'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 40: Villains' Night Out

If you like this review and want to stay updated for what else I have in store, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter. Now on with today's review:

Villain’s Night Out

At his core, Lord Boxman is a laughable comedic villain with a petty goal in life to constantly attack Lakewood Plaza Turbo with little weight behind his mindset.  However, this aspect of his character has interesting catches to it for being called out as the obsession it is and visibly showing how it’s getting in the way of what’s important.  There’s also this cartoon that’s a great example of how Lord Boxman falls flat compared to other villains. 

At the start, it might not seem that way with a reminder that Professor Venomous has turned to him for weapons.  This time he needs them to take out P.O.I.N.T.  Lord Boxman, for all his Plaza obsessions, reveals he’s been targeting P.O.I.N.T. via an ingenious project specialized to take the organization out.  It's purpose is to process the frequently discussed glorbs.  This shows that he has the capability of being a focused, competent villain, but what follows seems to devalue all his potential.  During his talk with Professor Venomous, Lord Boxman hears about a villains’ party on a fancy yacht, except he’s not invited because he’s not taken seriously among villains.  He gets to go anyway through posing as Professor Venomous’ plus-one in place of Fink who hilariously shows bratty retaliation as he dumps her off to be babysat by the Boxmore robots. 

At the party itself, Lord Boxman has the perfect chance to prove himself that he belongs with the serious thinking villains. Most of his time is taken up through posing as an outlier of a fancy party.  That’s the kind of character who runs around causing havoc through stuffing himself with snacks and doing embarrassing dance moves and doesn’t fit in at all.  There doesn’t even seem to be any effort to try and be taken seriously by everyone else at the party. 

That said, from a normal standpoint, Lord Boxman’s antics are really funny.  My personal favorite antic of his is when he shows a video of one of his attacks on the plaza staged as an homage to Looney Tunes cartoons right down to the title cards.  The gags, the timing, and the references being recognizable and not overly blatant make the video a comedic highlight.  That said, it begs the question why Lord Boxman would show a video of a failure to villains he wants to establish a connection with. 

He does get a chance to make himself look better during an explosion contest, and what he has in mind has some bearing to it.  While the other villains perform explosions in the surrounding area, Lord Boxman instead targets P.O.I.N.T.  This seems like a logical thing for villains to do since P.O.I.N.T. is a huge organization of heroes.  It isn’t obvious that P.O.I.N.T. would retaliate or that Lord Boxman should know they can do such a thing, so this can be written off as one of his smarter moves.  Regardless, retaliating is just what the hero organization does which ends up sinking the party.  This kind of shows that he could’ve made a mark for himself if he discussed the glorb processing plant from earlier, begging the question why he didn't do that right at the start. 

As the head of the party belittles Lord Boxman as everyone evacuates, you’re most likely be unmoved by this because of the fool he was throughout the party. That doesn't change that his genuine efforts with his last move do give him some sympathy.  For that, it’s meaningful that Professor Venomous still wants to be partners with him. The cartoon’s last moments show him interested in Lord Boxman’s secret project and offering a chip to help him with it. 

For the most part, this cartoon is conflicting on whether you should take Lord Boxman seriously or laugh at his pitiful attempts to fit in.  Despite this, it’s enjoyable as it is, and even leaves promise for something bigger to look forward to.

B

The Ranking

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

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where we see what Fink was doing all this time for her villains' night in.

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