Creating a modern Toon Town

So it's exactly what you think it means. It's like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but set in the present (or the future). With the advent of digital animation and many animators giving up the cell animation to drawing on the computer, it means that they are no longer vulnerable to dip, and they can withstand alcohol without cracking up, or die of alcohol poisoning. Not that Toons can drink alcohol as the FCC doesn't allow cartoons to do stuff adult humans are allowed to do, unless you were created as an adult show, but even then the toons need a permit. The toons that were made for kids can't say bad words or they get shocked, and they can't make whoopie with neither their own species nor humans. Although female toons can't get impregnated, and male toons can't get human women pregnant either. So you could say the FCC's laws on toons are meaningless, but that's sort of the idea. It's meant to make fun on how cartoons since the 2000's have been heavily censored to appeal to the soccer mom's of today. I'm also borrowing some plot elements from Demolition Man as there's an underground place where toons can have bars with alcoholic beverages, strip clubs, and go out with other toons who wants whoopie. Not patty cake, but whoopie.

Also, there are different types of toons.

• Toodies: These toons were made from pen and ink pre 90's, but some were drawn on drawing programs looking cleaner and brighter. There are some humanoid Toodies, but there are also some funny animal Toodies, and anthro Toodies. They haven't gotten many work in show business as they've been replaced by...

• Ceegees: They were made with computers and look more 3 dimensional. However, sometimes it's hard to tell which is human and which is Ceegees, since some Ceegees were made to be in live action movies and are designed to be as realistic as possible.

• Chibi: These are toons made in Japan that got exported to America with varying results. Sometimes when they speak a different language, their voices are completely different, and sometimes, anything that is deemed inappropriate to the FCC, like cleavage and politically incorrect symbols, is painted out.

Something to keep in mind with Toon Town, the old toons, the Toodies in your world, who would logically be running things because they where there first and would have a lot of 'first among equals' prestige due there age and history. You can bet when Bugs bunny walks into a bar every one acknowledges him. That's a problem because those old cartoons where racist as all fuck and they are the guys likely in charge.

You can imagine that the new comers, the Ceegees and the 'Chibi' I don't really like this term since most anime does not have chibi characters, maybe just "Annimy's" pronounced like Annie would work better? would have a rougher time of it comparable to newly arrived immigrants. Additionally: modern cartoons such as avatar the last air bender that draw from both Eastern and Western works would be children of both the Toodies and the 'Chibi'.

Another thing about the Toodies that strikes me is that you don't really have a place for modern cartoons, those that are not realistic enough to fit your category of ceegees but are too modern to be Toodies proper, say the likes of My Little Pony or Gravity falls. Not realistic, but not with the same looks of a old cartoon. One could imagine the most powerful and influential toons, (Your Captain Ersatz of Bugs Bunny and Micky Mouse) could afford treatments to allow them to appeal to appeal aesthetically to a modern audience, Compare bugs in his first cartoon to his more recent modern interpretation.

That's all the points that come to my mind at this moment, good luck on your writing, hope this helps!

I'd imagine there would be some resentment and bigotry among the various factions of the 'toons themselves. The Toodies hate the Ceegees for putting them out of work, the Ceegees would regard the Toodies as stodgy and backwards, and the Annimys (I also don't care for the "Chibi" designation, nothing personal) might be regarded as interlopers and weird "foreigners."

I'm reminded of a MAD magazine parody: Pla-Toon — in which the 'toons were fighting in the Vietnam war. There was some racism in the ranks...

Popeye (the original Fleischer Studios black-and-white version): "Back where we comes from, we don't askoskiate wid colorized toons!"

edited 27th Nov '15 7:50:11 PM by pwiegle

@dragonkingofthestars Well, maybe the Toodies would have a better time running things in their own town, but remember the Ceegees would be recognized better in human towns. Like pwiegle said, the Toodies would HATE the Ceegees for putting them out of show business. Maybe the Ceegees would have a harder personal life, but bigger fame. Also, Annimy's sounds like a better name for anime characters than "Chibi". I guess this thread is more about the world of Who Framed Roger Rabbit in the modern world, than Toon Town itself.

