Review of Goonland

Goonland is the work of Grand Rapids, Michigan Flash animator Mike Storey, one of many artists bringing his interactive animation and games to the web. He is part of a collective that includes sites like rockschool.com, killfrog.com, and bunnygrenade.com, among others. The group collaborates on cartoon series, each adding their own episodes to running story lines, and thus highlighting the versatility of the medium.  

The animation on Goonland is of the prototypical gross-out variety. Picture a large, barely clothed yellowish blob with one enlarged eye, and you’ve got Fatty, the site’s mascot. Fatty gets into various misadventures, most of them food related, along with a supporting cast which includes bike helmet-sporting Bruce, and an underdressed smokin’ clown by the name of Fritter. Some of the few interactive features on offer include a love tester, and a snowball fight, where players can get revenge on the annoying Bruce. The Experiments link will take you to a page titled “When you’ve run out of place to go…” Each element of the periodic table look-alike is a bit of surreal animation that Storey just didn’t want to throw away. Not all of the choices are live links, but take a look for some particularly artistic nonsense.

“The Most Amazing Story Ever Told!” is one of the site’s collaborative efforts. The first episode of the first series comes to us from Goonland, and begins with an unnamed, flatulent red headed man with one shoe floating listlessly on the ocean in an inner tube. He first address the camera, asking if the viewer is some sort of “mee-rage” and proceeds to beg a bored-looking pelican for a boat, some sunscreen, or lip balm, leading to a disgusting close up of his horribly chapped lips. As the other sites pick up the storyline, things becomes even more absurd, and the video begins to resemble a choose-your-own-adventure piece gone awry.