For the video game mechanic, see random encounter.
Random Encounters is an American musical web series co-created by AJ Pinkerton and Peter Srinivasan. The series' first official short, "A Pikachu Song", premiered on YouTube on June 7, 2011. The series is currently partnered with Maker Studios, though previously existed as part of IGN Entertainment's network.
Each short consists of an original musical number (often performed by live-action actors in cosplay) recreating scenes or starring characters from a popular video game series (such as The Legend of Zelda or Pokémon). The series was first inspired in 2010 when the creators' Sonic the Hedgehog musical parody won the grand prize in an international video competition hosted by Sega.
Since launching their YouTube series, AJ and Peter have taken their songs to various festivals and conventions to perform live.
"Random Encounters" was initially conceived during a Sega-sponsored contest, for which Pinkerton co-developed the winning entry and his first video game parody song, "Needlemouse: The Musical". The Needlemouse song was requested by Sega to be performed live at their 2011 Sonic Boom community event, where Pinkerton and Srinivasan first recognized the demand for their product and began development on a series of popular games as musical numbers.
Unlike some gaming series, Random Encounters consistently caters to both children and adults. Songs are often written to be comedically self-censored, such as disregarding the rhyming scheme to avoid an obvious curse word. Shorts based on mature content, such as Assassin's Creed, Five Nights at Freddy's and Dead Space, present light-hearted versions of the characters, rather than their colder in-game incarnations.
Musical styles for each short vary, but typically consist of extremely bouncy rhythms and quick tempos. Some songs borrow heavily from other sources, such as Disney numbers or in-game themes. The series' derives much of its humor from each song's lyrics, which often make reference to in-game events, pop culture or internet memes.
Some songs feature animation, generally designed to appear more cartoonish and kawaii than lifelike.
Needlemouse: The Musical (based on Sonic the Hedgehog)
Singachu: A Pikachu Song (based on Pokémon)
The Legend of Ganondorf (based on The Legend of Zelda)
Pac-Man The Musical (based on Pac-Man)
Nicole: A Dead Space Song (based on Dead Space)
Angry Birds the Musical: A Green Pig Song (based on Angry Birds)
Nothing is True (based on Assassin's Creed)
O Meta Knight (based on Kirby)
The Eggbot Bop (based on Sonic the Hedgehog)
Like John (based on Mass Effect)
Sega Bass Fishing of the Dead (based on Sega Bass Fishing)
The Best We Can Be (based on Super Princess Peach)
One-Winged Office (based on Final Fantasy VII)
The Magikarp Song (based on Pokémon)
Rhythm Thief: The Musical (based on The Rhythm Thief)
Tetris: The Musical (based on Tetris)
The K. Rool Way (based on Donkey Kong)
Super Monkey Ball: The Musical (based on Super Monkey Ball)
Pikmin the Musical: Cuteness in Major Thirds (based on Pikmin)
"MEDIC!" A Team Fortress 2 Song (based on Team Fortress 2)
Ganon Claus (based on The Legend of Zelda)
The Wario Rap (based on Wario)
Companion Cube: A Portal Song (based on Portal)
The Eevee Song: A Pokémon Jazz Number (based on Pokémon)
Don't Let Me Go: A Yoshi Song (based on Yoshi)
Minesweeper: The Musical (based on Minesweeper)
The Knuckles Rap (based on Sonic the Hedgehog)
Arkham Opera (based on Arkham Origins)
Pokémon University (based on Pokémon)
The Musical Legends of Zelda: Tales of the Wind Waker (based on The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker)
The Flag Pole Song (based on Super Mario 3D World)
Dance of the Sugar Plum Clefairy (based on Pokémon)
The Enderman Song (based on Minecraft)
The Power of Pong: A Star Wars Rap (based on Pong)
Phanto of the Mushroom Kingdom (based on Super Mario Bros. 2)
My Date With Captain Falcon (based on the F-Zero series)
The Zubat Song (based on Pokémon)
Paperboy The Musical (based on Paperboy)
Five Nights at Freddy's the Musical: Nights 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, along with the "Complete Edition" (based on the Five Nights at Freddy's gaming series) ( Night 2 and Night 4 are two of three musicals on Markiplier's channel, the other being How To Beat A Money At Chess)
StreetPass Love (based on StreetPass)
Octodad: The Musical' (based on Octodad)
The Vaults of Fallout (based on Fallout 4)
The Three Fates of Undertale (based on Undertale)
Determined to the End: An Undertale Song (Also based on Undertale)
Fran Bow: Finding Mr. Midnight (based on Fran Bow)
Resident Enis and Resident Enis: Monster Gulch (based on Resident Evil)
Senpai Notice Me: A Yandere Simulator Musical (Based on Yandere Simulator)
Samus The Spaceman Cowboy (Animated Metroid Parody Song) (Based on The Metroid Series)
Team Full of Harmony: A Pokemon Go Musical (Based on Pokemon Go)
Everything's a Puzzle: A Professor Layton Song (Based on the Professor Layton series)
Five Nights at Freddy's Sister Location: Blood and Tears (based on Five Nights at Freddy's: Sister Location)
Alola Form For Me (based on Pokemon Sun and Moon)
Tingle Bells (based on The Legend of Zelda)
Phoenix Wright the Musical: The Turnabout encounter. (Based on the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series.)
