Line #16 WebAnimation/LittleRunmo


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/maxresdefault_926.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:"I sometimes wonder, at what point in a pit do you actually die?"]]
3	->''"After two years of slowly chipping away at this thing, it's finally here. Follow Runmo, as he discovers the meaning of life."''
4	-->-- The video's full [=YouTube=] description
5
6	A surreal 2019 animated short film created by Creator/{{Gooseworx}} which follows Runmo, the protagonist of a platformer game. After Runmo loses two of his lives by falling into a pit, listening to the musings of a nearby tutorial character named Pikit inspires him to figure out what exactly happens to him when he falls. He then starts off on an adventure to discover the meaning of life -- his own, others', and the finite revivals the game he's in provides.
7
8	The short can be viewed on [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErQHVUQ6QCk YouTube]] and [[https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/751956 Newgrounds]].
9
10	A fan game adaptation, ''VideoGame/LittleRunmoTheGame'', was developed by [=JuhoSprite=] and released on October 28, 2023.
11	----
12	!!''Little Runmo'' contains examples of:
13
14	* AdiposeRex: Both the [[ThreateningShark Dring King]] and the [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Temp King]] qualify, as they are both large fat royalty sitting on a big throne, [[spoiler: the Temp King replacing the Dring King when the latter dies]]. The first one threatens Runmo and sends his soldiers after him. The other one just eats him.
15	* AdvancingWallOfDoom: The Meatball Man, coming in from the background as Runmo tries to get some extra lives. We never find out if he would've actually killed Runmo, however, because Runmo [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere turns around and bolts faster than ever before at about the halfway mark]].
16	* AllForNothing: After finally passing that spiked obstacle that blocked his way in the beginning, Runmo cheers, proceeds forward in glee, and [[spoiler:falls off the map, as apparently [[FailureIsTheOnlyOption the entire world no longer exists past the first obstacle.]]]]
17	* AllThereInTheManual: A seemingly unnamed section of the cast of characters are all given names during the silhouetted CurtainCall in the credits.
18	* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:Grobletombus Marble Eyes only shows himself after Runmo tries to claim an illegitimate life from Jumpmo's carcass, a crime against the concept of life itself. [[EldritchAbomination Creepy]] and [[MadGod crazy]] as he may be, he doesn't seem actively malicious.]]
19	* ArtShift: [[spoiler:When Runmo tears the head off of his predecessor, the animation looks markedly different from Gooseworx's usual art style, being done frame-by-frame rather than through tweening. This is because this part wasn't animated by Gooseworx at all, but instead contributed by fellow web animator Zeurel.]]
20	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: [[spoiler:[[MadGod Grobletombus]], being a higher entity, follows a strange moral code. If someone is to commit a crime against life itself, Grobletombus will destroy the entire universe ''as a consequence.'']]
21	* BottomlessPits: [[EternalEngine And what’s]] [[NightmarishFactory under them]].
22	* CrapsaccharineWorld: On the surface, it’s a jolly, colorful SugarBowl setting with upbeat piano music. Under the surface, [[CrapsackWorld the setting shows its true gloomy form]].
23	* CriticalExistenceFailure: [[spoiler: After shutting down the machine that turns lives into sludge]], Runmo immediately checks on the previously healthy (albeit obese) Dring King. [[spoiler: There's nothing left of him but [[StrippedToTheBone B O N E S.]]]]
24	* CosmicHorrorStory: A very light and colorful story about a cute little video game character desperately clinging to what few lives he has in a vast underground industrial nightmare.
25	* DarkLordOnLifeSupport: The Dring King is constantly drinking [[spoiler:liquefied one-ups]]. After Runmo turns off the machine supplying them, he goes back to the room... where a disembodied voice helpfully points out [[spoiler:he's been reduced to B O N E S.]]
