You see, with roughly a month before the convention, the Writers Guild of America went on strike. With the screen writers pulling out, that would cause issues with trying to set up panels to promote various film and television programs with many not willing to go out of solidarity. And just as the programming schedule went live two weeks ahead of the convention, the Screen Actors Guild went on strike. That, for sure, was going to disrupt all sorts of plans as the Hollywood presence that dominated Comic Con the last couple decades had diminished immensely.

Programs were getting altered or getting cancelled outright. Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. pulled out, The Walking Dead presentation would be without actors or writers, My Adventures with Superman and Twisted Metal became simply screenings. With these kinds of changes, could Comic Con be the pop culture juggernaut it had been for so long? Well, given some of the things I was interested in, it still managed to thrive as strongly as ever. Fan presence was still huge and some programs got a chance to a shine without Hollywood in the way.

To say The Owl House became a pop culture phenomenon since its premiere on January 10, 2020 would be an understatement. The Disney fantasy about a teen venturing into the Demon Realm and fulfill her dreams of being a witch had become the equivalent of a revolution. It would build a global fanbase that grew and strengthened even after the finale aired on April 8, 2023. So any presence of The Owl House would see its legion of fans flock in overwhelming numbers in support. And there’s no greater stage for such a gathering than Comic Con.

The fans were willing to sit through the presentation that occurred beforehand, in this case World Wrestling Entertainment, to ensure their spot in The Owl House panel. I didn’t get into the WWE panel, but I managed to get a fairly good spot before the room completely filled up minutes later. Serving as moderator would be production associate Rebecca Bozza, aka Rebecca Rose, and she was joined by cast members Avi Roque (Raine), Cissy Jones (Lilith), and Sarah-Nicole Robles (Luz) as they looked back in celebration on the Peabody Award winning series.

Attendees hung onto every word that was spoken, listening in as the panel told stories about making the series and what it was like looking back on the results. Jones brought up the more than one year gap between when she auditioned to when she officially got cast. Robles noted that, while she got to see the full episode scripts, she was still surprised with how scenes came out. Roque stated that the show “came at a time when my voice had settled” and were truly able to be themselves as a performer. There happened to be a lot that fans were discovering.

Having sat through numerous panels for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir, there was little question that the atmosphere would be similar for The Owl House. Perhaps what made The Owl House presentation an absolute joy in comparison to the previous two would be how the fandom relished every second that the panel spoke and absorbed all that was discussed and revealed. It was definitely celebratory in nature and it was a delight to be in the middle of it. Nothing was wasted and everything was pure fun.

The legacy of Fleischer Studios, headed by Max and Dave Fleischer, would be that of a pioneering enterprise that challenged Walt Disney in the 1930s. The library of cartoons starring Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman made it a viable animation house. Financial difficulties and the brothers falling out led the studio to be lost within legal rights conundrums for decades. Now, Max’s granddaughter Jane was leading an effort to restore the cartoons and Comic Con was the latest stop to bring attention to the ongoing project.

Joining Jane would be her partners Rocking Pins CEO Mauricio Alvarado and historian Ray Pointer, author of The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer. In a way, the three let the animation do the talking for them, showing off clips from a documentary Pointer had done, restoration comparisons, and screening in full the restored Betty Boop in Snow-White and The Cobweb Hotel. It should go without saying that the restoration work on the cartoons was nothing short of heroic and really made these some of the best looking animation I’ve seen even against today’s offerings.

It was brought up that the day prior to the panel was what would have been Max’s 140th birthday and the week before was the 90th anniversary of the original Popeye the Sailor cartoon. Alvarado noted that they had restored around 10-20 cartoons, about 50 were in progress, and another 160-200 still in the works. Prior to answering my question about the recent Warner Bros. blu-ray of the Superman cartoons, Pointer and Jane brought up a sad story regarding what some of Jane’s relatives had done to some of the original studio materials.

The panel was a lovely presentation, made all the more enjoyable knowing that there were so many of us that nearly filled the room in adoration. We liked it so much that we quickly followed Pointer out of the room so we could buy what copies of his book he had on hand. I was among the first to get a copy and have it signed by all three. The attendees even went about continuing discussions with them expressing their admiration for the work being done. A fantastic panel for animation fans and a wonderful way to rediscover some excellent cartoons.

On September 14, 1990, Warner Bros. and the legendary Steven Spielberg presented Tiny Toon Adventures. Following the numerous, wacky escapades of young cartoon characters inspired by the classic Looney Tunes, Tiny Toons was a tremendous success and would be at the forefront of reinvigorating Warner Bros. animation at the dawn of a new century. The show would find itself overshadowed in time by later titles it had helped usher. But now, Warner Bros. is giving the over 30-year-old classic series a reboot with Tiny Toons Looniversity.

No doubt there were plans for the Tiny Toons Looniversity presentation aside from a screening. I recall catching it under the “Updated” tag quite early in the lead up to the convention, going as far as to merely note that it would provide a sneak preview screening as well as trailers for other programs related to Looney Tunes. In the end, they ended up having Sam Armour, production manager at Cartoon Network and adult swim, do a very brief introduction to what would be the screening of two episodes months in advance of the show’s fall debut.

Dan’s Review: Tiny Toon Adventures is one of my all-time favorite shows. I tried to keep my excitement regarding Looniversity in check, given how a few recent reboots went. In the end, I rather enjoyed the two episodes screened. Moreover, I was surprised with how each episode managed to maintain some semblance of coherence with multiple plots going on in chaotic fashion before all were tied up in a satisfactory climax. The episodes were hilarious, nicely made, and the positive reaction was promising enough that this series just might work out.

When Robert Kirkman got his first major shot in creating a comic book for Image Comics, he and artist Cory Walker created a superhero title called Invincible. First published on January 22, 2003, it was after Kirkman’s popularity boomed with The Walking Dead and Marvel Zombies did Invincible start to garner interest. It was enough that an animated series was developed and began streaming on Amazon Prime on March 25, 2021. The first season was a major success, helping boost the streamer’s profile. Viewers were salivating for the second season.

I didn’t think I’d be getting in given I was arriving shortly after the start time, the program was very popular, and it was the second of a double-panel with a 20th anniversary celebration of the comic. Nevertheless, I got in right as they screened the trailer for the second season, with fans excited for the massive roster of guest stars that included Sterling K. Brown, Daveed Diggs, Tatiana Maslany, Chloe Bennet, and Peter Cullen. They later screened a scene from one of the upcoming episodes and a scene from the Atom Eve special that premiered that same day.

The panel was originally set to include cast members. While the strikes technically did not affect animated shows, the actors did not participate out of solidarity and Kirkman encouraged support for the strikes. Otherwise, he kept quiet about details of the second season and what from the comic would be adapted to avoid spoilers. Instead, he engaged in a rappaport with the moderator, Collider editor in chief Steve Weintraub, as they merely hinted at what could be happening as the show progressed. It was fun to hear, actually.

This was probably the first panel I attended that was affected by the strikes to a greater degree with the cast not participating. Nevertheless, it was kind of nice to sit through as Kirkman and Weintraub got to play around with their discussions so that it didn’t come off as filler and kept the fans in anticipation for the second season without revealing all that many details. Not even the sudden ringing of the fire alarm going off for a second dampened the fun. Given what could be done under the circumstances, I thought it turned out pretty well.

When Sharknado premiered on the Syfy Channel on July 11, 2013, it was initially seen as just another low budget B-movie flick in the channel’s library. But the silliness of the premise of mixing tornadoes and man-eating sharks suddenly caused it to blow up in popularity. It became a cult phenomenon no one saw coming, as it spawned five sequels, spin-offs, a video game, and a whole lot of meme and parody material utilized. So what better place to look back and celebrate the wonder of one of the finest “so bad it’s good” movies than at Comic Con.

Several minutes before the panel started, the fire alarm in the convention center went off again along with a PA message for everyone to evacuate. This turned out to be a false alarm, but it delayed the panel 15 minutes. When the panel finally got going, director Anthony C. Ferrante performed the theme song with local band Manual Scan. Joining Ferrante for the panel proper would be producers David Rimawi and David Latt, writer Thunder Levin, and star Ian Ziering (Fin) with Yahoo Entertainment senior correspondent Kevin Polowy serving as moderator.

Ferrante talked about how they had to make due with what they had given it was a typical made-for-TV movie. Ziering added that he was told doing the film would kill his career, but he needed to do it so he and his family could qualify for SAG’s health insurance. Latt detailed the live Tweeting process helped the film’s popularity boom. For special effects, a nifty breakdown of a shark eating scene was shown. Ziering noted from the second film onward he got to make special effect suggestions for shots and how cool it was when they were utilized.

The Sharknado panel was plagued by technical issues that seemed to happen every ten minutes, from the wrong footage playing to no sound happening. Yet it sort of made it that much more charming of a presentation to attend. Everyone was just as taken aback that the film managed to develop a successful legacy to be able to have an anniversary celebration and there were some neat interactions, like when Ferrante and Ziering had differing accounts over how the cast found out what the title was. It turned out to be quite a fun experience overall.

From May to August 2000, Sand Land by Akira Toriyama was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump Magazine. A short story made merely for Toriyama’s own enjoyment, it was praised for its unique artwork and characters with some calling it superior to his legendary creation Dragon Ball. Over 20 years later, Bandai Namco began franchising the manga about a sheriff and a couple demons searching for water within the endless desert riding a tank. Chief among these projects was an animated feature and it was decided to hold its world premiere at Comic Con.

World premiere screenings were nothing new for Comic Con. The world premiere of Sand Land, though, was seen as a big deal. It was a major anime title premiering on American soil weeks ahead of its debut in Japan and Japanese media were on hand to cover the event. The screening was being done in the third largest room at the convention center and excited fans filled it up instantly. They even showed the trailer for the accompanying video game ten minutes before the actual start time and filled the rest of the time playing some of the film’s soundtrack.

The pre-screening panel consisted of director Toshihisa Yokoshima, Toriyama’s editor in charge Akio Iyoku, and actress Nanoka Hara, serving as the event’s “special reporter”. Yokoshima commented about fulfilling his childhood fantasy of bringing to life Toriyama’s work, Iyoku noted the uniqueness of the film and how it worked in adapting the manga, and Hara showed off the sweet swag all attendees received. Moderating was an executive named Mike, conducting the panel like a press conference and translating what was being said for the audience.

Dan’s Review: I really wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into, even with the small research I did beforehand. I found myself being absorbed into an incredible world that was populated with delightful characters. The mixture of hand-drawn and computer generated imagery allowed for the animation to be smooth and richly defined. The story was nicely told, a hilarious romp with cool action sequences and some genuinely touching moments. The reaction was extremely high throughout with everyone agreeing that they had watched an excellent film.

The popularity of Dungeons & Dragons was growing by the early 1980s. To take advantage, original publisher TSR, Inc. partnered with Marvel Productions to develop a Saturday morning cartoon for CBS. First broadcast on September 17, 1983, it would be one of the most daring and beloved programs at the time in telling the tale of six teens on a seemingly never-ending journey to escape The Realm and return home. Now, in the midst of a renaissance for the role-playing game, a celebration of the show’s 40th anniversary would be held.

A lot happened before the presentation started. Katie Leigh (voice of Sheila) was cosplaying for the first time ever and took part in photo ops. The panel also decorated the table with toys, books, and the game’s Starter Set. TJ Shevlin (Uppder Deck product development coordinator) served as moderator that featured Leigh, Mark Evanier (series developer), Luke Gygax (son of game co-creator Gary Gygax), Frank Todaro (voice actor on The Cuphead Show), and David M. Booher (writer of the Dungeons & Dragons: Saturday Morning Adventures comic book).

This turned into a fun panel with all sorts of interesting stories and comments about the show. Evanier had a lot to say about the behind-the-scenes process. Leigh noted her awe at being part of what was subtly an ensemble cast when she was relatively new. Gygax got to tell interesting tidbits he remembered growing up around his dad. Todaro and Shevlin provided a fan’s perspective on how much more mature the show was. Booher explained ideas he hoped to explore in the comic that he had thought about since watching when he was a kid.

In a way, there was a calm, quiet atmosphere hanging in the air in that everyone in the packed room paid attention and allowed themselves to be absorbed into the discussions that were taking place. There was absolute affection for the show, be it in presentation, the memories shared by the panel, and certainly from some of the fan interactions. This was definitely a presentation in which the nostalgia factor played a great part in which made this a thoroughly enjoyable program, even before it properly started. This was truly a panel for the fans from start to finish.

If there was one animated series that could never seem to ride off into the sunset, it would be Matt Groening’s Futurama. The science fiction comedy of a time-displaced slacker that started broadcasting on March 28, 1999 went from being cancelled by Fox in 2003 to having direct-to-video features released in 2008 and 2009 to a revival on Comedy Central from 2010 to 2013. Now, ten years after it last aired, Futurama was coming back again courtesy this time of Hulu. And there frankly was no better place to celebrate the show’s latest return than at Comic Con.

I made it just in time, not only for the start of the presentation, but also for the screening of “The Impossible Stream”, the first episode of the revival. Attendees got a chance to see it days ahead of its Hulu debut, which was more than enough reason for fans to completely fill Ballroom 20. The episode was very warmly received, with many seemingly falling out of their seats they were laughing so hard from the all-too relevant humor coming at them hard and fast. It sure did prove that the show was still a quality program even after a ten year hiatus.

The screening was followed by a panel with producers Lee Supercinski and Claudia Katz, directors Peter Avanzino, Crystal Chesney Thompson, and Edmund Fong, and storyboard artists Ira Sherak and Andrew Han. They talked about how they were forward to the plethora of new hot topics to tackle, such as cancel culture and the pandemic, and noted side characters they were interested in revisiting. A fan question regarding possible crossovers with other Groening shows received an answer from Katz of “right now, we’re trying to focus on our show.”

Futurama remained a favorite of mine for quality content that had managed to hold up over the course of time. Its presence at Comic Con showed that its return was gladly welcomed with open arms. The episode screening was top notch and the panel provided just enough hints of the fun that was in store for audiences to discover. But what really made this an enjoyable experience was the positive atmosphere that was maintained throughout. Attendees were excited and they were not disappointed in the slightest. A promising start for the returning show.

For over a decade, Seth MacFarlane’s prime time animated ventures have had a major presence at Comic Con. So much so that they would be staples in Ballroom 20 on Day Three, often packing the second largest room in the convention center with fans eager to check out what both American Dad! and Family Guy had to offer. While this year was no different, it wasn’t going to be a typical presentation. This would be due to MacFarlane himself and some of the other executives temporarily exiting their creative roles on both shows in support of the strikes.

To fill the space, both shows would screen episodes ahead of their respective fall broadcasts as well as a small American Dad! panel with some of the directors sandwiched in-between. For American Dad!, they screened “Frantastic Voyage”, which would serve to bring the season back from hiatus, while for Family Guy they screened “Supermarket Pete”, which would air later in the show’s season. Both episode screenings were followed by five-minute trailers that showed off what audiences can expect as the shows progressed through their respective seasons.

Serving on the panel for American Dad! were directors Brent Woods, Jennifer Graves, and Ron Hughart and production manager Aldrin Cornejo. Woods was the moderator and at one point showed off the model sheets of all four of them as background characters on the show. Graves teased an intriguing episode that would supposedly include “a visual position” they clearly could not show and were figuring ways to make it work. There was also talk about which alter ego of Roger’s everyone liked and how they helped better develop the character over time.

To be honest, I didn’t sit through the entirety of either screenings. I missed a middle chunk of American Dad! while I nearly missed out Family Guy completely. Which was just as well as I wasn’t too keen on Family Guy and the okay reception seemed to confirm that. American Dad! looked like fun and I would consider checking out the full episode later. The panel was a nice opportunity for the directors to talk about what was in store for American Dad! and were able to leave us interested. Not bad for what they could make do with under the circumstances.

Since 1977, the San Diego-based Spike and Mike’s Festival of Animation had become a renowned and invaluable institution. It was the premiere touring exhibition and promotion of animation as art and not just a medium or genre. Prominent figures within the industry such as Nick Park, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Mike Judge, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, Craig McCracken, and many others got their start through their early shorts being showcased at the festival. And one of the more prominent stops for the festival had been an annual presence at Comic Con.

An “all ages” showcase was added for this year in addition to the regular presentation of the Sick and Twisted Festival with surviving co-founder Craig “Spike” Decker doing a very brief introduction. The selections for this hour-long sample exhibition were two No Neck Joe shorts by McCracken, Grandma’s Hero by Corentin Monnier and Ben Ozeri, The Bookworm by Richard Wiley, Cavallette (Grasshoppers) by Bruno Bozzetto, Life Smartphone by Chenglin Xie, Captain Awesome by Ercan Bozdogan, Key Lime Pie by Trevor Jimenez, and The Missing Scarf by Eoin Duffy.

Dan’s Review: Admittedly, I can only take strange and bizarre animation in small doses. This sample of Spike and Mike had tempted me to try sitting through the full experience once at some point, but it also reiterated why I prefer small doses. That these were the best selections for an “all ages” showcase had me concerned about how totally out-there the proper exhibition would be. That’s not to say the shorts were bad. I rather liked what I saw, showing off some great animation in different forms and a couple having some interesting narratives.

Since first broadcasting on Geek and Sundry in 2015, Critical Role had become a pop culture phenomenon the likes of which no one had ever thought possible. The weekly broadcast of a group of well known animation voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons had reached a level of popularity that rivaled the other film and television programs that had a presence at Comic Con. Spawning comic books, novels, and an animated series, Critical Role had truly taken the world by storm and it was only growing with each progressive year.

2023 saw a great representation of how Critical Role was getting bigger and bigger. This year, they had not one, but two panels. The first would be their proper presentation in Ballroom 20, this time around called the Fireside Chat and Cast Q&A. The second would take place an hour afterward in another room, this one being Making Candela Obscura. It spoke volumes to the dedication of the fandom as they were able to fill Ballroom 20 for the first panel and many immediately made their way over to the other room and packed that to capacity as well.

For the Fireside Chat [right], all eight members of the core cast were present: Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Sam Riegel, Ashley Johnson, Taliesin Jaffe, Marisha Ray, and Travis Willingham. Moderating was Robbie Daymond, who in recent years had become a part of the family in having played in numerous games and doing the audiobook readings of the novels. Much of the discussion was based around events that had happened to date in the current 3rd campaign, although they did their best to not spoil too much of the more recent occurrences.

Of course, the real fun was when it opened to fan interactions. This included a suggestion for Willingham to delve deeper into figuring which positions the Critical Role characters would play in football, an appreciation for Riegel’s sponsorship ads, and further interest in the way Mercer runs games. Fan interactions like these were a big part of why the Critical Role panels over the years would always be a highlight for me. The sheer joy everyone had was infectious and a real treat. So imagine getting to have a second panel to go to and experience shortly afterward.

Candela Obscura [right] was the recently launched monthly program utilizing a new game system the group created. Serving as moderator was Ivan Van Norman, who was head of the Darrington Press division. The panel consisted of Jaffe, Ray, Daymond, Bailey, Mercer, and Johnson along with voice actress Anjali Bhimani. Jaffe and Ray spoke about crafting the game around Jaffe’s interest in cosmic horror that wasn’t in the vein of H.P. Lovecraft. Mercer, Daymond, Bailey, Johnson, and Bhimani explained trying to play a new system and their approach to role-playing.

There wasn’t much with regards to fan interaction, outside of Bhimani recording the audience to singing “Happy Birthday” to her brother at the end. Yet it was still a delightful presentation as it explored the process of creating a new gaming system almost from scratch and refining it while broadcasting games. It was actually a nice counter-balance to the first panel, which was light in tone and presentation whereas the second was dark in atmosphere. These panels together further illustrated what a wonderful brand Critical Role had become.

Introduced in 2021, The Hellfire Gala was a state dinner event within the X-Men comic books. Modeled after the real-life Met Gala, it was a fancy soiree in which the mutant nation of Krakoa opened it gates to non-mutants to celebrate mutant culture and served as the platform to unveil a new X-Men team. The concept was well received and it turned into an annual occurrence within the comics. Disney decided to take it further this year by hosting a real-life Hellfire Gala during Comic Con. Needless to say, curious costumed fans wanted in on this unique event.

The Hellfire Gala took place offsite, specifically at the PARQ Nightclub a way’s north of the convention center. While one didn’t need to have a Comic Con badge, they needed a ticket and they were sold only to D23 members. It managed to sell out weeks ahead of the event. As the concept was that it would be a fancy soiree, many definitely dressed up, whether it was in just standard formal wear or in elegantly designed cosplay. Most of the costumes were definitely X-Men related, but there were other types from within the Marvel universe and beyond about.

PARQ Nightclub was far bigger than expected, allowing for three distinct areas. The Green Lagoon acted as the entry area in which folks could gather and have some drinks. The Hellfire Ballroom was where the main discotheque dance floor was found. And Lair X housed some of the activities that could be done like playing the old-school X-Men arcade machines and checking out various photo op displays. All attendees received tickets at the entrance, one for a free drink and one to pick up a gift bag that included pins, X-Men books, and other goodies.

I would say that the Hellfire Gala was a very impressive set-up. It was quite a sight to behold, allowing for moments in which I was just standing around to take it all in. But it was just so crowded! So much so that it made the atmosphere extremely warm, and this was in the middle of summer. Furthermore, I really couldn’t try out any of the photo op displays because the lines were just so packed. I didn’t regret going to the event and it was fun enough just to be in the middle of it all. But I probably wouldn’t do another one given how crowded it was.

On Day One, I had been standing for several hours straight and my feet were hurting for some relief. So much so that I decided to sit in on the panel that was ahead of Fleischer Cartoons. This would be What’s New in Independent Comics [right]. A few independent comic book creators came to discuss where things were going for them and how the strove to stay afloat against the ever shifting landscape of how the industry ran. A very interesting panel to listen to and offered a unique look at the challenges faced being a comic book creator these days.

A number of entertainment-based panels would indeed be greatly affected by the strikes. Among them was TV Guide Magazine’s Fan Favorites 2023. This panel would normally spotlight actors that popular at the moment and explore their career paths up to that point. That would clearly not be the case this year. So they instead brought in notable online columnists to discuss the concept of fandom and what it means to be one. It could’ve been something uniquely interesting, but it couldn’t escape it’s ultimate fate of being filler between programs.

Scheduled ahead of Critical Role was Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. However, the strikes caused that to get cancelled and its spot was empty for several days. At literally the last minute, they added The Sights and Sounds of Lumpia, The Deep Fried Universe, and Beyond [right], celebrating an expanding crowdfunded Filipino-American film franchise. Having been at Comic Con for years promoting their brand, getting into Ballroom 20 was a big deal for them and they took advantage with a thoroughly entertaining panel that was energetic and fun.

With the two Critical Role panels taking place in separate rooms, the vast majority of fans made an immediate rush to get to the next room and sit in on whatever was happening ahead of Candela Obscura. This would be Developing TV/Film for Streamers, one of the few active programs not necessary affected by the strikes as it discussed the Tubi series Underdeveloped. It was a fairly big panel that included actor/producer Thomas Ian Nicholas and star Tom Arnold, whose presence was definitely welcomed due to the hilarious Hollywood stories he told.

There wasn’t much of interest on the last day, with a couple panels that could have been worth checking out getting cancelled as a result of the strike. It’s also my big shopping day as I made a final go at picking up things. Nevertheless, I found myself sitting in on the room that was use for drawing lessons throughout the weekend. The first program I sat through was Figure Drawing for Comics, Storyboards, and Illustration [right]. Less actual life drawing lessons and more about its utilization in graphic illustrations, it was still a nice program.

Following that was Draw Me Like One of Your Disney Girls. It was presented by a group who would get hired by Disney and other studios to serve as life drawing models on occasion. There were three on hand, dressed as Disney characters such as Ariel and Esmeralda. They each took turns to pose for five minutes, allowing any one in the room who wanted to draw to do so, while talking about what they did and providing some interesting tidbits. It was a nice little program as their anecdotes were fascinating and it was fun to draw along with everyone else.

You couldn’t have any convention, be it Comic Con or any other major social gathering, and not see hundreds of folks roaming about in Cosplay. Be it in the halls of the convention center or out on the streets of downtown San Diego, fans from all walks of life dressed up as characters from across every possible corner of the pop culture spectrum. And one couldn’t help but to stop and admire the work that went into creating such wonderful and unique costumes being worn. Some would say that the cosplay was the highlight of the convention.

There was a great deal of cosplay that I got to see this year. Interestingly, I noticed that there were a lot of groups in costumes, not just individuals or pairs. At one point, there just happened to be a dozen people dressed as various Batman characters of different eras gathered in one spot just because. But I’m of the opinion that the fandom with the most cosplayers was The Owl House [above right]. There were just so many costumes from the Disney series out and about, they were not confined to just the panel or to the many the group autograph signings.

Another one in which there were a lot of costumes was for Critical Role [right]. Further proving that it was growing, I found all sorts of fans dressed up as characters from all three campaigns to date and they were located in various places throughout the convention, not just in the panels. Probably one of my favorite groups, though, were some fine fellows who dressed up as various characters from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They got stopped often as fans wanted pictures of or with them seemingly every ten seconds they were a delightful set.

A popular solo costume was of Peter B. Parker with a baby Mayday from Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. There was quite a number of them seen throughout the convention center and I even caught one getting interviewed for FX Movie Channel. One of the funniest costumes was taking Kratos from the God of War video games and making him a Mormon elder in the vein of The Book of Mormon. I could not stop smiling upon seeing that. Another favorite were two little girls, one dressed as Powder and the other dressed as Jinx from Arcane. It was adorable.

The autograph signing for the cast and crew of the Spider-Man 2 video game [right] would undoubtedly be one of the biggest. But for some reason, the Marvel booth didn’t do a lottery drawing first thing in the morning on Day One like they usually did. So hundreds of fans crowded the booth 90 minutes before the signing. They sealed off those lucky enough to be crushed against the right spot as getting in and I was among them. It almost killed me, but it was ultimately a great moment as I got to meet the folks behind the game series I greatly admired.

Being a wrestling fan, I would consider meeting wrestlers who appeared at the convention when I could. One name that caught my attention was El Hijo del Vikingo. One of the most spectacular wrestlers ever, I really wanted to meet him and had a chance at the Headlocked Comics booth on Day One. Also there were delightful comedy wrestler Danhausen and powerhouse brute Brody King, though I’ve met King before. Vikingo was great to meet, allowing me to hold his championship belt for our photo and even photo-bombing my picture with Danhausen.

I’ve met Robbie Daymond [right] years before when he did a Sailor Moon group signing at the Viz Media booth. I wanted to meet him again as he had since voiced Spider-Man and became part of the Critical Role family. The latter being the cause for his lines in the Autograph Area in the Sails Pavilion to be very long, with the wait time being an hour. He seemed to remember me from the Sailor Moon signing and geeked out when I showed him the panel in Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows revealing Peter and Mary Jane’s daughter being a Critical Role fan.

Having a table next to Daymond on Day Two was Zeno Robinson. Robinson was part of an emerging generation of voice actors who had quickly garnered popularity. Among his best known work include voicing Keigo “Hawks” Takami in My Hero Academia, Goh in the Pokémon franchise, and Genya Shinazugawa in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. He recently experienced a boost in fan interest voicing Hunter in The Owl House. As a result, Robinson would have hefty lines himself, though in sporadic periods. He was a cool guy to meet and was fun to hang out with.

Because of commitments to other programs, Robinson couldn’t participate in any of the group signings for The Owl House panelists [right]. And what massive lines these had, to the point that they went outside the convention center with the wait time going over four hours. It’s a testament to the incredible fandom of The Owl House. In the middle of Day Two, Robles, Jones, and Roque were joined by Elizabeth Grullon, who voiced Camila, adding more excitement to the affair. All four were a pleasure to meet and offered a great experience to everyone.

I let Jones know I was going to see her at another signing, this time with Ashly Burch. This was a must for me as I was a fan of the Life is Strange video game where Burch voiced deuteragonist Chloe Price and Jones voiced her mother Joyce. The signing was in conjunction with a panel they did called AI in Entertainment – The Performers’ Perspective. Burch was touched by my fandom, and while she didn’t have anything in particular to sign, they liked my suggestion of her signing Jones’ Joyce promo to play up Chloe being a rebel and invading her mom’s space.

Funko had a few booths this year, a couple under the 7 Bucks A Pop brand served as stations for autograph sessions. On the last day, one of the booths would host Irene Bedard [right], the voice of Disney’s Pocahontas. She was scheduled to spend the entire day there, but her flight got delayed and was a couple hours late. While she did have some Pocahontas promos available, I had her sign an art piece I did 20 years ago. That it was 20-years-old led her to give a great comment about the enduring legacy of the character. A delightful woman to meet, really.

In comic book related signings, I paid a visit to Jody Houser at her table in Artists’ Alley on the last day to chat with and she sign a copy of a Critical Role comic book I had forgotten I had put aside specifically for her years back. Afterward, I swung over to Adam Hughes‘ booth during the last time period in which he would do sketches. I was always game to add sketches to my artists’ sketchbook and getting something from a respected illustrator like Hughes was too good of an opportunity to pass up. It was a joy to watch him illustrate Mary Jane Watson for me.

Our Twitter post with video showing the lengthy line for The Owl House group autograph signing garnered enough attention that it was retweeted by Rebecca Rose and Cissy Jones as they expressed their thanks and appreciation to fans who waited to meet them.

To everyone who waited in line the past two days, THANK YOU! Some of you waited OVER FOUR HOURS to come by the table. This video doesn’t even show that the line had to be redirected outside the con at one point. You guys are the best and the cast loved meeting you all! https://t.co/9XWokUI8UD

— Rebecca Rose (@HeyRebeccaRose) July 22, 2023

I am floored by you all! Thank you thank you for being here, and for your patience so that we got to speak with everyone 🫶 https://t.co/OBLJnHqt3v

— Cissy Jones (@cissyspeaks) July 23, 2023

Hundreds of attendees lining to get into the Exhibit Hall on Day One.

There may be something behind Dan…

The LEGO “Brickbuster” was among the popular booths this year.

This is why Dan liked taking the shuttle buses to Comic Con.

“Oh the misery, Everybody wants to be my enemy.” (Jinx and Powder, Arcane)

It took fans a minute to realize The Owl House panelists had arrived ahead of time before the cheering started.

