Roadie to Nowhere / A Fridge Too Far (The Loud House Season 3 Episode 3) - 'Toon Reviews 30

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Roadie to Nowhere

For how popular she is with fans of this show, it’s disappointing of how Luna was snubbed of starring roles last season.  The best she got there was “L is for Love” which on the whole was more about all the kids, and inciting the conflict of “Yes-Man” a cartoon mostly about Lincoln.  Other than that, she mostly had silent cameos and single lines that could’ve gone to anyone, with sparse moments playing to her strengths.  It just doesn’t seem fair that such a strong and admired character wasn’t taken advantage of.  Season 3 makes up for this with quite a few cartoons with Luna as the lead starting with this one which makes her more interesting than ever. 

In addition to being a fun character with a lively musical passion, Luna is also the most relatable of the Louds.  Other cartoons explored how her passion guides her life, how her less musically talented family lets her enjoy what she does, and her anxieties around other people.  These are all identifiable conflicts in real life, and the trend continues here which I can relate to as someone wanting to get into the arts like her.  Luna starts off immensely enjoying playing rock n roll, right down to scoring the headlining position for her school’s rumble concert.  In fact, she enjoys it so much, she believes she’s well on her way to “rock n roll fame.” 

Then she learns about her roadie Chunk, who also performed rock n roll when he was her age, wanted to reach the goals Luna has in mind.  However, instead of a big star, Chunk is just a simple roadie, and based on Luna’s observations, he appears to live in his van.  Everything she learns makes Luna fear that her ambitions of becoming a famous rock star are too naïve.  Honestly, with my creative ambitions, there are times when I feel that way too. 

The things Luna gets up to as a result are believable reactions to doubts in such lofty ambitions.  However, even her alternatives have interesting ways of showing they don’t work for her.  She tries smaller roles in the music business, but turns out to be too excited about the jobs to be productive.  She’s also reasonably disturbed or annoyed by more commonplace career fields.  Interestingly, one of those commonplace fields, IT, turns out to be a great fit for her since working keyboards is much like mixing music.  By the way, this scene also features more strong continuity with Mr. Grouse still working in this field. 

While Luna seems all set to put aside her passions, she sees some light in her anxieties through advice from her elders.  One is her music teacher who reminds her that she can still enjoy working with music as a hobby.  She also finds Chunk performing a small gig who reveals to be happy where he is so long as he’s doing what he loves.  Also, living in a van turns out to be another misunderstanding the Louds are accustomed to, but here, Luna’s assumptions were staged pretty convincingly. 

In the end, Luna is inspired with meaningful career advice to not worry about the future and enjoy what she loves. That’s one of the best supports any starving artist can get.  The big finish where she performs at the rumble with Chunk is not just a great listen, but is a grand way to show how happy and accepting of her life she is.  With this cartoon, Luna is greatly welcomed back into the spotlight via relatable conflicts, character development, and good emphasis on the musical bug you just can’t shake.

A+

A Fridge Too Far

Families often get into conflicts and disagreements since it’s not always easy to live together.  This is also true for the Louds which are in a much bigger family than normal.  However, when a cartoon is about their arguments, the kids are often unnecessarily aggressive, uncaring, scornful brutes.  Sometimes, they even disregard their established good traits making for an unpleasant viewing experience and a main reason why several older cartoons don’t hold up.  The fights would probably be better if there were humorous exaggerations to them, but there usually aren’t.  It feels like the kids are really angry with each other over something stupid and want to hurt each other.  There’s hardly any good entertainment.  With the kids appearing to grow closer and work as a team better as of recent, sibling fights have noticeably ceased which is nice.  This cartoon shows that despite this, there are still conflicts this big family can face, though it’s a more entertaining and better staged one. 

This time it’s about them showing annoyance of their snacks constantly getting snagged from the fridge.  At the start, you’d think that Lincoln would be the only one to suffer this turn of events as usual.  However, it’s soon apparent that all the Loud kids have a problem with the filching.  This leads to a sequence of elaborate stunts to protect their favorite snacks from getting stolen by another sibling.  There’s surprise watermelons dropped on feet, blue paint bombs, electrocution, and even radiation among other things.  They’re certainly more creative retaliations than fight clouds, though it is disturbing that rather than brushing off cartoonish pain gags, they have believable outcomes like casts.  Also, the fight still loses points for being over something stupid. 