But the thing is the Ceegees have not put the Toodies out of business.But as a whole, since cartoons where rarely full films to begin with Ceegees are not actively competing with the older Toodies, though I imagine in such a world joint projects like Who Framed Rodger rabbit would be calmer, if you keep films like that to the same rate they have in real life Ceegees would be the first really successful joint 'toon' and human movies. You don't really see Ceegees as you describe them in the places traditional run by Toodies such as before cartoons on TV or before movie cartoons. a note: I'm including otherwise 3d animated movies like Frozen and Shrek as Toodies since there not quote: "designed to be as realistic as possible." Maybe children between old school Toodies and more modern Ceegees? PS: who designed the Ceegees?

There is also something else to consider about Ceegeess typically such animations are one and done. You think those three trolls in the Hobbit got any work after the movie? i mean, how many movies need a troll? and excepting certain characters like gollum repeat performances I think would be hard unless Ceegees can augment there appearance. so yes, more fame, but less consistently. Sort of like the difference between a 5 minute fame popstar and a more constant actor, heck bugs bunny is still on the air collectively he has more paid hours then any ceegee, maybe any ten Ceegees together.

Actually Gollum opens up some new questions: Gollum was played by Andy Serkis in a computer augmented motion capture rig, would that be toon face or what ever it's called in this world? Also Gollum showed up in the shadows of mordor video game, so how does that work in this setting? are video games a way for Ceegees to get more consistent work?

Bert: ya know, i was the one of the lord of the rings troll? ya my agent used that to get me a role as a big daddy in bioshock,went back to a troll for the hobbit. I'v been thinking maybe I can play ganon in the next zelda the current actors a bit old.

So while I can imagine disdain for the Ceegees from older Toodies it's more snobbishness at some new fangled profession that's not the "old ways" since excepting how you consider movies like Frozen, Ceegees have not really competed with Toodies. Human actors on the other hand, that's a different story!

I recall an MTV movie awards show, in which Andy Serkis accepted the award for Best Motion-Capture CGI Character (or whatever it's called), only to have it snatched out of his hands by Gollum, who then went off on a hate-filled rant. ("Dobby's a fucking fag!")

So, in this Toon Town World, would Andy Serkis and Gollum count as two separate actors, or as a human actor in Ceegee makeup? Same question goes for the Na'vi from James Cameron's Avatar, and similar effects.

Maybe the actor brings the Ceegee to life, and it then becomes a separate entity on its own?

I can imagine legal battles between actors and their animated "twins" over image likeness and royalties. Or characters that started out in comic books, suing the movie studios that made live-action films of them, for defamation of character...

edited 29th Nov '15 12:55:00 PM by pwiegle

Speaking of legal battles, what about copyright of characters? Would, say, Mickey Mouse be considered the "property" of Disney Studios and can't ever work at another animation company, or would he be under contract to work for a certain amount of years with the Disney company, and thus be able to go work at another company if he wishes once the years are up? Or, to Take a Third Option, would theoretically Mickey be able to go work at another company but the contract constantly change to add on more years because the company doesn't want to let go of their biggest star?

(I'm of course assuming that in this world, the Toons are made by animators rather than are a separate species evolved alongside humans like the original Who Censored Roger Rabbit? novel implied.)

Also, what is the relationship between animators and the Toons? Do animators treat the Toons like they're metaphorical offspring? Or do they resent the Toons because they take away jobs from animators, since why would animation companies pay millions of dollars for animation work when they can just hire the Toon actors that's been created already for far less? There can even be a variation on animator/Toon relations depending on the type of cartoon (like, animators of Toons with ongoing series are more likely to be resentful than animators of Toons in one-off films).

And do Toons have the option of doing something else beside acting? Can they be lawyers or teachers or politicians? Or are they legally not allowed?

Also also, would there be up-front protests against the FCC's laws concerning Toons, as well as underground places where Toons can do all the stuff they can't do legally? Like for example:

I can imagine this drawing a load of controversy from both Toons and more open-minded humans for cruelty. Petitions, protests in front of the White House and the studios, widespread objections on social media (#LetToonsSayFuck), the works. And how does the FCC/the government/the soccer moms justify it? Obviously the Think of the Children! mentality, but there also could be a "if these Toons are allowed to swear and have sex, they can escalate to violence and harm the more squishy humans!"

