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SPOILERS FOR SAM AND MAX: THE DEVIL’S PLAYHOUSE

(Also a rough personal vent based on how much this game resonated with me. Trust me, it’s not for the faint of heart. Warning: contains instances of childhood trauma and the many other mental health conditions it came with)

This game did so much justice for Sam and Max themselves, considering how this game is the first time anyone has seen these two in this multi-layered light since the original was released by Telltale back in 2010. I could go on about how this game has very much given me even more appreciation for Sam, because it has! But I really do want to talk about what was confirmed in this game about Max.

First of all, I love that when we’re in the Museum of Mostly Natural History in the episode They Stole Max’s Brain, we get an exhibit on how “the world will end” which shows a display of a giant monster destroying a city and the scene mechanically rotating into a desolate wasteland where the city used to stand. Mostly because of how well it works as foreshadowing for what was to come, (that foreshadowing also happened in The Penal Zone where Sam and Max first discover the Toybox) which ended up being Max turning into that giant monster that was predicted to bring the end of the world by the end of The Alley of the Dolls.

In the grand finale The City That Dares Not Sleep, when we’re literally inside Max himself, we end up learning his own Super Ego hates him and wants him to die. The Superego isn’t a separate entity, he is very much a part of Max’s own mind. I’m pretty sure every other Sam and Max fan who’s played this game has pointed out Max being as depressed and self-loathing as he is, and hiding it behind his sense of humor and his iconic smile. (He even brings up earlier in The Tomb of Sammun-Mak that he likes to fall asleep to the song “Tears of a Clown” which if you’ve heard of it, it’s 100% because he relates to that song. That’s just more good foreshadowing)

Honestly, I’m just going to say this, this 100% is something I deeply relate to. I’m probably going to vent a lot, but it’s important to understand where I’m coming from. During my childhood, I kept finding myself in these special Ed programs that I hated being in, they never truly felt like they were safe, but I had no choice but to put up with them since as far as my parents knew from the people who misinformed them, kids are completely incapable of truly understanding what is best for them. There were several times where I knew something was wrong with the way my life was, but I couldn’t put my finger on it since I was so young and constantly surrounded by people gaslighting me because I was that young. My autism diagnosis was something I deeply resented because it put me into these programs where I was objectified and told how the way I am and behave is wrong and should behave how THEY instruct me to. A lot of pressure was often put on me to behave with this standard of “perfection”, often leading me to be punished for not perfectly following that standard. I had no choice but to bottle up those imperfections because of the teachers of Special Ed that would constantly watch me like a hawk and sometimes even follow me around when I’m just trying to get on with my school day and get to my latest class in time. It didn’t help that I also kept getting prescriptions for medication that did more harm than good for me. One of the pills caused me to rapidly gain around 20 pounds in the span of a few weeks as a 9 year old, (making Sam pretty damn relatable in his own right too.) and another prescription REALLY messed with my brain. (If you want an example to how I acted on that awful drug, just think about how Lemongrab from Adventure Time was like) All this along with a few other reasons I might bring up someday ended up getting me to first develop suicidal thoughts at age 10. And as soon as that happened, I was taken to a children’s psych ward in a hospital where for some fucking reason, some “responsible adults” thought it would be a good idea to put the kid that thinks they’re a freak of nature that never should have existed in the first place in to a children’s psych ward made up mostly of kids that were surrendered from their parents for then being drug addicts and committing crimes they’re now in prison for. My much pickier childhood self when it came to the foods I ate (which is something a lot of autistic people are known for diagnosis wise) and the people running the ward didn’t give a damn and I spent my time malnourished lying in bed waiting for myself to starve to death and finally end everything I was going through up to that point. It took my mother INSISTING constantly that she bring food that I like so I could finally be more well nourished. But I can assure you it was hell, a hell I was stuck in for 11 days.

A bunch of other messed up stuff happened too, but I think this information has the gist of why I’m like this. It really wasn’t easy for me to type out, let alone have the nerve to publish on a public site. Honestly, I’d say Sam and Max: The Devil’s Playhouse resonated with me in a similar way Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 did. (If any of you have also seen that movie, you’d know EXACTLY what I mean. What I brought up also made Rocket Raccoon’s story resonate with me as much as it did.)

I’d like to thank the people of Skunkape for remastering this game so more people like me can have access and experience this masterpiece of a game. It was just what I needed now, and I couldn’t be more grateful of it happening!

It’s been a while since I’ve drawn a pony

I've been playing Sam and Max: Save the World and I had an idea for a comic featuring president Max.

Based on an episode of The Amazing World of Gumball.

Rocky Rickaby getting his not-so-lucky luck, as per usual.

(his 'luck' is definitely moreso of getting out of the constant less than ideal situations alive-- physically speaking. 💀)

Cross-posted on both my Insta and TikTok 👍 I am VERY happy with how this turned out.

I can’t wait!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA IM GONNA THROW UP

S: Something tells me this isn’t your first cup today, little buddy

nah sam, he's just Like That

On Cringe Culture, Kids' Shows, and Elitism

i'M nOt rEaDiNg aLl tHaT" Ok, scroll down for the TL:DR. (Also on SpaceHey and Blogspot)

The now ex-CEO of Disney, Bob Chapek, has stated the animation is only for children. Never mind that this is the same company that owns The Simpsons, and was founded by a guy who said, and I quote "You're dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway."

Naturally, this has caused universal backlash within the animation community, with many people defending animation as a medium for everyone, not just kids. However, the animation community was also mocked by outsiders for using kids' shows, such as Gravity Falls, to prove that animation is for everyone. In fact, the animation community (more specifically the western animation community) has always been cruelly harassed by outsiders for watching cartoons, especially ones aimed at children.

