Stratagem had no reason to be that entertaining

Imo, Mordecai was clearly losing so he pissed off Viktor on purpose!

actually, it's funnier when you realize that Viktor's move actually won him the game (i dont remember who said it, but the end result was going to be Mordecai slowly losing their pieces if the game went on. that's probably why Mordecai started insulting Viktor by naming strategies because he was baffled that he lost to a guy he couldn't think was intelligent enough to beat him)

You know it's good when every line has depth and character behind it

Lackadaisy's strength, aside from its breathtaking art and animation, has always been it's dialogue for SURE

There’s also his delivery of the line “…Checkers??” along with an expression to match, and notably how his brow furrows and he glares in annoyance before saying it. And let’s not forget his brilliant remark at the end, with the two looking over to the bystander lying on the ground after being struck by the chess board, with Mordecai commenting “I wonder why the ballistic aspect of this game was never formalized”, with the two of them showing a complete of concern for the guy.

Honestly these two were way more fun to watch than I expected. Two emotional distant characters just bouncing off each other is so freaking funny to see especially when everything else about them is opposite

I love mordecai as a character he's abrasive and cares for little else than completing the task at hand but is bewildered and infuriated by situations he can't make sense of. It's difficult to tell in this short if he's deliberately trying to annoy victor or genuinely disgusted with his strategy because he never makes an effort to express his intention. He doesn't seem to care what other's feel he's just focused on making sense of what they think. I don't believe he's trying to belittle victor he won't give him the respect of personally disrespecting him nor would he even gain joy from doing that, he's just trying to make sense of an illogical move because he's annoyed by things he doesn't understand. Great pair the most disrespectful character and the most irate character. Lackadaisy could be a dedicated sitcom with just these two.

What I love about whats revealed here is how the characters are approaching chess. Mordecai sees it as a challenge in mental acuity, via a game. He wants to pick apart the strategy, see what kind of play is currently besting him (because it absolutely is). Viktor, having learned chess during the war, probably treats it *like* he’d treat anything else during the war. As a battle. And you do not tell your enemy what your strategy is, thats common sense in a war. Don’t expose weak points, don’t negotiate. Then of course, Mordecai resorts to winning via a ragequit.

"In a trench...." Is such a good line. Tells you so much about the character in one exchange.

From this interaction, we know - Mordecai and Victor used to be friends -Victor is a WW1 Veteran - Mordecai is a sore loser and an Overthinker -Mordecai is a pro in Chess -Victor is a Causal player of Chess - There's a slight chance they also set up their “argument “ to kill the Janitor with the Chess board to make it look like an accident since they are both Skilled Assasins/Hitmen

Man the indie animation scene is so good right now. Hazbin, Lackadaisy, Digital Circus and many more. Can't wait to see them all.

Cats are devious and always plotting their next move. 😼

I love black cats, chess, and sophisticated men in suits. Mordecai is a sophisticated black cat who wears a suit and is a very talented and well studied chess player. We're married now!

I always assumed it was just two best friends insulting each other

It shows that victor has more of the thinking now in the moment to survive and Mordecai think ahead, they will play well of each other.

If you read the comics, you will in fact see these two have some history together and will see their dynamic play out in a number of comics. Some of them are even voiced by their VAs on the Lackadaisy channel.

From the web comic, Viktor and Mordecai are (were) former coworkers and friends. They worked as heavies for the Lackadaisy Speakeasy, and did it very well. Mainly this is because of their different approaches. Mordecai is precise and surgical, like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon. Viktor is a hammer, and he's sent after nails. They do manage to drive each other up the wall on many occasions, leading to events like this, but notice they settle back and Mordecai makes a note of how well the board can be used as a thrown weapon in Viktor's hands. There's mutual respect and friendship between them. They just frustrate each other due to very different views on things.

