Web Animation / Slamacow Creations

Some of Slamacow's early work.

Slamacow Creations was a YouTube channel run by Steven Davis, who was well-known for his Minecraft animations. Citing fellow animator and YouTuber CaptainSparklez as inspiration, his work is done with Minecraft models imported to and animated/rendered in 3DS Max and later Maya.

Most of Slamacow's videos primarily featured a cast comprised of few of Minecraft's mobs, and are usually humorous in tone; recurring characters include Bart the Enderman (known as Bartenderman in earlier videos), a bowtie-wearing Enderman who formerly ran the local monster drinking joint, Dave the Zombie, a white-shirted zombie who gets up to wacky hijinks, and later on, the Minecraft avatar of Slamacow himself.

"Cube Land" and "From the Ground Up" are similar, self-contained pieces with a loosely connected canon and depart from Slamacow's usual fare by being serious, moody and emotional. Both feature original, Minecraft-inspired music written and sung by Laura Shigihara (known for composing the soundtrack to Plants vs. Zombies and the song "Everything's Allright" from To the Moon). "Cube World" tells the story of Steve? and his sole companion, a pet pig, defending against monster hordes under the control of their arch-nemesis Herobrine. "From The Ground Up" features an elderly husband and wife (incidentally, Steve?'s parents). The old woman has unsettling dreams of impending disaster and begins to fortify their home while her husband chastises her for what he thinks are irrational fears... until he wakes up one evening to see a rift in the world with monsters pouring out of it. He rushes home to his wife where together they must make their last stand, as the monsters batter their castle and an Ender Dragon loops overhead...

In late 2015, Slamacow went silent after he uploaded the "Skeleton Encounter" video. A few months later, he announced the passing of a family member which made it difficult for him to keep making videos. In May 2017, he uploaded one final Minecraft animation titled "Bart the Enderman". Since then, he has not uploaded anything.

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Videography:

Animations

• Mob Saloon (Originally uploaded on September 22, 2011)
• A Normal Night In Minecraft (Originally uploaded September 30, 2011)
• Experiencing Skyblock (October 21, 2011) (A trailer for the popular Minecraft challenge map)
• Endertainment (November 6, 2011)
• Mob Dance Party (November 18, 2011)
• Waiting (November 26, 2011)
• Moonlight (December 15, 2011)
• Billiards with Dave (December 19, 2011)
• Ender Claus (December 24, 2011)
• Minecraft Leaking into the Real World (January 1, 2012)
• A Normal Morning in Minecraft (January 22, 2012)
• Dave's March (February 1, 2012)
• Solitude Endertainment (Endertainment 2) (February 25, 2012)
• Wallet (March 3, 2012)
• Creeper Anger Issues (March 24, 2012)
• Cube Land with Laura Shigihara (Music Video) (April 15, 2012)
• The Hungry Cow (April 28, 2012)
• Office Shenanigans (May 13, 2012)
• Earthbending in Minecraft (June 3, 2012)
• Emerald Trading (June 29, 2012)
• Mission Control (July 24, 2012)
• I Love My Minecraft World (Music Video) (August 29, 2012)^note This animation can no longer be viewed to the public.
• Tough Luck (September 17, 2012)
• Dancing Dave (September 28, 2012)
• Pig Racing (October 21, 2012)
• From the Ground Up with Laura Shigihara (Music Video) (November 25, 2012)
• A Slamacow Christmas (December 18, 2012)
• Mining Zombies (January 6, 2013)
• Battle of the Bids (January 26, 2013)
• Silly Endertainment (Endertainment 3) (March 3, 2013)
• Wither Skeleton Encounter (April 2, 2013)
• Advanced Enchanting 101 (May 5, 2013)
• Creeper Encounter (June 10, 2013)
• Hay's for Horses (August 6, 2013)
• The Game of SPLEEF (December 6, 2013)^note This animation can no longer be viewed to the public.
• Witch Encounter (March 15, 2014)
• Spider Encounter (June 22, 2014)^note This animation can no longer be viewed to the public.
• Where the Forest Ends (September 19, 2014)^note This animation can no longer be viewed to the public.
• Stick With Me (November 27, 2014)^note Not a parody of nor has anything to with the song "Stand by Me" or the film of the same name.
• Silverfish Encounter (May 22, 2015)
• Under the Weather (October 26, 2015)
• Skeleton Encounter (November 20, 2015)
• Bart the Enderman (May 14, 2017)

Assisted in animating

• Western Creeper by CraftedMovie (March 12, 2012; animated the showdown between the Enderman and Peppered)
• Cooking with the Iron Golem; a two-part Holiday Special with BootstrapBuckaroo (Christmas Eve 2012)^note Both parts can no longer be viewed to the public.
• "Minin'" (Minecraft Parody of "Happy" by Pharrell Williams) by MusicByPedro (April 18, 2014; Slamacow animated a five-second clip featuring his main characters that appears at 2:20)^note He and Element Animation are the only two contributors to this video who provided animations rather than in-game footage.
• Fallen Kingdom series by CaptainSparklez with BootstrapBuckaroo, Weedlion & MAMAs b0y (Take Back the Night & Find the Pieces only; September 1, 2013 & Apr 26, 2015 respectively)

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Slamacow Creations' videos provide examples of:

• Affectionate Parody: I Love My Minecraft World is one of Louis Armstrong's classic "What a Wonderful World".
• Anachronic Order: While the videos are usually independent of each other, some details carry over between videos, Dave gets his GameBrick in Office Shenanigans, which he was shown playing in Creeper Anger Issues, which came out two months prior.
• Art Evolution: Slamacow's animations have gotten smoother and his characters' models became more complex overtime, most noticeably around the eyes.
• Big Damn Heroes: The pig in Cube Land, and the husband in From the Ground Up.
• Bittersweet Ending: From the Ground Up, the husband and wife die but they create a new world whether or not they have the memories of the old world is never explained however.
• Briefcase Full of Money: Using Emeralds in Emerald Trading, through a noir-style weapons deal.
• Butt-Monkey Author Avatar: Slamacow's character.
• The Cameo: Chris Kirkman from Bravest Warriors makes an appearance in Advanced Enchanting 101.
• Ceiling Banger: While no ceilings are actually banged, the Mob's Dance Party is so loud that Eddy's house is shaking and he can't get to sleep, despite several meters of stone between the party and his house.
• Dance-Off: The witch in Witch Encounter challenges Slamacow to a dance-off as the only way for him to be freed from the witch's trap. The awesome theme and Genre Roulette of it ensues.
• Dreaming of Things to Come:
  • The wife player in From the Ground Up dreams of a mysterious figure with burning purple eyes before waking up. It ends up being that of the Ender Dragon that attacks their fort that night.
  • In "Billiards with Dave", we see one cobblestone block on the wall, right where Steve? mined through in "Mob Saloon".
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Bart, Dave and Slamacow weren't originally the main characters - the shorts originally focused on a few one-shot characters without cameos from the members of the trio. Eventually, it started to focus on Bart. Then Dave joined him. They stayed a duo for a while before Slamacow was eventually introduced, but he only joined Bart and Dave a few shorts later.
• Easter Egg: From the Ground Up has a more lighthearted annotated link to the Ender Dragon and Dave dancing hidden in it's Oh, Crap! moment. Also doubles as Mood Whiplash.
• Epic Fail: In a game of spleef, it took Slamacow seven seconds to be eliminated by a team of sheep.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: Dave appears in the background Cube Land music video, sitting in a chair while playing his GameBrick.
• Freudian Trio: It's hard to say for sure who's who thanks to nobody really talking, but actions can speak louder than words:
  • Id: Dave, who's shown to be the most lackadaisical and thoughtless when it comes to his actions (for example, coming up with the idea of throwing bones at an incoming creeper to get to go away).
  • Superego: Bart, who actually seems to be the strategist of his team, getting them out of trouble (teleporting them away from a group of soon-to-explode creepers).
  • Ego: Slamacow, who's forced to decide between logic and emotion.
• Funny Background Event: All over the place, but most prominently during the dance party in Witch Encounter.
• Handshake Substitute: Dave and Bart fist bump at the end of Creeper Anger Issues.
• The Hero Dies: The husband and wife die at the end of From the Ground Up due to it being a hardcore playthrough. They get another go at it, however.
• Mickey Mousing: Bart is prone to this, particularly in Endertainment and its first sequel.
• Mythology Gag: In Waiting, a zombie and an Enderman are waiting for a respawned PC to come back for his items. After about 30 seconds, the text says "We'll give him 3 more minutes." In Minecraft, dropped items disappear after a few minutes have passed.
• Nightmare Sequence: Where the Forest Ends is this to Slamacow. To be fair he had a concussion back in Spider Encounter.
• Noir Episode: Emerald Trading has the feel of a mafia weapons deal, including jazz soundtrack and both parties wearing suits.
• Oh, Crap!: When Herobrine shows up in Cube Land, and when the Ender Dragon shows up in From the Ground Up.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted for laughs in Silly Endertainment. A guard walks by what seems to be poorly disguised Bart and Dave (they were holding up blocks to their face)... until the guard walks away. The "disguised Bart and Dave" were then revealed to be dummies as the real Bart and Dave came out of their real hiding place offscreen. This is essentially a Chekhov's Gag as the duo eventually used the same tactic to escape from the guards that came to stop them in their tracks.
• Pokémon Speak: None of the non-villager mob characters speak, but can emote using their respective sound effects.
• Public Domain Soundtrack: Many videos use Kevin MacLeod's music. He's been using them less recently.
• That Russian Squat Dance: Appears in the Russian section of Witch Encounter.
• Scooby-Dooby Doors: In Spider Encounter, complete with cameos of the Trope Namer as Minecraft characters.
• Shout-Out:
  • In A Normal Night in Minecraft, when Steve? opens the fridge, A certain spy's head can be seen.
  • Said Spy is also seen in Emerald Trading wearing a villager mask, while a familiar blue hedgehog appears near the end.
• Soft Glass: Slamacow is completely unharmed after having several glass bottles thrown at him and dancing on a floor littered with broken glass for a minute and a half. And so are his backup dancers.
• The Voiceless: None of the main characters have voices. Slamacow did ask about weapons once.
• Wimp Fight: Between Slamacow and the titular skeleton of Wither Skeleton Encounter, courtesy of both of them dropping their swords into lava.

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