TV Show Sprites?

[Zerukin]

So I don't know if this has been brought up before, but after watching an episode of The Ghost and Molly McGee in which the cast play a video game, a majority of the episode was done in pixel graphic with the characters essentially getting sprites. I'm sure making spritesheets for a tv show would be more complicated since you can't just rip them out like you would a video game, but I know there are other shows that also end up utilizing sprite graphics in one episode (Such as in Guardians of the Galaxy when the Guardians get sent to various universes, Gamora and Starlord end up in a pixel universe).

What are the chances of Spriter's resource having sprites pulled from TV shows? Also, since we are on this subject, any other shows that have utilized sprites in an episode or two? I can list them off along with the episode which uses them.

Shows with sprite episodes

The Ghost and Molly McGee - Game On
Guardians of the Galaxy - Black Vortex
Spongebob Squarepants - Atlantis Squarepantis

[Yawackhary]

Ripping "sprites" from a TV show/film/cartoon/anime in short cannot be done because of the nature of video. Most forms of video have a form of lossy compression and sprites in most cases will get rejected for being a jpg due to lossy compression (unless explained to the staff that it was the source file in a game, very rare but does happen). Then you would have to work out, what is the source resolution for the sprites? Was the film done in 2K/4K or higher, was the cartoon/anime done in SD/720p/900p or even 1080p, is the source an upscale or even was the show/film done at multiple resolutions? Then there's the interlacing, blurring, frame ghosting or effects on top...

Even if you managed to get a clear screenshot at the right resolution (again very hard to tell unless you worked on the project) saved as a png, there will still be some artifacts that might not be intended to be there and won't get accepted. That would also apply to packaging, there are RPG styled sprites of various characters on the spine/back covers of the Isekai Quartet Blu-rays but because there's no original source, again cannot be accepted as it is.

(As a note, tSR only accepts rips directly from a game so no show/film/packaging or website sprites are allowed)

Meaning unless the original creator of the sprites comes forward and uploads the sprites online as a png (or any lossless format), it would have to be recreated as a custom. Basically it means more or less redoing the thing from scratch using the sprites as a reference. There is already an example I believe in the Sonic custom section from one of the live action Sonic movies. Same thing for packaging where people did customs of box art from various NES games where Nintendo adopted pixel art.

There is actually an example on tSR of a similar yet different thing. The original Tokyo Toy Show version of Sonic. Since the build is lost to time only existing in photos from old magazines and a video, people have managed to recreate the sprites using magazine and video references. The source quality is also poorer compared to today (VHS tape, photos that were likely taken from a camera directly from the TV, old scans or the magazines deteriorating over time) meaning that a lot of research and mostly guesswork is done so they can be as close as they can. There are also many attempts at this. Something similar would have to be done...

I think even if you managed to somehow do a custom and good enough to meet the standards of the site, there would have to be some sort of connection, preferably a gaming one. The first example doesn't have an existing game and here probably wouldn't be the right place but the others do have games and SpongeBob is at least popular enough for someone to give Atlantis Squarepantis a try if they feel inspired. The Guardians of the Galaxy sprites would end up being a good fit as superhero sprites tend to be fairly popular. (Even using the Isekai Quartet example from earlier, it probably would get rejected because there is no existing game however... Isekai Quartet is also a crossover meaning that four of the series KonoSuba, Re:Zero, Overlord and Rising of the Shield Hero can get accepted because they have existing games, the latter even has an official RPG Maker game)