I literally can't hear "Mordecai and..." and not expect the second name to be Rigby 💀

The best part of this is that victor is “winning” the game currently. by this I mean he has taken more pieces and is playing offensively, which is a big deal considering he’s playing black. 9/10 times whoever is playing white will be offense because they always move first and start the game. I’m no chess master, I actually play like victor without an opening strategy most times, but this scene was so fun to dissect!!! 😆😆

In the original comic, Mordecai and Viktor used to work together before Atlas died. So, yeah! They definitely have history 😁

A big thing I loved is how Victor threw the board and Mordecai basically compliments his action, by asking why the ballistic application of Chess hadn't ever been considered. It shows a common connection to them; a underlying point of agreement. Victor is good at violence and Mordecai respects that.

Lackadaisy is a *masterclass* in near perfectly written dialogue. Every single line manages to have a very specific purpose to serve, even the most simple ones.

I never thought that a 1 min long video of two cats playing chess could be so entertaining for me.

I was introduced to lackadaisy through the pilot, so i was very surprised to see how angry mordecai got in the comic. Im glad to see more of that here!

I was amazed with how good this short was with Mordecai and Viktor's dialogue exchange while playing chess as I find it a unique interaction between the two with the backgrounds they come from. As I always love it when writing crews for animation set up unique interactions like this for a short or a full episode.

Back in the first world war, most of the life of an average soldier consisted of months spent bored and helpless in a trench occasionally interrupted by days of wanton and abject horror. Since they often found themselves with lots of free time and in desperate need of distraction, soldiers would play games like cards, dice or chess. Viktor, see, is not an incredibly intelligent man, but he has plenty of experience with chess. As shown by how he was winning the game, despite not following any predetermined strategy that Mordecai could ever hope to find in a book. One of the things I respect most about Lackadaisy is how well studied and recreated the time period is, not for the sake of being pedantic but for the sake of being faithful. Like how this neat little fun fact is actually used as a component of a character, while also being a set up for a well written gag tastefully played for laughs.

This exchange is really heightened when you know both of their backgrounds. Viktor grew up on a farm in Austria-Hungary, and the war very well could’ve been his introduction to chess overall. While the war was terrible and Viktor has serious problems from it, there was a moment of reprieve (to him), or at least an opportunity to gain from it. Mordecai grew up impoverished in New York City, where he and his family were subject to the disgusting and unsanitary conditions of the time. His first remark “in a cave” is him trying to gain superiority over Viktor, yes, but his doubling down “in the dirt” very well could be a sign of Mordecai’s own feelings of inferiority due to his upbringing (something he tries to distance himself from). Chess, considered a game of brains, is something Mordecai wants to take pride in and revel in a strategized defeat, while Viktor isn’t really overthinking it, instead going with the most simple and straightforward approach he can muster. Excellent video, I’m so glad Tracy’s writing and pacing are being recognized by a wider audience! If you want to see more Viktor and Mordecai, her mini comics with them are pure gold, filled with the same comedic clashes seen here. Can’t wait to see more of your analysis on Lackadaisy!

Came for an analysis of dialogue, stayed for the _Walking with Dinosaurs_ music in the background. I sure hope i'm not the only person to appreciate your nod.

They do have history together. They worked as hitmen for Mitzi's husband before his death.

Keeping up with the daily uploads and I feel FRESH AS A DAISY!

I love how Mordecai lists a dozen high-level plays Viktor could be doing, then realizes who he’s playing with and goes “…checkers?”

I saw a lot of people in the comments of the short saying that Mordecai got annoyed cuz Viktor actually made a really good move that pinned him in a way he'd have a lot of trouble with but wouldn't lead to a clean victory for Viktor either, clean victories being something which Mordecai is also clearly more inclined towards.

Tracy Butler is a BEAST at dialogue in the Lackadaisy comic, it flows so naturally and authentically. Pair that with great characterization and solid research of the world of that time and you get a fantastically enriched webcomic.

WAIT. . . Wait. . . There is another lackadaisy where my popcorn i need to watch it

I think that their immediate relaxation in the chair is a sign of their friendly bickering. So like- they’re the type of dudes to be ok with it if one of them had to kill the other in a zombie apocalypse. That kind of relationship.

I'd like to imagine that the guy they knocked out was a spy or assassin from another organisation and the whole thing was improvised to get him by surprise.

