Category Archives: Plotagon

The Christian Grace Network on YouTube

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Since April of 2021, I have used Plotagon, an animation app, to tell stories for four different purposes:

  1. To promote my religious philosophy, Unitarian Universalism (UU)
  2. To depict atheists as loving people
  3. To depict LGBT people as normal people and not just perverts
  4. To combat racism

Imagine my dismay to find a YouTube channel with Plotagon made videos that are for completely opposed purposes to mine! Look at the Christian Grace Network:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVv5TANuS83QQkOguVJn-dg/featured

Click on that, and you will see this:

By contrast, this is what you get from MY channel:

This is another video from that Christian channel:

I was immediately repulsed by the self-righteous tone of the storytelling.
Compare that with one of my early works:

I don’t try to be “preachy”; I just show how people can be hurt by religious bigotry. That Christian Grace Network actually PROMOTES religious bigotry by making teachings from the Bible the foundation of all its videos. But reality is much too complex to be reduced to the understanding of one religious view.

And to illustrate that point, here’s another video of the same series I made a few days ago:

There’s a reference to Jesus, but Debbie and Carrie are still atheists (and Unitarian Universalists), plus Angel and her fiancé are identified as Jewish. Plus, no effort is made to convert the drug addicts to Christianity or any other religion to get them clean: they really don’t need that! Indeed, there are too many stories of people being emotionally ruined by toxic brands of Christianity for me to tolerate it being used to get people off drugs and alcohol; in most such cases, they would just be trading one addiction for another. The real point of rehab is to free people of ALL addictions, not to merely get them off one particular substance.

Considering that Plotagon was created in Sweden, a largely atheist country (even though it is also largely Lutheran, most Swedes do not attend churches), I think even the Plotagon company itself would be INSULTED by what the Christian Grace Network is using their app for. I know I am!

A Useless Police Department

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Read this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robb_Elementary_School_shooting

On May 24, 2022, 18-year-old Salvador Rolando Ramos fatally shot nineteen students and two teachers, and wounded seventeen other people at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Earlier that day, Ramos had shot his grandmother in the forehead, severely wounding her. After firing shots outside the school for approximately five minutes,[4] he entered Robb Elementary School, armed with an AR-15 style rifle, through an open side entrance door,[5] without encountering armed resistance.[6] Ramos locked himself inside a classroom, in which he killed all of the shooting’s victims, and remained there for about one hour before being killed by a United States Border Patrol BORTAC tactical team.[7] It is the third-deadliest American school shooting, after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012,[8] and the deadliest ever in Texas history.[9][10][11]

Law enforcement officials were criticized for their actions in response to the shooting.

Law enforcement officials were criticized for their actions in response to the shooting.

That’s putting it mildly.

Check out this Facebook post from 2018:

After the massacre at the school, people found that post and slammed it with tons of angry comments. And as a result:

Uvalde Police Department limited who can comment on this post.

So they are indeed cowards!

I actually have a ton of respect for police officers who are willing to do their jobs to protect and serve. I have even depicted them positively in my Plotagon made series, the Debbie and Carrie Show.

 

But I have also featured bad cops and how terrible they can be.

And that is it should always be: praise the good, criticize the bad. Sadly, those who say “Blue lives matter” in response to “Black lives matter” clearly want cops to be above criticism and are racist. And America is supposed to be a free country?

A Press Kit for the Debbie and Carrie Show

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The Debbie and Carrie Show is a web based series of videos I have made using the Plotagon app.

PLOT ELEMENTS:

Setting: A small, unnamed town in east Texas in the present day.

Storyline:  The show is centered on two teenage (later adult) girls and their mothers. The early stories often deal with the Central Characters resisting the prevailing religious and political bigotries that dominate the town. As time passes, those bigotries are discredited and many people are won over to be friends with the Central Characters. Eventually, the town itself is changed completely.

Main characters:

Debbie Smith

Debbie Smith

Debbie as a young girl

Debbie Smith 2

Debbie as an older teen and an adult.  

At the beginning of the saga, she is 13 years old. She is an atheist, like the others in her family. Her parents were divorced when she was four and then her mother moved her and her brother James from Tulsa, Oklahoma to the Town in Texas Debbie would spend the rest of her youth years in.

Carrie Sims

Carrie Sims1

Carrie as a young girl.

Carrie Sims2

Carrie as an older teen

Carrie Sims

Carrie as an adult

Debbie’s best friend, also age 13 at the start of the saga, later her love partner and finally her wife. Raised by a lesbian couple. Unlike the sweet and gentle Debbie, Carrie was known for her violent tendencies and was more than willing to both dish out and take beatings to defend Debbie and herself from bullies and bigots.

Sandy Smith

Sandy Smith

Original appearance

Sandy Smith

Present day appearance

Mother of Debbie, she is a lawyer (and also a restaurant owner for part of the saga) who specializes in defending the rights of LGBT people. Was raised a Christian but became atheist as a teen.

