''The Guild'' is an American
comedy web series created and written by
Felicia Day, who also stars as Cyd Sherman (aka Codex). It premiered on
YouTube on July 27, 2007. Subsequent
webisodes premiered on Microsoft's
Xbox Live Marketplace,
Zune Marketplace, and
MSN Video. The webisodes were later made available on the official ''Guild'' website, YouTube, and
iTunes. The webisodes are also available via DVD or can be watched instantly on Netflix and Hulu.
The show revolves around the lives of an online guild, The Knights of Good, who play countless hours of an MMORPG video game, aptly named "The Game". The story focuses on Codex, the guild's Priestess, who attempts to lead a normal life after one of her guild-mates, Warlock Zaboo (Sandeep Parikh), shows up on her doorstep.
Joss Whedon credits ''The Guild'' as one of the inspirations for ''Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog'', which also starred Felicia Day.
The series has been renewed for a fifth season and will continue to premiere through Microsoft's services.
History
''The Guild'' was inspired and written by Felicia Day, an avid
gamer, in between acting roles in several American television shows and movies. After two years of
video game addiction, Day decided to make something productive from her experiences and wrote the series as a
sitcom television pilot. The series was purposely kept generic to avoid copyright problems and to appeal to a wider audience of massively multiplayer online role-playing game (
MMORPG) fans. Day also hoped to show that the stereotypical man living in his parents' basement is not the only kind of gamer. Believing the niche setting wouldn't appeal to television marketers, she decided to produce the series online with Jane Selle Morgan and Kim Evey. Day already knew Sandeep Parikh and Jeff Lewis from
Empty Stage, a Los Angeles-based comedy theatre, and their roles were written for them. The rest of the cast was filled through
auditions. After filming the first three episodes in two and a half days, they ran out of money. After donations were invited through
PayPal, the fourth and fifth episodes were almost solely financed by donations.
Format
Each episode opens with Codex (
Felicia Day) recapping the previous events in the story in the form of a
video blog. Usually it gives the audience a recap of the previous episode and shares Codex's feelings on the subject. The video blogs appear to be outside the timeline, as she is usually wearing an outfit (typically her pajamas) different from that in the episode itself, though some blogs take place in time line with other character or situations interrupting Codex.
Plot
Season 1 (2007–2008)
Cyd Sherman struggles to limit her time online, where she games as her alter ego Codex, a member of the
Knights of Good. After the guild realize that Zaboo has been offline for 39 hours, he appears on Codex's door step. Zaboo misunderstood Codex's in-game chats as
flirting, and became a stalker living in the same apartment.
On the in-game side, trouble also arises when Bladezz is banned from the game for using a macro (to spam expletives "a few thousand times") in the trade house. Codex uses this as an excuse to have the guild help her with her Zaboo problem. The guild (sans Bladezz) reluctantly meets up in person — for the first time — at Cheesybeards, a local restaurant, only to find out that Vork had transferred all of their in-game valuables to Bladezz's account as part of a team building strategy. If they decided to kick out Bladezz, they would lose everything.
Things get worse when Bladezz begins to slander the Knights of Good by showing inappropriate videos of the members' characters, and Codex is no closer to getting Zaboo to go home. Then, Zaboo's home comes to him in the form of his overbearing mother. Zaboo confesses that his mother controls every aspect of his life besides the Internet, which she is beginning to read about. He saw this as his only escape.
Codex comes up with a plan to bring Bladezz down, using Zaboo's stalking skills. Zaboo finds out about Bladezz's modeling career and blackmails him into giving the gold and equipment back to the Guild. The Guild then fights off Zaboo's mom, and Bladezz redeems himself by landing the final blow. Codex soon realizes that she got Zaboo's mother's loot... Zaboo!
Season 2 (2008–2009)
Zaboo's mother takes revenge for losing Zaboo, by having Codex evicted. Codex and Zaboo move into a new apartment, where Codex meets a new love interest: Wade (
Fernando Chien), a
stunt man. Codex tries to get Zaboo to move out by telling him that he needs to level up before they can be together. She arranges for him to live with Vork, who will take in-game gold as rent, something Zaboo is really good at:
farming. Codex focuses on trying to get Wade interested in her.
The Guild finds an orb that adds a side quest as well as makes a character's appearance editable. Clara and Tink fight over which one should get it, but just as Vork lets it go up for bid, Clara's children unplug her computer and Tink wins it. Clara vows revenge on Vork for giving it to Tink, and spends an entire weekend betraying Vork by corpse camping him on an alternate account as well as searching for her own orb.
Bladezz believes Tink is romantically interested in him and begins to max out his mother's credit cards to buy her stuff, while Tink uses him to get what she wants. Vork is annoyed with Zaboo's lack of logic and his antics in trying to 'man-up' for Codex. Codex finds out that the stunt-man has a "stupid tall hot girlfriend," Riley.
