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drawnaghht · 6 months

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SRTUC and the "3D vs 2D" toons

a little animation prediction:

...10-15 years from now, the kids growing up watching things from their parents' handheld devices are gonna be nostalgic for their cocomelon's and will be wondering, "why aren't there any good 3D cartoons like in their childhood??" just like how ppl in each generation have always been nostalgic for the entertainment of their own childhood haha x3

this little anecdote is smth I've slowly kinda realized after thinking abt the whole "3D vs 2D" mindset ppl have about animation in general. i've been seeing a lot of complaining online abt 2D cartoons and indie cartoons in general and I'm wondering.... when will the criticism end? Just 8 months ago, people would have shared the sentiment, "more indie animation! hollywood is starving our artists!" but now from online fans, I see a lot more of the sentiment of "this thing sucks" or in the case of Rise TMNT for example, "we were too late for this show".

People like 2D animation, but any time there's a new show out, people either don't give it a chance (thinking of my old faves, like Motorcity and Sym-bionic Titan, but also many others). Or like with Moon Girl, people seem to ignore it more than talk about it. Is it because it's a Marvel show? it's like the spiritual successor to both ROTTMNT and LMK, but also BH6 a bit?? it's good. animated by Flying Bark (known widely for Rise and Lego Monkey Kid) with supervising director Ben Juwono, story artist on BH6 and Glitch Techs. and there's lots of other cool ppl on the crew

also just, I'm thinking again abt how the 1st reactions from many different fans and viewers in general was so... strong. People reacted so badly to the 3D in SR, and it didn't make much sense to me, because personally, as someone who's seen many animated films and series since Toy Story in 96, it looks better than just "fine". the art direction in the show actually looks great to me. I do notice smaller animation or model/render mistakes but tbh they are so few and inbetween, that usually does not break enjoyment for me when it comes to 3D tv. So a lot of the hate that the "3D style" gets still doesn't make sense to me.

now I see that it's probably bc ppl are still used to 2D being their preference or something they see as better.... and maybe not entirely just ppl being tired of certain 3D rendering styles. A few thoughts...

So alright, it does not look like disney or like Sony artists' work with Spiderverse and later films. "Styles" or approaches to rendering which ppl are used to or have come to expect from all animated features and even animated series now. But it's still unique and strong in its own way. It doesn't look like Trollhunters either, 99 pictures' previous series of works, and I find that a good thing. it's been a long time since Trollhunters was in development to when Samurai Rabbit started 3D development.

The show is stylized in a way where it takes into account the work of all the visdev artists while also juggling the task of making anthro animals look animal-like and cartoony, but not too cutesy or too smooth either. It seems to follow the visdev art a lot. So there are many considerations to balance in the style. They also used many budget-saving methods, i.e. the changing walls of the city so they would have more variety without modelling a lot of buildings, or how scenes were rendered in a way to save time and space. Or cut character's legs off via camera view bc it's not important to see leg etc. So for the result they got on the show, it looks fine and quite often also nice. Again, the art directions saves the show from a lot of the smaller mistakes and ties it nicely together. One thing that did bother me a bit more was the crowd-characters style, both in 3D and 2D. To me they look a bit ugly and like they don't quite go together with the main cast "drawing" style, but again lol, you cannot splurge on everything when you're on a TV budget and imo it's not a huge loss.

I do like however how this show avoids what a lot of videogames do (for good reason), and what some 3D shows seem to also do. Everything looks like it's at the right size. Like the characters and objects/scenery/city they interact with feels tangibe, despite any technical shortcuts mentioned before. It looks really nice to my brain, especially knowing what many of these things look and feel like irl. I also enjoy that they've made the simple choice of making the characters more "furry" looking anthros and "less human" - so they don't feel awkward for having too many human traits and less animal traits. Or like animal heads with human bodies with the wrong proportions. Sometimes these things just work better in drawings and 2D vs 3D. Smart choice to not overly humanize them when they're already walking on their very human-like cartoon legs.

Lol maybe I've just seen much uglier things in 3D than what kids these days are used to. It does feel like with Samurai Rabbit in general, it's another case of a show coming out a bit too late for the changing tastes of viewers now. But then again, if we consider how many of these criticisms are coming from teens, who maybe just have a different taste and preference (e.g. they haven't seen maybe early 00s stuff so they judge all 2D to be superior bc they're tired of 3D? could be anything like that). And the other contingent I see are some older adults in their 30s/40s who are critical of animation in general, or they don't like how it's not a direct adaptation of Usagi Yojimbo. I remember a quote my sibling throws around about fans like these: "and baby food doesn't taste as good as it used to!!!" and I find she is right haha, some people have way too many opinions about shows which are not for them at all. Like, move on and watch something else x3 It seems it was popular with the indended demographic of kids ages 6-11, so, if that's something that helped the show, good. That's nice.

BTW, on that last note, been meaning to say this for a long time, but imo, it's actually good that the show wasn't a direct adaptation. Think about it. How many adaptations have you seen where people don't complain about how xyz part was left out? Or how they didn't capture the essence in their style? Stan and crew worked with what they got from Netflix, and I find that admirable on its own, seeing how Netflix treats many of their animated shows nowadays in general. Not just cancellations, but other things like contract disagreements and changes to a show. It seems with the last 2 years, the halcyon days of Netflix are over. Even though animation was the thing holding the entertainment industry in the US up during the pandemic, it and its workers are treated unfairly by the megacorp, who have also revealed that they're losing money in general. And from interviews and articles, it seems this show also had hard times, in terms of getting an adaptation at all (it was changed and NF asked them to do it about a younger Usagi instead, something like that), so they got the short end of the stick, but dealth with it. When Candie and Doug, the showrunners, were brought on board, they were told that it had to be for a younger audience, so a younger Usagi and the solution was to make a descendant. But that freed the show up a lot more than it would have been before. Now, instead of deciding on what favourite UY story to cut, the crew could instead focuz on making a complete story and rounded characters without stepping on Netflix's toes. It also seems the show had really enthusiastic execs and producers in general. So in the end we got a show with descendants of some of the comic's cast, who just happen to also be like retellings or their own versions of some of these characters (like Chizu and Kitsune for example)

saying all that.... lol if this show does come back, it'll be a while again and 3D preferences and styles would be changed again... I wonder what kind of visual style they would opt for if there was a new series based on Samurai Rabbit or based on other Usagi Yojimbo series, like Chibi Usagi or Yokai Hunter.

there's also of course just the factor that a lot of animation fans might be coming from a different place compared to fans of other media and are a lot more critical about what they watch. Never really been big on liveaction fandoms cuz I only watch liveaction stuff w my family as a fun activity to do, but i get sorta bored otherwise (so personal preference). I do know ppl complain abt their liveaction shows too but... it seems from this far away, much less whiney in some way. Like ppl being used to it and moving. But animation criticism always seems to be coming from an ungenuine or unfairly angry place. I don't know if it's the combo of "nostalgia nerd"-like youtuberisms having an influence on this, or just general negativity, but it's definitely something that's sorta become more boring/annoying to see. If you're critical of everything, eventually you sorta have nothing to criticise, or at least, nothing to enjoy.

but hey, if the general taste preference is still 2D, that's great! that's nice. I also still prefer 2D even if 3D is something I've worked with and something i've become accustomed to in animation in general. I just wonder where this mindset comes from that animated things have to be absolutely-infinitely PERFECT, or else it's not worth the watch.

