'Toon Reviews 19: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes Season 1 Episode 20: Everybody Likes Rad?

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:

Everybody Likes Rad?

I’m always up for works covering the creative process in films, TV episodes, plays, or even internet videos.  This may be because I want to go into that field myself and aim to utilize what it takes to make something great.  It’s for these reasons why Rad is so relatable in this cartoon. 

He makes an internet video of launching a Rad Rocket on the roof, and falling through the roof while doing so.  Embarrassing as this may seem, Rad has his own reasons for why the video works, showing an impressive talent of making the most out of a bad situation.  Aiding in this attitude is everyone in Lakewood Plaza Turbo praising him for making something so funny. 

As someone who enjoys looking for entertainment on the internet, I believe that most people would frequently check how many people are seeing their work.  It’s certainly the kind of attitude I have when it comes to checking views of these blog posts.  This is what makes Rad’s newfound show business attitude identifiable as he checks his phone all night to watch the views of his video increase.  In the process, it begs the question what people like about Rad’s video, specifically those who don’t know him personally like K.O. and Enid do.  This is also something online content creators have to wonder when their work gets a lot of views, especially when no one leaves comments.  Through the reactions to the video, the answer as to what people mainly enjoy about the video becomes clear. It's the part where Rad exclaims “Blorp!” when he falls through the roof.  This is especially true when he praises the composition of the whole video at a convention, but everyone else won’t stop talking about the blorp.  This helps to move Rad past simply being full of himself and believing he can do no wrong. He realizes the harsh truth that everyone only likes his video for one thing and don’t think much of the whole. 

Rad later thinks he has a chance to really show off his talents when he’s approached by a movie director.  He wants Rad to star in his latest film, suggesting that a prestigious player in the media field finally gets him.  Rad’s drive to give a great performance is easily seen from his time on set as he strives to give even the simplest line his dramatic all.  Despite his efforts and passion for the arts, even the director sees Rad as nothing more than a joke when all Rad’s lines are blorp, with a few stereotypical alien phrases.  This means the whole world around Rad has to be completely dense for the story to work, which costs the cartoon a little bit of value. 

Still this scene makes a point of how even professional filmmakers seem to take the easy way out when writing characters.  Most criticism for bad movies seem to be for making characters too basic or stereotypical. It’s always great for material like this cartoon to bring this factor to mind to help people look sharply at what makes a movie good.  This is especially felt in the last scene where the movie is revealed to be done with another alien actor. Rad and his friends are grateful that Rad didn’t go along with it after watching how bad the final product turns out. 

The cartoon turns out to be one of Rad’s best starring roles, standing out more for its relatability and honesty when it comes to making entertainment.

A

The Ranking

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

The next OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode features Enid at her most endearing as she reminisces the cause of her uncaring ways which connect to her childhood friend, Elodie.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews, from Star vs the Forces of Evil, it's a review of "Page Turner" and "Naysaya."

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 19: Face Your Fears

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:

Face Your Fears

One of the best ways to utilize animation is to give creative interpretations of common virtues.  A big virtue explored in media is facing fears, and this cartoon has a very interesting way of showing it.  In the process it further develops characters and brings an imaginative environment. 

There’s an arcade game where heroes see how good they are at facing their fears. It reflects their status by adjusting the fear resistance on their Pow cards.  The game is a catalyst to the plot which reveals that for all his impressive heroics, Mr. Gar’s fear resistance is not very high. K.O., Rad, and Enid convince him to try the game out to update.  Hooking up to a virtual reality helmet and setting the level to Super Extra Hard, Mr. Gar ends up trapped within his biggest fears.  If that's not enough, the game can’t just be unplugged or he’ll go into a coma.  The best chance K.O. and the others have to help is to go into their boss’ psyche and face his fear for him.  This instance also gives Dendy a chance to shine through making a surprise entrance through the console, and hooking up extra helmets to make it happen. 

