Toonstruck: Difference between revisions

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Content added Content deleted
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(4 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{work}}
{{work}}
[[File:toonstruck-21_8537.jpg|frame|Thank you, [[Roger Rabbit Effect]].]]
[[File:toonstruck-21_8537.jpg|frame|Thank you, [[Roger Rabbit Effect]].]]



{{quote|''"Ready for some speedy, convenient and only relatively disturbing hole travel?"''|'''Drew Blanc'''}}
{{quote|''"Ready for some speedy, convenient and only relatively disturbing hole travel?"''|'''Drew Blanc'''}}
Line 13: Line 12:
Thus Blanc has to pull an all-nighter to figure out what kind of bunny would go well with the titular character of FFBB show. While he's at it, he gazes up at one of his own designed characters, Flux Wildly, in a sketch he has on the wall, longing to actually use him instead of the rabbit he's gotten fed up with.
Thus Blanc has to pull an all-nighter to figure out what kind of bunny would go well with the titular character of FFBB show. While he's at it, he gazes up at one of his own designed characters, Flux Wildly, in a sketch he has on the wall, longing to actually use him instead of the rabbit he's gotten fed up with.


He nods off, suffering from author's block. He wakes to the sound of his TV turning on and displaying said show, only for it to turn into a void that sucks Blanc into the cartoon world! In it, he meets his very own character, Flux, and asks him for help to return to the human world. Flux takes Blanc to the king of Cutopia, who promises to help him go back, in exchange for gathering the materials for the Cutifier - a machine to counter the Malevolator that [[Big Bad|Count]] [[Meaningful Name|Nefarious]] has developed; a flying machine equipped with a raygun which has been used to transform the people and places of Cutopia into dark, twisted malevolence.
He nods off, suffering from author's block. He wakes to the sound of his TV turning on and displaying said show, only for it to turn into a void that sucks Blanc into the cartoon world! In it, he meets his very own character, Flux, and asks him for help to return to the human world. Flux takes Blanc to the king of Cutopia, who promises to help him go back, in exchange for gathering the materials for the Cutifier: a machine to counter the Malevolator that [[Big Bad|Count]] [[Meaningful Name|Nefarious]] has developed; a flying machine equipped with a raygun which has been used to transform the people and places of Cutopia into dark, twisted malevolence.


Thus begins the journey of Drew Blanc and Flux Wildly to find the pieces to make the Cutifier work and reverse what the evil Count Nefarious has done.
Thus begins the journey of Drew Blanc and Flux Wildly to find the pieces to make the Cutifier work and reverse what the evil Count Nefarious has done.
Line 21: Line 20:
It's [[Better Than It Sounds]], like most games when described like this...
It's [[Better Than It Sounds]], like most games when described like this...


There's a petition to make a sequel here: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/toonstrucktwo/sign/ And [[Word of God]] says the game may even see rerelease on current day consoles with the sequel materials bundled in it. Some of the unused materials from the game can be seen [http://akril15.com/sr/toon/toon.html here], and there's even a [http://toonstruck2.games4um.de Toonstruck 2 fanproject].
There was once a petition to make a sequel on a now-defunct petition site; it has since moved to a [https://www.facebook.com/groups/140186316013394/ Facebook group], where it has hung about for most of a decade now. In 2015 there was a re-release of the game on [https://www.gog.com/game/toonstruck GOG.com] with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Same with [https://store.steampowered.com/app/369830/Toonstruck/ Steam] Some of the unused materials from the game can be seen [http://akril15.com/sr/toon/toon.html here], and there's even a [http://toonstruck2.games4um.de ''Toonstruck 2'' fanproject].


