Iron Man Animated Adventures 1&2

     So, it's been a while. Anyway, here I am, finally talking about the first two episodes of Iron Man Animated Adventures. I'll just start this off with a quick rundown of how I'm going to do these reviews. First I will give the episode name and number. Then I'll talk about what happened in the episode and give I feel about the episode, whether I liked it or not. Now, I feel like I should explain something about the show. This show is nowhere near as high-concept as I normally like. What type of show I usually watch is something like the TV show Limitless, the one where the detective gets high and solves crimes with the help of a brain altering drug, or Zoe's Extraordinary Playlist, the sitcom about a person who can hear the song of people's hearts. Those are usually the types of shows that I'm interested in, the ones that are higher concept than just what if this character was in high school.

     So why did I even watch this show in the first place? Long story short, it was recommended on Netflix and I like Iron Man. Why am I reviewing it? Because I can. Welcome to Pointless Ramblings About Cartoons, this is Iron Man Animated Adventures.

Episodes 1&2 Forged in Fire

     I'm going to clump episodes one and two together since they're just a two-parter.

     The episode starts out with a cold open showing that Tony Stark had made the Iron Man suit. It also shows his friendship with Rhodey, such a close friend that apparently he's able to just walk in and see what turn he's working on. This is followed by a really cool intro.

     The theme songs pretty cool and the visuals, while showing clips from the show, choose good clips from the show for the words. 

     Enough about the intro though, as afterwards we get introduced to Stark International. Everyone seems to know and are friendly with Tony Stark. We also see his father working on a project using Tony's design for the Earthmover lasers. Tony explains how he designed it, mostly just bragging to his father, but soon gets interrupted by a man they call Obadiah. Obadiah's upset that they didn't approve his proposal to modify the Earthmover lasers into military grade weaponry. Tony's father explains that it is his company and he approves what he wants to approve and he does not want his company to become a weapons company, which may be strange if you were expecting Howard Stark to be the same way and this show as basically any other version of him.

     Anyway, the next scene shows them in a plane on their way to the laser testing ground to show off the archaeological function of the earth mover lasers. On the way Tony and his father talk about the ring Tony's father found recently on an archaeological dig. It is said to be a magic Chinese relic with unknown power, although Tony's father quickly found that it was just technology not magic. He still has no idea what it does but he does continue to wear it on his finger. The laser is shown and it is absolutely impressive. It uncovers a terracotta Soldier by somehow blasting around it, which they say is caused by reading the seismograph to make sure they're not hitting it, but that still really impressive that it comes out as pristine as it does. Overthinking aside, Tony's father gives his ring to some scientists that meet them there so that they can test the ring to actually see what it can do. Obadiah calls on their way back, they finally gave his last name, Stane, and despite considering firing him, Tony's dad answers Stane. Stane threateningly says it will be his " last chance to approve the deal". Tony's dad refuses, obviously, and a blinding light blasts the plane. 

     Next we see is Tony waking up in Rhodey's house, clearly injured, and planning to go back to Stark International. Tony's father had died in that plane accident and now Stane runs the company. 

     I feel like I should describe Obadiah Stane, that is if the name's not a giveaway already, he is not a great person. He seems solely led by his greed, so much so that he wanted to weaponize an archaeological tool to sell it to the military. Granted, that tool is a tower sized laser cannon that can fire around things, but he still wanted to weaponize it. He is clearly old, and he looks like a Saturday morning cartoon villain, which is admittedly fitting, but still. Anyways, Stane now owns Stark International until Tony is 18. Stane also has Tony's father's ring and won't let Tony have his or his father's blueprints. Tony leaves mad, but now he has to go to school.

     Tony goes to school and almost immediately solves hardest math equation in the world, calls the physics books out of date, and as a scientific lecture on one of his own inventions. I do not throw this term around lightly, but I think he is close to being a Gary Stu. Quick explanation, a Gary Stu is a Mary Sue but male. Granted, close, not exactly a Gary Stu. He very clearly has flaws, granted they're shown later. Tony reaches a free period, goes to the roof, and has a flashback to how he very nearly died in a plane crash and how he survived. The show abruptly shows us a new character in the form of Pepper. Pepper is very energetic and immediately starts asking Tony a lot of questions. She also mentions the fact that her father is an FBI agent, so it's not exactly obvious whether or not that's true yet. She does, however, tell Tony that Stane would be the one that would gain the most from Tony's father's death, which means Tony now has someone he can test his new suit on. Admittedly that sounds a bit more violent than what he goes for actually, he more so goes for a flight just to get there faster also to hack Stark security. He quickly hacks it, of course, but then a train derails and starts heading towards Stark Tower. 

