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Red Letter Media |OT| of Movies, Murderers, and Pizza Rolls

S

Skiptastic

Member
rlmlogo85se9.png

What is RedLetterMedia? (Plinkett, Don't Hurt Me, Don't Hurt Me, No More)

Wikipedia said:
Red Letter Media (stylized as RedLetterMedia) is a film/video production company operated by independent filmmakers Mike Stoklasa (previously of GMP Pictures) and Jay Bauman (formerly of Blanc Screen Cinema). The company was formed by Stoklasa in 2004 while living in Scottsdale, Arizona, but is now based in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. Stoklasa himself attracted significant attention in 2009, through a 70-minute video review of the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The review was posted in seven parts on YouTube, and presented by his character "Harry S. Plinkett". While Stoklasa had published other video reviews for the Star Trek films in The Next Generation series prior to this, The Phantom Menace and subsequent Star Wars prequel reviews were praised for both content and presentation.
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S

Skiptastic

Member
[URL="http://redlettermedia.com/review/"][/URL]
On May 24, 2016, the company released the first episode of a new series called "re:View". Compared to the company's other shows, the format is a much more stripped down and straight forward approach to film critique. Two members of RedLetterMedia sit in front of a red curtain and offer thoughts and insight on a "classic" film such as Tremors, Eraserhead, and Ghostbusters. Clips of the film being discussed are interwoven, typically to lend emphasis to a specific point being made, or to showcase some of the most memorable moments from the film.
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D

disappeared

Banned
I really wish he'd put out a DVD of his stuff. I know it's next to impossible, given the amount of copyrighted material, but it'd be nice.
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
Storing Original Post for Posterity's Sake - Updating First and Second Posts with More Information

Ether_Snake said:
Should make an official Red Letter Media thread.
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Sounds good to me!

What is Red Letter Media?

Wikipedia said:
RedLetterMedia is a motion picture production company headed by Milwaukee-based independent filmmaker Mike Stoklasa, previously of GMP Pictures, as well as Jay Bauman, formerly of Blanc Screen Cinema. Filmmaker Mike Stoklasa attracted significant attention in 2009 through a seventy-minute video review of the 1999 film Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. The review was posted in seven parts on YouTube, and presented by his character "Mr. Plinkett". While Stoklasa had published other video reviews for the Star Trek films in The Next Generation series prior to this, The Phantom Menace and subsequent Star Wars prequel reviews were praised for both content and presentation. Stoklasa has produced other works under the RedLetterMedia banner, including short comedies and webseries (The Grabowskis), as well as concert videos, wedding and corporate videos. His low-budget features have been largely horror and comedy, and have included Feeding Frenzy, The Recovered, and Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant. Jay Bauman, who had directed Mike in several low-budget features under the Blanc Screen Cinema banner, has been a director and producer working with Mike on most of his recent projects.
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Wait, so who plays Mr. Plinkett? He sounds different in the reviews!!!

stoklasa.jpg

Mike Stoklasa = Mike on Half in the Bag, Mr. Plinkett in the Plinkett reviews, writer/co-director on Feeding Frenzy, co-head of Red Letter Media

bauman.jpg

Jay Bauman = Jay on Half in the Bag, story/co-director of Feeding Frenzy, co-head of Red Letter Media

richevans.jpg

Rich Evans - Plays Mr. Plinkett in (essentially) all live action scenes of Plinkett, friend of RLM

Red Letter Media: The Early Stuff (Click Here for the Summary Page)
I'm not going to lie. I have a hard time sitting through a lot of the stuff here. But there are some nuggets of gold. The Grabowskis had some enjoyable episodes. Season 1 takes all of three minutes to watch. The rest of it...very experimental to say the least. Just try sitting through the Monkey Man stuff. I dare you. But click the Summary Page for all of your option or the ones I highlighted below that I enjoyed. Completely watch at your own risk...​
The Grabowskis: Season 1
The Dude Bros.
NYC Ghostbusters Tour

The Harry S Plinkett Reviews (Click Here for Summary Page)
Star Trek: TNG Films - The first collection of reviews by Mr. Plinkett, acting as Stoklasa's outlet to vent his rage against Star Trek reviews. For those who have only watched the Star Wars reviews, these reviews show the evolution of the character, introduces us to Mr. Plinkett's first two wives, and brings us the lovable scamp, that one dude in First Contact who questions Picard's plan. That dude shows up in the Episode I and II reviews, as well as in the Insurrection review (I don't think he was in the Nemesis review though).​
Star Trek: Generations ("The stupidest movie ever made")
Star Trek: First Contact ("The 3,967th worst film ever made")
Star Trek: Insurrection ("sucks my balls")
Star Trek: Nemesis ("This whole movie reminds me of death.")

