An Honest Year-End Check-In (Patreon)

Hey, everyone,

As we close out the year, we wanted to say THANK YOU! We’re so grateful to have you all here with us. We hope the generosity you’ve shown us finds its way back to you exponentially in the year ahead.

We also wanted to take a moment to reflect on this past year, share what’s been going on with us, and outline our intentions for the coming year, in case you're interested!

2025 Accomplishments

This year, we launched two new Webtoon Originals series: The Princess Is Now the Duke and Best Laid Wedding Plans. These were projects we developed and pitched to Webtoon to fit specific genre needs, and it was our first time working that way. We learned a lot, and we’re grateful for the opportunity and stability those series have provided.

We released a new Webtoon Canvas series, Warlock's Protector. We originally pitched this series to Webtoon as well, but they turned it down because they didn't think the Supernatural and Romance elements would work together. We've been really excited for this project from the beginning, though, and still wanted to give it a shot.  Watching it find an audience on Canvas has been really encouraging. While it’s definitely more challenging without Webtoon's funding, having full creative control has been refreshing, and we’re hopeful for what’s ahead.

We officially began the Room of Swords Remaster, something we’ve wanted to do for a long time but couldn’t pursue while the series was under digital exclusivity with Webtoon. That exclusivity ended in October, and finally being able to revisit and improve the series is something we're excited and grateful for.

We finished adapting Love Me to Death Book 1 and held the physical copies in our hands for the first time. That was an entirely new experience for us. It’s not something we ever really imagined for ourselves when we first started all of this, and without knowing what to expect, each new step along the way has felt like a little miracle. We learned a lot about the traditional publishing process and the industry as a whole, and we’ve met some truly wonderful people at Little, Brown. That experience really put our past relationships with publishers into perspective and helped us learn how to better advocate for ourselves. We’re really excited to keep learning and to explore more projects in this medium in the future if fortune allows.

We also spent time learning more about social media and audience outreach. We worked with a social media manager for a few months and gained a lot of insight into what works and what doesn’t, which we think will be super critical going into 2026.

2025 Lessons

If 2025 had a theme, it would probably be "letting go of things that no longer serve us". There were so many things that had been causing ongoing issues and tension that just came to an end this year, whether gradually or abruptly. At the start of the year, we had a very different roadmap focused on turning Toonimated into a Studio that developed series to fit publishers' needs. It seemed financially practical, even if it wasn't especially creatively fulfilling. We were also being told by people who didn’t have our best interests at heart that this was the best we could realistically expect.

In reality, almost nothing went according to plan. We were stretched thin trying to meet shifting client expectations while juggling multiple deadlines and managing new collaborators with higher support needs. We were working constantly, burning out, and barely keeping up with life outside of work.

As difficult as that was, it turned out to be a necessary reckoning. It forced us to question why we do this at all, and we realized that if we’re going to struggle that hard (and there's always going to be some struggle), then it needs to be for something we genuinely love.

It was a year of reprioritizing, replanning, doubt, and stress, alongside personal upheaval. It also made it very clear that we needed to better define and defend our values and boundaries, both personally and professionally.

Intentions for 2026

This coming year is about betting on ourselves, trusting our instincts, and being more intentional about honoring our values and boundaries.

We’re prioritizing the projects we’re most passionate about and looking for publishers and platforms that align with our needs. We’re also being more careful about overcommitting. We tend to be very ambitious with our work and goals, but life often has a way of interrupting plans. We’re trying to leave a little more space this year, both for sustainability and for surprises.

Projects Hopes & Goals

Love Me to Death: We’re hoping Book 1, releasing in January, and Book 2, coming later this year, do really well. We would love for our publisher to pick up a second season as another book deal, and feel excited to work with us on potential future projects as well! As a long-shot dream, we hope the Love Me to Death books might eventually open doors to other opportunities or media adaptations. We also plan to share more bonus content and additional ideas for the world and characters here on Patreon.

Room of Swords: We've got some surprises in store, and we’re continuing the Remastering process, starting with updated art and animation, and gradually working toward expanded scenes and new content. As the year goes on, we hope the series gains enough traction and support to allow us to put more time and resources into it. We’d also love to explore platforms like YouTube to make the story more accessible to a wider audience, and we’re still experimenting with what that could look like and how to fund it.

Warlock’s Protector: We’ll continue releasing episodes on Webtoon Canvas and hope to start sharing more bonus content for the series here on Patreon as well. We’d love to see the series continue to grow. Our dream would be to pitch it to a publisher for a graphic novel adaptation!

Metamortis (Formerly PINTV): This is a monumental project for us. We're pouring our souls into this one in as literal a sense as you can make it. Because of that, it’s also been a major undertaking, especially amid all the upheaval and shifting priorities this year. We’re aiming for a 2026 release, and we’re incredibly excited and hopeful that this story will find its audience.

Thoughts on Writing

One thing we’ve been thinking about a lot as we transition fully into independent creation is how to stay productive and consistent, because consistency matters more than ever. And sometimes, writer’s block is brutal. For me, it often comes from feeling intimidated by how much needs to come together perfectly, and the fear that if something isn’t perfect now, it will cause problems later.

Unlike traditional novels, we don’t write fully finished manuscripts that get several editing passes before they go out into the world. We plan the overarching story and then work week to week, where ideas tend to evolve in ways that impact the earlier story. But once something is out in the world, it’s difficult, if not impossible, to go back and make changes if something comes up later. That can be intimidating, especially when writing stories with complex timelines, reverse causality, and layered symbolism.

But looking back, we’ve almost always managed to pull things together better than it feels like we are in the moment. And the imperfections rarely detract as much as we fear they will. If writing a novel is like a studio recording, writing serial fiction is closer to a live performance. The rough edges are kind of part of the experience. Going into 2026, we’re trying to embrace it rather than fight it.

Thoughts on the "Tooniverse"

When we discover a series we love and devour it, there’s always that sense of grief when it's over. I always check immediately to see if the creator has more work in a similar vein, and it's always a relief when they do, so I can keep enjoying the experience. That’s what we’re striving for more intentionally now. Not in a repetitive, samey sense, though... more like if a new story by a creator you enjoy is kinda like a new dish at one of your favorite restaurants.

Whether you find us through Love Me to Death, Room of Swords, Warlock’s Protector, or eventually Metamortis, we hope you'll find familiar themes and relationship dynamics that you can fall in love with all over again, and storylines you can trust to keep you entertained.

Final Thoughts

If we’re being honest, this shift is scary. This has been our full-time livelihood since January 2020, but 2026 will require new skills, new strategies, and a bit of luck. We’re choosing to put our faith in ourselves to figure things out, and in the universe to bring the right people and opportunities our way. And we already feel incredibly lucky to have all of you here.

We wish everyone a very happy last day of the year. Here’s hoping that 2026 brings abundance, stability, and good things for all of us!

💖 Toonimated