{{tropelist}}
{{tropelist}}
* [[The Ahnold]]: Jim the Pitbull
* [[The Ahnold]]: Jim the Pitbull.
* [[Already Undone for You]]: Count Nefarious's castle
* [[Already Undone for You]]: Count Nefarious's castle
* [[Artificial Limbs]]: Count Nefarious' henchmen, Feedback, Goggles, and Lugnut, with the the loss of speech, sight and hearing respectively, have to use special gadgets to enable them to speak, see and hear.
* [[Artificial Limbs]]: Count Nefarious' henchmen Feedback, Goggles and Lugnut, with the the loss of speech, sight and hearing respectively, have to use special gadgets to enable them to speak, see and hear.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Drew Blanc, by the end of the game.
* [[Badass Normal]]: Drew Blanc, by the end of the game.
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: {{spoiler|Fluffy Fluffy/King Hugh}}
* [[Beware the Nice Ones]]: {{spoiler|Fluffy Fluffy/King Hugh}}.
* [[Bury Your Gays]]: Possibly for the Care-crow
* [[Bury Your Gays]]: Possibly for the Care-crow.
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: {{spoiler|Drew manages to defeat Nefarious and Fluffy Bun Bun and destroy the Cutifier and Malevolator before returning to the real world. But Flux contacts him (through a communicator he gave him at the last second) and informs him the two are still alive and they need Drew's help. The mutagen Nefarious shot into Drew finally kicks in turning him into a toon before he warps back to the toon world. End game.}}
* [[Cliff Hanger]]: {{spoiler|Drew manages to defeat Nefarious and Fluffy Bun Bun and destroy the Cutifier and Malevolator before returning to the real world. But Flux contacts him (through a communicator he gave him at the last second) and informs him the two are still alive, and they need Drew's help. The mutagen Nefarious shot into Drew finally kicks in turning him into a toon before he warps back to the toon world. End game}}.
* [[Cute Is Evil]]: {{spoiler|Fluffy-Fluffy Bun Bun. An ickle-wickle cutesy-wutesy megalomaniacal despot.}}
* [[Cute Is Evil]]: {{spoiler|Fluffy-Fluffy Bun Bun. An ickle-wickle cutesy-wutesy megalomaniacal despot}}.
* [[Cut Short]]: The second half of the game has never seen the light of day because they were banking on sales to justify its release.
* [[Cut Short]]: The second half of the game has never seen the light of day because they were banking on sales to justify its release.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Drew Blanc tends to be this.
* [[Deadpan Snarker]]: Drew Blanc tends to be this.
* [[Everything's Deader with Zombies]]: Sort of. Feedback, Goggles, and Lugnut were all brought back from the dead, but otherwise avert most of the actual tropes of zombiehood (shambling, brains, etc.). The only real evidence that something is off about them is that, aside from the gadgets which grant each one his respective missing sense, they're not proper toons, but just ambulatory construction guides that cartoonists and animators usually draw before they fill in the finished character. The implication, to an artist, is that a half-job is the best Nefarious could (or would) do on their resurrection - that, or they're just artist's concept sketches who were binned (read: killed off) before being fully realized into full-fledged characters.
* [[Everything's Deader with Zombies]]: Sort of. Feedback, Goggles and Lugnut were all brought back from the dead, but otherwise avert most of the actual tropes of zombiehood (shambling, brains, etc). The only real evidence that something is off about them is that, aside from the gadgets which grant each one his respective missing sense, they're not proper toons, but just ambulatory construction guides that cartoonists and animators usually draw before they fill in the finished character. The implication, to an artist, is that a half-job is the best Nefarious could (or would) do on their resurrection... that, or they're just artist's concept sketches who were binned (read: killed off) before being fully realized into full-fledged characters.
* [[Evil Plan]]: Take over the world and {{spoiler|Go to the human world and take it over as well!}}
* [[Evil Plan]]: Take over the world and {{spoiler|go to the human world and take it over as well}}!
* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: {{spoiler|Nefarious' initial plan to turn things evil with his machine, and Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun planning to turn everything cute (including those that weren't cute before, such as the inhabitants of Zanydu and the Malevolands) with her machine.}}
