Kipo and the Age of the Wonderbeasts

Did we watch the same show or did you forget that Kipo considered Kill All Humans, even those from her old burrow that she had known for long, in the seventh episode of the third season as punishment for them joining Emilia's cause?

Edited by VengefulBale on May 29th 2022 at 7:08:22 AM

Yeah, she does, but all it takes is a talk from Dave and suddenly it goes to the extreme of "Well I can't kill these people so I'll invite them to a place where they can hurt all my friends." I would've at least hoped Kipo would set a trap for Emilia if she tried anything.

And in the end, Emilia is pretty much beaten by dumb luck. She turns herself into a monster, goes nuts from the Mute-mind taking over, Kipo cures her and tries again to get Emilia to change. Surprise, Emilia doesn't and trips into a giant fungus. So Kipo doesn't have to make any tough decisions, didn't actually beat the villain, and didn't get her worldview challenged until the very end when Mandu saved her from Emilia, who would've killed her for leaving herself open.

For UK viewers: Kipo will be making its linear television premiere on Pop on October 3.

Someone make sure this show never said the word "Spazz!" But in all seriousness, I do hope as it is shown on whatever POP is, I hope nothing from the show gets much censorship. Netflix may be more lenient on S&P, but on TV there different rules.

Dreamworks' Netflix stuff is generally on the same level as stuff for TV, it's unlikely that much, if anything, would need to be edited for British TV.

I might be devil's advocate here but the issue I had with Kipo's final season is that to me, Emilia is a very lackluster and unthreatening villain.

She does all these wicked deeds but I never feared for the characters because Reverse Cerebus Syndrome is in full effect. Song, Scarlemagne, and Wolf are pretty much the only characters who take Emilia seriously enough, while Kipo still hangs on to the annoying "let's all get along" mentality. If you want a truly monstrous villain in a lighthearted series, that character should darken the mood significantly. The story doesn't have to be grimdark, but the Big Bad should be ruthless, dangerous, and let the characters know, shit got real.

That's a trend I've seen pop up a lot recently, The Lich, Canaletto(my very obscure fave), The Core, and The Nowhere King are awesome examples. Even She-Ra for its flaws had very menacing and personal antagonists in Shadow Weaver, Catra and Horde Prime. When the protagonists feel comfortable enough with the baddie to invite them to a party, that's not a menacing antagonist.

It also doesn't help that Kipo is a mutant who can shape-shift into a giant leopard while Emilia is just a normal human woman whose cure doesn't even affect Kipo, so there's nothing stopping Kipo from just knocking her down with a giant paw. And by the end, Emilia's defeat only comes about due to her own stupidity and she only got as far as she did because Kipo wouldn't let go of the Idiot Ball.

Save for your Oban Star Racers example because I never saw it. Your comparisons are off in villain choice. The Lich, the Core, and The Nowhere King are big bads that also utilize horror elements to make them a threat. Corruption, decay, black goop, possession, undeath, cold machinery, and other stuff that has actual tropes on this site I can't think of right now. You are right about Emilia being a lackluster villain but that's just a problem from the story. Emillia is a different kind of personal villain to Kipo as Emillia ruined her parents' and Scarlemagne's life and Kipo didn't know until they met. (I think, I haven't re-watched since it dropped in 2020.) Kipo already tried violence and hurting but she wanted to take the high road with peace even if it would fail. Kipo had the power to take down Emilia but Kipo tried the olive branch. Scarlemagne can take the cake of being the villain people remember from this show, because Emilia is fine as a lesser plot device for Kipo's final character growth or something.