HuniePop the Musical (based on HuniePop)
The Brony Song (based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
This Isn't A Car (based on The Dark Knight Rises)
Why Not Wii U (based on Nintendo's Wii U)
The Brony Song 2 (based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
Lolcats the Musical (based on Lolcats meme)
E3: The Musical (based on Electronic Entertainment Expo)
The Console Wars Musical (based on the Xbox One, Wii U and PlayStation 4)
Muffins the Musical: A Derpy Hooves Song (based on My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic)
Godzilla the Musical (based on Godzilla)
Wario Wrecks E3 (based on the WarioWare series)
How To Beat A Monkey At Chess (one of three musicals on Markiplier's channel, the other being Five Nights At Freddy's, The Musical - Night 2 and Five Nights At Freddy's, The Musical - Night 4)
AJ Pinkerton is the writer and director of the series, frequently starring as both male and female characters. AJ is typically outgoing and energetic and is particularly prone to breaking into dance during a musical number, and he also does voice work for the musicals, most notably Bonnie in Five Night's at Freddy's, The Musical.
Peter Srinivasan is the series co-founder and bearded sidekick to AJ. He performs several of the series' songs, though generally remains behind camera during shorts. He is typically accident-prone and awkward, often choosing pregnant pauses over filler on camera. Peter creates the digital effects for the series and is the primary audio engineer for each song.
Sparrow Rayne is another primary character that has appeared in several starring roles, such as Yandere-chan, Mudkip, Professor Juniper, Harley Quinn, and Chell. Her first musical with RE was Monkey Ball where she appeared as the monkey MeeMee. Her first role with Random Encounters however, was hosting a segment called "Girl Parts" in RE's weekly Encounting series. Aside from having her own YouTube channel, she lives with AJ and Peter, often helping out on their shoots when and wherever possible.
Nathan Morse appeared in the original RE musical, Needlemouse, but did not officially join RE again until July 2016, five years later. He is best known for playing Dr. Eggman on the channel, as well as creating and starring in the comedic review series, "The Shovelwarewolf."
Casey Dwyer provides voices in many of the Random Encounters shorts, primarily as low-pitch or atonal characters. He is seen on camera the least of the primary cast members and often voices multiple characters in a single short.
Emily Brown had been the voice for Pinky in Pac-Man the Musical, and the square block in Tetris: The Musical. She was the gray Rock Pikmin in Pikmin The Musical, and was featured as a secretary in One Winged Office: A Sephiroth Song.
David King has been in several musicals, providing the voices of Foxy and Phone Guy in Five Nights at Freddy's, The Musical and the voice of T-Block in "Tetris: The Musical," as well as appearing as Doctor Bad-boon in the three-part Super Monkey Ball musical and playing background characters in "The K. Rool Way", "The Brony Song 2" and "The Eevee Song".
Anna & Sara Bartlet are twins. Anna starred in Pikmin The Musical as the Yellow Pikmin, and Sara as the new Pink winged Pikmin. Anna also starred in the Brony Song 2, while both of them were in the The Eevee Song as the Plusle & Minun waitresses. Sara has since joined the Smash Brotherhood after portraying the Pokémon Jigglypuff in a post-credits sequence in The Eevee Song.