Fans were so impressed with this King (The Owl House) costume they wanted a picture with them.

“I was alive, but then I was dead, and now I’m alive again. I’m originally from Whitestone and this is Pâté, my pet rat.” (Lauda, Critical Role)

“Eat my atom bomb, eternal dork!” (Jubilee, X-Men)

Fans coloring a Critical Role comic book panel at the Dark Horse Comics booth.

“Today’s forecast: 100% chance of pain!” (Shego, Kim Possible

So many different Batman characters from different eras gathered in one spot just outside the Exhibit Hall.

Scanlan and Vex’ahlia appearing to have started to get up there in age (Critical Role).

“I’m a Mawg. Half-man, half-dag. I’m my own best friend.” (Barf, Spaceballs)

Dan getting trapped in a sea of humanity trying to get into the Spider-Man 2 signing at the Marvel Booth.

There would only be 250 lucky fans who would get into the Spider-Man 2 signing at the Marvel booth.

“Okay, I’m off to the Forgetful Forest to find a bee for Agent Boole. This is a serious mission, no matter how adorable it sounds.” (Raz, Psychonauts)

El Hijo del Vikingo photobombing Dan’s picture with Danhausen.

Fans purchased The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer directly from Ray Pointer that he would sign immediately after the Fleischer Cartoons panel.

“Let me guess, my dad used to beat up your dad?” (Spider-Girl)

“You’re hot, cupcake.” (Vi, Arcane)

There were so many costumes of The Owl House this year that it seemed like you’d run into at least one every few minutes.

“I made a vow to the people of Naboo when I became queen. I will not back down.” (Padmé Amidala, Star Wars)

“If you claim to be a man, stand your ground and fight like one!” (Red Sonja)

There was no greater obstacle for these Monty Python and the Holy Grail cosplayers than to be stopped every ten seconds for pictures.

A very impressive set of Hawkgirl, Hawkwoman, and Hawkman costumes.

These Tekken fighters were ready to go another round.

The “front” of the line for one of The Owl House autograph signings was already packed more than an hour before the scheduled start time.

“Here we are! Born to be Kings, we’re the Princes of the Universe!” (Freddie Mercury)

The Owl House cast were game to sign just about anything fans offered, including the headpiece to a King costume.

“I’m a journeyman actor. This was just a moment in time that happened to be global… Six movies later, I’m very proud to be part of a project that entertains so many people. Kids have pictures of Fin Shepard [on their lunchboxes] — it’s cool!” (Ian Ziering, Sharknado)

“Special Reporter” Nanoka Hara showed off the sweet swag all attendees of the Sand Land world premiere would receive.

“Here I am, ungodly beast – Fearless Astrid Hofferson! Come and get me, if you dare!” (Astrid Hofferson, How to Train Your Dragon)

Katie Leigh (Sheila) dressed up in costume for the first time and joined fellow Dungeons & Dragons cosplayers for a unique photo op.

Seriously, you couldn’t go more than ten feet without running into The Owl House cosplayers.

Robbie Daymond (Critical Role, Spider-Man, Sailor Moon)’s autograph signings were very popular and had long lines the entire weekend.

Brent Woods showed off the character model of fellow American Dad! director Jennifer Graves as a background character.

Cissy Jones (The Owl House) being interviewed to further discuss a performer’s perspective on AI in entertainment.

Dan with Life is Strange daughter and mother duo Ashly Burch (Chloe Price) and Cissy Jones (Joyce Price).

“Now, as you die, rest assured it will not be the end, for you will forever suffer.” (Sofina, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves)

Even with Imogen around, there could only be chaos and trouble wherever Fearne went (Critical Role).

Sam Riegel video recording for the Critical Role Tik-Tok the fan reaction of his introduction.

Tom Arnold brought the house down telling a hilarious story about Steven Seagal during the Developing TV/Film for Streamers panel.

Matthew Mercer offered his name tag for Ashley Johnson to use temporarily during the Critical Role: Making Candela Obscura panel.

Thor and Scarlet Witch enjoying a drink in The Green Lagoon at The Hellfire Gala.

The dance floor was alive and rocking in The Hellfire Ballroom at The Hellfire Gala.

Just one of many photo op displays for fans to utilize in Lair X at The Hellfire Gala.

The trolleys that ran all over San Diego were wrapped up in promotion of programs like Futurama throughout the weekend.

Part of the Nickelodeon booth was made to look like the Good Burger restaurant.

“I’ve discovered something. Charm is exhausting.” (Mara Jade Skywalker, Star Wars)

The Sand Land booth offered fans numerous photo ops and a chance to play a demo of the video game.

Even on the last day, the Exhibit Hall was packed to the gills with attendees.

“Sisters, right? You can’t live with them, can’t stuff them back in the old babymaker.” (Jinx, Arcane)

Irene Bedard (Pocahontas) received a surprise visit from Bill Farmer (Goofy) during her autograph signing at one of the 7 Bucks A Pop booths.

Peter B. Parker (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse) being interviewed for FX Movie Channel while keeping Mayday comfy.

Aerith and Tifa having a girls’ day out on the Exhibit Floor (Final Fantasy VII).

Kratos as the God of War/Book of Mormon crossover we never thought we wanted, but would gladly receive.

Mark Buckingham (Fables) dropping by for a chat with Adam Hughes (Fairest) amongst comic book artists at the latter’s booth.

Matt Murdock and Jennifer Walters going out on a date, it would seem (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law).

The Spider-Man 2 post signed by Bryan Intihar (Insomniac Games creative director), Jon Paquette (narrative director), Jacinda Chew (senior art director), Ryan Smith (game director), Yuri Lowenthal (Peter Parker), Nadji Jeter (Miles Morales), Tony Todd (Venom), Laura Bailey (Mary Jane Watson), and Bill Rosemann (Marvel Games creative director).

Comic Con exclusive The Owl House lithograph pre-signed by Dana Terrace (creator) and signed by Sarah-Nicole Robles (Luz), Cissy Jones (Lilith), Avi Roque (Raine), and Elizabeth Grullon (Camila).

The swag attendees of the Sand Land world premiere received.

The gift bag of goodies attendees of The Hellfire Gala received.

The brand was also being displayed in other media with positive results. From its use in Stranger Things and The Big Bang Theory to its influence on the Pixar film Onward to tribute parodies in Gravity Falls and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Even celebrities publicly expressed their love with Joe Manganiello regularly hosting sessions that included Vince Vaughn, Game of Thrones showrunner DB Weiss, Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello, and “The Big Show” Paul Wight. The game was garnering its biggest mainstream appeal since the 1980’s.

It would only be natural for Wizards of the Coast, the current owners, to try adapting it into other mediums. But while it had managed to establish a line of video games, novels, and comic books, its actual presence in film and television had been limited. This was largely because, at its heart, Dungeons & Dragons could be about anything. While supplemental content had been developed, there essentially wasn’t any one true story to encompass the whole of the franchise. Thus making a Dungeons & Dragons program would be complicated and challenging.

As such, there had only a few adaptations made. So few, in fact, that a couple were actually translations of gaming sessions and would branch out to become their own franchises. The high fantasy nature generally used for the brand would make animation ideal to be used in the adaptations. But as challenging as it would be just to develop a Dungeons & Dragons program for the screen, it would be just as challenging to execute. Attempting to convey the spirit and mechanics of the game would prove to be rather tricky.

Dungeons & Dragons really started to surge in popularity in the early 1980’s. Alongside an impressive television commercial containing both live-action and animation, original publishers TSR, Inc. looked to further capitalize on the increased interest. This would result in them partnering with Marvel Productions in developing a Saturday morning cartoon for CBS that was simply titled Dungeons & Dragons. The show would tell a seemingly never-ending quest of six teens looking for a way home after being mysteriously transported to The Realm.

While the show used aspects of the game, such as the teens having specific class roles, it didn’t necessarily follow the core mechanics entirely. Yet it did capture the spirit of the game in that the teens were challenged to think their way through situations rather than charging into battle. This was noted with their magical items being defensive in nature, exemplified by Sheila having the Cloak of Invisibility or Eric using the Griffon Shield that projected a protective force field. It wasn’t so much winning battles as it was surviving encounters.

Marvel Productions had a working relationship with the renowned Japanese studio Toei Animation. As such, the animation would be of a high quality compared to most other Saturday morning cartoon shows. This allowed for experimentation with darker graphical designs one might expect from its title. From the presence of a cursed skeleton warrior to the varying magical attacks from the evil five-headed dragon goddess Tiamat, there was always something dangerous and exciting that made the show visually unique and impressive.

The Dungeons & Dragons animated series was a big hit in its own right, having led its time slot for the majority of its run before declining ratings resulted in its cancellation without a proper finale made. Rights issues would hamper a lasting legacy some and a few within the Dungeons & Dragons community would look down on the premise when applied against the game’s darker aspects. The show would nevertheless be fondly regarded in representing the brand positively and for pushing the envelope for a Saturday morning cartoon.

Dan’s Review: I’m of the generation that grew up on the animated series. It was what I thought of most when it came to the brand and the show itself was an enjoyable romp to watch. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve been more mesmerized by the talent that worked on the show, such as pre-Optimus Prime Peter Cullen voicing the villain Venger and show writers that included Batman: The Animated Series greats Paul Dini and Michael Reaves. The animated series was a wonderful trip down memory lane that was worth revisiting from time to time.

In Japan in 1986, Ryo Mizuno and his Group SNE serialized their gaming sessions as Dungeons & Dragons “replays” in the magazine Comptiq. Mizuno would go further by publishing the stories of human fighter Parn and his adventuring party into a successful series of novels called Record of Lodoss War. It’s popularity would see eventual animation adaptations, first with a 13-episode original video animation (or OVA) from Madhouse Studios in 1990 followed by AIC adapting the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight story arc as a television series in 1998.

Lodoss War would retain much of the mechanics and rules from Dungeons & Dragons even as the series evolved through its numerous adaptations. A key part of this would be the utilization of the classes to shape character personalities. Being a fighter, Parn would often be impulsive as he was brave. Etoh, on the other hand, would be cautious and thoughtful being a priest. Encounters would also create a sense of challenge, forcing them to determine if they were strong enough to contend with a dragon, much less an ancient dragon.

The series had been looked upon as pioneering the presentation of high fantasy for Japanese audiences. Madhouse Studios would take it further with how high fantasy would be visualized in anime as the original OVA series had often been regarded as an elite title within the genre. Mixing the look of medieval culture with their tried-and-true approach in animating stylish action sequences, the OVA series was a majestic beauty to behold with rich details that had allowed for it to hold up and age stupendously in the years since its release.

While the anime scene had managed to expand to unprecedented regularity and recognition, Record of Lodoss War would quietly remain a seminal favorite over the years. It would set the standard upon which every other high fantasy anime would be measured to and continued to evolve, such as recently releasing the video game Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth. The Dungeons & Dragons influence would be such that Group SNE would create their own game, Sword World RPG, upon which they would continue to craft similar high fantasy adventures through.

Dan’s Review: A great deal of my visualization for high fantasy would end up coming largely from Record of Lodoss War. I was enchanted from the first moment I saw the OVA, albeit catching it at its climax. It nevertheless interested me enough to check it out as much as I could and really liked what it presented. Deedlit would embody what elves were like for me to such a degree that I felt true elves needed to have as long and pointy of ears like her. It would remain one of my favored anime titles, certainly among those in the high fantasy genre.

After numerous attempts that dated as far back as the 1980’s, a Dungeons & Dragons feature film was finally released in 2000. Directed by Courtney Solomon, the film told of a ragtag group of assorted folk coming together to retrieve a scepter that controlled red dragons before a power-hungry mage could use it to oppose the land’s Empress and her gold dragons. The difficulties of getting the film made were unfortunately displayed throughout the film, showing just how challenging it was for the first-time director to handle.

Solomon’s attempts to bring to life the essence of the game was heavily hampered by the complications faced since securing the rights to make the film as a producer in 1990. The end result saw a relative lack of utilization of the mechanics. Character classes were not properly defined or showcased and what little of the unique spells that were displayed were modified that they were not entirely accurate. Coupled with a generic screenplay and there was hardly anything that made viewers believe they were being immersed in Dungeons & Dragons.

The film managed to be made a very small budget in comparison to similar films of the genre. This would certainly have an affect on the presentation of the visual effects. Despite attempts to cut corners and still be able to produce quality content, there was no denying that they looked cheap in the final cut. From small shots like fire burning upon a watery surface to the climatic battle between armies of dragons, the animation came off appearing no better than kind of low quality efforts regularly seen on cable television movies.

The Dungeons & Dragons feature film was a commercial and critical failure. It did very little in generating any interest in the brand and would be immediately swept under the rug. Surprisingly, it nevertheless managed to spawn two direct-to-video sequels in Wrath of the Dragon God and The Book of Vile Darkness. Both films managed to be a somewhat closer in showcasing a bit of the game mechanics than the theatrical film. But in the end, the films were widely disliked and many within the community wanted to forget they ever existed.

Dan’s Review: I had hoped that Jeremy Irons playing the villain Profion would have been enough to give the film a pass when I first saw it. But despite Irons going hilariously over-the-top and with brief, but no less nice appearances from Tom Baker and Richard O’Brien, the film was just bad. And time had made it worse, looking at the poorly aged animation and cringing with embarrassment. I’ve seen some of Wrath of the Dragon God, but it’s hardly any better. I’m concerned about watching it again, fearful that I won’t laugh as much as I would cry instead.

As a result of the commercial failure of the feature film, Wizards of the Coast would scale back on further attempts at adapting the game for the screen. At the same time, DVD was emerging as a viable media viewing platform. The interactive options the format offered was intriguing enough to try out a smaller feature in 2003 with Scourge of Worlds, a choose-your-own-adventure that allowed audiences to determine how the story of a trio of heroes trying to prevent an unspeakable evil from being unleashed would play out from start to finish.

Scourge of Worlds would be the earliest feature to utilize pre-existing content. It would take place in Greyhawk, a campaign setting that was initially designed by Gary Gygax, and featured established characters in human fighter Regdar, halfling rogue Lidda, and elven wizard Mialee. The choose-your-own-adventure approach would give viewers a sample of how one could play the game, though it didn’t show off the full mechanics. Furthermore, it was still relatively linear whereas the game would allowed for thinking outside the box.

The animation for Scourge of Worlds had not aged all that well. Even at the time, it was hardly of any quality better than what was already being used on television. The characters were stiff as rocks, regardless of the occasional wild facial expressions. Despite the use of motion capture, movements lacked fluidity. And the designs were about as good as they were going to get with the financial and software limitations director Dan Krech and his studio faced. It might have seemed interesting at the time, but the animation would come off as basic nowadays.

The potentiality of what could have been done for the Dungeons & Dragons brand with choose-your-own-adventure animated DVD features like Scourge of Worlds might have sounded good on paper. It was the execution that would cause it to be lost in the abyss of time as it would be forgotten in the years following its release. A real lack of genuine interest coupled with animation that just wasn’t up to snuff to properly flourish. It ended up being nothing any one would go out of their way to check out, all things considered.

Dan’s Review: Curiosity got the best of me and I decided to give this one a look. It wasn’t quite as terrible as I feared, but it wasn’t any better than merely decent at best. It’s super obvious how old this felt compared to the animated fares that would emerge in the years that followed, with its sluggish movements to the lack of refinement in the details. And I never got a feel that this represented the brand all that well, rather coming off as a standard direct-to-video animation title that just happened to have the Dungeons & Dragons name associated.

Before Record of Lodoss War in Japan, a publication of gaming sessions was first done in 1984 with the beloved Dragonlance series. Initially conceived to support the Dragons of Despair gaming module, the first novel Dragons of Autumn Twilight would enchant fans with its story of an adventuring party reuniting in time to be swept up in the opening stages of a great war. There was a great desire to see the Dragonlance stories adapted and that wish would be fulfilled by Paramount Pictures with a direct-to-video animated feature released in 2008.

Unfortunately, someone made the decision to try to adapt the entirety of the over 400-page narrative into a 90-minute feature. As a result, the richly detailed story was heavily condensed in favor of moving from scene to scene as quickly as possible. This would give little to no time for proper character development to be displayed and hardly any of the game’s mechanics to be showcased outside of the briefest of moments to explore the human wizard Raistlin and the consequences he would physically bare in his pursuit of power.

In addition to the narrative being woefully truncated, what really disappointed fans was the animation. Being a direct-to-video feature was hardly an ideal format to begin with. But it just seemed as though there was never any genuine desire to really bring to life such a beloved world in a satisfying manner. The animation came off as a poor attempt at replicating the art style from a previous comic book adaptation combined with some computer generated imagery that failed to impress. A shockingly huge visual downgrade compared to what fans were imagining.

Much like the Dungeons & Dragons feature film before it, the direct-to-video animated adaptation of Dragons of Autumn Twilight was a major letdown to fans and to Wizards of the Coast. The feature hardly made any traction in piquing interest, with lack of any sort of marketing making sure of that. The film just came and went in the wind. Those who actually did manage to take a look were not impressed with what they saw, be it the bad animation or a presentation that lacked the proper context that made it such a beloved title in the first place.

Dan’s Review: I had thoroughly enjoyed the Dragons of Autumn Twilight novel long before the animated feature was made. Given that it was direct-to-video, I kept my expectations low. The voice acting at least tried to make the film work, with Kiefer Sutherland in particular being an excellent choice to voice Raistlin. But in the end, it still managed to be a disappointment. I’m actually surprised Paramount decided against what would have been an obvious cash-grab and tried to make sequels regardless of the negative reception.

Dungeons & Dragons would experience a renaissance in the 2010’s thanks to the advent of broadcast streaming. At the forefront would be Critical Role, the gaming sessions of well-known animation voice actors that became a surprise global phenomenon. Following one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns to date, a much desired animated adaptation of mercenaries whose need for coin would lead them into becoming the unexpected heroes in the land would come to fruition with The Legend of Vox Machina being released in 2022.

A major part of what made Critical Role so popular was the ability of the players to adapt and work off the results of their rolls, turning the mechanics of the game into the foundations upon which to develop compelling story moments. The Legend of Vox Machina carefully enhanced these for even greater dramatic affect, showcasing the excitement of what would happen from a single action. As such, importance would be carefully given to how things worked under the game’s rules and the alluring narrative benefits they could provide.

Thanks to the Kickstarter campaign’s overwhelming success, the animation quality was assured to be at its best and then some. A joyful mix of Japanese animation with the graphic appeal of some of modern western titles created a visual look that was stunning to behold. The added benefit of how descriptive the players were with their role playing allowed for the animators at Titmouse, Inc. to go the extra mile in details that made for displaying some of the most beautiful and majestic scenes ever seen even in the high fantasy genre.

The Legend of Vox Machina further elevated what was already a very successful production of Dungeons & Dragons. From utilizing the game mechanics to create rich storytelling moments to the top-notch animation visualizing the heart-stopping action, it was everything a fan could hope for and more. Recently, it was announced that the second Critical Role campaign The Mighty Nein would be adapted alongside more seasons of Vox Machina, giving audiences more unique characters and stories originally crafted from playing a game of Dungeons & Dragons.

Dan’s Review: I’m pretty sure everyone would know by now what a Critter (or Critical Role fan) I had become over the years. It would be the catalyst for my actually playing Dungeons & Dragons. That I would like The Legend of Vox Machina would be a given. What delighted me was that it managed to be quite an excellent series in its own right. I was enchanted from the first frame onward savored every second that was produced. This would be the fanboy in me saying this, but the show would be the finest representation of the brand to date.

As could be seen, adapting Dungeons & Dragons for film and television was not something that could be done with any relative ease. That the game could be played to be about anything meant that any one looking to develop a program based on the brand would have to conceive of virtually everything from the narrative to how the mechanics would be utilized. And how to present the uniqueness of those mechanics would be just as challenging to showcase, often conflicting with creating a competent narrative and thereby causing both to suffer in quality.

Even the use of animation, a medium in which anything could be possible, would have mixed results. When they worked, they could be quite majestic to view. The really good ones could also end up setting the standard for the look of the high fantasy genre. When they didn’t work, they would age poorly and run the risk of setting things back a step or two. Often it would come down to understanding how animation can be used to visualize just about anything that could be imagined in playing Dungeons & Dragons and for it to not be taken for granted.

Perhaps because there were not that many adaptations, each one were special regardless of their varying quality. The unsuccessful titles seemed to be able to fail in an intriguing manner to elicit curiosity. Those that succeeded helped elevate the brand and provide a positive representation of the game. The next time a Dungeons & Dragons adaption would be released, such as the upcoming Honor Among Thieves, it would be interesting to see, for good or bad, what unique narrative could be conceived from the imagination and how animation could bring it to life.

In Honor of Michael Reaves

This retrospective was in the middle of being written when Michael Reaves passed away at the age of 72. Reaves became the primary writer of the Dungeons & Dragons animated series from the second season onward. He also wrote what would have been the finale to the story and the foundation for a new adventure had a fourth season proceeded before the series was canceled. Reaves would post the script online to great fan interest and it would lead BCI Eclipse to produce it as an audio drama for their DVD release of the series.

It may be hard to come up with a reason as to why, but 2022 felt like a collective blur for many of us, perhaps a result of the depressing pace of the past few pandemic-dominated years, or maybe we were all just too busy for our own good. Regardless, the months just zipped by, merging into each other almost as much as some of the year’s most-hyped entertainment options occasionally seemed to — just how many Star Wars and Marvel streaming shows were there, anyway?

Not helping with our collective confusion was having to read the same headlines over and over again (did you happen to hear what Will Smith did at the Oscars?), giving us all a bad case of déjà vu!

Among such stories were major shakeups within Hollywood, including the sudden replacement of Bob Chapek as Disney’s CEO with that of another Bob (welcome back, Iger!), and some shocking and frankly blatantly cynical decisions made by the recently merged Warner Bros. Discovery. Of course this is a business at the end of the day, but cancelling the release of completed movies (sorry, Batgirl and Scooby-Doo!) just for the sake of a tax write-off is an evil move even by cartoon villain standards.

As is sadly always the case, more people were lost this year than we could ever fit into one column, with the passing of Queen Elizabeth II capturing the attention of the entire world. Other notable deaths included comic book legend Neal Adams, Jules Bass of Rankin/Bass fame, Irene Cara, Barbara Walters, Gilbert Gottfried, Harry Potter star Robbie Coltrane, Leslie Jordan, James Caan, Sesame Street cast members Emilio Delgado and Bob McGrath, iconic Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy, and legendary actress and singer Angela Lansbury, all of whom will be missed.

On a lighter note, audiences gave theaters the comeback they had been starving for, with Top Gun: Maverick behaving like an old school blockbuster on a level that hadn’t been seen in ages, and the myth of superhero movie fatigue proved to be just that, with four of them easily zooming past the $300 million mark in the States. And Avatar: The Way Of Water has proven, yet again, that you should never bet against James Cameron, as it quickly became the biggest hit of the year after less than a month in release.

Join us now for a look back on the rest of the year’s brighter and more animated aspects, as we present…

Ben’s Picks

It’s something we say every twelves months: “where did the year go?”, but this year it might never have applied more! Perhaps a consequence of life slowing down to a more leisurely pace since March 2020, to where people took time to take things in more, kept in touch with family and friends more, and did things like going for walks more and just simply enjoying the world again — as much as it was barraging us back with viruses and increasingly dynamic weather events — but as life opened up, that otherwise lovely spell of a Don’t Worry Darling 1950s style life with 21st century technology quickly sped up and seemed to zoom (not Zoom!) by ever faster.

Professionally and personally, 2022 has been a rollercoaster for me, and how! The year began with a pandemic-delayed film, The 355 (essentially a female-fronted Mission: Impossible yarn to which I had variably contributed some uncredited cutting) coming and going in January, before a longtime friend and collaborator tapped me to cut his directorial short film debut, Aping Edwin Porter, which we shot in February and posted between then and May (when, at the premiere, we staged a bit where I feigned being upset at a remark in his “thank-yous” and took to the stage and slapped him, in a nod to another infamous incident that had just appallingly occurred in front of a much bigger audience).

The film [right] hit the festival circuit over the summer and has incredibly garnered over 100 “best short” awards, nominations and nods so far, including several for editing and sound design. If anyone out there reading this is looking for a feature editor or wants to offer representation, I’m ready and waiting!

That high was somewhat tempered by a couple of “real life” hiccups, including Covid finally catching me in the summer. While not as bad as flu that hit me in 2008, it was worse than a bad cold, left me coughing uncontrollably, and still these months later a little drained. It is not an experience I wish to repeat!

Luckily, I’m still here, which seems as good a place as any to mark several personal heroes who did leave us: Angela Lansbury, Peter Bogdanovich and Sidney Poitier, to name just three out of many that were continuing to create new work and leave the bright lights of showbusiness a little more dimmed with their loss.

Escapism was again found on big and small screens, where new films began to flourish once more and old films found themselves restored and available again in the home. Topping everything had to be the sublime Everything Everywhere All At Once [below right], the Daniels’ film that seemed to creep up on everyone distracted by the empty numbingness of various multiverses to present its own very unique take on the same concept, via a hugely ambitious scope illustrating a very intimate story. Profound, hilarious, uplifting, different, erudite, silly and brilliant, I’m so glad to have discovered this one, and that it’s ended up making its own mark in the world.

Less successful creatively was the “final” Jurassic World movie Dominion, whose opening line set things off course from the start and never really recovered.

Having destroyed the island in the last one, and promising a new and different “world of dinos” scenario, we were quickly back on another island and simply going through the motions, where even the returning Park cast — as much as it was nice to see them again, and in much more than just cameos — couldn’t help this ultimately feeling rote and boring.

I wasn’t much better impressed by the other hyped films of the year, such as The Batman, and have yet to see Wakanda Forever, though wasn’t much of a fan of the first and admit to suffering a bit of Marvel fatigue and needing a bit more grown up nourishment cinematically speaking. But Maverick certainly surpassed expectations to deliver a first class experience even for those, like me, that didn’t like the first one, and I’d argue that Glass Onion is a better film than Knives Out, right down to director Rian Johnson’s frankly blatant explanation for what he was attempting to do with Star Wars, even if the chief suspect and last one standing were both fairly evident very early on.

I was left fairly dazzled by Baz Lurhmann’s Elvis [below right], a couple of caveats aside (including that I personally can’t quite get past the fact that the otherwise excellent Austin Butler looks very little like The King, and have yet to hear any reasoning on Tom Hanks’ incredibly baffling choice of accent for his insidious Tom Parker), and would love to see an extended cut I hope the director gets a chance to put out there and that I would snap up on disc.

Speaking of, this year was a quieter than usual for new releases and classics, with a fair bunch getting 4K “upgrades” that, while reviewers were eager to wax lyrical about “shadow detail” and the like, very rarely gave any real reason to buy again, especially given that many were shot on earlier, grainier stock to begin with (the one exception being the on/off/delayed release of seminal sci-fi Invaders From Mars, which has never had an HD release and, by all accounts, is truly phenomenal in its restored form, which I look forward to seeing as soon as possible!).

The Godfather turned 50 with a stunning new collection, and I was also pleased to add one of the final Hitchcock Blu-ray holdouts in Stage Fright to my shelf, along with the superlative restoration of George Pal’s The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm to the always enticing Warner Archive, the bonkers Return Of Captain Invincible in two cuts with a CD soundtrack (!), and — finally! — the excellent Arsenic And Old Lace from Criterion. Of the newer stuff, it was great to see Ken Branagh receive a screenplay Oscar for his personal film, the lovely Belfast, which no less than Spielberg is looking to build upon in the awards race with his own autobiographical The Fabelmans, a slightly lesser film that felt more insular and doesn’t reflect anything going on in America at the time other than in the fledgling director’s own family.

In animation — the reason we’re here, right? — I haven’t been truly wowed by anything in a while, though did appreciate Sony giving delightful Vivo a deserved physical release. But Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks and Illumination were otherwise MIA with future classics (I mean, as entertaining as Turning Red was, does anyone really expect it to make any best of the decade lists? And Sing 2 was sadly as lackluster as the first one was a breath of fresh air, though I still need to see The Bad Guys, but have heard good and bad about it, which is never a perfect sign).

Disney+ continues to be frustrating in its mix of good-not-great content — although I’m hoping to get to widely praised Andor before too long — and resolutely seems to want to pivot away from actual Disney productions that aren’t — yawn — Marvel or Star Wars. And, yes, before you bring up Disenchanted, please don’t: the less said about that enormously disappointing, ten-years-too-late misfire (and Zemeckis’ frankly bizarro Pinocchio) the better — mediocrity should never be “acceptable”, but this wasn’t even that!

Even newly available films didn’t particularly entice: Thor fizzled, Dumbledore disintegrated and Luck ran out, although most unexpected was the enjoyment of the also bizarre and bonkers Chip ‘n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers movie, which was just so random and wrong on many levels that it couldn’t be anything other than surprising fun. That was about it, though, leaving most of my interest in documentaries: The ILM Story‘s opening episode promises to be a series I’ll enjoy the more I can watch, and Leslie Iwerks’ The Imagineering Story followed up her previously terrific docs on her grandfather and Pixar, and was again joined by a companion book [above] — a great gift for any discerning Disney history fan! — that, a slightly disappointing lack of images aside, really gives one time to take in all that research (it is rightly labeled a biography!) in a very nice, weighty tome kind of way. Which, if I had a Christmas or New Years wish, would be just that: more time. And that’s just about where I came in, I guess! Have a good one!

Dacey’s Picks

Once again, I fell ridiculously behind on what I considered to be “required viewing” in 2022 — I still haven’t caught widely acclaimed movies like Turning Red, Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, or either of DreamWorks Animation’s excellent-looking offerings.  Alas, tending to physical and mental health took a lot of my attention this year. Perhaps I’ll be able to remedy this for 2023, but in this case, don’t consider these picks to be “the best of the year” so much as “the best of what Dacey found the time and energy to watch”!

In many ways, Avatar: The Way Of Water [above right] faces seemingly impossible odds — not only is it a sequel to the biggest movie ever, but also one that many rather inexplicably expected to bomb under the delusion that no one really cared about the original. At this point, though, should anyone really be shocked when James Cameron is able to shatter expectations?

