What's Crotoonia?
The Railways of Crotoonia is a completely fan-made crossover series following the adventures of such characters as Thomas the Tank Engine and The Little Engines That Could in a small, yet vast country just by the American East Coast (namely, Virginia). The project pays tribute to both the current and original Thomas & Friends episodes, along with other works crossed over such as Chuggington, Disney, etc, and is intended to give viewers a more lively crossover series that couldn't be produced from edited stock footage or drawings.
Where did Crotoonia come from?
The Railways of Crotoonia began life in 2013 as a passion project of Milan Prsa, a recent high school freshman. After losing interest in reviewing, he began to think about other projects he could put together in the meantime. After discovering the fascinating world of MikuMikuDance (MMD), a computer animation software, and its small, but lively, community of Thomas the Tank Engine modellers, Milan (who had thought of the idea of these talking trains meeting other fellow speech-capable machinery from other shows and movies) began developing a series about the life of these beloved characters, partnering up with Soeren Hermansen (who had created another fanseries years befoe called "Casey Jr. and Friends", a major inspiration for Crotoonia) and his personal animation studio Tony Pilot Home Video to produce models for the project. Other partners soon joined the Crotoonian crew; in May 2014, underground voice actress Faye Thorn joined the project to provide the voices for several characters, and eventually launched her own production company "Project Gryphon" to co-produce; in December of that same year, Lachie Vincent (thomasfan101 as he's known on YouTube), joined the project to provide voices and traditional animation through his "Freakin' Duck! Pictures" label.
Crotoonia soon began making tracks in 2014, as major tests started being put into place; an early cut of the first music video for the series, "Roll Along", was presented at the annual St. Joe's Talent Show in March 2014, a last minute entry that took the place of Milan's original plan of doing a television series review. In Christmas 2014, the first music videos were released from the series, along with an early test for a shelved episode "Cold Wheels", which was originally part of four Christmas episodes, but is now being redeveloped into an hour (plus)-long Christmas feature.
But 2015 was when things began to truly pick up steam for the series. After multiple choices and much planning, writing for the premiere special (and the pilot episode) of the series, Tillie to the Rescue, began in late July 2016. near the end of a family vacation to Croatia. Soon after, major casting began for several of the main characters, resulting in the likes of Dean T. Moody, Blake Hawkins (BorisFanGirl), and many other talents joining the series to provide voices! What REALLY helped build 2015 to a degree was the descision to revamp the channel into more than a mere channel with cartoons and joke videos; the prospect of a partnership with the Channel Frederator Network saw him make the decision to retrofit the channel into a television-esque channel focused on animation and content mostly related to it. The contract with Frederator was signed in September 2015, and after much delay, the first official short from the series "Meet the Crotoonians: Thomas VS Bertie") was released. The channel SKYROCKETED after that, only bolstered by the success of a major music video for the channel: "We Make A Team Together!", which (as we speak) is now the highest viewed video on the channel.
2016 was been a strong year for the channel. Further developments to the cast and production have been made, the Tillie to the Rescue pilot special entered production shortly after the conclusion of Milan's Grade 11 year, and the addition of great new members like Michelle Hurtado and Joel Hunter has bolstered things immensely, especially with further Meet the Crotoonians and Music Videos!
2017 was where the locomotion for the series TRULY began. To promote Tillie to the Rescue, The MilanToon Channel attended its first major live events at Comic Book Syndicon and the 2017 LiUNA!625 Family Father's Day Weekend Charity Event! With funding partners in the form of Super Bowl Lanes, the Tillie to the Rescue special was further pushed into production, with the unlikely hiring of Philippa Alexander (the original American voice of Calley from Chuggington) and a push for bigger and more exciting animation!
After lots of hard work and anticipation, the special (following a delay and a workprint sneak preview as part of a much-advertised live marathon featuring the workprint, fan-favorite Crotoonia episodes, and an hour-long Enterprising Engines special) was finally released on August 21st, 2017, to an unexpected success! Over eleven-thousand views and over 180 likes were gained in a mere three days alone, and the special picked up the attention of CEO of Frederator Studios, Fred Seibert, and other Frederator employees! Shortly after, the first major tie-in products based on the special, apperel and accessories by TeePublic, were released shortly after!
With a further five half-hour specials, dozens of ten-minute episodes, and a four-episode holiday season finale on the way, there's no better time to join Crotoonia!
Crotoonia soon began making tracks in 2014, as major tests started being put into place; an early cut of the first music video for the series, "Roll Along", was presented at the annual St. Joe's Talent Show in March 2014, a last minute entry that took the place of Milan's original plan of doing a television series review. In Christmas 2014, the first music videos were released from the series, along with an early test for a shelved episode "Cold Wheels", which was originally part of four Christmas episodes, but is now being redeveloped into an hour (plus)-long Christmas feature.
But 2015 was when things began to truly pick up steam for the series. After multiple choices and much planning, writing for the premiere special (and the pilot episode) of the series, Tillie to the Rescue, began in late July 2016. near the end of a family vacation to Croatia. Soon after, major casting began for several of the main characters, resulting in the likes of Dean T. Moody, Blake Hawkins (BorisFanGirl), and many other talents joining the series to provide voices! What REALLY helped build 2015 to a degree was the descision to revamp the channel into more than a mere channel with cartoons and joke videos; the prospect of a partnership with the Channel Frederator Network saw him make the decision to retrofit the channel into a television-esque channel focused on animation and content mostly related to it. The contract with Frederator was signed in September 2015, and after much delay, the first official short from the series "Meet the Crotoonians: Thomas VS Bertie") was released. The channel SKYROCKETED after that, only bolstered by the success of a major music video for the channel: "We Make A Team Together!", which (as we speak) is now the highest viewed video on the channel.
2016 was been a strong year for the channel. Further developments to the cast and production have been made, the Tillie to the Rescue pilot special entered production shortly after the conclusion of Milan's Grade 11 year, and the addition of great new members like Michelle Hurtado and Joel Hunter has bolstered things immensely, especially with further Meet the Crotoonians and Music Videos!
2017 was where the locomotion for the series TRULY began. To promote Tillie to the Rescue, The MilanToon Channel attended its first major live events at Comic Book Syndicon and the 2017 LiUNA!625 Family Father's Day Weekend Charity Event! With funding partners in the form of Super Bowl Lanes, the Tillie to the Rescue special was further pushed into production, with the unlikely hiring of Philippa Alexander (the original American voice of Calley from Chuggington) and a push for bigger and more exciting animation!
After lots of hard work and anticipation, the special (following a delay and a workprint sneak preview as part of a much-advertised live marathon featuring the workprint, fan-favorite Crotoonia episodes, and an hour-long Enterprising Engines special) was finally released on August 21st, 2017, to an unexpected success! Over eleven-thousand views and over 180 likes were gained in a mere three days alone, and the special picked up the attention of CEO of Frederator Studios, Fred Seibert, and other Frederator employees! Shortly after, the first major tie-in products based on the special, apperel and accessories by TeePublic, were released shortly after!
With a further five half-hour specials, dozens of ten-minute episodes, and a four-episode holiday season finale on the way, there's no better time to join Crotoonia!