Lackadaisy's dialogue has always been its strongest feature.

It is interesting how much depth an animation about two cats playing chess has.

i cant believe theres already an analysis video on this short so quickly

“I wonder why the ballistic aspect of this game was severed considered.” 🤣

The funniest thing for me is that I was watching a video about High Guardian Spice’s terrible dialogue and got the notification of this Lackadaisy short. Decided to watch it, and got blown away with the whiplash of atrocious writing vs something that has intention and thought behind it. It really added to my experience, in a way.

This short was masterful.

The poor guy hit with the board was ignored in the short to make it funny. I absolutely love how its still going on.

this animation also shows the difference between the people in charge, and the people in the trenches actually experiencing it all

They actually do know each other. Lackadaisy made some animatics featuring these two. They are called "lackadaisy massacure, valintino, quick fix."

Lackadaisy deserves the budget that Hazbin is blowing on Broadway talent

Viktor is someone you don’t want to piss off

Hell yeah!!! I love the fact that you are able to branch out! Also i know this is your style of video, but maybe longer videos? So i can play minecraft while listening lol

Indie cartoons have been cooking lately, and man is it good.

I definitely consider Lackadaisy to be (so far) the most well-written indie animation to come from KZfaq of the many shows that I've seen, and has the strongest, most cohesive identity of what it wants to be from the characters, setting, dialogue, art style, and story. As someone who has now had the privilege of being able to work along industry-leading animation directors in the film industry, and from the insights that I have gotten looking into the indie animation pipeline; There are certain practices among good animation studios that lead to more consistently quality results that indie animation groups simply cannot and have not been able to afford. And despite that Lackadaisy has achieved what I had mentioned earlier in regards to their level of quality not just among indie animation but also against some more established studios at this point. I believe it's a miracle an animation with this level of quality in all aspects including writing exists online, and I do hope that Lackadaisy continues to truly impress.

That animation made me even more hyped for Season 1 after watching it like 10 times and watching the ambience loop well on loop for an hour or two god I cannot wait for Season 1 of Lackadaisy.

I agree with you.

god i'm starting to love lackdaisy more than i ever thought i would

If you look closely at the chess board you can see, that Viktor was actually winning the game. Mordecai angering him was just a tactic to not lose

1:53 "Either they have history- " Meanwhile the events between then that took place before the comic (including a wide variety of murder) : yeah buddy they got some history together alright...

It’s nice to see a content creator giving more credit to these Independent Animated series. I think we could use more positive critiques. Everyone is so quick to tear down new ideas nowadays.

That video was so awesome! I wouldn't want to be in EITHER of those guys faces when their mad. Plus, got to hand it to Mordecai for not being fazed when Vktor threw the chess board. He just sat back all calm like "Yeah whatever."

You can tell Viktor is holding back throughout the short, it is only when he realizes Mordecai won’t back off that he throws the board to sate his anger. Which if Viktor is a war veteran it is completely understandable, he is trying to assimilate back into society. he is doing everything he can not to punch him. Throwing the board was like a coping mechanism, similar to how a child will break a toy to get out their frustrations and remain calm afterwards. it explains why he leans back in his chair and relaxes himself after doing so. As for Mordecai, he was about to lose the game because Viktor made an unexpected move. It is clear that Mordecai has an arrogant atmosphere about him and isn’t the type to swallow his pride. In order to avoid a loss to Viktor who he considers to be inferior to him, he angers Viktor to the point where he makes the game a tie by throwing the board. It explains why he quickly gets out of Viktor’s face once he has thrown the board. Both characters are really well expressed and can’t wait to see more of them in the future.

To show how brutal guy victor is if it comes to work is part of flashback in comic where victor and mordecai raid a headquarters of some gang and victor literally pushes one of enemies in the furnace and burns him alive

I absolutely adore Lackadaisy for soooooooo many reasons.

