A couple years ago I stumbled across some animated Resident Evil spoof videos by a female Youtube user named ShadowLeggy (yes, girl geek power!), and I was blown away. Like ItsJustSomeRandomGuy (Marvel/DC), every video she put up was golden …
Well, at least they were. After awhile ShadowLeggy stopped uploading quality videos (which often took the form of ingenious musical parodies)—videos that made Resident Evil light-hearted and funny, which isn’t easy to pull off, while still showing respect to and love of the video game series. But things started to go downhill. ShadowLeggy stopped putting up well-done videos that were full of effort and started uploading ones that only appealed to her and her friends—and they didn’t make sense to anyone else. Like inside jokes? (They’re never as funny as you think they are.)
I continuously wondered whether ShadowLeggy recognized why she kept having to defend herself. In my opinion, the Youtube fame of her videos went to her head and she got sloppy. Her videos weren’t funny anymore because they felt rushed and not nearly as creative as they used to be. In her video summaries she started berating the people who watched her videos—telling them if they didn’t like it, to basically go screw themselves because she didn’t care—instead of thanking them for views and being gracious that people loved her work.
I kept my subscription, and hoped that someday I would see a worthwhile ShadowLeggy video again … And my faith was rewarded! Just a few days ago ShadowLeggy put up a great, fun video that reminds me why I fell in love with her videos in the first place: her animation style and her ability to put a fresh spin on the Resident Evil series. And while this new video (in which ShadowLeggy ponders why Chris Redfield is in Africa in RE5 to the beat of Guns N’ Roses’s hit, “Welcome to the Jungle”) isn’t quite up to par, it’s a good new start and a hopeful sign that better things may follow!
To show you why I love her (old) work so much, here’s some classic blasts from her animation past! 
They’re chock full of awesome references from the whole RE series and guaranteed to get stuck in your head—in a GOOD way!
You can check out ShadowLeggy’s Youtube channel here. There are dozens of excellent videos—not only relating to RE, but other games like Silent Hill and Final Fantasy!
ENJOY! Even if you haven’t played all or most of the Resident Evil games, you’re sure to pick up on some things—and the videos are just funny to begin with!
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Darn work for blocking YouTube. I am going to have to watch this when I get home. =(
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:36 pm
Oh nos! Bad work!
September 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 pm
Hehe… very cute. I like the “I’m so excited” one the best out of these.
September 4th, 2008 at 6:28 am
The problem with animating, especially comedy is that not everything is everyone’s taste. The prob is net sees a lot of complaints when people aren’t happy about how something is done
Just look at newgrounds and at all the blams/low scores people give out. That kinda thing (especially for a creative person) can be devestatingly discouraging. Even some of the best web TV shows etc get silly criticism over goofy stuff sometimes
Especially tough if you start off with a series on the same theme. So I can kinda understand people getting frustrated when they’re not allowed to branch out and do other stuff because people Really liked the one thing. Its kinda like typecasting sorta and some people might get angry because of that and make things more to their own tastes rather than anything else :\
September 4th, 2008 at 6:37 am
Leggy’s creativity was what made her work so special—she certainly had dozens of awesome and highly creative pieces. The problem was that after awhile she was just making low-quality things—her animation wasn’t as good, there wasn’t as much effort—and they were full of things specifically designed for a small group of friends. I’m not saying she couldn’t do that, I’m just saying that’s virtually all she was doing for awhile. And the main thing was that her work was just sloppy—you could tell the difference dramatically.
And when she would make these videos, her basic attitude towards her viewers—whom you think she’d want to encourage to watch more of her stuff and welcome them—was, “This is for my friends, and if you don’t like it then I don’t care, screw you.”
So her work had become low-quality and she just didn’t care about her viewers anymore—not just because she was making things solely for her friends’ amusement and no one else’s, but because she was berating the people who had loved her work and wanted to see more of that awesome stuff.
There was no way anyone except that tight group of friends of hers could appreciate or, half the time, understand the stuff in her videos because they only made sense to her and a small group of people. And yet she seemed to be demanding people to love the stuff or get out. She began to get a lot of hate comments (NOT from me, I don’t do that)—and her solution was simply to continue to ignore her viewers and to block comments, only allow GOOD reviews, etc.
