Random Encounters


Random Encounters is an American musical web series co-created by AJ Pinkerton and Peter Srinivasan. The series' first official short, "Singachu: A Pikachu Song", premiered on YouTube on June 7, 2011. Since launching, the series has partnered with Disney Digital Network, Maker Studios, and at one point with IGN Entertainment.
Each regular Random Encounters short consists of an original musical number. The creators were first inspired to found the series in 2010, when their Sonic the Hedgehog musical parody won the grand prize in an international video competition hosted by Sega.
Since launching their YouTube series, Random Encounters has traveled to various festivals and conventions to perform live.

History

"Random Encounters" was initially conceived during a Sega-sponsored contest, for which Pinkerton co-developed the winning entry and his first video game parody song, "Needlemouse: The Musical". The Needlemouse song was requested by Sega to be performed live at their 2011 Sonic Boom community event, where Pinkerton and Srinivasan first recognized the demand for their product and began development on a series of popular games as musical numbers.

Style

Random Encounters music videos are generally family-friendly and often written to be cleverly self-censored, such as utilizing creative alternatives to obscenities and disregarding the rhyming scheme abruptly to dodge profanity. Shorts based on mature content, such as Assassin's Creed, Five Nights at Freddy's and Dead Space, typically present light-hearted versions of the characters, rather than their colder in-game incarnations.
Musical styles for each short vary but often consist of bouncy rhythms and upbeat tempos. Some songs borrow heavily from other sources, such as Disney numbers or in-game themes. The series' derives much of its humor from each song's lyrics, which often refer to in-game events, pop culture or internet memes.
While most videos are performed with live-action setups, some songs feature 2D, 3D, and stopmotion animation.

Musicals

Games

Beginning in 2015, Random Encounters has consistently made clickbait-style videos and uploaded them on April Fools Day pretending that they are new musicals or series installments; while some have featured new songs, many are not musicals at all. These include:

Sega

After "Needlemouse: The Musical" won top honors in their Sonic Birthday contest, Sega arranged to have the Random Encounters team perform an alternate version at Sonic Boom 2011, this time highlighting the Modern Sonic/Classic Sonic chemistry from Sonic Generations. Nine months later, Random Encounters co-produced a musical game trailer for the fictitious title "Sega Bass Fishing of the Dead" as part of Sega's online April Fools' prank. Sega approached the Random Encounters team a third time with the release of Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure, which became the focus of the first sponsored Encounter.
In August 2012, the Random Encounters Facebook page confirmed their involvement with Sega on a Super Monkey Ball video.
Sega collaborated yet again with Random Encounters on a musical promoting the Sonic Boom franchise when the channel uploaded a live-action musical in late 2014.

Nintendo

In 2013, Random Encounters joined the Nintendo Ambassador program as part of the Wii U Challenge. Their first project as a brand ambassador, for the Challenge, was a musical promoting.
In June 2014, Nintendo sent Random Encounters to E3, along with Black Nerd Comedy, Lamarr Wilson, and Smosh Games. To help promote Nintendo's titles, Random Encounters produced a short musical starring Wario, which included a surprise Charles Martinet cameo at the end.
Nintendo teamed with RE again in 2015 for the launch of their new franchise, Splatoon, by helping host a multi-cam let's play tournament and inviting AJ to compete at their Mess Fest obstacle course promoting the game on the Santa Monica Pier.
For the launch of 2018's Super Smash Brothers Ultimate, Nintendo recruited Random Encounters to promote individual fighters from the game. Random Encounters chose to highlight the Inkling character from Splatoon with a musical number titled, "If I Was an Inkling."

Disney XD

In August 2015, Variety.com posted an online article linking Random Encounters to a Disney XD initiative labeled "Disney XD by Maker." The crossover will reportedly seek to "find and develop video concepts for distribution on YouTube, as well as potentially DisneyXD.com and the Watch Disney XD app. It was later reported by Random Encounters that Disney XD by Maker would be funding Resident Enis 2: Monster Gulch, which was released early February 2016"