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Web Animation / Epic Pixel Battle

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/epb_logo.png

EPIC PIXEL BATTLE! TROPE-TAN! VERSUS! WIKIPE-TAN! GO!

Epic Pixel Battle, or EPB for short, is a French video series created by 123Lunatic, in which various fictional characters face each other in rap battle form.

The series format is heavily and openly inspired by Epic Rap Battles of History, although there are two major differences that help distinguish it from it. Firstly, EPB only features characters of fiction, be it from comic books, anime, video games, or any other medium. Secondly, the characters are not played by real actors, but rather represented by animated images; said images were initially official artworks, before drawings made specifically for the series started to be used from the second season onward.

The series was originally hosted on the VoxMakers channel, before moving to a separate channel when 123Lunatic left the team in November 2016. This led to the creation of EXtreme Pixel Battle, which acted as a replacement series. Currently, the core EPB team is comprised of 123Lunatic (writing, directing, singing), Stan Dusk (composing), Sumashu (mixing and singing), and Sainte Séïa (singing and drawing), with other contributors coming and going depending on the episodes. Former core member MadStalker (singing and coloring) left the team in October 2022 to focus on her carreer as a voice actor.

The official EPB channel can be found here, with most of its videos having been subtitled in English by fans. It also hosts a sister series, Dans Ton Clash, which details the creative process and explains the lyrics' references for every battle.

    List of episodes 

Epic Pixel Battle provides examples of:

