YMMV / OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes S2E18 "Crossover Nexus"

• Applicability: Strike is generally believed to represent cancellation, due to most (but not all) of the heroes he defeated having had their source material ended, many of them considered prematurely. Some also see him as allegorical to the Audience-Alienating Era of the late 2000s that CN went through, due to the destruction of CN City and Ben's Finn transformation being the one to finish off Strike (as Adventure Time is cited as one of, if not the show that pulled CN out of its rut got it back to making animation again).
• Awesome Music:
  • The classic Cartoon Cartoon Fridays theme makes a return, guaranteed to hit older fans with nostalgia. As a bonus, it plays as Ben winds up to punch Strike, unleashing a Continuity Cavalcade of Cartoon Network characters.
  • An orchestral version of the old CN City bumpers theme plays as the heroes' city returns to life, again guaranteed to hit one with nostalgia.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Given the popular interpretation of Strike being an Allegorical Character representing cancellation, and K.O. narrowly being saved from being a victim of Strike, the episode stings a bit more due to OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes itself being cancelled and ending not even a year later.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • Before it was revealed just how much of Cartoon Network's history would be represented in the special, a number of people were only interested in seeing Garnet and her interactions with K.O.
  • Following the special's premiere, many people flocked to it because of the many cameos from other cartoons, some of which haven't been seen on TV in more than a decade^note especially the cameo from Moxy of The Moxy Show which hasn't aired on Cartoon Network since 2000.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • "So this is what happened to Robot Jones."^ExplanationRobot Jones is among the group of striked heroes the main group first encounters, leading many to joke that this is what his show's title was referring to.
  • The frames when Ben cycles through to Double D and Johnny Bravo before making the final blow, for being incredibly Out of Character for the both of them.
  • Black Hat's not a hero!^ExplanationBlack Hat is one of the heroes that Strike defeated. Many have questioned why he's there, as Black Hat can only be defined as a "hero" in the sense that he's Villainous (Cartoon Network)' protagonist.
• Moment of Awesome: To defeat Strike, K.O. flings Ben on a Power Fist while Ben transforms into dozens of characters from CN's history, using their combined power to wind up a Megaton Punch that completely obliterates Strike, all while the classic Cartoon Cartoon jingle swells in the background.
• Older Than They Think: Ben using the Omnitrix to transform into various Cartoon Network characters isn't new; in the Villainous orientation short focused on the Ben 10 series, Dr. Flug made an off-brand Omnitrix for Vilgax that allowed him to transform into various Cartoon Network villains.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: In a rather surprising twist, even though there are characters from reviled TV shows, like Golly, Festro, and Alfe, their cameos actually have been rather well received.
• Special Effect Failure: It's fairly clear that most of the striked heroes use recolored stock art or reference material for the characters, as most of them are smiling and acting casual when the situation would have them be shocked at the least, even if they were taken off guard.
• Unexpected Character:
  • While many people were expecting a number of cameos from different Cartoon Network shows, there were some very obscure characters that no one saw coming; such as Golly, Duncan, Ilana, Kiva, Alfe, Yumi, Juniper Lee, Blastus, Rex, and Festro. Ilana and Kiva were particularly unexpected since Cartoon Network wrote off their series as tax losses.
  • Periwinkle from the short "Periwinkle Around The World" also makes a cameo, where it aired in the obscure compilation series "Sunday Pants", which only lasted 4 or so episodes.
  • Moxy from The Moxy Show was a character almost no one saw coming, despite the fact his show was technically the network's first original programming, even if it was just a wraparound for classic animated shorts.
  • Black Hat is among the defeated heroes, even though he had only been in web-exclusive shorts at that point. Valentino, One-One, and Mao Mao also show up, with their full series having similarly not aired on television at that time - Mao Mao's show hadn't even been officially announced, which lead to many viewers speculating on who his statue was supposed to be.
  • It's a rather subtle detail, but Buttercup, during the final battle, sports her original series design instead of the reboot's.
  • In same sequence, Robot Jones not only appears, but has his original text to speech voice.
  • The appearance of Jorel's Brother was surprising, since his show only airs in South America.
  • Even advertising from CN's history appears other than CN City. Noods and Toonix make cameos, as well as the mascots of the Super Chunk block and the Miguzi block. Even Clyde 49 of Toonami shows up in graffiti form, while Ghost Planet can be glimpsed floating above the city towards the end.
• Win Back the Crowd: While many were initially skeptical due to the inclusion of Ben and Raven (both being from reboots of beloved series whose receptions were divisive at best), pretty much everyone was won over by the sheer amount of cameos and references to Cartoon Network's history.

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