The GLITCH hate is manufactured, right...? (+poll)

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-02-15 05:18:46 UTC #1

Yes
Well, actually there's a legitimate reason for it...

0voters

...I just remembered how brain-breakingly ridiculous this "indie-slop" (???!?!?!!) thing has been. So maybe let's discuss it. ^^;

So in case you've been busy touching grass and you're unaware: GLITCH productions is the indie studio behind the wildly successful Murder Drones and The Amazing Digital Circus animated series. Over the past year, they've been releasing pilots and trailers for new series to add to their roster in the future: The Gaslight District, Knights of Guinevere, Gameoverse; they've also thrown their support behind Lackadaisy (not sure if they're promoting and distributing or just funding...but you get it).

And apparently...this is a problem...? For some people??

I just...can't even begin to understand the psychology behind this. I think this is the first time I've seen internet people angry about 'too much content'. Not 'too much content to maintain the current level of quality', not 'too much content for the team(s) to handle without crunch and overwork' (we don't know yet; most of these shows aren't even running yet!) just...'too much'. They're angrily shouting "DO LESS" for no given reason, and it just boggles my mind.

Now, this feels too weirdly personal and sad to be true, but...the only way I can rationalize this is a "too good to be true" mindset. ^^; People were seeing popular, high-quality animation being produced with passion AND turning a profit, and at first they reacted with gratitude and pride...but this was eventually replaced by a deep-rooted fear that it can't last.
This can't actually exist; we've been told all our lives that it's not possible. Something has to give; something must be wrong...so in the absence of concrete problems, we have to invent our own dissatisfaction. The time for gratitude has inexplicably 'run out'; it's time to start hating this thing; it's time for its downfall. It's time for it to disappear and die...before it inevitably disappoints us.

We need to lash out and destroy it before we get hurt.

I'm not saying that GLITCH is made up of angels and their organization is absolutely perfect and without fault...every workplace has some issues. And as GLITCH continues to make money and take on new projects and grow, I'm 99% certain the haters will eventually get what they're looking for.

But for now, the fact remains that we don't really have that yet. TADC is still going strong, and will be succeeded by Gaslight when production wraps this year. KoG was just greenlit; the Gameoverse trailer was met with widespread interest and enthusiasm. Clearly, GLITCH is just getting started in their mission to amplify the voices of indie animators, and allow a middle ground between preschool shows and 18+ adult content to finally take shape in the Western media landscape. They are still beloved, and they are still doing good work. Which is why this sudden hate campaign feels more like pessimistic projection than anything else.

...Either that, or a psyop funded by the Mouse. ^^ But what do y'all think?

justincarbunkle 2026-02-15 06:24:11 UTC #2

Where are you seeing this hate? Closest I've seen of negativity is around Dana Terrace bitching about Disney, but still publishing a new book under them.

I think their shows are good, but they're flawed enough I can see people bitching about them being overshared. Personally I think TADC is overrated. Murder Drones has cool animation but awful humor. I'm looking forward Gameoverse. Mostly cause I'm glad RubberRoss is finally getting his show off the ground after 10 years.

I'm happy with what they've done for the industry and all the great artists they've helped. It's just if you're not into some of their shows styles, you might find their presence annoying. I've seen some bitching about the amount of merchandise they put out, which eh. Gotta make their money somehow.

Rai_Muffin 2026-02-15 06:27:48 UTC #3

I'm pretty skeptical of indie companies like this getting too big (just look at Rooster Teeth) but so far they haven't done anything I'm aware of to warrant any less than optimism.

I love that they're throwing support behind artists like Knights of Guinevere's Dana Tarrance after she got screwed over by Disney, and Gameoverse's Ross O'Donovan, who's been working on his series for EVER.
That and Olan Rogers was recently announced to be Head of Development; another animation director who's series Final Space was screwed over by Warner Bros. So there's a lot of people behind the scenes who genuinely love animation and who's careers have been shaped by big companies crushing their aspirations (Ross gave up on animation for years after Youtube's algorithm made it impossible for him to continue making cartoons like he was).
It's not slop, but hard work by people who have been struggling for years to get their vision seen.

