AGI Studio 1 - Week 3 - Related Works

Related works I've viewed this week.

Harpy Gee (2018)

A Nickelodeon Animated Short based off of the comic by Brianne Drouhard. The short focuses on the titular character, Harpy Gee and her pet goblin-cat Pumpkin, who are relaxing in a forest when they are interrupted by a fight between a dragon and a giant slime-snail. Harpy Gee is able to forcefully end the fight and scare some sense into these two creatures.

When accessing the Nickelodeon Animated Shorts website it is the first short to be shown. The short has an art style suited for a teenage audience. It has a very magical setting, with the main character able to call upon magical weaponry, and with the world being full of game-like monsters. The short is focused on a girl leading character who is confident and capable of impressive combat feats. There’s a moral about sharing, with Harpy Gee breaking up a fight over a mushroom by giving up another mushroom she needed. The short comes in just under four minutes and is very simple and to the point with its plot. It introduces more characters at the end, setting up the possibility for more stories. As of yet there doesn’t appear to be any news about the short being extending into a series. 

The Summoning (2017)

From Frederator’s Go! Cartoons series made in conjunction with Sony Pictures Animation. The Summoning follows main character Claire as she seeks out some troll fat to finish off her summoning potion so that she can remove some scum from her life. The short’s creator is Elyse Castro, and it was directed by Natasha Allegri of Bee and PuppyCat fame. 

The short has a grotesque style with extra-detailed close up shots on faces and skin, characters getting angry with veins in eyes, and mentions of eating poop, troll fat, and dandruff. There is a shared comedy style with other Frederator works such as Bee and PuppyCat and Adventure Time, which can be expected given Natasha Allegri’s involvement. You have Claire struggling to hold it together, and screaming her way through life. As well as a nice comedic beat when clowns are summoned instead of a demon, with Claire referring to them as “These nerds.” The short also catches that sort of young-adult life Bee and PuppyCat had with the main character’s goal of 'summoning a demon to remove scum from her life' being the soap scum in her bathroom. This word play is a nice set up, and the supporting character interprets ‘scum’ and ‘do my dirty work’ as Claire wanting someone dead. The short shows a girl lead who is able harness magic and fight her way through monsters. To date the short has gained over five million views on YouTube.

Trick Moon (2020)

A Cartoon Network Studios animated short created by Geneva Hodgson. The short follows the siblings Trickshot and Pocket who are tasked with defending the Magic Moonstone after its previous guardian, their older brother, has become trapped inside it. During the short they must fight off a dragon and a magical thief and overcome their immaturity towards how important their task is. 

Trick Moon targets a younger audience than the previous two shorts I’ve looked at here. The art style has an iconic feel to it, with some real nice designs such as the way the older brother's head is drawn as a talking symbol on the moonstone. The short uses an instructive theme song to set up the worldbuilding and get right into the action. The world is a fantasy setting but the characters still feel relatable to a younger audience with the wish to just relax and play video games. I very much like the premise of having an older, more competent character that could easily defeat the villains but is currently removed from the action. The show sets up two villains, a real dark sinister evil and a cool antagonist sidekick. The main evil feels like something from a 90s animation, but they manage to cut any intense moments with quick gags. There is some excellent word play going on with Trickshot and Pocket using camouflage and then ‘correcting’ characters who say ‘of all the convoluted ideas’ or ‘all this clamouring on’ with ‘It’s pronounced camouflage!!’ The main duo’s relationship is really nice with Trickshot being a great archer and Pocket being a sneaky kleptomaniac. For my purposes though I find Trickshot's reluctance to take anything seriously a detriment to his character. The pacing is very quick, with the short going through two antagonists. There is also a moment where Trickshot instantly loses hope from his failures but then regains confidence and figures out a solution to the plot problem with the same beat. However, the solution to the problem does come from a clever callback to the begging of the short, which is nice. The short makes use of some wonderful visual gags that surely came form a strong storyboarding team. The worldbuilding sets up this idea that if the older brother and main evil were to ever face off it would be an epic fight, but for now we have to watch the less powerful sidekicks do their job. There is a cute moral scene at the end with Trickshot showing some weakness and blushing when receiving praise which is endearing.