It almost feels like a gross understatement to say that Water is gorgeous, as it’s a sensory experience that might leave you as out of breath as the swimming blue aliens are from how much you are openly gasping at the screen. Is it overlong? Probably. Overstuffed? Maybe. But when it reaches its final hour, you’ll have a hard time looking away, as Cameron fires on all cylinders to fully immerse the audience in action so jaw-dropping and intense that it must, yes, be seen to be believed. Pandora wasn’t the only place I found cinematic thrills, as superheroes remained a dependable source of adrenaline. While the DCEU might be in complete chaos right now, The Batman certainly wasn’t; a moody, hypnotic comic book outing that feels as daring as it does familiar.

On Marvel’s side of things, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness was a gleefully violent, fun-filled rollercoaster, while the “TV special” Werewolf By Night was an exhilarating love letter to the Universal monster films of old, and a promising directorial debut for composer Michael Giacchino.

On Netflix, stop-motion was refreshingly prominent — even if they seemed to forget to actually market the films sometimes!

The House [above right] was a nifty anthology of three separate stories — which range from devastatingly scary to strangely sweet — making for some truly unique (not to mention R-rated) animation unlike anything else I saw this year.

I am a bit sorry to say I didn’t “love” Wendell & Wild, as it’s weakened by a plot trying to do everything everywhere all at once. Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key are lovably funny as the titular dim-witted demons, and one can’t deny Henry Selick’s talent and imagination, so it’s a shame he allows the focus to get so out of hand here (you could make a case that he’s best when he has strong source material to play off from). Fortunately, it’s at least very entertaining, and it’s possible I’ll like it more with a repeat viewing.

Where I won’t be an annoying contrarian is with Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, which really did live up to the hype for me and was as beautiful as others have been saying, gracing the viewer with a reassuring yet creepy handcrafted look that brings to mind the work of the late Will Vinton.

In fact, there’s such an astonishing level of detail that it might be impossible not to be in awe of it — so much work went into every frame of this film that its existence alone is an accomplishment.

From Disney, Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers was the borderline demented spiritual follow-up to Roger Rabbit that none of us knew we wanted, but ended up being very thankful for, filled with so much hilarious meta-humor that it’s almost shocking the Mouse House itself actually made it!

Obi-Wan Kenobi, while supposedly being “divisive” (but what Star Wars content isn’t these days?), was something truly special for fans of the prequel trilogy, elevated by a fantastic performance from Ewan McGregor (who was also great in Pinocchio) and some spectacular lightsaber battles. Finally, The Owl House [above] continued to be terrific as it set exciting new standards for the studio, and it’s going to be very painful when it’s time to actually say goodbye to this amazing series when it ends in just a few months.

The biggest and most pleasant surprise for me in 2022 came in the form of something I wasn’t even expecting to like, and that was FX’s very adult comedy Little Demon [below right]. At first glance, it could be easy to write it off as another crass Rick & Morty imitation (not coincidentally, it’s from one of that show’s co-creators), and while it would be impossible to recommend it to “everyone” due to its pervasive violence, language and nudity, Little Demon is surprisingly subversive, relatable, and even poignant, managing to juggle its frequent fart jokes alongside themes of broken families and regret in ways that are bafflingly effective.

The voice cast is to die for — Satan has never been more appealing than when played by Danny DeVito — and there’s a promising sense of world-building that leaves me begging to find out what happens next. You wouldn’t necessarily expect this level of praise for a cartoon about the literal antichrist, but Little Demon feels sincere, heartbreaking, and bizarrely comforting. It deserves all of the love it can get…and more episodes ASAP.

Before I wrap this up, I must give some quick shout-outs to more “grown-up” fare, including House Of The Dragon which, despite having a smaller scale than Game Of Thrones nevertheless managed to feel just as massive, setting the table for what is sure to be a grand epic in its future seasons. And X and Pearl were a duo of horror titles within a fresh franchise from director Ti West that came out in the same year and, if that’s not impressive enough, were both delightfully twisted films in their own right that also happened to compliment each other perfectly.

Dan’s Picks

In some ways, 2022 turned out to be not that much different from 2021 as it was another curiously lazy period for me aside from an overwhelming work schedule. It was enough that I completely missed out on watching an animated feature. Nevertheless, I still managed to do stuff. I got to watch some fine programs when I could, attend numerous events, and was able to participate in a closed beta for the upcoming Street Fighter 6 video game. I even won an auction for a rough animation sheet of Milo from Atlantis: The Lost Empire! So perhaps beneath the surface, it was a rather productive year for me despite how inactive I otherwise was.

A show that really won me over from the start was Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury [right].

The first mainline Gundam series in five years distinguished itself from the rest of the franchise by taking a bold approach in telling a well crafted narrative that would not be what viewers would expect.

The lush, beautiful animation and emotionally epic music score wonderfully bolster the presentation of its uniquely developed and lovingly fantastic female leads Suletta Mercury and Miorine Rembran. I’m absolutely engrossed and am looking forward to what the amazing crew at Sunrise have in store for the rest of the series as it continues.

I’ve consistently had Critical Role among my “Best of…” entries the last few years. And why not? The weekly broadcast of animation voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons was an absolute blast to watch as Matthew Mercer and company would craft together compelling stories and characters through tabletop gaming.

This year was extra special with the premiere of The Legend Of Vox Machina [right].

The animated adaptation of their first campaign adventures was a critical success featuring crisp, beautiful animation alongside outstanding music, great writing, and a top-notch cast. The future continues to shine brightly for the pop culture phenomenon.

For me, the live-action front would not so much be on the screen as they would take place on the stage. A trip to Broadway yielded opportunities to see Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster in The Music Man [below right] in its opening week, Wicked a second time, and Hadestown featuring the last regular performance of Amber Gray as Persephone.

The Music Man was so delightful as Jackman and Foster were having a ball. Wicked was as fantastic as ever, made the more special being at its home the Gershwin Theatre. Hadestown, though, was outstanding and an absolute thrill to behold from start to finish. It was a wonderful experience that made it tough for any film or show to compete with.

Truth be told, the programs that interested me in 2022 were documentaries. I was enamored with learning about how things came to fruition.

Two documentaries that stood out were the series Arcane: Bridging The Rift and the feature Mickey: The Story Of A Mouse. Both offered fascinating insight into the development of their respective subjects.

Arcane: Bridging The Rift provided a comprehensive deep dive into how the groundbreaking series was carefully crafted. Mickey: The Story Of A Mouse was a modest, yet no less intriguing look at the cultural impact the character had for nearly a century. Good documentaries like these were what captured my undivided attention.

One thing that picked up was my attending events. As my recaps could attest to, the San Diego Comic Con and the D23 Expo were amazing, worthwhile experiences that made my year and then some. From world premiere screenings to star-studded surprises, both were quite literally packed to the gills with so much greatness.

Another event that shined brightly was the opening reception of The Owl House Exhibition at Gallery Nucleus [right]. Featuring a fun, insightful panel with the animation crew, admiring the beautiful artwork displayed, and witnessing an exploding fandom in all of its glory, it was a fantastic time to be had that was unlike any other.

Rounding out the year, I could not begin to tell you of the jubilation I felt when Disney produced not one, but two Oswald The Lucky Rabbit shorts. While each one might only have been a minute long, every wonderful second of the long-awaited new animation was lovingly cherished.

The Owl House itself had an outstanding year, airing some of the series’ finest episodes to date ahead of the upcoming finale. The return of Bill Willingham’s Fables was warmly welcomed within a rather unremarkable year for comic books, although Marvel published two great mini-series in the excellent Dark Ages and, my favorite, the ultra-hilarious X-Terminators.

Randall’s Picks

Like the real world, the entertainment industry is feeling the effects of huge change. The worst of the Covid pandemic seems to be behind us, but we are now in the midst of a “tripdemic”: there’s conflict in Europe, and we all know about the crazy inflation at the grocery store and elsewhere.

Meanwhile, movie theaters are focusing on showing what supposed blockbusters they’re being offered, even as the media giants try to navigate a new paradigm in which they largely insist on streaming-focused content.

The streamers, though, are finding the road to the new world a little choppy, as competing services have returned us to the cable mindset of needing to buy whole packages of content (now multiple streaming services) in order to find what we want to watch. And so it goes.

In this confusing and tempestuous new world, the film studios have decided to play it as safe as possible for their corporate masters. This is hardly news at this point, but 2022 was another year of franchises and sequels, sticking with the familiar rather than attempting much new – at least, in theaters. Disney’s only film from their own studio was Strange World, which admittedly was not a sequel, but it was also not very interesting or groundbreaking, aside from some ballyhooed representation. Its poor box office is a reflection on its quality, perhaps, but also the weak promotional push that Disney decided to give it before quickly moving it to streaming. Pixar had the all-new Turning Red [above right], which I enjoyed well enough, though mostly for doing a nice job of showcasing the multiculturalism I see in my native Canada. Their Lightyear, however, spun off from the Toy Story franchise, was a somewhat muddled and unappealing film.

DreamWorks did better with The Bad Guys, which had a pleasantly refreshing animation style, and a good story, but still won’t go down as one of their classics. Interestingly, their late-year release, Puss In Boots: The Last Wish has been much better received than the 2011 original, which I actively disliked. Illumination kept its winning streak of fun but forgettable films alive with its popular Minions: The Rise Of Gru, which smoked the nearest animated competition at this year’s box office, over three to one!

Other big studio films went direct-to-streaming, including adequate sequels like Hotel Transylvania: Transformania and The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild, and the underwhelming and appropriately named Disenchanted (blending live-action and animation). Rescue Rangers, at least, managed to stay fun and clever for the franchise’s fans. Apple TV+ began its association with Skydance with Luck, though its questionable premise and lackluster trailer didn’t have me tempted to get the service to see it.

I think that the best place for animation these days is Netflix, which has really sought out bolder and more interesting and diverse projects. Richard Linklater’s Apollo 10½, utilizing his specialized animation-over-live-action style, was a charming and nostalgic look back at 1969, and it was great to see Henry Selick’s latest stop-motion masterpiece, Wendell & Wild find a home there as well.

Speaking of stop-motion animation, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio [above right] was also brilliantly accomplished, in all the ways that Disney+’s Pinocchio lame and misguided remake was not. I don’t think that I have ever really loved a del Toro film, but I was very impressed with the brilliant technique employed in his animated film, with a story that showcased his usual preoccupations with war and death.

I also caught The Sea Beast, which impressed with its visuals and storytelling, and only fell flat in its ending, which failed to adequately explain the motivation of its “villains”. Cartoon Salon, after one attempt at an Apple partnership, is now at Netflix with their latest, My Father’s Dragon, though I still need to watch it. Regardless, for me, Netflix is really the place to be to see the best of this year’s animated films.

Not all franchises interest me, so I likely will not see the new films based on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Bob’s Burgers, or Beavis And Butthead. Meanwhile, DC may be having its problems in live-action, but they continued their strong showing in the animation arena, with the surprisingly well-received theatrical DC League Of Super-Pets [above], and strong direct-to-video outings for Green Lantern: Beware My Power and Batman And Superman: Battle Of The Super Sons (Catwoman: Hunted being less interesting). Warner Brothers also offered Scooby-Doo and Tom & Jerry more direct-to-video adventures too, and even Tweety got King Tweety, proving that some things remain eternal.

James’ Picks

2022 was a rough but ultimately amazing year for me personally. After years of planning, my wife and I finally made the move from our long time home in Tennessee to Orlando, Florida so we could be closer to the Most Magical Place on Earth!

It took nine months for us to get everything done, and we barely made our goal of having it all finished before the end of the year. But as of the last week of December, we are officially in our new home, living just four miles away from Disney World [above]!

Unfortunately, all that work has meant I’ve been missing in action around Animated Views. 2022 has been my lightest year in terms of output, having posted just two reviews (both the first half of the year) and only 18% of the site’s news items.

I’d like to thank the entire AV team for being so patient in allowing me the time to make this move. But hopefully being this close to major hubs of two giants of animation (Disney and Universal) will afford Animated Views some opportunities we might have missed out on not having someone in the area. (Looking at you, Destination D23 in September!)

In between all the many, many, many chores I’ve had to do to sell one house and buy another, I was able to see a few things this year. But again, 2022 was probably my worst year when it comes to getting through my watchlist. Of the 27 Oscar eligible animated films this year, I saw…five! So I don’t think it would be fair to do my usual personal top three ranking. In the coming months I’m hoping to do some major catching up, so maybe by the time the Academy Awards rolls around I’ll look into doing a belated piece with my best of the year.

Of the five things I did see, my favorite was easily The Bad Guys [above]. It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed an animated film that much in theaters…and much, much longer still since that film was from DreamWorks! And the film that surprised me the most was DC League Of Super-Pets. I went in expecting a toy commercial, but found a lot of fun for fans of the DC comics and superhero movies in general.

Again, major thanks to my fellow AV staffers, and also to you our readers too, for all the understanding during these long months of transition in my life. I’m really looking forward to 2023 being much more productive. (And a lot less stressful!)

2023 marks the tenth anniversary of us asking you, our readers, to turn critic and choose your top animated films of the year and, to celebrate, we’ve created an archive of past results you can peruse to see your picks of the past!

So…which movie did you select this year to join those previous winners?

Your top animated film of 2022 was Pixar’s Turning Red, with a score of 58 out of a perfect 100. It appeared on 73% of all ballots, and was the number one selection of 37% of voters.

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio took second place with a score of 37/100. 43% of you voted for it in your top three, while 29% chose it at the top.

DreamWorks earned the third and fourth place spots: The Bad Guys scored 23 out of 100, appeared on 32% of all ballots, and was picked as the #1 film by 10% of voters, and Puss In Boots: The Last Wish scored 20/100, while showing up on 42% of all ballots and getting 3% of the first place votes.

Finally, Disney’s Strange World was the fifth place pick with a score of 13/100. 24% of voters put it on their ballot, with 8% of voters putting it at the top.

Well, that’s all, folks! As always, we thank our wonderful and loyal readers for sticking with us for as long as you all have, and look forward to bringing you more content throughout the new year. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay tooned!

— Dacey and the entire Animated Views Team.

As I have noted, and will probably continue to do so, my first D23 Expo in 2015 was such an amazing experience that I rank it as one of the best conventions I’ve attended to date and instantly made me into a regular attendee for as long as I’m able. Each year seemed to pull something special that left me floored and dazzled that I couldn’t wait to return for more. This year was no different overall. In fact, it made me that much more thrilled to see what Disney would cook up next as they continued to showcase virtually all aspects of their company with amazing spectacles that even the San Diego Comic Con would have trouble rivaling.

As the first D23 Expo to run with the pandemic still going, they did a number a things quite differently from previous years. A very notable change was that there would be no overnight queuing at the Convention Center. It was understandable under the circumstances. But it made for some uncomfortable time spent attempting to get in line super early when they were trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to keep folks from queuing until 4:30 am. Most folks were willing to line up on Convention Way overnight any way and risk getting yelled at or kicked out as a result. Another reason for no overnight queuing was an emphasis on the reservation system.

The reservation system introduced in 2019 was a disaster. This year was improved in that there would be no first come, first served set up. Instead, attendees would only get one reservation per day. Mixed reception was on the randomization of which reservations attendees got. While it did provide a greater chance of getting something that one would want, there was as much risk of not getting the more preferred programs. And reservations were not limited to just the presentations. One of the reservations could end up being for something like the Pixar ball giveaway on one of the days. I heard someone unfortunately ended up with two of those.

Of course, in wanting to be fair, they maintained standby queues. It would be because of this that the pressure to get in line as early in the morning as possible would make things extremely stressful. This was very apparent for Saturday morning as there was no question folks would be willing to fight one another to get into the Marvel/Lucasfilm presentation in Hall D23. It turned out they had so few openings for standby that frankly it would have been better served if the presentation was reservation only. People who came super early in the morning only to not get in were tremendously unhappy that they essentially had no chance any way.

I felt rather fortunate with how the reservation system worked out for me as I ended up with reservations for three presentations that were of high preference to me: the Studio Showcase on Friday, The Muppet Christmas Carol on Saturday, and TRON on Sunday. Everything else I wanted to get into I had to be in standby for. There were a couple presentations I wasn’t able to get into, though aside from the Marvel/Lucasfilm debacle I ultimately figured I didn’t have the time to try a few of them either because a presentation I was in went beyond its scheduled end time or I determined it wasn’t worth the hassle. Those I got into weren’t stressful and I had a really good time.

The Disney Legends Awards were established in 1987 to honor and recognize individuals who made extraordinary and integral contributions to the Walt Disney Company. The equivalent of a Hall of Fame program, ceremonies were originally private before being made public as part of the D23 Expo when first started in 2009. The Disney Legends Awards ceremony would since serve as the primary opening event of the convention, a platform for which the company, through their Chief Executive Officer, would recap past events and made some announcements for future endeavors before turning the spotlight over to those who would be inducted as Disney Legends.

My standby group was held up from getting into Hall D23 in time for the start of the ceremony due to a busted escalator. After some terribly long waiting, we were finally able to get in after missing out on a mash-up performance by members of The Lion King, Aladdin, and Frozen national musical tours and most of the announcements by Bob Chapeck. This was the first year with Chapek as CEO, who was not well liked by many fans. We heard he received boos from some members of the audience. It was perhaps because of this that he didn’t serve as host like his predecessor Bob Iger did, instead the role being given to acclaimed TV host Tamron Hall.

This year’s inductees as Disney Legends consisted of Ellen Pompeo (Television), Rob’t Coltrin (Imagineering), Patrick Dempsey (Film & Television), Doris Hardoon (Imagineering), Anthony Anderson (Television), Tracee Ellis Ross (Television), Robert Price “Bob” Foster (Administration), Chris Montan (Music), Jonathan Groff (Film & Voice), Kristen Bell (Film & Voice), Josh Gad (Film & Voice), Idina Menzel (Film & Voice), Don Hahn (Animation & Film), and Chadwick Boseman (Film). In a way, the ceremony spoke of the cultural impact of characters from Grey’s Anatomy, Black-ish, and Frozen alongside Boseman’s performance as Black Panther.

Nearly all of the newly inducted Disney Legends were present to give brief yet touching speeches. Coltrin and Hardoon were humbled at the honor, and the positive reception from attendees, they were receiving. Dempsey got to acknowledge how his work with Disney helped him open The Dempsey Center in response to his mother’s prolonged bouts with cancer. Both Anderson and Ross took individual selfies holding the award on stage. Gad ended his hilarious speech calling out the Disney World staffer who rejected him for a job on the Jungle Cruise at age eighteen. Menzel managed to sing a snippet of “When You Wish Upon a Star” to cap her speech.

Those who weren’t present were Foster, Hahn, and Boseman. Hahn’s absence was at the last second and he would eventually reveal on Facebook that he had tested positive for COVID and therefore had to isolate himself. Foster had passed away at the beginning of the year with his daughter Debby Swenson accepting on his behalf. She related her fondest memory of his treating her to a birthday visit to Disneyland and being able to skip lines with a flash of his administration card. The ceremony become emotional for Boseman, who passed away two years ago from cancer. Accepting on his behalf was his brother Derrick, who gave a very heartfelt speech.

Perhaps to end the ceremony on a lighter note, they had a surprise performance of “We Don’t Talk about Bruno” from Encanto. Present to perform were cast members Carolina Gaitán (Pepa), Mauro Castillo (Félix), Adassa (Dolores), and Diane Guerrero (Isabela), so they got to sing additional lines. Honestly, it was a wonderful way to close out the festivities and was a great performance on its own. I had been meaning to check out the Disney Legends ceremony for a while and I’m glad I was able to attend this one. I missed the opening content and I did wish there had been more animation inductees, but overall it was lovely event to experience.

There’s no bigger draw to the D23 Expo than the Disney Studios presentations. For over two hours, Disney would dazzle the nearly 7,000 who managed to get into Hall D23 with a showcase that was second to none in promoting their upcoming releases. It’s quite impossible to describe in words the sensation one would feel seeing a cavalcade of stars on stage getting fans excited for the Disney projects they would be appearing in. And those same fans would be getting their money’s worth as they would be the first to see footage and content months before Disney would show a good majority of them to the public, which made these presentations must-see events.

It was the Disney studios presentations that won me over and they would always be at the top of presentations to prioritize. I managed to secure a reservation, so my seat was ensured. Once we were brought up to Hall D23, we enjoyed playing along to the trivia screens and watching promos for what was happening on the main floor. A few of us unconsciously sang along to “You’re Welcome” from Moana when it was playing overhead. It was about a minute before the presentation was about to start when we noticed folks were hurrying over to a seat just a couple rows in front of me. It turned out Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige was sitting there.

The presentation opened with an emotionally beautiful sizzle reel of Disney films from its 100 year history, closing on the reveal of the new company logo. Company chairman Alan Bergman came out to kick off the festivities and saw that we liked the new logo so much that he played it again to our delight.

Bergman handed things over to Sean Bailey, President of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Production, to begin with the live-action slate. Bailey brought up the live-action Pinocchio feature, which had just been released the previous day on Disney+, leading to a lovely performance of “When You Wish Upon a Star” by Cynthia Erivo (The Blue Fairy).

The first preview would be Hocus Pocus 2, the long-awaited sequel to the cult classic. The final trailer would premiere with a video introduction from stars Bette Midler (Winnie), Kathy Najimy (Mary), and Sarah Jessica Parker (Sarah). Part of the introduction was Midler claiming she had magic abilities, resulting in some fun trick effects such as causing an object to appear in Bailey’s pocket and messing with the house lights. Hocus Pocus 2 would premiere on Disney+ a few weeks later.

Next was Disenchanted, the highly-anticipated sequel to Enchanted. Bailey brought out the full cast of Jayma Mays (Ruby), Yvette Nicole Brown (Rosaleen), Gabriella Baldacchino (Morgan), Idina Menzel (Nancy), James Marsden (Edward), Patrick Dempsey (Robert), Maya Rudolph (Malvina), and Amy Adams (Giselle) to say a few words about their roles and how many had changed and differed since the first film before introducing the trailer. Disenchanted would premiere on Disney+ later in the year.

The last film previewed that would be exclusive to Disney+ was Peter Pan and Wendy. Stars Alexander Molony (Peter Pan), Ever Anderson (Wendy), Alyssa Wapanatâhk (Tiger Lily), and Jude Law (Captain Hook) were introduced to talk about their attempt at creating a live-action feature that maintained the spirit of the animated classic while trying out new things, such as a further exploration of Peter and Hook’s rivalry and an expanded presence for Tiger Lily. The first trailer was then showed off with the feature coming out the following year.

Bailey moved into the films that would have theatrical releases beginning with a new version of The Haunted Mansion. Director Justin Simien came out to talk about the film while also bringing up that he previously worked at Disneyland with his work badge displayed. They then moved into showing off an extended first preview of the film, which would be released the following year. They wrapped up with an appearance from one of the stars, arriving on one the ride’s Doom Buggies. It turned to reveal Jamie Lee Curtis, who would play Madame Leota.

Next up was Mufasa: The Lion King. Talking about the prequel tale would be acclaimed director Barry Jenkins. He explained how the film would see Mufasa in a new light as an orphan who would ascend to be king. It was added that the story would be told by Rafiki, presumably to the newborn Kiara, only to be disrupted by Timon and Pumbaa complaining about their not being in the tale. A trailer was then shown of what was ready ahead of the film’s release in a couple years.

Bailey moved on to revealing a teaser trailer to the live-action Snow White. The first glimpse of who would be playing the Evil Queen got fans excited. Then being brought out to the stage were stars Rachel Zegler (Snow White) and Gal Gadot (The Evil Queen). Both explained how they looked forward to modernizing the tale while maintaining some of the classic animated feature’s magic. Snow White was scheduled to be released in a couple years.

Rounding out the live-action features would be The Little Mermaid. Director Rob Marshall appeared to talk about the challenge of adapting the beloved animated classic in a way that would be both faithful and unique. While they had just started post-production, Marshall felt the D23 Expo was as good of an event as any to show off the “Part of Your World” sequence in full. The footage looked pretty good, even if it needed fine-tuning, and it won over the audience. Star Halle Bailey came out right after the scene ended and expressed adoration for the opportunity to play Ariel. The teaser trailer was then shown with the feature coming out the following year.

The presentation moved over to animation, opening with Pixar and its chief creative officer Pete Docter. First up would be Elemental. Director Peter Sohn and producer Denise Ream came out to explain how Sohn drew upon his parents’ struggles as immigrants in communities that mixed multiple ethnicities to tell the story of a fire elemental and a water elemental bonding. Stars Leah Lewis (Ember) and Mamoudou Athie (Wade) appeared, accompanied by some exciting entrances, to explain their characters while showing off concept art and footage ahead of the film’s release the following year.

Next was the studio’s first full-form television series, Win or Lose. Directors Michael Yates and Carrie Hobson talked about the series exploring the lives of participants in an upcoming little league game. They showed off a very nifty trailer which was followed by a video message from star Will Forte (Coach Dan) to introduce a scene, though he was amused that the scene didn’t involve his character. The scene went over very well with the audience ahead of its release on Disney+ the following year.

Docter would be interrupted with a sudden “Bring Us Your Leader” message flashing on the screens, which led into presenting the studio’s next feature Elio. Director Adrian Molina and producer Mary Alice Drumm, with concept art and production art of the characters displayed, briefly explained the film would tell the story of a socially awkward young boy who would mistakenly become the ambassador for Earth by aliens wishing to know more about humanity. Stars Yonas Kibreab (Elio) and America Farrera (Olga) appeared to talk a bit about their excitement for the feature coming out in a couple years.

As Docter was wrapping things up, a familiar voice was heard and out came Amy Poehler. Poehler couldn’t contain her Joy as she joined Docter in officially announcing Inside Out 2 to great fanfare. What little could be announced was that Riley would be a teenager and new emotions would be discovered. Directing this time around would be Kelsey Mann while Meg LeFauve returned to write the screenplay with release scheduled in a couple years.

Rounding out the presentation would be Walt Disney Animation Studios and chief creative officer Jennifer Lee. She started on a couple of their Disney+ programs, showing off a trailer for Zootopia+ that tickled funny bones. She then introduced Kugali Media, a Pan-African entertainment company they were helping to launch their first project Iwájú. Creators Hamid Ibrahim, Olufikayo Ziki Adeola, and Tolu Olowofoyeku showed off concept art and explained the series would explore themes of class, innocence, and challenging the status quo. They finished by showing off a trailer to the fascinating limited series releasing the following year.

Next would be the forthcoming Disney animated feature Strange World. Director Don Hall and writer Qui Nguyen talked about the science fiction venture serving as the backdrop to the core story of generational rifts and understanding among the Clade family. Stars Jake Gyllenhaal (Searcher), Jaboukie Young-White (Ethan), Dennis Quaid (Jaeger), and Lucy Liu (Mal) came out to briefly explain their characters before showing off a new trailer and a dazzling extended preview clip ahead of the film’s release later in the year.

Closing the presentation would be the official announcement of the feature to be released the following year. A montage clip played of a common theme in the Disney animated films, the wishing star. This would be the basis for the film Wish. Directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn showed off some beautiful test animation and concept art while explaining the premise of a princess seeking the wishing star to overcome an evil that threatened her land.

Appearing in the film would be the company’s current “good luck charm” Alan Tudyk. The fan favorite went over his previous roles in Disney animated features to date, even voicing them as they were displayed, before revealing his character in Wish, a cute little goat named Valentino. They showed off a nice and humorous test animation of Valentino, whose wish to communicate yields an unusual result. In addition to Tudyk, Buck noted that there would be a lot of Easter Eggs fans would have fun looking out for.

The full presentation came to an end with the directors revealing that the songs would be done by Julia Michaels. Lee then came out to introduce star Ariana DeBose (Asha) to perform the song “More For Us”. Set to even more concept art and test animation, the performance was a show-stopper and blew away every attendee in Hall D23. As the song finished, star confetti rained down on the adoring fans. And even long after the wonderful presentation had wrapped, confetti continued to be poured out to delighted amusement. The whole presentation was a magical time to be hand.

The loss of Jim Henson in 1990 left the future of his company and the Muppets in question. It would be suggested to Brian Henson to adapt A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Envisioned as a television special, Disney would instead turn it into a theatrical feature. The Muppet Christmas Carol, starring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, was released in 1992 to positive critical reception and a modest box-office run. Since then, it would become a widely beloved Christmas hallmark that continued to enchant audiences of all ages. A 30th anniversary celebration of the film would be one of the most anticipated presentations at the D23 Expo on the Premiere Stage.

The presentation began with Gonzo introducing the host Nina West. West had a heavy presence throughout the weekend, hosting many programs including the Mousequerade, and her hosting the anniversary presentation of The Muppet Christmas Carol became a delightful time for all. She introduced other Muppets to join Gonzo in Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Robin. Gonzo stayed in character in that he presented himself as Charles Dickens. Each of the Muppets looked back fondly at the film with the Muppet antics one would expect, such as Piggy and West sparring verbally. After a few minutes of fun, they screened the blooper reel to fan enjoyment.

West then started the panel proper introducing director Brian Henson, songwriter Paul Williams, costume designer Polly Smith, and performer Dave Goelz (Gonzo). Among the factoids brought up was that in Britain the film was often voted as both the best and the most faithful adaptation of A Christmas Carol. Henson reasoned this was because of writer Jerry Juhl’s interest in having the Dickens prose present, resulting in the inclusion of Gonzo playing Charles Dickens. Goelz felt this added another dimension to Gonzo, starting as an outsider who then became an enthusiast before the film developed him into being a soulful figure.

Williams noted that when Henson asked him to work on the film it was incredible timing. He analyzed the Scrooge character as an addict of finance and greed who would experience a spiritual awakening to become a better man, similar to how Williams at the time had finally gotten sober after years of substance abuse and used it as inspiration in writing the songs. Smith admitted that she initially wasn’t prepared to design costumes for the film as she was still working on the Dinosaurs television series. She had her team work off photo copies of sketches from the actual period until she was able to properly focus and design for the main characters.

Discussion would come back around to the songs, specifically the deleted “When Love is Gone” scene. Henson reiterated that the scene was cut from the theatrical release because then-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg didn’t think it appealed to the younger audience. When it came time for a high-definition release, Henson wanted to add the scene back in only to discover that the negative went missing. While the original negative had yet to be found, the Disney archivists did find a “first strike inter-positive”, which allowed them to restore the scene into the film and would be added to Disney+ on the exact day of the 30th anniversary.

