Is Ariel Selfish and Uncaring? - An ACF Exclusive! (And a personal one, to be precise)

     [Image Removed Due To Copyright Complaints From The Walt Disney Company..Sorry, Jase]                   

As we all know, my buddy Stefan and I, we at war with Disney, not the old one, mind you, but the new one.  The totalitarian type Disney, runned or should I say, ruined to the ground by both Robert Iger, and his lapdog, Anne Sweeney.  With a name like Sweeney, it doesn't sound so sweet, not as sweet as the very character that I will talk about now.

We all know the deal.  There is no secret that I like The Little Mermaid.  But, I didn't always like it.  Let me tell you a story how I came to like this wonderful movie and everything in between.

As a kid, at the time, I often think of it as "girlie stuff".  It means if a boy sees a movie that has mostly girl stuff, they think of it as icky. To a kid, it is just fun and games, especially when a boy likes other things like video games, wrestling and comic books, which I thought of that at the time when I was watching The Little Mermaid at school, whenever recess was canceled.  But, by the time my father died, the fun and games were over. For the next several years, whenever I avoid watching The Little Mermaid, I thought of my father's passing.  All that changed in 2006, when I bought the Platinum Edition DVD, all my fears of watching it, were all gone.  But, all I needed was a little push, whether it's from watching Sailor Moon, whose courage helped me through the dark times, or watching Little Shop of Horrors, whose songs were done by the same people who did the music for The Little Mermaid, Alan Menken and the late, great Howard Ashman.  Since then, I have not only embraced both The Little Mermaid and my femininity, but I made it my mission from God to meet Jodi Benson, who not only is the heart and soul of Ariel, but also a believer of God, like myself.

Stefan's Notes: Jodi Benson is Great! She should be in Voice Acting more.

Anyway, what this got to do with Ariel, you ask?  Although I have embraced my childhood, there are some who don't.  I heard on the web, and everything in between and they say the same thing over and over again, including the Nostalgia Chick.  They keep saying that "Ariel is an uncaring, selfish mermaid, who forsakes her friends, family and voice for a man she hardly knew."

Well, before I get to my thoughts, here are the main factors of Ariel's character development and why they think that way.

First of all, she was a teenager at the time. And teenagers all go through the same thing: Rebellious, headstrong, and everything in between.  We all go through some teen-angst but what teen doesn't.

Next, Ariel didn't become human because of Prince Eric.  She wants to be human because she wants to see what the human world is like and what their customs are.  No sense of staying in a grotto full of human things forever.  Which leads to the main reason why many people hated Ariel all the time, her father King Triton.

The son of Poseidon and grandson of Neptune, Triton is the ruler of Atlantica, the fabled home of the merfolk.  Although a powerful monarch and loving father, Triton at the time had one thing he hated more than Ursula: Humans.  Why do you think Ariel was naive enough to believe that Ursula could make her dreams come true, it was all because of King Triton himself.  It seems that stubbornness runs in the family.  While Ariel believes that not all humans are dangerous, Triton is the exact opposite. Long ago, Triton didn't have a profound hatred with the humans until his wife and Ariel's mother, Queen Athena, was killed by humans.  And because of that, the kind-hearted and caring ruler of the seas was no more.  But when Triton found out through Sebastian that Ariel is in love with a human like Prince Eric, his Xenophobia kicked in and destroyed everything around Ariel's grotto, including the statue of Eric himself. I'm sure he won't win any "Father of the Year" awards with actions like this.  In short, King Triton, very big guy, with a very short fuse, bad combination.  Anyway, although he has given up his hatred for humanity and becoming kind and gentle once more for the sake of his granddaughter, Melody, Triton's rage against the humans, by destroying Ariel's grotto, will be stuck with me for the rest of my life.  Talk about Nightmare Fuel right there.

Look, the point is, Ariel is flawed character.  But that doesn't make her selfish and uncaring like the Nostalgia Chick puts it.  Ariel is the most sweet, kind and caring person in all of animation, whether she is a mermaid or a human.  Sure she makes a lot of mistakes but she learns from them, even after becoming a mother to Melody.

What is sad about this whole negativity towards The Little Mermaid is many things. For instance, other than bashing Ariel in general, Disney canceling the 3D re-release of this wonderful movie because of low grosses from the other 3D re-releases, comparing Ariel to Bella from the Twilight series (Not Cool!) and as of right now, there is no Ariel figure for the game Disney Infinity.  It would be cool to have her alongside Rapunzel.

One more thing, let me tell you differences between the Platinum Edition DVD and the Diamond Edition Blu-Ray of The Little Mermaid, but from a personal stand point.