A lot of channels and creators make their living on hate mongering and drama bait, and that influences their audiences. Makes it harder to spot the genuinely bad creators from the easy targets.
And sometimes those fears end up being justified.
I just hope Glitch doesn't live long enough to become the villain. Until then, I'm enjoying their content.

Though if it's just people not liking their shows, well to each their own. Can't please everyone.

Another prominent animator, Harry Partridge posted this back in October on Patreon, that I think sums up the state of indie animation that I think is relevant.
I'm sure he won't mind me sharing it here.

THE HOPEFUL FUTURE FOR INDIE ANIMATORS (plus a "Dr. Bees" update)

September was an exciting month for indie animation.

Knights of Guinevere, Homestuck and Loki IRL all had debut episodes along with Space King, Monkey Wrench and Bridge Kids getting new installments (among others). Some scored views in the MILLIONS and their production values equal or surpass TV in most cases (sometimes on a fraction of the budget!!). Congrats to all!

One thing that DID NOT release in September is "DR. BEES FOREVER". I'll get to that sluggish bugaboo in a moment - but first...

I want to take this opportunity to encourage anyone thinking of creating their own independent animation, as there has never been a more HOPEFUL time to pursue it. It seems more viable than ever before as a pathway for artists.

While I won't paint the picture that TV-quality indie animation is practical, easy, or affordable, the barrier to entry that networks and commissioners once represented has been lowered, if not entirely smithereened by this point. Hits like The Amazing Digital Circus, Helluva/Hazbin and Smiling Friends prove, if anything, that now it is the industry that needs resourceful indie creators and not the other way around.

Simply put: YOU NO LONGER NEED PERMISSION TO MAKE AN ANIMATED SHOW.

(To be fair, it's been this way for about twenty years thanks to places like Newgrounds, but there are a lot more character plushies being sold nowadays and, I suspect, a lot more stability as a result)

What you still need, are TOOLS, TALENT and TIME ("TIME" being a classy euphemism for "MONEY"!!$$$)

TIME/MONEY is what the indies lack. You can either take a long TIME making something alone, or spend a lot of money on collaborators for THEIR TIME.

So, for the sake of all any budding indie animators who are broke (as in my case) AND don't want to let years pass between episodes (as also in my case) I can suggest...

...A FEW POSSIBLE WAYS AN INDIE ANIMATOR CAN SAVE TIME...

Forego healthy standards for sleep/social life/nutrition/hygiene (NOT recommended but sadly a common choice)

Embrace an economic style of limited animation and simplistic visuals (preferable for some, a hard sell for others)

Become a hyper-productive and stoic animating machine, capable of ignoring all distractions and dopamine diversions (very difficult but worth pursuing!)

Be genuinely inventive and curious about new or alternative methods for creating the same results in less time. (not always fruitful but can pay off hugely).

I'll give an example of tip 4...

I've just spent a miserable time drawing dozens of dry, semi-architectural backgrounds for Dr. Bees Forever. What I thought might take a day or two has taken TEN. I am now tooling with using 3D modelled environments in Blender with "toon shading" to create the same kind of visual in less time. (I'll let you know how that goes!).

My love for making animation...

...is matched only by my hatred for how long it takes.

Drawing every frame, colouring every background, laying in every sound effect, is not for wimps, and in fact making it EASIER is necessary to meet the demands of an audience.

Many struggling indies (myself included) must embrace something like the list of concessions I have outlined above and make compromises, if we are ever going to provide an audience with frequent work to enjoy. BUT THE TIME TO TRY IT IS NOW! This stuff IS doable and becoming more DOABLE and VIABLE every day!

I'm sorry Dr. Bees isn't out yet, I really thought it would be. I'm certainly not lacking inspiration. The hard-earned successes of others has been a great boost, and I will give it my all this month!

THANK YOU to those independent artists that raise the bar, thank you to my supporters for raising my spirits, and thank you to my landlord for NOT raising the rent (this year).

