"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", often shortened to "The Ultimate Showdown", is a comical song and video released on December 22, 2005. The song was written and performed by Neil Cicierega under the pseudonym Lemon Demon, appearing as the fifth single of the project's fifth studio album Dinosaurchestra. The song describes a massive, citywide battle set in Tokyo started by Godzilla and Batman, ultimately lasting for a century and involving dozens of pop-culture icons with the music video's animation by Shawn Vulliez.
In the early 2000s, Neil Cicierega popularized animutation, a form of flash animation that humorously depicts pop-culture images set to upbeat music.[1] Steven Lerner, the owner of Albino Blacksheep, later stated that as the genre grew more popular that it had begun to advance in effort, with creators drawing the characters rather than editing publicly available photos.[2] Cicierega adapted to this development, publishing the song "The Ultimate Showdown" to Newgrounds on December 22, 2005,[3] with Shawn Vulliez credited for the video's animation under the name altffour.[2] The song was additionally released under the full name "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" as the fifth single of Lemon Demon's fifth studio album Dinosaurchestra,[3] which came out on July 20, 2006.[4]
Reception
"The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" gained a large cult following among web enthusiasts.[5] It ranked on Newgrounds as the "User's Choice" upon publication, amassing 6.5 million views within its first six months of release.[3] It appeared on several other websites including Albino Blacksheep and YouTube,[6] receiving over 25 million views on the latter before a takedown and replacement by Vulliez in early 2021.[7] A higher resolution fan upload has received over 7.7 million views on YouTube as of April 2024.[8] The song topped the "Funny Five" on The Dr. Demento Show for several weeks and was the #1 request for 2006.[9] In 2009, the song was re-recorded with a full band, receiving inclusion on the compilation Almanac 2009 and Lemon Demon's first EP Live (Only Not).[10] It additionally appeared on the Rock Band Network, releasing to the service on July 6, 2010.[11]
As Godzilla is going on a rampage through Tokyo, Batman surprise attacks him with a Bat-Grenade. Godzilla's attempt to retaliate is blocked by Shaquille O'Neal, who is attacked by Aaron Carter until Batman runs over them both with the Batmobile. Before Batman can return to the Batcave, Abraham Lincoln rises from the dead and shoots Batman with an AK-47. Lincoln is then forced to flee by Optimus Prime.
After Godzilla eats a piece of Optimus Prime, Shaq returns but is then attacked by Jackie Chan. Meanwhile, Lincoln attempts to finish off Batman with a machete but is stopped by Indiana Jones. Jones is left defenseless against Godzilla as Batman steals his gun and unsuccessfully attempts to kill Chan. A somersaulting Chan and a pole-vaulting Lincoln collide in midair and are killed by a Care Bear stare.
Approximately a century later, the battle has officially ended and is implied to have claimed the lives of many more characters besides those mentioned, with only one contestant remaining: Mister Rogers.
The latter two characters are animated in the same designs as they were in the music video for Lemon Demon's song "Ebaum's World Dot Com".[citation needed]
Jonathan "Jonti" Picking, also known as Weebl and Mr Weebl, is a British Internet personality and Flash animator and is the creator of Weebl's Stuff.
Lemon Demon is a musical project and band created by American comedian and musician Neil Cicierega in 2003 in Boston, Massachusetts. Lemon Demon's studio work is performed solely by Cicierega, who is the project's sole official member. Live performances also include a backing band, with previous performances consisting of Alora Lanzillotta, Charles Sergio, Anthony Wry, Dave Kitsberg, and Greg Lanzillotta. As of 2024, Lemon Demon has released seven studio albums and five EPs.
A viral video is a video that becomes popular through a viral process of Internet sharing, typically through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email. For a video to be shareable or spreadable, it must focus on the social logics and cultural practices that have enabled and popularized these new platforms.
DongWoo Animation Co. Ltd is an animation studio located in Seoul, South Korea. It has produced many animated series and films created and produced in the United States, Canada, South Korea and Japan. The current CEO of the studio is Kim Young-doo.
Nolan North is an American actor best known for his voice acting roles.
Dinosaurchestra is the fifth studio album by Lemon Demon, a musical project created by American musician Neil Cicierega. The album was released on July 20, 2006, with all tracks written, performed, and recorded by Neil Cicierega. The album received a generally positive reception and was successful, with the songs "Fine" and "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny" performing well on streaming services. In 2022, independent label Needlejuice Records remastered and re-released the album on vinyl, CD, and cassette.
