It's a Variety Blog.

opbackgrounds:

There’s a reason why Usopp chose the Sogeking persona, other than that it was funny and gave him an excuse to sing a theme song for himself. There’s a purpose behind him turning himself into a superhero. With all his fears and insecurities, he had to make up a version of himself that was strong enough and brave enough to fight against a Government stronghold, because there was no way a pathetic no-name weakling like Usopp could do something incredible like that.

This is the bravest thing Usopp has done all arc, and he does it with the mask off, as himself, because that’s what Luffy needs. You could argue if he’s bluffing right now, but I don’t think he is, and either way it doesn’t matter. He’s taking the risk of getting immediately murderkilled by Lucci, and there’s no one other than Luffy close enough to save him.

opbackgrounds:

Before driving deeper into Usopp’s side of thing, I want to focus a little bit on Luffy, because as I’ve mentioned previously, this fight between has a bit of a different flavor from other Luffy-centric battles, but what I haven’t mentioned yet is how public all this is. The final battles with big bads like Arlong, Crocodile, and Enel were all away from other people, but not here. The shift of Luffy becoming a more public figure started with his ass whooping of Bellamy way back in Jaya, but even that was only in front of a bunch of pirates. Showing up to rock Enies Lobby is what’s really going to launch him into the public spotlight, and so it stands to reason that this final stand against Lucci is seen by both the marines and the Straw Hat Pirates.

So far he and Lucci have been on pretty equal footing, but Lucci managed to save his last big trump card until this moment, and seems to have Luffy beat when Usopp shows himself for real. Oda puts a ton of emphasis on Luffy’s expression, this panel alone taking up ¾ of the page.

And, like, imagine Luffy’s shock. The gag of him not recognizing who Sogeking is turns on its head and is instead played for the deepest, juiciest drama. Usopp isn’t a Straw Hat anymore. He had no obligation to come to Enies Lobby. But he did.

All throughout Enies Lobby there’s been this running thread of the Straw Hats helping each other out of situations they couldn’t handle alone. Nami saving Sanji, Sanji saving Usopp, Usopp saving Robin. Hell, Robin not trusting her friends to keep her safe from the World Government is what kicked off this mess in the first place. The whole reason Luffy was so adamant about going against Lucci was because he recognized him as the strongest threat to the crew, and it’s Luffy’s job as the captain to protect those under his leadership from that kind of danger.

But right now he can’t. He’s not strong enough. And it’s not until Usopp threatens to put himself in harm’s way against an enemy they both know he has no chance about that he stands up and finishes the fight. Because even the captain needs to be propped up by his crew once in a while, and Luffy would rather die than have one of his crew get killed.

Do you remember now the fight started between Usopp and Luffy in the first place? Usopp argued, using the Merry as a proxy for his feelings, that Luffy would leave behind and abandon the weakest members of his crew to further his own ambition, and here, now, Luffy is showing in a very real way that that’s not true. But even if Luffy is willing to put his life on the line to protect Usopp from people like Lucci, he still needs Usopp’s help. He still needed those words from his best friend in order to stand up one last time. 

nnugatoryextravagance:

This has no right being this fucking funny

(via modmad)

aracle:

amethystsoda:

From The Animation Guild on Instagram:

“Congrats to the WB and Cartoon Network production workers for filing an NLRB petition to unionize and demand voluntary recognition! Show your support to help them get the representation they deserve! #unionstrong #weare839 #production strong”

copying and pasting the comments i added to the disney tva prod unionization efforts post because this time, IT’S US, BABY!

if you’re not in this job, you would never know how intense, involved, and straight up complex animation production is, but because it’s mainly administrative, behind the scenes, and most skills are taught, production staff are often viewed as highly replaceable and unimportant. not everyone is nice to us, and more and more studios are stripping production personnel of our “corporate” status, meaning if the show ends or gets cancelled, studios aren’t required to relocate us to another one. when this happens to artists, the guild protects them, but production will lose all benefits and will need to file for unemployment until they can find a new job (which isn’t easy in the animation industry these days!). remember, a season of a show takes only about a year and a half to make. losing all benefits and having to file for unemployment every year and a half is NOT a way to build a career nor is it a stable and sustainable way to live!

because our roles in animation are rarely talked about, here’s some of what production staff does:

STORYBOARD AND ANIMATIC

• managing the master project file, which sometimes means scanning, cropping, camera adjusting, and typing hundreds or even thousands of panels, dialogue, and action notes by hand into storyboard pro if the artist drew them in photoshop or traditionally
• pinning up and taking down boards for pitches and reviews (yes, manually, with push pins on walls). every note drawn on those pieces of paper needs to be scanned and sent to the artists.
• inputting new and revised panels into the board project file and then exporting them to the animatic editor, which necessitates memorizing the board front to back because artists don’t always track their panels or tell you which ones have been updated and you have to know instinctively.
• conforming, which means going panel by panel and comparing it to every frame of the animatic to make sure they’re a complete match, which happens multiple times and usually requires quick turnarounds.

RECORD

• reaching out to recording studios, voice directors, and talent agencies to coordinate record times and availabilities.
• creating the schedules, typing up scripts, adding line numbers, updating line counts, exporting boards, collecting audition tapes, arranging catering, watermarking literally everything, and making sure everyone involved gets the right stuff and the most updated versions of that stuff ahead of time.
• circle takes.
• sending the raw selects to the dialogue editor, arranging radio plays, and sending the clean selects to the animatic or post editors.

DESIGN AND SHIPPING

• creating all the templates artists need to design a show’s assets (hundreds of them!), which includes pulling board references so they know exactly what to draw, compiling brush libraries, mood boards, and vis dev pieces.
• tracking the progress of hundreds of designs across multiple episodes in every stage they’re in and making sure the artists turn them in on time.
• creating a reference list (a GIANT spreadsheet breaking down every single use of every single design in every single scene of the episode–takes DAYS to create for just one episode!)
• preparing shipments of everything the animation production facility (usually international) needs to make the cartoon, which involves a lot of exporting, layer adjustments, cropping, re-exporting, and cataloguing.

POST

• acting as the main point of contact for those overseas animation facilities. CNS uses mostly korean studios, which often means trying to field questions from a non-native english speaker every day.
• making sure the showrunner and exec producer review weeklies/dailies quickly and thoroughly and the notes get to the overseas studio on time.
• configuring the retake list so the production can stay under budget (determining retake categories and footage count, which are connected to prices–involves a surprising amount of math!)
• assembling retake materials, including creating lists of tasks for artists to do, getting them the shots or designs they need to fix, and making sure all fixes are completed in time.

CONTRACTS

• negotiating rates with every non-corporate player involved in the making of a cartoon and making sure all NDAs and legal contracts are signed and correct.

LEGAL, TRACK READ, TIMING, CHECKING, EXECS, ACCOUNTING

• sending boards, designs, animatics, and time cards to dozens of people with highly specified jobs who require very specific items to do those jobs, making sure they get them at the right times, and making sure whatever they send back (be it notes, sheets, or lists) makes it to the appropriate party so the right action is taken.

and this is all in addition to very stereotypical secretarial work like taking notes at meetings, managing the showrunner and producer’s calendars, and maintaining a pleasant atmosphere for the crew (coordinating game nights, decorating the office, organizing parties or lunches, etc.). production is expected to know everything, what’s going on at all times, and how to fix it, which is a lot of work and often, a lot of pressure!

tl;dr:

we’re going to fight the good fight, so

SUPPORT PRODUCTION UNIONIZATION EFFORTS!

(via flame-is-lame-02)

currentlyonstandbi:

theworsethingsgettheharderifight:

reallyshouldbegoing:

i spent an insane amount of time trying to make that gif on my phone lmao please validate me 🥲

(via janetbrown711)

librarychaps:

spongebob characters in cute little pink dresses >>>

(via princess-unipeg)

pinkglitterings:

trying to complete my personal goal of posting once a day for a week straight! Day 4 here we are <33

neil-gaiman:

neoretrobibliomartini-x:

rhp162:

When my kiddo finally decided (at age 20) that it was time for (most of) his enormous Lego collection to go, it was a gut-wrenching moment for me (goodbye childhood!). However, we used this service, which was simple and hassle-free.

This is wonderful to know.

charlesoberonn:

charlesoberonn:

The fact that this joke is from the very first episode (which aired in January 1997) is messing with me.

(via makrawa469)