Pop Dream #11: Lisa and Lily

Yep, it’s that time again…time for some more Pop Dreaming.

POP bubble

First, once again, sorry about the delay. I really wanted to get this one out earlier, but I got hit with a case of writers block that was only augmented by distractions in the real world. I’m not on social media. I’ve retired from message boards/forums. This is what I do now. However, things are starting to settle down and we’re at last beginning to return to normalcy around here, so if things go the way that I hope, I’ll get back into blogging more regularly again and will continue towards our goal of evolving Twinsanity from a mere blog to a full blown website where we can be even more creative with our pointless nonsense.

OK, enough of that, let’s get to Pop Dreaming!

In this Pop Dream, we’re continuing with our look at the family from Nickelodeon’s The Loud House. Today, we’ll be spotlighting the two youngest Loud sisters. That’s right, we’re kicking it pre-school! Today’s Pop Dream is all about Lisa and Lily Loud.

Lisa Loud

“People who think that they know everything can be quite annoying to those of us that actually do.”

Lily Loud

“Goo-goo ga-ga!”

OVERVIEW

At 4 years old, Lisa is the second-youngest child of the Loud family, and the second-youngest of Lincoln’s five younger sisters. She is often seen working on complex experiments, equations, and formulas.

TLH_Lisa_working_on_the_antidote

“I’m presently developing a giant Ritz cracker. If people enjoy eating many small cheese crackers, it’s a given that they would enjoy eating one giant one.”

Though she is still in kindergarten, she is exceedingly smarter than the other kids her age, nonetheless, that she can move up at least six grades. Quite impressive for a little kid.

lisa-the-loud-house-1.11

“I prefer to think of myself as a vertically challenged pre-adult!”

Meanwhile, at 15 months old (1 year and 3 months), Lily is the youngest child of the Loud family, and the youngest of Lincoln’s five younger sisters. She is able to walk independently, and is learning to speak.

dumb-donald

“Duh…her name’s not Baby?”

It’s possible that Lisa is named such in reference to this other smart girl?

Lisa Simpson

“I need a catchphrase”

The name also has some personal significance since I have a cousin named Lisa. If you’re reading this, love, ya, cuz!

It was interesting to learn that the youngest Loud sister is named Lily. For many younger viewers, hearing the name Lily conjures thoughts of this lady…

Ms. Frizzle

“Seat belts, everyone!”

…However, the name Lily makes me think of this lady…

Lily Tomlin as Ernestine

There I go showing my age again.

APPEARANCE

Lisa has brown hair, is short and wears big round glasses. She dresses rather conservatively.

Dexter

“Hmmm…that description sounds like someone, but I’m not sure who. It’s an enigma.”

As for Lily, her appearance can be described in two words:

Lily Loud 2

ADORABLE OVERLOAD!

There’s not much to say about Lily’s daily outfit, since she usually just wears her diaper.

The Scream

“By Gadfrey! That child is almost NAKED!! Avert thyne eyes!

Censored sign 2

We’re not about to allow that sort of of smut on the television!

Relax, people. It’s an infant. I doubt anyone is losing any sleep over this.

 

PERSONALITY

Before the beginning of the series, Lisa, despite her very young age, is a Junior Nobel Prize recipient. Though she is still in kindergarten, she is exceedingly smarter than the other kids her age, nonetheless, that she can move up at least six grades. Because of her big brain, Lisa tends to be egocentric, boorish and more than a little of a know-it-all.

Pink Floyd - The Wall

“We don’t need no education…”

Lisa with clipboard

“Ahem. That’s a double negative. It should be ‘We don’t need ANY education’. You’re undermining your own point.”

You're an idiot 3

And while Lily’s intelligence isn’t on par with Lisa’s, she seems to be fully aware of her surroundings and for the most part, she’s cognizant of what’s going on around her. Hey, that’s impressive for a baby!

