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You’re Level 100
Some of the most compelling stories have the
main character work very hard to achieve greatness making for a rewarding
journey. It would be a pretty weak move
for characters to achieve great strength and status early on or through doing
nothing. It’s for these reasons that
this cartoon isn’t all that compelling.
The main plot develops a main object of the series, Pow cards. On the surface, they seem just like typical
trading cards, but there’s a lot more to them.
They’re like specialized computers that calculate information on every
hero in existence based on how much they advance through heroic acts. The deepest thing about Pow cards is that
their legit measuring tools for how much heroes grow through changing in level
over time. It’s a visual metaphor of
developing a sense of worth, which is why it’s huge when characters get
one.
In K.O.’s case, getting a Pow card
of his own is a huge deal for him with his desire to become a great hero made
so apparent, and it is monumental when the bodega’s Pow card machine has one of
him. However, it’s a little too
monumental when K.O.’s Pow card level is 100.
Right there, it’s clear that something is not right for many
reasons. First, it’s very early in the
show’s run, so it’s a cheap move for K.O. to have that big a level at this
point. Second, K.O. has not done
anything huge at this point to warrant such a high level, so it’s really
unbelievable for him to get the status.
This leads to the next point where everyone is way too accepting of this
through congratulating him and giving him celebrity treatment, never getting
suspicious. It’s a bit discomforting
that K.O. is hailed so much despite it being so unbelievable for him to be a
level 100 hero.
His celebrity status
lasts for so long that when he’s put to the test with Lord Boxman unleashing
his latest robot, Big Darrell, specifically designed for level 100 heroes to
face, you’re waiting for the truth to be revealed. I mean, the unbelievability of the Pow card
information and K.O. clearly being too weak stature makes it clear that he’s no
match on his own and makes his overconfidence pretty stupid. The ensuing battle does provide a good
display of K.O.’s power fists though not seen since the second cartoon.
Unsurprisingly, during a huge thrashing from
Big Darrell, it’s revealed that K.O. isn’t a level 100 hero at all. In fact he’s a level 0 which makes more
sense, even if it’s still an issue that his disillusion went on for so
long. That said, the story does end up
showing that K.O. does have to take his time to build up to a hero overall, and
while most of the heroes who praised him are annoyed that he’s not who they
thought he was at first, they still help K.O. beat Big Darrell. This results in a highly creative solution to
the battle with all the heroes becoming a literal big fist combining their Pow
card levels that K.O. uses to punch Big Darrell to pieces. Plus, even though it was technically all the
heroes in the plaza who saved the day, K.O. is rewarded with a slight upgrade
to a level .1 hero, showing that while he has a ways to go, he’s still making
progress.
While the cartoon is held back
for focusing on the unbelievable for too long, the universal message of how
true success is what you work towards and some creative moments help it stand
strong enough.
B
The Ranking
- Let’s Be Heroes
- You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
- Jethro’s All Yours
- Let’s Be Friends
- We Messed Up
- You’re Level 100
The next OK K.O.! review follows K.O. strive to teach the importance of teamwork, even if it means helping the villainous Boxmore robots with their sibling rivalry.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a Star vs the Forces of Evil review on "Star vs Echo Creek" and "Wand to Wand."
If you would like to check out other OK K.O.! reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.
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