Voicing My Opinions on the Current State of Independent Animation
Luke Canady
A child of God (Christian); aspiring screenwriter and character designer; creator of Christian cartoon concept Eternity Kingdoms; attending Ball State University for MDIA Master’s Degree and working as a custodian there
The American animation industry, like many things since 2019, has been in rocky shape. Studios have been shut down, other studios have fallen victim to ideology that led to audiences rejecting their work en masse, and certain corporations have straight-up erased huge parts of their library for the sake of tax write-offs. It's been difficult to find a cartoon that's truly brilliant and generation-defining in the same way your SpongeBob SquarePantses and Avatar: The Last Airbenders, your Ed, Edd n Eddys and Regular Shows, and your Phineas and Ferbs and Gravity Fallses were.
Unless, of course, you search online.
There, you will discover a stream of unfiltered (for better and worse) creations made by people with strong visions, usually with animation (movement) that beats the pants off corporate shows' work despite such a budget that's a fraction of what those corporate works have. The stories the writers set out to tell and the characters they work with are a bit more personal, sometimes exploring themes that a network/studio/streaming service executive might chafe at. And these indie shows are freed from the ratings system that would often force things to be toned down.
As someone who thinks independent animation would be the best avenue to execute my three animated series concepts (Eternity Kingdoms, Ex-Villains for Hire, and Integrated), I'm intrigued by what certain indie shows have had to offer. For the most part, I've been impressed by what I've seen. However, I feel that there's missed potential regarding making shows for a certain demographic. More on that later.
In this article, I plan to voice my thoughts on the independent animated series (or pilots if that's all they have at the time of writing this). These series/pilots are Lackadaisy, Murder Drones, The Amazing Digital Circus, Long Gone Gulch and The Wingfeather Saga. Let's say go!
LACKADAISY: Jazz Cats with Guns and Prohibition
Picture this. It's the late 1920s. Prohibition is in full swing. Two warring speakeasies are battling over smuggled alcohol. One party of rumrunners is composed of a manic violinist, his meek cousin packing some serious rage issues, and a cheerful mechanic; the other is composed of a no-nonsense gunslinger and a more boisterous Creole brother-sister duo. Also, everyone is a cat.
Told you indie animation got weird.
Lackadaisy (link to the pilot is here) didn't begin life as an animated pilot, though. Instead, it began in 2006 as a webcomic penned and illustrated by Tracy Butler, an avid scholar of the 1920s (to the point where the printed version of the comics come with a boatload of her footnotes explaining historical details that'd be lost on us modern folks) and owner of a few cats. The comics followed the (mis)adventures of the rumrunners working for the Lackadaisy speakeasy and its rivals working for the Marigold distillery, starting off as silly shenanigans and slowly transitioning into a serialized narrative.
However, the webcomic's been on pause since 2020 due to Butler prioritizing the development of an animated short film that now doubles as the pilot episode for a potential series. As someone who hasn't read the webcomic (yet), I feel like this is going to hurt the eventual animated series once they run out of source material the same way an anime is hurt once it runs out of manga chapters to adapt. So unless Butler is able to resolve her storylines and complete her story before the show outpaces the comic, I doubt the series will be able to have a satisfying ending.
But this article ain't about the comics, it's about the pilot. And there's a lot to love about it!
The Lackadaisy pilot does what any good television pilot should do- that is, act as a sampler of what the series is capable of. It establishes the Lackadaisy rumrunners, the speakeasy's usual patrons, and their rivals from Marigold while also setting up mysteries, character eccentricities, and potential plot threads in a tight 22 minutes. Oh, and it's quite the visual and auditory stunner, too.
Butler's Bluthesque (definition: resembling the work of ex-Disney animator Don Bluth) character designs translate masterfully into animation, being able to convey emotions big and small while being full of character. The digital 2D animation is buttery smooth, evoking the best Disney pictures of the 60s (when they had that sketchy linework; think The Aristocats, 101 Dalmatians, and Robin Hood) and never once feeling like it faltered framerate-wise. The soundtrack combines jazz common to the late 20s and some electro swing a la the 2013 version of The Great Gatsby to evoke the newness of jazz at the time. And the voice acting... sweet powdered pancakes, the voice acting is exquisite!
Of course, being an indie production, Lackadaisy doesn't have many big voice acting names in its cast. However, what it DOES have is a motley crew of YouTube voice actors who give their all and are clearly having a good time. Indie animation voice acting darling Michael Kovach gives Rocky a manic, eccentric energy, long-time dubber of the webcomics SungWon Cho (better known as ProZD on YouTube) gives Mordecai a dry, all-business set of pipes, relative newcomers Belsheber Rusape and Lisa Reimold are charming as Rocky's meek cousin Freckle and peppy mechanic Ivy, and Benni Latham and Malcolm Ray arguably steal the show as the Creole siblings Serafine and Nicodeme Savoy.
With that said, let's talk about the characters. Rocky's admittedly a tough nut to crack; ironic, considering he acts like he himself is already cracked in the head at times. One moment he's giving a spoken word soliloquy about the beauty of St. Louis at night whilst playing his violin to provide some ambience while Freckle and Ivy dig up some hidden booze; the next he's commandeered an excavator while screaming about a circus and chucking dynamite at the Marigold trio (both of which are things that happen in the pilot... I've heard he's done wilder things in the webcomics)
But his moments of mania needn't define him. Rocky is quite the loyal chap when the situation calls for it, and despite his ribbing, he does care for Freckle. His methods of doing things are a bit unorthodox, but his heart's definitely in the right place.
Freckle is my favorite of the main trio, although I feel as if the pilot could've done a better job explaining his whole deal. For context, Freckle abandons his withdrawn, introverted self whenever he's got a machine gun in hand (demonstrated in one of the best scenes of the pilot from a compositional standpoint; the combination of the soundtrack, animation, and Belsheber's unhinged laughter). He attempts to explain this change in behavior to Ivy before being distracted by the trio's vehicle's engine catching fire.
"SORRY... sorry. Didn't mean to- It's just... There's a hot- a fire... a hot fire burning in the... in the... engine compartment!" - Freckle, Lackadaisy pilot
According to some YouTube commenters who've read the comic, outbursts like this are a product of Freckle's pent-up rage he never got to express thanks to an extremely strict Catholic upbringing. I get that pilots don't have to explain everything about characters, but alluding to this detail a bit more than they did would've helped to explain why he went from 10 to 100 in a matter of seconds during the car chase the second Rocky plopped a tommy gun in his mitts. That aside, I quite like Freckle for being a more rational foil to his cousin and a protective gentleman to Ivy (apparently he and Ivy do end up being a couple at some point in the comics; the pilot alludes to their future relationship and I can see the chemistry between them).
