Web Animation / Tyria and Yaya

From left to right: Tyria, Yaya, and the Infinity Gauntlet.

Tyria and Yaya is a Stop Motion animated series by Yaya Film Productions (AKA YayaFingerButters). It follows the antics of two original characters, and is primarily animated with Figmas.

Tyria and Yaya Volume One can be found here.

On 23 October 2019, it was announced in this video that Tyria and Yaya would be rebooted and the old series declared non-canon due to YayaFingerButters's growing dissatisfaction with it. On 20 May 2020, YayaFingerButters elaborated in this Patreon post that the new Tyria and Yaya would consist of self-contained short films, as opposed to a series with a single overarching story.

Shortly after, YayaFingerButters released a collection of videos called "Deleted Content", consisting of Volume One material made prior to its cancellation. The "Deleted Content" playlist can be found here.

As of December 2020, the "non-canon" tag was quietly removed from the old series.

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Tyria and Yaya provides examples of:

• All There in the Manual: Since many of the characters don't talk, some information can only be found in video descriptions or comments of not just the main episodes, but also teasers and update videos.
• Animation Bump:
  • A relatively understated example: in Episode Two, there's a seven-second sequence of the camera tracking around Yaya as she interacts with the Soulworld.
  • Episode Four contains a fight sequence of Tyria and Yaya versus Apephet.
• Art Evolution: The series improves slightly in quality with each new episode.
  • Episode Two has improved sound design compared to Episode One.
  • Episode Three more or less averts the flickering that plagued previous episodes, and is more brightly lit in general.
• Big Bad Ensemble: Of the antagonists introduced so far, all of them show little to no connection to each other.
  • Atlas, the Arc Villain of Episode Six; introduced in the stinger of Episode Three.
  • The Otherking, the Monster of the Week of Episode Four.
  • Apophis/Apephet, a Greater-Scope Villain introduced in Episode Four.
• Blatant Lies: Meta example in Episode One. After Tyria slams her head down onto the Plot Device, the video smash-cuts to the credits, which begins with "The End". If you look at the scrollbar on the video player, you'll see that the video hasn't even reached the halfway point.
• Bloodless Carnage: The series is very light on gore.
• Breather Episode: Episode Three. YayaFingerButters described it as "a breath of fresh air after the insanity that was Episode Two".
• Cheated Angle: Being an animated series, this shows up occasionally. It's most prominent in Episode Three — Tyria and Yaya almost never actually look directly at each other, to keep their faces and expressions clearly visible to the viewer.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In Episode One's stinger, Yaya makes a phone call to complain about the broken Plot Device. Episode Two begins with Yaya repairing it.
  • The majority of Episode Three takes place in the same workshop that Tyria was in during her brief appearance in Episode Two.
  • Towards the end of Tyria and Yaya's battle with Apephet in Episode Four, the latter slashes at Yaya's arm, which produces a metallic clanging noise, confirming that Yaya still has the Infinity Gauntlet after Episode Two.
• Continuity Reboot: In this video, YayaFingerButters announced that they will be restarting the entire series, because they were unhappy with it. The first three episodes of the new series will be the same as the current non-canon series.
• Covers Always Lie: Well, thumbnails, but same idea.
  • The thumbnail for Episode Three shows Yaya shouting at Tyria, implying that Tyria manages to frustrate Yaya throughout the episode. In the episode proper, these roles are flipped, which makes more sense given prior characterization.
  • The thumbnail for Episode Four shows Yaya battling the Otherking. In the episode proper, the Otherking is taken out before the fight can begin; Tyria and Yaya end up battling Apephet instead.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: In Episode Four, Tyria and Yaya versus Apephet is extremely one-sided.
• Dude, Not Funny!: In Episode Two, when Yaya's antics with the Infinity Gauntlet begin to take a somewhat dark turn, the gauntlet itself decides to stop her from going further. It transports Yaya to the Soul Realm, where it reminds her of the events in Avengers: Infinity War in an effort to teach her to be more responsible with the gauntlet.
• Early-Installment Weirdness:
  • THE START OF SOMETHING NEW:
    • The description lists behind Tyria and Yaya claim that the pair are Irish, and that Yaya might have been born in Athlone, Ireland. This was later retconned in this Patreon post, which explains that Tyria and Yaya takes place in its own unique setting, and that Tyria and Yaya live in a region called "The Homeland".
  • Episode One:
    • The photo used for the episode's thumbnail is a still taken directly from the video. Later episodes used unique photos.
