8-Bit Theater

8-Bit Theater
8-Bit Theater
Three panels from a January 20, 2004 strip
Sample panels from January 20, 2004
Author(s) Brian Clevinger
Website http://www.nuklearpower.com/
Current status / schedule Completed
Launch date March 2, 2001
End date June 1, 2010
Genre(s) Sprite comic, Fantasy, Comedy, Parody

8-Bit Theater is a completed sprite comic created by Brian Clevinger, and published in 1,225 episodes from March 2, 2001 to June 1, 2010.[1] One of the most popular web comics,[2][3] it won the Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards for best fantasy comic in 2002.[4] In its feature on gaming webcomics, 1UP.com described 8-Bit Theater as the sprite comic "that took the style to its fullest expression and greatest popularity."[5] The comic is also part of the Create a Comic Project.

The plot of 8-Bit Theater is loosely based on that of the video game Final Fantasy, in which four adventurers, the Light Warriors, must save the world by defeating four powerful demons that represent the four elements, thus relighting four magical orbs tied to the same elements, and, finally, defeating the personification of evil, Chaos.[6] However, while many of the original plot points and characters are present, the way they come about is often radically different. The Light Warriors themselves tend to cause far more harm than good on their travels and mostly have to be blackmailed, bribed, or threatened into accepting quests.

The comic is also not a serious epic; the protagonists and many of the supporting characters are based on and a parody of exaggerated role-playing video game stereotypes[7] to the point where many characters are actually named after their character classes, and much of the humor displayed in 8-Bit Theater is derived from the ineptitude of characters[8] as well as from the interactions between four protagonists who are travelling together but don't actually like each other very much. The range of comedic devices 8-Bit Theater employs includes droll humor, running gags, word play, and slapstick, and another significant portion of the humor results from creating reader anticipation for dramatic moments which fail to come. Clevinger has stated that "[his] favorite comics are the ones where the joke is on the reader."[9]

8-Bit Theater was originally intended to parody a variety of classic 8-bit video games, like Metroid or River City Ransom.[10] The popularity of the Final Fantasy comic convinced Clevinger to abandon this idea, although 8-Bit Theater does contain occasional references to other video games as well as comic books, television shows and movies, such as thinly veiled superhero parodies Arachna-Dude and The Sulk.

Contents

Characters

Main article: Characters of 8-Bit Theater

Final Fantasy allowed players to pick their own four-person party from six character classes and name them individually. 8-Bit Theater features six characters that each represent one of the six classes; four of these characters make up the comic's protagonists, the Light Warriors.

The Light Warriors

The Light Warriors, riding blue Chocobos. From left to right: Red Mage, Thief, Black Mage and Fighter.
  • Black Mage — A wizard who is highly proficient in black magic and makes an active effort to be as evil as possible.
  • Fighter — A warrior who is extremely skilled in swordfighting, but also naïve and childlike.
  • Thief — Thief, also known as the Prince of Elfland, employs trickery and argumentation in his pursuit of money. His biggest motivation is greed.
  • Red Mage — Red Mage is versatile almost to the point of obsession and firmly believes that the world is a tabletop role-playing game. He is quite knowledgeable, but also somewhat delusional.

Other notable characters

  • White Mage - A priestess specializing in white (healing) magic. White Mage was assigned by her order to protect fate and to help the Light Warriors save the world. She discreetly follows the Light Warriors around the world for a lengthy portion of the comic to achieve this goal.[11]
  • Black Belt - A talented martial artist and travelling companion of White Mage. Black Belt had an extremely poor sense of direction, to the effect that the laws of physics and spacetime tended to rearrange themselves around him. He was killed by the Fiend Kary in the course of the series.
  • Sarda - An omnipotent wizard who forces the Light Warriors to retrieve the four elemental orbs. He claims to be "The Wizard Who Did It" and uses his powers in an immensely irresponsible and careless manner.
  • The Dark Warriors - A group of villains based on minor enemies from the game. They consist of Garland, Bikke the Pirate, Drizz'l the Dark Elf Prince, and Vilbert Von Vampire. They plot the downfall of the Light Warriors, but are depicted as even more inept than the Light Warriors themselves.
  • The Four Fiends - Powerful elemental beings that guard their respective elemental orbs. They are Lich, Kary, Ur, and Muffin. They were individually killed by the Light Warriors, and then, following their resurrection as a group, killed by Black Mage.

