#reboot: the guardian code

[moon-splatter]

A big hear me out of mine is megabyte specifically the reboot: the guardian code version

[youtube-premium]

i dont like this show but i love vera

[0verclocked]

1994, 2001, and 2018

"But OG ReBoot has crappy and scary 90's CGI amirite?"

[konnichibot]

Edgy take, but the Guardian code could've been a lot better if it was not only a continuation of ReBoot, but if it explored the possibility of where these "guardians" really came from? Are they antiviral programs or...former users whose consciousness has been sucked into the web?

[appealingtonobody]

[katvara]

I love the show Reboot. It was such a 90’s way of looking at computers, how they work inside, and how the internet was a wild frontier that no one understood.

And it appears that the master tapes for every episode have been found!

However, they’re missing a D1 tape deck for them to be read.

Can anyone help them out?

https://x.com/glitchbob452/status/1737263675189219744

[emisirrelevant]

A 2023 Review of Reboot The Guardian Code (2018)

Alright, I'm back. I just finished season 2 of Reboot The Guardian Code- and after reading some reviews online, I am ready to discuss.

Okay so I guess technically it isn't a discussion since I'm mostly agreeing with what others have said, but let's get into it one by one.

Alright, so first. After reading reviews here on Tumblr of the show, the majority opinion I saw was that it was bad. Like, really bad. But I noticed that there was a pattern. All the people saying it was super bad were people who had watched the original series. So that was only the majority opinion of the people who had grown up with the original and felt that this series was basically a disgrace.

It totally makes way more sense now having read reviews. I mean, if you've watched the original and then seen this, I get your reaction now.

Which leads me to my second point. So then there's the OTHER group of people like me, who went in blind to this and did NOT watch the original, or live outside Canada or just never heard of this curious "Reboot" show. So, I do feel that there is a difference/distinction between these two groups. I happened to notice that those in the second group like me who left reviews on Tumblr had a similar opinion of the show like me. It was slightly less harsh.

They all made one very good point though, which is the main idea of this particular show review- I will say I do agree that this show SHOULD NOT have been named Reboot. "The Guardian Code" would be fine, it doesn't imply that it's connected to anything in the past. But the Reboot part definitely should have been taken into consideration.

This show is yet another exhaustive example of how show creators should NOT do a reboot, or spinoff, or whatever the heck it's called these days. We're in 2023 now. We are getting too many of these now. We're needing originality now more than ever. Sometimes, we need to step back and understand that it's OKAY to make something original for the sake of some older generation's nostalgia and/or to try and make cash grabs from it.

Because overall, I didn't think this show was that bad to call it trash. It was not a CINEMATIC MASTERPIECE by any means, but it had potential I think, to stand on its own. However, it was not given that chance from the very beginning. If it was its own show, outside of any connection to the original, I believe it may have succeeded. I genuinely did become interested in the characters, and wanted development for everyone and everything. However, with that ending, and just all the stuff I mentioned above, it makes sense why it ended.

Hopefully, in the end, this is something that tv show creators take into consideration in the future, because I really didn't hate this show by any means. In conclusion, it probably could have gone differently if they had thought of all this from the very beginning. I really do think it would have had potential.

Well, that's all from me for now. To spare you from an entire fandom nerd essay, I will take my leave. Until some next weird fandom thing comes along that pulls me in somehow.

[totallyhextra]

People? In MY computer?? It's more likely than you think!

The following is a fanvertisment and is not connected to the show. ****Yet.*** *Also yes, this is the fourth time I'm posting this because TUMBLR WONT LET ME EDIT SPELLING MISTAKES!

ANYWAY,

Once upon a time, back in 1987, Dire Straits put out this music video for “Money for Nothing”, which, as you know, was a song about wanting my MTV. 

The video was made by two guys (Gavin Blair and Ian Pearson) on a very moody computer. After the video went out, these two guys went to a pub:

Ian: “Hey, we should make a whole show like this!”

Gavin: “Dude, making three minutes almost killed us.”

And so it was decided!🎉

The two guys were joined by two other guys (Phil Mitchell and John Grace) and created the Hub, which then became Mainframe Entertainment. They got even more people, and then they all holed up in this hotel.

They were mad lads with a dream: a whole cgi animated show, and they made it happen a whole year before Toy Story!

Behold! ReBoot!

(Yes that fever dream was real)

Now before I get any of this:

Let me lay this down. If you can’t with the animation of the first season because it was CUTTING EDGE IN 1994, you can close your eyes and listen to it. ReBoot wasn’t just a CGI gimmick. The characters are fully developed, the voice actors are peerless, the plot is sharp, and there’s so many easter eggs that you’ll never find them all.

Never

(And yes the episode "Bad Bob" was the actual catalyst for Fury Road. Look it up)

ReBoot is about what life is like in a computer (in the 90s, because it was the 90s) called Mainframe (because of course it is). People are sprites, the guys that look like 1s and 0s are binomes (which represent 1s and 0s). Bad guys are viruses, and the good guy is a Guardian named Bob, who is a certified cinnamon roll.

In the first season the eps are light and self-contained, mainly because there was constant friction between the Mainframe studios and the Board of Standards and Practices.

They still got away with some pretty dark stuff, like Megabyte (virus) making Enzo (the kid) watch his dog get sliced open (dog got away, obviously) , Dot (sprite) have a hallucinatory breakdown, and the fridge horror of realizing the thousands of worm things (nulls) that plunged off a bridge to their death were actually people.

And Hex's (virus

best girl) scary face single-handedly traumatized an entire generation. 🙂

But busting through a window was a no go, because WhAt If tHe cHiLdReN dID iT tOo?

Anyway, halfway through the second season, ABC cut them loose, so they were like, fuck it, we’re going to start going hard. The story shifted from episodic to arcs and things start to get serious.

Third season the show moved to YTV in Canada, which gave no fucks about shielding the innocent children.

So it got DARK

How dark?

The UK refused to show the entire season, so the audience there had to wait until pirated copies made it across the pond to see how it ended.

Also by 1997, the animation was gorgeous. (Best example of third season animation I could think of that didn't have spoilers)

The show was green-lit for a fourth season on Cartoon Network, but halfway through production Warner Bros took over and the same fucking thing happened.

Because Mainframe was halfway done, they decided not to scrap all of it, but knowing they wouldn't be able to finish it correctly, Mainframe stripped anything that would hint at Season Four's true ending, then left what remained on a cliff-hanger of angst.

FOR 22 YEARS

(It's also why the last four eps of season four seem to make no sense)

And so it was.

Other crap happened, the soul left Mainframe, and its animated corpse spat out “The Guardian Code” in 2018. 

But never say die! The year is (almost) 2024, 30 years later. ReBoot shall rise from the dead, because here come the documentary!!