The Game announces that the online play will be shut down for maintenance for 4 hours, during which Vork plans a strategy lecture for Zaboo and Bladezz, while Codex plans a quiet party with Clara and Tink. Bladezz coerces Vork to abandon the lecture in favor of a poker game (offline), hoping to make up some of what he spent on Tink. Clara advertises Codex's party and it becomes a crowded kegger.
Among Clara's random invitees, Wade and Riley (Michele Boyd) come to the party. After finding out that Riley is Wade's roommate and Wade is single, Tink and Clara try to hook Codex up with him. Zaboo, learning of this, persuades Vork and Bladezz to go to Codex's party to try to stop it. Vork discovers that Clara has been attacking him, and begins to question his quality of leadership. Bladezz confronts Tink about their relationship; upon learning that he has been used, Bladezz steals Tink's laptop and deletes her character. Meanwhile, Zaboo walks in on Wade and Codex kissing and challenges Wade to a fight. Wade is a much better fighter, but Zaboo's seriousness about Codex leads to Wade giving up his interest in her. Codex yells at Zaboo that she doesn't like him, and he leaves dejected. Then Codex sees a drunken Clara kissing with Wade, and decides to chase after Zaboo to apologize, but is hurt when she sees him making out with Riley.
Season 3 (2009)
Codex was able to recover from the disastrous party by the announcement of the new
expansion pack for the game, ''Spires of Dragonor''. The Knights of Good are first in line at
GameStop until a rival guild, the
Axis of Anarchy, cuts in front of them. After the Axis tricks a GameStop worker into sending the Knights to the back of line, Vork, still not over the events of the party, resigns as Guild Leader. Codex is elected as his successor, causing Tink to leave the Knights and join the Axis.
Most of the Knights are too busy with life to explore the expansion pack. Vork goes on a self discovery journey, Zaboo is preoccupied by his domineering girlfriend, Riley, Clara's husband finds photos of her kissing Wade, and Bladezz's sister keeps bothering him. The expansion also requires at least six members in a party, and without Tink they have only five.
Clara's husband demands that she spend more time with him, so Clara proposes that her husband take Tink's place, after auditions for a sixth member fail. Riley offers to join, but Codex chooses Clara's husband instead, adding "Mr Wiggly" to the guild. Riley then forces Zaboo to choose between her and the game. Bladezz begins to be targeted by Tink and the Axis of Anarchy, who expose his modeling alias to his school and plant weapons in his locker; later, a member of the Anarchists seduces his mom. Codex issues a message on the game's public forum to stand up against the Axis for the behavior, and in retaliation the Axis puts a bounty on the Guild. Mr. Wiggly unknowingly gives away information about the Guild to other gamers in exchange for loot, which leads to his expulsion from the Guild; with this he tells Clara to quit the game, which she does to save her marriage.
To end the Axis's harassment of Bladezz, Codex and Zaboo track down the Anarchist Valkyrie at his job, where is he playing the game on company time. After they take away some of his character's possessions and threaten to expose him, Valkyrie tells them where and when the next Axis of Anarchy meeting will take place. Vork returns after regaining his confidence to lead and, with Codex, reassembles the Guild to challenge the Axis at the Internet café where they planned to have a group raid. The battle begins, but both sides lose members quickly. Some of the Knights die in-game when their real life problems manifest: Clara's husband shows up, angry that she is playing the game; Riley destroys Zaboo's computer because he forgot to give her a massage. Clara tells her husband that they are going to have another child and he forgets about their argument. Zaboo breaks up with Riley, who then proceeds to make out with Venom.
Finally, only Codex is left to face off Tink and Axis leader Fawkes (Wil Wheaton). After Codex makes Bladezz apologize to Tink, Tink decides that the Axis members are even bigger jerks than she can stand and lets Codex kill her in-game. Codex, in a hallucinatory conversation with her game character, musters the courage to defeat Fawkes. The Knights welcome Tink back into the guild, and Bladezz makes tentative peace with the Axis member who seduced his mother. Fawkes invites Codex for drinks; she initially refuses but, in a twist ending, wakes up in bed with him the next morning.
Season 4 (2010)
After unexpectedly meeting Fawkes for a post-match drink (and sleeping with him), Codex begins Season Four contemplating whether or not she should tell the Guild about what happened. Meanwhile, Vork makes the decision that the Knights of Good should obtain their own Guild Hall, a newly-implemented (and costly) feature that came with the expansion released at the start of Season Three. Initially, the fact that the type of Hall they want - called the "Deluxe Castle" - would require them to raise half a million gold puts the Guild off the idea but, when Codex offhandedly mentions that their rivals, the Axis of Anarchy, are planning to get their own, the Guild's collective opinion quickly swings in favour of the venture.
Tinkerballa's comment that Fawkes has been making "lewd" comments about Codex provides her the window in the conversation she needs to tell the Guild about her date and the relationship she believes will follow. The response is general shock and anger (including a fainting spell from Zaboo) and before she is able to "defend" her actions, Codex's computer catastrophically overheats, rendering it useless. After sending text messages to the rest of the Guild informing them of her situation ( ''Help! Computer broken! :('' ), Bladezz is the first Guildie to respond, bringing over some spare computer parts with which to bootstrap Codex's computer into working order again - a measure which turns out to be short-lived.
