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The member whose own ground is South Bend · printed here as the troupe's lead only
Why he is in this section at all: Duke, Cotton Mouf's main character, is performed by Brandon Reed, the animator behind Cartoon Connect — a YouTube-first creator who began posting animations in the platform's early years, built the web series Lil Ron Ron with fellow animator RonboiTv in 2016, founded his own Cartoon Connect Studios the same year, and crossed a million YouTube subscribers while still working a day job, a course he has told in his own words: no money for training, "I pretty much just enrolled in what I would call YouTube University." His figures, as his own company states them on its About page as it stood in November 2026, are 1.6 million subscribers on YouTube, 1.4 million followers on Facebook and 295,000 followers on Instagram, with Lil Ron Ron credited there at "over 370 million views" across platforms. The figures have a dated floor: a podcast that profiled him in August 2023 billed him, in its show notes, as having built "over 1 million subscribers on YouTube and another 1 million followers on social media," and a regional honor of May 2026 — the Michiana 40 Under 40 — cited his series Lil Ron Ron and Granny & Duke at "over 400 million views" and named his YouTube one-million-subscriber plaque. The two view totals, his company's 370 million and the award citation's 400 million, do not reconcile, and both are printed as their sources give them.
The boundary, printed once: Reed's own documented ground is South Bend. YouTube's official creator profile of him, published in 2020, tells his story as a South Bend story — "with no professional animators to look to in South Bend, Indiana," it begins — and the 40 Under 40 honor that crowned his local standing is a South Bend chamber program whose citation names his community work in South Bend. His solo career therefore stands in South Bend's record, and stands here only in the one capacity in which Mishawaka's record reaches him: as Duke, the lead puppet of a troupe the regional press placed in this city. The valley's creator geography, like its broadcast geography in the producers file, is smaller than its map — one troupe, two cities, and the line drawn where the sources draw it.
Sources
- Cartoon Connect Studios, company About page, read November 2026 — the channel begun in YouTube's early years; Lil Ron Ron with RonboiTv, 2016; the company founded 2016; 1.6 million YouTube subscribers, 1.4 million Facebook followers, 295,000 Instagram followers; Lil Ron Ron at "over 370 million views."
- YouTube official blog, "Brandon Reed: Making cartoon connections," 14 August 2020 — Reed's own account of teaching himself animation; South Bend, Indiana, as his ground, as quoted.
- Inspired By You podcast, "How Cartoon Connect Grew to 1 Million Subscribers While Working 9 to 5 and Overcoming Poverty," episode description, 7 August 2023 — the dated billing of his subscriber and follower counts.
- Michiana 40 Under 40, class of 2026 citation for Brandon Reed, 29 May 2026 — owner, Cartoon Connect Studios; Lil Ron Ron and Granny & Duke at "over 400 million views"; the YouTube one-million-subscriber plaque; his mentoring and community work placed in South Bend.