'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.

'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 30: Let's Have a Stakeout

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:

Let’s Have a Stakeout

Throughout this season, there’s been plenty of K.O. bonding with his co-workers, his mom, and his best friend. This cartoon is the first one fully devoted to him bonding with his level-11 boss, Mr. Gar.  He’s the hero K.O. looks up to the most, but so far we’ve never really seen them together or heard how Mr. Gar really feels about K.O.  In an interesting change of pace, circumstances bring K.O. together with Mr. Gar for an important mission. 

Someone’s been sneaking into Lakewood Plaza Turbo for many nights.  K.O. instantly recognizes the creeper as Shadowy Figure, the villain responsible for making him unleash T.K.O.  When Mr. Gar organizes a stakeout to catch him, through working in parental permission, K.O. gets a chance to join in.  However, his little kid tendencies are on full display during what’s supposed to be a serious stealth mission. His excitability clearly threatens to compromise the element of surprise. 

That said, while he does come off as a bit of a pest asking endless questions, his excitability is mostly entertaining, especially through his misconceptions on stakeouts.  There’s also a nice moment where Mr. Gar humbly says he’s only getting used to a small kid with a lot of questions around.  While he’s answering that single question, we get that sandwich flashback yet again, and it once again ties into something new about Mr. Gar.  That flashback has made him believe that you’ll screw something up no matter how hard you try it, begging how this can be. 

It isn’t long before K.O. starts living through that piece of advice when he’s by himself and decides to follow Shadowy Figure into the sewers to catch him and make Mr. Gar proud.  While chasing him, K.O.’s biggest childlike tendency pulls him into an obvious trap. He believes that Shadowy Figure ran into a secret room, but the door’s locked.  K.O. pulls off an effective power fist to open the door, but Shadowy Figure never got inside at all.  Thanks to K.O.’s power fist, he’s now free to snatch up all the glorbs, which have only been mentioned once before. 

However, in another twist that begs big questions about Shadowy Figure’s true morality, he’s more interested in fighting K.O. than stealing glorbs.  He acts like he’s trying to get K.O. angry to unleash his true power through dodging his attacks and deliberately taunting him by saying he’ll never be a true hero.  In the process, K.O.’s overall greatness as a character shines through. He self-reflects on his behavior during the stakeout and deduces that maybe he was too much of a pest to fully deserve joining Mr. Gar.  However, while he’s effected by this harsh truth, K.O. is strong enough to not give into the negative emotions to unleash T.K.O. again.  He even beats back Shadowy Figure with a simple nudge under his own positive power, prompting the villain to leave emptyhanded. Him just leaving after that further suggests that helping K.O. realize his true power was his true intention after all. 

The last scene has Mr. Gar discover what K.O. had done, and it does great justice for his character. He’s sympathetic for the young hero in training, reminding him there’s always a chance at redemption when you screw up.  It’s a well-handled wholesome moment between the two characters.  K.O. actually gets some meaningful advice from his idol, bringing together everything from a stakeout of meaningful character moments.

A

The Ranking

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

The next OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode is a bizarre one where Rad falls in love with Shannon...and it goes nowhere.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Star vs the Forces of Evil episodes "Collateral Damage" and "Just Friends."

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 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 8: I Am Dendy

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:

I Am Dendy

A character getting a best friend has potential to add endearment and bring about a new interesting dynamic.  This cartoon introduces us to a potential best friend for K.O., and a whole cartoon spent on them hanging out already feels great and interesting. 

Her name is Dendy, and while K.O. hasn’t known her prior to this cartoon, she falls into a surprisingly relatable category.  She’s not very social and mostly focuses on researching others behind their backs.  Even if not many kids know her personally, she’s still present and it’s always possible to learn about her if they get to know her.  That’s what happens with K.O. when Dendy plays to his desire to help people by asking him to help repair her special backpack she uses to put code on devices called a hackpack. 

Their search for the required parts takes them all around Lakewood Plaza Turbo.  In the process, K.O. and Dendy take part in various activities that strengthen their bond, from getting haircuts from Mr. Logic that give them brief stylized anime appearances, to going to the arcade, to simply playing tag in an ally where all the remains of robots are tossed.  There’s a range of feels from K.O. and Dendy’s time together.  K.O.’s innocence, friendliness, and sense of fun is expected, and Dendy has a lot of likability too.  Her technological knowhow has her point out where all the parts she needs are, and even when she ends up breaking things, she fixes them easily.  Also, while she speaks in a monotone, intellectual tone, Dendy comes off as very charming as it slowly becomes clear that she enjoys K.O.’s company, especially as they play tag.  That’s a nice thing to see from an intellectual who could easily just explain scientific information and nothing more. 

Then when K.O. and Dendy finally get to the alley to retrieve a glowing power orb called a glorb, the final component to fix Dendy’s hackpack, her true feelings for K.O. as a friend are put to the test when he’s eaten by a robot fish.  While K.O. goes about with fruitless attempts to punch his way out, Dendy sits on the sidelines adding to an extensive research file on K.O. showing how interested she is in one common kid who up until now she’s only watched but never gotten to know.  It does get concerning that K.O. remains trapped in the fish when it gets dark, and not only does Dendy become too engrossed in her research to help, but K.O.’s other known allies, including his loving mom, don’t come looking for him.  While the latter characters have little excuse, Dendy’s fixation on research is made better when she’s snapped back into her bonding with K.O. who mentions his Pow card collection while discussing his will. 

Akin to most budding friendships, this turns out to be a common interest that officially brings Dendy and K.O. together as friends.  As a result of their shared interest, Dendy reveals that her hackpack was never broken and uses it to rescue K.O.  This means that for all her interest in research, coding, and being technical, Dendy is fully established as a cute relatable kid just looking for a friend, and her adding her name to K.O.’s list of allies at the end brings great satisfaction that she found one. 

This cartoon is just a fun-loving boy, and a lonely intellectual girl hanging out together as they grow closer, but that’s all it needs to be great.

A

The Ranking

1. I Am Dendy
2. Let’s Be Heroes
3. You’re Everybody’s Sidekick
4. Jethro’s All Yours
5. Let’s Be Friends
6. We Messed Up
7. Sibling Rivalry
8. You’re Level 100

The next OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes review is about Rad striving to prove that he knows everything about everything when the bodega employees are assigned to get something from a labyrinth of a storage room.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews from Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a review of "Starstruck" and "Camping Trip."

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