Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit is a short film created by Wesley Louis for THE LINE Animation.
The short consists of the title sequence for a fake animated TV show, based on comics that director Wesley Louis drew when he was 13. Inspired by the likes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) and ThunderCats (1985), the short tries to emulate as best as possible the aesthetics and appearence of an actual 80's-90's Saturday morning cartoon.
The short can be watched here
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Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: THE LINE released a 108 pages long digital book featuring behinds scenes of the short. The book can be found here.
- Animesque: The animation style is inspired by American cartoons outsourced in Japan during the 80's, so this trope is a given. Most obviously shows up in the title character's Transformation Sequence.
- Bowdlerise: Invoked. The creators released an alternate version: Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit which, along with featuring a Deliberate VHS Quality filter, changes the word "ninja" in the title and the theme song for the word "mega", along with censoring Wyatt's nunchucks. The creators stated that it's a reference to how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) was changed in the UK as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles because the word "ninja" was considered too violent; Wyatt's nunchucks being censored references how scenes featuring Mikey's nunchucks were also cut as much as possible in the UK.
- Deliberate VHS Quality: The Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit version simulates the quality of a VHS recording.
- Expository Theme Tune: The theme song details the plot of the show - It serves a double purpose: To parody 80s and 90s theme songs that did the same, and also to provide information about the characters and plot that would be impossible to give otherwise in a minute and half short:He's a hero, frozen in time for a thousand years by an evil force. He's got armour, ready to fight, to find the ying sword and make everything right. He's got power. (Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit) He can make it when he's got Samantha behind the wheel. (Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit) Fernando, Wyatt and Harland are harder than steel. (Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit) His armour gives him strength and he has extra speed. (Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit, Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit) Vultanor and his evil forces will strike, but Stan and his friends will always win the fight! Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit. Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit. Super Turbo Atomic Ninja Rabbit!
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: The title character, natch. The "Super Turbo Atomic" part doesn't seem to carry much meaning other than to make him sound as cool as possible.
- Real Trailer, Fake Movie: Real Title Sequence, Fake TV series in this case. The short consists of the title sequence for an imaginary TV show based on drawings Wesley Louis made as a kid.
- Retraux: The animation recreates the distinctive features of the hand painted cel era; including scratches, dust particles, lineart on the characters, slight dropshadow underneath the characters and foreground, Conspicuously Light Patches and jittering frame.
- The Smurfette Principle: Both the heroes and the villain sides feature only one female character each, a reference to the prevalence of this trope in 80's and 90's cartoons.
- Transformation Sequence: The short begins with an Animesque transformation sequence of the main character transforming into a Super Turbo Ninja Rabbit.