Keeping with the kids’ stronger bonds, the fight actually doesn’t last long, and is brought under control in the middle of the cartoon instead of near the end.  A plan is set to color code the fridge’s compartments to better divide the snacks, and it works well to keep the kids happy and cease the fighting.  This is an interesting not to mention considerate solution to settling the matter, allowing the kids to have their issues, but still be more mature with settling things. 

Then comes another conflict when Dad gets involved.  Further looking into his established cooking skills, he plans a special meal for an investor hoping to take a big step in starting his own restaurant.  However, when he places his ingredients in the fridge, the kids show disgust in them and throw them away.  This is one of the cartoon’s weaker moments since the kids aren’t quite as considerate of Dad as they are with each other.  Surely they could have guessed that those strange new ingredients were for something he was cooking and not anyone’s snacks.  Also, for such a smart child, Lisa really should have figured out that the ingredient she throws away is not what she claims it is.  Making up for this is the kids realizing they’re all at fault here, and when Dad’s desperate to make something, they suggest his leftovers.  It’s a nice mature sacrifice and has merit to it based on the lengths they took to protect it.  Even nicer is that the investor loves the leftovers, even more than the fancy meals he usually gets, putting Dad on the right track to his dream job. 

Ultimately, this is one of the better sibling fight cartoons with good entertainment in the brawl, focus on settling things, and a nice showing of family love in the end.  It’s still a weak conflict, but given the setup, it’s a well-handled weak conflict.

B+

The Ranking

1.      Roadie to Nowhere

2.      Insta-Gran

3.      Tripped!

4.      White Hare

5.      A Fridge Too Far

The next Loud House review follows Lori get into a selfie battle with the previously mentioned Carol Pingry, and the kids think school days will be easy in home school.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Steven Universe episode, "Future Boy Zoltron."

If you would like to check out other Loud House reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Mindful Education (Steven Universe Season 4 Episode 4) - 'Toon Reviews 29

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:

Mindful Education

Season 4 may not have started off with a match in the tone of the previous season’s major events, but its emotional effects do show up here, and to great therapeutic effect too.  Its subject matter also gives development to how fusions work which can also hit home with people of all ages watching. 

The way to the greatness stems from a simple matter with Steven and Connie preparing for sword training with Connie clearly having something on her mind.  Making this training session stand out is that they’re learning to fight as their fusion, Stevonnie.  This may not seem like too much of a break from the norm, but at one point, the Connie part of the fusion is reminded of something, and Stevonnie fails to strike the a blow.  As it turns out, Connie is too ashamed of accidentally attacking someone at school to give combat practice her full attention.  This is an especially big drawback when it comes to fusing, and she and Steven learn that from the closest Gem who’s well-versed in fusion, Garnet. 

She explains to the kids that a major way for components of a fusion to work together is to be honest and understanding of how they really feel and confront them.  Out of this comes the therapeutic part of the cartoon which also specializes in the show’s strength of crafting wholesome atmospheres you can’t find anywhere else.  Through Stevonnie closing their eyes and breathing, their transported to a barren yet serene version of the mindscape with Garnet as their guide.  Her lessons are highlighted by a moving musical number “Here Comes a Thought” and visualized by a flock of white butterflies representing problems and bad thoughts.  It’s a stunning animation sequence as well, constructed by guest animator Takafumi Hori of Japanese Studio Trigger for that matter. Combined with the moving song, the sequence really makes its point by connecting to a few unhealthy yet common ways problems are handled.  We have Garnet’s two components dealing with the butterflies differently.  Ruby is bothered by one while Sapphire keeps a lot of them hidden and is eventually surrounded by them.  They seem set to fall apart because of how they react to the problems, which once happened before. Then through opening up about them, they realize they’re here for each other and properly confront the problems, causing the butterflies to fly off. 

