Made over the course of two years by Picograph, a team of just four(!) incredibly talented people, Tailenders is a short yet surprisingly stylish and warm story about two things - the way people resonate with each other and the way people change, or rather - adapt. And how constant that change is, how we cope with it, and whatnot.

Set on a planet vastly different from ours, most of which consists of a scarcely populated desert wasteland, the "Wheeled Cities", populated with immigrant pioneers, travel across the planet, with their goal always being the same - getting away from "Stampede", a natural phenomenon caused by a machine that humanity once tried to use to terraform the planet into a less hostile environment - indeed, it's not just a regular animal-induced stampede, but a gigantic earthquake that destroys entire cities and leaves pure chaos and ruin in its wake.

Unfortunately, it occurs during a race which our protags attend - one of them, Tomoe, happens to be watching the event together with her pushover sidekick assistant, and Shiro, an ambitious racer, well, drives right into the Stampede's epicenter together with his lifelong rival Goodspeed, the two trying to beat the mythical racer Loser King's record and ultimately falling to their doom in pursuit of their dreams, sustaining life-threatening injuries.

Tomoe, however, sees this as a perfect opportunity - the time has come for her to test out the Tomoe Drive, an experimental half-heart implant half-engine thingamajig. Interrupting Shiro's emergency medical procedure, she gives him a once-in-a-lifetime (quite literally) opportunity - either he stays here and dies on the operating table he's lying on, or she gets to save his life and, in the process, fulfill her vision of being the perfect candidate to make use of her latest invention.

All he has to do in return - if he accepts - is to take part in the Planet Re-Development Race, an annual event that brings together criminals, aristocrats, madmen, TV personalities, explorers, pizza delivery guys and everything in between (no, seriously - every single racer has a full name and bio on the official website and they range from a parody of The Stig to a prisoner on death row who rides in her own execution room on wheels hoping to get pardoned for her streak of murders if she wins - I find it incredible how even background characters with 5 seconds of screen time have entire backstories, goals and gimmicks, however brief their appearances and how minor their roles might be). On top of that, it's said Loser King will be there too, as mysterious and unexplained as his sightings are. Naturally, this tempts Shiro enough to sell his soul to this devil of a woman, and the two embark on what's not just a race, but a test of their resolve, ambitions and ideals alike.

As for how the race goes and what the two get from it - I'll leave that for you to explore. There are a few things of note that I'd like to direct your attention towards, though.

1) The art direction in general. TAILENDERS is not just profoundly stylish and over-the-top, but uniquely charming in both its aesthetics and vibe. Part of me wants to say it feels like a mix of several different 90s-2000s aesthetics: you have the stylish urban punk look that evokes something like the Jet Set Radio series, No More Heroes or Dead Leaves, you have the over-the-top cogs, piping and machinery that call forth the vibes of Tim Burton's works, American McGee's Alice series, or even obscure tabletop RPGs of that era, such as Malifaux. I wouldn't say they were 100% directly inspired, but rather, that Tailenders feels VERY MUCH like something made in the late 2000s in the best way possible.

Funnily enough, though, I can't help but notice a similarity between the Planet Re-Development Race's logo and the Desire Grand Prix logo from 2022's Kamen Rider Geats. Goes to show some aesthetics are eternally charming and liked by artists and graphic designers alike, I think.

I've seen some comparisons being made to REDLINE - and frankly, much as I agree with that sentiment, I wouldn't call it a better/worse/discount REDLINE by any means. Rather, they are two pieces of media that embody the time period they were made in, and it just so happens both of them tell the story of a race taking place on an alien planet, where all sorts of freaks and weirdos compete - I'd say the similarities just show us that things like racing, alien planets and cheering on for candidates of a competition are something so widely appreciated and deemed cool that it's no surprise many different artists would make use of them. If anything, it's interesting how vastly different two movies made with a very similar idea in mind manage to be, and how distinct their respective focus is, what different themes they explore. I will say, though - if you loved REDLINE, you'll most likely love TAILENDERS, and vice versa. Even if they were inspired by each other, I think it's very much a "two cakes!" type deal.

