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Part Walt Disney and part Monty Python, Random Encounters lovingly — musically — pokes and prods at everyone's favourite games as only a squadron of nerds could. Ludicrous, ridiculous, and undeniably crafty at the same time, Peter and AJ invite you to dig out your inner otaku and enjoy a few incredibly Random Encounters.

Five Nights at Freddy's: The Musical and Baldi's Basics: The Musical have their own pages.

The Shovelwarewolf, another series they've created, has its own page as well.

You can find them and their works here.

     Franchises Celebrated in Song: 

Contains the following tropes:

  • Academy of Adventure: "Pokemon University" features a university for Pokemon trainers. Played with humorously due to the fact that it invokes realistic outcomes by depicting the titular school as being pretty similar to a real life college, complete with boring lectures, online classes that require long essays and a Dean Bitterman with ridiculously high grading standards.
  • Adaptational Badass: Ruby in Nana Knows The Ending gets into a prolonged fight with Mr. Hopp she definitely wouldn't have been capable of in the actual game.
  • Adaptational Heroism: And lots of it
    • In A Slender Song: Lost In the Woods, the Slenderman is simply a man lost in the woods, chasing after the protagonist because he thinks they can help him (and because they're taking down his notes, which are lost dog posters in this version).
    • In Hello Neighbor: What's In Your Basement, the Neighbor is simply trying to keep his nosy neighbour from interfering with the poker game in his basement.
    • Purple Guy in FNAF: The Musical is just a guy who works the morning shift and wants more hours, whereas in-game, he's very explicitly a murderer, and maybe an abusive father. However, it turns out William Afton still exists in this universe and still did all the awful things he did in canon; he's just not Purple Guy.
    • Speaking of FNAF, we also have the animatronics, who are nice and playful (if a bit bad at communication). It's implied that they still contain the souls of dead children, but they seem okay with it (Freddy even claims that the Bite of '87 was an accident).
    • In The Man from the Window: The Musical, instead of the googly-eyed entity of the original, their version is just a delivery guy, though a bit creepy.
    • In Pizza Tower: The Musical; while Pizzahead still messes with Peppino, he does so in a far more goofy and lighthearted manner by simply being an irritating and messy employee who happens to push Peppino to the edge with his antics, instead of his original incarnation who threatened to blow up Peppino’s restaurant and was willing to curse Pillar John in order to hold up his Pizza Tower.
  • Adaptational Jerkass:
    • Professor Rowan in the original games was characterized heavily by the fact that he only looks intimidating and mean when in fact, he's a genuinely Nice Guy. In "Pokemon University", however, he's a Dean Bitterman who seems to give bad grades out of spite (a Freeze-Frame Bonus reveals that he knew Red got one of the answers right but still marked it wrong anyway) and at one point, steals most of the food from the teacher's lounge.
    • Downplayed in Pizza Tower: The Musical; while Peppino is still the anxiety-ridden, irritable chef he was in the original gane, he also savagely eats Pizzahead instead of simply beating him up and seems to lack the subtle honorable qualities he had in the game, aside from being a good chef.
  • Adaptational Species Change:
  • Adaptational Villainy: Monika was always the villain of her game, but in Just Monika: A DDLC Song, she's more hands-on than just manipulative, hanging Sayori and stabbing Yuri rather than tampering with the code causing them to kill themselves. In the end, Sayori also gets Adaptational Villainy, with the "curse" of the club president's position being Yandere tendencies rather than Medium Awareness.
  • A Day in the Limelight: The Beard gets more screen time than he usually does in the Bendy musical where he goes on a tour of Joey Drew Studios.
  • Affably Evil: Blinky is remarkably polite when addressing Pac-Man.
  • Always Murder: Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter focuses on a murder trial, as usual for the series. Subverted when the "victim" turns up alive and well, having faked his own death by accident.
  • Ax-Crazy: Their interpretation of Meta Knight.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: "Phasmophobia: The Musical" ends with the ghost killing three-fourths of the investigation team, and with the sole survivor being horribly maimed on top of that.
