Thursday, October 22, 2009

WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU, SUCKERMOUTH?

by Aaron Mystery

The goal of Suckermouth is to produce one to two animations a week, and "A new cartoon every week!" is the site's claim. So why in the world has there not been a new animation all month?

On the morning of September 27, after wrapping up the renders for Part 5 of "What's Breast for Women", I restarted my computer in preparation for editing. It never came back on.

I have one production computer (the others in the house - including this one - can't render crap), so I had no time to waste; I rushed the computer into a recommended repair shop on the Sunday it went down. Although I suspected my laptop had a blown motherboard, I let the shop diagnose it, and that took a solid week.

I gave the go-ahead on the $400 repair, and was advised the part would have to be ordered. I asked that a rush be put on the order, and was willing to pay extra. Apparently the part never got rushed, because a week later, it was MIA.

I finally received a call last Sunday. The repair shop had installed the "new" motherboard, but it had no power. Apparently, it wasn't new but refurbished, and the shop would need to send the bad part back and wait for the new one.

Again, that was last Sunday, and the shop told me it could be 2-3 more weeks. I had every hope in the world this repair could have been accomplished in two weeks' time, barely creating a dent in Suckermouth's production schedule. I could not have foreseen the headache this has become.

Because I plan on hitting the ground running the second my PC is repaired, I saw no reason to alarm my members with conjecture about when production would resume. I wanted a definitive answer, but considering how this has dragged on, it's important to update everyone.

It looks like the best case scenario is that I could have the computer back in a week and a half, and the worst case is two and half weeks. Please understand that this website and these animations are my life, and not being able to create has been as miserable experience as you can imagine.

Beyond the immediate repair, I will need to focus on getting a newer and better computer, which will in turn improve both the quality and quantity of my animations. Your membership dollars help this happen, but I understand that I'm not running a charity here: You deserve your animations.

And you shall get them. I will never forget the courtesy you extended me by staying a member in this trying time.

Thank you,

Aaron Mystery