Bravest Warriors is a Canadian-American animated web series created by Pendleton Ward, the creator of Adventure Time, and directed by Breehn Burns. The series is produced by Frederator Studios for their Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel. Fred Seibert, Burns, and Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi are the show's executive producers.
Set in the year 3085, the series follows four teenage heroes-for-hire as they warp through the universe to save adorable aliens and their worlds using the power of their emotions. The animated series began streaming on Frederator's Cartoon Hangover channel on YouTube from November 8, 2012. The series is based on a short produced for Frederator's Nicktoons Network animation incubator series Random! Cartoons that aired on January 10, 2009. A comic book adaptation published by Boom! Studios launched on October 24, 2012.
The show won the Shorty Award for Best Web Show in 2013 and was nominated in the Annecy International Animated Film Festival. It is also a 2015 Webby Award Honoree
On October 20, 2016, it was announced that Frederator Studios and Nelvana will bring an upcoming Bravest Warriors television series.
Main characters
Christopher "Chris" Kirkman (voiced by Charlie Schlatter (pilot), Alex Walsh (web series)): The 16-year-old leader of the Bravest Warriors. He has a crush on his best friend, Beth, which is a recurring theme in the series, and he fears losing her. His sticker pet is a little bee which can form a sword with a honey-comb hilt and a swarm of bees.
Beth Tezuka (voiced by Tara Strong (pilot), Liliana Mumy (web series)): The emerging leader of the Bravest Warriors. Her sticker pet is a cat which can form into a cat o' nine tails with cat heads. In the episode "Hamster Priest" it's discovered that the dimension hopping machine of Beth's father, Ralph Waldo Pickle Chip, is directly linked with Beth's brainwaves. It was eventually revealed in "Season of the Mitch" that Beth is the only one that can bear the Aeon Worms offspring and the worm began to impregnate her before Danny managed to stop it. At the end of "Season of the Mitch", she becomes the new leader of the team in the wake of Chris' disappearance. It hasn't been confirmed yet whether or not Beth is now pregnant with Aeon Worm offspring, or if Danny saved her in time.
Wallow (voiced by Dan Finnerty (pilot), Ian Jones-Quartey (web series)): The offbeat member of the Bravest Warriors. His glove contains a computer A.I. named Pixel (voiced by Maria Bamford) who gets jealous easily. His sticker pet is a falcon that forms an axe. It can also form a bazooka and a guitar. He has a wide range of companions such as Impossibear and Catbug. In "Season of the Worm" he lost his left arm when Beth had to amputate it when it got covered in inter phasing hump gnats.
Daniel "Danny" Vasquez (voiced by Rob Paulsen (pilot), John Omohundro (web series)): The snarky member of the Bravest Warriors. His sticker pet is a dog which forms either a sword or gatling gun. He is also the teams inventor, his inventions include a time machine (which was destroyed by an alternate version of himself in "Dan Before Time") and Robo-Chris. Unlike the other members of the team who grew up in the Invisible Hideout, Danny was raised in the "martian badlands".
Plum (voiced by Tara Strong): First appeared in the comic book and was introduced along with Impossibear and Catbug in Gas Powered Stick, is Beth's friend who is a Merewif, an amphibious alien who can merge her legs into a mermaid tail when in water, as revealed at the end of the episode. She can also assume a more monstrous form with fangs, glowing purple eyes and six tentacles. Plum is the unofficial 5th Bravest Warrior. She has an ancient and wise second personality that lives in her second brain. She seems to have a crush on Chris as seen in Gas Powered Stick when she flirts and kisses him, but that could've been a ruse in order to remove the peach pit that gave Chris X-ray vision.
Emotion Lord (voiced by Breehn Burns): A seemingly immortal human who has reality warping powers tied to his emotions. In "Lavarinth", he reveals himself to be Chris from 184 years in the future, and that he needs Chris to start taking vitamin B12 supplements otherwise they will go bald. He had been missing since the episode "Ultra Wankershim" when he was 'forced' to put on the temporal pair 'o socks which appeared after he accidentally gave Chris dangerous foreknowledge of the future. He returns in "Parasox Pub" by possessing Catbug in order to transport Chris to the Parasox Pub, which is locked in a timeless prism for the Emotion Lord. Various stages of the Emotion Lord's life is revealed, and that he will live to be at least 3000 years old.
The Concierge (voiced by Eric Bauza): A small grey-skinned, purple-haired creature in a suit that follows the Emotion Lord in his travels and takes record of everything he says and does. He first appeared in the episode "Emotion Lord" and was most recently seen in "Merewif Tag". He is supposedly invisible to all but the Emotion Lord, but was visible to Danny and Wallow in "Lavarinth" and Plum in "Merewif Tag".
Impossibear (voiced by Michael Leon Wooley): An unusual bear that first appeared in the comic, but was introduced along with Catbug and Plum in "Gas Powered Stick".
Jelly Kid (voiced by Breehn Burns): Also first appeared in "Memory Donk" as a passenger on the bus, and is shown to be able to summon bread at will by making a "pshew" sound. Jelly Kid is killed by Catbug in "Jelly Kid Forever" but soon returns to life in the same episode.
Catbug (voiced by Sam Lavagnino): A childish creature that is part cat and part ladybug. Catbug first appeared in the comic, but was introduced along with Impossibear and Plum in "Gas Powered Stick". He simultaneously exists in two dimensions, one of which is the See-Through Zone where the Bravest Warriors' parents are imprisoned. He was created in Johnny Tezuka's "Dimension Garden". He can be considered the show's breakout character.