Ivy is quite charming, serving as a plucky mechanic and amateur driver and arguably the most rational of the trio (considering Rocky and Freckle's moments of mania). Judging from how she's written here, I assume this is early in her time as part of the Lackadaisy crew: long enough to be used to the cousins' shenanigans, but not long enough to know how certain kinds of liquors would taste (her reaction to the booze the trio managed to smuggle suggests she isn't terribly used to the taste). Her dynamic with the lads is very entertaining and I'm excited to see how she develops in the show proper.
The Marigold trio is no slouch, either. Mordecai is a slick, compelling antagonist with little tolerance for nonsense from either the Lackadaisy rumrunners of the Savoy sibs. He's a perfect foil to everyone else's nonsense and a competent, ruthless foe (that little bit of him counting Freckle's gunshots is smart; the gun Freckle had was rather low on bullet capacity). Yet he isn't without his nuances- he hesitates to shoot Ivy as the Lackadaisy crew escapes, perhaps being reminded of his younger self by the spritely belle (a detail I'm convinced will be expanded upon in the show).
The standout antagonists are easily Serafine and Nicodeme, though. While Mordecai is intriguing, these two are just fun. As I've said many times in my past articles, sometimes a bad guy or gal who's evil and loving it is a lot more enjoyable than those with difficult-to-discern or thin motives. That, and they also appeal to my love of villains who have familial ties and care for each other (in something of a dark mirror to Rocky and Freckle's relationship).
All that remains for me to discuss are the patrons of the titular speakeasy. While there isn't much since the majority of them only pop up in the last five or so minutes, they all have a little something I expect to see expanded upon in the inevitable series. Owner Mitzi May is clearly stressed from the loss of her husband Atlas and running the business but appreciates Rocky's efforts to supply her (even if those efforts don't always produce the best fruit). Patrons Zib and Wick make good mirrors to one another (one being a rather buzzed slob and the other being a straight-laced businessman), and bartender Viktor is a curt, beefy fellow whose scars suggest a rough past.
Overall, the Lackadaisy pilot is quite the slick introduction to this world. While there are certain character details I wish had been expanded upon, it does a good job setting up the main cast and on top of that it's a visual and auditory masterpiece. When the show proper premieres, you can count on me being there.
MURDER DRONES: Deliciously Dark
Glitch Productions is perhaps the most interesting of the studios we'll be discussing here. They began as two Australian brothers making surreal Super Mario animations with crude "lol random" humor, but in recent years, they've broadened their horizons to create original properties. In this section and the next one, we're going to discuss their two big series (or at least their breakout series and the pilot for what could be another smash hit).
Their biggest success thus far is Liam Vickers's Murder Drones, a sci-fi/horror/mystery show about the unexpected friendship between a cynical, mouthy, and violence-craving worker drone named Uzi Doorman (YouTuber and voice actress Elsie Lovelock) and an unusually cheery "disassembly" (read: murder) drone named N (Michael Kovach again) as they seek to escape the mining exoplanet the worker drones call home while uncovering the dark truths behind their existence and their manufacturer JCJensen in Spaaaace. Admittedly, the title initially put me off to the series. "Oh, great; yet another indie show relying on shock value and gore to pass itself off as 'adult'."
But after watching the pilot episode (link here) and second episode (since that was all that was available when I first watched)... I found myself to have been sorely mistaken. The show was quite nice and got better and better by episode. Didn't hurt that the show was pleasantly clean in regards to language in sharp contrast to some of the most infamous indie projects feeling the need to throw three F-bombs in every other sentence.
If there's anything that marks Murder Drones as for older folks, it's the violence and horror elements. The show relishes in its main characters being nonhuman, allowing for kills or blows that would've been violations of YouTube's terms of service if the characters were flesh and blood. Several episodes thus far explore traditional horror elements/plots- episode 2 has a John Carpenter's The Thinglike monster made from the remains of a destroyed disassembly drone, episode 3 is a loving tribute to Carrie (complete with a prom!), and episode 4 is a Friday the 13th sendup about a camping trip going awry thanks to a monster being on the loose.
For the sake of this article, I'm only going to discuss the first four episodes of the show. The show isn't finished yet at the time I'm writing this and I'd rather not end my discussion on a cliffhanger. Ergo, once we reach the camp episode (episode 4), that's where my analysis ends (shame I gotta cut it off here, I really enjoyed what episodes 5 and 6 did and I'd love to do a deeper analysis on the show as a whole once it's over).
With that said, let's discuss the world and writing of the show. Mining colony Copper 9 is a frozen-over abandoned colony world run by the robots JCJensen made to serve them. It's an incredibly bleak place, full of the remains of humans and their technology. Think a really, really screwed up version of WALL-E's Earth.
The worker drones have become, ironically, quite human, having families, friends, education systems, jobs, and behaviors not unlike their former masters. They also seem to have inherited the worst of the human condition, with many of them being quite misanthropic and unobservant. And that's not even getting into some of the various threats posed by leftover JCJensen tech and the "disassembly drones" they send to exterminate their rebellious creations!
With such a grim setting, you'd think the show would be unwatchably dour. But you'd be wrong. Vickers and MD's writing staff have infused the series with an irreverent, self-aware sense of humor that leans into the cliches of horror media as well as genuine heart that allows for the characters to take a break from surviving near-death experiences and address their interpersonal issues.
The writing is nothing short of impressive, being able to juggle character development, action, humor, mystery and drama in the span of about 20 minutes per episode. Regarding mystery, that's something I should expound upon. Murder Drones's backstory and lore, with the exception of an incredibly sarcastic school project done by Uzi in the first episode, tend to be rather cryptic.
This is something of a double-edged sword. On one hand, it's incredibly rewarding to see itty bitty bits of foreshadowing pay off, but on the other hand, there are times the show becomes borderline maddening to watch because you haven't a clue what's going on (Episode 2 is perhaps the worst when it comes to this; it seems like Vickers realized this because the crypticness of the show's lore was toned down quite a bit afterward). Admittedly, a rewatch should help you realize what you missed, but I believe that you should be able to enjoy and make sense of something on your first watch through, not on the second or third go around.