  • Batman Parody: The second-to-last verse of "The Zubat Song" has the fisherman crying out to a "creepy shadow guy" to save him from the Goddamned Bats in question. Unfortunately, things don't work out as well as he hoped, because the guy is Zubatman, complete with a harsh voice.
  • Be Yourself: The moral of HuniePop: The Musical. You shouldn't have to rely on gifts, alcohol, or advice from magical love fairies to get a girl to like you. "All you need's to be like you!"
  • Black Comedy: In the Wind Waker musical, Ganondorf's line of "Go slash a dozen cuccos!" becomes darkly funny when you remember this would lead to an instant game over in any Zelda game. He's essentially telling Link to go kill himself.
  • Blooper Reel: There are numerous blooper videos.
  • Bookends: Resident Enis 2 begins and ends with Markiplier explaining the three kinds of people who survive in Monster Gulch.
    Markiplier:: There are three kinds of people who survive in Monster Gulch. People who become scavengers, people who become bandits, and people who become -
    Enis: Friends with sparkly vampires!
    —-
    Markiplier:
    ' There are three kinds of people who survive in Monster Gulch; people who become scavengers, people who become bandits, and people who become friends with sparkly vampires. Apparently, we're all three.
  • Big "NO!": Franziska von Karma in Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter when The Beard mimics the song the victim sang as they fell: the Blue Badger theme. Again when Officer Mike Meekins shows the picture of the "corpse", the battered Blue Badger security camera.
  • Bottle Episode: The Fran Bow Musical, with one set, one actor, and no fancy special effects, is one.
  • Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In "Resident Enis", Enis lists many ridiculous instructions for curing a hell-hound bite, none of which make any sense whatsoever - but after eating Parmesan cheese, watching a movie and taking out the garbage, the book calls for "summoning Hell-beasts from space."
    • In HuniePop: The Musical, right before Nate leaves for his date, AJ tells him to "have fun, be safe, and watch out for love fairies". Made even funnier when a love fairy shows up at his door just a second later.
  • Bring Me My Brown Pants: From "Medics Don't Heal Scouts:"
    Scout: Doc, give me one chance
    Yes, I know your freakin' stance
    But my heart's starting to fail me
    And I think I crapped my pants.
  • Butt-Monkey: Professor Elm is generally portrayed as a fair bit more absent-minded and goofy than the other professors in "Pokemon University."
  • Captain Obvious: "Dr Hotti", his "autopsy report" and his testimony. The autopsy report had "Lots of fractures. No heartbeat.", and his testimony...
    Edgeworth: Dr Hotti, please describe what you noticed while examining the victim.
    "Hotti": The victim was... not alive...
  • Card-Carrying Villain: King K. Rool openly delights in being evil, committing petty acts of villainy such as ripping a magazine out of Donkey Kong's hands and tearing it in half as he sings about how evil he is.
    King K. Rool: Oh, everybody knows I'm evil! / Rotten to the core, straight through and through! / I'm despicable and mean / And I'm dastardly and green! / I'm a horrible consortable, it's true! / Oh, everybody knows I'm wretched! / I'm volatile and violent every day! / I'm vicious and unkind / Unabashed and unrefined! / So act like I and try the K. Rool Way!
  • Casting Gag: The Friday Night Funkin musical involves two creator couples, but rather than cast one pair as the parents and one as Boyfriend and Girlfriend, they switch it up to split them up for the meta gag.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: In Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter, the witness whose testimony cracks the entire case is none other than The Beard.
  • Christmas Episode: O Meta Knight: A Kirby Christmas Carol, Ganon Claus: A Zelda Christmas Carol, SHOVEL KNIGHT, HOLEY KNIGHT: A Christmas Carol, Undertale the Musical: The Fates of Undertale, and TINGLE BELLS: A Zelda Christmas Song
  • Cloudcuckoolander: Subverted in Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter. The Judge acts much smarter and harsher than in the games and even figures out that Phoenix and Edgeworth are working together.
