Archive:Meta Runner

Template:Short description Template:More citations needed Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox television Meta Runner (known as Meta Runner: The Final Season in its third season) is an Australian independent-animated science fiction web series created by Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul and produced by Glitch Productions. The series takes place in a futuristic society where entertainment and lifestyle are based around video games and esports. The best of the best gamers in this society are known as "Meta Runners", where they replace one of their arms with a cybernetic arm in order to optimize their gameplay performance. The series focuses on Tari, an amnesiac girl who discovers that she has the ability to warp inside video games, and comes across and helps an undercover group called MD-5 in their mission to expose the corrupt company, TAS Corp.

To promote the series, Tari first appeared as a character in the machinima parody web series SMG4, also created by Luke Lerdwichagul. The first season premiered on the SMG4 YouTube channel on 25 July 2019, with the second and third seasons premiering on the channel GLITCH on 16 October 2020. The third and final season premiered on 22 July 2022.

A pilot for a spin-off show titled Ultra Jump Mania, based on the fictional video game of the same name in the show, was released on 4 September 2020, but it was not picked up for a full season.

Synopsis

In Silica City, all media and entertainment are mostly based around video games, not just serving as entertainment, but also jobs in live streaming and lifestyle. Among members of society are Meta Runners, individuals who have replaced their limbs with cybernetic arms that allow them to boost their gaming performance.

The series tells the story of Tari, a Meta Runner who was the subject of an experiment called Project Blue, led by Dr. Sheridan, a TAS Corp scientist. After waking up in a safehouse in the alleys of Silica City, Tari finds herself in the city with amnesia. The last thing Tari can remember is a sudden accident causing an explosion in the lab that supposedly kills Sheridan and his test subject, Lucinia Porter, a Meta Runner from TAS Corp.

Characters

Main

• Tari (voiced by Celeste Notley-Smith), a shy and insecure Meta Runner who has the ability to warp into the video games she plays and has Meta Runner vision, a program that gives her the best strategies.
• Theo (voiced by Robyn Barry-Cotter), the goofy yet determined protagonist of the game Ultra Jump Mania, where he encounters Tari after she stumbles into his world. He gets transported to the real world via Tari's abilities.
• Sofia Porter (voiced by Hayley Nelson), a cheerful and upbeat girl who is one of Tari's friends. She is not known to play video games, but still helps MD-5 via her hacking skills.
• Lamar Williams (voiced by Anthony Sardinha), an easygoing otaku with a unique cybernetic arm and is a friend of Tari's.
• Masa Shimamoto (voiced by Brendan Barry-Cotter), a calm, composed, and serious friend of Tari but is a former team captain for TAS Corp. He was decommissioned after trying to hack into Lucks' private server to prove his theory that Lucks killed Lucinia.
• Belle Fontiere (voiced by Jessica Fallico), a rival of Tari. She is also a representative of TASCorp and their most celebrated Meta Runner. She is Lucinia's girlfriend, but after finding out about her apparent death, she begins to disobey her boss and act on her own accord.
• Derek Lucks (voiced by David J.G. Doyle), the arch-nemesis of Masa. He was the CEO of TAS Corp who was obsessed with Tari, due to her unexpected ability to warp into video games. He tried to capture Tari in order to discover the cause of her ability and give it to his other Meta Runners so that TAS Corp surpasses their competition. An AI version of Lucks appears as a recurring character in the 3rd season.
• Dr. James Sheridan (voiced by Anthony Sardinha), an ex-TAS Corp scientist who created the Meta Runner Arm and was behind Project Blue to try to prevent Lucks from firing him. He is presumed missing alongside Lucinia after an explosion while developing Project Blue.
• Evelyn Claythorne (voiced by Elsie Lovelock), a Meta Runner at TAS Corp., is shown to be extremely snobby, selfish, and whiny throughout her appearances in the show. She is also forced to be Tari's show match partner, even though she heavily resents Tari for stealing her spotlight.
• Lucinia Porter (voiced by Amber Lee Connors), was a Meta Runner at TAS Corp who vanished without a trace. Archival footage in the show and flashbacks reveal she was a test subject for “Project Blue” and was victim of a catastrophic explosion. Tari, while not knowing her, holds a mysterious connection to Lucinia, and resolves to discover it. She is the sister of Sofia and the girlfriend of Belle.

