HEAR THE ROD

W[B]S is a show that many of you have already heard about. It came out less than a day ago as of the time of writing, yet it has still reached the 10k view mark in that time. 

It took less than 40 seconds and I knew what I wanted to write. This show fits a thematic mold that has largely seeped its way throughout this community. People may call it 'Animatic Battle inspired' and that is a damn good way of describing it. 

The show follows AB's style of humor, which I would describe as loud, repetitive and quick yet remarkably slow. It's a sort of humor that largely fits within our current paradigm: fast-paced, full of Tik-Tok trends and people that get easily distracted when they aren't stimulated for 59 seconds. You barely have time to think about the next funny scene because the next joke is in 20 seconds, it's overbearing. People talk about 'brain rot' a lot. I personally dislike that term, as it implies it is not fixable, which I believe it is. However, this show and others like it, fit that mold.

The show is not all bad of course. The animation is solid, well done work by James T., Matsnat64 among many others. The voice direction is really the main spotlight. Every actor feels incredibly natural in their roles. Matsnat's role of Knife was the main thing I can highlight. He really put his all on that one, nice work! But the thing is, if you don't have a good base on top of that, the whole thing collapses.

The thing is, when I talk W[B]S's humor, I am basically talking about the whole show. It is basically all humor. I'm not saying a show can't have humor, I'm just saying in regard to W[B]S and shows like it, there is a major oversaturation of humor.

These kinds of shows (AB, A is for, W[B]S) have the same mold. Large cast, maniacal host, humor focus. This is not a bad thing. There is room for these kinds of shows for those who enjoy them. But when there are too many of them, they just turn into fodder. I don't want geniunely good writers (which I believe these people are) to be set back by these kind of shows.

I just know the response to this. 'Let people have fun.' 'Why are you miserable?' all of this, all of that. Am I the fun police for wanting something more than the same show in a circle again and again? I know there is more out there, but these are the shows getting the most attention. Animatic Battle 2 is now the most watched non-BFDI object show episode of all time. That surprises me yet doesn't. Feels suprising because of how Inanimate Insanity has had that spot for so long, yet not becuase this the way the community is heading.

A few weeks ago, the creator of Shape Battle, Pearce Faucher returned to Youtube with a video titled 'Is Shape Battle returning?' In this he announced that Shape Battle would be returning but as a non-competition drama series. That feels like a breath of fresh air, I am truly enticed by where that leads. We need more of that.

I feel like, in my optimistic self, the community will be heading towards more non-competition shows. I would love to see GreenyGuy or Dalukes or some other creator make a non-competition show. It would not only do well, but show it's potential and even show off their own skills. I'm not expecting every show on earth to be like ONE or something like that, I don't think ONE could ever be repeated, definitely writing another piece on that show. Stay tuned ;) But anyway, I just feel like this community will eventually start making more, and better non-competition shows. This would be incredible to see.

With best regards,

Padraig.