So after a long day of highs and lows, I arrive home at around 5:40 pm with little expectation for anything big. I'd already heard about the teaser picture of Metal's leg and how Smash is totally, maybe (stay-tuned-for-more-news-because-this-is-how-Nintendo-rolls), coming to Switch . At best I was expecting the highlight for the new content to be the next chapter of top-tier Donald Trump manga-inspired comic or some cute new thing related to NEO-KOSMOS (even though we just got a new update the day prior). But no. We got something big, something unexpected. We got...
STEVEN UNIVERSE: SAVE THE LIGHT (A SEQUEL TO THE 2015 APP ATTACK THE LIGHT) WHICH IS A FULL FLEDGED CONSOLE RPG WITH PAPER MARIO GAMEPLAY, 4 PLAYABLE PARTY MEMEBERS BEYOND THE 4 MAIN CRYSTAL GEMS AND A NEW STORY WRITTEN BY REBECCA SUGAR YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES
But that isn't what we're here for today. Today we're here to talk about the long-awaited show 3+ years in the making: Lakewood Plaza Turb--
Oh.
So I log onto tumblr and the first thing I see is this:
So my eye is immediately drawn to the girl because girls are cute she's in the foreground, and I just don't recognize her. I look at the other characters and think "wait is that rad and k.o. what the HELL is going on". So logically, that means the girl is enid, ergo something is going on relating to Lakewood Plaza Turbo. I read the comment below that said "woooo OK KO! theshow i’ve been boarding on for over a year is finally announced!!!!"
I immediately have SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. Is the series getting another app? More shorts? A game? What's going on?! And as I scroll down the truth comes alll the more clear:
Lakewood Plaza Turbo is finally becoming a show.
REDEMPTIOOON SOOOOOOOONG
But not without some changes (ala Steven U). The artstyle, name of the show, and theme were all changed and just like Steven U my kneejerk reaction was "what the fuuuuck IIIIIIIIIIIIIIS this shit?". And also like Steven U it quickly grew on me and I accepted that this was the righteous path. Well, the artstyle and theme anyway, I'm still a bit iffy on the name. But enough context, let's talk about the show!
ok i lied, more context. so part of what contributed to my kneejerk reaction was the fact that Lakewood Plaza Turbo was in development purgatory for 3 years and in that time we got the app/shorts, but also in that time shows that had been in circulation for less time like We Bare Bears and Magiswords had gotten onto CN without seemingly as much struggle. I'd just given up hope for the series becoming a show and on top of that I'd even begun to lose my liking for the pilot, but then again Early Installment Weirdness is my Achilles heel of Tropes so make of what what you will. So when I saw the show come back in such a different form I was instantly turned off. Just from how it looked I was getting Teen Titans Go! & PPG16 vibes: a loss of the show's soul.
The artstyle looked so rudimentary and basic and the theme/intro wasn't doing it any favors, with its lyrics being very non-infortmative to the premise of the show: all fluff no substances. I had come to really like Lakewood Plaza Turbo's theme because its lyrics just felt as though they encompassed the tone and subject matter of the show: stupid(in a good way)ly-awesome with a video game/anime flare). But this was just....a non-event. And once again, the simplistic artstyle is so lame! Until I began to think of it another way...
Lakewood Plaza Turbo/OK K.O.! are clearly rooted deeply in gaming/anime culture and in some ways the new theme, title, and artstyle reflect this. Starting with the new theme, check out the opening shot of it panning from space all the way down to the plaza and the shot of K.O. staring down Lord Box Man with the opposing sides behind them.
