Update Blog - 3/25/23 (Patreon)

This is my final week of work before I'm off on my vacation. As such, my priority was to get the rest of what I needed to do beforehand in terms of work completed so that I don't have to worry about it while I'm away. There is a bit of variety in here and a few days where I was mostly relaxing and packing, but I'm glad to say that this is one relief off of me that won't be bothering me during my trip. With that said, here's what I've been up to.

- Released my review of The Magician's Elephant: Ever since I first saw the trailer, it was one of those movies that didn't seem all that interesting. I get what it wants to do, but it didn't look like it had the talent to pull it off. When I saw the whole picture for myself, however...yea, that first instinct was right. Sure, the movie had some nice animation by Animal Logic, but that's honestly the only thing that it has going for it. The rest makes the film a forgettably weak movie. It's hard to imagine that this will land on being the worst of the year, but I doubt that this film will be worth remembering by. Even as I'm writing this, I saw it last week and my memory of the events in the film are fading away because the memories they provide are not worth remembering. It's not terrible, but I won't call this good either.

- Created another AniMat's Classic Review: Since I didn't have a lot of time left before my trip and I don't want to start a big project yet that would require more than a week to produce, I decided to continue the flow of making more reviews with another ACR. I won't be saying anything about what it is just yet, but this was one that I honestly should've watched a while ago because it's the kind that many have talked about how much they loved it. I've always been curious of seeing it myself, but I've always put that priority to the side because both life and work. Well, I guess I have the Animation Hat to thank for this opportunity because now I can finally say that I have seen it. However, what I think about it will be saved for when the review comes.

- Created a couple of Art Commissions: One of the things that I knew I wanted to have prepared before my trip was to get this month's round of Art Commissions for a couple of patrons prepared. This wasn't all done this week alone (In fact, one of them was done the week before it), but I'm just happy to have that prepared so that the patrons can have the reward that they earned for being in here. One of them asked me to turn myself into a gemsona from Steven Universe. I'm still not that familiar with the show, but I did my best to recreate the art style while making myself look cool, and infusing myself with an opal (I know Opal is technically taking in the show, but I'm just going with my birth stone). The other is taking the patron's My Hero Academia OC tanuki and have him shapeshifting with the Muppets. This added an extra challenge of how does a Muppet transform, so I thought outside of the box and go with some Muppet-style 4th wall-breaking. I will admit that these commissions were fun and I hope you like 'em as much as the patrons did!

- Organized my First Charity Stream: After a few years on hiatus and gathering the materials I needed during last summer, I rebooted AniMat Plays on my Twitch. And not only that, but I also returned it as part of the Gamers For Giving charity campaign for Gamers Outreach. Since I kept my promise that I would return AP with me playing Cuphead, I will say that it was a frustrating 3 hours that I went through. I was always aware of its infamous difficulty, but trying it first-hand was a really different went through many emotions where I've only beaten 4 levels and died over 100 times. However, the stream itself was a huge hit. The new setup worked perfectly and we were able to raise over $1000 for GFG (technically, it was one fan who really contributed the most to the donations, but still great on everyone's part nonetheless). That experience made me really proud of myself and my fans and I want to thank everyone who was a part of this stream. I couldn't think of a better way to bring back AP.

And that was all that I've done for this week. I'm letting you know right now that there will not be an Update Blog next week because I will be on my trip. Now the only thing left to say is, after all these years, I'm going to Walt Disney World. So, until next time...

See ya later, dudes!