And that’s just a gun Reznya brought on a job she wasn't getting paid for.
Shrapnel is an upcoming Stop Motion post-apocalyptic slice-of-life story by Moonshine Animations, taking place several thousand years after the world has ended, as the story follows the day to day lives of a variety of characters.So far, two miniseries set within the Shrapnel universe, KILL CONTRACT and A Side of Shrapnel, have episodes up on YouTube on Moonshine’s channel[1]
note , as well as OST’s for the series, and a figure review series hosted by various Shrapnel characters called Moonshine Reviews, with it’s own continuity.
Some of the Shrapnel cast pop up in short skits and parodies on his channel from time to time as well, but like the figure reviews, the videos are not canon to the main series proper.
The figures used for the stop-motion in the miniseries are a mix of original characters/custom figures, as well as figures & toys from various franchises, along with an internet meme or two, making for somewhat of a surreal viewing experience at times, seeing as it’s not everyday you see things like a group of Roblox characters hunting down the Ugandan Knuckles meme, or Minions sacrificing children to create a super powered Minion with blades for fingers.
The Shrapnel series and miniseries provide examples of the following tropes:
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- Alternate Continuity: The figure review series takes place in a version of the Shrapnel universe that breaks the fourth wall left, right, and center to look at and review figures and toys from a variety of different series/franchises.
- Always Night: A long time ago, the earth stopped spinning, leaving half the planet in permanent moonlight.
- Amazing Technicolor Wildlife: The Ugandan Knuckles are deformed echidna people with either red or blue fur, with the former colouration being more common than the latter.
- Arms Dealer: Pavel and Toki are arms dealers who sell guns and gun accessories out of their shops in Serafima and Candlesmoke respectively.
- Badass Cape: Reznya has a patterned serape that she wears when in the dust, directly inspired by Clint Eastwood’s outfit in the Dollars Trilogy. She lets Potato borrow it when they visit Candlesmoke.
- Bag of Holding: In the miniseries, Cecilia, who is roughly the size of an average adult woman, often rests inside a metal briefcase. How she manages to fit in there is anyone’s guess.
- Beast Folk: Some Fenri look like humanoid animals.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: As a result of Reznya being the first and only person to accept the Commandah’s desperate request to help him save his bruddahs, she gains not only his Undying Loyalty, but the Undying Loyalty of all the Ugandan Knuckles working under him as well.
- Big Damn Heroes: Right when it looks like Brynn and Goggles are done for, Reznya arrives on the scene and makes short work of their assailants. Unfortunately by that point, Goggles has already been mortally wounded.
- Bilingual Bonus: Potato and Pavel have a habit of slipping into Russian here and there when they talk.
- Bounty Hunter: If there is a "Wanted!" Poster with your face on it, you can expect a so-called "Hunter Killer" to be on the lookout for you.
- Bullying a Dragon: After the Ugandan knuckles are freed, one of them claims that Reznya, who their leader had been referring to as their/a queen, is no real queen to him, and starts spitting on and insulting her. He doesn’t live long.
- Callback: In KILL CONTRACT 2: Once Upon a Time in Uganda, the leader of the Ugandan Knuckles notes that Reznya should get a cellphone, and she quips back that he should buy her one then. Fast forward to Side of Shrapnel: THIS IS THE WAE, and the Ugandan Knuckles send one of their own on a mission to deliver her a cellphone they obtained for her.
- Comfort the Dying: As Goggles lies dying from his wounds, Reznya does her best to humor him by trying to sound excited about the cellphone he brought her.
- Cool Bike:
- Averted in the first episode of KILL CONTRACT, since the "- piece of shit." bike won’t even start.
- Played straight with Alouette’s white motorcycle.
- Cool Mask: Reznya wears a metal face plate that conceals her face.
- Combat Pragmatist: Besides her own weapons, Reznya will use anything and everything she can get her hands on to kill her enemies, be it using their own weapons against them, or crushing/impaling them with what’s left of any destroyed buildings nearby.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Downplayed with the Ugandan Knuckles because you have to stretch the definition of "badass" a bit, but they can be more capable than their goofy appearances suggest.
- Deadly Dust Storm: The bright side of the planet is covered with a constant dust storm that residents just refer to as the dust. It’s too heavy to see where the sun is, but generally light enough to let a decent amount of sunlight through.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: All things considered, Juka, the resident Eldritch Abomination of Serafima, seems genuinely nice if people aren’t threatening her or her friends. Characters who aren’t familiar with her that end up having (relatively) pleasant interactions are often at a bit of a loss for words, clearly relieved they are alive, but also wondering what the hell just happened. When Conan thanks her for giving him a book on flowers after asking if she has any, he sounds more confused than anything.
- Dimensional Traveller: Rifters are people who are able to travel to other dimensions with a piece of equipment called a "dimensional anchor", that can be used to open rifts for inter-dimensional travel.