The Platinum Edition is a badge of honor to me.  It represents my path to redemption and resurrection after so many years of repression after my father's passing, all ending with me meeting Jodi Benson herself. 

While the Diamond Edition represents all the broken promises Disney has given us.  That and messed up the Part of Your World sequence and all that.

Bottom line, an ordinary kid would've like The Little Mermaid and then hates it when all grown up.  But not me, though.  I am the exact opposite.  And to end this, I will answer this question: Is Ariel Selfish and Uncaring?

Stefan's Notes: Count me in as one who likes TLM during AND after my Childhood.

The answer is...No.  She is not.  She may be flawed, but she is not selfish and uncaring. These people just pegged her the wrong way.  They don't know Ariel better than I do. And Stefan, if you are reading this, I will help you deal with Iger and his lapdog Anne Sweeney.  I will fight to save Disney for Ariel's sake.  You can count on me.

Nobody puts Baby, or in this case, Ariel in a corner!

Toontown Will Never Be the Same - The Death of Bob Hoskins!

The following ACF report is a short, re-edit version of the long description of this fan art I have made.  If you want to read the original, full version of the description, visit http://animejason2010.deviantart.com/art/Godspeed-Eddie-Valiant-aka-Bob-Hoskins-451530758. Thank you.

Today we say goodbye to the very actor who has since passed on, Bob Hoskins.  He died from pneumonia and not to mention lost his bout with Parkinson's Disease.  He was 71.  Hoskins, who is a British actor, was best known for speaking in a thick, Cockney accent, whether its speaking in the old queen's English or with an American accent, mostly from Brooklyn.  I don't know much about some of the other movies he did before retiring, but I know him for three characters he was best known for.  He was Mario in the live action Super Mario Bros. movie (which he admitted that is not one of his best work, but when I see the movie again one day, I will watch it in memory of him), Smee from the re-telling of the Peter Pan story, Hook and most importantly and the most famous role he is best known for was the part of Toon Detective, Eddie Valiant from the hit live-action/animated hybrid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit.  And why Eddie Valiant, you ask?  As we all know, Eddie Valiant is a private detective, who specializes on cases that involves Toons.  He and his brother, Teddy formed their own detective agency to help with Toon cases until Teddy's death by the hands of a deranged toon, who was revealed to be Judge Doom, red eyes, squeaky voice and all that. Anyway, because of that, he went into heavy drinking and does small time cases until Marvin Acme was killed and Roger Rabbit was accused of a crime he didn't commit.  Despite his xenophobia towards Toons after Teddy's death, Eddie defended Roger no matter what. Eventually, he cleared him of murder charges, exposes Judge Doom's insidious plot to kill off all Toons and saved all of Toontown, while at the same time, regaining his faith in Toons and his brother Teddy found peace, now that Judge Doom has been, how should I say, "Dipped."  In a sense, Eddie Valiant was the original Animation Crusader.

Where am I going with this, you say?  Well, let me put this in a fan fiction kind of way.  After saving Toontown, Eddie continued to do Toon cases.  He became so devoted to all Toons, not just the domestic ones but the foreign ones, he wanted all Toons to have the same equal rights as us common folk.  Unfortunately, the bureaucrats at Washington D.C. shot down his proposal to give Toons the same rights as us, but they see Toons as just that, a minority, a joke if you will.  Valiant's plea felt on deaf ears, and the those bureaucrats made him a laughing stock.  Afterwards, he went back to heavy drinking.  He died a broken man. He died fighting for what I believed in, just like I am today.  Eddie's fight for the rights for all Toons mirrors that of what I am fighting for, the rights for all animation.  Not just the American hand drawn cartoons, but also Japanese anime, claymation, CGI, marionation (puppet animation) and so on and so forth.  The bureaucrats that made Eddie a broken man are the same ones in real life, that are still persecuting animation today.  Them, along with the corporate executives and the moral guardians who think animation as a whole is a cancer that needs to be cut out.

I have a confession to make.  I know shouldn't tell you about it but...seeing people like Bob Hoskins, James Avery, Mickey Rooney, and the Ultimate Warrior dying makes me sad because...I am missing out on the things I want to go or meeting the people I want to meet...especially Jodi Benson.

