Sorry, here's why this shirt makes me so angry:

Don Bluth got his legs at Disney as an animation assistant. When he finally wanted to make a film of his own, Disney was like "haha nope" and told him making his own would be impossible.

(Thread) https://twitter.com/elizabethdanger/status/1336111977668562945

Now, Bluth had been working for Disney on and off since Sleeping Beauty, stopping to do his mission service (he's a Mormon - this is important) and study at college. He made an independant short called Banjo the Woodpile Cat which, for an independent animation, did extremely well

So Disney is offered the rights to the Secret of Nimh, and Disney turned it down. Don looked at it, thought it over, and said "nah I might fuck around and make it." Disney was like "yeah good fucking luck whatever." So off Bluth went.

At the time, this was a huge project for an independent filmmaker to take on and it was ludicrous. Everyone was like "don uh maybe this isnt a good idea" and don was like "fuck you I'm don bluth."

He mortgaged his house (this is a huge deal for Mormons as being able-

To purchase your own home is generally considered a cultural pre-requesit for proposing to your girlfriend and starting your family) and hired 160 animators.

Money started getting fucked. Don, somehow, came to a revenue share agreement with the animators. A first.

He also took on more and more work to lessen their workload in exchange for the reduced pay. He would come home from the studio, kiss his wife, and go to his office to animate at home. If he was awake, he was animating. Don wasnt fucking around.

Nimh comes out and while its only a moderate box office success, it gets GLOWING reviews that Disney have been struggling to get for close to a decade. Considering the independant nature of the film, its immensely successful, and it DOES GANGBUSTERS on the home video market

Disney pretends to not be threatened.

Wanting to keep everyone employed, Bluth takes another gamble and animates for Dragons Lair and Space Ace. It keeps then afloat, but they almost lose everything in the video game crash.

Taking on whatever work they can, Bluth Group animate the animated sequence you see in Xanadu.

Apparently, Steven Spielberg notices and likes it. So he calls. They agree to sign on to his new animation production company, Amblin.

They make An American Tale and it finally happens: Bluth not only beats Disney, but he FUCKING CRUSHES THEM, absolutely steamrolling The Great Mouse Detective at the Box Office.

Bluth starts bumping out winners that not only do well in cinema, but double returns in home video. Land Before Time? SMASH. Oliver and Company? *EXPLOSION NOISES* In the small gap between Great Mouse Detective and the Disney Renaissance, Bluth was king.

And then All Dogs Go to Heaven happens. The same time as the Little Mermaid.

Things go back to shit real quick.

Bluth keeps trying but the next couple of movies cant complete. Theres a reason no one talks about Rock A Doodle or the Pebble and the penguin. They're trash, and they dont eveb do well on the video market.

He kind of fades back into irrelevancy until he eventually lands a deal with Fox and makes Anastasia, which, in my opinion, is his Magnum Opus project. It displays everything hes known for - artfully rotoscoped dance sequences, brilliant character design, --

Sequences that are experimental or 'risky' (the paris number that works in actual paintings, for example,) impeccably well designed women, twink men or bear men (only two kinds), painfully well referenced and studied facial expressions and motifs. That stuff.

Finally, he does it. He makes another movie that is SUCH a Disney competitor that everyone literally mistakes it for a Disney movie because it's more like an Disney movie than what was currently on offer.

And then Don fucks around and makes Titan AE.

It's not that Titan AE is a bad movie. It's that Fox kind of... stopped caring about it and it was marketed incorrectly. It was a much more 'adult' project than most animation was at the time, a scifi adventure which used 3D animation and told a thriller story.

It tanked. Like, it wasn't even a blip. And it's a shame because spare for the dated CGI, it holds up.

Don now runs an animation and drawing school and is also working on some Dragons Lair sequels. He seems happy, and if anything, hes extremely proud of his legacy.

And this is why Disney claiming Anastasia like this sucks.

Bluth always had a rivalry with Disney. I cant say if it was a bitter one or not, but it came from a place of proving he COULD do it. He COULD make his own studio and not only make stuff on Disney's level, but outdo the multimillion dollar machine.

Now, he did have backing from places like fox and amblin at the time but in the scheme of things, he was "the little guy." You fuckin rooted for him. You wanted his movies to do well, to dispute the monopoly.

And now Disney is claiming his best work... without doing the work.

That's a real fuckin bitter pill to swallow.

Don Bluth is a man who spent his whole goddamn life committed to animation not for the money, but because he is passionate about animation.(although I'm sure he also liked money.) That man fucking WORKED. I admire that, and I'm sad Disney thinks they can buy that.