User blog:Hawkeye2701/Review4U: X-Men TAS Episode 8

Alrighty, taking advice from M(G)P, I'm gonna try and be ore thorough in my review this week. I still urge people to send in suggestions for Reviews so that I have something to do with my time besides the animated series. Now then, on behalf of Xemnas-Spidey, here's X-Men TAS Episode 8, The Unstoppable Juggernaut.

Story
We come in pretty much where we left off in the previous episode, a little retrace to establish the X-Men weren't around while Xavier's Mansion got trashed. Coming in to land, they start to clear the rubble with the theme tune playing, confirming once and for all, you could put that music to anything and make it badass.

After an unsuccessful search, Cyclops calls everyone to the war room where Cerebro has a message from Xavier. The giant floating Xavier head tells the Power Rangers, I mean X-Men, that he's taking a trip, and that he can't tell them more yet. Ah Charles Xavier, always the trusting and informative mentor. Finding some giant sized footprints outside, Wolverine goes on the hunt alone, prompting Cyclops to send some others after him.

With Storm, Jubilee and Rogue being sent after him, we get a quick scene that shows Jubilee's brown eyes and raises the question why Wolverine ran off, answers varying from he's concerned to he's looking for a fight. I'm more inclined towards the Juggernaut has catnip, and Wolverine really wants some.

Splitting up, Jubilee comes to a construction yard where the local workers are put out because a foreign mutant has taken their jobs apparently. This scene includes the wonderful jest of "Super Ruski". When she goes to investigate, the mutant in question brings down a building, prompting Wolverine to save her. Walking out of the rubble, we get our first clear look as Colossus. I won't lie, I love his theme music. He introduces himself as "Colossus from Russia" which I think is fairly odd, but then again, given names weren't really a thing beyond the actual X-Men characters. Just then, the workers get angry, calling Colossus a mutant scab and attack him. Colossus deals with the situation fairly peacefully, but Wolverine jumps him, starting a fight between him and the X-Men. Upon realising that Colossus isn't the one who attacked the mansion, they stop attacking only for Rogue to tell them to meet up at First National Bank.

Heading over there, Wolverine and Jubilee find out the cops have already arrested a suspect, namely Colossus, again. Having apparently tried to stop the robber, they haul him away anyhow. Rogue expresses her dismay that they'd lock up "A good lookin' hunk a' mutant like that" which is another fine example of this series being ahead of itself, as I believe a short-lived romance between the two would occur later in the 90s comics.

Splitting up again, Rogue and storm head to the Police station to talk to Colossus. Making their way inside, they not only knock out a police officer, but destroy a surveillance camera before pulling a cell door off its hinges. In a nice little turn, Colossus was having a chat with Beast across the hall. What he would be doing in a holding cell when his trial isn't for a while is beyond me, especially since we saw him in a detention facility before. So yeah, breaking Colossus out and assaulting a few more guards on the way, our 'heroes' make their escape.

Next up however, we get our first look at the true villain of this episode, the Juggernaut, as he tears open a bank vault. On top of a roof nearby, Wolverine and Jubilee are seemingly watching this happen while wondering where the others are. Walking out through the wall, Juggernaut starts taking apart both police and military resistance. Sneaking up behind him, Wolverine cuts the sacks open and Jubilee returns some of the money before directing the tellers towards the rest of it.

Despite their best efforts though, the yellow clad X-Men are soon defeated and just as Juggy would have answered all of Xemnas-Spidey's prayers by squashing Jubilee, Rogue comes to the rescue. Colossus rushes in, squaring off against Juggernaut, at which point he reveals that his powers are in fact, magical. Getting his Russian ass handed to him, Colossus is left under a tank as the rest of the X-Men show up, at which point Juggernaut asks if his worthless brother told them it's no use, revealing his connection to Xavier quite surprisingly.

Once again, despite hitting him, a lot, and what I suspect would be millions in property damage, they don't put a dent in Juggernaut, leading Cyclops to say they need to work together for a change. After a team effort manages to remove Juggernaut's helmet and put him out of commission, they let him wander off without a clue as to whom he is or what he was doing.

At Xavier's, Colossus and his construction crew go to work fixing the place for the X-Men. Jubilee offers him a place to say, but he declines, stating his need to find his sister and wish to see more of America. The scene ends with Logan and Jubilee contemplating on how much the school means to them.

The Review
Okay, as always, let's start with the negatives. With the exception of working for a construction crew that could feasibly rebuild the school, Colossus' only role in this episode is to act as a massive red herring to everything else. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the expanded cast as much as anyone, but this and Slave Island have both used these added characters in scenarios where their impact is negligible at best and only really there to pad out the episode.

