The LoadingReadyRumble 2
As our 11th complete season comes to a close, we decided the best way to remember everyone's favourite sketch characters was to have them brutally kill each other for our amusement. Or something.
Vital Statistics
Date: December 30, 2014
Category: Shorts
Appearing: Kathleen De Vere, James Turner, Cameron Lauder, Jeremy Petter, Paul Saunders, Graham Stark, Alex Steacy, Brendan "Beej" Dery, Andrew Cownden, Tally Heilke, Missie Peters, Dale Friesen, Morgan vanHumbeck, Ben Wilkinson, Tim Sevenhuysen, Matt Wiggins, Creepy Doll, Spot the Dog
Writing: Graham Stark, LoadingReadyRun
Camera: Graham Stark, James Turner, Kathleen De Vere
Music: Bradley Rains
Edited by: Graham Stark, Kathleen De Vere
Executive Producers: Andrew "Omega Lairon" Paye, Rachel Bradford and Christian "Imat" Johnson
Synopsis
Ashleigh (Kathleen), Megaman (Paul), and David Van Der Punch (James) wake up in an apparently deserted city. A gravelly voice (Axe Hand, played by Jer) announces over a series of loudspeakers that they and several others have been brought here "for a little fun and games". The transmission is broken up by static and interference, and the next part of the message sounds as if it is commanding them all to fight to the death. At Megaman's suggestion, the three resolve to team up.
Elsewhere in the city, in an indoor parking deck, Krog, Torg, and Hurk (Graham, Beej, and Alex respectively) come across El Salvador (Paul). Krog convinces Hurk to attempt to initiate contact, but El Salvador immediately pulls him into a headlock and snaps his neck. While Krog and Torg flee, Gridiron appears and confronts El Salvador. Though the two start off by trading threats, El Salvador begins to admit his respect for Gridiron, as if he is about to suggest they work together. However, before he can finish, the two are sniped by Kane and Crowthorn (Kathleen and Alex, respectively).
Elsewhere, Nigel Fitzgerald Brouwer (Paul) is expounding on the history of large deathmatches held by villains and lunatics. He is interrupted by Satan (Dale), who attempts to intimidate him. However, Nigel explains that Satan is a marketing gimmick of the Coca-Cola company, causing him to vanish. He is then killed by a mysterious green force projected by an unseen entity.
Natasha Stone (Tally) is tending to the two children she had with her then-husband, a piece of toast, when she is killed by two inflatable Santas, who are then in turn killed by the same green force that killed Nigel.
Back in the parking deck, Seth McDebit (Matt) runs into an Arstozkan border guard (Andy), who denies him entry to the parking deck (despite them already being there) and then shoots him on the grounds that he is also denied exit.
Megaman, Ashleigh, and David run into the Dave's Spokesman (Graham), who implies that he has already killed his former employer, Dave. David feels threatened and strangles him.
Questionably Legal Man is in the middle of telling Definitely Illegal Boy that they'll have to stick together when Definitely Illegal Boy shivs him without remorse. In turn, he is vaporized by Lord Thurmros Dragonsoul (Graham), who then begins discussing the ethics of using magic lethally with Belnan Lornweaver (Paul) when they are also picked off by Kane and Crowthorn.
Ice Tray and Killahbyte (both played by Morgan) encounter one another and engage in a rap battle. Killahbyte's verse is so good that it causes Ice Tray's head to explode; while he is celebrating, he becomes so elated that his head also explodes.
The Couch Guy (James) wakes up to find the Stand-Up Guy (Tim) serenading him. The former strangles the latter before being shot by Savoy and Chevalier (Cam and Missy, respectively).
The cultists (Kathleen, Cam, Matt, and Paul) beat Muscles Santa to death before being killed by the strange green force.
Megaman, Ashleigh, and David encounter the Surgeon General (Cam), whom David knocks out with a single punch. Confused and angry, he then suggests to the other two that they hide until someone else comes to the city to alleviate the situation. Ashleigh snaps his neck, claiming that he was "slowing us down" and that they need to focus on winning the "game". She is suddenly killed by the strange green force, but Megaman runs before he meets the same fate.
