Not another SF vs MK flash...
VG Exiles is a sprite-based web series by R1665 on Newgrounds. It is a primarily action based series with a storyline based on the Marvel Exiles series.
R1665's Newgrounds account, can be seen here
. All five episodes are available there, and can be watched in order here.
Spoilers marked for Episode 3 onward.
This work contains examples of:
- Adaptational Villainy: as alternate universes tend to do - Ken, Gambit, The Acolytes; Johnny Cage, they have chosen different paths, leading to less than heroic results.
- All There in the Manual: It has an impressive storyline and to fully understand it you must read about the character backgrounds after the credits, or separate from the credits,
if you can find the original flash files. - Alternate Universe Reed Richards Is Awesome: also a case of Adaptational Heroism, M. Bison of 7695-890 uses his Psycho Power for good, developing it as an energy source used for his entire world.
- Anyone Can Die: Downplayed. We have a list of Exiles who have died before the events of the series, but the current crew (Talbain, Cage, Stryker, etc) are still alive. That said, anyone who isn’t an Exile, from a villain to a regular bystander, could end up dying horribly.
- Apocalypse How: The backstory to Episode 3 reveals Kurtis Stryker's dimension has suffered a Class X-4. Jill Valentine's is implied to be well on the way to a Class 3a at the very least.
- Back from the Dead: In the first episode it is revealed in the character background section that the version of Ken Masters shown within had been killed and resurrected after spending fifteen years in Hell.
- Badass Crew: The Exiles. In spades.
- The Acolytes are clearly a force to be reckoned with. They wiped out the entire previous incarnation of the Exiles, save Johnny Cage and Jon Talbain.
- Badass Finger Snap: Found in Episode 3 SHADOWLAWLESS when Nash reveals his suspicions that his C.O. is a Shadowlaw spy. Cue
Action Music as three, fully armored troops leap away from Nash, turn-off their stealth camouflage, and efficiently surround a shocked Jill Valentine, weapons hot.Nash: "...well I guess you ALSO didn't know...that the executive command codes that you used to take control of this mission...were among the compromised files." -SNAP- - Berserk Button: The value of life is immeasurable to Jon Talbain. The needle on his rage-o-meter hits critical with every life Remy Boudreaux blithely took during their one and only battle——to the point of Jon's blue fur turning a bright fiery red, exploding into a burst of glowing red energy swirls and accompanied by a bloodcurdling howl.
- Big Bad Ensemble: So far, Shang Tsung and M.Bison have both made appearances. It's fair to assume more will show up later.
- Big Bad: Johnny Cage, as it turns out, as he was the one who created the Acolytes, and likely orchestrated the events that led to the massacre of the Exiles
- Big Good: The Exiles in spades.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: The Exiles are the good guys——no doubt. But under Johnny's leadership, they are the heroes that aren't heroes. They police Multiverse through whatever means necessary. They never take prisoners, go to great lengths to ensure non-Exile individuals NEVER learn of the existence of Multiverse, and are forbidden from interfering with events that are fixed moments in time——like the utter destruction of Stryker's entire homeworld. And since Johnny Cage sees sentient life through crap-colored glasses, he has no remorse for his actions and those of his team. This almost always puts him at direct odds with the group. Nevertheless, even they have to admit, he kind of knows what he's doing. That——and the Acolytes have it coming.
- Bookends: Episode 0 starts with Johnny Cage in the Netherrealm, moments before being imprisoned by Shang Tsung via a spell. Episode 4 ends with Johnny Cage imprisoned by Jon Talbain via Cryomancy, minutes before it's revealed Johnny is on a satellite, orbiting a Dead Earth, itself orbiting a Black Hole.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Stryker finishes M.Bison.
- The Bus Came Back: After a flashback in episode 1, Cammy returns in episode 4.
- Camera Abuse: Displayed during Stryker's point blank execution of M.Bison
- Cat Fight: Episode 1's main event.
- Could Have Been Messy: Subverted. Remy Boudreaux catches and hurls the kunai that Ibuki threw at him. She ducks, avoiding it. It ends up lodging itself in the back of Makoto's head, killing her.