Coming from a tweet Lackadaisy reposted, watching that analysis again makes me super happy to see how mainstream Lackadaisy has come and hasn’t fallen into the fandom that TADC fell into

Mordecai and Viktor have a really good Dynamic in this Short and I love it. I honestly think that Lackadaisy would be a perfect fit for either Adult Swim,Paramount+,Max,Peacock,Netflix or Hulu.

I Loved It! It was so good to see Mordecai and Viktor interact more together! I swear they both have the dynamic of an Old Married Couple, arguing one minute and then forgetting about it the next. Definitely one of my Favorite Duos. I’m a Massive Lackadaisy Fan and It brings me so much Joy to see these Shorts roll out! I can’t wait to see more! 💛😻😻😻💛

“Victor Takes Your Bishop!” My fav quote from the short 😂

I can't wait for the show.

Stratagem really showed how Mordecai and Viktor’s somewhat partnership and although it was short we see how their dynamic sorta works! You have Mordecai who’s literally the brains of the operation and Viktor the brawn who gets ticked off as soon as Mordecai pulls out the intellectual card an someone gets put in a coma!🤣

I'm just so freaking impressed by the mouth animation here!!!! It's all incredible! I tried to do my first lip sycn animation and it was awful. Obviously these guys have so much experience, and I can't wait to improve mine!! :D

I love these short animations. They're basically never becore seen side comics, but animated. I love Tracy's characters and writing so much, and they shine so much in motion!

I love Mordecai so much. His demeanour and voice always sounds so calculated and clever! Then I remember his voice actor also voices Badcomputer in Batwheels and I remember how goofy that fella is

Best lackadaisy short and the voice acting delivery is the best

Local Enthusiast: "What could this mean!? Do they have history?! Are they making assumptions!? Does this guy have a superiority complex!?!" Me: "... They. play. chess."

I don't know which nation he fought for, but he either fought in the western front in the AEF, or the Eastern front, as a Austro Hungarian in a Slovakian unit. Now that is a DIRE state of affairs, and highlights how tough and warbitten this old cat is. Also Viktor does not overthink. Viktor does to need to second guess. Viktor does.

I'd love to see more shorts of Mordecai and Viktor when they were working together, they have such an interesting dynamic

I also like the nod of history in the "in a trench" line. In WWI, most of the time soldiers would wait until hell breaks loose, so many did in fact learn games such as chess to pass the time.

Finally a short video about this series, I've been waiting for a while, this series has great potential.

I'd like to add a few points of my own: - One of the most important things of visual storytelling, which the Lackadaisy artists absolutely nailed is that cartoon characters need to ACT IN CHARACTER at all times. From the first two lines between the two, even if you have no clue who these characters are, the most important aspects of their personalities are communicated immediately. Viktor is unmoving and to the point, relying on his strength to achieve his interests and while he doesn't explode immediately when provoked, he is very confident that his strength is a persuasive argument in most situations, even if he's not good with words. His strength mirrors his personality in that regard - unmoving and to the point. Mortdecai is scrawnier than Viktor, but not intimidated by him, as a result of both his natural superiority complex and actual experience and knowledge. The voice actors for both also do heavy lifting in communicating these traits. - The first point is essentially elaborated upon as their dialogue progresses, as Viktor insists that he's taking Mortdecai's Bishop and doesn't care about details, while Mortdecai starts obsessing over Viktor's potential strategy. Mortdecai getting seriously worked up while naming potential strategies shows not only that he does indeed have the intellect and experience to justify some of his arrogance, but that he also legitimately doesn't understand people who are more simple-minded. He's not just arrogant, he is legitimately disconnected from people far below his intellect. Mortdecai only realizes this at the end of his rant when he asks if his strategy is "...Checkers?" - We then see what happens when Viktor runs out of patience, as he repeats himself, but now clearly aggressively. - Mortdecai, unimpressed, as stated above, takes to personally insulting Viktor, implying that he is stupid and knows nothing, to which Viktor responds by bringing up where he actually learned to play Checkers - in a trench. As in, on the battlefield during WWI. This further shows why Viktor doesn't even bother trying to understand Mortdecai's analysis, as he's certain that he has a lot more experience with the worst hardships than his opponent. - Mortdecai's intellectual nature is then shown, when he matter-of-factly spins Viktor's answer into a confirmation of his accusatory insult, that he learned to play in the dirt. Responding like so to a war veteran again shows that he is unimpressed, and also lacking empathy. - Viktor then finally loses it, and throws the board away, but calms down afterwards. This and Mortdecai's comment imply a bit of the goings-on beyond this coffee shop. We've learned that these two are clearly not friends and most likely not around each other much. Mortdecai not being upset with Viktor upending the game and instead having the last word with sarcastic comments, (the "Viktor Offensive" also being his way of asserting his superiority by essentially answering his own question) also shows that these two most likely didn't meet for a game of Checkers and that it more likely was their attempt at butting heads without some major disturbance of the peace. Ironically, Viktor hitting someone with the board ends up doing that. Viktor's way of throwing the board also displays something that I've noticed with Lackadaisy, which is that they have a great way of including typical cartoon slapstick humor in a more grounded story, even though it follows a much more cohesive logic than most slapstick cartoons.

