'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 38: Back in Red Action

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Back in Red Action

An admirable quality to this series is for all its distinctively designed characters, time is taken to flesh them out, and this is one of the best cartoons to do that.  Red Action is the featured character, and we learn a lot about her including where she came from, what she's like, and who she really is.  In previous appearances, she was an archetype for “cool” teens, sometimes coming off as a stereotypical bully, even to kids like K.O.  Since this show often proves that characters are more than what they seem, it’s great to get an adventure that reveals the true Red Action as relatable and endearing. 

As Enid views her profile on social media, it’s revealed that Red Action is a warrior from the future year, 301X, now living in the show's main year of 201X.  This cool warrior gives Enid the option to hang out with her, and they explore an area called the Danger Zone in Red Action’s futuristic hover tank.  At the center of this drive is genuine endearment from Enid enjoying being with Red Action and Red Action hard-pressed to impress Enid with her driving.  It brings out the good in both characters. 

However, the moment is cut short when they’re thwarted by a band of other color-based warriors, the Hue Troopers.  They come to arrest Red Action for betraying the group, begging a lot of questions about her morality.  On another note, there are a few interesting details to the Hue Troopers.  Each has an interesting futuristic vehicle, they extravagantly enter battle, and they all stand out from each other.  The blue warrior is the most authoritative. The green warrior is always ready to fight. The black one is very calculative. The yellow one seems particularly hurt by Red Action’s betrayal. 

After a really fun action scene of shaking off the Hue Troopers with Enid’s help, Red Action opens up about her origins.  She used to be part of the Hue Troopers, who take orders from a special prism crystal from a meteor that crash-landed on Earth and prevent any disaster the crystal predicts.  However, Red Action was careless one day and broke the crystal, so she escaped to the past to run away from her mess.  This backstory makes Red Action feel more human than ever.  In addition to acting out of regret from one bad move, she also pities herself for being unable to follow the ways of the team she’s part of.  In fact, she sees much more value in a normal teen like Enid who does her own thing without being part of an established gang.  She even considers Enid to be the coolest person in 201X but was too shy to say so, bringing Enid feeling the same way about Red Action full circle. 

It’s a tenderly staged moment that brings on the final climax of both Enid and Red Action facing the Hue Troopers instead of running away.  During the fight, that same meteor hits the Danger Zone, and Red Action grabs the prism crystal.  It could technically be a dig at the cartoon for this being too convenient.  However, the meteor suddenly appearing works as it is through how it's staged.  The other Hue Troopers praise Red Action for coming back to the right time period when the crystal was originally formed.  Red Action humbly admits that she never knew it would happen and that she just got lucky.  This is meaningful character development that brings strong closure to Red Action's complications with the Hue Troopers.  They all consider her a friend again and accept her choice to stay in 201X. 

This leaves the cartoon as an awesome experience to develop a side character with creative world building and one of the show’s most endearing pairings.

A+

The Ranking

1. Face Your Fears
2. You Have to Care
3. T.K.O.
4. Back in Red Action
5. No More Pow Cards
6. Glory Days
7. Legends of Mr. Gar
8. We’ve Got Pests
9. I Am Dendy
10. Let’s Have a Stakeout
11. You Get Me
12. Let’s Be Heroes
13. You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
14. We Got Hacked
15. K.O.’s Video Channel
16. Jethro’s All Yours
17. Know Your Mom
18. Everybody Likes Rad?
19. A Hero’s Fate
20. Plaza Prom
21. We’re Captured
22. My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
23. Let’s Be Friends
24. We Messed Up
25. Parents Day
26. Plazalympics
27. Presenting Joe Cuppa
28. Sibling Rivalry
29. Second First Date
30. Stop Attacking the Plaza
31. Just Be a Pebble
32. The Power is Yours
33. Do You Have Any More in the Back?
34. You’re Level 100
35. You Are Rad
36. We’ve Got Fleas
37. Rad Likes Robots
38. One Last Score

The next OK K.O. review covers a heavy detail to Carol and Mr. Gar's past.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a review of a very special episode of Animaniacs.

If you would like to check out other OK K.O.! reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.