“This is it; the beginning of our repressed memories. Come on!”

In its sixth season, The BAFTA award-winning THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL teamed up with Studio AKA to animate an ever-so-awkward flashback scene for the seventh episode of the season, titled THE CRINGE, which continues the daily adventures of GUMBALL; a twelve-year-old cat with a flair for misadventure.  

In this episode, Gumball runs into HOT DOG GUY—a sunglasses-wearing talking hot dog. However, both Hot Dog Guy and Gumball just can’t seem to get past the awkwardness they have always felt around each other, a problem which culminates in some ultimate cringe-inducing moments, all of which have been realised by AKA.

To create the sequence, Studio AKA director Kristian Andrews created two minutes of what might be called a ‘super-homemade-puppet film’. Along with a team of model makers and puppeteers, Andrews combined everyday household items like toilet roll, cotton wool, cardboard—and a lot of gaffer tape—to create simple rod-articulated puppets which were captured in a series of daft-and-loose performances. The resulting footage was then combined with some artful 2D animation and subtle compositing, bringing the character’s embarrassment to life.

“We all love Gumball at the studio and jumped at a chance to contribute to the show. Building our own janky version of the characters & world with cardboard and glue somehow felt like a fitting tribute. However, delving into Gumball’s slightly rambunctious psyche meant a lot of cardboard models got squished along the way—it was carnage!”

—Kristian Andrews