Plans for the Future

After making the Defaultoid VS Ancient Block Head animation, a thought I’ve been putting in the back of my head started to annoy me more and more: it took me all summer to make a 5 minute animation, and do the music for it as well. Whenever I think of The Legends of Grodot, I’ve always imagined each episode to be 8-10 minutes. However, Grodot and Max’s story is a very lore-heavy one, there’s so much to show and it’s all such a big world I’ve created in my head over these years. I simply do not have the time, skill, and effort to give Max’s world the series it deserves. So, I’ve decided to switch things up a bit.

Now, I’ve thought about doing The Legends of Grodot as a comic series a couple times, but ruled out the idea in favor of making fight scenes, because I think they look cool when done right and really adds to an action-based animation. However, I believe I’m going to do it anyway because it’s significantly easier and less time-consuming to make static pictures than a whole animation. And sticknodes is good, yes, but it certainly has it’s limits. At some point in the future I’m planning to get a computer and learn Blender, and make cel shaded 3d models of Max, Nick, etc. and animate TLOG then and there. So, these comics act as a starting point, so I have something to work off of when I get to Blender. Kinda like an anime adaptation of a manga, you know?

Because it’s so easy to make these comics, it prevents rusting, and gives me something to post on YouTube, I’m going to make Billy’s less lore-heavy and more episodic series at the same time. Most of the episodes are random stuff, but some of them actually connect like Regular Show, Adventure Time, etc. I’m actually very excited for what I have in store for Billy, I’m already loving the enemies, characters, and general ideas I’m starting to form. These episodes, however, aren’t going to have a structure and will be as short or long as I see fit.

TL;DR – I’m burnt out so I’m making Max’s series a comics so I can learn Blender and animate it then.

H a n d s

A much needed improvement

I know it may be hard to tell without the rest of Max, but which one do you guys like more?

This mf’s beard was really hard to do for some reason

Bloodlust Concept

I think I’ve mentioned this before, but gladiator arenas are a very common sport in Grodot. Only, it’s more towards the historical version, rather than media portrayal. The sport is fighting, not killing and while Grodotnites can beaten within an inch of their life, killing them is forbidden and punished greatly.

Of course, people take this for granted and go into the arenas looking for some chaos. Unfortunately for them, Max is a common contestant and has accumulated a pretty win-to-loss ratio (27-5). Those people, like this unnamed guy below, get a good lesson as to why it’s not a good idea to disobey the custom.

I’m kinda pissed I put so much effort and detail into a side character people will see for like, 5 minutes…

How Many Pitbulls Could A Baby Eat
So for a while now, I wanted to give Max a rival character that opposes him in every way, down to his color scheme. I had nothing better to do, so I started making his concept and—despite hating the color yellow—I really like it so far.

His Arc ability is gravity manipulation, and he occasionally creates handheld black holes that he can “deploy”. Basically if Max creates an explosion, he can suck it into a black hole. It’s not entirely invincible though, Max can create a delayed explosive that only goes off once inside the black hole. The force of the explosion (not the explosion itself) will end up damaging the small realm the black hole creates, “hurting” Atlas in a way and rendering his Arc briefly unusable. And while Max uses a plethora of weapons, this guy kicks ass with nothing but his Arc and his bare hands.

He’s also opposing him in personality. Max is bold and confident, he’s calm and analytical. Max embraces technology, Atlas upholds Grodot’s sense of life and overabundance of plant-life. That’s why his clothing is Roman-ish, because it looks cool technology wasn’t really a thing back then, like Atlas wants it to be. It’s also why they fight a lot, as Atlas views Max’s love of technology as a reckless nuisance that needs to be dealt with.

Atlas is also a Pyrite, a name which will probably be changed. Pyrites, like their names suggests, are fake Grodotnites made by the Machinists by fusing their crystals with their bodies. Atlas here was one of the many failed prototypes, causing damage to his body.

Character Concept

Muscle Man

An idea I’ve had in the back of head for a while now is an Arc user that can create, manipulate, and destroy his own body and muscle fibers/mass. This allows him to do things like:

– Use muscle fibers as ropes/tethers
– Slip into minuscule spaces by unraveling
– Increase his muscle mass and strength
– Absorb impact damage
– Control/possess others by forming over them
– Prevent blood loss

As for his skeleton, it’s either going to *magically* disappear, or he just kinda drops it and leaves it there (lmao) I but I didn’t get that far yet.

Stickfigure version for Ash is done

Now that I used simplified stickfigures for fight-scenes, I can put more attention to detail on the normal sticks and worry less about how hard it is to animate with it. That being said, I fixed Max’s body so it’s less stick-like, which also made him taller (???) but I think it looks fine.

I still have to change it for all of his outfits, then fix Nick & Ash…the former of which also has another outfit…

Bye Nick…

WOO

It is done, finally. This is easily my longest animation ever, and I’m rather proud of it. Hope everyone enjoys it once it’s out!