Category What Up?

A Very Special Special Segment UPDATE: We May Have Found Our Thing

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If you’ve been following us, you know from A Very Special Special Segment that our two “special” miniseries segments, What The Funny and Pop Dream, were getting shelved/put on ice as we’re planning to consolidate them (or elements of them) into a single new miniseries segment that we’re developing. There we also mentioned that we want this new segment to be singularly focused on a specific thing, like one particular franchise, studio, genre or company.

For a brief moment, we considered that thing being Saturday Morning Cartoons…

But that’s too similar to our flagship series, the Razzle Dazzle Show; in fact, the basic premise of our entire channel/brand is Saturday Morning Fans Who Grew Up, aka a kids’ show for adults. After some back-and-forth searching and consideration, we may have landed on the connecting thread that this new segment will be built around:

It’s looking like this new segment will be built around…WARNER BROS. STUDIOS!

We’ve been giving this some thought, and WB seems to check all our boxes: it’s big and iconic, so the things we can cover on it are generally known (no super niche stuff like Animal Jam), it’s a single company but it houses many products and pop-culture things of interest such as cartoons, TV shows, movies, video games, toys, merchandise, ad campaigns, theme park attractions, etc.

Plus a lot of the characters and franchises under WB’s umbrella are among our favorite things: Looney Tunes, Cartoon Network, DC, Hanna-Barbera; this will enable us to make a wide range of videos without getting burned out or repeating ourselves.

Plus, it’s something different. There are already about 300 people out there who have blogs, internet shows, or channels devoted to Disney; we don’t want our channel to be the 301st. There are already dozens of DisneyTubers, but nobody’s really spotlighting Warner Bros like that (as far as we know).

Here’s how it’ll work: Our main series will of course be The Razzle Dazzle Show. This will cover the Saturday Morning/Animation and Assorted Stuff/things in general.

The other main recurring segments like TV Special Tonight, The Couch, Talkin’ Nerdy, Player Two Start, Nerdvana, Retroville, etc. will more or less be incorporated into Razzle Dazzle (generally speaking, we plan to have each installment of RDS to feature 2 or 3 segments per show).

2 Funny, Brain Candy, and other miscellaneous mini-segments will either appear between the main Razzle Dazzle segments and/or separately as shorts. These segments are basically the shows between the shows.

The new segment will run on it’s own schedule; separate from the Razzle Dazzle Show but still running concurrently alongside of it, in other words when a new installment of the ‘special’ segment pops up, we won’t be ceasing production on anything else we’re doing at that time. However, the new segment won’t appear as often or as regularly as the Razzle Dazzle Show segments; installments of this segment will only turn up from time to time, and only when we have one (obviously).

Now, on to what you can expect to see on this new special segment (and why we shelved Pop Dream and What The Funny):

As previously stated, this new segment will celebrate/deep dive into all things Warner Brothers (or all the things pertaining to WB cartoon and geek culture stuff, anyway).

This obviously includes Looney Tunes (no shock there)…

Cartoon Network…

DC…

Hanna-Barbera, etc. It will cover the shorts, the shows, the movies,

The games,

The toys,

Theme parks and stage shows, you get the idea.

There will occasionally be detailed character profiles and tributes, a la Pop Dream, but the overall approach and execution will be much different. I don’t want this new segment to just be Pop Dream with a different name. Yes, one reason I retired Pop Dream was because I felt the branding and approach to it was too sugary-sweet and tame compared to the other stuff we do and it didn’t really fit in with our general style (which leans more towards wild ‘n’ crazy) but that wasn’t the only problem I was having with it. While it was a little more focused on a singular subject than the average segment, it was still a different show each time, which was kind of grab baggy, like what we’re already doing on The Razzle Dazzle Show; one reason I launched my miniseries in the first place was to do something different. Also I was starting to find the Pop Dream formula a tad too rigid; it followed the same basic formula of “Pick a show or franchise, select 5 or 6 of my favorite characters from said franchise, profile them in the same categories, choose another show, pick 5 or 6 favorite characters from that show, wash, rinse, repeat”, plus it adhered to the same 5 bullet points every time in the exact same order; I began wanting a break from that; I admit I was getting bored with Pop Dream because it was the same thing every time. My awakening came from watching LS Mark’s Splash Dash or Walter Banasiak’s Juniversal: I liked how, despite them both focusing on one specific thing (Sonic the Hedgehog and Universal Studios, respectively), each video was something different every time: sometimes they’d focus on a show, sometimes a game, sometimes a movie, sometimes a theme park attraction, sometimes lore, sometimes graphics, whatever, as long as they pertain to the main subject. I love how fluid those segments are, and wanted to have that kind of freedom on my miniseries, so while there will be Pop Dream style character profiles here and there, those won’t be the only things we do on this segment nor are we going to adhere to that structure as rigidly.

I probably can list these guys’ funnier moments, but we’d be here a while.

Hey, Jason (Goldstar) here. I just wanted to reiterate how this new segment will differ from What the Funny (and also why I wanted to make these changes in the first place). For one, the WTF segments quickly fell into a very predictable formula; I would pick a comedy show, breakdown 5 or 6 episodes of said show, then pick a different comedy show and start the process all over again. WTF was supposed to be a variety of fun stuff all focused on 1 specific show, franchise or studio, not just keep doing the exact same thing, but with a different show each time. I wanted to put a stop to that because that wasn’t far enough away from The Razzle Dazzle Show, our flagship show. In the time since I stared WTF, I became aware of Splash Dash and Tough Pigs.com. Both of which are focused on 1 specific subject: the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and Jim Henson’s Muppets, respectively. If WTF were to continue, it would’ve needed to have a more distinct connecting thread besides just being funny, since our entire website/channel is devoted to cartoons and comedy. Also, this new segment won’t be a miniseries in which each individual installment contains 5 or 6 separate entries. Truth be told, I was getting tired of that format and wanted to present the episodes in a different way. Each installment of this new segment will be standalone, and we’ll just do one whenever we feel like it.

For another, I definitely wanted to put a stop the episode reviews because that’s too basic. That’s Nostalgia Critic and everybody and their mom does those. One reason why I (and Damon too, as I later discovered) embarked on this special segment in the first place was to do something different. I still like the idea of What the Funny, but now I see that it needed more time to cook.

In short, the new segment will be less this…

And more this.

There may be a ratings system (of sorts), but it’s mainly going to be joke ratings made strictly for laughs and not meant to be taken that seriously. Also, we won’t be numbering the individual entries in this segment since it’s not going to be the same thing every time.

Now, before anyone informs us that we already have a recurring segment devoted to Warner Brothers Studios called That’s Warner Brothers! my response is that TWB! used to be Cartoon Country, so the way I see it, this is taking the evolution of the concept a step further. Finally, as previously stated, this new segment will be replacing both What the Funny and Pop Dream because we feel that it’s more efficient to have just one miniseries as opposed to having two.

Two things we’re committed to doing with this segment:

  1. It’ll be a variety. One thing I can’t overemphasize here is that we want this new segment to be fluid; we don’t wish to just do the same thing every time. If one installment is about Foghorn Leghorn’s Funniest Bits, then the next one will be something completely different, like “All Those -Alities”, where we spotlight our favorite Mortal Kombat Fatalities, Friendships and Animalities, then the video after that will be about something unrelated to that, like all the cameos, references, callbacks and Easter Eggs in the movie Scoob!. We’re really committed to the idea(l) that we never do the same type of video twice in a row.
  2. It will absolutely, positively, definitely NOT be a review show! We can do celebrations, goofs, trivia, spotlights and highlights and assorted fun things, but it won’t be the standard issue review format. Once again, this isn’t Nostalgia Critic; one reason we’re launching this segment (nee, the entire channel) is to do something different from that.

Right now, one of the main thing this new segment needs is a name. We could just continue to call it That’s Warner Bros!, but that might be a bit basic and too obvious. We want to have some fun and play a little loose with this segment, so we may want a more abstract and less obvious title. Some names we’re currently considering are:

Untitled Cartoon Show

That Cartoon Show

Toontime

The Basement

Cartoon Madness

Cartoon Country

Club Whatever

And of course, What The Funny.

We’re still playing around with names, but this new segment is coming that much closer to becoming reality. We’ll keep you posted.

“S-s-s-s-stay tooned, folks!”

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE: After some deliberation, we’ve finally decided on a name for this new segment. As a result of What The Funny, Pop Dream and That’s Warner Brothers doing the Fusion Dance…

This new special miniseries segment will be called (drum roll, please)…

WEIRD BOYS!!

The name Weird Boys fits so perfectly. One, it applies; we’re both weird, and two, its’ initials are WB; so it’s a perfect way to say what the segment is about without actually saying it. (Weird Boys = Warner Brothers, get it?)

