GUEEERRAAAAS DEEE RRAAAAAA'
Guerras De Rap ("Rap Wars", sometimes stylized as Guerrasderap) is a Spanish musical group founded in 2015 by latin american artists CyanCoat
, The5oul (pronounced 'The Soul'...) and TicciFandubs, as a tribute to Epic Rap Battles of History.
Unlike their inspiration, however, the characters used are more pop culture oriented, rather than historical figures, their videos also make use of illustrated storyboard-like animations and custom instrumentals that reference the characters being featured.
Although the videos are in Spanish, they all have closed captions in English, which also provide context needed to understand certain lyrics.
Some artists featured in their songs include musician and filmmaker 3Prayt and nerdcore rapper Benderu, Freshy Kanal was also involved in the production of some of the battles.
The audios for their videos come out months in advance in their Soundcloud page, the videos themselves are uploaded to their Youtube channel. Other social media includes Twitter and their Discord server.
According to the creators, the series is currently in an indefinite hiatus as they focus on their work and personal lives.
Guerras de Rap provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ambidextrous Sprite: Averted. Although the show has notoriously low budget animation, it allows the creators to put attention to detail in other aspects of the videos. As such, characters with asymmetrical designs are accounted for when flipping the sprites. Most notable with Krilin in Kenny vs Krilin, whose "Kame Sennin" logo on his suit is always shown in the correct placement no matter where his sprites are facing.
- Art Evolution: The series' art style changes drastically between Mega Man vs Astro Boy and Rick Sanchez vs Walter White, even though it is the same artist.
- Ascended Extra: Cloud17 went from only having a few writing credits and drawn cameos to actually voicing a character in a battle with the release of Animatronics vs Ghosts.
- Author Appeal: Cyan and 5oul seem to have a huge soft spot for indie or retro video games, as of writing this half of the battles feature characters that fit that description. Perhaps this isn't much of a surprise considering their other projects.
- Back from the Dead: The entire premise of Kenny vs Krilin is that both of them are prone to this.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Both Slender Man and Tall Man qualify. They went against each other (at least before the battle got de-canonized).
- The Bad Guy Wins: While Scorpion is not exactly a ‘bad guy’, the more benevolent Sans ends up dying to his hands in the same way he does in his source material.
- Bald of Evil: Walter White.
- Battle Rapping: Naturally.
- Berserk Button:
- Jesse Pinkman’s only contribution in Rick Sánchez vs Walter White is threatening to shoot Rick once Walter suggests Morty might be being abused by him. While his eagerness to commit murder is rather unexpected, it plays into another aspect of his personality in the original show, which is his concern for children’s safety.
- Doctor Manhattan loses his temper during his third verse, in a way that reminisces a certain scene in Watchmen.
- Android 18 kills Kenny before he can finish his second verse, this “intervention” is prompted by the subject he was rapping about. He comes back as his alter ego Mysterion and attacks Krilin as payback in his next verse.
- Jesse Pinkman’s only contribution in Rick Sánchez vs Walter White
- Bilingual Bonus:
- Every battle has captions in English, which also provide context for certain jokes that might be Lost in Translation otherwise. These translations omit the rhymes, however, so any time something actually DOES rhyme in English it's likely just a coincidence.
- Oddly enough, Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend has this with a whole back-and-forth between them, with a chain of puns going from "Fuckboy" to "Puck-Man" and "Cuck-man". None of these words are in Spanish, but they seem to be general knowledge to the audience.
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: The Pac-Man ghosts mock the Animatronics for being a trend that got its popularity through Youtube… on a video hosted on Youtube... in a tribute to a series that ALSO got its popularity in Youtube.
- Black-and-White Morality: Somewhat invoked with Saitama, who calls out Doctor Manhattan for being a genocidal “villain”.
- Black Comedy: Kenny vs Krilin is full of Bloody Hilarious deaths and foul language. Rick Sanchez vs Walter White is also a contender with some of Rick’s disses, going as far as saying stuff like “that shit is as invalid as your son by now!”. Morty’s face says it all.
