#moon girl and devil dinosaur review

[flower-boi16]

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is AWESOME!!!!!!

OK so, have you ever went to watch a show, that you expected to just be a fun 7/10 series only for it to absolutely blow you away with how well-written fun, and GREAT it is? Well, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur was that show for me. This show only has 1 season released so far and it has already become my new favorite cartoon of ALL time. But why is that? Well, let's dive into why Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is an awesome series.

NOTE: I have not read the comics this show is based on, so this is judging it as a stand-alone show and not an adaptation. Oh, and this review contains spoilers for the series, you've been warned

1. The Art Style & Animation

I LOVE this show's art style. It looks like it comes straight out of a comic book with the character designs, the backgrounds, the thick outlines on the characters, the bright colors that pop in every scene, this show looks GREAT! The animation also gets cool and creative in the show's action-music video like sequences at the end of each episode where they change the colors of each character AND they use some cool ass and creative animation in each of these sequences too, whenever these pop up in an episode, they are always great to look at. And then there are the fights in this show outside of that and they look great too! Overall, this show has a fantastic art style that looks pleasing and fun to look at.

2. The Music

DAMN does this show have an amazing soundtrack. I LOVE every single song here. They are just super catchy and great to listen to, and remember those sequences at the end of each episode I mentioned in the previous section? Well, these sequences have some of the BEST songs in the whole show. My favorites are definitely the ones in the last two episodes, both of which are 70s remixes of the theme song, which is also a BANGER too! Other great songs include My Hair is a Mood, The Wave, The Beyonder's Song, Out of My Mind, Go Big, The Look in Your Eyes, and MANY other ones as well! This show has the best soundtrack out of ANY cartoon I've seen. Go listen to this show's soundtrack right now, it's actually amazing.

3. The Characters

Okay, enough of praising the superficial aspects about this show, now, it's time to praise the other parts of it; that being, the characters.

Lunella- The main protagonist of this show, and she's great. The show does the usual things that all good shows do and that is teaching its protagonist lessons, however, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur does this so incredibly well that it makes Lunella a great protagonist. You have Lunella learning pretty basic lessons like being patient and not feeding internet trolls when they say mean things about you online, they also have her grow as a character like learning to face her childhood fears in episode 14, and learning that, fear isn't something you should get over, it should be something you should get through.

There's also episode 7 where she learns to overcome her awkwardness whenever she's in a slumber party and becomes better at making friends. Even basic lessons she learns like in episode 4 where she learns that she shouldn't be overly competitive add so much nuance to that moral. LOS-307 (the robot Lunella competes against in that episode) wants to try and connect with Lunella because they don't really have any friends, yet Lunella ends up ignoring that and gets so focused on the game that LOS ends up being turned on while they are on charging for so long and overheats, because Lunella was too caught up in the game. She was too obsessed with winning and that cost her almost getting killed. Other episodes like the one where she learns that it's ok to say when you need a break from stuff, the one where she learns that what makes life special are all the fun moments in between are also all great too.

But the episode where her character is at her absolute best imo is in episode 11, AKA; the gentrification episode. In that episode, she learns that she, as Moong Girl, is a voice for the community of the LES, and a role model, and she meets these two guys Marty and Marcy, who want to revitalize the LES to be "better". She thinks that it would help the LES only to see that the changes Marty and Marcy make are affecting the LES for the worse, gentrifying it. She then gets scolded by her mom as Moon Girl saying "how could you support something like this?". She used her voice in a way that badly affected her community, and then there's that AMAZING scene with her mom as herself, and says that she tried to use her voice, but it turned out it didn't matter.

And then she learns that she needs to use her voice wisely as Moon Girl, and that her voice does matter, she just needs to make herself heard. And then goes to fix this and bring back her block from it's gentrified state. I'll talk about this episode more in the next section, but it did such an amazing job of making Lunella a FANTASTIC protagonist. She's flawed, she makes mistakes and those mistakes have big consequences, but she learns and grows from those mistakes. Oh ya, I could also mention many other episodes like episode 5 but I think you could get the idea; Lunella is a great protagonist. Grows throughout the whole series and each episode finds a new way to make her develop in a way that's compelling.

Casey- I have a lot less to say about Casey than I do about Lunella, but I still really like Casey. She's the social media-obsessed popular girl in this show and normally with these two types of characters Casey would be a bully to Lunella, but that's subverted here which is nice. I also love Casey and Lunella's friendship, it's really cute and they a lot of great chemistry with each other that makes their dynamic interesting and fun!

Episode 12 is the episode where Casey goes through a bit of character growth, as she throws bat mitzvah and has Moon Girl make an appearance so it could be the most epic one, only for Casey to become too obsessed with the bat mitzvah to the point it creates a rift in her friendship with Lunella. I think that episode did a good job of making Casey go through some character growth, and overall, she's a fun character and a great tritagonist.

Devil- Devil's cute. I like him. Devil is Lunella's suto pet/crime fighting partner, and I do like him. Like with Lunella and Casey, there are episodes that give him a little depth, like episode 8 or episode 13, these episodes focus on Devil and they are pretty good, not the best episodes of the series but they are still great. Devil's friendship with Lunella is cute too, they have such great chemistry with each other. Devil is a good deuteragonist for this series.

So Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur has a pretty great main cast. The characters are likable, and get great growth throughout the series. Now let's talk about...

4. The Villains

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is a superhero show, so it's going to have a lot of villains. Most of the time these guys usually appear for only one episode to serve the plot for each episode. The first villain, Aftershock, is the main antagonist of the pilot, and she does a decent job as the show's first major boss. She's funny, she's threatening, and her design looks pretty cool. Next is the Syphonater, AKA Angelo. Angelo wanted to help the community but never got noticed, and when Moon Girl got all the attention he never received, he became jealous of her which made him susceptible to being a host for the Syphonater. Again, he serves his job fine as being that episode's main antagonist.

Other villains include Gravitas, a villain with gravitation powers who went after Moon Girl and Devil because they accidentally destroyed his car, Mane who is all of Lunella's natural comprised into one giant hair monster thing, Abbyss who can shoot dark cloud things and who doesn't want to be evil, but since she's apart of a family of supervillains she has no choice, LOS-307 who's a supercomputer that turns evil after overheating (I actually got worried for them when it looks like they were about to die like, damn, this show got me to care about a robot...how) and many, many other villains. All of them serve their purpose for the episodes that they are in and they are entertaining to watch. However, there are two villains that I think are the most worth talking about. Those being The Beyonder and another antagonist I'll talk about later in section 6.

The Beyonder is my favorite villain in this show so far. He reminds me a lot like HIM from the OG powerpuff girls; an all-powerful being that likes to torment our heroes for the fun of it. He's just such a fun villain, he basically was sent to Earth so he could study about humans, and when Lunella says one thing about Eduardo being a useless partner, he takes that like her saying that humans are worthless and says that if Lunella doesn't complete her school project with Eduardo, he'll wipe out the human race. Nah, turns out he was just messing with Lunella there. The Beyonder is just such an fun entertaining villain, he's no doubt my favorite villain of the show.

The villains in this series are relatively decent, most of them serve their purpose for each episode that they are in, some are sympathetic and get redeemed at the end of each episode, most of them don't, so this show's villains are pretty solid, now let's talk about...

5. The Morals & Messages

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur has the basic kinds of lessons you would see in most kids shows; however, it's the executions that matter here and they way Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur teaches it's lessons is great! Let me give you an example; Episode 3, this episode has Lunella learning to be patient and that she shouldn't rush things. Basic moral on paper. Then later in episode a villain named Gravitas shows up and begins recking things. How is he defeated? Lunella goes and waits for him to run out of juice so he can't use his gravity powers.

What I like here is that the episode gets its moral across in a creative and interesting way; Lunella defeats Gravitas by waiting or being patient for him to run out of juice so he can't attack her anymore. It gets a moral across in a way that's both creative and entertaining to the audience without it feeling hamfisted. Another example; Episode 4, I already mentioned this episode in the characters section but this is one of my favorite episodes of the show so far. Like episode 3, it takes a pretty basic moral; don't be overly competitive, and does something interesting with it.

In the episode, a new AI comes to Lunella's school named LOS-307, a robot who was just built eight months ago, and Lunella goes to play chess against it. The robot tries to connect with Lunella and become friends, but Lunella is too focused on winning against them to connect. It gets so bad to the point where neither of them beat each other and Lunella is still playing against them even after school is over. And then later in the episode, when Lunella sneaks back into the school to beat LOS once and for all, they end up overheating which causes them to go evil, LOS tells Lunella this before this happens but Lunella is still so focused on winning that she doesn't listen.

Lunella was so focused on winning that she didn't get to connect with someone and she ended up almost getting killed because she didn't listen to LOS's warnings. It takes a moral that has been done to death and does something interesting with it. Another example is episode 9 where Lunella creates a app so she can skip all of the boring parts of her life like doing chores, waiting in lines, and other stuff, only learn that life isn't meant to be a highlight reel, rather its about the small moments in between that give life meaning. Episode 14 is another example, where Lunella has to overcome some childhood trauma where she got lost in a theme park without her grandma Mimi, and encounters a scary clown.

