Meggy & Desti

Meggy & Desti is a YouTube webseries produced and released by Colorsphere Studios, based on the SMG4 characters of the same name. It is set in an alternate universe, ignoring the events of the SMG4 franchise and starting a new continuity involving the characters and their teams.

The series is centered around Meggy Spletzer (Adriel Smith) and her rival Desti Sinawe (Dorian Alexsis), as their teams, the Splatfest and the Octoposse, face off in competition and everyday life challenges for the goal of Splatfest Champion.

Season 1 began on May 16, 2020, and will contain 10 episodes.

Cast

 * Adriel Smith as Meggy Spletzer, a 14 year old inkling and leader of the Splatsquad, who dreams of being a splatfest champion.
 * Jaclyn Mitchell as Kenji, a member of the Splatsquad and twin brother of Sam.
 * Septen Flores as Sam, a member of the Splatsquad and twin brother of Kenji.
 * Dorian Alexsis as Desti Sinawe, a 13 year old octoling and leader of the Octoposse. She is Meggy's rival and also shares the champion dream.
 * StrawbearyBoba as Lin Carmical, a member of the Octoposse who acts very motherly towards the rest of the group.
 * RudyOctolingVA as Rook Carmical, a member of the Octoposse who acts very cold and aggressive towards the rest of the group.

Additionally, Dani Jimenez is the voice of Kat, Meggy's best friend. Ash Valerie and Vanna Montana were cast in undisclosed roles. All other characters in the series use voice clips and text for other forms of communication.
 * Amalia Ito as Cas Carmical, a member of the Octoposse with high intelligence and a witty personality.

Development
Meggy & Desti began development on May 12, 2019, the same day Glitch Out!!! was founded. JAD had pitched the series to BigRedCheez, Cyan, TwisteyHornet, and ForeverPark as a spin-off to the SMG4 series, focusing on Meggy & Desti's relationship before and after the events of the then-ongoing anime arc. The series had a structure of 3 seasons taking place before the arc and focusing on their bad times, while the following seasons after the arc would be them as friends, helping each other battle other threats. However, on June 1, 2019, the SMG4 episode, World War Mario, aired, which depicted Desti being fatally stabbed at the end of the episode. Because of this, the series was agreed upon to be cut down to only 3 seasons, ending with a memorial episode in Desti's memory. The following week saw the introduction of the human Meggy model and the hiatus of Cyan (who later left Glitch Out!!! on June 16, 2019,) which limited the series once again until the introduction of the model on the Steam workshop.

After Something's Up With Meggy established an official dedication, the series's original plans were scrapped in favor of a more free style of production not limited by the SMG4 continuity. On August 2, the series began rewrites with several SMG4 related plots scrapped, and replaced with newer episodes that separated the characters from the SMG4 continuity. Writing for the 1st season concluded on September 15, 2019, with 12 chosen episodes. Further revisions took place beginning in July and ending in August of the following year for a total of 9 episodes.

Design
Both Meggy and Desti are characters originally made for SMG4 in 2017 and 2018 respectively. While Meggy kept her original design, Desti's design was altered due to restraints from exclusive choices on SMG4's part. The heart was removed from her cheek, alongside the design on her sweatshirt, and her hair color was altered. Design changed again to accommodate the arrival of MayaBluedale, but soon reverted after his departure.

The Splatsquad and Octoposse, also from SMG4, went through more drastic changes in order to express more originality and symbolize more differences in their characters and new personalities.

Following Maya's return on January 19, 2020, the group received a new Desti model.

Filming
Filming began on June 7, 2019, with BigRedCheez taking the role of lead animator and continued on a steady schedule through Sepember. After production restarted, he was joined by MayaBluedale on September 3, though on October 9, Maya left production due to creative differences. Boba joined the animation team on October 13, followed by St. Spectral, the returning MayaBluedale, and RudyOctoKidGamerVA. filming for the new season 1 officially resumed on January 20, 2020. On April 3, BluGibbz joined to replace the outgoing Rudy and Maya. WingFury joined on August 23, 2020. Boba departed Colorsphere on September 12, 2020, Though she completed animating up to Episode 2.

Casting
Voice casting began on July 3, starting with Dorian Alexsis as Desti and Lauren Langley as Meggy Spletzer, both previously recruited as Marina and Pearl respectively. Dani, Jaclyn, and Dorian are all high school friends of JAD. All other members were recruited through Casting Call Club. The first table read was on July 11, 2020. The cast was officially unveiled on September 27, 2020, and recording began on October 4, 2020.

Promotions
Meggy & Desti was advertised several months throughout Discord and Twitter, revealing designs and logos, before being officially announced on September 12, 2019, through Glitch Out!!!, where the first teaser released, alongside many promotional images of the Splatsquad and Octoposse. The announcement also stated there would be 12 episodes in the season. On December 25, 2019, a Christmas short titled "The Warmest Gift," released to precede the rest of the series. on January 4, Colorsphere updated their banner with a new promotional image for the series.

Broadcast
Meggy & Desti released its first episode on May 16, 2020. A tribute episode to Etika, titled "Desmond," aired on June 20, 2020. Episode 2 released on January 2, 2021.