'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 17: Know Your Mom

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Know Your Mom

One of the most heartfelt aspects of the series is K.O.’s relationship with his mom, Carol.  Everything about this mother figure is a joy to watch.  She’s protective of her son's well-being, but is also very supportive of all his goals, and always makes time for him after work.  Along with a great personality and sense of fun, it shows that K.O. should be proud to have a mom like Carol.  Like what most people would do for any great mother, K.O. is willing to show how much he appreciates all that his mom does for him.  This cartoon gives him an opportunity at that with Mother’s Day coming. 

Since K.O. is a little kid, his gift ideas for Carol are simple macaroni art.  Despite being perfectly acceptable for his age, he feels self-conscious about his unspectacular gift.  This is especially the case when Brandon and A Real Magic Skeleton, subtly allude to giving a pasta art picture to his mom to giving her trash.  Actually, it’s really Brandon who convinces him; he ends up getting a karma-fueled subplot where RMS insists his actions have consequences. 

Even if K.O. really doesn’t need to worry about this, him looking for of a more fitting gift for Carol is amiable. Not to mention it fits his goal to go above and beyond as a great hero.  He questions how much he appreciates what his mom does for him when the best answers he has for what she likes are what she does every day.  They aren’t exactly the same as interests or character traits.  Out of this setback is an endearing gesture from K.O. as he researches about Carol.  The information  he finds is solid character development.  She was a member of a highly revered hero squad P.O.I.N.T. under the name Silver Spark.  This gives a new insight to K.O.’s upbringing through being raised by a talented hero and wanting to be one himself.  Plus, P.O.I.N.T. is a prominent elements of the series, serving as the main focus of many cartoons to come. 

Out of these reveals, there’s believable emotional value to what K.O. is trying to do since Carol quit P.O.I.N.T. 6 to 11 years ago, which is how old he is.  Even if this is technically an overreaction, it’s not too inaccurate that K.O. could be the reason Carol quit her job. K.O. believing that is especially heavy.  That said, his idea of resolution by inviting an old villain Carol used to fight for a battle is a little boneheaded due to the clear problems it can cause.  It’s still enjoyable through K.O.’s calls to some of them revealing that most of the old villains are too old or not even alive. 

He finally convinces a villain to come, an aging rapping cactus called Succulentus.  While Succulentus rocks out while fighting, Carol questions how he was brought over.  There’s a nice moment where Carol’s good nature wins out as she comforts Succulentus when he gets tired, and they civilly get coffee.  Then we end with one last show of mother-son love as Carol tells K.O. that he’s all she needs for a great life now.  She also lets him know that he didn’t make her quit P.O.I.N.T. which offers further context to the vague sandwich flashback from an earlier cartoon. 

It’s a typical trait for a parent to be satisfied just with raising a nice kid, but the way this piece of family love plays out makes it impactful anyhow.  Along with insightful moments of how meaningful relationships can be and interesting character development, this is an endearing cartoon for anyone who loves their families.

A

The Ranking

1. Legends of Mr. Gar
2. We’ve Got Pests
3. I Am Dendy
4. You Get Me
5. Let’s Be Heroes
6. You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
7. Jethro’s All Yours
8. Know Your Mom
9. My Dad Can Beat up Your Dad
10. Let’s Be Friends
11. We Messed Up
12. Presenting Joe Cuppa
13. Sibling Rivalry
14. Just Be a Pebble
15. Do You Have Any More in the Back?
16. You’re Level 100
17. You Are Rad

The next OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes review shows Lord Boxman as a civil citizen trying to impress a client on top of a diabolical villain who's captured K.O. and his friends.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews from Star vs the Forces of Evil is a review of "Hungry Larry" and "Spider With a Top Hat."

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

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 10

Hand-Me-Downer

 

 

 

 

 