     Tony clumsily tries to save the train, nearly killing himself and dropping it onto a busy highway in the process, but people see him and call him a hero. He gets back to the lab, recharges, and decides to be the hero everyone has called him, mostly to save Stark International from itself but also to try to figure out who killed his father. The final scene introduces a new antagonist, a man in a black, very Samurai looking suit of armor, which is also covered in spikes. 

     Episode 2 starts with Obadiah Stane talking to some scientists about Iron Man as Tony floats up behind them. They notice and it goes to the opening theme song. After the theme, they have a stare-down and Tony nearly attacks Stane, only stopped by some news copters who came to record him. The copters chase him through the city, nearly wrecking several times, and the scene ends. 

     Back at the lab, Rhodey yells at Tony for nearly getting himself killed again. The next scene brings us back to the samourai edgelord, who is revealed to be called The Mandarin, while he talks to his shadow we ninja like Army. The Mandarin is interrupted by his step-son, who interrupted to question his stepfather's plans. The Mandarin step-son gets berated verbally, and the scene ends. 

     The kids at the high school or passing around gases at who Iron Man is, Tony Rhodey and pepper go to the roof to talk about what Tony learned, and pepper talks about doing some really illegal things. All three of them noticed the very large, very obvious transportation of one of the weaponized lasers Stane had made. Tony then gets out of his next class to chase down the laser. 

     The next scene shows the Mandarin's stepson, Gene, looking for his step-father. One of the Ninja like people come to report to the Mandarin, but Gene intercepts. 

     The next scene shows the new, weaponized Earthmover lasers in action against stationary targets. It is impressive, but not impressive enough for the military representatives there to possibly buy them. Iron Man flies in, Rhody talks to Tony working as his navigation system, so to speak, and they both quickly realize that the lasers are out to kill Tony. Two more lasers are deployed, making the total 3, and they all fire at Tony. this shows off Tony's new power of creating some sort of force field, which is impressive, but nothing Tony does really even puts a scratch on the things. Pepper comes in and Rohde tries to hide the fact that he was just talking to Tony by completely turning off his computer. Tony's on his own for a while, and he realizes they did something stupid and the lasers are about to explode. These lasers also have bullet turrets by the way, and they can't be shut down. Also, for the fun of it, the Mandarin appears. Pepper finally leaves so Rhodey can get back on comms, and Tony fills him in.

     Rhodey also notices the Mandarin attacking Stane. Stane hands over the ring, the Mandarin's been keeping a collection of sorts, but that will have to wait. 

     Tony is still trying to figure out how to stop the explosions when he decides, and you won't believe this, to jump into the generators in the lasers. Stane is really bad at designing things. So Tony jumps into the generator, absorbs its power, and uses the overload in his suit to fire a larger beam that actually destroys the other lasers. all three lasers are now down, but now the Mandarin appears in front of Tony and knocks out all of his electric parts, also knocking Tony out for a second. The Mandarin taunts Tony and teleports away. Stane offers Iron Man the chance to join him with Stark International, using similar wording to how he was to Tony's father before the accident, but Tony refuses. Tony and Rhodey talk at the lab. 

     The final scene shows the Mandarin remove his mask, revealing it's actually Gene, as he talks to his stepfather, taunting him about how he is the new Mandarin.

     Overall this is a really solid way to introduce the show. Why the art style was a bit ambitious for the time, it made some really cool fight scenes and these episodes really introduce the characters very well. Tony is as self-absorbed as always, Rhodey is very cautious yet also approving of Tony, pepper is barely in it but still fairly well introduces her over-the-top yet also sensible character, and the villains, while Saturday morning cartoon like, we're well implemented an introduced. I will admit I've seen the first six episodes of the show, the next four are fairly shorter to explain, but I'm going to take the gas that the Mandarin is the one that killed Tony Stark's father. Again this is just a guess of someone who just started watching this and if you continue to read this you will definitely find spoilers for that oh, this is a review show I feel like spoilers are obvious, but they really make a big deal of the fact that the mandarins teleportation knocks out power. It also doesn't feel like Stane would be the type to purposely sabotage something, he really seems more like a vulture like, take what I can get, type of person, not literally sabotage and steal.

     Anyway, that's just how I feel about it, and if you feel differently just go ahead and leave a comment. Honestly it's a really interesting show, although the first two episodes kind of give it the feeling of it being a bit better than the other four episodes I've already watched. The other four aren't bad either it's just, well, you'll see in the next review. I hope that I'll be able to get this entire series done and the 8 more posts that I'm supposed to make for this project, but that may not be possible. There are a lot of episodes and I do not have a lot of time. We'll just have to see what happens, until then, if you're reading this, have a nice day.