(By the way, your explanation of how kid-friendly Toons are literally banned from more adult stuff sounds like an excellent deconstruction of the Contractual Purity trope. :D)

Also also also, to add on to the points dragonking and pwiegle brought up, there's probably issues with sexism and homophobia with the older Toons as well, and possibly prejudice with different types of Toons like human/humanoid Toons looking down on Animal/Anthro Toons, issues considering different sizes of Toons like insect Toons having to constantly avoid being stepped on by larger Toons, and discrimination against interspecies relationships like a human Toon dating a Anthro cat Toon.

(Speaking of different types of Toons, what about Toons that aren't either human or animal? What about robots, the undead, toys, living appliances, Toons that don't go into any category, etc.)?

I'd also look at how other stories do the whole Animated Actors thing like Love Me Nice and The Cartoon Chronicles Of Conroy Cat.

As someone who finds the idea of Animated Actors interesting to the point of also trying the idea in her own work, I'm quite excited to see how you'll use the idea. :D

(PS, I also find the term "Chibi" to be somewhat awkward to use for anime characters as well. I'm blanking on ideas for a better name though. And this reminds me, you said the anime characters are exported from Japan. Why is this? Are Toons not allowed in Japan? What about Toons created by European countries, other Asian countries, etc.? Are the laws concerning them different?)

...holy crap this ended up a long post, I apologize.

edited 29th Nov '15 10:43:55 PM by SkeletalPumpkin

Recall that in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, R.K. Maroon got a bunch of Disney characters "on loan" and "working for peanuts."

This opens a whole 'nuther kettle o' fish in the legal arena: Toon Rights. But it seems we've got a lot more questions than answers.

edited 30th Nov '15 2:23:43 PM by pwiegle

Man, this is becoming more and more complex. Especially with that last post. I'll go over this one by one. It's time for a possibly longer post.

First off, here's how Toons would get made in my story. Animation companies would have these machines that bring Toons to life. You place a model sheet into a scanner and then you go into a computer where you choose what personality traits you want in the character, and how big these traits are. When they were first produced, they were of course really big, using big tubs of ink. But as technology grew, they are designed more like cryogenic pods. (Except not as ominous as these scifi/horror movies) These pods were made to create characters for cartoons and stored in big named studios, but there are some independent animators who have made or bought these machines. When some amateur animators have made these machines, they look a bit low quality, compared to the studio made ones. Some toons would re-enter these pods either to get a modern makeover, or to be sent in the vault, because there can only be so much toons the world can fit. If there's a toon couple that wants their own child, even if that character isn't going in be in any show or movie, they could just ask a studio if they want a baby, with an optional age program that can have an age process similar to humans. (Now this is starting to sound like the movie, Gattaca)

Which brings me to how Toons live in our world. Back in 1947, there was only one Toon Town in California, but as the population increased, the Toons would make more Towns, but one for each state. Like humans, toons either live alone, with a roommate, or a family, but some Toons like Mickey Mouse or the Looney Tunes, live with co-stars in mansions. In human towns, the best jobs for the Toons are of course actors in TV/movies, and performing stand up, and music in clubs (which by the way, they are allowed to watch in these days). However, there are some Toons who do normal human jobs. But the toons who do get human jobs are minor characters or characters that were one hit wonders. Toons can be teachers, but they are limited to what subjects they should teach. For example, due to the fact that some of the toons work in cartoon logic, they aren't qualified to teach science. However, they do teach some film/writing/acting classes in high schools and colleges, and they do guest speaking.

The relationship between animators and toons is always different depending on the pay, and personality. Many animators strikes, has convinced studios to split the money to the creator and creations. Of course, creators like Walt Disney, Bill Hanna/Joe Barbera, and Matt Groening, created multiple characters. This is why some popular toon actors, don't live alone or with one person, but in a mansion with almost an entire cast. So with long running series of shorts, episodes or even entire shows, the creators and animators usually have a good relationship with their own toons as they hang around with them the most. With movies, the creators doesn't always have a long relationship. Some humans in general are afraid to have a relationship with Toons, mostly because, when you think about it, Toons are immortal. Sure, their shows and popularity may end after several years, but the character themselves don't actually die, and they can be even redrawn and resurrected. But we humans, don't live longer.

