Crack Miser Review (Original)

Bases to cover

1. Reference

   1. Snow miser

   2. Christmas specials

2. Design

   1. Appearance of the character

      1. Show comparison to original

         1. Loss of hair

         2. Filthy ice

         3. Jacket and shoes, nothing else

         4. Black eyes

         5. Melting ice sweat

         6. Sunken features

      2. His movements are twitchy and stiff

   2. Alleyway

      1. Much like in the original iteration, the entire song takes place in a central area

   3. Small video space

   4. Color correction

   5. Grainy quality

3. Humor

   1. The switch up between psychosis and Professionalism

   2. Clever rhyming scheme mimicking the original

   3. Bridge

      1. The crux of the humor is the usual Chorus where his minions come out. But looking at it a certain way, it gets comically darker.

         1. They've only shown up after he did more crack and freaks out. HE'S the one whos high, so why are THEY all just as decrepit? They're a hallucination brought on by his crack. And the slow zoom on his face as they chant and sing only solidifies this as a man going completely insane, taunted by his mind

1. EXTRAS FOR LATER

   1. “They call me” instead of “Friends call me”, because he no longer has anyone

      1. Similarly, ‘its never enough’ instead of ‘its too much’

   2. Hes still got the IV in his arm like he just escaped from a hospital

   3. Rapid blinking of paranoia

   4. Compliment the voice acting

   5. Its the Rankin Bass style of animation

Crack miser is a 67 second long video from a channel by the name of Hobo Hobo. Its animated to mimic the style of the 1970s Rankin Bass christmas specials, and parodies the original snow miser song. And today, I'm going to explain why it's so perfect, and why I've listened to it 357 times.

Alright, let's start by pointing out the obvious. This is not a new miser brother that uses cocaine instead of Snow or Fire, he tells us right off the bat that he's Mr. White Christmas himself. And impressive work went into making that obvious. Although there's been a few different puppets, crack miser is based off of the original. You can see by the angular cheekbones, pointed nose, and ice based strands of hair. 

Speaking of, let's really examine the details that went into making snow miser, Crack Miser. 

We can see cracks along his hair, which gives the appearance of filthy ice, and the melted shine along his features are reminiscent of a paranoid man, strung out in the gutter sweating bullets.

The frozen bags under his eyes have been replaced with black lids to express his constant exhaustion. His facial features similarly have gotten sharper, and more pronounced, as if hes withering away, or in his case, melting away.

One feature I love that I didn't realize till my 5th or 6th time watching, is that Crack misers almost completely naked, save for an open blue cat, and his shoes. I mean ya gotta wear your shoes, he's a drug addict, not a psycho.

The animation is another thing I feel needs to be pointed out. The entire thing is animated using 3D rendering software, but looks almost indistinguishable from the classic Rankin Bass style. But more than that, you can tell extra care went into Snow Miser's movements. When he first wakes up, it's business as usual, its his song, albeit not what it once was. As he dances, his movements are stiff and uncomfortable after a long night in the gutter. This is evident by how excitable and exaggerated his movements get when he's motivated by his crack.

Finally, we gotta talk about the music. Hobo Hobo has done an amazing job of recreating the original song with a new broken feel to it to reflect the state snow miser is in. Instead of ‘Friends call me’ he says ‘They call me’ because no one cares about him anymore. Instead of ‘Im too much’ he says ‘Its never enough’. The rhythms are all on point throughout the song, and vocals are truly impressively sung. But it's the bridge that really makes this video perfect.

As he snorts his next dimebag, Snow miser is sent into a frenzy, sputtering on the ground. This is usually the part of the song where his minions come out and sing chorus. But the thing is, theyre all as strung out as he is. Normally the minions look relatively different from their miser counterparts, but these are all 1:1 models. So look at this instead, as the delusions of a drug addict. And as we slowly zoom in on a man defeated by his addictions, the cheerful music swelling, really, how could we assume otherwise?

Crack miser is a meme thats been circling around for many years, and I cant see a version of the joke, funnier than this.