 This is a really fun cartoon that offers a different perspective on life, particularly when it comes to receiving gifts, or as is common in a family as big as Lincoln’s, hand-me-downs.  Lincoln is revealed to have had quite a history with receiving hand-me-downs from his older sisters, and being rather unsatisfied with them, which I believe is common for people his age.  Most recently, Lincoln receives an incredibly girly bike from Lori, and it’s a hand-me-down he can’t simply hide under his bed.  Feeling embarrassed by the bike, Lincoln goes on to do something about it by taking Lynn’s cool bike for a spin without her knowing.  Despite Lincoln being in the wrong for taking a bike that isn’t his, it’s still easy to enjoy yourself as you watch Lincoln have some actual legitimate fun with the bike, and even get to hang out with a group of cool kids.  I think it's worth noting that one of the cool kids, Rusty Spokes, interestingly becomes one of Lincoln's friends.  It makes you wonder what happened between that and him hanging with these judgmental cool kids.  Of course, because of Lincoln being in the wrong, he ends up getting himself in trouble when Lynn’s bike ends up stolen and she needs it for a competition.  Once Lincoln fails to find the bike and ends up being kicked out of the biker team , he tells the truth where we get that different perspective on life I mentioned earlier.  While most people would simply store gifts they don’t like away, this cartoon shows that there’s a way to get a lot of enjoyment out of any gift you get, even if you don’t like it.  All of Lincoln’s sisters reveal that Lynn’s cool bike was one that was handed down to sister after sister who fixed it up to fit their needs.  I should also mention that we end get cute and somewhat humorous flashbacks of some of the sisters when they were younger.  I especially see a lot of charm from those that show a young Leni and Luan.  This is a truly good moment of sibling love here where the sisters offer this meaningful advice to Lincoln to just do something with hand-me-downs instead of lamenting over what he gets and Lincoln goes on to do just that after getting back Lynn’s bike.  There are a few stumbling points with this cartoon though such as how everyone who praised Lincoln on Lynn’s bike before act judgmental of him when he does the same thing on the pink bike and the fact that we never see who took Lynn’s bike much less see his/her comeuppance, both of which are kind of frustrating.  Those points don’t stop this cartoon from being a piece of enjoyment with something nice about life to keep in mind when the cartoon wraps up.  9/10

Sleuth or Consequences

 

 

 

 

 

If you want a cartoon of this show that’s both fun and features a great amount of love between siblings, this is a good candidate to some extent anyway.  The whole story takes the approach of a crime scene investigation which is made even more fun by the fact that it’s over something as simple as Lincoln trying to figure out who clogged the toilet as a comic convention he wants to go to draws near.  Aiding in the fun of the investigation is Lucy serving as Lincoln’s second-in-command.  She’s already proven herself as one of my favorite Loud siblings for how her interest in death and darkness and her near-emotionless personality make for a perfect clash between the other siblings and the environment of the Loud House in general.  Seeing a large dose of her as she and Lincoln interrogate the other sisters is certainly really welcome.  Many of the interrogations have a lot of entertaining qualities too as they all explain why they’re innocent, especially those of Lynn, which serves as a nice setup to the ending gag, Lori, Luan, Leni, and Luna.  The cartoon’s heartfelt part comes in with a good bit of character development for Lucy.  It’s later revealed that as much as she loves the darkness, she sometimes needs a break from it by reading an overly saccharine book called Princess Pony. To avoid being made fun of, she threw the book in the toilet to try and hide it, but it ended up clogging the toilet.  This adds some good depth to Lucy’s character with this newly revealed vulnerable side making her come off as more than just a spooky little girl.  We also get one of Lincoln’s best brotherly moments where he willingly takes the blame for the clog, sacrificing his chances of going to his convention and opening himself up for teasing, but saving Lucy’s reputation and his actions are deservedly rewarded with a handmade comic by Lucy.  This moment of heart gives the cartoon a lot of value for feeling genuine and successfully making the audience care about what the characters involved go through.  There’s lots to love, though I do show concern of how the rest of the sisters come off as jerks for teasing Lincoln for his interests and appearance even if it does greatly foreshadow Lincoln’s actions at the end.  For how heartwarming Lincoln and Lucy's sibling bonds are shown to be here, it's really unfortunate that his bonds with the others aren't shown to be nearly as such.  It's like they're an opposing force delighting in being mean and judgmental instead of decent human beings and loving siblings we know they can be.  It's a good thing there are plenty of moments in other cartoons to show that even with their tendency to tease, they do still love him and that the moments of teasing among other bad times are just off moments that anyone can have no matter how good they are.  Even with the teasing parts though, this cartoon is one of the best forms of proof that this show can do so much with what seems like so little. 9/10

The Ranking

1.      Undie Pressure

2.      Project Loud House

3.      Space Invader

4.      Driving Miss Hazy

5.      Left in the Dark

6.      Picture Perfect

7.      Sleuth or Consequences

8.      Hand-Me-Downer

9.      No Guts No Glori

10.  Changing the Baby

11.  Sound of Silence

12.  A Tale of Two Tables

13.  Overnight Success

14.  In Tents Debate

15.  Linc or Swim

16.  The Sweet Spot

17.  Heavy Meddle

18.  Get the Message

19.  Ties that Bind

20.  Making the Case

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode with one of the most out-there cartoons, "Butterfly Effect," and an environmental plot gone wrong in "The Green House."

