Rayetoons

     

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Rayetoons
YouTuber Information
Handle	@Rayetoons
Style	Animator
Date joined	August 4, 2011
Twitter / X	@dinoraye
Other media	Website Tumblr Twitch
Videos	4
Schedule	Unscheduled
Status	Inactive
Associates	Crunchyroll • ProZD
Personal information
Full name	Raye Rodriguez
Nationality	Cuban-American
Location	Los Angeles, California, United States
Pronouns	he/him
Most viewed video
Treasure Hunt
First video
Vlog -1!

Raye Rodriguez (born: January 11, 1993 (1993-01-11)), better known online as Rayetoons, is a Cuban-American YouTuber and animator. He is known for being the producer of the Crunchyroll original series High Guardian Spice.

Content

He has made a few test animations. His most viewed one is Treasure Hunt, about his OC, Rosemary.

High Guardian Spice

Rodriguez is most known for his animated series High Guardian Spice, which has been the subject of considerably vocal backlash online, much of it featured on YouTube, since it was first announced in 2017.

Controversy began with the initial trailer released by Crunchyroll, which was criticized for focusing on the production rather than actually introducing any useful information about the series itself. The contents of the trailer itself drew a negative response, due to touting the diversity of the staff despite focusing on a team of mostly white women as spokepeople for the production as well as mentioning that writing staff is 100% female, not to mention misgendering Rodriguez himself. The presence of writer Kate Leth on the show's staff writing team also stirred some controversy due to Leth's tweeting history, which included examples of purported misandry. The negative response to these aspects of the trailer once caused Crunchyroll to lock the likes and comments in 2018 and caused Raye to temporarily lock his Twitter account in 2021.

On release, High Guardian Spice received mixed reviews from mainstream media at best, online vitriol at worst. Viewer criticism largely accused it of being derivative of anime series like Madoka Magica, Little Witch Academia, and other similar Western anime-inspired series, such as Winx Club, W.I.T.C.H. and RWBY. Most of the criticism, both mainstream and from viewers, was aimed at the show's animation, the writing, the characterization of its protagonists, and its inconsistent tone. Clips from High Guardian Spice were frequently posted on YouTube in the time following its release, often with a derogatory title attached to mock the content. In some cases, several channels devoted their entire content library to criticizing High Guardian Spice. In response to the criticism, Rodriguez made a series of tweets alluding to issues with the show's budget and mismanagement under executives at Crunchyroll. However, these tweets were often dismissed in part due to Rodriguez proceeding to mass-block responses continuing to criticize the show, with some claiming he was simply making excuses.

However, DaftPina subsequently released an interview with members of the staff for High Guardian Spice, where the budget troubles were further elaborated on, including issues with executive meddling over the plot which led to the confusing adult tone despite a kids' show aesthetic (the show had been originally written as a children's show), the budget reportedly being 1/3 of the standard budget of Western animation shows while having the exact same production pipeline, and a lack of preparation time given on the writing as a result: much of the staff acknowledged the poor quality of the trailer, noting Crunchyroll had put it out without consulting the team. The claims were backed up by Sofia Alexander, creator of the better-received sister show Onyx Equinox, which was released before but produced after High Guardian Spice: Alexander and Rodriguez noted that Onyx Equinox had the same budget but was able to learn from the mistakes of High Guardian Spice. It also had the advantage of being a union production because Alexander, who had more leverage than Rodriguez as an established animator in the industry, threatened to walk unless the show could be union. DaftPina found accusations of Raye ignoring criticism by blocking accounts as disingenuous, noting it was ridiculous to expect Rodriguez to entertain criticism that was essentially reiterating the same points over and over again.

YouTubers Mother's Basement and Sarah Z also offered critiques: while neither felt High Guardian Spice was a particularly good show, both concluded that the level of vitriol it received far outweighed that of even worse shows, especially in the line-up of Crunchyroll Originals that year. In her video "Sacrificial Trash", Sarah Z posited that the online vitriol directed at High Guardian Spice was largely due to its LGBTQ representation, noting the distinctly transphobic tinge of some criticism and citing the fact that it received online hate long before its release. Acknowledging the show's somewhat mediocre quality, she dubbed High Guardian Spice an example of "sacrificial trash", media with progressive elements that was of low enough quality that not a large enough threshold of progressive viewers would expend the energy to defend it, allowing a vocal hate mob to steer conversation. Ironically, Sarah Z believes the show would more likely have been forgotten were it not for the hate mob: she noted that there were essentially more videos deriding High Guardian Spice than there was actual content from the show itself, and that the efforts to condemn it were more likely meant to discourage more progressive media with similar goals of representation.

Personal Life

Raye is of Cuban descent, specifically he is a first generation Cuban-American. He is also a transgender man and identifies as bisexual. He has a sister.

He mentions that his love for comics runs in the family, and his father himself was a huge fan of Marvel comics.

Raye has two cats, Olive and Paprika. He used to have another cat, Kino, who sadly passed away in 2018.

Trivia

• Raye has been working on High Guardian Spice since 2013 and originally pitched it to ChannelFrederator but was rejected^{[citation needed]} before pitching it to Crunchyroll four years later.
• Raye likes anime, specifically magical girl anime, citing Magic Knight Rayearth as one of his inspirations for High Guardian Spice. His top 10 anime are Princess Tutu, Kino's Journey, FLCL, Cowboy Bebop, Petite Princess Yucie, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Little Witch Academia OVA 1, Made in Abyss, Paranoia Agent and Azumanga Daioh.
• Many High Guardian Spice characters are based on people he knows in real life:
  • Olive and Kino are named after two of his cats.
  • Caraway is based on (and voiced by) himself.
  • Snapdragon is based on Julia Kaye.
• He hates the sitcom Friends.
• His favourite Disney film is Hunchback of Notre Dame.
• He loves reading books. Some of his favourites are Ella Enchanted, The 19th Century Underworld: Crime, Controversy and Corruption, Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race, My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and The Psychopath Test.
• Raye's favourite games include Miitopia, Kingdom Hearts, Life Is Strange, and 8-bit horror games.

Gallery

Raye celebrating Halloween 2020