Not only is this shot really badass, but it just REEKS of anime influence! And that extends to the theme! The simplistic subject matter and referenec to being friends/heroes feels very reminiscent of 90's anime with Engrish lyrics that have a very simple, positive vibe. It fits! The subtitle "Let's Be Heroes" also reflects it but I'm not as fond of it. You know it's going to be akin to "Adventure Time with Finn and Jake", "The Amazing World of Gumball, "The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack" and "The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius": extra parts of the title that'll all be abandoned in advertising and common discussion in a year. Regardless, the title/opening grew on me. And the artstyle? Awesome! While initially reluctant I came to realize that Lakewood's artstyle wasn't all that impressive. I never really liked K.O. and Enid's noses so the cute little square Elmo/Stan Pines gumdrop is cute.
Precious.
And in general, Lakewood sort've had a generic 2010s base artstyle. It definitely had defining features such as the eyes, aforementioned noses, and character designs but the colors used along with the thin lines didn't do much to set it apart. The new proportions, radically unique way of drawing things, and scraggly crayon-like lines should help. I initially thought the style was too squishy and inconsistent but not in the good, Ren and Stimpy/Steven Universe way. But after I got addicted to the visuals in the opening, I began to really enjoy the style and see the merits of it. Especially in this shot.
It looks SO cool.
I have no idea what this artstyle resembles but the closest I can attribute it too is Sonic CD/Mega Drive and Mega Man which I LOVE.
Also forgot one thing! Both Mega Drive and OK K.O.! have scraggy outlines
It does wonders for K.O., Carol, Lord Box Man (especially Lord Box Man, the way his mouth is drawn all muppet like gives him a real sense of dimension and it's great),
Perfection.
and the other tertiary/background characters but Enid, Rad, and Mr. Gar...
Umm....
Yeaaaaah. Now granted, that opening shot of them isn't doing many favors since admittedly they look REALLY bad (mostly Enid), but even without it they still look a bit. The simple geometrics really makes Gar and Rad's muscles look not very good due to how, well, simple they are. Enid on the other hand suffers an almost opposite issue—her legs are sometimes drawn with definition/shape (like with the black and white photo storyboarder's picture from the beginning of the Blog) which makes sense considering she's probably based on Chun-Li. Other times, like the picture just above this paragraph, and this one:
Her legs are basically parallel lines that bend. Even worse is that shot above seems to be from an actual episode, meaning Enid will likely look like that a lot. In general, I think I don't think I'm happy with the new design choices for Enid. Not only is there the leg thing, but her ponytail and bandaged torso from Lakewood were a lot more appealing.
Even so it's not impossible to make any of these design choices look great. Just check out the official poster and you'll see all of them, especially the 3 we've been talking about for the past while look great.
One last thing to note on Rad/Gar/Enid's proportions: The strange Garnet-esque chest proportions on Enid and Rad's shirts despite their lower torsos indicating that there's nothing under said shirts.
Enid is a bit more understandable, as nothing about her lower torso indicates that something should be up there but this man Rad is /shredded/. You should definitely be able to see his biceps leading into the shirt, as made evident by Mr. Gar. These don't necessarily detract from the excitement of the show, but they're worth note and could become problematic if made out to be very obnoxious out of proportion in show.
Two more design changes to note before we wrap up: K.O. has a darker skin tone (which I like) and now has buttface.
Buttface, along with flat simplistic colors and thin lines will go down as the defining aesthetic traits of the 2010s.
And also Rad's antenna have gone from being on the front of his forehead to in the middle of the top of his head, which looks a lot less awkward tbh. Overall good choice.
Despite the many issues it has, the artstyle still looks pretty different from everything else we have atm, and the simple way the characters are drawn should be beneficial as with said simple characters action scenes will be a lot easier to make and thus we'll be able to get higher quality, well-animated fight scenes. Despite the bad initial reaction, I have high hopes for OK K.O. Long as they keep the tone and spirit of Lakewood Plaza Turbo alive we could be looking at the next big show. Oh, and great on Ian for percerviering and becoming the second African American to create a CN original. Can't wait to see the young K.O. rise up to greatness just like his creator.
p.s. for being the defensive teammate, steven's hp sure is garbage in that screenshot of attack the light