8-Bit Theater

The four main characters of 8-Bit Theater.

For detailed information about this series, visit the Sardapedia.

Summary

8-Bit Theater is a completed sprite comic created by Brian Clevinger, and published in 1,225 episodes from March 2, 2001 to June 1, 2010. The webcomic is among the most popular sprite comics, winning various awards, and is part of the Create a Comic Project.

The plot of 8-Bit Theater is loosely based on that of the video game Final Fantasy, in which four adventurers, the Light Warriors, must save the world by defeating four powerful demons that represent the four elements, thus relighting four magical orbs tied to the same elements, and, finally, defeating the personification of evil, Chaos. However, while many of the original plot points and characters are present, the way they come about is often radically different. The Light Warriors themselves tend to cause far more harm than good on their travels and mostly have to be blackmailed, bribed, or threatened into accepting quests.

The comic is also not a serious epic; the protagonists and many of the supporting characters are based on and a parody of exaggerated role-playing video game stereotypes to the point where many characters are actually named after their character classes, and much of the humor displayed in 8-Bit Theater is derived from the ineptitude of characters as well as from the interactions between four protagonists who are travelling together but do not actually like each other very much. The range of comedic devices 8-Bit Theater employs includes droll humor, running gags, word play, and slapstick, and another significant portion of the humor results from creating reader anticipation for dramatic moments which fail to come. Clevinger has stated that "[his] favorite comics are the ones where the joke is on the reader."

Power of the Verse

Despite its limited visual style and focus on gags, 8-Bit Theater is an extremely powerful verse.

The four Light Warriors (Black Mage, Fighter, Red Mage and Thief) all sit in the very high-end of Tier 3 (Capable of freezing a pocket universe holding more riches than could possibly exist and copying their own stats infinitely), with Black Mage and Fighter approaching Tier 2 at their peaks (Capable of one-shotting White Mage accidentally), while the White Mage created the entire universe with a mere word. Finally, there is Sarda the Sage (Who is far stronger than all the characters mentioned previously and exists beyond 612-dimensional space) and Chaos (Who assimilated Sarda's powers and added them to his own), who boost the series to much higher levels.

In terms of hax, the series has the likes of Reality Warping, Conceptual Manipulation, Space-Time Manipulation, Plot Manipulation, Damage Negation, Possession, Matter Manipulation, Soul Manipulation, the ability to steal anything (Even things that don't exist) and much more.

Characters

• Black Belt
• Black Mage
• Chaos
• Fighter
• Red Mage
• Sarda the Sage
• Thief
• White Mage