout the episodes, not just Brooklyn.  

9. TimeDancer wasn't just used as a "ruse to get Brooklyn a mate."  It was also about exploring Demona’s past, Mary and Finella, Duval, etc.  There would've been a lot more to it if the license hadn't been cancelled.  

10. "The Journey" was always Greg Weisman's story, and he used it to introduce a new audience to the comics, with more name-dropping, a corrected ending, and some deleted scenes.  

11. Brooklyn was depressed mostly because he was feeling out of place in the world, and not just because he was "love-sick."  

12. Goliath unhappily agreed to a date because Elisa asked him to, but his heart wasn't in it.  

14. The London Clan was always that size.  We just saw three members that worked at the shop during "M.I.A."  How is this a plothole?  

15. Again, I've never met anyone who actively hated OCs.  I've met a lot of people who hate Mary Sue/Gary Stu characters, but we usually avoid those kinds of fanfics.  Does your character qualify as a Mary Sue?

16. Lexington is gay.  If Greg Weisman says Lexington is gay, then he is gay.  Just because he hadn't figured out his sexuality at the time of Turf doesn't mean he's not gay.  In fact, right after he says, "I can't help if you guys can't keep up with Angie and me!" you can see that he actually stops to think about that.  He never goes after Angela again after that.  I can tell you from personal experience that people who are gay don't always realize it when they're young. Lots of gay people date people of the opposite sex before they realize their own orientation.

17. No one is stopping you from having opinions, but you also need to realize that other fans may disagree with you.  That's what it's all about: having healthy discussions with other fans, even if we disagree with what they're saying.  I've been in the fandom for twenty years and I've always felt welcome among the other fans.  

[dtaina]

I loved, LOVED working on this pic!  

[calerios]

The video that was shown at the theater premiere of Season 5 of Samurai Jack, which Adult Swim recently shared through their Facebook page.

[dtaina]

This is friggin’ awesome!! 

[salahmah]

On Monday, the Portuguese were stunned by a terrifying cloud over the island of Madeira. The bright orange formation looked as if it was a burning clenched fist

[ashashi-corner]

Fist? If I woke up and saw this I would’ve started praying!

[dtaina]

Agh!  A giant ball of fire descending from the sky!  RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!

[gregxb]

What are your thoughts on the New York Monsters blog that covers Gargoyles and TMNT?

I was debating whether or not I should respond to this. But, what the hell, I don’t care what he thinks of me.

I find that blog to be one of the most disingenuous pieces of pretentious keyboard warrior fluff I’ve ever visited. Now, I haven’t been there in a very long time; I just don’t care to re-visit.

The reason I refer think the author is disingenuous is because I remember the days on ToonZone when he’d, for some reason, dredge up any shit he could find or make up on Gargoyles any time someone criticized TMNT 2K3 even a little bit. Without fail, even if no one else mentioned “Gargoyles”.

His blog has accused “Gargoyles” of everything from racism to cultural appropriation to homophobia. Now, here’s the thing, I liked the TMNT 2K3 series (at least the first four seasons and Turtles Forever), but I don’t see him scrutinizing that show the way he scrutinizes “Gargoyles” one iota. And I guarantee that, were I to devote the time, I could find a lot of “problematic” elements to shine a spot light on. Or just flat out make up… I mean, if he’s allowed to say Matt Bluestone confronting Elisa about lying to him about the gargoyles is the equivalent of outing a gay co-worker, I can point out that Karai giving in to Dr. Chaplin’s creepy advances and stalking is sexist and encourages women to date their stalkers (it’s every self proclaimed Nice Guy’s dream come true)… except I think there’s a kernal of truth in what I brought up. If he wants to devote an entire blog to this kind of thing, hold the show you love more to the exact same standards.

(To be fair, he did eventually comment on Dr. Chaplin… but only AFTER a friend of mine called him out on this bullshit).

I think my favorite moment was, when someone suggested he post to ASK GREG about his “concerns”, because Greg Weisman is always willing to engage with fans on issues, he said something along the lines of being willing to talk to Weisman if Weisman came to HIM. Arrogant asshole.

I know this sounds like I’m butt-hurt that he doesn’t like “Gargoyles”. But I’m not. What bothers me is how disingenuous he is. Just admit you don’t like it, and are trying to take it down a notch. I really don’t like “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” and thus I’m more than happy to take those shows down a few notches… except I’m not pulling it out of my ass when I say that the show accidentally turned the Flash into a rapist. Accusing Guardian Tom of cultural appropriation during the Avalon Trilogy is hilariously stupid. Honestly, that’s when I checked out of his blog. At least I’m being honest.

