FLASHBack - A weekly chronicle of the classics of Flash Animation
December 12, 2019 9:45 AM Subscribe
FLASHBack - A weekly chronicle of the classics of Flash Animation
Started in mid-December of 2018, FLASHBack is intended as a two year long collection of weekly blog post essays in no-particular order, each covering one or more Flash Animations from the early web, celebrating the variety and the insanity of the genre, before Adobe relegates Flash to the End-of-Life bin at the end of 2020. By the end of it, it'll be sort of my "Top 100+" list. Often includes non-Flash bonus trivia.
The posts are in the style of Metafilter, but because I'm often going by my own memory supplemented with a bit of research, it felt like this was "Get your own blog" territory. That, and the fact that it's weekly posts on a niche topic, as well as the fact that recently, I've taken to converting some older flashes to video when I can't find an existing video source for them, and hosting them on my own, I didn't think I could get away with posting them here myself.
As of me posting this to MeFi Projects, I've currently got the first 52 weeks completed. I reserve the first week of each month for something I call "First Class FLASHBack" where I highlight especially prolific artists who in my opinion had a strong influence on the genre as a whole. The artists and Flashes I've covered under First Class include:
Jonti Picking, aka Mr. Weebl
Weebl & Bob: Pie
Badger Badger Badger (with nearly all the spin-offs and adaptations, including Save the Badger Badger Badger w/ Brian May & BRIAN BLESSED)
Choccy
Weebl's "Goovies" for Cadbury Chocolate from 2008-2011
On The Moon
Scampi
Bonjur
Business Cat
Savlonic (All music videos)
Weebl & Bob: Halloween
Cat Face: A Facey Halloween
Helloween: Cat Face Halloween Special
Amazing Horse (including the Jazz cover and the extended version)
Amazing Hearse
Weird Al Yankovic
(Ok, this is blatant loophole abuse. Al's never publicly released a Flash animation that he's made himself, as far as I know. However, his songs have been the soundtracks to several Flashes, and he's turned around and embraced the Flash Animation community by commissioning animators to make his official music videos. That's why I count him as a prolific artist who shaped the genre.)
LOST Rhapsody & LOST Rhapsody 2: Electric Boogaloo -- by Robert Montjoy
Official videos:
I'll Sue You
Virus Alert
Close But No Cigar
Do I Creep You Out?
Trapped In The Drive-Thru
Skipper Dan
CNR
Ringtone
Whatever You Like
Party in the CIA
Another Tattoo
If That Isn't Love
Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me
Homestar Runner
Marshmallow's Last Stand
Strong Bad Email #58 - Dragon (Trogdor)
Happy Fireworks!
Date Nite
Strong Bad is in Jail
4 Branches
The house that gave sucky treats
Strong Bad Email #9 - fhqwhgads
Everybody To The Limit
Strong Bad Email #46 - Your Friends
Strong Bad Email #76 - Sibbie
Strong Bad Email #163 - What I Want
Joseph Blanchette, aka Legendary Frog
Kerrigan and the Frog
FF Tribute - Chocobo Mix (aka Chocobo Robo Voice)
FF7: About Random Battles (Including all the hidden Easter Eggs)
One Ring to Rule Them All (Including the Special Edition Remake, all the sequels, and the creator commentary tracks)
The Matrix Has You & The Matrix Still Has You
In addition to First Class FLASHBack at the beginning of the month, I set aside the third Thursday of the month for what I call "Mid-Month Madness" where I'm slowly working my way through the Madness Combat series by Matt Jolly aka "Krinkels", episode by episode. I've covered from the first Madness Combat up through Madness Combat 7.5 in numerical order, and back in October, I took time out from the main canon to cover some of the side episodes like Project I.V., 30 Seconds of Rock, and Tricky Madness 2.
On the other Thursdays, I've covered quite the mix of other Flash animations:
떳다 그녀!! There She Is!! -- by SamBakZa
Llama Song (Llama Llama Duck) -- by Burton Earney
The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny -- by Neil Cicierega aka Lemon Demon
Internet Killed the Video Star -- a Flash commissioned by Macromedia themselves.