Do you dare see what you’ve been missing?

What the (UK) government doesn’t want you to know?? 

Then come on down to ReBoot!

We got:

Magnificent bastards with sexy voices!

(Tony Jay at his best)

Kickass women who could probably crush your head with their thighs and you’d enjoy it!

Innuendos in a kid's show!

💗 This adorable cinnamon roll!! 💗

Insane third season glow-ups!

YOUR NEW GOD

These guys!

(Gay roller-skating binome is my boi. I named him Jerry)

Nonstop cultural refs (You'll never find them all. Never.)

(There are literally videos dedicated to trying)

So many computer puns!

Body Horror!

Existential Crisis!

HAVE I MENTIONED YOUR NEW GOD?

This is it, folks! The real thing, the gem hidden in the moose-filled forests of Canadia!🌲🌲🌲

Take a trip inside a mid-90’s computer!

See the World Wide Web! (omg):

Witness the original purple Gamecubes that randomly fall from the sky when the owner of the computer (OUR GOOD LORD THE USER) wants to play a game. If it lands on people and they lose, they dissolve into mindless energy leeches, fated to tormented by their former bretheren for all of eternity.

Just like in real life! 🙃

So watch the eps! They on YouTube!

I think they're on Pluto, Hulu, Sling, and Tubi too! Also DVDs for people who have the patience to wait for them!

WATCH! BELIEVE! SUFFER THE SOUL-CRUSHING RAGE OF THE SEASON 4 CLIFF-HANGER!* (come on, its fun!)*

HYPE THE DOC!

The more people hype, the better the chances of actually getting it finished.

NOW SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE!

And now I will leave you with this screenshot from the ep "Painted Windows", where dicks can clearly be seen drawn upon the wall behind the fleeing anthropomorphized television.

(PS: If you heard the clown pic at the top of the page in your head, you're welcome)

IMPORTANT UPDATE

This message is now approved by Gavin Blair! He's an awesome guy. Show him some love on TWITTER (fuck you musk) at @TheRealMrSweary Also, if you want to share this with non-tumblr friends, here is my attempt at a webpage version:

theseventhstarprojects.com/REBOOT.html

[comicaurora]

Have you watched any of the current Reboot show on Netflix? It looks like a cross between Power Rangers and Code Lyoko in the reboot setting and appears to be real bad.

we do not talk about The Guardian Code in this house

[naynah-pinsence]

W.I.T.C.H. redesigns

Like with my Winx redesigns, I mostly browsed the wiki and blended my favorite design elements together lol.

I did end up using more New Power elements in the 1st forms, and the original designs in the 2nd forms. Idk knowing that the girls got to cover up more as they grew up instead of covering up more as kids....not a huge fan.

Overall: Guardians got color-coded wings. I really really like the og wing shapes, but the color-coding feels more classic magical girl to me so. I did use the shoe-less element from the reboot in the 2nd form. Bare feet feels more spiritual/magical imo. I actually like that part of the reboot design! Same with the element icons. 1st forms get more of the urban part of the urban fantasy look. Comfy tennis shoes for all. 2nd form gets gold accessories. 2nd form's main colors are the darker sub colors of the og. 2nd form socks are gradients instead of striped 2 tone. Normal clothes are mostly the og 2000s look. Idk I think that Will's technomancy is less impressive if Siri exists lol.

Elyon: I used Elyon's reboot hair texture. I always thought that between the color and texture of og Elyon's hair that it looked like straw? She's got a "chubby" body. I use "" bc she looks average, but would be considered chubby?

Will: If Disney owns these girls then Will gets a Kermit shirt. Since she's a tomboy, both of her guardian forms get shorts. 1st form gets a hood. Her hair gets some of her mother's waves. Normal hair does the emo hide-the-eye thing: really lean into her angst. In both guardian forms her hair does not change length. The short hair is truly her. Her bangs get the og treatment, and some hair gets tucked behind her left ear. The heart gets absorbed into Will in guardian form: she can still use it, it just isn't physically there in guardian form.

Irma: Dresses like she's an extra on Hannah Montana. It feels right. Her guardian hair gets space buns bc sometimes in her civilian forms she wore them, and I think she looks cute in them. Her 1st form is has heavy insp from Cassidy's guardian form. I just like the top better lol. Since Will lost the og little heart on her skirt, I gave it to Irma. It feels more Irma anyway imo. Irma also gets a chubbier body type.

Taranee: I love og Taranee's civilian form. I love her clothes, I love her hair, I love the hair beads, man og Tarnee's look is so chef's kiss to me. So I really didn't change anything. I have never once in my life understood what in the world og guardian Taranee's hair was supposed to be! In og New Power, she gets dreds, but keeps her 1st form hair too???? Dreds was my only guess as to what those were supposed to be, but with NP's hair having both, I don't think they were dreds??? And they don't look like the way that braids/hair twists are drawn in the comic (og Elyon has hair twists? Or at least I've interpreted that style as twists rather than braids?). So that plus how much I love civilian Taranee's hair, 1st form gets the civilian hair. She looses the beads, but gets a a wrap colored with the gradient of the purple-teal. 2nd form gets braids with gold accessories. I always felt like Taranee's og guardian forms seemed less designed than the others bc there were no swirly designs?? I mean, she gets a small heart on her collar, but that was taken off in the animated series probably for animation reasons. I actually like the triangle cut-out instead of the heart bc of fire's triangle icon, so I used that. I did take the waistline from Cornelia's skirt (my personal favorite waistline) and gave it it her shorts. She gets long sleeves in the 1st form. I just think it looks nicer than the sleeveless look in this design.

Cornelia: Both guardian forms get longer hair. 1st form gets a choker necklace. She looses the long sleeves and gets sleeves. Looking at og Cornelia and Irma's 1st forms, Cornelia's feels like a more elegant version of Irma's, so I wanted to keep that element in a way. Her skirt waistline gets turned to become the hem of the top. Her 2nd form keeps the og collar, but her top is inspired from comic Halinor's 1 sleeve shirt: Cornelia's top is 1 sleeved with a long glove.

Hay Lin: She gets braids in both forms. Like with Irma, sometimes she wears braids in civilian form, and I think it's cute. 2nd form gets two braids combined into a single one in the back, letting the rest of her hair blow free in the wind. She also gets sleeves in both forms for max blowing-in-the-wind factor, plus I wanted at least 2 members to have bell sleeves. 1st form gets NP Irma's top with an edited neckline. 2nd form gets the heart waistline, a lengthened skirt, and a choker necklace. Her civilian form looses the goggles, replaced with purple jelly sunglasses.

[blueikeproductions]

Welp EarthSpark is officially done in Japan via the latest Figure King magazine.

