RB - A Virtual Disaster - Review (The REAL review)

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If you want to read up my episode reviews for Season One of Rescue Bots, click here: neoyi.deviantart.com/journal/A…

:bulletgreen: PREVIOUS SEASON TWO REVIEWS
27. Road Trip
28. Sky Forest

29. One For The Ages
30. Tip of the Iceberg
32. Spellbound

(NOTE: I know there's no images here, but that's only for subscribed members and I don't feel like paying DA for another subscription anytime soon. If you really want pretty screenshots with the review, my Tumblr version has them. Click here if you prefer that instead: neoyi.tumblr.com/post/81462163…)


:bulletred: As always, SPOILERS!




RESCUE BOTS, EPISODE 31: A VIRTUAL DISASTER
(CONGLATURATION YOU HAVE COMPLETE A GREAT GAME!)


(The Hub's official website lists "A Virtual Disaster" as the fifth in line even though it's the sixth to air. As far as I'm concerned, that means this is episode thirty-one. So that's what I'm going to stick with unless corrected otherwise.)



”Virtual reality is even more dangerous than real reality.”

Well, this was an embarrassing episode.

“A Virtual Disaster” is bad more on a technicality than anything rage-inducing or idiotic. It didn’t do anything that caused me to flip tables, the plot has a decent premise, and none of the characters do anything stupid to raise an eyebrow. Its biggest crime is that it’s booooooooooooooooooooring.

A lot of it is owed to the virtual reality video game world Cody and Blades play. I have a rather longstanding issue whenever a TV show decides to play the video game card for an episode. Goddamn, 90% of the time, nobody knows any friggin’ clue how to make a convincing fictional video game world. With characters spouting nonsense like “Level 50”, mashing their game controllers, and slapping old-timey beep-boops, there has rarely been a show that’s ever gotten video game settings right because they keep falling back on old templates that hasn’t been relevant since the goddamn Super Nintendo. I don’t expect 100% accuracy, but I admit this trope has officially become something of a pet peeve of mine over the years and watching anything that fits this description usually leaves me with secondhand embarrassment.

And everything about the virtual world leaves me cringing. Why does Blades think the game looks believable? The graphics look like a 3rd grader designed it. Why is the guide the Cheshire Cat’s dorky cousin? Why does a sophisticated state-of-the-art game that’s supposed to be “realistic” looking bothering with arbitrarily 8-bit sound effects? The whole damn thing is a LeapFrog game. Does Cybertron really have no concept of virtual reality? I kind of imagine a high tech robot alien society would be on top of this. Why did they have to set up the game world in freakin’ Griffin Rock with video game power-ups and other doo-dads? I feel like they missed a prime opportunity to really take the visuals far. I know this is going to sound weird since Rescue Bots is for a younger generation, but the virtual world is just so…safe. It lacks zazz or the kind of craziness the show usually can achieve. Everything feels derivative and by-the-numbers; nothing sets it apart and it’s damn unmemorable. I’ll give “A Virtual Disaster” credit though; I legitimately think this is how Doc Greene would make a video game. I also like the 8-bit Rescue Bots logo. That’s pretty neat.

This isn’t getting into how thin the premise really is. They drag this plot even after the whole “everything is real now, so you’ll get hurt” twist pops in and they don’t even play that up as intensely as they could. I never felt any sense of danger between Cody and Blades. The real world with the snowstorm was a better demonstration of the limited time our heroes have, but everything else is just plain kosher.

I think the episode also missed a good opportunity to pit Heatwave and Blades together. Since this is supposed to be a central conflict, I think it might have been a better idea to have both bots going in the VR with Cody. Blades and Cody interact fine and the heli-bot is as sassy as ever, but something was wasted here by not having verbal exchanges between the conflict (Heatwave being a dick to Heatwave) and the guy trying to face it (Blades.) The episode does have a good message all around—fear is a natural part of courage and keeps us grounded—and it doesn’t falter under the dullness, so good for it.

Otherwise, “A Virtual Disaster” left me severely disappointed. But hey, Rescue Bots is more hit than miss, so I’m confident I’ll be blown away by another episode in the near future.
:star: AND A HALF OUT OF FIVE STARS



BONUS OBSERVATIONS


THIS GUY ARE SICK: School? School?! SCHOOOOOOOOOOOL?! Cody goes to school?! Holy Crap, you guys, this ten-year-old kid actually goes to school!

YOU SPOONY BARD: I love how Charlie Burns has a winter jacket appropriate for the snow while the rest of his kids just put on scarves and call it a day. Graham is wearing light shirt and pants; clearly he’s the most hardcore of the four.

DODONGOS DISLIKE SMOKE: So apparently the arrow to the knee is that Skyrim meme, yes? (I don’t play Skyrim, as you can tell.)

WORST LINE: ”Guess it’s time to play in the snow.”

Heatwave, that…doesn’t sound badass. Boulder’s “Snow thank you” is also another one for the trash dump.


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FunkyK38's avatar
I didn't think this one was too bad, despite seeing the video game trope coming from a mile away in the dark. :paranoid:
What did kind of annoy me in this episode was how big of an arse Heatwave was to Blades. I mean, I know he's supposed to be a super grump and all, but this episode he had the superjock thing turned up to 11.
But I do agree, they could have done a lot better with the world, and especially the cat. :iconnotimpressedplz: