Why are Bowling Animations so Weird?

So what gives the bowling alley screen that uncanny feeling? Well, it might have something to do with the bizarre and surreal qualities of its animations.
MUSIC USED:
Dorian Concept - 'Hide (CS01 Version)
School - Petscop OST
Greetings from "PilotRedSun - Achievement Part I (Piano Cover)" - Weemusark
(the rest is pilotredsun)
TIME STAMPS:
intro 00:00
Prologue 00:52
Bowling Animations 03:14
Weird Animations 15:27
outro 35:51

[@lugalan]

Correction: the character "Ratboy Genius" is the yellow rat character, NOT the pale skinned rat character who sings the song i showed, that is actually "Little King John", the arch nemesis and antagonist of Ratboy Genius. Thanks for correcting me in the comments guys.

[@BAIGAMING]

Potato knishes! Potato knishes! I love potato knishes!

[@LimeLoaf]

Thank god you corrected that! I almost took it out in my special needs son! Smh!

[@Raichu159]

@@LimeLoaf you should do that anyway

[@LimeLoaf]

@@Raichu159 This is why you're better than pikachu

[@showmaker8168]

thanks I was so sad when you said "this is ratboy genius" and played little king john's song

[@meterod424Butthe2nd4isa0]

that intro scratches an itch

[@edith-gd8kv]

Your name is so silly I love it

[@WobblesandBean]

It went on way too damn long.

[@meterod424Butthe2nd4isa0]

​@@WobblesandBeanTo each their own

[@KeroseneKerosine]

2012?

[@jakel2837]

Little fun fact about AMF as a company. Most people know them for the automated bowling systems they made, but they also built nuclear reactors and Harley Davidson motorcycles for a time

[@overgloom]

They also made the CIA deer gun. A single shot 9mm pistol that the CIA planned on giving to Vietnamese civilians to be used to kill VietKong.

[@ellueccid8625]

I'm an unironic ratboy genius fan. The music is really well done.

[@10thanonymous]

Misty mountain, up in the sky over the valley

[@minecraftwithgadget1848]

I just had a Vietnam flashback remembering ratboy genius

[@darkychao]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1100">18:20</a> that's not Ratboy Genius. that's Little King John, who I think is one of the primary antagonists of the series.

[@dairekelly8620]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="91">1:31</a> the 2nd vampire looks sad like someone is yelling at them and they're holding back tears

[@kolpkii]

this basically explains the artstyle of baldi’s basics, vlif’s animations, and scott cawtons old projects

[@sofiasvoid]

I'm so glad this appeared on my recommendation feed

[@akadrphilsflavatown9816]

Same!! Perfect timing for me, needed a silly but nicely produced video essay to fall asleep to, safe to say I stayed up all the way through this video and found a cool (very underrated) youtuber!

[@Spaghoni]

"Uncle Samsonite Pays a Visit" is another piece of media that i feel falls somewhere on the uncanny valley triad, as while only 16 second, it gives a surreal experience similar to ratboygenius and jonny jonny yes papa (although it got more cheesy as it turned a full series). This video was a blast to watch and super refreshing after back to back icebergs, keep it up! 🔥🔥🔥

[@-mp64-56]

I never expected this video to get around rat boy genius and crude animation in general

[@Sneezebot8000]

Brilliant video, I never realised just how similar bowling animations are to the vast array of weird animations, would have loved Foodfight to get a mention but everything included was interesting and I can't wait for your next video

[@randomtinypotatocried]

I loved the Rat Boy Genius series. Potato knish still stuck in my head to this day

[@gringusgaming]

I was gonna comment "GOD I hope PSR will get mentioned" but now I am in the weird animation section and I think it might happen

[@gringusgaming]

RATBOY

[@gringusgaming]

Kinda freaked out also I started humming pilotredsun casino night and then it started playing at like 20:55 , pretty freaky

[@theunhealer]

loved the incorporation of the uncanny valley. im so happy to see a full-length video talking about one of my obscure interests. i feel a little more sane knowing that im not the only one who regularly thinks about this sort of media. thank you for making this video.

[@oxmasterlist]

i was hoping this would be the full history of those bowling animations complete with interviews with the animators themselves 😔 but i love having any reason at all to go on (arguably pointless) internet deep dives so actually Thank You For This ♥♥

[@Springtrapslittlekiller]

Underated as hell! Clicked expecting a small video with some kinda good commentary but this was so good!

[@VELVET_WARRIOR]

how you intro'd this video had me hooked, and the rest of the ways you broke down the science of specific animations was fascinating.

[@sciburger8000]

The character shown isn’t actually rat boy genius, it’s little king John

[@gooeydude574]

That first mouse looks like a Care Bear

[@veno3359]

this a pretty great vid. Very interesting premise I don't think many talk about in this fashion.

[@Fnqii]

Such an amazing video. Very thought provoking and 40 minutes of quality education and entertainment. Deserve many more subscribers and eyes on this channel as some serious talent right here.

[@BadmanYT-1254]

And now we have "AI FEVER DREAM: Mario's Trip" gotta add that one

[@KristofskiKabuki]

I enjoyed this, but it’s more *how* they’re so weird rather than *why* they are

[@stijnfawkes]

This is honestly quite interesting and definitely not the video I was expecting. Well done!

[@Ninjacat25]

How intriguing. Thank you for making this video and bringing these bizarre pieces of media to my attention. I've subscribed.

[@dddoriannn1473]

This video is super well made, dunno how this doesn't have more views on it. You honestly really deserve more

[@rowandunning6877]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1249">20:49</a> that was a damn vsauce level transition there

[@rikkuato]

amazing, love learning about this kinda stuff and u did it perfectly, hope to see more from u!

[@tokyobandz3307]

LSD Dream Emulator: Bowling Animations Edit: Commented before finishing only for you to include LSD Dream Emulator lol

[@Cyntaria]

Honestly I'm excited the game has been getting attention recently. It's such an interesting little gem. That segway into it was so smooth and unexpected, I thought the logo was there for a joke 😅

[@YTStoleMyUsername]

Really interesting topic & I love this type of content. Glad I'm not the only one. You are able to articulate what is going on here so well. Thanks for putting this together!

[@andersdenkend]

Nice video, and Bowling anims are really weird indeed. But I am actually interested in just why huge companies like Brunswick seemingly only invest 50 ct in their bowling animations. They sometimes look like they are done using an Amiga computer and a bit of Deluxe Paint. Just why can't they be better?

[@citrusctrl4129]

When I first clicked on this video I expected a lighthearted “old bad animation is bad” take. Much to my surprise, I came out with a whole new understanding and appreciation for what makes every media you listed so memorable. (And i didn’t even need a separate task to focus on the video lolz) Thank you!

[@CarlMakesVideos]

I appreciate this sampler you put together, but it's not what I expected from the video title. You've presented "what makes bowling animations so weird", when I sort of assumed the title would be more "what is the reason bowling alleys use such weird animations". Good video though! PilotRedSun's Grinch video is fantastic, highly recommend that one in particular.

[@Cyntaria]

Don't forget about the fake and just as uncanny NSFW bowling animations

[@LeoTheDowl]

Finally someone remembers the ones that went viral on Twitter a couple years ago

[@masteroftheinternetverse1296]

I have no idea how I got here but I'm glad I did. This is a genuinely well-crafted video with real care put into the editing. This truly was a surreal bowling animations.

[@RougeRey]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="78">1:18</a> every time I see these kinds of animations I can’t not hear Money for nothing by Dire Straits in my head

[@Rohtie]

Thank you so much for referencing artists in the same uncanny vein. I have a lot of interesting things to watch now :)

[@Frustratedartist2]

This was a great video! I subscribed. And been scarred/inspired for life! Thank you so much.

[@virginiaheywood8535]

Smirkin" Turkey is the greatest band name I've heard in a long time

[@lucas-qp8st]

This is amazing... i can feel the uncanniness coming inside me

[@kadnhart6661]

I went bowling a few months ago, first time in a decade, and the lack of these weird turn of the century animations genuinely took away some of my enjoyment. This video was the nostalgia I needed!

[@fossilmasterleviathan6977]

Id like to add another creator that (to me) hits this concept phenomenally: hydraulic beanbag. Their animations give me the same kind of brain tickle as the rest of them

[@onwithmarie6769]

I'm glad Nicholas Fedorov came up, back in the day I loved his stuff, I was like distraught when he disappeared. Every halloween I end up making some reference to Platonic Hydrocarbon Law and no one gets it. It's sad.

[@Yipper64]

You know, I watch a lot of youtube, it all kind of blends together into being the same shlock at some point. Most of it doesnt mean much to me. But this video, this is one of those videos that just shares something interesting. I may have known a little bit about it before but its just an interesting idea that's succinctly put into a video essay. And that's not something I come across every day.

[@Yipper64]

Thanks for the reminder of LSD dream emulator. I knew I was forgetting something to put on my list now that I have a PS2.

