Caiden Thompson

BA New Media Art with a Minor in Animation

Instagram: @royal_wildfire
Youtube: Royal Wildfire

ARTIST STATEMENT: In 9th grade English class I was sitting at my desk looking at a worksheet and I pointed out to one of my friends that “novels” spelled backwards makes “Slevon”. This was the beginning of my show Defender Squad, an action comedy about an alien woman who crash lands on Earth to escape her home planet’s borderline tyrannical laws where she joins a low ranking two-person hero team for a new start in life. This trailer is my way to culminate the 8 years I’ve been working on the premise, characters, and lore of this show so far.

Defender Squad is about the experience of a being a young adult with the added fantastical element of the characters being heroes with an alien fugitive roommate. It’s a show targeted towards older teens and younger adults about exploring experiences from that time in a person’s life and all the complicated feelings and discoveries that come with it.

Well written diversity is very important in media, which is why race, ethnicity, gender identity, romantic and/or sexual orientation, disabilities both mental and physical, and whatever other minorities one can think of are all showcased in Defender Squad. This show might not change the world, but if I can at least change someone’s mind about a minority or make someone who’s part of a minority group feel less alone then I’ll consider that a job well done.