Hey there everyone, DeepRising here with the Weekly Newsletter and competitions.

We had a fantastic response to our two week competition “Fall 2024 Sudomemo F.F.C.”.

And you’ll be delighted to hear, after much deliberation from our panel of special guest judges, we can now announce the results.

Fall 2024 Sudomemo F.F.C. - Flipnote Fight Competition

First of all, let's introduce the judges:

Hyun - That one Dojo guy. Animationing for over 15 years.

YUNERO - Flipnote veteran. Been animating in Hyun’s Dojo for 10 years and been watching stick figure animations for even longer.

Hatena360 - The collab guy, born and raised in Flipnote Hatena USA.

Sopple - Silly Dojo mod, Dojo historian, and Dojo cat enthusiast. Hater of Hyun. Lover of Dojo.

CerealBowlby - Current Dojo noob and long-time Sudomemo member. Always impressed by a good stick fight.

Competition Results

Now let's explore the top victors and hear what the judges had to say about each animation:

1st Place

ほむらvs魔獣 by NightStar

This impressive animation was awarded first place with two gold medals.

Yunero: “I absolutely love the scenes of full body anime and stick figures coming together in this animation, similar to [Versus (2) by Ninry], but these were actually colored! I’m continually amazed by how people manage to work within the limitations of the software, in fact it’s always been a head scratcher how some flipnotes just tend to be forgiving in how space can be managed (referring to [Versus (2) by Ninry]) it just felt like there was so much here that felt like would’ve caused the space bar to be depleted much faster. The effects especially the impacts and smoke were really good here, the music felt in line with the fight too and that’s always a plus.”

Sopple: “This entry’s animation took “spectacular” to the next level, keeping me in awe with what can be done with Flipnote’s limited program. Big, beautiful attacks kept me entertained like how fireworks burst in the night sky. The animation is as smooth as melted butter, and the well-animated effects surrounding the characters help sell this entry as a powerful fight for me, powerful enough for gold.”

2nd Place

Versus (2) by Ninry

Very close behind in second place, comes Ninry’s Versus (2), winning one bronze, one silver, and one gold medal.

Hyun: This animation was just done so CLEAN and it has the highest quality and most finished look out of all the entries. The anime aesthetics worked really well with the fullbody-cutscenes and the huge anticipation before the 2 characters clashing in between hits made everything look that much more powerful. I’d say the only thing that would be lacking in this entry from taking first-second place for me was I wanted to see some more advanced choreography/close quarters combat in between the big clashes/hits. The effects really pushed this animation into new heights and it well deserves the Bronze spot for me.

Yunero: This and [White vs Black 2 by HALU] were close in my opinion but I had to give Silver to this one, it was so good. My favorite touch is just the moving line in the background representing the speed at which they are traveling throughout the fight. Having such a fast fight complimented by a fast music track and the beginning where it cut to close up anime characters were nice added touches too. N1n continues to show that he’s still got it after all this time, and I’m really happy to see them continue doing this stuff. However I could tell that the 2nd half of the animation started to fall a bit (likely due to the OP saying that space was running out for the flipnote as said in the animation’s comments) Overall amazing entry!

CerealBowlby: This animation takes it a step beyond. Rather than being confined to a single, 2-D plane, the combat extends to a battlefield and Ninry uses the singular, thin line of the horizon to create a great sense of speed. The effects and debris are incredibly well-animated, and I'm a big fan of how the close-ups on the characters show a more fleshed-out appearance. The instances where we zoom in and see more detailed, anime-styled renditions of the combatants do not distract or overshadow the rest of the fight, and one thing I liked is that I can identify characteristics from the stick fighters that match the close-ups. Being able to see who is who is an added bonus! Great choice of music for this type of fight, the rapid notes in the background really help give the fight that speedy feeling. Gold!

3rd Place - Tied

Tied 3rd Place: 1 vs 10 by C2

Tying for 3rd place, we have 1 vs 10 by C2, which was awarded one gold medal and two bronze.

