Bluff's Castle Corner

Or, people don't want 2D animated movies, they want Disney-like movies Internet users have repeatedly expressed the sentiment that they want 2D animated movies to return, usually accompanied by attached images of Treasure Planet, Atlantis, The Road to El Dorado, Anastasia, The Iron Giant, The Prince of Egypt, Spirit, and Sinbad. Then when 2D animated movies do get released nowadays, whether in theaters or on streaming platforms, those same people ignore them. They think foreign movies, such as Robot Dreams and Chicken for Linda, are yucky, they still think anime is all just violence or tentacle stuff or whatever 90s stereotype. People understandably made a big stink about Coyote vs Acme being shelved, but didn't show up to support The Day the Earth Blew Up. People correctly state that animation is for everyone, only to clutch their pearls over an adult animated movie. So recently, the trailer for Sony Pictures Animation's Fixed, directed by Genndy Tartakovsky, was released....

  Today, the popular cartoon YouTuber Saberspark uploaded a video talking about the infamous “fart episode” of the 2023 Total Drama series. The comments were filled with hatred and generalizations towards Canadian animation. These terrible comments are not the fault of Saberspark, but it is true that the “big users” in the cartoon community are (mostly) Americans who spread myths and stereotypes about Canadian cartoons. This has bothered me and a few others for quite a while, so here, I’m going to prove why Canadian animation is great, actually, and dispel common misconceptions All Canadian cartoons are about fart jokes - if you say stuff like this, you clearly have never seen a Canadian cartoon outside of Total Drama and Johnny Test. That’s like if I said “all anime is naughty tentacles” or “all American cartoons are about anvils falling on your head.” And don’t act like your precious USA cartoons and anime are exempt from toilet humor. One example of an anime with toilet humor i...

Recently, two cartoons that were slated to be on Cartoon Network, Unicorn: Warriors Eternal and My Adventures With Superman, are now going to be on Adult Swim. To me, this move makes no sense. These shows could have diversified Cartoon Network’s very barebones lineup, but they were shoved to Adult Swim. I sorta understand Unicorn, as it is dark (but definitely not on the same level as Primal, one of Genndy Tartakovsky’s other shows), but My Adventures with Superman? That show seems pretty innocuous. It has a bright color palette and doesn’t seem similar to Harley Quinn or the later seasons of Young Justice.   This reminds me of the desperate need there is for teen/YA-oriented western cartoons. In western animation, there are three primary audiences:   Preschoolers; anything rated TV-Y, shown on PBS Kids, Nick Jr, Disney Junior, or Cartoonito. Example: Doc McStuffins.  Big kids/elementary school crowd; anything rated TV-Y7, can be seen on Nickelodeon, Cartoon...

  Recently, an animated adaptation of the comic strip Phoebe and Her Unicorn   was cancelled by Nickelodeon, who claimed that boys won't watch cartoons with female protagonists. This incident shows how out of touch TV executives are with the audiences of their shows. Contrary to popular belief, gender doesn't matter. A good show is a good show, and if it's good, then anyone, including boys, can watch it, and history has proven that time and time again. Here are just a few examples: Winsome Witch is a series of Hanna-Barbera shorts that aired during The Secret Squirrel Show . Even in the 1960s, Hanna-Barbera knew that boys can watch shows with female leads. Winsome Witch  is about a witch named Winnie, and the magical mishaps she gets into. She's just as clumsy and hilarious as any other male H-B character, and she doesn't have a sidekick. While she is obscure nowadays, that's just because the various backup segments in Hanna-Barbera shows aren't very well-k...

  Animation IS cinema My post about cringe culture, fandoms, and kids media, which you can read here , briefly mentioned how outsiders mock animation fans for using animated kids shows to say that animation is for everyone. I want to follow up on that point.  I had the displeasure of seeing an awful post on my Twitter timeline that went “the ‘animation IS cinema’ people always pick the dweebiest movies to make their argument. Just post Beavis and Butt-Head Do America guys, nobody would disagree” Wow okay mr edgelord. You sound like a stereotypical Disney Channel bully.  The ‘animation is cinema’ image comes from The Mitchells vs the Machines, which is a family-friendly movie that many hold up as a good example of an animated movie, and how animation is for everyone. This gets mocked by outsiders who think that this movie uses the “Grubhub art style” or some BS like that. As you can see, people who act like that think animation is only for children, and plug their ears and...

"i'M nOt rEaDiNg aLl tHaT" Ok, scroll down for the TL:DR. Recently, the CEO of Disney, Bob Chapek, has stated the animation is only for children . Never mind that this is the same company that owns The Simpsons, and was founded by a guy who said, and I quote "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." Naturally, this has caused universal backlash within the animation community, with many people defending animation as a medium for everyone, not just kids. However, the animation community was also mocked by outsiders for using kids' shows, such as Gravity Falls, to prove that animation is for everyone. In fact, the animation community (more specifically the western animation community) has always been cruelly harassed by outsiders for watching cartoons, especially ones aimed at children.   There is nothing wrong with watching children's shows AT ALL. Watching kids' shows doesn't make you immature, a pedophile,...