That being said, I quite like the mysteries that the show's been developing. What exactly is the "Absolute Solver" program (virus?), what does it do to drones, and what are its capabilities? How do the drones' bodies work? What makes a disposal drone different from a disposal drone? How exactly did N and his fellow disposal drones become what they are? Did they have lives before this? What became of Uzi's late mother Nori? All of these have been touched upon at least once in the show so far, and the answers offered up by Vickers (the sole writer for the series; he's written and directed every episode released at the time I'm writing this) have been thus far have been satisfactory.
The actual animation and art style of Murder Drones started off great and has gotten better and better, episode by episode. Despite all of the drones sharing the same general proportions, they're all given some form of individuality design-wise. I assume this was done for budgetary reasons, but it also works to sell the point that the worker drones and disassembly drones were once the same model of robot.
Visually, MD strives for realism for its backgrounds and the world around the characters. The action scenes are incredibly dynamic, what with their fancy camera work and slick choreography. Standout fights include N vs. V in the pilot, Uzi and N vs. Doll from the third episode and Uzi vs. V and N from the fourth episode.
Character-wise, Murder Drones is once again really nice. Our antiheroine Uzi is a big ol' ball of teen angst and cynicism. Unlike many of the "edgy" young adult dystopian novel protagonists I assume she's meant to be satirizing, though, she actually has a reason to be moody. Combine missing her mom, her door-making father Khan prioritizing his doors over his own daughter, and the general suckiness of Copper 9, and you've got a very, very unhappy camper.
At the same time, I'm convinced that some of Uzi's moodiness is a front to mask her unprocessed issues. She's capable of genuine heroism and vulnerability at times, and most of the latter tends to be brought out thanks to N. She's grown a bit more selfless and personal (emphasis on a bit) over the course of the series, and I'm eager to see what she ends up as by the end of the show proper.
And then we have N.
N is my favorite character in Murder Drones. He's a charming, kind, caring, and protective mech (borrowing the Transformers terminology for male robots) who's just a wee bit oblivious to some social cues. Blame that on him winding up amnesiac thanks to Uzi.
He's a perfect foil to both Uzi and his fellow disassembly drones with that optimism of his. Sure, he's treated like an overgrown child by the other disassembly drones because of it, but he's capable of surprisingly mature and empathetic insights at times. And hey, he's gotten Uzi to open up a bit more, too.
N falls into what I've dubbed the Papyrus archetype. Named for the spaghetti-making puzzle-crafting skeleton who makes more puns than his lazy brother Sans from indie game Undertale, the Papyrus archetype is a character who acts eccentric and is viewed with some ridicule by other characters but is often the most perceptive and caring member of the main cast. Examples of the Papyrus archetype other than Papyrus himself and N include Peridot (Steven Universe), Entrapta (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power; the only good part of that show) and Marcy Wu (Amphibia).
From my perspective, the Papyrus archetype is full of characters that are autism-coded or confirmed to be somewhere on the spectrum (Entrapta and Marcy say hi). It's a shame, then, that so many in the MD fandom make the same mistake as N's fellow disassembly drones and infantilize him in fan content, acting as if he's a sweet "cinnamon roll" who wouldn't hurt anyone. You know, ignoring N's literally a killing machine.
As someone who is on the spectrum, I find the infantilization of characters like N very frustrating. Just because we act a bit more childishly compared to neurotypical or our brains are more literal than others doesn't mean we're grown adult children or incapable of recognizing sarcasm. We are just as capable as maturity, deep insight, and wisdom as you are. We can do all that and still love silly things, unashamed of how we might look to the world.
That tangent aside, let's move onto other characters. V, one of N's fellow disassembly drones, becomes a hostage and reluctant ally of the Uzi/N team. Without getting into the episodes following the camp episode (because that's where I'd argue her character peaked), I quite like how Vickers and co developed her from just "ice queen killer robot lady" to "moody ally of Uzi and N because of N's nudging". That, and she's got her own agenda involving tracking down the Absolute Solver... something that begins to overlap with other characters being infected with it.
Doll is a fascinating mess of contradictions. On one hand, she seeks revenge on the disassembly drones for what they did to her parents and knows a bit more about the Solver than Uzi does. On the other hand, though, she's quite the gruesome, eerie gal willing to do terrible things if it means getting justice and has her own machinations in mind. She's the closest thing the show has to a primary antagonist... well, aside from the Solver and its current puppet (but that would be getting into episodes 5-6 and spoilers).
Overall, I really like what Murder Drones has offered up. I have issues with how some of the lore has been dispensed and there've been some writing foibles, but so far it's been as close to perfect as an indie production can be. If Mr. Vickers and crew can stick the landing with the last two episodes, I'm certain this'll become the premier indie show and the one that all other indie studios will want to imitate.
THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS: I Wouldn't Call It "Amazing", But...
We're not done with Glitch Productions yet, folks. The Amazing Digital Circus, their other major show (link here), is currently only a pilot (and their most-viewed video on their YouTube channel, surprisingly). It's the darkly comic brainchild of Australian YouTube-based musician and surrealist animator Gooseworx, who I'm only familiar with thanks to her Undertale music remixes and their accompanying animation.
TADC's pilot follows a young woman (Lizzie Freeman) getting warped into a late-90s/early-2000s PC game-like digital realm overseen by oblivious, eccentric AI ringmaster Caine (YouTube voice actor Alex Rochon; best known for his unofficial dubs of Spamton from indie game Deltarune) and his bumbling, obnoxious sidekick Bubble (Gooseworx herself). She's not the only one there, though: apparently what happened to her also happened to six others. She's trapped in a strange new body and finds herself unable to remember who she was- resulting in Caine offering her the new (and very ironic) name of Pomni (Russian for "remember").
The rest of the circus's "members" are split between helping Pomni adjust to life in the Digital Circus (kindly rag doll Ragatha and apathetic jerk rabbit Jax) and tracking down strange creatures known as "Gloinks" (nutty chess piece Kinger and emotionally fragile softie in need of hugs Gangle work to rescue apathetic pile of parts Zooble from them). But Pomni wants none of this. She wants a way out of this digital nightmare and she wants it NOW.
TADC is great fun, but I feel as if the "Amazing" in the show's title is a bit much. Perhaps a more accurate title would be "The Pretty Good Digital Circus"- you'll have a good time with it, but don't go into it expecting the best show ever. That being said, there's a lot to like about the pilot we have so far.