- Crapsack World: Some of the Exiles’ origins are from such worlds, and sometimes they go to worlds that are in this situation.
- Crossover: Most of the universes are based on Mortal Kombat, Marvel, and Capcom, with some outliers from other fighting game franchises like Darkstalkers, Final Fight, Guilty Gear, and others
- Emotionless God: Johnny Cage. 600 years of immortality will change a person.
- Evil Learns of Outside Context: The Acolytes. And Johnny, as he found these psychopathic villains and gave them the knowledge and technology to hop universes.
- Finish Him!: With such great influence from Mortal Kombat, this was inevitable.
- For the Evulz: Remy Boudreaux kills everyone he sees, even the innocent onlookers of his fight.
- Gorn: The series runs on this. Hard. Several examples can usually be found in each fight. Averted in Episode 1 for Sonya and Cammy's fight because they were only having a friendly sparring session.
- When one of your the influences for your series is Mortal Kombat, this trope might as well be your tag line.
- Groin Attack: Johnny Cage uses these pretty freely in combos.
- Guardians Of The Multiverse: The Exiles protect the universes from destabilization, which can be natural or man made. If a universe is completely destabilized, it will be wiped out, along with everyone in its existence.
- Hurricane Kick: Ken Masters performs this attack, as does Sakura in Episode 2.
- This also goes hand in hand in justifying why he has lots of bullets.
- Instant Death Bullet: Nicely subverted. In Episode 3, after Bison's Psycho Power is drained, Stryker double taps him, but Bison does not fall over or die instantly. He instead just hunches down a bit with a groan. It's only when Stryker breaks Bison's leg bones that he falls over——and then busts a cap in his crown.
- Just Before the End: It is stated by "Heart" that her homeworld has reached this point.
- Kamehame Hadouken: Both Johnny Cage and Ken do this. So does Cammy.
- As of Episode 2, Jon Talbain and Sakura perform this as well.
- Kick the Dog: Remy Boudreaux makes his first on screen appearance by blowing up Remy for absolutely no reason.
- M. Bison wipes the floor with a small group of Tarkarans. Upon seeing how his brethren have been laid to waste by this one man, a fearful Tarkaran presents Bison with a gift-wrapped peace offering. Bison retorts by grabbing him and throwing him out a window. Worse even, he laughs after doing it.
- Lack of Empathy: M.Bison from Episode 3. He speaks calmly as he instructs one of his dolls to activate the cyanide capsules on ALL nonessential personnel and sets the auto-destruct sequence for his base.
- Lightning Bruiser: Cammy.
- Limit Break: Sakura has one in Episode 3 after Talbain is hit by a barrage of kinetic cards, rendering him KO'd for a few seconds. With a bright blue aura surrounding her, she's able to land a series of clean, swift and powerful blows against her opponent.
- Made of Iron: All fighters. While it's a given, considering the series includes highly super-powered beings, of particular note is Jon Talbain, who continually got hammered by kinetic cards so strong, Sakura would've died if even one of them hit her.
- Stryker free falls off a New York City skyscraper while standing over Bison and unloading an ungodly amount of bullets in his face——only to have both men blast through the concrete and into the subway tunnels. They both come out okay. Well....Bison less so.
- It's subverted at the end of Episode 3's main fight, specifically when it comes to guns. They inflict real world damage, able to kill a person with one or two well placed shots. Bison withstands a continuous rain of bullets through the fight——many at point blank range——but only when his force field is up. Once his Psycho Power runs out, he's taken out with just 3 shots.
- Manipulative Bastard: Johnny. Cage.
- Episode 1: Background information reveals he convinced Jon Talbain to join with the promise he'll see his dead wife (Felicia) again, while neglecting to tell him that with the different parallels, none will be his actual love.
- Episode 2: Background information reveals he believe what will erupt between Jon and Remy will be a good experiment to see if Jon has what it takes to survive under his leadership, having planned to send him back home permanently.
- Episode 3: He's purposely finding broken bloodthirsty people, Stryker, Ibuki, who can fight and kill no questions asked. Which frustrates him to no end when it turns out Stryker has a glimmer of humanity left, because of Jill.
