#slamacow

[salemoleander]

Instead of devoting an iota more thought to the mc movie, I will simply go rewatch all of Slamacow's animations and delight in how good animations based on Minecraft can look, eleven years ago. Join me.

[jetra4ivor]

The many different ways you can animate a Minecraft movie.

Vanilla Minecraft doesn’t really allow expressive features for characters, so over the years animators have gotten creative with how they use the blocky bodies to convey emotion and movement. Here’s a list of different ways this has been achieved in the past 15 years.

The Captain Sparklez way:

In “Revenge” we see an early attempt at lip synching with these strange mouth shapes that cycle through the animation. This style of animating lip synch would become the basis for how Minecraft Story Mode operated, where there are base shapes for mouth expressions that sometimes defy the boundaries of their blocky faces in weird ways.

What I like about Captain Sparklez is that he’s been around long enough that his animations have evolved with him, and he’s got a whole new way of animating.

The feature I dislike the most about his newer style of animation is that they treat the face as soft and stretchable. This allows greater expression, but at the cost of bending the pixelated shapes in ways that pixels do not bend.

On the other hand (literally) one of the things I like about this style is the slightly rounded edges of the bodies that give everything a real sense of volume. I also like how hands are treated. Normally they are blocky fists, but they can open up into individual fingers when needed. A subtle trick that allows for greater animation movement without betraying the blocky aesthetic of Minecraft.

The Minecraft Story Mode way:

This method was inspired by Captain Sparklez but they take it in a different more defined direction.

As mentioned before, mouth shapes are pre-defined and are cycled through. For a video game, this has the advantage of needing only a few shapes that can be swapped in and out whenever needed to save on space and resources.

It does have the disadvantage however of occasionally looking stiff and sometimes the mouth shapes can’t quite convey the exact emotion needed. “Oh” shapes are are also weird as they extend beyond the boundaries of the blocky face and use smaller pixels to generate the shape. This can sometimes look off-putting or feel odd.

MCSM also treats the bodies more stiffly. The arms and legs have bends at the elbows and knees, but that’s about it. The toros can bend slightly but for the most part everything is kept pretty stiff. Again this has advantages and disadvantages. Broader movement is easy to do, but more subtle movement is tricky. There are no fingers either so when a character needs to hold something it just clips through the fingerless stump.

The Villager News way:

This method is even more limiting. One of the fun aspects about it is that they use their limitation to their advantage for comedic effects. The legs and arms for example are perfectly stiff and do not bend. This is hilarious with the villagers who have to gesture with their arms stuck in this folded pose, and when they dance their large stumpy legs clop around almost like a horse.

There’s still a tiny bit of flexibility though. The eyebrow bend and the mouth can push the bottom jaw down for big mouth shapes.

The Official Way:

In the official Minecraft update videos we have the last interesting way to animate characters… and that is to be completely stiff. Arms and legs do not bend. Faces are pixel art painted on the front. There is no dimensionality at all to their features.

Like the Villager News method, this has fun restrictions. Arms and legs sway in one motion just like in the game itself, and getting certain gestures can be extremely tricky. It also doesn’t allow a great range of expressions as most of the acting now needs to be done entirely through the eyes.

Conclusion:

Each method described above have advantages and disadvantages. If you’re looking for a smooth Pixar look, the Captain Sparklez way is probably the best, but it comes at the cost of abandoning Minecraft’s blocky norms. The stiff nature of the official style fits better with the conventions of Minecraft, but can come at the cost of being able to express the characters movements more fluidly.

I just find these various methods fascinating. How many different animators have tackled the challenger of animating blocky characters in such vastly different ways is neat in my opinion!

Which way is your favorite?

[spicypopsicleng]

Comfort character road-trip redraw meme.

Still really like this doodle so I might as well post it here 👉👈

[livmightlive]

the Minecraft movie trailer really shows how much they’re ignoring the actual roots of the game and community 😭

there’s over a DECADE of incredible Minecraft animation they could’ve used for reference and they churn out this??? 😭 it feels so soulless

slamacow, the digbuildlive project by bootstrap buckaroo, YouTuber music videos like those of captainsparkles 😭 even smps and drama series could’ve been used to inspire!!

