To get to know me better, here is my strawpage showcasing expansive info, socials, spotlight of my work, and my DNI list. But for my Tumblr blog specifically, welcome to the place where I rant about shit. Some stuff to know
My pronouns are he/him
I am multifandom
I do NOT take art requests or do commissions. Sorry!
My main fixation is Wild Kratts (hence the pfp) but I'll [again] discuss other fandoms like Lion Guard, Wordgirl, Elena of Avalor, Miraculous Ladybug, ect. (just to name a few).
The two socials I will often link to on this blog will be my YouTube Channel and my Ao3 account;
Proshippers, DNI. This especially includes (but is definitely not limited to) Krattcest and Cedfia.
Also, zionists, abusers, bigots, general pieces of shit are not welcome here.
Here is a masterdoc of Gofundmelinks to help Gazans in a great time of need.
As well as a Dailyclick to help Palestinians!
Additionally, for anyone struggling with suicidal thoughts, actions, or ideation, here is a link to an international suicide hotline.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Fanfiction is supposed to be cringy. You're allowed to write bad. You're allowed to be cringe. Fanfiction is supposed to be self indulgent. You're allowed to be cringe. Let yourself be cringe. Fanfiction is supposed to be fun. Stop putting arbitrary rules on yourself and be free.
Person A: 'hey this is an important social issue! I wanna talk about it!'
Person B: 'hey this is an important social issue and it intersects with this other social issue! Let's talk about that and it's implications!
Good very good
Person A: "Hey this is important social X issue that intersects with Y social issue let's talk about them but ultimately the focus should be on-"
Person B: "Let's ignore X in favor of Y issue! It can be about both of us just x is in the corner!"
Bad. Stfu you don't have to shift the focus to you entirely and then just tack x back on at the end
Please let black and brown and disabled people and women talk about their issues without immediately taking over. You will always be important as a gay or trans person you face discrimination and shit and doctors don't always believe you etc and when your black or a woman it's worse but Jesus Christ you can't just shift it entirely onto gay shit. As a lesbian I am tired of y'all.
I don't want a fucking celebration or for us to disappear I just want people to talk about colorism or the stigma around accomodations or the horrible stereotypes of women being harpies or pick mes etc without y'all using the way our issues intersect to suddenly shift the spotlight entirely onto you. You can be gay do crimes during July too but for the love of fuck it's disability month so that can be the focus. It's fucking black history month. It's international women's day. I know we don't like the closet but this isn't the closet. This is else getting attention for a small bit so we can appreciate them or help them.
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i bring a sort of “you should maybe interrogate your so-called ‘preferences’ to make sure they’re not literal textbook examples of severe unconscious bias” vibe that my woke gay friends dont really like
go out and fuck someone you aren’t attracted to because a stranger on tumblr said to
go out and date someone you aren’t attracted to because a stranger on tumblr said to
You’re Not Allowed To Be Gay Anymore
what this post DOES mean
if you just ‘prefer’ to avoid majority black areas of your city
if you just ‘prefer’ to read, write, think, and talk about men
if you just ‘prefer’ to socialize with people you (perceive as) your assigned birth sex
if you just ‘prefer’ to exclusively watch white-directed movies, read white-written books, listen to white-authored music
if you just unconsciously perceive men as more authoritative/competent and ‘prefer’ to be spoken to by them
this is a post about acknowledging unconscious bias. it is not a post about dating. please stop coming into my inbox and accusing me of rape apologism and telling me to kill myself. thank you
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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The Lion Guard Retrospective Marathon - Bunga The Wise
Previous: Never Judge a Hyena By Its Spots.
College has repeatedly kicked my ass into the dirt over the course of almost a year and I lowkey forgot about this marathon (that and WatchTLG is down for good, so I'm having to take screengrabs from Disney Plus, which is every bit as anal as you can imagine) but since it's summertime, I guess I have the time to try and get this back afloat. Sorry for the hiatus lmao.
