Baman Piderman
| Fandom | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Baman Piderman |
| Abbreviation(s): | |
| Creator: | Alex & Lindsay Small-Butera |
| Date(s): | May 2008 - present |
| Medium: | Animated web series |
| Country of Origin: | |
| External Links: | Baman Piderman - all episodes YouTube playlist, Facebook page, Baman Piderman Wiki |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Baman Piderman is an animated web series by Alex and Lindsay Small-Butera starring childlike, crudely-drawn versions of the superheroes Batman and Spider-Man, who live in a surreal world of moving houses, anthropomorphic pumpkins, tentacle monsters and other strange creatures.
As the titular characters are clearly modelled on Batman and Spider-Man, it could be viewed as a transformative work of sorts, but the resemblance to the Batman and Spider-Man universes ends there, with all other characters, plotlines and settings being unique to the series. At best, it could be considered an extreme sort of alternate universe.
Baman Piderman currently has three seasons consisting of 26 episodes, with the third season still ongoing. There have also been a number of animated shorts, teasers and "mini-sodes" in between the main episodes.[1]
Fandom
Baman Piderman has a niche but highly engaged fandom who are extremely dedicated to the series and its characters. The show has its own fan-run wiki, as well as a detailed page on TVTropes and a page on KnowYourMeme. Fans have also created a variety of fanworks for the series (see Fanworks, below).
In late 2012, Alex and Lindsay announced that Season 2 of Baman Piderman would be cancelled prematurely as Mondo Media was withdrawing funding for future episodes of the show. Fans clamoured for a continuation of the series, and in 2014, Alex and Lindsay created a Kickstarter campaign to fund the final five episodes of Season 2 and give the show a "satisfying ending".[2] The campaign met its $50,000 goal in less than two days. It then met a further seven stretch goals, including two additional special episodes of the show (on top of the five that had originally been planned), bringing the total raised to $112,722 from more than 2,200 backers.
Shipping
The series so far features three main canon ships:
Of the three, Pumkin/Squib is most popular within the fandom, inspiring a wide range of fanworks featuring the two - an anthropomorphic pumpkin and a green tentacle monster. Fans have embraced the pairing as a canon asexual relationship between two characters of atypical gender and sexuality: Pumkin has been confirmed by the series creators to identify as male, while Squib is agender.[3]
Non-canon ships appear to be less prevalent in the fandom, but a couple of fanfics exist for the pairing Baman/Piderman.[4]
Fanworks
Fanvids
Baman Piderman has spawned a number of fan-made parody videos and homages. Some notable examples include:
- Iman Piderman The Movie, a live-action fanvid featuring two children cosplaying as "Iman" and "Piderman", acting out versions of the early episodes of Baman Piderman.
- Baman Piderman - Da Box Fight, a remix of footage from Baman Piderman to create the theme from Punch Out.
- Ionman Uperman by DirtyWhitePaint, a parody/homage to Baman Piderman featuring childlike versions of Ironman and Superman. The video was drawn in a nearly-identical animated style to Baman Piderman, with similar off-the-wall jokes and nonsensical humour, and was published in both English and German.
- Baman: The Animated Series by HoodBoyCartoons, a parody of Batman: The Animated Series starring Baman in place of Batman.
- DatKooby created a Minecraft map modelled on the world of Baman Piderman, and uploaded a video showcasing it: Baman Pidermanland.
Additionally, YouTuber MasterEth dedicated the first episode of a new series, Gems of the Internet, to analysing the popularity of Baman Piderman and discussing some of the meta and fan theories published about the show: Baman Piderman - Gems of the Internet #1.
Fanart & Fancrafts
Fans have created a wide range of gifs, animations and works of fanart for the Baman Piderman series, published to platforms such as deviantART, Pinterest and Tumblr. In addition, some creators have made fancrafts such as plushies, keyrings and stickers featuring characters from the show.
