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Good evening, my dear audience! Yes, guys, we have the period: it’s time for another Toy Girls’ Porcelain Series. I’m mickeyelric11, the Master of Cuteness, and I give you the welcome! Please, remember you can always support me by giving me a pink brick in my Patreon Account. There are so many reward for all who participate. Also, don’t forget either my Donation Pool or the Official Toy Girls Facebook Page. Also, please, follow me on Twitter. Use the hashtag #CutenessShallLast
One of the most polemical tropes in Media History has been The Damsel in Distress. You know, the classic cliché of a hostage (normally female) under the mercy of the bad guy, just waiting to be rescued for our hero (normally male). Old as time, this trope has been pretty useful to represent the chivalry of the protagonist, and even help to form Romantic Interests, since another cliché written along with is having the hostage falling in love with her savior.
Yes, like you can guess, this has been mainly hated for the obvious reasons: a Chauvinist Image. People has nagged about how most of the these stories represent the Chivalrous Heroes almost always as males, and always portraying women as useless idiots which can never defense themselves. Guys, believe me: not all kidnappers are the Cruella DeVile’s minions. Also, it looks more like it’s you the ones who can’t see beyond the Sex Stereotypes.
However, a modern complaint about this trope is that, many times, the bearer of this trope can be the most obnoxious characters from the story: dumbasses which always get in trouble, can never stand up for themselves, always need to be rescued, have a very childish attitude, and whine more the detractors of this trope.
Infamous examples of this can be Robin, Princess Peach, Bella Swan, and Scrappy Doo.
However, like all clichés, this trope can be executed well with a smart writing, and the characters portraying this concept can be actually extremely likeable. Today, I’m going to talk of what could be one of the most beloved Damsels in Distress from cartoons, with a very interesting background. For this August 5°:
Penelope Pitstop, from “Wacky Races” and “The Perils of Penelope Pitstop”.
Who doesn’t love (and respect) Hanna-Barbera? Besides being the pioneers of Television Animation, they have created the most iconic cartoons and animated characters from history. Maybe they have their flaws, but the praise is bigger.
One of these shows is, without any doubt, “The Wacky Races”. In a nutshell: just imagine “Mario Kart” but with the most charming racers, and the most sympathetic cheater as the antagonist. I just adore Dick Dastardly and Muttley.
Besides being a very funny homage to Cars Races Events, even with narrator and all, it was just a joy to watch for the characters shown with a very funny gimmick: we have rednecks, a Haunted-House Themed racers, two cavemen, a mob formed by dwarves, a beautiful woman, and, of course, a big mustached bastard and his giggling dog always trying to win the race through the most creative cheats. Speaking of the second-to-last:
Something popular with Hanna-Barbera were the spin-of shows, but its trademark way of doing it was by going the most unorthodox, and least predictable, way, possible, and “The Wacky Races” weren’t an exception.
Just a year later, we got “The Perils of Penelope Pitstop”, based on two of the most iconic characters from the previous show.
It was the story of Penelope Pitstop, a very gorgeous and delicate rich lady which always got in troubles because her guardian, Sylvester Sneekly, tries to snatch away her inheritance by disguising himself as the frozen-frame evildoer, the Hooded Claw, to kidnap her and set her on a very pompous death trap. However, Penelope is lucky to, literally, have as bodyguards the Ant Hill Mob, also from “Wacky Races”, a criminal organization conformed by small mobsters alw3ays behind her to rescue her. I knew Penelope was the daughter of a Mexican Drug Cartel!
In both cases, I managed to catch some reruns of these two cartons on Boomerang when I was a kid, and I loved both: “Wacky Races” was just a lot of fun, and “The Perils of Penelope Pitstop” was amazing!
First, yes, I adored Penelope: she was nice, pretty and hot, the Hooded Claw had that trademark Hanna-Barbera design I always loved (even if the motherfucker never changed from the very uncomfortable posture), and I just adored the idea of a criminal mob, normally the antagonists, actually being the good guys. It was ironic, cliché-breaking, and even charming. I mean it: I just loved the Ant Hill Mob.
So, what about Penelope Pitstop?
…I JUST ADORE PENELOPE! Being one of the most iconic Hanna-Barbera Characters, no wonder she was the one which got the spin-off. Besides being so beautiful, she had a sweet voice, and even a great personality.
Being the personification of Feminity, it was so funny the role she got on her own series.
It sounds logical that she was executed like a Damsel in Distress, however, the creators knew how to go beyond this.
Yes, the episodes are basically she being kidnapped over and over by her evil butler, and literally having a criminal mob protecting her, but a running gimmick in this show was that Penelope was actually able to rescue herself: once she was tied to her Instrument of Death, she quickly thought in a way of getting free. Hell, she even had to save the Ant Hill Mob many times. Now that’s Role-Breaking.
So, she wasn’t only beautiful and not–afraid of asking for help, but she was very smart and practical, even if she could be too naïve.
Therefore, Penelope wasn’t only a good example of how to write a Damsel in Distress, but she even twisted her own cliché, actually portraying something different of the normal perception of these.
So, it was such a great idea to draw Penelope Pitstop as a Toy Girl.
For her outfit, I of course picked the once from the latter show, since it was here where she got her best concept.
Also, remembering her role, I of course had to put her on a Damsel-in-Distress Situations…from a Tex Avery Cartoon. So, here she is tied up from ankles to chest, muffled, and laying on a box filled with dynamite ready to explode. But hey, she still has her smile.
BTW, the hardest part here was precisely the fucking dynamite, because of all the details. I had to draw each cartridge as much by hand as by Photoshop, and was tiring as Hell.
Because her eyes were originally black, I recolored her irises cerulean to match her.
Penelope shows us that you can always give a spin to an infamous cliché, and even create something very good. I just hope to see more cases like this, because “Cuteness has grown now”.
Ah! That was too quick, but also nice! Man, it was a lot of fun, fun the party sadly is over. Fun will be back on September, and speaking of which, I have a very special, and rare, treat for you for then. Like you know, “Pokémon” is (used to be) pretty good. I mean, the idea of catching and slaving powerful creatures to train them to fight is just a timeless concept. I adored it, and many of you did too. However, many of us weren’t so kken of the slogan “Gotta catch ‘em all”, since that got way and way harder to accomplish with the time: different versions, new creatures, Event Pokémon, evolution though trading, and even the ones in the game weren’t always a walk in the park. However, when we talk about Hard-to-Catch Pokémon, one stands as one of the most infamous cases! It wasn’t an Even Pokémon, it wasn’t a legendary, and you could even find it in both versions of the game. It only counted with two cards: Extreme Rarity, and not letting you fight! Pink doesn’t always mean easy!
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