lisadewaal-98104

I first heard of this show 10 years ago and watched through all of its mini-episodes. The characters were absolutely fantastic. I remember having only one complaint: they were too short. A few days ago, I stumbled across this show again and decided to watch the six released episodes of season 1. It was amazing. This is a show you don't necessarily have to watch for the overarching story (yet), but the characters are SO GOOD that it doesn't matter that the story isn't that fleshed out (YET).

The concept of the show is rather original. Black Hat, the ultimate villain, has gotten rid of all of his own heroes, and now runs a company to help other villains destroy THEIR heroes. Black Hat sends out his three employees, Dr. Flug, Demencia, and 5.0.5., to get rid of these 'heroic problems'.

I absolutely adore Dr. Flug, the nervous paper-bag scientist. His character design is unique and his personality is surprisingly three-dimensional. He's a perfectionist, striving to prove himself. He's caring toward his cohorts, and quite jumpy when it comes to scary things (like Black Hat). At the same time, Flug's a villain who likes to create insane devices for his boss to cause mayhem. Flug has his own backstory and motivations for joining Black Hat Organization, and I can't wait for it to be fully uncovered.

Demencia is best described as a Harley Quinn-like character who's completely obsessed with Black Hat. She's very tough but not the brightest one around. I love her dynamic with Dr. Flug. Her character design is a real eye-catcher and I love the sound effects of a rattle snake when she slithers across the floor. She really doesn't hold anything back and just wants to maim and destroy. Her love for Black Hat is somewhat disturbing, which fits her deranged personality.

5.0.5. Is a big, blue bear who really doesn't seem to belong. He's very sweet and has the mind and naivety of a child, making him a cute side character who you feel sorry for when he has to witness horrific events. He's kind of a breath of fresh air among the evil things going on.

Ah, and then there the big boss himself. Black Hat. He's quite different from most cartoon villains I've seen. Most are comical and not that harmful. They have their weaknesses to be defeated in the end, or are even sympathetic. Black Hat... isn't like that. He is actually pure evil. It's no secret that he kills and tortures people on a regular basis. He takes delight in the suffering of others without holding anything back. He treats everyone pretty much with the same sadism, because that's just who he is. He makes any interaction with him as uncomfortable as possible. He has the essence of a horror movie villain in his behavior, constantly twisting physical appearance and cruelty. But of course, he's not actually the antagonist of this show. This villain is impossible to defeat, but he also just doesn't need to BE defeated. And it's so surreal to watch!

Needless to say, Black Hat is the star of this show. Whenever he's on screen, it's always ridiculously entertaining. But now that I've seen the sixth episode, I'm really curious to see where the story with the rest of the characters is headed. It has a LOT of potential and I just want to know more about them. The animation is also of very high quality and the visual gags are always a blast. The only thing missing so far is a musical number, but maybe that's just me. Can't wait to see more!

After everyone at work recommended this movie, I decided to watch it with my family. Ohhh boy was I embarrassed. The jokes were so horrible. My brother cringed so much that he left the room after 50 minutes of watching, even though he usually loves animated movies. My father left after the first 10 minutes, but he's not big on animation anyway. My mother and sister watched it all the way to the end, but they didn't laugh once. I have no idea what this movie is trying to communicate except for 'being crazy is a good thing'? It's super on the nose. 2 stars because I did enjoy some of the robots' personalities. Sadly their designs were very unoriginal.