Plot

For a plot summary of the game the comic parodies, see Final Fantasy (video game)#Plot.

8-Bit Theater opens with an introductory sequence that explains how the Light Warriors initially meet and decide to form an adventuring party in the kingdom of Corneria, where King Steve's daughter, Princess Sara, is being held captive by the knight Garland in the nearby Temple of Fiends.[12] After her rescue, during which both the Light Warriors and Garland himself are shown as so incompetent that Sara has to orchestrate her kidnapping and rescue herself,[13] the king has a bridge built that connects Corneria to the main continent.[14]

Here the Light Warriors meet the witch Matoya, who blackmails them into recovering her stolen crystal.[15][16] In the port town of Pravoka the party defeats the pirate Bikke (accompanied by Garland)[17] and uses his ship to travel on to Elfland.[18] There, they discover the King has been poisoned, apparently by the same person who stole Matoya's crystal, and Thief is the prince of Elfland.[19] The Light Warriors retrieve the antidote and Matoya's crystal from the dark elf Drizz'l, who is shortly thereafter recruited by Garland and Bikke.[20] Upon his recovery, the Elf King sends the Light Warriors to save Elfland[21] by retrieving the Earth Orb from two undead beings, Vilbert von Vampire[22] and his father Lich, the Fiend of Earth. Vilbert survives the battle and is later recruited into Garland's Dark Warriors,[23] while Lich goes to hell. White Mage then sends the Light Warriors to meet Sarda the Sage,[24] an omnipotent wizard who takes the Earth orb and proceeds to draft the group into quests for the other three elemental orbs.[25][26]

The Fire Orb is held by Kary, the Fiend of Fire in Gurgu Volcano,[26] who kills Black Belt[27] before the group can defeat her and retrieve the orb.[28] A subsequent side quest to the Ice Cave[29] on Sarda's behalf, during which the Light Warriors encounter squid-like Doom Cultists,[30] is ultimately fruitless. A second side quest, however, involves the Light Warriors meeting the dragon god-king Bahamut, who sends them to the Castle of Ordeals to obtain a rat tail.[31] There, the Light Warriors each face their own internal demons: Sloth (Fighter),[32] Pride (Red Mage),[33] Greed (Thief)[34] and a doppelgänger of Black Mage, who is the only thing that can represent his evil.[35] The Light Warriors present the rat tail to Bahamut, only to find that it is an ingredient in a virility soup his girlfriend Matoya makes for him.[36] The party is rewarded with class upgrades: Red Mage becomes a Mime,[37] Fighter becomes a Knight,[38][39] Thief becomes a Ninja,[39] and Black Mage becomes a Blue Mage with some help from a Dark God.[40]

Returning to the task of retrieving the elemental orbs, the Light Warriors travel to the cities of Gaia and Onrac and use a submarine provided by Sarda to reach the Sea Shrine, where they meet the Doom Cultists a second time. After defeating them, they accidentally summon the third Fiend, Ur (known in the game as Kraken). The Light Warriors kill Ur, retrieve the Water Orb and travel on to Lefein in search of the Air Orb, where they meet Dragoon, the last Dragon Knight, and the evil dragon Muffin, the fourth Fiend, who guards the Orb of Air. During a battle in Muffin's Sky Castle she is killed by Dragoon. The Sky Castle itself explodes after Fighter and Black Mage take the Air Orb.

Upon presenting the final orb to Sarda, he dismissively orders the Light Warriors to return to the Temple of Fiends, where they find that the Dark Warriors have made the temple their base of operations. During the night, Drizz'l summons the Four Fiends from Hell and has them confront the Light Warriors. Black Mage, using evil energy he absorbed from his doppelgänger, kills the fiends, absorbs their evil energies as well and turns on the other Light Warriors. Sarda interrupts the fight and reveals his intent to destroy the Light Warriors himself.

