Web Animation / The Pink City

aka: Elain The Bounty Hunter

Pictured: Elain

"Reading the TVtropes page on Elain the Bounty Hunter is making me realize how many brain termites I have..."

— Gooseworx

The Pink City is a series of animations created by Gooseworx, the creator of Little Runmo. It is set in a pink city populated by shape people, and features a lot of Surreal Humor. The series currently consists of:

• "Elain the Bounty Hunter": Elain the bounty hunter goes after a bounty. Meanwhile, her partner Dento gets stuck in the elevator.
• "Dento Takes the Stairs": While stuck in the elevator, Dento has an Imagine Spot.
• "Ghost of the Year": Awards show host Hoonis Boogie reviews the Pink City's resident ghosts to determine which will be crowned Ghost of the Year.
• "Elain Gets Adopted": Picking up where "Elain the Bounty Hunter" left off, Elain gets adopted by a strange fellow.
• "The Darly Boxman Show": Shows an episode of Show Within a Show The Darly Boxman Show, a strange kids show.

The series is hosted on YouTube. It can also be found on Newgrounds, minus "Dento Takes the Stairs".

There is also a short comic about Darles.

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This web series provides examples of:

• Acid-Trip Dimension: In Elain gets adopted, the titular bounty hunter takes a dip into it twice. First when Nuzzner injects her with his halucinogenic drug, second when in a fight he's accidentally hit with his own drug and a wormhole opens, caused by Elain shooting him dead. In both cases Elain is taken through an otherworldly land full of Alien Geometries, Eldritch Abominations and kaleidoscopic arrays of changing patterns.
• Aerith and Bob: The series incudes characters named Elain and Dennis alongside characters named Dento, Gop Donsterly and Love Nugget the Heart Eater.
• All There in the Script: Most of the characters' names are only mentioned in the credits.
• Anti-Climax: Vondu's role in "Elain Gets Adopted", as it ends with him finding Nuzzner's corpse after Elain already killed him, and stuffing it into a jar.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: The trailer for "Elain Gets Adopted" lists some of Gooseworx's past creations: Little Runmo, "Elain the Bounty Hunter", "Ghost of the Year", and the low-effort joke video "FANTASTIC GAZEBOS Vol. 1", which is just a slideshow of gazebo photos with music playing on top.
• Bigger on the Inside: In "Elain the Bounty Hunter", there's the inside of Gop Donsterly, which is large enough to contain Elain, who's taller than their outside appearance, as well as its own game show.
• Bittersweet Ending: By the end of "Elain Gets Adopted", Elain loses Nuzzner Fubs' corpse, gets her soul scanned, has her heart eaten, and is fired from To the Point unbeknownst to her, but she at least has Dento to talk to when she gets a hold of her old phone again.
• Bounty Hunter:
  • Main characters Elain and Dento work at "To The Point Bounty Hunting", and hunt bounties for a living, hence why the series is known as "Elain the Bounty Hunter". Vondu in Elain Gets Adopted is presumed to be a coworker, given that he's shown hunting the same targets as Elain.
  • Word of God states that all law enforcement in the Pink City is handled by independent bounty hunting firms, such as To The Point.
• Butt-Monkey: Elain, who has not only failed to catch every bounty she has gone after, but has been grievously injured, traumatized and humiliated in the process.
• Car Chase Shoot-Out: Gop Donsterly gets on a motorcycle to flee Elain, who takes pursuit by jumping into a moving car. Gop tries to shake her off by throwing bombs at her, while she attempts to retaliate with a rocket launcher... which backfires on her.
• Catch and Return: In "Elain Gets Adopted", when Elain knocks the needle out of his hand and upwards, Nuzzner raises a hand to catch it...but it ends up stuck in his head instead.
• Delivery Stork: In the Darles comic, a stork is shown collecting DNA from Darles and later delivering the resulting child to him. According to the description, this is how all children are reproduced in the Pink City.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Vondu has a bit part in "Ghost of the Year", in which he shoots a ghost to death after it spits on him, before his role as one of the main characters in "Elain Gets Adopted".
• Eldritch Abomination: The Elders of Lost Eyes in "Elain Gets Adopted" are definitely these, a swarm of voices who inhabit a disturbing dimension filled with organ-eating monsters and seem to have the ability to rewrite reality. They seem to not even notice someone as insignificant to them as Elain. There may be several in "The Darly Boxman Show" and "Ghost of the Year", but it's kind of hard to tell which characters are supposed to be "normal" and which aren't.
• Exotic Eye Designs: Common in the series. For example, Elain has pupils that resemble fidget spinners, while Gop Donsterly's eyeballs are stretched across his face (complete with elongated pupils).
• Eye Scream:
  • Elain's eye gets poked with an injection needle during "Elain Gets Adopted". Downplayed later when Nuzzer Fubs tries to grab Elain by the neck and accidentally rips her eyes out, accompanied by a "pop" sound effect. He slaps them back before grabbing her for real.
  • In the Darles comic, a stork sticks its beak into Darles' eye to collect his DNA.
• Eyeless Face: Nuzzner Fubs, whose face consists solely of a massive set of Scary Teeth. In a way Elain herself, for the split second before Nuzzner Fubs puts her eyes back after accidentally ripping them from her face.
• Fictional Currency: The currency of the Pink City is "yonts", as seen on bounty postings.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: At the start of "Elain Gets Adopted", a radio broadcast warns listeners of a bulky man that's been injecting strange substances into people. Immediately after, the bulky Nuzzner Fubs enters the Hunter Pound to adopt Elain...