While waiting for Bladezz to arrive, Codex calls Fawkes, during which he sets up a meeting in order to retrieve his jacket. However, to Codex's dismay, Fawkes simply sends fellow Axis member Venom to collect it on his behalf. When she manages to log back on after Bladezz places the spare parts (stolen from a computer from the public library), she finds Vork debating with the rest of the guild about the aesthetic style of Guild Hall. The team is heavily divided over the issue, and quickly knock down Codex' idea that they compromise on the design. Vork declares (against Codex' advice) an earnings competition: whoever earns the largest share of the 500,000 Gold needed to build the Guild Hall will be awarded design rights. Realizing that they have virtually the same vision for the Guild Hall ("a bitchin' fairy palace!") Tink and Clara join forces and are soon earning Gold at a breakneck pace. This greatly distresses Vork.
Through a discussion with Tink and Clara, Zaboo concludes that the only way he can be close to Codex now is to try to become her "best friend" instead of her love interest. He dives into this new pursuit with his usual smothering intensity, refusing to work on the Guild Hall earnings while he studies up on how to accomplish his goal. During this time he is plagued by several unwanted calls from his mother. Codex's computer breaks down again so Zaboo goes to her house to help fix it and, in a show of support of her new relationship, presents Codex with an elaborate romantic painting of her and Fawkes. His mother calls again, and Codex, truly thinking of Fawkes, convinces him to give her "another chance."
Codex calls Fawkes and is horrified to find out that he has no intention of continuing to date her. Worried about what the Guild might think of her one-night-stand, Codex convinces him to meet her at Cheesybeards, where she at first begs him to date her after he explains he is an epicurean and then tries to convince him to "cover for her" by pretending they are in a relationship. Fawkes only agrees once Bladezz visits the table and reveals that this "relationship" is already causing problems among the Knights of Good—a trend he is eager to continue. After Fawkes leaves, Codex vents her frustrations on Bladezz through the topic of her broken computer. He brings her to his boss, Ollie, in hopes of getting her a job at Cheesybeards so she can afford to pay for repairs, but Ollie cannot afford to hire her as business at Cheesybeards has been declining. Codex spots a computer on his desk and eventually manages to angle her way into the newly invented position of Cheesybeards' social marketer, but Bladezz, who would rather have the fun, computer-based job (and give Codex kitchen duty) sees this as betrayal and gets revenge on Codex by making her first few days as difficult as possible.
Upon hearing that Codex has a real-life job, Clara is no longer satisfied with farming and wants to start a real-world business of her own. She recruits Tink and Mr. Wiggly to help her do this. Meanwhile, Vork and Zaboo are greeted by an unexpected visitor: Zaboo's Mother, Avinashi. Since Zaboo, responding to Codex' advice, sent his mother a text message wishing her a "Happy Birthday," she took it as a sign of his welcoming her back into his life and wants to take him out to dinner. Zaboo reluctantly agrees to go with her on the condition that he will be able to invite Vork and Codex to go with him. Codex tries to get out of it by pretending she has a date, but Zaboo deflects this by suggesting she bring Fawkes with her, and promptly texts directions to the restaurant to his cell phone. Codex is surprised when Fawkes actually meets them at the restaurant and manages to do a decent job passing himself off as her significant other, but his provocative behavior towards the other Guild members later leads her to drag him aside and tell him that she wants to end their (fake) relationship. Fawkes responds by kissing her, claiming it is a reminder of what Codex is "passing up" by not dating him.
To combat Bladezz harassing her at work, Codex has agreed to cast him in the Cheesybeards online commercial, and spends most of her time working on the project with him. Tink and Clara have made a line of T-shirts for pregnant gamers and are trying to shop them to local stores without much success. Vork, in dealing with Zaboo's mother, shifts constantly between admiring her economic mind (which has given him a distinct edge in the earnings competition) and despising her wholeheartedly as she continues to invade his personal space. As the Guild is online together, Tink receives a cellphone picture (from Venom) of Fawkes on a date with a "furrie." The photo was taken the previous night, so Tink knows that Codex has been lying about being in a relationship with him, and confronts her over the channel. Codex caves, and admits everything before logging off. Zaboo goes to comfort her but surprises her at the last minute by bringing Fawkes along "to reconcile." Both are quickly ejected from the room by Codex, who admonishes Zaboo for having gone "overboard" again in his attempts to win her over.
Codex goes to work where she stays up all night making the Cheesybeards commercial with Bladezz, who takes it home and edits it some more before posting it online. The result is so horrible that it spawns a series of prank calls to the establishment and is reposted several times under the title "Local Commercial Fail" before Codex even gets to see the finished product. Ollie is furious and threatens to fire Codex, who begs for just "one more chance" to succeed at her job—which Ollie reluctantly grants. Codex fires up her broken computer and attempts to reach out to the Guild for comfort. Clara comes up with an idea to help Codex with her work, and she, Zaboo, and Tink, with some of Bladezz' help, organize the "Festival of the Sea" celebration at Cheesybeards. The event attracts a large population of gamers to eat at the restaurant and gives Tink and Clara a place to sell shirts, while ultimately salvaging Codex' job.