The_Loud_House_Lily_Nickelodeon

She’ll make a “right on” gesture as soon as she learns how to make a fist.

FUNNIER MOMENTS

Lily's_blank_stare

“Come Sale Away”. I love Lily’s expression here after Lincoln assures her that he and the other sisters will return her lost blanket. That face seems to be saying “Something tells me that I better not hold my breath.”

Lori_and_LIly_texting

“A Room With a Feud”. Lincoln convinces his sisters to switch roommates. Lori ends up rooming with Lily and it turns out that both of them enjoy playing with smartphones.

Lily_also_has_a_phone

Lori: Ha ha…Literally!

Lily: Ha ha…Lil-all-lee!

THL_Chocolate_is_delicious

“Party Down” For Lori’s party, Lisa makes a chocolate fountain. (It started out as a nuclear fusion device, but she accidentally dropped her chocolate bar in it.) It turns out that she and Lily like chocolate…

TLH_Lily_and_Lisa_drinking_chocolate

…I mean, like, a lot!

Lisa: Oh, mama! This Theobroma Cacao, street name: chocolate, is working wonders on my serotonin levels!

Lily: (pouring some into her bottle) Goo-goo! (They giggle)

“Making The Grade”. Lisa gets bumped up from kindergarten to Lincoln’s class, where she proceeds to smoke her new classmates with her superior intellect. At Lincoln’s requests, she attempts to dumb herself down and try to be a “cool” kid, complete with a Fonzie impression.

TLH- Making the Grade _Fonzie_Lisa

“Aaaaaaay!”

CONCLUSION

I’m not surprised that I ended up enjoying Lisa on the show. Being something of a nerd myself, I often find myself identifying with the brainy characters. It was Lily who caught me off guard. I ended up enjoying her scenes/bits more than I expected to, as I’m normally not a fan of baby characters or of baby humor. In any case, these little ankle biters can be quite amusing in some scenes, but ultimately, they’re harmless.

Lisa_with_headset

“I’m also developing a computer virus that, when activated, will scramble all of YouTube’s videos, and can only be reversed if they agree to stop taking advantage of the content creators and reward virus solving computer experts with a room full of ice cream sandwiches…

Lisa Loud 3

…but I’ve already said too much.”

She Blinded Me with Science!

“She blinded me….with SCIENCE!”

Next time, Damon steps in as we wrap up our Loud House character breakdown with the Loud parents, Lynn Sr. and Rita. Keep Pop Dreaming.

What The Funny #11: Freakazoid is History!

Wall Clock

It’s that time!

I'm Chillin'

 

“Time to bust a rhyme?”

“Nah, B.”

“Time to suck a lime?”

“Nah, B!”

“Time for Gertrude Stein?”

“……”

No, it’s time for another What The Funny Freakazoid! episode breakdown!

 

-Before we start the fun, I’d like to get something off my chest: I know that productivity here has been seriously lacking lately, and I’m not happy about it. At all. There’s only 5 more days until February, and this is only our second blog post this month. That’s un-****ing acceptable. Forgive my gutter-mouth, but Twinsanity means a lot to me; it’s an outlet for me, a release, and I just plain enjoy making Twinsanity stuff. We have big plans for Twinsanity: our long term goal is to expand Twinsanity to a full blown website where we can post bigger and better things, more than just mere blog posts (I personally would like to do video material similar to the likes of Phelous, Movie Nights, Baywatching, Some Jerk with a Camera and Il Niege) and hopefully be able to do this–just having fun goofing on cartoons and other stuff we like–for a living one day. However, while I’m not the least bit pleased by how slow and infrequent the output here has been lately, it isn’t entirely our faults. Things have been really been crazy in real life as of late; the latter parts of 2017 have been Dumb Distractions A-Go-Go, and unfortunately some of those distractions managed to spill over into January, but things have finally begun to calm down at home and become more stable, so hopefully henceforth we can resume more regular production here in the upcoming weeks and months. My creative inbox is really full, and I plan to start getting stuff out now.