 

'Toon Reviews 4: The Loud House Season 1 Episode 7

Picture Perfect

 

 

 

 

 

This cartoon is one of the strongest displays of the show’s theme of appreciating what you have in life.  It comes through in flying colors as we watch Lincoln strive to put together a perfect picture of his sisters and pets for his parents’ anniversary.  After his picture fails to meet his expectations when his sister’s fail to hold still and turn to their main interests, Lincoln sets out to take another one that he hopes will come out perfect.  We get a large set of funny moments of Lincoln getting his sisters outside to take another picture, each one demonstrating the appealing personalities of all 10 of the girls.  At the same time, we also start to see Lincoln go about making his picture perfect the wrong way that causes discomfort to the sisters.  He starts off tame with actions like swapping Lisa’s glasses and Leni’s shades and taking Luna’s guitar and Luan’s funny nose and glasses saying that they won’t get them back unless they’re in the picture.  Then he starts getting really ridiculous by changing his sisters’ appearances, complete with everyone wearing ugly red and green sweaters.  I think a line from Luna sums up Lincoln’s behavior perfectly: “This picture thing has changed you dude.”  Ultimately, Lincoln ends up getting the picture he wants, albeit unintentionally making his sisters feel bad for being themselves in the process, but after that is when the theme really comes into play.  As Lincoln goes through the house, he notices all his sisters enjoying themselves by doing what shows off who they really are, and gets more happiness from this portrayal of his sisters than their “perfect” portrayal in the picture.  It’s actually a moving scene that gets its message across without any actual dialogue which really gives this cartoon some value.  Finally, it’s followed up by a noble act from Lincoln where instead of his “perfect” picture, he presents Mom and Dad with the old picture that perfectly shows off who his sisters really are and define what life in the Loud House is all about.  Truly, it’s a fitting way of showing that for all its quirks and what not, the life you live is truly worth appreciating.  With that, I call this cartoon another strong entry of this season. 9.5/10

 Undie Pressure

 

 

 

 

 

By now, you can tell that all of the Loud siblings are very distinctive when it comes to personalities, but this cartoon is a great example of how even though they’re very different, there are common ties between them all, and that makes their sibling bonds a lot stronger.  With that in mind, we’re in for an amazing experience from this show.  It all unfolds when Lola gets annoyed by Lincoln’s habit of reading comics in his underwear which leads to everyone betting that they can go without resorting to their habits than longer Lincoln can.  From then on, we’re treated to more awesome moments that show off why the Loud siblings are such a lovable bunch.  Some siblings lose the bet almost immediately, but then we’re treated to most of them trying so hard to not do their habits only to eventually crack under pressure and do what makes them feel comfortable.  By the end, when Lincoln and Lola are only left standing, you’re already tense with anticipation to see who will win, especially since Lola, striving to not look at herself in a mirror as part of the bet, begins to come off as demented and monster-like which is very fitting of her frightening side introduced in “Sound of Silence.”  The tension just escalates when both she and Lincoln resort to extreme means of winning the bet with Lola making Lincoln feel uncomfortable in the pants area by turning up the heat, and Lincoln polishing every surface in the house for Lola to potentially look at herself.  Each part of the bet is really a lot of fun with no dull moments in sight all thanks to the characters we’re exposed to.  Eventually, the bet comes to an amusing end when Lincoln loses in a highly clever way with Lily turning out victorious since she didn’t cry the entire time, something that even the audience most likely would not have been able to pay attention to.  However, there’s a really strong moment of sibling love that closes everything off.  Lola sees Lincoln, who’s now required to always read comics with his clothes on, feeling uncomfortable and she feels bad for him.  It’s here where we’re introduced to another side of Lola’s character, and one we wouldn’t expect to see from someone like her at that.  She’s able to show genuine sympathy when her siblings are in emotional turmoil and take it upon herself to do something about it.  That’s just what she does when she buys Lincoln the special undies he would’ve gotten if he won the bet, and later lets him off the hook, saying that since all the sisters can’t give up what they like, Lincoln shouldn’t give up his.  It’s a revelation like this that really sells the appeal of the Loud siblings’ relationship, and succeeds at being a perfect end to a practically perfect cartoon.  This is one that’s big on the entertainment, as well as the deepness of the characters’ bonds; it’s impossible not to love what goes on here. 10/10

The Ranking

1.      Undie Pressure

2.      Project Loud House

3.      Space Invader

4.      Driving Miss Hazy

5.      Left in the Dark

6.      Picture Perfect

7.      No Guts No Glori

8.      Sound of Silence

9.      A Tale of Two Tables

10.  In Tents Debate

11.  The Sweet Spot

12.  Heavy Meddle

13.  Get the Message

14.  Making the Case

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode of the season which gets in some summertime fun with "Linc or Swim" and features a starring role for Lily in "Changing the Baby."