Several important things take place at the festival. First, the tables turn when Fawkes corners Codex in private and asks her to date him again, saying that dating her was "interesting." When he is dismissive to the waitress, Jeanette, she reveals in a rage that he also slept with her recently, and beats him up for treating her "like hired help." Codex resolves to have better taste in men. At his wits end with Avinashi's smothering tendencies, Vork consults Zaboo in the restroom for advice on how best to repel her. Zaboo, remembering Codex' words, advises him to simply "go overboard" and "make a giant gesture that's really inappropriate" in order to drive his mother away. Vork's interpretation of this leads him to storm out of the restroom and offer a marriage proposal to Avinashi before Zaboo has any idea what is going on, and to their horror—she accepts. Afterwards, Bladezz attempts to perform a magic trick involving fire, which ends up torching the restaurant (costing Codex and Bladezz their jobs).
Zaboo seeks refuge at Codex's apartment and begs her to intercede in the upcoming nuptials between his mother and Vork. As Codex attempts to reason with Vork, Zaboo reveals he has used the money from an auctioned painting of Codex and Fawkes to buy her a new computer. Touched by the gesture, Codex resolves to break up the wedding in the name of truth and friendship. Her efforts do not succeed until Avinashi and Vork are about to speak their vows to each other, at a virtual wedding ceremony in the newly purchased Knights of Good Guildhall. Codex manages to convince Zaboo's mother that it is wrong to marry Vork just so she can be near a son who finds her over-bearing. Zaboo helps by suggesting that she visit every few weeks when she gets lonely, causing Codex to realize that he possesses all the qualities on her litmus test, and consider a relationship with him.
The season wraps up with an official gamemaster crashing the ceremony to put an end to Vork's Trogothian Stock Market. Codex convinces the GM, Kevinator, to change the design of the guildhouse to the one Tink and Clara wanted. Kevinator is impressed to meet Bladezz, who has become an internet celebrity, and invites the whole guild to a gaming convention.
Season 5 (2011)
The guild travels together to Megagame-O-Ramacon in, as Codex calls it, "Vork's creepy van". When Tink sees a notebook in which Codex reveals her feelings for Zaboo, she tries to convince Codex not to pursue her feelings. When Clara's husband discovers she's left for the convention she tries to soothe him. Bladezz is counting on Kevinator, The Game's
game master, to hook the guild up for the convention, despite Vork's resentment that the game master ended his scheme to build his guildhouse.
When the guild arrives to the convention, Vork crashes his van into several tables and chairs, causing several innocent bystanders to scatter. A convention greeter, named Rachel, meets the guild and Bladezz asks for his VIP package promised by Kevinator. Rachel gives the guild their convention passes but reveals that rooms are not included. When other convention attendees recognize Bladezz from the Cheesybeards videos, Rachel gives the guild a single hotel room that was reserved for an attendee that canceled at the last minute.
The next morning, Vork wakes the rest of the guild up with his megaphone. In the bathroom, Codex reveals to Clara that she wants to tell Zaboo she likes him; Clara thinks it's a great idea, only for the drama it would inevitably cause. Bladezz, who was eavesdropping from the shower, says that Zaboo will also be interested in Codex again, since Codex is a girl. Vork gets "breakfast", which consists of the leftovers from other guests' room service trays; he announces that, due to their lack of funds, they must adopt an "emergency CDS strategy", which stands for "conserve-divide-scavenge." Codex flirts with Zaboo, laughing at his jokes and flipping her hair at him, but he's completely clueless to her attempts. Clara suggests that they eat what's in the "kitchenette", despite Codex's warning that eating from the minibar goes on their room tab. Bladezz tries to calm everyone by reminding them that when he meets with Kevinator, everything will get sorted out. Zaboo is excited by the abundance of convention events, and Clara's determined to have "as much fun as warning labels will allow" before she leaves for the convention center. Tink exits the bathroom dressed in the costume of an unnamed anime schoolgirl because she doesn't want to be recognized. She is wanting to sell the T-shirts she and Clara made at the convention. When Clara puts off selling them, Tink storms out in a huff. Zaboo, angry that Vork and Clara don't want to go to the "Star Wars in macramé" demonstration then leaves, followed by Bladezz, who was counting on the others to be his entourage. Clara goes to find an artist to give her a tattoo of a "Claracorn", her head on the body of a unicorn. Vork also departs, leaving Codex alone in the hotel room.