Take the animation, for example. With former Blue Sky Studios talent and YouTube animator/singer/songwriter Kevin Temmer as lead animator for the show (he animated HALF of the pilot we got; he also started working on Murder Drones from episode 4 onward), I had very high expectations for TADC. I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed- this is some of the most zany, expressive and character-driven CGI I've seen in a while (and I'm not just talking about what Temmer contributed; the whole thing is quite lively).
Every character has their own walk and run cycles! The characters operate with old-school squash and stretch movement (something very difficult to pull off in CGI, but it can be done)! And there are some visual gags that are funnier if you know the ins and outs of the animation process (examples: a flowerpot next to Pomni glitching through the floor early in the pilot or Jax sarcastically describing Kinger as "one of the most mentally stable characters" while Kinger's body is flailing about)!
The character designs are very, very off-kilter but endearing and feel like 1:1 translations of Gooseworx's 2D art into 3D. If you've never seen Gooseworx's 2D work, think of a mix between Tim Burton's stop motion films and Doug TenNapel's work for Earthworm Jim. The characters are heavily stylized and despite their wildly different appearances, feel like they're from the same world.
The writing of the pilot, as done by Gooseworx herself, thrives on the kind of absurdist humor that my generation grew up with in television cartoons (think Adventure Time, The Amazing World of Gumball, etc) and uses both the quirks and charms of early educational computer games to craft humor and horror. For example, Pomni lets out an exasperated "WHAT THE [CENSORED] IS GOING ON?!" in response to the madness of her new domain, only to realize what she's said has been censored in real time. Caine explains that the Digital Circus is a place for all ages, and such foul language won't be tolerated (he attempts to make a joke about it, describing the circus as a place where anything can happen "except swearing").
Pomni proceeds to let out a string of censored expletives before realizing Caine is right. The joke then continues later in the pilot when Zooble, ever the apathetic one, says "[CENSORED] off" and flips the bird on one hand (which is also censored by the same censor bar that covered Pomni's mouth). Not only does this keep the pilot from using expletives as a comedic crutch, but it reflects the checks PC games would use to prevent certain players from naming their characters something profane (which is reflected in a mile-a-minute disclaimer Caine gives Pomni before assigning her a new name; amidst that dense diatribe, he notes that it's against the rules to choose something vulgar as a name).
TADC thrives on the contrast between the morbid and the mundane, the whimsical and the "why oh why", and the humorous and the harrowing. One moment, Caine might be rattling off potential horrors that could await Pomni in the Digital Circus; the next, he might be offering her angel food cake that's immediately gobbled up by Bubble (easily one of the funniest scenes in the pilot thanks to Rochon's delivery). Sure, Jax, Kinger and Gangle might be faced by a horrific beast, but Jax, unfazed, responds to it by saying "you could've asked for my consent before showing me something so completely and utterly disgusting." This is a pilot that reflects the unsettling yet unabashedly absurd view of Gooseworx- a testament to Glitch's promise to make their shows wholly creator-driven.
The characters are perhaps the greatest part of TADC. Somehow, despite having nine main characters to juggle, the pilot leaves very few of them feeling underdeveloped. Even Bubble, who is very much an extension of Caine, feels like we've got a decent grip on him.
Let's start with XDDCC... erm, Pomni. If I had a nickel for every time a Glitch Productions show had a female protagonist who'd be a real shocker to casual audiences suppose they were in a mainstream animated film or show, I'd have two nickels. Where Uzi is an angsty violent robot teenager with reasons to angst, Pomni is a terrified ball of nerves struggling to comprehend this strange new realm she's stuck in.
Pomni is a very, very, very flawed character- and I mean that as a compliment. She's selfish, she's cowardly, and she's almost entirely driven by her emotions (which are in high-stress mode almost the whole pilot). You'd think she'd be unlikable, and yet she isn't. Her desire to get out of the Digital Circus is completely understandable (and Freeman's performance is endearing and runs the emotional gamut), but it's clear that she's in need of some self-betterment before she's granted that wish.
The beating heart (or core processor?) of the Digital Circus is Caine, and he's a refreshingly unique AI character. While he's based on the genuinely evil AI from I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (a major influence for TADC), Caine strikes me more as a program confused by his "performers'" needs and trying to fulfill them in ways he knows how to. He's not in total control of everything (and is willing to own up to that) and is fallible- like actual AI.
He's also a total ham, with every line of his dialogue having some level of quotability (Alex Rochon is a blessing) and the animators having a blast with his mannerisms. You'd be surprised at how much emotion and character the animators were able to get out of a guy whose head is a chattering teeth toy with a pair of Oobi-looking eyes behind the teeth. After having seen the pilot, I get why he and Pomni were the first two characters shown off for TADC in its trailer: Pomni is the viewpoint protagonist with a cute design and relatable personality for my generation; Caine is the quirky, hammy guy bound to get a dozen million memes about things he says and does (which he already has).
The remainder of the circus's membership is a delightful jumble of dysfunctional people, Jax (Michael Kovach yet again; this man cannot be contained when it comes to indie animation) chief among them. He's a sarcastic, cynical, and mean-spirited rabbit guy who enjoys pranking his fellow "performers". While he's become a fan favorite, I feel like Jax is a bit too much. Sure, he's entertaining and has some of the best gags in the pilot, but it's hard to see why the circus's members are able to tolerate him. I expect the show proper to have him loosen up and become a slightly (but only slightly; I can't imagine Jax wanting to change too much) better person.
Perhaps his hedonist behavior and lackadaisical outlook on life in the Digital Circus is a coping mechanism. Since this whole place is digital and he's been stuck there for a while, why not have some fun with it? Granted, this "fun" is often at the expense of others, but still.
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Where the majority of the fandom has flocked to Jax as their favorite character, I'd have to say Ragatha (Amantha Hufford) is my favorite. She's the only kind, somewhat mentally and emotionally stable member of the cast and the only one who tried to give Pomni a warm welcome (her kindness is tragically not repaid thanks to Pomni's discomfort with and determination to get out of the Digital Circus; I expect this rift between them to be followed up on in the show proper). Like Jax's hedonistic behavior, Ragatha is distracting herself from the existential dread of the circus by trying to be kind to everyone else.