Jessica Sims

Jessica Sims

Original appearance

Jessica Sims

Present day appearance

Birth mother of Carrie, she, her wife Lucy, and Carrie all came from Boston to buy a cheap house in the Town, only to find themselves surrounded by bigots. In an effort to resist the anti-atheist and anti-LGBT bigotry, she persuaded the others to form with her an Unitarian Universalist fellowship so Debbie and Carrie would have their own values and community to identify with. Was never religious before being a co-founder of the fellowship. Owns a pharmacy for most of the saga.

Lucy Sims

Lucy Sims

Original appearance

Lucy Sims

Present day appearance

Wife of Jessica and co-mother of Carrie. Was originally a Jehovah’s Witness but became alienated from her original family after coming out as lesbian. Was converted to atheism by Jessica. Eventually became the owner of an Italian restaurant, the Tuscany Tavern. Shuns alcohol, tends to drink only water. Says Jessica is her one and only true love. As both a lesbian and an African-American, she is often a target of bigots even more than the other Central Characters, but they ALL stand together when any of them are attacked for any reason.

Here is a playlist on YouTube with most of the Debbie and Carrie stories in short episode form:

And this is a list of assemblies of the episodes in a “movie” format.

Happy viewing!

My most beloved friend in YouTube!

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I’ve been using an app called Plotagon since April of last year to make videos using characters I created to tell dramatic stories.

https://dalehusband.com/category/plotagon/

Now I have befriended a fellow Plotagon user who seems to be very much a kindred spirit to me. I first took notice of her back in October…..

and then the following month she made these videos for Thanksgiving:

I thought that last one was especially amusing, so I made my own version of a dance party:

The user’s name in YouTube is Mary Bliss peanutcat1977 and this is her YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/user/dreamcicle19772006/featured

It wasn’t long before she began to have a strong influence on my own Plotagon stories. For example, the leading couple in her videos are Paul Jones and Vicky Jones (aka the Blazing Beauty).

I had already made a character for the Debbie and Carrie Show named Vicky Sims. That my Vicky had the same name as the Vicky of Mary Bliss was only a coincidence, but then I decided to give my Vicky Sims  a love partner…..and so I named him PAUL!

Then I took it a step further and made a copy of Vicky Jones to have her meet my Vicky Sims.

Her response:

This is awesome!!! 👌 thank you very much!!!

Restoring Plotagon Studio

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This is the sequel to Plotagon Studio is down!

In response to a ton of complaints about the failure of Plotagon Studio, the company that made it has released a new version of it, that works!

After downloading and installing the new version, I made these two videos with it:

And added the second one to my Plotagon made saga:

So life goes on! I hope I win the September Plotagon challenge, but I doubt it, given the shallow nature of most of our culture. Looks seem to matter more than actual content quality.

Plotagon Studio is down!

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For earlier references to Plotagon, an app that allows you to make animated features on your computer or your cell phone, see these:

A series made using Plotagon to promote Unitarian Universalist ideals

Race and Being a Witness

“The Debbie and Carrie Show” is finished!

Making MORE Videos with Plotagon

Nearly all my videos listed on those blog entries were made using Plotagon Studio, the app made for desktop computers. There is also Plotagon Story, which is the version made for smartphones. I recently downloaded that one too……and now only that version is left, because I and many other users have NO access to Plotagon Studio!

Meanwhile:

Plotagon, your timing SUX!

Thankfully, I was able to use Plotagon Story to make my trailer for “The Debbie and Carrie Show”.

And here is the ENTIRE saga of Debbie, Carrie and all the other characters in their universe:

I am thankful that I was able to make all that before I lost the means to do so. And I can’t sue Plotagon over this, because:

https://www.plotagon.com/terms-of-use/

Termination

These Terms of Use are effective until amended by Plotagon® in its sole discretion. You agree that Plotagon® may terminate your access to the Services, including, without limitation, your user name and password, at any time for any reason without prior notice or liability. Plotagon® may change, suspend, or discontinue all or any aspect of the Services or the Website or create usage limits for the Service at any time for any reason without prior notice or liability, including, without limitation, the availability of any feature. Plotagon® may close all accounts and cancel all of the rights granted to you under the Terms of Use at any time for any reason without prior notice or liability. Plotagon® may, but not obligated to, communicate such termination to you in any of the following manners: (i) when you log into your Account; (ii) in a notice on Plotagon®’s website; (iii) via electronic mail; or (iv) in another manner that Plotagon® deems suitable to inform you of the termination. If Plotagon® terminates the services, you will not receive a refund of paid fees. You may terminate your account at any time, upon notice to Plotagon® via electronic mail. You will not receive a refund of paid fees.

Gee, thanks for NOTHING!