Codex enters the convention and is immediately overwhelmed by the amount of people. Vork, who has acquired bags full of complimentary items, is trying, unsuccessfully, to con more items out of a convention worker. Codex finds him and asks him to accompany her to The Game's booth. After stealing Codex's complimentary hat from the convention worker, he agrees. On the way there, Codex discusses her attraction to Zaboo with Vork, and Vork warns her against succumbing to what he considers to be simply biology. They spot Zaboo, wearing macramé Yoda ears, at the MMO Workout, which helps Vork make his point. Bladezz arrives at The Game's booth only to discover that Kevinator was fired shortly before the convention, and that Bladezz is just one of his many "joke invites" - an effort by Kevinator to cheer up the boss by inviting internet memes. Tink is attempting to sell t-shirts and is approached by Rachel, who informs her that without a permit and a booth, Tink is not allowed to sell things. She orders Tink to pack up and leave, with the assistance of a couple of Stormtroopers. Codex and Vork bump into Bladezz attempting to give out autographs. Codex spots a free play spot at The Game's booth, and goes to play. Bladezz tells Vork that without Kevinator, he can't pay for the hotel room, as he promised to do. Vork, remembering things Zaboo's mom taught him, has a "dozen dollars idea," and tells Bladezz to go get his laptop. Meanwhile, outside the convention, Tink bumps into Clara, who wants to go home as being pregnant has ruined the convention for her, since she can't do all the fun things she wanted to do. Tink convinces her to stay and help her find a booth that will let them sell shirts. Zaboo is refused entry into a panel he wanted to attend due to it being full, damaging his goal to experience everything the convention has to offer. At The Game's booth, Codex is approached by one of the developers while she is playing. He asks her what she thinks of the changes, and she remarks that they are terrible. The developer, clearly hurt, states that they put a lot of time into getting The Game ready for the convention, and that The Game's creator oversaw all the changes. Codex continues to criticize the changes, even stating that "the creator needs a reality check." The developer cracks, screams at Codex, and storms off. Codex is then informed by another worker that the man was none other than Floyd Patrovski, creator of The Game. Codex begins to panic.
Meanwhile, Vork and Bladezz have set up a photo booth, charging people to take pictures with Bladezz in front of various backgrounds, using Vork's complimentary convention bags as a makeshift green screen. The booth proves wildly popular, much to the chagrin of the other special guests (including Brea Grant, Jason C. Miller, Brent Spiner and Grant Imahara). Clara and Tink (who is now dressed as a slave Leia) are unsuccessfully trying to find a booth to sell their t-shirts. Coming upon a steampunk booth, they ask the woman (Maurissa Tancharoen) running the booth, but she says no. Tink tries to move on, but Clara has become mesmerized by the items in the booth. While trying to convince Clara to leave, Tink spots someone, panics, and runs off, dragging Clara with her and abandoning their t-shirts at the booth. Codex has gone to Zaboo for comfort after what she said to Floyd Patrovski. After Zaboo calms her down, Codex tells him she likes him. Zaboo, though shocked, gently rejects her. He tells her that he worked too hard trying to become just her friend, and manages to convince her that she only likes him as a last resort. Codex, though hurt, agrees, and then spots Patrovski heading into the bar. Zaboo convinces her to follow him and apologize for what she said. Codex follows Patrovski into the bar and spots him talking with a businessman, and overhears their conversation. Patrovski is stressed because no one likes the new changes to The Game, and it seems that no matter what he does, the players aren't happy. The businessman convinces him to just cut his losses and sell The Game. Patrovski agrees, and the two men leave to draw up the paperwork, leaving Codex in disbelief over what she just heard.
Characters and cast
Knights of Good
Codex (real name Cyd Sherman) is the Priest. Codex is shy and non-confrontational, tending to panic under stress. Outside the game she is a concert violinist (and former child prodigy), unemployed after setting fire to her boyfriend's cello. She is an addicted gamer who tries at first to control the time she spends online, but fails. For this reason, her therapist drops her. At the beginning of the series she is quite reclusive with no real-life friends; she is often self-conscious and awkward around men. Codex is portrayed by creator Felicia Day.
Zaboo (real name Sujan Balakrishnan Goldberg) is the Warlock. Zaboo describes himself as a "HinJew", having a Hindu mother and Jewish father. He shows great skill with computers; for example, his stalking of Codex included obtaining (presumably through the Internet) the floor plan of her apartment and all her past residences. His obsessive attitude toward Codex reflects his mother's smothering. When talking, Zaboo often uses "-'d" after some key word or expression, self-commenting on what he just said (e.g. bladder'd, testosterone'd). While Zaboo doesn't appear to have a profession, he admits having attended college for four years (to which his mother drove him every day). Zaboo is portrayed by Sandeep Parikh, Indian-American writer, director, actor and producer of comedy and founder of www.effinfunny.com.
Vork (real name Herman Holden) is the guild leader and
Warrior. He enjoys managing the guild and budgeting, and believes only in rules and logic. He lives frugally (and illegally) on his late grandfather's
Social Security checks and is a certified
Notary Public. When he became Guild Leader he "cut the fats of life" including electric power; he steals his senile neighbor's wifi (and shed), and keeps his food cold by buying ice with
food stamps. In the penultimate episode of season 3 he reveals that he can speak fluent
Korean; in season 4, he speaks Hindi to Zaboo's mother and claims to know all languages. Vork comes to believe that shared hatred of him is what keeps the guild together. In Season 4, his desire to own a guild hall leads him to manipulating an in-game exchange market, nearly causing him to be banned from the game. Vork is portrayed by
Jeff Lewis, an accomplished character actor and comedian.