I’m just so disappointed, they’re killing art

[laulo821]

cube land

taken from this screenshot of the music video linked above. this music is very dear to my heart so i drew a frame of it. also it's because i'm itching to draw him but i don't have any good idea so... yea

[eyeofgender]

Suddenly finding myself missing Slamacow a lot. Their animations were some of the best Minecraft animations on the web, and still are some of the best. There were characters, story, worldbuilding. I miss Bart and Dave so much right now. I know Slamacow has probably long since moved on but I still wish they'd come back and make more. It felt like the story was unfinished, and there's nothing sadder to me than abandoned characters and an unfinished story.

[poisonouspastels]

Now that I have the general look of zombies and endermen planned out for the MC AU, I have a civic duty to fulfill

[zeddunes27]

No one survives in this forest tonight 😨💀

Happy halloween 2023 🎃👻

For:@smangoishkathy-chan

Follow me on twitter:⬇️

[teratolust]

Bart walking in the woods

(Made since June) (From Samacow)

[cila-17]

Steven. I know you’ve been in exile for years but we need your help!

Please for the love of god!

I wrote a script for a Minecraft movie years ago. Maybe now that my writing skills are better than when I was 13, I could write a screenplay more artful than this.

well… at least Jack Black is in it. That’s something. But by god! 13 year old me would gasp in horror at this!

Hell! Make the Fallen Kingdom music videos into a movie! I would watch that!

you can't convince me that there was no ai used somewhere in the minecraft movie pipeline

[appri-dot]

Enderman x Zombie will always be a top 10 minecraft ship for me sorry sigh

[spicypopsicleng]

Slamacow fanart from June!

[applejuiceyjuice-art]

slamacow and laura shigihara :0

[iclimbtreestofeelalive]

you Know slamacow. he worked on every single one of these videos, even if you don't know him by name, you've seen his animations. it's honestly really sad to see such an instrumental person in early minecraft youtube get forgotten so easily. this isn't even the extent of his work, he did much, much more than this before he stepped down because of a personal tragedy.

[antimony-medusa]

MCYT on Ao3 — January '24

The state of MCYT on Ao3, just for fun. Yes I do this every month, I like numbers. This time the period we're covering will include many holiday exchanges, so I'm excited to see if that's represented!

The Cube SMP (8 works)

Slamacow Minecraft Animations (Web Series) (10 works)

iDots SMP (23 works)

30 Day SMP | Free Trial SMP (27 works)

Legacy SMP (28 works)

Cogchamp SMP (29 works)

Content SMP (30 works)

Epic SMP (32 works)

Art of Survival SMP (36 works)

Dominion SMP (38 works)

Shady Oaks SMP (49 works)

X Life SMP (51 works)

100 Hours Hardcore SMP (54 works)

IvoryCello's Prison Escapes (Web Series) (56 works)

Bear SMP (60 works)

SadSMP (66 works)

My Inner Demons - Aphmau (Web Series) (67 works)

Mer SMP (82 works)

Area Unknown SMP (89 works)

Kaboodle SMP (91 works)

Tortillaland SMP (115 works)

House Builder Gang SMP | HBG SMP (135 works)

New Life SMP (169 works)

Slimecicle Cinematic Universe (Web Series) (174 works)

WitchCraft SMP (182 works)

Pirates SMP (213 works)

Rats SMP (234 works)

SMPLive (295 works)

SMPEarth (304 works)

Mianite (Web Series) (379 works)

Outsiders SMP (393 works)

Afterlife SMP (395 works)

MindCrack RPF (504 works)

MyStreet - Aphmau (Web Series) (543 works)

Evolution SMP (693 works)

Minecraft: Story Mode (Video Game) (824 works)

Karmaland SMP (842 works)

Fable SMP (1,012 works)

Lifesteal SMP (1,546 works)

Origins SMP (1575 works)

The Yogscast (3,215 works)

Empires SMP (6,408 works)

QSMP | Quackity SMP (7,375 works)

3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series (10,336 works)

Hermitcraft SMP (20,093 works)

Dream SMP (85,051 works)

Minecraft (Video Game) (110,119 works)

Video Blogging RPF (279,422 works)

Some notes:

No new tags that I saw this month, though as always I could have missed something! As you can see, we already have quite the assortment of canonized tags.