Let me tell you a story.  There was this girl named Sara, who biggest dream was to meet Tony Jay, another British actor, mostly known for voice acting with roles like Virgil from Mighty Max, Megabyte from ReBoot, Chairface Chippendale from The Tick, Lord Dregg from the final season of the original TMNT cartoon and Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame.  She was a big fan of his work and wanted to meet him, you know, share stories, sign autographs, all that jazz.  Until one day, her dreams of meeting Mr. Jay were shattered, when he died due to complications from a surgery to remove a cancerous tumor on his lungs.  Though I haven't spoken to her since then, but she was devastated over this.  And what this got to do with me, you ask? Ever since 2006, after I bought and watch to Platinum Edition DVD, my biggest goal in my life was to meet Jodi Benson, so I could finally put all this, the pain of avoiding watching The Little Mermaid and my father's passing, behind me.  But with so many famous people dying, the chances of meeting her are slim to none, but mostly none.  I know death is a natural thing, but this is more important than all the games and anime combined.  If Jodi Benson dies, all this I worked hard to do, including that scrapbook for Karen Bernstein (Sailor Mercury), the script for a My Little Pony special for Grayson Bruce, and everything in between, would be all for naught, it would be all in vain.  If she dies, everything means nothing to me.

Anyway, in closing, here's to you, Bob.  Thanks for the memories and all the laughs.  As for the person you are best known for, this should be written in his tombstone:

"Here lies Eddie Valiant: Toon Detective and the first of a breed of Animation Crusader.  "Here's to the pencil pushers.  May they all get lead poisoning, huh?""

Godspeed.

(TAPS plays)

Robert William "Bob" Hoskins, Jr.
October 26, 1942 - April 29, 2014

This is has been a ACF special report.

The Hub Network's Biggest Screw-Ups

I know I should be completing my To-Do List, but I just feel the need to do this.

What I'm gonna do here is list the Biggest Screw-Ups of the Hub Network. As you all know, the Hub Network was Supposed to be the "Cool" Family Network. After the Constant Failures of Disney and Viacom, TV viewers (myself included) were ready for a Superior Family Network.

At first we were pleased....well somewhat. The Network was greatly flawed, but had the potential to get better. Though, it was much better than the Disney Channel and the Nick Networks. Things started getting better slowly. The Hub started airing cool shows and even created it's own version of Toonami, HuBoom. The only huge flaw The Hub had was the fact that it aired the same lame movies every single month. The only upside to that was that the Hub Family Movie was solely a Weekend thing, with 2 Movies on Saturday and 1 Movie each on Fridays and Sundays.

But it wasn't long before Things went Horribly wrong. Nikki Reed,Former Disney Executive,was brought in as the Network's Program Director. Reed quickly became radical loyalist of Discovery Communications and followed their orders with no Question. With Reed in charge of Programming,the Discovery Networks had a Perfect Puppet to do what they asked without Question. And Soon The Hub Network became a Clone of The Disney Channel.

And Now The American Cartoon Federation Presents: The Hub Network's Biggest Screw-Ups.

1 - Getting Rid of HuBoom. This Block had the potential to be the Next Toonami. But sadly Discovery Communications has decided that the block was too expendable.

2 - Removing and Suppressing the Cool Cartoons. Seriously, This needs no explanation, just look at their Current Line-Ups. All the Cool Animated stuff is on Early in the Morning. 

3 - Giving WAY too much airtime to the Girly and Pre-School Crap. Screw Littlest Pet Shop, I want my Dan Vs.

4 - Overly Promoting the Girly and Pre-school Garbage. What Shit-Headed Losers.

5 - Airing the Hub Family Movie Every Day (with a 2nd airing). This is Seriously stealing Airtime for the Sitcoms.

6 - Suppressing and removing Sitcoms. Some were moved to very very late at Night, While others were moved very early in the Morning. Some were even removed from the line-ups all together.

7 - Suppressing the Cool Live Action Shows. I really Hate the fact that Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Lois and Clark air at Unreasonable times (very late at night and very early in the morning).  

8 - Unneeded Censorship. They feel they need to Censor Every Family Movie that they air. Dumbing them down for small children. And it's not just movies, it's Old Animated Shows too. Any Episode of a show that has a mature or sensitive theme in it, the Hub Network will never air it with the rest of the series. Stupid! Just because a show or movie, that's supposed to be for Everybody, has some slight mature themes to them,doesn't mean that it needs to be censored for the babies. Those Movies and Shows are for ALL , not just for that tiny insignificant demographic.

 9 - Turning the Hub Network into a Kiddie Network. There is a heavy difference between a Family Network and a Kiddie Network, Seriously.

10 - Ridding the Network.of All Retro Sitcoms. This is coming soon. I assure you.

11 - Failing to see the Potential this Network has.  

With all of the above, The Hub Network has gone from okay to bad...And things are about to get worse. Much worse. 

