At a presentation, Tencent Video revealed concept art for the upcoming Warrior Cats animated adaptation, some of which was generated with the help of AI. Full conference (slide show starts at 45:15): www.bilibili.c...
I hate the fact that we have been waiting for borderline 15 years for this project and DESPITE the fandom having one of the STRONGEST animation fandoms EVER we are STUCK with AI.....
@@Fishin_Fox Er, perhaps not ALL the artists from the fandom; as they say, "Too many cooks spoil the soup" and frankly, I don't even think it would be physically possible to have that many people on the same project. /lh
bipedal?? did the team all read an entirely different book series what made them think bipedal would be a good choice, it almost distracted me from the fact they used AI i was so side swiped by shock
@@Garbagepersonart it's not bc furries at all, it's more bc warrior cats haves this thing calling humans 'two legs', and making them bipedal doesn't make sense counting that, bc they WILL be two legged too, that's something really important in warrior cats and i don't think it's a good idea changing that
“Capable human artists”: The entire fandom. They should hire the fans to do the art and animating. A bunch of us do it already. I hope it does get better, Akira. Oh and btw, i love ur videos.
NO BIPEDAL PLEASE NO I’D RATHER THE MOVIE BE DELAYED FOR 20 YEARS THAN HAVE BIPEDAL CATS! PLEASE NO! Edit: Thank you all so much this is legit the most likes I’ve ever gotten on a comment even comments that are like five years old and I posted this four hours ago so thank you 😊
Isn’t a bipedal cat just a furry? What’s wrong with that? (also same, I would rather have the warrior cats on 4 legs, furries are ok but I really don’t want the cats to be furries 😭)
Dude Oml. I was rlly hoping for a warrior cats show ENTIRELY drawn by hand. Ofc a company has to come into our fandom and ruin it with A.I. Disappointing.
@@alyssabullock6421 real omg,imagine a fan project being better then the actual official thing because I think that’s what it’s gonna be like 😭💀 they can’t even draw cats with stars In them they have to use A.I
Listen, not even talking about the AI Images here-WHAT kind of look are they trying to go for? What goals are the concept artists and writers setting for themselves? Why can’t the artists follow a specific style? Where are the guidelines here for anatomy, patterns, and movement? HOW do those illustrations of (presumably) Firestar and Tigerstar come into play? I don’t care what excuse someone could make for this-it is incredibly disappointing that *THIS* is the first look we get at an animated Warrior Cats adaptation. It looks unprofessional, it FEELS unprofessional. They had *no* reason to announce anything yet and they KNOW we could’ve waited for a more smoothened out, polished presentation of the concepts. Now? Now people are dreading the potential approach of the series being AI-Generated. Or being COMPLETELY different to the actual series. It’s a mess.
Completely agree with every word of this 😭I really hope the movie turns out okay and that it's true to the original series, but at this point it doesn't look very likely
@@Fishin_Fox Honestly? I’d hope at LEAST they’d be reminded of the fact there are plenty of artists and animators, many of which who are grown up, and are now ACTIVELY ADAPTING the series on their own terms, WITH the fandom in mind. That’d be enough reason alone to drop a series that goes for an AI adaptation. Unfortunately, most entertainment businesses now seem to be run with idiots in place of actual people who can do business, but still want their corporations to be viewed with joy and pride. We lose on all ends. I’m holding out some hope that this is just them trying out a new fad and realising it doesn’t work. But that hope I’m holding out is literal slithers at this point.
In my opinion, the reason the art style of the AI concept art makes no sense is pretty much self explanatory. A real artist wasn't consulted to make sure the art is feasible to recreate in the film, or at all visually appealing or in line with the actual series. Some of those concept art pieces that weren't made by AI, like the designs for I think firestar, looked pretty cute. The AI art is just to look cool to investors I'm pretty sure. There is no direction for the project yet - they probably don't even have an art director or a director of any kind, just a bunch of executives working with various artists and writers to try and make something marketable. I will also say that I don't think China has the same cultural backlash to AI that we have, although I don't know for certain. Like, for example, I don't see many Japanese artists calling out AI as strongly as western artists do. Doesn't mean they don't, but it means that when companies utilize AI for native audiences, they aren't expecting the backlash from Western audiences. It sucks and they should be held accountable whether it's normalized in China or not, but I don't really doubt that they will get real artists in on the process, especially as China is a massive country with likely millions of talented artists that they could probably get away with paying less than a western studio could get away with paying American artists. They don't have a reason to use AI outside of the drafting phase imo. It's basically a less ethical but somehow more appealing to investors way of a "mood board" that most show or film creators will create before working on actual concept art to get a feel for what they want the show to feel like.
It's sad to see a book series that is still relevant thanks to the ART of FANS (drawings, animations, etc) and whose movie has been anticipated for YEARS being worked on and studied with AI. THERE ARE THE BOOKS! BOOKS WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF EVERY CHARACTER AND STUFF! READ THEM! As much as it pains me to say it, I just hope they are using this as a "reference" of how things would look like so they can have THEIR OWN IDEAS and not using AI in the final product.
Just a reminder that this is the work that is officially protected by the brand and all fan projects that are actually professionally created are looked down on with cease and desist warnings. Y’all need to stop being nice.
If this comment sounds harsh, I promise it is not towards anyone but TenCent and their use of AI. Everyone has their own opinions, and that's okay! But for me, there is never an excuse for AI "art." Period. If they really needed images that badly, there are a whole host of cover art and in-book art (especially in China) that they could have used. If we allow a tolerant mind set just because it's a project that doesn't exist yet, we are potentially signaling that it is okay to push the envelope further. There is never a valid excuse for AI "Art."
I agree with you. It's too corrupted to ever be used wide-spread across the world in ethical ways. Nothing good has come from AI generated images imitating art.
@@Fishin_Fox Absolutely, there are practical uses for it. But, as the current climate of AI dictates, there seems to be no ethical way to use it as people's text and images are not properly compensated or consented to. So yes, you are absolutely right!
unfortunately east asia (especially china and japan) is embracing AI wayyy faster than the west, and many many artists there are already losing their jobs to it. it’s disgusting and soul-crushing.
@@BethDaSlaeh For example, AI is good for some things and can help you a lot, but it mustn't be overdone, I really wish WCAnimated or similar talented artists worked on the movie. But unfortunately that won't happen.
Noooo… not AI… noooooo Edit: not the ai-images.. that aren’t even art because there ain’t any outfit..noooo.. No bipedal Firestar pleaseeeee.. no four-foot-negative-three scourge…
This is kind of heartbreaking. Like many others have said, Warrior Cats is primarily being kept alive by artists. Real artists. People who draw, paint, write, and at this point even make music about the series. Plus the fact that they forced a small team who was making a fan adaptation to cease production. What an absolute let-down. We've been waiting for over a decade for a movie or series, so long that fans poured their time and energy into trying to do it themselves. It's so disrespectful.
1:11 why would they even be talking about making them bipedal its literally called warrior CATS not warrior humans it would take away from the series they make the cats bipedal no one is going to watch the movie
@@birb70exactly like Akira said I don't think the people who are making this movie have ever read or looked at warrior cats if they go through with this people won't watch it
Why??? WHY???? I'd rather wait for 10 more years for this movie than have bipedal cats and AI generated concept art. With Warriors being a community filled with artists, I don't know why they thought this was a good idea.
Warrior Cats, a fandom where a lot of people didn't read the books but know the entire story of solely through the talent of animators.... And now this?
They considered making the cats anthro? As a furry, who does love my anthros, that completely goes against the whole series. They're supposed to be normal feral cats (it'd be weird if humans owned anthro animals, in the first place lmao).
east asia, especially china and japan, are embracing AI WAY more quickly and it’s extremely disappointing. it’s much much more the norm there now than it is in the west, there are so much AI generated images are flooding japanese sites and plenty of chinese game illustrators are losing jobs to AI. I hate it so much.
so they're gonna shut down an amazing fanmade adaptation of the series, but pay for a big company to use AI for a bad adaptation? why do so many companies not understand their fanbase at all
Because all they want is money, and they use the latest trending stuff for even MORE money. Thats why companies are very disappointing nowadays. Its just money, money, and money. Even if they have millions, they crave for even MORE money.
