Post 2 - Content Curation

From horror to humour (but mostly horror), the SCP community is a creative bunch. With a sandbox universe that literally anyone can play in and add their two cents to, this fandom is the literal embodiment of the phrase ‘it takes a village’. The foundation tales, the characters, and the SCPs were all birthed from the brains of different people and brought together in a patchwork universe that allows for people’s imaginations to run wild. This, in turn, spawned a giving community that loves to make art for the sake of making it.

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The SCP community is one built on the shoulders of creators. Game developers, writers, and artists especially. While the temptation to curate SCP stories individually for this assignment was there (one of my first ideas was to find some good Dr Bright stories), I really wanted to curate something a bit more meaningful to me, and useful for someone viewing. Animations are an excellent way to get into this community. Animations are a good way of stepping into the fandom. That and SCP Containment Breach, a game released by Joonas Rikkonen ("Regalis"). It’s how I really got into it, and something I still find myself looking for to this day. They are an easy thing to introduce people to the concept with, and are self contained enough to be entertaining with no context. SCPs vary wildly in shape and form, so they are interesting both to animate and to look at. 

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The following is a collection of 2D animations regarding the SCP universe. I would inclide 3D animations too, but quite frankly, that's a whole other kettle of fish. These animations can be anything from full on productions to just little animation tests, although I did keep to animations that have a somewhat cohesive storyline, and are longer than a minute. Some of them are part of a longer series.  When this is the case I have chosen the most unique or most intriguing (in my opinion) of them. I would hope that anyone who is new to the fandom and is looking for easily digestible content would find this a useful resource, or oldies to the fandom who are revisiting due to its newfound resurgence and want to find some new content and a new side of the fandom to engage with. Most of these animations are pretty modern, so I would hope it a good place to play catchup if you haven’t engaged in a while.

 

A forenote:
For the sake of brevity, I will refrain from explaining the nature of each SCP present in the animations in each commentary. However, as navigating information about SCPs can be confusing without context, I have compiled a masterlist of all mentioned SCPs and their appearances/attributes. A link to the specific SCPs in each animation will be provided in the ‘Featured SCP’ section

SCP-3008 The Infinite Ikea (SCP Animation)
The Rubber
Featured SCP: SCP-3008

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‘The Rubber’s animated SCP series is set up as an informative segment on an SCP, one per episode. This one is one of my favorites of his, an exploration of SCP-3008, or The Infinite Ikea. I adore this animation, and I adore this SCP, it’s one of those SCP’s that doesn’t seek you out, nor can you do anything to avoid being snapped up (save entering any Ikea, ever, I suppose). One day you just… disappear, odds are never to be seen again. Logically, you know it's not real, and yet... The idea follows you. You can't help but remember every thime you walk past an Ikea store...

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The animation does an amazing job of capturing the essence of the SCP. Seeing SCP-3008-1 visually and not just reading about it really gives the audience a sense of scale. The human brain is quite bad at wrapping it's head around the enormous. This is a space that is supposedly infinite and nothing hammers that in quite like seeing endless shelves stretch on into the horizon and dissapear into the distance. The scale of this space really hits home, and you can't help but get nervous at the thought of being lost there. It gives one distinct feelings of being lost in the supermarket as a kid, but much, much worse. The way SCP-3008-2 is depicted in this animation is also superb. I’ve never seen an artist take the ‘disproportionate’ descriptor so to heart, drawing SCP-3008-2 with huge hands and long, twisted necks that make them, while not inherently scary, very unsettling to watch. That is absolutely the point of this kind of SCP and it does the animation huge favors, especially as the sound design has to be minimal and subtle to accommodate for the narration, which takes away opportunities to build a creepy atmosphere using traditional methods.

 

Where the Dragons Went… (Sad SCP Animation)
The SCP - Tales From The Foundation
Featured SCP: SCP-1762

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The SCP - Tales From The Foundation channel is one of my favorite SCP channels, period. I would happily do an in depth review of all their works, and choosing only one was difficult, but in the end I chose the one that I had the strongest emotional reaction to.

