Even though we discontinued this comic, there are a few concepts from the series that I’m still fond of. Here’s a realization of one of my favorite jokes that we came up with, modified from an episode that will probably never be released.
—A
The human in the last panel is Cameron McCormick, who in real life created the (unfortunately defunct) Tetrapod Zoology Wiki, and in the comic was going to be the recordkeeper of the Tetrapod Kingdom.
Greetings to our loyal fans,
You have been waiting a long time, looking forward to new TetZoo Time comics, particularly in light of the newest iteration of the Tetrapod Zoology blog. So have we. Unfortunately, it is with heavy hearts that we (Joan and Albert) hereby announce that new TetZoo Time comics will not be forthcoming.
This was not by any means an easy decision for us to make. However, the long hiatus has given us a good amount of time to reflect on this little world that we have created, and in the end this outcome came down to two main factors.
Firstly, TetZoo Time began its life as a tribute to scientists, artists, and naturalists who we looked up to. As such, one of its most distinctive features has been its casting of real life researchers as major characters. Many of the individuals we featured have responded positively to their portrayals. However, we have also received indications that others are less appreciative, and we completely understand how being cast as a fictional character might be an awkward prospect to some. Combine this with the fact that we had grandiose plans for character development and fictional backstories for several members of our cast, and such awkwardness would have no doubt grown as the series progressed. Causing discomfort to the people we admire runs entirely counter to the spirit of TetZoo Time.
Secondly, another major component forming the identity of our comic rested on its status as a parody of Adventure Time. Though TetZoo Time was never meant to be an exact play-by-play parallel of Adventure Time, our art style, characters, setting, and narrative were nonetheless strongly based on the TV series. We are fans of Adventure Time, but we feel that our approach constrained the directions in which we could take our own storytelling, as well as what we could do with the comic itself. (Long-time readers might remember the very short-lived TetZoo Time online shop that we quickly closed down for fear of running afoul of copyright.*) On top of that, the fact that many of our characters were likenesses of real people placed further constraints, as alluded to previously.
*We are aware that parodies are not considered copyright violations in several legal systems, but we figured that it was better to be safe than sorry.
In the midst of this sad news, we do have a more positive announcement to make: we will be starting a new comic, Chile & Yi: Paleontologists! This comic will no longer feature real, living people as characters (at least, not directly), nor will it use the Adventure Time art style, but it will nonetheless contain many other aspects that we personally loved about TetZoo Time, including a cast of obscure tetrapods, references to the paleontological community, and Knuckles the Chalicothere. That’s right: we will be adapting many of the original characters and storylines that we’d planned for TetZoo Time into our new comic.
And who knows? Maybe we’ll still churn out the occasional TetZoo Time doodle in our spare time, and we always welcome fan art. After all, we invested a lot of time and effort into this project and, despite our aforementioned misgivings, we do consider it to have been very much a positive force in our lives. Should we produce anything related to TetZoo Time or come across any new fan work, we will be sure to post it here. We will also be leaving the askbox open to questions and comments.
Special thanks go to Gareth Monger and Rebecca Groom, who volunteered their precious time to help us complete the last few pages of the comic and greatly increased its artistic quality, to Darren Naish and John Conway for humoring our little endeavor and consistently being some of our biggest supporters (including advertising us at TetZoo Con, wow!), and to all of you readers for reading and commenting over the years. We would also like to apologize to those who we had announced as characters but never got the chance to release the episodes in which they properly feature, including (but not limited to) Memo Kosemen, Thomas Holtz (who was even gracious enough to indulge us once by reading his lines from one of our scripts), David Marjanović, and Alice Roberts.
Make no mistake, we have not lost interest in Tetrapod Zoology (the blog) or tetrapod zoology (the subject) in the slightest. We look forward to continuing to serve as Envoy and Ambassador of the Tet Zoo Empire in other ways. As long as there is more to learn about tetrapods, the fun will indeed never end.
Best regards,
Joan and Albert
P.S.: Seeing as we never got to finish presenting the “Sink or Swim?” storyline in a fully-colored comic, we have decided to share the complete (and partially illustrated) script for that episode here for those who are dying to know how it ends.
John sent Albert some Tet Zoo Time sketches as part of a Christmas package, which Albert took the liberty of coloring. Despite our long-standing partnership on this and other projects, this is our first actual art collab! Happy holidays to all!
nerd-matrix-deactivated20150704 asked:
Make no mistake; he’s tried his methods with other critters too. Pterosaurs are simply his favorites.
TetZoo Time! - Episode 2 (Comic 5/6)
Happy Birthday Tetzoo :)
Many thanks and appreciation go to Gareth Monger for adding color and special effects! You’re the man!
Expect new comics every Wednesday.
Original:
http://classicalguy.deviantart.com/art/TetZoo-Time-Episode-2-Comic-5-6-508643882
TetZoo Time! - Episode 2 (Comic 4/6)
Now in full color!
Original: http://classicalguy.deviantart.com/art/TetZoo-Time-Episode-2-Comic-4-6-WIP-468404814
lythronax-argestes-the-gore-king:
A version of this for the TetZoo Time! fandom!
A little motivation for killdeercheer!
UPDATE: derp, derp, derpity derp
Hah!
We’re certainly aware of how long it’s been since the last update. As John Turmelle tagged on his personal Tumblr, “#sometimes I’m more motivated to type up the episode scripts and official story notes than to draw up comic panels”. Worry not, Kabomanites (or whatever the agreed collective term for the Tet Zoo community was), even when we aren’t putting out finalized products for you to enjoy, preparatory work behind the scenes has not ceased by any measure!
lythronax-argestes-the-gore-king:
Loved the latest tetzootime comic!
But the last frame really stuck me because Preter looks so large.
(It must be his clothes.)
Incidentally, the new Godzilla is also being slammed because of his weight.
Thanks for the kind words! Rest assured fans of King Preter will get the greatest introduction ever!
lythronax-argestes-the-gore-king asked:
Oh Preter is a skinny dude. It’s just his cloak makes him look big. Ice King is the same way. ;)
lythronax-argestes-the-gore-king:
Tumblr hates me. Here’s the photo.
PowerPoint drawing (yes, it’s a thing).
The references should be really really obvious. Bonus points for also guessing the correct British television programme I’m thinking of.
Lemme give you some hints:
- tetzootime
- That’s quite enough to be going on with, isn’t it? Evening!
What kickass fanart from the wonderful lythronax-argestes-the-gore-king!
King Preter has never looked so good!
