Burkely’s Top Ten Indie Animated Pilots of 2025

In early February of last year, Olan Rogers, best known as creator of Final Space (sadly shafted by WarnerDiscovery), responded to a fan, writing “…it’s the worst it’s ever been. Indie is the way to go.” His words gave me the idea to highlight some recent indie animated series and pilots since my last post in July 2022.

This post features pilots which involve crime drama (The Gaslight District), videogame-esque plots (Homestuck), sci-fi and mystery (The Heartless), adventures (Port by the Sea), superheroes (Swift Spark and Defense Five), parody/musical (The Art of Murder), sci-fi adventure (Thyste, Godspeed, and Spice Frontier: Escape From Veltegar), and demons (Pain Girl). In sum, this post is a snapshot of the over 1,000 pilots and other indie animations. Indie animation is not a replacement for animation production by mainstream corporate studios, but a place for creativity not stymied by executives. As a warning, this post will discuss sexual themes, blood, violence, murder, trauma, death, and other mature topics. I am only reviewing each pilot and/or series for its content, not the views or beliefs of their creators.

10. Pain Girl – Streaming on YouTube and Newgrounds

This pilot, almost ten minutes long, focuses on a young girl named Penni Painkiller (voiced by Lizzie Freeman), in the town of Killville.  She does not want to make friends or share, and finds herself possessed by an evil spirit named Cakks (voiced by Michael Kovach), who can open portals. This demon praises her while pushing her to do something evil for real. She talks to her friend, Tihi (voiced by Amanda Hufford) and decides to leave the house, where she is living with her mom (also voiced by Freeman). At one point, Tihi sees how awful people are being but annoys the demon, saying they are prettier than him.

In addition, this pilot has the feeling of the 1990s cartoon, or maybe one of those Saturday morning cartoons, with its animation style, storyline, and everything else, but even darker and more disturbing. Through it all, Penni gets provoked toward violence at the littlest things, like the shopkeeper not having the right ice cream flavor. In one scene, she, Cakks, and Tihi fight off the cops, killing all in gruesome ways, until they get surrounded by a swarm of others. Additionally, I loved how there is a random magical girl transformation (in a different style than the rest of the pilot). Instead, Penni and Cakks merge into a terrifying monster. None of them have any issues with murder.

The episode ends with them in prison after being tasered. Penni’s mom doesn’t even seem to notice! The pilot ends with Penni killing the jail attendant because he doesn’t give her strawberry. I hope this is continued in some way, shape, or form as there’s surely a lot of story that could be told. Crae, who wrote and created this pilot (which has over a million views), did a great job. Hufford, Freeman, and Kovach are established voice actors, making this pilot even better.

9. The Gaslight District – Streaming on YouTube

The Gaslight District was created by Glitch Productions, the indie animation powerhouse. The studio. has pulled in creators like Dana Terrace and Olan Rogers, who are known for their well-known animations, The Owl House, Knights of Guinevere, and Final Space. This pilot is created by Nick Szopko (also series writer and director). Oliver Buckland and Gooseworx are the music composers. It features voice actors Allanah Fitzgerald (Melancholy “Mel” Hill), Jason Marnocha (Ken the Butcher), John Whinfield (Mud), Gianni Matragrano (Breadhead), Taher Chy (Narrator), Michael Kovach (Diligence), and Belsheber Rusape Jr. (Temperance). Marnocha worked on Lackasdaisy, as did Kovach. The latter previously voiced Angel Dust in the Hazbin Hotel pilot.

The Gaslight District has a spooky aura and is set in a post-apocalyptic world. Some beings are haunted by a myth. The protagonists (Mud, Breadhead, Ken the Butcher, and Melancholy) are members of a local crime family named the Smiling Dead. They engage in assassinations of those who know that Ken’s daughter, Melancholy, is human (which she is hiding). This makes them a bit like I.M.P. in Helluva Boss. Also, she works at a butcher shop owned by her father and populated by other crime family members.

The pilot is divided into three parts. In the last part, Melancholy schemes to steal an angel egg, then destroy it so they can “prove” she isn’t human. In the process, they travel to Paradise Lost. They get past the gates after a harrowing journey. Melancholy makes it to the Stairway to Heaven. Ken brutally kills an angel. Things take an unexpected turn when she faces the angel, who discovers she is human (she has black-blood). She snatches the egg. They escape, bloody and battered, and have the ceremony to destroy the egg. Melancholy begins to have second thoughts. In the end, the egg hatches, revealing their fakery, placing Melancholy and her dad in peril.

