Coop's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[L'Amour de Rasputin]

Well done *applauds*

That's probably the best written piece of yours that I've seen - the way that the beards are shown at different lengths and Jethro getting given a new beard from what appears to be a cut-throat razor, dripping with blood.

Of course, these things are never meant to last and in return for supplying him with what he wants the most, the peasant Jethro embraces communism (the sickle). This then leads to the symbolic downfall of the workers, as USSR communism was as flawed a concept as an ice cube dispenser in hell (How would they get the power to the damned thing?!)

But alas, the lure proves too much for Rasputin (Please tell me that was he) and so communism claims yet another scalp and the USSR fell, derailing the communism that was seeded there by Stalin and Lenin.

A simple animation that really hits hard.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

That's pretty much the best summary/interpretation of this cartoon that I've seen, actually. I really wish more people saw this cartoon and enjoyed it, but most people just get scared off by anything resembling a foreign language. Glad you liked the toon!

[[Prototype]]

If the shit fits... wear it.

A funny little piece, which won an award and really showcased your ability to do various things in flash, including animate humans really smoothly. I like that Nico made it into this piece, despite the fact that he was killed in the Time Square helicopter crash.

Have you ever been to Time Square? It would take more than a military helicopter to stop those people from walking about - they're like ants. You cut off one route, they just get on with their lives around it. Okay, so New Yorkers are more aggressive than ants, but they get on with their lives, while complaining a lot.

Ah, the joys of doing porn. I can see that there's a big market out there for "that weird guy with the tentacles", as plenty of people will pay good money to see that sort of thing.

Why do you hate this toon so much? It's not bad and it's got over 100,000 Reviews, an award and a high number of reviews at a respectable score... What's not to like?!

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

I love Times Square - I live in Boston so I'm not exactly allowed to like New York much, but I think Times Square is great. Not much would stop New Yorkers from going about their days, not even a superpowered douchebag in a hoodie tearing up their town.

This cartoon was one that I thought was funny until I actually started animating it. I realized that most of the jokes didn't sing to me, and wasn't exactly my style. Violence as a punchline and "Videogames aren't like real life HEH" jokes don't do it for me. I basically felt like I sold out since this was for a website that fell apart for reasons I won't get into right now. I also hated Prototype, so a parody of it started to get on my nerves. It got worse when hordes of 12 year olds started reviewing this telling me how great the game was and how I just didn't "get" it.

This cartoon just felt like the lowest common denominator to me, and the backgrounds are really awful.

[SRM Short: Haircut]

San Andreas has much to answer for!

Ah, the joy of suddenly being able to grow a hairstyle that you might want, in the colour of your choice, while the barber can style it, using only a set of clippers. I'm impressed with the amount of gel that these styles come equipped with, for just a few seconds of "buggering about".

The fact that you ended up with the same style that you started with and even the irony that the spiked hair seems to make an appearance in The Last Soda a few months hence. I like the way that this piece has roots in GTA, but it also brings us some really good classic SRM humour.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

Well, the hair is the same as it was in The Last Soda, since I figured I might as well reuse the assets! This came about from the bizarre idea for a cartoon to have SRM have a haircut. This was suggested to me by more than one fan, which surprises me considering SRM is a bald blue cube-like thing.

Once again, the roots in GTA are moreso for convenience than anything else. I like doing Niko's voice, and I already had one vaguely "human" looking character made up so I did it. The San Andreas haircut comparison is pretty apt though! It's more a Fallout 3 reference than anything else, what with the Tunnel Snakes reference. Glad you liked the toon!

[Meet the Cliffjumper]

Yeah, he sucks

You don't even tell us about what he transforms into or what he'd love to transform into :(

Still, that's the sort of thing that appears on a DVD extras menu, that you could do for each and every one of the transformers in some sort of mini series. The idea that Melatron is actually really just after Prime's supply of Mint Choc Chip ice cream, for example could add a sweet new dimension to the series ;)

I think that you're diversifying away from the Transformers series, which is a shame. I'd love to see you making more bits and pieces like this, but we'll see what you're capable of moving further into 2009 and then onward to 2010 and the present.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

If I made these for everybody, I'd end up with a longer "Meet the..." series than the actual Transformers series. I'd put this on a DVD as an extra in whatever fantasy world prints SRM Transformers DVDs though. It would be fun to explore some of these characters more, but they're all pretty 2-dimensional, animation puns aside.

