The Tumblr Artist Who Was Cancelled For Making An Animated Series

A scam is when people take money and run off with it but since the project goals weren't even remotely met, it's not surprising that the show hasn't become a reality. Also, 80k is not a "ridiculous" amount of money for an animation project. People have this idea that artists should ideally work for free (because "passion") but in the end it's a proper job that requires insane amounts of training. The bullying that allegedly went on behind closed doors sucks though. However, the way I see it after learning about it in this video, the project simply failed because of the lack of experience of the people involved and wasn't a criminal endeavour that would justify the label "scam".

This is why not every meme from the internet needs to be a show

I feel that if this project started as something smaller like a mini-web comic series (with a few animated moments), it would have been easier to manage and MAYBE they could have pitched it as a TV show afterwards (similar to Vivziepop’s Hazbin Hotel/Helluva Boss). But the team was young and had big dreams so it’s understandable that they wanted to see how far it could go.

This stuff happens often when a show idea blows up too fast and then there's a rush and pressure to make it a reality. It might have been better if this was just turned into a comic instead of a big project like an animated show.

I don't get what the big deal is, it's a failed project and non of the fans had lost anything unless I'm missing something

I was there, Gandalf. I was there, 3 thousand years ago... I remember reblogging the original comic. Anyway, people who say it was the worst tumblr scam, must have been living under a rock for "All or nothing"

I don’t think anyone had any ill intentions, I think everyone was just in over their heads.

Remember when people lost their crap over "Bee and Puppycat" being put on hold for a decade? Yeah, that was a heck of a lot more money and an actual studio failing to deliver. I really think this was more of a legit fall through of the creator being overwhelmed, not experienced enough in animation and production, and not getting the proper help. $88k is a lot of money but idk, the creator didn't deserved such a community meltdown. This is why you just don't throw money at every passion project or silly meme.

i was a big fan of this artist in the early years of tumblr and i watched real time as one of my favorite artists' life plummeted and got dogpiled on like she blew up an orphanage or something. the things people were saying about her were so unbelievably nasty and hateful and it upsets and baffles me to this day. very happy she was able to move forward and is successful now. i hope people who act like theyve never done anything stupid in their lives and feed off cancel clout get humbled.

80 000$ is insanely cheap for an animated show! I work in an animation studio and we had a small gig where we would animated a fake animated show that would be in a movie. We had about only 5 minutes animated and just that cost tens of thousands (granted, you have to add the back and forth with the producers and director and the modifications afterwards, just that costs a lot and you don't deal with that really in a crowdfunded project). The gig only lasted a month and half. People have no idea how expensive animation are, even our own producers downplays it all the time. They could've done something decent, a few 7 minutes episodes maybe, but the project was mishandled pretty badly. It happens a lot, even in the industry, just put the wrong person in charge or take the money from the wrong source who would try to take control over all the creative decisions and the whole project falls appart. I have heard a bunch of stories about money being wasted. And about the confusion about the pie chart, I'm confused as well because the pipeline seems a bit broken. I think by "production cost" they meant Pre-production such as storyboarding, the animatics, character/bg/props design, backgrounds, layouts etc. They could have work a bit more on that, like how are cost and management different from one another? Isn't management part of the overall cost? And incorporating merchandise cost is such a producer move lol

Right show, wrong hands… truly a shame, I don’t blame tea though, she’s still young and learning.

I mean 80,000 is a LOT, but 8,000 couldn't have ever been enough to bring it to life the way it really deserved. I don't think it was a scam so much as a LOT of poor choices made in desperation that did not end up working out. They had a vision, it was far above what they could realistically achieve- and they learned that the hard way,

People upset at the user names kids on tumbler once used, often slurs that were lobbed at them, are pathetic. Go after someone who actually has hatred or nefarious intentions. Not someone who's actively supporting LGBT people. What kind of a world do we live in that the stupid things kids say are held against them for the rest of their lives?

As a future animator I know animation takes a long time too make and especially if you don't have time and your doing everything by yourself. So I would be surprised if the artist got overwhelmed or got to ambitious to quickly and then all of a sudden you know what to do with the project. People can't except a show to be done quickly like do you want it to look like a mess? Plus it cost a lot of money for production to even start and it would be the equivalent to selling your soul to company you give you creation too and hoping it will sell. So I feel bad for the artist in question. This is actually the shit that stresses me out ;-;

I don’t think it’s a good idea to make a full length series off a random funny animal picture, the premise is so basic and generic bc there’s next to no source material lol

Oh my god, this project. This is INFAMOUS in the art community, like, the second you think about art scams in the community you think of this project. It really feels like the embodiment of “we cant have nice things”…

"Passion projects" meaning you can't be paid reminds me of people saying things like "if it's a vocation, if you're doing the job you want to do, why do you want a pay rise?" I think that attitude sucks. Granted, I don't think this was handled well - why does merchandise have such a stupidly large section, considering the goal of this was mostly to bring a cartoon to life, not sell merch -- but also, like, wouldn't that pay for itself? (if it's good). I think this was mishandled, yes, but I also think people hate its failure to deliver their expectations in excessive amounts in calling it a scam. I mean, this was essentially started off by an eighteen-year-old - someone who is barely a young adult and for argument's sake is still likely to be impulsive compared to longer-lived adults. It's not surprising they jumped headfirst into a project without actually using that head to think things through sufficiently... Also, I do think they could have covered their fund allocation more explicitly and with more clarity and had more of a plan, but... like, dang. And if that mistreatment allegation is true, that sucks. This is a good learning experience though for any up-and-coming animators and show creators.

I mean, I don't blame the person. Running an animation project at 18 is an insane undertaking- it's easy to imagine just whapping something out but it does take a lot of money and people. Background art can cost a few hundred, each staff member would probably take around $3k a month in both benefits and pay. If you have 10 staff members it'd be $30k a month. Plus, toon boom is expensive- if they're doing multiple licenses then it might add an extra $3-$5k a month. They also will probably be looking at office space, electricity etc. Which is all very understandable. The issue is, it's an 18 year old getting pushed forward and ramped up towards making an entire studio from scratch for something that likely doesn't need an entire studio. They also probably felt the need to include the people that pushed the campaign forward- so producers etc were added when they too were probably not needed or qualified. I feel bad for the artist, hopefully they go onto making some cool stuff. I don't think this was a scam though- and can see the logic in their funding goal

As a Canadian: Yes. We actually do see Bears within urban areas. My parents always had Bear problems where they worked. But regardless, we still need to request aid as they will cause panic.