#yen sid comments

[yen-sids-tournament]

Poor Little Orphans No More!

First off, thank you to everyone who participated in the tournament. Votes, submissions, and notes alike. Without you this whole blog wouldn't happen.

Our winner is Quasimodo from the 1996 The Hunchback of Notre Dame film. Having been orphaned as a baby when his mother tried to flee Judge Frollo's hatred with him only to end up dead. And that was only the start. Yet he never truly let it get him down.

Nani Pelekai and Lilo Pelekai both had a single loss on their record. (Lilo's to Nani and Nani's to Quasi) The sisters were both orphaned after a rainy car crash but the after math for the young adult and the young child were quite different. Luckily they found their way back to Ohana.

And the last of our top group was Koda. A fit of rage taking his mother from him was the start but the worst part might have been finding out who was responsible. However he is blessed with a final moment with his mother allowing healing to begin.

Along the way to this finality there were many exciting moments! We started with two rounds of 16 polls (never let us do that again), the winners of the first facing off against the popular submission in the second.

It did surprise us how many of our selected orphans made it through both rounds, and who they bumped out! Elsa and Anna each failed to more on and Mama Coco took out Eugene! But the biggest surprise for use was how devoted the Gravity Falls fans were in this tournament. They managed to defeat some other popular franchises, like King from The Owl House, only falling to the one who took the title: Quasimodo. In fact, the most popular poll was the Shape Shifter v Quasimodo (677 votes!)

Thinking of all the orphans, they were from a fantastically wide variety of stories. The famous animated features did dominate, from the original Snow White and other classic eras to more forgotten films like the Rescuers, revival ear and modern icons. There were also actual human children, from the always positive Pollyanna to Pete (without his dragon). Some of you dabbled in the acquired and borrowed ips: Star Wars and the MCU had a few and there was an Annie and another Cinderella too. Disney also put orphans on the small screen, with five of them making the cut. And we had single reps from the Broadway Stage and international publishing/franchises. We love it all!

In all 48 polls we didn't get any ties, but there were a few decisions! The closest was the single point victory of Lewis Robinson over Princess Elena! Number two was animated Cinderella's victory over Oliver, the cardboard box kitten. There were also some pretty clear preferences, both Pelekai sisters won early rounds with over 85% of the love.

It's been a blast this month! We hope you'll return for the next game!

And as a reminder that all of these orphans (except apparently the Gravity Falls ones?) were able to get through their struggles and find happiness with the support of those around them. So always know that things do get better and try to be that better for those around you.

(alternative outlook: Play Pollyanna's game and soon everyone will play it for you.)

[yen-sids-tournament]

SuperbOwl Day!!!!

~We interrupt your regularly scheduled program to bring you coverage of an important competition~

Who is the most SuperbOwl?

Owl (Winnie the Pooh)

Big Mama (the Fox and the Hound)

Archimedes (the Sword in the Stone)

Owlbert (the Owl House)

Forest Owl (Sleeping Beauty)

Accordion Owl (Alice in Wonderland)

Owl Capone (TaleSpin)

Zan Owlson (DuckTales reboot)

Professor Hootsburgh (Doc McStuffins)

How Dare You Forget ________!

Voting ended onFeb 12, 2024

please comment or tag whichever SuperbOwl we forgot

~Thank you, your regular program will resume shortly~

[yen-sids-tournament]

For this game, we want to remind friends, “orphans” are those whose parents died or abandoned them (for better or worse, knowingly or not).

Kidnapped kids? No.

Dad popped out for milk and never came back and mom died and kid is raised on the street? Yes!

And if the parent(s) is effectively dead but they reunite years later with their kid because the kid dies or a curse is broken? Yeah, that’s good too

[yen-sids-tournament]

Congrats to the Gravity Falls fans

You managed to mobilize and succeed in getting both orphans (The Shape Shifter and Bill Cipher) into the next round!

[yen-sids-tournament]

Happy Birthday To Us!