8. Swift Spark and the Defense Five – Streaming on YouTube

This pilot, and hopeful series, follows James Riverdale (voiced by Vincent Martella), a sixteen-year-old kid. He aims to find out where his father, Red Spark, a superhero, went. In the process, he learns what it means to be a hero. He struggles with balancing his uncle’s desires (to go to school) and his own (becoming a hero), while fighting agents from VIPER, a corporation aiming to create loyal supervillains. This series is based on a webcomic by a trans man, Pan-tastique (Petere Houtman), which has, presently, over 300 issues on Webtoon Canvas. After watching this pilot, I hope it becomes a full series.

James, also known as Swift Spark, has superpowers because his father was in a secret government experiment gone wrong. He’s helped by four new friends. These heroes call themselves the “defense five.” He tries to convince his family (his mom and uncle) that he should be a full-time superhero rather than graduating high school, noting that the superhero group, Lightning, won’t be around forever. His uncle Angelo (voiced by Jeremy A. Freed) says he will line up something for him. James talks to his friend, a Black girl named Anna (voiced by Haley Goucher), who he’s crushing on. Anna comforts him, telling him nothing changes his identity.

He gets a watch from a mysterious young woman. She disappears. He keeps the watch anyway. The next day, he tests out the watch with Anna. As it turns out, the watch stops his powers and cannot be taken off, with the aforementioned young woman working for the villains. James’s mom, Samira (voiced by Hayley Nelson), finds him, with help from her friend Bella Garcia (voiced by Carolina Hoyos). James blames himself. The watch is taken off. He has a hard talk with his mom and uncle. The latter is more supportive than his mother. The villains plan to take down James, and all the other members of the Defense Five, with the main villain wanting to pick up where his father left off.

7. Port by the Sea – Streaming on YouTube

Port by the Sea is unique in its own way. It follows Port, Umi, and Jolly Roger, their crab companion, attempting to fix the now-broken Moon, after they get one of these moon pieces. The pilot can be supported on Ko-Fi. What is notable is that the show’s creator, Georden Whitman, is known for his previous 2D animated series, a mix of Western, magic, adventure, fantasy, and sci-fi: Nomad of Nowhere. That series aired back in 2018. Sadly, Rooster Teeth never picked it up again for a second season. Hopefully, one day, he can continue the series. It featured a lesbian protagonist (Skout) who was crushing on her superior, Captain Toth.

The pilot, which released on YouTube in late February 2024, garnered almost a million views. It features recognized voice actors like Laila Berzins, Elizabeth Maxwell, Arin Hanson, and Shannon McCormick. Berzins voiced Dr. Agness and Commander Tezzoree in Monkey Wrench, Lucia in Satina, and Moyacu in Elena of Avalor. Maxwell did dubbing voices for various anime characters, along with Skout in Nomad of Nowhere, Agent Ohio in Red vs. Blue, and Winter Schnee in RWBY. Hanson, known as Egoraptor, worked on Meta Runner and The Owl House (voiced Papa Titan).

This pilot shines for its sea monsters, magic, animation, world, and animation. I hope that it can become a full-fledged series. There haven’t been any updates since November 1st of last year, when a video was posted on Whitman’s YouTube channel. Hopefully it is getting the funding and support it deserves. It should be an indie animated series as much as any of the others here, and perhaps even more so. I also hope that it has some queer characters.

6. Thyste – Streaming on YouTube

Earlier this year I described this series, by Eva Bretz, as a sci-fi series about “two friends who fight alongside one another, but have differing views.” It features Miniya Greene as Roarke, Maiya Jannah as Raena, along with Nicolas Urricelqui and Gabriel Arvelo as music composers. One protagonist, Roarke, a Black woman. Raena meets Roarke, a butch woman who escaped a prison. Both work together to get away. The Violet General is after them, with a price on Roarke’s head. She agrees reluctantly to help, as they plan to take down the Thystes. They board a nearby flagship, but things start to fall apart. Roarke wants to leave but Raena tries to convince her otherwise.

The Violet General (voiced by Eva Bretz) bursts in and fights Raena, asking her if it was worth “betraying the Thystes.” She seems to say it was worth it, knocks off a part of the general’s mask, and fires the EMP (electromagnetic pulse) which disables the Rock (a prison). After the blast discharges, the general throws Raena out a window. She believes she is a goner. In the nick of time, Roarke saves her. They agree to go on an adventure together and warp to another planet. The general looks at the damage. She is blamed for it by a superior, Red. Since this released, in early October 2024, test footage was posted in November.

In early July, Bretz posted on social media that she was putting the series “on the back-burner” and will keep developing it, “improving the story, and pushing my abilities with lots of other projects.” I hope this comes to pass. I don’t believe there is a connection between this and anything else Bretz is working on despite some similar designs and characters. According to postings on Instagram and Patreon, Bretz has been working on a comic named Thunderstruck, since September 2021.