Even if the first scene with him had an interesting message, everything after he got arrested is just padding. He had no need to go with the X-Men to clear his name. Not only did Rogue and Storm break more laws just getting him out of the holding cell, in the end all they did was ensure he was a criminal. He didn't have relevant information on where to find the Juggernaut and even if he did, Beast, through his own nonsensical inclusion, brought up that there are actual visiting hours. They could have visited him then and gotten the information all while not making him more of a target, or putting themselves on police radar again. Had he just waited patiently, the instant Juggernaut committed another crime while he was in prison would likely clear his name, or at least reduce suspicion.

Not to mention, unlike the last episode, everyone is stupid here. In all the searching and stuff, did no one think that maybe they could just get Jean to use Cerebro to look for Xavier and later, the criminal? It wouldn't of worked on Juggernaut, sure, but it really would've sped this crap along something fierce.

Anyway, onto the positives. Colossus. Like I said, and as with Cable, as much as they're pointless, I love them, especially Colossus' theme and general approach to everything. His co-workers attack him, he stands there and takes it like a trooper. Wolverine and Jubilee attack him, he throws Wolverine into the rubble and (with minimal injury) detains Jubilee. He's just a giant Russian teddy bear clad in organic steel skin. He even borders on being the most sensible again, only willingly breaking out when Beast (Who is supposed to be the smart one) tells him to trust the X-Men.

Other positives, though your mileage may vary, there is no flashback exposition. Every detail is approached in passing, and while some things perhaps could have been given more weight, the situation didn't call for it, and that's fine. Juggernaut's powers being magic and Xavier being his brother, while certainly important factors, not something you want to debate when actually fighting the Juggernaut. The one thing I would maybe question is what happened to Colossus' sister and why is he looking for her in America, that really seems like it could have been answered, not to mention being right up the X-Men's alley. We also get the blossoming start to Jubilee's career as Logan's sidekick and the very long line of young girls that would follow this.

Now then, for a new section to my reviews on this series, I'm going to be looking at messages. The lessons and morals taught by the episodes. In this one, we get a very heavy handed "Teamwork is the key" story, with all solo attempts to stop the Juggernaut failing miserably until the entire team works together. However, since this team effort included Colossus (I still think they could have done it without him, but he was included anyway) This effectively means, teamwork is key, even with strangers who aren't part of the team and we can't reliably count on having 100% of the time, making this pointless. If you want to preach teamwork and co-operation, that's fine, but when these terms are not indicative of a built trust and co-ordination over time, so much as just having a plan for a change, you lose some respect points on sending your message.

On the other hand, while it may not have been intentional, I find there's a good message in Colossus' first appearance. It was always said that Mutation in Marvel was a stand in for anyone who was oppressed or disenfranchised. In this case, we have Colossus, a Russian immigrant in the era directly following the Cold War. Having come over, he finds a job he does not only well, but exceptionally by using his natural talents and in turn, is paid well for it, but the other native workers insult him and call him a scab. Now to be clear, he is not doing the same job as these other men and being paid better, he is literally saving money on running wrecking balls and bulldozers and other lifting equipment by being him and doing things these men physically cant. There is no reason for these men to strike, they are not being treated unfairly, as he is doing more work for more pay using his talents and skills while they are being offered the opportunity to work by clearing the demolition site afterwards, only to state they won't work for a mutant lover. Not only does this play into the typical fear of migrant workers taking jobs from full time inhabitants of an area, there is also shades of Capitalism vs. Communism with Colossus offering that he and his 'comrades' should all work together while the other workers, instead of doing the work and getting paid for it, decide to instead attack him and destroy a truck trying to get rid of him. I'm probably reading too much into it, but it certainly seems that in pursuing their selfish desire, these guys all shot themselves in the foot when the giant Soviet did the work happily and got paid at the end of the day.

Over all, this episode isn't the worst, I mean it's not Deadly Reunions bad, but it's certainly not good. The more clear moral of teamwork is forced and falls somewhat under excessive scrutiny, but for a kids' show gets its point across, so in that respect it succeeds. The more complex issues such as the Red Herring approach, the immigration and potential political shades that the episode offers, I don't expect to get noticed by its target audience, but the fact that they come in from someone whose over all need to be there is negligible certainly doesn't help it. There were some interesting ideas to work with here, but they were either left before they got started, or dealt with haphazardly. If I had any kind of rating system, this episode would get a 2. I don't even know 2 what, but a 2 just for Colossus and his sweet ass theme tune.

Once again, this has been Hawkeye2701 representing Xemans-Spidey on this long trek through the X-Men Animated Series. Now then, I'm going to immigrate to America and use my mutant power to not give a damn to work at the DMV.