Sorta rubs the Nucleon in the Energon wound that the news of cancellation comes in a magazine celebrating 40 years of Transformers, with a cover drawn by the Kiss Players guy no less, huh?

It’s also looking more apparent EarthSpark is finito in the States too. And some staff of the show are looking to blame fans for being the b-word and the p-word. Look fella, those words lost meaning just as much as “woke” did, just take your lumps like the rest of us and admit your show didn’t work because people simply had no interest in it. Also just terrible, TERRIBLE writing and pacing. I can forgive Rise of the TMNT’s faults due to Nick not knowing what to do with it and giving the staff unhelpful feedback that kept changing it (the Netflix movie finale was a much better look at what the show was trying to be and could’ve been, but alas), but EarthSpark I have no such compunction.

Hasbro was allegedly pretty hands off and was fine with what they were doing (at least at first) so the blame can only land on the writers who clearly misunderstood what they had. I detest modern shows that have uneven pacing, tone and characterization. It’s why I don’t look fondly on Adventure Time the moment it stopped being a goofy kids show and started being some college art student’s angsty wet dream.

Clearly something changed for EarthSpark internally, and I can’t help but think Hasbro and Paramount looked at the abysmal launch of the first batch of episodes and told the staff to drastically change the story for S2. That the trailer is a more traditional Autobots vs Decepticon conflict with them hunting for Emberstone pieces ala Transformers Animated and most importantly having evil Decepticon Terrans (something fans had stated as happening in some form from the start), shows they wanted to make this into a better boy brand thing again.

The first season overcompensates by focusing too heavily on the female cast, most of them bordering on obnoxious, while making most of the male characters into morons, again Robbie dying for contrived reasons but the Maltos instead choose to love up Mo while Robbie lays there clinging to whatever life force he has left at that moment.

Instead Robbie seems to be the primary focus, with a b-plot about him having a crush on someone. I’m guessing this is where the rumors saying Hashtag comes out as gay comes from as I suspect Hashtag remarks on Robbie’s female crush being adorable and tries to be his wingman (with probably the same results when she tried helping Jawbreaker).

I feel like the intention may have been to have Mo be the focus of S1 and Robbie for S2, but it doesn’t fully come off that way as the focus is too rambling on top of trying to focus on the Terrans and Bumblebee in an RiD15 style role again.

Also what the slag is this?

If there’s one thing I hate more it’s lazy photoshopping.

Not only do they just swap Bee and Prime’s renders around, they just crudely put the kids heads on these altered bodies from their preexisting stock art… Like no Quintessons or Terracons or nothing. Nothing to make you more legitimately excited for something new. Just the same Autobots and the kids in ReBoot Guardian Code suits, ick. It’s a bit of a downgrade compared to the Prime Apex Armor suits the toys use.

Despite the cancellation, the Japanese magazine refers to a “Slash Malt”(o). Presumably this might be a Terran version of the Dinobot Slash, whose only proper media presence has been a minor cameo in Japanese manga as the kid sister of the Dinobots and a supporting role in Rescue Bots Academy.

Frankly becoming a Terran might be the best thing for Slash, and it’s something I’m surprised toy wise wasn’t attempted anyway with characters like Lightbright, Lickity Split, Rubble, Gauge, Nightscream, and others.

So once again, what comes next? We don’t know still as of typing. Skybound is still knocking it out of the park with its Energon Universe, with the Joe portion moving on to Destro and Scarlett after having wrapped up Cobra Commander’s miniseries. Of note on Destro is the possibility MASK might be getting another go again, as what appears to be Miles Mayhem, the leader of the villainous VENOM faction, makes an appearance. The MASK and VENOM teams tend to be depicted as off shoots of Joe and Cobra in modern material, and with the pitch of the EU mentioning Energon being able to power machines, the transforming vehicles might be among the first specially designed vehicles developed to combat the Decepticons… Especially since Destro took interest in the idea of a transforming jet when he learned of Starscream.

The next cartoon is being worked on now, but we don’t know yet what it is. The easiest assumption is it’s a spin off of TFONE like how Mutant Mayhem has Tales of the TMNT, but it may be something else altogether. Barring anything TFONE does, EarthSpark was the last hold out of IDW’s post war ideas, and with Autobot Megatron mark II being viewed like this:

I think Autobot Megatron is largely done as a concept and with how merciless Skybound Megs is shown to be (though interestingly he did spare some Cobra-La guys when they told him what he wanted to know after stepping on one), I think we’re gonna be back to a traditional Megatron.

People are still not really feeling TFONE via recent upload on a TF fan convention YouTube channel, calling it terrible and cringey, so at this point I’m honestly just writing it off now (even though I’ll personally like it fine like the new Garfield Movie).

I stand by a new TF anime with a fun Mini-Con like gimmick built in the story is the way to go, because this incessant need to reject its toyetic roots is aggravating. At this stage I say let Skybound do the comics, and let Japan handle the cartoon, because clearly most people working now can’t write a decent TF cartoon without getting out of their sanctimonious way.

It’s time to Transform and Rise Up from this nonsense, and hopefully One helps with that more, but atm it’s all on Skybound until the next cartoon is ready. No pressure.

[seasonschange32]

I'm trying to watch Athena P lore videos because god are they entertaining and so funny. But here's some shows/movies I would love a lore deep dive on and why:

Inspector gadget reboot - the 'romance' between penny and Talon was so confusing yet endearing. Also, loving how chief Quimby just Disguises himself just to give gadget a misson

Total drama - not only was it a huge fan of gross out humor and has our overlord chris mclain, it literally introduced me to the ' bad boy x good girl' trope before ripping it out and taking a character ( who was literally perfect with another) and forcing them together due to aesthetics.

Transformers: robots in Disguise ( 2015) or Transformers prime - two shows that have fanbases debating ( seriously), each saying why each respective show is better. But other than that, both are fine for what they are and gave me two crushes that I hold dearly.

Mia and me - a fairy show that's not only animated but live action? With the main character having an ability to talk to unicorns? And with one of her bullies DISCOVERING HER SECRET LIFE??

Ben and hollies little kingdom - super wholesome and I love how the humans coinside with the fairies

Max and ruby - there's a tiktoker who made a whole series on why ruby was annoying. Need I say more?

