Line #60 WesternAnimation/Redakai


1	[[quoteright:290:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/redakai_5436.jpg]]
2
3	''Redakai: Conquer The Kairu'' is a MerchandiseDriven cartoon series and card game developed by [=SpinMaster=]. The game centers around cards (called "[[CallARabbitASmeerp X-Drives]]") that are made of clear plastic and have several transparent portions, that are stacked on top of each other to modify each other during gameplay. There are three types of cards: Characters, who you start with three of, Monsters, which change the defenses and abilities of characters, and attacks, which damage opponents. First player to knock out all three of their opponent's Characters wins.
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5	The cartoon centers around a boy named Ky Stax and his friends Boomer and Maya who quest around the world trying to collect an energy called "Kairu", the life energy of the universe before the alien villain Lokar and his minions find it first. They do this by fighting other teams and transforming into monsters. The episodes are different every week without much of an overarching plot.
6
7	Redakai came in with a lot of fanfare but fell by the wayside in the United States on Creator/CartoonNetwork after just a few months due to overwhelmingly negative reception.
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9	There is in fact a Season 2 subtitled "Shadow of Lokar" that was in production and has been completed for some time now. Season 2 episodes began airing on October 3, 2012... [[NoExportForYou in France]]... but some countries, like Australia, have aired the English episodes (with the US having no sign of airing them at all), and they can be found on Amazon Prime Video.
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12	!!This series provides examples of:
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14	* AllThereInTheManual: The show relies a ''lot'' on its supplementary materials to tell the story, such as the website and promotional videos carrying key plot points that often aren't visited in the show itself.
15	* AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle: About halfway through, these sorts of tips started coming up at the ends of each episodes, sometimes tips on how to play the card games and sometimes general advice. However, the card-game tips typically aren't applicable to the actual game.
16	* AntiHero: Team Stax.
17	* ArtisticLicensePhysics: Lampshaded.
18	-->'''Techris:''' They should be doing faceplants into the chasm right now, not climbing to freedom!
19	* BigBad: Lokar.
20	* BigBadWannabe: Zane in season 2 up until halfway in, though he does manage to corral Team Imperiaz to his side.
21	* TheBigGuy: Boomer
22	* TheBrute: Bash, and Techris, too, though less dumb then Bash.
23	* CardCarryingVillain: Lokar and all of the E-Teens, even the Imperiaz who should otherwise be [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Ineffectual Sympathetic Villains]].
24	** Season 2 shows a bit more sympathy towards Team Imperiaz, though not enough to stop [[YankTheDogsChain yanking their chain]].
25	* ChromaticRockPaperScissors: Red, Strength-based attacks beat Green, Speed-based attacks; which beat Blue, Intelligence-based attacks; which beat Red.
26	* CluelessAesop: Episode four is about a {{macguffin}} which siphons Kairu from the surrounding forest, causing it to wither and die. Once the macguffin is dealt with the forest instantly heals, sending the message that environmental damage is easy to fix.
27	* CreepyTwins: Team Hiverax brothers Vexus, Hexus, and Nexus most definitely.
28	** TwinTelepathy: They can communicate with each other mentally which leads to a lot of...
29	** FinishingEachOthersSentences: The fact that they know whats on each others minds also allow them perfect synergy in battle, including...
30	** FusionDance: The ability to fuse their monsters Wendrax, Fangrax, and Neurax together into Hydrax.
31	** ColorCodedForYourConvenience: They all sound alike, so the only way to know who's who is to memorize what name goes with what emblem and eye color; Vexus is green, Hexus is red, and Nexus is blue.
32	** [[spoiler:AIIsACrapshoot: They're actually robots/androids created by Lokar himself. We find this out at the end of season 2 when he destroys them for disobeying him. It explains pretty much everything about them.]]
33	* DaddysGirl: Season 2 episode "The Escape of the Imperiaz" shows Diara is this to her father, King Berkby, with Diara herself admitting as such.
34	* DrunkOnTheDarkSide: Falling/being dragged into a Shadow Kairu-infested lake causes Ekayon, and later Maya and Boomer, to become this. Before Ky finds a way to fix them, the three tried to get/force Ky to take a dip as well.
