Jetters Abridged
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Jetters Abridged is an Abridged Series of the Bomberman Jetters anime. It was created by ThornBrain of Sgt Frog Abridged, and it is written and voiced with friends BigTUnit1 and codeblackhayate as Team Bulge Bomb.
Shiro is a young Bomberman whose brother, "the legendary Bomberman Mighty", disappears suddenly after the first episode. To find his brother, Shiro takes up Mighty's position in the Jetters, an intergalactic crime-fighting team pitched against evil junk collectors, the Hige-Hige Bandits.
Where the original series is largely a Monster of the Week kid's cartoon with lots of Character Development, Jetters Abridged revels in its sheer insane ridiculousness.
The series does not have a consistent update schedule, though ThornBrain has promoted the series on Something Awful while doing Let's Plays of Bomberman Hero and the Bomberman Jetters game on TheStrawhatNO! (both of which have influenced their portrayal of the characters). Episode 3 was released on November 30th. Thorn and Travis are focusing on finishing Sgt Frog Abridged Season 2 before doing more Jetters, but Thorn greatly wants to do more as soon as they can; however, as Travis puts it, "If I'm not working, I'm working".
- Abridged Series: And not only do most of its viewers like it, people who don't like Abridged Series like Jetters Abridged, and that group includes people on the Something Awful forums!
- The Ace: Mighty. And he knows it.
- A Degree in Useless: Episode 1 features a mockery of both DeVry University and Communications majors.
- Affectionate Parody: The series takes a chunk of its humor from poking fun at the original series, and in at least one case the Bomberman Jetters video game.
- Awesome but Impractical: Mighty's visor, which covers one of his eyes. Shout lampshades its uselessness and potential for hindrance in Episode 2:
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"He always had to wear that stupid visor. I bet he didn't even see that side of the cliff." |
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- Black Comedy: Death is used frequently as a comedic tool.
- Breathless Non-Sequitur: Mighty has one in Episode 1.
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Mighty: "...About twenty-thousand light years away, a woman is about to be hit on by a very ugly shark. But that shark hates tobacco smoke, aaaand... Beat... I lit her a cigarette!" |
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- Brick Joke: The first time Louie dies becomes one the second time.
- Mighty kills a shark in the first episode. At the end of the episode he gets attacked by an unknown laser, which Word of God says is from the shark's brother.
- "RAAAAAAID!"
- "If a showerhead could talk, it would probably say 'Ksssssssssshhh...'" "'...sssssshhhh, squeak squeak. You take too fucking long to shower'. That's what my shower would say to me."
- "Don't interrupt me."
- Broken Aesop: Mighty gives one to Shiro in Episode 1:
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"You're never going to be a great Bomber unless you learn to understand: The bomb is in your heart, not in these... bombs... Have I made myself clear?!" |
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- Technically broken anyway, since Mighty's an asshole.
- Butt Monkey: Bongo. Everyone hates him for no reason whatsoever.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Birdy. Everything he says is a One-Liner or thought comparable in style to Steven Wright and Jack Handey, though he says it in such a cool-headed, calm and collected manner that you can never tell if he's insane or just really deep. If there was ever a case of It Makes Just As Much Sense in Context, Birdy said it, mostly because what he says is never in context to begin with.
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Birdy: *Over radio* "Hey Mighty." |
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- Birdy is certainly the standout, but really all of the characters are a bit nuts.
- Crossover: Birdy has made vocal appearances in Sgt Frog Abridged. The writers are still deciding between if they take place in the same universe or if Birdy is just that transcendental.
- The Chew Toy / They Killed Kenny: Louie, who dies in every episode (sometimes several times), not unlike Kenny. Though his death is never seen and often happens with no viable explanation, the characters will usually acknowledge the death, and after just the first episode it's pretty easy to tell when Louie has died.
- Dead Baby Comedy: HIV - Hige Immunodeficiency Virus
- Deadpan Snarker: Every character at some point. It is co-written by ThornBrain, after all.
- Dirty Communists: Bajira and his butler in Episode 3.
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Butler: "Instead of red with pride, I am red with rage!" |
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- Do-It-Yourself Theme Tune: "Bulge Bomb" is sung by ThornBrain and BigTUnit1.
- Dub Name Change: The protagonist is named "Shiro" instead of "Shirobon", or "White Bomber". Justified in that it is still technically his original name, just shortened to something more like a name and easier to say.