Sarda explains himself to be the grown-up version of a child that suffered great harm as a result of the Light Warrior's actions around the world.[41][42][43][44] Young Sarda became so focused on revenge that he studied to be a great wizard and travelled back in time to the beginning of the universe to remake it without the Light Warriors; after discovering that changing the past was impossible even for him, he decides to settle for making the Light Warriors into the warriors of legend, for no other reason than to further humiliate them in defeat. Sarda absorbs the orbs' magic energy as well as Black Mage's evil energy and easily unmakes not only the Light Warriors' class changes, but also removes their original abilities. Sarda's power quickly becomes erratic and unstable, and Chaos, the King of Demons, takes the opportunity to possess Sarda's body and announce his plans to annihilate the universe.

However, before a final battle between the Light Warriors and Chaos can begin, he is destroyed off-panel by a group of four White Mages, a party combination that was dismissed in one of the earliest episodes as ineffectual for the game, and all credit for saving the world goes to a group of bystanders, the Dark Warriors. The Epilogue picks up three years later. White Mage visits Red Mage and Dragoon at a restaurant, where they have started up an extremely unsuccessful support group for sole survivors of ancient sects. Afterward, White Mage visits King Thief in Elfland, who has been trying to locate Black Mage and Fighter, in an effort to obtain more riches from their adventure. Black Mage and Fighter find themselves poor and out of work in a remote town, trying to make money by taking job postings in the town square. The epilogue ends with Fighter suggesting that they resume their search for the "Armor of Invincibility" that Fighter has been searching for since the beginning of the comic.[45]

Art

As a sprite comic, much of the art in 8-Bit Theater is sampled from video games, particularly Final Fantasy I and Final Fantasy III.[46][47] Some art is also obtained from public clip art sites and unspecified Google image search results. Original artwork is created by Lydia Tyree and Kevin Sigmund, who contribute hand drawn art and custom sprites respectively. The comic itself is assembled by Clevinger in Adobe Photoshop.