This visionary way of showing helpful advice can easily leave a strong impact on the audience. It works for Connie as well who’s in a much better mood for the next training session having done something about injuring that kid. However, one butterfly near Steven suggests he has some problems this time. 

Considering he’s the one who felt like keeping bad feelings hidden earlier, it leaves quite a sting when he’s reminded of the bad things he did near the end of Season 3.  It’s understandable he’d be broken up by this too since poofing Bismuth, letting Jasper get corrupted, getting rid of Eyeball, and still not living up to his mom are pretty huge.  Luckily his great relationship with Connie wins out as she reminds him to be honest about these problems so he can move on all while they’re falling.  In the end, for the moment at least, Steven is calm about matters enough to fuse with Connie, and we get a serene moment of Stevonnie landing in a field. 

It says a lot about Steven’s mindset with bearing the toll of so many painful memories while trying to live a happy Earth life.  It makes you think differently of him even when he’s just out having fun.  In fact this cartoon leaves a lot to think about with its messages, featured relationships, and creative ways of showing them.  For that, I call it one of the best.

A++

 

Season 4 Ranking

1.      Mindful Education

2.      Buddy’s Book

3.      Know Your Fusion

4.      Kindergarten Kid

The next Steven Universe review is on an emotional step down as it follows Steven spending the day as a future-telling robot at Funland.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews, it's "Roadie to Nowhere" and "A Fridge Too Far" from The Loud House.

If you would like to check out other Steven Universe reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Red Paladin (Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 3 Episode 2) - 'Toon Reviews 31

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:

Red Paladin

 

 

The feelings of loss continue here along with new dynamics between the Paladins and lions.  Everyone is still broken up by the loss of Shiro as well as worried about how they can possibly work as a team without their leadership.  That’s not even considering the concerns over where to find a new Paladin for the black lion. 

Keith reveals Shiro’s wishes about how Keith should take over as leader if something happens to him.  Now that Shiro is gone, Keith is in the clear for that position, but he openly states that he can’t take it which is telling of his inner struggles.  He’s aware of his own flaws and the pressures he genuinely doesn’t feel up for.  As for the rest of the team, they want the leader position for themselves.  There are tests where each one goes to the black lion to activate it.  Many of them provide a good number of laughs for the episode with everyone’s feeble attempts. 

Keith is ultimately the Paladin the black lion accepts, so he has to be the leader whether he likes it or not.  It does bring up another legit concern over his reluctance.  They got a pilot for the black lion, but that leaves the red lion without one.  This brings a particular emotional scene with Allura.  As someone who’s strived to find Paladins for the good of the universe, she sees this as a time to be one herself.  When the red lion doesn’t respond to her, you can feel her pain of feeling she let down not just the universe, but her people who have long since been wiped out. 

During this drama, we get a lot of great moments with Prince Lotor.  He proves to follow his philosophy of conquering planets by convincing their leaders to join him as opposed to outright killing everyone.  It’s a smart move we see in action, which is also part of a ploy to get the Voltron lions to come to him.  During this time, we see the difficulties coming from Keith as the leader.  Only three lions can go, and they can’t fight properly.  That’s where the episode gets interesting when Lance is unable to take control of his blue lion.  As someone who I’ve viewed as the least productive Paladin, the genuine sorrow over not controlling the lion brings out great endearment from Lance.  He reflects on his inabilities to take things seriously and wishes he can improve.  It works in an effective twist where admitting his shortcomings and accepting Keith as the new leader makes him the new pilot for the red lion.  So Lance proudly becomes the new red Paladin, and shortly after that, Allura ends up surprising everyone by gaining control of the blue lion. 

All five lions show up for the already intense battle, but Lotor demands that his troops retreat having seen what needs to be seen.  For all the excitement the action built up throughout the episode, it’s disappointing that we get such an anti-climactic payoff.  The emotions of everyone accepting their new roles though is very strong, and we end with great anticipation of Keith uses his own talents as leader.  He puts a tracker on Lotor’s ship, and commands the other Paladins to follow it. 

This episode ends up being a heartwarming story of learning to accept change enhanced by great moments from the major characters and creative occurrences.

