The End of November (and an Ink Splash)

Ahh... another beautiful day on the sunny shores of my backyard. Inksgiving has come to an end, and Thanksgiving has finally passed. So now we reach the final days until this month finally closes out. If there's anything I will say about the past two events, its this...

Thanksgiving was a nice ol' time.

This one's not very long, so I'll keep it brief. Family came over, we all had a long, but fun cookout. At around 3 PM, we got to watch the Shang-Chi movie. I personally dipped out of the Marvel Cinematic Universe once Avengers Endgame had wrapped up, but my cousin had recommended Shang-Chi so we gave it a watch. You know, for my first watch, I was having fun. Awkwafina had some funny moments and a nice bit of character growth at the end, but ultimately I found her performance... a little annoying. It's safe to say that she's not my cup of tea (she wasn't my cup of tea in that Disney RAYA movie either). A lot of the Martial Arts is akin to what I'd see in a high-quality Chinese/Korean Drama, but the ones that weren't like that shined. I liked the bus stunt especially. That was cool. It also didn't help that since this is an MCU movie, everyone's gotta crack some jokes every five minutes because "Oh superheroes are kinda dumb," so moments, where it gets personal and gripping, are cut off in an instant with bad jokes or hammy "get with the times" moments, which really throws me out of the film for a bit when I want to invest in someone's character. But overall, Shang-Chi was a neat time. I could watch it again. Yeah. I'd watch it again.

Now all I have to wait for is the new SPIDER-MAN. I'm not a big fan of the Tom Holland-era movies (mainly for how they write the character he feels like a baby sometimes, and his motivation feels like a complete 180 of his whole character in the wrong way), but I do love seeing Spider-Man on screen. I see Spider-Man. I expect Spider-Man quality fun, even if it feels like soft jam. I should also see those VENOM movies. They'll probably be more up my alley.

Inksgiving did not go out as well as most had hoped.

Don't get me wrong, people donated ink as they should. And to those who donated, thank you very much. However, the problem is more about how Tapas ran its inking this season. It seems that despite running things smoothly and many people stocking up ink for nearly an entire year, nobody on the site came around. And it isn't just me that's confused. It's a lot of other community creators as well. Like, for every couple of community creators that were supported, a megaton of ink was flooded straight towards the premium creators (The creators that work with Tapas exclusively to create stuff that defines that platform. Think of it as similar to YouTube and its most respected creators).

While I couldn't get a story or any comic strips done in time for the event, I did draw a couple of photos. Wanna see 'em?

(I just realized I put 1999 instead of 1997, whoops...)

Hey, fox-man! That ink can wash off, right? - "This is goin' down some deep recesses of my fur... This'll take a month to wash out."

Pretty neat, huh?

My friends and a couple of passers-by had quite a laugh at these drawings, which was ultimately my goal in the end. Speaking of goals, I had a goal to reach about 76,000 ink... from last year. So here's what I actually got.

I didn't hit it this year. I got such a low amount that I don't think the meter even budged. I even offered some free drawings for those who donated a certain amount. But, I guess nobody wanted a picture? So, I removed the drawing offer once the event ended because I didn't need it sitting there.

The event seemingly must have soured many people because despite CRUSHING the overall goal within a day, the result was just bonus ink. What's BONUS INK? Well, Bonus Ink is essentially premium coins you can use only to buy premium Tapas content. You can't use it to support other community creators, and you can't get rid of it even if it expires. It's basically like when you play a mobile game and have these unique coins or crystals to buy that will only work if you paid for them rather than earning them in-game. In other words, it's just microtransactions. From what I've heard from friends and other users, it's safe to say that a lot of people were very unhappy.

Something's up with this website, and it's safe to say that if it keeps up with the path it's going, I might as well pack up shop and set up my services elsewhere. Oh well, maybe next year the site will get its act together. In the meantime, I'll be here as always, bringing joyful and engaging cartoons to the world! I hope you're all enjoying them.

Catch you on the flipside and see you in December! And don't forget to...