Bladezz (real name Simon) is the Rogue. A high school student who spends most of his time outside of school in his basement playing the Game. He is rude to the other male guild members, and hits on the female guild members, and makes lewd sexual jokes and comments. He is worried about being sent to military school, and to save up for college his mom forced him into modeling; he uses the name "Finn Smulders" to keep it a secret from everyone. Bladezz is by nature a Rogue, and tends to sneak around, betraying, lying, stealing and causing mayhem. Bladezz is portrayed by Vincent Caso.
Clara (real name Clara Beane) is the Mage. Clara is a stay-at-home wife and mother, college partier, and ex-cheerleader. Her three children are all young, with the youngest still breastfeeding, and she is shown to be an irresponsible mother; though proud of her children, she tends to put gaming before her family, and sometimes tries to mix the two, such as by recruiting her husband "Mr. Wiggly" to the guild. She uses her real name as her avatar name because her kids saw her old name, "Mom-inatrix". She comes off as ditsy, scatter brained, and eccentric. Clara is portrayed by Robin Thorsen.
Tinkerballa is the Ranger. Tink is a pre-med student, and distances herself from the guild, trying not to let them know anything about her personal life. She is shown to have a huge video game addiction, always having an alternate game in hand when not playing the guild's game, even when raiding. She is cold and manipulative, and uses men to get what she wants. When Vork resigns as leader and Tink is not elected his successor, she leaves the Knights of Good and joins the Axis of Anarchy, but later finds them too "douchey" even for her (she even says that she went on a date with Fawkes to join). Tink is revealed to be possibly the most social of the group although is incredibly grounded in the online world. Tink is portrayed by Amy Okuda.
Temporary members
Mr. Wiggly (real name George Beane) is a Ranger. He is Clara's husband, nominated by Clara to replace Tink; Codex hastily accepts him in order to prevent Zaboo from recruiting Riley. He is clearly inexperienced in gaming, mentioning that the last game he played was ''Pong'' (which Bladezz was unfamiliar with). Mr. Wiggly wants to spend time with Clara, but is at his wits' end with her distraction and infidelity. George is shown to be a conventional man who has a sense of responsibility, helping Clara when she spontaneously starts a gamer company. Mr. Wiggly is played by Brett Sheridan.
Axis of Anarchy
Fawkes is the leader of the Axis of Anarchy. He always wears a black kilt and often wears a black "Axis of Anarchy" t-shirt. In person he speaks with a cool, calm, almost polite tone, though he is prone to angered outbursts when online. He seems to be quite educated as well, as he is constantly quoting philosophers, authors, or figures of history. He often demonstrates that he does not believe in following rules, unless it benefits him. Because of their top ranking, he expects constant perfection from his guild. He is also quite full of himself and manipulative, convincing people they are into him. During season four he has an on-off relationship with Codex, the future of which remains ambiguous at the season finale. Fawkes is played by Wil Wheaton.
Venom is the only female in her guild, until Tink joins. She is in a wheelchair, but seems to have no problem exploiting her handicap for personal gain. She has a violent attitude and seems to dislike her guildmates. On at least two occasions she threatens suicide to get her way, and, when her character is killed in-game, feels ecstacy at this vicarious death. She briefly works as a substitute art teacher at Bladezz's high school. Played by Teal Sherer.
Bruiser is the guild's healer, and a corrupt police officer. Bruiser is probably the largest, loudest, and most vulgar member of the Axis. He had sex with Bladezz's mother to torment Bladezz. Played by J. Teddy Garces.
Kwan is a champion ''StarCraft'' player and earns millions playing in South Korea. He only speaks Korean, and has a female assistant named Nik (played by Toni Lee) who massages his hands and translates for him. He seems to be able to understand some English, and it's possible that Fawkes can understand some of what he says (as his translator does not translate what Kwan says into English). Played by Alexander Yi.
Valkyrie is the attempted joker of the guild, though his jokes seem to be funny only to himself. Based on dialogue with his off-screen boss, he works for some form of design or decorating firm - he claimed to be dealing with a client whose damask came in the wrong color. He also has web skills, claiming to be the one who created FinnSmulders.com. He also plays two girl characters because he claims to like looking at girls, although it is strongly implied he might be a closet homosexual. Played by Mike Rose.
Other characters
Zaboo's mother (Avinashi Goldberg) epitomizes the over-controlling mother. She had Zaboo microchipped to keep track of his movements, punches Codex for (in her belief) trying to take her son away from her, manipulates him through a series of probably false ailments, and gets Codex evicted for helping him break free of her. She returns in Season 4, attempting to develop a real relationship with her son and ends up assisting Vork in earning gold to purchase a deluxe guild hall. She does manage to reconcile with Zaboo. She is played by Viji Nathan.
