Jennifer Hale has enjoyed an incredible voice casting career for over three decades, with titles in her impressive resume ranging from games like Mass Effect and Halo, to animated shows like The Clone Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Her most recent high-profile role is taking over the part of Jean Grey for X-Men ’97. We had a chat with Jennifer Hale about returning to the role of the mutant telepath, a role she’s played in different iterations over several years, and guiding a newer generation of voice actors via SkillsHub.

Nerdist: You took over the role of Jean Grey from Catherine Disher, who played her in the classic X-Men show. But she is still part of this universe, because she plays Val Cooper. Did she give you any advice on playing Jean? Or did you guys even record together?

Jennifer Hale: We actually didn’t record together. But I took great inspiration from her original performance, and then was guided by the team as to exactly how they wanted to update all the different elements to bring the character to a modern audience.

A lot of the original X-Men cast returned, but both you and Ray Chase stepped in for Scott and Jean. Did you two bond at all at being the new kids, for lack of a better word?

Hale: Absolutely. It’s such an honor and a responsibility to step into a role like this. The great thing about Jean, and a lot of the Marvel universe, is I have great respect for all my peers, and one of the things about that is a lot of us share these roles. I’m not the only person to have played Jean. I’ve played other roles in the universe. I even played Rogue in various projects. And to be able to be Jean in this project really feels like winning the lottery. It’s kind of awesome.

This isn’t your first time at bat with Jean Grey. You played her in Wolverine and the X-Men, the X-Men anime, and in several different video games. Did you approach playing this Jean differently, or did you think of Jean as more or less the same across the Multiverse?

Hale: They’re all inspired by the same source material. The truth is, when I step into any role in any project, I am 1000% in service of the production and writing team. What does the team need? And one of the really, really cool things about the team on X-Men 97 is a huge number of them grew up watching the original show. They were fans, which is really exciting. And now they’re working on the show.

Of course, you didn’t just play Jean in X-Men ’97, you also played Madelyne Pryor. She might have started out as just a clone of Jean, but became her own person by the time we get to Genosha. Were there subtle differences in how you approached Maddie over Jean? Besides just getting to be almost a Disney villain when she was Goblin Queen?

Hale: Absolutely. There are distinct differences between Madelyne and Jean, and obviously, the Goblin Queen has her own lane. But yeah, very much. And that’s where I really rely on our voice director, Meredith Lane, and on the team, because having a good voice director on hand like Meredith allows me to just drop in and fully be in the moment, and not worry about whether I’m slowly migrating out of the lane that is Madeline back over into Jean. And I know she’ll guide me back in if I happen to step a little too far one way or the other.

The love triangle between Jean, Scott, and Logan has always been a huge factor in X-Men lore. And in this season, things got a little heated when Jean kissed Wolverine, in a moment when she and Scott were having problems. That’s further than the classic cartoon ever took things. How do you feel about finally giving the fans that moment?

Hale: Oh, I think it’s great. But I want to know how the fans feel about it. That’s what I want to know. I want to know what it meant to them, because that’s ultimately what we do it for, right?

Jean in the original series was almost a cliché, the way she was always fainting even though she was an Omega-level mutant. X-Men ’97 finally dropped weak Jean and showed her at full power. Were you happy that Jean finally got to let loose and show off in this series?

Hale: I was absolutely thrilled. I mean, come on. The general evolution of the way women are written now is so much better than it used to be. So much more fun. We actually get to be full human beings. We get to own our power, take our power, and quite often run things

X-Men ’97 teased the arrival of Phoenix for much of the first season, and in the finale she finally arrived. The comics have different interpretations of the Jean/Phoenix dynamic, but I’m wondering how you see things between them? Do you play it as the manifestation of Jean’s power, or an outside force that possesses her?

Hale: Jean is a channel for so many things. She’s kind of the voice of the heart of the people around her. She’s a channel for ultimate power to come through, and I think that is often my experience as a performer. So I think that’s the lens that it went through for me. Jean is a channel for the ultimate powers to move through her.

Of your many voice acting roles, which is one that is nearest and dearest to your heart?

Hale: Honestly, the thing that’s nearest and dearest to my heart is the diversity of characters. I’ve been able to play the sheer variety of roles, gives me so much.

Speaking of sheer variety of roles, you have this incredibly long resume of voice acting going back, what, 30 years, and that’s both cartoons and video games. You’ve taken a lot of those skills and you’re extending it to the next generation via something called SkillsHub. Can you explain what that is?

Hale: Yes. SkillsHub, it is a site where actors at any level can come and learn about voice acting, take the career they’ve got, and create real longevity and momentum. It started out with me just wanting help with auditions. I just needed 10 minutes with someone I trust. I didn’t need an hour of coaching, or a class. What I wanted was this calendaring system I had in my head to become a reality. And my sister said, “You need to meet my friend Bill, he’s amazing.” He built the site. He’s actually the guy who puts the stuff together, programs everything, and makes it happen. And the three of us run it.

It’s evolved into a site where it’s gone from me calling 20-something of my friends who are working actors, voice directors, and casting directors to help out people like me, other voice actors. We have a ton of free stuff. I personally, have written out these paths that are step-by-step career assembly instructions for a dozen different career paths through the voice work. And we have free stuff for members. We’ve got classes. Everything you need is right there. And now we have almost 90 coaches. We really have an incredible community.

All episodes of X-Men ’97 season one are now available on Disney+.

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Last year, the Blue Beetle live-action movie premiered to critical acclaim, but low box office. Luckily, under James Gunn, DC Studios is not abandoning the character of Jaime Reyes. Via Deadline, we’ve learned that Warner Bros. Animation and DC Studios are working on a Blue Beetle animated series. Miguel Puga (The Casagrandes) will serve as series showrunner and director, with Cristian Martinez on board as writer. The live-action Blue Beetle‘s director and writer, Angel Manuel Soto and Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, will executive produce. Blue Beetle centers on young Mexican-American El Paso native Jamie Reyes, who bonds with an alien scarab and becomes the heroic Blue Beetle.

The new Blue Beetle series will build upon the movie, but tell its own story. It seems they’ve approached cast members from the film to reprise their roles. There’s no official word yet though if star Xolo Maridueña is returning as the titular hero. However, DC Studios head James Gunn has said recently that Xolo’s version of Blue Beetle would be a part of his DCU. Could he be talking about the animated series? Gunn has said that much of the future DC animated output would tie into the live-action films and TV shows. This was something DC was often negligent about in the past.

The live-action Blue Beetle movie was created for the Max streaming service, but then bumped up to theatrical after positive test screenings. Apparently, Blue Beetle performed well enough on streaming that Warner Bros. still sees potential in the franchise. The first film left many dangling plot threads, so maybe a cartoon is as good a venue as any to wrap those up. Blue Beetle has appeared in animated form several times already. He first showed up in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, then Young Justice, Justice League Action, and several Teen Titans animated films. So we concur that it’s about time he got an animated show of his own.

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Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft is coming our way soon! The animated Netflix adventure starring Hayley Atwell gave us a new trailer and a release date of October 10. We also finally get to hear Atwell in the role. Check out everything we know about Netflix’s upcoming Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft below.

We Finally Get to Hear Hayley Atwell Voice Lara Croft

The latest tease for Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft finally gave us something we’ve all been waiting for, a taste of what Hayley Atwell will sound like as Lara Croft. It’s just as delightfully fierce and slightly snarky as we’d hoped. The trailer also hints at some deliciously dangerous adventures to come for Lara and co. You can take a look at the sneak peak at the :40 mark of the below video.

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft Teaser Trailer and Date Announcement

Netflix’s gorgeous Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft and its gorgeous teaser trailer have us absolutely buzzing. Recently, during Geeked Week, we also got a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at this new adventure. It’s been a long time since we have seen this famous adventurer swing into action, and it looks like we are in for quite the quest.

The clip reveals exactly what it should to viewers. In this Tomb Raider trailer, We get a glimpse of Lara Croft as she dives into a mysterious abyss and shoots an arrow at the camera. There’s also some intrigue as she looks at a photo of herself with a group of people, presumably friends.

Lara Croft’s video game and film history gives her a few different backstories, including everything from being an aristocrat who chooses a life of adventure following an accident to a daughter seeking answers about her mother’s disappearance. Of course, many fans are familiar with Angelina Jolie’s take on the character. She discovers the truth behind her father’s demise while also being a total badass. It remains to be seen what Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will do with her story, but the Netflix trailer does show how aesthetically pleasing this show will be. 

The Making of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft

This Tomb Raider series is produced by Legendary Television and video game development company Crystal Dynamics, with animation by Powerhouse Animation Studios. Powerhouse is the same studio behind the 2017 Castlevania TV series as well as video games like Mortal Kombat X. 

As part of its Geeked Week, Netflix showcased the creation of Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft and offered us a behind-the-scenes look at how the look of the character and series came together. Joy Hua, a character design supervisor on the series, shared that one of the main aims of the series is to bridge the Lara Croft fans know from the newer Survivor games and have her grow into the Lara Craft we fans know from the classic games. Hua also promises there will be many video game Easter eggs in the outfits and props fans see on screen, but that the series will also go to new and unexplored places.

Sounds like it will be an excellent adventure to us.

What Is Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft’s Release Date? 

Tomb Raider: The Legend of Lara Croft will hit Netflix on October 10.

Editor’s Note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Digital Networks.

Originally published on September 27, 2023.

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Getting people I know to care about Ultraman, the iconic Japanese superhero series that began in 1966, was once a herculean task. I love it, and I want to share it with other people! But the language barrier is real. The success of Shin Ultraman has made it much easier, and now that Netflix is set to debut the English-language animated film Ultraman: Rising, it’s even more so! The film comes to us from the multi-talented writer-director Shannon Tindle (Kubo and the Two Strings). He, like me, is a huge Ultraman fan, but he never set out to make a film with the giant silver kaiju-fighter. It’s a fascinating story.

I got to speak to Tindle about creating his version of Ultraman universe tied to a brand new trailer. Check out the trailer, then read my interview below.

Nerdist: I know you had this idea for years and years and years. At what point did it become clear, oh, I could actually do this idea with Ultraman? How did that whole process even come about?

Tindle: I developed the idea at another studio. The film went into turnarounds. They were very gracious about me taking it out. And when I came over to Netflix to pitch it, I came into a room with Melissa Cobb and Greg Taylor and a lot of other folks. I didn’t know there were going to be that many folks in the room. And Armi Kubian, who had just gotten back from a trip to Japan, he was living in Singapore at the time, and he said, hey, I met with Tsuburaya Productions and… there had been all these rights issues for years with the characters, and they finally got it cleared up in 2018, just as I was leaving Sony.

They’re like, how would you like to make this an Ultraman movie? And I said, well, as long as I can make this story that I wanted to tell. Because I didn’t want to make a superhero story, I wanted to make a story about family and about conflicts between parents and children. If Tsuburaya supports that, then let’s do it. I’ve met with Tsuburaya and they could not have been more kind, and they’ve been so incredibly supportive from day one, and I’ve become friends with them and they said, yeah, we want to tell the same story that you want to, and we’d love for it to be an Ultraman story. So, that’s how it came about. I keep saying like fan fiction became reality.

Man, that’s such a great story. Once Tsuburaya was on board, and it was an Ultraman movie, you got to dig through their toy box, so to speak, with all those kaiju and amazing sound effects. What was the process like of deciding what of theirs would fit into your story?

Tindle: I created, as the original Kaiju, Gigantron, before it was Ultraman and there was no reason to change her. She served purposes of the story and I did the design, so I was like, hey, I’m happy with this design and let’s do this. But I’ll never forget, the first time that we visited them was in October of 2018. And it was crazy because we got on the plane, it was when the Dodgers had that insane six hour game.

I remember getting on the plane with Melissa Cobb, who was running the division at that time, and we were about to take off and the Dodgers won. So that was like, oh my gosh, there’s this team that we’re actually featuring in the story and they’ve just won, that’s cool, and now we’re going to Japan. So, I pitched the story to Tsukagoshi-san, who’s the chairman, and CEO [of Tsuburaya] and Minamitani-san, who is kind of head of global there, and Onda-san, who is one of the creative directors there, the whole team.

They let me go through the binders of all of the Tsuburaya stuff. And that’s not just Ultraman, it was like Redman and all these other really cool characters. And I was just freaking out kind of going through it. I’m like, oh my gosh, now I’m going to take the script and I’m going to get to incorporate Ultraman into it. But really the goal was, preserve the story because everybody responded to the story. Let’s just work the mythology into the story in a way that supports the story we’re already telling. So, if we’re going to have our version of the science team—it’s what you kind of need to do when you do an Ultraman series—can we approach it in a different way?

And my point of view is like, let’s show them in a different light. Let’s show what happens if they’ve been kind of twisted from their original goals. But we wanted to have little tips of the hat to that. So, the orange costumes that KDF wear in our movie are actually inspired by the SSSP costumes in the first series. So, those were the things that, there’s the gift wrapping that you want to put on it and the frosting, but it always has to be in support of story that you’re trying to tell.

But ultimately, I wanted to make the film for people who don’t know anything about Ultraman. I wanted to get them excited by it, and as anybody who’s watched the Ultra series knows, they evolve constantly. Every couple of years, it’s a new Ultraman. So, it’s one of those characters that, because that’s traditionally what it’s been, there’s no locked-in canon. I mean, there’s some things that are kind of like afterthoughts, I think, but it allows for evolution and reimagining.

Talk about serendipity, because you were meeting with them in 2018. During the pandemic, I feel like is when people in the West really started to get—that’s when all the Blu-rays started coming out and everything like that. So, the knowledge of Ultraman in the West has really grown in the time that you’ve been making the movie.

Tindle: So, that I would say in terms of Ultraman, there’s just a… one could say serendipitous, one could say, I just waited around long enough for this whole thing.

I guess that’s true.

Tindle: But yeah, it’s been pretty incredible in that regard, that there are all these things that seem to be happening at the moment, but I still think that, although there could be a lot more awareness. When we have our test screenings, there’s still people that don’t know who Ultraman is, and they may not ever watch a superhero film. Just something they’re not interested in but they’re engaging with the film on the level that I want them to engage on, and that’s the personal emotional level.

I hope it draws people to see the film. Because I want as many people to see it as possible. But more importantly, I want them to be like, that reminds me of the arguments I’ve had with my dad, that reminds me of my little girl or my little boy. Those are the things I really want them to connect with.

On the tip of parent-children dynamics, specifically about the main character Ken Sato, there’s sort of the inherited trauma of the character, but also the inherited responsibility. He doesn’t want to be Ultraman, he doesn’t want to be a father. He just kind of wants to be this brash baseball player. What was it about that specific story that you thought a superhero movie would suit?

Tindle: Well, again, it was more about what one experiences when they go from just having to worry about themselves to having to worry about your family. So, I don’t think anybody is prepared to be a parent. I certainly wasn’t. I wanted to be a parent, I just didn’t know what that meant until I fully committed to being a parent and I had a daughter. So, I used to be able to go to a movie anytime I wanted to. I could go to the comic shop anytime I wanted to. I could go hang with friends anytime I wanted to. But when I had a daughter, I had to understand that she needed me and needed to… what I started to do, is I just got up earlier and earlier and earlier, so I could do the things that I’d like to do.

