The galaxy's finest on display.
There'll be times when it feels like the whole world's against you. But you two are the greatest gifts the world has ever seen. Believe it!
— Nova
Your ignorance to the bigger picture is what fuels my drive to keep going.
— Zeno
Nebula & Quasar is a Web Video Digital Horror Alternate Reality Game centered around a fictional side-scrolling platformer series from the early 2000s about two alien siblings who protect the galaxy from evil, and the company behind it, Lightyear Games. There are two channels associated with the project, NAQtube
, which uploads commercials, 'old' videos, and various songs from the game's soundtrack, and plasmapunk, which uploads videos that delve deeper into the mysteries surrounding the creator, Thomas Snyder, and the controversy surrounding demo copies of the game from a sweepstakes event. Additional information is revealed in video descriptions and comment threads from the channels, maintaining Kayfabe.
Nebula & Quasar contains examples of:
- Absurdly Cool City: In Original PC STORY trailer, a sleek, white, futuristic cityscape is shown on Nebula and Quasar's home planet.
- Accidental Murder: In 1999 E.T. Animation, the gun is set to "Send to his maker" instead of "Teleport to police station".
- Adorable Abomination: In Quasar x Celeste and NAQ girls (Tribute video), it's revealed that Celeste has a huge triangular orifice hidden under her hair, and the pink balls on top of her head are revealed to have been her eyeballs all along.
- Alien Blood: In 1999 E.T. Animation, the alien bleeds a dark green.
- Alternate Reality Game: The series presents itself as a lost video game series from 2002, and even includes a website.
- A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far, Far Away...: "In a galaxy far, far away", reads a titlecard from 2001 Lightyear Presentation.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: Due to a design mix-up, the Japanese promotional materials for the first game used a cutesier style for the characters which was not reflected in-game. Strangely, the Japanese-exclusive karaoke machine uses these designs in 3D for a video before gameplay, but the normal designs are used during the songs and everywhere else on the machine.
- Applied Phlebotinum: In "Early Opening Cutscenes" Extra, Nebula explains that she learned about a rare, powerful substance called "magmanite", which has chemical properties that could potentially save their sun.
- Art Shift: When Nebula is explaining magmanite in "Early Opening Cutscenes" Extra.
- The Future: As shown in 2001 Lightyear Presentation and "Early Opening Cutscenes" Extra, the series takes place in 3002, 1000 years after the release of the game.
- Bee People: In Original PC STORY trailer, a bee-like woman is shown on a planet with trees that contain honeycombs.
- Blob Monster: Neno, a small round blue cyclops.
- Da Chief: Stonecold, who is the head of the police-organization Nebula, Quasar, Celeste, Nova, and Starstraw work for, and gets quite exasperated with Quasar.
- Evil Gloating: Zeno's speech in In Original PC STORY trailer.
- Expy: Starstraw is basically Hercule is he was a space-cop.
- Eyes Out of Sight: Celeste's hair covers most of her face. Until it's revealed in Quasar x Celeste and NAQ girls (Tribute video) that her eyes have actually been on top of her head the entire time.
- For Doom the Bell Tolls: The arrival of Midnight in the first game is accompanied by the ringing of church bells.
- Justified Criminal: In Original PC STORY trailer, Nebula and Quasar are seen on Wanted posters and in jail, presumably for stealing fragments of other planets' cores, which are needed to rejuvenate their sun.
- Look Behind You: In "Early Opening Cutscenes" Extra, Nebula distracts Quasar then steals his ray gun.
- Manly Tears: In "Early Opening Cutscenes" Extra, Stonecold breaks down in tears because he fears for Nebula's life.
- Nap-Inducing Speak: In 2001 Sweepstakes Commercials, a student falls asleep after Nebula asks if anyone has any more questions.
- No Product Safety Standards: As shown in Demo Recall Public Advert, demo copies of the game won from a sweepstakes event have been "illegally altered" and must be returned under threat of criminal prosecution.
- Orwellian Retcon: The Demo Recall Public Advert was originally a direct reference to the Burger King Poké Ball recall ad before it was taken down and redone to be more original.
- Police Brutality: In 1999 E.T. Animation, an early version of Nebula accidentally shoots and kills a small alien over minor infractions.
- Ray Gun: Nebula and Quasar are commonly shown brandishing their iconic ray guns.
- Rejection Affection: This seems to be the dynamic between Celeste and Quasar. (It's revealed in Quasar x Celeste and NAQ girls (Tribute video) that despite looking annoyed, Quasar actually likes the attention Celeste gives him, he just doesn't like the spotlight she shines on him.)
- Retraux: The main inspiration for the visual style of the series is derived from late 90s/early 2000s CGI.
- Rock Monster: Nebula and Quasar's boss, Stonecold, is a large rock person who resembles a Moai.
- Rousing Speech: Nova's speech in In Original PC STORY trailer.
- Solar CPR: Throughout the series, it's revealed that the planet's sun is dying, and it's up to Nebula and Quasar to fix it.
- Stalked by the Bell: Midway though the first game, if the player hasn't collected enough batteries, the skies of the level will dim and it will become Midnight.
- Stalker with a Crush: In Quasar x Celeste and NAQ girls (Tribute video), Celeste is portrayed as "really stalker-y", despite her character not really being like that according to the creator.
- Stunned Silence: Quasar in Quasar x Celeste and NAQ girls (Tribute video) when he sees another character seemingly feeding a duck via regurgitation offscreen.
- Stylistic Suck: A few videos are styled like low-quality Youtube videos of the time. NAQ Blooper solo mission Reupload in particular is full of poor sound quality, repetitive cuts, grammatical errors, and still images to imitate Blooper Machinima videos that were popular when the video would have been made.
- Token Human: Starstraw is the only human character in the game, Or at least appears to be.
- Turn of the Millennium: The series frequently features Eurodance and electronic music from the late 90s and early 2000s.
- Volleying Insults: Quasar and Stonecold in "Early Opening Cutscenes" Extra.
- Xenomorph Xerox: Big Bad of the first game Zeno and his mooks look like cartoonish xenomorphs, though Zeno is closer to the traditional depiction due to being colored black.