Normally the message here is that you should get over your fear, but the show takes a different direction with this and says that fear isn't something you should get over, it's something that you should get through and that it's OK to be scared, as it's something that we always have to deal with.

This show is great at teaching morals in a way that's both entertaining and doing different and more interesting things with those morals. They never feel hamfisted or anything, and the show adds it's own spin on morals that have been done to death by doing them in interesting ways. But there are two episodes that I think are the best at this, both of which are the two best episodes of the show. Those episodes are episodes 5 and 11. These episodes tackle the topics of hair discrimination and gentrification respectively, which are both topics you wouldn't see being talked about in a kids show, especially in a Disney TVA show.

Now, I'm not the one to judge how well these episodes handle these topics, but by the looks of it from other people who have seen this show it looks like both episodes handled these topics very well. Episode 5 has Lunella try to make a hair relaxer for picture day that is coming up after a girl from school made fun of her hair. Unfortunately, she ends up becoming bald as all of her hair falls of and gains sentience in the form of a villain called Mane, who is all of Lunella's hair. And then later in the episode Mane goes and sabotages random stuff for Lunella and then after they both meet eye to eye Lunella goes to talk to her family and reveals to them what happened.

And then we get this wonderful scene with Lunella's Mom and Grandmother after Lunella tells then what happened. Lunella's Mom and Grandmother both comfort Lunella by telling her that they've been in similair situations like Lunella, where they both tried to "fix" their hair but they ended up getting bald as well. And then they tell Lunella that she shouldn't believe the lies people say about her hair, that it's messy and ugly, and that to love your hair is to love yourself.

It's a new spin on the "looks aren't everything" message, except it talks about hair issues, Lunella got caught up in what one person thought of her hair so she tried to fix it, and then later in the episode when Lunella goes to stop Mane, she realizes that she has been fighting herself and that she wasn't loving herself when she tried to "fix" her hair when she thought it was ugly because someone said it was. This episode imo did a great job with its moral and the fact that the show had the balls to cover a topic like this is impressive. And then there's episode 11, I have already talked about this one in the last section so I won't repeat myself here, but as I said in the characters section this episode talks about gentrification very well and it does absolute wonders for Lunella as a character.

Lunella learns that, as Moon Girl, she has a voice and that voice is one for the community, and she approves of the changes Marcy and Marty propose at first, until she sees it's changing the block for the worst. And then in the episode she learns to use her voice wisely. Episode 11 is just a phenomenal episode for how it tackles gentrification and what it does for Lunella's character, best episode of the show hands down.

This show is great at teaching lessons and the fact its able to cover these topics so well is amazing. But wait, there's one more thing I need to talk about in this show, and that's...

6. The Finale

Ok so, this section contains MAJOR spoilers for the final two episodes of the first season. If you don't want to be spoiled, skip this section. Now. You have been warned. Anyways, the finale comprises of last two episodes; episode 15 and episode 16 titled "OMG Issue 1" and "OMG Issue 2" respectively. Episode 15 has a lot of reveals thrown at you, such as the reveal that Mimi is the original Moon Girl, ya know, the scientist that Lunella got her superhero name from? And it also introduces a new antagonist in the series who will likely be the big bad of show; Maris Morlak, who used to be Mimi's partner/best friend before turning evil.

First, let's talk about Morlak as a villain; he's definitely intriguing. His backstory is that he and Mimi built a machine that could create portals into other dimensions, and their racist boss presented it without them and took the credit. After the portal gets opened and the boss gets grabbed in and his ring falls off, Morlak now wants to use the portal to open dimsions so his and Mimi's work will never be erased. He's a good villain, his threatening, he has some great charisma, and his motivation is solid. I'm very interested to see what the series does with him in season 2, he has a lot of promise and I can't wait how the show fleshes him out further in the future.

Now let's talk about what these episodes do for Mimi as a character. Mimi before these episodes was just a cool grandma who supported Lunella throughout the series, but these episodes reveal that she was the previous Moon Girl who built the portal with Morlak as I already stated. Episode 16 is a really beautiful flashback scene of Mimi's life after she went into hiding from Enclave (the evil organization that Morlak is taking control of) which shows her first meeting Lunella's grandfather, all the way to when Lunella was little. It's a really cute flashback and it got me in the feels for a bit. So I think these last two episodes did some great stuff with Mimi's character, and I can't wait to see what they do with it in season 2.

Alright, now let's talk about how these final two episodes end; to add in a little context here, Morlak captures both Lunella and Mimi to rebuild the portal after destroying pretty much everything in Lunella's lab, but Lunella escapes while Mimi stays probably to try and protect Lunella. And then Lunella and Casey along with Devil go and devise a plan to save Mimi and stop the portal. They go there and have a fight and then the episode ends with Lunella sacrificing herself by going into the portal so her and Mimi can push the buttons on the opposite sides so the portal can close.

Wow...those episodes where fantastic! They threw so much at you and I'm so intrigued to see how season 2 will play out considering how episode 16 ended. Like, damn, Lunella is in another DIMENSION now. I have so many questions, but not the kind where I'm confused, the kind where I'm wondering what's going to happen next. How will the rest of Lunella's family react to her being missing? Will they also get to now that she's Moon Girl? What kind of dimension did Lunella end up on? What are they going to do with Morlak? I am SO excited to see where this series goes after these episodes, I can't wait for season 2 to come out so I can see where the show takes all of these major new plotlines revealed in these last two episodes. Oh and did I mention that the songs in these episodes were FIRE??? That song in episode 16 is my favorite song of the whole show, it's just SO damn catchy and I love how it's a 70s remix of the show's theme song (which is already great btw). These episodes were overall fantastic.

I have one complaint though; and that's with one scene in episode 16. So basically while Lunella runs back to lab to save Devil the lab blows up with Devil inside, so it looks like he's dead...until it's revealed that he escaped the lab. Um, HOW did Devil escape the lab before it blew up? The timer was already up by the time he woke up from all of his wounds so...how did he escape??? That's the only thing that bothered me about these last two episodes though, aside from that, these episodes were great and a fantastic finale to the first season. I can't wait to see where season 2 takes this series.

7. Conclusion

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is an AMAZING series. It's so damn well written with loveable characters great messages and an awesome finale. The songs are great, the animation is great, the characters are great just...everything about this show is great. It's so damn fun, and after watching some garbage like High Guardian Spice or PPG 2016, this show felt like a breath of fresh air for me. I highly recommend you watch this show, its one of the best Disney TVA shows out there and my favorite TV series from the channel.

Score: 10/10

[fujosh1dreamer]

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur season 2!!!

Alright so episode 12 of mgadd was the school dance episode and I have some thoughts.

This applies mostly to this specific episode but some of it applies to the whole season so far. I understand and appreciate the overall message being conveyed by the episode. About how you should start dating when you're comfortable and how there's no rush.

However the message gets undermined by the simple fact the Marvin exists to be Lunellas love interest.

I don't dislike Marvin but him being exactly like Lunella is annoying. I don't like it and this happens a lot, when shows introduce a love interest who is exactly like the main character.

Once again nothing against Marvin but it's just annoying. Especially since it is the second season. If you want a character to have a love interest introduce them in season 1.

I get it they're both socially awkward and Don't understand social ques but still they're the same person only difference being one is a boy and the other is a girl. Marvin being an alien with daddy issues was interesting until it gets resolved immediately. Other wise these two have no conflict and no obstacles to overcome they're boring.

Now onto my personal gripe about the episode in question.

They did my boy eduardo dirty.

Why???

Eduardo has been a reoccurring background character since the very first episode. Now I've never shipped him with Lu but it was established early on that he had a crush on her.

If ed was a bully type character then I wouldn't care about him. But that's not his archetype he's a misunderstood class clown.

This is episode 12 of season 2 and this is our first time even hearing him speak. Reminder Marvin was introduced in like episode 4 or something. In the episode Lunellas friends tell her she should go with them as a group to the dance, but when they all end up with dates Lu feels left out and also tries to find a date. And she asks out Eduardo who tells her he's already been asked.

It has a very cute sequence where he images them as sailormoon and tuxedo mask.

In the end Lunella goes alone which is fine. Her outfit is very cute. Then Marvin shows up and we get jealous Eduardo. I also want to say that Mar didn't show up to be her date to the dance he needed help. Anyway Ed is jealous and upset everytime we see him on screen.

Which I really hope isn't what his character is going to be boiled down to especially after they developed him so well in season 1. I don't want him and Lu to end up together I just want this character to have the respect that it had in season 1 instead of making him miserable.

Just look at who he's at the dance with that terrible blonde girl who insulted Lunellas hair in season 1.

I just can't get behind Lunella and Marvin because it feels forced and rushed. It's annoying that they just made a carbon copy of Lu for a love interest. That's kind of lazy.

Otherwise the season has been fun so far.

