Battlefield Friends

Production

Hank & Jed Movie Pictures was founded in 2006 by Brent Triplett, Bryan Mahoney, and Nate Panning to create live action and animated media, with Jon Etheridge and Tony Schnur later joining as voice actors and animators. By 2012, the crew had been playing Battlefield: Bad Company and Battlefield 3 and decided to create an animated pilot for a parody series. In January 2012, Machinima picked up the show and released the pilot episode "First Flight," which depicted a group of players being flown around by a noob, conceived by Triplett from his own experiences learning to fly a helicopter among experienced players.

The show is written, produced, and animated by all four main cast members alongside Bryan Mahoney, who also voices supporting roles. Episodes are composed by Alex Beard with additional animation from Sheila Brothers, and most episodes are directed by Triplett. Ideas come from the crew playing Battlefield matches together and writing stories about their experiences. Each episode takes about a week to create, allowing coverage of topical Battlefield updates and inside jokes.

In 2013, the show was renewed for a second and third season and moved to Machinima Happy Hour, remaining there through the fourth season in 2014. From season four onward, the show was based on Battlefield 4, then pivoted to Battlefield Hardline for season five before returning to Battlefield 4 after Hardline's negative reception.

Legacy

On December 17, 2013, Electronic Arts released the multiplayer trailer for Battlefield 4 featuring a character voiced by Brent Triplett who drives an ATV off a skyscraper screaming "Levolution!" before crashing into a helicopter, referencing the Noob's excitement in the season three finale of Battlefield Friends. In the same episode, Noob references a supposed Megalodon hiding in the game, which later emerged as a real easter egg in Battlefield 4.

Tony Schnur, Nate Panning, and Jon Etheridge provided performances for Battlefield 4's multiplayer playable characters, and in the singleplayer mission "Tashgar," three sets of soldiers are voiced by the Battlefield Friends cast after DICE developers became fans of the series. In Battlefield Hardline, a bathroom stall easter egg plays voice lines from Triplett as the Noob, later alluded to in the sixth season's fifth episode "Dice Camo." In Battlefield 1, an easter egg under a tank on the Volga River allows fans to hear an argument between the Battlefield Friends cast.