* [[Evil Versus Evil]]: {{spoiler|Nefarious' initial plan to turn things evil with his machine, and Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun planning to turn everything cute (including those that weren't cute before, such as the inhabitants of Zanydu and the Malevolands) with her machine}}.
* [[Expressive Mask]]: Flux's "eyes" are actually a pair of heavily stylized glasses; he doesn't appear to have proper eyes at all, but that doesn't seem to slow him down.
* [[Expressive Mask]]: Flux's "eyes" are actually a pair of heavily stylized glasses; he doesn't appear to have proper eyes at all, but that doesn't seem to slow him down.
* [[Eye Scream]]: Even if it's just a balloon animal...
* [[Eye Scream]]: Even if it's just a balloon animal...
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Depends on how you look at it, {{spoiler|the serum that Count Nefarious had Drew injected with, which slowly turns him into a toon}}.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: Depends on how you look at it, {{spoiler|the serum that Count Nefarious had Drew injected with, which slowly turns him into a toon}}.
* [[Foil]]: {{spoiler|During his pitch to his boss at the end of the game, Drew proposes that Flux be added to the cartoon as a co-star to Fluffy because they would act as foils to each other.}}
* [[Foil]]: {{spoiler|During his pitch to his boss at the end of the game, Drew proposes that Flux be added to the cartoon as a co-star to Fluffy because they would act as foils to each other}}.
* [[Foreshadowing]]: An example that was cut. Just before Drew is transported to Cutopia, Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait can be seen hanging on Drew's room's wall. One of the things that was cut from the game was getting to meet Vincent van Gogh.
* [[Foreshadowing]]: An example that was cut. Just before Drew is transported to Cutopia, Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait can be seen hanging on Drew's room's wall. One of the things that was cut from the game was getting to meet Vincent van Gogh.
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]:
* [[Fun with Acronyms]]:
{{quote|Robot Master: I am a Super Mega Ultra Genius!
{{quote|Robot Master: I am a Super Mega Ultra Genius!
Flux: That's SMUG for short, right? }}
Flux: That's SMUG for short, right?}}
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Lots.
* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: Lots.
* [[Hypno Fool]]: {{spoiler|Drew uses some reflective sunglasses to trick Ms. Fortune into hypnotizing herself as part of his escape from the Count's castle.}}
* [[Hypno Fool]]: {{spoiler|Drew uses some reflective sunglasses to trick Ms. Fortune into hypnotizing herself as part of his escape from the Count's castle}}.
* [[Hypnotic Eyes]]: Ms. Fortune.
* [[Hypnotic Eyes]]: Ms. Fortune.
* [[Kleptomaniac Hero]]: Considering that some things are actually stolen from others...
* [[Kleptomaniac Hero]]: Considering that some things are actually stolen from others...
Line 54: Line 53:
* [[Monster Clown]]: Considering it's hidden in a padded cell...
* [[Monster Clown]]: Considering it's hidden in a padded cell...
** The door to which also qualifies, for added fun. [[Dissimile|If by "fun" you mean horrifying abominations]].
** The door to which also qualifies, for added fun. [[Dissimile|If by "fun" you mean horrifying abominations]].
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Count Nefarious
* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: Count Nefarious.
* [[Nobody Poops]]: [[As You Know]] this toilet is used for our Zanydu sport of fishing. What else did you have in mind?
* [[Nobody Poops]]: [[As You Know]] this toilet is used for our Zanydu sport of fishing. What else did you have in mind?
** Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun claims to make cute poops that smell better than flowers.
** Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun claims to make cute poops that smell better than flowers.
* [[Portal Network]]: The black hole used for fast traveling, which also doubles as [[Another Dimension]]
* [[Portal Network]]: The black hole used for fast traveling, which also doubles as [[Another Dimension]].
* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: The Three Horrible Henchmen
* [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]]: The Three Horrible Henchmen.
* [[The Reveal]]: {{spoiler|In the middle of the game, its revealed Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun took over King Hugh's throne and disguised herself as the king so she can use the Cutifier to turn everything cute and cuddly as she sees fit}}.
* [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]]: Averted, since [[Fun with Acronyms|S.M.U.G.]] is quite robotic. Also, his appearance and personality appears to be inspired by the [[Doctor Who|Daleks]].