There. I feel better.

Also, some sad news: this is going to be the final entry of this particular What The Funny.

 

…But while this installment draws to a close, What The Funny itself will go on, just with a different show.

Our final Freakazoid! WTF focuses on a segment from episode 7, Freakazoid is History!

Freakazoid_is_history

Premise: While rescuing Air Force One, Freakazoid enters a vortex which takes him back to December 7, 1941. He prevents the attack on Pearl Harbor, and returns to the present to discover what Freak hath wrought.

Trivia Time: The plot of this short is borrowed from the 1980 Kirk Douglas film The Final Countdown, in which a naval carrier ship passes through a storm vortex and ends up back in time on the day before the Pearl Harbor attack, leaving the crew to debate whether or not to interfere with the course of history. Rod Serling’s pilot for The Twilight Zone, “The Time Element,” similarly features a man who ends up in Pearl Harbor the day of the attack and futilely tries to warn those around him.

Gag Credits:

Sexiest Man Alive: Emmitt Nervend

Find Emmitt Nervend: Three Times in This Episode

Tag: “That was a keeper.”

Highlights:

The short begins with Freakazoid on nightly patrol, while being distracted by a chatty gargoyle who keeps droning on about Lothgar the Ill-Postured —King of the People with No Name but Decent Footwear, in the Great Time of Leanness on the Plain of Vastness. This is another knock the show has made on Disney’s Gargoyles, one of the others being a one-and-done parody short entitled “Lawn Gnomes, Chapter 4: Fun in the Sun”.

Lawn_gnomes

“We…are LAWN GNOMES!”

tweety

Freakazoid finally gets him to shut up by offering him a Tweety Bird Pez dispenser.

But trouble’s a-brewin’: Air Force One (with then President Bill Clinton on board) is damaged and caught in the middle of a violent storm. Freak flies in to the rescue, assuring the Prez and his aides that everything will be all right, adding that he’s the only one who came with a jetpack.

Freak saves the plane, but gets caught in a vortex in the storm.

FiH 1

FiH 2

Freak lands in the middle of a tropical landscape, and decides to check things out.

Among the things he spots are:

Freakazoid Is History Feakazoid sees hula girls crop

HULA GIRLS!!

A fleet of battleships that look like something out of WW2, a Giant Kate Smith being dropped in to entertain the troops…

Freakazoid Is History Feakazoid sees hula girls crop

HULA GIRLS!!

FiH 3

And this sign. Hmm, could be a clue.

FiH 7

“I’ve landed in Pearl Harbor at the dawn of World War 2! It’s the 1940’s! All men wear hats!!” (In serious Jerry Lewis voice) What gives?”

Finally, a montage causes Freak to realize that he’s gone back in time, leading to this really funny spoof of the NBC sci-fi series 1989-1993 Quantum Leap entitled ‘Quantum Freak’.

quantumfreaklogo

“Yes, I get it. This is like that show where they travel through time…I won’t say its’ name because I don’t want to get sued…”

FiH 4

FiH 5

FiH 6

“Quantum Freak” includes spoofs of Davy Crockett, Ben-Hur and 2001: A Space Odyssey (both directed by Stanley Kubrick), Saturday Night Fever, North by Northwest, The Graduate, The Sound of Music (which was also spoofed in the Paul Rugg-penned Animaniacs shorts “Hello Nice Warners” and “The Sound of Warners”), Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, The Defiant Ones, and Hello Dolly! The series did a much more elaborate Hello Dolly! spoof in the second season premiere, “Dexter’s Date.” Freakazoid’s comically large strap-on nose is this segment’s second joke at the expense of Hello Dolly! star Barbra Streisand. As wild as this montage is, the show’s actual opening is even crazier.

