Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Top Five Rogue Youtube Tributes


There are many ways for fans to show their appreciation for the Rogues. One way is to make YouTube music videos. If you look hard enough, you can find multiple videos dedicated to the Rogues. There are many poorly edited ones, and some that have very good quality. Below is a list of what I believe to be the top 5 Rogue tributes on YouTube.



This video deserves first place for a reason. It immediately draws viewers in with an interesting, catchy song, Come with Me Now by Kongos. The song creates a sort of energetic, enthralling, and intimidating mood. Throughout the song, Arkham Asylum represents each Rogue perfectly, showing their most dramatic moments from the show, The Flash on CW.  Each clip is of high quality resolution and timed to the song down to the beat.

The only negatives are that it solely features characters from The Flash television show, which limits material available to use and prevents certain characters, such as Mirror Master, from appearing. However, using other sources might have upset it's quality. It is so well edited that those facts can be easily overlooked.




This tribute, also created by YouTuber Arkham Asylum, placed second because it included all aspects of the Rogues in media. Many videos simply contain comic strip pictures or clips of The Flash television show on the CW. However, this video included clips from The Flash, as well as Justice League Unlimited, Batman the Brave and the Bold, Justice League: New Frontier, Justice League: Flashpoint Paradox, The Batman, Justice League: Doom, and Young Justice. 

The video quality was slightly above average, some clips fairing better than others. The music, Enemies by Shinedown, was an excellent choice. Though the tempo didn't fit well with the theme (there's a part of the song where it gets a little "screamy"), the lyrics were timed perfectly. Towards the beginning, the artist sings, "From the top", and a clip of the supervillain Top spinning appears. It was very creative. The video also had a great ending, showing Mirror Master stabbing a knife into a newspaper picture of the Flash.




The video above combines clips from The Flash in relation to the AC/DC song, Spoilin' For a Fight, with spoken video from the show and voiceovers. This works great in the beginning, with Captain Cold saying what can arguably be called the greatest Rogues line of the show, "The Rogues... Cute." It transitions well into the high-tempo music, and starts the video off great. The clips shown after that are extremely well edited and can all be seen clearly. cenagang54 did an excellent job.

What puts this video below the others is it's choppy ending. The creator tries to show a scene of each villain's name being stated each time the line "Spoilin' for a fight" is sung. This sounds like a good idea in theory, but in the end only hurt the tribute. It just got annoying. I have to agree with Harrison Wells on this one, when at the end he tells Cisco, "Would you stop doing that?" Also, this video included villains that aren't regarded as classic Rogues. I can see Girder and possibly Peek-A-Boo being considered one, but not the Mist. Of course, the recent Supergirl/Flash crossover episode even called Blackout a Rouge. This video is still worth comic Rogues fans' time, even with the more obscure characters.




Typically fan-made videos with only pictures aren't as exciting to watch, but this one lands number 4 because of it's excellent image choice. All the images are iconic ones, whether classic covers, comic strips, or character depictions. Plus, their resolution is phenomenal. If you are looking to draw any of the Rogues characters, I recommend watching this video for inspiration. It includes all of the mainstream Rogue teammates.




So... this video has very bad resolution... and it's not complete. These are two facts that would typically remove it from such a list. However, the creator is extremely creative. They found a way to display different comic book images as if it were a moving picture in itself. There's one moment where it only shows the Rogues weapons as if they were firing them at the Flash that I enjoyed the most. The quality does get better as the tribute continues, and despite my initial displeasure with it, I was incredibly pleased with the implementation of the images. It deserves a spot on the list, even if last.


Honorable Mention:



This video would have won first place if it had been complete. Unfortunately, the author never finished it, and only created a preview. The 26 seconds shown are edited in such a way that it feels like a comic book come to life, and the song fits the theme of the New 52 Rogues perfectly. A quick viewing is necessary for anyone who is a fan of New 52 Flash.



I would like to make a note that for now I am simply going to post at random until I can get a good schedule going. I think the best option would be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, so I can do a episode review on The Flash in case one of the Rogues are in it (Like Pied Piper Tonight!!!) and a Legends of Tomorrow episode review the night after they air. This is not official yet, so stay tuned for updates.


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