Indie Animation succeeding in creativity while mainstream animation is falling behind. I have heard many people complain about a lack of variety and originality in modern Western animation, that all we see from the major animation studios are the same old franchises, over and over again. Either the same old superheroes (X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, etc) or the same toy-driven franchises from the 1980s (Masters of the Universe, Transformers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, etc).
Now there have been a lot of interesting projects with the various superheroes in animation recently: X-Men 97, Into the Spider-Verse, My Adventures with Superman, etc. Also, merchandise-driven franchises like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have gotten amazing adaptions on the silver screen with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem last summer. However, with Paramount Pictures stating that it would not release animated movies based on existing IP, it does seem like original animation is not a high priority for many animation studios. There have been few original action cartoons aimed at kids since Owl House and Amphibia ended and even Dragon Prince is a couple of years old now.
It can be argued that Indie animation does allow for more creativity and allows creators to take greater chances than the mainstream studios would be comfortable with. The Amazing Digital Circus is a comedy that actually deals with extensional horror. Lackadaisy is a gangster tale featuring anthropomorphic cats. Helluva Boss is an office comedy set in Hell that also deals with trauma and relationships. The creator of Helluva Boss, Vivienne Medrano, has also found commercial success partnering with A24 and selling her original series, Hazbin Hotel, to Amazon Prime. Hazbin Hotel may no longer be an independent series, but its independent roots allowed it to be original, rather than being based on existing IP. Alex Hirsch, the creator of Gravity Falls, praised the Amazing Digital Circus and its creator, Gooseworx on Twitter. Hirsch praised the creative freedom and profit-sharing model that the Amazing Digital Circus has attained, calling it a dream scenario.
Lackadaisy may not be 100% original, it was based on a webcomic, but it is not a property that has several adaptions. The production values in these indie shows often match or even exceed those of mainstream animated TV shows. The animation in Helluva Boss, the Amazing Digital Circus and Lackadaisy is often beautiful. These shows may take the occasional shortcuts that most animated shows take, but the animation shines when it delivers upon key moments. These shows certainly have better animation than say, Family Guy. Helluva Boss and Lackadaisy have amazing action scenes. The Amazing Digital Circus is great at using animation to convey dread. Helluva Boss, Lackadaisy and the Amazing Digital Circus are often great at delivering excellent soundtracks. Hellva Boss has several notable musical numbers. Lackadaisy has a soundtrack that evokes the prohibition era. The Amazing Digital Circus can have a soundtrack that goes from colorful to creepy at the drop of a hat, noting the dread under the Amazing Digital Circus’s colorful façade.
These shows often employ voice actors from Western cartoons or the English anime dubbing industry, like Richard Steven Horvitz and Lizzie Freeman, to great effect. Richard Steven Horvitz even gets to play different characters than the ones he often plays in mainstream cartoons. Richard Steven Horvitz usually plays the loud, idiot characters, like Invader Zim or Billy from the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. He plays those types of characters very well, they are well-liked and were his bread and butter for a long time. However, it is interesting to hear him play characters in Helluva Boss like Moxxie, who is an intelligent and level-headed assassin who is more stable than his boss but suffers from a lack of self-esteem. He also plays Crimson in Helluvs Boss, a brutal psychopathic gangster whose action can be played for horror more often than comedy.
I would say that indie animation captured some of the creativity that mainstream studios used to employ in the past. Again, while there are new quality animated projects from the big entertainment companies, the animation industry cannot rely on existing IP forever. That is one risk indie animation is willing to take more often than the big animation studios. That’s why Indie Animation is set up for success for the next several years.
