mariana

been seeing too many people who dont actually care about aatc posting about them on twitter so i channeled my irritation into re-redesigns

part 2 of the re-redesigns, the chipettes!

Michael Bagdasarian (son of Ross and Janice) has reached out to fans on Instagram to explain the situation and confirm that there will be ABSOLUTELY NO AI used in the upcoming Alvin and the Chipmunks reboot.

In his message he states the following:

"There's some Alvin updates and I wanted to send you a message Ross and Janice wanted to send out:

Long overdue message, but we've been squirreling away working on creating projects and opportunities for chipmunk fans. Janice has been working on multiple stories, but we wanted to quickly write you to say that we're very excited to announce that we've partnered with a company that can help us create a direct link to our fans.

They will be focusing on sharing our stories and programs in a way that's accessible to you all.

We can't wait to start delivering our old and new chipmunk projects along with official merchandise you all have asked for and more opportunities for fan engagement. Exciting chipmunk opportunities lay ahead. Thank you so much for your patience.

All of our gratitude,

Ross and Janice."

He also went on to say:

"Alvin is not going to be an influencer, and we are not using AI. That version of Alvin isn't an official final look [and] the video [posted] today was meant to let people know that the "headshot" is not how Alvin is going to look."

Munk Media also reached out to Michael and got more information about the situation. They've posted a video on it.

In his messages to Munk Media he states:

"I have a strong refusal to use any AI unless forced to via Google search or Meta AI."

"I'm really happy to report that that image is not the Alvin used in the reboot but was more of a promotional/announcement image."

He also explains how they've been working with dozens of artists and animators on this project, and that much of it is still in very early production.

We still have no answers on what happened with "Golden" but I decided to reach out to him myself (on my personal account) to both thank him and see if he has an explanation. If he responds to me, I'll share the news here. For now I just want to say. Please don't go hunting him down. He was kind enough to talk to the fans he already had contact with but I don't want dozens of fan accounts spamming him with questions. We'll find out information when they're ready to give it to us.

So, as you may be aware, there was a recent announcement about the future of the Alvin and the Chipmunks franchise.

In this article, it's announced that there will be a new, digital only reboot of AATC including short form social media content and a full theatrical film. The film, backed by Sony, is slated to come out in late 2028. Which will be right around the 70th anniversary.

All of this SHOULD be good news to us, but unfortunately we can't have nice things. Bagdasarian Productions made a deal with Big Shot Pictures, giving them a 25% stake in the franchise. Big Shot Pictures will be in charge of the short form social media content. This company exclusively uses generative AI to make its content...

So basically, it's gotten even worse than the Golden situation and this franchise is essentially going to become an AI slop factory. This is DEVASTATING news and I couldn't be more disappointed in Bagdasarian Productions. It's clear now that they learned literally nothing.

As for ChipmunkMania, I'm not going anywhere. You'll have to kill me and drag my dead body through the door. I'm just NOT going to be engaging in the AI generated content. If it's made with AI, it WILL NOT be posted on any of the ChipmunkMania platforms. I wont even acknowledge it. I will, however, continue archiving and preserving the already existing media.

If there's another case like Golden, where a genuine cover made by actual people is released, I will archive that music. I just will separate it from the AI content like I did with Golden.

There isn't much info to go off of as of right now. No content has been made yet, and it's not entirely sure when things will start rolling out. But I'll be keeping an eye on it and continuing to share news when I get it.

In the meantime, I encourage anyone who can to send BP letters expressing their concerns about this situation. They clearly didn't read our comments last time, and we have to make our voices heard.

Their address is

17,07,2026

I get wanting new Chipmunk media. I do. I'd be thrilled if they weren't tarnishing the brand with AI. But this? This is a disgrace.

New art! This is how I imagine the Chipettes in human form (I mean, almost entirely human. I still draw a chipmunk nose).

I CANT. DRAW. HANDS.

AATC but everything else is analog horror pt4(Run-in with Async)