I had to find balance. And that’s what the story is about. As a parent finding balance, you’ve got so many things going on, and to me, that makes it a compelling character regardless of genre, whether it’s a superhero film or not. I just wanted to make a relatable character. Because I thought there were a lot of people who might be parents and might be young parents who go, oh my gosh, I know exactly what that feels like.

When you’re exhausted after a long day, maybe you had a tough day—in this instance, Ken is humiliated at work, but he’s still got a child to deal with when he’s at home, and he has to be patient, and he has to reserve some time for her. There are times with my daughter where I would be playing with her on the floor and I would fall asleep playing with her. And I can still remember I’m just fading out of consciousness.

But that’s what it’s like to be a parent, is there’s this imbalance at first because you’ve got this new life that’s been brought into your life and disrupts it, and then how do you find a way to make it all work? And that seemed like a compelling story to me, and something that wasn’t typical of a superhero story. I mean, you could look at The Incredibles, which is a beautiful example of that. And of course, if you look at Spider-Verse now, those films work because people connect with them in an emotional way. Not because they’re superhero stories, not because it’s a Spider-Man story, but because they told compelling stories about interesting people. And so, I hope we did the same with this film.

Before I let you go, what is your favorite of the Ultraman special moves that you got to put into the film?

Tindle: I had to have Ultra Slash in there. I think that’s unique with the buzzsaw. It’s such a unique weapon that Ultraman uses, and it had to be in the movie, but I wanted it to be in defense of a Kaiju rather than to attack a Kaiju. So again, to turn those things on their heads, where Ultraman is using his powers to help a creature rather than to hurt it. So, Ultra Slash is a big one that’s up there. And then the other big one, I think fans are going to be happy.

Ultraman: Rising debuts on Netflix June 14

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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Teenage animator Preston Mutanga has gained a lot of online fame for his LEGO recreations of popular TV shows and films. His work is so beloved that Marvel tapped him to create the LEGO sequence in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Surely, he’s still bragging to his family and friends about such an incredible opportunity. It is an Oscar-nominated animated film, after all. We also loved his recreation of the Stranger Things 4: Volume 2 trailer, and now he’s back again with a LEGO version of the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer. Just imagine the awesome things he will continue to do in the future!

You can check out his LEGO Deadpool & Wolverine trailer below:

There are many reasons why Preston’s work is impressive. First, the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer hit the internet a little over a week before his recreation. That’s a quick turnaround for someone who also juggles life as a full-time student. Then, there’s the actual LEGO trailer itself, which really captures all the Deadpool and Wolverine goodness. Seeing Wolverine’s shadowy LEGO hands turn into claws is so much fun. We would honestly watch the whole film in LEGO form at this point. The comments under this video heap lots of praise on him, with one person deeming him the “LEGO Jesus.” This is both hilarious and true.

Surely, Deadpool would absolutely love to have a LEGO sequence of himself come to life. We know Ryan Reynolds does since he retweeted the original LEGO Deadpool & Wolverine teaser Mutanga made. Hopefully, we will see more of Mutanga’s work on the big screen in the very near future.

Until then, we are waiting for Deadpool & Wolverine to arrive in theaters on July 26.

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Are you ready to go Plus Ultra, My Hero Academia fans? Because we have some news that will make you cry tears of joy like Deku watching All Might do literally anything. Legendary has announced that it will produce a live-action feature film adaptation of Shueisha’s mega-popular manga series, My Hero Academia (or Boku no Hero Academia). Created by Kohei Horikoshi in 2014 and published by Shueisha in Weekly Shonen Jump, My Hero Academia has sold over 50 million copies worldwide, generating five seasons of anime as well as an animated feature film, too. This marks the first live-action adaptation of My Hero Academia. And, most recently, reports share that this My Hero Academia movie will head to Netflix. Obi-Wan Kenobi writer Joby Harold will pen the screenplay. Harold recently noted that the project is still a go and is something that he is “actively working on.”

Funimation

The film will be produced by Legendary, with Mary Parent and Alex Garcia overseeing on their behalf, and Ryosuke Yoritomi shepherding the project for Shueisha. Toho will distribute the film in Japan. The film has also found its director in Shinsuke Sato. Sato has directed many anime adaptations over the years. His work includes I Am a Hero, Bleach, Death Note: New Generation, and Death Note: Light Up the New World. He also directed Alice in Borderland for Netflix.

Although specific details of the live-action My Hero Academia project remain unknown, Joby Harold recently confirmed that it is definitely happening. He shared with Collider, “Yes, it is… Absolutely. It is something I’m working on and loving working on. I’m excited to do it and get it out there. It’s a big one.” And he further noted “Yeah,” when asked if it is a project he is “actively working on.”

For those not in the know, My Hero Academia is a wildly popular story about a world in which approximately 80% of humanity has developed superhuman abilities of some kind. These powers–known as quirks–have led to the rise of superheroes and supervillains alike. Some powers are great like possessing super-speed or superhuman strength. Others, however, are more questionable in their utility… For example, the power to shoot out a super-sticky tape from one’s elbows or to shoot a laser beam from your belly button.

Our story focuses on Izuku Midoriya, a young boy obsessed with superheroes despite having no quirk of his own. But all of that changes one day after a chance encounter with his idol, the barrel-chested avatar of justice, All-Might. Izuku finally inherits a quirk of his own and enrolls at U.A. High School, one of the most prestigious hero academies in the world. And with that, Izuku’s quest to become the world’s greatest hero truly begins.

The sixth season of My Hero Academia‘s anime adaptation aired this year and a seventh is upcoming. Those wanting to catch up on its episodes can stream the anime online. Like many shounen anime, it is full of epic battles, outsized characters, and unbridled earnestness. It makes for an incredibly addictive combination that will have you watching into the wee hours of the morning. In 2018, the franchise also released an animated feature film, My Hero Academia: Two Heroes. It made more than $5.7 million at the box office and secured a spot on the top 10 highest-grossing domestic anime films of all time, at the time of its release.

In addition to My Hero Academia, Legendary has released several other films based on highly anticipated Japanese properties. In 2019, Legendary launched both Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Detective Pikachu, followed by Godzilla vs. Kong in March 2021 as well as the recent Monarch: Legacy of Monsters series. In other words, it’s a great time to be a fan of kaiju, tokusatsu, and anime making their way to the big screen.

Originally published on October 24, 2018.

Editor’s note: Nerdist is a subsidiary of Legendary Pictures.

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The Halloween 2023 episode of Critical Role brought joy to the hearts of many fans, as it featured a brand new title sequence. Fans were surprised to see the Bells Hells adventuring party, now rendered in stunning animation. We learned (via Comic Book Resources) that the new title sequence paid homage in different ways to each of the character’s backstories, and had shout-outs to current campaigns. You can watch the full title sequence for the Halloween episode of Critical Role below. After the title sequence ends, you can see the Critical Role cast actually react to seeing it for the first time.

In this year’s Halloween episode, the Critical Role cast wore costumes based on the Lord of the Rings characters. In the actual episode, we witnessed the Bells Hells return to Whitestone. There, they crossed paths with several iconic Vox Machina characters. The special animated credits came courtesy of Kamille Areopagita, Kevin Areopagita, Mark Adams, and Peggy Shi. Critical Role’s Mighty Nein campaign also showcased a fan-favorite animated intro. And ever since, Critical Role fans have wanted to see the Bells Hells get some animated love too. And now, their wish has come true.

This latest version of Campaign 3’s opening title sequence is the third one overall. And so far, every version has had the theme song “It’s Thursday Night,” sung by the cast, in some form. One version of Campaign 3’s opening introduction had the cast dressing up as explorers. Versions without all the fantasy trappings. Meanwhile, another had Bells Hells rotoscoped in watercolor style. We highly doubt the Halloween episode of Critical Role is the last time we’ll see an animated opening sequence. The Bells Hells will return in both their animated and live-action character forms on Thursdays in November at 7 PT, on Twitch and YouTube.

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Walt Disney arrived in Los Angeles 100 years ago this year, and with his brother Roy, founded the “Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios.” From that seed, an empire of animated classics was born. As Walt was fond of saying, “It all started with a mouse.” But it quickly expanded beyond Mickey Mouse, and now includes a metric ton of beloved characters. To celebrate 100 years, Walt Disney Animation Studios has crafted a short film called Once Upon a Studio. In it, Mickey Mouse gathers hundreds of his fellow cartoon icons together for a group photo on the Disney lot. You can watch the first trailer for it right here.

This short will feature a mix of old and new Disney animated icons. Some were voiced by their original actors in new recordings, others using archival audio from classic films. Returning voice actors include Jodi Benson as The Little Mermaid’s Ariel, Paige O’Hara as Belle from Beauty and the Beast, and Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, and Josh Gad from Frozen. Even Dwayne Johnson pops up as Maui from Moana. In terms of archival footage, you can hear Bobby Driscoll as Peter Pan in the trailer. The film also uses archival audio of Sterling Holloway as Winnie the Pooh. Even Robin Williams as the Genie shows up, using unused recordings from Aladdin.

Ultimately, some 400 animated characters from a century of films appear in this short film. So it’ll invite repeat viewings to see just which characters made the final cut. They premiered Once Upon a Studio in June at the Annecy Film Festival, and it debuts on broadcast on October 15 on ABC’s The Wonderful World of Disney: Disney’s 100th Anniversary Celebration. It feels like this one will be a real treat for all true Disney animation fans.

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It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It is … Jack Quaid’s Man of Steel! Adult Swim, Warner Bros. Animation, and DC have released a new trailer for the upcoming series My Adventures With Superman. And if you thought it was already hard enough for a young person entering the workforce, wait until you see how tough it is while also learning how to be a superhero at the same time. The trailer for My Adventures With Superman also reveals its July release date.

As we can see in the trailer, Clark Kent’s story will get a modern day twist on My Adventures With Superman. We’ll be joining Krypton’s favorite son at the start of both of his professional careers. The show will follow young Clark at the onset of his budding journalism work alongside his new friends. Only, he’ll be doing that while learning about himself, developing romantic feeling for his co-worker, and being a superhero. Here’s the show’s official synopsis from Adult Swim:

My Adventures with Superman is a serialized coming-of-age story catching up with twenty-somethings Clark Kent, the bright and driven Lois Lane, and their best friend Jimmy Olsen as they begin to discover who they are and everything they can accomplish together as an investigative reporting team at the Daily Planet. The story follows Clark as he builds his secret identity as Superman and explores his own mysterious origins. Lois, on her way to becoming a star reporter, teams up with photographer Jimmy Olsen to break the stories that matter. All the while, Clark and Lois are falling in love… as Lois gets closer and closer to uncovering his secret identity!  Our trio share adventures, take down bad guys, stumble over secrets, and discover what it means to be heroes in their own right.

Plus—we get a tease of the show’s fun new theme song and opening sequence. The music is by punk band Kyle Troop & The Heretics, and the theme song and opening really set the tone for the series to come. We don’t yet know if this is an abridged version of the opening or not, but we like what we have so far. And we can’t wait to see this version of the Man of Steel fly into action.

In addition to Quaid’s Kent, the show stars Alice Lee as Lois Lane and Ishmel Sahid as Jimmy. My Adventures With Superman debuts at Adult Swim with two episodes at midnight on July 6. New episodes will follow every Thursday. They’ll then be available on Max the next day.

That’s good in case you miss them live—no way a young Superman would already have time travel figured out at this point in his careers.

Originally published on June 5, 2023.

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Before there was the classic animated series The Clone Wars, there was just simply Clone Wars. These days, everyone knows the seven-season, 133-episode series was peak Star Wars, introducing us to iconic characters like Ahsoka Tano. But five years earlier, in 2003, Lucasfilm had another animated show about the prequel-era conflict, animated by Samurai Jack creator Genndy Tartakovsky. Although very short, about three minutes per episode, fans loved the over-the-top kinetic action. As the classic Clone Wars series approaches its 20th anniversary, its creator Genndy Tartakovsky took questions about the series from fans.

Taking questions from Twitter for Wired, Tartakovsky answered the most commonly asked question about Clone Wars. Just why were the episodes so darn short? Well, in the video below, he says George Lucas originally wanted them even shorter, just a minute long. Lucas had been burned letting others handle his baby on TV before. Does anyone remember the Star Wars Holiday Special? But Tartakovsky convinced him to go for a longer runtime. And we’re so glad he did.

In another question, a fan asked how Clone Wars pulled off the 3D animation. Now, Tartakovsky animated his series traditionally, 2D style. But there were some early CGI elements to it, like the ships. Other 2D Cartoon Network shows at the time like Justice League Unlimited also experimented with CGI vehicles. You can hear Tartokovsky talk about the challenges of pioneering 3D animation in Star Wars long before Ahsoka ever picked up a lightsaber down below:

We’d love for Genndy Tartakovsky to tackle another 2D Star Wars cartoon again. Can you imagine a Tartakovsky-style series featuring the original trilogy characters or The Mandalorian? Maybe for a future Star Wars: Visions it could happen. We can dream, right? In the meantime, the entire Clone Wars micro-series is on Disney+. Do yourself a favor and check them out. They may not be canon, but they’re incredible.

The post Original CLONE WARS Cartoon Director Explains Why It Was So Short appeared first on Nerdist.

The 1990s gave kids some of the very best action-adventure cartoons ever. I say this not only as an action-figure-buying ’90s kid, but as a consumer of all manner of animated media. Sure, a lot of them were just lengthy toy adverts, but they were no less exciting and deep. While Warner Bros. Animation’s Batman: The Animated Series stands as the very best of this crop of shows, which ushered in the DC Animated Universe, Marvel had a whole bumper crop of cartoons in the decade. Without those, as Nerdist‘s Eric Diaz posits, we wouldn’t have the MCU as we know it.

But not all of the ’90s Marvel cartoons are created equal! And it’s up to me (according to me) to rank all of them, from worst to best. It’s a more varied list than you might expect. Luckily, if you want to watch any of these, they’re all on Disney+ now.

9. The Avengers: United They Stand (1999-2000)

You very well might be saying to yourself, “What is this show?” And that’s not unreasonable. By the time the show debuted on Fox Kids, interest in these kinds of animated shows had started to wain. I actually didn’t know The Avengers: United They Stand existed until very recently. It consists of only a single, 13-episode season and, uhh, there’s kind of a reason it didn’t last beyond that.

For the series, the makers used largely the roster from the ’80s West Coast Avengers: Ant-Man and the Wasp led the team, while other members included Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, Vision, Falcon, Tigra, and Hawkeye. A solid lineup, certainly. However, the characterizations of most of these characters just feels very off, especially Hawkeye who is supremely self-serious and angry. In order to compete with WB’s Batman Beyond, the series takes place in a non-specific future and all of the Avengers have borderline sci-fi costumes. It also doesn’t help that the animation was not nearly on the level of other shows at the time. It looks cheap and feels it.

8. Fantastic Four Season One (1994-1995)

Just like how the Fox movies never quite nailed its take on Marvel’s First Family, so too did the syndicated animated series have trouble finding its tone. So much so that its two seasons may as well be two separate shows. And so that’s how I’ve delineated them!

Now, your mileage may absolutely vary on this choice, but the first season of the Fantastic Four animated series just really doesn’t work for me. Despite having a very respectable roster of villains and storylines, the tone is way too goofy. It feels at times much more like a sitcom than an action-adventure show, and that also holds for the animation style. Much swimmier and more elastic than the other “realistic” shows in the lineup. Hell, just watch the first episode where Gary Owens plays a talk show host interviewing the FF about how they got their powers. It’s just not great.