  • Crazy-Prepared: In addition to boarding up his basement door, the Neighbor outfitted it with a keycard lock, set up a gate just outside the kitchen and locked the room's door down the stairs. All to protect a poker game.
  • Creepy Doll: Tattletail, naturally.
  • Dark Secret: The Neighbor keeps one in his basement. It's a poker game between the Heavy Weapons Guy, Strong Bad, Bonnie, and The Beard.
  • Dastardly Whiplash: The Z-Block.
  • Death by Adaptation:
    • The Neighbor in Raven Brooks, the musical based off of Hello Neighbor 2 where he is still very much alive by the end, just trapped.
    • In Pizza Tower: The Musical, Pizzahead is eaten alive by Peppino at the end, a far cry from his canonical fate where he is viciously beaten up but shown to have survived in the credits.
  • Deconstructed Trope: Pokemon University provides a humorously realistic take on the Academy of Adventure trope. The titular university may have adventurous subject matter, but it's still a university, which means writing long essays, reading lots of textbooks, attending boring lectures (in this case from a professor who doesn't seem to know anything about the subject he's teaching), taking stressful exams and facing teachers with ridiculously high grading standards. The students, though knowing that graduation will make it all worth the hard work, are shown getting bored, exhausted and grumpy with all the work they have to do and let out a collective annoyed sigh at the very end when they're reminded that they also have to pay student loans.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: This bit from "Tricked by the Eggman: A Knuckles Rap."
    When I'm tricked by the Eggman, I get tricked by the Eggman!
  • Do Wrong, Right: Practically half of Sonic Boom the Musical - A Sonic the Hedgehog Song is the protagonists pointing out the various flaws in Eggman's schemes.
  • Enfant Terrible: In Kindergarten: The Musical, the entire class.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Lamented by Dr. Eggman in Sonic Boom the Musical - A Sonic the Hedgehog Song.
    Eggman: "Why's this always happen
    Every time in every game?
    When I think I've beaten Sonic
    He defeats me all the same!
    And no matter what my tactic
    Not a plan or strategy
    Will ever yield a single triumph
    or one victory.
  • Faking the Dead: Larry Butz does this accidentally. He tried to take up spirit channeling to impress the nurses at the hospital where he volunteered, crafting himself robes and a magatama. Of course, the night he tried channeling he was surprised by Wendy Oldbag, and knocked over the Blue Badger security camera over which he had draped his clothes and ID off the roof. He then escaped dressed in the channeling robes and stayed in Phoenix's apartment for three days, resulting in Maya being accused of his "murder". As the saying goes, "When something smells it's usually the Butz".
  • Feathered Fiend: The Horrible Goose, of course.
  • Flat "What": Mark lets one out in both "Resident Enis" musicals, in the first one when Enis tells him he has to "Kiss his dead friend's face" in order to save him. And in the second one, when after the group plays pretend to make an abandoned bandit shack seem less scary, Enis suggests they "Pretend that that shadow's a giant - not a guy who's been there all along!"
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: The four young men playing the monkey in How To Beat A Monkey At Chess: THE MUSICAL are archetypal fits: Markiplier is the Choleric leader who is clearly annoyed by each of the other young men in turn, MatPat epitomizes the Melancholic with his urbane rationality, The Completionist is Phlegmatic easily taking charge and then just as quickly giving up, and A.J. is classically sanguine in his excitability and his certainty that he is "fluent in monkey" (and according to the subtitles, he can speak it, just not very well)
  • Gender Flip: Sort of—the Goose from Untitled Goose Game is ambiguously gendered, but in Goose on Holiday, they're depicted as being female.
  • Genre Roulette: Since they adapt so many games, it's no wonder.
  • Heel–Face Turn:
    • In Arkham Origins Rock Opera (A Batman Musical Parody), Catwoman decides to save Batman from being burned.
    • In Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter, Miles Edgeworth goes from being the case prosecutor to acting defense attorney when the judge takes him off the case.
  • "The Hero Sucks" Song: Several songs diss a heroic character at least once. However, these particular songs stand out:
    • Wright Is Wrong, a song chastising Phoenix Wright for making baseless accusations that are quickly shot down, sung by courtroom rival Miles Edgeworth.
