Eddsworld
Encyclopedia
Eddsworld is an independent British
comedic flash animation production company created by Edward Gould (known informally as Edd Gould) in 2004. Eddsworld was also part of CakeBomb (a dissolved media production collective), but has always stood out as its own franchise. Eddsworld comprises over sixty episodes (called eddisodes), over 150 comics, flash games, and various art work distributed on the home website, YouTube
, Albino Blacksheep
, Newgrounds
, DeviantART
, and the BBC
. The episodes are the focal point of the organization, which stars Edd, Tom, Matt, and previously Tord and runs from anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Animations are created solely by Edward Gould and co-written by himself and colleagues Tom Ridgewell, Tom Bown, Tord Larsson and Matt Hargreaves. Eddsworld is created using Adobe Flash
, a computer animation program.
and slapstick
between them in their house and town.
Many early episodes focused on violence, gore, and action, as the main characters would have to battle their way out of a situation with firearms or melee weapons such as knives, swords, guns, and clubs. Zombies have been a relatively consistent theme in Eddsworld, including the three episode Zanta Claws series. Episodes vary in other genres as well, ranging from science fiction to musicals. Recent episodes focus more on word play or the group trying to complete a goal of some kind and follow slightly more realistic plots.
Some of the videos released by Edd are animation tests or general announcements of events pertaining to his work. For example, in March 2011 Edd formed a fund raising initiative with Tom Ridgewell and Chris Bingham on YouTube to assist in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
disaster.
Edd (voiced by Edward Gould) is the main character of Eddsworld. He wears a green hooded sweat and/or a T-shirt that says "Smeg Head" underneath and has brown hair. He enjoys Coca-Cola
, bacon and making puns, which annoys other characters. Also, he often uses the term “and such” as a closing description for things. Edd is also seen as optimistic, which can be attributed to his leadership.
Tom (voiced by Thomas Ridgewell, who was also a member of CakeBomb) is one of Edd’s friends and wears a blue hooded sweatshirt. He is known for being an alcoholic, as his favorite beverage is Smirnoff
. He also has no discernible eyes, but empty black circles in place of them, which does not affect his sight. He is very spontaneous in his joke making and has a deep hatred of the holiday Christmas
. Tom is also known for saying “Holy ‘Noun’ in a ‘Noun’” (having ‘Noun’ being replaced with two random objects) when surprised. He is also reported to be the most popular character in the Eddsworld series.
Matt (voiced by Matthew Hargreaves) is Edd’s other friend and wears a purple hooded sweatshirt (originally black) with a green jacket. He is also the only one who has orange hair and a square chin. He is known for being obsessed with his looks, even as far as being attracted to his own appearance and the least intellectual of the group. He is also known for saying “Not the face” when an object threatens to hit it and says “indubitably” as his catchphrase.
Tord (voiced by Tord Larsson). He wore a black jacket in the first episodes and later wore a red hooded sweatshirt. He was known for being the most violent character, and was often the first to pull out a gun and use firearms. He also apparently hates the song Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows by Lesley Gore
. He was also the only non-British character, as he hailed from Norway.
There are many guest or supporting characters who make repeated appearances in the episodes, voiced by Joshua 'Tomamoto' Tomar, Chris 'Oney' O'Neil, Edd 'EddEgg' Bowley, Christopher 'Bing' Bingham, Christopher 'Diwi' Diewald, Paul ter Voorde and Dom 'Hellucard' Charbonneau. The characters they play have minor roles in the series, some are primarily used as running gags, but on occasion they take on positions as main characters for lone episodes.
fans. Most speculations over the reason for Tord’s departure include that he and Tom became too angered with each other, as they would often fight (as revealed in an earlier episode), leading to Tord quitting the group. In reality, Tord Larsson left Eddsworld to pursue his own artistic career and to distance himself from the franchise, requesting that his likeness also be removed from future episodes. Edd Gould has voiced his displeasure in not explaining Tord’s departure in more detail, but he has no current plans to bring the subject up in his work. Hammer and Fail 2 may reference this; as in the intro Tom can be seen on the phone, asking "Why did you leave? Why?" potentially referencing Tord's departure.
In contrast, evidence to support the Tom vs. Tord rumors appeared on August 4th, 2011, when Tom updated his twitter account with the following message: "I want to make it clear right now that I loathe Tord Larsson. Thanks for burdening me with 3-5 daily emails about you for 3 years now, Dick." and In Tom's (Known as TomSka To Many) video called 'Ritalin'd' he was wearing a t-shirt saying "I NEVER LIKED TORD ANYWAY".
On April 16th, 2011, Edd Gould revealed he was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
, a cancer of the white blood cells
. This is the second time he has been diagnosed with this illness. He posted a video on YouTube entitled "Edd vs Cancer" which featured himself, Tom Ridgewell, and Matt Hargreaves discussing the diagnosis.
teens. Episodes typically receive between one and two million views on YouTube, the most popular of these episodes being the Zanta Claws series. Eddsworld was noticed by the organizers of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
who requested the creation of an episode about climate change,which was used in the opening ceremony of the conference.