7. Spider-Man: Unlimited (1999-2001)

Remember what I was saying about the above Avengers series trying to be like Batman Beyond? Well that was the second attempt. The first attempt was much more overt, and more successful. In a particularly weird twist, Peter Parker from our present gets flung into a dystopian Counter-Earth and resumes his Spider-Manning with different versions of his villains while also aiding in the war between the humans and the Beastials.

This is a very weird cartoon, surely, and it felt like they were trying to do Spider-Man 2099 without doing anything that that comic did. The result is a radically different, while still at times painfully repetitive, take on the Spider-Man story. The designs are pretty good and Spider-Man having a nanotech suit is pretty neat, but it all feels a bit grimdark for no reason and was definitely trying too hard to ape Batman Beyond. This one also only lasted 13 episodes, but had a huge gap in the middle of airing.

6. The Incredible Hulk (1996-1997)

This is the just-okayest cartoon on the list, in my humble opinion. The Incredible Hulk might arguably have the best, smoothest animation of any of the shows, but its formula is a particularly tired one, even for only 21 episodes. It follows everything you’ve probably assumed; Dr. Bruce Banner is on the run from the U.S. military and General Thunderbolt Ross, his Hulk side too dangerous to be left alone. Along the way, as Banner/Hulk destroys millions of dollars worth of government property, he also helps people and fights some heavy hitting villains, such as Abomination, Doctor Doom, and the Leader. It’s all very bog standard.

The second season, which is only eight episodes, saw a full-time team-up with Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk and the plots became a bit sillier. While the quality of the series never really dipped during its run, it never quite hit the heights of series further down the list either. The best part of the whole thing was probably Lou Ferrigno, who played the Hulk in the ’70s live-action series, voicing the Hulk here. And we got some fun crossovers with other UPN series of the bunch. But yeah, it’s fine, nothing more.

5. Fantastic Four Season Two (1995-1996)

Both the Fantastic Four series and another one we’ll get to in a moment had drastic retooling in their second seasons. I’ve already said how much the overt comedy of the first season didn’t work for me. The second, however, I think is a legitimately good show. It still keeps the fun and exuberance you want from a Fantastic Four show, but it takes its topics, and characters, much more seriously.

While the first season had introduced the big FF villains Doctor Doom and Galactus in multi-episode arcs, the second season did much more with both of them, plus introduced Daredevil, Black Panther, and the Inhumans. I was fully prepared to put both seasons of this show pretty low on my list, but after my recent rewatch, I have to bump this one up. It’s a good season. Not perfect, but it does justice to the characters which, again, seems very hard to do for some reason.

4. Iron Man (1994-1996)

I would argue—and I might not even need to do it that emphatically—that when the Iron Man movie came out in 2008, an entire generation only really knew him from this two-season cartoon. Despite him being one of the most important Marvel Universe figures, he’d not really gotten much push outside of comics since the mid-’60s with the terrible “animated” series. It’s certainly how I knew about Tony Stark, Rhodey, Hawkeye, Mandarin, and a dozen or so other Marvel heroes and villains.

This is another series that got a drastic revision between its first and second season, but while the second season is better than the first (which I’ll get to in a minute), I actually like both seasons well enough to put them comfortably here on the list as a whole. The first season is a bright kind of villain-of-the-week series, with Tony, Rhodey, and a number of other heroes working together to fight bad guys. Each episode is standalone and the resolutions are neat and tidy. The second season sees Tony dealing with a season-long injury, upgraded armor, and serialized storytelling. It’s much more serious and has a darker look to boot.

Definitely personal biases showing, but I thought this show was incredible when I was a kid, and it’s the reason I like War Machine as a character so much. Sure, Iron Man was the main character, but War Machine was the real badass.

3. Silver Surfer (1998)

I knew this show existed at the time, but I never watched it as a kid. It wasn’t until the early days of quarantine back in 2020, when I was looking for something to watch to take my mind off of everything, that I finally watched the 13-episode Silver Surfer cartoon. Boy, do I both wish I’d watched this at the time, and that I’d been millions of people so that they could have kept making it. I was so impressed by this series—which followed Norrin Radd from family man on the planet Zenn-La to Herald of Galactus to galaxy-roaming cosmic hero. The cel-shading look really made the space adventures pop, even if it retained the limited mobility of some other series of the time.

Not only that, but in only 13 episodes we got a bevy of other Marvel Cosmic characters. Galactus, of course, but also Thanos, Adam Warlock, Gamora, Drax, Nebula, Pip the Troll, Beta Ray Bill, Ego the Living Planet, and Uatu the Watcher. Legitimately the only negative thing I can say about it, other than its abbreviated length, is its CGI is a bit dated. Big whoop.

2. Spider-Man: The Animated Series (1994-1998)

The top two are pretty much no-brainers; the only real question is the order. It’s definitely down to a question of preference, but in either case, no one can dispute the quality and influence of Spider-Man on future superhero shows. This series, especially on rewatch, feels so packed with story, character, and action that you could easily double the seasons just to fit in everything. The story of college student Peter Parker and his never-ending fight against New York City’s billion villains made a major impression on me as a young and burgeoning comic fan, and this series gives you just about everything you could hope for, with a couple of network-mandated caveats.

Spider-Man wasn’t allowed to punch anyone, for fear kids would emulate it. Instead, he only kicks or swing-kicks, or throws things using his webbing. I never noticed as a kid. Another weird mandate was that Morbius (you know, the Living Vampire) was not allowed to drink blood. He instead sucked “plasma” out of people using a lamprey-like sucker in the palm of his hand. It’s weird more than anything. Also what’s Blade doing if he’s not hunting vampires? I dunno, man.

At any rate, the Spider-Man series followed its villain-of-the-week first season with a series of very lengthy serialized adventures. By the end of the show’s surprisingly consistent five-season run, we got everything from Secret Wars to Spider-Verse precursors, and all the villains you could imagine. It’s a great show, just great.

1. X-Men: The Animated Series (1992-1997)

Come on, did you think it could be anything else?! The first, the best, the reason the rest of the ’90s cartoons got a chance. X-Men may not have the animation quality of some of the other shows on the list—and heaven knows the last season looks pretty darn bad—but not a more iconic show exists in the canon. Utilizing the then-mega-popular Jim Lee redesigns and adapting a ton of Chris Claremont’s classic comics arcs, X-Men gave us mature stories and characters dealing with heavy, real-world allegories and a complex, unfolding narrative.

Honestly, I’m not sure what more I can say that hasn’t already been said by a million other people. I’ll just say, the same way Kevin Conroy’s voice rings in my head when I read a Batman comic, the Canadian voice cast of X-Men: TAS rings when I read any X-title. Especially Lenore Zann as Rogue, Cal Dodd as Wolverine, Cedric Smith as Professor X, and John Colicos as Apocalypse. For whatever reason, those are the ones that remain unchanged in 30 years.

It’s not perfect, but it’s perfect, ya know?

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

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One of the casualties of David Zaslav’s draconian gutting of HBO Max has been upcoming DC animated series. Luckily, it seems, some of them have gotten reprieves from other networks. Bruce Timm’s highly anticipated return to Batman will head to Prime, for example. Another of these is My Adventures with Superman, a lighthearted take on Clark Kent’s first years in Metropolis getting to know Lois Lane and Jimmy Olsen. That show will now air on Adult Swim, and we have a first look teaser for it below.

The Boys star Jack Quaid provides the voice of Clark/Superman in this series. Funny that in real life he’d absolutely play Jimmy Olsen, but I digress. The animation style is evocative of the old Fleischer cartoons from the ’40s while still having a distinctive modern edge. Fans of the animation style of things like Voltron: Legendary Defender and The Legend of Korra will likely enjoy this.

My Adventures with Superman from creator Jake Wyatt will debut on Adult Swim “soon,” which can’t come soon enough as far as we’re concerned. The world needs a new Superman cartoon.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Instagram and Letterboxd.

The post First Teaser for Adult Swim’s MY ADVENTURES WITH SUPERMAN Looks Very Old School appeared first on Nerdist.

What do you get when you combine a teen genius, a big red dinosaur, skates, and lots of quirky (and lowkey) shenanigans? You get Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur! This animated series will bring Lunella “Moon Girl” Lafayette to the small screen via Disney+ and expand out her comic story. She’s a NYC native and one of the smartest kids on the planet who ends up gaining special powers and a big ole T-Rex named Devil Dinosaur as her sidekick. The Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur show will release on February 10, 2023 and, if the trailer is any indication, it will usher in a new group of Marvel fans. 

In the Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur trailer, which premiered at D23, we meet the 13-year-old protagonist Lunella (Diamond White). She’s very, very hyperactive, a bit nerdy, and very determined to make a difference. Lunella seems to have it all: a loving family, her bestie Casey, and a cool pair of rollerskates. She’s working on some secret project when she opens a portal and, to her shock, a big red dino rolls into her secret lab. Together, they try to protect her Lower East Side neighborhood from the many dangers in the Marvel universe.

Things go awry, however; her family reminds her that when adversity comes, they roll with the punches. Like everything we have seen from Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, this Moon Girl trailer is incredibly cute and clearly aimed at a younger audience. But, no matter what your age is, there’s something to love and admire about Lunella. 

It’s not clear if Lunella will have powers in this series. In the comics, she’s an inhuman who gains powers through terrigen mist. But we do know that her costume will be the same and she’s got a dino. That’s a superpower in many ways. Either way, she’s bringing her Moon Girl Magic to TV really soon, so prepare to roll with her wacky and fun adventures.

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It’s a long tradition. The “cute baby version” of a popular cartoon character. Sometimes it’s junior versions of Fred Flintstone or the Muppets. And sometimes, it’s Scrappy-Doo. But did you know that the King of the Monsters, Godzilla, also had an adorable baby version of himself in his own ’70s cartoon series? He sure did. And his name was Godzooky.

But half of the animated adventures of Godzilla and Godzooky have been unavailable to the public for decades, for unknown reasons. But just announced by Toho, the long-lost second season of Godzilla is coming exclusively to their Godzilla Official YouTube channel, starting on June 6. You can watch the trailer for Godzilla season two right here:

Godzilla premiered in 1978, and was created by Hanna-Barbera, the kings of Saturday morning cartoons in the ’70s and ’80s. In the cartoon, Godzilla was in full “good guy mode,” helping the crew of the Calico, a hydrofoil research ship. Whenever bad kaiju reared their ugly heads out of the water, the Calico crew had a signal with which they could summon Godzilla. And he’d always bring his little nephew along, Godzooky.

Hanna-Barbera never answered who the heck Godzilla’s sibling was that spawned this nephew, figuring kids wouldn’t care where he came from. (Spoiler alert: We DID want to know). Godzooky had little wings and always tried to breathe fire like his Uncle, but they were usually just smoke rings. Honestly, Godzooky kind of got in the way, but we loved him anyway. Who wouldn’t love a baby Godzilla?? Hanna-Barbera knew their audience.

The show ran for two seasons on NBC, with its final episode airing in 1979. It also ran on Tokyo Channel 12 in Japan. Twenty years later, in 1998, there was another Godzilla cartoon show. But that one was tied into the 1998 movie, which had the totally wrong-looking Godzilla. Also, there was no Godzooky, which instantly made the 1978 series superior. Fans will soon be able to binge the original (and best) Godzilla toon in its entirety on June 6.

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As we look back at all the great films from the auspicious summer of 1982, one film immediately sticks out as an all-time childhood favorite of mine. Adapted from the 1971 Newbery Medal-winning children’s novel by Robert C. O’Brien, The Secret of NIMH tells the story of timid widowed field mouse Mrs. Brisby (changed from Frisby in the novel), who must seek the aid of the mystical and powerful Nicodemus in order to save her son’s life. The film not only introduced children to a darker style of animation mostly reserved for older audiences (think Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat, John Wilson’s Shinbone Alley, and René Laloux’ Fantastic Planet), it marked a watershed moment in independent animation. For a time, many considered the man behind it, Don Bluth, a savior of artist-driven animation.

Bluth began his animation career working on Disney’s Sleeping Beauty before leaving the industry for a ten year period to serve on a mission in Argentina and complete his college degree. He then returned to the field doing layout animations for Filmation, mostly working on The Archie Show and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Back at Disney, he worked on films like Robin Hood and The Rescuers, while also working on an independent short called Banjo the Woodpile Cat. Originally optioned in 1959, Margery Sharp’s books were brought back to the studio as a project for its younger animators, with The Rescuers becoming the highest grossing animated film at the time. Bluth’s next assignment was to work on the animated portions of Pete’s Dragon and later The Fox and the Hound.

However, in the midst of production Bluth, along with fellow animators ​​Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, left Disney because they felt the production process was deteriorating and the studio had little respect for the quality of their artistry. Eleven more animators would leave the House of Mouse the next day. Bluth later stated he did not like working in a corporate structure where decisions were dictated according to profit and loss. This company-wide walkout resulted in a delayed release for The Fox and the Hound and Disney would spend most of the 1980s trying to recover, releasing just four more features that decade. Of course the last of those four films, The Little Mermaid, released in 1989, would mark the beginning of the era known as the Disney Renaissance. But for most of the decade, at least artistically, Bluth reigned supreme. 

Along with several other ex-Disney animators and execs, Bluth founded his own independent animation studio Don Bluth Productions. Their first project was the animation sequences on the 1980 musical fantasy Xanadu, starring Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly. The studio then started work on their first feature film adaptation: The Secret of NIMH. According to ​​author John Cawley in his book The Animated Films of Don Bluth, Bluth learned about the book when it was first offered to Disney in the early ’70s. They turned it down, reportedly saying, “We’ve already got a mouse and we’ve done a mouse movie [The Rescuers].” Of course, after the release of The Secret of NIMH, Disney released another mouse oriented film: 1986’s The Great Mouse Detective. 

Animation historian Jerry Beck recalled seeing early footage of NIHM, saying it was the greatest thing he’d ever seen, “It looked like Disney animation from the forties, only darker. It was as lavish as anything from Bambi or Fantasia, only slightly subversive.” The first draft of the script by Steven Barnes was much closer to the novel, but Bluth revised it, adding fantastical elements because he felt “animation calls for some magic, to give it a special “fantastic” quality.”

What does remain in Bluth’s version of the film are the themes of courage in regards to Mrs. Brisby’s emotional journey, and the exploration of the nation’s growing anxiety over unethical medical and scientific practices as seen through the backstory of the rats who were experimented on by NIMH, aka the National Institute of Mental Health. This storyline in the original book was inspired by the real experiments conducted by John B. Calhoun at the institute in the 1940s and 1950s. 

Working at first inside Bluth’s garage, and later in a proper studio located in Studio City, many animators worked long hours, with producer Gary Goldman recalling 110-hour work weeks towards the end of the film’s production. Little money was offered up front; animators received a share of the profits, a first for artists working below the line on a film. United Artists acquired the completed film. The studio had success releasing animated features like Yellow Submarine and Lord of the Rings (1979) in the past. However, the studio chose a regional release strategy rather than a national release, starting it out in 100 theaters before platforming to only 700 theaters at its widest release. Although it did better per theater than several other films that summer, The Secret of NIMH ultimately couldn’t overcome a film about a little lost alien, E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.

