Hey guys,

TDSIII: Shadow's End will be released one week from today!
Also newcomer exhaustedGamerNG is the latest addition to the voice cast playing the role of Athan.

-Zac

Hey guys,

Big news! TDS III is officially titled "Shadow's End"!

Also animation is almost finished. I'm paying particular attention to direction and characters in this episode so I'm taking a little bit more time than I usually do. Once animation is done I'll have to do some recording and sound mixing, so I'm still expecting a mid-December upload.

Anyways, here's a screen grab of Kanji looking angry in the cold open.

peace,
Zac

Hey guys,

Animation is going smoother than expected on TDS III. I'd say I'm about a quarter of the way through principal animation. I've also updated all the character models. Below is a screenshot of Orrin and the Time Wizard!

Anyways I'll try and post another update in a week or so.

-Zac

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know I have written the script for the third episode of The Destroyers Saga and production on animation should be starting soon. I would expect it to go live sometime in December so look out for updates!

-Zac

The Destroyers Saga: Episode II is live! So what are you doing reading this?? Go watch!!

Hey there fans and anti-fans!

So contrary to my previous post, I am indeed working on the epic Destroyers Saga Part II. Part II will feature voice work from myself and actual talented voice actors Generations1st, BriAcorns, Adoxographist, LunaBelle, and Ryry67dude.

It should be up within a few weeks. Until then keep on the lookout for updates!

-Zac

On The Downfall of Newgrounds:

It's 3 years ago. I've just finished The First Date, a campy little romantic comedy with subpar animation, lackluster sound production, and poor voice work to boot. It was my first animation, a naive attempt to showcase my humor and my idea of a cute little story. To say the least I was proud of it. I had no formal animation experience and Macromedia (now Adobe) Flash was completely self taught.
This was a cartoon I made thoroughly from the heart; I wasn't out to win awards, get into festivals, or look for approval from the "animation experts" on Newgrounds. But strangely, to my surprise, the community welcomed it with open arms. "Funny. Gotta watch this again", "I loved this! Awesome! Keep it up!", "Wow really nice flash, had some pretty good humor in it also. Keep it up!" were just some of the reviews it received. This cartoon, from a textbook amateur, even with all of its flaws, saw scores of positive reviews. The people on this website recognized the passion behind the work and rewarded it alongside carefully sprinkled criticisms to help improve any future animation endeavors. The Newgrounds of 3 years ago understood the innocent purpose of the animation and the heartfelt motivation of its creator and sought to fuel this creativity; nurture a young animator's scary first steps into the public arena.
Now let's flash forward to today. Newgrounds, the once busy internet metropolis of young and talented creative prospects, finds itself a desecrated and corrupt distant image of its former self. It has become a confusing gallery of distracting advertisements, uninspired posts from the site's runners, and a bizarre framework of links that feels like a maze. It has become a place where honest original work and careful craft is replaced by a continuous cycle of unoriginal video game parodies, middle school grade humor, and anime ripoffs. Once full of eager upstart animators, now just a few distinguished regular visitors who themselves rarely contribute.
I am browsing the website, scouting the competition and seeing what sorts of cartoons are hot these days. The first featured movie I watch is Batman: The Droppings. 80,000 views and counting: this must be awesome. Even though the story and characters are unoriginal, even though the title could only be found humorous by 12 year olds, even though the tags include "batfart", "batpoop", and "batdropping", I trusted the Newgrounds community.
Trash. It was absolute garbage. The movie opens with batman jumping onto a roof (with a really out of place background bitmap image) and overhearing Harley Quinn beg Joker, "Boom boom on my bouncy bongos!" Next batman calls Alfred, who farts continuously for 30 seconds, without rhyme or reason. I'm not criticizing the toilet humor; in the right context toilet humor can be hysterical. But this, this is just schoolboy nonsense.
The movie lasts roughly 2 minutes with no clear beginning, middle, end, conflict, resolution and not one iota of true intellectual thought. But how could Newgrounds, the site that once rewarded originality and creativity, like First Date, support such an abysmal piece of animation? It's because the Newgrounds of today is not the Newgrounds of years before. The community now, which I suspect has a median age of 13, supports uninspired, lazy ripoffs and suppresses original passionate artwork based solely on immediate aesthetics. There was a time when passion, originality, and intelligent crafts meant something. Where an animation was more than the pixels, where story telling ability and heart had weight. But now, if your animation doesn't look like it came from the Rhode Island School of Design or if your cartoon doesn't parody a video game, or if it doesn't involve fart jokes, you're not likely getting many views or much support from the community.
I make this post not to change Newgrounds, but to announce my departure from a site that has long been past its prime. I look around... troubled that all the true, honest creative story tellers that use to flourish are missing. Perhaps I should have left when they did. Yes, there are still some talented artists here, (Tom Kerin [TDK1987] for example has a grossly underrated original comedy series Half Full) but they are too few and far between. Being here, on Newgrounds, gives me a disturbing sensation; it has become the lowest tier of entertainment, a magnet for the disenfranchised.
Goodbye Newgrounds. You once meant something. You once inspired hope. Now, you have become childish debauchery.

-Zac

Go watch!! RIGHT NOW!!

Hey there fans and fellow community members! I'm here to announce that my new project, THE DESTROYERS SAGA PART I, will go live Saturday. It's the start of an epic fantasy series that will span 7-9 episodes. Thanks to Tom Kerin aka TDK1987 (watch his HALF FULL SERIES now!) and Lu Greer for their help with voices. Be sure to check it out!

And go watch JUST TWO GUYS if you haven't. And if you have.

-Zac