Dropout Has a New Animated Series, and You Can Watch the First Episode Right Now
“The Legend of Legendarius” is the perfect opening act for Dropout’s animated anthology
Dropout, the comedy streaming service from the group formerly known as CollegeHumor, is taking a chance on independent animated shorts. Its new anthology series “Toonout” premiered Tuesday night, and it’s already hit the ground running.
The first short, streaming now, is called “The Legend of Legendarius.” It was storyboarded, animated, and directed entirely by Raj Brueggemann, a storyboard artist on “Big City Greens.” (You might recognize some of that Disney Channel art style in the character design.)
“The Legend of Legendarius” also features the voices of Katie Marovich and Ross Bryant, who have often appeared in old-school CollegeHumor and newer Dropout projects. It’s a fantastic short, from its story to its voice cast, and wouldn’t feel out of place on Disney Channel or Cartoon Network between longer shows. I mean, except for the swearing.
You can watch a short preview of the episode below, or subscribe to Dropout to watch the full four-minute episode.
Indie animation is getting bigger
It’s been a rough time for the animation industry. Don’t believe me? Just take a look at any of Jellybox’s “Umbert Actually!” shorts, featuring CollegeHumor alum Adam Conover. The industry is shrinking, and that means there are hordes of talented animators with no projects to work on.
Without the support of big studios like Warner Bros., workers turned to independent animation. We’ve seen an unprecedented wave of successful indie projects lately, including “Helluva Boss,” “The Amazing Digital Circus,” and “Bigtop Burger.”
Indie animation also has the benefit of dodging the infamously strict kids’ TV censors. It really fights back against the idea that all animation has to either be family friendly or an edgy adult comedy like “South Park.” Indies can fall in the middle—utilizing the gorgeous character design, shape language, and worldbuilding of kids TV while still being able to depict adult themes.
So “Legendarius” can live in a place called “Helinearth” and still have an appealing, Disney Channel-esque character design. He can cause sexual identity crises in his fans without execs pearl-clutching about a background character possibly being gay. His squishy, adorable little son can use swear words. And there’s nothing The Mouse can do about it.
What’s next for “Toonout”?
Assuming one animated short per animator, there are still five shorts to go in Season 1 of “Toonout.” Here’s the full list of animators whose work you’ll see this season:
- Raj Brueggemann (“Big City Greens,” “Twelve Forever”)
- Victor Courtright (“Thundercats Roar,” “Aquaman: King of Atlantis”)
- Jonathan Wallach (“Big City Greens”)
- Kay Hayes (“Monsters at Work,” “Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure”)
- Violaine Briat (“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”)
- Matt Braly (“Amphibia”)
If “Toonout” does well on the platform, Dropout might renew it for a second season. I’d love to see what an even wider net of animators can come up with. Maybe something from the Drawfee crew or “Game Changer” alum Kiana Khansmith? And with Dropout’s recent foray into licensing, I wonder if we might see Dropout host full shows from indie studios like Glitch Productions, Spindlehorse/Spindleroo, or Matt Braly’s recently launched studio Fantasy Project.
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