The creative aspect to the cartoon comes into full force from here when Rad and Enid get stuck while helping Mr. Gar face his fear. K.O. must help them all, with the challenges he has to face creatively staged as a video game map.  Going into the minds of his friends, there’s lots of potential for imaginative occurrences, for the mind is where literally anything can happen.  Also, everyone’s fears reveal a lot about the characters and their presentations shine with creativity.  Enid’s fear is a shrine of portraits from her “dorky” phases, showing that she’s self-conscious about her appearance as they proceed to attack K.O. when he calls them dorky.  The fear is conquered when K.O. says what’s good about all the phases, which feels like a logical thing for people who go through this fear in real life to do.  Rad’s fear is confusing at first as it leads K.O. and Enid into an enclosed area of Rad faces acting cool.  They have to point out what they already know about Rad, which makes the area an interesting way of showing that he’s acting cool to hide that he’s vulnerable and nice.  It takes getting emotional to get the Rad faces to break and cry K.O. and Enid to the exit.

 

Then comes the big challenge of facing Mr. Gar’s fear.  At first, it feels very standard, appearing to be a single person, a former hero named Laserblast.  It gives an opportunity for K.O. to show his biggest fear, by unleashing a terror from within to face Laserblast. It’s amazing that this kid is so resistant of such a fear.  As for Mr. Gar, his fear turns out to be more complicated than this.  He really cowers over the sight of Carol in her Silver Spark getup, berating him and attacking him with sandwich content.  It brings a lot of references to what we’ve learned so far, indicating that Mr. Gar went to P.O.I.N.T. with Carol and has something to do with that vague sandwich flashback.  These reveals bring bigger reasons why Mr. Gar is so nervous around Carol, as well as mystery about what she was so mad at him for.  K.O. faces the fear by showing the vision of Carol that he loves her, but Mr. Gar still shows growth from the experience through saying a normal sentence to her for once. This gesture means a lot more for happening outside the game. 

This leaves the cartoon as one of the most creatively staged with an interesting atmosphere and world’s to get through, and intriguing ways to conquer fears and develop characters.


A+

The Ranking

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

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Rad teaches about the importance of living for your art while experiencing the burden of typecasting.

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 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 5: Shen Yi Bu

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:

Shen Yi Bu

The Xiaolin Warrior I find to be the most relatable is Raimundo.  His character flaws make him feel identifiable, especially since he develops past them as the series goes on.  They’ve been present a few times in prior episodes mostly through caring more about frivolous maters and a messing with Omi.  His development past his attitude problems starts here. 

The Xiaolin Warriors represent a certain natural element. This is why the action has often cut to them doing a fight move as they say what they represent against an elaborate backdrop. Raimundo’s element is wind.  The featured Shen Gong Wu, the Sword of the Storm, is wind related, so Raimundo would be the best one to use it. 

However, pertaining to his flaws, Raimundo drifts away to things he finds more interesting such as surfing and impressing beach babes.  He doesn’t listen to the importance of the Sword of the Storm.  As for the Sword itself, it’s an interesting Shen Gong Wu that creates violent wind storms of immeasurable magnitudes while also turning the user’s body into wind.  While Raimundo finds it, because he didn’t listen to the information, he can’t use the Sword of the Storm properly. As a result, he loses it to another villain hired by Jack and Wuya, a ninja named Tubbimura.  Now, Tubbimura may be a standard evil ninja personality wise, but a few things make him stand out.  It’s amusing to see him fight skillfully with such a round stomach, and while not in battle, he’s soft-spoken and civil. 

As for Raimundo, his development kicks in when he regrets his failure greatly.  He brushes up on as much information as he can on Shen Gong Wu and showdowns going late into the night.  This attitude is an impactful and relatable form of redemption.  It’s like brushing up on a lot of information to make up for failing a test so to do better on the next one.  I’ve been through this in school, so I know how this feels. 

As was the case for me, Raimundo’s endless studying pays off.  There's a reveal of another Shen Gong Wu the Shroud of Shadows, and he knows what it does, covering up the user to make him/her invisible, before anyone else.  During the episode’s Xiaolin Showdown with Tubbimura, Raimundo’s knowledge shines through. 

He makes it a Shen Yi Bu Dare, a special type of Showdown where the opponents can wager more than one Shen Gong Wu.  The Showdown itself is one of the coolest.  It’s modeled after a Japanese pond the Shroud of Shadows is found.  Its rocks reach to the sky and the setting becomes stormy. Raimundo and Tubbimura have to use their Shen Gong Wu to knock each other off their rocks while big koi fish randomly switch their Shen Gong Wu around.  In the end, Raimundo impresses everyone by combining two Shen Gong Wu, the Eye of Dashi and Sword of the Storm.  This allows him to move with the wind, give Tubbimura a humiliating defeat, and win a bunch of Shen Gong Wu for the Xiaolin side. 