35	* GoldenSuperMode: "Gold" versions of monsters tend to be very powerful.
36	** ChromeChampion: With Platinum being even better.
37	* ItsAllMyFault: Ky knows the spread of Shadow Kairu was his fault and beats himself up over it. It's part of what motivates him to find a cure[[spoiler:, even if it means chasing an allusive and dangerous legend pertaining to Prism Kairu on his own, which he does as season 2 winds down. Thankfully, though, Ekayon sneaks and tags along; Ky wouldn't have been successful without him.]]
38	* KillItWithFire:
39	** Metanoid's abilities are plasma-based: Plasma hands, plasma sword, etc.
40	** Many of Infinita's moves also use fire.
41	* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler:Zigzagged with regards to Lokar in the series finale. Yes, he does lose the Kairu Cube he won halfway through the season, along with the Palladion that he had won off of Master Boaddai ''and'' his own Draqular shortly thereafter when Boaddai beats him in a Master Showdown, and yes, his plan to transform the Earth's Kairu into Shadow Kairu was thwarted by Ky's timely use of Prism Kairu, but not long after, he defiantly swears his vengeance while reaffirming his goals before [[VillainExitStageLeft vanishing]], seemingly abandoning the Radikor and Imperiaz in the process.]]
42	* LastOfHisKind: Mookee comes from a world called Nervod that was destroyed by Lokar and is, allegedly, the last of his kind. [[spoiler:The end of the show makes whether or not this is true much more ambiguous with a tantalizing [[TheUnreveal Unreveal]].]]
43	* LimitedWardrobe: Everyone really, though in season 2 Team Stax do get variations on there clothes: Ky's vest becoming a long sleeve jacket, Maya gaining a red-and-white vest, and Boomer's vest becoming white and silver.
44	** EvilCostumeSwitch: Team Radikor in season 2, though they were always 'evil'. Not much changes really: Zair gains a red jacket, Zane gains a new cloak from Lokar's tattered robe, with Techris being the most obvious in a new "jumpsuit" with a new haircut.
45	* LonersAreFreaks: Subverted with Ekayon. He is relatively sociable when around Team Stax (though he did attack them when they first met on the assumption that they were E-Teens) and can, and does, work with them when necessary, but openly prefers to work alone even after meeting Team Stax and getting off well with them. He is shown to be pretty successful on his own, too.
46	* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Lokar is Maya's Grandfather.]]
47	* MeaningfulName: Some of the names. For example, Team Hiverax, as in HIVE-mind; the brothers are all on the same wavelenth, and Team Imperiaz, as in Imperial, that is, they're royalty.
48	* MinimalistCast: Although the cast isn't small per se, there is a noticeable 'limitation', if you will, of characters in this show, with Team Stax seemingly the only good guys collecting Kairu until Ekayon comes along over halfway into the first season. Even then, he almost never shows up. There are more Redakai Masters other then Master Boaddai, so presumably, there are more good guy teams out there, yet we never see them and Lokar's E-Teens always end up targeting Team Stax. Due to the Kairu deposits often being in the wilderness, we see few characters of the day and even fewer recurring characters other than the E-Teens, making the character pool seem shallow compared to other shows of this type. Even season 2 doesn't do much to change it despite the new characters, Master Boaddai gaining new trainees, and Team Hiverax replacing Team Battacor. In fact it makes things worse by recycling a good deal of season one's characters of the day. At least the whole "We might see them again." bit isn't a lie here.
49	* NewSeasonNewName: Season one's "Conquer the Kairu" becomes season two's "Shadow of Lokar".
50	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Happens a lot with X-Drive [[AssPull Ass Pulls]], but Ky's "Inner Kairu" is a particularly bad offender.
51	** Heck, it's practically an InvokedTrope, as it is said that one's Inner Kairu develops when the time is right...
52	* NiceGuy: FarmBoy Boomer exemplifies this Trope. A notable example being his willingness to train Team Tiro, before Ky and Maya, a willingness that endears Team Tiro to him above the other two of Team Stax.
53	* NiceJobBreakingItHero: The Cataclysm that wound up throwing the Kairu energy all over the world in the first place was caused by Ky's Dad, Conner Stax.