[historyhermann]

My top ten animated shows for 2023

Collage of all ten top animated TV shows for me in 2023, using available screenshots. Top row: Kizazi Moto (left), The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder (middle), Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur (right). Middle row: Villainous (left), Supa Team 4 (middle), My Adventures with Superman (right). Bottom row: Disenchantment (left), Adventure Time: Distant Lands and Young Love (middle two), and RWBY (right)

I decided to put together my own list of my top ten animated series for 2023. I'll be focusing only on Western animated series, not anime or films. Like Jean pointed out, this year, for television, was tumultuous, with the twin strikes of actors and writers through the summer and into the fall, leading to delays. However, this, generally, did not impact animated series, only live-action ones, for the most part. There are rumblings on social media of a possible strike by the Animation Guild when the union's contract with Hollywood studios expires next year. Whether that comes to pass or not, the impact of this year's strikes will undoubtedly impact future creatives in animation.

There are many shows worth putting in this list. I struggled with only choosing ten shows. However, I'm content with those which made it onto the list, reflective of my (sometimes) eclectic and animation-heavy tastes. Although I watched live-action series in this past year, like Jean, I didn't watch enough of them for an entire list. This year was, as Jean pointed out, strange when it comes to entertainment. I see that as a positive. I look forward to the series upcoming in 2024 and 2025. The Disney animation powerhouse will lead the way, followed behind by other studios. As a warning, this review will discuss murder, blood, death, mental health, near-death experiences, gentrification, sexism, suicide, blood, torture, and abuse.

excerpted from "Burkely's Top Ten Animated TV Shows of 2023"

10. "Kizazi Moto: Generation Fire - Streaming on Disney+"

9. "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder - Streaming on Disney+"

8. "Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Streaming on Disney+"

7. "Villainous - Streaming on Max"

6. "Supa Team 4- Streaming on Netflix"

5. "My Adventures with Superman - Streaming on Max"

4. "Disenchantment - Streaming on Netflix"

3. "Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake - Streaming on Max"

2. "Young Love - Streaming on Max"

1. "RWBY - Streaming on Crunchyroll"

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[capncarrot]

 Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur - Belly of the Beast

[kingoftheu]

So! Moon Girl Episode 2.

The Bad:

- this is not the most original of concepts let's be honest 'ignore the haters' and 'enemy that gets stronger when you attack' are in a lot of stuff

- not a whole lot of set up with possum kid, no indication he was super online. Not entirely sure how fair it was to blame him either. This was basically an akuma and he certainty was not in control

- anti-bullying petition ending is a little saccharine for my taste and I wonder how it will interact with future 'stand up for yourself' morals

The Good:

- really solid execution of the stock plot. As is so often the case the characters really elevate this

- Casey was a blast her

- letting the symbiote get away was a good choice that opens the door for some reoccurring villains yay

- comedy was on point

- Is the "Pastel Musical Fight" going to happen every episode? Because these are great and they should happen every episode

- in particular I liked the rap battle

Today's Legal Issue: The Troll like liable for the tort of Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress.

[evanwhosjusthere]

My latest video talking about Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Going over the highs and potential future of the series under Disney.

[picturejasper20]

I watched Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur premiere. Overall, i have to say it was pretty solid. The first half feels rushed with introducing the characters and the world. It’s like it doesn’t leave time for the audience to process all what is happening. I do enjoy Lunella as character. She is different from other ¨Disney girl protagonists¨ in the sense is that she is more prone to sarcasm and anger. She is logical. She has more dimension, like has a lot of insecurities and rushes into things. In that regard she feels quite faithful to her personality from the comics. I also like her dynamic with Devil Dinosaur. I feel like Devil is a lot more expressive and clever in the series, which gives place for him to have more development. The interactions between the two are sweet too. Casey is a fun character and a good addition to the main cast. She has good chemistry with Lunella’s more calm introverted personality. There are some emotional moments between them like when Lunella is giving up on being a superhero. I’m hoping we get to see more of her because i feel there is more to her character that what was show in the pilot.

The main villain from the pilot is entertaining. She actually manages to scare Lunella a few times, a thing that feels refreshing for a superhero series (plus realistic because Lunella just started being a superhero). Her design is really nice as well. I think she makes the second pilot work better than the first half. Of course, the animation, direction and soundtrack is excellent coming from Flying Bark Studios. There are some fantastic scene thanks to this. It always keeps me entertained, whatever it is the conversations or action scenes. What it’s more, it helps quite a lot with the comedy.

In conclusion: It’s a fun pilot. It may have some things that feel rushed but i think the second part improves quite a lot. It serves well as an introduction for the premise of the show and the story.

[vignetterose]

My review of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur is here!

[thatgeekwiththeclipons]

Happy 62nd Birthday to Academy Award Nominated, 3x Emmy Winning, Tony Winning, Golden Globe Nominated, SAG Award Nominated actor Laurence Fishburne! ^__^

[a34trgv2]

You know, I don't go in to cartoons wanting to hate them. That wouldn't be fair to the creators of the show. I went in wanting a mildy amusing cartoon. What I got instead was a very boring one that killed my interest in this new Marvel IP. Here's my review of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.

[luckyshinyhunter]

It's pathetic that people these days still think that superheros in media are dying.

But honestly, they just be cynical and rather focus bashing on stinkers like Madame Web, listening to grifters and revolutionizing any bad superhero film and say a stupid hot take and than give films Blue Beatle, The Marvels, any great and fun film an chance.

Echo and Peacemaker was good and I can't wait for new shows like Agatha, Penguin, Ironheart or any projects whether MCU or DC.

But I think people should give superhero cartoons a chance.

What if brought a endless possibilities to the MCU, bringing it's familiar characters in whole new perspective and gives a lot for the audience to explore the multiverse and wanting more.

Invincible is a show I did not expect, both gruesome and captivating pretty similar to a another Amazon show, The Boys.

But it wonderfully shows the ups and downs of a superhero, making it's welcome in the list of your shows that must be watched for the experience.

Also no surprise since it's based off a comic book created by the people who also made The Walking Dead.

My Adventures with Superman introduced a new version of Superman's world that actually feels bright and hopeful unlike the Zack Snyder films that try to bring but forgotten in the last minute.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur bring the titular characters in the spotlight, paving the way for a new black superhero with amazing diversity, colorful animation and character design and an addicting soundtrack like Black Panther and the Spider-verse films.

X-Men 97 is holy grail of all revivals and the one that beats the original. Back on my X-Men 97 review, I said that I haven't grow up on the original and due that I was born in 2002 but I started watching the original lately because of this show.

It's one of the best and refreshing marvel shows I ever watched, it felt like anything from the show has never left, but with an better style and unique writing that the writers should definitely be a part of the MCU's version.

I just love how we are introduce to a new era of animated superhero shows, with astonishing performances, amazing writing and peak designs.

Growing up from shows like Static Shock, Teen Titans, Iron Man: Armored Adventures, Fantastic Four: Wgh and Spectacular Spiderman.

I was in for these shows when they got announced and hoped to see more shows like this in the future.

I hope you should give these shows a chance because animation is the backbone for superhero shows and media in general in my opinion.

[popculturebuffet]

MGADD: The Gatekeeper Review: The Masterpiece Shelved by Disney's Cowardice and Transphobia (Comissioned by WeirdKev27

Hello world I have arrived... because Disney has done something so monumentally stupid and offensive, even for them. I genuinely wish I was talking about this episode under circumstances that weren't "Disney showed what it really thinks of queer people... again", but if it weren't for a brave animator mentioning it off hand and the episode leaking soon after, I wouldn't of been able to.

The short vision since i'm sure most of you reading this know what's going on but to recap: thursday night an animator on Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Derrick Malik Johnson (Thank you The Mary Sue for recording the names), mentioned that an episode of the show was shelved due to "Which party won", while a poster on reddit, superootoro backed up the story. Both posts have since been deleted because the mouse clearly got upset this story got out.

Their also likely not pleased the episode ITSELF got out soon after thanks to disney fan Owlphibia. How they got it I don't know, and someone on the crew definitely supplied it.. and I applaud our anonymous hero. If a company isn't going to make something fully available for audiences to see, there is no shame in leaking it anyway. I felt that way when I thought Scooby Doo and Krypto Too was never getting released and reviewed it last year. and still want someone to escape Warner HQ with copies of Batgirl, Scoob: Holiday Haunt and Coyote Vs Acme.

We'll get into the episode shortly but needless to say it's focus on an openly trans character who outright states she's trans with a bigoted asshole who tries to move goalposts as the villian made it clear WHY Disney shelved the episode indefinitely, with Johnson claming they said it was due to who won the election. That said the presence of the beyonder, who disappears early into season 2 and the redditor saying the episode was meant for early season 2 makes it clear this is just an excuse: They shelved it, waited to see which way the country turned, then formally dumped it the second it was clear they MIGHT get heat from the new president over this rather than stand up for what's right.

