Web Animation / Siblings

"PLAYING RUNESCAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE?!?!"

— Rob's ever popular shout, "Runesuck"

Siblings is a popular Flash series about two brothers: Johny, a super mellow teenager who is fond of playing RuneScape, playing guitar, and talking on the phone; and his older brother Rob, who always does obnoxious ramblings and gets his brother in trouble. Everything is animated using a drawing tablet.

Created by Robert Winchester (aka the real Rob), this series originated on Newgrounds. It also got a spot on its own Web site, as well as on deviantART and YouTube.

Episode list:

• 0. Day of the Devil
• 1. Runesuck
• 2. Don't Wake Robby!
• 3. Dog Daze of Boredom
• 3.2 Pop-a-Cap!
• 4. Half Beard
• 5. Not-the-Final Fantasy XII
  • Not-the-FFXII Extras
• 5.2 Heinous Anus Zone
• 5.3 tWHYlight
• 6. Don't Sleep, Robby!

If you came here looking for sibling tropes, follow this way, please.

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This series includes examples of:

• Affectionate Parody: The mini-episode "Heinous Anus Zone" pokes fun at sidescroller design in video games.
• Amusing Injuries: In the mini-episode "Pop-a-Cap!", Rob (after he watches a show about reflex testing) uses a broom to hit Johny in the back of the legs and makes him fall over...while forgetting that he's supposed to test someone's reflexes in the front of the knees.
• Animal Talk: Spike, the family dog, in "Dog Daze of Boredom".
• Annoying Younger Sibling: Johny.
• April Fools' Day: The "Untitled" cartoons.
• Arch-Enemy: Rival, an Evil Sorcerer wannabe who is Rob's rival. He appears only in "Half Beard".
• Art Evolution: The drawings are very crude in "Day of the Devil", a pilot episode, because it was only made in one day. But for the rest of the series, they started to get much better.
  • Oh yeah, this page details the evolution of the character designs.
• Art Shift: The flashback scene in "Runesuck" is the only scene in the series to be drawn using lines instead of the brush tool.
• As Himself: The real Rob as Rob, his little brother Johny as Johny, and some of the others. But the real Rob claims that the characters aren't real people; they're heavily based on real people, so the characters are:
  • The Danza
  • Ink-Suit Actor
  • And of course, Rob himself is an Author Avatar.
• Attack Hello: Spike does it to Johny in "Dog Daze of Boredom", when he sees him arriving home from school.
  Johny: Ow, my spine! (to Spike) Damn, dog, you stink.
• Babies Make Everything Better: Mason.
• Beard of Evil: Rival.
• Berserk Button: Don't ever play country music near a sleeping Rob, or else he'll shoot your stereo.
• Bland-Name Product: Heinous Anus Zone features a can of "Dr. Soda" (a parody of Dr. Pepper) sitting on Johny's desk.
• Body Double: Played for Laughs in "Half Beard", when someone who resembles Rob gives Johny a car ride and waves goodbye to him — only for Rob himself to show up behind Johny.
  Johny: Ah, what the hell?! I thought you left!
  Rob: That was the decoy Rob!
  Johny: I'm not gonna even try to understand that one.
• Bonus Material: Found in the "Extras" sections in each episode. This includes audio clips that never made it in the final product, as well as animated extra scenes.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Johny does it twice when he sets up his Rube Goldberg Devices (see quotes below) in "Don't Wake Robby!" and "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Brick Joke: The plot point of "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Butt-Monkey: Johny. His life is always abused by Rob.
• Calling Your Attacks: "HALF BEARD, GO! FORM OF...HALF OF MY BEARD!"
• The Cameo: Mr. T in "Runesuck" and "Heinous Anus Zone".
• Canon Discontinuity: "Day of the Devil", due to the fact it's a pilot for the series and that it features very poor drawings that were done quickly. That's why it was marked as episode zero.
