Ethereal Snake
note is a YouTube channel that focuses on creating surreal and horrifying animations, that can be surprisingly profound at times. They specialize in Dark Parodies but also sometimes branch off into original animations.
They have Twitter and Instagram accounts if one wants to keep up to date on what they are doing. Alongside there's also a Newgrounds account as well. They also have a Patreon and a Red Bubble, if one also wants to support them.
Ethereal Snake provides examples of:
Vietnam Mickey Saga
- Armor-Piercing Response: When Mickey asks why Gabriel Gibson is so keen on going back home, despite partaking in the Vietnam War. He drops the bombshell that he's going to be a father, which floors "Mickey" and "Donald" into silence.
- Art-Style Dissonance: Everyone in the cast looks decently similar to their cartoon counterparts... except for Mickey, who looks more like a middle-aged man wearing make up and Mickey Mouse ears. Which may or may not be deliberate and a case of foreshadowing to the twist shown at the end of the finale.
- Badass Longcoat: Mickey dons one after the war and as a part of his new occupation.
- Badasses Wear Bandanas: During his time in the war, Mickey wore a red headband a la Rambo.
- Driven to Suicide:
- Mickey commits suicide at the end of "Mickey was here" via snubnose revolver.
- This is also Donald's fate in "Detective Mickey" and "Mickey's Descent Into Madness". In the latter, it's because he was told Mickey murdered Goofy and took the confidential dossier with him, which resulted in the continuation of the Vietnam conflict, which led to the deaths of Donald's nephews and friends.
- Happens to Mickey at some point during "Mickey's Descent Into Madness", but this time, Donald arrives in time to save Mickey and ensures him that he will help him
- Downer Beginning: "Mickey was here" is this for the Vietnam Mickey saga due to being the first video being created, with Mickey killing himself at the end of it.
- Downer Ending: "Mickey's Descent Into Madness" ends with Donald committing suicide, the documents still unleaked, Max finally confronting his father's killer, but not getting closure as Mickey refuses to kill him to end his suffering, and Mickey abandoning the church in disgrace then taking a taxi with the implication that he will end his life once he arrives home, as depicted in "Mickey was here".
- Face Death with Dignity: Cornered and about to get shot, Goofy tells Mickey that if he was going to kill him, that he could at least look him in the eyes while shooting and tell Max he loves him.
- Fate Worse than Death: Mickey considers living with the guilt of killing Goofy and not being able to look at the eyes of his friends and family this.
- Forgiveness Requires Death: Max hands Donald a gun and tells him that he can still do right after showing him the document Mickey hid from him that could have prevented the death of his nephews, feeling responsible after participating in that mission.
- Friend-or-Idol Decision: Mickey is forced into this when Goofy reveals he wants to leak the confidential documents showcasing the atrocities the U.S government is planning to commit, to end the support of the war. Mickey chooses the country, a decision that will haunt him for the rest of his life.
- Get It Over With: Max tells Mickey to finish what he's started. When Mickey refuses to shoot him and leaves, Max calls Mick a coward.
- Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: Interestingly enough, Goofy wears a helmet while Mickey opts for a red bandana, Mickey is also far from a hero.
- Heroic BSoD: Goofy experiences this for a brief moment when he discovers the confidential dossier and its contents in the camp.
- I Knew There Was Something About You: In "Mickey's Descent Into Madness", Max reveals to Mickey that he knew Mickey was the one who killed his father from the moment Mickey didn't look at his eyes when he lied to him about how Goofy died.
- Just Following Orders: Mickey attempted to justify killing Goofy by telling himself he only was serving what was best for the U.S government. Although it becomes clearer and clearer that the justification isn't really helping.
- Last Request: Before getting shot by Mick, Goofy tells Mickey to look him in the eye when he shoots him and to deliver to his son Max that his father will always love him.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Donald had no idea about Mickey's involvement in Goofy's death and the documents that Goofy wanted to leak to the press, and thought that Mickey was suffering from PTSD sequels from the war like him when Mickey tries to kill himself. Once he learns Mickey's dark secrets from Max, Donald is horrified and shoots himself to redeem him in Max eyes.
- Messianic Archetype: A subtle example, but Mickey's hallucination of Goofy bleeds from two small, circular wounds in his hands, referencing the crucifixion.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Mickey has this mentality, which also ends up creating a rift between him and Goofy once he reveals that the US Government has done shady actions while in Vietnam and plans to leak them to the press. This mentality is what also ultimately makes Mickey kill Goofy.