Squib & Pumkin by crazymadmogar
Homestuck-style sprites by homosuckofficial
Batman and Spider-Man as Baman Piderman, by Celine Kim
Baman Piderman clay figurines by daftpatience
An Ace Attorney/Baman Piderman crossover gif by morphinerx
Wanda and Pumkin by rosewaterlozenge
An official Pumkin plushie with a fan-made Squib plush, by left-handed-moths
Dese guys dressed up in holiday sweaters, by that-guys-gal
A chalk Pumkin and Squib drawn to decorate a college dorm, by kharacterkreator
Fanfiction
Fanfiction for Baman Piderman is less prevalent than visual art, but a handful of fanfics have been published to websites such as Fanfiction.net, AO3 and Wattpad.
- You Will Dance by Lorithemolehog123. A Baman Piderman (Fancy human) fanfic! Pumkin is a shy boy from a wealthy family. When one day he meets a "strange, rude, sweet, insane" boy who turns him from a rule follower to a rule maker. Can they keep their relationship alive :O ? (it's better than the description I promise)Romeo and Juliet take off, it's a little OOC I'm not gonna lie. Pumkin/Squib
- Entangled in Embarrassment: Squibin Oneshot (Baman and Piderman) by Marshmewwos. Literally a request for my friend. Her idea, not mine. Anyways, enjoy! Pumkin/Squib
- Baman Piderman had Weirdy Feelings by MegaButtandTestadecimal. coot storie abot baman and piderman in colege. Baman/Piderman
- Squibkin human fanfic by flutterlicious20. Pumkin/Squib
Meta and Fan Theories
Baman Piderman's initially simplistic storyline becomes much more layered and complex as the series goes on, and there is a great deal to speculate about in terms of plot, characters and why the strange world of the series is the way it is. Despite this, not a lot of meta exists for the show.
TV Tropes has a WMG (Wild Mass Guessing) page for Baman Piderman containing a number of fan theories, including theories that Baman and Piderman are shape-shifters, that they're benevolent Eldrich Abominations, that they're two children in Halloween costumes or that the show's entire cast is made up of sick children in the same ward of a hospital.[5] Another theory posted to Reddit's r/FanTheories suggests that Baman Piderman is about two children infected by chlorovirus.[6]
A much more in-depth piece of meta by flutterlicious20 lists a number of theories about different elements of the show, including a detailed origin story for the Baman Piderman universe which casts Tuba as the central character.[7]
In his video Gems of the Internet #1, MasterEth theorises that the show takes place in a child's imagination, which explains its surreal and whimsical elements as well as the strange logic. He attributes the fact that the series makes more sense as it goes on to the child growing older and maturing as they create the story.[8]
Links and Further Reading
- Come Over Da House: The Beautiful Absurdity of Baman Piderman
- Baman and Piderman: They're Best Fwends
References
- ^ Episodes, Baman Piderman Wiki. Accessed December 17, 2017.
- ^ BAMAN PIDERMAN: MAKE DA SHOW!, Kickstarter. Published April 30, 2014 (Accessed December 17, 2017).
- ^ Baman Piderman, TVTropes.org. Ambiguous Gender: Pumkin and Squib. When asked what genders they were during the livestream, Lindsey responded "Pumkin is a vegetable and Squib is a squib. Hopefully that clears things up." However, Pumkin is almost exclusively referred to as "he" outside of this statement. She later said that he identifies as male, but is still a pumpkin. Squib has No Gender.
- ^ Baman/Piderman Works on AO3, accessed December 17, 2017.
- ^ WMG / BamanPiderman, TV Tropes. Accessed December 19, 2017.
- ^ Baman Piderman is about Chlorovirus by [deleted], r/FanTheories. Posted May 12, 2015 (Accessed December 19, 2017).
- ^ Baman Piderman Theory, flutterlicious20's journal, deviantART. Posted March 5, 2014 (Accessed December 19, 2017).
- ^ Baman Piderman - Gems of the Internet #1 by MasterEth, YouTube. Posted August 15, 2017 (Accessed December 19, 2017).