Potter Puppet Pals

Harry, Ron, Dumbledore, and Hermione as Potter Puppet Pals.

The Potter Puppet Pals, or Harry Potter Puppet Pals as it is fully named, is a series of videos released on the Internet. These videos are directed by Neil Cicierega.

The series first started off with the flash episodes entitled Bothering Snape and Trouble at Hogwarts. The series then became a live-action puppet show, debuting with Potter Puppet Pals in Potions Class and then proceeded to the following episode entitled Potter Puppet Pals in the Mysterious Ticking Noise and then Wizard Angst. From there the Potter Puppet Pals have taken off to numerous videos in both real and animation forms. They have done videos for several songs, including Bananaphone, Rockstar, Moskau, and so on. The PPP's latest videos include School is for Losers, Wizard Swears, The Vortex, and Snape's Diary.

The Potter Puppet Pals fame has led to a website personalized just for them. It has been created by Neil Cicierega himself.

In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry says "I love magic" when he sees the inside of the tent at the Quidditch World Cup. This might be a reference to Potter Puppet Pals, as Harry says the same thing at the beginning of Trouble at Hogwarts.

Characters

• Harry a far cry from his book persona. The puppet Harry is highly arrogant and frequently flaunts his superiority over the others. In The Vortex, he claims that "no one can have more testosterone than me!"
• Hermione is much like her book self, but doesn't act as smart as she does in the books. She also is less strict about breaking the rules (an example is Wizard Swears) as she is when she became a prefect.
• Ron is much weaker than he is portrayed in the books, and acts more of a friend to Harry than in the books. In Wizard Angst, he tried to hug Harry, which he never does in the books.
• Dumbledore seems to be slightly insane, senile, and frequently strips naked except for his hat during most episodes. He also has knowledge of a forty-four-second-long swear that he teaches to Harry, Ron and Hermione. He also says "Alas" a lot. It is revealed that he is actually a gay android.
• Snape, who has appeared in every episode but one, seems to be slightly disturbed, as in one episode he had a dream in which he was "a beautiful milkmaid". Despite this, he is the least changed from the book series.

Severus Snape's puppet

• Neville doesn't have a puppet, instead being portrayed as a butternut squash with his face on it. Harry, Ron, and Hermione bully him, like in wizard swears when they swear at him.

Neville Longbottom

• Lord Voldemort is nowhere near as threatening as he is in the books, and is frequently polite to the protagonists or does not recognize them whatsoever.
• Hagrid is the most recent addition to the cast, appearing in Ron's Disease. Although he lives in a hut on the grounds and has a knowledge of magical creatures, as in the books, he's portrayed as a filthy, slow-witted hulk of a man who's prone to hitting people. Also, it appears that Harry, Ron, and Hermione do not know him.

Episodes

Flash animations:

• Bothering Snape: Harry and Ron set out to bother Snape. He kills them with the curse. Not realising that Snape has killed Harry and Ron, Dumbledore steals from them thinking that they are taking an afternoon nap. Snape quickly disappears. The animation finishes with Dumbledore dancing naked.
• Trouble at Hogwarts: The animation opens with Dumbledore warning the three friends that Voldemort is coming. Professor Snape tries to protect them but Voldemort kills him. Ron comes up with a plan. They shoot Voldemort with guns. Hogwarts is safe once more.

Youtube episodes:

• Potions Class: The three young Gryffindors turn up at Potions class only to have class dismissed without really learning anything.
• Wizard Angst: Harry takes out his cranky mood on his friends with slightly disastrous results.
• (The) Mysterious Ticking Noise: Harry, Ron, Hermione, Snape, and Dumbledore use a strange ticking sound as musical number song. The ticking sound turns out to be coming from a pipebomb, as Ron discovers, killing all of them. Voldemort then comes out singing: "Voldemort, Voldemort, ooh Volde- Volde- Volde- Voldemort!"
• Wizard Swears: Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn vulgar swear words that are banned from Hogwarts, and get in trouble for it.
• School is for Losers: Snape catches Harry singing and is about to punish him for being absent from Potions class when Harry punches him. Harry then proceeds to play a saxophone with with a backdrop that has the words Harry Potter is awesome.
• Awakening of the Incorrigible: Actually nothing. Dumbledore jumps up once. The End.
• The Vortex: Ron gets trapped in an alternate dimension, and comes back as a young adult, likely to be in his twenties, until Harry shinks his back and sings a musical number about his self-fish puppet self.
• Ron's Disease: Ron gets Wizard Lice and goes to Hagrid for advice. First appearance of puppet Hagrid. Also, Dumbledore is revealed to be a 'gay android'.
• Snape's Diary: Harry, Ron and Hemione read Snape's Diary (which bears many depressing entries) Ron is made to sit in the corner when he asks if the book is a "teen vampire romance novel".

Live Performances:

• Yule Ball: This is a two part adventure featuring all of your favorite characters.

Easter egg

If you pause the video of "Trouble at Hogwarts" whilst Voldemort is cursing Snape, an inverted, green five-pointed star appears in one frame (the spell energy flickering across Snape's face). Clicking on the star opens a bonus video featuring Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. The Easter egg is called "Follow the Butterflies", and features Ron singing while surrounded by butterflies until Hermione shows up and casts "Ronicus Explodicus", causing Ron`s head to blow off.

Songs

• ``Avada Kedavra´´ preformed by Lord Voldemort.
• ``The spell of Love´´ preformed by Albus Dombuldore.
• ``Like Snape´´ preformed by Severus Snape.

Spells

• Pantiloonious Poopacis (Wizard Angst): Causes Snape to create his 'Greatest Potion' (he defecates in his pants).
• Ronicis Explodicis (Trouble at Hogwarts easter egg): Causes Ron's head to explode off his body.
• Petuitarius shrinkidinkicis: (The Vortex): Causes Ron's petuitary gland to shrink thus, backtracking his development and rewinding his going through puberty, turning ron into his original character.

Awards

"The Mysterious Ticking Noise" won the YouTube Comedy Award in 2007.

Notes

• Modified portions of "Hedwig's Theme" are played at the beginnings of most Potter Puppet Pals videos.
• An indirect reference to Twilight is made in "Snape's Diary" when Ron asks about Snape's diary, "Is it a young adult vampire romance novel?"

External links

• Potter Puppet Pals website
• http://www.potterpuppetpals.com/songs.htm Potter Puppet Pals song website