Their response... does not help. Disney CLAIMS the episode was shelved not banned and their PROUD OF THE DISCUSSIONS IT BRINGS AND OF THIS SHOW WE JUST CANCELLED. NO FOR REAL. I doubt this will actually make it go away and making the tweets making accusations go away, thank alvis for screenshotting, just makes it more clear that no, they just wanted to shelve an episode that frankly and honestly talked about a trans child's struggles with no metaphors about brooklyn being trans: her transness is why the villain hates her and why the episode happens. It happens because a woman is a bigot, and Disney coudln't handle that. They can handle when the bigots an immortal definitely religious man but we don't say that or a super soldier from another dimension, where the subtext is blatant and what it's calling out is blatant, but Disney still has deniability. But when someone wants to tackle queerness openly and honestly.. they run.

It's a pattern for them. They cancelled owl house because its main romance is between two girls. They are oddly and throughly convinced that Lightyear failed not because it's a tonal mess that tries to squeeze buzz light year's cheesy good world building into a darker hard sci fi story that it doesn't fit in, but because two women kissed, and were so paranoid about that that they tried to make Inside Out 2 straight as possible by making the girl Riley has a blatant crush on older than her.. which.. it just makes it a crush guys. Thank god their so bad at this

And of course the piece de resitance before this: Firing openly queer black man and show runner for X-Men 97 Beau Demayo for both wanting his show to actually tackle prejudice instead of just rubber stamping it and being openly sexy on his socials when.. tha'ts his right, thent rying to frame him as an abuser, allegations that ONLY sprung up long after the show had already aired and only when they tried to bar him from showing up at an awards ceremony for an episode he fucking wrote.

Disney is not a good company on most days. They fuck up at least once a year from their implicit support of the don't say gay bill, to the owl house debacle to writing off a ton of shows for tax purposes. I love the CONTENT they fund, I love the card game ravensburger made with their properties, I love the creative stories many an animator has made. But I don't love them. Not anymore and probably not in the foreseable future. I love the stuff peopl ehave created under them but it's become clear Disney has become desperate, greedy and souless. While all companies struggle to be represnetive it's disney who shows their ass the most. Wether it's saying "first gay character evah come see" for characters who were there for a minute so it could be cut from china, banning pride flags, or not letting an alien we can all tell is gay just.. say she is when everything around Penny implied it. Let her fuck a duck disney christ.

I'm so.. tired of this. I've been at this for almost 6 years. I've been covering disney this whole time, starting with ducktales reviews and while I haven't been covering shows as they come out for a variety of reasons, I have kept a firm eye on them. And they just, keep fucking up. They dont' care about queer people. They haven't evolved AT ALL since this half assed tweet Alex Hirsch mocked back when twitter was relevant

And this should be spammed to them because my god. This is a fuckup of monumental proprtions. And it hits personally as I fear for my trans nephew in this colder, worse world we're entering. He may be 14 but he would've appricaited this and so would the many trans kids who just need someone to say: your okay you matter. That's what this episode was trying to do.. and it got shuttered.

The only good news is the pressure MIGHT get disney to actually release it. MIght being a strong word. Last i checked you could find the episode on internet archive, but I'd find it where youc an while you can as Disney is likely going to be doing everything to cover their ass

And that dear friends is one of the main reasons for covering this episode: Disney might try to bury it as deep as they can, so I want a full record of it. To show the content and context of it. The other is to judge the episode on it's own merits. I'll say right now: this is an excellent episode and it deserves to be released. But it's important to get into why: why this episode is good, why it deserved better and why this SHOW deserves better. Moon Girl was canceld recently and if anything this story draws more attention to somethign Disney likely thought they could do quietly and to the show from people who haven't watched it or may of given up after season 1. It's important to me as a critic and person to look at this work for what it is and not just what disney has done to it: a well done story that takes a side character and makes her a star, while also being bonkers in the conkers in a way that absolutely works. Join me under the cut won't you as I break down this tremendous episode.

The episode begins with the volleyball team at lunella's school gearing up for a regionals match. I'd honestly forgotten about these guys as their main spotlight episode for season 1, Goodnight Moon Girl was one I kinda half payed attention to as I wasn't a huge fan of the gimmick.

Looking back on the ep though it's easy to see why they gave the team's captain, Brooklyn, her own episode: she's funny, has an entirely relatable rivalrly with her sibling, and was open and welcoming to lunella. IT's easy to see why Lunella is now the team's eager hydration technician and casey is preparing the half time show. It also shows off the series tight continuity: They tend to bring back characters you wouldn't THINK come back, or if needing a side character using one of the casts established friends, with the volleyball team also playing a supporting role in the dance episode that chronologically comes after this. Brooklyn and co are pumped and ready for the other team whose team name I forgot but is mostly a threat thanks to their leader and her mom/coach greer.

Greer is played by Amy Sedaris and look the show had me at Amy Sedaris plays the main villian. I forgot just how good she is at being evil and her comedic energy nicely offsets just how.. nasty this person is.

While i'm not hiding that Greer turns out to be awful a touch I like is that the episode does for a second: Greer seems like a hypercompetivie hellicopter mom, but offers orange slices and is nice and cordial to everyone. It seems like it was just a bait and switch and given how the show goes, had this episode not been banned, you'd be expecting it to simply segue into some problem for Lunella that leads to her doing a science.

Instead the problem is entirely Greer and it starts simply because Brooklyn and her best friend Tai, who was previously established as non binary, something the episode makes sure to point out again later. They just joke and laugh reminscing about playing soccer together back before Brooklyn transitioned, with Brooklyn being happy she's not on the "boys team".

Unfortunately for her, Greer hears this. And just like that a switch flips: the animation is exagerated and it's clear this bitch is immediately nettled. It telegraphs a problem trans people in general face: that just saying your trans immediately makes some people target you. That just an offhand mention can lead to someone trying to make you miserable simply for being YOU. It's one of MANY reasons the targeting of trans kids disgusts me and i'ts something the show portrays chillingly well this sudden.. entitlement to decide who a person is based on their body. That because you can't get past it, this kid has to suffer. I"ve seen it, I hate it, and the show does it well and Sedaris does it very well, using her usual comedic energy to make a character whose utterly loathsome, yet in such a skincrawlingly real way. Greer is far from a subtle character.. but transphobes tend not to be. While her tactics are for the most part not over the top, her bigotry is portrayed as loud and hateful as we've seen from the right. (Not to give the democrats a pass given the sheer number who want to throw trans people under the buss for the party's systemic issues that caused the election loss, but the right are far more vitrolic and operatic about their transphobia, like Elon Musk deadnaming their daughter and making up a story about them being intrested in women's clothing.. only to get utterly wrecked by his daughter pointing out he was never around for her as a child. Given how fragile elon's ego is and how terminally online he is, zinging him on his own platform does way more damage than anything else could possibly do.

So Greer goes to tell coach Hrbek, Luna's reluctant science teacher and loveable jock, that Brooklyn was biologically a male. Not her terms but fuck her for that. I like how greer just tries to imply it.. she won't come out and SAY Brooklyn's trans: just because transphobes aren't subtle dosen't mean they don't try to do this doubletalk bullshit. Hrbek nosells it just blinking condescndingly and when she dosen't get it telling her bluntly yeah he knows and tells her in no uncertain terms Brooklyn is a girl and she's playing.

He then slips on an orange because life is not kind to this man: like he dosen't get injured a lot but he is stuck teaching a concept that while giving it his best, he's not good at and dosen't like teaching. And now after doing something genuinely heroic, standing up for a kids right to be who they are and telling off a bigot, and only likely not saying fuck off because a crowd's present, he gets hurt. Poor guy. True hero

With the only adult out of the room Greer tries every bullshit tactic in the book to get Brooklyn disqulaified and I love her reactions: no coach, player coach. Her pride flag pads are ones she got from the store. Her bottle.. has water. Greer tries every bullshit thing but you get the sense this isn't the first, and sadly probably isn't the last time, some asshole has tried to disqualify brooklyn based on her gender.

In the locker room getting ready the rest of the Squirrels have picked up on what's going on. Lunella is upset and want sto do something but can't, but it's telling both Brooklyn and Tai try and brush it off. Tai outright tells them not to mentoin their non binary or Greer might explode and Brooklyn shakes it off just.. used to it. And it's fucking sad that a child whose 14 at most, the same age as my nephew, just has to be.. used to it. That people will hate you and try to unperson you just for being what you are. It's part of why this episode being delissted is so frustrating: the message is told well and it's one trans kids need to hear. It's why representation matters: that little voice that says "you are not alone". As a bisexual seeing bi characters makes me happy as their not common even now. While we don't share a gender, Luz being bi on loud house and the show making sure that was clear felt nice. It felt good being seen. That kids after me won't have to struggle with these feelings and just see someone and go "That's me.. that's what I am" and it's so fucking terrible Disney coudlnt' see past their already overflowing wallets to understand that, that the only chance the episode has of release is because they fucked up.