Eddsworld’s YouTube channel is currently one of the highest viewed channels in the United Kingdom’s comedy and film/animation category and has brought in over 71,000,000 collective video views. It is also the second most subscribed comedian channel in the United Kingdom with over 360,000 subscribers.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedic flash animation production company created by Edward Gould (known informally as Edd Gould) in 2004. Eddsworld was also part of CakeBomb (a dissolved media production collective), but has always stood out as its own franchise. Eddsworld comprises over sixty episodes (called eddisodes), over 150 comics, flash games, and various art work distributed on the home website, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, Albino Blacksheep
Albino Blacksheep
Albino Blacksheep is an animation website made in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that posts member-submitted digital media. Most of these are movies or games created with Adobe Flash. The website also features image galleries, audio files, and text files. Additionally, there is a mobile section that...
, Newgrounds
Newgrounds
Newgrounds is an American entertainment and social media website. Founded on July 6, 1995 by Tom Fulp, the site primarily hosts Adobe Flash animations and games, but also features a music-oriented page, along with an art portal...
, DeviantART
DeviantArt
deviantART is an online community showcasing various forms of user-made artwork. It was first launched on August 7, 2000 by Scott Jarkoff, Matthew Stephens, Angelo Sotira and others. deviantArt, Inc...
, and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. The episodes are the focal point of the organization, which stars Edd, Tom, Matt, and previously Tord and runs from anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Animations are created solely by Edward Gould and co-written by himself and colleagues Tom Ridgewell, Tom Bown, Tord Larsson and Matt Hargreaves. Eddsworld is created using Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
, a computer animation program.
Plot
Eddsworld centers around the main character Edd and his friends Matt, Tom, and previously Tord. All are voiced by their real life counterparts, with most minor characters being voiced by Edd. The main characters all live in the same house in an unspecified suburban town that is in the United Kingdom where most of the episodes take place. The episodes follow no main collective story line, but follow the main characters on random adventures of various genres and/or centers on satireSatire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
and slapstick
Slapstick
Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated violence and activities which may exceed the boundaries of common sense.- Origins :The phrase comes from the batacchio or bataccio — called the 'slap stick' in English — a club-like object composed of two wooden slats used in Commedia dell'arte...
between them in their house and town.
Many early episodes focused on violence, gore, and action, as the main characters would have to battle their way out of a situation with firearms or melee weapons such as knives, swords, guns, and clubs. Zombies have been a relatively consistent theme in Eddsworld, including the three episode Zanta Claws series. Episodes vary in other genres as well, ranging from science fiction to musicals. Recent episodes focus more on word play or the group trying to complete a goal of some kind and follow slightly more realistic plots.
Some of the videos released by Edd are animation tests or general announcements of events pertaining to his work. For example, in March 2011 Edd formed a fund raising initiative with Tom Ridgewell and Chris Bingham on YouTube to assist in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The 2011 earthquake off the Pacific coast of Tohoku, also known as the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, or the Great East Japan Earthquake, was a magnitude 9.0 undersea megathrust earthquake off the coast of Japan that occurred at 14:46 JST on Friday, 11 March 2011, with the epicenter approximately east...
disaster.
Characters
The main characters are loosely based on their real life counterparts. This, with over exaggerated addictions being a constant theme for each character, along with catchphrases, sets the dynamic between the characters.Edd (voiced by Edward Gould) is the main character of Eddsworld. He wears a green hooded sweat and/or a T-shirt that says "Smeg Head" underneath and has brown hair. He enjoys Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants, and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by The Coca-Cola Company of Atlanta, Georgia, and is often referred to simply as Coke...
, bacon and making puns, which annoys other characters. Also, he often uses the term “and such” as a closing description for things. Edd is also seen as optimistic, which can be attributed to his leadership.
Tom (voiced by Thomas Ridgewell, who was also a member of CakeBomb) is one of Edd’s friends and wears a blue hooded sweatshirt. He is known for being an alcoholic, as his favorite beverage is Smirnoff
Smirnoff
Smirnoff is a brand of vodka owned and produced by the British company Diageo. The Smirnoff brand began with a vodka distillery founded in Moscow by Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov , the son of illiterate Russian peasants. It is now distributed in 130 countries.Smirnoff products include vodka, flavored...
. He also has no discernible eyes, but empty black circles in place of them, which does not affect his sight. He is very spontaneous in his joke making and has a deep hatred of the holiday Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
. Tom is also known for saying “Holy ‘Noun’ in a ‘Noun’” (having ‘Noun’ being replaced with two random objects) when surprised. He is also reported to be the most popular character in the Eddsworld series.
