Killer Bean Forever is a 2008 American action animated film written, produced, and directed by Jeff Lew, starring Vegas E. Trip, Bryan Session, David Guilmette, Matthew Tyler and Jeff Lew. It was preceded by two web shorts: Killer Bean: The Interrogation in 1996, and Killer Bean 2: The Party in 2000. Taking place in a world of anthropomorphic coffee beans, the film's plot follows a bean assassin named Jack "Killer" Bean, who is sent to hunt down a crime boss, while he himself is hunted by mercenaries and the police.
In 2020, an animated series that continues the story of the film was announced, and premiered on September 6, 2020, but was cancelled in August 2021. In the same month, a game simply titled Killer Bean was announced, which also continues the film's story. The movie has obtained a cult following online since 2018.
One late night, Killer Bean, an agent of the Shadow Agency, calls a DJ at a nearby warehouse party to lower the music's volume as it is causing a disturbance. The DJ does not listen to his request, prompting Killer Bean to shoot everyone at the warehouse. The DJ reveals he is a nephew of Cappuccino, a notorious crime boss and drug lord, after Killer Bean confronts him. After the shooting, Detective Cromwell and a police officer investigate the crime scene. Vagan, a lackey for Cappuccino, arrives near the warehouse and is informed by Cromwell about Killer Bean's involvement in the shooting.
At the warehouse, Vagan ambushes Killer Bean, but it ends in both leaving unscathed. Inside a bar, Killer Bean confirms his identity to Cromwell, but declines his request to kill Cappuccino. Outside, Cromwell confronts Killer Bean about the identity of Shadow Bean, but Killer Bean refuses to provide information. Cromwell learns from Harry that a Shadow Bean refers to a member of the Shadow Agency, an organization that formerly worked with the government.
Killer Bean infiltrates another warehouse owned by Cappuccino and kills the gang members and the mercenaries sent there, but he is ultimately knocked out by an explosion from Vagan's motorcycle. Cappuccino interrogates Killer Bean about his target, with Killer Bean revealing that his target is Vagan. Cappuccino, who fires Vagan, gets killed in retaliation. Killer Bean and Vagan have a standoff, with the latter revealing that he is a former agent of the Shadow Agency who stole their databases after realizing the agency went from vigilantes to mercenaries who will serve anyone, and assassinating those who question it. Killer Bean shoots Vagan out of denial, but Vagan warns him the agency will go after him next before dying. Cromwell, who witnessed the infiltration from afar, arrives with the entire police force, prompting Killer Bean to surrender as it could protect him from the agency.
Upon learning of Killer Bean's arrest, Jet Bean intentionally gets himself arrested in order to see Killer Bean. At the police station, he kills every police officer there, and confronts Killer Bean in his jail cell. Jet Bean tells Killer Bean that Vagan was a threat to the Shadow Agency, confirming Killer Bean's suspicion about them. The confrontation leads into a fight between the two and ends in Jet Bean's death. Outside the station, Killer Bean informs his boss about an upcoming meeting and drives away in a police van full of weapons.
The concept for Killer Bean came in a short produced by Jeff Lew in 1996 entitled "The Killer Bean: The Interrogation", which was later called "Killer Bean 1". Jeff Lew intended this short only to teach himself animation, and it only received about 3000 hits. After practicing animation for about 2 years, Lew started work on "The Killer Bean 2: The Party", a 7-minute short. "The Killer Bean 2" took about 3 years to create, and was released on iFilm in 2000. In about 6 months, it received about a million views, which was significant before YouTube.[3][4] A later edit, "Killer Bean 2.1", was uploaded to DivX in 2004. "Killer Bean 2.1" was also later uploaded to YouTube in 2009, which has since gained more than 4 million views.[5]
After receiving various calls from movie producers that never developed, Lew decided to make a full feature film himself. The first rough draft of the screen play took about 5 months. Previsualization (previz) took about one and a half years. One mistake Lew regretted was not making the concept art before previz, which meant that many of the previz shots could not be reused for final animation. Lew then posted an ad on Craigslist for voices, and auditioned about 20 people and cast four. The concept artist for the characters was Von C. Caberte.[6] By July 2005, all pre-production was completed.
In 2012, a mobile game, Killer Bean: Unleashed, was released for Android and iOS. Taking place shortly after Killer Bean Forever, the story follows Killer Bean who is on the run from mercenaries, while hunting the Shadow Agency's top Shadow Bean, Major Firepower. In 2021, the game received several updates on Android, the first updating the game to a newer version of Unity to prepare for new levels. Then, the game was updated to use 3D models instead of sprites and added the Pixel levels. Later updates added new levels and enemies.