Minor

• Marco (voiced by Jason Marnocha), a host of underground gaming tournaments in the slums of Silica City. He collects Meta Runner arms and uses two of them as additional limbs. He joins the main cast in Season 3.
• Bo (voiced by Elsie Lovelock), a minor character who serves as the mascot of TAS Corp. She only appears on Silica City billboards.
• Bot-boys (voiced by Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul), common robots found across Silica City, usually with a job or function. One is also shown to be in the game Ultra Jump Mania.
• Elder Tomato (voiced David J.G. Doyle), a character in the video game Ultra Jump Mania. His purpose in the game is to give the player expositionary information and advice. He is also a supporting character of the spinoff series Ultra Jump Mania.
• Satsuki-chan (voiced by Amber Lee Connors), a character from the dating simulation game Nova Explorers. She appears in the handheld dating simulation game Pocket Gakusei due to a crossover between the two games.
• Petey (voiced by Brendan Blaber), an NPC and a tutorial guide from Skybreakers.

Guest stars

• Announcer (voiced by Elliott "Muselk" Watkins)
• Male Civilian (voiced by James Rallison)
• Female Civilian (voiced by Kathleen "Loserfruit" Belsten)
• Announcer (voiced by Ross O'Donovan)
• Tempest Competitor 1 (voiced by Brodey "Bazza Gazza" de Meur)
• Tempest Competitor 2 (voiced by Nathan "Crayator" Clifford)
• Kizuna AI (voiced by herself)
• James Rallison (voiced by himself)
• Arin Hanson (voiced by himself)
• Admin 3 (voiced by Lizzie Freeman)

Background and production

Meta Runner was created by brothers Kevin and Luke Lerdwichagul, who were known for their work on the web series SMG4, created by Luke Lerdwichagul in 2011, as a Super Mario blooper channel. According to the Southern Courier, 14 full-time staff were working at Glitch Productions in August 2019, while Kotaku reported in July 2019 that eight staff worked on Meta Runner full-time.

The series protagonist, Tari, was created for SMG4 as an original character. On 14 February 2019, a video titled "The Making of Tari" was released on the series' YouTube channel, where Kevin and Luke discussed the basis for the character. The brothers asked their younger sister, Tish, for ideas for a new character to add to their series, in which she drew a "gamer girl" character who would become Tari. The first early design of Tari was for her to be a robot instead of a cyborg, an antenna on top of her head, headphones, a simple jacket with a love heart stitched onto it, and a d-pad for her right eye. Eventually, Tari was redesigned as a human cyborg with a white vest with the Meta Runner emblem, which was based on the blue jay's wing. She was also given a blue hoodie with blue jay wing patterns on each shoulder, starting from "Sequence Break" (episode 4).

On 25 August 2018, an episode titled "Mario the Ultimate Gamer" was released on the SMG4 YouTube channel, introducing Tari who eventually became a recurring character throughout the series' run. Meta Runner was first teased at the end of the episode, "War of the Fat Italians 2018", depicting the character Theo and the date 5 December 2018. The months following had similar teasers of different Meta Runner arms before the official trailer for Meta Runner was uploaded on 5 December 2018.

On 18 March 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner was one of many projects to receive funding from a $500,000 grant from Unreal Engine. On 25 June 2019, it was announced that Meta Runner would be funded by Screen Australia, Epic Games, and AMD. On 20 July 2019, Glitch Productions announced that they had partnered with Crunchyroll to produce the series. On 20 April 2020, Screen Australia announced the funding of Meta Runner season 2. The second season aired from 16 October to 18 December 2020.

A third season was announced by co-creator Luke Lerdwichagul a few weeks before season 2 was completed, before being formally announced on 29 November 2021. A teaser trailer was released on 6 May 2022. The teaser confirmed that the third season will be the final season and will be released the summer of the same year.

On 24 June 2022, the official trailer for season 3 was released, confirming it would begin on 22 July 2022. It ended on 9 September 2022.

In an "ask me anything"-type Reddit post for season 3, it was stated that three spin-offs of the series had been written and designed: a series set before Meta Runner, a sequel series set five years after Meta Runner, and a "Meta Runner School" spin-off with a new cast of characters.

Comic

After the finale on 9 September 2022, a comic series, entitled Meta Runner: Source was announced, appearing to go through the backstory of Lucinia Porter. It was also promoted through a pre-video announcement for the third episode of SMG4's "Lawsuit Arc", "SMG4: If Mario Was In... Splatoon 3", released on 10 September. A trailer dedicated to the comic was released on 11 September on the GLITCH channel.

External links

• Official website
• Template:YouTube
• Template:IMDb title

Template:Glitch Productions