Dragon’s Tale

I’ve added some artwork to my gallery, and there’s also a new picture of Flame up in the Princess Flame gallery.

When it comes to Disney, I’m a bit bi-polar. I love them for their classic animated movies (and their most recent 2D animated film), but I hate them for how they act and treat some of their properties.

Here, I couldn’t find any Princess and the Frog merchandise. No soundtrack, no books, no dolls or plushes, yet in the US, they were everywhere. All I managed to find was a $5 bookmark and a few coloring books. All the rest of my collection came from ebay or a friend in the US. My animation cel, which I got off ebay, was given out free to a single zip code in Nevada. The people that received it proceeded to stick them all on ebay and make money off something Disney gave them for free. Now sure, everyone wants to make money, that doesn’t bother me. What bothers me is Disney only made those cels available to a single zip code in the entire US. I can only say “thank goodness” that I bought mine before a majority of the fans found out about them, as they’re going for 4-5 times what I paid now.

I saw 1 TV ad leading up to the release of the movie. There was no fast food promotions.

For a large company like Disney, why did they feel the need to treat The Princess and the Frog in such a manner? Why didn’t it deserve the attention that most of their movies get (like those annoying live action movies, where the commercials are played every commercial break)? Will the DVD release be better, or will all their focus be placed on Alice and Wonderland?

I created the story for Vampire X more than a decade ago, first as drawings and sketches, and then as time went on, I wrote down a very long storyline. A couple of years ago I decided to finally try to turn it into another online graphic novel, as I was happy with what I had done with Heart of a Dragon. What I haven’t been happy with is the story I made, and the art style I used. So, I’ll be stopping all work on the current Vampire X and rebooting it from the start, with a different approach to the story and the theme. Maybe when it’s finished completely, I’ll do a write-up on what the story originally was when I first wrote it, but for now, I just want to put it behind me and focus on the new story.

The update schedule is to be decided, but if I’m pleased with what I have planned (black and white pages), I’d like to update it more than once a week. I just need to fine-tune it so I’m happy with the artwork.

Last night I did something I’ve been doing for many years, watch the latest episode of The Simpsons. Last nights episode was rather special, as it was the 450th episode, and it also celebrated the 20th year of the show being on TV. Following the episode was a special documentary on The Simpsons, with interviews from the shows producers, former writers, the voice actors and actresses, and even Matt Groening, the Simpsons creator. He provided interesting facts about the shows history and creation.

I’ve been a fan of the Simpsons from the start. While the show originally debuted as a prime-time cartoon for adults, very much like the Flinstones, it eventually would become a show for people of all ages. While I didn’t get to see many episodes when the show began, that would eventually change as the show and myself grew older. One thing is for sure though, the tone of the show was originally intended for adults, and it’s very noticeable to a Simpsons fan.

Nowadays I can often tell what episode is on within 1-3 seconds of the shows start (after the credits of course), and it amazes me that I can do that! Unlike any other shows that I’ve seen over and over, I can watch any Simpsons repeat, they don’t bore me the more I see them, they just get better.

I know during the early teen seasons the show started to go a little downhill, and some people stopped watching it and never forgave it, but it seriously came back and the past few seasons have been just as great as the first decade of the show. The only beef I have is them retconning the Simpsons history, updating their past so the shows characters can stay the same age. I for one just suspended my belief when it came to the characters not aging, but I guess it needed to be done.

One thing that really stuck me as amazing in the documentary was the collection of Simpsons merchandise some people had. Beyond the little action figures that the stores sometimes sell, I’ve never seen anything else besides a Simpsons Squishee-maker (which I own). I really wish I knew where these fans got some of these Simpsons products.

So great job, Mr. Groening! Here’s to another 20 years!

I don’t go to movies on opening days very often, so when I do, that means I really want to see the movie! For months I’d been looking forwards to the release of Disney’s latest animated movie, The Princess and the Frog, and today, it was finally released in theaters. The movie is a bit of a modern twist on the Frog Prince fairy tale, and Disney thankfully didn’t use 3D animation and used a more traditional animation style, which looked very well done. The story was well written, and there is a fairly sad part towards the end that might upset the kids. And finally, the voice acting was top-notch, fitting each character perfectly!