Riley is Wade's roommate with benefits and temporarily dated Zaboo. Riley is an FPS gamer and is ranked in Halo on Xbox Live. Riley is very dominant and enjoys submissive underdogs like Zaboo, and later Codex. At first she was thrilled to meet Codex, another girl gamer, until after she learned that Codex was an MMORPG player, the two began a grudging rivalry. This parodies the normal relationship between MOG and MMORPG players. In the finale of Season 3, Riley straddles Venom and starts making out with her to get back at Zaboo for breaking up with her. Riley and Venom then start a relationship, which goes well into Season 4 Episode 10, where they're seen discussing Wench outfits. Riley is played by Michele Boyd.
Dena is Bladezz' precocious little sister. She is first seen when she arrives at the table at Cheesybeards, just after Bladezz has informed the Guildies that he is in control of all the Guild gold and equipment, ruining his big exit. Dena often practices playing bass guitar in Bladezz' basement, to his annoyance, and reads Sun Tzu's ''The Art of War'' (along with building Civil War dioramas). In Season 4, she trained Bladezz in being an actor (calling him terrible). Dena is played by Tara Caso, the sister of Vincent Caso who plays Bladezz.
Wade Wei is Codex's attractive neighbor and brief love interest. Not a gamer himself, Wade works as a martial arts stunt double; on first meeting Codex, he bumps into her and falls down some stairs, practicing a new stunt. He's fond of showing off his moves and flirting with Codex, making her extremely nervous. Having a queasy stomach, Codex vomits on him upon seeing him in makeup from a zombie movie he is playing in. He harbors a revulsion for gamers, expressing his desire to punch them. Ironically, he describes Codex's gaming-derived knowledge of weaponry as "sexy," though it is worth noting that she does not explain how she knows so much about weapons when he makes the compliment. In episode 10 of season 2, it was revealed that he did motion capture stunt work for the Game. Wade is played by Fernando Chien.
Ollie is the manager of Cheesybeards. He runs his restaurant in a very casual style, allowing Bladezz to use a computer while working at the grill. He speaks entirely in pirate-slang and uses a hook on his left hand (which is hinted to be real). Ollie is responsible for Codex getting a job at the restaurant, after she says she can improve advertising and increase business (though Bladezz sabotages these efforts). Ollie is slightly at odds with Jeannete, who strongly disapproves of Bladezz's slacker work ethic. He first appeared in episode 3 of season 4 and is played by Frank Ashmore.
Jeanette is Bladezz's superior at Cheesybeards. She is fed up with his horrible work ethic, but is at odds with Ollie (who is okay with Bladezz). At the end of Season 4, it is revealed she was one of Fawkes' one-night stands and proceeds to beat him up (as she knows mixed martial arts). Jeanette was the first new character to appear in Season 4 and was played by Tymberlee Hill.
Kevinator is the official Gamemaster of the Game who appears at the end of Season 4 to undo Vork ruining the in game economy by hoarding craft items and selling them for massively inflated prices. Kevinator displays a high level of narcissism over his role, proclaiming ‘I am a god!’ before shooting lightning bolts around while giggling manically. After recognising Bladezz from the Cheesy Beards commercial and becoming friends, he provides the Knights of Good with tickets for a gaming convention focused on The Game. However, in Season 5, it is revealed that Kevinator was fired from the game just before the convention for unfair play. In addition, the invite for Bladezz turns out to be a joke, as he has a habit of inviting internet memes. Kevinator is played by Simon Helberg.
Rachel is one of the staff members at Megagame-o-ramacon. She is amazed with meeting Baldezz, going out of her way to help book the Guild with a room. She is played by Hayley Holmes.
Reception
''The Guild'' currently has over 45 million upload views on
YouTube as of August 2010. The series has won several awards since its launch, and in February 2009, ''
Rolling Stone'' named it one of "The Net's Best Serial Shows". ''The Guild'' has inspired many fan efforts, including the tribute song "I Wanna Be in Your Guild".
Awards
Won
2007
YouTube Video Award – Best Series
2008
South by Southwest Greenlight Award – Best Original Production
2008
Yahoo! Video Award – Best Series
2009 Streamy Awards – Best Comedy Web Series, Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series, and Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day)
2010 Streamy Awards – Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series (Sean Becker) and Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day)
Nominated
2009 Streamy Awards – Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series, Best Director for a Comedy Web Series (Sean Becker), Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day), Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Sandeep Parikh), Best Guest Star in a Web Series (Fernando Chien), Best Editing for a Web Series (Sean Becker), Best Art Direction (Leah Mann), Best Visual Effects (Doug Luberts) and Best Original Music (Eanan Patterson and Don Schiff)
2010 Streamy Awards – Best Comedy Web Series, Audience Choice Award for Best Web Series, Best Writing for a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day), Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Sandeep Parikh), Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series and Best Guest Star in a Web Series (Wil Wheaton)
In other media
Comic books
On March 24, 2010, the first issue of the
comic book limited series based on the show was released from
Dark Horse Comics. It acts as a prequel to the show, and was written by
Felicia Day and illustrated by
Jim Rugg. The second issue was released on April 23, 2010, and the third and final issue was released on May 26, 2010. The collected volume was released on November 24, 2010.