The Epilogue, however, was handdrawn by Matt Speroni, who is also drawing the artwork for Brian Clevinger's newer webcomic, How I Killed Your Master.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.nuklearpower.com/2010/06/01/ta-daaaa/
  2. ^ Rozakis, Chris (April 9, 2003). An In-Depth Look at the Business Viability of Webcomics. Princeton University. Archived from the original on February 23, 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20050223101410/http://www.princeton.edu/~rcgilles/charlesrozakisthesis.pdf. Retrieved 24 Dec 2009. "Breaking the stereotype that comics must be hand-drawn, [David] Anez inspired an explosion of webcomics using video games sprites, including one of the most popular and successful webcomics currently running, 8-bit Theater." 
  3. ^ Sjöberg, Lore (June 3, 2004). "You, Too, Can Be a Comics Whiz". Wired. http://www.wired.com/culture/lifestyle/news/2004/06/63691. Retrieved 24 December 2009. "Clevinger's comic, 8-bit Theater, uses sprites from the first Final Fantasy game for the Nintendo Entertainment System. In the more than three years since its debut, 8-bit Theater has grown to be the most popular sprite comic on the Web, and, according to Comixpedia, it's the third most popular Web comic in existence." 
  4. ^ "2002 Winners and Nominees". Web Cartoonists' Choice Awards. 2002. http://www.ccawards.com/2002.htm. Retrieved 24 December 2009. 
  5. ^ Maragos, Nick (2005-11-07). "Will Strip for Games". 1UP.com. p. 3. http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=2&cId=3145208. Retrieved 24 December 2009. 
  6. ^ Moore, Kyle E. (August 28, 2008). "8-bit theater". A Day in the Mind Of.... WordPress.com. http://adayinthemindof.wordpress.com/2008/08/28/8-bit-theater/. Retrieved 25 December 2009. 
  7. ^ Triune & Dialogue (September 24, 2001). "8-Bit Theater". Everything2. http://everything2.com/title/8-Bit+Theater. Retrieved 25 December 2009. 
  8. ^ El Santo (October 25, 2007). "#17: 8-Bit Theater". The Webcomic Overlook. http://webcomicoverlook.com/2007/10/25/the-webcomic-overlook-17-8-bit-theater/. Retrieved 25 December 2009. 
  9. ^ Clevinger, Brian (April 3, 2004). "Teaser!". http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/04/03/teaser/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  10. ^ Brian Clevinger (Kurosen). "What game should Brian spoof next?". Nuklear Power Forums. http://www.nuklearforums.com/showpost.php?p=303169&postcount=10. Retrieved 24 December 2009. 
  11. ^ Clevinger, Brian (August 9, 2002). "Episode 183: Look Who’s Back". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/08/09/episode-183-look-whos-back/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  12. ^ Clevinger, Brian (July 7, 2001). "Episode 052: Meanwhile…". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/07/07/episode-052-meanwhile/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  13. ^ Clevinger, Brian (September 19, 2001). "Episode 079: Garland Needs Some Help". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2001/09/19/episode-079-garland-needs-some-help/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  14. ^ Clevinger, Brian (June 19, 2002). "Episode 163: King Steve is Stupid". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/06/19/episode-163-king-steve-is-stupid/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  15. ^ Clevinger, Brian (July 22, 2002). "Episode 175: The Trap is Sprung". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/07/22/episode-175-the-trap-is-sprung/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  16. ^ Clevinger, Brian (July 24, 2002). "Episode 176: I’m Partial to Styx". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/07/24/episode-176-im-partial-to-styx/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  17. ^ Clevinger, Brian (November 23, 2002). "Episode 218: Foiled Again". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/11/23/episode-218-foiled-again/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  18. ^ Clevinger, Brian (December 12, 2002). "Episode 224: What’s Wrong Thief?". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2002/12/12/episode-224-whats-wrong-thief/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  19. ^ Clevinger, Brian (February 18, 2003). "Episode 250: Is That Plot Thickening I Smell?". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/02/18/episode-250-is-that-plot-thickening-i-smell/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  20. ^ Clevinger, Brian (May 24, 2003). "Episode 286: The Gang’s All Here". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/05/24/episode-286-the-gangs-all-here/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  21. ^ Clevinger, Brian (September 30, 2003). "Episode 336: Elves Love Talking". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/09/30/episode-336-elves-love-talking/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  22. ^ Clevinger, Brian (January 19, 2004). "Episode 371: She Runs a Tight Ship". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/01/10/episode-371-she-runs-a-tight-ship/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  23. ^ Clevinger, Brian (January 6, 2005). "Episode 499: Look Who’s Coming to Dinner". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/01/06/episode-499-look-whos-coming-to-dinner/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  24. ^ Clevinger, Brian (April 27, 2004). "Episode 413: Absurd". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/04/27/episode-413-absurd/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  25. ^ Clevinger, Brian (June 5, 2004). "Episode 425: He dood it.". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/06/05/episode-425-he-dood-it/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  26. ^ a b Clevinger, Brian (June 8, 2004). "Episode 426: Burnin’ Desire". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/06/08/episode-426-burnin-desire/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  27. ^ Clevinger, Brian (October 16, 2004). "Episode 471: First Attack". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/10/16/episode-471-first-attack/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  28. ^ Clevinger, Brian (November 2, 2004). "Episode 477: Third Attack". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/11/02/episode-477-third-attack/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  29. ^ Clevinger, Brian (December 23, 2004). "Episode 495: The Answer is Eight". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/12/23/episode-495-the-answer-is-eight/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  30. ^ Clevinger, Brian (March 8, 2005). "Episode 524: Facts Concerning the Cultists and Their Families". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/03/08/episode-524-facts-concerning-the-cultists-and-their-families/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  31. ^ Clevinger, Brian (July 5, 2005). "Episode 572: Items for nothing, quests for free.". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/07/05/episode-572-items-for-nothing-quests-for-free/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  32. ^ Clevinger, Brian (October 15, 2005). "Episode 612: Mind Over Matter". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/10/15/episode-612-mind-over-matter/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  33. ^ Clevinger, Brian (October 29, 2005). "Episode 618: Tough Love". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/10/29/episode-618-tough-love/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  34. ^ Clevinger, Brian (October 6, 2005). "Episode 608: Teleporting never screws anyone". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/10/06/episode-608-teleporting-never-screws-anyone/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  35. ^ Clevinger, Brian (October 18, 2005). "Episode 613: Mirror Master". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/10/18/episode-613-mirror-master/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  36. ^ Clevinger, Brian (December 15, 2005). "Episode 635: Secret Ingredient". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/12/15/episode-635-secret-ingredient/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  37. ^ Clevinger, Brian (January 14, 2006). "Episode 648: Task Mastery". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/01/14/episode-648-task-mastery/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  38. ^ Clevinger, Brian (January 1, 2006). "Episode 650: I See You.". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/01/19/episode-650-i-see-you/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  39. ^ a b Clevinger, Brian (January 21, 2006). "Episode 651: Thief Of Time". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/01/21/episode-651-thief-of-time/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  40. ^ Brian Clevinger (Kurosen). "When is BM going to have this OTHER class change". Nuklear Power Forums. http://www.nuklearforums.com/showthread.php?p=366407#post366407. Retrieved 2006-07-06. 
  41. ^ Clevinger, Brian (June 14, 2003). "Episode 295: Why Would He Write That". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/06/14/episode-295-why-would-he-write-that/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  42. ^ Clevinger, Brian (November 18, 2004). "Episode 483: Clue, Wayne's World, and Rashomon". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/11/18/episode-483-clue-waynes-world-and-rashomon/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  43. ^ Clevinger, Brian (April 23, 2005). "Episode 544: Taking Aim". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/04/23/episode-544-taking-aim/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  44. ^ Clevinger, Brian (April 26, 2005). "Episode 545: Pattern Recognition". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/04/26/episode-545-pattern-recognition/. Retrieved 2010-04-05. 
  45. ^ Clevinger, Brian (June 1, 2010). "Epilogue". 8-Bit Theater. http://www.nuklearpower.com/2010/06/01/the-epilogue/. Retrieved 2010-06-01. 
  46. ^ "8-bit Theatre". The Webcomic List. http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/p/17/8bit-theatre. Retrieved 25 December 2009. 
  47. ^ "8-bit Theater". WebcomicZ. http://www.webcomicz.com/webcomics/10/8-bit-theater.html. Retrieved 25 December 2009. 