Due to the film’s moderate box office, Bluth Studios briefly pivoted to developing the LaserDisc games Dragon’s Lair and Space Age. However, E.T. director Steven Spielberg approached Bluth to direct a project originally developed as a television special that he felt had potential to be a feature film. Inspired by the beautiful animation on The Secret of NIMH, Spielberg hired Bluth to helm An American Tail. It follows a small mouse named Fievel Mousekewitz who finds himself separated from his family when they emigrate from Russia to the United States. Production was difficult, with Spielberg unfamiliar with just how much work goes into the animation process. Despite Bluth’s clashes with Amblin and Universal, An American Tail got good reviews and became the highest grossing non-Disney animated film at the time of its release. 

They partnered again on The Land Before Time, an adventure-drama that follows an orphaned dinosaur named Littlefoot who meets a rag-tag bunch of lone dinosaurs on his way to find his grandparents in the Great Valley. Again featuring darker themes, these dinosaurs face famine, grief, loneliness, and overcome prejudice as they come of age on their journey. Although the film was again critically and financially successful (and spawned a whopping thirteen direct-to-video sequels), Bluth parted ways with Spielberg, returning to a more independent way of working for his next few projects. 

Bluth’s final success in the 1980s, co-directed with Gary Goldman and Dan Kuenster, All Dogs Go to Heaven starred the voice talent of Burt Reynolds as a gambling dog named Charlie B. Barkin who is murdered by his partner Carface (Vic Tayback), escapes from Heaven in order to exact revenge along with his right-hand man Itchy (Dom DeLuise), but ultimately finds himself reformed after meeting a kind-hearted orphan named Anne-Marie (Judith Barsi, who was brutally murdered before the film’s release). A truly weird film with absolutely gorgeous animation, it was a moderate box office success, later becoming a cult classic of the VHS era, once again spawning numerous direct-to-video sequels. 

Following All Dogs Go To Heaven, Bluth’s reign began to falter in the midst of the Disney Renaissance. While that studio had hits like Beauty and The Beast (which became the first animated film nominated for the Best Picture Oscar), Aladdin, and The Lion King, Bluth Studios (then called Sullivan Bluth Studios) produced a series of critical and box office failures like Rock-a-Doodle, Thumbelina, A Troll in Central Park, and The Pebble and the Penguin. That said, I for one feel that Rock-a-Doodle deserves a re-examination. Not just for its interesting mixture of live-action and animation, but because of its clearly very angry insider look at the politics of entertainment and how artists become commodities. 

Despite all this, then-chairman of 20th Century Fox, Bill Mechanic, hired Don Bluth and Gary Goldman to launch their new animation studio Fox Animation. The short-lived studio used a digital ink and paint technique, which scans traditional hand-drawn animation into a computer, rather than transferring to cels. Their first film Anastasia starring Meg Ryan as the titular fallen Russian princess, was both a critical and box office success, grossing $140M world wide and receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Original Song. Unfortunately, Bluth and Goldman’s next film for the studio, Titan A.E., a post-apocalyptic science fiction adventure film starring Matt Damon, was a box office disaster and the studio closed shortly after its release. It only fully produced two feature films. Created as a direct competitor to Disney, Fox Animation and its films became part of the Disney catalog after the company acquired 20th Century Fox in 2019. 

Bluth and Goldman launched a Kickstarter in 2015 in an attempt to raise funds to adapt their game Dragon’s Lair into a feature-length traditionally hand drawn animated film. They failed to reach their goal, but later launched an IndieGoGo campaign which ultimately raised over $700K. Netflix picked up the project in early 2020 with aims for Ryan Reynolds to star in the adaptation. However, there have been no updates on the production since a postponement during the beginning of the pandemic. Later in 2020, Bluth announced he’d launched a new studio with the goal of igniting a new renaissance for hand drawn animation. 

While no new projects have come about since the studio’s launch, Bluth’s YouTube channel has hours of awe-inspiring behind-the-scenes videos of the master in action. He’s also been working on a memoir, which is slated for release later this summer. Which is the perfect way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Secret of NIMH, and the summer in which he helped usher in a new wave of animation whose ripples we still feel today. 

The post How THE SECRET OF NIMH Proved Don Bluth Could Beat Disney appeared first on Nerdist.

The latest video from MetaBallStudios combines two of our favorite things, zen size comparisons and giant robots. While these two things may not seem like they go together, MetaBallStudios makes it work. And so, through the power of well-crafted animation, we take a tour of all our favorite pop-culture mechas and see how they stack up against one another when it comes to size. And as a bonus, we experience it all with the backdrop of a great soundtrack. Giant piloted robots live in anime, movies, and more, but which ones stand tall among the rest? Let’s take a look.

For those who don’t know, a mecha is defined as “a large armored robot, typically controlled by a person riding inside the robot itself.” “Mecha” is also sometimes spelled “Meka.” Of course, it sounds like the word stems from mechanical, but MetaBallStudios took a few liberties with the exact definition in this size comparison video. We absolutely love that they included Alfredo Linguini from Ratatouille. While Ratatouille’s hero might not be a traditional mecha, we must admit that when Remy controls Alfredo, it gives off serious Pacific Rim vibes. And that’s what makes these videos so great.

Of course, not all mecha are giant robots; some are actually tiny robots. According to MetaBallStudios, one of the smallest mecha around is Emmet’s Construct-O-Mech from The Lego Movie. This mecha is only approximately 30 cm, a true robot baby. Meanwhile, other familiar mecha such as the MCU’s Hulkbuster armor, Star Wars‘ AT-ST Walker, Power Rangers‘ Megazord, and Pacific Rim‘s Gipsy Danger reach a little higher.

But none of these robots, not Voltron: Legendary Defender‘s Voltron, not even Mechagodzilla, come close to reaching the highest heights of giant robots. As the video draws to a close, we blast off into space. And there, we see that some mecha exist on a cosmic scale. Getter Emporer from Getter Robo rivals the Milky Way in size. But who is the most giant robot of all, you ask? Well, that honor goes to Gurren Lagann’s Super Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. This “colossal, mech-like mass of energy” is greater in size than the observable universe. Phew, a giant robot indeed.

The post Mecha Size Comparison Reveals Giant Robots Larger Than Known Universe appeared first on Nerdist.

If you want animation that pushes boundaries then Netflix’s Love Death + Robots is not for you. Because the series doesn’t push them. It’s not even aware boundaries exist. Through two seasons that has led to one of the most wild and most unpredictable shows on television. It’s also one of the best. The anthology series already has 11 Emmy wins. Now the new trailer for Volume 3 promises nine installments that will keep the surreal fun going. But this season will have something the first two didn’t: executive producer David Fincher as a director for an episode. It marks his debut heading up a cartoon.

What other show offers negotiations with sea monsters, organized rat battalions, killer robots with sass, and journeys through eons of thought? Exactly. You don’t even need to see a trailer to know that can only be Love Death + Robots. This season’s worth of animation and story is everything we’ve come to expect from the show.

You can find the full rundown of all nine Volume 3 episodes below. The lineup includes “Bad Travelling,” the first-ever animated work directed by Fincher (MINDHUNTER, Mank) himself. He executive produces the show alongside Tim Miller (Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate). The two will also participate in a Livestream Q and A alongside “Kill Team Kill” director Jennifer Yuh ahead of the season’s premiere. That event will also include showings from the best of Volumes 1 and 2, as well as a sneak peak at Volume 3. It takes place on May 10 at Alamo Drafthouse theaters in the US. You can sign up to attend at a location near you via Alamo’s official website.

We’re sure fans will love hearing from the people behind the show. We don’t think the screening, nor the panel, will include any death or even any robots. But with this show we can’t totally rule it out either.

Love, Death + Robots Volume 3 premieres on Netflix May 20.

Love, Death + Robots Volume 3 Episode List

Three Robots: Exit Strategies: The first direct sequel in Love, Death + Robots history – from the mind of acclaimed sci-fi novelist John Scalzi. The titular trio of droll droids return to take a whirlwind tour studying post-apocalyptic human survival strategies before mankind was finally snuffed out.
Director: Patrick Osborne
Writer: John Scalzi
Studio: Blow Studio

Bad Travelling: A jable shark-hunting sailing vessel is attacked by a giant crustacean whose size and intelligence is matched only by its appetite. Mutiny, betrayal and ventriloquism with a corpse… welcome aboard the animation directing debut of David Fincher.
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker, based on the short story by Neal Asher
Studio: Blur Studio

The Very Pulse Of The Machine: When an exploratory expedition on the surface of the moon Io ends in disaster, an astronaut must trek to safety dragging the body of her co-pilot while using potentially mind-warping drugs to deal with the pain of her own injuries in this trippy tribute to comic book legend Moebius.
Director: Emily Dean
Writer: Philip Gelatt, from a short story by Michael Swanwick
Studio: Polygon Pictures

Night of the Mini Dead: The apocalypse is conceived – literally – in a graveyard in this biting zombie satire, which starts with some cheeky cemetery sex and accelerates into a walking dead invasion of everywhere – from downtown LA to the Vatican. It’s the end of the world as we gnaw it.
Director(s): Robert Bisi, Andy Lyon
Writer: Robert Bisi and Andy Lyon, from a short story by Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller
Studio: BUCK

Kill Team Kill: Young, dumb and full of… blood, lots and lots of blood, a ’roid-raging, adrenaline-fuelled force of US soldiers faces a foe unlike any they have faced before, the result of a CIA experiment that gets really fucking Grizzly. From the director of Kung Fu Panda 2.
Director: Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Writer: Philip Gelatt, from a short story by Justin Coates
Studio: Titmouse, Inc.

Swarm: A story of fear, sex and philosophy on the farthest frontier, as two post-human scientists study an apparently mindless insectoid-race. Tim Miller writes and directs the first ever screen adaptation of the work from renowned Cyberpunk author Bruce Sterling.
Director: Tim Miller
Writer: Tim Miller, based on the short story by Bruce Sterling
Studio: Blur Studio

Mason’s Rats: You know you have a pest control problem when they start to shoot back. The ratpocalypse comes to Scotland, as a grumpy farmer takes drastic steps to deal with an invasion of hyper-evolved rodents. Exterminator: Judgment Day.
Director: Carlos Stevens
Writer: Joe Abercrombie, based on the short story by Neal Asher
Studio: Axis Studios

In Vaulted Halls Entombed: Deep in the mountains of Afghanistan, a squad of Special Forces soldiers has the dangerous job of recovering a hostage held by terrorists. But the real evil they must confront is an elder god of ancient and terrifying power.
Director: Jerome Chen
Writer: Philip Gelatt, based on a short story by Alan Baxter
Studio: Sony Pictures Imageworks

Jibaro: Fantasy and greed combine in this re-imagining of the traditional folktale of a siren whose song lures men to their doom. But her sorcery fails to work on the deaf knight, Jibaro, and the Golden Woman becomes fascinated by him. Thus begins a deadly dance of two predators.
Director: Alberto Mielgo
Writer: Alberto Mielgo
Studio: Pinkman.tv

The post LOVE DEATH + ROBOTS VOLUME 3 Trailer Amps Up the Odd Factor appeared first on Nerdist.

We’ve seen some amazing fan-made marble runs lately. Some are made out of cardboard, and some of LEGO. But thanks to the folks at Laughing Squid, we’ve found one movie fans will especially love. We’ve learned that David Scott of Enbigen created an amazing animated musical LEGO marble run inspired by the intrepid adventures of Indiana Jones. They even set the motion of this marble run to a custom kalimba soundtrack by Blunto Marx. We’d say this video does Dr. Henry Jones Jr. proud.

Indy fans will instantly notice the visual nods to both Raiders of the Lost Ark and Temple of Doom. From Raiders, we’ve got the golden idol and the giant boulder. From Temple of Doom, you’ve got the infamous mine car chase. We didn’t notice any Last Crusade references, but maybe someone out there can spot one. You can watch Indy defy death traps, set to the most adorable and soothing version of John Williams’ classic theme you’ve ever heard, above.

The animation is so realistic, we totally see how they could fool many into thinking it was a real thing. The shadows and textures are just so authentic-looking, we would not be surprised really if anyone bought into the idea that it was a real build. The biggest giveaway that this isn’t real is mostly the endless amount of wall space. Who has that much wall in one room in their house? Unless they filmed this in someone’s mansion, it would be hard to pull off in reality.

Recently, David Scott created an equally convincing version inspired by the classic Pixar film Up. And also on the Disney animation tip, he’s brought Aladdin to life as another virtual marble run, complete with a kalimba version of “Whole New World.” You can watch that one above. And even Super Mario World got some love too. You can check out all of David Scott’s amazing videos on his YouTube channel, Enbiggen.

The post Animated Marble Run Captures the Spirit of INDIANA JONES appeared first on Nerdist.

In an extremely disappointing turn of events, the adaptation of Jeff Smith’s beloved comic Bone is no longer happening at Netflix. The streaming platform first announced the adaptation in 2019 to a whole lot of excitement. Bone, one of the most celebrated comics ever, has yet to see a screen adaptation. The news of the Bone series’ cancellation arrives during a particularly rocky period for Netflix. According to a report from The Wrap, Netflix laid off Netflix’s director of creative leadership and development for original animation Phil Rynda and several of his staffers. The Bone adaptation is one of several series axed by the streaming platform.

For the last decade or so, the streaming platform appeared to be soaring, reaching new altitudes with each passing year. But it finally hit a nasty bit of turbulence. Its Q1 2022 report saw a subscriber dip for the first time in a decade. The company added that it expects to lose a whole lot more in Q2. In the wake of the announcement, the company’s stock immediately dropped by 35%. Now, you don’t have to be a numbers person to understand this is not good.

The company first alluded to the rocky quarter in March 2022, when it started cracking down on password sharing in Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica. But upon the subscriber dip, Netflix also announced plans to launch an ad-support subscription tier to its offerings. This is all to say, Netflix is going through a bit of an identity crisis right now. And unfortunately, the animation department is among those shouldering the initial fallout.

The Wrap‘s report further delves into the company’s support—and especially lack thereof—for the animation department. In fact, the report goes as far as to suggest the DreamWorks Boss Baby series—which is part of an established franchise—as its metrics target. (We first saw this at A.V. Club.) During Netflix’s first few years churning out content, it developed a reputation for giving most of its shows a few seasons to find their footing. And that’s not to mention its penchant for saving gone-too-soon series. But over the last several years, it has shifted and now even the most beloved show isn’t guaranteed a future.

Bone is a delightful fish-out-of-water story following the three Bone cousins through their magical, and sometimes spooky, journey through a fairy-tale valley. And it deserves an adaptation that can properly deliver a story worthy of the beloved comics. For that to happen, it needs a company behind it that fully supports the genre and its artist. While Bone is no more at the streaming platform, I fully believe it’ll find a home elsewhere. In fact, it may even be for the best.

The post Jeff Smith’s BONE Series Canceled at Netflix appeared first on Nerdist.

The very first Star Trek spinoff, before any movies or anything else, was Star Trek: The Animated Series. It aired for two seasons in 1973-75, and it kept the Trek fires burning in the decade between the original series and the first movie. Produced by Filmation, the stories were actually pretty decent. And most of the original cast returned. But let’s just say the animation, music, and sound effects were very of their time.

