The Legend of Lucky Pie

Lucky Pie was produced by a group of Chinese artists who, according to Wendy Zhao of Cartoon Brew, were "enthusiastic animation friends" working against "tacky" and "trite"[1] Chinese animated television series. While the short was produced with neither funding nor in a studio environment, the group hoped to produce more episodes.[1] The short was released in early January 2015 (either in the first[1] or second week;[lower-alpha 1] on YouTube it is on January 2) on several Chinese video sites, such as Sina Weibo, Baidu and Tudou.[2] From the third episode of the series, the show was fully funded through Patreon. Recently the group working on the series said that the recently released 5th episode might be the final episode of the web series.

On Western-based sites,[2] writers for news sites referred to it as a "knock-off"[1][4] and a "rip-off"[2][5] of the American animated television series Adventure Time.[6] Zhao wrote that the response from Chinese viewers towards these accusations were split. For Cartoon Brew, Amid Amidi wrote that, while it might be an "honest-to-goodness knock-off or an elaborately produced hoax", the producers had "certainly spent a fair amount of time studying Adventure Time", and expressed curiosity towards the identity of the creators.[1] Steve Wolfhard, a storyboard artist on Adventure Time, expressed his approval of the short on his Twitter account, calling it "the cutest".[2]

Salvador Belizón of Alfa Beta Juega wrote that the release of more episodes would make it successful.[7] Ben Furse of Moviepilot called the animation "nice" and that, overall, it was a "cheerful little cartoon".[5] Meanwhile, in Disorder Magazine, Cha Giadach called the animation "shit", but admired the dedication of the producers.[8] A LifeBoxset writer said that the animation had "enough merit".[9] For Nerdist, Brittany Vincent called it "definitely ... interesting and personable", hoping for a crossover between it and Adventure Time, should the former "pick up some steam".[4]

Chris Person of Kotaku called the short both "pretty damn cool" and "pretty solid", and although the animation was "a bit rough" compared to that of Adventure Time, considering the exhausting nature of animation, "they did alright".[10] A writer for Publimetro wrote that, like Adventure Time, it elicited the same response of "what did you just see?".[11] A writer for SDP Noticas wrote that, despite the similarities and the lack of budget, the producers gave "life" to it.[12] Andrew Whalen of iDigitalTimes called it "adorable".[2]

• Lockett, Hudson (January 26, 2015). "China's animation industry tries to find its feet". China Economic Review. SinoMedia Holdings. Retrieved January 30, 2015.