* [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]]: Averted, since [[Fun with Acronyms|S.M.U.G.]] is quite robotic. Also, his appearance and personality appears to be inspired by the [[Doctor Who|Daleks]].
* [[Roger Rabbit Effect]]: The cartoon characters are animated, of course, while protagonist Drew Blanc is created by filming Christopher Lloyd in live-action.
* [[Roger Rabbit Effect]]
* [[Saying Sound Effects Out Loud]]: "Groan!" "Heavy sigh."
* [[Saying Sound Effects Out Loud]]: "Groan!", "Heavy sigh".
* [[Sequel Hook]]: The final cut scene hints at this. Sadly the sales of the game were too disappointing to justify the sequel's development, even though the developers have stated they wish to make one.
* [[Sequel Hook]]: The final cut scene hints at this. Sadly, the sales of the game were too disappointing to justify the sequel's development, even though the developers have stated they wish to make one.
* [[Shout-Out]]: The game is very reminiscent of [[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]], made even funnier when you recall who [[Christopher Lloyd]] played in that classic film.
* [[Shout-Out]]: The game is very reminiscent of ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'', made even funnier when you recall who [[Christopher Lloyd]] played in that classic film.
** Cutopia's arcade has arcade cabinets called [[Mortal Kombat|Mortal Wombat]], [[Street Fighter|Sweetfighter]] and [[Pac-Man|Wacman]].
** Cutopia's arcade has arcade cabinets called [[Mortal Kombat|Mortal Wombat]], [[Street Fighter|Sweetfighter]] and [[Pac-Man|Wacman]].
* [[Solve the Soup Cans]]: The phone dialing sequence, for one.
* [[Solve the Soup Cans]]: The phone dialing sequence, for one.
* [[Take Over the World]]: The goal of Count Nefarious, SMUG the Robot Maker, {{spoiler|and Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun}}.
* [[Take Over the World]]: The goal of Count Nefarious, SMUG the Robot Maker {{spoiler|and Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun}}.
* [[Trapped in TV Land]]: Drew Blanc gets trapped inside the cartoon world as part of the game's story.
* [[The Reveal]]: {{spoiler|In the middle of the game, its revealed Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun took over King Hugh's throne and disguised herself as the king so she can use the Cutifier to turn everything cute and cuddly as she sees fit.}}
* [[Trapped in TV Land]]
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: The horse that used to be in the stable, after it is malevolized, disappears.
* [[What Happened to the Mouse?]]: The horse that used to be in the stable, after it is malevolized, disappears.
** The game actually lets you ask about its disappearance. While the response is merely [[Evil Laugh|a malicious cackle]], the answer becomes apparent once you ask yourself {{spoiler|[[wikipedia:Animal glue|where the glue comes from]]}}.
** The game actually lets you ask about its disappearance. While the response is merely [[Evil Laugh|a malicious cackle]], the answer becomes apparent once you ask yourself {{spoiler|[[wikipedia:Animal glue|where the glue comes from]]}}.
*** As a matter of fact, the presence of the machine ought to be a dead giveaway before you even need to bother asking. Not to mention the fact that the poor bugger was named "[[Meaningful Name|Elmer]]".
*** As a matter of fact, the presence of the machine ought to be a dead giveaway before you even need to bother asking. Not to mention the fact that the poor bugger was named "[[Meaningful Name|Elmer]]".
** Before the stable gets malevolized, right-clicking on the horse will [[Foreshadowing|lead Flux to describe him as]] {{spoiler|"a pot of glue waiting to happen".}}
** Before the stable gets malevolized, right-clicking on the horse will [[Foreshadowing|lead Flux to describe him as]] {{spoiler|"a pot of glue waiting to happen."}}.
** {{spoiler|While we don't actually meet King Hugh (or we probably did, hard to tell), Fluffy Bun Bun mentions that he was locked away. You never get around to rescuing him however.}}
** {{spoiler|While we don't actually meet King Hugh (or we probably did, hard to tell), Fluffy Bun Bun mentions that he was locked away. You never get around to rescuing him, however}}.
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Drew Blanc literally exclaims "Spiders! Why did it have to be spiders?" upon seeing a couple of them crawling on the wall.
* [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]: Drew Blanc literally exclaims "Spiders! Why did it have to be spiders?" upon seeing a couple of them crawling on the wall.