Since greer can't rules lawyer or bully a child out of competttion she goes with plan b: a magical key. Yeah another good reason to cover this one and something that understandably won't get as much coverage? This episode is fucking bonkers. While greer is a well written villian.. she's also a TERF who bought a magical key at a yard sale. No really the beyonder recaps how she got the key. It's not the first villian whose done that on the show, and I do want to someday meet the villian who hosted that yard sale, so it still works in the shows mythology. It also hope the show has had some rediculous villians: Living hair , a symboite tha'ts an online troll, lady stitlman at home. The show is serious when it needs to be this episode included, even the living hair episode had a serious aseop on the racisim black women get about their hair and the internalized racisim that creates. But the show isn't afraid to get weird so while a karen with a magical key she what bought at a yard sale is defintely the weridest foe lunella's faced, it's still within the realm of posisblity for this show. And definitely the marvel universe as a whole. I mean spider-man's rogues include a nazi made of bees and a stegasaurs man, both of whom I hope lunella fights if we get a season 3.

So Greer locks them in the locker room which turns into an escape room/death trap where they have to find keys. Thankfully Brooklyn's awful little brother loves them, so they have an edge and she shoots down lunella just.. mcguivering their way out. It's also intresting to have a super villian fight.. where lunella ISN'T in costume. She's just her normal self, and still just as competent and the only reason she dosen't break things right away is that everyone involved , particularly their leader, assumes they have to play this game fair. And given how in most death games breaking the rules usually kills you it's an easy assumption.

Our heroes do solve the puzzles well, and we get a great joke with Kai whose excited by the lava... and one of their teamates shouts "no it can kill us stop that".

That's a suprising thing I found with the episode: it is REALLY funny. I forget how funny the show can be, and this ep might be it's funniest as Casey, Luna's bestie and sidekick, is forced to stall like a motherfucker as she gets the sense something is wrong.. I mean opening the locker room to find no one there is a good clue. And yes Casey dosen't figure out this is supervillian stuff till near the end but it's done resonably: she can probably get the hint Greer's done SOMETHING but assumes she just locked them in another room or tricked them or something. You know standard school setting vilian shenanigans. Not "This terf tiger mom happens to have a magic key she found at a yard sale. Casey HAS seem some shit at this point, I mean one of the episodes in this very season not long before this was suppposed to come out is her and lunella having to travel inside the dinosaur whose also one of their best friends. But usually the villians on this show wear a costume. Even the gentrifying assholes from season 1, while wearing suits still had super tech and a very obvious black and white motif Lunella should've seen as a red flag. Greer for all intensive puproses is just a bog standard transphobic karen. You just.. can't plan for "turns out she has a key from a super villian yard sale." It's like "a giant obese monster from another dimension who literally needs raitings to lives kidnaps you to star in his shows or else". It's certainly plausible given how weird the marvel universe, but no ones ever really prepared for Mojo that hasn't met the floating fat man. Who for those who aren't freebasing x-men regularly is entirley real. I made none of that up

He also made chibi clones of the x-men called the x-babies. Look it up.

Point is no matter how fucking weird a characters life is, they can still be surprised. So Casey instead decides to stall. Stall as if her life depended on it which.. it dosen't but a lot of other kids do. So she makes up a tradition where they have to do THE WAVE before a game. And I love both her hammy calls to do the wave and the mascots gradual exhaustion. Best gag of the episode.

Let him Rest. Eventuallyt he poor guy collapses, but luckily Devil comes in as Casey called him over and tells him to vamp. Vamp like he's never vamped before. Vamp as if, in her words "Your mariah carey opening for beyonce". And he does... and while he sounds about how you'd expect him singing to, like he's gargling the marbles he ate this morning, everyone loves it. Because it's a singing dinosaur.

This comedy is just... fantastic. The shows humor dosen't always land, but this is it at it's best: silly, over the top, yet grounded in the characters; Casey using her natural ambtion and improv skills and Devil using the voice Satan gave him to sing to a souled out crowd. It's good stuff and nicely helps with the tension of the a plot, with the two cutting back and forth, i'm just not doing that because I don't gotta.

Speaking of which we get a nice musical montage of our heroes bravely solving the puzzles. And they do, passing all sorts of shit to do, opening the final door.. only to find the game's reset.

And here it is: the episodes signature scene. Out of all the cut stuff from the episode, this is the bit i've seen the most on social media, the bit I saw before I even saw the full episode. The speech that helps make what Disney did SO much worse and helps tie this all together.

Brooklyn realizes the hard truth: because Greer dosen't consider her a girl, she has to quit the team as in Greer's warped eyes, her playing at all is against the rules. It's a metaphor that's blantat as it is heartbreakingly accurate: Society always keeps moving the goal posts for queer people. No matter what you do, no matter how hard you try to fit in or just be accepted, there were always be people who will just not care and will keep trying to shove you back int he closet because what you are is inconveint to them. if it dosen't exist to THEM it dosen't and they will keep making your life harder to try to break you down, to try and get you to quit.

I'm Bisexual. Mentioned it before in this article, and have never been shy about it. But it's also a side I struggle to explore sometimes. Growing up in a society that didn't even seem to have a word for what I was and already horribly awkward with women, I FEARED my bisexuality, convinced myself I wasn't. In hindsight.. I didn't want another thing on top of my autisim and anxiety for people to judge me for. Even now I don't try to date.. I mean part of it is i'm broke and have issues, but I realized as I wrote this article.. part of it is fear. Fear of rejection, fear of someone trying to change who I am, fear of getting beat up for being who I am.

And the fears I have I need to deal with, the reality I deal with.. is multipled twentyfold for any trans person. I have trans relatives. I won't get deep into details on the ground i'ts not my story to tell, but what they've faced is heartbreaking. What my nephew has had to put up with just for existing is fucking devistating. It's a bleak world that just wont' let them be who they are without a fight because the idiots who can't accept it have the power and some of those who have the power to stop it.. turn a blind eye. Again a good chunk of democrats were all too quick to try and throw trans people under the bus when Kamala didn't say hardly ANYTHING about trans rights. The knives come out easily and quickly and someone's personhood simply dosen't matter the second it makes your life harder. It's why these guys hate prounouns and trans people: They see just wanting to be who you are as entitlement, as a lot to ask.. when .. it's not. It's not hard at all to ask. It's not hard to treat someone with dignity.

In my case.. it was thanks to, ironically enough tv. It was the summer after high school, I was bored and had a lot of spare time so I watched a lot of the canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation. And while degrassi is far from the most subtle show or free of mistakes, when it came to queer rep it had a solid track record, slowly evolving with the times. As such this is the first show I saw with actual trans representation: a character whose out as a trans man, adam torres, and has to deal with the metric ton of bullshit kids STILL face, while also having plenty of story outside it, from his friendship with best bud eli to his marveling at his brother Drew's poor life choices. Adam wasn't a token, wasn't just a prop for trans stories (Though this being an early 2010's teen drama he both had a TON of stories about being trans and perscuted against and was played by a cis actress. Again not exactly free of mistakes), he was a fleshed out human who just wanted to be who they were. It helped me see Trans people exist, and accept it easily.

And that's why this episode being pulled.. fucking bothers me. Because realizing she can't win, Brooklyn breaks down, blaming herself for what's simply truly isn't her fault. It's Tai who naturally steps forward, pointing out she CAN open up to them and that when Tai came out as nonbinary.. Brooklyn supported them. It's not selfish or being a burdern to let others help you.. and it's easy to support others. to lift them up and accept who they are and defned them against dickheads who say otherwise. The most heartbreaking part is the simplist as brooklyn laments

"How many doors do I have to break down before they stop locking them"? And given disney put one up themselvfes.. it's galling. Btu the message.. persisits: support is easy, and support matters and you are not alone. It's okay to let others carry you sometimes, and it's not a burdern or drama to vent about shit this frustrating.

The other message is an important one as the republicans no doubt prepare to lock more doors... sometimes... playing by the rules dosen't work. Bigots simply will make more to try and keep you from playing. Sometimes you just gotta say fuck it and say fuck them. Fight. Don't play civlity politics, don't play nice, tell them to fuck off.

So our heroes do smashing reality and reealizing things are fragile in this reality: it's held together only so much.. and thus they start breaking it.

Back outside Greer's key starts to glitch and Casey finally gets it.. as does Greer's daughter whose HORRIFIED at what her mom did. That she wanted a fair match. And so did greer.. but only by her rules. GIRL POWER.. no really she says that. I love they just make her a TERF outright and the way amy sedaris says it just shows how hollow that statment is when you won't accept ALL WOMEN.

Her daughter also isn't having this shit and steals the refs whistle, not letting this start till EVERYONE is here. Luckily it's time for the shows ocne an episode beautfully animated musical sequence. This time using all sorts of pride colors and some really nice looking sprites. I lespecailly love them taking the menus of an rpg battle system and breaking out of the frame with it. Really fun stuff and of course we get the shot almost everyone has used and I'm no exception. Brooklyn in front of a pride flag, using a trans flag volleyball to smash her way out.

So our heroes are free, and with the key obviously glitching the Ref, whose mostly just been.. done this whole episode, gets the picture and Brooklyn, not being stupid, uses those soccer skills she mentioned to smash the key while Greer's escorted the fuck out. I mean granted the ref should also.. call the police or shield or somebody as several woman were kidnapped, but given it was in front of a large crowd AND this is the cellphone age i'm sure someone did. But it's just as statsifying Greer is left making hollow threats to get the ref decertified as the door slams in her face. Now she's locked out and that door should neve ropen again.