It's an archetype I'm familiar with- the character who selflessly gives of themselves so that others might have a lessened load only to neglect their own load. I can imagine Ragatha's arc being her learning to be cared for as she's cared for others (as well as patching things up with Pomni, although I'm convinced the tormented little jester will be the one to make the first steps in mending their frayed relationship). However, given what happens to those who are stressed within the Digital Circus... I can also imagine her fate being something far darker if Gooseworx chooses to take the show in that direction.
Kinger (Sean Chiplock; voice of Revali from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild) is a fascinating member of the "lesser" trio of himself, Gangle and Zooble. While he's mostly an erratic, eccentric, and confused guy, there are moments of prescience and clarity that make me wonder if he was a game developer for the Digital Circus before getting warped into it. I mean, with his whole obsession with insect collections... was he a bug tester in his previous life? That, and he manages to draw a connection between Pomni and a former resident of the Circus who also wanted a way out. Perhaps he might know more than we think...
Gangle (Marissa Lenti) is admittedly somewhat one-note, what with her masks dictating her mood. Given that her "happy" mask tends to be broken most of the time, it means she's something of a very sensitive, sad soul. Admittedly, this means you'll probably be feeling bad for her (especially considering she's often the target of Jax's pranks), but it feels somewhat artificial.
Lastly, we have Zooble (Ashley Nicols; Michael Kovach's significant other). Zooble's admittedly a non-player in the pilot's narrative thanks to being ripped to pieces and kidnapped by the Gloinks, leaving her as the most underdeveloped member of the main cast. What we do learn about her is that she's a very apathetic, sarcastic sort, and we'll probably see more of that in the final show.
Kaufmo the clown is the last of the TADC crew, and... well, it's difficult to talk about him without spoiling anything. All I'm going to say is that he's a foil to Pomni- a warning of what she could become if she sticks in her ways- and one of the most visible horror-influenced elements in the pilot. Let's leave it at that.
Oh! I almost forgot the soundtrack. As someone who discovered Gooseworx thanks to her Undertale covers, I had high expectations for TADC's music and I wasn't disappointed. The soundtrack is able to alternate seamlessly between tense horror music and the kind of goofy jingles you'd hear in a low-budget educational PC game. It's both recognizable as the kind of stuff Goose would normally make and distinctly TADC.
Ultimately, I'd say The Amazing Digital Circus, while not as amazing as its title proclaims it to be, is still pretty darn good. The characters are fascinating, the writing teeters between dark and delightful, and the presentation (visuals + audio) are a tour de force courtesy of Gooseworx's musical talents and the hard work of animators like Mr. Temmer. Sure, there are things I wish could've been improved upon like Gangle and Zooble being somewhat one-note, but it's overall a very solid teaser for what is to come.
LONG GONE GULCH: Yippee-Ki-Yay, 2000s Nostalgia
Long Gone Gulch (link here), created by Zach Bellissimo and Tara Billinger, was the first of these indie pilots to genuinely grab my attention. I didn't know much about indie animation at the time it came out other than YouTube thumbnails of the most infamous indie show (which I avoided) and snippets of indie productions shared here on LinkedIn. I don't recall the exact circumstances, but I ended up with a teaser for the pilot recommended to me.
And you know what?
It had an energy to its animation and character designs I hadn't seen in years and the fantastical Western setting looked fun. I watched the pilot the day it came out, and I LOVED it. It had the slapstick and absurdist humor of an early 2000s Cartoon Network show and the action of a late 90s/early 2000s Kids' WB action cartoon with a little extra edge thanks to it being freed from the shackles of network standards and practices.
The pilot follows the misadventures of teen town sheriffs Rawhide (E.G. Daily, best known as the voice actress of Tommy Pickles from Rugrats and Buttercup of The Powerpuff Girls) and Snag (Danny Cooksey; best known as aspiring supervillain Jack Spicer from Xiaolin Showdown) as they attempt to protect "the Gulch" from bandits. After a bar fight gone disastrously wrong, the two are stripped of their rank and given the boot. Unfortunately, this is when cruel but childish outlaw Mako (Eric Bauza; current voice actor for the majority of the Looney Tunes gang) and his gang strike the town. Can Rawhide and Snag redeem themselves and save the Gulch before it's too late?
From an aesthetic standpoint, LGG shines. Major influences on the series seem to have been Ren and Stimpy (see certain absurdist expressions and gross close-ups) and Craig McCracken's gone-too-soon Wander over Yonder (the loosey-goosey animation, wild cast of characters, and genuine emotions hidden underneath a bizarre, humorous exterior). The character design philosophy is sharp, stylized and delightfully messy. These aren't the overly clean designs you'd find from network cartoons from the last decade; instead, we have designs that are asymmetrical, jagged and bursting with energy.
The animation, despite being done with digital software, feels like smooth hand-drawn animation from the late 90s and early 2000s. It's not choppy or stiff one bit; every frame of character/creature movement is full of life and fits the characters quite well. Rawhide and Snag are both chaotic balls of anarchic justice, but there's a clear difference in how much energy the two have and when they have certain levels. Mako is able to bounce between sinister and silly on a dime, and the uppity Mayor Rhubarb (Mike Chillian; giving his all) and his apathetic assistant Marigold (executive producer of the pilot and veteran voice actor Erin Fitzgerald; I know her best from Ed Edd n Eddy and the original Monster High online shorts and direct-to-video) have a nice contrast- he's more lively (especially when angry or injured); she's more stiff and blasé.
The action is a highlight throughout Long Gone Gulch, with many fight scenes having dynamic camera angles and characters using creative attacks/tools to go at it with each other. Heck, I'd argue these are some of the best 2D animated fights I've seen in years. Standout fights include Rawhide and BW's bar brawl for the former's sheriff star (a fight that's only compounded by the two getting possessed by wily spirits, resulting in more destruction) and Snag's fight against Mako and his goons in the mayor's office.
The Gulch is an intriguing setting for Billinger and Bellissimo to work with, what with its hodgepodge collection of creatures and critters from almost every corner of our world's mythology. There are wrathful spirits, living tumbleweeds, traditional funny animals of all varieties, ghosts, monsters, and some humans. It's brimming with mysteries and oddities that the inevitable full series will explore.