    • Loser, in which Winston Payne smugly brags to Phoenix Wright about his upcoming defeat and fall from grace. This is much like he went from the "Rookie Killer" to a loser has-been prosecutor.
    • Don't Play This Game features Franziska von Karma telling Miles Edgeworth that he will lose the case and should just give in. Also, she tells him that Phoenix Wright left him to act as a defense attorney. Doubles as a Villain Song as she also states that her a Guilty verdict is unavoidable.
  • Hopeless with Tech: "Nana Knows The Ending" has a scene where while Ruby is hiding behind a sofa, the telephone landline rings, catching Mr. Hopp's attention, and the creature walks over, picks up the whole unit like he's looking for some sign of her, puts it down and walks away.
  • Hotter and Sexier: They're mostly a family-friendly channel, but considering the game it's based off of, the HuniePop musical had to be this.
    • "The Eevee song" is filled to the brim with sexual innuendos with the men in the bar clearly delighted by the lead singer's sex appeal.
  • Humongous Mecha: Used to represent the PS4, the X-Box 1 and the Wii U in Console Wars.
  • I Hate Past Me: In God of War, future Kratos calls his past self "a cringy embarrassment," kicking off an insult war between the two of them.
  • I Need a Freaking Drink: The Judge in Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter says this almost verbatim in part 3.
  • Insane Troll Logic:
    • In part two of Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter, Phoenix claims that since neither Wendy Oldbag or Maya Fey could have committed the crime that the victim, Larry Butz, wasn't actually dead, despite the fact that an autopsy report had been presented as evidence and Oldbag testified to seeing Larry fall off the roof. However, said autopsy report was so badly written that it was enough to justify the claim being reviewed and an updated autopsy report to be presented, and an extra day of investigating is granted. However, Phoenix is instead drinking his sorrows in a bar at the beginning of part three, berating himself over doing something so stupid. Turns out that he was right all along.
    Edgeworth: WHAT?!
    Oldbag: [uncontrollable laughter]
    Judge: ARE YOU INSANE?
    Phoenix: Jury's still out...
    • In part three, Franziska von Karma tries to claim that Larry Butz is a victim of double-murder along with the Blue Badger security camera simply due to the fact that he is still missing, despite the fact that there is no credible evidence or testimony supporting the fact that he was on the rooftop to begin with anymore. Even the Judge finds it ridiculous.
  • Interspecies Romance: Cubone Loves Mudkip: A Pokemon Love Song.
  • "I Want" Song: The Amiibo Song.
  • Just Eat Gilligan: Enis isn't too big a load for Dodger and Markiplier, but the fact that they considered killing him multiple times in the first video, combined with him being annoying, wasting supplies and failing to be of any use makes it odd that neither one of them wants to do it.
  • Kill Steal: The entire joke of Friday the 13th: The Musical, though Played With rather than played straight. Players continually die by their own stupidity rather than by Jason's hand.
  • Killed Mid-Sentence: Happens in Friday The 13th: The Musical to a player who can't find any of the MacGuffins and is beginning to panic, hearing the telltale "ki-ki-ki, ma-ma-ma" behind her... Except just when Jason is about to kill her, she's hit by a car, having unknowingly wandered into the road.
  • Know-Nothing Know-It-All: The speaker of "Samus the Spaceman Cowboy," who seems to have no idea what Metroid is actually about. According to that year's year-in-review video, a lot of viewers didn't get the joke and thought it was actually a Shallow Parody; the crew had to explain that, yes, they actually do know that Samus is a woman.
  • Large Ham: Every actor in the company gets their chance to be one.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: In the Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes video, after the captain gives the rookie a Suicide Mission for her first assignment, he accidentally reactivates the bomb she disarmed and gets stuck having to defuse it himself.
  • Lighter and Softer: The Hello Neighbor song "What's In Your Basement" is much lighter than most of the other canon and fan content about the game. The Dark Secret in the basement? A poker game between the Heavy Weapons Guy, Strong Bad, Bonnie, and The Beard.