- Bookends: Saitama vs Doctor Manhattan ends with both of them in space, realizing they’re unable to harm the other, but still refusing to back down.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: As expected from any ERB Style Rap Battle show. Krilin takes it further by taking shots at the show itself.Krilin: And we’re both being compared because of dying and reviving? If that’s the case, you’d have a better chance against this rap show!
- Brick Joke: Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend mentions Pac-Man, guess what IP was featured in the next battle.
- Butt-Monkey:
- Kenny.
- Scott Pilgrim to a lesser extent.
- While not physically like the other examples, Morty is attacked even by Rick who is in his own team.
- Call-Back: Bonnie the Bunny is holding a slightly modified version of the bass that Scott Pilgrim had in the previous battle. A photo published in their Twitter page suggests it's based on the one Cyancoat owns in real life
- Christmas Episode: Defied: both Saitama vs Doctor Manhattan and Kenny vs Krilin were uploaded in December of their respective years, but Christmas isn’t acknowledged in any of them and they don’t seem to be considered specials (unless you count the snow in Kenny’s background and the mention of Mr. Hanky as this, but that’s a stretch)
- Saitama vs Doctor Manhattan was actually uploaded December 12th, 2019 (12/12), but had to be reuploaded a day later due to an audio error, so the date might actually be a reference to the number 12 which is very prominent in Watchmen's symbolism.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Every single character featured is assigned a color, this is most notable in the videos for the instrumental tracks, which only feature the silhouettes of the characters.
- Creative Closing Credits: Walter White vs Rick Sanchez is stylized to look like the opening to Breaking Bad, while Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend has both an intro that references Scott Pilgrim vs. The World's opening, an outro that references Friday Night Funkin' and closing credits that resemble the Scott Pilgrim game's versus screens.
- Creator Cameo: Most, if not all of the battles, have this in some form or another. Mostly in the credits which feature drawings of the cast and crew dressed as the characters from the IP’s being featured.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: Freddy Fazbear.
- Creepy Monotone: 3Prayt portrays Doctor Manhattan’s speech like this.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Scott Pilgrim and Kenny.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: While most battles are pretty fair on the lyrical side, the cartoony nature of the series allows it to quickly devolve into physical violence, which doesn’t go well for some characters.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Compared to ERB, these battles tend to get physical very often, but regardless of that the focus to judge the results is still supposed to be the lyrics themselves.
- Curse Cut Short: Happens to Kenny McCormick, twice.
- Crossover:
- While not an explicit crossover between the series themselves, you might recognize Cyancoat’s work from his appearances in FreshyKanal and Animation vs Anything. (This is also why some drawings from Freshy Kanal, such as Mr. Burns and Taylor Swift, appeared in GDR.)
- Freshy Kanal himself is credited as the audio mixer in Rick Sanchez vs Walter White.
- While not an explicit crossover between the series themselves, you might recognize Cyancoat’s work from his appearances in FreshyKanal and Animation vs Anything.
- Cruel and Unusual Death:
- The Plants vs. Zombies Peashooter, of all characters, gets straight up executed by The Merchant, with a gunshot to the back of the head.
- Kenny gets run over by a school bus, his neck snapped, burnt to a crisp and dragged face-first across concrete, all in the same battle.
- Diagonal Cut: Sans suffers one of these, by Scorpion’s hand.
- Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Saitama, quite literally.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Android 18 kills a fourth grader because of his sexual comments towards her. (Granted, Kenny comes back from the dead as expected, but it does not make the death any less brutal.)
- Dramatic Irony: Kenny vs Krilin ends with a line about the show itself ‘dying’ and coming back frequently (mocking the inconsistent upload schedule). There was a completely unplanned year-long gap between this battle and the previous one (apparently caused by a corrupted USB), making that line hit even harder.
- Dude, Not Funny!: Invoked in Rick vs Walter, when Rick mentions Walter Jr.’s disability, even Morty is shocked, to the point where Rick (sarcastically) backpedals and asks if he went too far.
- Dynamic Entry: Several.
- Astro Boy flies in from below the screen.
- Doctor Manhattan teleports in during his title card.
- Ramona Flowers unexpectedly roller skates into frame, right besides Scott.
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- A couple of battles have these as freeze frame bonuses at the end.
