Hello, everyone!
For our first newsletter, we'd first like to say: thank you for following! We hope to use this as an alternative to social media announcements (with the hope that we also don't forget to tell you on here!), so that means that we don't get to spam you too much!
Today's newsletter is a hefty one, though, so buckle up!
After many months of hard work, we've debuted our shiny new site! While applications to join are still closed (as we deal with our Kickstarter, see below), you can now browse through it: see our lovely projects that we've done, check out the comics and creators behind them, and even, gosh, some nice press we (or our comics) had!
Best of all, it's quite responsive -- so despite some warnings on pages about loading times, you should be able to peruse nicely on mobile! Wowie zowie!
You'll notice two links: forums and database. The database is still under construction but we hope that in a few months, the basic site can be done and debuted, so you see what we have planned for it. Same for the forums -- there's some niggling aspects we'd like to make sure are solid (like security issues) before we open it to everyone. Will people join the forums en-masse? Not sure; getting folks to understand that it's possible to join places that aren't Twitter (or Facebook) has appeared to be impossible, if we base ourselves on the reception towards Mastodon vs places like Hive, for example. (We're never going to be on Hive unless they prove they're worthy, fyi.) Getting folks to understand that some places can be semi-permanent so long as the strength behind it remains solid is also nigh impossible. Convenience is the word of the game -- which we understand and even indulge in, but hey, nobody is also stopping us from having backup plans now, are they?
So the forums will be there in case anyone wants or prefers that over Twitter, Discord, Pillowfort, etc.
If we're kicking it back old school, we might as well go whole hog!
Webrings disappeared slowly thanks to places like Google making it easier to search for things (with one side effect being that they can now "control" what sites are good enough; did y'all know that sites that aren't mobile or responsive-friendly never appear on searches now unless you ultra-specify?) -- but in the past few years, thanks to movements like the Yesterweb movement, and a couple of young folks' rediscovery of old Internet, certain things have slowly (very slowly) been trying to come back. One of these is webrings!
The founder of Aradia always particularly liked webrings (and fanlistings, remember those?!), and if they're on their way to a possible comeback, then why not support that while also making one of their own?
Unlike the collective, this webring is not based on anything except that you have your own site (can't be places like Webtoons or Tapas or any other that doesn't let you customize) and that you make a magical girl comic! That's it!
Will it go far? Who knows. But people are enjoying it, and that's what matters!
Last but not least -- our Kickstarter for our new magazine, ARADIA BEAT!
We're hoping to launch on January 19th, unless circumstances impede such a launch. Meanwhile, we've been shilling our pre-launch page and our teaser trailer! The pre-launch lets us know who's interested in our campaign thus far --17 people so far, wow!-- and will also alert when we're live to those who signed up. If you're interested, go on ahead and click interested, and maybe even help shill us a little in your fave hangout places, eh?
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/aradiacollective/aradia-beat-a-magical-girl-anthology-magazineSame for our teaser trailer!
ARADIA BEAT is a new magazine dedicated to, what else, magical girls! It'll feature comics, art, a cosplay, games! The work inside is absolutely fun to read and great to behold. We hope you do like it when it comes out, and we hope to see you there when the KS goes live!
That's all the news the pigeons have -- may you all have a majestic -- nay, magestic day!