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Intrancity — The Complete Megas XLR Scorecard

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Published: 2018-03-02 08:00:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 8603; Favourites: 28; Downloads: 4
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Description I have literally no history with Megas XLR. No, not even in scheduling or anything related to scorecards.

But aside from the undoubtedly short history paragraph, finally. We found ourselves another excellent pie chart that's actually different from the other great shows. While there's only 1 epic episode that wasn't that extraordinary, what really matters is that much of the ratings for each individual episode are really good. There's 9 blessed episodes overall and just 3 episodes at most good, one of which is an ample. There are shows that achieved themselves as having no episodes below good such as Milo Murphy's Law, Here Comes the Grump and Evil Con Carne, but Megas XLR here is slighty different because there's one episode that wasn't that good (which makes sense because in my perspective, the first half of Season 2, specifically Ultra Chicks to S-Force S.O.S., didn't have the same charm and heart the 1st and 2B had), therefore having all good and blessed ratings in one scorecard. 

Let's take a moment to sit right here and talk about my favorite aspect of the show; the writing:

So, the premise looks real fitting for its time. I mean, it's a typical mecha robot concept, but with a twist. The addition of 2 lowbrow slackers who found a mecha robot sounds like an awesome concept because not only does it show possibilities for them to make the characters likable and the interesting conflicts they must deal with, but adding in another more serious human being from the future guiding them on their way makes the possibilities bigger and mix it in with another vibe from one of the characters that help make the writing more creative. Really liked the concept of the show, and how did it end up into the writing? It's brilliant. Every episode is executed in a really clever manner where the show doesn't stop being interesting. The backstories are clever and fitting for one of the characters to help them and the environment of Jersey City to develop into those that I like. They are often unsuspecting that go in the right direction where they easily hit their mark as not only charming as heck, but it can be really funny. Same thing can be said about the setups too because they're like the backstories, except more creative effort is put into them along with a spice of twists and room for foreshadowing that seems like funny filler at first, but actually made to foreshadow the heroes comebacks at the villains where sometimes it can be more funny than the last. And then there's the video game vibe, which is a great addition to this 2000's cartoon where some things can relate to video games like the gadgets of the Megas robot. And speaking of unsuspecting twists, a lot of them came out as funny because they're ironic. Sure, they lost a little luster when it aged into the 2010s, but they still work because I never saw them coming such as the characters screwing up in some situations. They're sometimes treated as running gags, but they still work because they have a lot of endless possibilities that kept their charm up. And even the show can tackle the relatable direction where a character doesn't understand what the other is saying or oblivious townsfolk unaware of Megas' damage (which still works in my opinion because I can still relate to that such as the boy who says "Cool" to any alien sent to destroy Megas or conquer the Earth). Though speaking of irony, it can erupt clever twists and turns in the story that tend to have the right amount of twists and enjoyment in it where Megas XLR balances the humor and action very well, especially when it exaggerates its fight scenes with dancing. In other words, the fight scenes has a lot of clever twists in the fight scenes that you may not see coming. The 1st half of Season 2 may weaken the writing a little due to the pacing being a little slower and predictability added in but the episodes still has some charm of the 1st season due to them continuing to have unsuspecting twists. Pretty much everything executes very well with the writing without the creativity's help with the action and humor.

The writing is almost perfect where it could easily bring up the show's quality. Megas XLR's animation? Not so much.

This is one of those shows that kind of falls into the "mediocre animation but great writing" type of category. What am I talking about? The animation is just generic 2000's animation that looks like Megas XLR was made in France. I'll give you a history of that; In 2002, action cartoons are starting to be popular again with shows like Kim Possible, Totally Spies!, Codename: Kids Next Door, Teen Titans, etc. What most of these action cartoons have in common (like the French cartoon Code Lyoko and the 2001 cartoon Totally Spies!) is that they're influenced by anime where they'd usually have the thin lines, normal colors you see in real life and realistic looking characters that combines western animation with anime where it's common for an action show to use that type of animation formula in the 2000's, though there are a few that presents their own animation style. But Megas XLR joined in the craze of that and because of it, it doesn't do much to stand out. The effects don't help the animation because they look cheap. Well, at least the lens flare is well done and the explosions are decent, but I'm talking about the panning and shake effect where it feels like the characters don't animate but instead the whole shot shakes. It feels lazy because again, the characters don't have any real movement in the process. But as generic as the quality is with the normal colors of real life and with some designs appearing a little bland like the humans, it did try to look appealing. The character animation is fluent like other action shows from the decade and sometimes, they can move fluidly. For the character designs, a few of them look creative like Magnanimous with his face taking up most of his form with the limbs being smaller. What I really liked about the quality is the effects on some of the alien creatures voices where they sound distorted and robotic that help give them this antagonistic robot vibe that executes a lot better than the special effects done on the visuals. The voice acting for some of the humans like Kiva sound weak because it sounds like they aren't putting that much expression into each line, but they're just okay because they aren't trying to sound generic or bland. The background music for Megas XLR consists of rock music and metal music for the action scenes, which I'd say sounds action packed and awesome to listen to because they sound catchy and help build the vibe Megas XLR is trying to offer. The animation looks generic for a cartoon that first aired in 2004, but it did everything with the budget it had to craft something that's considered ample.