On top of that, I can't help but notice how much of a role colors play - scenes full of hype and action are kept in warm color schemes, ones with a more relaxed or mysterious atmosphere are kept in a variety of colder ones, and the desert keeps treating us to an array of yellows, blacks and grays, often complimenting the wide plethora of colors and aesthetics each different racer adopts.

The vehicles all look like they were either Lego Racers rejects, or a Transformers character from Japan's Superlink series. In fact, the car Tomoe and Shiro drive together instantly made me think of Red Alert from that line! I can't help but wonder if the creators were influenced by him - there's a photo from their makeshift studio of sorts available on the official site that seems to have a bunch of robot figurines on one of the creators' shelves, so y'know, maybe. Just maybe.

2) The characters. As I've said, I already find it nice that even 5-second Literal Whos get a little bio and writeup on the official site - even if we disregard that, the movie itself's cast is nothing to sneeze at, either. Neither Tomoe nor Shiro feel like the "true" main character, nor are they accessories for one another - it feels like they're both given equal importance, making for a remarkably fun experience, as we're given insights into the personality, goals and inner thoughts of our male and female lead in equal amounts. You can interpret it as the hotblooded protagonist and his manic pixie engineer girlfriend just as much as you can interpret it as this stylish dominant genius woman and her musclebrained himbo boyfriend going on a ride that blends their ambitions and circumstances into a grand adventure. Their personalities bounce off each other extraordinarily well, making for a fun dynamic that I can't get enough of.

As I've mentioned, while I wouldn't compare Shiro to Sweet from REDLINE and rather say that he's an embodiment of many 90s-2000s protag vibes that permeated the era, I do have to admit Tomoe reminded me heavily of another extraordinarily well-written female character - Devonea "Dr Necro" Violet from KEYMAN. Without going into spoilers for either work, I just think it's interesting how they're both geniuses with insane amounts of charm, but also, a bit of regrets, stemming from their creatorial - perhaps equally motherly, even - links to their settings' respective antagonists, as well as the issues and vices that come with an intellect and passion held back by inherently human parts of themselves and embodied by their lifelong regrets.

Oh, and they smirk the same way.

Loser King and Goodspeed are inherently fascinating, too - with Loser King being not just a character, but rather, an embodiment of an unattainable goal for many, as well as a haunting reminder of many people's past mistakes and dreams, and Goodspeed being more of a simple man that never loses track of what's important in life no matter how much he changes or what new records he beats. He's also a very honorable man, playfully having a little back-and-forth with Shiro rather than openly mocking him and treating him like he's any worse than him for challenging something unbeatable and insane to try and fathom.

3) The worldbuilding and narrative. Despite being just 27 minutes, we're given more than enough info on how the world works, unique concepts like the Wheeled Cities, Stampedes and the Terraformer, and none of it feels inserted randomly or tacked on last minute - it all feels so awesomely planned out that I feel like the four creators truly had not just a vision, but unbridled creativity that, thankfully, found an outlet in the form of this short flick. On top of that, it's not just purely focused on its inherent stylish-ness - there's also a story being told, and one hell of a story at that - a philosophical rant about how things change, how people resonate with each other, and how humanity adapts to anything life throws at it, and will continue to do so however long even a single human's left alive, no matter how much they're told "oh, it's pointless", "oh, you're insane", "oh, nothing will ever change" and so on. In a way, this whole movie feels like an adaptation of Insane Clown Posse's song Forever:

*This life is tricky, mean, and strange
You can only be sure about one thing: change
For worse or for better... Maintain
Catch wisdom, try to gain brains*

Mix a melancholic yet profoundly warm life lesson with a quartet of thoroughly dedicated and unique artists, and you have a winning combination - a story that not only manages to be a perfect product of its time in the best way possible, but also, have an identity of its own that I can't help but love anytime I come back to it. In just 27 minutes, you get all the 2000s energy you could wish for, as well as a really sweet story of two people (and a third wheel) understanding how change is an inherent part of life, and nothing feels quite as satisfying as finding somebody who shares your ideals in an ever-changing world and never abandons their dreams the same way you do.