Web Animation / Counterspell

Counterspell is a sprite animated series that originated on Machinima created by Smashbits.

It stars a duo of dungeon bosses, known as Black Mage and Bruiser, who leave their post and start causing trouble in the world while doing what they can to survive.

The series ran for one season before being removed following the shutdown of Machinima. The series has now been uploaded to the official Smashbits YouTube channel and can be found here.

Not to be confused with the trope of the same name.

---

This series contains examples of:

• Affably Evil: Zigzagged with Dragon Prince Dagara. he ends up being rather friendly to Black Mage and Bruiser upon meeting them, though he does show to have a bad temper whenever he messes up his evil song and kills his own minions in his fit.
• The Berserker: Bruiser tends to get quite the adrenaline rush when he is engaging in combat and kills a lot of people.
• Big Eater: Morpho hungers!
• Blob Monster: Morpho the world boss is a giant green blob who devours people.
• Came Back Strong: After being killed by the heroes in the first episode, Black Mage and Bruiser accidentally bring Red Mage back to life as Red Wraith, who decimates a family and eventually gets his revenge on Paladin.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: When the protagonists finally decide to face the heroes, the resulting fight ends up being completely in their favor with the heroes not even getting a hit in.
• Deadpan Snarker: Bruiser has a habit of poking fun of Black Mage every now and then, which Black Mage doesn't necessarily appreciate.
  Bruiser: Oh. You want a ride on my back?
  Black Mage: Yes.
  Bruiser: Are you gonna stop fucking yelling at me?
  Black Mage: Maybe.
  Bruiser: Okay. Here's a boost for baby.
  Black Mage: Please don't patronize me.
• Downer Ending: After running away for so long, Black Mage and Bruiser fight and successfully kill the heroes. Upon doing so though, Dragon Prince Dagara remembers the melody to awaken Dedge the Time Serpent, who destroys the crystal of balance and brings the world into an age of ruin.
• Even Evil Has Standards: According to Black Mage, this is the reason Morpho doesn't eat him or Bruiser due to them all being bosses.
  Black Mage: It's bro code. You don't eat people on your team.
• Fantastic Racism: Despite the mayor saying that Cantlin Falls welcomes everybody, there are many signs that show distaste to orcs.
• Head Crushing: Upon beating the heroes, Bruiser finishes the White Mage off by stomping on her head.
• Large Ham: The Titan Triplets are of three levels of ham. Infernus is most definitely the hammiest as he is the one who put together their introduction in the first place. Ultrex is middle ground as he goes through with the hammy introduction but is annoyed when Infernus fights Atma. Atma-X is the least hammy as he ends up invokedcorpsing his part of the intro to the point that Infernus ends up getting angered into attacking him.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: After realizing they have nowhere left to run upon reaching Dagara's palace, Bruiser talks Black Mage into fighting the heroes, which Black Mage agrees to.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: What kickstarts the series, Black Mage realizes that his team doesn't have a chance at winning and are doomed to die to the heroes, so he and Bruiser run away leaving Red Mage to fight the heroes himself.
• Tired of Running: Downplayed as it is less that they are fed up with running and more that they don't have anywhere left to run, but the moment the bosses reach Dagara's castle, they decide to face the heroes head-on.
• This Cannot Be!: A heroic example. Upon the entire party of heroes being defeated by Black Mage, Bruiser, Morpho, and Lady Shiv, White Mage's last words are "It can't end like this".
• This Is Gonna Suck: Black Mage has this reaction when Dredge awakens after he and Bruiser kill the heroes.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Inverted. Due to the actions of Black Mage and Bruiser, the heroes end up being severely under-leveled on account of having nothing to fight and no way to gain experience needed to handle powerful enemies.
• Villain Protagonist: Black Mage and Bruiser are both bosses who were supposed to fight the heroes to the death only to run away and cause chaos outside of their zone.
• Would Harm a Senior: Neither Black Mage nor Bruiser have any qualms with killing old people if it means they get experience to get stronger.