  • Logic Bomb: The Principal of the Thing begins his normal "no [X] in the halls" shtick" in Baldi's Big Zoo... until Playtime reminds him that they're in a zoo, where there are no halls. The Principal is visibly confused.
  • Loophole Abuse: How Edgeworth manages to stay on the case for the final episode of Phoenix Wright the Musical:
    Judge: Mr. Edgeworth, I seem to recall removing you as prosecutor of this case.
    Edgeworth: Yes, and the defense is ready, Your Honor.
  • Lyrical Dissonance: Cuphead: the Musical has all the bosses singing about how they want to kill Cuphead to a jazzy track.
  • Mauve Shirt: The rookie in Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes.
  • Multiple Endings: Shortly before "The Day That You Die" premiered, Random Encounters ran a poll asking viewers which toy Misfortune should bring with her: a stuffed unicorn or a rock. This choice determined how the final confrontation with Mr. Voice was resolved, with the alternate ending being revealed one week later in the blooper video.
  • Mundane Made Awesome: Minesweeper.
  • Nice, Mean, and In-Between: In the Three Fates of Undertale video. Well three characters fill the trope. Toriel (Nice) is the one that encourages the player to play the Pacifist Route and retains her role as the motherly figure, Flowey (Mean) is the one that encourages the player to do the Genocide Route and retains his role as a psychopath with a God complex, while Sans (In-Between) doesn't really care that much but encourages the player to play the Neutral Route while retaining his role as a lazy comedian with an older brother's protectiveness who is somewhat apathetic.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The Minesweeper was also trained in the Dark Arts, raised by Monks, attended Ninja school for twenty seven years, and can pull out a person's heart (but he'd rather do math 'cause it's cool).
  • No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Medic from Team Fortress 2 spends the majority of "Medics Don't Heal Scouts" refusing to heal a scout because he doesn't believe she's useful enough for him to spend his time on. When she eventually does convince him, she reveals herself to be a spy, backstabbing him and leaving him for dead.
  • Oh, Crap!: At the end of the PAC-Man video, the ghosts get one when a Power Pellet appears.
  • Once per Episode: The Beard, a humanoid creature whose head is covered in hair, makes an appearance in every song that the channel makes. Sometimes he’s an actual character, other times he makes background cameos.
  • Only Sane Employee: Professors Juniper and Birch appear to be this in "Pokemon University".
  • Only Sane Man:
  • Patter Song: "Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes: The Musical" is mostly rhythmic talking instead of singing, fitting with the game's main objective of communicating quickly and clearly to defuse a bomb.
  • Perverted Sniffing: Yan-chan does this with some of Senpai's clothes in "Senpai Notice Me".
  • Puppet Shows: The Magikarp Song: Finger Puppet Edition! and The Eevee Song (Puppet Edition) Feat. Dodger. In addition, the Fazbear Band are represented as hand-puppets in Five Nights at Freddy's: The Musical.
  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Happens pretty often. For example, Red only loses his shirt in "Alola Form for Me" because the actor spilled his drink on it.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Inverted with Blinky (Red) and Inky (Blue). Blinky is polite and reserved, though not without his own share of crazed expressions. By contrast, Inky is more manic and aggressive in demanding Pacman.
  • Rousing Speech: Markiplier gives one during How To Beat A Monkey At Chess: THE MUSICAL.
    Markiplier: Look, gentlemen, we're here gathered today as representatives of humanity. Against a monkey! How long have we been oppressed?
    MatPat: Two minutes, forty-one seconds?
    Markiplier: No more. No longer! We've been under the monkey's thumb for too long. We can beat this monkey for our fathers. For our forefathers. For your beard. For his not-beard. For whatever your name is! A billion monkeys at a typewriter may be able to write Shakespeare, but one monkey will not beat us today. I may ramble and not know what I'm talking about all the time. But we can win! Together! As one!
  • Royals Who Actually Do Something: Princess Peach attempts to evoke this in The Best We Can Be. It...doesn't really work.