Screw You, Discovery Communications! You Suck!

Life or Death Awaits....The Death of the Ultimate Warrior!



This is an ACF Special Bulletin, and it's a sad one.

Let's take a moment from all the crusading for animation and talk about the one other thing me and Stefan have a lot in common: wrestling.

Yes it's true, me and Stefan are fans of wrestling, mostly with the old school variety and some modern ones like Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan.  Although I am not a big fan what I use to be, but I still like the good ol' days when it's less talk and more action, except with people like Hulk Hogan and the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin and such.  Where am I going with this, you ask?  I'll tell you.  It is about the one wrestler I was a big fan of growing up in the 90s and that's the Ultimate Warrior.

James Brian Hellwig, better known the wrestling world as the Ultimate Warrior, has died, a few days after WrestleMania and one day after RAW.  He was 54 years old.  The Ultimate Warrior was one of my favorite wrestlers growing up back when wrestling was entertaining at best.  He was known for his wild, aggressive style in the ring, whether it's shaking the ropes or going berserk towards his opponent and the one noticeable trait is his facepaint.  Prior of being the Ultimate Warrior, he was once partners with the man who eventually became the man known as Sting, another favorite wrestler of mine and Stefan's.  The Warrior was best known for tree things and this is what I remember:

1.  Beating the Honky Tonk Man for the Intercontinental Championship as quickly as the Elvis wannabee held it for long time at Summerslam 88.

2. The big one.  Winning the WWF championship at WrestleMania VI by beating another legend, Hulk Hogan. And....

3. Defeating The Late "Macho Man" Randy Savage in a Career Match at WrestleMania VII. Truely a Legendary battle between Legends.

Although my favorite, the Warrior was no stranger to controversy.  First, changing his name from Jim Hellwig to Warrior for starters. Then, the Warrior was one of many wrestlers who were tested for steroids at the time.  The Warrior isn't the smartest guy in the world, but he is not perfect, none of us are.  This cause so much problems for many years between him and the WWE.  So much that they went so far, making an unauthorized documentary called "The Self Destruction of the Ultimate Warrior" where those who knew him bashed constantly (unless they were paid to say stuff like that).  Besides, I don't want to remember the Warrior for his troubled behavior, I want to remember him for he once was, a decent wrestler who understood this business more than anybody and...he gets my blood pumping everytime I see him and/or listen to his theme music.

Fast forward to today. After all this hostility all these years ago, it was finally buried once and for all, when the Warrior, along with Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Scott Hall aka Razor Ramon, were inducted to the WWE Hall of Fame. After all these years, the Warrior finally got the respect he so rightfully deserves.  No word on the cause of his death, but it's all the years of steroids and pain killers that has come back to haunt him, almost in the same manner that Eddie Guerrero went through.  He is survived by his wife, Dana and his two daughters.

Update: We have learned that the Warrior died from natural causes.

Whether you love him or hate him, the Ultimate Warrior has left his mark on the wrestling world.  And I know it sounds silly but, when I do things I like to do and I know Stefan does, too, we all have a little Warrior within ourselves.  And we will continue to use his essence to do the things we like to do. I will leave you now with his final speech before he died and believe me, they couldn't be more true.  Godspeed, Warrior and like the quote from Soul Caliber:

"THE LEGEND WILL NEVER DIE!"

“No WWE talent becomes a legend on their own. Every man’s heart one day beats its final beat, his lungs breathe their final breath. And if what that man did in his life makes the blood pulse through the body of others, and makes them bleed deeper, than something larger than life, then his essence, his spirit, will be immortalized by the storytellers, by the loyalty, by the memory of those who honor him and make the running the man did live forever.

“You, you, you, you, you, you are the legend makers of Ultimate Warrior.

“In the back I see many potential legends, some of them with warrior spirits. And you will do the same for them. You will decide if they live with the passion and intensity. So much so that you will tell your stories and you will make them legends as well. I am Ultimate Warrior. You are the Ultimate Warrior fans. And the spirit of Ultimate Warrior will run forever.”

*TAPS plays

James Brian Hellwig aka The Ultimate Warrior
(June 16, 1959 - April 8, 2014)

This has been a ACF Special Report

Breaking News!!! Boomerang May Be Finished!!!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I have some Horrid news. According to some info I recently acquired, Boomerang,the classic cartoon network, may be re-branded into something totally stupid.

Read this:

http://www.nickandmore.com/2014/03/07/boomerang-rebrand-not-launching-until-late-fall/

Boomerang has been greatly suffering under Stuart Snyder, but This Fall, Boomerang may become Turner Broadcasting's answer to the Disney Channel. We all hope that his successor will fix things and NOT go through with this Insane Plan.

