Schwarz conceived the series in 2000, when he was working at Rumpus Toys, a toy design company in New York City, but they folded before any storyboarding could commence. They resurfaced years later as Animation Collective, and produced an early test pilot for a pitch to MTV Networks, where the character designs and backgrounds were closer to those found in Adult Swim series "Perfect Hair Forever", and the humor was also more adult-oriented. Much of the current cast was voicing their characters even this early in production.