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Also review for the latest episodes of Marvel Funko Battleworld Shorts, DC's Legends Of Tomorrow, Batwoman, DC Super Hero Girls, The Barbarian And The Troll, Power Rangers: Dino Fury, American Dad!, and Final Space.



Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Frost Fight!

So that was a thing that existed. Or more accurately, existed for years and this is the first time I've gotten around to it. What did I think?

I thought it had some charms to start off with, but I progressively disliked it more and more as it went on. Groot as the Christmas Tree at the end was a nice touch, but generally speaking the more the movie got into the Christmas stuff, the lamer it got.

I'm not going to spend pages on this review because that would be silly. I'll briefly talk about what stuck out at me.

This is the first time I've ever seen Reptil in anything besides The Super Hero Squad Show. Another thing that I forgot existed.

I love that Hulk loves Christmas but being Hulk can't verbalize it well. I like that.

My problem starts with Santa existing in one of the Multiverse Levels of the Marvel Universe. It could have been handled worse in truth, but all it does is break whatever reality and credibility the rest of the stuff is trying to get across.

My problem with Santa is that the movie operates under the assumption that belief is good enough and all that matters. That is the biggest crock of horsepoo I have seen a modern kids project shovel out recently, and you gotta keep in mind I watch a TON of crap, so me saying that means something. Forget the political implications for a minute. Tony Stark using math to prove Santa was a fraud was the best scene in the movie, and it could have existed with the reality of Santa in that Universe, but the movie has to say that believing irrational things is the right answer and that the head-strong, clever, and independent kid Tony Stark was was completely wrong. It's The Complainer Is Always Wrong (see Brainy Smurf) about a scenario in which in Our Universe, he's actually right.

I loved him disproving Santa with math, and I hope perhaps some rationally thinking kids will see that although a magical, time-stopping version of Santa is plausible in a Universe where superheroes and magic powers exist, maybe the math itself can tell them something about Santa for a Universe devoid of them. It's why I can't entirely crap on the movie. It teaches kids the wrong lessons and morals, but the smart ones will get it on their own, despite the movie's best efforts.

I guess I could do a rundown of jokes and scenes I liked but that would take about ten minutes to put down and I'm suddenly stricken with a crippling and overwhelming sense of not caring very much. Rule of thumb: If Hulk said it, it was funny. If Tony said it, it wasn't.

So, yeah. This wasn't great. It could have been worse. But it teaches kids all the wrong things. **1/2.




Funko Marvel Battleworld: Treachery At Twilight "Episode 1: The Twilight Sword"

I really like Loki's voice. Thanos has a good voice too.

The Spider-dog peeing webbing was kind of gross.

I like the animation style too. ***1/2.

Funko Marvel Battleworld: Treachery At Twilight "Episode 2: An Island Of Spiders"

Wanda and Loki? Synergy: Marvel has it.

Is that the evil Hulk the Maestro at the end? I hate that character.

Never heard of Iron Goblin or the Werewolf Captain America before.

This whole premise is bonkers. ***1/2.

Funko Marvel Battleworld: Treachery At Twilight "Episode 3: Party Like It's 2099"

Eh. Sort of a non-ending. **1/2.

Funko Marvel Battleworld: Treachery At Twilight "Episode 4: Portal To The Collector's Tower"

Loki and Wanda work well together.

The gags are pretty cartoony in these shorts. I like that. ***1/2.




DC's Legends Of Tomorrow "Bishop's Gambit"

As fun as this show is, I thought the ending was super disturbing and the parts with Spooner fighting the alien were outright scary. The showed leaned too far into the pathos in Season 1, but the fact that it can still deliver genuine creeps means it's incredibly well-rounded, and is one of the few Arrowverse shows that is.

I like John's stuff with Astra.

I also liked John realizing two things at the beginning: For the first time in his life he is friends with a group of people he isn't destined to damn, betray, or kill. And having those cretins crash at the House of Mystery and drive him absolutely bonkers is the price for that "normalcy". To be blunt, John should be grateful for it. But I actually find the Legends super annoying too.

It's the manbun that actually says Bishop is a creep.

The real Sara is dead? In a season and a show exploring the worth of artificial life and the agency of clones, that is a very interesting thing to do. It could go wrong, but I approve of the show exploring the topic. Plus, as Sara herself has noted, she's died before. It is not the deal-breaker it is for her character that it is for the others.

I love that Rory, a villain, and Sara, a hero, genuinely like and care for each other and are friends. That's one of the coolest things about this show. What's best about their friendship is there are no stipulations attached. Sara doesn't expect better from Rory, and Rory doesn't expect worse from Sara. They care about each other as is, which is great.

