Shirt Club
This is another one of those cartoons involving Steven doing
a simple activity with the Beach City residents, and while it’s not bad, it
doesn’t really have much to it. All it’s about is Steven making posters to
promote guitar lessons his dad’s teaching, but he gets roped into Buck Dewey’s
desire of designing T-shirts to get away from promoting his dad’s mayor
campaign. At first, it seems like
they’re both on the same page when making the shirts, and their idea of handing
them out to people by shooting them out of a blow cannon is a creative one
leading to humorous reactions from people seeing shirts fall out of the
sky. Then, the whole thing starts to
feel like a joke when Steven finds out that the shirts are getting people to
view his dad as a tourist attraction instead of wanting to take guitar lessons
from him. It’s good that Steven is
actually wise to what’s going on and points out that everyone is viewing the
advertisement as a joke instead of what it really is which demonstrates that
he’s really come a long way from the start of the show. However, even with the good points, it’s Buck
who keeps the cartoon from being anything great. I don’t feel like he’s unlikable or anything,
but his conflict of wanting to follow his artistic passions instead of being
with his dad just isn’t very interesting and has a harsh effect on Steven when
Buck claims that it’s naïve to love your dad.
His issues with his dad may be complicated, but it’s wrong if he thinks
not loving him is uncool. Plus, even
though it’s clear that he’s trying to be cool, his mannerisms feel so drab and
lacking of energy that the cartoon has to suffer for it. He works a lot better with the other Cool
Kids to work off of, honestly. As for
his dad issues, they have an interesting way of resolving that also benefits
Steven’s character development. After a
talk with the Crystal Gems, started by a hilarious moment of them panicking
about what the problem with the shirts might be by the way, Steven gets the idea
to let his problem be known so people will understand the shirts’ real purpose. Then, he goes on to use the cannon to shoot a
shirt with a new design, this time of a drawing Buck made of his dad when he
was younger. It gets the Beach City
residents to find the mayor more interesting and stop treating Greg like a
tourist attraction, and Mayor Dewey himself is actually touched by his son’s
creation. Buck is even moved by what
happens through shedding a tear at his dad’s appreciation for his art and even
asking for a guitar lesson from Greg, the original shirts’ true purpose, so
those are some redeeming qualities for him here. While this cartoon is pretty good in some
parts, the lack of importance to the over-arching plot and time devoted to
uninteresting characters don’t make it stand as a must-watch. 7/10
The Ranking
- Rose’s Scabbard
- Ocean Gem
- Lion 3: Straight to Video
- Alone Together
- Coach Steven
- On the Run
- Maximum Capacity
- Mirror Gem
- An Indirect Kiss
- Space Race
- So Many Birthdays
- Steven the Sword Fighter
- Lion 2: The Movie
- Bubble Buddies
- Monster Buddies
- Laser Light Cannon
- Winter Forecast
- Giant Woman
- Lars and the Cool Kids
- The Test
- Steven’s Lion
- Horror Club
- Watermelon Steven
- Gem Glow
- Steven and the Stevens
- Marble Madness
- Warp Tour
- Open Book
- Island Adventure
- Rose’s Room
- Cheeseburger Backpack
- Future Vision
- Secret Team
- House Guest
- Serious Steven
- Joking Victim
- Beach Party
- Cat Fingers
- Tiger Millionaire
- Together Breakfast
- Fusion Cuisine
- Frybo
- Shirt Club
- Onion Trade
- Arcade Mania
- Garnet’s Universe
- Keep Beach City Weird
Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode which is the first of many flashbacks of Greg's life before Steven was born in a "Story for Steven."
If you would like to check out other reviews on this blog, click here for the guide to all the reviews posted so far.
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