| MechWest | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Steampunk Western |
| Created by | Dave Gallagher |
| Directed by | Dave Gallagher |
| Voices of |
|
| Composer | Lukša V. Montana |
| Original language | English |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Production | |
| Producer | Dave Gallagher |
| Running time | 23–25 minutes |
| Production company | AnimSchool Studios |
| Original release | |
| Network | YouTube |
| Release | February 14, 2024 – present |
MechWest is an American independent animated web series created by David "Dave" Gallagher and co-produced with his son Noah Gallagher. First released on February 14, 2024, the series is set in a steampunk Wild West environment where mechanical automatons (referred to as "mechs" in the series) live alongside humans. The series has been adapted into a comic book series.
MechWest follows Pearl West, a cowgirl who comes across a short, one-eyed mech named Six, who she must protect from being kidnapped by Perajian bandits who are hunting Six down because he runs on a special crystal instead of coal. Pearl and Six, along with her half-brother Pico West and, later on, traveling salesman Casey McCroy, travel from town to town.
MechWest is set on a fictional landmass resembling North America, specifically in Meridian, which is bordered by its rival Perajh to the southwest (located in a region roughly analogous to the Baja California peninsula and Sonora) and by Tolmeca (analogous to the rest of Mexico) to the south, as well as by the larger and smaller portions of the Cheyyone Lands to the west and south respectively. Meridian is divided into the West Territory, the Central Territory, and the East Territory. Throughout the series, Perajians raid towns in Meridian's West Territory in search of Six.
| No. in series | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Where the West Begins, Part 1" | Dave Gallagher | Noah Gallagher & Clifford James Taylor | February 14, 2024 | |
After losing two men to a cobra-like mech, Six enters Fort West, a town where mechs attempt to serve the community, but their botched attempts at their jobs result in the townspeople being frustrated with them. A cowgirl named Pearl West is also ridiculed for looking after mechs. Casey McCroy attempts to promote a mech named the Outhouse Helper at a shop, and Pearl fixes a cash register mech by removing a small object that was causing it to get stuck. On her way home, Pearl encounters Six, which tags along with her for protection from "bad men". When she brings Six home, she tries to hide him from Pico, but does not succeed at doing so for long. Later in the evening, Perajian bandits enter Fort West on an airship in an attempt to search for Six. The bandits locate Six and attampt to take him away from Pearl, but Pico's intervention prevents them from doing so. In the morning, as Fort West recuperates from the previous night's raid, Pearl and Pico's father Reed receives a letter from a man named Cyrus Childs and announces that he has to leave town to work out the details of Childs' plan to keep Meridian safe. In the meantime, Pearl and Pico would lead the cattle drive without him. Back at the barn, Pearl unsuccessfully tries to feed Six coal and learns that he considers coal yucky, and that he instead runs on an alternative energy source, which explains why bandits are looking for him. | |||||
| 2 | "Where the West Begins, Part 2" | Dave Gallagher | Noah Gallagher & Clifford James Taylor | December 14, 2024 (early access) January 24, 2025 (public release) | |
Pearl brings Six along for a journey with her half-brother Pico by hiding him inside one of the mechanical bulls. That night, Six exits the bull and is spotted by Pico, who tells him to go away. The next day, Six is found by Casey, who decides to take Six with him with the prospect of selling him in Centureno. After Pearl and Pico resume their voyage, they are stopped by Perajian bandits who, despite Pico's insistence that Six was no longer with them, deploy scorpion-like mechs with circular saws to cut their mechanical bulls open, only to learn that Pico was right. The bandits fly off in their airship and drop a large, cobra-like mech to find Six and hunt him down. After Six refuses to eat a piece of coal, Casey takes a look inside the mech and finds that he is powered by a crystal. Six is later reunited with Pearl and Pico, but is soon found by the Perajian cobra mech, which chases them into a dead end, where Six lights a stick of dynamite and gives it to Pearl to throw at the cobra, which releases smoke from its mouth that defuses the dynamite so it would not blow up the cobra from the inside. Six gets consumed soon thereafter and reignites the dynamite from inside, destroying the cobra in the process. Six survives, but has lost an arm. When Six begins to experience short-circuiting later on, Casey offers to help Pearl and Pico take him to Headstone to see a mechanic. | |||||