I can't stand Bishop as a character, but lord the episode was interesting, and held my freaking attention. Good stuff. ****.

Batwoman "Rebirth"

I suspect that episode is going to be VERY well-received among the fandom, and I heard nothing but good things in the few reviews I read before I saw it. I'm gonna go against the grain a little and say there were quite a few things in it I didn't like. I thought it was good, but it wasn't perfect.

Let me first compliment the best thing about the episode: The way they used John Diggle. To be frank, I'm not crazy about the idea of the brainscan because it means Diggle will probably have a multi-episode arc on the show, and I would frankly prefer it if this was his only appearance, at least this season. Why? Because the way they used the character was completely refreshing. Luke's connection to the Batfamily is hinted at to Diggle, but never made explicit. And Diggle's connection to the Green Arrow family isn't mentioned at all. This wasn't a team-up or a crossover. It was characters set in the same world brushing by each other. I love that idea. It makes the world seem bigger and realer than the one-episode team-ups ever do. This is the first major Arrowverse guest appearance from a major cast member I didn't feel was a gimmick or a stunt. It felt like the Arrow Universe is still out there, and the characters are people we'll still occasionally bump into, even if their past with Oliver Queen isn't relevant to the story at hand. I think that's great.

The Kate stuff was good and bad. I think I didn't like the fact that she doesn't recognize Mary but she does Sophie. I think the show doing that was the show trying to score points for Sophie. But they were doing it at the expense of Mary, which pisses me off.

I love Ryan refusing to apologize to Luke for saving his life. And she gets a hug for it. Because that's the correct response.

I don't remember the name of the Crow who shot Luke, but it struck me very clearly, and I don't know if I'm the only one who thought this, that he was getting ready to call Luke the n-word, he sees Diggle, and quickly uses a different phrase each time. I don't know why I feel that way, but that's how it played. What's weird is that that specific word has never been said on this show (as of yet). And yet I still felt its undercurrents in the amount of disrespect and loathing the Crow felt for Luke while not wanting to say it in John's presence. His stuttering was masking real hatred. Very interesting.

He tried to murder Jacob last episode so he shouldn't be getting bail at all. Too bad Black Mask owns all the cops.

The weak link of the episode, and frankly, the season, is the Alice stuff. She does not belong on this show. I don't feel bad for her for Ocean dying because she was rubbing her freedom in Siffya's face. When Siffya calls Alice a brat who believes she deserves more than she does, I don't find Ocean being killed off as an unusual lesson someone like Siffya would give Alice. I don't agree with it, but my problem with Alice this season is that she believes she's the only one allowed to do horrible things. And that delusion really bit her in the episode.

I also am not on-board the idea of the show perhaps rehabilitating the character. But I will say this: They took the right step to get Mary to accept that idea: As a personal favor to her father. If the show does its job (which based on this episode is actually iffy) Ryan will NEVER be on-board the "Save Beth like you saved Kate" train. And I very much hope that specific controversy is explored. I was dismayed they got rid of that subtext to Mary so easily, but in the show's defense they went about that the right way. I don't see any right way going forward for Ryan to give Alice any benefit of the doubt.

This episode will get a ton of positive feedback. Part of me is resisting that a little. ***1/2.




DC Super Hero Girls "Double Danvers"

Opinion: Bizarro Kara is not markedly more ill-mannered or grosser than Regular Kara.

I absolutely LOATHE the secret ID's on this show, and think they are the worst thing about it. Supergirl doesn't wear a mask and Kara doesn't wear glasses or a wig. And yet she tries to play it off like they are separate people and Jeremiah is dumb enough to buy it. I HATE that. Doctor Who did a great joke once with Twelve in a custodian's uniform. When Clara is outraged he's working at the school, he's like "What? You saw through my brilliant disguise?" At least the Twelfth Doctor is (probably) joking. This show asks me to take that exact same dumb idea seriously. It's the thing I hate most about it.

I was aggravated by the end of that. Although you could probably already tell that. My rage in my reviews doesn't tend to be subtle. **.

DC Super Hero Girls "According To Garth"

That was solid.

Has Garth lost weight? I think they tweaked his character design for season 2.

I liked it. ***1/2.




The Barbarian And The Troll "I Will Survive"

That ending with Alvin was surprisingly scary. It is good that the show can still surprise me with its tone. That is a good indicator of long-term stability for the show.

I loved it. ****1/2.




Power Rangers: Dino Fury "Cut Off"

I'm not on-board the moral that Ollie was right. He was being insufferable with his inventions earlier in the episode.

Zayto made an excellent observation about the jacket with fans built into it. If it's actually hot, you can just take it off. Seriously that is about as nonsensical invention that ever existed.

