I first saw 8-Bit Theater on flashplayer.com, a site which is home to a bunch of goodies worth wasting an afternoon on. I check the site frequently enough to know the new releases when they come out. Most of the content is amusing and yet decidedly sub-par. This may seem really harsh given the difficulty of coding in flash and the fact that the site is all free content, but I can't help it. I was raised in this society of centralized entertainment with big budget movies and mass-produced novels. Now, no one can deny that there's something awesome about web media. It certainly isn't the production value of the flash movies. (True, some are quite impressive) It isn't the voice acting (none of which is impressive). So, what exactly is it?

          What really makes web media worthwhile is that you are in control. You can chose when you view it, how much you watch, exactly what series you want to see. You chose your favorite marginalized species of nerd and go to town sharing the in-jokes of your newfound brotherhood. And through all this, there's a feeling that nomatter how many other people have seen the same thing or how popular the site is, it's still like a joke shared among friends. You never feel like part of an audience or a marketable demographic. Web content doesn't really even have to be all that entertaining because it tsn't a product you're watching, it's somthing 'some guy' whipped up; and that's cool.

          Why am I going on like this? Well, my point is that the 8-Bit Theater flash movies were in some ways charming and appealing, and yet had the standard compliment of slightly-off comic timing that the web is so kind to bring us on a regualar basis. Also, the Voices themselves were at best stereotypical iterations of Fred Zelany's voice. (If you don't get it, don't bother.) But, in web comics, there are no voices, no problems with missing jokes because of the speed of the dialouge, no lack of comic timing since you read it at your own pace and if the timing is off, it's as much your fault as the author's. Everything good about 8-Bit Theater can be found distilled from its baser components in the webcomics. After seeing the flash version I thought it to be an interesting idea, a niche I'd like to explore more, but ultimatly as lame as Oedipus' foot. After seeing the 8-Bit Theater webcomics, I proceeded to read the entire series over the course of a few nights, digesting stab joke after stab joke and realising that I am, in fact, this plane of existance's Red Mage.

So, Check out 8-Bit Theater, and waste a little more time online. You know you should.

Included for your enjoyment is a gif I made using Animator9 and the South park Character Generator . This is an alphabetically oscillating of my take on my freinds. Enjoy or ignore, whatever, meh.