ANIMATION – The Pros and Cons of AVENGERS: ASSEMBLE Animated Cartoon

Is Avengers: Assemble better than The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes? This was the question in my mind when I first started watching Avengers Assemble, on Netflix streaming.

I now have my answer but before I can give it, I have to go through the pros and cons that make up the show.

I need to judge it on it’s own merits.  There’s a lot to like about the show and there’s a few things that could be better.

This is tricky thing to write for me since I met and have become acquainted with the character designers of the show.  They’re a bunch of great hard working guys.

Saying any cons can be taken as an insult. I don’t meant it this way at all.

I’ll try to be as objective and even handed as I can be about the show.  I’m going to begin with the cons and then move on to the pros in order to end this in a positive note.

After that I’ll answer the question. I will say this before I begin though, I did enjoy watching this show.

Cons

Inconsistency

I think perhaps the worst thing about the show is it’s inconsistency.  I’m not sure exactly who this show is for.

On the one hand, the look of the show is such that it seems like a serious comic books show.

On the other hand, it’s often really goofy, silly and comical.  Sometimes at very inappropriate times in the story. This causes moments of peril in the show to lose their drama, taking away all tension, causing me to lose engagement.

So is this a serious show with comedic moments or a silly show with occasional dramatic moments? Well, neither, because is doesn’t do any of those thing very well.

Once in a while a comedic moment is truly funny and I laugh, but most of the time it just seems forced.  Like they HAVE to add humor.

Yet, I haven’t watched an episode that really pulled my emotional heart strings.  I can tell it wants to but it fails to do so.

And there are episodes that are really great to watch, and then there’s other’s that are simply just there and don’t do anything for me.

There’s an occasional episode where the story attempts something unique and deep.  Then there are the episodes where the moral is so obvious, heavy handed and preachy that the characters literally say something like, “Today I learned that I shouldn’t lie.”

So is this a show for kids? Then why does it look like it’s a more serious show? Wouldn’t it be better if it was more cartoony looking so it would appeal to them?

And if it’s for teenagers or older, why is it written so heavy handed and preachy?

It looks similar to animated shows like Young Justice and The Legend of Korra , but the feel of some episodes come across like an episode of Super Hero Squad .  Sure, I’m exaggerating. It’s not THAT bad. I’m only saying it to make a point.

The bad guys where inconsistent too.  When new bad guys are introduced, they would take out the team single handed, but then they join The Red Skull and suddenly they can be taken on by one or two heroes.

It’s just really inconsistent.

The Characters

Okay, this shouldn’t be a con.  I mean, it’s got Ironman, Captain America, Thor, The Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Falcon. They’re great characters, but, I can’t really say I cared much about them.

In the first few episodes of the show, none of the characters had a unique personality.  They where all the same.  Their dialogue could have been interchangeable.

Every character was snarky.  Including Captain America.  Every bit of dialogue was a quip.  It was meant to show wit but what it did was make everyone unlikeable.

Around the fourth episode, this stopped and the characters started to come into their own.  I ended up liking them a bit more.  By the time the season ended, they where much better.

Still, the character I like least on the show is Ironman. I find him really unappealing.

The relationships between the characters never seemed genuine. It always felt superficial. Thor and Hulk always tried to prove who was stronger and Hawkeye and Hulk always fought over cookies. Ironman and Captain America argued about technology, and Falcon felt like the new guy.

That’s it.

The show never really got deeper than that. All the relationships where shallow.  I couldn’t help wishing for more depth. More drama, more…of a soap opera.  The best superhero stories are soap operas.

Oh, and I’m sorry but some of the characters in the villain group The Circus of Crime in episode “Crime and Circuses” were just dumb. I’m looking at you Human Cannonball.

Pros

All those cons may make you think I don’t like the show.  Truth is, I did enjoy it.  The problems I’ve pointed out above are said because I like the show and want it to be even better.

So here are the pros…

The Designs

I like the designs of the show.  As I’ve stated above, I’ve met the designers and Jeff Wasmester is an acquaintance of mine. I love it when I see a drawing on the show that is obviously his.  He’s such ridiculously good artist.

My favorite design is Ironman.  He just looks darn cool.

The show just has a good feel to it.

I congratulate the design team on the look of the show.  It’s tough to work in that heroic animated style without making the characters designs look dull.

Avengers Assemble doesn’t have that problem.

Fun Stories

As many cons as there may have, the stories in this series are actually really fun to watch.  There’s some really good stuff in here.

Some of my favorites kinda run the gamut between fairly serious and comedic.

They are:

• Hyperion – The Avengers basically fight Superman. Good stuff. Hyperion is so awesome. Too bad he’s never this powerful again on in other episodes.
• Depth Charge – The Avengers fight Attuma, the master of the ocean (why not Submariner?).  Attuma is pretty powerful in this episode, he’s never this powerful in any other episode again.
• Doomstroyer – Oh man, this one is over the top, crazy powerful Doctor Doom.  A lot of fun.
• Hulk’s Day Out –  Probably the best of the lighthearted comedic episodes.  One of the few. Good character based episode as well.
• Planet Doom –  Great alternate earth story of a world taken over by Doctor Doom.  Some of the coolest character designs on the show too.
• Mojo World – Hulk and Hawkeye end up in War World….uh, no that’s DC,…I mean “Mojo World.” There’s a touch of Planet Hulk in this episode.
• The Ambassador – Probably the best episode in the series.  I loved this one. Capt. America has to protect Doctor Doom from the other super villains.  Great stuff.
• All-Fathers-Day – This one is just a good comic book fight story.  Odin show up and lots of fighting occurs. But the fighting is very cool. Another good character based story.

So yeah, there’s a some fun stories worth watching in this show.

Better Than Avengers: Earth’s Mightest Heroes?

Now, there’s the elephant in the room to address.

Having watched both Avenger: Earth’s Mightest Heroes and Avengers: Assemble, is Assembled better than or as good as Earth’s Mightiest?

No. Not even close.  Earth’s Mightest is still a better written show.  Avengers: Assemble wouldn’t make my top ten list of best animated superhero shows.

But it’s definitely better than Ultimate Spider-man and Wolverine and the X-Men.  I’d consider it the third best Marvel animated TV series. Which is pretty good.

Still, it’s very odd because there’s a scene in the episode “Molecule Kid” where  they do a flashback and the character designs look like they did in Earth’s Mightest Heroes.  So are they implying that Avengers: Assemble is a continuation of the Earth’s Mightest? Because they absolutely feel like completely different shows.

It’s confusing.

Worth Your Time?

Is this show worth watching?

I say yes.

I liked it.  I really wanted it to be as good as Earth’s Mightest but it’s not.  It’s its own thing.  That’s okay.  What’s here is worth while.  I can’t wait to see next season.

You should give it a try and make up your own mind.

If you’ve seen the show, what do you think?

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