This Network has Great Potential, but thanks to executive meddling, that Potential is never realized. If nothing is done to set things right, Boomerang Will Die. 

Cartoon Network's Future Post-Snyder

This blog is a follow up on my last one about the news of Stuart Snyder's resignation.  Although Snyder has finally thrown the towel of surrender, we must know one other thing, who is going to run Cartoon Network after Snyder?  Both Stefan and I are cautious about this, but whoever is going to run Cartoon Network, better not pull a Snyder and ruin it even further.  But, if this new president of CN is going to make it better, here is the following things he or she should do:

1.  Remove anything relating to Live Action (movies and shows)

2.  Cut back on the imports, especially those from Canada, except for a few we like and cut back on the commercials promoting them.

3. Bring Toonami back to weekday afternoons and Saturday Nights.  It was fun staying up real late to watch Toonami in the beginning.  But, only a bloody vampire could stay up real late to watch it.  Anyway, by doing so, the action cartoons and anime will be front and center once more. Speaking of which, that leads to...

4. Stop depending on merchandising for the show's success.  It's lame-brain thinking that what got Green Lantern, Thundercats, Sym-Bionic Titan, Young Justice and possibly Beware the Batman cancelled.  This is why we got toy commercials.  We don't need a cartoon to promote toys, only commercials can do that.

5.  Make Boomerang back the way it was, classic cartoons with NO commercial interruptions (only before and after the show, THAT'S IT!!).

6. Give Pokémon and all the other Pokémon clone-themed animes a break. On a personal note, nothing against Sarah Nanocheny, but Veronica Taylor will always be our Ash.

7. Either Get rid of Adult Swim OR Suppress it by reverting it back into a 3 Hour Block on Weekends (not a megablock that airs every night).  And...put it back late at night.  I mean, we don't want our kids to watch this type of shows at night anyway.

8. Getting Rid Of Those Retarded Anti-Bulling PSA's/Advertisements. They are Obviously NOT working.

9. Stop milking Ben 10. In fact, get rid of it.

Anyway, that is what the new president of CN, male or female, should do, if that person doesn't follow in Snyder's footsteps, that is.  Bottom line, although it is good that the person we are fighting against finally surrendered, the one important part about fixing a network is seeing if the person fixes the mistakes his or her predecessor made or not.  Knowing the person in the business world and being cautious about their motives is what makes you a strong and wise leader.  Thanks Stefan.  I will be more cautious about things like this next time. 

Now if you'll excuse, there is a 9 year old Brony named Grayson Bruce that needs help and I must support his cause.  Until next time.  Stay Frosty and Godspeed, my friends!

If you want to pledge your support for Grayson Bruce, visit www.facebook.com/SupportForGrayson and if you got Twitter account, type in #supportforgrayson . This young Brony needs all the help he could get. Cartoon characters like Twilight Sparkle and friends can do anti-bullying messages than Stuart Snyder any day and that's saying something.

An ACF Special Report - Stuart Snyder has resigned! FINALLY!!

This is an ACF Special Report

Stuart Snyder, who has been Cartoon Network's president since the aftermath of the Boston Bomb Scare, has resigned.  As we recall, ever since taking over after Jim Samples' resignation, Snyder ruined Cartoon Network beyond recognition by ditching the "All Cartoons, All the Time" format, in favor for imports, Pokémon clone themed animes, and most disturbing of all, live action shows and movies.  Snyder had such a bad reputation that some people think of him as either the spawn of the devil or the real life equivalent to Judge Doom.  I've recently been tweeting for Snyder's termination on my twitter account after he and his cronies lied about Beware the Batman returning on January.  As a Batman fan, I am offended.  I may not like it because of the lack of Batman's classic rogues gallery aside from Ra's Al-Ghul, but this show deserves a chance before judging it complete.  With Snyder's resignation being legit, being for real this time, Cartoon Network may have a chance to return to its former glory, including bringing action cartoons and Japanese anime back in the fold. For more information, visit the following site:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-03-06/cartoon-network-head-stu-snyder-to-step-down

http://www.nickandmore.com/2014/03/06/stuart-snyder-leaving-cartoon-network/

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-turner-animation-head-stu-snyder-exiting-20140306,0,642714.story#axzz2vEJug

This is a good day to be an Animation Crusader and those who want to see justice done.  Zarghami, Iger, Sweeney and Nikki Reed are next. But for now, let us celebrate this righteous moment.  We've won.

(Throws a punch; shouts like Bruce Lee)