Trollhunters and the spin off 3below - honestly from what I remember, I loved the stakes of the show and how cool the Armour the main character had. Regarding the spin off, loving how the bully I think was into the alien girl

Max steel ( not the 2000s one. sorry) - Max having to come up with the most unbelievable excuses as to why he has to go is cliche but also kind of funny? And the fact that the company Max's dad works for has lore as well is kind of interesting

Dino squad - I actually remembered this show through a cringe compilation of all things and had to add it. From the theme song, to the plotines, to the fact that I had a crush on Laruzo even though he was obviously queer coded ( his Dino form was cool though)

Jem and the holograms - the I am a giant song from the misfits lives in my head rent free. Also, jem practicing trying to reveal to that one guy only from him to yell at her is funny to me

Lolirock - same with jem as revolution is iconic as well as the villians. Plus, why is was eventually taken off

The tinker bell movies - forgot I was supposed to mention movies as well ( sorry). But I love them and how the fairies each have their own abilities ( as well as different kinds). From pirate fairies to winter fairies, it's really cool.

Barbie: a fashion fairytale - I love all barbie movies equally but this...this just takes the cake. What other movie will you see ken making a child cry, fairies with attitude, rotting dresses, and a roller skating aunt?

Zoom (2015) - the trailer showing a scene of the main character and her character arguing is honestly what made me want to watch it ( I haven't but I'm planning on it)

Super hero squad - kid me was laughing my butt off when falcon married his bird. So...

The little prince movie - I didn't even read the book but when I saw that the old man had died, I was emotionally devastated, especially after listening to all his stories which inspired the main character to go find the prince UGHHH

The book of life - is it cliche? Yes. Is it like coco? Yes. Do I like that in the end, the main boy has to sing a guitar version of creep to calm down a bull? Absolutely yes!

Epic - josh hutcherson, beyonce, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny knoxville, an enemies to lovers storyline, a snail, a royal guard having a love for the queen, the enemies being bugs, and ANDD a nerdy dad. That's it.

Rise of the guardians - I absolutely love it followed jack and his arc of being seen and when he finally is, the kid and him are just so excited! Also, the fact that a lot of people are simping for the Easter bunny is a testament to how many people will call anyone sexy.

Daniel spellbound - wanted to add this because there's an awesome creator ( cough cough @bonkalore) who's made an amazing au out of this show and I wanted to see what you thought of it and your theories

Bonus options ( just random one's I think could fit): the rainbow fairies series, Lego friends, the complicated life of Claudia Christina Cortez, sonic underground, drama or sisters ( but any book by rainia would be great), Junie b Jones, stoked, barney, goddess girls, glitter force ( that's what I remember it as), invisible sister, a monster in Paris, Maya and miguel, and Martha)

If you want anymore, let me know!

[gooeykit]

can you tell me about MATRIX

Yes. Enzo Matrix from ReBoot 1994 starts off as a mischievous little kid sibling character to Dot Matrix, MainFrame's command dot com. Enzo looks up to her and the new sprite in town, Guardian Bob, who is the best defense MainFrame has against the viral forces as well as the user. The user is the owner of the computer which MainFrame resides, and sends in games which the residents the game has fallen on have to win for their lives, games are equivalent to natural disasters. I digress, Enzo is always trying to get into whatever Bob's doing whenever he's doing it, either helping along the way or being in need of rescue, and post rescue he may even still be of assistance. Enzo, as he's equivalent to ages 9 and 10 in season 1, 2 and early season 3, proves himself very capable despite his occasional need of rescue. He's also very smart, resourceful and insightful, as seen in the episode "High Code".

In the season 2 episode "AndrAIa", Enzo starts being upset with his circumstance of being the only kid sprite left after the Twin City incident, whereas his father, Welman Matrix, had tried to open a port to other systems, accidentally summoning the virus GigaByte, and causing his portal to explode. This created the now city of Lost Angles where Hexadecimal resides, and killing every sprite and binome there. The only sprites who weren't there were Dot and Enzo, unfortunately. Later, a game drops where Enzo is and Bob and Dot just barely make it into it as well, though still distant from him. Enzo meets a game sprite, a new type of enemy that resides in games, which has AI. Her name is Andraia and is also a kid, which excites Enzo and he immediately hits off a friendship with her, not knowing that she wont leave the game with him, as game sprites stay in the game. Andraia becomes saddened when he finds out, as its very upsetting to the both of them, regardless she helps Enzo to beat the game just before the user can, saving all of them. its revealed that she made a copy of herself and attached it to Enzo, helping her to escape the game and live with them in mainframe.

Later in season 2, MainFrame is under siege by web creatures, forcing the Mainframers to team up with Hexadecimal and MegaByte, the resident viruses, and Bob makes Enzo a guardian cadet due to the dire circumstances as well. Just as they manage to get rid of the web creatures, the viral forces turn on the MainFramers, and MegaByte sends Bob into the web before closing the tear. This makes Enzo into the only resident guardian and, despite his age, is tasked with fighting off the viral forces and defending the games, which Andraia will tag along for, and he'll also get general help from the principal office and his sister still. Andraia's game sprite mode made it so that she would not be nullified should she lose a game, and this is passed to Enzo and Mouse, as well as Andraia getting the ability to reboot in games. Despite all this, and his idea to trap the viral forces in a firewall, Enzo takes himself, Andraia, and Frisket, his dog, into a game. Enzo is unable to beat the user and loses his eye in the process. He and the others go into game sprite mode and are sent off in the game, losing themselves from MainFrame.

After this, Enzo, Andraia and Frisket only want to get back to their own system, but grow up as they go around game hopping. Enzo starts going by Matrix at this point and despite his gruff demeanor, only has it up for show, he's jumpy and lacks a trigger finger, but is still compassionate. After a scene where he puts up an intimidating show, claiming nobody wants to save their own system, and storms off, he reveals it was only him trying to make some recruits to train in hopes of the native residents being able to defend themselves and their own system without he and his posse. Much of the episodes around Matrix and co's adult debut is centered around exploring their characters, especially that of Matrix's trauma. I will be the first to admit, ITS VERY CHEESY AND CORNY, its why I like it, I still think that despite this, it's really cool!

I'm not going to give a full synopsis of the show bc this is meant to be about a character, so I'll break off from that here :3 now, I ALWAYS have a soft spot for the token mischievous little boy character, but I rarely like how they grow up. It always ends up being that they lose so much of their values, their playfulness, etc. Matrix, despite being gruff and brooding, deviates from this, because he's still massively compassionate even though he puts up a front, and its a very realistic front all things considered. He still looks up to the same people, he loves the people he's always loved, he's still a go-getter. Matrix is incredibly violent because of everything he'd lost, and now that he's got it back in the end, he wont lose it. The others don't like specifically that he's become as aggressive as he is, but they still respect that its just what he had to be, and he's still loved despite it, partially for it because they know he's like this FOR them. He still needs time to acclimate to relatively calm living because he and the others have been lost for 10 years [within a time dilation tho, he and Andraia grew up rapid fast to everyone experiencing standard time]

Another way he deviates is that he's still a rascal in a way, he doesn't take things seriously if he doesn't feel the need, he loves action, excitement, he loves being shot at with live ammunition and he doesn't like others getting in the way of his fun. he creates issues due to his brashness and his unaccepting of a threat, not because he's stupid or over confident, but because he knows what happens when you're too tolerable. In fact, he's seen being upset with Bob's radical ideals of reprogramming viruses instead of erasing them, Bob who he'd fought for during those 10 years being lost, who he still openly admits to being his hero, who he still actively admires and loves. Still, despite this, he's incredibly trusting of him, showing his anger but backing off, despite the times where it HAS backfired. BLEHHHH he's just so special to me idk if there are a million characters like him, he's still the special one XP

TLDR: i need him

[loathemetc]

DELTARUNE THEORY: Who’s Mike 2: Cathode Boogaloo

Our pal Spamton G. Spamton has been answering a lot of questions on twitter, and this one raises some eyebrows:

At first me and the party rockers were quick to jump on the obvious TV connection of Cathode Ray Tubes to confirm Mike as, in fact, being the TV guy. Like Mike the TV from ReBoot. You guys should all go watch ReBoot. Not The Guardian Code though.

But if we look at the wording, it kind of paints a different picture. Spamton asks our pal Ornstein here if they’re with the Cathode’s crew, and then accuses “you guys”, IE including the crew, of not knowing nothing about Mike. He then acts defensive of Mike, painting a very different picture of him than he gave in Chapter 2, but definitely drawing a clear line between Mike and the Cathode Ray Tube Television Set. They’re different characters.

Let’s look at Spamton’s dialogue in Chapter 2 again, after he says he doesn’t need Mike.

With the angle that Mike and the TV are different people, and that Spamton isn’t completely sour on Mike, this line becomes a lot harder to make sense of. Is Spamton saying that the TV is a criminal, not Mike? If not, why would the TV be saying Mike isn’t a criminal if Mike isn’t the TV? I was about to throw out this idea, that this line is exclusively talking about the TV and not Mike at all, but...

You saw how Spamton got when he brought up Mike, presumably by accident. This look of reminiscing doesn’t line up with the perceived anger of the next line.

And who does Spamton call for when he’s on the verge of death?

Mike.

Maybe Mike and Spamton were friends, and Mike did him dirty. Maybe Mike and Spamton were friends, and Mike got did dirty by something or someone. But it seems like Mike might not be the antagonistic force we assumed him to be after all. 

He might have been Spamton’s first real friend. Someone he doesn’t want being found for their own safety.

Again, I’m spitballing off literally a single image on twitter dot com but hey, It’s like 4AM what else am I supposed to be doing. Sleeping? I mean yeah but. Post’s over.

[hezuart]

Why did you switch from animation to reviews? Also, do you still plan on doing CGI like you mentioned multiple times?

oH BOY..... you may need to sit down for this one

So it all started back in 2012. I was around 14 years old and just saw Rise of the Guardians and Wreck it Ralph. The stories, the characters, the world-building, the animation... now I never really went to movie theaters as a kid, but as a teen I started going and I instantly fell in love.

I went to community college for a few years and made some amazing friends. Loved some of my teachers and we participated in fun events like the 24-hour challenge and Campus Movie Fest. I had gotten in the top picks for Campus Movie Fest at some point and was supposed to go to the Cannes Film Festival in France to showcase my short film, but then the pandemic hit and it got canceled indefinitely.

So get this, for community college, I got a certification in 3D Animation and Video Game development. It's basically an AA degree but without general ed. (Why do you need general ed to get a degree in something? Math and PE have nothing to do with Animation. College is ridiculous. People have to pay you more simply because you were forced to spend more money in college. Wild.) Out of the 20 classes I had taken to get this certification, only 3 of those courses were hands-on 3D animation. And only one of those courses was hands-on video game development and I dropped out of that class because it was PC only and I only had a Mac at the time. I applied to the class without realizing it was accommodating only to PCs. So even my certification is barely reaching the basics for the title of it, but I did take another online course or two for 3D animation which I have a different certification for.

Now even with my 3D animation, I was never taught the physics engine. I was never taught hair or cloth simulation, but I do have modeling, rigging, animating, and texturing experience. For gaming, I have very little experience. I've only modeled things and found my way around Unity, but otherwise, I suck at coding. I hate coding with a passion. Making a video game without coding isn't really possible.

Now, when the pandemic hit, a lot of things were shutting down. I had no idea where I wanted to go next. People kept asking me where I was going for my higher education, but I kept getting warned not to waste money on college if you're trying to become an artist, especially at University. It's a money pit, and competition is so high, you're not guaranteed a job, you're just gonna be in debt. Even colleges like Cal Arts, who charge over $1K per class, I've been told are a "Pay to get in" kind of place. Where the money is used to nab professionals from their work to teach students or talk about their company or programs, and through that, you get a bigger chance to get your foot in the door because you know someone. I've unfortunately been told that's the more realistic way to get into animation: networking. If you're a shy introvert who doesn't know any famous people, you need to be extremely talented and unique to stand out to get the chance of being noticed. I don't really want to suck up to people nor do I want to waste thousands of dollars and 5 more years on college that I may not even need (let alone be able to afford) especially if there are online classes that may be even more valuable.

Now after I got out of college and started applying a few places, I discovered a LOT of unfortunate information.

Most animation these days is done overseas. South Korea, India, Japan, and Canada are the big ones.

Invader Zim, Steven Universe, Miraculous Ladybug, The Simpsons, OK KO, Star vs the Forces of Evil, Kipo and the Age of the Wonder Beasts, Adventure Time, Twelve Forever, and the Powerpuff Girls Reboot were animated in South Korea. The Ghost and Molly Mcgee is animated in Canada.

(The first four seasons of the Simpsons were animated in America until it switched to South Korea and India.)

2D traditional animation is no longer viable. Puppetry is the industry standard because it's the cheapest. Luckily, Toon Boom Harmony has allowed us to push the boundaries of 2D puppetry. Puppetry these days, if done well, can look really great, like Tangled the Series, but if you don't have Toon Boom Harmony, you're probably not gonna be hired.

Not even all 3D is made in the USA. If it's Disney, Dreamworks, or Pixar, then it's usually USA. But streaming service movies, like Sea Beast, Kid Cosmic, The Willoughbys, and Klaus, while they claim to be a "Netflix Original" that "Netflix Animation" animated, that's a lie. Klaus was animated by Yowza! Animation in Canada. The Willoughbys: Bron Animation, Canada. Kid Cosmic: Mercury Filmworks, Canada. Sea Beast: Sony Pictures Image Works, Canada. (X)

Go Go Cory Carson is written and storyboarded in America, but the animation is shipped out to be done in France. Sonic Boom is also French Animated.

Even Sony Pictures? Open Season, Surf's Up, Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, SMurfs, Hotel Transylvania, Over the Moon, The Angry Birds Movie, Sea Beast? Sony Pictures Imageworks is based in Canada. They're doing all the animation for them. It's not animated in America, it's merely funded by them.

I should also clarify: I only want to participate in stylized animated media. I don't want to do CGI for hyper-realistic films, which eliminates most of the animation jobs out there these days. It's just not my thing. The insane amount of details and uncanny valley are just so unappealing, I can't do it.

The closest animation studios are still far away. Most companies are located in LA. I'm over 7+ hours away from there. LA also has a high poverty rate, terrible air quality, is overcrowded, and is just generally not a good place to live, especially if you're low middle class. You're not gonna survive there.

Pixar is located in Emeryville, a few minutes north of San Fransisco city. Emeryville is the most crime-ridden city in that area. They tell you not to walk home alone at night. You're more likely to get robbed there than anywhere else according to the population ratio there. There are a lot of gangs that hide up there, and there's a lot of poverty there, even outside of San Fransisco. It's basically a trash pit. Not an ideal place to live, and commuting through 3-hour SF city traffic is also not gonna work. (X)

I have also been informed some people who work at Pixar are petty that the interns use their facility. Pixar has a heated pool, soccer field, gymnasium, and a few other nice things on their property. I was informed there was a person or two who got mad that an intern was using their basketball court.... when the intern was on break. As though they weren't part of Pixar, as though they had no right to touch the property. Apparently, they also used to make the interns push around little tea carts to serve refreshments as a way to "talk to the fellow animators" to probably get them interacting, but hearing that the interns were basically chored with butler duty to bother the animators hard at work seems like such a forced thing. That makes me uncomfortable. Of course, the person who told me these stories has been working with Pixar for over a decade or two now, so things could be very different as the years went on. Pixar itself on the inside of the animator building is gorgeous. They all decorate their office spaces in crazy ways, it looks like a movie set. But they have a bar and "whiskey club". They're apparently allowed to drink at work and have often had parties that got a little out of hand. There's also an old chain smoker room where the founders used to play poker and spy on people outside of their room with hidden cameras; I've even been inside. I don't think they use it anymore, though I'm not totally sure. Some of this info was fascinating, but the drinking made me uncomfortable. I kinda want to work with sober people here.

The sex ratio in the animation industry is also interesting and unfavorable. 70% of the animation and art school ratio is women, but only 34% of the actual animation workforce is women. 34% female to 66% male. More women study animation than men, but more men get hired and hold positions than women. Animation, ironically, has always been a male-dominated workplace. This unfortunately contributes to the "you have to know someone" or "be rich" to get-in situation. Men know a lot more men and not as many women. So the 30 to 40-year-old guys hire the other guys they know rather than a young poor girl with a passion. This makes it even more difficult for me to get in. (X)

20th Century, Netflix Animation, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Bento Box, Vanguard Animation, Universal Studios, Titmouse, 6 Point Harness, ShadowMachine- all LA / South California.

There are a few places I could apply to, but what they do, I just don't care for. Niantic(Pokemon Go), Lucasfilm(Effects), Whiteboard Animation(Marketing), Sharpeyeanimation (Marketing), EA games (Mass Effect, Battlefield, Dragon Age 2, all those hyper-realistic war, sports, or fantasy games.)

So whether it's outside of the USA or within the USA, I need to move. I don't have the money for that yet.

Just find a company that does remote work, right? It should be easy, especially in pandemic times! Wrong. Most animation companies don't permit remote work. It's probably a security issue. But I've done research on this. The only big animation company I've found (so far) that allows remote work (or is HIRING for remote work) is Mainframe Studios in Canada. They have a 3D animation job list, and I guess they focus on animating Barbie movies(???). (X) But that's about it. And even if you're a remote worker, there's a high likely hood you still need a Visa to be allowed to work for a company belonging to another country. So that's a whole other legal process to deal with.

Disney is becoming a huge corporate monopoly over American animation. They bought Blue Sky only to kill them off. (Disney also just recently laid off 7,000 people due to their stock price drop and failed movies they released the past year with deliberately bad marketing for political reasons. (X) Disney also bought Pixar and is pushing for sequels because weird or bad, sequels and terrible live actions make them a LOT of money. Did you know Disney's terrible Lion King CGI remake is amongst the top 10 highest-grossing movies ever made? It's criminal. (X)

Because Disney is such a big name in the USA, there's a huge association of animation = children's media, which is not true. Animation at the Oscars also has its own category, when it's not a genre, is a medium. Disney often wins at the Oscars too because no one sees the other animations. Granted, Disney has an insane marketing budget in comparison, but it's clear no one cares to seek out animation outside of heavy CGI live-action these days. No small-time studios, no limited releases, no anime. The fact that Disney also now OWNS the Oscars is SUS as hell. (The fact that Disney-owned ABC threatened the Oscars, forcing them to cut 8 categories or else there wouldn't be a show that year is wild. There isn't even an oscar for stuntmen. What the fuck, Hollywood?) (X)

Dreamworks nearly went bankrupt and sold itself to Comcast back in 2013. Comcast also owns Illumination. Dreamworks has been focusing on making bad tv show adaptions of their IPs. So yes people, Jack would sooner meet the Minions than meet Elsa. Disney is the biggest corporate monopoly, but it's definitely not the only one. The animation industry in America is snuffing out its competition by buying it out for itself. It's insane the kind of power they have.

Competition is HIGH. Because of this, the only ways to get in? If you're rich or you know someone. Pixar gets over 3,000 intern applications every summer. Less than 100 are seen by actual hiring managers. The most interns Pixar has ever taken in a single year were 12. The least they ever took in a single year was two. A 12 to 3,000 ratio is not favorable. That's a 3% chance to get into a big-shot animation company.

And again, because remote work isn't permissible to new hires, you need to live in the area to commute to the campuses. This is one of the reasons why LA is so crowded.

If you get into an animation company purely remote and maybe even for a different country? You are the luckiest person alive.

Programs are expensive. The animation industry is very strict on what programs they use. The industry standard for 2D puppetry is Toon Boom Harmony; the industry standard for 3D animation is Maya, and the industry standard for video game development isn't as clear but Unity is one of them.

Some of these programs are free, as long as you are a student. If you are attending college or a certain online program, you can use your school-issued email through them to apply to get the program for free for about a year. Otherwise, if you're using it to make your own animations solo?

Autodesk Maya: $225 a month or $1,785 a year (X)

and guess what? Maya removed its free render service. Arnold is now built in by default, however, if you want to BATCH render (Meaning render a full scene or several slides) it will slap it's ugly watermark over it.