This led to a big surprise of the presentation with a performance of the song by Jodi Benson. It was quite a lovely moment with Benson able to hit the notes just right to connect with the emotions of the lyrics. Some more behind-the-scenes stories were told afterward, mostly by Henson and Williams. Henson talked about the advantage of shooting the film entirely on sound stage and not on location for fear of forces of nature. Williams noted that when he introduced himself to Michael Caine as they were recording songs, a perplexed Caine responded, “Are you out of your mind? We spent an entire weekend together at the White Elephant in London.”

Following a few more stories, the panelists each got to share their lasting thoughts and reflections on The Muppet Christmas Carol and its impact on their lives. When they finished, they departed and West closed out the presentation performing alongside the Muppets a melody of the songs from the film. Goelz once again performed as Gonzo with Eric Jacobson as Miss Piggy, Peter Linz as Robin, David Rudman as Fozzie, and Matt Vogel as Kermit. The Muppets themselves book-ending the presentation made it all the more delightful and joyous. This was overall one of those grand moments that left me feeling all warm and fuzzy throughout.

Encanto was released in 2021 as the 60th feature from Walt Disney Animation. Coming out as the pandemic was still ongoing, it was reasonable that, like the preceding film Raya and the Last Dragon, it would not garner the magical box-office run the recent string of Disney animated features had been experiencing beforehand. And yet the film managed to find success and adoration. Encanto earned critical acclaim, was one of the most streamed programs to date, and would set music records thanks to the addictive songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda. With the film fresh on everyone’s minds, a celebration would be set up at the D23 Expo on the Premiere Stage.

As would be expected, the room in which the presentation was held in was nearly packed from wall to wall with excited fans. Serving as host would be Tamron Hall, just a day removed from hosting the Disney Legends ceremony. Hall would split the presentation into two halves, starting with the filmmakers. This method would be commonly used in other presentations throughout the weekend. Appearing for the filmmakers were director Jared Bush and producers Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer. They only lightly touched upon the genesis of the film and talked briefly about their fascination in Colombian culture as pre-production progressed.

They were soon joined by Jamal Sims, who served as choreographer. They showed off his reference video for “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, only with Miranda’s demo left in. Sims added how he had trouble putting the dance together at first as Miranda sang for every character in his demo. This led to the presentation’s most fascinating moment where, using 5G technology, they brought in Lin-Manual Miranda via live hologram. For his brief appearance, he noted how he was writing the songs while staying with his in-laws at the height of the pandemic. This provided him some inspiration in building the lyrics around family.

After Miranda logged off, Hall moved into the second half with members of the cast. Appearing were Wilmer Valderrama (Agustín), Mauro Castillo (Félix), Carolina Gaitán (Pepa), Diane Guerrero (Isabela), and Adassa (Dolores). It was apparent as they spoke that the entire cast virtually said “Yes!” to joining the film based on the pitch before the script was even written. Gaitán couldn’t contain her excitement at meeting Miranda at the airport, and how it seemingly helped to get her cast. Bush revealed to her shock that she met Miranda just as he had returned from the research trip to Colombia with him and fellow director Byron Howard.

Each of the cast members got to explain a little insight into their approach to voicing the characters. They further noted that they managed to feel like a family even though they hadn’t properly met or been together until the premiere. To cap off the presentation, it was first announced that the whole cast would be performing a live-to-film concert at the Hollywood Bowl later in the year. Castillo, Gaitán, Guerrero, and Adassa then closed things out with another performance of “We Don’t Talk About Bruno”, this time with attendees singing along. A very nice presentation to attend overall and certainly one that fans of the film would relish.

The success of Zootopia superseded virtually all expectations. The 55th feature from Walt Disney Animation would garner massive critical acclaim as it grossed over $1 billion at the box-office and earned numerous accolades since its 2016 release. It seemed only natural that there would be more to the film, if nothing else than to expand upon a lush and vibrant world rich in unique characters. Six years later, Disney would finally return to the anthropomorphic metropolis with Zootopia+. It would be an anthology series of shorts that explored the lives of some of the supporting characters in parallel to events in the film.

Interestingly, this was the one presentation of those I attended that had a complete electronics lock-down one would have expected for the Hall D23 showcases. This likely had to do with shorts being screened in full, even it if was only two of the scheduled six, months ahead of the release. Heading the presentation on the Backlot Stage were the directors Trent Correy and Josie Trinidad. Both had worked on the film previously, Trinidad was co-head of story with a “Story by” credit and Correy was an animator who notably worked on the DMV sequence. Correy had been venturing into directing and would conceive of Zootopia+, asking Trinidad to join him.

Correy and Trinidad briefly described the six shorts that encompassed the series: Hopp on Board, about Judy’s parents racing to rescue their infant child; The Real Rodents of Rodentia, a reality show parody focused on Fru Fru; Duke The Musical, exploring Duke Weaselton’s desire for success; The Godfather of the Bride, where Mr. Big narrated his backstory; So You Think You Can Prance, with Clawhauser participating in a dance competition; and Dinner Rush, a rom-com look at Flash taking Priscilla on a date. The two that were screened were Hopp on Board and The Godfather of the Bride, the latter picked out by the directors as their favorite.

There was time after the screenings for audience questions. I liked that a good portion of the questions were from rather young attendees asking for advice on breaking into the business even if they believed they did not possess any artistic abilities. Correy and Trinidad themselves liked these questions and were more than happy to open up about the different paths one could take outside of being able to draw. I was one of the few that focused on the series itself, asking if they had considered other stories aside from the six made. Correy revealed one of the discarded ideas was a horror parody with the sloths that a lot of us really liked.

Dan’s Review: Based on the two shorts that were screened, Zootopia+ looked to do enough to whet the appetite of fans anxious wanting more of the anthropomorphic metropolis. Hopp on Board was a cute way to involve Judy’s parents in an adventure racer without altering their personalities. But, like the directors, The Godfather of the Bride was an outstanding short. Everything about it was done with loving affection for the story being told while having fun parodying the gangster genre. Across both shorts, the animation was beautiful and the narratives were told with the right amount of pacing to not feel too short or even too long.

As Walt Disney himself would often say, “It all started with a mouse.” The unparalleled success of Mickey Mouse following the release of the first synchronized sound cartoon Steamboat Willie in 1928 would become the foundation upon which the entire Disney enterprise would be built. Without Mickey Mouse, there would be no D23 Expo and the global landscape would be far different than what it was today. In the approach to Disney’s 100th anniversary, a documentary would soon be released on Disney+ that looked to chronicle the global and cultural impact of their flagship mascot, the good and even the bad, called Mickey: The Story of a Mouse.

The Backlot Stage was just above being half full, which I imagine was more to do with the Parks and Experiences presentation taking place at roughly the same time in Hall D23 than anything else. Nevertheless, those who did decide to give this one a shot were rewarded with a very nice discussion regarding Mickey, the documentary film, and some fascinating information about Disney folks might not have known beforehand. The presentation kicked off with a screening of the first ten minutes of the film, which included a look at the Disney family farm. The footage hooked in everyone as they definitely wanted to see more when the ten minutes were up.

Serving as host was the current voice of Mickey Mouse in Bret Iwan. It was nice including him in the presentation as he came off less like a moderator and more a participant himself. Present to talk about the film and other things Mickey were the documentary’s director Jeff Malmberg, producers Chris Shellen and Meghan Walsh, animators Eric Goldberg and Floyd Norman, and head of Walt Disney Archives Becky Cline. The filmmakers noted what an insightful journey it was making the documentary, exploring the full scope of Mickey’s cultural impact. They hoped they would offer audiences some new information about the character based on what they discovered.

Brought up was that there would be new animation specifically for the film called Mickey in a Minute. Goldberg talked a little about the project as he would be shown working on it in the documentary alongside Mark Henn and Randy Haycock. He explained that it was developed to fit into the film’s theme of Mickey’s evolution through the years. The premise would be that a reminiscent Mickey would get sucked into a whirlwind vortex and go through all of his previous iterations within the span of one minute. “My favorite kind of animation is animation that appears to enjoy itself,” Goldberg noted. “And who better embodies that than Mickey Mouse.”

A fun moment near the end was the question of which design was each panelist’s favorite and they all chose Fred Moore’s. “There’s just something so charming about his interpretation of Mickey Mouse,” Norman explained. Goldberg went further and pointed specifically to the cartoons from 1941 like The Little Whirlwind and The Nifty Nineties. “He was never more fluid or more joyous than in Freddie Moore’s hand,” Goldberg stated. Malmberg, Shellen, and Cline would add that, while some folks would have a personal favorite design, it didn’t really matter as one could jump between different cartoons and it would still be the same Mickey.

In 1982, Disney was struggling to recapture its past glory prior to the passing of Walt Disney. This resulted in many curious experimentation, often at the risk of losing touch with what made the company successful in the first place. Taking a chance, they released a film called TRON. While it had a modest box-office run upon release, it would grow in reverence over time. It’s pioneering use of computer graphics would lay the foundation for a groundbreaking evolution of visual entertainment. 40 years later, TRON would be hailed as a landmark milestone for Disney and a celebration was in order to be held at the D23 Expo.

Exhilarated fans filled the Backlot Stage to capacity in anticipation for a wonderful look back on the 40th anniversary of one of the most influential films in the business. I managed to actually be seated near one of the film’s visual effects artists. She was just as excited as the rest of us for the presentation, having not seen some of the others in the years since the film’s release. Hosting the proceedings would be TikTok influencer Juju Green and original TRON publicist Mike Bonifer. To kick things off, Bonifer had a surprise for his co-host as producer Donald Kushner come out to gift Green with a TRON jacket specifically for him.

The first half of the presentation would focus on the groundbreaking visual effects. To talk about that would be visual effects supervisors Richard Taylor and Harrison Ellenshaw, effects technical supervisor John Scheele, and animation compositing camera operator Glenn Campbell. Noted TRON fan David Fleming, dressed up in his replica Flynn costume, was present to provide assistance to Taylor. Fleming also walked down the aisles to show off features of the costume. Once the discussions started, the screens would cycle through displaying numerous concept artwork and behind-the-scenes production stills that Bonifer had in his possession.

Taylor and Ellenshaw would restate a lot of what they had said before about the challenges they faced in develop something that had never been done before. They’re no less fascinating to hear, though. Scheele brought along in hand some of the cels as Taylor and Campbell explained the complex process they had to go through in getting each frame animated and then added to film, well before it could be done digitally nowadays. With Fleming showing off, Campbell further talked about the need for the costume to have areas that were black in order to achieve the backlighting effect. Attention was humorously pointed to the rear end area.

Green would prompt Taylor into explaining the process into which a film went through to be nominated for the Visual Effects Academy Award and that the voters seemingly made up their minds already that they cheated. Ellenshaw added that, while he was disappointed, he wasn’t surprised that the film was refused to be recognized. “The Academy, in those days, was basically white, old… some things never change,” he said. It just so happened that the screen displayed photographs of the visual effects crew and Ellenshaw pointed out how part of the film’s revolutionary approach was to hire artists who were young with many being women.

After each of the panelists had a final say on the film’s lasting impression on them, the deleted “Love Scene” was screened to serve as the transition from the visual effects crew to the production crew. Taylor stayed behind, watching the scene with us in a very touching moment of an artist seeing his work appreciated. For the second half of the presentation, they brought Kushner back out and he was joined by the film’s DGA trainee Carol Green and star Bruce Boxleitner (Alan/TRON). Later on they would play a video message from Cindy Morgan (Lora/Yori) as she expressed fond feelings and memories in celebration of the film’s 40th anniversary.

Kushner explained that what ultimately got TRON made at Disney was a combination of timing, when the executives were experimenting with the types of films they made, and his tricking them into believing that another studio would pick-up the film. In retelling how he got involved with the film, Boxleitner added he signed on in wanting to make up for missing out on playing Luke Skywalker in Star Wars and also being a big admirer of co-star Jeff Bridges. He would later touch upon how the two had since maintained a friendship with Bridges often calling him “Tronster” and Boxleitner would respond by calling him “Flynnster”.

Carol Green brought up just how different it was working on a feature film, specifically a special effects film, versus television in terms of volume and how meticulous the process was. “You do TV, you [shoot] like eight, nine, [or] ten pages,” she explained. “So [on TRON], it’s like, ‘Yay! We did an eighth of a page of work today!’ [and that’s] like, ‘Wow! This is a whole different pace.'” She added that part of her job was to convince the largely male actors of the fun they would have in leotards. “They didn’t like it,” she chuckled. She noted some of the extras quit rather than wear them, taking one look at Boxleiter and going, “Oh, hell no!”

When prompted on how to budget a film like TRON, Kushner gleefully explained that they “backed into the number. Disney had an appetite to make this film for a certain number. So that’s the budget we gave them. And as we went on, the budget started to increase.” He further noted how he used then-studio chief Ron Miller’s football background to get more money for the film. “If USC would win [on Saturday] and the Los Angeles Rams would win [on Sunday], we’d go into his office [on Monday] and we’d show him some slides of what the picture looked like and it was easy to get the money after that.” Everyone was applauding with laughter after hearing this.

Bonifer took a moment to give some appreciation to Miller, saying that he was an unsung hero of the film and treated everyone at the studio like family. “[TRON] wouldn’t have been able to run the gauntlet if it hadn’t been for Ron Miller looking out for Donald, Harrison, Richard, [and writer/director] Steven [Lisberger],” he noted. “Once he committed to the film, he stuck with us.” Near the end of the presentation, Boxleitner gave a nice tribute to David Warner (Dillinger/Sark/MCP), who had passed away over a month prior. He had hoped Warner would’ve been able to make it for this event and called him, “A man that was totally inspiring.”

After the panelists gave their final memories on making the film, Bonifer introduced Scot Drake, the executive creative director of Walt Disney Imagineering. Drake was present to formally announce the TRON Lightcycle Power Run attraction would open at Walt Disney World in spring of the following year. Drake briefly explained the details of the ride and showed off footage from its successful introduction at Shanghai Disneyland. Those present on stage and Scheele posed for group photos to end the presentation, but Boxleitner spent a good ten minutes sticking around to interact with the fans. It added to what a wonderful and illuminating presentation it was.

It would go without saying that music would be just as an important of an element to the longevity and success of Disney over the company’s 100 year history. A good majority of the world grew up listening to songs from Disney features and many going on to garner their own mainstream popularity. Disney had taken advantage of this over the last few decades, launching music-based events and programs. Following a successful series of concerts known as the Broadway Princess Party, it was decided to expand the concept further and go on the road with Disney Princess – The Concert. It only seemed fitting that one of the stops would be the D23 Expo.

I kid you not in saying that there was justification for the concert being held in Hall D23. Those with reservations might have been quite small in comparison to the other presentations, but the line for standby was massive enough to practically fill the room. It’s a very strong testament to the adoration of Disney music. The potentiality of surprise performers might have also had some weight, but in the end attendees really were there for the concert regardless of who was singing. At the piano was the music director, or “Fairy Godfairy”, Benjamin Rauhala, who was previously an Original Program Producer of the Broadway Princess Party series.

The tour would rotate four out of ten performers with an emphasis on having been in the cast of a Disney stage musical. For the D23 Expo concert, the performers were Susan Egan, Anneliese van der Pol, Syndee Winters, and Isabelle McCalla. Egan was the most well-known, having been the voice of Meg in Hercules and the original Belle in Beauty and the Beast on Broadway. van der Pol was the last to be Belle on Broadway and had starred in the That’s So Raven and Raven’s Home shows. Winters had played Nala in The Lion King in her Broadway debut. McCalla was the first to play Jasmine when Aladdin went on tour and got to transfer to Broadway.

They began the concert with a quartet rendition of “Starting Now” from the 2021 Ultimate Princess Celebration campaign. Next was van der Pol singing “When Will My Life Begin” from Tangled, followed by McCalla singing “Reflection” from Mulan. Winters next sang “Touch the Sky” from Brave with the others doing backing vocals, and then Egan and van der Pol sang a special duet rendition of “Home” from the Beauty and the Beast musical. They did a little bit that playfully poked fun at Egan’s age against the others, leading into her anticipated performance of “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)” from Hercules with the others as the Muses.

In addition to Rauhala, the ladies would be joined by the resident “Prince Charming” Adam J. Levy, who was coming off of being a performer in Moulin Rouge! on Broadway. Levy would sing with McCalla “A Whole New World” from Aladdin. Winters followed by singing “Shadowland” from The Lion King musical. Egan started singing “All is Found” from Frozen II with the others joining before they all sang a lovey quartet rendition of “Into the Unknown”. Levy then sang a crowd pleasing Hero Melody consisting of “One Jump Ahead (Reprise)” from Aladdin, “Go the Distance” from Hercules, “Out There” from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and “Lost in the Woods” from Frozen II.

The ladies returned for a piano quartet rendition of “Just Around the Riverbend” from Pocahontas. This was followed by van der Pol performing a Princess Melody consisting of “Someday My Prince Will Come” from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, “So This is Love” from Cinderella, “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty, and “A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes” from Cinderella. Winters then sang the Anna portion of “For the First Time in Forever” from Frozen before being joined by Levy in singing “Love is an Open Door”. Egan then did a delightful performance of “Mother Knows Best” from Tangled with van der Pol backing as Rapunzel.

The final solos were then performed, starting with McCalla singing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana. The audience were ecstatic when van der Pol next sang “Journey to the Past” from “unofficial Disney Princess” Anastasia. Winters followed with “Almost There” from The Princess and the Frog. Egan then did a Beauty and the Beast mix, beginning with portions of “Belle” and finishing with “Beauty and the Beast”. The finale was all four singing a wonderful quartet rendition of “Let It Go” from Frozen, accompanied by snowflake confetti at the end. After the bows, Levy joined them for the encore in singing “When You Wish Upon a Star” from Pinocchio.

Dan’s Review: The concert was a real fun time to be had. With the emphasis on the songs themselves moreso than the performers allowed for a greater appreciation. I rather liked how the renditions of songs to allow multiple performers turned out, resulting in some unique melodies to hear. Egan remained a delight to hear sing and I enjoyed her performance of “Mother Knows Best”. van der Pol singing “Journey to the Past” was a big stand-out and I felt that Levy could’ve stolen the spotlight a little, thanks in no small part to the Hero Melody. Overall, this was an fantastic edition to the Disney experience and one worth checking out.

Setting up a closing presentation for the D23 Expo could be quite a daunting task to schedule. After all, hardly any one wanted the magical weekend of all things Disney to end. But when the time came, it was important for the festivities to end on a high note. For me, the end of the D23 Expo would seemingly grow more grandiose with each progressive year. The Disney Princess concert would have been an excellent way to close things out, but I was intrigued by one of the last presentations scheduled being Disney Character Voices. Having been to many voice actor panels in the past, I wanted to see how Disney did theirs and was in for quite a treat.

As folks were getting seated at the Premiere Stage, the screens played numerous multi-language videos to songs such as “Let It Go” from Frozen and “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” from Encanto. When it was time for the presentation to start, it held on a still image of the Millennium Falcon when a familiar voice was heard. Jim Cummings was seen on stage and spoke as his Star Wars character Hondo Ohnaka in introducing the host Rick Dempsey. Dempsey was Senior Vice President of Disney Character Voices, explaining briefly his division’s role to ensure consistency and faithfulness in how the characters spoke and sounded throughout the various Disney experiences.

Dempsey and Cummings sat down as they went over the latter’s over 35 year career as a voice actor. They even brought up non-Disney work on the Ghostbusters franchise with Cummings noting his singing the theme song for Extreme Ghostbusters and busting out a verse to absolute fan delight. Dempsey would run down a literal laundry list of Disney characters Cummings had voiced and he would speak a sentence or two as them. These included original characters such as Darkwing Duck, Ed from The Lion King, and Don Karnag from TailSpin along with legacy characters such as Winnie The Pooh, Tigger, King Louie from The Jungle Book, and Pete.

Joining Cummings would be Bill Farmer (Goofy), Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck), and Bret Iwan (Mickey Mouse). Farmer brought up anecdotes of him actually being Goofy, such as when he knocked over boom microphones in a domino fashion during a recording of Goof Troop. Anselmo related an insightful advice he got from original voice Clarence Nash, “The voice doesn’t come from your mouth, it doesn’t come from your vocal cords, it doesn’t come from your diaphragm. It comes from your soul.” Iwan noted that he had seemingly formed a symbiotic relationship with Mickey and would be influenced to be as optimistic and open-minded as the character.

Dempsey would next introduce the newest voice of Minnie Mouse in Kaitlyn Robrock. Robrock explained that she was actually unaware that she was chosen as the new voice of Minnie until she showed up for what she thought was a callback. Things moved along at a fairly brisk pace as they ended up doing so much in this one presentation. This included having Anselmo singing “Happy Birthday” to an audience member in Donald’s voice. After Robrock had been introduced, she joined Iwan, Farmer, Anselmo, and Cummings in performing a rendition of “Friendship”, as arranged for The MousePack album that had recently been released, to include Donald and Pete.

The second half of the presentation saw Dempsey be joined by some leading ladies from Disney animation. They were Jodi Benson (Ariel in The Little Mermaid), Susan Egan (Meg in Hercules), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana in The Princess and the Frog), and Linda Larkin (Jasmine in Aladdin). Benson related how, to voice Barbie in the Toy Story films, Pixar had her play around with a whole box of dolls they had until she made a voice they liked. It was later brought up that Benson wrote a book, Part of My World. She stressed was not an autobiography, but stories of working with Howard Ashman and others in the business she was encouraged to share by Egan.

2022 being the 25th anniversary of Hercules was mentioned and Egan, still buzzing from the Disney Princess concert, reiterated how the producers were reluctant to cast her as Meg as she was still playing Belle in the Beauty and the Beast musical. Rose related that she was very determined to voice Tiana. She told how she had just arrived in Australia for an acting gig when she received a callback for a second audition. She worked for a day in Australia and immediately flew to Los Angeles to do the audition. Larkin noted how she was still surprised her voice was recognizable, often catching folks turning around to see her when she spoke.

Dempsey brought up that Benson and Rose voiced characters who were referred to in the title of their films while Larkin’s wasn’t. A voice responded that this was because her film was called Aladdin, resulting in the surprise appearance of the voice of Aladdin himself Scott Weinger. Weinger related how his son only had a vague understanding as a kid his dad was Aladdin. When Weinger brought him along to the lot one day, the staff was taken aback he hadn’t seen the film so they put together a screening with Agrabah-inspired carnival. By now they were past the scheduled one hour length and the D23 Expo was technically over, but they kept going.

Weinger was asked to sample his ability to crack his voice, but he seemingly had trouble doing so and asked for water. A waiter appeared and it was Donny Osmond (singing voice of Shang in Mulan). Attendees were losing it over the increase of star-power before them. Osmond told of how Walt Disney had a hand in launching the careers of the Osmonds, explaining that his elder brothers were visiting Disneyland when they met the Dapper Dans. The two groups had a back-and-forth singing session, catching Walt’s attention. He added the Osmonds on Disneyland After Dark, which in turn led to their breakthrough appearance on The Andy Williams Show.

The finale of the presentation came about as two surprises. To honor the 30th anniversary of Aladdin, Dempsey had Weinger and Larkin do a live ADR session of the rooftop scene. As this was for fun they wouldn’t be perfectly synced, but it didn’t matter. Everyone was enthralled with how much they still sounded like Aladdin and Jasmine respectively. The second surprise was Osmond performing “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” from Mulan, as staged for his Harrah’s Las Vegas residency show. This was a fantastic spectacle and absolutely marvelous to see live. All of the participating actors took a group bow to close out the presentation and the D23 Expo.

As you can see, I spent a lot more time in presentations this year than I probably had in previously. Because of that, I wasn’t able to spend too much time on the Show Floor this time around. One unfortunate thing about the D23 Expo would be having to wait in line way more often than in other conventions. Fortunately, most of what you’re waiting in line for would be well worth the long wait. But waiting in line would take away from being able to explore the Show Floor, unless you had a buddy willing to hold your spot in line. The disadvantage of going solo meant it would be harder to do this beyond being able to go to the bathroom.

But the long line waiting would not be limited to the presentations. The Show Floor offered a great number of exhibits and interactive experiences that they themselves would have lines. It’s a big part of one having to figure out time management when scheduling for the D23 Expo as a whole. The presentations had scheduled times, the Show Floor exhibits and experiences generally do not. So unless you’re able to get into the Show Floor first thing in the morning, you might find yourself waiting in line for possibly hours for a chance to check out Walt’s private plane, the Mouse, which was brought out to show off for the first time in years.

One exhibit I was able to check out in full was the Wonderful World of Dreams. The exhibit booth offered fans a sneak preview at upcoming attractions to the theme parks, displaying models and screens to give audiences an idea of what Walt Disney Imagineering had up their sleeves for the future. This included a look at the plans they had for Arendelle from Frozen to be a land in Hong Kong Disneyland. From concept art and models for the rides to maquettes displaying the cast costumes to a looping video showing an animatic of how the land was expected to look. It was fascinating to see the early stages of what could soon become a reality in a couple years.

An area of interest was where miniature models were displayed to show how the remodeled Mickey’s Toontown will look when it would reopen at Disneyland the following year. Two of the designers were present to answer questions and to explain what would be new and updated for the remodeled land. This included a look at where to find Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Goofy’s House, and a new area to be called CenTOONial Park. Next to that was a scale model Te Fiti from Moana to be a major component for the upcoming Journey of Water area at EPCOT. Along the sides of the miniature models would be samples of concept art and development photos.

A popular section would be the miniature model providing a look at what Tiana’s Bayou Adventure will look like. Attendees were eager to look at what the attraction previously known as Splash Mountain would now become, which also featured a preview of the narrative to go along with the ride, concept art, and research photographs to add a flavor of New Orleans to the experience. A balcony was set up near the miniature model and every several minutes a cast member dressed as Tiana would appear for photographs. Another popular area of the exhibit was the developmental process of the robotic Spider-Man seen flying about Avengers Campus.

Some of the booths did have presentations of their own and just about any one wandering the Show Floor could sit in and check them out. These presentation were short, averaging about fifteen minutes, and didn’t go too in depth on whatever was being shown. The Disney Bundle Pavillion would host a great many short presentations. I checked out a presentation on American Born Chinese, an upcoming Disney+ adaptation of the renowned graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang. Yang and the developers talked about bringing the story, mixing coming of age with Chinese mythology interactions, to life and showed off a couple scenes including one featuring Michelle Yeoh.

Of course, one of the more popular booths was the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth. There were so many displays, exhibits, and experiences to check out at any given time. I caught portions of a couple short presentations that took place there. One was a lovely ink and paint demonstration. The other was the tail end of a discussion on Wish which featured directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn along with producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes. By the time I got to them, Buck was at the conclusion of a comparison with Frozen and all four answered a nice audience question about how they took to fan reactions.

There was another area to the booth that I really enjoyed that displayed the many different processes to animation. This included a video screen that showed off the application of rigging to animate facial expressions using models of Elsa, Moana, Raya, and Mirabel. Alongside various maquettes and drawing sheets, there was also “The Big ‘A'”, which was an original signage of the Animation Building before it was renamed to the Roy E. Disney Animation Building in 2010. When the signage came down, many of the animators who had worked in the building since it first opened in 1994 signed it with Glen Keane’s at the very top.

And then there were the booths that were simply just to walk through. There weren’t many of these, but they certainly saw a lot of foot traffic given what’s in them. A good example was the Lucasfilm Pavilion, which essentially displayed costumes for their upcoming projects. I paid particular attention on those from the Willow television series. There was also costumes for Indiana Jones and the various eras of Star Wars. Marvel’s booth also had an impressive display of costumes, these based on the more fairly recent programs such as Thor: Love and Thunder and WandaVision. It’s rather easy to simply stop and admire them for a good long while, honestly.

Trying to obtain convention exclusive merchandise was difficult as it was in previous years. More often than not, attendees would have to get into the designated booths as early as possible in order to try to get their hands on the valuable dolls, figurines, or any other product they certainly would not be able to virtually anywhere else. I felt for this year they made it nearly impossible by trying to put the official stores in one area of the Show Floor with one entry point. While they introduced virtual queuing this year, the wait time even through that would be at best seven hours. With what little time I had, I didn’t bother.

The only one I made any effort to try to get was the pre-release set of the Lorcana trading card game from Ravensburger. Inspired by Magic The Gathering, I was intrigued by how it looked. Trouble was that I wasn’t the only one. Copies set aside for each day were gone within the first hour and my one attempt on Sunday saw how chaotic it was just trying to find the line. I was able to obtain the convention exclusive Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor card and pin on Friday, which they were handing out and probably ran out of by the end of the day. I even got the card signed by the game’s designers Ryan Miller (brand manager) and Shane Smith (graphic designer).

Frankly, I ended up not buying any merchandise at the D23 Expo this year. But that didn’t mean I didn’t walk off with some nifty Exclusives. Much like the Lorcana card, I merely had to be at the right place to obtain a free exclusive. Being a D23 gold member, I was already assured a copy of the convention poster by simply swinging by the D23 Gold Member Lounge. Sure the line was really long, but it moved at a very nice and very brisk pace. And not only did members receive the poster, but they also got a tote bag. I was merely passing by the Topps Trading Cards booth when they offered to give me a free pack just by scanning my badge.

In a couple of cases, one had to do some sort of activity to obtain an exclusive freebie. There was no better set up than to simply have your picture taken at one of the marked display spots. The Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth had plenty of those and were so popular that they would have queues. I swung by early enough on Sunday that I didn’t have to wait for the Wish display and the Strange World display. The Wish display actually didn’t open up until after it was announced at the Studio Showcase presentation. The Wish display garnered an exclusive concept art lithograph while the Strange World display had an exclusive pin.

Of course, just attending a presentation would net attendees some nice exclusives. Those who got into the Disney Legends ceremony received an exclusive Disney 100 pin. Attending the Mickey: The Story of a Mouse presentation would result in getting a poster and a button of the documentary. The TRON presentation handed out convention exclusive variants to the first issue of Marvel’s adaptation of the classic film. But the real score would belong to those who attended the Studio Showcase as they received exclusive posters of Elemental and Strange World. Getting these free exclusives were enough to walk off without buying merchandise.

