Hello Citizens! We reached 5,000 followers!
I could publish the usual milestone post, thank everyone, add a few numbers, and continue uploading models as if nothing had changed.
But something has changed.
This page is no longer just a place where I occasionally upload LoRAs. Over the years, I have released hundreds of models, created several checkpoints, moved from Pony to Illustrious, and watched millions of images get generated with my work.
What began as “I cannot find the model I need, so I will make it myself” has gradually become something much bigger.
And I want to make it bigger still.
I do not want NMackelie to become another profile that releases the same type of LoRA forever. My goal is to build one of the strongest libraries for Western animation, comics, stylized characters, recognizable art styles, and visual concepts that are still ignored or poorly represented by most AI creators.
I want people to search for a character or style that nobody has trained properly and think:
“NMackelie probably has it.”
Or eventually:
“NMackelie will make it.”
But reaching that point requires a clear direction.
For roughly the last year and a half, most of my work has been built around Illustrious. It gave me the foundation for many of my characters, styles, and checkpoints, and I am not ready to abandon everything we have built with it.
At the same time, I have started working with Anima.
It is new, demanding, unpredictable, and far less comfortable than the workflow I already know. I have been rebuilding parts of my training process, breaking things, fixing them, and trying to understand what this architecture can become.
And honestly, that is exactly what makes it interesting.
Illustrious is the stronger and safer ecosystem today. Anima may offer the larger opportunity tomorrow.
I have my own opinion about where this is going, but this profile did not grow because of my opinion alone. It grew because people downloaded the models, tested them, criticized them, reported problems, requested characters, shared results, and brought others here.
So for this milestone, I do not only want to thank you.
I want to give you a direct role in what happens next.
The 5,000 Followers Challenge
Leave one comment using this format:
BASE: Illustrious / Anima / Both
TYPE: Character / Style / Checkpoint / Concept
REQUEST: The exact model or project you want
WHY: One sentence explaining why people would actually use it
Example:
BASE: Anima
TYPE: Style
REQUEST: A clean early-2000s Western television animation style
WHY: Most current models turn Western designs into generic anime and fail to preserve their original facial structure.
You do not need to write an essay. A clear idea with a good reason is enough.
When someone has already suggested your idea, reply to that comment instead of repeating it. Support it, improve it, or explain why it deserves to exist. I want to see which ideas create real discussion, not only which request gets copied the most.
I will collect the answers and use them when planning my next releases.
I cannot promise that every request will be created. But I can promise that I will read the discussion and that this post will directly influence what I train next.
There is also one question I have wanted to ask for a long time:
Why did you follow me?
Was it the Western cartoon characters? The art styles? The checkpoints? A specific franchise? The unusual models nobody else was making? Or did you find one useful LoRA and stay to see what came next?
That answer matters because I want to preserve what made this profile worth following while building something much larger on top of it.
For everyone discovering NMackelie for the first time: I create characters, styles, checkpoints, and visual concepts focused mainly on Western animation, comics, games, stylized 2D art, and subjects often neglected in an ecosystem dominated by anime-oriented models.
So here is what you can do:
Comment with the model you genuinely want to use.
Follow if you want to see where this goes.
Repost this to someone tired of every Western character turning into the same generic anime girl.
Five thousand people are already here.
I am grateful for every one of you. But I do not want this milestone to become a comfortable place where we stop.
I want 5,000 to be the moment when NMackelie stops looking like a collection of separate uploads and starts becoming something people immediately recognize.
A direction. A standard. A name associated with the things the rest of the ecosystem keeps ignoring.
Welcome to the next stage of NMackelie!
P.S. — A Note to the Civitai Team
I have spent years building for this platform: publishing hundreds of models, creating checkpoints, exploring underrepresented styles, adapting to new architectures, and helping millions of generations happen through my work.
If there is ever an opportunity to contribute through creator feedback, early feature testing, or helping shape Civitai's future, I would be proud to be part of it.
I am not asking because of 5,000 followers.
I am asking because of the work that brought me here—and because I believe my best work for Civitai is still ahead.
...Also, where's my custom badge? 😉