Week 7, titled Tankman ft. JohnnyUtah, is the seventh week and eighth level overall in Friday Night Funkin'. It was released on the 18th of April, 2021, as part of an update that was initially exclusive to the Newgrounds version of the demo.
Boyfriend faces off against Tankman, the military sergeant icon of Newgrounds who leads the Tankmen.
Location
Week 7 takes place on the Tankman Battlefield.[1] This location is set in a desert military zone. The left and right sides of the area each have a small pile of brick rubble. The landscape has large mountains far away in the background, in front of which are several war-torn buildings. Two tall columns of smoke rise from somewhere on the horizon. Steve, a Tankmen soldier with round goggles, operates a tank and will occasionally drive by slightly over the horizon, reaching out with his right hand while wearing a concerned expression. Private Skittles, a sniper belonging to an enemy faction, can be seen in the distance, keeping a lookout from his watchtower on the left with his sniper rifle poking out while facing toward the right. Two Tankmen with insignias on their arms are crouched on Girlfriend's smaller speakers, pointing their rifles at her. A small audience of Tankmen in the foreground spectates the rap battle.
In the third track, the 2 Tankmen who were resting on Girlfriend's stereo are gone, having been killed by Pico during the track's cutscene. Other rifle-carrying Tankmen with rectangular goggles and insignias on their arms continuously rush in from the left and right sides of the background, each one getting shot and killed once they get close enough.
Remixed Visuals
During ERECT mode and player character remixes, the stage is now located at a cave called "Franks Spirits + Bowling" which doubles as a bar and bowling alley; this location was the main setting for "TANKMEN 2". The time of day is now nighttime, and two Tankmen are sitting at the bar: Ted the Sniper from "TANKMEN 2" drinking out a mug, and an unnamed, generic Tankmen. To the left is a giant truck belonging to the Thugmen, and a tank belonging to the Tankmen to the right.
The bright, green fluorescent lights of the bar light up the area, adding a green tint to everything except the sky. The characters also receive a change in their hue.
Unique Effects
During the first 2 tracks, Girlfriend is held at gunpoint by the 2 Tankmen resting on the smaller speakers, forcing her to raise her arms as she bops her head to the tempo of the music.
During the last track, Pico takes Girlfriend's place on her speakers, remaining crouched on the large one while dual-wielding a pair of MAC-10-like guns. He provides cover fire, shooting the approaching Tankmen in the background to the tempo of the music while twirling his guns in a flashy manner. Boyfriend now holds Girlfriend up around the waist.
In Stress (Pico Mix), Otis is the one on A-Bot, remaining crouched while dual-wielding a pair of AK-47s and shooting the approaching Tankmen. Pico now holds Nene around the waist while she hugs him tightly.
If the player fails any of the tracks in this week, Tankman will insult the player character or the player with a randomly selected phrase at the beginning of the Game Over screen. In the Game Over screen for Stress, Boyfriend and Girlfriend's skeletons are shown, and retrying will play an animation where Girlfriend will raise her arm cheerfully and have smiling eyes.
Randomized Phrases
These are the phrases randomly uttered by Tankman during the Game Over screen. They are listed in no particular order.
The Pico lines only play during Stress (Pico Mix).
"Oh my god! What the hell was that!? What the hell. Was. That?"
"The only thing you're funkin' tonight is your sock." [laughs]
"Can you even feed yourself!? Can you even walk straight?"
"Why am I wasting my time against some baggy-pantsed punk?"
"Why am I wasting my time against some baggy-pantsed fuck?" [laughs]
"I hope you're not some internet streamer screaming like a sociopath right now!"
"If you can't beat me, how are you gonna survive this harsh and cruel world, hmm?"
"You gotta press the arrows, kid. Not slap your keyboard like your blind uncle, what?"
"Eh, you're gettin' closer! I wouldn't brag about it though."
"My dead grandmother has more nimble fingers! C'mon!"
"You just make me wanna cry."
"You're ugly and you can't keep a rhythm! Truly, you are cursed."
"Good lord, what the hell is your problem, man? [burp] Just do it right, please!"
"Man, are you tired of eating shit yet?" [laughs]
"I said let's rock, not suck cock." [laughs]
"'Congratulations, you won!' That's what I would say if you weren't such a goddamn failure." [laughs]
"You know I'm running out of shit to say here so you better beat this sometime today, asshole."
"Maybe if you had more friends, you'd be less depressed and play better, hm?"
"I guess your shitty blue hair dye got in your eyes. It's okay, it happens to all of us."
"Open your fucking eyes, geez."
