Team Four Star

I was originally gonna do an article on The Spoony Experiment, but seeing what he did to Nostalgia Critic......I was wisely afraid not to so.   Moving on here is Team Four Star.  What started as a bunch of anime geeks shortening and parodying their favorite Anime blossomed into a super team of comedians dedicating to killing us by making us laugh to death.  Team Four Star had a long history as both individuals and a group all together.  It all started with a man named LittleKuriboh, who decided to come up with an idea. "What if you could take a show, shorten it to the best and iconic parts, and make fun of it?"  His idea was Yugioh: The Abridged Series.  He took some of the most loveable characters, twisted them into semi-bizarro versions of themselves. Others followed suit, the most popular being Vegeta3986 and Masako X who created the Naruto Abridged Series,  Lanipator who created YuYu Hakasho the abridged series Megami33 who made the Sailor Moon abridged and Takahatta101 who made the Helsing abridged series.  However much like the Angry Video Game Nerd, their collabaration was not meant to be taken seriously.  It started as a side joke between Vegeta, Masako, Lani and another Abridger known as ITouchedYusuke who was on TeamDattabayo's Death Note Abridged.  I.T. suggested, well threatened the Trio into working together on a project that had nothing to do with their respective series.  This project became Dragon Ball Z: Dead Zone Abridged.  However much like AVGN, it became so popular that more had to be made.  Like all other abridged these characters became twisted versions of themselves:

* Goku went from a nice naive hero, to one of the dumbest people on the planet.
* Gohan went from a boy who didn't like to fight, to a foul mouthed blood thirsty warrior whose intelligence matched his ruthlessness.
* Krillin went from a lovable strong human, to a perverted useless coward.
* Bulma, to my surprise hasn't changed one bit.  Kudos to Megami for keeping to her character.
* Piccolo went from a tough antihero, to a tough antihero desperate for social activity.
* Kami went from a wise mentor to a somewhat senile jerk with a god complex
* And Mr. Popo went from.....duh I mean nothing's wrong with Mr. Popo he is perfectly ok in every way. O_O

Moving on. While it was mostly  for comedy there were various aspects that have intrigued me, some of which were seen on other comedy shows.  While others were concepts they came up with themselves. Some of which set off my defiction meter. Could It Exist In Real Life?

Let's start with the obvious.  It's awareness of the fourth wall.  Time and again each abridged series have made some reference to the fact that they are a web series.  Even the dumb Goku made that aware with the classic dialogue.
Raditz: I see you brought the Namekian Along
Goku: Actually that hasn't been explained yet.

What is it that compels characters to break the fourth wall? Is it scripted or are they really aware? I once again think of To Boldly Flee when thinking this, how a character takes on a life of their own.  This series is a perfect example of them on down time.  In case you don't know what I am talking about.  Characters on Down Time is a concept that has been done a long time ago where characters are aware of the fourth wall and often complain about it.  This was made famously in Space Jam when Bugs and Daffy complain about not getting money for likeness rights of their merchandise.  While this series and others progress through their story, the characters fluctuate between in story and down time through their jokes.  Why else would a show in the 80s -90s make jokes about Lady Gaga or 2012s Avengers?  This one is a grey area.

The other concept that intrigued me was something in universe.  The concept of the muffin button.  What started as a joke to prove the impossible ended up being an actual thing. A device that makes muffins appear.  It can exist. This is both a mix between my earlier talks of teleporter and the vibranium. Using particles to form it together rather than just forming elements and metal.  It's not impossible, but you would have to be a genius or an alien with advanced tech like Frieza's Ship.

As usual debate argue and let me know what I missed. I am gonna go hide for 3000 years. Or however long it takes for god like entities capable of horrid unspeakable acts to die.