Blamimation

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A joint production by Kris Straub (of Starslip and Chainsawsuit) and Scott Kurtz (of Pv P), now appearing on Penny Arcade TV, Blamimation is a monthly series of comedic Flash shorts. Each episode generally consists of a couple of brief sketches bookended by a Framing Device about Straub and Kurtz's adventures. Recurring sketches include:

  • Night Driver, a parody of Knight Rider;
  • Get Sharpe, a Detective Drama set in a town full of morons;
  • FUCK Hospital, an ultrasexy Medical Drama;
  • Saw Babies, which reimagines Jigsaw as a vengeful elementary school student;
  • Monster Nash, a thriller in the same vein as The Incredible Hulk;
  • The Airhornsman, about a man who uses an air horn instead of talking;
  • Fin & Feather, depicting an Odd Friendship between a renaissance-era fish and a modern-day bird (They Fight Crime);
  • Tetris Cop, a Cop Show about a grizzled Z-block who refuses to play by the book

Watch them here.

Tropes used in Blamimation include:

Scott: We're sorry that our ridiculous premise of people throwing away cats is what people actually do.

  • Art Shift: Each sketch is drawn in either Kurtz's comic-booky style or Straub's signature noseless style. Each creator is also drawn in his own style, even when both appear together.
  • Bigger on the Inside: Kris' butthole, as discovered by MC Frontalot's uncle.
  • Bland-Name Product: Kurtz and Straub travel to the digital world of Fron.
    • The second Alliday episode features B1 sauce, which apparently goes well with human flesh.
  • Body Horror: Nash's transformations are pretty grotesque.
  • Cowboy Cop: McTetris ends up with a lot of Dead Partners, and Da Chief is getting too old for this shit.
  • Credits Gag: The season 1 finale ends with a credit reel, complete with "corrections" from the series so far. Penny Arcade business guru Robert Khoo is listed under "Special Thanks", followed immediately by "Thanks Redacted".
  • Disproportionate Retribution: The entire concept behind Saw Babies. Subverted in that it usually backfires.
  • "Gift of the Magi" Plot: Parodied in one Blam, where the air conditioner cuts out during a heatwave. Kris buys Scott some freon for the air conditioner, which Scott has sold in order to buy Kris a snow cone. Alas, Kris is unable to enjoy the snow cone because he traded his head for the freon.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: There are only two primary voice actors. It was bound to happen.
    • Mike Krahulik, AKA Gabe, does two quick lines in Episode 9. He returns in Episode 15 to propose and make Blams.
    • Also in Episode 15, Jerry Holkins AKA Tycho appears for a quick what's up. He returns as a guest in Episode 17.
    • In S2E2, MC Frontalot is the dungeon keeper.
  • Involuntary Shapeshifting: Monster Nash is presented as a thriller about a man who needs to avoid looking at or hearing any mention of the moon/bandages/blood/bats/pyramids/etc. or else he'll turn into all monsters, simultaneously.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: During the sketches. Sometimes they'll redo flubbed lines, mock each other for mistakes, or scribble out animation errors.
  • Idiot Ball: Held by everyone apart from the Sharpe brothers in Get Sharpe.
  • I'm a Humanitarian: Kris and Scott discover that, during the Alliday festivities, they killed and consumed someone.
  • Inspector Javert: The Major, a General Ross Expy who wants to find out Nash's connection with all these monster attacks.
  • Limited Animation
  • Major Injury Underreaction:

"Thank God we got out of there in one piece!"
"Ha ha, Scott, speak for yourself! Check out what's going on down there! (camera pans to reveal that Straub has a basketball-sized hole where his crotch should be) Whoa-ho-ho augh ugh." (dies)
"Heh heh heh oooooh! Eh, guess my friend's dead. Heh heh."

  • Motor Mouth: The so-called "Blam Cadence" used by both Blamimators in their interstitial bits is as follows: A SERIES of PHRASES, PUNCTuated at RANdom, aSCENDing in pitch and then suddenlydippingbackdownthehillconstantlygainingspeeduntilyouretalkingfasterthanyoucanthink. It's basically engineered to guarantee slip-ups. Mike Krahulik made a huge effort to match the style in his guest appearance, whereas Jerry Holkins deliberately broke it.
  • Old Shame: Deep King was the earliest (non-PVP-related) Blam, created long before Straub and Kurtz had figured out Blamimation's unique voice. The creators maintain it goes on far too long and doesn't contain any real jokes. (Although Straub is apparently still pretty proud of the Malcolm McDowell voice he used for the narrator.)
  • Recycled in Space: Get Sharper, in which a cyborg Red Sharpe solves cybercrimes on a Moon colony.
    • Perhaps the most literal playing of this trope, as the pilot episode is completely identical to the pilot of Get Sharpe, with words like cyber and digital inserted into lines and scouters and antennae added to everyone and everthing.
  • Rightful King Returns: Parodied in Deep King.
  • Take That: The Airhornsman is patterned after cartoonist Ted Rall.
  • The Speechless: The Airhornsman is a champion debater despite "speaking" with an air horn.
  • Unreadably Fast Text: Some of the gags can't be seen unless you pause the animation.
  • Unusual Euphemism: Pee-poops.
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