• Catchphrase: "For the hell of it."
• Chekhov's Gag: In the scene in "Half Beard" where Johny gets a phone call from his friend CJ, the latter can clearly be heard shouting "RuneScaaaaaaaaaaape!" on the phone several times, a nod to the earlier episode "Runesuck".
• Chewing the Scenery: "HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLF BEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRD!!!!"
  • "HOLY SHIT, STOP THE WORLD!! IT'S ONE GIL!!"
• Cluster F-Bomb: Basch in "Not-the-FFXII Extras" does this when he and the team confront Vayne.
  Basch: Fuck you!...Fuck you!...FUCK YOU!
  Balthier: I think he's referring to me.
  Basch: Oh, well, still, fuck him.
  Vayne: No, Basch, (transformation) FUCK YOU!
• Comically Missing the Point: Johny at times, because he tried not to listen to Rob's ranting.
• Comic-Book Adaptation: The series was adapted into a very short-lived webcomic in winter 2010 that lasted for only two strips. These two strips are called "Skipping" and "Crotch Shot".
• Content Warnings: Parodied at the beginning of "Siblings Untitled 01".
  "WARNING! The clip you are about to see is FAKE. All the places, characters, and events are more or less fictitious in their presentation and you are expected to know it never happened. It ain't a biography, people, it's an internet cartoon. Expect nothing but lies. LIES! P.S. You cannot refund time, so if I end up wasting yours, then do us both a favor and get over it. Using levitation! Using levitation! P.S. You cannot refund time, so if I end up wasting yours, then do us both of a favor...then do us both a favor and get over it. Using levitation! Using LEVITATION!...PSYoucannotrefundtimesoifIendupwastingyoursthendousbothafavorandgetoverit Using LEVITATION! LEVITATION! LEVITATION! Using LEVITATION! Ti revo teg dna rovaf a htob su od neht, sruoy gnitsaw pu dne I fi os, emit dnufer tonnac uoy S.P. P.S. You cannot refund time, so if I end up wasting yours, then do us both a favor and get over it. Using levitation! Peeeeeeeee.Eeessssssssss. Yooooouuuuuuu canooooooooott refuuuuuuuuuuuuund tiiiiiiiiiiime soooooo, if Iiiiiiiiiiii eeeeeeennd uuuuuup waaaaaaaaaasting yoooooooooouuuuuuuurs, theeeen doooo uuuusssssss booooooooth a favooooor annnnnnd get ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooveeeeeer iiiiiit."
• Continuity Nod: In later episodes such as "Not-the-Final Fantasy XII" and "Don't Sleep, Robby!", Rob's ball of duct tape from "Runesuck" and his paper-mâché hand from "Dog Daze of Boredom" were seen sitting on his shelf in his room. Also, foam Buddha from "Not-the-Final Fantasy XII" shows up again in "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Cutaway Gag: "Count Robulaaaaaa!"
• Deadpan Snarker: Rob, at times. Also, Johny towards him.
• Department of Redundancy Department:
  Johny: Haha! I finally came up with the perfect way to get Rob up! More perfect than the last plan which was also perfect! ...Sort of.
• Deranged Animation: The dream sequence in "Don't Sleep, Robby!", as well as all the Mind Screw stuff.
• Disney Acid Sequence: The dream sequence in "Don't Sleep, Robby!", again, but without any lyrics.
• Double Take: At the beginning of "tWHYlight":
  Rob: If it doesn't turn into a teenybopper movie with vampires in it for the hell of it...IT'S A TEENYBOPPER MOVIE WITH VAMPIRES IN IT FOR THE HELL OF IT!!
• The Dragon: Lackey, Rival's silent lackey, who acts snake-like but is human.
• Dream Sequence: Rob has several in "Don't Wake Robby!" and one in "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Duck Season, Rabbit Season: A variation in "Don't Sleep, Robby!":
  Rob: Up to your old John-foolery, eh?