So when Twin Images goes live on video, expect to see Weird Boys make its’ debut alongside The Razzle Dazzle Show and our other regular segments somewhere down the line. When? Who knows? It’ll be a surprise, something special, if you will. So look out for it, at any given moment, Twin Images will be getting weird!

A Very Special Special Segment

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As the process of transforming Twin Images.com from a blog to a video website looms ever closer, we’re both making the necessary preparations.

If you read a post regarding the state of the blog from earlier this year, you may have noticed that when we listed the upcoming segments for the videos on our upcoming channel, that our 2 miniseries What the Funny and Pop Dream weren’t listed among them.

So what’s the deal?

This was intentional, as there have some recent developments regarding those 2 segments. I must now announce that Pop Dream and What the Funny are now officially on hiatus and they won’t be used for our video channel. Why? Allow me to explain:

Yes, the WTF post for the Regular Show episode “Free Cake” was the last WTF, or at least the last one that I do that way. In retrospect, when I first embarked on this special event segment, there are a couple of things that I should have done differently. 1) I said that since the WTF segment had passed the #10 point that I would keep them coming and would no longer be numbering them. In hindsight, that was a mistake. What the Funny was supposed to be a special event, like Taco Night.

One reason why people look forward to Taco Night is because they only have it once in a while. If Taco Tuesday becomes Taco Everyday, it’s no longer special. So I’m not going to do at that pace anymore. What The Funny was more enjoyable when there wasn’t the pressure to keep churning them out in an assembly line fashion. 2)The episode breakdowns have got to go. When I started WTF, it was supposed to be a highlight reel, but as things progressed, it became scene-by-scene episode breakdowns. That’s just a review show which you can see anywhere, and again, there’s nothing special about that. Plus, we’re already doing that in some of our other segments. This new segment will definitely not have the play-by-play setup where it’s scene, joke, scene, joke, scene, joke, conclusion. Not anymore. 3) What the Funny has a bit of an identity problem.

Consider one the original Care Bears, Friend Bear (I’m going somewhere with this. Trust me). Friend Bear was never a major character in any of franchise’s numerous incarnations, and it’s not hard to see why. Her chief shtick was being friendly, but all of the Care Bears are friendly, so Friend’s primary characteristic has no way of distinguishing itself from the personalities of the others. My point? How do you distinguish a segment focusing on animated comedy on a website/channel that’s all about cartoons and comedy? WTF needs to be focused on a more specific thing than just comedy in general because that’s too broad a subject (even though it will still most definitely be comedy focused). The good news these problems aren’t unfixable, but it does mean that I’ll be putting What The Funny on ice so these issues can be addressed.

-Hey, Damon (Silverstar) here. I was having issues with my “special, once-in-a-while” miniseries segment Pop Dream as well. For one, like said Jason said above, making them a semi-regular thing was a mistake; a Very Berry pie is a wonderful treat, but not so wonderful if you have it all the time. For another, the latest Pop Dream (of the Alpha Masters from Animal Jam) wasn’t very funny, which is why I noped out of it after the first installment. Don’t get me wrong, the jokes I came up for it were pretty good, but the subject itself wasn’t all that funny; more cute and charming than funny. (Plus, Animal Jam hasn’t had any major video adaptations, so I couldn’t do any Funnier Moments, and that was crippling, since that’s always been a favorite section of the Pop Dreams. Animal Jam in general isn’t that popular in the mainstream zeitgeist; Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse at least has that going for it.) Which brings me to my next issue with Pop Dream: while the concept of Pop Dream (deep dive profiles of favorite comedic or toyetic characters) and format thereof was and is pretty decent, the framing, style and presentation was starting to not gel with me. It was supposed to be kind of laid back, pleasant and breezy…

Jolly and candy-like…

But the style, not to mention the subjects of the first and third Pop Dreams to me were coming off as…I’m trying to choose my words very carefully here…

Too “girly”.

Adding further to my creative inner conflict was my discovering Doug Walker’s Untitled Review Show videos and re-discovering Chris Stuckmann’s Hilariocity videos; suddenly, I wanted to make a zany segment like those instead of what I was doing with the Pop Dreams. Finally, I began wondering if we needed two “special, once-in-a-while” miniseries segments; again, if we have more than one “special” segment, they’re not as special. So as of this writing, Pop Dream is hereby retired.

I now plan to work on a loose, quippy, wacky segment like the Untitled Review Show (though it won’t be a review show); bits of the concept and possibly some elements from Pop Dream (such as Funnier Moments) will live on, but from now on I’ll leave the sparkly stuff to the sparkly people.

“Sparkle-Sparkle!”

