Let's Watch Chargeman Ken!

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Thu May 31, 2018 9:24 pm

Episode 22: The Juralians have invented teleportation, and call it a fax machine

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Fri Jun 01, 2018 2:22 pm

we will fax you DOOM

METAL HOSPITAL TERROR!

... I'm sure this will be very considerate to people with mental illnesses

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Fri Jun 01, 2018 2:22 pm

it's mere seconds into the episode before they are very inconsiderate to people with mental illnesses

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Fri Jun 01, 2018 2:25 pm

So I guess this solves(?) the mystery of if he just gets his ship when he transforms, since the answer has to be yes, considering that they're just in a missile silo.

Mr. Big · Post by **Mr. Big** (?) » Fri Jun 01, 2018 2:45 pm

That muscled man wearing a bra. Wut?

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Fri Jun 01, 2018 3:45 pm

My feelings on this episode:

Not that I can say I trusted Chargeman Ken to handle any particular topic with tact and discretion in the first place, because that would be foolish

It does make me think that Ken gets his brand of sociopathic awfulness from his dad, since his dad thinks nothing of committing his child in order to investigate a building (something that could be done with a search warrant)

W.T. Fits · Post by **W.T. Fits** (?) » Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:12 pm

So the director of the mental institution apparently wanted to conquer the world, and decided the best way to go about this was to get help from the Juralians to build a bunch of missiles to just blow up places at random. And that rather than waiting until they had a bunch of missiles to fire all at once, they were just going to do them one at a time after they were completed.

Also, love how the first target is just "Europe." Anywhere in particular you'd like to blow up in Europe, or are you just gonna punch in some coordinates at random?

That said, the director shooting himself in the head once he realized his scheme was thwarted was kind of a gruesome note to end on.

Mr. Big · Post by **Mr. Big** (?) » Fri Jun 01, 2018 5:19 pm

A while back, I counted how many drawings were done in that episode (not counting the transformation sequence). It was a bit under 200 frames.

And that number might be smaller, because the fight sequence reuses footage from previous episodes.

And yeah, you can't really depict suicide in kids cartoons these days

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Sat Jun 02, 2018 2:23 pm

AN INVITATION TO THE ROBOT CLUB

I didn't get an invitation

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Sat Jun 02, 2018 2:26 pm

*Chargeman Ken somehow does a backflip while in a headlock*

W.T. Fits · Post by **W.T. Fits** (?) » Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:42 pm

Ken, I don't think you have any room to be giving Barrican shit for falling for a pretty face.

Nick Onimura · Post by **Nick Onimura** (?) » Sat Jun 02, 2018 4:16 pm

I'm a bit late on this, but I'm just gonna say.

Ken's Acts of Sociopathy Count: Infinity. For having a laugh at the end like he didn't just witness a suicide.

SlateSlabrock · Post by **SlateSlabrock** (?) » Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:16 pm

Oh no, the Juralians got him.

SlateSlabrock · Post by **SlateSlabrock** (?) » Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:25 pm

Is this the first time Ken's killed someone with his belt?

minty · Post by **minty** (?) » Sat Jun 02, 2018 11:21 pm

I don't know what I like better, the way the lady's arm straight up disappears into the tree because they didn't move the cell far enough, or Barican's ridiculous happy face when running through the field.

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 2:43 am

I wanna see a version of the episode where they go to the robot club and play chess and dance.

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 3:05 am

SlateSlabrock wrote: ↑
Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:25 pm
Is this the first time Ken's killed someone with his belt?

Yep. And now we know why we have to see his belt buckle spin up in every transformation sequence.

Ownage count: 11. Ken runs into an obvious trap and falls in a hole, proving again that he is his own worst enemy. Also probably Caron and Barican’s worst enemy, too, since he keeps getting them endangered just by existing.

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 12:46 pm

SAVE YOUNG YUUICHI

Serial arson, like most young people

Mr. Big · Post by **Mr. Big** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:23 pm

Gloomy Rube wrote: ↑
Sat Jun 02, 2018 2:23 pm
I didn't get an invitation

At 5:15, Ken vaporizes an alien...then a few seconds later vaporizes the same alien in the exact same pose.

If you're gonna recycle animation, you gotta vary it up

Mr. Big · Post by **Mr. Big** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:26 pm

Also, I love how people inside the burning building is giving a half-assed scream of help.