- Harry

VibrantFox 2026-02-15 07:29:48 UTC #4

psyop might be a hyperbolic stretch but i do think it's likely part of the current wider internet trend to just be a negative nancy for no good reason other than rare baiting and generating easy interactions. especially when paired with the -slop suffix i just can't take it as anything serious or with genuine reason behind it other than some kind of clout chasing.

i do think there's a degree of upset, more to industry higher ups maybe, seeing so much success with independent movies and shows but randos posting online there's no guarantee if it's even a person behind them these days or just bot accounts someones running. there's some instances we're negative posts feel or look like insanely easy to spot bait whether it's a super recent account creation date, lack of a pfp or arguments that either don't hold up or just dont make sense and even some human responses seem kind of baseless. If anything it sometimes feels like the pancakes/waffles thing but also (as much as i hate the prase) that soup thing? where it's people just making a big deal out of nothing or it's just not their taste but rather than saying "i don't like _ thing" it's gotta be some whole argument about "why _ is actually evil" or whatever else. (i mean look at the bbno$ hate)

plus like it's been mentioned i havent heard about things being bad internally and hopefully it doesnt have to be a yet situation like what's been let out about the other studio. if anything this stood out among some of the positives about glitch which seems like a rare but very good win

link to the interview here: https://www.cartoonbrew.com/series/dana-terrace-knights-of-guinevere-glitch-full-season-order-258861.html

but like i'd prefer to try and be optimistic for what it could mean for independent creators. there's a lot of opinions being formed or spread by folks who have never created anything and even from a consumer standpoint maybe havent put thought into what it takes to make the things they watch or simply dont value it so i'm not gonna waste time or energy trying to see or find a problem that wasnt there to begin with unless there's real proof or something. till then i'm just happy to see projects like lackidaisy coming this far after following the webcomic for so many years or seeing gamoverse get a shot, getting to see this new world in KoG and continuing to enjoy TADC.

There's like so many takes that could easily be boiled down to a simple I dont enjoy this but we live in a world (online at least) where it's easier to turn those small simple opinions into needlessly long video essays but idk to each their own.

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-02-15 07:44:34 UTC #5

Mostly on YouTube-- The Roundtable made a video about it, and I've seen a handful of shorts and similar videos from smaller creators in my feed. Plus actual comments from these haters, spamming everyone with their 'it's bad because reasons' takes...THAT was crazy to witness; I didn't really believe this was a real problem until I came across that. ^^;

P.S. I didn't know about the Dana Terrace thing...I guess I can see how it might look hypocritical. But...The Owl House belongs to Disney, doesn't it? How would she publish a graphic novel about those characters without their permission...?
If people are complaining, essentially what they're asking her to do is consider TOH permanently tainted by Disney and abandon it without looking back. Which is like, ok, but that's easy for you to say... ⚆_⚆;

If you had a story that you genuinely loved enough to put through the wringer that is Disney TVA, fighting daily to get some amount of your uncut vision onscreen for years...and then got the opportunity to maybe do a little more to round out the ending after the whole ordeal was over, knowing your fans would love to see it, and that if you refuse, you might never get another chance to work on it ever again...what would you do? I'm not gonna throw stones at her for saying yes. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

As someone who got to watch RT implode in real time (and watched plenty of videos on the subject)...I don't think people realize just how badly mismanaged the company was. ^^; Like, it wasn't just an ordinary indie team that bit off more than it could chew, it was more like a frat house with a budget, plagued with nepotism, abuse and misappropriation of funds practically from the beginning. What eventually killed it was the same thing slowly killing all the bigger entertainment companies: people at the top wasting money on things no one wants, firing anyone who tries to tell them no, and creating a culture of powerful yes-men and expendable crunch slaves. You don't just 'fall into' that kind of internal rot, you have to invite it in, or at least turn a blind eye when it starts to form.

When GLITCH starts producing 15 boring podcasts for every member of its internal leadership, stealing its animators' wages to pay famous VA's to make 3-second cameos, and shoving out ugly low-quality merch for exorbitant prices to try and coerce its loyal fanbase into funding its shows against their will...then I'll worry about it becoming like RT. For now, I'm breathing easy. ^^;

...Valid. ;_;

NickRowler 2026-02-15 14:12:34 UTC #6

Not really hate but I am somewhat critical of them going from working on one project at a time to suddenly taking on multiple and adding more. I am worried this sudden expansion could lead to projects just getting canned in the long run.