A

Season 3 Rankings

1.      Red Paladin

2.      Changing of the Guard

The next Voltron: Legendary Defender review shows that Keith still has a lot to learn about being leader as he accidentally leads the Paladins into Lotor's trap.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Steven Universe masterpiece, "Mindful Education."

If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Changing of the Guard (Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 3 Episode 1) - 'Toon Reviews 31

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:

In a brand new review strategy, I’m returning to a show I’ve left on the back-burner for a look at not one, but two of its seasons:

Voltron: Legendary Defender (Seasons 3 & 4)

Basic Premise

Although I’ve invested a lot of time in one of the latest Netflix original animated series, I have not forgotten the first one I’ve seen, Voltron: Legendary Defender.  This space adventure series is a very exciting one that sets itself to get better with each season.  Through exploring new galaxies and allowing characters to move beyond their basic traits with every adventure, its efforts to become something impactful really show.  While this may not be a show I watch a lot, which has since ended and I have totally not been keeping up with it, I do acknowledge it as a generally great show from what I’ve seen.  This is why I’m glad to finally get back to talking about it after so long.  I mean, the last thing I talked about was Shiro’s disappearance and Zarkon being put on life support while the Galra prince Lotor was called.  Of course I can’t just stop discussing the show there.

Now, you might be wondering why I’m reviewing two seasons together instead of one season getting its own review set.  A lot of that is because of how long it’s been since I talked about it and that the show has run its course as of now with 8 seasons in total.  At the rate it takes for me to get through one review set, covering two seasons at once is a good way to cover a lot of ground faster.  Plus, Seasons 3 and 4 are much shorter than the previous two. Together, they amount to a similar number of episodes, so that means both of them together qualify as a review set for this show. 

For now, it’s time to rejoin the Paladins: Shiro, Lance, Keith, Pidge, and Hunk; their advisors: Allura and Coran; and their enemies of the Galra Empire to see what’s in store for them. This time though, it’s a double portion of galactic epics done in the Netflix scope.

Season 3

Changing of the Guard

This episode smoothly follows up on the recent events of our heroes and enemies.  The Paladins have just beaten Zarkon and there are noteworthy effects of what was gained and lost. 

There’s an interesting and smart direction for the Paladins’ new strategy.  Rather than taking on all the battles themselves, everyone is pushing any planet they liberate from the Galra to join them in all future big battles.  After all, Voltron may be the most powerful being in the universe, but it’s hardly ever a good idea to leave everything to one force.  Looking back, when the rebellion consisted of Voltron alone, it couldn’t beat the Galra by itself.  It was only in the second season when the Paladins started recruiting other groups like the Blade of Marmora when they started gaining progress.  Now is the perfect time to expand on the progress, which believably requires as many alliances as possible.  Getting these alliances grants the episode with a fair amount appeal. There are exciting battles to liberate the planets, little scenes of the new planets aiding the Paladins in personal goals, and extravagant hero worship.  It’s quite a time to be one of them. 

There is, however, a bittersweet air to where the Paladins are now.  With their victory comes the loss of who was the most authoritative Paladin, Shiro, making it hard for their new allies to maintain their hope.  Without him, not all the lions will work and Voltron can’t be formed.  The weight of his loss is especially felt through Keith, the one who was inspired by Shiro the most.  The way he lashes out about Shiro not being around brings a relatable tone of how many people can feel when losing a close one. This even happens at an important meeting meant to inspire other planets.  This allows the episode to speak volumes of how heavy moments like this can be.  It’s only through a moment at the end when everyone confides in Keith about the loss, showing he’s not alone, that moves him towards trying to form Voltron without Shiro.  This shows that talking and trying to understand grief is among the best ways to help someone deal with it, enhancing the episode’s heart. 

