8-Bit Theater
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| 8-Bit Theater | |
|---|---|
 Sample panels from the webcomic 8-Bit Theater on January 20, 2004. |
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| Author(s) | Brian Clevinger |
| Website | http://www.nuklearpower.com/ |
| Current status | Several times per week (Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday usually) |
| Launch date | March 2, 2001 [3] |
| Genre(s) | Sprite comic, Fantasy |
8-Bit Theater (also spelled 8-Bit Theatre) is a popular[1] sprite comic created and launched by Brian Clevinger in March 2001 that won the Web Cartoonist's Choice Awards for best fantasy comic in 2002[2]. The plot of the comic is based on that of the video game Final Fantasy I, following the four Light Warriors in their quest to vanquish the King of Demons, Chaos. The comic is not, however, a serious epic; much of the humor displayed in 8-Bit Theater is derived from the blunderings and misadventures of the protagonists and their foes.
8-Bit Theater's humor is based on exaggerated RPG stereotypes and includes a range of comedic devices, such as droll humor, running gags, wordplay, and slapstick. A significant portion of the humor is character driven — often the comic creates reader anticipation for dramatic moments which fail to come. (Example) Clevinger has stated that "[his] favorite comics are the ones where the joke is on the reader."[3]
8-Bit Theater was originally intended to parody a variety of classic 8-bit video games.[4] The popularity of the Final Fantasy comic convinced Clevinger to abandon this idea, although 8-Bit Theater does make occasional references to other video games as well as pop culture phenomena such as comic book superheroes, TV shows and movies. For example, there are parodies of superheroes, such as Arachna-Dude or The Sulk.
8-Bit Theater is hosted by ZeStuff.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The plot of 8-Bit Theater is based on that of the video game Final Fantasy. Four adventurers, the Light Warriors, must save the world by relighting four magical orbs that are tied to the four elements and, finally, defeat the personification of evil, Chaos. However, while many of the original plot points and characters are present, the way they come about is often radically different. The Light Warriors themselves tend to cause more harm than good on their travels and mostly have to be blackmailed or threatened into accepting quests.
The overall plotline of the comic (thus far) can be broken in to several arcs, some corresponding to the game plot, and others totally original.
The shortest (and first original) arc is the Giant's Forest plot. Originally a self-contained storyline for a class project, this plotline introduced Black Mage, Fighter, and Thief, and explained why there is (now) a desert near the Temple of Fiends. Basically, Fighter dragged Black Mage into the middle of Giant's Forest in search of the Armor of Invincibility. When the eponymous giant showed up, Black Mage used his signature power, the Hadoken, to obliterate the forest and destroy the giant.
The second arc, Survivor 8-bit Style, is a direct prequel to the events of Final Fantasy I, and tells how the adventuring party formed. Upon returning to their home city of Corneria (a parody of the first city in Final Fantasy I which was known as Coneria) and seeing a "help wanted" sign for the four Light Warriors, Fighter badgers Black Mage into agreeing to try for the job. While Black Mage goes off to beat up the old man who swindled Fighter into searching for the Armor of Invincibility, Fighter begins interviewing candidates for the other two heroes. Thief tricks his way onto the team, leaving White Mage and Red Mage to compete for the last spot.
The basic plot of the next storyline, Saving the Princess is based directly of the first mission of the game. The Light Warriors set off to rescue the oft-abducted Princess Sara, who's being held captive by Garland in the Temple of Fiends. Ironically, Garland is so inept at evil that Princess Sara actually takes over her own kidnapping, to the point that she actually intends to torture Garland for failing to execute her orders properly.
After the Light Warriors 'rescue' Princess Sara, King Steve of Corneria 'rewards' them by building "King Steve's Kick Ass Bridge", and the Light Warriors head off into the Poison Arc.
The Poison arc (covering several in-game events) starts when the Light Warriors visiting the witch Matoya. After treating them to poisoned cookies, she blackmails them into recovering her stolen crystal. The search for the crystal takes them to Elfland, where the King (Thief's father) has also been poisoned, apparently by the same person who stole Matoya's crystal.
Upon his recovery, the Elf King sends the Light Warriors off on the Earth Orb quest, to save his kingdom from rotting. After meeting Sarda the Sage (and several acts of genocide committed against the dwarven people), the Light Warriors face off against Vilbert von Vampire and his father, Lich, for possession of the Earth Orb.
After Black Mage sends Lich to Hell, Sarda proceeds to draft the Light Warriors into several quests, sending them against such foes as the Doom Cultists (in an adventure roughly corresponding to the in game quest for the Floater Stone), then after the Fire, Water, and Air Orbs.
Clevinger also introduces an original subplot involving a rivalry between gods and their respective protégés, two of the Light Warriors. He has also stated that the comic will not feature the element of time travel that the game featured towards the end of the story ([4]).