One of the two creators' goals was to craft a Western that wasn't a parody, and I'd say that B and B got close to that. LGG's got a curmudgeonly mayor who doesn't like the loose cannon sheriff(s), it's got your gangs of oddball yet menacing crooks, it's got a Native American presence, it's got a saloon where trouble is bound to be brewing, and it's got a sheriff (or two) who stands out compared to the rest of the town. However, there are some elements like a standoff between Rawhide and Mako near the end of the pilot that feel like they're overexaggerated versions of Western tropes. Granted, it's like 95% a straight Western with some fantasy elements, but still.
The characters, out of every indie pilot/show I'm discussing in this article aside from Murder Drones, are some of the best-defined the current wave of indie shows has to offer. Rawhide is a surprisingly well-rounded protagonist with clear wants (she wants to be as good of a sheriff as her deceased old man), clear needs (she needs to temper her temper), and she has a decent range of emotions and solid relationships with the majority of the cast. Doesn't hurt that E.G. Daily delivers a very strong performance.
Snag is a swell foil to Rawhide. Where Rawhide wants to do the best job she can, he's more concerned with just getting it done by any means necessary and with his comb Ronette in hand. What she lacks in experience and self-control, he lacks in morals (he alludes to having been in juvie for years) and determination. They bring the best out of each other and are stellar leads for the show.
BW (Amber Midthunder), a Native American bounty hunter, is somewhat iffy. She plays the part of a snippy but somewhat caring older sister type to Rawhide well, teasing her but ultimately having her best in mind. I feel like she's somewhat held back by her voice acting sounding flat (the pilot's voice acting was recorded during the pandemic; I assume that Midthunder might've just had a bad mic), but I like what Bellissimo and Billinger have in mind for her.
Mako is a standout villain for many reasons, his slick design and smooth Southern accent aside. He strikes me as a 1980s Saturday morning cartoon villain with a bit more edge, being able to make good on the threats he makes while still being just enough of a pushover for the main cast to deal with him weekly. I'd best compare him to Doctor Evil from Austin Powers- he can be a threat if necessary, but he's also capable of being a hammy joke and having silly moments like wanting to celebrate his birthday every day after taking over the town following Rawhide and Snag's firing or critiquing a poorly made drawing of himself eloquently only to say the drawing is "perfect".
Between him and Marigold (who I found to be rather one-note thanks to her never really breaking from her dry, snide commentary), I'd say Rhubarb is the more defined of the two. He's the closest thing that Rawhide and Snag have to a parent, rightly chastising them when they get into trouble but not exactly being above his own vices like his unrequited crush on Marigold. He's one of the most entertaining characters in LGG from a visual standpoint, often being the butt of slapstick gags and having some of the most memorably uncanny expressions.
I couldn't have had a better introduction to the weird and wild world of indie animation than Long Gone Gulch. It was simultaneously silly and sincere, endearing and absurdist, and artistically strong and well-written. It's tragic, then, that this is the only pilot among those that I've seen that hasn't been given a full season yet.
According to Bellissimo and Billinger (in a YouTube community post linked here), they pitched the show around to several networks. It ended up catching the eye of a certain distributor who loved the concept but basically went silent on the duo for a whole year. Upon emerging from the silence, the distributor said that LGG just didn't have a place in either their kids/family department and/or was "too dark". While the duo say they can pitch elsewhere, they think it's unlikely that Rawhide and Snag's misadventures will be picked up by increasingly originality-averse studios and streaming services.
That, and the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strikes held up potential production of any future LGG content (due to it being a SAG-AFTRA production.) Botheration. Whatever route Bellissimo and Billinger take in getting LGG finished, I'm excited to see what they put out. The cast is delightful, the setting is fascinating, and an unironic Western animated series wouldn't be half bad in this day and age considering that Westerns seem to be making a comeback this decade what with the demise of superhero media.
THE WINGFEATHER SAGA: An Iffy Adaptation of a Perfectly Imperfect Novel Series
The Wingfeather Saga is perhaps the most painful of the indie series/pilots for me to discuss. For context, TWFS began as a series of four Christian-adjacent fantasy books penned by Andrew Peterson that started in 2008 and finished in 2014. With the aid of a small team of animators led by former VeggieTales animator, writer and director J. Chris Wall, Peterson adapted the first fifteen or so chapters of the first book On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness into an animated short.
Said short is what made me a fan of the Saga.
I read through the series over the span of two summers and ended up with rather mixed but ultimately positive thoughts. Book 1 was a winsome introduction to the series's world and characters, Book 2 (North! Or Be Eaten) was where the series peaked with a perfect mix of edge, sincerity, action, and character development, and Book 3 (The Monster in the Hollows) was a welcome respite from the heavy drama of book 2 that was a bit more character-focused. However, while I like parts of the final book (The Warden and the Wolf King), I feel this is where Peterson ran out of steam.
There were many aspects of book 4 that left me baffled (you're telling me the villains are weak to music and no one thought to assemble a band to weaken them with that?) and undercut what could've been a very satisfying final chapter of the series. I still like the books as a whole, though. It's not Tolkien or Lewis-level Christian-adjacent fantasy, but it hits a lot of my favorite buttons storytelling-wise.
With how much I liked the original short (which has been erased from the internet following the release of the animated series; this upsets me) and the books, you can imagine my excitement when it was announced that the series would be getting an animated adaptation courtesy of Angel Studios and Shining Isle Productions, LLC (a studio formed by Wall and Peterson primarily to adapt Wingfeather into animated form, but they might have something else up their sleeves in the future). The show was quickly crowdfunded, and between December 2022 and March 2023, the first season (adapting On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness) was released.
Story-wise, the series follows the Igiby family: curmudgeonly ex-pirate grandfather Podo (Kevin McNally), doting but firm mother Nia (Jodi Benson), adventure-seeking bookworm Janner (Alkaio Thiele), reckless middle child Kalmar/"Tink" (Griffin Robert Faulkner), and feisty dog-lover with a crutch Leeli (Romy Fay). They live in the township of Glipwood, one of many towns under the iron scaly grip of the evil Fangs of Dang. As they run afoul of the Fangs, Janner, Tink and Leeli learn of family secrets- family secrets that may be key to defeating the Fangs and their dreadful master Gnag the Nameless!
Wingfeather Animated (as I'll be calling it to distinguish it from the books), like the series's final book, is a mixed bag that I like parts of but am perplexed by the majority of. The aesthetic and character design are quite strong, with painterly textures best compared to 2022's best animated film Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and designs somewhat evocative of the stop-motion holiday specials of Rankin-Bass and the Japanese studio MOM Production. However, the series also imitates the choppy frame rate of Rankin-Bass/MOM's specials, resulting in a very inconsistent rate of motion that leaves the series's animation feeling sluggish at best and unfinished at worst.