I've definitely been in this camp of cartoon haters myself in the past... maybe not so much looking for perfectionism, but trying to see things I liked from an adult POV... but thankfully the early 00s we didn't have internet access i my family yet so no one else saw lol. As a kid, I genuinely thought that to be an animator, I have to learn how to be critical of every movie and animated thing I see. But animation brings me a lot of joy even when it's not "objectively" good... I wonder when more people will catch up and see their old mindset from a different point of view. I just find it sad that critics and internet drama seemingly have a much bigger impact on a show's success than say, the actual demographic watching it, or sales or whatever.

Anyway, if you read this far, thank you! I would offer an internet cookie, but it seems so here have a SR! Gen, representing how tired I am after staying up too late to write this haha x3

Anyway, good night, if you like a show or really enjoy it, pls watch it and share the word about it, that seems to do good.

Night!

#anyway I keep remembering how MOON GIRL apparently still isn't out in many countries #watch moon girl it's good #yuichi usagi #samurai rabbit #srtuc #usagi chronicles #cartoons #opinionate #like idk. just. sad? yeah i guess #just thinking #long post #fanramble #this is just a bunch of dumb rambling don't mind me #there are bigger things going on but i'm thinking abt cartoons again #this is not a thought piece i am just slowly frizzzing my brain out trying to think of coherent things #distraction destruction deception... i will write no more past this nightly attention

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kiddokori · 2 years

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this is just gonna be me rambling about paint for awhile

but before now I’ve really only ever drawn on paper with lead pencils or worked digitally since i got a tablet like a year ago and everyones heard all the “digital’s easier it’s cheating stuff” and I always thought yeah ok sure it has a lot of short cuts I get it traditional mediums take more technical skill but who cares it’s not a competition. And then I took an oil painting class this term and I’ve completely switched. Digital’s fucking hard. Painting is so easy. Not in a like “oh I’m so naturally good at this thing” I’m not it’s most definitely a learning curve but. Ok the best way I can put it is digital makes it easier to do something it’s not easier as a medium. I can do a bunch of super specific random shit with a couple clicks that would either be impossible to do traditionally or would take considerably more time or intention to do it. But that doesn’t mean it looks good. We’ve all seen or made art digitally as kids that was just a shit ton of layer modes and gaussian blur and smudge shadows and it looked bad! It took a very short amount of time to do it but that didn’t make it good! Painting is so easy not that it’s easy to do things, you constantly have to carefully consider what you’re doing, but it’s just so simple. The hardest part is learning how to mix colors, but once you get that, if you have experience drawing, it’s so easy. Like it seems unfair how much I’d gotten it stuck in my head that painting = hard and digital = easy, especially with oil paints. Digital is very forgiving with undoing and layers but that’s also kind of the issue. I’ll sit for hours fucking around with settings and undoing and redoing and undoing and redoing like it’s such a process. Painting is just oh you put a glob of paint there? cool it’s there now. That’s it. No spending ten minutes agonizing over every tiny action you make you just do it. And now it’s there and you have to put up with it. I don’t know if I’m making sense I just had a weird epiphany while thinking about it. Digital is hard. There’s so much and yes that gives you a ton of options to cheat things you can’t traditionally but if you don’t really understand how to finesse those cheats it looks like shit. And there’s SO much to learn it’s almost overwhelming. Painting doesn’t have those cheats but it’s just so straightforward and simple. There’s so much mythology (mystique? you know what I mean) surrounding oil paints. I’ve always had an understanding it was very technical and demanding and simply out of reach if you didn’t dedicate your whole life to it. And yeah my first painting sucked ass because I was just learning to mix colors and how paint interacts with itself and the canvas and how paint thinner affects it and how linseed oil affects it but you get a feel for it. It’s not a million settings you need to memorize it’s like a muscle. And again, if you have drawing experience, if you understand fundamentally how objects function in a 3D space it’s so easy to get a grasp on painting. I’m on my third painting second still life and I’m like holy shit I kinda get it. Not as much as a seasoned painter obviously but I have a hold on it. It is not that complicated. Also I feel like a large part of at least my frustration with digital, but I see a lot of people do this too, is traditional mediums look cool and it’s hard to replicate it in a way that looks natural digitally. Like everything you do is so standardized and calculated there’s very little room for natural variation. Even with a brush that’s meant to be random or sporadic or replicate paint or water colors or charcoals or whatever, it’s a formula. It’s a mathematical line that will always behave based on strict settings. Paint does whatever the fuck it wants, and that’s part of the fun! You get fun textures and layers and interactions between materials you didn’t necessarily expect, and once you figure out why and how that happens, you can manipulate it more. But it’s still going to have some aspect of unpredictability. Oh fuck I hit the character lim

#anyways.#if you’ve only ever drawn on paper or worked digitally. maybe try painting #its fun :) and very much not as hard as i feel like people make it out to be #look up some youtube videos and set up a canvas #follow a skillshare class idk #i think having a professional painter to instruct me helped with understanding the basics and being able to run from there #ive fucked around with like cheap micheals paints. two or three times my entire life #not for many years.#and i never liked how it looked lol so i think having some level of instruction helps #also quality paints are in fact worth it sad i know #but i needed more of one of my blues and got a cheaper hue one and it takes significantly more paint to get the color i want so. get the #good ones #paints are complicated to buy theres a lot of hues and tints and other vocabulary i don’t understand #my prof set us up w a pre made kit that had a handful of Good tubes of paint so we just mix anything that isnt a primary #you dont need a ton of tubes you just need the foundation ones its not like markers where you need every color #i just. its fun to learn a new skill and i like talking about things that interest me #its also helping my personal art like my digital stuff #not that theres like directly applicable skills they are very much their own beasts #but learning color theory is in fact helpful #and learning to consider things and take your time #and just. branching out #im rambling again #ARGHHH I WANNA TALK ABOUT PAINTING #its fun :) never thought id be into it and here i am #friendship ended with digital painting is my new best friend #jkjkjk digital is nice #i think painting owns my heart now thi #i promise im not being pretentious about it

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lenle-g · 4 years

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So! This is my @tagsecretsanta for the super super lovely @such-a-random-rambler whose prompt I was SO excited about and I have never spent so long drawing, 3D rendering (a new skill!) and animating something in my life, oh boy XDD

John's “filing system”, if it's even acceptable to call it such a thing, is nothing short of perfectly precise, absolutely fastidious, totally organized chaos.

Scott, bathed in the blue glow of the holograms all around him, has absolutely no idea how John ever finds anything in this cascading, endless quantity of folder after folder, all neatly labelled with, well, ???some kind of code or other??? he assumes??? probably??? Evidently their spaceman understands... whatever this is but Scott, scowling, has no idea how John could expect anyone else to ever have a chance at deciphering his stupid hieroglyphics.