So go see the movie! You won’t regret it. Don’t let classic animation become extinct, please help show Disney that there’s still people that enjoy it. I’ll be busy buying up all the Princess and the Frog merchandise I can find (which has been very… non-existent in Canada..) and awaiting patiently for the DVD.

Princess Flame comes from the kingdom of Camelhot, where the Dragon Knights of the Square Table spend their time bickering with one another and foiling the evil plans of the dread Count Geoffrey. For more pictures of Princess Flame, just take a look over here.

((The cartoon Blazing Dragons ran from 1996 to 1998 for 2 seasons, and was based on a story by Terry Jones. The cartoon series was done by Nelvana and Ellipse Programme, and aired on various channels in Canada, and the Disney channel in the USA. It’s currently unavailable on VHS and DVD, and it’s doubtful that it will ever be on DVD or Blu-ray. You can find a few episodes on Youtube, but one would need to go somewhere else *cough*Bit Torrent*cough* for the rest.))

Vampire X is back! Just click on the Vampire X image on my homepage and it will take you to the comic site. Or you could just click here to go there. It will be updated every Saturday; I wish I could update it more often, but drawing and writing 2 graphic novels is rather time consuming.

91 years ago today the first world war ended. Many brave soldiers gave their lives to put an end to the war that was to end all wars. Sadly, 13 years later, the second world war broke out and more lives were lost. I do hope  one day that war will truly end, and I will never forget the sacrifices that many individuals make to keep the world safe, and I hope those reading this won’t forget either.

Vampire X has been on hiatus for a few months now. At first it was due to me being too busy to keep 2 comics going, and then it was due to me not being satisfied with the script for the 3rd chapter. I’ve made some changes, and I’ve started drawing and scripting the 3rd chapter, entitled “Resurrection”. I haven’t worked out a solid update schedule, but I’ll have something ready for next week.

A few weeks ago when I was watching TV I saw an ad that really surprised me. I guess it wouldn’t have surprised me if I paid attention to DVD news, but it was a commercial for Snow White, coming out on DVD and Blu-ray. I was shocked, were they finally learning that their classic movies should be available to everyone at any given time? Would I be able to buy Cinderella on Blu-ray next year for it’s 60th anniversary? After a quick search on Google, I found out no, they didn’t smarten up.

It seems like only a select few Disney movies are subjected to the Vault, to be specific, their “best-sellers”. Now Snow White was the very first to be released on DVD, and it’s time to start the cycle all over again on Blu-ray, Snow White being the first, with Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 being released March 2010, and then Beauty and the Beast October 2010 (at least I want that one).

Now some of this actually holds true to their “we take the movie away for 7 years and then release it again”, although until now, Fantasia was never included in the Vault, so who knows what else they’ll stick in there in the future. Also, with a bit of rough calculations, I can expect to buy Cinderella on Blu-ray sometime in 2015. Awesome! I mean, it’s bad enough that I missed out on the DVD release and either have to buy a bootleg on Ebay or download the movie, for the movie’s 60th anniversary, they won’t even release it on Blu-ray (they released Pinocchio on it’s anniversary, taking it out of the Vault prematurely).

So, whenever I have the extra money, I’ll be buying  multiple Snow White Blu-rays. When Fantasia is released, I’ll be buying up as many Fantasia Blu-rays I can find. I’m going to play Disney’s idiotic little game and make a profit off them. When Snow White goes back into the Vault, I just wait a few years and sell the Blu-rays on Ebay. I mean heck, if a DVD bootleg goes for $30 on Ebay, just imagine what a real disc will go for.

If anyone else would like to make money (and who doesn’t), I encourage you to do the same. Let Disney work for you and help you pay some bills. Sure, it will take some time, but in the end, that time will net you a bit of extra money!