Like Murder Drones, we're only going to cover part of the show (in Wingfeather Animated's case, only episodes 1-3) because I don't want to get too deep into spoilers... that, and it's the only part of the show I could stand to watch. Why, do you ask? Well, reader, it's because this show fails as an adaptation of the Saga. Sure, it's a fine show for kids and families who don't know the source material, but if you're coming to it expecting book-accuracy, prepare to be disappointed.
In what I assume was an effort to tone things down for younger audiences, the Fangs of Dang are significantly less threatening in Wingfeather Animated than the books. Admittedly, they're still quite evil- Slarb (Kellen Goff) in particular is a nasty piece of work- but their sense of presence has been reduced. It doesn't feel like they're oppressing the people of the continent of Skree so much as they are a mild nuisance that happens to have control over the nation.
A significant scene from the first book left unadapted by the show was a scene in which the Igiby kids talk with noted bookworm Oskar N. Reteep (Andrew Peterson himself) about the brokenness of the world thanks to the Fangs. Granted, there are worse evils that aren't Fang-based in the Saga (the Stranders and the Overseer of the Fork Factory from book 2 say hi), but it was one of the earliest scenes that really sold how screwed the world of Aerwiar was under Gnag and the Fangs' reign and how big of a threat they are. Without that scene, we lose some of the Saga's spiritual underpinnings and the scale of the Fangs as a threat.
Wingfeather Animated is also guilty of butchering character motivations. One of Janner's driving motivations in the books is to learn more about the identity of his father Esben. All he's got is a picture of his pops on a boat and he wants- no, craves- more info. This leads to a rather tense conversation between Podo and Janner at the lunch table where the latter blows up at the former and says "you're not my father" (to which the former sits the latter down and sets him straight). It's a great character showcase for both, bringing out Janner's flaws and needs while showing how firm and mature Podo can be.
Unfortunately, like the conversation between the kids and Oskar about the brokenness of the world, this too was cut for the animated series. Perhaps this was done to avoid making Janner look like a dick to his grandpa, but it's critical to setting the tone for the series. In fact, Janner's longing to know more about his old man is downplayed to the point where it's barely there. Instead, Janner is driven by his feelings for Sara Cobbler, a young lass from Glipwood. When Sara is taken by the Fangs to a location I can't disclose without spoiling the final scene of episode 6 and the events of book 2 in episode 3, that's when Janner decides to take action against the Fangs and explore the dark, dank Anklejelly Manor in search of armaments to challenge the Fangs with (in the books, it was because of Tink's prodding and the brothers' shared curiosity).
In making the changes that have been made, Wingfeather Animated has cheapened Janner's motivation and shortchanged what is to come. Rather than yearning to know more about his departed father (as any boy in his position would), he's more concerned about his feelings for little miss Cobbler. He's going to learn what became of Sara in Season 2 if the show keeps going as it has been; why change his motivation to something that'll fade away the second he runs into her again?
Oh, and that gives me an opportunity to talk about the most egregious scene in the three episodes I watched. In episode 3, as the kids are exploring Anklejelly Manor and looking at various weapons hidden in its cellar, Janner finds a sword with his father's name engraved on it. However, this sword has a different last name on it. Rather than go "huh, this sword has my dad's name on it, but why is his last name different?", Janner asks "who's Esben [SPOILER]?".
I absolutely abhor this scene for two reasons. It makes Janner look like an idiot for not putting two and two together and it inadvertently spoils the biggest twist of the first book. It's such a genuinely bad scene that I'm shocked it made it into the final script and was animated. This scene could've been salvaged if Janner looked at it and said something like "why does it have Dad's name on it?", but no. That didn't happen. (I can't recall if Janner found his pops's sword in Anklejelly Manor in book 1, but if he did, I assume he found it later on)
In fact, that scene is so bad that I've sworn off watching the rest of Season 1. If the show is going to play that fast and loose with the books, I'm not watching the rest of it. Speaking of which, the show's decisions on what to adapt and what not to adapt are rather baffling. Episode 1 faithfully adapts the majority of the first fifteen or so chapters, with only the additions of some interactions between Sara and Janner and the removal of the Janner/Podo scene and the Igiby kids/Oskar scene.
However, Episodes 2 and 3 are where things go off the rails. Episode 2 has the Igiby boys finding the map of the forest featuring Anklejelly Manor as the only thing from the books that was properly adapted. The rest is unnecessary filler that exists solely to prop up Sara as being great at sports and show the family messing around at home. Granted, the latter happened in the books, but it was more spread out rather than being compressed all into one rushed blur of family shenanigans.
And then we have episode 3, which shunts Sara's Fang-induced kidnapping from before the first chapter of the books to this episode (a change I don't mind because it allows them to set her role later in the series up better) and features the worst of Janner's motivation being butchered. Granted, this still has the kids sneaking off to the mysterious Manor, but Leeli goes with the boys in the show instead of staying at home- a decision that is somewhat understandable but baffling. Like, I get not wanting Leeli to be left out of the adventure, but she has a bad leg. She's going to be a liability, regardless of how capable she is in spite of her bad leg.
There's also the matter of certain characters from the second book (whose identities I shan't spoil) popping up here. Like Sara's expanded role in Season 1's first three episodes, these are meant to set things up for later installments of Wingfather Animated. However, they felt to me as if the writers were afraid of introducing them when they were in the books because they didn't want audiences to be like "wait, where'd they come from?". In comparison to the books' mostly tight, brisk pacing, the animated series is all over the place and doesn't know when to slow down or speed up in accordance with the story they want to tell.
And that's the ultimate problem of Wingfeather Animated. It claims to be a faithful adaptation- in fact, Peterson wants the show to be a "truer" telling of the story he told in the books- but only offers up the most basic plot beats with mangled character motivation and development, a world that doesn't feel as broken as it ought to, and a tone that's too light and whimsical for the books' often emotionally charged narrative. It's what I've dubbed "the gutted adaptation" (examples: Amazon's The Wheel of Time and The Rings of Power, the 2007 adaptation of The Golden Compass, the second live-action Narnia movie, The Hobbit trilogy While it looks like what the audience for the source material would expect and is entertaining to those not terribly familiar with it, it's a disappointment to fans of the source material.