So, immediately after the season premiere (if you collectively view RoM & NJAHBIP as the premiere), we have an episode that I was almost ready to call the worst of the season. But after giving it a rewatch... it's not that bad!
Summary: Bunga comes up with a quick solution to the floodwaters that threaten the Pride Lands. However, everyone soon learns that an easy and quick solution isn't always the best idea.
This Episode Does A Good Job at Showing This Season's Setting
Each season of The Lion Guard has its own specific setting. Season 1 takes place in the wet season of the Pride Lands. Season 2 takes place in the dry season of the Pride Lands. Season 3 takes place outside of the Pride Lands altogether.
We'll get to Seasons 2 and 3 when we get to it: We'll focus on Season 1 and how this episode relates to it.
Season 1 has no ongoing narrative or story arc. It has continuity of previous characters and events being referenced, and further seasons will attempt to built on this, but for the most part every episode is self-contained which makes sense considering it's the first season of the show and everything needs time to set in.
So having it take place in the wet season works because it still allows for conflict in certain episodes. It also gives Season 1 its own identity, which will allow Seasons 2 and 3 to stand out more. This episode is the first of many episodes that encompasses that, which is a huge plus to the season and the overall series. Having it be the first episode to air after the double-premiere also helps set the stage.
Another thing to note: This episode, much like the previous two, were also aired out of order on Disney Junior. It's production code is 104 - after Return of the Roar and The Rise of Makuu and before Never Judge a Hyena By Its Spots.
This is just an overanalysis of mine, but if you watch the first four episodes based on their production order, you might actually get a stronger viewing experience. The flash flooding in this episode would explain why the river currents in the Outlands were so bad by the time of NJaHBIS - the Lion Guard doubting Bunga's "leadership" skills and Bunga's attempts at overcompensating for Kion's absence in that episode now has greater context if it came after the events of this one.
Barring that, the season's setting in the wet season is now impressed upon the viewer much earlier on if you view it as Episode 2, which arguably better sets the theme for Season 1.
Of course, that isn't lost by it being aired as the third episode, and again, that above interpretation is, subjective to say the least. The point I'm trying to get at is that this episode, whilst being the very definition of filler, is an example of a filler episode done right.
Also!
This scene is by far my favorite in the entire episode and I'm going to use my one-video free card to show this.
In 38 seconds (yes, I timed it) we get-
Clarification that Kion's Roar can't solve every problem in an easy manner, and has restrictions by the Circle of Life which keeps him from being too overpowered.
Foreshadowing for this episode's climax (Kion using the Roar to blast away a flash flood)
Foreshadowing for Season 2's conflict involving the dry season.
Auditory foreshadowing: Listen closely to the background music: That is the same music that plays right before the "Fujo" song sequence in Season 2's "The Rise of Scar," - which has the exact opposite conflict to this episode that this scene foreshadowed.
Already we're starting this episode off to a great start.
This Undercuts The Episode
Ok so the episode's moral is that easy solutions do not always equate to the best solutions. Bunga's solution here is presented as an "easy one," one that inspires him to try other ones which is this episode's conflict.
I can see the idea of what they wanted to go for but it fails because... what other way could the Guard have blocked up the lake? What Bunga does in the rest of this episode, yeah it's irresponsible, but this inciting incident is legitimately a good idea that the rest of the Guard don't give enough credit to and that kinda muddles up the message.
If the rest of the Lion Guard saw another way of blocking the dam, but Bunga opted for this one, you could have something more from that, but instead, what the episode critiques as an "easy solution" winds up being the "only" solution, and those two things are not mutually exclusive.
This Works
Narratively, I mean. For exactly the reason the episode later confirms this plan of Bunga's is utter dogsh*t.
And it works for the episode's "Easy does not equal better" moral.
I Really Wish The Show Explored This More
All throughout Season 1, there are so many opportunities to give Ushari an actual introduction and character besides the "butt monkey," and they just.. don't. Which sucks because that's sorta what you need to give a character if we're going to take them seriously as the secondary antagonist.