It's almost a criminally annoying.

For a start, there's literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of them. There must be a file here for every mission they've ever been on, and more besides for who-even-knows-what that Scott's had no real reason to ever look at before.

But John's currently out of commission and Scott, his teeth now gritted, really needs to find the mission files from the incident that did it. He knows John was, of course, recording everything from his stint to the X2 Zero Space Station in those annoying, succinct, shorthand notes of his. His brother is predictably pedantic and precise like that. He always has been. But as much as it irritates Scott it does mean that what went so very wrong up there last night is all here somewhere, tucked into one of these files, tantalisingly right under his finger tips and labelled in utter gibberish.

It takes Scott three hours just to work out that the little number at the end of each file name is the date done the English way.

A cry of: “Oh seriously!” escapes Scott before he can contain it, and he spends a good couple of minutes soundlessly cursing that semester John spent at Oxford with Penelope, back during his degree. The temptation to throw the holoprojector across the room is rapidly mounting, and he’s stopped only because both hands are needed to plunge deep into the whirling lines of blue code and wrestle out the folder labelled with the awful, heart-racing, anglicised version of yesterday’s date.

The folder finally in his grasp, Scott opens it with a mounting degree of trepidation and... and he rapidly discovers that everything inside it is encoded and that he has no idea what any of it means and the eldest Tracy is filled with, instead of the expected triumph, a sinking, twisting miasma of dread.

"Goddamn it John." Scott hisses to himself, bashing one of his fists down on the smooth wood composite of their Father's desk, "Is this written in alien? How the hell…?!?"

It’s Alan, alerted by all the muffled complaining, who eventually creeps in and takes pity on him, sliding his little fingers neatly through John’s mess and gradually decrypting it. Though he does so with an unwarranted amount of giggling, Scott feels.

John’s ‘alien writing’ is apparently NASA shorthand that’s been translated using a numbered sequence into no less than three of John's favourite languages and then run through some kind of scrambler. Scott wonders if his brother has written a program to do this for him or if it's just become deeply ingrained into that ridiculous computer brain of his that he does it without even thinking about it.

Surely stopping the Hood from getting into their files doesn’t have to be this extreme? Not for old data? The specs of the Thunderbirds maybe but... for missions logs, software patch notes and John’s (rarely followed) meal plans?

Not so much.

An hour of work on Alan’s part later, each painstakingly translated word stands out in brilliant, bold red, displayed high in the air above their living space:

"Scott,” Alan reads the sentence aloud, interrupting himself with his own mirth, “pffft, get out of my files and, hahaha, go to, oh my god, bed." He nearly topples himself over he's laughing so hard. “He didn’t.”

“Oh he did.” Scott scowls, furious. “For crying out loud…” Big brother's fingers bunch up into righteous fists of shaking anger as he shoves the words off the projected screen. "That oversized string bean set me up." Alan's howling cranks up a notch, fuelled by his reaction. “Alan, stop it!” He demands, though it has very little effect on his little brother. The young pilots eyes are watering and he’s curled over himself, pounding at his knees with his fists. “It’s not funny.” Scott snaps, “Just wait ‘till I get my hands on him, he’s going to tell me what happened up there whether he likes it or...”

“Scott, Scott!” Alan, wiping genuine tears of laughter from his eyes, steps in for damage control, laying a preventative hand on his sibling’s arm and shaking his head. He’s perfectly aware of how hot headed his oldest brother can be and Alan sure doesn’t want to be responsible for any impromptu landings of Thunderbird One direclty on top of his space-inclined brother’s bedroom. “Hey, look, Gordon just told me that John's finally fallen asleep. Virg'll murder you if you go and wake him now."

And Scott has to just seethe quietly at that because he knows Alan's absolutely right. And not just about potential Virgil-induced-killings. John would never readily admit it, but Virg had confided in them all that their astronaut has been having a lot of difficulty resting properly since they brought him home. A lot of the common pain medications they keep stocked tend to mess with the spaceman’s space-worn body more than it’s worth to give them to him. Scott doesn’t have a hard time recalling the pinched, pained expression that he hasn’t seen leave their spaceman’s pale face for the last fourteen hours.

“It’s not John I’m mad at.” Scott finally deflates into sulking, with a big sigh. “Not really. I just know there’s someone out there, someone we could be tracking down, whose responsible for this all happening. For John getting trapped up there and...”

“I know.” The little hand on his arm gives it a warm squeeze and Alan’s looking at him all big blue baby eyes and worry. “I know, but he'll tell us what happened when he's ready, yeah?" It's surprisingly considerate and wise sounding coming from their littlest brother. “You don’t need to be here trying to hack Thunderbird Five for all the answers. It’s,” He grins, “It’s clear John’s not just going to give them to you before he’s ready anyway, right?”

“I guess not.” Scott snorts, folding the swirling blue holograms of the file directory away with a tired sweep of his hand. “I just hate not knowing.”

“Join the club.” Alan digs a friendly elbow into his brothers side, jostling, “There’s five of us plus Grandma, and we’re all gonna get t-shirts that say ‘Caution; touching even a single orange hair on John Tracy’s head may result in grievous bodily harm’.”

Scott laughs again, sounding far more genuine now.

“Thanks Alan.” He tucks an arm around the kids shoulders, squidging him in close. “I needed that. You sure know how to cheer a guy up. Now how about we go wrestle together something that John’ll be able to eat ready for when he’s awake again. I’m not much of a psychic but I’m pretty sure he’s gonna be hungry when he wakes up and I don’t want Grandma getting any ‘good ideas’ about it before we do.”

“I’ll go raid his oatmeal stash!” Alan practically leaps across the room in his eagerness and Scott smiles, watching him careen off toward the kitchen to track down John’s go-to comfort food for when he’s just down from orbit and feeling space-sick.

Scott draws in a deep, worried breath to try to centre himself, not liking how rattled and stressed he’s been by this whole thing. John’ll be ok. He tells himself. And he’ll update us with whatever we need to know when he deems it necessary... likely in perfect, factual detail and completely missing out anything John might have been thinking or, damn it, feeling at the time.

John Tracy is, of course, just like that.

But it doesn’t half frighten his brothers.

#this took me way longer than it should have but!!!!!#here you go!!!!#hope this is okeee <33333333333333333 #threw a lil John squishin' in there for the seasonal fun of it? XDDD #John Tracy #Thunderbirds Are Go #TAG #Thunderbirds 2015 #lenleg's thunderbirds tag #Lenleg's Sketchbook #<3333333333333 #fingers crossed you like this #am v sleepy and have not checked all this well XD #i hope the GIF works #aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa #i'll edit this in the morning #just wanted to get it posted for you <33 #bedddddddddddddd

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animus-wild-magic · 6 years

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One Single Page

Today I want to share the process of creating one single comic page for Animus. But rather then showing you the process of sketching, inking and coloring, which many great artists have already shared on the internet, I’d like to present a more personal approach to the entire process of creating the page from the very first stage. This is in no way a set of rules or even a tutorial, but it is rather meant to inspire you to find your own path, as well as expose how much work it can take to create each page, so that you know that you’re not alone, and this is no easy job. But we are brave, and we can do it. (:

Script and notes:

This is when I first take notes of the page, generally working with all of the planned pages together and in sequence, having the overall view of the entire story. Once the idea of the story is more concise, and the pages start to take their individuality, speeches are written down and some notes about settings and panels are taken.