Whenever I hear authors like Peterson, Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson), Jeff Kinney (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) or Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) say that an adaptation of their work is the "truer" or "better" telling, I hear that as "expect disappointment, book fans." It feels like they were paid to say that by someone higher up than them to make it appear as if they approve of the changes made to the source material. Granted, Wingfeather Animated made some genuine improvements to the books, but they shouldn't have to come at the cost of faithfulness to the books' pacing or story.
It hurts me to say this, but I just can't recommend The Wingfeather Saga unless we're talking about the books. Those I can recommend. As a piece of independent animation, I'll give it credit for being the fastest-funded indie animated series for kids and families and for being a competently-made production. But as an adaptation, it fails miserably and it has me yearning to see a truer-to-the-text adaptation of the Saga be made someday.
WHAT INDIE ANIMATION IS MISSING (in my opinion)
After having gone through two shows and three pilots, I think it's time for me to share the blind spot that this new independent animation movement has and needs to correct. What indie animation is missing is quality animated series for the family demographic. Not kids only, but for them and their caretakers to enjoy together without worrying about potential content problems.
The modern-day indie renaissance was kicked off in 2019 with the release of YouTube darling Hazbin Hotel (which is due for a full series on Amazon Prime released in January 2024; it should be out shortly after I publish this article), created by Vivienne Medrano. I've never watched Hazbin, but I do know enough about it because of what my classmates in my college art classes have said about it. The pilot follows the daughter of Satan's efforts to set up a hotel for rehabilitating human sinners in Hell to prevent them from being exterminated by the forces of Heaven.
As a Christian man, I'm already bugged by the show's supposed theology (gentle clarification: Hell is not a party for those who go there, Satan does not rule Hell nor does he have a daughter, and those who end up in Hell have made up their mind about where they're going and cannot be redeemed), but everything I've heard about it has made it sound like a morally abhorrent nightmare. You've got an expletive every other sentence, hardcore sexual innuendo, and a general sense of nastiness about the whole thing.
That, and what I've heard about its creator Vivienne Medrano is rather concerning, what with her struggles with taking criticism. It sounds like a mess content-wise (I'm certain the actual animation is fine) and I've wisely kept my distance from it. However, it seems like Hazbin Hotel will be many outside of the animation community's first exposure to this wave of indie animation- and I don't think it'll be good first impression.
All HH is going to do is attract criticism from Christian groups for its balderdash theology and immoral content and reinforce the idea that all adult animation can be is gross, morally deviant and vulgar to the general public. What's worse, it might taint the public perception of this current wave of indie animation by making the general public think that all indie animation since 2018 is like Hazbin. Admittedly, that's not that far-fetched of a prediction.
The impact of Hazbin on the indie animation industry has been massive from what I've observed, and I fear that it's going to result in a bunch of shallow, foul-mouthed, morally filthy indie cartoons. I'm not an "all animation is for kids" guy (far from it; this is a medium that can be used to tell stories for all ages), but stuff like Hazbin is pushing it too far in the wrong direction. In Medrano and creators like her's efforts to prove that animation isn't solely for kids through swearing and things they think are adult, they inadvertently make shows more immature than literal preschool shows like Bluey. Just because your show has expletives, innuendo, and "adult" topics doesn't mean it's adult.
This is why I call for more indie animation that's not adults-only. Murder Drones is refreshingly clean with the dialogue (aside from a "badass" in the first episode, the worst the language has gotten is "bite me"... mostly from Uzi), The Amazing Digital Circus has impressively clean with its humor (aside from the in-universe censorship, it relies on slapstick and humorous sentences), Lackadaisy really only has some gun violence and its subject matter of the Prohibition to worry about, Long Gone Gulch has violence slightly more extreme than a Looney Tunes short, and The Wingfeather Saga animated series doesn't really have anything objectionable to fuss about. It's refreshing having all these indie options that aren't X-rated just so they can avoid being marked as "for kids" by YouTube's bullcrap algorithm or that are only there so families don't have to watch drivel from the "big names" who've succumbed to certain ideologies that are destroying their reputations and profitability.
Heck, we're already seeing something of a turn for what I want to see more of. Angel Studios, in addition to Wingfeather Animated, has two other family-oriented series in the works. Gabriel and the Guardians seeks to turn the pre-flood Earth described in Genesis 5 and 6 into a colorful anime-influenced fantasy world; The Axiom Chronicles is The Prince of Egypt by way of Samurai Jack and Star Wars: Clone Wars (the Genndy Tartakovsky one, not The Clone Wars overseen by Dave Filoni). Ex-Disney animator James Lopez has started releasing installments of his charming steampunk series Hullabaloo (link here for episode 1), and other ex-Disney guy Andrew Chesworth made an equally charming musical short called The Brave Locomotive (link here).
The key to making independent animation big is not to have a few similar shows that go beyond the standards and practices of a television network (like Hazbin), but many shows with different tones, styles, stories, and audiences. As much as those within the animation community love to bash capitalism (because certain shows were cancelled due to them not turning a profit), it might be us indie hopefuls' greatest ally. We animation fans are in the mess that we're in because a few big companies are screwing up their big animated properties and pushing out schlock that very few people want (and burying some of them for tax benefits). By introducing ourselves as competitors, we can create a better animation landscape and encourage the big names to do better because we're giving audiences what they're not giving said audiences.
Admittedly, I'm part of the movement to diversify indie animation by reaching out to the family market too. If you've been following me for any period of time, you already know what my three original cartoon concepts are. If you don't, allow me to give you some brief summaries:
CONCLUSION
It'd be an understatement to say that I think the current independent animation movement is neat. It shows we don't need big studios to be the sole arbiters of quality animated films or television cartoons and that we the creative people can make something of quality that can take on the "big guys" and win. Granted, I think there needs to be some more variety in terms of what indie shows are out there other than teen-to-adult shows, but it's still quite impressive what's been accomplished since 2019.
Someday, my shows (Eternity Kingdoms, Ex-Villains for Hire, and Integrated) might be indie darlings the same way Murder Drones, TADC, and Lackadaisy were/are. That success will be dependent on God's will for my life and what he has called me to do, sure, but I'm confident they'll be smash hits one day. And aside from EK drawing people to Christ, I'd love to see some kid be inspired to create something fresh and original the same way that I was by the shows I grew up with.
Thanks for reading, everyone. God bless!
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5moLove this very much!!!! 🤗