Now, YouTube channel Gazelle Automations have created a scene of The Next Generation crew, in the distinct style of the ’70s animated show. And it brings to life the Star Trek: TAS sequel series that never was. You can watch the video right here:

Gazelle Automations has perfectly recreated the very crude animation style used by the original cartoon. Not only that, but they lifted the score of the Saturday morning cartoon, as well as all the sound effects. As for where the audio from this episode comes from, hardcore Trekkers will recognize it instantly. They lifted the entire scene from “The Best of Both Worlds” Pt. I, the third season TNG cliffhanger. That episode famously had the Enterprise crew face off against the Borg. The Borg collective kidnapped Captain Picard, and turned him into Locutus.

A fun detail of this video is that the navigator isn’t Wesley Crusher, but a Kzinti. These cat-like aliens were introduced in the original animated series. In fact, a three-armed alien named Lt. Arex replaced Lt. Chekov in the animated show. So replacing Wes with an alien is only keeping with tradition. As fun as this goofy video is, we actually would love a TNG animated series. With the whole cast reuniting for Picard season 3, why not have everyone voice their original characters for a new cartoon? Perhaps a “lost” season of TNG, between the end of the series and their first movie, Generations. We guarantee, Trekkers everywhere would eat it up. Make it so, Paramount!

The post STAR TREK: TNG Goes Full ’70s STAR TREK Cartoon in This Fan Video appeared first on Nerdist.

In the episode, Lisa Simpson meets Monk Murphy, the son of the late Bleeding Gums Murphy, a saxophonist and her musical icon. She learns that this Simpsons character was born deaf and is hoping to receive a cochlear implant, and takes a naturally overzealous—and classically Lisa—approach to helping him. Deaf actor John Autry II voiced Monk in this episode of The Simpsons.

Loni Steele Sosthand, who wrote the episode, spoke to Variety about how she brought her personal experience into the episode. Her brother Eli was born deaf. The siblings even worked on a pilot about their lives, featuring Autry. So when it came to the creation of the storyline and casting the character, she knew exactly where to turn.

Sosthand told Variety, “When we were talking about this Bleeding Gums character in our initial brainstorms, we thought, wouldn’t it be cool if Lisa discovers this whole other side of his life. That led to him having a son, and then we based that character at least somewhat on my brother. And the story grew from there.”

She added that as much as Eli influenced much of Monk’s characterization, including how Bleeding Gums learns his son is deaf, Autry was also a major influence in bringing the character to life. Autry isn’t the only deaf person featured in this Simpsons episode. Sostand’s brother Eli has a role, as well as comedian Kathy Buckley. Kaylee Arellano, Ian Mayorga and Hazel Lopez, a trio of kids from the nonprofit No Limits, also appear in the episode.

Famously, The Simpsons characters only boast four fingers. In order to correctly bring ASL to life on-screen, the TV series brought on two specialists to ensure the sign language used on the show translated correctly—even short a finger. Sosthand shared that the episode was in development long before CODA exploded during awards season.

Speaking of the similarities between the sibling dynamic and music’s role in both the film and the Simpsons episode, she said, “I think it’s great, because the Deaf experience isn’t just one story, there are so many stories to be told.”

Hopefully, we haven’t seen the last of ASL on The Simpsons. Or Monk Murphy for that matter.

The post THE SIMPSONS Features First Deaf Voice Actor and ASL appeared first on Nerdist.

Right now the world feels far too connected in all the worst ways. At the same time it also feels far too unconnected in the worst ways. But a new short reminds us that even when we can’t be together we can come together. “Pass the Ball” features the work of 40 different animators “passing” a ball around the world via their art. In a film that reminds us what it’s like being a part of something bigger than ourselves.

“Pass the Ball” (which we first saw at Laughing Squid) includes three second animations of a red ball moving from one animator’s sequence into the next. With 40 artists from different countries involved in the project, the short is a celebration of animation styles. There’s everything from stop-motion and computer-generated animation to various versions of hand-drawn art.

But this film is just as much a tribute to collaboration. And what a collaboration it is. The project’s mastermind, Nathan Boey, said this film required 40 months of work. Why put in all that time for a short film? Boey shared the inspiration behind the project on his Instagram account.

I always liked how rappers were able to collaborate with other rappers by featuring them on their songs. That doesn’t exist the same way in the film world.

Years ago I came up with an idea that would allow animators to work with other animators they admired from around the globe on the same project…months and months and months later, this is that film.

All that effort and energy was worth it. If this were just 40 different ways to animate a red ball moving it would be interesting, but it wouldn’t be nearly as meaningful. Of course, Boey never could have predicted just how true that would be when he began working on his film. Forty months ago we didn’t feel so disconnected from one another. Hopefully we don’t have to wait that long to feel connected to one another again.

The post Watch Animators Pass a Red Ball Around the World appeared first on Nerdist.

She-Ra has been saving the world and inspiring our fashion sense since 1985! And now in a radical new collection from Loungefly and Mattel she’s taking a starring role. In a delightfully pink double release, fans will be able to rock Adora and Swift Wind on a backpack or wallet!

The brilliant heroine first debuted alongside the iconic He-Man in the animated film The Secret of the Sword. While she was thought to be an enemy of Eternia, she soon discovered she was actually the twin sister of Prince Adam. And just like her brother, Princess Adora had a secret. When she holds aloft her Sword of Protection she transforms into She-Ra! Her luscious locks and radical costume have long made her an iconic cartoon hero. And on the new line from Loungefly, fans of classic She-Ra can celebrate her beloved style, in style!

For our official announcement, Loungefly shared gorgeous images and these details: “Available exclusively on Loungefly.com this winter, the dynamic collection features ’80s inspired accessories, including a mini backpack (MSRP: $75.00) and wallet (MSRP: $40.00), with colorful rainbows and the ‘She-Ra: Princess of Power’ logo on the back. She-Ra fans have the opportunity to represent their fandom and tap into their inner-child with the nostalgic collection, which is crafted with Loungefly’s high-quality and durable vegan leather (PU) and features embroidered details, gold hardware with a co-branded plaque and vibrant rainbow straps.”

We love these beautiful and brightly colored accessories which reflect the royal radness of She-Ra. The interior fabric also includes a super cool retro She-Ra print! Who doesn’t want to represent Princess Adora and Swift Wind, with them riding on our backs as we face a new day. This is the kind of cute and cool collection that we live for. It’s also a nice nod to the classics for new fans who were introduced to She-Ra via the delightful Netflix series, or who have been engrossed in Masters of the Universe: Revelation. Basically, this is a She-Ra collection for all fans, but especially those who love pink and rainbows!

Featured Image: Loungefly

The post SHE-RA x LOUNGEFLY Collection Packs a Ton of Stylish Power (Exclusive) appeared first on Nerdist.

Marvel animation is having quite a resurgence, thanks to Disney+. Not only did we get What If…? this past summer, but Marvel Studios also recently announced animated shows Spider-Man: Freshman Year and the highly anticipated X-Men ’97. But nearly a decade ago, a very different animated Marvel series could have existed. One which would have celebrated the publisher’s rich history, entitled Marvel Era.

Via Collider, we learned how Powerhouse Animation, the studio behind Castlevania, pitched a Marvel animated anthology series back in 2013. And you can get a glimpse into what might have been right here:

Powerhouse CEO Brad Graeber shared the proof-of-concept video via Twitter. Marvel Era was first pitched as a series of shorts that would commemorate the 75th anniversary of Marvel Comics. The basic idea was to make several short stories for each decade of Marvel history. So the 1940s era would see Captain America punching Nazis. Meanwhile, the ’60s would see the likes of the X-Men in their original incarnations. It would have taken us all the way in the new millennium, with Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel.

Graeber explained, “there was a ’40s Captain America D-day story in the style of Fleischer Studios (who made the original Superman shorts in 1941), a Submariner U-boat story, a ’60s X-Men story that featured a mutant who led a cult with his powers.” He continued, saying “There was also a very cinema ’70s Luke Cage and Iron Fist. And an ’80s Punisher story that leaned into Scarface and Miami Vice, and a Deadpool story based on cheesy ’90s cartoons.” From the looks of things, Wolverine exemplified the ’50s. Mainly because Marvel wasn’t publishing superhero stories in that decade in real life.

Graeber also said on Twitter that the project “wasn’t meant to be, and was probably for the best” that they shelved it. But it still looks pretty cool to us. We hope this gets enough attention that Disney+ at least considers reviving it. We missed the ’80th-anniversary mark in 2019. But who needs a milestone birthday to justify this? This cartoon just looks cool. Cool enough to get a second chance down the road.

The post MARVEL ERA Was the Animated Series That Could Have Been appeared first on Nerdist.

We take seamless computer animation for granted these days. It’s hard not to when it’s growing increasingly difficult to decipher between reality and various simulated worlds. But computer animation had to start somewhere, and in the below video we get a glimpse of the first-ever computer animated character: a (sort of spooky) cat.

Boing Boing picked up on the above video, which shows an animation Soviet mathematician Nikolai Konstantinov and his colleagues produced in 1968. The mathematicians utilized a Soviet mainframe computer—BESM-4—to produce the images. The machine runs a program that solves the differential equations governing the animated cat’s movements.

The animation itself consists of hundreds of paper frames with alphabetic symbols on them. The collections of symbols represent the solutions to the differential equations, and Nikolai et al. later filmed each frame in sequence.

Despite the fact that the mathematicians produced the animation, “Kitty,” more than 50 years ago, it’s shockingly good. Obviously, it’s incredibly crude but the computer animated cat still moves seamlessly. Its walking movements are especially fluid, and seem to have a “smooth” quality to them; one unlike that of movements from normal animation from the ’60s. For reference, here’s a clip from One Hundred and One Dalmatians from 1961.

Aside from walking from right to left, the animated cat also pops its freaky face out at viewers. At around 20 seconds in, the cat arches its back, stiffens its tail, splays its claws, and flashes a happy (and creepy) grin. This slice of movement isn’t as smooth as the cat’s walk, but it’s impossible not to love the cat’s flashing peepers. No wonder we love seeing cats in animation. And outside of animation doing all the wonderful cat things. And trying to squeeze their liquid bodies through small openings. But it’s cool to know that this is where digital cats began.

The post The First-Ever Computer Animated Character Is a Creepy Cat appeared first on Nerdist.

There’s nothing like a good Star Wars fan film to satiate, or whet, the appetite for an adventure in a galaxy far, far away. A new short film from a production company in Australia may somehow do both, as it packs some serious animation into a two-minute clip. The video’s visual effects are so stunning, in fact, it’s easy to imagine mistaking the footage for real actors working on a real set. At least for parts of it, anyway.

The Australian production company Wireframe Cinematics recently posted the short film to the YouTube channel Frostbite Cinematics. As the creators note, this was the company’s first attempt at a short film. And they made it as an entry into the Cinematic Captures fan film competition.

Frostbite Cinematics

The short, Against All Odds: A Star Wars Animated Short Film, drops viewers into the middle of a blaster fight between clone stormtroopers and battle droids. We then watch as our protagonist, one of the stormtroopers, sees his buddies die all around him; coming right to the fine edge between life and death himself. That is, just before his other buddies come and rescue him with a Republic Gunship. Just like this LEGO Republic Gunship, but way more realistic.

Although the story is brief and simple the visuals are jaw dropping. The creators note they sourced most of the short’s models, textures, and animations from Star Wars Battlefront 2 and Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order. The whole thing was put together using Unreal Engine; a game engine (or software framework) developed by Epic Games.

For those who enjoyed the short, we highly recommend checking out the original Wireframe animation on which it’s based. That short, above, is an alternate rendering of Against All Odds, and it has extra scenes. Speaking of which, who’s hungry for more Star Wars now?

The post STAR WARS Fan Short Features Shockingly Realistic Animation appeared first on Nerdist.

Get ready to immerse yourself in the latest epic adventure from Netflix! Maya and the Three, a nine-part animated event, premieres on October 22. If its new trailer is anything to go by, it’s going to be an astounding tale.

Maya and the Three centers around Maya, who is a “Mesoamerican-inspired warrior princess,” according to the streamer. Though Maya is not content to stay cooped up just because she’s a princess. Soon she finds herself on a quest of massive proportions. This most recent trailer introduces viewers to Maya and all of her friends as they come together to take on dark forces. It also offers fans a look at the film’s villainous Lord Mictlan, the god of war.

The official description reveals:

Multiply your courage, by the power of three on an epic journey to save a fantastical world. Three outcasts from three distant lands, Chimi (The Skull Warrior), Rico (The Rooster Wizard) and Picchu (The Puma Barbarian) will join Maya (The Eagle Warrior) on her mighty quest to stop Lord Mictlan (The god of war) and fulfill an ancient prophecy.

Netflix

Additionally, the trailer treats viewers to a tease of the sumptuous animation that is to come. From incredible palaces to glorious outfits to thrilling action sequences, the artistry of the film is top-notch. There are so many rich details in every scene. According to Deadline, the movie will “weave together Aztec, Maya, and Inca mythology, and modern-day Caribbean culture.” It is clear a lot of work has gone into researching and respecting the highlighted cultures.

Netflix

An earlier teaser explained more about the world of Maya and the Three.

“Princess.” The trailer flashes, “Warrior. Hero.” There’s no doubt about it, Maya will achieve greatness. “If it is to be,” she shares the movie’s tagline, “it is up to me!” Maya is fierce and at the same time seems perfectly her age. An endearing mix of strength and innocence.

Netflix

The movie also features a star-studded creative team. The teaser’s description shares:

In a mythical world, where magic is real and four kingdoms rule, there lives a brave and rebellious warrior princess named Maya. Maya embarks on a thrilling quest to fulfill an ancient prophecy but can she defeat the gods and save humankind? From creator Jorge R. Gutiérrez (“El Tigre”, “The Book of Life”) MAYA AND THE THREE is an epic Netflix Animated Event told in nine epic chapters. Starring Zoe Saldaña, Gabriel Iglesias, Allen Maldonado, Stephanie Beatriz, Diego Luna, Gael García Bernal, Alfred Molina, Kate del Castillo, Danny Trejo, Cheech Marin, Rosie Perez, Queen Latifah, Wyclef Jean, Jorge R. Gutiérrez, Sandra Equihua, Isabela Merced, Chelsea Rendon, Joaquín Cosío, Carlos Alazraqui, and Rita Moreno. Only on Netflix this fall. 

Netflix

Empires, gods, legends, and a lot of heart, we can’t wait to see more of Maya and the Three. 

The post Epic MAYA AND THE THREE Trailer Reveals Its Release Date appeared first on Nerdist.

No matter if 1988’s Akira was your first anime or sandwiched somewhere in the hundreds you’ve watched, the film probably has a place in your memory. And no scene feels more iconic in the post-apocalyptic cyberpunk drama than Kaneda’s motorcycle sideways slide. With tires smoking and Kaneda’s left leg stylishly dragging on the pavement, it’s one of the coolest moves ever animated.

Toho

In the 30 plus years since Akira‘s release, animation from around the world has paid homage to the now-classic motorcycle skid. You’ve probably caught several ten second clip compilations on your daily scroll through social media in years past. But YouTuber Badspler just left all of those in the dust.

They gathered a full two minutes of Akira-inspired motorcycle slides into one jaw-dropping video. Let’s take a look. And then another and another. Watch Badspler’s compilation over and over again and catch a new detail every time.

Badspler chose professional animation studios to compile this homage. You’ll immediately recognize Batman: The Animated Series, often credited as the first to include the iconic move. In the video description you can find timestamps of every series, including lesser-known anime like Lupin III vs. Detective Conan to mainstream American animation like Adventure Time and Paw Patrol: The Movie.