The Blue Meanies are the main antagonists in the surreal 1968 Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine. They are a fictional army of rude beings that hate all music and allegorically represent all the bad people in the world. Their visual appearance was mostly designed by Heinz Edelmann. Producer Al Brodax said that the Chief Blue Meanie resembled production coordinator Abe Goodman.
"That's How I Beat Shaq" is a single from Aaron Carter's second album, Aaron's Party . Released in 2001, the single was released with the permission of Shaquille O'Neal. The song was used in the trailer for Hey Arnold!: The Movie.
Neil Stephen Cicierega is an American filmmaker, YouTuber, animator, and musician. He is known as the creator of Potter Puppet Pals, "The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny", and multiple music albums under the name Lemon Demon. He also released a series of mashup albums under his own name that have since gained a cult following.
Jay Oliva is an American film director, producer, and storyboard artist working at Los Angeles–based animation studio Lex+Otis.
Arin Joseph Hanson, also known by the pseudonym Egoraptor, is an American YouTuber, actor, rapper, and former animator. He is well known for his Flash cartoons, as well as being the co-founder and co-star of the popular YouTube Let's Play series Game Grumps.
Mouth Sounds is a mashup album by American musician Neil Cicierega. The album was released independently by Cicierega on April 27, 2014. Consisting of mashups pairing Top 40 hits of the 1980s and 1990s along with Smash Mouth's "All Star", Mouth Sounds received positive reviews from music critics. It received a second installment, Mouth Silence, three months later, which followed the same mashup format, a third installment, Mouth Moods, in 2017, and a fourth installment, Mouth Dreams, in 2020.
The Lego Movie is an American media franchise based on Lego construction toys. It began with the 2014 film The Lego Movie, which was directed and written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The success of the film led to the release of two licensed video games, a 4D film theme park attraction, two spin-off films titled The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie, which were released in 2017, Unikitty! an animated television series that also came out in the same year, and the sequel to the original film titled The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part in 2019. Plans for a third spin-off film and a sequel to The Lego Batman Movie were later shelved.
Christopher Edwin Niosi, also known by his pseudonym Kirbopher, is an American voice actor, animator, and producer. His voice-work includes Lord Uroko in Nagi-Asu: A Lull in the Sea, Arataka Reigen in Mob Psycho 100, Dezel in Tales of Zestiria, Taira in Queen's Blade Rebellion, Tetsuya Kinomoto in Dr. Stone, Khoury and others in the Pokémon series, Ernesto and others in OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes, Pegasus in the Viz Media dub of Sailor Moon, Haruo Sakaki in Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters, Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle, and Godzilla: The Planet Eater, and Therion and Mattias in Octopath Traveler.
Spirit Phone is the seventh studio album by Lemon Demon, a musical project created by American musician Neil Cicierega. The album was released digitally through Bandcamp on February 29, 2016, marking his first full-length album in eight years. All tracks were written, performed, and recorded by Neil Cicierega.
"Touch-Tone Telephone" is a song by American pop band Lemon Demon, a musical project created by American musician Neil Cicierega. It was released on February 29, 2016, as the second track of Lemon Demon's seventh studio album, Spirit Phone.
Christopher Luke O'Neill, also known by his Internet pseudonym Oney or OneyNG, is an Irish YouTuber, animator, cartoonist, video game designer, musician, and voice actor. He is known for his Flash animations and being the founder and host of the YouTube Let's Play web series OneyPlays. He is also the owner of the video game production company OneyWare.
Nature Tapes is the third EP by Lemon Demon, a musical project created by American musician Neil Cicierega. The EP was released digitally through Bandcamp and other streaming services on March 24, 2014, though all songs on its tracklist were released prior as singles. It later had physical distribution in 2019 by Needlejuice Records. Nature Tapes received a positive reception, with "Two Trucks" and "Brodyquest" becoming viral memes.
"They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard" is a video that was published in 2005 by musician and photographer Erwin Beekveld. The two-minute video composed of multiple fragments from the film trilogy The Lord of the Rings became part of internet folklore, and has obtained a cult status mostly among fans of this trilogy.
A reanimated collaboration is a type of collaborative fan-made animation project wherein each animator recreates one shot of an existing film in their own style. The individual works are then stitched into the original order and published on the internet as a completed collaboration, creating a collaborative tribute to the original film. This differs from a shot-for-shot recreation, as the goal of a reanimate is to display each of the independent animators' unique stylings rather than to produce a unified or identical result. Multiple collaborations focus on media made a decade or more prior that receives renewed interest due to internet memes, nostalgia, or the death of a voice actor. As they are often non-profit tributes to an existing work, animators expect to receive little or no profit.
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