Invader Zim Fan Animated Shorts

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Forum · Message Board
Name: Invader Zim Fan Animated Series, Invader Zim Fan Animated Shorts, IZFAS
Date(s): 2005 -
Moderated:
Type: Cartoon forum for producing animated shorts
Fandom: Invader Zim
URL: Modern Tapatalk site, Wayback Machine capture of original site
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Invader Zim Fan Animated Shorts, once known as Invader Zim Fan Animated Series, and abbreviated as IZFAS, was an Invader Zim fan forum born out of members from the forum Room With A Moose who wanted to make their own Invader Zim animations.

The earliest captures on the Wayback Machine of its original website are from 2007,[1] but the community began as early as 2005 according to a presentation presented at InvaderCON,[2] but may have even started earlier than that around 2002-2003 according to one of the earlier members of the community.[3] Then, the earliest capture of its Zetaboards re-make is from 2010.[4] In the InvaderCON recording forum members pronounced IZFAS not as individual letters, but as one word.

The Zetaboards version of the forum may have been co-founded by SkooIsCoo and Swiblet,[5] while a user named Cyberen is stated to have been an admin in 2005.[3] However, a 2010 reply by Swiblet doesn't mention SkooIsCoo at all, instead crediting a user named Schwartzenberg for the creation of the Zetaboards forum. SkooIsCoo would only become an admin after rising up as a modorator.[6]

Though the forum was a way to recruit story boarders, animators, colorists, and other parts of the animation pipeline, it was also a fully functioning fan forum, including hosting Invader Zim roleplay threads and discussions of InvaderCON. Even though IZFAS would only go on to make one official two minute long short in 2006, they frequently asked for donations and sold shirts/prints to assist in one day owning their own domain that wasn't based on free forum hosting, as well as to pay for animation software. IZFAS continued to ask for donations up until 2020 based on a capture from Mar 2020.[7]

2010 Banner

History

In Nov 28, 2010, a long-time IZFAS member named dr.deciduous made a post on the forum titled "The History of IZFAS." Unfortunately, this post would only cover the communities' history up until that date, but it did go into detail about IZFAS's roots on a Room With A Moose. It included the short that kicked off IZFAS before IZFAS was its own forum; a 20 second animation from 2002 titled "Way Up In The Sky."[3][8] This short would go on to spur the community into creating the IZFAS forums. Production was slow, and dr. deciduous describes the 2006 upload of their first real short, "The Most Horrible Short Ever," as being the only high point for the forum and community.

By early 2007 the project was seriously discussed about it's future and the practicality of whether or not it had a future. After a while we had discussed to reform the project into a more of a production of fan made media. The plan was to have a frequently updated webcomic and offer radio-plays, fan fictions and animated shorts to support it. However none of these ever went further than conception, due to the little activity in the crew members.

...


I believe it was Swilbet who ended up creating a new forum and a myspace page to try and regain the crew. This was brought to my attention to one of the former crew members who i was till IM'ing at the time. I remember laughing as i watched the community try and claw it's life back together since i knew the inevitability of the project. I feel very different to my view on IZFAS now however for different reasons but i'll get into that in a bit.

So if Swiblet would like to add his two cents to this then gladly be my guest since as far as i can tell you're the oldest member around here. I feel it's important to try and get the story updated to this point.

dr. deciduous

IZFAS has had a tumultuous history with its website hosting. Dr. deciduous's IZFAS history post states the first domain was hosted on Buzzyworlds, which would likely have been somewhere between 2002-2004. Its first short, a two minute gag titled "The Most Horrible Short Ever" posted on Newgrounds on Aug 16, 2006, linked to "izfas.bingbangboom."[9], though dr. deciduous stated they moved there in 2005. A re-upload of this short to YouTube by IZFAS co-founder Swiblet on Dec 14, 2008, detailed how this domain went down and they had to find a new host (an issue echoed in their InvaderCON panel). The new website host was Zetaboards, a well known and reliable forum host. [10] Eventually Zetaboards would merge with another forum host, Tapatalks, and IZFAS thus became a Tapatalk forum in 2018, breaking the formatting of the original website. The Tapatalk forum remains an archive of topics and threads dating back to the very beginning of the Zetaboards forum.

