Superhero Shorts: Super Powers

In this series I’ve already taken a look at a good spectrum of different videos, a parody, a comedy, a serious video, a new video. This week I’m taking a look at a short series of videos from TheMrMenagerie which showcases various special effects done by himself with a bit of humor added to it in a series called simply Super Powers. Below I’m featuring the first episode featuring the power of fire. And once again I was lucky enough to get a hold of TheMrMenagerie to ask him a few questions which you can read below my review.

I enjoy the series, it has a great concept. I really like that in a way it seems like it is a way to practice doing video effects but in a very entertaining and fun way. The setup is great and I like that the power doesn’t reveal itself until after he wakes up. There are currently four episodes: Fire, Teleportation, Super Speed, and X-men. My personal favorite is probably the teleportation. I think it had the nicest looking effects for the most part and I enjoyed the humor in it the most, especially simple things like teleporting to the other side of the couch to grab the remote, or teleporting to the fridge for a snack. Some of the effects do look overly amateur, but generally look pretty convincing. Some of the humor falls a little flat too, like the second fart joke in episode one. I also think the name for the series is a little generic, though unfortunately I don’t have a suggestion for a better name. One other thing I like about the videos is that most of the episodes also have a tutorial video that goes along with it where you can learn how to make those effects yourself as long as you have the right software.

Enough from me, let’s talk to the man behind the video.

Bubbawheat: How much time does it take to do one episode?

TheMrMenagerie: It depends on the episode/super power since some of the powers are tougher to achieve. I would say if I were working non-stop I could knock one out in 3-5 days.

BW: In the opening, it mentions “once a month”, did you originally plan to come out with an episode every month?

TMM: Yeah I was planning on doing once a month but the videos weren’t getting a lot of traction. I also wanted to try some other types of videos.

BW: Are you planning on doing more episodes, or have you moved on to a different project?

TMM I moved away from those videos for a while to try some different things but after analyzing the data the super power vids seem to be the more popular videos on my channel. I have a bunch of ideas for more super power episodes so there will be some in the future. (maybe within a month?)

BW: What’s been your favorite Super Powers episode that you’ve done?

TMM: I would say my favorite super power episode would probably be the Human Torch one. That was actually the first video I uploaded to YouTube but I think the effects still look pretty decent and I spent more time on that video then most of the other ones.

BW: How happy are you with the amount of views you’ve gotten? It seems to be popular, but not “viral”.

TMM: I guess I would say that it’s nice that the super power episodes have gotten a decent amount of views but I’m not content with where they are at right now. I think I can improve and create more videos which in turn will lead to more views for previous videos in the “series”.

BW: And finally, what’s your favorite superhero movie?

TMM:I think it would be a toss up between the first Spiderman and Batman Begins. Although my favorite Superhero is Superman so I’m dying for this new one to be good!

Thanks for the questions! Let me know if you want to know anything else!

Chris
TheMrMenagerie

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Thanks for talking with me, I’m looking forward to seeing more episodes. Tomorrow I’ll be reviewing The Spirit, and next week I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be watching yet, but probably Robocop at least. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.