animated web series
An animated series is a set of animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can have either ...
. Produced by a group of artists without funding or a studio environment, the first episode was released as a short film in early January 2015. Writers for news sites observed striking similarities to the American animated television series ''
Adventure Time
''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...
'', calling it a "rip-off", while some praised the animation and dedication of the producers. The plot revolves around a pony named Lucky and an
anthropomorphic
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...
owl called Ah-Pie going on adventures.
Production and release
''Lucky Pie'' was produced by a group of Chinese artists who, according to Wendy Zhao of ''
Cartoon Brew
Cartoon Brew is an animation news website created by Amid Amidi and animation historian Jerry Beck that was launched in 2004.
Cartoon Dump
It also created ''Cartoon Dump'', a weekly podcast showing poorly made TV cartoons featuring ''Mystery Sc ...
'', were "enthusiastic animation friends" working against "tacky" and "trite" Chinese animated television series. While the short was produced with neither funding nor in a studio environment, the group hoped to produce more episodes. The short was released in early January 2015 (either in the first or second week; on YouTube it is on January 2) on several Chinese video sites, such as
Sina Weibo
Sina Weibo (新浪微博) is a Chinese microblogging ( weibo) website. Launched by Sina Corporation on 14 August 2009, it is one of the biggest social media platforms in China, with over 582 million monthly active users (252 million daily acti ...
,
Baidu
Baidu, Inc. ( ; , meaning "hundred times") is a Chinese multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products and artificial intelligence (AI), headquartered in Beijing's Haidian District. It is one of the la ...
and
Tudou
Tudou, Inc. () is a Chinese video-sharing website headquartered in Shanghai, China, where users can upload, view and share video clips. Tudou went live on April 15, 2005 and by September 2007 served over 55 million videos each day. From the third episode of the series, the show was fully funded through
Patreon
Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...
.
In 2018 the team stated episode 5 is the final episode and are planning to continue the series in comic form with some art for it being released. Since 2018 there was no activity on the team's Patreon or Twitter page.
Episode 3 and 4 had an English dub made with episode 5 being planned to receive an English dub but it wasn't ever completed or released.
In May 2018 an extended English Version of the Theme song was released.
Episodes
Reception
On Western-based sites, writers for news sites referred to it as a "knock-off" and a "rip-off" of the American animated television series ''
Adventure Time
''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...
''. Zhao wrote that the response from Chinese viewers towards these accusations were split. For ''Cartoon Brew'', Amid Amidi wrote that, while it might be an "honest-to-goodness knock-off or an elaborately produced hoax", the producers had "certainly spent a fair amount of time studying ''Adventure Time''", and expressed curiosity towards the identity of the creators.
Steve Wolfhard
Steve Wolfhard is a Canadian artist who is best known for being a writer and storyboard artist on the animated television series ''Adventure Time''.
History
Steve Wolfhard grew up in Kitchener and then Midland, Ontario and graduated from Sherid ...
, a storyboard artist on ''Adventure Time'', expressed his approval of the short on his Twitter account, calling it "the cutest".
Salvador Belizón of ''Alfa Beta Juega'' wrote that the release of more episodes would make it successful. Ben Furse of ''
Moviepilot
Moviepilot (stylized Movie Pilot) was a fan-centric online magazine covering the film industry. Its content was written predominantly by an in-house team of staff writers, with additional articles from contributors known as Creators.
History
Mov ...
'' called the animation "nice" and that, overall, it was a "cheerful little cartoon". Meanwhile, in ''Disorder Magazine'', Cha Giadach called the animation "shit", but admired the dedication of the producers. A ''LifeBoxset'' writer said that the animation had "enough merit". For ''
Nerdist
Nerdist Industries, LLC is part of the digital division of Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist Industries was founded as a sole podcast (The Nerdist Podcast) created by Chris Hardwick but later spread to include a network of podcasts, a premium conte ...
'', Brittany Vincent called it "definitely ... interesting and personable", hoping for a
crossover
Crossover may refer to:
Entertainment
Albums and songs
* ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album)
* ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987
* ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album)
* ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album)
* ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...
between it and ''Adventure Time'', should the former "pick up some steam".
Chris Person of ''
Kotaku
''Kotaku'' is a video game website and blog that was originally launched in 2004 as part of the Gawker Media network. Notable former contributors to the site include Luke Smith, Cecilia D'Anastasio, Tim Rogers, and Jason Schreier.
History
...
'' called the short both "pretty damn cool" and "pretty solid", and although the animation was "a bit rough" compared to that of ''Adventure Time'', considering the exhausting nature of animation, "they did alright". A writer for ''
Publimetro
Metro International is a Swedish global media company based in Luxembourg that publishes the ''Metro'' newspapers. Metro International's advertising sales have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 41 percent since launch of the first news ...
'' wrote that, like ''Adventure Time'', it elicited the same response of "what did you just see?". A writer for ''SDP Noticas'' wrote that, despite the similarities and the lack of budget, the producers gave "life" to it. Andrew Whalen of ''
iDigitalTimes
IBT Media is an American global digital news organization with over 90 million monthly readers, owned by followers of religious leader David Jang.
It publishes the ''International Business Times'' and ''Medical Daily'', among others. IBT Media i ...