Character design and studies:

Yup, if you’re gonna tell a story, you are probably gonna need characters. Some people like to create their characters before starting to write down a script, and some people would prefer to write everything about the story first. In any way, this is something you’ll need to figure out: how do the characters featured on this page look like?

Environment concept:

Since your characters are probably not floating in an empty space, it is important that you pay some attention to where they are living, give context to their daily habits and simply know how to portray the background that are going to appear in each panel of this comic, or in our example, of one specific page.

Thumbnails:

Again, some people like doing thumbnails in parallel to their writing, and some people do not write at all, and just jump straight into thumbnailing pages with side notes to figure out the dialogues. Some people will create thumbnails as they draw more pages, and for me it seemed easier to just do the miniatures for the entire issue before anything else. It helps me feel like this stage was complete.

Environment 3d modeling:

Yup. That’s right. With so many complexity and so many panel to manage from such different angles, I’ve opted to create 3d models of my main locations in the comic. Whenever I’m confused about the perspective of a specific setting, or I simply wanna see how would that angle look when compared to that other one, I can simply “take a walk” around Arceria and the other fictional places of my comic. Many people can consider this to time consuming, and it might be depending on the theme of your story and how relevant some of those locations are. For me, it is a good investment and helps me a lot.

Role playing the script:

If you think the previous one was a little over the top or silly, this one’s possibly gonna make you laugh real hard. I choose important parts of the script and I record myself moving and acting like the characters in question. Yes, with the speeches and everything, and I’ll get to that soon enough. With this time consuming step, I gain for myself three main advantages:

1) Anatomically accuracy when portraying complex poses, torsions, foreshortening.

2) Gesture and movement. If I wanna portray a character in the middle of a jump, know what was happening in second before and what will happen in the second after is super relevant for purposes of stylization, and also helps convey dynamic in the fabric of their clothes, their hair and everything around them.

3) Facial expressions and mouth shapes coherent to what the characters are talking, the sound that is coming out of their mouths. If a character is saying “No!” you probably want the shape of their lips to have that O shape, but it is not always that obvious, so this can be pretty helpful.

Note: I don’t always do this, and I can clearly see how exaggerated this can be, but hey, I made a compromise to share my entire process, right? (Also, no, not gonna show these footage LOL)

Panels:

At this point I already have all of the references needed, and the first step towards actually drawing the page is drawing those panels. I do this with the help of Photoshop’s tools that allow me to use curves and handles, since my panels are pretty organic.

Sketch the entire thing:

Well, this is where we start to get a little more obvious and predictable. Just draw the thing!

Inking or line art:

Also a very self explanatory step. Just choose your favorite brush settings and line the entire thing!

Lights, color, aaaand action!

Time to color the entire page, again within your chosen painting settings and the premise of the comic, respecting the mood of the scene and some degree of stylization balanced with some aesthetic coherence.

Keeping track of your work:

I like organizing my pages so that I can see how they are working together so far and keep a record of how much time, in a average, one single page takes to be created. After that one single page, you know what to do: just keep doing it over and over again until the comic is done. Like I said at the beginning, it’s not an easy job, but I can do it. The world needs your story. (:

Thinking through the entire process:

You can see most of those steps apply not only to one single page, as the tittle would suggest. They connect the entire comic, because it is in fact one big project that cannot be disconnected from the final result that I desire for it. Each step and decision must take in consideration the entire project, and holding this goal near in sight is very inspiring!

#indiecomic #indie comic #productivity #being productive #productivity improvment #productive routine #inspiration #motivation #graphic novel #pages #comic pages #how to #tutorial #art tutorial #how to make comics #making comics

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un-enfant-immature · 6 years

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3DHubs, once a community 3D printing service, is now sourcing all 3D prints internally

3D Hubs, like MakeXYZ, was a community-based 3D printing service that let anyone with a printer sell their prints online. Founded in the heyday of the 3D printing revolution, the service let thousands of makers gather a little cash for making and mailing prints on their home 3D printers.

Now, however, the company has moved to a model in which its high-end partners will be manufacturing plastic, metal, and injection molded parts for customers willing to pay extra for a professional print.

“Indeed, more focus on high end printers run by professional companies,” said founder Brian Garret. “So a smaller pool of manufacturing locations (still hundreds around the world), but with more control on standardized quality and repeatability. Our software takes care of the sourcing, so companies order with 3D Hubs directly.”

Not everyone is happy with the decision. 3DPrint.come editor Joris Peels saw the value in a solid, dedicated community of hobbyists in the 3D space. The decision to move away from hobbyist printers, wrote Peels, “has confused many.”

“The value of 3DHubs is in its community; the community gives it granular local presence and a barrier to entry. Now it is just like any 3D printing service upstart and will lose its community entirely. I’ve always liked 3DHubs, although I have been very skeptical of their Trends Report I like the company and what they’re doing. I liked the idealism coupled with business,” he wrote.

The community, for its part, is angry.

A big F you to @3DHubs today! Switching over from "Locally sourced 3D prints" to the "Closed manufacturing program" basically… This was a big reason for me to own a 3d printer… now it's all gone!

— 2lol555 (@2lol555) September 12, 2018

Why? Don’t you plan on screwing over the 3d printing community due to greed?

— MikByte (@viperz28) September 12, 2018

Sad news! @3DHubs is closing normal hubs (non Manufacturing Partners/Fulfilled by 3D Hubs). I've been pushing for months to get into the Fulfilled by 3D Hubs program, hope they give me one last change to join pic.twitter.com/R6W51rLEeH

— Diego Trapero (@diegotrap) September 12, 2018

The move will happen on October 1 when all prints will be completed by Fulfilled by 3D Hubs partners, dedicated merchants who will offer “source parts for larger, high value engineering projects.” The company wrote that during the early hobbyist days the “platform at that time was very much free-form, with the goal of serving as many, mostly one-off, custom maker projects as possible.”

This slow movement from hobbyist 3D printing to professional parts manufacturer is not surprising or unexpected, but it is jarring. The 3D printing community is small, vociferous, and dedicated to the technology. In the early days, when 3D printers were rare, it was tempting to buy a mid-price printer and become a small, one-person shop online. Now, with the availability of commodity printers that cost less than some paper printers, the novelty and utility of a low-resolution print has fallen considerably.

3D printing never fulfilled its promise in the home and small office. A one-off print can save some of us a trip to the machine shop or music store but in practice home 3D printing has been a bust.

Like most open source technologies that went commercial, the dedicated zealots will complain and the established players will pivot into profitability. It ruffles feathers, to be sure, but that’s how these things work. To paraphrase the White Stripes, “Well, you’re in your little room and you’re printing something good/ But if it’s really good, you’re gonna need a bigger room/ And when you’re in the bigger room, you might not know what to do/ You might have to think of how you got started sitting in your little room.”