Someone guessed that I may not like this show that much because of the characters due to how annoying a few of them can get. Let me explain:

Since the humor and action balances very well in the writing, it also helps that the characters are lovable. The main protagonists managed to be funny and not in an annoying way where it infuriates me. And what's the meaning behind this? Depth. Although they don't show how they develop into their current mood in the show, what really matters is that the show's cleverness expands into the writing. Characters such as Coop don't irritate me because his stories are not only relatable, but it's also pretty funny as well. And it's not that dumb type where it makes them feel idiotic, I think it suites their characterization well and of course, the cleverness also takes effect in their backstories with plenty of twists poured in that makes them chuckle worthy. And I adore how these characters view things from their point of view like when Coop view battling aliens in the Megas as if he were playing a video game trying to beat them all. It's a nice addition because it fits their characterization and it's smart to add a twist to the mecha robot concept. Take all that and you got depth where the characters are given depth throughout the series as they explain what things they do in different times, which can help us learn about the difference between the present people and future people. Megas XLR does a good example of that like when Kiva doesn't know any words/objects/holidays Jersey City celebrate/use such as Thanksgiving. And the villains aren't your typical ones, they rather played a very enjoyable performance. While a few of their motives are obvious and cliched, what kept them likable is their description. The description is often creative for non-Glorft villains such as multiplying whenever the antagonist is defeated. Where's the development? Well, there wasn't really a lot of development in the 1st season, but it did get better later on in the 2nd half of Season 1. It doesn't matter that much at the beginning to the end because the characters are still likable with their depth and personalities keeping them strong. These characters offer a great addition to the Megas that succeed at staying away at the annoying part of the show and focus on depth that's either relatable or creative.

Surprising that Megas XLR went up to January 15, 2005 where it didn't last over a year. It ended at a time where CN City took over and Cartoon Network became the Gumball Syndrome network and only a handful of shows are worth watching. Their quote en-quote "hits" don't impress me that much mostly because of Gumball Syndrome. Though I must say that Megas XLR actually started exactly a month before the CN City rebrand, which changed the fate of the network, well in my perspective. But anyways, this has the charm it has to become fantastic with the clever depth taking up most of the mecha robot concept that develops into an awesome story with many twists inside, generic but effective animation and lovable characters that are surprisingly funny and relatable. Finally, after almost a year with no shows above the "great" rating, this finally has what it takes to be a great show (86%). The great rating is usually rare of a show to achieve, but this show managed to deserve it with the smart depth added into the writing and characters that it overall becomes a breath of fresh air and re-introduction into the science fiction and mecha robot realm. But we're not done with aliens just yet, and not even mecha robots. There's 2 more and they're from the 2 guys who made Cartoon Network a household name.
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Comments: 7

Atazv30 [2022-05-28 22:39:47 +0000 UTC]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

HugeTFPFan [2019-06-11 04:49:42 +0000 UTC]

Peter Cullen and Frank Welker did voices on this show and this wasn't the first time the two voiced giant robots. 

👍: 1 ⏩: 0

SaxonPezzollaVGCP [2018-08-28 06:24:33 +0000 UTC]

R.I.P. Megas XLR
May 1 2004 - January 15 2005

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Waluigi333 [2018-03-28 21:07:02 +0000 UTC]

Chicks dig giant scorecards. 

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

MajesticPrincePowers [2018-03-04 06:43:10 +0000 UTC]

I need to see more of this show.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

TheGreatServer [2018-03-02 08:26:20 +0000 UTC]

First great show you reviewed since Here Comes the Grump.

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

DTH-Incorproductions [2018-03-02 08:26:12 +0000 UTC]

The funny thing is my parents come from Jersey City....

👍: 0 ⏩: 0