Posted by Jamie Lang

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/streaming/plinko-and-mark-indie-pilot-252326.html

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/?p=252326

Since its launch on YouTube on July 31, the indie animated pilot Plinko and Mark has already made quite an impact, racking up nearly 300,000 views and 40,000 likes on YouTube. That’s no small feat for a debut project from a fledgling team of mostly first-time collaborators. Created by Thrash and Bash, a group of young artists who built the show from scratch, the pilot feels less like a scrappy side project and more like a true work of passion from a young and hungry group of talented artists worth keeping an eye on. The series, pitched as a modern yet nostalgic comedy, follows Plinko and Mark, long-time friends turned roommates in a New York-inspired city. Their drastically different personalities clash in absurd, often hilarious ways. On paper, it sounds like classic buddy-comedy formula, but the execution, with its textured '90s feel, surreal character designs, and sharp comedic timing, sets it apart. Even more impressive? The crew behind it is young, largely inexperienced, and working on their first major collaborative production in animation.

The Spark of an Idea

For director and showrunner Marshall, known online as StabbyGuys, Plinko and Mark began as a doodle during a casual call. “Before this, I would just often draw,” Marshall explained. “I remember one time I was in a call with Crash – this was around the time I met him, actually — and I drew this cat with ears. He really liked it, and I just kind of expanded upon that. This is pretty much my first thing that I actually finalized with other people.” For Crash (CR4SH_K1D), who co-founded Thrash and Bash with designer Egg, the idea of creating a studio came from working on smaller freelance gigs. “I worked on a project for a content creator, and that’s where Egg and I kind of got the idea for making a studio,” he said. “I really liked how they managed things on that project. So we just thought — let’s try doing this ourselves.”

Learning Along The Way

One of the characteristics that makes Plinko and Mark particularly striking is how inexperienced its creators were at the outset. Simon (Koveskie), who wrote and animated portions of the pilot, admitted: “I don’t have much of a creative background. I’m a hobbyist artist, and Plinko and Mark was my very first project. I did some of the writing on the pilot, and it was definitely a really good exercise. Mostly, my creative background has been just posting on Twitter.” Egg (Kertoir) brought more of a design and branding background. “I’ve been a designer for years, working with creators online — merchandise, branding, big productions. Crash and I crossed paths a couple of times before this, and when we decided to work together, we really clicked. That’s where the studio idea really started.” Vox (Viselectrica), the main composer and co-showrunner, entered from a completely different discipline: “I studied electrical engineering. Around junior year of college, we started conceptualizing Plinko and Mark, and throughout my senior year, we worked on it. I didn’t have much of a creative background, but got into this with this group of friends.” That lack of formal training shaped the process. As Vox put it: “We don’t have a lot of directing experience. This was our first time guiding a bunch of people to create one cohesive project. We definitely learned a lot, and there’s a lot we can do better in the future — but overall, it went pretty smoothly.”

Timing: The Hardest Trick in Comedy

Comedy lives and dies on timing. For a group with no prior pipeline experience, hitting the rhythm of a joke was the biggest challenge. Simon described their method: “When it came to comedic timing, what we did was make storyboards and rough outlines of the script, then we’d read it out loud on a call. I’d record it, piece it together, and then send it to the team for critique. It was very much a group effort.” Crash added that their study habits paid off: “We watched a lot of other pilots and cartoons together. That helped us figure out what worked and what didn’t, and apply that to our own work.” Marshall admitted he was obsessively focused on pacing. “A lot of my issues with films are timing, so I was very nitpicky. We revised the storyboards a lot, and pre-recorded lines — which, honestly, I don’t think we should do again. But this was our first thing ever. We learned as we went. Even now, when I watch the pilot, I feel like some things could be timed better. But I’m proud of what everyone did.” For Vox, digital tools were the safety net: “One reason the timing wasn’t horrendous is because everything was digital. We could very quickly go back and edit a shot, tweak the animation timing, or even re-record lines. That flexibility helped us fix issues that would’ve been much harder in a traditional setup.”

Building the Look

Visually, Plinko and Mark sits somewhere between ‘90s Cartoon Network and underground internet animation. That was intentional. “I wanted the backgrounds to feel timeless,” Crash explained. “We looked at Animaniacs — streets would be lighter blue or gray to contrast the black-lined characters. And whenever Marshall did concept art, buildings or cars would feel alive. That made the world more lively.” Simon cited Powerpuff Girls and Ren & Stimpy as references, along with another Cartoon Network nod: “One of the close-ups was specifically written as a reference to Flapjack.” For Vox, the characters leaned into a different nostalgia. “We took inspiration from ‘90s Microsoft clip art — that whole ‘Global Village Coffeehouse’ style. Then we paired that with the boiling line style of Ed, Edd n Eddy or Home Movies to keep it engaging.” Marshall explained the design philosophy behind the Mark character: “Originally, Mark was a literal question mark. But I realized he wouldn’t be as recognizable. Symbols in the universe felt more malleable, and Mark had to stick out. Vox helped refine his design — just a few lines that make him much more expressive. Originally, there were going to be a lot more animals in the world, but I thought it would be too chaotic. So we focused on cats, dogs, and symbols as their own ‘species.’”

Imperfection as an Aesthetic

One of the pilot’s most striking qualities is its rough edges, a far cry from the polished sameness of commercial animation. Marshall sees that as part of its charm: “We wanted cohesion, but not perfection. The imperfections make it more alive.” In an age where AI-driven content is flooding platforms with sterile, hyper-smooth animation, Plinko and Mark feels refreshingly human. It doesn’t hide its flaws. Instead, it wears them proudly, like a love letter to the analog cartoons that inspired its creators.

Tools of the Trade

Though each artist used their own tools for the early stages, Blender became the backbone of production. Vox put it simply: “Blender is phenomenal. If it were a god, I’d probably worship it. Its vector-based system let us adjust line weights, unify styles, and even use noise modifiers to smooth out inconsistencies across different animators.” That flexibility kept the project cohesive, despite a rotating cast of volunteer animators recruited through Twitter and TikTok. Simon explained their hiring process: “We posted Google forms, asked people to share portfolios, and what they’d be interested in working on. That’s how we found most of the team.”

Soundtracking a Nostalgic World

If the visuals call back to ‘90s TV, the music underscores it. Vox composed the pilot’s original score with jazz influences and a heavy reliance on FM synthesis. “I really love Steely Dan, especially Donald Fagen’s solo work,” Vox said. “That jazzy feel shaped a lot of the music. I used FM bass sounds from the Yamaha DX7 — the most famous keyboard of that era. If you listen to any song from the ‘80s or ‘90s, you’ll probably hear it. It tied perfectly into the nostalgia we wanted.” Simon was blunt: “I want people to listen to the music. It’s really, really good.”

Looking Ahead

While the pilot stands on its own, the team has bigger ambitions. “Dream scenario,” Vox said, “is getting funding, setting up infrastructure... Realistically, we’ll probably need a Kickstarter or Patreon, and maybe merch. We do have a bigger story planned — that’s why there’s a post-credit scene teasing a villain.” In the meantime, Thrash and Bash plans to release shorter interstitials and behind-the-scenes content to keep fans engaged. “Right now, we’re working on tiny shorts, exploring the background of the world and the characters,” Vox noted. For Egg, the future is also about branding and community: “We want to build Thrash and Bash into a studio identity, not just one project. Plinko and Mark is the start.”

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/streaming/plinko-and-mark-indie-pilot-252326.html

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/?p=252326