So Brooklyn and head.. rival team girl... whatever her name was, shake hands. Also kev sugggested they end up going out and I like that. Mostly because i'm pretty sure greer would fucking melt and then all the children everywhere would sing.

So we end on Brooklyn spiking. We don't know who won or lost.. and it jus tdosen't matter. What matters is Brooklyn got to play the game.

The Gatekeeper is excellent. Strong contender for my best of the year list which fast approaches as my backlog

Piles up as usual.. i'll manage most of this. But this episode is fantatic and wether you've seen the show before or not, watch it. It's excellent, and I hope to god the pressure from it makes disney actually release it on disney + next batch. I'm still not 100% they will hence doing this.. but as long as we keep the pressure up it could happen. And who knows, we could even get a season 3. Why not shoot for the moon? Thanks for reading and just remember "I'm pulling for you we're all in this together"

[historyhermann]

My Dad the Bounty Hunter Season 2 Spoiler-Filled Review

My Dad the Bounty Hunter is a coming-of-age animated sci-fi adventure series by Everett Downing Jr. and Patrick Harpin. It is a continuation from the first season, which came out in February. It comes at a time when Black-centered animations are blossoming. This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, My Dad the Bounty Hunter, being reviewed here, wouldn't exist.

Reprinted from Pop Culture Maniacs and Wayback Machine. This was the forty-eighth article I wrote for Pop Culture Maniacs. This post was originally published on September 4, 2023.

The second season of My Dad the Bounty Hunter picks up where the last one left off. Sean (voiced by JeCobi Swain) tells a story about his space adventures in class. Lisa (voiced by Priah Ferguson) acts like know-at-all to her science teacher. She declares that their dying planet and slow technology growth will ensure that outer space exploration is impossible. Their mother, Tess (voiced by Yvonne Orji) comes to school, learning that the school administrators see Sean as a genius, but they see Lisa as a problem student. She talks to her husband, Terry (voiced by Laz Alonso), who is working at a shoe store, telling him they shouldn't keep secrets. Everything goes awry when a bounty hunter captures him, which she, Sean, and Lisa see, traumatizing them.

And that is only the first episode. This season throws you right into the action with new characters like Blobby (voiced by Patrick Harpin), a scammer extraterrestrial who was once captured by Terry in his bounty hunter persona of "Sabo." Later, Tess puts herself, and her kids, in danger. She travels in Glorlox's stolen ship to a nearby prison. She hopes that Terry is imprisoned there, while there's an active bounty on her head. There are typical sci-fi elements like space warping and laser battles. Scenes in the space restaurant Bucky Quantos and A.I. like KRS (voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown) enhance this. The quick action and exciting plot make the series even more engaging. It draws you into the animation, by Dwarf Animation Studio, which has a smooth 3-D style.

The Conglomerate, officially known as Endless Horizons Conglomerate, are still the villains. With the death of The Fixer in the first season, Pam (voiced by Chelsea Peretti) is the organization's new CEO. However, there is a twist. The Conglomerate is not holding Terry in their prison. Pam claims to investors that the Conglomerate is trying to become "socially conscious." She boasts about reported rehabilitation of criminals to make them "productive" corporate slaves. She further champions the new food options at the ever-popular Bucky Quantos restaurant. The Conglomerate's changes ensure the restaurant is no longer a "glorious palace of meat and grease and cholesterol," as one character puts it. Instead, Pam declares that Conglomerate will connect people, and the universe, with warp gates. She is assisted by robot enforcers, such as Beta (voiced by Mara Junot), who calls Pam "the Creator."

This series reminds me of Okja. The 2017 film mixes the science-fantasy and action-adventure genres. Directed by Bong Joon-ho, also known for Parasite and Snowpiercer, the Mirando Corporation are the villains. The corporation has a similar goal to the Conglomerate. They plan to raise genetically modified super pigs to sell meat to the masses. However, when they kidnap one pig, Okja, its owner, Mija, a young South Korean girl, tries to get it back. She is helped by an animal liberation group to rescue Okja. The group plans to reveal the corporation's misdeeds to the world. Obviously, My Dad the Bounty Hunter is different from Okja, which focuses on the horrors of the food industry. Both have a strongly anti-corporate message even as they are on the streaming platform of Netflix, a conglomerate of its own.

Coming back to My Dad the Bounty Hunter, the second season shares similarities with space operas in the Star Wars franchise, like the third episode. In that episode, the fissures between the family members come to the surface. For one, Sean and Lisa can't enter the casino because they are kids. Only adults are allowed in. Secondly, Tess admits she grew up in constant danger when she was younger but doesn't want to talk about it, making Lisa suspicious. Thirdly, Sean begins to bond with Blobby, and Blobby with Lisa. She gives him tips on playing galactic poker. The episode hints at what is to come. The Widowmaker (voiced by Ralph Ineson) reveals that the Doloraam High Council kidnapped Terry. This terrifies Tess, confusing Sean and Lisa as to her reaction. She is implied to be non-human.

The third episode was the first time I had laughed during the season. The mother of Philip, a cat-faced creature, embarrasses him. She forces him to apologize for insulting Tess. It is moments like that which make me like the series even better. However, at other points, dramatic elements are more emphasized than the comedic ones.

The fourth episode continues directly from the third. The Afrofuturist themes come to the fore. This season is more Afrofuturist than the first season. The Doloraami royalty are revealed: Emperor Odoman (voiced by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Empress Gurira (voiced by Janet Hubert). Odoman towers above Terry, on the coliseum floor, and conducts the trial against him. Terry gets a sleazy public defender named Ja Boluu. Boluu's voice actor, Godfrey, previously voiced Kofi in Steven Universe. Kofi is a stern, and somewhat authoritarian patriarch, of the Pizza family in Beach City, and owner of the family business. While Boluu is different from Kofi, there are other comparisons between Steven Universe and this series.

In both series, the protagonist is on trial. In Steven Universe, Steven is on trial for his mother's crimes (killing a Diamond). He is accused of being his mother because of the pink diamond in his belly. (Blue) Zircon defends him. She finds a flaw in the Diamonds' case. She accuses them of being complicit. As a result, Yellow Diamond poofs her. The trial in My Dad the Bounty Hunter is quite different. Emperor Odoman charges Terry with spacecraft theft, assaulting a royal guard, and abducting Sa Janeera, princess of Doloraam. Also, his public defender has wronged many people.

As it turns out, Tess is Sa Janeera. Terry acts surprised, but likely knew already. Unlike Steven in Steven Universe, who barely escapes the all-powerful Diamonds, Terry goes through tribulations of fire to annul his guilty sentence. The pompous B'Caala (voiced by Keith David), a Prince-like cat man who desires political power, tries to make a deal. He suggests that Terry narc on Tess. He refuses. Terry loves and cares about her. This refusal shows his loyalty to her.

Viewers who watch this series may see similarities to Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which have Afrofuturist themes. However, Africanfuturist animations like Kizazi Moto, or futuristic elements in Supa Team 4 are more apt. Black Panther has been criticized for embodying police habits and tendencies. Some have said it sanitizes "cop behavior and brand it as heroism." In contrast, the main characters in My Dad the Bounty Hunter, like Tess and Terry, are on the run from bounty hunters. They are the furthest thing from cops. This series doesn't have copaganda, even though the Kingdom has a retributive justice system.

One of the major themes in My Dad the Bounty Hunter is the importance and value of family. Those ties are tested in this season. Lisa is annoyed that Tess is keeping secrets from her. She ignores Sean's warning about not knowing the full story. This comes to a head in the fifth episode. Adja (voiced by Thando Thabethe) claims Tess made the "wrong" choice in leaving Doloraam. Although this is hurtful, it is nothing compared to Beta kidnapping Lisa and Sean. Tess loses it. She is paralyzed, unsure of her next steps. The credits further emphasize this by not having a music track. This encourages audience members to sympathize with Tess.

These themes mesh with Sean and Lisa's connections to their Doloraami roots. Tess also unlocks her long-forgotten Doloraami powers, allowing her to defeat Beta. Interlinking to one's ancestral identity is not unique to this series. For instance, the Kizazi Moto episode/films "Mkhuzi: The Spirit Racer" and "Hatima" emphasize similar themes, as does the lackluster episode/film "First Totem Problems." Similarly, Carmen Sandiego, in the series of the same name, investigates her Argentinian roots in an important sub-theme of that series. In addition, Amphibia and The Ghost and Molly McGee incorporate Thai culture into the storylines, with the protagonists examining their parentage and ancestry.

Like other nations in Black speculative fiction, Doloraam has independence to make its own decisions. Pam detests this. It puts her plan to seize the planet's crystals, known as Kalatite, in jeopardy. Like in the Kizazi Moto episode/film "Herderboy," with herding of cattle to gain crystals, to power their society, the Kalatite crystals are the foundation of their society. They are sacred and have been in hands of the Doloraami people for generations. It makes sense that the Conglomerate would work with B'Caala in hopes that the royal council will agree to the Conglomerate's terms. Even though the council is unaware of B'Caala's treachery, they are rightly skeptical of the Conglomerate. They worry whether they will be kings or if the Conglomerate will have control instead.