- My God, What Have I Done?: It took Max's reasoning and telling Mickey to try and shoot him to end his anguish would create a sudden shift in Mickey's conscience.
- Sanity Slippage: Mickey big time, the Vietnam conflict has taken its toll on his sanity (with Goofy's death giving the biggest hit), but not only that. As revealed in "Mickey's Descent Into Madness", he not only is revealed to view everyone he knows as Disney Cartoon characters, but it's heavily implied that the Government was responsible for his broken psyche, having forced him to undergo "Project MK Ultra".
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Goofy (real name: Gabriel Gibson) attempts to convince Mickey to leak the documents to end the war, and defies Mickey's orders when he demands to give him the documents to destroy them, resulting in him being shot.
- The Stinger: After the credits of "Mickey's Descent Into Madness", a flashback of Mickey, Gabriel Gibson and Donald hanging out in the abandoned church before the war is played, where Goofy reveals to them that he will soon become a father.
- Throw-Away Guns: For continuity purposes Mickey throws away his M16 after using the last of its ammo to destroy a bridge.
- The Vietnam Vet: Mickey and Donald are this, having survived the Vietnam War and trying their best to reintegrate to society.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: As shown by The Stinger of Mickey's Descent Into Madness, everyone looking like human-like Disney characters are implied to be this, with it showing Mickey, Donald, and Goofy (real name Gabriel) in their actual human forms.
- Token Evil Teammate: Mickey is this towards his group of friends, as he's proven to support and do heinous acts that neither Donald nor Goofy would cross even when they were children.
- Tragic Villain: Mickey himself would've avoided all the guilt of his wrongs in the Vietnam War if he just listened to Goofy and leaked the documents to end it all.
- Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: Despite all the good that would come if Goofy leaked the dossier, Mickey views Goofy's plans as unforgiving treason against the American army, and kills Goofy when he defies his orders to destroy the documents, a decision that in the long term he will regret for the rest of his days.
- Villain Protagonist: Mickey is a tragic version of this, his My Country, Right or Wrong mentality ultimately ends up killing his best friend, hiding documents that would've ended the Vietnam war early, but not only that he ends up ruining Max's life after taking his father away from him and having Donald lose his nephews to the war.
- War Is Hell: Mickey's experiences in the Vietnam war greatly influenced his sanity.
- You Killed My Father: Max confronts Mickey about him killing his dad and alienates him from Donald, who kills himself after witnessing the dossier that could have saved his nephews' lives, to teach him how it feels to lose everything.
Jesus' Betrayal
Covers both Jesus’ Betrayal : What Really Went Down and Jesus Part Two - Part One.
and Jesus Part Two - Part One.- Anachronism Stew: The first video begins at the Last Supper in biblical times, but interrupting Jesus' ceremonies, a Fed shoots Peter in the head with a gun. The sequel takes it further, with a SWAT team of fully armed agents infiltrating Jesus' tomb, which in reality is a somewhat-rundown but still modern house past the rocks sealing it, and in the end scene a Roman soldier named Pontius Pilate is part of the conspiracy's inner circle.
- Answers to the Name of God: A variant and hilariously involving the actual son of God himself. "Jesus Part Two - Part One", an FBI soldier yells out "Jesus Christ!" when a decapitated head rolls to his feet. Which is then followed up by the actual Jesus Christ suddenly appearing beside him and responding with a soft and sincere "Yeah?"
- Bilingual Bonus: When the FBI SWAT found three different IDs of Jesus.
- French: Jean de la Grâce.
- Spanish: Jesús, Hijo de la María.
- Hawaiian: Mc Jesus.
- Boom, Headshot!: Poor Peter gets shot by a sniper when the Feds ambush the Last Supper. Judas asks why Jesus couldn't bring Peter back from the dead, but Jesus rightfully points out that Leprosy and losing your head are two very different things.
- Deadly Euphemism: When he learns of the conspiracy to harvest his blood, Jesus shouts into the walkie-talkie of one of his assassins that he shall make Earth like Heaven, which is to say, "full of dead guys".
- Holy Is Not Safe: Jesus is... Jesus Christ, obviously, and he's very prone to laying a brutal smackdown upon anybody trying to bring him or his apostles harm.
- Hypocritical Humor: After one of the fed yells "Oh my God!" after Jesus snaps the neck of one of his squadmates, Jesus quickly admonishes the FBI agent for taking the lord's name in vain... then following it up by doing it himself.FBI Soldier: Oh my God!
