TANKMEN is an online animated series created by JohnnyUtah, started in 2006. It stars the hotheaded Captain, and his loyal comrade, Steve. It is mostly known for its constant "Cock Jokes" and crude humor. It is set in a post-apocalyptic world as depicted by the background of the usual Newgrounds preloader, and shows an ongoing conflict between Captain's group and a rival military group who look similar, but have points on their helmets.
The series was an immediate hit upon release and has spawned sequels and parodies. The "Tankmen" themselves are also the mascots of Newgrounds, and are found in much of the website's iconography.
Storylines and content
Tankmen treats war in a humorous fashion, taking constant opportunities to make the supposedly serious conflict between two armies appear as a farce. As the series has progressed, it and its parodies are most known for their crude humor and, as fans have dubbed them, "cock jokes."
Picture of the Tankmen
Tankmen also has a running joke where one of the soldiers on the protagonists' side declares "I'm going to be a dad" before a sniper kills them. In the original movie, he appears in the background, and is killed by a bullet that seems to come from nowhere. TANKMEN 1.5 tells the story of Private Skittles, a sniper in the enemy army, who has an awkward conversation with his father and kills the future father at the end of the episode. TANKMEN 2 has Captain and Steve have a lunch break, only to end up in a confrontation with anarchist Thugmen. TANKMEN .5 is a prequel, in which forces from the two armies recruit civilians, who are revealed to be the future father (named Bill) and Skittles, the future sniper.
TANKMEN Theme song
Tom Fulp held a contest for making a TANKMEN Theme song. TANKMEN 1.5 told everyone who had won the contest by having the winner's name in the Audio Credit area. However, the song ironically has not been used in one of the episodes yet, only some parodies.[1]
Parodies
Once the first episode was released, there was a wide spread of parodies. An example of one of the more well-received ones can be seen here. There was also a fan-made episode, Tankmen Infinity (created for Pico Day 2008), that changed the Tankmen style by actually depicting the ongoing war. Others examples are TANKMEN: Tankbusters and HALOMEN, which depicted the UNSC from Halo in the style of Tankmen.
Reception on Newgrounds
Each of the four entries in the main Tankmen series has had immediate success, with a string of awards and top scores through judgment. Together, they have over 5.7 million views on Newgrounds. All four entries have also won both the Daily Feature and Weekly Users' Choice awards, along with the original's Review Crew Pick.
Tankmen Merchandise
Tankmen Merchandise
Various T-shirts etc. were available for the Tankmen and were once a part of the Newgrounds store.