September 4th, 2008 at 11:03 am
I’m actually very supportive of Newground’s blam system. I think it’s actually very good for creative people. It helps you grow as an artist to see how you rank against other people, and the taste of many. I think too many “creative” sites take the ‘Mom’ approach in critiquing artwork (i.e. That’s nice dear!). I think honest criticism is the best way to grow as an artist. How are you going to know where you’re failing in your art if no one will point out the bad stuff? I find that’s one of the troublesome aspects of art on the net is that most people want to share their art with the world, but don’t want the world to share their opinion unless it’s positive (i.e. the Mom Critique). That’s one of the things that bothers me most about Deviant Art is that the most minor criticism can often lead to unwarranted outbursts. Newgrounds is refreshing in that respect, at least in my opinion.
That being said, I don’t really think this is a forum for criticism, and I’ll refrain from commenting on the videos themselves.
September 4th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I love these! Amazing..seriously…I might have just peed a little.
September 4th, 2008 at 2:45 pm
The problem with criticizing art is that it is meaningless to do so. Art is just a different reality to different people. I mean, you turn a Prince song on for me and I’m taken out of my body with joy… but you play it to a Metallica headbanger and they’ll just shrug and call Prince gay. There’s no value for the Metallica fan to critique a Prince song, and vice versa.
Same for animation- some people hate World of Warcraft’s graphics as too “cartoony”, but as a former developer I see the brilliance of taking the 2D world of Warcraft III into a breathing 3D environment and I’m stunned at how they pulled it off so perfectly. On the flip side, if WoW had ‘photorealistic” graphics, I’d hate it- it wouldn’t be appropriate to the game environment. Yet others would immediately claim the game to be the best ever.
Critics, as always, are useless to anyone but themselves! Only you can judge entertainment’s value accurately for your own taste- even trying to find a “similar” critic isn’t going to work… unless they are your exact clone!
September 4th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
Bah- I forgot one other thing I wanted to comment on.
So, this is me siding with Prince (as usual =P), but while I find things like this highly creative and fun, it is still illegal- it’s against copyright law. The person doing the video doesn’t have the rights to use the song in such a manner, only the artist can determine how their work is portrayed. Often misunderstood, “fair use” does not apply.
Prince is currently “taking on the internet” with a strong DMCA takedown approach, anywhere from YouTube to eBay and fan sites who are in violation of unauthorized use of his songs and images. Of course, he’s being wrongfully accused of “suing” his fans, but a DMCA takedown is not being sued. In fact, a woman on YouTube actually sued HIM (Universal) to try to keep a video up… but she’s going to lose, because she’s on the wrong side of the law.
In an ideal world, people would be using their creativity fully- their own music with their own animation. After all, if you were an artist, would you want people taking your intellectual property and using it in ways you don’t approve of? Most people would say no.
Anyways, just another aspect of this story- the legal side. Not sure if people have considered that, is all I’m sayin’. =D
June 30th, 2009 at 4:15 am
Oh noez, phree publicity, sue them all!
July 11th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
Umm,what is wrong with her work again? I find nothing wrong with it at all and the fact that you think its bad makes you look like some pampered pooch who has bad taste in what IS good. Leggy’s videos are good, old and new. If you don’t like her videos then just get the fuck out because she has worked so hard for her fans and is one of the very few animators who actually listens and responds to her fans. Maybe not on her channel but if you go to her site or even PM her with a message that deserves it, she will respond. She has made videos to thank the fans and answer there questions. You don’t want to see that probably because your a stuck-up bitch who is jealous of Leggy’s skills and you think that this is the time to mock her. I don’t believe you are a fan of Leggy, because if you were you would see the positives and see what she has done for her fans and the hardwork she is doing now. She is in Finland right now getting her animation up and I think ALL of her videos are good.
Obviously, your little blog or article or whatever you want to call it is missing some research no….your missing A LOT of research, and because of that I hope you burn, she does this as a hobby and she puts a ton of effort in it too. Effort, that is lacking in your article. Get your facts first, because you failed at this criticism.