Tankman Game Over Phrases
"Hey man, why don't you give white women a try, they're crazy too!" [laughing]
"Maaan! How old ARE you anyways? Weren't you in high school 25 years ago? WHAT?!"
"Haha, nice try, you little psychopath."
"Asian fetish? 'ey man that's cool, I don't like emotions in women either!" [laughing]
"Haha, hey watch out man, those Asian ladies uhhh... be crazy!"
"Green sleeves and khakis? Man, it's not 1999 anymore, get some new fuckin' clothes."
"You've been playing this goddamn game for four long years and you're still this ASS?! What the hell are you DOING?!"
[chuckle] "Bro, who the fuck styles your hair? Like, what the hell is that? Did the kid down the street with autism give you a haircut?" [snickering]
"Hey, this is a shout-out to everyone too lazy to play the game and is watching this line in a YouTube compilation; those Indonesians uploading these need to eat too, okay?" [giggle] "Don't skip those ads!" [laughing]
Upon the Week 7 update's release, the Newgrounds site crashed due to an influx of users rushing to play it.
The crash started the day the exclusive update was released, on the 18th of April, 2021, approximately around 6:00pm EST. Although the site eventually recovered, the game was temporarily disabled for 2 more days until the server capacity was increased.
The exclusive release of the Week 7 update on Newgrounds was intended to be a timed preview at first. This was due to the team's love for Newgrounds and the fact that "Friday Night Funkin' is a Newgrounds game, through and through." However, a few days after the update was released, ninjamuffin99 stated on his Twitter page that Week 7 would be exclusive to Newgrounds until it reached the first or second result when searching up "friday night funkin" on Google. This was due to other online game sites reuploading the new version of the Newgrounds demo and surpassing the original upload in search rankings while the site was down.[2]
In a Tweet posted by ninjamuffin99 on the 22nd of April, 2021, he stated that the desktop version of Week 7 would probably be released with Week 8 (which referred at the time to what would become WeekEnd 1) due to the then-upcoming level's progress and the fact that he would have to go back and take the new content out.[3]
Eventually, on the 22nd of June, 2021, the Newgrounds page for the game reached the first result when searching "friday night funkin" on Google. ninjamuffin99 didn't expect this to happen and said that he might release the source code and desktop version of the Week 7 update before the next update.[4] He reiterated that such a release was not certain because it would require removing the data for the next update from the Friday Night Funkin' source code, which he said would be even more extra work compared to simply finishing what was in progress.[5]
On the 31st of January, 2023, the source code for the Week 7 update was finally released on GitHub.[6]
Ritz The Rat was previously believed to be the opponent of this week as a result of ninjamuffin99 posting a GIF of Ritz on Twitter before quickly deleting it. However, PhantomArcade accidentally revealed that Tankman would be this week's opponent during a live stream,[7] confirming that this was not the case.
Week 7 is the third level in the game that's named after its opponent, the first being Daddy Dearest and the second being Pico.
This is the first level to change the player character's appearance between songs.
This is the first level to have fully animated and voice-acted cutscenes in between songs, though Tankman himself is the only character with a speaking role.
This is the second level to have a Newgrounds mascot star as an opponent, the first being Week 3.
Coincidentally, Pico himself makes an appearance in this level as well.
This is also the third level to have a guest character as an opponent. The first was Week 2, the second was Week 3, and the fourth was WeekEnd 1.
This week marks Pico's third appearance in the game. In this week, Pico takes the place of Girlfriend on her speakers during the track Stress, shooting at Tankmen.
This also marks the first time a character other than Girlfriend is on the speakers outside of WeekEnd levels.
This week reveals that Girlfriend has a demonic internal appearance, as seen briefly during the cutscene for Stress as well as whenever Boyfriend receives a Game Over during that song, where it's shown that Girlfriend has horns and sharp teeth.
One of Tankman's Game Over lines is similar to a line from the first TANKMEN episode, that being "You know, sometimes you just make me wanna cry."
Some of Tankman's Game Over lines break the fourth wall, and some seem to be directed at the player themself. These include:
"Maybe you should go play Week 1 again." [laughs]
"You gotta press the arrows, kid. Not slap your keyboard like your blind uncle, what?"
"I hope you're not some internet streamer screaming like a sociopath right now!"
"Hey, here's some Friday Night Funkin' lore for ya! I don't like you!"
"My dead grandmother has more nimble fingers! C'mon!"
"You've been playing this goddamn game for four long years and you're still this ASS?! What the hell are you DOING?!"
