Venture Bros. Season 4 (and higher) Catch All

Funkenpants wrote:

I'm still trying to get past the fact that 21 can kick ass. I guess it's funny in its way, but it doesn't really work for me.

But he had a training montage! Anyone can kick ass after a good training montage.

Funkenpants wrote:

I'm still trying to get past the fact that 21 can kick ass. I guess it's funny in its way, but it doesn't really work for me.

This is the first episode where he does actually kick ass. The rest of the season he still had a lot of 21 ineptitude.
ie. paying off the cab driver when ordered to kill him.

Brock still wiped the floor with him. This must be the first henchman that Brock decided not to kill or maim. I loved his tattoo though.

So was this the last new episode for a while? I sure hope not, I want more.

And in show-time it's been a year, a guy can bulk up and become Kung-Fu in a year. Right? Right?

The sweet tat gave him power.

I think 21's transformation has been awesome he doesn't take crap anymore, however it came with a price as he is now batsh|t crazy lugging around 24's skull and talking to him like he never left. Going back a few pages, I think it's been proven that the hand was definately a psychotic break like Reaper said.

Eezy_Bordone wrote:

I think 21's transformation has been awesome he doesn't take crap anymore, however it came with a price as he is now batsh|t crazy lugging around 24's skull and talking to him like he never left. Going back a few pages, I think it's been proven that the hand was definately a psychotic break like Reaper said.

If he's just hallucinating, how did he know about the gun and handkerchief?

Um...let's not overplay 21's ass-kicking here. He's upgraded himself to a minor-league asskicker, but that's about it. There's no indication that he could hang with any of the heavies, and obviously he couldn't hang with Brock at all.

He's not a super villain, but the dude took out two other henchmen in a couple of seconds. So by henchmen standards he kicks ass.

Also, I think it's important to note that he got in a fight with Brock and came out with bruises. Maybe Brock went easy on him, but most people he fights tend to die a gruesome and painful death.

Brock told him that he gives a good ass-kicking just that he couldn't take Brock.

Funkenpants wrote:

He's not a super villain, but the dude took out two other henchmen in a couple of seconds. So by henchmen standards he kicks ass.

Granted, by henchman standards he's now a complete ass-kicker - 'Two-Ton 21,' I believe he's referred to by the others. We haven't seen him against other 'elite' henchman, like the Moppets or Klaus and Ziggy, but he gives every indication of being able to stand with them. I suspect he's well shy of Super Villain levels, though.

I love the fact that we're having a conversation about where in the badass ranking 21 is. It's exactly the kind of conversation he would have if he watched his own show. It's a mobius strip of nerdery.

PyromanFO wrote:

I love the fact that we're having a conversation about where in the badass ranking 21 is. It's exactly the kind of conversation he would have if he watched his own show. It's a mobius strip of nerdery.

Ok, 21 vs Colonel Gentleman in his prime

21 is not as pudgy anymore, but he is no Brockness monster.

21 v. Moppets! 21 v. Moppets!

Little Raven wrote:

I suspect he's well shy of Super Villain levels, though.

He may be up there in training and skill, but as he realized this season, he just doesn't have the heart. The heart for the hate.

McChuck wrote:

21 v. Moppets! 21 v. Moppets!

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Little Raven wrote:

I suspect he's well shy of Super Villain levels, though.

He may be up there in training and skill, but as he realized this season, he just doesn't have the heart. The heart for the hate.

21 doesn't have the will to kill. The Moppets would cut his throat in his sleep.

Secret Asian Man wrote:
McChuck wrote:

21 v. Moppets! 21 v. Moppets!

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Little Raven wrote:

I suspect he's well shy of Super Villain levels, though.

He may be up there in training and skill, but as he realized this season, he just doesn't have the heart. The heart for the hate.

21 doesn't have the will to kill. The Moppets would cut his throat in his sleep.

The Pupae, as they're now called, would probably get as far as his computer and spend the rest of the evening jerking it to the Photoshopped pictures of Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.

Rat Boy wrote:

The Pupae, as they're now called, would probably get as far as his computer and spend the rest of the evening jerking it to the Photoshopped pictures of Dr. Mrs. The Monarch.

ARGH! My brain! It's blinding, the pain!

Pickled Penis! Pickled Penis!

Secret Asian Man wrote:
McChuck wrote:

21 v. Moppets! 21 v. Moppets!

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Little Raven wrote:

I suspect he's well shy of Super Villain levels, though.

He may be up there in training and skill, but as he realized this season, he just doesn't have the heart. The heart for the hate.

21 doesn't have the will to kill. The Moppets would cut his throat in his sleep.

Spoiler:

I dunno, he went after Monstroso pretty hard from the blood splatter that was on Brock.

I think they might be setting up a 21/Pupae showdown soon.

Nevin73 wrote:
Secret Asian Man wrote:
McChuck wrote:

21 v. Moppets! 21 v. Moppets!

SpacePPoliceman wrote:
Little Raven wrote:

I suspect he's well shy of Super Villain levels, though.

