Kwing's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[War.]

I remember seeing part of this on Stickpage a long time ago and not finding it very interesting. As an adult, this has a whole new meaning to me. I like the black and white graphics, though they seemed too simple for their own good at times. This Flash has a precarious balance between stick figures and fullbody at several points, and I think sometimes it harms what this is meant to be. That being said, I really like the loops/repetition in this video, it really shows what it's all about. The X, O, triangle imagery was simple but made the point.

I think the biggest flaw is that the animation is not particularly great here. Other than that, this is really impressive and powerful, though the music is rather eccentric.

[Stickz In Da Dark Ages]

This is pretty good. I like that the sticks have different weapons - it really adds to the variety. Moreover, this is impressively long for an experiment, and the movements in it are pretty smooth. I think the most impressive thing here is having done this without having animated in several years.

What I didn't like was the lack of easing. While certain movements were fluid in execution, having objects moving at consistent speeds, there wasn't a whole lot of easing or acceleration/deceleration, and at times the animation felt very segmented. Move, stop, move, stop. I'm also kind of lukewarm on the blood, which was partly smooth but overall ended up looking a little gimmicky.

[The Dojo Collab]

One of the best collabs I've ever seen. This is ridiculously smooth and you put together the best of the best when it comes to animators, making the final product unparalleled in the talent put into this and seamless in flow, given how the animations slightly overlap each other. The only problem I felt this collab had was that a lot of the parts go by a little too fast - for instance, the backdrop for the left side and center of the dojo just kind of flew in, and the initial floor of the dojo fell into place a little too easily - falling straight down rather than bouncing and knocking around. Overall this made me feel as if the final product was a little rushed and I feel like I was cheated out of a longer animation.

That being said this is totally amazing, stylish, and very refreshing as it's one of the few stick figure animations I've seen with absolutely zero violence in it. Not only do I think this is worth a favorite, I think it's worth a download.

[Stamper has no hope in NG]

The drawings are basic, but instantly recognizable. Audio quality is high, animation is minimalistic but works for the style. Overall I have to say I'm really impressed by this - after your performance in the NG Hip Hop Competition I was honestly expecting something less impressive, but you did this really well.

I must say your animation was not as funny as it aimed to be, but I never found myself grinding my teeth at tasteless jokes - rather, you made strong, succinct observations about the redesign. I think the only thing this animation is missing is something a little more entertaining rather than being informative. I liked the PsychoGoldfish reference at the end but it didn't really make me laugh.

[Brawl Taunts]

Okay, so I got that you made this in three days but it's really not anything special. The voice acting is canned and over the top, as is the writing. It wouldn't kill you to incorporate at least a LITTLE bit of subtlety into the humor. The dialogue sacrifices actual humor for cheesy lines that are merely relevant. The drawings and animations are decent especially for the little amount of time put into this, though I would have appreciated backgrounds. This didn't need anything fancy, but something more than a white screen. A few of the more crude drawings were practically bordering on spam-level.

[Animate in your Opponent]

Oh fuck. I accidentally thought Chicken Castle was done by you and this one was done by the other guy. Well good luck and damn you, both of you.

Really interesting animation here. The gradients and color scheme are not very much like your opponent's but the goofy cartoony style is imitated perfectly. While this is a little bit on the short side, I think it's a bit more interesting and a very convincing imitation.

['Chicken Castle']

Nice big animation here. Very well-done, this really looks top-notch. I think it was a little too long/slow, or perhaps lacked something immediately gripping to keep the viewer's interest. For instance, the pause before the robot crumples is a little excessive. Other than that really great job.

Room for improvement...
- Needs more short 3-4 frame loops to show a dynamic environment
- Use less symmetry
- Color outside the lines a little more, reducing brush smoothing isn't enough to imitate your opponent's style

Butzbo responds:

Yeah I agree with plenty of things; although because of deadlines there's always tons of room for improvement; I'm still glad this got to a higher level of production.

Thanks for dropping by!

[A Way Back Home]

Pretty dope. I think you might benefit from going back to basics and animating stick figures until you have easing and frame-by-frame animation down, as I noticed a few things (walking cycles, smoke effects) seemed a little rushed when honestly there's no need to do that when everything you rushed is fairly easy to do (I can animate a puff of smoke in an hour, seriously it's not hard). That being said you pay great attention to detail and have really good camera angles, as well as expressive graphics.

StejkRobot responds:

Hahah thank you man! But thinking that i dont know how to animate is a bit pretentious of you. I hope you know that this was pretty much made in a week and if you're into some animation yourself you know how much time it takes up.
As far as the smoke and effects go its a style choice. Entirely depending on that i dont like when some things are smooth and some are low fps, so i make everything the same way.

So ill let you know that i know perfectly how to put more time into an animation, you just dont like the way i do it ;)

But thank you for the high score and for taking time giving constructive criticism! The ng community is amazing<3

['Save the Sock']

Far too scatterbrained in my opinion. The lack of sound effects and proper easing make it kind of hard to follow what's going on as well as making it more difficult to feel engaged in the animation. The graphics and animation both have a very rough, incomplete style to them which is more of a style than a distinction of quality, but does not necessarily have to be as hoshposh as you made it (Mindchamber does the same thing with greater attention to movements). Quite interesting but I honestly have no idea what I just watched.

Butzbo responds:

Yeah, This was my first submission for this year's NATA tournament of animatiors and it was made in a rush within 3 days just in case it would qualify to enter the tournament.
That may explain why is it so erratic on its execution; If you check some of the latest submissions I've worked on, the overall animation and narrative gets a bit better.

Still, I'm hoping to take the time to tweak this one a bit (adding sounds and improving some of the animations) .

Thanks for the review, always glad to get all sorts of feedback in my animations!

[Silhouette Showdown]

Damn this is funny. The graphics are nice - look just like the originals, and I like that you use the original soundtrack too. Everything here is a wonderfully accurate rehashing of the original. The animation itself is decent, but a few of the movements lack proper easing, especially when the spear is thrown (there is absolutely no acceleration showing it being thrown).

Solid tribute and parody but obviously not on par with the original.