Howdy, I hope you all have been well this past month.
I’ve been busy and as usual, with more shenanigans unfolding…

I had the worst fever in my adult life, which almost put me in a hospital bed. I took a tumble and banged up my left foot and accidentally washed my hair with dog shampoo. Other than that, between my car needing a new starter motor and now new brakes, I’m totally broke. I’ve also had to downgrade to a 4 day working week (in this job at least) as they wanted me to undergo a 64k drive (each way) to their main office every Monday. Unfortunately my old-man back just can’t tolerate the 1hr 20 min drive every week.
Even my Physio was super concerned about this, and urged me to reconsider lengthy trips to and from the workplace.

Broke as I am however, manage to finish off my “Made in Abyss” Nendoroid collection :D
https://www.goodsmile.info/en/

It’s been super hot here in Australia, with much of the country on fire.
Regardless of where you live, I’m sure the news has been covering the devastation to our bush land, homes and wildlife.
While my direct area currently remains unaffected, I live on the back of some extensive bush land and there have been evacuation warnings raised as close as 30 minutes from my home.

Push notifications are currently blowing up my phone for all warnings and evacuations. Being that I live in an “at risk” area and I work an hour away from home…I’m pretty much living on my phone at the moment in an attempt to be vigilant.
Should something happen, I need to make sure I get my two dogs out of the property as soon as possible.
Things can be replaced but our loved ones can’t.

Our air quality has been officially classified as worse than in Beijing (at least for now) and children, asthmatics and the elderly are at significant risk. I’m an asthmatic, so breathing has been a real treat. Our brave firefighters and emergency rescue teams are battling these fires all across the country, but dry winds and drought are working against them.
I really want this to end.

On a brighter note, Coca Cola recently ran a promotion, in which they would custom print names on their Coke cans.
I decide to get the MillEx main cast immortalised on the very drink that will likely be the cause of my death :P
Either way, I think this is pretty cool haha.

Soooo, this was a tad awkward. Recently, I commissioned a new artist on a platform called Fiverr to draw a Chibi design of Vincent (more on that later), and I was THRILLED with the results. I mean, just look at this glorious creature, he’s majestic…except that he’s made up of stolen parts!

That’s right, after posting this artwork (and crediting the artist as I normally do), a fan on Instagram pointed out to me the many stolen assets from a character called “Raven” from the popular game; “Elsword”.

Take a look for yourself.

So this is the completed Chibi Vincent (on the left). Notice the hand and the sword….look familiar?
Being none the wiser, I posted my commission online and I was absolutely mortified when I found out.
I took the post down immediately and contacted the artist…this is the response I received:

So if I’m to understand correctly; the artist in question thought I was some “random” and decided to just straight up plagiarize the work of another IP. Why should who I am even matter in the equation? Also, my very first message clearly stated that I was planning on making stickers out of the design and commercializing the work. So add “I didn’t read the brief” to the subtext.

I mean, this was just an appalling thing to do….however in later messages, the artist admitted fault and “seemed” to feel genuinely bad about their actions, offering me either a full refund or the chance to make things right. Now I’m a big believer in second chances and I try to avoid bad blood as much as possible…so I opted for the latter.

A few days had passed and after hearing nothing, suddenly I received an email from Fiverr, informing me that the artist had shut down their account with my job still outstanding. Luckily Fiverr refunded the amount I paid, but I was so very disappointed.
What do they say? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me?

Now you might be wondering, why block out this persons name? Why protect someone like this?

It’s pretty simple really.
It’s highly unlikely that the artist is still trading under that name after being caught. Also, this is on me.
I’m the project manager, the creator of Millennium Exile…it’s on me to ensure the integrity of the work I put out into the world.
I’m also not the type of guy who “names and shames”…especially in this “call out culture” that we currently reside in.

A big shout out to @omudanetwork for bringing this to my attention!

Okie dokie, after all that negativity let’s talk about some more chibi’s.

Iv’e been kicking around the idea of getting some decals made up, to maybe reward Patrons and possibly sell at upcoming conventions. It’s still an idea at the moment and I’m looking into the logistics of printing costs, but either way…I figured let’s get some cute little chibi designs of Vincent going :)

Let’s check out some of the awesomeness shall we?

ARTIST: Tanswork
https://www.instagram.com/tanswork/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/tansart1

This gorgeous little gem takes the standard chibi style, and highlights it with these amazing double Wrath axes. This was such a cool concept, Tanswork really went above and beyond with this :D

ARTIST: Xar623
https://www.instagram.com/xar.623/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/Xar623

Xar623 however went in a different direction with the styling of this commission. It looks great and I love the addition of the short, fat Wrath sword with the gauntlets.

Hary is on a much needed break at the moment, but this month sadly marks the end of Elmer’s immediate work on the project.
Elmer has done some phenomenal work for both the demo reel and the character releases and his hard work, brilliance and friendship is much appreciated.
This doesn’t necessarily mean the end however, as I might commission Elmer for some seasonal artwork… that being said he has his hands full with the current “Robotech Remix” comic that he’s recently been assigned to.

ARTIST: Elmer Damaso

https://elmerdamaso.artstation.com/
https://twitter.com/iq40mail

I accidentally paid Elmer too much for the Lineage Clan piece, so the legend drew this epic Vaan image for me. I looove the colors used in this!

Japanese Dub

I have also found a voice actor to play Vincent in the Japanese dubbed demo reel.

Unlike the English cast, who are all currently working in the anime industry, the Japanese cast consists of freelance actors. My Japanese is still pretty rough, so my reach is quite limited when it comes to contacting working artists in Japan.
Even so, Iv’e had Vincent’s script translated into Japanese and we’re ready to start recording!

A big thanks to Oaou30 for their fast work in translating the script! :)

Although I plan on pitching predominantly to English speaking parent companies like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and Crunchyroll, I’m still trying to get an Anime adaptation…as such, I want to show the proper respect and have the demo reel available in both languages.

Comic Collaboration:

And finally, I'm pleased to announce that the Millennium Exile project and Destroy Your Head will be collaborating to bring you 5-page mini comic!

The production will feature Yui, Clough and Abaddon during the events of the Sable Fall, and will tell the story featured in the special "Prologue to Destruction" chapter.
https://www.millenniumexile.com/a-prologue-to-destruction

This month we had two “Original Design Sheets” released…Clay and Kira.
All Patrons who support the project on Patreon $25 and over receive exclusive access to my original design sheets of these characters. The drawings are actually quite embarrassing for some of the characters, but it gives you some great insight as to how they started out, as apposed to how they look upon final release!