  Johny: You were sleeping!
  Rob: Nah, I was zoning out again.
  Johny: Sleeping!
  Rob: Zoning!
  Max: Meditating!
  Rob: Mediating!
  Max: Meteor!
  Johny: Sleeping, I said!
  Rob: Yes, yes, we're all aware of you saying "sleeping", it's not a big deal.
  • Taken to the extreme when this scene was parodied in "Siblings Untitled 04".
• Duct Tape for Everything: In "Runesuck", Rob had a ball of duct tape. He told a story to Johny that back at school, he used duct tape to create a drawing of a grey alien on the hallway wall under pressure from his teacher, who then told him to take it down, so Rob takes the tape down and rolls it up into a ball.
• Easter Egg: Pops up throughout most of the series.
• Every Episode Ending: An animated outline drawing appearing on a white background after the ending credits. It's colored blue, red, green, purple or pink.
• Everything Talks: In the beginning of "Half Beard", Rob has a conversation with his beard when he faces the necessity of shaving again. When he tells it to stop screaming in pain, it obliges.
• Face Palm: Johny does it at the end of "Don't Wake Robby!", when Rob goes back to sleep in the tub.
  • Rob in "Don't Sleep, Robby!", upon learning from Max about the music band Billy Talent only having one person named Beck.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Johny tries several elaborate plans to make Rob wake up in "Don't Wake Robby!", but they didn't work out at all.
  • This is repeated in "Don't Sleep, Robby!", but this time, he's trying to make Rob go to sleep.
• Fast-Forward Gag: Happens twice at the end of "Not-the-FFXII Extras", complete with a Motor Mouth Narrator.
  "ONEPATHETICALLYSHORTBATTLELATER!"^note The heroes fight Vayne in a ridiculously short battle.
  "ONEFIERYTRANSFORMATIONLATER!"^note Vayne transforms into a giant with wings.
• First-Name Ultimatum: "JOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNN!" in "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
  • Johny has "ROOOOOOOOB!" in the same episode.
• Flashback: Rob's duct tape story in "Runesuck".
  • A montage of Rob Squeeing at Johny in past times in one scene of "Dog Daze of Boredom".
• The Fool: Rob.
• Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: Rob and Johny.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Near the end of "tWHYlight", the menu at the movie theater's concession stand is selling "Fat", "More Fat", "Heart Attack", "Sugar Drink", "Liquid Poison", and "Hidden Messages".
• Funny Background Event: Oh boy.
• Fun with Subtitles: In the Newgrounds version of "tWHYlight", when Edward says, "I'm dangerous, stay away," for the third time, the subtitles say, "I AM NOT WRITING HIS CATCHPHRASE AGAIN."
• Gag Series: Of course. The real Rob really loves randomness, so he throws it in the series.
• The Ghost: In "Half Beard", Johny's girlfriend is mentioned to be at the football game, but once we get to the scene with the football field, she isn't seen sitting in the bleachers at all.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Rob in "tWHYlight".
• Harmless Freezing: Happens to Rob while he's sleeping after Johny turns the fan up near him. After that, he was taken to the bathtub by Johny to have him thawed out. Fortunately, we didn't see him frozen like ice.
• Heavy Sleeper: Rob in "Don't Wake Robby!".
• Heli-Critter: In "Dog Daze of Boredom", Spike is reacting with joy to Johny telling him that he's going to pet him, causing his own tail to wag so fast that it turns into a helicopter propeller.
  Rob: Gasp!! My theory was true! Spike can fly! FLY DOG! FLY!
  • But unfortunately, Spike flew so high that his tail hits the ceiling fan making him spin around, and he falls down.
• Hilarious Outtakes: Audio-only version. There are several voiceover outtakes in the post-"Runesuck" episodes that are taken from the recording session and added as bonus extras. You can click on any button in the "extras" menu on each episode and they will lead you to another menu that has a "play" button.
