Dylan Woodley Used Scales

It’s super effective!

Dylan Woodley shows us all how it’s done with Pokeballin 2. This brickfilm masterfully uses multiple scales of characters to convey a wide range of emotions and action. I count at least 5 distinct versions of the nerdy Pokemon trainer ranging from a tiny 8-bit-esque version (used to establish the geography of the scene) to a “Little Guys”-esque talking head (used to convey emotion and character).

What’s really impressive about all the different scales is how seamlessly they flow together. It took me multiple watch-throughs to catch them all (pun totally unintended, I swear). One particularly impressive one is when Magby uses the flame attack, there are two different scales of Magby that switch place so fast it’s easy to miss.

There’s a lot to love about this animation beyond the scales ( the character expressions, the humor, the brick-built special effects…), but I wanted to highlight the use of scales because I can’t think of any other brickfilm that has used so many scales or blended them so effectively. I urge you to watch through this film at least 5 times paying close attention to when different scales are used and what effect they have.