- Episode 4: You know those M. Bisons Stryker has been sent to kill, on behalf of protecting the multiverse? Perhaps one fell under that umbrella, but most M. Bison were killed for their Psycho Drive Reactor. Johnny has been stealing them to improve his own psycho power. And you know those Acolytes, the group who wiped out Sonya's team before the series? Cage either created or collaborated with them, all to become leader of the Exiles.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: With characters from Darkstalkers, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, Marvel, and more this can't be helped.
- Meteor Move: M. Bison performs one against Stryker that sends him straight through the floor.
- Mission Control: Johnny Cage has been seen doing this from time to time from the Panoptichron. Since this is the Exiles, however, it can be assumed that the team will have more than one of these in the future.
- Neck Lift: Jon Talbain delivers one to Remy at the end his fight scene in Episode 2.
- Nipple and Dimed: Doubly Subverted during the shower scene of Episode 3. The all-encompassing steam blurs the picture, making the viewer unsure if the nipple is actually drawn in or just their imagination creating what they WANT to see.
- Our Werewolves Are Different: Jon Talbain, who in this series is trapped in a permanent Lycanthropic state and can never revert to human form. It becomes a major source of his woes.
- Our Multiverse Is Different: Universes come in XXXX-YYYY. The X represents the continuum, based on a videogame franchise. 6013 - Street Fighter, 7695 - Mortal Kombat, etc. The Y represents the parallel. Each Parallel has an afterlife and a Netherrealm, (or Hell in non-MK universes) and the MK sub realms do not have an individual parallel though they are considered alternate dimensions in their own universe.
- The 616 Parallel is the canon parallel of all the franchises, which the Exiles do not interfere with.
- Independent multiversal travelers have it easier to transfer through continuums instead of parallels.
- 6013 and 7695 are more unstable than the others, leading to easiest travel between them.
- Episode 4 reveals the concept of Border Universes, where crossovers are a naturally occurring event.
- Posthumous Team: Most of the team, in typical Exiles tradition. The only Exile mentioned to have died before Sonya's leadership was Hayato Kanzaki, the previous leader, and then of course, the entire team save Jon and Johnny before the events of Episode 1: Sonya Blade, Chun-Li, Terry Bogard, and Strider Hiryu.
- Power Glow: So far, every single character that has been in a fight has displayed this at some point, even
- Put on a Bus: Cammy White, from the universe where Shadowlaw was a force for peace, making the world a better place, was only a flashback in Episode 1. but she does return in Episode 4.
- Red Herring Shirt: Appropriately, Red-shirted Stryker in Episode 3.
- The Reveal: Jon approaches his nemesis in the end of Episode 1: initially it looks like it's Remy, then it turns out it's the other one.
- At the end of Episode 3, we learn that "Heart" is actually Jill Valentine from Resident Evil
- At the end of Episode 4, we find out that the leader behind the Acolytes was Johnny Cage
- Right Back at Ya!: Remy Boudreaux takes an incoming kunai hurled at him by Ibuki and hurls it back at her.
- Used with hilarious efficiency in the same fight when Remy sends Sakura flying with a swing of his staff. Talbain catches her, then tosses her back at him——leading to a flying kick to his face.
- Rooftop Confrontation: The stage for 1/3 of Stryker and M.Bison's fight.
- Rule of Cool: What the series is all about. You've got Johnny Cage's SOUL beating up Violent Ken's soul——Ken receiving the accumulated damage in one sitting once his soul is tossed back into his body. As a bonus, Johnny gets to keep any special abilities Ken has by doing this.
- Johnny ends that same fight with a furious combo, finishing with an uppercut so mighty, Ken's body explodes, leaving behind his staggered soul. Johnny then grabs said soul and chucks it back into Hell.
- Sonya Blade commands ice so proficiently, she makes Iceman jealous.
- John Talbain swings his nunchucks so fast, he deflects a barrage of kinetic cards hurled at him with the speed of a bullet.
- Remy Boudreaux at one point is sandwiched between Sakura and John Talbain...and is STILL pwning.
- Stryker stands toe-to-toe with M. Bison, and more or less kicks his ass.