A third-person, open-world shooter game based on Killer Bean was announced in August 2021. Lew plans on bringing the game to Windows, MacOS and Linux in 2024, and consoles such as PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch after the game's full release. The game is planned to cost US$20.[12][13][14] In August 2023, an official trailer was uploaded for the game, announcing a demo and showcasing gameplay of the game.[15] The game will launch in early access on Steam in 2024.[16] an extended gameplay trailer was released[17] on Summer Game Fest 2024.
In January 2020, Lew revealed Killer Bean's return in a 10+ episode web series,[18] although it had been delayed in late February.[19] Lew claimed that famous YouTubers and fans will voice act the characters in the series.[20]
On May 10, 2020, The Return of Killer Bean, a teaser for the web series, was released onto YouTube.[19] "The Return of Killer Bean" was released as a teaser for the upcoming 2020 series in 4K. The short features Killer Bean attacking a group of mercenaries, but when the last surviving bean threatens to shoot a hole through his car door, just like he did with his mother's, Killer Bean attempts to reason with him. Claiming that the mercenary has some personal problems, Killer Bean lets him take his car and throws him the keys. The last bean tries to find the keys in some trash bags, but when he finds them, the keys are actually an explosive device. The explosion throws the mercenary into a garbage can, though he survives, before Killer Bean leaves in his car.
Jack Bean, better known by his alias Killer Bean, is a former Shadow Bean and titular protagonist of the Killer Bean franchise. His first appearance was in The Killer Bean, and has appeared in every installment to the franchise since. He is portrayed by Vegas E. Trip in Killer Bean Forever and in the Killer Bean game, and by Jeff Lew in all other media.
In The Killer Bean, Killer Bean looks like a red-pink jelly bean wearing purple gloves and purple footwear. His lips are the same hue as the gloves and footwear. Though he appears to be naked, this may just be the limited technology of the time. Killer Bean looks very different from his other counterparts in Killer Bean media, as he was going through his 'Jelly Bean Stage'.
In Killer Bean 2 - The Party, Killer Bean seems to have grown, and is now a coffee bean. He still looks bare chested, but again, that is probably due to the limited technology of the time. He wears a black belt now, which holds what appear to be 5 rifle rounds. The belt also sports a golden buckle in the middle, with the initials "KB" on it. Killer Bean has 2 golden Beretta PX4 Storm-shaped pistols, but without a hammer. Killer Bean is now wearing black sleeves and leggings, with red gloves and shoes.
In the previz scenes of Killer Bean 3, his "KB" bullet belt has been replaced with a default one, and his boots have more detail (although it is low poly). It might be that this model was used for previz, hence the belt and low poly model.
In Killer Bean Forever, Killer Bean now has red body armor covering his front, likely given to him by the Shadow Agency. He appears much more stylized, with black buckles on his sides and black quarter-circles around his hip area. He has green eyes with black pupils, and retains the black belt, but this time instead of 'K.B' on it, it's just plain gold, as well as the fact that the bullets to the side are gone now. He keeps the black sleeves and leggings as well. He retains the red shoes, but this time they have Velcro, with gold buckles. They also have grooves on the bottom. On the bottom of his armor are two holsters, where he keeps his guns. The gold Berettas have undergone some drastic design changes, this time with black rectangles on the sides, along with golden dragons with their mouths facing towards the muzzle. It is unknown where he got these new guns, but it is very likely that he got them from the Shadow Agency as well. He uses the same golden bullets as the did in Killer Bean 2, but he now has smaller bullets. He also has a golden bullet magazine.
In Killer Bean, his appearance is identical to his appearance in Killer Bean Forever. However, if you take a closer look at his shoes in the new series, you will see that they have a black shoe buckle and a black bottom. His model along with other bean models also received an HD upgrade.
Killer Bean is often seen as cocky and reckless. He is shown doing things like engraving his name in his own bullet casings and not taking Cappuccino seriously while being interrogated by him. He also occasionally cracks jokes and quips.
Killer Bean seems to be very athletic and flexible, being able to perform flips and jumps with ease. He has a lot of upper and lower body strength, climbing up high places and kicking other beans a few feet away. Along with this, Killer Bean is very talented when it comes to assassination. He is shown taking out two warehouses full of beans, an insurgency, Vagan, and Jet Bean. Killer Bean seems to have undergone prior Martial Arts training, as he was able to hold his own against Jet Bean, although he was losing- in Top 10 Kills, Killer Bean says that his Martial Arts wasn't to the same degree as Jet Bean's. Killer Bean also seems to have very good aim along with showing high skill with guns, being able to wipe out a warehouse full of Cappuccino's beans with ease, as well as killing all of the elite Mercenary Beans that Vagan hired.
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