Mordacai is really risking his nine lives pissing off Viktor 😂

This was a great animation. Also, there’s a comment on the video itself that gives us some more insight. The commenter (can’t remember their name), says that Mordecai was going to lose. He can take Viktor’s knight, but it leaves him open from then on to constant mate and eventual checkmate. If the person is right, we can also tell that Mordecai is a poor loser. He decided, instead of accepting the loss, to antagonize Viktor, as you said, into forfeiting the game.

Mordecai grew up in a bug and rat infested apartment and worked for the local Mafia at a young age after his dad died. He even acted superior to his sister, who wasn't as refined as him and would mess with him using insects, which freaked him out.

The fact that this video is longer than the short itself really says something to how great the Lackadaisy team is at… well everything really.

As a chess player I was laughing when Mordecai was saying openings/gambits that don't even exist

Victor: "Dude, it's just a game..." Mordechai: "It's my life!" Victor: "Okaayy..."

I'd also like to point out how their playstyles go hand in hand with their experience. Mordecai is prepped for long-winded games, that could possibly last more than a day, mirroring how as an assassin he has the liberty to carefully plan out and snatch his targets with prep time. Viktor, simply goes for the first move he sees as possible. Being in a trench, you can't exactly have much strategy beyond "see, aim, fire" lest you die for overthinking it to long.

FOR SECOND I THOUGHT MARKIPLIER REACTED TO THIS

Also great expression of the era, where there was a lot of heat between traumatized veterens who came back from WW1 and nobles who think themselves tall... who has more authority? Those who own much of the country or those who fought and died for it

also makes sense because sometimes strategy is thrown to the wind in the hardships of war, an unpredictable opponent is the most dangerous

You can see on the board, that Mordecai is locked and has no way of winning, draw at best. So there is a possibility, that he pissed Victor so that he would "forfeit" in such manner.

!Spoiler Alert if you haven’t read the comic! These two do indeed have history as the worked together at one point.

Is that the Cruel Sea Theme from Walking with Dinosaurs in the background? If that's the case, excellent music choice.

I see that you utilized the Rithm of Al Gor to reach my view. Brilliant play!!

Viktor Takes Bishop

I need more

shows how cooked it is

I honestly wonder what Viktor went through in WW1 and presumably the Russian Civil war.

Whenever I see videos like these, I’m kinda taken back how people praise this kind of dialogue and the scene itself when I just see it as a regular scene or like when they dissect the scene it just comes across to me as common sense or like I got all of that and took it as normal information. I’m not down playing this video and I do agree with what ur saying, but I guess my point is that to some people they would be like “oh I don’t think of it that way” or “oh I missed that part” where in my POV I got all of that information right away and I guess it was “perfect”.

Potente❤

Their is some lore on striker that says he was a ww1 veteran and got his missing right eye from a “strikers rally”

Viktor and Mordecai do have a past together. In the comic, it has shown us that when Atlas was alive Viktor and Mordecai were helping him with his work. I don't really remember much but that is what I know, I think.

Imagine cats fighting in world war 1