The end.
A long time ago, those two words were presend when a story was over. It was a sense of closure, a finality of sorts, and a conclusion of a long, yet enjoyable series of events. The end. The end isn't always a bad thing, mind you. Sometimes, good things come from endings.
A lot of people may have noticed that I haven't posted anything of substance around these parts in over a year, and I'm sorry about that. The thing is, this past year has been full of ups and downs personally. And with Thoughtnami, I feel like I've neglected The X Bridge, and for that, I'm sorry.
Truth be told, I wasn't sure if there was a place for The X Bridge in 2012. Everybody's doing videos of themselves, podcasts, and other more audio/visual productions instead of just writing. That's just not my style. I'm a modest person, and I'm a quiet individual. I have a lot to say, and I feel more comfortable writing out how I feel rather than just saying it out loud, mostly because I'm chronically shy. I'm not a talker. I try to speak volumes with my words, and since this site launched in 1998, that's what I've been doing. Some folks remember this place as CNX: Toonami Revolution. Some even go back to my GeoCities days (and honestly, if you've been with me THAT long, from the bottom of my heart, thank you). Most often, I've written things more critical about things I know I cannot control and at times felt like I was speaking to a stone wall. I was angry, not only at the world around me, but, in the end, myself.
Lately, at least over the past year, I've mellowed a lot. I'm not the same fiery twentysomething I was a decade ago frothing mad at moronic changes in programming I liked. I'm not the same guy that called businesses and individuals I thought was doing these acts "infinite losers" nor calling for them to be replaced. I'm not that person any more. Creatively speaking, I was not where I wanted to be in my life, and I was more disappointed in myself than the world around me so I put The X Bridge aside for a while.
I devoted much of the year trying to get back on my feet in the real world, finding love and a little bit of peace. I created a pair of pretty decent Tumblr pages (Thoughtnami and BFMC), but I keep looking back at The X Bridge figuring out what I could do with it. A lot of times I was thinking is there even a place for a site like The X Bridge, and for a while, I nearly considered shutting it down for good. I was going to make one last post reflecting on the past, talking about what I plan on doing next, and saying thank you to all of you who spent a portion of your time checking out the site in the past 14 years.
This is not the end.
At least not THE END. It is the end of my self-imposed hiatus from The X Bridge. It is the end of me figuring out what I want to do with this site I built with a lot of people propping me up and watching my back (I may do 99.9% of everything around here, but I'd be damned if I said I built this by myself). What was once a webpage for a young man to vent about what he wanted the world of action-cartoons to be like is now about to be something better.
This is the end of The X Bridge.
Say hello to The X Bridge.
In the coming weeks, you're going to be seeing some changes around here. Real, substantive changes, not just glossy shiny new interfaces. The X Bridge will be broken down into four components, and these are:
- Gephyrophillia: Near daily bites of things relevant to the world of comics and animation that catch my eye. The heart of what The X Bridge is all about.
- Thoughtnami: Just like the Tumblr blog that bears its name, I'll go deeper with in-depth articles, reviews, interviews, and a bit of Scratchbuilding.
- The Legacy Project: On Monday, October 1, The X Bridge's Toonami page will be going online. All things from the block that inspired a generation will be presented, including some things you may not have known before then. One of the internet's first Toonami sites gets a 21st century makeover, and now the world will learn to understand that the better cartoon show has a strong, lasting legacy.
- TXB Presents: The creative soul of The X Bridge is something I've wanted to do for a long, long time. Three original weekly serials will debut exclusively in the weeks ahead. Pinto Rider, sadly, won't be one of them, but the first arc will be preserved there in its entirety. One of these titles will be The X Bridge's first original webcomic series, launching on October 11. I will talk about that title in-depth during tomorrow's announcement.
So, you see, this isn't the end by any stretch. Check out the site tomorrow night for details of the first original webcoming coming to TXB Presents. Long time readers may know what it is, and I hope you all won't be too disappointed. Thank you for reading this, and, as always, keep creating.