Am I butt-hurt that “Gargoyles” isn’t put on a pedestal the way “Superman: The Animated Series” and both incarnations of “Justice League” are? Sure, I’m admitting it. The blogger in question is butt-hurt that TMNT 2K3 isn’t the fondly remembered classic that “Gargoyles” is. I know this, he knows this… and if you remember or search ToonZone’s archives (assuming everything there is archived), you’ll see it for yourself. He’s decided to attack “Gargoyles” through the veil of being the type of obnoxious Social Justice Warrior that I despise.Before I go, I’d also add that trying to promote important causes by tacking a long treatise onto an almost unrelated pop culture review (like “Heritage”) is insulting to the actual issues involved.

Hmm, I could accuse the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles of cultural appropriation, but I’m not a complete tool, so I won’t.

[inland69]

This guy called the show’s creators racist because Elisa wasn’t black initially. It’s like… sorry ideas don’t come complete and fully formed all the fucking time and shows go through a developmental process.

That… doesn’t even fit the definition of racism. A character ended up as black… oh no?

[gregxb]

Huh? For real? I didn’t see that one. Not doubting you, but wow.

[patrickat]

Wait, what?  She was initially Hispanic, conceived of in development as “Elisa Chavez.”  And when they changed it, they carried that background and name over to another character.  Someone’s calling that racist?

[gregxb]

He might be referring to the comedy development, when she was Morgan Reed and descended from the Princess. I don’t know.

But, I think I want to try his logic out. Ahem…

“The reason Goliath didn’t exist when Gargoyles was initially developed was because Greg Weisman is RACIST.  Keith David, an African-American, plays Goliath, and Goliath wasn’t originally in the show, therefore EVERYONE INVOLVED IS RACIST!”

Hey, if you… you know who you are, if you’re reading, am I doing your logic justice?

[inland69]

“Elisa Maza was not conceived as a Native American.

As has been documented, Elisa’s heritage and ethnicity had not been set when the character was initially created. It was not until her voice actor Salli Richardson was cast that Weisman and co. decided that she would not be Latina, as previously considered (Chávez, the last name of Elisa’s captain, was first attached to Elisa herself) but, like Richardson herself, African American and Indigenous.

This tells us one very important thing about the creators: while they considered it important that Elisa be a woman of color—and a very sincere “hooray!” for that—her specific race was not considered important to her story as initially envisioned. Writing that story, therefore, did not require any particular insights into her heritage, other than knowing just what exactly it was, as borne out by the writing for the character in the first forty or so episodes of the series, where one could replace her and her family’s backgrounds without having to alter scripts much, if at all*. The creators’ decision to make her Black and Indigenous, thus, was not necessarily an indication that they had any particular sensitivity to bring to bear when talking about issues pertaining those two peoples.   It was still very possible that their good intentions would not be be matched by good execution.

To their credit, the creators eventually decided against color blindness—which while useful for writing purposes is not unproblematic—and instead chose to explore both sides of Elisa’s heritage, beginning with “Mark of the Panther” (episode 47), which dealt indirectly with her Nigerian roots, and continuing with “Cloud Fathers” (episode 54) which more directly dealt with her Hopi heritage. We won’t get to those in a while, but here, with “Heritage”, we have a preview of sorts of the kind of what will be attempted there (and more broadly, the first of what will become a stock Avalon World Tour story, the Cultural Hero Origin) in a story that is all about dealing with the issues of tradition and identity as a member of a one of the First Nations.

I hate this episode, you guys. I hate it so much.” –Monsters of New York

Wanted to get the real-deal so my paraphrasing won’t be considered his own words.

[gregxb]

[dtaina]

What is so insulting about Elisa's heritage changing when Salli Richardson was cast?  I don't follow his logic.  Characters evolve during development, and there's nothing wrong with that.  I'm sure we would've gotten amazing stories exploring Elisa's Hispanic heritage should the writers have taken her in that direction.  The fact that they went in a different direction doesn't mean that they had some kind of agenda against Hispanics, Native Americans, or African-Americans.  What if the gargoyles had originally been conceived as Australian?  Would that be insulting to the Scottish?  It's just absurd reasoning.