    • There are numerous shots that put the camera at all sorts of extreme angles and positions. Subsequent episodes established a standard position for the camera with relatively little variation, trading the extreme angles for more camera motion.
    • Tyria's armor produces metal clinking sounds as she moves. Following episodes omit this detail entirely.
    • Tyria's hair is rather conspicuously animated. In following episodes, hair animation is subtle at most. This gets zig-zagged in Episode Four — some moments have conspicuous hair animation while others don't.
• Expy: Generally averted. The series is primarily animated with Figmas, so many characters share their appearance with the figures used to represent them, however their personalities rarely match up. For instance, Yaya is represented with a Rin Tohsaka Figma, but personality-wise Yaya and Rin couldn't be more different.
  • Before the start of Tyria and Yaya, Yaya was an expy of Moonshine Animations's Cecilia — like Cecilia, Yaya was a silly but incredibly powerful and malevolent character who was also the mascot for a YouTube channel. This isn't the case anymore thanks to Characterization Marches On.
• Face Fault: In Episode Two, Tyria faints upon witnessing the Infinity Gauntlet in action.
• Hair-Contrast Duo: Tyria and Yaya.
• Hell Is That Noise: The sound effect that plays when Tyria and Yaya enter the Otherworld in Episode Four. It's the same sound as the World Engine in Man of Steel.
• Hollywood Darkness: In Episode Four, the Otherworld is made distinct from the Primeworld by its much darker background, but the foreground remains brightly lit.
• Idea Ding: At the beginning of Episode Four.
• Internal Homage: The premise of Episode One is nearly identical to this animation YayaFingerButters made more than two years prior.
  • Episode Two seemingly explains the existence of the Giant Clownfish that appeared in a few older videos on YayaFingerButters's channel.
• Limited Animation: Characters rarely move with proper walk cycles, instead sliding around on their feet.
  • This has the added effect of making moments where characters actually walk normally more poignant, such as when Yaya walks away from the Plot Device at the end of Episode Two.
• Mood Whiplash: Episode Four ends on an uneasy note. Cue the outro theme.
• Negative Continuity: Averted. Episode Two picks up right where Episode One's stinger left off.
• No-Sell: Early in Episode Two, Yaya accidentally drives her Giant Clownfish straight into an unnamed extra with enough force to send her flying. The extra doesn't even budge.
• Overly Long Gag: Tyria spends the entirety of Episode One mulling over whether or not she should activate the Plot Device. It doesn't do anything.
• Plot Device: A literal Plot Device is the subject of Episode One. It also sets off the events of Episode Two by producing a copy of the Infinity Gauntlet.
  • The Infinity Gauntlet itself might also count as this.
• Punched Across the Room: In Episode Four, Apephet punches Tyria so hard that she disappears for the remainder of the episode.
• Running Gag: In every episode she appears in, Statue Girl ends up losing her head.
• Self-Deprecation: In Episode Three, one of Yaya's hats is a piece of paper with the URL of YayaFingerButters's Patreon page written on it. The hat is intentionally cheap-looking, starkly contrasting the other more detailed paper hats, and it isn't on-screen for long before Tyria slices it in half.
• Shout-Out:
  • The main characters are both named after characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. Tyria's name was a feminine variant of Tyrion; Yaya was named after a minor character in King's Landing.
  • Yaya's nickname, "the Worker", brings to mind the Worker of Secrets.
  • The Plot Device (Episode One) and the Hat-Off (Episode Three) seem to be references to Cyanide and Happiness.
  • Episode Two's Infinity Gauntlet, natch.
  • In Episode Four, Apephet references The World a few times:
    • At one point they use The World's time-stop ability, complete with the same sound effect and the screen briefly going dark.
    • The gunshot sound effect used for their punches is the same one used for The World's punches.
• Smash Sisters: Tyria and Yaya.
• Sound-Only Death: In Episode Three, Yaya decapitates Statue Girl offscreen (to use her severed head as a hat). The audio leaves very little to the imagination.
• The Stinger:
  • Episode One's credits are briefly interrupted by a short clip of Yaya making a phone call to complain about the broken Plot Device.
  • Episode Three has an end-credits scene of a new character (later revealed to be named Atlas) kneeling before the grave of someone called "Hesperis".
• Tag Team: In Episode Four, Tyria and Yaya fight Apephet in this manner.
• Wham Line:
  Apephet: How long will you keep running from your inheritance, Daughter?
• Whip Pan:
  • In Episode Two, the camera follows Yaya and the Giant Clownfish with one of these.
  • Episode Three uses a whip pan to disguise a cut.
  • Three whip pans occur in Episode Four.