He may be up there in training and skill, but as he realized this season, he just doesn't have the heart. The heart for the hate.

21 doesn't have the will to kill. The Moppets would cut his throat in his sleep.

Spoiler:

I dunno, he went after Monstroso pretty hard from the blood splatter that was on Brock.

I think they might be setting up a 21/Pupae showdown soon.

Spoiler:

I just assumed that those blood spatters were made by Brock. It is something of a specialty of his as Hunter complained about.

PyromanFO wrote:

I love the fact that we're having a conversation about where in the badass ranking 21 is. It's exactly the kind of conversation he would have if he watched his own show. It's a mobius strip of nerdery.

This.

Also, speaking as someone who just caught up, thank the dear lord for H. Jon Benjamin, who should do voice-work in every cartoon ever. I'm going to have to figure out a way to use the phrase "You could almost bounce a penis off these" in conversation without getting my head slapped off.

Little Raven wrote:

Oh, The Master is a great character...on every level. His writing and voice acting are simply superb. And so far, he's always given good advice, which is presumably why Orpheous keeps coming back to him. But he's also a Jerkass of epic proportions, and he wraps that advice in layers of sarcasm and hyperbole, ranging from merely inappropriate to outlandishly offensive...and he's certainly not one to let facts get in the way of a sound message.

Putting up with the sarcasm is the pain you've got to go through to get to the good advice. If it was to easy to get his advise the Master would have all sorts of people bothering him all the time!

TOTAL THREAD SKIM ALERT

I have been a fan of the show from way back, but for some reason I let all of the first 8 episodes of season 4 pile up on my DVR without watching them. I caught "Perchance to Dean" on rerun a few weeks back, and it was perfectly enjoyable. Also saw "Return to Malice" and again, perfectly enjoyable.

Just watched the premiere tonight, though.

Seriously-- W. T. F?

I am a comic geek, so I got the whole CGC thing. I just don't understand what the point of the whole "told out of order" thing was, other than to confuse the sh*t out of everyone watching. I guess when it comes to narrative, I'm a traditionalist and like my stories to be told sequentially (esp. when there's absolutely no purpose to using the device).

I thought this was a pretty good analysis of the first episode of S4.

Eezy_Bordone wrote:

I thought this was a pretty good analysis of the first episode of S4.

Uhhh...

The thing I take away from the scene is that Dean "hates his knife." This means that Dean has not "steeled his heart," that is, he can't bring himself to kill a dog, even if the dog's name is Hitler, but also may have a sexual connotation, which would explain a lot about Dean. He recoils in fear from just about everything, but is especially incompetent when it comes to weaponry. He can't use his knife, and he's utterly incapable of assembling his gun later on (or, rather, earlier on). If he hates his knife and can put his gun together, how does he ever expect to make it with Triana?

I do a podcast about THE OFFICE and probably think WAY too much about The Office. This guy thinks WAY, WAY, WAAAAAYYYYYYYY too much about The Venture Bros.

We all have our things we obsess over too much. Here the author, Todd Alcott, goes over how he makes his plot summary reviews.

Here's an excerpt:

Todd Alcott wrote:

Now, The Venture Bros is a tremendously complex show -- things connect to other things on many different levels. Every character, almost every beat, brings with it a whole complex group of associations, both within the show itself and also in regard to the world of narratives that the show was made in reaction to: Jonny Quest, Marvel comics, boy-adventure stories, James Bond, 60s and 70s science fiction and about sixteen million other things. There’s an incredible wealth of associations going on in each and every scene, which adds to the resonance of the show beyond the actual plot of any given episode. So the show isn’t just about what the characters say and do, it’s also about this gigantic cultural conversation between the past and the present, what we as a culture imagined the future to be and how it turned out instead.

For some reason I read that as "golden ceremonial digger."

Well, sometimes a golden ceremonial dagger is just a golden ceremonial dagger...

So the show isn’t just about what the characters say and do, it’s also about this gigantic cultural conversation between the past and the present, what we as a culture imagined the future to be and how it turned out instead.

I dunno... I appreciate someone who is passionate about whatever they enjoy, and I used to be a huge fan of VB (I'm still a pretty big fan, but less so as time goes by), but this quote just comes across as sounding so incredibly pretentious. IMHO, of course No knock on anyone for having their own opinions.

EDIT:

I'm slowly trying to catch up. Watched episode #2, "Handsome Ransom," lat night, and enjoyed it a good deal. I have to say, though, that it seems like Publick/Hammer are going to the whole "adult heroes who are either gay, pedophiles, or both" well a bit too much lately. Captain Sunshine would have been fine, if there wasn't already that whole Sargent Hatred thing bubbling over this season and last. Ok, perhaps it's a (not so) veiled reference to Wertham's "Seduction of the Innocent," which is totally appropriate ground to cover, or maybe there was something more that sexual to the relationship, but it definitely came across as something we've already seen before.

The Monarch was awesome, though.