There is nothing wrong with watching children's shows AT ALL. Watching kids' shows doesn't make you immature, a pedophile, or whatever bullshit that outsiders want to spew. Remember the Walt Disney quote above; many kids' shows are designed to be appealing to multiple audiences, including adults. Kids' shows with adult appeal (or ones that don't annoy the living daylights out of parents, or are legitimately good for kids) are more likely to be praised and recommended by said parents than, say, Cocomelon.

However, because of the stigma attached to kids' shows, many animation fans feel the need to hate on/ignore slice-of-life or comedy cartoons, while only praising plot-driven or "dark" ones like Gravity Falls, The Owl House, and Avatar, and say that they are "not for kids." Again, there is NOTHING wrong with liking kids' shows (these shows do feel more YA-ish though, but that's another subject for another blog). All three of these shows are very high quality, and you don't need to justify your enjoyment of them to outsiders. The constant prioritization of dramatic cartoons over lighthearted ones in the cartoon fandom creates a sense of snobby elitism, and leads to...

...fans of lighthearted shows like Big City Greens and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic being bullied for liking said shows because they are "childish." Which, in turn, leads to fans of lighthearted kids' shows trying to make their shows seem dark in order to make the elitists like them. Back in the day, many bronies made dark fan works based on MLP such as "Cupcakes," "Smile HD," and "Rainbow Factory" and put them out in public with no age restriction, resulting in a bunch of traumatized children. The bronies also acted like they were the target audience and not children.

Apart from the bronies' fan works, MLP also suffered from exaggerated darkness on TV Tropes subpages. Speaking of TV Tropes, there was a very infamous incident regarding the kids' show "Ready Jet Go!" Aside from the stigma surrounding general kids' programs, you also have the stigma attached to preschool shows that they are dumb and for babies (never mind that babies/infants are too young to watch TV, and if they watch it before they turn 2, it would really hurt their brain. Look up the Baby Einstein controversy for more info), especially with GoAnimate users making it hip to hate on Dora and Barney. Not every preschool/elementary show is the same as Cocomelon. There are many high-quality programs for the little ones such as Arthur, Cyberchase, Sesame Street, Bluey, Mister Rogers, VeggieTales, Oswald, Blue's Clues, LazyTown, Bear in the Big Blue House, and WordGirl. Can you really blame fans for liking them when they’re just so good?

With all this in mind, someone once made a Nightmare Fuel page for Ready Jet Go on TV Tropes in order to make it more popular, because the user felt alone in liking the show and it was a big comfort for them. They also cited the snobbery of the cartoon community as a reason for their making the page on the Nightmare Fuel cleanup thread. The page was eventually deleted because it was mocked cruelly by 4chan. It didn't make the show more popular, it gave it a bad reputation.

The user shouldn't have to had made that stupid page with examples exaggerating the show's supposed scariness. If it weren't for the cartoon community being a bunch of elitists, as well as the kids/preschool show stigma, this wouldn't have happened. The sad part is, even though the page is long gone, the page STILL gets brought up by RJG haters to mock the show, its' fans, and TV Tropes for "pissing their pants over Ready Jet Go" which is beating a dead horse at this point. Seriously, make like Elsa and LET IT GO. Please stop bringing it up, and if you’re reading this blog, please don’t look it up. Please have sympathy for Ready Jet Go fans. We’re actually a very nice fandom.

The 4chan bullying also ties into cringe culture. On sites such as DeviantArt, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Reddit, and 4chan, many people are considered "cringe" and cyberbullied for "crimes" like making a colorful character or watching cartoons. The cyberbullies in question are just a bunch of pathetic lowlives who bully people for being happy, because they think that bullying happy people will make them feel better about their disgusting selves.

As noted here, cringe culture affects autistic people the most. Autistic people tend to get really passionate about their favorite things, or "special interests," and like to talk about them all the time and make their own characters. But according to some unwritten rule of society, your OCs have to be as deep as Shakespeare, and you're not allowed to like 'childish' things even a little bit. (I think it's worth mentioning that the Nightmare Fuel person was autistic themselves). Many proponents of cringe culture participate in concern trolling, acting like they don't want so-called "cringe" people to be bullied and want them to be good artists/writers. Cringe culture doesn't make people become better creators, it makes them become boring creators and repressing their true passions.

Every autistic person is different, which is why it's called the autism spectrum. However, it is true that a lot of autistic people enjoy children's media, likely because of how calming and simple they tend to be. For example, Thomas the Tank Engine is very popular with autistics because the engines' emotions are easy to tell, and the show has a chill atmosphere (by the way, the Thomas fandom is a frequent victim of cringe culture). Plus, it legitimately has Tolkien-level lore dating back to the 1940s. I'm not even kidding, look up "The Island of Sodor: Its People, History and Railways." It always pisses me off when outsiders act surprised that "tHOmAs tHe tRaIn hAs A fAnDoM?!?1!" It's based on a book series that's existed since 1945, of fucking course it has a fandom, dumbass.

TL;DR - 'Animation is for everyone' and 'it's okay to like kids' cartoons/lighthearted cartoons' are statements that can and should co-exist. Also, autistic people can like whatever they want and those who harass them are the scum of the earth.

Finally come back home of my vacation, found again my dear graphic tablet and Photoshop. Let's make doodles without waiting any "good" results at the end, experiment things and just enjoy the moment !

Physical Bad Wolf mystic apparition my new beloved ( literally two god dogs fighting for the TARDIS/dog's house possession since hundreds years)

Old Sam & Max Art I was proud of

Here's an old comic I made a few months ago...

All this time I was in the MLP fandom growing up back when Friendship is Magic was still going and I never drew Discord! Well I have finally changed that!