Star Trek 2009: The Duology - After the movie came out, a quick short "review" was released in which
a giant Star Trek poster rapes a woman in an alley.
It wasn't truly a Plinkett review as it did not feature his character at all. A while after, in between the Episode II and Episode III reviews, Stoklasa wanted to clean his palate by doing a proper Plinkett review of Star Trek. And he liked it! Perhaps the only really positive review Plinkett has ever done.​
Star Trek (2009): Short Film ("Well, that wasn't so bad...")
Star Trek (2009) ("The...the Star Trek")

Star Wars Prequel Trilogy - Probably the reason this thread is even being made. After doing four TNG movies, Stoklasa turned his sights on the Star Wars prequel trilogy (and, by proxy, the Special Editions of the original trilogy) with the 70 minute Phantom Menace review. After appearing on Simon Pegg and Damon Lindelof Twitter pages, RLM was on the rise.

This was followed about five months later with the 90 minute Attack of the Clones review. The AotC review was notable because the first of nine parts was taken down by YouTube, on a claim from the Cartoon Network. It was never explained why (perhaps because they used clips from The Last Starfighter?) and was eventually reinstated, but the damage was done. From that day forward, RLM videos appeared first on Blip.tv, with only a few exceptions (like the Half in the Bag Special Edition).

Finally, after a Baby's Day Out and Star Trek intervening, the Episode III review was released on New Year's Eve 2010. A few months after that, the Rise of Nadine epilogue to the trilogy of reviews (which had a running subplot about a hooker Plinkett had kidnapped) was released. After this review, Stoklasa was no longer stuck with Star Trek or Star Wars reviews. He was free to turn his sights elsewhere. But where?​
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace ("The most disappointing thing since my son.")
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Review in 3D!!!
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones ("The worst thing ever made by a human...except for the bagpipes.")
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith ("The most disappointing thing since Star Wars Episode II")
The Revenge of Nadine: Episode III Review Epilogue

Mr. Plinkett's Phantom Commentary - Two plus hours of Mr. Plinkett commentary while you're watching the Phantom Menace!

Other Film Reviews - During and after the Star Wars prequel trilogy reviews, Stoklasa and the Plinkett character reviewed some other films. First up was Avatar, reviewed in between Episode I and Episode II. The closest thing Plinkett came to a non-negative review until Star Trek (2009), this review was more critical of the audience reaction and film tricks employed by Cameron. Not really a huge negative, but critiques the story a bit. After Episode II, Baby's Day Out was reviewed. To understand why, you'll have to watch the Episode II review climax. Finally, a movie I really though Stoklasa had made up for one of his reviews, Cop Dog was reviewed in 2011. You just have to watch to understand...​
Avatar ("Probably the worst blue movie I've ever seen")
Baby's Day Out ("About as interesting as my taint.")
Cop Dog ("One of the worst cop movies I've ever seen")
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ("The fourth film in the Indiana Jones series" "The most disappointing thing since...well...The Phantom Menace")
More reviews to come... (?)
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
Storing Original Posts for Posterity's Sake - Updating First and Second Posts with More Information

Half in the Bag (Click Here for Summary Page)

Half in the Bag was Stoklasa's next big venture after completing the Star Wars prequels. Not willing or able to create Plinkett reviews on a regular basis (note: author's interpretation), Stoklasa instead teamed up with RLM partner Jay Bauman to create a bi-weekly (ish) review program called Half in the Bag. The premise is Mike and Jay play Mike and Jay, VCR repairmen who are hired on by Mr. Plinkett (played by Rich Evans, who plays Mr. Plinkett in physical form in all the RLM media, but is not the Plinkett who reviews movies, voiced by Stoklasa) to fix his VCR. Instead, they find ways not to fix it and still get billable hours from the absent-minded Plinkett, while reviewing both current movies (90% of the time) and either classic or classically bad movies of yesteryear (like Samurai Cop and The Rocketeer.)