On the other hand, I do feel like online fandom gets very parasocial. People write these weird fanfics in their heads about Disney. I don't think the people who work at Disney hate GLITCH, they are probably also fans. People who work in animation tend to like animation...shocker.

MK_Wizard 2026-02-15 15:31:28 UTC #7

I think the hate is manufactured. GLITCH has done nothing wrong aside taking a jab at Disney and it's not even the first place to do it. South Park and Simpsons have been mocking Disney for years every chance they get. The only reason they can't get manufactured hate is because they're giants too, so in their cases, they're allowed to practice free speech even if it is to criticize another company. GLITCH is still new and not a giant (yet), so bringing it down seems easy on paper.

However, this hate is backfiring spectacularly not just because GLITCH is making stuff that is genuinely good. It's because Disney is making stuff that is consistently bad or lackluster with the occasional slither of light like Zootopia 2. And... you don't light up a room with a little flashlight. I know. Harsh, but that's how far Disney has gone and it knows it. So yes, it feels threatened by GLITCH because even though Disney is the giant, GLITCH is the "Jack" who dared to climb the beanstalk and claim the golden goose among other treasures. And it's winning.

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-02-15 15:46:59 UTC #8

Well, thank you for providing some actual reasoning. However, if you have any idea how much planning goes into greenlighting and running even just one show, it doesn't really make sense. ^^; This should only be a concern if the people involved are amateurs/incompetent/literal children who don't even know what a budget is. And seeing as GLITCH is primarily made up of seasoned animators and ex-industry pros...I think they've earned a little benefit of the doubt, maybe? I think they deserve the chance to actually start making multiple shows at once before we decide they are incapable of doing it...

For example: I literally did this with my YouTube channel. It's not that hard.

At first it was just me and my team of volunteer VA's making funny shorts. I write/draw/animate, they record lines, then I edit/mix/upload+promote. Then I decided that I wanted to dub some old comics, so that we could have multiple projects going at once, and the channel could expand its range.

I announced my intentions, gauged interest, and auditioned editors and new voice actors. I put together an entire second team, who basically does 90% of the work for me: the new VAs record lines, the new editors take the comics and edit/mix, and all I have to do is give feedback periodically, look over the finished product, and then upload+promote. An entire second series, for a fraction of additional effort.

When an actual company does this, they do need to factor money and other company resources (i.e. people to manage that money, legal admin) into that 'additional effort'...but they know how to do that; it's literally their job. ^^; If I, a lone fan animator, can figure out what I need to manage multiple series, I think professional showrunners collaborating with other professional showrunners should be able to do it too.

If you have reason to suspect that they are not professionals and are actually incompetent (i.e. they don't know how much money/resources are needed to greenlight an additional show, or the money they allocate will get siphoned off somewhere else [see: Rooster Teeth], or they'll lie about even having the money in the first place, or the showrunners will run amok and mess up production)...you can share. But so far we haven't seen that, so it feels like a baseless suspicion.

If you have reason to suspect that they just don't have any restraint, and will stretch their company to its breaking point because they just love indie animation so much and can't turn down any series that gets pitched to them...technically, that is also a form of incompetence; see the above. Furthermore, we have no way of knowing or preventing that...I hate to say it, but at some point you just need to trust people.

Criticizing people simply because you lack faith in their abilities is just projecting your own insecurities; you can't really consider it valid...because your fear of the unknown doesn't count as a flaw in another person. That's essentially what I was talking about in the OP-- people deciding that because they feel like GLITCH could crash and burn, they need to accuse them of somehow encouraging that outcome just by existing. ^^; Which is a complete logical breakdown; it doesn't make sense.

NickRowler 2026-02-15 16:13:14 UTC #9

No need to be condescending. I do hope the best for GLITCH. But knowing a bit about preproduction, it is actually quite common for things to be green-lit yet later be shelved. It has nothing to do with being "amateurs/incompetent/literal children", sometimes productions might underestimate their budget. Sometimes other technical issues might arise that would lead to a production being halted or causing additional funding.