• Foreshadowing: Doubles as Freeze-Frame Bonus. When Elain is having a Mushroom Samba, for a single frame, The Elders of Lost Eyes appear.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: A lot of the various posters and signs have text that you can read if you pause at the right time and squint. Special mention goes to when Elain is reading the Target Buddy, which has names, descriptions of crimes, and rewards for the many criminals listed on there.
• Gainax Ending: Both main videos and "Ghost of the Year" have ended this way.
  • In "Elain the Bounty Hunter", Elain is swallowed by Gop Donsterly, forced to play a game show inside his stomach, and ends up in the Hunter Pound without explanation.
  • In "Ghost of the Year", one of the judges kills nearly everyone in the building, including Hoonis Boogie, on live television. No one seems to be shocked afterwards, though a ghostly face is seen on the wall of someone watching at home. The only survivor is the other judge, who is now under investigation.
  • In "Elain Gets Adopted", the death of Nuzzner Fubs leads to Elain being sucked into an alternate dimension, having her heart eaten and being scanned by an alien entity, which seems to have reshaped the leaves and clouds to resemble her face.
• Good-Times Montage: In "Elain Gets Adopted", after being released from the elevator but unable to contact Elain (whose phone was thrown into a trash can by Nuzzner Fubs), Dento scrolls through old pictures on his phone of him and Elain having fun together.
• Gray Rain of Depression: In "Elain Gets Adopted", after her new "owner" Nuzzner Fubs ties Elain's leash to a pole outside while shopping for "Smonkes", it immediately starts raining. It then stops just as quickly when Nuzzner leaves the building, right before his picture on a "Wanted!" Poster is fully revealed.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • During her Car Chase Shoot-Out with Gop Donsterly, Elain accidentally blows herself up when the rocket she fires at him fails to outpace her car (much to her dismay) and ends up falling back on top of it.
  • In "Elain Gets Adopted", Nuzzner Fubs is stabbed by his own needle, giving Elain the opportunity to shoot half his head/mouth off with a gun rehydrated in the food bowl he left for her.
• Human Pet: Elain is treated this way during "Elain Gets Adopted", complete with a leash, spiked collar, and doghouse. The existence of the Hunter Pound implies that many unemployed bounty hunters share the same fate.
• Hyperspace Arsenal:
  • Elain pulls a silenced pistol and a fully-loaded RPG-7 out of thin air during a chase scene.
  • Vondu takes this trope even further, sporting at least sixteen guns under his trenchcoat.
• I Surrender, Suckers: When Elain confronts Gop Donsterly in the Burgatory, he seems to resign himself to his fate, closing his eyes and holding his hands out to let her slap the cuffs on him, only to grab her and swallow her whole as soon as she gets within his reach.
• Imagine Spot: "Dento Takes the Stairs" is almost entirely one, with Dento wondering what would've happened if he didn't take the elevator he ends up stuck in during "Elain the Bounty Hunter". While stuck in the elevator, Dento has a fantasy where he instead takes the stairs... and falls down them for nearly three minutes.
• Instant Mass: Just Add Water!: In "Elain Gets Adopted", Elain keeps a bag of dehydrated guns on her, which comes in handy when she learns her new "owner" is a wanted man.
• Invisibility: One of the reoccurring characters is Invisible-O, a completely transparent ghost with a grudge against Dento, pushing him around and knocking over his drinks.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: One of the ghosts in "Ghost of the Year" has the power to make someone permanently forget the name of the person they love most, to the point that they'll instantly forget if told it again. Host Hoonis Boogie mentions how fortunate it is that the ghost only appears in places that people don't pass through often...and then completely fails to remember the name of the final ghost contestant.