Johnny Tezuka/Ralph Waldo Pickle Chips (voiced by Bill Mumy): Johnny Tezuka was Beth's father and leader of the Courageous Battlers. He is short with black hair, and his brain is exposed through a clear dome on top of his head. Like the rest of his team, he was trapped in the see-through zone two years before the events of the series. At some point he was apparently eaten by the Aeon Worm and brainwashed to become one of its followers, thus transforming him into "The Reverend Ralph Waldo Pickle Chips." He soon begins rebuilding a following by brainwashing several hamsters. He finally summoned the Aeon Worm in "Season of the Mitch" by using his hamsters perfect faith to transform his sticker pet from a caribou into the Aeon Worm, but was stopped when the paralyzed horse appeared possessing Hamster Mitch and Danny cracked his brain dome.
Paralyzed Horse (Voiced by Victor Caroli): First appearing in the season 1 finale episode "Cat Bug," he is Beth's childhood pet. When Beth was 6 years old, he discovered the meaning of forever, granting him an unlimited knowledge of time and space. This infinite knowledge has left him in a constant state of shock, causing him to become permanently paralyzed. Being unable to move or speak he uses a dramatic internal monologue to chronicle his daily life. In "Aeon Worm," he journeys with Beth into the see-through zone, which gives him telekinetic powers which he can use to move and speak, as well as the ability to create psychic armor and shoot flames from his hooves. At the end of the episode, he chooses to remain in the see-through zone to fight the Aeon Worm and protect Beth as she escapes. His fate remained unknown until "Season of the Mitch," when he possesses the hamster Mitch during his crisis of faith to help fight the Aeon Worm in the real world. He is last seen at the end of the episode, continuing his fight against the Aeon Worm in the See-Through Zone.
Wankershim (voiced by Breehn Burns): A holographic elf who exists as a program inside the Bravest Warriors "Holojohn". In "Ultra Wankershim" he becomes an fully organic life form after achieving self-awareness. However, soon after, he begins expanding uncontrollably, eventually growing so large that he becomes one with the universe. After this his body begins giving off "Wankergy", which in large abundances causes uncontrollable joy, and even has reality warping effects.
Slippy Napkins (Voiced by Polly Lou Livingston): First appeared in the Random! Cartoons pilot. A member of an alien race who the Bravest Warriors save from a rogue planet. She possesses two legs and a single arm coming out of her head that her people soon learn to use in high-fives. Slippy Napkins returns as one of Wallow's alien pets and a member of Catbug's away team on Santee Major.
Aeon Worm (voiced by Tony Todd): The main antagonist of season 2. Described by the Paralyzed Horse as a primordial goliath of the highest evolution. Using its mind control powers it demands that its followers worship it as a god with them often chanting "Never doubt the Worm". It was revealed in "Dimension Garden" that it was created in Ralph Waldo Pickles Chips' dimension garden. In "Season of the Mitch" Ralph Waldo Pickle Chips finally summons the worm but is defeated by Danny, the Paralyzed Horse, and Mitch.
Mitch (voiced by Gedde Watanabe): One of the hamster bred by Ralph Waldo Pickle Chips to worship the Aeon Worm. However, in " Season of the Worm" He began to have a crisis of doubt and began to develop a sense of right and wrong. In "Season of the Mitch" he proudly professes his doubt of the worm and allows himself to be possessed by the paralyzed horse in order to defeat the worm. After the worm was defeated he was carried off in praise by the other hamsters for saving them from the worms mind control by choosing right from wrong.
The Courageous Battlers: The predecessor team to the Bravest Warriors. Composed of Johnny Tezuka (Beth's father), Chris' Parents, Wallow's parents, and Danny's parents. 2 years prior to the events of the series they ended up lost in the See-Through Zone (which contains every monster they ever defeated). Johnny Tezuka was separated from the rest of the team when he was eaten by the Aeon Worm and became Ralph Waldo Pickle Chips. They are able to communicate with their children and vice versa through Catbug and his dimension jumping powers. While the full details of their current situation are unknown, Catbug confirmed that they are alive and well. With the exception of Johnny Tezuka, the members of the Courageous Battlers have never appeared in the show, though a picture of them can be seen in "Time Slime" and "Dimension Garden", and Mr. and Mrs. Vasquez appear in Danny's memories in "Dan Before Time".
The Passenger: A short astronaut who serves as an easter egg in most episodes.
The series pilot, written by Pendleton Ward and directed by Ward and Randy Myers, first aired on Frederator's Random! Cartoons on the Nicktoons Network on January 10, 2009. The short features different designs and voice actors from the web series.
Bravest Warriors launched on Frederator Studios' Cartoon Hangover YouTube channel on November 8, 2012. The first series was released between November 8, 2012 and March 7, 2013. The series features new character designs and casting from the original pilot. Breehn Burns, Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, and Fred Seibert developed and executive produced the Bravest Warriors series for Frederator Studios. Burns, writer and director of Bravest Warriors, is the co-head of Lone Sausage Productions and the co-creator of the award-winning animated short, Dr. Tran. A second season began on October 17, 2013. The series began streaming on the Nintendo Video serviced for Nintendo 3DS in North America from November 2013.
On July 20, 2016, Cartoon Hangover announced that all Season 3 Episodes of Bravest Warriors will be aired exclusively to Crunchyroll's new on-demand service, VRV, which will also contain Season 1. Season 3 was released under the Cartoon Hangover Select Channel starting on January 10, 2017.
A comic book adaptation of Bravest Warriors by Boom! Comics at San Diego Comic-Con began publication on Boom!'s kaboom! label from October 24, 2012, and ran for 36 issues. At San Diego Comic-Con International in 2013 it was announced that Cartoon Hangover had teamed up with Viz Media to make comics and graphic novels of their properties, with Bravest Warriors being one of the titles announced under their Perfect Square imprint. They were announced to be released in 2014.