• Hot Blooded Sideburns: Rob.
• ILLKILLYOU: At one point in "tWHYlight", Rob states, "I hope this doesn't turn into a musical, but I swear, if Hannah Montana makes a guest appearance, I'm gonna go on a murderous rampage. AND YOU STUPID LITTLE GIRLS ARE GONNA BE FIRST!!"
• Incredibly Lame Pun:
  • An early joke involving this happens at one point in "Dog Daze of Boredom". Rob shows Johny a paper-mâché hand he made at school countless times making comments like "Sure comes in HANDY!", "Hands down!" and "Gotta HAND this to you!". Johny then asks "Where's your list of puns for this?" and Rob pulls it out. He takes the list and tears it up, much to Rob's glumness.
  • Rob uses another one in "Not-the-FFXII Extras":
    Rob: Shut up, I can't have awesome one-liners all the time. No wait, I got it! This game's got more deserts than...a bakery! ...Eh? Deserts? Desserts? Heh heh heh. Right?
    Johny: No.
    Rob: DAMN!
    • Reused by him in the same cartoon:
      Rob: Gee, this game's got more deserts than a...fucking bakery.
      Johny: It still isn't funny.
      Rob: DAMN IT!
      (Johny smiles)
• In-Series Nickname: Rob's friend Adrian is nicknamed "ACE".
• Insistent Terminology: This is a cartoon about fictional people, not a biography.
• The Insomniac: Rob in "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Insomnia Episode: The episode "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Jerkass: Rob. Besides making his brother's life hell, he always babbles obnoxiously.
• Kangaroo Court: Invoked in "Runesuck":
  Rob: That's horse slaughter! You'll get life in horse court!
  Johny: Uh, unicorn court. They get pissed off when you call them horses.
• Knee-capping: Parodied in "Pop-a-Cap!".
• Large Ham: Rob himself.
• Long List: Happens in "Not-the-Final Fantasy XII".
  Rob: Well, let's see, we have red wolf, orange wolf, brown wolf, blue glowing wolf, wolf on fire, wolf with a top hat, Teen Wolf, wolf with a funny mustache, wolf that turns into Link, inside-out wolf—and that's not even counting wolfmen.
• Manchild: Rob. Very much so.
• Mind Screw: "Not-the-FFXII Excess".
  • The "Untitled" cartoons as well.
• Mythology Gag: The major plot device of "Don't Sleep, Robby!", with Johny lampshading this trope.
  • Not to mention, in the football field scene in "Half Beard", various characters from Rob Winchester's other works show up sitting in the bleachers.
• Nerves of Steel: Johny.
• Niche Network: The Pointless Channel in "Dog Daze of Boredom".
• The Nicknamer/Verbal Tic: Dan, the oldest son of the family, adds "Jew" before Rob's and Johny's names most of the time. So he calls them "JewBob" and "JewJohn". Not only that, but Dan also called other people Jews, except for his baby son Mason.
• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Chew, the chihuahua who confronts Spike in "Dog Daze of Boredom", sounds a lot like Hulk Hogan. The real Rob said this is because it annoys him that chihuahuas in general were portrayed as being Mexican in media.
• No Title: The April Fools' Day cartoons, simply called "Siblings Untitled".
• Oddly Visible Eyebrows: In the early episodes.
• Oh, Crap!: Johny in "Half Beard", when he sees Rob running off to the football field laughing.
  • He also has one at the end of the episode.
  • Also, Johny and Max in "Don't Sleep, Robby!", once Rob starts going extremely crazy.
• One-Steve Limit: Lampshaded by both Vayne and Vaan in "Not-the-FFXII Extras".
  Vayne: Where's Vaan? He's my favorite fag.
  Penelo: He's hiding in the corner.
  Vaan: STOP HAVING THE SAME NAME AS ME, VAYNE!
  Vayne: We don't have the same name, Vaan. "Vayne" and "Vaan" are completely different, totally.