[edit] Art
As a sprite comic, much of the art in 8-Bit Theater is sampled from video games, particularly Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy III. Some art is also obtained from public clip art sites and unspecified Google image search results.
Original artwork is created by Lydia Tyree and Kevin Sigmund, who contribute hand drawn art and custom sprites respectively. Sigmund (Sky Warrior Bob) has a guide to sprite creation on the Nuklear Power Forums.
The comic itself is assembled by Clevinger in Adobe Photoshop. Some details of this process are given in the 8-Bit Theater FAQ.
[edit] Characters
- For more information, see Light Warriors (8-Bit Theater) and Characters of 8-Bit Theater.
The events in 8-Bit Theater revolve around four central characters, the Light Warriors, and a number of minor ones. Many of these characters are exaggerated versions of RPG stereotypes.
[edit] The Light Warriors
- Red Mage — Red Mage is versatile almost to the point of obsession and firmly believes that the world is a role-playing game. He is the most knowledgeable, but also the most delusional of the Light Warriors. Red Mage later changes class to Mime.
- Thief — Thief, also known as the Prince of Elfland, is the official leader of the Light Warriors. He is the greediest of the Light Warriors. Thief later changes class to Ninja.
- Black Mage — An evil wizard who is highly proficient in black magic and takes great joy in being as evil as possible. Black Mage later changes class to Blue Mage.
- Fighter — A warrior specializing in swords who is extremely skilled in fighting, but also naïve and childlike. Fighter later changes class to Knight.
[edit] Other notable characters
- White Mage - A priestess specializing in white (healing) magic. White Mage is assigned by her order to protect fate and to help the Light Warriors save the world.
- Black Belt - A talented martial artist and travelling companion of White Mage. Black Belt had an extremely poor sense of direction, to the effect that the laws of physics and spacetime tended to rearrange themselves around him. He was killed by the fiend Kary in the course of the series.
- Sarda - An omnipotent wizard who forces the Light Warriors to retrieve the four elemental orbs. He claims to be "The wizard that did it" and uses his powers in an immensely irresponsible and careless manner.
- Dark Warriors - A group of villains previously defeated by the Light Warriors. They consist of Garland, Bikke the Pirate, Drizz'l the Dark Elf Prince (a parody of Drizzt Do'Urden) and Vilbert Von Vampire. They plot the downfall of the Light Warriors, but are just as (if not more) inept than the Light Warriors themselves.
- The Four Fiends - Powerful elemental beings that guard the elemental orbs and the Light Warriors' biggest adversaries to date. They are Lich (earth), Kary (fire), Kraken (Ur in the comic) (water) and Tiamat (air). (To date only the first three fiends have appeared in the comic.)
[edit] Trivia
- In its feature on gaming webcomics, 1UP.com described 8-Bit Theater as the sprite comic "that took the style to its fullest expression and greatest popularity."[5]
- In addition to the comic, 8 Bit Theater's website featured two columns which claimed to be written by characters in the comic, both now discontinued. The first of them was written by Ryan Sosa as the character Red Mage and was entitled Twinkin' Out. It dealt mainly with role-playing games and fictional battles, pitting superheroes against other superheroes or villains. A famous running gag in the column involved Febreze and its ability to solve every conceivable problem if applied properly. The joke even gained enough popularity that Brian used it in the main comic. The second column is Ask EPS or Ask Evil Princess Sara. Clevinger's girlfriend Lydia Tyree, posing as Evil Princess Sara, would give advice on dating, which was often scathing.
- A Flash version of 8-bit Theater, created by TLF and Meddros, is available on Newgrounds and UGOPlayer. So far, five episodes have been made. As of 8 Bit Theater 5, the series covers an average of 5.4 comics per episode. [5] A song was produced for the credits after the first episode, called "NES Christmas 2000" by Tacoriffic and CotMM. The license / copyright information for this song is unknown, as is what has become of its creator(s). Meddros also helped make the flash for the 2004 Christmas special "Staff Chucks for Christmas Again?"
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ ; Breaking the stereotype that comics must be hand-drawn, Anez inspired an explosion of webcomics using video games sprites, including one of the most popular and successful webcomics currently running, 8-bit Theater." "An in-depth look at the business viaibility of webcomics." [1] Internet Archive link; see also Wired: "Clevinger's comic, 8-bit Theater, uses sprites from the first Final Fantasy game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the more than three years since its debut, 8-bit Theater has grown to be the most popular sprite comic on the Web, and, according to Comixpedia, it's the third most popular Web comic in existence."[2]
- ^ "2002 Winners and Nominees"
- ^ Brian Clevinger. Nuklear Power - Home of 8-Bit Theatre. Retrieved on April 1, 2006.
- ^ Nuklear Power Forums. Brian Clevinger (Kurosen). Retrieved on March 8, 2006.
- ^ 1UP feature on webcomics
[edit] External links