That's THREE Years under our belt!

And what a full time it's been! Look at what we just accomplished in the last year:

We declared the winner of the Silent Character tournament day 2: Ferb Fletcher

The first tournament of the year discovered that Treasure Planet 2 (among others) should never have been canceled

Tiana was dubbed the most stylish bride last June

And, despite having only been released a few months before, Nani Pelekai (2025) was disappointing enough be the worst character in the Disney portfolio.

To lighten the mood, Mountain Where The Light Touches The Earth from Brother Bear was deemed the most sensational scene

Don Bluth's Anastasia became the most Disney Vibing non-Disney films

For Valentine's Day "I Won't Say I'm In Love" was crowned the ultimate Disney love song

Khan, Mulan's horse, became the Horse of the Year for the Year of the Horse

Finally, just days ago, Quasimodo was recognized as the Poorest of Disney's Orphans. (But that's about circumstance not identity.)

This year also included the poll series about meeting face characters in the parks. Plus a start of a series of country-of-origin base polls for more internationally minded holidays and celebrations (like the French poll for Bastille Day). There was the Best of and Worst of 2025 poll pair and our 3000th post celebration. We had some one-off polls too like for International Bow Day, the Ides of March's Villain-Stabbing Poll, and one Short Halloween poll. And we started the year with a week of Crossover Questions then almost ended it with a week of questions gathering your Walt Disney World opinions.

What exciting and magical things are in the cards for our Fourth Year?!? (Well, the first one's Castles! but what's next?)

[yen-sids-tournament]

The Full Yen-Sids-Tournament 2026 Valentine's Playlist

(Well, the songs in stages via YouTube at least. You'll have to put them in one place together)

From the Bracket:

"I Won't Say (I'm In Love)" - Susan Egan, Hercules (1997)

"So This Is Love" - Ilene Woods & Mike Douglas, Cinderella (1950)

"Love Will Find A Way" - Liz Callaway & Gene Miller, The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998)

"Heaven's Light/Hellfire" - Tom Hulce & Tony Jay, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

"An Unusual Prince/Once Upon A Dream" - Mary Costa & Bill Shirley, Sleeping Beauty (1959)

"Beauty and the Beast" - Angela Lansbury, Beauty and the Beast (1991)

"Define Dancing" - Thomas Newman, WALL-E (2008)

"A Whole New World" - Brad Kane & Lea Salonga, Aladdin (1992)

"I See The Light" - Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi, Tangled (2010)

"You Snuck Your Way Right Into My Heart" - Love Händel, Phineas And Ferb (2009)

"Breaking Free" - Vanessa Hudgens, Drew Seeley, & Zac Efron, High School Musical (2006)

"Ten Minutes Ago" - Paolo Montalban & Brandy Norwood, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)

"Ma Belle Evangeline" - Jim Cummings, The Princess and the Frog (2009)

"Bella Notte" - George Givot & Bill Thompson, Lady and the Tramp (1955)

"Dos Oruguitas" - Sebastián Yatra, Encanto (2021)

"So Close" - Jon McLaughlin, Enchanted (2007)

In Addition:

"I Didn't Know That I Could Feel This Way" - Roger Bart & Susan Egan, Lady and the Tramp 2: Scamp's Adventure (2001)

"One Day" - Hans Zimmer & Henry Jack, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)

"Something There" - Paige O'Hara, Robby Benson, Jerry Orbach, Angela Lansbury & David Ogden Stiers, Beauty and the Beast (1991)

"Start of Something New" - Vanessa Hudgens, Drew Seeley, & Zac Efron, High School Musical (2006)

"The Sweetest Sound" - Brandy Norwood & Paolo Montalban, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)

"Do I Love You Because You're Beautiful?" - Paolo Montalban & Brandy Norwood, Rodgers + Hammerstein's Cinderella (1997)

"Winter's Waltz" - Christophe Beck, Frozen (2013)

