Lonely Phantom

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I'd like to do some 2D animating and I figured I'd see what is popular nowadays. I looked at the sticky and I couldn't find anything that could help me in regards to animation programs.

Adobe Flash is something I used a long time ago. Nearly a decade ago. And now it seems the only way to get a current copy of Flash is to buy in to Adobe's Creative Cloud, which I cannot bring myself to do. I do not want to pay hundreds of dollars every year. Buying something like CS Flash Pro CS6 alone apparently will cost $699 not including tax and receive no further updates or fixes. The other option is to find someone who will sell a version from CS6 or older. And all of what I was finding is as expensive. And I really can't afford to pay a ton, either. I'm more of a hobbyist, not a true professional.

So I'm not sure if there is any other decent animation program that won't try to bleed my money dry.

I was told about Toon Boom and Anime Studio. They cost less than Flash, but I wonder if they are more bare bones programs. Perhaps requiring you to continue to pay for any decent upgrades. Anyone else use one or both of them? And used Flash before? Opinions?

Any other animation programs I should investigate? I have a PC using Windows, so it can't be Mac only program.

Thanks in advance for suggestions and/or comments.