At some point, likely before Swiblet's retirement from the admin team, there had apparently been an "alliance" between IZFAS and another Invader Zim site called Operation Head Pigeons. A forum topic under announcements by Swiblet stated that the two sites were no longer allied.[11] The thread "Ohp Affiliation" doesn't give an exact date for the affiliation, but does imply that they had been affiliated for a year, meaning the affiliation likely occurred in 2010. The split between OHP and IZFAS was due to several factors listed by Swiblet in the thread, some including a difference in "maturity level," "lies" being posted about IZFAS at OHP, and "HP members/admins saying bad things" about IZFAS.[12]

In a 2012 post by the admin SkooIsCoo, at some point SkooIsCoo abruptly left the forum and Swiblet took over. When SkooIsCoo returned they were displeased with the direction Swiblet went in, decrying how Swiblet enlisted someone unknown to them as the new lead of their main project. In the same post, SkooIsCoo stated they were the one and true admin, despite having co-owning the site for some time with Swiblet. Swiblet ended up resigning from the staff at some point before this post was made and credited the lack of motivated animators for the reason for their resignation. Later in the post SkooIsCoo states that IZFAS will be "merged" into another Invader Zim fansite called Soapy Waffles, and that Soapy Waffles would be their "public face." Tallest Sarah, the admin of Soapy Waffles, was to take over as project lead at IZFAS. Comments on the post by forum members showed overwhelming support for the merge, along with a few comments lamenting the drama or suggesting that the split away from Swiblet's leadership was a long time coming.[5]

Shortly after SkooIsCoo announced the merge the forum would change from "Animated Series" to "Animated Shorts," including a banner change. The new banner would include text that said "brought to you by Soapy Waffles," and has remained the same into 2021. The change from Series to Shorts occurred between Aug 26, 2012, and Oct 23, 2012, based on captures on Wayback Machine.

Admin Haloflooder left in 2013, but announced his leave through an account called "ThisPlaceDied" that was only confirmed as Haloflooder through the replies to the announcement.[13]

InvaderCON Panel

In 2011, IZFAS hosted a panel at InvaderCON, in Atlanta, Georgia, which was recorded in full and as of 2021 is still hosted on YouTube in three parts. The panel was headed by Swiblet and Haloflooder.[2] In the first video, Haloflooder is stated to be the one in the middle, but the host with the microphone is only identified as the "janitor." It can be assumed this is Swiblet, and Swiblet's modern YouTube channel confirms this visually. The first video includes a presentation with a compilation of introduction videos by members of the forum. The low-quality recording makes it difficult to make out the usernames stated, outside of Invader Dana ("Dana," a mod on the forum), Invader Zeek, and Dibby (another mod). The panel stated that their project at the time was to animate the episode "Nubs of Doom," and it included a storyboard animatic of their progress. In the third recording of the panel the host states that if any of the audience entered the raffle that they had a chance to win an IZFAS shirt, of which 14 were made. The shirts were designed by Crow1992, who is labeled as an "animator" on the forums. They could also be purchased, and IZFAS also had a table and sold art prints at the con, including prints by Swiblet.[14]

Community

As of Oct 2021 the forum has 1,918 members.

The original website included a link to a chatroom in the upper right hand corner, and every week there was a community IScribble gathering.[11]

IZFAS had a Tumblr to advertise the forum and its projects, however it wasn't very active and only hosts a few posts. As of 2021 the abandoned blog still exists. [15] Activity was mainly congregated on the forum itself.

Archives

Fanworks

References

  1. ^ IZFAS.bingbangboom, Jan 2, 2007 (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  2. ^ a b InvaderCON - IZFAS Panel Part 1, Mar 30, 2011. (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  3. ^ a b c The History of IZFAS, IZFAS Tapatalk. Nov 28, 2010 (Accessed 11/29/2021)
  4. ^ Invader Zim Fan Animated Shorts, Zetaboards. Oct 3, 2010 (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  5. ^ a b Change of Plans and Directions, IZFAS Zetaboard forum. Oct 6, 2012, captured Mar 29, 2015. (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  6. ^ Reply to The History of IZFAS, IZFAS Tapatalks. Nov 29, 2010 (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  7. ^ IZFAS Tapatalk, Mar 27, 2020. (Accessed 11/20/2021)
  8. ^ Invader ZIM Fan Animated Series - "Way Up in the Sky" (2002), YouTube. Reuploaded Apr 4, 2017 (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  9. ^ TMHSE, Newgrounds, Aug 16, 2006. (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  10. ^ The Most Horrible Short Ever, YouTube, Dec 14, 2008. (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  11. ^ a b Announcements and News, IZFAS Zetaboards forum. Mar 30, 2015. (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  12. ^ Oph Affiliation, IZFAS Tapatalk. May 25, 2011 (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  13. ^ The end, IZFAS Tapatalk. Apr 4, 2013 (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  14. ^ InvaderCON - IZFAS Panel Part 3, YouTube. (Accessed 11/19/2021)
  15. ^ izfas-blog, Tumblr. (Accessed 11/29/2021)
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