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noooooooo Aziraphale don't turn around you won't survive the cunt this diva is serving

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Do you think were any kind of specific aspects of the culture, industry, economy, etc that made making cartoons in 90s / 2000s better or worse than trying to make them today?

They're literally different worlds.

As a 22 year old neurodivergent, I was able to pitch show ideas directly to executives. Part of that was because TV Animation wasn't a glamorous profession (quite yet), so the higher-ups were genuinely passionate about the medium. I earned good money for the time and was generally trusted to run my show and tend to the crew. I would periodically be handed portfolios, which I would personally review and pass on to other show runners. For the networks it was always corporate, cutthroat, and ultimately about the money, but as an artist you could still have a voice and make art while being paid a living wage.

The pay for a freelance storyboard in 2005 is almost exactly what it is today, but now you're likely to have less time and be required to do an animatic on top of it. Portfolios are online, and (beyond metrics) you'll probably never know if anyone looks at it or not.

Animation got big. Too big. The executives got "glamorous", then the talent got "glamorous". By then you probably wouldn't get a pitch meeting unless you were a celebrity or knew one willing to be connected to your project. Animation eventually got so big that it popped. And that's where we are now.

Most of the people I know from Kid's TV Animation are currently unemployed. I have been off Jellystone for over a year, and I'm starting to get genuinely worried. Like, "move away to save money" worried. Most of the employed artists I do know are on long-running legacy series, and they're concerned about their futures when/if those series end. Right now is not a fantastic time for "animation as a money-making profession". The "glamorous" part popped years ago.

That being said, there are still opportunities out there. If you're just starting out, apparently there's a planned surge in adult and pre-school animation. It's also a great time (as long as YouTube remains sane) to be crafting your own content. But I think that the time of Big Studio Patronage is over for most of the industry. It's up to the individual artist now more than ever, not only to make but to promote their own content.

Back at the height of Billy & Mandy, we mostly pulled fours and fives in the Neilsen ratings, but we occasionally got a seven. For reference, E.R. consistently got eights. It's difficult to say exactly how many people that actually was due to how those ratings work, but it was a big deal for the time. Millions. Enough people that if I had a dollar for each person that just watched that one episode, I would have been set for life. Now, nobody gets a seven. A four is huge. Back then there were maybe fifteen or twenty channels of programmed content as opposed to the streaming smorgasbord we were all just enjoying (and which now also seems to have popped). Point being, even though I wasn't paid-per-view, I was able to use those views as justification for an eventual raise. In modern times, streaming numbers are seemingly deliberately kept secret. You'll never really know how well your show was doing until it's over. Or maybe never.

In modern times, a million views on YouTube is enough to get you noticed online. It's a lower bar for entry in a way, but you've got to get there all by yourself. Once you're there (hello Hazbin) a network may indeed come and scoop you up. Even if they don't, you can probably make a decent living with numbers like that if you're savvy and willing to take the time.

I feel like I could go on all day, shaking my fist at the sky, gray-ass beard blowing in the wind. Was it better or easier making cartoons in the past? It seemed that way to me, but that was a world I knew. There was no AI to sell you out to, and the media was more of a "Wild West" than it is today. I do think that AI is going to continue to displace artists (and soon others), making it even more difficult to get anyone's eyes on anything at all.

Culturally, we lack the common touchpoints that bonded our society in the 20th Century. I suspect that the media landscape will continue to become more "bubbly" and disjointed unless some powerful force swoops in to mandate a common viewpoint. Those are two very divergent, uniquely tiring futures, each presenting a different challenge for an artist's survival.

Outside of whatever our modern world is, animation was made for a century by photographing drawings. If Émile Cohl could do it in 1908, you can do it now. It's a lot of labor, but maybe that's part of what makes it special.

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Happy Pride!

I promised a big pride artwork earlier this month, here it is! (Ideas lovingly submitted by my dear Patreons!)

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Fourteenth doctor with longer hair! I've always thought this style would have looked great on him too 😊

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blerp

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"We can go off together" We were all thinking it, when this scene appeared in the 60th Doctor Who episode "The Giggles" "Context: This image depicts the demon Crowley played by David Tennant from Good Omens sitting next to his "husband" the angel Aziraphale played by Michael Sheen from Good Omens. They are watching the 14th Doctor from Doctor Who deliver a line that Crowley repeatedly asked his Angel. It's a cute show." htttp: www.ko-fi.com/beanart

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Wait what the hell is Aziraphale mouthing here. Lip-readers sound off!!

This is RIGHT before "The Metatron! I don't think he's as bad a fellow - well I think I might have misjudged him."

