FunkySpaceAlien's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Failing Upward: Sick Day]

The strongest point of the show is the writing, which is good since this IS a character-focused show. It's a nice change of pace after most internet animation, I feel, needs to be over the top and have complicated lore. The normality of the premise helps break the mold in a weird way lol.

Characters like JC would've been really annoying with her overly sarcastic personality but I felt the voice actress and voice direction helped keep it grounded and believable. Cody pushing back on her witty remarks is also a good choice. It's clear that she's frustrated by her own insecurity and projecting some of it onto Cody, while Cody argued and challenged her mindset. It's an interesting dynamic of "nerdy boy" and "cool n' witty girl" trope that you'd normally see in these.

My only issue is in regard to the animation. I'm fine with the imagine spots being well-animated while everything else is more subdued. I don't think you'll be able to have a whole show like that, especially when you're working with crowdfunded money. I also enjoyed the contrast but even then, I feel the "real life" portions could've been done a bit better.

Characters like Sabrina looked very odd in this episode. The constant "side view" for her looks very off model and her throwing the laptop near the start looks kind of sloppy. I'm also not a fan of the whole body smear when characters are snapping to different poses, like Cody earlier on in the episode. I think it'd look better if you don't have that in there.

I'm criticizing that aspect because I did manage to find an old tumblr blog that had an animatic for this episode and I felt the final animation didn't do it justice. It's much more noticeably pulled back (especially in terms of expressions) and I felt shortcuts were taken that made it not look as good.

I feel bad ragging on that aspect because (as far as I know?) only one person does the animation for the real-life portion. I don't want them to think they're doing a bad job because honestly, I do think there were parts that were good. The opening with JC was very well done and consistent. The phone conversations were decently done as well. I wish that quality was kept throughout the episode pretty much.

But yea, that's the only real negative point. I think the team is doing a good job with the show so far and I can't wait for the Halloween episode!

WaeBakStudios responds:

Thank you for the detailed feedback!

Having a character driven show in this day and age is kind of rare, I agree, which is what we're hoping draws people into watching. It's a very competitive scene out there, but we do hope providing some variety helps.

As far as the writing goes, I think the key is just giving both characters agency. They're not afraid to call each other out on each other's shortcomings which give them a good dynamic. A lot of shows would put JC completely in the right, which yes, would be obnoxious because no one likes an angsty know-it-all who's proven to be right every time. It's a tired trope. That being said, it's also important that Cody be reprimanded a bit for his habits, which JC does have a point on. She does subtly push him to do more with his knowledge, which is helpful, he just needs to realize that.

As for the animation, this episode was a bit of a transitional episode, as we now have two animators for the real life scenes. We'll definitely take the feedback into the upcoming episodes and see if there's anything we can do to patch up any rough spots. Whatever it is, it'll get smoothed out as we go along. The next episode is going to be a fun experiment as animating duties were more or less split down the middle, mashing up styles. I'll be interested to see what you think.

Halloween episode will most likely be pushed back to November, but it's still fall so we'll say it counts!

[NECRO-NANCY 64: Haunted VHS]

"This reminds me of Sr Pelo" I say as I poop in my diaper for the 18th time today and fail to understand that everyone else can make a spooky-themed cartoon

Anyway, I say this was well done! The drawn expressions on the characters look fantastic and I especially enjoy how Renwick was animated despite the limitation the character design provides.

I'm pretty cool with the voice acting, I think it helps add more of a "nostalgic" favor in a different way than what you would expect. A bunch of my favorite web cartoons from my childhood does a similar thing where it was just the animator and one of their friends doing the voices, lol.

The only criticism I have is that I think Nancy's acting needs some work. I understand that part of her character is that she sounds "bland" but it comes off as you more reading the script than acting at various points, if that makes sense. Her scene at around 0:43 through 0:48 showcases my issue pretty well. I felt like you were holding yourself back a bit too much there.

However, I can't wait to see more! It's impressive how quickly you picked up 3D animation and manage to make something very unique.

[BEHOLDER]

I'm proud that you got this finished! We haven't talked in a while, but I've been seeing you post bits and pieces in here. It's awesome to see you doing something much more experimental.

I like the plot twist a lot. When you showcased the character, I thought it was for something unrelated? It was a nice surprise to see them making an appearance. Makes me think about their purpose and what's the implications of such things.

Keep up the great work, man!

MS360 responds:

Funky!!!! Thank u so much!!! I hope you’re doing great too!!

[The Guy who owns Sonic Jam - Scott the Woz Animation]

This was nicely animated! My only criticism is that I think there's too much empty space, but I assume this is more of a casual project than something serious.

Nice job overall!

[Pranked.]

Okay this isn't much of a review but I honestly watch this animation every single day because the style is so well emulated yet it's animated over a video of a kid calling poor ass walmart employees and cussing them out

Fucking incredible

[Loose Ends: The Screaming Service]

This was very cute! I didn't laugh out loud at many of the jokes, partially due to me having a different sense of humor, but this was charming enough that I had a nice smile throughout.

This cartoon felt pretty nostalgic to me? Like, it give me similar vibes to older flash animations where it was more for all ages, compare to now where most of the big hits on newgrounds is aimed toward teenagers and adults. Not saying this is a bad thing, mind you, but I appreciate the change of pace your work had bring.

Everyone mentioned this, but my only real criticism is the animation. I would notice the animators different styles in each scenes, how some characters would be wickedly off model and how some of the cartoon "stylings" would be missing, like the drop shadows the characters cast on the background. But also I understand that this was mostly made by one person with possibly a limited budget.

For what is presented, I think you did a good job! Animation is hard work and always a challenge, so I can't wait to see how much you'll improve your stuff on future projects! Keep up the great work.