More development from Raimundo is to come, but how he evolves in this one episode is already impressive.  Starting as a bored lollygagging student and becoming a champion at knowledge in battle, he’s the highlight of the episode. It goes to show the good that can come from the most unlikely of places.

A+

The Ranking

1. Shen Yi Bu
2. Katnappe
3. The Journey of a Thousand Miles
4. Like a Rock
5. Tangled Web

The next Xiaolin Showdown review puts the Warriors' tiger instincts to the test when Kimiko is replaced with a doppelganger robot.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is "Face Your Fears" from OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes.

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

'Toon Reviews 21: Xiaolin Showdown Season 1 Episode 4: Katnappe

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:

Katnappe

One of the show’s biggest strengths is its extensive variety of villains.  Eccentric and whiny Jack Spicer and seriously thinking Wuya are the most prominently seen.  However, there are several episodes devoted to other villains of different interests and personas. 

This episode’s featured villain, introduced at the end of the previous one, is Katnappe.  She's the alter ego of a girl Jack knows who’s obsessed with cats, right down to dressing like one and making incessant cat puns.  She also means serious business in fights, taking out Jack’s robots with her bare claws or her small yet destructive robot kittens.  Now that Jack’s constant failures to obtain Shen Gong Wu are becoming an issue, Katnappe is the best way to counteract them. 

Speaking of Shen Gong Wu, although it was revealed and obtained in the last episode, this episode shows a lot of the Golden Tiger Claws.  They’re a glove of claws that rips a hole in the fabric of the universe that can transport the holder anywhere he or she desires.  It’s a cool fictional idea brought to life, and the scenes of the Xiaolin Warriors trying them out feel believable to how they’d work in reality.  The appeal of the Golden Tiger Claws crosses paths with Katnappe when Omi challenges her to a Xiaolin Showdown for the more constantly used Changing Chopsticks.  However, Omi’s desperate desire to use the Golden Tiger Claws in a Showdown is his downfall.  He doesn’t prepare himself for a baddie like Katnappe and loses them and the Chopsticks to her. 

The episode then goes in an interesting direction.  Instead of waiting until the next Xiaolin Showdown to beat Katnappe, the Warriors try to better understand her so they can stop her on their own. Doing so comes with enjoyably crafted escapades.  First, they’re put through a seemingly easy task of stealing a jade elephant from Master Fung for a week without chores.  They lose the challenge when he prevents their chances of winning by breaking it.  That’s victory enough for him, and the kids pay the price by hand scrubbing the floor (or skating with scrubbers in Raimundo’s case). 

This event plays a role in learning the importance of knowing Katnappe before catching her.  They get their chance to learn about her through reports of her robbing malls after she quit working for Jack and Wuya and stole the Golden Tiger Claws.  Although she defeats them swiftly, their research and first encounter give significant information about the shady cat fanatic.  It all leads up to a grand conclusion where they put her interest in leisurely locations and cats together and track her down to a cat-themed amusement park.  The park itself is mostly used as a backdrop for the confrontation and doesn’t have its rides and attractions play an actual role the takedown which is a missed opportunity.  Still, it's satisfying enough that everything the warriors went through pays off.  There’s even boldness from Omi who badly wanted to use the Golden Tiger Claws. He sends them to the center of the Earth so no one, including villains, will be able to use them.  Even if he doesn’t get the chance to use them (at least not until later in the season), it’s great that he’s mature enough to do what’s right for all and not just himself. 

This episode has a lot to love.  There's a new fun and creative villain, a big look at one of the more interesting Shen Gong Wu, and an engaging villain defeat strategy whose steps neatly fall into place in the end.  That’s entertainment enough for me.

A

The Ranking

1. Katnappe
2. The Journey of a Thousand Miles
3. Like a Rock
4. Tangled Web

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode that puts Raimundo on the path of great development and introduces a special kind of Xiaolin Showdown, the Shen Yi Bu Dare.

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