A second five-issue series will be released in 2011. Each issue will focus on a single character (Vork, Zaboo, Clara, Tinkerballa and Bladezz) and be illustrated by a different artist.
Music videos
''The Guild'' cast have appeared as their characters in two music videos to promote the series. In ''
(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar'', the cast appear as their game characters. The song and video were released shortly before the start of Season 3 and were used to promote the show. ''Game On'' is a
Bollywood-themed video about Zaboo trying to convince Codex to play the game. This second video was used in a similar fashion and promoted Season 4.
Production notes
Season 1
''The Guild'' was originally intended to be a pilot episode for a TV series, but Felicia Day was advised that it would be much more suited for a web series. The show changed its format and script to fit a web series. The first episode
"Wake-Up Call" premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. After the first three episodes, the group ran out of money; but a link to Day's
PayPal brought enough donations to fund "Cheesybeards" and "Rather Be Raiding". The first season ended on May 15, 2008, consisting of 10 episodes and two specials (including the Christmas special, "Christmas Raid Carol").
''The Guild'' season 1 DVD was released on Amazon.com on May 19, 2009. For Canadian audiences it was bundled with season 2, released on September 29, 2009, also available on Amazon.com.
Season 2
Filming for season 2 began in August 2008.
"Link the Loot" premiered on Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video on November 25, 2008. Season 2 ended with "Fight!" on February 17, 2009 and featured "Love During Wartime" by
the Main Drag, as well as visual effects by Doug Luberts.
On November 24, 2008, Microsoft announced an exclusive distribution deal with ''Guild'' creator Felicia Day. All twelve episodes of season 2 premiered on Xbox 360, Zune, and MSN, with a four-week delay for release on ''The Guild''s official website. The Microsoft releases will be free, but supported by Sprint advertisements and product placements.
Creator Felicia Day retains the IP rights to the series, with Microsoft paying an "unspecified" license fee upfront. Sometime in late February 2009, when all episodes of season two had been released, Day and her team were free to sign a new nonexclusive distribution deal should they choose to do so.
''The Guild'' season 2 DVD was released on Amazon.com on May 19, 2009, containing commentary tracks, gag reels, audition footage, and a "behind the scenes" documentary. It was also released for the Canadian audience along with season 1 on Amazon.com.
Season 2 was nominated for eleven Streamy Awards and won three: Best Comedy Web Series, Best Ensemble Cast in a Web Series, and Best Female Actor in a Comedy Web Series (Felicia Day).
Season 3
On August 17, 2009, a music video – "
(Do You Wanna Date My) Avatar" by
Felicia Day – was released on
Xbox Live to promote season 3, which would premiere on August 25, 2009 on Xbox Live for members with
Gold Accounts first. Later it was announced that it would be released for members with Silver Accounts, as well as
Zune and
MSN Video users, on September 1, 2009. The season premiered with
"Expansion Time" on August 25, 2009 and ended on November 24, 2009 with "Hero". The season featured guest star
Wil Wheaton as the leader of a rival guild out to destroy the Knights of Good.
Season 4
In April 2010, ''The Guild's'' official website announced the show was renewed by Microsoft for a fourth season. On June 9, 2010, the official recap of season 3—an
Auto-Tuned music video by
The Gregory Brothers—was posted on
Bing; the video included a message that season 4 would begin on July 13, 2010.
On July 27, 2010, a second music video, called "Game On", was posted to promote season 4. On September 14, 2010, another promotional video was posted of the Cheesybeard's full commercial.
Season 5
Season 5 takes place at the gaming convention mentioned at the end of season 4. Shooting began on April 21, 2011. The first episode of Season 5 was released on Xbox Live and Zune on July 26, 2011, and was released on MSN on July 28.
References
;Further reading
External links
Streaming webisodes
''The Guild'' at Effinfunny
''The Guild'' at Zune
''The Guild at Xbox Live Marketplace
In-universe websites
The Viral Site created by the Axis of Anarchy
The Axis of Anarchy
The Knights of Good
Cheesybeard's Restaurant
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![Kicking Horse Pedestrian Bridge in Golden is the longest authentic covered timber frame bridge in Canada.[3] Planned as a community project by the Timber Framer's Guild, local volunteers were joined by carpenters and timber framers from Canada, the United States and from Europe.](http://web.archive.org./web/20120510175317/http://cdn0.wn.com/pd/34/07/07589e06152d771d905c79d9a86e_medium.jpg "Kicking Horse Pedestrian Bridge in Golden is the longest authentic covered timber frame bridge in Canada.[3] Planned as a community project by the Timber Framer's Guild, local volunteers were joined by carpenters and timber framers from Canada, the United States and from Europe.")
