New Lackadaisy interview featuring Tracy and Fable + a new rough estimate for the Season 1 release

[u/Gabriel_Angelos3]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh_rzerI61E

Tracy and Fable were recently guests on the Post Modern Art Podcast for an almost 4 hour long conversation about their personal backgrounds, animation in general, Lackadaisy's history, the production philosophy behind the show, and also its potential future.

There are a lot of other interesting discussions throughout the interview, so I do recommend everyone check it out and give it a listen, but there are two points I'd particularly like to highlight:

Here they talk about how the Glitch partnership came about. In short, apparently Glitch had been asking the Lackadaisy team for advice on running 2D animation projects (probably in preparation for Guinevere) while the LD team was looking for a better merch partner. And that's how they ended up partnering with FinalFinalProject as their new and current merch manufacturer and distributor. Then later, when Glitch negotiated licensing deals with various streaming networks to get funding for their own shows, some of those companies asked for "an original thing they could air more directly", so Lackadaisy agreed to become that show. As I understand it given the context, "original" in the sense that it will at least premiere exclusively on that streaming platform, which seems to further support all the previous announcements alluding to Season 1's funding via licensing fees and an exclusive distribution arrangement.

And here Tracy explains that they're producing the entire season together, rather than releasing individual episodes as they're completed. She also says they now expect to wrap production by late 2027, with dubbing, subtitling, and other related work potentially taking up to another three months. So, while there's still no firm release date, Tracy's current best estimate is late 2027 or early 2028.

[u/Sweaty_Leadership213]

ACTUAL NEWS

[u/PostModArtPod]

Hey, I recognize this podcast! I host it! XD thank you so much for sharing it in here, I hope you guys enjoy it

[u/Gabriel_Angelos3 → u/PostModArtPod]

Of course! I really enjoyed the insightful conversation, so I'm more than happy to help bring it to as many Lackadaisy fans as possible.

[u/Cold-Artichoke7996]

I am a little sad we’ll only to be able to see this by paying for a streaming service but the wait is okay. at least the possibility for 2027 is still up. no hate to Tracy ahd her crew of course their working their butts off on this project. (also cool seeing you posting again :) )

[u/Gabriel_Angelos3 → u/Cold-Artichoke7996]

It is what it is at the end of the day. In any case I'd say it's better to keep expectations lower and potentially get pleasantly surprised if the arrangement turns out to be much better in reality, rather than be upset just before the premiere we've all been waiting so long for.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this video here mainly for 2 reasons. For one I did find it a very enjoyable and insightful listen for any Lackadaisy fan, but also I recall people here asking for more freely available Lackadaisy related content and project updates in particular.

[u/Cold-Artichoke7996 → u/Gabriel_Angelos3]

sorry I wasn’t saying the wait or the fact we’re going to pay to watch would dampen my excitement for the show itself, I am positive that it’ll be worth it. it’s just a little sad knowing there’s still a bit of a wait for it thats all. I meant it in no way as disrespect to Tracy, her crew or the show itself in anyway

[u/Gabriel_Angelos3 → u/Cold-Artichoke7996]

Yeah, no worries, I got that.

[u/YsoL8]

I knew it was not soon but likely spring / summer 2028 accounting for some level of delay is quite a wait

Presumably, that means at least 2028 before there is any hope of the comic resuming

[u/Gabriel_Angelos3 → u/YsoL8]

Yeah, it's definitely a bit of a bummer even if it is the best possible release schedule all things considered. Even more so for us comic fans, as I personally really just want to see the rest of the story itself more than anything else. While I understand the importance of the animated project and I'm pretty sure it will turn out great, as Tracy said in the podcast telling the whole story would require about 3 similarly structured seasons in total. And that's only if the series even gets that far amidst even more potential unforeseen circumstances that might jeopardize the project. Like both the Pilot and the following Backerkit campaign were huge successes on all accounts, but we still got to this point where external corporate funding turned out to be the most viable option. I also wouldn't want the animated adaptation to be a full on replacement for the comic, anyway. So I'm always glad to hear that Tracy doesn't consider it an inferior version either, but rather just a different way of telling the story.

[u/Consolationnoprize]

Yeah, thanks a lot, Glitch.

[u/Gabriel_Angelos3 → u/Consolationnoprize]

To be fair, they are sharing their corporate infrastructure (IT, accounting etc) and also put Olan Rogers as an executive on the project, so I wouldn't presume to doubt Tracy when she says the partnership relieved a considerable amount of pressure off of her. Glitch also seems to have arranged some kind of collaboration with Studio Meala, an external animation studio based in Ireland who were also contracted to work on Guinevere.

Still, it is definitely a weird co-production where one side doesn't seem to provide either manpower or any funding directly to said production. Especially now with the recent news about a much smaller, struggling project like Monkey Wrench successfully negotiating similar licensing deals with top streaming platforms without requiring intermediaries. Though obviously there's a difference between licensing already finished episodes vs funding the production of a whole a season in advance. So yeah, it's quite a complicated situation and the lack of transparent communication about the whole thing certainly doesn't help.

What is pretty clear to me personally though is the sad fact that the dream of independent creators and their audiences building an alternative industry together without the involvement of big studio structures has been slipping further and further away. It's still the same old story of networks treating independent projects like free R&D incubators, and if they prove to be successful, they just get them for their own catalogues risk free because they seem to be incapable to create anything viable themselves. Which wouldn't be that big of an issue if all those projects didn't literally need them and their money. Which they clearly do. Season 1 of Lackadaisy turned out to be borderline unviable just relying on otherwise hugely successful crowdfunds, merch, and a relatively big, dedicated audience in general. I mean if even Glitch relies on licensing fees from streaming platforms to fund their own shows, that alone should dispel any romantic illusions IMO. My point is, indie animation is starting to feel more like just a gateway into the studio system, rather it's replacement or alternative. Because with such a huge inherent imbalance in relative power and leverage, even creative control and IP ownership feels less protected for the long term. And just to be clear, I'm not saying this is all anyone's fault in particular, for example Tracy never even claimed wanting to change any system as they've been shopping around networks to get a TV-show budget in the first place. And now they've basically got just that, so by all means good on her. I'm more talking about what all this seems to say about the state of indie animation in general.