The Explosive Kablooey Movie

Has anyone heard of a Newgrounds user known as Kablooey?
Kablooey was a young animator who created flash animations from 2007 to 2010. Even though they would often be vocal about their hopes of their works being a constant hit with audiences, they tended to end up with a couple hundred or thousand views at most. The animations themselves would often feature their avatar named after themself (besides going by Kyle Kablooey instead of just…y’know, Kablooey), a cartoonish figure with an enthusiastic personality and a love for explosives. There were other characters such as the serious Nick and laidback Jack, but they weren’t given as much spotlight. When it came to the animations themselves, these three characters were often depicted as neighbors as they would frequently get into various slapstick antics, often due to their contrasting personalities combined with Kyle’s explosive tendencies.
Some of their more notable works included:
* April Boom’s Day: An animated short posted on April Fool’s Day. It involves Kyle becoming anxious over their bombs not working as intended. As a last resort they pile up a bunch of TNT and explosives in order to show their friends what’s going on, only for them to exclaim “APRIL FOOLS!”, with Kyle now realizing that their bombs not working was likely due to the “magic of April 1st”...followed by all the explosives immediately blowing up in their faces once the nearby clock strikes 12:00 AM.
* Operation: KABOOM!: A parody of spy thrillers such as James Bond and 007 Goldeneye. In it Kyle acts as a spy in order to find one of Nick’s dictionaries, only for him to constantly risk messing up their plans due to the former wanting to go “guns blazing” everytime he has to act stealthy. It's only when the thief (known only as The Baron) threatens Kyle by stealing and potentially dismantling his beloved bombs that he takes things seriously, utilizing every lesson Nick taught him in order to fool The Baron and retrieve the stolen items.
* Theme Song Bloopers: Multiple various takes on the theme song which would play during longer Kablooey animations, with most ending with something being blown up, ranging from bombs to the other characters. The animation would end with Nick snapping and going on a rant about how nothing was going right and that something had to be done about it, only for Kyle to retaliate by blowing up a bomb in his face.
As you could see, a majority of their animations revolved around the copious usage of bombs. While their works often weren’t the most innovative or original in their time, they were enough to build up a decent following. Kablooey would also respond to compliments or answer questions about their work, though the frequency of these responses would decrease over the years. This coincided with the releases of animations becoming more sparse over time, often being excused with “real life issues”. It was unknown whether this was due to Kablooey being occupied by schoolwork or because of other personal jargon, but a select few infer that it could be due to the process of creating what would be his longest and final animation.
Their final work, which I’ll be discussing in detail, was also intended to be their “magnum opus”. Titled “The Explosive Kablooey Movie”, it depicted a 15 minute-long animation where…well, I guess I’ll just have to describe it.
It begins with Kyle waking up in their room, going through their morning routine, and stepping outside to greet their neighbors—only for them to be completely absent. Curious, Kyle decides to go look for them…after briefly heading inside in order to polish one of their bombs, of course.
While Kyle was outside searching an odd ticking noise started to play over the video. It was only until he made it to the center of town that he was able to find the source of the noise: that being a giant bomb Nick and Jack were strapped to, along with The Baron grinning deviously.
“You again!?” Kyle exclaims. “Weren’t you blown away when I took back Nick’s book?”
After letting out a goofy chortle, The Baron explains how he was able to recover from Kyle’s explosion. He proceeds to tell Kyle about the bomb he set up and how it would explode in 10 minutes if Kyle couldn’t figure out how to defuse it in time, not-so-subtly implying what’ll become of his friends if the worst comes to pass.
Kyle…doesn’t take this all too seriously. He says that he’s seen plenty of bombs in his life, and that there was no way they were able to take the lives of anyone at all. Predictably, Nick isn’t happy with this lackluster dismissal of their situation and urges him to take things more seriously. Even Jack looks unimpressed. After a few moments of light bickering between the three, Kyle finally decides to take things seriously by asking (in a bit of sarcastic and dramatic flair) how he can possibly be able to defuse such a bomb. The Baron only gives out vague clues regarding his hideout before disappearing in a puff of smoke, prompting the start of Kyle’s quest as a countdown timer pops up above.
“Don’t worry, guys! This’ll be solved faster than you can say 'BOOM!'” Kyle says to the two before running off, prompting the other two to roll their eyes in disbelief. The movie then transitions to Kyle in search of clues towards where The Baron’s hideout could possibly be, only for his search to be interrupted by the loud meowing of a cat. It turns out that the cat is stuck in a tree, with its worried owner trying to catch it.
Kyle, upon seeing a potential distraction from his main objective, begins to ponder what to do. However, he quickly shrugs off the potential consequences of wasting time as he throws a bomb toward the tree in sheer excitement. Upon seeing the explosive the cat jumps off in fear, landing safely in the owner’s hands. The bomb explodes just as the owner attempts to thank Kyle, leaving her and the cat’s bodies covered in soot as he runs off.