  Vaan: Well, at least I'll always be a lot more fabulous!
• Only Sane Man: Johny.
• Out-of-Character Moment: At one point in "Half Beard", when Johny calls his friend on the phone, he calls RuneScape, his favorite game, "RuneGay".
• Overly Long Gag: Occurs a lot in the "Untitled" cartoons.
• Overly Long Scream: Used a lot in "Siblings Untitled 01", such as the part where Rob and Johny ride a mine cart to a tropical forest screaming. Also at the end, Rob does this before Johny smacks him in the head with a chair.
• Preemptive "Shut Up": Rob has one to Johny in "Not-the-Final Fantasy XII".
  Rob: This game's got more deserts than a, uh...sandbox.
  (Johny stares at Rob)
  Rob: Shut up, I can't have awesome one-liners all the time.
• Rant Comedy
• Rock Bottom: From the ending of "Half Beard":
  Johny: How could this not get any worse...
  CJ: (offscreen) Johny!
  (Johny turns to see CJ holding up peacock feathers)
  Johny: Oh god, he has two of them!
  (Johny runs away, with CJ chasing him with the feathers)
• Rotoscoping: Most of the cells in the series are based on photos that creator Rob Winchester has taken for reference.
  • This trope was most notably explained in this production picture of "Pop-a-Cap!".
• Rube Goldberg Device: Invoked by Johny in two episodes.
  • "Don't Wake Robby!":
    Johny: Rob will smell the biscuits and gravy on the plate and come to try and eat it, tugging on the rope which'll pull the needle and the bowling ball will roll down and hit Abraham Lincoln, who'll get pissed off and throw his top hat, pressing the button that'll set the mice loose that'll stampede on the gunpowder that'll ignite on the hot oven which will set the smoke alarm off and make Rob get up. My elaborate plan cannot fail!
  • "Don't Sleep, Robby!":
    Johny: Haha! Rob will smell this burrito on the plate and come to try and eat it, tugging on the rope that'll pull the thumb tack so the tennis rack will fall and hit George Washington in the face, who'll get pissed off and throw an axe that'll release the gerbils that'll chew through the string that'll trigger the catapult that'll shoot the golfball at the button that'll turn on the...
• Rule of Funny: If you turn the subtitles on while watching an episode, you might recognize Winchester's snarky commentary in spades.
• Running Gag: A skull (or occasionally a skeleton) popping up in the background.
• Say My Name:
  • Ahem...PLAYING RUNESCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE???!!!!!!
  • From version B of "Heinous Anus Zone":
  Rob: CURSE YOU, T!! CURSE YOOOUUUU!!!
  Mr. T: Mister!
  Rob: Right, sorry. MR. TEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
  • Earlier at the very end of "Dog Daze of Boredom": Rob shouts "SPIIIIIIIIIKE!" in a happy tone when he and Johny meet Spike again.
  • Overlapped with the First-Name Ultimatum on "Don't Sleep, Robby!": "JOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHNNNNNNN!"
• The Scream: "PLAYING RUNESCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPE?!"
  • "EXCITE BIKE, BITCH!! WHAT? WHAT?! WHAT?!! AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!"
• Self-Parody: "Siblings Untitled 01" is a parody of "Runesuck" while "Siblings Untitled 04" spoofs "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Sequel Episode: "Don't Sleep, Robby!" is this to "Don't Wake Robby!".
  • And there is one to "Dog Daze of Boredom" that is currently in the works, but unfortunately, it never happened.
• Sequel Hook: Parodied at the very end of "Half Beard". "Reverse Goatee, coming this never!"
• Shout-Out: All the songs that Johny plays to make Rob wake up and go to sleep in "Don't Wake Robby!" and "Don't Sleep, Robby!" respectively.
  • At one point in "Don't Sleep, Robby!":
    Johny: I'll be back!
    Rob: To the future. (has Twitchy Eyes)
    Johny: (looks around) God dammit.