Fics are still primarily in english, but we have three exceptions with significant spanish fics. Karmaland (740 of 842 are in spanish, from 731 last month), Tortillaland (110 of 115 are in spanish, the same as last month), and QSMP (752 of 7,375 are in spanish, from 668 last month.)

QSMP also shows 39 fics in French, up from 30 last month, and 405 in Brasilian Portugese, up from 375 last month. While I did not check every language this month, I checked on the languages I knew had a fic in QSMP and we see 1 fic in ASL (probably a misclick as it appears to be in english), 1 fic in Bahasa Malaysia, 1 fic in German, 1 fic in Esperanto, 1 fic in Filipino, 5 works in European Portugese, 5 fics in Русский (Russian), 1 fic in Suomi (Finnish), 1 fic in Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese), and 3 fics in 中文-普通话 國語 (Mandarin Chinese, I believe), all the same as last month. New is two fics in Polski (Polish), one fic in Svenska (Swedish), and one fic in Dansk (Danish).

In the small and micro fandoms (under 200 fics), some of the most active small fandoms have grown out of this category so we only saw small amounts of growth. The standout fandoms all saw an increase of 6 works, and that was a tie between Content SMP, New Life SMP, and Witchcraft SMP. Note that Content SMP was coming up from only 24 works, so 6 new works is an increase of 25% of the fandom, truly impressive.

In the midsize fandoms (200-1000), Fable SMP has broken that 1000-fic mark and can no longer qualify for our standout fandom! Instead, our most active fandom was Evolution SMP, with 33 new works, followed by Mystreet with 20 fics and Minecraft: Story Mode with 24 fics. Mystreet and Story Mode are both new fandoms so it's unclear whether that's people retagging old work or true new fics.

For the post-canon big fandoms: Empires went up by 178 works, singificantly more than last month's 117, but not beating the previous month's 240, and Dream SMP's increase of 918 beat the previous month's 767, but is still only the second time I've seen this fandom fall under a thousand works plus a month. Hermitcraft is between seasons right now, but still experienced that holiday exchange boost, as its increase of 784 beat both last month's 574 and the previous month's 651. For active fandoms, traffic series posted a staggering 831 fics, which is its highest ever number, beating April 2023's 671 fics. QSMP saw 865 fics, which is part of a three month decline (894 last month, 913 the month before), but still posting numbers that are only exceeded by DSMP.

Overall, the number of fics posted under Video Blogging-RPF (the umbrella fandom that contains all MCYT) is 4,223 fics, a significant increase from last month's 3,489, and the previous month's 4,035, but still exceeded by October's record 4,702. Notably, it's higher than the summer numbers and almost exactly the same as the number we saw last January, 4,235 new works.

Detailed breakdown under the cut

The Cube SMP (8 works, 8 last month, 0-fic increase)

Slamacow Minecraft Animations (Web Series) (10 works, 10 last month, 0-fic increase)

iDots SMP (23 works, 22 last month, 1-fic increase)

30 Day SMP | Free Trial SMP (27 works, 27 last month, 0-fic increase)

Legacy SMP (28 works, 28 last month, 0-fic increase)

Cogchamp SMP (29 works, 29 last month, 0-fic increase)

Content SMP (30 works, 24 last month, 6-fic increase)

Epic SMP (32 works, 32 last month, 0-fic increase)

Art of Survival SMP (36 works, 36 last month, 0-fic increase)

Dominion SMP (38 works, 33 last month, 5-fic increase)

Shady Oaks SMP (49 works, 47 last month, 2-fic increase)

X Life SMP (51 works, 50 last month, 1-fic increase)

100 Hours Hardcore SMP (54 works, 54 last month, 0-fic increase)

IvoryCello's Prison Escapes (Web Series) (56 works, 54 last month, 2-fic increase)

Bear SMP (60 works, 59 last month, 1-fic increase)

SadSMP (66 works, 66 last month, 0-fic increase)

My Inner Demons - Aphmau (Web Series) (67 works, 64 last month, 3-fic increase)

Mer SMP (82 works, 80 last month, 2-fic increase)

Area Unknown SMP (89 works, 87 last month, 2-fic increase)

Kaboodle SMP (91 works, 87 last month, 4-fic increase)

Tortillaland SMP (115 works, 115 last month, 0-fic increase)

House Builder Gang SMP | HBG SMP (135 works, 134 last month, 1-fic increase)

New Life SMP (169 works, 163 last month, 6-fic increase)

Slimecicle Cinematic Universe (Web Series) (174 works, 169 last month, 5-fic increase)

WitchCraft SMP (182 works, 176 last month, 6-fic increase)

Pirates SMP (213 works, 195 last month, 18-fic increase)

Rats SMP (234 works, 229 last month, 5-fic increase)

SMPLive (295 works, 286 last month, 9-fic increase)

SMPEarth (304 works, 289 last month, 15-fic increase)

Mianite (Web Series) (379 works, 373 last month, 6-fic increase)

Outsiders SMP (393 works, 374 last month, 19-fic increase)

Afterlife SMP (395 works, 390 last month, 5-fic increase)

MindCrack RPF (504 works, 503 last month, 1-fic increase)

MyStreet - Aphmau (Web Series) (543 works, 523 last month, 20-fic increase)

Evolution SMP (693 works, 660 last month, 33-fic increase)

Minecraft: Story Mode (Video Game) (824 works, 800 last month, 24-fic increase)

Karmaland SMP (842 works, 824 last month, 18-fic increase)

Fable SMP (1,012 works, 945 last month, 67-fic increase)

Lifesteal SMP (1,546 works, 1,461 last month, 85-fic increase)

Origins SMP (1,575 works, 1,541 last month, 34-fic increase)

The Yogscast (3,215 works, 3,213 last month, 2-fic increase)

Empires SMP (6,408 works, 6,230 last month, 178-fic increase)

QSMP | Quackity SMP (7,375 works, 6,510 last month, 865-fic increase)

3rd Life | Last Life SMP Series (10,336 works, 9,505 last month, 831-fic increase)

Hermitcraft SMP (20,093 works, 19,309 last month, 784-fic increase)

Dream SMP (85,051 works, 918-fic increase)

Minecraft (Video Game) (110,119 works, 438-fic increase)

Video Blogging RPF (279,422 works, 4223-fic increase)

[enden-agolor]

HEYO. I have a couple questions, one of which is random af haha

First of all, how and when did you get into MCSM? This is one of my favorite questions to ask fandoms, especially this one.

Also, what are your preferred gaming consoles? No judgements here! I know the Console Wars™ were real and still are sometimes but. I honestly don't care if someone prefers [insert console here] over [insert console here]. I'm just curious and like to learn about people 😄

(Btw you having a favorite TB order on your intro post is so real. Love Taco Bell 🌮

Ngl the Pesse Griffwalt thing also makes me laugh. Ty for making it your pfp haha)

I got into mcsm back in 2021. My bf and I were bored and scrolling through Netflix and I stumbled across the game and was like 😏 Pffftt Andy get a load of this. I'm not gonna lie, I kinda hated mcsm for a long time. Mostly because the animation was off putting as someone who grew up watching slamacow amongst other minecraft animators with similar styles, so seeing mcsm was a bit jarring and I avoided it for quite some time. I actually remember when it was announced and had debated getting the game, but chose to get a different game. Can't remember if it was call of duty or a nintendo game, but yeah.

Anyways, played the Netflix version and somehow ended up kind of invested. Bought the games on ebay and played them ourselves and had a great time. Although, I kinda fell out of it because at the time I was really into Titanfall, but Andy kept coming to me and being like. Randy. Jesse and Lukas. And I was like 🗿 Okay and? And then he asked if we could roleplay and everything went downhill from there. So yeah it's actually HIS fault I am the way I am now. Funny because I'd been trying to get him into minecraft since 2011, but it's mcsm of all things that finally gets him into it. Because of a certain blond man. Anyways I ended up falling in love with the way he writes Jesse. This is coming from someone who is into robot characters, NOT human characters. Jesse and Lukas are the two lucky guys and they're literal blocks.

Also my preferred console in Xbox, but I have owned just about every single Nintendo console/handheld there is. Not much of a Playstation fan, but even then we still have a PS4.

Also thank you. Taco Bell my beloved 🫶 And I am honored you enjoy Mr. Pesse Griffwalt 😁