Hey ODPH society! In case this is the first time you’ve heard of me, my name is Mike Paffie aka “Paff Daddy”! I play in a band call Honker & I’ve been on the ODPH before for their Anime episode among others. I couldn’t make this week’s podcast (but make sure you check it out on Apple Podcasts, Podcoin, Overcast, Spotify and well, everywhere you find great podcasts), but when Ken asked me to write a review for my favorite DC Universe shows, I couldn’t pass it up!
I’m a HUGE DC Universe fan & really have been lovin the content they’ve been putting out. I could go on & on about it, but let me break down & review my two favorites for this blog: Young Justice & Titans!
Young Justice: Outsiders - season 3
Grade: (9/10)
Personally, I thought this was the best season of young justice yet! Of course, that is because we finally get to see Garth and Cyborg together in action! Beast Boy has finally taken on the role of a leader (YES!). They did an amazing job showing how serious he is about fixing the word, no matter what, and caring he is for mutants kids around the world. I was very happy with cyborg’s story as well. His emotional and personal battles with the father box taking control of his body, brings a really interesting and darker side to cyborg.
In fact, this season is by the far the darkest yet. Right off the bat, you got people dying left and right, and some of the deaths are pretty damn metal! There are characters that are melted, stabbed, sliced and crush to a pulp! Not to mention there is way more blood and gore than pretty much any animated dc show....and I’m not complaining.
I really enjoy the new team too! Brion has some of the best character development in all of Young Justice in my opinion. And how can you not just love everyone’s favorite comedic alien: Forager! The story has taken a huge turn this season. The Justice League and the Outsiders are having this political & social warfare between the light, granny goodness, and so many other villains.
On top of that, Lobo finally showed himself this season, and man did he kick some serious butt. This season has a very nice modern touch to it, mixed in with a very classic feel. It’s very refreshing and very relatable to today’s day and age. Can’t wait for season 4! Hope it comes out very soon.
Titans Season 1
Grade: 7/10
I may be a little biased towards this one. purely because the teen titans was my favorite show growing up. I was just at that right age to be able to relate to all the characters. They all came from so many different places, yet work together so incredibly well. Their powers are very diverse along with their personalities, that just makes for some very interesting dynamics between them. All in all I did enjoy this first season!
Definitely, the season starts off pretty slow, which is pretty standard for a new show. New characters need a good intro to really connect with them. It takes a couple episodes to really get going, but when it does…..It takes off and doesn’t look back!
From the beginning, the action/fights scenes are really awesome. I think they nailed them. Personally, I was very satisfied with some of the ass kicking done to the crooks/villains. Man oh man! Robin did not go easy on anyone. That first scene where he drags the thug’s face across and brick wall made my mouth drop! Dick Grayson is a totally different man in this, which is a little jarring at first. But towards the end I think he may be my favorite character so far.
At the end of they day, he’s still Robin down to the core. He’s just got his own way of doing things. I was very happy they still pitched StarFire and Robin together, no matter the universe, they are just meant to be. I will say I was kinda disappointed in Rachel (raven) and Beast Boy. Nothing against Teagan Croft & Ryan Potter, because both of them kicked ass during the season, but I just didn’t connect with them early in the show. It felt like there was a huge age difference witht he cast on the show that took me a while to get past. I’m too used to them being all around the same age on the cartoon that the whole “Big Brother (Robin)/Little Sister (Raven)” dynamic threw me for a loop at the start.
Raven is my favorite titan so maybe I’m just too picky. I understand Raven is gonna grow and develop, but she was also just too nice. Sure, she tried shoving people away cause she didn’t want to hurt them, but I just wasn’t buying it, kinda felt a little forced. I think would’ve liked to see Raven develop later in the show, rather than her be the main plot point right off the get go. She’s such a mysterious, introverted character and I feel like she just got the spot light way too much.
Raven also had so many monologues about the power of friendship that would help her calm down to get out of a bad situation. I understand that is raven’s main character development point, and it should happen, just not this soon. I rather wish they elaborated on the other members a little bit more. Like I said, Raven is my favorite titan so maybe I’m just too picky, but I’m really invested going into season 2 for her story.
I did love the Doom Patrol intro episode. It was a great way to get viewers familiar with that team. I really liked their first season, & hoping for Cyborg to cross over into Titans at some point. Being a HUGE Teen Titans fan, I need to see this happen in live-action! The rest of the cast did great. Donna Troy, Hawk & Dove were cool (yes, even jason todd was a nice addition :-)) & the Nuclear Family was something fresh.
Honestly I think the Titans production team did an exceptional job for a live action dc show with this show. I think it was more of a writing problem for me at the beginning. Raven didn’t really feel like Raven to me.
Now (and I can’t stress this point enough), this issue DEFINIETLY got better towards the end of season 1 and the start of the second season for me. I’ve only watched the first episode of season 2 and it’s probably the best episode yet! It’s really starting to come together and feel like Titans. Because of that episode, I’m very excited for the rest of season two. I have a good feeling it’s gonna start filling in some holes left in season one & can’t wait for every new episode to start my Fridays off.
Thank you for reading my review of the DC Universe. If you wanna reach out and continue the conversation, here’s the links to Honker’s Facebook, Twitter, & YouTube
Until next time….BOO-YAH!