Some people (like me) really enjoy getting their take on the movies of the time, some wonder why he bothered with anything other than the Plinkett reviews. At the end of the day, Stoklasa and Bauman are funny and engaging and have a smart take on film, being film makers themselves. [Plinkett]But make up your own mind, idiots.[/Plinkett]​

Season One
Episode 01: Drive Angry and The Adjustment Bureau
Episode 02: Battle: Los Angeles and The Galaxy Invader
Episode 03: Paul and RLM @ Toronto Comic Con 2011
Episode 04: Sucker Punch
Episode 05: Your Highness and Samurai Cop
Episode 06: Scream 4 and RLM @ No Brand Con 2011 (I absolutely adore the second part of this video. Highly recommended.)
Episode 07: Super and The Watchman Interview
Episode 08: Troll 2 and Best Worst Movie
Half in the Bag Special Edition: Zookeeper Trailer Review ("Who do these guys think they are? George Lucas?")
Episode 09: Summer Movie Roundup (Thor, Hangover II, and X-Men: First Class
Episode 10: RLM's 48 Hour Film Project Entry
Episode 11: Transformers Dark of the Moon
Episode 12: Captain America and The Rocketeer
Episode 13: Cowboys & Aliens
Episode 14: Rise of the Planet of the Apes and RLM @ Cyphan Con 2011
Episode 15: Chicago Comic Con 2011
Episode 16: Fright Night and Conan the Barbarian
Episode 17: The People vs. George Lucas and Star Wars Discussion
Episode 18: Drive and Contagion
Episode 19: Robot and The Last Circus
Episode 20: What's Your Number? and Black Ninja
(Note: The Galaxy Invader from Episode 02 was also the basis of two very funny Pabst Blue Ribbon commercial parodies by RLM which appeared on YouTube. Ad #1 and Ad #2)​

Season 2
Episode 21: Jack and Jill
Episode 22: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and 2011 Re-Cap
Episode 23: The Devil Inside and Flyin' Ryan
Episode 24: Red Tails
Episode 25: B-Fest 2012
Episode 26: Chronicle and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
Episode 27: Silent House and John Carter
Episode 28: The Hunger Games and Jeff Who Lives at Home
Episode 29: Cabin in the Woods and The Three Stooges
Episode 30: Zaat!
Episode 31: The Avengers and CPHPIX Film Festival
Episode 32: Battleship and Dark Shadows
Episode 33: Prometheus

Red Letter Media Feature Films (Click Here for Summary Page)

I have not seen any of these movies, so if someone would like to comment, I would be happy to include summaries in this space. Feeding Frenzy is the only one made since the success of the Plinkett reviews, and it has gotten some reviews on blog sites that enjoyed it. One of these days, I will buy it and check it out for myself. In lieu of that happening, I'll simply link the individual sites and copy+paste the summary on RLM's web site. There are trailers and behind the scenes on some of these items.​
Feeding Frenzy (2010)
A mysterious old man named Mr. Plinkett is keeping a deep dark secret locked away in the basement of a small-town hardware store: vicious, flesh-eating creatures with a mysterious past. Once these creatures escape, all hell breaks loose and it’s up to Jesse, an incompetent hardware store employee, to stop them from turning the town into a feeding frenzy! FEEDING FRENZY is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the rubber puppet monster movies of the 1980′s such as CRITTERS, GHOULIES and every other low-budget film that ripped off GREMLINS.
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The Recovered (2006)
The Recovered” is an atmospheric horror film starring b-movie queen Tina Krause (Bloodletting, Vampire Seduction) as a woman returning to her hometown after fifteen years to make preparations for her estranged mother’s funeral, only to be haunted by long-repressed memories of a childhood horror.
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Oranges: Revenge of the Eggplant (2004)
In the tradition of SOUTH PARK comes the harrowing tale of Professor Charles Sunkyst and his fateful encounter with the diabolical Dr. Eggplant. After a mission in Bananastan to rescue the president, Sunkyst returns to teaching his class on advanced particle physics at the nearby university. But Dr. Eggplant lusts for revenge and slips onto campus to become involved in the annual science fair! During the violence and adventure that ensues, Sunkyst and his students must rally together to thwart Eggplant’s evil plot!
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Old NeoGAF RLM Threads (Let me know if you have other ones!)
70 Minute Review of The Phantom Menace is now up! (December 15, 2009)
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Review Thread (April 2, 2010)
New Red Letter Media review... (June 20, 2010)
Red Letter Media reviews Star Trek: The Star Trek (again) (September 1, 2010)
Red Letter Media Episode 3 Review TEASER TRAILER (October 04, 2010)
RedLetterMedia's Star Wars: Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith review (December 31, 2010)
Mr. Plinkett reviews Cop Dog (June 24, 2011)
Half In The Bag (Mr. Plinkett Guy/Red Letter Media): Transformers 3 Review (July 21, 2011)
Half in the Bag #12 (Plinkett / Red Letter Media): Captain America & The Rocketeer (July 25, 2011)
Half in the Bag #13 (Mr. Plinkett / Red Letter Media): Cowboys & Aliens Review (August 7, 2011)
 
Acerac

Acerac

Banned
Every time I see a new thread with Red Letter Media in the title I freak out for a second.