| 3 | "Centureno" | Dave Gallagher | Noah Gallagher & Clifford James Taylor | June 27, 2025 (early access) July 23, 2025 (public release) | |
Whilst helping Pearl, Pico and Six get to Headstone, Casey makes a stop at Centureno and introduces them to his friend Jesse Curnutt. Meanwhile, Pearl and Pico's father Reed makes it to Silverton, where he meets with Cyrus Childs to discuss the threat posed to Meridian by bandits from Perajh. Back in Centureno, Six gets his arm reattached by the mechanic. Understanding that Pearl and Pico are unable to repay him, Casey suggests going to the casino to win money to pay him with. However, Casey was banned from playing games at the casino for cheating, so Pearl has to gamble instead. Her challenger, Abigail Gates, forces her to bet Six in a game of cards. Abigail wins the bet and takes Six away to give to Ms. Waxman. Casey subsequently enters Ms. Waxman's office to trade his mech Skip for Six and takes him out of the casino to travel with Jesse. Soon thereafter, Abigail overhears a conversation about Six's uniqueness and tells Ms. Waxman about him, and both women round up Pearl and Pico and lock them up in the "cheater chamber". Whilst with Casey and Jesse, Six decides to remove his new arm and run away. Jesse tells Casey to stop Six, but he refuses. Six picks up a tumbleweed, takes it over to Jesse's wagon and lights it on fire, setting off dynamite that damages the wagon. Six and Casey make it back to the casino to break Pearl and Pico out, and the mechs there are encouraged to revolt. After Six, Pearl and Pico leave town, Casey apologizes for what he had done, and Six reveals that he stole some money from the casino to pay for a new arm. [5] | |||||
Dave Gallagher, who worked at Blue Sky Studios for eleven years as a character designer and animator, on films such as Ice Age (2002), Robots (2005), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), and Rio (2011), moved to Utah after Blue Sky Studios was shuttered in April 2021, and founded AnimSchool, which became an online animation program, with audience interest becoming the reason MechWest was started. He later told Cartoon Brew that some of the graduates of this program later worked on the show. [6] [7] The series used a Kickstarter and Patreon crowdfunding campaigns to fund the series, and was produced by AnimSchool Studios, a spinoff from AnimSchool. [8] [9]
In 2014, Dave Gallagher first came up with the show's visual image by drawing the robot "Six," and collaboration between Dave and Noah Gallagher, began in 2020, with both establishing the theme and story. They were joined by Noah's friend Clifford Taylor, becoming co-writers of the series, and production began. A trailer was released in 2022. [10] Inspirations for the show include Avatar: The Last Airbender . The latter series was a shared inspiration of Dave and Noah Gallagher. [6] [11] Dave Gallagher also said that the series look was inspired by "classic Disney, Pixar films, [and] Star Wars." [12]
The series features a "mother-daughter voice over team" of Debbie Grattan voicing Irene Samuels, and Natalie Rarick voicing Pearl West. Both often are a duo of voice actors, from Michiana, Indiana. [3] [13] [14] In January 2023, Dave Gallagher said that over 100 people had worked on the series, and said that programs such as Maya, ZBrush, Houdini, Cinema 4D, and Redshift were used in the animation. [12]
The first episode, which premiered in February 2024, would garner over 1.9 million views by January 2025, and 2.2 million views by May 2025. Noah would also serve as the story editor for the series. [15] [7] Animation World Network reported, on June 27, 2025, that the show's first three episodes had garnered nearly 3 million views on YouTube. [1]
The series has a planned eight-episode first season, with possible crowdfunding. According to multiple reports, the show's team aimed for wide distribution of the series beyond YouTube, with a goal of distributing the series on Netflix, Prime Video, or on broadcast television, but aimed to create a "dedicated fanbase" of fans on the same platform first. [6] [7] [16]
| Award | Year | Category | Result | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Telly Awards | 2025 | Gold Telly: 3D Animation | Won | [17] |
| Silver Telly: Children | Won | [18] | ||
| Collision Awards | Gold Collision Award: Kids & Family | Won | [19] | |
| Audience Choice | Won |
In August 2025, AnimSchool Comics published the first issue of a comic book adaptation titled Sheriff Six, which takes place after the events of "Centureno" and centers on Six and Casey McCroy. [20]
The team behind the show took the stage at IGN Live to break down how they looked to Avatar: The Last Airbender for inspiration on how to build a compelling world