The essay I wrote that has been sitting in my notes for 2 weeks (long alert)

## Intro 

Howdy, folks! Now look — You know me. Everything I do is somehow related to rubber-hose. Over half of my characters are in the art style. Hell, even the little character you see on the screen is inspired by it. And you can probably tell that I LOVE it. Almost everything I've ever done on my main channel has been related to it in some way.

## What IS Rubber-Hose Animation?

Now some of you might be wondering — "Oh Winnie, what even IS rubber-hose animation, and why are you oh-so obsessed with it?" — And I'll tell you. 

Rubber-hose animation is an animation style that made its debut in the United States as early as 1919 and lasted in popularity for about 10 years before dying out in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It later returned to popularity in the 2010s with the introduction of games such as Cuphead and Bendy and the Ink Machine.

Rubber-hose was not only an art style, but a technique to make animation easier, considering animation was a very new concept at the time. Characters had simple designs with black and white colors, and were generally small in stature with flexible, jointless limbs that moved like rubber hoses. This is where the style got its name in later years. Classic examples of rubber-hose animation include Felix The Cat, Betty Boop and other creations by Fleischer Studios,

Even as people became more acquainted with the idea of animation in the late '30s and early '40s, the style still kept its charm for a short while.

You might have seen it without noticing. Remember Cuphead? Bendy? That one Doctor Who episode? IF? Trolls Band Together? Honkai: Star Rail? Skullgirls? Every one of these things has referenced this style at least once. It's way more revolutionary than you may think.

## My History With The Style

So, rubber-hose animation is popular again. That's cool. But why do I love it so much? Well, believe it or not, my interest in it came from a video game. No, it wasn't Cuphead. No it wasn't Bendy. It was... drumroll please... Skullgirls. 

### Skullgirls

So let me explain. Skullgirls has two games — Skullgirls Mobile, and Skullgirls 2nd Encore. My first experience with Skullgirls was the former. The story is as follows: I was bored in the park on my phone, with nothing to do. I was browsing the app store for new games to play, as one does. Then, I stumbled upon Skullgirls, a "Fighting RPG". Intrigued, I downloaded it. I went in completely blind aside from a few TikTok videos I've seen a while back about the game. Immediately booting up the game, you are greeted by a vintage, art deco aesthetic that SCREAMS "Vintage Hollywood" in every way possible. And in 2nd Encore, this is pushed even further. Filmstrips and spotlights decorate the screen as big band jazz music plays in the background. This was intriguing, considering at the time I've never seen something quite like it. But this isn't the main focus. Instead, it's one of the playable characters — Peacock.

Peacock literally embodies the rubber-hose animation style she is based off of. Her attacks, her appearance, her personality, her lines, everything about her is a homage to the vintage cartoons. Not only that, but she's just a generally good character overall. She has great lore and good, fleshed-out connections with the other characters. Despite her outwardly chaotic and destructive personality, she is very complex, showing obvious moments of vulnerability, sadness, or sweetness. She's so much more than her design, and I love her for that.

### Honkai: Star Rail

You know Honkai: Star Rail? Yes, the turn-based space fantasy RPG by Hoyoverse? WHY are we talking about Honkai: Star Rail? Well, it all starts with Wikipedia, believe it or not. 

So, Wikipedia. It has everything, including a page about rubber-hose animation. Before it was brutally wiped of every modern reference by the time I'm making this video, I found Honkai: Star Rail, of all games, in the section "References in Modern Media". Why? Well, it has ONE character, in ONE location. Clockie, a cartoon character, from Penacony, a planet in the game which is inspired by roaring twenties America. So, I decided to give this game a chance. After going through the BOOOOORRRRIIIING 3 prerequisite planets, I finally made it to the golden land of Penacony, and met Clockie. Before I talk about him in the game, I want to mention the two YouTube videos uploaded by the official HSR account that are actual rubber-hose animations featuring Clockie. They're so well-animated, and completely unexpected considering the rest of the content they make.

So anyway, Clockie shows up early on in Penacony, as a literal living, breathing being. No one else can see him aside from you, because you apparently have a childlike soul. And for a moment, I want to take a moment to appreciate Clockie's character design. He's ADORABLE. He's a tiny, clock-headed cartoon character with a little bow tie and hat. He's the cutest character I've seen for a while. Also, his voice sounds like Mickey Mouse. Even pushing his design aside, he's a great character, and is very important to the story of Penacony. He's sweet, cute, and a little mischievous. He helps us in many ways during the story, and is genuinely just a good guy all around.

### Cuphead

Alongside these games, I also picked up Cuphead. Cuphead is a great game through-and-through, and its rubber-hose art style is so undeniably charming. The animations are perfect, the game design is perfect, everything about it is just perfect. I wouldn't say I plan on getting 100% or anything on the game anytime soon, but I did already beat the base game and DLC, and I'd easily rate Cuphead a 10/10. There isn't much to say here, though. Cuphead is good. Cuphead is great. Nuff said. 