The good news is that none of these things are unfixable. The not-so-good news is that we’ll be putting both What The Funny and Pop Dream (the segment, the Pop Dream name and branding are already retired) on ice until we work out the kinks.

Our current plans are to replace both with a single, new special segment. There’s only going to be one this time. Not only will having only 1 occasional segment be more special, but with both of us working on it together, we should get it done in half the time, which will make for a lighter workload. I’ve since become aware of LS Mark’s second YouTube channel Splash Dash, which is all about the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and also a fan website made by fans of Jim Henson’s Muppets called Tough Pigs.com. I’d like for this new segment to be something along those lines, entertainment/informative, with plenty of jokes, wackiness and nonsense. Also, we’d like for this segment to be presented in a way that’s different from what we’ll be doing on The Razzle Dazzle Show and our other mini vids. Also, this won’t be a monthly or annual type of deal. We’re not going to commit to that kind of time frame. We’re just going to do an episode when a) we have a idea for an episode, and b) whenever we have the time and space to devote to making one.

We could end up calling this “new” miniseries segment What The Funny, unless we collectively come up with a new name that we like better, and this “new” segment could incorporate the Pop Dream character profile format (Overview, Appearance, Personality, Funnier Moments and Conclusion); this could be part of the format it takes, but not all of it (I don’t want this new miniseries segment to just be Pop Dream with a different name; if my only issue with Pop Dream was the name, I would’ve have just renamed it and kept going); call it a lofty goal, but I wouldn’t mind if this new miniseries encompassed a wide range of subject matter relating to a single subject, franchise, studio or company a la Splash Dash or Walter Banasiak’s Juniversal for Channel Awesome. We do want this segment to be different — and bigger — than what we usually do in the other segments. It is supposed to be special, after all.

So, while the Pop Dream branding and What The Funny (in it’s previous form) may be gone, but like the Phoenix, a new special event segment will rise from the ashes. Better, more beautiful and very wacky.

Anime Superhero…Where You At?

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For those who don’t know, the Anime Superhero Forums (animesuperhero.com), which both Damon and I are members of, has been down for repairs since February 3rd, and it’s now March 23rd and the site still hasn’t been fixed yet. The forum’s moderators have assured us that the site will return, but no one can say exactly when.

However, someone has since created a temporary AS forum that can be used while we’re waiting for the real one to return. animesuperherotemp.freeforums.net.

Neither of us have created an account there yet (Honestly, I don’t know if it’s worth it), but in the meantime, we’re both still here of course, and also are still on Tumblr. If you’re missing the Anime Superhero Forums, you can visit the temporary AS site. You know, if you feel like it.

Yearly Wrap-Up 2022

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Howdy, folks.

Well, gang, here we are once again. The last blog post of the year, and let me you, this is one year I’m looking forward to see in the rearview mirror. You want to know what I thought about 2022?

“Oh, wowsy, wowsy, woo-woo! Miserable year, wasn’t it?”

Well maybe I wouldn’t go that far, but this year was a rough one. Too often, there have been things happening in real life that left us feeling this way:

And as a result of being sidelined by so much jackassery, we haven’t been able to devote as much time to this site as we would have liked, and we’re not happy about that. This coupled with the fact that at the start of 2022, I was in a really bad place, feeling just a little bit…

So with that, it’s time to bury 2022 into the cold, cold ground and look ahead to 2023. I’m cautiously optimistic.

Overall, we don’t have a whole lot of new stuff to announce now (of course, that could change at any time. We’ll keep you posted). The main thing that we’d like to do is make the giant leap from blogging to video production. There are a few things coming down the pike, if we get the time and space to sit down and work on them. Damon’s Pop Dream for Animal Jam and my What The Funny for Regular Show may resume. Initially, we put them on hold because in case we wanted to continue them in video form. Speaking of WTF, Damon and I have considered doing another What The Funny miniseries for WB’s Jellystone!

One good thing about this prospect is that with both of us working on a miniseries together, we should get it completed in half the time. As previously noted, now these 2 miniseries are semi-regular or recurring thing here, we won’t be numbering the individual entries anymore.

Also, as Damon mentioned in an earlier blog post, there will be some more posts that don’t fall into any particular category. They’ll just be stuff that we want to talk about that we do for our own amusement.

Overall, hopefully, there will be more activity here in 2023. It would be nice if maybe we could finally be able to switch to video format next year (fingers crossed).

So see ya, 2022. You won’t be missed. Here’s looking forward to another 12 months of nonsense. Happy New Year, everyone!