5. Spice Frontier: Escape From Veltegar – Streaming on YouTube

The 24-minute pilot, by a huge crew under Steamroller Animation, and released in late May, introduced various characters. This included an android pilot C-la (voiced by Madison Lee), an engineer named Eloy (voiced by Bruce Barker), an anxious kid named Kentucky “Kent” Williams (voiced by Zach Cipriano), a green creature/scientist named Mod (voiced by Emily Stockdale), and blue humanoid creature named Ada (voiced by Kiera Please). The episode begins with their ship, the Serrano, being chased by a flying monster above from the human colony of Veltegar. Following this, they end up crash-landing on the sandy surface and are told to stay close to the ship, until it is repaired. The air is breathable. A robot named Nexus is with them, and C-la is the sort of leader.

Kent and Ada begin a friendship. Ada finds it weird to be on a ship with a Faarian like Eloy. Kent understands her concern. He tells her about his plan for restaurants and food stalls where everyone can dine together, with Earth food at the center. Both Ada and Kent have crushes on each other, but do not fully act on them. Ada continues to explore the surface, coming across a Kryx ship, as do the others, in their own way. Ultimately, some small creatures crawl out from the underground caverns to engulf everything, even taking apart Nexus from the inside, changing their frequency so they can take down the shield.

The episode ends with Ada and Kent working together to extract sap from a plant to draw away the creatures. He gets the plant there, but Ada is left behind. The Nexus is being subsumed by the creatures. The last six minutes preview what coming next: their adventures to Planet Balfour (smells like Earth), a villain chasing them, meeting a ship commander who Kent owes a favor, and a cook off with culinary legend. There will be space battles, Earth cuisine to share with the crew, and C-la will continue battling. The voices, sounds, story, and colorful animation come together. I look forward to this continuing.

4. Godspeed – Streaming on YouTube

This series pilot, over 28 minutes long, is by Olan Rogers. He is best known for creating Final Space. The pilot is a story of survival, with loss, grief, with death, emotional distress, and other challenging moments. This pilot was crowdfunded by fans, who provided Rogers with “hundreds of thousands of dollars” to produce it, exactly $464,438, donated by 3,629 fans, $384,438 above the goal of $80,000. On September 10th, Rogers said they were getting a seven million dollar loan to fully fund season 1, based on this pilot, working with the animation studio Awesome, Inc., then expanding/refining the pilot. According to Rogers, they will roll into production of “five full 21-minute episodes….as a series,” which can be “edited into a feature film.”

In the pilot itself, with some ties to the Final Space world, and connected to a “nine-episode series” about how it was made, is inspired by the style of Samurai Jack. It follows the story of Iris (voiced by Bryce Charles), a young woman, who gives up her seat to evacuate Earth to a young boy, so he can leave the planet. Fast forward two years. Her uncle Ryan (voiced by Troy Baker) tries to contact her, while she, her robot companion, Bowie (voiced by Olan Rogers), and her friend June (voiced by Claudia Black) have been trying to survive. Later on, they hear a strange signal which they think brings hope.

Godspeed has amazing visuals, artwork, music, voice acting, characters, and storytelling. It is heart-wrenching and remains engaging throughout. Bowie reminds me of Marvin in Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy in that both characters are depressed. The apocalyptic setting can be disconcerting but the pilot is hopeful: characters live on when everything seems lost. There’s a touching scene where Iris sorrowfully leaves behind June, whose child she gave a ticket to leave Earth. The episode ends with Iris and Bowie making it to the launch site. They board a ship and meet a friend of Iris’s father, Kingslayer (voiced by Coty Galloway), then leave Earth.

3. Homestuck – Streaming on YouTube

This pilot is based upon Andrew Hussie’s webcomic, Homestuck, and was created by SpindleRoo, an Australian division of Spindlehorse, a studio founded by Vivienne Medrano. It primarily worked on Hazbin Hotel and Helluva Boss, both on Prime Video, but started as YouTube web series. The episode begins with teenage boy John Egbert (voiced by Toby Fox). The moderator gives him the name, “Zoo Smell Poop Lord,” to his annoyance. He talks to his friend, PesterChum/turntech Godhead/Dave Strider (voiced by Adam McArthur), who wishes him a happy 13th birthday. Throughout the pilot, John keeps trying to shut up the announcer, often to no avail.