My favorite boss fight from Cuphead overall is probably the Moonshine Mob. The fact that it's multiple bosses in one is so delightful. The music slaps, the boss designs are gorgeous, the fake-out at the end is genius. 

On the topic of the DLC, the introduction of Ms. Chalice was revolutionary. She's literally just a bunch of charms mashed into one and then some. And not to mention her design is so cute and well thought-out! I find her so much more charming than the brothers. Not that the brothers are "ugly" or anything — In fact, I like them, they're more than good. However, I don't want to say Ms. Chalice is better, but she certainly is to some degree. After all, she is literally has an extra heart and way better super arts. She controls differently from the brothers, however, making them harder to play as after switching to one after playing as Chalice for so long. Anyway, enough about the gameplay. I want to talk about the character design.

Some of my favorite designs are Esther Winchester, Sergeant O'Fera, Cagney Carnation, Sally Stageplay, and the entirety of the Moonshine Mob as a whole, to name a few. All of the boss designs are exceptional, honestly. Except for Dr. Kahl's Robot. I hate that stupid boss and nobody would care if it disappeared from the game. It makes no sense existing in the setting of Cuphead and hit last phase is unreasonably hard. The game takes place in the 1930s, and robots didn't exactly become a popular concept in animation until the 1940s and 1950s! Anyway, I adore the Howling Aces in general. After all, you already know I can't resist dogs. I also love the screen rotating gimmick in the last phase, making Doggone Dogfight my second favorite boss overall, under the Moonshine Mob. Cagney has a simple design, but they did such a good job conveying the idea of his character that he's definitely in my top 10. The same goes for Sally, too. Her boss fight is also just so delightful. And Esther... Oh, where do I start? Her animations and spritework are PHENOMENAL. Whoever animated her was definitely cooking. 

### Bendy and the Ink Machine

I... was never much for Bendy. Now don't come at me and say that I can't be a real rubber-hose fan without liking Bendy. It's fine. It's good. But the gameplay is not for me. I was never big on slow-paced horror puzzle games, honestly. If you cut-and-pasted the characters into a game with a different playstyle, I would probably like it more. I got the first game, played it once, and... never played it again. Sorry, Bendy lovers, but it's not quite my taste. Not much to say here. I'm for the more fast-paced games.

### Other

Now I mentioned before that other things have referenced the animation style as well. I'm sure you were waiting for me to elaborate, which I gladly will. 

First off, we have the Doctor Who episode "Lux". I haven't watched the episode, but I've heard it's the second episode of the fifteenth Doctor Who series. Correct me if any of this is wrong, but to my understanding, it revolves around the Doctor being transported to the 1950s and meeting Lux, the god of light who took on the form of a cartoon character named Mr. Ring-A-Ding as a vessel. I have absolutely no idea what else happens in this episode, and honestly I've got no clue if anything I just said is true or not. So sue me.

Next on the list is IF, a movie released in 2024. Before I get started, I just want to say that this movie was great, and you should definitely watch it. It has a great plot, good VFX, amazing character design, all the primary ingredients in the recipe for a good movie. Anyway, one of the major characters in this movie that stuck out to me was Blossom. As you see her on the screen right now, you probably understand why. While I've noticed that the fact that she's in the rubber-hose style is often left unnoticed, probably because she is rendered in 3D graphics, I'm not one to glaze over that. What kind of person do you take me for?

So, Blossom is an anthropomorphic butterfly with a toon-like appearance. That's obvious. Certainly more obvious than Velvet and Veneer — but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Like most other characters mentioned here, Blossom is so much more than her appearance. She's a well fleshed-out character with a beautiful personality and an intriguing backstory. It sucks that this movie went so under-the-radar.

Now let's shift our focus to Trolls Band Together. Our main point here is the main antagonists, Velvet and Veneer, and their species, the Mount Rageons. Believe it or not, they are also intended to reference the old animation style. It may be hard to notice, but it's very heavily implied, with their extremely long and flexible limbs and somewhat pie-shaped eyes. It is hard to catch, not only because of their 3d-rendered nature like Blossom, but their vibrant, bright colors that greatly contrast with the black-and-white nature of classic cartoons, which Blossom captures perfectly fine. 

If I'm gonna be honest, I'm not the most fond of the Trolls series. The second movie had a cool concept at the very least, but it was executed so horribly and felt like an out-of-place addition to the first movie, which was completely unlike it. I'll only give props to the third movie because the antagonists had cool designs, but again, the plot felt disconnected from the original idea of the series. At least the character designs were actually good in the third movie, though. I liked the puppet people a lot.

### Other 2: Electric Boogaloo

Even with that covered, there are SO many references in modern media that I haven't even mentioned yet. We're diving into the more niche corners of media for this one, and I will not hesitate to be as hyperspecific as I need to be. TBC

## Conclusion

I'm not finishing ts bruh

TL;DR: Rubber-hose animation is a revolutionary art style that not only started as a stylistic choice, but a technique for easier animation, and has been referenced in many modern medias.