Mark Fischbach has guest-starred in several musicals, such as, My Date With Captain Falcon, as Captain Falcon, How To Beat A Monkey In Chess, as himself, Five Nights at Freddy's, The Musical (Nights 1, 2, 4, and 5), as himself in the role of a security guard, and Resident Enis, as himself. He has his own YouTube channel, Markiplier.
Nathan Sharp is also a recurring guest in certain musicals, which include Five Nights at Freddy's, The Musical (Nights 3, 4, and 5) as himself, hired to be a security guard, Pokémon University as Professor Sycamore, and StreetPass Love as himself. He also has a music channel of his own called NateWantsToBattle, where he uploads a mix of various covers and original songs, usually based on video games or anime.
Sarah Williams and Xander Mobus are both persons who have only been seen in the Five Nights at Freddy's, The Musical series, with Sarah voicing Chica and Xander voicing Freddy Fazbear, along with the two playing a small role as police officers in the video.
Matthew Patrick is another guest who has worked on Five Nights at Freddy's, The Musical thus far, playing the role of Phone Guy in Night 5, with his character also being referred to as MatPat (his online alias), Scott Cawthon (the creator of the Five Nights game series), and the one he cites as his favorite at the end of the complete edition of the series, Evil Dirtbag with a Chainsaw. He also appeared in "How to Beat a Monkey at Chess" as himself. Matt also runs three YouTube channels, The Game Theorists and The Film Theorists, which make popular theories on certain mechanics, ideas, mysteries, and cross-references between games and films respectively, and GTLive, which acts as a database of his gaming livestreams with his wife, Stephanie, and stream technician, Jason, along with other guests on occasion.
Eisenstein McBones is a grouchy half-torso human skeleton (referred to as a "Stalfos" in the series). He wears various costumes and hats depending on the occasion and is most frequently associated with his boss, Ganondorf. Eisenstein often uses the term "meat-sack" as both a synonym for "human" and an expletive.
The Sweeping Man is a mysterious, fedora-clad man who sometimes appears sweeping the floors in the backgrounds of shots. Unlike the other Random Encounters characters, Sweeping Man rarely speaks, even in live Random Encounters performances.
The Giant Crazy Snake is a bearded sock-puppet, first featured in "The Legend of Ganondorf". Many of his appearances end with a special message warning kids against reckless behaviors "without parental supervision". The Giant Crazy Snake is also shown to be an accomplished cage-fighter.
The Beard is a faceless creature used as an easter egg in each Random Encounters short. It is typically seen in a long black coat and hat, with a thick yellow beard entirely obscuring its face. The Beard does not speak English, but instead prefers to make "Oogh" sounds. At conventions, The Beard keeps a stash of marshmallows, which he throws when fans spot him in a video. On YouTube, viewers post timecode for The Beard's appearances in each video's comments section.
After "Needlemouse: The Musical" won top honors in their Sonic Birthday contest, Sega arranged to have the Random Encounters team perform an alternate version at Sonic Boom 2011, this time highlighting the Modern Sonic/Classic Sonic chemistry from Sonic Generations. Nine months later, Random Encounters co-produced a musical game trailer for the fictitious title "Sega Bass Fishing of the Dead" as part of Sega's online April Fools' prank. Sega approached the Random Encounters team a third time with the release of Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure, which became the focus of the first sponsored Encounter.
In August 2012, the Random Encounters Facebook page confirmed their involvement with Sega on a Super Monkey Ball video.
In 2013, Random Encounters joined the Nintendo Ambassador program as part of the Wii U Challenge. Their first project as a brand ambassador, for the Challenge, was a musical promoting The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD.
In June 2014, Nintendo sent Random Encounters to E3, along with Black Nerd Comedy, Lamarr Wilson, and Smosh Games. To help promote Nintendo's titles, Random Encounters produced a short musical starring Wario, which included a surprise Charles Martinet cameo at the end.
Nintendo teamed with RE again in 2015 for the launch of their new franchise, Splatoon, by helping host a multi-cam let's play tournament and inviting AJ to compete at their Mess Fest obstacle course promoting the game on the Santa Monica Pier.
In August 2015, Variety.com posted an online article linking Random Encounters to a Disney XD initiative labeled "Disney XD by Maker." The crossover will reportedly seek to "find and develop video concepts for distribution on YouTube, as well as potentially DisneyXD.com and the Watch Disney XD app. It was later reported by Random Encounters that Disney XD by Maker would be funding Resident Enis 2: Monster Gulch, which was released early February 2016"