  Ever since Season 3 of Regular Show , it became a Halloween tradition for it to air Treehouse of Horror -esque episodes with different scary stories told by the characters. Needless to say, these were the highlight of every Cartoon Network Halloween in the 2010s. Without further ado, I will state my top three TTOTP stories. 3. In the House (TTOTP I) Rigby decides to egg a wizard's house on Halloween night, and consequently, is cursed by the wizard to become a house himself. This story has some of the most unsettling body horror I've ever seen in a kids' cartoon. Rigby's transformation into a house is GRUESOME. Muscle Man being skinned alive was also pretty disgusting. The amount of nasty detail put onto the wizard's design looks like it came straight out of The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack . One Easter egg I liked was that inside House!Rigby, there was a portrait of Eileen, showing that Rigby secretly had a crush on her. This story did a good job of making ...

  This last May, a lot of Netflix cartoons were scrapped because they don’t give two shits about animation (except for The Boss Baby, that is). Having been looking forward to Spirit Rangers since its announcement, I was worried that it was also canned, but luckily it survived and is finally here.  The series centers on three Native American siblings named Kodi, Summer, and Eddy, who are the rangers of Spirit Park and can also transform into animals. It is a preschool show, but is enjoyable for all ages.  The animation is stylized and beautiful. There are a lot of vibrant colors and gorgeous character designs, especially on the animals.  Our three heroes are likable and realistic kids who overcome their flaws to save the day. They’re not perfect, but they work hard to be heroes. Their animal friends are also enjoyable and memorable, especially Coyote with his hilarious egotism. Lizard, by the way is voiced by legendary voice actress Cree Summer, who is part of the Pla...

  Cars on the Road is the latest addition to the Pixar Cars franchise since Cars 3. Despite being Pixar’s biggest money maker, no one expected this show to be a thing. Could Pixar be testing the waters for a Cars 4? We’ll have to see As you can guess by the title, this show takes Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater on a cross-country road trip to Mater’s sister’s wedding, with each episode taking them to a different stop where they get into strange situations.  We get to learn some more of the Cars universe lore, like that there were car dinosaurs and car cryptids. These outlandish scenarios enable the animators to go all out with the animation and special effects, to amazing success. It’s astounding what you can do on a TV budget. The colors in the circus episode were especially eye-popping. This show has a more comedic and surreal tone than the Cars movies, which is perfectly fine. After all that happened in Cars 3, we certainly need a breather. There are also some great pop cu...

  Cartoon Network has a preschool block called Cartoonito that's been on the air here in America for almost a year now. I was skeptical of this block since we all knew how great Tickle U was. But WB is also making original content for the block, and among the first of these are Bugs Bunny Builders , which is the first preschool-aimed project about Looney Tunes  since Baby Looney Tunes . Baby Looney Tunes , while not a terrible show, does lay on the sweet layer too thick and doesn't really feel like a Looney Tunes  show at all. Bugs Bunny Builders, on the other hand, is an example of a good children's series. There's no violence, because this show is aimed at a very young audience and we don't want to scare them, but there is still a decent amount of wacky antics and slapstick. Thus, the series is kid-friendly while also being tolerable for parents and older viewers. The animation on this show is bouncy and expressive, just as a Looney Tunes show should be, while th...

  Baymax!  is a miniseries based on the movie Big Hero 6 . Unlike the previous show Big Hero 6: The Series , Baymax!  is more of a slice-of-life show. Don't expect any dangerous robot battles here. Every episode is about Baymax helping people around San Fransokyo. It's also worth mentioning that this is the first TV show made by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Animation - 2/2. I am pleasantly surprised at how well the show is animated, as it looks just like the original movie. They probably had a bigger budget for this show than for, say, Monsters At Work . Characters - 2/2. There are only six episodes, and each of them are only eleven minutes, so there's no serious deep character arcs or anything. But all of the characters that Baymax helps in each episode are likable and fleshed out in their own right, as they each have a backstory of sorts. Writing - 2/2. The series manages to talk about family, taking risks, food allergies, puberty, periods, time management, and owning...

  Dead End: Paranormal Park is based on the DeadEndia graphic novel series. It follows a group of kids and their horrific misadventures in Dollywood  a haunted theme park called Phoenix Park. I feel like there aren't enough horror-themed shows for kids these days. Not to mention that autistic people are underrepresented in animation, and if they are, they are just stereotypes and are bullied by the other characters. And that's not even getting into the lack of trans characters. Luckily, Dead End  delivers on all these fronts. Animation: 2/2. I quite like the animation, it is reminiscent of The Amazing World of Gumball  and Elliott From Earth. However, the best animation in the show is displayed in Episode 3, which features a unique art shift. When Norma faces her fears, the animation is rendered in a beautiful watercolor-like style. Characters: INFINITY/2. I'm serious. Practically every character on the show is lovable in their own right. As someone who is both autis...

  We'll have a gay old time, indeed. Hanna-Barbera has been an obsession of mine for almost a year now. Their cartoons are still pretty fun to watch, but they obviously run the risk of being outdated in today's society. Here, I will be speaking on Hanna-Barbera's relationship to a group I'm a part of -- the LGBT community. Obviously, due to censorship and homophobia, there couldn't be any LGBT characters on TV or in film back in the day, much less positive ones. If a gay or at least ambiguously gay character did appear, they were an unflattering stereotype (lisps, limp wrists etc). Despite this, H-B unintentionally created one of the gayest cartoon characters ever - Snagglepuss. Heavens to Murgatroyd! He's pink, is into theatre, and talks like this , even. Ever since the first Snagglepuss cartoon aired, there have been rumors and jokes that he was gay. In order to stop the rumors that the character was gay, they added a female love interest for him named Lila Li...