Score: 7

"very decent"

submission: Star Wars: Old Wounds

date: June 26, 2006

While i was watching this animation, i felt as if i saw something in this similar style before. And when i saw the other submissions you made, i recognised your name from the batman flash movies i have seen.

Which can be considered a good thing. You definitely improved on the graphics, everything was very clean and not a single annoying flaw in the backgrounds or character design. Still, I would have made the character outlines a bit thicker, to seperate them more from the background. The detailed way you drew them, makes them pleasant for the eye, but now they arent really animatable. It's not really noticable in the still conversation shots, but once the fighting started, it felt more like a tweened comic book rather than an animation.

I guess that is where you got most of your inspiration from. There are so many similarities with your movies as with the classic comics and superhero cartoons (specifically, the batman series) on tv. Not only in content, but also in the way you aproach the dialogue and the way the story evolves. I find this a bit of a pity, it makes it all very predictable. Almost a bit corny. It takes alot of time to develop an own vision though (in some cases it never even comes), I even think that having this own vision is ultimately what every artist aspires.

When i look at the thing as a whole i have to give you alot of kudos for the effort you've put into it and the serious way you handled it all. Small details like the credits in the same font as the star wars movies and the original soundtracks were fantastic. The comic sans font, took a bit away from the seriousness though, at first i even thought it was going to be a comedy. But fortunately the right atmosphere found its place a bit later on.

Like i said, my biggest gripe is that you lack a bit of obstinacy. The way you aproached it, is as the way cartoon network would aproach it in order to make it an enjoyable, safe, but shallow series. Try to not let the work from the professionals be an example of work that can be imitated, but let it serve as inspiration that will help you give your own unique twist to things.

AITD

Score: 4

"Lol"

submission: "Dare"

date: May 16, 2006

Well i had quite a good laugh while watching this movie. At first i thought this was a comedy, until i read in your comments that its supposed to be a serious toon.
The most hilarious part was when the guy suddenly started throwing big macs to homeless afro american children. Almost as amusing as the part where he got friends with the dangerous gang by giving them coca cola. When i saw the scene with the bible in it, i was hoping he was going to put on a soldier uniform and kick muslim iraqi ass with an m4 in his left hand and the bible in his right, but unfortunately i wasnt that lucky. It would have made this animation alot greater though.

AITD

Score: 9

"A 9 score, but not only for you alone"

submission: Johnny Rocketfingers 2

date: May 8, 2006

The 10 is also for everyone who participated in the project. That includes the game programmer NegativeOne.

You've been causing quite some bad mood within the forums by not co-authoring him. And i agree with them, the role of NegativeOne in this game is of such a large part that not mentioning him as one of the co-authors is an insult to all the time and energy he put in the project. I understand that you want to take most credit, since the series is yours and you wrote the dialogue etc, but pretending you made this awesome game all by yourself is untrue and uncool. A band is more than its lead singer, a movie is more than its director.

Anyway, It would be unfair to give you only 0's in this review because the review should be about the game and not about the drama.

And there is no question about it, this became a real gem. Every aspect is so well worked out. The awesome animation, the cool dialogue, the scripting, the badass music. It all contains so much personality and fits in the concept perfectly. Your drawing style looks fast & cartoony and really adds to the cool atmosphere.

However i think the first part is still better. Besides the fact that it was all new then, i liked how the first one was in essence a movie with interactive elements in it. This one is an adventure game with awesome cutscenes. Though it was very well coded, the adventure part was at points slow and frustrating since the puzzles were pretty hard and I was for the most part walking around in the same background finding minimal spots to click with the mouse. It took away from the fast tempo and coolness of the series. Seeing a line like 'Are you new to adventure games or something?' when you try to figure a puzzle out, is funny the first time, but plain annoying the 20th time.

Fortunately there are enough walkthroughs here in the reviews to read when you get stuck and the awesome ending animation made me forget about all the frustation the game caused. If you plan on doing a third one, then take these things into consideration as well as to handle things with the actionscripter in a more mature way. It really causes a bad taste to the series.

AITD

Score: 8

"Haha"

submission: Warrior Boarder 3

date: April 4, 2006

That was fuckin hilarious man.

The entire time while i was watching this movie i felt like i was watching a movie such as XXX (the Vin Diesel one, not the Jenna Jameson one). The action was just as fast, the main character just as muscular and the plot just as good... *ahem*

Anyway I think that when someone is making a short action animation, it is better to make something like this and really focus on the action instead of trying to cram some semi clever pretentious plot in it. I even found some sequences pretty clever. Like you were making fun with the cliches in the hollywood movies by very much exaggerating them. Meh that may just be me.

I would only suggest to improve a little bit on the character drawings and such, since it was a lil rough around the edges, but the animating itself was really well done. Maybe you drew it all with the mouse and thats why it looked a bit rough, but on the other hand it did fit the xtremeness of the flash.

Keep it up

AITD

Score: 9

"so thats what been eating your time every night"

submission: Hanged Man's Elegy

date: March 28, 2006

Right after the first production screenshots i knew this was going to be something special and as always you didnt disappoint me. Very stylish way of animating and drawing out the environments. It kind of has the noir feeling that i found in aura and smile too, complete with a femme fatale. But it is still very different in the careful facial expressions and the subtle colour use.
I found this animation also alot more personal that the rest of your work so far, since it isnt focused on a destroying aura or the pressure of the mass but it centers around an individual and his perception of reality. Interesting subject, especially since its told from a writers perspective and not just from some random angry adult. Now it leaves the question for the viewer how much of the animation was 'real' and how much was the writers fantasy.
Personally, I didnt find the music perfect for the story. It certainly matched the moments, but the heavy hard rock kind of distracted from the insane climaxes. I think these would come out even stronger with no music at all (and only sound effects) or with very minimal scary music. But this is just a matter of directing. On all the technical aspects it was flawless.
Now get your ass in gear to animate the flash that you have been teasing us with for the past 2 (?) years. Its 1:40 am, the day is just starting.