WUT

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-02-15 16:44:49 UTC #10

Sorry; I didn't really mean to come off that way...most people on the internet genuinely have no idea how the animation industry works (some to the point of not even using the word 'animation' correctly); it's hard to gauge what level of knowledge someone is at.

Anyway, call me overly optimistic, but I think that indie animation has gotten to a point of viability (and GLITCH has enough of a track record) that I can't really foresee any technical issues like that coming up. TADC features a lot of highly technical and detailed 3D animation, and they're currently just strutting towards the finish line with the show; I have no doubt that they'll handle Gaslight just fine.

KoG had (and still has) the biggest chance of facing production hurdles...yet, they just greenlit it. ^^; That's actually a very good sign; assuming the series won't be too long. I'm looking forward to seeing how they handle it...I'm also expecting very long delays between episodes. ^^; Or maybe they won't actually start the show for another few years, so they have time to build a backlog...I'm reserving my judgment for the pitfalls for when they start giving us an idea of what the release schedule will be.

Again, if you've heard something about parts of the process they may not be ready for, or that they haven't anticipated, or that their staff won't be able to handle...you can share. But I don't see it. I can see where they might stumble a bit as they go ( *cough cough * TADC six-month hiatus *cough *) but I don't see any show-destroying cracks in the foundation yet.

...I stand by what I said. Maybe it doesn't apply to you, but I stand by it. Trust is actually a vital part of a consumer-producer relationship, especially in the media sphere. When an audience/fanbase no longer trusts the creators fueling it, it leads to miserable times for everyone and agonizingly slow deaths for the media involved. Again, see: Rooster Teeth. ^^;

But I honestly feel this is more common in the industry sphere...you can see a bit of it every time Pixar makes a sequel. Pixar actually has a strikingly good track record with sequels, but the few flops they have had (along with the growing sequel fatigue among audiences in general...) have eroded some of their consumer trust. I loved Inside Out, enough to go to the theater alone to see it when I was a teen...and yet, by the time Inside Out 2 came out, I was so jaded that I was actually shocked to hear that it was good. I still haven't gotten around to watching it...^^;

NickRowler 2026-02-15 16:51:41 UTC #11

If the statement doesn't apply to me, why is it targeted at me?

DokiDokiTsuna 2026-02-15 16:55:35 UTC #12

It wasn't necessarily targeted at you...it was mostly referring to the behavior I was criticizing in the OP, which I thought also applied to what you were saying. So even if that was wrong and it's not about you, it's still part of the larger discussion, in that sense.

jwabeasley 2026-02-16 00:04:46 UTC #13

I haven't really seen any hate. All I've seen are either people who like what they've done and people who don't know about it.

TADC is excellent. KoG was pretty good. I have high hopes for Lackadaisy. Even if I don't like everything GLITCH does, I hope they are successful. We definitely need indie animation. I love animation, especially 2D animation, and love to see creative, creator oriented work that takes risks and cares about the art. Even if it's not perfect, these things take a lot of effort to get off the ground at all, and it's not like the big studios are making shows I care about these days.

Anything that's successful will get haters. I've even had one! Here's hoping GLITCH and their associated production people don't let the haters get them down. To paraphrase Colin Powell, people will complain about the brand of beer in the free beer machine. There's just no pleasing everyone!

ButterflyEmpress 2026-02-16 03:24:22 UTC #14

At 1st I thought it was weird that they picked up new shows so soon, but I don't know anything about how their business operates or anyone who works there so I can't judge. And all the shows new shows they have either have one episode or a trailer. It's not like a TV channel where they have tons of episodes ready to go on a 12hr broadcast every day, every week.
I think people are scared that this beloved indie studio might devolve into a corporate monster and got their pitchforks and torches on standby. Or it could be a "popular=bad" mindset.

One criticism I found weird was about Glitch making money through merch sales, claiming they don't need the funding that bad??? What? You'd rather they get it through shady investors who'll sanitize the shows in return?

jwabeasley 2026-02-16 03:59:27 UTC #15

As far as I can tell, they're mostly producers helping fund and distribute indie projects that already had momentum, and since there are many good indie projects in need of funding, marketing, and distribution, I don't think they're spread too thin just by having a half dozen shows in development. Just think of how many network pilots get made that never become series!