Epithet Erased
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Epithet Erased is a comedy/adventure web series released on VRV in partnership with Brendan Blaber, aka JelloApocalypse. In Sweet Jazz City, 1 in 5 people has a unique power from birth called Epithets. They are powers that use a random word that attaches to the soul. Such words like "Fire," "Coupon," or even "Soup" dignify the person's ability. After being locked after closing time in a museum, a young girl named Molly comes into possession of the Arsene Amulet while a fight between thieves trying to steal the MacGuffin. She then has to survive the night with her Epithet "Dumb" unless she gets her Epithet erased. The show is produced in a style of Limited Animation, similar to JelloApocalypse's web series, except for some fully animated pieces, like the opening made by Powerhouse Animation Studios.
The series premiered on November 8, 2019, on the streaming platform VRV. The trailer for the show can be found here, the opening can be seen here, and the ending is here.
Tropes used in Epithet Erased include:
- Animation Bump: The Limited Animation style is broken during climatic scenes for certain episodes. An example would be Giovanni's victory over Mera with Molly's help. Another is in episode 7, where Ramsey turns himself to gold to counter Zora's aging power while Percy's Wizard Tower shocks him to conduct electricity to incapacitate Zora.
- Anti-Magic: Molly can use her Epithet to weaken or negate summons from Epithets but is less effective on bigger summons.
- Anti-Magical Faction: Bliss Ocean is a terrorist organization aiming to eliminate Epithets by using the Arsene Amulet.
- Bears are Bad News: Averted with Molly's bear motif due to her kind personality. Invoked when the two bear statues are brought to life due to Sylvie's Nightmare Fuel bringing them to life to attack Molly and Giovanni.
- Barrier Warrior: While Indus looks like a musclebound warrior, his 'Barrier' is a defensive power, but the user doesn't have much intelligence to fully utilize it.
- Beary Cute: Molly Blyndeff is a twelve-year-old whose fashion sense has a bear motif, shown by her hair loops styled like bear ears and her custom-made bear hoodie. Giovanni also has her minion nickname of 'Bear Trap'.
- Blessed with Suck: Epithets with words like 'Coupon,' 'Dumb,' or 'Soup' would seem less glamorous than others.
- Calling Your Attacks: Flashy Inscribed tend to call out the names for their attacks which isn't necessary for using them.
- Dream Weaver: Sylvie's Epithet is 'Drowsy' where he can put people to sleep and bring dreams into reality.
- Extra Ore Dinary: 'Goldbricker' is the Epithet of Ramsey that allows him to transmute inanimate and organic targets into gold and back.
- Fantastic Racism: 'Lexism' is the term for discrimination based on Epithets, especially when it comes to employment. Mundies aren't hired based on the skill, while employers instead hire someone with an Epithet to do the job. There are times when people would hire an Inscribed for superiority rather than their possible skillset.
- Goldfish Poop Gang: The Banzai Blasters are a criminal organization that runs like a pyramid scheme. Their membership is a Ponzi scheme. Their ranks are ridiculously named, from lowest to highest: Blaster, Captain, Vice Principal, Associate Justice, Valedictorian, Senpai, and Baron.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Some Inscribed have Epithets that are less than glamourous, but their word's meaning can be applied to different situations. Training and creativity are also factors in how Epithets can be utilized.
- Hurricane of Puns: Nearly every character makes some form of pun, especially if they are an Inscribed.
- Imagination-Based Superpower: Epithets are dependent on how their Inscribed's creativity is not only based on the word's meaning.
- Lorelai's Epithet is 'Augment,' allowing her to change anything she wants, even make her own reality.
- Muggles: The four out of five people are known as 'Mundies,' which comes from the word 'mundane.'.
- Nebulous Evil Organization: Bliss Ocean is a terrorist organization consisting of both Mundies and Inscribed with the ideal of getting rid of Epithets.
- One Person, One Power: Each Inscribed has one Epithet, which is why the Arsene Amulet is valuable, allowing the wearer to use a stolen Epithet with it.
- Police Are Useless:
- Averted with the Sweet Jazz Police Force, where they react to the museum's alarm and apprehend Mira and Indus when they arrive.
- Played straight with Sheriff Gorou, where he was only hired as sheriff due to his Epithet, 'Bluster,' but has let the town go under the control of the Banzai Blasters.
- Power Parasite: The Arsene Amulet can steal a person's Epithet and have the user as their own.
- The Power of Friendship: Rick's Epithet, Soulmates, allows him to make a connection with his friends where he can use their abilities and even their Epithet.
- RPG Mechanics Verse:
- The show is based on a TTRPG where these elements are transferred. They even show the number of points whenever a character is damaged. When a character's information is revealed, it shows off their Epithet along with three stats of Stamina, Proficiency, and Creativity:
- Stamina shows their physical strength and resilience.
- Proficiency reveals the potency of the Epithet.
- Creativity presents the intelligence and imagination to apply their Epithet.
- The efficiency of the stat is determined by a symbol with one to five of them. These symbols fall into three tiers:
- Stars (★) are the lowest tier most ordinary people have, but some can have five.
- Orbit (⍟) is the second tier that more gifted people can gain.
- Nova (✦) is the highest tier and very rare, showing a legendary amount of power.
- The show is based on a TTRPG where these elements are transferred. They even show the number of points whenever a character is damaged. When a character's information is revealed, it shows off their Epithet along with three stats of Stamina, Proficiency, and Creativity:
- Semantic Superpower: How Epithets work on a semantic level where it's up to the Inscribed to use their creativity to apply it.
- Superpower Lottery: There is a 1 in 5 chance of a person being born with an Epithet, but the word may not be spectacular as others.
- Time Master: 'Sundial' is Zora's Epithet where she can process, making targets go forward or backward in time. She also slows down or speeds them up, too. There is the caveat that she'll lose control once the process is finished and can't reverse it.
- Semantic Superpower: How Epithets work on a semantic level where it's up to the Inscribed to use their creativity to apply it.
- What Kind of Lame Power is Heart, Anyway?: Some people's Epithets can be rather lacking compared to others. An example would be Giovanni's 'Soup,' which allows him to create ...soup that he tries to play it off as something deadly.