AITD

Score: 9

"Lovely game"

submission: Unreal Flash

date: March 15, 2006

Damn, this is seriously one of the best flash games i ever played.

Just when i thought it couldnt get better after playing warbears recently, I encountered this. Very simple concept and really well translated to the flash medium. The hopping around & fragging enemies is simply plain fun.

Impressive how you implemented so many game modes and options in it. From the character creation to the different weapons and playmodes. Everything felt like unreal tournament, but it still had its own qualities. The weapons were really cool and simply fun to play with. My only complain is that the plasma rifle is a bit too powerful when the computer handles it, since the AI almost fires a hit every time with that weapon. But maybe thats cause i set the mode on godlike ;) Another annoyance is that you and the AI gets a killcount when they frag a teammate. Hell you even get a killcount when you frag yourself :/

Except for some other minor flaws (that arent even worth mentioning when focusing on the big picture), its all well done and nothing but praise. I honestly believe this could be the most popular online game ever IF you manage to implement a multiplayer mode. This is simply meant to be played vs others. Since all the cool aspects of UT are translated succesfully, the game neglected the major one. Which is the multiplayer mayhem. Right now i can only imagine how sweet it would be to headshot Luis (:p) with this flashgame.

AITD

Score: 6

"I think I am missing something"

submission: Blockhead: Episode 6

date: February 26, 2006

I dont know why everyone is so enthousiastic about this series. Its not really well visualised and i really dont think its funny at all. Just some smilie with a body doing dorky stuff.
Well at least the humor isnt built around some popular video game or whatever so i give you kudos for that. In fact i like the concept of the guy having another person in his head interacting with blockhead. Its just poorly executed in my opinion.
The dialogue isnt really clever or anything and neither is the entire presentation of the thing. I am not saying you should draw extremely impressive backgrounds and make great animation, but just add some cool details to it or something. I even got annoyed by the voice acting of blockhead, even though the voice acting of his mind is done pretty well.
But like i said, the concept is original and i really see you put alot of effort in these, so keep it up!

AITD

Score: 7

"Hey!"

submission: Only Superhuman

date: February 14, 2006

Ouch, i must have really hit a sensitive spot with my last review eh. Though I admit I was thorougly entertained by your response..

Anyway, I wont make this review a bashing but ill keep it honest. What i want to say about our previous disagreement is that you really should learn to take some crit or you'll never get far. Like i said, your response was funny, but it didnt deepen out one single point I mentioned (unoriginality by literally animating song, making the animation unimportant), to convince me otherwise. I dont know wether this was the case because there simply wasnt a well thought out response to them or if you were cooking in anger.
You are right at one thing though. My first flash movie Short Skirt Long Jacket is indeed a poorly constructed flash.
I made the same mistake by just making drawings to what i heard from the music, in the pace of the rythm of the song. Kinda like you still do with 3 years of experience under your belt.

So I went to check your profile to search for a movie i might enjoy (had to search long) but then i remember this one. The reason this is better than most of your other stuff is because you came up with your own concept for this. The music doesnt dictate the piece, but is only on the background to support the animation. The idea behind the animation was even clever at points and the humor subtle. Even though the drawings and color palette are still subpar, they did fit the atmosphere.

But hey this is written by a person who doesnt fall for the most simple and obvious funnyness imaginable in a flash movie. When something is funny it doesnt make it a good movie per instant. Just as the case is with drama or action. There has to be some sort of cleverness and originality in it in order for it to become good. Qualities that this particular toon has but which i cant find in the rest of your work.

AITD

Score: 10

"Truly hilarious.."

submission: The Holy Sabbath

date: February 13, 2006

Funniest flash iv seen on NG yet. And iv been coming here for a couple of years now. Brilliant voice acting, script, characters & clever humor.

They should show this in church as a bible study.

AITD

Score: 4

"Hard to take serious. Hard to find funny"

submission: Vanilla Sky - 8 bit

date: February 7, 2006

Not sure what your intention with this flash is. Besides the
idea to replicate an exsisting moviescene, there wasnt alot of thought put into this. What were you trying to accomplish?

Replacing the actors with 8 bit figures is cool if theres a good concept behind it. But as it is now it was neither clever or humorous. Theres just the vanilla sky soundclip with the same camera angles as the movie with the addition of some 8 bit figures (from world cup soccer?). I just didnt get it. 8 Bit figures cant express any emotion and you chose one of the most emotional scenes from the movie to animate them in. They work alot better if you try to replicate action scenes.

Another disadvantage, which you already sort of stated in your comments, is that this thing has absolutely no value to people who havent seen the movie. They simply dont get whats going on. And to people who seen it its just a 'been there seen that'. No interesting personal interpretation, no vision or whatever shown.

Making these kind of studies is great to learn use of pace and camera for yourself but uninteresting for the audience. Other replicas like Van Helthing, Mario Reloaded or Rise Of The Mushroomkingdom work alot better.

AITD