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Characters of 8-Bit Theater — The events in the webcomic 8 Bit Theater center around four major characters the Light Warriors and a number of minor ones.The Light WarriorsBlack Mage, Fighter, Thief and Red Mage are the protagonists of the story, a dysfunctional group of… …   Wikipedia

  • List of 8-Bit Theater characters — The events in the webcomic 8 Bit Theater center around four major characters the Light Warriors and a number of minor ones. Many of the characters are based on characters from the original Final Fantasy, but are highly satirized and parodied,… …   Wikipedia

  • Light Warriors (8-Bit Theater) — Collectively known as the Warriors of Light (or simply the Light Warriors ), Black Mage, Fighter, Thief and Red Mage are the main characters of 8 Bit Theater. Their names and appearances are based on four classes from the first Final Fantasy game …   Wikipedia

  • Theater —    Religious spectacle had a central place at the Habsburg courts of the early modern era and in educational programs of monastic foundations, especially the Jesuits and Benedictines, throughout the monarchy’s lands. The central theme in all of… …   Historical dictionary of Austria

  • Digital Theater System — Infobox Company company name = Digital Theater System company company type = Public (nasdaq|DTSI) company slogan = We Bring Entertainment Alive! foundation = 1993 location = Agoura Hills, California, flag|USA key people = num employees = industry …   Wikipedia

  • Dream Theater — at High Voltage 2011 Dream Theater with new drummer Mike Mangini performing at the 2011 High Voltage Festival in Victoria Park, London. Background information …   Wikipedia

  • Mystery Science Theater 3000 — Also known as MST3K MST 3000 Format Comic science fiction Created by Joel Hodgson …   Wikipedia

  • Digital Theater System — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda DTS (Digital Theater System / Sound / Surround) es un sistema digital de codificación de sonido que permite la existencia de 6 canales independientes de audio en una sola señal comprimida. Además de usarse para el… …   Wikipedia Español

  • Awake (Dream Theater album) — Infobox Album | Name = Awake Type = studio Artist = Dream Theater Released = October 4 1994 Recorded = May – July 1994 One On One studios Devonshire studios Genre = Progressive metal Length = 75:00 Label = EastWest Producer = John Purdell and… …   Wikipedia

  • Iroquois Theater Fire — By the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) records, it is still, as of 2008, the worst single building fire in U.S. history with the most fatalities. The New York City Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire claimed 148, the Great Chicago Fire… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”