It goes without saying that the main hero pairing of K.O., Rad, and Enid is a strong one. The start of this cartoon even makes a point of how great their teamwork is. However, since their dynamic is so strong, attempts to break them up has the tendency to create unnecessary, you might even say forced, drama. By attempting to put them through an area of what it means to be a real deal, major league hero, the drama they face here does fall flat, though it’s not without some merit.
Our three heroes do start off performing their jobs well, and because of their high status, they receive praise from the entire plaza that they never got before. Despite getting praised for performing the important parts of heroism, conflict comes when asked about a gimmick. After all, other teams, both of heroes and villains, have something in common in their group and catchy names. K.O., Rad, and Enid are just themselves, so they don’t leave as strong as impact, even though the crowds of praise they receive suggest otherwise.
Nevertheless, they all give into this critique and try to think of a gimmick with K.O. especially keen on following through with one, knowing he and his friends are in the big leagues now. His gimmick idea isn’t so much about the crime fighting as it is about appearances, meaning they should all get new costumes to replace their slim distinctive jumpsuits. Out of their press for new costumes is sound advice from the humanoid strawberry who gave them their original new costumes, Drupe. This cartoon features Drupe in a major leap in development. Going from just another teen to running a business, Drupe is noticeably way more mature and helpful to K.O., Rad, and Enid’s cause. She talks of individuality and how the costumes they pick should reflect what says a lot about them.
It’s here though when K.O., Rad, and Enid start losing the idea of teamwork for the sake of costumes. Each one chooses a wildly different style with K.O. getting a big cape in hopes of flight, Rad getting cyber armor he can’t control, and Enid dressing as a barbarian with itchy robes. As you can see, their costumes have a lot of drawbacks, and prevent them from performing well from a usual plaza attack from Raymond. Their response to this is a big angry fight over whose costume would have helped win the fight, with everyone ignorant that they all have fault. Even K.O., who’s supposed to be the most moral of the three, gives into the tension, a big factor of making the drama feel forced. At least the mad expressions and aggressive line deliveries are funny. Still, the three heroes splitting up over this still feels overly harsh, as is scenes of K.O. moping around and even lashing out at his mom’s good advice of compromise.
The thing is, the serious tone of the hero breakup and K.O. setting
himself up to go solo feels wasted. It isn’t long before they end up back at
Drupe’s to get their old costumes. The
overall conclusion is solid with Drupe giving a passionate speech about how
getting the job done as the heroes they are is most important, and gimmicks
will come later. The three heroes
finally beat Raymond, and despite the press being unimpressed with their
dynamic earlier, they decide they love it now.
The merit of this cartoon lies within some comedy and the sound advice,
pulling it through a majority of forced drama attempting to shake up a
legitimately strong dynamic.
C
Season 2 Rankings
1. Your World is an Illusion
2. T.K.O.’s House
3. Final Exams
4. CarolQuest
5. All in the Villainy
6. Dark Plaza
7. GarQuest
8. Dendy’s Power
9. Crossover Nexus
10. Lord Cowboy Darrell
11. Bittersweet Rivals
12. Beach Episode
13. Red Action to the Future
14. My Fair Carol
15. K.O.’s Health Week
16. Are You Ready for Some Megafootball?!
17. Boxman Crashes
18. Wisdom Strength and Charisma
19. Gar Trains Punching Judy
20. I Am Jethro
21. Mystery Sleepover
22. Super Black Friday
23. Point to the Plaza
24. Project Ray Way
25. Special Delivery
26. Seasons Change
27. The So-Bad-Ical
28. Monster Party
29. Sidekick Scouts
30. Whacky Jaxxyz
31. Rad’s Alien Sickness
32. Plaza Film Festival
33. OK A.U.! Alternate Universe
34. Let’s Watch the Boxmore Show
35. Be a Team
36. Plaza Alone
37. Soda Genie
Season 3
Ranking
1. We Are Heroes
2. K.O., Rad, and Enid!
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