"I'm on fire. Help me, I guess"

W.T. Fits · Post by **W.T. Fits** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 2:38 pm

I know this show has pacing issues, but given how much of the five minute run time they devoted to showing how shitty Yuuichi's home life was, you'd think they'd have at least taken a bit more effort to resolve that than "Oh, Chargeman Ken killed some aliens that were blackmailing our son; let's be better people so that our son won't act out like that anymore."

I also like how the kid just immediately decides to go to Ken and confess all his problems. Like, what if those two guys had just been yakuza thugs instead of Juralians? Ken's already made it clear he won't use his Charging Go against normal humans. (The answer to this is that never would have happened; it's always Juralians, except possibly in the rare case where it's mummies.)

minty · Post by **minty** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:07 pm

Yeah, it looks almost like they were trying to make a point about broken homes, then they just kind of ruined it.

Ken/Yuuichi OTP.

Mr. Big · Post by **Mr. Big** (?) » Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:20 pm

They forgot to paint Ken's arm on the left side of the screen

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Mon Jun 04, 2018 3:00 am

Did... did the people in that fire get killed?

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:39 am

THE GIRL WHO LOST HER MEMORY

I wonder if like 99% of female characters in this, she's a juralian?

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:42 am

I don't like ken or his family

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:59 am

I mean ken's dad really said "gee if I'd known she was an alien I'd have run her down with my car boy howdy" right, that was the implication, right

W.T. Fits · Post by **W.T. Fits** (?) » Mon Jun 04, 2018 12:29 pm

Gloomy Rube wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:59 am
I mean ken's dad really said "gee if I'd known she was an alien I'd have run her down with my car boy howdy" right, that was the implication, right

That was absolutely what was being implied there.

I also love how she just randomly explodes on impact when she hits the ground after falling out of the ferris wheel.

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:40 am

Gloomy Rube wrote: ↑
Mon Jun 04, 2018 11:42 am
I don't like ken or his family

Same

Also, what makes Ken’s dad even worse is that he picks up and moves an accident victim, which is a big no-no unless you want to cause neck, spinal, and/or brain damage, and is best left to EMTs. Of course, it’s all a Juralian plot, because the Juralians are somehow less competent than anyone else in this terrible universe

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:42 am

You should have gone to the police at the scene of the accident, you incredible nincompoop

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:47 am

“Brother, she’s a Juralian”

*ken is already being strangled by the Juralian*

(Ownage count: 12)

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:51 pm

THE BURNING POISON MUSHROOM HOUSE

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:53 pm

superhero chargeman ken: no side trips after school. - ken's dad

W.T. Fits · Post by **W.T. Fits** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 3:25 pm

Who keeps coming up with these schemes? Goob from Meet the Robinsons?

"We'll trick the children into eating poison mushrooms and a candy house to make them lazy and fat, so they won't study!"
"... and then what?"
"... what do you mean?"
"You make the kids fat, lazy and stupid, what comes after that? What's the end game here? I just don't think this plan was thought through very well."
"SHUT UP, IT'S MY TURN TO MAKE A PLAN AND WE'RE DOING THE BURNING POISON MUSHROOM HOUSE SCHEME!"

Madeline · Post by **Madeline** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 4:39 pm

Shroom addiction: the menace of the future

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 5:09 pm

So the writers for this are misogynists, right? I mean, every woman is either an alien, Caron, or the teacher, and at least one of those non-villains has been the villain for an episode already.

minty · Post by **minty** (?) » Tue Jun 05, 2018 7:22 pm

So you can't see Juralians through telescopes unless you're Barican?

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Wed Jun 06, 2018 2:25 pm

SPACE ROCKET Z9

stands for Space Rocket Zexpedition 9moon

Gloomy Rube · Post by **Gloomy Rube** (?) » Wed Jun 06, 2018 2:31 pm

yes ken. If he'd instead recieved 10 billion yen not stolen from a bank, there'd be no issue here.

Ken's morality is pretty messed up gosh

SlateSlabrock · Post by **SlateSlabrock** (?) » Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:01 pm

"I got away with it, so it isn't a crime" is still wrong.

But this episode puts an especially fine point on something I've been wondering about: How much of a space-faring people are humans now? I mean, Ken has his Alpha Gun and is basically immune to all Juralian attacks except getting hit on the head or having things knocked out of his hands, but most scientists have Juralian-killing ray guns too. Plus, they have the Z9 rockets, they have space stations... maybe the Juralians have a right to be scared, especially when Earth's hero is a murderous kid like Ken.