There Will Be Brawl, Episode One: Twilight Ruin

A few weeks ago, Skiltao suggested I watch the "There Will Be Brawl" web series. I did. I once thought that the only way to add this much insanity to my life this quickly was to start making friends with women. I'm pretty sure the only way to make it this enjoyable would be to have sex in front of them.

There Will Be Brawl is a web series that creates--and then exposes--the seedy underbelly of well-known Nintendo characters with exceptional dedication and insane unpredictability. It's the entire internet in ten minutes. Minus the flamewars.

It would be easy to make a Nintendo-themed web series based on a dark and gritty version of the exclusive cast the console boasts. What There Will Be Brawl does is the predictable, but with an impressive level of quality. The world is grounded so hard that both literal and metaphorical interpretations of characters can rub elbows without becoming jarring or causing any seams.

Long ago, the game was finished and the princess saved, but The Mushroom Kingdom lives on, past the credits, and past the time when its saviors are heroes. The Mario Brothers are washed-up has-beens who're trying to get by and The Princess is managing a kingdom occupied by four crime bosses while gruesome serial killings instill fear the demoralized populace.

Again, this series could have been trite and forgettable, but instead it boasts great costumes, location shots, story, and acting that put it head and shoulders above any of the other web series I've ever seen (Admittedly, this is the first web series I've ever seen.)

Favorite Thing: The Wario casting was really good. You can't buy that natural, physical sleeziness; it has to be grown in a vat by a secret Canadian agency.