The Conglomerate doesn't put all their eggs in one basket. Pam develops a plan which aims to achieve the Conglomerate's goals. There is a huge demonstration of the "good" that can come from warp portals. This does not convince the royal council. As a result, Pam later grumbles that she is tired of being nice. This implies that she will soon show her "true" nature. Her expression changes after learning that Sean, Lisa, and Tess are royalty. She believes that returning them to Doloraam will cause the royal council to vote in favor of the Conglomerate. This is a major miscalculation.

Odoman and Gurira are glad to see Tess, and meet Lisa and Sean. Terry is freed, after Tess confronts her parents about his kidnapping. B'Caala is tossed aside like a used dishrag. Pam says that because she brought back Tess, she doesn't need him. To make matters worse, his tribe no longer recognizes his sovereignty, after he beats up Terry in a fight. His removal from the royal bloodline dashes his attempt to seize political power. B'Caala is further crest-fallen by Tess's marriage to Terry.

Pam cares little about B'Caala. She only wants the deal with the royal council so she can exploit the citizenry, like any imperialist. She does not want to get involved in leadership squabbles. The royal council gives Pam a container with gold bars for her trouble. At the same time, they reject the Conglomerate's proposal. Gurira says that they cannot, "in good conscience," accept it. She argues that the Kalatite crystals are part of the Kingdom, as are the people and their family. The Conglomerate's real plan manifests itself at the end of seventh episode. Their full-scale invasion almost resembles tactics of the Galactic Empire in the Star Wars franchise. The latter wants order and stability, while cracking down on any who disobeys.

The season's last two episodes involve the struggle against the Conglomerate. It is revealed that Doloraam is not defenseless. A shield protecting the city is activated, as are cannons to fire at invaders. An arsenal of weapons is also revealed. During this fight, Lisa connects with the Kalatite. She fights alongside Adja in the city, calming Tess's worries. Blobby and Sean work together to shut down the portal which is providing the Conglomerate with additional forces for their assault. In a scene akin to an Imperial cruiser falling toward Ryloth, in the Star Wars Rebels episode "Homecoming," the portal's closure slices a Conglomerate ship in half. The end is near. Despite this, Pam desperately attempts to finish the plan, at any cost.

The final episode of My Dad the Bounty Hunter wraps up everything, almost too nicely. The robots accelerate their extraction of Kalatite crystals. Pam has not learned the lesson that Elena (in Elena of Avalor) and Lunella Lafeyette in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur made abundantly clear: speeding up the timeline only leads to disaster. Glorlox and his crew gives a helping hand, as does B'Caala. He informs Tess about Pam's location. In a conversation with her, he reveals that he wanted to rule the planet, not see it destroyed. Following this is a great hand-to-hand combat scene between Pam and Tess. She pulls out Pam's neural link, implying that the ship she was piloting the ship remotely, like the robots. Of course, this isn't the end.

Tess fights Pam in a battle in a creepy swamp. The true form of Pam is revealed to be a huge alligator-like monster. Tess barely wins the battle. She is heavily injured, and Terry, Sean, and Lisa save her just in time. The fast-forward that follows is typical of many animations, either films or series. Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts had one in the final episode as did Nimona in the end of that film.

The fruits of their victory are apparent. Tess (wearing boots made from Pam's skin) hangs out with her family, her mother (voiced by Leslie Uggams), her friend Adja, and other compatriots on Earth. Everyone bonds. Lisa agrees to show Adja (who has a crush on Glorlox) around Earth. Blobby works with Sean to turn his story into a movie. There is a good, but untrue, quip from Blobby about how "all the good books" get turned into movies.

The series ends on a slice-of-life note. All of them play football together. However, a cliffhanger post-credits scene, which shows a warp gate activating, and a ship passing through, hints at a possible continuation. However, a lack of continuation for My Dad the Bounty Hunter would not leave fans hankering for more, as they do with High Guardian Spice, which has which raises more questions than answers. While the central conflict in the final episodes ended too quickly, the second season finale is perfect. I'm afraid that having another season would ruin that ending for fans and others alike.

In my season one review, I noted that the series impressed me. I described the animation and voice actors as top notch, praised the music selection, and noted that many voice actors were well-known. I also compared the series to episodes of Dogs in Space, Cleopatra in Space, Star Wars: The Bad Batch, and contrasted it with more mature themes in Helluva Boss and Invincible. Those insights still ring true. New characters like Blobby bring more humor to the series. Joshua Mosley's score for the series, often including rap or hip-hop music, can make you excited to watch more.

The voice actors of My Dad the Bounty Hunter are a diverse bunch. JeCobi Swain has been in the entertainment industry since at least 2016. He has voiced characters in Eureka! and Firebuds. In contrast, Priah Ferguson, well-known for her role in the 1980s nostalgia trip known as Stranger Things, voiced Bailey in the subpar animated series, Hamster & Gretel. Yvonne Orji has range as evidenced by the fact that she also voices Gigi in Velma.

Laz Alonso has worked in the entertainment industry since early 2000s. His voice role in this series is one of his first voice roles, apart from some characters in Robot Chicken. Patrick Harpin, who is also this show's creator and a storyboard artist, provided his voice to characters in two Hotel Transylvania films. Yvette Nicole Brown has been very prolific in her voice acting. Brown voiced characters in Strange Planet, The Ghost and Molly McGee, Dogs in Space, Fairfax, and many others.

Voice actors Chelsea Peretti, Mara Junot, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Janet Hubert, Keith David, Thando Thabethe, Leslie Uggams, and Ralph Ineson are just as talented as those previously listed. This series also features Venice May Wong (also called Venice Wong) as Halvey, a friend of Sean and Lisa. Apart from her role in this series, Peretti recently voiced Queenie in Adventure Time: Fiona and Cake. Junot voiced Shoola in Arcane. Akinnuoye-Agbaje is known for providing his voice for Bilal in the film Bilal: A New Breed of Hero. David has voiced characters in Firebuds, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, Final Space, DuckTales, and Young Justice. In contrast, this series is one of the first voice roles for Hubert, Thabethe, Uggams, Ineson, and Wong.

The show's cast is stellar, making the characters more relatable. The series is geared toward a Black audience and designed for families. This can draw people in, even those who prefer 2-D animation over 3-D animation. Those who watch it may connect with the messages, social commentary, or other aspects. They may also enjoy the show writing of Harpin, Downing, Justin Gordon-Montgomery, Shakira Pressley, Ryan Harer, or Tomi Adeyemi.

Gordon-Montgomery previously directed episodes of DC Super Hero Girls and storyboarded High Guardian Spice and Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure episodes. Pressley wrote for Craig of the Creek. Harer was a script coordinator for Centaurworld and Middle School Moguls. Adeyemi is a Nigerian-American writer best known for her Legacy of Orïsha trilogy of young adult fantasy novels, which have Afrofuturist themes. All these people comprised the majority-Black writers room for the series.

Overall, the series is fun to watch. It is almost as fun as some Cleopatra of Space episode. In my season one review I said that series was unique and shined. I described it as "not my favorite series ever." In contrast, I enjoyed the second season even more. There are many more series to compare it to now than there was in February. My predictions that the series will explore more about family dynamics and conflicts proved correct, as did the portrayal of a "loving Black family."

However, Lisa did not have a boyfriend or a girlfriend in this season. In fact, neither Lisa nor Sean had romantic connections to anyone else. I think this is purposeful. In fact, Sean cares more about the fate of Beta, and the control she has over her body, than any person, apart from his family and friends. Sadly, the dearth of fan fiction for this series on AO3 or Fanfiction.net makes views of fans on this subject unknown.

As I say with every show that drops on the same day, I would have preferred 1-2 episodes of My Dad the Bounty Hunter air every week. The same "binge" model has been followed for Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, Supa Team 4, Carmen Sandiego, and latest season of Disenchantment. Hopefully, future series will follow the lead of anime and release only one to two episodes per week.

I liked the emphasis on storytelling, as shown through Sean wanting to tell his own tall tales, and trying to be true to himself. The latter has a parallel in Blobby reuniting with his other half in the sixth episode. It echoes how Steven Universe reunited with Pink Steven in the Steven Universe series finale, "Change Your Mind". Watching this season was worth it. I was glad I did so because this season is more Afrofuturist than the first season, as it addresses concerns and themes of the African diaspora through its speculative fiction and technoculture.

I'm glad I remembered that My Dad the Bounty Hunter even had a second season because I only was reminded when reading social media posts from fans about it. Unfortunately, mainstream reviewers seem to have ignored the second season's release. Despite the fact there are reviews out there, an online search indicated that major sites like The A.V. Club, IGN, Los Angeles Times, CBR, and The Hollywood Reporter have not penned reviews for the show's second season. I'm not sure the exact reason, apart from unconscious racism, but it does this show a disservice in many ways.