- Another good source of these is the “Interferences” videos, which are meant to be hints or teasers regarding future battles.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- The first battles the channel ever released were Live Action (in a style very reminiscent of ERB, but with much lower production value), these are mostly locked away and none of them are considered canon.
- Even in the canon battles the style is different when compared to the most recent ones, notably, Crazy Dave vs The Merchant has a free use instrumental (the rest of the battles have custom made beats) and just like Mega Man vs Astro Boy the artstyle is different than the rest.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Rick Sanchez is an egotistical, intergalactic criminal, mad scientist sociopath, but even HE is not willing to work with nazis, apparently.
- Everyone Has Standards: Sans claims that even though he might be lazy, it’s nothing compared to Mortal Kombat’s creators, known for milking several characters out of palette swapping sprites.
- Evil Versus Evil:
- The now non-canon Slenderman vs Tall Man.
- Technically, Animatronics vs Ghosts qualifies.
- Fanservice:
- Parodied in Kenny vs Krilin, Kenny is reading a porn magazine titled “Guarras de Fap”.
- To some extent, Ramona Flowers, but this might be because her outfit in the battle is inspired by the Scott Pilgrim Video Game (which is already very fan service on its own, thanks to Paul Robertson's pixel art)
- Fat and Skinny: Cyan and Soul are portrayed as this, respectively.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Before Krilin’s second verse finishes, it’s revealed that the Kenny he’s been rapping at is just a cardboard cut out, while a shadowy, purple figure roams the background.
- Flipping the Bird: Rick Sanchez does this, as well as Cyancoat’s credits drawing in Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend (This is because he appears in the place of Kim Pine, who does this in the source material’s game)
- Foreshadowing: Both the freeze-frame bonuses at the end of the battles and the “Interferences” videos qualify as this, as well as Pacman's mention in Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: A LOT of them.
- Crazy Dave’s Twiddydinkies have several familiar items, including Mega Man’s helmet, the weapons of each Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Peridot’s Limb Enhancers. (Only one of these ended up becoming a battle in the end, but one never knows what’s scrapped or just in Development Hell.)
- The Merchant briefly opens his coat, revealing some matchups that never came into fruition but were most likely planned at some point.
- Chara’s face in Sans vs Scorpion changes into a demonic smile for one single frame.
- In Kenny vs Krilin, Wallsurfer (one of the characters from Cyancoat and the5oul’s other projects) is hidden between the aliens.
- Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend features a Mega Man Style select screen with each of the Evil Exes and Scott himself, complete with Something-Man names.
- The 'Puckman' cabinet features original designs drawn by the5oul.
- Young Neil’s title card, which reads “YOUNG NEIL - SEX BOB-OMB’S BIGGEST FAN. HE’S YOUNG. HE’S NEIL.”
- During Scott and Ramona’s last verse, the screen shows a message saying “Scott has obtained the power of understanding (and a new shirt)”. This is lifted from the comics.
- Rick and Morty are seen besides Wallace. An unidentified character (most likely an OC) is also present during that scene.
- In general, every battle between Rick vs Walter and Kenny vs Krilin has a single frame easter egg in the outro, these can be shitposts or hints for future battles.
- The west hall in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza has fanarts of the battle made by the audience (the original game displayed drawings of the characters).
- Similarly, the Security Room has crude drawings that double as inside jokes and references to the previous battles, even though these are almost impossible to see properly in the battle (we know what they are thanks to behind the scenes images).
- Funny Background Event:
- In Crazy Dave vs The Merchant, Leon S. Kennedy is seen briefly as he runs through the screen, behind the Merchant.
- During Crazy Dave’s second verse he is seen dabbing in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment during a transition.
- Megaman’s “NOW I’VE GOT YOUR POWER” during his weapons showcase.
- When Scott Pilgrim delivers the corny “Puckman” line, Wallace is seen face-palming in the background. Both the cornyness of the line and Wallace’s reaction are extremely in character.
- It’s a bit difficult to notice due to the camera’s movement, but Girlfriend jumps when she hears the thunder, and Boyfriend winces just like in the game.