"Hey, this is a shout-out to everyone too lazy to play the game and is watching this line in a YouTube compilation; those Indonesians uploading these need to eat too, okay?" [giggle] "Don't skip those ads!" [laughing]
In the update that added Week 7, after completing the level in Story Mode and watching the game's Kickstarter trailer, the "Donate" option on the main menu would be replaced with the "Kickstarter" option, which would take players to the game's campaign page.
This is the third level where something is moving along in the background. The first were the subway trains during Week 3, the second were the passing cars in Week 4, and the fourth were the cars in WeekEnd 1.
Tankman has some voice lines that were left unused, as shown in a Tweet[8] as well as a Newgrounds submission[9] made by PhantomArcade. Some of them are as follows:
Tankman Unused Game Over Phrases
"Heh, you're ugly."
"I should just SQUEEZE your nuts off, but let's rock!" [laughs]
"I should just blow your nuts off, but it's been a boring day so... let's see what you got! Let's see what you got!"
"Huh, pretty tight bars for a little dude who's simping over a butterface. Yeah, I said it! Heh heh, yeah I said it!" [laughs]
"You keep beeping and booping me and I'm gonna beep beep a garbage truck into your girlfriend's face! Make her more... attractive. [laughs] I'm gonna make her prettier that way, eugh."
"You keep me riling me up and I might piss in your mouth! Mmmmmm."
"Keep riling me up and I'm gonna make donuts out of both of you! Yeah, use your imaginations!"
"Oh, you want something easier? Why don't you go take a nap in your crib." [laughs]
"I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed. I'm mad too, I lied."
"Get used to losing son!"
"Hey, here's some Friday Night Funkin' lore for ya, you suck." [laughs]
"Goddammit, well, maybe when we blast your girl into applesauce you can do that emo thing, y'know, 'I love sad songs!'"
"Men, get ready to fire!"
"Just give up, like everything else in your life. Yeah, I said it." [laughs]
"People are drawing me making out with Steve you're goddamn right I'm angry!"
"I didn't know you could reenact an abortion with your keyboard!" [laughs]
"Hey tough guy, nice pubes." [laughs]
"UGH! I'm outta here, I'm done. Game over. Ugh."
"Beat it."
According to a Tweet made by JohnnyUtah, he came up with almost every one of Tankman's Game Over quotes.[10]
JohnnyUtah stated in a Tweet that Week 7 is "not really" canon to the TANKMEN series.[11]
In another related Tweet, he said to consider them alternate timelines.[12]
The TANKMEN series presents events from battles in the wastelands, which have a post-apocalyptic character.[13] However, in the Friday Night Funkin' universe, it is simply an extremely large desert connected to the rest of the world.
On the 3rd of May, 2022, Week 7's assets were released by PhantomArcade.[14]
Two frames in the official asset dump for the week show Pico kicking Girlfriend off the speakers before killing the two Tankmen. As these frames are not in the current build of the game and Girlfriend instead simply teleports into Boyfriend's arms, it means that the cutscene for Stress is currently unfinished.
The WeekEnd 1 update changed the title of the week to "Tankman ft. JohnnyUtah" due to JohnnyUtah voicing the titular Tankman and creating the animated series. Previously, the level name was just "Tankman."
This makes Week 7 the only week to have its name be altered in an update.
Currently, the Week 7 cutscenes are all video-rendered as MP4 files; this will change in a future update.[15] According to a blog post published on the 3rd of February, 2023, the cutscenes were originally going to be game-rendered with sprite sheet animation, but they eventually out grew the capacity of HaxeFlixel's texture size limits. The developers would try to "split it up a certain way", but they ultimately ran into memory issues where the game would lag and stutter, and the audio would be off-sync. Ultimately, ninjamuffin99 decided to simply screen record the cutscenes and render them as video files.[16]
Originally, the remixed visuals for Week 7 were going to have a sandstorm take place on the Tankman Battlefield. This idea was scrapped, and the stage is located at "Franks Spirits + Bowling" when playing in ERECT mode or during character remixes.
In addition, the time of day at Franks Spirits + Bowling was originally during the day like in the base stage; in the final version, the level is set at night.
Originally, the name of the medal for beating Week 7 was going to be titled "I'm Gonna Beep-Beep a Garbage Truck Into Your Girlfriend's Face!" This references an unused game over line recorded by JohnnyUtah.[17]
According to EliteMasterEric, the name was changed due to it creating problems with the UI, possibly because the name was too long. However, he wishes to one day revert the medal name to its original title.[18]
Tankman on the title screen when pressing 5 or 8 prior to the WeekEnd 1 update. Note the missing mouth and a part of what appears to be his arm floating to the side. The sprite could be used for either debug purposes or cutscenes.
