Caper is a superhero comedy series produced by Geek & Sundry and created by Amy Berg and Mike Sizemore. The series was made in nine chapters, all of which were published on YouTube.
The series is about a group of four low-income superheroes sharing an apartment in Los Angeles. One day, they find themselves planning a heist (or "caper", as they choose to call it) at a tech company. The heroes are:
- Penny Blue, a.k.a. "The Machine", an engineer who fights crime dressed in an Iron Man-like mechanized suit.
- Luke Washington, a.k.a. "The Trooper", a journalist blogger.
- Dagr, a native of an alternate dimension where Vikings still rule.
- Alexia, an Amazonian former assassin who changed sides in the past.
A notable aspect of the series is its way of using comic-style animations for its action sequences.
Episodes
- "City of Angles
" - "The Kilt Brahs"
- "Psycho Path"
- "The British Guy"
- "Lasers and Feelings"
- "Southpaw's Always Right"
- "Historectomy"
- "All Hands on Peltas"
- "Worst Bad Guys Ever"
Caper provides examples of:
- Badass Normal: Penny. She may not have superpowers, but is able to pull her own weight as a superhero using her suit and technical skills.
- Caper Rationalization: The gang plan to rob Clarke Industries to get Penny the funds she needs to maintain the suit, though it later becomes about getting the Godkiller and destroying it.
- Covered with Scars: Dagr's unseen father:Dagr: The man is entirely scar tissue from the neck down.
- And the Kilt Brothers, though they're Irish and not the same level of evil.
- Expy: Penny and Sam Clarke make up an expy of Iron Man - in the sense that Penny dons the suit and does the heroics while Sam is the corporate executive whose company developed it.
- Dagr bears quite a few similarities to Thor, such as coming from a viking-like culture and speaking in an old-fashioned manner.
- While his background is slightly altered, Luke seems to be based on Superman. Both are superheroes with super strength and the ability to fly, work as journalists in some shape or form, grew up in a rural area and were raised by a human family, the father of which is dead, even though their origins are alien. The differences include that Luke's alien father impregnated his human mother and he was raised by a stepfather while Superman's parents were both killed on their home planet.
- Alexia is based off of Wonder Woman.
- Grey-and-Gray Morality: The group of heroes spend the series planning a criminal break-in, but it is, as far as they are concerned, for a good purpose.
- Half-Human Hybrid: Luke is an offspring of an alien father and a human mother, raised by a stepfather.
- Hero of Another Story: Captain Southpaw. Though not altogether heroic, as it turns out...
- Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: A problem for the protagonists. Pointed out by Alexia in Chapter 2.
- How We Got Here: The series opens with the group fleeing Clarke Industries and being surrounded by cops.
- It Amused Me: Alexia's reason for taking part in the heist. Later, she turns out to have been after the contents all along.
- Jerkass: Sam Clarke.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Dagr.
- MacGuffin: The content of the Clarke Industries vault, which turns out to be the "Godkiller".
- The Man Behind the Man: Doc English.
- Male Gaze: Dagr has trouble keeping his eyes off of Penny's rear.
- No Gun Safety: Chapter 4
- Only a Flesh Wound: Dagr in Chapter 4
- Power Nullifier: The God Killer.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: Dagr. Granted, he is taking his warrior duty a bit lightly, but he comes from such a race.
- Really 700 Years Old: Captain Southpaw. He mentions being alive while the Nazis were still around.
- Show Within a Show: Amper and Sand, a Buddy Cop Show starring two cats, is a Type 2.
- Stealing the Credit: Sam Clarke to Penny's work as The Machine.
- Super Hero Origin: Covered in the first chapter by Penny's voiceover. Expanded upon in Chapter 7.
- The End... Or Is It?: After being sent to Dagr's dimension, Doc English mysteriously comes back, his voice coarser and with a red cross drawn on his face.
- Token Evil Teammate: Alexia. Of all the four team members, her personality is the most brutal and aggressive, even though she is still a good guy:
- She wanted to become an assassin while still an adolescent
- She works as a personal trainer because it was, in Penny's words, the only job she could find where she got paid to torture people.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Sam Clarke. He is quite comfortable with letting the world think he is The Machine.
- I Am X, Son of Y: Dagr, son of Wodan, bearer of the Sun Shield, etc.
- Also, Dagr often addresses Penny as "daughter of Blue".
