My Pride

Content warnings.:  Cartoon Blood and Gore, Physical Violence, Abuse (Verbal, Mental, Emotional, Physical.) Homophobia, Death, Child Death (Lion Cubs), Death by Illness.

Overview
My Pride is an original animated web series written and directed by Maddi Patton, also known as tribbleofdoom. The creator also behind the series Cow of the Wild. The series is posted on Youtube in long form episode format. With episodes ranging from eleven minutes to over fifteen minutes long. My Pride’s first trailer was released February 16th 2019 and was made as part of a pitch bible Maddi was planning to submit to the Canadian Independent Production Fund. But the story of My Pride had existed for some time.

My Pride was an original story written by Maddi and posted on DevaintART in 2008. It was also spent a brief time running as a comic, also posted on DevaintART. At this time both versions of the story are available on Maddi's DevaintART account but both forms of the story are currently unfinished. My Pride was successful in obtaining funding and is supported by Ontario Creates and the Independent Production Fund, also known as IPF.

The first episode of the series was released Feb 16th 2020. The series is released on a schedule of roughly one episode per-month and has so far maintained this schedule outside of a short mid season break the team took in July 2020. Maddi Patton is credited as both a director, producer, and writer for the series. But she also works on the animation with her team consisting of Jeremy Walker, Liam Gregg, Michelle Hao, Nina Lai, and Patrick Gall. Backgrounds are credited at the end and description of each episode as many are donated by outside artists.

In May of 2020, Maddi briefly became active on twitter in regards to the official My Pride twitter. But a dispute with a former cast member accidentally leaked a possible plot point of the series which revolved around the characters, Hover and Proudmane. While it is currently unconfirmed if this scene will happen, a description of the scene drew connections to a very serious issue LGBTQ+ individuals face. The possibility of this plot point amplified older concerns about certain undertones of Ablisum, among other themes, some viewers felt were present in the story.

Maddi later made a apology and statement after the leak that Proudmane was ultimately a villain and that he is intended to be portrayed without sympathy. And by including the viewpoint it's meant to be an argument against it. Maddi also stated she personally felt it was unrealistic and irresponsible to have a LGBTQ+ story that did not contain homophobia in acknowledgment or critique. After this dispute, Maddi announced she would no longer be tweeting on her personal account and later made the account private entirely. Despite its rough patch, My Pride has continued to remain on its schedule of uploading one episode roughly every month.

Plot
Nothing is a young lioness living in the rigid social structure of a pride in the African savannah. As a cub, her pride was attacked by a wandering male lion. Her father and one of her brothers were killed during the take over. While she was left severely injured. Forever carrying the scars of the attack and a permanent limp. Now she struggles to find her place among the pride and prove her worth to not only her pride, but to herself.

Characters
The main character of the series is Nothing. However My Pride features a larger cast of characters such as Hover, Fire, Feather, Proudmane, Quick Mane, Powerstrike, and Sharptongue.

Links
Youtube, My Pride Wiki, Patreon.