Dot Dot Dot (A Dramatic Reading of a Newgrounds Review) -- by Ricepirate and D-Mac-Double
The Napster BAD! series -- by Camp Chaos
Less Than Three -- by James Franzen and Kid Whatever
Kitty Cat Dance -- by Steve Ibsen
Fight! Kikkoman! -- by Yogatori
Godzilla Versus Disco Lando -- by Evan Mather
Special 10th anniversary 4/13 Homestuck retrospective
Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me -- by Bernard Derriman and TISM
All Your Base -- by Bad_CRC and The Laziest Men On Mars
The Terrible Secret of Space -- by Jonathon Robinson and The Laziest Men On Mars, with lyrics inspired by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka
Joe Cartoon
Foamy the Squirrel (Neurotically Yours)
Happy Tree Friends
Peanut Butter Jelly Time -- by Ryan Gancenia Etrata, Kevin Flynn, and The Buckwheat Boyz
How Tupac Was Murdered -- by Brian Beaton
Star Wars Gangsta Rap -- by Thomas Lee, Jason Brannon, and Chris Crawford
The Xiao Xiao series -- by Zhu Zhiqiang
Retarded Animal Babies
The Final Task -- by Randolf Dilamanta
Muffin Films -- by Amy Winfrey
Arfenhouse teh Movie, volumes 1-6
Red Riding Hood -- by Jerry Padilla aka "granfaloon"
Fear -- by Jerry Padilla aka "granfaloon"
Spooky Scary Skeletons -- by zekeyspaceylizard and RedMongoose
Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire -- by James Franzen, Justin Blenkle, and Fright Ranger
The Salad Fingers series -- By David Firth
The Real Legend of Zelda series -- by Jerry Padilla aka "granfaloon"
The Legend of Zelda (Link He Come to Town) -- by Josh Spaulding and Joe Pleiman
B -- by StrawberryClock
The ClockCrew's Humble Beginnings -- by RupeeClock
The Clock War -- by F U Clock
A Clock Thanksgiving & A Clock Thanksgiving 2 -- by RadishClock
Turkey Day Trauma -- By MelloYelloClock
Pass the Gravy -- A ClockCrew Collaboration
Super Delicious Turkey Taste Time Super Flash Extravaganza -- by ScrewdriverClock
The Portal (A Matrix Parody) -- by KoalaClock
Evolution of the Unicorn, The Last Unicorn, & Charlie the Unicorn 1-4 -- by Jason Steele
Started in mid-December of 2018, FLASHBack is intended as a two year long collection of weekly blog post essays in no-particular order, each covering one or more Flash Animations from the early web, celebrating the variety and the insanity of the genre, before Adobe relegates Flash to the End-of-Life bin at the end of 2020. By the end of it, it'll be sort of my "Top 100+" list. Often includes non-Flash bonus trivia.
The posts are in the style of Metafilter, but because I'm often going by my own memory supplemented with a bit of research, it felt like this was "Get your own blog" territory. That, and the fact that it's weekly posts on a niche topic, as well as the fact that recently, I've taken to converting some older flashes to video when I can't find an existing video source for them, and hosting them on my own, I didn't think I could get away with posting them here myself.
As of me posting this to MeFi Projects, I've currently got the first 52 weeks completed. I reserve the first week of each month for something I call "First Class FLASHBack" where I highlight especially prolific artists who in my opinion had a strong influence on the genre as a whole. The artists and Flashes I've covered under First Class include:
Jonti Picking, aka Mr. Weebl
Weebl & Bob: Pie
Badger Badger Badger (with nearly all the spin-offs and adaptations, including Save the Badger Badger Badger w/ Brian May & BRIAN BLESSED)
Choccy
Weebl's "Goovies" for Cadbury Chocolate from 2008-2011
On The Moon
Scampi
Bonjur
Business Cat
Savlonic (All music videos)
Weebl & Bob: Halloween
Cat Face: A Facey Halloween
Helloween: Cat Face Halloween Special
Amazing Horse (including the Jazz cover and the extended version)
Amazing Hearse
Weird Al Yankovic
(Ok, this is blatant loophole abuse. Al's never publicly released a Flash animation that he's made himself, as far as I know. However, his songs have been the soundtracks to several Flashes, and he's turned around and embraced the Flash Animation community by commissioning animators to make his official music videos. That's why I count him as a prolific artist who shaped the genre.)
LOST Rhapsody & LOST Rhapsody 2: Electric Boogaloo -- by Robert Montjoy
Official videos:
I'll Sue You
Virus Alert
Close But No Cigar
Do I Creep You Out?
Trapped In The Drive-Thru
Skipper Dan
CNR
Ringtone
Whatever You Like
Party in the CIA
Another Tattoo
If That Isn't Love
Stop Forwarding That Crap to Me
Homestar Runner
Marshmallow's Last Stand
Strong Bad Email #58 - Dragon (Trogdor)
Happy Fireworks!
Date Nite
Strong Bad is in Jail
4 Branches
The house that gave sucky treats
Strong Bad Email #9 - fhqwhgads
Everybody To The Limit
Strong Bad Email #46 - Your Friends
Strong Bad Email #76 - Sibbie
Strong Bad Email #163 - What I Want
Joseph Blanchette, aka Legendary Frog
Kerrigan and the Frog
FF Tribute - Chocobo Mix (aka Chocobo Robo Voice)
FF7: About Random Battles (Including all the hidden Easter Eggs)
One Ring to Rule Them All (Including the Special Edition Remake, all the sequels, and the creator commentary tracks)
The Matrix Has You & The Matrix Still Has You
In addition to First Class FLASHBack at the beginning of the month, I set aside the third Thursday of the month for what I call "Mid-Month Madness" where I'm slowly working my way through the Madness Combat series by Matt Jolly aka "Krinkels", episode by episode. I've covered from the first Madness Combat up through Madness Combat 7.5 in numerical order, and back in October, I took time out from the main canon to cover some of the side episodes like Project I.V., 30 Seconds of Rock, and Tricky Madness 2.