- Edutainment Show: To help bring viewers up to speed on why some aspects of certain figures being reviewed are good or not, Moonshine Reviews will often explain the technical aspects of how the figures were made and how it affects the end product, as well as explaining the history and background for certain figures/toys as well.
- Endless Daytime: A long time ago, the earth stopped spinning, leaving half the planet in permanent sunlight.
- Endless Winter: The dark side of the planet is very cold, with deadly blizzards being a common occurrence. When snow isn’t actively falling, the place is freezing cold.
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- Fantastic Racism:
- The Ugandan Knuckles aren’t very well liked or respected by . . . most people. When Reznya first meets their leader, she says "Oh no, you’re one of those things", and when Goggles goes to a bar with human clientele to seek shelter from a snowstorm, the robot bartender tells him to get out, because "We don’t serve your kind here".
- Played with in the Fenri city of Candlesmoke, as they officially don’t allow humans in, and a fenri cult really seems to have it out for them, but some of the other locals seem to be more forgiving and level-headed when they hear there is a human child inside the city somewhere.
- Fearless Fool: The Ugandan Knuckles warrior pride gives them a sort of bravery that makes them kinda dumb at times, rushing off on their own and putting themselves in danger. Sometimes their assessment of the situation actually isn’t half bad, such as the Commandah doing recon without telling Reznya first, but only because he’s seen first hand how terrifyingly effective she is in combat and trusts that she will get to him in time if he calls for help. It also can lead to cases of them Bullying a Dragon with predictably bad results.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: Brynn has wrist-mounted flamethrowers.
- Friend to All Children: Reznya, a merciless hunter killer, has a soft spot for children. This also extends to teens & adults she knew from when they were kids.
- Gadgeteer Genius: When Alouette was younger, she figured out how to make a teleporter out of spare parts to help Brynn get back to his home dimension.
- Gaia's Lament: The story takes place several thousands of years after the apocalypse, with the world effectively split into two halves: Always Night with an Endless Winter on one side, and Endless Daytime with a constant Deadly Dust Storm that blocks out the sun to varying degrees on the other. Neither are ideal for plants to grow naturally, and something as simple as flowers are stated to be hard to find.
- Gorn: Deaths are never clean in the series.
- Groin Attack: A thug gets his privates pulverized by Reznya after making the mistake of attacking her when she tries to take his motorcycle.
- Half the Man He Used to Be: Reznya tears a Ugandan knuckles in two from head to toe, after he insults and spits on her after she helped to free him and the others.
- Hero Stole My Bike: Subverted, as Reznya tries to drive off with some guy’s bike to get on with her mission to kill the minions, but the dang thing is a piece of junk that won’t start.
- Idiot Ball: Bringing Potato, a human child, into a vehemently anti-human city where many of the residents have an outstanding sense of smell for what amounts to a field trip, and expecting that wearing a pair of fake cat ears is enough to blend in with the locals isn’t Reznya’s best idea. Somewhat Downplayed in that Reznya clearly meant for it to be a short trip and only lets Potato near people she knows she can trust, and that things only truly go wrong when she has a lapse in judgment and allows Potato to run off, with a gun, unsupervised. Jackal lampshades how none of the adults in the room (himself included) even try to stop her.Jackal: Uhh, not sure we should be letting her run off with a gun.
- Informed Attractiveness: The Commandah claims he is beautiful for his kind. The key part of that statement being for his kind.Toki: Fuuuck, if you’re good lookin’, I don’t wanna see the rest of ya!
- Informed Deformity: While the Ugandan Knuckles are a little goofier in design compared to most of the other characters, they are considered horribly ugly outside of their own kind.
- In-Series Nickname: When going to see Toki in Candlesmoke, Reznya refers to her as "the gun bunny" when the guards ask her what she is there for.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: Toki gets upset and is quick to remind Reznya that Bellicose has a name when the former refers to Toki’s bodyguard as "that thing".
- Last-Name Basis: Reznya’s full name is Liliya Reznya, but very few characters call her by her first name.
- Last Request: Goggles asks Reznya if she would grace him with her true face before he passes away. She complies.
- Little Bit Beastly: Some Fenri look like humans with animal ears, tails, etc.
- Long-Lived: The Fenri, a race of people that are Beast Men and people that are a Little Bit Beastly, can expect to have a lifespan of up to around 2,500 years old.
- Lost Common Knowledge: Thousands of years have passed since the end of the world, and only a few longer lived individuals like members of the Fenri know of the existence of the sun, as the weather is so consistently terrible that people either live in Endless Winter, or a Deadly Dust Storm.Potato: Where is light come from?Nutmeg: Waaay up there in the sky. There’s something called "the sun".Potato: Where?Nutmeg: You can’t really see it ‘cause of the dust, but it’s there. Some of the old songbirds told me about it.