His line was: "I, um... [mouthing something]" THEN the above line.

This can't be nothing. Can it? "We need to get out"??? Not sure. EDIT: I agree with @maximumpenguinpuppy here, I think he's saying

"WE NEED HELP."

Further deep dive on the most painful conversation I've ever seen:

Azi makes the most INTENSE EYE CONTACT I'VE EVER SEEN during "I think I might have misjudged him."

"PLEASE HEAR WHAT I AM SAYING TO YOU RIGHT NOW."

After a few intercuts with the flashbacks we get to the really painful bit.

"He said that I could appoint you... to be an angel." His voice is so strained and high pitched even for him, here.

"Like the old times, only even NICER!"

The super nice old times where you couldn't be together at all, eh?

Crowley starts his confession and we get the "What the blazes is he doing?" face as he starts to realize Crowley is NOT picking up on any of this. Azi's breathing heavily here, revealing how very stressed the fuck out he is.

After this point is when things get really hard to interpret. Aziraphale sounds so genuine about "Come with me!" and "We can make a difference, I'll run it and you'll be my second in command." It feels like Crowley starting his very real confession broke through the charade of 'The Metatron knows something and we're in fucking danger'.

He blathers about Angels and Doing Good before breaking again, letting the "I need you!" slip. We get this HALF A SECOND look of the most profound sadness right before the "I don't think you understand what I'm offering you."

"You idiot. We could have been us."

Azi looks like he can't believe just how badly this went. This is right before he looks away.

OH NO NOW I'VE SEEN CROWLEY'S FACE RIGHT WHEN HE STARTS TO GO OVER FOR THE KISS AH MY FEELS

Azi is not hiding his emotions well, right before the grab:

Then of course we get the I Forgive You, which sounds like his most bitter one yet. A flash of anger and resentment, frustration, immediately followed by remorse and grief.

Having seen all that, my best guess now is:

Metatron made the (barely) veiled De Facto Partnership threats, implying he knows about the body swap and, implicitly, threatening Crowley with Holy Water, at least to some extent.

Aziraphale tries his damnedest to communicate to Crowley that Something is Fucking Wrong and they Have to Go to Heaven to Fix It.

Crowley, having been primed by the various chats with Nina and then the 2v1 chat with Nina and Maggie RIGHT before this, clearly timed by the Metatron, fully misses all of this and takes it all at face value.

Crowley starts to give his confession and Aziraphale realizes what he's trying to say, tries to adjust his Heaven Pitch to hinge on staying together as a team to fix things."

"You cannot leave this bookshop." "Nothing lasts forever." Azi has chosen the worst way to make another attempt at saying he has no choice but to leave the bookshop. I don't think this is about the Second Coming, given his reaction to the info later.

Everything deteriorates from there as Aziraphale tries again to imply something is Fucking Wrong by going back to the "Angels! Doing good!" shtick, but it's too late. It's always too late.

"I don't think you understand what I'm offering you." He doesn't but Azi is also communicating it very badly, likely because the Metatron is indeed watching.

Crowley thinks this is all real so he gives his No Nightingales line, etc etc. Aziraphale can tell there's no fixing this, gives up.

Crowley swoops in with The Kiss as a last ditch effort to get Azi to listen. Azi WAS listening, but cannot respond other than in anger and frustration that Crowley, in his view, refuses to listen to him again, has called him an idiot again. This happens multiple times throughout the show so there's history to fuel that assumption.

This is the precise outcome the Metatron was vying for, to split them up and emotionally/psychologically weaken them, to ensure there was no chance of a united front as there was for Armageddidn't.

My heart hurts, ow.

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So i am rewatching the first season into the 2nd again ( yes I have a problem but that's why I took a week off of work k?) And I noticed somethings on this viewing that are new for me with the context of 2nd season:

-Ed is under a lot of pressure to figure things out and live up to the Blackbeard moniker. His speech to Stede!Blackbeard about everything being his fault, his responsibility. I never watched Izzy in that scene. That speech was for Iz. Especially considering Izzy's earlier insults and saying he was going to quit. The look he gives Izzy when the fog is revealed. Charged.

- Ed is a deeply lonely person. Izzy may "have love for Edward" but he does not play with him (ex:the clouds like frankfurters, the trinkets on the ship). Izzy is shown to chronically lack imagination (Its how Stede gets one hostage back, gets gun powder in Izzy's face in the duel). This is an integral part of Ed and Stede. It also means that Stede can come to the Lighthouse conclusion with Ed. Not a subordinate-a partner.

