i love how you guys talk shit about cartoon style and animation but what the fuck is with this phineas and ferb obsession, The Ugliest Childrens Show Ever Animated.
Fun fact: In one interview the creators mentioned that one reason everyone’s heads are shaped like really recognizable shapes (Candace is the letter p, Phineas is obviously just a triangle) is so its way easier for younger kids to draw them. Not being able to to draw your favorite characters when you’re little can be really frustrating and kind of put you off drawing all together.
I got to speak with the creators in their studio years ago when P&F was still being created and they said at dinner one night they challenged themselves to design a character with a triangle shaped head. Right there on the paper tablecloth (the kind restaurants provide with crayons for kids to draw on), they drew the very first Phineas, then realized he needed acompanion, and thus with a rectangle, they drew the first Ferb.
Dan & Swampy are incredibly kind men who wanted to create a show that was easy for kids to recognize and participate in, while having fun antics for anyone of all ages.
It’s not even that ugly, it’s got funny shapes sure, but the colors and character designs are bright and fantastically fun, and the show’s writing was completely clever.
I detailed in a long post once how they left most of the dialogue up to the animators: they had a basic outline of how each episode would go, and as the animators would draw it out (they didn’t use puppets folks, they used cintiq tablets and drew everything, I saw it first-hand) and as they were drawing they’d think “what would this character be saying while making this gesture?” and that’s how the dialogue was created. The animators also worked in pairs, so they always had a companion to talk to, work with, and help with dialogue as they went. This is how most of the jokes were created, and as they had multiple animator teams, they were able to keep jokes and dialogue very fresh so the show never stagnated from using only the same couple of writers like most shows do.
For the songs Dan & Swampy themselves would pull a guitar off wall, go into the meeting room and gather anyone around, and just come up with songs on the spot right there. They would sit for a couple of hours messing around gathering input from anyone and everyone. This kept the songs fun and fresh and also kept them from stagnating or becoming boring.
Phineas and Ferb was made in a very rewarding, fun environment. Everyone who worked in the studio seemed very happy, and they loved having visitors and getting to show off and explain every aspect of the show. Everyone was kind and fun and just loved their job. I genuinely can’t accept seeing anyone saying negative things about a show that was intrinsically meant to be gratifying, fun, and wonderful for kids and adults of all ages, and stuck to that mindset throughout its entire creation process.
Edit: I forgot to add one of my favorite parts! The creators knew their animators so well that they could tell who designed which episode! To each person watching, it’s difficult to tell differences in style since it’s meant to all look the same, but the creators looked at some clips in front of us and guessed which animator pair did the clips and then they double-checked it and were correct, pointing out extremely minute details that were recognizable trademarks for each team. Clearly they had a very kind and caring and friendly environment!
Them: Cady Heron did her friends dirty, it’s a good thing she came to her senses
Me, an intellectual:this was literally Cady Heron’s first interaction with American teenagers ever. And those friends basically forced her to act like a spy on the girls they knew could destroy her new life before it even started. Yes, Cady messed up, but Janis and Damien weren’t empathetic or even sympathetic to Cady’s background and just expected her to be resistant to how The Plastics function. With such little social interaction with other high schoolers, it makes sense that she would adapt to her surroundings, especially if she innately felt like it was the only way to protect herself. Basically, Janis and Damien have no right putting all the blame on Cady and then push her away when she’s trying to apologize; it really makes them no better than anyone else.
the annoying thing about adhd is that like, most of the symptoms you can’t even argue are “evolutionary flaws” or “chemical imbalances.” literally it’s just that it’s not good for lining somebody else’s pockets. being “distractible” helps people notice predators or juicy berries out of the corners of their eyes. hyperfocusing on a task until it’s done is literally exactly in line with what an alleged persistence predator would need to do to actually follow through on hunting other animals. there’s so many little things that are obviously beneficial to have outside of a fucking factory assembly line
NEUROLOGICAL DIVERSITY IS AS IMPORTANT TO SURVIVAL AS GENETIC DIVERITY, and OUR CONCEPT OF DISABILITY AND NEURODIVERGENCE IS BUILT ON A FOUNDATION OF OUR OWN MAKING
When I lived out in the woods and spent my time herding sheep and hunting bullfrogs, nobody gave two shits that I walked around barefoot and said whatever popped into my head out loud.
My hyperfocus and poor sense of time made me a hard worker, my compulsion to sort and organize random crap kept the property clean, and my special interest in native flora and fauna meant I could go out into the woods thanksgiving morning and come home with all the pricy mushrooms and herbs we couldn’t normally afford otherwise.
Who cared that I was awkward? There was nobody around except the occasional customer or temp worker, and those kinds of interactions could be entirely scripted.
Who cared that I dressed funny, had frizzy, dry hair, talked flat, and ate raw onions? Who gave two shits that I built forts out of scrap metal and twine? How did it matter that I passed time running in circles over old truck chassis’?
There were no bright lights, no packed-in crowds, no huge collections of shouty, screamy, smelly people. Nobody stared at me for more than a few seconds. Nobody critiqued my body language.
I was a bit odd, yeah, but all I knew was that I was smart and creative and better than other people at fixing problems.
I went damn near fifteen years out there not even suspecting I might be autistic. Nobody even thought to bring it up.
Now I’m in the city, and I have a hard time going into the middle of a store. I hate the mall. My eyes hurt. Ambulances and fire trucks and cars with bad brakes go by and I cover my ears and nobody else does. I’ve been told I come off as “quirky”.
My question is, though, if an atypical person is in an environment that suits them, can anyone tell?
Most folks only know who’s blind when the lights are on. If the sky went dark tomorrow, we’d have no idea.
period pains are so weird bc sometimes it’s like having all your internal organs slowly shredded but sometimes it’s just like feeling weirdly fragile and tender like not necessarily physical pain but like your entire body could turn to liquid at any moment and movement is dangerous