I completely agree with you! I really hope that they will make a movie, but i'm scared of many things. 1) AI, if there would be a movie, i don't want to watch something that generated some ai that may have many mistakes, because the AI isn't perfect, i just want to watch something a human made. 2) Bipedal cats, the same reason you said, i agree, i just think warrior cats should be on four legs. 3) Cancellation of the movie, i'm scared that the movie would get cancelled, i would really love to see a movie about the prophecy begins! 4) adaptation or completely new story, i really hope that they would make an adaptation of The prophecy begins, i'm not saying a completely new story is a bad idea, but seeing an adaptation of the original series would be great! 5) Age, Another thing that concerns me is that if the movie would be released, what would be the age to watch? If it would go to the cinemas, what would be the appropiate age? Because as we all know, Warrior cats has many brutal scenes, so i wonder, how they could make it enjoyable for everyone? Because i don't want it to be like when Brightheart got attacked by dogs, i don't want to see in the movie like Brightheart have a little scratch and say it's from the dogs, but i also don't want to see in the movie Gallons of blood from Brightheart, i want something in middle. 6) Language and accessibility, I live in the Czech Republic, i love Warrior Cats, we have translated two series and half of the third one, two super editions, Ravenpaw's manga and Greystripe's managa which is not officialy avaliable for some reason, and the series is getting more and more popular, which is nice, but if the movie goes to the cinemas, will it be in Czechia, and in Czech? I really hope it will, and possibly on some streaming platforms aswell, because i would love to go into the cinema to watch Warrior cats, so i hope the movie would be translated! So that are my fears for the movie if it will be made, i'm excited but also scared and trying not to have big expectations, because as you said, it's not sure if they will even make the movie, it's only in the draft stage. By the way, Amazing video as always!
Doufám, že ty kočky udělají normálně a ne se dvěmi nohami, to bych už byla radši, kdyby ten film nedělali. To AI mě hodně štve HODNĚ, v naší komunitě je tak moc úžasných umělců, takže tomu fakt nerozumím. Upřímně se toho filmu hodně bojím, ale snad to nebude až taková hrůza.
@@riverclanfan123 Taky! Ten film by neměl smysl kdyby to bylo od AI. Taky se toho filmu strašně bojím, ale zároveň se těším, doufám že nás nezklamou! A taky že ten film bude přístupný i u nás!
@@TenMatteo01 Stoprocentně to bude přístupné i u nás, toho se nebojím. Ale bojím se, že tahle komunita se hodně změní v tom že když bude ten film, tak už nikdo nebude dělat animace a arty, protože už nikdo nebude mít tu potřebu dělat postavy ve svém stylu, protože ten film už ukáže, jak budou ty postavy vypadat. Tahle komunita už nebude mít tolik úžasných animací a artů.
I am a Chinese who loves Warriors Cats. In fact, they also wrote on the big screen "Many top international artists explore art styles, based on global development models, to create borderless animation." And after the video is played, there is a paragraph below "Early Visual Exploration".
This is definitely landing on the Warrior Cats iceberg (I hope that section stays short and nothing more gets added to the situation than this “concept” existing)
On a more positive note, that Tigerclaw design looks very nice. He's very shapely, and highlights his muscular form. They must have also drawn inspiration from the body types of tigers to make him look that way. In that one art with him and likely Firepaw/heart, he looks so damn imitating. I still chose to be excited about this movie, where I get to live in the generation where it actually happens
I can’t believe this…. My childhood series that got me into reading and writing books is being made into a tv series… where it’s ai and the cats stand on 2 legs. Did these guys even look at the cover of the book? Now it doesn’t even feel like warrior cats
I blame Starclan for this. Even if it's not their fault, I'm still blaming them. Still haven't forgiven Starclan for the way they treated SquirelFlight, and how they rewarded Ashfur
my question is, why a movie and not a series? It would fit better because : - there are way too many characters and some could get replaced/smashed together/completely forgotten about in the movie. in the series, they would almost all be here! - it would fit the arcs' style. I can imagine season 1 being the TPB adaptation, and so on with the other arcs. - the movie will probably end with tigerstar being defeated and scourge too which could feel rushed? unless they do a montage which is cheap as heck? while the series could be evenly paced. I dont know how many episodes a season should have though. The series style is just better? I don't know what the movie could end on. The pace won't be good anyway. there's just too many things to incorporate if they want to include everything that's in the 1st arc. Unless they cut A LOT out of it which would suck. I don't think we would get the bluestar subplot with her kits and either cinderpelt or cloudtail will be cut off as well. All of these are fan favorites though. I'm calling it, it's gonna be mid. And it sucks cuz they seem to absolutely want a movie and not a series, when the latter one fits better.
i mean im all for bipedal cats in other fiction but it does feel extremely strange to do it to warrior cats where the point is that they live like animals. its extremely worrying that they dont just make them bipedal for certain actions (like an emotion or gesture) like some animals do in disney movies but are otherwise quadro. its like they dont understand anything. the ai thing is so disgusting. i really cant muster up hope for them to not use ai for the movie when they already have in this way. a company like tencent.. i wouldnt be surprised if they use more ai for the movie. ugh. also lets not forget they got rid of a fan animation being continued because of... this. just wonderful. urk.
