Monster Bash (Star vs the Forces of Evil Season 3 Episode 13) - 'Toon Reviews 27

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:

Monster Bash

Much of this season has covered Star being vocal about how unfair monsters are treated by Mewmans.  She’s proven capable of putting her reckless traits aside and notice legit issues.  The only problem is that certain steps in her plan to end the prejudices seem to come without warranting.  This continues here when she throws a party for all monster and Mewan youths.  The event would have had more value to it if past episode featured the plans getting underway.  This can be forgiven for how Star has everything under control. 

By just putting monsters and Mewmans in the same room, everyone hits it off well.  Some bond over interests and one monster even helps a princesses with her own problem.  It’s truly impressive how Star heals the years of discrimination so easily.  However, external forces ruin her legit progress.  During the party, a monster and a princess end up in the cellar and are ambushed.  The princess returns, but the monster and a few others are gone.  From here, all the legit bonding of monsters and Mewmans goes to waste.  There’s blaming over what species is worse which is totally out of line.  It could have been avoided if the princess just explained what really happened, but she never does.  Also, how could the monsters be blamed if they’re being taken, and why would the monsters be quick to blame the Mewmans when they were so open to bonding with them?  I wouldn’t be so concerned with this direction if the monsters and Mewmans didn’t get along earlier. 

When Star and Marco investigate, they find the monsters imprisoned by Mina Loveberry, and her role here further botches the prejudices.  She’s here for one specific monster, but she’s imprisoning teen monsters who did nothing wrong.  How is that fair? I know Mina is crazy, but she’s also known to keep focused on all assigned tasks.  Why the deviation?  Her true target appears when they run into Ms. Heinous who was stalking the party from the sidelines.  Her cheeks glow, which reveals a hidden baby room.  Following this is a gentle sequence where she looks over the room and recognizes everything, including dolls of Eclipsa and her monster husband.  It even causes her appearance to become more monstrous.  The takeaway is that Ms. Heinous is actually Meteora, daughter of Eclipsa and a technical part of the Butterfly family.  Despite Meteora sounding genuinely restrained as she looks over her old room, Mina irrationally attacks her in a much more monstrous form.  There’s a fun intense battle with Mina where everyone gets a chance to throw punches, even though she overpowers them all.  It also sets up something huge with Meteora escaping while everyone’s fighting and her monstrous form flourishes. 

As for the Mewman vs monster conflict, it ends up going nowhere when Rhombulus and the royal guards close down the party.  They also only serve the Mewmans and imprison the monsters.  The big kicker is that the Mewmans show no sympathy to the monsters they befriended, and Star is berated for even hosting the party.  No one, not even Star, brings up that its cause would have worked if Mina didn’t show up when she did; the party’s downfall was a total freak event.  Plus, the Mewmans’ unwarranted attitudes towards monsters fuels the issue with frustrating denseness. 

As you can see, the prejudice issue has no real weight to it, making for a very flawed portrayal of the theme.  However, what elevates this episode to greatness is Star’s portrayal and a dark twist setting up events to come. 

A-

The Ranking

1. Moon the Undaunted
2. Deep Dive
3. Stranger Danger
4. Sweet Dreams
5. Return to Mewni
6. Rest in Pudding
7. Night Life
8. Demoncism
9. Toffee
10. Monster Bash
11. Club Snubbed
12. Puddle Defender
13. Sophomore Slump
14. Starfari
15. Lint Catcher
16. Princess Turdina
17. Scent of a Hoodie
18. King Ludo
19. Marco and the King
20. Death Peck
21. Book Be Gone
22. Trial by Squire
23. Lava Lake Beach
24. Ponymonium

The next Star vs the Forces of Evil review puts all this season's plot points on hold to do a Christmas Stump Day special.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is another holiday special, the Veterans Day special from Hey Arnold.

If you would like to check out other Star vs the Forces of Evil reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.

Born to Spawn/Uniform Behavior (Rocko's Modern Life Season 2 Episode 9) - 'Toon Reviews 24

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:

Born to Spawn

This cartoon is on one of the more natural parts of life.  It’s something that everyone goes through whether they like it or not, and that’s facing adulthood.  Despite being a so natural, there’s plenty of room for the show’s ways of creatively portraying things. 

Filburt is usually neurotic, but in this cartoon, facing adulthood makes his usual physical trauma worse.  He gets overblown with rashes and develops a huge bump on his head as the planets align.  When he arrives for his 21^st birthday, his strange behavior is given a reason as he sculpts a cake into his birth island, Kerplopitgoes Island.  Being a turtle, he’s naturally drawn to return to his birthplace upon turning 21, which I believe is loosely based on migration patterns of real turtles, sea turtles to be exact.  If this is true, then this is an ingenious way to show that despite being anthropomorphic, the characters of this show are still technically animals at heart. 

