Web Animation / The Cloak

This could be serious. Like AIDS serious.

The Cloak is the name of two original web animations created by the master of random comedy, Jason Steele, at FilmCow Productions. Both center on the eponymous Cloak, a living cloak who battles an international Communist conspiracy.

The original 2004 video took place on a futuristic Mars, where the United Mars Army (UMA) is stationed. UMA soldiers Nate and Jimbo investigate a massacre at one of the military bases, which leads to them encountering the Cloak and his pledge to destroy the evil forces of Communism. The video was intended to begin a series, but no further episodes were created and the Cloak character was rebooted in 2008.

In the 2008 video, the Cloak teams up with his sidekick, the disembodied head of film-noir legend Robert Mitchum as they set out to destroy Communism, along with many innocent bystanders.

The 2004 original

The 2008 reboot

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Tropes

General

• Aborted Arc:
  • The 2004 video in its entirety, since the story was never continued.
  • In the 2008 video, we never do find out the fate of Joshua, the Libertarian Lizard.
• Ax-Crazy: Both versions of the Cloak, quite literally. The 2004 Cloak, although implied to be correct in his beliefs, admits he has the urge to tear out someone's esophagus. Meanwhile, the 2008 Cloak kills anyone he remotely suspects of being a communist.
  "And that's what you get. You get my Axe of Capitalism... right in your face."
• Black Cloak: The Cloak is actually an animate talking cloak rather than a person wearing a cloak.
• Cloudcuckoolander:
  • Jimbo and Mr. Sprinkles in the 2004 video. The Cloak himself also has some elements of this.
  • The Cloak, Robert, and basically, almost everyone with more than three lines of dialogue in the 2008 video.
• Humanoid Abomination: The Cloak- a walking, talking cloak with a hood with an extremely weird (although possibly correct in the original) vision of reality.
• In the Hood: His head is nothing but hood.
• Talkative Loon:
  • Jimbo in the 2004 video:
  Hey, does anybody else hear that horrible, demonic laughter? Alright, it's just me then. No need for worry.
  • Robert in the 2008 video also says some very strange things:
  I believe in America!
  By Jove, we've done it! Pull the hatch forward! What year is it, good sir?
  I like shrimpies.
  Dearest me, I've forgotten my tulips.
• The Cuckoolander Was Right:
  • The original video ends with Nate suspecting the Cloak was correct about the communist conspiracy on Mars.
  • In the 2008 video:
  The Cloak: Well it seems the law has been laid down, Robert.
  Robert: What's "the law?"
  The Cloak: Harsh and unforgiving, and now we're on the lam, outcasts of society. Pushed away from the large, warm bosom of Lady America. It's not fair, Robert, I want that bosom!
  Robert: Well you did axe up two innocent people!

2004 Video Only

• Blind Obedience: The motto of the UMA is to "Follow blindly!".
• Cardboard Prison: Jimbo acknowledges the cells being used to lock up the Cloak are low-security - being a piece of clothing, the Cloak is easily able to slide through the bars.
• Cliffhanger: Since only one episode was produced, the identity of the alleged communist the Cloak was tracking is never revealed and it's left unknown if there really was a communist conspiracy.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: The UMA soldiers have the same faceless uniforms that are only differentiated by their colors: Nate wears white, Jimbo wears blue, Blake wears black, and the 0-16 soldiers wear red.
• Commanding Coolness: Blake is the official commander of Base 0-42.
• Drill Sergeant Nasty: Blake electrocutes Nate – twice – for insubordination, including when Nate simply questions the suicidal nature of their mission.
• Driving Question: Is there really an international and intergalactic communist conspiracy? Unfortunately, this will never be answered.
• Felony Misdemeanor: While it's not clear why Mr. Sprinkles is locked up, it's implied to be because he annoys everyone around him.
• Gory Discretion Shot: The graphic details of the Cloak's massacre are heard, but not seen, outside of a few flying limbs.
• Harmless Electrocution: Nate is electrocuted twice without any lasting injuries.
• Improvised Weapon: When the Cloak draws an axe, Nate fights him with an animatronic fish he takes off the wall and manages to hold his own.
• Instant Sedation: The Cloak quickly falls unconscious after Nate and Jimbo shoot him with tranquilizer darts.
• I Want Them Alive!: Blake orders Nate and Jimbo to bring the Cloak in alive.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: At least how the Cloak sees himself. To his credit, he does help Nate after cutting off his leg.
• Major Injury Underreaction:
  • The first two 0-16 soldiers:
  Soldier #1: My internal organs! Give them back!
  Soldier #2: That wasn't very nice!
  • Nate is mildly bothered by the Cloak slicing off his leg.
  Nate: Hey! I need that.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The Cloak gets recaptured because he brought the injured Nate to sickbay. And since the Cloak was still responsible for slicing off his leg, Nate forces him to share his cell with Mr. Sprinkles again.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Having his leg cut off doesn't cause Nate to bleed out.
• Only Sane Man: Nate is pursuing an animate cloak spouting conspiracies about communism while partnered with a Cloudcuckoolander. It's easy for him to look normal.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Nate questions 0-16 being slaughtered by a single culprit and offers to release the Cloak if he can prove a communist was behind the massacre. Although the Cloak admits he was the assassin, Nate later suspects there's more going on at 0-16 than he and Jimbo were led to believe.
• Red Shirt: The 0-16 soldiers are all wearing red when they're wiped out by the Cloak. As they're supposed to be communists, they wouldn't wear any other color.
• Secondary Character Title: The video focuses more on Nate and Jimbo than the eponymous Cloak. Although the Cloak is the main focus of the story, Nate serves as the protagonist.
• Suicide Mission: Nate points out he and Jimbo are being ordered to stop the Cloak by themselves after he wiped out an entire military base. Despite this, they successfully capture him.
• The Hilarity of Hats: Jimbo is briefly shown wearing an eccentric hat, which even he doesn't know how it came into his possession.
• Too Dumb to Live: The UMA soldiers are oblivious to their comrades' dying screams, allowing the Cloak to pick them off one-by-one.