Savoy, Chevalier, Kane, and Crowthorn run across one another. When they realize that they have trapped themselves in the spot where they are standing with a complex network of mines, shaped charges, traps, and snipers, they realize that there is no way out without dying and shoot each other amicably. Megaman witnesses their suicide before encountering Jonny (Graham). The two trace the loudspeakers to the boiler room of a nearby building, where they meet Axe-hand, who reveals that he never intended there to be a deathmatch; his original message, lost in the static, was actually a request to chop a large amount of firewood. Jonny turns to the camera and says, "This is when I black out." He blacks out and wakes up on a bench by the ocean with what appears to be blood on his face and hands. However, Megaman and Axe-hand appear and reveal that he apparently entered a kind of trance state and chopped all the firewood by himself. The "blood" is actually jelly from the sandwiches the three made afterwards. Megaman and Jonny are then killed by the green force, which is revealed to be the work of Derek, who sneaks into the woods alone.
The stinger was recorded live on LoadingReadyRun's Twitch.tv channel, where the video first premiered. It shows Creepy Doll and Spot the Dog (puppeteered by Kathleen and Graham, respectively) complaining that the crew forgot to put them in the video; Creepy Doll says ominously that he will "make it up to them."
List of References to the LRR Canon
- The video is a sequel to The LoadingReadyRumble, and follows the same format in that it consists of a deathmatch between various characters from previous LRR sketches. These include:
- Megaman from Who You Gonna Call? and Super Ripoff
- David vanderPunch from MEN
- Ashleigh from Sigma Theta Delta
- Axe Hand from The Basement
- The Cultists from Discount Deities and later Rapidfire.
- Questionably Legal Man and Definitely Illegal Boy from Questionably Legal Man
- Krog, Torg, and Herc from Krogslist
- El Salvador and Gridiron from MEN
- Kane and Crowthorne from Mercenary Solutions
- Kane and Crowthorne's European counterparts, Savoy and Chevalier from Rapidfire 3
- Nigel Fitzgerald Brouwer from the The Whole Story series.
- The Devil from 106.7 The Drive and Back It Up
- Toast's Former Partner from The Secret Life of Toast (joined by a pair of small, brown Rye Toastlings, presumably the children of her relationship with Rye).
- Inflatable Santa's from War of Christmas
- Seth McDebit from Seth McDebit
- Arstotzkan Immigration Inspector from Papers, Please
- Belnan Lornweaver and Lord Thurmros Dragonsoul from Wizard Chat
- Jonny from Jonny
- Derek of The Warriors of Darkness
- The Couch Guy from The Couch
- The Stand-Up Guy from the Stand-Up Guy
- Muscles Santa
- KillahByte
- Ice Tray of 64K
- Dave's Spokesman from Rapidfire 3: Episode 1 and What's Going On?
- The Surgeon General from Doctors Hate Her
- While not appearing, there is a line which references The Return of the Bill and Scout's Dishonor, giving dues to Bill Watt.
- The music playing during the video's establishing shots is originally from Strip Search.
- The plot mirrors that of the video's predecessor in a number of ways beyond the basic premise. Several apparently "weak" characters, such as Ashleigh or Nigel, turn out to be among the most resilient or powerful combatants, much like the PC's World of Warcraft rampage. Though they are playing characters instead of themselves, Graham and Paul are still the ones to finally confront the video's "antagonist", and the same final showdown ends anticlimactically.
Trivia
- The ultimate fates of Krog and Torg, the Arstozkan border guard, the Surgeon General, Axe-hand, and Derek are left unknown.
- The symbol of the Simic guild from the Ravnica plane in Magic: the Gathering can be seen on the back of David Van Der Punch's beanie. This is likely simply because other than the logo the beanie suited the character's costume well, though it it certainly possible that Van Der Punch is a semi-closeted Magic player.
- Production error: Kathleen is visible in multiple shots of Ice Tray during his battle with KillahByte; she was holding a teleprompter for Morgan.
- The credits initially credited James twice.
- With sixteen actors, this video is tied with CommodoreHUSTLE 008 - Investigation for having the most actors (not counting Creepy Doll & Spot the Dog) of any LRR video.
- This is one of James' and Ian's favorite sketches
 Season Eleven Shorts ◀ ●∙∙∙A Little Drummer Boy CommodoreHUSTLE 041 - Downtime ∙∙∙● ▶
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