Matt (voiced by Matthew Hargreaves) is Edd’s other friend and wears a purple hooded sweatshirt (originally black) with a green jacket. He is also the only one who has orange hair and a square chin. He is known for being obsessed with his looks, even as far as being attracted to his own appearance and the least intellectual of the group. He is also known for saying “Not the face” when an object threatens to hit it and says “indubitably” as his catchphrase.
Tord (voiced by Tord Larsson). He wore a black jacket in the first episodes and later wore a red hooded sweatshirt. He was known for being the most violent character, and was often the first to pull out a gun and use firearms. He also apparently hates the song Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows by Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore
Lesley Gore is an American singer. She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit "It's My Party", which she recorded at the age of 16. Following the hit, she became one of the most recognized teen pop singers of the 1960s.- Biography :Gore was born in New York City, New York. She was raised in...
. He was also the only non-British character, as he hailed from Norway.
There are many guest or supporting characters who make repeated appearances in the episodes, voiced by Joshua 'Tomamoto' Tomar, Chris 'Oney' O'Neil, Edd 'EddEgg' Bowley, Christopher 'Bing' Bingham, Christopher 'Diwi' Diewald, Paul ter Voorde and Dom 'Hellucard' Charbonneau. The characters they play have minor roles in the series, some are primarily used as running gags, but on occasion they take on positions as main characters for lone episodes.
Comics
Edd Gould has created over 170 comics that appear on a weekly basis. They are normally four panels long and follow the same plot structure as the episodes with comedy focusing much more on puns and word play. The characters in the comics are almost exclusively Edd, Matt, Tom, and in the earliest comics Tord. Eighty of these comics have been collected in a book called Toaster Brains, which also features guest comics by collages and friends of Edd.Tord’s departure
The character Tord officially left the series in the beginning of the episode “25 Feet Under The Seat” in 2008. This caused many rumors to originate from fans about his disappearance and is still a point of discussion for many. Impersonators posing as Tord Larsson or as a friend of Tord also arose from this on social networking sites and blogs in attempts to trollTroll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
fans. Most speculations over the reason for Tord’s departure include that he and Tom became too angered with each other, as they would often fight (as revealed in an earlier episode), leading to Tord quitting the group. In reality, Tord Larsson left Eddsworld to pursue his own artistic career and to distance himself from the franchise, requesting that his likeness also be removed from future episodes. Edd Gould has voiced his displeasure in not explaining Tord’s departure in more detail, but he has no current plans to bring the subject up in his work. Hammer and Fail 2 may reference this; as in the intro Tom can be seen on the phone, asking "Why did you leave? Why?" potentially referencing Tord's departure.
In contrast, evidence to support the Tom vs. Tord rumors appeared on August 4th, 2011, when Tom updated his twitter account with the following message: "I want to make it clear right now that I loathe Tord Larsson. Thanks for burdening me with 3-5 daily emails about you for 3 years now, Dick." and In Tom's (Known as TomSka To Many) video called 'Ritalin'd' he was wearing a t-shirt saying "I NEVER LIKED TORD ANYWAY".
Edward Gould
Edward Duncan Ernest Gould was born on October 28th, 1988. He began animating using the GIF animation program. In 2002 he abandoned the program and moved to Macromedia Flash, with his first Newgrounds entry in 2003. Learning the basics of computer flash animation from Lavalle Lee (a flash animator and web designer), Edd went on to create a nine episode series called Bendee, featuring stick figures. Moving on to full bodied characters, Edd abandoned the Bendee series and characters to focus on the current Eddsworld characters. Edd is currently an independent animator studying at the University for the Creative Arts, Maidstone in England.On April 16th, 2011, Edd Gould revealed he was diagnosed with Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia is a form of leukemia, or cancer of the white blood cells characterized by excess lymphoblasts.Malignant, immature white blood cells continuously multiply and are overproduced in the bone marrow. ALL causes damage and death by crowding out normal cells in the bone...
, a cancer of the white blood cells
Hematological malignancy
Hematological malignancies are the types of cancer that affect blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes. As the three are intimately connected through the immune system, a disease affecting one of the three will often affect the others as well: although lymphoma is technically a disease of the lymph...
. This is the second time he has been diagnosed with this illness. He posted a video on YouTube entitled "Edd vs Cancer" which featured himself, Tom Ridgewell, and Matt Hargreaves discussing the diagnosis.
Reception
Eddsworld first became popular with mid-AmericanMidwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
teens. Episodes typically receive between one and two million views on YouTube, the most popular of these episodes being the Zanta Claws series. Eddsworld was noticed by the organizers of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference
The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 December and 18 December. The conference included the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate...
who requested the creation of an episode about climate change,which was used in the opening ceremony of the conference.
Eddsworld’s YouTube channel is currently one of the highest viewed channels in the United Kingdom’s comedy and film/animation category and has brought in over 71,000,000 collective video views. It is also the second most subscribed comedian channel in the United Kingdom with over 360,000 subscribers.