Anyway, Freakazoid seizes the moment and prevents the Japanese from bombing Pearl Harbor (by erecting a toll bridge in the sky and causing the planes to go back since they didn’t bring any pocket change), then the vortex opens up again, and Freak is swept back to the present, where he sees what changes he’s made to the timeline:

  • Sharon Stone can act (!) and plays Lady Macbeth in a film adaptation of Macbeth
  • Rush Limbaugh has become a bleeding-heart liberal and collects alms for the poor on a street corner
  • Euro Disney is packed
  • Cold fusion works
  • No Chevy Chase movies!
Chevy Chase

Whaaaaaaat?

It seems that Freakazoid has actually made a better world…or has he? He spots the same storm engulfing Air Force One, but there’s a new President on board…

The Brain

YES!

And who’s flying the plane?

Pinky Pilot

Do you even need to ask?

Thoughts:

“Freakazoid is History” is like many of the better season 1 episodes, short and simple, but really funny. The gags come flying at you fast, and given that Pinky & the Brain was one of The WB’s biggest hits that the network was really banking on at the time, I should have seen the ending coming a mile away, but it still made me smile.

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

HesHereToSaveTheNation

Well, that wraps up our Freakazoid! breakdown. Next time on What The Funny, Jason’s back at the wheel, where he’ll take a look at a cartoon which could be categorized as an Adequate Program or a Standard Series. You could even call it a…

regular show 2

Stay funny!

Cartoon Country: Critical Condition

HAPPY 2018, EVERYBODY!

Happy-New-Year-Images-2018-HD-1-1

Slappysquirrel

“Eh, put a sock in it!”

A new year means new Twinsanity craziness. Let’s kick off 2018 with a Cartoon Country focusing on one of my favorite Silver Age Warner Bros. characters, Animaniacs‘ old-school (really old) toon great Slappy Squirrel.

Slappy Squirrel Title Card

“Thaaaat’s Slappyyyy!”

First, a little back story: I originally planned to showcase 2 of my favorite Slappy Squirrel shorts as part of a What The Funny miniseries I was going to do for New Looney Tunes last year (why insert Slappy into New Looney Tunes? I’ll get to that), but I was unable to go ahead with that for various reasons, not the least of which being that Cartoon Network and Boomerang for whatever reason opted not to air New Looney Tunes on either of their channels in the States, so I decided to just break down the 2 Slappy shorts individually as Cartoon Countries instead.

recycle-symbol-symbol-logo

Waste not, want not.

However, I still hold on to the hope that I can one day do a New Looney Tunes What The Funny somewhere down the line. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, on with the fun!

The Slappy short we’ll be looking at today is Critical Condition.

CriticalCondition

Premise: Slappy gets roasted by famous critics Lean Hiskel and Codger Eggbert (no prizes for guessing who these guys are based on), and sets out to make a counterpoint in her own inimitable fashion.

Critical Condition 3

The short begins with Slappy and her nephew Skippy watching a broadcast of Hiskel & Eggbert as they review a Laser Disc…

Memba This

‘Memba Those?

…entitled The Best of Looney Tunes, which features famous WB shorts that the show can run clips of since they’re all owned by the same parent company. This compilation also includes some of Slappy’s old shorts.

“There I am. Look at my head!”

Critical Condition 8

I always liked how in-universe Slappy Squirrel is a Looney Tune alongside Bugs, Daffy, Porky et al. Warner probably has no interest in doing this, but I think it would be cool if for the new Animaniacs series set to air on Hulu in 2020, they would produce some specially made ‘vintage’ Slappy shorts, similar to the “He’s Bonkers!” shorts that Disney made for Raw Toonage, just so we could see what kind of cartoons Slappy starred in within this revisionist history.

 

Among the cartoons highlighted are:

whatsoperadoc

What’s Opera, Doc?

Duck_Amuck

Duck Amuck

PorkyMeetsDodo

…And Porky in Wackyland.

-The critics are yukking it up at these clips. While Skippy is just happy that they’re happy, Slappy wants to know when they’re going to get to her cartoons. They do, but unfortunately, Lean and Codger consider Slappy to be “the only Looney Tunes star [they] actually hate”, labeling her “tremendously unfunny”.