Kion mentions "Ushari and the cobras." Are the cobras his family? Is Ushari considered a "leader" to them like Makuu is for the crocodiles? What do they think of the Lion Guard?
I'm not gonna expect this episode alone to dive into all of that, but I do think that it was a missed opportunity for the show to not explore that at all in relation to the broader storyline.
And this will not be the last time I bring this up.
Remember the Timon & Pumbaa Episode With This Plot?
The episode in question is Season 3, Episode 31, Guru-Some
Our protagonist (Pumbaa/Bunga) who is mistaken for a wise sage when the populace begins to pay them attention.
Said protagonist continues to play the role, gaining more and more attention from said populace despite their evident lack of wisdom
...much to the annoyance of their friend(s) (Timon/The Rest of the Guard)
Their self-imposed role ultimately results in chaos in the community by accident (the animals taking Bunga's terrible advice, and the jungle animals going to war over how they choose to interpret Pumbaa's advice - no I am not kidding, that is how the fucking episode goes)
The "sage" role of the protagonist dissipates when the community realizes that said "sage" is not as wise as they used to be.
And this might not even be coincidential considering the connections between the two shows! Ford Riley was a writer on the Timon & Pumbaa series years before developing The Lion Guard as a series creator (no he did not have any involvement with the episode I'm referencing, as far as I've done my research).
This doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of this thoughtpost, I just wanted to point it out. But for relevancy's sake, both episodes, I think manage to get humor right because of how self-aware they are (also, I might start watching the T&P show again after this because jesus christ this is the funniest shit I have EVER seen)
Because this episode's plot is genuinely dumb. It could've EASILY been bad but it isn't, and we'll get to why that is.
Foreshadowing or Not: This is Pretty Funny
Unlike the scene with Kion and Mufasa, I'm less sure if this is intentional foreshadowing but given later events in the show (see: Season 3) and how long it takes to produce a show, one could interpret it as such. Little things like these, even if it's accidental, make for a much more entertaining watch.
This is Also Very Funny:
Ostriches burying their heads in the sand to avoid predators is an urban myth. They actually just flop to the ground and remain still to try and blend in with the territory.
I did not know that until I first saw this episode when it came out. For a show that leans into very heavy animal stereotypes despite being quasi-educational, they get a lot of suprising stuff right and it's like seeing a fawn in the woods.
Also while we're ahead, everyone and their grandma has pointed this out but Mbuni's model looks like a male ostrich instead of a female's. I'm not bothered by it, largely because sexual dysmorphism in ostriches isn't that common knowledge (look at any animated piece of media with ostriches, even the OG film gets this wrong).
trans Mbuni headcanon truthers, I see your vision.
Bunga's Not That Bad This Episode:
The reason this episode is very much disliked is because of... well Bunga himself. And initially Iagreed until watching this.
He's a kid that is trying to do the right thing but gets INCREDIBLY full of himself, before later on getting his karma right in the face.
The pilot episode as well as The Rise of Makuu highlighted a very big problem with him in early Season 1. How the writers tried way too hard to make Bunga the Gen Z. T&P instead of giving him his own character. This episode actually manages to succeed where those episodes fail, which is what makes him much more tolerable even if he's still annoying.
There are a couple of episodes where he has his moments (and that's if you discount Season 3) but here, he was way less insufferable than I was expecting him to be.
Plus there wound up being some really funny jokes here. How on Earth do I find him more funny at age 20 than I do at age 9?
I Can't Be The Only One Who Sees This, Right?
Again, I do not know if this was an intentional reference, but if it is... fucking genius. The references to the original trilogy are consistently the most joyful thing about this show, you can tell the writers and animators did their homework.
Also, just gonna juice this out now while we're ahead. One of the many, MANY wasted opportunities of this show was not having an episode where the cast of the 3rd movie (Timon's Ma and Uncle Max) show up. They provide several easter eggs (Timon's Ma is later mentioned in Episode 19 and even appears in a book!) and they give the Simba's Pride cast two cameo episodes... it was RIGHT FREAKING THERE!