At present, the series is on hiatus. Its fate has not been determined. Fans on social media have praised the series as awesome, fun, sweet, beautiful, incredible, and enjoyed the attention to detail. Netflix also deserves criticism for not marketing the series, leaving that job to the fans and creators (and crew). It is a clear insult. On the other hand, the release of this series shows that original stories matter.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter comes out at a time that negotiations to end the strikes of writers and actors are ongoing, with no agreement in sight. Wildbrain's workers have said they are moving to form a union and the animation industry is under strain, with work drying up and studios cutting back on employment. Dwarf Animation Studios is not mentioned on a recently-circulated spreadsheet noting conditions within animation studios. Some reviews on Glassdoor were positive, describing it as having a good company culture. Others noted it can be disorganized or were more critical.

It is not known if Netflix will renew the series for another season. This series comes at an apt time, since many other Black animations are being released nowadays. It is worth checking out, despite Netflix's lack of promotion and mainstream reviewers completely ignoring the second season's release.

My Dad the Bounty Hunter can be streamed on Netflix.

© 2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

HELLO BOYS! I'M BAAAACK!

(LINK TO THE MASTERPOST)

That's right, after about four months away from this blog (in addition to starting a different blog where I talk about more positive things like tokusatsu), I'm finally deciding to start up The Immaturity of Thomas Astruc once again.

A lot's changed since I went on hiatus. Not only have we gotten more than half of the season (ironically right as I chose to go on hiatus), we've also gotten some new superhero shows, like Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, which manages to do the whole "main character has to learn a lesson every episode" routine and make it work, as well as Jade Armor, a full-blown Miraculous Ladybug knock-off. You know you've made it in the entertainment industry when other studios are trying to rip off your work. Even the tokusatsu shows I watch have reminded me of Miraculous Ladybug, like the new Ohsama Sentai King-Ohger, with one of the five insect-themed heroes being a purple butterfly, and Kamen Rider Geats, a show that feels like one of the writers thought I was being unreasonable with my criticisms of Adrien, and thought "Oh, you want to see what a truly unlikable main character is like? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED."

All joking aside, I've mostly managed to destress a little when it comes to talking about Adrien, so I'm pretty sure I can talk about him in a calmer way now. I'll still call out the dumb decisions he and other characters will inevitably make this season, but I promise I won't snap at any Adrien fans like I did last time.

That being said, I'm going to instate a couple of new rules for how I interact with my followers, and vice versa.

I'll only respond to any replies to my posts unless I'm explicitly tagged in them. I don't want to accidentally go off on anyone for speaking their mind unless they actually want to discuss something with me.

Try not to get into any arguments with the users who send stuff to my inbox. I don't want to start any flame wars, so unless you have something to add to the point they're trying to make, please don't send any asks that only talk about how stupid the last guy's ask was.

Now that I've got that settled, I've got some catching up to do. I have thirteen episodes of Season 5 to watch and write reviews for, and I have to go through the asks in my inbox.

Oh yeah, did I mention I already finished the reviews for "Destruction" and "Jubilation"?

[wolf-tail]

Me when I see Lily Orchard reviewing The Owl House and Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur:

[flower-boi16]

A new era of Disney TVA is upon us...let's talk about that.

So recently the finale to The Owl House titled Watching and Dreaming aired on April 8th, not only is it the end of that show, but was also the end story-driven serialized era of Disney TVA. In this post I'm going to discuss my thoughts on this current era of Disney TVA we're in and my thoughts on each of the shows in it. Note that for most of these shows, this going to be just my first impressions on each of them based on how much of each of them I've seen. So...let's begin.

Big City Greens

In this current era of Disney Channel we've been getting more episodic shows, these shows still have continuity character development and some major status quo changes, but they aren't super story-driven like shows such as The Owl House or Ducktales 2017. Big City Greens is the first of these. Big City Greens follows the misadventures Cricket Green, a mischievous country boy whose family moves into the big city. The main appeal of the show is to see whatever hilarious chaos the green family can unintentionally cause.

The show currently has three seasons with a fourth season coming next month and a movie coming out next year. I've seen a lot of episodes of Big City Greens whenever the show pops up on Disney Channel and this show is pretty great! I like Cricket as a protagonist; he's a mischievous little shit but a little shit that still cares about his friends and family. Most of the other greens family is cool too. This show is also really funny, from the episodes I've watched I laughed a lot while watching it. I'm not saying much about this show because I'm planning on making a review on it, hopefully, I can watch all of the first three seasons before season 4 comes out, but for now, my thoughts on this show are pretty positive so far!

The Ghost and Molly Mcgee

This is the second show of this new era of Disney Channel. The Ghost and Molly Mcgee follows an upbeat and optimistic 13-year old girl named Molly Mcgee, whose family moves into Brighton. However, turns out their house is already a home, a home to a ghost named Scratch, and Molly and Scratch become best friends over the course of season 1. That was probably a bad description of the show's synopsis but ehh whatever. The show has two seasons so far with the second season still airing. This is another show that I'm planning on making a review on so I'm not gonna say much about it here, however, I also quite like this one.

I think Molly is a good protagonist; she's funny she's likable and is always willing to help anybody out and wants to en-happify the word. I always kind of like overly optimistic female characters and Molly is one of them. Scratch is great too, his development is decent and he's just pretty funny. Again, I'm planning on making a review of this show soon so I'm not going to say much about it here, but The Ghost and Molly Mcgee is a fun cute little show.

Hamster and Gretal

So...I don't know if I could have much to say about this show. Created by the same guys who made Phineas and Ferb, Hamster, and Gretal is a show about a superhero girl named Gretal and her superhero animal sidekick Gretal. Oh, and she has an older brother too. I don't really think I have much to say about this one, since I've only seen one episode. It was the episode that had that one villain who can talk to onions. Based on the one episode I've seen...it looks fine. I'm not a huge fan of the voice acting, idk it just sounds weird to me, and the animation doesn't really look that great, but it also doesn't look terrible. The characters seemed ok and the jokes were kinda funny. Hamster and Gretal looks like a fine show, I know it isn't fair to judge something based on one episode, but this is a first impressions kind of post for each show, not a review so ya. Anyway, this show looks fine, but I'm not really interested in reviewing it.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur

I already made an entire review of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur before so I'm not going to repeat my thoughts on the show here. So I'm just going to say, I LOVE this series. Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur follows 13-year-old Lunella Layfatte and her best friend Casey. One day when rebuilding a portal that a scientist left the blue prints for, she opens the portal and a giant dinosaur named Devil comes through the portal, from there they become a superhero crime-fighting duo Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Again, I already made a review of this show before, so just to recap; I absolutely LOVE this show. I love Lunella as a protagonist, I love Casey and Devil, I love the songs, I LOVE the animation, I LOVE the finale, everything about this show is amazing on every single front. This is easily my favorite Disney show of all time and my favorite show to come out from this current era so far. Again, if you want to see my full detailed thoughts on the show, go check out my review of it. Suffice to say this show is AWESOME!

Kiff

Kiff is a show about an anthropomorphic squirrel named Kiff, and the show revolves around her adventures with her best rabbit friend Barry in their town. Of the few episodes I've seen of Kiff, it looks like a fun show. It's pretty funny and I like the characters and some of the songs. Don't have much to say about Kiff other than it's a pretty fun show.

Haily's On It!

Haily's On It is a show about a girl named Haily who doesn't really like trying out new things. But one day a scientist from the future comes and says that Haily needs to complete every single thing on this list or else the world will end. Haily's On It looks decent based on the episodes of it I've seen. Haily is a likable enough protagonist and Scott is fine, I'm not a huge fan of the art style and animation though...it just looks kinda of stiff. Don't have much to say about this one either, it looks like a decent 7/10 based on what I've seen.

Upcoming shows

There are a few shows that are going to be released soon. First there's...Primos, the show that caused quite a bit of controversy when the theme song dropped due to its racist depictions of Mexicans, and the creator's response to that controversy. I'm not gonna go into much detail about the drama aside from that, but I don't really think I have much interest in this one. The character designs suck and I don't really know if the premise really interests me. Maybe I'll review it when it comes out in 2024, but this still doesn't look that exciting.

I also heard that there's an upcoming Darkwing Duck reboot coming soon so that's cool and Phenias and Ferb is getting a revival for seasons 5&6.

Conclusion & Overall Thoughts

So what are my overall thoughts on this era of Disney TVA? Well, I'd say it's pretty good so far. Sure, most of them are very episodic and slice-of-life but I think that's ok, not every show needs to be story-driven or that stuff. The new shows we've been getting have still been pretty good, I'd say that of all the big three networks (CN and Nickelodeon) Disney Channel is the only one that did remotely well during the 2010s and early 2020s. This channel is still able to create consistently good to great shows to this day, and that's certainly an accomplishment when you look at the current states of CN and Nickelodeon right now. So in conclusion...this era of Disney TVA is pretty good and I'm looking forward to whatever new shows are gonna come out. So...bye.