NEED MORE PLINKETT REVIEWS.
 
F

firehawk12

Subete no aware
So the Half in the Bag thing is a review series, but not in the "Plinkett" character? Are they still... I dunno, overly in depth and hilariously pointless?
 
Angry Fork

Angry Fork

Member
Buckethead said:
I have an insatiable desire for Plinkett reviews.

They are gold.
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Same here. I wish he did them more often, like at least once a week. It's also disappointing when we wait 2+ months for a review and it ends up being for some random stupid terrible movie. I want to see the same Star Wars Plinkett criticism with other popular films. (I know he's done stuff other than Star Wars but I wish he'd do it with some more recent popular movies, there's half in the bag but those are actual reviews and not Plinkett stuff.)
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
Machinima version of Cowboys and Aliens review. Will update OP with full length redlettermedia.com version.

Teh Hamburglar said:
I hate this thread. I keep thinking there is a new review.
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If there is enough demand, I can simply update the OP with full length HitB episodes and not add a post. But there will be a new Plinkett review soon enough...I have foreseen it...

firehawk12 said:
So the Half in the Bag thing is a review series, but not in the "Plinkett" character? Are they still... I dunno, overly in depth and hilariously pointless?
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They're pretty in depth for an online movie review show and they have a different take on how films ought to progress. It should tell you something that they reviewed The Rocketeer along with Captain America and one of them (Stoklasa) holds Rocketeer as one of his favorite movies. (In my OP, I went over this a bit...)
 
A

Alpha-Bromega

Member
I love half in the bag too, i mean look, it's unthinkable to have Plinkett do the official reviews in any considerable consistency given the HUGE amount of quality in both the production and the writing (analysis and humor are always keen as can be).

the repairmen are smart, funny and they are a great way for RLM to have a consistent output on new showings
 
M

markot

Banned
Love their stuff... well mainly their reviews.

Cant wait for Indy 4.

Also, which guy is plinkett >.>? Cause in the half in the bag stuff, the guy who does plinkett doesnt realllllllllllly sound like him.
 
S

Snaku

Banned
Can't remember how many times I've watched Plinkett's Star Wars/Trek reviews. They're hilarious time killers when I'm bored and don't know what to watch.
 
G

greycolumbus

The success of others absolutely infuriates me.
markot said:
Love their stuff... well mainly their reviews.

Cant wait for Indy 4.

Also, which guy is plinkett >.>? Cause in the half in the bag stuff, the guy who does plinkett doesnt realllllllllllly sound like him.
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That guy was the original plinkett. Mike Stoklasa does Plinkett for the reviews.
 
M

Measley

Junior Member
I only enjoy the Plinket reviews.

His Star Wars reviews are so on the money that I can't even watch the prequels anymore because I hear his voice as I'm watching them. Once the flaws are pointed out, the films become next to unwatchable. I also enjoyed his review of First Contact. I hate it just as much as he does.

He should do the Transformers trilogy next! That would make my decade.
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
markot said:
Also, which guy is plinkett >.>? Cause in the half in the bag stuff, the guy who does plinkett doesnt realllllllllllly sound like him.
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The two friends started out making indie backyard movies. The guy on the right created and acted "the original" Mr Plinkett.

The guy on the left is the one who decided to make the Star Trek/Star Wars movie reviews on Youtube, but he decided that he didn't want to use his own voice, he wanted a fake voice, so he did an impression of his friend's Mr Plinkett character. So his voice is the "fake" Mr Plinkett, but everyone likes him better than the real one.

The guy on the right now gets to act and voice the original Mr Plinkett whenever he's seen on screen. But when it's just the voice, it's the guy on the left.
 
C

CrankyKong

Member
I love half in the bag.
Really helps ease the wait in between Plinket reviews.

The best episode was the Troll 2 review with the scenes of Rich Evans laughing at the stupid troll rolling down the stairs.

The episode where Mike is outside the museum and then Plinket shows up beside him was also hilarious
 
Hari Seldon

Hari Seldon

Member
ruby_onix said:
The two friends started out making indie backyard movies. The guy on the right created and acted "the original" Mr Plinkett.

The guy on the left is the one who decided to make the Star Trek/Star Wars movie reviews on Youtube, but he decided that he didn't want to use his own voice, he wanted a fake voice, so he did an impression of his friend's Mr Plinkett character. So his voice is the "fake" Mr Plinkett, but everyone likes him better than the real one.

The guy on the right now gets to act and voice the original Mr Plinkett whenever he's seen on screen. But when it's just the voice, it's the guy on the left.
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Just to be clear, by the "guy on the left" you mean the skinnier younger dude right?
 
G

Gui_PT

Member
ruby_onix said:
http://i.imgur.com/wGzng.jpg

Unless I'm mistaken.
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I don't think the skinny guy plays Plinkett on screen. It's another of the friends.

The fattie on the left does the voice, yes.
 
C

Cheerilee

Member
Gui_PT said:
I don't think the skinny guy plays Plinkett on screen. It's another of the friends.

The fattie on the left does the voice, yes.
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Yeah, looking at Wikipedia, I was mistaken. It's Rich Evans who created/plays Mr Plinkett. The friend co-hosting Half in the Bag is Jay Bauman.
 
V

vas_a_morir

Banned
Gui_PT said:
I don't think the skinny guy plays Plinkett on screen. It's another of the friends.

The fattie on the left does the voice, yes.
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That's kinda harsh, man. I wouldn't call the guy on the left a 'fattie.'
 
G

Gui_PT

Member
vas_a_morir said:
That's kinda harsh, man. I wouldn't call the guy on the left a 'fattie.'
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Well I only used that term because people here were differentiating those guys referring to weight.

No offense meant.
 
L

lunarworks

Member
CartridgeBlower said:
Indy 4 review will make up for the real Indy 4. My body is ready...
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So true. The review will justify the film's existence.

Measley said:
I only enjoy the Plinket reviews.

His Star Wars reviews are so on the money that I can't even watch the prequels anymore because I hear his voice as I'm watching them. Once the flaws are pointed out, the films become next to unwatchable. I also enjoyed his review of First Contact. I hate it just as much as he does.

He should do the Transformers trilogy next! That would make my decade.
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They're already unwatchable. They just become more unwatchable.
 
D

Daft_Cat

Member
They're very unique filmmakers and quite funny as well, but I've always had problems with their reviews of the Star Wars prequels. It's not that I think they're good movies (they range from slightly below average to a notch above mediocre), but in applying that level of nitty gritty analysis one could make almost any film seem pretty flawed..including several of the all time greats.

A lot of their character complaints also seem to be based on the assumption that each and every character SHOULD always take the path that makes the most sense at any given time. These are space operas.. and not very good ones at that (unlike Episodes 4 and 5)..the plots were only ever meant to be in service of setting up the next set piece..to try and look for air tight motivations and set ups is to miss the point. Sure, George Lucas failed at putting lipstick on the pig..but what difference does it make in the long run?

They do highlight some important differences between the original trilogy and the new one that bring out a lot of fail though. Off the top of my head, Yoda doing a complete 180 on his ESB speech by fighting with a saber, the ever expanding climax in each successive film and the overly convoluted structures are all good points.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Secret_Riddle said:
They're very unique filmmakers and quite funny as well, but I've always had problems with their reviews of the Star Wars prequels. It's not that I think they're good movies (they range from slightly below average to a notch above mediocre), but in applying that level of nitty gritty analysis one could make almost any film seem pretty flawed..including several of the all time greats.

A lot of their character complaints also seem to be based on the assumption that each and every character SHOULD always take the path that makes the most sense at any given time. This is space opera.. and not very good ones at that.. most of it is just in service of the action..to try and look for air tight motivations and set ups is to miss the point.

They do highlight some important differences between the original trilogy and the new one that bring out a lot of fail though. Off the top of my head, Yoda doing a complete 180 on his ESB speech by fighting with a saber, and the ever expanding climax's leading to overly convoluted structures were both very good points.
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Critiquing the Plinkett reviews is difficult because in many cases the things that are "wrong" with them are intended, and the problem only arises when people don't realize that much of it is exaggeration, or are totally invalid complaints. It's difficult or impossible to tell actual screwups on his part from just another layer of intentional distortion.
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
To make it a bit clearer:

stoklasa.jpg

Mike Stoklasa = Mike on Half in the Bag, Mr. Plinkett in the Plinkett reviews, writer/co-director on Feeding Frenzy, co-head of Red Letter Media

bauman.jpg

Jay Bauman = Jay on Half in the Bag, story/co-director of Feeding Frenzy, co-head of Red Letter Media

richevans.jpg

Rich Evans - Plays Mr. Plinkett in (essentially) all live action scenes of Plinkett, friend of RLM

Adding this to the OP.
 
Y

yukonrye

Member
I've watched Plinkett's review of Episode 1 more times than the actual movie. I never really cared about film analysis until it involved pizza rolls and killing hookers.
 
Rentahamster

Rentahamster

Rodent Whores
"Did you bring your purple space bazooka"?

Hahahahahaha!

I wonder how many people they pissed off before they knew they were just messing around.
 
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