• Little "No": At the very end of "Elain Gets Adopted", Elain retrieves her phone from the trash and replies to Dento's text asking if she's OK with a simple "NO".
• Loading Screen: Played for Laughs, given the medium. After Elain gets Swallowed Whole by Gop Donsterly, the next twelve seconds are taken by a "LOADING INTERIOR..." message accompanied by a 3D-render still image of Gop chasing Elain, complete with a progress bar flanked by a spinning stomach.
• Magical Realism: It's a world where many people have some form of supernatural power, ghosts are widely recognized and even celebrated by society, and "clown" is an ethnicity.
• Monster Clown: Gop Donsterly, a gelatinous creature vaguely in the shape of a clown that is both a wanted criminal and has a supernatural game show in his gut.
• More Dakka: The inside of Vondu's coat is a massive wall of gun barrels, which he uses to shoot Spim Dinty dead in "Ghost of the Year" and turn Gop Donsterly into paste in "Elain Gets Adopted".
• Mushroom Samba: Elain is subjected to one during "Elain Gets Adopted", after her new owner Nuzzner Fubs sticks a needle directly into her eye.
• Negated Moment of Awesome: After Elain's car gets blown up by her own rocket, sending her flying through the air, it seems as if her forward momentum still gives her a shot at catching up with Gop Donsterly. Instead, she gets hit by three cars in quick succession and run over by an extra four while Gop drives away.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Kug from "Elain Gets Adopted" has a detailed and heavily shadowed, Animesque face that contrasts with the colorful and minimalistic features of other characters.
• Nigh-Invulnerability:
  • Elain's first appearance has her crash through the window of an office building and fall several stories, splattering on the pavement. She recovers immediately afterwards, and takes more punishment as the series goes on.
  • Also applies to Gop Donsterly, who survives getting rendered into paste by Vondu's guns.
• Overly Long Gag: "Dento Takes the Stairs" is roughly 4 minutes of Dento falling down a very long staircase.
• The Place: The series is titled after the city where it's set, the Pink City.
• Posthumous Character: Aside from various ghosts existing in the setting, "Elain Gets Adopted" has Plondie the late Bounty Hunter, a skeleton still clutching a functional electronic tablet.
• Production Throwback: The radio in "Elain Gets Adopted" plays a song request for "Drifting Through Space" by Dyslexic Lemons, which in real life is a song by Gooseworx from her album Dyslexic Lemons.
• Pun: "Elain the Bounty Hunter" ends with Elain in the Hunter Pound and the CEO of Pointiness claiming not to recognize her and walking away. The screen switches to black, with white text saying: "Hunter? I hardly know her"
• Punch! Punch! Punch! Uh Oh...: Elain's whaling on Nuzzner Fubs gets abruptly interrupted when he squeezes her in his meaty fist and throws her off him.
• RPG Mechanics 'Verse: To some extent the world runs on game mechanics in general; it appears to function on a species-specific or even individual level. Vondu gets +CROW DATA when he absorbs their memory, and there are characters who speak only in dialogue bubbles (some inspired by Animal Crossing) alongside those who speak full English.
• Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: Elain rapidly punches Nuzzner Fubbs after getting him down on the ground. This unintentionally leads to her heart being eaten by Love Nugget.
• Recycled Soundtrack: We hear music from Little Runmo at one point in "Elain the Bounty Hunter".
• See the Invisible: Invisible-O's true form is seen when the Mark 5 Visibismo is shined on her... revealing a truly horrifying image.
• Show Within a Show: The start of the side-episode "The Darly Boxman Show" shows that it's being watched by someone on TV. The ending reveals the one watching is Hoonis Boogie, worried that he'll never be as great as Darles Nemeni, the now-missing actor that portrayed Darly.