Line 79: Line 78:
[[Category:The Nineties]]
[[Category:The Nineties]]
[[Category:Adventure Game]]
[[Category:Adventure Game]]
[[Category:DOS]]
[[Category:Video Games of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Steam]]
[[Category:Steam]]
[[Category:GOG.com]]
[[Category:GOG.com]]

Latest revision as of 23:38, 4 September 2019

Thank you, Roger Rabbit Effect.
"Ready for some speedy, convenient and only relatively disturbing hole travel?"
Drew Blanc

Toonstruck...

Basically, Toonstruck is an Adventure point-and-click game developed by Burst Studios and published by Virgin Interactive in November 31st 1996, for MS-DOS. It uses FMV of Christopher Lloyd as Drew Blanc, as well as animated cartoons, making most of the game have a Roger Rabbit Effect.

The basic plot goes that character designer Drew Blanc has a meeting with his boss, who demands him to create more bunny characters for the 10th anniversary of the "Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun Show", since it needs something new and fresh to retain its audience, for the very next day.

Thus Blanc has to pull an all-nighter to figure out what kind of bunny would go well with the titular character of FFBB show. While he's at it, he gazes up at one of his own designed characters, Flux Wildly, in a sketch he has on the wall, longing to actually use him instead of the rabbit he's gotten fed up with.

He nods off, suffering from author's block. He wakes to the sound of his TV turning on and displaying said show, only for it to turn into a void that sucks Blanc into the cartoon world! In it, he meets his very own character, Flux, and asks him for help to return to the human world. Flux takes Blanc to the king of Cutopia, who promises to help him go back, in exchange for gathering the materials for the Cutifier: a machine to counter the Malevolator that Count Nefarious has developed; a flying machine equipped with a raygun which has been used to transform the people and places of Cutopia into dark, twisted malevolence.

Thus begins the journey of Drew Blanc and Flux Wildly to find the pieces to make the Cutifier work and reverse what the evil Count Nefarious has done.

Then things go crazier...

It's Better Than It Sounds, like most games when described like this...

There was once a petition to make a sequel on a now-defunct petition site; it has since moved to a Facebook group, where it has hung about for most of a decade now. In 2015 there was a re-release of the game on GOG.com with support for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Same with Steam Some of the unused materials from the game can be seen here, and there's even a Toonstruck 2 fanproject.

Tropes used in Toonstruck include:
  • The Ahnold: Jim the Pitbull.
  • Already Undone for You: Count Nefarious's castle
  • Artificial Limbs: Count Nefarious' henchmen Feedback, Goggles and Lugnut, with the the loss of speech, sight and hearing respectively, have to use special gadgets to enable them to speak, see and hear.
  • Badass Normal: Drew Blanc, by the end of the game.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Fluffy Fluffy/King Hugh.
  • Bury Your Gays: Possibly for the Care-crow.
  • Cliff Hanger: Drew manages to defeat Nefarious and Fluffy Bun Bun and destroy the Cutifier and Malevolator before returning to the real world. But Flux contacts him (through a communicator he gave him at the last second) and informs him the two are still alive, and they need Drew's help. The mutagen Nefarious shot into Drew finally kicks in turning him into a toon before he warps back to the toon world. End game.
  • Cute Is Evil: Fluffy-Fluffy Bun Bun. An ickle-wickle cutesy-wutesy megalomaniacal despot.
  • Cut Short: The second half of the game has never seen the light of day because they were banking on sales to justify its release.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Drew Blanc tends to be this.
  • Everything's Deader with Zombies: Sort of. Feedback, Goggles and Lugnut were all brought back from the dead, but otherwise avert most of the actual tropes of zombiehood (shambling, brains, etc). The only real evidence that something is off about them is that, aside from the gadgets which grant each one his respective missing sense, they're not proper toons, but just ambulatory construction guides that cartoonists and animators usually draw before they fill in the finished character. The implication, to an artist, is that a half-job is the best Nefarious could (or would) do on their resurrection... that, or they're just artist's concept sketches who were binned (read: killed off) before being fully realized into full-fledged characters.
  • Evil Plan: Take over the world and go to the human world and take it over as well!
  • Evil Versus Evil: Nefarious' initial plan to turn things evil with his machine, and Fluffy Fluffy Bun Bun planning to turn everything cute (including those that weren't cute before, such as the inhabitants of Zanydu and the Malevolands) with her machine.
  • Expressive Mask: Flux's "eyes" are actually a pair of heavily stylized glasses; he doesn't appear to have proper eyes at all, but that doesn't seem to slow him down.
  • Eye Scream: Even if it's just a balloon animal...
  • Fate Worse Than Death: Depends on how you look at it, the serum that Count Nefarious had Drew injected with, which slowly turns him into a toon.
  • Foil: During his pitch to his boss at the end of the game, Drew proposes that Flux be added to the cartoon as a co-star to Fluffy because they would act as foils to each other.
  • Foreshadowing: An example that was cut. Just before Drew is transported to Cutopia, Vincent van Gogh's self-portrait can be seen hanging on Drew's room's wall. One of the things that was cut from the game was getting to meet Vincent van Gogh.
  • Fun with Acronyms:

Robot Master: I am a Super Mega Ultra Genius!
Flux: That's SMUG for short, right?