It would go without saying that no convention would be complete without Cosplay. Aside from Halloween, it would be one of the few opportunities for hundreds to gather in the same vicinity dressed up as their favorite characters for fun and enjoyment. This being the D23 Expo, attendees who dressed up respectfully did so based on Disney properties. Fortunately, this would include Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Lucasfilm, and now anything from the re-branded 20th Century Studios. And even while fans stuck to the specific theme of Disney, they were still free to let their imagination run wild and be rather creative at times with what they wore.

Case in point would be what I would mark as my favorite costume of the whole convention. The fan dressed up as Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls. But it was more than just a humanoid approach to the character as they came up with the unique idea of a Bill Cipher merged with Journal No. 3. The result was one that took the breath away from everyone who looked and identified who they were portraying. The craftsmanship was remarkable, the pages spilling out in the back. The use of a hand fan adding another layer to the character’s persona. Ever since I saw it, I’ve had trouble thinking of any other that came as close to being this impressive.

Still, there were other great looking costumes throughout the convention. I couldn’t help but notice a lot of varied Scarlet Witch cosplayers throughout the weekend. In fact, it was the first costume I caught sight of to kick off the convention. Moments later, there was one alongside Agatha Harkness as they mimicked the 1950’s vibe right down to painting over their skin with grey tone. I also managed to catch a lot of women dressed up as Judy Hopps from Zootopia, obviously finding a number of them getting into the Zootopia+ presentation. I rather thought they did very well in coming up with interesting ways to making their cosplay work.

Some of my favorites turned out to be within groups. This included a lovely group made up of Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Honeymaren, and Ryder from Frozen II that just looked fabulous together. Another excellent group consisted of Rapunzel, Eugene, Cassandra, Mother Gothel, and Varian from the Tangled franchise. Of course, being a huge Atlantis: The Lost Empire fan I was on the look out for any costumes related to the film. I was rewarded with a few throughout the weekend. There was a Milo with grown facial hair as well as a pretty cool Rourke and Helga. But my favorite was a genderbent Milo that looked like if Milo and Helga fused together.

There were a number of crossover costumes I ran into. A cute one was Belle and Beast as X-Wing pilots with the jumpsuits being in their ballroom dance colors. There was another crossover Belle I found, this one teaming with Ariel as Ghostbusters. One that I liked a lot was Merida from Brave as a Mandalorian. What made this one stand out was the cosplayer included a tartan sash and a stylized crossbow to better mix the two cultures. Speaking of The Mandalorian, there was a fantastic Din Djarin cosplayer that showed up when I was at the Lucasfilm Pavilian and we got him to pose while admiring the costume that was being displayed in the booth.

Anxious attendees lined up well before the 4:30 am start time for queuing on Day One.

Pacha and Chicha taking a well-deserved vacation.

Max and Roxanne looking like they’re having a whole weekend date.

A fun family with clever costumes for Merlin, Arthur, Archimedes, and Madam Mim.

Tamron Hall introduced as host of the Disney Legends ceremony by CEO Bob Chapek, Disney Ambassadors, and a cast of characters.

“We [in Imagineering] have vision, we take risks, and we make a difference with blood, sweat, tears, and especially with love.” -Doris Hardoon

“To the person who rejected me at Disney casting headquarters in Orlando, Florida when I was eighteen years old and applying to be a Jungle Cruise skipper (true story), please make sure to update my resume to ‘Disney Legend Josh Gad’.” -Josh Gad

“As I think about [Chadwick], I think about how he honored our parents. How he honored his family. How he honored even his friends, and he made sure that his friends had good careers.” -Derrick Boseman

It would appear Belle and Beast had joined the Rebel Alliance.

“What’cha playin’?” -The Collector (The Owl House)

Ravensburger brand manager Ryan Miller signed copies of the convention exclusive Mickey Mouse Brave Little Tailor Lorcana card outside the Ravensburger booth.

Dan at a fun display at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth that showcased the posters to all of the Walt Disney Feature Animation titles released in the company’s 100 year history.

“Think your nanny goat would go berserk if you played hooky this afternoon?” -Meg (Hercules)

“Okay, Milo, don’t take no for an answer. ‘Look, I have some questions for you, and I’m not leaving this city until they’re answered!’ Yeah, that’s it. That’s good. That’s good.” -Milo Thatch (Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

Haunted Mansion director Justin Simien was surprised his Disneyland cast member badge was found and displayed at the Studio Showcase.

Gal Gagot (The Evil Queen) and Rachel Zegler (Snow White) expressed excitement after the teaser trailer for Snow White was screened at the Studio Showcase.

Pixar CCO Pete Docter introduced the next slate of projects from the renowned animation studio at the Studio Showcase.

Amy Poehler (Joy) made a surprise appearance at the Studio Showcase to officially announce Inside Out 2.

Kugali Media founders introduced the characters of their Disney+ series Iwájú at the Studio Showcase.

Lucy Liu (Mal) and Dennis Quaid (Jaeger) were among the stars on hand to give eager fans an extended preview of Strange World at the Studio Showcase.

Current Disney “good luck charm” Alan Tudyk introduced his character in Wish, the goat Valentino at the Studio Showcase.

Ariana DeBose (Asha) brought the house down to close out the Studio Showcase performing “More For Us” from Wish.

Rourke and Helga had their eyes on attendees as they exited the Studio Showcase.

Dipper was on the hunt with his new camera. Mabel tagging along because why not.

Willow’s new costume was on display at the Lucasfilm Pavilion.

Din Djarin spotted the very Mandalorian armor he wore on display at the Lucasfilm Pavilion.

“Oh, sweet cheese and crackers.” -Judy Hopps (Zootopia)

Robin Hood and Maid Marian were checking out the sights that the D23 Expo had to offer.

Gene Luen Yang expressed excitement at his graphic novel American Born Chinese being adapted into a Disney+ series at The Disney Bundle Pavilion.

Kiki and Tombo were having a fun time surrounded by all things Disney.

For Merida, “This is the way” to be a Mandalorian.

Who ya gonna call? Ghostbusters Belle and Ariel!

Directors Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn along with producers Peter Del Vecho and Juan Pablo Reyes talked more about Wish at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

Illustrations of Simba by Mark Henn, Mirabel by Jin Kim, The Genie by Eric Goldberg, and Pocahontas by Rachel Bibb on display at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

How animation tools were used to bring characters like Elsa, Moana, Raya, and Mirabel to life were displayed at the Pixar & Walt Disney Animation Studios booth.

The Big “A” from the previous Animation Building signage signed by a who’s who of animation greats was displayed at the Pixar & Wat Disney Animation Studios booth.

Gadget joining genderbent Chip and Dale on what was no doubt a Rescue Rangers mission surely.

Disney Princess comics artist Brianna Garcia cosplaying as Rapunzel alongside Kit Leitmeyer as Cassandra.

“Stay away from my Luz!” -Amity Blight (The Owl House)

“Oh, isn’t this amazing, It’s my favorite part because, you’ll see, Here’s where she meets Prince Charming, But she won’t discover that it’s him, ‘Til chapter three.” -Belle (Beauty and the Beast)

“‘Surface Pressure’ is about ‘How do I keep my family safe?’ at the bottom of the day. And ‘We Don’t Talk About Bruno’ is ‘What are we allowed to talk about in front of your mother?'” -Lin-Manuel Miranda

Carolina Gaitán (Pepa) talked about meeting Lin-Manuel Miranda at the airport with Diane Guerrero (Isabela), Mauro Castillo (Félix), and producer Yvett Merino listening in at the Encanto celebration.

Adassa (Dolores) explained her approach to singing “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” with choreographer Jamal Sims and producer Clark Spencer listening in at the Encanto celebration.

“Flash of ankle, flip of a skirt, Feel them excite, enflame and inspire. Come see me dance, hey, what can it hurt? It’s just a dance to the rhythm of the tambourine.” -Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Dan partook in the official Wish photo opportunity at the Pixar & Wat Disney Animation Studios booth.

Preview of the Fantasy Springs land coming to Tokyo DisneySea were displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Preview of the Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs ride coming to Hong Kong Disneyland was displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Miniatures previewing the redesigned Mickey’s Toontown at Disneyland were displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Designers of the redesigned Mickey’s Toontown conversed with fans at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Scale model of Te Fiti to be part of Journey of Water coming to EPCOT at Walt Disney World displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

A replica bronze statue of Walt Disney coming to EPCOT at Walt Disney World displayed at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Tiana greeted fans as they examined the miniature of Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at the Wonderful World of Dreams booth.

Don’t pet the goats displayed with the Thor: Love and Thunder costumes at the Marvel booth. They will bite.

“We have the spectre, as animators, of all the greats who came before us looking over our shoulders going, ‘Don’t mess it up.'” -Eric Goldberg

“I had known Mickey [Mouse] all my life. So when you know a character and when you know them that well, it’s not just a cardboard cut-out. He’s real!” -Floyd Norman

“I was taught, early on, if you’re offered a job, always say, ‘Yes!’ Never admit that you don’t know what the hell you’re doing. Because, most likely, you’re not the only one.” -Harrison Ellenshaw

Animation compositing camera operator Glenn Campbell held up two cels effects technical supervisor John Scheele brought to explain the backlighting process during the 40th anniversary celebration of TRON.

Visual effects supervisor Richard Taylor joined attendees in watching the deleted “Love Scene” during the 40th anniversary celebration of TRON.

“I had come from the theater, and I had likened [acting in TRON] to being on a theatrical stage. And, for the audience often times in a play, you have to create something that isn’t there for them to see. That’s through your acting ability. And I thought this is something which I would really have to use my imagination.” -Bruce Boxleitner

Bruce Boxleitner stayed to interact with fans long after the 40th anniversary celebration of TRON had ended.

Did Milo and Helga fuse together to become one?

“I have something to say… Who’s hungry?” -Raya (Raya and the Last Dragon)

WALL-E and EVE looked like they’re having a nice little date outdoors.

“Hey, Gale, I’m going for a ride. Wanna come? Are you ready?” -Elsa (Frozen II)

Mother Gothel, Cassandra, Eugene, Rapunzel, and Varian posed for what was either just a regular group shot or a sort of weird family gathering maybe?

This very impressive costume was believed to be Isabela from Encanto celebrating the Day of the Dead as seen in Coco.

Syndee Winters performing “Shadowland” from The Lion King musical during Disney Princess – The Concert.

Susan Egan, Syndee Winters, Anneliese van der Pol, and Isabelle McCalla performing “Just Around the Riverbend” from Pocahontas during Disney Princess – The Concert.

Isabelle McCalla performing “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana during Disney Princess – The Concert.

Susan Egan performeing “Beauty and the Beast” from Beauty and the Beast during Disney Princess – The Musical.

Anneliese van der Pol, Syndee Winters, Isabelle McCalla, and Susan Egan performing “Let It Go” from Frozen during Disney Princess – The Concert.

“I can’t shake the feeling that these waters touch another shore I’ve visited.” -Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)

Senior Vice President of Disney Character Voices Rick Dempsey enjoyed hearing Jim Cummings voice the many characters he had played in his career during Conversations with Disney Character Voices.

Jim Cummings (Pete), Bill Farmer (Goofy), Tony Anselmo (Donald Duck), and Bret Iwan (Mickey Mouse) shared amusing stories about voicing their iconic Disney characters during Conversations with Disney Character Voices.

Jodi Benson (Ariel), Susan Egan (Meg), Anika Noni Rose (Tiana), Linda Larkin (Jasmine) and Scott Weinger (Aladdin) shared their own stories of voicing their popular Disney characters during Conversations with Disney Character Voices.

All of the participants of Conversations with Disney Character Voices brought the D23 Expo 2022 to a close.

Having first started as the Golden State Comic Book Convention at the U.S. Grant Hotel on March 21, 1970, it would progressively grow into a global entertainment event that now would fill the San Diego Convention Center to capacity and beyond every July. 2020 would have been a majestic affair in celebrating the convention’s 50th anniversary. But the emergence of COVID-19 put those plans on hold and for the first time Comic Con had to be postponed. The ongoing pandemic resulted in two attempts at creating a virtual experience with Comic-Con@Home, but most agreed that it just wasn’t the same as being immersed in a live setting.

The organizers wanted to ensure the time was right to bring the convention back. So instead of straight up opening their doors at full capacity like Los Angeles Comic Con and later Star Wars Celebration, the San Diego Comic Con ran a Special Edition on Thanksgiving weekend in 2021. Heavily scaled down, it was a test run to see how to best approach running the convention through an ongoing pandemic. The back-to-basics approach provided organizers with insightful information while it also gave attendees a positive glimmer of hope that the biggest entertainment event of the summer would return to form in no time. And so it came to be that Comic Con was back.

Mobile Suit Gundam is the premier franchise in the mecha anime and manga genre. Since the debut of the original anime series on April 7, 1979, it was recognized as the first “real robot” title in the genre, exploring the dramatic themes of mobile suits as weapons of destruction and the pilots as regular soldiers. The popularity of Gundam would generate a lucrative line of toys that became prolific with each series introduced being just different enough from one another. Bandai Namco will soon be releasing a new main series title in the franchise that will certainly be different from all the others, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury.

The panel for Gundam: The Witch from Mercury primarily consisted of members from the Bandai Namco Toys and Collectibles America team. Justin Cavender (senior marketing manager) served as moderator alongside David Edmundson (marketing director), AJ Velasco (marketing specialist), and David Clarke (brand manager). Added into the panel was cosplayer and Internet personality Linda Le (aka Vampy Bit Me), a noted fan who had hosted Gundam Base events in North America. They were accompanied by a video message from Naohiro Ogata, the franchise executive producer at Sunrise (which was what it was still called even though it was now Bandai Namco Filmworks).

In his video message, Ogata explained that The Witch from Mercury would be taking place in a new century they called Ad Stella. This would set the series even further away from the main Universal Century that the majority of the franchise took place in. Ogata hoped that this would establish the new series as an ideal jumping on point for new viewers to experience Gundam. What was known going into the presentation was that the series would feature the first female main protagonist, Suletta Mercury. There was definitely some positive interest within the room about a Gundam series in which female characters would be at the forefront.

A major appeal to Gundam would obviously be the mobile suits. The presentation included a brief video tour of the Gundam Facotry in Yokohama where the toys (which were nicknamed Gunpla) are manufactured. They then showed off the new series’ mechs with the main three identified as Aerial, Lfrith, and Beguir-Beu. Included were designs for both how they would look in the anime and as toys. But the biggest reason attendees packed the room pretty much to full capacity was that they would be given a full screening of the Prologue. It just had its debut in Japan the week before and Comic Con served as the stage to show it for first time in North America.

Dan’s Review: Watching the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Prologue ranked very high on my favorite moments from Comic Con this year. The animation was crisp and beautiful, from when characters were just interacting with one another to the thrilling mobile suit battles in space. It did a splendid job of introducing characters, a few sure to be major figures, and managing to develop an emotional investment in them within thirty minutes. The story was fascinating and tragic, which I imagine would set the tone for how the series proper would play. This was an excellent showing and had me more excited than ever for The Witch from Mercury.

When one would think of the Disney Renaissance in the late 1980s through the 1990s, two names would often stick out as being important figures to the revitalization of Disney Feature Animation: John Musker and Ron Clements. For in that time period and beyond, the two directed some of the most popular and beloved titles in the Disney catalog: The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and Moana. So it would be a given that, even in a comparatively medium sized room, fans would fill it up to listen to the two Disney animation greats reflect on their careers for an hour.

Musker and Clements started very briefly on where they came from and their individual paths into animation. Clements brought up his pre-Disney short film Shades of Sherlock Holmes before getting word of the Talent Development Program. They showed off a great picture of young Clements as part of a group of then-upstarts that included Glen Keane, Andy Gaskill, John Pomeroy, Gary Goldman, and Don Bluth. Musker touched upon his being part of the first CalArts character animation program class with John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Henry Selick, and Tim Burton, getting to show off a funny illustration he did of the latter’s living space at the time.

The two glossed over their short run as animators before becoming directors on The Great Mouse Detective with Burny Mattinson and Dave Michener. They noted that they hardly worked together on the film and divided up sequences for each to direct. In talking about The Little Mermaid, Musker got Clements to bring up an anecdote with promoting the film in Denmark. The Danish were initially unhappy with their giving the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale a happy ending and it bothered Clements enough that he apologized to the Queen for it. The Queen laughed it off and said, “[Andersen] never knew how to end his stories. Now it has a proper ending.”

Time forced the duo to be brief on the remaining films, though they accompanied these by being able to show off their little cameos in the films and displaying humorous illustrations Musker drew of interesting situations. A fascinating discussion was Musker noting Treasure Planet being a troubled project from the start largely due to Jeffrey Katzenberg not being fond of the premise, though Michael Eisner and Roy E. Disney were much more positive. They were finally able to make the film as a means of keeping them from jumping ship when DreamWorks was being formed and to get Glen Keane back from Paris, where he was staying during production of Tarzan.

While there was a moderator, he became such an afterthought that most forgot there was one within minutes. As soon as Musker and Clements got rolling, there was hardly anything that could be done to stop them. They could have spent multiple hours talking as opposed to the scheduled one hour. Attendees were engrossed throughout, learning about how the directors created their beloved films. There was great warmth in the atmosphere and it was simply a pleasure to hear the two talk about animation so fondly.

One of the great pleasures of Comic Con would be some of the programs that honored creators of the past. It’s a chance for some to discover and for others to learn from the legends who inspired them. Two names who had been influential in animation were Jane Baer and Floyd Norman. With over 150 credits to their names, and just as many years of experience, Baer and Norman had made unique impacts on the industry. A special presentation was put together to celebrate them with Leslie Combemale (owner ArtInsights Animation and Film Art Gallery) moderating and animation historian Jerry Beck present to provide cultural context to the stories being told.

Both noted that they got their start at the same time on the same film, Sleeping Beauty. Moreover, they managed to work on what Norman knew too well as Sequence 8, where Briar Rose met Phillip in the forest. They each then briefly went over some of the projects they worked on, Norman with Beck’s assistance making special note about I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali as that could have been an opportunity to push animation by black artists along had it not been a bust. Both Baer and Norman eventually managed to work again on the same show in The Smurfs before bringing things back to their respective runs at Disney.

The highlight for me was Baer’s tidbits about Milt Kahl. When asked about the Nine Old Men, Norman said they were mean. Baer responded specifically about Kahl, saying he was mean to the men but nice to the ladies. Norman’s attempt to debate that notion was met with Baer stating Kahl was so nice to the ladies that when he was mean to them they would never take him seriously, relating a time when he did yell at a female employee only for her to laugh it off and walk away, leaving him utterly dumbfounded. Baer would also add that when she was working under him animating on The Rescuers, he designed Madame Medusa almost entirely on his second wife.

I managed to be the last one when it came to audience questions. An earlier question asked about their interactions with Walt Disney, so I jumped off that by asking about their interactions with William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Norman answered that they were good guys that he and the other animators respected enough to call Mr. Hanna and Mr. Barbera. He added that he primarily worked under Hanna, noting that while he was very hands on and could be hard-nosed was actually a pretty sweet guy and even treated Norman to lunch on a number of occasions. Norman’s wife, who was in the audience, reminded him that Hanna would sometimes literally eat his lunch.

Beck ended up only speaking at few moments. Otherwise, he was like the rest of us, just sitting back and relishing the hour we had to hear from Baer and Norman. The stories they got to tell were fascinating and informative, leaving us with just a little bit more respect for them and the impact each left on animation. Norman may have had a lot more to say, but Baer was an absolute delight. They didn’t talk too much about challenges they might have encountered based on their diversity, be it Baer as a woman and Norman being black, but instead focused on having achieved fulfilling careers in animation and that was an absolute pleasure to hear.

For better or worse, the world changed 30 years ago when Mike Judge introduced two moronic teenagers named Beavis and Butt-Head with an animated short called Frog Baseball. The following year, they had their own animated series on MTV that would become one of the most controversial and yet one of the most impactful programs to ever be broadcast on television. The show’s creative and often clever subversion for social criticism would define the 1990s youth culture and influence adult animation programs to follow. And like cockroaches, the two had reared their ugly mugs back into the spotlight with a new revival courtesy of Paramount+.

Mike Judge returned to Comic Con to discuss his two most iconic characters making another comeback with Paul Scheer serving as moderator. Going back to the duo would just happen for Judge and often to maintain their personalities against the temptation of change. He did note there would be episodes that looked at the different variations introduced in the recently released Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe film including episodes centered on Smart Beavis and Butt-Head as well as episodes centered on Old Beavis and Butt-Head. Nevertheless, he stuck to them as idiotic teenagers as part of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mindset.

Judge showed off clips from the revival. One set seemed to screen almost in its entirety an episode that explored Beavis’ fascination with fire. The set included a cutaway to the boys commenting on a TikTok video about how to make prison tattoos that had everyone dying with laughter. Another set of clips teased an episode involving the boys wanting to throw a fancy bowl off a roof that, in their idiotic fashion, would get way more complicated than it ever needed to be. The set also included a hilarious cutaway that revealed one of the two was a BTS fan. The clips and the fan reaction made it clear the show had not lost its touch.

Most of the fan questions were about anything else Judge might bring back alongside Beavis and Butt-Head. With regards to the show proper, he noted that there would be returning faces in hippie teacher Mr. Van Driessen and the now very elderly neighbor Tom Anderson. As for his other animated programs, he stated to great fanfare, “There’s a very good chance of King of the Hill returning.” He also added wanting to continue his more recent animated offering in the documentary series Mike Judge Presents: Tales From the Tour Bus for a season focused on early hip-hop. He was merely aware that attempts at reviving Daria were in the works.

Much like with the previous revival more than ten years ago, the Comic Con showing for Beavis and Butt-Head was a thoroughly enjoyable one. Judge often seemed fairly laid back when talking about them, but there’s clear affection for the boys and for his willingness to return to them whenever he felt the time was right. Moreover, the Comic Con showing this time around further cemented how the fanbase for the two idiotic teenagers had continued to thrive after 30 years and would seemingly grow as each new generation got introduced to them. Sorry world, but I’m afraid there’s no getting rid of Beavis and Butt-Head any time soon.

On Halloween night 1992, Fox aired the first episode of X-Men: The Animated Series. The series would help usher a 1990s boom in Saturday morning cartoons for the network and, along with Batman: The Animated Series, laid the groundwork for superhero animated programs to follow. It was widely acclaimed for its faithfulness to the comic books it was adapting and incorporating mature storytelling in a show widely watched by children and young adults. 30 years later, the legacy of the series remained so strong to this day that some could point to it as the most recognized iteration of the X-Men, even over the comic books and the feature films.

In celebration of the 30th anniversary of X-Men: The Animated Series, Comic Con scheduled multiple events dedicated to the show including two retrospective panels. I just managed to sit in for the first one, finding myself a part of an ever growing line before getting in just a couple minutes after it started. That the room was completely full with anxious fans lined up outside hoping to get in on Day One only cemented the popularity of the show. I could only imagine how much of a hassle it would have been to try to get into the second retrospective panel, which took place at the San Diego Central Library on Day Three.

Present for this panel were producer/director Larry Houston, story artist Dan Veesenmeyer, and writer Steven Melching. Amusing anecdotes attendees enjoyed hearing about included how they slipped in cameos of other Marvel superheroes through listings in the script for a randomly described mutant. Another was mentioning some of the funny notes they received about how a scene should play out, in particular an executive wanting a scene depicting Sabretooth escaping a fight to show him throwing a chair through the window he would leap through as opposed to just breaking through the window himself because he was a villain.

Much of the fan questions included attendees spending time talking about the impact the animated series had on their lives, which caused convention staff to rush things along as they tried to do when I was asking my question about their thoughts on the fairly recent run at honoring the show with the X-Men ’92 comic books. Houston and Melching answered that it only seemed fair that Marvel would try to interpret and adapt the animated series to the comic medium and thought they turned out alright. A question about Rogue did reveal that her voice actress Lenore Zann was in the audience and she got to yell out a “Sugah!” line to fanfare.

That it was hard to get into this presentation was a testament to how beloved X-Men: The Animated Series was and remains to this day. What was also evident was just how passionate Houston, Veesenmeyer, and Melching were about wanting to make the show as faithful as they could and still make it the best show possible. Houston, in particular, was clearly proud of how the show turned out and how it continued to be as lovingly received today as it did 30 years ago. And with the X-Men ’92 comic books and the forthcoming animated series revival X-Men ’97, the original series would surely maintain a lasting legacy for a very long time.

The Animation Show of Shows first began in 1998 by Acme Filmworks founder Ron Diamond. He curated the most original, funny, and intelligent animated short films he could find and present them to major animation studios as a means of inspiring the influential animators under their employ. Over time, he started taking what became an ever expanding collection of films from around the world on the road and screened them to audiences at film festivals, movie theaters, and schools across the globe annually. It now served as a traveling showcase to inspire and even educate viewers of all kinds to the majestic beauty of the medium.

Comic Con had offered to host the Animation Show of Shows for years and, from what I had seen, the screenings were filled nearly close to capacity with fans who were either curious about the program or excited to watch a new series of shorts they likely never heard of. The films had often garnered the approval of those who watched and had managed to fit in nicely within the convention’s line-up of popular regulars. Ron Diamond would appear to explain what the Animation Show of Shows was an introduction before screening the films. This year, he would be joined by one of the filmmakers and they briefly answered questions after the screening.

The eight films that made up the 22nd Animation Show of Shows were Beyond Noh (2020) by Patrick Smith, Good and Better (2020) by Gil Alkabetz, Rain (2019) by Piotr Milkczerk, Empty Places (2020) by Geoffroy de Crécy, Yes-People (2020) by Gísli Darri Halldórsson, Ties (2019) by Dina Velikovskaya, Aurora (2020) by Jo Meuris, and The Man Who Planted Trees (1987) by Frédéric Back. Yes-People had been nominated for the Best Animated Short Academy Award the previous year while The Man Who Planted Trees won it in 1988. The version of The Man Who Planted Trees screened was with the English narration by Christopher Plummer.

The filmmaker to join Diamond was Jo Meuris, director of Aurora. She explained that the film was a semi-autobiographical account of her childhood that went in a different direction than in real life. When asked by an audience member about how she got her film to be selected for the Animation Show of Shows, Meuris said that she was actually surprised when Diamond told her he wanted to include it as she hadn’t even considered the idea. Without specifically naming it, Diamond noted in the introduction that The Man Who Planted Trees was one of the films that inspired him to begin curating the Animation Show of Shows in the first place.

Dan’s Review: The Animation Show of Shows was a wonderful and fascinating showcase that every fan of the medium should experience at least once. There’s a delightful mixture of styles and voices throughout and a good chance that one of the films would warm your heart. For this round, The Man Who Planted Trees was a stunning piece of work that had managed to hold up strong for 35 years and the simple, yet emotionally touching approach to Aurora made it a delight. Even if only some of the films would be able to connect with audiences better than others, seeing them together was still a joyful 90 minutes that I was honored to able to watch.

The monumental success of Marvel Studios had made their presentations at Comic Con must-see events. Attendees would camp out over night in order to ensure their place to see what Kevin Feige and company have up their sleeves. On October 2019, Feige was promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Marvel Entertainment. With it, virtually all multimedia divisions were brought together under one banner for more streamline and cohesive output. Animation had become the one fans were most excited to see grow under Marvel Studios following the successful What If…? [above right] first season. And there’s no better place than Comic Con to see what they had in store.

Serving as moderator was fan favorite actor/comedian Paul F. Tompkins. On the panel were Brad Winderbaum (head of streaming television and animation), Ryan Meinerding (head of visual development), Bryan Andrews (director of What If…? and executive producer of Marvel Zombies), AC Bradley (writer and executive producer of What If…?), Beau DeMayo (writer and executive producer of X-Men ’97), Kirsten Lepore (writer, director, and executive producer of I Am Groot), Jeff Trammell (writer and executive producer of Spider-Man: Freshman Year). But the ones every attendee was most looking forward to were the animated programs themselves.

The presentation started with a video package highlighting Meinerding’s invaluable work and how he’d be helping in animation. First up would be I Am Groot. Lepore noted Vin Diesel would reprise Groot in the series of shorts. They followed with screening a full episode ahead of the premiere the following month. Next up, Trammell showcased production art for Spider-Man: Freshman Year. Among the highlights for this take included Norman Orsborn as Peter’s mentor, his best friend being Nico Minoru from The Runaways, and Charlie Cox would reprise Daredevil. The series was scheduled for 2024 with a second season, Sophomore Year, already in development.

Andrews and Bradley then showed off a video preview of What If…? season two, which featured more Odin versus The Mandarin, Winter Soldier and Red Guardian teaming up, and Captain Carter winding up in 1602. Season two was scheduled for 2023 with season three also in development. Andrews moved onto Marvel Zombies, promising that the series would not be skimping on the violence. He showcased production art with turned heroes to include Captain Marvel, Ghost, and the wild card Ikaris. Those still human included Kamala Khan, Yelena Belova, Kate Bishop, Shang-Chi and Katy, and Jimmy Woo. There’s even a skrull biker gang! A release date was not announced.

Last up was the highly anticipated X-Men ’97 [right]. They first showed a video package paying tribute to the classic 1992 series and many of the cast and crew from the original were coming back. DeMayo displayed production art of the slightly updated look, showcasing returning characters that included the core eight X-Men, a secondary team, and villains. They could only show a scene in animatic as they were entering final animation for Fall 2023 release with a second season already in development. Closing out the presentation was the full screening of the first What If…? second season episode “What If… Captain Carter Fought the Hydra Stomper?”

Dan’s Review: Marvel fans were spoiled good with not one, but two full episode screenings. The I Am Groot short was as cute and goofy as one would expect from a misadventure starring Baby Groot. The What If…? episode screened continued the series’ ability to tell an alternate story of an established film in thirty minutes without feeling like it was being rushed or condensed. This take on Captain America: The Winter Soldier went in a unique direction while also further developing Captain Carter as a great character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I’m now even more excited with where Marvel Studios would be taking animation.

It would seem that over the last several years that adult western animation had “matured” as solid programs. While not all adult western animated offerings had been bad per se, the vast majority merely relish the freedom of the medium to be able to do anything, though at the cost of meaningful substance. But thanks to programs like The Venture Bros., Ricky and Morty, Arcane, The Legend of Vox Machina, and Helluva Boss, to name a few, we’re starting to see quality content amidst the sex, violence, and profanity. FX looked to continue that trend, coming to Comic Con to introduce to a curious audience their devilish new series Little Demon.

FX immediately went into screening in full the first episode of the series ahead of its release the following month. The series followed Laura and her teenage daughter Chrissy as they had finished moving again, this time to Delaware. An encounter with bullies at school would cause an unexpected event for Chrissy, forcing Laura to reveal that her biological father was Satan and the constant moving was to keep him from finding her. And now the manifestation of Chrissy’s powers had enabled him to pinpoint her exact location. But while the parents squabbled to her embarrassment, other forces had also been alerted and looked to eliminate the Antichrist.

The screening was wonderfully received by the attendees who packed the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront next door to the Convention Center. There was then a brief, yet rather informative panel. Serving as moderator was Damian Holbrook (TV Guide Magazine senior writer) and the panel consisted of creators, writers, and executive producers Darcy Fowler, Seth Kirschner, and Kieran Valla, executive producer Dan Harmon, and stars and executive producers Aubrey Plaza (Laura), Danny DeVito (Satan), and DeVito’s daughter Lucy (Chrissy). Given how many there were, it was quite impressive they were able to say as much in fifteen minutes.

Folwer explained that the premise for the show was inspired by Rosemary’s Baby, specifically the notion of a woman with a cursed womb, and then morphed into making the daughter the Antichrist as they thought about what the relationship between mother and daughter would be like. The DeVitos were thrilled to make a show that truly was a family affair in working together (Lucy’s brother Jake was also an executive producer and their mother Rhea Perlman would guest voice). Speaking of guest voices, they listed off quite a line up that was highlighted by Mel Brooks and Arnold Schwarzenegger, the latter eliciting interest of a Twins reunion.

Dan’s Review: Even with the slightly censored broadcast version being screened, Little Demon pulled no punches at just how over-the-top the violence, profanity, and excessive nudity would be present. And it was just so damned funny! With a surprisingly clean animation design and a narrative that was fascinating as it was hilarious, this could be a breakout sleeper hit of the year. Making the show all the more appealing was the unexpected directions they took in character development, further enhanced by the top notch voice acting of Plaza and the DeVitos. If the rest of the series manages to maintain this level of quality, I’ll be in for a helluva ride.

On July 12, 1997, Studio Ghibli released Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki. It told the story of an exiled prince who became drawn into a conflict between forest gods and resource consuming humans that resulted in the curse he carried and threatened greater destruction. Princess Mononoke was a critical and commercial blockbuster in Japan, breaking box-office records and becoming the first animated feature to win the Japan Academy Award for Best Picture. It was the first film released in North America under a distribution deal with Walt Disney Studios, garnering success on DVD and blu-ray despite a poor box-office performance.

2022 marked the film’s 25th anniversary and the film was celebrated during Comic Con with a special screening of the English dubbing. The translation was scripted by acclaimed writer Neil Gaiman and featured an ensemble cast that included Billy Crudup, Claire Danes, Minnie Driver, and Billy Bob Thornton. Hot Topic was the sponsor of the screening, offering freebies to those who received a postcard of the Studio Ghibli Fest that included a unique sticker. Otherwise, attendees merely watched the film following an introduction by content creator Damiar Krogh and his brother Silas. The room the screening was held in was far from full as roughly three dozen sat in to watch. But it was clear that everyone in attendance had such great affection for the film that they would gladly watch Princess Mononoke than go to any other program or even calling it a day.

Dan’s Review: As Princess Mononoke was my favorite animate feature of all-time, I was not going to miss an opportunity to watch the film at Comic Con. This would be the second time I had done so at the convention, having previously attended the 20th anniversary screening sponsored by Ashley Eckstein and Her Universe. It’s still a beautiful and masterful piece of art rich in detail. Animation that was second to none, a narrative and characters that boldly explored the complexities of whether something could be seen as good or evil, and an emotional music score, I’ll never regret watching Princess Mononoke over anything else that occurred during Comic Con.

After a stint in animation was ending, San Diego artist Dave Stevens returned to comics in-between storyboard gigs. Drawing inspiration from the pulp stories of his youth, he introduced The Rocketeer in backup features of Mike Grell’s Starslayer in 1982. The Rocketeer proved to be a breakout success to emerge from the burgeoning independent comics movement. 40 years later, Comic Con would pay tribute to the hometown legend and his seminal creation with a presentation that gathered friends, family, and colleagues. With how fondly I was a fan of the character as a kid, primarily through the 1991 Disney film, this became a must attend panel for me.

Serving as moderator was friend and Bongo Comics co-founder Bill Morrison. Participating on the panel would be Stevens’ sister Jennifer Bawcum, studio mate and renowned paleontological artist William Stout, former wife and model turned scream queen icon Brinke Stevens, longtime friend and comics icon Jackie Estrada, and co-screenwriter of the 1991 feature Danny Bilson. It was noted at the start Morrison did a Rocketeer illustration that served as the cover for the Comic Con souvenir book, further establishing the importance the convention gave the celebratory occasion. Furthermore, the room was packed within minutes of the panel starting.

Bawcum said that, because she was sixteen years younger than her brother, she didn’t get to spend enough time with him. She did receive cards growing up with his art of Hanna-Barbera characters he worked on in animation. Brinke Stevens talked about becoming his model, specifically for the Betty character in The Rocketeer, even after they had divorced. This brought up mention of Stevens’ admiration of pin-up model Bettie Page and how he helped revitalize public interest in her. Stout added that Stevens became friends with Page, providing personal assistance and arranging for long overdue financial compensation for the use of her image.

Much of the talk came from Bilson, relating stories from The Rocketeer film. He said when he was working on the screenplay with Stevens and Paul De Meo, “We wrote The Rocketeer as a 1930s film and nobody stopped us.” Bilson felt Joe Johnston becoming director was a blessing as Johnston, a fan of the comic, protected Stevens’ creation. He even found ways for Stevens to be part of the art department so that “The artist was an artist on the film.” This led to an anecdote about Michael Eisner wanting to change the helmet and when he showed Johnston various designs, Johnston replied, “Wow, these are great. Who are you gonna get to direct the film?”

The presentation on The Rocketeer turned out to be quite the lovely affair. Even though a large portion of the discussion was on the 1991 film and not really enough on the comic itself, it was still fun and informative to hear the stories about the classic character and his creator. There was clear affection for the late artist throughout the presentation with everyone often pointing out examples of his being a good person, in particular his efforts to help Bettie Page in her later years. Moreover, all attendees in the room were fully engrossed in every story told. This was one of those pleasant presentations I could sit through for hours.

When one thought of television, chances were one of the first three shows that came to mind was The Simpsons. Matt Groening’s seminal work had come a long way since first debuting as a sketch on The Tracey Ullman Show on April 19, 1987. As the longest-running scripted program on American television for well over 30 years, The Simpsons had superseded being a pop culture icon and was an entertainment milestone. People still continued to flock to just about anything related to the program, most especially at Comic Con where presentations were packed with fans looking forward to see and hear whatever it was that the animated institution had to offer.

Serving as moderator this year was Gravity Falls creator and self-professed Simpsons superfan Alex Hirsch. Serving on the panel were supervising director David Silverman, showrunners Matt Selman and Al Jean, and writers Carolyn Omine and Brian Kelley. One of the first things brought up was the show’s apparent penchant for predicting the future, such as Donald Trump as President and Disney buying Fox Entertainment. Jean stated that they “took a vow after Trump became President to only make good predictions.” On the subject of now being under the Disney banner, Jean noted that an upcoming Simpsons short for Disney+ would be about Disney princes.

Hirsch pointed out that Silverman had been with The Simpsons since the very beginning on The Tracey Ullman Show and was therefore as essential to the program as Groening. So he had Silverman illustrate live to the delight of attendees. Silverman was prompted, based on a handful of subjects the audience chose from, to draw Homer battling Shrek to the death. He couldn’t remember if Shrek had ears and when a fan yelled out that he didn’t it was too late, so he wrote “Ignore!” above it and signed the artwork as Groening. Out of great interest, Silverman drew Skinner and Chalmers making peace at the Aurora Borealis, complete with steamed hams.

The presentation did eventually show off a sizzle reel of what’s to come in the 34th season. Most notable was that there would be two “Treehouse of Horror” episodes this year. One would be a full episode spoof of Stephen King’s It with Krusty The Clown as Pennwise, as seen in the sizzle reel. They noted that another episode would include a segment that would spoof the popular thriller manga Death Note and Selman further explained that they’re hoping to achieve an “incredibly authentic” Simpsons anime, resulting in a whole different studio animating. The clip that was shown featuring Lisa, Homer, and Marge in their anime designs went over magnificently.

It could be debated on an individual level whether or not The Simpsons had declined in quality since the apparent “golden era” in the 1990s. What hadn’t declined was the genuine love and affection audiences had for the show no matter what condition it might be in. When gathered together, there’s a fabulous time to be had, as exemplified by the delight of watching Silverman draw live and Hirsch selecting recipients to win original illustrations by Groening for seemingly random reasons. It would certainly be quite the day when The Simpsons stopped producing content. Until then, fans would continue relishing every moment the show kept going.

It’s not often when a creator’s second television series managed to stay active while the highly successful first series was still running. Yet Seth MacFarlane’s American Dad had been able to do just that. Relying less on cutaway gags and more on character dynamics, the series had soldiered on since debuting after MacFarlane’s Family Guy on February 6, 2005. Even a full network change in 2014 from Fox to TBS, which could’ve spelled instant doom, turned out to be beneficial in allowing the show to take creative chances that had paid off since. American Dad had been a Comic Con regular since the show began and had been a fan favorite ever since.

The presentation kicked off with a sizzle reel of scenes from upcoming episodes to air later in the year. Curiously, there were inconsistencies with the identification of which season the series was on. The panelists were calling it the start of season 18, TBS labeled the sizzle reel on YouTube in the middle of season 17, and websites have it currently in the middle of season 19. After the sizzle reel finished, the panelists were introduced with former series producer Jordan Blum as moderator and featuring co-executive producer Nicole Shabtai, co-creator Matt Weitzman, and stars Jeff Fischer (Jeff Fischer) and Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus).

As they were being introduced, Weitzman, Fischer, and Baker threw out free hats and boxes of goodies to the audience. Once they were settled, they announced that they were celebrating Fischer finally being promoted to series regular. He was then presented with a shirt that simply read “I’m Regular”. Fischer noted he was most excited about a future episode that would parody Scooby-Doo where his character would be Shaggy. The producers noted that Fischer and Baker’s presence on the panel added representation to their characters hanging out together more often in upcoming episodes, in particular the Christmas episode that spoofed How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Going into audience questions, they showed a clip of some of their favorite death scenes with Roger causing a mobster’s head to explode in slow motion garnering heavy laughter from everyone, in particular Baker. This was done to get folks to first identify their favorite death scene before asking a question. One question that stood out was whether or not Klaus’ real family was aware what happened to him. This became an idea the producers seemed to give consideration at exploring, certainly as a follow-up to an upcoming episode where the Smiths would get into a situation requiring them to act out Klaus’ favorite childhood television show.

The American Dad presentation was a rather fun, almost laid back affair. The producers told just enough hints as to what was coming up to satisfy curious interest while the voice actors got to play around with glee. Even attendees were enjoying themselves just listening to the panel talk and watching a series of animated death scenes screen to stomach clenching laughter. It wasn’t a blow away presentation by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not in comparison with anything else that was shown on the same day. It nevertheless provided a pretty good time to be had for everyone in the room and that was all one could ask for.

Family Guy had emerged from a cult classic that overcame cancellation into an unlikely television institution. Seth MacFarlane’s first prime animated comedy managed to successfully follow in the footsteps of The Simpsons into becoming a national icon. And along with The Simpsons and American Dad, Family Guy had been a Saturday Ballroom 20 staple at Comic Con for over a decade. Fans would pack the room to hear from the cast and crew discuss what had passed in the previous season and what to expect in the next. Unfortunately, Family Guy become one of a number of programs that could not deliver on a presentation attendees would have expected.

While the programming guide didn’t specifically notate that there would be any one from the cast or crew appearing, it was generally accepted that this was often done to present surprise guests. However, this ended up not being the case as attendees were provided video messages from MacFarlane and co-star Alex Borstein in presenting an advance screening of an episode from the 21st season along with a sizzle reel of scenes from the forthcoming season. Some fans might have been satisfied enough with what they saw to be content. But it was ultimately a disappointment in comparison to other programs that managed to bring any sort of talent to get attendees interested and excited about their offerings. Certainly with what else was presented on the same day in the same room.

Dan’s Review: The episode screened was called “Oscars Guy” in which three Best Picture Oscar winning films were re-enacted Family Guy-style. The first was The Silence of the Lambs and that turned out pretty decent. The other two, American Beauty and Forrest Gump, weren’t that good to me. Those two featured Peter playing main characters who provided narration. I felt the smart aleck wit got real annoying very quickly and made the segments a chore to get through. The sizzle reel did have a couple interesting moments, though I doubt I’d go out of my way to watch.

It’s astonishing to imagine that a simple game of Dungeons & Dragons played by well-known animation voice actors would become a global pop culture phenomenon. Since first broadcasting via Geek & Sundry in March 2015, Critical Role had captured the imaginations of fans to such a degree that it helped pioneer a renaissance in tabletop role-playing games. As the years progressed, it spun off into its own multimedia production company with comic books, campaign books officially licensed with Dungeons & Dragons, their own line of unique tabletop games, and more recently a highly successful animated series The Legend of Vox Machina on Amazon Prime.

Since coming to Comic Con, the Critical Role presentation was originally held in Room 6BCF, the third largest room in the Convention Center after Hall H and Ballroom 20. It was inevitable that they would move to a bigger room as they would previously fill the room to capacity with a line of attendees hoping to get in waiting outside. Upgrading to Ballroom 20 had allowed for more fans to have fun interacting with Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, Liam O’Brien, Ashley Johnson, Taliesin Jaffe, Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, and Sam Riegel, though the latter was absent this year. Serving as moderator this time around was actor and Critical Role fan (or “Critter”) Christian Navarro.

As soon as all of the present cast members had been introduced, they went straight into questions. Navarro did open asking how they had felt since The Legend of Vox Machina was released earlier this year with Ray seeing Comic Con as a chance to properly celebrate with the fans since they couldn’t do so normally due to the pandemic. There was a pleasant mixture of generalized questions for any or all to answer along with those that were specific to one, mainly directed at Mercer, Jaffe, or Willingham. Fans generally avoided spoilers to the current third campaign, but the previous campaigns and the Exandria Unlimited mini-campaigns were seen as fair game to discuss.

Throughout the hour long Q&A session, one thing was very clear. There was a great deal of interest and fascination in the mythology and lore that was being developed through the gaming sessions played by these animation voice actors. Many fans, and even the cast themselves, had become emotionally invested in exploring and learning more about the world and history of the game’s world Exandria with each new broadcast. And it was largely because of this that Critical Role had thrived as gloriously as it had and continued to do so.

The Critical Role: Q&A with the Cast presentation is available to watch below courtesy of Critical Role.

Twenty years ago, Kim Possible made its debut on Disney Channel and became one of the top-rated animated programs produced. In voicing main characters Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable, stars Christy Carlson Romano and Will Friedle achieved even greater heights of popularity even after previously garnering stardom in live-action shows. Both would continue to voice act in animation after the show ended. As they worked, they interacted with fellow actors and became fascinated by them. The interest in the other actors and their stories inspired Romano and Friedle to start a podcast this year to celebrate their colleagues called I Hear Voices.

The premise of I Hear Voices would be for Romano and Friedle to bring on a guest and have them tell a bit about themselves and how they ultimately ended up in animation. An added feature would be to run the guest through blind voice acting in being given a fan submitted illustration and bring it to life. Having started just a few months ago, it was quite surprising how well produced the podcast had been. Even after switching to doing the shows virtually for a brief period, it had done very well. For Comic Con, they would be recording an episode live. Weeks before, they recorded shows at FanExpo, so Romano and Friedle were well prepared.

The was an impressively high attendance going into the live recording, which managed to be in Room 6BCF. There was expectation that they would do a 20th anniversary celebration of Kim Possible. Even Comic Con was referring to the program as such in the program guide and by staffers. However, Romano and Friedle already recorded a reunion episode the previous month. So they decided to do something different that would be rather special. Their guest for the recording was Fred Tatasciore. The first half of the program was essentially the podcast in that Romano and Friedle delved into Tatasciore’s background and his becoming a voice actor.

The special surprise they had for the live recording was the announcement of a voice acting talent search contest. The winner would get signed to a one year deal with the voice acting agency CESD and be set up with jobs and auditions. To serve as prep for the contest, they spent the rest of the recording getting the audience to participate in the blind voice acting to fan submitted illustrations, with Tatasciore sneaking in a couple illustrations of his own for kicks. This last half was the most fun and enjoyable as attendees who stepped up to the microphones were really impressive as Romano, Friedle, and Tatsciore cheered them on.

The I Hear Voices live recording is available to watch below courtesy of I Hear Voices Podcast.

Being a four-to-five day event, there were all sorts of presentations taking place at Comic Con, often many at one time. Filling the schedule with unique programming could be seen as a challenge, trying to figure what would attract the attention of curious attendees who might be interested. Case in point was a panel called An Animated Life. The programming guide described it as an opportunity for fans to hear from well known creators as they explained how their own lives were just as fascinating as their creations. It seemed to me like it was another retrospective presentation, but I was nonetheless intrigued and decided to check it out.

Serving as moderator was film critic Grae Drake. The panel consisted of animator Jane Baer, actor Phil LaMarr, and writer Ezra Claytan Daniels. While there was some retrospective talk about their respective careers, there also was a sense that Drake at least tried to tie things into the described theme of the panel. This would lead into various discussions about creative satisfaction from their work impacting their lives or influences from reality being applied to their creations and vice versa. During this, LaMarr made a great statement that everyone in the room really liked when he said, “Animation is a metaphor for everything else on life.”

Baer did talk about a personal and professional low in her career. She actually brought this up earlier in the Legends Talk Animation presentation, but it seemed to have greater weight in this panel. She related to how her studio was not fond of Richard Williams during Who Framed Roger Rabbit. When Williams intended to make a visit once, the team wanted the producers to make sure he was hands off. Associate producer Don Hahn did his best to keep him occupied, but Williams eventually lost it and verbally unloaded on everyone and their work, going so far as to crumple up layout art for the film. LaMarr and Daniels were shocked at hearing this.

During audience questions. I asked if there was any advice they received that helped them through personal career challenges. Baer didn’t mention any, but pointed out how she felt spoiled against prejudice working at Disney as they hired based on talent, not minding one’s gender or ethnicity. LaMarr noted his instructor at The Groundlings Cathy Shambley saying, “Don’t put energy into worrying about what other people are doing. Put that energy into making your stuff better.” Daniels said through working on the Doom Patrol television series, he came upon how “everything about you that you think makes you abnormal… are the exact things that give your voice texture.”

It might have been the most challenging to regard as a memorable presentation as it was seemingly a thrown together type panel that Comic Con would do to fill an otherwise hefty weekend schedule. Yet I still came out remembering enough to feel like it was worthwhile. Hearing from the likes of Baer, LaMarr, and Daniels discussing the impact their work had on their lives and vice versa turned out to be quite informative and very insightful. LaMarr had a lot of really great things to say while Baer continued to impress me even more with her stories and I’m now interested in seeing more from Daniels. A pleasant way to spend an hour.

A proper comic book panel I attended was Legends Lost and Remembered [right], which was a celebration of three of the most beloved comic book artists of the last several decades who passed away within a month of each other this year. Neal Adams, George Pérez, and Tim Sale were honored by half-a-dozen peers and associates influenced by their legendary work including Tim King, Dan Jurgens, Richard Starkings, Daniel Sampere, and others. I even got a chance to share my having gotten a Supergirl sketch from Adams at a price far lower than his usual asking price that the others found surprising and made us wonder if I had caught him at a very generous moment.

I’m generally not one to attend presentations on video games as I would rather play demos, whenever I am able to, either in the Exhibit Hall or somewhere offsite. I made an exception in checking out the Capcom: Street Fighter and Capcom Fighting Collection as I was curious to see if there would be anything fun revealed on the forthcoming Street Fighter 6. The main thing I got out of the presentation was a greater insight to the new gameplay mechanics that would be introduced to the fighter. I was also present to one of the more fascinating giveaways as those who could answer some of the hardest trivia questions asked scored some very exuberant prizes.

A common practice for seasoned attendees like myself would be to sit in on presentations that were scheduled ahead of one that was of interest. This led to me sitting in a many television panels this year. Probably the most enjoyable was The Orville [right], the live-action science fiction spoof of Star Trek from Seth MacFarlane that had managed to build its own unique fanbase. MacFarlane wasn’t present, but did call in live to join the cast and crew who did show up, getting a chance to break down the show’s growth and the creative opportunities the move from Fox to Hulu offered. He also announced that all seasons would be streaming on Disney+ as well.

An intriguing presentation to sit through was Inside Severance. The recently released Apple TV+ series had been garnering universal acclaim and on hand to talk about it were cast and crew, most notably director Ben Stiller. Stiller mentioned that Severance did seem envisioned as a workplace comedy similar to The Office, but it quickly transformed into a dark psychological thriller during preparations. Creator Dan Erickson brought up that reading through some of the fan theories had been fun, but he’s making sure to focus on what was true to the story as they started making the second season. To lighten things up, they showed off a blooper reel.

One panel I was interested in sitting through was Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire [right]. The beloved gothic horror was being made into a television series through AMC. Cast and crew discussed their approach in adapting the novel while remaining faithful. The footage that was shown impressed upon me that they might be able to pull it off as well as the classic 1994 film did. I got to ask how much of the Claudia character they would explore. Actress Bailey Bass, who would play Claudia, and showrunner Rolin Jones answered that they put a lot of thought in developing the character which included delving into her past and her varying relationships with Lestat and Louis.

Prior to the Critical Role presentation was The Players of Mythic Quest. Whereas Severance was a workplace thriller on Apple TV+, Mythic Quest was a workplace comedy on Apple TV+ set in a video game company. Another notable feature to the series was that it was co-created by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia stars Rob McElhenney and Charlie Day, though only McElhenney featured on the show. McElhenney and fellow co-creator Megan Ganz were joined by the cast to preview the upcoming third season. The banter that was being thrown around by everyone throughout showed what a good time they were having at being able to continue on with their show.

As if to prove one could find just about anything at Comic Con, there had been a rather healthy presence of professional wrestling. Being a wrestling fan myself, I checked out the first year for emerging major promotion All Elite Wrestling to present themselves at the convention. AEW: Heroes and Villains [right] featured long-time fan favorites CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, and Chris Jericho along with rising stars Britt Baker, Jade Cargill, Darby Allin, and Orange Cassidy talking about wrestling. They also ventured into their various geekdom from comics, with Punk having written Marvel books, to cosplay, Cargill’s longtime hobby.

An interesting panel I ended up sitting in on ahead of the An Animated Life presentation was Concept Artists of Television and Film #2. A collection of top notch concept artists who were working on some upcoming major superhero films gathered to talk about their craft. This was a very fascinating panel for me as it gave some intriguing insight to how quickly and efficiently concept artists had to be able to juggle multiple projects and the varied styles they would often be challenged to deal with, leaving them extremely exhausted only to have to do it again without rest. I came away wanting to sit in on another like it in the future.

Part of the excitement of Comic Con would be the celebrity encounters. Often there would be plenty of opportunities to partake in signings either in the Exhibit Hall or in the Sails Pavilion. But there would also be unique moments where one could simply sit beside someone during a panel. The latter was roughly the case for many when Lenore Zann [right], voice of Rogue in X-Men: The Animated Series, sat with the audience for the Day One presentation. I was looking to catch her at one of her signings at Sails Pavilion, but this turned out to be a fun opportunity and managed to get a picture and a brief chat before she was too crowded with adoring fans.

I realized I had forgotten stuff in the room The Rocketeer presentation was after it ended. This occurring after having walked all the way from one end of the convention center to the other and had to walk all the way back to retrieve them. After picking my items, I noticed Danny Bilson and Jennifer Bawcum were still hanging out with fans outside the room. I joined in as we chatted about all things The Rocketeer, in particular Bawcum’s work as trustee of The Rocketeer Trust and our shared admiration for products we found in the Exhibit Hall like a lanyard Bilson really wanted to get his hands on. Absolute pleasant folks to hang out with.

I remembered almost too late I wanted to try to catch Jennie Kwan [right] at the We Can Be Heroes booth. The voice actress was best known for voicing Suki in Avatar: The Last Airbender, but she was on the cusp of getting a big boost becoming the new English language voice of Chun-Li in the forthcoming Street Fighter 6. As soon as I met her, Kwan noticed my mask said “got adobo!”, which she enjoyed a great deal being Filipino herself. We got into chatting briefly about her becoming Chun-Li and she got very excited when I noted that the Capcom booth had a life-size Chun-Li bust she definitely wanted to see before show’s end. Kwan was a lot of fun to hang out with.

Streamily had been turning into a fun service to use this year, offering unique fan interactions and participation for personalized autograph signings. They ended up having a presence at Comic Con, holding sessions at the Roddenberry Entertainment booth. A signing I managed to get into was one of the ones for Maggie Robertson, who exploded in popularity portraying the villainess Alcina Dimitrescu in Resident Evil Village. As part of Streamily, Robertson was streaming her sessions live through her Instagram account. Meeting her in person was quite lovely and a joy to see how much fun she was having with her newfound adoration.

Seeing Jane Baer [right] participating in presentations throughout the weekend raised my admiration a great deal for her. The legendary animator was a Comic Con Special Guest this year and was being celebrated throughout. I decided to chat with her following the An Animated Life panel and she appeared to be graciously enjoying the whole experience this year as I told her how appreciative I was to have heard her stories and she answered with how much fun she was having. We both noted our shared amusement in her Milt Kahl anecdotes, in particular his having based Madame Medusa on his second wife. Baer was just a wonderful lady to have met.

There were some friends and acquaintances I tried to visit whenever possible. Normally I would be able to make time, but this year my schedule was so heavily booked that I was barely able to see any of them. A few were in Artist Alley and when I finally managed to get there I remembered Dan Veesenmeyer had a table and decided to quick “Hi!” and to thank him for retweeting our Twitter post about the X-Men: The Animated Series presentation. He said that he wanted to Tweet something about the event and our post just happened to catch his eye. A really nice guy to meet from our very brief chat and one I’d like to meet again more properly.

It just wouldn’t be Comic Con, or any convention for that matter, without Cosplay. Hundreds of attendees roaming the floors, or indeed roaming the streets outside, dressed as characters from all across the pop culture spectrum would always be a sight to behold. Because part of the beauty would be the creativity being put into making the costumes that much more personal and unique. Be it a motorcycle riding Captain America showing a young Rey that he too was attuned with the Force [above] or Hera with a female humanoid variation of Chopper, it’s the biggest expression of one’s fandom and their passion for the arts to dress up so wonderfully.

Curiously, I had a feeling that I did not run into as many cosplayers this year as I would normally. That could be a mixture of my schedule being so packed that I was spending more time in presentations than wandering the floors as well as some folks probably being cautious enough in the middle of a pandemic to just not wear costumes. With regards to the latter, there were still many who dressed up. And while a lot of cosplayers simply removed their face masks when having their pictures taken, a few others got a little creative and figured ways to incorporate them, such as a Rapunzel having the sky lanterns added to her pink face mask.

Being a fan of Arcane, I was pleasantly satisfied that there was a nice number of such cosplayers out and about. While most were dressed as Jinx, I did come across one Mel and a few pairings of the sisters Vi and Jinx [right]. Of course, the Critical Role fandom was in full force around the time of their panel with so many characters to choose from. The most impressive were the ones dressed as Ashley Johnson’s current campaign character the faun druid/rogue Fearne. I was quite delighted to see a number of costumes for The Owl House such as a lovely Amity and an unplanned grouping of Luz, Eda, and the house with King and Hooty accessories.

Of course one of the most popular events at Comic Con would be the world famous Masquerade. A celebration showcase as much as a costume contest, fans filled Ballroom 20 on Day Three in the evening to watch the spectacle of cosplayers performing. Comic Con would simulcast the Masquerade from one of the other rooms and in the Sails Pavilion with snacks and a dance party afterwards. The Sails Pavilion simulcast wasn’t mentioned in the program guide for this year, but I did see that were setting up for it in the afternoon, so I got to check out a bit of the Masquerade there. I found a Vi with animatronic gauntlets and a Lydia from Beetlejuice to be the most impressive.

Adding to the appeal of Comic Con would be the activities taking place in downtown San Diego throughout the weekend. These offsite events were extensions of the convention experience and were open to the public without need of a badge, so long as they were willing to wait through long lines under the summer sun. There were openings in my schedule to check out a couple of these. The first was the Mooby’s Pop-Up [right]. Taking over the Tin Roof Bar & Grill, it was slightly redressed to be the McDonald’s knock-off from the films of Kevin Smith. Mooby’s was the primary setting for Clerks II and the pop-up was set up to promote the forthcoming Clerks III.

I ended up being among the first in line for the pop-up’s opening on Day One. As such, I was present for when Smith dropped by to perform the opening ceremonies, which was loads of fun to witness. I merely said “Hi!” to him as he ended up being occupied with an admirer who had just finished making her own film and wanted to thank him directly for being influential. Inside there were a bunch of neat displays such as a merchandise table, arcade machines with the Jay and Silent Bob video games, and a stage that would be used for sold out presentations and podcasts in the evening. Oh, and the food turned out to be some pretty good eats as well!

There was one offsite event I really wanted to check out that I was concerned would have been too difficult to get into, the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience [right]. Set up to promote the forthcoming feature film, it offered an immersive experience that sounded like a dream come true for those into Dungeons & Dragons like myself. I managed to get in line during the evening on Day One, which I later understood was not as hectic as any other time over the weekend. While waiting in line, they gave out color specific wristbands which would designate those who could drink alcohol and those who didn’t want to. Somehow I got both.

After less then an hour in line, I got inside and was blown away with how much work went into redressing the Nova SD Nightclub into a tavern. Every one was treated to a mug of Dragon Brew, thus the wristbands, and checked out the various props and looping character videos displayed. The barkeep welcomed everyone with a speech, followed by a barmaid leading a singing chant. They then went into the cool finale where the tavern was attacked by a black dragon. All of this was an absolute blast. As I was leaving, I caught sight of Matthew Lillard (Scooby-Doo‘s Shaggy and celebrity Dungeons & Dragons player) taking over the gelatinous cube photo op with glee.

Watch exclusive footage from the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience below.

It had become a tradition of mine to always swing by and visit in the Exhibit Hall Chris Sanders [right]. The Lilo & Stitch creator had a table every year selling off artwork and merchandise of his own. As far as I knew, there was no new update on the Rescue Sirens novels he was co-writing with his wife Jessica and didn’t have a new sketchbook. But he was selling off unique prints, in particular a Lilo & Stitch piece he did in watercolor. There were many copies available, but he also had the line drawing and the original watercolor sheet itself for sale. Only the originals were certainly not cheap and the watercolor sheet cost a pretty penny.

While cancellations were nothing new to Comic Con, this year saw a wave of programs and appearances that were called off leading up to and during the convention. A Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir presentation getting cancelled just a day or two after program schedules were announced set the tone for how this was going to go. Before any one knew it, major names scheduled to appear like Wesley Snipes and J. Michael Straczynski had suddenly bowed out. Strangely, George R.R. Martin did show up for the presentation on the Game of Thrones prequel House of the Dragon, but everything else he was scheduled for was cancelled.

The curious absence of DC and Dark Horse from the Exhibit Hall would result in some new faces as the other, more established booths like Marvel and Image didn’t seem fit to increase the floor space they generally covered in years past. Probably the only one to take advantage was Capcom [right], being slightly bigger than I remember them being previously. They were going big on promoting Street Fighter 6 with numerous opportunities for attendees to demo the exciting fighter all weekend long. The increased space also allowed for demos of Monster Hunter and Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. They even got to display an impressive life-size bust of Chun-Li.

Interestingly enough, there were not too many merchandise items I tried to get this year. The only one I had to put a little effort into getting was the Hercules 25th Anniversary Pin at the Disney+ booth, but only because they wouldn’t put it on sale during Preview Night. Otherwise, I got my shopping out of the way as early as possible. This included the Dungeons & Dragons: The Lost Wave figures at the NECA booth and at the UDON Entertainment booth both variant covers of the Street Fighter Swimsuit Special 2022 comic book and the Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li T-Shirt, which was the first officially licensed merchandise for the upcoming fighter.

Because of the pandemic, Comic Con enforced some mandates attendees were required to follow. The most obvious being that they keep masks on pretty much at all times and to be verified of vaccination or negative testing. With regards to the latter, everyone had to go to an outdoor station [right] from which they would receive a wristband confirming verification. These wristbands were to be worn at all times, so it was kind of interesting seeing folks in costume having to wear this orange wristband that would crumple and fade as the weekend went on. They were indeed waterproof, but it still felt funny to have to wear them to sleep and in the shower.

Minutes before the start of the Critical Role presentation in Ballroom 20, which happened to be running at the exact same time as the big Marvel Studios presentation in Hall H, a sudden announcement was made. From what we gathered, there was suspicious tampering of the alarms and it was being investigated. I imagine if the alarms were to have been legitimate, it would have forced a complete evacuation of the convention center. Fortunately, an update was announced shortly that all was fine and everything could continue as normal. Critical Role‘s Sam Riegel, who was unable to attend, offered a suggestion to the show’s fans in response to our Twitter post.

I blame Delilah Briarwood

— Sam Riegel (@samriegel) July 24, 2022

Sam Riegel wasn’t the only one to interact with our Twitter posts. Our coverage of the event throughout the weekend was watched, liked, and retweeted by others. This included story artist Dan Veesenmeyer liking and retweeting our post of the X-Men: The Animated Series 30th anniversary presentation and animation studio Atomic Cartoons liking and retweeting our post of the Little Demon presentation, adding that they were excited to be working on the show. But our most popular post was for David Silverman illustrating live during The Simpsons presentation and I dare say a big part of the popularity was due to a response from moderator Alex Hirsch.

Someone had to do it

— Alex Hirsch (@_AlexHirsch) July 26, 2022

No Comic Con attendee was complete without their badge, lanyard, program guides, and carrying bag.

Shuttle buses being decked out to promote Amazon Prime shows such as The Legend of Vox Machina.

The Exhibit Hall on Preview Night before it really filled up with attendees.

The original watercolor sheet of Chris Sanders’ Lilo & Stitch piece costing a pretty penny.

A very happy young fan getting to meet SpongeBob SquarePants at the Nickelodeon booth.

Kevin Smith with Mooby The Cow conducting the opening ceremonies of the Mooby’s Pop-Up.

“I feel overdressed… and under-tattooed!” John Musker showing off his birthday card illustration for Lin-Manuel Miranda during the Animated Lives: John Musker and Ron Clements panel.

We all knew who really wore the pants in Batman and Catwoman’s relationship.

“In each and every one of you, there is a light, a spirit, that cannot be snuffed out.” (Supergirl)

Fans lining up hoping to get into the 30th Anniversary of X-Men: The Animated Series panel.

Writer/Aritst Dan Jurgens reminiscing on working with the late George Pérez at the Legends Lost and Remembered panel.

Matthew Lillard enjoying the gelatinous cube photo op at the Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves Tavern Experience.

Attendees lining up as early as 6 am to get into the convention center on Day Two.

The infamous Hall H line going out and through San Diego Bay Harbor by 7 am on Day Two.

Writer/Executive Producer Beau DeMayo talking about X-Men ’97 at the Marvel Studios panel.

“Make it there alive and he’ll find you.” (Quorra, TRON: Legacy)

“I recognize that any worthwhile venture involves risk.” (Mel Medarda, Arcane)

“And today, I’ll show Luz that I am an awesome girlfriend.” (Amity Blight, The Owl House)

Just keep walking, sir. No need to keep looking at the weirdo (Deadpool) wearing a Disney princess dress and wig over his costume holding a gun.

“Wherever I go, he goes.” (Din Djarin, The Mandalorian)

Executive Producers/Stars Aubrey Plaza (Laura), Lucy DeVito (Chrissy), and Danny DeVito (Satan) talking after the first episode screening at the FXX’s Little Demon Exclusive Pre-Series Premiere Sneak Peek Screening and Q&A panel.

“How can you know what you’re capable of if you don’t embrace the unknown?” (Esmeralda, The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

The Scarlet Witch and Hela were not messing around.

Harley Quinn being quite happy that Weasel was alive.

“You are a scholar, are you not? Judging from your diminished physique and large forehead you are suited for nothing else.” (Kidagakash Nedakh, Atlantis: The Lost Empire)

A beautiful life-size bust of Chun-Li on display at the Capcom booth.

“I’m not afraid to die! I’d do anything to get you humans out of my forest!” (San, Princess Mononoke)

The weirdos Luz Noceda, Hooty, Eda Clawthorne, and King sticking together.

Shego not quite as thrilled as Dr. Drakken to look like a conventional pair.

Kylo Ren seemingly not adapting well in The Lands Between from Elden Ring.

“Yo! I should let ya know I get torked when people ignore me!” (Jubilee, X-Men)

Jane Lane and Daria Morgendorffer, the most feared duo wandering around the convention.

Model/Ex-Wife Brinke Stevens, Colleague/Friend Jackie Estrada, and Colleague/Screenwriter Danny Bilson reminiscing on Dave Stevens and The Rocketeer during The Rocketeer: Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Dave Stevens’ Iconic Character panel.

“This could be a quick ticket to hell… or the wildest ride of my life!” (Cliff Secord, The Rocketeer)

“Too weak to handle myself out there, huh, Mother? Well… tell that to my frying pa–” (Rapunzel, Tangled)

Supervising Director David Silverman illustrating live Homer versus Shrek in a battle to the death during The Simpsons panel.

Stars Dee Bradley Baker (Klaus Heisler) and Jeff Fischer (Jeff Fischer) talking what’s in store for their characters during the American Dad panel.

Stars Bailey Bass (Claudia), Sam Reid (Lestat de Lioncourt), and Jacob Anderson (Louis de Pointe du Lac) talking about their interpretation of their characters during the Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire panel.

Creator/Executive Producer/Star Seth MacFarlane (Captain Edward Mercer) calling in live for The Orville panel.

Creator/Executive Producer/Star Rob McElhenney (Ian Grimm), Creator/Executive Producer Megan Ganz, and Executive Producer/Star David Harnsby (David Brittlesbee) talking about the new season during The Players of Mythic Quest panel.

“Time is a weird soup.” (Fearne Calloway, Critical Role)

Fans lining up to ask questions at the Critical Role: Q&A with the Cast panel.

“Keep it up, Cloud! Work it!” (Aerith Gainsborough, Final Fantasy VII)

“Let me make this as… monosyllabic as possible.” (Captain Amelia Smollet, Treasure Planet)

“Ready? Then show me!” (Chun-Li, Street Fighter)

“Do you want to build a snowman?” (Anna, Frozen)

Jade Cargill, Chris Jericho, and Britt Baker talking about wrestling and geekdom during the AEW: Heroes and Villains panel.

Will Friedle, Christy Carlson Romano, and Fred Tatasciore hearing an audience member voice the displayed illustration during the I Hear Voices with Will Friedle and Christy Carlson Romano panel.

Hera Syndulla might have modified Chopper to be… sassier.

“Uh… sometimes our strengths lie beneath the surface. … Far beneath… in some cases. But I’m sure there’s more to Hei Hei than meets the eye.” (Moana Waialiki, Moana)

Concept Artists Maybelle Pineda (Black Adam), Oksana Nedavniaya (Shazam! Fury of the Gods), Constantine Sekeris (Guadians of the Galaxy Vol. 3), Phillip Boutte Jr. (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Jen Hancock (American Horror Stories), and David Masson (Thor: Love and Thunder) making up the Concept Artists of Television and Film #2 panel.

Resident Evil fans lining up at the Roddenberry Entertainment booth for Streamily autograph sessions with Stephanie Panisello (Claire Redfield) and Maggie Robertson (Alcina Dimitrescu).

The Comic Con Exclusive Hercules 25th Anniversary Pin from the Disney+ booth.

Maggie Robertson (Alcina Dimitrescu, Resident Evil Village) and Jennie Kwan (Chun-Li, Street Fighter 6) autographs.

The Comic Con Exclusive Street Fighter Swimsuit Special 2022 Variant Cover Comic Books and Street Fighter 6 Chun-Li T-Shirt from the UDON Entertainment booth.

The Comic Con Exclusive AEW Brodie Lee Action Figure from the Gentle Giant Studios/Jazwares booth and Dungeons & Dragons: The Lost Wave Action Figure Set from the NECA booth.

The Stitch and Toothless Print and The Lilo, Nani, and Stitch Surfboard Watercolor Print from Chris Sanders’ booth.

For most of us, 2021 was thankfully a lot calmer than the collective nightmare that was 2020. But at the same time, we didn’t quite get back to where we all wanted to be. Many of us continued to feel safer at home. Returning to our former way of life felt frustratingly out of reach.

And while the vaccines becoming readily available did a world of good for the general public, we still kept reading stories about the virus spreading, leaving us uncertain as to what was “the right thing” to do. And no one seemed able to agree on what that was!

Ironically, just as the world started to gradually begin reopening its doors, Disney made the announcement that they were shutting the ones of their recently acquired Blue Sky Studios, home of Scrat [above], for good. It was a move that somehow felt both shocking and inevitable, with the logic for the decision presumably revolving around the perceived need for budget cuts in the aftermath of Covid-19. Yet regardless of the reasoning behind it, the news was sad for animation lovers everywhere.

Always something of an underdog despite their frequent success, Blue Sky consistently exceled as far as their visuals went, never delivering a film that looked the same twice, whether it was their flagship Ice Age series, the wildly creative toy box world of Robots, or the spectacularly colorful Horton Hears A Who! What a shame that their (supposedly nearly finished) Nimona isn’t going to see the light of day now. Blue Sky will very much be missed.

For a while, 2021 behaved a lot like its predecessor as far as box office returns were concerned, with movie theaters remaining empty despite studios trying their darndest to fill seats. This must’ve made the victory of Godzilla Vs. Kong [right] a monster-sized sigh of relief for venue owners, with it becoming the first true blockbuster since the initial shutdown.

It turns out that when you take the two biggest cinematic beasts in the world and have them face each other, people are going to want to view the spectacle on the biggest screen they can find (although, let’s face it, the human characters may as well have not even bothered to show up for this outing!).

Equally promising was the pop culture phenomenon that was Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train [below right]. After breaking seemingly every record in Japan (during a global pandemic no less), the action-packed adventure exploded in the US as well, becoming the biggest anime film since 1999’s Pokémon: The First Movie.

Part of a so-called “genre” normally restricted to a niche audience in the states, Demon Slayer has broken out into the mainstream thanks to an accessible storyline — girl turns into demon, boy must fight other demons to change her back into a human — combined with stunning animation and exhilarating fight scenes, and Mugen Train provided its loyal fanbase with plenty of thrills.

But movie theaters, alas, faced problems that extended beyond patrons needing to “mask up” before buying their popcorn, as streaming services became the dominating the force in how people chose to consume their entertainment.

Some films skipped being shown at the multiplex entirely. Others had “theatrical windows” which sometimes only lasted a matter of days (in the case of Disney’s Encanto, it was a month; Illumination’s Sing 2 was just 17 days) before they were available on home platforms.

The Mouse House appeared to be content with allowing their once indestructible Disney Channel to slowly fade away, prematurely cancelling popular shows such as The Owl House in favor of placing a priority on creating “exclusive content” for Disney+.

And Warner Bros. made the controversial decision to have their entire theatrical catalog for the year available on HBO Max the same day of release.

It was perhaps predictable that such actions would result in some lawsuits, most notably a high profile one from Scarlett Johansson over Black Widow [below right], but if there is a “war” going on in the industry right now, then streaming is winning it, for better or for worse.

True, there were still some huge box office hits last year. Spider-Man: No Way Home, against all odds (and some would say common sense), managed to gross $800 million (that’s more than Titanic made, kids!) during a time when public health officials were urging everyone to avoid crowds. At the end of the day, however, if a movie didn’t have “Marvel” above the title, it more likely than not wasn’t going to sell many tickets anyway.

Even F9: The Fast Saga struggled to bring in the kind of profits the mega-franchise has become used to. Is there hope for non-IP productions to find success through projectors in the future? We would like to think so, but only time will tell.

As always, there were more deaths than we could ever do justice to in a single article, with notable ones including Superman: The Movie director Richard Donner, Cloris Leachman, The Little Mermaid voice actor Samuel E. Wright, Christopher Plummer, Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim, Ed Asner, and — as a particularly painful way to end 2021 — universally beloved comedian Betty White, who passed away only weeks before what would’ve been her 100th birthday.

Well, that’s enough seriousness from us. We hope you enjoy our annual look back at the past year (even if it comes just a little later [“Sorry, my fault — Ben“] than we might’ve been hoping!). As always, we tip our hats to you, our readers, for keeping this website going. Animated Views is a labor of love for all involved, and we’re grateful to each and every one of you who normally pay us a visit. And so, we present The Best Of 2021: The More Things Change…

Ben’s Picks

To paraphrase another famous sequel’s tagline, “just when you thought it was safe to go back into the cinema”, 2021 did in fact turn out to be a fairly predictable rerun of 2020, albeit with more vaccinations and hope that the year might have seen an end to the pandemic. But, nutty humans being what they are (I’m glad I’m not one of ’em!) meant that not everyone saw the advantages of getting jabba-dabba-dood, and not all countries imposed it based on so-called “choice”, which of course is a fallacy — we all have to pay taxes, drive with insurance, not kill our neighbors, etc, so why not just follow “the rules” and help your fellow humans? And so it rages on, somewhat diminished thanks to those vaxes, but still a concern for us vulnerable types…

In film, it was just as much of another crazy year out of the cinemas as it was on screen. Could leftover Wonder Woman 1984 be any more of a weirder start to what the next twelve months would bring, also launching an insane year of Warner Bros. movies that opened in our living rooms the same day as the (still mostly closed) theatres?

In the same realm, Zack Snyder’s Justice League [right] was almost perfectly redeemed, except for an awfully out of tone, cheaply tacked on ending. The much lesser of two semi-evils, the “Snyder cut” is a great, big, joyous mess of a movie — but it would be absolutely terrible if it wasn’t!

Now, CGI moustache shenanigans aside, I really didn’t mind the 2017 version. Sure, it was a hodgepodge of competing Snyder and Warner-dictated Whedon visions, but in the afternoon I spent watching it and the overblown emptiness of Hulk vs Thor’s Ragnarok, it was Justice League that I came away liking much more. When you compare it to the new version, it’s actually a pretty good, condensed, more character-friendly version of what Snyder was up to, which was exactly what Warners wanted after (fan!) complaints that Batman Vs Superman had gone too dark and off track…!

The Oscars didn’t fare much better, in a strangely surreal stripped down version in which Promising Young Woman bafflingly won something when it offered nothing we hadn’t seen before in other female revenge thrillers, of which there are many better ones. The Father provided an engrossing, labyrinthine “plot” with an extraordinarily nuanced performance from Anthony Hopkins, while the soft and gentle Nomadland‘s Best Picture win was just lovely. Animated Feature winner The Mitchells Vs The Machines was not always coherent due to being so overwhelming with bombast, noise and a hyperkinetic tone, but undeniably the mix of visual styles was standout: freeze any of this CGI pic’s frames and it looks hand painted, and extraordinary. Elsewhere, Marvel came along again with a trio of feature offerings, none of which I have seen still after being somewhat burned out with Falcon and Loki disappointments (though WandaVision was great), and even James Bond couldn’t escape a virus in the end.

Other venerable franchises notched milestones, too: Lord Of The Rings was twenty, and Dirty Harry, Alex, and his Droogies, turned fifty, while much more fun on the (anti)hero front was THE Suicide Squad, which was just all kinds of big screen bonkers even though most saw it on TV, also where Supergirl‘s final season fizzled out apart from a pitch-perfect last episode, a tone that has largely carried over into the Superman & Lois series, which I have been enjoying.

Less well received was the strangely lackluster In The Heights, and Nobody came from the writer of John Wick, who should sue himself for plagiarism. Bigger and more bombast came from the (second!) almighty showdown between Godzilla Vs Kong, which was insane enough to be enjoyable, as were the Disney and Pixar offerings of the year (the superlative Raya, lovely Luca, the interminable Encanto), even if nothing was really outstanding outstanding, perhaps after being spolied for too long where there are no real surprises anymore. That said, both Cruella (campy, fun) and Last Night In Soho (a terrific ghost story) proved what’s old is new again, being a pair of wildly engrossing throwbacks, while Peter Jackson’s extraordinary The Beatles: Get Back [above] was a genuine trip back to the 60s!

In fact, it was down to good old physical video discs to once more give other old-fashioned old favorites the chance to sparkle again, with Criterion finally going 4K on home video and offering up a superlative collection of supplements for their Citizen Kane, and the sad deaths of such personal favorites as Richard Donner, Cloris Leachman, Christopher Plummer and, especially, Stephen Sondheim took us back to rewatch their greatest works…as well as the new, sadly redundant version of West Side Story.

Which brings us to the end of the year, when wacky Warners brought us a bizarre new Matrix that felt more dated than the twenty-two year old original. Thankfully, Spider-Man: No Way Home was on call to save the day, with a film that just provided a massively thick wad of perfectly formed Hollywood escapism and entertainment.

No, it doesn’t make a stick of sense, and gets just as tangled up in its own web of time and space meddling as, honestly, the end of my favorite film of all time, Superman: The Movie (thanks, Donner!), but to do that just as effortlessly and nostalgically, by way of the actually-not-worst-kept secret casting in history [above], was some feat, and it even somewhat redeemed the not-so Amazing Spidey flicks, and finally got me to see what everyone else has seen in Tom Holland’s take on the character, too.

I look forward to seeing what other surprises opening up the multiverse of madness brings us soon, to sharing our thoughts on such matters, and hopefully a more solid return to “normal” in the coming months. Take care out there!

Dacey’s Picks

2021 was a strange year for me. While it was unquestionably “better” than 2020, I went through a lot of physical health issues (including two hospitalizations), and much to my sorrow didn’t make a return to my “home away from home” — the cinema. That said, I did take some personal steps forward which I am proud of myself for, and for the most part, the media I did find time for I largely ended up enjoying.

Sometimes, a show comes along that just feels “special” for want of a better word, and in the case of The Owl House [right], that has certainly been an appropriate description.

Unlike anything the Mouse House has ever made before, the first half of its second season was exciting to experience, with a borderline dark sense of humor and some terrific action scenes.

But what makes it revolutionary are its themes. With teenage lovebirds Luz and Amity, audiences both young and old have been able to see themselves in two characters as deserving of a happy ending as any other Disney couple. We often hear about how representation matters, and that’s of course true. When it’s handled with the compassionate hands of creator Dana Terrace, it can also be profoundly beautiful.

I’m ashamed to say I’m very behind on my animated movies right now. I still have yet to watch The Mitchells Vs. The Machines (which I own a hard copy of!) or even Encanto (meaning I’m the only person left on earth not aware of why no one talks about Bruno).

However, I was impressed by Raya And The Last Dragon, which continued Disney’s winning streak for feature films with great animation and a pacifist message worthy of Studio Ghibli.

True, I could’ve done without some of Raya’s “modern” dialogue (and Kelly Marie Tran may have been miscast), but darn me if I wasn’t crying buckets during the emotionally satisfying ending. And Sisu the dragon is a hoot!

Also falling into the “wholesome” category was Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street [right], a must-watch for anyone who has ever adored the wonder of Jim Henson or grew up with Big Bird and Cookie Monster in their lives.

By far the most extensive Sesame Street documentary ever produced, this is a journey through the early years of a children’s television landmark, featuring rare behind-the-scenes footage that should leave longtime fans in awe. Never has Mr. Hooper’s death hit harder, nor has “Letter B” ever felt more haunting and funny than they do in the context they’re given here.

In a way, it’s a shame that Brian Henson sounds so bitter over his father’s legacy when interviewed, as the history of “the street” hasn’t always been sunny days. Still, this is largely a celebration which reaches an almost ethereal level, and audiences who seek it out will find it deeply rewarding.

As has become the norm, Marvel seemed to dominate every aspect of pop culture once again, but that doesn’t shortchange the accomplishments of DC Films.

Zack Snyder’s Justice League might’ve been my favorite movie of the year (despite technically being from 2017), as it did the impossible and surpassed the hype surrounding it. With massive battles and enough drama to pack a powerful punch, it’s a superhero epic for the ages, and a full vindication for the vision of its director.

On the more comedic side of things, The Suicide Squad was another brilliant comic book extravaganza from James Gunn, firing on all cylinders as a bonkers, violent, hilarious, and surreally poignant thrill ride. Margot Robbie remains perfect as Harley Quinn, but the entire cast is fantastic, and it makes me even more pumped to find out what Gunn does with The Guardians Of The Galaxy Holiday Special later this year.

Also providing quirky entertainment for grown-ups was Helluva Boss [above, right]. What started as a brutally zany crossover of Looney Tunes and The Office has evolved into so much more, and as an independently produced YouTube cartoon, it’s truly on the top of its game.

The production values rival those of similar shows that air on cable television, the elaborate musical numbers are always a delight, and the demonic assassin heroes have all become quite lovable. The future looks bright for this unusual little gem, and I can’t wait to see where it goes next.

As far as live-action is concerned, Dune: Part One was every bit as awesome as everyone said it was, and sets the stage for what’s to come in a big way. Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley was an absolutely mesmerizing love letter to noir cinema, while still feeling fresh and original in its own right. Belfast was Kenneth Branagh’s best work in years, a bittersweet, semi-autobiographical tale which features many loving tributes to classic films. And Malignant deserves a shout-out for being the most insane horror movie I’ve seen in a long time, sending jaws everywhere to the floor with a plot twist no one saw coming.

Off the screen, I was very happy about the release of Bluey: The Album. The show has a sophisticated musical score which is unique for each episode, and it’s wonderful to see it getting the respect it deserves.

Frozen II: The Manga [right] was an unexpected but very welcome adaptation of a wonderful film, filled with breathtaking illustrations that should please all fans of Elsa and Anna. I did, in spite of how much I liked, witness a true dud in 2021 in the form of Santa Inc., which might be one of the worst shows I’ve sat through…ever. Painfully unfunny, infuriatingly self-righteous, and misguided on almost every conceivable level, I was far too generous with the “2 out of 10” score I gave it in my review!

Dan’s Picks

In all honesty, 2021 came off as a curiously lazy period with regards to my media intake. I only went out when I felt it was worth the effort, as with many, when select events started to open back up, as cautiously as they were willing. But I otherwise stayed home. The interesting part was that I spent more time playing video games and watching reaction videos than anything else, so I ended up missing out on a bunch of media I probably should have watched at some point and still need to, most notably The Mitchells Vs. The Machines and Centaurworld. Yet I feel rather content with what I was able to see and experience.

Arcane [right] absolutely topped 2021 for me. No one could have imagined that an animated series adapted from the video game League Of Legends would turn out to be arguably one of the best shows created. Yet Riot Games, Fortiche Production and Netflix managed to deliver an outstanding program that was as majestic as it was heartbreaking.

Featuring a wonderful narrative that was carefully crafted and emotionally tear-jerking, awe-inspiring animation that beautifully mixed computer generated imagery with hand-drawn illustrations, and a fascinating ensemble of characters voiced by a delightful cast of performers, Arcane succeeded beyond expectations and is a true game-changer. Nothing else this year came close to being in the same league with this legendary masterpiece.

On the theatrical end, I was quite enamored with Raya And The Last Dragon [below]. The fantasy epic utilized the influence of Southeast Asian cultures and lore to create a lush and beautiful world in Kumandra that was breathtaking to watch come alive. It further showcased Disney’s apparent interest over the last couple of decades to diversify their animation library with unique styles, stories, and characters while managing to maintain the studio’s magic touch to stand out.

For me, the film’s charm was in the dynamic between Raya and Sisu, playing off one another’s personalities in wonderful ways that are heightened by the lovely voice acting from Kelly Marie Tran and Awkwafina respectively. It really was an enjoyable feature and one that hooked me in from start to finish.

After taking 2020 off, the Marvel Cinematic Universe roared back to life in grand fashion and showed little signs of having slowed down their momentum of producing good, entertaining programs as they kicked off Phase Four in 2021.

The big stand-out for me among the films was Spider-Man: No Way Home. Unabashedly my favorite feature of the year, No Way Home was a glorious love letter to Spider-Man fans with an emotional journey that superseded the hype and delivered a triumphant hallmark for Marvel. I also really enjoyed Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, showcasing the studio’s continued interest in diversifying their films in taking one of their lesser known heroes and developing a beautiful, touching martial arts adventure.

Critical Role, the weekly Dungeons & Dragons broadcast played by animation voice actors, had quite the eventful 2021. The second campaign closed out with a thrilling finale on the scale of the Final Fantasy video games. There was a mini-campaign in Exandria Unlimited ran by guest dungeon master Aabria Iyengar and featured new players in Aimee Carrero (She-Ra And The Princess of Power), Robbie Daymond (Sailor Moon), and Anjali Bhimani (Overwatch). And a third campaign was started with Daymond staying on for a while as new and returning characters began their journey in the most chaotic way possible. In addition, more comic books were released and a novel published. All the while getting ready to release the highly anticipated animated series The Legend Of Vox Machina in 2022.

With the launch of the PlayStation 5 the previous year, 2021 provided players like myself an appetizer of what the next generation of video games could offer.

And there were indeed a few delicious titles that took advantage. Psychonauts 2 proved to be worth the sixteen year wait, following up on the cult favorite original with dazzling visuals and animation along with an insightful narrative. Ember Lab introduced themselves to the medium with their beautiful debut title Kena: Bridge Of Spirits [right], presenting their love for classic gaming with some of the most gorgeous animation to date. And Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart triumphantly showcased the power of the PlayStation 5 while also displaying feature film quality animation as well as fun, exciting gameplay to be relished.

Rounding out 2021 for me are some honorable mentions. Vivienne Medrano and her team at SpindleHorse Toons continued to produce quality animation as they resumed through the excellent first season of Helluva Boss. Dana Terrace and Disney enchanted with an amazing first half to the second season of The Owl House. Fan gathering events slowly re-emerged as the San Diego Comic Con held a heavily scaled down, yet no less enjoyable special edition. Los Angeles Comic Con was boldly exciting, albeit rather chaotic in having their show packed with eager attendees. But the fun surprise for me was the discovery of Secret Cinema, running an interactive participatory Arcane event in Los Angeles to coincide with the release of the animated series that was fantastic and a blast to engage in.

Randall’s Picks

Like many others, my entertainment was relegated to my home theater in 2021, only to be exposed to a lot of mediocre content that largely recycled more than innovated. Still, there was much that entertained me on streaming and Blu-ray. Perhaps my favorite major animated release of the year was Pixar’s Luca [right], which presented itself as a minor film overly inspired thematically by Finding Nemo and The Little Mermaid, but managed to become its own charming tale of friendship, set in a lovely Italian town. It didn’t seem to receive the same accolades as 2020’s ambitious, plot-challenged Soul; but I consider Luca to be the better film, despite its less lofty intentions. Sony’s The Mitchells Vs. The Machines was a winner, too, utilizing cutting-edge graphics and a superb visual style. Meanwhile, films such as Disney’s Raya And The Last Dragon, and Encanto largely stuck to gorgeous but by now familiar visuals. And, while it’s great to see more diversity in casting and locales in the Disney films, the tales and themes tend to be somewhat timeworn.

Away from the Disney empire, another sameness pervades other American features, with their tales of perky loser heroes and buddy comedies, largely presented in similar styles. It doesn’t help that most films seem to be sequels these days: Addams Family, Boss Baby, and Sing all got them. Spirit got a new film, too, but its kiddie TV show reinvention hardly qualifies as a true sequel to the underappreciated 2002 hand-drawn feature. DreamWorks disappoints me the most, as it really did begin as a fresh voice in animation, before succumbing to the economic needs of the marketplace long ago. Unfortunately, I did not get around to seeing any new Euro or Asian animation this year. I need to rectify that, as that’s where the real action seems to be.

