Watterson described how, as Calvin and Hobbes grew popular, the pressure to capitalize on that popularity became intense. Cartoon merchandising was a twelve-billion-dollar industry, and his syndicate wanted their share. But the more he thought about what they wanted to do with his creation, the more inconsistent it seemed with why he drew cartoons in the first place. The 'opportunity' would have meant trading his individual voice for a corporate one, turning creativity into work for pay, and art into commerce. His characters would become 'television hucksters and T-shirt sloganeers.' This reframing of selling out not as betrayal but as surrendering to someone else's value system gave language to every creative person who has faced the same choice.