  • Ascended Meme: One of the lines in "Yandere-Chan VS Monika" states that had the team listened to popular demand, they would've replaced Monika with Sans, referencing the "Yandere-Chan VS Sans" battle that was requested so often by viewers that it became a running joke among fans.
  • April Fools' Day: For the April 1st 2019, the creative team made a special episode featuring two absurd characters, pitting The moon from Majora's Mask against the sun from Series/Teletubbies. On top of that, the members of the creative team switched their roles while making the episode.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: During "Yandere-Chan VS Monika", Monika addresses the viewer, expressing disbelief at the fact that they enjoy Epic Pixel Battle despite how crude and vulgar it is, and stating that they deserve better; she also asks them if they paused the video just to admire her as a Freeze-Frame Bonus. Right before doing so, she goes as far as to interrupt the battle by deleting Ayano herself, before taking on the members of the EPB team themselves.
  • Catchphrase:
    • "EPIC PIXEL BATTLE! [CHARACTER #1]! VERSUS! [CHARACTER #2]! GO!"
    • "WHO DESERVES VICTORY? WHO WILL BE NEXT? YOU HAVE THE POWER!"
  • Christmas Episode: "Elsa VS Jack Frost" is a Christmas special EPB, even featuring Santa Claus as a third contestant.
  • Color-Coded Characters: In the season three finale, each member of the EPB team is associated with a color through their clothes and outlines. Lunatic is associated with purple, Sainte-Seia with orange, MadStalker with green, Stan-dusk with blue and Sumashu with yellow.
  • Creepy Monotone: The Female Wii Fit Trainer has very little emotion in her voice, which makes some of her lines ("Your patients are going to die.") sound especially eerie.
  • Darker and Edgier: Most characters that are originally nice are more rude and arrogant than their canon counterpart. Dora take the cake as she went from the protagonist of a cartoon aimed at very young children to a bratty little girl giving crude insults to Lara Croft.
  • Enemy Mine: Kirby and Jigglypuff end up uniting against Pac-Man after he interrupts their battle.
  • Evil Versus Evil:
    • "Bowser VS Ganondorf" pits the two most iconic Nintendo villains against each other.
    • "Mewtwo VS Frieza" opposes two villains from popular Japanese franchises.
    • "GLaDOS VS XANA" is a duel between two murder-prone, misanthropic AIs.
    • "Dio Brando VS Dracula" opposes two evil vampires.
    • "Team Rocket VS The Daltons" is a battle between two groups of criminals.
  • The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: In "Yandere-Chan VS Monika", Monika interrupts the battle by deleting Ayano, and then spends the rest of the video rapping against the members of the Epic Pixel Battle team instead.
  • Flipping the Bird:
    • Bayonetta does this a few times with both middle fingers during her battle against Mettaton.
    • The Wii Fit Trainer sneaks in some subtle ones when she's in her lotus pose.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: Monika deleting Ayano in "Yander-Chan VS Monika" causes the subtitles to get distorted, making the messages "Just EPB" and "Oh! Did you press pause to admire me? :)" appear on screen for a split second each.
  • Gratuitous Japanese:
    • Zoro uses a few Japanese words during his rap, namely "nani" ("what") and "nakama"("best friend").
    • All Might says that Koro Sensei is "already dead in our kokoros." Kokoros means hearts.
  • Hack Your Enemy: In "GLaDOS VS XANA", XANA takes control of GLaDOS' body by hacking into it. Doing so actually allows it to participate in the battle, as it has no physical form or voice of its own to speak of.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In "Mettaton VS Bayonetta", Bayonetta mentions how "it's Sans that the viewers wanted to see", acknowledging the very numerous comments asking for Sans to be featured in an EPB.
  • Little Miss Badass: If you expected Dora the Explorer to be a mostly harmless opponent, think again. During her clash against Lara, she's scornful, full of herself, and arguably delivers some of the most brutal lines of the battle.
    Dora: Look at me I'm an angel... of darkness! Your resume has as many slips and squares as a board of chess! When you got my age in boarding school you were transferred.
    Boots: Hey Dora, why is she mad?
    Dora: Because her parents didn't love her!
  • Mind-Control Eyes: XANA's symbol appears in GLaDOS' eye as it takes control of her, the same way it appeared in the eyes of xanafied people in the original show.
  • Motor Mouth:
    • Both contestants in "Sonic VS Rainbow Dash" are singing their lines really fast, which makes sense considering that those two characters are known for their speed.
    • Mewtwo speaks rather fast in some moments.
  • NOT!: In "Rayman VS Crash Bandicoot", Crash states that he "can't wait for Rayman 4... not!".
  • Precision F-Strike: There is a surprisingly small amount of cursing in the series, giving the few occurrences of it even more impact :
    • "Rayman VS Crash Bandicoot":
      Crash: You fly around with helicopter hair? You got no merit. You're just frustrated you can't do the helicopter d***!
    • "Ash VS Yugi":
      Yami Yugi: That's just a dog, and that's just a duck! Not just a lame duck, you're also a poaching fuck!
    • "Yandere-Chan VS Monika":
      123Lunatic: "Monique" is a real name, "Monika" is a slut!
  • The Remake:
    • "Mario VS Mickey" and "Kirby VS Jigglypuff" were both remade after the first season, with better singing and editing. The new "Kirby VS Jigglypuff" is part of the Season 3 playlist, whereas the new "Mario VS Mickey" has effectively replaced the older version.
    • "The Elite Four" is a remastered version of one of the installments of 123Lunatic's previous rap battle series, Epic Pokémon Battle.
  • Ret-Gone: The Visitor from the Future threatens to erase Godefroy de Montmirail from history by "paying a visit to his mother".
  • Suddenly Shouting:
    • L start calm but shout for most of his last verse.
    • Saitaman goes from bored and stoic to angry and shouting at several points during "Saitama VS Superman".
      Saitama: You wanna protect the planet? Just go back on yours! You're not human, but people like you, I CAN NAME HUNDREDS!
  • Samus Is a Girl: Mega Man only finds out that Samus is a woman when she removes her armor for her second verse.
  • Santa Claus: Santa makes a surprise appearance at the end of "Jack Frost VS Elsa", to scold both contestants and put them in their place.
  • Sarcastic Clapping: During her battle against XANA, GLaDOS does the same sarcastic clap that she did in Portal 2.
  • Shout-Out: Has its own page.
  • Title Scream: "EPIC PIXEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEL BATTLE!"
  • Translation Train Wreck: Lunatic translated every single line from "Mario VS Mickey" many times through Google Translate, and the results are... absolutely hilarious.
  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: Some of Godefroy and Jacquouille lines in "The Visitor from the Future VS The Visitors" reek of this, due to them coming from medieval times. Just like in the Les Visiteurs movies, it's far from historically accurate.
    Godefroy: I openedeth my ears so as to listen to thy words. Do you make sense of this dialect Jacquouille?
    Jacquouille: Yes sire, but it stinketh!
  • Your Mom: The Visitor, to Godefroy:
    The Visitor: By visiting your mom I can cancel your existence. [...] Chill out, I'm just ruffling your feathers. I mean going by your mug, there's no way I'm touching her!

WHO DESERVES VICTORY? WHO WILL BE NEXT? YOU HAVE THE POWER!

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