The rest of the movie follows a similar pattern: Kyle stumbles upon a situation, gets distracted, and then solves it with bombs as he makes his way toward the hideout—all as time continues to run out. By the time he makes it to wherever The Baron’s hideout is located—which was an abandoned building covered in soot—there’s only 2 minutes left for him to save his friends. He steps inside, fumbling through the various furnishings within darkness…only to trip on something sharp and wiry.
“A-ha!” he exclaims, his excitement magically lighting up the room he’s in. “The defuser!” It’s only then that he notices how much time he has left above, which sends him into a comedic state of shock. “I better make my way back to town!”
Kyle proceeds to rush back to where his friends were, briefly stuck in a bit of exaggerated exhaustion when he arrives. “What took you so long!?” Nick asks. “Did you want us to be blown to smithereens while you were off bombing whatever crap you saw!?”
“C’mon, guys!” Kyle says, trying to reason with the others. “You know how much I can’t keep myself from chucking a bomb or two at anything! Besides, I managed to get the defuser—”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Jack says. This catches the others by surprise, as Jack usually never takes much of an issue towards Kyle’s shenanigans. “This is The Baron we’re talking about.”
“So? I’ve been able to defeat that guy before! What’s stopping me from doing so again?”
“THE TIME YOU WASTED!?” Nick shouts. This also ends up shocking Kyle, but unlike before his reaction is far less cartoony. Even Jack ends up taken aback by his sudden outburst.
“I’ve still got a few minutes left! Just let me defuse the bomb and we’ll—”
“We could’ve been freed by now if you weren’t being a trigger-happy dolt about everything, y’know!”
“And you’ll be free now once I defuse this bomb!”
“It’s always about bombs with you, isn’t it!?”
“Nick, calm down…”
“SHUT UP! You should know full well about how he acts by now!”
“Well, at least I don’t whine about it every chance I get…”
From this point on their arguing becomes unintelligible, drowned out by the sound of uncontrollable ticking mixed with Kyle’s frantic attempts at defusing the giant explosive. Finally, just as the timer vanishes during the 7 second mark, the defuser is able to seemingly do its job.
“There!” Kyle says with a smile. “I just saved your lives.” Content with himself, he walks off with a spring in his step, glad that he was able to—
BOOM.
After a few seconds of pure white combined with the sound of shrill ringing, the movie fades into a shot of a massive crater where the bomb once stood. The nearby houses and trees are also impacted by the detonation, leaving nothing but ruin in its wake. Nick and Jack are nowhere to be seen. The only other person that could be seen amongst the aftermath was Kyle, still with his back turned at the mess laying before him.
“...Huh?” Kyle mutters, his pupils nothing more than mere pinpricks. He turns back, and is horrified at what he sees. He takes a few steps toward the crater, but can barely manage to stand before he falls into his knees. Cuts of pure silence show the extent of what happened: buildings torn apart, plants covered in soot, and even the sight of a few body parts partially obscured by the carnage. Kyle, out of everyone and everything, was the only one spared.
“Nick? Jack?” he calls out, still staring at the center of the crater. No answer. He begins to tremble, his hands clenching the ground beneath him. He whimpers, sobs, and then…laughs. His smile during this is forced and wavering, but he continues to laugh harder, with the noise soon becoming manic.
“YOU GOT ME!” he shouts out. “That was a real good prank you pulled there!” He releases his grip on the ground, still astonished by the horrifying sight that lay beneath him. “I…I knew that bomb wasn’t real! And you’re all just…hiding, right?”
Kyle pauses, his crazed grin shifting into a frown. For a moment it seems that Kyle is ready to grasp the reality of his situation…only for him to let out an agonized scream, serving as one of the loudest moments within the animation.
After his screaming ends, his expression changes to that of dissonant serenity. No longer shaking, he calmly stands up and begins to walk through the devastation as if nothing happened. As the movie fades to black, the sound of Kyle humming the theme song can be heard.
Since the movie’s release, Kablooey has gone radio silent. It didn't even take long for his account to be deleted in the fallout of its release, leaving the remnants of the movie to be reduced to various bouts of forum speculation. Plenty of theories regarding their disappearance are occasionally shared within some corners of the site, ranging from a simple lack of interest to the possibility of Nick & Jack (as well as their subsequent deaths) serving as a personification for the “real life issues” Kablooey was going through at the time. Regardless of whatever you may believe in, Kablooey himself might as well be nothing more than an obscure relic from Newgrounds’ past.
Category:Internet
Category:Newgrounds
Category:Animation
Category:2000's
Category:Computers and Internet