26	* DontFearTheReaper: The Bonekeeper is a weird rendition of the GrimReaper, with really long winding arms, a floating head, and no dialogue. However, he's just doing his job, [[spoiler: carrying the bodies of the Dring King and the Temp King]] and buying chips at the vendor. He never directly threatens Runmo, and is content in his work.
27	* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler: [[MadGod Grobletombus Marble Eyes, The god of the Concept of Life]]. He comes out of nowhere, speaks in riddles and [[IceCreamKoan Ice-Cream-Koans]], and then makes the very same mistake Runmo made in his first life]].
28	* ExactWords: The Gastral Giveaway's prizes on the Wheel of Fundus; One of the prizes is Death. [[spoiler: But the important distinction of who dies is never made.]]
29	* ExoticEyeDesigns: The titular character, along with the [[{{Mooks}} Little Dangers]] and Pikit, have Xs in their eyes.
30	* {{Expy}}: The design of the Little Dangers is reminiscent of many {{Mooks}} found within the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series, namely the [[VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld Spike Tops]]. Behavior-wise, they also resemble [[TheGoomba Goombas]].
31	* FreezeFrameBonus: At the very end after the CurtainCall, a small distorted face appears briefly on the black screen.
32	* GlassCannon: [[spoiler:Though Grobletombus is capable of destroying the entire universe, he also dies to a column of spikes similar to the one Runmo encounters at the start of the video.]]
33	* {{Gonk}}: The Meatball Man looks ridiculosly ugly with actual human face photoshopped on a vaguely meatball thing.
34	* TheGoomba: The Little Dangers fill this role, being common enemies found throughout Runmo's world that are easily defeated by being [[GoombaStomp jumped on]].
35	* HopeSpot:
36	** During the Gastral Giveaway game, the wheel momentarily lands on a 1-Up... only for it to turn back to the acid space.
37	** The same segment also has an inversion in that it seems Runmo is about to lose his very last life as [[spoiler:he spun and got Death... but then, the one to [[CriticalExistenceFailure suddenly]] die is the Temp King instead]].
38	** At the end, [[spoiler:due to Grobletombus's death, it seems like the destruction of the universe was averted when Runmo lands back in the stage he started in, which is completely unharmed. He finally clears the spike trap pit that initially killed him, and is so happy to finally make it that he starts running towards what comes next... only to run right off the stage into the void Grobletombus's actions left behind, revealing that that landmass is all that's left of the area. Poor Runmo poofs into a cluster of lives immediately afterward.]]
39	* ItsAWonderfulFailure: [[spoiler:Grobletombus 'punishes' Runmo for violating the laws of life by completely destroying and remaking the universe, in such a way that the latter tumbles into an endless abyss just when everything seems to be back to normal again. ''[[AndIMustScream Forever.]]'']]
40	-->''"Blunders such as this... have '''consequences'''."''
41	* {{Mooks}}: Aside from the aforementioned Little Dangers, the Glorgs fill this role for the Dring King.
42	* NonstandardCharacterDesign: Two examples: the first being the Meatball Man, with his photo-realistic facial features. The second is [[spoiler: Grobletombus Marble Eyes]], who operates on a whole new medium.
43	* NothingIsScarier: Runmo's fears of The Meatball Man seem primarily related to not knowing what will happen once he reaches the bridge, let alone if he reaches the three extra lives at the other side. Either way he doesn't have the nerve to find out.
44	* PoweredByAForsakenChild: The main function of the factory is to process the spent lives of Runmo, all so [[spoiler:the Dring King can have his sludge martinis.]]
45	* ProtagonistTitle: The film is titled after its main character, Runmo.
46	* PunnyName: Dring King. As in, drinking.
47	* PutOnABus: Pikit is dragged down into the underground factory by Runmo, hides in a living trash can with Runmo, and is never seen again.
48	* RealityBreakingParadox: [[spoiler:It appears using your predecessor's head as an extra life counts as one, as reality quickly falls apart and the God of the Concept of Life comes around to chastise the one responsible]].
