I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.

Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.

So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.

Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.

Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵‍💫

Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.

Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.

I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.

The only reason people pay more attention to the game industry or entertainment industry layoffs than other industries is because that’s where they get their “fun” and they think that being part of that would make the job more “fun” to do and less of a job.

The public school system has been hit by countless layoffs and teachers are losing their jobs on the regular because of them.

Meta, Verizon, Google, Amazon, Corus, K&L Gates Lawfirm, Coinbase, Starbucks. American Airlines, Walmart, Atlassian, Citi Bank, EBay, General Motors, Groupon, Kenvue (otc medical company), Nike, Papa John’s, Target, Wix, Workday, Pinterest… and countless more are doing layoffs just as often and just as heavy, people just don’t “notice as much” because they don’t aspire to be part of them as heavily as they do “entertainment brand.”

We’re in a place where these companies, these industries, and “the people in charge” are making more money than ever but the average worker needs multiple jobs to be able to afford to be able to live.

Unemployment is high, pay rates for workers are low, inflation is out of control, media and news outlets are denying that we’re in a recession because “well it’s not technically” - meanwhile the average person is so stressed about “will I be able to live” and worrying about if “they’re next” when it comes to their own safety, security, health, employment, etc.

The only reason anyone knows about the stuff specifically in games or animation or Hollywood or whatever is because the average person uses these forms of entertainment as an escape from their own reality so they expect the work to be as fulfilling and fun as the fantastic tales they spin. When in reality it’s an industry of work just like any other.

All industries of work are filled with worker abusive, have mass layoffs, and prey on the desperation of working class individuals just as much as games/entertainment… you just don’t care as much about those other industries because you don’t idolize them the way you do with the industry I primarily work in.

You think me and my colleagues who have been hit by layoff after layoff after layoff in games and animation don’t look for work outside our own industries?

We do.

Those who use their artistic crafts and abilities are seen as “outliers” but EVERYONE wants to do what they do.

You’re a human being, your heart cries out to be heard and understood through whatever form “Art” takes for you. Being able to create, make, build, and love alongside others who do the same is the dream for SO MANY PEOPLE ON THIS PLANET… and why?

Because it is seen as a joy to be able to do it.

But at the same time y’all go around throwing terms like “starving artist” around haphazardly because of two things:

1. A fear of failure in any capacity with whatever craft you desire to throw your heart into.

2. To downplay those who attempt to do it in spite of that fear of failure.

Most of the people who have historically or are currently actually chasing their dreams are doing so while also doing other work, looking for other work, and attempting to hold their lives together REGARDLESS of their dream chasing.

But none of the folks who deflect the truth of those efforts with terms like “starving artist” or phrases like “that industry is abusive” truly understand that IT’S ALL LIKE THIS!

The idea of pretending you’re superior to someone “silly” enough to chase a dream, dedicate time to focus on their art form in any shape it takes, and talking down to them as if they do not LIVE IN IT EVERY DAY and UNDERSTAND IT BETTER THAN YOU CAN is beyond ridiculous.

You idolize and become parasocial towards those few that succeed while you laugh and criticize those who you deem “lesser” or that you don’t “understand.”

And why? Because you want to be the former and you fear you are the latter.

Art, true art, made by humans, lovingly shaped by brushes, pencils, the written word, real voices, hands, hearts, souls, etc IS SOMETHING YOU WILL CRAVE UNTIL YOU DIE.

Yet you make fun of those who understand that desire so carnally they prioritize their own humanity because you refuse to acknowledge that desire within your own heart.

Those who care will create with reckless abandon and with no reward because humanity’s existence is to live and love.

[ ArtFight 2026 ] [5] Chimeric Deity

Long-tongued, termite-munching numbats are no longer endangered due to decades of successful conservation efforts, the global authority on the status of the natural world says.

Also known as banded anteaters, the status of the pint-sized marsupial has improved to near-threatened on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List. ''Today's assessments show that long-term, strategic and collaborative conservation effort works,'' conservation biologistJohn Woinarski said on Friday. ''Without it, invasive cats and foxes will continue to drive Australia's small marsupials and native rodents to extinction.''

Read more: Numbats no longer endangered but threat far from over - The Australian Museum Blog

>looks inside