Goddamnit, we lost three legends last week.
First, Dolly Parton
And if that wasn't bad enough, Tim Curry went the next day.
And then the day after THAT, we lost Peter Cullen.
He was more than just Optimus Prime! He was also the voice of Toonami!
He made Hamtaro sound absolutely epic! It originally aired in the mornings, and then it moved to weekday afternoons for the Toonami block, and they just said "screw it, let's cut a promo that gives it the same gravitas as DBZ." And it WORKED.
And now to fulfill the promise I made last month:
Spider-Man: Brand New Day was great. Definitely the best MCU Spider-Man by a mile. Turns out, making him a broke loser like all his fans was how you get a good movie out of him. I was never on board for all the complaints that he was too reliant on Tony Stark as a mentor and went to the fancy tech school. God forbid Marvel do something different with Spider-Man for once. We can only watch Uncle Ben die so many times before we get sick of it.
All of the guest characters were there to tie in to the plot or let Peter know they've been through his arc before: the sad boy needs friends. Don't let the monster inside overtake you. Don't make life choices that turn you into a loner like The Punisher. And there were STILL some characters that showed up in this that I'm very glad I wasn't spoiled for.
And just on Saturday, I caught Coyote vs ACME. Man, was this one good. It's a solid 8/10, but it means it's the best Looney Tunes movie by a mile.
Sure, some of the story is a bit thin, a lot of the 3D characters look awkward at times, and most of the human characters are really two-dimensional, but it's loaded with fantastic animation and a lot of heart. I can't believe the big emotional beats came from THOSE characters, but they pulled it off.
I liked how they were just people in this world. Nobody is saying "oh my god, it's Bugs Bunny!" (Hell, the fact that no one recognized his voice was a joke in and of itself). And there were loads of deep cut cameos. It's a short list of which major characters WEREN'T in this movie in some form. This was a movie made by and for freaks like me that LOVE the Looney Tunes. No normal person is gonna recognize Cool Cat or Nelly the singing giraffe from Nelly's Folly. Those cameos were just for me.
This felt like the movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers wanted to be if the studios hadn't held them back so much. Bless Ketchup Entertainment for rescuing this movie from the tax fire. This was meant to be seen on the big screen. If Roger Rabbit is the gold standard for these types of movies, Coyote vs ACME is a solid second place. The blending of toon and live action elements were right on par with Roger Rabbit, and Will Forte and John Cena are on the level of Bob Hoskins of committing to acting with characters that aren't even there. And in Will Forte's case, Wile E doesn't speak even once!
And that brings us to the main topic: Anime NYC!
I'll show off highlights next time, but I have to talk about what was BY FAR the most popular booth there this year.
Of all things...Friskies?! Why was there a cat food company at an anime convention?!
"Catgirls gotta eat too," was the main consensus.
But the gist of it was: you stood in a line. You downloaded an app. You uploaded a picture of a cat to that app. You go to a kiosk in the booth to make a trading card out of it. Friskies feeds all of that into a data scraper and you get the physical card and some free goodies after a few minutes.
There's a reason why you were spending a minimum of an hour in that line: That was an entire ordeal. You had to download the app. Then scan a QR code to activate the promotion that uploaded the pictures. Then scan a SECOND QR code to get the code that uploads everything into the kiosks. Then you had to actually design the cards. Then you had to wait for them to get printed.
Here's the rest of the booth:
Yes, they even had their mascot walking around for pictures. And to participate in the vtuber concerts at the Hololive booth next to it.
You might recall that I lost my beloved cat in May last year, and now I have something physical to remember her by.
What you were given with the cards were free cat food. Oh, if only Gypsy ate wet food. And was still alive.
And this was what was in the mystery box you got at the booth:
ANOTHER free sample of cat food, some stickers, a keychain, and a pin. There were five different boxes, with a chance to get a gold pack.
I did not get the gold box. I got the yellow one, but that's still the best assortment among the common stuff, if I may say so.
Sharp eyes might notice I made a second card, because they let you make two.
It's of my late friend DJ's old cat Simba. The cat passed away several years ago, but I couldn't resist making a card of him, too. He was probably my favorite of all the cats his family's had over the years.
He was a big boy that liked to eat, and make biscuits on your shoes.
I'm planning to send it to his parents, but don't tell them that! I want it to be a surprise.