54	* OutOfFocus: Mookee after early season 1. He gains a bit more screen-time, along with a second [[CharacterFocus focus episode]], later in season 2.
55	* ParentsInDistress: The Imperiaz only work for Lokar because he is keeping their parents as hostages. In season 2 episode "The Escape of the Imperiaz", Diara, Koz, and Teeny finally find their parents Nan and Berkby in a crystal prison in a cavern, only to run smack into [[DragonAscendant Team Radikor]]. Zane then forces them to work for him under the same stipulations as Lokar.
56	* ProductPromotionParade: Happens near the end of each episode. Getting the Kairu Energy "unlocks new X-Drives". It's like the characters just opened a booster pack as they list off what they all got. Late season 1 and season 2 tone this down some or mixes it up a bit.
57	* PutOnABus: Team Battacor after their defeat in season 1's finale, are banished away by Lokar and are never seen and, bar a quick mention later in season 2 by Koz worrying of sharing a similar fate, never heard from again. Though since they weren't actually destroyed [[spoiler:like the Hiverax were]], they could always appear again, in theory.
58	* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: The Redakai Masters, though made most obvious with Master Boaddai, especially after he loses his Palladion monster halfway into season 2 and starts acting more and more his age [[spoiler:until he gets it back in the last episode]]. Their precise ages are left vague, but they are definitely OlderThanTheyLook.
59	* TheRival: Zane.
60	** RivalTurnedEvil: Though Zane was always evil, once Lokar's out of the picture [[spoiler:or so it seems...]] and he finds his X-Reader, he really loses it, declaring himself the one in charge over his own teammates and later even Team Imperiaz. He even dons Lokar's tattered robe as a cloak for emphasis.
61	** Zane was also a peer of Ky's and trained with him under the same Master when they were younger. His very bad attitude and dishonorable ways got him kicked out, which led him to joining Lokar.
62	* RoboticReveal: [[spoiler:Team Hiverax. It happens toward the end of season 2. Turns out they were built by Lokar, which we found out as he destroyed them for their betrayal/disobedience.]]
63	* RoguesGallery: Lokar's E-Teen Teams would each take turns more-or-less with heckling Team Stax for the current Kairu deposit during an episode. The different Teams generally wouldn't interact with each other with some exceptions, more so later on in Season 1 and onward.
64	* SceneryPorn: Yes indeed! This show's art in general is very good, and often times the 'camera' pans out to show off the various beautiful landscapes and backdrops that Team Stax inevitably visit on their quest for Kairu. (Tellingly, they never visit populated cities, only small villages at most.) For some, the art is the primary reason for watching the show (if not the only reason).
65	* ShirtlessScene: Ky at the start and end of Neptune's Reef. Boomer also gets one at the end of the same episode.
66	* ShipTease: Maya and Kieran in the latter's appearances. In Kieran's second appearance in a season 2 episode, Ky and Boomer definitely put the ''tease'' in ShipTease for Maya, thus emphasizing it even more.
67	* TheSixthRanger: Though not a permanent fixture, Ekayon is about as close as this show gets.
68	* TheStoic: Techris, the alien cyborg.
69	* StormingTheCastle: Interestingly, this is done during the first episode of season 2 (rather than the end of season 1, due to the Kairu Tornament). Team Stax and Conner storm Lokar's Keep with the end result being an explosion that ruins the Keep and seemingly takes out Lokar. [[spoiler:(Keyword being 'seemingly'.)]] Said explosion was caused by a container filled with large quantities of Lokar's stored and corrupted Kairu that Ky accidentally fires at in a battle. This explosion scatters the Shadow Kairu energy across the globe, thus setting up the premise for the season: find and collect the dangerous Shadow Kairu.
