Thumbnail image for the first Rivals Direct.
Rivals Direct is a webseries hosted by Aether Studios promoting new content related to the Aether Universe series franchise, primarily the 2017 Platform Fighter Rivals of Aether and its 2024 sequel Rivals of Aether II. They are notable for their greatly-varying presentation, and being hosted on April Fools' Day- leading to their bizarre presentation and being loaded with jokes.Inititally a simple parody of Nintendo's Nintendo Direct videos, they have since went right off the rails in the following years. Several years' directs often have their own storylines and unique visual presentations, to the point where one could ironically trim out the actual announcements and come out with something still entertaining (with a puppet show and visual novel being among the mediums).
Currently Released Directs
- Rivals Direct 1
(2018) - A standard parody of Nintendo Direct, lacking any specific theme. - Rivals Direct 2 (2020) - After skipping a year in favor of releasing the joke game Lovers of Aether, the entire Rivals team has gathered at Dan Fornace's house to present new features coming to Rivals of Aether's Definitive Edition, as well as future works set in the Aether universe.
- Twitch Plays Rivals Direct 3 (Good version) (Bad version) (2021) - Adam Carra uses Hollywood Hacking to enter the world of Lovers of Aether and pursue information about the 3D models seen at the end of last year's Direct. As the title indicates, the video is presented as a Visual Novel, with the viewers being able to influence Carra's actions by voting.
- Rivals Direct 4 (2022) - Dan Fornace wishes for the announcements to be taken more seriously, so he hires a professional film crew to put on a Puppet Show titled Puppets of Aether.
- Rivals Direct 5 - Rivals World (2023) - As the rest of Aether Studio lacks motivation to create a Rivals Direct, Dan Fornace brings in an AI to help him announce new Aether content, including cross-promotions with other indie games.
- Rivals Micro Direct (2025) - After skipping a year, Rivals Direct returns with another story set in the Lovers of Aether universe. Zetterburn, Clairen, Olympia, Wrastor and Fleet's Aethernomics class hinges on their final presentation. But their friend Absa is missing! Will they be able to find her and give their presentation in time?
Rivals Direct contains the following tropes:
- 555: The home shopping parody in Direct 2 has the phone number 1-800-555-0127.
- Adaptational Heroism: Dean Loxodont is significantly nicer than both his mainline counterpart and preceding Lovers of Aether version, primarily by not being a tyrannical dictator. He presents himself as friendly and accomodating to his students, offering Clairen and Wrastor a pass to be late when they're hauling a sleeping Absa to class.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: At the beginning of Rivals Direct 5, Dan Fornace creates an AI partner with instructions to keep the studio's best interests in mind. She determines that removing Dan as the head of Aether Studios is the best way to do that, and releases neurotoxin to kill him.
- April Fools' Day: All the videos are posted on April 1st, but contain real announcements.
- Artifact Title: Only the first two videos are parodies of Nintendo Direct, but later videos still keep the "Direct" in the title.
- The B Grade: In the 2025 Micro Direct, Absa missing her presentation would drop her grade to B Plus, which everyone finds horrific.
- Canon Foreigner: The Lovers Directs features Lovers versions of characters that were not present in the original Lovers of Aether, such as Fleet and Olympia.
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: While the Aether University Directs are a sequel/spin-off to Lovers of Aether, some of the characters (such as Maypul) from the original have yet to appear. Absa was excluded from Rivals Direct 3 but later re-appeared in Rivals Micro Direct with a new design.
- Early-Bird Cameo: The Lovers version of Fleet makes her debut in Rivals Direct 3, preceding her main universe counterpart's official debut in Dungeons of Aether. Of course, her appearance in the Direct primarily served the purpose of advertising her upcoming appearance in said game.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: In the 2025 Micro Direct, when Clairen is called forth while she's still busy looking for Absa, Zetterburn quickly makes a costume out of cardboard and presents in her place.
- Stylistic Suck: Ranno's presentation in the 2025 Micro Direct (for separated Ranked mode) is presented from a Windows 98 computer, with low image quality and distorted audio.
- The Triple: Rivals Direct 3 has a few gags of this sort relating to class names:
- Aether University's top-rated classes are Psychology, Cryptozoology, Applied Astrology, and Taxidermy.
- Clairen's classes are Aetherian History, Abyssthrapology, Sylvan Expressionism, Hyperborean Philosophy, and Math 2.
- What Were They Selling Again?: The Milestone System trailer in Direct 2 is incredibly vague, even after it gets two additional spots to "clarify" what it's supposed to be.
- You Wanna Get Sued?: In Direct 4, Adam Carra interrupts the puppets when they sing a very obvious rip-off of The Muppet Show theme.Adam: (on the phone with Dan) Dan, we can't do this. We're gonna get sued.Dan: Nah, we're cool with them. We already got our game on the Switch and everything.Adam: That's not what I was talking about.Dan: Alrighty, it sounds like you've met the team. Remember, I'm counting on you, okay? Bye!Adam: No, Dan, wait! (Dan hangs up)