  • Shout-Out: In the Friday the 13th: The Game musical, when the interior of Jason's hut is shown, we see his mother's severed head placed as a memorial inside. But her face has been covered by the sliced-off face of another famous killer...
  • Simpleton Voice: Pac-Man the Musical: A Pacapella Song gives Clyde one of these.
  • Sorcerer's Apprentice Plot: "Bendy and the Ink Musical", with Bendy's Ink Machine being the misused Applied Phlebotinum. Bonus points for working the original piece into the score.
  • Sore Loser: Franziska von Karma's reaction to seing Phoenix Wright walk in with Larry Butz, the supposed victim, is to start whipping the prosecution bench in a fury. She's still seething when the verdict is given, and glares at the defense bench.
  • Sound-Effect Bleep: Audrey in the HuniePop musical gets censored this way, combined with Symbol Swearing in the lyrics and a heart symbol over her mouth.
  • Stalker with a Crush: The Enderman in "The Enderman Song: A Minecraft Musical"
  • Space Western: Samus The Spaceman Cowboy portrays the Metroid franchise as one.
  • Stealth Sequel: The ending of Medics Don't Heal Scouts implies that it's a prequel to their earlier musical, MEDIC!. It has the Medic still sane and on the RED team, and ends with him healing a teammate who turns out to be a spy and backstabs him, which was the reason for his Face–Heel Turn in MEDIC!
  • The Stoic: The Minesweeper
  • Stop Motion: How Pac-Man the Musical: A Pacapella Song and Bendy and the Ink Musical are presented.
  • Stout Strength: God of War: The Musical depicts the older Kratos from the 2018 game as having put on weight but ultimately not being less formidable.
    I'm the God of War! With quite the bloody lore!
    I slay a lot, and WEIGH a lot
    All muscle, though, I'm sure...
  • Subverted Rhyme Every Occasion: The third verse of "Friday the 13th: The Musical".
    Couldn't find the keys or call in Tommy Jarvis
    Haven't seen the fuse, a boat or even gas
    Can't alert police and Jason's gonna carve us
    No clue where they are, but I could use a car 'cause Jason's on my- [gets run over]
  • Take That!: During the bloopers of "Emergency Meeting", Nate asks about making a Raid: Shadow Legends musical. He promptly gets Thrown Out the Airlock.
  • This Is Reality: Edgeworth gets one in his solo song from Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter:
    Edgeworth: "There's an old saying that the phoenix will rise up from the flame,
    But this ain't no drama off Broadway or courtroom video game!"
    Venus: Love’s not a game
    Based on matching things the same
  • Trail Of Breadcrumbs: Enis makes a trail back to the mansion in Resident Enis 2, but there's two problems with it.
    • He uses vital supplies to make the trail.
    • As Mark points out, "We're not going back!"
  • Uncomfortable Elevator Moment: In Rhythm Thief and the Emperor's Treasure: The Musical, Vergier sings about how he will capture the Rhythm Thief just before stepping into an elevator - without realizing that the other person in the elevator is the Rhythm Thief, who's nervously hoping he won't be recognised.
  • Villain Song:
  • "The Villain Sucks" Song: Kindergarten 2: The Musical is one about Penny, though many of the characters singing it aren't exactly heroes themselves.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Musical. Understandable, as the players keep accidentally offing themselves before he can get to them. The final player disconnects from the game when Jason corners her, leading him to sit down and weep in frustration.
  • Walking Shirtless Scene: Red randomly takes his shirt off in "Alola Form for Me."
  • Wham Line: More like Wham Sound, but The Beard provides the last clue needed in Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout Encounter:
    The Beard: [Blue Badger Theme in OOOGH Minor.]
  • Wire Dilemma: Seeing as Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes has many of these, this was inevitable in its music video. There were wires attached to a Rubik's cube at the end, and another one with many crossing wires was shown but never actually completed on-screen, implying it was done off-screen.
  • Zerg Rush: Seems to be the tactic used by the Fisherman in The Magikarp Song.


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