Over the years, more than motorcycles went all in on the Akira slide action. Bicycles, people, cars, and more have kicked up dust across the screen. Did you ever think you’d see a horse do it? (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated that one.)

Could the next homage to the motorcycle slide we see be in a live-action adaptation of Akira? Only time will tell.

Kelly Knox is a freelance entertainment writer in Seattle, WA, who writes for Star Wars, DC Comics, and more. Her book Marvel Monsters is out now from DK Books. Follow her on Twitter for bad puns, pop culture coverage, and more.

The post Watch Two Full Minutes of the AKIRA Motorcycle Slide Across the Years appeared first on Nerdist.

The full-length trailer for the movie introduces us to the story of the Madrigals and their fantastical house. And especially to the character of Mirabel. Although many different forces come into play, the true strength the Madrigals have lies clearly in their love for one another.

The official Encanto trailer description shares:

Walt Disney Animation Studios’ upcoming feature film “Encanto” tells the tale of the Madrigals, an extraordinary family who live in a wondrous, charmed place called an Encanto. Each child has been blessed with a magic gift unique to them—each child except Mirabel. But when the family’s home is threatened, Mirabel may be their only hope.

Mirabel cannot manifest flowers or speak to animals. But her love for her family and her home imbues her with her own kind of strength. Strength the family will rely on as their magic becomes threatened.

Encanto comes to life through absolutely incredible animation. The trailer displays everything from golden magic knitting a house together to gorgeous blooming flowers to dangerous-looking foes. All these aspects and more unfold with absolute care and a truly magical hand. “Even in our darkest moments, there’s light,” the Encanto trailer concludes. And this inspiring story looks like it will bring exactly that.

Disney 

In a release, Disney also shared that actor John Leguizamo has joined the voice cast of Encanto.

Leguizamo lends his voice to Bruno, Mirabel’s uncle who’s gifted with the ability to see the future. Bruno’s honest, often doomsaying predictions aren’t always well received by the rest of the family, so he disappeared long ago, becoming the uncle no one talks about.

This character will likely play an essential part in Mirabel’s quest to save the family. And hopefully, a bond can grow between them. Family sits central to this story, after all. We can’t wait to see it all unfold.

In addition to Leguizamo, “The voice cast also includes Stephanie Beatriz as Mirabel; María Cecilia Botero as Mirabel’s grandmother Alma aka Abuela; Angie Cepeda and Wilmer Valderrama as Mirabel’s parents, Julieta and Agustín;  and Diane Guererro and Jessica Darrow as Mirabel’s sisters, Isabela and Luisa. Also lending their voices are Carolina Gaitán and Mauro Castillo as Mirabel’s aunt and uncle, Pepa and Félix; and Adassa, Rhenzy Feliz and Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Mirabel’s cousins Dolores, Camilo and Antonio, respectively.”

Disney

The film includes new songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. It finds its directors in Byron Howard and Jared Bush. Charise Castro Smith co-directed the film, and Clark Spencer and Yvett Merino served as producers. Bush and Castro Smith are Encanto’s screenwriters.

Disney’s release further shares that “the filmmakers were deeply inspired by their research trip to Colombia during early development of Encanto, as well as their continuous work with a group of expert consultants assembled through the course of the film’s production.”

This beautiful movie opens in theaters on November 24.

The post Disney’s ENCANTO Trailer Is All About Finding Your Magic appeared first on Nerdist.

Although battling is a key part of the Pokémon universe, there’s something serene about the world as well. Themes of friendship, growth, and, of course, evolution run deeply through the franchise. And now, a brand new series entitled Pokémon Evolutions is going to crystallize these themes.

Pokémon Evolutions invites viewers to “explore the many regions of the Pokémon world.” The new show will take Pokémon fans on a tour of the regions developed in the Pokémon games. The Pokémon Company shares that this series celebrates Pokémon‘s 25th anniversary. Exploring the unique worlds that Pokémon has built during that time is a fitting homage.

The official description of the show notes, “This eight-episode series will begin in the Galar region and culminate in the Kanto region—the first region that appeared in the Pokémon series. Each episode features familiar characters and Pokémon alongside a connecting thread of a Pikachu that leads the viewers on their voyage through the regions.”

It is interesting to note that while the series is focused on evolution, the episodes are actually moving backward in time. However, they are offering a fresh perspective on each region. In a way, Pokémon Evolutions is bringing its past into the future. This promises to be a nostalgic trip for viewers, but, never fear, Pikachu will always be at their side.

The Pokémon Company

Colin Palmer, vice president of marketing for The Pokémon Company International offered some further insights:

Each region has been a touchstone for new generations of Pokémon Trainers as the brand has grown, and we wanted ‘Pokémon Evolutions’ to pay homage to that legacy while also being innovative and contemporary. It’s a new adventure and familiar all at once. And, with the last episode set in Kanto, ‘Pokémon Evolutions’ is a meaningful way to end our anniversary celebrations in the place where it all began for Pokémon 25 years ago.

The trailer itself is full of gorgeous art and stirring music, hinting at what’s to come. Fans are treated to glimpses of familiar characters and Pokémon in the trailer, such as Leon and Charizard. Legendary Pokémon are also on full display. Though these episodes are one-shots, it looks like there’s a lot of action and narrative in store. The animation is absolutely all grown up, as it were.

The Pokémon Company

Pokémon Evolutions premieres on September 9. It will release on Pokémon TV and on the official Pokémon YouTube channel. We can’t wait to see just what it has in store!

The post POKÉMON EVOLUTIONS Offers Trainers a Walk Down Memory Lane appeared first on Nerdist.

The Star Trek franchise has a history of iconic theme music. Starting with Alexander Courage’s original theme song from 1966, to Jerry Goldsmith’s fanfare used in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and The Next Generation. In more recent years, film composer extraordinaire Michael Giacchino created a new fanfare for J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot.

Now, he’s back, creating the theme music for the Nickelodeon and Paramount+ animated series, Star Trek: Prodigy. In anticipation of the series premiere, they’ve released the series’ opening credits sequence, complete with Giacchino’s rousing new theme. And we can tell you, it’s already one that captures the true spirit of adventure of this series. You can check it out right here:

The new theme is very reminiscent of Giacchino’s Star Trek theme for the movies. But it also recalls several of the prolific composer’s other scores. And the visuals bring to mind those of Star Trek: Voyager. This is only fitting, seeing how Captain Kathryn Janeway is going to be a fixture on this series. Or at least, her Emergency Command Hologram will be.

Star Trek: Prodigy is about a group of young aliens who discover a Starfleet ship, which they commandeer. We imagine with the help of the Captain Janeway Hologram, much exploring the cosmos will no doubt occur. Not many other details are known, but with Star Trek Day coming up on September 8, we expect to hear a whole lot more.

Paramount+ / Nickelodeon 

Michael Giacchino has dipped his toe into almost every prominent nerd franchise. His scores range from Star Wars, to the MCU (the Spider-Man films and Doctor Strange), to Pixar, to Mission: Impossible, to Jurassic World. Soon, he’ll add a DC feather in his cap, thanks to his work on The Batman. If he ever does a James Bond or a Middle-earth film, he will have every Infinity Stone in the gauntlet, so to speak.

Star Trek: Prodigy will premiere sometime later this year.

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Actor Keith David is a national treasure. We’ve loved him for years for his roles in classic films like The Thing, They Live, and Platoon. But voiceover work is where David has really become a superstar. For decades, we’ve heard his unmistakably deep and penetrating voice in animated projects like Gargoyles, Spawn, Princess Mononoke, and dozens more. And then there are all the video games, including Halo and Mass Effect. His resume is pretty legendary.

Now, via his TikTok, Keith David released a fun little video showcasing some of his many voice roles. And trust us, it really is a very small sample. He titled the video “Tell me you’re a voice-over OG without telling me you’re a voice-over OG.” You can watch the 65-year-old actor speak some of his most memorable lines from over the years right here:

In this one-minute video, David serves us some President from Rick and Morty, a little Lion Musician from BoJack Horseman, with a dash of Thel ‘Vadam from the Halo franchise. Also making an appearance is Cat from Coraline. And we got a little chill hearing David say this line from the ’90s cult classic cartoon Gargoyles: “My kind have no names. But you humans call me…..Goliath.”

Television Academy

And as a nice surprise, we even get to hear him sing a little. Keith David gives us a little bit of the song “Friends on the Other Side.” That, of course, is his signature villain tune from Disney’s The Princess and the Frog; he played Dr. Facilier in the animated movie. All of this represents just the tip of the iceberg of his long career. For an even more detailed deep dive, do check out this video. It’s a montage of his greatest animated roles. And some of them might surprise you.

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VFX artist and photographer, Clinton Jones, recently issued what he claims is “the “Internet’s Largest CG Challenge,” and received an astounding 2,400 entries in return. The challenge? To emulate a brief scene Jones animated of a lone character struggling to forge on against a dystopian background. In the video below, we see 100 versions of the scene, each one showing a different world. Including a bunch of Star Wars ones.

The Verge picked up on the amalgamation of VFX art, which is the result of Jones’ Alternate Realities CG Challenge. Jones, who offers countless tutorials on his YouTube channel, pwnisher, allowed artists to work over the course of a single month. Although what they delivered looks like it could’ve taken a lot longer to make.

The video features the top 100 scenes Jones selected from the 2,400 entries. And each one does indeed summon its own alternate reality. Although considering Jones’ source material—a dreary Fallout 4-ish scene featuring a huge robot—most of the entries of a dark slant to them. Literally in many cases.

pwnisher

The worlds, for example, include zombies with skull heads marching through a hellscape as they pull floating orbs (of doom?) behind them. There are also anthropomorphic otters who move in formation across what appears to be a civil war battlefield. And medieval warriors in a phalanx marching against an onslaught of arrows.

Each scene is seemingly more creative than the last, with ancient warriors, robot armies, and flaming ghosts all making an appearance. Along with a lot of characters who dwell in cyberpunk cities—which, incidentally, appear to grow more realistic by the day.

pwnisher

There are lighter, more playful vignettes in the collection, however. Including anime children playing in a wheelbarrow full of hay next to a glittering ocean. As well as a little LEGO world featuring a couple attempting to flee a gigantic baby. A surprising number of Star Wars scenes also make an appearance; including ones involving stormtroopers, and probe droids.

Anyone who loved this bunch of VFX scenes will be happy to know Jones is coming out with a new challenge this month. And while the theme is currently unclear, we have no doubts it’ll be amazing. Especially if it involves 18 years of collective effort like this challenge did.

Feature image: pwnisher

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The first episode of Loki has lots to enjoy. Philosophical conversations, Easter eggs, eclectic characters, and of course the joys of Tom Hiddleston. One of the standout moments, though, is the introduction of Miss Minutes. Fans had already seen the anthropomorphic animated clock in a teaser, but her role in the show is far more in-depth. Not only does she introduce some very important exposition, but she does it in a delightfully stylish and vintage animated fashion. That led us to wonder why the TVA’s propaganda felt so familiar. Thanks to lots of research, we think we have an answer that might surprise you.

Marvel Studios

So Why Did Miss Minutes’ Video Seem So Familar?

The Miss Minutes video seems to have been shaped by a trend of 1950s car industry PSAs, some of which were made by the Mouse House itself! There are two key videos that appear to have played a role in the aesthetic and tonal shape of Miss Minutes’ useful introduction.

Magic Highway USA

The first comes from none other than Walt Disney. Magic Highway U.S.A. was part of the Walt Disney presented Disneyland TV series. The episode centered on the importance of the highway in America and the history of motoring. What we’re here to look at, though, is the animated segment focusing on the proposed future of highways and cars. If you watch the clip you can see that the video begins almost identically to Miss Minutes’ cartoon. Both animations start with colorful stripes filling the screen. Whereas Miss Minutes is talking about the warring universes, Disney’s video imagines a world with futuristic color-coded highways. The narration and retrofuturistic tone also fit with Miss Minutes’ TVA intro video. Cool, right?

Your Safety First

The second is George Gordon’s Your Safety First. Produced by the Automobile Manufacturers of America, this short feels incredibly similar to Miss Minutes’ informational clip. Not only do the character designs look as if they were taken from the car safety propaganda video, but the tone and style of narration feels almost identical. There’s also the nature of time travel that imbues the futurist PSAs. They imagine a world in the future, but begin in the past, much like Miss Minutes’ exploration of the timeline.

Sure, there’s not much to be drawn narratively or theory-wise from these. But they’re just a cool little nod to animation history and the American retrofuturist aesthetic that the first episode of Loki takes so much from. We’re very excited to see where Miss Minutes’ and her animated looks are influenced by next as the show moves forward. Let’s hope things get even weirder!

Featured Image: Marvel Studios

The post Why Does LOKI’s Miss Minutes Look So Familiar? appeared first on Nerdist.

One of the best things about animation is that your characters never have to age. Real people get older. But cartoons can always be drawn the same way. That doesn’t mean they always are, though. Especially not when you’ve been on the air for more than three decades. Like The Simpsons of Springfield, USA. That famous family has undergone some dramatic alterations in appearance over the years. And not just from their start on The Tracey Ullman show. They’ve changed a lot during their time on Fox. Animators have repeatedly sharpened the way they create Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. And you can now see exactly how they did so in a new video that shows The Simpsons’ stylistic evolution during their lengthy run.

Insider‘s latest episode of “Movies Insider” (which we first heard about at Laughing Squid) explores the many ways the animation for The Simpsons has changed. It covers the family’s crude beginning in 1987 as a series of recurring shorts. All the way through 32 seasons and 700+ episodes on Fox. (Plus a movie.) Some shifts have been jarring. Especially when directly compared to other eras. Others though have been less noticeable, as new technology has made it easier to make subtle changes.

This video is worth it just to see the breakdown of the myriad styles and techniques employed by the show. Including how high-definition brought it into the 21st century for good. But as an extra bonus for fans, Insider also spoke to two of the people most responsible for the series’s success. They heard from an original animator, writer, and director, David Silverman. As well as longtime showrunner Al Jean. They both provided an inside look at why changes were made and what it meant for the show.

Disney

They’ve both been with The Simpsons so long they could make a video about how much their own styles have changed in three decades too. So could we. Because while you might work in animation or love watching it, only cartoons get to stay the same age.

The post See How THE SIMPSONS’ Animation Style Has Evolved appeared first on Nerdist.

While talking to EW about how the new Masters of the Universe: Revelation series came together, showrunner Kevin Smith said “[Hamill] had talked about wanting to step out of animation, but he was like, ‘When you came at me with Skeletor, how could I say no?'”

Skeletor is a role so perfectly fitting for Hamill’s ability to play evil with a comedic edge, we can see how easy it was for Smith to pull him back in, to use a Godfather phrase.

Netflix

Even though Star Wars helped make Hamill a household name, he was already doing voice acting in animated TV shows. Years before he ever picked up a lightsaber. He was the male lead in the 1973 Hanna-Barbera version of I Dream of Jeannie. In 1977, the same year as Star Wars, you can hear his voice in the animated film Wizards. But without a doubt, his role as the Joker on Batman: The Animated Series in 1992 shot Hamill into the stratosphere in the voice-acting world.