Critical Condition 12

“WHAT???!!!???”

One bit I like is how whenever the critics insult Slappy on screen, Slappy herself takes a hit, literally.

“She’s just not funny!”

bam-comic-word-wording-sound-effect-set-design-background-strip-47728396

“She never made a funny cartoon in her life!”

bop-sound-effect

“Let’s face it: Slappy Squirrel is the UN-FUNNIEST cartoon character of all time!”

kaboom-wording-sound-effect-comic-speech-bubble-62992475

Critical Condition 4

After recovering from that ego-bruising, Slappy and Skippy regroup to make their response. Slappy offers these words of advice:

Critical Condition 11

“If you wanna go on TV and shred someone’s career to pieces, you have the right to do that, but if you’re gonna do that, don’t go leaving your names and addresses in the phone book!” Before proceeding to destroy the critics’ home with a giant missle.

Critical Condition 7

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), the critics were away getting their legs waxed and weren’t home for the explosion, but they will be attending the premiere of Steven Spielberg’s new movie. So the squirrels decide to take in a flick.

Shirley-AnimaniacsCameo

TINY TOONS CAMEO! Shirley the Loon is attending the premiering with her namesake, Shirley MacLaine.

Slappy and Skippy infiltrate the theater and proceed to give the critics the works. First by impersonating ushers who refuse to let them in, with Skippy even laying them out with karate. They finally get past him with a HUGE bribe. Then we get this exchange:

Critical Condition 6

Slappy: Congratulations, Skippy. You just paid for your college education.

Skippy: College, nothin’. I’m goin’ to Vegas!

Slappy: (without missing a beat) Get me Sigfried and Roy’s autograph, will ya?

After further chicanery, including Slappy at the concession stand treating Eggbert to a (literal) tub of popcorn (“Here ya go, Shamu!”) and buttering it with lard from Eggbert’s gut(!)…

Critical Condition 2

…And showing the critics to their seats…located inside a huge rocket…

Critical Condition 5

Slappy finally lets a fuming Hiskel and Eggbert into the theater to see Spielberg’s new movie…

Jurassic-park-2-1024

…Which was totally NOT Jurassic Park, Spielberg’s latest film at the time…

Only for the squirrels to trap them inside the film (I love cartoons!) where they’re chased by a predatory T-Rex, but no worries, the other giant missle fired by Slappy gets to them first.

Afterward, on their next show, Hiskel and Eggbert (in bandages and casts) officially retract their original critique of Slappy, completely changing their tune (or at least too traumatized to want to make any more waves), and proclaim her “the funniest cartoon character of all time”, right before Skippy blasts them with TNT into a hole, just to keep things from getting too treacly.

Slappy_on_Halloween

“Now that’s comedy!”

-“Critical Condition” isn’t deep or layered in any way; it’s plot is simple: some critics rip on Slappy, and Slappy retaliates…hard…but the gags and wisecracks in this short are top-notch, which is why this has always been on of my all-time favorite Slappy Squirrel shorts.

Critical Condition 10

We give it 2 toes up!

Yearly Wrap-Up 2017

End of 2017

We’re approaching the end of the road…

It’s that time again: our final blog post of the year, where we offer up a brief summation of the site’s activities and our plans for Twinsanity’s future.

As 2017 winds to a close, if I were to try and sum things up in a single term, it would probably be:

Roller Coaster

ROLLER COASTER.

To say that 2017 had its’ fair share of ups and downs is an understatement. 2017 seemed to be the year of Delays and Distractions, as a lot of this year’s planned blog posts had to be pushed back or rescheduled for various reasons. If there’s one thing we’d both like to see happen in 2018, we hope that production will pick up here; we’d really like to get back to a pattern where we’re producing new material here on a fairly regular basis once more. Here’s hoping.

