Post by classicswim on Mar 13, 2023 11:12:56 GMT -8
[Ballmastrz: Rubicon]
I’ll admit, I was skeptical upon first seeing the art style change.
I was wrong to have doubts. The special only further proved Ballmastrz as a diehard love letter to anime that some of us AcTN crowd have embarrassingly fawned over one time or another.
The special does have heavy flaws, and all of them are linked to the special not having enough time with key characters. It felt like in the end, they didn’t quite get the chance to fully breathe in their own world.
Don’t let this discourage you, as the special still maintained uplifting development which positively changed the previous tune of the series.
I’ll start with Lord Crayzar.
Throughout the entirety of Ballmastrz 9009, Crayzar is depicted as a jolly deity. One that is both untouchable, and meant to be a leader with a finer purpose for everyone’s well being.
Rubicon changes all of that. Crayzar being stripped of his powers and will wasn’t even the tip of the iceberg.
There was an odd payoff a few minutes in where, for the first time, we finally see this character face a hint of confrontation that’s beyond him. You finally figure out who Crayzar really is.
It felt like in the end, his victory was something gracefully earned.
Gaz Digzy’s transformation also duels commendable writing.
The whole comedic appeal of Gaz was her being a abrasive, ruthless lowbrow drunk who lost her way.
Digzy’s sobriety is another gift fans may or may not appreciate. She went back to being Number One. She changed her life around for the better and stuck to her team when everyone wanted to call it quits.
A lot of comedy was given up in favor of painting Gaz in a completely different light. Not a lot of Adult Swim shows would be willing to axe a role like that in favor of storytelling.
Aside from those home runs, Speed Levitch surprised me as well. I’m happy he got to play the villain so spectacularly.
It’s quite something to hear Dana Snyder spoutin’ about as Babyball again. In the context that ATHF is back on the horizon, Babyball no longer has to fill that Master Shake void. And yet... I still miss the hell out of Babyball.
Speaking of Aqua Teen, I never thought Adult Swim would do an even worse job promoting this special when compared to how they handled Plantasm/Deathfighter. ZERO marketing.
Which brings me onto our next contender.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[KING STAR KING!/!/!/]
“I just saw a walking booger smoke crack and eat the face off an old lady.”
Wouldn’t you know? This appears to be the last Adult Swim project with Roiland’s name attached as executive producer and voice actor. The special dropped not long after the termination.
I’m not going to crap all over the cartoon just because the sex pest was involved. I liked the original King Star King anyway.
Now, does this special contain any of the commendable traits the OG Emmy winning King Star King possessed? Hardly.
Character designs were ass.
There were moments 7-8 minutes in of this 21 minute cartoon where I was tempted to shut it off and not look back because of the voices. You can guess which prominent voice was the issue.
But I won’t say it was too bad. In fact, I laughed at plenty of parts in the special. The different approach grew on me by the end of it. Not to the point where I would ever desire more, but this wasn’t too bad for a one-off.
I love how certain scenes went back and forth between fluidness and just having King waddle around in lack-of-budget fashion. Like when he’s running up stairs.
I suspected this would be a tongue in cheek satirical. In reality, the best scene of this cartoon happens to be Jeff Bezos eating Popeyes chicken while taking a dump, then having a pistol pointed to his head by a Waffle guy from another dimension.
If you want utter nonsense, this won’t disappoint.