- Pac-Man gets distracted by Clyde’s rap in Animatronics vs Ghosts, but runs away when he notices Inky approaching… only to get ambushed by Blinky and die anyway.
- Fun with Subtitles: They have a lot of fun with the typography, an element admittedly inspired by the band Falconshield.
- Groin Attack:
- Saitama gives one to a naked Doctor Manhattan clone, which just disintegrates on the spot.
- Boyfriend’s famous blue balls also qualify.
- Hero vs. Villain Duet: Downplayed. Neither Scorpion nor Doctor Manhattan are straight up villains (Manhattan is a deconstruction of super heroes who, despite doing horrible things, does not really grasp concepts such as evil or good, while Scorpion is a neutral third party who can be in either side depending of the circumstances), however, both of their battles are against more righteous opponents (Sans and Saitama), framing the matches as this in some ways.
- Halloween Episode: Sans vs Scorpion and Animatronics vs Ghosts are explicitly stated to be these.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- Seeing Rick Sanchez and Walter White arguing about who is the better person becomes this a bit, considering they’re both horrible criminals.
- Boyfriend, a character who originated from an indie NewGrounds game, telling Scott and Ramona to go “back to 2005”.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Invoked by Walter White, when he says he did the stuff he did because of his family.
- Jaw Drop: Lampshaded by Clyde, his rap apparently has this effect on people (and Pac-Man himself)
- Jerkass: Rick Sanchez. Can’t say it’s not accurate.
- Killed Mid-Sentence: Happens twice to Kenny and once to Krilin.
- Leitmotif: Most battles have this, except for a few notable exceptions.
- Mega Man: Dr. Wily's stage theme from Mega Man 2
- Astro Boy: the opening from his 2003 series.
- Rick Sanchez: Rick and Morty's opening theme
- Walter White: Breaking Bad theme
- Sans: Megalovania by Toby Fox, of course.
- Scorpion: Techno Syndrome (aka the Mortal Kombat theme)
- Saitama: The Hero by JAM Project (One Punch Man's Season 1 Opening)
- Doctor Manhattan: "Pruit Igoe and Prophecies" by Philip Glass (a theme that was abscribed to the character in the Watchmen movie)
- Kenny: the South Park theme by Primus (specifically the credits version)
- Krilin: Makafujushi Adventure! (the first Dragon Ball Opening, the arrangement in the actual battle suggests it might actually be based upon the Latin American dub of the song)
- Animatronics: An arrangement of Freddy's song from the first game (which in itself is a music box arrangement of the Toreador song)
- Ghosts: The Pac-Man jingle, of course.
- Star-Lord: Not an actual arrangement, but vocal parts of Hooked on a Feeling are sampled through his verses.
- Mega Man: Dr. Wily's stage theme from Mega Man 2
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Unlike other shows of similar format, characters can start throwing hands rather quickly.
- Man of a Thousand Voices:
- Ticci has been in four battles so far, and in all of them he does a different voice. A notable mention goes to his Scott Pilgrim voice which sounds almost identical to the Latin American dub of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World
- Cyan qualifies too, he does the voices of everyone in Walter White vs Rick Sanchez, as well as Sans, Crazy Dave and Pinky, amongst others.
- Meaningful Background Event:
- During the Animatronics’ presentation, they can be seen moving before the camera cuts away.
- Golden Freddy shows up during the “IT’S ME” line.
- Purple Guy walks into frame during the 8 bit section with Foxy, but only his legs are visible as the scene cuts away.
- Mic Drop: Boyfriend gives Girlfriend the last line of the battle and then does this. Interestingly enough, this is a deviation from the source material, which only has unintentional mic drops (after Boyfriend is defeated).
- Mooks: Zombies in Crazy Dave vs The Merchant kind of serve as cannon fodder. It does not stop the title characters from fighting each other, though.
- Mythology Gag: Sans' subtitles are in, well, Comic Sans, and in all lowercase letters. He is also introduced as “The Skeletal Comic, Sans” to drive the point further.
- Nightmare Face: Chara's cameo in Sans vs Scorpion (Scorpion’s skull form also qualifies)
- Out-of-Genre Experience: Despite the show strictly being called “Rap Wars”, a lot of the battles dabble in different musical styles.