This time there aren’t a lot of new things to report for next year; as of this writing we don’t currently have any new segments planned (aside from the ones which will be made as videos*), rather we simply plan to make more and better entries of the current roster of segments. At the moment we have 4 Cartoon Countries in the works, a couple of Toon Adjacents, a Videots and a Retro Bin. I’d like to do another Cartoon Couch and Jason says he’d like to do another TV Special Showdown, but in order to do either would first require a subject.

We would’ve liked to have done something holiday themed this year, but it just never happened, partially because so many other blog posts had to be pushed back. I had considered doing a Toon Adjacent for Beetlejuice’s Rock-n-Roll Graveyard Revue, but I didn’t get the idea to do it until after Halloween, and by then the entries I had planned for September got pushed back to October. Similarly, Jason had considered doing a mini Cartoon Country of the MAD sketch “Fantastic Four Christmases”, but he was also so busy working on the posts which were delayed from September and October that Christmas came and went before he got to do it. Maybe we’ll get to do those next year.

Top priority right now is to get out the final entries of the current Pop Dream and What The Funny miniseries, so that we can embark on the next series of each, which will most likely be around February or March. In each case, we know what the next installments of each will be focusing on, but we don’t want to reveal them just yet. You’ll have to wait until the current miniseries are finished before we make the official announcements.

We’re still on extended vacation from superhero themed posts, and expect that to continue in the upcoming months. While there may be the occasional cape post turning up once in a while (like the Toon Adjacent “X-Men Infinity??” or the Nerdvana “The Tech Factor”, which was mostly about superheroes), Twinsanity’s primary animation focus will still be comedy cartoons and toyetic cartoons over the action-oriented titles. We prefer comedy over action, that’s just how we roll.

*Regarding some of those aforementioned video segments, among them will be a new incarnation of 2 Funny. It’s still the same basic idea: comedy sketches, only this time the skits will be written and performed by us instead of us just embedding someone else’s works. Another video segment we’re considering is called The Couch; in it, we sit on a couch, watch something on TV and make fun of it. There are other video segment ideas we’re kicking around, but there will still be the familiar animation-themed segments you’ve come to enjoy, such as Cartoon Country, The Retro Bin/Cartoon Couch etc., only in video form. The basic theme of the Twinsanity video series will be cartoons, fun stuff, funny stuff, stupid stuff and geek stuff”.

2017 to 2018

So as always, we’d like to give all of you who’ve been following Twinsanity, liking us, commenting on our nonsense and all a big thank you for sticking around, and we wish you all a Happy Holidays and we look forward to entertaining you with more animation and geek culture themed things in 2018. In the meantime, relax, kick back and pop open the bubbly, ’cause we already have.

sparkling-wines-on-New-Years-Eve

See ya next year.

Pop Dream #10: Lola & Lana

Are you still there? Good, because it’s time for the next Pop Dream!

Looks like we’ve made it, folks. Here we are at THE BIG TEN!!

confett cannon

Before we start, I’d like to once again apologize for delay. We’re not happy about it either. I planned to do this Pop Dream last month, but it was delayed due to distractions. November and December are notoriously bad months for blogging, since you have major holidays constantly vying for your attention. Nonetheless, better late than never. On with the fun and frivolity.

As previously stated, this is Pop Dream #10, and it’s very appropriate that we’ll be spotlighting a pair of twins on the first two digit Pop Dream. Our look at characters from Nickelodeon’s The Loud House continues with a look at the house’s set of twins. One of them is a princess while the other one is a mud bug. Today’s Pop Dream looks at Lola & Lana Loud!

The_Loud_House_Ties_That_Bind_20_Lana_Lola.png

They’re 2.. 2…2 brats in one!