- Mama Bear: Do not even try to hurt one of Reznya’s orphans.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Because the series uses a mix of original/custom figures and figures/toys from other franchises, the cast is quite the mish-mash of characters, including but not limited too: Living Weapon - Minionsnote , robloxians trying to take over "Uganda" from the Ugandan Knuckles to build a new server, Fluttershy as a mob boss(?), Lucario hanging out at a bar, etc.
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- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Reznya means massacre in Russian.
- Nerves of Steel: Fitting their claim to be brave warriors, the Ugandan Knuckles don’t show any fear when faced with terrible situations.
- The Commandah doesn’t show a hint of fear when he’s got a gun pressed to his head, or is outnumbered by his enemies.
- Goggles isn’t intimidated by a group of three people more than twice his size threatening to beat him up, or worse.
- The Nose Knows:
- The Commandah realizes he and Reznya are being spied on when he detects the scent of an enemy robloxian hiding nearby.
- Fenri have a very good sense of smell, and the Candlesmoke border patrol uses theirs to track down any humans hiding in their city.
- Odd Friendship: Juka has one with basically everyone she is on good terms with, seeing as she is a giant Eldritch Abomination who easily dwarfs everyone else, and could (and sometimes does) easily kill people, and could easily crush them to a bloody paste if she wanted to, and has no obligation to be as nice as she often is.
- Older Than They Look: Fenri can live to be anywhere from over 1,000 to 2,000 years old, but still look like a child by at least 443 years of age.
- Once per Episode: In the figure reviews hosted by Potato, part of the review will be her judging the figure on how well it can do a squat, to demonstrate how flexible (or not) it’s leg & foot joints are.
- Orphanage of Love: Reznya works at/runs/helps out an orphanage, and is very loving and motherly towards the children there.
- Please Spare Him, My Liege!: Played with when the Commandah worriedly asks Reznya to forgive one of his bruddahs for spitting on and insulting her while refusing to accept her as his queen, because she also refuses to accept the Commandah’s declaration that she is the Ugandan Knuckles new queen. Whatever the case, she ignores the Commandah’s plea.
- Practical Currency:
- Bullets are a valid and common form of currency, being quite valuable in a post-apocalyptic world where having enough ammunition to defend yourself with can mean life or death.
- Toki says that she accepts gold in exchange for guns and ammo. While not elaborated on, gold is a useful material for electrical components.
- Hydro (water) is another form of payment Toki says she accepts, and she lives in Candlesmoke, a city located in a dry, dusty wasteland.
- Retcon: The events of KILL CONTRACT: Minions were changed to to be non-canon sometime after the video was taken down.
- Running Gag: People noting that Reznya should really get a cellphone. Comes to a head in Side of Shrapnel: THIS IS THE WAE, where the entire plot revolves around a Ugandan Knuckles named Goggles trying to deliver one to her from him and his brothers as a thank-you gift for helping them earlier.
- Scarf of Asskicking: Reznya has a red scarf she wears every now and again.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: The Zeus Toys Shockwave talks with alot of big words that Potato doesn’t understand in the Decepticon’s figure review, and when she wants him to do a squat, he analyzes her as having -Shockwave: - a neurologically overwhelming emphasis on the ability of a figurine’s physical parameters that can or cannot allow it to preform this action.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: When Reznya is picking out guns at Pavel’s for her upcoming raid on the minions hideout, a sawed-off pump-action shotgun catches her eye. Pavel throws in a 50 round capacity drum mag for free to go with it.
- Skeletons in the Coat Closet: The Commandah wears a necklace made from the skulls of small animals.
- Super Spit: As shown by the Commandah finishing off a robloxian zombie, the Ugandan Knuckles can spit with enough force and precision to weaponize it to an extent. Or put out candles.
- Take That!: Fortnite figures tend to be maimed or killed horribly whenever they appear, with a review by Cecilia of Jazzwares' Meowscles including a rapid-fire montage of said deaths.
- Too Dumb to Live: After Reznya kills one of the Ugandan knuckles for spitting on and insulting her after she helped free them, she asks "Who’s next?", and one of them is stupid enough to start saying he will not follow her, and doesn’t live long either.Ugandan knuckles: No!Reznya: Oh for the love of god.Ugandan knuckles: I will never follow a bruddah -Reznya: Jesus Christ.
- Valentine's Day Episode: A Side of Shrapnel: Valentines Day. It’s the shortest episode by far clocking in at just under 3 minutes long, and so the official description, "Reznya gives a kid her 2 cents on love." sums it up pretty well.
- "Wanted!" Poster: Wanted posters can be seen in the background of various places. In the second episode of KILL CONTRACT, the plot gets kicked off in earnest when Reznya intervenes in a encounter between some roblox characters and a Ugandan knuckles, having been looking for the four robloxians after grabbing a copy of their wanted poster.
- Wolverine Claws: Cecilia is a human-like Robotic Psychopath that has blades instead of fingers.
