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Static was WILDLY popular in Brazil (a country where the population is over 50% black) and we had re-runs for YEARS on open television. Everyone who was a kid in the 2000s knew and loved him. As a result, every single Brazilian Con has a LOT of static cosplayers!

So, a couple of years ago, Comic Con Experience (the biggest con in Brazil, which is actually also the biggest con in the world!) invited one of Static’s creator Denys Cowan as one of the guests of honor.

Now. Thousands of people attend his panel. And cosplayers went NUTS because they could show their Static cosplay to the creator himself! What none of us expected was Debts Cowan’s reaction:

He cried on stage.

He had never seen Static cosplayers - especially not so many of them! And he had no idea the show was popular here! No one ever told him his character was so beloved! Years and years of reruns and he had no idea! He obviously created the character with his experiences and his community (Black North Americans) in mind. Still, he accidentally touched a whole other community of black people who could see themselves on the screen as a superhero!

Anyway he is a lovely person and one of the best, most memorable guests we had. And I think this is a nice reminder that your art might touch people you can’t even imagine would when creating it.

The movie also has a very optimistic worldview and promotes restorative justice over punitive justice. Killing the mayor would not save the glades, because a new mayor would simply continue to build the freeway anyway. They had to make the mayor care, to see things from an animal's point of view. Heck, Mabel even outright states that everyone has good inside them.

And also, it shows us the banality of evil. Mayor Jerry isn't some cackling supervillain who actively hates animals. The sonic trees are awful, yes. But also, he's just Some Guy. He loves his mom, sings and dances by himself, eats pancakes, etc. He mostly cares about getting good PR.

Titus shows us what happens when extremism pretends to be progressive but is ultimately self-serving. He didn't care about the other animals. He waited for his mom to die, he even called her old and weak. He wanted insects to reign supreme over all other animals. His anger at the humans was righteous, but really, he only cared about himself.

♡Family♡

(Jeeeez, I love King George, he loves Mabel and cares about her like he's her real dad!♡♡♡ Fluffy adorable beaver-daddy and his adult daughter🦫🦫🪵🪵❤❤💕💕)

It's delightful. It's hilarious, charming, has great messages, and just feels so much like a Pixar Renaissance era film!

It's also quietly woke as fuck in a way that will deeply resonate with older viewers who feel helpless and angry about... everything currently going on with the world. Like I'm obsessed with how they were able to subtly slip in a message that goes very much against the expected and tired "meet your moral opponents in the middle".

the world needs more idealists like Mabel Tanaka who cares

This Ring quest will have two hobbits. Maximum.

Then they all get to Rivendell and have somehow multiplied into four hobbits. And it's like. Okay. Maybe the others are right.

Maybe this is too many hobbits.

We have as many hobbits as we have not-hobbits.

But damn it, you just don't want to get rid of any of these hobbits. Screw it! Everyone can deal. Four hobbits. This is a four hobbits problem.

So away you go.

And things go bad in the worst possible way.

Over and over.

You've lost your hobbits. You've lost yourself. The fellowship has been separated.

It takes everything in your power to help the humans defend themselves, bringing them together to save Rohan. Finally, as things begin to look upright, you're ready to face the war with everything the Rohirrim have left.

You're ready to face him. This may be the hardest battle you've ever fought. But you ride.

Then you get there and two of your fucking hobbits are sitting there like "Yeah, while you were gone, we raised a tree army and beat Saruman's ass. Wanna help us loot his tower?"

....

There were not, in fact, too many hobbits.

a close up to just... light shining through those waves, makes me feel faint with exhilaration every time