OVERVIEW

By now, it’s no secret that we love our twins on this site. When I first learned about The Loud House, my interest was immediately peaked when I learned that two of Lincoln’s sisters were twins, and this series didn’t disappoint. As you already know, I’ve chosen to spotlight each of Lincoln’s sisters in pairs in order to save time, but even if I hadn’t done that, I’d still be focusing on these characters collectively regardless because they’re a duo. Opposite sides of the same coin. You can’t have one without the other. Lana & Lola are like the Odd Couple of The Loud House.

The Odd Couple

“Oh, Oscar, Oscar, Oscar…”

At 6 years old, Lola is the third-youngest child of the Loud family, and the middle child of Lincoln’s five younger sisters. She is also Lana’s younger twin sister, with whom she attends the 1st grade at Royal Woods Elementary School. Yes, that’s right. Lola is the younger twin. Initially, I assumed that she was the older twin due to her having more of an alpha personality, but no, Lola is the younger twin by a couple of minutes.

Lola & Lana

Lana: Yeah, that’s right, Lola. Sometimes I forget that you’re younger than me.

Lola: I’m only two minutes younger!!

Lana: Then maybe in two minutes, you’ll understand!

Meanwhile, At 6 years old, Lana is the fourth-youngest child of the Loud family, and the second-oldest of Lincoln’s five younger sisters. She is also Lola’s older twin sister, with whom she attends the 1st grade at Royal Woods Elementary School.

The Patty Duke Show

Two sets of matching bookends, different as night and day…

APPEARANCE

Lola’s appearance is fancy, frilly and very, very, very pink. She wears a princess dress and a tiara daily.

TLHSunny_and_hot

“If you got it, flaunt it!”

Shirley Temple

Also, personally, I would have had Lola wear a Shirley Temple type outfit instead of the beauty pageant outfit, but that’s me.

Lana’s look, on the other hand, can best be described as grunge. She prefers overalls to dresses, sneakers to Mary Jane shoes and is rarely seen without her backwards worn red baseball cap.

Lana_about_to_do_a_paint_can_solo

“Drop it like it’s hot! Actually, I just like making lots of noise!”

PERSONALITY

Lola is spoiled, arrogant, conceited, bratty, sassy, smart-mouthed and dresses like a princess. Lola’s interests include anything girly – this includes fashion shows, makeup, and posing for photo shoots. She is constantly claiming how beautiful she is, and can’t look away from a mirror for more than five seconds, which gets on everybody’s nerves. Some fans may indeed find Lola annoying, and I can understand why. Yeah, she can be obnoxious at times, but nonetheless, I can’t bring myself to dislike Lola. Partially because during a time where female characters are branching out and many modern women and girls are flatly rejecting pink, it’s a nice change of pace to see a female character who is proudly and unapologetically girly.  One can be feminine and still be feminist. People tend to forget that.

TLH_Very_good,_Lola

“I like pink, dresses and dollies….Deal with it!”

Meanwhile, Lana is a tomboy, contrasting with her twin’s more girly personality. She loves to play in mud, and enjoys getting her hands dirty. Her pleasures are found in filth of all kinds, and anything unhygienic, from frogs to digging in the trash for chewing gum to doing business outdoors. Despite her tomboyishness, and gross habits, she is a decent enough person, and is loving towards her family. Lana’s interests include mud, dirt, working on cars and generally being gross. She’s also a major animal lover.

TLH_Lana_sleeping_with_animals

It’s like a zoo in there, and smells like one too.

Especially one animal in particular, her pet frog Hops.

Lana_kissing_Hops_on_the_cheek

“Promise me you’ll never turn into a prince.”

There’s one Lana moment that sticks with me; a scene from the short “Toads and Tiaras”. In it,  Lola gets injured and is unable to compete in a beauty pageant, so Lincoln recruits Lana (who’s identical to Lola) to take her place. Despite Lincoln’s coaching, Lana still proves to be in no way beauty pageant material. Disappointed, she says this:

Lana_Maybe_there's_something_wrong_with_me

“Maybe there’s something wrong with me.”

Speaking as a weirdo who spent much of his childhood not giving a crap about the things that most boys my age were supposed to be interested in, I identify with that.

