Discover Top Posts Tagged with #fleischer animation

I’ve always imagined if there’s an alternate reality where Fleischer came out on top instead of Disney, I could easily see the studio producing more animated comic book adaptations in the coming years, given to how successful the Popeye and Superman shorts were during their heyday. Especially if it includes the possibility of serious adult animation being more commonplace in the North American market; similar to how Japan does with manga.

Honestly, I can imagine that, and even easily see where the point of divergence in that timeline would be.

Namely: If "Mr Bug Goes to Town" hadn't flopped.

I wonder if Bob Clampett woulda gotten to make his version of John Carter of Mars in that timeline...

#timelines #what if #what ifs #fleischer animation

Spinel, Or, References: The Character (+Bonus musical theory)

(About to get into HEAVY spoilers for the seven of you who haven’t seen the movie)

Okay, so, Spinel... Every moment she’s on screen, The same few things come to mind, none of which are bad in the slightest, this is basically a vent post to the ones I personally know.

1. Jenny Wakeman:

More prevalent in her evil design, especially on the movie poster, Spinel has at least a vague XJ9 vibe, hell, they both have super stretchy arms like this was a rubber hose cartoon... Which reminds me...

2. Fleischer/Rubber Hose animation:

This is considered one of the most traditional styles of animation, I don’t think, given it’s ubiquity and recent uses like Cuphead, it needs much more explanation than that, but she very obviously moves in a way reminiscent of characters done in that style.

3. Mickey mouse’s ears

More obvious when either character moves their head, Spinel’s pompoms/pigtails move about on her head like Mickey Mouse’s ears... Which personally feels like nails on the chalkboard of my eyes, but it’s not a terrible thing to reference.

4. Drowned Ophelia

(Spoilers for Brutal Legend if you’re interested)

Now I don’t know who among you, if anyone, has played Brutal Legend, but it’s literally the most metal video game of all time. THERE ARE GIANT PANTHERS WITH LASER VISION. Doom falls only so short of this game for raw metal-ness, maybe Eternal will dethrone it but I’m getting off-topic. After a chunk of game happens, The character of Ophelia is left to stew in negative emotions, feelings of loneliness, regret, betrayal, abandonment, etc. She goes to a place called “The Sea of Black Tears,” where she dives in and emerges as a shadow of her former self... Or rather, a shadow of her former self emerges, it’s weird. My point is that I saw parallels while listening to “Drift away,” and they both have literal black tear lines going down their faces.

Electro Swing and character design/history:

“Other Friends,” Spinel’s intro song, falls into one of my favorite musical genres, Electro Swing... Which I think is a knowing nod to both her back story and character design in and of itself. How? Well, swing genuinely fits a rubberhose character, but one that’s mutated into a more aggressive, brand-spankin’ new form? Yeah, electro swing, as a genre, sums her up. Plus, given how long she’d just been sat in that garden, more or less forgotten before making this big slam dunk entrance... I think I’ve made my point. When you have enough insight to make the GENRE relevant to the character instead of wistfully sad genericness, I must applaud you.

Conclusion:

This is how you do references and Spinel would make a fantastic cuddle buddy, I hope all of you have a good morning, rest of your day, or night depending on when you read this. (P.S. Obligatory mention of the Jessie vibes from Toy Story. I didn’t get them as strongly as other people.)

#Spinel #Steven universe #Cuphead #Electro Swing #Brutal Legend #Drowned #Ophelia #Mickey Mouse #Rubberhose #Fleischer animation #disney

Aesthetic: Old-timey cartoons you can tell were traced from real-life actors

#animation #fleischer animation #cab calloway