70	* StrictlyFormula: Up until about when Ekayon first showed up, two-thirds into season 1, the episodes had a pretty standard formula: Master Boaddai would sense the location of a Kairu deposit and send Team Stax to collect it. They would arrive at the general location and try to pin-point the exact whereabouts with their X-Readers and Maya's ability to sense Kairu. Along the way, the [[VillainOfTheWeek E-Teens of the day]], who happened to be looking for the exact same Kairu deposit Team Stax were, would intercept them (or vise-versa). A Kairu challenge would happen (with powers and no monsters) and Team Stax would usually (but not always) drive them off temporarily. They'd continue searching for and eventually find the Kairu deposit, only to come by the same E-Teens again. ''Another'' Kairu challenge (with monsters this time), with Team Stax usually coming out on top. They collect the Kairu, get new X-Drives they may or may not use, and go home feeling better about themselves, with a possible scene of Lokar reprimanding the failed E-Teens (additional obstacles when looking for the Kairu are optional). Once Ekayon first appears and onward however, the formula gets shaken up bit by bit. Early season 2, for example, has Team Stax not win as many decisive victories, even losing the Kairu to the Hiverax and failing to beat Team Radikor the second time around.
71	* TagalongKid:
72	** Mookee kinda filled this role early on, but it wasn't long before his appearances became more sporadic to the point were he stopped even being on the [[GlobalAirship X-Scaper]] and just stayed at the monastery.
73	** After their debut, Team Tiro also kinda filled this role. "Kinda", in that they didn't always show up or tag along (in fact, the number of times it happened can be counted on one hand) and they could fight when necessary, even if they didn't have much experience with doing so.
74	* ThrowTheDogABone: [[spoiler:Though it isn't elaborated on beyond the one scene, when Ky uses the Prism Kairu to counteract and cure the encroaching Shadow Kairu in the series finale, when the negative effects are shown reversing, a scene is spared showing Nan and Berkby being freed from their crystal prison. Since the show ends not long after, this is about as happy an ending for Team Imperiaz as they are gonna get, even if they don't know it yet.]]
75	* TwoGirlsToATeam: Team Imperiaz.
76	* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Team Stax and Team Radikor. Also newbie Team Tiro. It's implied that TwoGuysAndAGirl is the average.
77	* VagueAge: Pretty much everyone aside from Team Stax who are mentioned to all be 15 at the show's start (Maya comments that one year has past when they revisit an old location late in the second season). Ekayon was 12 when he was taken in by Master Atoch and could be speculated to be the same age as Team Stax if not a year older. Team Tiro look to be the same age as Ekayon did and Ky did their respective flashbacks, so 12 could be guessed for them.
78	** The biggest examples would be the Redakai and King Kieran. The former are all older gentlemen that are much older than they look (some are beginning to gray, some aren't), whereas Kieran is a King and sole resident of a seemingly abandoned castle who doesn't really look like he'd even be in his twenties yet. And he has a mutual crush on 15 year-old Maya to boot.
79	* ValleyGirl: Princess Diara.
80	* VerticalMechaFins: Bruticon
81	* TheUnreveal: [[spoiler:While celebrating their recent triumphs from the finale, Teams Stax, Team Tiro, Masters Boaddai and Conner, and Mookee and Ekayon all witness an aircraft that looks like the X-Scaper making a crash landing on the Monastery grounds. Mookee notes that the style looks like that of his people of Nervod's. When the door opens and shadows step out, cue the reactions from the entire group... before cuing the credits! Since new episodes are highly unlikely after this one, it could also count as an example of "AndTheAdventureContinues".]]
82	* YankTheDogsChain: Team Imperiaz in regards to rescuing their parents. All of season 1, Lokar was blackmailing them to find him Kairu with no inclination that he would ''ever'' free their parents. Then comes season 2 with Lokar seemingly out of the picture: they ''finally'' find their parents only to run afoul of Zane who takes up Lokar's blackmail to coerce services to himself. They then enlist Team Stax for help in taking down the Radikor, with some reluctance on Boomer and Maya's part, only to have that blow over, forcing them to double cross Team Stax (for the second time in the series). Even when the two E-Teen groups drive off Team Stax, [[KickTheDog Zane reveals he has no intention of releasing Nan and Berkby]] ''[[KickTheDog ever]]'', and continues using them as leverage. It's unfortunate; if only the Imperiaz had the courage to stand up to Team Radikor's threats alongside Team Stax... [[spoiler:[[ThrowTheDogABone Though the finale does spare a short scene for them]].]]

Context WesternAnimation / Redakai