Swagpunk Pop is an aesthetic and a subgenre to Superflat Pop & Superflat in the 2020s. Unlike Superflat being an art movement which does technically an art movement, it's done independently instead but tries to deviate on being more "cooler" rather than be kawaii, Swagpunk Pop does overlap Shibuya Punk sometimes because of similarities. Sometimes it can be a mix of Superflat Pop & Shibuya Punk and because of that it can sometimes overlap from Y2K Futurism as well. There is comparison to UrBling in the way it presents itself by being a bit more masculine compared to Superflat Pop in terms of style.
History[]
During when Superflat Pop in the 2000s King Kazma from Summer Wars, along with the works of Huck Gee and Mai Hiro which would have inspired the aesthetic, in early 2020s the releases of the Animaniacs reboot with the design of Anime Wakko's design, Mad Rat Dead, Friday Night Funkin, among others started make the aesthetic grow but after the pandemic along growth with Techwear and Cyberpunk fashion trends. The aesthetic had full evolved in Swagpunk Pop.
Visuals[]
The visuals of Swagpunk Pop are stylized and expressive it tends to use more "cool" elements, contrasting with the kawaii-oriented visuals of Superflat.
The key features of this aesthetic are:
- "Cool" motifs
- A mix of cartoon and anime artstyles
- Halftone patterns (sometimes)
- Cell Shading
- Comic Book and Manga influence
- Comic Book Panels
- Animals
- Monsters
- Creatures
- Robots
- Cyberpunk influence
- Perspective
- Energetic poses
- The uses of shapes
- Cartoony and Anime artstyles or somewhat in between
- Some influence from Rubberhose but modernized with elements of anime mostly 90s & 2000s styles.
Shared from Superflat Pop
- Geometric shapes
- Vibrant color palettes (mainly neon colors)
- Strong and bold outlines
- 3D visuals
- Graffiti
- Urban vinyl figures and sculptures
- Kawaii motifs (sometimes)
Subgenres[]
Superflat Pop[]
Main article: Superflat Pop (from Aesthetics Wiki)
Superflat Pop was coined by the CARI (Consumer Aesthetics Research Institute) to refer to an aesthetic that was prominent in graphic design and popular media from the late 2000s to the early 2010s, showing a more corporate form of the original Superflat art movement. It most notably takes inspiration from Takashi Murakami's bright poppy graphics and cartoonish flowers. It is generally seen in modern cartoons, cover arts, merchandise, video games, advertisements, and fashion. The disturbing topics seen in Superflat works associated with the original art movement are either omitted or virtually non-existent.
Swagpunk Grey[]
Unlike Swagpunk Pop this aesthetic is more relying on black and white more gray colors and some mix muted colors and sometimes neon colors for accents despite being uncommon. This aesthetic was more prevalent during Superflat Pop in the 2000s unlike Swagpunk Pop.
Gallery[]
Fashion[]
- Techwear fashion
- Jackets
- Gloves
- Goggles
- Boots
- Hoodies
- Hats
- Oversized long slevees
- Baggy Clothing
Media[]
Television[]
- The Angry Beavers (Cartoon) (1997-2001)
- Cyborg Kuro-chan (Anime) (1999-2001)
- Rise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018-2020)
- Aotu World (2019)
- Glitch Techs (2020)
- Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Cartoon) (2024)
- Oddtaxi (Anime)
- Usavich (Animated shorts) (2006-2015)
- Inazma Delivery (Animated shorts) (2017)
- Digimon (Anime)
- Shadowverse FLAME (Anime)
- FLCL (Anime) (2000-2003)
- Wakfu (Cartoon) (2008-2024)
- Dragonball (Anime)
- Animaniacs (Cartoon) (1993-1998) (2020-2023)
- Tiny Toons Looniversity (Cartoon) (2023)
Film[]
- Summer Wars (Anime) (2009)
- Tekkonkinkreet (Anime) (2006)
- Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Video Games[]
- Arknights (2019)
- BlazBlue (2012)
- Muse Dash
- Mad Rat Dead (2020)
- Splatoon (2015-2024)
- The Persona Series (mainly Persona 5)
- Puyo Puyo mainly during the Sega era since 20th Anniversary (1991-present)
- Patapon (2007-2011)
- LocoRoco (2006-2017)
- Hi-Fi Rush (2023)
- Lethal League (2014)
- Lethal League Blaze (2018)
- Monster Super League (2016)
- Mega Man series
- Balan Wonderworld
- Pokémon
- World Flipper
- VALORANT
- OMORI
- Palworld
- Arknights
- Brawl Stars
- Yo-kai Watch
- Zenless Zone Zero
- NND Compass
- The Disgaea Series
- GOONYA Monster
- The Klonoa Series
- Jet Set Radio
- Bomb Rush Cyberfunk
- Night in the Woods (adjacent)
- Ratatan
- OFF (2008)
Comics/Manga[]
- Cyborg Kuro-chan (Manga)
- Animal Friends (アニマルフレンズ/アニフレ) (Manga)
- SPARKING HERO (スパーキングヒーロー) (Manga)
- PROJECT DIVIDER (Webcomic)
- Tekkonkinkreet (Manga)
- K9 by Yotakuboi (Webcomic)
Other[]
- Vocaloid
- Sparklecare
- Gacha Life
- CocoPPa
- Newgrounds
Music[]
Music Artists[]
- EmoCosine
- Camellia
- DYES IWASAKI
- Rebzyyx
- Nicopatty
Music Genres[]
- Shibuya-Kei
- Trance
- Electroswing
- Dubstep
- Alternative Rock
- EDM
- Video Game Music
Artists[]
- Various Internet Artists that has this aesthetic
- Mai Hiro
- Huck Gee
- Nelnal (ネルナル) (twitter account link)
- Kuroblood (tumblr account link)
Gallery[]
