Writer Dave Capdevielle and animator Ashley Nichols have a pretty far-fetched idea: what if they launched an independently created animated series about a band of misfits named Sesamoid? But turns out it’s not that out of the realm of possibility, as Far-Fetched, their new series from Iron Circus, has just launched on Kickstarter. And for Nichols, it’s been a long time coming, as she’s been developing some of the characters since sixth grade.
“I actually didn’t draw Kira or Rue for about 6 years, but they always stuck in the back of my mind,” Nichols told Comic Book Club over email. “Around 2015, I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to revisit some older characters to create an original project and Rue & Kira were my immediate first choice. I’ve always loved the dynamic of a kid and their monstrous little critter à la Pokemon and Digimon.”
To find out more about the project, read on.
Comic Book Club: Ashley, you’ve been developing these characters since the sixth grade. Assuming you’re not just in the seventh grade now, why have these stuck with you for so long?
Ashley Nichols: Ah… well WELL past the 6th grade at this point, haha! I actually didn’t draw Kira or Rue for about 6 years, but they always stuck in the back of my mind. Around 2015, I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to revisit some older characters to create an original project and Rue & Kira were my immediate first choice. I’ve always loved the dynamic of a kid and their monstrous little critter à la Pokemon and Digimon.
You both worked on Hazbin Hotel and Lackadaisy… I know it’s probably hard to boil down, but what lessons from those experiences have you taken to Far-Fetched?
Nichols: Both projects taught me A LOT about being more organized and communicating effectively with a team. Especially Lackadaisy. It’s impossible to overstate how much the Lackadaisy folks have taught me and helped me grow as a creator. Their example continues to inspire me every day and I’m so, so glad to have their guidance.
Dave Capdevielle: Personally, what I took away from Hazbin Hotel as a writer is how to better world-build and pace out the establishment of characters and lore over time. With Lackadaisy, I’ve learned the strengths of character interaction and development through dialogue. Both of these shows have really helped me grow as a writer and taught me so much!
Rue and Kira seem to have similar haircuts: is this a classic “dog looks like their owner, and vice versa” situation?
Nichols: Hehehehehehehehe… sure… we’ll go with that. Let’s just say they share more than hairstyles.
Capdevielle: Of course, because Rue is also secretly purple and has wings as well! Don’t tell the government.
Talk about the other characters, since we don’t get to see them (other than in a picture) in the proof of concept video. Do they also have similar haircuts to their dogs (just kidding)?
Nichols: You get a great look at them in the 1 minute teaser for the pilot we’ve released! I always like to describe Quinn like “He doesn’t think he’s better than you, he KNOWS he is.” Absolute ego incarnate and leader/drummer of the main group’s band Sesamoid. Piper is an anime and cosplay loving guitarist, Griff is lead singer and you can probably find him by digging through your nearest trash can, and Warren is bassist & the much needed “dad” of the group.
Capdevielle: The rest of the Sesamoid gang really are a motley crew. Quinn is so full of himself and convinced he’s the leader of this band, while Warren begrudgingly handles all the manual labor to keep them afloat. Piper’s constant positivity and gremlin-like energy helps keep smiles on the group’s faces, and Griff’s nonsensical antics keep everyone on their toes. There’s a real found family dynamic that Rue falls into with the band, and we have so much fun letting these misfits play off each other.
How much does it up the difficulty that you’re not just doing indie animation, you’re also creating musical numbers and songs? And by “difficulty” I mean “absolute joy,” of course.
Nichols: Absolute joy of course of course. But no, in all seriousness, it’s unbelievably fun to create both the animation and music alongside each other! Both drive and inspire each other in a way. As we develop the story and relationships between the characters it often inspires ideas for new songs. It’s an absolutely huge time commitment developing each new song of course, but it’s always worth it, haha.
Capdevielle: Creating an actual rock band that exists in both the animated and real world has been one of the coolest things ever, but it definitely adds quite a workload on top of just making a cartoon. The music team behind Sesamoid are some of the most talented people I’ve had the pleasure of befriending and I get so excited for every song we work on as a songwriter and huge music nerd. It’s also been awesome to grow this multi-media aspect that can really immerse people into the world of Far-Fetched, almost making the characters seem real.
You’ve worked with Iron Circus before… What do they bring the table for this?
Nichols: Let’s be real. When it comes to running a Kickstarter neither of us had ANY clue when we were starting out. Iron Circus is steel clad veterans of crowdfunds at this point and Spike has helped steer us away from barreling head first off a cliff more than a few times. Between organizing promotion, figuring out rewards, telling us how to set up the page so we don’t sound like bumbling dummies, we’re unbelievably thankful.
Capdevielle: They brought so much guidance and pointers that were absolutely crucial to putting our campaign together. Running a Kickstarter is a ton of work that comes with lots of things you wouldn’t even think about being important, but Spike and their team really made sure we stayed in the right lane while putting together everything that goes into making a proper page.
You’ve got the two minute proof of concept, but naturally actually making the thing is a Big Deal… What’s your timeline for the pilot?
Nichols: It’s been a long long road, but we’ve actually already finished half the pilot! It’s just a matter of finishing that final stretch and finally getting this beast out there. We would LOVE to have the pilot finished by the end of 2026!
Capdevielle: At this point, our pilot is about halfway done. After the campaign, we’ll be able to focus the rest of this year on finishing it so that it can finally debut in 2026! We said at the end of our teaser that it would come out before we die, so provided no pianos fall on our heads in the near future, we plan to keep that promise.
What can folks expect from the Kickstarter campaign?
Nichols: Well, since we’ve partnered with Iron Circus, a book is a given. We’re packing it full of every bit of production goodies we can like concept art going all the way back to 2006, character art, production stories, scrapped ideas, and possibly a look to the future of Far-Fetched! It will also include every single comic we’ve released so far and even revamped versions of some of the older comics.
Capdevielle: Besides a full breakdown of our plans for the pilot and series, we’ve got tons of rewards for backers to get their claws on from supporting us! Ashley mentioned the awesome comic/art book, but we’ll also have exclusive sticker packs, downloads of Sesamoid music, private watch-a-longs and Q&A sessions, animatic downloads, special signed prints, and much more. We really wanted to make sure people get their money’s worth for helping bring our pilot to life.
Far-Fetched is live on Kickstarter now.
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