Hyun: I’m a huge sucker for advanced and good fight choreography and this entry does it the BEST out of all the other entries and I do think it deserves the gold. This may have not been the flashiest animation with the best effects but the quality of animation and choice of moves within the choreography is far beyond all the others. The subtle foot movements between fighters, the range of move-sets used, the realistic grappling, the showcase of weapons, just everything was done in a masterful way and this was the animation that just kept me hooked all the way through. There are shortcomings to this animation though as it doesn’t have much to show other than the 2.D. fighting where as the some other entries went full creative with different angled shots, super powers, and speed, but I do believe this shows the most technical skill when it comes to showing the art of the “fight” and I think that's what FFC is all about!

Hatena360: While the choreography is great, C2 always excels in choreo so there’s no surprise there. I’m only ranking this bronze because it’s not much different from their other flipnotes. I want to encourage improvement in not only skill, but also creativity. This doesn’t mean I expect extreme angles and perspective like most flipnote stick fight animators lean towards, but compared to their last Flipnote the only thing different is the main fighter is fighting more people. More is fine if that’s how you want to continue off of your last animation, but there’s nothing else that makes me want to come back. The choreo is really good and the footwork is much better than what most animators can pull off in this community but I want to encourage C2 to explore more routes to their animations. I can’t say it’s interesting outside of choreography.

Sopple: This animation, though it may seem simple, really impressed me in its attention to choreography. Coming from a stick-figure animation community, the simplicity of a stick-figure allows an animator to spend more time to focus on their actions rather than the complexity of an entire character. This entry is a perfect example of that principle, and my one and only gripe is that it wasn’t as creatively ambitious in other aspects of the animation. And still, this animation definitely deserves to be in the top 3 for me.

Tied 3rd place: White vs Black -2- by HALU

This action packed entry was awarded one bronze and two silver medals.

Yunero: One of the 5th tied entries from Spring 2024! So glad to see it here and I’m happy to want to put it on the spotlight with this bronze placement! The transformations on their arms and eventually their entire bodies were my favorite part of the animation. White it didn’t have much effects such as smoke or many impacts. I really liked the UI-like interfaces around the time they were transforming. One minor issue I see is that while I understand that music buildup is good it was showing a lot of things away from the actual fight and the drop took half the animation. But I know there isn’t much time the software allows to play music and such, but imagine if there was no limit at all, I’d think people like this guy could pull off some amazing stuff!

Hatena360: I think there is a lot of improvement from their last FFC entry! I love seeing how animators change and improve over time. Every movement is large and clear, which a lot of Flipnote animators struggle to do. We are given enough time to actually tell what’s happening. I feel what most Flipnote animators do is cram as much action into a single Flipnote as possible, but with all of the extreme limitations that come with Flipnote Studio there become a lot more sacrifices in doing so. Primarily clarity and weight. HALU succeeds in telling us the actions very clearly because they take the proper time to communicate those actions with anticipation and good pacing. I think their stick figures could use more polish but overall, pretty good! A great example of clarity, anticipation, and pacing.

CerealBowlby: This is an all around stick fight, and one that features one of my favorite archetypes of fighters: shape-shifters! Intense music, great visual effects, well-thought out movement, and incorporating the beat drops of the song into the action? Superb! I had a huge smile on my face watching the action. There may not be a ton of complex angles, but HALU's animation doesn't need them to be thrilling. If anything it makes the part where one of the combatants is flung around feel much more dynamic. The transformation sequences and power-ups were clean, I love characters that suddenly morph into powerful and complex laser-artillery. Silver!

Honorable Mentions

While there are only prizes for first, second and third place, the judges also awarded a number of medals to other amazing entries. Here are our honorable mentions.

Antanatol by Numba 5

This creatively colorful entry was awarded a gold medal from Hatena360:

Hatena360: I love seeing people do new stuff in Flipnote since most of what I see nowadays looks the same. It’s hard to tell most Flipnote stick fight animators apart because their styles all look the same. Numba 5 uses colors to their absolute advantage to set them apart. This entry in this season’s FFC stood out to me the most not just because of the colors, but HOW they used them. The colors almost act as another character that the sticks have to interact with and help lead the action. It’s not often people use white sticks over colored backgrounds for an entire Flipnote, especially since using colors in Flipnote Studio tends to take up a lot more space than the typical white and black animations. I’d love to see more people use Flipnote Studio like Numba 5 does here. It’s different, clear, and interesting. This was the only entry that very clearly felt like it belonged in my top 3. Great job!

