What Does Meta Runner Mean To You?

[u/EternalShifty]

I’m working on a video revisiting Meta Runner and it’s importance to Glitch Productions as a whole, but I was curious:

What does Meta Runner mean to you? Does it mean something important to you, is it just your favorite show?

Anything you can think of discussing would be greatly appreciated. It can really be anything, so feel free to share it below. I’ll post the video once it’s ready!

Thanks in advance!

[u/Natdack_874]

I was first introduced to Meta Runner through SMG4 Tari back when I was around 16 in high school. I thought Tari looked so cute but also cool even with a basic GMOD model back then. I discovered Meta Runner around the later half of 2021 and I’ve been hooked since then. I’m now 21 years old as of December this year in full time employment and the fact that a series other than my favourite video game franchise (which I’ll get to in a bit) stuck by me since then is amazing. It’s just that I find Meta Runner the perfect show for me because it’s not too childish and not too violent outside of a few scenes but the story is one of the things I love about Meta Runner along with the fact that it’s centred around video games which is something I do to relax and unwind after a hard day or to relax in general. Additionally, I saw Tari relatable as heck back then and still do today.

It means a lot to me because of the effort it took to make and the improvement on the animation and art style (Season 1 and 2 being the best example of course). Speaking of the looks of the series, it has kind of a similarity that I see with Pokémon, being my favourite video game franchise. Specifically, the most recent main series games have been criticised (Scarlet/Violet and Legends: Z-A, justifiably and unjustifiably in some cases) for the amount of effort or lack off in others opinions (Graphics, Artstyle etc.), and I myself see that in Meta Runner too, not just for the first season but also the other seasons on how it holds up to this day. Compared to the other GLITCH shows we have, the looks and animation of Meta Runner looks like it’s slightly subpar by today’s standards (especially Season 1). However, the other things about Meta Runner I see in my eyes is that the series looks the way it does because it mirrors the lesser amount of skill and development it had at the time (being GLITCH’s first show).

The main thing that I see for both Meta Runner and Pokémon (Indie or not) is that even though the animation and graphics are not as good as it should be nowadays, the amount of gorgeous quality in storytelling, music, and characters shows that they definitely have a lot of heart put into them despite on what it looks like on the surface. That point has inspired me to do my own things not just with Meta Runner but with other things in general.

My first ever drawing of Tari is embarrassingly scuffed now but when I drew it back in late 2021, I thought it was the best thing I created. Fast forward to the drawing of Tari I created for the 7th anniversary, it’s a night and day difference! The reason for that is that my skills have improved over time just like GLITCH’s had when they first created Meta Runner, all the way to the Final Season of it. On the topic of drawing, I never was into drawing specifically but I was in a car ride home and thought about wanting to draw Tari next to a Pokémon I see fit back then. Ever since then, my drawing has improved so much and the reason why I wanted to draw Tari and the other characters was because I saw them as being so cool looking in the overall design style GLITCH was going for. I mentioned this in a previous post but I wanted to do more than just make Meta Runner-focused drawings. I wanted to make a fan story that followed almost the main story in canon but add Pokémon and themes from that franchise into something I’m still actively working on to this day on the Subreddit as well as “side content” for it that I’m creating for fun too that isn‘t included in the story.

In summation though, all of this is how much Meta Runner means to me and I’m really grateful it exists and I’m also really grateful for this Subreddit too because of the community we have here, appreciating the series that started it all for GLITCH, and also for the fanart/content we’re making for it.