As for films intended for home video [right], Batman: Soul Of The Dragon took an interesting, grounded kung fu film delightfully set in the funky 1970s, and then nearly ruined it by awkwardly plugging Batman into the story. The Justice Society: World War II movie was a disappointment, relying on a modern-day Flash tie-in and telling only a part of a story.

Elsewhere in the world of home video, I was glad that Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers became available at the end of the year, but in both the UK and North America consumers have been forced to buy it as part of an Irish Folklore Trilogy set even though most fans would already have the first two films in their collections. This can likely be blamed on demands from the streaming service Apple+, who have a financial interest in Wolfwalkers. Similarly, Paramount forced a movie collection on us by putting out a set of all the hand-drawn Peanuts films, with two having been previously available on Blu-ray, and the last two exclusive to the set.

But the boneheaded home video move of the year goes to Disney, who finally put their remaining two animated classics – Make Mine Music and Melody Time – onto Blu-ray, but only exclusive to the North America-based Disney Movie Club. Worse, they used lesser audio for the Blu-rays of these musical fantasias, and even worse yet they retained the deletion of the first sequence in Make Mine Music (originally omitted on the early 2000s DVD release), to the immense disappointment of Disney fans everywhere. Those that want to see The Martins And The Coys on home video have the option of a Japanese laserdisc or a UK DVD, but not the new Blu-ray.

On the positive side for home video, Warner Archive put out a few Saturday morning shows on sparkling Blu-rays, including fan favorites The Herculoids and Thundarr The Barbarian, plus a welcomed third volume of Tex Avery Screwball Classics. (Thank goodness they brought George Feltenstein back in time to get that one mostly right, after a less-than-stellar second volume, the preparation of which was also affected by pandemic issues.)

Universal surprised us by putting out a Woody Woodpecker Blu-ray disc, though a larger set of Lantz cartoons in HD would have been welcomed. Kino Lorber also put out some old-school animation, with Jetsons: The Movie and Rankin-Bass’ The Daydreamer, not to mention the less family-friendly Fritz The Cat films. And Thunderbean got some releases out [above], with More Stop Motion Marvels, and a dazzling Blu-ray upgrade of Rainbow Parades.

Moving slightly away from animation, I appreciated the good stab at old-school Muppets in Muppets Haunted Mansion, and loved the deluxe Blu-ray sets for Gerry Anderson’s Supermarionation shows Supercar and Fireball XL5 that came out in the UK. From the publishing world [below right], one surprisingly good read this year came from the always reliable TwoMorrows. Issue 129 of Back Issue was a wonderful look back at Bronze Age comic book adaptations of classic cartoon television properties; with articles on such characters as Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mighty Mouse, Underdog, and all of Hanna-Barbera, it was a great read from start to finish. Fantagraphics also continues to impress with their classic Disney comic reprints, such as Paul Murray’s Mickey Mouse and Carl Barks’ Uncle Scrooge.

As for live action superheroes, I loved seeing the long-awaited and very hyped Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which was not perfect in its operatic indulgences, but was far more satisfying overall than the abbreviated Whedon version. Marvel’s Black Widow and Shang-Chi were solid if unremarkable, but at least they veered a little bit from the standard formula by giving us a (slightly) more grounded action film and a mystical martial arts spectacular. (I have not seen Eternals yet, but I look forward to trying something different, even though I understand that reviews were mixed.) Disney+’s Marvel shows started off with the undeniably clever and wonderful WandaVision. The following Falcon And The Winter Soldier was quite enjoyable (even if the aims of the antagonist group were never entirely clear), Loki was a mess despite its terrific cast (did even the writers understand the premise?), What If? was a grand experiment in speculative fiction, and Hawkeye was terrific comic book-y fun. The year ended with a bang for superheroes with Spider-Man: No Way Home. I admit I had fun with it, but I was actually disappointed with the convoluted plot, muddled messaging, and messy ending. Into The Spider-Verse did it better.

James’ Picks

After a rough 2020, the past year brought a few rays of hope but not a complete return to normal. I’m sure that meant something different for each of us in our own lives, but for the entertainment industry that meant some movies finally returning to theatres, while many others held out on the small screen for another year. Again, whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is probably different for each of us as well!

Hopefully in 2022, we can put most of the dystopia behind us. But until then, dystopia was the theme of some of the best animated films released in 2021. The year’s slate as a whole wasn’t the strongest, but featured a lot of solidly made entries that were entertaining enough and made choosing a top three list somewhat difficult.

Ron’s Gone Wrong [right]is one of those rare movies that has a message for those who want to receive it, but isn’t pushy about it if you just want to enjoy the show.

The writers did such a wonderful job of almost surreptitiously demonstrating to the main character and the audience that friendship is not a one way street. And social media, which only shows part of our lives and doesn’t involve any real interactions with those commenting and liking, is literally a digital version of a one-way street — making building a true friendship difficult. Kids experiencing relationships through their phones isn’t necessarily a bad thing. During the pandemic and lockdowns it was a life line.

But Ron’s Gone Wrong reminds us that may have forgotten (or maybe teaches those too young to have realized) that it’s the people on the other ends of these devices that we should be forming bonds with, not the devices themselves.

The Mitchells Vs. the Machines [right] is yet another film featuring a techno-pocalypse. Unlike Ron’s Gone Wrong where social media gets in the way of people forming relationships, here it’s the characters themselves putting up barriers.

The story centers around a father and daughter who just can’t understand why the other doesn’t understand them — even though they are both more alike than they seem to think.

What really gives the movie its emotional heft is something that a lot of stories aimed at kids ignore: the parents’ perspective. Parents get short shrift in a lot of animated films. (Assuming they’re even alive! Looking at you here, Disney!) But in The Mitchells Vs. the Machines, not only does the father learn to see and appreciate things from his daughter’s point of view, she is encouraged to take a step back from the hustle and bustle and other distractions of a teenager’s life to really see and comprehend what he has sacrificed for her. That’s a plot point grown-ups watching with their kids will appreciate… even if some may find some of the social-media-style-asides a little weird.

Several films were worthy of my number three spot so, as I have often done in the past, I’m awarding it to the one I didn’t expect to be here.

Vivo [right] is one of those types of films from studios not named Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks, that always worry me, especially when they feature singing/rapping animals! But, like a lot of recent Sony animated films, this one was a pleasant surprise. What really drew me in was a choice made early in the film that let me know the filmmakers were willing to take some risks in the direction the story would go. The plot has the too often used cartoon road trip as its foundation, but doesn’t fall into the episodic trap. The journey is interesting enough, has some fun characters along the way, and isn’t too predictable. The film has a fairly solid emotional core that by the end will have you actually caring about what happens to the characters. I’m not the biggest fan of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s music, but thankfully the ratio of “works” to “doesn’t work” is more on the plus side than usual. Vivo may not be an Oscar contender, but it is entertaining and obviously made with care.

While I didn’t get to see it yet, I’d like to take special note of the movie Flee which made history this year as the first film to be nominated for three of the four best feature Oscars: Animated Film, Documentary Film, and International Film. It didn’t win, but it was a very impressive achievement nevertheless.

While I’m not excited by too much on the 2022 calendar, hopefully, much like the year itself so far, things will start looking better!

Now it’s time to find out what you said in our Readers’ Choice Poll and, for just the first time in the ten years we’ve been asking Animated Views readers to rank the best animated movies of the year, we have a tie at the top!

The Mitchells Vs. the Machines and Luca both recieved a score of 37 out of a perfect 100. To break the tie, we go to first place votes, where The Mitchells was the clear winner, with 30% of voters choosing it as their top pick — twice the votes as the next top vote-getter. The film appeared on 44% of all ballots. Luca picked up only 14% of the first place votes but appeared on more ballots, at 58%.

Third place went to Encanto, who just missed out on making it a three-way tie with a score of 36/100. It picked up 15% of the first place votes and was on 58% of all ballots. Raya And The Last Dragon came in fourth with a score of 27/100. It earned 15% of the first place votes and appeared on 36% of all ballots. And Ron’s Gone Wrong took the fifth spot with a score of 9/100, getting 3% of the first place votes and appearing on 15% of the ballots.

Well, as a certain cartoon pig says, “That’s all, folks!” We hope that you have a wonderful (and safe!) rest of 2022, and we’ll see you again next year — hopefully a little earlier this time — for our recap on what the next few months hold. In the meantime, please make sure you get those shots (and boosters!) as needed going forward. That’s how we truly go back to normal…someday!

Stay tooned!

— Dacey and the entire Animated Views Team.

Below you will find twenty panels and presentations that were of interest to the Animated Views crew. They are available to view at any time upon release between Wednesday, July 21 through Sunday, July 25. Enjoy!

Thanks for joining us virtually at Comic-Con@Home 2021. We hope to be back next year to bring you all of the excitement and wonder of the convention in person. Until then, enjoy all the treats that online entertainment can provide, and stay safe!

What started out as a seemingly normal and even mundane year quickly escalated into a global crisis the likes of which modern society had never witnessed. All of a sudden, everything about our lives changed. In addition to the devastation caused by the pandemic, social unrest dominated the headlines, and the political landscape felt more split apart than ever before.

Through it all, there were some bright spots, the least of which being the communal sense of everyone experiencing something together (even if it was socially distanced). We all got better at Skype and Teams (or used them for the very first time), and found out a new meaning for the word Zoom. We did our best to keep in touch with loved ones, and may have even given that old-fashioned action of sending a letter via snail mail a try!

With the Oscars now having closed awards season (a little later than usual), it’s time once again for our site’s annual look back at the year that was (also a little later than usual), with our staff favorites from what the world of entertainment had (or was able) to offer, including Pixar’s Onward [above], along with your picks for what you chose as the best animated movies of 2020 from our Reader’s Choice poll!

This year, modern entertainment naturally found itself unable to catch up with everyone’s moods. A notable (if not accidental) exception was Rick & Morty [right], which perhaps more so than any other television series, became a demented sort of comfort food, speaking to the exhausted state of the world with its outrageous yet often depressing brand of comedy, allowing us a moment to laugh at our own collective misery.

South Park showed up — however briefly — to provide some levity on an extremely topical level. And the Animanaics [below right] made a triumphant return to screens, remaining as hilarious as ever, but slightly more cynical, as even they couldn’t help but feel at least somewhat fatigued by the recent events around the globe (even singing an entire song about it).

Of course, one industry that got hit harder than most was movie theatre presentation, with cinemas forced to shut their doors a year ago and being left unable to fully recover since then. Already struggling to get butts into seats, the inability to maintain any level of steady income could represent an alarming and potentially near-fatal blow — and things are still looking pretty dire!

With auditoriums not being an option, Hollywood turned to their ever-growing secret weapon — streaming services — to release their big budget would-be blockbusters, not making matters any easier for theater owners.

Initially, Universal’s decision to have Trolls: World Tour skip theaters entirely (apart from some drive-ins) may have seemed harmless enough (and arguably even justifiable), but it proved to be the opening of Pandora’s Box as other studios were quick to follow the lead, with Mulan and even Pixar’s Soul never being shown on a big screen in the States. Indeed, Disney made it very apparent that Disney+ is currently their most prized golden goose, with The Mandalorian continuing to earn (almost) universal praise from fans and critics alike. For better or for worse, this seems to be happening at the expense of its once unstoppable cable channels, which cancelled their successful DuckTales reboot unexpectedly as streaming becomes the Mouse House’s new priority.

Streaming wasn’t the only way the landscape was changing, however. In an attempt to be more mindful of racial injustice, the animation industry recast the voice actors of characters on several cartoons, including long-running hits like The Simpsons and Family Guy [below].

Rather ironically, these choices were all made based on skin color, and however good the intentions behind them may be, it does seem like a solution to something which isn’t actually the problem.

As always, there were too many passings to ever give the proper amount of respect in a single article.

Among the notables were Sir Sean Connery (who many probably don’t know lent his voice to the pioneering 1996 special effects film Dragonheart), beloved Jepoardy host Alex Trebek, Shrek 2 co-director Kelly Asbury, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, and Scooby-Doo! creators Ken Spears and Joe Ruby — both departing within mere months of each other.

With all of that out of the way, we once again thank you — our readers — for sticking with us through good times and bad. Though we inevitably had fewer movie reviews last year (due to a lack of, well, new movies!), we’ve strived to continue to provide you with the same quality content that our site has become known for. And now, without any further delay, please enjoy what we can only tenuously call The “Best” Of 2020: The Year The Earth Stood Still!

Ben’s Picks

2020 already started on something of a cautionary note for us, with my wife working for a local council and word in January that a Chinese delegates trip may have to be postponed because of an initial outbreak that, back then, didn’t seem to be anything to be too concerned about. Once the thing had passed through more of Asia and hit Italy the next month, I remember saying, “here we go”, having been too well versed in my Twelve Monkeys and Planet Of The Apes lore and seeing how those films depicted the spread of “viruses through air power“! By the end of February we were calling a halt to our twice-weekly movie nights and by the end of March we were all going into lockdowns the world over.

The first lockdown was “fun”, the feeling that “we’re all in this together” creating a bond between the sensible people that got what was at stake, or at least could see where this was going and did their bit to protect themselves and, by extension, everyone else. It astounded me what a bunch of selfish and stupid creatures human beings have turned out to be, especially in the higher echelons of power, although there are some bright spots out there (like the smarter minds that made the vaccines!) that give a little hope for the future of our species. I’ll leave it to James to expand on these more positive aspects toward the end of this article: my job here is seemingly to provide the dystopian opening!

My own industry, the business of show, took the toughest hit, with cinemas and live theatres closing and production of all kinds first coming to a halt (wiping out, for me, my entire year’s earnings), before complicated ways and means provided a path, if not always viable or practically productive, of continuation for those who were not particularly vulnerable, although I was also not so lucky there, given those pesky “underlying health conditions” we heard so much about. What the film studios did have, in abundance, was classic library titles, and it was fun to see the likes of Jaws, The Empire Strikes Back and Jurassic Park return to the limited big screens and drive-ins that were open and hit the number one spots again years after their initial successes!

Catalog played a huge part at home, too, with studios rediscovering home video and, Paramount especially, putting out lovely new editions of titles that had never been given Blu-ray releases, including The Court Jester and The Greatest Show On Earth. Of course, streaming was the big breakout, with Disney+ launching just at the right moment, as it turned out, and while the shift to smaller screens was a death blow for movie theatres, it was a boon for home audiences, with Artemis Fowl [above] leading the way as the first of many to premiere (and not “premier” as the premium bolt-on later had it) in this way, and even if it did end up being a fairly inauspicious debut (more Foul than Fowl?) it was also something of a career achievement to finally get my name on a Disney picture.

In a year where we were trapped in our own homes, movies allowed us to escape and go anywhere, and other anticipated titles soon made their inevitable online debuts. Many of them fell flat for me, including Blunder Woman 1984, a film so camp and all over the place that it still kind of has to be seen to be believed and didn’t even live up to being as good as something that was made in 1984! Bill And Ted Face The Music was likewise looked forward to, but ended up coming and going, and on the even lower end of the scale, the disappointingly bmud Tenet proved to have been a saved cinema trip. The One And Only Ivan was a film I absolutely detested for being one big fluffed up lie, though Mulan provided a serviceable but ultimately uninspired live-action update.

On the flipside, we greatly enjoyed the latest The Call Of The Wild, and a total surprise was Bob Zemeckis’ The Witches [right], which was delightfully fun. I was also able to catch a good number of this year’s Oscar hopefuls thanks to various streamers, and probably agree that Nomadland was the only “winner” in a quite subdued group. Mank was everything but about the writing of Citizen Kane, and The News Of The World and The Midnight Sky were well crafted but never gripping, although Netflix proved itself again in the series arena with the superlative The Queen’s Gambit. Top of the heap, of course, was Pixar’s sublime Soul, that I was so pleased to see accepted by a wider audience than it might have been, and Onward, which I didn’t love quite so much as many but was still leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

In the absence of great new films, we resorted to looking back on titles from our collection — although none from Thunderbean Animation, for whom 2020 marked yet another annual date missed for an order from a few years back (c’mon Steve)! It was weird not to have our usual audience with us, so I pressed a few furry friends [top right] into action as our viewing mates. It’s quite odd to look left to share a joke with the Pink Panther and Feathers McGraw, but also quite comforting in a strange way! We can’t wait to kick the furries off (although not our big pup who hogs the sofa!) and have real people back to watch classics old and new as we finally make our way through 2021: The Sequel — don’t worry, this one has a happier ending! — and start to get back to the way we were…!

Dacey’s Picks

In too many ways, 2020 was defined by a sense of anxiety and sorrow. Finding solace of any kind could be difficult, but it arrived in the unexpected form of the second season of Bluey [right], an Australian toon about a family of talking dogs which might be something of a modern pop culture treasure.

Though aimed at children, it is perhaps even more rewarding for adults, giving us something rarely seen in animation: a show about parenting. Bluey is amazingly funny, deeply empathetic, and allows a surprising amount of tears. Combine that with fluid animation and a ridiculously sophisticated soundtrack, and you have a series which is downright euphoric. Well done, Australia!

Just as heartfelt — and possibly at risk of getting overshadowed by the other Pixar title of the year — was Onward, which might be the studio’s most personal film to date. Elegantly combining the escapism of the fantasy genre with the all-too-real inevitably of mortality, it’s a simply beautiful story of grief and finding seemingly ungraspable closure, balancing its heavier themes perfectly with plenty of excitement and humor. Surpassing virtually all expectations for it, Onward is one of Pixar’s best, and I hate myself for missing out on being able to experience it in theatres.

There were some films I was fortunate enough to watch at the multiplex before everything got shut down, including the absolutely delightful (if not very family-friendly) Birds of Prey [right], a thoroughly entertaining and darkly comedic outing for Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn that manages to feel unique amidst an onslaught of other releases from the comic book genre (even if Harley’s iconic cosplay-friendly Suicide Squad outfit is kind of missed here).

Essentially a live-action Saturday morning cartoon for adults, the movie is positively bursting with energy, allowing for its entire cast to shine, including a scenery-chewing Ewan McGregor as the big bad.

On the small screen, Disney’s excellent Elena Of Avalor came to a close with a mostly satisfying series finale (even if its final season was arguably a tad too ambitious for its own good). Also ending was Nick’s Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. An “acquired taste” thanks to its oddball visuals and rapid-fire offbeat jokes, it might actually be a criminally underrated show, with some of the most energetic animation on television today. What a shame its conclusion felt a tad rushed (one gets the impression Nick pulled the plug on it early), but it still got wrap things up with a ton of adrenaline-fueled action and some emotionally rich moments.

Falling into the “pleasant surprise” category was Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo! [right], a truly charming straight-to-DVD caper that takes everything fans love about the franchise and makes it work for a current audience (plus, the gang gets to team up with Batman’s Scarecrow. How cool is that?!?!).

On the much more mature end of the tube, HBO’s Perry Mason reboot proved to suit the morbid mood of 2020 quite well, with moodily cinematic production values, a terrific cast (including the always great John Lithgow), and a bleak storyline which manages to somehow find the faintest traces of hope in spite of all of its darkness.

There were, as is almost always the case, some disappointments to the year (well, apart from the ones everyone was already going through). I actually didn’t think the mega-budget Dolittle was that bad, though I suppose I can credit that to Robert Downey Jr. making everything he’s in better by default. But even if Iron Man himself wasn’t around for the ride, it would still be leaps and bounds better than the horror fairy tale Gretel And Hansel, in which the biggest fright is how dull it is, and while I appear to be in a minority with the opinion, I found the remake-in-name-only of The Invisible Man to be unpleasant, dumb, and even mean-spirited.

Dan’s Picks

There is no question that 2020 will go down as one of the roughest years in human history. What the pandemic showed me was that we were not the enlightened species we often try to make ourselves out to be in entertainment media. For me personally, things surprisingly weren’t all that bad. I managed to keep working, only ever doing so remotely for just a week or so, and I got around to remodeling my room that had been years in the planning. Still, the pandemic did postpone a lot of things I would normally go out to experience, such as Comic Con and visits to Gallery Nucleus. And yet the fantasy realm would offer some neat content that managed to keep me enthralled against real world troubles.

At the top of my list for 2020 was Vivienne Medrano. Following up on the success of the Hazbin Hotel pilot in 2019, which got picked up by A24 in 2020 to be developed into a full series, Medrano and her team at SpindleHorse Toons have continued to independently produce high quality animation funded primarily through the crowd-funding service Patreon. These fantastic programs include starting a full season of sister series Helluva Boss [above], the Bad Luck Jack short film to Medrano’s old web comic ZooPhobia, and music videos for Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss. Medrano was a shining beacon through the darkness of 2020 and I believe she will shine brighter for years to come.

At the very beginning of 2020, Disney Channel started airing a show called The Owl House [right]. Creator Dana Terrace developed an absolutely fun series that managed, in short order, to build in acclaim and popularity along the lines of Gravity Falls. What started as a nice, interesting premise transformed into a thrilling narrative as the series progressed, set in a bizarre and beautiful world that spun the fantasy genre in fascinating directions, and would be populated with a delightfully diverse cast of great characters that broke from conventions in unique ways. The Owl House was one of the finest shows to emerge in 2020 and I have confidence the series will continue to be amazing in the future.

I am hoping that Onward ultimately does not get lost in the shuffle, because it was too wonderful of a film to not be a stand-out of 2020 for me. I managed to catch it in theaters just before the lockdowns kicked into gear and it was a delightful adventure to behold on the big screen. Onward was bolstered by a really good story, some stylishly beautiful animation that brought to life a fascinating and fully fleshed out world, and a solid cast headlined by the incredible performances of Tom Holland and Chris Pratt. Director Dan Scanlon made a film that should be better appreciated than being regarded as a box office disappointment for simply being released during the pandemic.

Critical Role also took a hit as a result of the pandemic. The live stream of animation voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons celebrated their fifth anniversary of broadcasting when they had to pause briefly to figure how to proceed under social distancing conditions. Furthermore, the release of The Legend Of Vox Machina animated series had be to moved out from the scheduled 2020 release. Yet they managed to adapt and continue their exciting sessions while also releasing an official Dungeons & Dragons campaign sourcebook, launching a charity foundation, and developing new internet shows, including an animated program that recaps their current campaign adventures to date.

With many turning to video games as a means of getting through stay-at-home orders, it seemed like a convenient time for the ninth generation of consoles to launch. And Sony’s release of the PlayStation 5 [above] proved to be a wildly successful one. Featuring a great launch line-up that included Astro’s Playroom, Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Sackboy: A Big Adventure, and Demon’s Souls, the leap to the next generation of gaming had arrived and was on full display. Visually the games looked absolutely stunning, with improved graphical output that edged closer and closer to the level of high end animated features. I’m hyped for the fun and exciting games that are coming soon to the PlayStation 5!

Rand’s Picks

It was challenging to prepare this article, as I think we all struggled with putting “best” and “2020” into the same sentence. That past year was a rough one. For me, personally, I have to admit that it wasn’t so bad, overall, compared to what many others had to endure; but certainly we have all had to deal with a lot of changes, and made sacrifices of one sort or another during the pandemic.

So, what, in the world of entertainment in general and animation in particular, was I still able to enjoy? Goodness knows we all needed something to distract us in 2020. As theaters sadly closed down, streaming took on even greater importance, and I enjoyed time spent with Disney+, whether watching the shows and movies that I don’t already have on disc, or premieres of new shows and films. The Mandalorian [above right] proved to be, if not exactly groundbreaking, at least a somewhat comforting return to the Star Wars universe, more in keeping with Dave Filoni’s superb animated programs than the ill-prepared sequel films.

Disney’s Mulan was yet another uncomfortable (but slickly made and somewhat entertaining) hybrid of animated film remake and live action muddle. Of Pixar’s two films this year, I heavily favored Soul, finding its deconstruction of the “chase your dreams at all costs” myth to be a bit genius, even if the plot has holes galore.

The fabulous Criterion Channel got plenty of views from me, including their collection of Bill Plympton cartoon films. I got less use out of Netflix, generally, but had strong appreciation for its ongoing production of animated films such as Over The Moon and The Willoughbys. The conclusion to its beautifully done Godzilla anime was disappointing, but the ride getting there certainly made for interesting sci-fi.

On the non-animation side, I think my favorite home video release was the gigantic and glorious Gamera box set from Arrow, which I was lucky to have preordered and paid for before putting my collecting on a pandemic hold. The huge slipcase [above right], which was a quick sell-out, held tons of fun films, plus all the bonus features, English dubs, and swag that Criterion couldn’t get Toho to approve for their Godzilla set. Both Arrow and StudioCanal also put out terrific and much-deserved collector’s sets for the 1980 classic version of Flash Gordon.

The best Blu-ray release for me was naturally The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2, a disc that I looked forward to so much that I volunteered to help out behind the scenes, including writing the press release. And the disc came out gorgeous, too, featuring many excellent restored shorts of George Pal’s wonder and magic. Close to that would be the much-awaited first two volumes of Tex Avery shorts from Warners and, on the independent side, it was good to see Steve Stanchfield polish off a number of long-awaited projects from his Thunderbean Animation label.

James’ Picks

2020 bad…blah, blah, blah! You lived through it! You already know! You’re visiting a site like this to get away from the the doldrums of real life and focus something that brings you some modicum of happiness for a while. So without further ado, let’s jump in to some of the best animation 2020 had to offer on the big…and small screens.

Soul [right] is a film with lofty aspirations, and it hits the high notes almost every time. I love the ambition Pixar showed in green-lighting a story like this. This is a film that could have gone wrong in so many ways. They took a crazy concept and an idea with a huge scope and made it relatable the same way they always do — by focusing it all down onto a small number of characters we come to care about. The animation is some of the most beautiful and interesting in the Pixar canon. The spirit of New York City is palpable in every scene it is featured in and, like the actual city itself, is filled with life and a wonderful lived in quality that sometimes is hard to capture in computer animation.

Joe and his fellow humans are some of the most detailed Pixar has ever given life to. And the style of the soul counselors deserve special praise. Their Picasso-esque designs were extremely compelling and their animation and movement were a lot of fun. The eclectic music may not always be as immediately hummable as a Newman or Giacchino score, but both the jazzy and the ethereal work just as effectively and help sell the authenticity of each world. Soul will make you think a lot more than it will make you laugh, but the end result is a virtuoso performance — and a reminder about how precious life is and that we should make the most of the time we’re given.

As good as Soul was, my favorite animated movie of the year was Onward [right] — and not just because it’s the last move I watched in an actual theatre! It has all the humor and heart you expect from the best of Pixar, and it’s the strength of the characters that drives it all forward. The brothers at the center of this film are easily the equals of other great Pixar duos like Woody and Buzz, Mike and Sully, and Marlin and Dory. In fact, outside the parent-willing-to-do-anything-for-their-child dynamic in Finding Nemo, Ian and Barley may be two of the most easy characters to empathize with on that list. In a world of endless buddies-on-a-journey movies, the wizards of Emeryville check every box to ensure this one doesn’t feel the same as the rest.

Pixar has always had a knack for world building. And the mashed up fantasy realm/modern world setting may be not only one of their funnest, but the one with the most potential. Much like the Dungeons & Dragons inspired game it revolves around, the Onward world could be an unlimited canvas where so many other possible stories are waiting to play out. I’m looking forward to seeing future outings in the Onward world…hopefully out in a theatre in our real world!

For my third pick I’m going to go in a different direction than most people making these types of lists have gone. The Willoughbys [below right] is an odd little film, full of contradictions. The story is a dark but sweet. The animation isn’t top notch but it’s very charming. And the characters are dysfunctional but likable.

Just a recap of the basic plot should be enough to pull you in: The Willoughby children want to be adopted by a loving family, the only problem is that they’re not orphans…yet! Yes, it sounds pretty grim, but it’s mostly done in a light-hearted way. While the plot is a bit scattershot, the frenzied feel actually works well with the tone of the film.

What really pulls together the disparate pieces is the humor. It’s a very funny movie, but usually in a way that surprises you rather than just with cliched kids jokes. The animation is styled in a beautiful, craft-y, almost hand-made look that also softens some of the darkness of the plot. And the voice acting, though a little odd at first, really grows on you and helps make the film work. The Willoughbys is not on the same level as the best from Disney or Pixar. But it’s a lot better than many of the things that have made it to the big screen in recent years.

Seriously guys, I know 2020 has been a rough year. I hope you made it through mostly unscathed! Let’s make a pact to step away from all the doomscrolling and spend more time on things that bring us joy this year, whether that’s being out in the sunshine on a beautiful spring day, or sitting in your dark basement commenting on Animated Views articles! Here’s to a better future, starting right now!

Reader Poll

Now it’s time to find out what you said in our Readers’ Choice Poll!

Since the very first time we asked Animated Views readers to rank the best animated movies of the year back in 2012, Disney has always led with the most poll wins. But with your pick this year they have to make room at the top, because Pixar has now tied Disney with four annual victories.

Soul was your choice for the best of 2020. It earned a score of 64 out of a possible 100 points. It received 47% of the first place votes and appeared on a whopping (and second best all-time) 76% of ballots.

Pixar also took the second place spot this year with Onward getting 37/100 points. It took 16% of the first place votes and was on an impressive 55% of all ballots. Cartoon Saloon’s Wolfwalkers came in third place with a score of 25/100. It had a very respectable 14% of the first place votes and appeared on 33% of all ballots.

Rounding out the top five were Over The Moon scoring 11/100, 5% of the first place votes, and appearing on 18% of all ballots, and A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon with a score of 10/100, 1% of the first place votes, and appearing on 19% of all ballots.

Well, that’s all, folks, from us, for now. Make no mistake, this pandemic is far from over — in many ways, 2021 is already feeling like a “sequel” to 2020 — but in the end it will eventually get better. Just be sure to keep those masks on and those hands washed in the meantime — and don’t pass up the offer of a vaccine (or that all-important second dose!) to do your part in moving forward out of this whole situation.

In the meantime, we’ll hope for a true return to whatever “normality” is by the time we see you for our next annual recap, and wish you a safe (and healthy) rest of 2021!

— Dacey and the entire Animated Views Team.