- Ed doesn't see that Izzy is also breaking under the weight of his role in Blackbeard. The constant going between Ed, the crew, and doing all the work without the reverence/ obedience/respect afforded to the actual Blackbeard is unbelievably stressful. I think of love dying in a marriage when one partner has the other act like their babysitter. In this case it's the one being treated like the child who is done first.

-I never noticed how hard Ed works to keep Iz around. The way he leaves the crows nest to lure Izzy back in with promises and compliments about being a good captain. Poor Iz. Even with Stede, who he is his most himself with,Ed still thinks he needs to put on the Blackbeard show. It's what Stede and the crew like right? Izzy is key to being Blackbeard. Ed goes through it when Izzy loses the duel to Stede (it didnt have to be like this Iz, we could have worked something out). Everyone is happy to see Izzy go except Ed. He is upset when Izzy curses him. He walks away upset.

- I never realized how Izzy leaving could play a part in why Ed is preparing to leave at the start of " This is Happening." It something to think about as you watch him start with his moodiness. I imagine Izzy was always responsible for him in his moods. I imagine despite the fact I think he was already in love with Stede at this point. He was feeling very insecure. He felt so strongly for Stede, too scared to lose this new connection that had brought life back into his life to push for something more. Blackbeard is Edward's cloak against vulnerability, Izzy is key to Blackbeard= Firstmate/ security blanket.

- when Izzy betrays Blackbeard to the British, it breaks the final line holding their relationship together. He had an opportunity. When Ed came back to the ship heartbroken. If Izzy could have realized how he felt, could have been kind to Ed. Offered love instead of insults and threats maybe he could have fixed things.

- In season 2 Ed is trying to operate Blackbeard on his own. Izzy was always the second on the helm, but after the betrayal, after the threats, Ed can never fully trust him again. Any part of Ed that thought Izzy cared about him as a person and not Blackbeard was extinguished (even if he is wrong). It makes sense why he reacts to Izzy's confession. Too late. I think even Izzy knew that though.

Edit: This video makes me think of many things:

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con o’neil instagram stories be like:

izzy fanart

steamy izzy fanart

stede and izzy with their tongues down each others throats

izzy fanart

FUCK THE GOVERNMENT

edizzy smut art

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"It's not about glory. It's not about gettin' what you want. It's about belonging to something when the world has told you you're nothin'. It's about finding the family to kill for when yours are long dead. It's about letting go of ego for something larger. The crew."

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Every day I wake up and think:

“At some point Izzy realised how out of control things had gotten, and started putting himself in between Ed and the crew, as much as he could. Especially when Ed was too drunk/high to even know what he was doing. Cause Izzy doesn’t want the others to suffer more for his mistakes.”

“They are all bonded through shared trauma now.”

And every day I cry like a baby.

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the absolute titanic balls (gn) of this show to look its queer, neurodivergent audience in the eye and say, “I know you think you’re unlovable. I know you think if you show your true self to someone, they’ll reject you. but it’s not true. none of it’s true. there is someone waiting for you, desperately, loving you more than you have ever believed, more than you could know.”

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No but seriously imagine the fucking strength Stede had when he saw Edward dead, but chose, instead of mourning him, to take care of his crew and make sure they're safe. To hear the person you love more than anything is gone, snatched from you merely a few days ago, the one you spent weeks, maybe months, making enough money to be able to find, the only person you've ever truly loved and who's ever truly loved you. To have the knowledge that if only you were a little faster, a little quicker, a little braver, you could have prevented it.

And then choose to bottle up your feelings, put them aside, and be a captain. A captain your crew deserves

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edward babygirl teach confirmed

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Ed saying “i love you” and Stede saying “i know” is just. god. here’s Ed thinking he doesn’t know how to be soft, or how to be in love (callback to “i loved you, best i could” and yeah that was said to Izzy but it was demonstrative of Ed’s worries about not knowing how to love Stede too), worried that Stede won’t ever really understand what Ed feels for him bc he doesn’t know how to put it into words, he doesn’t know how to show it, he’s never been in this kind of situation before and he’s terrified of fucking it up bc he wants something with Stede he’s never known he could have before—he left Stede in ep7 bc he was so scared Stede wouldn’t want his love when he could instead have piratical infamy

and then Ed says “i love you” and Stede says “i know” bc he does know. he knows Ed loves him despite Ed’s worries he’ll never be able to show it properly, the way he really wants to. just imagine the relief Ed must have felt, realizing that Stede has seen what Ed has tried to show, no matter how much he fumbles, no matter how badly his hands shake, no matter how clumsy his words are. Stede knows!!! im gonna go chew my arm off!!!!!!