Rescue Bots-In Search of the Griffin's Nest-Review

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

PREVIOUS SEASON TWO REVIEWS
27. Road Trip
28. Sky Forest
29. One For The Ages
30. Tip of the Iceberg
31. A Virtual Disaster
32. Spellbound
33. Prescott's Bots
34. Blame the Gremlins
35. Feed the Beast
36. What Lies Below
37. What Rises Above
38. Space Bots
39. The Island of Misfit Tech
40. The Vigilant Town
41. Buddy System

(_{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/88685086…})



As always, SPOILERS!








”Does it not bother anyone that this is a temple built for griffins?”

I’m not quite sure if this is a consistent feeling, but I think I’ve developed a bit of a lukewarm reaction towards Rescue Bots episodes that focus on the group as a whole than an episode that centralizes an individual character. I’m not so sure why though; the grouped episodes are plenty good in their own right—and “In Search of the Griffin’s Nest” is perfectly serviceable—and I tend to be drawn to them anyway. I love it when a team starts off as anything but, but eventually grow into that role that they consider themselves a family (my personal favorite type of group mingling is the Sailor Moon method of introducing a new character over time.) Rescue Bots is very, very excellent in developing dynamic matchups amongst the core cast. It’s clear how far they’ve all come since the start, and yet I was more or less shrugging throughout the whole thing. Or maybe that isn't the case; maybe I just found the whole thing lacking. Even the rolling stones sequence left a neutral reaction from me. But I did get a kick out of Blades having to run on foot while the rest gunned it in vehicle mode; the little copter is quite the gymnast. It’s nowhere near as dull as "A Virtual Disaster", but outside of one core element (explained below), it was Meh-ville for me.

But wow, what a great message: encouraging kids to explore, possess vivid imagination, and just have a grand adventure based on old legends and stories? These are stuff I lived for as a child. Hell, this is why Shigeru Miyamoto created Legend of Zelda, from his youth spelunking old caves. I am all for this.

Continuing the 80s references, it’s pretty damn clear their excursion into the “temple” is very Indiana Jones-y, if not aiming for a general pulp fiction-y feel: main characters go on a forestry adventure to crack a mystery. After all, Indiana Jones isn’t the first to employ this, but merely popularized it (not that I’m complaining, I tend to like pulp fiction.) Even the title recollects the ballsy, often absurd headers of the 1930s genre. In a lot of way, it makes perfect sense young Cody is headlining this mission; he’s always been an old-fashion, gee-williker’s type of kid. I mean, he has a slingshot for goodness sake. No one’s used one since Bart Simpson made it cool back in the 90s (well, him and Dennis the Menace, but who thought Dennis was cool?) His attitude and lifestyle heavily clashes with the modernization of man and technology presented in this series, but it never feels out of place. Retro and futuristic has melded before in cartoons, whether it be a radical 80s/90s transfusion in Regular Show or the Fleischer-ish character designs mixed with 50s-era backgrounds in My Life As A Teenage Robot despite it being set some 70 odd years ahead of our time. Heck, people were thinking of possible space scenarios and grand adventures in the final frontier before the likes of <Star Trek, Star Wars, and all the classics we associate today. If Cody had been born some sixty odd years earlier, he would be the child reading sci-fi comic books and watching B-Rated movies based on science gone wrong (how appropriate.) Thinking in these terms, I wonder if the creators actually had the same thought when developing him?

What “Griffin’s Nest” absolutely succeeds in is the mystery itself. I sat there wondering how they were going to connect the nest and super magnets together because I was stumped. The developers opt to keep it unexplained with only supple hints that play out in the end. Having the Rescue Bots at a disadvantage is also a tasty obstacle, even if the volcanic reference was merely foreshadowed to slap a moat of lava as a last-minute obstacle for the bots. I really dig the idea that Cody believes in these mythical creatures and got a kick out of everyone’s skepticism despite the giant alien robots literally in their view.
AND A HALF OUT OF FIVE








EXCUSES, EXCUSES: A reluctant Heatwave decides to take his crew to Wayward Island to find a potentially non-existent griffin’s nest so the kid can secure a Lad Pioneer badge and have an adventure. His sigh is self-defeating; he’s lived on the island enough that crazy crap will always happen, why fight it?

THAT’S A LOAD OF MY MINE: Okay, I know the show is by default an education program, but I’m legit impressed some of the keen stuff they frequently mention are true or have some basis in real, scientific discoveries. Loadstones do exist!

GOD GREENE’S LAB FLOATS!?” Oh God, he could go anywhere he wants with his weapons of mass destruction! Run, the end times are near!






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Discovery (A Transformers Animated Fancomic): Read the entire thing here. Placed there for archival purpose. Recently cancelled.



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