There’s just not a lot of new stuff on mainstream streaming services that are interesting to me right now. And the interesting stuff I just haven’t had the energy to focus on. So instead, I’ve been spending a lot of time on YouTube – and I’ve found some cool independent animations.
Ramshackle
So, this is an adorable 2-minute video by zeddyzi is based on her webcomic of the same name. The webcomic which just began uploading late this summer focuses on the “ridiculous misadventures of three hobos” overconfident Vinnie, alcoholic and miserable Stone, and goofy Skipp as they try to survive on the streets of a crime-ridden city.
The video does a wonderful job of setting up the characters. (The webcomic which is still in its infancy hasn’t properly introduced the main cast – but has a very promising start.) The video’s music, voice acting, and general stylization are all amazing – so I hope that we get more in the future.
Steven Universe: Gone Wrong
So this…isn’t an animation. It’s a webcomic – but it’s really good and I didn’t know how else to encourage others to read it.
Steven Universe: Gone Wrong by Tumblr user SpudinaCup is a dark alternate universe fanfiction of Steven Universe: The Movie. Instead of Spinel’s attack leaving him with faulty gem powers – Steven is killed and only Pink Steven, his gem half, remains.
All the characters act like their canon counterparts – and due to its slower pacing and slightly erratic uploading schedule – the comic is only in its fourth chapter and there’s still a lot of ground to cover.
The art style perfectly matches that of the movie – and the characters are drawn consistently. There are very impressive visuals and I absolutely love Pearl’s outfit in this.
If you’re like me and appreciate some good dark fanfic than you should absolutely check this out.
The Last Familiar
This is a series of short AMVs made by YouTuber Covarche for her series “The Last Familiar.” A couple of the animations, feature her characters in animation challenges – like “Soldier, Poet, King,” and to Tangled: The Series’ song “Ready as I’ll Ever Be.”
I’m excited to learn more about these characters and see the world they live in – when the series proper comes out, hopefully in the next few years. (Animation is a process and I can’t imagine the work needed to do it single-handedly.)
A Very Potter (Animated) Musical
So forget about the transphobe. She has no part in this.
If you don’t know A Very Potter Musical – go and watch it right now.
It was created by a theater group now known as Team Starkid that was founded at the University of Michigan. Their show A Very Potter Musical is a musical parody of the series. It ended up being first in a series of three plays that cover the events from the books uniquely – and has some interesting interpretations of the characters – (Dumbledore is openly gay, Cho Chang is a white girl with a Southern accent and Draco is…that you have to see for yourself.)
StarKid did the long-haul Time Turner time travel thing first (in the second play of the triad A Very Potter Sequel) first and did it better than A Cursed Child. It’s also where Darren Criss, the Glee actor got his start -as the titular Harry Potter.
This animated version – which was started by Emily Klaus currently only has the first ten minutes boarded. The idea is to get other animators to each do 10-second intervals in their own style.
Right now it seems like she only plans to animate the opening number – which is fair considering the musical itself is like 2 hours long – but I would kill to see how she would depict Quirrel/Voldemort.
If you’re not comfortable with Harry Potter though – Team Starkid also has many others including Trail to Oregon, Black Friday, Twisted, and Holy Musical B@man.
The Ballad of Hamantha
So, the titular song is an original by genius Jack Stauber. He is known for his very surreal songs and animation. But he never created a full animation for his song “The Ballad of Hamantha,” which documents the life of a girl born with a ham for her head.
That’s where kusam comes him. Rather than mimicking Stauber’s frenetic, unique, incongruous, multi-media style, kusam goes with a very simple hand-drawn style that really lets him focus on the characters’ emotions. It’s very nice to watch – and I really like how he chose to depict the other people in Hamantha’s world – showing how she isn’t that different from the rest of them.
Thanks for your patiences and I’ll be back with a review next week!