- Saitama vs Doctor Manhattan incorporates a lot of Rock elements, especially on Saitama’s parts (thanks to his leitmotif.)
- Kenny vs Krilin has a more jazzy, laid back feel to it.
- Boyfriend vs Scott Pilgrim mixes crunchy indie rock with bass-heavy rap beats.
- Animatronics vs Ghosts has a trap-like sound, mixed with chiptune and glitch effects.
- Pedo Hunt:
- Used in Slenderman vs Tall Man, against both sides, actually.
- Saitama calls out Doctor Manhattan on this.
- Scott Pilgrim starts his story by grooming a 17 year old girl. Boyfriend does not let go of this fact.
- Playing with Fire: Scorpion, naturally.
- Product Placement: Inverted. Where a brand name would usually go, “GDR” is put in its place.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Once the battle gets going, Boyfriend focuses on deconstructing and attacking every apparent character flaw of Scott Pilgrim, from his refusal to grow up and admit his mistakes, to all of his past relationships turning out badly because of his attitude.
- Scorpion also gives Sans one of these, to a lesser extent. He calls him an honorless coward who just stood there watching as everyone else got killed.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni:
- Saitama vs Doctor Manhattan
- Although the colors don’t exactly match, Sans vs Scorpion.
- Retraux: Several examples, mostly applied to gaming characters (Mega Man, the Pac-Man Ghosts and the FNAF Animatronics)
- Running Gag: The credits of most battles feature cartoon renditions of the people involved with the battle, but dressed as characters from the IP’s featured (sometimes in an intentionally crude manner).
- Screaming Warrior: While not exactly ‘screaming’, Scorpion delivers his verses with certain intensity.
- Shout-Out: Kenny vs Krilin and Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend feature drawings previously used in Freshy Kanal.
- Sibling Incest: Astro Boy uses this as a diss towards Mega Man, involving the latter’s sister Roll.
- Slasher Smile: Chara.
- Slut-Shaming: Boyfriend claims Ramona Flowers is “worse than Taylor Swift”, regarding her ex boyfriends. While not explicit, the implication is pretty evident.
- Small Reference Pools: Averted for the most part, works with several adaptations (such as Scott Pilgrim vs The World or Mortal Kombat) get a decent amount of references from each medium.
- Stylistic Suck:
- The costumes that the crew members are depicted wearing during the credits sections are supposed to evoke this feeling.
- The guitar in Scott Pilgrim vs Boyfriend purposefully tries to sound crude as a nod to the movie.
- The animation in the series is stiff at best and non-existant at worst, probably due to budget reasons. The crew decides to focus their attention on the quality of the artwork instead.
- Subverted Catchphrase:
- Sans begins by admitting “I would say it’s a beautiful day, but nah” note
- Chica the Chicken lampshades that “Let’s Eat” is something that she would usually say, but the ghosts are so afraid of a “pizza” that she decides against it.
- Sudden Downer Ending: Sans vs Scorpion is framed as happening during a Genocide Route Playthrough. It ends with Sans dying at the hands of Scorpion.
- Take That!:
- A certain video game world record holder who shall not be named gets one on Animatronics vs Ghosts.
- Scott Cawthon gets one of these as well, in the same battle.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Rick and Morty.
- Tempting Fate: In a meta sense, Kenny vs Krilin’s last line.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Jesse Pinkman, obviously.
- The Unintelligible: Kenny, accurately. Lampshaded by Krilin who says that the entire verse would be lost if it weren’t for the subtitles.
- Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: Saitama and Manhattan are introduced as this by the announcer, respectively.
- Visual Pun: Crazy Dave tells The Merchant that he won’t be able to surpass “these walnuts”, as the camera pans down only to reveal two Walnuts standing in the ground before him.
- With Lyrics: Some of the songs definitely apply, as the characters often rap to beats that sample songs from their source material, which might or might've not had lyrics in the first place.
- Writing Around Trademarks: Krilin’s suit has “GDR” where the Kame Sennin logo would be.
- Your Mom: or rather, “Your Creator”, with Mega Man vs Astro Boy.