• Single Tear: In "Elain Gets Adopted", Dento sheds a single tear while missing Elain and looking through pictures on his phone of them together.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: In Ghost of the Year, the credits are accompanied by the game show's peppy tune... with Hoonis Boogie's body lying on the floor in the background.
• Staircase Tumble: Dento's Imagine Spot in Dento Takes The Stairs involves falling down a ridiculously long flight of stairs.
• The Stinger: In "Elain the Bounty Hunter", after the credits finish, it shows Dento still stuck in the elevator.
• Subverted Kids' Show: The Darly Boxman Show is presented as a grand adventure being had by Darly and his friends, including The Darly Boxcar, with a colorful title shot reminiscent of old children's cartoons. However, not only does Darly frequently swear when he's frustrated, there are numerous cuts when things go wrong, including a shot of the gang having drowned when driving The Darly Boxcar into a lake and an unnerving image of Darly's exposed brains and muscles while he's piloting The Darly Boxcar.
• Super Window Jump: After receiving her assignment from the CEO of Pointiness, Elain leaves the To The Point building by throwing herself through the window, shattering it, and letting herself fall dozens of stories. While her partner Dento goes for the more reasonable option of taking the elevator, her landing destroys the power box of the building, leaving him stuck inside of it for the rest of the video.
• Swallowed Whole: As Elain tries to capture Gop Donsterly, he simply snatches her and shoves her down his gullet. And then she's forced to participate to a trivia game show in his stomach. He does the same thing to Kug in the sequel, only to spit him back out immediately.
• Take That, Audience!: In "Ghost of the Year", Hoonis Boogie describes Invisible-O as "a fan favorite among stupid people", a possible reference to the many YouTube comments ironically praising her credited appearance in "Elain the Bounty Hunter".
• Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Female characters have eyelashes and male characters don't. According to Word of God, this is the only thing distinguishing them; this artwork features a character who transitioned to male by getting rid of his eyelashes.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: Elain is tall and thin compared to her male partner Dento, who's short and stocky. Although they quickly part ways in "Elain the Bounty Hunter" due to Dento getting stuck on an elevator, "Elain Gets Adopted" shows Dento looking through old photos of them together, confirming a partnership between them.
• Transferable Memory: In "Elain Gets Adopted", Vondu absorbs the memories of multiple Crowdge to narrow down where Nuzzner Fubs is located. The Elders of Lost Eyes also absorb data from Nuzzner Fubs and Elain after Nuzzner's death.
• Trauma Conga Line: Both times Elain has tried to be a bounty hunter, things have gone horribly for her.
  • In "Elain the Bounty Hunter", Elain fails to catch Gop Donsterly, is traumatized by whatever went on in his internal game show, and ends up being abandoned in the Hunter Pound when the CEO of Pointiness doesn't recognize her.
  • In "Elain Gets Adopted", Elain is adopted by a dangerous criminal that injects her with hallucinogens and almost kills her, is sucked into a black hole by his death, and gets her heart eaten by Love Nugget.
• Unexplained Recovery: Hoonis Boogie reappears in "Elain Gets Adopted", after he was killed by a judge during "Ghost of the Year". While he doesn't elaborate too much on his "oddly quick recovery", he mentions that visions of his dead mother are finally starting to fade.
• Vertigo Effect: In "Elain Gets Adopted", after Vondu catches Gop, he looks around to check for Nuzzner, then stands there unsettled, the "camera" slowly zooming in on him while slowly zooming out on the background.
• Voice Grunting: Some characters speak through repeated sound effects or beeps with their words being displayed in text boxes, video game-style.
• "Wanted!" Poster: Various wanted posters are seen plastered on walls during the main videos, such as some showing Gop Donsterly being wanted for "snipping and snapping".

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