Tadpolexstudio Reddit | 8K 360p |

His inbox was a supernova. r/all had picked him up. A famous YouTuber had narrated the post in a video titled "The Saddest 3 Seconds of Animation." But the real shock was the top comment, pinned by the moderators of r/animation:

"Hi, u/tadpolex. I'm a producer at Laika. We want to fund your short film. The tadpole doesn't have to climb alone." tadpolexstudio reddit

One evening, exhausted and broke, Leo uploaded his final piece: "Tadpole Climbs a Mountain (3 sec loop)." It showed his tadpole character, now with weary eyes, pushing a tiny boulder up a pixel-art mountain, only to slip and slide back down. His inbox was a supernova

Leo stared at the screen. The tiny tadpole in his loop was still falling, forever. But for the first time, someone had caught him. I'm a producer at Laika