Warner Bros. Animation

After Joker, Hamill’s voice shows up in dozens of animated series. Later, also video games, and even puppetry with last year’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. There are so many legendary nerd properties, it’s hard to keep track. Nineties kids will remember he played Hobgoblin in the ’90s Spider-Man animated series and several other Marvel characters since. He’s acted in Avatar: The Last Airbender, Transformer, Scooby-Doo, and most recently, on Invincible. We honestly hope he never quits voice acting. He’s a true legend in the field. But if Skeletor is his swan song, then that’s not a bad way to go out.

The post Playing Skeletor Helped Persuade Mark Hamill to Not Quit Animation appeared first on Nerdist.

Netflix and Sony Pictures Animation teamed up for the upcoming animated film Wish Dragon. Today, the first trailer arrived, and the film looks positively delightful. It’s bursting with bright color and imagination; everything you’d want in an animated film about a talking dragon. The premise also brings to mind other classic animated tales like Aladdin. In addition to the dazzling visuals and heartwarming tale, Wish Dragon has a super impressive voice talent. Check out the trailer below.

If that dragon voice sounds familiar, that’s because it’s John Cho. The beloved actor is also known for his work in the new Star Trek films as Sulu, and in acclaimed movies like Columbus and Searching. He’ll also be starring in the upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop remake.

It’s so much fun to hear him step into the world of animation. In this first trailer, we can hear the fun he brings to the titular dragon, named Long. Cho isn’t the only star power behind Wish Dragon, either. Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians), Jimmy Wong (Mulan), Natasha Liu Bordizzo (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny), and Bobby Lee (MADtv) are just a few other talented performances voicing characters in the film.

Netflix / Sony Pictures Animation

The behind-the-scenes talent is also impressive. Chris Appelhans, who previously worked in animation on films like Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox, is the writer/director for Wish Dragon. Aron Warner, producer of Shrek, is producer here as well, along with Chris Bremble and Jackie Chan. Yes, that Jackie Chan.

Here’s the full synopsis for Wish Dragon, straight from Netflix:

In Sony Pictures Animation’s Wish Dragon, Din, a working-class college student with big dreams but small means, and Long, a cynical but all-powerful dragon capable of granting wishes, set off on a hilarious adventure through modern day Shanghai in pursuit of Din’s long-lost childhood friend, Lina. Their journey forces them to answer some of life’s biggest questions – because when you can wish for anything, you have to decide what really matters.

Additionally, Netflix released the first poster for the film as well, which shows off its vibrant color scheme and fantasy elements.

Netflix / Sony Pictures Animation

Wish Dragon comes to Netflix on June 11.

The post WISH DRAGON Trailer Stars John Cho as a Magical Dragon appeared first on Nerdist.

The 1980 series Thundarr the Barbarian is good. It’s really good, and it has no business being so. No offense to any of the artists who made them, but the state of American cartoons in the late ‘70s was complete butt. Just a horrible mess of tired retreads of earlier hits combined with short-lived series you’ve never heard of. I mean, it’s not like The Super Globetrotters or What’s New Mr. Magoo weren’t good or anything, but… Japan was absolutely destroying us; Gatchaman, Space Battleship Yamato, and Mobile Suit Gundam all premiered in the last three years of the decade. For comparison, 1979 was the year Scrappy-Doo made his debut. America was hosed.

Or at least it should have been. Animation was very expensive and before President Reagan allowed toy companies to effectively advertise directly to children in the form of cartoons, shows were lucky to get 20 episodes. Hanna-Barbera had revolutionized the TV cartoon in the ’60s using its patented limited movement style; generally the characters would only perform one motion at a time in a stationary background. It looks very stagnant by today’s standards, but it allowed for dozens of cartoon shows to reach the TV. Many of those shows, like Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? and Super Friends, were so popular they’d get retooled and relaunched time and again.

Thundarr the Barbarian is very similar to the old Hanna-Barbera shows, but it isn’t one. The series actually hit screens from Ruby-Spears Productions. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears were longtime Hanna-Barbera writers of shows like Space Ghost, The Herculoids, and Scooby-Doo. By 1979, the pair had branched off to create their own studio; their first series was the highly Scooby-derivative Fangface. They followed that with The Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show and Heathcliff and Dingbat.

Ruby-Spears/Warner Archive

In all of those first few cases, the Ruby-Spears shows held to that light comedic tone that had plagued—yes, I said plagued!—the American cartoon landscape for so much of the 1970s. Not that they were all bad by any means; they were just all so painfully the same. Even the DC Comics series Plastic Man was more comedic than adventure. In order to bring action cartoons back, Ruby-Spears turned to a comic book legend. Steve Gerber.

Gerber began writing for Marvel Comics in 1972, with a whopping four titles in which he wrote or co-wrote hitting stands in December of that year. On top of runs on big superhero series like Iron Man, Daredevil, and Sub-Mariner, he hit his stride with more offbeat names. His signature series was a run on Man-Thing, and he’s one of the co-creators of cult favorite Howard the Duck. And his idea for an action cartoon was just as high-concept.

Ruby-Spears

As the opening narration tells us, in the year 1994 (our old future), a rogue planet hurtled through Earth’s atmosphere, cracking the moon in half and setting off natural disasters that destroyed civilization. 2,000 years later, the radiation has created strange mutations and ushered in an age of “savagery, super-science, and sorcery.” Our hero, the titular Thundarr, is a former slave (probably a forced gladiator) who breaks his bonds and sets out on a series of globetrotting adventures along with his two sidekicks. First is Princess Ariel, a young sorceress with a great knowledge of “Old Earth” customs and geography. The second is Ookla, a giant bear-and-lion beast from the species Mok.

Ruby-Spears

The general idea is a really wild one. It mixes high-fantasy with tech-based science fiction; most of the villains are “wizards,” who usually take the form of organic-machine hybrids who have harnessed some kind of super-science. For instance, Mindok the Mind Menace, a scientist who lost his body in the cataclysm 2000 years earlier but whose brain has remained alive thanks to artificial means. In addition to wizards, Thundarr and company also take on a tribe of werewolves; a vampire alien; amphibious amazon warriors; and evolved ape-men.

Ruby-Spears

The concept is outstanding, and each episode features our heroes traversing a different post-apocalyptic Earth city. We see the remnants of San Francisco, London, Hollywood (a few times), New York, and St. Louis. Personally very amazing was the episode “Stalker of the Stars,” about the space vampire, which takes place in the wreckage of Denver’s Lakeside Amusement Park. I grew up in Denver and I can tell you, Lakeside didn’t need 2,000 years to look post-apocalyptic.

Ruby-Spears

But look, Gerber had a great idea, but animation is a visual medium. They didn’t have the money to create really fluid and dynamic movement, so they required some excellent design. To create the look of our three heroes, Gerber only enlisted the legendary Alex Toth; Toth is the longtime comic book artist whom Hanna-Barbera tasked with creating some of its most iconic heroes, like Space Ghost and Birdman. Thundarr in a lot of ways looks like a typical Conan-esque barbarian, and Ariel has interesting clothes; Toth’s big contribution was Ookla, who sufficiently brought in enough Chewbacca energy while still adhering to the future-fantasy aesthetic. A really great design.

Ruby-Spears

Ah, but sadly Toth was unable to create more than that. So who else would Gerber get to create all the many creatures and villains? Oh gee, just Jack f***ing Kirby. That’s right, the creator of all the best comic book characters and the man who did all the best artwork of comics to that point has his fingerprints all over Thundarr the Barbarian, and it’s all the better for it. The look of each wizard is distinct, the monsters scary but identifiably Earthbound (for the most part). The derelict cities and mechanical hodgepodge castles are stunning.

If there’s any downside to Thundarr it’s that the dialogue is very much a ’70s comic book come to life. And why wouldn’t it when along with Gerber the writing staff included comics legends Roy Thomas, Buzz Dixon, and Martin Pasko? Most lines are shouted declarations, a lot of catchphrases (Thundarr exclaims “Lords of Light!” and “Demon Dogs!” at least once each per episode), and almost no subtlety. Princess Ariel, with a knowledge of “ancient” Earth, brings a surprising amount of winking humor, which is a nice treat. But Thundarr is all heroic business; the wizards are all mustache twirl. This is only a hindrance coming from a 2021 standpoint, of course. It wouldn’t have rung false at the time.

Warner Archive

I thought I had seen this show in the nascent days of Cartoon Network, when it was all (or mostly all) classic Hanna-Barbera shows and their contemporaries. But I think I was actually remembering the earlier series The Herculoids which had similar design. Thanks to Warner Archive’s recent Blu-ray release of all 21 episodes of Thundarr the Barbarian, we can all now see the show for the awesome example of high-concept, post-Star Wars science fantasy it is.

And mentioning Star Wars, it’s a shame that Thundarr arrived when it did; if it had been a few years later, it might have lasted more then 21 episodes. You see, Star Wars was an enormous hit in 1977 (obviously), and it influenced everything for years to come. We see a bit of it in Thundarr; I mentioned Ookla’s resemblance to Chewbacca, but Thundarr himself wields a “Sunsword,” a hilt which emits a radiant, unbreakable blade of light. Star Wars toys also made a boatload of money, and with Reagan allowing direct-to-children marketing, toy companies created lines in tandem with animation companies. The toys begat the shows which begat more toys. And because of that, the most popular lines lasted forever.

Ruby Spears/Filmation

Though the official story is that Mattel had been in development of the toyline that eventually became He Man and the Masters of the Universe since the mid-70s, there’s no denying, to my mind anyway, how much the 1983 Filmation TV series cribbed directly from Thundarr. Mattel began a comic book series prior to the cartoon…in 1981. Conan the Barbarian the movie is usually the agreed upon antecedent, but that movie came out in 1982, and there’s a lot more alien and technology in He-Man than in Conan. I’m just saying, it might be a mix.

In any case, Thundarr enjoyed only a 13 episode first season in 1980 and an 8 episode second season in 1981. 21 glorious episodes which mixed adventure, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror into a strange mélange of magic. One of the few series of the era to attempt more complex storytelling than teenaged antics and talking dogs. And only just barely did it miss the window where action-adventure cartoons sold toys by the truckload. Thundarr the Barbarian; truly a diamond amongst the dross.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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In this virtual lesson from Pixar (which we first saw at DesignTAXI), animator Cody Lyon walks viewers through the process of drawing a flipbook animation. For this lesson, he uses 22 from the studio’s most recent release, Soul. The lovable but frustrating 22 was reluctant to start life. That changed after the pessimistic blue floating being went to Earth with Joe Gardner.

Here, Lyon shows how to easily make it seem as though 22 is jumping. That includes moving her massless “body” down before stretching herself thin on the way up. The result is a simple animation that is full of life and vitality. All in just a couple of drawings done in just 15 minutes. But it’s easy to imagine how many more pages of detail a skilled animator could pull off in a short time if they didn’t have to explain what they were doing along the way.

Pixar

This video highlights what’s great about a flipbook, even in a modern world. First, you don’t really need all that much in terms of material. Just some paper, a pencil, and an eraser. And if you pick an easy enough subject to draw and animate, you don’t even need a ton of artistic skill. Unfortunately you do need a whole lot of patience. You have to be careful in your marks and remain consistent in your drawings.

Now, imagine doing that hundreds of thousands of times to animate an entire movie. No wonder people started using computers.

The post Pixar Animator Shows How to Make Animated Flipbook appeared first on Nerdist.

We are now a little less than a year away from the release of Matt Reeves’ The Batman. That is still way too far away if you ask us. Ever since we saw the first teaser for the upcoming reimagining of Gotham’s Dark Knight, we’ve been chomping at the bit for more. In the meantime, Bat-fans who are as impatient as we are to see Robert Pattinson take on the role are finding creative ways to share their enthusiasm. We’ve seen the trailer recreated in LEGO form thanks to one fan already. Now a YouTuber named TheArt91Lee has recreated The Batman teaser in 2D animation.

You can watch the full traditionally animated version of The Batman trailer right here.

The animation used in this is trailer recreation is pretty fantastic, we have to say. There aren’t any other examples to go by on their YouTube channel, but we think the person who animated this should get scooped up for a Batman-based animated project by DC and Warner Bros. as soon as possible. If Batman: The Long Halloween wasn’t already on its way, we’d suggest them for that movie!

TheArt91Lee

The Batman teaser is inspiring many other fans out there to do their own versions of it. There is already more than one low-budget “Sweded” version on the internet. There is also one that uses clips from the classic Batman: The Animated Series episodes from the ’90s to great effect. Another combines the music from Star Wars’ “Imperial March” with Michael Giacchino’s score. (Hey, Darth Vader and Bruce Wayne both love long dark capes. It makes sense!) And then there’s the one set to the music from Cats. We’re not sure what they were thinking when creating that one. In the meantime, we expect quite a few more The Batman-inspired fan trailers to tide us over until March 4, 2022.

Featured Image: TheArt91Lee

The post Fan Faithfully Recreates THE BATMAN Trailer in 2D Animation appeared first on Nerdist.

As a longtime cat owner I think I’ve managed to get my feline family members to do exactly what I want, exactly when I want them to, zero times. Cats aren’t really into “instructions,” you know? They run when they want, jump when they feel like it, and ignore me constantly. Also, mine have always hated wearing any kind of clothing or accessory. Your kitty might be okay with that cute little hat you bought them, but not mine. My cat once escaped from a post-surgery full body suit like she was Houdini incarnate. That’s why this video of a bunch of cats wearing motion sensors and obeying orders so their movements could be captured digitally is basically magic to me.

This short adorable video (which we first saw at Laughing Squid) comes from the Hungarian animation studio Digic Pictures. Based out of Budapest, the studio has worked on game cinematics for some huge franchises. That includes series like Assassin’s Creed, Halo, Call of Duty, Warhammer, and Final Fantasy just to name a few.

For this motion-capture work they outfitted a bunch of cats with sensors. (Which the cats barely seemed to notice, which is a great sign they didn’t hurt.) They were then led up, across, and through little obstacles to get a full range of motions. While the baseline capture is just a bunch of lines that look nothing like the smooth movements of a cat, this footage will help the studio accurately animate cats in games.

Digic Pictures

We don’t want to ignore the work of the cats, though. This is one professional group of felines. They did what they needed to do when they were told to do it. And they did it all with minimal complaints. Meanwhile, if I tried to hold my cat long enough to put these motion sensors on her, the only footage Digic Pictures would capture is how cats can scratch their owners before wiggling out of their arms like their bones can turn to jelly.

The post Watch Motion Sensors Capture Cats’ Movements for Animation appeared first on Nerdist.

Netflix’s new anime series Yasuke is one of our most anticipated shows of the year. The gorgeous new show features LaKeith Stanfield voicing the titular character, and it looks like an epic historical adventure. But did you know that the series is based on a real historical figure? Yep, Yasuke was a real life Black samurai who became a legend in Feudal Japan. Before the series starts, here’s a primer on what you need to know!

Who was Yasuke?

Netflix

The legend of the Black samurai is iconic in Japan. Yasuke has long been a figure of much mystique and drama in the country, portrayed in both kids books and folklore. But the story has been generally lesser known outside of Japan… until now. The release of the Netflix anime and a 2017 announcement that the now late Chadwick Boseman would be playing the legendary figure in a live action film raised its profile and introduced the story to a much wider audience. As noted in a BBC article, Yasuke first arrived in Japan in 1579 alongside a Jesuit leader Alessandro Valignano. It’s disputed whether or not Valignano enslaved Yasuke. But what isn’t questioned is that within a year of the two arriving in Japan, Yasuke had become the first non-Japanese person to ever reach the rank of Samurai.