Cliffjumper is honestly the most compelling character in the SRMTF toons, as much as he sucks. This was an attempt to really make Cliffjumper an Internet presence - he has a Facebook and a Twitter, and with this as the crown jewel in that I thought I could have some sort of return to Internet fame for this series. Didn't work.

I loved the Transformers series, but I think the time has past. I don't have quite as much interest in Transformers anymore since the fantastic Transformers: Animated ended. It was nice to work on these big projects that usually got good reactions though. It was important to move on since otherwise I'd just be making the same cartoons time and again. Besides, I know I can't top SRMTF4 part 2 as an ending for the series.

Also, Cliffjumper is supposed to transform into a compact car. I never animated it since I couldn't figure out a way to make it physically work.

[W40k Dawn of Awesome]

Awesome.

What more can I say? The lack of animation quality only goes to showcase the series and the power that it has over mere mortals. I loved the idea of the Spess Mahreens and the fact that you've made them like old skool Games Workshop models (Entirely the same as every other one - now you can pose each one and I die a little inside, when spending hundreds of pounds in their stores.)

Still, that little aside... aside, I can say that the Necrons were basic and poorly formatted. A shame that they didn't get back up, which would have been good for a laugh.The deep strikes were very nice to see, but you've done 40k before. I demand Orks! And Tyranids, but that's not so important.

Good work, keep it up and give us some more examples.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

I both love and hate that this is my most viewed work on Youtube. It's somewhere around 230,000 as I write this. Goes to show what 3-5 hours of boredom can produce.

The resemblance between the cartoon Marines and the old 2nd edition "I love my bolter" models isn't intentional - it's just a side effect of me being lazy! The Necrons are just repurposed characters from Hitler's Strawberries.

I had an SRM 40k 2 planned back in the day, but I never finished it. It would have had Jebediahs as Tyranids, and uncle Jethro as the Inquisition, along with brother Scruffeh and SRM of the Baby Punters. And Flavor Flavius. I'll never make it.

There's an Ork in Telion's Christmas Party, but I don't think I'll ever release that on Newgrounds on account of it being too horrible. It's on Youtube if you look for it.

[Explode Harder]

Oh, the parodies

Ah, to see that you called it "Explosion Force 5 2: Explode Harder" means that you've taken that part from Die Hard, possibly added some detail from bits and pieces such as Grand Theft Auto, not to mention Explosion force, which doesn't even make sense :P

The idea that you've made a cast list and have thrown in some great bits and pieces, to make it sound and look like a proper film trailer shows that you're still thinking and the writing skills are well exhibited here.

The use of the audio from Newgrounds itself is a testament to the fact that you can find the pieces of work that you are looking for and the fact that they are available, if you're willing to look hard enough. I love that it also adds a new layer of depth to the piece.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

"____ Harder" is my favorite way to subtitle a film. It's just so ridiculous sounding, and it's such an easy cliche. I also threw in that "in through the eye, out through the gun" kind of shot from Ultraviolet, which is a hilariously bad movie.

I like using the same identifiable cast, as you know. I'm even using Greg the Llama in my new SRM cartoon about Guitar Hero type games. Thanks for the props on writing.

I like using audio from Newgrounds, since it's royalty free and noncommercial. It also means I don't end up using music that absolutely everybody else uses. Glad you liked the toon, and know my work well enough to remember it's origins!

[[RD10] Robocop Reacts]

Could have got a better tune

Wow, about 10-20 frames (and that's being generous) of Robocop that you move back and forth of what looks like him either doing an impression of a retarded kid or having an orgasm. I think that the jury is still out on that one.

The music wasn't the best as it was a few seconds of loop. You couldn't even be bothered to credit it, you were so blahzee on what this looked like, in order to get a piece released in time for Robot Day. You could have put a little more effort in - the piece was still well within the submission limit for that day, at over 3.5 hours to go.

Let's not split hairs, this wasn't exactly your best piece. Perhaps get us to this place, by making an animation of Murphy talking to his partner and discussing something, before he decides to dance, for example. I'm not the greatest writer on the planet, but that took me seconds to come up with.

Give it a shot, what are you waiting for?

Punisher responds:

Yep, this was basically another RD cash in for "teh lols'.
minimal effort, confirmed. :3

[Infected Wish]

Hey, this one wasn't too bad

Well, considering previous attempts to humour us with your animation, this actually started brightly, with the way that you matched the squares appearances to the beat of the track. Credit where it's due, that worked out nicely.

