Photo credits: Liza Wilson
In the age of YouTube stars, it’s tough to determine who has real talent and who just might have swung and hit the sweet spot of the platform’s audience. This is particularly true in a field like animation. It seems like every yutz with ears is making animation these days, but, like any artistic discipline, the cream eventually rises to the top.
Scribble Showdown Contestants
Such is the case with the lineup that made up the latest run of Scribble Showdown, a live show featuring some of the most popular online animators: The Odd1sOut, Australia’s RubberRoss (also known as RubberNinja, Jaiden’s Animations, and Domics. The show, essentially a game show pitting the four against each other, is hosted by Arin Joseph Hanson, better known as Egoraptor. Via audience participation, the four are challenged to create an image which is then judged by applause.
The fans seemed to appreciate seeing their heroes on stage as opposed to the small (or very small) screen, and all four made the transition adeptly. Their distinctive styles meshed well under Hanson’s direction providing for an entertaining evening, even for those (many of the parents who brought younger audience members) not familiar with any of the artists.
Hanson kept things moving at a good pace, demonstrating impressive game show hosting skills. However, the show’s finale seemed to drag a bit. The premise was clever enough and, like the rest of the show, gave a presentation unique to the host city.
In a Mad Libs-style construction, audience members provided details about local culture, landmarks, and so on, along with answers to questions centered on pop culture in general. The four animators then teamed up to create the components of an animated short containing all of the elements provided by the audience.
As the artists worked, and their animations were fed backstage into the template, Hanson worked to keep the crowd entertained with mixed results. At one point, he got the wave going. The resulting short was serviceable and got a few laughs but was less than the sum of its parts.
The crowd went home happy, though, having gotten to see a different side of the artists they follow so closely online.
PF Wilson has been writing about music, TV, radio, and movies for over 20 years. He has also written about sports, business, and politics with his work appearing in Cincinnati CityBeat, The Houston Press, Cleveland Scene, Cincinnati Magazine, Cincy Magazine, Atomic Ranch, and many more. Check out his podcast PF’s Tape Recorder available from Podbean or in iTunes.