It’s here that his legend cemented itself. Yasuke served under Oda Nobunaga. According to records, he already spoke Japanese and found favor under the powerful Japanese daimyō. The pair shared a love of poetry and theater, and Yasuke took the place as a close confidante of the eccentric leader. He fought alongside Nobunaga; when the “Great Unifier” was later overthrown only a few years after Yasuke’s arrival, Yasuke delivered his decapitated head and sword to his heir. But despite his loyalty and Samurai rank, Yasuke found himself exiled after the death of the man who had given him his title. That’s where records of him end. But his legend still lives on nearly 500 years later.

How much will the show take from his life?

Netflix

Seeing as the show is a fantasy series, we can guess it takes a lot of liberties. This version of Yasuke’s tale has mechs and magic, as well as monsters galore. (Which was probably not the case in Feudal Japan.) In an official statement, creator LeSean Thomas expanded on his vision for the show. “Yasuke is a fascinating, mysterious figure in Japanese history that’s drawn a growing interest in today’s media over the decades. I first learned of Yasuke’s role in Japanese history over a decade or so. The children’s book, Kuro-suke by Kurusu Yoshio, featured images that piqued my curiosity. To eventually learn that he wasn’t just a fictional character, but a real person, was exciting material for an adventure story. I’m so excited for both longtime fans and newcomers to enjoy our reimagined take on this historical figure.”

“Reimagined” is the most important word there in regards to this question. Yasuke clearly inspired the team, but the show is a fantasy reimagining. Still, it has a deeply personal aspect for Thomas. He said, “There is a serendipitous nature about this project, how an African-American man goes to Japan to live and work amongst the very best in Japanese anime to create an anime about an African who goes to Japan to live amongst the Japanese elite and become a warrior.”

Yasuke hits Netflix on April 29.

Featured Image: Netflix

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Over the past year, as the pandemic has raged across the world, there have been a metric ton of PSA videos made to hammer home the importance of mask wearing. We’ve seen some featuring Halloween’s Michael Myers, and Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees. And eternally young person Paul Rudd also extolled the need for a mask while around others during this time. Well, you can now add Luke Skywalker himself to that list. The legendary Mark Hamill is adding his voice to the latest video promoting the importance of wearing a mask in public. And this one will bring on all the nostalgic childhood feels, as it is done in Dr. Seuss style. You can watch the full “Will You Wear a Mask?” video from Cartoonatics down below:

Via Laughing Squid, we discovered the new video “picture book,” done in the anapestic tetrameter style of the great Dr. Seuss. The illustrations are from Tom Reugger, a self-described “cartoon guy” who has worked for Disney. You might also know the name Tom Reugger based on his work on classics like Animaniacs, Pink and the Brain, and Tiny Toons. Both characters in this short are voice acted by Hamill, who is one of the greatest voice actors of modern times. And in our humble opinion, the GOAT of all on-screen versions of the Joker.

Cartoonatics

Sadly, most obstinate anti-maskers in the real world are less reasonable than the hat wearing critter in this video picture book. But like the real Dr. Seuss, this story gives us a more gentle and positive view of how humans actually interact with each other. Or, more to accurately, how anthropomorphic animals standing in for humans deal with each other.  By watching this charming video, you are contributing to a good cause. All proceeds from the video go to World Central Kitchen. Just don’t forget to wash your hands too. Or your paws.

Featured Image: Cartoonatics

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Even if you’ve seen all the classic Disney animated films, chances are you missed how certain scenes in some of these movies are strangely similar to moments in others. But these days, with all these films available at the click of the remote on Disney+, folks are noticing all the similarities. Now, a Twitter user named Fred Schultz has posted a side-by-side video of a moment from 1977’s The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh with one from 1967’s The Jungle Book. And you can see how the movements are basically identical. You can watch the full video comparison, which we discovered via Boing Boing, right here:

Walt Disney changed animation forever with his early animation; one had ever seen a full-length animated film before Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. However, those movies were extremely costly at the time. Several early Disney films nearly sunk the studio due to their huge price tags. So in later years, Walt Disney Animation began to recycle as a way of cutting costs. Animation sequences from one film would wind up in another years later, but with different characters.

Fame Focus

This practice was in use at Walt Disney Animation since the early days. But it got really egregious after Walt’s death. During the late ’60s and all the way until the ’80s, almost every major Disney animated film borrowed several shots from previous films. When the so-called “Disney Renaissance” hit in the ’90s, the practice diminished.

But it didn’t totally go away. Blowing leaves from The Lion King popped up in Pocahontas, for example. You can see an in-depth exploration of this process in the video above from the Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel. As the video points out, many animation studios do this; it’s certainly not unique to Disney. But it sure will make one look at all these various childhood favorites in a different light.

Featured Image: Fame Focus

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Even the biggest cultural phenomenons reach only a minority of people on the planet. It’s estimated a billion people watched Game of Thrones‘ series finale. Yes, billion with a “b.” But even that gigantic number is roughly 13% of everyone on Earth. So what’s it like for a majority of humans to live with a vocal fanbase who won’t stop talking about a certain television show? How much does everyone else know about our most beloved series, just from seeing people talk about it on social media? Based on a fantastic animated short recapping the hit Star Wars series The Mandalorian, it turns out a whole lot.

Because this summary pretty much nails everything about our favorite surrogate dad and all the things he does for his hungry green child.

@smallbuanimationWhat I think the Mandolorian is About #mandolorian #themandolorian #StarWars #babyyoda #grogu #animation #funny #cute #parody #fyp♬ original sound – Smallbu Animation

This delightful 60-second short (which we first saw thanks to Winter is Coming) comes from Lindsay and Alex Small-Butera. They are the Emmy-winning married couple behind Smallbu Animation. In just one minute they manage to capture the true nature of the Disney+ series, based solely on their understanding of the series gleaned from their friends’ tweets.

Thanks to Twitter they know the show follows “a guy” who was “hatin’ on everybody” until he found Muppet Baby Yoda. Now that man has to take care of a troublemaking child while they go on adventures, which causes both of them a lot of problems. Especially thanks to “Muscles Mean Lady” and Baby Yoda’s appetite for both food and wandering around.

But while the Mandalorian grows to love his adopted son, he tries to help the child find his own people. That brings the pair to “Ahsoka Clone Wars,” who says Granola/Grandma/Grogu is special. Unfortunately he’s also full of hate, so she won’t train him. Which means Mando has to return to constantly doing favors he initially refuses in exchange for help.

Star Wars

Moff Gideon erasure aside, they nailed it. That’s pretty much the show every episode.And this highlights the real reason some TV shows are true cultural phenomenons. It’s not because everyone watches it. It’s because they become hard for anyone to ignore.

Featured Image: Star Wars

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The Ghostbusters franchise is returning this year, with a sequel to the original film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. But before that happens, it looks like a trip through time in the old Ecto-1 is in order. According to the official Ghostbusters Twitter, it appears that the classic ’80s animated series The Real Ghostbusters will soon be made available for free via their official YouTube channel. You can check out the Twitter announcement below:

From the sound of things, it looks like they will be dropping classic episodes each Saturday. This echoes the classic Saturday morning cartoon schedules of old. If they drop just one episode per week, it could take a long time before they’re done. The original show ran for 140 episodes. But it’s not only the ’80s show. The official Ghostbusters Twitter also revealed that the ’90s spin-off, Extreme Ghostbusters, will also be dropping on Wednesdays.

Sony Pictures

We’re going to go out on a limb and say that The Real Ghostbusters cartoon is the most beloved part of the franchise outside of the original film. The 1989 sequel is no where near as beloved as that first, despite having some very vocal fans. Most fans seem to agree that the cartoon did a better job of fleshing out the characters and expanding the universe than any live-action sequel. Plus it created a whole series of  toys and comic books that drew kids in.

With so many animated series revivals on the way, with everything from Masters of the Universe and possibly Batman: The Animated Series happening, maybe this is a warm up to a Real Ghostbusters revival? As long as they also remember to bring back Ghostbusters breakfast cereal too, we fully endorse this idea.

Featured Image: Sony Pictures

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Hand-drawn, two-dimensional animation is a sadly dying artform. As the expectancy for glossy, 3D CG animated films grows more and more with each passing year, it’s something of a rarity to find anyone partaking in animation of the older style. So it’s to this end that I have to applaud writer-director Dash Shaw and animation director Jane Samborski for their vivid, imaginative, and decidedly picture book-esque visual style for the new film Cryptozoo, which premiered as part of Sundance 2021’s NEXT section. They should receive accolades for this approach to storytelling for grown-ups. But I couldn’t wait for the movie to end.

Cryptozoo is Shaw’s follow-up to the similarly styled 2016 film My Entire High School Sinking Into the Sea, which was embraced by the indie scene. Cryptozoo‘s aspirations are much loftier. It explores animal cruelty and exploiting the wonder of nature in relation to a sanctuary for cryptids, or unexplained, mythological creatures. It’s a really cool idea, but what ultimately sank it for me was that it seemingly had only one avenue to explore and instead indulged in excessive animated violence to prove that point.

Sundance

Lake Bell voices Lauren, a woman who has spent her life searching for a Baku. It’s a mythological dream-eating cryptic she encounters as a child. She works for the titular Cryptozoo, a massive sanctuary-cum-theme park for these beings. Some, like manticores and chimeras, are animal-like in nature; others like gorgons and satyrs can “pass” for human given proper clothing and disguises. The gorgon in question here is Phoebe (Angeliki Papoulia), a new recruit to help search for cryptids. The satyr (Peter Stormare) used to work for the Cryptozoo but has thrown in with black marketeers.

For the first chunk of the film, we follow Lauren and Phoebe as they search for the Baku, with the US military and mercenaries on their heels. It’s here that the movie feels like any action-thriller about heroes and villains both acting outside the law to retrieve something for the betterment of whomever they’ve decided needs them. For Lauren, she believes she’s saving these special beings from destruction and castigation. To Phoebe, the Cryptozoo seems like exploitation, that the cryptids are circus attractions for wealthy, souvenir-buying families. And the government, of course, wants them for weaponization.

But too quickly, the narrative takes all parties back to the Cryptozoo where the vile military agents begin wholesale murdering the cryptids who are just acting in self-defense. I’m aware the point is for us to not like what we see; that exploiting the natural world is bad. But this felt like a mythological animal version of The Passion of the Christ. Just death after death, maiming after maiming. I was praying the movie would end with each passing minute, but it didn’t. Eight-five minutes seemed way too long.

I’m sure there are people with stronger constitutions who might get more out of Cryptozoo, but that wasn’t me. I kept waiting for there to be more to the story, and while the visuals continued to dazzle in their semi-Ralph Bakshi-ish way, I just wanted everything to be over. And when it did, it felt more like a shrug than a relief.

2 out of 5

For more of our Sundance Film Festival 2021 coverage, click here.

Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

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Based on the film’s first trailer, even if it won’t look like the Studio Ghibli movies we know and love, it will still feel like one. (Earlier in December, we got a look at the trailer in its original Japanese. Now, we have two new versions of the same trailer: one dubbed in English, and one in Japanese with English subtitles. You can watch both below.)

Earwig and the Witch‘s first trailer marks the debut of Studio Ghibli’s first CG animation offering. Directed by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki’s song Goro, it tells the story of the young orphan Aya. She is sent off to live in haunted house with some questionable adult supervision. One of her strange foster parents is none other than the infamous witch Baba Yaga. (No, unfortunately not John Wick.) In classic Studio Ghibli fashion, the clever young child gets some much needed help escaping from her talking cat.

The movie is based on the 2011 book of the same name from British author Diana Wynne Jones. That should make Studio Ghibli fans very happy. Howl’s Moving Castle was also based on Wynne Jones’ 1986 fantasy book. This is a partnership with a winning track record.

Studio Ghibli

Earwig and the Witch will open in select U.S. theaters on February 3, 2021 and will stream on HBO Max on February 5, 2021.

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Here’s something that vibes jangles with this time of year: a remastered version of the Disney short, The Skeleton Dance. This version, created by video editor, Adam Maciaszek, greatly improves on both the resolution and flicker rate of the original. Despite the bone-afide visual upgrades, however—made with the aid of supervised learning algorithms—the short’s soul still remains.

Laughing Squid picked up on Maciaszek’s video, which he recently posted to his eponymous YouTube channel. And while it’s unclear why the editor chose this specific Disney classic—which spoofs the “Dance of Death” allegory—it’s obvious Maciaszek loves revamping old black-and-white animated films. Maciaszek, for example, has also produced 4K versions of Mickey Mouse’s The Mad Doctor from 1933, as well as a clip of Betty Boop in Snow-White from the same year.

For those unfamiliar, The Skeleton Dance was the first installment in Disney’s series of scored, animated shorts, Silly Symphonies. As the name implies, the series of 75 films combined orchestral scores with goofy animated shorts. The Skeleton Dance, which Walt Disney and animator Ub Iwerks created in 1929, was, in fact, the first in the series.

Adam Maciaszek

In regards to Maciaszek’s use of AI, the editor says he used an upscaling AI that allowed him to convert lower resolution images to higher resolution ones. An upscaling AI, as NVIDIA notes, works by deploying a deep-learning algorithm; one that, when given a low-resolution image, is able to predict what it would look like as a high-resolution image. (Thanks to enormous amounts of training data.)

It should also be noted that while Maciaszek’s video is indeed 4K and flicker-free, it has been slowed inadvertently. In a comment, Maciaszek noted the video has a “weird” speed, which is obvious when compared to the original (below). There is a normalized version of the video on BitTube, however. Which anyone who wants see some skeletons dance—and cartwheel—macabre should watch.

Feature image: Adam Maciaszek

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In a series of blog posts, which come via Gizmodo, Pinkney outlines how he and Adler created Toonify. Pinkney, who’s based in the U.K., says he began the process using a generative adversarial network (or GAN) referred to as StyleGAN2. A GAN is a type of machine learning system that pits one neural network against another in order to achieve a desired result; in this case, selecting for the best Toonified faces.

bycloud

Using StyleGAN2, which is able to create stunningly realistic faces (each one of the faces on thispersondoesnotexist.com, for example, is completely fake) Doron was able to create a modified GAN that somewhat Toonifies a face. He did so by feeding StyleGAN2 a series of roughly 300 images of characters from animated films.

But there was still a hiccup in the Toonification process. The problem was with the dataset and the fact that it contained characters from different types of animated films. The list included everything from Moana to The Little Mermaid to the original Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. And that meant very different animation styles.

bycloud

To address this issue, the software engineers say they swapped different layers of the model around to affect the Toonified faces in different ways. The “layers,” referred to in this context are different subsets of code that “learn” about different aspects of data, and, subsequently, are able to spot patterns and generate images accordingly.

bycloud

More specifically, the software engineers say they programmed Toonify so that lower resolution layers affect the pose of the head and shape of the face, while higher resolution ones are responsible for things like texture and lighting. For a fuller description of the process, YouTube user, bycloud, gives a great, short explainer in the video below.

Moving forward, Adler and Pinkney say they’re working on a way to deliver Toonify to the masses again. It seems they’re leaning away from having ads, and are still seeking a financial solution. Once they solve that problem, however, there’s no doubt cartoon profile photos will flow like the spice.

Feature image: bycloud

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