#TechCrunch

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secretagentspydetectiveninja · 7 years

Text

The Misadventures of Prince Kim - chapter 12

(aka the royalty AU story)

[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] [AO3]

Max had wondered how easy it would be to tutor someone like Kim, but he needn’t have worried. For all his faults, one thing could always be said about Kim – he tried hard! Once he had set his mind to something, there was no stopping that boy. Now that he wanted to get better at school work for once, he was already improving in leaps and bounds, and Max couldn’t help but be incredibly proud of his best friend.

Kim was needing a lot less help with homework now too. He would at least attempt the questions on his own, sometimes referring to books in the library to help him out, and only if he was still stuck then he would ask Max for help. He really was being so considerate. It was so sweet! How could Chloé resist the charms of a guy like that? How could Alix too, for that matter? Kim was amazing! There was always something new to love about him!

“I’m an idiot,” was something Kim said a lot. It was true, Max had to admit. Kim really didn’t think anything through, he was always making rash decisions and getting into more trouble than he was supposed to.

“But you’re a lovable idiot,” was Max’s go-to reply. That was what mattered. Kim tried hard, he was a sweet person, he knew his faults and tried to fix them, there was just always something to love about him! And Max certainly loved him. He loved him a lot. Kim knew that.

Or at least… Kim knew part of that. Max had never told him the full extent of his feelings. How could he? It wasn’t like he would ever be able to act on them. Sure, even among the royals arranged marriages were rare these days, with people preferring to marry for love. Sure, even marrying commoners or people outside rank was not as frowned upon as it had been in the past. Sure, Kanté was a fairly tolerant kingdom, with more kinds of marriage legal than in many other parts of the world!

But still. Max was a prince, and so was Kim. Even if Kim did somehow miraculously love him back in the way he meant, what could they do? Would one or both of them have to abdicate? There was no way Max was going to, not when he was so looking forward to running the country with competence, and there was no way Kim would either, just considering the kind of person he was in general. Anyway, Kim didn’t even love him as anything other than a friend. No, there was no chance. It was time to move on.

Okay, so Max had been telling himself that for months already. Time to move on. But it was so much easier said than done! How could he just completely change the way he felt about someone? Why couldn’t love just be logical, like the sciences or mathematics? Why did it have to be the one thing that Max just couldn’t figure out, no matter how hard he tried?

“Ugh, I am so not looking forward to the winter holidays,” Kim said, pulling Max away from his thoughts. They were working quietly in the library again, and for once it seemed like Kim had actually finished his work faster than Max.

“Why not? Don’t you want a break?”

“Well yeah, but I’m gonna have to go back home and talk to my parents. They’re just gonna tell me off for getting a detention and they’ll keep asking me about duelling club and Adrien and I don’t know what to tell them, I just wish I could stay here over the holidays instead and talk to them some other time…”

“Why don’t you come and stay with me in my kingdom for the holidays?” Max asked, somewhat surprising himself at how much confidence he said it with. “You always said you wanted to visit Kanté and see all the tech. Speaking of tech, Alix’s kingdom is right next door and she does like to visit a lot with trade shipments, so you’d probably get to see her too once or twice.”

“You’d let me stay in your kingdom for the whole holiday?”

“Yes, of course! You’d be an honoured guest.”

“Max, that’s… that’s really nice of you! Thanks! I’d love to!”

Max smiled and looked down at his work, hoping he wasn’t blushing. Not that he blushed easily, since there was so much melanin in his skin it made blushing quite unnoticeable. But still, he could feel his face warming up…

“It’s totally unfair, though,” Kim continued. “You and Alix get all the cool tech from your kingdoms and no one else does. Why not?”

“Trade restrictions, Kim. Very luddite, I know.”

“Very what?”

“Many countries have historically been very isolationist and resistant to change, preferring to stubbornly stick to the old ways even when it hinders them. Keeping culture and tradition is one thing, and very important too, but refusing to implement things like vaccination schemes even in the face of epidemics? That’s just unreasonable.”

“Vaccinations… that’s like, polio and stuff, right? I think we’ve got that in Lê Chiến, or at least I remember getting needles stuck in my arm when I was a little kid. But what about the other cool stuff? Like plastic and wind turbines and all the other wonders of modern technology I keep hearing you and Alix talk about? I wanna know about those! Everyone does!”

“Everyone does? Hmm, perhaps I should do a class presentation after our next world kingdom study lesson. I’ll teach the whole class about all of this, I’m sure they’ll want to know.”

“That’s an awesome idea! I can’t wait!”

Max put his homework aside and started making a list of all the things to talk about to the class. Homework was all very well and good, but perhaps if he could convince these students to open up their borders to trade even a little bit by impressing them with tales of advanced technology, well, that would be making a real change in the world! Something like that was much more important than homework.

“I am sure many of you have horseless motor carriages in your kingdoms,” Max said, standing at the front of the class the next day as they all watched him intently. “More commonly known as cars, or automobiles. However, how many of you can honestly say that your kingdom produces enough cars at a low enough cost that it is commonplace for even fairly middle-class commoners to be able to afford them? How many of you can say that your kingdom’s cars look like this?”

He swiped a cloth off a mysterious object in front of him to reveal a projector on the table. Pressing a button on it, it projected an image of a very sleek, modern-looking car onto the plain wall behind it. Many of the classmates gasped and leaned forwards to get a better look, interested properly now.

“Yes, these are the kind of cars we have in my kingdom. They have heating, cooling, even a place which you can put in a cassette tape and play music. You could even tune into the local radio station while on the move, and adjust the volume!”

Pressing the button again, the next slide was a picture of a fuel pump. “Now, I know some of you may be wondering what these cars run on. It is diesel? Petrol? Well, some of them do. But recently we’ve been investing in cleaner types of fuel that don’t pollute the air so much, or that have been taken from renewable resources. And speaking of renewable resources…”

The next slide was a wind turbine, standing lonely atop a mountain. “We try to use renewable ways to produce electricity, too. I know all of you know at least a little about electricity. It’s used to power lightbulbs and streetlamps, after all. But there’s so much more to it than that! Have a look at this!”

He knew that most of the students weren’t entirely listening to the words he was saying, but all of them were now eagerly awaiting the next slide. Sure enough, pressing the button, a mysterious big box with a picture on it now appeared projected on the wall.

“Yes, that’s a television. A home device on which you can watch movies, programs specifically made for television, et cetera. I’ll admit they still have yet to catch on properly in my kingdom, but I can tell you that in Alix’s kingdom there’s barely a house left without a TV in it. And don’t think it means that cinemas are obsolete because don’t worry, they’re still thriving!”

Pressing the button for the next slide, he talked about 3D movies at the cinema. Colour movies. Then telephones. Then holograms, then proto-computers, colour cameras, plastic, ballpoint pens (much easier to use than the fiddly, smudgy fountain pens everyone else seemed to like so much…). The classmates became more and more enraptured with his every word.

“And now for something incredibly special,” he said, flicking to the next slide. “Yes. The aeroplane. I’m not just talking about simple gliders. I’m talking about jet aircrafts, the type that can carry passengers and cargo across entire continents in just a few hours. There are only a few countries in the world with airports, so somehow most people don’t even seem to know that aeroplanes do indeed exist and have done for decades already. The coolest part is: they can fly faster than the speed of sound!”