As for the enemy forces, the biggest takeaway is the Galra being assigned to take charge in the fight against Voltron while Zarkon’s incapacitated, Prince Lotor.  Through exposition from Galra followers, there’s interesting background to this character.  He’s a dark conqueror like all the other Galra, but Lotor is a bit of rebel to their customs.  He lets the planets he conquers rule as their own empire, is accepting of colorful followers who aren’t fully Galra, and apparently got so bad, he was exiled.  His formal introduction features him partaking in gladiator matches, displaying impressive fight skills, which he later uses on a jealous Galra commander.  Instead of killing him though, Lotor lets him live, offering the commander a chance to join him, claiming that simply pledging loyalty instead of outright destroying is the way to go.  This move suggests Lotor isn’t all-out evil, but far more smart and calculating, seeming like a legitimately good leader and challenging villain.  That said, it’s hard to buy if he really means this inspiring ideal when he orders the commander who already pledged loyalty to him be sent to a freezing planet as prisoner.  It’s a bit of an enigma to leave Lotor on. 

Still, like what our heroes face, it’s a substantial continuation of what’s happened with the series paving the way for what seems like a smart visionary future.

A

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where the matter of who controls Shiro's lion is the focus, featuring a new Paladin to form Voltron.

If you would like to check out other Voltron: Legendary Defender reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Buddy's Book (Steven Universe Season 4 Episode 3) - 'Toon Reviews 29

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:

Buddy’s Book

 

 

In my opinion, cartoons of this show don’t always need to have a direct link with the underlying plot to be important.  They can also give scope and development to the major supporting characters and legacy of what the Crystal Gems have done throughout history.  This is a history-building cartoon, and it’s done to a particularly endearing extent. 

It starts off simple with Steven and Connie taking a trip to the library, and Steven comes across an old journal that belonged to an explorer named Buddy Budwick.  If this name seems familiar, it’s a callback to the cartoon “Historical Friction” where Steven was in a play about how the founding of Beach City which the Crystal Gems had a role in.  So from there, the cartoon is all about him and Connie reading that journal with a nice childlike perspective. 

For one thing, there’s a nice play on perception of characters in a book, particularly on how they imagine the appearance of Buddy.  In their mind, he’s representative of the local theatrical mailman, Jamie, and his overdramatic personality and line deliveries are great fits for the journal’s poetic dialog.  As for how it relates to the legacy of the Crystal Gems’ work, it lies within the actual content of the journal.  In addition to Buddy’s recounts, the journal is also filled with many Gem locations from as far back as Season 1 which make the whole show feel better connected.  We have the Lunar Sea Spire, the Heaven and Earth Beatles’ sky spire, the Communication Hub, and the Prime Kindergarten among other locations.  A mere human explorer visiting and documenting these magical historical places brings a fresh perspective from what we as an audience know about them.  What were places of significance in a major galactic war and holders of corrupted Gems, seem like fascinating structures to people from the outside. 

What’s more, there isn’t any ignorance on Buddy’s part as he’s exploring these places.  He was exploring them with the intent of finding something new and interesting to talk about.  However, through encountering the Crystal Gems, appropriately imagined in old-time appearance modifiers we’ve seen before, he finds these places have already been discovered.  This means that he’s not really discovering anything new at all if other beings have been there.  Then comes a fascinating resolution that also drops major suggestions about one of the main supporting characters. 

During a quest in a desert, Buddy was found by Rose Quartz, who at the time, was raising a group of lions, displaying her connection with the Lion we know.  When Buddy explained his problem, Rose offered beneficial advice to what he had accomplished.  Even if all the places in the journal were discovered before, his perceptions of them are new which therefore make the experience new for anyone reading.  This in turn inspired Buddy to write even more books that eventually led to the library standing today.  There’s a lot of truth to this statement and the whole adventure supports that philosophy with major locations to the Gems meaning something different to this human. 

It may not have the strongest plot connection, but with this engaging word to live by and a little imagination through Steven and Connie perceive what’s read, it’s still quite a nice read.

Just remember Buddy’s drawing of a palanquin for later on though…

A

Season 4 Ranking

1.      Buddy’s Book

2.      Know Your Fusion

3.      Kindergarten Kid

The next Steven Universe review is an emotional step up from what we've been getting as well as one of the most therapeutic pieces of animation.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the return of Voltron: Legendary Defender in the review spotlight.

If you would like to check out other Steven Universe reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.