Thursday 3 June 2010

HEROMAN - Episode 10

With the Skrugg invasion force defeated and destroyed last episode, we fast-forward three months into the future for HEROMAN's tenth instalment as life slowly returns to normal and Center City finds itself at the heart of efforts to reconstruct its ruined areas.

Meanwhile, back at the White House, research begins into the Skrugg spheres left stationary around the planet while the President's more pressing concern seems to be the strange "ghost" which is believed to have defeated the Skrugg and still seems to be at large, secretly aiding the construction effort in the dead of night. Despite its obvious helpfulness, the government someone believes that this powerful being could turn against them at some point, and thus sets out to investigate.


Still, all of this is secondary to Lina's post-Skrugg story, as she finds herself rather down in the dumps after her brother leaves her to go into hiding, unable to live amongst humans in his new half-Skrugg form. Still, what better way to get over someone than to get under someone Lina decides, and thus much of the episode follows her thwarted attempts to ask Joey out on a date... let's just hope their first date involves shopping for clothes, that girl really needs something other than cheerleader outfits to wear! One kidnapping later, Heroman is called into action to save Joey's soon-to-be girlfriend - A successful operation which also leads the government's secret agents closer to discovering their "ghost".

Let's face it, HEROMAN without alien invasions and the related insanity which comes with it just isn't going to cut it now we've become so accustomed to it - Stopping kidnappers (who kidnaps someone while they're on the phone anyway?!) by picking up a car is hardly the stuff of legend when you've single-handedly crushed an alien race, even if you do get a date with a cute but clothing-challenged girl out of it. Perhaps things will improve over the coming episodes (although I'm now wondering how long this series is planning to be), but I simply can't see even Heroman taking on the US government or military is going to offer the same thrills and spills that have made the series what it is. Needless to say, my hopes for the remainder of HEROMAN are modest at best right now.

6 comments:

JW said...

Meaning your hopes are right where they need to be, right, Hanners?

Frankly, this episode made my laugh repeatedly. What better way to mourn the loss of your brother than to make love to a suddenly sexy nerd?

Indeed, get it done quick before anyone interrupts, like the Mrs. Robinson you got for a teacher. See Joey run immediately to the little boy's room after that little conference.

But Lina has another trick up her sleeve. Pretend to get kidnapped and use the power of Hapless Kawaii!

Being kidnappers, I'm sure the owners of that car had no shortage of restraints in the back of that car, just in case Joey was into that sort of thing. Good thinking Lina!

Hanners said...

Along those lines, I guess maybe Joey has a thing for cheerleaders, which is why Lina ALWAYS wears that god-damn outfit!

I'm tempted to open up a sweepstake for whether she'll wear said uniform on their first date.

JW said...

She has to wear the same outfit or else the little kids won't recognize her.

Heroman is one step above the Pokemon bracket, but only one.

Robert said...

Be fair, Hanners - you know that animated characters only rarely change their costumes in any series. Even shows like GiTS: SAC have at most two or three outfits per character, and that's only because they have combat uniforms. It seems a petty point to fix on.

As for the main plot, I thought that it was quite nice to see Heroman doing some low-key stuff. Heroes help the community as well as bash the baddies, and I felt that a bit of breaking-and-redecorating was a suitable way of doing it - Joey opening the Heroman Homeless Soup Kitchen would indeed have been too sappy, but this was well-balanced.

JW said...

That's just the thing. Usually, someone can justify the lack of wardrobe to the fact that they are in the army, in school, or are bounty hunters who travel space and recycle their clothing because they never go shopping.

If Lina had some sort of school uniform that would make more sense. But cheerleaders only wear the cheerleading outfit at the games. Not all day every day.

Jeans and a T-shirt would look a lot more natural. I guess that's why no one really notices that Joey doesn't change clothes either.

Hanners said...

Even Joey has an excuse though... He has no parents and lives with his poor grandmother, having to work every minute of the day he can so they can make ends meet. He has good reason not to wear any other clothes, Lina doesn't.

I'm not asking for her to change her outfit every episode, but are some casual clothes (or, as JW says, a school uniform) too much to ask?