The effect was immediate. Even Chloé, who had been fiddling with her nails and trying not to look interested, had finally taken notice. Max knew most of these students would not have known that supersonic speeds were even possible. Yet they had indeed been achieved before, and they would again.

“And last but not least, the rocket engine.” Max changed the display to the final picture. “Though this hasn’t been achieved yet, rocket engines provide sufficiently high speeds that using them, we could send probes and satellites out of the planet’s atmosphere and into space itself. Real rockets are being built right as we speak. Who knows, within a few decades we might have humans in space too!”

Lady Caline herself was looking impressed now, standing at the back of the room and watching the presentation quietly. As for the rest of the classmates, it appeared that Max had done his job fantastically. Now to finish off and drive the point home.

“So, what can we learn from this presentation? We can learn that the policies our forbearers have implemented that restricts trade and sharing of knowledge between countries is outdated, and has no place in a world that is advancing as rapidly as ours. If we can begin changing things, lifting trade restrictions little by little, we can promote growth and prosperity everywhere, not just in the few kingdoms that are lucky enough to have tech like this. That isn’t to say that everywhere should end up exactly the same, devoid of individuality or culture, but that we should reach a respectful balance between keeping the heritage and pride of our countries, and adapting to the modern world to make life a more comfortable experience for everyone. Thank you all for listening, and I hope that was informative for you!”

The hearty applause and cheering from his classmates gave him hope that they had all learned some valuable lessons today, and that maybe the world would change in the future – even if just these 14 countries. It was a good start. He felt rather proud of himself as he packed up the projector, still basking in applause. Yes, maybe his country’s GDP wouldn’t overtake that of its neighbour. But if he had a worldwide impact instead? That was much more worth celebrating!

With the winter party edging closer and closer, Alya confronted Marinette with some rather interesting plans.

“I know how you feel about Adrien,” she said, “and I’m not saying it’s impossible for him to love you back even though he is a higher rank. I’m just saying you’re going to have to stop being a stuttering dork around him all the time and actually speak to him!”

“But I can’t!” Marinette sighed. “I used to be fine at talking to him, but then when he deflected Kim’s duel challenge so honourably, and was being so nice and wonderful and kind and perfect…”

“Yes, yes, you fell in love with him on the spot and now you suddenly can’t say a word in front of him. Anyway, you and I both know there’s going to be mistletoe at the winter party, so you better drag that boy under there and ask for a kiss, alright?”

“What?!” Marinette’s face flushed pink. “I can’t just do that, Alya! He’s an imperial prince! And I can’t make him kiss me, what if he doesn’t want to? That wouldn’t be nice!”

“I’m not saying you have to make him do it, I’m just saying you should take him under the mistletoe and ask him for one. That way it’ll be clear your intentions are romantic, and if he likes you and says yes then you’ll get a kiss out of it. Where’s the downside?”

“The downside is if I mess up, or he doesn’t like me, or–”

“Don’t worry, Marinette! You’ll never know if you don’t try, and you’re a lovely person! Even if he doesn’t love you like that, I can guarantee he’ll still think you’re awesome. Because you are.”

“Aww, Alya! You’re awesome too!” Marinette hugged Alya tightly. “And I guess I’ll try talking to him at the winter party then… but no guarantees on the mistletoe!”

“That’s fair enough. Go for it, Marinette, you’ve got this!”

Somewhere not too far away, Nino and Adrien were having a surprisingly similar conversation.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you look at Marinette,” Adrien said, raising his eyebrows playfully.

“Alright, fine, I like her!” Nino replied. “She’s really cute and amazing all of a sudden! I don’t know if it’s because I went to the autumn ball with her or what, but…”

“You should talk to her at the winter party. In fact, I hear there’ll be mistletoe, so why don’t you ask her for a mistletoe kiss?”

“No, I can’t do that! That would be embarrassing! What if my breath smells bad, or there’s something in my teeth, or if she thinks I’m weird for asking her and doesn’t want to do it, or–”

“You may as well try!” Adrien laughed. “At least speak to her, won’t you? I’ll be hanging around nearby if you need my help. I promise.”

“Thanks, Adrien. You’re right, maybe I should try talking to her properly. One-on-one.”

“Nice. You can do it, Nino.”

Adrien held out his fist, and Nino gently fist-bumped it.

#royalty au #I LOVE MAX SO MUCH OKAY HE'S A COOL NERD #and yeah the tech levels in this au are a complete mess i'm sorry idk #it runs on rule of cool okay #i'm on such a roll with the writing i've been keeping up a chapter a day for 11 days now #tomorrow's chapter's already done too #when will i run out of steam? who knows #miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #le chien kim #max kante #random stuff #the misadventures of prince kim #aish writes

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katzirra · 7 years

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2017 may be the year I grab by the dick and force to be a good year by sheer force of will, but I’m also fucking screaming because it’s the year I’m officially hitting the base of all my emotional and mental trauma and having to push through it and IT IS NOT FUCKING FUN FOR ANYONE. I mean 2016 was the start of it but 2017 is the BRUNT PAIN of it for me.

Most people wouldn’t know or notice because my exterior output but mm. I’m not showing or talking about MAJORITY.

It’s like by nature I am actually REALLY fucking timid and passive and compliant, I just have a very extroverted exterior in relation to once I’ve been provoked or tapped?? I fake energy and excitement and all that to not appear timid and such? I don’t like being asked what I want because I DON’T KNOW?? I’m so... low key. I am a LAZY FUCKING CAT. I am not named Kat for NOTHING. REALLY.

That’s... I don’t want people to do things for my sake? I like companionship. I like people to be happy. I like to feel helpful and needed. I like to do what I can. I’ve spent my life servicing people and being there for people that I don’t know what that question MEANS? I don’t know what I want to do half my days I have FREE TIME?? I am constantly like h-hey who is up to hang out?? And not asking people... -rubs face- I’m trying SO fucking hard to get BETTER about EVERYTHING. ALL. AT. ONCE. ust for MY sake!!

I’m exhausted with being this way... I want to be happy and okay and have less drops and less feeling like I’m awful and more thriving because I know how fucking gOOD of a person I actually am?? I try SO HARD and I work SO HARD and I push myself and I offer to do SO much... I encourage and uplift and I really like positive energy and stuff while still being realistic and... I like all these things about myself. It’s the fact I have bad sides that I reign in and manage that I will get swarmed and drowned by.

I don’t understand that question. Anytime my girlfriend asks me what I want to do when she gets home I’m just like... I don’t know, I have a compliant mood, what is YOUR mood in the mood for?? BECAUSE EVEN WHEN I’M NOT OKAY I WILL SUCK IT UP AND ACT NORMAL FOR OTHERS?? It’s just how I AM?? People can’t FIX those moods for me really and I...-rubs face- I don’t know.

What do I want. I want to be happy and feel like I deserve to be happy? I know at my highest highs I am a good person, I do everything I can for people, I love to do kind deeds for no pay off, I love hearing compliments, I love hearing things people appreciate about me, I am awkward as fuck about it but I love hearing my values. I like to draw for people. I like to write for myself. I like to doodle little things for myself. I like to feel good in my own skin. I like to feel pretty. I like to feel like I mean something. I like being told I love you. I like feeling secure. I like feeling like things are under control and going to be okay.

I want to feel safe in my own skin. I want to know things are going to be okay. I want to know I’m worth my bad days. I want to stop being scared I’ll be abandoned for the next pretty face or better artist friend that waltzes by. I’m so USE to shit, man.

What do I want...

I like conversation. I like existing in a space with someone. I like webcamming and staring at people doing their thing, or catching eyes and just smiling because it makes me happy. I like feeling that thousand mile gap is smaller. I like watching shows and making fun of it or having a good time with it. I like watching movies and making STUPID fucking jokes or referencing garbage ships and amusements because it’s my CHEESE since highschool. I like listening to music together while we do our own respective things because it’s spending time together being productive, and not taking away from eachotyher but... having companionship so it doesnt feel like an awkward silence...? I don’t know... mm.

I love learning about things that people who matter to me like, and I love when people tell me they think I’ll like something or I’d enjoy something. I love the warm feeling in hearing “I thought you’d like it” because it means you took my interests into consideration.

I will CRY at so many stupid things, I yell at myself at how much of an overly sentimental shithead I am because WHEN PEOPLE SEND ME DUMB LINKS ON TUMBLR I LAUGH. MY TAGGED FOR ME TAG IS SO VARIED AND HILARIOUS AND AESTHETIC THOUGH... IT’S ME. IT’S PRECIOUS. My eyes WATER SO EASILY and I just... I don’t know -rubs face- Mm.

The nice shit people send me notes about my personal posts about thank you it helped me. Thank you and good luck. Thank you for showing that side of yourself because it helps. LIKE... I’m o SORRY people know the struggles I deal with too, because I know it SUCKS and I know I’m CONDITIONED in how I respond... fuck. So I know a lot of people STRUGGLE HARDER and it hurts my heart but I’m glad to know me succeeding or seeing me fight gives them a little fight to keep going sometimes...? Mm.. To inspire and ignite the fight to go on. Blah blah blah.

I like feeling like even if I’m a fucked up shithead because I’m fucked for brains emotionally DAMAGED, I am working so hard to UNDO ALL THAT AND IT’S REALLY FUCKING HARD FOR ME. I don’t TALK About half my emotional damage, it just kinda.... EXISTS and I react shitty and timid and fucking MM. I REACT TO THINGS A CERTAIN WAY because that damage exists and I have to OVER WRITE IT.

I have the possibility to overwrite A LOT with my girlfriend visiting and I’m SCARED as fuck to meet her face to face actually!! I have self image issues. I have confidence issues. I am really.... -wiggles hand- odd about things. I don’t want to be too forward, or too timid. I don’t want to this or that - like THERE’S A DOZEN THINGS IN MY HEAD even though actively I’m like; It’s going to be fine. Like brain is running around burning filing cabinets, but reality is like leans back in chair with sunglasses and finger guns, I am so not stressed. I’m excited more than anything.

You know how far I’ve thought ahead? I’m going to get there a half hour early or more, park my fresh bitch new car, remember where I parked, take my 3DS, kill some Pokemon and wait. When she lands? I’m gonna SMOOCH the fuck out of her and greet her with the BIGGEST smile. We’re gonna go to baggage claim and I’m gonna hold her little hand and carry her luggage and we’re gonna get food or something. Everything else is what it is??

Sometime that week we’re gonna go to Crown Center to Crayola Cafe and the crayola store and the fudge shoppe~ I’m gonna give her soooooooo many obnoxious smooches through the week, so long as I have the okay to do so, because whoo boy do I love giving smooches.

We’re gonna go to Zona Rosa where I work~ We’re gonna go on a date to a restaurant sporadically that week and or on our seven month anniversary.

I’m gonna be a WEEPY SAD KAT when she goes home.

THAT’S..... THAT’S IT. I’m not thinking about all the details and shit. I’m not focused on it. My brain is though. My brain is background sifting through past experiences and being like BUT BUT BUT and I’m like shut tHE FUCK UP I CAN’T WORRY ABOUT IT BECAUSE EVERYONE IS DIFFERENT AN IT’S ALL BODY LANGUAGE??

All I can think is I can potentially wipe out all the fucking shit with Alice, Kenna and Cas with this visit just being.... normal!! She ACTUALLY loves me and I’m not a means to an end!! There’s no fucking ULTERIOR MOTIVE. She’s coming here because we wanna be big dumb gays together and we LIKE eachother - hoooooooooooly shit.

That is LITERALLY all it’s going to take to literally SCRUB OUT A HUGE STAIN IN MY EMOTIONS. It’s going to take just her legitimately landing here and showing me ANY positive emotion/action??

I’d probably light up like a christmas tree with a fucking blush to boot being told I love you randomly and that’d be the fucking ICING on the damn cake.

I am so fucking EASY to rewire because all the struggle to deal with is ME untangling the wires!! My bars are so fucking low that it’s like once I sift through all this shit all I have left is just mm triggers and especially bad memories to deal with, and that’s fights for another day? Even those I’m... passive to? I just kinda feel awkward and uncomfortable in my stomach anymore... -rubs face-

I hate being asked what I want.

I want what I always say I want. Anything you want to do or feel up to doing. I’ll figure out the details if you give me a parameter. I’m okay with the BASIC and BASE existing around someone, most people AREN’T and need some kind of stimulation. I like throwing on stupid music or whatever sometimes...

Asking what I want when I tell you I want to do something with you, depends on if you want to do it. If you’re not up to it - I’m not really up for it then. I don’t know.

I’m lazy ambitious. If there’s no mutual or group gain from me doing a thing, I don’t really want to bother??

#kat life #i lost focus andm y coffee is cold #theres an ice storm outside #I have work tomorrow #me@god why this

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got12doh · 6 years

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trendingnewsb · 6 years

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How Fans Helped Hasbro Build Its Biggest Star Wars Ship Ever

Toys and Star Wars are inextricably linked forever and ever. Star Wars creator George Lucas famously waived part of his directing fee and retained the insanely lucrative rights to Star Wars merchandise in a deal that has gone down in history as a catastrophic blunder on the part of 20th Century Fox. The studio was skeptical this oddball space movie would resonate with audiences, even if its critters, spaceships, and memorable villains seem like obvious toys in hindsight.

After the first film hit, everything changed. Famously, licensees had to scramble to meet demand for Star Wars goods after the movie became a surprise sensation. Christmas 1977 saw Kenner hawking empty boxes full of promises instead of action figures. Since then, Kenner's 3-3/4-inch scale toys, and yes, the vehicles, have become highly collectible icons of pop culture for nostalgic, well-heeled adults.

Hasbro, which acquired Kenner in the early 1990s, is now turning to the same nostalgic fanbase to fund its future Star Wars ambitions. Using a crowdfunding campaign back in March, Hasbro raised $4.5 million to build what might be the most impressive Star Wars toy ever—a molded plastic recreation of Jabba the Hutt's sail barge from Return of the Jedi.

3-D Printed Childhood Dreams

Tackling Jabba's barge (known as "The Khetanna" in the Star Wars universe) is a move few would have expected. In February, Hasbro debuted a rough, early version of the craft at the New York Toy Fair. All unpainted white plastic with 3D-printed components, the barge was nowhere near what the finished product would look like. That didn't matter—fans were flabbergasted.

"When we announced it at Toy Fair there was this audible gasp in the room … they just couldn't believe it," says Hasbro senior marketing director Kristin Hamilton. Sized to fit the traditional 3-3/4-inch tall action figures, the barge is not quite correctly scaled, but at 80 percent of the correct scale, it's still a whopper.

This 49-inch-long toy is by far the biggest Star Wars ship Hasbro has ever made. And it has a pedigree too—it's designed by veteran Kenner and Hasbro employee Mark Boudreaux.

If you ever zoomed a Star Wars ship around your house as a kid, you probably have Mark Boudreaux to thank. "Mark is one of a kind. He is the 40-year history of Star Wars toys at Kenner and Hasbro," says Steve Sansweet, chief executive at Rancho Obi-Wan, the Guinness Book-ranked museum with the largest Star Wars collection in the world.

The campaign rules were laid out: 45 days, $500 each, 5,000 backers or bust.

The attention to detail on the ship is superb. Under the removable side panels, it hides details not even seen on screen, like a cockpit with two captains' chairs, a kitchen, and a jail cell (complete with the corpse of an Ithorian). Jabba sits tall on his dais, surrounded by alien trophies. Up top, cloth sails fly in a brilliant orange-red just like in the movie.

The Kickstarter-style campaign rules were laid out: 45 days, $500 each, 5,000 backers or bust, with the countdown starting on February 17th. If the Khetanna wasn't funded within the six-week window? "We would have had a very rare single prototype," says Steve Evans, Hasbro's Star Wars development director. Hasbro branded the initiative HasLab, making it clear the company hopes to fund other, non-Star Wars toys in the future.

Unlike the crowd-designed, democratized Lego Ideas project, HasLab has one mission: to create the wildest, craziest toys fans would die for.

"[Crowdfunding] was a natural way for us to bring those dream products to life that our fans have been clamoring for," says Hasbro's Hamilton.

Sansweet, who has penned books about Hasbro's past action figure efforts, was impressed by the the ambitious first HasLab project. "I'd never conceived of anything like that. It was a way for them to do something that they ordinarily would not have dared to do because of the risks involved," he says.

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The expectation for any crowdfunded product is that backers aren't just buyers—they're encouraged to participate in the process and give feedback. Despite its long reputation for secrecy, Hasbro gave backers a peek behind the curtain, and the opportunity to watch a prototype sail barge inch closer to production. "This was a partnership between us and our community. We needed them, they needed us. It was a symbiotic initiative," Hasbro's Evans told me.

Stay on Target

Even the most compelling Indiegogo or Kickstarter campaign has a lull at some point. In the case of The Khetanna, the 45-day run had one hell of a fallow period, petering out after a solid initial burst. Many, myself included, felt like this campaign might share the fate of the barge's movie counterpart—blowing up in spectacular fashion.

"If it didn't succeed, I don't know that we would have heard anything more about HasLab."

Steve Sansweet of Rancho Obi-Wan

"I kept looking every couple of days and frankly, I was sure this was not going to work," Sansweet says. "I was very pessimistic about it. It's a fairly high price, limited to North America. It looked to me like it wasn't going to make it."

That's when Hasbro upped the ante, showing off more images of The Khetanna, this time fully decked out in screen-accurate paint. The company also announced that each toy would get a limited-edition action figure, and one with significance to collectors.

"Yak Face was a background character in Jabba's Palace and on the sail barge," Sansweet says. "The figure was released in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and even in Canada on a card with a coin. Yak Face was never released in the United States."

Hasbro's Evans waxed nostalgic about the pick. The team could have picked from dozens of other creatures, he says, "but there was something so pure and magical about Yak Face that we couldn't not do it. Yak Face was impossible to get as a kid and we carried that with us through our lives as collectors. Because we were delivering the impossible vehicle, it was a no-brainer."

With the campaign's window closing, Hasbro was still falling far short of the 5,000 backers required—and much more than just a gigantic, expensive Star Wars toy was hanging in the balance.

"About a week before, they were still, gee, 1,500 short," Sansweet says. "Frankly, this was a very important one. If it didn't succeed, I don't know that we would have heard anything more about HasLab." Fans and toy blogs helped spread the word via social media using the hashtag #BacktheBarge, but the needle barely budged.

Hasbro's Hamilton confessed the sail barge was "a nail-biter" of a project. "I think we would have all cried if it didn't make it," she says. "There was a lot of passion for this product internally."

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The WIRED Guide to Star Wars

A New Hope

Like in any Star Wars story, the middle chapter is when the heroes are at their lowest point and a triumphant ending is almost inevitable. In late March, barge watchers noticed a sharp uptick in backers. "All of a sudden, the numbers started climbing dramatically. Adding hundreds in half a day." Steve Sansweet was ecstatic—it meant the two Barges he bought for the Rancho Obi-Wan collection might actually materialize. By March 30, Hasbro welcomed its 5,000th backer.

Once HasLab crossed the threshold required to make the product, thousands of additional backers quickly jumped in. "It shot past 5,000 and past 8,000. It warmed my heart and really shocked me," says Sansweet. He and 8,809 other fans were guaranteed to get toys once HasLab reached its end date of April 3.

Steve Evans expressed his relief that, like Luke Skywalker's one-in-a-million torpedo shot, backers won the day. "There was a sense of elation certainly within Hasbro and on the fan sites. It was like a perfect 45-day roller coaster ride. It was emotional!"

Hasbro plans to ship the finished product to backers in 2019, and has taken fan feedback into consideration when finalizing the design. "We introduced it to the fans earlier than we ever would normally," Evans says. "The discussion at conventions, online, and in forums informed how we're finishing off the product, purely because we were able to show it early. That's something new for us."

With one success under its belt, Hasbro is free to tap into its other beloved franchises to give fans products they otherwise couldn't. Whether it's Transformers, My Little Pony, or GI Joe, there are plenty of opportunities to come up with even crazier products. It has yet to be seen whether or not we'll get a banquet table-sized recreation of the USS Flagg or an epic die-cast Optimus Prime.

Sansweet has one dream Star Wars product he'd like to see in a future HasLab: a giant Death Star toy he once saw in prototype form.

"Hasbro asked me to bring a bunch of fellow collectors to chat about the future of Star Wars and how to move forward," he says. "This was 1995 or so. They had this modular Death Star. And of course, [when I picture it] in my mind's eye it was just an incredible piece. I can't even give you the diameter—maybe three or four feet in radius. It had different levels, and each level had scenes from a movie … we were all going, 'Oh my God! That's amazing! When are you gonna make that!?' Those of us who were there talked about that for years afterwards. If they can do the sail barge, they can do something like that too."