Like I said before, there would be underground places, where Toons can drink alcohol, take off bleep collars (decided not to use shock collars, as bleep collars is funnier) so they can swear, go in strip clubs, wrestle and beating each other to the non existent death, and make whoopie (not pattycake, as it's just pattycake. Roger Rabbit just overreacted as it's a sign of Roger and Jessica's love and vows. But whoopie is more like what you think it is.) with other Toons or humans. Some toons would try to rebel in the surface world, but security is tight. Speaking of, toons can get arrested, but it's hard for humans to do so as Toons are more agile, can survive gunshots and explosions, and regenerate their body. That's why they hire Toons to be cops, so there can be an equal match. They've also invented some escape proof toon cages and handcuffs, so that no toon can escape.

Now, for the prejudices of Toons against each other, it doesn't always have to do with how they are designed or the species, like human, actual animal, zombie, orcs, dragons, anthro, or hybrid, but how they are made. Now with foreign Toons like Animmy's, they do visit different countries so they can socialize with other Toons, and discuss localizations, but they must stay in their countries to make their respective shows. Ceegees are oblivious to Toodies resent against them, for taking away their jobs. No matter how they are made, they are made with the same intention, to entertain.

In my story, the main duo will be a male Ceegee stunt double for an action movie star, and a female Toodie police officer poodle/bunny/cat/(I haven't decided) who just got promoted from desk help, to going out and stopping actual crimes. On the scale of anthropomorphism, she's between funny animal and Petting-Zoo People. I put her on that scale (and other anthro Toons) so it wouldn't be too weird or uncomfortable, when a human/humanoid toon, would be making out with a Toon. But then again, it is partly a comedy so I might throw in some talking gerbil in lingerie.

One last thing: I'm not bringing in any video game characters in, unless the video game got a cartoon series, like Pokemon for example. Honestly, that's a completely different world and story altogether.

edited 1st Dec '15 4:13:16 PM by DokemonStudios

I think Toodies will be like veteran Hollywood actors, while Ceegees will be like modern teen celebrities, something like that. Whether they get along depends on the individual but they clearly will have a rivalry. Annies can be like Asian immigrants while cases like Avatar/Korra or The Boondocks are like Asian-Americans.

Also you can put that modern motion capture is this world’s equivalent to the Black Face. In a similar way how an actor in Black Face is a white disguise as a black, motion capture (like Gollum) is a human in toon “disguise”. I’ll didn’t include them as official toons.

So, how do you kill a toon now?

By forgetting them.

Whereas we humans tend to fill in the little void inside with something to distract us from our impending death, toons are functionally immortal. Bugs is 75 now, and Mickey is 87 - they don't look their ages, and they're not likely to "die" anytime soon, yeah?

What about Ipso Facto? Dead and forgotten.

I'd guess that rather large parts of modern Toon culture involves making sure everyone is remembered, and that that is their equivalent of human religion.

In a similar vein, live action adaptations might be the Toon equivalent of whitewashing in this universe. And like pwiegle pointed out, there could be defamation of character lawsuits if the adaptation takes liberties with the characters involved.

Speaking of which, what about Toons whose shows get a CGI reboot? Would they be turned into Ceegees or are the reboots made by animators and simply not brought to life?

edited 9th Dec '15 4:27:44 PM by SkeletalPumpkin

Going off the idea that toons die if they're forgotten, I'd take it one step further: A toon needs attention to survive, like a human needs food and drink.

Toons don't need to eat or drink, although they can if they choose, but they don't derive sustenance from it. Food, whether real or a cartoon facsimile, is just empty calories to a toon. Instead, a toon gains nourishment from the attention of an audience — even if it's only an audience of one. Laughter and applause from a crowd is like a gourmet feast to a toon, and they eat it up with a spoon (metaphorically speaking; the actual process is one of osmosis.)

If a toon is isolated, neglected, or ignored, it will waste away to nothing. Toons can't retire and live in obscurity; if they do, they become pale shadows of their former selves, and eventually fade away. This is why classic toons seek to make comebacks or reinvent themselves. Exposure to a new generation of fans and sparking renewed interest gives the toon a new lease on life — quite literally.

edited 16th Dec '15 6:26:05 PM by pwiegle

Necro-ing this thread to talk about my shock/bleep collars idea. Combined with the whole Toon prejudice, it feels like the rough draft for Zootopia.