Fun fact, this very rendered watermark can be seen accidentally in a single frame for the Kingdom Hearts Frozen cutscene

Well, you need to batch render if you're trying to animate so let's see what Arnold costs- $50 monthly to $380 annually.... are you kidding me?! The rendering PLUG-IN BUNDLED TO MAYA COSTS MORE TO USE THAN THE OWN PROGRAM?! (X)

Now, there are other rendering plug-ins you can probably use with Maya. But they all have their ups and downs and their own costs as well. (X) Pixar's Renderman is $595 per license. I can't seem to get info on Octane. V-ray solo is $39 monthly while premium is around $60 monthly.

Now there IS Blender, an alternative to Maya. It is free and I have it. That is ideal to work in for people like me. I tried it a while back, but I hated the interface windows. It was hard to work on it when you can't close them properly. It's possible they've fixed this in an update, but I haven't touched the program in over three years so I wouldn't know. It's different from Maya a little, so it has ups and downs in comparison too. But Blender is a savior to 3D artists everywhere.

Toon Boom Harmony isn't as bad but still high: Lowest price is $27 monthly / $220 annual and the highest is $124 monthly / $1,100 annual (X)

Unity has a basic version that is free, but Unity Plus is $399 yearly while Unity Pro is $2,040 (X)

So some programs are clearly more viable than others. But imagine you're trying to model, texture, rig, animate, simulate, and render a short film all by yourself in Maya. That's gonna take you over a year or two, and you'll have several thousand dollars out of your pocket by the time your free trial ends. And might I say, for an industry-standard program, Maya sucks. It's almost unusable without those plug-ins for not only rendering but also for the models to even be able to SELECT their BONE rigs.

Do you want to practice on your own when school is out of session? Fuck you! Fuck subscription services! Welcome to capitalist hell, baby!

Again, using Blender is more viable, but you're still going to be basically doing everything yourself. That's gonna take years. Do you have the patience for that? Do I?

Because of the pandemic, movies aren't even hitting theaters anymore. They're going straight to streaming services. Streaming services of which, gain sole rights to and can take media off their platforms at any time without warning. Thanks, Discovery+ ! Does everyone remember the HBO Max Animation & DC purge? It could happen to other streaming services too. Piracy will save the future of animation at this point. (X)

And again, Streaming services like Netflix will purchase films and claim they made them by slapping their logo over it; but no, they either bought the distribution rights or produced them through funding and maybe storyboarding. Often times from a Canadian film studio. (Link again X)

Even stop motion companies like LAIKA are losing money and may have to shut down or be bought out in the future, especially considering how much work and money they put into their films vs. how much money they actually make. (X)

All of this? Naturally made me fall into a depression. My god, the layers of hopelessness. My animation and modeling is pretty average too. I'm decent. I can maybe make a good shot. But I can't blow people away like James Baxter can. I mean, I shouldn't compare myself to people. If I worked really hard, maybe I could get into a good company. But again, I have to move! A part of me gave up. I don't really do 3D animation anymore, though part of me misses it.

I still 2D animate. I'm trying to make a short film and though my college friends who were working on it with me have given up, I have done my best to keep going. Even if it has been produced at a snail's pace for the past three years, I still intend to finish this animation. It's gonna be beautiful when it comes out, and it will be a wonderful portfolio piece regardless.

So with nothing else to do and no other kind of job experience really under my belt(plus my family is prone to covid so getting a job in the pandemic was just kind of out of the question) I decided to go to youtube. I heard some people can make a little money on there, but the truth is I had actually wanted to become a youtuber for a few years prior. I've always looked up to animators and reviewers on youtube, I've loved the stories they tell and their incredibly detailed analysis essays on movies, tv series, books, etc. I wanted to be one of them. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd do, so I just followed the Youtube Partnership program set up which took a few months, and then jumped in! I found I only had the time to upload once every month or two. I had a ton of audio issues and I'm not outputting at the proper 1920 x 1080 quality that I should be doing either. It's a huge learning process that I still haven't perfected, but I'm taking notes to try and get better.

Even though Youtube is fun, I only make $300 a month, and that isn't even consistent. With patreon, I make maybe another $80 or $100 on top of that, so overall $400 a month average. That's really nice and pretty cool! But it's not enough to survive.

Now I work part-time at a coffee shop. My mental health is a lot better and I love my coworkers. I make roughly $400 a week in comparison to the $400 a month. It's still not enough to live off of (the cheapest rent around is over $1,000 a month, not ) and it's still a temporary job in the long run. I intend to work here for maybe another two years to save up money.

But what do I do now?

Am I welcome in animation spaces anymore?

As a critic of popular media, it could be likely that they could fire me or deny my application because of my critique of their past films or tv series. They could see my youtube persona and assume I'm a raging untrustworthy nitpick instead of a passionate, kind person.

Vivziepop's Spindlehorse company? What Viv was doing was a dream. I was so inspired by her. She made her own company, made a super successful pilot, and was even creating more jobs for traditional, high-quality animation. However, for Hazbin Hotel, she required more funding, which is why she sold it off to A24, who now has corporate say in the show. A24 is known for letting creators be more lenient, but otherwise, Viv won't have full control over it anymore unless she managed to get them to sign something over to her; but with the rumors of her being kicked off season 1? I don't know anymore.

Her own company Spindlehorse; they rely on youtube revenue and/or merch sales to fund Helluva Boss. That's a tricky business practice, but it's kept them afloat so far.

However, Spindlehorse is hiring a lot of people as of late. This could be a bad sign; that people might be leaving the company due to potential mistreatment or unhappiness. With the way the show is going, I don't really want to be part of that company regardless, but maybe before season 2 of Helluva Boss, I would have considered applying. Had I made any critique videos prior, there's no way they'd accept me. "Aren't you that one YouTuber that said my writing is bad for season 2 episode 2?" And you expect me to hire you?" Like yeah, that application process would go down well. Not. By critiquing artists' work, some of them are very sensitive. I'd be kicked out for a lot of things, when really, we artists should be critiquing each other all the time, trying to improve. That's how the writer's room always is, ahaha... hours of fighting goes down in those meetings. It's intense, but fun.

But yeah, it's such a shame. Even small companies need to sell out to corporate to survive. Either that or be HEAVILY crowd-funded, which again, can be a slippery slope.

I see a ton of small projects on Twitter looking to hire people, or looking to become a big studio to release a pilot or game. I've joined a few of them, but most are unpaid because of COURSE they are, and then these projects?? Just don't go anywhere. Because it's unpaid. Because we can't afford to work on a project for free. IRL comes first. Some of these projects seem so great but they don't go anywhere, and it's hard to have faith in start-up studios anymore. (Game creators might have a chance, but tv series or films? Good luck, folks.)