"Can You Feel The Love Tonight" - Kristle Edwards, Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky, Nathan Lane & Ernie Sabella, The Lion King (1994)

"Here Beside Me" - Hayley Westenra, Mulan II (2004)

"Upendi" - Robert Guillaume, Liz Callaway & Gene Miller, The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride (1998)

"Lost In The Woods" - Jonathan Groff, Frozen 2 (2019)

"Candle On The Water" - Helen Reddy, Pete's Dragon (1977)

The Submissions That Didn't Quite Qualify But We Wanted to Include:

"L-O-V-E" - Nat King Cole, The Parent Trap (1998)

"Love Me Tender" - Norah Jones, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement (2004)

"I Won't Say I'm in Love - Mash Up" - Thomas Sanders

"In a Crowd of Thousands" - Christy Altomare & Derek Klena, Anastasia Broadway (2017)

"Ten Minutes Ago" - Julie Andrews & Jon Cypher, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (1957)

The Ones We Want To Add:

"Lava" - Kuana Torres Kahele & Napua Greig, Lava (2015)

“Lavender Blue (Dilly Dilly)” - Burl Ives, So Dear to My Heart (1948)

"Love" - Nancy Adams, Robin Hood (1973)

"Married Life" - Michael Giacchino, Up (2009)

"If I Never Knew You" - Jon Secana & Shanice, Pocahontas (1995)

"Strangers Like Me" - Phil Collins, Tarzan (1999)

“Could It Be” - Christy Carlson Romano, Kim Possible: So The Drama (2005)

"True To Your Heart" - 98º feat. Stevie Wonder, Mulan (1998)

“I2I” - Tevin Campbell & Rosie Gaines, A Goofy Movie (1995)

It's up to you to put this collection to good use!

One of these at least is bound to be perfect, but if not do remember: we Lava you and hope your Valentine's dreams come true!

[yen-sids-tournament]

Non-Disney Tournament Round 1 Issue Poll

It came to our attention that Ella Enchanted was made by Miramax in the middle of the time Disney owned making it Disney by our definition. Since we didn't catch it before the start, Ella Enchanted got on the bracket and has won Round 1,

What do you think is fair?

Let 'Ella Enchanted' Stay For Round 2 Against DB 'Anastasia' (& Beyond?)

Replace 'Ella Enchanted' With 'a Cinderella story' For Round 2

Give DB 'Anastasia' A By for Round 2

Voting ended onDec 21, 2025

(To be clear: moving forward, Miramax productions between 1993 and 2010 can be considered for our other Disney tournaments)

[yen-sids-tournament]

Defending Ferb's Inclusion.

Look, we know Ferb does speak. It was one of the reasons why the tournament allowed for characters who did very little talking. Outside of animal characters in Human-centric stories, there were not too many popular characters who don't talk. (They were another group to consider because some often make noise to communicate, ultimately we put five of them in the prelim poll.) Mostly we wanted to take an opportunity to highlight characters that the quotes tournament would over look.

It has been a hot minute since we have seen multiple episodes of Phineas and Ferb together, but he is notably quiet. Most the lines he is given are very short, and there are quite a few episodes where he doesn't talk at all. We did find someone on reddit who calculated how long Ferb speaks in total for the whole series. It's .33%, not 1/3rd of the time but 1/3rd of a single percentage of the time (if their calculations are correct). It's reasonable to think he talks a lot more because of how much material there is and how popular the show is. Underscored by the fact that he was the most submitted character for the tournament.

Here's a little comparison: Ariel spends a significant portion of her movie voiceless yet still has like 75 lines and sings, which is more than most every other character. Aurora has 18 lines in her movie as spends most of the 1.25 hour movie off screen. The 1937 Prince is only there at the beginning and end, mostly singing. All of them are more vocal in their story than Ferb.

We rely heavily on the participation of others for this blog concept to work, and if those who honor us by submitting like him the most, he's gonna get in.