Mutant and Proud sticker

Stay strong, friends!

TLH_twins_Scared

TLH_twins_screaming

TLH_Your_big_brother_will_protect_you

Speaking of which, I like little moments like this scene from “Left In the Dark”,

TLH - Baby Steps

and this scene from “Baby Steps”. I like moments like these in which the twins act like the 6-year-olds that they are. This being a comedy, there will of course be exaggerations for comedic effect, which is great, but it’s good that The Loud House’s writers never forget that these characters are children and remember to keep their attitudes and their brains very childlike. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Lola and Lana speaking a secret language at some point.

TLH_Lana_and_Lola_building_a_sandcastle

“Dilly-dilly?”

“Boo-shaa!”

Someone once said that “twins are like a family within the family”, and Lola and Lana are no exception. Ironically, Lola, the younger twin, is the louder and more aggressive sister, despite being pink and “sweet”, whereas Lana, though she’s the grubby tomboy, is the quieter and more compassionate twin.

By the by, peep out this image of the twins brushing their teeth together.

Twins_brushing_their_teeth

“Brusha-brusha-brusha…”

I don’t have a joke for this, I just think it’s super-cute.

Lola and Lana are like most twins (and siblings in general); getting on each other’s nerves one minute, having each other’s backs the next. Speaking of moments, I nearly lost it when I first saw the short “Patching Things Up”. In it, Lana and Lola are trying to become Bluebelles, but neither one wants to join without the other.

Lana_and_Lola_are_blue_bells

Lana & Lola_Hugging_eachother

Aaaaaaaawwwwww!!

 

FUNNIER MOMENTS

Lana & Lola singing

“Left In the Dark”: We first see the twins marching out of their bedroom to watch TV in the living room, all the while chanting “Cartoons! Cartoons! Cartoons!” That was pretty much the highlight of my day as a kid.

“Picture Perfect”: Lincoln, attempting to take the perfect family portrait, makes Lana and Lola wear marshmallows in their mouths in order to fill in the gaps for their missing front teeth.

Lana_Lola_with_marshmallows_as_teeth

“You look silly!”

Lana_looking_through_the_window

“Undie Pressure”. Lincoln makes a bet with his sisters that they can’t go through an afternoon without doing their favorite things. Lana has to go without playing in the mud. I love this shot of her forlornly looking out of the window.

Loud Twins as Moniters

“Get The Message”. Lana and Lola are appointed hall monitors in school and use this “power” to hassle Lincoln in the Loud House hallway. This doesn’t seem like something that either of them would be interested in. I guess they just like telling people what to do.

TLH_Steady_as_she_goes

“Vantastic Voyage”. The family’s minivan (nicknamed “Vanzilla”) breaks down (again!).

TLH_Lori_angry_with_Lola

All of the kids are begrudgingly pushing the van home…

TLH_Lola_in_a_parade_(sort_of)

…except for Lola, who stands on the top waving as though she were riding a parade float!

TLH - Tricked!

“Tricked”. Lana & Lola go Trick Or Treating dressed as salt and pepper shakers.

CONCLUSION

Initially, I was a little apprehensive when I learned that Lola and Lana would have opposite personalities, as I feared that the two of them would have anti-chemistry. Thankfully, Lana and Lola don’t hate each other like The Cramp Twins, and I do understand that if they were both exactly alike, there’d be little to no play among them, so some distinction is necessary. In little time, the twins joined the ranks of my favorite characters on the show. It’s a treat for me whenever either of them is on screen, especially when they’re seen doing twin stuff. I can’t think of a better way to wrap up this twin tribute than this:

 

Lana & Lola Loud

Lana: Well, that was just gweechy! Wouldn’t you say?

Lola: Oh, yeah! It was absolutely ice box!

It’s a twin thing. You wouldn’t understand.

Next Time: It’s Lisa and Lily. Keep Pop Dreaming.