The audacity they have using AI art when literally 90% of their fanbase are artists and animators is utterly infuriating. Like we’ve been trying to make warriors cinema for FREE and they’re shutting us down and resorting to AI instead?? I’m physically cringing rn. AND TWOLEGGED CATS???? WHATTT? They’re so good at pissing off their fanbase.
i figured something like this would happen with a warrior cats movie tbh. it's too big of an undertaking for an independent fan studio, and i wouldn't trust a large studio or company to handle it with actual respect.
I'm a furry , a lot of people in the WC community are, and I think we can collectively agree that the cats should NOT be bipedal. please no bipedal cats
I swear already this movie sounds like an insult to the fandom. Using AI when most of the fandom is built up of artists and animators Making the fans wait Making the cats furries when some warrior cats fans are furries but enjoy having the cats on all fours I swear this movie is already making me triggered. I remember saying if Warriors was going to be made into a movie, I'd trust Dreamworks to do it since they have a history of making book movie adaptations just as good if not better than the source material. Examples: The Bad Guys How to Train Your Dragon The Prince of Egypt
Exactly. And as someone who is a furry, Warrior cats has never been that. If we go into technological sense, these cats have hardly ever been anthropomorphic, and the entire point of the first arc would be missed.
i agree, except since when is how to train your dragon a good book adaptation? sure, the movies are good on their own, but they have literally NOTHING in common with the books except for like names and the fact that dragons+ vikings are a thing
@@AraileLioness173 ok this is a HUGE pet peeve of mine so apologies, this isn't personal XD, but the amount of liberties they took means that the movies have nearly nothing in common with the books. They could have had the same plot as stand alone films and no one would bat an eye. I do like the movies, I think they're good, but i think they shouldn't be called how to train your dragon
I'd be more open to the idea of bipedal cats if it was more like The Cat Returns where they're still normal cats but just walking on two legs, and maybe only do it for certain moments, but if they're going full anthro furry... No way. lol
I'm a furry myself and I don't even want to think about how bad it would be for the Warriors movie to have biped cats. If they did that, it would take all of the magic of being in the wilderness with wild cats away.
They've been promising a movie for years and then dissapoint by getting AI involved. I mean, they discourage making a fan animated series because they're "on it" but are they really? I have a strong feeling that when, and IF, a movie actually does come out, it'll be a big disappointment.
I honestly feel like they’re gonna mess it up and it’s gonna get a lot of backlash. I can’t really hate anything about it besides the fact they’re debating on making the cats bipedal. I’m just really disappointed tbh
geez if they wanna draw furries in so badly with bipedal animals why couldn’t they just adapt the redwall books…… at least those characters make more sense to be depicted as bipedal and plenty of furries have and/or like rodent sonas
Bipedal wouldn’t even work because the cats “stalk” their prey and catch it w their front claws. Bipedal animals are often depicted w dexterous hands not paws
Honestly, I have to agree with Akira here. I feel like the way they used AI here was to brainstorm for an artstyle idea on how to represent star clan cats visual. I’ll admit, I like how this one looks like 2:20 (if you know an artist who the artstyle might have been taken from, tell me in the response) But yeah, let’s hope they don’t go the cheap route and go the machine over people route. It would be sad for a movie DECADES in waiting to end up like that.
I still don't think this movie is legit. They've "announced" it too many times for me to expect it to be a reality. That Wings of Fire series seems way more legit than a Warriors movie. Whatever pictures those were, they look more like they want to be their own thing and are simply using the concept and title of the Erins' books.
Honestly i feel like they used ai and talked about making them anthropomorphic just to get more people talking about this I dont want to believe these people are serious 😭
If the movie bombs it's on them for trying to use AI, i understand using it a little maybe here and there, but not fully. Also the standing on two legs thing, I don't mind it if it isn't all of the time, it'd be cool if they could a little bit maybe, since they do seem a little more conscious and/fantasy-ish than kitty pets are, but all the time just wouldn't make sense. I could see something cool like this in the future, like for an anime, or even furry version of warrior cats for the fans out there, but for the first official movie? No. It doesn't really make sense. Maybe through their eyes, they're all cool and fantasy like that 1:36, but in reality, they are just cats. They do have a star clan, but I still wouldn't call it full on fantasy..?
How about we treat SSS as the official warriors movie. it lasts like 1 hour and 19 minutes or 1 hour and 16 minutes without counting the openings at the beginning of each episode so i guess it counts