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Linkara
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Real Name
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Lewis Lovhaug
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Affiliation
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Contributions
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Website
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Get out before I shoot you!
Linkara is the pseudonym for Lewis Lovhaug, comic book reviewer and author. The name comes from a series of self-published books that he wrote at ages 14-19 (and subsequently plans to revisit since he wants to revise them to fix plot problems, characterizations, and various other mistakes he made because he was young and inexperienced).
Usually appearing seated on a sofa, he wears a distinctive trilby hat and brown coat, usually over a charcoal t-shirt. He will also sometimes brandish a flintlock pistol (which is fake) and the Green Ranger Dragon Dagger as seen in the TV series Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. The first proper appearance of the pistol was when Linkara introduced himself to the site. After giving a brief tour of his house, which consisted of saying what he was sitting on, Linkara brought out the pistol and ordered the viewer to get out before he shot them. The pistol has made a number of appearances (and often referred to as the "Magic Gun". Most recently it was used as a suicide prop which Linkara set on standby, should the comic he was reviewing prove to be too much for him.
Linkara is notorious for guest-starring in numerous other videos, he even guest reviewed with the Nostalgia Critic twice. His numerous collaborations with Spoony are the most notable of this.
Unlike many other Channel Awesome personalities, Linkara prefers to avoid using profanity in any of his appearances. This is both out of concern for younger viewers of his videos, and his personal sense of etiquette, though he does not mind others who do swear. In one collaborative review, he even went so far as to have Bennett The Sage cuss for him when he went on a rant.
Atop the Fourth Wall - Text Recaps
When Lewis saw the hilarious efforts of sites like Jabootu and The Agony Booth to review and recap horrible movies and TV shows, he took it upon himself to do the same with comic books, seeing it as an untapped market. Like the two sites, he also included the occasional bizarre panel of the comic that he'd place a humorous caption under. He did seventeen text recaps without any other posts on his blog, Atop the Fourth Wall, before he threw in the towel on them. See Article for more: Atop the Fourth Wall.
He had decided that the text recaps took far too long to write out and make funny, going from once a week to once a month to once in a blue moon. As such, he turned the Blog into one that discussed comics and his opinions on them, hoping to do more text recaps in the future.
That Guy with the Glasses Contest
After discovering ThatGuyWiththeGlasses.com, he became a fan of the site's various videos. When That Guy with the Glasses announced his contest to do videos, Lewis decided to make a video and enter. After enjoying the experience of filming it all and making jokes, he then realized he could do the same thing with his reviews of bad comics.
As a special Halloween treat, Lewis did a three-part comic review and recap, the first he had done in quite a while. The first two parts were text recaps of Web of Spider-Man #122 and Amazing Spider-Man #399, covering a small part of what is known in comics as "The Spider-Man Clone Saga." The third recap, of Spider-Man #56, covered the final part of the storyline but was done as a video review.
Because of how much fun he had with the concept, Lewis was inspired to do more video recaps.
A Feature on ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com
After several videos were completed and posted, Lewis sent an e-mail to Mike Michaud asking if the site would be interested in hosting the show, since there was a talent hunt going on at the time. After some discussion, the show was given a trial run of a few episodes, the first two being Lewis' Top 15 WTF Moments in Bad Comics and then his review of the comic book US-1 #1. Because of the overwhelmingly positive response to the videos, Atop the Fourth Wall, and subsequently Linkara, became a part of the site's team, going on to appear in many crossovers, second only to Doug Walker, himself.
Eventually, he went on to become a major character in the Year One and Year Two crossovers, serving an even more vital part in the latter.
Comics in Five Panels
5 Panel Comics, like 5 Second Movies and 5 Second Games are snippets of the story where Linkara would get to the gist of that the story is about. Usually they have hilarious results. For example, in the Titans Five Panel Comics' video, he outlined the main points of the story with some running commentary.
"This Comic Sucks."
The traditional format of the show is as follows: Lewis does an introduction that varies in length and usually is without many jokes, then goes on to describe the cover of the book and the story as it goes along, making jokes at the expense of the material. Panels of the comic will move across the screen (in what is described as "The Ken Burns effect") as Lewis narrates and performs voices for characters. Sometimes he'll drift into explanations of some of the situations behind the story, trying to educate the audience on comic books while also further explaining why the comic itself is so awful. The show ends with Lewis saying, "This comic sucks" (or variations thereof), explaining why it sucks, and then ending on a joke before he angrily throws the comic onto his futon and walks away in disgust.
His own comics!
Linkara has written and published his own comic series about superheroes. The stories are called "Revolution of the Mask", which is about a group of masked superheroes making a stand for individuality in a dystopic future. Another story is called "Lightbringer" where the main character is the first superhero set in in modern times. It is, in Linkara's words, "a realistic look at superheroes". The art for Lightbringer is done by TGWTG.com's Chad Rocco aka CR!.
Original Characters
Linkara has invented many original characters played by himself, including minor characters created for running gags like '90s Kid, and major villains like Mechakara.
Pollo the Robot
Pollo (Poy-oh, the Spanish word for "chicken") the smart and sarcastic robot buddy of Linkara came about similar to The Spoony One's Burton the Robot, though obviously made out of cardboard because Linkara was not a proficient propmaker at the time. Pollo first appeared in the "Amazon's Attack" review where he short circuited upon reading the comic. Pollo eventually became a fan favorite and eventually, Pollo essentially became Linkara's sidekick. Eventually, Pollo helps to stop Mechakara, who is an evil version of him. Ever since then, Pollo has basically become Linkara's partner and has even defeated an alternate reality version of Doctor Insano at one time. He is voiced by Microsoft Sam, who is the same voice as the Nostalgia Critic's text-to-speech software in the Alone in the Dark review. After Linkara was abducted, Pollo was trying to find him, while temporarily replacing Linkara with other characters such as Harvey Finevoice, who also plays a role during the crisis. After the '90s Kid took a shot at a review, Pollo tells Finevoice (who was exasperated at '90s Kid at the time) that Linkara had made a message (in the event he went missing or was killed) that told Pollo who he wanted as a successor. After meeting this successor-named Iron Liz-he tells her that he only needs another week to locate Linkara, then refers her to Finevoice for his opinion. During the "Ewoks #9" Review, Pollo managed to get Linkara back to our universe. Unfortunately, he could not get an exact lock on him (as Linkara was too well shielded), so Pollo was forced to beam everything in the room that was about Linkara's size in one large burst. While it worked, Linkara also had company in the form of Lord Vyce's foot soldiers (called "Shades") and Iron Liz, Pollo, Harvey Finevoice, and Linkara banded together to fight them. Pollo is later seen at the end of the "Cable #2" review, where after he and Linkara talk for a while, Pollo has to send away potential guest hosts (Pyramid Head, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and what appears to be Jacob Marley) now that Linkara returned.
Mechakara
Mechakara appears to be a robotic, Terminator-like clone of Linkara, and his first major enemy (not counting Dr. Insano) who, despite looking like a clone of Linkara, is actually considerably scary and a genuine threat. He is bent on getting rid of Linkara and staging a genocide of all organic life - leaving machines to rule all time. Mechakara first appeared at the end of the "Superman Vs. Terminator #1" review, and it's been noted by Lewis that every appearance he's had since holds a clue about his identity and plans. He finally revealed himself to Linkara in the "Ultimates 3 #5" review, and after being ignored, he revealed his identity as an alternate-reality version of Pollo who eventually snapped and killed Linkara in the "Youngbloods #2" review. In the climatic second part, which covered "Power Rangers," Pollo revealed that he came to Linkara's universe due to Dr. Insano playing around with hypertime back in the "Warrior #1" review. He tried to torment Linkara in all of his subsequent appearances, which failed. In the climax of the video, he battles '90s Kid, Ninja-Style Dancer and Harvey Finevoice, and Linkara and the normal Pollo eventually have to team up to defeat him. Insano then ends up killing him, at least for some time. However, an alternate reality version of Dr. Insano, Dr. Linksano, played around with hypertime in a review of "Warriors #2 and 3", thus bringing Mechakara (or at least bits and pieces of him) back to life. During Spoony's Final Fantasy X Review Part 2, Dr. Insano comes to alert him with something about Mechakara but is then shocked as he sees Spoony sing "A Whole New World" and Insano exits the room very awkwardly before he can continue. It is unknown what his role will be in the next story arc.
'90s Kid
'90s Kid is a slacker-type character Linkara uses to describe comics made in the 1990s. He imitates 1990s comic book culture at the time, showing fascination with Rob Liefeld art and other aspects of comics made during the decade. When the '90s Kid makes an appearance, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana can be heard in the background. He got to show off his coolness during a dude-off at Youmacon, and later on during the battle against Pollo/Mechakara, where he got to use his favorite weapon- a huge arm-mounted gun. '90s Kid manages to land a comic review of "Freak Force #1" two weeks after Linkara was first abducted. '90s Kid started by taking over the theme song then he reviewed the comic in his usual obnoxious style, although, he still found some parts of the comic he didn't like, mostly the parts without guns. In the end, he just abandons the review altogether and plays on the Sega Genesis for a half hour (part of that time was offscreen), much to the exasperation of Harvey Finevoice. It is because of his irresponsibility that the Ninja-Style Dancer appeared in the next review, just in case the successor, Iron Liz, was going to do the same thing that '90s Kid did. Linkara later told Pollo after he returned not to let 90's Kid host his show again.
Harvey Finevoice
Harvey Finevoice is another character Linkara uses. He appears to be a professional singer (in a spoof of Frank Sinatra) of some kind, and he has shown up the Uncanny X-Men 424 and Countdown reviews. The character acts similar to 1940s style pop icons and uses the lingo of the day. For example" "Could you hurry it along? I got dames to smooch!" Harvey opened up a "Previously On" segment and then got to show off his skills with a tommygun when he participated in the battle against Pollo/Mechakara. Finevoice plays a much bigger role in the next story arc, first in the review of "Anita Blake: The Laughing Corpse #1 and 2" as the actual reviewer after Linkara was abducted . Shortly after the review was done, he sang to the audience, then asked Pollo about Linkara's status before heading off to be replaced by another replacement reviewer. Before he leaves, he tells Pollo to call on him whenever he needs him. He is later seen at the end of '90s Kid's review of "Freak Force #1" where he shows great distress over, well, '90s Kid in general, as well as the fact that Pollo chose him in the first place. Finevoice offers to replace '90s Kid to yet again review a comic, but Pollo asserts that Linkara already chose a successor. Finevoice later appears at the end of Iron Liz's review of "Chain Gang War #1" where he casually approves of the successor after being refered to by Pollo. He then suggests to Iron Liz that she add some singing and ditch the Ninja-Style Dancer, ironically saying that he never shuts up. Finevoice later accompanied Iron Liz himself in her review of "Ewoks #9". Pollo later managed to get Linkara back- unfortunately, he could not get an exact lock on him (as Linkara was too well shielded) so Pollo was forced to beam everything in the room that was about Linkara's size in one large burst so that Linkara had company in the form of Shades, Lord Vyce's footsoldiers. So Finevoice fought along side Iron Liz, Pollo, and Linkara against Lord Vyce's shades with his tommy gun.
Ninja-Style Dancer
Not much is known about this ninja, other than that he loves to dance and that he's mute. He first appeared in the "Nightcat #1" review and has made cameo appearances in Y Ruler of Time's "Ninjas Vs. Pirates" vid, and Sean Fausz's "Carmen Dance" vid during the live charity drive. His moment to really shine came when he helped battle Pollo/Mechakara with Linkara, '90s Kid and Harvey Finevoice. His next major role is in Iron Liz's review of "Chain Gang War #1" after Linkara was abducted. His role in the review is to keep Iron Liz, the current reviewer, from going completely off track like the reviewer before her, '90s Kid. He talks via cue cards which are apparently screwed up so much by the ninja (for confusing his enemies or something) that captions had to be edited in. He does not do much except sit by Iron Liz while she does her review and helping her with some of the jokes. At the end of the review, Finevoice tells Liz to ditch him, ironically saying that he never shuts up.
Dr. Linksano
Basically, an alternate reality version of Dr. Insano played by Lewis Lovhaug (Linkara) and wearing a black ensemble under a brown-grey trenchcoat. He breifly became one of Linkara's main enemies up until the review of "Warriors #2 and #3", and he shares many qualites with this universe's Dr. Insano with some of them even being a little exaggerated. He retreats back to his dimension in the review of "Tandy Computer Whiz Kids: Fit to Win" after finding out the arrival of an interdimensional conqueror, Lord Vyce.
Lord Vyce
Nothing can be determined yet about this character, but the information given by Dr. Linksano before he left our universe suggests that he is an interdimensional conqueror (like the Anti-Monitor from Crisis On Infinite Earths), that he is evil, and that he is going to have an on-going story arc, even after Linkara is rescued. Lord Vyce's minions, called "Shades", premeired in the "Ewoks #9" review. After the actual review, an stinger shows us Lord Vyce's hand -which reveals that either he's a homage/parody of Dr. Claw, or he wears armor similar to Sauron in Lord of the Rings. He apparently is on his way to our universe.
Specials
- VLOG: Behind the Scenes "Alone in the Dark" (October 7th, 2009)
- Atop the Fourth Wall 2010 trailer (December 5th, 2009 as part of the December 2009 donation drive. December 12th, 2009 on the site.]]
- Green Ranger Dagger Tutorial (December 26th, 2009)
- Power Rangers Review Commentary (February 21st, 2010)
- Warrior #1 Commentary (April 16th, 2010)
- Year Two: Warrior #2-3 Bloopers (June 11th, 2010)
- Linkara and JesuOtaku Interview with Johnny Yong Bosch (July 25th, 2010)
History of Power Rangers
In early April 2010, Linkara started outlining the history of the Power Rangers seasons by looking at the American shows in terms of story, characters and other elements. While acknowledging the Super Sentai footage it was based on, he doesn't go into too much detail about it.
| Episode Number | Title | Description | Date Released |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | History of Power Rangers Introduction | An introduction to the series | April 3rd, 2010 |
| 2 | Season 1 | See how it all began! | April 4th, 2010 |
| 3 | Season 2 | A season of change! | April 13th, 2010 |
| 4 | Season 3 | An end of an era begins. | April 22nd, 2010 |
| 5 | Power Rangers Zeo | The rangers have gone Zeo! | May 1st, 2010 |
| 6 | Power Rangers Turbo | Shift into Turbo! And near cancellation! | May 8th, 2010 |
| 7 | Power Rangers In Space | Witness the end of an era! | June 1st, 2010 |
| 8 | Power Rangers Lost Galaxy | The Galaxy isn't THAT lost. | June 12th, 2010 |
| 9 | Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue | Witness the badassness of the red Lightspeed ranger! | July 14th, 2010 |
External Links
- Linkara at TGWTG
- Linkara's Blogspot "Atop The Fourth Wall"
- Lightbringer, One of Linkara's webcomics.
- Revolution of the Mask