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8-Bit Theater8-Bit Theater is a sprite comic created by Brian Clevinger based on the game Final Fantasy by Square. The comic was launched on March 2, 2001. (It has been stated by the author, however, that the comic was started between mid-late January of the year 2001.) Those who have played the original Final Fantasy will note that 8-Bit Theater follows the storyline of Final Fantasy, but the places traveled to and the enemies fought are the only real similarities. For example, Garland, the first boss in Final Fantasy, is pictured as horribly un-evil for a nemesis. This is derived from the fact that Garland is a fairly easy boss in the original game. Also, the comic has a really unique sense of humor. Art In general the art in the comic is taken from the game Final Fantasy, particularly the characters and most of the foreground scenery. However some backgrounds and objects are taken from different sources. The comic author has previously stated that most are obtained from Google. All editing of the backgrounds and addition of word balloons and text are performed in Adobe Photoshop. The sprites used in the comic are a mix of FF1, FF2j & FF3j sprites, as well as an additional assortment of sprite edits & artifical sprites created with Corel_PhotoPaint 3.0 (a Windows 3.0/3.1 art program). Characters The events in 8-Bit Theater revolve around 4 central characters, the Light Warriors, and a number of minor ones. These characters are quite obviously exaggerated RPG stereotypes. The main characters comprise of: - Fighter McWarrior - A skilled warrior/idiot savant with an almost singleminded sword fixation. More intelligent than he appears, but is also able to lower the intelligence of those around him with his sheer incompetence. He's also the idealizer of the sword-chuck, a weapon consisting of two swords attached to each other by a chain extending between the two—a combination of twin swords and a nunchuck. The joke is that you would likely cripple yourself using it, since you wield nunchucks holding their ends. The sword-chuck is also mentioned in several other webcomics as well as a quest in World of Warcraft, a MMORPG.
- Black Mage Evilwizardington - A chaotic, egotistical, power hungry, murderous wizard who hates everyone in the group/in general, especially Fighter, but keeps him around anyway--both as a meatshield, and because he just has trouble killing the armored fellow. His "hadoken" attack, usable once a day, is powered by love; specifically, it drains love from the universe when used; Black Mage claims the divorce rates shoot up with every Hadoken cast.
- Thief, Clan Khee'Bler - A diabolically skilled thief and lawyer who is also Prince of Elfland. Early in the storyline he stole to fund a cure for his father's illness; once this was resolved, he continued stealing because he could. Being a prince, he has command of a group of law-ninja which help him enforce the various binding contracts he has over the team.
- Red Mage - Second name undisclosed, this character fully understands he is in a stat-based RPG, and acts accordingly and fully within the rules of such reality, often to the continued befuddlement of the team. The strategist of the group, his plans often fail horribly due to the general laws of physics/other people. Red Mage's special talent is manipulating his stats at a moments notice, through his character sheet. Whether these actually do anything, or whether he is simply scribbling notes on his character sheet is debatable.
Supporting characters include: Allies (kind of) - White Mage - A priestess, she is on a mission to help the Light Warriors succeed, apparently to accomplish her destiny. There is ongoing tension with Black Mage's lustful attraction to her, and her prompt responses (often with her hammer), although it may be revealed that he cannot control himself.
- Black Belt - A martial artist, he is capable of defying the laws of physics by misunderstanding them, leading to getting lost while walking down a straight corridor by warping the fabric of space and thusly creating a clone with a 5-second time differential. Assigned to guard White Mage on her mission, killed fighting Kary.
- King Steve - The King of Corneria, the father of Princess Sara, and a crazy man who rules his country as a capricious despot out of pure madness. He's more a simpleton than anything else. Among other things, he's devastated its territory in an attempt to drill for mana (regardless of the fact that you can't find mana that way), issued laws preventing anyone from criticizing his perfect rule, and had babies skinned in order to make leather for his shoes. He was the one who first recruited the Light Warriors.
- Sarda - Omnipotent wizard and the Wizard Who Did It; accidently sent White Mage to the beginning of the universe, stopped time, and unsuccessfuly spent 734 years trying to teach Black Mage the concept of "self-sacrifice".
The Dark Warriors - Garland - First villain faced by the Light Warriors; is not very self-confident, and overanxious to please/serve his supposed "enemies", had to be assisted by Princess Sara, who he had kidnapped. Formed the Dark Warriors and began a propaganda campaign against the Light Warriors. Garland is currently wrestling with trying to control his various phobias concerning forest imps, the weakest creatures in the world.
- Bikke - Pirate Captain and very cheap; killed his crew by feeding them nothing but Cheetos until they succumbed to scurvy, surrendered his ill-repaired ship to the Light Warriors and spent the saved money gambling. Second to join the Dark Warriors, he desires to be called "the Claw", despite having two functional hands. Cannot swim, despite being a captain.
- Drizz'l - Dark Elf, sword master and equal to Fighter, trainer/controller of the Marsh Swamp's spiders and third to join the Dark Warriors after being mauled and left for dead by the Light Warriors (a parody in name of fictional dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden). His swords were stolen by fighter and named Slashy and Stabby.
- Vilbert the Vampire - A goth vampire, final member of the Dark Warriors. Is equal to Red Mage in role-playing intensity, although he prefers live-action roleplaying, as compared to RM's stat-based lifestyle. After being somehow resurrected from having the Armoire of Invincibility driven through his heart ( "The mightiest stake in all the land!"), he was invited by Garland to join the Dark Warriors.
Enemies - Evil Princess Sara - The other side of Princess Sara; sharp, assertive, and very short-tempered, she is a sword-master and the grudging assistant of Garland until his defeat, after which she returned to Corneria and her father. Evil Princess Sara also runs an infrequently updated advice column.
- Matoya - Blind witch, she sends the Light Warriors on a side-quest to regain her orb and poisons them to insure they do; upon retrieval, she bestows the Armoire of Invincibility to Fighter, due to a mishearing.
- King Astos of the Dark Elves - Father of D'rizzl, tried to steal Elfish throne by poisoning Thief's father and bribing the doctor to hide the truth; died of a heart attack due to a pre-battle taunt by Black Mage.
- Lich King - Lord of Death, Earth Fiend, holder of the Earth Orb, and Father of Vilbert; killed Black Mage and was later dragged into Hell because of it.
- Kary - 6-armed, psychotic half-snake/half-woman, blade master/pyromancer, Fire Fiend and holder of Fire Orb; killed Black Belt and was afterwards stuffed in a Bag of Holding, completely frozen, and then shattered.
- Mrr'grrt- An evil Piscodemon.
- Lzh'lhe- Another evil Piscodemon.
External links
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