The words could have been sorted out slightly better, giving more in the way of stretches for held notes, possibly even incorporating a random sense to locations that you dropped the words in. I did raise a smile when I saw the words substitute, as that seemed to fit with a cold, almost clinical edge to it all, in the scheme of things.

When it comes to the cartoon scene that you've borrowed and sped up, it was good the first time around - throwing more scenes in there, possibly even ones that you've animated yourself would help you out here - Colin Mochrie was used in one of your pieces, so why not give it a shot and move forward, by having more than just those few people dance. More depth gives more replayability and keeps the users coming back, possibly even generating you ad revenue, who knows?

With the game gag, that was good once (God knows how many times I've cracked that myself, much to drinking buddies chagrin, so it was only a matter of time before I was had), but to keep throwing it in as the start of the loop became very repetitive very fast.

Iron out the kinks and you've got a good piece.

[Review Request Club]

Punisher responds:

Yea, this was more of a cash in on 'the game' phenomenon at the time, and something I threw together on a whim after listening to the song.

[SRM Transformers 4 Part 2]

And so it ends

A shame really that this only came up with enough votes to reach 2nd place for the day. I'd have said that this piece was better than TOFUTWO, but what do I know?

Still, when all is said and done, you've lampooned this series pretty well over the five episodes, so perhaps it is time to cut loose and find something else to rip the piss out of. How about SRM does RED, for example? Or Lord of the Rings, if he fancies a change of scene?

Of all of the Transformers flicks that you've made, this one was weakest on sound quality, which was a shame. I'd love to see you take it a bit further and give us some nice quality there, or as I've said before, possibly some new transformers, where both Autobot and Decepticon alike find that they have new shapes. Some will be pleased (Jazz, for being alive again; Bumblebee for similar reasons and now being a half decent car; Melatron will not be so pleased, though Frenzy could be used, because he's insane.)

Still, I'll leave you with that thought and hope you can find time to thrill the geeks of the world.

That, or make an SRM does Thundercats piece...

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

I was really hoping for daily 1st - it's the one award I never got. Come damn close though. I remember watching TOFUTWO and not being angry that it won out - if anything, it made me realize that my animation really needed to step up soon to be taken seriously.

I don't remember there being any sound quality issues with this toon - I recorded the dialogue at the same time as SRM Transformers 4 Part 1, so it should sound pretty much the same. Maybe something went bad on your end? Toon sounds fine to me.

This was the last SRM Transformers toon I made, and the last I plan to make. There was an SRMTF4 planned - even animated the first minute of it. I didn't like it much and I figured I wouldn't top this though, and I think I made the right choice.

I've thought of other SRM parody series', but never really went far with any of them. I revisited SRMTF and Team Fortress 2 with Meet the Cliffjumper, but that's the last SRM-based parody I think I made. I'll do more someday, and I've got an SRM toon akin to Fallout 3: Mel's Addiction in the planning stages about Duke Nukem. That's gonna have some nice parody sequences in it.

I've thought about another SRM Transformers toon as a one off, but I think it's best to let that rest. As for Thundercats? I didn't grow up watching it like I did with Transformers or GI Joe.

[Day in the Life - Cthulhu]

Great stuff

Simple concept, made funny by the additions of various bits and pieces, such as Cthulhu's "voice" and the fact that he seems to lean over the garden fence every morning and chat to his friend, Dagon.

Perhaps this needs to be revisited, as Cthulhu's adventures in space would be just insane. Particularly with the whole Star Trek theme that you're playing, while they fly through the depth of space. Perhaps it could be adapted into some sort of music video for "I Believe In A Thing Called Love", by the Darkness.

Overall, I think that the commitment was questionable, as it seemed so promising, only not really having that much plot in there. I know that you're a good writer and you've set the bar so high, it needs to be that you keep up to scratch, if you're not pushing yourself.

Still, it bagged the front page and if this is the sort of thing that you should be making to press for that all important hardware.

[Review Request Club]

Battosai810 responds:

This animation was basically a retelling of Call of Cthulhu from an innocent Cthulhu's point of view. My commitment for this was actually pretty damn good - I made it more or less overnight, with a little work going on in the week before. If I hadn't been up til 3am or whatever making it, I probably would have finished the real story and not had them go to space. I feel like this was a better way to end it though.

Glad you enjoyed the toon - I had thought of doing a second Cthulhu/Dagon cartoon, but I never got around to it. It's definitely not high on my priority list, but it's something I've toyed around with before. Making it a music video to that goofy song isn't really my style - I've tried making a music video or two before, but didn't have good results.