 

‘Where the Dragons Went’. A slight change of pace for SCP animations, this one isn’t scary or supposed to be informative. It’s sad. The animation features a reading of "Where The Dragons Went" written by: OZ Ouroboros on the SCP wiki. A story based on SCP-1762, or the ‘Here Be Dragons’ Box. It depicts the Jabberwocky Event, along with a reading of the official SCP story. This, on it's own, is already a story that makes me cry. Adding visuals was already going to sucker-punch me emotionally, but then I heard the soundtrack.

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The sound design of this animation is what really makes it, although colourful and vibrant imagery does it no disservice. The deep, rich voices of the dragons, and the sheer amount of emotion in the narrator’s voice tugs at the heartstrings. It’s an emotional and beautifully written story, but putting it to audio really adds another dimension to it that makes it come off the page.

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SCP 173's Wish - Original Animation
Pupp3tStudios 
Featured SCP: SCP-173, SCP-1990

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A short, interesting, and frankly quite unnerving, animation by Pupp3tstudios depicting the aftermath of SCP-173 being exposed to SCP-1990. This is an interesting take on a very well loved SCP, because it deconstructs SCP-173’s most basic rule in order to explore it. We see it move, we see it speak. I'm guessing that's what SCP-173 wished for, freedom to move while seen, and doesn't that imply so much? A genius, subtle story-telling device. We know little to nothing about what goes through SCP-173's head. Not like 046, who speaks, or 096, who's actions and body laguage are telling enough for an audience to get the gist of it. Whether it thinks or not... Leaves a lot of personality to explore, if only you can get past the whole stone-half-the-time thing.

 

I love this animation for what it is, honestly. Simplicity is it's ally here. No colour, no music. Nothing to hide behind but a gut wrenching sound design. With just diegetic sound, they still built a clear auditory environment. I really appreciate how the voice of SCP-173 sounds. It sounds like stone grating against stone. Concrete scraping across the ground. Which is absolutely inspired, considering what SCP-173 is made of. Most SCPs given voice in these animations already have voices, or at least vocalizations, to model their voices off of. The voice of SCP-173 in this animation really struck me as unique, even though the filter used was nothing special. 

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SCP 096 vs SCP 049 Animation - Draw Cartoons 2
ART PG BOY
Featured SCP: SCP-096, SCP-049

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This animation by ART PG BOY features a showdown (and attempted breakout) between SCP-096 and SCP-049, two of the more well known, and renoundly more deadly, SCPs. What an interesting concept this one explores. While those familair with the SCP Containment Breach game will associate SCP-049 with danger, he is not particularly violent in any of his iterations before. With this in mind, I liked how imaginative SCP-049’s attacks are. The SCP in its original depiction doesn’t attack, because it can kill with a touch. And even if he weren't, he would probably say he was a doctor, not a fighter. In this animation, his attacks seem so… In character. Sharp, precise, and well thought out. It’s an amazing amount of character to cram into a minimum-dialogue sequence. I also like how they incorporated sound clips from SCP Containment Breach for SCP-049’s voice.

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The animation flows nicely, and the minimal sound design supports the movements the animation is trying to convey. A lovely little twist of humour on the end too. The characters are nicely animated, again feeling particularly in-character. 096 in particular moves with this inhuman stiffness that paired with his long limbs, really does the character depiction a favor. Quick, deadly, and kinda terrifying, even in this 2D, side on medium. 

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SCP-213-FR : The Vagabonds of Dark Forest [ANIMATIC]
Alba Petit Con
Featured SCP: SCP-213-FR

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This one is really interesting, and very unique. The animation starts depicting a group of children in the woods, being pursued and picked off by shadows and various supernatural creatures. One might assume this is the SCP, and you would be right… but also wrong. Halfway through the animation, we get a seemingly random cut to a book, in which two pages burst into flame, before returning to the story in the forest. The children continue to be killed off until only one remains, walking through a set of doors. The story ends.

