Reynaldo the Assassin
In a time long ago, in a place far away...there was a man who stood up to injustice...but few know of his humble beginnings...this is that story...the story of...Reynaldo the Assassin!
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Reynaldo the Assassin is a 25-part Machinima series based on The Elder Scrolls III Morrowind. Made by a single college student working from his basement in his spare time, it chronicles the story of Reynaldo, a young man who discovers that he is the bastard son of an assassin. Reynaldo sets out to find the father he never met, and begins a series of strange quests (which turn out to be "A complete waste of time, effort, and demon magic.")
Reynaldo finds his dad, who then sends him on a series of training missions to become an assassin. Rey's dad also teaches Rey how to summon a demonic sidekick, a Deadpan Snarker "lesser demonoid of the subtype Scampus" whom he names Lil' Rey.
Though the characters hardly ever move except off-screen and the creator Oneclipleft is Talking to Himself throughout the whole thing, the series manages to be quite funny due largely to the wacky characterizations.
This series provides examples of:
- Ass Pull - Come on, Onclipleft. An army of robots? Really? Ugh.
- Big No - Reynaldo, after realizing he killed Lil' Rey.
- Black Comedy - Way. Seriously, at one point Reynaldo kills his best friend, and this is played for laughs. And, it works!
- It helps that Death Is Cheap
- Let's not forget that Reynaldo is a Hitman With a Heart with a demonic familiar, and they fight alongside pirates in a gang war!
- Brainwashed and Crazy - The Thief guildmaster brainwashes Reynaldo using "hypnotic frequencies" from his helmet's built-in-radio to kill all of Rey's Nakama.
- Crack Fic
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass - Reynaldo
- Cut His Heart Out With a Spoon - "I will carve them each like Thanksgiving turkeys. In fact, I'll carve them into the shape of a Thanksgiving turkey!"
- Death Is Cheap - What with those "Get out of the Abyss free." cards that the afterlife commitee keeps handing out.
- Dem Bones - Dem Bones talk, by the way. They talk entirely in bone-related puns.
- Fan Fiction - Falls firmly in "Crack Fic" territory.
- Even crackier is the so called "lost episode", which is a Fan Fiction of Reynaldo the Assassin. So, a fanfiction of a fanficiton.
- Hitman With a Heart - Reynaldo and his dad.
- Hurricane of Puns - In one episode, Reynaldo and Lil' Rey encounter a talking skeleton. Bone jokes ensue.
- Insult Backfire - The Thieves' Guild master is quite pleased when Reynaldo calls him demented.
- Ninja
- Reynaldo: There's a Ninjas' Guild?
- Assassin Boss: Yes. And if you're thinking of joining them because you think they're cooler, then we'll assassinate the crap out of you.
- No Fourth Wall - Justified. Reynaldo has a bizzare dream in episode 3 that literally causes the fourth wall to break (with a loud crashing sound), and it never ends up getting fixed.
- Gainax Ending - One gets the impression that Oneclipleft approached the final episode with a "Let's get this over with" mentality.
- Hammerspace - Reynaldo's sword just sort of comes out of nowhere during fight scenes, then dissapears.
- Lampshade Hanging - and lots of it.
- Machinima
- Manchurian Agent - Reynaldo
- Non-Human Sidekick - Lil' Rey
- Older Sidekick - "Lil' Rey" is thousands of years old.
- Our Demons Are Different
- Pirates
- The Plan - The master of the Thieves' Guild has Reynaldo sent out to exterminate the Ninjas' Guild, claiming that the latter have been taking all the former's clients. It turns out he just wants the name.
- Portmanteau - Dadsassin (a dad who is an assassin) and swordsassin (an assassin with a sword)
- Post Modern
- Prophetic Names - According to Captain Pirate (first name Captain, last name Pirate), "I guess my parents just figured I would be a pirate captain."
- Psycho Sidekick - Lil' Rey.
- Secret Legacy - Reynaldo spent most of his life not knowing who his real dad (a professional assassin) was.
- Small Annoying Creature - The Pack Rat
- Snarky Non Human Sidekick - Lil' Rey
- Talking Animal - The Pack Rat
- Talking to Himself - Every single character (even the females) is played by Oneclipleft.
- The Dragon - Reynaldo himself in Season 2.
- The Fool - Lampshaded. After the ninjas fail to teach Reynaldo any new fighting techniques, they note that he is retarded--but that he can still beat them due to his incredable luck.
- The Imp - Lil' Rey
- The Obi-Wan - Reynaldo's dad, though he never actually dies.
- The Nothing After Death - And yes, this is played for laughs.
- Unless you die on the open sea, in which case you go to Davey Jones's Hand-Crafted Mahogany Cabinet built especially for Davey Jones by the Finest Craftsmen of the East. Davey Jones had style, laddie.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything - Actually averted with Reynaldo himself, who does indeed assassinate people. And the pirates, who really do plunder ships. The ninjas, however, don't do anything. They just "hang out and talk about movies and blay bingo. That kind of stuff."
- Vague Age - Reynaldo. He is going on a Hero's Journey, and is just leaving home for the first time in Episode 1, yet he's also bald and looks somewhat weathered.
- You Do NOT Want to Know
- You're Insane!