- He also gets to teach a few Tarkarans a lesson in stylish butt hurt.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: Like the series, this team of Exiles is doing the same thing, just with different realities than those of the Marvel Universe.
- Shirtless Scene: Mr. Stryker gets one in SHADOWLAWLESS, complete with a camera pan-up from his legs to his head. It's possible he'll be that guy.
- Which would be fitting, considering his connection with Heart.
- Shoryuken: Performed by Ken Masters and Sakura appropriately.
- Shout-Out: largely to EXILES
- Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter are givens, as the series was also inspired by Proxicide's 'MK vs. SF' Flash series.
- The series has made the "(!)" sound from Metal Gear a staple part of the series. It can be seen and heard in every fight to date.
- Episode 3 even used one comically during an art scene.
- Episode 1's reveal of Remy Boudreaux was accompanied by a hip-hop remix of the X-Men: The Animated Series theme song from the cartoon.
- Stryker channels Cleric John Preston as he mows down a group of Baraka clones.
- His fight also had 2 Doom nods by way of Soul Cube and BFG-9000.
- Based on his style of amassing and utilizing weapons from across Multiverse, he will most assuredly have many more nods in future battles. If he gets any future battles.
- Episode 3 featured music from Salt, a film in which Angelina Jolie plays a C.I.A. analyst accused of being a traitor that is working with terrorists. The theme song from this movie plays right at the moment "Heart" is accused of being a traitor that is working with terrorists.
- Anyone else get a sense of deja-vu from Episode 3's shower scene? A kind of...Chun-Li'esque sense of deja vu? Well, that's probably because CE-Rap stated it was an homage to that scene of the movie——even going as far as to include a shot that mirrored this one exactly.◊
- Super-Soldier: Cammy White of Episode 1. According to her back story, she's the only successful M.Bison clone, and is imbued with an outrageous amount of Psycho Power.
- Talking Is a Free Action: Averted in Episode 3. Everytime Bison opens his mouth mid-fight to gloat, he gets SHOT.
- Take That!: R1665 does not like Shotoclones. As well as Episode 2 featuring Ryu getting decapitated in one hit by Remy, and an easter egg short for Episode 3 features Akuma getting owned by the red-shirted Kurtis Stryker.
- Not only that, but in episode 2, Remy also charges Ryu's decapitated head with kinetic energy and blows Sean up with it! The only reason Sakura survived is because Jon shielded her from the explosion.
- Time Skip: A gap between Episodes 0 and 1, and between Episode 2, Episode 3, and Episode 4.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: "Aww, look. You're outta continues..."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Subverted. SHADOWLAWLESS shows Heart and Jon each taking a moment to express what they think of Johnny, his motives and his methods. He could care less.
- Would Go All Out On A Girl: Remy's recreational killing is only women, never using his mutant powers, only his hypnotic charm and whatever weapon he's got. Towards the middle of his fight with Jon Talbain and Sakura, he breaks his one rule and is pressed to fight Sakura as hard as any other male opponent.
- You Aren't The Monster Here: Sakura invoked this upon Jon Talbain, a giant, talking, kung-fu fighting wolf-man she only just met, when he necklifts the man who killed Sonya Blade AND her master Ryu Hoshi (and a shit ton of other people).Sakura: A big part of me wants to watch that man die. Despite that, I still remember what Ryu told me when he lost his own best friend. He said, "The dead find no comfort in vengeance. It can only serve to impugn the honor of the living." This man deserves justice, NOT vengeance...and so do you. Whatever you may have done in the past, you still have a choice with this man. You aren't the monster here, HE is. Don't lower yourself to his level.
- Though not in close up, if you pay close attention to Talbain's face, you will notice a shift as Sakura speaks——from fangs showing and snarling, to surprised when she approaches him, to genuine understanding as he lowers his head in remorse for even letting himself get THAT far.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Interestingly Subverted. Stryker meets his alternate, who at first believes him to be a "shapeshifting assassin" and holds him at gunpoint. Not only is Stryker unfazed, we learn that he WANTS to die, and thinks being killed by his alternate would be a fitting end.
- Your Head Asplode: Hey Bison, your gray matter is showing.