But it doesn’t.

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The animation continues past the end screen, showing a woman walking through the foundation to the book we saw before and disappearing. Followed by scenes of fire and screaming, monstrous figures before her watching the sunrise on the blackened ground. Those (very) well acquainted with SCP-lore will realise that the animation is showing the Riberia Incident, in which a researcher misused SCP-213-FR, it is highly suggested intentionally.

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I love the ingenuity of giving the animation a false ending. It was the moment that made it click for me that the book was the SCP and not the forest or what was in it. The story in the book ‘ends’ and then we get some context. It’s a brilliant play on the nature of SCP-213-FR. I also adore the art style in this one. It’s legitimately beautiful. The high contrast dark-purple-and-orange colour palette it has going on, with black reserved for unnatural shadow and outlines really gives the impression of the shadows being deeper than darkness. Unnerving and impossible, which really embraces a SCP that’s fundamentally inspired by a child’s imagination and scary storybooks.

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SCP 682 VS SCP 096 Animation

Buttered Spino
Featured SCP: SCP-682, SCP-096

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This is a fun one. Another showdown between two deadly SCPs. This one depicts a ‘canon’ event, in which SCP-096 was used in a termination attempt against SCP-682. Details are not given in the source, so the animator was given freedom to explore. SCP-682 is an especially interesting SCP to pit against another due to its adaptive ability. In essence, you can give it any ability you want, because there’s no feasible adaptation it cannot employ. This is why 2D animation is such a good medium for this battle. There are fewer limitations on what you can depict the characters doing, and thus you can have more fun exploring the fight. The animator, in this instance, depicts SCP-682 shooting spines from it’s back, breathing acid, and neatly cleaving all the meat off a skeleton. Showing the SCP evolves these traits right in front of our eyes. That said, SCP-096 puts up a good fight, and you can see the primal power in its movements. This is a really good animation, not only in that it’s well animated but also in the sense that it’s a good depiction of the characters portrayed.
 

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手描き】フ／ィ／ク／サ／ー【SCP】
Hinat
Featured SCP: SCP-963 See More: Dr Bright

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This one is unique to this collection in being a Vocaloid style animation centered around Dr Bright, a recurring character in the SCP universe, who is a dead doctor who possesses other foundation personnel via SCP-963. The first half of the video notably takes inspiration from the foundation stories ‘I Am The Foundation’ and ‘It Wasn’t a Vacation’. It takes some pretty serious artistic licence too, but that’s a good thing in this case, I think. It keeps the animation exciting, which is a pretty important feature in an animation. The link between vocaloid and SCP is a pretty prominent one. While both still have thriving communities, they were both at their peak at the same time, late 2000s and early-to-mid 2010s. The release of SCP Containment Breach got people interested and the fandom expanded. While this one is a little more recent than that, it is an effective nod to the old connection between the two.

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Personally, I love Dr Bright as a character, as do many others, and I think it would be something of a sin to not include at least something about him. Especially in the case of a collection showcasing the artistic SCP community. Dr Bright is a labor of love that literally thousands of people contributed to. He’s had hundreds of faces, thousands of misadventures, and like this animation, several fan-monuments. This is an example of a phenomenon in which an artist will take a character they love and insert them into dynamic animation with less of a plot and more of a homage to the character. Not including one of them felt like a disservice to some of the more artistically interesting animations out there, and this is a choice one.

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Confinement Ep1: The Cannibal
Lord Bung
Featured SCP: SCP-082

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The ‘Confinement’ series is a well known one in this community, and well respected. The first and most significant praise I can pile on is sheer prodiction value. The animation is smooth, the voices are really, really well done, and the series is actually really funny. It’s one of the few animations that captures the SCP fandom’s wit. Despite its numerous horror elements, the source material on the wiki is often very funny, with a distinctly sardonic gallows humour. Moments from this series could easily fill this collection on it’s own, but that isn’t the point of the assignment, so I will keep to the first episode in the case that someone is interested enough to examine the series further, there will be nothing spoiled for them. The series is focused in the SCP universe and features several notable SCPs, but often with a twist. 