  • "EXCITEBIKE, BITCH!"
• Sibling Rivalry: Rob and Johny. A bit.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Rob and Johny.
• Sir Swearsalot: Rob.
• Skyward Scream: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW PRESENTIIIIIIING THE MAGNIFICENT SPLENDOR OF HALF BEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAARRD!!!"
  • "CURSE YOU, T!!! CURSE YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!!"
    • "Mista!" "Right, sorry. MR. T!!!!!!"
• Sleepyhead: Rob in "Don't Wake Robby!".
• The Stinger: "Half Beard", "tWHYlight", and "Don't Sleep, Robby!".
• Straight Man: Johny.
• Squee: Done by Rob in "Dog Daze of Boredom" after Johny tells him, "I think that school's warping your mind."
• Take That!: "Runesuck" is this to RuneScape and other MMORPGs in general.
  • "Not-the-Final Fantasy XII", to Final Fantasy XII.
  • And also, the mini-episode "tWHYlight", to The Twilight Saga.
• Take That, Audience!: Some of the real Rob's commentary in the episodes' behind-the-scenes scrapbooks.
  • The same goes for most of his voiceover commentary in some episodes.
• Take That, Scrappy!:invoked The plot device of "Not-the-Final Fantasy XII", itself being a Take That! towards Vaan, the game's main hero and resident Scrappy.
• Talking Animal: Subverted with Spike, because he only talks in thoughts.
• That Poor Cat: Happens to Kyo, Max's cat, in "Don't Sleep, Robby!", when he runs into something that explodes offscreen. This comes after Rob shouting at Johny.
  Max: Um, I'll be right back. Kyo! Kyo, that's a bad kitty!
• They Call Me MISTER Tibbs!: "Heinous Anus Zone" has this exchange between Rob and Mr. T:
  Rob: All right, well, see you later, T.
  Mr. T: That's Mister T to you.
  Rob: Yeah. Say hi to Mrs. T for me!
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Rob is very fond of using this trope. And so does the real Rob.
• Those Two Guys: Mike and Bjorn.
• Throw It In!: Mr. T in "Heinous Anus Zone" comes to Winchester's mind while writing the mini-episode, after the part where Johny says "Fool's gold" to Rob was written.
• Title Confusion: The YouTube version of Siblings Untitled 01's second half, titled "Minecart Adventure", led Minecraft fans to mistake the title for "Minecraft Adventure" and find the clip misleading.
• Toilet Humor: In "Heinous Anus Zone", Rob comes up with a concept for a good Sonic the Hedgehog level in which Sonic is shrunk and races in someone's bowels. Johny refuses to hear about it because he thinks it's disgusting. Then at the end, Rob comes up with a revamped version of the level, this time with Sonic quickly running to a bathroom before he poops himself and dies of embarrassment. Johny still doesn't like it.
• Try and Follow: In the Dream Sequence in "Don't Wake Robby!", Rob jumps off a tall building after being chased by forest rangers and robot guards, thus ending the whole sequence.
• Unstoppable Rage: In "tWHYlight", Rob is in this mode because of how bad Twilight is.
  • In one scene of "Don't Sleep, Robby!", Rob goes berserk at Johny by screaming at him so he can shoo him out his room (see the "Excite bike, bitch!" quote in The Scream above).
• Unusual Dysphemism: Depending on slang a couple of episodes use to refer to RuneScape..."Runesuck", "Runegay", "Runeshit", you name it.
• Viewers Are Morons: The scrapbooks in almost every episode, which contain behind-the-scenes information of how the episode was made. They also contain some Take That, Audience!.
• Vocal Evolution: In early episodes, Johny sounds noticeably deeper and calm, but in later episodes, his voice is more enthusiastic sounding yet quiet.
• Your Head A-Splode: Happens once to Rob in "Siblings Untitled 04" due to the mind screw.

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