- Empathic Weapon: Parodied. "The bomb is in your heart, not in these...bombs..."
- Expy: Bajira in Episode 3 is The Count, which annoys his butler to the point of homicide.
- Filk Song: The theme song, "Bulge Bomb", is a song parody of "Car Bomb" by Negativland, and instead of car parts it lists off various silly things in Bomberman Jetters and the commonly-seen fan translation (hence "'Fire' in English is called 'Fire'").
- Birdy provides his own lyrics to Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House" and The Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" in Episode 3.
- The Genie Knows Jack Nicholson: Or rather Birdy knows Talking Heads and The Bee Gees.
- Hijacked by Ganon: Inverted in Episode 2. The main villains were just looking for an egg that would supposedly shrink Mujoe's "anatomy", whereas the ant creature that hired the Jetters to fight him was actually laying a legion of eggs to take over the universe.
- Happens again in Episode 3, where the Higes attempt to steal a magical money cat from a house of Dirty Communists; the butler despises the money cat, and he actually hired the Jetters to kill his annoying boss.
- Hypocritical Humor: Shout in Episode 2:
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"Kid's aren't allowed in the Jetters! Except for me..." |
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- Also Dr. Ein in the same episode:
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Bongo: "I know your pain, Bongo. We'll take the jo-" |
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- Idiot Hero: Intentionally averted. Thorn specifically wanted Shiro to not be a stupid protagonist like is found in every other Abridged Series (including his own), though Shiro could still exhibit naivete due to being a child. Every other character, however... Let's just say there's a reason BigTUnit1 calls the Jetters a "ragtag team of suck".
- Jerkass: Mighty, and it gets worse with each episode despite him only being in the first episode.
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Mujoe: *Talking to Shiro* "You couldn't save a moderately struggling orphanage from termites. Then punt one of the kids for a field goal. I'll admit it: I laughed." |
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- Jerkass Dissonance: Played with. It's pretty clear that Mighty's a jerkass hero that everybody inexplicably loves, but nobody denies this either. Shiro even straight-up admits to Mighty being a jerk in the first episode.
- Large Ham: The villains Mujoe and Dr. Mechadoc. BigTUnit1's inspiration for the latter was Mark Hamill's version of The Joker.
- Mad Scientist: Dr. Mechadoc.
- Mythology Gag: Episode 3 included a few references to Thorn and Travis' Lets Plays of the Bomberman Hero and Bomberman Jetters games.
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Dr. Mechadoc: "Bomber...Change!!!" |
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- No Indoor Voice: Gangu
- No Mouth: The Bombermen. Thorn loved editing the first episode.
- Non Sequitur: Not that Birdy doesn't say things in-context. They're just usually this.
- Once Per Episode: Louie dies.
- Mujoe changes up his laugh, or laughs in a way that is not even a laugh.
- The "BUUUULGE BOOOOMB!" section of the opening is changed up somewhat, usually involving an explosion or something happening to Mujoe.
- Patron Saint: Meta example: Word of God says Jack Handey and Steven Wright are Birdy's patron saints.
- Physical God: The Bomberman have the powers of gods, including creation from nothing, revival of the dead, and instant killing, (when Louie gets involved, all three can apply). Mighty lampshades this in the first episode.
- A God Am I: Averted. Though the Bombermen have god-like powers, they seem fairly responsible with them and treat them like a part of growing up.
- Refuge in Audacity: Mujoe's entire intro scene is one big "Hey look! He has a giant bulge in his crotch!" The kicker: He seems to be sensitive about his bulge every point after.
- This exchange in Episode 3 about Shiro's trap for the Hige Hige Bandits, which may also Cross The Line Twice:
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Shout: "Wow! What'd you use? Pepper spray?" |
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- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Mighty only disappeared because he got pissed off about something and ditched the team.
- Squee: Mechadoc makes one when revealing his robot ostrich.
- They Called Me Mad: Dr. Mechadoc, for his "giant metal ostrich". The usual use of this trope is subverted, due to Mechadoc going through with making the ostrich because people thought he was crazy.
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- Unusual Euphemism: "Oh peanut butter and suck!" as well as "Oh, jelly and balls!"
- What the Hell, Hero?: Have we mentioned Mighty's a Jerkass?
- Shiro lampshades this in the first Episode"
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"You don't have a moral compass, do you brother?" |
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- Verbal Tic: Like in the original, Bongo ends most sentences with "Bongo", even if it's just a one-word sentence.