2008 Video Only

• Adaptational Villainy: Whereas the original Cloak was implied to be correct in his communist conspiracy and avoided killing others (including helping the injured Nate), this Cloak kills anyone he suspects to be a communist.
• Adaptational Wimp: The original Cloak single-handily wiped out a military base and holds his ground with another soldier. The new Cloak flees when a single police officer shoots his axe away and and is gunned down by a SWAT team without putting up a fight.
• Adapted Out: Only the Cloak returns from the original video, although Robert has elements of Mr. Sprinkles.
• Affably Evil: "Well, we gotta get this body out of the building. Oh, how about seafood for lunch?"
• The Alcoholic: Robert, though he doesn't seem to get drunk off it all. Then again, he doesn't seem to digest it in the first place.
• Blasting It Out of Their Hands: The police officer shoots the axe out of the Cloaks hand as soon as the Cloak moves to throw it at him.
• Bloody Hilarious: The CEO's body spraying blood all over the guard whenever the Cloak moves his arms.

• Clueless Detective: Cloak works as a Private Detective, but he doesn't actually seem capable of doing any crime-solving.
• Darker and Edgier: Nearly all of the violence in the original was off-screen and the only characters killed were soldiers implied to be actual communists. This version keeps the violence on-screen and sees the Cloak kill innocent civilians.
• Death by Adaptation: The Cloak survived the original video, although whether he was intended to survive the full series will never be known.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Set up with Cloak's Patriotic Fervor, then slowly peeled away. He hates communists and at first he seems to believe that he lives in a McCarthy-era Red Scare where Soviet Spies were just waiting to subvert everything. Before long he's shown to actually believe communists are shapeshifting demonic/alien monsters trying to secretly take over the world in a David Icke kind of conspiracy. As the 'toon rolls on it becomes clear he's just a murderous asshole nutjob.
• Everything Fades/This Was His True Form: Spoofed with the CEO of Toy Barn. Cloak suspected that he was a communist and expected him to turn to dust or "a giant red squid of some sort" upon death.
• The Hero Dies: Both the heroes actually, assuming you could call them that.
• Metaphorgotten: "My precious childhood is being raped in front of my eyes, and by Eskimos, no less... with their cold, feely hands."
• My God, What Have I Done?: Robert's reaction after microwaving his cat on an impulse.
• My Little Panzer: The Cloak thinks that kids should play with dangerous toys that pose risk of injury, like toy tanks with sharp edges, BB guns, hatchets, and vials of goat urine.
• Narrating the Obvious: The random cop states that he's a cop and upholds a variety of laws and edicts.
• Of Corpse He's Alive: In order to smuggle the CEO's body out of the building, the Cloak puts the body inside him and puppets him. Of course, the issue is that he's leaking blood everywhere, especially whenever the Cloak moves his arms, and that he still has a large axe in his face..
• Political Correctness Is Evil: The Cloak thinks that modern kid's toys, besides being lame and covered in unnecessary safety foam, are part of a Communist plot to brainwash kids with sinister messages like sharing and healthy eating.
• Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies: Cloak and Robert are killed by a SWAT team.
• Running Gag: The fire that starts from the Cloak shooting a flaming arrow into his office spreads across the city throughout the episode.
• Shout-Out: In the Toy Barn, you can see toys from Charlie the Unicorn and Mr. Happy Face, as well as characters from a video that didn't exist at the time, Bino the Elephant.
• Spider Limbs: Robert uses his spine to manipulate objects.
• Spoof Aesop: "Antonio, Communism is a Mistress, which you soon find out is a Mister, and no amount of salt-baths will ever rinse you of the shame."
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: "This is high-quality shrimp I've got here. Tasty, tasty shrimp, none of which I've licked."
• Take That!:
  • The client, Joshua calls in about his pet iguana running off to join a dangerous, manipulative cult. The cult's name? The Libertarian Party.
  • The CEO of Toy Barn was a Mormon, which according to the Cloak, explains why everything was so obnoxiously bright, friendly, and well-dressed.
• Trademark Favorite Food: DELICIOUS CRAB MEAT.
  • My Chalupas I defend!
• Unexplained Recovery: Cloak's office seems to be the only thing that wasn't actually damaged by the city-wide inferno that started out in the very same office.
• Villain Protagonist: Our heroes: the casual serial killer and the deranged cat-microwaver.

• Word Salad Lyrics: "My chalupas I defend! From the king of the great chalupacy, with his arms of modern steam-powered engines of the future. $6.99 FOR A VALUE MEAL! $6.99 FOR A VALUE MEAL!!!"
• "You!" Exclamation: The Cloak bursts in to confront the CEO of Toy Barn and shouts "You!" The CEO replies "Yes, meeeee! ...can I help you?"
• No, You: In the exchange between the Cloak (pretending to be the dead CEO) and the security guard:
  Guard: You've got an axe in your face.
  Cloak: Ha, well you've got an axe in your face!
  Guard: (feels face) No.

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