On the other Thursdays, I've covered quite the mix of other Flash animations:
떳다 그녀!! There She Is!! -- by SamBakZa
Llama Song (Llama Llama Duck) -- by Burton Earney
The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny -- by Neil Cicierega aka Lemon Demon
Internet Killed the Video Star -- a Flash commissioned by Macromedia themselves.
Dot Dot Dot (A Dramatic Reading of a Newgrounds Review) -- by Ricepirate and D-Mac-Double
The Napster BAD! series -- by Camp Chaos
Less Than Three -- by James Franzen and Kid Whatever
Kitty Cat Dance -- by Steve Ibsen
Fight! Kikkoman! -- by Yogatori
Godzilla Versus Disco Lando -- by Evan Mather
Special 10th anniversary 4/13 Homestuck retrospective
Everyone Else Has Had More Sex Than Me -- by Bernard Derriman and TISM
All Your Base -- by Bad_CRC and The Laziest Men On Mars
The Terrible Secret of Space -- by Jonathon Robinson and The Laziest Men On Mars, with lyrics inspired by Richard "Lowtax" Kyanka
Joe Cartoon
Foamy the Squirrel (Neurotically Yours)
Happy Tree Friends
Peanut Butter Jelly Time -- by Ryan Gancenia Etrata, Kevin Flynn, and The Buckwheat Boyz
How Tupac Was Murdered -- by Brian Beaton
Star Wars Gangsta Rap -- by Thomas Lee, Jason Brannon, and Chris Crawford
The Xiao Xiao series -- by Zhu Zhiqiang
Retarded Animal Babies
The Final Task -- by Randolf Dilamanta
Muffin Films -- by Amy Winfrey
Arfenhouse teh Movie, volumes 1-6
Red Riding Hood -- by Jerry Padilla aka "granfaloon"
Fear -- by Jerry Padilla aka "granfaloon"
Spooky Scary Skeletons -- by zekeyspaceylizard and RedMongoose
Oh Oh Oh Sexy Vampire -- by James Franzen, Justin Blenkle, and Fright Ranger
The Salad Fingers series -- By David Firth
The Real Legend of Zelda series -- by Jerry Padilla aka "granfaloon"
The Legend of Zelda (Link He Come to Town) -- by Josh Spaulding and Joe Pleiman
B -- by StrawberryClock
The ClockCrew's Humble Beginnings -- by RupeeClock
The Clock War -- by F U Clock
A Clock Thanksgiving & A Clock Thanksgiving 2 -- by RadishClock
Turkey Day Trauma -- By MelloYelloClock
Pass the Gravy -- A ClockCrew Collaboration
Super Delicious Turkey Taste Time Super Flash Extravaganza -- by ScrewdriverClock
The Portal (A Matrix Parody) -- by KoalaClock
Evolution of the Unicorn, The Last Unicorn, & Charlie the Unicorn 1-4 -- by Jason Steele
Role: blogger/researcher
Cool project! One of the first flashes I remember was Veloso's Irrational Exuberance (based on Yatta).
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:28 AM on December 13, 2019
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 8:28 AM on December 13, 2019
Now I'm trying to remember the name of the interactive animated series with the alien professor in a swamp-like environment.
posted by larrybob at 10:26 AM on December 16, 2019
posted by larrybob at 10:26 AM on December 16, 2019
I feel like either The Lonely Astronaunt or Llamas with Hats might be worth taking a look at. The former is a very early (~2000) flash entrant into the long tradition of people flipping out about situations, and while slightly one note I recall enjoying it. The latter is dark and gets gruesome pretty fast but also is really fascinating to me, in particular how over time it seems like that darkness is an explicit reaction to the audience's expectations.
posted by tocts at 11:53 AM on December 16, 2019
posted by tocts at 11:53 AM on December 16, 2019
How did you cover Weebl and not include Kenya, Kenya, Kenya, Ken-yaaa?
Does Badger Badger Badger have Lions? It does not! Only in Kenya, we've got Lions.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:15 PM on December 17, 2019
Does Badger Badger Badger have Lions? It does not! Only in Kenya, we've got Lions.
posted by jacquilynne at 1:15 PM on December 17, 2019
A personal fave: Lobster Magnet. I know nothing about it other than my friends and I thought it was hilarious.
posted by that's candlepin at 10:59 AM on January 14, 2020
posted by that's candlepin at 10:59 AM on January 14, 2020
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posted by radwolf76 at 11:34 AM on December 12, 2019