[@ryaquaza3offical]

I’m honestly surprised he didn’t mention that ONE specific bowling ball animation from Twitter. If you know, you know

[@BfDelano]

I get the same vibe from bowing alley animations as I do with drive in theater ads and animations. That could be another video to make.

[@spaceyboi5064]

Thanks for making this video!

[@GnightOwl]

It's so interesting because I've never seen any of these animations So there must be different ones in different regions

[@Trevor_NewJerusalem]

Subbed in hopes of more weird CGI. Might I suggest "Into the Mind's Eye"? I grew up with a VHS copy I got from a store's going out of business sale when I was very young. Feels like a dream, dark and dingy, foggy and forgotten... This video really took me back. Thank you.

[@primalfeline]

It feels so good to hear someone else talk about that one Johnny Johnny animation and RatBoyGenius and stuff. I used to watch a lot of Chadtronic videos, and that’s how I know about RBG. But Johnny Johnny was actually introduced to me by PopularMMOs. Yeah, the Minecraft KZbinr.

[@metalsilver7718]

This is finally the yourube video I hve been searching for! W video!!

[@natalie-chanistrash7214]

Honestly, I'm kinda shocked that Jack Stauber wasn't mentioned, just go see his short animation called POP FOOD, which was made to promote his album Pop Food

[@bannnz]

wasn't expecting to see ratboygenius here. amazing video though. you're extremely underrated

[@sahelhappenstance8992]

I wouldn't call PilotRedSun that unknown. I do think he deserves even more recognition than he has, but he's a pretty well established cult icon. I'm a little shocked if he hasn't at least been contacted by adult swim by this point.

[@Mwowant]

If you want something else like these I recommend looking into Ryuji Masuda’s shows. I think about them all the time just because of how bizarre and dreamlike they are. There’s Popee the Performer, Funny Pets, Mr Stain on Junk Alley, Charady’s Daily joke, and Oh! Jesus. The first three shows are very much surrealism and the last two are geared more towards adults, it’s all on youtube :) (Oh! Jesus is not in 3d, technically not animated, or in english, but I’ve added it anyways) Anyways, this is a great video. I really love this fever-dream style of animation and this video has introduced me to some more great examples and creators of them! Thankyou!

[@braelinmichelus]

Wow... I'm very glad I stopped to watch this! Ratboy Genius and the collective works of Nicholas Fedorov are definitely something special. How can I call myself an appreciator of art if I don't recognize the pure vision quests of these unique works of artistry! I will definitely be checking out Fedorov's works, they conjure up that surreal feeling of the kind of content you can only get online... like Local 58 and Petscop, two of my favorites works of the internet. And to think... without this video, I likely would have never discovered them.

[@paranoid97]

Using pilotredsun & dorian concept music, a man of culture i see -

[@laggingdragons]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1252">20:52</a> I see someone else watches SuperEyepatchWolf! I love that style of transition, good move!

[@lugalan]

Super eyepatch wolf is my biggest inspiration, thanks for the kind words lagging dragons!

[@romansans1581]

Some of these animations, have been core inside jokes among my friend group for years, seeing them pop up in this video was a massive delight.

[@Rogue0Thoughts]

This is the type of video i come to KZbin for

[@KingNikolai]

this is a great video bro

[@AwkwardFire]

the dino bowling pin with the green blood had me crying laughin

[@peopleperson3599]

Cool video, althoughI feel like you really missed an opportunity to talk about the work of Osamu Sato, who worked on LSD: Dream Emulator. His animation work, both for various art projects and his own games, are very surreal and uncanny, and I think his work in some ways play into the uncanny aspect

[@HangryOnPaws]

Cool 3D World is a channel with massive amounts of this stuff.

[@derpz_]

This was a video I needed but did not ask for!

[@bounceysteve]

YES I was waiting so long for someone to cover Nicholas

[@LoveFactoryParties]

This was just amazing

[@yoki590]

im gonna learn animation and start making more bowling animations, this is so fucking cool to me, these videos scratch a weird itch in my brain

[@James11111]

... I feel like this video didn't actually answer the proposed question. This answered more why the animations *feel* weird. The question remains of why were the bowling animations deliberately made to be weird.

[@Zach-qs2bw]

thats easy they probably hired young professionals still in there experimental phase who would work for cheap and be able to produce animations on time that functioned

[@abbycoday5781]

at most of the alleys I frequented the systems were too old for animations, but I vividly remember the Brunswick ones. they were really fun to watch during long tournaments

[@Snatcher-wamy]

next time you will talk about the fantastic game, and other egglikes, great video btw

[@erin22222]

Thank you. I always wonder this when bowling with friends and when I’ve said something about it they’re like “WHO CARES?!?”