At that point, should I just make my own company? I don't have the money or knowledge for such a thing! It's insanely expensive to start a business and get licensing. So much paperwork, so much everything! And the USA Government is so behind in understanding technology. If you want to create a remote business and/or copyright something, you're still required to put an advertisement in a local newspaper about it, even if your business isn't selling to locals. 💀 The number of fees and ridiculous legal hoops you need to jump through... it's a ridiculous waste of time and money. But you need to do it. The question is, am I willing to do it? Am I willing to tackle such an insane thing by myself?

I want to keep my internet persona and IRL persona separate, but can I? I value having a private, quieter life away from the screen. I worry about getting doxxed one day because of the nature of the internet. I worry about people finding my IRL resumes or profiles for work I want to do outside of youtube for security's sake. My art style is unique and very recognizable. I don't have a lot of private art that is worthy of being in a portfolio. But for absolute safety, I'd need to password-protect my websites or portfolios so the public doesn't have free access to them; only companies I'm applying to. But at that point, does password-protecting my resume and portfolio make it less likely I'd be hired due to the inconvenience? Due to the private, hard-to-find nature of my work? Being a YouTuber with great story skills and art skills with a fanbase could be a big plus to getting hired somewhere, but it could also be a horrible disadvantage that would get me fired. It's a double-edged sword that I cannot work around and I don't know what to do.

I've considered the video game industry, but even that isn't ideal. A lot of the indie ones I adore aren't made in the USA. Gris and Monster Camp were made in Spain. Ori and the Blind Forest: Austria. Hollow Knight: Australia. Little Nightmares and Raft: Sweden. LIMBO & INSIDE: Denmark. Outlast, Don't Starve, Spirit Farer, Bendy and the Ink Machine: Canada.

SuperGiant Games did Hades, Transistor and Bastion and is located in SF, but they're not hiring. Janimation, a multi-media company located in Texas isn't hiring. Frederator in New York isn't hiring.

I don't want to work for a studio that does nothing but first-person shooters or sports games. If I want to get into the gaming industry, I probably need to crowdfund and make a company to make a game myself.

If I make my own game, which I've wanted to do for a long time now and still want to... I can't code. I guess I could try to hire someone that could? But a game to the extent I want... I'd need to start small. I'd need to practice. It's several years of work. Will it even be worth it? I don't think I can do it alone. I'd need crowdfunding and workers; which again, here comes the "make my own studio" issue...

Do I even want to animate anymore? I prefer traditional animation in comparison to puppetry. I prefer 2D animation to 3D animation simply because it is more accessible. But even then, I'm finding myself drawn more and more to writing, storyboarding, and character design. If I were a 3D animator, this is mostly what I'd be working with all day: Naked models in an empty room. I'd do none of the physics simulation or texturing or lighting.

Animating naked & bald people all day... I don't know... 3D Animation kind of lost its appeal. You only work on such a small portion of a film, you almost never have the bigger picture. You won't see the final result until the film is done. As an animator, you're almost kept in the dark. Maybe that's how they want it anyway, since leaks are a huge issue they keep quiet under strict NDA.

But yeah, anyway... I'm an artistic digital generalist. I can do almost anything. 3D animation, storyboarding, writing, photo editing, illustration, rendering, modeling and so much more. It's hard to choose what you really want to be in this industry. I feel like Barry Benson dfklgjdflkjg

I don't know what I'm gonna do anymore. There's gotta be a solution to this but I just can't figure it out. I don't want to give up my youtube channel so I can be an animator. I don't want to give up a safer, quiet countryside house to be able to survive financially. Am I even willing or able to move countries? Is my career more important than friends and family?

I think I'm thinking too much about everything. I should start small. Move less than an hour away first and move in with roommates to get a feel for independence instead of jumping into it immediately. Get a job at a small time company, maybe not for what I want at first, but it'll get me some experience and maybe I'll learn some things along the way to understand where I can go next. Take it slow and don't panic too much over trying to be a young big shot. Take things one day at a time? That's my current goal, I suppose.

So you know... to answer your question... why did I switch to youtube for a current career? Because of a classic existential & career crisis in my 20s. Will I ever go back to 3D animation? Maybe. Maybe one day.

[s0ckh3adstudios]

Haunted Hats #1: Co-Op

Welcome BACK to the Haunted Hats, my nonsensical A Hat In Time Swap AU based on the shift in fate that would happen if Hat Kid, Bow Kid, Mu, and Timmy were the Subcon Ghosts. Guess who's back in that mood~

Might take this similarily to how my buddy Bee presents the USAU characters: Character dedicated posts and short comics. I guess this is kind of Haunted Hats rebooted? I'll be taking this one area at a time!

But here's your favorite protagonist duo: Beta and Mask! Their Time Pieces, their fuel and important artifacts, have been scattered all over Earth... What will our... uh... heroes do?

(LOOK DOWN HERE FOR CHARACTER INFORMATION!!!)

Beta Kid / 14 years old / She/they/her/them Non-binary

Beta is a shy, mysterous young teen living above Earth's atmosphere, hiding from social interaction in her best friend's spaceship. Beta is a recluse, a shut-in. They try to avoid people other than Mask and stick to their job of time-related deeds. She is known as a Time Guardian, and has been one since she was young. How? Why? Where did this mysterious enby come from? Inhabitants of Earth might see them sometimes, but not for long. She's often in rifts fixing glitches or cracks in time, or wandering in between the coded fabric that makes up the space time continuum. Fixing time and protecting it.

They deal with heavy anxiety and are nervous around people, but you wouldn't be able to tell by how they interact with those they're close to. They've even got an irritated and passive-aggressive side, but Beta is usually very friendly and polite. She tries to be, at least. Beta also speaks via sign language. She has the ability to speak, though it's strained a bit, but otherwise very much prefers to use sign language. She can also speak Russian!

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Mask Kid / 15 years old /He/him (but doesn't mind they/them) Demiboy

Mask (or Moon) is Beta's best friend and current ONLY friend. He's sort of like a brother figure to her, responsible and polite and better at talking with people (Though it's not a high bar to reach as he's equally bad with people as she is). Mask is kindhearted and intelligient, though memory is where he lacks. The years prior to meeting Beta he has no memories of. He woke up in his crashed spaceship with no memories, but the reflection of his permanently-masked face told him something was different. Mask hopes to regain his past, but he's happy to sit where he is with Beta in the present.

The mask he wears is... something Beta hasn't seen before. It seems to be something otherwordly, even acting on its own accord at rare moments. Strange abilities, magic red strings, a large pack of power... Mask has managed to control most of it, but sometimes... It's not Mask who is conscious.

.....But Im sure it's nothing to worry about!

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That's all for now! Feel free to ask questions >:D