This is NOT the show that should EVER be throwing stones about jokes not being funny. Five minutes after they are accusing the chicken joke of that they're saying "Out of cluck" and other chicken puns. Do you know the irony? The monster doesn't even LOOK like a chicken. But about half of the monsters on this show don't look like the things they are supposed to. Either the writers are super lazy, or there is something lost in translation when adapting this show from Super Sentei. It's probably the first thing, if only because that's the one I have tangible proof of with my very own eyes.

Not great. **1/2.

Power Rangers: Dino Fury "Phoning Home"

Not bad but not good.

The J-Borg stuff has quickly turned into the worst part of the show. It's not quite as bad as Victor and Monty or Ben and Betty, but it's bad for the same reason: The scenes are utterly degrading for her actress. I don't think it's good humor to teach kids to point and laugh at the misfortunes and humiliations of others. Putting fish bones in your mouth and spitting up a hairball is not something you should ever ask a grown actress to do (outside of perhaps fetish porn). Needless to say Power Rangers has been on the air for 30 years and still sucks for that exactly as much as it did back in the day with Bulk and Skull.

I liked the scene of Zolan making dogfood for Zayto for the reason that it shows she likes him, so that when she has a problem with the alien chick, she isn't being irrational and is still on his side. Perhaps the viewer did not even need that much, because they were aware of Slider's true nature the entire time, but I was personally glad to have it. Zolan also turned out to be a surprisingly decent fighter which was also cool.

I like to be able to take at least one horrible shot at the expense of the show per review, and this next thing is my attempt: But Zayto's password being "Zayto is cool," is absolutely wretched. In his complete defense, it's also something nobody who knows him would ever think to utter in everyday conversation. (Rimshot!)

Mucus is such a lovable and well-meaning character that if they don't bother redeeming her by the end of the season I'll actually be a bit pissed.

Some things I liked, some things I didn't. ***.

Power Rangers: Dino Fury "McScary Manor"

Jane going on the air and claiming the newest craze will be people sticking their hands in a mixture of glitter and goo shows that this show doesn't try at all. I would even accept it if they didn't try very hard. But they don't try at ALL.

That being said, the backstory between Amelia and Pop-Pop sounds a bit intriguing. And I hate the cast switches every year, but one of the selling points is that they could further explore this backstory if they chose to because they don't have to drag things out for seasons on end. I detest the fact that the show changes casts in every incarnation. However the fact that the backstory of Amelia's missing parents could be explored without wrecking the show is its only real selling point.

It was all right, but I'm a bit tired of all right at this point. **1/2.




American Dad! "Mused And Abused"

I'm not going to say I am going to destroy that... Because that would imply I cared more about the episode than I did. It was a weak-ass episode, with a weak ending. The only good thing about it was Klaus' take-down of Roger at the beginning, and the end sort of made that entirely moot, which is SO the worst of this show.

I am unsurprised that Roger is the one who has been destroying Klaus from Day 1 of this show, and I'm incredibly annoyed with the idea at the same time. It both makes perfect sense, and utterly sucks from a narrative perspective.

One more thing to note: I was wrong. I thought during the recent episodes of this show and Family Guy that Seth MacFarlane was nursing a cold. It turns out his voice has just markedly aged in an incredibly short space of time. He not the hip, fun young guy anymore. He sounds old and ragged. And it seemed to happen all at once. I'm a little worried, to be honest. He does not sound healthy.

I mentioned the episode sucked, right? Because besides Seth's voice being absolutely wrecked, I figured that should be the main bullet point of this specific review. *1/2.




Final Space "Hyper-Transdimensional Bridge Rising"

Clarence is not an ideal character to redeem, because he was responsible for so much pain and suffering. And yet, giving him the sacrifice to save Ash and her friends does it. What's especially tragic about the sacrifice is that it's essentially for nothing. He has no way of knowing it, but Gary and friends are staying in Final Space to kill all the Titans. Is Bolo on that list? I'm thinking he maybe shouldn't be definitely taken off it.

Kevins were design to kill Titans? How? By annoying them to death? Actually, that's plausible.

Tribor continues to be the most alarming character to me on the show. Littlecato seems impressed, but I'm disturbed by the things he says and does.

The opening scene was fantastic. The rest of the episode was great too, but it was literally the best scene, so I could truthfully say it was all downhill from there and not be lying. The Lord Commander does NOT like the new status quo with Invictus. Frankly, I'm dying to get back to them both.

Good stuff per usual. The season has made several questionable decisions, and has so far navigated them all well. Will that keep up? Will the show get another season? I hope the answer to both questions is "Yes". ****.

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