[@fuzzypyckles]

Oh God I watched "A Car's Life" almost every day as a child that shit was so traumatizing

[@morganhoward6726]

Super interesting topic!

[@kaitlint3987]

I figured whoever they contract to make these canned animations is just told to make visually interesting things that communicate the simple messages from bowling and they take the chance and go hogwild because there aren't that many restrictions

[@fcpolon1a543]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="530">8:50</a> yeah I'm pretty sure this is a battleship

[@Onemanshowoff]

I thought I was getting a history lesson in where did those weird bowling animations came from, but I got a video essay explaining the appeal of weird animations. Nothing wrong with that, but I would much rather know where did those animations come from, and who made them, rather than some overthinking analysis on why weird animations are appealing

[@skootergirl22]

Yes we had those in the UK

[@GmNdWtchr96]

For a second, when you were about to talk about "Catchphrase," I initially thought you were going to speak of "Whammy!" Then again, that's probably because I'm American and didn't know of any similar game show to Catchphrase.

[@ASolzhenitsyn]

Most of these just look like they were made in the 90s. Seriously, look up 90s student cgi and and clips. The scifi channel used to play a lot of them in between movies, before they really had advertising.

[@FTZPLTC]

Never made the connection but yeah, Catchphrase definitely gives off bowling alley animation vibes.

[@JimTheCurator]

This is a special video.

[@itz_sunoe.official]

Underrated.

[@TheOtterIsReal]

RATBOY GENIUS MENTIONED !!

[@stoplight2554]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1107">18:27</a> no rat boy genius is the yellow one. thats a totally different character

[@faf8709]

Good Video!

[@austinreed7343]

I’m in the camp that both of the vampire animations are strange.

[@CatBountry]

I was not expecting to see Nicholas Federov brought up. He was very obscure in the mid-2010's when I remember discussing him online, and unfortunately, much of that discussion was discussing his seemingly erratic behavior and trying to figure out if he was sincere in his love of Nichijou characters, or if he was doing a bit. I wish I hadn't been a part of these discussions because they were really not conducive to looking at his art as art, which admittedly I loved. The gossip was a distraction and I was discussing him when he decided to vanish in 2016. I feel bad. I wish I could take that back because it was all so meaningless and petty nonsense. Pointless drama that doesn't really amount to anything aside from "this guy may be unpleasant to deal with." I think he was frustrated by his own fanbase at the time, which was heavily ironic, but then again, he himself seemed cloaked in protective layers of irony. When he complained about Chadtronic reacting to his work, he appeared to actually be bitter. It was really hard to gauge what was real and what was a performance for the internet, if there was any performance at all. The truth feels like it's kind of somewhere in the middle but I don't know, and really, is it any of my business? There's no right for me to know. I'm glad he's still making animations, though, because really, I did love them. Maybe not as much as Ratboy Genius of CBoyardee, the latter of whom was a huge influence on PilotRedSun, but I love weird art. I'm really glad Nicholas seemed to find a sincere audience. I hope he's doing well and I'm sorry I talked shit about him on the internet like eight years ago. There was a lot going on, man.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Another web series that totally fits into this style, that I think you'd enjoy is Michelle Pamela Lyons/Chridoff's, series "Funny Horsie". A series of clips, most of which are around a minute long or shorter, the show is about a crap 3d model of a horse doing weird things in the guise of it being a British educational show for kids. It's full of really odd references, and uncanny animation and model manipulation. The voiceover is good too, it's all over the place. Very funny series, and totally mental.

[@arnaudmenard5114]

KZbin algorithm hitting just right tonight! I'll grab another bowl of cheetos

[@kidddddddddddddddddddddddddddd]

This video feels like a dream

[@marsrevolutionary]

Did you happen to watch the bowling animation episode of Moonbeam City recently?

[@donnylurch4207]

What's it gonna be? Are you gonna be a strike? (STROIK) Or a split? (SPLOT)

[@mrhalfsaid1389]

The sound design does affect all of them tho, the ones without sound just make it seem... disquieting, with the lack of sound other than the sounds of the bowling lanes and the competitors.

[@zplatfr6428]

A local bowling place uses our faces for the animations it’s so funny

[@snailart9214]

I know you probably won't cover Molly Moon because of her NSFW content but I really really love her videos on Instagram, where she re-created an early 2000s "point and click' games and I think she deserves a spot here

[@hughjanus7589]

I feel like not enough people know about that old johnny johnny video anymore

[@Malefectra]

This was awesome. Though I have to ask, was the VO mic being slightly clipped out a stylistic choice?

[@SpecialInterestShow]

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