FFC 2024 Bam Zhu vs Rayize by MⒶZOkidox

Part1:

This dynamic two part animation was awarded a silver medal by Sopple.

Sopple: The different angles in this fight were really impressive for me, and is especially entertaining when synced alongside the choice of music. The run cycle in perspective at the beginning caught my attention as well, and even the fight with the weapons sort of warping around is something different that I did not see in the other animations, almost like a fight you would have in a dream.

-{ D VS A }- by dermo.....

Awarded a silver medal from Hyun, this energetic animation keeps us on the edge of our seat.

Hyun: This animation was one of my favorites just because there was so much packed into this little action sequence. The whole fight was action packed, showcasing different angles, impressive effects, big beefy anticipation hits, speed, and on top of all that really good music sync. Just so much to look at and appreciate so I think it belongs in Silver. It didn’t have the best, smoothest animation, but it ticked the most boxes when it comes to having a nice action packed fight animation. Just very impressed that this amount of animation was done in such a short time span!

Acro breaks Rust by Acro

Finally, this animation by Acro won a bronze medal from CerealBowlby

CerealBowlby: We all know what it's like to get rusty at something we previously were really good at. If this is Acro with rust, I'd like to see them tackle this one again after a good warm-up! Dialogue between characters in a stick fight shouldn't take up a lot of space, a quick one-liner or two presents a comedic effect that adds to the vibe of the fight. One reason why I want to highlight this fight is the creative use of slowing down/freezing time near the end of the fight. Whether it was done to save time or to maintain sanity, the effect is fun and awesome. Watching the animation of the opponents go from full swing and ease into a frozen pose in mid air was very creative. It makes me wonder what kind of combos we could see with a fighter who freezes time like that? Maybe we'll see after Acro cleans off some of that rust. Bronze!

New FFC YouTube Short Overlays

Wow, what excellent winners, and thrilling results those were.

And here's some more great news for all you YouTube posters!

We've added two new YouTube short overlays for people to use to share their FFC submissions on YouTube.

Enjoy!

Sudomemo Fundraising

Now a quick word about our ongoing fund raising activities.

We're still trying to raise more cash this month for additional Sudomemo expenditures.

If you would like to make a donation then Sudomemo Patreon is the way to go! It will really help with the upkeep and running of Sudomemo, and there’s loads of special rewards to enjoy.

Here's the link to our Sudomemo Patreon site:

https://www.patreon.com/Sudomemo

Why not check it out! And thank you so much for all your support.

And finally, on with this week’s Topic.

This Weeks Topic - "Halloween"

Happy Spook-tober everyone, it’s Halloween!

The time of year for ghosts and ghoulies, witches and monsters, jack-o-lanterns, trick or treating, and a host of other fun, nail biting traditions.

And we’re joining in the celebrations with this hair-raising topic and invite you all to take part.

Scare us ridgid with a creepy, spine tingling topic entry for this terrifying time of year.

It could be about any aspect of Halloween you like. Or in fact anything else scary at all!

How about a terrifying tale, a haunted MV, a cartoon monster mash-up, or a movie inspired jumpscare!

The choice is yours…….”Mwa, ha, harrrrrr!!!”

We really love the way you're all so creative with these topics and look forward to seeing the Flipnotes you create for them.

Make sure to post your entries to the Weekly Topic channel Weekly Topic - Halloween 2024 and the deadline for your entries is the 3rd of November (12pm EST / 4pm GMT).

We would also encourage you to add a description to your Flipnotes. This is your opportunity to explain any points of interest and specific details that we could feature in the topic winner reviews.

And don't forget, if you want a cool thumbnail picture on your Flipnote, whichever frame you save the Flipnote on, that will become the thumbnail. So choose your favorite frame for this, or add in a cool title page at the end, and save on that.

Keep on Flipnoting and the best of luck with your entries.

Upcoming Topics

Topic - Barbecues (November 3rd)

Topic - Bubbles (November 10th)

Topic - Waxwork Museums (November 17th)

Topic - Thanksgiving & Harvest Festivals (November 24th)