Nickelodeon is releasing online a three-part Legend of Korra webseries called “Republic City Hustle,” presumably to help build buzz for the second season of the TV series, which will debut next month. The webseries takes place three years before the events of Book 1 and tells the backstory of two of the show’s central figures—brothers Mako and Bolin—and how they ended up with their sidekick Pabu. The first two episodes have already debuted online and can be viewed below:

Legend of Korra: “Republic City Hustle: Part 1”

Legend of Korra: “Republic City Hustle: Part 2″





Besides the obvious redesign of the characters, things were also done differently behind the scenes. This webseries was produced out of Nickelodeon’s on-air graphics department in New York instead of the regular Los Angeles crew. The animation was created in After Effects.

CREDITS

SVP Brand Creative: Matthew Duntemann

Executive Producer: James Stephenson

Producer: Eric Collins

Written by: Tim Hedrick

Directors: Chris Papa and Rob Kohr

Character Design: Evon Freeman & Rachael Hunt

Storyboards: Matthew Robinson

Backgrounds: George Berger and Alexandra DiTullio

Animation: Scott Kennell, Ross Norton, Christine Chen, Alexandra Ditullio, Brett Underhill and Mike Liu

Sound: Beatstreet