49	-->'''[[spoiler:Grobletombus Marble Eyes]]:''' Oh me, oh my. It appears a crime has been committed, a crime against the very essence of life itself... and blunders such as this... have '''consequences'''.
50	* ResetButton: After [[spoiler:Grobletombus's death]], Runmo appears to be starting a brand new game, complete with all three of the lives he lost. [[spoiler:[[SubvertedTrope Turns out, once past that first obstacle, there's not much left of Level One anymore...]]]]
51	* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Runmo does when when he's halfway through The Meatball Man's room, notably moving faster to get out than he did to get as far as he did.
52	* SequenceBreaking: The entire plot is kicked off when, upon Pikit's musings, Runmo slides down the side of a {{Bottomless Pit\|s}} in such a way that he forks off into a side tunnel leading to the main facility itself.
53	* SignpostTutorial: A living signpost named Pikit gives a tutorial to Runmo, telling him that [[CaptainObvious falling into pits will kill him]]. However, they later go on a tangent about wondering where in the pit do the victims actually die, kicking the plot in motion.
54	* SoulSuckingRetailJob: One of the minor characters is Lombi, a haggard minimum wage cashier who sells concessions at the morgue.
55	* SpikesOfDoom: A wall with alternating spikes on each side is the primary obstacle for Runmo in the overworld. [[spoiler:And, as it turns out, an eldritch reality-warping god.]]
56	* SpeakingSimlish: The speaking characters talk in this manner.
57	* StealthPun:
58	** "Wheel of Fundus". In anatomy, a ''fundus'' is a term referring to the area of a hollow organ, such as an eyeball or the stomach, which is furthest from the opening; in the case of the stomach, it's the dome-like section that lies above the opening where food arrives from the oesophagus.
59	** [[spoiler:[[EldritchAbomination Grobletombus Marble Eyes]] is a god [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin whose eyes are marbles]], and marbles orbit around his body. He's also a MadGod, as if he's figuratively lost his marbles!]]
60	* SuddenSoundtrackStop: When [[spoiler:Grobletombus Marble Eyes accidentally jumps into the spikes]], the music comes to a sudden halt, fitting with [[spoiler:the MoodWhiplash and [[AntiClimax anti-climactic]] nature of the gag]].
61	* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: The whole incident and its outcome is indirectly Pikit's fault.
62	--->'''Pikit:''' ''"I sometimes wonder at which pint in a pit do you actually die."''
63	* VideoGameLives: The main plot centers around Runmo preserving his few remaining lives, along with finding some [[OneUp extra ones]].
64	* ViolationOfCommonSense: Runmo discovers the truth about his world by jumping into a {{Bottomless Pit\|s}}. Granted, he grabbed onto the wall as he was descending (which lead him to the underground factory), but still.
65	* VoiceGrunting: Pikit speaks through wood creaking noises at varying pitches. According to [[https://twitter.com/GooseworxMusic/status/1194698719624495104 Gooseworx]], this was inspired by ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie''.
66	* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler: The Temp King has a very short reign due to being killed off [[HoistByHisOwnPetard by his own game show]]]].
67	* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: [[spoiler:Pikit]]'s ultimate fate is never revealed within the animation, but according to [[https://twitter.com/GooseworxMusic/status/1235284858693353481 a tweet by Gooseworx]], [[spoiler:they are the large floating board near the top of the void scene, indicating that they met the same fate as all the other characters]].
68	* WombLevel: After [[spoiler: getting EatenAlive by the Temp King,]] Runmo finds himself on a parody of a game show, and is forced to spin the [[Series/WheelOfFortune Wheel of Fundus]], where every bad spin either raises the stomach acid level or [[spoiler: kills the Temp King]].
69	* WorldWreckingWave: The arrival of [[spoiler:Grobletombus]] is marked by a purple shockwave that dissolves the world around it. [[spoiler:This is probably the reason Runmo ends up plummeting off into the abyss at the very end]].

Context WebAnimation / LittleRunmo