Good Pay-Off:
Like I said, this moment becomes way more awesome when you catch onto the episode's foreshadowing of it earlier. And thanks to that said scene, this moment is much more badass when you know that Kion can't always do this.
Also I personally find this to be 10x more impresisve than anything Season 3 gives us.
This Saves The Episode:
Bunga learning his lesson here makes the episode easier to stomach. The episode's self-aware attitude makes it less frustrating to watch. The episode's moral gives you something to take away. And this episode's humor distracts you from the stupid of it all.
Even if you discount EVERYTHING I just picked apart here, this episode still manages to be entertaining, and it has at least one layer to keep it from falling into the "bad" territory.
CONCLUSION:
Much better than I remember it! I've always said that Bunga is a character who gets better as Season 1 progresses, I just did not know how quickly that happened. We're at Episode 3 (technically 5 if you count the pilot as a two-parter), and they gave us a decent plot with him. There are much better Bunga-centric episodes than this one, but it's still good. Also the two songs were catchy.
me: "the voices in my head are at it again"
said voices in my head: (harmonizing the hyenas' laughter choir in "tonight we strike" from the lion guard)
Kinda crazy to see a reply on that old post and be reminded that that was 7 years ago, my god.
I think I'd write it differently today, I sound kind of insufferable lol
Thank you for reading all of that and taking consideration. :)
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What Simba and lion cubs actually look like in The Lion Guard:
In conclusion, the people that made TLG had the opportunity and ability to replicate the original movie’s style but settled on an inferior style for some reason
You have to take into account cost. Do you really expect a TV show aimed at preschoolers that have about 20 episodes per season to have the same budget as a full length theatrical movie?
Of course not, that would be silly; both the TLK scenes pictured and the rest of the show are animated with the same program, and there are quite a few flash-animated shows that are significantly more expressive and dynamic than TLG. Knowing that, I doubt a different style would mean a bigger budget.
Hi, lion guard animator here. I know the person who worked on those scenes you pointed out. She is VERY good at making the rigs look on-model. She’s been doing this a long time. The problem is that it is VERY time consuming, and time is something we DO NOT have have a lot of. TLG has a specific style that we have to follow which makes production less complicated. Its a tv show, not a feature film. But every now and then, some of us have a moment to take a scene out of our weekly batches and really make it lovely. Sometimes to the point where it kind of becomes a problem because we technically have to stay consistent with the style otherwise it’ll look too different from one scene to the next… which causes arguments like this to happen.
(you also used a season 1 image as a comparison, when that was when most of the animation crew was new and still learning the program and working with the rigs. Most shows look janky in their first seasons. The difference between season 1 quality and mid-season 2 and season 3 quality is huge.)
Changing the style alone isn’t what would change the budget… It’s how long that style would take to animate. Every department would need to do twice the work, which means we would need twice the time, or we would need lots more people. Can’t pay all those people and all that extra time if you don’t have the budget.
And the more complicated and detailed the rigs are, the heavier they become, the slower everything is. Especially when there’s 5 - 20 more animals in the scene, it already causes technically issues and crashes because the files are so heavy.
We’re on a tight schedule, you understand. And we can only work within the budget that we were given.
The people working in this studio all have the ability to do gorgeous work and then some. Believe me, I KNOW what I’m personally capable of, and I know what my co workers are capable of. But we can’t always give the best we have. When you’re working with time constraints, you wont always be able to bring the kind of quality you want.
More often than not, we have to settle. Because schedules.
There is always a reason for why something is the way it is.
Also it’s a show aimed at toddlers, the designs were meant to be simplistic and more ‘cute’. This show isn’t for people, like, my age who grew up with TLK, and some of y’all need to keep that in mind. It did what its supposed to do, kids love the show.
I've been behind on the updates for Descendants 5 and I'm not as pessimistic about it as the rest of the Internet is, but please god do not let the fucking Awkwafina cat sing in this film I am begging you.