Jesus: Get the Lord's name out of your mouth! You god damn... - Kung-Fu Jesus: After finding out that Judas ratted them out to the feds, Jesus sure gave him a well-deserved No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. Further shown in "Jesus Part Two - Part One" where he takes on an entire armed FBI SWAT team with only his martial prowess and easily wins, even throwing in a few Funny Bruce Lee Noises as well.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Jesus is written as an unstable, egotistical Manson-esque cult leader in "Jesus' Betrayal: What Really Went Down" with the small wrinkle that he's genuinely divine. Still a foul-mouthed, violent thug though.
- In "Jesus Part Two - Part One", the headmaster of the conspiracy looks and sounds like Ronald Reagan.
- Obviously Evil: Judas has a massive and obvious radio sticking out from under his robes and continually asks Jesus to repeat his "son of God" speech louder and clearer. He also called the dinner "the Last Supper" for seemingly no reason, which leads Jesus to realize he set the dinner up so the FBI could ambush him.
- Off with His Head!: One of the FBI soldiers gets decapitated by a powerful horizontal chop from Jesus.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Jesus really loves to dole these out.
- In Jesus’ Betrayal : What Really Went Down.
Get ready to receive some Holy Spirit...- In Jesus Part Two - Part One.
My hands must be a temple, because these fists are open for business! - Shout-Out: During Jesus' fight against the Feds, one of his attacks is a rotoscope of Nicolas Cage's infamous Slap of God.
- Spotting the Thread: Jesus remembers that Judas was the one who called their dinner the Last Supper some time before Peter got shot by the feds. The receiving of holy spirit ensued soon afterward.
- Wrestler in All of Us: During his No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Judas, Jesus performs an elbow drop and suplex. He pulls off another suplex against one of the Feds in "Jesus Part Two - Part One".
Other videos:
- Body Horror: "The Spider Man" shows Peter having suffered an horrendous transformation after being bitten by a spider.
- Boom, Headshot!:
- How Lethal Force Man kills a thief who stole an apple, right before he could eat it.
- Also happens to the I in "An Alternative Pixar Intro", which parodies Kennedy's assassination.
- Canon Discontinuity: Implied with Mickey Mouse Rampage, which features Mickey Mouse going on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge, and has been unlisted, implying that it was retconned out due to the tone clashing with the Vietnam Mickey Saga.
- Dark Parody: Ethereal's specialty is making these.
- Fate Worse than Death:
- In his video showcasing the old and panned design of Sonic from the old cut of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020). Instead of being put down or released, they instead opt to put him in the cell and forget about him. Leaving him to spend the rest of his days trapped in his cell yearning for freedom. It's telling that the time he finally dies he goes out with a relieved smile.
- Winnie The Last Adventure (now deleted from Ethereal Snake's channel) is a parody of the scene from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Piglet in the role of Randle McMurphy, having just been lobotomized. This is why Pooh, in the role of Chief, smothers him with a pillow.
- Foreshadowing: The videos focused on "Project MK Ultra" could be considered this because it's heavily implied that Mickey was subjected to this same project too, which explains why Mickey sees everyone as Disney Cartoon characters.
- Go Out with a Smile:
- Waldo's aged and deceased body was smiling by the time the authorities finally find out where he is.
- The old design of Sonic from the Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) finally smiles after expiring in his prison cell.
- High-Voltage Death: Lethal Force Man is offed via electric chair right after murdering the thief. And someone clearly forgot to wet the sponge.
- Shout-Out:
- "Scooby Dooby Doo What Are You?" is an obvious reference to John Carpenter's The Thing (1982).
- "Telltale's Scooby Doo" is well... Telltale Games take on Scooby-Doo.
(Shaggy will like remember this man)- "Chasing Waldo: Confrontation" is based on the iconic dam jump from The Fugitive.
- "Scooby Dooby Doo What Are You?"
- Soundtrack Dissonance: The song playing in Space Wanderer, sounds incredibly upbeat. Despite the short animation focusing on ''Laika', the first animal in space who sadly died. To further showcase the dissonance the poor dog is in a constant tired and sad grimace.
- This Is Unforgivable!: In the Nuremberg trials, Thomas the tank engine directly says that his involvement in transporting Jews to concentration camps is unforgivable, not wanting redemption and just accepting whatever the judges will do to him.