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This first episode is a prime example, because it takes an idea of an SCP, SCP-082, and changes it. Adapts it into a different character, bit with easily identifiable features of the source material. This is a very SCP-esque thing to do, but for a slightly more meta reason. The SCP community is good at sharing. The Creative Commons Licence that the SCP universe is under allows anyone to take and use the property under it, even monetise it, as long as proper credit is given. Taking an SCP and tweaking it slightly to put your own spin on it is a very SCP-community thing to do and is a very refreshing initiative.

 

Class D Training Video Tape!

TheVolgun

Featured SCP: None. See More: D-Class Personnel 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another animation that focuses more on the foundation itself than the SCPs in it, this video emulates a D-Class personnel training video. It’s modelled after those training videos you get in the workplace, down to the sarachine, cheerful tone, even as it describes some not-so-pleasant situations. This is a piece that captures the sarcastic humour of the SCP writing style really well, as that sort of professional-talk-around-disaster method is heavily implemented in the wiki articles and foundation tales. The whole affair sort of reminds me of the Aperture Science training videos in the advertising for ‘Portal 2’ or ‘Fallout’ videos. The filter overtop of the animation makes it feel like a playthrough of an actual old tape that was found in the husk of the foundation after some great event. I also enjoy that it involves the audience more than previous animations. The narration is directed at the audience, allowing them to play at bein g the unfortunate new arrivals. It's a fun. clever, and distinctly styled little peice.

 

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The Sculpture

Coleman Surratt

Featured SCP: SCP-173

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This animation depicts a team of scientists discussing and conducting an experiment with SCP-173 and 3 Class-D personnel. To any SCP fan, this is a tale as old as time, and yet... You can't look away. This animation does a great job of building tension. Non-diegetic sound is a big part of this one, in fact the sound design as a whole is worth mentioning. Low, warbling sound in the background puts the audience on edge, broken up by loud sound effects that makes every movement by the characters seem loud. I won’t deny I jumped when the door slammed the first time I watched the animation. The POV shot where you can see the character trying not to blink also does an amazing job of cranking the tension up to eleven, because you can anticipate it;s leading up to a jumpscare, but you don’t know when it’s coming.

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The Rubber. (May 6, 2020). SCP-3008 The Infinite Ikea (SCP Animation). Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcC-A3lG7yc

 

SCP Animated - Tales from the Foundation. (Mar 28, 2020). Where the Dragons Went (Sad SCP Animation). Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exQOSO4Jef8

 

Pupp3tStudios. (Nov 32, 2014). SCP 173's Wish - Original Animation. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxBwqbp1Ro0

 

ART PG BOY. (Apr 16, 20199). SCP 096 vs SCP 049 Animation - Draw Cartoons 2. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NmDjJZFQbQ

 

Alba Petit Con. (Aug 13, 2017). SCP-213-FR : The Vagabonds of Dark Forest [ANIMATIC]. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMnK80Huv_A&feature=youtu.be

 

TheVolgun. (Oct 24, 2017). Class-D training video tape!. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/E36Jw2e24Sw

 

Buttered Spino. (May 4, 2019). SCP 682 VS SCP 096 Animation. Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cj2-qZ40fYw

 

Hinat. (Jun 11, 2017). 手描き】フ／ィ／ク／サ／ー【SCP】. Retrieved from: https://youtu.be/cgWsQDMY1mA 

 

Lord Bung. (Aug 3, 2017). Confinement Ep1: The Cannibal. Retrieved from:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0b2s_ot9_0&feature=youtu.be

 

Coleman Surratt. (Nov 2, 2009). The Sculpture. Retrieved from:          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBLIAasOfxk