#tagging cause why not

[lyn-ne]

I’m so late to this but I did the comfort character trend thingy

[saveraedae]

Why TMS (2020) episode 1 is not your most viewed video?

I can think of quite a few reasons,

but overall I'm not really worried about it, because I know there's nothing I can do but make sure episode 2 is the best it can possibly be! :D i really am super excited to show people what I'm working on

(ALSO I AM SO SORRY THIS GOT LONG AND KINDA DEEP FJHJKHF and a little off topic BUT ITS STILL RELATED TO TMS)

This is what I've observed over the years, so may I present to you,

Possible reasons as to why episode 1 isn't a hit / why TMS is so obscure:

Episode 1 is very amateur. I made it when I was still in high school. It has poor sound design, poor scene composition, isn't animated, and I believe the script could've benefited from one last rewrite. Most people who've viewed it, I assume, generally consider it nothing to write home about unless they happened to get invested in the story/characters, went to look at my other work and got interested that way, or were around before Friend Fiction came out. Not to mention, it's animatics, there's no color.

It has no furry characters or fantasy elements. "What could this boring old human show possibly have to offer? Real stuff is too boring!" Furry characters in your project are essentially a cheat sheet to success, you already have the major one-up of the possibility of mass appeal to your project just by including characters that WILL appeal to an already existing large-but-niche community of people. TMS is just goofy looking humans that look incredibly normal, because it's a grounded-in-reality show.

There's nothing exactly like it anywhere out there. At least... not in terms of animated media. There's stuff TMS as a whole is similar to, but in terms of what it all really is, there isn't anything exactly like it. People in entertainment say if you offer something new that people will automatically flock to it, but that couldn't be further from the case. I do believe in some aspects it could have a larger mass appeal if it were to gain more traction, especially with people interested in media with complex and nuanced narratives, foremost-focus on character dynamics over story, but still offer a silly cartoon slice of life vibe, and people who have a strong connection to mental health struggles, especially the more dynamic and complex issues, but I have never been able to draw in many just from doing my own thing. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's always had a VERY small and incredibly niche audience of people that vocally supported it. That is really hella cool that anyone even likes my work. I have noticed however that in terms of the public eye (posts on publicly accessible social media) it's rare to see posts about it from those who like it, those who hate it, or even posts that mention it in the first place lol. Usually it's 1-2 people at a time that'll be super into it, don't have anyone to talk to about it, and they lose interest. (Small fandom struggles, been there, done that.) Nothing really I can do about that though, that's not something I have any control over unless I wanna look like a fool lmao. My goal with last year's Annual October Challenge being 'post on socials and you can win a prize' was to encourage public posting about it so more people can be aware TMS even exists. Obviously I can't force anyone to do anything, but y'all really don't know how tremendously public engagement and ESPECIALLY comments help out small creators. If all we do is upsell ourselves with no one cheering us on / giving their thoughts / backing us up, we just look.... kinda goofy lol.

I'm not friends with any well-respected creators with bigger audiences. I kinda... go it alone? I've never really met anyone with more influence than me that was interested in TMS enough to wanna vocalize it publicly or do any type of collaboration with me. I've met some hella cool people throughout the years but I'm too socially traumatized from years of rejection to further pursue relationships with people lol.

Came from nothing, didn't go to college, and didn't grow up in LA. I don't exactly live in an area that's well-suited for the kind of work I'm doing, I have very very limited resources available within reasonable distance from me. Networking (and even travelling to animation-focused cons) is not something I'm financially able to do unfortunately, Momocon 2025 is a huuuge stretch goal for me that's gonna set me back a lot. And I have certain sentiments about post-high school education for art that determined why I never sought a degree.

That's just what I've observed as my time being a creator. In the end though I don't particularly care if it is ever 'popular.'

Would it be cool? I mean, could be!

Would it help things get done faster? Oh man absolutely. I'd have access to so many more resources and have so many more opportunities. Completely chill just doing everything alone though, even if I'm still trying to complete the full show when I'm like 50 LOL but yeah, more eyes on it would mean more people aware I exist/more people that want to offer to help me make everything come to life and not have it take 10000 years as a solo entrepreneur.

But as I said, if TMS never really gains traction, even after episode 2 (which will serve as a more polished looking, full proof of concept for the rest of the show,) eh, I don't really care. Because I'm making TMS really for me in the end anyway. I like these types of stories, I like these types of character dynamics, and I've always wanted to make it into a full length show.

Firm believer in the 'if you really want something, you WILL find a way to make it happen' mentality! ❤️

Don't believe people who try and sway you away from what you know deep in your heart you want.

[zaachknight]

feeling the need to yap constantly about my book rn I love my silly little guys :(

[butchfalin]

the funniest meltdown ive ever had was in college when i got so overstimulated that i could Not speak, including over text. one of my friends was trying to talk me through it but i was solely using emojis because they were easier than trying to come up with words so he started using primarily emojis as well just to make things feel balanced. this was not the Most effective strategy... until. he tried to ask me "you okay?" but the way he chose to do that was by sending "👉🏼👌🏼❓" and i was so shocked by suddenly being asked if i was dtf that i was like WHAT???? WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME?????????? and thus was verbal again

[crustaceousfaggot]

No nuance allowed. Put your nuance in the tags, I just want a yes or no answer

[kazodus]

came to me in a dream

[me-beef]

@strangeravatar made a great point

i was gonna focus on the spike-hotboxing-celestia aspect but i got distracted somewhere along the way and i think i forgot what joke i was trying to make

but dont you think its interesting how many guards of the exact same color/body type she's managed to accrue?? i do

ooohh you want to go look at our stickers so bad

[gammija]

nothing personal but this kind of comment rlly exemplifies to me a disconnect between canon and popular fanon jmart characterization because they almost literally had this conversation in canon - except, their lines are swapped!

jon, for all his scared grouchiness, is a secret romantic, while martin, for all his forced optimism, is at his core a pragmatist

[onesidedradiostatic]

stayed gone but you're the sinners watching/listening

(AKA I spend an unnecessary amount of time editing)

[ca-3]

twitter is distracting cause i keep saving tweets to draw... anyway, this is MakoHaru to me 🤭

(Bonus: big sis is here to help....?)

[chrisrin]

all my behind-the-scenes concept work and such for the HGCZ! i had a blast working on it all.

check out my finished piece here, and check out @hotguycomiczine for the full zine!

[yanderespamton78]

Edit since a lot of people seem confused - your "real" name is the name that you want to be referred to in real life. It doesn't have to be your legal name. So if you're trans and you have a different name to whats on your birth certificate, even if not many people call you by the name, it still counts as your real name.

Edit 2 : Holy shit guys please stop reblogging this post my poor inbox im getting like 20 notifs an hour asjfhkajshdkh /lh /srs

[ohposhers]

i wish i remembered the context of this shitposts creation but i really dont im sorry everybody

[imaginederror]

Sequel to Sunshade

[bastardlybonkers]

blond

[secondary-colorentimy]

ill be real with u i hate the new guy it would have driven me insane if i didnt draw something other than his actual canon design 💀

edit: point of reference i drew this the day we first saw him 🫡, still dont love his design now that we know his name lol