Nevertheless, Filburt’s human-like traits of neuroticism are intact.  For his own nerdy reasons, he fears going back to face adulthood which feels somewhat believable, prompting Rocko and Heffer to keep an eye on him so he doesn’t go.  For that, the cartoon mostly consists of their attempts to have Filburt stay put from there.  However, as long as the planets are aligned, the natural order is in force.  This means, whether it’s against his will or not, Filburt constantly pushes to get out of Rocko’s house to go to Kerplopitgoes Island.  The ways around the attempts aren’t anything special though.  Filburt just puts on disguises to take advantage of Heffer’s unintelligence and somehow convinces Spunky to use power tools to get him out of a cage.  Even if these aren’t impressive ways around having him stay put, these moments uniquely show adulthood happens no matter how much people try to stall it.  Plus, they lead to a funny outcome when Filburt does finally escapes.  There’s a news report of him using a boat-themed seafood restaurant to get to Kerplotitgoes Island while clamoring for fish sticks.  Rocko and Heffer find out about this on a TV when they run errands which admittedly begs the question why they left Filburt alone to begin with. 

Anyway, they travel to Kerplopitgoes where we get another clever visualization of adulthood.  With the planetary alignment, all sorts of turtles come to party for the occasion of Filburt’s 21^st birthday.  They all look handsome and have a strong desire to party with an upbeat background tune selling the tone of affairs.  The tone of the moment sets itself up as emotional as Filburt acts like he wants to stay and party and Rocko and Heffer being forced to deal with it.  The fun party continuing and the music still playing further shows that life goes on despite all emotional events. 

However, all that emotion is devalued when as soon as the planets stop aligning, Filburt and the other turtles turn back to normal and go home.  It’s really devaluing that they built up so much genuine emotion only to retcon everything.  Then again, I guess this can be seen as growing up and never feeling older.  Plus, while it was said that Filburt had to return to his birthplace, it was never confirmed that he had to stay there.  Basically, even if it makes a waste of apparent emotional weight, the ending has merit when all is said and done.  It also can’t be faulted for being an interesting look and depiction of what growing up is like and how the whole universe is powerless against it.

A

Uniform Behavior

Dumb characters sometimes provide little to no good to the people around them, but that doesn’t always hurt their appeal.  Sometimes, this direction can offer a dumb yet imaginative approach to one of life’s challenges.  That’s where Heffer comes in.  Sometimes he’s a total freeloader who makes things worse, and sometimes he’s helpful in his own way. 

This cartoon is simply on a misguided way he operates on a normal day.  He causes a problem to his family’s finance with his weight and disregard for safety rules by wrecking the car after not wearing a seatbelt.  His best option for a job to get the money to fix the car is as an evening security guard at Conglom-O. 

The first point of interest to this direction is how seriously Heffer takes this job.  It may seem hard to believe since he’s already really dumb and his earlier disregard for seatbelts.  However, in Heffer’s own bizarre, dumb, yet creative way, he grows to understand the importance of adhering the law.  He has a dream of being visited by a group of udders of justice whom he vows to remember the teachings of as he takes on the role of security guard.  Also of note is how he seems to follow the basic rules of being a security guard from watching the monitors and going out to patrol the halls on a trike right on schedule.  He even has a believable opinion on the assignments through finding watching the monitors dull and 12:00 patrol to be more exciting with a lot of action. 

That’s not to say Heffer’s completely devoid of being dumb.  He applies his security guard mindset even when he’s not on duty, giving tickets to Rocko and Filburt for menial deviant acts and sees nothing wrong with it.  He also has no knowledge of who works at Conglom-O as he arrests Ed Bighead, a well-known employee, for taking a few lightbulbs home.  This right here is typical letting power go to Heffer’s head along with his principal trait.  He’s clearly not doing things right even if the effort he shows is big and genuine. 

For all his havoc, he’s interestingly punished in different manners of speaking.  Some consequences are self-inflicted as Heffer takes a soda break.  Everything is tinted a hellish red making it seem like he’s selling his soul for a soda.  If that’s not enough, everyone he wrongfully gave a ticket to appears in the seats behind him as if to suggest he’s a little aware that he’s gone mad with power.  While it’s a small sign, the staging is enough to show that this scene is all in Heffer’s head.  What’s clearly not in Heffer’s head is his consequence from outside sources.  His unintelligence has him run out into the streets naked which gets him arrested. 

Ultimately, while Heffer was ultimately a detriment to the well-being of society, he’s still a fine character to take the starring role.  He’s appropriately punished, shows that he was at least trying to do his job well, and while he remains in prison, he has genuine acknowledgement of what he did wrong.  It isn’t easy to successfully make a problematic dumb character a likable lead, but this cartoon stands as a good example of how with the right execution, it can be done.

A+

The Ranking

1. Rocko’s Modern Christmas
2. Tickled Pinky
3. Boob Tubed
4. Uniform Behavior
5. Kiss Me I’m Foreign
6. The Lounge Singer
7. Road Rash
8. I Have No Son
9. Commuted Sentence
10. Cruisin’
11. Born to Spawn
12. Down the Hatch
13. Pipe Dreams
14. She’s the Toad
15. Hut Sut Raw

The next Rocko's Modern Life review is of Rocko having a bad hair day and Ed Bighead facing the consequences of being a jerky bowling coach.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the DuckTales episode, "Jungle Duck."

If you would like to check out other Rocko's Modern Life 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 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.