I liked this pilot’s animation style, especially when characters pushed apart the lines of panels constraining them, and communicated with one another. He talks with his friend Rose Lalonde (voiced by Cherami Leigh), noting he opened a present and a jack-in-the-box came out. He almost confesses he has a crush on Dave. As he tries to get a game “mod” out of the mailbox, he talks to his friend, Jade Harley (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey). Things soon start to go haywire, not only with the word “Homestuck” in the sky (a fourth-wall break), but battling his dad(?) with his hammer, who throws cakes at him. The episode ends with him playing the new game, while hinting at adventures, and characters, to possibly in the future.

The audience reaction to this pilot will determine whether studios will develop it into a full animated series, and where it goes from here. Skye, an animation director for Spindlehorse, is an enormous fan of Homestuck and knows the comic “very intimately.” Hopefully this becomes a full-fledged web series, perhaps on Medrano’s YouTube channel. There’s a rash of confirmed queer characters. This includes lesbian (Kanaya Maryam and Rose Lalonde), non-binary (Davepetasprite^2), gay (Dirk Strider), and bisexual (Jake English) characters, plus reportedly gender ambiguous characters (Calliope and Caliborn). If this gets made into a series, this queer representation needs to be reflected.

2. The Heartless – Streaming on YouTube

This pilot, with sexual themes, drug use, flashing lights, and graphic violence, is by Edd Pilgrim. It introduces a 23-year-old young woman, Emlyn Amery (voiced by Cherrieli) who is wracked by emotional turmoil due to her psychosis and anxiety. She wakes up on a space ship, accompanied by CID (voiced by Eddygrimm), a magic animatronic rabbit. They meet interesting characters along the way like Oliver C. Jones (voiced by Randy Dubs), Sirilia Windsor, Gabi Amaru, and Sarah, exploring “worlds filled with magic, technology, faction wars, music and mysteries.” The characters speak in Spanish, but there are English subtitles.

Entitled “Hammers and Cherry Pies,” this pilot (which originally released in early June 2023) has colorful animation. Overall, it remains intriguing with Emlyn trying to explain her story, but Oliver unsure what she is talking about. I love how she knocks him out so she can find the rabbit, after he refuses to go, showing she is one. . .chaotic girl. She spacewalks to the other ship, breaking in with a blowtorch, and sings to the rabbit to wake it up. She changes outfits. The ship’s crew catch her, including a fox Lady, Hatti (voiced by Karu Covers), and they open fire. Emlyn bloodies others with her massive hammer, undoubtedly killing them.

Terrified by the blood on her hands, CID tries to calm her down. She plans to blow up the ship, rather than hack it. At the same time, I am reminded a little of Doctor Aphra, and how she works with the murder robot, Triple Zero. At the last second, she gets stabbed by Hatti, who somehow survived the chaos. A related 11-video YouTube playlist features animated songs for “Lifeboat” (from the Heathers musical) and “Everything Stays” (by Rebecca Sugar), with art by Edd, character introductions, preview of episode 1, and teaser trailer, giving you a sense of the characters.

1. The Art of Murder – Streaming on YouTube

The pilot introduces characters coming from the sketchbook of Pip (voiced by Lizzie Freeman). They come to life one night, in this mix of pop culture parody and murder mystery musical. Already there are plans for a second episode. The characters include a swordsman named Souske (voiced by Joey Bizinger), princess-of-sorts Almond “Albie” Blossom (voiced by Lauren Lopez), OC (voiced by Freeman), detective Giorgio (voiced by Joey Richter), and a young girl named Winn (voiced by Megan Lee). Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli serve as composers, Nirali Somaia as director, and Anokhi Somaia as producer.

If the page is no longer in the sketchbook, then they can’t come to life anymore! If she stops drawing them, they die. I especially liked the character banter, how each character has their own unique personalities, and they care for OC (abbreviation for “original character”), but have insecurities. At the stroke of midnight, Souske, Albie, Giorgio, and Winn come to life. They fear that Pip will pay more attention to him (OC) than them. The next day, they wake up, at midnight, finding that OC is no longer there! The characters work to solve the mystery of his murder. Otherwise, there’s the implication, at the end, that the dog destroyed the character instead of Pip.

The pilot mixes styles of 1990s anime and 2D animation, building upon Nirali Somaia’s experience as an animation storyboarder. She and her sister Anokhi founded Choc Chip Animation Studios in 2020. Albie is supposed to “embody the Disney Renaissance princess era” specifically characters like “Belle from Beauty and the Beast, Ariel from The Little Mermaid, or Tiana from The Princess and the Frog.” Winn echoes Adventure Time, Star vs. the Forces of Evil, and Gravity Falls. Souske is inspired by shounen anime. Giorgio is inspired by Otome games. The pilot is further inspired by Professor Layton and Ace Attorney. Hopefully this pilot continues. It is enhanced by the music of Belousova, who composed music for The Witcher.