Guess the pixelated favorites

October 20, 2010 7:57 AM

Minimal pixel versions of well-known groups of individuals has become a trend at Something Awful, where it was originally inspired by this post of Street Fighter characters. Guessing who has been pixelated is surprisingly easy and entertaining. If you are properly geeky, you'll probably find #1, #4, and #16 to be easiest. I happen to like #10.

Here is the answer key.

posted by blahblahblah (29 comments total)

It doesn't really work for sitcoms and live action shows where people aren't always wearing the same clothes.
posted by empath at 8:10 AM on October 20, 2010

6, 13 and 31 are also easy to guess
posted by le morte de bea arthur at 8:13 AM on October 20, 2010

Related to Minipops?
posted by mkb at 8:16 AM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

8 makes me giggle.
posted by specialagentwebb at 8:17 AM on October 20, 2010

Heh, before I went for laser eye surgery a few years ago, everybody looked like that without my glasses...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 8:17 AM on October 20, 2010

Number 15 (Toy Story) was probably my favorite, because of how they interpreted Slinky Dog.
posted by The Winsome Parker Lewis at 8:28 AM on October 20, 2010 [3 favorites]

The FF one is aces, esp the Invisible Woman
posted by Scoo at 8:32 AM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

This was way more delightful than it should be, especially after I figured out my first one. Thanks.
posted by Rykey at 8:37 AM on October 20, 2010

originally inspired by this post of Street Fighter characters

Atari 2600 port, please!
posted by Sys Rq at 8:50 AM on October 20, 2010

That was fun, more so after seeing the answer key and going back and figuring out who was who, since #4 and #16 were the only ones I got on my own. Although I will take credit for noting that #16 does not consistently represent any one particular point in the show: without (hopefully) giving away too much, one character depicted with facial hair only grew it after another depicted character had left the show.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 8:51 AM on October 20, 2010

#2 confused the hell out of me. (You mean the one on the end isn't Chris Griffin?)
posted by Sys Rq at 8:53 AM on October 20, 2010

I like how wide they made Taft. Also, looking at it again, is Clinton supposed to be not wearing pants?
posted by Shesthefastest at 8:54 AM on October 20, 2010 [1 favorite]

I was too impatient and too "what the hell is this?" and quickly jumped to the answers... now after I saw the answers and returned back to the pixel art, I'm rather embarassed that I couldn't figure out #1 and #3 since they are my favourite shows.

It doesn't really work for sitcoms and live action shows where people aren't always wearing the same clothes

I thought so too, and then once I saw what #3 was, now it's hard hard not to see who these characters represent.

But yeah, this was a lot of fun!
posted by bitteroldman at 9:21 AM on October 20, 2010

I was completely lost until I saw the South Park one, and then it all made sense.

Clever.
posted by quin at 9:23 AM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

The one for Tom Baker's Fourth Doctor is a lot more complicated.
posted by schmod at 9:34 AM on October 20, 2010 [2 favorites]

On first glance, I thought there was no way I'd get any of these. Then I tried again and got the very first one. Neat! I didn't get too many of the others, though. I'm kind of surprised I got the South Park one, though, given that I don't actually ever watch that show.
posted by FishBike at 9:41 AM on October 20, 2010

Are there mirrors for SomethingAwful if, say, hypothetically, you were at an office that blocked the somethingawful.com URL?

Hypothetically, of course.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 9:47 AM on October 20, 2010

I stopped after I got 6 of the first 12 because I was depressing myself.
posted by Justinian at 9:49 AM on October 20, 2010

Ok, who is bottom row left in the Futurama one?
posted by HumanComplex at 9:54 AM on October 20, 2010

Ok, who is bottom row left in the Futurama one?

The janitor, I think. Scruffy.
posted by FishBike at 9:55 AM on October 20, 2010

Some of these are really great, and it's hilarious how quickly you can "get" the ones that occupy that iconic space in your head. Number 16 made me laugh out loud. (Rainbow sweater!)
posted by Gator at 9:59 AM on October 20, 2010

FishBike: "Ok, who is bottom row left in the Futurama one?

The janitor, I think. Scruffy."

Scruffy! It's obvious now. Thanks.
posted by HumanComplex at 10:07 AM on October 20, 2010

I'm surprised at how much I love these. I want to make paintings or scarves or something out of some of them.

Wartortle is not that shade of purple, though! He's supposed to be more of a periwinkle.
posted by Metroid Baby at 10:14 AM on October 20, 2010

They just look like coloured rectangles to me.
posted by salmacis at 11:00 AM on October 20, 2010

Yeah, whatever is the part of your brain that makes this work for some people I don't have it.
posted by rusty at 11:05 AM on October 20, 2010

I'm surprised there's no Simpsons.
posted by klangklangston at 11:33 AM on October 20, 2010

I'm kind of surprised how many of these I figured out, and how many of the ones I didn't I'd never heard of or seen before.

For those of you having trouble, and seeing nothing but rectangles: Start by just looking at the color scheme, and see if that rings a bell. South park should be super easy this way. Same with scooby doo.

If it doesn't, look at the individual rectangles. Some of them are clearly human, because they have peach skin, and then some are clearly not. They're almost all brown, or monster green, or bright bright orange. Then stare at those and try to think of shows with characters those colors. Once you have it, it's quite easy to look through the rest and figure out who they represent.
posted by kingjoeshmoe at 11:35 AM on October 20, 2010

I'm surprised there's no Simpsons.

An even more simplified Simpsons (and Futurama)
posted by blahblahblah at 12:03 PM on October 20, 2010 [4 favorites]

I am both embarrassed for and embarrassed to not be the artist behind #35.
posted by citywolf at 2:03 PM on October 21, 2010