A little over two years ago, an upstart animation company in Germany was looking for IP to use for presentations to potential clients. Three of their animators wanted to get their grubby paws on The Brittle Riders. We got as far as signing a doc that would allow them to do so, with me & Azoth Khem having limited but powerful approval rights. We were all clear on what we wanted.

The owner killed the deal because he only wanted to use established IP. Think DC, Marvel, and Image. He convinced his investors that his staff was shortsighted and his vision was the only viable option. Months later, he discovered popular IPs charge stupid money for shit like this because he would have been competing against them in their own markets (think his Batman vs DC’s). He could have saved his money and bought a nice yacht instead. However, there was no going back. He’d oversold, and I’d moved on. He was bankrupt by the end of the year.

Flash forward to today. I have been posting about a VFX company that wants to do something eerily similar. But there are differences. First, I am in a much stronger place, and this time it was the company’s owner who reached out. Second, they are basing their decisions on just five IPs, and I know the other four. They are juggling a lot of options, and it’s possible that each of us may get featured, or they may opt for an unknown Plan “B.” These are to be two- to three-minute pieces, each showcasing highlights of what they can do.

Here there be CGI aliens! Here there be CGI nude models! Here there be CGI space battles! Here there be fluffy CGI forest animals! Here … oh, BTW, have you met McSciFi? Look, it’s okay, we can explain.

While nothing is guaranteed, this feels better than the animation attempt. I speak with the other IP holders regularly, and we share ideas on how to make our presentations better. Even if this doesn’t happen, and there is a lot that needs to go right for any of us, we will have these presentations in our holsters and can use them as needed. Also, I now have four powerful new friends in the industry.

None of this sucks.

And let’s be honest. Developing The Brittle Riders has been a fun journey. See the attached image from 2019 as Example “A.”

Anyway, back to the topic at hand.

One thing has become glaringly apparent. All my skippy-wunnerful descriptions in the prependix of Book 1 of The Brittle Riders have not helped industry mavens settle on a clear idea of what my chimeras look like. Since what they look like, and how they could be created visually, are vitally important bits of information when figuring out how to draft a budget, I took advantage of an outstanding offer from a kind woman named Anne who does AI design work for companies that have more money than I can pronounce.

Under her patient tutelage I began crafting prompts to bring my chimeras to life. Fortunately, she was able to temper my anal tendencies when it comes to these creations. She has worked in the entertainment industry before and was clear that what I came up with need not be perfect. If I could say, “Look at this but make the face more human” I would be fine. She shared first concept characters from a dozen different films with me to drill the concept through my thick skull and deep into my tiny brain.

Some were so bad I knew I could do better even if I used a Bic pen.

Okay, maybe not.

We broke everything out into digestible chunks and I began creating and she began critiquing. Slowly we evolved from “Were you drunk when you did this?” to “That’s oddly compelling,” to “I may need to reconsider my sexuality, these beasts are hot!”

That last is a direct quote.

With that achieved, I posted THIS PAGE showing the various chimeras by name.

Once that chasm was cleared she felt confident enough in my abilities to test out some action scenes. Or, as one excitable fan noted when they first got posted, “Why they just a chillin’ & a kissin’ & a cookin’ & a killin’.”

Yes they are. And you can check out all that action when you go to THIS PAGE.

There’s also some Pangolin assassins playing beach volleyball if you’re into that sort of thing.

And, finally, we hit the million dollar question. What do these things move like? They’re not human. Hecky-poo, some don’t even have legs. With an abundance of caution, that I threw to the wind anyway, we got a decent idea. Click THIS LINK to watch a bunch of them dance and fly.

As I’ve slowly been rolling these out, I have mentioned them before but never went into depth, some people wanted to know what it was like when the gen-O-pod (TM) war went down. Disco trivia moment, ethical AI companies frown on you creating graphic scenes of murder. You can show the sword fight, but its conclusion requires special care.

We solved that problem by having the dead humans burning in the distance and focusing instead on the Chimeras in the Apocalypse. You’ve come this far, go ahead and click that link.

Now we are trying to see if we can storyboard some scenes from the books. The stuff I’m sharing here today is rough, I have much to learn still, but I hoped you might enjoy it since you’ve been here for all the hard parts.

Until next time, stay safe and sane.